The Temptation Was Too Strong...

Remember that scene in Sex In The City when Carrie sees a pair of  to die for heels and she says..."Hello, lover" through the glass window of the store front? That's how I felt when I saw these Dolce Vita heels. My girlfriend and I sauntered into the Dolce Vita shop in Santa Monica one Sunday and the angels sang... I I spied these platform heels and gasped a little then slowly walked over, like if I walked too fast they would be a ridiculous price or only available in a size 6. I picked them up in my sweaty mitts. *sigh* So pretty and funky, but could I afford them? When I turned over the fuchsia foot holder and saw the sale price plus there was an extra 25% off on everything in the store, my stomach dropped, I thought "I shouldn't..........but I should. Where's that shop girl?! I need a size 10 stat!"

 pants, belt, sweater: H&M; heels: Dolce Vita; floral headband: I made; pink pearls: Macy's

Well, they fit. They make my legs look awesome and they're like - MAGENTA! And now they're mine. They KILL my feet so far and I can't wear them for very long, but I still think they are way too fabulous! what's wrong with me?! At present they are my special occasion heels. I wish they were my "I can run a marathon in these babies" heels, but you can't win 'em all. What I did win was a fuchsia pair of awesome heels that I love to stare at, even if I can't wear them all the time :)

Winter?

It was so rainy this fall and frosty even a couple of weeks ago, now it's like, 70 degrees on average, even up to 90 degrees. Come on, that's totally insane for January! What happened to my winter? I know other states are having typically cold and snowy winter weather that can be absolutely no fun, so my frustration at this oddly temperate climate for this time of year may fall on deaf ears, but I miss my coats, scarves and having a real necessity for gloves :(  I so look forward to wearing all those layers... I barely have a reason to be wearing this here sombrero.

beret: Nicole Miller via TJ Maxx; dress: UO; bag: Coach via the outlet; boots: SteveMadden.com

So even though I've missed the cold I guess I'm glad the weather 'round here isn't being difficult. An overwhelming out-pouring of optimism, I know. 

Enough of my whining and onto the accessories, as much as I love this purse I think I need to put it to bed for a bit and grab another one from my collection. Maybe something a little darker and season appropriate, no?

The Margarita Bottle

dress: Ross; sweater: Kohl's; tights: target; socks: UO; platforms: JC via Nordstrom  

Wednesday I came home after a long day, fed the dogs, listened to my man recount his day, got into comfortable clothing and then decided I wanted a Margarita. Why not? I worked hard all day, besides the hubs had just brought home a bottle of our favorite Margarita mix, we even had Triple Sec. Crushed ice added to glass, shot and ½ of alcohols and then the mix, gave it a shake and whoops – there it went – All. Over. The. Floor. Why couldn’t the bottle have been made of plastic just this once?!

Note to self: get rid of the legging tights. They are pointless as you always wear socks over them anyway and in this case, you can see right through them socks, plus they get bunchy at the knees :( Throw them in trash as soon as possible.

15 minutes of meticulous cleaning and vacuuming later, my sad glass of ice and alcohol sat there incomplete – without a mixer. I was more irritated at that moment than I was when I dropped the bottle. Thank heavens we had orange juice and grenadine, Tequila Sunrise – that would have to do.

This weekend I'll stick with beer J

Slow as Molasses in January - Yes I Am

Good lord, the other shoe dropped, then there was a rain storm of shoes. So far this year has been a challenge. Oh Yay - *dripping with sarcasm*

I haven’t had much to say or been motivated to do much of anything. This, apparently, is the season of the “Blahs”. I gotta turn this around somehow. Positive thinking maybe? Not like I have anything to lose, I may have to just try.

It only took 4 months to post some pics of my mural I did this summer. I’m just so quick with these kinds of things *read – ridiculously slow*. I’m actually pretty proud of it. Like I’ve mentioned before, it forced me to paint and create something.
It’s located on the backside of my in-laws home in front of a fountain they purchased on the other side of the world on some fantastic trip they went on last year. My mama in-law was going to put a regular trellis and real flowers, but there was a space issue that thwarted that plan. She still wanted something behind it to compliment the fountain so she decided – mural. I was happy to oblige.

The wall has a stucco style texture so I couldn’t use my painters tape to outline the trellis. The bumps could have potentially ruined any kind of straight line I wanted due to seepage. I couldn’t screw up, I had no house paint to paint over any mistakes, um - Yikes. Also, I had to place it exactly where the lines were going to be and went free hand while pulling it up from the wall. The mapping out process took hours and hours to get the scrolling correct etc…It really didn't help that the little niche wasn't totally straight or flat.

I used a flat exterior paint for the base color and a semi-gloss for the rust accenting (which you can't really see, I took the pics at night, obviously. It adds some dimension - the rust accents, not the night.) The flowers, vines and leaves were done with exterior semi-gloss paint. The tester sizes were perfect for the foliage since I didn’t need a whole bunch. So, that’s that. Every time I go over there I check it out to make sure the paint is in good shape and well, to admire my work :)

I gotta pull out a canvas and work on a smaller scale. 

Outfit post coming shortly. I’m trying to get back in the swing of things, but my brain is totally resisting...

But, this makes me happy:

So this is the New Year Huh?

Thank heavens that holiday season it OVER! It was stressful and long, but short at the same time. It felt like the weeks between the holidays were quick, but the build-up felt like forever. I did what I could to keep everything low key so I wouldn’t get too frustrated. Things are now getting back to normal, even though I still feel like another shoe is going to drop. I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I feel it. Strange? – yes.

On a brighter note, we’ve been having a solid winter season. It’s been cold and raining and when it’s not raining, just cold. I love it. It reminds me of winters when I was younger in Santa Cruz. A much colder climate all around.

These pics are from my in-laws Christmas party. The older we get, the less enticing the bar + bartender are (the bar is sooo stocked and the bartender is really great). We used to look forward to drinking all we wanted and eating the catered food. Now we don't drink as much and the new caterer isn't that awesome, we also don't know many people there. We just kind of suck it up and go to see the family that attends. We’re lucky to have some place to go though. If not, there would only be work holiday parties by way of social celebrations – not so fabulous.

Since I was under my self-imposed "no shopping" ban, I grabbed this outfit from my packed closet - simple, but comfortable. I’ve gone from really dressing up for this event to a bit more casual.

My hubs looked at me and said, “are you wearing that shirt over it?”

“Why yes I am dear, that’s why I have it on.” *irritated smile* Butthead.

He always has 2 cents to share if he doesn’t dig something I’m wearing. Good thing I love you darling.

dress + shirt: h&m, boots: overstock.com, tights: bareaccessories.com via amazon

I, on the other hand, liked the men’s dress shirt with sparkles look and I really liked my burgundy combo with the gold dress. These boots are pretty comfortable if not a bit insane. What am I going to wear these with? I have to get pretty creative so I don’t look like Wonder Woman. But really, are you surprised I own a pair of red knee high boots? Not so much.

my big foot and my man's bigger foot

my in-law's gorgeous tree

I hope everyone had a great holiday and New Year. I’m still having trouble writing 2011.