Weekend with My Parents

I had an absolutely wonderful weekend with my parents!!! They got in early Friday morning and I surprised Mom at the airport (Dad knew in case something were to change in either of our schedules) so we were all up early--they were up far earlier than me, but 6 am is plenty early! We checked them into their hotel and headed to the sample sales at New Mart. I found two pairs of Silver jeans and a pair of Silver shorts all for $20. Score!! We found Dad a few shirts that we got a great deal on and Mom found a few things as well. After we were sample sale-d out we headed to North Robertson to check out where I work. Of course Mom found a bag she wants! :-) We then headed to The Grove and walked around and ate at the Fat Cow. Friday evening we went to Hollywood to the Pantages Theatre and saw Book of Mormon. It was HILARIOUS!!!! From the opening line we were all laughing.

Saturday we headed to Temecula. Beautiful! We found a cute little bed and breakfast to spend the night at and jumped aboard a wine tour. We went to three different wineries. It was really fun! After that we checked out Old Town Temecula and had supper. Sunday we got up and ate breakfast at the B&B we stayed at and left for home :-(

I can't wait until I get to spend another weekend with them!!

Churon, the Bed & Breakfast we stayed at

Our wine tour trolley!

They're cute! :-)

Beautiful morning view!

Happy Birthday to me!

Another year older, another year wiser! Well...part of that statement is true, anyway! I had a great year as a 22 year-old! Some highlights include:

• Wartburg Homecoming with my Mom! She taught me how to smuggle special coffee into a football game!
• A trip to visit Uncle Paul in Dillon, CO with none other than my favorite little brother! We had some quality bonding time driving across Nebraska, let me tell ya! 

This is the only pic I have of the trip. Sad.

• FRONT ROW tickets to Jason Aldean/Luke Bryan concert in Cedar Falls with my parents and Little Brother (LB). I touched Luke's hand!!! (I know I'm pathetic.)                                               

Luke's best asset ;-)

Jason!

• Miranda Lambert concert in Minneapolis with my mom

• Thirsty Thursdays!

Danielle and Derek!

• Graduating Wartburg!

• Caribbean cruise with my mom. The best graduation present ever!!

Carnival Freedom

• Moving to LA and starting FIDM
• Meeting Lauren Conrad

The Voice Recap

This past week I had another opportunity to go to a taping of The Voice. This time is was for Season 4 Blind Auditions. It wasn't quite as exciting as Knockout Rounds, but it was still awesome to be there! Once again, I had almost perfect seats!! We were level with the coaches and could see all of their reactions and conversations while the artis performed. The only bad thing was that one they turned their chairs we couldn't see them anymore. I'd much rather have the seats we had than to see them once they turned around. It just wasn't the same without Cee Lo and Christina. I love Usher and he was absolutely adorable in person! Shakira was a NIGHTMARE!!! I was disappointed when I heard she would be joining The Voice, and yesterday just confirmed it. She talked for literally 20 minutes trying to convince an artist to be on her team. When I say talk, I mean jabbered about NOTHING! What she was saying had no relevance! At one point in time she was telling us about her childhood in Colombia. One of her best lines was, "I'm a mother now." Um, yeah...to an unborn child! Nice try! She made Christina look low maintenance. Between literally every break or pause (generally 10-15 minutes) she would whip out her compact and fuss with her hair and makeup for at least 5 minutes. I mean, I'm sure she's great, but I'm not a fan. We sat on Blake's side and were super close...30 feet away tops. Couldn't have asked for better seats! :-) Best part of all of this is that is was free! Thanks 1iota!

Praying Mantis

This little (scary) guy decided to be my friend at work the other day. One of my co-workers and I were just casually standing and talking and all of the sudden out of the corner of my eye I see a praying mantis sitting on my shoulder!!!!! It took everything in me not to freak out!!! It was so gross! According to my co-worker, when they land on you it's good karma (or something like that). I don't care, I don't want this creepy thing anywhere near me! http://quantumbiologist.wordpress.com/2010/12/15/the-deadly-mantis/

I met Lauren Conrad!!

My roommate and I volunteered for Susan G. Komen Designs for the Cure gala yesterday afternoon and evening. We were originally assigned to be greeters and help with registration, but neither of us could make it to the mandatory training session (training to be a volunteer...I was confused as well) so we got moved to survivor hosts. At first we were both unhappy. BUT as it turns out we got the best job ever!!! We got to hang out with and get to know the 8 beautiful, inspiring women who were being featured at the gala while they got their hair, makeup, and nails done. We were essentially their "shadow" for the entire day to make sure they were OK and just had someone there to talk to if they needed it.

Lauren Conrad designed the dresses and gown for these women and was a featured speaker at the dinner. She was in the dressing room with us for a while before photos and dinner helping make last-minute adjustments and making sure everything fit correctly. She is such a sweetheart and just as beautiful, if not more beautiful, in person! It was an awesome experience all around!

(I also got a free copy of her new "Beauty Book" that's not out until October 16th. Oh the perks of being a volunteer.)

I'm waiting for the professional picture to get sent to me, but it's Lauren Conrad!!

Appliances older than me

We used to have the oldest microwave I have seen in my entire life! Older than the one that is still in my parents' basement. It wouldn't even pop popcorn!! After (literally) 5 minutes, I ended up with maybe 1/4 bag of popped kernels and they were all burnt. So we called the trust maintenance guy to fix it for us. One look and he shakes his head and says the microwave is older than me. He doesn't even try to fix it and just places an order for a new one. While in the process of looking at our microwave, he said our faucet was "ugly" and that he would replace that for us as well. There was absolutely nothing wrong with our fauce, but now we have a new faucet! My next mission is to get a new oven. ;-)

From....

....To

My next mission. This thing has got to be just as old as the microwave was!

Quarter 2

My first week of school is done! I have four classes again this semester: Merchandising Strategies, Merchandise Buying, Applied Trend Forecasting, and Textile Science.

Merchandising Strategies is going to be a super fun class!! The teacher is high energy and made it really interesting—the first day anyway! This class is a continuation of a class I had last quarter. It sounds like I’ll be learning about the different strategies stores use when selling merchandise i.e. private label vs. national brand, strategic partnerships, customer relations, etc.

Merchandise Buying is going to be HORRIBLE!!! Absolutely horrible! My friend and I decided that the teacher’s mouth doesn’t move when she talks and it’s physically impossible for her to smile. She is going to be terrible!

Applied Trend Forecasting is another continuation from last quarter. I loved my trends class last quarter and am excited for this one. Last quarter we talked about trends as a whole whereas this quarter is going to be geared more toward fashion trends.

Textile Science isn’t going to be fun, either. The teacher warned us within the first five minutes that it’s solely a lecture class. I’ll be learning about what fabrics are made of (animal/plant, cellulose/fiber, etc.), how to care for them (ironing temperature, what thread can be used with what fabric, etc.), how to identify thread count and what it means, and be able to identify what fabric something is made of by just looking at it. I could honestly care less, I just like cute clothes.

 I'm already sick of school and it's only the first week. Is it March yet?? :-)

Internet at Last!!!

After 3 weeks, I FINALLY have internet in my apartment!! Thank goodness!! I was starting to go nuts!!

I start classes again tomorrow. Can't say I'm looking forward to sacrificing my free time and pool days. :-(

I can't get over the fact that it's October and I can still lay by the pool in my bikini!! On October 1st it was 113. It's hard for me to grasp my head around it!

Woodland Hills Weekend

I had a wonderful, relaxing weekend in Woodland Hills with my uncle and Dana. It was, once again, great to get out of the city and have some peace and quiet in my life.

Dana is part of a rock band that performed this weekend. It was really cool! She had performances both Saturday and Sunday. There was a Nordstrom Rack almost next door to where she performed. I snuck into there on Sunday. I'm not a fan! I need organization when I shop and there was none there. Plus there's people galore! It's Old Navy meets a warehouse. I didn't get anything. Of the few things I wanted, of course my size was gone. It was quite the experience.

I also had quite the culinary experiences this weekend. Saturday Dana made a German meal complete with schnitzel, potatoes, and noodles. All of it was delicious! I've been to Germany, but the only food I remember eating there was lots and lots of ice cream (whatever their version is called) and bratwurst and sauerkraut. Needless to say I was a hungry 16-year-old! On Sunday, we went to a Japanese BBQ place for dinner. It reminded me of being in China. We all sat around a table with a grill in the middle. They brought us small dishes of raw meat and Grill Master Uncle Bill grilled it for us. It was really good and such a fun experience. We were all stuffed beyond the brim after that. I also tried sushi for the first time at this place. I had a spicy tuna roll...just one little piece. It wasn't terrible, but I still need to ease into this whole sushi thing. I was also introduced to grits for the first time. Dana made us grits and shrimp. I'm definitely sold on that! Dana also made a homemade red velvet cake that was beyond good! On Monday I had that for breakfast, dessert for lunch, and dessert for dinner. I was sitting on the couch eating my cake and drinking my coffee for breakfast and Dana went for a jog and Uncle Bill was lifting weights upstairs. I like my situation the best ;-). I am definitely my mother's daughter!

I'm really going to miss Uncle Bill and Dana when they move! :-(

Not even 11

It's been quite an interesting morning already and it's not even 11. I woke up to sirens blaring at 8 am...but that's nothing out of the ordinary. I fell back asleep and was woken up again by hammers. Apparently they're renovating the apartment next to mine. This is going to be a fun game. So I decide to get up and start getting ready for the day. Just as I'm almost finished and headed to Starbucks (to use their internet) there's a fire drill in my building. All I wanted was a relaxing morning on my day off! Hopefully the rest of my day isn't as hectic and chaotic and more peaceful than this morning started off!