Turns out January birthdays are better in California

My birthday *week* is officially coming to a close, and boy was it uber fabulous.

I was super worried about turning 30 away from all my (long-time) friends and family. Would I feel lonely? Would I have anyone to celebrate BIG with? It felt odd to be hitting such a milestone away from those who have spent my entire, or majority of my entire, life with me.

But my blog lovelies, I don’t know what I was so worried about. I felt the love. I felt it from afar, I felt it in San Francisco. I just simply.felt.loved. I guess that’s why birthdays have always been my favorite.

I had many, small celebrations this week with those close to me, which just felt better than the usual big hooplah I throw for myself each year, which ends up being stressful and a big blur. This year, I celebrated with one of my Seattle BFFs who flew in for a quick mid-week trip. She made reservations for us at an Indonesian restaurant I had on my SF Bucket List (smart cookie, she is) and we closed the restaurant down and drank two bottles of red wine with another friend of ours. She brought me the sweetest handmade card I’ve ever received from three of my girl friends who created a list of 30 things they loved about me. I die!

Thursday I did a small group dinner with my Seattle and San Francisco friends. We went to a cool restaurant called State Bird Provisions, which uses the dim sum concept for farm-to-table food (wish I would have thought of that). It was so fun! One of my girl friends made me a cool monogrammed etched glass from a wine bottle. It’s one of the best presents I’ve ever received! I love homemade gifts.

We ended Thursday with countdown-to-30 birthday shots at midnight (*gulp* I needed someone to hold my hand through that transition!) at Cha Cha Cha in the Mission.

By Friday, the snail mail love had rolled in. I received more presents and cards in the mail than I could have ever expected. It made me smile over and over again. (If you sent me something – thank you, deeply, from the bottom of my heart.) If you have a friend’s birthday coming up, mail them a card or small present! Snail mail gifts on your birthday are by far the best thing ever.

And finally, I topped off my birthday week with a fun, small girls night in Napa Valley with two of my San Francisco girl friends. Not only is it mid 60s in California for my January birthday, but it’s also Napa Valley Restaurant Month! So, we drove up for the night of my birthday and stayed at a cute little B&B called Lavender (with birthday balloons, a fireplace and a big jacuzzi tub in our room that we might or might not had a bathing suit, wine and bubble bath celebration in) and had dinner at an amazing restaurant called Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen. My birthday cake was a giant marshmallow concoction (natch) called a “Campfire Pie.”

THAT is the definition of an uber fabulous birthday *week*, in my opinion.

And now… I have the rest of my birthday *month* celebrations to look forward to. I am leaving this decade with a bang, I tell you! In less than two weeks, I’ll be in Maui with my mom, dad and sister (the only thing I wanted for my 30th birthday) and in two weeks after that, I’ll be celebrating our 30th year with nine of my high school girl friends on a cruise of the Caribbean.

Is it possible for one person to overdose on birthday celebrations?

I think not!

Currently Feeling: Glad to have slowed down after a crazy week and enjoying a quiet rest of the weekend to myself!
Currently Anticipating: Another hike at Fort Funston tomorrow – a new Sunday routine.
Currently Loving: My new tradition! I’ll share it with you this week.

Quick and easy sparkle nails

The Interwebs has been abuzz with nail art ideas these days … ombre nails, peacock feather nails, starry night nails, studded nails… personally I don’t have the time (or energy) to spend on creating individually painted nails when they’re chipped two days later. I’ve tried Shellac nails, which is $30 and supposed to last three weeks, but lasted barely a week.

BUT, I found something that’s within my reasonable budget and time to have nice looking nails, and I wanted to share it with you, blog lovelies. Sally Hansen’s Salon Effects are pretty much just these sticky little nail polish sheets that you lie on your nails, file off the excess and presto – fancy looking nails that don’t smudge, zero drying time, longer lasting than regular nail polish, and are only $10 (for about two applications). I did these sparkle nails for NYE, but they have some cool lace nails, leopard print, hot pink, etc.

Fancy pants!

Currently Feeling: Excited to jump into some new projects with fun wine brands in the Bay Area!
Currently Anticipating: Fancy dinner tonight at Chambers.
Currently Loving: All the plans and excitement I have going in 2012 already – trips, visitors, goals. It’s off to a good start. Woot!

How to Throw a Favorite Things Party

Thanks to the all-knowing, addictive, most amazing website to come out of 2011 – Pinterest – I came across a few blogs that shared the idea of throwing a Favorite Things Party. So, I decided to host one for my San Francisco girls. Here’s the gist of throwing a Favorite Things Party: everyone brings five (or whichever number you choose) of their “favorite things” under a price limit. We did five things for $30. Favorite things can be your favorite condiment, nail polish color, book, amazing product you can’t live without, etc., but it should be five different things, not five of the same thing. Each person “presents” their favorite things one by one, and after each, pulls a name (from a box/hat) for the person who will receive the favorite thing. At the end, everyone goes home with five different “favorite things” from everyone at the party, learns a little bit about each attendee, and learns a lot about great products! It’s super fun, and a great change-up to the usual white elephant party.

Here are a few details I added to my party to give you some ideas if you want to throw your own Favorite Things Party! (P.S. I did it as a holiday party, but it can be thrown year-round without a Christmas theme!)

I bought brown bags, printed out labels that said, “A Few of Our Favorite Things” (you can download the labels here) and tied the bags with string. This was to play off “brown paper packages tied up with strings” from the song, and each person had a bag to put their “favorite things” they received at the party.

I made this fabulous Cranberry Mojito cocktail, also found on a blog courtesy of Pinterest. This might have been one of the biggest hits of the party. Because of it’s festive red and green appearance, everyone took pics and shared it on the social interwebs.

In keeping with the theme, I asked guests to bring their favorite appetizer. One of my girls brought pigs in blanket (or as she said, “Pigs in Down Comforters”) – everyone’s childhood fav!

I was really grateful to my friends who put a lot of thought and energy into their appetizers and presents – it was so fun to just chat, nibble on good homemade food and sip festive cocktails. The holidays are for celebrating with those you love most!

One of the best parts about the party is how fun it is to learn about each other through your favorite things. Like your friends love to travel… or love Owls… or appreciate fine wine… sometimes if they’re new friends, like most of girls in San Francisco, it’s a great way to get to know each other even more.

Some of the “favorites” that made their way to my party were: popcorn box for watching movies filled with candy, chalkboard wine glasses, Mac lipstick in Ruby Woo (I scored this one!), funny suitcase tag, non-slip headbands, Trident layers, Great Lash mascara, e.l.f. lipgloss, Almond Champagne (!!!), Bath & Bodyworks True Plue Paraffin lotion (supposed to be the best for dry hands), Gap thong (supposed to be super comfy), plastic flask for outdoor concerts, massage oil, eos lip balm and a Christmas amerilious plant.

My five favorites were: Forever 31 earrings, The Carrie Diaries(to represent my love for SATC, Carrie and blogging), Space Noodles (to represent my love for Seattle), a lululemon headband (to represent my love for yoga) and Tapatio! I put that stuff on everything.

What “favorite things” would you bring?!

One of my girl friends went home with Mac lip liner in “Cherry” and a lesson from a make-up artist friend on how to apply it – doesn’t she look fab?!

Again keeping with the theme (*cough* theme party whore *cough*), I made “warm apple strudel” (part of the Favorite Things song lyrics) for my dish and topped it with homemade eggnog ice cream! It was my first time making either, and they were quite the hit. Apple strudel is a crowd pleaser with all that butter and brown sugar, and eggnog is pretty much ready made ice cream mix in a carton! And of course, I had my “whiskers on kittens“ tied up in a pretty red party bow.

It was truly a night filled with our favorite things – each other, great food, drinks, conversation and the little things in life that make us smile. All recipes for an awesome holiday party with close girl friends!

Happy holidays, blog lovelies!

Currently Feeling: Like the holidays are even MORE crazy when you have to squeeze in meeting up with everyone you don’t see all the time. Whew – I’m tired! But it’s so much fun too.
Currently Anticipating: A girls night tomorrow night – dinner at Pearl and a tour of Snowflake Lane.
Currently Loving: Spending so much one-on-one time with my high school girl friends – it’s been awhile since so many of them have lived back at home, and it feels so special to catch up and stay good friends after all these years.

An Ultimate Girly Weekend

Last weekend, one of my bestest girl friends from Seattle came and stayed with me in San Francisco for four days, and it was awesome.

As we get older and lives take each of us on our own journey, the more “busy” everyone becomes. Each of us are caught up in our own affairs – boyfriends, workouts, grad school, long work hours, different cities or states – and it all makes it difficult to see very much of your best friends. So, it was a true gift to spend four nonstop days with this particular BFF in my new city.

Thursday we had the ultimate girly evening – shopping at one of SF’s best clothing boutiques, Ambiance, fantastic sushi at Umami in the Marina, followed by a late evening viewing of The Help, which is so, so, good! As an avid book reader who likes to watch the movie version of the books I read, it was hands down the most satisfying book/movie combination I’ve ever seen.

Friday we picked up another one of our BFFs from college who was in town for one night and hit the city for a fun house party with my San Francisco girl friends followed by an 80s cover band and a late night slumber party with gossip and midnight snacks. (A novelty I haven’t experienced since college). Life needs more slumber parties with girl friends!

Pre-80s band night drinks at my Cait's with old and new friends

Saturday we enjoyed a fabulous brunch and Bloody Mary’s at a friend’s house, traveled out to Tiburon for my first COLD experience at Sam’s on the waterfront, and went on a silly scavenger hunt in the North Beach neighborhood of SF, which was hands down one of my the most fun nights and the most laughing I’ve done in awhile. We sprinted (literally, sprinted) through the streets of North Beach, dodging other teams trying to spray us with whip cream, and trying to find all the funny items on the scavenger hunt list (Snookie look alike, or an “off duty prostitute” and capture them with our iPhone. If you live in SF, you must check out CLASH (California League of Adult Scavenger Hunt) and sign up for your own scavenger hunt (they do them every weekend).

We had to cross "Sausage Fest" off our scavenger hunt list,
so we found a sausage store and had a dance fest. Get it?  

In between all those plans, we drank a couple glasses of wine, had lots of girl talk, went on many walks and worked out together. It was just such a special time for me to have one of my BFFs experience my new life with me and show her around my new city. I look forward to having weekends like this with her every year! Love you, Kristen! xoxo

Currently Feeling: Extreme relief after finishing all my work for both jobs and turning my vacation responder on – I’m a free woman for three weeks!
Currently Anticipating: A White Party at a winery tonight with all my Seattle friends and lovers.
Currently Loving: My new hair color and fancy straight style (temp). Love getting my hair done.

Tiny Bubbles

Ladies and gentleman (but let’s be honest, very few males read this blog), you should know already that I’m completely obsessed with lip gloss.

I’ve previously written about my obsession with keeping empty lip gloss tubes just cause I can’t bare to part with my favs when they’re gone, and I’ve also shared a pic of my ridiculously full drawer of lip glosses in every color, flavor and brand.

It’s taken my well into my 20s to find the perfect lip gloss – but I HANDS DOWN recommend Victoria’s Secret Beauty Rush gloss. It wins in flavor, sparkle, color, consistency and price. A few of my favorite go-to flavors that I purchase over and over are Cupquake, Strawberry Fizz, Mocktail Hour and Slice of Heaven.

BUT, recently a friend of mine pulled out of her bag a Beauty Rush flavor I hadn’t seen before – Tiny Bubbles! It’s the most amazing, high sparkle glossy pink gloss that makes my knees weak and my heart swoon. Turns out it was a limited edition only around for Christmas, so I did what any lip gloss obsessed girl would do – I found that shiz on eBay and bought six back-up tubes! Natch.

You can too, if you’re so inclined – it’s even cheaper than the price of tubes in the stores! Tell me, if you’re a lip gloss lover – what’s YOUR favorite brand? Lord knows, I could use another tube.

Currently Feeling: Kinda restless lately… ugh.
Currently Anticipating: Sushi dinner tomorrow at a place I’ve never been! Love new sushi restaurants.
Currently Loving: The new Survivor: Redemption Island season – anyone watching?!

Well I did not expect this to happen

I ordered a slew of Victoria’s Secret bathing suits last week, thinking I’d probably like zero or maybe one, and return all the rest. Nope – I liked THREE, three I tell yah! I even liked myself IN them, while trying them on after eating dim sum for the first time and having a bloated MSG-in-Chinese-food-makes-me-sick belly. Why do I eat Chinese food?! Anywhoo, tangent. Finally, finally all my hot yoga, pilates and gym trips, and skipping huge meals and alcohol during the week is starting to pay off. HAAAAAA-le-lujahhhhh.

If you haven’t ordered suits from Victoria’s Secret before, here are a few reasons I love their swimwear:

• They have 100s of styles – one is bound to fit and flatter your body
• You can mix and match sizes (large bottoms and a medium top is what I wear, what can I say – I have junk in my trunk!)
• You can try them on in the privacy of your own home – without glaring fluorescent, unflattering mirrors that make you think, “Yuck!” more than you’d probably normally think, “Yuck”
• You can mix and match – fun tops with solid bottoms, solid bottoms with fun tops
• Contrary to their over-the-top hot models, you don’t have to be 38, 27, 30 to find something that fits

Here are the three bathing suits I’ll be sporting in Maui one week from today!

I bought these bottoms – I love, LOVE them! The gathering is so cute, and accentuates my “assets” superbly, I think:

Then I bought these two tops to go with them:

This jeweled top is a little bit glam! And the heart-shaped top is perfectly girly.

Then I was like, “What the hec – I’ll give this red ruffle bathing suit a try,” and it’s ADORABLE! The bottoms have cute little flirty ruffles and are really flattering on the bum.

You can click the images to find any of the suits on VictoriasSecret.com. Do any of you have mid-winter vacations planned to warmer locations this year? I hope so!

One-week countdown begins for me today, blog lovelies! xoxo

Currently Feeling: Like dim sum just isn’t really for me.
Currently Anticipating: A three hour “soft cheese making” class with one of my longest and bestest girl friends tomorrow! I hope I get to make brie cheese!
Currently Watching: All the Sex and the City reruns on E!. Oh man, how I’ve missed you, my longtime friend.

Artistic and whimsical and free spirited

Last week, I signed up for ShoeDazzle.com – are any of you members, blog lovelies? If you haven’t heard of it, ShoeDazzle was started by Kim Kardashian, and is a monthly shoe membership for $40. Each month, you’re given a hand-picked “show room” from top Hollywood stylists, and can choose one bag, jewelry set or pair of shoes for $40. I’ve yet to receive my first pair, so I’ll let you know what I think of the quality and comfort when I do.

When you first sign up, you’re asked to take a “style quiz,” picking shoes that you love, celebrity style that most represents your own, etc. After taking the quiz, the above image was what they sent me. My style is… artistic, whimsical and free-spirited. This couldn’t be more spot on! There’s even peacock feathers in the image – a top favorite of mine (and you can tell from my blog header!), and a butterfly, which I have a tattoo of!

If you’re a ShoeDazzle member – let me know what you think!

Currently Feeling: Relaxed – got some reading in this weekend, some organizing and cleaning, some good meals, and some family and girl time. Success!
Currently Anticipating: The opportunity at a fun, “column” writing opportunity I received today for a new magazine starting in Seattle. Back to my dating writing roots!
Currently Reading: Just Kids, a memoir by Patti Smith.

I need a luluvention

Confession time.

I am unfathomably and incomprehensibly addicted to lululemon athletica.

I need an intervention! No, I’m serious. I’m not just being facetious.

I mean, I love that I’m free and clear to spend my money and time in any way I want, but I’m thinking that I should get knocked up just so I’ll have to spend my money on something else besides lululemon.

It started back in October when I received some good accolades at work. So I decided to “treat myself.” At that point, I’d been going to hot yoga classes for five months and sitting next to EVERYONE in their head-to-toe yoga clothes with that little tiny lululemon circle on their sides, back and butts. I’d been avoiding stepping foot in a store because of the price point and scoffed, “$100! Why would you need to spend $100 on a pair of yoga pants when you can get ones just as good for $30 at Target. Psshhhh.”

Yeah, okay. I strand corrected. They’re worth every penny of $100, and no, you cannot find pants like them at Target for $30.

Oh the thumbholes! And the brushed Luon! Oh fit! Comfort! Oh Stride jacket and Groove pant! You’re all going to be the death of my bank account.

There is nothing in the world like their Groove pant – it doesn’t sag, it holds all your lady bits in and makes you look more fit (I swear), and it’s oh so comfy. And if you want to purchase a zip-up hoodie you’ll never want to take off, buy a Stride jacket in brushed Luon immediately.

When I become fixated on something – I take fixation to a whole new level. Since October I’ve purchased two pairs of Groove pants, one pair of Wunder Under crops, one pair of Groove shorts, two Stride jackets, one Swell jacket, two Scuba hoodies, five yoga tanks and one jump rope. (Uh, for my suitcase?) In December, I actually drove an hour and a half south of Seattle, by myself on a Sunday, just to go to the lululemon outlet store. By.my.self. Now I’ve started searching eBay for “limited edition lululemon sweatshirt” cause some people sell styles that aren’t available anymore. VINTAGE lulu!!

The worst (or perhaps best) part about it is that I’ve realized now that working at a tech startup means I don’t actually have to get dressed and fancy every day. I work with boys. Who wear T-shirts and tennis shoes every day. So I started just to wear my yoga clothes to work since it saves me a step when going to pilates at lunch or rushing to yoga after work.

So obviously now I need an ENTIRE yoga (cough lululemon cough) wardrobe, so I don’t wear the same thing to work every day.

Ahh! Cut me off!

I’m going to be the little ole lady who lived in her lululemon!

Currently Feeling: Tired and “off” this week – is it a full moon? Am I getting sick again? Is it the weather? Hmm…
Currently Anticipating: Celebrating with MOST of all the people I love in my life on Saturday. I love birthdays!!
Currently Loving: Smartfood popcorn! I never buy the stuff cause I read somewhere it’s actually pretty bad (think it’s chocked full of trans fat). However, a friend bought it when she stayed with me last weekend and left it here. Damn. Forgot how GOOD that shiz is.

Expensive heels and priceless moments

• $24.95 for a cobalt blue, tafetta strapless dress (Forever 21)
• $5.50 for a rhinestone belt (Forever 21)
• $9.50 for a crystal and rhinestone flower ring (Wet Seal)
• $7.50 for silver, rhinestone dangle earrings (Forever 21)
• $2.50 for gold and silver glitter, coconut-scented nailpolish (Forever 21)
• $89 for the most fabulous pair of Enzo Angiolini gold platform, disco glitter heels (Nordstroms)

Le Sigh

• $35 + $7 tip to get my hair curled and styled at Habitude Salon in Fremont (they did a great job)
• $28 for a custom airbrush tan from Tropical Tan (seriously, once you go airbrush, you’ll never go back)
• $10 for a bottle of Chateau St. Michelle Sauvignon Blanc for prefunking (Sav Blanc is my all-time fav white wine)
• $65 for tickets to a silly expensive party at a waterfront cruise terminal event center in Seattle, featuring Jermaine Duprie (Ha!)
• $15 for town car trips to the party and back
• $18 for two whipped cream vodkas and soda water + $3 for a bottle of water (I drank a lot before the party)

= The most ridiculously overpriced evening of my entire life

Not paying a single dime to hear a crush of mine tell me sometime after midnight that “I’m good at life”?

PRICELESS.

Currently Feeling: In love with new restaurants and wine. I’ve been trying to be good and tone down the meals out, but I tried Ravish in the Eastlake neighborhood of Seattle tonight, and it was FABULOUS. Worth every calorie.
Currently Anticipating: First Thursday Art Walk in Pioneer Square tomorrow with my family to celebrate my dad’s birthday.
Currently Reading: The Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver Potzsch. (Only $3.99 for the Kindle!)

A pretty peacock hair clip and the winner of my contest

A girl friend of mine gave me this pretty peacock hair clip for Christmas. The best part about it – she made it! There’s a serious resurgence of DIY Christmas gifts this year, and I love it! I didn’t think the hair clip was really my style, but I wore it to dress up a black skirt and grey sparkle cardigan for two Christmas parties I had last Thursday, and I received no less than 10 compliments on it from friends and strangers. Best part about the compliments is I got to respond with, “Thanks! My friend made it!”

Second best part? It matches my blog. I love peacock feathers!

P.S. I finally used Random.org to pull a winner of my 12 Goodnesses Wrapped in a Party giveaway for a lifetime supply of Lean Pockets, and the winner was Kelly Clay! Kelly is a cute, bubbly, smart cookie I know through the social media scene in Seattle. Congrats Kelly! Thanks to all of you who played along.

Currently Feeling: Slow pokey today. It’s amazing how much food affects your mood – I ate a HUGE sandwich on French bread for lunch from my favorite East Coast deli, and I’ve been tired ever since. Ewww white carbs.
Currently Anticipating: Seeing one of my best guy friends who’s in town this week from L.A. I love Christmastime when all my friends come home from out of state!
Currently Reading: The Missing by Tim Gautreaux.