Weekend Getaway

San Francisco . San Jose . Monterey . Carmel

Happy long weekend!

Festival of Arts

Thursday night I was invited to the Festival of Arts to enjoy the 75th Annual Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach. The world famous show is "ninety minutes of 'living pictures' - incredibly faithful art re-creations of classical and contemporary works with real people posing to look exactly like their counterparts in the original pieces. An outdoor amphitheater, professional orchestra, original score, live narration, intricate sets, sophisticated lighting, expert staff, and hundreds of dedicated volunteers have won recognition for the Pageant as the best presentation of its kind."

The show was absolutely stunning! It had been nearly 15 years since the last time I saw the Pageant and I was simply amazed at how with a little paint, props, and proper stage lighting, an entire cast was transformed into the most incredible work of art. A few of us that went are going to apply to be in next year's presentation as part of these living pieces of art. How exciting! If you've never been before, its a must for summer 2009!

My roommates are nuts . . .

. . . and thats why I love them!!!

This is what I came home to after work Tuesday night . . .

Don't mess with the Katie!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVE!

Monday night one of my bestest friends and roommate Allie Hobbins turned the big TWO FIVE! Allie, you can like, rent a car now. How cool is that!!! So to celebrate the occasion we crashed our friends Clinton and Ryan's place at the Marriott Newport Coast Villas to eat some cake. Thanks boys! I hope you had a great birthday Alice and enjoyed your favorite Carrot Cake from Costco. Love you girl!

Brad . Brianna . Mark . Allie

Allie & Emily

Aubrey . Allie . Emily

7th Generation Friends

Like two peas in a pod.

A little love for my Em.

Clinton & Alice

BFFs

Steve-O . Katie . Heather

The twin towers (aka- The Riley Girls)

Sisterly love!

Me + Bri = Twinners

Mike & Me

Noah "Cutie" Howell

My friends Dave and Jessica Howell just had their baby this last week and we're all so excited he's here. Noah Howell was born Monday, August 25th after 18 hours of intense labor. Jessica, you're my hero. Sunday night Emily Hatch and my roommate Auntie Allie headed out to Brea for dinner and to meet the little cutie. He was so beautiful. I think he has his mommy's nose and his daddy's lips. I want one!!!

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeha!

(To be read with a heavy southern drawl...much more fun that way!)

I may not be a real cowgirl, but Saturday at the Rancho Mission Viejo Rodeo I sure felt like one. It was the real deal folks! Cowboys from all over the United States flew in for the event to show off their ropin' skills and have a shot at ridin' some of the world's wildest bulls. They were crazy y'all. I was sittin' on the edge of ma' seat the entire time just crunchin on ma' Kettle Korn. Great show fellas.

Big Bang Friday

Friday night Dad scored us some awesome seats at the Angels Stadium of Anaheim right behind 1st base in fowl ball territory. While the Angels didn't win and we didn't go home with a ball, we still had fun thanks to the amazing seats and incredible fireworks extravaganza after the game. Thanks Dad for a great time at the ball game!

BOOK CLUB: A Girl Named Zippy

What a quirky little book about a quirky little girl. Oddly enough, I think I actually liked it. For this last month's Relief Society Book Club, Julie picked a happy story about a young girl named "Zippy" who grew up in the small town of Mooreland, Indiana. Nicknamed for her energetic interpretation of a circus monkey, Zippy takes you through the happenings of her childhood and introduces you to a town most unfamiliar (unless you happened to serve 6 months of your mission in the small town of Warroad, Minnesota...THEN, you might have an idea of what she's talking about.)

The writing style of Haven Kimmel is absolutely captivating. Her wit and charm had me laughing out loud at some points. I loved her childhood description of Jesus: "Everyone around me was flat-out in love with him, and who wouldn't be? He was good with animals, he loved his mother, and he wasn't afraid of blind people."

Zippy was strange, yet charming. I loved reading about her somehow ordinary childhood made into an extraordinary memoir. Thanks Zippy for making me leave the normality of my life for a while to take a walk down memory lane.

Aliso Creek Beach

Another picture perfect night at the beach. I can't get enough of summer!!! Thursday night after work I met my family and friends down at Aliso Creek Beach in Laguna for a hot dog and some football in the sand. My little brother Scott and his best friend Ryan (aka-my little hottie) were messing around on the lifegaurd tower and I just couldn't resist. This might possibly be my favorite shot of the summer.

Faux-to Shoot

Wednesday night I took one of my favorite girlfriends out on a date. Yes, on a date. Since the boys seem to be so out of it lately, I thought I'd step up to the plate. Miss Hatch and I go way back. Like met in the MTC waaay back. We're tight like that. Thats probably why she was the first person that came to mind when my friend Corrine offered me 2 tickets to see "A Chorus Line" at the OC Performing Arts Center. You're the best Corrine!

So I showed up at Emily's house after work and probably should have bought her flowers or something sweet like that, but I didn't want her getting the wrong impression. Haha. Love you Em! Before we left we decided to do a little photo-shoot, well, a faux-to shoot. Get it? Haha. I'm a dork. Whatever. You like it. This pic is definitely my favorite of the night. Love the pinky-hold! Amazing!

We had such a fun time together. The show was hilarious. A little racy at times but it definitely kept us entertained. Thanks for a great night out Em! Love you girl!

Bracken Baby Shower

Tuesday night my little sister Jacki Bracken, the solo blonde in the family, had her Baby Shower at my parent's house. It was so great to have everyone back at home for the week to help Jacki celebrate such an exciting time in her life.

Mom . Jacki & Baby Boy . Kellie . Aubrey

Baby Bracken was spoiled rotten with lots of toys, blankets, and even his first BYU onesie. My Mom was an incredible hostess and made all the red velvet cupcakes, put together adorable party favors, and even made a giant cake out of diapers. When my dad saw it sitting on the table the first words out of his mouth were "Wow! That cake's gonna taste like crap!" I love my Dad!

After all the presents were opened and the guests went home, Jacki's cute girlfriends from High School stuck around and had a few good laughs. It was all around a fun evening and Jacki is hopefully a little more prepared for Baby Bracken to be here in 10 short weeks. I can hardly wait!

Blue Collar Lunch

Today the Lunch Bunch met at the usual place at the usual time and with most of the usual people (and a few newcomers joined us too. Welcome Chris and Katie!) But aside from all the usual happenings, whats unusual is that everyone showed up wearing the exact same thing. The boys in their blue shirts and the girls in their white. It was too cute. You know I had to take a picture.

FYI - If you work in the Newport/Irvine/Costa Mesa area and want to join us for lunch sometime, we like to "Wahoo's!" on Tuesdays at 1:00 at the Fashion Island Mall. Try the green sauce. Its delicious!

The MOST Amazing!

I feel like lately my life has been go-go-go, so the other night my roommates and I sat down to watch a movie. Allie picked "The Holiday," a personal favorite of mine, but not for the reason you'd think. Sure its a great chick flick with a fantastic love story, but I love this movie for a different reason.
I'm in love with Amanda Wood's house! Its spectacular! Love at first sight. My dream home. I think its absolutely perfect. Everything about it is so me. The architecture, landscape, interior design, decor! Even the linens on the bed give me goosebumps. Its perfect. Did I already say that? Cuz its perfect.
So...when I came into work the other day, I started perusing the shelves for a few books to get me in the mood to design. Thats when I stumbled across these. They remind me so much of that perfect house that I'm so in lust with and as I thumbed through a few of the pages I got excited all over again.
If you're into the urban/contemporary look and if you've never checked out these books by Wim Pauwels, you really ought to take a look. They are the MOST amazing!

Nine-hundred-Ninety-Nine Steps

This weekend my roommate Katie and I had some friends come into town from Utah, Texas, and Santa Barbara. Saturday we entertained them at Thousand Steps in Laguna and had waaay too much fun with our cameras. I had a hard time choosing which pictures to share so I decided to share them all.

Design-of-all-Trades

I've often said to myself that its a good thing I'm a designer because otherwise my home might be one big hodge-podge of styles, colors, and designs. I'm always into something new. Today's kick is this...
I came across these beautiful pictures from Hickory Chair. Usually I'm not a big fan of their pieces, but today while I was selecting furniture for a home I'm working on, I found some things I love.
I'm totally in this girly mode where everything I like is super feminine. Soft colors, clean lines, rich fabrics and on and on. Gosh, I love what I do!

Joseph Noble Textiles

While at work this week I received a package full of new fabrics from a company called Joseph Noble Textiles. I'm not very familiar with his products but they have a new line of fabric out called the Sauvage Collection. I love this animal print for the yet-to-be-upholstered pillows on my bed. It comes in the most amazing colors with names like Somalia, Uganda, Burudi and Tanzania. Brings out the animal in me.

Home Sweet Home

Ok, so the place isn't ready for a full-on photo shoot yet, but I thought I would tease you with a few pictures of my almost finished bedroom . . .

The inspiration for my room came from 3 things: my antique dresser set, the fabric I found in Arizona which you see on the euro pillows, and the awesome Banana leaf headboard I found on sale for $99. I love the way everything is coming together. I feel like my style in this room is a little bit Urban Gardener. I know, thats totally a made-up style, but there's this great flower shop in Newport called The Urban Gardener and I wish I could move in.

Everything else in the space is filled with things I just adore. Design books, my mirrored frames, a gardenia candle holder, my white ceramic pottery, potted succulents, a beautiful hand-me-down lamp from my Mom, and my jewelry boxes I have been collecting over the years. I'm also obviously obsessed with plants. I call them my foliage. They make the space, well, more urban garden-ish.

The room still needs a few more things before I can sit back and relax. I want a new chair for the desk; something more soft and cozy. Oh, and a new desktop computer. I covet my Mac at work and need one so badly! I'm also awaiting some cream and brown leopard fabric for the two pillows on the end of the bed, and I still haven't bought my drafting table for the corner by the window. All in due course.

Well, I hope you like it. Its a work in progress. I'll post pictures of the bathroom next . . .

Poolside Pictures

Monday night I found out my parents where having a BBQ with my family thats in town so I invited myself over for some free food and fun with the cuzzies. After scarfing down a hot dog and the most delicious cantaloupe, I hit the pool with the kids and got a few shots of them doing some daredevil stunts off the waterfall and down the slide. After every picture, Parker and Hailey would come over to me and ask to see the picture. If they didn't like it they'd say "Let's do it again Aubrey! Okay?" Actually, Hailey would just mimic her big brother and say "Yah, lets do it again Waub-wee!" Aren't they just the cutest!

Happy Trails 2008

What a treat! This weekend for Tristen Ure and Steve Hazy's birthday, a few friends headed down south and hit the open road . . . on horseback! Miss Hobbins did some research and found this fantastic ranch down in San Diego called Happy Trails just north of the Mexican border that offers horseback rides on the beach. Incredible! Here are a few fun pics from our exciting day . . .

The morning started off early as the crew met up at Hazy's for a Cowboy breakfast!

The birthday kids. I'm pretty sure this picture was Tristen's present to Steve!

Tristen was so thoughtful and packed us all a goody bag full of classic candy like Abba Zabbas, Fun Dips, Fireballs, and Bubble Gum Cigarettes.

The Ranch was literaly a stones throw away from Tijuana. It really added to the day's sense of adventure!

Who knew Tristen was such a cowgirl!

I felt a real connection with my horse Midnight. When I was a little girl I would always go to Rawhide Ranch for the summer with my Indian Princess group and my horses name there was Midnight. Lucky pick I guess!

Tess & Mark getting ready to saddle up.

Ready for the 3 hour ride ahead . . .

At times I felt like we were in the jungle somewhere.

The birthday girl serenaded us with country tunes throughout the trip. She loves to make us laugh.

Nice horsey.

The birthday girl. Hammin' it up again.

Pure entertainment the whole way through.

Me: "Why does the beach look so far away?"
Tour Guide: "Because it is."
Me: "Oh . . ."

Riding along the open road.

The U.S./Mexico border. Thats TJ on the other side of the wall.

Yeeeeeeha! We made it to the beach.

Tristen was lovin' every minute of it.

Perfect day for a ride through the sand.

I was in heaven.

I felt like we were on the set of a movie.

Doctor Cardall loving the ocean air.

Our tour guide teased us by galloping through the water. Rude! I wanna do that!

The "fisters" (fake sisters). My favorite shot of the day.

The U.S. Border Partol was set up on the beach with their 4-wheelers and jet skis. We were lucky enough to watch a real live capture of two illegals. So exciting! Definitely a highlight of the day!

I wish they would've let us get a little closer to the Tijuana border but apparently it was too dangerous.

God bless America!

So surreal!

Group shot before we headed back.

What an incredible day! Happy Birthday Tristen and Steve!