Here we are:
What did everybody do for Valentine's Day anyway? We ran for the border for our annual February fourteenth fast-food splurge and then marathoned Twin Peaks. It was so romantic!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Couple-zilla
On Valentine's Day weekend we were enlightened to a new term... Couple-zilla!
Here we are:
What did everybody do for Valentine's Day anyway? We ran for the border for our annual February fourteenth fast-food splurge and then marathoned Twin Peaks. It was so romantic!
Here we are:
What did everybody do for Valentine's Day anyway? We ran for the border for our annual February fourteenth fast-food splurge and then marathoned Twin Peaks. It was so romantic!
Hotels, Motels, and More!
So, we scoped some places out over the weekend... Here's what we came up with!
If you haven't already seen this... here is a great map of the Livermore/Pleasonton area.
HOTELS
$200 and up - If you want to stay in the lap of luxury, the nicest hotel in the area would definitely be The Rose Hotel in downtown Pleasonton, but keep in mind, it would be about a twenty minute drive to and from the wedding.
$79-$109 Doubletree offers good rates and amenities.
$79 - If you are planning on driving to and from our wedding, the closest hotel to our location will most definitely be Hawthorne Suites Livermore Wine Country. It's also very close to the freeway, amenities, and Livermore wine country.
*$79 - If you'd like to take a scheduled shuttle to and from the wedding, the Hampton Inn and Suites is your best bet. Our group code for booking online or over the phone (925-606-6400) or 1800 HAMPTON (426-7866) is WDM.
$69 and less - Comfort Inn offers rooms for super cheap and if any of you need a better bargain, please contact Billy or me. We may be able to arrange an even cheaper rate for you here.
*We have reserved a block of rooms with this hotel already.
AREA ATTRACTIONS
If the wine country is not your thing...
Boomers Mini Golf
Poppy Ridge Golf Course
Wente Vineyards Golf Course
Las Positas Golf Course
If golf is not your thing...
There is great shopping in the area! Downtown Livermore and downtown Pleasonton are really cute places to spend a day just roaming around and spending someone else's money. :-)
So far, we can recommend Café Garré for brunch or lunch! It's right around the corner from where we will be wed and it has a great central location to the Livemore Valley.
If you haven't already seen this... here is a great map of the Livermore/Pleasonton area.
HOTELS
$200 and up - If you want to stay in the lap of luxury, the nicest hotel in the area would definitely be The Rose Hotel in downtown Pleasonton, but keep in mind, it would be about a twenty minute drive to and from the wedding.
$79-$109 Doubletree offers good rates and amenities.
$79 - If you are planning on driving to and from our wedding, the closest hotel to our location will most definitely be Hawthorne Suites Livermore Wine Country. It's also very close to the freeway, amenities, and Livermore wine country.
*$79 - If you'd like to take a scheduled shuttle to and from the wedding, the Hampton Inn and Suites is your best bet. Our group code for booking online or over the phone (925-606-6400) or 1800 HAMPTON (426-7866) is WDM.
$69 and less - Comfort Inn offers rooms for super cheap and if any of you need a better bargain, please contact Billy or me. We may be able to arrange an even cheaper rate for you here.
*We have reserved a block of rooms with this hotel already.
AREA ATTRACTIONS
If the wine country is not your thing...
Boomers Mini Golf
Poppy Ridge Golf Course
Wente Vineyards Golf Course
Las Positas Golf Course
If golf is not your thing...
There is great shopping in the area! Downtown Livermore and downtown Pleasonton are really cute places to spend a day just roaming around and spending someone else's money. :-)
So far, we can recommend Café Garré for brunch or lunch! It's right around the corner from where we will be wed and it has a great central location to the Livemore Valley.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Stayin' Alivermore
Here are some helpful links for planning your weekend.
... to Livermore wine country!
... to weather patterns in Livermore, CA.
... to local regional park.
For out-of-town guests...
Southwest flights into Oakland are definitely going to be the closest and probably going to the cheapest, but here are some cheap flight sites I've found helpful in the past anyway...
http://www.kayak.com/
http://www.expedia.com/
http://www.cheapflights.com/
http://www.orbitz.com/
REMEMBER:
The best time to search for AND BUY YOUR TICKET ONLINE is 10am-6pm EST on a Tuesday. Another way to cut costs is to find the flights less traveled (ex.an afternoon during the week)...
Livermore is only about 25 mi./30 minute drive from the Oakland International Airport (OAK).
A block of rooms at the Hampton has been negotiated at $79 per room (single or double) and our group code for booking online or over the phone (925-606-6400) or 1800 HAMPTON (426-7866) is WDM.
Directions from Oakland International Airport to Hampton:
South on Hwy 880.
Take 238 East to I-580 East.
Exit Airway Blvd in Livermore.
Make a Left on Airway Blvd, Make a Right on Collier Canyon, Make a Right on first Signal at Constitution Dr.
We Are On The Right Hand Side.
SO, as you all know, Billy and I don't have a car, so we've included options for all you energy conscious folks:
It's plausible that everyone who stays at the Hampton goes completely carless for the weekend.
There is a shuttle called Air BART from the Airport to the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) AND, as long as we book at least ten rooms if you stay at the Hampton, a shuttle from the Dublin/Pleasonton BART station to the Hampton Inn. As long as we book up the Hampton, too, we have arranged that our out-of-town guests will have transportation to and from the rehearsal dinner on Friday night (15 at a time mind you...)!
I hope this helps. Don't worry, there's much more to come (including a list of area attractions with links)!
... to Livermore wine country!
... to weather patterns in Livermore, CA.
... to local regional park.
For out-of-town guests...
Southwest flights into Oakland are definitely going to be the closest and probably going to the cheapest, but here are some cheap flight sites I've found helpful in the past anyway...
http://www.kayak.com/
http://www.expedia.com/
http://www.cheapflights.com/
http://www.orbitz.com/
REMEMBER:
The best time to search for AND BUY YOUR TICKET ONLINE is 10am-6pm EST on a Tuesday. Another way to cut costs is to find the flights less traveled (ex.an afternoon during the week)...
Livermore is only about 25 mi./30 minute drive from the Oakland International Airport (OAK).
A block of rooms at the Hampton has been negotiated at $79 per room (single or double) and our group code for booking online or over the phone (925-606-6400) or 1800 HAMPTON (426-7866) is WDM.
Directions from Oakland International Airport to Hampton:
South on Hwy 880.
Take 238 East to I-580 East.
Exit Airway Blvd in Livermore.
Make a Left on Airway Blvd, Make a Right on Collier Canyon, Make a Right on first Signal at Constitution Dr.
We Are On The Right Hand Side.
SO, as you all know, Billy and I don't have a car, so we've included options for all you energy conscious folks:
It's plausible that everyone who stays at the Hampton goes completely carless for the weekend.
There is a shuttle called Air BART from the Airport to the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) AND, as long as we book at least ten rooms if you stay at the Hampton, a shuttle from the Dublin/Pleasonton BART station to the Hampton Inn. As long as we book up the Hampton, too, we have arranged that our out-of-town guests will have transportation to and from the rehearsal dinner on Friday night (15 at a time mind you...)!
I hope this helps. Don't worry, there's much more to come (including a list of area attractions with links)!
Monday, February 2, 2009
Tidbits and Bridesmaid Bios
Now that you know everything there is to know about what it takes to be a bridesmaid, read on for some bridal party background information... I know I know. I'm so lazy, but I thought I'd get a few introductions out of the way!
The CA DeCoux family gang in Lake Tahoe...
From the left: Neil, Sarah, Chrissy, Meghan, Micky.
Oldest sister Christina Grace - When I was a kid, when I had a bad dream, I crawled into bed with her so she could read to me from Beverly Cleary books. We will all always be indebted to her for breaking my parents in so all of us could skate through our teenage years. Somebody had to do it, Chrissy... She currently resides in Laker town with Neil Katcher who she met at a Mortified show and bonded with over deep mortal wounds inflicted from past close encounters with teen angst and bad sexually confused poetry. Chrissy is in her last semester of a Master's Program in Psychology at Antioch University and she's fulfilling her 'residency' at the Department of Mental Health Counseling at LAGLC. It has come up on more than one occasion that she cannot ethically or legally offer her counseling services to family or friends because of conflict of interests.
Older sister Sarah Naomi - When my best childhood memories reflect stories of abuse (falling out open doors of moving cars, being abandoned at Apple Hill, having a desk fall on my head...) hers are internal moments of peace with the fairy world. Growing up, Sarah was the constant crush of every single boy in my grade. In fact, after a long playground chase scene ended romantically for my longest childhood friend, Elliot Hendrickson, Sarah quickly quelched his hopes by knocking his lights out. The true athlete in the family, she helped represent San Francisco at the Nationals held last year in Boston, MA. In fact, her boyfriend, Micky McCann (who by some strange turn of events actually knows our cousin Serena Emmett!) is the leading scorer of the team ranked first nationally. In between training for her 2009 season and bartending in San Francisco, she also finds the time to pursue fashion design as a hobby.
Younger sister Meghan Marie - We spent a day at Disneyland in the nineties that was filled with only the kind of fun that you can have when you are wearing layered neon socks and white sandals. Meghan is one of the reasons that I played barbies until I was seventeen. She was the funnest kid and we still have so much fun together! I get around her and all of the sudden I just can't stop the giggling. She is in her Junior year of college at CSULB and her plans after the wedding involve, oh, you know, just the run of the mill studying abroad in Florence, Italy.
The best friends...
From left: Marlene and Leanne.
Best friend Leanne Olsgaard - When my dad met her he noted "She's got all her ducks in a row." She is part Japanese, part Danish and Italian, with a fashion sense that is 100% French. We met on the volleyball court at Mills College and immediately hit it off. She is a huge house music fan and the only friend of mine who will knock down my door, make me change out of my pajamas and drag me out to the city at 10pm to go dancing. After I came back from Madagascar the first time, she is the person who convinced me to cross the street at the crosswalk, when the light said so... Needless to say, if it wasn't for Leanne, I probably wouldn't be here right now.
Best friend Marlene Rodriguez - With a true shared fascination with EF students Marlene and I spent most of our early friendship slumming it in the Mills dorms surviving off of lime flavored doritos and jello shots. We had endless conversations about the oringins of words and why, in America, we 'have' parties instead of 'making' them. My dad has another famous saying associated with this dear mini friend of mine... Billy and I bought our first real piece of furniture from my mom and dad in the form of a beat-up overstuffed gold paisley love seat. After carrying it up three flights of stairs and plopping it down on our much-smaller-all-of-the-sudden living room floor, he stated "Now if you have company, they can stay the night if they need to. At least... Well, it could sleep Marlene anyway." Yes. She is small, but she can pack a punch! She majored in Ethnic Studies and is now, believe it or not, employed by EF in Santa Barbara! She has slept on the couch on more than one occasion.
Catching a bouquet in this stand-out crowd of ladies with strong backgrounds in weight-lifting and pilates is NOT going to be easy... More introductions coming soon!
Stay tuned for more info like info on the groomsmen and, of course, Amy and Billy bios!
Older sister Sarah Naomi - When my best childhood memories reflect stories of abuse (falling out open doors of moving cars, being abandoned at Apple Hill, having a desk fall on my head...) hers are internal moments of peace with the fairy world. Growing up, Sarah was the constant crush of every single boy in my grade. In fact, after a long playground chase scene ended romantically for my longest childhood friend, Elliot Hendrickson, Sarah quickly quelched his hopes by knocking his lights out. The true athlete in the family, she helped represent San Francisco at the Nationals held last year in Boston, MA. In fact, her boyfriend, Micky McCann (who by some strange turn of events actually knows our cousin Serena Emmett!) is the leading scorer of the team ranked first nationally. In between training for her 2009 season and bartending in San Francisco, she also finds the time to pursue fashion design as a hobby.
Younger sister Meghan Marie - We spent a day at Disneyland in the nineties that was filled with only the kind of fun that you can have when you are wearing layered neon socks and white sandals. Meghan is one of the reasons that I played barbies until I was seventeen. She was the funnest kid and we still have so much fun together! I get around her and all of the sudden I just can't stop the giggling. She is in her Junior year of college at CSULB and her plans after the wedding involve, oh, you know, just the run of the mill studying abroad in Florence, Italy.
The best friends...
From left: Marlene and Leanne.
Best friend Leanne Olsgaard - When my dad met her he noted "She's got all her ducks in a row." She is part Japanese, part Danish and Italian, with a fashion sense that is 100% French. We met on the volleyball court at Mills College and immediately hit it off. She is a huge house music fan and the only friend of mine who will knock down my door, make me change out of my pajamas and drag me out to the city at 10pm to go dancing. After I came back from Madagascar the first time, she is the person who convinced me to cross the street at the crosswalk, when the light said so... Needless to say, if it wasn't for Leanne, I probably wouldn't be here right now.
Best friend Marlene Rodriguez - With a true shared fascination with EF students Marlene and I spent most of our early friendship slumming it in the Mills dorms surviving off of lime flavored doritos and jello shots. We had endless conversations about the oringins of words and why, in America, we 'have' parties instead of 'making' them. My dad has another famous saying associated with this dear mini friend of mine... Billy and I bought our first real piece of furniture from my mom and dad in the form of a beat-up overstuffed gold paisley love seat. After carrying it up three flights of stairs and plopping it down on our much-smaller-all-of-the-sudden living room floor, he stated "Now if you have company, they can stay the night if they need to. At least... Well, it could sleep Marlene anyway." Yes. She is small, but she can pack a punch! She majored in Ethnic Studies and is now, believe it or not, employed by EF in Santa Barbara! She has slept on the couch on more than one occasion.
Catching a bouquet in this stand-out crowd of ladies with strong backgrounds in weight-lifting and pilates is NOT going to be easy... More introductions coming soon!
Stay tuned for more info like info on the groomsmen and, of course, Amy and Billy bios!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
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