St Louis Surprises

i love surprises! not being surprised myself but i love doing it to other people. and when an opportunity to fly out to missouri for my good friend/ twinsie's birthday it was a no brainer! we had to do it! Our flight got into Missouri bright and early at 4:30am meaning she had a fun wake up call around 5:30. Her reaction was priceless. Completely surprised and it was amazing! We have a fabulous weekend of exploring St. Charles and St. Louis, wine tasting, shopping, dive bars, karaoke, brewery tours, and lots of yummy cocktails. It was an exhausting weekend but completely worth it. I love surprises. Don't you? 

bday serenades 

Of course i had to bring her a little piece of home :) go beavs! 

our hotel was right across from the arch. which obviously made for a great photo op! 

anyone who knows me is aware i am not a huge fan of beer but of course we had to take a trip to the massive Anheuser- Busch campus. We even took a tour that walked you through the whole process. Pretty darn interesting and even found something tasty beers i could drinks :)

Happy 24th to this beauty! I'm pretty sure 24 is going to be the best year yet! 

But now it's back to reality. i think i like surprises much better then working. 

Hope you have a simply wonderful Tuesday. 

i miss this

i miss this. i miss my little blogging world. i miss the ritual of putting a little piece of me out into the world every week. even if no one was ever looking or reading i still enjoyed the process. the expectation of blogging multiple times a week became almost an impossible feat with so much happening in my life. and now that things have slowed down i am finally able to put my focus into some of the small things that got left by the wayside in those busy months. I know that this quiet time will soon be replaced with the craziness of fall but i will do my best to keep some sort of presence here.

So what have i been up to this summer? Honestly,  a little bit of everything! I just got back from my first real vacation in 2 years and let me tell you, it was unbelievable! I have been laying by the pool, cooking, drinking wine, celebrating birthdays, and even letting myself be a little lazy...shocking i know! Pretty much living the dream, and i can't remember a time i have been this calm and happy! So far one of the best summer's and it's only getting better and better! Some more amazingness planned and with time flying by students will soon be back on campus and my calm life will go back to crazy. I admit i am enjoying all this down time but i kinda of can't wait for the buzz of fall, a new school year, football, and events galore. But no more of that talk. Here are some pics from the summer so far! 

celebrated my Bestie's 25th Birthday! how completely gorgeous is she?!

and it was my roomies 30th bday as well! Here are the birthday buddies! 

threw together a last minute 4th of July BBQ complete with cheesy red, white and blue cupcakes! 

finally used my Fire Pit for the first time! SMORES galore!

Attended my FIRST timbers game! 

it was AMAZING! and they WON!! silly faces all around 

cooking lots of salmon lately :) 

then headed to VEGAS! 

and boy did we have the time of our lives! 

and we already can't wait for the next trip ;) 

tried out some new salads 

been planning a wine tasting day for when my Twin and her boy visit! 

and have been spoiled with lovely dinners, and treats from someone special :) 

See what i mean? Amazing summer so far and that only scratches the surface. 

Have a simply fantastic monday! 

done and done

I have been waiting for this day for a long time. the day that i would check off my last event of this  very busy season. In the last month and a half i have had 16 different events. From big ones to little ones and everything in between. Most of them work events, but a good handful of personal/ business events as well. And to be honest i am a ittle worn out. Last night i had a dinner party and this marked my last event for a few weeks. I am so excited to have a bit of a break and i even go on vacation in a few weeks! The prospect of have a normal week where im not home late or working on some project and having my routine back is so exciting to me i can't even handle it. 

I love what i do but i am excited to have a chance to get things back in order. My house is a disaster zone, along with my car, and office...time to organize and regroup and get myself back together and prepared because as scary as it sounds fall will be here before we know it and that season is so much more exhausting then spring. 

so heres to summer, and maybe even a few more blog posts here and there :) for now i will catch you up on what i have been up to the last month and a half! 

Flowers...lots of flowers

dessert reception

with 200 cupcakes....

celebrated this kids birthday :) that is a giant nutella calzone from Via Tribunali...to. die.for. 

helped celebrate a 90th birthday with some cheerful and simple decor 

with more cupcakes..this time i didn't even have to make them :) 

for ANOTHER birthday celebration I made a chocolate peanut butter birthday cake
from scratch complete with peanut butter cups on top.

had an amazing graduation and got to see this kid officially become a PharmD. so proud 

and finally it all ended last night with a dinner party for 10

with amazing food

and the best news is that this girl is back helping make it all happen! cinta events is complete again :) 

 Hope everyone has a simply amazing thursday! 

a happy birthday to a beautiful friend

today mark the 23rd birthday of one of my closest friends, and roomie, at least for a few more days. Jen is one of those friends who no matter what will have your back. she is someone i can be completely be honest with and i trust what she says and thinks about whatever the situation is. she has been my go to girl for everything and anything under the sun this last year. we have had countless lazy days, adventures, wine tastings, dancing the nights away and now that she is moving across the country to start this new chapter I can't help but be a little sad. But this is a time for new adventures and new memories. And i know that our friendship is strong enough to endure it all. 

I am so excited to see what 23 will bring you Jen! You truly are beautiful and I am sure we will find some sort of trouble to get into in the next 23 years :) 

As a birthday/ going away gift I made Jen a Shutterfly book. If you haven't taken a look at all the fun things you can make on Shutterfly do it! They are so user friendly and have so many custom options to choose from! Below are some of the pages from the book I made her. 

Happy 23rd Birthday Jen!!! Love you! 

Have a simply wonderful weekend everyone! 

glitter and gold

this weekend we will be celebrating my amazing mothers 50th birthday! i originally had this fabulous elegant evening planned in Portland but per her request she wanted to keep things more casual and laid back. She decided she wanted to go to the casino...sadly that doesn't include heading to vegas so Spirit Mountain will have to do for now. And because we won't be having a formal dinner party or have our own banquet room for me to deck out I will have to stick with sprucing up the hotel suite where we will be doing cake and cocktails after dinner. I had originally wanted to do a gold color scheme and now that we are trying to keep things fun i decided to throw in sparkles and sequins. Add sequins to anything and you got a party! Here was my original inspiration for the party. Unfortunately I don't have the ability to totally transform the hotel room but I will be adding some glitter and gold touches. 

sources over on my pinterest page! 

Hope you have a simply fabulous thursday!