A Housewarming Brunch

The lovely ladies of the Phoenix Style Collective, including myself, decided to get together to celebrate Kara & her husband's big move to a grownup person house near downtown Phoenix. I baked a quiche (typical.), and threw on my coziest of weekend wear for a morning of girl time.

This folks, is how real adults do it. Or so we tell ourselves. Other life lessons learned while brunching? A friend who will go to the market so get some soy creamer for those of us (cough, me, cough) who can't seem to tolerate dairy deliciousness these days...that is a friend for life.

Quite the special group of women. Kara, Court & Chels...whoot whoot owl crew for life. xo

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The River House

Over the weekend, one of my best friends Bianca & her fiancé Bobby hopped in a car to drive from San Diego to Phoenix for the weekend for a family visit. Lucky for me, I happen to be in Phoenix! And was able to steal away a little of their time for dinner at Postino, and catch up over a delicious glass of cab. 

I realized that I had never shared the photos I took from over the summer, where I met Bianca & her family halfway between Arizona and California for a weekend of boating, sun & card games at their river house.

The sunsets we saw looking out from their patio, perched at the top of a hill, were magnificent. The photos don't even do them justice. Having the best of friends so spread out around the country can be tough, but little surprises & visits like these make those relationships so very special to me. Counting down the days until I make the trip to San Diego, where I'll get to stand up beside my best friend as she marries her future husband Bobby. The very thought gives me chills.

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{Brunch at Local Bistro}

When our good friend Sarah came back in town for a weekend visit, we drove up to North Scottsdale to meet up with her, our other good friend Dani & Dani's mom, for brunch at Local Bistro. It was so nice to see both of them, since Sarah had moved back to California after graduation this year, and we've been terrible at making plans with Dani. Thankfully Dani's sister's baby shower brought Sarah back to AZ, so we insisted on squeezing in a hang out!

The Italian restaurant is off the beaten path from the 5 mi. radius Chris & I usually give ourselves to drive and try new places, but it was worth it. The restaurant offers brunch on Saturday and Sunday mornings, but is also rumored to have a fantastic happy hour during the week. Good enough excuse for me to come back!

I ordered the spanish omelette, which was filled with chorizo and manchego cheese. The plate also came with some delicious fresh fruit, and herb roasted potatoes. Almost everyone at our table ordered something different, which was great! It allowed us to sample almost everything on the brunch menu. 

{monkey bread french toast with nutella}

{breakfast calzone}

{egg panini}

Dani's mom had originally ordered the smoked salmon breakfast sandwich, but the restaurant hadn't received its usual morning delivery. The chef felt bad, and at the end of our meal we were surprised with two caramel panna cotta desserts! It was at least noon by the end of our meal, since we had been sitting and chatting for so long. That was all the justification I needed to have dessert after breakfast. And I was not disappointed! The creamy desserts were so so good. My caramel obsession continues.

{Friend Hangover & Mellow Mushroom}

I'm alive! After an amazing weekend with my girlfriends, I have been suffering from quite the friend hangover. My mind is still in a haze, I keep reminiscing about the fun times, deliriously laughing at inside jokes, feeling tired all the time as though I've been depriving myself of sleep & noticing weird things throw about my apartment. The weirdest part is I took them to the airport on Sunday. Longest.hangover.ever. Regardless, I love my friends & accept the friend hangover with open arms! 

Continuing on. When the ladies were here we went to Mellow Mushroom for happy hour, a great spot with a huge assortment of drinks & bites for very cheap prices. The Tempe location is huge! We were seated in a big booth and thankfully had a super knowledgeable waitress (atleast she knew way more than we did), who is originally from Seattle (bonus points), who brought us tons & tons of drink samples (major bonus points) so we would make the right decision when we finally settled on one.

I ordered a local beer, SanTan Brewing Company's Sunspot Golden Ale. The beer was light & refreshing, totally hitting the spot. There must have been upwards of 60 beer choices on the menu, and I cannot even begin to think of what Lauren settled on after our great waitress had her sample at least 10.  Don't twist our arms (they were small!).

Our late lunch happy hour turned into a combined dinner as well, so we went to town on the cheap menu & ordered anything and everything that looked or sounded remotely tasty. It did not disappoint. 

{salad & pita/hummus plate}

{pretzels & the capri, a caprese salad}

{meatballs & stuffed portobello mushroom}

Alex is a non-beer drinker, so we also had the opportunity to sample some delicious cocktails! The Strawberry Mojito was a hit. I think we probably sat at the restaurant for about three hours, laughing at ourselves, at eachother, telling stories & mostly hiding in the air conditioning. These Seattle people hadn't conditioned their bodies yet to function in an oven.

{Static}

Excuse the radio silence around these parts.

Lauren (on the left) is in town for a visit.

Her first morning in PHX, we headed out to the pool for a dip (it's so hot!).

Casually swimming, I hear my name being called out from outside the gate.

Alex (on the right) was standing there. Bag in hand, fresh out of a taxi from the airport.

Friend surprises are the best kind.

{Weekending: Summer Edition}

This past weekend couldn't have been a better example of how I like to spend days off in the summertime. Fun events mixed with a few easy errands (Target is ALWAYS a win. not a chore), baking, laying by the pool bronzing, and time spent with good friends. 

Friday Chris and I marked another box off the bucket list, by heading to the Diamondbacks game. We had good seats, crazy cheap beers (in comparison to Safeco Field in Seattle!), and watched as the Dbacks lost. 

It didn't matter though, it was just as fun to watch all of the crazy LA Dodgers fans in their masks & capes, shouting one-liners and picking fights with the Dbacks fans. Oh the sportsmanship. After, we met some coworkerfriends for drinks & dinner at Bliss/reBAR, ate soft tacos, so good pretzel bread and a Philly cheesesteak.

The weekend was filled with delicious fresh fruit, which made an excellent topping for my early morning Eggo waffle breakfast on Saturday. I almost felt like I should turn on some cartoons to complete a perfect kid morning.

BBQing at a friend's new house "forced" me to go to Trader Joe's to pick out some pretty sunflowers, and to taste test their featured summer white wines. Green Fin chardonnay was the winner, which I definitely recommend for a hot afternoon! Once at the house we dined on amazing grilled chicken & kabobs, pasta salad and super flavorful local corn. Then we played with their new Kinect for the rest of the evening, laughing at our poor zumba salsa skills, my awesome athletic abilities & how silly everyone looks while playing. Incredibly fun!

For dessert I made Martha Stewart's peach crumble from her July/Aug Everyday Food issue. It was so delicious, and easy! Served a la mode with some vanilla bean ice cream.

Sunday the boyfriend and I watched the women's world cup, saw Horrible Bosses (which I was kinda disappointed by), rented Just Go with It (loved it - cheesy but funny), and made small jumps forward on our Switzerland travel plans.

I loved this weekend. Planning to repeat again soon!

{Jellyfish & Killer Octopuses}

Instead of testing our patience and level-headed ability to ignore obnoxious tourist crowds, we decided to forgo a trip to Sea World while in San Diego, and visit the Birch Aquarium instead. Located at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, the aquarium sits on top of a huge hill with a beautiful view of the water. 

The first weekend of the month, all BofA members get into the museum for free. Random, I know. But at least it helped three out of four of us get in and skip the $11 price tag per ticket (me, the not so lucky one).

It was beautiful! I loved seeing all the colorful fish, Dory from Finding Nemo, and my favorite, the baby seahorses. I was completely freaked out by the octopus though, and pretty much scooted by that tank in 2 seconds flat. Something about them makes my skin crawl! 

We poked anenomes and sea cucumbers, and stared out at the gorgeous view. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this aquarium as a must see, unless you are bored and it's the first weekend of the month and have BofA, or need to entertain small children. It was missing the big woooah  factor that is caused by man-eating sharks, giant whales and deep sea creatures that should never be brought to the surface. But cute fish, sea cucumbers & seahorses can keep my easily entertained mind distracted, so I had a great time!

{milestones}

The other night Chris & I were discussing milestones, in friendships and relationships and the different ways the present themselves. Milestones with friends are often large celebrated events, days you look forward to reaching like 16th birthdays, 21st drink-a-thons, graduations, weddings...you get the idea.

I got to thinking, do relationship milestones encompass these events, and more? Or do those traditional bumps in the road get swapped for less recognized, more intimate events, like leaving for the first day of a new job, trips with just the two of you, anniversaries, promotions and small victories. 

 {1. me at 19 - summertime in Pullman before recruitment week my Jr. year at WSU}

{& 2. me at 20 - a trip to Las Vegas when I was still under 21 and STILL a blast}

Chris and I recently celebrated our 3 year anniversary, and it got me thinking a lot about the moments I remember most, that I hold closest to my heart. It caused me to flip through my old photos, where I stumbled on a couple of gems I thought I'd share from back then & now.

And when it comes to milestones, I guess I fall somewhere in between.  Surviving almost 2 1/2 years of a long-distance relationship, there are things the other person is bound to miss, and you get used to that. It's probably better that he missed my 21st birthday...(and the 2-day hangover that followed), but a small part of me wishes he could have made it for my graduation.

But there are so many things that surpass those days, in my own order of importance. Like standing at Versailles, staring at the gleaming golden gate that surrounds the château, or watching the twinkle of the Eiffel Tower when the clock strikes 11 p.m. Like celebrating my offer letter to work full time at the agency, the two adventure of a day roadtrip to bring my car to AZ from Seattle, or eating pizza in our sweats on Valentine's day.

Being there for my friends to support them during the milestones that occur in their lives is extremely important to me, because there aren't as many of those events they need me for. 

I also think it's more of a tribute to my love of love, that the smallest shared moments mean more, in a different way. And that is how I think love should always be. My thoughts on love exactly, put more beautifully than I could muster:

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. 

I love you simply, without complexities or pride; 

I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, 

in which there is no I or you, 

so close that your hand upon my chest is my hand, 

so close that when I fall asleep your eyes close. 

-Pablo Neruda

Happy anniversary boyfriend!

I can't wait to share the photos from our fun evening! :)