Sacramento's Next Top Model

NOT! ...but I did get to catch a glimpse into the life of the tall and beautiful last night after I agreed to be a part of a fashion show that was sponsored by Nordstrom's Women's Active and The Rail departments, where we modeled, yikes, bikinis and boardshorts! The fashion show was held at Social, a chic night club downtown.

The show was scheduled to start at 10:30pm, but the "models" arrived at the club at 7:30 for hair and makeup (hair by Mosaic Salon and makeup by MAC). I felt like such a star with 3 people working on me at the same time! We were supposed to get spray tans too, which would have been nice for my farmer's tan body that I've acquired from running outdoors, but alas, the tanning salon backed out last minute. Oh, well! Hopefully the bird nest on top of my head was enough to distract everyone from my white belly!

Wayne arrived at 10pm to support me! The classic dork that he is (which I love), he hung around the wall and read a Star Trek book on his PDA while he waited for me. At least he looked good (and at least he wasn't carrying around the actual book)! I had called earlier to remind him about the dress code, and good thing I did, because he was planning on wearing khakis and a polo; cute, but not very "club-like". So I navigated him through his closet over the phone to pick out a dark button down shirt (which I untucked when I saw him and rolled the sleeves up), dark rinse jeans, and black shoes. (By the way, Mr. To was voted "best dressed" by the students this year! I feel just as proud and flattered as if I had received the award myself). I know he felt completely out of his element, so I'm really thankful he came. Thanks, Sweetheart!

The show finally started at 11pm. We each rocked two outfits, in which we had to get in and out of super quickly, and 2o minutes later (if even), it was over! What a whirlwind! Definitely a fun and different experience! (Good thing I have no shame!)

more Anthro news!

Did you know this? I didn't even hear about this until Emily forwarded the email to me. I guess we get separate marketing emails from Anthropologie... I want them all!

Alas, I am subbing for Wayne again tomorrow (he has another workshop to go to), but perhaps this is for the better.

Oh, and I guess I should promote my own company... Nordstrom's Women Half-Yearly sale starts Wednesday, May 20th and lasts until the end of May! Sales start at 33% off, and if you have a Nordstrom card, you get double points during the first 4 days of the sale!

okay, that's all.

Ogunquit, it is!

I am completely motivated by external motivation and incentives (okay, not completely, but very, very much so). If I were a puppy, I would be the most well-behaved one and do all sorts of impressive tricks, all the meanwhile eying and drooling over that coveted treat. As a human, I guess I do my share of hoop-jumping to win that "treat"... like when I opened a Citi checking account last spring to get a free roundtrip air plane ticket, good for flying anywhere in the continental US and Canada.

So now it's time to cash in my reward! Wayne and I decided we wanted to go somewhere a little off our usual beaten path. Somewhere we may have heard about but may not be a "normal" vacation spot for us. Somewhere relaxing, though, and not too overwhelming for the few short days we'll be able to spend there... Somewhere pretty with a host of bed and breakfasts and good food... Somewhere like Maine! (yum, lobster!)

But Maine is huge, and after many hours of aimlessly scouring the internet for "top vacation spots in Maine" or "New England vacation", I was getting sorely frustrated by all the vague and piece-y information I was finding (sometimes the world wide web is just too vast). I tried searching by bed and breakfasts, but many of them were over our budget or were just too kitschy, even for my tastes.

And then I stumbled upon this little bed and breakfast that I just fell in love with! I actually found it on yelp (love yelp!), where one reviewer even described the innkeeper's wife as a combination of Martha Stewart and Ina Garten—two of my favorite domestic role models! 16 Beach Street is in the center of Ogunquit, Maine, "a beautiful place by the sea" (which is what ogunquit means, apparently), home to little shops, cafes and bistros, Ogunquit beach (one of America's top 10 most beautiful beaches), light houses, and more. Ambling through their website, I became more and more enamored by the casual and tasteful country charm of the inn, the innkeepers' obvious pride and passion that come through in all the details (they even keep a blog; one entry was all about "the quest for the perfect porch"), and the little town of Ogunquit that they describe so sweetly.

So I'm sold! We're leaving the first weekend of June, right after Wayne gets out of school! Yay, for summer breaks, Citibank promotions, and quaint little bed and breakfasts!

Free Shipping at Anthropologie.com!

That's right, FREE SHIPPING! This almost never happens! This offer is good until September 7, and all you have to do is link your anthro account to your online account. This is especially good news for those, like me, whose nearest Anthropologie store is over 3o miles away. YAY!

edit: to link your anthro number to your online account, go to www.my.anthropologie.com.

House Hunters

...that's us! Since the market is so good, Wayne and I are looking to buy, and soon. I'm sad to leave the Orange Door Inn, a once bachelor pad that I've very much made mine (I mean, ours), but I know this is a good investment and next step for us. So on Saturday, we looked at probably 10 homes! There are four that we liked and two that are at the top of our list!

yikes... buying a house. This is so... grown-up!

...these are a few of my favorite things!

Today was a full day. First, I ate oatmeal. Not just any oatmeal; it was Kashi's honey almond oatmeal mixed with regular oatmeal, AND I ate it in one of my new bowls from Anthropologie.

I needed that oatmeal to fuel the rest of my day, because... by 7:30am, I was out the door with Lucy to get her spayed. After dropping her off, I got a much-needed oil change for my car. Then, killed some time at Target before my hair appointment.

Yes, I got another haircut AND I like it! No, I love it! Never again am I going to cheap Asian places. Not because they can't cut hair, I just think their sense of style is different. If I let them do what they want, they inevitably give me shaggy mousy tails, and I don't like mousy tails, at least not on my head. I'm anxious the whole time I'm there and I give them all sorts of directions that I think I want and I end up with something I only complain about. But Michelle—I totally trust her, and she explains everything she's doing! I was actually just going in for a bang trim, but I asked her what she would do if she were to cut my hair short (something I've been aching to do), and she described all the neato things she had in mind, and I said, "Okay, let's go for it!" She snipped, razor bladed, and calls it a "shattered bob", inspired by Lily Allen's new 'do... and the whole time I didn't flinch! (Sadly, Michelle is actually moving back to San Diego at the end of this month... WHY?!?)

Then, I "ran errands" at Nordstrom Rack and Nordstrom (aka "shopped"). Then picked up Lucy, who, poor thing, is still super groggy and uncomfortable.

And then tried my hand at risotto for the first time, which, I think, turned out really well!

I just realized this post is full of my favorite things—food, Lucy, and shopping. hm, I should include Wayne in here somewhere... uh... Wayne mowed the lawn and pulled lots of weeds while I was cooking. Thanks, sweetheart!

feeling ugh...

allergies. up until this point they have been manageable, but today, it's been debilitating. i feel like i have a severe cold, and my throat doesn't just itch anymore, it HURTS. and i know i don't have a cold and that it is, indeed, allergies, because i've felt this way twice in my life before, all instances happening in Davis/Sacramento while visiting Sam/Wayne, in which my symptoms would vanish as soon as I stepped off the plane back to San Diego.

ahhh... San Diego... my sinuses miss you too!

I am 27 going on 28!

or... I guess I'm already 28, as of today. 28--yikes!

I had such a great day! I had 10 hours of sleep last night! (slept at 8pm... don't know why I was SO tired... probably recovering from the super fun weekend from Jenny's visit!) I woke up and found notes all over the house from Wayne and "Lucy" :)... then went on a run with Lucy. Emily and I spent 4.5 hours at Nordstrom Rack! Then Wayne took me to dinner at Scott's Seafood. The food was nothing to write home about, but the company was great!... including the old couple who were seated next to us. I couldn't help listening in on their conversation; it sounded like they were on a first date, and it was so cute! They talked about the war and strokes and The Sound of Music. I had to peel myself away from listening more! And to top off our evening, we got REALLY good jalapeno cheddar bread and pugliese bread from this bread store next to Scott's. It's called Grateful Bread, haha!

Thanks, everyone, for your birthday wishes!! :)