Shoe Shopping

Warning: Nerd Alert

Today I was over the hill in LA to get my hair did. On my way home, I decided to stop by Off Broadway Shoes in Hollywood. It is like one of the biggest and grandest shoes stores that we have close by. Sort of like a DSW, just massive amounts of shoes. I have been looking for some black boots with a short 2" stacked heel. EVERYONE in New York had this type of boot. But I can't find them anywhere!! It seems that on the West Coast, we don't have much of a need for practical boots. Mostly everyone sells high-heel, dressy boots. I don't need any more of those, so the hunt continues.

Anyway, they didn't have the ones I wanted, but within 30 seconds of walking in the store I found these adorable yellow Steve Madden wedges. Of course, last year when I looked for yellow wedges, they were nowhere to be found. But since they were here now, I decided to get them. I continued to walk around for awhile, trying on shoe after fabulous shoe. I wanted to look at the wedges again just to make sure I had the right size and everything. As I walked back over in that direction, I saw this cute little blonde gal. When I made eye contact with her, I realized immediately that it was Kerrington from last season's So You Think You Can Dance! I'll admit, my heart jumped a little bit. It always does when I see people from TV or movies. I smiled at her and noticed she was looking at the exact same shoes that I had!

I could have just said "Hey, were you on So You Think You Can Dance?" or something. But I didn't want her to think I was this dorky 29 year old that is obsessed with that show. (Which I am.) So instead, I totally pretended like I didn't know who she was. I sat down by her to try my shoes on again and said "Oh, so which color are you contemplating?" She said, "Well I'm definitely getting the yellow, but now I'm trying to decide between black or brown as my second pair to have something more neutral." I go, "Oh yeah. Tough choice. They go with everything!" And she was like "Yeah, I know, right?" Then she grabbed the black pair and left.

I don't know if it was worse that I knew who she was, or that I went out of my way to PRETEND that I didn't know who she was. And all I could think was how cool that I bought the same yellow shoes as a 20 year old celebrity (?). Haha.

Miracle Drug

So I got a prescription for Advair this last week. And I haven't had to use my rescue inhaler for 4 whole days! WOO! It's been a huge relief, because I just didn't feel like I was in a healthy state, not being able to breathe. The doctors say there was nothing UN-healthy about me, but they found that the asthma was definitely limiting me. The Advair has opened up my lungs and increased my air intake by quite a bit. There are some side effects I have to watch for - mainly weight gain (NOOOOO) and osteoporosis (have to start checking my bone density at 40 instead of 55). But for the time being I will cherish being able to breathe in the fresh, clean Los Angeles air! What?

Such a fun week...

OK. First of all - could it be any warmer here all of a sudden?! The last couple weeks have been on the chilly side. Typically upper 60's/low 70's, but once in awhile even got down in the 50's. Very sporatic. Yesterday and today: Mid-80's. 80 degrees in January! It is seriously warm enough for the beach. I'm not ready for the heat of summer, by any means. But I will admit, its just so beautiful and sunny you can't help but enjoy it. Guess I better shave my legs.

Anyway, this last week was really good. After my Mom and brother left town (still minus a trip to D-land) my sister and nephew stayed here so we could go to our cousin's wedding together. It was really fun having them around. I can't say enough about the nephew. He is so funny and is just developing a great personality. He recently learned how to throw fits, which I thought was hilarious, but his mommy - not so much. We played lots of peek-a-boo. He is the cutest when he is super ticklish and he just laughs so hard he can hardly breathe. Oh the baby laugh. Soooo adorable! He knows his animal noises pretty well. And loves to dance. He also loved chasing the cat up and down this house until the cat gave up and they became friends. Sort of.

Every day was an adventure. We ate lots (again. How does this always happen?) , took a trip to Rodeo Drive, had friends over for Poker Night, celebrated Armenian Christmas. Oh, and we got our new couch! LOVE IT! At first I was nervous about the color because it didn't really match all of our stuff. But it is so comfortable and opens up the room so much. It works for me!

On Friday, we drove up north to Folsom for our cousin's wedding reception. They got married in the Sacramento Temple (a.k.a the old Mormon Center) and the reception was at the Lake Natoma Inn. Cute little historic area of Folsom, really close to the American River. We ate and visited with the relatives - some that I hadn't seen in over 10 years. We danced and took silly pictures. Then some of us went bowling for the after-party. It was a lot of fun. And my cousin and his new wife are adorable. They even let us crash the honeymoon and invited us out to breakfast the next morning.

(I was not a bridesmaid, but totally matched the wedding accidentally. What a dork!)

It was a quick trip since we headed back home the very next day, but it was worth it. My sister and nephew also left last night and I have missed them already. The house is a little too quiet now. But she told me that the little one chased down some blonde in the airport thinking it was me. AWWW! Breaking my heart! Oh and when he says my name, I just melt. Aun-Na-Na. That's me. I could just die. But we will see them again soon in a few weeks for my birthday. Can't wait!

Disneyland Was a Bust!

So my mother has never been to Disneyland unless she was sick, pregnant or had a little baby. Because of this, she has never seen Disneyland as a very fun place. I thought it was about time she got to go as an adult and really just let loose and enjoy herself. What better time than her birthday? That way she'd get to go when the weather was cool, plus we'd still see the Christmas decorations that are sooo cute this time of year. I am such a fun daughter who comes up with the best plans!

So I thought. We arrived at Disneyland today around 12:30 and we knew beforehand that it would be pretty crowded because its still winter break and all the kids are out of school. Plus it was the Friday after a holiday. Sure, I could see a lot of people being there. But I had NO IDEA what we were getting ourselves into. As we got off the tram, I could tell that yes, it was significantly more crowded than I'm used to. But I'm still thinking it won't be too bad. Until we get in line to get tickets. The lines wrapped all around the ticket booths to the back and through the main area between Disneyland and CA Adventure. OK, so this was looking pretty bad, but I just kept thinking that they are usually good about keeping people moving, so it would be fine. TWO HOURS later, we still did not have our tickets. And we were probably just a little more than half way through the line. At this point, we were re-thinking our entire plan. If it was this crowded outside the park, it was going to be pretty awful inside too. I left it up to Mom to decide what she wanted to do, and she was pretty content with leaving and finding somewhere else to go.

Don't get me wrong, we ended up having a fun day. But all my intentions and all the fun plans turned into just another lame trip to Disneyland for her. Sorry Mom!

Here we are waiting in line, still excited. At least I was able to get in with my season pass and get her a birthday pin and churros while they waited.


Here we are leaving the park - still in good spirits. Then we went to the mall and tried on the ugliest dresses we could find instead.

A New Year's Eve Without High Heels...

Typically, this is how my New Year's Eve goes: I take my time choosing something to wear. The outfit is usually based around the high heels I'm sporting. I love my high heels. So my husband and I get all decked out and head to a friend's party or maybe a bar. We are excited to go out, and always seem to have a really good time. The only annoying thing is all the crowds and the cost of everything. We make it work. There have been a couple years where my younger brothers and sister were visiting. So I would rush home right after midnight to spend time with them, leaving my husband with the friends. At home, we would drink sparkling cider and maybe play some video games or watch TV. But this act of going home on New Year's Eve and getting in my pajamas was somehow even more fun than being out on the town in my high heels.

Our favorite dinner spot.

So THIS year, I made it a goal to convince my husband that it would be more fun to stay home than to go out. And it worked! We first got a sushi dinner at my favorite place Octopus. We ate soooo much and I even tried a couple new things. After dinner, I asked if we could get fried ice cream, but he wanted frozen yogurt instead. So we started walking toward the yogurt place when I mentioned that I didn't really want yogurt. He joked that I had ruined his New Year's Eve. We laughed about it and stopped by the grocery store for some Haagen Dazs instead. We got into PJ's and ordered Get Smart on demand. (I know, I know there wasn't a whole lot we hadn't seen. But if you've seen the original show, it wasn't all that bad...) We lazily and comfortably watched the movie until about 5 minutes before midnight. Turned on one of the countdown shows and I couldn't help but wonder - why are all the countdown hosts like the biggest douchebags ever? Ryan Seacrest? Carson Daly? Oh brother. As we watched, I got a little jealous of all the people hanging out in Times Square. Until I heard it was 19 degrees there with a windchill of 2. That made me glad that I was in my cozy home.

Sparkling Cider and Haagen Dazs. Doesn't get much better.

At approximately 11:57, I felt a tingle in my tummy and realized I had to go to the bathroom! Right now? There are only 3 minutes till midnight! I really don't want to ring in New Year's on the toilet. That can't be any sort of good luck! So I hurried as fast as I could and made it out with 45 seconds to spare. Phew. Hubby and I counted down along with an awkward Dick Clark (poor guy) and wished each other a Happy New Year with a big ol' smooch. It was an extra nice kiss, since we weren't in public. We toasted with sparkling cider, then watched a biography on Ben Stiller and went to bed.

This one is just CUTE!

So not the most exciting New Year's Eve, but definitely the most relaxing. It will be up for debate whether we do it again next year, but I was glad we got to spend the whole night together. Now, on to 2009! We have never really made resolutions, but we do have some goals that we are already working on. And we can only hope and pray that this next year will be as wonderful as the last few. Cheers!