It's beginning to look a lot like....crazy Christmas days....

I should be blogging. I mean, that's why I have a blog, right? To post entries, whether they be an account of my day, a funny story, needing advice or something else. And here I am with a self imposed hiatus in which I didn't even really know I did it.

It's nothing personal, and I bet 90% of you didn't even notice. That's perfectly fine, despite my viewpoint sometimes not EVERYTHING is about me. :-) But life has been a little topsy turvy over the last month or so. When we last left off I was choosing a new dress for a wedding we went to. The problem here is that most pics of me were not taken w/my camera so I can't show you the final result. There is this one though, taken a little too close and it makes my arms look huge, but there you go.

We had an amazing time, boogied on the dance floor and managed to get into a fight over trying to find the hotel. Seriously, the two of us + two different GPS systems does not = a good time. But once we arrived to the hotel we were fine.

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We did manage to finally have our housewarming party, this would be the biggest reason for my absence. Who knew throwing a housewarming party in the 1st week of December would be so much work? This means getting all your holiday decorations up before the party (minus the tree) and right after getting home from Mexico. I took off the week after our Thanksgiving vacation to prep for the party and that's probably the smartest idea I've had in a while. More and more people RSVP'd, and I think the final count was around 40 people. I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off for a while but I think the end results came out nicely.

Our staircase

The front room fireplace

Then of course we started prepping for Christmas. There was oodles of shopping every weekend (in the far early morning). Am I the only one who hates shopping during Christmas time? There are too many people around and I tend to lose it. The only way M got me out an about to some of the more popular spots is because we showed up right when the place opened.

But on top of this I had to organize our company holiday party, the white elephant gift exchange (because it wouldn't make sense to have them at the same time) and then surprise! I realized I had not finished all the knitting I promise people every year. Now I'm a knitting machine and freaking out over the time left.

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M has left for his family house today for Christmas since despite our long term status we're not married and do not share our holidays. I'll head up to my family's tomorrow and I'll attempt not to strangle anyone. Something about being around your family brings that out of people. :-)

But before M left, we had our own Christmas on Tuesday. We toured the new neighborhood looking for holiday lights and even went through the other close neighborhoods where we almost bought houses seeing if theirs were more festive. The verdict being that some of them were better, but ours is pretty good for a first year decorating project. Next year expect better things from us. Hehe.

But we exchanged gifts before we went to bed. M got me this treble clef from Pottery Barn I had been eyeing a few weeks back along with this wine label serving tray since I've been saving labels pretty much since we started dating. The best part though were the "santa" gifts. Although there were a few nice things in my stocking (pedometer, candy etc) Santa brought me this gorgeous piece of machinery!!!:
It's the Kitchen Aid professional stand mixer (in empire red) that I've been coveting for the longest time. Apparently he bought it before I even officially put it on my Christmas list. I cannot wait until I get to use the thing, although I've already put it up in the kitchen. I feel like it needs a name, but nothing stands out as of yet.

Now since everyone is busy with holiday festivities...what is your favorite part? And what stresses you out the most?

Who doesn't love a before/after haircut post?

It's taken a while but I finally got pics of my new haircut! It had been about a year and a half since my last one so it was looking a little bit ratty. Not so bad that a few curls here and there could hide but I'm so happy with the end result. Now curls are only if I want to, not because I need to.

Before

After

Ignore the obvious camera placement in the photo, I was happy that this image wasn't super blurry like the others. Why can't I take a photo in the mirror w/o that problem? :-)

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In other news fall has officially hit the northwest this week. We've had some pretty great weather lately but this week the rain showed up and the sun started setting earlier in the day. Today I busted out the cashmere sweater AND the electric blanket for the couch so I could make the appropriate indoor cocoon.

Also, does anyone watch Lie To Me? I haven't tried it because it seems like it focuses on only one part of profiling and I'd prefer to watch Criminal Minds any day, but maybe I'm missing something with this show. Instead now I prefer to catch up on my DVR. Later gators!

Friendship Styles

First off, thanks to all of you who commented on my previous post, I went shopping and got the following dresses:

Both of them fit like a glove and actually are pretty similar in color. But at least they work for the weddings to be attended.

*****

For many years I have been known as a social butterfly. It's funny to me because I consider myself pretty shy in the first meeting of people but I hide it well, many years of training myself I guess. I will be the person who at a party will search out someone who is quiet or feeling out of their element to chat. This is in part that I've been in that position before, or in hopes to make a new friend. And it usually works. I've made great friends this way and I've seen the relief that's come over their faces when someone comes to talk to them.

But it doesn't always go so well. Sometimes I chat with them and realizes we're not meant to be friends. I'm ok with that, but it makes me think of my own "friend style". Do you know what I mean? Some of us are reluctant to invite others into our social circle right away. Some of us assume you suck until you prove yourself otherwise. Me? I have a tendency to think all people are great until they prove otherwise.

Case in point - about a month or two ago some friends of mine got new roommates. My friends own a house (married couple) but rent a room out upstairs. Another couple (early twenties) moved in and they got along great. So a bunch of us were invited over for BBQ night and to meet the new roommates. I thought they were nice, had good conversation. That is until the girl asked me if I was pregnant.

...

...

Yeah, you read that right. This girl committed a big time faux pas. You never ask anyone that unless you know for sure, especially someone you just met. I could tell she was embarrassed and a little naive, but to this day I've been "done" with her.

The problem is now that I run into her sometimes. Obviously she lives in the same house as my friends, but now whenever she sees me she shrinks to as small as she can. I shouldn't care so much but I would think she would try to remedy the situation or overcome that obstacle. But that's just me. I'd move past the comment (yes, I actually have) and now I'm more concerned that she won't talk to me at all.

*shrug* I guess sometimes you're just not meant to be friends.

What kind of friendship style do you have?

Please, help me shop!!

August is known for one, no two big things. This is the month where people get married and hold reunions, at least in the state of Washington. It's probably the best month weather-wise and in turn your schedule gets PACKED. I have a bachelorette party and reunion on the same weekend and the following weekend is the wedding so I need to be lookin' sharp. I'm going shopping this weekend but I was hoping you guys might have some ideas as well.

Bachelorette party consists of dinner, comedy club and clubbing/dancing. Maybe not something super pricey (more H&M style) for this, but then on Sunday there is the reunion picnic. Think oodles of families all at a park. The wedding weekend is pretty fancy (no casual thing going on here) so I only have so many options before I have to buy new things, you see?

Here's the ideas I have so far...

Slice of Lime dress from Anthropologie. I love the little sash accenting the waist and it seems fun.

Cranesbill dress from Anthropologie. Same thing with the sash here, bonus: my boyfriend's already seen it in the store and likes it.

Storm of Shapes dress from Anthropologie. I love the colors in this, for once I could do yellow since the brown is upstairs.
Caranday dress from Anthropologie. Another I've seen in the store, also comes in a pinkish color.

Framboise Souffle dress from Anthropologie. Completely feminine and I love the color. The neckline's pretty sweet too.

Calendar Pages dress from Anthropologie. First seen over at the Advice Smackdown it comes in black, this blue and dark purple. And it's on sale, that's nice too.

I can definitely be persuaded to do more than one of these dresses since there's multiple occasions to go to but I'd love to go into shopping with some sort of idea.

HELP guys & gals! I need a personal shopper! And I haven't even started in on shoes!

I love...

Let's get back on track with the blogging thing, forget this posting once a week or less. I've been in a sea of changes of the last couple of weeks which has a tendency to make me pessimistic. I love change, but when it's not on my dime my life tends to go all chaotic and I don't always know how to process effectively. This is why I'm going to try and bombard this post with positivity...things I love.

I LOVE...catching an incredible sunset like this one at the Edmonds-Kingston ferry.

I LOVE...a good farmer's market because I can get incredible flowers for cheap (among other things).

I LOVE...Seafair in Seattle. The Blue Angels are amazing the hydros are not so bad when they're up close and personal.

I LOVE...hearing that despite all my little brother's attempts to not be interested in Harry Potter he can't put down the first book (I bought for his birthday).

I LOVE...that I know where to find a great crab cake benedict on the weekends.

What are some things that you love today?

Because you're worth it.

I have what people call the kind of hair that they want. I don't understand it, but typically everyone wants what they don't/can't have. My hair?

• Long - hits right about the middle of my breasts
• Fine - a little flat naturally but there's a ton of it (does well w/volumizing products)
  
• Straight - just a hint of wave that goes away by blow drying and can be played up when it's shorter

The problem with this type of hair is that it takes FOREVER to dry in the morning. Seriously, I'm flipping my head upside down, to the left, to the right and even sectioning it off in hopes to speed up the drying time. That is until this morning.

Yesterday I twitted that my hairdryer up and died on me. I hoped to fix it, I opened it up and looked around with no success. So I headed to the store in hopes to find something. Nothing too pricey, I didn't want to spend oodles of $$ on it, but I knew you should at least spend a little.

Isn't this thing pretty?!?! I love red so yeah, I was a little drawn to it, but holy crap this thing works! Not only do I not have frizzy hair today (this has been a big problem recently) but it dried quickly! Best thing ever, this hairdryer retails for $36.99 and I got it for $24.99. Not bad at all.

In other news, I hope to be out of the office by noon today to make the trek to Seaside, OR for the 4th of July weekend. If you haven't been before you're definitely missing out. It's a small little beach town that has stood the test of time. I'm crossing my fingers to be having breakfast at the Pig 'n Pancake, drinking wine at Yummy Wine Bar & Bistro, spending time out in the sand & seeing some great fireworks.

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

It only took about a month

Hey all! I bet you forget I even went to Mexico last month because I never did the post complete with photos. Oh no, I'm finally doing it and it's gonna be fun. So hold on to the person next to you, I hope it's not a bumpy ride!

When we first arrived in Puerto Vallarta it was right after the immediate threat of the swine flu. You know, it was all over the news, none of us knew what it was about and the media did it's job of scaring us senseless. But the wedding was still on and the 8 of us were determined to go. Thankfully enough PV wasn't really hit by this swine flu nonsense, but that didn't stop the security areas from asking all kinds of questions and special temperature sensitive cameras to check and make sure we didn't have a fever. But despite all this, we made it to our destination...Villa Suzannah. This photo? This is the view from the pool area. We were overlooking the Mismaloya beach area.

When we first arrived our hostess (ie: the bride to be) made sure that there was all kinds of treats waiting for us. Chips & fresh made salsa and guacamole, a stocked fridge full of beer and all kinds of tequila and mixed drinks at our disposal. We found out that one of the couples coming (from CA) had some sort of passport issue and would be there at the earliest of the next day so our job was to chill out and have all kinds of fun.

And fun...we definitely had.

Faces blurred/smudged to protect the not so innocent.

The next morning we decided to trek down to the beach below and see if it was as fun as it looked like. We were staying in this beautiful place but it was towards the top of a very steep hill and it wasn't until a few days later we realized we could walk down it just fine (but not up). So a taxi was taken and we decided to spend a good portion of the day down below.

This was a perfect day. I spent my time lounging in a chair, drinking strawberry daiquiris and wading in the water. Well, that and fending off all the people trying to sell me jewelry, blankets, dresses and every other thing you could think of every five seconds.

My view on the beach and my current desktop wallpaper.

Later on the missing couple showed up just in time and we had dinner at the villa. Seriously, the chef at this place is beyond AMAZING, everything he made I wanted to gobble up ten fold. That night we had crazy dance party at the villa (aka round 2) with the new couple.

The next day was all about the soon to be happy couple. They had to head to the courthouse to do the "official ceremony" before the pretty one. You know, the one with witnesses and signing documents (*cough* remember that stuff Heidi & Spencer?) and the bride's parents came into town. M and I headed to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch (and to buy a PV bear for his mom) and we experienced our first water taxi ride.

Little ol' me

Friday was all about the fishing expedition, one of the few activities we booked before arriving in PV. We were on the most beautiful boat and we out all day long but didn't catch a single fish! On top of that this was also the day that I got seriously sunburned. I forgot to put sunscreen on my face AND accidentally fell asleep outside for an hour so my poor face was fried. It felt like I was attacked by the botox shot in my forehead. The good news though was we saw dolphins!

Can I take them home with me?

Now on Saturday...this was the big day. It was time to prep for the wedding with mani/pedi's overlooking the view, a little beach time and of course the wedding!

The ceremony (love the bouquet!)

The toast!

Afterwards there was of course the reception. Check out what the restaurant did for us! They brought the dining experience outdoors by the pool.

We were going to have a 7 course tasting menu. Sounds good in theory, right? Sure it is, if all the portions are small. But we started with a shot glass full of something and each course afterwards was a little bit bigger. By 5 and 6 we were dying, a full fish meal followed by filet mignon? Normally sign me up but my stomach didn't know what to make of it. We didn't even eat the wedding cake until 2 days later.

So once recooperated from the festivities on Sunday we went to the flea market...along with Monday. I could spend all kinds of time in those, I'm apparently a master barterer. I got deals that the rest of the group had their jaws dropping from, I don't know what it is. Later on we stopped in a restaurant for a "cocoloco". Basically it has all kinds of random alcohols in it, but the best part is it's in a real coconut!

But also on Monday we went to Tony's, this restaurant that unless you know about it you'll never find. It was actually close to the villa but an employee at this big chain hotel down the way told us about it. Apparently there was some big travel agent retreat going on in their restaurant for the night so they were closed. But we made the trek to this place.

Think of walking through this run down area, turning the corner and assuming you'll see it but all you see is this super run down house. You get anxious because if you ate there it would obviously kill you. But then you realize...you're not there yet and arrive at this cozy 3 story house with sand covering the floor. They bring out the menu, this big platter of steaks and seafood and you want absolutely everything. The food here was so good we ate there the final two nights of our trip. Even better, we met Tony!

Say hi to Tony! And my horrible sunburned face.

On the final day we basically just chilled waiting for everyone's plane's to take off. For some reason each of us had a completely different time to depart so until it was time we hung around the pool, read a little and prepared for the trip home.

Hanging out on our balcony.

I hope you made it through all this in one piece. If you ever get the chance to visit Puerto Vallarta I have to recommend you take it. For my first time in Mexico it definitely makes me want to go back.

Down Memory Lane

When I was a little girl (around 4 or 5) I started staying with my great grandmother during the week. At the time it was my single mom and I as her and my father split up before I started walking. In our family though there is a great support system and since my mom and I moved apartments frequently the best course of action for schooling was to use my great grandmother's address. I stayed with her during the week and came home on the weekends. Surprisingly this was the perfect arrangement for all parties involved and it stayed this way pretty much until my great grandmother passed away. With the exception of right after high school (I moved in with my mom & stepdad for about a year which was a BAD idea) I want to say I lived there for approx. 20 years.

This arrangement helped me a lot. My great grandmother was a teacher when she was younger and always was ready to do arts & crafts with me, teach me reading, math, help with random homework and most of all...she taught me how to knit. Ok, so she taught me how about three or four times over the course of my life because I couldn't stay with it too long, but every time I started I picked it up right away. She also taught me crocheting because you can't have one without the other. In fact, the primary thing she knitted were dish cloths/rags and you can't call it finished without crocheting the borders.

When she passed away I thought it was only fitting to continue her dish cloth/rag tradition. Every Christmas she gave them to all the families as gifts and during our first Christmas without her I couldn't just NOT do it. It was a coping mechanism for me and to this day I do it every year.

So I know the basics. I've made some scarves, even a blanket...but after a certain point I became stuck. When I was little she made my cousin and I these blankets and to this day it stays in bed with me. It's the most comfortable blanket ever and I think every baby/child should have one. This is what brings me to my current dilemma.

I started this blanket for my cousin's baby about a year and a half ago. I love the colors and design of it but secretly? I messed it up, royally. I was new to more than the most basic crocheting and I flubbed some spots meaning I had to make the same flubs every time afterwards. This in turn made me put it away never to be seen again.

Until today. I decided to rip it and start over and I've done two rows so far. And of course? I'm off by two stitches. What do I do? Do I just remember to reduce by two stitches every time? Do I rip it and start all over again? Or do I rip and start again and add to more stitches from the beginning? Life is so complicated.

Happy Holidays

This will be the last little bit of snow talk, or so I'm hoping. But at least this is the pretty part of snowfall, we can all appreciate that.

Although I'll complain about the Northwest on a pretty regular occasion I really do like it here. It took me approx. 25 years to compromise with the weather in the area as "rain" is definitely not my friend and "cold" is it's significant other, but there are certain aspects of this area that make me never want to leave. The area when it snows and the amazing summer times are what make me stay.



This photo is the view from the BF's balcony, it looks right into Seattle. This view is also why he has a hard time parting with his apartment, as it will cost an arm and a leg to get a house with a similar one.



I may complain about the snow this year because it hung around just a little too long, but look at this! We had a white Christmas around town, and this only happens every 435346 years.

On Christmas Day we decided to head up north to see some of the extended family and there we say what can only be described as "sights to be seen".



Check out these icicles. If there were multiple guys here deciding to measure these would take the cake. I couldn't get a photo of the biggest (I tried, but it escaped me) there would have been an eight foot icicle. I think these were around 6-7 feet. I've never seen anything like it before.

I hope everyone's holidays have been great, in my family they tend to extend far after Christmas Day is over with but that's what family is all about.

Happy New Year everyone! Stay safe and come back with some awesome stories of toasting at midnight and having the New Year's kiss.