There's a Chil(i) in the Air

I don't know about you, but it's finally hit me that Fall is here!  Truth be told, this is probably my favorite time of year.  With the cooler temperatures, the beautiful colors, the fabulous apparel choices, and of course, the recipes I can make, what's not to love?!  And with Halloween approaching this weekend, I may not have any ideas for a costume, but you can bet I know what I'll be cooking.

As a child, every Halloween my mother would make chili for my brother and I to have for dinner before we ventured out for a night of trick-or-treating.  To this day, I still associate Halloween with my mom's chili and cornbread, so to me, there is no other choice for my dinner on October 31st.   It's part nostalgia; part craving for a hearty meal.

 My mother made a traditional meat chili with beans, but there are so many delicious options out there to try.  I've made a mean turkey chili in my day (you can substitute turkey meat for ground beef in any recipe), and one of my best girlfriends does things with a vegetarian chili I didn't think were possible, so there are no limits as to what you can do!   This is a perfect dish for beginners or low-maintenance cooks, too.  You essentially throw all the ingredients into one pot and let it simmer away.  How easy is that?!?  Chili is also a fabulous make-ahead meal.  The flavors are able to "marry" and develop more with a day or two in the fridge, so if you're short on time during the week, you could put it together on a Sunday afternoon and bring it out for Wednesday's dinner.  Magic!  To make things a little more social, you can turn your chili into a party.  Invite your friends over and have a buffet of fixings to add, like cheese, onions, cilantro or parsley, sour cream, jalapenos or crackers...  You name it, you can mix it in.  Just don't forget something cold to wash it down with.  ;)

So have I sold you on the merits of chili?  I hope so.  Just don't be afraid to dive into the chili pot.  It's a hearty meal that's simple and delicious.  Two of my favorite things.

Do you have any favorite Fall meals?

**Years later I asked my mother why she always made chili for Halloween dinner, and she told me that as a working mom, she could put it together on the weekend, store it in the refrigerator during the week, and warm it up on Halloween night.  This was especially handy since Halloween is often on a weekday and with 2 kids anxious to start trick-or-treating when the sun went down, time was not on her side.  What can  I say, my mother is a genius!**

Real Life Bride: The Wedding

After an entire year of planning, our wedding came and we could not have asked for a better celebration. Everything was absolutely amazing, gorgeous, delicious, fun, and wonderful in every way.

My sister and I arrived at the Westlake Village Inn on Thursday night, and we were able to share a late dinner with Ryan and his immediate family who were already in town. Friday morning we enjoyed lovely massages and then the other bridesmaids joined us for our manicures and pedicures!

Friday evening we headed to the venue for our rehearsal and the skies had finally started to clear. We ran the processional and recessional a couple of times and everyone seemed comfortable with the ceremony, so we returned to the Wine Cellar at Westlake Village Inn for a beautiful rehearsal dinner hosted by my lovely in-laws. Janet had worked with Beth and Laura to design what could have been a wedding itself it was so wonderful!

 

The next day, I woke up ready to marry Ryan - but the weather was definitely not cooperating!! It was completely overcast and raining. This would be less than ideal for any bride I imagine, but for us especially since the entire wedding was outdoors - the ceremony, cocktail hour and reception. I was nervous all day since there was no sign of clearing, but sure enough around 2pm, right when we started pictures, the skies finally started to clear and we had an amazing night.

 

We enjoyed great food, dancing and it was definitely a night to remember. We were honored to share our wedding with our close family and friends, my dad gave a fabulous toast that had everyone in tears and we all danced the night the away.

 

 

 

Ryan and I had so much fun and are thrilled to be married. We cannot thank our parents enough and  my sister and Beth too for giving us the absolute best day our lives - it was the perfect celebration to start our life together as husband and wife!

 

Today we're off to Cabo for our honeymoon!

 

Real Life Bride: Week 50

Wedding week is finally here! I know this week and the wedding itself will go by so quickly, and looking back the last year has flown by, too, but there were definitely times (around the 6-8 month mark of engagement) that it truly felt like the wedding would never come.

There is a semi-hectic schedule for our final week of preparation and of course the standard UNscheduled occurances. We experienced our first "uh oh" when I opened the weather report on Friday on to see that our beautiful, outdoor wedding-of-my-dreams could be railroaded with an uncharacteristic October rain. I had a minor freak out, but I "calmly" emailed Beth saying that I know it's just the 10-day forecast so we can basically guarantee that it will change probably 10 times before the wedding, but I think we at least need to consider the back-up plan, which is to bring out a tent for the reception. So...we have until Wednesday to make the final decision. By Saturday the forecast had bumped the "storm" to blowing through by Thursday with sun on both Friday and Saturday, and we're hoping that weather forecast sticks.

On Saturday I headed up to LA to pick up my wedding dress, which fortunately fits! Note to brides: if you have your alterations done at the shop where you purchase your dress, make sure you are aware of their policy regarding pressing your dress! Apparently mine will only press your dress for an additional charge, which was not disclosed at the time of purchase (no, not even in the fine print, we checked that after the fiasco regarding no Saturday fittings). After somewhat of a fuss over the fact that I had come up from San Diego for this appointment and the seamstress wasn't even there, and the fact that she had repeatedly said she would be pressing it "at the end" when we asked about it at all of my 3 fittings, they offered to go ahead and press the dress and we took it home with us that day. I can see why they don't offer pressing, though, because the dress still didn't look pressed and we will be taking it to our normal guy for a more thorough, professional steam. But none-the-less, the dress is gorgeous and I'm so excited to wear it next week!

Other than that Laura is finishing up all of the details like escort cards, place cards, signs, tags, welcome itineraries...any paper product you could think of, we probably have it! Beth and her team are handling all of the final preparations and logistics, and we just need to manage getting there...which is a task in itself! Ryan is off to Vegas Monday-Thursday, so we packed all of his honeymoon stuff Friday night since we'd be in LA for my dad's 60th birthday over the weekend, I brought home both of our clothes for the rehearsal dinner, and when I return to LA on Thursday I'll bring everything I need for the weekend and our honeymoon bags - there is a lot of luggage coordination!

All-in-all everything is in order and I can't wait to see all of our family and friends and to marry my best friend in only 5 days!

Real Life Bride: Week 49

We are down to the final two weeks and I simply can't believe it! Things are coming together nicely and our families are so involved and eager to help out - it's so great! I went out of town this weekend, and I was able to stop by my parents' house and see everything for the wedding...and man there is a lot of stuff!

We have personalized cocktail napkins, the menus and programs are printed, my mom's best friend cut all of the pieces of fabric for the napkin treatments and shipped them to us all the way from Georgia, our family friend Bonnie (who hosted one of my beautiful showers) put together a sample of the chocolates she is making for the favors (so cute!), my dad assembled all the directional signs my sister made, there were boxes of items that Ryan's mom had shipped in from Texas for the tote bags, my parents' neighbor assembled a box out of plywood for the cake to stand on...the list goes on and on. It's such a wonderful feeling knowing that everyone wants to help out to make our wedding day the most special day of our lives.

{signs before they were assembled}

I sent over the list of names, tables and seating to Laura and Beth for the logistics and escort cards. Laura will be calligraphing each person's name onto their menu also. I have a conference call with Beth this Tuesday to go over things and what's left to do, but overall I'm feeling pretty good and know the whole weekend will be amazing. Just 14 days!

A Bunch of (Good) Hot Air

There isn't much else in the world that puts a spring in my step or a smile on my face more than a trip to the hair stylist.  No matter how hard I try on my own every morning, my hair never looks quite as good as when I walk out of the salon.   And then I must wait another 8 weeks to get that freshly coiffed feeling, which I strategically plan for a day when I have plans for a night on the town.  But luckily, here in Los Angeles, we now have the pleasure of getting these salon good looks a little more frequently from a little place called The Dry Bar.
 
For $35, you can have a professional give you that just from the stylist "do".  No cuts.  No color (as the slogan goes).  Just a wash and fabulous blow out for a fabulous price.   Immediately, I can think of at least four good reasons to make an appointment and show your locks some love.

One:  If you're a bride attending a shower in your honor, schedule an appointment in the morning for your hair to be professionally washed and styled before heading off to your event.   The photos you take with your friends are family are sure to be treasured, and you'll have perfect all-day hair.

Two:  The Dry Bar also hosts parties.  Why not have a girls night out or even a Bachelorette Party start with a blow out, followed by some fun in the city with your best girlfriends.

Three:  You've got a hot date with your fiance or boyfriend.  Enough said.  ;)

Four:  Well, maybe just because it's Wednesday and you want a little pick me up.  Whatever the occasion, you're sure to look fabulous when you walk out the door.

Even if you don't have a Dry Bar near you, but you want a little extra style for a special occasion,  and you aren't quite due for your regular appointment with you stylist, you can still schedule a blow out with her (or him) to give your locks a little "umf" for your big event.   So either way, you're only a blowdryer away from fabulous hair.

Real Life Bride: Week 48.5

Yes, I already posted this week but there is just so much happening! I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I had a wonderful bridal shower "weekend" in Los Angeles, and we just got some photos from the shower hosted by my lovely bridesmaids with the coordinating help of the amazing Beth Helmstetter. As you can imagine the shower was absolutely beautiful and while we can't share too many details (it may be featured in an upcoming issue of a wedding magazine!), I did want to share some of the photos from our photographer Steve Steinhardt.

{me with three of my bridesmaids}

{Laura, me and our mom - the Hooper ladies!}

The hostesses arranged for a little photobooth action and my friends and I just ate it up.
Here are a few shots...

 
  


 

My mom had made tons of very gourmet tea sandwiches and scones, we had fresh peach bellinis and a vodka infused ice tea, and Carmela Ice Cream provided homemade ice cream sandwiches, cones or cups! Guests were asked to write their marriage advice for me and then were suprised when I had to read them aloud and guess who had written it! Most were very helpful...some were definitely embarassing making for a blushed bride and lots of laughs. Thanks to everyone for making this such a special day filled with love, laughter...and lots of great food!

Real Life Bride: Week 48

Last weekend we celebrated my final month of being "single" by traveling to Austin, Texas for the UCLA vs. Texas football game for my bachelorette party! I love football and didn't expect a win from UCLA (Texas was ranked #7, we're not ranked at all), but you can imagine our extreme excitement as UCLA continued to pull further and further ahead throughout the game and we actually won!! It was so much fun and we were all jumping up and down screaming and yelling like crazy people. My sister even made us all matching bachelorette party shirts for game day with a special "Bride-to-Be" notation on mine.

I thought going all the way to Texas that I would have to sacrifice the company of many of my friends, but there were actually 10 of us coming from Los Angeles, San Diego, Missouri and Virginia! We went out on the town Friday and Saturday nights, weathered the heat and the sea of burnt orange for the game on Saturday and then brunched on Sunday after walking around the twice-annual street fair.

It was such a memorable weekend and I am so lucky to have such great friends to have shared it with!

Now back to planning...Most of my posts regarding over the last year have been pretty "general," and it's nice to share all the activities, but I don't think that gives a complete look into what actually goes into planning a wedding. No, not all weddings are the same, and some people choose to keeps things nice and simple, but a lot of weddings today are definitely more elaborate and detailed than they used to be!

So just to paint a little picture...here is something I stopped and wrote last week, as it happened.

It's 11:00am on Tuesday, the wedding is 25 days away, and the following has occurred:

- There have been 11 emails exchanged regarding the escort card tags, starting with an emailed link from my sister on the card she would like to use.
- There have been 8 emails exchanged regarding the menu wording and other food signage plus about a 10 minute "gchat" conversation simultaneously with my mom. This is simply a continuation of a conversation started yesterday with about 4 or so back and forth emails.

This is just one morning and we have actually touched on most of this in the past!

That night the planning continued with a very long phone call to my mom to go over the final balances due (when, how much, credit card or check - yes, Beth emailed this information to us but my mom still wanted to go over it all with me to make sure we're all on the same page and she got it all right) and also the seating chart. Thank goodness for technology...I had written all over the layout Beth sent me and was able to just take a picture of it on my iPhone and send it to my mom so we were looking at the same layout with notes - very helpful! Beth then sent a blown-up version of the table layout with little numbers around each one for us to assign a person to each seat at the table, which I had completed by Thursday night, only to have one of Ryan's friends contact him on Friday to let us know he actually would not be able to make it. We were really bummed to hear this because we're sad he won't be there to share in the celebration. Plus...his table already had an extra seat and now would have another so...back to the seating drawing board we go!

By the end of the week, most of the signs for the cocktail hour and reception had been printed, the programs were all printed, and the plates for the letterpressed menus and cocktail napkins are in the works. My sister also ordered the escort cards, and we'll wait until as close to the wedding as possible to write the table numbers in case of any other changes. All in all everything is on track as we get down to the final 20 days and more importantly no one going crazy!