tough guys sing savage garden

darling.

a darling friend of mine named heather is leaving for london soon as she is studying abroad for months and months, so we came up with a french-themed surprise party! clever, i know. the employees at party city must have been really confused, as i asked them for berets, dirty bachelorette games (we are naughty people), bon voyage-themed goodies (of which they have none fyi) and happy birthday sparkler candles.

also on the agenda was a laura marling (who is a darling with an incredible voice) show at the el rey (one of my favorite venues with darling chandeliers) after which we spent quality time on the downtown standard rooftop. ahhh, LA. how i strongly dislike your stereotypically douchey male residents.

tomorrow, gary and i finally have time to go to the oc fair and next week is hard summer @ exposition park (my first music festival in two years) + our two-year anniversary! time flies. on the same note, i've started to realize that as i get older, the more i love j.crew... nothing wrong with that!

GUESS WHAT?

not much has changed except for ONE BIG THING: all these years, i thought my parents were married may 7, 1986. turns out, they were married may 7, 1985. which meant that this year was their 25th anniversary but there was no celebration because I HAD NO IDEA. i also had the completely wrong idea of how long the were dating before they got married (9 months) and now have no clue where 3 yrs fits into the picture (which is what i was originally led to believe). 'how could you possibly get the wrong idea?' you ask? because not even my parents remembered their own stats, thus leading me to believe falsities for nearly 23 years.

also, i have become an IKEA building queen. gary and i spent 3.5 hours putting together a new entertainment center for his center of entertainment and i've got to say... it really ties the room together.



tada! we are quite proud.

oh, and the 4th was great. rob + alex had a great big bbq/12 hr food fest at their house where everyone nearly got rolled for lighting fireworks. luckily, her mom used a baby as a ploy to act innocent and got us out of it. god bless america.

clever little giants

Those "giants" being internet corporations such as Nordstrom and/or any other web retailer that try and trick you with free shipping ploys... Because as the darkness is my witness (I tried to hide my dirty habit with the lights off), it gets you every time! When you only want to buy a pair of shoes and hopefully it isn't the full required amount you have to spend before you are allowed the luxury of not having to pay to get your goods shipped to your house, then you realize you have to buy more than you originally were planning!

Ugh. Good thing my mom's birthday is coming up (as is Father's Day, but he never ever wants anything. And I mean, he gets a teensy bit grumpy if you spend money on him...), or I would've never gotten out of the spidery web that is online shopping... Late at night.

We'll see if those precious booties I spent so much time strategizing for will work out. I hope they do but I secretly hope they don't bc even though they are wonderful, they are also out of my budget. Even on a killer slashed $ scale. I have yet to find a pair of Pour La Victoire heels in my size, though, which makes it all so irresistible!

i think...

i may have a shopping "habit." and there's always an urge to browse online late at night, which leads to more spending (which i kind of forget about till later the next day). hmmm...

also, editor's note: what the heck??? i didn't remember writing that last entry post, but then again i do bc it all rings true. guess that's what happens when i browse online too late at night, have had a long day and am exhausted. case and point.

preface: i am grateful to have a job but...

I NEED A REAL JOB!
I AM TIRED OF RETAIL!
I HAVE A DEGREE IN CRIMINOLOGY, LAW & SOCIETY!
SOMEBODY, HELP A GIRL OUT!
WHAT CAN I DO WITH THIS THING?

it's who (or what) you know... right?

i'm torn between staying in this industry (somewhere above the ground floor) because i can be who i am (sassy) without being stuffed into a stuffy little cube but that stuffy little cube could mean financial stability... i have never known what to do, what i can do or what my options are because criminology is such a vast land of opportunity. and i have never been good at deciding when there are too many options. or are there few options? in which case, someone throw a 9-5 at me, and i'll take it. bc working whenever, wherever is getting tiresome, and i would like to be reacquainted with weekends...

i need to have a sit-down with a working professional. tips, pointers; i don't care what you do but i need to know how you came to land the job you have now, or the jobs you have had in the past bc chances are, you have not worked as many retail jobs as i have and i need to find a way out of this cycle! okay, i've had two jobs which is including the one i am at now bc i am far too loyal and get far too comfortable too easily to just break free and jump from place to place. a good quality to have , maybe. not so good experience-wise.

holy crap it is almost the one-year anniversary of my college graduation... i think i might have an anxiety breakdown all over again.

nike free 5.0 v4

these are the best (running) shoes i have ever bought, worn, walked, run in, EVER! they simulate running barefoot, which is supposedly better for your body versus running with hard, clunky running shoes (can't imagine why), strengthens your muscles, helps with gait management and are ultra-light - ultra-flexible - ultra-breathable - ultra-ultra - ...no need to break them in. words cannot describe! you just need to buy a pair (or google them), and you'll see.

except they're selling out of these to make room for the nike free run+ which has the sensor that tells you how far you've run, at what pace, etc. and doesn't look that great... so good luck finding this style.

jury duty

when i registered to vote, i knew the summons was biding its time till it weaseled its way into my mailbox and then... it showed up. after spending 20+ minutes on a merry-go-round of an automated phone call trying to reach a real person, i finally, somehow chose the correct number option and set a date to show up to court (didn't go for the call-in option... big mistake).

i had visions of sitting, waiting (on a surprisingly comfortable plush fake leather work chair) with my laptop till 3pm and a terrible stomachache that showed up out of nowhere. instead, i got called to a courtroom before 9:30am and waited there for another 30 minutes. outside, i met a man who worked for the irvine company, right across the street from fashion island, whose son goes to UCI and whose coworker has stock in the company i work for and routinely stops by to see how they're doing... small world. or not. we got called in. my number was chosen to sit in the box.

and in the box, i sat for hours before and after the break, despite the judge questioning my criminology background, what my emphasis was, how many criminal law classes i had taken, how familiar i was with the penal code, and how fair i thought i would be as a juror, etc etc. after the first, second, third, fourth round of dismissals, i got REALLY worried that i would have to miss more work and have to sit on a trial. then, finally, during what i'm guessing was the last round of preemptory challenges, the defense decided he wanted to let me go.

i was so relieved when i left the courtroom that i almost felt guilty. in the elevator, i ran into another woman who had been in the same courtroom and asked me which side i was dismissed by. when i said, "defense," she said, "i knew they would..." with a mischievous look, "...you know too much."

really?

where in the world have i been (this past month)?

- THE hotel at the mandalay bay (where everything with THE in front is accentuated, such as THE cafe, THE store, THE tp...)
- central justice center in santa ana for my first taste of jury duty
- USC for a graduation celebration allllllllllll weekend for my brenty poo
- work, dealing with the manic and possibly misogynistic new SM (store manager).
- great park for AIDS walk

elaborations will follow, as well as a detailed review (probably consisting of three sentences, very unlike my Yelp reviews) of my new Nike Frees that i have been looking for day in and day out for weeks! spoiler alert? so, so happy. also another spoiler alert? i may or may not continue writing about "things i don't get!" and i have a really good one for those of you who have ever worked in retail.

bad habits

1. getting angry over traffic.
2. buying things online late at night.
3. sleeping in till almost noon.
4. losing track of time.
5. impatience.

with that said, i am waiting on three packages coming through the usps soon. one is from amazon containing philipp keel's simple diary (yes, i bought it in lime green, and yes, rachel mcadams and steven spielberg ARE fans), wreck this journal (a seemingly good idea for people who are wound up, uncreative, and/or live within the lines), and a car charger for my blackberry. stupid mini usbs; another is from OSNH (see my last post); and the last i cannot mention in case the birthday boy stumbles upon this, but will be explained later because i'm so excited about it.

it's gonna be a longggggggggggg week (of birthdays and work). happy 16th to stephanie today, happy 21st to amy on thursday and happy 28th to gary on saturday!

ps, visit jenni's newly created vintage garden belt shop!