Yes, you can swim with sharks in the wild.
Last year, when we went down to San Diego to visit our friend (and former bridesmaid) Jamie, she let us know that Leopard Sharks come to La Jolla every year so you can snorkel with them. In the wild. Not in a tank.
Awesome.
And we have committed to going back every year.
So. Since we were 1/2 down there anyway…. (because of Lobsterfest) … we headed on down to San Diego to visit Jamie and Zack and the sharks.
And Andrew and I pretty much …

Remember how we went to Lobsterfest last year?
For real. Live lobster flown in from Maine for a backyard feast?
*swoon*
And. Yes. We got to go again this year.
Same family. Same group of friends. Different house/backyard.
But still fantastic!

Not including the pots of hot water for corn-on-the-cob and lobsters …. 3 big grills for steak and full onions … mmmm ….

Keith.
Andrew’s co-worker. My past wedding client.
And the son of the guy who owns this house and hosts Lobsterfest.
And so Keith is obviously one of my favorite people ….

Gary (the host) bought …

I love Harry Connick Jr.
With all my heart.
Everything about him.
So, when we were at the Hollywood Bowl in July … and saw a poster for Harry Connick Jr coming to the Hollywood Bowl, OBVIOUSLY we had to check if there were still tickets!
Obviously.
This time my mom, grandma and aunt came out from Phoenix. Kind of a girls’ weekend + Andrew at the Bowl.

(grandma and Harry below)

We got Cici’s Cafe for our picnic dinner … .

This was my 3rd time seeing Harry Connick Jr.
3rd time in maybe 10 years or so.
Yes. …

After our big family wedding on Friday night ….
Andrew and the Schuberts had a BUNCH of family in town the next day, Saturday. We all went over to Andy and Julie’s house while Katie and Joe opened gifts and we played croquet ….
Big day. Big weekend.
(leftover flowers and cake from the wedding)

Jenae being a good bridesmaid and helping with the gifts ….

I found some fun aprons for Katie and Joe ….

While Andrew and Daniel set up some insane croquet courses in the backyard …

Those boys LOVE croquet

Thursday night.
After the rehearsal.
Night before the wedding.
I’m not much of a sit-around-and-relax-while-on-vacation kind of girl. I’m more of a go-see-everything-tourist.
But just hanging out at the hotel pool before the wedding was deliciously relaxing ….
Andrew and I got down to the pool before everyone else (and actually ran into great uncle Mike and aunt pat again) ….. and stayed long after it got dark …

Joe was going for SUPER traditional and didn’t see Kaitlin at all after the rehearsal dinner, but she was able to spend time with US!
But we had …

Since the venue (and hotel everyone stayed at) for Katie and Joe’s wedding is in Agoura Hills, Joe’s family found a great Mexican restaurant in that part of town for the rehearsal dinner.
Mmmm …. Mexican. Cisco’s in Westlake Village.
Andrew and I got there first – along with Joe’s great uncle/aunt. …. and were led into the back room all decorated in pink and black and white (same as the wedding colors). The restaurant even has big globe lights (see below) that they were able to tint to pink to match….

Since …

So ….. The wedding that we Kaitlin and Joe have been planning for over a year is now over ….(don’t worry. I’ve already started collecting baby shower ideas. Just in case).
You wouldn’t believe how many photos I (and Andrew) took last week between the rehearsal, wedding and post-wedding family activities. Especially considering I was IN the wedding ….
The festivities started with the wedding rehearsal on Thursday afternoon at Malibou Lake Mountain Club. Andrew and I had to book it there after having our portraits taken by Jamie.

Easy breezy rehearsal.

Miss Angela is moving …
I’ve known her for …. A MILLION years ….
which makes this a PERFECT time to post old (embarrassing) photos of her
There are even MORE fun (old) photos of Angela here on this old blog post for her bday
{captions and dates are below the images}

AND …. 10 years later ….

That’s right. My darling girl is leaving me for greener pastures. And bluer skies.
Starting Monday (just a few days from now) she will be starting training with Virgin America to be an airline stewardess… or air hostess … or in-flight team member …. or whatever you call them.
Sad.
She had a bit of a going-away party over the weekend to celebrate/commiserate ….
at The Foxfire on Magnolia — not too far from our house now that we live in Encino!
see photos below (including scans of Instax minis)

xo Angie. We’re proud of you!

One of the best parts of living in L.A. is EVERYONE comes out here to visit (I didn’t get a whole lot of visits from CA friends when we lived in AZ) ….
A week or so ago my cute cousin Lisa was in town.
She and her cousin (from the other side of the family) came to L.A. for the weekend, stayed with her aunt/uncle/cousins (from the other side of her family) in SCV and JAM-PACKED their weekend full of all kinds of Los-Angeles-tourism.
But managed to squeeze a breakfast with Andrew …

Featuring two songs this weekend by Swedish songwriter Jens Lekman.  The first song for whatever reason cuts off the last 30 seconds or so, but you get the idea.  A perfect pop song that makes me want to dance and wish my only friends weren’t songs.

Jens Lekman – Friday Night At The Drive-In Bingo
Jens Lekman – Sky Phenomenon

I would encourage everyone to dig deeper into his quirky catalog.  Especially the song “I Am Leaving You Because I Don’t Love You” Spoolwork Remix

I’ve always wanted a garden …. When I was younger, my parents let me plant seeds and set aside a little plot in the backyard.
But, I think maybe that’s a post for another day.
Right now, Andrew and I are just trying not to kill 2 plants out on our balcony that gets almost ZERO direct sunlight. Both these plants live on the half-wall of our patio. The patio faces almost exactly true north, so the only direct sunlight we get is REALLY EARLY in the morning and all the way …

Yo La Tengo – I’m On My Way (Popular Songs)

I love the breezy, lazy delivery of this songs, beautiful and delicate.

I’ve shot (or helped shot) several weddings over the last month ….
First, in June I photographed Kristian and Stephanie’s wedding down in Orange County at the Wayfarer’s Chapel. They came in from Oregon to get married in this glass chapel …. I only shot the ceremony and portraits, but it was so so gorgeous.

At the beginning of July, I joined Renee Bowen in photographing a wedding at Middle Ranch.
sidenote: This was the *first* wedding I’ve photographed only 45 min from my house. It was so nice to just go home …

I used to collect key rings.
Somewhere in storage I have a huge wad of all-connected keychains from any number of places. A lot from vacations (pretty sure there is a Yellowstone keychain and a Washington DC keychain at least), some I just liked, at least a few that I made (remember lanyards?).
But that was all before I really had any keys.
Now that I have to be responsible for locking things behind me, I just don’t have the pocket (or brain) space for fancy schmancy keyrings.
Andrew is even worse….

Andrew’s keys (above)

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