Kudos and Boos...

It's Sunday and in the spirit of trying to blog more, let's start out with some Kudos and Boos...

Kudos to Claire! Today she moved into Davis!! The fam left Glendale Friday night after work (car packed, 4 bodies, and a bike on the back like frosting on a cupcake). Instagram tells me they went to the Davis-Portland football game yesterday but were put to the ultimate test when there was a downpour (which was nice of Davis to order the rainstorm to make Portland feel like home). I'm super excited since she's going to be closer to me (!!) and it looks like I have some trips coming up to go visit her. 

Boos to Miley Cyrus. Where to start, where to start? I think we really hit rockbottom with the VMA performance last month, but to let Liam Hemsworth go? That is the real tragedy. I have a feeling he'll be bouncing back in no time and with even more popularity, but she may take some more good PR. 

Kudos to Fall Premiere week! All my fave shows will officially be back starting tomorrow...How I Met Your Mother, Scandal, Parks and Rec, Nashville, oh you catch my drift. And not to mention all the new shows that are coming out. Honestly, I can't really remember all of the cliff hangers, but I am sure they'll remind me with the courteous "Previously on..." So far the only premiere that I have seen so far is "The Mindy Project" and let's just say that I am ready for the rest of the season. Ahh, so many new shows to watch. It's going to be a good week, I can feel it. 

Boos to the time suck that is Pintrest and/or BuzzFeed. This could be the main reason why I don't blog like I should. But it just constantly updates and brings in new posts/feeds so that I can never see everything. Honestly, the hours can fly when I'm on the Entertainment page on BuzzFeed or when I am on the Popular page on Pintrest. No joke, I could have posted this so much earlier if I didn't stop to take the "How well do you know Toy Story" quiz or look through the latest Humor feed. So. much. time.  

Kudos to Kathy Griffin last night. But let's do a quick run through of the evening - the show was scheduled for 7:30 and while we planned to leave the house at 6:15 we walked out the door at 7:35. So we scooted down to the Saratoga Mountain Winery and by the time we parked and walked into the venue and paid for our glass of wine, it was 7:25. Slow clap to our awesome timing. Slow clap. The show itself was legit, she always brings it. It was a little chilly, but seeing as our house has been a sauna for the past three months, it was legit. But special Kudos to Kathy who was rockin a tee and jeans, meanwhile up in the General Admission, we were bundled in sweaters, jeans, boots, scarves, hats, Northface jackets and fleece blanket. Prepared? I think so.  

Boos to John Gosslin. Like Kate said this weekend: John, why are you all over my news feed? Valid, Kate, valid. 

And on that note...until next time 

#MaybeonemorepostbeforeOctoer 

earrings, purse, necklace, hat

It's Officially Fall (well almost...)

We're just a few hours away from the new season, and these last few weeks of summer have been so busy! So lo siento about that, but it's been a crazy ride. Since the rain is keeping me in doors today, i'm finally able to put the Pintrest on the back burner and get to some blogging! Starting with my funtivity for tonight...Kate and I are headed to see our girl, Kathy Griffin, at the Saratoga Mountain Winery.

We've already seen her three times (can you tell we're friends?) but it's always a super solid show and keeps us up on pop culture. This was the view from where we sat last time...

This time we decided to go for the cheap seats and sit up a little higher, but that's why they made big screens.  

And here's an awesome bonus, she's besties with Cher and always comes with awesome stories. Last year we saw Steve Wozniack waiting for the elevator and later in parking garage, bonus! I would also be all about her mom making a special appearance, but sad face, I doubt she'll be there. So instead, I'll settle for any member of Team Griffin. Side note, her Bravo reality show, My Life on the D-List, was aca-awesome. If you didn't watch it, you definitely missed out.

The only downside is the weather right now. This is actually a double edged sword because while I am loving the rain, the Mountain Winery is outside. But we already decided that since we dropped some cash money on the tickets, we're definitely still going, so we'll just need to bundle and make sure we're wearing waterproof clothing. Bring it rain, bring it.

Anywho, I'm sure she'll have us laughing till we cry all the while making us think. SO excited!!

#truefans

Ello week 2...

Well it’s a week into my new routine and I already missed kudos and boos from this past weekend. Are we surprised? Not entirely.

So the past week has been pretty busy. We actually had been pretty active so where to start...

First, on Wednesday night, we went to go see a classic movie. Not only for America, but Carly and I watched it ALL the time in high school. That’s right, we saw "Dirty Dancing" on the big screen. Kate had never seen it and the theater is doing a revamp for old classics (the next batch they were advertising looks bomb too). So we went to happy hour at our fave restaurant by the theater and had some delish raspberry mojitos and then made our way to a really full theater (not completely, but definitely full) of fans. Of course, Carly and I spent the movie whispering “Oh this is my favorite part” or “Oh this is great” or “Kate, this is awesome, pay attention” but we were in a theater with people who most likely had already seen it so we didn’t bother too many people. At least that’s what we’re telling ourselves.

Then on Friday night, we pretended like we were in high school and had a sober night (well for the most part). Malibu Grand Prix was closing on Sunday (the 18^th) and since we all had spent many end-of-the-year parties, birthdays, or random adventures playing mini-golf, we decided to give it one last round before we bid adieu. Well we weren’t the only ones who had this bright idea because when we pulled into the parking lot, it was packed. Pretty sure the Malibu employees were annoyed it was never this busy before they announced closing. But no fear, we spotted a Tesla (our good luck charm) and found a spot right in front! But, for a full parking lot, we waited probably 10 minutes in line for our clubs and balls (which was a pleasant surprise) and then made our way to the course and weren’t waiting or being rushed the entire time! It was awesome. I am not going to brag about winning, so I’ll let the instagram below show you how we did. Oh and yes, that is a 1.

We rounded out the evening with a trip to Frozen Yogurt (always a classic) and then tried to watch the Beyonce HBO documentary, but got played by Netflix and started a “unauthorized” version. We didn’t realize we were watching the wrong one until about 10 minutes in and we kept seeing the same 7 pictures being shown and no B or Jay-Z interviews. So we then turned it over to a legitimate music documentary on Taylor Swift. Really, it was as if we were in high school again, but we did have wine…ahh so close. 

So on Saturday, Carly and I went to see “The Way, Way Back.” I had first heard about this movie from the Killer Bees who told me I would really like it back in July. Then when I was in San Clemente, the girls had seen it and enjoyed  it (Carly was obsessed with it – her words not mine) so I was dying to see it. So after weeks of waiting, she and I went to a Saturday morning movie and from the moment the previews started through walking out of the theater, I LOVED it. I laughed. I cried. I could have sat there all afternoon. It was fantastic. I even loved the title – so clever. And no joke on the crying, when the credits started to roll, I had tears (notice the plural) rolling down my face. And then I spent the next day (well actually week) walking around and saying, Oh and this part, wasn't Allison Janney awesome? The part with the eye patch..and so on and so on. It’s very reminisient of Little Miss Sunshine and Juno so you know you’re in good hands. It’s definitely on my “buy this asap” list.

After those exciting things, life has been pretty boring. I’ll have to do something exciting so I have a new blog post for this weekend/next week. But that’s three posts in two weeks. Record!

#Helloweekend

#Kudostomybloggingabilities

#checkoutthatphoto

New goals

I know – I can’t believe it either. Two blog posts in about 25 hours. Whoa, setting a record.

Since the new school year starts for some this week, others next, and for some lucky quarter system kids, mid-late September, I always try and set some new school year goals. This is mostly because after San Clemente, I usually want a fresh start when I get back. I stuff my face during that week and I always say I need to detox (from food, drink, whathave you) so might as well add in a couple other “resolutions” while I’m at it. And of course with my favorite day of the year just around the corner, I’m about to enter my LATE 20’s – holy Toledo, I thought if I put it in writing, I’d be more likely to achieve some of them.

So while I was sitting on the beach last week during vacation, in between downing licorice and mock-frosted-circus-cookies, my wheels began turning on what are some things I can focus on during my detox/renaissance. Here are some things I came up with…

First, there’s always eating healthy and making sure I exercise. The exercise is actually the easier thing to do. I have gotten into a habit of trying to do something active once a day, but I do want to start incorporating toning and pilates/yoga into the mix. The classes that my gym offers aren’t super convienent times and I would always rather do cardio, but people tell me I need to find my Namaste. Where the hell are you dammit?! Now for eating, I always have the best of intentions on Sunday night (usually right after I had dinner and too many sweets). And if I can make it to spin in the early Monday morning hours, then I can usually make it to Monday afternoon, then the afternoon lull gets me every time. Now I am trying to write down everything in advance (to also help with grocery shopping) so I would stick to the plan. We shall see how this goes, because even this morning, I had my mid-morning snack with breakfast. I was a hungry kid. Which leads me to my next goal…

Cooking. My nemisis. I like the end result of cooking, but the process is something I have no patience for. So far, I have only really tried to cook a few solid meals since I have been living on my own. Although, I have mastered the balsamic vegetable pitas and egg sandwiches, I don’t consider those full on “cooking” but more like “I can make this in 10 minutes or less” meals. So I think adding in a couple more recipes into my repitour would be good. I get Cooking Light so I think I am going to take three recipes out of each monthly magazine and try those out. Probably on the weekends, cause let’s face it, I hate cooking during the week. Maybe I’ll post pictures, but seeing as I hate pictures of food, it’s not likely. Or perhaps a compare and contrast…that’s more likely if it looks NOTHING like the image in the magazine.

Next we get Italian. This one always seems to be on my list. My trip to Italy was 6 years ago, and I was able to communicate (albeit slowly) when I got back, but lost it pretty quickly. Lady Di has got the Italian Rosetta Stone CDs so I think I am going to borrow those and whip out my Ciao! textbook from college to work on my conjunctions, my to-be verbs, and how to say “Make me some pasta!”

And finally, it could be that I am sick of my closet, but I am going to try and incorporate jewelry into my every day wardrobe. Now I always wear the same earrings, and usually wear the same bracelets and I don’t think that will change (unless of course the mood strikes me) so really I guess that this only applies to necklaces. Oh well start small.

Oh and blog more so I can keep up writing. J

I am sure there may be more things to add to the list – more blog posts, holler! – but let’s start out with these. 

#Babystepspeoplebabysteps

Kudos and Boos...from the past two months

Well it's been over two months so I suppose we have a lot to catch up on. It's been really busy filled with work, trips, organizing, and playtime. Since the school year is upon us, I'm also set up with my new school year goals, but alas, I don't want use up all of my posts too soon. And without further ado...

Kudos to Vacations. Ahh how much do I love a good vacation? Let me count the ways. Since I last blogged, I went to Vegas with friends where we were go-go-go but then I rounded out summer with a trip to San Clemente with the fam where we were go-go-read-and-resting-time. Vegas was during one of the hottest weekends on record - we think we hit 115 degrees but we did not want to look at the temps in an effort to stay cool. We stayed at the ever classy Flamingo, pool partied (complete with cabanas) both days, and hit up the clubs. It was awesome. Then last week, I came home from San Clemente. We spent our days with run/walks, tennis matches, eating, shopping on Del Mar, more eating, beach time, eating again, reading and resting time, movies, and more eating. Oh did I not mention drinking? It was awesome. Detoxing on Tuesday, not so much.
Boos to days after vacations. Like I said, detoxing after vacations is always a bumpy road. But paired with waking up to an early alarm, that's the WORST. Oh well, they say it gets easier with time, right? Well still a week later, and I am still bummed my vacations are over, but I guess that just means that I need to plan another trip asap.

Kudos to organizing and list making. This has really been the summer of organizing and list making. Not that I was a disorganized person before, but Kate and I have really come to the habit of writing a list of all the things we want to get done over a weekend. I suppose that sort of dips into the next post for my new school year goals, so I'll get back to that later. But man there is nothing better than crossing something off of the list of things to do.
Boos to working getting in the way of my organizing. Maybe in my next life, I'll be a personal organizer to the stars. Watch out celebrities, I'm going to organize the shit out of your lives!

Kudos to Claire. This is a little premature seeing that she doesn't leave for school for OVER another month, but she's headed to Davis in the Fall. She is keeping the family tradition alive and going to be an Aggie (her godfather, Marko, is super stoked on that). I don't think she's got all her stuff together yet, but she's on her way. I'm personally super excited to have her so close. Maybe I'll blog pictures of my trip to Davis. Maybe. That sounds like a hefty task.
Boos to new school year. Summer FLEW. Isn't that always the case? Just when I get my tan on, or at least a good base tan going, it seems like it's already time for sweaters. But that's why they invented sunless tanner right? And there are still some good days left in the season so it's not a total lost cause.

Okie dokie, that should do it for this first post. Have to ease my way back into it. But I have a couple more blog ideas to post about so it shouldn't be 2 months till my next post. I hope.

#bloggingiscomingback

So just a little recap...

Well we are officially in the summer season. Schools are on vacation, kids are graduating, I’m starting to melt in the RWC. Ahh, one of my favorite seasons.

The past few weeks have been super busy and the next few will be too (or that's what I keep hearing). This week provided a new nice change of pace and I have been working remote in LA. It’s been a pretty sweet deal. But let me at least catch you up starting from last weekend (and this is the reader's digest version).

So Saturday, right after attempting to cool down the hellmouth (my term of endearment for my home. Don’t get me wrong, I love it, but it’s hotter than hell – hence the name – when it’s warmer than 80 outside) Kate left to go to Alaska to visit her brother and I went down to Clos la Chance winery for Teresa’s birthday. Her boyfriend planned a great day at the winery and we picnicked and tried lots of white wine. I was super proud of myself for NOT getting sunburned, especially since I was sitting in the sun all afternoon, but it was such a fun day. Then we went to the Hut for a birthday drink (our old Santa Clara stomping grounds). When I got home I threw a bunch of stuff in about 6 separate bags, my version of “packing” and Carly and I caught up on Psych and tried a new pizza place – but one that delivers so we didn’t have to leave :o)

The Sunday morning, Carly packed up and caught a flight to Denver for a work-type-conference for a new program that they are trying to start at her school. I wasn’t too far behind her and threw all my bags and some treats into the Blueberry and checked, double checked, and triple checked all the doors/windows to make sure it was locked up tighter than fort knox and bid adieu to Lark and headed south. By the way, I sang the entire way and it was very well received.

I made Highway 5 my bitch and got to Commonwealth in about 5.5 hours…making only one stop for gas and a coffee (also, I am bringing back the mocha frappacino this summer…those things are CRAZY delicious). Sunday night, the Repettos threw a delicious birthday dinner for Tom’s mom who was in town from Chicago visiting. The food was BOMB – chicken, grilled veggies, a delicious panzanilla salad (quite possibly my other new summer obsession) and some homemade scalloped potatoes. Top it off with some delicious choc cake from grandma Costco and you’ll get a FULL Julie. It was so good though – worth every bite.

Monday was pretty mellow – I started a new running route around trendy Los Feliz but no celeb sightings (DAMMIT) and then started working away. Monday night, Gina and Gary had us over at their house for dinner and got ready for Claire to celebrate her graduation from high school.

Tuesday was a CRAZY busy day. Lady Di and Marko flew in and after a full day of working, we all dined on some pretty yummy tamales and headed to the Hollywood Bowl for the graduation. I had only been to the Bowl for the Sound of Music Sing-Along (jealous?) but this was a pretty sweet graduation. It was absolutely beautiful and the girls all wore long white dresses with red roses.  After a quick ceremony (no joke, just a little over an hour) we headed back to Nonni’s to toast with champagne and cake and some other goodies.

Wednesday morning, I think the entire family was EXHAUSTED. But we all rallied and went to work/did what we had to do. Tom had put us on the list for the Green Room at Jimmy Kimmel so Lisa, Sarah and I headed over to Hollywood Blvd to see them tape two episodes, one with Will Smith and one with Seth Rogen & a music performance with Lonely Island. It was AWESOME. Then we went and got dinner after the show, well they did, I had some bomb chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, and the person sitting at the booth next to us was the Principle on Glee. (Thank you Google Search for knowing what “Joey Tribbiani’s doctor with Kidney Stones” meant).

If I thought I was exhausted on Wednesday, I was wiped out on Thursday. It was a low key day (including lunch with Uncle Gary so I could see his brand-spankin new office in Glendale). After work, Sarah and I went and got mani/pedis and then headed to dinner. So civilized.

Today's been pretty mellow - just working and had another delicious lunch with the Killer B's. Not sure what else is going to happen today but I can tell you I am never this active during the week! Not sure what else is on the agenda for the weekend but I think I get to see Julia tomorrow in the afternoon.Whoop Whoop!

I promise I'll blog this weekend or at least do another recap...soon...ish...

#hellotosummer

#crossyourfingersformorecelebsightings

Whoa - Definitely Dropped the Ball.

It's been way too long since I last blogged. Mi dispiace! So without further ado - let's get into Kudos and Boos...

Kudos to all the moms out there - especially Lady Di! In case you're living under a rock, it's Mother's Day and I think that Lady Di had a pretty awesome weekend. First, Lisa flew up for the weekend and the three of us went for a lovely walk at the Stanford Dish. It was a ridiculously beautiful day but definitely warm at the wee hours of 9 am. It was Lady Di and Lisa's first time walking it so they claim that I was trying to kill them, which is absurd, but we all survived (with tighter gluteus we hope!) Then Saturday night we went see Mary Poppins up at the Orpheum Theater in SF. It was a great play - just a little long. And who doesn't love singing some of those awesome songs. Then this morning, after getting our prayer on, we made a delicious brunch, I hit the gym, Lisa and I got Mani/Pedis, and then cooked dinner (and Auntie Cath & Michael came up as well). It was an action packed weekend and I am pooped! But, well worth it.
Boos to season finales. These just seemed to sneak up on me! I can't believe we're already in mid May and most of our shows are wrapping up. There are so many unanswered questions already hanging - #whoisthemole #whoispregnant #willtheygetmarried #willshetellhimhesherbabydaddy #willtheyfinallygettogether Just FYI those are not all the same show. But you get my point - and most still have an episode or two to go! Ahhh the stress!

Kudos to Kelly graduating! This Friday, Lady Di, Marko and I are getting on a plane and heading to San Diego to see Kelly Mac graduate from SDSU. She's getting her degree in Media Studies and all set with a job. It will be a quick trip down there but a good time!
Boos to the Office signing off this week. Only one more time do we get to see what happens at the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company in Scranton. I have loved this show and all of the people on it and the only good thing that is coming from this episode is all of the guest starring roles this week! I believe Kelly and Ryan will be back and I can only hope that good ol' Michael Scott will make one more appearance. I wonder if they have any openings for him. That's what she said. (Sorry I couldn't resist.)

Kudos to Claire BB! Tomorrow is her 18th birthday and boy it would be nice to be her right now. She decided on Davis, probably have little homework/tests/projects left so she's pretty much ready for graduation, which is just a few weeks away. Way to go Claire!!
Boos to a new week already. Man these weeks seem to go too fast.

Not my most interesting blog post, but I am a little rusty #hatersgonnahate #lotstocatchupon