visitor!

i had a visitor a few days ago

adi came to town over the long weekend and it was so much fun to have her here

we somehow failed to take any pictures of us together

but i did take a few random pictures while we were out and about:

one day we headed down to warner bros. studios to take a look around

we drove a golf cart all over the lot for hours and explored the sets

...and maybe we stalked ashton kutcher...

while driving around we stumbled upon this much fancier golf cart 

which belonged to the gossip girl writers

 

 dr. zoe hart's office for all you hart of dixie fans out there

  

and of course i couldn't resist taking a picture of where the infamous spiderman kiss took place

 we also went to santa barbara one day 

and the weather could not have been more perfect!

so much better than sitting in a snow storm in dc! 

 

thanks so much for coming, adi!

and thanks for the excuse to get jamba juice once a day!

disney's radio rebel premiere

i started with persona pr about a month ago now and i have been loving it!

my boss wanted me to train on a red carpet so i could see what goes on and what we do,

so last week i went to the premiere of disney channel's 'radio rebel'!

i managed to snap a few low-quality phone pics of the events and borrowed one from twitter:

 

[debby being interviewed on the carpet. and if you look closely, my cute boss, jordyn is in the background.]

as out of control as it all seemed, 

the two other girls i work with assured me that i won for best first red carpet experience.

['radio rebel' cake at the after party.]

after the movie there was an after party at universal city walk. 

it was pretty funny because it was mostly kids

which means i had popcorn, ice cream and pizza for dinner.

it made me realize i am not as young as i used to be because i was so sick by the end of the night!

 

[the cutting of the cake!]

they finally cut the cake at the end of the night 

and i managed to hobble out to my car after 6+ hours in heels.

i don't know how all those disney kids did it

with much more grace than i managed!

ed sheeran at hotel cafe

in january my dear cousin brought it to my attention that ed sheeran had an la show coming up

if you haven't heard of him, he is a british singer-songwriter

and he's amazing.

shocked that i had let such a thing go unnoticed i rushed home to buy tickets

and it was sold out. 

sold out! 

a few days later i found out he'll be touring the states with snow patrol

but my heart was still set on his smaller gig in la where he'd be headlining.

well, i lucked out and got tickets to see him

and he did not disappoint!

 

[here he is on stage at hotel cafe]

words can't really describe how good his show was.

he was funny and serious and loud and quiet and a million other good things all rolled into one! 

 his music [which i don't think i have gone to sleep without listening to since i discovered him]

was even better live than on his album.

and boy can that kid use a loop pedal.

i was so happy i got to see him in such a small, intimate venue instead of on tour

at one point he even came out and stood in the middle of us,

spinning around and around while he sang.

  

[me & ed. i think i was shocked by the flash]

so ladies and gents, the moral of this story is...

do yourself a favor and check this guy out

you won't be sorry

back to december

we started december off with a bang by having the ward christmas party in our backyard. 

hosting a "night in bethlehem" at our home has been my mom's dream for years 

so despite all the stress and work it took to get ready, it was totally worth it. 

i am pleased to announce that it all went off without a hitch 

and she is even entertaining the idea of doing it again.

 

everyone came and set out blankets to eat and socialize. 

we had the coolest booths set up for food, dessert, candle and bead making, etc. 

and of course, a night in bethlehem wouldn't be complete without a rabbi to tell stories! 

one of my favorite parts was the angels up in the treehouse with the spotlight. 

it was magical.

 

this is probably one of my favorite photos of the night. 

we had a petting zoo with baby miniature goats and lambs

he was obsessed with the sheep--too cute!

 

the donkey we tried to book had another gig that night [seriously, he did]

so we settled for this little guy instead

i had literally worked all day so my definition of "bethlehem attire" was haphazardly throwing on 

a coat and a few scarves over my workout clothes. 

not quite as convincing as i had hoped it would be.

 

the absolute best part was ending the party with a live nativity.

goats, sheep, donkey/mini horse, shepherds, wisemen, angels, real baby...

the whole deal.

 

after the nativity all the little kids ran up to the manger, wanting to meet baby jesus.

it was the cutest thing to see their faces!

 ...............................................................

 after the ward party was over, it was a race to get ready for christmas!

we celebrated the holiday in utah this year since we had a lot of big events happening up there.

 

of course there was a lot of baking going on...

[best when done late at night while in your pajamas or a santa apron]

 

sometimes christmas can just be so overwhelming...

a few meltdowns occurred, but none as cute as this one!

who can resist running for their camera when such sad and pathetic cuteness is happening?

.................................................

our cousin jessie got married just two days after christmas

so there was lots of partying going on

 

some of my cute cousins at the reception

 

we're all so happy for jessie & kelly

[even if the photo booth man could not be convinced jessie was the bride and kelly was the groom]

 .................................................

fast-forward two days and we were at the salt lake temple again 

for the wedding of one of my oldest and dearest friends 

i was so excited i could be there with them

 

when we were growing up, jenni was always sure about two things:

1. she wasn't they marrying type

&

2. if she did get married, she would have an absolutely gigantic and gorgeous ring

at least she was right about one of them!

[i had to document it because her selective memory didn't believe she would have said such a thing]

 

and here i am with the happy couple

the official third wheel!

but i am sure glad jen got such a good second wheel

i wouldn't have let her go through with it if i didn't think he was absolutely perfect! 

...............................................

and that, my friends

was december

in a nutshell.