midnight city

Hey, babes! Here's a throwback to something I used to do when I was more inclined to update, as well as have more structure to my blog. I used to put up playlists back when lala was still around (Did any of you use lala.com? It was great). Anyway, here's a send-off to 2011 in song. Some gems from throughout the past year. Dig it.

1. Polish Girl - Neon Indian
2. Powa - tUnE-yArDs
3. New Beat - Toro Y Moi
4. Last Night At The Jetty - Panda Bear
5. It's Real - Real Estate
6. Amor Fati - Washed Out
7. Cheerleader - St. Vincent
8. Sometimes - Bandana Splits
9. Midnight City - M83
10. I Want You - Summer Camp
11. Abducted - Cults
12. Whirring - Joy Formidable
13. Video Games - Lana Del Rey
14. Common Burn - Mazzy Star
15. East Harlem - Beirut
16. Origins - Tennis
17. July - Youth Lagoon

I realize now that I'm going to have to make a separate playlist for the hip hop and r&b side. Stay tuned.
So long, 2011.

bah humbug, no that's too strong

(I meant to post this before Christmas)

Christmas Eve eve (the 23rd), J and I went over to his mom's to make sugar cookies for the party the next day, and I wrapped all my gifts too. I typically-- for most of the year-- like the look of brown paper packages tied up with string, but on Christmas, I like to make it a bit more festive and crafty. I had a lot of supplies already at my disposal from earlier in the year, so I had a lot to work with.

We were also supposed to practice for the annual Christmas Eve talent show that she has (cute!) but we didn't. I was going to do "Someone Like You" by Adele. Johnny's brother and I might still make a YouTube video of it, so be on the lookout. :) Also be on the lookout for my Dressember mega update post :)

I Hope all your Christmases were wonderful. Any New Year's Eve plans?

happy christmas

Sorry for the poor quality! These were taken in the dark with various people's camera phones, I think. Anyway, these are pictures from our Harry Potter Christmas Party last Saturday, which was a hit. My roommate, Brian, even made butterbeer!

I was Harry's Patronus, the stag. Johnny was Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat (he doesn't really like Harry Potter). Other costumes of from that night were Hagrid, Norberta, multiple Trelawneys, Dobby, Dumbledore, and others. It was a fun night. Enjoy the dark/fuzzy/blurry pictures!

Happy Christmas, everyone.

The night sky. It's still up in our dining room, and will remain until forever, probably.


Impromptu jam session from my roommates Nick and Brian, joined by an accordion and violin moments later.


Someone's adorable little girl, sneezing in the midst of casting spells.


J. <3


Expecto Patronum!





Luna Lovegood and Victor Krum

huzzah!

So last Sunday was our engagement party! It was great fun and a first for our mothers to meet. I love both of them! :) Anyway, we got to find out how wine was bottled and did everything ourselves with very little mess-ups. Afterwards we tried to go to the MIssion Inn in Riverside to see the Festival of Lights with J's nieces, but it was insanely packed so we walked around for two seconds before opting for Caramel Apple Spices and Salted Caramel hot chocolates at Starbucks instead.

Outfit details:
Forever 21 dress
American Apparel tights
Aldo desert boots




Filling the bottles (after a two-step sanitizing process) with wine for our wedding in March.


My brother's girlfriend, Phung, corking the bottle.








Putting the foil on top. This was a scary hot shrink wrap contraption that was my least-favorite part of the process, but interesting nonetheless.






Sisters!






You can't see, but I glued vintage buttons onto the scrapbook and it came out great. I also printed the pictures with white trim (on the cheap at Costco, but great quality) and got photo frame corner adhesives at Paper Source for that vintage look.


Beautiful mamas!


Finally, I leave you with the most amazing and hilarious picture of the evening, made possible by the dork queen, Parker. You know which one she is.

hurry up, we're dreaming (and HBV sale)

It's raining! It's below 50 degrees! I love it! I can't help but love gloom and rainy days. It makes me want to listen to soul, eat some soup, and re-read books from my overstuffed bookcase. Yesterday we had our engagement party which was lovely and hectic and nerve-wracking. I don't care much for being the center of attention, but our families wanted us to have a party, and so we did, at State Street Winery in Redlands, where we got together, listened to wonderful music, ate food from Porto's, talked, and bottled the wine for our wedding in March! The process was interesting and fun. I don't have the pictures yet, but make sure to check back for them in a follow-up post. Here's one my best friend took on her phone. :)




Also, can you believe Christmas is less than two weeks away? In celebration of this, everything in my store, HoneyBee Vintage, is 20% off all the way up until New Years Day (so you can use your Christmas money to shop!) and guaranteed to be shipped to you before Christmas if you purchase by Wednesday. Yay! Just enter the code HOLIDAZE11 when checking out!

christmastime is here.

the perfect pair: spots and stripes

J.Crew 3/4 sleeve stripe chunky sweater
American Apparel dot Chiffon Oversized button up

The other day I was enjoying my last sweater and pants day, because I'm participating in Dressember! Check out the info here at my friend Blythe's blog, Blythe Hill. Join me! I know it's a cold month to be wearing dresses but that just makes it more of a challenge! I haven't posted up my pictures for the first day, or today, but I think I'll do a weekly recap. It'll be easier for me because it's hard for me to post on a daily basis.

Anyway, I don't usually ask for gifts around Christmastime, but here are a few things I'm coveting at the moment. :)


Both these JCrew pj sets (the boys' one is a union suit with a flap in the back!)


These Webster's wall cards (along with a bunch of other pictorial dictionaries of curiosities)


This Llama Love sweater from Madewell!



Loafers from Anthro, here and here!

Check out my tumblr, Denouement, to have a look-see at other things I like and love and want. :)

Who else, by the way, watched the Muppets Movie during the Thanksgiving holiday? I went to see it with J and his sister and his nieces (I like to think of those cuties as my nieces already :) ).
So great! If you like Flight of the Conchords, you'll recognize the lyrical style.
"Life's a fillet of fish!"
"Uh... yes, it is!"