we've moved!

hello, loves.

if you still visit this space, i forgot to mention that we've moved! 

come visit: www.fullonhappiness.com 

it's the same soul-nourishing wisdom, but we just have a new home.

xo,
gina

a place to call home.

it's been a long time coming... eight years to be exact. and somehow, someway, it was worth the wait.

hearts so full.

here's the thing, san diego, i always new it was you.

at my college graduation dinner, i announced to my parents, i'm going to move to san diego.

[utter silence. blank stares].

no you're not.

i deflate. well, yes i am.

cue the common retorts that every college grad gets, what are you going to do for work? how are you going to make money?

it seemed so simple at the time. i loved so many things about san diego. i'd move there, get a job, live with my best friend, and the rest would be history.

apparently not. at least not then.

you know how people say everything happens for a reason? well, it's true. instead of being the person who moved to san diego right after college, i became the person who lived in san francisco then new york then san diego. and you know what? i wouldn't have it any other way. i think i saved the best for last.

my life is pretty simple as of late. i run. i do pilates. i soak in the pure goodness of the dearest of friends surrounding me. i embrace this lovely community. i make sure to watch the sunset and check the tide schedule to see if it will affect my daily running route. i worry about things like not burning my roasted veggies and being a good roomie to the two precious souls who have given me the most amazing place to call home.

lets just say my life is so drastically different than it has ever been and i am in absolute bliss. i'll let you in on a little secret, san diego is heaven on earth. my heart is so full, and in turn i'm becoming the person i've always wanted to be.

so that's the update around here. i've been so quiet, i know, but i hope to write more through this glorious transformation. sending you all my full hearted love.

it's the friends you can call up at 4am that matter.

i've been meaning to post this forever, and today feels like the right day since it is exactly one month from 8.9.14... the wedding day of one of my very bests {happy anniversary!}. the one who happens to be saving my life right now in san diego, but that's a different story for a different day.

august was a month of speeches wasn't it? i realized i absolutely love writing them. not winging them, but actually writing meaningful words and sharing them with others. it's one of the most terrifying yet thrilling things i've experienced to date.

so, here goes...

***
hi everyone, i’m gina, and i am lucky enough to be kate’s maid of honor and to have had kate as my partner in crime for the past sixteen years. because i’ve known kate since the very formative age of twelve, i thought what better time than at her wedding to take us on a little trip down memory lane to remind us just how cool she was.

we've always called each other sisters. she's caitlin. i'm vix. we named each other after the two main characters in the book summer sisters by judy blume which was published in 1998, the year we became friends. 

we've always had our own language, kate and i.

we even created a very detailed glossary of code names in our top secret journal so when we'd pass notes back and forth to each other in high school, no one would know who we were talking about. we used nicknames like skittle, air. j, corolla, and lady bug. there was always a rhyme and a reason to how we got to a specific name, and of course no one would ever crack our secret lingo especially when all of our sentences went something like this, 'oh my gosh, vix, did you see skittle today? air j. totally likes you. i hope corolla isn’t mad at me. let’s definitely hangout with lady bug this weekend.' that was kate and i for you.

our summers were spent by our pools in matching striped j.crew swimsuits and lavender platform flip flops. sometimes we'd spend all day doing our hair and makeup and make my mom take model shots of us posing in several different abercrombie outfits in the backyard. we were our own creative directors. our friday nights were filled with aim'ing the boys we had crushes on and making up dances in the study on lowell lane to 'who let the dogs out?' there were family vacations to tahoe where we coined ourselves the 'tahoe twins' dressed in our matching denim jackets and also to hawaii where we wore the same seashell necklaces and, surprise surprise, made susan and john take pictures of us.

the list goes on, but i will spare you.

enter ryan.

though years had passed since kate and i's dance parties in the study, we have those sweet dance moves at a bar in cal poly to thank for the initial attraction between kate and ryan.

good thing we did all that practicing.

ry, when you first arrived, i was skeptical. i thought, who is this boy who's come out of nowhere and is attentive, sweet, and caring. he follows through and does what he says he's going to do, calls when he says he's going to call, and makes a huge effort driving thousands and thousands of miles to visit kate. you were too good to be true.

and what a relief, because, you know us sisters, we have very high standards for each other.

there was something about you that was different from the very beginning. you may have won her over with your sweet dance moves, but you really won her over with your good and selfless heart.

i admire you both so much. i have loved witnessing the bond you two share and being a part of your love story.

and, i just want to end with one last thing about kate. so, most recently, we've been living in different time zones. just a few weeks ago, late on a friday night I called kate and was reminded of this quote, 'it’s the friends you can call up at 4am that matter.' kate has always been my 4am friend. my 2am and 3am one too. it doesn’t matter what time i call her or how much time has passed since we've last talked, she answers. she drops everything she's doing and listens. kate is one of the truest, most compassionate, brightest souls to ever walk this earth. and when she says you're her best friend, she really means it.

ryan, thank you for being everything my best friend deserves.

i love you both with all my heart!

***
...until next speech!

more on my new life soon. xo.

#luudachris

meet margo and chris {oh, you've met margo before}. a couple of weeks ago they tied the knot and threw the best celebration ever in the wine country with over a hundred of their best friends {it also happened to fall on the day after i arrived home from new york, so i secretly pretended it was my very own welcome home party}.

my favorite part about weddings is that they are a true symbol of the life that the couple has created for themselves. there's nothing like having everyone you love in one place at one time showering you with all of their love and adoration and speaking the most genuine words.

i asked my margo if i could say a little something at her rehearsal dinner and, well, this is what came out...

hi everyone, i’m gina and i am lucky enough to be one of margo's 'maids and part of chris and margo's lives for the past 10 years… which, wow, makes me feel like we’re getting really old!
i became friends with margo and chris in college in santa barbara, but it was san francisco where they truly became my family.
margo and chris have this special gift where they are the core of so many great groups of true friends. it’s almost like if you know margo and chris you’re in this exclusive club of genuinely awesome people. they have this unique ability to bring good people together and make you feel like you’re apart of something really special.
i’d like to think that when we all lived in san francisco together we were like the modern day version of friends {we even had a joey!}. we’d spend lazy days on the floral couch watching tv and doing really cool things like filling up the ‘642 things to draw’ book. we’d cook sunday night dinners, make fro yo runs, and fill our weekends adventuring around the bay area generally just enjoying each other’s company and depending on one another like friends do. it was the most natural, easy, and comforting thing in the world.
and that is margo and chris for you. they remind you that the most important thing we have in life is each other.
i am so grateful to know you. when i think of what love should be like i think of you two. thank you for being such a beautiful example of what it means to marry your best friend, to grow together in love, and to create a rich, happy, fulfilling life.
i wish for all of us to have it as good as you two do.
so, with that, cheers to margo and chris! i love you guys with all my heart.

the weekend was practically perfect in every way filled to the brim with happiness and just the best friends anyone could have. i feel so lucky to be a part of such an amazing crew.

you can have manhattan.

when i decided to move back to california i had to break my lease and take all of these very official steps to do so, one of which was mailing a certified letter of resignation signed and notarized to my management company.

'notarized.' 

this was a new one for me {one of the many things i have new york to thank}.

it means to certify a document and prove that it's really coming from you. one must visit a public notary to do so. to become one of these said notaries you have to take an oath {an oath!} and a written exam and bam! the secretary of state says you're in. you even get a very official and fancy embosser to stamp your highly certified documents with. i digress. this is not the point of the story.

so i find a public notary at a ups store just around the corner from my office. i have my letter printed, my certified check in hand {for so much money i can barely stomach it}, and i can't bring myself to go inside. is this it? am i really doing this? am i sure? do i push through another seven months? it's a disgustingly hot and humid day in june which isn't helping me think with a clear head.

now, i'm a believer in signs from the universe. a big believer. but they only come every so often and definitely not when you're looking for them.

earlier that day i was texting one of my dear little chickadees during her move back to the west coast. naturally, with any big life transition comes doubt and fear, so i texted her the lyrics to my favorite song of the moment by one of my all-time favorite artists as a little reminder to trust herself.

sara barielles, 'manhattan' goes something like this:

'you can have manhattan

i'll settle for the beach

sunsets facing westward

sand beneath my feet'

so here i am on lafayette street fretting and trying to just breathe through the anxiety and the humidity, and, you guys!, out walks sara barielles.

i can't help but feel like we're some kind of kindred spirits. she's from northern california. i'm from northern california. she moved to new york in the winter of 2013. i moved to new york in the winter of 2013.

she said: 'i always swore i would never live in new york. i always felt so overwhelmed here. it's ironic, the thing you think you don't need is the thing you actually need most.'

that's what i think too.

so that was all it took, really. to be reminded that i wanted it. that my grand plans for my next city are real and valid and deserved. it was a sign from the universe that i was doing the right thing.

into the ups store i went.

and i didn't look back.

*** 
sara barielles quote found in a billboard article and here's a great interview with her too. 
p.s. remember that one time we met?