Update! Check out www.mandyandseth.blogspot.com for all the juicy deets on their wedding. But feel free to ask me about their wedding too. Not to brag or anything, but I'm a bridesmaid so I know ALL about it.
For those of you way out of the loop, our great friends Mandy Rowe and Seth Haak got engaged on Friday!! Weddings all around! And because they are apparently way more efficient than me and Jeff, they are getting married before us! The wedding planning is stepping into overdrive. Stay tuned for the details...
Does anyone have any skinny birch trees in their yard? Mind if I hack one down? I need a couple logs of skinny gray birch wood, branches are okay too. I.... have....a....plan.
thanks!
Okay kids, we've decided to open the boards for music requests. Please leave us a comment with a song choice and we'll add it to the playlist (if we like it, no promises). If you recommend anything along the lines of "Shout", "YMCA", or "Brown-Eyed Girl", your comment will be deleted. Just a stern warning.
Thanks for your suggestions!!
xoxo,
*Liv
This video is absolutely beautiful, there's not much more to say.
just watch
vote yeti
Our save-the-dates went out on Saturday, yay! They were a lot of fun to make and we hope they convey a little hint of the wedding style we're going for. Of course, a formal invitation will follow, these were just meant to be a heads-up to our guests so we could get into your calendars early before all you little social butterflies start making summer plans.
Ah yes, and if you don't receive one in the coming week, it's because we don't have your address, so freakin' call us back or answer our myspace messages asking for it!
hug hug, keese keese. xoxo,
*Liv
Jeff and I are so darn excited that we were able to book our friend Scott Groller (brother to Matt Groller- such a creatively talented family it's unfair) to photograph our wedding! His style is "non-traditional and documentary in nature" which is exactly what we would hope for our wedding album. Score!
A very big THANK YOU shout out goes to Jeff's parents who were so generous to give us the gift of a photographer for our wedding. We can't wait to see the pictures he will take. Engagement photos will be posted as soon as we have them!
Here's Scott's website if you'd like to check out his awesome work:
http://www.scottgroller.com/
It all started with Jeff's suit. He intially wanted a brown one, so we went off of that. Chocolate browns, tangerine orange, bright pink, and pops of turquoise was to be our color scheme. Delightful. But then we saw It. The suit of all suits. You'll have to see it in person to truly appreciate what Original Penguin does for men's suits but in short, it's a gray suit. So of course a new color scheme was needed. With the help of my designer bridal party, we came up with a gorgeous one that I think is the cat's pajamas. Here's a little glimse:
Next up, save-the-dates! Coming to a mailbox near you... soon I hope.
If you look at the polls for our wedding petting zoo extravaganza, "the yeti" a valiant nominee is trailing behind the leopard by 4%. If you feel the need to vote, you have the power to knock the leopard out of first place. If you want to see a leopard go to the zoo or go reeeeeeeeeeeeead some booooooooooooks
Gather 'round children, it's time for a story. The few of you that haven't heard the story of how Jeff proposed to me are in for a treat.
The day was Wednesday, June 6th, 2007. Jeff and I had flown in to New Jersey that day and took the train in to Manhattan to meet up with the family. We were all there visiting for Jeff's solo art show at the Fuse Gallery in SoHo. Which was awesome, but is not the point of this story. You can check out the details of the art show on Jeff's personal blog: http://thurnobulax.blogspot.com/ Back to me. I mean, us.
After dropping off our bags at the hotel, Jeff's parents and aunt and uncle (Dick and Linda) took us to Little Italy for dinner at probably the best Italian restaurant I've ever been. And I've been to Italy. We had a fantastically long and yummy dinner and then took the subway back to the hotel which was in the Times Square area. Jeff and I planned to continue our night after dropping the parents off and wanted to return to Little Italy but the subway gods were against us. We were stuck in Times Square and I was literally dying of thirst. Wine and lots of salty pasta will kill you. Slowly, but still. All I wanted to do was find some bar and have a cold beverage. Jeff had other plans.
So unbeknownst to me, as I'm pointing out suitable establishments that could help me quench my thirst, Jeff was evaluating each one for its appropriateness in proposition ambience. As you can imagine, none were looking too hot. So we continued searching the streets, me growing increasingly cranky because Jeff was being too picky over where we would have our first New York beer. So I thought. I voiced my crankiness to him and he said he'd promise we'd get something to drink... right after we see the NBC building! Which is right down the street! My brattiness got worse as I was led down the street to go check out some boring office building. We got to the street corner right before the building and Jeff started fidgeting. I asked if he just wanted to stand there and look at it from across the street or if we should actually cross. He responds by putting something in my hand and saying "Got you this." This is where it gets embarrassing, although we're going to go with "funny" from now on. You see, Jeff tends to do just this every once in awhile. He will pretend to hold my hand, only to deposit trash in it and will then walk away quickly so I then have to throw it away. He cracks up everytime. So this time, when he put a DIOR DIAMOND RING in my hand, I thought it was New York City street trash and compounded with my current brattiness, I threw it down on the ground and scolded him "GROSS JEFF!". He squeals and dives for it after it clinks down on the street several feet away from us and MERE INCHES FROM THE SEWER DRAIN! I'm not understanding why he's doing a little panicked dance over this piece of trash so I look at him like he's crazy and slowly back away. He tells me "You don't understand what's going on right now!" True. He has to say no more as he shows me the ring (while gripping it very tightly). And then BAM! We're engaged. :)
So how about some pictures to illustrate the story a little bit? Here is our street corner, 6th and 49th, across the street from the NBC building, and just up the street from Radio City Music Hall. Kind of a weird place to get engaged, but it was actually a quintessential New York City street corner, which made it perfect.
Here is a picture of the sewer drain the ring almost fell in:
Yikes! On to a happier picture... Jeff and I a few days later at our corner:
And lastly, for those that haven't seen me since the trip, here is a picture of the coolest engagement ring on the planet, the Dior Oui ring. Gorgeous.
Such an amazing day, trip, person, and love. I'm so lucky.
We found it!! The site we have chosen to take our vows in and then party until we get kicked out is the Los Altos History Museum in the Bay Area. Gorgeous. You'll love it. Take a looksie:
This is the house that was built in 1905. In front of it is a big brick courtyard lined with benches, old streetlights, the arbor where the ceremony will be, and the gallery where we'll put the dance floor.
Jeff and I will be heading up north late tonight for the weekend to spend some time with our families and to check out the church (the one my parents got married in! From what I remember it's pretty 70's "modern", I'll post pics when I have them) and we'll try to book a reception site to make this thing official. Wish us luck!
And advance apologies if we can't see our Bay Area friends when we're up there! It's going to be a hectic three days but we'll be back again soon! I'm thinking we'll at least do Katie Blooms on Friday night... call us if you can meet up!
Hey guys,
I wanted to introduce my friends to ya'll. These are the people who sculpted me into what i am today, I don't know, but you do. These are important people, so pay attention and you will learn more about them.
To start off first, this Jake Rose, Archbishop Mitty high school friend, master of mind tricks, super articulation and world traveler, ask him anything and he'll tell you something about it.
Next, enter Jeff Cristina, Archbishop Mitty high school friend aswell. Dare devil, educator and invincible to everything on God's great earth except bananas. 
Next in line, Chris Sanchez. Archbishop Mitty high school friend too. Yes, another great Catholic. Master crafts include staying up all night to conquer impossible video games and having the toughest car on the block. Oh and also Disneyland parking lot enthusiast, that's where this picture is.
Next up, Jan Trondsen. Art Center Friend, Brother of the Bride, car designer, yellow over worked eyes, big hair and fellow art center alumni. Jan introduced me to Liv as his dad's wife. Later i found out that was not true.
Finally, my Best Man Mike Castrogiovanni, St. Lucy's Grade School Friend, Yes another amazing great Catholic. Mike is someone that I've know since the ripe age of 5. It's been down hill ever since, but I wouldn't have it any other way. A true living inspiration to me in every way possible. He might as well been a brother to me because I was tortured like one through grade and high school. 
It's a honor and a pleasure to introduce my half of the wedding party
Jake, Jeff, Chris, Jan, and Mike
Until we all get together for the big party and you get to meet in person, here are some pictures of our family and friends that mean the world to us (just a few of them, Jeff and I will post more pictures of everyone soon):
Starting with the 'rents, these are Jeff's wonderful parents, Sue and Scott.
Here are my parents, Eilif and Diana, on their honeymoon back when men's hairstyles all looked that way. I have more recent photos but this is my favorite and they really do still look like that! 
This is my little girl and Jeff's soon-to-be stepdaughter. Look how much she loves him already! She's "special needs".
These our our mates-of-honor! My best friend from San Jose, Matthew (that's my other great friend Max in between us), and Jeff's best friend from San Jose, Mike. Mike could probably take Matthew, look at those muscles! Although Matthew is quick and has cat-like reflexes... Good thing there won't be any fighting at our wedding! Non-choreographed fighting at least.
Here are my other girls! From left there is Brooke, (Me- Vegas makes Liv sleepy), Mandy, and Jen who will be joining Matthew and my future sister-in-law Jen up on the altar with us. Brooke was my old roommate in Costa Mesa and was the best roommie I ever had. She lives in Jersey now! Mandy is so wonderful and President of our Craft Club (guess who's helping with the wedding dress sewing, invitation making, and flower arranging!?), Co-President of our Social Activism Club, and VP of our Recipe Club. Mandy and I are big on clubs. And Jen! One of my bestest friends from San Jose, I love her to bits. She keeps life exciting, doesn't she look like that type? Jen sends me wedding inspiration pictures and is picking out my wedding colors using Pantone swatches. Designers... gotta love 'em.
Hi family and friends!
Jeff and I decided to start a blog because we're hip with the times and everyone is doing it. And because we're getting married! There's a couple of details usually involved with these "wedding events" so we want everyone in the loop and anyone who is interested to check in with us every once in awhile to see my martha stewart weddings inspiration picture postings and jeff's posts about how my martha stewart pictures are stressing him out. IT'S MY WEDDING I DO WHAT I WANT! Just kidding Jeff! I love you.
More to post soon!
*liv
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