Category Archives: family

wedding weekend recap

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Happy Tuesday, friends! It is glorious, warm, sunny weather here in the Bay and I am soaking it up! I love reading outside in the sunshine under the trees. Currently I’m in the middle of the epic historical drama Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. What books are you reading and loving right now?

As promised, here are some pictures from my whirlwind weekend at home for my cousin Julie’s wedding!

On Saturday morning, Allyn and I met up with Erica and her boyfriend Kyle for brunch, where we feasted on amazing food {my raspberry + white chocolate pancakes were to die for} and enjoyed over two hours of laugh-filled conversation. It always fills my heart to see this girl!

me and Erica cafe nouveau

Then on Saturday afternoon we headed to the Mandalay Beach Resort for Julie and Chris’s wedding ceremony on the beach! It was a beautiful day, and thankfully the wind died down during the ceremony… the atmosphere was peaceful and calm. Julie looked absolutely breathtaking as she walked down the aisle, and my eyes filled with tears when I saw the way Chris looked at her. It was a lovely ceremony!

julie and chris

As soon as the ceremony ended, the wind kicked up, as you can see below! I love this family photo though because we are all laughing.

fam photo on beach

I made sure to hold my dress down in all the pictures, feeling a bit like Marilyn Monroe!

me and allyn wedding beach

After the ceremony, there was an outdoor cocktail hour and I took the opportunity to snap some photos in between noshing on bacon-wrapped scallops, ahi tuna wontons, cheese and crackers, and sipping on a Shirley Temple! {It’s been years since I’ve had a Shirley Temple, and it was calling to me!}

I love this photo of my parents:

my parents at reception

This is classic my dad — putting bunny ears on Gramps! Haha.

bunny ears on gramps

So happy to get to spend time with my handsome brother:

me and Greg wedding reception

When cocktail hour wound down, we all headed into the hotel ballroom for the reception. The food was delicious: Mom, Allyn and I opted for the filet mignon, garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus, and Dad and Greg had salmon with a blackberry glaze and wild rice and green beans. YUM! After heartfelt toasts to the bride and groom, we had a blast dancing the night away. My family is so much fun on the dance floor, making up goofy moves. My mom especially is a dancing fool at weddings … it’s a side of her I don’t otherwise see except at wedding receptions, and I absolutely love it! She is the cutest.

Before the night was over, we made sure to snap some more pictures. I love this one of me and Gramps:

me and Gramps wedding reception

And this one with my sweetheart, who was so wonderful meeting my big crazy family:

me and al wedding reception

Woodburn family photo, take 2:

wedding reception family pic

And of course the night wouldn’t be complete without a silly photo bomb from Pops! Haha, I love this one:

dad photobomb

The weekend went by much too quickly, but it was jam-packed with fun! What a blessing to have so many of the people I love together in the same place.

Congrats Julie + Chris! We love you and are so happy and excited for your new life together as husband and wife! ❤

Questions of the day:

  • What was the last wedding you went to?
  • What is your favorite thing about going to a wedding?

fabulous friday #17

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Happy TGIF, friends! I hope you have fun plans in store for this spring weekend!

Here are 5 things I’m loving right now:

1. My incredibly supportive, thoughtful and generous friends and family. I’m still on Cloud Nine after my Steinbeck Fellows reading on Wednesday night! My mom and grandparents came, as did Dana and her sweet mom Lynn, and Allyn took time out of his busy schedule to be there.

me and gparents reading

with dana and lynn

with allyn at reading

2. My dad. Yeah, he gets his own number 🙂 Some of you might remember when I had my first Steinbeck Fellows reading back in December, and he drove up with me after Thanksgiving to be there {and we also went to a wonderful talk by documentary filmmaker Ken Burns the next night!} Well, the arrangement was that he would stay home this time to take care of Mr. Mur-dog, while my mom came to the reading to support me.

Looking back now, I probably should have expected him to do what he did. Here are two facts about my dad: 1) He loves surprises; and 2) He has never missed a single performance or big event of mine, not even back in second grade when I was the lead in our class play and he came to ALL four performances even though it meant he had to miss a big event for work.

mom and dad reading

So there I was on Wednesday night, chatting with people at the dinner in the Steinbeck Center before the reading, when I felt two familiar hands over my eyes… I turned, not able to believe it. My dad! That was one of the best hugs of my life.

My dad drove 5+ hours to surprise me and be there for my reading! And then after the reading he turned back around and drove the 5+ hours home so Mr. Mur-dog wouldn’t be left alone overnight. He said simply, “You know I couldn’t have missed your big night!” It was such an incredible surprise — a memory I will always look back on and cherish. I love you, Daddy!

with dad steinbeck reading

3. These beautiful flowers that Dana and her mom gave me. They are brightening up the kitchen, making me smile every time I walk by!

flowers from dana

4. This video made me cry in a good way: http://www.upworthy.com/a-pregnant-woman-learns-her-baby-has-down-syndrome-people-who-have-it-answer-her-one-big-question-2

5. And this new Ingrid Michaelson song always makes me smile & dance in the car: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsvKT8vsgF4

Today is shaping up to be a “taking care of business” workday, which will balance out the all-play-and-hardly-any-work plans I have for the weekend. Looking forward to spending time with friends, putting in quality time on my yoga mat, and soaking up some sunshine at the A’s game on Sunday!

Questions of the morning:

  • What are you loving right now?
  • What are your plans for the weekend?

grandma’s birthday dinner

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Last night we celebrated my grandma’s 82nd birthday with a nice family dinner out at The Club. It was a lovely excuse to dress up and Mom and I had a fun time getting ready together side-by-side in front of my bathroom mirror. This beautiful lady is not just my mom, she is also one of my best friends, and I’m so grateful to have her here this week!

mama and me

The evening flew by with excellent food and wonderful company. Whenever my family all gets together, there is plenty of hugging, talking, interrupting, laughter, storytelling, and picture-taking. Last night was no exception. 🙂

the girls at gmas bday

me and arianna

me and al gmas bday

I absolutely love this photo of my grandparents:

gparents gmas bday

We missed my dad and brother, but they sent Grandma flowers — sunflowers! yaaay! — that are brightening up the living room hearth.

sunflowers

Now Mom, Grandma, Grandpap and I are curling up on the couch with some popcorn to watch Saving Mr. Banks. I’ll be back tomorrow with this week’s year of Wooden post.

Question of the evening:

  • What was the highlight of your weekend?

goals for the week of 2/16

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Hi everyone! How was your weekend? Mine was busy with lots of fun things … time with family, friends, church, shopping, reading and writing! On Saturday I had an amazing time in San Francisco participating in the Chinese New Year Treasure Hunt. Have any of you done an “urban sleuthing adventure” before? This one is an annual scavenger hunt that happens on the day of the Chinese New Year parade in San Francisco. The hunt takes you all around Chinatown and North Beach looking for clues, competing against the other teams to solve mental puzzles and test your observation skills. It was such a unique, fun way to explore the city and see the parade at the same time! And our team did great, solving 12 out of the 16 clues before we ran out of time. Woo hoo! Afterwards we went to a Mediterranean restaurant for dinner, enjoying excellent food and conversation. Definitely one of my favorite experiences since moving up here in August!

chinese dragon

chinese new year

me and allyn

allyson and henry

Today the long weekend fun continues: we are celebrating my beautiful aunt Mary’s birthday. She is such an amazing person, so full of laughter and love. She tells the best stories, always builds people up with encouragement and support, and inspires so many kids every day as a middle school English & History teacher. I’m so proud to be her niece.

seesters

My Mom, Aunt Annie, and Aunt Mary

Happy birthday Mary!! We love you!

Now, on to goals…

weekly goals

Here’s how I did on my goals from this past week:
– write 10 pages
– finish new short story I’m working on {This goal seems to keep being put on the back-burner. Maybe my story needs to percolate more before I put the words down on paper…}
– go to two yoga classes {I did yoga on my own, but only made it to one class because I took a friend to her doctor’s appointment on Thursday, during the time I normally go to back-to-back yoga classes. I’ll have to make it up this week!}
– complete two chapters of copyediting project
– submit to the I Am: Twenty-Seven project
– send in final fellowship application
– finish reading Power Ballads by Will Boast
– connect with three friends

And here are my goals for this upcoming week:
– write 10 pages
– prepare for new tutoring job
– go to two yoga classes
– finish copyediting project
– begin reading The Empty House by Nathan Oates
– connect with three friends

Questions of the morning:

  • What are your goals for this upcoming week?
  • What have been your highlights of this weekend?

goals for the week of 1/26

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First off…

arianna bday

Today is my dear cousin’s “sweet sixteen” birthday and we are all getting together as a family tonight to celebrate. Last night I got to help chaperone/drive a bunch of her friends as part of her birthday party. It was a blast and I felt happy to be a part of it!

This weekend has been filled with lots of great friends & family time and lots of time spent outdoors taking advantage of the gorgeous sunny weather we’re being blessed with {even though we are all praying for rain … California needs rain very badly!} Yesterday I went hiking and out to lunch with new friends Emy & Sam, and today I checked out a food truck fair with some old friends I hadn’t seen in a while. Have any of you been to a food truck gathering before? It was my first time, and I was impressed by the variety and quality of the offerings! I had gourmet spaghetti & meatballs and a decadent s’mores cupcake. Then stopped by Trader Joe’s on my way home to pick up some nom noms for the week … and now here we are, Sunday afternoon already!

weekly goals

Here’s how I did on my goals from this past week:
– write 10 pages
– go to two yoga classes {I made it to three!}
– complete two chapters of copyediting project
– finish reading all of the old Narrative Stories of the Week in my email inbox {I underestimated how many stories I had in my inbox! Got through quite a few, but still have more to go! These are some great reads.}
– connect with two friends {It was a terrific week for feeling connected with friends, by phone and in person! I’m always happier when I make this a priority in my life.}

And here are my goals for this upcoming week:
– write 10 pages
– finish new short story I’m working on
– go to two yoga classes
– complete two chapters of copyediting project
– finish reading all of the old Narrative Stories of the Week in my email inbox
– connect with three friends

Questions of the morning:

  • What are your goals for this upcoming week?
  • What have been your highlights of this weekend?

MPM-Winter
This post is linked up with Menu-Plan Monday!

5 thoughtful gift ideas for valentine’s day {or any day}

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Today I was browsing Target while waiting for Charley’s routine service appointment to be over, and one thing was very clear: Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! Yes, people — hard to believe, but it’s officially less than a month away.

valentines-day

I LOVE love and I love Valentine’s Day. I’m single this year, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to be celebrating my little heart out. I don’t know about you, but I think the scope of V-day is often presented too narrowly. Why just focus on romantic love? To me, Valentine’s Day is a holiday that celebrates love in all its forms; an excuse to let all of those special people in your life know how very much they mean to you.

So today I’ve rounded up some thoughtful gift ideas for Valentine’s Day — or any day, really!

1. Personalized gifts. Anytime you can personalize something, I think it makes the gift that much more thoughtful. For my cousin Julie’s bridal shower, I ordered this beautiful blanket for her and her husband-to-be from Personal Creations. The company embroidered a corner of the blanket with their names and wedding date. It turned out beautifully and I could tell that the personalized touch made the gift even more special to Julie.

2. Homemade cards. As attested by my massive stash of stationary, it’s obvious that I love browsing stationary and greeting card stores. {I sometimes need to put myself on “probation” from buying anything, my habit gets so out of control!} But, for every adorable Taylor Swift greeting card I have saved up to send to Holly, there’s something to be said for homemade cards. Knowing that you put in extra effort to craft not just the personal message inside, but every aspect of the card, makes it extremely thoughtful.

valentines cards

3. Creative gifts or craft projects. Use your imagination and have fun with it! Pinterest and blogs are a wealth of ideas for homemade gifts and creative scavenger-hunt-type gifts. I discovered this clever poster idea last year on Peanut Butter Fingers and thought it was so cute, thoughtful {and easy to do, even if you don’t consider yourself very craft-savvy!}

valentine sign

4. An experience that you can share together. Try something new like a painting class, wine tasting, disco bowling night, a local concert — any fun new experience that you can share with the recipient is a sweet gift that builds awesome memories.

5. Homemade baked goods. Okay, maybe I just love baking! 🙂 But in my opinion, you can never go wrong with homemade treats. Last year I made red velvet crinkle cookies for the nursing home and they were a big hit. Here are some other recipes you might try:
– peanut butter cup brownies
– white chocolate pretzels
– chocolate-covered popcorn
– strawberry coconut cookies
– carrot cake with coconut cream-cheese frosting
– butterscotch pudding cookies
– classic chocolate chip cookies

red velvet cookies

Questions for the evening:

  • What are some of your favorite thoughtful gifts? {That you’ve given or that you’ve received!}
  • Do you celebrate Valentine’s Day?

fabulous friday #6

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Hooray, it’s the first Friday of 2014! What fun things do you have on the agenda?

Here’s what I’m loving right now:

1. I love music and I love senior citizens, so a friend recommended I watch the documentary film Young at Heart about a senior citizens choir group that performs rock songs. I watched it with my brother and I can’t remember the last time I saw such an amazingly inspirational movie. I even cried, and movies hardly ever make me cry. Here’s a sneak peak: watch their beautiful rendition of the Coldplay classic “Fix You.”

young at heart

2. Starbucks salted caramel hot chocolate. Pour in some Kahlua and you’ve really got it made!

starbucks cocoa

3. Sara Bareilles’ gorgeously bittersweet song “Manhattan.” I especially love the live version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05GZ6G2FZLM

4. Jon Stewart’s heartfelt send-off to John Oliver, who is getting his own show on HBO and so is leaving The Daily Show after 7 years. I got teary-eyed at the end, I’ll admit!

5. Board game night with my family. We played Sorry! and it was a close race … in the end, Greg stealthily snuck up from dead last place to a thrilling comeback victory! I, on the other hand, went from leading the pack to ending the game in fourth-and-last place. I blame my red checker piece! {At some point in childhood we lost one of the red pieces so the checker became a substitute.} Mr. Mur-dog wanted in on the fun and was sassy, as usual.

fam board game

close game

red checker piece

sassy murray

Questions of the day:

  • What are you loving right now?
  • What are your plans for this first weekend of 2014?

highlights of 2013

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Happy New Year’s Eve! Whether you’re painting the town red or cuddling up with those you love and watching the ball drop on TV {I’ll be doing the latter!} I hope you give 2013 a stellar send-off tonight. Have fun and be safe!

Here are some of my highlights from the past year:

  • Attended the Key West Literary Seminar in Key West, Florida, where I spent a week learning from amazing writers, made some fabulous new friends, and met one of my literary idols — Judy Blume!

key west workshop w:judy

  • Submitted my thesis and graduated from Purdue with my M.F.A. in Fiction Writing! What made it even more special was that my parents, grandparents, and Holly traveled to West Lafayette for my thesis reading.

me and hol thesis reading

my birthday wish

cuz bride!

with writing campers at ceremony

  • I bought my first new car, a Prius C that I named Charley!

charley!

me and gma

red tour bus

  • Reconnected with my friend Dana, one of the sweetest people I know {and her adorable dog Heidi, a.k.a. Mr. Mur-dog’s girlfriend!}

dana and heidi

baby photobomb

jess's show

after the game

DSC00016

family with gramps

This year I also:
– celebrated my 10-year anniversary of climbing Mt. Whitney
– tried zumba for the first time
– began attending church regularly
– de-cluttered & simplified my possessions
– completed my Year of Kindness challenge
– celebrated the release of my dad’s new book Wooden & Me
– met up in person with my blogger friend Sarah @ The Pajama Chef and bumped into Julie @ Peanut Butter Fingers in the middle of San Francisco
– went to a hot-air balloon festival
– read 71 books
– joined Foodie Pen-Pals @ The Lean Green Bean
– got on board the smoothie train
– and tried my hand at some new craft projects and recipes!

What an incredible year it has been. Tomorrow I’ll share my goals and dreams for 2014… but for now, it’s your turn!

Questions of the day:

  • What are your highlights from 2013?
  • What new things did you try this past year?

fabulous friday #5

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It’s the last friday of 2013, and it’s been far too long since I’ve done a “fabulous friday” post. So here you go…

… 5 things I’m loving right now

1. Getting to spend time with my sweet family. My poor brother is sick and hasn’t had much energy, so I rented a bunch of movies and we’ve been spending lots of time laughing and talking on the couch.

movies rented

I spy a Mr. Mur-dog sleeping on the couch!

2. Speaking of laughter, I can’t get enough of the Michael Bolton Honda commercials that have been playing this holiday season! Every time one comes on I start busting up. This one might be my favorite. They always remind me of the SNL digital short that Michael Bolton did with The Lonely Island … hilarious!

3. For Christmas, Erica got me this amazingly delicious tea from Flying Bird Botanicals called “Bluebird Morning”… it’s caffeine-free but really gives me a boost of energy in the morning. I can’t get enough!

bluebird tea

4. I also can’t get enough of these dark chocolate oranges from Trader Joe’s. The little chocolate orange slices are so cute, I can never eat just one!

dark chocolate orange

5. One of my favorite bloggers, Nicole Antoinette at A Life Less Bullsh*t, put together a wonderfully motivating and helpful guide to de-cluttering your life as you head into the new year. You can download the guide and worksheets for free on her blog, because she’s just that awesome. Something I really love about Nicole is that she always gives clear, actionable steps that you can take to make a difference starting now. In her de-cluttering guide, she breaks it down into four categories: physical space, mental space, digital space and emotional space. I’ve never felt more energized to clear out the clutter in my life and set a game plan for my goals in the new year!

Questions for the evening:

  • What are you loving right now?
  • Do you have any fun plans for the weekend?

 

goals for the week {a day late!}

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Hiiiiii friends! Wow, can you believe that tomorrow is already Christmas Eve? Time is flowing by crazy-fast! This past week has I think been one of the busiest weeks of my entire life. One of those weeks where every day feels packed-to-the-brim with important, meaningful stuff.

I’ve been able to meet up with a number of dear friends for coffee dates and dinner dates and hiking dates … special time to talk-talk-talk and catch up with people I love and don’t get to see nearly enough. The fam and I watched some of our favorite holiday movies: Serendipity, Love Actually, and It’s a Wonderful Life. {<– my all-time favorite movie EVER.} I was honored to teach writing workshops at three separate schools {one elementary school, one middle school, and my alma mater high school} in addition to my Winter Writing Camp on Saturday. Nothing inspires me quite like being in a room full of young writers writing!

In addition to all of this, we celebrated my brother’s birthday yesterday {happy 24 Gregburn! I love you!} and threw an absolutely lovely and fun bridal shower for my cousin Julie. Plus the typical holiday cookie-baking, card-writing, present-wrapping, etc! Here are some photos from my week:

family with gramps

The girls with Gramps before Julie’s bridal shower.

cupcakes

I made two dozen cupcakes for Julie’s shower … a dozen chocolate with peanut butter frosting, and a dozen red velvet with cream cheese frosting!

loving murray

Murray lovin’!

brothers

Brothers!

And now … on to my goals!

weekly goals

Here’s how I did on my goals for the week of 12/15:
– write 10 pages of new material {yeah, this didn’t even come close to happening this week…}
– take cookies & cards to the nursing home {doing this tomorrow!}
– exercise at least twice
– finish reading The Tea Rose {less than 100 pages left}
– order holiday cards
– teach a fantastic Winter Writing Camp
– throw a wonderful bridal shower for my cousin Julie
– connect with two friends

And here are my goals for this week:
– soak up time with my family and friends!
– journal/reflect on this past year
– set my goals for 2014, wooooohoooo!

I’ll be back tomorrow with the week 51 year of kindness challenge!

This post is linked up with Menu-Plan Monday.
MPM-Winter