Summer Highlights - Part 3

Summer time is wedding season (yay for our friends getting married!) Paul and I were fortunate enough to celebrate the union of 3 of our favorite couples. First up: Steph and Jillian. They got married at this amazing venue in the Oakland Hills called the Highlands Country Club. Beautiful views of the bay, great food, and an awesome dance party made this a very special and fun wedding!

Next up: Chickie and Renee. I've known Chickie forever, and am so glad that he met Renee. They are such a great couple. Their wedding was so handmade (i.e. custom cornhole game, crafty bunting hung from the ceiling, handwritten note cards, wildflowers out of mason jars, cows in the background). The wedding was in Bolinas, and they made it really local by having a guy shucking oysters. If I wasn't allergic to them, I'd be all over it! The food was great and the dance party was even better. I saw so many old rafting friends that it also felt like an ARTA reunion...

And finally, the wedding we've all been waiting for....Nisan and Marcelle! I've been helping Marcelle with this wedding since the day they got engaged. It was seriously the best planned wedding I've ever been to. The details were amazing and the venue was beautiful. I wouldn't be surprised if this wedding ended up on Martha Stewart weddings (or featured in any wedding blog, for that matter!)

Did I mention how much I love weddings??

Summer Highlights - Part 2

This summer I was lucky enough to go camping at least 4 times. You all know how much I love camping, so that made me a very happy girl! My favorite trip by far was the week long trip Paul and I took for our second anniversary (can you believe it's been that long?) We headed up Highway 50 to the Crystal Basin Recreation Area (outside of Pollock Pines). Lucky for us, it was after Labor Day and the place was deserted. We spent our time at Icehouse and Union Valley Reservoirs. We cooked, swam, hiked, napped, made fires, read books, played with Coco, and just lounged. It was magnificent.

 Allright stop. Hammock time.



Dead wood.



 Campsite guard

Beautiful sunsets

 Paul - headlamp and fir nighttime fun

Shannon trying to be artsy



Summer highlights - Part 1

Have I really not posted since July 8th? Wow, this summer has flown by! Between job hunting, taking care of my niece Cadence, planning events, and maintaining my urban farm, I've been a busy, busy lady. Luckily for you, my dear reader(s), I'm back! For the next few days I'm going to show you the highlights of my summer. First up - the Sonoma County Fair. It's not summer unless you go to the fair, right? We really soaked up the experience - beer, garlic fries, old fashion photo booths, petting zoo, random carnies, and best of all, the Demolition Derby! I'm not gonna lie, it was an awesome, white-trash-tastic time!

Old time photo booth - yes, I convinced Paul to take a photo

Demo Derby. I screamed. I laughed. I cried. It was glorious.

Paul met Barack and Michelle - no joke!

Dairy cows rule.

He wanted to come home with me. Enough with the petting zoo.