Perfect Wine Country Wedding

So My college roomie got married this past weekend.  She did not get married to Justin Timberlake as was the plan circa 2003.  Good thing he's still out there for me.  Are you reading this Justin? Call me.

Anyway she lives in San Francisco where nature, wine, and good food are a-plenty.  Needless to say, it was the most ridiculously beautiful and fun wedding I've ever been to.  Seriously, there were three days worth of events and I felt like people laughed at my jokes all wekend long (a rare occurence, let me tell you).  I was actually out west for a week helping get ready... .as my friend is an uber creative, crafy, and detail person, there was much to do for her big day.  Obviously having much to do requires many breaks at wine bars.  Did you know you can milk the engaged/bride/just married thing for free drinks? You do now.  Thank you bottle of champagne.

The wedding was an hour or so north of SF in Guerneville (for you blog readers, that's about 10 miles from Jenna's Healdsburg) and required a little road trip.  That's me riding with a very pretty white dress.

The bride, below, and a sideways Golden Gate bridge (I tried to punch my computer screen to get it upright, and then I was out of ideas... why does blogging make me feel so not tech savvy.. what is the deal with this internet machine? why can't Al Gore invent something that works more gooder for me)

Road tripping is also hard, and required breaks at more wineries.  Also you're supposed to spit out your drinks so you don't get drunk.  Also you're supposed to use inside voices. 

In a particularly adorable move, my friend hosted a ladies tea party for the bridal party and families.  Some of the groom's family is British, but any chance you get to wear a tea dress and eat cucumber sandwiches should be taken.  (note to self: new idea for a bumper sticker)

Tree hanging decor courtesy of Martha Stewart.  Tablecloth was a roll of fabric she got on clearance, cake stands she made with plates and candlesticks found and flea markets.  Get that girl a show on HGTV, asap.  Hey Hey, she's crafty!

She found different English china teacups and saucers on EBAY for everyone to take as a party gift.There might have been vodka in the lemonade.She also gave everyone a tea bag with an inspiration 'women's quote and a note thanking us for being an important woman in her life.  Perhaps the best part? Her new Betsy Johnson tea party shoes.  ME-OW.

The rehearsal dinner was in a redwood forest (Armstrong National Forest) and had trees larger than I'd ever seen in my life.  They were amazing!  They made me think of Ewoks a little bit from Star Wars... but you have to be careful to mention such nerd speak when you are meeting new people.  Ditto for the 'forbidden forest' Harry Potter references. 

So the bride and groom met when she and I went to Jamaica our junior year of college for spring break.  Can you believe they've been together ever since? Crazy!  Obviously a Jamaican themed rehearsal was perfect.  It was even catered by a friend of theres who they met in Jamaica, lost touch with, and then he found them on FB and told them he was opening a restaurant.  How serendipitious can you get?

Tree Hugger.

Note to self: that Jamaican bread (made with cononut milk) is SO DENSE and amazing! It's like pound cake!  I normally am not a fan of spicy food but this was SO SO good.  Extra TLC for the pinapple that rocked my socks off.

The small resort (can you call it that? it makes it sound like there's a lido deck to me) had 50-some-odd cabins which were booked the entire weekend by guests of the wedding -- we had the whole place to ourselves! 

Everyone got a note on the door with their name and an AMAZING goodie bag filled with candy, snacks, personalized maps, flyers with local attractions, a 'pocket' schedule for the weekend and so much more.  

The bride was of course beautiful and glamorous while getting ready!  Mimosa time :)

The reception was in the meadow.  Seriously these pictures don't do it justice, it was ridiculously pretty and has ruined me from liking any other normal church/reception hall wedding.

There was an acoustic guitar playing here comes the sun and other lovely beatles tunes

Her uncles walked her half way, and then she walked the rest on her own.

She had ribbons, fans, and yay signs for people to use!

The cocktail reception was in the meadow and it was even prettier in real life.  The parasols helped provide shade and looked pretty great too.  There was bocce ball and croquet there too.

check the shoes, check the shoes..

She had their vows printed on canvas so guests could ink their fingerprints on them. 

The reception was in the orchard and was SO pretty!

Table assignments hanging from the trees. 

Different cakes for each table.. all of the food was AMAZING!

A shoe cake server, obviously

A pretty hilarious speech, if I do say so myself.

Busting a move.

People like myself were such dance floor hogs they had to clear everyone out half way through the reception so the bride and groom could do the official first dance that they practiced. 

The bride had stashed a basket of Pashminas (in wedding colors of course) at the end of the dance floor for people to use if/when it got chillier outside. 

The next day, some seared polenta fries with chunky red sauce were JUST what the doctor ordered.

A pork salad with fancy things in it.  Sidebar, is pork really trendy right now? It's never something I get at home and rarely order it out, but when in a trendy California restaurant, you order the special.  Am I right or am I right?

Back in SF before we left, we hit up a coffee shop downtown to get some veggie breakfast burritos with extra avocado.  Behold the delicousness:

Raaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr delicious

I'm still on a high from this beautiful perfect vacation wedding.  It was my everything, note to self, travel westward more often.  Justin, are you still reading? call me.

Birthdays, BFFs, Boat Rides

So this will be a big of a random belated post, however I feel I must broach subjects about which I am passioniate: food, parties and triscuits.

Let me start by saying how much I love summer. I mean sundresses everyday, cheap fruits and vegetables, a million weddings/reunions/fun times planned... despite the fact I no longer get a summer break (like all of my fortunate coach and teacher friends), as according to socially accepted standards I am well into my young adulthood. However I enjoy these months as much as ever. We made dinner for emily in honor of the anniversary of her birth and I even OMITTED healthy ingredients. Am I a pal or what? Minus the fact it's clogging her arteries. But who is counting that?

See below, Giada's chicken tettrazini: It was good... real good (okay i doubled the amount of peas the recipe called for, so there).
Never mind that I had to call mom mid-cook because the cups upon cups of broth, whole milk, and heavy cream were NOT thickening. Tetrazzini soup! I dumped a truckload of flour in there, didn't use all of the fluid from the sauce and had a runny yummy dish anyway.

Emily liked it. She said she didn't want to turn 27 as god had intended, so we partied like it was 2008. I even went to the party supply store and got decorative silver wedding anniversary '25's to hang on the wall. We drank a couple bottles of wine and skyped with Kelly and Micheal in Denver so we could all sing with cake! Happy 25th amigo, you don't look a day over 24 1/2.

I also had a mini college reunion with the sorority sisters. Highlights include when Banks tries to impress upon us how good of a waitress she is by doing a spin move with a tray of shots and.. well... to the floor they went. Spillage of Exxon Valdez proportions, the bartenders were super impressed (not). Dance parties, late night burgers, and shenanigans that prove we have clearly not matured at all in the past few years.

Dancing at dive bars? Yes please.

The night ended something like this:

THEN my BFFs bachelorette party was at the lake. Her maid and matron of honors did a pretty bombtastic job if I do say so myself (pats self on back).

The cupcakes and cookies we had made were TO DIE FOR, and were made by Mandy at Peace Love and Cupcakes in KC. Her business is new and small so let me know if you want her info :) PS the cookie torsos were in different shapes and sizes (as are we), and the bride's was white. How pretty are they? Tasted amazing too!
The AM lingerie shower spread.

The PM bach party peni cupcakes. They were penis coladas and tasted like getting caught in the rain. and coconut.

It's all fun and games until the bride gets a black eye on a rough wipe-out while tubing. It's cool, it has since healed.

It was the greatest weekend ever though, with fun and minimal injuries had by all. In other news, I got John's grandma's dress form. Everyone, meat Beatrice. Beatrice, meet the internet.

She's my roomie. Someday when I get a sewing machine *cough* mom *cough* I can use her since she adjusts to my size. For now I will admire her antique fabulousness and even the original Singer sticker from the 30s that's on her. Neat, eh?

Also in the event I have somehow not mentioned this, I have become OBSESSED with triscuits fine grain original flavor. (is all caps too much? sorry to shout, but i feel strongly). Try it, if you don't like it, I will take what you don't eat.

Other posts coming soon PLUS guess what? A week from today I will be in CALIFORNIA!! Whoop Whoop!

Fancy LA eats + IOWA awesomeness 5000

I went to LA recently and it was fabulous. I know, I know, you're thinking 'Lauren all you're going to talk about is how you and Justin Timberlake ran into each other and fell in love', well don't worry, I won't bore you with stories about how I hung out with my hollywood BFFs (I did not), or how JT fell in love with me (status pending).

Actually While I was there I stayed on the Anaheim side which means that instead of fancy cars and designer clothes I saw a lot of Disneyworld fanny packs and scrunched 80s tourist socks. You know the kind I'm referring to. That's right Dad, the ones I weaned you off of earlier this year.

I digress. I love traveling for work because I can order fabulous food that I would not have the resources or know how to make at home. Below was a once beautifully presented tower of fruit and seafood (mango, avocado, crab) from M&S grill. I remembered to take the picture post first bite. Just use your imagination. It tasted absolutely glorious.
I also ordered the red velvet cupcake because any slight reference to Steel Magnolias and the armadillo cake gets points in my book.

So I was in LA for a trade show and generally speaking trade show food is continental breakfast at the comfort-inn level in quality so pictures are not generally necessary. But there, out of the blue, came another installment of : ADVENTURES IN NEW FRUIT. I was intrigued. Apparently that fruit with the Encino man hairdo is called a Rambutan (similar to a lychee?) It was the same texture as a grape, with little to no flavor and with tons of work to get to the edible part.

It was gloriously sunny and perfect weather the entire time I was there. Ahh palm trees, so vacation-esque.

One of John's old roomies and friends from college lives in the area so we grabbed dinner one night at a fun Sushi place in downtown Fullerton.

Yummmm...... Sushi......

Except when they load it up with mayo-like substances. Dude, that ruins the flavor.

Although the majority of the rolls were DEE LISH, this one tasted like crab salad on top of the roll. Both hard to eat and kind of bland. Not my scene.

This was my date for the evening. Jackson, aren't you happy that I've showed the world such a completely flattering photo of you eating? It reminds me of the time I went to a sushi place for a first date. TERRIBLE idea. Not only is my hand tremor not conducive to graceful chopstick usage, but they make rolls the size of your fist, and you don't have much choice but to shove the whole thing in your mouth and hope you don't displace your jaw.

Soon after my return to the Show Me State, I left for the annual Carroll Sister's weekend. My mom and her SIX SISTERS have been having an annual sister's weekend every year since I was in junior high. The date and location changes, the jokes and the people are generally the same. a winning combo. This year there were 7 sisters + 4 nieces + 2 aunts + 2 sisters-in-law.

My godmother/aunt/summertime roomie hosted this year and made it so fabulous!

There was a murder mystery the first night. My character was Cinderella (Beth to her friends) which meant that I got to bring out my MORP dress from college. MORP = prom backwards, which we used as an 80s theme. Mom has been trying to get me to throw this out for years (as, obviously, I've been storing it at her house). By the grace of god it fit and if it wasn't so uncomfortable to sit down in it I'd wear it all the time.

What is a weekend together if not ALL about food! We had lots of healthy options this year, go us! (and go Aunt Anne for coordinating it!)

Other highlights of the trip include: Yoga, taught by yours truly (mostly stretching, but it counts), water color lessons, decoupage art time, a HILARIOUS talent show where I played the spoons. As usual, my great Aunt Marilyn steals the show and I even videoed but I couldn't get it to post here so just imagine Betty white dancing to NOW that's what I call music 2010.

We went to a charming house on a charming street in a charming town (star's hollow, anyone?) that a Russian family had converted into a restaurant. I suppose there is a reason that the Russians aren't known for their culinary skills (or healthy eating, yikes), but the ambiance and the company made it a thousand times better than any chain restaurant we could have gone to. Below were our Russian eats.
A potato salad in a kaiser bun that had Beet eyes that stared at me. Plus a cream of mushroom soup that was SO SO SO GOOD. I'm pretty sure it was heavy cream with mushroom flavor, but I'm not complaining.

I got the vegetarian option and am so glad I did. I hadn't had acorn squash in forever! It had honey, brown sugar, butter and cheese on it. I picked around the cheese as the squash was plenty flavorful with out it. Also the asparagus came wrapped in a puff pastry, cute and delicious! That other thing was a combination of four cheeses and was uber heavy. Lots of flavor but after a couple of bites I literally had to get up and walk around the block.

Can't wait for next year's Wisconsin adventure!!

In other news, I have been playing Words with Friends like it's going out of style. I play John, my brother, my cousins, my college buds, and John's sister. I freaking love it. I also documented my highest scoring game to date, where I got nearly 600 points. Nerdy scrabble high five!

Also last week I made Jenna's (of Eat Live Run) Vegan Lentil Loaf and it was SOOOOO GOOD. Even John begrudgingly approved. It made an awesome weeknight meal in the following days too.
Two thumbs up!

Currently it is 85 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, my calendar is chalk full of fun stuff going on and I am happy as a clam. YAY summer!