What's New With You | Link-Up

Answering Kristen & Gretchen again today in their monthly question of: What's New With You?

--A little bit 'things I want' themed since I'm filling the spaces in my home--

What’s New With Me? Need me a chic barcalounger

With a big living room [according to our limited understanding of the word "big" when it comes to homes] and football season fast approaching, we need one more armchair to complement the room. Have you ever tried to find a barcalounger? There's a ridiculous amount of choices! What to pick!

Arm Chairs by candyflosspersie featuring mod furniture

What’s New With Me? Swooning over fringe

I don't even know if fringe is considered "in" right now nor do I care. Ever since Sloane Peterson rocked that fringe while gallivanting all over Chicago, I've always had a soft spot for the stuff. 

FRINGE by candyflosspersie featuring turquoise jewelry

What’s New With Me? On the hunt for bookends

One of my goals in this house is to have more of our really cherished books out and on display. The ones we either truly love, the ones we use all the time and the ones that just aesthetically spice up any room (or a combo of those three). I love how sophisticated bookends polish that endeavor. 

BOOKENDS by candyflosspersie featuring geometric home decor

What’s New With Me? Yeezys...

I really want a pair of Yeezys... THERE! I SAID IT! AND I'M PROUD I DID [voice cracking, pretending my phone is ringing, exiting stage left]. Gulp. But I really do.

YEEZYS by candyflosspersie featuring lace up shoes

Thanks Kristen & Gretchen for such a fun link-up. 

What's New With You? 

All The Young Dudes

Like most gals, I've always cared about what I wear and attempted to take note of the latest trends and must-have fashion staples. It's what most a lot of us try to do on the reg as we fill our closets with goodies. But I must say, I haven't ever taken too much note of what men are fitting themselves into.  It's just simply not as exciting. For instance, if a makeover show is starting on TV, I'll sit up straighter with excitement and grab some hot tea and a cozy blanket to settle in and enjoy the process of turning an ugly duckling into a swan. Until (on the rare times it has happened) I realize that a male is the contestant du jour. Womp, womp. Channel changed. It's just not as enthralling to discuss men's fashion for some reason.

That has mostly changed over the course of the last year. Due to the combination of SF being a huge city, a very chic city and an extremely gay-friendly city - one cannot walk a city block without being inundated with dashing men in architected outfits that truly flatter the male form in a way I've never seen before. I guess until I witnessed clothes that conform to a dude's physique on the daily, I didn't realize that they've been hiding under too much bagginess and monotony for far too long (think: All the younnngg dudddes).

One look that is supppper popular here for men is a collared, button-up shirt with pretty short shorts. And dare I say that I love it.  

All The Young Dudes by candyflosspersie featuring a striped top

It brings a little bit of a *POP* to men's fashion and one that I think was desperately needed. Plus, they don't look like the kind of outfit that anyone could rock while in a bad mood. And I love me some happy people.

Nice to see a bit of eccentricity when it comes to men's fashion!

20 Random Questions

What is something you’ve always wanted to try but have been too scared to?

In the spirit of being cliche AF, I'll go with sky diving. I'll also go with eyelash extensions. I truly fear I would like them way too much that I could never go back.

What accomplishments are you most proud of?

The normal ones: Graduating college, job promotions, etc. But the little ones count too: the first time years ago when I realized that I was paying for my entire life all by myself, the time I successfully threw away two huge bags of clothes that I still wanted but knew I would never wear. All of that counts!

If you were going to go to the movies alone, what would be the perfect film for you to watch by yourself?

Something really sad. I love a good hemorrhaging movie cry every now and again and that's a dish best served without any witnesses.

What is your favorite Wikipedia article? 

I'm telling you, the one about Queen Bees will blow your mind. Fascinating!

What is your favorite physical attribute about yourself?

I like my lips. I explained why that is right here. They just always look the same, I never have to worry about them.

Tell me about the best vacation you’ve ever taken.

Ugh, hard to pick one vacation as they all seem to come at just the right time. In terms of historical personal value, I will say that it is hard to beat meeting my Italian relatives in Verona. One day I'll get my sh*t together and post on that. It was nothing short of amazing. 

 Where is your favorite place to go on a weekday afternoon when you have no plans or obligations?

Ummm, can't say I often find myself free on a weekday afternoon - ha. But I'll base it off those slow Fridays when we all trickle out into the weekend: Happy hour in sunny North Beach post-work. And the fact that it's walkable from FiDi, makes you feel like you've left the day behind and ventured off into a lighter realm. Love its proximity, love its vibe, love its food, love that the sun is always shining, love the fact that it's a little slice of Europe.

What’s your “going to bed” routine?

I take a quick body shower every single night before bed, I don't ever bring my 'day' into my sheets. So it's that, followed by my hair up in a makeshift bun on the top of my head and I generally climb into bed in an XL shirt and really large sweat pants. I know, right? Jay is lu-cky.

What animal best represents your personality?

Perhaps an Otter. They strike a hearty balance between work and play (when they're not working as skilled hunters to ensure they survive, they're playing fetch with their friends and heading down waterslides they've made) and are a solid hybrid of shy and outgoing - which I feel like I dance between quite often. This is also the most arrogant response because I think they're SO CUTE. I don't do them justice there.

What piece of clothing or accessory can someone wear that immediately makes you have a bad opinion of them?

Any shirts that say things such as the following: "#girlboss", "diva", "A little bit spoiled", "Princess", "[insert tropey joke about shopping]"... I have a weird thing with phrases, I guess!

What villain do you really feel for?

Cal on "Titanic". When I watched that movie again as a grown woman, I could understand a bit why he was pissed. I mean, Rose was emotionally cheating pretty hardcore before she physically cheated. And that was AFTER she spent the whole day complaining about the ship and after he gave her the most expensive diamond in the world and literally said the hottest/sweetest phrase I've ever heard: "There's nothing I couldn't give you, There's nothing I'd deny you, if you would not deny me. Oh, give your heart to me Rose". That was like a dagger to poor Cal's rich little heart. No one is a bigger Leo fan than me but with grown-up eyes, #I'mWithCal. In other news, Pepé Le Pew should have been a bit more vilified (no means no!).

What are you really happy about being terrible at?

Gift wrapping. Because now it's a family joke every Christmas and I can stop trying to pretend like I'm good at it. I suck, we all know it. 

What conspiracy theory do you actually believe?

I don't really believe it but the conspiracy theory that Shakespeare didn't exist/didn't write his plays is interesting to read about. 

What is something that most people don't know about you besides your family?

That I have a soft spot for Mormons. This based on personal experience as well as my love of many Mormon blogs (and the bloggers behind them). I feel like for the most part, they at least walk the walk of their beliefs and are generally kind people. Not speaking about WHAT they believe, just my impression of those who do believe.

What are you going to do this weekend?

Put some finishing touches on the house and celebrate my anniversary with my husband! I can assure you that there will be many long walks and at least one delicious brunch. I can also assure you that Jay will want to jump off a cliff once he sees the list of places I think we need to go to finalize the home.

What is something that is popular now that annoys you?

I've seen people online try to make the case that trucker hats are back. I think the fact that I haven't seen a single person in real life actually sporting one rests my case that they definitely are not. They were wonderful in 2004, let's leave them there to cast a funny shadow on all of our youthful pictures.

What would be your perfect weekend?

Going on a long bike ride across the bay, celebrating the completion of it with delicious food + drink and taking lots of pics along the way.

What do you think of tattoos? Do you have any?

They're not my cup of tea but they look pretty dope on a lot of people. Will I ever get one? No and here's why.

What’s your favorite number? Why?

8 has always been my jam. Born on 8/8 and was 8 lbs. and 8 oz. Sorry about that second part, Mom. Yikes.

What’s the most useful thing you own?

Tweezers, my Keurig and my tool kit. All never fail me when I need them most.

How about you answer one?

Unpacking, Unloading & Unwinding

Hi there! Hap-hap-happiest Monday to you! I hope your morning is off to a peppy start. Granted I'm writing this post on Sunday evening but I feel that it's a logical assumption that I'm in a good mood today. And that's just because I got so.much.done from Friday - Sunday and feel like I finally am living in a world that's not chaotic and stressful. I want to get into all of that but I can't really contain my bursting excitement any longer and must dive into something important: I'm typing to you from MY VERY OWN DESK. 

^I like my apartments white and my clothes black.

^Sunday night blogging

Do you remember when I wrote this post about MY BLOGGING SPACE at our old place? And how I had to set-up and dismantle it every time I wanted to get on here and assemble my thoughts. Well, to borrow a phrase from Elle Woods, this is SO MUCH BETTER THAN THAT. I am deeply in love with everything about this space - I love the sleek white desk, I love the bay window view, I love the cold beach air that flows through the raised slats, I love that this "office" is its own dedicated space... I just love, love, love. And seeing how Jay and I both work remotely often, it's extremely nice to give ourselves the gift of this little desk. 

^How dreamy!

But let's get to the weekend because it was an oddly fun one. "Oddly" stemming from the fact that I really did chores from sunrise to sunset for two days. First off, we officially moved our items into the new digs two Saturdays ago. However, the move out process at the old place inhibits you from actually spending any good time on your new place. So we barely got to make any dents in turning the new space into a home until this weekend. So with one quick stop at the old address on Friday after work, it was on to the next chapter.

^Bye, bye home! Selfies and dog pics to send to Jay. Tied way too many doggy bags for one sitting on that leash - looks like a bridal shower ribbon bouquet!

Since Jay was out of town already running Hood to Coast, it was just Chandler and myself returning to drop-off our keys and say one last goodbye to our first SF family headquarters. This was celebrated by verbally thanking the home for its shelter (I can't not personify homes, try as I might) and then taking a few pics inside on our way out to send to Jay in Portland. 

^Though I did manage to take a few pics on moving weekend of us on the same floor. Ugly but memorable - taken 8/20/16. Not Jay's best angle... lol

One of the main veins that flowed through the entire weekend happened actually BEFORE Chandler and I dropped the keys off. I had had a really long client meeting in Palo Alto so I had to drive down south for that on Friday morning. After said meeting, I quickly scurried to HomeGoods to do some major damage in that town. Horrifying fact: there is not ONE HomeGoods in San Francisco proper. Not one! Not a single GD one. So I took full advantage of the fact that I had my car to lug stuff and was actually near a location. So damage was done with zero regrets (oh man, did I get some cute stuff) and I returned to our new apartment that night to start the official unpacking and decorating process - which looked kinda like this via my iPhone:

^Left: Dining room Right: Dinner

I set-up our kitchen table which basically brought tears to my godforsaken eyes. We have never lived anywhere before that allows room for a place to dine outside of leaning back on the couch and shoveling food so uber-sexily into our mouths. But this new place has a whole eating nook. I was ecstatic to erect the table and assemble the chairs - all with the hallucinations of us in the future sitting down for a proper meal. In the meantime, I dined on ready made food from Mollie Stones this weekend. Friday night's buffet consisted of mashed potatoes, grilled veggies and lemon roasted chicken (on paper plates because that's a 'my house isn't set-up yet' staple).

I also worked a bit on the actual kitchen. The kitchen is very ... let's just say, it's an original. Meaning, it probably has been the kitchen in this very old building since the dawn of its conception in the 1920s. I don't mind it at all. I like the deep drawers and the heavy duty hardwood shelves that rise all the way to the ceiling. The one thing we felt was a step back on this move was that we lost a dishwasher. But to be honest, it hasn't been too bad so far. And the pros highly outweigh that one appliance we always though we so desperately had to have. I'll take square footage and location over a dishwasher any day of the week. But I'm also planning to preemptively confront Jay and tell him that his little "this needs to soak" trick will not get him out of washing his pans. Oh boy, do I know my husband.

^Left: VIP books in the living room Right: New desk, freshly set-up 

While Friday night was basically reserved for the kitchen/dining area, I gave the living room as much as I could on Saturday with hot coffee in hand. I had movies blaring on my laptop as I dug into every box and unwrapped every figurine I had so painstakingly adorned with tissue and tape - so proud of myself when things were going into the boxes, so annoyed of myself as I pulled them out. I also had to use TaskRabbit to get that desk in the house. Though I had purchased it myself, I could not unload it from my car and carry it up flights of stairs all by my lonesome. So TaskRabbit to the rescue and with a swipe of an app and an hour later, the desk was sitting in my living room. I'm super excited to surprise Jay with it as he flies back from Portland this AM and will be quite stoked. 

^useless adorableness.

And of course, Chandler proved himself to be my adorable little companion who traipsed from one end of the bed to the other all weekend as if he had been hit by a tranquilizer dart. But after spending a ton of time picking out that new bed, bedding and accessories, it's nice to see him wholly enjoying it. 

And now, it's time to head back to work. Alrighty then! 

Happy first day of a shorter week!

On The Haps

If you're reading this - something magical has happened: We have internet again! Yayyyyyer. I feel like I have lived 10 lives in the last month and I can't recall a time in recent memory where I have been stretched so thin. Please know I'm not complaining because wedding, moving, family time and bustling work in good supply are obviously all desirable things - but they can be a bit taxing on your life when they hit you all at once.

^Love this candid from the rehearsal dinner on 8.5.16 in Oregon. Left => Right: Caitlin, Kiesha, Tracy, Lanie. Thanks Jay!

So here's where I'm at: Back from Oregon and drowning in 7,000 pictures that I have taken over the last couple months to share. Moved into our new place and though it is a landmine of boxes right now, it is just as awesome as I had hoped and I'm drooling over the old school embellishments and its orgasmically amazing location (my dog walks are incredible). And we have internet again as of tonight, which (as any good online addict knows) is quite a satisfying little fix.

So anyhow, I just popped in to say hello and let the interwebs know that I'll be back on Monday with posts for the week (or maybe because selfishly declaring it will force me to make time to do it). So much to share, document and talk about - and I have a lot of blog perusing to do! I've missed my morning blog roll reading. And with Jay gone this weekend, I literally (and I do mean literally) am dying to get this house in order, edit some pics and write some posts. 

See you on Monday!

32

Today, I turned 32.

That's insane for me to even write out. How am I 32?!?! Sometimes I still feel like this girl...

And while we're at it: this girl too...

^those bangs... like... thanks for "loving" me Mom & Dad

but then I realize how saddled I am with the normal stress of adulthood and I think ... meh, 32 seems about right.

My oldest friend in all the land is my Shanin. We met in 1st grade and we realized as we walked home from school on day one that our backyards in our same-floor-plan homes adjoined. We were 6-years-old. And I still remember introducing her to my parents. They were so old. So, so old. We were so, so young. I now realize that they were 33. There is truly nothing crazier to me than that. Here I am, one year off of my "old" parents.

In my early twenties, my vision of my 30s was probably a bit different than the reality. I envisioned myself being married around 24 (lol, so glad that was not the case), kids, house, dog, goats, career, etc. I still feel like most of that good stuff is yet to come and I can't wait to experience it with my puppy and husband in tow. And make no mistake - the goats will be a reality. I really think God sent them to us as natural anti-depressants. Because who wouldn't benefit from this in their front lawn!?!? I don't think that Jay realizes that goats are a certainty in his life at some point and I really can't stress enough how hellbent I am on making it happen. But back to my birthday since I'm now talking about goats for some reason...

There are many ways in which I'm proud of myself for where my life has gone. I feel like I try to let those close to me know just how important they are and how much I notice and cherish all their little nuances. I think that's crucially important and I hope I'm always doing it right (though there is always room for improvement). Life is all about these little nuances and all the little ways in which others contribute to your overall joy. I'm proud of where my career is at. I'm at a job that I've worked hard to move up in and I see a fruitful path ahead. I'm happy with my own personal growth. I've experienced severe heartbreak, loss, extreme lows and extreme highs. I've tried to not coast on what always has been and challenge myself in ways that speak to personal growth. Though I still feel that I can do more in this arena - either with physical changes (such as things like moves to new places) or mental ones (such as shifting my vantage points on issues).

I've always been one who speaks highly of chapters and the value in each one. My twenties were there for a significant reason and I have no qualms with my decision to spend many of them dancing the night away with my friends. Heck, I still like to spend my time that way. And after a wedding weekend with my best friends where we all were adorned in beautiful gowns with done-up hair and manicured nails yet still laughed our faces off at quietly-muttered bathroom humor in one another's ear at the most crucial moments - I realize how much I'm always okay being a bit young. How ridiculously boring to always play the grown card.

But here I am. I'm 32. 32! Happy. Looking for areas to grow always. Seeking for a way to consistently contribute to the community at large in a fashion that's more time-based vs. monetary based (my current path). And still liking myself and who I've become, loving all my people and exposing myself to things that make me question what I call true.

If you haven't noticed from my last post, I'm actually a bit EXTREMELY busy (we're in Oregon this week for weddings, birthday parties, family time, etc. then once back in SF, moving apartments immediately) and will probably be back on here in about a week plus or so.

Wishing you a wonderful one. A wonderful, wonderful one. Cheers to another trip around the mf'ing sun. I read somewhere that getting old is a privilege bestowed on the lucky. Ain't that the truth? I will try to remind myself of that as the hair gets grayer and the skin gets a little bit saggier. :)