Hunger Games!

Yes, I finally  and read the Hunger Games Trilogy! I kept putting it off because I wasn't sure I could get past the theme of the book, kids fighting to their death. About two weeks ago Bryn mentioned that they were all planning on seeing the movie opening day and since Tyler read the books, she wanted to know if we wanted to come along. Tyler was game and I thought that I should at least give the books a chance before I right them off all together. After a couple of chapters, I was addicted! I was able to get past the actual rules of the "Hunger Games" (just like Bryn and Tyler said I would) and it turns out there was a love story!

I read all three books in a week, I would finish one and immediately want to start the next book. With the help of my kindle I could do just that, even though it was 2 AM on Saturday morning I was still able to buy the second book and begin reading it by 2:03.

We are headed to the the 8:20 showing tonight and I can't wait!

New Car!

It has been a little over a year since I ordered my last car, so naturally you can understand how excited I was to pick up my new ride today! Ok, that may make me sound a bit spoiled and you're right. I won't deny that having a sales car is one of the best perks working for a car company. That being said, I was "bored" with my Explorer and ready to roll down the street in my brand new 2013 Ford Edge!

 

My favorite feature? Well, beside White Platinum being a great color, I LOVE the wheels on this car! The blacked out wheels really make it quite sporty! 

I do need your help naming this one. I'm not even sure where to start. Any suggestions?

Busy, busy!

Yesterday, I received a friendly reminder that I hadn't posted this week's blog entry (thank you Kellie) and I couldn't believe that it was already Wednesday and she was right, no update to the blog. It's been an interesting week. I feel as though I've been quite busy and the work days have been flying by, but its still only Thursday. What gives? Maybe my brain has met it's "project quota" for the week and it decided to take a break?

Speaking of break, I was able to take a mini-break from work yesterday. My friend Christie and I left the office around 2:00 and headed up to Hollywood to the set of American Idol. This was my second trip to American Idol. Last time I went to the "Results" show, so I was excited to be able to see the performances this time around. I hadn't been watching this season, so I didn't have a favorite that I was routing for. The night was all about Stevie Wonder and Whitney Houston, which I found somewhat odd because there would be a fast tempo'd song and then a ballad. That aside it was a great time! For those of you who follow AI, my Top 3 were Joshua, Phillip (reminds me of Dave Matthews), and Jessica Sanchez. Jessica sang "I Will Always Love You" and was AWESOME! She sounded good when I was watching it on TV, but was even better in person. I've tried belting that song out in the car/shower, it's not easy, but she made it look seamless. 

Stay tuned for next week, hopefully it will be a bit more interesting! And once again thank you Kellie, for keeping me on track :)

Golden Birthday

Happy Golden Birthday Tyler!!! That is what I posted on Facebook this morning and I received a couple of questions, asking if Tyler was turning 50? I mean they didn't think he looked that old, but wanted to double check what was going on.

Your Golden Anniversary is your 50th anniversary, so it makes sense that one would assume your Golden Birthday is your 50th. However this is what I know a golden birthday to be:

"Main Entry:	golden birthday
Part of Speech:	n
Definition:	a person's birthday when they turn the age oftheir birth date
Example:	It was my golden birthday when I turned 25 onthe 25th" - excerpt from dictionary.com

Today on February 28th, the birthday boy (see below) is turning 28! Making this an extra special birthday!

We celebrated Tyler's Golden Bday this past weekend when he flew down to Orange Co. It was filled with outlet shopping (I swear his idea), Tyler's first Chick-Fil-A trip, dinner at a brewery, brunch in Laguna Beach, people watching at the OC "swap meet", tiramisu and champagne, relaxing poolside, and we finished the weekend watching the Oscars eating Chinese food for dinner! I feel as though all we did was eat!

Since I can't be there to celebrate in person, I realized there was a way I could "make Tyler dinner...have pizza delivered! It's not a home cooked meal, but let's be honest there is a 50/50 chance I would have gone that route had I actually been in Dublin!

Help, I'm single and can't zip up!

Recently I've adding a dress into my monthly wardrobe rotation. I was inspired to wear dresses more after purchasing a handful for the wedding. I've learned that when wearing a dress, I feel a bit cuter that day. Plus I never realized how comfortable they were and better yet no muffin top! One morning a couple of weeks ago I was planning on wearing a dress that I hadn't worn yet to the SoCal office. There was an added excitement to my morning, I even hummed a little tune while blow drying my hair. When I had completed my primping and priming I stepped into the dress and started to zip it up when I realized that I wasn't going to be able to zip it up myself! It was crushing! I kept trying to stretch my arms down my back, grasping for the zipper, but wasn't successful. I was able to find another dress that I zipped up 99% of the way, with a cardigan covering the last 1%, so it all worked out. Although I was a few minutes late leaving the house.

On my way to work I started thinking, how do single girls wear dresses? Sure many have roommates, but what about women that live alone? Do they simply avoid wearing dresses? What does one in my situation do?  I'm guessing there aren't too many married women living apart from their husbands, but there must be a fix for this!

I thought I was on the verge of a great idea for a new product, until I came across the "Zip Her". The solution for "independent women". For just $19.95 (plus shipping and handling) all of the single ladies can now wear dresses again! Who knows, if it's worth the money. Maybe I could make my own with a wire hanger? Stay tuned....I will keep you posted!

Sparkle!

Yup, that's right, sparkle and I don't mean the sparkle of diamonds or jewels. I am talking about the sparkles in your beverage, aka carbonated beverages. I'm a huge fan of champagne. You may recall a picture of Kellie and I sipping champagne from a Nalgene.

I've even been known to tailgate with champagne at a Tiger's game...there's no shame! I guess it wasn't any surprise that my wonderful MOH and family had a champagne bar at my wedding shower. 

Fear not, there's no need to send me to AA, this love of sparkle extends to any carbonated beverage. I think it adds a bit of festiveness to one's day! When Tyler and I were creating our wedding registries, we looked at a couple of different carbonating beverage systems and decided on the iSi Twist 'n Sparkle. Taking up only the space of a 950mL bottle, you are able to carbonate ANY beverage you like! Juices, water, wine, even milk (not sure how that would taste, but it's possible)! I have become a huge fan of this product. So much that I bought a second one. I figured we needed one at each house, you never know when the carbonating mood will strike :) I'm really looking forward to using this for pool-side cocktails. My first cocktail? A sparkling margarita!

All in the name of blogging and fashion!

You may be familiar with retail chains such as Target and H&M collaborating with high end designers such as, Missoni, Jimmy Choo, and Versace. This time it was Jason Wu designing a line for Target. I first heard of this on the Today Show when they were promoting expensive looks for less. After falling for this LBD, I was hooked. Plus, I thought it would make an interesting post (let's not forget blogging was one of my New Year's resolutions, so I had to make sure that I got this dress :)

I started stalking the Jason Wu collection on blogs, social media, and of course target.com. I learned that the collection would go live on 2/5, but Target was not releasing the time, they kept saying "early morning". I knew I would hit up the local Target store (thankfully it was one of the stores carrying the collection), but then around 7:30 PM on 2/4 I started hitting up Target's social media sites and I decided I might as well stay up and see if I could score anything online. I mean come on, what else did I have to do, this was a solo weekend!

All I can say is WOW! I had NO idea how crazy it was going to be. Around 10:00 PST, they released 3 dresses and chaos hit. Instantly someone posted the link on FB. Many users couldn't access the link and started calling shenanigans! Either they didn't believe people were actually able to make purchases or began blaming Target for their browsers not updating. I'm not gonna lie it got a bit ugly!

Long story short, I was able to order a couple of items at 10:30ish, set my alarm for midnight (they continued releasing a few items at a time to prevent their server from crashing), ordered a couple of more items and then left the house at 6:30 for the store's opening at 8:00 AM.

Pros: I was able to get 6 pieces, which included the LBD! This launch got my adrenaline pumping, just like Black Friday!

Cons: I wasn't able to get my hands on the very trendy black trench coat (even though the Target I went to carried the line, they didn't carry the full line...annoying!) and I was pretty tired by the time I got home. 

Who knows if any of my incoming goodies will actually be cute on. If not these items are HOT on ebay. One of those items is the "Milu Cat" tote. Originally $39.99, going for $130 with 23 bids! Good thing I picked up that item online...who knows maybe it will pay for a couple of plane tickets and I can visit my hubby!