Motherhood: What I Wish I Knew Then, Part 2

Today I'm continuing the second part of my "What I Wish I Knew Then" series, talking about what I've learned during my first year of motherhood and what I didn't expect before I gave birth. To read Part 1 you can click here.

My California Travel Diary

Besides getting hitched in California, we also had time for a little vacation fun and I thought I'd share my travel diary with you all. I LOVE California, it's my favorite place in the world, I think I may have lived there in a previous life or something because it always feels like home to me when I visit! I love the sunshine, the palm trees, the warm weather, the ocean, the healthy food, I could go on and on and ON. But I won't, instead I'll just explain some of these photos ; ).

Clockwise starting from the top left-hand corner: After landing at LAX we rented a car and drove to Santa Barbara. We stopped in Malibu on the way for lunch and unfortunately I didn't run into Cindy Crawford again like I did last time : (. , palm trees in Montecito, my favorite green juice from Pressed Juicery (it's so good!), D. after we picked up our marriage license at the Santa Barbara Courthouse.

More palm trees (I'm obsessed!), enjoying the sunshine with our friends at Butterfly Beach, my bridesmaids the morning of my wedding walking around the Four Seasons Biltmore (which we did not stay at, but we pretended we were guests at tee hee), hanging out by the pool.

We had a beach day the day after the wedding with all of our friends and family, which was so much fun! The next day we took a drive through the Santa Ynez Valley, that's me at the Santa Cruz County Fair (which was closed, we were there too early), another photo from the fairgrounds. This is where "The Lost Boys" was filmed so we had to stop!

After we left Santa Barbara D. and I drove North up the coast to San Simian where I almost drove our rental car off the cliff because I didn't put it in park (oops) and then through Big Sur (that's the top right-hand photo) which was absolutely beautiful! We stayed in Carmel which is just outside of Big Sur and went to a vegetarian restaurant one night in Pacific Grove called Julia's, it was the best vegan food we've ever had! And it was funny because the host was also the server AND the chef, it was a one-man band! Last photo is of my handsome new hubby driving, on our way to San Francisco ; ),

The Golden Gate Bridge! My cousin Lisa and I. She lives just outside of San Fran and I'm so happy we got to spend time with her and her lovely hubby! They took us on a tour because D. had never been there before so we got to see Mrs. Doubtfire's House which made me happy but sad, too. (RIP Robin Williams.) And then we took in the sight of the houses that you see at the beginning of every "Full House" episode, they're called the Seven Sisters except my photo only shows 3 of them ; ). Couldn't fit them all in!

Like every vacation, ours was too short but we're planning to take an official honeymoon when it's -30 degrees and miserable here, in January or February, somewhere hot!

Thanks for reading! And thanks for all your comments in my last post, you guys are the best!

xo

Twins

Are you getting tired of seeing all the snow on the ground in my outfit photos? Me, too, guys, me, too. Only two and a half more months and it should all be gone. Fingers crossed. The weather was quite warm this past weekend so I was able to bring out one of my favorite coats from the depths of my closet. I wore this to meet my friend Alanna for lunch and I swear we didn't plan this but we basically showed up to our chick date wearing the exact same outfit. Of course we had to have our picture taken to document this coincidence:

Great minds think alike! If Alanna looks familiar it might be because you recognize her from the Sh*t Edmontonians Say video, one of my favorite videos of all time on Youtube ; )

On me: jacket - Asos, jeans - RACHEL Rachel Roy, booties - Steve Madden, bag - Marc by Marc Jacobs, scarf - H & M

Alanna's jacket - Mackage

Fashion From the Floor Up: WCFW Launch Party

coat - Zara, blouse - Winners, pants + rings - H & M, bag - Co-Lab,
 pendant - Aldo, shoes - Spring, cuff - Banana Republic

photos by the boyfriend

As you can see we are experiencing what I like to call "sprinter," which is spring disguised as winter. Even though it's the end of March, we still have snow on the ground and it's just. Not. Fair. I was freezing in this light orange coat! But anyways, instead of complaining more about the weather I'm going to talk about Fashion From the Floor Up, an evening of style and design put on by Western Canada Fashion Week and Absolute Hardwood Flooring to launch Fashion Week which starts on Thursday! The party was held Friday night at Phabrik Art & Design Center - the perfect venue for an event like this. The stylish crowd sipped cocktails, ate delicious hors d'oeuvres and watched a unique design competition while a DJ spun beats in the background.

Kassandra from Kastles and Vickie from Adventures In Fashion pose on the red carpet

FASHION magazine's Caroline Gault, Janis from Dress Me Dearly 

and Andrew from High Gloss White

Alyssa and Kurtis from The Ordinary Peoples, whom I met for the first time that night.

You HAVE to check out their blog! It's one of my favorites!

From left to right - first, second and third place designs by Ravi Gill who made his McQueen-esque dress out of paper,  Derek Jagodzinsky, who designed his elegant dress with garbage bags and Rebecka Pichoch who used shelf lining and redwood for her creation. They were all so unique!

WCFW's Rowena Manansala, Caroline Gault, Kendall Barber from City and Dale, 

Andrew and Kassandra

Sandy Joe from The Pretty Secrets and her friend Dave

I am so excited for another season of Western Canada Fashion Week and can't wait to see what this season has in store! To see the full calendar and which designers will be showing this season click here. Hope you had a great weekend!

My Life Last Week

 L-R, top to bottom: 

me wearing my favorite ring, my MAC essentials: MAC prep + prime, prolongwear concealer, studio fix

drinks and dinner at Julio's Barrio, flowers from my best friends 

new spring shoes, a gift from my friend Caroline

kitty having a nap, St. Paddy's Day

Yeahhhh, I'm addicted to my new iPhone. I'm on instagram now! You can follow me @mariealamode. I'm just figuring out how to use it! Also, I take a lot of pics of my cat, just FYI. Did you have a good weekend? Anyone spend some time in a paddy wagon from partying too much on Saturday night? Get it? Paddy wagon?? On St. Paddy's day? ; )  ; )  ; ) Bah ha ha ha! I hope you all had a great weekend!

Christmas Break: What I Did and Happy New Year!

         Spent some some much-needed time with my two best friends I've known since I was in a training bra.

Too much information?

Celebrated Christmas with my family

Enjoyed precious time with my goofy nephew. He poses like that for every picture now. Fortunately, I don't.

"Awwed" over animals (not mine)

...and more animals (unfortunately not mine either)...

...and more (this one is mine.)

Shopped 'til I dropped! I took full advantage of all of the Boxing Day sales. Not just on Boxing Day but also on the 27th, 28th and 29th. I told you I have a shopping problem! Don't act surprised. I bought this Co-lab bag at Winners. I'd been looking for a bag like this for months! It's the perfect size.

My friend Jenessa did my makeup. She does the best eyes!

I got my hair colored at Ponytails + Horseshoes

D. and I took in a very exciting Junior World Hockey game with his work. Czech Republic won 5 to 2 against USA. Here they are singing their national anthem at the end of the game.

And I relaxed and read books and watched movies. I took a break from work and blogging and just enjoyed my time off, recharging my batteries ; ). I hope you all had a wonderful holiday spent with family and friends and had some time to relax as well. Happy New Year! I wish you the absolute best in 2012! Thank you to all of you who read my blog. Thank you for your clicks, your comments and all-around love this past year. You don't know just how much I appreciate it.

Twitter

Facebook

Birthday Lace

 

 dress - Kersh (from Black and Bold), shoes - Aldo, clutch - Banana Republic

My birthday was last Tuesday and D.'s was at the end of September so on Saturday night we went out with friends to The Common downtown to celebrate another year of being alive, together : ). We were running late and there wasn't enough time to take proper outfit photos  before we left so D. quickly snapped some pics in the bar before it filled up.  Sorry they're so dark! Below are a few photos from our little partay:

Clockwise from top left: my drink of choice for the night: Bombay gin and cranberry juice (so good! Try it if you're over 18), yummy, and I mean yummy truffle popcorn (I may or may not have eaten a whole bowl myself), my good friends Danna and Kristin, and the gorgeous Janis from Dress Me Dearly with her handsome fella. My friend and fellow blogger Caroline stopped by as well but I forgot to get a picture with her. (Sorry Caroline!)

Tequila shots. 'Nuff said.

We had a great night, minus the unfortunate accident of a jaywalker getting hit by a car right outside the bar. He was okay thank goodness but still taken away in an ambulance. I was lucky it wasn't me because I jay-walked as well, about 20 minutes before that. In high heels. That would have been a disaster.

Unfortunately I don't have a very good picture of D. and I from that night - either he's not looking into the camera or I have a stink eye, very rarely does someone capture a nice photo of the two of us, sigh - but here's one from my actual birthday when we went out for Mexican food:

 My nephew came too:

He loves posing like this! I was so happy to see him (and his chubby cheeks) on my actual birthday. 

I hope you all had a great weekend! Why they have to go by so fast I do not know. But look on the bright side: only 5 more days until the next one!

Twitter

Facebook

Chardonnay and Shenanigans

dress - Winners (borrowed from Jenessa at the last minute because I didn't like the dress I brought)  

shoes - Aldo   purse and rings - H & M

Last Friday my best friend Kristin and I surprised our other best friend friend Jenessa for her birthday by kidnapping her for the evening and taking her to The Matrix Hotel downtown. Jenessa lives in Vancouver so it's not often the three of us can get together and just hang out and be dorks which is exactly what we were that night. Unfortunately I can't get into too many details of our night of debauchery on my blog because my mom or the Pope might read this and/or I might get arrested if I divulge too much information. (I'm only half-kidding when I say that.) And if the Pope is reading this, I promise I'll go to church this Sunday. Twice!

This was our room. I loved how it was decorated.

Two Beauts! Wine tasting in the hotel lounge.

The thin band I'm wearing on my finger is the same one I reviewed here, c/o Anjolee.
If you're wondering!

Our first stop: Hundred Bar and Kitchen for dinner and drinks.
Edmonton Oilers fans will appreciate this bottle of vino ; )

Kristin's Lobster Taco's

My tasty spinach salad with dried cranberries and granola

Dessert for the birthday girl! A  warm peanut butter cookie topped with banana ice cream.
We all had a bite, or two or six ; )

Shots! Our second stop: Moriarty's Wine Bar for more drinks and shenanigans, which usually go hand in hand. We had so much fun and ended our night at The Pint with a.....

Pirate?? Oh, yes.

Follow me on Twitter