Kick the habit

Would this smoking lounge help you kick your habit? Obviously it didn't help these two.

Lolo

Today is my Lolos birthday. It been 5 years since he passed.

This might be a little bias but, he was the most loving, kind, mellow grandpa. He made trucker hats cool before Ashton Kutcher. He wore one everyday for as long as I can remember. One of his favorite shows was the Price is Right. Every time I catch Price is Right on TV, I got back to those summer days where we would sit on the couch together and watch his favorite show. I wonder what he would think of Drew Carey?

Green never looked so good

R gave me Gorgeously Green for mothers day this year and since then I've been slowly introducing myself to the environments friends, natural and organic. There is a very small selection of natural home care products at target and if you don't know where to look you miss this.



J.R. Watkins Watkins Natural Home Care products. With labels this beautiful how can you not turn green. Only weird thing is, they don't sell refills?

Beautiful People—Jim Sturgess

While M was at his softball bbq yesterday, I decided to stay home and watch Across the Universe instead. I've owned the movie since it came out but never had the time to watch it. I found myself captivated by Jude played by Jim Sturgess. I think I found myself a new person to drool over. Not only is he a pretty face, but he can sing.

Road Block

I woke up this morning a little depressed and creatively starved. Then I saw this shadow created by my front gate and was instantly rejuvenated.



Something as simple as a shadow reminded me that beauty and creativity can be found everywhere and I just had to get up off my couch to find it.

Thought I would share how my wedding invitations were going. We are still at paper picking stage. My printer was kind enough to do some mock ups for me. This is not the final design...but it does have the look I want it to have.

New found love

Recently, I've taken a liking to vodka. I was for a very long time a Jack Daniels kind of girl....but with these beautiful labels I think I found a new love.

No fireworks here

It was a quiet 4th of July around here. After a whirlwind of events the last few weeks, the San Diego fair, birthday parties, visitors and dinners it was nice just to stay home. Poor Reggie, after two whole days of mommy and daddy being home, she couldn't even take us leaving for an hour. She cried and cried when we left and when we got back she was still crying. I hope she wasn't crying the whole time we were gone.

Cancelled

I guess my jet setting days have been postponed. I was planning on flying to Portland next month for my aunts 50th birthday. She lives in Vancouver Washington and I few of us were going to fly up there to surprise her. Well, my uncle's parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary so he couldn't plan 2 things at one time. Men. J/K So the trip has been cancelled. I guess we can plan to go up there another time. The tickets were kinda expensive anyways so I guess I could save that for another trip. Maybe stash it for the Disney World trip for next year.

NO MORE WIRE HANGERS!

Due to a hide and seek accident when I was young, I have a fear of wire hangers. Lets just say closet...hanger..eye. I don't think I need to tell you more than that. When I saw this hanger art I totally had a flash back. You won't see me at this exhibit. But I have to say, this is pretty amazing.

Lychee Martini

While I was in NY I had the best lychee martini at the Republic in Union Square. So every time I saw it on the menu I had to order one just to compare. R and I decided to make our own one day. The recipe called for some vermouth which made it very bitter. And the only lychee juice R can find, had Hello Kitty on the bottle. Needless to say, our version was not the same.

At my aunts birthday party this past weekend, my cousin introduced me to Soho Lychee Liqueur. So good. Just add some vodka and you are good to go. So good, that I'm planning on sending R some as a thank you gift for letting us stay at their place.

Jet Setter

I feel like such a jet setter. A few days in Boston and then straight to New York.

Boston
I've never experienced getting yelled at by a cab driver until Boston. It was kinda weird. And I never knew I can get sick of lobster. I have to say though, the buildings in Boston are beautiful.






The How Conference really wasn't what I expected. I have mixed feelings about it. I am very grateful that work sent me, but I think I set my expectations too high. I should of scheduled more fun sessions, instead of trying to cram in as much CSS training as I can. I also felt like some of the presenters weren't as prepared as they should of been. The resource center was totally awesome though. I actually got my pack and ship box today. So I guess the best part of the conference was the Veer guys and the resource center. Still, it was a great time.

And then there is New York.
I always have fun when I go there. I didn't do as much shopping as I really wanted to, but M did come home with a whole new wardrobe. I did get myself a little souvenir...New York City in a bag from MUJI.



Also spent a day in the country. R has a little house in Catskill that had an awesome view of the Hudson River. It was really breath taking.




Did I mention we even made to to New Jersey. M and I went to an old friends wedding. We had to beg a cab driver to get us over there after another cab driver kicked us out of his cab when we mentioned New Jersey. LOL

The view from the hotel was amazing. And we had a great time hanging out with old friends and making new one. A toast to table number 7.



I think my favorite was visiting the Brooklyn Museum to see the Murakami. It was a great exhibit. Floor to ceiling paintings and rooms papered with fun patterns. This little guy was my favorite.



I also got myself I new travel buddy. Maybe he can be my new jet setting partner. Hopefully he'll be able to visit a few more places this year. Meet Ibbs.



Its good to be home, and to be with the girls again. Its really hard to be away from them for so long. Maybe one day we'll take them on a road trip with us.

Whew... that was a long one.

Pack and Ship

Holy crap! How the heck am I gonna get this crap home. The first actual day of the How Conference just ended(sunday was pre-session), and I got a load of stuff to get back home. The resource center is insanely packed with people. The only booth I wanted to see was the Veer booth. I was brave enough to tell them that I picked the font for my tattoo from their website. Got me a sketch book and a sticker for that story. They also took a picture of it so maybe they will mention me in their lecture tomorrow. Good thing the conference has a pack and ship so I can just send this stuff off and not bring it with me to NY. I came out of the resource center with bags full of stuff cuz I figured I would sort out the things I didn't really want back in the hotel room. So just finished doing that and I still have a pretty heavy package to send home. Hopefully work doesn't mind.

WARNING: MAY BE BORING CONTENT
Its been a hard, tiring, but really exciting couple of days. Got here on saturday and a coworker and I headed off to the North End for some lobster ravioli....YUM! Darn, I should of taken a picture of it. Both of us were pretty baffled to see a ton of people lined up for some pastries (Mikes Pastry and Modern Pastry) We might try to get back there before we leave to see what all the fuss was about.

Sunday I had a 9am session about CSS. Not the smartest move since there is a jet lag issue and I had to wake up at the crack of dawn to switch hotels (long story). Right after the session had to run back to the hotel to drop off some stuff before the studio tour. Really interesting to see the difference between the small agencies and large. I like the small agencies better. Then, it was opening keynote time so both K and I were beat. We decided to end the night at the hotel sushi place. Which wasn't bad, but we were just too tired to find something else.

Today wasn't so bad, had some really interesting lectures, still waiting for someone to truly inspire me. I got a couple of more days here so I'm crossing my fingers.

No time to blog

Haven't had time to blog lately. Makes me wonder why I still have this open. Been really busy, so can't wait for my vacation to start. Two more weeks and I'll be in Boston. Hopefully its not raining so I can walk around during my down time at the conference. I'm flying straight from Boston to NY. I feel like such a traveler. I have a list of places that I want to visit...hmmm...where did I put that list. Crossing my fingers that we can find some Wicked tickets from TKTS. There really isn't anything I want to watch. Since TKTS doesn't list what shows they have available til just right before they start I'm putting all my eggs in that basket.

Been craving to do a craft project. Eventhough I'm designing everyday at work, there are so many rules to try to keep things in brand. I needed to create something out of the box. Made these save that dates for a friend. She didn't really ask me to make them so really these are just for fun. Unless she likes one of them. I didn't post the ones with their pictures for obvious reasons and the info is FPO.

I want

See more at www.engraveyourtech.com

Poor Reggie

Don't know how it happened but Reggie got herself an anal gland infection. The vet says that some dogs are just prone to having it and might become a recurring problem. Lets all cross our fingers that it doesn't.

I first noticed it last Friday. It was actually pretty gross. I gave her a bath Saturday morning to get a better look and I just freaked out. I called the vet right away to get her in for a check up. I called my sister and told her I couldn't go home for a visit and just started crying. Hard to believe that a little dog can make someone feel like such a bad mother.

She had her follow up visit today. Better, but not 100%. We'll be back at the vets in another week. Hopefully the antibiotics shes on has done its job by then.

How Design Conference

Registered for How Design Conference today. Really super excited about it. Its in Boston and I've never been so that's a plus. One of the hotels that the conference has lined up has you walking through 2 malls to get to the convention center. Not a good thing for me since I might make to any workshops. But I'm going to try to book the Sheraton since it is connected to the convention center.

My boss let me sign up for a preconference workshop and a Boston studio tour. I'm actually lucky that I get to go. There were at least 4 of us at work that wanted to attend and only 2 were chosen because of budget reasons. I tried booking my flight and register for a hotel but the dumb online travel center thing we have to use gave about 43 options for flights so I gave up. I'll try to get a person on the phone tomorrow.

Crazy thing is. Once I get back from the conference I will be leaving for NY. So basically 2 weeks off for me. Hooray! Actually need to use up my vacation time. I'm maxed out.

Rogue Wave

My new favorite band of the moment Rogue Wave. I listen to Pandora all day long and I wait for Lake Michigan to come on. I get so POd when I forget to hit pause when I walk away from my desk and miss it while I am gone.

Love Pandora. Its the best way to discover great music.

Girl Sunday

Went home this Sunday for my aunts birthday. Shes been feeling down since my cousins accident so some of my other cousins thought it would be a good idea to make a day of her birthday. I started my day shopping at the Irvine Spectrum.My cousins took her to the spa during the day while me and a few stayed home to watch the kids. To top the day off we had dinner at the Melting Pot. I think the cheese fondue and dessert was my favorite part. I could of skipped the main course.

Had some traffic on the 5 on my way home, but all and all it was a good day. Have to drive back up next Sunday for Easter, but M will be going with me so I don't have to drive.

Cubicle Chic

I know I said I wasn't going to post about work anymore, but this is pretty cool. We moved buildings at work and got moved into a 6x6 cube. To make my sad situation work for me, I decided to decorate my cube. It turned out pretty good and I've had a ton of compliments.

I started with my inspiration piece. My bird coat hanger for UO. I also got my bird bank from UO. The wallpaper is actually a picnic table cover from ikea I got last summer. I had to do some bargain shopping so most of the accessories came from ikea. I found my other ceramic bird at Michaels, and the brocade frame came from target.

After decorating my cube, It really feels like I am sitting at home working. I really don't see the cube anymore. I'm really glad that my manager was very supportive while I was creating this world for myself. Maybe this can be my new calling. Cube Decorator.


BEFORE...


AFTER...




Questions Answered....
lotta-comments

The weekend of first

So Vegas last weekend. This was actually the first time I went to vegas without M. We road a limo from he airport to the hotel. Which was a first. FInally got to see the Wynn. We actually had dinner at Daniel Boulud Brasserie where I tired Jadori chicken, which is some chicken from Japan. Another first for me.

We had an horrible experience checking in at the Luxor the day before so we started Day 2 by switching hotels. I have to say, Planet Hollywood was awesome. The beds were comfy the pillows were fluffy and most important it was clean. We had the brunch. DId a ton of window shopping that day. For dinner that night we headed to NYNY. Finally had some chilean seabass. Buttery goodness. It was so good. We ended the night with Zumanity.

Zumanity wasn't what I expected to see from a Cirque Du Soleil show. This was an 18 and over kinda show. There was some funny parts. I got over the topless girls real quick. I think I wanted to see more Cirque Du Soleil and less discovering my sensual side.

The weekend turned out pretty good considering I've never met the other 2 girls in the group before. It was nice to get away for a little bit. Til next time.