FF Secret Santa and Sophie's Birthday

Happy Holidays everyone!! I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Can't believe this year is coming to an end already. The world obviously didn't end on the 21st which gives us even more to celebrate! Two weekends ago we had our annual Fab Five Secret Santa Holiday Party. This year it was in conjunction with Sophie's birthday since we're all so busy it's hard for us to pick a time when we can all get together. Here are some pictures! Enjoy!

craft for the night: make your own xmas ornament! this was the demo from ms. pearl

pearly in her holiday elf costume

if we had a yearbook, this would replace the watermelon picture lol
in the words of fiddy cents: so seductive

wii-u!

using the kinky liquor we didn't get to use on my birthday 

boys with be boys

And the secret santa-ing begins with the birthday girl!

hair-ography essentials

beauty essentials

h&m gift card

gaming essentials

manly essentials 

whiskey thingy-ma-bob

dos blue rays

bed, bath and beyond gift card

k-cup rack and baking pans!

besties! hulu plus for 3 months, k-cups and penguin mug! everything that i could possible want!

this is next year's holiday card lol

Celebrating the birthday of the Ho (ho ho)!

nothing bundt cakes (red velvet with c'round for the day decorations)

gotta have a champagne shower ;) lol

Happy Holidays to you and yours! Be safe!

Our New Home: the Official Tour

The long awaited tour is finally here!

Living Room

Everything is pretty simplistic and I decorated a little for the holidays :D
l to r: lamp from Target, $50 (don't forget to use your redcard!)
55" Panasonic TC-L55E50 tv from Amazon (.)
WE furniture TV console from Amazon (.)

the other side
l to r: couch from living spaces, $495; pillows from jcpenney
leaning ladder bookshelf from Amazon (.)

 Dining Area

Kitchen

Work in Progress "Guest Room"

Master Bedroom

l to r: side tables from world market; bedframe from living spaces; memory foam mattress from amazon
(all my crafting stuff is stored under the bed lol and my cricut machine is peaking out on the left side lol)

I hope everyone is having a wonderful time getting ready for the holidays! Can't believe the year is already coming to an end. That means it'll be 2 years since I started this blog. Oh how time flies! Thank you all for reading!

#winterlicious Tag

I was going to do the I Heart Fall tag but being that I'm so late getting on that train, I thought I'd start on the Macbarbie07's Winterlicious Tag. Hope you enjoy!


1. Favorite Winter Nail Polish.

I love wearing deep reds during the holidays. The two polishes I happen to have already are Cocktail Waitress by ULTA and 228B Chelsea by NYC In a New York Color Minute Quick Dry Nail Polish. I also like doing an accent nail in Essie's Set in Stones. This was actually my first time using an ULTA nail polish and I really love the formula. It's not super thick like some polishes can be. No bubbling and I didn't have to be super careful either. I might look into getting more of these polishes. 

2. Favorite Winter lip product.

For my birthday, I got a Fresh gift set from my friend Pearl and it happened to contain a Sugar Berry Tinted Lip Treatment. I absolutely love the deep burgundy color! Not only does it keep my lips super moisturized but the color payoff is as good as a lipstick. I was definitely surprised. I am also really enjoying the packaging. I really like the fact that there's a twist at the end when you cap the lip stick that seals it so it doesn't get accidentally uncapped. Definitely love this feature. 

3. Most worn Winter clothing piece.

My most worn winter item isn't very winter-y since the weather in Southern California has been a steady 70-80s during the day. I've been super loving my burgundy knit jeggings from American Eagle. I don't know what it is about this color but it seriously matches with everything in my closet and it's been my go-to item. I love pairing it with an oversized sweater or a flowy chiffon shirt. 

4. Most worn Winter accessory.

I don't wear a lot of accessories on a daily basis just because everything tends to get in the way at work. However, with the holidays coming up, I predict I'll be wearing these Jewelmint earrings a lot. These are the Forever Audrey Earrings. I love that there aren't any colors so they match everything. I've been wearing these with a high bun and a long sweater paired with tights and it really elevates the outfit so that it looks less "bummy" lol. 

5. Favorite winter scent/candle.

I recently bought a wax burner from Walmart made by Better Homes and Gardens and I've been loving the "Candied Caramel Pecan" scent. It makes our place smell like freshly baked cookies every day! I usually don't like winter-y scents because they smell way too strong but this one is light enough to "burn" daily. I just use one wax cube. I would highly recommend this for people who have parents that are extremely afraid that they might burn down their home or have parents that remind them daily not to burn candles for this reason (my reason lol). Also, for those that wanted to buy a Scentsy, this is a more affordable and accessible version. The warmer was $15.00 and the wax was $2.00 for 6 pieces of wax. 

6. Favorite Winter beverage.

My favorite winter beverage has to be the Caramel Brulee Latte at Starbucks. I also love the White Chocolate Peppermint Mocha. I've never tried the Gingerbread Latte. I'm very afraid of gingerbready-y drinks for some odd reason lol. 

7. All time favorite Christmas/Holiday movie.

This has got to be Elf!! This is seriously the best movie everrrrrr for the holidays!! I'm actually watching it as I'm typing this post up lol. It's super cute and it reminds me of the innocence of a little kid discovering things for the first time.  

8. Favorite Christmas/Holiday song.

I really love the "Baby, It's Cold Outside" song. I also love Mariah Carey's, "All I Want for Christmas". I seriously can't walk into a mall during the holidays and not hear the Mariah Carey song at least once but I love it haha.

9. Favorite Holiday food/treat?

I don't think I really have a favorite holiday food or treat. I can't really think of one at the moment so I'll probably update this when the holidays come around and I have something that I'm super craving.

10. What is your favorite Christmas Decoration this year?

I don't really have a favorite Christmas decoration but I do love all things penguin related. All this penguin stuff is seriously going to make me broke!

11. What's at the top of your Christmas list?

It's funny because when you're a kid, you can make lists and lists and lists of things you want but as an adult, I can't seem to pinpoint what I want at all lol. I guess at this age, all the things I want are extremely expensive and I would never want to put that burden on anyone. Maybe the goal is to start liking less expensive things haha. The things I want aren't really things at all. For instance, I really want to travel next year. I currently have 3 weeks vacation at my current job and I really want to go somewhere nice with the bf. In 2011, the bf and I went on a cruise to Mexico which was super fun (I LOVE cruises!!). In 2012, we went to Oahu for my good friend, Lauren's wedding. Hopefully we'll be able to settle on a place for next year. There are just so many places I'd love to travel to but not enough money or time to do so which is really sad since we don't have a mortgage to pay or kids to take care of yet so this should be the time to travel. One thing I do regret not doing in college is traveling abroad. It's a lot of money but hell, you'll pay it back later and the memories and life experiences you gain are priceless. When you're in the real world, you'll come to see that vacation time is hard to come by. Now that I'm a working woman and I have some extra cash to use, I can't seem to find the time to get away. 

hawaii 2012

12. What are your plans for the holidays this year?

I don't really have holiday plans with my family this year. My employer has decided that it would be a great idea to be open on Christmas Day (blasphemy, I know) and I volunteered to work. My family, all three of us, aren't really big celebrators of holidays so it doesn't really affect me anyways. I plan on spending the holidays in San Diego with the bf's family. I do have two celebrations with friends though, a White Elephant Holiday Party with the bf's friends and our annual Fab Five Holiday Celebration/Sophie's Birthday Party! I absolutely LOVE our Fab Five Christmas Parties because my crafty friends get to showcase just how crafty they are lol. I just can't wait!

xmas 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi friends!

Just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving. I hope everyone is ready to get their feast on as well as reflect on the things we are thankful for. As I look back on this past year, I am so thankful for all the amazing and supportive people in my life.

Parents. I am so thankful that my parents were so understanding with my recent move to San Diego. They have always been parents that allowed me to live my own life and for that I am so grateful.

Tony. I am so thankful to have someone that would bend over backwards to make sure I'm ok. With my recent move to San Diego, he's been the best (especially with all the cleaning :D and) at making sure I'm not too homesick. He is my best friend (although it would help if he could reference some Friends episodes lol), my confidant, and he makes me feel like I "shine bright like a diamond" :D (he's totally going to kill me for the reference since he hates that song lol).

Friends. I am extremely grateful and thankful for my friends. I don't have very many friends but the few that I have mean the world to me. Most of them have seen me through thick and thin. They've seen me through so many hardships and I could never thank them enough.

Job. Despite how stressful the job is sometimes, I am grateful that at least I have a job. I'm also grateful for all my colleagues at work who display such positive enthusiasm in times of chaos. Yesterday (the day before Thanksgiving), we had lines of at least 10-15 people waiting to pick up their medications all day long. Everyone kept a positive attitude (including the customers!) and everyone went home with what they needed.

Our New Home. I am so happy to have finally moved down to San Diego. It's been a long time coming and I thought I was going to be thrown off my "timeline" but fortunately everything worked out perfectly. I will post pictures of our new home soon!

Thank you all for reading! And have a splendid Thanksgiving!

Weddings and Engagements

I'd like to congratulate some of my friends on their recent marriages and engagements!

Congratulations to my friend Kristine! The Gabrielle to my Xena. 

I couldn't attend her beautiful wedding because of work but I wish her all the best!

Congratulations to Ryan and Anh! Such a beautiful wedding. It was definitely

a first where the entire crowd was sniffling from the touching vows that were exchanged. 

Congratulations to my friend Christina on getting engaged this weekend! 

I've known this girl since 3rd grade and she's like a sister to me. I'm so happy 

I got the chance to partake in her special day. Love love love!

Concert: Two Door Cinema Club

October 26th, 2012

Two Door Cinema Club with special guests Friends at SOMA

friends

What an amazing show! For a band that isn't that well known, their lighting was crazy cool (and seizure inducing!). I seriously felt like I should've taken a dose of Keppra before going. It's always great seeing not so well known bands because their fans are some of the most die-hard. They knew the lyrics to every song. They jumped and sang along. These were some of the most energetic people I've ever seen. And it wasn't because these guys were One Direction or whatever boy bands are popular these days. It was because of their music, their lyrics, and how they inspire us in times of need. I can't even imagine what it must feel like to be a musician, to be able to feel that kind of energy in the room and know you are responsible for it. It must be so amazing. Anyways, I've posted a video of the only song I knew before going to the show, Sleep Alone. The sound quality is pretty bad but hope you enjoy, nonetheless.