Playing Tourist

When Laura, Kaden, and Leighton came to visit in March, we tried to hit the uniquely "Seattle" things Alex and I have found living in here. And things that were still fun while it was rainy. And since it was March, it as rainy. Rainy the entire time! My sweet teeth led me to booking us a tour of the Theo Chocolate Factory. Theo is an incredible fair trade chocolate company located here in Seattle, with their factory only a few miles away in the Fremont neighborhood. Next time you see one of their bars at Whole Foods you've got to pick one up! My current favorite is salted almond dark chocolate. Yum!

Arriving in the right on time, which is actually pretty impressive for Laura and me being together, the Theo workers gave us hair nets and flashbacks of I Love Lucy came to mind. And in true Seattle fashion, some of the men (Kaden included) were given beard nets! The beard nets also doubled as the perfect hair net for little ones like Leighton. 

Check out our cute hair net reflections in the window in this photo ^^^

 

The tour was just had just the right combination of information + free samples to keep everyone's attention, and the best part... The amazing retail store at the end! Every Theo chocolately goodness I could imagine, including plenty I could not imagine. Coconut curry chocolate, for example (which by the way was weirdly delicious)!

After our chocolate tour, we headed to Ballard. Alex and I have not really explored too much of the true fishermen side of Seattle (although we are learning to LOVE seafood), so it was fun to do something totally different and see a completely different side of Seattle. 

I'm a really big fan of this guy :) And I'm a big fan of these photos, I feel like they are the perfect "Life in Seattle" photos. 

 And I just had to share these silly photos of Leighton. She is the sweetest little lady. We had so much fun together sitting in the back seat on most of the drives, I would make silly scunched-up faces and exaggerated breathing noises at her and she would do them right back to me. And this became our little game every time we rode together in the back seat.

Not only am I grateful for her momma and the time we've been able to spend together lately... But I'm really grateful I've been able to see Leighton as much as I have this year. One super cool thing about growing up, is watching your best friend have beautiful, sweet babies and being around that baby seeing bits and pieces of her "growing up"! And another super awesome thing about growing up is seeing your wonderful husband work his baby-whisperer magic and become your best friend's baby's favorite! Pretty special stuff. I really love these kind of things and being twenty-three.

A Trip to Pike's Place

When you move to a new city and start a small business, you don't get a ton of time to explore. At least that was the case for Alex and me. I'm not complaining that the shop has been busy from the start though! The shop is actually just slowed down for the summer (which is why the blogging has picked back up, yay!) as most of Seattle's weddings are between late, late spring and early, early fall. Totally understandable because this is THE PRETTIEST CITY IN THE WORLD ON A SUNNY DAY! I'd want to get married here on a hopefully sunny day too!

Before the good wedding weather hit though, the only real time we had to explore the city was usually when we had out of town guests. So every time we have out of town guests, we get to take a trip to Pike's Place! I'm hoping to go again soon now that summer is beginning too. In March, my best friend Laura and her little family came to visit from Utah. It's been so incredible to see Laura as much as I have this year, it's probably been 5 times already this year. Pretty impressive when we are living the farthest apart we ever have! One of out first stops with Laura, Kaden, and Leighton was to Pike's Place Market.... Pretty much an essential "must see" on any Seattle trip. We loved just walking through and people watching, so much interesting stuff going on there! It was a normal rainy March day, so we had fun dashing from covered area to covered area to check out more things. But the best part was tasting and buying all kinds of delicious foods. Macarons, blood oranges, chinese pork buns, hot chocolates from the original Starbucks... I should probably stop now because it's a little embarrassing ;)

We Love Spring!

Springtime has been such a beautiful surprise! It was our first long and gray winter in Seattle, and it honestly was a struggle at times. Coming from southern California we thought we liked rain (ha ha!), but something we really didn't understand was a gray sky. Not to sound too much like a baby, but there were days this winter where I would turn to look at Alex and almost cry because I felt like these heavy gray skies were literally closing in on me. It was a terrible, claustrophobic feeling. 

But then Spring comes. And it's kind of like magic. A beautiful kind of magic! The sun starts to come out for a few hours, and then a few weeks go by and the sun lasts all day! In fact, the sun set doesn't completely set until after 9pm. It's pretty incredible. In addition to the delicious sunlight, everything starts blooming and the neighborhood is full of color. And the people! Oh the people, they smile again! That "Seattle Ice" melts. Just a little, but still it melts some. I'll take it!

We moved to Green Lake in January, I'd miss our old neighborhood Madrona a lot more if we didn't live across the street from the one of the most beautiful public parks. Now that Spring has arrived, we try to go across the street to Green Lake as much as possible. Alex and I love to walk around the lake with June. June loves walk around the lake too! She doesn't tend to love it when we are getting close to mile three, but she does adore all the attention she gets from other people enjoying the lake. We're always snapping photos to post on Instagram (especially me, Alex is still learning the ropes of the whole thing though), and a few weeks ago I thought it would be fun to take some extra iPhone photos to record our Green Lake walks a little better. Whenever we go on trips or adventures we've planned we try to make sure to snap some photos to document the fun. But our walks together around this lake have become my favorite thing about living in Seattle, and the thought of only having a few funny shaped Instagram photos to look back on made me a little sad. But now we have a few more photos, so I don't need to worry. Instead I can just keep enjoying these walks that I love so very much with my little family that I love so very much :)

Every once in awhile we stop at the grocery store on the corner for an espresso bar and bakery visit. It's been awhile since we've stopped at PCC on a walk, but now I'm remembering how good their scones taste. We might need to stop by again soon!

June has has such a sweet and playful spirit, we are so lucky to have her as our little companion!

 How cute is that sweet couple? Whenever we see couples like this around the lake (especially the ones holding hands) I can't help but sing in my head, "Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be..."

Catching Up

{photo by Tec Petaja}

Alex and I had an incredible 2012. This year though has definitely been harder on us, but we've already had so many new great experiences too. I can't believe we've been married for nine months today and we would love to start recording all that we've been through and done together so far and all that we'll do in the future together too. So here's to finally catching up on this blog and recording our married life, and here's to catching up on everything else in life too (relationships, emails, laundry, health/fitness... you get it). Which almost feels like a joke, but it can't be. It's really going to happen. And hopefully this blog will help hold me to it, and hopefully give me a place to finally share our honeymoon photos like we promised our family ;)

So, I'm signing off with... See you soon!

We're Married! Alternative Title - We've Been Married!

photo by Tec Petaja Photography

Yup we are married! Alex and I tied the wonderful knot called marriage on July 28, 2012 at The Marvimon House in Los Angeles... Cannot believe our six month anniversary is sneaking up on us.

It's been months since my last post, which was right before the wedding, announcing the opening of my bridal shop. But here I am! I'm back! I want to keep this going as a visual journal of our new married life together. It's really been a dream so far! A very, very busy dream though. This is one of my favorite wedding photos, but I hope to be sharing more very soon. I want to be able to capture some of my thoughts and memories of the wedding here on the blogosphere before they seem like even more of distant fuzzy memory.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. I'm blogging form my dinner break right now at the shop :)

PS WOW! It's 2013! 

xoxo,

Camille

Surprise!

SURPRISE!!!

I'm opening a bridal shop next month. I can't wait to share more details soon :) In the meantime though, I would love for you to check out our website and follow along on our social networking sites when you have a chance!

The Dress Theory Official Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest 

One Month until 'I Do'

One month until our wedding! from camillelem on 8tracks.

I made a little One Month Until Our Wedding playlist with some music that will definitely be played at our wedding. I have a feeling I'll be keeping this playlist on repeat on and off for a long time to come. 

It's so crazy to me that I've been dreaming of our wedding day and that we've been really planning our lives together as a married couple for 11 months now. How did this sneak up on me so fast? Time flies when I am busy and in love I suppose. I just can't believe that it is exactly one month until our wedding day!

Today is a good day.

I'm a Graduated Woman!

I am so happy to say, I graduated! A week and a half ago I graduated from UC San Diego (Magna Cum Laude baby!). And I mean I really graduated. Not only did I walk in the commencement ceremony, but the night before the ceremony I finished my last final for my last class at UCSD ever. I've been waiting for this day for a long time to say the very least. On June 16th, it arrived! Alex, my family, and my best friend Laura and her family were all there to celebrate such a monumental moment in my life so far with me. It could not have been any better. Oh, except for the fact I had to be to school to check-in at 6:30 am. Not cool. But at least, Uncle Phil from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was Thurgood Marshall College's (my college, go TMC!) commencement speaker.

  And now here I am, a graduated woman! 

  This is both exciting and a little bit intimidating. No more making excuses for not doing the things I really want to do. For instance, I've avoided the gym and healthy eating for a good two years. School can no longer be my scapegoat. Although I still stand by that being the reason :) There were also career and life goals I could not pursue while I was busy in school, and that was okay because my education was important to me.

But now there are no excuses. And I really like that. I really, really like that.

Seattle or Bust! {We're moving!}

{source}

Seattle, here we come! 

After so many changes of plans, and all the ups and downs that go with that, we finally know where we will be moving! It's kind of funny because we've gone full circle, and only "kind of" of funny because it would've saved us a lot of trouble and planning had we stuck to Seattle to begin with. 

{source}

Moving to Seattle was our original plan, long before we were even engaged. Then our plans changed, and then they changed again. When a new idea and opportunity arose in Seattle we knew it was the right decision, and now we are happy to say we will be calling Seattle home. We even signed a lease in the gorgeous Greenlake neighborhood already. The lake will only be a block from our first place (it feels so exciting and surreal to type "our first place") and just minutes from downtown. There are restaurants, boutiques, and coffee shops all in walking distance! Plus just take a look at how beautiful Greenlake is...

{source}

{source}

It feels pretty incredible to finally know where we will be headed, and know that it will be actually happening! It was such an emotional roller coaster every time our plans would change. However, that isn't something I will have to be worrying about anymore ;)

I am so excited to be starting this next chapter in our lives together, and building a new home with Alex. And I couldn't be more happy to be building new home together in the most charming little place with the most beautiful wood floors that's only a block away from a beautiful lake. I don't think it could get much better in my opinion. I can't even really fathom how much our lives are about to change, but I know it will be changes for the better. I'm so grateful for everything I have now and everything that is coming so soon (my graduation, our wedding, a Parisian honeymoon, and our big move). And I'm especially grateful I get to do this all with Alex as my partner and always right by my side.  

This is one beautiful year.

-Camille

Ice Cream & Summer Dreams

{Shirt, Ice Cream}

Maybe I was internet window shopping in class this morning when I stumbled upon this absolutely adorable ice cream cone shirt. Or maybe I wasn't. But I probably was because my professor was repeating a lecture word-for-word that she gave in another class that I was in last quarter. I was a little bored the first time, so as you can imagine sitting through it again this morning and really paying attention was a tad difficult. Whoops!

But when I came across this cute blouse full of ice bright and fun ice cream cones, I had two thougthts. First, I want this top. Bad. Secondly, I can't wait for summer. 

What?! Me?! Looking forward to summer? I'm all about autumn, winter, and spring. Basically anytime but summer. 

However, this summer is going to be quite enchanting. I'll be graduating, getting married, moving, moving in with Alex for the first time, and going on a honeymoon! 

Today I decided though that I'm going to try my very best to really enjoy this summer, and not just because of the wedding and my graduation. But all those summery activities. After all, it will be my last summer living in southern California. I plan to read on the beach, drink smoothies for breakfast, go see movies when the fact that I don't have an air conditioner is too much to stand, make LOTS of homemade ice cream and sorbets, and make the best of my favorite summer produce (corns, berries, and avocados - oh my!).

So here's to dreaming of a beautiful summer in February, and looking forward to summer for the first time in years. I have a feeling it will be full of life-changing days, summer fun, and cute ice cream cone blouses like this one -

{ASOS}

I seriously can't get over this top's cuteness. Anyone else out there already dreaming of summer like me?

xoxo, 

Camille

PS How the heck is it February already?!?

Photo Booth Love

Can we please go back to Winter Break?

Being together everyday over the break was such a blessing. It was filled with lots of family time, relaxing, and being silly (see above photo booth photos ;) ). We cannot wait to see each other everyday after we get married! Living in San Diego with school and work, while Alex lives in Los Angeles with school and work is getting old. However, I can only imagine how much we will appreciate seeing each other everyday for the first time in our relationship once we are married.

PS I put up a fun little Sneak Peek up on my photography website blog here, check it out!

Music for a Monday - Wedding Music

Today's song is so very special to Alex and I. Alexander's A Million Years is one of our many songs we call "our song". It won't be our first dance song, or the bride's processional. However, it will be played at  some time during the night. I may even sneak it in twice that night, just like I may have done at our engagement party ;)

Happy Monday everyone! I can't believe today is my first day back to school... I miss the holiday break already.

Two Thousand and Twelve

I cannot believe 2012 is actually here! It's funny because I have been waiting for this year since I was in elementary school. Seriously, my first email address was beetlebug2012@aol.com.  Really cool, I know.

I remember being in elementary school and counting with my fingers all the years I had left in school including college, and 2012 was that year I would be done. I could not wait to be done with school (even though I do love it at times), because I have always wanted to be a wife, mother, and own a creative and inspiring business of my own. I still want those things more than anything, and sometimes I really, REALLY feel like school is holding me back. Probably the fact I don't particularly care for my school plays a huge part in it, but I'm trying to remain positive (it's really working huh? hah!). I constantly have to remind myself what have a B.A. from UCSD will do for me, and what doors it will open. Plus, I really feel an education is so deeply important. However that doesn't stop me from feeling pretty stuck sometimes.

Back to 2012 though. Have you ever waited for something you were looking forward to for so long, and then it finally arrived and it wasn't really as good as you imagined. Well, this is not the case for 2012. It is going to be even better than I could have ever imagined!

Not only will I be graduating in June, we'll be moving out of state, and working on a really amazing special something I have up my sleeves :)

Most importantly of all though, 2012 is the year I'm marrying this incredibly handsome man

--->

Two thousand and twelve, I am so glad you are finally here!

PS One of my new years resolutions is to really get to sharing our wedding planning details on there blog, and this resolution is one I'm really looking forward to keeping.