2008... So Far

The year has really been great so far, so I thought I'd recap...

Each month so far has been filled with some great memories. We kicked off the new year in Santa Maria, so we hiked to Lizard's Mouth in Santa Barbara and spent some time at Avila Beach. I went to Vegas with my good bud Kris and met her friends- that was a blast! Our roommate (who is moving out next week, sorry to say, but YAY!) celebrated her 30th birthday with a really fun kickball-sloshball party. Patrick and I also spent a day in Coronado with our wedding photographers trashing the holy heck out of a $20 wedding dress I found on ebay!

In February Patrick turned a quarter century old :) We spent his birthday weekend in Puerto Nuevo, Mexico and had a total blast exploring baja and got a little surfy surf in... unfortunately that same weekend my grandmother suffered from a stroke and we lost Patrick's grandmother to cancer (not to mention my entire family had the flu and right after we got back I came down with strep throat!!).

When March came around my grandmother had started recovering rapidly so we finally celebrated her 75th birthday at mom and dad's house (her stroke happened the day before her bday in Feb). Christopher's hockey season ended and we spent a day at the zoo... By the way if you live in SD you should totally get a zoo membership... hello?! Unlimited skyrides!

Somewhere within these months Pat and I got a 'new' car- a dark blue BMW 330ci (convertible). It's my baby and to this day I still have no name for it. I'm looking for suggestions, and the name has to start with a 'B' (my 4runner was Betty, my Mustang was Bella)...

April and May were full of pre-wedding events, and some big family news! I was the lucky bride-to-be that had 2 wedding showers, one in San Diego and one in Santa Maria (both in April). In May we had my bachelorette party here in San Diego. My favorite part of the night was dancing my tush off in the limo bus! The big family news was that my Dad got his M.B.A! Soooo super proud of my pops!

June of course was wedding month! When Father's Day rolled around I took some great shots of our goddaughter Sienna for Richard. Wedding week was lots of fun. My cousin Katy threw me a lingerie shower which was a blast. I also had a fun sexy photoshoot with my wedding hair-and-makeup gal, and spent some time at the RB Spa with my bridesmaids. When we got back from our honeymoon in July we spent some time at the racetrack in Del Mar, and also with our good friends Richard, Chrissy, Porsche and Donnie (it seemed like we were beginning to live at Pala Casino!).

Last month we spent some time at Balboa Park with Chris and Cheryl, and went to the Natural History Museum. Chris got to see the dinosaur skeletons and a really cool water exhibit. Chris finished yet another season of ice hockey, and our Spaniard friends (the Bisbe Family) visited us in San Diego! We (the Carmichaels, ma and pa included) took them all over, and my fave part of the weekend was the cruise around San Diego bay! K the end!

Honeymooning in Maui & Kauai

We had a BLAST on our honeymoon, which we spent half of in Maui and the other half in Kauai. Kauai was a little more up my alley since we stayed in a far less touristy area- Kapaa. I think it's safe to say we got a good balance of relaxation and adventure on the trip... not to mention the delicious cuisine we experienced. If you're ever in Maui, do yourself a favor and try the Mahi Mahi at Lahaina Grill, and the Shrimp Dynamite at Sansei! On both islands we were lucky enough (thanks to my in-laws) to stay right on the water with unobstructed views and roll around in Jeep Wranglers.

My fave part of Maui was our adventure on the Hana highway. We got caught in an early morning downpour while the top was down, but that didn't dampen our spirits (get it?! Wah, wah, wah). The banana bread from Wailua was the best we'd ever had...we hiked to a waterfall called Wailua-iki and had the whole place to ourselves...and we experienced for the first time together the true fear of being shanked in the middle of nowhere (hiking to the Blue Pool... which was nothing but a trickle!). I went crazy with the digital SLR over the sunsets (how can you see sights like that and doubt that God exists?!) and was glad to have purchased an underwater case for my little digital camera for our under-the-sea adventures. We're looking forward to the next time we can surf the days away in Lahaina and swim with the sea turtles (and maybe next time I won't find myself rescuing any families on floats and swimming them to shore ;)).

Kauai was insane. Since we stayed on the east end we were greeted by sunrises instead of sunsets. We hiked to beaches where no one else was around (definitely recommend the Secret Beach), splashed around in lava pools, and found the best sushi restaurant in existence. My favorite part was definitely hiking to and then jumping off Kamapua'a Falls. Patrick was definitely more daring than I was and didn't even think twice before jumping! We also had the pleasure of boarding a catamaran and sailing to the Na Pali coastline, and on the way we saw dolphins playing (and mating!), and a great view of the ‘forbidden’ island of Ni’ihau. The Na Pali coastline was like nothing we had ever seen before- teal water crashing against towering sea cliffs, views of gigantic sea caves and waterfalls next to the ocean. The captain then took us to a place to snorkel and there were fish everywhere!

Needless to say, our honeymoon was a pretty good way to start our married life together!

Wedding Media!

Click here for our wedding slideshow (the larger version):
http://buddyblueshoespresents.com/MirelleandPatrickPhotoStory.wmv


This wedding video was shot by my cousin, Kevin Tablizo. He's Canadian. :)

Just Married!

Click on the 'Just Married!' above to link to our wedding website!

On June 28 Patrick and I finally made it official. We had been dating for half a decade before he proposed in April of 2007 as the sun was setting on Torrey Pines State Beach. The wedding day was everything we hope for, and boy did we work our little tushies off preparing for it! We like to think of all our DIY wedding projects (all stationery included) as 'team-building'!

We tied the knot right on the beach in La Jolla and it was amazing- the weather was perfect, the waves were crashing and the music (we had a guitarist and violinist) was the bomb-dig :) The guys and the sponsors walked to 'Waiting in Vain' (the Annie Lenox version), the girls walked to 'Hear You Me' (Jimmy Eat World), and I walked (with mom and dad!) to 'Only One' (Yellowcard). Leave it to us to not want any traditional wedding music.

I can't even begin to describe how excited I was at that very moment that I was walking down the aisle to marry Patrick. Seriously- when I walked out with my parents, it seemed like the entire world (well, beach) stopped for us. All I heard was the music and the ocean and all I saw was Patrick...

The reception was a blast. We had a great time dancing the night away with our family and friends, then we departed for our afterparty after running through a sea of sparklers!

Pics were taken by the wonderful folks at Studio Z (www.studiozimage.com)!