I wish I had a river...

In year's past, I always hated for Christmas to be over. This year, I kind of felt different. I was ready for it to come and for it to go. I am not sure what got into me, but I think I just wasn't really feeling it this year. I was actually pretty glum, blah, and bah humbug about it. I didn't even enjoy wrapping presents! I think next year, especially since we will be shelling out money for the upcoming nuptials, I will spend a lot less loot and perhaps try to do a bit more DIY stuff. But, all things considered...while it was here, it was a good time. I got lot's of nice gifts, didn't harbor too much bitterness towards any of my family members, and I'm on vacation until after New Year's. Not bad.

The nicest item I received this year was a brand new camera from Sean. I haven't had a nice camera of my own since mine broke in college. I had a camera that my parents gave me after buying a new one and it recently broke, so I'm very excited to have this nice new number all to myself! Plus I have to go to San Diego for work on January 5th, so it will be nice to be able to take pictures. If I have time...



Sean also got me this adorbz octopus necklace that I wanted and this cute little red memo book to write notes in (for the wedding, or ideas to write about, etc.) that has a pretty cool history.
Moleskin was very popular among a lot of famous artists and writers and has recently made a comeback. I love that it has a great history and is also very sleek and stylish also. :)



The little guy below is a recreation of the first rubber ducky. I saw him in Anthropologie the other day and was happy to reunite with him on Christmas morning. I'm not big on sitting in the tub in my own filth, so he'll stay displayed in his cute box in my bathroom.



The pretty box below him contains my favorite hand and foot cream from Aveda.

Most of the products from Aveda smell like hippies in my opinion. These two on the other hand, do not! They smell wonderful and feel even better.

Other cute gifts included cups to go with my owl teapot.

I also got a lot of great things from my family and Sean's family too.

I also decided to give myself a little gift. If you remember back in the summer, I created a top 5 list and on that list I declared my love for Marc Jacobs, and also included a hand bag by him. Since then, I've been salivating over this bag every time I see it and wishing I could afford it. Well, I decided that since pretty soon I'm going to have to start roping in my wallet and shelling out dough on wedding things, that it was NOW OR NEVER for me and the ol' MJ bag. So, I took some funds that I got for presents from family and today I marched into Nordstrom to lay claim to my bag...only to find out it had been sold. Waaaaaah Waaaaaaaah Waaaaaah. But have no fear! Turns out, when you are willing to spend a disgusting amount of money on one item at Nordstrom, they grovel at your feet and do anything they can to get you that product. They had it ordered from another store and shipped to my house (2nd day!) for no extra cost! And the store that it was shipped from had a lower tax than Woodfield, so it ended up being cheaper. Which isn't really saying much, but hey at this point...any penny helps. In the end, my x-mas money paid for half, and I paid for half. I had originally wanted it in a dark red color, but I decided that it will be more classic in black and I can make it my everyday bag. I can't wait until it arrives!





So, all in all...it was a prosperous Christmas this year. I hope we do something fun for New Year's. Then after that I'll be back at work for 3 days and then off to San Diego. I have to go to another math convention. I know...I know...but it may not be so bad. I've never been to California before and look forward to seeing what it's like. I wish I'd have time to actually hang out and look around, but I'll probably be cooped up the entire time I'm there. No complaints though, because I'll be out of the office and I'll be going to California in January. Plus, I'm pretty sure I'll be a lot more comfortable walking around at night by myself than I was in New Orleans last January.

While I'm in San Diego though, something sad will be happening back here in Chicago. My homeboy from college, Mr. Gordon Mays, and his lady love will be making the trek to Philly to set up shop for the next stage of their lives. I'm proud to say that my BFF was courted and wooed to the city of cheesey beef and bro-love to take over a coveted spot at a top tier radio station and I know this will be a wonderful opportunity for them both. With that said though, I don't think I ever imagined a "Chicago" without them. Words cannot explain how much they will be missed and it's going to be a little more lonely here without good friends like them.

So...congrats and good luck to my friends, Mordan Gays and Sarah Kennedy. Pull out the sofa bed and buy me a cheese steak, we'll be coming to visit soon!


I'm thinking of my plans for 2008 and I know they will involve planning a wedding, which will be so much fun. But...I'm a little afraid of it. Luckily I have a few good references to turn to as well as an old friend who is going through the planning at the very same time. I'll keep you updated as things move along. I've already collected even more ideas for inspiration which i'll get together for next time...

That's about it for now. Hope everyone (read: the two people who read this) had a great holiday!

k.

Fever....

Ummm...yes, please.

Excuse Me Miss....

I just watched the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Bitches be skinny this year! What happened to the Victoria's Secret models that actually filled out the underpants? Those push up bra's are seriously working OVERTIME this holiday season...


"I only agreed to wear these child size bloomers because they promised that this lunch box would have a sandwich in it...duped again."


"Santa Baby...just slip a pizza under the tree, for me. Been an Angel all year..."

Even my girl, Alessandra, is looking a bit desperate herself:

Seriously, quick! While they aren't looking...please...toss in some popcorn or something!!! A stick of butter? Dinner roll? No?"

I was actually frightened for this pint sized stutter:

"Somebody give me a salami or the dog gets it!"
"What? It's made of cotton? Does that mean no calories?!?!?! Even better!"

This girl wasn't as bad, but she probably wins the "weirdest looking belly button award" for the night. She probably ate too much...(click the picture for a closer look)


Besides all the hatin' on hungry girls, I did find my favs.

This girl, who I think is Miranda Kerr, but I am not sure.

She's a total babe and not "scary skinny."

and this one is my total favorite. I have no clue who she is, but she's so pretty, and I feel for her because i think she wore the more awkwardly un-sexy costume, the Christmas Bell? Maybe she had too much Turk-duck-en this Thanksgiving and they punished her by making her wear the widest outfit?


Nah...she's probably just a good sport! She even took one for the team and worked the wrestling uni! I heart you, unknown model.


But alas, out of all the freakishly malnourished, push up bra clad ladies of the night...I can't stray far from my where my loyalties lie, with my very own Posh!


(CBS.com)
Thank you, Posh for looking the whole time like someone had just told you that you could never get plastic surgery again unless you reunited with these four freak spices just to sing one of your not so great "hits." (Are the Spice Girls actually touring and doing a whole show of only old songs?) In my personal opinion, I would've liked a little "Zig a Zig Ahhh" or maybe even some "two become one" stuff, but nope. Anyway, i love that everyone else is all jazz hands, peace sign, girl power and Posh is just standing there with a shitty look on her face, boobs pushed up to her chest and earning her million dollar appearance fee. Sadly, she's probably the only one who could care less if she earns it. I love you Posh, always and forever.

In other news, Heidi Klum has added "Musical Artist" to her resume and is it in her contract that her hubby sing at every VS Fashion Show? Is Seal even culturally relevant anymore?

Lastly, I'm going to Jazzercize with my Mom tomorrow. I tried to take a Cardio Kickboxing class at my gym last week and I felt like I had tiny pieces of glass in my lungs and my legs were going to become dislocated. So, I figured jazzercise might be a bit more up my alley and my Mom needs to start exercising anyway...so we'll see.

If all goes well, my pelvis will be protruding in no time!

Enough cattiness for this evening. All these pictures, unless noted, are from theblemish.com there are like a gazillion there if you missed the show or if you just want to have some alone time with the ladies of the VS.

I'm already blushing...

So, it's been a little while. I've been in the throws of reading every good wedding blog, Web site and martha stewart magazine trying to gather ideas for my future nuptials.

We haven't picked a date yet but I do know that it won't be until Spring or Summer of 2009. I'm a planner and I want to be able to take my time and make the right decisions, plus it gives me more time to gather up all my extra change so hopefully my parents won't be sucked dry by the end of the whole thing.

There are so many good and creative ideas out there that it seems a bit overwhelming. I do have an idea of what I want, I just have to find a way to put it all together and make it happen.

I think the hardest part is going to be finding a venue that suits us and what we want. I am in no way, shape or form going to be the "banquet hall" type of person.

I'd really like to do something open, either a loft-like setting or a tent of some sort. I want lots of natural light during the daylight hours and then at night for it to be twinkly and overall have a sort of "whimsical" kind of "kitschy" but still fancy feel to it. Pretty untraditional in most ways.

Sounds sort of like an oxymoron, but I hope to make it happen.

As of right now we know that we want:

No D.J., but an Ipod instead.
No cake, cupcakes...of course.
Photobooth

I've been gathering some "inspirational" pictures...a little glimpse into my vision so far.

There is this wonderful blog, snippet & ink, which posts inspiration boards daily. There is some really cool stuff on there. A few of my favorites:







I can't remember where I found the rest of these pictures. I've looked at so many sites.

Table Numbers


I saw a cute idea for some alternative place cards from etsy sellers:







As for the picture below, I really like these flowers, especially the color combinations. I love the zinnias (like the right hand photo in the second row), those and dahlias are what I would really like. I'd also like to work some dogwoods in as an ode to where I was born and spent most of my childhood. It's the Virgina state flower (or tree, really) and it's quite a nice one too!



I like these flower combinations too.


Cute Cupcakes!



Carolina Herrera dress (wishful thinking)



Cute decor for a shower or something



Adorbz "cake" topper from the dailybird



So, I will keep looking. Hopefully I'll find a place to have it, so I can put all these ideas to good use.

OMG....ROFL!!!! BRB!

I was LITERALLY slamming my hand on my desk laughing while watching this among the other musical stylings by this man.



I'm crying...gunecologist, you did that.

If the videos don't load, you can go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwxvOKuLUQ0

Oh Hai...

I'm just hanging out on the table where I don't belong.

...

But of course! Nothing but the most adorbz.


A nice addition if I do say so...

My new weapon...watch out!

my favs. forevs.

Standin' on the corner...

...suitcase in my hand.

The last couple weeks have been sort of weird. I don't really have much to say, which is strange because a lot has happened. But most of it is boring work stuff.

So....another picture post.

I had to go to D.C. last week for work. I was planning on doing a ton of stuff and seeing a ton of sights and taking a gazillion sweet pics. I ended up working my ass off, only leaving the hotel (for dinner) two nights out of five and taking 5 photos on the way there. I tried taking more pictures, but my camera broke while I was there. Le sigh.


I've never flown out over the city during the day. It's pretty neat.


It was really cloudy the day I flew out of chicago. Cool for the view, not so cool when I'm rummaging through the seat pocket for the puke sack.


Today I received a lovely bouquet of cookies for helping out a charity event while I was in D.C. I've never gotten cookies as a thank you before. Pretty cute. And they smell delicious.


Yumz times a buzzillion.

I've been back home since Wednesday, and I'm still tired. I'm a little stressed over catching up from "missing" a week of work and i think that may be why the storm cloud is hanging over my head. Coming back to a full to-do list after working five 15 hour days can take it's toll. Luckily I have Friday off. I'll be spending the day with my Mom for her birthday. I already ordered her a bouquet of cookies.

Bedtime for bonzos.

kids in america

I tried revisiting the old "new me" the other night. I could only get half way through the beer.


Why am I subconsciously giving the "live long and prosper" sign with my beer hand?

Cat and Pony Show

I've never been a big fan of horses. When I was little, my family went to Santa's Village. There was one of those real pony ride carousel things there and I really wanted to go on it. So we stood in line. I got to the front and I changed my mind. Then as we were walking away, I changed my mind again. I stood in line again...and I bet you can guess what happened when I got to the front. Eventually, minutes before the park closed, I finally made it on the pony. I don't even remember that happening, the only reason I know it happened is because my Mom reminds me of it. That and we have pictures. That is the one time I've ever been on any sort of horse. I think I was 5. 21 years later, I finally came nose to nose with a real horse(s), not a pony, for the first time ever. No, I didn't get on. But my brother did! He's been taking riding lessons for a while and I went to watch last weekend. He wants to play polo...that or be in the Olympics. Simple dreams.

I took some photos.

LITERALLY, sitting on his high horse.


I walked around the barn and took some pictures of the horses. They all look depressed.

Smarty, the horse my brother rides, in enjoying some hay.


Dirk, my mom's boss' horse. Enormous and very playful. He kept trying to get closer to my camera.


NO PICTURES!!!!


Diesel, the biggest horse in the barn.



A horse that looked ashamed of his/her bad weave.


It was nice out, so he went outside to ride. The horse seemed a lot happier once he got outside.



Barn Meowser. Covered in hay and likes to take poops in front of everyone while they are having their lessons. He was really friendly for a barn cat and I think he liked having his photo taken.


Maybe some day I'll get back in the saddle. No, probably not. Well, maybe...eh nevermind.