Our first married Thanksgiving and other random rambling

I'm experiencing a little bit of deja vu right now - Joe and I are at the airport waiting to board a flight home for Thanksgiving - Joe's off grabbing a beer and I'm finally giving my blog some long over due TLC and I can't help but think about how last year at this time, we were sitting at the airport working on, what else? WEDDING stuff :). I am so thankful that we are just enjoying married life these days and not furiously planning our wedding day.

Thanksgiving, is without a doubt, my very favorite holiday and I feel so lucky that Joe, my hubby of 4 months as of TODAY - shares my love of feasting on yummy food and gushing gratitude! We were definitely meant to be folks, I'm telling you the number of times we express silly gratitudes to each other almost makes ME sick to my stomach :). This year we get to spend Thanksgiving with BOTH of our families - at the SAME TIME! It goes without saying that this is a pretty special occasion. That's right Mom and Dad Farber, Mom and Dad Bielecki, Sister Sledge (Jess), Sissy Clare, Sissy Tara and brother Mike - ooooh and my adorable Grandma and Grandpa, of course - all at one table! I have to get all my gushiness out here so I can keep it calm and cool tomorrow and not overwhelm people :). Here's to remembering to take deep breaths tomorrow amidst the cooking and feasting to truly take in what a cool thing it will be to have this group of people all together.

Two side notes...

1) I'm pretty sure I seriously sprained my ankle running the Big Sur half marathon this past weekend - I'm limping around like a true gimp - I guess that's what you get for running 13.1 miles in one go. Thanksgiving is serving as a good reminder for me to be thankful for the health that I do have instead of dwelling on how my ankle is limiting me - I may be trading in my beloved hometown runs and hikes for movies over the next few days and will be doing my best to be grateful for the forced rest :). Grateful for a long list of good movies out in the theaters now - Lincoln, Rise of the Guardians, Skyfall, Argo, Life of Pi - thank you bum ankle for forcing a movie marathon on me :).

2) I'm experiencing a little bit of deja vu right now - Joe and I are at the airport waiting to board a flight home for Thanksgiving - Joe's off grabbing a beer and I'm finally giving my blog some long over due TLC and I can't help but think about how last year at this time, we were sitting at the airport working on, what else? WEDDING stuff :). I am so thankful that we are just enjoying married life these days and not furiously planning our wedding day.

Happy, happy Turkey gobbling y'all!

can someone please invent...

...a machine that allows me to update my blog mentally? so much to share, so little time. While I'm waiting for that to happen, here are a couple of pictures of a wonderful weekend celebrating one of my favorite friend's in Tahoe :).

i sometimes forget how happy yoga makes me...

I finally got back to my morning lululemon yoga class after a 6+ month absence this past Sunday. And I had to share because it just made me so happy -- just so truly and genuinely happy. There is something about the stretching, the deep breathing, the cheesy inspirational one liners, the quiet, the space, the intention setting, and the collectively healthy and positive vibe in a community of people practicing yoga that moves me. I tried really hard to be present through all the crazy wedding awesomeness of the last year but with sooooo much fun and emotional stuff happening, it was hard. Sunday's class helped me to regain a piece of that solitary yet communal space where I can be present and it just made me happy and I just had to share.

Elephant Revival

Cool band, introduced to me by none other than...my MOM and DAD.  You guys are pretty cool sometimes :).

They're playing at the Freight and Salvage in this video, I'm crossing my fingers that they'll be coming back to the bay soon so Joe and I can catch their show!

re-purposing wedding decorations

the bamboo crane curtain that Joe made for our wedding got promoted from the man-cave to the bedroom this weekend.

reason # 921 that I love my HUSBAND

While I was out having a girls day in the city, the husband was building us a coffee table.  I mentioned to Joe for the first time last week that I thought it would be fun to build a coffee table out of salvaged materials and then today while I was out sipping tea with Kat, Lindsey and Laura, I got a text with this picture....

crate AFTER

When I got home Joe told me that he had picked up a couple of crates at OSH and spent the afternoon, de-planking and re-planking the crates to give us the start to our table!  

crate BEFORE

Seriously love that man.

Friday musings

I made my first stop at the social security office on my name change journey this morning and I have to say I'm feeling a little fired up about it.  I was actually pleasantly surprised by the efficiency I experienced and was in and out in about 15 minutes but as I was sitting waiting for my number to be called, I just couldn't help thinking that this whole concept of women taking on the man's last name after marriage is just plain old-fashioned!  I love Joe and his family and actually think his last name is pretty cool, but seriously, what century are we living in?  I'm predicting a rise in merged last name's in the next 5-10 years :).  Check it out - Antonio Villaraigosa, originally Antoni Villar - merged his last name with his wife's last name - Raigosa to come up with Villaraigosa!  Brilliant! Just sayin'.

Hey Ho!

Song of the day...

likin' these lyrics

"And there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears And love will not break your heart but dismiss your fears Get over your hill and see what you find there With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair."

                                                 --Mumford and Sons

"Settle down, it'll all be clear
Don't pay no mind to the demons
They fill you with fear
The trouble it might drag you down
If you get lost, you can always be found"
                                                --Phillip Phillips

Quote of the day

"I hope one day you see this as clearly as I did in Kerchele.  The key to your happiness is to own your slippers, own who you are, own how you look, own your family, own the talents you have, and own the ones you don't.  If you keep saying your slippers aren't yours, then you'll die searching, you'll die bitter, always feeling you were promised more.  Not only our actions, but also our omissions, become our destiny."
                                                                                   --Cutting for Stone

we're a bunch of married ladies!

 kat and erik's wedding - 8.25.12

 sarah and joe's wedding - 7.21.12

 laura and julian's wedding - 5.27.12

lindsey and nate's wedding - 7.9.11

If you're looking for advice on anything wedding related - you know who to call :). What an absolutely amazing year full of celebrations of love!

Simple pleasures - married style!

Well hello little blog o' mine!

1) simple pleasure list making

2) Blog layout updating

3) NOT wedding planning!!!

4) Royal family sightings at the Olympics

5) Catching up with co-workers

6) Getting back into a workout routine

7) Talking to people and having to use the word "husband"

8) A sweet story from my Grandma - My Grandpa has an early bed time these days, he's usually tuckered out by 9pm.  So, for our wedding, my Grandma's brother agreed to leave our wedding at 9pm so he could take my Grandpa home for bed and my parents could stay all night.  Apparently at 9pm, my Grandma asked my Grandpa if he was tired and ready to go and he said to her, "I'm not leaving until it's over."  How sweet is that?!

9) Vivid imagery - I'm sucker for descriptive writing!  - "Mustard seeds explode in hot oil.  She hols a lid over the pan to fend off the missiles.  Rat-a-tat! like hail on a tin roof.  She adds the cumin seeds, which sizzle, darken, and crackle.  A dry fragrant smoke chases out the mustard scent.  Only then are the onions added, handfuls f them, and now the sound is that of life being spawned in a primordial fire."

10) Feeling Joe's wedding ring when we hold hands.

11) This quote courtesy of some guy's t-shirt at the gym - It's always seems impossible until it's done."

Laura and Julian are married :0

Spent the weekend in Dillon Beach at the wedding of dear friends Laura and Julian.  I heart weddings and I heart groups of women standing in support of the bride.  Heading back to work in the morning but will be daydreaming about that beautiful ocean side ceremony all week long :).

Simple pleasures

 Our tomatoes are back!!!!

 Joe made this beautiful trellis out of bamboo from our wedding venue and we're growing bougainvillea and I love it!

 Jasmine is blooming right outside our front door!! 

Cookie taste testing!  Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal and Almond half-dips from the Prolific Oven.  Molasses Ginger and Peanut Butter from Mayfield!  YUMMMM!

my girls :)

By far, my favorite thing about this whole marriage business is all the world colliding going on!  Last weekend Jess plotted out the perfect bachelorette party - I couldn't have asked for anything more.  We stayed up late talking and playing awesome trivia games and watching my adorable fiance answer a few of the questions on video - shout out to Lindsey for that brilliant idea.  We got pampered at a sweet little spa, hung out at the beach, went out to a great dinner on State street and then painted the town red on the dance floor!  I may or may not have danced on table tops and nearly got kicked out of a couple places, intentionally :).  I also may or may not have tried to go home at 11:30pm - which is apparently unacceptable according to Whitney - as is frozen yogurt at 11:30 at night and getting excited about going to bed at that time :).  

Well, all I can say for myself is that I'm old and these days, sometimes bed sounds just as exciting as getting down on the dance floor in the wee hours of the morning - but I'm glad that Whit rallied the troops and that we made it to midnight and that I didn't turn into a pumpkin.  More than that, I just couldn't be happier that a few of my F4lies and my Friend Star got to meet and spend time with one another!  I feel so lucky to be going into this next stage of my life with a group of strong, beautiful, fun-loving and supportive women by my side!

My sister, my maid of honor and the bachelorette party planning master!

The live count down.

Spa time!  And my sweet homemade bride-to-be banner!  Thank you Mom and Jess!

Check out that pink feather boa!

 

Shenanigans!  Free dessert, which we appropriately ate with a knife - way to work the female privilege Laura!

 

a new business plan!

 screw our day jobs - I'm pretty sure Lindsey and I have a future in airCRAFTING :).  crafting on the plane makes flights go by so much faster ;).

glowing from a weekend with wonderful women

Best chai tea at the cutest Tea House in Boulder, Co with a group of amazing women in the middle of the lovely Laura's bachelorette weekend!

A beautiful place to start planning our ceremony...

Joe and I spent last weekend in Crestone planning our wedding ceremony and getting out into the mountains. I have to say, planning a meaningful and unique ceremony takes a lot of thought and a lot of energy. We got a good start this weekend but I can't help thinking that we still have our fair share of work cut out for us. Here are a few pics from our trip.

A view of the valley from the Sangre de Cristos.

One of the hermitages in the mountains.

We made it up to the snow!

And found Joe's heart - he really loves the snow.

and all sorts of super cool ice formations along the creek.

do you see that big icicle?!

i was kind of obsessed with the icy creek.

yep, obsessed!

Happy, snowy hiker.

Gorgeous chapel at the foot of the mountains.

and a STUUUPA :). I love these things, I think they're Buddhist.

dear blog,

I am sorry for neglecting you.

I miss you.

I hope I get to hang out with you again soon!

hugs,

Sarah

Sister weekend

The sisters were in town last weekend and despite a little sister drama (I'm sorry for being a bratty older sister Jess - I love you!), it felt really special to get some time with both of our sisters together! It was the first time that Jess and Clare got to meet and we had lots to celebrate and lots of wedding stuff to talk about and do. We ate yummy food all weekend and never went long without something delicious to drink! We hit up our favorite local restaurant, one of our favorite tea places in San Francisco and a pretty sweet 1920'sish speakeasy in the city that requires a password to get in! We talked flowers and shopped and bought dresses for the wedding for the girls, folded cranes and made LOTS of jars of strawberry jam! We picnicked at our wedding spot and walked the girls through our developing visions for our big day. I failed to capture EVERYTHING that we did, but here are a few shots of the weekend. Thank you Jess and Clare for spending a weekend with us and getting excited about our big day with us!

First night in town - celebration dinner at a favorite local spot- lots of yummy food and good drinks! Congrats to Joe and Clare on new jobs and Happy Bday to Jess!

Scoping out the Flower Mart in San Francisco - this is where I'll be sending Jess and Clare with big buckets of water to load up on lots of pretty flowers the day before the BIG day.

An inevitable stop at Philz for a cuppa coffee.

Showing the girls our wedding venue!!! I just love all that bamboo and can't believe we get to get married with all that beautifulness surrounding us :).

Sisters rock!!! I love you both!

i heart this song...

happyalmostFRIDAYpeeps

something I listen to a lot!

Spotify - freakin' love this thing and I was feeling kinda Feist-y today :).

money

My cuter than cute grandpa collected the new quarters featuring different different designs for all the states and US territories for my sister, cousin and I and gave 'em to us for xmas - Gpa gifts don't get any sweeter than that! Here are the US territories and the District of Columbia :).

something i ate today...

homemade chicken curry - here's the recipe if you're interested! http://www.skinnytaste.com/2008/11/chicken-curry-with-coconut-milk-43-pts.html

We added peas and used more coconut milk and less water :).

green

morning run with lots of spring greeny goin' on. (this was the only time I let Joe beat me on the trail this morning!)

lots of green bamboo at Hakone and check out Kat's sweet green pants!

just your typical bathroom cabinet...

shoes

my faves lately.