Happy 22nd little mommy!

Yesterday was my friend Taylor's birthday. I was really excited, so I made her a cake. She's pregnant with twins and was recently put on bed rest, so I figured that she could use some cake and fun. Ben and I went over to celebrate and eat up. Here's a picture of the cake I made. Quite lovely if I do say so myself :)

Pretty enough for the Queen of England

Here is a picture of my lovely hair pin. Most beautiful thing I have purchased in quite some time I think. I will definitely wear this baby whenever I want to dress to impress.

Hanson: The Review

On November 8th, Ben and I made the trek to Las Vegas to attend the Hanson concert. This was a milestone moment for me, as I have been a Hanson fan for a decade, yet never attended one of their concerts. We got to Mandalay Bay, where the concert was held. After shopping around a bit and eating a yummy dinner at the House of Blues Restaurant, we headed into the concert. When we got in, the opening band Fletch was still playing. They were actually pretty good- a little Emo for me, but very entertaining. Then, around 8pm, Hanson came out. I was so excited to see them- and our seats were so close! Unfortunately, that was the high point of the night. They sounded good and it was fun to hear them play, but those Hanson brothers were seriously not into it that night. I realize that Las Vegas was stop #35 or something of their tour, so they were probably sick and tired of life on the road, but they really did not seem that into it. AND they didn't even play my favorite 2 songs from their new cd- 'Georgia' and 'Running Man." They did, however, play a ton (possibly too many) of their old songs. Mmmbop included. And Taylor Hanson, whom I loooved as a 13 year old, was wearing some truly ugly pants. And I don't think he was wearing any underwear. Overall, while they sounded great, I will think twice before driving 6 hours to see them again. Step it up, Hanson.

ps- Where are the pictures of this occasion? Funny you ask. I didn't realize that my camera batteries were dead until we were in Mandalay Bay. Booo.

Nordstrom = Happiness

A few weeks ago at work, we had a group relaxation activity. See my job as a caseworker for the Division of Child and Family Services can get pretty stressful at time, thus causing possible burnout. To learn about avoiding said burnout, we did a relaxation/meditation exercise where we closed our eyes, and listened to a soothing, directive tape. At the beginning of the tape, the voice said to picture yourself in a calm, relaxing environment, yada yada yada... and so I did. 15 minutes later, everyone opened their eyes. We went around the room describing our perfect place. Some pictured a forest, some a beach..... me? I was at Nordstrom, not gonna lie. It's true- Nordstrom is my place of happiness. I just like to go and look at the beautiful things. Such color, such variety. I am a Nordstrom girl, through and through. And to illustrate, here are my favorite fall buys from my Mecca:

My pashmina! 100% Cashmere... I love this thing. I immediately feel a little Jennifer Aniston-like when I wear it. Mine is sky blue, and it's seriously a little piece of heaven for me.






Bare Minerals makeup! I am forever in love. Who would've thought that just powder could do so much? Makes my skin look fab and keeps it healthy at the same time. I just got the 'starter kit,' and I looove it. I plan to get eyeshadows, lipsticks, and whole shebang.... eventually. Let my Nordstrom credit card rest, right?






My Uggs! Thank you mommy for my early birthday present. I love these things. Even though all the magazines say Uggs are so out, I seriously love mine. Such comfort! I have the shin-length ones. I thought about getting the full-length ones, but then I'd feel like I should tuck my jeans into them, and I'm just not a tucker. I see other girls do it and think that it looks cute, but I just can't do it. It probably doesn't help that all my jeans are flare, which makes tucking all the more difficult.



My lovely hair pin. Mind you, this is not a picture of the actual pin, which I will try to get soon. It looks a bit like this one, but the pin I am in love with is seriously sooo lovely. There are no words for this one. I just love it. I tried and tried to find something comparable in beauty at other places, like Target, Kohls, and the like, but nothing I found came close to it. I just love it.