our first real vacation, part one. (where we went)

a couple weekends ago james and i went on our very first real vacation as a couple. honestly i meant to write about this RIGHT when we got back but apparently it takes a LONG time to recover from getting off an airplane and going straight to a five hour class. who knew? (sarcasm)

(also, i had originally intended to put this all in one post, but as i was writing it got longer and longer and i dont want to keep you forever so im going to break it up into a mini-series, if thats ok with you)

but back to where i was supposed to be going. yes, james and i have been married for four years, and weve never been on a proper vacation (even for our honeymoon we spent the week in san deiego and didnt really go anywhere because planning and executing a diy wedding is exhausting and who wants to go on an adventure after that). 

thats not to say weve never traveled together at all, i mean, we dated long distance, made a few trips between arizona and california after we were married, and spent a few weekends in san diego, but ALL of those trips have been some kind of a family commitment, and were partly (or wholly) paid for by the family that we were on the trip to visit. 

wed just never been on vacation. like, a just us going to a not-family determined place to do whatever we want on our own money kind of thing. wed never been able to afford it, and wed never had a kid old enough to spend a few days at grandmas (thanks again, mom!). but like ive mentioned before, a lots been changing around here. alice is (obviously) older and more capable and a sleepover (or three) is no big deal. and james worked crazy insane overtime all summer so our savings account was topped off enough that a short trip somewhere not too far away was totally doable. 

so to celebrate our fourth anniversary, we finally went on our first real vacation. i just want to reiterate right here, that this was a HUGE FREAKING DEAL and i still cant believe that its real life. 

where did we go? san francisco (in case the photo at the beginning of the post didnt make it totally obvious). 

and theres kind of a funny story behind this: 

see, about a year ago (right before alices second birthday), james had to go up to san francisco for work for a week (maybe two? i dont remember), and when he came home, the first thing out of his mouth was "victoria, we are never, EVER going on vacation to san francisco, it is the worst place that i have ever been to in my life". i immediately started bawling because (in addition to having mega anxiety about alices birthday party and the surrounding drama), san francisco happened to be my #1 choice of a reasonable, not-european vacation destination. 

i remember sobbing (in the parking lot of a party city while picking up balloons) while explaining to james about how badly i wanted to go to san francisco some day, but it really didnt matter because we were in a poopy financial situation and would never be able to afford a trip, and even if we could, he had multiple engaged friends who were having out of town weddings within the year and those trips would eat up any savings we had for a trip that i would actually enjoy and i was just never, ever going to be able to get a vacation. at which point he said "then were not going to those weddings. were not going anywhere until i take you to san francisco". 

and so he did. 

(side note: i just realized while typing that paragraph that this was literally the most romantic thing that has ever happened in our entire relationship because holy moly we really are the least romantic couple thats ever existed)

booking the trip was kind of a HUGE stress factor for me because 1. im really bad at making giant purchases in general, 2. the last time i picked/booked a hotel was for our honeymoon and i had NO IDEA how i was going to find a good place within our budget in a city i had never even been to before, and 3. the last time i bought plane tickets/went to the airport i was like 16 and it was back in the dinosaur times when you could bring liquids on airplanes. vacation planning is NOT my element. 

but, (spoiler alert) i was able to handle it (even if james literally pushed the "buy now" buttons on BOTH the plane tickets and the hotel reservation), and we had a totally awesome time. 

but since youre probably totally bored by now, ill let you go here. stay tuned for party two: where we stayed + what we did. 

happy birthday poverty luxe!

happy friday guys! as you can clearly see, i am super happy right now. why?

because today is a very, very special day. today it has been exactly one year since my very first blog post. if youre a long time reader you may have read my six months of blogging post (which I'm guessing you probably didnt, seeing as how i had about 11 followers back then) where i talked about how this little piece of the internet almost didnt even exist and in six months had grown and changed into something id never expected. which is something that, as ive gotten more and more involved in the blog world, seems to be a pretty common phenomenon. 

well, its been another six months and poverty luxe is one year old! and boy have we had some ups and downs since then. really, in september, when i wrote that post about all the life lessons id learned from blogging, i had JUST doubled my traffic and followers and was totally stoked on blogging. but then after that it was october with mine and alices birthdays and then the holidays started and we were super busy and i had started trying way to hard to be "bloggy" instead of just being myself and i got severely burnt out (and not to mention, traffic took a HUGE nosedive). but, in a completely uncharacteristically mature and ambitious move, used those really discouraging statistics as motivation to drastically improve this little blog and make it into what it was supposed to be. 

and starting in january, i did. and so far, its been pretty dang awesome.

so, long story short, my second six months of blogging were a lot harder and crazier than the first six. but, all things considered, the things ive learned (and am still constantly learning) are more or less the same. 

so today im not going to write about what I've learned from blogging and how its changed my life. because honestly, i wrote basically the exact same post six months ago.

today want to take a few minutes to say thank you. 

thank you to all my readers, who are somehow still here after reading rambly, overly wordy posts like this one, and witnessing my terrible, terrible food photography. im sorry this blog used to suck so bad, you deserve a medal for sticking around. 

thank you to everybody thats been kind enough to leave a comment to let me know that im not the only person who hates being gluten free, or that refusing to buy baby carrots really isnt that weird, or even just stopped by to say hi or tell me that my hair looks nice. you guys are way too nice. 

thank you to each and every person thats sponsored this little blog and gave me your hard earned money even though i have no idea what im doing and feel like i mess up my sponsor stuff all the time. seriously, youre awesome. 

thank you to all the super sweet blogger ladies ive met over the past year who have become friends that i can talk to about not-blog related things and think the things i say on twitter are hilarious. you guys have been really great for my self esteem. 

thank you to my family and real life friends who are still willing to be friends with me even after they find out what i do with basically all of my free time. you guys are gems. 

i especially want to thank all of the real life folks who have told me in person that theyve enjoyed reading this little old blog, even if they dont leave comments/we dont know each other that well. you sure know how to make a lady feel special. 

but mainly, thank you to my dearest husband for putting up with this totally insane little hobby of mine, for still taking pictures of me even though i usually just make him take them again, and for listening to me talk for hours about things that he has no idea what im talking about. youre the best. 

so happy birthday, little blog baby of mine. heres to many, many more. 

our third anniversary.

just in case this is your first time here (in that case, welcome!), and you havent noticed that ive mentioned it about a thousand times, yesterday was jamess and my third wedding anniversary (you can read more about our wedding here). this anniversary was absolutely, by far my favorite ever, because well, our first two were kind of weird: the first one i was eight months pregnant and the second was during a totally crazy transitional phase. but this third one, it was everything a girl could ever ask for. 

first off, james was home so the three of us had a picnic lunch at the beach. 

second, we actually exchanged gifts. i know gift giving is one of those couple things that is supposed to be totally normal, but for some reason, we really suck at it. both of us. somehow we really pulled it together though. 

 last week james treated me to a surprise haircut, and i totally thought that was it, but he also wanted me to have something to open on our anniversary when i gave him his gift, so he got me a hello kitty case for my 3ds. im sure to any mature adult this sounds like a totally weird and silly gift, but 1: i saved up a lot of money for my special animal crossing 3ds xl and its always either left out somewhere or jammed in my purse, and 2: ive got games and chargers and such lost all over the house, so this was really sweet and thoughtful. 

now my gift for james almost didnt happen, i had wanted to get him a pair of rainbow flip flops for months, because he only has the one pair he got on our honeymoon that are too big and falling apart and really terrible and he REALLY needs some nice, grown up flip flops (when you live at the beach, "nice flip flops" is a thing. trust me). the only problem is that theyre pretty expensive and weve been super broke all year and since im barely employed these days i didnt know if i was going to be able to make it happen. for a while it was looking like i wasnt. well i taught private knitting lessons all summer and at the last minute was able to scrape up the money i needed to get them (on sale with free shipping to boot!!!), plus a super rad card from julie ann art:

and third, james took me out for literally the best dinner ive ever had. we went to aliottas via firenze in torrance:

which i found kind of by accident when i was searching yelp for restaurants with gluten free options (because one of these days wahoos, in n out, and sushi are going to get old), and i found that this place not only has a huge gluten free menu if things i actually want to eat, but also has separate gluten free equipment for celiacs!!! literally EVERY single part of the meal was fantastic. i wasnt going to bore you with blurry, poorly lit food pictures, but hey, this is my blog and i really feel like gushing about this food. 

 i got a pasta with clams and white wine sauce:

and james got a seared ahi steak with veggies:

both of which were SO good that we not only demolished them, but also scraped up every last drop of sauce with a spoon, completely throwing away all etiquette so that we could savor every last morsel of deliciousness, it was that good. and not only was it a wonderful meal, for the first time ever since being diagnosed with celiac, i got to order something totally normal (and not weird hippy crap) at a nice restaurant and enjoy it without worrying about getting sick. 

and then there was dessert. normally i dont get dessert when we go out because usually the only thing i can have is ice cream and i am not paying $8 for one serving of ice cream, but this place happened to have my very favorite, creme brulee:

and this was heavenly. im really glad james got a cannoli and i didnt have to share, because i literally almost started crying over how good this creme brulee was. it was perfect, with exactly the right ratio of crust to custard and i swear there were like nine vanilla beans in it. 

i seriously cant even get over how perfect this anniversary was.

thank you aliottas for actually caring about people with celiac getting to enjoy your lovely restaurant, we will definitely be back. 

and thank you james, for taking me out and treating me like a princess, happy anniversary!

p.s. stay tuned for tomorrow, because ive got a GIVEAWAY coming!!!

our wedding.

james and i will be celebrating our third anniversary tomorrow, and in honor of the occasion i thought id share some of the highlights of our wedding, as shot by my wonderfully talented cousin valerie patterson (you can see more of her work here):

we got married in jamess grandparents backyard, in a decidedly nonchalant (but still wedding-ey) affair. we were going for a simple, old fashioned backyard wedding, inspired by the types of weddings you see in photos from the 20s and 30s, where everyones all serious and dressed in black and it kind of looks like a funeral. the kind of wedding with a short, to the point ceremony and then some snacks and maybe some pictures and then everyone goes home. the kind of wedding that causes severe family drama over its lack of personalized place settings, designated seating, party favors, a dj, candy buffet, decorations, open bar, rented dance floor, extended family portraits, rented tuxedoes, matching bridesmaids dresses, unicorns and a steak dinner. 

the kind of wedding where multiple relatives flip out that i did my own hair and makeup:

(hey, i do my hair and makeup every day, if anyone can do it right, its me. i dont care what day it is)

and thats exactly what we had, on what was supposed to be a cool and pleasant labor day weekend, but actually was the record setting hottest september 4th ever in the history of lakeside california. im not kidding. aside from that, and some other small setbacks, like running out of water and my pastor being two hours late and certain guests stealing the toasting wine, and that i was recovering from what im pretty sure was strep throat, it was our perfect dream wedding. 

our perfect dream wedding, shot by my lovely cousin on my favorite kind of film without even having to ask. and film alone. thats right, our entire wedding was shot on 6 rolls of lomo 200, nothing digital. and i am still SO happy about this decision. honestly im kind of glad it was so bright and hot because of how pretty the light was how dreamy our photos turned out and gosh i sound like such a photo nerd right now. 

AND this house was perfectly designed for an outdoor wedding, with a zigzag path leading to the yard from the pool house:

down to the gazebo where we made our vows:

the ceremony was intentionally very short and basic, i was TERRIFIED of having 150 people looking at me, so we just had our vows, no scripture readings, no contract signing, no unity candles, just vows. and i completely stand by this decision. 

and after that, while we took a few minutes to cry and then compose ourselves before taking our wedding party pictures, all the guests were invited to eat a light afternoon tea of crumpets with assorted sweet and savory toppings while we took our bridal party portraits. i really, really wish we had gotten some pictures of the food, because people still tell us how much they loved the food at our wedding, but unfortunately our photographer was a bit busy, you know, taking pictures of us: 

our bridal parties were a little funny too, james had his five closest friends, with his longtime best friend jonothan as best man, while i had my two sisters (age 16 and 9) and three best friends (one of them being male) all serving as equal bridesmaids with no maid of honor. but i was also wearing a dress i bought off the rack at nordstrom so i think we all know by now that i was terrible at bride-y things. 

when we finished with the group pictures james and i went up to the pool house to take our bride and groom portraits:

this one in front of jamess grandpas vintage coke machine has always been my favorite (i mean seriously, HOW PERFECT WAS THIS HOUSE), and since i know youre dying to know, my dress was sue wong, from her alice in wonderland collection (i saw it in harpers bazzar right after getting engaged and HAD to have it, thankfully it was just from nordstrom and my  aunt offered to buy it for me), my veil was from etsy, the key necklace and feathers in my hair were from the renaissance fair, the pearl necklace was a bridal shower gift from my grandma, and my earrings were from claires. 

after portraits we re-joined the group for cake:

which rather than a traditional giant expensive "wedding" cake (which we ALL know is just regular cake at 500 times the price) we had a selection of homemade cupcakes in a variety of flavors (because it was REALLY important to me that nobody got stuck eating cake they didnt like):

if you havent put it together yet, this was a very hands-on, diy wedding (my mom did all the flowers AND the food, i hand folded envelopes for the invitations), and one of my most favorite handmade details were the little pieces of fondant i stamped with the custom stamp i had made (also from etsy) to top some of the cupcakes:

after cake james and i had our first dance (the only dancing at the whole wedding), to a sweet jack johnson song that he surprised me with:

 (i just want to take a moment and appreciate how perfect that picture is, is my cousin a genius or what?)

followed by a quick toast: 

 (this picture is probably my most favorite from the whole wedding, because in the back you can see that my sister had already changed into her bathing suit, because maybe i told people the wedding was also a pool party)

and then we left for a quiet, lazy honeymoon in downtown san diego. which was also perfect. 

looking at all these pictures and writing this post and remembering our wedding day has brought back so many sweet memories, especially of all the family and friends who helped out to make the day so special, and it has reminded me how glad i am that we did things the way we did, because by far my favorite memory of the day (that we dont have pictures of, obviously), was that, because the wedding was short and we checked into our hotel around 6, was that james and i got to go out for a nice, quiet dinner, by ourselves, on our wedding day. and i cant think of anything more perfect than that.