Just a quick little update

Hey guys! I'm sorry I haven't posted hardly at all this week. It's been kind of crazy for me between starting my new job and the holiday weekend. There really isn't much of an excuse except that I just really didn't find time to sit down and finish the blog posts I had laid out for this week. However, a post with my favorites from both July and August will be up tomorrow and I'll be back to my regular schedule after that with a post on Wednesday and Friday as well. I just wanted to check in and let you know what was up. 

Cheers!

Two Months Worth of Favorites

Ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourselves for a favorites super post! Ok, maybe I was just really lazy and didn't feel the need to post after July due to the straight up awkwardness that were my favorite things of July.

To be totally honest, I don't know where summer went. I feel like yesterday was the Fourth and I was going to the rodeo. Now, it's September already and for the first time in...16 years, I'm not going back to school. It's going to be an interesting year for me...adjusting to life without semesters and classes. But I have faith I'll get used to it.

I started to do this back in early August as my July Favorites but my favorites from July were so weird and random that I decided to save them and combine with August's for one big super post. Probably really lazy but whatever.

Anyway, let's chat about my long overdue favorites, shall we?

-Pixi Glow Tonic. I saw this in MeghanRosette's monthly favorites video a couple of months ago and considering she too has been dealing with skin struggles for most of her time on YouTube (and somehow seems to have skin flare ups a the same time that I do) I decided to give it a shot. It doesn't hurt that I got it for 25% off and free shipping with a coupon code I found on RetailMeNot (that site is genius. Check it out next time you're online shopping). I've used it twice a day, maybe not every day, but with relative regularity and have noticed a definite improvement in my skin. It has a very strong floral smell so if that's something that you're not into, I would look elsewhere. Otherwise, it's a great product that works very well and as long as the bottle finishes the way it has started, I will most likely be purchasing this for a long time to come.

-Origins Clear Improvement Mask. For all 0f 2014, I've been struggling with my skin. Not anything too major, but after taking Accutane twice, it's been really annoying. This mask is a godsend for my skin when I'm breaking out a ton. It dries acne out and shrinks my pores and despite the salesgirl telling me that you're not supposed to use it all over your face, I will continue to do so because my skin LOVES it. A lot.

-Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette. This was one of those things I just couldn't be bothered to purchase for $50 when it initially came out. Despite the fact that it was always in the back on my mind as something I'd be interested in having, I never ever would have actually picked it up had I not seen this blog post from Nouveau Cheap with the $20 off coupon and I'm so glad I did. While I haven't really been wearing a ton of makeup this summer, the times that I have taken the time to go all out with the war paint, I've been reaching for this. It is the perfect collection of neutral colors that I can use in my every day routine. In fact, it is going to be featured in a post coming up where I do a little bit of a makeup discussion/tutorial.

-Trader Joe's Coconut Green Tea. Ok, I totally went out and bought this because I saw it on my Trader Joe's app (yes, TJ's now has an app). The packaging was what got me. Then I saw that it said coconut and that was it. I haven't really been drinking hot tea in the last few weeks bed ause of the heat, but for a while there, I was drinking a mug or two every day. It's that good. Now, it's a loose leaf tea so I have to use the little birdy infuser with it and in fact, let's add that to my list of favorites as a combo. Between the two of them, I get my mug of delicious tea with no hassle and can wake myself up with delicious coconut green tea every morning.

If you do run out and get it, keep in mind that the lid pops off like it's made of rubber. Also, I steep it for between 5 and 10 minutes, rather than the suggested 2-3 on the packaging. If you do it for that short of a time, it tastes like water and you're just wasting tea. 

-Numi White Rose Tea. If Disney Princesses had their own tea, this would be it! I was introduced to this tea by my little sister who brought this home after one of her various trips to my grandpa's house. For some reason he gave her a ton of tea that he'd brought down here with him when he moved last fall. It has a light floral taste and smells like a fresh blooming bouquet of roses. I became obsessed. Like hunted it down and bought THREE boxes on Amazon obsessed. It's amazing. This summer, I've been obsessed with rose things, and this tea is no exception. I made it into a pitcher of iced tea before I left for SoCal in July and was drinking three glasses a day of iced white rose tea. Can you go to rehab for tea addiction? Is that a thing? Either way, I'll keep drinking it in the hopes that one day, I'll wake up and be a Disney Princess. 

-My Ursula Mug. As a lifelong lover of Ariel (I spent a good deal of my toddlerdom pretending to be the little mermaid, sitting on the top step of every pool I encountered, flipping my "tail" around and singing the little mermaid song), anything Little Mermaid related gets me. The funny thing is that I always thought that my grandma looked like Ursula. From the puff of white hair to the long nails and red lips, they were literally twins in my eyes...except my grandma obviously wasn't a half octopus hybrid. And recently, I came across this mug online at the Disney Store site and KNEW I had to have it. I was going to get it while I was down south in July, but a very nice friend of ours gave me a free shipping coupon for the site and I figured paying Sacramento tax rate was going to be cheaper than paying for it down in Anaheim since shipping wasn't an issue. Needless to say, when it came in the mail, I was in love. She now lives at my newly reorganized desk area and I couldn't be happier that I ordered her.

-My custom painted "Disney Parks" Starbucks cup. Is this not the most adorable cup in the entire world? I have a girlfriend who decorates the Starbucks travel cups as a side gig and a few months back, she posted a picture of a Starbucks cold cup with the Disney Parks Starbucks pattern on it. Of course, considering my Disneyland obsession, I HAD to have it and ordered one immediately. And since I picked it up from her a couple of weeks ago, it's been the only thing I've been drinking my water out of, which is good since I'm currently in the middle of a 5 day bikini body challenge with my mom and need to be drinking all the water I can get. 

-Lake Tahoe. About two months ago, one of my girlfriends and I decided we wanted to go to Lake Tahoe for a day trip when we both had the day off...except that turned from a day out to going back the very next week to spend yet another day out in South Lake. I can easily say that Tahoe is definitely my speed. It's laid back and vacation-y without being too boring and the food we've had up there is to die for. I just feel so at peace up there that I want to go back all the time.

-Netflix. For almost two years, I've been using Amazon Prime, rather than Netflix because it was cheaper to have Amazon Prime and I thought I wasn't missing much. WRONG. I got the free trial of Netflix again this month to watch Orange is the New Black as I mentioned above and I haven't been on Amazon Prime once since getting it. At this point, I'm pretty sure I'm going to cancel Amazon Prime and go back to Netflix. Amazon Prime used to be able to compete, I'll give it that. But now that Netflix has its own content and has contracted with Disney, Amazon Prime has nowhere to go. Sorry Amazon. I'll miss you. Maybe.

-Orange is the New Black. Not being a Netflix user (I know, I know, but Amazon Prime was cheaper while I was a student.), I hadn't actually had the chance to watch the show at all. However, when I was down in Southern California this month, I watched the pilot with my girlfriend and was hooked. I've blown through both seasons online and can't wait to see what comes next.

-The Red Band Society.  I'm pretty sure I'm the last person I know to have heard about this show. I was watching the Pilot on Hulu the other day and when I told my sister how good it was she told me that the ads on Pandora were getting ridiculous and at the beginning of the episode, one of the cast members informs you that they've raised a ton of money thanks to all the people who sent in donations. Despite being the last person in the world to know this was even happening, I loved the pilot for the show and can't wait for more episodes. The show centers on teenage kids living in a hospital. The reasons for each kids' residence there is different, from kids living with cancer to a bitchy cheerleader with a heart condition. The cast of characters they've brought together is sensational and I found myself instantly hooked into the storyline. OH! PS, if you're a 90's kid like me, you'll see a familiar face show up and be pleasantly surprised. If you miss him, you're 90's kid card is hereby revoked because you definitely should have seen his movies.

-Chef. This movie came out of nowhere for me. I had never heard of it before my mom suggested that we go see it on one of the $6 Tuesday movie nights that our local theaters put on. Going in completely blind, I wasn't quite sure what to expect but I absolutely loved it. As I mentioned in my literary wish list post, I'm a foodie at my core and watching a movie about a wayward chef and father finding his way by opening a traditional Cuban food truck was totally up my alley. 

-The Hundred-Foot Journey. Yet another food movie, I also mentioned this in my literary wish list post. This one was one of those "too big to fail" pictures that could have gone either way. With Oprah and Steven Spielberg producing it, I was sure that it had to be good, but then again, sometimes when it's supposed to be the next Titanic, it is, literally. Nonetheless, I was really excited to see this and I took my mom two weeks ago. Other than some major lower back pain after sitting for the length of the movies, I had absolutely no complaints and was, in fact, in love with the story. I put the book on my literary wish list so that I can read it and see how it stacks up to one of my new favorite movies. 

-Maddie and Tae. I saw a Yahoo! feature about these ladies earlier this month and was immediately impressed with them and their story. Their single, "Girl in a Country Song", became available on iTunes while I was in Southern California two weeks ago. I only just now got around to downloading it but when I did, I listened to it 10 times in a row.  In fact, as a self-proclaimed music pirate who makes it a point of pride that I don't buy music from iTunes, the fact that I paid to own their single speaks for itself. If you for some reason haven't already heard it, stop reading and watch the video really quick. Ok, you watched? Sweet, so you now understand why this is epic. As a country music lover, this song cracks me up. If you listen closely, you can tell exactly which artists they're calling out in. But, if you don't have two country presets in your car like I do, that's fine too. Regardless of your musical alliances, this is a really well done song. It isn't in your face or immature, it just frankly and directly points out what has been happening in country and really all genres of music lately: making women into objects, rather than people. Maddie and Tae do it in a fun and silly way, especially with the video, that makes their message clear but isn't Sarah Palin in it's delivery.

-Hunter Hayes. On the other side of the coin, after talking about how men in the country music world are objectifying the ladies and treating them like bimbos, I'm including Hunter Hayes in my favorites this month (even though he's a favorite literally all the time, I LOVE him) because he's kind of the exception. Number one, he's a fantastic musician. On his debut album, he played all of the instruments in the songs...it came out to something like 32 instruments that he played. And to top it off,  all of his songs are so sweet and heartfelt and the way he writes about women is refreshing. He reminds me of that first boyfriend (most girls, not me, I had a drug dealer asshole) that you have that just loves you to death and is so damn sweet and brings you carnations to the date and pulls out your chair for you and knows what your coffee order is and brings it to you. Tangent alert! But seriously, if you haven't checked him out or have been living under a rock for the last two years, get your butt to his YouTube channel and watch his #FortheLoveofMusic videos. You'll fall in love too. He's just so darn endearing.

The Necessity of Girlfriends

As I usually start these blogs, I'm talking about one random thing or another, so how is a post inspired by Sex and the City any different, really? 

I want to talk about girlfriends and the quintessential group of girlfriends are the four beloved characters from Sex and the City. I defy you to find a better example of friendship and love anywhere in modern pop culture, literature or television. You can't. And so between Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha, and this post by the lovely Jessica Sturdy of Bows and Sequins, I've been thinking about the importance of girlfriends in the life of a post college girl and beyond. 

One of the biggest problems with females today is that everyone seems to be out to get one another and use each other as a step to get to the next level. And why is that? Women have fought for equal treatment and position in the workforce and now that we're slowly but surely getting that, we're embarrassing ourselves by tearing each other to shreds both professionally and socially. In this hyper-competitive female world, a girl needs to surround herself with a solid group of people who better her, not bring her down. I firmly believe that what you allow into your life directly affects the way things turn out for you. 

To be totally honest with you, I spent the first two years of college trying to fit in with the "cool" girls and party and be one of the popular people I never was in high school. Then I turned 19 and realized that I had partied myself out and that while those girls were fun and nice enough in their own right, they brought an awful lot of drama into their lives, and mine by extension since I was listening to all of their bullshit. So, I made a decision that that wasn't what I wanted anymore. 

Over the last few years, I won't lie, I've walked away from a lot of friendships with women who did not bring anything to my life that made me grow or bettered my life at all. From constant lies and drama, to going behind my back or just getting over involved in my life. To me, if I wasn't getting out what I put in, it wasn't a worthy investment. The few that have survived challenge me, allow me to be myself, and tolerate me when I'm at my very bitchiest. They love me and are always there to support me when I need it, and even when I don't. I may not have a million girlfriends, but that's fine with me because the ones that I have I wouldn't trade for anything. 

A Literary Wishlist as Long as My Arm

image c/o We Heart It

Guys! I'm sorry this took so long to get up. Friday was a crazy busy day for me and this weekend was my mom's annual open house that she does for her business so we were all prepping and cleaning like crazy for that. I wanted to make sure that I got it up for you today at the latest though so that I can stay on schedule for next week.

For the longest time, throughout high school and certainly a significant part of my college experience, I always felt like I had "no time" for reading. Truth be told, I would make time to read if a significant book came out and I was motivated enough to finish it, but for the most part, a lot of my reading went undone in the course of two or three different jobs and a full time school schedule. Now that I've graduated, however, I am definitely more on board with the whole reading for pleasure thing. I'm currently reading Stephen King's time travel thriller 11/22/63 about the assassination of JFK. Next month, I'll be reading Kay Thompson: From Funny Face to Eloise which is a biography about the woman who created my very favorite literary character.

Now that I've been reading so much more, my goal is to finish one book each month for at least the next 6 months. Because of this perhaps very lofty goal, I have created a wish list on Amazon that is a bit long to say the least. I thought I would share them with you here in case you too wanted to read a ton of random books right along with me.

First up is Maleficent by Elizabeth Rudnick. I think I included Maleficent as one of my favorites back when this blog was still The Wild Ginger. It was, quite frankly, one of the best live action movies that Disney has released in years. The obsession is REAL. When I saw that someone had turned it into a book, I immediately had to read it. The movie version of Maleficent is also on my Amazon Wishlist when it comes out on DVD, but this time we're talking books so I won't bore you with the rest of the list.

Along the same lines as Maleficent is Fairest of All: The Tale of the Wicked Queen by Serena Valentino. This book has been on my list for a while.  Like two years, a while. This book was a big deal in Disneyland when I was there the time before last. Much like Once Upon a Time (but infinitely better. The quality of that show has gone downhill since the first season. I'm pretty sure I'll watch the first episode of the new Frozen storyline and give up on it completely.) this story tells the background of the Evil Queen through her eyes. I read the first few pages outside of Elias and Co. while waiting for my family to finish the Aladdin show at California Adventure and was hooked. However, as I refuse to pay $10 for the Kindle Edition of a book, I have never gotten it.

Serena Valentino's second novel in this family is about The Beast from Beauty and the Best. It is called The Beast Within: The Tale of Beauty's Beast. This one I know nothing about...other than the obvious but I am excited to read it once I finish up the novel about the Evil Queen. In case this blog hadn't been clear enough already about this: I am a Disney kid, through and through. I did get to read a few pages of the book on Amazon while I was writing this post (multitasker for sure) and was hooked, much like I was with Fairest of All. Valentino's writing style is fantastic and I really enjoyed both snippets that I got to read.

I watched the cinematic adaptation of Heaven is for Real with my parents one weekend when we were looking for a good RedBox find. It was a great movie and I ended up being really curious about the book that Todd Burpo wrote about his son's experiences whilst in Heaven. As a result, his book is now on my wish list of things to read as week. I think it should be quite interesting.

Blood of Olympus may seem like a fairly random addition to this list except that I've been a mythology nerd for the better part of my life, Greek in particular, and have been reading the Percy Jackson series of books for years. I was super bummed when I finished the last book...only to find out that Rick Riordan had come out with somewhat of a spinoff series that incorporates both Greek and Roman gods. This latest book is what I'm pretty sure is supposed to be the culmination of the battle for Olympus that both the Greek and Roman demigods have been headed toward for all of the Heroes of Olympus series. It comes out in the fall, as all of his books do and I can't wait to read it!

I'm fairly certain that this will be the most random book on the list because it is neither fictional nor has anything to do with grandiose circumstances. It is The Perfectly Imperfect Home: How to Decorate and Live Well by Deborah Needleman. If all goes well in the next few days, I will finally have my first real job and will shortly thereafter be moving into my first solo apartment. As a result, I'm looking for all the inspiration I can get to furnish my little nest. I'm thinking this will end up being a coffee table book but I will definitely be using it for decorating tips as I'm getting everything together.

Back to fantasy for a second, this next book is definitely going to be a coffee table/display book for sure. Mermaids: The Myths, Legends and Lore by Skye Alexander is something I found while down the rabbit hole of late night Amazon book browsing. Being a lifelong mermaid lover (literally have it tattooed on my body type love), you can bet that some of my decor in my new home will have to do with mermaids (my kitchen, most specifically) and what kind of mermaid lover would I be if I didn't have some literature to supplement my decorations?!

This is the only book I've actually considered purchasing from my wish list, and not because it is part of Oprah's Book Club 2.0. Everyone and their mother on the blogs that I follow has read and raved about Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed. The College Prepster wrote a great review of the book earlier in the summer and that's when it really caught my attention. After seeing the trailer for it recently (hello, Reese Witherspoon is in it!!), I decided it might be time to check out the book and shake up my typical reading routine. After all, books are meant to be windows to another life, right? So why not read about Cheryl Strayed's life?

Another movie inspired purchase, after seeing the movie The Hundred-Foot Journey (SOOOOO good!!!) a few weeks ago, I wanted to read the book and see exactly what inspired the movie that I so enjoyed. I'm a huge foodie and have enjoyed watching cooking shows my whole life and as a serious cinephile, movies about food do it for me. This one was great, I loved the acting and the emphasis on the food was perfect. However, that being said, I'm always curious about the books that inspire movies and this time was no different. 

This next one is probably just as random as the book about decorating, but I've talked on here about wanting to start moving my wardrobe into more grown up territory now that I'm graduated from college and moving my life in a new direction. How to Look Expensive: A Beauty Editor's Secrets to Getting Gorgeous Without Breaking the Bank by Andrea Pomerantz Lustig is a book that I've seen many a time on Amazon when I've gone down the rabbit hole of beauty and fashion books. While it has always peaked my interest, I've never really had a serious inclination to actually purchase it. However, much like The Perfectly Imperfect Home and Mermaids, I expect it to be a book that I not only read, but one that makes its way onto my coffee table at some point or maybe takes up residence on the shelving over my desk. 

Phew! We're finally at the end of the list. Are you as excited as I am? My final book is one that probably comes as no surprise being that I'm a 22 year old girl and most girls my age seem to have and Audrey Hepburn obsession. However, unlike the average Audrey fan, I've seen more than just Breakfast at Tiffany's.  Despite the myriad of Audrey Hepburn books being out there, How to be Lovely: The Audrey Hepburn Way of Life by Melissa Hellstern caught my eye because of the creative way that the book itself is put together. I got to take a peek inside of the book on Amazon and fell in love with it. In fact, it was the first book on my wish list when I started it a few weeks ago. 

Well, there you have it, my literary wish list as of August 2014. Trust me, there will always be more books and there will be an ever growing wish list now that I've found my love of books again. Maybe you found something that you just have to read too, now. 

Woman Crush Wednesday

I think that my recent obsession with Julianne Hough started sometime around the 6th of this month when I went in to get my haircut with dreams of a cute long bob that is the ever popular style in Hollywood right now and ended up with a short, a linear bob similar to Miss Hough's last year when she was in Safe Haven (which I watched recently and loved, by the way). 

Needless to say, I was not happy about my hair and even less so because I brought pictures. But, very quickly, I realized that I am stuck with this cut for some time and need to make the best of it. As a result, I did a Pinterest search for Julianne Hough since her cut was the only one I could think of that even remotely resembled mine. That was where it started. I got sucked down the Pinterest/Hough rabbit hole and found myself scrolling through (and pinning) images of her for hours, even days, afterward. 

Anyway, fter days of Internet stalking her and her haircut, I think she's just a great lady. Even though she dated Seacrest, I have a lot of respect for her and love her personality and the energy that she seems to put out into the universe.

So ladies and germs, Julianne Hough is my first (and probably only) woman crush Wednesday post that will ever go on this blog. 

What is it about this time of year?

Right around back to school each year, I start getting into Fall mode. I don't know why that is. I've just always been an autumn girl: it's cool enough to drink Caramel Apple Spices (my FAVORITE) and wear plaid and my favorite boots, but it isn't so cold and gross that we're trapped inside for days on end. Right now though,  it's still 100 degrees where I live and it is, after all only August, but back to school for me immediately equals flannel and scarves and buying a new pair of moccasins. For whatever reason, August means Fall and Fall means October, which is my favorite month of the year.

Now that I'm in Fall mode, I'm working on planning a girl's trip up to Apple Hill, maybe some wine tasting and a bunch of other fun, fall only activities, which for you, my readers, means a whole lot more fun content coming at you. With any luck, I'll have a new phone which means better pictures and a whole lot more interesting reading for you, which I hope you will enjoy immensely.

For now, I'm going to indulge myself by posting my Fall wish list for you to check out as well. Enjoy, guys!

Moccasins- I LOVE moccasins. I would wear them every single day if I could. I bought myself some GH Bass ones for this season but they weren't exactly what I wanted. Target has good moccasins but they usually don't last me more than a couple of seasons so it doesn't seem worth it to spend $20 every year getting a new pair. The hunt continues.

American Eagle Midi Shorts- This might seem sort of random but I'm in need of some shorts. Most of the ones that I own currently are a tad on the short side and are 5 years old or more. So I'm hoping to get some of these longer, more colorful shorts on sale now that Summer clothes will be on their way out.

Gray Jeans- I had a pair of these last year and loved them but they got a tad too snug so I gave them away. Old Navy has some pretty cute options right now and for around $19, too.

Quilted Vest- Any hardcore Pinterest girl has her eyes on this J. Crew vest that comes out every Fall only to be retired by Mid November. Not being one willing to spend $110 on a vest, I'm thinking any quilted vest should get the job done.

Quilted Jacket- I love the look of them. They're always so warm and comfortable looking and they go with both dressy and casual outfits too.

Flannels- Despite transitioning my wardrobe into a more preppy direction over the last year, I am still a flannel girl. I love plaid and the warm softness of flannel has always been my favorite Fall staple. 

This sweater! I am obsessed. I saw it at Gap when I was there last week and it is the softest  thing I've ever felt. It was $55 but it's on sale right now...so I'm trying to decide if I should go for it or not. Decisions decisions. 

Well guys, those are what I've got my eye on for this Fall. What about you? 

Beauty hacks for the lazy girl

I do not claim, by any stretch of the imagination, to be any kind of beauty expert. However, in my decade long pursuit of cuteness, I have learned what does and what does not work for me as far as different products are concerned and so, I have thought I should share them with you just in case you too are of the lazy persuasion.

This first one might seem a little weird, but it definitely has worked for me and that's shaving my legs with Nair. Let me just say, I'm super lazy about shaving my legs. That probably sounds gross but to be fair, I have blonde hair on my legs and it takes forever to grow back, I'm talking like two weeks before I have noticeable stubble and a month before I can actually see the hairs. Because of this, I never really got into the habit of having to shave my legs regularly and so got really lazy about having to do it. My little sister actually recommended the Nair Brazilian Spa Clay formula to me a few months back and I used it traditionally a few times and was impressed with it. However, one morning while getting ready for an interview, I decided I really didn't have time to wait 10 minutes for the Nair to work and then scrub/rinse it off with the special sponge. Instead, I hopped into the tub after it had been on for about 3-5 minutes and started shaving, using the Nair as shaving cream. Because the formula had already started to go to work on my hair, shaving was much faster and it lasted even longer without stubble.

Alright, next is one that probably seems like more work, rather than a hack, but just go with me on this one. Fill in your eyebrows, ladies. Unless you have no eyebrows and have to literally draw them on with pencil, I think shadow is a whole lot more natural looking and my absolute favorite is MAC's Omega shadow. It has matched every single hair color I've had over the last 5 years (and there have been a lot, let me tell you) and I still have a ton of it left. Not only does filling in your brows make you look more polished overall, but I feel like it makes me rethink my eye makeup when I'm doing it.  Brows instantly make your face look for finished so you don't need as much eye makeup to complete your look. 

These are my top two beauty hacks that I stand by. I never shave my legs unless I use Nair and if I have makeup on, my brows are filled in. It's the third step in my routine and a must when putting on my face. 

Hope you enjoyed. Let me know if you have any hacks that you swear by as well. 

Am I a "real" blogger yet?

After months and months of seeing them on blogs, in YouTube videos and all over Instagram, I finally caved and bought my first pair of Jack Rogers sandals this weekend. And no, not full price, are you kidding?! I got them at TJ Maxx on sale for $29! But not the single strap jelly sandals or even the black pair that has been floating around my local TJ Maxx store for months. No no, legitimate leather Jack Rogers sandals. While I'm pretty sure they're the just the classic style, to be totally honest, there are like three styles on the website that look exactly the same to me.

I'm not normally a super trendy girl. In fact, my favorite pair of shoes is a beat to death pair of Roxy flip flops that I wear almost every single day. They're dirty and one has a chunk out of it after being packed for the Dominican Republic but I love them because they're comfortable and fast and pretty much match with anything. In the case of these shoes though, I just couldn't help it. The pink and white were so jaunty and summery looking on the shelf (and to be honest, I'm trying to revamp my style to be a little more adult now that I've graduated college) that I couldn't resist trying them on. Gosh they were so cute. I looked down and knew they had to come home with me.  

Now, even though I'm in love with the shoes, we're currently in the breaking in phase which I'm not really in love with. They seem to put pressure directly on my heels which is kind of annoying. Since I live nowhere near a beach, I'm wondering if regular water will help break them in the same as the ocean water all the blogs online suggest. With any luck, wearing them for a week or so will help them break in a bit better and I won't have to worry about annoying heel pain for very long. 

Despite that, I'm kind of obsessed. And yes, that is a different tattoo than was there the last time my feet were featured on this blog. 

Cheers, guys!

A Day Out in Healdsburg

A couple weeks ago, my mom, younger sister and I all headed out to Healdsburg, California for the day. The backstory here is that my grandma passed away 11 years ago on August 1st and she used to spend her summers in Healdsburg as a kid. Her parents had a cabin there and she and her mother would go up for the summer and her dad would work in the city during the week and hit the cabin on the weekends. Anyway, long story short, we headed out there for the day as a nice thing to do to remember her on a not so fun day. 

We left earlier and still managed to hit a ton of traffic on the way because of the construction on 80, but once we got there, the afternoon couldn't have been more pleasant. It was about 85 degrees there (and 108 at home, so we were definitely not complaining) with a great breeze blowing the whole time we were walking around. 

By the time we arrived, it was lunchtime and the three of us were starving so we went to The Wurst restaurant, which had great reviews on Yelp and was right off the main square where we were planning to spend the day. It has a great...rustic atmosphere...kind of like Low Brau in Sacramento. I really liked my food, the other two weren't necessarily thrilled but they don't get as excited as I do for new food experiences. I ordered the Spanish Harlem Choriso with sweet peppers and caramelized onions. I LOVE chorizo so any time it's on the menu, I order it and I was not disappointed by the choriso at The Wurst.

YUMMMMM!

Next, we walked around the corner and hit a kitschy little shop and I bought the cutest sunglasses (to replace my knockoff club masters that met an unfortunate end in a port-a-potty on the Fourth of July) and proceeded to wear them around for the rest of the day. Somehow, I managed to not notice that they were red in real life, but I really haven't cared and have worn them pretty much every day since. 

I was SOOOO excited to go!!

Our next stop was Moustache Baked Goods which I was STOKED about. I watch a LOT of the Cooking Channel and most especially Unique Sweets, which is where I heard about Moustache Baked Goods. I got The Mistress (meyer lemon olive oil cake with blackberry sage jam filling and blackberry cream frosting) and my mom got the Out of Towner (chocolate cake with coconut and macadamia). My sister got four of their macarons, which she really liked. I loved my cupcake, Mom on the other hand, not so impressed. 

Awkward photo fails. I was trying to get a group picture and my little sister looks into the camera and says, "Mom, are you smiling? Aren't you having a good time? Do you even LOVE us?!" and we all lost it laughing so I snapped a picture and put them together. 

We stopped to eat  in the town square and it was beautiful. Nice and shady, with lots of little families doing the exact same thing we were doing, just hanging out and snacking. 

After that, we wandered for another half hour or so, in and out of shops until we had seen everything we wanted to see. After that, we headed to the river where my grandma used to hang out and spent a little bit of time there before heading to Santa Rosa where we wanted to hit up the Charles M. Schulz Museum. 

My grandma also lived in Santa Rosa when I was a kid and we went to the ice show that Charles M. Schulz organized every year a few times at the ice rink there. However, we had not been back since my grandma moved out to Sacramento in the late 90's. So to our shock, this beautiful museum has been put up and we had a great time exploring, reading the different comic strips and taking in the different exhibits. It was really interesting and the place is gorgeous. We want to take my dad back in a few months once they've gotten their new exhibits in.

Outside the museum, they have little props for visitors to take photos with. Sooo, I posed. 

This was out in the courtyard with a few other exhibits. I thought it was so cute!

This is a little shadow box wall that his wife put in during the museum's construction. Story goes, she exchanged these little shadow box pictures for years with a friend via post and saved them all to be used in the museum. It's hiding out under the stairs so I was glad I found it for us to look at. 

The museum closed at 5 so we headed across the street to the original museum and ice rink complex. Not too much to see and unfortunately, both the ice rink and the Warm Puppy restaurant inside are showing their age, but it was nice to go in and take a peek.

The sun is ridiculous, but this is me with "ice skating pimp Snoopy" as I named him.

Finally, we went to the Vacaville outlets on the way home and scored some major deals at the J. Crew Outlet before having the worst dinner ever at the Tahoe Joe's there (we have dubbed it Outlet Joe's due to the service and quality discounts that seem to be going on there).

A final selfie with Charlie Brown before heading home.

All in all, it was a long, exhausting, but really fun day for us girls before my sister heads back to school later this week.