Witch's Ball

Speaking of amazing women, here are some pictures from the Halloween bridal shower that was thrown for me last night. Yes, we're all in witches hats.

How lucky I am to have so many great female role models in my life. My grandmother, mother, aunts, cousins, future mother-in-law, friends' mothers, and mother's friends -- ALL are amazing women and I am blessed to have them in my life.

Thanks to Sue Paullin, for hosting this fabulous party!
What a fun night.

Terry and Kathleen made a fabulous ribbon bouquet for me.

Aunt Dani, Cheryl, Sue & Diana (aka Lovey Lovey)

Jeffree, Sue, Chris, Barbara, Cathy, Judy

The future and current Mrs. Fishbacks

Cousins: Lindsay, me & Katie

I'm thinking of wearing this hat on the big day. Yay or Nay?

Lovely.

Thanks, Amy, for this picture!

Bryn got married last weekend (see beautiful pictures here), which means I got to see a lot of wonderful friends, some of whom I haven't seen in over a year. I was talking to Rae Rae at the reception about friendship and life (we're very deep thinkers). I said, "friends just aren't the same after college." Her absolute and amazing inability to hide her emotions (a character trait that I LOVE) caused her face to look a little sad, and she replied with a sincere, "I'm still your friend." I looked at her with a half-frown and said, "No, I mean, you just don't make new friends the way you did in college." She looked relieved and said, "Ohhhh."

Thank goodness for the amazing women in my life.

Birthday Boy

This is a bit late, but Brad's birthday was on Oct. 23. We celebrated with mango cheesecake and birthday presents wrapped in a Macy's cardboard shipping box. He thinks it's cool that his birthday is on 10/23, our wedding is on 11/24, and then Christmas is on 12/25. See a pattern?

Must be good luck.

A Bike City

photo via

I heard about this system on NPR a couple weeks ago.  A public bike system.  Several European cities, including Paris, Barcelona, Helsinki and Copenhagen, have taken to the trend of renting public bikes to commuters for a small fee.  What a great way to decrease traffic, increase exercise and experience a city!  This picture of riders using the Vélib' system in Paris makes public biking look glamorous.  (Paris would make the classiest looking bikes in the system, right?)  Montreal and Washington D.C. are some of the first North American cities to try it out.

I would love to have this in LA.  

Or, maybe I would just love to live in Paris.

Here they are...

Steven Wood kind of just fell from the sky. And, really, that's not too far from the truth. After a weekend trip to Utah, my Dad sent me a text telling me he had sat next to a fashion photographer on the plane. Long story short, a week later, Bradford and I found ourselves "fake-conversing" in gorgeous Palos Verdes locations while Steven shot over 2,000 images of us. We managed to find a couple good ones.

Steven actually just posted several in an album on facebook. Click here to see them. Below are more of my favorites. Steven might not be happy about all of these being posted because they're not all edited, but I think they look fabulous.

The future Fishbacks!

42 days to go!

Substance.

Pardon the late night post. When I don't have specific plans the next day, I stay up, irresponsibly. But the wheels in my head turn. Creative juices flow a little stronger. And I love these moments.

Recent blog-surfing led me to stumble upon this picture, and the image illustrates a goal I've been striving for lately: Living a life of substance and value.

Bear with me while I share an unlikely analogy.

A few months ago while shopping for new shoes, I noticed that I am drawn to specific details on clothing and shoes. I prefer braiding, lace, rouching, and other handwork. All of these are processes that, to begin with, don't require fancy materials. The raw materials can be (and usually are) very simple. What makes these pieces valuable are the time, effort, and handiwork that goes into making them. Something which, at the base, is so, so simple, can be transformed into an immaculate work of beauty. Money is not required, just time, effort, hard work, and perhaps, a little love.

I used to live in a world where buying a cute new t-shirt meant "today was a good day." Eating out made me feel validated, and spending money, even if it meant purchasing something as meaningless as a key chain, somehow made me feel good. Well, the truth is, those things usually made me feel good for about a day. And then, after that day, all I typically felt was a hole in my pocket.

Over the past year or two, I've realized something incredibly obvious. Life is more than today. To have "a good day." That's nice. But what about having a good year, a good decade, dare, I say, a good life?? Isn't that better? I had no idea how much my quest for everyday happiness was inhibiting the much more meaningful goal of life satisfaction.

Shifting focus from instant happiness to life satisfaction has already helped me to live out some of my dreams, and I feel very confident that several more have yet to be fulfilled.

So, here's to living a life of substance and fulfilling big dreams, no matter what the daily sacrifice may be.

Sneak Peek

of our engagement pictures. They are beautiful and fabulous, thanks to the wonderful Steven Wood. More to come.

Space Cowboy

This is gnarly and it's trippin' me out.  In a good way.  With so many faux, re-touched images out there, it's hard to believe, but this photo is not photoshopped.  This astronaut, Bruce McCandless II (wonder if there's any relation to Christopher) of the space shuttle Challenger, is floating in space, farther than anyone has ever been before.  Click here to learn more. 

Signs of the Times

Online advertising has officially surpassed TV advertising in terms of sales. 

By the end of the year, there will be more Subway stores in the world than McDonald's.

Will this knitted lego minifig be the new teddy bear?