the one when Jason won the dreamiest giveaway EVER!

Washington DC // SLC // Manhattan // Newport Beach // LA 

I've had a mild obsession with Ashmae's watercolor temples for a very long time. They are light and bright and lovely and everything a painting of a temple should be. Weeeell, a little while ago Ashmae announced a giveaway of 5 (FIVE!!) beautiful temple print downloads. You better believe I entered that baby! To elevate his status from totally awesome dude to Captain Awesomeness, Jason entered said giveaway too. And would you believe it—HE WON!!! Jump back! (a little Footloose ref there for the cool kids on the street)

When I saw the news I died. 

I bounced around the apartment and took part in annoying high-pitched celebratory squealing.

I feel a collage happening in our very near future.

And if you have a birthday or special occasion coming up... hope you have a hankering for some watercolor.

Thank you Ashmae!

a festive feathery garland

I saw this feathery little idea last year and decided that this would be just the thing to bring some Thanksgiving spirit into our new home away from home.

We hung it it above our table, where we will enjoy a small but happy Thanksgiving feast with some good friends. We are so excited to be celebrating a holiday away from the hospital... even if Jason is still recovering and will be limited to only soft food at dinner (the doctor said he supposed Jas could have a bit of turkey too if it was very easily cuttable with a fork—so no pressure there to make the most tender, juicy turkey ever... yikes!).

In case you might want to make your own beautiful glittery gold feathers, here is a step by step. It was easy as can be. Gather up the supplies and string, dip, glitter, and dry. Voila!

(you may want to sort of wipe off the excess paint and save some time to let them dry over night)

Have you heard the quote "Glitter is the herpes of craft supplies"?  That stuff gets around.

They would be just beautiful in a vase to pretty up the Thanksgiving table, or a simple feather set next to each table setting. I'm thinking they might be a nice, feathery, addition to the Christmas tree! 

I could a little obsessed.

There was this one time when I had a birthday and everything else was upside down so we ate a gigantic breakfast and took a nap.

Jason got me two ah-mazing globes (translation: Jason saw me Oooing and Awwing over said globes and said Please get them and it will be for your birthday, since I can't really do anything super birthday fantastic this year, even though I wish so bad I could.—mm hm, that was totally word for word. And well, I couldn't say no to boy with oxygen tube in his nose so I did as I was told because I follow instructions well). I left the rest of my globe collection in CA, which was super depressing at the time, but once we recieved our things and saw the horrible condition almost everything arrived in I was oh so grateful I left (most of) the best stuff behind.

Reason 743 Why I Love My Husband: He gets me the perfect presents for my birthday and other gift giving holidays. Every time (maybe with a little help). Globes, a sweater and a great big kiss on the lips. Success.

We celebrated with a big birthday breakfast at Waffle House with Brad and Tami. And I don't know if you know this, but Waffle House by definition means: delicious and ginormous. It was there, on this 24th birthday, that I tried grits for the very first time (they were..... meh). And it was later that night that I tried Chicken n Dumplins and fried okra. I guess this was a Southern-food-firsts kinda birthday. When in Rome.

p.s. just looking at that picture gives me indigestion and heart burn.
p.p.s. still waiting.

happiness is...

One day I read my mom's birthday present before I wrapped it up and put a bow on it.

And I'm not sad I did, because it was delightful.

Sometimes life gets dark and dreary—but even still, there is lots to be happy about.

You can just ask Charlie Brown.

Jolly ol Mistletoe

Winter Wonderland—Jason Mraz (one of my very very merry Christmas faves)

Jas told me he wanted me to take these turtlenecks right back to where they came from. I told him I wanted to wear them to every Christmas party we go to this year. So he settled for a good, old fashioned, family Christmas photo instead.

They have posted boy scouts at the doors of almost every grocery store within a 10 mile radius to sell mistletoe and holiday cheer to all shoppers... I successfully avoided eye contact at all of my stops until I came out of Albies and saw the little guy with the freckles and the boy-scout shirt that was sort of too small. I have a problem with the word "no". Or even the combo "no thanks".

Oh well, at least that meant Jas got a little mistletoe action. Win-win really.

It's December and I bought a 15 ft garland.

It's real and it gave my hands a stingy rash.

But I like it because it's pretty and I put a sparkly strand of ornaments in it. Now we are going to pretend it's our Christmas tree, turn on our string of lights around our curtains and soak up some happy Christmas spirit.

Happy December 1—go put up that tree!!!!

Required listening: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Jack Johnson

nails nails nails

Since the first of the year I have been a little crazy about polish—if you've been around me you probably already know that. Every week (or twice a week) it changes and every time I can't just leave it to one color. Ooooh no! It started with just an accent nail on my bling finger, then it went to ombre nails (that was fun!), now it's just whatever I darn well please.

Go ahead, give it a whirl..... you know you want to.....

Can't stop til ya get enough!!! (cue MJ greatest hits)

It's Jason's favorite thing ever obviously—actually he scoffs, smiles, shakes his head and rolls his eyes. But we all know that in boy language that means, "You sure are fun and you make your fingernails look real pretty, wanna make–out?"

And yes, sometimes when I'm stuck at my desk all day I draw on pretty ring-hearts. I guess that makes me a bona fide rebel without a cause.

♥
Happy Weekend!!!!

cake for breakfast, stomachache for lunch

I'm an old married lady and play Bunco and stuff. I got real into it and even hosted last night.... Which was a little more stressful than I had anticipated—but buying all of the $5 prizes did wonders for my itch to go shopping. (I may or may not have purchased this scarf and I may or may not have worn it on my head like a turban... hey, it was like six bucks, $5.44 + tax to be exact. Happy bunco to me.)

For the party I made this cake of lemony-poppyseed goodness (thanks for the link, Cas).
Not the most healthy cake in the world—and maybe that's why it tastes so good.

.....and maybe that's why I insisted on having cake for breakfast too.

Which reminded me of this little 5 mins of Jim Gaffigan awesomeness.
It's seriously only a little clip; if you don't watch I'm going to have to think you're a little boring...... sorry.

ombre ole'!

Alright, so we've all seen the ombre look for a couple years now...... when I moved far far away from my home-girl-rockstar-hair-sista I had lots of grow-out time between color jobs, which equals like six inch roots. Then I went ombre. Which works fabulously because the whole idea is outgrowth. Awesome. And since I've been loving the locks I decided to take it on down to the fingernails.

Check it ladies: Ombre Nails

idea from here.

All you need are 4–5 shades of nail polish in the same color family (which is actually lots easier than you think, especially if you have a top-secret box full of fingernail polish under your bathroom sink). Two (or three) coats of each in progressive order and holla! You've got yourself some sweet nails, Ombre!

Excuse me while I have a post-Cinco de Mayo veggie egg roll with my man on lunch break. Lata dudes.

two things, totally unrelated except I love them both

I've been on the search for a super rad recipe box since we got married..... finally, after some searching on the interwebs I found myself a goodie! And I'm totally pumped. So pumped that I rewrote all the recipes on 3x5 cards and filed them all up lickity-split, giving myself writers cramp in my right hand for a few days—but way better than my not-so-high-tech system I had going on before. Now I'm all sorts of organized with all my recipes in a box annnnd under categories like "soups" and "desserts" and "breads/doughs".  Holla!!!

Something else I'm loving right up right now? Karmin—Miss Amy and her boy Nick were introduced to me by Lauren (@PeaceLoveLauren) and I haven't been able to get enough! In Lauren's words, "white girl can THROW IT DOWN!" Check out the slammin rap songs is ya wanna—but they gots lots of other awesomeness up in there too!! These covers rock my socks off: Price Tag (because there's a trombone!–that is a trombone right?) and King of Wishful Thinking (fave?) and Mine and Stuck Like Glue (what the country/reggae? and for some reason I like it.....).

Like love! ♥

all of the US in a nutshell

image found here

Sad story: I thought the Dakotas were kind of in the middle part of the United States. Imagine my surprise when I realized that North Dakota actually touches Canada. Woah.


This coming from the girl with the globe obsession.


Don't judge me.


Well anyway, now I'm thinking I need to get myself this infographic map (because it made Jas and I laugh right out loud and we love it) and do me some learnin.

#winning

Just the other day I checked my mailbox and there was a sweet surprise waiting in there for little ol me. This beauty necklace from Harold & Jane!!! ANNNND this breathtaking waterfall print.

 

So darling couple Theresa and Elias from Orange Juice, Etc. were doing a giveaway on this super cool blog. Well I scurried on over there and signed myself up. And then a little while later I got an email from Theresa telling me I was the winner winner winner!!
And now I get to wear that little lady whenever I can and I'm on the search for the perfect frame for my pretty picture.

Thanks guys! LOVE my little prize.

the search for the best taco in OC has officially ended

Guys!!!! I found it!!!!!!!!!!!!! I found our taco place. So pumped. So PUMPED! And this place can beat the totally amazing Taco Bus any day (no worries, I'm still a Taco Bus girl). It's El Camino Real and it's just right over in Downtown Fullerton—and I'm so pumped! Woop–dee–Woooooop! I try to find an excuse to go there at least once a week......tacos for $1.69. Jas and I can go on a date there for under $10. Holla!

Favorite taco EVER! And the head guy wears a super rad hat.........even betta.

Amazing tacos plus ultra-charming wall decor, a menu made up of over 100 items (including cow head........say whaaaaaaat??), homemade tortillas and tortilla chips, all the fresh limes I want, three types of salsas AND those reeeeeeeeeally scary carrots/jalapeno things that I will never touch. Can life get better?

Oh! And by the way, they just started accepting checks and a debit/credit card machine is coming very soon! Those dudes are super high-tech. They're even on Facebook.

The Wizard Of Oz in San Clemente

I've been working away on the photos of a super rad family I met in San Clemente a few weeks ago—and as I was finishing up I remembered these little gems I found there.


I hadn't been to San Clemente before so I figured I should go down early to see the lay of the land. While walking around the charming little beach town I found a used bookstore, Village Books, where the largest, fluffiest cat named Harry stares down every person that walks in the door. While browsing through the little shop I scored the cutest copy of The Wizard Of Oz I ever did see!!! I also nabbed The Plague and Sonnets From The Portuguese because they were like two dollars and the best colors/textures EVER.


Who said that thing about judging a book by its cover? I don't believe them and neither does Harry.


On a different note, but still related to books, Jason and I are reading The Three Musketeers together right now (like I read out loud to him while he does his treatments and he reads to me while I brush my teeth/wash my face and get ready for bed). He's waaaaaay into it. Sometimes we got to sleep around 1:30 because somebody can't put the book away until we've finished the chapter. Anyway—I didn't know I would be such a fan! But it's seriously one of my fave books ever—totally recommend it next time you're pining for a classic.