Going to the Chapel

This past Friday evening, Greg and I went to our friends' wedding, Mike and Teresa. Celebrating with them was a reminder of how emotions can bloom from simple friendship to full blown  I-wanna-spend-the rest-of-my-life-with-you love.

We met Mike a few years ago through work. His hearty laugh and crazy sense of humor grabbed our attention and kept it long enough to form a wonderful friendship. He was a typical single guy- beer, burgers and bros were on his to-do list of the moment. As we got to know Mike, his sometimes crazy antics were just a cover for his warm, generous and good natured heart. It was only a matter of time before he would get snatched up by some lucky gal- and he did.

Teresa came along shortly after we had gotten to know Mike. Infectious laughs, cuteness to boot and all-smiles-all the time, were the things I remember most about the first moments we hung out. I have also had the opportunity to get to know Teresa over the years and I can honestly say that she complements Mike, just as he complements her. And that's why we were surprised and excited to find out they had decided to get married!

Their wedding was a blast! We ate, drank and danced our tushies off in celebration of their amazing commitment to each other. We are truly thankful for their friendship and wish them many happy years of marriage.

                                                  Mike and Teresa cheers to you!!

Year Old Wedding Cake

You know how on your wedding day everyone tells you to save some of your wedding cake so you can eat it on your one year anniversary, and you just nod your head in agreement because it is tradition and you don't want to be rude and say, " Year old wedding cake? Are you kidding me? How freezer burned is it going to be???" Well, our wedding cake has sat, carefully wrapped with newlywed love and care, in my mom's freezer for exactly 364 days- one day shy of a year.

For the first month, Greg and I would say to ourselves that our cake was going to be so good on our anniversary. Now, Greg and I love our sweets. We carefully chose our cake flavors, our favorite pick being  a yummy chocolate cake with chocolate mousse and heath bar filling. The other flavor was not so important to us but we thought we would be nice and choose a cake that those non-chocolate people would like ( very sensible, right?) This cake was amazing when we had tasted it months before our special day. We were so excited about this cake that we even told our friends, " If you like chocolate, don't eat the white cake because the chocolate one will be served, too" . We had been anticipating this delicious cake for months and finally our day arrived.

Long story short, as it turned out, the chocolate cake was never even cut up and served, as we would find out the next day when we had lots, and  I mean LOTS of chocolate cake sitting at my mom's house. And in the weeks to come, it would come out from our friends that they had waited and waited for this highly talked about chocolate cake only to be disappointed with our second choice, white cake. Who would have known that we talked about this cake so much that people actually waited to have a piece of it!

Today, after waiting a year, the moment had finally come to see if our wedding cake was still edible after being in my mom's freezer. This cake that had caused such excitement and disappointment all in one day was being given a chance for redemption. We had brought champagne down  in order to celebrate our year of being married and to eat our cake. And you know what? Our year old cake was quite delicious. And I am not saying that because I want the wedding cake myth to be true, but it really was yummy cake. So thank you Eddie's Bakery of Fresno, California for exceeding our expectations and providing a little sweetness on our one year wedding anniversary.

Happy Anniversary my sweet Greg! I look forward to many more years of chocolate cake, champagne and lots and lots of laughs.

Small town love

Today I am sitting in my childhood home in Madera. For those of you who know me, I speak of Madera quite frequently and with great fondness. In fact, I truly think Madera is the place to be, as if it were a hot spot that Hollywood is destined to find and love just as much as I do.

I think a lot about how living here "made me who I am today" ( the often muttered cliche) and the friendships I was able to form...and surprisingly keep. There are a group of girlfriends that I have whom I have known for almost 20+ years and counting. What a blessing to have friends who stand by you no matter what/where/who you are and all the life stuff that happens in between. We have seen it all throughout our years of friendship.

When I was thinking of the love I have for my hometown, I realized there are several things that keep my heart tied here- my mom, my mom's cooking and my girlfriends. I truly love these girls, and I say girls because they will always be "my girls". The girls who had big bangs and frizzy hair but were still cool to me. The girls who would squeeze into one bed so we could stay up late talking about boys. The girls who came together when tragedy struck in our lives. The girls who stood by me and each other when we got married. And of course the girls who I fell in love with years and years ago at Camp Fire Camp, tennis, catechism and high school.

I guess that's why I love Madera and always will.
 

When it began...

As I am sitting here contemplating what my subsequent entries will consist of, I am reminded of a wonderful event that is coming up. In a little over one week, I will be celebrating my one year anniversary of being married to my wonderful husband Greg. Husband. A few years back, I would have laughed at that word. It was a girlish laugh of course, a giggle really.  I had always known that I would one day be married and have a husband, but the word itself was just strange.

Back to the happy occasion that will be celebrated, I am extremely lucky to have found my "one". When I was younger, I would ask my mom how she knew that my dad was the "one". She always replied with, " I just knew". That stuck in my head for years and years as I went through the dating ritual. Uneventful really,  until I met Greg. The One. And as my wise mom said, I just knew. I am one lucky woman to have found my Greg, my husband, my life.

Third time's a charm

Today is my official first blog. Actually not my first blog entry since years ago I decided to get my own blog name and keep it for a rainy day. Well, after several short entries ( which were quite uneventful I might add) here I am.
It took me a while to figure out what I would blog about and I still don't truly know, but I am going to give it ago with my musings about life, love, family and friendship with a dose of humor of course. I welcome you to the small window of my life and hope you plan on reading on...