natalie portman at the oscars

doesn't natalie portman's rodarte dress remind you a little of the bridesmaid dresses?

yesterday we were invited to a black tie oscar party. i am such a fatty that nothing looked good. adam wore a tux.  he was a front-runner for best dressed.  he came home with this beauty below for getting most right answers on the ballot.  three of us were tied but he won with the tie-breaker.

the party was so much fun. i made a black swan (technically a crane) blackberry cheesecake. it was a hit. i got a shout-out, "i would like to thank the maker of this cheesecake." haha

covet:bike

adam bought himself a new present. the vintage bike he purchased at the surplus sale is breaking down so he bought this jamis beatnik bike.

i want one now in blue! the bike is so pretty.

:)

how sweet is mark ruffalo and his wife sunrise coigney at the airport.

we are trying to find activities for the weddding. we won't be having a first dance. no cheese allowed.

:(

i just realized there is so much to be done and we don't have a lot of time before the wedding. feel a little overwhelmed. i have two crits and have appointments galore during spring break. no wedding rehearsal venue, no wedding schedule/program, no favors, no bridesmaid dress sizes (am i allowed to harass them again? mavis went for a sizing).

this is making me depressed.  we just ordered our invitations and they won't arrive for three weeks? what is this bullshit?

weddings are so god-damn expensive. over $100 per person for what? over $12 an invite? i would rather spend it on travel or a nice something. that's why i didn't want to get married. i'm easily embarassed. i would never go to prom (glad i didn't) and i never wished for a wedding.

i may take this back afterwards because i loved my graduation ceremony and hanging out with friends at the manhattan beach pier eating ice cream. i am stressed and angry. i had 6 milano cookies and finished a bag of reeses buttercups. what is wrong with me?

scotch broth

adam is responsible for cooking on weekends. he makes these elaborate meals that take the whole day. he starts cooking around 2pm and dinner is served around 7-8pm. when he decided to make scotch broth, i thought "gross, i'm going to hate it."  i am not a fan of soups except for the really unhealthy varieties like clam chowder, corn chowder, creamy tomato and you know, the kind from the can...

anyway, the soup was delicious. we both had two servings and it made us so happy we watched two episodes of dexter. that's right two episodes. what a treat. what's going to happen to us when we run out of episodes to watch?

had to post. very good soup by adam.

indian curry

 thighs for curry

finished product.

wings and bowled

last night we went bowling. we had wings for dinner and bowled. we joked that in michigan this is a little white-trash, whereas, in los angeles, it would be considered a hipster activity. i had a good night thanks to pbr, blue moon and guinness. also to good company.

24 ounce pbr at the bowling alley. keeping it classy.

everyone made fun of me because i use the balls intended for kids. to get back at them, i am posting awkward bowling photos.

i tried putting my finger in a 5lb ball. it didn't happen.  those balls are meant for four year-olds.

i bowled terribly. my score was somewhere in the 80s. the others were the in the 100-200 range. i'm going to pretend that the lower the score, the better.  i want to join a league.

yes.

buy here

miss adele

adele is so cool.

i pre-ordered her new cd a few weeks ago. love her

jeans

so i scarfed down a cupcake a few hours ago.  then my order from urban outfitters arrived. i've been purchasing levi's and alternative apparel on sale there. i used to get my jeans from forever but they smell weird.  anyways, i still love american apparel but alternative apparel is my new crush. their shirts are so~ ridiculously soft.  i wear their stuff like every week. i'm like the weird old lady in class that wears the same thing everyday. sorry went off on a tangent again.

back to my story.  i baked a dozen cupcakes for adam for valentine's day. it made my day when he said that it helped him get through his day.  he had a tough one and when i delivered them, he said it was such a nice surprise. that day he ate three of them. i had two (the baker has to taste the product, right?)

so the jeans/clothes ordered from urban outfitters. they are tight. great. i guess the eating two cupcakes a day is not such a good idea.  

image via

dreaming of

EF - Live The Language - Paris from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

EF - Live The Language - Barcelona from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

EF - Live The Language - London from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

EF - Live The Language - Beijing from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

I totally love this! Getting the itch to travel again...

sugar binge

 white chocolate cookies

 these are ricotta pancakes with lemon curd

 la maison du chocolate from adam for valentines day

i've really been on a binder these last couple of weeks. this is not a "bride" diet. oh well. i also made another batch of fleur de sel chocolate chip cookies and two dozen cupcakes for adam. there is some good news, i haven't eaten any processed candy?

fashion

the kid next to me in type always asks what my major is. "i don't have a major, i already graduated college."-is my reply.

he keeps thinking i am a fashion major. does he think i'm fashionable or is he saying graphic design is not my forte? if he thinks i have style, i don't have the heart to tell him that if you aren't from here you'll have a sense of style. boy, i hope i don't start dressing like the people here...

actually that is not true.. there are badly dressed people in los angeles too...

image via

sweetheart

i appreciate my adam everyday. i don't need a dumb manufactured holiday.

adam is letting me cultivate my talents (?) and i owe him tremendously. i am the lucky one.

vent

yesterday adam forgot a few key item's for his hungarian beef stew (gulash). i went to the store to pick up the items so he could start cooking. got into the express self check lane. i was behind a lady who was old and going awfully slow.  i noticed a little later she had a cast on one of her arms. then to add to it she paid with a check which you have to bring to the customer service, show id, etc, then come back to the lane to sign. omigod. i ran through the store to get my items to purchase and i waited forever behind this woman. she apologized for the delay so i forgive her a little.

i went back to the store today to stock for cooking this week. i got behind an older couple. i thought two people would be faster and they were almost done with their basket. wrong. the guy couldn't see the barcode so he put each item by his face to figure where the barcode was, then scanned said item. omg!

 

WHY must you get in the self check lane? They have a ton of check out lanes with real people. I really can not comprehend.

Andreas Gurky photo via Sotheby's found here

valentine's day

V-day. have you gotten any obnoxious Facebook posts on love? haha 

Today is a hard day for Adam's family. Adam's mom, Sally, passed away exactly two years ago today.  He wants cupcakes. I will make him some.

On another note, we have three months till the wedding. Now that we are old, time passes by so fast. I want it to slow down just a little bit.

king's speech

On saturday we went to watch King's Speech. It was pretty interesting. Adam said it was a little boring. After the movie I was so fascinated with the British royal family. I wikipedia-ed everyone. :)

I am a huge Pride and Prejudice fan and was so excited to see some of the cast in the BBC version (Colin Firth-Mr. Darcy, Jennifer Ehle-Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Collins).

addicted

someone gifted adam the dexter dvd and it was in our 'to watch' pile for years. we finally started watching a few weeks ago. it is pretty addicting.  if it were up to me i would watch a whole season in a night. adam want's to enjoy it (one episode a night). the suspense is killing me!

image

bob

i wish i had a smaller face. then i could cut my hair like kiera knightley and it would look good. i'm itching for a shorter do but my shoulder bob will have to do for now.  maybe in my next life.

she wears stripes and my coveted chanel flats. love it.

image

use the force

i dislike football. i can't believe i watched the whole thing and kind of enjoyed it? the main reason i watched was for the commercials (obviously :D)

my friend gavin was in the budweiser commercial. it was really cool. my favorite of the night besides gavin's budweiser commercial was this cute darth vader/volkswagon commercial. so cute.

presents!

i love presents! when i was little, i was the girl who ripped the corner of the wrapped present to figure out what i got for christmas and tried my best to close it up. i have no restraint when it comes to gifts. 

today we received a package from williams sonoma.

a few people have been asking me about the registry so i had no idea who sent it.

thank you so much! it really wasn't necessary.  i appreciate your friendship and what would i be without my partner in crime?

ps. i want to open it so much but i guess i should wait for adam...

spring break 2011

ticket's purchased.

image

assignment one

i am having a bit of a rough time in school this semester. maybe i assumed that my classes would be easy? in photo, i feel like i am the only person that doesn't know anything. first weeks of class i couldn't point out the iso, aperture, shutterspeed buttons (haha i still can't). i guess the only way to learn is to make mistakes?

wednesday's class was canceled due to the snow storm so i went to the lab last night to print out photos. omigod, i harassed the lab moniter so much. i couldn't believe i was that annoying person with a million questions.  the teach emailed this morning that critiques will be pushed back until monday. 

typography is another story.  i can't tell if the teacher is a good or bad one. i can't understand what he wants in assignment's. he's very vague?

here are a few of the shots for assignment one.  i'm calling it "mount pleasant."  i am making the town such a dreary looking place.  it's not though. i find this town quite charming.

snow day

sweet and saucy

we finally picked a place for our wedding cake. we chose sweet and saucy. taste-wise i liked auntie em's and magnolia but i think sweet and saucy's dessert display is interesting.  i haven't seen one yet in the wedding's i've been to.

plus they are located in long beach and they are csulb alum's like me!

photo via once wed by our labor of love