Long Weekend: South Lake Tahoe

"Weekend in Tahoe" is one of those sentences that I feel I should say much louder than anything else I'm saying. You know, so people know that it's just a WEEKEND IN TAHOE. I go there all the time. It's cool.

No, actually, I've never been there. I've never even been skiing. It's weird, considering I live like 2 hours from some of the best skiing in the country (not Tahoe). Anyway, my husband and I are not into most of the activities available in the Lake Tahoe area, such as skiing, boating, swimming (for Trevor), and the ever-exciting losing money in a room full of smoke. Our friends decided to get married lake-side, though, so we begrudgingly packed our bags and headed to the airport.

I kid. We were both pretty excited to visit a new place and decided, after the long weekend was over, that we would visit again... If someone gave us a reason other than gambling or skiing.

 Saturday was bitterly cold and rainy, despite what the forecast had called for when we packed. We ventured out for breakfast just as it started pouring, spent a bit of time drying off and enjoying omelettes & biscuits at Driftwood Cafe. Afterwards, Trevor met friends at one of the casinos, but since I had made the mistake of wearing a flimsy jean jacket and my new white Vans, I decided to head back to the hotel. I spent a couple hours drying off and warming up.

 It was the perfect chance to finish my book, paint my nails for the wedding, and eat some candy I'd gotten at a little shop at Heavenly. I didn't eat much of it. Everything tastes too sweet to my old person mouth.

 This is pretty much what I wore to the wedding, with the addition of a plaid shirt layered underneath to keep me warm.

 When traveling, it's best to just keep things simple and colors coordinated. It's the fool-proof way to make sure you look nice when you don't have a lot of options.

It cleared up for a little while, so I made my way over to the casino to hang out with everyone. There's so many neat, mid-century hotels. Actually, the area we were in was nothing but hotels. It was like a hotel neighborhood.

 The happy couple stayed at this neat boutique hotel, Basecamp. It was like being inside Pinterest.

I wish I had more pictures of the inside, but this picture of the lighting fixture above the big, pine table in the main lobby, will have to do. How cool are those lightbulbs?

 BFFs

Katie looked simply elegant in her Anthro wedding dress.

 The weatherman said it would be sunny all day, and it was. It made the wedding all that more beautiful.

 We all had dinner on the beach at a restaurant appropriately named Beach House. Delicious burgers and salads, but the PBR came in Mason jars, which is a little over the top.

 A gorgeous sunset and partying into the night. The next morning, we woke up when it was still dark to get to the airport, but I must say, watching the sunrise over the Nevada hills made up for the lack of sleep.

This weekend? I am off again! My mom is finally arguing her dissertation and I'm going down to the Bay Area to offer my support and, fingers crossed, celebrate!
♠

In Photos: Wedding Anniversary

Today, I am celebrating my one year wedding anniversary with my one-and-only Trevor.

A year has gone by so quickly! In fact, it went so quickly that I never even had time to share pictures from my wedding reception!

Let me do a quick recap, otherwise you might be confused. We were officially and legally married on May 19th, 2011. I posted pictures from that, like the one below.

However, I did not post any from our reception, which was held in August. 

So I'm gonna stereotype here: I'm guessing most of my readers are female. I'm also going to guess that a large portion of you are like me and really love wedding stuff (even though I'm married, I still want a subscription to Martha Stewart Weddings), so I'm sure you won't mind a long, rambling post about a wedding reception!

Our nuptials were very casual, so we decided to keep the reception pretty laid-back. I borrowed a (beautiful!) dress, we rented a community building at a city park, and dinner was potluck-style. We provided drinks and desert and my amazing father-in-law served pulled pork.

{the invitations}

I think the fanciest part was the invites, which I designed with help from my lovely step-mom.

{the dress}

 It belonged to my husband's grandmother. Miraculously, all of her clothes fit me perfectly. She was quite a stylish lady back in the day (now she's too old to care).

That's my dear, sweet cousin Molly.

{the centerpieces}

My aunts are geniuses. On their advice (and good experience) I went to Pike Place Market a couple days before the reception and ordered 10 bouquets from one of the many flower vendors. I told them what colors I wanted and for $50 they made me the most beautiful arrangements! I put them in vases and jars I bought at  various thrift stores. The candle holders are also thrifted. Some are actual candle holders, and some are neat antique jam jars. They were fun to shop for; it was like a treasure hunt.

{the favors}

We had a candy table, which turned out to be a bad idea, because NO ONE ate the candy. I had about 10 pounds of candy in my trunk for months. The envelopes with champagne drops and buttermints worked out pretty well, though (idea from Martha Stewart Weddings)

{the cake}

OK, this part was pretty fancy, too, and, like the candy, I ate it for months. It was classic yellow cake, with apricot and almond filling and a buttercream frosting. My mom and sisters spent days slaving away on this cake. I'm pretty sure they didn't realize what an ordeal it would be when they offered to make it. We were just gonna get a Costco cake or something, haha. Needless to say, my family is amazing. My sister made each and every one of those marzipan fruits. (I can't remember where the recipe is from, but can find out if anyone is interested)

{the wedding party}

They weren't officially our wedding party (just some friends, sisters and a niece), but it wouldn't have been possible without our wonderful friends and family. Seriously, that's the main reason I had the reception, so I could hang out with ALL of my favorite people all in one room! I feel like I should write Thank You notes again.

A big thank you to Laurel, Tara, and Alana for taking pictures!!