Grandma

I wrote the post below just 12 hours before my grandma passed away. Her passing was not a shock, and yet, as my uncle Bob said at her services on Tuesday, "all death is untimely".

I was PREPARED for grandma to go, but I was not truly READY for her to be gone. Even seeing her after she passed was not enough to convince me that she really wouldn't have bowls of olives waiting for me when I came over, or wouldn't smell her famous oatmeal cookies baking. I wish I could have soaked in every memory, every moment, every piece of wisdom she ever gave and saved it all.

She was a wise and humble woman who led her life with a unique excellence and an amazing grace. Lois Lindley was my grandmother, and everyone should be jealous. I got her for almost 26 years, and for that, I am deeply blessed.

So, for now, bye Grandma. I'll see you soon. I sincerely hope there are no dirty old flies in heaven.

Less than 8 Weeks!

It seems that every time I come back to my blog, I'm catching up! Much has happened since I last wrote. Life has been split between joy and grief. Someone once said that the two most stressful events in life are getting married and experiencing a death in the family. I have both at one time. I wonder at God's timing, but know it is perfect at the same time. The upcoming passing of my grandmother is in no way tarnishing my upcoming marriage, yet, I am blessed to be able to take some time to focus more on my grandmother and family, than on myself.

With that said, I'm going to go ahead and talk about myself for a minute. Over the past few weeks, I've had my first shower with all my current family and new family! It was an AMAZING time to be with the women in my life. Not only do I come from an amazing and large family, but so does Hans. We also both have a great legacy of marriage. I've been feeling like Hans and I are overly blessed (if there is such a thing).


Me and My Wonderful Grandmother.


This is the pitcher my mom gave me. It was one of my favorite gifts!


This is the first time my bridesmaids and I have been together. (left to right - Sister-in-law Rachel, Sister-in-law Julie, Sister Heidi, soon to be sister-in-law Anna)

The other exciting event lately is that Hans and I just rented our first apartment! Hans is moving in this weekend and I'll be moving in after the wedding. Although, I'll be using the apartment to store all of our gifts. It's a great apartment on the corner of 4th and Park, right across from the lagoon. We can't wait to have you all over. For the time being though, here are a few pictures.


This is Hans in our new bedroom.


And here I am making imaginary dinner in our new kitchen!

Catching Up

Ok ok, I'm a little behind on my blogging. So for those of you who actually check my blog, please don't give up on me yet! Lately I've been nailing down wedding details, and getting excited for it more and more every day. That's a lot of excitement for one person to handle! Right now I'm looking forward to my family shower the most. A few of Hans' family members are flying out just for my shower, including his sister from Croatia, mom from Florida and aunt from Northern California. I feel so honored already! I can't believe I'm marrying a man with a bigger family than me! I'm so thrilled to see everyone and be the reason for these families to come together. It's all very exciting!

Below are some pictures from recent events in my life.


A meeting of the brilliant wedding minds here. Joy is in the yellow. She's my wedding angel, and the owner of Portefleur, along with Mike, her singing waiter husband.


Family trip to San Diego. Hans and I took this picture right as a bug flew in his face. Now quite a famous bug, really.


This is my brother David and his wife, Rachel. They have been in Washington for the past 10 days working at a kids summer camp as well as checking out the area for the possibility of moving there. Welcome home David and Rachel!!!!

Lessons in Frosting

This past weekend my cousin, Brianna, and I served a meal and a dessert to 85 8th graders and their families. (Grand total: 220 people.) Brianna is a chef and caters events like this often enough to know how many bags of green beans we need, and when enough rice pilaf is enough. Since Brianna taught me that it's ok to give yourself props, we did such a great job! Eveyone loved the food and our cupcakes were so cute you almost didn't want to eat them!

Below are a few pictures that will make you salivate. (Note: The first picture shouldn't make you salivate, although Brianna is striking a rather alluring pose.)





















The chefs standing in the star entrance. (Props to Amy Elwood for star construction)


Chocolate Ganache.


Strawberry Shortcake and Lemon Lemon.


White on white and coconut delight!






















Brianna and 1 of 3 giant pots of beans.


Isn't the salad so pretty?


Oh, the glamour of bagging raw chicken.

First Course: Salad with strawberries, feta cheese, red onion, avocado, candied walnuts in a raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

Dinner Menu: Teriyaki chicken breast with Rice Pilaf and Sauteed Green Beans.

Cupcake Flavors (10 in all): Red Velvet with cream cheese frosting, Nutmeg with maple frosting, Chocolate cake with homemade chocolate ganache, White cake with white frosting, Lemon cake with lemon frosting, Strawberry shortcake, Chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting, White cake with pink frosting and coconut, German chocolate cake, Spice cake with cream cheese frosting.

Mmmmmm . . .

(Confession: I made not one, but two batches of white cake incorrectly! And it was out of a box. Tip: don't add the egg yolkes, otherwise it's not white cake, it's yellowish cake.)

Congratulations Vincent and Suzanne!

On Saturday, May 31st, my good friend from college got married. The ceremony was at the city hall in Santa Barbara and the reception was in a barn connected to the Carriage and Western Art Museum. It was such a blast seeing friends from school. Hans had a great time hearing all our crazy stories from college days. Here's a few shots from the blessed event.


The Happy Bride and myself.












My friends from college (Stephanie, me, Holly and Suzanne)












This is me and some guy I picked up on my way to the wedding . . . He was nice

4 MONTHS!

Well, it feels like it's c r a w l i n g, but it is officially 4 months until Hans and Amy are hitched. Yay!