Vacation...

I know I've been a bad blogger but who has time to break out the computer, sit down, and organize a blog post when you've been busy doing this....

Eating a years worth of Chick-Fil-A

Lounging on tree swings in granny's garden

Spending lots of time with your family...

And forcing your adorable teen cousin to take obnoxious action shots with you...

Being totally surprised by Mr. Jones with accommodations at this swanky hotel for the "just the two of us" portion of vacation...

And enjoying every single second of our time in the south...

Until I return my dears!

XOXO- Miss V.

(Charleston place images via)

What I'm Loving Wednesday...my brain is mush!

Hi there lovelies. It's halfway through the final week of summer school! We have our Open House tonight and I pretty much feel like that kid on the far right just squeezing the life out of his face. I get it kid. Time for a break.

Actually there are several faces in this crowd that perfectly describe how I feel right about now.

I have loved my students and another great summer working with the YMCA but after a rigorous and long 8 week session of very long days, a million field trips, swimming every week, and teaching a split class with kids at levels all over the place I am ready to sit back, relax, and head to the Carolina's already!

I am loving that my littlest brother was in town this week and was sweet enough to make time for Mr. Jones and myself, while he also had a million friends to catch up with. Love this kid. Hate that he refuses to take a photo for me though!

They love each other ;)

Us making fun of my brother showing him his doppelganger... the new Spider Man

I'm Loving that I am continuing my summer reading and stopped by the Library earlier this week to pick up some good beach reads! I've been really lucky that the last two apartments we've had have been in walking distance to two beautiful libraries! Life saver in the summer for kids books and I always manage to find plenty for myself as well!

I picked up "The Last Song" by Nicholas Sparks, always a good read when heading to the Carolinas since most of his books take place in and around the coastal towns there ;) And I picked up "Goodnight Nobody" by Jennifer Weiner. I loved "Little Earthquakes" by her so I'm hoping this will not disappoint!



And just to round out this total mish-mash of a post I am LOVING like totally OBSESSED with Christina Hendricks on the cover of Lucky Magazine. I MUST have this hair!! Pretty sure I will spend the rest of my life trying to get this look!



Ok well that's all for now, hope all of you are having a happy hump day with lots to love as well!

XOXO- Miss V.

A must read...

Hi there lovely blog readers! I am going to go ahead and say sorry because my blog posts will be lacking this week. With it being the last week of summer school and with a vacation coming up, having my brother in town, and feeling super stressed I am just giving myself a little blogging break! I'm hoping to participate in WILW tomorrow as I might have a little "me" time, but other than that I can't promise much!

However I can direct you to the most hysterical Bachelor/ette recap blog posts ever. Like ever. Now you kind of need to dig on this blog to find the posts b/c it's a guy who usually writes about sports and I don't know guy things??? Ha! But his recaps of the Bachelor and the Bachelorette are spot on every week. And yes I get it... while I do love watching and rooting and picking my favs, on these silly pointless shows, I also can completely laugh at the complete ridiculousness of these train wrecks at the same time. So please enjoy. You can thank me later.

http://lostangelesblog.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/bachelorette-recap-week-one/

Enjoy!

Until next time or...I pull myself out of the craziness of open house, talent show, report cards and planning a vacation!

xoxo- miss v.

Love Actually.

Today is our official anniversary although we spent last night celebrating. It was a perfect evening out that ended in the utmost of adult class. Ice cream bars, wine and Borat in bed. I know, I am so lucky. Ha! We did have a very grown up and super romantical date night out, and we did have potential plans to head out on the town after the concert, but, when all was said and done, it was eleven, we were tired and ice cream bars in bed sounded like too much fun to pass up on for a couple of old people. ;)

On our way out!

Love Mr. Jones more and more every day and so lucky to have spent the last few years building a home, future and wonderful memories together. I am blessed beyond words and still have no idea why such an amazing guy continues to put up with this crazy lady. Cheers babe on another year passed and here's to many many more.

Sushi & Cucumber Gimlets...lovely dinner out.

As I mentioned in my previous post we had tickets to see Chris Botti and the SF Symphony, I had taken my mom last year for her birthday and knew that I could not wait to come back with Mr. Jones. It was a great performance and while some things were similar he had some amazing new guests with him that made for an outstanding performance.

The beautiful symphony hall.

Chris was signing cd's and programs after the show and while we decided to forgo the super long line I did manage to snap a pic.


Excuse me while I get a little "judgy" but come on Chris...you do not look like any of your promo pics..I was a tad disappointed to see that clearly he was a bit of a "plastic surgery face!" I'm sure he has a lot of stage make up on, but I mean...scroll down to my last post and then come back to this pic. Not the same face! Anyhow, we then proceeded to get super stalkerazzi and then tried snapping a million other photos they all came out blurry so this is the best I've got.

Ok rant over. Regardless he is an amazing musician and performer and it was so exciting to listen to him and the symphony. Not our usual date night out!

Off to pick up a bottle of wine and Ice Cream. Super classy.

Wishing everyone a very happy weekend! And Mr. Jones a very happy anniversary!

XOXO- Miss V.

What I'm Loving Wednesday...minor accomplishments.

Well it was actually a very successful day at the water park with my kiddos. I was in a super grumpy mood from the minute I opened my eyes and saw that it was rainy and gloomy outside. I then spent the next 2 hours crossing my fingers, toes, arms and eyes thinking about what a fortunate event this just might be and that I might get to skip out on this whole debacle of a field trip after all. No. Such. Luck. My friends.

Oh well, as these things tend to go it actually ended up being a perfectly sunny 75 once we ventured an hour outside of the city, the kids had the time of their life, and I got to work on my tan, all whilst practicing my counting 1-16 over and over and over. Super, stressed out mama bear.

be.still.my.heart

Minor accomplishment, ok major no one drowned, I kept my sanity and I can now check off "water park" on the summer field trip list!

I'm loving that I ordered my MOH/Bridesmaid dress for roomies wedding in Sept. It's pretty much the hottest thing I've bought for myself in a while. I'm totally in love with the fact that I will for sure be rocking it long after the I Do's and, when all is said and done we're going to be one good lookin bridal party. Just sayin.



I'm loving that Mr. Jones and I are celebrating our anniversary this weekend, 3 years (2nd time around) I'll go into that story one day but all you really need to know is that we've known each other for going on 10, dated for 2 in college and 3 years ago lightening struck twice, this time for the long haul.

Our 1st photos together, 3 years ago, about 2 weeks after we decided we couldn't live another moment without trying to drive the other one crazy. Ha. I kid.
I love this man with everything I have. Happy anniversary babe.

He truly makes me the happiest I've ever been and I am so proud of us and what we've accomplished as a couple. I can't wait to celebrate with a little dinner and Chris Botti and the SF Symphony on Friday night! Yay for fun date nights out!

Chris Botti, the San Francisco Symphony, Mr. Jones...total swoon.

I'm also loving that my little big brother will be back in the Bay Area for the 1st time since my family moved to NYC last summer.

That's Luke on the left! Such a cutie pie!!!!

He's promised to stay with me, his suuupppperrr cool and totally not lame dorky older sister, at least 2 nights! I can't wait to see him, I'm the oldest, he's the youngest, and we're the most alike, go figure. I love him to death and can't wait to harass the heck out of him when he's here!

Per usual there is always so much more when you really sit down to think about what it is you're loving about life. Even when things seem pretty bad in one area there's always a flip side. Thanks Jamie for hosting wilw, it's a great way to really reflect on and appreciate all of the major and minor milestones and accomplishments in life every week!

XOXO- Miss V.

Staycation...

As much as I love going on vacation and being pampered in a hotel room sometimes it's just as nice to head out your own front door, hop on a ferry and head across the bay for a little sunshine, lots of girl talk, and a few ok quite a few cocktails, to celebrate a birthday and remember that you don't have to go very far at all to feel about 1,000 miles away.

This past weekend a few of us headed over to Sausalito to celebrate Tina's birthday. It was a great group of girls and we spent the day lounging on a beautiful patio eating delicious food and drinking some super tasty cocktails.

Cheers! Off to a great start on my mini staycation!

The crew!

We ate lunch right on the water at a restaurant called Bar Bocce, not only is the patio heavenly with an amazing view of the harbor, but it also boasts two bocce ball courts! We totally intended on playing, but apparently some other diners had dibs on it for the almost 2 hours we were there... oh well gives me a great excuse to head back!

What to order.... hmm?

If you live in the Bay Area I would highly recommend making a little day trip and heading out to this restaurant, we shared some amazing asparagus with parm and pine nuts that I tried to replicate tonight, a few gourmet pizzas and a few pitchers of white sangria. The perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon celebrating our darling friend Tina!


Of course the celebrations did not stop with lunch, we headed out in search of one more place to grab a drink before our ferry was back to pick us up.

Getting the party started ha!

Birthday Girl!

The other really great thing about staycations is that at the end of a great day that turns into a late night out, is the fact that you get to wake up the next day in your own bed and spend the entire next day lounging on the couch watching movies, because you're home and there's totally no pressure to feel like a million bucks and head out to sight see ha!!!

Loved my mini staycation this past weekend! Thanks Tina for being born!

Another busy week in full swing, off to the water park with my kiddos tomorrow, basically the complete polar opposite of a vacation..errrrr. Not gonna lie, really not looking forward to being in the water with about 100 kids counting my kiddos every 2 seconds! In happier news Mr. Jones and I have some fun plans this weekend to celebrate our anniversary and my littlest brother will be in town! Can't wait!

Hope you all are having lovely weeks! Until we meet again!

xoxo-miss v.

Friday Fun!

Well I should be writing my lesson plans right now during my prep time, but it's Friday, and I am distracted with blogging and all that I have going on this weekend! I am pretty excited as the weekend will pretty much be spent celebrating two special ladies!

Tonight we are headed across the bay for a BBQ with our dear friends The Christophersens!

Out to dinner with The Christophersen fam in Jan. Little Makena was almost halfway here!

They just had their adorable baby girl Makena Marie two weeks ago and we are so excited that we get to see them and her much sooner than we had anticipated. The last time we saw this adorable couple was in January when we headed up to Sacramento to spend the weekend with them, but since they will be at grandma's house tonight just a Bart ride away from us we are headed over to see them and shower Makena with love!

On Saturday I get to have a little girls outing to celebrate Tina's birthday! We'll be taking the Ferry over to Sausalito to play Bocce Ball, enjoy a little sunshine and most likely a few adult beverages ha!

Birthday girl and her main man ;)

Little girls...giant brew. Ha!

And we can't forget the lady of the moment Princess Catherine herself will be landing on our shores any minute now! Sad I didn't get my stalk on, down in SoCal but I'm sure there will be about a bajillion photos that I can enjoy all weekend long! Ha!

Such cuties... I can't even handle it!

Happy Friday loves!

XOXO-Miss V.

What I'm Loving Wednesday...Sweet Summertime.

Loving this short week, my long weekend, and this amazing weather! Linking up with darling Jamie for this weeks installment of What I'm Loving Wednesday!

I am LOVING that we had a glorious sun drenched weekend, filled with sun bathing, reading, resting, sleeping in and of course a few fireworks! I've caught up on most of the 4th of July posts and it looks like I was not alone in enjoying friends, family, and extra time off! I made sure to snap pics of my weekend as it rolled on by, even the little things were worth noting this weekend on the camera. I love these gorgeous summer days and being able to enjoy them in my own beautiful city is something I want to remember for the rest of my life. Hope you enjoy and happy Wednesday my dears!

Starting the weekend off right, pretty flowers, my favorite city, coffee and a patriotic parfait!

San Francisco is kind of a ghost town during 4th of July weekend. It's not typically known for a warm sun-shiney July so this past weekends temperatures were a rare treat for those of us that stayed in town!

Quiet streets, mean nice quiet walks along the usually busy Embarcadero.

A few sights along the way...

Perused quiet bookstores...

And enjoyed lunch dockside...

We spent lots of lazy time by the pool reading...

And enjoying ice pops ;)

Long days by the pool make for perfect quiet nights in, with a glass of wine, a good book, and the perfect reading perch above the city lights.


We took in a Giants game on the 4th, because we're super American like that.

And of course had to have an impromptu photo shoot in our new gear before heading out the door!

Orange & Black....

To celebrate the Red, White, and Blue...

And some super handsome Black & White.

After the game we jumped on a pedi cab to make our way down to Pier 39 to spend some quality time with the Grinde's and Chavez families on their boat.

The Grinde's, the boat, and a perfect sunset...not a bad way to wind down the day.



And we just so happened to have the best seat in the house for the fireworks display.


When the lights go down in the city...

Lots to love this week, wishing I could hit pause and extend the summer already. sigh...

xoxo- miss v.