A Little Bit of This....A Little Bit of That

Hello blogosphere! Lots going on around here lately and I wanted to give everyone a quick update and share some things that are making me happy lately.

My husband seriously rocks my world - handsome, funny, smart and a child of God – I am so blessed. Last weekend we went to a Roaring 20’s party and he was hamming it up all over the place. The photographers couldn’t get enough of him and rightfully so in my opinion.

Taking a day off during the week to go snowboarding. Last Wednesday we took a little impromptu trip to Big Bear for some fun in the snow. I’m so thankful that I have ample PTO at work and can take a mental health day with no qualms.

Making new friends. The hubs and I have always been social butterflies and we really enjoy meeting new people. Weekend before last we met up with a couple that we met in Mammoth. Tamir and Francesca are world travelers and we had some much fun hanging with them at their loft in downtown LA’s art district.

Getting out of our bubble. After hanging with Tamir and Francesca we headed over to West Hollywood to celebrate a friend’s birthday. We hadn’t seen this group of friends for some time and it was really refreshing to change up the scene. The late night dance party was the highlight of my night.

Spending time with family. We celebrated my brother Rory’s birthday last weekend and had so much fun hanging out with him and his fiancée. After church on Sunday we got to chill with our niece Mikayla for a few hours. We put her in the bumbo seat for the first time and it was a blast watching her take in the new experience.

Funny Friends. Our stylist/friend Renee is so stinkin’ funny! We recently paid her a visit and Mike was inquiring whether or not she offers barber services. She was adamantly opposed and later posted these pictures on FB.

Ladies Lunch. I have a very close relationship with two women whom I work with. I first met them about five years ago when we worked for a different company and they have been mentoring and supporting me ever since. I’d like to think that they see me as a younger version of themselves. We don’t all work in the same department but enjoy getting out of the office and treating ourselves to a fancy lunch. Sadly our last lunch was a farewell as Trang is moving on to greener pastures but I will be seeing her again, I’m sure.

The Real Estate game. Mike’s cards are finally finished! I love passing out these bad boys. If you or anyone you know is looking to buy or sell in the SoCal area let me know and I'll hook you up with the best agent around! ;)

New hairstyles. Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm not really into styling my hair. I found an online tutorial for this hairdo a couple weeks ago and have worn it twice since. These little mini buns are super easy (even for a hairstyling challenged person like me) and great for day old hair.
Yodlee hee hoo!

One more thing before I go. I've been stressing about our tax situation this year because we don't have school to write off. I thought we'd have to pay a ton because we don't own a home or have a kid. I'm so relived though now that the numbers have been crunched. We're actually getting a teeny tiny refund. Praise the Lord!!

Time for some R&R

As I mentioned in my last post we're heading out to Mammoth on Sunday for a week of snowboarding. All we have on the list of things to do is laundry and a costco trip to load up on the necessities. Mammoth has been blessed with over 28 feet of snow this season so far! Unbelievable!

The trip I took this week to Silicon Valley went really well. I had a great time and took in an abundance of new info. Networking was a huge part of this trip as well and I really enjoyed the group dinners and meeting new friends from across the country. Staying at the Four Seasons wasn't too bad either!

Whenever I'm away for work or pleasure I enjoy documenting my trips with cell phone pics to share with my husband. In this case it was a fun way to connect the faces and names of people from work I'm always talking about. Here is my week in pictures.

One of my bosses aka drinking buddy

Yummy spumoni (Italian version of neapolitan ice cream + fruit and nuts) @ Il Fornai
Training room Tuesday & Wednesday
Thursday's training room
Tuesday - Thursday outfits for your viewing pleasure :)


Neat art on the parking garage @ San Jose airport
I hope everyone has a great weekend! Be back soon with a recap of our trip!

I'll leave you with a couple of fun quotes I heard this week for the first time.

"Fortes fortuna adiuvat" aka Fortune favors the bold

It's not who you know....it's about who knows you!

xoxo
Shorty

Sights and Sounds of Downtown

Just before I exit the train every week day I set my ipod to shuffle, and then set off in the direction of my office. Every morning as I walk to work I get the pleasure of enjoying some really beautiful artwork and sculptures.

As I make my way to the office and prepare myself for the day I listen to upbeat, fast tempo music. Some of my morning favorites include the Black Eyed Peas, Hall & Oats, Daft Punk, the Doobie Brothers, Moby, NeedtoBreathe, and the Gorillaz.
Random, I know!

Standard Downtown - Caption reads "A Climate for Health and Wealth"

Do you listen to music before work?

Once I get to the office I usually listen to "Morning Meets Eclectic" on KCRW public radio.

This reminds me of a racetrack
Waterfall view as I take a ride on an escalator
That's the central library in the background - reads
"Books Are Liberal And Free They Give To All Who Ask
They Emancipate All Who Serve Them Faithfully"

This lady has a smokin' hot bod which can be inspiring
or depressing depending on my mood Little crabs to keep her safe
Later in the day I like to listen to KOST or the Fish.

Music helps me get in the zone and focus on what needs to be done.

Zoomed in aerial view
Not zoomed in (view from my cubicle). This sculpture is huuge!
If I've had a stressful day and need to unwind on the way home I usually listen to Michael Buble or 94.7 the WAVE.

What I Wore Wednesday

Happy Hump Day everyone! We're only one day away from my favorite day of the week - Friday Eve! Wooo hooo!

As usual I'm linking up with Lindsay at The Pleated Poppy

Wednesday Sweater - Express
Slacks -
Pumps - Tahari
Watch - MJ
Necklace - Tiffany

Thursday This is my morning/commute look for your viewing pleasure
Wool coat - Tommy Hilfiger via Burlington Coat Factory
Bloomie - Sew Soozy aka Kris from Simplify
*I got a shoutout from a group of men this morning re: the bloomie in the form of

"Heyyyyy beautiful flower!!"

Tote - Diane von Furstenbrrg via Marshall's
Shoes - Puma Blouse - Apt 9 Kohl's
Grannie sweater - Frenchi
Slacks - Daisy Fuentes Kohl's
Watch - MJ
Flats - BCBG

Friday
Blazer - Semantics
Top - no namer from Ross
Dark denim jeggings - Old Navy
Boots - Steve Madden
*Sooo happy this outfit turned out like I had imagined!

Tuesday Cashmere sweater - BR
Slacks - Halogen
Necklace - Tiffany
Pumps - Tahari

Suite Dreams

Most of my peeps already know this but I am beyond excited about January 14, 2011. Why you ask? I'm going to a Lakers game!! Sure, a Lakers game is pretty exciting, but not really the most earth shattering thing ever. True. However, enjoying the game from my company's luxury suite at Staples center sure is! My colleagues and I are being treated by our office managing partner (aka head honcho) as a thank you for all of our hard work in 2010. I am already extremely pleased with my decision to join this firm and now I'm stoked to be enjoying some of the perks for working for a large company. I pass by the staples center twice a day on the train and my excitement is mounting with each passing day! I'll see you next Friday Kobe, Lamar, and Pao!! Hmm, speaking of Lamar I wonder if any of the Kardashians will be making an appearance? I will definitely be bringing my camera so stay tuned for a recap of the game.

Anything special going on this weekend? This weekend will be pretty low key which is rare for us. The hubs is taking the California real estate exam on Monday so we'll be housebound for most of the weekend as he prepares for the test. More on this later but please keep him in your prayers as he takes his test and launches a new career. We are making a quick trip up to LA on Saturday so he can scout the location of the test. To make it worth the drive I suggested a hike in the area. After some quick research I found an easy hike up to the Hollywood sign from the Griffith Observatory. I admire the sign daily from my desk and I'm really looking forward to checking out the sights from up in the hills and getting my workout on. I'm planning on getting my blog on this weekend as the hubs is studying so be on the lookout for some more funsies.

Have a great weekend everyone!

A post just so I can use GhettoBird

I ran into an ex-coworker this morning on the way into the office who I've been trying to avoid for months. We both commute into downtown Los Angeles via the Blue line on MetroRail, so the "Oh my gosh, how are you?!?! Soooo nice to see you!!!" conversation was inevideble.

Side note: You will be hearing a ton about my adventures on the Blue line on this blog. For a quick snippet of the Blue line, and a good laugh, check out the reviews on Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/biz/mta-metro-blue-line-los-angeles.

The quick convo wasn't all that bad really but what suprised me was how much this person knew detailed information about what is going on within my firm. Not a good feeling, especially since this person now works for one of our biggest competitors. I'm totally cool with being friendly but its a little unsettling.

Have you ever had a run in with an ex-coworker?

Cell pic of my building on the way into work this morning
(mine is the 2nd brown one on the right)Anywho, my cousin Jenn is always asking me if anything exciting has happened in downtown lately. Well, yesterday was an exciting day to say the least! Because our office is smack in the middle of all the hustle and bustle I'm used to hearing frequent sirens, helicopters aka ghettobirds, etc. Yesterday though there was more activity than usual. The 10+ police cars and the ghetto bird swooped the Wells Fargo building right next door. I'm on floor 20 of 40 so I've got a pretty good view of all the action, and my attention was definitely peaked to say the least. As the ghettobird was a swarmin' one of my co-workers remembered she has a police scanner app on her phone. Through listening to her scanner we learned that there was a man with a gun in the lobby of the bank!! Well, that was comforting. Luckily, SWAT was called in and Mr. I-can't-really-afford-all-those-Christmas-presents-I-bought surrendered!!

I finally made it to the blog party!

Ladies, the time has come for me to jump feet first into the world of blogging. That's right, with much prodding and encouragement, I've realized now is the time for me to officially become a blogger!

"What should I expect from this "Shorty" person" you ask?

I'll probably talk about the following things on this blog:

Marriage & Family

Career
Entertaining
(I consider myself THE Hostess with the Mostest) Strange things I see in downtown LA Healthy Eating/Lifestyle
Hobbies
Travel

I'll just leave it at that for now....gotta keep my multitudes of followers hungry for more, right?
Stay tuned for a Christmas party recap that the mister and I hosted recently.