Sprinkles Ice Cream

On Wednesday, my girlfriend and I went to the Grand Opening of Sprinkles Ice Cream in Newport Beach. If you know me, you know I looovveee Sprinkles. I have tried many different cupcake bakeries and by far Sprinkles is my favorite. Like if I could have a Sprinkles cupcake daily, I totally would! So, when I heard the ice cream shop was opening I texted Lauren to see if she wanted to go with me. She has been super busy with her bow shop and my nanny schedule has been crazy, so it was nice to take a break and enjoy some delicious ice cream together.

We waited about 2 hours to get our ice cream. Now your probably thinking we are crazy, but because of our busy schedules we haven't had time to really catch up, so the time went by super quickly with us chatting. We both got the cupcake sundae. They cut a cupcake in half and put ice cream in between. It was seriously heaven on earth!

If you are ever in the Newport area (right across from Fashion Island) make sure you make a stop at Sprinkles Ice Cream! I promise you won't regret it!

Dancing with the Stars

About a year ago I signed up for On Camera Audiences.  I selected all the shows that I like and entered my name and information.  Ever since I had done that, I get emails weekly telling me there are tickets for certain shows available.  Most of the shows are pretty lame and I'm not interested wasting my day going to those.  Well, about 6 months ago I got an email letting me know I got tickets to the X Factor.  I accepted, but unfortunately wasn't able to go and I was so bummed.  After that, I really didn't think I would get any other "hot" tickets.

Well, two weeks ago I got an email telling me I have been selected for Dancing with the Stars tickets!!  I couldn't believe it, because these tickets are so hard to come by!  I immediately selected 2 tickets and texted Steph to see if she was able to go.

Everything alined so perfectly and both of our schedules allowed us to leave at the time we needed to.  On the tickets it said we needed to be there by 3:30pm.  So, we left Irvine at noon, which got us to LA at around 1pm.  There was already a long line on the street in front of CBS Studios.  I dropped Steph off to get our place in line and went and parked the car at the Grove parking structure.  About 2:30ish producers started coming through the line checking and approving our tickets.  The guy looked at our tickets and said, "Your ticket is priority, so come over to this line."  I thought it was the weirdest thing because I know my ticket was just a voucher and was nothing special. We didn't ask questions and went to wait in the priority line.  About 3:00ish they asked us to walk into the CBS lot.  We checked our phones in and went through security.  Once we were through, a cute girl producer asked Steph & I to come with her.  Now we are really wondering what the heck is going on.  She asked us to wait here (which was in a totally separate location than everyone else), and that we are the first ones into the show.  Umm... score!!!!!

As time went on little by little young/attractive girls started lining up where we were standing.  I have always heard of this, but never seen it in action.  They totally picked all the young girls out of the line and separated us from everyone else because they wanted us on the front row.  Steph and I were just laughing because we were probably the oldest and most clothed girls in that line.  About 4:00 they open these huge doors which were probably as tall as my apartment building and started filling us in.  We came in through the back (so behind the stage) and were assigned seats.  Man was it crazy in there.  Tons of people working, setting stuff up, etc.  The stage and dancing floor was so much smaller than how it appears on TV.  I was just in awe that I was actually there.  To be honest, it still feels like a dream that we were there.

At first Steph and I were separated, but then Steph got sassy with one of the producers and brought us back together.  Whew!  So from about 4:30-6:00 they pre-taped the Macys Stars of Dance.  They pre-taped it because they had to do some special effects for the live show. They would like dance for 5 seconds and then do that dance like 1-3 times.  It took so long and we just wanted the show to start, but it was cool to see.  We were literally sitting right next to the judges so it was fun to hear their conversations and do small talk with them.

Once that was over, the show started in 15 minutes.  This is when everyone started to file into the studio and it was complete chaos.  The studio was completely filled with standby people for the pre- tape, so they needed to get them out so that us priority people as well as the celebrities & families of the stars could take their seats.  Steph and I were asked to get out of our seats so that two celebrities could take them.  At this point they shuffled us off the stage and I started to freak out because we first two girls in the studio and all the people who were behind us in line were getting front row seats.  So you better believe I walked across that dance floor got sassy with my cute girl producer, who then pulled some serious strings for us and allowed Steph and I to stay in our original seats.  At this point show was starting in 2 minutes and man was my blood boiling.  There was no way in heck that we were going to be pushed aside after all the time we put towards this.  Looking back I think we just got lost in the shuffle of things.  Like it was seriously pure chaos ending the pre-tape and then getting everyone seated.  Right as we sat down Derek Hough came by and was shaking hands.  He was the only professional doing this, by the way.  He scored some major points with me that night.

The show started and it was so fun!!!!!  Because Steph and I were right in front we saw it all.  It was so cool to be that close to the dancing and to see the interactions between everyone.  It was such a friendly atmosphere and everyone had such respect for everyone.  At the end of the show, our cute girlfriend producer got Sean Lowes attention for us and we said hi and Steph blew him a kiss.  It was such a great way to end the night!

Overall, it was an amazing experience.  It's wasn't easy and it took a lot of time and it was line after line after line, but it is something I will always remember.

The line to the right is the line that we were in originally and then got put in the "priority" line.

 Outside of the studio.  While Steph was taking this picture we were getting yelled by security guards.  They were soooo strict about phones and cameras. We couldn't bring our phones into the studio.

 Outside of the lot on the street corner. 

 So just to the right of me are the judges.  These are pictures I took from my TV.  Brooke was soo much smaller in person. 

 Like we were seriously so close! Right there is the cute Mormon girl, Lindsey.

Heres a good view of the studio.  Steph and I are in that right corner.  All the people in the balconies are standing.  

Pierce Wedding

On Saturday March 16th my best friend got married.  It was such a beautiful event and I feel so grateful I was able to be apart of the big day.  The festivities started Thursday, when she went through the temple and then afterwards we had a little bachelorette party.  Friday was the rehearsal dinner at Salt Creek Grill.  The food was delicious and the program was so cute.  Saturday was the big day!  The weather was beyond perfect and everything went so smoothly.  The location of the reception was phenomenal.  It was in the heart of San Juan Capistrano and the buildings uniqueness was too die for.  Overall it was such a fun weekend to celebrate Kristis and Roberts big day! 

 Friday night at the Salt Creek Grill. 

 Obsessed with how our bridesmaids dresses turned out.  She got them at J Crew, but they were sleeveless.  She had a seamstress recreate the dress and add sleeves.  

 The gorgeous couple.

 My lover flew in from UT to be here for the wedding.

 My parents.

 Kristis gorgeous family.

The Villa, San Juan Capistrano 

 I was obsessed with this decor.  They put a smore bar on this table. 

Before the ring ceremony. 

 My dad conducted the ring ceremony.

 Dancing with the Chamberlin's.  

Bridesmaids dance party. 

Love you Mr. & Mrs. Pierce! 

xo

Moms Surprise Party

On Friday, March 8th we threw mom a surprise party.  About a week and a half prior I get this evite from dad inviting me to the surprise party and then asking me if I could help.  Of course I said yes and I went to work.  Putting this party on became a little tricky because; A) dad didn't fly in until 5:30pm, exactly 1.5 hrs before the party started, B) this meant that I was going to have to take mom somewhere to get her out of the house, so I couldn't set up C)Taylor wasn't flying in until Friday afternoon from Utah and D) the weeks prior my nanny schedule was absolutely crazy.  It's really is amazing that it all came together.  Every down minute I had, I was either on phone or making lists.  Some nights I was up till 1 to 2 am getting things done and was burning some serious midnight oil, but in the end it was totally worth it.  My biggest issue was set up because I wasn't going to be there.  So, I typed out this very detailed step by step list for the boys to check off.  They all thought I was nuts, which was probably true, but that was the only way it was going to get done...and you better believe it they blew me away with their correctness! 

Heres how it all went down:

Wednesday: Dad gave mom a spa certificate for her and I for Friday early evening.

Friday: I pick everything up and load everything into my car.

Go over to our neighbors house to drop everything off and put together floral arrangements- timing this drop off just correctly so mom wouldn't drive down the street.  They even cleaned out their garage so I could pull in and close the garage so mom wouldn't see my car.  Can you say amazing neighbors?!  Whew!

Pick mom up at 3:30pm for spa- begging her to bring a change of clothes so we can get ready afterwards...she was so confused

At 4pm boys head over to neighbors to pick everything up

Spend quality time at the spa, trying to relax all while receiving texts from the boys

Someone has a heart attack on dads flight... it's delayed an hour. AHHHH!!!

Masseuse... "Wow!  I have never a massaged a more knotted back before!!"  If you only knew what was going on right now...

Finish with spa at 6:50pm

Dad won't land until 7:30pm and party starts at 7pm

Put blind fold on mom and drive her all around town until I get a text from dad saying he's finally home all while mom begging me for clues on what's going on

7:50pm- SURPRISE!!

Mom had NO idea about the party.  I still can't believe we pulled it off because mom is the most organized person and nothing gets by her.  She was so overcome with shock that she got emotional after everyone shouted surprise.  We had about 80-100 our closest friends, Ramanos food (moms fav), had 2 different games, dad read letters from her sisters, sang happy birthday, and ate Sprinkle cupcakes (another one of moms favorites.)  It was an amazing night, one that I will always remember. 

Huge thank you to Stacey Ord who helped me with the decor and vision of the party.  Also, huge thank you to Amy Goodsell who let me sew all the dotes together Thursday night at 11pm.

We had a Polaroid camera so every couple could take a picture and write a happy birthday note to mom in a book.  We also had tick tacs with a happy birthday sticker as a thank you for coming gift.

Dad was on one that night.  Here we are playing 25 things you don't know about Diane.

My two sisters, Brooke & Chelsea.

Happy Birthday Momma!  So glad you were surprised!

xo