my best friends wedding day!!!

Saturday started off well. Almost everyone was where the should have been. The MOH ended up not coming to any of the events because of tooth pain...so she missed the hair and makeup portion of the day. We headed over to an Aveda Spa that Lee had done her test run at to get our hair done. The salon was nice, cozy, and very accomodating. There was a little table and chairs that we set up our Panera Bread spread {aka hangover food} on and we headed to the chairs to get beautiful! The wedding photographer was there and I somehow managed not to snap a single picture...sad but true. I'll have to get some from Lee.

After hair and makeup we headed over to hangout at the venue - we knew it would take Leena a while to get dressed in her Sari. There was some last minute things to take care of but for the most part we were just doing makeup, listening to music, eating some lunch, and getting ready!!

Love her

I layed Lee's clothes out for the photog to take pictures of.

Ranjana helping Leena get dressed.

Me being the official safety pin holder.

Leena wearing her Mom's sari that she wore 32 years ago...wonderful.

Ranjana getting dressed.

Ready for the ceremony

Jerome waiting for Leena

Giving the bride away

The Indian part of the ceremony

Walking around the stage.

The gorgeous venue!!

Married women!!!

Lee and my Mom

The Oakes' and The Gronli's

Isn't she gorgeous!!!

Forever friends.

SO happy Jason made the trip

My wonderful henna

Dad and daughter

Lee testing out all 3 cupcake choices.

It was QUITE the wedding day!!!

my best friends wedding ~ the PRE wedding festivities...

A friend is defined as "a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard."

Leena and I have been friends since 1989. When we became friends the Internet didn't exist, telephones had cords, we lived in St. Louis, MO, and life was simple - school, play, swim.

Life has gotten a lot more complex. At times we've lived half a world away. When I think of our friendship it brings tears to my eyes. We lived by each other for 3 years from the ages of 6 - 9. I moved to Washington in 1992. Leena moved from STL in 1998 to India. She returned to the states in 2001 for college. It is quite amazing to think that our friendship that started when we were 6 will last a life time.

Okay...on to the wedding story!! There are a TON of pictures - way too many to put on a blog post. SO you can go HERE to see all the albums.

Leena's wedding was a multi-day, multicultural (for me at least) event. I arrived on Wednesday and went straight into bridesmaid mode. Wednesday night we had homemade Indian food - a first time for me!!!

Indian Food

So good and so spicy!!

Thursday was a busy day. Leena had her nails done, we ran some errands, and then it was back home for a ceremony and Mhendi (Henna). It was so amazing to be able to document this. There was praying & partying, henna & a full household, dancing & no dad's feeding daughters!

The Ketkar Family

The bride and groom getting some food

Protecting the carpet from the henna.

The beautiful bride

Praying for the grandparents who are no longer with us

Ceremony for the couple

Mother and Daughter

The Bride and her henna

Dancing!!! Lots of dancing!!!

The whole weekend was amazing to be a part of. Many of Leena's family members I hadn't seen since I was a kid and many of them remembered me as the blonde girl. It was great to get to see her brother and her parents for a few days in a row. It was such an honor to be a part of this wedding!!

Friday involved the bridesmaids getting their nails done and finishing up some last minute details! My husband and my parents arrived on Friday with time for Jason to join us at the rehearsal dinner.

The Eeds' and The Gronli's

Sprinkles Cupcakes {Scottsdale edition}...

I love Srinkles Cupcakes. They are tasty, gorgeous, and pretty elusive. See, Sprinkles are only in a handful of states, Central Cali being the closest one to me. I've been lucky enough to get to go to one two times this year...first in April in Chicago and then on my trip this summer to Phoenix!!

Not only did I get to go there two times...but I actually got some FREE cupcakes!! Most everyday Sprinkles puts up these secret words on their facebook page and when you go whisper the word at a Sprinkles you get free cupcakes!! On the 2/3 time I was there on my Phoenix trip we got 2 free Key Lime cupcakes because as we were standing there they said the words "sweet advisory" and we {Rachel and I} got two free Key Lime cupcakes!! The morning that we left we stopped at Sprinkles on the way to the airport. We got a few cupcakes to take home, tried a few {it was 9am...don't judge} and as we were able to leave I checked facebook one more time and saw that if we went and whispered "seeing is believing" we {Mom, Amy, Rachel, myself} would each get a free salty carmel! We definitely went back and in got those cupcakes!!!

I really do love Sprinkles Cupcakes. I hope we get one in Portland soon. I'd even take one in Seattle ;-)

Phoenix, Arizona

My Mom and I headed to Phoenix, AZ to visit my cousin and aunt...who are also teachers like us. 4 teachers...all in love with summer vacation!!

When we left Portland this is what we saw...Rainy and 60 degrees

When we got to Phoenix this is what we saw...sunny and 110 degrees. Talk about a HUGE difference!!

We made the trip a weekday event so it didn't disturb too many other plans. It was also a pretty last minute trip...which made it a pretty relaxed and fun trip because there wasn't much time to plan! I stayed with my cousin Rachel and her boyfriend Matt, while my Mom stayed with my aunt (her older sister) and my uncle.

The day we arrived we went to a wonderful little restaurant {of which I cannot remember the name} for a lunch and then we headed straight for the pool!!! My aunt and uncle have a very nice private pool in their backyard we were in there every day!!!

The second day started out the same...POOL TIME!! We lounged, tanned, talked and soaked up the sun!!! That evening Rachel, Matt, and I headed to a D-Backs game which was really fun. I have to tell you I was really worried about how hot it would be but turns out the roof was closed which made it a "cool" 80 degrees instead of the 115 it was outside...We had a great time, they taught me a new gambling game, and Matt had a good dose of karma come his way. See, he left his wallet in the seat cup holder and realized it about 20 minutes after we left the same. Turns out one of the people in our row was a kind soul and found it, with a few hundred bucks cash in it, and returned everything to the D-Backs lost and found. Thank you kind soul.

The third day was partially the same. See, turns out my aunt and cousin wanted to learn to make cakepops! So while we were at the baseball game the day before they went on the hunt for all of the appropriate supplies. So we started out the morning in the air conditioning making some cakepops!!

Then Rachel and I headed out for more sun while my Mom and aunt drove all around town to visit my cousin Reed. That night Rachel, Matt, and I headed out to meet some old friends of mine who now live in Phoenix. Mary is a friend from college and Kelly is a friend from high school. It was fun to catch up, get out on the town a bit, and enjoy my last night in the heat!!

The next day we headed home...to 71 degree weather and my own bed!!!

over the Grand Canyon

Home!!

happy 29th birthday to my husband!!!

Jason definitely deserved a birthday party, which we had on July 9th!! He really hasn't celebrated properly since 2007 and we were in Pullman for the experience.

See, in 2008 I left for a month of Europe.
 In 2009, we were 9 days away from getting married, looking for a house, and had just moved the previous week.
In 2010, I was in Wisconsin with my family and he was here working.

2011 had to be the year! It is the last year of his 20's and I was going to be in the state!!

We invited all of his coworkers, our families, and some of our friends. His Dad and brothers made the trip, some of his coworkers made it and 3 of my favorite Vancouver friends attended!! We were very happy with the turn out!!

I really went all out and made everything from scratch AND THEN FORGOT TO TAKE PICTURES OF IT!!! UG, I am so mad at myself. We had grilled burgers, Texas pasta salad, baked potato salad,  cowboy caviar, strawberry/pineapple/grape fruit kabobs on mini sword skures, chocolate cupcakes with mint frosting and crumbled Andes mint sprinkles.

Regardless of the pictures, it was a fun and relaxing event and I was so glad that Jason was over his illness from the beginning of the week in time for the party!!!

Alex, Matt, Kristin, Chris

Shelley, Sabrina, Kim, Tony, Nikolay

Birthday Boy!!!

Us!

Electric bug zapper...great buy!!!