Oh hi, August. Have you seen July around here anywhere? Apologies, and our trip out west.

Oh my word, I have been busy busy busy! I can’t believe we’re more than halfway through August. Mentally, I think I’m still somewhere around July 8th. Please excuse my blogging absence. In July, we had three family birthdays, the premier of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (come on now, this is big stuff), I went crazy helping out with a last-minute proposal at work, my parents came to visit for a week, and Joe was in two weddings in sunny California.

Today, I'll give you a little wrap-up of our trip to the other coast.

Joe flew solo for our friend Matt’s marriage to his sweetheart Katie, at the beginning of the month. He had a blast and hasn’t stopped talking about Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles since.

Katie chose lemon and lime for her colors and I think it turned out so fresh and cheery. Don’t they make a cute couple?
















For California-in-July wedding number two, we both flew out (on Virgin America -- it's the only way to fly) for Chris and Lindsay's wedding. It was a beautiful affair! It was clear that lots of careful planning and attention to detail went into making their day perfect. They both come from such sweet families. And Chris worked on the classic truck that his late father left him and he and Lindsay drove away in it. Ahh the romance!













Our trip was only slightly clouded by an accident at the rehearsal dinner. After we'd eaten and were enjoying the beautiful pool under the cloudless California night sky, Joe's foot went straight through the dry-rotted lid to a pool filter and his shin looked as if someone had used a melon baller to scoop out a hunk of his flesh. And as it turns out, he was rather attached to that bit of flesh, too. Seeing as how it was 10pm in a strange city, (and it didn't seem like there was skin to stitch together) we opted out of a trip to the ER and the next day, it was quite painful. Nearly four weeks later, he is thankfully infection free and the wound is on its way to being a distant memory.

Determined to have a good time in spite of his unfortunate encounter with concrete, on Monday we ventured to Santa Monica to visit Evan and Kerstin. They live in the cutest area in a lovely one-bedroom just down the street from Montana Ave. where you can stroll the sidewalks with your dog (we saw three Cavaliers!) and window shop at chic little boutiques.

There's this gorgeous shoe store, Il Primo Passo.














Photo from here.

There's also Planet Blue, which features lots of fashions worn by celebrities.









And kind of like The Denim Bar here in DC, Santa Monica has The Blues Jean Bar, which is modeled after a neighborhood pub and makes jean shopping look like a lot of fun! There are also locations in Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, and Denver.












While the shopping in Santa Monica is great, nothing can compare to the beautiful beach. It was so fun to spend a couple of hours in the sun with the cool breeze, some good conversation, and a few copies of old Domino magazines, courtesy of Kerstin.