Christmas pt 1.

Alright guys, this has gotten out of hand! I litterally have about ten posts in the making to sum up my incredibly busy Christmas season (which is not over either!), so I have decided to do a series of posts coving the whole mess over the next week. I have some really, wonderful, awsome, funny, and exciting things to post about I hardly know where to start, so I'm just going to start at the beginning. So here is a funny little ditty and a cool crafty project to start us off!

My mess:

Gracie's mess:


Tuesday I made gift tags for all my gifts. I used my mom's Sizzix to cut the tags then drew the initial of the gift recipient, filled it with glue and covered it in glitter. They're very simple to make and alot of fun. What was more entertaining was what happened while I did this.

My mom and Chelsea went to go do last minute shopping leaving me with Grace. There is a rule in our house that when Grace is being particularly annoying (and believe you me, she can get very annoying especially when playing with glitter), we put on Twilight. She loves that movie with a deep and burning passion. What is most amusing is that she can (and I am not joking about this at all) quote the entire movie. She also discusses various aspects whilst watching. Observe:

Grace: I just really like Edward.
Ashley: uh-huh, that's nice Grace.
Grace: I mean he is alot like me.
Ashley: uh-huh, that's nice Grace.
Grace: Like he is moody and fair, and I am moody and fair.
Ashley: (with an eyebrow cocked)Really?
Grace: Yeah and he was mad at the boys who wanted to hurt Bella and I'm mad at the boys (our brothers)for hiding Twilight and not liking Edward. He's just so much like me. *Sigh*
Ashley: Grace watch the dang movie and be quiet.
Grace: Okay. Hey! We're making things glittery like Edward.
Ashley: yes we are.
Grace: oooo! Alice has cute shoes!

There was also a discussion as to why Edward and Emmett slammed into each other while playing baseball because that is not a nice thing to do to your brother, and why James is evil ("I just... I just don't know how he gotted that way. I mean for real, he is so mean."). And during this whole thing she made coffee, and drank a cup of coffee. She is four. She knows how to make coffee. She drinks a morning cup, an afternoon cup, and an evening cup now. She uses the kitchen stool to get her cup and then pour herself some. She does not need coffee. She'd already wired enough.

These are the gift tags we (I) made. They were really easy to do and ended up looking really pretty. After I made them of course I realized I could have just used glitter glue and called it a night, but what is the fun in that? The best part of these is that they'd be great for gifts in other seasons as well. The paper/glitter combination posibilities are endless! I got the idea from the December issue of Martha Stewart Living. The issue featured the initials placed on the actual wrapping paper as well, which would be really pretty too!

Here are a few of the tags in action. I really loved the way they came out. Definately doing this again!

I'll post more about the gifts I gave and recived tomorrow. This was a particularly wonderful gift year. If you ever doubt the impact a homemade gift can have, don't. Tomorrow is filled with a real tear jerker (well at least it made me bawl like a baby in front of my friends and family. Excpet pictures of my horrible "Cry Face" (a close relation of "Pose Face")).

I hope all of your Christmas's were wonderful and splendid!

The Big Squeeze

New song lyrics?: Candy Wrapper kisses

I'm trying to catch up with the goings on that have been, well, going on. This was supposed to be posted on Friday and for some reason wasn't. I hope everyone's Christmas and Holiday Preparations are going swimmingly! I have much to show you guys tomorrow, but for today I am off to Christmas Party #2 which will hopefully produce more photos than Christmas Party #1.

Thursday night I played at Open Mic Night. Remember Dreamboat Musician? Well he is now known as The Artist Formerly Known As Dreamboat Musician. We'll get there eventually. Anyways I played and it went really well actually! I mean as far as I can tell. I have this nasty habit of tending to zone out on stages. It can actually get really creepy to the point of I'll go do my thang get off stage and then ask people when I'm supposed to go on. I did this a few times at Voice Recitals in College. Creeped everyone out including me. But this time I got off the stage only half cognizant of what just happened and I felt good about it. Like proud and confident and happy with it. I know there were a few blips on the radar, but overall it was an A- performance. I'm okay with that for now. It was a good learning experience too. And I have figured out why I did so well and what I need to do before I perform from now on. The only reason I went was because Sarah forced me to. I wanted to go to bed but she said no go play it will be good, so I'm very glad she made me. But seeing as it is me, obviously something went horribly (and somewhat amusingly) wrong.

Sarah decided she wanted to stay at least until TAFKADM (see above) played (this was while he was still only known as DM). I'm pretty sure she just wanted an excuse to stare at him without seeming creepy. I mean the guy could pass for Adonis any day so it's no wonder he has this effect on people. Well in the mean time there is a young man who frequents the coffee shop who is retarded. I'm sure he is quite a lovely fellow and he does seem to be incredibly sweet, but unfortunately he developed a crush on me during the last three weeks. He kept coming up to me and being creepy and asking me really dumb questions about my music. Then he started asking about my personal life and all this nonsense and I complained to Sarah that it is always me that creepy seem to like, and he would just stand by my chair and look at me and then he asked if he could sit with us. Luckily Charissa and her boyfriend Ryan showed up and I told him they were staying with us, but then they decided not to stay and so he kept hanging around us like he was hoping for an invitation to sit. So he started to talk to me again about God knows what and I was trying to ignore him by talking with Sarah who is apparently incapable of having fake conversations and just got up and left because she didn't know what to do. Thanks friend for the abandonment (I'm kidding you know that.). It should be noted that I have absolutely nothing against mentally challenged people. Honestly I've known quite a few over the years, and I've always been kind and courteous and nice, and even did my best to treat them like normal people. it drives me nuts when people classify others because of a mental or physical limitation. People are people regardless of anything. They should be treated like people. I've always done my best to walk that talk. But this guy was just creepy. Like seriously uncomfortably creepy. I had to tell him some bull crap story about my boyfriend (which by the end of the night I think turned into a fiance) in order for him to leave me alone. It was so horrible. Though Sarah and I did agree that this is a step up. Even if I now attract retarded guys, I no longer attract gay guys so at least I'm getting people who are interested in my kind. It's a long story about the gay guys, but I've been in love with about four. It was a trying time in my life, and I still have horrible Gay-dar.

So then we're sitting there watching people sound like crap, and I look over at TAFKADM and there is some girl who I know for a fact is STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL! with her head on his shoulder. I sigh and shrug in defeat when he reaches his arm around her and goes for her boob. Then he went for a boob squeeze. Yep. In the middle of the room, with everyone around. I mean at least have the decency to take it to the bathroom guy. AND SHE'S FREAKING 17!!!! and a wannabe punk! Poor taste sir, poor taste. So I tell this to Sarah, she glares at him in disgust, but insists that we stay until he plays. So a half an hour before the thing is supposed to be over TAFKADM and Miss Jail Bait walk out of the building never to return. He didn't even sign up to play that night. So then Sarah was mad that we'd sat through Emotion Canvas (please click the link. Seriously your life will be changed) for him, so we left and went to Denny's on the way there Sarah called Charissa and Ryan and they met us there and we ended up staying to like one in the morning. I got home around 2:15 or 2:30 and finally got in bed at about 3:30. So all in all it was a really good night. RIP DM.

Emotion Canvas and their Christmas Sweaters. Yep.

The Tale of Ashley and The Shoes of Destiny

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Ashley. She was a fun loving girl who liked to travel and to shop. Unfortunately doing one or the other of these usually led to her being unable to do the other. One July she saved money and went off with her dear friend Jess and dear sister Bri to San Francisco for five glorious days of fun. And fun they were. Unfortunately Ashley's bank account did not think this was fun and upon her arrival home she discovered that all her shopping funds had already been spent hunting San Franciscan Ghosts and eating Clam Chowder from a bread bowl. Ashley was saddened by this but prevailed. After all she is the heroine of our story and heroines usually prevail.

Well along came August a month most hot in Ashley's home of Southern California. Ashley did not do hot. She did not like hot, she did not tolerate hot. You should ask her about how frustrated she currently is with the fact that it is in the high 70's in the middle of December, but more on that later.

To combat the heat Ashley liked to wear sandals. She really enjoyed a good sandal. So one day while out window shopping she stumbled into an Urban Outfitters where a choir of angels began to sing and the heaven's parted shine their glorious light upon The Shoes. The Shoes were not fancy. There were not pretty either. They seemed rough in a way, yet still carried an air of daintiness. Thoughts of traipsing through Greece and Rome suddenly filled her minds eye. She could see herself wearing a flowey white dress and The Shoes as she wondered amid the ruins of Athens. She could see herself in the shoes and an Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday inspired skirt and shirt as she threw a coin in the Trevi Fountain. They were the perfect shoe for travelling and they made her heart sing.

Ashley picked up the shoes knowing they would never fit her colossally big foot. But lo and behold they were her size. She tried them on. Oh how they fit! As if the gods had molded them for her foot alone. But Ashley knew she would never be able to afford them. She checked the price and gasped. The price tag showed a price of $150 (which she thought was a stupid and dumb price for such shoes even if they were perfect in every way). She sighed knowing it was not meant to be. Until she looked at the bottom of the tag. Oh Lo! What's this! They are on sale! FOR $20!!!! "Holy MoFo!" She exclaimed. and then she saw the last thing that sold her on these shoes. Down at the bottom of the tag was written "Last Pair in Store!" and Ashley skipped to the register. However once she was three people from the line she remembered that there was exactly $4.23 in her bank account. her heart sunk. She knew she couldn't make off with her beloved shoes. Despite all their gloriousness, she was still suffering financially from her travels. She was conflicted. Spend money she didn't have and become the owner of the perfect shoes, or be responsible because the likelihood of her actually getting to travel to Greece and Italy would be less likely if she did in fact buy The Shoes. With a heavy heart Ashley got out of line, put the shoes back and slowly walked out of the store. Her dreams were dashed.

December rolled around and for some annoying reason the weather was not co-operating. While other people had lovely thick blankets of snow about them, she was stuck with windy, dry, mid-70's. She was peeved. And when she was peeved Ashley let off steam by getting lost in an Thrift store for an hour or three (usually three). Her first stop was her favourite Thrift shop. It was run by old ladies who thought Ashley was charming and sweet. They found her old lady ways delightful. They began to save things they thought she might like for her. They included supplemental cookbooks to the cookbooks she collected, little 70's plaques that she couldn't get enough of, and vintage little girl's clothing. She was a very happy girl despite the heat.

Ashley left this thrift store and headed over towards Goodwill. It should be noted that she had become uncharacteristically responsible with money over the past months and now did not need to worry about spending $20 on something she really loved. This had been helped by the fact that she only shopped thrift stores now and stayed far, far away from Target. So on to Goodwill she went. she browsed the dresses, she browsed the bags, She browsed the figurines for anything freaky. She then began to browse the shoes. She looked and looked, and looked and then she stopped. A brown strap hung beneath a plastic hooker boot. The strap called to her. She moved the hooker boot and there they were. The Shoes. No! It couldn't be! Ashley picked them up. They were the very same shoes. Frantically she flipped them over. Stuck on the bottom was a sticker marked $150, on sale for $20, Last pair in the store, and a size gigantic. The very exact same shoes were now before her, in her hands once again. The price! She thought. She was sure that they had been marked up to some stupid price like $10 or something, but she didn't care they would be hers. And then she found the little green sticker. The price? $3.99. she looked again. They were still $3.99. And then she bought them with visions of Roman escapades, and Greek food running through her deliriously happy mind.

And that my friends is how Ashley found The Shoes of Destiny.

Has Destiny ever found you in a thrift store?

Cats & Laundry Hampers

Oh hi. How are you? I'm good. I've been busy. And lazy (mostly lazy) and I'm still trying to figure out where this week has gone. I'm having a fun little party on Sunday so I've been frantically trying to get everything ready. But I am super excited for it (especially since it may even involve you guys here! Details to come!).

So I have a bit of catching up to do starting with a "Cats at Goodwill" update. I'm thinking of starting a new blog entirely dedicated to weird figurines found at Goodwill and other various places. I have enough to fill the first year.

I went back to Goodwill sometime last week in search of a hamper. More on the hamper later. While browsing, I went to see if the stupid cats were still there. I was seriously determined to buy the second one if it was there. It was not. But these are what were there:

Click to enlarge. Note that in the first photo there is a creature made entirely out of shells. He got his own separate picture too.

My theory is that Jean was an old lady who wanted to be a cat lady, but was allergic to cats and thus surrounded herself with cat figurines. Upon her death her family donated all the cats too Goodwill because frankly they were scary. The best part is when I took the picture of the super creeptastic pink one some gangster Cholo guy walked by with his girlfriend and pointed to it saying "holy s**t that is going to give me nightmares!" I laughed rather obnoxiously at that.

Moral of the story is that it is probably a very good thing that the stupid cat wasn't there, because I would be one step closer to being a cat lady. And I hate cats.

But anyhoodles, moving on. I went in search of a laundry hamper. This is my old hamper:

Yeah. That's it upside down so you can see the metal wire thing sticking out that made it impossible for me to put the thing upright. Basically it was useless. And yes I go have a mini Finding Nemo hamper as well. This if for dry cleaning stuff. It's cute. Shut up.

I wanted one of those wicker ones from the 60's with the padded top. My great grandparents had one when I was a kid. Their whole bedroom was in this really vintage-y cornflower blue colour, including their hamper. I really wanted one in that colour, but I was willing to settle for white.

So I went in with the intent of just looking for a hamper and then leaving. I bought a purse, a dress (though it wasn't for me), a really awesome vintage hat, finally found a nice brown leather belt, and tried to convince myself that the 60's pumps that were a 10 AA would fit me when I'm actually a 10 A. I didn't buy them. Oh and I forgot the hamper. But then I remembered that I really need cold weather pajamas because I have resorted to pink flannel pj pants with tiny smiling mushrooms on them, and a red lumberjack plaid flannel button up. So I went to the section of the store that has lingerie and pj's. This part of the store grosses me out, so I never actually bother looking there. And as per usual, I didn't last long. One nasty black teddy later I meandered over towards where they keep the luggage. I glanced in the pile and look what I saw peeking out:

I know! Exactly what I wanted! I did a jig in Goodwill. Highly successful trip I'd say! And this is the hat I got. It's in absolutely perfect condition! Now I just need something to wear it with!

Tomorrow I will tell you about the Shoes of Destiny and the perks of befriending old ladies in thrift stores.

How have you been? What did you do this weekend?

Round up

Barret, Blouse, Beads, Earrings- Vintage,

Skirt- Thrifted,

Shoes- Retired dance shoes from here

(if you are in the market BEST prices for Character shoes. I think mine are 2" heeled Capezio brand. I really want a pair of the black T-straps, but seeing as I am not very theatrically active anymore I'm not sure I can justify it!)

Points of order:

• I played at Open Mic night last night and if there hadn't been any technical difficulties it would have been a smashing success. By technical difficulties I mean that I freaked out the sound system, flubbed up words, and nearly died on a lugie that decided to rear it's ugly head mid song. But otherwise it went well. I wrote a whole play by play post that I may post this weekend.
• For those who call me on my cell phone (so no one. I hate phones.) it is currently out of commission. For some reason it's freaking out and I've been on hold all morning trying to get the thing fixed. If you need to get a hold of me try Facebook or email.
• I was featured (in the above photo) as a Wardrobe Remixer of the week! Made me blush too cuz my face looks so stupid in that photo! haha! But I am incredibly flattered! So thanks!
• Tomorrow I have an honest to goodness legitimate post. It is about The Princess and The Frog and something incredibly cool my family and I got to do. Lots of really neat pictures. I've been meaning to post it for a week, but the stars have not been aligned. Tomorrow it will be done.
• What do y'all think about vlogging? I like the idea, but I'm afraid I'd talk too much. However I'm thinking about doing a music feature using a video blog. Thoughts?
• Scratch what I said about the phone. They just fixed it.
• Have just discovered there is a refill bottle for my face wash. Every two weeks or so I go and buy another bottle. It costs between $9-$5 depending on where I buy it. For $12.99 I can buy a refill bottle that has enough to refill my little bottle three-four times. Score.
• I am pretty sure I have a cold. I'm pretty sure Jessica gave it to me.
• It is raining! Yay!
• You need to go to Youtube and watch this. Best. Video. Ever. We all spent about 20 minutes at work laughing over it. The end is the best part.
• I found more cats at Goodwill. Expect a post about them soon. The one I was going to buy was gone though. Sad.

That's all I got. Have a lovely weekend guys! We're getting a Christmas tree and going to Disneyland in the rain. What are you doing?

Hobo Snow Fights

Dres and blouse- thrifted, bow-Lululetty, tights-target, everything else is vintage.

Just a real quick post. I have about 10 petitions on my desk for me to input (joy). So I'm very busy today. But I really like the way this came out. Very school girlish I guess. Funny story. My photo spot is by a dumpster. Yesterday I apparently chose the prime Hobo traffic time where they all come out and fight over picking cans and soda bottles out of the dumpster. So there I was minding my won beeswax when suddenly a legion of hobos surrounded me and began to make fun of the fact that I was taking photos of myself. Then they wanted my money. I managed to survive by the way.

My mom came and visited work yesterday because she had to get something from my dad or something and she wanted to show me all these $2 Martha Stewart craft things she found. Jessica and I went out to go look at them in the car and the truck parked next to her was covered in this stuff:

A snowball fight ensued, and then we ate it. I love the way snow tastes, even if it is from off the top of a dirty old car. We were really excited to see snow (can you tell we live in So. California?). The rainstorm we had brought a bunch of snow to Big Bear this week. There's another storm coming in this weekend too. Yay!

How's your week so far? Is it snowing where you are?

Desked

Clockwisefrom top left: My little car, Astrid, in the rain, my boots,

A very tempting puddle, the rain coming down over Carl's Jr.

It occured to me yesterday while I was cooped up in my office all by my lonesome (curse you finals week!) that I have never shown you my office, or desk. Our desks are our once source of creativity/personality/happiness. All the walls in the whole building are painted in horrible brown tones named "bonjour beige" and "brownbag." I want to throw up in the brown bag, and say bonjour to the beige, but I'm mearly a minion. But this has made us "decorate" our desks rather charmingly. Now I honestly could care less about my desk, I sit, I do my thang, and I leave as soon as I can. So Bri, and somewhat Jessica, have taken it upon themselfes to ply me with random bits to decorate with. I do the same in exchange. Bri and Jessica's desks are far more interesting, but here is my offering.

Clockwise from top left: 1. My office coffee cup which was a Christmas-by-way-of-Valentine's day gift from Michael. 2. Twilight Sweetharts (which are seriously so gross) from Jess. 3. A little flip book full of snarky sayings and vintage pictures from Charissa last Christmas. 4. Angus (not Nessie) the Loch Desk Monster from Bri for Christmas last year.

Clockwise from top left: 1. This is Adam Golka. These flyers were all over the ground at Bri and Michael's school. They thought he was funny looking, thus a viable possible love interest for me. He's some sort of like young virtuoso in San Bernadino. I'm trying to get him to add me as a friend on Facebook so I can start a fan page for him. No I have no plans on him being a love interest of mine. 2. Unicorns are my favourite. 3. Bri drew this! and added quotes (some I'm pretty sure she made up) from Twilight! 4. There is a Carl's Jr. behind us. Anytime a new promotional add is circulated, one of us gives another one of us said promotional add for decoration. I was the lucky SOB to get the Hot Hardee's Biscuit. Yay.

Clockwise from top left: 1.It was a boring day, a slow day, a day in which we all copied our faces. We even copied our hair. We drawn the line at butts. 2. Jessica drew this for me. It says Chipotle + Medicine = a happy sick Asian. 3. There is a really good chinese food place downtown. lately I've been saving my fortunes and tacking them to my desk. 4. Um I draw on my desk. With a pen. Yes. I am four.

And that's my desk! Boring, and rather pitiful, but it's where I spend most my life, so it might as well make me smile a bit. What does your desk look like? Is it neat and tidy, or organized chaos (or just plain chaos!)?