Love at Every Sight

Two days ago, I was talking to Geoff's mom and she told me, "You can really tell Geoff is so in love with you, by the way he looks at you. He never looked at any of his previous girlfriends the way he does at you. That's how I can tell he's truly in love." It was the sweetest thing of her to say.

This morning, I thought about what she said again when I saw this picture of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie:



While I'm not huge fans of theirs, I do love the way he's looking at her and think this must be what Geoff's mom is talking about. Then I felt all warm and happy.

Rotten Banana

Last week, I ordered the prettiest little dress from Banana Republic's website. It was knee-length, short-sleeved, cream-colored, with a light tan floral print and cute neckline, size medium. Very vintage-looking. This dress was going to make me happy for two reasons, 1) it was on clearance and 2) it would go perfectly with my tall brown boots that I've been wanting to wear, but hadn't found anything to wear them with. I placed my order, dusted off my boots and invisioned where I was going to wear my new outfit.

Cut to today...

I had been tracking my package for the past couple days and saw that it had been dropped off at my house earlier this afternoon. When I got home, I saw my package on the porch. Yay! I ripped open the package and...it was the wrong dress. It wasn't even close to what I ordered. What came in the package was not at all what I described above. The dress they sent to me was an unflattering brown color with a weird puckered ruffle thing and, as if it wasn't incorrect enough, it was a MATERNITY DRESS.

I sat for a moment with a "Huh??" look on my face. I checked the receipt in the package, and it had my correct order on there. I went online to check my confirmation email and it too had the correct order. So I called their 24-hour assistance line to ask what was up with them sending me a fugly dress. The girl I talked to was nice, but not helpful at all. I told her what happened and, after laughing at me for an irritating amount of time when I told her I got a maternity dress, she informed me that the dress I orignially ordered was sold out and they had no more in stock. "Are you serious?" I said. "So you screwed-up and sent me the wrong dress and are now telling me I can't have the dress you were supposed to send me because you have no more??" Great. There was nothing I could do with the situation, so I just said to forget it. She offered me an "apology" in the form of 10% off my next online order (online ONLY). Wow, 10%. Whatever. And why the hell she would think I would order something from them online again is beyond me.

The thing that really pisses me off about this is that this is the second time this has happened to me. Old Navy did the same thing and, ironically, Old Navy is the same company as Banana Republic (GAP, Inc.). When I told this to the girl on the phone, she said that it was a freak coincidence and that that hardly ever happens. Yeah, I'm sure it doesn't. Lightning just happened to strike twice with me, huh??

No more online shopping for me! At least, not with the GAP companies. I'm just gonna have to drag my lazy butt to their stores for now on. Sheesh. Really, how hard is it to put the right dress in the right package??

Weekend Update

Friday
Geoff and I decided to try eating somewhere new Friday night. We ended up going to Caspian, a Persian restaurant in Irvine. The atmosphere in this place is kinda crazy. It's a pretty big restaurant and very noisy. The dining area resembled what a nightclub might look like in Iran. There was entertainment in the form of a band, including a singer and dancers. Geoff ordered a dish that had saffron rice, a filet mignon kabob and a ground-beef kabob. I ordered the grilled chicken kabob, which also came with saffron rice. For the most part, the food was pretty good. However, Geoff did not like his ground beef kabob. We gave the place a B+. Geoff dropped points from them because of the beef kabob and I dropped points because it was too damn noisy. I could barely hear Geoff when he was talking to me. B+ isn't bad though, and we did have fun. After that, we decided to try a new restaurant at least once a month.

Saturday
Geoff and I got up early and went over to Breugger's to have bagels for breakfast. We talked about the housing market and about buying a house together, possibly this year. After breakfast, I went home to relax, finish up some work and catch-up on my TV shows, while Geoff and Brad hosted a "UFC fight night" party for the guys at their house.

Sunday
I had to force myself to sleep in. I hadn't really been feeling well since earlier in the week and thought maybe I needed more rest. Turns out I was right. Later in the day, Geoff and I went to California Adventure (we're getting the most out of our Premium Pass!!) to have an early dinner and watch the Aladdin show playing at the Hyperion Theatre. It's a 45-minute musical of the movie "Aladdin" (duh). I would recommend seeing it, but for the Genie and ONLY the Genie. And maybe for the carpet ride. Everything else was lame. The guy playing the Genie was hilarious and a really good actor/singer.

After the show, it got pretty cold outside, so we went back to Geoff's and called it a night. I felt like I got robbed of my time this weekend!

Next weekend, we're going to see Geoff's family up in the Yosemite area. His cousin is in the Army, currently serving in Iraq and he'll be home visiting for a couple weeks before he has to return to duty. The following weekend is the weekend right before my birthday. Geoff has plans, but he won't tell me what they are, of course. I think we're going somewhere. I'm hoping he's taking me to San Francisco. I haven't been there since I moved away and I miss it so so much!

(Don't) Always Let Your Conscious Be Your Guide

Jiminey Cricket can suck it. He had no clue what he was singing about...

This was me at 9:45 am:

(Replace the cat with a 50 lb. dog)

I could not get out of bed this morning. I had the worst headache and my body felt very heavy. I asked my conscious, "Should I work from home today in the comfort of my jammies? Or should I force my tired butt out of bed, drive to work in the rain and be uncomfortable in my office?" Hmm...tough choice.

I should note that I'm typing this during my lunch break...at work...from my office. Apparently, my conscious thinks I need to severely suffer today.

Hmm...

I think I need this adorable dress from Urban Outfitters:

Yeah...I'm pretty sure I need it.

Presidential Inauguration

The scene at Whittier College's Student Center on the morning of January 20, 2009:

The room was packed, as everyone watched Barack Obama being sworn-in as the 44th President of the United States.

SPT

"I resolve to take more self-portraits while trying new things." That is the theme for today's SPT.


Geoff's brother gave me a pretty pink yoga mat for Christmas that came with a yoga DVD. I've done pilates before, but never yoga. Although they have yoga classes at my gym, I decided to try it for the very first time with the DVD in the comfort of my own home, just in case I look like a fool trying it for the first time in the gym (plus, I think people would think I'm strange trying to take a picture of myself in the gym). The verdict? I did well. I don't think I have to worry about looking like a fool. So, starting next week, I'll be going to yoga classes every Monday and Wednesday at 24-hr Fitness. Hooray!

Weekend Update

Saturday
I had quite the busy week with my mom visiting, meetings everyday at work and a mid-year planning staff retreat on Friday. I was beat! I slept-in as much as I could this day. Around 12 noon, I got up and went over to Erin's apartment to meet her and Geoff's cousin, Cassie, there. Cassie had lost her job earlier in the week and I told her that I would help her clean-up her resume and help her write a cover letter, since she's never done one (and I'm excellent at resumes and cover letters!). Also, there is a job opening at the college I work at for a Financial Aid Coordinator that I showed to Cassie and she was very interested in applying. Given that she would probably mention my name when submitting her application, I didn't want her submitting a sloppy resume. So, that was yet another reason I wanted to help her have the sharpest resume possible.

When she showed me her original resume, I knew we had some work to do. Her original resume was only 3/4 of a page and, Cassie's a bright girl, but even she admitted that her language and grammar skills were not up to par. However, after we sat together for a few hours, I helped her turn her 3/4 page resume into a 2-page resume! We re-wrote her work experience, highlighting skills she had that were similar to what the position at the college was looking for. I also had her add in some volunteer work and references and presto! It looked like a resume of an accomplished person. She was amazed and really happy that I was able to help, which made me really happy.

After we finished her resume, we sat around with Erin and talked for a little while. Then, I headed over to Geoff's to spend the rest of the weekend with him. I hadn't seen him all week and was looking forward to just sitting back and relaxing with him.

Sunday
We got up early and had breakfast at Champagne French Bakery in Irvine. Afterwards, we headed over to Downey so that Geoff could play golf with his dad and I could meet with Cassie again to help her with her cover letter.

After golf and my little cover letter "workshop" were over, Geoff and I talked with his mom, dad and brother for a little bit and then decided to stop at Disneyland on the way back home to Irvine to watch the fireworks show. When we got there, we met up with Erin and Erick. I noticed it was really windy and I said that I hoped they wouldn't cancel the fireworks because of all the wind......well they did. We waited an hour and a half just to be told it was too windy for fireworks. Bummer. We wanted to have something in exchange for our patient waiting, so we stood in line to buy a pineapple whip from the Dole stand over by the Tiki Room. Since our evening was shot, we all decided to call it a night and go home. We had more fun talking on the tram ride back to the parking lot than we did in the actual park!

Monday
Since it's a holiday (Happy MLK, Jr. Day!), I didn't have to work. Yippie!

Really, Ryan??

I love watching American Idol, but only for the audition part. And by the audition part, I mean the bad singers. After they select the best singers to move on, I stop watching. It's not entertaining to me after that. It's all about people embarrassing themselves.

Last night was the season premiere and I was kind of enjoying the awful people when, towards the end of the show, Ryan Seacrest himself took the top "I just made an ass of myself" prize. It was at the very end, when the blind guy auditioned and was given his ticket to go to Hollywood. He comes out of the audition room and Ryan Seacreast tries to high-five him. I was like, did Ryan Seacrest just try to high-five a blind guy?? You could tell he realized his stupidity right when he raised his hand up and then tried to cover it up. Nice try, idiot. Nice try.

Does anyone remember when Bush tried to wave at Stevie Wonder??

Do the Math

So my mom is getting all frantic about taking her little dog, Oliver, back home with her on the plane. She brought him with her while she's here visiting. Apparently, Oliver didn't do well on the plane ride over here. He wimpered the whole time and was shaking. I asked my mom, "Did you give him a sedative? Drug him up with Benadryl?" My mom said, "No, I don't want to give him drugs!" Which I didn't understand why. I mean, he's a dog. It's not like he's gonna become a drug addict.

I explained to her that it's safe to give a dog or cat a small dose of Benadryl. It makes them sleepy, calm and at ease for a short period of time. Perfect for a plane ride. But, my mom refuses to do it. She should though. Seriously, it's not that hard:

You can't get anymore blatant than that. I don't know if the dog in the picture is on Benadryl, but he looks like he's feelin' mighty fine to me.

SPT

"I resolve to take more self-portraits with people I love." That was today's SPT challenge.

Me (L) and my little sister (R) at a family friend's wedding. My sister did my make-up that day and was proud of her work on my face. Oh, and we're forming a heart with our hands.

Since my camera is being fixed (the lens won't pop out), I'm breaking the SPT rules slightly by posting this photo that was taken several months ago. I'm breaking the rules even more by the fact that my little sister is the one who took the photo of us, not me. However, this is proof that she and I haven't taken enough photos together in a long time, and I miss doing that. So, this year, as resolved in my SPT challenge, I will try to make it a point to take more photos with her.

Weekend Update

My mom is visiting from Houston this week, so I've been a little behind on my blog...

Friday

Got up at the butt crack of dawn and went to the flower district in L.A. with my mom. She makes floral arrangements as a hobby and we've been going there for the past 8 years. I bought plain white hydrangeas, twisted dark brown branches and a tall cylindrical vase. This is what I made:

I think I want this for table centerpieces at my wedding. It's simple, yet striking enough. Add some candles around the base and I've got a very pretty, vintage-looking centerpiece. Total cost?: $16. That is why I love the flower district.

Saturday

I slept A LOT! I briefly woke up at 9 am, ate a light breakfast with my mom and went back to bed by 10 am. I didn't wake up again until 1:30 pm. When I did wake up, I immediately starting doing some work that I had to finish for my boss by Monday. I knew it was going to take the entire weekend, so I paced myself.

Geoff called me late afternoon to say he missed me and wanted to see me. We both had very busy work weeks and hadn't been able to see each other for a week (which is unusual). I told him I had a lot of work to do and that I didn't want to bore him with that, but he said to come anyway and I could work at his place. Since my mom was out visiting her friends and my aunt, I went ahead and packed up my work to take with me to Geoff's place. When I got there, Geoff had made dinner for me, which was really nice since I was tired and overloaded with work. He made pasta with alfredo sauce, topped with grilled chicken. It was very tasty! After dinner, he poured us both a glass of Riesling (a sweet wine we both like) and we ate raspberries with it, which helped me relax a bit. I then worked for a little bit more, but wanted to spend more time with Geoff, so I took a break and we watched Kung-Fu Panda, breaking in his new 52" flat screen TV. The movie was cute and pretty funny. I was feeling drowsy from the wine, so I ditched the rest of my work and went to bed.

Sunday

I get spoiled by Geoff a lot. In the morning, he made me some of my favorite things to eat for breakfast: toast with butter and strawberry jam, bacon, a small cup of vanilla yogurt with fruit and a cup of green tea. After breakfast, I called my mom and sister to see what they wanted to do that day. We decided to go to Old Town Orange to have lunch and browse the antique stores.

After we were done, my sister left to go to work and I took my mom to South Coast Plaza since she wanted to shop there. We hit up H&M (naturally) and came out with some pretty good deals. We got home around 5 pm and from that time, until midnight, I did nothing but work and be irritated that I'm exempt staff.

Dear Spring,

I am so ready for you. Bring it.

Love, Amy

Post Secret

Every Sunday morning, before reading the paper, I like to look at Post Secret's blog to read the new secrets of the week. There's been some I've related to and others that I would never dream of doing/feeling/thinking. This week, I saw a secret that is totally me...

Whenever I eat in the college's dining hall (college staff eats free once a week!), I more often than not sit at a table by myself to eat. Sometimes, a colleague will join me or I'll run into them in the dining hall and we'll all sit together. Usually though, we're all really busy with our different schedules and I'll find myself eating alone. It's no biggie. Happens to everyone. I have to confess though, when this happens, I tend to eat fast so that I won't have to sit by myself for very long. Subconsciously, I think I do sometimes feel a little lonely. On two occasions though, while I was eating, a couple girl students passed by, stopped at my table and said, "Ohmigod, your shoes are SO cute!"

And it made me feel pretty good.

SPT - Resolutions

Lelly gave the new SPT challenge for this month with a "resolutions" theme! Here are this month's challenges:

Tuesday, January 6 i resolve to take more self-portraits
Tuesday, January 13 i resolve to take more self-portraits with people i love
Tuesday, January 20 i resolve to take more self-portraits while trying new things
Tuesday, January 27 i resolve to take more self-portraits doing things i enjoy

Here is my first self-portrait of the year:

I'm on my laptop, looking over my blog (which explains the weird light illuminating my face). Take note of my cute feather headband. Only $2 at Forever 21!

2009 Word of the Year

I've been seeing people do this on their blogs for the past few days and thought they were neat posts. They've been posting their word/theme for the year. I then saw TIP JUNKIE, a blog I frequent that gives good tips and advice, is holding a little blog contest for the best inspirational word of the year. I decided to participate! Here is my word for this year:

Whenever I conquer something, I feel a sense of impowerment and accomplishment. I feel like I can do anything. This year I hope to conquer my goals, conquer my fears, and conquer my dreams.

Weekend Update - New Year's Edition

Wednesday - New Year's Eve
I don't know about you, but it so did NOT feel like New Year's to me. It felt just like any other ordinary day. I think because I didn't see anything that had to do with New Year's; just Christmas stuff. Anyhow, Geoff and I had a hard time staying up till midnight. We watched TV for most of the night and about a minute before midnight, we turned the channel to NBC to watch the ball drop. It was weird to watch, because of the absent feeling I was having. It kind annoyed me.

Thursday - New Year's Day

Went home early in the morning to begin taking down Christmas stuff. Watched a little bit of the Rose Parade and talked with Geoff over the phone, reminiscing about the time he marched in the Rose Parade back when he was a senior in high school (I had recorded it and still have it on a VHS tape). The day was pretty uneventful from there on out.

Friday

I had to go into work! I wish I hadn't gone in. There was hardly anyone in the office. I went home early and, after a quick bite to eat with my dad and a quick trip to Target, I relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Saturday

Geoff came over and we had lunch together at the Belmont Brewing Co. in Long Beach. If you've never been there, go to have lunch or dinner sometime. It sits right on the beach, has a pretty view of the ocean (and Catalina on a clear day), and has excellent food. Get a table outside, not inside. It's lame on the inside. While we were waiting for our lunch, Geoff randomly asks me if I wanted to go to Disneyland the next day. I love when he comes up with random, fun stuff to do. I thought about it and wanted to go, since it would be the last day for their holiday shows and decor. After lunch, Geoff went back to his house to finish some errands so that he could have the entire next day free. I did the same.

Sunday

We got to Disneyland just past 11 am and it was crowded. Let me rephrase that: the lines to buy tickets were crowded. We waited for almost an hour and it was the longest line we stood in that day (even the ride lines had a less wait!). We ended up buying a Premium pass, which means absolutely NO block out dates. It's good for all 365 days for both parks! We're pretty psyched about it.

Here are some pictures from our Disneyland "date:"

"A" for Amy, of course!

The huge Christmas tree in front of Main St.

Me and Geoff in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle.

The castle lit-up with their holiday lights. It was so pretty, looked like it had snow on it.

The holiday fireworks show was good and the fireworks went right along with the music. We thought about seeing Fantasmic, but remembered that we now have passes and can come back anytime to watch it. Fantasmic is rather special to me because I used to dance in it when I worked for Disney 8 years ago. I was a monkey on the rafts that come out during the King Louie/Jungle Book part of the show. Fun times.

2009 Resolutions

Things I want to accomplish this new year:

1. Begin law school
2. Possibly move to Brea, depending on the housing market
3. Invest in a retirement plan
4. Play more tennis
5. Invest in stock (since it's low -smarter to buy in now)
6. Go to Europe in late spring/early summer, destination to be decided soon...
7. Take two camping trips
8. Take a long weekend and go up to San Francisco (preferrably in the fall)
9. Use my gym membership more frequently
10. Visit my mom in Houston

I think I can do most, if not all of these things this year. It'll be interesting to look back on this mid-year to see how much I accomplished!

Mimosa Is the New Purple

I was looking at a website today that is predicting the 2009 color of the year is going to be "mimosa," which is a dark yellow/gold/marigold.

Although I'm not totally thrilled with the color (I was loving the plum and berry colors of 2008), I like the bright, cheeriness of it. Nevertheless, I thought to myself, "What the heck goes with dark yellow??" Well, after playing around on Polyvore.com for a bit, I got my answer:

Behold! TWO outfits I created using the color of 2009...



The last time I wore this color was on my cheerleading uniform in high school...

Now, before you think I have this out and showcased in my closet, I don't. My mom had it pressed and it's hanging in the closet of the guest room of what is now my house, along with my little sister's old cheerleading uniform. My mom didn't take them with her when she moved to Houston, but plans to have them framed side-by-side. She did the same thing with our first baby dresses. Cute, huh?

So what do you all think about this year's "it" color?

Happy New Year!

December in Mazatlan.