Summer is officially here!

Sorry that I am not so good at posting as of late. It is my crazy busy time at work and things are exactly that... crazy and busy.

I am currently running on coffee, bananas and hard boiled eggs. My life is oh so glamorous. Be jealous.

On a better note, the Nordstrom Anniversary sale has begun. I have my eye on a few items and will be hitting the store this afternoon to “early access” shop. So when I say I am really busy… I mean that I am too busy to blog, but not too busy to shop. Priorities people. Priorities. The annoying piece of all of this is that I got a speeding ticket yesterday and my shopping budget for today went way down. Boo.

I have also been working really hard on my melanin production. I know it sounds intense, but it has mostly required sitting at the pool with my iPad while at Black Butte Ranch (lovingly referred to as BBR) over the 4th. Again, takes precedence over blogging.

Okay. I have no photos to go with this post. So, since it is finally sunny here in PDX, I leave you with my favorite summer things:

Frozen blendy drinks 

Sisters Coffee Company

Pool lounging 

Kickin' it w/ Blake Lively

BBR

View from the top of the Butte

Being outside

Brunch w/ Libby in our hood

Park lounging

BBQing

Baby BBQ that Libby bought

Sundresses

Effortless, yet they successfully keep you cool (in more way than one!)

Fastest written post ever. Happy weekend friends!

They got married in McCall, ID.

This past weekend I went to McCall, ID for a very special wedding. I am at the age where I am going to a number of weddings, and I will say that this wedding was one of the most genuinely joyful weddings I have ever been to. There was so much love from everyone it was almost overwhelming. All of the love and joy wasn't just coming from the couple, but also from the families. It was a very special day.

My favorite parts of the evening were the vows and the toasts. You may be thinking “Really? Those can sometimes be cringe worthy.” I hear ya. But it did not apply at this wedding. When the vows and toasts are genuine and filled with love nothing can beat them.

I will just let the pictures speak for themselves. Also, can we please ask ourselves one question? HOW did people plan weddings and parties before Pinterest!? Amber killed it with the details!

Look beyond the signs at the beautiful backdrop. 

See the river back there? It was beautiful. 

Sam and Am are man and wife!

Didn't I tell you!? Joy!

Spence and Mama Jo. My sassy parents.

Do you see the campfire? There were s'mores ready for us to roast and the sign read: "s'more love?"

The bride read a letter that she wrote to her future husband in 2007. They married a “short” 5 years later. It was seriously the sweetest thing I have ever seen at a wedding. I will promptly be writing my own letter with the hope that I too will get married at some point… I better get writing if it will take 5 years.

Lastly, note how blonde my hair is. It is officially true. Blondes have more fun. This is the blondest I have ever been and all three of the Strahan women had way too much fun this past weekend. It is also true that misery loves company. Sayings are sayings for a reason.

Congrats Sam and Amber! Enjoy Switzerland!

McCall on Dwellable

Life is a collaboration.

Most of the people in my life are co-dependent. I mean this in the best way possible. For example, if something is going wrong, if I feel off, or if I just need to spill my guts and admit something, I have someone to call. Actually, if no one picks up or texts back I start to get anxious. Much of my life is done by collaboration. 

We can pretend that this only applies to real life scenarios like relationship qualms, career decisions etc. But in reality it also applies to “do I need this?” or “is this cute?” texts that get sent from the dressing room and occasionally from home.

Proof:

The accompanying texts:  "Cute or not?" and "Cute? Not cute?"

The accompanying texts:  "Check out my cat! Checking out my pants too." and "Tell me or else."

Okay, embarrassing. But whatever. You know you do it too! 

Regardless, we need advice about a lot of things. More than that, we need accountability! When you share, ask and think, you are less likely to make a hasty decision and are more likely to pray about it.

Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise. - Proverbs 19:20

To Montana and Back.

Howdy Folks! Okay, Montana might not be THAT country.

I just got back from spending time at the Crow Agency of Montana. I was on a scouting trip with Fab Nicole (you have heard me talk about her before). Heard? Read? You know what I mean. She is the co-worker who makes appearances on my blog due to how awesome and fabulous she is.

We spent time meeting with out location partners, getting lost, encountering cattle etc. I won’t bore you with the work stuff, but I thought I would post some pretty pictures of Montana!

Below you will see a Native American “Sweat”… It is more or less a sauna. What we didn’t know was that it is commonly occupied by groups as large as 8 people. And that they are naked!!! We were desperate to wash our hands after that. As one friend so eloquently put it, “You basically just had your hand on some random sweaty butt.”

Inside the 'sweat.' 

This is the Little Bighorn Battlefield. It is the location of Custer’s Last Stand. They had a super cool museum of artifacts from the battle. Nicole and I quickly became obsessed with learning about the expansion west, how it all happened, why etc. It was the topic of many of our drive-time discussions. Note: It wasn’t very long ago! (1876) Think about it. There were probably still native warriors alive in 1950.

After the battle the US government came in and did a burial of the soldiers from the armed forces who died in the battle. We lost that one… just incase you didn’t know. Like majorly lost. But really, no one was a winner after those battles. Even when we won, we had to be the jerks who took the land via force.

Later we went out to the Ok-A-Beh Marina. It was beautiful. These pictures do not do it justice.

You may be wondering: “Didn’t your friend Marina just move to Montana?” If you thought that, then you are a true reader/ friend. And yes, she did. But I was WAY far all the way east from Billings so I didn’t get to see her. I am now wondering if she is secretly a Sioux and if she was named after Ok-A-Beh.

Nicole and I on the other hand gave ourselves Native American names:
Nicole: Snots on Hand.
Me: Running Cow.

Ponder this: Do you paint with all the colors of the wind?

A real vacation to the OC and LB.

Happy Friday!

Finally I will post about the stellar vacation I just took with some lady friends. We went down to Newport Beach, CA for some sun and relaxation (It was just like The OC and Laguna Beach... but without the drama, winter formals, affairs, or untimely deaths).

Honestly, the best parts about this vacation were the sleeping-in and the laughter. The friends I traveled with are low-maintenance friendships and it made the trip super care-free.

Here are some photos of our fabulous time!

We spent time here...

While looking at this.

Did an evening in Laguna.

Played on the beach.

Guarded lives. 

Goofed around here. 

Yes, that is a water bottle bloody mary. 

Sheesh. That was a lot of pictures. Anywho, ‘twas a grand ole time! We ate a lot of food, went to a bunch of different beaches, spent time on Balboa with Caitlin's family, ate frozen bananas, drank adult beverages and read at the pool... really the list could go on forever.

I still haven't unpacked... so I'm off to do laundry!

Laguna Beach on Dwellable

From Obsessed to Obsauced.

Sometimes my friends create new words. It isn't that weird. I feel like this is the case in many people’s lives. I instantly think of Happy Endings and how the character of Penny says ah-mah-zing. Her friends initially made fun of her before accepting it as hilarious and as unique to the quirkiness of Penny.

This type of scenario happens in my life on a fairly regular basis. Whether it is an unflattering nickname that sticks (poor Chubs), or a mispronunciation that will be said forever at that persons expense, there are words that are unique to my group of friends. But unlike Happy Endings, we will all start saying it around one another as a joke… until we say it in front of a stranger who blankly stares. Believe me, when someone calls Chelsii “Chubs” in public, strangers take notice.

The other night my friend Marina said she was obsauced with a nail color. I know this word came up later and somehow transitioned into the word obsoissed.

Yesterday an email chain discussion began about the merits of the two word hybrids.

Email from Martha:

Obsauced is literally 42 times better.

Here's why: It combines two words that actually are awesome.

Sauce: Which, if we're talking BBQ is delicious! If we're talking chocolate? Also delicious. I can't think of many sauces that aren't delicious. Sauce.

Obsessed: A word I say almost as much as I say “literally.”

I am literally obsessed with the word obsessed. When I say literally, what I'm saying may not be LITERAL. But I am still, literally obsessed. Literally. Obsessed.

If I may quote an email I received from Marina earlier this week, I can relate to the word obsauced "both metaphorically and over arching, as well as literally".  

Consensus is thus: Obsoissed is out. Obsauced is in. Thank you Martha for the detailed reasoning.

Yes. These are the people I choose to spend my time with… don’t judge. I wanted to post about this simply to share what my life (in terms of email and intellectual reasoning) is like. I hope you enjoyed!

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“Here’s to the sisterhood of the traveling pants.”

That was Cameron’s cheers to the fact that Marina is a traveler. We found her cheers incredibly hilarious, especially because I don’t think she even really knew what she was saying. So yes Cam, here’s to the pants... and Marina.

This weekend we had a send off for Marina. She is leaving us for 6 months for an amazing career opportunity. I am sure she will have an awesome experience and it is very exciting! Alas, I am selfish and I am going to miss my friend. I have not fully accepted that she is leaving. But that is just how it goes I guess. I think the day I text her and say “lets get fro-yo tonight” and she says, “dude. I am currently living in MT.” I will probably have a meltdown. So… anyway. We had a fab going-away send off for her. One of our favorite things is going to second Saturday at East Burn. Why? Because DJ Gray Matter breaks it down with the kickinest hits for us to boogie to. Think Whitney Houston, the Dougie and a giant dance party. You clearly missed out. But no worries, you can just go next month. You better make it though, because the next one is the last!

Send off Champy

Umm these next photos are going to come with a warning: View at your own risk! We were very sweaty from all of the poppin' and lockin'.

Music, dancing and friends are three of Marina’s favorite things (if only we could have incorporated her 3-legged cat into the evening). I can’t think of a better way to send her off into the great unknown.

Farewell Mar. Somebody is gonna miss you.