I whip my hair back and forth



('embrace messy hair' print via funnelcloud on etsy. bw hair via tumblr. blonde knot via pinterest.)

 This weekend I ran out of dry shampoo (sinful), so I picked up some Big Sexy Hair Volumizing Dry Shampoo. Anyone tried it? I couldn't help but test out my new product on my perfectly clean hair this morning. Beauty fail. Oh, and I totally want to frame that 'Embrace Messy Hair' print for the bathroom. Words to live by!

where we gonna go from here?

Amazing how your day can turn around so quickly!

For starters, it's Monday. (Do I even need to elaborate?)

Last night, the BF and I spent HOURS putting together our new IKEA TV stand. I know, I know - everytime I get anything there, I swear I won't get another piece in fears that our house will start looking like an IKEA showroom. But the beauty is in the details (I can add my own touches later) and let's face it - you can't beat the price for some modern pieces. As we watching the terribly, awful Billboard Music Awards last night, we attempted to build this sucker. Long story short, we messed up on Step 2, therefore when we got to step 43, the whole thing was all wrong. Fail. Too late to even care anymore. So tonight we'll tackle that beast.

I have no clean clothes and never picked up my dry cleaning, so I'm wearing a pretty casual and 'nothin special' outfit. My hair looks like straw. I was rushed this morning, what do you expect?

ANYWAY!

I was out to grab a bite to eat by my lonesome when I got an email from Bri from Design Love Fest. The subject? WINNER!

I'm so stoked! I've never even tried to win anything on anyone's blog before! Beginner's luck! And, I just love her blog and everything she does. It's fabulous!

Oh, and I just signed up for OhJoy's Portland Blogging and Social Media workshop in June. I'm so thrilled!

Monday, you're not so bad afterall.

How did you spend your weekend?

On Saturday, went to breakfast with the BF at one of our standby breakfast joints, Cadillac Cafe. Then I picked up two of my girlfriends and headed to my co-worker's Stella & Dot Trunk Show. It was so fun to gawk over all the fabulous pieces! I ended up snagging some earrings since I never seem to wear any. I needed some, you hear?

Aren't they pretty?!

(Stella & Dot 'Garden Party Chandelier Earrings - Green/Gold')

Sunday was spent meeting with a potential new client for a freelance web project. Fun! I'm totally jazzed about it. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon at my brother's baseball game. Ended up at IKEA for some black picture frames and that god forsaken TV STAND! (See above). I'm angry just thinking about it. How many relationships end over IKEA assembly? I seriously wonder.

 

While in the car with my girlfriends, I expressed that I wished Lauren Conrad shared her beauty products. I'm so glad she heard me since I just came across this article that dishes what's in Lauren Conrad's makeup bag. Genius.

Incase you have $8.6 million in your back pocket, you can buy the late Elizabeth Taylor's Bel Air estate. Could you even imagine? She's owned it for the last 30 years. Check out the listing here.

The new season of The Bachelorette starts tonight. Crap. Another reality show...Here's a cheat sheet: get to know the 25 guys before you watch.

I think I need this for my new iPhone that I just decided that I needed. I can't handle the slow-going of my current phone.

Until next time....

brand new day.

(I need to remember this as I go into Weekend 1 on this 6-week diet. Pizza Fridays are no longer...)

Is it 5:30p yet? So ready for the weekend! I need some downtown to relax. What's on tap this weekend?

On Saturday, I'm meeting up with my girlfriend for coffee to chat about some freelance projects I have going on for her and then we're going to check out the Sample Sale at Egg Press. Our favorite letterpress cards for just $1? Yes please!

But before that, I think I might try to hit up this Old Navy sale. Have you heard about it? From 7am-11am only, all swimsuits are 60% off! Hard to resist a sale...

Trail Blazers vs. Mavericks in Game 1 of the Playoffs? Obviously. Free fun.

Other than that - I need to do some much needed Vegas shopping and planning, pay some bills, read some books and try to stretch these two days and make them feel as long as I can. How is it already halfway through April? Crazy.

Speaking of Vegas outfits...I'm kind of loving this look I created. That necklace? Jewel tones are so fab! But not sure it goes with the top, but who cares, one Photoshop document opened...one photo is what you get!



(1. Urban Outfitters tank  2. H&M hat 3. LC Conrad Sandals 4. Necklace) 

 This week my aunt called me a "foodie." I mean, I guess? Really, I just love to dine out. It's what the boyfriend and I have always loved to do. We get to try new foods and ambiances on date night - all while leaving the dishes behind! There are our standbys - the Thai place on Alberta, the pizza join down the street and dessert out of the case at New Seasons Market. But I'm always looking for recommendations and inspiration to switch it up and try something new.
I came across the blog, Under the Table with Jen a while ago, but just now revisited it again. This needs to be in your "Favorites."

Last night I ended up talking with two co-workers about the best burgers in Portland...oh delicious. I need to blog about my adventures out more often. These ladies were eating it up (ha!)

(found on Pinterest here)

Also - Just came across this creative way to store ribbon. I really need more ribbon. I can't come up with a good reason why, but maybe before Christmas time rolls around, I'll make this lil device. If you're not on Pinterest...well then you probably have more productive days at the office than I do. Wait, that's relative.

don't let me down...

What is wrong with me? I feel like I always have intetions of keeping this blog up, but it just escapes me. I go through life saying, "Oh, I should totally blog about this," but never get around to it. I browse so many blogs every day, but neglect my own. Tsk, tsk!

So what have I been up to? Hell knows. Actually, just a lot of working, freelance projects and trying to relax on the weekends!

• Last Friday, we were in our company suite to watch Lam Lam Odom and the rest of the Lakers get crushed by the Blazers. Plus, I was wearing my new "The dream of the 90s is alive in Portland" Blazer t-shirt that my co-worker made. Want one? You know you do.
• Speaking of Lam Lam, the premeire of Khloe & Lamar was on Sunday. Offically hooked. I mean, it's the Kardashians. What do you expect? They're just so damn adorable. And Rob Kardashian in those thick glasses? Hot. And let's not forget that I could not get the song from the show's trailer out of my head for the 3 days leading up to the show. "Takin' me higher...higghhhherrrr..."
• On Monday, I started my "I have to be in a bathing suit in Vegas in 4 weeks" diet. It's the 6 Week Body Makeover plan. Pretty bland, but not terrible. Hoping to shed some much needed pounds before the sun actually comes out. Let's see if I can do this. I am not known to have much self restrain around chips and salsa. Or anything for that matter.
  
• I'm now selling Mary Kay? Random for sure, but who can resist a deal on products? Not me, apparently. Want some fun products? Check out my website and order, order, order!
• Looking for inspiration (and cash flow) to revamp my wardrobe from only grey and and black to fun neons and bright hues for Spring. Had fun trying on bell-bottom jeans and flow-y tops at Nordstrom over the weekend. I will be back. This pair of 70s-inspired J-Brand's have my name all over them! My foot is non-existant in them. Is that totally rediculous?
• Finished designing and creating my friend's new music booking agency website. Check out Veronica Booking if you're in the market to get some shows booked.
• Tried Lucy's Original over the weekend. The food truck is located on N Mississippi and their fried egg breakfast sandwiches are to-DIE-for. I had the "XMas" and boyfriend had a "Messenger." Seriously yum.

And that's the update folks! Besides watching Tori and Dean, Bethenny Ever After, The Real Housewives of Orange County and anything on E!, I've been up to no good. You'd swear I was a couch potato, but I've actually been busy working out, cookin' up a storm, online window shopping and planning my sister's bridal shower (it's in July - but hey, I love to plan)! Hoping to clean up the growing pile of clothes I have stacked on my dresser and organize my life before the weekend...only to create a new pile come Monday morning. Oops.

how do you measure, measure a year?

Just came across the site 365 Things to do in Portland, and I love it!

I'm all about making lists and exploring parts of the city that I haven't yet discovered.

I wish they had a list so that I could start checking things off, but I guess I'll have to make my own for all of our spring and summer adventures!

What's on your "must see, must do, must visit" places in Portland? I'm dying to know!

just another manic Monday...

This weekend was a whirlwind!

Friday night, we continuted our newfound tradition of grabbing pizza with our friend Marty. Our goal is to try a new place everyweek. We decided to try a place in our neighborhood, but when we stopped into Firehouse we were turned away since they were all booked up for the night.

We went across the street to Good Neighbor Pizza. Its right next door to one of our favorite places, Breakside Brewing, so we've wanted to try it for a while. The pizza is a tad more spendy than the usual gourmet pizza we are used to, but it was totally, totally worth it!

We ended up sharing a 18" half Chicken Pesto (roasted chicken, pesto, feta & spinach) and Hog Heaven (pepperoni, spicy italian sausage, Canadian bacon, apple-smoked bacon & tomatoes). They were out of bacon (the horror) so we subsititued for salami. It was by far the most delicious pizza I've had in a while - maybe even since our best pizza experience in San Francisco last year!

Then we were feeling spontaneous, so we ended up going cosmic bowling! Hilarious to say the least!

On Saturday, I went down to Aurora for day 1 of my cousin's bridal shower. Fun to catch up with family and hang out.
My sister and I decided to go in on a gift together for the bridal shower. Instead of sticking to the registry like most other people did, I got her 2 Kate Spade bangle bracelets. They come in these adorable mini hat boxes, and they bracelets have cute phrases engraved on the inside. One was white, and said "on cloud nine." The other was purple and said "three cheers." When I bought the bangles, I went up to the counter and the sales woman ran to the back to get me some new ones instead of the ones on the floor. She wrapped them up in the boxes and tied the ribbon.

Day of the shower - our cute Kate Spade gift bag is up! Everyone's looking since it's not from Macy's or Bed, Bath and Beyond. She opens the box and goes, "Oh cute!" and I was trying to tell her to read the inscription. She looked on the inside and began reading it aloud. "Tickeling the...ivories?" Everyone was dead silent. She did an akward laugh. I was horrified. The. Wrong. Bracelet. So very awkward!

The festivities continued on Sunday, when we all went wine tasting throughout the Oregon Wine Country. All of the younger ladies piled into a limo while my cousin chauffeured the other ladies around. We stopped at Anne Amie Vineyards, Erath Winery, and Elk Cove Vineyards. Wine tasting all day on Sunday? I'm exhausted!

please forgive me if I act a little strange...

I just went from enraged to insanely happy in 3 minutes! For the last few days, I have been paitently waiting for the chance to purchase or pre-order their "Kate Spade New York Supports Japan" tote bag. With a cool $18 price tag, 100% of the proceeds will go towards the Japanese Red Cross. A win win, right?

Wrong.

Let it be known that I would buy this bag on it's own anyway. The donation to Japan relief efforts was an added bonus. But unlike the spirit of the Kate Spade brand, this experience took me from a fan to a foe within a few days.

With the hype of the adorable tote bags plastered all over their Facebook and Twitter pages, Kate Spade kept insisting that they'd tell their customers when the link was ready to purchase and made us all sit tight and wait.

"We are so thankful to have so much excitement about the kate spade new york supports japan tote. our team is working hard to make sure that it is uploaded correctly on our website. we will share more details soon!"

So the link went up this morning, and the bags sold out in 15 minutes. Their website didn't display the link properly which they attributed to "growing pains of our new website." I'm all for blaming technology, and I don't doubt the demand was high, but from a marketing perspective - it was all wrong.

As one Facebook fan pointed out, all of this could have been avoided if they made enough bags to accomodate the demand or at least filled customers in on the production status. With 212,754 fans on Facebook and a few thousand more on Twitter, they obviously drummed up enough attention. But producing a product with the proceeds going to charity will do that. I'm afraid that they just pissed off a lot more people than are pleased with their tote bag purchase.

I love the idea that their brand decided to design a bag to help Japan. While Groupons and LivingSocial pages were offering a place to donate and the company will match, Kate Spade went a different route.

A simple email blast informing everyone of the details would have saved a ton of time and less dissapointment. Right?

One nice girl pointed out that their store in Texas was taking pre-orders, so I called, gave my information, and I'll have a bag in a week and a half. I'm happy to have the bag. I'm more happy to help Japan. I just feel so silly that I got so upset over a TOTE BAG!

My thoughts go out to everyone in Japan. Don't think that this is my only attempt to help Japan. I plan on donating more to help the relief effort.

At the end of the day, I feel totally silly to get so flustered over a tote bag. Forgive me?