Dear Crystal, You won shoes. Love, Dolce Vita

OMG!! I won shoes!!  If you haven't entered yet, you still have 7 days to get your act together and enter Dolce Vita's Love Fest Giveaway. 30 Days. 100 Free Pairs of Shoes.  How to enter?

1. Like Dolce Vita's Facebook page.

2. Click on the "Win Free DV Shoes" button on the left.

3. Enter your information (shoe size, address, etc.)

4. Invite your friends

5. Enter and cross your fingers!!

I never win anything so I'm still recovering from the shock of actually winning something.  I will upload pics of the shoes as soon as I receive 'em.  Good luck everyone!

ciao,

Crystal

Holla!

Wow. Work has been kicking my butt lately, but being busy makes me happy...it validates my belief that I have the best group of ladies working as a team and everyone is performing their job extremely well. However, I still can't believe we are already in mid-February. Where did the time go?! All I have to prove that the last few weeks were indeed real, and not just the doings of an evil calendar fairy that yanks pages off to trick people into thinking they are really living in the future when in fact it is the same day they originally thought it was, --holy tangent-- are the pictures below and my sore muscles (but more on that in a separate post). I am also sad to report that yesterday my hubby finally had enough with the lingering presence of Vern. He kept going on and on about how Vern was a serious fire hazard or something silly like that.  Vern was my first ever non-artificial Christmas tree...and yes, he had a name. Vern has since been deposited in the trash bin despite my many protests and weak attempt at blocking the door (read sore muscles). Thank you Vern for all the great memories you provided. I will especially miss your twinkling lights shining through the living room window, welcoming me home everyday after work....you had a good run while it lasted.

Isis always sneaks into our bed on the weekends....

Vern in all his shining glory.

My love at our nature preserve hike.

moi

Red tail hawk. It was huge.

Hitching post Isis.

All the hard work I put into our cozy Valentine's Day dindin.

8 hours later....voila.

Light night walk on the beach.

There was a good wind blowing so Isis and I kept Gabe company while he went gliding yesterday.

View looking towards Point Fermin.

Holla!

Saturday Super Hike and Sunday Super Bowl

Today has been a gloomy sort of wintery day complete with gusty winds and slippery roads.  I guess it's a good thing we were motivated enough to get our butt's out of bed and outside to enjoy the good weather this past weekend.  On Saturday we went for a 3 hour hike in the hills behind Dana Point.   Aside from the 5 fwy winding below us, the hike was very scenic and we saw tons of wild flowers, thistles, butterflies, and had a clear view of Catalina and San Clemente island. Below are some pictures from the day.

Happy Isis, running free.

Stumbled upon what must have been a butterfly nest.  I managed to capture 3 in this shot. (a bit blurry though)

Enjoying a well deserved sandwich mid-hike.  Got too hot for my #1 favorite Wildfox jumper.

4.......3.....2.....hurry up it's going to take the picture.....1...errr.... (Self-timer photo FAIL!!!)

shaka bro

Isis the drama queen.

Sunday was the Super Bowl, and even though I wasn't really rooting for either one of the teams, a small part of me was pissed off to see New York win....I dislike all New York sport teams. (Go California teams! Chargers/49ers/Lakers/Padres/Dodgers/Angels!!!!)

My new Zara tank that I fell in love with during our shopping spree at South Coast last week...sorry for the mess behind me.

yours truly.

It feels like winter...not.

This past weekend we southern Californians were blessed with summer weather in the middle of winter. We took Isis to the dog beach on Saturday, and went hiking in the hills behind Laguna Beach on Sunday. Below are a few pics of the day.

My husband and The Beast (a.k.a. Isis our dog)

Family (shadow) shot.

It's hard to see in this picture but this trail has the odd name of: Mentally Sensitive.  I wonder who named it that...

Typical gorgeous SoCal sunset.  That's Catalina Island over yonder.

Yours truly.

Find Waldo.

Staff Day, Fun Day!

As the office manager I am in charge of planning a monthly "staff appreciation day".  Since the Dr. only works on M, T, Th, Fr we have the flexibility of closing down the office mid-week without it hurting the business.  I usually book massages or facials and we have a nice lunch or dinner afterwards.  This time however, I decided to mix things up a bit.  We spent half the day at South Coast Plaza shopping our little hearts out, followed by a lovely and delicious dinner at Scott's Seafood restaurant. We ended the night by watching a Frank Sinatra musical ("Come Fly Away") next door at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts.  It was such a fun-filled day that went by way too quickly.  Below are a few pics from yesterday.  I apologize in advance for the blurry ones as all I had on hand was my cell phone cam!

Scott's Restaurant & Bar

I had the Patagonian Toothfish (a.k.a. Chilean Seabass)

Walking to the theater from Scott's

Taken right before the musical began.

Such an awesome, high-energy, amazingly choreographed performance!

What I wore:
For Love & Lemons Zenith Maxi Dress. You can find it here and here.
House of Harlow "1960 Leather Station" necklace--such an amazing statement piece, I ALWAYS get compliments on it.  You can find it here.
Coconuts by Matisse Grey faux leather boots.


And yes...that is our Christmas tree in the background. I'm going to see how long my husband will let me keep it up!  I'm shooting for Easter!

She was wearing.....Tory Burch flatsss. (hilarious parody of sh*t girls say)

Six

6 years.....6 long years ago I created this blog. At that time I had just finished my undergrad program in History, Politics, and Society and had began working as a clerk in a large law firm in downtown Riverside while I applied to law schools. I was also dating this pretty cute and amazing guy named Gabriel. So many events have transpired in those last six years....change in careers, moving from the inland empire back to the beach, discovering a love for cooking, the passing of my two grandmothers, marriage (that cute amazing guy turned out to be the man of my dreams), dealing with cancer (Dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer), losing a cat and adopting a dog for starters.

 Looking back at the past really puts things in perspective for me, and I'm sure many of you would agree. When I reminisce I remember all the happy events I've been blessed to be a part of; how many challenges I've overcome; mistakes I've made (and lessons learned); and it makes me appreciate the loving support of family and friends and bolsters my enthusiasm and hope for the future. With that being said, I truly regret not keeping up with my bloggarino because as we all know memories fade into the abyss...

 What my hope is for this blog to be an ongoing open book of my life. I want to make it so my family (future unborn child?) and myself can sift through the archives and understand the who, what, where and why that makes me who I am. Many of my "outlets" will be presented, for instance images of time spent being out in nature, chronicles of travel, fashion faux pas and fashion masterpieces (hopefully the latter will outperform the former!), foodie goodies, and more. I hope you come back and visit often, and if you have a blog/journal/online diary of your own, please do not hesitate to share it!

 Aloha, Crystal

Parent Traps

10:00 PM PDT on Saturday, August 5, 2006

JEFF GIROD

I don't have kids, but I'm looking into a short-term lease, maybe some kind of rent-to-own program.

Not having children makes me the perfect person to dispense some overdue advice to you parenting types.

Moms, dads, I know your automatic response: "What does he know about raising kids if he doesn't have any?"

Exactly.

It means I haven't gone insane yet from watching the same "SpongeBob" DVD 600 times.

Consider this a letter of concern from the rest of us, the non-breeders.

We're the ones sitting at the restaurant table next to yours, trying to keep down a $20 steak while your newborn spits up dessert like a Snoopy snow cone machine.

I'll put our grievances in numerical order, because I know how much parents like to count. Make believe it's back-to-school night!

1. Your kids are not that interesting. It's true. That "story" you told us about how little Jimmy calls it a "caw" because he can't pronounce "cat?"

The whole time we were daydreaming about something better, like that one time you just kept walking and didn't destroy 10 minutes of our lives with another boring conversation.

I'm reluctant to even call it a "story," because stories have a point and a merciful conclusion.

The only reason your kids seem interesting to you is because they're YOUR kids.

If your kids were really that wonderful, they'd have their own show on Nickelodeon, and you wouldn't have to pay people to baby-sit.

2. Your kids are twice as annoying. Just because you think it's normal for your 6-year-old to swing his legs and kick the back of my chair, doesn't mean I should tolerate it until his Kool-Aid buzz wears off.

Maybe letting him eat gummy bears for breakfast wasn't a good idea, even if it was the only way to stop him from trying to set fire to his sister.

I can only imagine putting up with that behavior 24 hours a day. But that's what Chuck E. Cheese's and McDonald's play lands are for.

Put your kid in the cage with the plastic balls and smelly diapers, and go take a break with the other parents.

Maybe they'll look at your wallet photos.

3. Peel the stick-figure stickers off of your car window -- unless the point is to have your kids traded like currency on the black market.

Not following?

Here's an example:

Let's say you have a van with five stick figures on the back of it and their names printed underneath -- two parents, Marge and Bill, two kids, Dave and Sarah, and a cat named Freckles. Now say little Sarah is walking home by herself ...

"Hi, Sarah, your cat is lost. Bill asked me to pick you up, while your mom and Dave go search for Freckles in the van."

Hey, Mensa, maybe the mall kiosk sells a sticker of the route Sarah takes to school.

You can put it next to her honor student one.

The biggest fish I've caught yet! (my boyfriend had to travel 100 miles south then 100 miles out to sea in order to outdo me...for more check out his blog at www.gsoto.com)