December Photo Diary

To start off the month, we went to the Ken Block Gymkhana Grid Invitational.

Then we got dressed up (Alexander Wang dress) for the hubby's work holiday party,

for our friends' holiday loft party in Long Beach (any excuse to wear my (faux) fur (from Express) makes me happy),

for my holiday work party (H&M dress),

 and for a champagne party (random dress from Macy's).

 Then it was off to NY for Christmas with the family....

and to enjoy(?) a surprise blizzard! 2+ feet of snow in under 24 hours was a bit of a shock, I showed up so ill-prepared that I had a borrow a coat from the family closet.

But we still made it into NYC for an afternoon and wandered around the MET for a few hours.

And finally, back to CA to spend NYE with friends.

Shoe Lust

  

I've been finding myself wanting a pair of pastel shoes lately. These two are topping my current wish list.

Messeca Coraline  

Jeffrey Campbell Foxy

images via Sole Struck

Book Worm

I really love to read. This isn't anything new, growing up, I used to drive my parents nuts by devouring any book I could get my hands on in a couple of days, which meant many trips to the bookstore and library.

Over the last year or so when I was wasn't working, I was able to put a lot more time catching up on the books I have been meaning to read, as well as picking up some new things. The book club that I am apart of, Tequila Mockingbird, also forces me to spend more time reading even when my schedule gets crazy.

Well due to this, and the fact that I know a lot of my friends enjoy reading as well, I have decided that I am going to try to write reviews of everything I read going forward. I've already read 2 books this month, which I plan of writing about soon.

Also, if we aren't already friends on Goodreads, feel free to add me!

Time Flies

I'm amazed that we're almost already a month into 2011! We have done so much awesome stuff the last few months that I want to share...back in November....

 We went to see Mayer Hawthorne in Hollywood,

 then the next night, we went to barrel aged tasting at the Lost Abbey.

The following night, after recovering from the delicious beer, we went to see Usher.

 The weekend after that, we went to Disneyland...

 and had dinner at the exclusive Club 33.

 After dinner, we went drunk driving (don't worry, it was just on Autopia)...

and enjoyed the lights on It's a Small World.

 A few days later, I baked up a few pies...

and celebrated Thanksgiving with some of my favorite people.

All Dressed Up

...with so many places to go.

One of my favorite things to do is to get dressed up, whether it's just wearing nice clothes or if it means getting to wear a costume. Over the past couple months, I had the opportunity to get decked out for quite a few different events.

#1 - Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball

A group of us went to the Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball up in LA over the summer. After a lot of debate and thought, I finally decided to go as a Sea Nymph and make my own costume (dress and headband) at the very last minute. My dress turned out pretty well considering I had less than a week to make it, but unfortunately I failed to get a full length photo of it that night.

#2 - The Magic Castle

My sister-in-law invited the hubby and I to go to the Magic Castle in LA with her. I had always wanted to go, so I was super excited to get the invite. For those who don't know, it's an exclusive club for magicians and to make it even more awesome, you have to get dressed up. I had never been to a magic show before, so I really enjoyed it. Plus I even got called up to the stage during one of the shows to be the magician's assistant!

#3 - Wedding in Santa Barbara

We got an invite to go up to Santa Barbara for a friend's wedding at the end of July. It was held at a gorgeous mansion in the hills with an amazing view. It was a great setting for such a romantic day.

 

#4 - Buccaneer Days

Oh, Bucc Days...pretty much the best weekend of the year. The village of Two Harbors on Catalina Island turns into a pirate town for the first weekend of October. Everyone dresses up in their best pirate gear, camps or stays on a boat - we've been lucky enough to actually get campsites for the last couple years, seeing as they book up a year in advance! We already have a site booked for next year with some friends - and drinks grog for the weekend. This year, my brother and his girlfriend flew out from NY to join us. They had such a good time, they are already talking about coming back next year. 

#5 - March to the Sea VIII

MttS is a pub crawl that some friends organize in Santa Monica. It's 3 miles, 8 or 9 bars, teams and challenges and if you make it to the end, there is treasure buried on the beach. This time around the teams were Toga vs. Golf/Tennis vs. White Trash. None of these themes really resonated with me, so when I found out that I was on Team White Trash I decided to dig around in my closet instead of wasting money on something new. I enjoy putting together items that I already own in new ways to make outfits that I wouldn't normally wear.

 

# 6 - Halloween

Quite possibly my favorite holiday, Halloween this year was awesome. We went to a house party on Saturday, to which I went dressed as a shark. Then on Sunday evening, a group of us went up to The Edison in LA, all dressed as Victorian Vampires. 

For my shark costume, I wore a dress that has been in my closet for about a year, and I made fins for my arms and back.

For the Victorian Vampire costume, I was a bit more ambitious. I picked up a pattern for a Victorian dress, as well as yards and yards of fabric, and made my own dress complete with bustle and train. I was again sewing up until last minute, I always seem to underestimate how long it will take, but I think it came out pretty well.

 

Next opportunity to dress up....holiday parties!

Lady of Industry

As of about two months ago, my reign as a Lady of Leisure ended. 

Believe it or not, I actually received offers at two different companies within 3 days of one another at the very beginning of September. The first offer I received was at the interview. The second was a day after I interviewed. After a quick debate, as there were pros and cons (salary, commute, product) to each position, I decided on one and I couldn't be happier.

 At work on Halloween, I was a 1950s Lady of Leisure.

I'm now working for a major action sports company as a Merchandiser (I'm not disclosing where on here), which is perfect for me. It's everything I liked from my last job and nothing I didn't like. Plus the hours are reasonable, my office is close to home and everyone I work with is awesome.

Since I slacked on blogging the fun things I did over the last few months, and there was a lot of fun, I'll be doing a recap sometime soon. Keep an eye out. 

Reading Rainbow

Since I've had so much time on my hands recently, I've had a lot of time to spend with my books. I generally prefer to read science fiction and mysteries, but I've been trying to mix it up a bit.

Going forward, I may start doing reviews on the books I read, but in the meantime, if anyone is curious about any of the books on the list below, let me know and I can give you a rundown.

Without further ado, here is a list of the books I have read in the last 7 and a half months or so (in no particular order). And if anyone has any recommendations, send them my way!

• A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick (didn't like this at first, but ended up really liking it!)
• Speaker For The Dead by Orson Scott Card (loved, sequel to Ender's Game although it was good enough on it's own)
• 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clark (book club - loved)
• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Tijuania Striats by Kem Numm (book club - one of the few books I didn't like, which is unfortunate because I've read some of his other books and really liked them.) 
• The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester (book club - didn't really like it much as I was reading it, but looking back I liked it)
• The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (loved the whole series, 1st two movies are great too!)
• The Girl With Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson 
• The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
• Big Machine by Victor LaValle (book club - this was just weird)
• A Wind at the Door by Madeleine L'Engle 
• A Touch Of Dead by Charlaine Harris (short stories around the Sookie Stackhouse novels) 
• Dead And Gone by Charlaine Harris (I've read all of the Sookie Stackhouse books (what True Blood is based on), as close to chick lit as I get) 
• Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
• The Shack by William P. Young (this was an accident, from what my mom told me, I thought it was a murder mystery. I didn't realize it was a Christian book until I already bought/started reading it, so I figured I should finish it. That being said, I didn't like it.)
• The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (the movie wasn't bad, but the book was better) 
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy (read the entire book in one sitting, on a flight from NY to CA)
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (reread it for about the 10th time) 
• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (book club)
• Xenocide by Orson Scott Card (3rd book in the Ender series, currently reading)