31 December, 2011

A Fresh Start


I just LOVE ringing in a new year! It feels like a fresh start, a chance to improve and grow and change. Levi and I are making A LOT of changes in 2012. Some are very scary, but they're all very exciting. I plan on savoring this year and watching how everything unfolds, watching how God takes care of us and blesses us in 2012, watching my faith in Him grow. This year will be incredible!!



And now a little recap of 2011, which brought plenty of changes of its own:

Our year started out with a wedding, which I did all the beautiful flowers for.

We took our honeymoon in our favorite city, San Francisco.

We celebrated our first Valentine's Day as a married couple.


We took a mini-moon to Cambria (and went to the central coast twice more later in the year).

I invented grapefruit pizza (speaking of, I really need to make this again. Soooooo good.)

I had a blogger weekend with Camilla, Stacey, and Jenny May, and it was awesoooooome.

We sat.

We tried Intelligentsia for the first time, and it was really really good.

We sent out lots and lots of thank you cards (and I'm pretty sure we lost a list of people to thank, which makes me feel like a horrible person), and we received the best thank you for the thank you ever.

Stacey came down in April, and we had a really fun friend date. I love that girl. She is seriously one of my very best friends. She came down again in November, and our husbands got to meet.


We celebrated Easter, and I kicked the crap out of a piñata.

We had our picture taken by Kim and André in Abbot Kinney.

I helped throw a baby shower for my sister-in-law and brother.

I turned 29 and had a Tangled birthday party.


We went to Portland.

I started doing the Blossom feautres for The Violet.

We got a king sized bed!!!!

Stacey and I went to the Bay Area to visit Camilla (Stacey's posts on that trip: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7).

I had an important epiphany at a Bon Iver concert.

We also went to San Francisco to celebrate Camilla's wedding (posts on that trip are coming in 2012!).

And lots and lots of other things. Happy New Year to you all!

30 December, 2011

Christmas Day


We have always spent Christmas morning at the house I grew up in. When I lived there, we woke up super early, ate breakfast together, went through our stockings, and opened presents. Now that I don't live there, we get there early and do all the same things. It's the best. Sadly, this was our last Christmas in that home. It's going to be torn down in the new year, and the thought of it makes me really sad, so let's not talk about it anymore for now, okay??! I'm just really happy that Wolfie got to spend his very first Christmas morning in the home his daddy grew up in! :)

Speaking of Wolfie, he's really into chewing on water bottles:

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And I'm really into him:

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Every year, my mom bakes muffins for us in little flower pots:

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But this year, there were also donuts, so I got a little sidetracked:

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(sorry there's a hook blocking your face, Ivy!)

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After breakfast, it was time to open some presents! We drew names this year. I got my sister. I ordered all of her gifts online (a little late), so I wrapped up pictures of the things she would be receiving in the mail. Haha! It meant that I could give her more though because I was able to get great deals on things! And who doesn't love mail??! (To read about the best gift I received this year, click here.)

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(Wolfie loved the drum my mom gave him.)

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My brother, Zachary, gave Levi a Nerf gun (the boys always get Nerf guns at Christmas), so they had fun playing with those. About five minutes after unwrapping them, they took them apart to modify them so they could shoot farther. Haha!

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I couldn't decide which photo I liked best of me and Levi, so I'm just throwing them all in:

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(Yes, I wore the exact same outfit on Christmas Eve...)

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It was a great last Christmas in the Hunter family home! :)

hunter family christmas 2011

27 December, 2011

Candlelit Christmas Eve


On Christmas Eve, we went to church with our friend, Ray.

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Church was awesome. We sang lots of Christmas carols, there was a shadow puppet show, and we celebrated the birth of Jesus with tambourines and maracas. My favorite part was towards the end when we lit candles and sang my favorite song of all time, Oh Holy Night.

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It was beautiful.

After church, we included Ray and my sister, Ivy, in our Christmas Eve tradition of dinner at a dive restaurant (think Coco's, Spires, Hof's Hut, etc.). This year, we went to Hof's Hut and feasted on extraordinarily mediocre food in the lounge, which probably hasn't changed at all since 1973.

Next, we went home and wrapped presents while listening to Christmas music... it didn't take long since we only had three presents to wrap.

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Levi and I didn't exchange gifts this year since we went to San Francisco the week before Christmas. I cheated though and gave him a little teeny gift (the awful drawing you see represents the Radiohead decal that is coming in the mail for our car this week - told you it was a teeny gift).

24 December, 2011

Oh, Christmas Tree!


This year, we got a little 4-foot Christmas tree. He is so cute - all skinny and short. We had to put him on top of an old drawer to give him a little bit of a boost.

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The fact that our tree is only four feet tall didn't stop Levi from dressing him in 800 lights. 800!!! Each branch is wrapped in colorful lights. I love looking at it without my contacts on... I can't see the tree anymore; all I can see are big, blurry balls of colorful lights.

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Decorating a Christmas tree with Levi is a serious business. He had to redo the lights three times because he couldn't get them just right at the top of the tree. He also asks that we only decorate with one type of ornament at a time... so that they're properly spaced on the tree. Levi is a very laid-back, easygoing man, but when it comes to decorating a Christmas tree or making something look nice, he is so meticulous and OCD. It never fails to surprise me and crack me up. I guess I'm not the only perfectionist in this family.

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I love this little tree. I have a feeling he'll be with us far into January.

23 December, 2011

The Nativity


Happy Christmas Eve Eve to you all!

I hope you're having a very blessed Christmas season so far.

Our nativity is my favorite part of our Christmas decorations:

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And here's a fun little video on the nativity:


(Here is a link to the video if you can't play it from your smartphone on my blog.)

Besides the fact that my Mary has angel wings (I tried to rip them off... it's not happening), it looks like my nativity is fairly accurate! It doesn't really matter as long as Jesus is in there. :)

Enjoy the next few days leading up to the day we celebrate the birth of our savior!

16 December, 2011

Huzzah!!!


Bright and early tomorrow morning, Levi and I are flying to San Francisco!!

Not only do we get to stay at the historic Fairmont Hotel, eat at all our favorite restaurants, and soak up all the wonderfulness of our favorite city... we get to go to the wedding of one of my very best friends!!!

That's right! Camilla is getting herself a husband! And a very good one at that. I can't wait to see what a gorgeous bride she'll be.

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We love you, Camilla & Damir! See you tomorrow! Eep!

13 December, 2011

My Uniform


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For the past few months (seriously), this has pretty much been my go-to outfit. The shirt varies, but everything else pretty much stays the same.

Boyfriend jeans? Check.
Clean shirt? Check.
Espadrilles? Check.
Sunglasses? Check.
Zebra purse? Check.
Toddler tails? Check.

And then, it's out the door I go.

Now that it's starting to get colder, I'm transitioning into wearing my tights-boots-skirt-coat-scarf uniform.

As much as I love clothes, I'm just kinda lazy at heart. ;)

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06 December, 2011

Trying to Steal Boppy's S'more


cute

I think this might be my favorite picture of all time.

04 December, 2011

Things I Really Like Right Now



1. wearing tights again
2. my new scarf
3. lemon rose tea from Peet's
4. gingerbread lemon cupcakes
5. Wolfie's new fake cough
6. setting goals and meeting them
7. the fact that we still don't have a comforter for the king size bed we got in July (just a quilt and two thin blankets), and our house is freeeeeezing. The only way to stay warm is to snuggle together in the middle all night. I kinda don't want a comforter...
8. the super sparkly shoes I just bought to wear to Camilla's wedding in TWO WEEKS
9. the fact that Camilla's wedding is in only two weeks!!!!
10. our Sunday tradition of church followed by the French omelette at Pain du Monde


30 November, 2011

Levi's Birtheve Date Night


On Levi's birtheve (aka the night before his 31st birthday), we did a little celebrating at Red Table, a new restaurant in Huntington Beach. Levi and I were really excited when we heard that my friend Taylor's mom was opening a new restaurant nearby! Long Beach is in desperate need of new, good restaurants.

Red Table is awesome. It has a really eclectic style with both its food and its décor (btw, the women's restroom has a mirror that is oh so flattering... don't you LOVE those??).

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(LOVED this chandelier cluster. By the way, the lighting was very romantic, so our pictures are a bit soft-focused and dark.)

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All the staff was super friendly. Taylor was there when we walked in. She showed us to our table, made a few recommendations, and brought us some wine. Hospitable? Yes!

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(my dinner game face)

We started with soup - tomato bisque for me and clam chowder for Levi.

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I miss my soup. It was so delicious.

Then we had our main courses - pan roasted chicken for me and braised beef short ribs for Levi.

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Now, I loved the chicken and the short ribs, but my very favorite part of our entrées was Levi's roasted carrots in that yummy sauce and the mashed potatoes... I'm such a side lover. If I could, I would order roasted carrots and mashed potatoes everywhere I go. I'm pretty sure Red Table had the best roasted carrots I've ever had. I want some right now, please.

After dinner, we moved on to our dessert courses... yes, that's right. I said courses, plural. There were too many good options on the menu, so we decided that we needed to try several - the Red Table cupcake (which literally comes out in a cup), the broken banana cream pie, and two chocolate truffles - espresso and chili.

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We both agreed that our favorite was the chili truffle. Our server told us that they use a little bit of ghost chili pepper in the chili powder that tops the truffle. Have you heard of that stuff? It's craaaaaazy. Super duper hot. They only used a teensy bit on the truffle though, and it gave it just the right amount of slow burn. Chili and chocolate is such a delicious combination. If you're local, go try Red Table!!! And tell Taylor I say hello!

After dinner, we stopped by Peet's for some tea and took a walk.

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(Levi's blogger pose)

It was a superb birtheve.

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26 November, 2011

OHHHHH!



How is this boy's existence fair to all the other babies in the world??! He's just the cutest thing I've ever ever seen. And I'm not being biased one teensy bit.

wolfie 1

wolfie 2

wolfie 3

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wolfie 5

wolfie 6

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Wolfie's lots of fun to be obsessed with.

(all photos stolen from my brother and sister-in-law)
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