Miss L's California Wedding Weekend

I've told you all about how much I love weddings, right? I mean, every time I go to one I record it here. First of all, I usually dress up and try to look pretty for weddings, so I'm more likely to take pictures. Like this one here - I even wore makeup! When's the last time I took a picture without a child on my hip?!

This wedding was fantastic.  Really.  Yes, it was terrible being away from all three of my darling boys from Thursday night until practically Monday morning, but I found that whole saying about absence making the heart grow fonder to be true.  That, and I might've been distracted by the beautiful beaches.

So who got married?  Why Miss L - a longtime friend from high school.  Like too many friends, we seem to have missed living in the same city, as she moved west only a few months after I got to her former city. I sadly didn't get any good photos of the bride at the wedding - a mistake I make almost every time I attend one - but can tell you that she was stunning. Just trust me.

I got in a day early to make the most of this solo trip.  I got to sleep in until 4:30am (which is kinda sleeping in when you factor in the time difference) and then play around M&N's new apartment in San Fran.  I watched multiple episodes of a terrible ABC family show about a foster kid and her teen drama while M&N worked half day and packed.

The road trip was longer than I expected, but luckily these gals also love NPR and musical soundtracks so we were set.  That and N introduced me to Mary Lambert's Secrets which became the official background track of the weekend.

We stayed in an adorable cottage just minutes away from a beautiful California beach. All beaches are beautiful I guess, but the fact that my feet weren't burning in the sand, while my hair got to blow in the wind made it a little surreal in its beauty. We frolicked around with Miss F, all taking a billion photos, until it was finally time to get gussied up for the main event.

Miss L works for Google, so we were shuttled to the venue in fancy Google buses, then escorted up the golf course in chauffered golf carts. The scenery was breathtaking and the ceremony matched their personalities brilliantly.  I missed having someone's leg to squeeze during the serious moments, but it didn't keep me from getting all teary reflecting on my own vows from not that long ago.

Unsurprisingly the meal was delicious, the dancing long-lasting, and the details carefully attended for the rest of the evening.  Yes, we ate a lot of pie, sat cozy around woodfires, danced barefoot, and took silly photos with inside-joke hashtags.

Overall it was an amazing weekend with a beautiful reason to celebrate. And after it all, what a great week it's been to be back cuddling all my boys.