so shiny

It looks so nice after a car wash!!  It just doesn't last very long before the water spots start showing up.

But I enjoy it while it lasts.

it was delicious

There was a big home sale at work last week so I finally got a proper set of pots and pans.  To celebrate I made my classic chicken with vegetables and pasta, just super fancy.

The core of my recipe started a long time ago in my college days and was pretty simple back then.  I've experimented with different ingredients and prep methods ever since and have it down to a pretty good routine.  This time though I pulled out all the stops.  I'm talking, deglazing the pan and making sauce kind of fancy.

The best part of waiting until tonight to write this post is that it just got me super excited for leftovers.  I'm reluctantly using the microwave to reheat my dinner, I kind of want to break out the new cookware.  Maybe I'll try a new recipe for my next meal.

Suggestions appreciated.

Clarissa explained it

all over my shirt.

Tell me it doesn't remind you of a trapper keeper you had in elementary school.

Needless to say I got lots of compliments today.  And you know how I love compliments.

It was a good day.

Starr's nails

I'm obsessed.  I had never considered such a thing as gold tips, it looks so fancy.

Kim, you need to get on this action.

seen on my bike ride

I wonder if there was an incident that caused them to have to put this sign up or if it is just to be funny.  It looks more serious and official than whimsical and kitschy.

I also found myself in some fancy neighborhood at one point, the kind where the houses have real gas lanterns on either side of the driveway gates, and I saw this spectacle:

What do you think they have in the garage that merits parking both of these in the driveway?  It didn't seem to be a temporary thing either, both cars had a large amount of tree debris and the cloth top on the Bentley was even starting to mildew.

Maybe they are just inundated with luxury vehicles and need a good samaritan like me to take some off their hands.  I should have knocked on their door and offered my services.

the possibilities are endless

I finally found a decent cheap black cardigan (at H&M of course) which opened up my wardrobe for work by like ten times.  The rule is that we have to be wearing black pants and a black top, but if we're wearing a black blazer or sweater, we can wear white or baby blue underneath.  While they did send me and amazing black blazer, I don't feel like I own anything that looks appropriate underneath it besides the white button down they sent.

But now that I have a cheapo cardigan I can wear all my cheapo dress shirts.  And bowties!!

Oh the accessories I shall wear.  It will be a glorious new age for me at work.

thank you Jonathan!!

I love my beautiful Christmas card!!!

I guess they figured they could avoid me suing them for copyright infringement by changing the cat to white, since that is otherwise an obvious artists rendition of me and the detective.

I guess in the spirit of the holiday season I will let it slide and just display it proudly on the fridge.

extra purple

I had to go to work today on my day off for a meeting so obviously I had to treat myself to some tea...and maybe a few other things that I definitely didn't need to spend money on.  I don't know what you call the people who make the tea (I want to say teamasters) but one of the girls always gets SO excited when I come in and order an iced lavender dreams because she can make it extra purple for me.

Today when I came in she was happy to announce that she had finally discovered just how many lavender blossoms to put in to achieve the perfect shade of purple.  I have to say, the purpleness does make it extra delicious.  I have been telling her that I'm going to bring Jonathan in whenever he comes down so she can make one for him and that he will be even more excited about it than she is.

In other news, they sent us our uniforms at work and let me tell you, the sent some fancy stuff.  The blazer alone cost more than my rent.  There's a part of me that's scared to even wear it but I did try it on today and it felt so good to be ensconced in luxury.  I will try and take a picture tomorrow for show and tell.

the wedding

In case you can't tell it was really beautiful.  There were parasols!!

And I cried a could times.  Thankfully the ceremony was short and sweet so we could spend the rest of the night drinking and dancing.  There were reality show style photographers all over the place so I didn't take many pictures, figuring theirs will be much better.  I can't wait until they get posted so we can see them.

I did take a picture of my place setting though, I couldn't resist.

So many beverages.

We're heading to brunch this morning and then sadly I have to make my way back to sunshine state.  It's been an amazing weekend and I am really honored to have been included.

how could I ever leave you?

Of course since I've been looking at new cars the following things have happened.

-Gas station attendant complimented my car.

-Old lady at pump next to me said, "well that's a beautiful little car".  Extra points for her reminding me of my grandmother.

-Two teenage boys pulled up next to me in traffic and were freaking out over my car.  They actually said, "I've never seen one in real life!".

-Two guys at the Cadillac dealership told me they were thinking about stealing my car if I hadn't come back to it.

-And then, the icing on the cake, pulling up next to this guy:

In the most serious and earnest tone I've heard in a long time he said, "I will never buy a different car than this".

I am inclined to agree.

But then...

a thing of beauty

When we buy things at work we have to get rung up by one of the managers.  For some reason I usually end up buying things when I am working with Sergio and even though I tell him he doesn't have to wrap my stuff he always does.  The hippie in me feels bad about all the wrapping going to waste but then I am really pleased whenever I unwrap my wares at home later.

So the other night I was closing with Elliot and I bought some things.  As I ran my card and did my PIN or whatever he started folding up my clothes.  With an incredulous edge to his voice he asked, "do you want me to wrap these?"

My response was, "well I mean, Sergio always wraps my stuff for me but I understand if you'd rather just dump them in a bag and then spit on them".

The result is the above picture.  Now whenever I buy clothes on Elliot's watch he does the most ridiculously precise wrapping job I have seen in a long time.  It was even more clean and flawless originally, the wrinkles happened during the transport home.

The problem is that I don't even feel like I can unwrap this.  I will probably end up sliding my shirts out and then carefully folding the tissue paper to store somewhere like a hoarder.  I think I'm more in to the wrapping than I am the shirts I bought.

I can only imagine

This was parked at the mall when I arrived for work yesterday and I literally did a double take.  I read it as I walked past but it didn't really register right away.  I ended up walking back and taking a picture because it was just too unbelievable.

I can't believe that there is a big enough market that they would manufacture license plate frames that say that.  I also can't believe anybody would be brave enough to put that on their car.

It was a really nice benz though.  Like really nice.