you and me

"So there's a child molester and a little boy walking into the woods. The child molester and the little boy keep walking further and further, and it's getting darker and darker, and they're going deeper and deeper into the woods. The little boy looks up at the child molester and says, 'Gee mister, I'm getting scared!' And the child molester looks down at him and says, 'You think you're scared, kid? I have to walk out of here alone.'" (a joke from the movie)




Yesterday night I went to see Blue Valentine with J and our friends Cindy and John. We drove out to Irvine where it was playing across from my old school UCI. Loved it. Stinkin' good. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams both did a great job. If you're fortunate enough to live in an area that's screening it already, you should take advantage of it and see it. Aside from Ryan Gosling's adorably adorable ukulele version of "You Always Hurt the Ones You Love", there's this cute old song "You and Me" by Penny & the Quarters that's the two main character's song in the movie. Here it is. Super stinkin' cute.




And to give you a idea of how much I haven't changed since, well, high school probably, here's how much I haven't changed in a little less than three years. The first picture is from when the store opened in November of 2008 (my beautiful coworker Karlee was 16 in this picture and I was 26), and the second one is from earlier today at work, in front of the same door (even though it's white now).

be happy now

School has started up again and I didn't put up any new treasures in the shop like promised. I have been going thrifting and scored some great finds that will be up shortly. I found a great photographer, so it should be a doozy. She's talkin' makeup and concepts and lookbooks. Fancy. :)

In the meantime, here's some uber-cuteness I stumbled upon. I love Moleskines. I think I've had about five and I'm on my sixth right now, but I mostly just use them for story writing ideas, directions, recipes, and writing down lists (grocery, to-do, what have you). I'd like to venture into concept journals though, like this talented Russian lady, Jenny Meilihove. Here's a couple of her YouTube videos of her Moleskine drawings. The music she uses is cute too. Click on her name for her website.





She also has an Etsy shop, Be Happy Now, full of her artwork and illustrations. Check it out!

Some of my favorites.

there are two things that everyone loves, cats and lasers!

I have to say that I had mostly negative experiences at American Apparel before working there, mostly as a customer at the one in Huntington Beach when I still lived in Orange County. I always had the impression that the employees were a bunch of snobs. I remember getting rung up once, and the whole time, the guy didn't look up once or say one word to me except to tell me how much it cost.

The same can't be said for the amazing staff at Victoria Gardens :) I must admit, unbiasedly, that we are the friendliest and pretty much the greatest. Also the most really ridiculously good-looking (though there's more to life than being really ridiculously good -looking, of course). This is not an opinion. Only fact. Agreed?



Yesterday we had our holiday party (a little belated this time round). We went bowling, which I always enjoy but hardly ever do. I am probably the worst bowler ever, but I love it. I took turns with J, and I alternated between missing every pin and bowling a strike! I think my highest score ever is an 80 or so. :)

My secret Santa was my coworker Michelle who loves the Laser Cats skit from SNL with Andy Samberg and Bill Hader. For her present I bought a navy knit sweater from H&E in Redlands, for a nickel! (All clothing, accessories and linens were a nickel yesterday, and today they were a penny, though by now it's definitely slim pickins.) I put cat patches on the sweater and sewed lasers coming from the cats' mouths, and voila! A one of a kind laser cat sweater! All under the $25 limit. I was excited to see her reaction, and she liked it so much she wore it the rest of the night!

new friends, new year!

So I know this is long overdue, but before the new year, I went to a get-together with some lovely bloggers, held by Blythe, called Dressember. I'd heard of it off of Beatrice's blog, Dear Beatrice, and Ashley (my blog bestie) and I decided to go. I'm glad we did, too. I'm a really shy person, but I try to not be, and this was as good an opportunity as any. We met up at the Gypsy Den in Santa Ana on Thursday, and just sat and ate and chatted. It was nice, and you all should check out the Gypsy Den. (The one in Santa Ana is much bigger and cuter than the one in Costa Mesa, by the by. J and I have gone previously to see our roommates' wonderful and talented band Swiss Alps play. One of them, Alyssa, has a cute little blog called Love & Space. Check it out!)

Blythe, Beatrice, Gloria, me, Ashley


At the Gypsy Den.




Ashley and me. We finally meet in person! :)


Afterwards, we went to J's family's to spend New Years Eve. Pretty uneventful, but nice. We played Kinect sports and dance games, which are fun and hilarious. Other that that, there was lots and lots of eating. I'm not big on crazy New Year's Eve parties. Gimme board games and food and a fireplace, and I'm good.

Outfit for Dressember.


J's niece's Christmas present, Blueberry!


HAPPY 2011! I don't have any grand new year's resolutions. I'm hoping to just be more open, and outgoing. Put myself out there more. Also, I want to go on adventures! Let's travel, please!