Celebrating Life

The only appropriate way to hold your birthday cake when seven months pregnant.

xoxo

TASTING TIME

When I received the email inviting us to enjoy a day in the beautiful Temecula Valley with great friends to celebrate the birthday of Jena & Jared, I couldn’t wait! I love a chance to get out of the confines of the city buildings and enjoy the open space a bit. There is just something so relaxing about it all. We boarded the bus and headed to Callaway VIneyards and Longshadow Ranch Winery.

I love the beautiful colors of the vineyards and the warm sunshine. Longshadow Winery had an outside tasting area under a canopy of trees which provided fantastic light and allowed me to use our 85mm with a wide aperature (something I am not usually able to do in the middle of the day). Most of the these shots under the tree where shot at f/2.5 (for any camera geeks that may want to know).

Example of how to not look cool while wine tasting….drink at the same time as your friend and get caught.

Yep, caught another set of guys not looking cool despite the cigar in hand. I will consider this a half offender.

All and all, it was a fantastic day with wonderful friends! Happy Birthday guys and thanks to Anna for arranging everything!

XOXO

80th Birthday | Grandpa Merryman

Grandpa Merryman celebrated his 80th birthday on Saturday and we couldn’t have been more excited to celebrate with him!

I love this one of Darlene and Don together – married for over 50 years and still smiling!

And lastly, my favorite picture from the day of the birthday boy!

it’s my birthday and i’ll party if i want to.

Gosh, I sure am blessed with the best friends and family anyone could ask for! I was totally spoiled on my birthday and managed to spend the entire weekend celebrating!

On Saturday, after a day at the beach, we had dinner with Chris & Kim at Frito Misto in Hermosa which is one of my all-time favorite Italian places around! (When Ryan and I both lived in Hermosa we spent many date nights at this place). It is the best because you get large portions, the food is great, and best of all, only $2 corkage/person!

On Sunday, Suzi invited us over to her super fabulous pool in LA where we feasted on her yummy spread of mimosas, BBQ, and strawberry shortcake! Thanks to Kim, we even spotted a few of the dancers from So You Think You Can Dance — told you it was a super fabulous pool! Thanks for the fun time Suzi!

Monday was my actual birthday, which I spent at………Frito Misto! I have had spaghetti on my birthday for as long as I can remember and I couldn’t break the tradition now! Growing up, birthdays were always a very big deal around our house.

First the “Birthday Fairy” would come. What, is a “Birthday Fairy”?  Well, the birthday fairy might just be the coolest fairy around! She brings you a GIANT (like 5 ft tall) styrofoam number and hangs it in the house just so its clear whose birthday it really is!  Up next, was lunch at the birthday girl/boys favorite place, which was usually Sizzler! For the birthday dinner, you called the shots and Mom would cook whatever meal you wanted. For me it was always spaghetti. Growing up in a house of five children everyone had a different preference for what was cooked for dinner, so having your most favorite dinner in the whole wide world really was just about the best thing ever!

And this is why Frito Misto was in order for my birthday dinner. I was so happy Ryan’s family came out to celebrate with us!! I even got a funfetti cake from Suzi Cakes to end the evening with!

Thank you all (even those from a far) for a fabulous birthday!!!!!!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Brayden!

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon celebrating Bryaden’s 1st birthday! I love taking pictures of little ones so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to snap a few of this totally adorable little guy! xoxo Shan