congratulations to the hubbards !

I just wanted to say congratulations once again, to these two love doves, Brad and Alia, who got married over the weekend at Rock Springs Ranch in Bend, Oregon! Despite a cold for the bride, and weather forecast threatening them with rain and thunderstorms, the day turned out absolutely perfect and they were able to hold the ceremony and dancing outside as planned. In fact, other than one brief downpour while the couple was out taking pictures, the weather only interrupted once with thunder immediately after vows were exchanged. A perfect example of how nice little surprises can come out of chaos.

[[ pictures taken by me right after brad proposed in late 2010. ]]

I will wait until the professional photos taken by Michelle Pearl Gee are released to post any from the wedding since I failed to take any myself (which is very unlike me...and I am not too happy about in retrospect). Hopefully they actually post all of them because there should be quite a few good ones of me, Pat, and others since we took advantage of a mini photo shoot during the reception. Not to mention that Pat was best man, and I cannot wait to see the pictures of him all gussied up in his suit. :)

I also figured now would be a good time to link back to some of my older posts pertaining to this event. A few months back I designed their wedding invitations which I posted shortly after they were mailed out. It was also at Brasada Ranch in the winter of 2010 that these two got engaged and I was around to take some pictures for them right afterwards (as seen above). 

i'm a bad influence :p

(not really)

The day after my littles high school graduation I took Meagan to get her belly button pierced. This is something she had been wanting for a long time but couldn't do because of cheer. Though I no longer have it, I also got mine pierced, back when I was 16. Pretty standard.

She got really nervous leading up to the actual procedure, and poor Meagan is so tiny that the piercer actually had a hard time getting everything in to position which I am sure was not helping. She took it like a champ though and now has a little pierced belly button.

Think about it this way parental units: at least it is not her tongue (I got a lot of flack for that one at the time), or gauged ears like mine.

[[ my little getting her belly button pierced. ]]

the used (6/11)

To continue on with recapping our weekend of concerts...
Monday 6/11 me, Pat, Tony, and Megan went to see The Used at The Roseland in downtown Portland. This was my very first time seeing them live and it was better than expected!! 18 year old me would have been so pumped!

Unfortunately this concert happened to take place on one of the busiest days of my life sandwiched between attending my little sisters high school graduation and working until 4am at her grad night. In fact, the concert actually began while her ceremony was just getting started. Right after Meagan's name was called (thank goodness our last name starts with a B) me and Pat had to take off early and haul ass to the show. Same venue, two nights, two bands. We made it in amazingly good time through a series of green lights and some moderate speeding... We got inside and upstairs right when the second opening band was finishing up, so we only had to wait about twenty minutes before they came on. Perfection... very stressful... but it ended up working out great. 


I am definitely not as enamored (to say the least) with The Used's new material as I was with their older albums, so I was really nervous that I missed my window for seeing them and that this show would end up being an hour of the new. Luckily, I was wrong! Although they did end up playing a lot of new material, it was actually the better of the bunch and really high energy in concert. I was super excited when they played "Buried Myself Alive", "Listening", and "A Box of Sharp Objects" especially since they incorporated a "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Nirvana) intro into that last one. Pretty sweet. We actually made it down on the floor for this one as well and ended up crowd surfing a giant cigarette... yes... true story. Little did I know that Portland was the very last stop on their tour, so they decided to end it off by filming a music video for one of their new songs "Put Me Out" at our show. That was definitely a first for me. Perhaps I will show up for a split second on film, who knows. 

[[ the used performing in portland oregon. ]]

Basically it was a really fun show and I was sad that I had to take off immediately after it to work grad night because I definitely had a "concert high" after. Despite their new sound not always being to my liking they definitely performed and I will see them again 100% if I get the chance. 

((( here is the setlist if you are curious. )))

thrice (sunday 6/10)

Two weeks ago me and Pat had a weekend of concerts.
Our first show was Thrice on Sunday night at the Roseland downtown, which was followed by a "secret" acoustic set played on the streets in Portland for the fairly small group of us who were tipped off to the event.

We got to the Roseland pretty late, so the first opening band was just finishing up when we walked in. I have to say, I think that out of all of the concerts I have gone to, this one was the oldest crowd I have seen, so the 21+ balcony area was packed. We had to wait in line just to get up there, but did score a pretty solid spot in the corner with a decent view of the stage minus that center bar you will see in all of the pictures. By the time Thrice was coming on I was super pumped to see what they were going to play, especially since there was that whole online poll thing for song selection. Overall it was a decent show, though not quite what I was expecting. It was pretty mellow... and they did end up playing mostly newer stuff, which caught me a bit by surprise. I assumed that most people would have wanted to hear some of their older, more heavier songs, but the polls were not in my favor. They did get a couple in, including Silhouette, which is one of my favorites and one that I got to see back in 2003 at Warped Tour, so I was pretty pumped about that. Though we never did end up making our way to the floor, and I know Pat was sad that they didn't play a few things he wanted to hear. (Here is the setlist if you are curious).

[[ pat, tony, and me ready for the show! ]]

[[ pictures from the show in the roseland. ]]

After the show we were outside talking and heard rumor about a "secret show" to be played acoustically by lead singer Dustin Kensrue. We were told to walk over to the tour buses where someone came out and told us to make our way to the park up the street, so we obliged. We were soon moved to a new location, a parking lot across the street, because the cops broke up the park gathering. We were asked to sit on the ground and be quiet and on our best behavior so that it wouldn't be broken up again. About half an hour later Dustin was standing a few rows in front of us singing some of his solo songs. This was pretty sweet and I got some good video with Pat's phone. After the short set he offered to meet with people for autographs and pictures, which was also badass. I didn't bother with an autograph since I have one of the whole band from back in the day, but we definitely capitalized on a handshake and new picture. I think it was really cool that he actually took the time to meet with everyone who was waiting before turning in for the night.

[[ the acoustic set. us with dustin. ]]

Here is a little preview of the acoustic set via YouTube (posted by nathanosu). This is from the show we were at just a few feet to the left of where we were sitting. You probably can't tell from the video, but everyone was singing along softly, it was a pretty crazy feeling to be so close to it all.



((( he has video of the other two songs played as well if you want to check those out on YouTube. 1 / 2 )))

california adventure :: sneak peak

Me and Pat are back from our California Adventures, but since I will be gone Friday thus making this a short week, I think it would be better to take care of some unfinished posts I had started before we went on our little vacay. I will get going on the California posts next week and they will probably end up spilling in to the following week (or two), in which case I will have even more events to catch up on! This is a busy summer for sure, and there are still many things planned for future dates, including this weekend.

If you have been following my Instagram you have probably already seen these pictures, but here is a little sneak peak of the same ones I posted during our trip to give you an idea of what our daily activities entailed. Do not be surprised if you see these images pop up on their corresponding posts as well.

[[ instagram photos: plane. lunch. pool. breakfast. lounging. joshua tree national park. the good stuff. sushi dinner. disney. tea party. strong. drive. sf. cousins. go giants. ashland. ]] 

california adventure

Alright, it is finally Friday, so I can announce our upcoming adventures to you!

Me and Pat will be leaving tomorrow morning for a nine day California vacation. Though it is a little closer than NYC this year, we are still super excited! We will be flying to La Quinta (Palm Springs) where we will sit by the pool and soak up the sun for the first four days of our trip. One of my goals is to get over by Joshua Tree National Park to take some pictures. I love the desert, and mini photo shoots. Next we will be driving over to Anaheim to do the whole Disneyland thing because we are definitely not grown ups yet, and thought it would be fun/silly. After that we will head up the coastline to visit some of my family in San Jose before spending our final day in San Francisco with two of my favoritest cousins. (We might even take in a Giants game). The last day will be a lot of driving until we are finally back home. So, our vacation is part relaxing poolside with a margarita in hand, part amusement park, part exploring the city, and part road trip adventure. I do wish we had a few more days because I wouldn't mind spending some more time in SF, but I suppose we can't play hooky from work forever.

[[ pictures from la quinta a few years ago. ]]

Almost forgot to add this...
Here is roughly what me and Pat will be doing Wednesday and Thursday. :)

little sisters graduation

After my lengthy Weekend Adventures post yesterday, this one was quite a bit easier. Here are a couple of the best pictures we took at graduation. :)

[[ sister, sister. ]]

[[ getting ready to go. our grandparents. weirdos. meg & mom. pat & meagan. our favorite little guy. meg & jenna being silly. sisters! me & leah. after graduation, nic and the little littles. ]]