lions oh my!

On a recent trip to vegas we of course had to stop and see the MGM Lions. Because I love them, obvi.

aren't they so cute?

And then we got to see the trainers get in there and play with them. I died a little.

They were so playful yet mesmerizing. 

Now after a sold lion watching experience we stopped in the store to look at all the silly products and found the best of all lion themed merchandise: 

A child's stuffed animal lion that goes in a fuzzy backpack that can also be rolled. 

Seriously??

Unfortunately it was a little too small for me...

xoxo

bikes for baths

Jonathan showed this to me and I of course fell in love. 

It's all over pinterest too. 

Maybe I should learn how to ride a bike before I attempt such a thing...

xoxo

second stop

Once back in the promised land (aka LA),

my first stop is always my favorite mexican restaurant, la Cabanita. 

But my second stop is in-and-out for a delicious hamburger with grilled onions and a chocolate shake

If you have yet to experience this, get on it. It will change your life.

xoxo

pack a picnic

On my flight back to LA for Christmas I had a quick layover and picked up this gopicnic for a snack. 

They are awesome, a whole little meal and they are gluten, transfat, HFCS, and MSG free!

xoxo

i wish i majored in crafting...

..."it's called folklore". So Ashley says at least. 

Such discussions are had while deep in the crafting.  Lisa and Ashley came over and we got to work, each on some random small projects.  

Lisa worked on knitting a hat in Carolina blue of course.  

Ashley first made these adorable magnets from old bottle caps that had rock paper scissors on the inside! Adorable. 

Meanwhile, Ashley had wrapped my Christmas present with my name on top! so cute. I turned it into a pin. You never know when you're going to need a nametag...

Then I made some more pins.  The rosette pins are super easy.  I followed this tutorial and they turned out awesomely. I made a few and turned some into pins and put others on a headband.  

I also made these dahlia inspired pins.  It's a much smaller version of this (full tutorial here).  Mine are only about three inches in diameter. I used a hot pink and regular pink felt. I cut the petals and put my hot glue gun to work to first crimp the petals and then attach them around a one inch circle of felt.  I topped it off with a mini pink button (after consulting the ladies of course). 

Meanwhile, Ashley was hard at work on another, more seasonly-festive project.  She had seen these faux snow globes here and of course wanted to make some.  Since then we've seen them all over pinterest and she found them at anthropologie: 

But these were on sale for $38! Ridiculous.

Good thing Ashley keeps a heavy stock of glass jars at her house.  We picked up the small trees at hobby lobby and she found the fake snow at target (hoblob was all sold out).

She first made the ornament version for Casey's mom, so frigging adorable:

 

Then she set out on the jars.  The problem was the old drink bottle, the slender hole appeared to be a problem for the tree. But no worry, Ashley is a crafty version of MacGyver and created a toothpick contraption to get the tree in safe and sound:

So impressive:

Go be crafty!

xoxo

peace and crafting

The semester finished and Ashbash and I rewarded ourselves with a trip to the HobLob.  Hobby Lobby is my favorite craft store.  It is superior for a variety of reason but it really offers a great selection with amazing deals every week.  Who doesn't love a sale on scrapbook paper and glass containers?!  If one is near you, I highly encourage you to discover it. It will change your life. Promise.

Now a trip to the HobLob also means a trip to the Sonic.  Both of these establishments are a bit away from us in CH, making them a true reward. 

We went early in the day so we had breakfast at the Sonic (and yes it's the sonic; just ask Jake)

We had some breakfast sandwiches with some drinks, I had a peach tea, and Ashley a vanilla coke.  And of course: tots. 

Now tater tots are like the frosting to a Sonic cake.  Yeah, just go with it. They have all these amazing drink combos and comfort food and you get tater tots! While eating our tots we ended up discussing the superiority of the tot, Ashley referred to it as Totology or  Totlogistics.  Things we should have studied in school. 

And in case you doubted the awesomeness of the Sonic Jonathan had us ask the ever important question: can you get a route 44 of coffee? The answer: "yeah, you can do anything. We've had stranger requests, like a route 44 of ice cream!" Seriously people, no competition. 

But back to crafting... After that important stop complete, we headed to hobby lobby for some exploring and shopping.  While gathering some solid crafting supplies we were able to appreciate some items we would not be purchasing...

Like these Santa hats

And this giant wreath, it's almost bigger than Ashley

Or these inspired Christmas trees

But of course, the best part about hobby lobby is finding those items that remind us of our childhood, like this awesome ribbon clip:

All in all it was a fabulous reward for a semester done that left us full and ready to craft.

xoxo

a new standard in town

No literally. It's a new bar called The Standard. And I approve. 

We had a roommate outing to check it out since we had all been anxiously awaiting its opening. 

Inside is very chill with mellow colors, reasonable lighting, awesome music, and fun knickknacks. We all got a solid california vibe from it. Mike said they stole his ipod and Ted called it budget classy.

The drinks were good. Basic and cheap. The G&T met my approval. 

And there is food. Good food. We had a pizza, it was tasty. 

All in all it's a solid neighborhood bar. And oh so convenient. 

I think we will be chilling there a good bit.

xoxo

Another last for 2011

Yes yes. I've been posting things about the end of the semester and here is another:

After classes finished a few of us headed to Crunkleton, one of my favs., along with some of our professors to enjoy a cheers to the semester.

I had a "Carrboro" 75 but with Gin, aka a French 75.

Crunkleton was all decked out for the holidays.

So lovely.

xoxo

The Superior Cut

There is nothing like day drinking to celebrate the last day of teaching for the semester.  

And that's just what I did after class finished.  

I met up with the boys at R&R for an extra-refreshing beverage and some lunch.

It may be in the back of the BofA building, 

but once you get inside it's a chill place with good service and tasty food.  

I of course had a G&T.  For the food I had the pesto chicken sandwich with mozz on a brioche bun. I love when I can get brioche, it feels like I've found a quarter on the ground or something just as randomly pleasing.  

Oh, and the best part about R&R? 

Their fries.  

They are steak fries, obvi the best cut. Absolutely delicious. 

After our last final, the girls and I headed over here again from more drinks and more fries.  

Still the best.

xoxo

Too much of a good thing?

So yes, PT's is RIP. and we cry. 

But we move on and appreciate the other fine offerings in CH, like Buns.

Buns is delicious. I'm not going to lie, I eat there often. Probably too often given how much food they give you.  It's pretty ridiculous. Their burgers are huge and you can put just about anything on them (including a fried egg!) and then there are the fries. The sweet potato fries that is. So good and so many! One meal from Buns is really like 2 or 3 in proper proportion but it doesn't always pan out that way...

What do we have here? Oh yes.  Turkey burger with andouille sausage, avocado, caramelized onions, lettuce, and tomato. I think there was some cheese on that thing too, maybe pepper jack? Whoa. I'm full just remembering how good it was.

xoxo

catching up

The semester from hell is done.  

Yes it's true, I never thought it would be over, but it is.  

And we finished everything on time. Amazing.

And now it's time to catch up on all the food and crafts that have been happening.  

In between our massive number of due dates, Ashbash and I stopped into 3 Cups for a work session.

I really like this place. It's pretty small, very quiet, and peaceful.  It offers tasty drinks of coffee, tea, and wine and some delectable edibles as well. 

This trip I had a french press of a Columbian bean and a ham & cheese croissant. 

Yes, they give you a timer to prevent my impatience from hindering my caffeine intake. 

Ashley had some tea and a big hunk of plum coffee cake.

All was good, as usual. And we were so productive! Such a good combo.

xoxo

Rant/Rave: Really? Really?

Really? How much do I need to say about this?

Location: Old Town Pasadena, usually a stylish place...

Offense: Yes, that is t-shirt. with a winged sword. that is BEDAZZLED IN BLACK SPARKLES.

Lord. Have. Mercy.

Or rather, LHM as I like to say.

xoxo

preppy hipster

As mentioned previously, this semester of grad school has warranted the purchase of readers.

My mom got me this adorable pair for my birthday:

Yes, they are super hipster. 

But yes, they are Kate Spade, who I adore, obvi.

They are just generally lovely.

xoxo

where oh where...is the fair?

So, I am way behind in posting this post.  It's from my trip to Arkansassy.

it is about our trip to the State Fair. Yes state fairs are over by late-October...

In the past three years I have gone to three different state's fairs.  

It's always nice to do a bit of sampling and comparison of these things.

So what did Arkansas, my home away from home, have to offer?

Well clearly, what kind of fair would it be if there wasn't a plethora of fried food:

Unfortunately due to the excessive amounts of margaritas and mexican food, Jake and I were too full (shocking I know) to sample any. Weak sauce I know.

We did check out the animals:

Here are some cows... they are really big, like kind of scary large

Here are some pigs! I love pigs! 

This one was just chilling outside of his cage, you know, no reason to fence the piggy in...

Oh, and then we went inside to the craft building 

because I love crafts, but also because it was cold

Here were two prize winning cakes, look at that girl scout! Represent! 

And the burger, very impressive

And then there were the giant pumpkins! 

Though, even with my great love of this gourd, these ones weren't so pretty.

So many canned things. It basically looks like one of the closets at Mema's

Last but not least, Jake and I had to ride a ride, right?

So we chose the ferris wheel.  There were actually two, we obvi choose the bigger one.

Our view, so pretty!

Overall, it was a solid fair experience, even with the lack of fried food consumption, 

but my heart will thank me for that.

xoxo

easy does it stinky

I was craving a good ol' frenchy sandwich with dijon, brie, apples and ham.  

I had turkey instead of ham but no big.  

The only problem came from the brie - I got one that was bit more stinky than I prefer so my sandwich had a good kick to it, but still tasty.

ps. life is rough right now, final two weeks of the semester...

xoxo

birthday #24

Last week it was my birthday. Yes only number 24. 

I was home in LA for the Thanksgiving holiday so I got to spend the time with my friends and family. It was fabulous and of course, filled with food. 

Mom and I spent the day together eating and shopping (two things we do quite well surprise surprise)

(Mom loves taking pictures of her daughters with topiaries, ridiculous)

We went to Mi Piace for lunch, one of my favorite Californian/Italian restaurants before hitting up the stores in Old Town Pasadena.

We had the calamari to start. So delicious.

Then I had the Rigatoni con Salsiccia which was also fabulous - rigatoni with sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, and broccoli. There was one baby penne, adorable. 

For my 'cake' we stopped by dots cupcakes and picked up some minis!

We tried the fleur de sel chocolate, chocolate and vanilla, double chocolate, dulce de leche, sweet potato, and heath bar. All so good but the fleur de sel was our favorite. 

Don't worry, we didn't eat them all at once!

That night, I met up with my besties and headed over to Bottega Louie.

An absolutely amazing, yet affordable restaurant in DTLA.

We had french fries and bruschetta to start. 

Then I had the short ribs over polenta, which melts in your mouth.

For dessert we shared the grand macaroon and tiramisu.

Then we headed to the parlour room to meet up with more friends for an easy night out.

Overall it was an absolutely delightful day! 

Thanks to everyone who wished me well and made me smile.

xoxo