the daily do: 2013

6/13/13

happy birthday!

happy birthday to the best dad i could ever hope to have.

love you to the moon and stars.

6/6/13

better late than never with this post, right?!

at the beginning of may, randy and i went on our honeymoon! my in-laws graciously bought us a cruise. it departed from port canaveral, florida, so randy and i decided to fly in a couple days early to enjoy orlando. neither of us had been to florida before, so we were excited!

we fly into orlando, and it is pouring rain.. great start to a vacation, huh? after a full day of flying, we grabbed dinner and knocked out. we had plans to go to disney world the next day, but with the rain, it was looking a little bleak..

we woke up the next morning with a little gloom, but no rain, so we decided to continue with our disney plans.

we had been debating which park to go to, as there are 3 or 4 different park at disney world. everyone suggested epcot, but after reading up on it, we found it is was more of an informational park. obviously, we only wanted to have fun - no information for us on our honeymoon! so we decided to go to magic kingdom.

since we live in southern california, we've been to disney land quite a bit. because of this, i can't say i was blown away by magic kingdom. but we do enjoy disney land, so it was fun to be with randy at a 'new' theme park.

our second day in orlando we spent at an outlet that was right next to our hotel. randy and i both got some goodies, including a new pair of nikes (mine were only $45!). we had a nice dinner at the hotel, then spent some time in the hot tub. we had to get packed up because the next day we departed on our cruise!

stay tuned for photos from our cruise!

6/3/13

mumford & sons! / 24 before 25

yesterday, randy and i went to see mumford & sons at the san manuel amphitheater in san bernardino, ca! [now i'm half-way done with #4!]

i had never been to this venue before, but i actually really liked it! it's right near the san manuel indian casino, so it is surrounded by mountains. when we were in the actual amphitheater, it felt like such a secluded area. randy and i had lawn seats, so even though the bands were little ant people (monitors helped), getting to sprawl out on the grass was quite nice!

sorry about the dirty feet! a 2-mile trek across dirt roads in itty bitty sandals was a blast..

mumford & sons put on such a great show! they're an amazing band live. marcus mumford has arguably the world's best voice. i would definitely recommend seeing them if you can get your hands on tickets.

5/20/13

"the great gatsby" / 24 before 25

after being a bit behind, i finally finished my 4th book while on our honeymoon.

for my 4th book of my 24th year i picked the great gatsby (you can get your own copy here).

my friend carmella and i decided that we want to see the movie when it comes out, so i decided to re-read the book on vacation. i had read the book in early-high school, because the great gatsby is pretty much part of every literature curriculum imaginable. but before reading it again now, i probably couldn't have told you what it was about. when i was really young, i loved reading. i could devour books like nobody's business. but once i was hit with so much required reading (i always took AP english classes), i got bored with reading, probably because it was no longer a pleasure but a requirement. i'll admit i used cliffs notes a time or two.

it was much more fun to read the book this time around without having to always be conscious about metaphors, symbolism, hidden meanings, etc. plus since the movie is coming out, i was always picturing leonardo dicaprio, which ain't a bad way to go :)

[source]

5/17/13

happy birthday!

happy birthday to my stinky baby <3

my baby is the big 4 today! or 28 in doggie years.

ps. if you use instagram, you have to download the abeautifulmess app!

5/5/13

gone fishin'

honeymoon time <3

5/1/13

march for babies / 24 before 25

on saturday, i participated in the march for babies walk at exposition park in los angeles!

as you may or may not know, item #21 on my 24 before 25 list is to "participate in some sort of marathon/walk for a good cause."

my coworker veronica (she was also a bridesmaid in my wedding) found this walk and asked if i wanted to walk with her, to which i said "of course!" obviously i would have participated regardless of the charity, but it was a happy coincidence that this walk benefits the March of Dimes charity..

in 2011, randy's cousin delivered her baby at 28 weeks. the doctors were unable to find an explanation for the early labor. the baby was under-developed and ended up not making it. the march of dimes helped randy's cousin and her baby by providing them access to medical care which they might not have received without this wonderful charity.

veronica ended up not being able to participate because of a family thing, but carmella and the baby walked with me, and we had so much fun! it was such a fun day, and to see all these people coming together to help babies was very heart-warming.

this was one of the best things i saw - these triplets were born at 26 weeks. they all weighed under 2 pounds each. thanks to the march of dimes charity, they were able to get medical help and are now happy and healthy.

this is definitely something i can't wait to participate in again next year. carmella and i want to put together a team and get our friends together to walk with us.