Update from Hawaii!

ok so i lied...i just can't stay away from you guys :)

i just wanted to pop in to say that we have made it to hawaii! it's beautiful here!

here are some pics from our first day:

long flight!

bathroom signs in the airport!

Mom brought C some king beads!

authentic :)

Okay, we're off to the Hale Koa for some dinner and drinks now! I'm looking forward to hanging out at the beach and going to a luau tomorrow night!

Have a great weekend!

ps - don't forget to check in with us on tumblr!

On our Way

It's finally here!

C and I are on our way to meet my parents in...HAWAII!

I hope to be checking in here throughout the trip, but I can't promise anything! If you want to keep up with us, C and I have started a joint tumblr page to document our every move. Ha! It'll probably involve a lot of pictures of food because that's what we do best...eat :)

Have a wonderful 13 days...I'll miss all of you!

ALOHA!

Promoted!

No, not me (I wish!)...my brother, Todd! Recently, I was lucky enough to fly home to join in my brother's promotion ceremony. He is now a Major in the U.S. Army and we couldn't be prouder!!

There's nothing like a visit with family to lift your spirits and make you smile! I get to see my parents again in a week, but I am never sure when I'll get to visit with my brothers so I was especially happy to see them.

The first night, we all went to eat at Yordanna's Pizza and Pasta, which was yummy!


This is the huge calzone my brother Bill ordered! It was seriously the size of a baby :)


Saturday morning, I was up bright and early to help Dad set up the reception site. I had to get my caffeine fix and boy was it tasty! We don't have Dunkin Donuts here in California so it's always a treat when I get to have it.


My nephews are growing up so fast! Click here to see what they looked like at Christmas last year! This is me with Jordan...he'll be starting his first year of high school soon. I can't believe that he's so grown up!


And here's Zach! Isn't he cute?! He had the great idea of creating a scavenger hunt for his Dad to do in order to find his promotion present! It was so fun!! We all sat around trying to come up with rhymes and clues...it's such a fun way to give someone a present.


My brother Bill and his lovely wifey, Anita! She was celebrating her birthday also so my brother took her to New York for a little getaway. I blogged about their wedding here!


My parents!


My brother Todd with his military brothers. These guys played a big part in supporting and encouraging him while he was serving in Iraq and throughout his career in the military.


Getting his new Major gear!


Bill, Todd, and me! We really missed our other brother John, but he had commitments he just couldn't get out of.


Food and cake at the reception!


I love my family so much!

PS - Todd reads my blog so I'm sure he was anxiously awaiting this post...happy, big brother??! :)

The night I ate dinner next to Gavin Rossdale...

...and I didn't even get a picture of him! He was there, I swear!!

Gavin, his kids, and their nanny were eating dinner at the new Chi Dynasty in Studio City, CA on Wednesday night, and my head was literally less than 2 feet away from Gavin's!! Ha! Here's an article showing little Kingston dressed up as Superman on his way into dinner Wednesday night.

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The backstory: C has lived in Los Feliz for about 7 years, and this is where the original Chi Dynasty is. It's one of his (and now mine) favorite Chinese restaurants. In fact, we went there for Valentine's Day this year! Anyway, C has been going there for many years, and has seen Gavin there (Gavin and Gwen used to live in Los Feliz) on several occasions...I guess he loves Chi as much as we do!

So on Wednesday we decided to head to Studio City to check out the newly opened location. We were seated and I was taking pictures of everything around me because I was so excited. I turned my head to the right and I made eye contact with someone who I thought looked familiar. 2.5 seconds later, I realized it was Gavin Rossdale!! I am pretty sure he smiled at me :) But of course, I respect celebrities and there was no way I was going to take a picture with him while he was enjoying dinner with his family.

So instead, you'll just have to see my pictures from the evening...sans Gavin!

outside of new location

first course: beijing duck crepes

main course: orange chicken

two thumbs up for the new Chi

I'm probably giddy because Gavin just looked at me

Have a great weekend, friends! C and I are headed to Encinitas tomorrow for some fun in the sun!

can a girl ever have enough dresses?

I adore dresses! In my last post, I shared my two newest Lilly additions...I can't get enough dresses. They're just so comfortable and easy to wear! I just picked up this number from Anthropologie earlier this week and it was love at first sight!

I was worried about the horizontal stripes making me look wider than I am, but it wasn't even an issue. It's cute, casual, and looks great paired with navy, since the flower embellishments use navy fabric. I love it! It's on sale for a great price and in addition to coming in beige stripe, it also comes in a navy stripe...both are too cute!

Speaking of Lilly, I received an e-mail today letting me know that one of my orders has shipped and will be here on Monday!! Yippee! I'm still holding out hope that the other order will ship today and arrive next week before I leave for my big trip!

Happy Wednesday!

Lilly Mania!

Boy oh boy!

Feeling the frustration of my fellow Lilly lovers, but very grateful for such an amazing sale!

I was on the computer bright and early, ready to get my order in. It became apparent very quickly that the Lilly site was not able to support all of the customers. Luckily, I had what I wanted, and it never left my cart [I did hear that people had items disappearing from their carts...sad!]. I was unable to check out for about 40 minutes, but my order finally went through right before I was about to give up :)

I am beyond excited about my new Lilly items! I just hope they can get here before my trip, but I'm not really expecting that. Oh well...if not, I'll just come home to a package [or two!] of new goodies!

I can always use an extra tote bag :)

I love everything about this Sandra dress!

So excited to get a Murfee Scarf!

My current bike obsession made it impossible
to not purchase this cute dress!

I am in love with the creme fraiche pattern!

Free McKim's?? What's not to love?

Be sure to check out Lilly's Endless Summer Sale!

What did you all purchase?
Share in the comments below!

Leading Lady

French sensation, Marion Cotillard, has taken the world by storm with her talent and beauty. I think she is absolutely breathtaking and such an amazing actress! She's been acting for awhile, and I'm so happy she started doing American films more recently.

Marion won an Academy Award for her role as Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose. I loved her in Public Enemies with Johnny Depp. I don't remember that movie getting a whole lot of press, but it was so good. I'd highly recommend renting it if you haven't seen it!

And of course, we've most recently seen her in Inception with Leonardo DiCaprio. She did such a beautiful job playing the fragile and complex character, Mal.

[all pictures via google]

Who is your favorite leading lady??