Tuesday, December 30, 2014

2014 in review: mama mia, what a year!

..2014 is coming to a close..

there's something i love about looking back 
on a year and remembering all the moments
and changes and best parts & hard parts.

before moving on to a fresh new year, we
have to look back and appreciate the prior
year. last year we made a 2013 year recap,
and while i loved it, we thought we could
make 2014's a little bit more fun. chase
had this idea last new years, so we have
been working on this all of 2014. 
enjoy! 
..and try not to laugh too hard at us!


:) hope you enjoyed this little lip sync, it was chase's idea
last new year's day and i can't believe we actually ended
up doing it! it was a lot of work, but mostly we would be
on a trip and remember to film a quick lyric or segment.
we weren't organized at all, so luckily we ended up with
all the words.. but it might be a fun new tradition to have
fun through the year and recap it in a different way.

some highlights of the year..

january
we started the year with family and heard
my parent's big news. we headed back to
california straight to NAPA and SONOMA
which was heavenly. we made some
 resolutions, ate well, got massages, and
soaked up the sonoma valley sunshine.

we moved into a tiny studio in the city
and had lots of visitors. we learned how
to cook thai food. we hiked, explored,
and i went on a little girls trip to vegas.

february
we did our first {and last} juice cleanse,
celebrated valentines, and then headed
off to spain + portugal for the most
charming trip through madrid, barcelona,
lisbon, and porto. we stopped in dallas
and saw the amazing kennedy museum.

march
this month started off really rough with
our car being broken into on the street.
my parents came to visit, and we took 
them back up to napa & sonoma. then
we had lots of visitors this month and
soaked up the city with good food + friends.

april
in april we took some of my favorite city
pictures with kirsten, and then i went
home to salt lake city for a week to 
and feature some favorite restaurants.
i came back to SF and chase planned the
cutest celebration {and made the sweetest
video in the world for my 24th birthday.}

may
in may we had lots of city picnics, then
headed to L.A. for one last family trip
before my parents left...complete with
celebrating mothers day. i also got my
master's degree and my entire family
was there for my grad school graduation!
my cutest friend ashley came to visit, and
we wrapped up may in yosemite hiking
the famous HALF DOME for memorial day.

june
we celebrated our two year anniversary
with a fun scavenger hunt all about the
past year. {favorite new tradition!}. we
ate at the famous cliff house, i finished
teach for america, (!!!) and we kicked
off summer at a james taylor concert.
we moved into the cutest new nob hill
apartment and finally felt settled after
months in a tiny city basement studio.
i flew to colorado to meet my parents
for a little bike ride adventure through
that pretty state. then we went back to
salt lake for the saddest part of the year 
-- my parent's farewell for their mission!
we helped them move and said goodbye 
to them for 3 years. (tears!) love my fam.

july
in july we soaked up the bay -- we went
paddleboarding in san rafael canal,
celebrated the 4th of july in the city,
and celebrated chase's birthday with
to explore mendocino and fort bragg. 
we did the classic skunk train & rode
google and started working at 
the same place as chase! oh,
marathon too :) chase's first!

august
i flew home to be in a wedding and
celebrate maria & cam. we tried
celebrated 20 years since my dad
survived the bear attack. we went
we saw "once" on broadway. some of
 our best friends the woods came to visit.
we had a beach day in santa cruz and
had a little sailing outing too.

september
we started september in BOSTON for
labor day. we stayed in provincetown
and fell in love with cape cod. we also
discovered nantucket, AKA greatest
place on earth! we said goodbye to
my family's sweet dog kona with lots
of tears and love :(

october
in october we discovered the mosaic steps,
took some fun pictures in the city, and
enjoyed SF's FLEET WEEK -- amazing.
we had lots of fun working and commuting
together all fall, launched our non-profit,
went to alcatraz at night for halloween,
then headed to canadaniagara falls
montrealquebec city, and all of french
canada. i was in heaven and it was one
of my very favorite trips. magnifique!

november 
in november we had a weekend getaway
with our besties to san luis obispo,
america's happiest town. we stopped
through cayucos and had the best time.
san francisco and we went to the utah-
many friends from home and the utes 
WON in double overtime!!!!! so so fun.
we ended november in INDIA which
was the craziest yet most amazing trip
through delhijaipur, and agra

december
in december i flew to salt lake city
straight after india for a friend's lovely
december wedding. we spent most of
december in san francisco soaking up our
city christmas, went to google's holiday
the holidays to salt lake city utah to spend
time with family and friends. we capped off
the year back in san francisco & went to tiburon.

writing this recap and going through the
blog archives has made me realize:

1) how amazing one year can be. 
how much we can do, change, see,
grow, learn, and experience. i love
to look back and think through each
month each year and especially this one.

2) also, i am so grateful that i have these 
memories and records to look back at
and remember exactly what we did when.
i truly love this little blog for being a place
i can record our favorite memories and 
experiences + recommendations and tips
for seeing this big beautiful world.

thanks for sharing 2014 with us!
cheers to 2015.

xo

Monday, December 29, 2014

couples holiday party

we couldn't come to town without having a party
with all of our friends...it was so busy over the
holidays that we picked a date to just have
everyone together. we did a sugar cookie
bar, hot chocolate, and played games.
i made this recipe and it was great as usual!
^^ chase's cute mom helped me with all the 
set up... she was so nice to let us host at
her house since we don't have a place here!
i'm kind of a sucker for this butcher paper 
food bar idea, like i did for a shower here.
surprisingly it was the boys who liked the 
cookie bar the most, all packed around it. ^^ 
^^ we got the best news from anna & randy..
they came early and had us open this envelope!
i SCREAMED so loud! i am so so excited! cutest parents.
we were snap happy with the photos because we
never see these people so i have to document!
we laughed hard and stayed up lateeeee.
we missed some friends who couldn't make
it, but we found other times to see them too :
loved our brunch with the fowlers and
brynn's darling quote she gave me ^^
miss quality time with friends from home! ^^

time with baby rocky + di & ted is the best. ^^

i think we WON our white elephant 
party by bringing this gem ^^
i also got to see ashley, who ended my streak of not
getting my hair cut for 1.5 years when i went to get 
it done by her! nice to have a BFF who does hair :)
she trimmed it + curled it and she is amazing! ^^
^^ and cafe rio with this great crew.
there's nothing like friends from home.

we love them all!

Sunday, December 28, 2014

christmas clothespins tradition

my favorite christmas tradition chase and i have
started thanks to his mom is these clothespin
christmas ornaments. his mom has done these 
with her sisters every year, always making a 
little handmade clothespin representing 
something from that year to hang on the
tree at christmas. when i was engaged to chase
and heard about this i loved it right away, and
knew we had to start our own! it's so fun because
you can look at their tree at all of the different
darling clothespin people and there is a story
attached to every single one. it is a tree full of
handmade memories and their entire family
cherishes these. i want the same thing! so, from
the first year we got married we have made them
and this year i wanted to document them here too.
the first year we went cliché with the bride and groom,
since that was a pretty major happening of 2012 :)
^^ bride and groom in process our first year :)

for 2013 we made a teacher since we were both in TFA:
and this year we had to make a googler since we are both
working at google right now! we write the year on the
bottom foot, and over time we will have such a fun
collection of these meaningful little creations. 
^^ confession: chase is the crafty one, not me!
his mom is the real talent and she collects all
these tiny items to make her clothespins each year!

^^ here's an example of just ONE of my mother-in-law's
that she made for the year we went to paris. she always
makes the best ones and keeps them a secret each year
until christmas when everyone finds it on the tree!

i love this tradition {thank you shel!}
and can't wait to see what other little
characters our tree is filled with over the years.

xo

Friday, December 26, 2014

home for christmas ::: 2014

christmas is extra special when you get
to come home to celebrate. it makes it
feel like even more of a special occasion,
and we look so forward to it! this year
was a little different with my parents 
being in south africa, but we loved our
time with my siblings + chase's family
and all of our good friends...and, i get
to visit my parents in a few weeks, so
christmas will just extend until then! :)
we're tired after going from event to event
and seeing so many people, but we loved
every second. the best part is, we even
got a magical white christmas! nothing
better. it's so true what they say :: 
there really is no place like home.
^^ after a crazy rainy day in san francisco and some 
canceled flights, we made it to salt lake city at 1 AM. 
even though it was late we stayed up and talked to 
chase's mom for hours that first night. we had to!
^^ the drive up to my parents house will
never get old to me. i mean, look at it!
my christmas eve salad ^^
dunn christmas sledding tradition in neff's canyon ^^
market street brunch on christmas eve 
with chase's cute parents. yum! ^^
^^ i missed my mom's eggs benedict + homemade 
sweet rolls, but i loved getting it at market street.

the temple square lights will never get old ^^

sugar cookie goodness + the perfect 
gift from the sweetest friend ^^

loved spending time with my cute gram. 
just look at her christmas tree pin! ^^

^^ a fun night the christmas village with chase's
family riding the festive {but freezing} train around.

thank goodness for fire pits all along the 
path for us freezing californians ^^
rigby fam ^^
^^ we had our tempest-dunn annual dinner which 
felt like the closest thing to being with my mom
since ann is her twin / best friend and she made us
chicken madeira! // also: look at those tree napkins!

^^ we had to make it to penny ann's cafe 
for their famous fluffy pancakes one morning.

christmas gifts to remember -- i'm most excited to take
chase to see newsies when it comes to SF soon! it's his 
favorite and i saw it in NYC without him, so i had to
surprise him with tickets. it will be so fun. 

^^ chase tracked down my favorite candy we found
in canada this fall and had it imported as a surprise
for one of my gifts...haha love his creativity, and now
i have a few pounds of this to eat so help me!
// also fittingly, my aunt gave me jim gaffigan's new
book that i can't wait to read because he's hilarious.

on christmas eve chase's cute mom set up a service
project at primary children's hospital where we
crafted little santa paper plates for kiddos that
had to spend the holidays in the hospital.  ^^

it was a different christmas eve, but really so sweet.
it's one i will remember and it made us so grateful. ^^

^^ i fell in love with my dream house in salt lake city, 
and chase knocked on the door to meet the owners
since it's not for sell...maybe it will be in a few years
if we end up moving back :) // also, we bought this
couch here to store! it was a great christmas gift :)

^^ real temple // gingerbread temple

neff's sledding followed by our FAVORITE 
lunch at citris grill {new location!!} ^^
chase's cute mom collects nativity sets, so we hunted
one down in india {painted on a leaf}. she is the cutest! ^^
dunn fam, minus my parents! 
we facetimed lots this week ^^
pretty hike before the snowfall on christmas...
now this same view is blanketed in white! ^^
love these people ^^
and these people! we did a fun dinner at sawadee,
went to the movies to see unbroken, (amazing)
and ended with shakes at hires. fun fun!

a last breakfast at brady & mindy's cute house ^^
and...we about died over this license plate.
maybe this is a sign for us to come back one day? :)
^^ one last play in the snow before heading to
the airport and being stuck on the tarmac in
that snow for a few hours on the way back to SF 
speaking of SF- my favorite gift 
from chase this year ^^
and, a blurry picture to end with.

salt lake, you gave us quite the christmas break.
we may be away next year, so we really soaked
it up this year. we don't know when we'll be back
next, but we love you home sweet home!

xo

see our fun time spent with friends here!