Hump Day Happenings...

Good afternoon, friends!!

I don't have anything particularly exciting for today's post, but I do have some pics. If you guys are anything like me, you won't mind a picture dump versus a verbal dumb today. :)

My go-to casual outfit...white button down shirt, leopard belt, dark blue skinny jeans, gold watch/bracelets. (sorry about the crappy pic quality...)

One of my favorite bday gifts (and one of many from Dr. Love...thank you boo!)...my Jacquie Aiche ear cuff. So delicate and pretty, yet edgy. Will need to take a better quality picture of it soon...

Love this picture of Dr. Love so much...I'm not sure if it's because he looks so natural and in his element, or his cute smirk, or his hand on his stomach. I don't really know. I just know I love it & him.

Now, a picture of me in my element...pre-going out curlers + no makeup...poor Dr. Love!

Gold polish (Tom Ford)+ gold glitter (Forever 21) = girly manicure to the extremely awesome degree.

I don't think I'll ever grow out of my love for glitter...

A birthday pic with my bday twin, Dr. Love's cousin Justin who turned 30 on the same day as me!

Seriously, how cute is my Google Nexus tablet (courtesy of my awesome in-laws)? My mother-in-law, knowing that her daughter-in-law loves all things pink and girly, also gifted me a pink stylus pen. I did myself (and my tablet) a favor and bought a pink case to match. 

All this talk about jewelry, glitter, and pink reminds me again of how much I love being a girl. I mean, I get it, boys have it good too in their own way. But, holy moly do we have it better. It's pretty funny that this tomboy who still loves sports and running outside so much, also has grown to love the color pink (blue/green are close tie for second) and glitter so much. The jewelry obsession? Well, you can ask any one of my good friends and they'll tell you that that has been with me forever ;). 

Have a great week! I'll be busy doing work for my legal clients and, hopefully, catching up with some girlfriends tomorrow night. 

In the meantime, have a great rest of your hump day and enjoy this awesome girl power song by none other than the great Alicia Keys...

A Birthday to Remember

Hi Friends!!

How was your weekend/week?!

Sorry, that I've been MIA. My birthday weekend/birthday were amazing and exhausting! But before I get into all of the details, let me start by saying that my 30th birthday has been one of the very best birthdays of my life. I was NOT looking forward to turning 30 for a number of reason: (1) my mom passed away when I was 20 and I had dreaded my 30th birthday ever since because I knew that when I turned 30, it would mean that I had lived almost a whole decade without my mom, (2) 30 simply felt old and I feared that all of a sudden I'd turn into some old fart with no youthful sass (little secret, I'm still youthfully sassy as ever), and (3) my past few birthday have been not so good and I was not looking forward to another not so good birthday. 

Well, I couldn't have been more wrong about turning 30. It was simply amazing!!

First of all, Dr. Love, my brother, my aunt, and my mother-in-law planned a really wonderful surprise party for me that went down last Friday night. I can't say that I was totally surprised when everyone yelled "Surprise!!," because I had some "clues." For one, Dr. Love told me early last month that he'd plan something and that I needn't bother with planning anything myself, but he never followed up with a fake plan,  leaving me to believe that either nothing was going on (impossible) or something awesome was being planned behind the scenes. Second hint, and this is a big one, my brother accidentally sent me an invite on Facebook to my own surprise party. Yes, I'm serious. My technologically super-star bro made a tech booboo. I did not dare open the invitation, but the title already gave me enough information to know something was up. And if that was not enough, my aunt essentially avoided me the entire weekend I was home a couple of weeks ago. Our conversations consisted of hellos, can you believe this weather, and useless commentary about a Lifetime movie we watched together. It was awkward, and out of character, to say the least.

So, when I got to the restaurant/lounge where my surprise party was at, I can't say I wasn't expecting a little shindig. But I can honestly say that I had no idea that so many people that I love would be there, that the ambiance would be so perfect, and that my heart would be filled with such happiness and excitement. It was, in one word, perfection.

As I walked into the room full of my loved ones wearing their brightest smiles and cutest threads, I couldn't help but shed a tear. It was truly awesome. And overwhelming. I was literally shaking with joy for hours. As if that wasn't enough awesomeness, my best friend of 27 years had also flown in from Chicago to help me celebrate.

I couldn't help but feel so so special and to acknowledge what a special night it was. I could feel my mom's presence. She must have been there, for the love in that room was absolutely divine. I was reminded of how many times my mom told my brother and I to choose our friends very carefully and to choose them on the basis of their loyalty, honesty, and kindness. On my 30th birthday, surrounded by my friends and family, I felt my mom's spirit beaming with pride from the knowledge that I had indeed chosen the very best of friends.

And these wonderful friends and family did not disappoint. I was not only showered with AMAZING gifts, but also a whole weekend of love and laughter. It was a birthday that I will never forget. A birthday to remember...

(w/ step-dad)

 (w/ Dr. Love)

 (bro and Dr. Love)

 (w/ my bestie)

 (with my birthday twins)

 (w/ Yuli)

 (w/ friends and fam)

 (w/ my step-bro)

 (w/ fam and friends)

 

A birthday to remember, indeed!

x

Hello 2013!!!

Happy New Year friends!

Sibling love...love my big bro sooooooooooo much.

So much fun spending time with childhood friends

Happy times with good friends (my bestie of 27 years at the far right :) )

Christmas dinner with Dr. Love

The perfect striped top (Banana Republic) thanks to my Aunt Seps.

Cousin pic...can't believe that my youngest cousin will be half my age come January 14th...eeeeek!!!

Loved this open-back dress, but had no idea where on earth I could wear it (btw, check out my sexy sports socks...yeah baby!)

 Wearing my engagement/wedding rings, a couple of my right hand rings, my sister-in-law's engagement/wedding rings, and a dear friend's engagement ring. The shine didn't carry over to the pic, but holy moly was I in sparkle heaven!!

First of all, my apologies for going MIA on you for almost a month. December-today has been crazy busy with holidays, family events, vacas, work, and life...

I just got home after being in Los Angeles with my in-laws for over a week. Dr. Love and I had such a great time with his parents, grandparents, bro/sister-in-law, and other relatives. Dr. Love's vaca ended early, as he left for a business trip on Friday. Mine continued on with a few days at my fam's home in Orange County. I had SUCH a wonderful past couple of weeks, but am also really happy to be back at home. There's nothing like snuggling up on your comfy sofa under a warm throw and watching some intelligence killing reality tv...yes, I'm talking about you, Real Housewives!

Back to reality = a TON of house cleaning, LOTS of legal work, lots of blog writing over at Mint + Chase, work on a new exciting addition to the Mint + Chase team (eeeek!! so excited to share this news!), and lots of alone time with Dr. Love once he gets back on Wednesday.

2013 is bound to be a big year! First of all, yours truly turns the BIG 30 on January 14th! I have so many emotions about turning 30 that I'll have to share them with you in a separate post. Let it suffice to say for now that there is a bitter-sweetness to this birthday.

Other than the big bday, I also have been getting more legal work (yay!!!!) and am amping up my ad/promotion efforts over at Mint + Chase. My poor baby has been on the back-burner for the past month, but I'm finally ready to give it the love (and new updates) that it so majorly deserves.

I'll write to you again this week (and promise that there will be more pics), but I'd also love to hear some feedback about what it is you would all like to see more of on my blog. I know that there are many of you visiting the blog (you make a girl blush), but I'm not sure what you like to read/see most. So, please leave a comment and help me make this blog that I love so much a place for you to love as well!

x

Facebook 101 (AKA How to Stay Sane While Staying Connected)

Hi Friends!

Warning: Today's post is pretty whiney, but I felt compelled to "speak" up about something that has left me peeved...and despite what the title may suggest, I'm not going to be teaching you anything, but am rather hoping you can share your wisdom with me.

Lately, I've become more and more aware of how much of a love hate relationship I have with Facebook. On the one hand, I want to stay connected with what is going on in the world, in my friend's/family's lives, and in popular culture. So, I login to FB at least a dozen times a day to see what's up...you know, check out pics, status updates, etc...

I have noticed, however, that lately I roll my eyes a lot more then I used to when I'm browsing through FB. I'm not sure if it's because I'm annoyed at how acceptable it has become to over share (I know I sound sort of hypocritical talking about over sharing in my blog that is about my day-to-day life), or if it's because I dislike how disingenuous some of the comments/updates feel, but I am seriously rolling my eyes a lot (or saying "lame" out loud, which is fine, because I work from home, so my only "office mate" is a little bird that stops by our window every couple of hours). 

Despite all of this, I have not (and doubt I will anytime in the near future) deactivated my account. Why you ask? Probably for the same reason FB has become so popular...I'm curious, like the ability to connect to a gazillion people with the click of my keyboard, and like looking at pictures.

Recently...very, very recently, someone who I had de-friended on FB, re-friended me. I didn't have the heart to ignore or reject their friend request (mostly because they are family). Big mistake. I initially de-friended them because I didn't like their lack of understanding of how to use FB appropriately (i.e., don't tag yourself in my pics when you're clearly not in them, don't share all of my pics on your page, and please please please do not fill my timeline/wall with political spam). So now, I find that I am again "friends" with this person, and again trying to stay calm while this person breaks all of the unspoken rules of FB.

Any advice on how to handle the situation? Mind you, I have addressed as many of the technical privacy issues as I could using FB Help, but am now in need of some sage non-technical advice about how to stay calm and regain control over my social content (yeah, I know how ridiculous "control over my social content" sounds...but you know what I mean...). Friends, I need some advice on how to kindly, nicely, and effectively put an end to annoying FB behavior by a FB friend and real life relative.

Oh and here's a pics from Dr. Love's bday this weekend...

x

Happy Birthday, Dr. Love!!!!!!

Happy happy happy birthday to my Dr. Love!!!!!
 

 I love you so much and love every single minute that I spend with you (even when we're arguing ;) ). Simply put, you are the bomb-diggity booboo and I could not be more proud to be your Mrs. 

x

My Home Office and myStorey

Hi Friends!!

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with yummy grub and a lot of love!

Dr. Love and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving break which kicked off with three days of family time with Dr. Love's family followed by a couple days with my family and friends. All-in-all, it was a great holiday week/weekend! Only downfall is that all the activities and fun left this girl sick with, what is now, a week-long cold :(. My cold isn't that bad, but the jaw soreness and pain is a new symptom that I haven't felt before and that I can't seem to get rid of...will let you know how that's going next week ;).

So, as promised, below are some pics of our home office. A couple noteworthy facts: (1) the office is not 100% done yet, as we still have some shelves and photos to put up (hint hint, Dr. Love!),and (2) almost every single thing in the office is from Ikea...and boy are we happy we decided to go the Ikea route for the office. It was soooo much cheaper then other office furniture that I was eye-ing (i.e., Pottery Barn, Z Gallerie), the items were delivered the day after purchase, and for a couple hundred dollars more, the delivery men assembled all of the pieces for us. Totes worth it!

What was once an empty room with a purple wall, is now one of my favorite rooms in the house...there is such a calm in that room...love it!

Now, on to another recent "favorite" of mine. Have you guys heard of myStorey?!?! If you haven't, I highly recommend that you check it out...it is AWESOME! It's what I think the lovechild of a three-way between Facebook, Pinterest, and Amazon would look like. Don't worry, friends. I am well aware that it only takes two lovers to make one baby; however, this is not just any baby, it's a super baby!!! Why super? Well, you can create a profile, upload your pics from FB, then tag (wait for it....wait for it....) all of the lust worthy items you're wearing and your myStorey friends can then shop your look...and visa versa. What a freaking great idea!! And, to make things even better, myStorey doesn't just provide you with multiple sources for the item (with competitive pricing), but product reviews too. Do you see why I call it an all-in-one super baby?!?!?!?!  Check out the site and if you like what you see request an invite to join, then stop by http://tech.co/who-is-los-angeles-hottest-showcasing-startup-2012-11 to vote for myStorey for Los Angeles' Hottest Showcasing Startup.

Also, don't forget to stop by the Mint + Chase blog all this week and next week to get some great holiday gift ideas!!

Enjoy the rest of your Thursday, have a great Friday and weekend, and speak to you all next week!!

x

Happy Thanksgiving

An early Happy Thanksgiving friends!!! I, hopefully, won't be at my computer tomorrow, so I just wanted to stop by and wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Also, our home office design project is finally done and I can't wait to show you the final product. Let's just say, it's my new favorite room in the house.

I'll have plenty of pics for you next week, but in the meantime, enjoy the following sneak-peak:

Again, Happy Thanksgiving and "see" you guys next week!!!

x