House Beautiful

Monthly Archive for July, 2013

Scenes From A Wedding Weekend

Published on July 31, 2013 in Scenes From A Weekend and Wedding. 6 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Ever been to a wedding where, after it was over, after the vows had been recited, after the chairs, tables, and decor had been taken down, after the dancing had concluded… you still felt these lingering, warm, sweet memories of the happiness the weekend exuded?  Well that’s exactly what I experienced at the most perfectly perfect wedding of my friend Stephanie (the other Stephanie in my life) recently.  The setting was San Diego (at the Inn at Rancho Santa Fe), the vibe was rustic beach chic, and the bride was the most beautiful bride I’d ever seen.  On the drive home to LA and during the days after I just felt a happiness from it all… And it didn’t hurt that the whole shebang was artfully and lovingly designed by the bride’s cuz, Nathan Turner.  Below are some pix of the big day:

(Steph with her dad, who’s not only the sweetest guy, but also the most Instagram-proficient man I’ve ever met)

(The hubby and I started the wedding day in La Jolla at Brockton Villas, home of the Coast Toast – if you’re in San Diego, get you some)

(Aaaaand then we ended up poolside, sipping on watermelon margaritas OH-KAY)

(I had a handful of Steph and Chris while getting ready…)

(I got to wear an all-time fave Rent the Runway dress… hey gurl…)

(The Hubs got to be in the presence of some football greats, even if they did photo bomb a ton of our pix.  Exhibit A.)

(Then it was time for din-din…)

(We took in the gloriously elegant and lush-yet-simple table settings.)

(Sprigs of rosemary and mint surrounded bouquets of garden roses.)

(The bride and groom made their entrance.  Via)

(And pulled off a first dance that’d make any Pulp Fiction fan real, real proud. Via)

(We danced…)

(And danced…)

(Then headed to the next stage of the wedding – The After Party…)

(Where – you guessed it – we finished off the night dancing some more!)

Sigh… Just… perfection.  How about you?  Ever been to a wedding which was so special you caught a happiness high for a few days after?

Oh and PS, the bride and groom are so awesome, not one but TWO wedding videos were made for them: one put together by Steph’s brothers, and another by yours truly and Mr. Nathan Turner himself!  Both are below:

6 Comments

Dreamy Weekend on the Lake

Published on July 29, 2013 in Scenes From A Weekend and Travelista. 12 Comments Tags: , , , .

Last week was one of those work weeks that seriously made me want to put my head through a wall no less than 700 times.  I have never been more delighted to see a Friday than I was a few days ago… just to be able to stand still for a second and decompress.  So naturally, I kicked the weekend off by rearranging the house on Friday night (because apparently cleaning is calming) and putting the $1 Yard Sale scarf to good use to dress up the headboard:

After Planes Trains & Automobiles (aka Matt) came home from his 5-day business trip, I squeezed him for about an hour, then squeezed Gus for another hour, then finally got some sleep.  And had coffee Saturday morning like this – in peace, on the patio, watching Gus watch patrol the back 40.  It’s too bad the basil’s in the way and you can’t see those big beautiful birthing hips my boy dog has.

An unseasonably cold, rainy weekend is not what we envisioned for a lake retreat, but it was surprisingly calming.  We were heading up to Catawba Island (on Lake Erie, just across from Canada) to Matt’s childhood best friend’s family’s cottage.  And this is what we rolled up to Saturday afternoon…  a little slice of heaven.

I wish I had taken more pictures of the old cottage…  Nothing has been touched since the early 1900’s.  There are vintage photos on the walls…  piles of pillows and blankets everywhere for guests…  open windows in every room…  huge cans of sharpened pencils for crosswords…  and chipping beaded board ceilings, like this one on the sleeping porch that overlooks the lake:

After a little marinating at the old cottage, we took a jaunt into town for some pops (Put-In-Bay = the Key West of the Midwest…  so lots of Bachelorette parties and penis paraphernalia, lots of hair gel, and LOTS of good people watching):

Passed through the Food Beer (that is literally the name of it) on the way home, where I requested fried okra, and got a look like I had 7 heads.

After consuming about 7000 calories worth of (delicious) hot dogs, hamburgers and taters back at the house and taking in the sunset, we posted up for a looonnng, long sing-a-long.  With the talents of Matt’s self-taught BFF on the guitar, and the tone-deaf vocal skills of yours truly.  I think a few kittens probably died during that jam session.

On the way home Sunday, I soaked up Saturday’s liquid intake with this, and I didn’t feel the least bit guilty about it:

And then Matt – aka the best boyfriend, EVER – suggested we stop at a few antique stores on the drive home.  And I shed a single tear of pride / gratitude.

Last night we had Matt’s Ma and her Man Friend, Jim, over for dinner.  We had to toss it together pretty quick, so I just put out the pretty blue napkins I got in the Hamptons, a few candleholders I pulled out of storage, and some green & blue glassware:

Gus was kind enough to help with clean-up.  What a good boy!

And that was that.  The weekend started all kindsa frazzled and it ended all kindsa peaceful and rejuvenated.  Is it Friday again yet??

Have a great week!

12 Comments