Summer of '73

5773 that is. And now with the new year ---happy & healthy to everyone!--- I'm reflecting on our incredibly invigorating summer.

So you know Joey proposed in March, and we spent the next couple months basking in engagement. Even though I have some very persistent family and friends, my goal was to relax and enjoy and then have all the big stuff nailed down by the time we were back in Boston. Come May I found my wedding dress (eeee!!!!), we chose our venue, and rounded out the edges with DJ, caterer, photo and videographers... Want a sneak peek?

South Garden in La Jolla Woman's Club

By June we we were home for the wedding of the year (trademark by the bride). The entire event was perfection, I feel so blessed to have been a part of it.

Kat & Joe's bridal party, GQ style

She is one STUNNING bride

Yes I had Joe 'break the glass' at the end of my speech

The day after the wedding we flew home to be greeted by my parents, sister, brother-in-law, nephews, and grandparents. Hosting and showing off San Diego are two of my favorite things to do. Mix that with my immediate family and it was bliss. A few of my personal highlights:

• Showing the ladies a sneak peek of all my wedding secrets, topped off with a delicious lunch
• Watching Noah and Eli's faces light up at all the animals at the San Diego Zoo
• Spending the day with my parents at Coronado and sunset at Pacific Beach

They left and my brother and his two friends came for the following week. Entertaining the guys was fun and laid-back. We spent the 4th of July at our friends house eating ridiculously tasty home-cooked food and catching the fireworks from their backyard. Come back everyone, SD misses you.

If you can believe it, we were back in Massachusetts just two weeks after Kat's big day for another wedding. This time one of my grade school friends was getting married and it turned into a mini Hansen Elementary School reunion. God, I love weddings and friends and western MA.

Shawn, Dave, Joey, Eddie the night before the wedding

Tough town sticks together.
Helen H. Hansen Elementary school girl friends gazing at the GORGEOUS bride
From left to right: Lindsay, Brenna, Janeen, Erica, Liz, Hannah, Amy 

We danced til the music stopped. Excuse the bra.

I repeat, 'God, I love weddings and friends and western MA.'
Cannot wait for 2014 and each of our weddings!!!!! Bring it on.

And while we were home, we lucked out with timing and saw RDGLDGRN perform at Comcast Center. Never heard their music? You're in luck too. Their worldwide album just released. Get it here.

Front row watching RDGLDGRN

Cousinly love. Backstage after the show with RDGLDGRN.

After all that amazingness it was good to be home with little to do in August. Wedding prep continued, Joey and I celebrated 8 years together, and we hit our official year countdown. I'd call that a fabulous way to end a magical year. Life just keeps getting better and better.

L'Shanah Tovah Tikatevu to each and everyone of you. And for those that are curious, the literal Hebrew to English translation: "May you be inscribed (in the Book of Life) for a good year."
In short, wishing you a good year!

And a few more pics.
xoxox!!

Sky is officially Californian

This summer me and my siblings all added new watches to our wardrobe.

Parents representing Boston on Pacific Beach.
Happy 36th Anniversary Mom&Dad!!

Celebrating 8 years at Bencotto, my new Italian obsession

Sunset picnic with my boo. In 5774 I wish to watch more sunsets.

Dream of Cailfornication

Throw back Thursday
Reminiscing about 365 days ago. More road trip videos to come, but I thought it was fitting to show this video one year out. Disclaimer: I am a huge nerd and proud of it. If you don't believe me, watch the video.

Joey drove 4 of the 6 days, but I wanted to drive Sky into Cali.

We made it!

Sky hits 100,000 miles

What my house looked like for over a month. 

Thanks to my Uncle Allan I had GORGEOUS flowers to pretty-up our empty space.

We all want LOVE

Shout out to the City of Champions. The nickname refers to Boston's streak of dominance in sports in the last decade, but I'm referring to the WORLD CLASS way Boston handled the Marathon Bombing tragedy. 

Last weekend when I was home for my best friend's bridal shower (!!), I went into the city to check out the memorial. It was beautifully moving. It was weirdly eerie being in SD throughout the whole thing. In my heart I was home in Mass with everyone, but then I'd go outside and everyone here was going about their normal life. Joey and I always talk about how BOSTON's roots are so STRONG. This whole damn thing just  exemplifies that. 

Love you all! XOXO.

This pic is from the night they captured the 19 year old.

From Miss to Mrs

Corallina Cove

Last Friday was my birthday. Joey met me in Santa Clara and on Saturday we started the coastal drive home. The weather on Saturday was not on our side (or was it). Nothing but fog. By Saturday night we made our way to Morro Bay.

At dinner I asked our waitress her recommendation for something to do the next day. She asked if we wanted to go to the best place on earth. YES. She tells us about this "slice of heaven" within Montana de Oro State Park called Spooner's Cove. I don't know why she shares this with us, because her sentence starts with "I usually don't tell tourists this, but..." But she did. She even wrote us directions... "...at the very end the magical beach is called Spooner's"

Sunday started with breakfast at Frankie and Lola's Front Street Cafe, french pastries at La Parisienne, and sightseeing at Morro Bay's Fisherman Wharf. Then the drive through the state park, through the arching eucalyptus trees.

Fisherman's Wharf

Eucalyptus trees in the entrance of Montana de Oro State Park

Spooner's Cove

We got to Spooner's during high tide, clouds filling the sky. After a little while I was ready to go, but Joey had other plans. He wanted to hike Bluff Trails, so we did, and as we're looking out at the rocky coastline, Joey's pretending to listen to me talk about who knows what, but he's scoping out the perfect spot. That's when a random old man walks up to us and asks if we are locals. He tells us that he lives 35 miles away, but comes here often to an area nearby with tide pools that are just beautiful. A place that some of the locals don't even know about. He said there's a sign, and that you need to look out for it because you could miss it. And then he walks away. (My version of the story goes a little bit different - I like to say that the old man vanishes into thin air.)

Corallina Cove, Montana de Oro State Park

Great view of Corallina Cove from hikespeak.com

And as we're standing there, Joey asked me to marry him.

The spot

The sun broke and the fisherman on the beach started clapping. Then we took off for Santa Barbara.

Dinner in the courtyard of Wine Cask

Sports and Competition

Sports are more than just fun and games. Sports are a metaphor for life. So many life skills are learned in sports, and most competition tips can be applied to any part of life. From family-friendly bickering (the Nana vs. Noah video is a must see) to Super Bowl championships (Let's go 9ers!!), playful competition finds its way into virtually all aspects of life. Fighting to win relies on teamwork, concentration, coordination, and creativity – things worth striving for anyway.

Here are some great competition quotes. Most are from athletes. All can be applied to life in general. And again, for Joey and his team today, LET’S GO 9ERS!!!

“When the game is over I just want to look at myself in the mirror, win or lose, and know I gave it everything I had.” Joe Montana

 “Show class, have pride, and display character. If you do, winning takes care of itself.” Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant

 “When I’m in my groove there is no thinking. Everything just happens.” Ozzie Smith

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Wayne Gretzky

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Winston Churchill

“Winners compare their achievements with their goals, while losers compare their achievements with those of other people.” Nido Qubein

“For me, losing a tennis match isn’t failure, it’s research.” Billie Jean King

 “You have to believe in yourself when no one else does – that makes you a winner right there.” Venus Williams

“Don’t ever forget that you play with your soul as well as your body.” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

 “I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself.” Mikhail Baryshnikov

 “Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game.” Michael Jordan

Sunday Night Football

A belated happy new years to everyone! Hope you had a great holiday season with your fam and friends.

It worked out, thanks to my Aunty Linda and her season tickets, that - since before the move - we've had tickets to the San Fran/Pats game. And ever since we decided to move, it was always a definite that we'd be back for the big game. Our rivaling teams haven't played each other since '08. Plus they are two of the top teams this season. 

For the record I am sporting a red Willis jersey under Brady, however I am a Patriots fan. I just thought it was an appropriate time to wear it. Capisce?

Coming home when you live out-of-state is busy. No joke, now I understand why some people keep mum about their trips. We had a blast though and got to see almost everyone. But before we did I had a big life decision to make. Good thing I made the right choice. #short&sweet

Besides the Sunday night game in the freezing rain, seeing all of "our babies" was the best part of the trip. Our families make some cute babies, man. Here's a couple video clips shot by my surprise Hanukkah present. Plus a bonus video that made me laugh. The videos are short, but a bit dizzying. Sorry, we're still getting used to the camera. 

To making your dreams come true in 2013.

xoxo, Amy

A note from your thankful hostess

Move over Twinkies there's another hostess in town.

Last month the Benoit residence was busy. Still is (we have a visitor sleeping as I type). Literally half of November we were hosting some of our fabulous friends. And I've loved every second of it.

Six months ago yesterday (that's crazy in itself), Joey, Michael and I arrived at our cross country destination. Since then we've been so, super lucky to have seven different groups of visitors. 7 in 6 months! - and I know what a few of you are thinking - but no, absolutely not. I am nowhere near being sick of hosting. I LOVE IT. Our friends out here can't believe how many people come to visit us...as you can imagine we can be a little hard to schedule plans with.

But November takes the cake ... or should I say Hostess Cupcake, which I personally preferred over Twinkies.

It started with an Italian reunion. After visiting them in Nebraska annually for the past three years, (first as a human birthday present, then their beautiful wedding, and of course the cross-country roadtrip) Hailey, my roommate when I studied abroad in Florence, and her husband Jon came to check out San Diego. Our weekend revolved around football, food, and a Big Bang marathon, which seemed fitting since Penny is from a small town outside of Omaha. On Saturday we ended up at a Husker bar, and Joey and I learned the college team's chant: Go Big Reddddd. GO! BIG! RED! Sunday was back to back Pats, 49ers. The only thing that could have made the weekend more perfect is if the 49ers didn't tie the Rams, but beat them. Big tiebreaker game tomorrow, with Kaep starting. How do ya'll feel about that? It's a big topic of conversation at the Benoit.

They left on a Monday, and Tuesday Jess was here. Talk about turn around. We were so lucky to have her spend her birthday week with us! We kept busy. From a girly mani/pedi date, to touring a haunted house in Old Town, to showing off the OB Farmers Market and cliff walks. And eating at all our fav spots - South Beach, Hodads, Casa de Reyes, PCG. But the best had to be spending her gorgeous birthday walking the beach, enjoying happy hour back at the Duck Dive (aka the Husker bar), and partying the night away with the rest of our Stoughton friends. If I could do it all over again I wouldn't change a thing...except have her stay forever.

Once she left Thanksgiving was just a few days away. If it wasn't obvious enough, I am beyond grateful to experience my dream of living in San Diego. I don't need a holiday to remind me of that; I honestly think about it every day. That, and having the best family and friends a girl could ask for. I am so lucky that you are all apart of my life. It makes everyday special. Now come visit! The Benoit residence is vacant once Caitlin leaves tomorrow, and our next visitors don't come til June. Book now and save! (Seriously I should have teamed up with JetBlue for CyberMonday...)

Now back to hosting. Caitlin just woke up.