so.

exhausted.

las vegas was so much fun, and now it's time to start school! first day back!

headin' out

we're leaving for las vegas in approximately 6 hours.

some of our friends generously offered to take us, and we're so excited to get away!

hooray!

i'm praying the heat doesn't kill me. i'm not exactly a hot weather lover...and i don't really enjoy gambling...and i'm not a big drinker...haha! but i love food and hotels and the bellagio water show and big city lights and friends and vacation!!

we come home on monday, so keep up with me on twitter if you want levi & jasmine in las vegas updates. :)

here are some scenes from our week:

(kitty stack)

(my attempt at an updo)

(trying to reduce the world's largest underwear collection)

(p.s. this is the second time my underwear have made it on this blog. first time here.)

(this is the bottle of water levi chooses to take on a hike.)

(rediscovered a forgotten shirt in my closet)

(so i wore it two days in a row)

(i didn't like the weird face i made in the picture above so i hid for the next shot.)

have a happy weekend!

love,

jasmine & her cheesy faced fiancé, levi

(seriously. every time i pull out the camera, he puts on this face. he has a special sound that accompanies it. i think it's something he got from peter griffin.)

as much as i love my hair...

i've been kind of itching to change it for awhile.

i change it a lot as it is, but there's only so much you can do with short hair without going totally crazy. so i think i might grow my hair out after the wedding. there's noooooo way i'm going to try to grow it out between now and then. no one wants to be in an awkward growing-the-hair-out phase on their wedding day.

as i was flipping through j.crew's september catalogue (btw, i want everything in there including this), i think i might have found my next hair style:

ah! it's so cute!! and i think it would look good on me.

now, here's hoping i can survive the incredibly awkward process of growing out short hair.

christmas in august!

i just made our appointment to volunteer with operation christmas child this christmas. yes, you have to plan ahead this far in advance if you want a spot. it's crazy! but i'm glad so many people want to help!

if you're looking for something cool to do for others this christmas, i highly recommend looking into this project, organized by samaritan's purse.

they collect, process, and deliver shoeboxes filled with toys, treats, and simple necessities to children all over the world at christmastime. last year, almost 8 million children received christmas gifts through operation christmas child!

if there aren't any processing centers nearby where you can volunteer, you can always donate a filled shoebox that will be sent to a child in need this christmas. it's really fun to go shopping as a group for fun little goodies to fill your shoebox with, then return home for a shoebox packing party. we've done this as a family before, and i love it! there's no better way to get into the christmas spirit than doing something for others.

merry christmas in august! be sure to let me know if you end up helping. i'd love to hear about your experience.

fun with proust - kim

this week, i interviewed kim who writes one of my daily reads, my little photographs. i love kim's blog. she always posts the gorgeous photos she takes of her adventures in LA and all her travels. her photos are always nice and big so that you can see all the beautiful details, which i love! kim has an adventurous spirit and loves to try new things - two traits i love in a blogger and a friend!

here are kim's thoughtful responses:

1. what is your idea of perfect happiness?

I have so many... Singing along really loud at a concert. Holding hands on the beach. Being a tourist in a new city. Writing letters and postcards. Watching foreign films. Cooking dinner with my Andre. Making new friends... the list goes on.

2. what is your most treasured possession?

All of my cameras. They go wherever I go. :)

3. what is your greatest fear?

Someone I love falling overboard or falling off a cliff. Oh the thought of that happening scares me so much.

4. which talent would you most like to have?

I would love to be a fabulous painter.

5. what or who is the greatest love of your life?

My Andre. He is my sweetheart and my best friend.

6. what is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

I need to stop putting everyone else's needs ahead of my own. I always end up getting hurt in the end.

7. what do you value most in your friends?

I love friends who can admire and be inspired by our differences.

and here is kim's favorite photo of herself:

so cute!

you can read kim's blog, my little photographs, by clicking here!

wedding planning: wedding bands

because my ring has a bit of a wave shape (it's actually an engagement ring & a wedding band soldered together), i plan on wearing it as my wedding ring, with no additional wedding band.

but since it's so incredibly valuable to me & levi (read this if you don't know why), i want to get a simple wedding band to wear if i'm ever strolling through the ghetto, swimming at the beach, planning on being held up at gunpoint...you know, the usual.

i know i could just go ringless from time to time, but i love having my wedding ring finger occupied.

i looooove rose gold, so i want to get a really simple, delicate, thin rose gold band. (one day, i may even have the band on my "main" ring replaced with rose gold.)

i searched etsy and found a lot of thin rose gold bands, but this is the ring that i love:

(rose gold wedding band found here)

it's so delicate & pretty! however, i think $235 is pretty expensive for a simple, thin, rose gold band, so i'll probably keep looking. we'll see!

just out of curiosity, what do you wear to signify that you're married? an engagement ring/wedding band set, a simple band, your engagement ring, something else entirely different, nothing at all?

forgetfulness

sometimes i forget that feelings are only temporary and that just because i have one bad day, it doesn't mean the world is over.

or that i've failed.

or that i'll never feel any differently.

i also forget that bloating occurs every single month and that this does NOT mean that i've suddenly gotten fat overnight.

some day, i'll have these things figured out...

...and then i'll have new problems. ;)

here are some scenes from our week (that you may have already seen on my twitter page):

(shopping without buying)

(levi & the neighbor kitty i named gog)

(late to church)

(i live in the land of sunshine.)

i like to steal levi's iPhone...or his leviPhone, as he likes to call it. i call it his ife.

have a happy weekend! tonight, i'm going to see rufus wainwright at the greek with my momma & sister! yippee!

fun with proust - elise

remember my fun with proust series?

yeah, i had kind of forgotten about it too...

but today, i'm bringing it back with elise who writes a blog called pennyweight. she also has a really cute etsy shop called troubadour vintage. i just found elise's blog a couple weeks ago, and i already love her. besides being incredibly beautiful & stylish, she has a really sweet, genuine quality that i just love. elise is the kind of girl i would love to be friends with in real life...but only if she let me borrow her shoes...just kidding! :) with or without the shoes, elise is a great girl. i really enjoyed learning more about her, and i think you will too.

without further ado, here are elise's responses to the same 7 questions:

1. what is your idea of perfect happiness?

The hubs and I have recently started a weekly tradition called "Music Night." We pile a bunch of pillows onto our living room floor and switch off picking the record for that night. We try to listen to new, or new-to-us, albums that we haven't listened to before... then discuss it afterwards (music nerd alert!).

2. what is your most treasured possession?

My 1940s vintage wedding ring. I am completely in love with it and have to give props to the Mr. for picking it out all by himself!

3. what is your greatest fear?

One of my greatest fears is getting old. Not getting older, I can embrace that... but old. The thought of losing the dear people around me and not being able to do so many of the things I enjoy today makes me so sad.

4. which talent would you most like to have?

I've always dreamed of being able to sew whatever my heart desires... I hope one day this will be true, but I'm in some serious need of some sewing lessons!

5. what or who is the greatest love of your life?

My absolutely adorable hubs - Travis, of course!

6. what is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

I oftentimes try to do too many things at once, making myself so completely overwhelmed that I end up quitting. Instead of getting one thing done at a time, I'm barely getting anything done!

7. what do you value most in your friends?

Candor, love and generosity. My friends continually blow me away with their generosity to others and push me to be a better person. I am so grateful!

and elise's favorite photo of herself:

aren't they a beautiful couple? i hope you enjoyed learning more about elise! click here to read her blog, pennyweight.

summer?

where are you?

i still haven't put on any of my bathing suits this summer...or my sun hat.

i haven't set foot on the beach or dipped my toe in our swimming pool.

i haven't gotten sunburned (thankfully! my goal for the summer was no sunburns.). i haven't gotten any tanner.

our air conditioning unit is still tucked away in the garage.

it's true that our summers start when everyone else's are winding down, and our falls are blistering while everyone else is starting to layer and drink hot chocolate again.

but this summer is just plain weird.

i'm not complaining though! i hate the heat.

i can absolutely wait 'til next year for a more traditional summer with warm weather, bathing suits, sun hats, swimming pools, and the like. bring on a nice, cool fall, mr. weather man!

hopefully, i didn't just jinx myself by writing this post...

sometimes a picture says it all, but, of course, i like to add some words too.

hi.

we're the hunter girls.

that's ivy over on the left. jasmine's the one in the middle with the big mouth. and jill is on the right, laughing.

yes, we're related.

we each have a different variation of short, blonde hair.

we seem to have the same legs.

we're all a little wacky and a little loud.

we all have our own style and our own opinions.

we fight often but make up quickly.

we love each other, hate each other, like each other, and get annoyed with each other... sometimes all at once.

we're equal parts friend and family.

we're the hunter girls, and we're pleased to meet you.

it's on its way!

somehow we ended up at michael's again right in time for all the fall stuff.

it's so weird because we only go to michael's about twice a year. go figure.

anyway, we just had to play with the all the fall foliage and paraphernalia.

after all, it's tradition.

ohhhh, i can't wait for fall!! we really don't have seasons here in southern california. there's no fall smell. the weather doesn't really get much cooler (in fact, it will probably get warmer since we really haven't even had summer yet - i still haven't put a bathing suit on). and the leaves are nowhere near as glorious as they are in the rest of the country.

but there's still something so warm and cozy about the idea of fall - pumpkin spice everything, back to school shopping, family, notebooks, pencils, sharpies, plaid, tights, you've got mail, orange, yellow, candles, cinnamon, baking, and the promise of christmas.

i just love it.

and fall means that we're this much closer to our wedding day.

we climbed trees.

on monday, we found the perfect climbing tree.

i felt just like tom sawyer...in a mini skirt.

this is the face i make when levi eats raw cake batter.

it's the last day of our weekend!

we're going to spend it relaxing, taking walks, drinking coffee, maybe a trip to barnes & noble for some magazine reading.

ahhh, that sounds nice.

and speaking of taking walks - my latest idea is to walk a total of 10 miles per day this week...we'll see if i actually do it.

happy monday to you all!

(super duper random photos to accompany this post. i just think they're funny.)

friday, you're so sneaky!

this week, i...

...celebrated my little brother's 25th birthday with my family.

...measured myself, levi, gretel, and lily against the kitchen door frame.

...admired my newest pretty, little dancer from my mom. every time she sees a dancer, she has to buy it for me. she can't resist. i love them.

...tried the sea salt iced coffee at 85°C in irvine. sweetened iced coffee with sea salt foam. pretty tasty.

...received the prettiest, new shirt from my mom. seriously. i'm spoiled.

...put down a deposit on our reception venue!

...witnessed my little gretel turn into a funny, old man on the couch...she's actually a very small kitty; this just isn't the most flattering angle for her.

...received our first wedding gift! from a blogger! so sweet and incredibly generous. :)

...took about a hundred thousand pictures of gretel on her new "hammock" that levi built for the kitty sisters.

...visited my beloved paulette and the grove with my mom, sister, and s-i-l, chrystal.

up next...the weekend!

wedding planning: yep, i changed my mind.

**note: we switched some of the dresses after i posted this, & the flower girls are wearing pettiskirts now instead of the dresses - same style & seller though. i can't wait to share their outfits. sooooo cute!**

originally, i was going to do grey and yellow for our wedding.

all my bridesmaids were going to wear different grey dresses, of their choosing, and a pair of yellow shoes, of my choosing.

buuuuuut, i changed my mind and completely threw out the grey and yellow color scheme.

now, i don't really have a color scheme, just colors i like.

but all my bridesmaids have dresses!

i went with black and white patterns for the dresses. and here they are:

and i'm going to put our two flower girls in dresses like these:

probably in the same colors.

i really like this no color scheme thing. now i have the freedom to do and choose whatever i want! fingers crossed that it all works out without looking like a crazy, jumbled mess!

post-edit note: where to buy! (also, ashley, my bridesmaids all bought their own dresses. fortunately, most of them were pretty affordable. yay!)

top-row from left: 1. anthro traced twirls dress, 2. anthro chocolate chip dress - sold out online, but still available in some stores ON SALE!, 3. modcloth whisked away dress - sold out, but they may restock (it was sold out when i originally found it)

bottom row, from left: 1. modcloth valerie june dress, 2. lulu's line detector dress, 3. 1950s dress from the vintage link

Don't do business with The Vintage Link. My sister's dress is completely see-through and lies flat when the photo shows it poofing out. There's a button missing, a broken zipper, and the hem is unraveling. Totally overpriced and totally misrepresented. To top it off, the seller accused us of "illegal blackmail" when we expressed our dissatisfaction and tried to work something out with her before leaving feedback. She was defensive, rude, and unprofessional from the beginning and had no interest in making this a pleasant transaction. Not cool.

flower girl dresses: i'm going to order them from dreamspun kids on etsy with this top and this bottom.

just a little afterthought on this morning's post

i just wanted to throw this in for good measure.

it has been no secret to levi that changing my name won't be the easiest thing for me & that i don't necessarily like his last name.

we've talked about it a lot.

and while a lot of my post from this morning was a little bit silly (like the whole "de Myers" thing), i was dead serious in most of the solutions i've been coming up with to compromise on changing my last name. and levi was dead serious in his refusal to go along with any of these ideas. (however, he would never refuse to let me keep my last name...he just doesn't want to change his last name.)

usually, levi is the master of compromise, but he has taken a firm stance on this one.

and i kinda love it. who doesn't love an easy-going, confident man who lets the little things go but puts his foot down on the things that matter to him?

i also love the fact that i can flat out tell levi, "i don't like your last name." he doesn't get his feelings hurt. he doesn't take it personally. he lets me be 100% honest with him, and he is 100% honest with me.

our relationship wasn't always like this. and i really appreciate that it is now. it took A LOT of work, heartache, hurt, and struggle to get to this point.

but i LOVE knowing that i don't have to hide anything from him or sugarcoat anything for him. he lets me be me and tells me when he doesn't like the me i'm being at the moment. and i try to do the same for him.

there's such freedom in that.

and it's one of the things i love most about our relationship.

my feminist tendencies

i'm having a lot of trouble with this whole last name change thing.

i don't want to stay jasmine hunter because i'll be married, so i think something should change.

but i'm very resistant to becoming jasmine myers for a couple reasons.

i really don't like what it represents. i don't like the naming system. i was given my father's name at birth because i was his possession. then my father gives me to my husband, and i'm given his name because i now belong to him.

i don't like that.

by the way, i'm not doing that whole giving the bride away thing. i'm giving myself away. i don't need someone to walk me down the aisle. i want to walk myself down. standing alone and freely giving myself to levi because it's my decision.

annnnyway, the other reason is that i simply don't like the name myers. it's just not very pretty. it ends in an 's' so people are going to grammatically screw it up - putting apostrophes where they don't belong, pluralizing it incorrectly, etc. that's gonna drive me nuts. people are going to misspell it - forgetting the 's' at the end, adding an extra 'e.' it just sounds kinda harsh and muddled when i say it. and i don't like writing the letter 'm' in cursive.

i've tried a few different things to remedy my problem. i asked levi if he would take my last name instead. nope. (honestly, i don't think i could let him do this even if he agreed to it.) i suggested that we simply come up with a new last name. i thought this was a really good solution! we're starting a new family, our own family. why not get a new name? nope. finally, i suggested that we change it to "de Myers" to make a bit more interesting and give it a french flair. nope.

myers.

am i a myers? does it suit me?

why is my name so important to me? why am i resisting this so much?

will i ever get used to a new name? how long will it take? will a day come when i like how myers sounds coming out of my mouth? will i ever feel like a myers?

oh lord.