for Caitlin, my fellow newlywed

Scrabble pieces make great decorations.

My auntie made the cake toppers to look like Chris and me.

Brit made the wood cake stands.

Impressive. It only took 20 tries.

We had a lot of people in our wedding. They are all important to us.

I heart citrus. We were married in a citrus grove.

Creatively displayed programs.

Our favor. Yummy coffee! Gabrielle designed it.
Chris made the stamp in one of his machine labs at Cal Poly.

August did our Save the Dates and Invites. Yeah. It was 11x17.
We went BIG.

August cut out all of those pieces of a book by hand.
Good work.

Our flower lady, Laurel, gets this guy with dreds to build this
incredible driftwood arch. Citrus again.

The Dana Powers Barn has these fun wagon wheel-mason jar chandeliers.
Lovely.

Sweetheart table. When your wedding party exceeds the
maximum capacity.

The lovely and talented Brittany Reading.

Again.

And again.

And again.

And again. Where we displayed our favors outside of the barn.

Brittany yet again. Cardboard letters covered in book pages.
Who knew?

Welcome. Good bye.

Three wooden spoons and a trip to the ER

Both of my bridal showers (Sacramento and SLO) were perfect. Both uniquely Sacramento and SLO. Thank you to all who were involved. They were my two all-time favorite showers!

At my SLO shower, my friend Kiersten and her mom put together an ultimate bakers kit for me. The kit included mixing bowls, dry cookie ingredients, a picture of her 1-year old son, Ben, after licking a chocolaty bowl, a wire wisk and yes... three wooden spoons. Packaging now days can be a tricky thing, as we are learning from receiving so many specially packaged wedding gifts in the post daily. These three tricky wooden spoons came tightly zip-tied to a cardboard backing.

A few days after the shower, I was eager to put all of the gifts that I had received away in our Peach Street kitchen. So there I was, cutting away at the zip-ties with my rather dull teacher scissors. I must have looked like I was struggling because Chris happily took the spoons away from me to take a stab at releasing them from the strangling clutches of the zip-ties. About thirty seconds into his attempt, he did almost that. He took a stab at something (not the spoons), but failed at releasing the zip-tie. Without my seeing, Chris had pulled his switchblade out of the drawer, slid it under the zip-tie and somehow managed to stab his hand.

I am probably one of the most squeamish people that you will ever meet (I struggled not passing out right before my bridal shower at the nail salon when the nail guy barely nicked my cuticle and drew blood.) Luckily, my non-squeamish friend Remy was visiting and was able to help Chris judge if his wound was worthy of a trip to the ER.

An hour later, Chris was the proud-recipient of 2.5 stitches. Eventful night. : )

Three wooden spoons later, I am grateful that I was the one to unpack the Magic Bullet! Who knows what damages could have been incurred with all that packaging. I want my groom in one piece for the big day!

Looking forward to see all my family and friends soon.

Love,
Amanda

If you are staying in Pismo Beach, Grover Beach, or Arroyo Grande....

Upon my Aunt Kathy's (from Ohio!) request, I am going to share some of our favorite things to see/do/eat in the area.

To see and do:

Pismo Beach is one of our favorite spots. Head down to the Pismo Pier for some great views of the surfers below and take a walk on the beach. (Head South for a LONG walk, or North for a shorter walk.) If you are staying at the the Seacrest Resort, you can take the steps down to the beach right from the hotel and head South along the water to get to the pier. There is also shopping and yummy places to eat there too.

If you are feeling kind of adventurous and have some extra time... Kayaking is super fun. Central Coast Kayaks (located at 1879 Shell Beach Road) is a great place to start. They have guided tours and rentals available. Shell Beach is the BEST place to kayak. You will be happy that you made the decision to be adventurous. : )

More shopping? ok.
1. Pismo Outlets.. exit at Five Cities Drive.
2. Downtown San Luis Obispo- lots of unique shopping spots. Head north on 101- exit Marsh. park and shop on Higuera.
3. Antiques?- we recently discovered a love for the vintage... head down to the Village of Arroyo Grande. exit Grande Avenue and head east.

Yummy Eats:
ok... first meal of the day (breakfast) is my (and Chris') FAVORITE! I have the most recommendations for this...
Where to start??
ok...
1. Seaside Cafe and Bakery (1327 Shell Beach Road) - the name is a bit deceiving as you cannot actually see the sea from the cafe... but the food will not disappoint. EVERYTHING is homemade- and oooooh so yummy. I try new things there all the time, but don't miss their banana or mango or kumquat (or any fruit they have on hand) pancakes and their homemade fruit topped (or simply with butter and jam) english muffins.
2. Honeymoon Cafe (999 Price Street) - no beach view here either, but you will LOVE the pancakes they cook on the outdoor patio griddle. Sweet atmosphere too.
3. Old West Cinnamon Rolls (861 Dolliver Street) - They claim to have the World's Best cinnamon rolls and I'm pretty sure they are right. Splurge and get the cream cheese frosting. yum!
4. Zorro's Cafe & Cantina (927 Shell Beach Road) - so when I first started eating here it was called Sea Sun Cafe.... it's still all the same food, but it got a new name a few years ago. Zorro is the name of the owner's dog. I guess the dog owns the cafe? Classic American breakfast here. Always yummy.

Lunch...

1. Splash Cafe (197 Pomeroy Avenue) - This is a MUST. World famous clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. Very casual and very Pismo Beach. Everything is good, but at least get a cup of chowder. yum!


2. Pelican Point Bar & Restaurant (2575 Price Street) - Go here for the view in the afternoon. Ask to sit in the bar area and order appetizers. The food is pretty good... but like I said, go here to enjoy the view.
3. Mo's Smokehouse BBQ (221 Pomeroy Avenue) - 3 words. Pulled-pork sandwich. coleslaw topped AND get the beans and the cornbread.
4. De Palo & Sons (221 Pomeroy Avenue) - pick up some sandwiches or any other tasty items they make fresh daily and picnic at Spyglass Park (right around the corner) or Pismo Beach. Louie's Love is my fav... procuitto, mozzerella and tomato. yum.

Can you tell I'm passionate about food yet? And I haven't even started on dinner.
1. Cracked Crab (751 Price Street) - My FAVORITE place for dinner! If you like seafood... order the bucket for two. choose 3 different shell fish. you also get potatoes, corn, and spicy sausage. They dump it all on the table so you can dig right in. 3 people with a pretty healthy appetite can share one bucket. Try a local wine while you're there too!
2. AJ Spurs Saloon & Dining (1760 El Camino Real) - If you're staying at the Holiday Inn Express, this restaurant is right in front of you. Steak. yum. black bean soup. yum yum. getting to end your meal with a rootbeer float or a dessert liquore. You'll love it. You might have to wait to be seated... but that just means it is that good.
3. Wow Yanagi Sushi & Japanese Steakhouse (869 Oak Park Blvd) - the sushi will wow you. Don't like your fish raw? Sit down at the grill and they will cook your steak and fried rice up right in front of you. Fresh.
4. Thai Talay Restaurant (601 Price Street) - The best Thai food in the area. yum. I love the spicy noodles and Chris likes the Pahd Thai. If you like Thai, you'll love it here. Never had Thai? Try it! You'll like it!

Ok... so now that my passion for good food has totally be exposed, take my advice and try out a few places above.

We can't wait to see everyone! Enjoy your stay on the beautiful Central Coast!

-Amanda

Move in and a potato masher

So we have some exciting new updates. Update 1: We got a house! We found a lovely little 2 bedroom house in downtown San Luis Obispo, the owner seems to really like us, she lowered the rent when she met us and called us the next day, before we even applied, to tell us we could move in a little later than she had planned so we could save some money. So, yeah, I think she likes us. I get to move in next Friday, January 15, and Amanda gets to move in after the wedding. So I get to make all the big decisions on where the furniture goes and decorating the kitchen, stuff like that. Now for update 2: In this day of technology we have the advantage of constantly monitoring our registries and......we got our first gift. Yes, we have a potato masher on our way. I imagine this is going to be one of those things we use for the rest of our lives and never need to buy a new one, then we can always tell our kids, you know...we got that for our wedding and we still use the same one......you have to be sure to register for a potato masher when you get married. That's all the updates for now. As my mom would say, ttfn (ta ta for now)

-Chris

Love song on a Sunday

The first song I ever wrote (and ever finished writing!), I wrote for Chris. We had gone with our friends on a road-trip to Monterey for Courtney's birthday in Ausgust of 2008. After that day I got to spend in the car and running around Paso Robles, Carmel, and Monterey with Chris I was pretty sure that I really really liked him. It must have been a really great Saturday because it inspired me to write a song about him on Sunday.... thus the title "Love song on a Sunday."

We wanted to take this picture because it kind of captures what happened later that year on February 14th, 2009. On that day, I played Chris THE SONG for the first time. I was super nervous, but he made a great first audience. I'm pretty sure that if he didn't already want to marry me by then, I had made his final decision for him.

You might also recognize the tree from our save the date design. It is a tree up by the base of a hiking trail in my neighborhood that Chris and I found this summer. We fell in love with that tree and asked William to take our photo up in it. It was kinda tricky, but he did a great job. Thank you William and Rachel for climbing up into that tree with us to create these special pictures!

- Amanda