Sorry it has been so long. My pictures are up. I haven't finished blogging about my honeymoon... just know that it was great! I will post a few more pics later.
Here is the link for wedding pics
www.ashleybrockintonclients.com
I didn't know that leaving Santa Cruz would be so hard.
Slim and I woke up to the smell of quiche baking in the oven. We could hardly wait until 8:30 for breakfast time. We had a quick breakfast, and then packed our bags and headed on our way back to San Francisco.
The weather has been so awesome, but the mornings are a bit chilly. Please notice the temperature reading in the car.
Slim doesn't love this picture of himself, but you had to see how cool the sky looked.
... and here is Laura B. Gillian , the racecar driver.
We drove the hour and a half to Brandi's uncle's apartment in Emeryville. Uncle Barry is letting us stay there on Wednesday and Friday nights, while we are in San Fran. When we got there, we took a nap, of course, and then prepared for our delicious meal at one of Uncle Barry's restaurants, Horizons.
We left the apartment at 6 pm for our 7:00 reservation. The drive was only 20-50 minutes. We should have had no problem at all, but due to some errors in directions and me trying to navigate to compensate for the errors, we didn't make it to Sausalito until 8 pm.
Thankfully, the staff was awesome, and were all completely understanding. We were dining with the chef, and he was just making us whatever he wanted.
The 6 course meal was as follows...
1. grape tomatoes filled with cream cheese, feta, and carmelized bacon
tempura crab cake filled mushrooms
2. ahi tuna over quinoa
3. deep fried eggplant with a yellow tomato sauce over greens
4. duck confet with plantain sweet mash over black rice
5. Maker's Mark float(vanilla ice cream with Maker's Mark whiskey)
6. cayenne pepper lava cake with orange fondue. Check the pic and the pic of the happy couple
gosh we are cute...
The drive back to the apartment was much nicer than the drive there, we made it back in 25 minutes.
The food at the West Cliff Inn is as amazing as their staff. Check out Slim's breakfast and a pic of me, eating mine. The homemade granola was my favorite.
My black shoes got left behind after crazy wedding packing, so Slim asked Kelly, our best friend from West Cliff, where we could do some shopping, and she got so excited and told us about a shoe store called Bunny's, which is located on Pacific Avenue. Pacific is a fun street with shops and coffee houses, restaurants and movie theaters. It is so much fun! Sadly there were also homeless people, and people who were just looking for a bit of cash. Check out our favorite! 
YES, FOLKS... 'Spare anything so I can get coffee & Pot.' Not a coffee pot, like I first thought, definitely coffee and pot!
Here is me doing some window shopping, and a really fun movie theater.
After shopping on Pacific, Slim and I took a drive down around West Cliff Drive. Check out the view. I also made Slim take a picture of the fattest sea gull that I have ever seen. Check that out too...
I forgot to write about the delicious Mexican Food that Slim and I ate for lunch the first day we got to Santa Cruz. We liked it so much that we went back again. Their english wasn't the best but the food was great. Check out the spelling on the menu and the bill...
The afternoon consisted of taking a nap, and then chatting with a couple from Switzerland. I love how relaxing this vacation has been.
For dinner we went to La Posta, a cute little Italian place where Kari got us the gift certificate. The food was nice and here are some pictures of Slim at the table and me with the Vespa.
You know how wonderful the West Cliff Inn is, if you read the previous blog, but here is another thing that they did for us that was just spectacular. When we arrived, our room wasn't quite ready, so Kelly, the manager invited us to have some freshly baked cookies and take a look around. What you probably don't know is that my dear friend Kari set Slim and I up with a basket in our room which had champagne, champagne flutes, chocolates, one of the West Cliff Inn Teddy Bears and a gift certificate to a restaurant in the area. When we got there, Kelly informed us that La Posta (the gift certificate restaurant) was closed on Mondays. She told us about another place called Shadowbrook, and let us know that she would make a reservation for us. We knew nothing about the area, so we trusted her.
While we waited for our room to be ready, we took a walk down to the boardwalk area, and just sat and watched the water for a long time. We then continued our walk to an arcade where there was putt putt, so Slim and I played. Slim beat me so bad, and when we were finished he let me know that he hadn't played since he was in the 4th grade, and that previous time might have been the only other time he had played. That made me feel good:)
We finally got checked into our room at about 3:00 and took a nap. We woke up around 4:30 for the appetizers. There was cheese and crackers, olives and veggies, and some delicious chocolate marble cake with fudge icing. We sat and played boggle, and Slim beat me again.
Our reservations were at 7:15 and we were taking the scenic route, so we headed out at around 6:30. The weather was awesome again. Check out some pics of our drive...
Upon arriving at the Shadowbrook. We were surprised to see that from the road, you could see no restaurant. We had to walk down many steps along the side of a cliff to get to the front door. It was so beautiful. There were waterfalls, herb gardens, flowers, trees... spectacular. 
From the moment we walked in the door at Shadowbrook, we were treated like royalty. Everyone who came to the table, already knew that we were celebrating our new marriage and everyone called us by name. We even had complimentary appetizers, thanks to the West Cliff Inn. The food was awesome, the service was incredible, and the atmosphere, out of this world. If you are ever near Santa Cruz, be sure to check out Shadowbrook.
Here is one pic of Slim and me at the table.
I am in love. Yes with Slim, but also with the quaint town of Santa Cruz, CA. We left San Francisco and began our journey south at about 9:30 am. The weather was awesome- like 65 degrees, so we rode the whole way with the top down and music blaring.
The scenery was spectacular. Here are some of the shots. It would go from tall trees to winding hills, where you would have to drive 15mph because you would definitely fall off the side of the mountain.
When we finally arrived in Santa Cruz, this is what we saw...
Here I am, driving in front of my favorite place on the earth- The West Cliff Inn. 
From the manager to the appetizers to the comfortable beds to the delicious breakfasts... The West Cliff Inn went above and beyond. Here are some more pics- they are of the view from our balcony...
We had breakfast with my family and a whole bunch of other people before heading off to the airport. My dad took us there because the shuttle was going to be packed, and we needed to be sure not to miss our flights. We took a couple of pictures at the airport but Slim deleted the good one, but this one, according to Slim 'this one shows our personality.' HA.
Our flights were long, but good. When we arrived, we had a glitch with the rental car, but hopefully we got it all worked out. We are driving a red solara convertible. It is pretty and quick, and I get to drive it because my Slim is too young:)
We finally found our way around the one way streets to Hotel Diva, a personality hotel. It was so fun and funky. Kim Saquing would have loved it! Here is a link to that.
Stay tuned for day two... you are gonna love it!
It was more than I could have ever dreamed.
I had a vision, and tried to communicate what I wanted, and was nervous that it was impossible to even come close... but my dear friends caught the vision and we created the most breathtaking ceremony that I have ever been to.
There will be pictures up, but you will keep having to check here to see those. The music was epic, the mood was dark and romantic, and it was all in all so much fun! Slim keeps asking me what the best part was, and I honestly don't know, but I think that the ceremony was just so meaningful that I would have to say that... but after that, definitely the band. They were awesome!
Here are a couple of pics that I stole from other people's blogs...
Not only to I get to marry my best friend on Saturday, but so many of my favorite people will be traveling to visit. Some of them I haven't seen for more than 5 years. My darling Hams, minus Jessica Jackson (she is having a baby in October) will be here. I can't wait to see them and hug them and just be with them.
A lot of my family is coming, and many of them haven't met Slim yet, so I am excited for everyone to get to know each other, and spend time together.
On Friday night, there will be a worship service, open to anyone and everyone. Come on out. It is at the Summit Church building on Ben Hill Griffin, downstairs in the multipurpose room.
Hooray for September 15th.
Ashley and Sam made me look like a diva... check the rest of 'em out.
www.ashleybrockintonblog.com
For those of you who don't know, Sam and Ashley are our dear friends, who are also our photographers. They are awesome at both (friendship and photography)!
Enjoy and be sure to check back when it is time for wedding pics-
If you need any photography work done, be sure to to contact them at www.ashleybrockinton.com
I am not really sure how we got here. The days just roll into mush and we are now about a week out from the day that I will marry my best friend. He is the most amazing gift that I have ever received. I will remain eternally thankful to my Heavenly Father for the amazing blessing of Slim Gillian.
Everything is coming together. This weekend I will have one more big push, to get some shopping done for more candles and stuff and look for fabric for behind the candleabras. I am also going to clean my house and pack for the honeymoon. I keep forgetting that as soon as the wedding is over, Slim and I get to go to San Francisco! Wonderful!
I am just going to be sorting my way through the mush of this next week. Remember me in your prayers. I am not stressed about wedding stuff, just a little about work. My friends have been wonderful and so encouraging, and I am thankful to you guys for that!
So Carly Jo Jones told me of this recipe that she had heard of...
Take a cake mix and a can of diet soda. Mix together and bake according to the time and temperature on the box. UMMMM. Pretty much so easy and soooo delicious!
I have made a few different types.
Chocolate cake mix with diet coke
Strawberry cake mix with diet sprite
White cake mix with diet cherry vanilly dr. pepper.
They were all delicious, but definitely mix them by hand because Carly's shrunk the next day and she used a mixer. Mine didn't shrink, but I did them by hand.
We made them into cupcakes.. Enjoy!
