It must be the Holidays!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

For the past few years the Holiday season has been full of holiday boutiques/events for my accessories, this year is no different! Mari Elizabeth Couture will be in 3 shows & my new clothing line (post coming later) will also be in 3! To kick start the season I had a boutique the first weekend of November in UT called The Bijou Market, for MEC necklaces & my new shirts.

Because that was the weekend we were moving to Orange County, Britney handled it for me! All of you who have ever done a holiday boutique know just how much work it takes--you have to plan a display, set up the display & inventory, monitor it & sell it during the hours of the boutique and and and and... Brit did ALL of that for me! She even STEAMED my tops! Now that's love! I am so grateful for all her help, because guess what a horrible person I am? I am having her do ANOTHER one for me in a couple weeks! I am a lucky lady to have her, I'm telling you!

Here is Britney for those of you who don't know her, I have mentioned her OFTEN on this blog! She is a babe right?? Love her fab red hair too...

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The next event is THIS weekend at Valencia High School! I participated last year because Chris' cousin Lauren is a choir member, and the event is a fundraiser for them. This year she asked if I would do it again & of course I wanted to help out! So even if you aren't going to purchase any MEC merchandise, you should definitely come to support the cause! This year I will be selling a tiny small sampling of my new tops & focusing mainly on Mari Elizabeth Couture necklaces & headwear! Come visit me!

Valencia High School- Valencia, CA
Fri 20th 8am-1pm
Sat 21st 8am - 4pm

some of the things you'll find there this weekend:

Then the first weekend of December I have 3 boutiques! You may be thinking, how can she be in 3 places at once? I can't--LUCKY for me (again with this great luck!) I have Britney (again!), Claire, & Courtney.

Brit will be running my table at the Beehive Bazaar! I really wish I could be there for this one! It is my first year participating in this event & I have heard such great things about it. It's a 2.5 day event-more info coming soon!

Courtney is doing a boutique up in SLC (more info when it gets closer) for her fabulous accessories for women & children, Pearl & Pauper! She is going to be offering AMAZING prices so be sure to check back to my blog for further information! Court was sweet enough to invite me to split the booth with her, so MEC will be there as well! I am also very happy to have her, because she can create a beautiful display for us--she is a boutique pro!

Claire found a fantastic boutique called Hip Handmaids (where we will be doing a giveaway soon!). Located here is California!! It's in Burbank! (more details to come as it gets closer) Claire & I have been partnering up to create some fun tops--I will be there at least one of the two days, hopefully both!

dance, dance

I heart Paramore!

I went to see Paramore @ Hollywood Palladium
this past week--SO MUCH FUN!
We laughed.
We danced.
We sang.
We danced & sang a LOT & should be embarrassed of these photos..

Lindsay said "Wait! How do I make a funny face?!" haha.

She is amazing

Us crazy fans went into the crowd & went wild

I have a concert buzz now & am craving more! I have been wanting to see the Muse, Killers, & the Sounds for a long time now (consequently I missed all three shows in LA! ah! 'til next tour I suppose) But there are tons of girly concerts I would go to too! I highly recommend a concert in your near future if you can do it!
Some of my Paramore favorites, oldies but goodies:
Crushcrushcrush
Hallelujah
Fabs from the new album:
Looking Up
Brick By Boring Brick

Halloween Time!

I know this post is a bit late! We haven't had internet until now & it's time to play catch up!

This year Chris & I ended our travels in Utah, where we spent my 24th birthday & Halloween. It is always a blast in Utah, seeing family & friends, eating at our favorite Utah restaurants, & enjoying a change in weather. We love Utah!

BIRTHDAY!!

I was actually really dreading this birthday, I am feeling really old & the hardest part is I don't know how much I have to show for my 24 years! It's a weird feeling that hasn't quite gone away, but I am hoping it does soon! Anywho...we invited a bunch of our closest UT pals to join us for dinner & a haunted house up in Salt Lake City. It was so great to see everyone! We really do wish we could see them more often! Courtney, the doll she is, made a dinner reservation at one of my favorite SLC spots, the Dodo. After dinner we went to Nightmare on 13th, which was SO freaky! The boys all claim they weren't scared...bah! Utah always has wicked awesome haunted houses...if you ever get a chance to visit in October, you should definitely check them out!

some of the lovely ladies

from the left: Traci, Cami, Rachel, Me, Brit, & Court

after the haunted house

from left: Brit & her husband Keith, Danny & his wife Traci, Mark, Chris, & Me

Danny is one of Chris' closest friends from BYU, and his wife Traci is the nicest person I have ever met. They are expecting a son! We are so excited for them!

Brit & Cami were my college roomies when Chris & I met, it's always fun to get together with them & laugh about old times! I will always love these girls!

Brit, that savvy little lady & my twin (we basically agree on everything & think so much alike it's freaky) works at a fab store that carries fab goods...lucky for ME! Her & Cami surprised me with a little Marc Jacobs for my bday....Keith was taking pics, apparently I LOVE me some Marc!
(he is one of my very favorite designers)

Courtney Nicole & I.
I'm really glad we got to see them, they live about an hour north of my parents & even though that's close it always seems far! I am really grateful to have her for a sister in law & love her mucho!

Miss Rachel!
Rachel is Chris' cousin, and I ADORE her! You know how there are just people you click with? Chris' family is FULL of those kind of people! I am so happy we were able to see her while in UT.

Danny (aka Deluxxe) & Chris
All they do is make eachother laugh the entire time they hang out.
It's awesome.

Brit, Keith, Cami & her husband JR

During the week I was able to go to lunch with Cami & my friend Benz. Benz is hilarious & full of very good, intelligent conversation (haha, there is really no other way to describe it). It was so great to see him! He just received his mission call to Mongolia! I am really happy & excited for him, I think he is going to be a great missionary.

MORE BIRTHDAY!!!
My family had a small shin-dig for my bday as well, Katie (my sister in law) ROCKS! She made me this awesome cupcake tower of heavenly goodness.
Observe:

These fabulous cupcakes are topped with handmade (by Katie) chocolate butterflies! Whaaaaaat? Yes. I am spoiled. The end.

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE having older brothers? It's the best. Older brothers are so fun. Here are 2 of my 4 older brothers with Chris.
from left: Cim, Chris, PJ

Logan & his cupcake face, this kid is SUCH a character! He is constantly entertaining us.

Lorena (my sister in law) & her youngest, Dylan (who has the cutest cheeks!)

birfday girl & my sweet shades compliments of my father

birfday girl's hot husband

HALLOWEEN!

my dad gave me a pk of 20 vampire teeth for my birthday, the kids enjoyed them almost as much as we did..

we had some pre-Halloween dress up time...

Chris was cracking me up with the clown costume. He would be a cute clown if he didn't have the scruff & the scary stare!

Chris, my mama, & I decided instead of carving pumpkins we would glitter them! I normally cover or shimmer my pumpkins, but we found glitter glue pens so decided to draw on them this year! It was fun. Chris refused at first, but it only took about 10min of watching us before he said "hand me the blue"!

The only costume I could convince him to wear...

Trick or Treat!

my cute nephew Caleb aka Dr. Caleb

my mother in her Shakespearian costume

Katie & I were both Witches

Cim was an ACDC fan
(if you see his shirt he put tape over the 'LL' & made it "CK" haha what a nerd)

PJ's family were all Pirates!

Aubrie was a Princess!

Pirate Alex!

BumbleBee Justin!

Ellie was Tinkerbell!

Joshua was Spiderman!

Logan was BuzzLightyear, he received the royal treatment & didn't have to walk

Caitlyn was a cowgirl!

Danny & Traci joined us for the Trick or Treating, she was a gypsy & he was Sherlock Holmes

All the adults dressed up!

(you can barely see Chris because his mask is black, but he definitely IS choking me)

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Wanna be a Supermodel?

I'm pretty sure my friend Ashley is. Remember a couple months ago when I posted about Ashley having a baby? Well Ms. Ashley is also a Certified Personal Trainer and Pilates Mat/Reformer Instructor. She has the best body I have ever seen in my entire life! I am not exaggerating. Not that having a great body is all that matters, she is extremely healthy on all levels. She just started a fitness program in Santa Clarita & it's going to be awesome! It's group training outside in the evenings. The best part is you can get this fabulous training for next to nothing! I am serious, she is crazy for doing it for so cheap! All the better for us I say! :) Anyway, if any of you are interested please come! You bet I'll be driving my butt up from O.C. to attend, because training like that is worth that drive!

So if YOU want to be a Supermodel & you live in SoCal, you should definitely check out her site!

(click below)

Glamour Girl Fitness

Autumn in New York

NEW YORK!
We just returned from another fabulous trip to NYC! As it is fairly obvious that I am fan of photos, I need not warn you about the massive overload you are about to witness.

Chris & I saved up all of our 'vacation' time for October, since the summer was full of bar review & all. After Boston, we hopped on a plane to NYC to spend a week with Ammon, Lauren, & Carlo. The first day Chris & I spent just the two of us, we hit up MOMA, Central Park, I lost my phone (again! ugh!), we explored, took a nap in our fabulously comfy hotel bed, bought a new phone, had dinner with Carlo, hugged Amms (who just arrived home from a work trip), & crashed (in our fabulously comfy hotel bed).

MOMA
Monet, Van Gogh, etc are all on display at MoMa...as well a few other...um, interesting artists. (that's something I did NOT photograph, Chris did with his iPhone if you are really interested, ask him)

pretty right? look below for some very rad detail..

Central Park

DAY 2
Lauren arrives!!!
We went to Max Brenner's which was so delicious! A definite NYC must! Then had a yummy Venezuelan dinner to complete the night. (oh and spotted some celebs while on our outings)

MAX BRENNER'S

A few of my NY Favorite Things Include:
Max Brenner's

Art..

all the cute shops on the corners with flowers outside..

DAY 3
Chris, Lauren & I went to the Natural History Museum. Chris & Lauren read & learned..I am more of a "look & learn" type. After the museum, we wandered through Central Park, ate at the Boathouse, got a rowboat & rowed on the lake in Central Park, went to the Jersey Boys show, and finished off the night with some delicious desert @ Juniors Bakery.
I've always wanted to take a boat out on the lake, so I was really excited! It did not disappoint! We had a blast! Lucky us, Ammon treated us to Jersey Boys, what a sweetheart!!
It was an awesome show!! I recommend it!

Museum of Natural History

CENTRAL PARK

The Boathouse

'Friends' fountain

Row, Row, Row, your boat..

JERSEY BOYS

TIMES SQUARE

Hi Max!

somehow I'm always kissing him...hmmm

DAY 4
Rain, Food, Rain. Repeat.
We braved the rain & got some NY pizza, roamed shops, visited Ammon @ work, and then enjoyed some NY take out & snuggled in.

view from Amm's work..pretty rain:)

DAY 5
Rain! (again)
Lunch in the meat packing district @ Pastis (yum!), roaming the city, shopping in SoHo, & home for some Brazilian home cookin'!

I thought this was so cute

Carlo's famous ribs & yucca YUMMY!!!

DAY 6
Canal Street, getting our hair done by Amms, dinner in meatpacking district, & famous Billy's bakery for desert! (can you say red velvet HEAVEN?!)

This window display sums up our trip! 'Til next time beautiful city!

I feel lucky

I feel lucky to have such great family & friends. I have a great husband. I get to do & see a lot of cool things. I am feeling extremely fortunate at the moment. I am completely spoiled & do not deserve any of it...

But I'll take it!

New England

Our trip to Massachusetts was incredible!
It was the first time Chris & I had ever been anywhere just the two of us (we didn't have a honeymoon since Chris was in law school when we got married), we loved it! It was so fun to go at our own pace, not having to worry about other people & just be able to do what we wanted when we wanted.

We stayed in Boston, which was GORGEOUS! What a beautiful place.
Ah, I am in love with it.
The cobblestone streets, the old buildings next to new buildings (sounds a lot like NY, which I also adore), the pubs on the corners, the beautiful trees & all the history!
Our first day we followed the 'Freedom Trail' (a route that takes you to all the major historical sites in the city). Chris was the tour guide, and would read about each location when we got there. So much better than a tour group btw! It was really cool to see so many of the places that are a major part of our country's history. Plus it was a great way to see the city!

Embarking our Tour!

Old South Meeting House: Where Sam Adams organized the Boston Tea Party

Boston Commons

Before we started the tour, we walked past this book store & I pretty much fell in love with it. Its so cool! Later, we found out it IS apart of the trail! I guess I have a good eye for rad things, that happen to be historical sites..what can I say? Authors like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Harriet Beetcher Stowe, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Charles Dickens were all published here.

This cemetery is in the heart of the city. Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin's parents, etc. were buried here. *does anyone know if those baby headstones in front of the big ones are children? Maybe buried with their parents? Hmm.

Where the Boston Massacre took place..


cute chris..



i saw this & had to take a picture...


'One if by land, two if by sea'...

had to take a picture of it, too cute..

Boston.

Bunker Hill

USS Constitution aka Old Ironsides

While wandering the city, I decided to photograph all the places I would like to live, here are a few of my favorites:

After our tour of the historical sites, we decided to grab a bite at Durgin Park. My grandpa Carver attended Harvard, and HIGHLY recommended this place. We had to experience grandpa's old stomping grounds right? I am always a fan of local, non-chain restaurants when I'm traveling-it just adds to the experience.

After shopping at Quincy Market & the Freedom Trail we decided to head to a famous improv comedy club (featured on HBO) that night. The 'Improv Asylum' did not let us down, we had a great time!

After the show, we had dinner at an amazing restaurant- Ristoranti Damiano. OMG! It's probably the best food I've ever had. By far my favorite restaurant from our entire east coast trip! After dinner, we got canoli's from the famous Mike's Patry. YUMMY!

The next day we decided (more like Chris decided to be a sweetheart & cater to my slight obsession with autumn) to tour the landscape of New England to see the foliage. I wish we had a better camera, although these photos are beautiful, they do not even come close to giving what we saw justice. Solution:Plan a trip & go see for yourself. It was the highlight of the trip, for me.

*Unfortunately half the photos from this trip and from the night before were deleted by yours truly, sometimes I amaze myself with my skills! Ugh. I'm really sad about it too, because we had some REALLY good photos that I wanted. Boo! We have a new rule NO DELETING FROM CAMERA

Anyway, back to the LEAVES!!!!

We drove through the Berkshires. At some lookout points it was over 100miles straight of rolling hills covered in splashes of color.
Completely breathtaking!
(sounds cheesy, but again, I have a slight obsession)

I thought this valley was pretty, we stopped & I had some of the farm's organic fresh apple cider! Mmmm.

After our amazing day driving around the state (literally 8 hours), we had dinner at the Barking Crab after Court highly recommended it. Our entire trip we kept getting texts from family & friends telling us we HAD to try the Lobster. So, I experienced my first lobster ever.
I had no idea how terrified I would be of it! WAY too gross for me to touch! I can't just rip a limb off & crack it open! EWwwww! Needless to say, after much screaming & freaking out, Chris came to my rescue (after making fun of me) & did all the hard work.

(I did think it was delicious though! Next time Ill stick to my Lobster Ravioli though!)