Star Wars Fiesta

A year ago my husband turned 30.  To commemorate this milestone birthday I wanted to surprise him.  Knowing him he would just want to have burgers and watch a movie, simple guy.  But I wanted to celebrate bigger, I have only known him since he was 19.   I thought, what does John love... menudo and Star Wars............. So a surprise brunch was born!  I made pozole for the first time and my sister-in-law brought the menudo.  

As you can see we munched on fruit salad with Tajín and lime and micheladas.  His cake was from Nothing Bundt Cakes (kept it easy).  

Click through to see the rest of the photos, especially the piñata!

One Year Wedding Anniversary Piñata

Wedding photos by Ashley Lynn Richards 

For our 2014 día de los muertos wedding I chose to use a piñata for our one year anniversary advice notes.  So on our 1 year anniversary, November 1, 2015, John and I laid in bed and read the messages.   For the piñata my friends helped with the diy portion and spray painted a store bought donkey gold.  I simply printed out cards on cardstock for our wedding guests to write their message and place in the donkey.   The notes were endearing, comical and full of love. 

The notes will someday make it in a scrapbook and cherished forever.  

(Continue reading to see photos of the opening of the piñata.)

DIY Lemonade Cap

I don't live with any regrets, except for one... not wearing my fur coat to the Formation concert.  So instead I wore it to take the photos for this easy DIY.   Beyoncé (and team) continue to woo and  awe us with all that they do.  Though personally I wasn't that impressed by Ivy Park.   Her Boycott Beyoncé tees, Beyhive Boys tees among the slew of slay worthy items in her merch booth at concerts and some available online on her website.  

The Formation World Tour

When Beyoncé announced her tour via a commercial after her Superbowl performance I got the chills.   She dominated the half-time stage and the world knew an album was imminent.   My niece's birthday was also approaching soon after tickets went on sale so I jumped at the idea of gifting her a ticket to see the Queen B with me.  Genna turned 14 and loves to dance, Beyoncé would be her first concert.   

Seeing Yoncé was a spectacle.   The visuals of the transitions and of each song were amazing.  At one point Blue Ivy came on the huge screen in a transition and the entire crowd screamed.  Prior to the show I had checked her set list and I made a Spotify playlist with all of the songs to listen to leading up to the big day so I had an idea of what songs to expect.   What I loved most is she didn't do the album versions of the songs.  Kitty Kat for example she only sang a portion of in a sultry voice while patting her kitty kat.   Most songs had samples of other songs (like The Doors 5 to 1 sample in Ring the Alarm).  The wall at the rear of the stage was made completely of speakers and the rectangular prism of a screen opened and rotated throughout her set.  This was all part of the THX experience, much like at the beginning of a movie it you hear the sound effect we heard it just before she opened with Formation.  

I captured all photos with my Olympus OM-D EM10 (zoom lens, though yes, the Rose Bowl only allows lenses that are no bigger than 3.5").   I also captured a few dozen videos but editing them together will take a bit longer.  

 

Spring Cleaning & a Hanging Bedside Table

If you're anything like me, when you need to get down to work (think homework or blog work or work-work) you need to have a clean workspace or environment around you.   This past week that is exactly what I've been attempting to focus on- cleaning.   I'll pick a room and deep clean as much as possible (while taking small breaks of course).   Yesterday I focused on our bedroom.  Busted out the carpet cleaner and cleaned our rug! Gasp! 

How to quit your day job: Thanks to Craftcation

Earlier this month, I FINALLY attended Craftcation.  If you love crafting or are interested in learning more about starting/maintaining/improving a craft business, this four day conference is for you.   You can read more about it on their official about page and read an incredibly thoughtful note about this years Craftcation and photos of the entire conference on their page by co-founder Nicole S.

One of the lectures was "How to quit your day job".   And it was one of my *for sure* lectures, though I had already a few days prior... quit my day job.  Funny enough, Rosalie of Ugly Baby and Unanimous Craft started the lecture by saying, "this is actually really easy, bring out your phone... call your boss or send a quick email, you quit, you're done", or something to that extent.   I took notes and left feeling like "yea, I did the right thing for me".

Anything for Selenas

I still remember watching the news with my mom when news broke this day 21 years ago.  I still remember listening to Dreaming of You while starring out my window singing about the love I didn't yet have.   Selena will never be forgotten because we can never forget her.  Her adoring fans proved to MAC how dearly we want to see Selena products.  A change.org petition for a makeup line  is the reason the beauty company began talks with the Quintanilla family.

WE WANT MORE SELENA!
(Not sure how I feel about the digital reincarnation of her performing live though...)

Watch this tear-jerking video montage to Dreaming of You, but be warned, you'll need tissues.  

Visit: Palm Springs Moorten Botanical Garden

Having my birthday land while in my first trimester or pregnancy isn't that exciting.  I am very glad that so far I've had little to no morning sickness.  I will say that my worst and most extreme symptom has been f a t i g u e.  Come March I'm usually totally underway with planning a birthday celebration... but not this year.  I just don't have the energy.   So instead we opted for a weekend in the desert.  We started in Indio where my godmother has retired and my parents joined us there.  Spending time with her and my parents was so nice.  My godmother lives in a newly built community living the sweet, sweet retired life. 

Sssssurprise Eggs

I made something!   The last few weeks have been unproductive on the craft front.  That is about to change in the coming 2 weeks (CRAFTCATION!).   But Sunday is Easter and I wanted to make some cute eggs- and that I did.  I had never hollowed eggs, but it proved pretty easy.   I was torn... I was going to make a set of confetti eggs... but  I had some small succulents from my recent trip to DTLA and I just had to use them for the eggs.   

DIT&O Weekend 11

Where my mom creates her art. 

Where Ziggy thinks about life while my mom is busy in her studio. 

One of the best nooks with a canopy of bougainvillea for shade.  

My dad has had this monstera delicosa since I was born.  

I painted that parrot in Cabo San Lucas as a kid. 

This past Sunday I spent a lovely day at my parents.  I had no objective other than to lounge and spend time with my parents.   Can you tell why I (and all of my friends) love their yard?  Its lush, green, has nooks to lay around in and there are cats (and two dogs) everywhere (my heaven).  This last cat pictured is Beastman- when I moved to LA I tried to move him with me, but he was having none of it.  The kitten in the greenery is a stray and probably feral.   Also every time I'm there, my mom catches me up on the developments in her art studio.  Previously my bedroom and then the home office, in my mom's early retirement she discovered her inner artist.  She surprises me with her paintings, collages and creativity.

Now it only took me an entire week to post this.... I'm off to celebrate my life annual in Palm Springs.

xx,

Galentine's Day 2

Galentine's Day is one of my new-favorite-fake-holiday.  Ever since that Parks and Recreation episode, I was fully on board with fictional character Leslie Knope's invention.   This year I hosted ladies for crafting and snacking.  I set up stamps, washi tape, markers and stationary galore for everyone to write letters, one of my favorite past times.  My dear friend and crafty mother-f***er brought materials for himmeli geometric shapes.   We munched on delicious snacks, chitchatted and crafted away to our hearts desire.  I also brought out my Loopdedoo and made friendship bracelets.  

I kept it simple but it was a lovely evening.  Check out the Galentine's post from two years ago.  

What are you doing together and often lately? 

Happy 2016

The patio with a view, but it was SO COLD. 

How we felt at the end of the night. 

Entrance to the party.

Nearly into March and I have yet to feel the usual reawakening that a new year brings.  I traveled nearly the entire month of December returning home on January 8.  My travels took me to Guatemala for 10 days... (work related).  Hours upon my return, the traveling continued into Munich, Germany, Berlin, Bremen, Utrecht, Amsterdam and Glasgow, Scotland.  

I wanted to return to talk about my fabulous NYE in Amsterdam.   I know what you're thinking... NYE... in Amsterdam.... 

A friend from college now lives outside of Amsterdam.  When our travels were confirmed we let him know we wanted to visit and celebrate the new year together.   The pressure was on for my friend, DLV to get a plan together, while fully entrusting him with the course of action.  

Going from Germany to Amsterdam is pretty easy.  Inter country trains are frequent and relatively inexpensive.  It's best to buy train tickets about 3 days prior to travel.  The only trouble with the trains, so I was told, is that they have a tendency to have delays.  Unfortunately for us, this turned out to be true... we had a connection to catch, which we also missed.  We were 90 miles from Utrecht and there were no more trains.  Rule number 1: don't panic– and we didn't.  We were still in Germany and the customer service office was open and incredibly accommodating.  They provided us with a voucher to catch a cab on their tab.  We were completely shocked to be provided a voucher for a 90 mile cab ride!

After that eventful travel, we made it and DLV made TACOS!  A delicacy not often found in Germany or the Netherlands.

We stayed up late catching up talking about where we were each from (none present were native to the Netherlands).


The next morning was prepping for our anticipated long night out.




OOTN

As you can guess, it was quite cold (for us Californians) but overall a mild European winter for the natives.   I was ready with a fabulous skirt from Free People.  A bit more than I would normally pay for a skirt, but it was WELL WORTH IT... NO REGRETS.

The key to my success and well being for the night was to layer to stay warm.  Wearing a maxi skirt was perfect for layering underneath.  I wore 2 sets of leggings, thick socks and Madewell x Saucony sneakers.  I had my coat and scarf in hand to lock in total warmth.  I had my Madewell crossbody all night- it was small enough to carry all night but big enough for my camera.

To say the least, I felt like a princess.  With the many compliments on the fabulous skirt I flaunted and even being asked by a Brazilian man to switch outfits, I was full of NYE energy.

The Plans 

So we started around 7pm at the SkyLounge at the top of the Double Tree Hotel.  As you can imagine it was ridiculously busy, but the advantage was the view.  We drank, danced and ate awaiting for the midnight hour.  When it came... we had the best views of the hundreds of fireworks.  It was such a beautiful moment, that the man next to me got on one knee and proposed to his significant other!

Soon after midnight it was off to the party.   We just had to get there.  Be mindful, in a big city during big events like this, cabs go black.  They stop charging by the meter and charge by the person.  Most cabs that we encountered wanted 10 euro per person (mind you we were going less than 3 miles)!  We ended up negotiating with an Uber drive for a cash price (do this at your own risk).    Thrown by  Pacific Parc, the steam punk party did not disappoint. There were themed rooms, a mini ferris wheel (inside!) and cheap drink tokens.  I never left the dance floor.  

We danced until well after 6 am.

My friend made an awesome video of our night.  Watch for yourself here: https://youtu.be/IHTCW1awbVY

I wouldn't mind doing this all over again.