Vegas February 2011

Vegas this year was incredible beacause I got to bond with a really great person and talk about, well besically everything from love, life, friends, photography, religion, children, food, etc... This trip also marked Christine and my last trip prior to baby (her baby, not mine!) so it was special and sort of melancholic because of that.

Some wonderful things about Vegas this year were:

Our workshop- we had people from all over the world attend!
Laughter with Krysta
Sharing with Shauna
Blueberry Waffles at Mon Ami at the Paris hotel (this should almost come first on the list)
Dressing up and unintentionally matching with Christine and the hotel's decor ;)
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Orlando, FL March 2011

Tori accompanied me to Orlando, FL to shoot a wedding. This work trip was definitely different from any others that Ive had in a long time. We packed the days with FUN and as many parks and roller coasters as we could!

We went to Epcot and Universal Studios/Island of Adventures (my favorite. We also went dancing at the House of Blues which was a ton of fun!

sigh I wish every work trip could be that much fun :D

Fashion and Friends

So I am a dork. I found this site called Polyvore on which you can pick and choose outfits, accessories and more. I talked to Tori the other day and she made a comment about how to her, it seems easier to pick the "styles" and "outfits" for others but not herself... so it gave me and idea. I love to style things and I especially love me some fashion! So the conversation I had with Tori lead me to create outfits for my friends on Polyvore!



I started with Tori herself in mind; if I could dress her up like a Barbie doll this is what I would choose for a night on the town:



I picked and chose articles of clothing that a) I thought she would like and b) I wish I would see her in! I know my friends will think this is fun, that's why I am sharing all of this here.

Here would be Tori's day-time outfits:


When I thought of Tori's outfits I thought linear and simplistic styles with bold colors and accessories. I simply HAD to throw in orange elements because I know she could not live without the color orange or any variations of orange, in her life! ;)

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Onto Kristian's dressy wardrobe picks:


For Kristian I had to pick a lilac, yellow, and teal because not only do I think those colors work really well with her complexion and coloring, I also believe they are classy and fun colors. My favorite parts, were the shoes. Every time I see Kristian she is always sporting the PRETTIEST shoes, so I had a little fun with that!

Now, Kristian's day-time outfits:



Again, soft and elegant colors, with beautiful accessories to express her inner girlyness ;)


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I thought picking Christine's outfits would be easiest, that's why I did her last. However I was wrong. It was not easy. I felt I was not challenging myself enough, so I may have to redo a post about her outfits and think more outside of the box. Perhaps next time I should dress her up in purple sequence, she'd love that-- NOT!

here are my picks for Christine's "dressy" outfits:



The key thought here was soft color palette with a boho feel. Lots of sophisticated but comfortable shoes, and of course a cameo!

Christine's casual look was also made up of soft colors, a "boyfriend" shirt contrasted with feminine stalkings, tanks, and a stylish scarf.

Night out with the group

Last night was a blast with our group of friends, not that every time isn't, but this one evening was particularly great. We all met at I love sushi!! oh my goodness i love love love that place; we were seated in their tatami room because we were the largest party they could accommodate (it's a small place, and we are big group). I tried their LOVE WHEEL ROLL and oyoyooyoyo it was sooooo amazing, I want some right now, for breakfast!... ok not really for breakfast, but still. we laughed so loud the entire night and the guys concluded the dining experience by playing ice cubes-basket ball into their miso soup... yup, we are THAT sophisticated! *note, if you go to I LOVE SUSHI, it's a wonderful wonderful place, but don't bother getting their miso soup :/

Because it was such an ice-y night, we decided to warm up at the nearest Starbucks, with some hot chocolate and espressos! we chilled there (at the vip table for 11 ;) and then went bowling. This was so much fun, guys played against girls and really I must say that the girls were doing a kick butt job (Christine lost her will toward the end but still, we were doing really well i thought!). There was A LOT of "OC: (overly Caucasian) dancing going, as Tori called it. We all were acting like dancing dorks at one point or another, and it was fabulous! Justin did the "inch worm dance on the floor" and it was actually really good, and then Kristian followed to imitate him, and it was hilarious! I wish she would have kept going it was so funny! to say the least we had a blast, and I feel so lucky to be friends with such an amazing group!

4th of FONDUE 2009

For the 4th of July, we invited all our bestest buds over to our house for FONDUE AND FIREWORKS! it was so much fun... The plan was to re-experience some of the yummyness we did at the Melting Pot for my b-day... and although it wasn't nearly as fancy schmancy, it was INCREDIBLY FUN and equally delicious! really I must not even write much about it because the pics below will explain it all.

We started out with Seth's yummy cheese fondue (thank goodness we have a good cook in the group!). This cheesy goodness contained powdered mustard and dark beer and was really very good. We then intended to go to Bridgestreet to watch *THE* fireworks, but ended up finding our own little spot to watch them from a distance. Without trying to find a sparking spot at the mall, and trying to SQUEEZE through the crowd, and spend another hour trying to leave--This was SO much better, we were by a little lake in the vicinity chilling out on blankets taking stupid pictures.

After the show, we returned to our house for DESSERT! The GIRLS stopped at Target to buy MORE chocolate... it was a pretty funny sight: 5 girls on the hunt for chocolate bars in the middle of the night~ ! After that mission was accomplished, we drove back to the house... We found the guys locked outside on the porch because Brian had of course forgotten his keys. They complained that they didn't have the keys NOR beer (which was in my trunk) and so they build weird looking fireworks bombs to shoot soon after.

The chocolate fondue was HEAVEN, and with all the amazing treats we dipped into it, it was a sinful delight!

Anyhoo I needed to upload this many pics, because I just couldn't leave any out.
We are a crazy bunch of kids and I LOVE that.

AND NOW, FOR THE COUPLE SHOTS...

THE FINALE

"Just Because" Girl's Trip

There is nothing better than a "just because" girl trip... even if the real reason is we had an "unexpected business malfunction and we needed a break" it felt equally impulsive & liberating. We drove a total of 8 hrs to spend the whole day shopping at IKEA (& then H&M) !!! sighhhhhhh* swoooooooon and more sighhhhhhhhh* it was the best day from beginning to end. Woke up earlier than I ever typically do 7:00 am , drove to Christine's and then straight to

IKEA

..


these are some of the fabulous things I bought:







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AND MORE MORE MORE !

We had a blast listing and jotting down the impossibly complex names of each item we just HAD TO purchase. Browsing through ALL the show rooms, fantasizing about an imaginary apartment we could own and furnish; and finally, rearranging pieces of furniture we owned in our minds to make room for newer clean & bright IKEA pieces.

I did not have much faith in our girly strength when it came time for us to LOAD the million boxes of semi-heavy to heavy furniture we bought. By the end, we were pushing around TWO carts of "nick-nacks" as well as a huge dolly full of the actual furniture.

I cannot even describe how free and giddy as well as COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED we were feeling in the store. We strode to the parking lot dragging our two carts, dolly, dignities and legs... While staring at the trunk of my car, reflecting about the logistics of how to make it all FIT, we saw the dolly slowly rolling away and then hitting a pole! Then, all the boxes came tumbling down.... Christine and I stared at each other with what I am sure was the same expression and then hurriedly ran to the cart to pick up the boxes to stuff in the car.

I then demonstrated my incredible & newly acquired "parallel-parking-skills" to stop the car in downtown ATL to shop some more at H&M :) !!! Going there was so worth it and after about 2 hours of selecting gorgeous articles of clothing, sweating, trying on, and also selecting a few fancy items for the men, I was still up for "round two". "Round Two" is what Christine and I call it when we leave the dressing room with the FIRST ROUND of clothing, start noticing NEW ITEMS that obviously were not there before therefore instigating a ROUND TWO of selecting, sweating, & trying on..
UNFORTUNATELY (although I very easily could have) we did not go for a ROUND two, instead we were conscious of the long drive home and started heading out....

Impulsive as we are, we stopped at one of the very first exits on the way out from ATL at exit 16. Because an alluring "Atlanta Bread" sign was making our mouths water we eagerly merged over and found ourselves at "WEST VILLAGE" on Atlanta Rd. This was to our surprise, a quaint, characteristic, and rich little area. We never did end up finding Atlanta Bread, but of course we also did not care one bit as we found an ample selection of neat little restaurants among which CREPE REVOLUTION.

We ate so well there. The waitress MUST have thought we were on a date, if it wasn't for me "casually" mentioning our husbands and how we just HAD to bring them back to the restaurant another time.

The whole day was fabulous and was concluded by an exciting car ride where Christine and I spoke about the business, new ideas, new goals that we will make happen in the near future.


ON ANOTHER NOTE... I dyed my hair RED and I love it. Tiffany came to my house and did it and she always does a fab job and knows exactly what I am looking for:




NEXT POST UP --> 4TH OF FONDUE! :)