To my iphone with love.

My dearest iphone,

First of all I'm sorry I don't have a better name for you yet, it's almost been two weeks and clearly I am slacking. How does Pearl sound? Or Violet (haha I joke)? Or Clementine (since your case is orange and amazing)? Anyways, we'll figure it out sooner or later and you'll love your new name I just know it. But for now, iphone it is.

So my iphone why am I writing you a letter on this fine friday? Well, I just needed to profess my love for you so the world (a la my blogworld) could hear it (er read it). Seriously I am in love.

Last week in Chicago while I was wandering the city aimlessly by myself you stepped in and gave me emails and tweets and phone calls and it was magnificent. You even gave me weather reports (and stocks, which um do I really need that) and directions to a cafe to meet friends for lunch.

You even let me take twitpics for the first time ever and play useless games to kill the time as I lounged in Millenium Park. And for that, I love you. No really, I do.

Although you costed me a pretty penny I'm learning that it was totally worth it and I wouldn't trade you for anything (unless someone offered me a million dollars I may be persuaded, haha).

So keep on being awesome and I'll keep on loving you.

Love,

Katelin



happy friday!

Just one more BlogHer post.

S0 I forgot a few things that I just have to share:

The photo booth pics. Oh I love photo booths! And they were everywhere. So of course I have to share them.

Jamie, me and Tara were cracking up
while posing in the booth, too funny


Jess and I found this booth and could not stop laughing,
especially since there was like 5 seconds between pics,
oh man we're a bit ridiculous


well technically not a booth pic, but a red carpet entrance for
BowlHer, I sort of hear us all and our divaness, haha

Celeb sightings. Tim Gunn was there. I saw him from afar. Paula Deen was there too. But um I was most excited to meet Jen Lancaster. I sort of mildly followed her around shortly trying to read her name tag and see if it really was her, and alas it WAS! So I was that super nerd (as Jamie can attest) and told her I was a big fan of Bitter is the New Black and cannot wait to read the rest. Luckily she was incredibly nice said thanks for chatting and she was off. And my need to meet an author was fulfilled.

The video. Oh the video. Because my family and coworkers read my blog I don't know that I'm going to link to our superb post-Cheeseburger party video just yet. But if you read me regularly you'll know where to find it, haha.

And of course, Chicago. I already have a check list of things I want to do when I go back with Matt one day (hopefully soonish). The list includes: a Cubs game, Sears tower, a boat tour, the Art Museum and probably a million other things, haha.


That my friends wraps up BlogHer '09! I'm already looking forward to BlogHer '10. Woo!




happy thursday!

I was going through Hollywood withdrawal.

Oh Hollywood news I missed you. Seriously a week of not being at a computer 24/7 seriously made me feel like I was missing out. So I know there will be some celeb stories I've overlooked and heck this is going to be a shortish Hollywood post all together since I am still catching up with my life (yeah a week away can do that to a person, haha). So without further adieu I present this week's (and some of last week's) Hollywooood news:

• Starting off this week's cute bebes we have my favorite of the favorites, little Violet Affleck. And man is that girl styling. Seriously her sunglasses cracked me up, she almost looks diva like Suri or Z, haha.
  
  
  
  too cute for words.
  
  
  
• Next up in the cute bebe departmnt we have some girls that aren't really bebes but are just so darn adorable I had to share this cute Mommy and me pic. Leslie Mann and her daughters (with Judd Apatow) Maude and Iris are just so cute and I love that they are in movies together and ah, heart them.
  
  
  
  little stars in the making!
  
  
  
• Moving on from the cuteness of kids to the cuteness/awesomeness/fabulousness/amazingness (oh yes lots of nesses) of Twilight. This past weekend was Comic-Con and oh the goodness that came out of that (for example check out Letters to Twilight's hilarious recap). So many pictures and clips and ah is New Moon out already!?
  
  And umm Rob Pattinson still makes me swoon. He is just so dorky and adorable and goofy and ah, heart.
  
  
  
  
  
  And um although I am very Team Edward, Jacob (aka Taylor aka still 17) was looking pretty darn good I must say. He counteracts the awkward and the ew that emitted from Kristen Stewart.
  
  
  
  and aw the boys matched in plaid, haha
  
  
  
• Okay moving on from the Twilightness before I ramble any more about how I can't wait to see New Moon...oh wait just kidding. Apparently Dakota Fanning adn Freddie Highmore went on a date and ohmygoodnesstheyarejustsoadultlikeandcutebutohsoyoung and heart. And I totally used to say that Freddie and Dakota were both adults stuck in kid bodies because of all of their movie roles, haha. So random.
  
  
  
  oh young love.
  
  
  
• In not so young love apparently Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush broke up, and not only that one of the Jonas's and Camilla Belle broke up too and waaaait one more for the break up toll, LeAnn Rimes and her husband officially called it quits (as if we didn't see that one coming). Um hopefully everyone is okay after their splits and maybe they should just go watch Twilight to feel better, haha.
  
  
• In other more upliftingish news, Hilary Duff is a new model for DKNY. Seriously I heart her and the new ad is fabulous. Also fabulous, remember Anna Chlumsky? From My Girl? Yeah apparently she stopped acting to go to school and be all smart like. But now she's coming back to the big screen! I sort of really liked her as a kid and woo for her making a comeback, hopefully it'll last.
  
  
• In movie news...
  Harry Potter. I finally saw it! And expect a review to go up on my review blog soon. I sort of really liked it and laughed a lot and ummyes. Can't wait to see the next one.
  
  Julie and Julia. I really want to see this movie! It just looks so cute and I heart Amy Adams and Merryl Streep. And um it's based on a blog so of course I want to see this!
  
  
  
  seriously these ladies look fabulous
  
  
  Sequels. Sort of. Apparently someone thought it was necessary to make Scream 4. So yes that's really happening and Courteney Cox and David Arquette have already signed on! So I don't think I'll be seeing that one. However one sequel that I am mildly curious to see is Bridget Jones's Diary 3. I don't believe there is a third book so I'm curious to see where a third movie goes.
  
  
• And in TV news...
  Desperate Housewives. Apparently Shawn Pyfrom (Bree's son, Andrew) is leaving the show. Well not leaving but not staying on full time. And I sort of loved his character this past season. Hopefully he'll still get some good storylines.
  
  The Emmy's! The nominations came out and I'm sort of excited. And um this article about people's reactions to nominations sort of made me laugh a little and I had to share.
  
  
• And lastly in today's WTF news we have a Twitter story. One woman in Chicago twittered about the mold in her apartment and now the company is suing her for defamation...suing her!!! And for fifty thousand dollars!
  

And that my friends is today's Hollywood news. Please let me know if I missed anything, I know there has to be some surprises out there I missed on my hiatus last week.



happy wednesday!

Chicago Take Two.

So where did I leave off about Chicago...oh right Thursday night (here's part one). So let's have some more recap shall we? oh and a quick warning, it's going to be a long one but I have tons of pics if that helps :)

Thursday night: After checking into the hotel and relaxing briefly I headed over to the SocialLuxe Lounge party across the street. I basically mingled a bit, hung out with Tara, had some drinks and got a fabulous swag bag. After the party I headed out and finally got some Chicago deep dish pizza with my cousin Jason. And it was delicious! Seriously I don't think pizza can even be bad but this one from some Lou's place was quite scrumptious. After dinner I headed back to the Sheraton where I met up with Jamie and Jessica (my partners in crime all weekend) and we went to the People's Party and 704 Party which were equally awesome. Got to do some drinking, some dancing, some chatting, met some other lovelies and had a grand ole time before calling it a night.

Friday: BlogHer officially commenced! It was so exciting to be back again and see everyone and meet new people. I went in and out of a couple panels only because they weren't all what I thought they'd be but I still enjoyed myself. After the morning session was an awesome lunch break sponsored by Ragu.

the amazingly awesome centerpieces

Seriously, it was such a step up from lunch last year, I loved it! After lunch were some afternoon sessions and got to meet tons more people which is definitely one of the best parts of BlogHer. To the first day there was the community keynote where different bloggers read posts of theirs from the past year. I heard several that were funny some that were sad but all were amazing and I can't wait to see the videos of them again when they go online. After the keynote we went to a fabulous EnergizeHer party and got some manicures done along with some delicious food before heading on over the Brand About Town Nintendo party.

Jamie, me and Jessica showing off our purdy nails

To get to the Nintendo party we rode in horse drawn carriages to the Hancock's Signature Room (which was on the 95th floor, wowza!). Dinner was all sorts of fabulous, I'm pretty sure we had the best table in the place. And ummm I got to meet Rachel and Doni was even there so of course that made the night superb. And Jenn was even there too! Basically it was a party full of rockstars.

heart these ladies

To top of the night we saw a lightning storm that took over all of Chicago and got some fabulous parting gifts. All in all a great way to spend a Friday night.

However the night was far from over. After we got back to the Sheraton we headed to the MamaPop party which was all sorts of amazing. There were movie posters everywhere, a unicorn cake, a RPatz cutout, glow sticks...yeah sort of hard to go wrong there.

oh yes a unicorn cake, so awesome

I thought Rob might be thirsty

and the girls just wanted to show him some loving, haha

Basically a great way to end to the night, haha.

Saturday: Woke up fine and dandy ready to go for a day of panels again. I did go to one panel that I absolutely loved and it was the 'Women in Color and Marketing' themed one. It was amazing. The women were amazing, the interactions were amazing, I feel like everything about it was amazing and I'm so glad I went. After that I went in and out of panels most of the day and roamed around the exhibit hall (which was so cool and so much bigger than last year, seriously ridiculous). Basically it was another great day at BlogHer.

After the closing keynote the ladies and I headed to the BlogHer sponsored cocktail hour which was pretty fun. However I gotta say that the most fun of the night happened afterwards. We all headed over to BowlHer across the street for what was most definitely an amazing time.

Maggie, Jess, Allie and Ashley embracing their new boas


the fabulous Heidi and I showing off
our matching rings, love it


Jess and I were getting a little frisky
by the end of the night, haha


all the ladies of the evening
I sort of heart them all like wo

Although there was no bowling done on our parts there was lots of silliness and drinking and eating delicious appetizers (I'm pretty sure I had like seven mozzarella bites, haha). After BowlHer we made our way back to the Sheraton and headed up to the Presidential Suite for the Cheeseburger Party! (recall I went to it at BlogHer last year and at the Mom 2.0 event in February). I don't even think I need to describe it really, I'll let the pictures do the talking:

Heidi, me, Jessica, Tara and Beth rockin some fabulous headware, haha


with the oh so awesome Sizzle


me and Jamie with one of the Cheeseburger hostesses, the fabulous Yvonne


I'd say this sums up the night alright

After the fabulousness of the cheeseburger party Jamie, Jess and myself made a video blog that will surely make it's way to everyone soon and oh man it's a winner alright. Pretty much it was another awesome night and a fabulous way to wrap up the weekend.

Sunday: Ended BlogHer weekend with a lovely breakfast sponsored by Starbucks with nice goodies and treats and it was lovely to see everyone before heading our own merry ways. Got to hang out with Jamie and Jess a bit while I packed my bag (and oh boy was that a feat) and got ready to go. And before I knew it I was in a cab to the airport and on my way home.

And that my friends was my Chicago adventure, whew what a trip. But oh so amazing and I loved every minute of it. So thank you to all of my new friends, my old friends and everyone in between. I seriously heart you all and cannot wait to see you again!



Oh and as if this post wasn't long enough and picture filled I put all my pics up on flickr so check it out!


happy tuesday!

Chicago Take One.

Oh vacation how I heart you so and I heart you even more when it's for six days and in Chicago.
Seriously, last week was so much fun I can barely believe it's over already. So yes I believe some recapping is in order, so much in fact that I know I can't cover it all in one post, so consider this Chicago take one:

Tuesday: Hopped on a plane (which hey Frontier is there a reason it had to be so dang bumpy on both of my flights?!) and made it to Chicago just in time for dinner. My friend Lynn met me at the airport and we headed to her place before making our way to grab sushi for dinner. The place was BYOB which I think is amazing and more places should definitely do that. Afterwards we just hung out, went to a bar and had a fine and dandy time.

Wednesday: My Chicago Day. Seriously, I had the day to myself so what did I do? I explored Michigan Ave. Did some shopping, took some pictures, enjoyed some music in the park, basically all sorts of goodness.

Loved this church courtyard so much


the Tip Top Tap part made me laugh


next time I'm in Chicago I am doing a boat tour!


me and the beeeeeeeean!


there are cars in there! sort of awesome
and ummm a bit baffling!

The day was lovely. I walked around, explored some of the city and had lunch with Jessica and Teresa which was awesome. Eventually I made it back to Lynn's place and relaxed a bit before heading over to the beach with her to play some volleyball with her team. It was crazy, I hadn't touched a volleyball in years but somehow managed to play six games in the sand, haha. It was entertaining to say the least. After the game we hit up a fabulous Mexican place for some delicious margaritas (sadly I forgot to take pictures) and enchilladas (let's say yummmmm together) and had a lovely time. Eventually we had to call it a night.

Thursday: Another Chicago day for me, woo. Got to explore a bit and do some more walking, met Lynn for lunch. Eventually checked into the Sheraton (which ohmygosh has the most amazing beds ever) and waited for the BlogHer festivities to begin.

And that my friends is where I'm going to leave you...there is so much BlogHerness and I'm way too tired to even begin to cover the awesomeness, but I will leave you with a teaser pic:

love it.

Oh good times all around.




And how was your week/weekend? Anything I missed since I admit I may not make it to all posts since my reader is 1000+ (oh boy), haha.



happy monday!

It's all about LOVE Renee.

Dear Renee,

Happy Bridal Shower! Bet you didn't see this one coming huh? Well you can blame it all on Erin and her super cuteness of an idea to give you a virtual bridal shower before the big day.

Seriously I think it's just the cutest and I almost wish I was already married so I could give you some pre-married life tips, but we're pretty much in the same boat here, haha. Instead I've decided to share my own little list of what Love means to me (well sort of, just a snippet at least) because well that's all I got right now...

Love is...

• ...sometimes letting the boy win at Wii bowling instead of kicking his butt everytime.

• ...sharing a bottle of wine on a Saturday night and watching a horrible (yet easy oh so easy to make fun of) movie together.
  
  
• ...watching Sports Center for an hour before asking to change the channel.
  
  
• ...being totally silly and not getting embarrassed.
  
  
• ...a whole lot of laughing.
  
  
• ...a little spontaneous adventure every now and then.
  
  
• ...kind of crazy, a little tiring, but all sorts of awesome and amazing.
  
  
• ...eating his soggy fries while he takes your crunchy ones.
  
  
• ...taking ridiculous pictures like this:
  
  
  
  

Renee I am so excited for you and hope you have the most lovely and wonderous wedding ever! I hope your Love is everything I wrote and more. You and the Beau seem quite fantastic together so congrats times a million and can't wait to read all about it! :)





happy friday!

Extreme Home Freakout

As you readers know, Katelin is in Chicago this week partying it up with everyone at Blogher. She has asked me, Rachel from Mom in Real Life, to write a guest post for her. I was COMPLETELY lost on what to write since I already had to come up with a 20sb blog swap post, a guest post for Free and Flawed, and a top secret post for Friday.
Seriously, my brain was fried.
On top of this Dan and I qualified for a home loan!!!

I know not all of you know me that well, but please feel free to do a happy dance for us right now.

I'll wait.

Thanks.

Anyways, my every waking moment was spent looking at houses, dreaming of remodeled kitchens, learning about property taxes. Blogging was far from my little brain.
Tuesday morning I woke up to a tired Dan, sitting at his laptop (since 4am!) scrolling through MLS #'s. He grunted something along the lines of;
"I find houses. Look. Now."
I looked over the ones he found and many of them had similar problems;

1) PEOPLE! I'm sure the thought of having a bar in your basement sounds "cool" or "totally awesome" but 99% of the bars I saw suuuuuccckkkkkked. To keep these in my future house would require me to be constantly drinking the same number of beers (12) that you had when you built these retched things!
2) I didn't realize so many people had pools. I tried those temporary pools last summer. All I managed to do was grow myself an army of Lagoon creatures.
3) Hi, house owner? 1970 called. They want their wood paneling back.

But one house stuck out. It was old and it had character. I mentioned it to Dan and he said that he had been thinking about the same house. As the day progressed we built the pedestal for this house higher and higher. By the time we went to see it we had pictures of Pottery Barn photo shoots dancing in our heads.

Once I stepped in I knew it was all wrong. The house had been abandoned giving it a Zombie movie feel. Drinking glasses still sat out. A baby bouncer was in the other room. A litter box (still with cat shit) sat by the back door.
I won't get into all the structural problems *shudder* but Dan did discover one MAJOR things.
"Um Rachel. There's no showers."
"No shower heads?"
"Nope, no showers at ALL. Just tubs...."
At this point I grabbed Diana and sprinted out of the house.

As I sat in my car, trying to scrub the smell of the house off of me, all I could think was;

"Oh man, this is going to make such a good blog post."

Food I cannot resist

Hey everyone! It's Jessica from Everyday Adventures of Me in the City here guest posting for you today while Katelin is chillaxing with me in Chicago for BlogHer (oh yes, I saw her today).

So if you're joining me from my blog, I mentioned there that I love food but that I find some foods I absolutely cannot resist. Like, if you put it in front of me, I won't be able to resist myself.

It's not a scary sight, trust me :)

Now, let's take a look at what I can't resist.

• Garrett's popcorn - local Chicago popcorn shop. I'm not lying, people in my office have pushed people to get to leftovers of this. The cheese/caramel corn mix is like dying and going to heaven

• Rotisserie chicken - yeah I can't resist this. I walk by the chickens cooking at the store and I'm like a puppy for sale in the window (slightly sad)

• M&Ms - plain or peanut, I love them. Especially when they are slightly chilled in the fridge

• Strawberries - see, not everything I like is bad for me! I love fresh strawberries and fruit in summer. Yum

• French fries - cheese sauce is optional but I love fries. So addictive

• Dunkin' Donuts Munchkins - yeah a coworker used to bring these as a Friday treat and I could not resist them. I like the cake donuts best. Seriously tasty

So the question for tonight is, what foods are irresistible to you?

Oh yeah and I did use the tag "my friends kick ass" because I do :) Ask Katelin.

CHICAGO here I come!

So usually today would be a Hollywood day post and I apologize for anyone coming over to see some Hollywood scoop but remember when I posted that I was going to Chicago in two weeks??! Yeah well that two weeks has finally arrived and I am on my way to Chicago! And the fact that I didn't pack until last night and my scheduled posting has been out of whack lately (yeah I really just said 'out of whack') I didn't have time to add some Hollywood flare before I left. But I promise, next week's Hollywood news will be all sorts of awesome!

But um, back to Chicago. I AM SO EXCITED. Okay well yes this is a given. But um, Chicago. It just sounds amazing. And it will be amazing (even if I have to wear a jacket and bring an umbrella...umwtf weather? you stop that thunderstorm business and you stop it now!).

Tonight I'm flying in and staying with a college friend Lynn who I haven't seen since graduation three years ago and that alone is awesome.

huge drinks, just the way we like them

Basically the girl is awesome and I can't wait to catch up and hang out with her in person and do some drinking and have some fun!

Wednesday I'll be exploring the city on my own and seeing the Bean, having some pizza and probably hitting up the Art Museum then going out with Lynn and company that night. Thursday I check into my hotel and the BlogHer madness will begin. I'm so glad I went last year because I sort of know what to expect (even though I feel like this year it's a wee bit more intense) and I'll know plenty of people that are going.

So are you in Chicago? Headed to BlogHer? If so I can't wait to see you! Or tweet me or email me and let's try and meet up!

I really cannot wait.

and stop by tomorrow and Thursday for two fabulous Chicagoans that will be taking over.





happy tuesday!

Vegasness at its best.

Another hot weekend here and man was it a whirlwind, I can't believe I survived, but somehow I did and I can barely wait for this weekend.

Thursday: After work my friend Yliana came and picked my sister and I up and we were on our way to Las Vegas! Three and a half hours later we finally made it. Eventually Lauren and her family met up with us at the bar and we did some gambling and stayed out late and it was all sorts of funness.

Friday: Slept in a bit before making our way to the pool (oh so glorious pool time). After a couple hours at the pool we moseyed on over across the street and got some morning margaritas before gambling a bit more and heading to lunch. After lunch the day required a nap before going out for the night. Eventually we were up and at em and made our way to the strip and a grand ole night was had. And of course there were pictures...

Chris, Charo and Kourtney, quite the trio

Me, the birthday girl Lauren, my sis and Yliana
at the Bellagio fountains

a free shot for the birthday girl!

gettin frisky with the Riviera ladies


I feel so naughty!


Yliana had to join it too.


and then the girls got stuck in the spinning doors, ha

Basically it was a great and ridiculous night out and it was so fun hanging out with friends I rarely get to see, especially when Sin City was our playground.

Saturday: Woke up early, went to breakfast with Lauren's fam then saw them off as they headed back to Ohio and we made our merry way back to La la land. Eventually we made it back and I was all sorts of exhausted. But I somehow managed to head to Brentwood with Matt so he could get fitted for a tux for a wedding next month. Then we made it home and I finally took a nap. Other than that the night wasn't too too exciting, saw some fam at Island's briefly then hung out at home with Matt and our friend Stef came over for a bit too. Twas a loverly recovery night.

Sunday: Woke up with a mission and first thing in the morning I finally went and bought an Iphone. I know I was debating it and finally I just had a Becky Bloomwood/Jen Lancaster moment and basically felt like I freakin deserved it. So the iphone it was! Hurrah! And in celebration I got some new shoes and a new dress, it was schnazzy. Afterwards Matt and I headed over to his mom's house to enjoy the pool and the BBQ and man it was nice. We hung out there basically the whole afternoon and some friends came over and drinks were had, company was enjoyed and the heat melted us all in the process. Basically another great night.

And a perfectly great way to end the weekend.

What'd you do this weekend? Do anything crazy?

happy monday!

You Don't Say?

First of all I want to say thank you everyone for all of the comment's on yesterday's post. Even thank you to the people that decided to leave me my first negative anonymous comments (hey I think first time in a blog I've had 2 years isn't too bad) because there were plenty of other wonderful comments to negate you and remind me that it really is mine and Matt's wedding and no one else's so whatever we choose will be just fine and dandy. So really, dear freaders you are rock stars.

And on that note again I just should probably do some fiance promotion. I sort of had this crazy idea that Matt could start a blog again and since he's done so much planning of the wedding while he's been out of work that why not write a blog about it. I mean there aren't a ton of wedding blogs written by the groom right? So he actually took me up on my idea and so A Groom's Eye View was started. So feel free to stop on over and check out some weddingness from Matt's perspective and just tell him 'hi', I know he'd appreciate it. Woo.

Well moving on from the weddingness and on to where I am right now. Because I am most definitely not at work, not even in California. If you've been following me on twitter or Facebook you know that I've made my way to Las Vegas again. It's crazy because usually there is at least a year in between my Vegas adventures and this time it's not even a month!! Why am I going you ask? Well one of my good friends Lauren (that I've known since 1st grade) and her family (who are from Ohio and I last saw when I graduated college three years ago) have been in Vegas all week and leave Saturday morning. So my sister, me and another elementary school friend have all trekked out to spend all day today with them (and most appropiately on Lauren's birthday!) and have a grand olve Vegas time.

So yes I'm quite excited to be reunited with some fabulous ladies and hope we don't melt in the 110 degrees that's taking over Sin City at the moment, oh boy.

oh weren't we cute sisters of the 90s, haha me, my sister, Christina and Lauren

Hope you all have a most fabulous weekend!




happy friday!

Wedding don'ts.

So after watching TODAY Throws a Wedding yesterday I've realized that although Matt and I haven't done much planning to our own wedding I know there are some things that will just not be happening.

• My hair will not look like this:
  
  
  
  
  
  Seriously!? How could she let the hair stylist do that to her? And her makeup was a little much I thought. I guess when you leave your wedding in the hands of a TV show that's what could happen. But yeah no way will my hair be that high up, if up at all. No thank you.
  
  
• We will not be honeymooning in Australia (as nice as it would be), but seriously? Audience that voted on Australia as their honeymoon destination did you forget that it's Winter there, Winter?!?? Yeah my honeymoon will not be spent in a place where the high is 60 degrees, I'll pass on that one.
  
  
• The Macarena? I don't think so. Conga line? No thanks. YMCA? Ummm Perhaps.
  
  
• Magenta. Fuchsia. Lavender. Light Pink. Pastels. None of it. Now don't get me wrong I don't hate any of those colors and I think it looks lovely in some weddings, just not ours.
  
  
• Kidlets. As much as I love the youngins, they won't be at our wedding. I'm making the cut off age the age of my youngest brother, 13. So yeah that's still kid age, but no bebes or toddlers of the sort. I just want the parents that do come to have a good time (and hello babysitters are awesome) and I don't want a crying kid during the ceremony.
  
  
• High heels. Well for me at least, I'll let my bridal party decide on what they'd like to do, but I will be rockin either some ballerina flats or my trademark look of flip flops. I mean it just wouldn't be right otherwise.
  
  
• Doves. Swans. No flying creatures of any kind.
  
  
• Open mic. Yeah there won't be an open mic at our wedding because if that was the case the reception would never start. A select few will be able to say their parts but after that, the mic will go away.
  
  
  

We do have our 'wedding do' list too, but I'll save that one for another post. And what's on your don'ts list? Anything you just won't have?


*updated to add: I don't mean this post to offend anyone. This is just what I don't want, and if you had it and loved it then good for you. Everyone is different right? I'm just saying, some of this stuff just isn't for me*

happy thursday!

Free always has its costs.

In less than a month Matt and I have attended two presentations to get some free stuff. The first was for a timeshare presentation in Vegas when we went in June and the second was last night in Pasadena for some cookware.

Now I'm not going to bash these presentations but I will say that they'll have to offer me a whole lot more to get me to go to any more of them. The one in Vegas was kind of eh because we had to get up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday (umm did they know we were in Las Vegas!?) and although we did get a free room, which don't get me wrong is awesome in itself, it was at Bally's (and not the best room we could have gotten). And for that we had to sit through a two hour presentation about a timeshare that we knew we weren't going to get because really we just can't afford that right now.

And the one last night, oh the one last night. First of all, when I got the call about it and that I won some free champagne flutes I thought 'hey why not?', but then of course there was a catch and I had to go to some presentation to get them. So with promises of food and being two hours I convinced Matt and we went. Well the lady on the phone left out a lot and it was just about three hours and there about two morsels of food at the very end of it (I came straight from work, had no food and became a wee bit cranky). But I will say that the stuff the guy showed us was pretty good quality stuff just not really affordable for us right now.

So yes, as cool as a free room in Vegas and two champagne flutes are, I don't think I'll be sitting through any more presentations any time soon. It's just not worth my time or their and I can only count so many squares in the carpet.

Can't they just give me the free stuff? I mean really, I do have a review blog and all :)


What do you think about the 'free' gimmicks and presentations?




happy wednesday!

Oh what a dashing day in Hollywood.

Oh it's Tuesday alright and have we got some cuteness lined up. I mean really, the amount of adorableness is just exuding out of this blog today, so be prepared. Hopefully you can handle the cute!

• Starting off the cuteness we have my most favorite family of Hollywood, the Garner-Afflecks! All of them together again and looking precious and ohmygod look at Seraphina's precious wittle cheeks! So so cute!
  
  
  
  oh so very cute.
  
  
  
• Another oh so adorable girl that I can't get enough of lately is little Nahla Aubrey. Seriously I heart Halle and her daughter is just so cute. Her eyes are so pretty too, I can't get over how unique they look and umyessocute.
  
  
  
  preciousness.
  
  
  
• Another cuteness that isn't really a bebe any more because she just turned 4, is little Ava Jackman. This picture just made me heart melt a little bit more because Hugh is oh so awesome and lav him!!
  
  
  
  oh what a cute daddy and me day!
  
  
  
• Moving on from the bebes and their cuteness we have one of my favorite ladies of Hollywood. Seriously I don't think Kate Winslet ever has a bad day and her newest photo shoot for Harper's Bazaar is just flawless, I heart her all around.
  
  
  
  simply dashing.
  
  
• Speaking of flawless and dashing we have today's Twilight news. Which um, there isn't a whole lot report except that New Moon comes out in November! Huzzah! And Rob Pattinson is still filming in NYC for Remember Me and still rockin the Ray Bans. Seriously it reminds me of Bono or something or Guy in That Thing You Do. But hey whatever works right?
  
  
  
  hello shades.
  
  
  
• In news I don't really care about but you might: Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo broke up, Molly Ringwald had twins, Step Up costars Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan got hitched over the weekend and um Megan Fox makes her boyfriends get tattoos.
  
  
• And in movie news...
  I need to see a new movie! That's the news! I need time to see Bruno, Public Enemies, Transformers 2, The Ugly Truth and ah Harry Potter!!
  
  Another movie I know I'm going to want to see is Valentine's Day. I really don't know what it's about but it's got Patrick Dempsey (helloooo McDreamy), Eric Dane (and hellooooo McSteamy!), Jennifer Garner, Anne Hathaway, Bradley Cooper, Topher Grace, Jessica Alba (eh do not care) and a few others. But really, that cast? Amazing.
  
  
• And in TV news...
  Neil Patrick Harris is hosting the Emmy's! Yay! Seriously he's having one of the best years ever and he deserves it. Heart him! And I cannot wait for How I Met Your Mother to come back already.
  
  Another favorite show of mine that is in no way like HIMYM is Law and Order: SVU and they're back to filming already! And looks like Wentworth Miller is making a cameo as a cop and Chris Meloni is enjoying showing off the gun show and Mariska is having fun being mom on the set.
  
  
  
  hello Eliot Stabler.
  
  
  
  
  aw cute mommy and me time on set. presh.
  
  
  
• Lastly in today's WTF news we have another entertaining animal story. Apparently a badger in Germany got so drunk off of over-ripe cherries that it wandered out into the road and refused to move. Yeah I know a couple drunk people that would do that too, haha. Man so random though and so funny.
  
  
  
  

And that my friends is today's Hollywood news. Anything I left out? Let me know.






happy tuesday!

It's almost too much for one weekend.

Before I even start talking about the weekend recap I have to thank you all so much for your kind comments on Friday's post. I wasn't sure what people would say but I was glad you all said it and it definitely made me feel a whole lot better, so really. Thank You.

And onto the busiest weekend I've had in a while but was oh so totally fun and worth it.

Friday: After work I headed to dinner at Matt's mom's house which was delicious (as always) and fun. Afterwards Matt and I came home and got redressed and went out to Barney's in Old Town to meet up with my cousin who was in town and later my sister and some of her friends showed up too. It was a pretty fun, chill night out and just the kind of night we needed before the rest of the busy weekend.

Saturday: Woke up earlyish and headed down to Newport for my friend Sydney's bridal shower. It was a nice lunch and fun to hang out with some of her friends and get to know others before the wedding in August. I had to skip out of the shower early so I could make the two hour trek to meet some of the fabulous ladies of the blogosphere for lunch/dinner. Eventually I made it and got to hang out with Nicole, Kerri, Ev'Yan, Amanda, Andrea and Allison and it was awesome as always. Seriously I think I laughed more with those girls than I had all week, it was too funny. And some of the videos we shared were just too ridiculous and awesome all at once. But um yeah, great afternoon all around. Afterwards I trekked it on home and basically hung out watching TV with Matt before passing out quite early. And it was lovely.

Sunday: Woke up earlyish again (I'll sleep in next weekend) and got ready before heading out with Megan to the LA Bridal Expo. At first we were a little overwhelmed with all of the stuff, but I ended up walking out with tons of info and cards and ideas and it was a lot of fun. And on top of it all we got to take some ridiculous pictures too:

we won! we won! we're totally Oscar worthy :)

I totally want a photo booth at my wedding,
this was so much fun!

After we finished at the Expo we headed over to Griffith Park to get a hot dog from the weinermobile in support of the Liz Logelin foundation. As soon as we got there I saw Matt and I was a little awestruck at first, but I got it together and introduced myself and said I was a big fan of his blog and loved his writing and I'm pretty sure I gushed some more before talking like a normal person. Then Megan and I got our hot dogs and I got to meet little Madeline, who is seriously just as adorable and precious as she is in all of her pictures. So yeah, that was pretty lovely.

Eventually Megan dropped me off at home and I ran some errands with Matt before relaxing a bit. But before we knew it we were headed over to my aunt and uncle's house to go swimming and have margaritas and tacos and play Wii, basically what every Sunday should be like. It was a great afternoon, we swam a bit, drank a bit, had delicious tacos, go intense with some Wii games and all around had a great time. Afterwards Matt and I came home to relax and sleep the rest of the night away.


So yes, it was a loverly weekend, seriously loverly. Although it may have felt like a million degrees it was nothing a pool, AC, or a margarita couldn't solve, haha.

And how was your weekend? Did you survive the summer heat?



happy monday!