Confessions of a Tanorexic

Happy Love Day!

2012-02-14T14:31:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you do something fun today! Danny and I will be going to Casa Vega for dinner. We've been going there for the past 3 years, it has become our Valentine's Day tradition and we love it!

This was taken four years ago, our first Valentine's Day together. We went to a Famous Couples dance. Danny and I got Beyonce and Jay Z (I loved it!). From the looks of this picture it looks like I got Jay Z.

Here we are now, I love that we have swapped outfits, I am in a striped sweater and Danny is in a grey shirt. Ha ha ha we've turned into each other!

Night Dive

2012-02-14T14:15:00.000-08:00

I've been stalking the Grilled Cheese Truck for about 1 year and a half now. I decided on Thursday night that I was going to see where it was this past weekend and just go to it! Even if it meant driving to the heart of LA for a food truck, I was going to eat at the Grilled Cheese Truck no matter what!! When I went to their website I found out that they were going to be at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Score! The Aquarium is probably one of Danny's favorite places, that's where he would take all of his dates back in the day. It turned out that the Aquarium was doing an event called Night Dive, they had bands and artist set up throughout the Aquarium and it was an 18 and older event, so there were no kids running around touching the glass and screaming. It was amazing!! I finally got to eat at the Grilled Cheese Truck (fantastic!) and we got to see all the exhibits at the Aquarium with great music in the background! I think they are going to start doing it every second Friday of every month. We are definitely going back! Danny found a food truck he LOVED and started stalking, Slammin' Sliders, I have to admit they were super delicious. Probably the best sliders I've ever had, I couldn't believe something so good could come out of a truck! If you don't go to Night Dive, you must go to Long Beach for the Boardwalk alone! Danny and I go on many dates there, they have great restaurants and probably the best ice cream I have ever tasted. Check out the Shoreline Village! You won't regret it!

On line for the Grilled Cheese Truck!

Yum! I got some tomato soup to go along with my grilled cheese, and it was the perfect meal!

Slammin' Sliders. Seriously delicious!

Touching the Jellies!

Guess what these are ...

Little tiny Sea Horses!

We love the Aquarium of the Pacific!

The Queen Mary

Shoreline Villiage

Thank you Long Beach for providing us with, yet again, with another fantastic date night!

Happiest Saturday Date on Earth!

2012-02-13T11:13:00.000-08:00

This weekend it was Danny's turn to pick what we did on Saturday, and he said all week he just wanted to relax on Saturday and not do anything. Around 10am on Saturday Danny had had enough relaxing and said he wanted to do something, so we went to Disneyland! The happiest place on earth! We ate pizza and saw some pretty fabulous outfits while roaming the park. They had all of the trolleys and carriages up and running, it seemed more like a busy downtown than a theme park. Next week it's my turn to pick, and I am already excited!

We have been eating here every time we go to Disneyland now. It's too yummy!

I want to put these lanterns in my backyard! I think they are so cute!

Every time we go to Disneyland Toon Town is closed, because we tend to go to Disneyland at night. But since it was Saturday afternoon it was hustling and bustling! Micky's house is pretty amazing.

This is Chip and Dale's house. It kind of scares me in the winter, it looks too bare!

After Disneyland we popped over to California Adventure to check out how the construction was coming along. It looked great! Stuff was already up and a lot of the scaffolding was down! I can't wait for summer 2012!

Saturday in the Park

2012-02-06T12:25:00.000-08:00

On Saturday Danny and I went to the Irvine Park. It's the most amazing park! If you haven't been you MUST go! You can ride a train, you can rent and ride bikes, you can rent paddle boats, you can have a BBQ and they even have a zoo so, you can visit cute animals! I can't wait to go back, set up the badminton net and have a picnic!

It was the most beautiful day! There was not a cloud in the sky and it was hot hot hot!

Our first stop was the zoo! We saw some cute cats and big bears and fed some funny farm animals.

After the zoo we went for a bike ride. They have lost of different bikes you can rent. Danny and I rented one of the bikes above. It was so fun!

Peddling was fun! But somehow, there were more uphills than downhills! I was tired after 30 min!

This is my model shot, Danny took this picture as I was coming back to the bike. I wore one of the color blocked skirts I made this week!

After the park we went to the Orange Circle to look at some antiques and get some lunch. It was a fantastic Saturday!

Color Blocking Take Two:

2012-02-02T23:54:00.000-08:00

Since I couldn't find navy blue rayon at the fabric store, I took some navy blue knit that I had and made the same color blocked skirt in a navy blue jersey knit. I used my serger and put an elastic waistband since I was making it on a knit fabric. It took me FOREVER! I thought it would be easy peasy since I had made jersey knit skirts before on the serger, but for some reason this skirt sucked the life out of me! Maybe I got too ambitions trying to add pleats on the waistband as well as gathers, whatever the reason, this skirt took me 4 hours to make! While the rayon one took me an hour and a half, and that's with an invisible zipper!

I am just happy I don't ever have to make this skirt on knit again!

Anthropologie's skirt ...

Picture from Anthropologie

My skirt ...

Museum Date: Planes of Fame

2012-01-31T13:15:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday it was Danny's turn to pick what we did and he wanted to go the Air Museum! So off to Chino we went to check out the Planes of Fame.

It was free hat day at the museum that day. It was so hot and sunny, I was very grateful for that hat!

I love airplane art.

They even had tanks there!

It was a great Saturday date! We saw some planes then went and had lunch. Can't wait for this Saturday!

Here kitty kitty ...

2012-01-30T16:15:00.000-08:00

Another copy cat creation!

Here is the original ....

Picture from Anthropologie

And here is my version ...

My local fabric store didn't have any navy blue fabric! It was crazy!

I did, however, find navy blue knit and I will be making this skirt again out of navy blue knit!

We will see how that one turns out : )

Museum Date: Norton Simon Museum

2012-01-22T01:02:00.000-08:00

One of Danny and mines favorite things to do on the weekends is go to museums. There are so many cool museums around us and it's fun getting to know all of them! This weekend we went to the Norton Simon Museum. I'd heard about it from my dad, he is the smartest man I know! Whenever I have a question about anything I call him up and he always knows the answers! Last week I told him that I wanted to see some good art and he told me about the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. As usual my dad was RIGHT, this museum was amazing! I could spend all day there. Since it rained on Saturday they had closed the garden, so lucky for me I get to go back soon and check out all their sculptures in the garden. Yay! Here are the pictures from our fabulous outing.

(It was hard to choose, but I narrowed it down to my absolute favorite paintings there).

This is what I was most excited to see! Vincent van Gogh is my favorite, Mulberry Tree, October 1889

It was so brilliant in person, pictures can't do it justice.

Standing next to Portrait of a Peasant (Patience Escalier), August 1888 by Vincent van Gogh

Oh how I love Claude Monet, The Artist's Garden at Vétheuil, 1881

There were so many Degas! This was one of my favorites, The Star: Dancer on Point, c. 1878-1880

Dancers in the Wings, c. 1876-1878 by Edgar Degas

Another great Degas, Dancers in the Rotunda at the Paris Opera, 1895

Standing next to an astonishing Picasso, Woman with a Book, 1932

This painting is by Stanislas-Victor-Édouard Lépine it's called The Pont Neuf, Paris, c. 1875-1879. One of my favorite landscapes is the Seine. The plaque said that when he painted this he wanted to capture what it looked like everyday when he saw it, so he did a very simple painting. Nothing extravagant, just exactly as he saw it every morning. Since I can't be in Paris everyday, I thought I'd take a picture of this and pretend like I live right on the banks of the Seine. Oh to dream!

Safari Park in (lots of) Pictures

2012-01-16T17:17:00.000-08:00

Here are almost all of our pictures from the Safari Park! I can't edit, so there are a lot!

Encinitas via Instagram

2012-01-16T15:28:00.000-08:00

Danny's sister Jessica moved down to Cardiff by the Sea and boy are we jealous! But, lucky for us she lets us come down and visit her whenever we want! I used to camp down in San Elijo every summer and it was amazing! We would stay there for an entire week! We'd lay out, shop, and eat at their cute little restaurants. This past weekend Danny and I packed up and hit all of my favorite spots down there. Here is our trip via Instagram ...

I am not what one would call a "light packer"

Perfect on the road snack. Happy Meal french fries are so cute!

We've arrived!

First thing's first...Dinner at Leucadias. Good pizza and great service! We would eat here the first night we arrived, and Danny and I are keeping that tradition!

The next day it was off to the safari park!

Jessica and I on the tram

My zoo outfit. A shirt I made myself and some bright blue jeans with a navy blue cardi!

The elephants

Great.

The zoo wasn't that great, but then Danny I decided to do the caravan tour. We're so glad we did!

We got to feed Giraffes!

And rhinos!

It was amazing!

That night we had dinner at another one of our staples, Las Olas.

The next morning we had brunch at St. Germains (another place we ate at every summer)

Then we walked around, saw all the cute shops Encinitas has to offer.

These are my favorite homes in Encinitas. They're on Third St. and they're amazing.

Someone please move in!

After our walk we stopped by VG Doughnuts and went back home to Orange County.

It was such an amazing trip! We can't wait to go back!

My Week(s) in Instagram

2011-12-18T20:01:00.000-08:00

The past two weeks have been CRAZY! And this week isn't looking any better. Luckily I have a few moments tonight to sit down and blog. We don't have that many proper pictures from the past two weeks, but we do have a ton of Instagram pics. I've been sewing a lot, crafting a lot, shopping a lot, and stressing a lot! Christmas is right around the corner! Here is my Christmas madness in Instagram, hopefully I can do a real post soon!

Happy Holidays!

During the holidays we try a go Holiday Light viewing at least twice a week! Here are our staples ...

Remember this house from last year? Check it out here

We drive down this street a LOT. I did a post about this street last year too. Check it out here

I spent some time with my lovely cat, Messi


This is his favorite spot.

We got our CanvasPop, it looks amazing! I went over to Danny's office to help him pick a place on the wall to hang it up!

My mom and I made Alfajores de Mizena. They're delicious. I also started to work on the dress I wore to the Nutcracker, while working on my dress I got the chance to finish a few button ups.

Here are all the shirts I've made in November and December. Tomorrow I am finishing up two more, and cutting three more out! This weather is perfect for these with a sweater on top!

I went out to breakfast with my firned Kate, we ended up talking for 3 hours at the restaurant and two more at my place. I love catching up!

I got the veggie omelet and the country potatoes. So good!

My friend Tanne came over to barrow some dresses for her husband's Christmas party, and returned them dry cleaned and with a cupcake! I have the best friends.

I tried the fishtail high bun and went to Disneyland. We had the BEST Disneyland day. We ate at the French Market, rode Small World and Alice in Wonderland, saw some fireworks and went on Star Tours, then watched Fantasmic and went on Pirates of the Caribbean!

We went to the Newport Beach boat parade on Thursday. We always watch it from Balboa Island. We eat at Ciao (it's an amazing Italian restaurant we discovered last year and can't stop going!) and we walk over to the beach to watch the boats.

Two years ago we stumbled upon this great house that had this mini town and mini train set in front of it. Last year we tried finding it, but since it was raining like crazy we didn't have the chance. This year we found it and wrote down the address! Opal St! If you're in Balboa, stop by because its pretty rad.

After the parade we went over to Fashion Island for some shopping.

One of my finds from the night. Cat slippers. So cute, and perfect for a cat enthusiast like myself!

On Friday we went to our friend Erika's annual White Elephant Gift Exchange Party! Here is what I got ...

I brought Beignet Mix, and I bought a pack for myself! They're so good! Every time we go to Disneyland I get a few, so it's nice to be able to make them in my own home. Yum!

On Saturday Danny and I went to the Nutcracker. We go see it ever year, the past two years haven't been so great. Since the economy isn't doing so well Ballet companies aren't traveling, so we haven't seen an amazing ballet since the Kirov came to LA in 2008! This year we saw the Long Beach Ballet Company's Nutcracker, it was pretty good. The dancing was okay, but the sets and costumes were fabulous. Plus there were a lot of pyrotechnics to keep Danny interested. We had dinner at Gladstone's and then walked around the pier. It was a really great night!

I spent all week making this shirt dress for the Nutcracker.

Every Saturday night I watch SNL. This week was the Christmas episode, and Jimmy Fallon was hosting. It was really funny! It hasn't been this funny in a long time. I love when they bring back alumni.

Today we went to the Nixon Library because the holiday trains are in town! It's a great exhibition filled with mini towns and mini trains, there's even one made entirely out of Legos. Danny was in heaven.

I wore one of the shirts I made earlier this month to the Nixon Library today!

THE END!

And if I don't get the chance to blog again until after Christmas, I wish you all a Very MERRY Christmas! And I hope Santa brings you everything you asked for.

Christmas Magic!

2011-12-10T23:06:00.000-08:00

This week Danny and I went to Disneyland to see this ...

And this ...

But the closer it gets to Christmas, the more we have to deal with this ...

Oh well, even with the crowds Disneyland is the best place to sip on some coco, watch fireworks, and experience some real Christmas Magic!!

Christmas Banners

2011-12-10T22:45:00.000-08:00

I had my last final on Monday, so after that was done I was able to focus all my energy on finishing my Christmas decorations. I started a felt banner about 3 weeks ago, and I finally finished it on Tuesday!

Here was my inspiration ...

Picture from Anthropologie

And here is my finished banner, it's not going to be exactly like the $98 one from Anthropologie, but for $12 I don't think it's half bad ...

Here is a picture of my inspiration for my other banner ...

Picture from Anthropologie

Here is my creation ...

Now the house is officially ready for the holidays!

Museum Date: Natural History Museum

2011-12-07T00:57:00.000-08:00

On Saturday Danny and I went on a day date. We went to the Natural History Museum to check out the Dinosaurs, then went over to The Grove and the Farmers Market for some dinner and shopping. It was so Christmasy there! I wish it was closer so that I could go everyday! The Farmers Market (no apostrophe!) is also amazing, and even more fun around the holidays because it's packed of holiday cheer! My favorites are Mr. Marcel Gourmet Market (every chef's DREAM), Little Spain (BEST authentic Spanish cuisine), Pappardelle's Pasta (the best, and most amazing pastas you've ever seen), and "T" (Tea Shoppe). If you're in the LA area I hope you get the chance to go down there. You won't regret it!

So Scary, I can't believe these guys existed!

What I Wore: Sweater:Madewell, Shirt:Old Navy, Pants: Forever21.

The Grove @ Christmas

We had dinner at this restaurant, Morels French Steakhouse & Bistro.

L.A.

There are no pictures in the Farmers Market because it's not cool to take pictures down there, most stores don't allow it. Plus people will look at you funny.

CanvasPop

2011-12-01T02:12:00.000-08:00

My boyfriend Danny is a man who has EVERYTHING! And what on Earth do you get a man who has everything? THIS! Canvaspop is a website that takes pictures and puts them onto canvas for you, but not just pictures that are on your computer, they do Instagram pictures too! So I took a picture that Danny took a while back of me while we were in Bodie and I sent it into Canvaspop, I can't wait to see how it turns out! Check it out! Turn all that Instagram art into canvas art you can hang in your house!

Click here to go to Canvaspop and order your prints today!

Frosted Window Panes ...

2011-11-30T23:46:00.000-08:00

Almost all of the Christmas decorations are finished and up! I am working on a white paper garland, and I still need to finish some hand stitching on my Merry Christmas felt garland. This year we put colored lights on the tree and I LOVE it! We mixed big bulbs with small bulbs and I can't stop staring at it. I can't wait for Danny to put the outdoor lights up! Hopefully everything will be up by tomorrow!

I LOVE colored lights, they make everything so much more festive.

I made these stockings last year, I think they are still good for one more year.

Yarn wreath from last year.

Danny's ornaments

My ornaments

Felt mushrooms I made last year. More to come this year!

Here is the banner I am working on right now. I still need to put the stitching on the letters

I think it's going to look pretty good. I will post when I am finished with it, along with the banner I copied so you can judge how close I got.

Ribbon wreath.

Since we have cats, we can't have a real tree because they like to climb all the way to the top, but no one ever knows we have a fake tree cause our house always smells like fresh balsam! I swear, last year a couple people even went up to my tree and touched it to make sure it wasn't real. This candle is amazing!

Here is one of the culprits! Look at his crazy eyes, he wants to attack the tree so bad!

Adventures at the Zoo

2011-11-22T14:21:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend Danny and I decided to head over to the Los Angeles Zoo. Danny had never been there before, and I hadn't been since I was a little girl. We invited my sister Julie to come along, and left for our adventure! It was a cold day, so all the animals were out and about! Cold days are the best days to go to the zoo because the animals are more active and not napping the day away. We really love the Los Angeles Zoo, the paths are so beautiful, covered in trees and hidden from the outside world. It seems like you're just walking in a park. I can't wait to go back!

Let the journey begin!

Me and my sister Julie

Danny really loved the prairie dogs! They are awfully cute.

The zebras looked so beautiful! No two are alike!

Hanging out with the elephants

Have you ever seen a rhino run? Danny says it's one of his favorite things. They're surprisingly agile!

The hippo was in a great mood today! It came right up to us!

Pictures of the beautiful paths that lead you from one animal to another.

It was snow day at the zoo so all the animals had snow in their homes, and some even had snowmen!

Snow leopards were pacing back and forth, just begging me to pet them! But I didn't, cause they would've attacked me.

What I wore: Sweater: H&M. Shirt: Made by me. Scarf: Made by me. Pants: Forever21. Shoes: Forever21. Bag: Roots.

Happy Birthday Mom!

2011-11-21T00:33:00.000-08:00

Today is my mom's 50th Birthday!
But I don't think she looks a day over 30!

Happy birthday to the most beautiful woman I know!
May you have a perfect day!!

My mama, prettiest ballerina!

Surprise!

2011-11-21T00:25:00.000-08:00

This weekend my mom's friends and I threw her a surprise birthday party for her 50th birthday! She had no idea they were planning this! We kept it a secret for about 6 months! It was so hard! We decided to have it on Friday since she would be at work all day and I would be able to decorate, well on Thursday my mom comes home and goes, "I took the day off tomorrow!" I immediately thought she knew what we were up to. Why would she just randomly take the day off!? Needless to say, it ruined my whole day! I had to sneak in and out of the house in order to decorate, I had to be SUPER sneaky. She thought Danny and I were taking her out to dinner, when she asked where we were taking her I told her we were taking her to the Summit house. It was the only place I could think of that was nice enough for her to get dressed up for, plus I could tell her that it was booked on Saturday (because she asked why we couldn't just go out to eat on Saturday) and I could tell her that the only time they had available was for 8pm (since that is late for dinner). So she got all dressed up, and I told her Danny was outside waiting for us. We walked downstairs, and into the recreation room and then SURPRISE!!!!! All her friends were there waiting for her! She had no idea! It was so much fun, so many people came to celebrate my mama! There was good food, good entertainment, and great cake! I hope she had the best 50th birthday ever! But I still think I have to take her to the Summit house.

Suprise!

Everybody went around and read a little bit of advice for when you turn 50.

I thought the cake was so funny! Danny loved it because it had dinosaurs on it. I thought it was from a bakery because it tasted so good! But my mom's friend Graciela (the mastermind behind the party) made it from scratch. It was too yummy!

The delicious cake

Time to make wishes

Seriously, so good!

For a gift everyone gave Graciela money and she went and got a bunch of $50 bills to give my mom! She put them in a paper fan that said "Hot Flash Fan" and then gave it to her. It was amazing.

Money Money Money

Then it was time to toast the woman of the hour! They filled this comically large flute with sparkling apple cider and cheered as my mama turned the grand ol' age of 50!

I was in charge of the decorations, Danny took some shots of my hard work ...

Feliz Cumple!

Born This Way ...

2011-11-18T12:52:00.000-08:00

As I was looking through old pictures for my mom's 50th birthday celebration I found some of me as a little girl. I was looking at all of my very interesting outfit choices. My parents did not dress me, they didn't even care what I wore! I was allowed to wear whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. Lucky for my parents I was born with the fashion itch. I mean I was wearing pearls at the age of 5! I'm glad my parents never forced me to wear what they wanted me to wear, I think it's probably one of the main reasons I love fashion so much! Thanks mom and dad!

I went through a pearls phase from the age of 5 to 6. So fancy.

Just my everyday dress up, when we had to go somewhere I would just put on some cut off shorts and leave the house ... LIKE THAT!

I think I was also born with a cheesy pose gene, I still do all of these poses! Just kidding, but I still do some pretty cheesy poses.

Sporting my pearls, and my signature hair style. Three clips, all different colors, all on one side.

Christmas Time is Here ...

2011-11-17T22:46:00.000-08:00

Danny and I went on a Disneyland date tonight and got into the Christmas spirit early. We had dinner at King Fish in Orange, and then drove down to Disneyland to ride some rides, take some pictures, get some hot coco and watch the firework show. It was the perfect weekday date!

Disneyland looks so beautiful at Christmas time! When you walk in you're greeted with these beautiful decorations!

I LOVE the castle at Christmas time!

We thought it would be fun to go visit the reindeer, so off we went ....

Dancer is my favorite!

But Dasher comes in at a close second!

Everywhere we went was covered in lights and garlands and wreaths! It was too pretty!

After walking around enjoying the lights and riding rides with NO LINES we were off to get some hot chocolate to warm up and watch the fireworks!

The firework show is crazy!

After the fireworks it SNOWS!!

If you don't have a Dland pass I suggest you get one ASAP! No one does Christmas like Disneyland!

Beard-day Bash!

2011-11-14T18:25:00.000-08:00

It was our friend Joey's birthday the other day and we decided to throw him a birthday party! Joey has had the most amazing beard ever since I can remember, so we decided to make it a Beard-Day instead of a Birth-Day! I made a bunch of beards for those who didn't have one of their own, and Danny and I came up with some fun beard themed games! Our friend Erika provided food and the location, and Joey's girlfriend Jill made the most AMAZING art to display around the house. I can't believe I know such talented people! The party was a total success! I had so much fun making decorations and helping to plan the party that I can't wait until the next one! Erika's birthday is next, I need to start thinking of a fun theme for her party! I am addicted to party planning!

Here are some pictures of how we decorated!

Jill made those great paintings, and I made the bunting garland out of plaids. Joey is almost always in a plaid shirt so I felt that the fireplace was very Joey.

This was my favorite painting Jill made!

Beards I made for the party. They took me forever. I wish Cricut had a beard cartridge!

I thought it would be fun to drink our of mustache straws! These were really fun to make!

The cake Erika made.

We had fun games to play like "Name that Beard" and "Pin the Beard on Joey"

I had so much fun making this game!

Can you name these beards?

Pin the Beard on Joey! Danny went and photo shopped Joey's beard out and then printed out another picture and cut the beard out of that one. We laminated it and we were ready to play!

So many of Joey's friends came out to honor him on his big day! They wore beards, they sang songs, they had a grand ol' time!

Joey had his own beard.

The boys bearding up!

Joey is in a band called The Steelwells, and almost all of the band members were there so we were surrounded by musical talent!

Group shot!

Joey asked for no gifts so instead we took the "Pin the Beard on Joey" picture and had everyone sign the beard!

Here's what the beard looked like after everyone signed it. I thought it was a fun idea.

We also started a new tradition at Erika's house. Marking the globe with our birth locations on our birthdays! Joey and I are the first! Next com's Erika, and then Danny! So fun!

Happy Beard-day Joey!

Lunch Date

2011-11-10T14:45:00.000-08:00

I am a big Sex and the City fan, and one of the things I loved most about the series was that the girls would always get together and have lunch! No matter where they were, or what they were doing they would meet together and have a bite to eat. I am lucky enough where my girl friends live close to me so that we can go on our own lunch dates! Today we tried the new place that opened in Brea called Bruxie. There you can find Gourmet Waffle Sandwiches.

When Tanne and I got there the line wasn't too long, but by the time we had ordered the line was wrapped around the building! We beat the rush by about 10 min! I ordered the Fried Chicken and Waffle sandwich, Tanne got the Burger, and Cami got the Tuna Melt. They have old fashioned cane sugar sodas and very yummy fries! Their service is impeccable! They brought our food out very quickly, refilled our drinks (mind you this is a serve yourself type of place, so the fact that they refilled our drinks was amazing to me. Can you imagine anyone offering to refill your drink at Panda Express or Chipotle?), and even offered to take our picture when they saw that we were struggling to do it ourselves! It was the perfect place to have our girls date.

After we had lunch we walked across the street to go to some stores and to get some macarons at the bakery. Macarons will be the death of me! I can't stop eating them!

Down Town Brea might be itty bitty, but it has all the perfect things to have a girls afternoon. Good food, fun dessert, and shopping!

Snap shots of what I wore: Shirt: Made by me. Pants: Forever21. Shoes: H&M

Everybody Scream!

2011-11-01T00:55:00.000-07:00

Halloween is over and I am a bit sad. I LOVE Halloween and hate when it's over, but at least when Halloween ends I have Christmas to look forward to!

Danny and I spent our Halloween like this...

First we decorated Julie's lawn with the pumpkins we carved last night...

They look so good with candles in them!

Danny carved the Big Mac pumpkin today. By the time he was done it was already dark outside, so this is the best picture we got of it.

Then Bonnie mimicked more pumpkins ...

After that Lyla wanted a picture with her pumpkin. She wanted a smiley face pumpkin, and I think it's just adorable!

Then it was finally time to go Trick-or-Treating!

Here we have Chiquita Banana and Pocahontas

Time to get candy!!

Danny and I stayed behind to man the fort and pass out candy!

Decorations are ready ....
What I Wore: Shirt and Scarf: Made by me. Pants: Paul Frank Corduroys. Shoes: Topshop.

Time to pass out candy, and eat a LOT of candy in the process.

I think my favorite part of the night was when Bonnie came back early stating, "I have enough candy, I don't want to get sick!" She is too smart, I was a greedy little child and went around the block three or four times, and I ALWAYS got sick. She is much wiser than me.

How was your Halloween? Did you eat too much candy? I did. I guess I never learned my lesson.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T22:28:00.000-07:00

Hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween!

Halloween Eve Part III: The Pumpkins

2011-10-31T16:45:00.000-07:00

Here are the pumpkins in all their glory!

Danny just gets better and better every year!!!

Halloween Eve Part II: The Girls

2011-10-31T16:31:00.000-07:00

There's nothing more fun the carving pumpkins with little kids! Bonnie was a blast to have around as Danny created pumpkin after pumpkin. One of the things she was doing all night was mimicking the faces of the jack-o-lanterns!

Phoebe is too young to participate, but she is so cute that she was too much fun to have around!

She's too cute!!!

Little Lyla was sick all night, so she didn't come out until a little later in the evening, she was fascinated by the Big Mac!

Poor little girl! She was sick and missed so much of the festivities.

One thing we learned on this Halloween Eve .... Kids are fun to have around when you're carving pumpkins!

Halloween Eve Part I: Carving

2011-10-31T16:04:00.000-07:00

On Halloween Eve we went over to Danny's sister's house to carve our many many pumpkins. We usually just carve them at my house, but Julie has three little ones that love Halloween so it was fun to carve the pumpkins with them, especially since they had some amazing ideas!

Bonnie was all snuggled up for a night of carving pumpkins!

Some of the pumpkins that needed to be carved

The rest of the pumpkins!

4 pumpkins down...

Bonnie had thousands of ideas for Julie.

Love that stem.

More pumpkins

Pumpkin guts!

All the pumpkins!

Navy Blue Dress

2011-10-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

The other day I went to JoAnn's and all of their corduroy was 50% off! I usually don't care for corduroy but I've been seeing so many cute skirts and dresses made out of it that I had to have it! I made this dress out of the navy corduroy! I also made a pencil skirt out of the navy corduroy but that will have to wait for my pencil skirt post coming soon! Corduroy is pretty easy to sew on, the only thing you really have to worry about is pressing it too hard. It takes on the shape of whatever you press, so when pressing on top of seams be sure to put a press cloth or piece of paper in between the seam and the wrong side of the fabric so that the lines don't show through.

I hope you get some cozy corduroy for yourself so you can make skirts and dresses for the fall!!

Thanks Ray!

2011-10-29T13:46:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Ray Villafane's DVD Danny was able to carve this amazing pumpkin ...

Danny watched the DVD and then started sculpting away ...

I might be biased, but I think he did an amazing job for his first time sculpting a pumpkin!

Danny likes lights in his pumpkins so he decided to cut the eyes out so that he could put a candle in there for an extra creepy effect!

I can't wait to see what Danny boy does with the other 15 pumpkins we have sitting on the balcony!

He's only going to get better and better.

BOO! Happy Halloween weekend!

Lady Liberty

2011-10-29T11:55:00.000-07:00

Image from wikipedia

It was Lady Liberty's 125th birthday yesterday! They gave her a make over and added webcams to her torch, her crown, a webcam with view of the harbor and another one with a view of Lady Liberty herself! I LOVE New York, so it's nice to be able to wake up and have my tea with a live view of the NYC skyline or a view of the Statue of Liberty. Now I can be in New York and never leave the comfort of my own home! Check it out here! You will not be able to walk away from your computer once you start! It's too beautiful.

Short Women and Tall Men ...

2011-10-28T00:12:00.000-07:00

A while back my friend Julie sent me this link with the tag "I thought of you," it was a link from People.com showing pictures of couples who have a 12 inch or more height difference. That's me and my man! He is 6'3'' and I am 5'2.5''. I've always wondered if we looked funny walking around together, but seeing pictures of all these other couples who also have such a large height gap made me realize that there are others out there like us and we don't look funny at all! But maybe I should start wearing heels more often.

Since I am 5'2 AND a HALF (the half is very important to me)

Danny and I are somewhere in between Josh 6'3'' and Fergie 5'2'' ...

Photo from people.com

and Sacha 6'3'' and Isla 5'3''

photo from people.com

Me in Heels

Me in Flats

Did you see those 3 inches of difference from Heels to Flats!? Looks like I need to go shoe shopping!

How To Tuesday

2011-10-25T13:46:00.000-07:00

I've been making a lot of pencil skirts lately and I think nothing looks cuter than a pencil skirt, a plain T, and a pendant necklace. I couldn't find any pendant necklaces that were plain and simple without being $50! So I thought I'd just make one! I rushed out to Michael's to get supplies and figured out a way to make my own pendant necklaces. I am NOT a jewelry maker, but I found a really simple (and cheap) way to make a cute pendant necklace to go with all your pencil skirts this fall! The best part is, NO TOOLS NECESSARY! Just scissors.

Here are the supplies you'll need.

You will need a chain, these little gold pins (not a jewelry maker so I don't know what they are called), small rings, and big beads!

You need these three things in order to make your pendant.

First you will twist and bend your gold pin in order to get it to look all funky like the picture above.

Then you will twist it into the bead, it will be a little bit difficult, but the more difficult it is then the more secure it will be inside of your bead. I've been wearing mine for a week now and it is still securely in place.

Then cut whatever part of the pin is showing from the bottom of your bead. I just used regular scissors.

Then take your little ring and open it up with your fingers. I didn't need pliers, I just used my finger nails.

Then loop the ring through the pin and close it tight, squeezing it in between your fingers.

Then just loop it though your chain. I used a chain I already had for my purple bead, and the chain I bought at Michael's for my red bead. If you're using a chain you already have and the ring doesn't fit through the chain's clasp then open up the little ring again, put it through your chain, and close it tight.

There you go! Now you have your very own pendant necklace to wear out and about! I can't wait to make it in more colors!

Here I am wearing my red necklace in Long Beach!

Pumpkins and Ray Villafane

2011-10-24T19:44:00.000-07:00

These are the lucky winners from todays hunt!

Today Danny and I took our last trip to the pumpkin patch before Halloween! We might stop by some grocery stores later this week and pick up some smaller pumpkins, but we wanted to make one more trip to Tanaka Farms before the season ends. Our goals were to find two weird looking pumpkins, with lots of character, in order to make some really memorable jack-o-lanters and of course pick up some pumpkin bread!

What I wore: Sun-glasses: Forever21. Sweater: American Apparel. Shirt: Urban Outfitters. Pants: Paul Frank corduroys. Shoes: Los Angeles Fashion District find.

There weren't that many big pumpkins left, but our mission was to find pumpkins with character, not girth!

I think Danny is an amazing pumpkin carver, but this year his pumpkin carving idol, Ray Villafane, came out with an instructional DVD on how to carve some of his crazy pumpkins! Danny ordered it the second he found out about it, so I am really excited to see what he does this year! Ray Villafane has done some crazy stuff! We try and watch every show he is on around the holiday, this year he did a Halloween challenge on the Food Network and he was featured on The Martha Stewart Show! Here are some pictures of his work:

Picture from designswan.com

Picture from trendhunter.com

Order Ray's DVD here and get the secrets to his amazing pumpkin carvings. Danny got his on Saturday, and now he has a full week to learn Ray's tricks and carve some truly amazing pumpkins!

villafanestudios.com

Happy Halloween week!

Weekend Fun ...

2011-10-23T23:58:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Danny and I headed to Long Beach to have lunch at one of our favorite restaurants Gladstone's. They have the yummiest food! We got some sushi to start, then some fish and chips and fish tacos. We were SO stuffed we couldn't even think straight! Since we were already on the pier for lunch we took a stroll around the shops and then up the grassy trail to the lighthouse. The weather was perfect by the beach, it was sunny and breezy so it wasn't too hot. I can't wait to go back down there. I am already craving Gladstone's yummy sourdough bread!

Behind me is the LBC pier and the Queen Mary. This is the view from Gladstone's, which makes dining there that much more enjoyable!

Gladstone's ... SO yummy!

The pier has some pretty amazing shops. It reminds me of 1920's Atlantic City ... the pier, not the mermaid/pirate hooker.

We made it to the top! The Queen Mary looks so beautiful from the lighthouse. I think it would be so fun to have a picnic here! Maybe order Gladstone's take out ... best of both worlds!

What I wore: Sunglasses: Forever21. Top: Anthropologie. Jeans: Pilcro from Anthropologie. Sweater: Gap. Purse: Romanity (gift from Italy). Watch: Fossil. Necklace: made by me.

Hope your weekend was full of good food and good views!

Missing ...

2011-10-16T22:57:00.000-07:00

Danny's sister is going up to Bishop this week and it made me miss our trip up there. I bet it's so beautiful now with all the leaves changing! I hope she takes a lot of pictures so I can see all those pretty trees transitioning into fall!

Our trip out there ...

What it looks like now ...

Photo by Tarrin Carlile

It's beautiful and I bet it's not 97 degrees up there! I wish we could go back.

Hope you all had a good weekend!

Shiny Glitter Shoes!

2011-10-11T14:17:00.000-07:00

I start my mornings watching The Martha Stewart Show. I get a lot of my craft inspiration from her. She has so many great tips! Last week she had a blogger on her show who demonstrated how to glitter up your shoes! I thought they looked so cute, I have a ton of Alpargatas lying around my house from Argentina. Alpargatas are like flip-flops in Argentina. Toms shoes are based on the Alpargatas design. Whenever any of my friends or family members go to Argentina they always bring me back a pair. I thought they would be the perfect shoes to glitter! I went to Michael's and picked up some Martha Stewart glitter and some Mod Podge and started crafting!

It was very easy, you just mix the Mod Podge with the glitter and layer it on your shoes. I did about 5 coats, I wanted it to be solid! It got a little thick, but I still think they look cute, especially when the sun hits them!

You can find all the instructions here!

The supplies.

Before (these aren't the exact shoes because I forgot to take a picture before I started, but they are similar...like I said I have a lot of these!)

The final product! I think I might make them again, but this time I will use one of my black Alpargatas!

Messi Loves Halloween

2011-10-11T14:02:00.000-07:00

When I was taking pictures of all my Halloween stuff, Messi decided to come out and check out my decorations. He is too cute, I had to post!

He's never allowed on the table, but he was just so curious! I let him sniff around a bit.

I love this cat!

This is Halloween!

2011-10-11T13:49:00.000-07:00

I put up my Halloween decorations promptly on October 1st. I LOVE Halloween and I couldn't wait to get all of my decorations up. Danny sometimes thinks I can "over-decorate" but I think he is being silly. You can't ever have enough decorations! Especially for Halloween! Danny usually takes pictures, but he was away so I took his camera and took pictures myself...which is probably why they are not the best pictures. There are a lot of pictures, I can't edit when it comes to Halloween ... and cats.

The more the merrier!

This is a table runner I made for Jessica's birthday party last year. This year I am using it underneath our little Halloween village.

Here is the beginning of our Halloween village. We just started buying stuff this year, so we don't have much yet.

We have a little grave yard

We have some glittered trees and a fence that Danny painted.

We have pumpkins and a couple of little figures.

World Market is one of my favorite places to get Halloween stuff.

Danny's sister in law made these decorations for us last year.

Here are some more table runners I made, and some lanterns from Wal-Mart.

I usually make signs with my Cricut, but this year I saw this cute one at Target and it matched my table cloth so I had to get it. This paper lantern I found at the Orange Circle. It was hanging outside, but then it started raining so I brought it inside to dry.

Those were all my indoor decorations, now here are my outdoor decorations!

I love tissue paper garlands!

Danny got this coffin a while ago, there's a little guy that pops out and scares me all too often, so I keep it off most of the time.

I LOVE string lights, these are from World Market. Big bulbs are the only way to go when it comes to string lights.

These little pumpkin lights are from Target

I made this wreath last year, when it comes to spiderwebs less is more. Don't over do it!

BOO! Hope your house is full of Halloween cheer!

Twenty-Five

2011-10-09T23:51:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from my birthday. After a day full of shopping we invited my cousins and a few close friends over for cake. Danny didn't take his camera out until 11pm so these are the only pictures we have from that night!

Me and my beautiful cousin Laura

There are few things I love more than tissue paper honeycomb balls!

Since it was my birthday everyone decided to pose on my good side. I think it's everyone's good side because we all look good.

Joey, Jill, Me, German, and Laura

My sister and I made these cupcakes, they were so good! I love confetti cake.

Since my house was already decorated for Halloween we decided to keep the theme going for my birthday. Danny bought these pumpkins and carved them out in like 5 min! They looked so good on my balcony! Danny is the best pumpkin carver!

Danny's sister Julie and her husband Ryan had Danny and I over and when I walked in Julie had put up streamers and balloons AND they had a cake waiting for me! I felt so special, here is a picture of me getting ready to blow out my candles at their house. More birthday wishes for me!

Quarter of a Century ...

2011-10-09T03:53:00.000-07:00

Number pinata from Oh Happy Day. Easy to make and it's nice to be able to hit something on your birthday. It takes the edge off being another year older.

I turned 25 on the most popular birthday in the county, October 5th! I feel old. I've been 25 for 4 days now and I feel wiser already. I have always had to share my birthday with tons of other people but, I still always feel special because my wonderful boyfriend makes me feel like most important person in the world. He took the day off work and took me shopping! We were supposed to go to Disneyland, but it rained like CRAZY on my birthday so, we went to South Coast Plaza instead. I had a very successful shopping trip, followed by an amazing lunch at Taps. Then I had my cousins and close friends over for cake. It was a perfect day, even with the rain! I'll post pictures soon

My friend Ashely was sweet enough to take pictures of me blowing out my cake! My mom decided to take pictures of everyone singing "Happy Birthday." I love them both.

I couldn't blow out that last candle. It was a super candle.

Cause I, Emilia, the PUMPKIN QUEEN!

2011-10-04T00:11:00.000-07:00

Happy October! Well, it's my birthday week and one of the ways I wanted to celebrate was to go to a pumpkin patch! Danny and I LOVE Halloween, and we really love pumpkins! Every year we go to Tanaka Farms at least twice (I love their pumpkin bread! I already bought two loafs)! We also hit up all the grocery stores around us to get the BEST pumpkins Orange County has to offer. We got some pretty amazing pumpkins the other day at the pumpkin patch. We didn't see any really big pumpkins at the pumpkin patch though, Danny was a bit disappointed, we did however see some fun big white pumpkins and bought some pumpkins with some pretty amazing stems. I can't wait to see what other pumpkins we find later this month!

I loved these big white pumpkins!

We found our fun pumpkins!

Look at those stems!

Last Day of Summer + A New Skirt

2011-09-23T01:08:00.000-07:00

It was the last day of summer on Thursday, so what better way to celebrate than by going to Halloweentime at Disneyland and help usher in the fall! I've been sewing like crazy, so I thought I'd wear one of my new skirts and take pictures while at Disneyland. Well, Disneyland was so empty that we ended up just running around and riding all the rides and didn't get to take that many pictures. Here's the best of what we were able to shoot. Hope you can see the skirt, I think it's so cute. I got two compliments on it while at Disneyland! One from the lady checking us out of the park, and one from a girl who works at Apricot Lane. The girl who works at Apricot Lame actually asked me where I got the skirt, so then I was able to say, "I made it!" She was actually a student at FIDM so, I let her know how I made it and she said she is going to give it a try! My inspiration from this skirt is a skirt from Jcrew, only the skirt from Jcrew was made out of wool! It's not cold enough for wool, so I made mine out of linen.

Lone Pine

2011-09-23T00:54:00.000-07:00

On our way to Bishop we passed a bunch of little towns with the most interesting buildings and stores, (and people)! On the road we kept seeing signs for a "Film Museum" so when we hit Lone Pine we had to stop and check it out. It was what I expected, a bunch of stuff from all the Westerns that were filmed there, Tombstone being one of them! When Danny and I walked to the back we saw something we never expected ... TREMORS! I guess they filmed part of it in Lone Pine. They also had some stuff from Iron Man, which I was pretty excited about.

We didn't bring in the camera, but Danny boy got some shots on his iPhone.

Here are the pictures...

PS: Their gift shop was pretty rad, Danny ended up buying a book about out-houses, it's pretty amazing!

Danny's Favorite Vacation

2011-09-23T00:41:00.000-07:00

Danny's work has been stressing him out big time this month so, when he had a nervous break down we decided that maybe we should get him out of town and away from cell service. His sister, Jessica, is working at a resort up in Bishop this summer, and she said we could come up and visit her for a quick weekend trip. We needed that fresh mountain air!

While we were up there Danny knew about this ghost town about an hour and a half away from Bishop called Bodie. It was amazing. At one point 10,000 people lived there and only 5% of the buildings are still standing. Bodie was huge! I can't believe how many buildings are still standing frozen in time. My only other experience with a ghost town had been with Calico, and that's mostly all restored. This is an ACTUAL ghost town, when you look inside the windows of the buildings it looks like people just up and left in a hurry. It kind of creeped me out, and I am pretty sure there is a ghost in one of my pictures! Just kidding, I don't believe in ghost, but if I did I bet this town would've been 100 times more fun for me! Cause it was crazy!

Get ready for a million pictures!

En-route to Bishop!

Our Bodie tour begins!

This was one of my favorite buildings. I think it was a hotel.

I wore my sandals to Bodie cause I thought it was going to be something like Calico, and then it turns out I had to walk a TON. Thank goodness I left my vans in Danny's car and was able to put those on!

Bodie Chapel

All I kept thinking was, "I am SO GLAD I left my Vans in Danny's car!!"

Danny really loves this picture

Inside the general store

This was my favorite bar. In it's heyday it had more than 60 bars and it was "second to none in wickedness" Apparently there were a lot of saloons, brothels, and killings happened almost daily. I am glad I don't live in 1881.

Taking a break from all the walking, thank goodness I had my Vans!

Inside one of the bars.

Trecking up Green street to get a good view of the town.

Jessica calls this picture our "90's sitcom" shot. I love it ha ha

I loved the Green St sign.

One of my favorite things about this ghost town was the inside of the houses. I LOVED the wall paper. It was amazing.

This is my ghost picture!

Out of Bodie and heading back to Bishop for dinner!

** Danny refuses to be in pictures, I think that's why he bought a camera, so that he could always just hide behind the lens! One day I will get a nice camera and I will just shoot him shooting people! I will get him to be in pictures if it's the last thing I do!!

International Street Fair

2011-09-03T03:01:00.000-07:00

Every year Orange does an International Street Fair at the Orange Circle. They have little booths up selling things around the circle, and then down each street they have different food booths from different countries.

It started on Friday and it goes until Sunday, I knew that it would be crazy so, I told Danny that we need to go on the first day, get their right when it starts and enjoy it while there aren't that many people.

The fair started at 5pm on Friday, we left my house at 5:20pm, we paid $10 to park right in front of the fair, and made it about 30 minutes before the crowds started rolling in.

We got to eat Australian potatoes, Italian pizza and Italian meatball sandwiches with no crowds, but once we hit the English fish and chips booth the crowds were crazy! The English chips were the best! Once we finished that I was ready for dessert and I wanted to go to the All-American street to get funnel cake! That's when the crowds really got crazy! But I love funnel cake so, I stood in the longest line I had seen so far and waited to get my yummy dessert!

It was fun to visit all the booths from different counties, I wasn't brave enough to try any of the sausages, I feel that being from Argentina it doesn't get any better than a Choripan! : ) No German or Polish sausage could compare! Maybe next year I should put up an Argentine booth and serve Choripan and Milanesa, I would make a killing!

So many people!

Here is a shot of the skirt I made the other day, I thought this would be the perfect place to show it off!

Standing on line for funnel cakes! It wrapped around the corner!

I couldn't stop eating it! It was so yummy!

Here is another shot of my skirt. This is my new favorite skirt style, I want to make one in every color.

I LOVE this App!

2011-09-02T12:21:00.000-07:00

So, I stumbled upon this app for Android the other day and I just LOVE it!! I can't stop playing with it! I just think it's so fun! I took some of the pictures I already had and applied them to some of the fun backgrounds. This app has like 250+ backgrounds so there's a lot to choose from!

I know it's silly but I just think this app is so fun! It's probably why it's called Photofunia!!

I can't wait to try out the rest of the backgrounds!

No More Crowds!

2011-09-01T00:54:00.000-07:00

Danny and I went to Disneyland and it was the first time in a long time where it wasn't crazy crowded! We had so much fun! We had some dinner, walked around, watched World of Color, went on the Toy Story ride, watched the Disneyland fireworks from California Adventure, and then went on the Little Mermaid ride. We have so many more Disneyland days to look forward to this fall. I can't wait for the Halloween decorations to go up!


LOVED World of Color!

The two things I always make sure to take with me when I go to Disneyland are:

1. My Salt Water Sandals

2. My pink Princess backpack. In my backpack I have my Bert's Bees and lotion, as well as my sunglasses for sunny days and a sweater for when it gets cold.

Watching the Disneyland fireworks. In this picture you can see my little pink Princess backpack that I take with me to Disneyland every time we go. I don't want to carry a purse when I go so, I bought this backpack at Disneyland two years ago and have taken it to Disneyland every time since!

Phoebe's Blessing

2011-09-01T00:21:00.000-07:00

Danny's sister asked me to do the decorations for her cute little baby's baby blessing last week. I LOVE making decorations! They're so fun, I just put on the Martha Stewart Show or Big Brother and fold tissue paper and hot glue things! I am really loving the tissue paper garlands right now, I make them all the time. I can't wait for the holidays cause I think Halloween tissue paper garlands and Christmas garlands will look SO cute.

For Phoebe's party I made new tissue paper garlands and bought some paper lanterns, then I reused some decorations I made for my friend Tanne's Bachelorette party. Everything looked so cute! I wish this was my job!

Danny was taking pictures at the party, he didn't really get good pictures of the decorations, but here's what we got!

Here are the tissue paper garlands. There was another strand hanging by the entrance. I am just obsessed

We had these paper lanterns hanging in the trees and over the food. You can never have too many paper lanterns!

These flowers were Bonnie's idea, she's only 5 and she already has amazing decorating ideas!

Danny did however take really cute pictures of his nieces and nephews!

Handsome Clyde

Clara looks so pretty, even with frosting on her face!

I thought this picture was so cute!

When everyone left we took a couple of family shots, there were too many cute ones, but these are some of my favorites...

Like I said before, there were so many cute family shots, but I really liked this one by the red door. I thought the lighting was fun, and even though Bonnie wasn't looking at the camera I still think it looks really cute.

We took some shots of Ryan with his girls, I LOVED this one. It shows Bonnie's fun personality. Look at cute little Phoebe in the middle! She's the best little baby!

Floral Skirts and Plaid Shirts

2011-08-17T20:48:00.000-07:00

I found the CUTEST fabric at JoAnn's about 2 months ago and I finally made a skirt out of some of it! I think I might make a little linen jacket out of the rest of it. I think it's the cutest floral print ever!

I also tried a new shirt pattern, I don't like it as much as my other shirt pattern, but it works for this skirt!

Happy Birthday Papi!

2011-08-17T20:36:00.000-07:00

This year Danny and I threw my dad a birthday party at the beach! We set up a Malibu trip back in February and once August came we packed up and headed to the 'BU!

We weren't able to take that many pictures cause by the time the party started the lighting was awful, but here's what we got ...

On Saturday we had a big celebration for my papa's birthday!

Danny and I decorated the campsite with a a red picnic table cloth and paper lanterns! (We had more lanterns up, but we took them down while everyone was cooking).

My dad is always telling jokes, he cracks everyone up!

Happy Birthday Papi!

Little White Dress ...

2011-08-17T20:19:00.000-07:00

There was this really cute white shirt dress at Anthropologie this summer, but when I heard that it ran like two sizes too big I knew that I wasn't going to be able to wear it. So, I made my own version. The fabric is this really fun embroidered pattern that gives this dress extra texture in person. I can't wait to wear it to church in the next few weeks. I'll even wear it after Labor Day!

Shirts, Shirts, and More Shirts!

2011-08-17T20:11:00.000-07:00

My new obsession is the button up shirt! I can't stop making them! I've made too many already, and I keep buying fabric to make more. I don't even want to know what will happen to me once the fall plaids and flannels start arriving at the fabric store! EEeeee! I can't wait for fall!!

I've made chambray shirts ...

Large gingham shirts ....

Small gingham shirts ...

And seersucker shirts!

Hurry up fall so I can make flannel shirts!!

Me in Leo Carrillo

2011-08-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

I made this knit skirt last week and I love it!

I decided to have a little photo shoot while in Malibu, Danny has his new camera now and I made a grey knit maxi skirt that fits in perfectly on the beach.

Let the photo shoot begin! This is me in make-up. Getting rosy cheeks the old fashion way.

We started up on the cliffs...

Then I wanted to take a picture in the spot Carrie sat in Sex and the City when she was listening to her voicemails in Mexico. She wasn't in Mexico, she was in Malibu!

Then down to the first cove for my curtsey pose. Gotta show off those tan legs before it fades!

This is in one of the coves.

Finally we ended on the main beach. The sun was gone but I refused to take off my sunglasses.

It was kinda cold by the end!

Summer is Over ...

2011-08-17T18:23:00.000-07:00

Even though that means I have to go to go back to school it also means that everyone else has to go back to school too. The reason that makes me happy is because now Disneyland will no longer look like this ...

And I can enjoy these without crazy crowds ...

We should've just gotten the California passes because Disneyland is not enjoyable in the summertime, we can't even go! Especially not on the weekends! It's too crowded and the lines are way too long. I can't wait for Disneyland in the fall! Less crowds, and better decorations! Yay!

I think everyone should get passes so we can all go together! But then there would be crowds again ... Oh well at least we could have fun talking to each other while we stand in line!

Malibu Seafood

2011-08-15T00:32:00.000-07:00

My favorite little cove in Leo Carrillo. It's my (not so) secret hang out!

Well, we are back from Malibu and we're not too happy about it! We love it there, but we are pretty lucky people because we get to go back this weekend! Two weekends in a row!? Who do we think we are!? One of the things I love most about Malibu (besides the beach of course) is a little place called Malibu Seafood. It doesn't look like much, but I had the best fish taco's I've ever had there! I wanted to eat there last year, but when we drove by it there was a line out the door and around the shop! Luckily this summer we went on a Thursday and we didn't have to wait in line at all! It was so good! I now see why people waited in line for this yummy food! I can't wait to have it again next weekend! The sad thing is that now that I've had the best fish tacos in the world, no other fish taco will do. I've become a snob, Malibu Seafood or bust!

Malibu Seafood, they're not open for breakfast, cause they're out catching lunch!

Waiting for my yummy food!

It's right on PCH, if you blink you'll miss it!

After lunch we went and hung out on the beach. I can't wait to go back!

Crafter by Day, Party Planner by Night!

2011-08-03T00:21:00.000-07:00

My friend Tanne is getting married, and she asked Mandy, Cami, Emily and I to throw her a bachelorette party. Tanne is more modest than most, so we knew that none of that regular bachelorette stuff would fly, so we thought that a nice, relaxed afternoon eating good food and being with good company would be much appreciated. Mandy was in charge of food, and she did the most wonderful job! The food was delicious, I couldn't stop eating! Cami was the host, she let us use her fabulous backyard to throw the party. It really is amazing, if she let's me I am going to throw my 25th birthday bash there! Emily was in charge of flowers and gathering all the vases, jars, lemonade stands and basically all the small things no one ever thinks about. She saved us! I was just in charge of decorations. I LOVE crafting, so making all the decorations was the most perfect task. I made a fringe garland, a triangle banner, a paper dots garland, and tissue paper fans. I was also in charge of the overall concept, so Emily and I worked hand in hand in doing the table decorations and layout. Here are pictures of all our hard work. I think we should be party planners!

I am obsessed with these tassel garlands! I put one up on my balcony, the other one is up in my room now! I am even making more for another party coming up!

Emily and I came up with the center pieces, but she picked out all the flowers! I thought it all came together so well. We found those bird houses at JoAnn's for $1!

I made these dot streamers with the help of my Cricut! But the paper fans I had to make myself.

Emily brought us this cute birdcage from her house.

The ceramic vase in the middle was my favorite.

We made strawberry lemonade and regular lemonade. We put strawberries in the strawberry lemonade and ice cubes with edible flowers in the regular lemonade. It would also work with mint leaves! Then as the ice melts the lemonade gets a little minty flavor. Yum!

You have to drink lemonade out of a mason jar and paper straw.

In my book it's not a party unless there are crafts! I thought it would be cute to make metal stamped jewelery out of washers. The Relief Society in my home ward did them and they turned out so cute! I thought it would be a fun thing to do while we sat around chatting.

Cami set up the metal stamping area. She had such a cute idea of putting the stamps in a glass tray. I thought it was so cute!

As the girls left we gave them these little magnets that they could put on their fridge. Danny got me a PoGo two Christmases ago so I took pictures on my cell phone, then blue toothed it to the PoGo then stuck magnets on there and got the most adorable fridge magnets. I can't wait to do this again!

Here are the girls hammering away.

More crafty girls!

After crafts it was time for games! The funniest game by far was Emily's ... it was called "How Babies are Made" and one person stands with a toilet paper roll in between their legs, and another person has a plunger or broom in between theirs. You stand across from each other the object is to get the toilet paper roll around the broom and bring it back to the original side. It was hilarious!

Page is embracing the game, I am pretty sure Tanne hated it.

Tanne is not letting that roll go anywhere.

Mandy and Tanne have been best friends their whole lives, so they didn't mind getting up close and personal in order to win the game!

I think overall it was a good party! Good food, great people, and unforgettable times!

Me and the woman of the hour!

When we were at Girls Camp we joined a very secret and exclusive sorority called the G.R.'s and we've been best friends ever since. We had the best the best summer of our lives and I hope that we can all live close enough to each other that our girls one day go to Girls Camp together and form the same bonds we did.
PS: I MISS YOU MARY! COME HOME!

The hottest hostess with the mostest!

Malibu!

2011-08-02T22:48:00.000-07:00

I've been going to Malibu since I can remember. We'd go to Leo Carrillo in June and August, and Malibu Creek in July. Now that we are older we just go to Malibu in July and August, and sometimes Danny and I will plan our own trip in September. We went in July and now we go back in 9 days! I can't wait to be back at the beach, laying out and catching up on my summer reads!

Leo Carrillo has the best coves! They filmed She's All That in this very cove! When I was little I would always hang out here because Paul Walker was once here!

Steps leading down to the third cove. [Paul Walker actually walked on these! ... That's the 14 year old me talking]

This is what I do everyday while in Malibu...

...Everyone else does this.

We take Connect Four pretty seriously when we go camping.

Our campsite is our home by the beach for a short while!

A lot of movies that take place in Cabo are actually filmed right here! In Sex and the City, when they go on Carrie's Honeymoon, and she's sitting by the beach listening to her voice mails, she's actually sitting right above me! You can even see the lifeguard tower int he background.

Besides being an amazing beach, Leo Carrillo also has great art work. Like this bridge. Danny loves the bit about the eagle and the sting ray flying together. Only in a dream land like Malibu could that happen!

Not all the artwork is classy like the eagle and stingray mural...

I can't wait to go back in 9 days! Not only do I miss the beach, but I miss the food! Malibu has some of the most amazing seafood restaurants. I crave the fish from Malibu Seafood constantly. Best fish tacos in California! Lucky for me I get to eat them in less than two weeks. Yay!

It's been WAY too long!

2011-07-29T00:20:00.000-07:00

I have been crafting like crazy! But I haven't taken any pictures of all the new stuff I've made! As soon as Danny gets back from Dallas I will have him take pictures of my new stuff so that I can blog about it right here! Until then, here is a sneak peak as to what I've been up to this past month ...

I've been making a LOT of shirts! Made them in gingham, chambray, plaid, I've gone shirt crazy! This was the first one I made, they've gotten a lot better since then, or at least I think they have : )


I've been painting my nails in fun summer colors, I saw it on my friend Emily and I loved it!

We went back to Malibu (and go back again in two weeks!)

I bought a metal stamping kit and have started making fun jewelery! EG is me, 5 is my birthday number!


I am in charge of making the decorations at my friends bachelorette party, so for the past week I've been doing that! This tassel garland took me forever!

More decorations for the bachelorette party

And I've been hanging out with my BFF/cat Messi

Oh! And we've been going to Disneyland a lot! Annual passes were the best idea!

Danny is really good, I am awful!

I know these pictures are really bad! Don't worry Danny will be back soon and he will take nicer pictures!

It's Father's Day!

2011-06-19T20:42:00.000-07:00


Happy Father's Day papi!

Happy Father's Day! Today my papa wanted to go to the Natural History Museum, so to the Natural History Museum we went! Danny and I LOVE the NHM! We hadn't gone in about two years, and they've added SO many more things since then! And they are still expanding! Do you know what's coming in July??? DINOSAURS!!! They're opening one of the BIGGEST Dinosaurs exhibits in the United States right here in Los Angeles. We will be heading back in a month for that, we're even thinking about becoming museum members! Danny said that once the Dinosaurs arrive it will be his new favorite place, sorry Long Beach Aquarium, you've been bumped to second place.

This is where the Dinosaurs are going to be!


This is part of the new section they opened up! At least it was new to us. It's gorgeous.

These were my favorite diamonds! I think they're so beautiful!

Danny's favorite parts were the dinosaurs, mine were the diamonds!

Disclaimer: The lighting in the museum is awful, so pictures aren't as amazing as they could be!