Fall?

Time seems to be flying faster than I can remember. This lady of leisure business is harder than it looks. Not that I am really complaining life is overall good. I've been keeping socially active between Junior League and my Meetup group activities and I hired a personal trainer. I don't have much downtime especially since I am still working for LJ too. I am afraid of becoming "that girl."

You know the bosses wife/girlfriend/fiance/significant other/bitch. This week I told his employees that we were going to have a catered lunch on Friday because it was the end of the month. I didn't realize that it was only on days that guys did inventory. Oops. Some of them think I am the boss, some give me respect. I don't know exactly how to treat them all or how they are supposed to treat me but I am working on it. I also told if something didn't shipped out that same day I was going to chop him up feed him to the sharks open up the shark dig him out and feed him to another shark. Aggression much?

I am so looking forward to the Fall actually starting so I can wear all the warm clothes I bought that its been too freakin hot. On Tuesday it was 100+ and Saturday it was drizzling. I need to go through my closet and get rid of some of my shoes too. I finally got to wear my tall Cole Haan boots and my purple leather jacket. These items sold out at Nordstroms so no pictures available.

This is also the first weekend in at least 3 months that I have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING PLANNED. I think I might finally tackle that scary room that I call the closet. I've made tenative plans for Saturday with LJ but Sunday.... nothing.


Oh yeah and the worlds greatest meat lover... going 80% vegetarian... WTF!

I didn't fall into the well...

Ya’ll I have an addiction. A Sorority Life addiction. I can’t say that that’s where I have been hiding for the last couple of weeks/months. To be honest just real life has gotten in the way.

A lot of things have changed mostly for the good. I am no longer commuting 100 miles a days – 6 hours round trip in the hell we call LA Freeways. I am actually closer to home and on a good day I can get to work in 25 minutes and a bad day I can get there in 45. I didn’t think I was that affected by it but those around me have noticed a change in my personality since the commute has stopped. I have noticed it myself too. I am grateful for those who helped make the change happen for me and I am upset at those who give me crap for making a “selfish” decision to get my life back. I don’t know what it means for my career with this change b/c I am basically taking a break but I don’t know if I really want to go back either. I like my regular job better but with my work life balance being shot to hell for half the money I was making a year ago I don’t think that it’s worth it. Who knows maybe in a year it won’t matter anyway.

Aside from the big work change I have just been involved in so many other projects socially that I sometimes get a chance to read everyone else’s blogs but I rarely have a chance to write my own. I am enjoying knitting, card-making, Junior League, re-organizing and decorating the house. I need to take pictures. I am going to get better at it I promise.

A Contest!

Edit: Extended Contest to get some more entries, please tell your friends.

With my move from a small house to a really big house there has been a lot of decorating to do. Out of my garage came out a huge picture frame that holds 30 5x7 pics that has never been used. Originally I was thinking of doing a bunch of pics of my friends and family but I wanted something more interesting. This is where you come in.

For the contest I would like you and anyone else you know to send me pictures of random pretty/cute/funny things. Pics from a place you have visited or where you live. Your adorable dog. A picture of your awesome shoes! The only thing I don't think would work is people. It would be hard to explain to my friends and family why I have pictures of people I don't know on my wall. Unless I know you then that's cool too. These will all be printed and put in the frame in the living room. Please submit your own pictures and not something you found off the Internet.

To enter:

Send me a picture to starchase83(at)me.com. Multiple entries are accepted.

The prize for picture I like best: $50 Target Gift card.

To rally up some support:

1. Tell your friends about the contest via twitter and include my @starchase83 so I know. (1 entry).
2. Become a follower of my blog (1 entry).
3. Write a post about my contest on your blog and send me a link back via the comments or e-mail. (2 entries).

This winner will be picked at random. Prize for this is: $20 Starbucks gift card.

This contest ends August 31st at 10pm PST.

Loo

Where to begin.....



I haven't said this publicly in blogland but I am moving. Actually let me correct that.... WE ARE MOVING. Yes, you heard it here first (or secondly) LJ and I will be co-habitating. This has actaully been a long time coming but something have changed around here that gave us (me) the final kick to do it. *Edit: We moved, this post has been sitting in draft so long that the move happened Sunday last week!*



Last October I was actually looking to buy a home of my own. I had a real estate agent a pre-approval and MLS lists all over my desks at all times. Then there was an announcement of a merger for the company I work for and it scared me. This isn't my first time at the rodeo. Since I've been with the company I've gone through 5 mergers and 4 relocations (in less than 6 years). Whenever I hear merger my initial thought is "Oh crap, who's getting laid off?" In this case my initial thought was "Oh crap, I can't buy a house anymore!" And I was right. I could have... but it would have sucked and I would be broke with all the changes in income that came with the turn of the economy and merger. I think it worked out for the best because I would have been settling for what I could afford vs. what I wanted vs. what we could afford and vs. what we both wanted. My bf owns his own business and I didn't want to come with empty pockets to the table when we got married.


LJ is expanding his business (yes, even in this economy) and needs to be close to his office at all times because he runs the show. I currently live 15 miles from him and work an additional 35 miles the opposite way. So the compromise? I move closer to him/his office. Weird right? He moved the office to be close to train station for (for me) and all the house stuff will be taken care of. So dinner will be made when I get home, yay! The house cleaning stuff is already being taken care of except for certain things I like to do myself. I've made the drive already and its actually about 90 miles to work roundtrip because I take the least trafficy way. I will be on the train by next month at the latest.



About the house.... We are moving into a real house which is nice. I live in a duplex and having the adjoining wall is a bit much. The new house is a 3 bed, 2 bath with a pool, jacuzzi and a built-in bbq. There is also a flat-screen outside you can watch from the sitting area and the jacuzzi which I think is cool. We also purchased a projector for the family room this weekend and are looking for a 100" screen. The house is mostly unpacked except for the important things like the guest room. The guest room also doubles as my closet/craft area which I am super excited about (or will be at least once its all set up and have all the furniture in.) We have people coming out TOMORROW and I still haven't finished the room. Oops!

I will have pictures of the house up hopefully sometime next week once all the boxes are moved out of the way and I still need to buy a lot of decorating stuff. My walls are pretty barren at this point and the kitchen looks like Christmas sort of. We will be painting to say the least. Oh and of course I will show everyone the new home for the shoes!

So who's coming to visit me and the pool?

Oh and I keep running into Larry King in the parking lot next to work... is that weird?

Friends in Low Places

Last week Molly posted about making friends and it got me thinking. I love the friends I have don't get me wrong but I hardly ever see them. I am 25, living with a roommate and I have a bf the rest of my friends (all girls I grew up with) are now married, married with babies or doing the single-mom thing. Nothing against how they are living their lives it just doesn't mesh well for a Wednesday Night Wine Tasting or other adult spontaneous activities.

My roommate is super cool so we hang out at the house a lot which is almost like having a built in friend. We were friends before we moved in together but not all BFF (oh and we work for the same company). My old roommate and I actually hang out more with socially now b/c I know where to go when I need a drink.

Anyway, I still feel like I am missing in the friend front. I haven't made any new friends outside of work or living situations for many many years. Although my old friends I can call out of nowhere and pick up the conversation like we just spoke yesterday its still not the same as having a real close friend that I actually did have a conversation with yesterday.

After Molly did her post went back and read the comments for suggestions on what to do. The funny thing is that she mentioned her Physical Therapist to be friends with. I want to be friends with my Chiropractor but I have no idea on how to say hey lets hang out without it being weird. She told me she does spin at the same gym but I've tried spin and its too hard-core for me. One day I will get some neve and not sound weird.

One of the suggestions that kept coming up was Junior League. I actually had never heard of the organization before. I guess out on the east coast its a big to-do. I looked up the website for my local chapter and lo' and behold there was actually orientation for new members. Fortunately, my nervousness did not get the better of me and I went ahead and registered. The timing actually worked out b/c the organization I was previously doing my volunteer work has been on a downhill slide with organization and I was no longer being useful there. I was looking for a new challenge.

The new memeber orientation was on Saturday and I actually decided to join. The group of women is very diverse. I was expecting at home moms with a lot of time on their hands. I would say the group was 24-32 professional with lives outside of the home. The meeting was held at the home of one of the recruitment chairs which was beautiful and she had a full spread of food set out early in the morning. She is one of those super-organized not of this world energy person to get it all ready. There was also a lot of bling going on. Newly engaged, planning a wedding or just married was the story for most of these girls. One day I will be there.

I am pretty excited about joining Junior League even though orientation is now the actual group doesnt start until the Fall. Best part? There is a formal event in the Spring! Hey who doesn't like a reason to get really dressed up?

That Dream Where It All Goes Down In Flames

I realize there are a lot of things in my everyday life that I don't normally write about here. Most of my friends think I am a do-gooder. For the most part I am pretty modest about what I do for good of the world and whenever anyone asks me why I do what I do my usual answer is to build karma points for whenever I do something really bad and hopefully have some left over when I get to the pearly gates.

This week I had an event that I organized for the women's group I mentor with for make-overs for women that are coming back into the work force. I've actually been working on this for 2 months trying to get people to come and help. You would think that working with a group that has a well recognized name would help the situation but not so much. The saying is time is money and money is time. People are being stingy with both.

I was finally able to conjure up 2 hair stylist and a make up artist for our event. I had a location and catering and goodie bags for the women participating in our event. It was all gravy. *Que the heaven music*

As I was doing my final confirmations for the people working our event in a span of 12 hours *i.e. the morning of* All 3 backed out. *Doom!*

So what do I do? The funny thing is that I had already had a dream about this happening and in that dream I had no resolution. We have 15 people coming for this plus our regulars and I have no hair and makeup people. Yikes!

With any problem you can throw money at it is what I have learned. Our event was being hosted at a major department store and we had many ins and one of my own personal ins. I guess if you shop their enough it comes in handy. Said department store has lots of Make-up and make-up artists. After some groveling and lots of money spent 4 of the counters agreed to do make-up for the under privileged. Oh and me b/c you can't host a make-over event and look like hell yourself.

So yeah maybe there was no hair done but the women who came did get their make up done and free stuff and a free dinner. Better than me trying to do a song and dance and sending them on their way right?

Summer Reading Extravaganza

Since all the Cool Kids are doing it... here I am with my Summer Reading list:

1. Love the One You're With - Emily Giffin
2. Shoe Addicts Annoymous - Beth Harbison
3. How to Be Single - Liz  tuccillo
4. The Wedding Officer - Anthony Capella
5. Chasing Harry Winston - Lauren Weisenberger
6. Certain Girls - Jennifer Weiner
7. The Gate Crasher - Madeleine Wickham (AKA Sophie Kinsella)
8. Remember Me? - Sophie Kinsella
9. The Office of Desire - Martha Moody
10. Queen of Babble in the Big City - Meg Cabot
11. The Best Day of Someone Else's Life - Kerry Reichs

I've bought most of these books within the last 3 weeks but have been putting most of my time into crotcheting. I am almost done with my first scarf and now moving on to a throw blanket. Maybe I should be buying audiobooks so I can do both a the same time. 

As for the books on my list.... I doubt I will get through them by September but it will be fun trying. There are some new authors in here I have never read along with some favorites that have new books out. I am not sure how many people knew that Sophie Kinsella's real name is Madeleine Wickham. This is also the first time I have read a Meg Cabot book. Lauren Weisenberger is the author who wrote The Devil Wears Prada and also Everyone Worth Knowing which I do recommend.  I've read  Martha Moody before and I liked her enough to buy another one of her books.  Certain Girls is the sequel to Good in Bed but the storyline is probaby not what you would expect. Jennifer Weiner is the author who wrote In Her Shoes. For the record the book is way better than the movie. Go read it!

So that's that. I now need to go get ready for work before I am late. I also have some pics I have to post for you guys to see the new excitement in my house. 

What's in the bag?

I got this bag a couple of weeks ago at Forever 21. It's not a place I would normally shop but the accessories are kind of cool. I like this bag b/c it has studs all over it which makes it a little more edgy than my regular Coach bag.

Starting from top left:

Coach business card holder: b/c you never know when you are going to do business.

My Keys: Including the tag to the gym and a little flashlight.

Coupon holder: I have a habit of just dropping paper into my bag, I figured this would help with that instead. Part of my new years organiztion.

Wallet: I bought this Wallet at Forever 21 as well to go with the purse. The cool thing about it is that it has a wrist strap to go with it.

Pink Case: Nope it's not for a retainer. It's actually a mouthguard. I drive so much just in my regular commute that my Dentist recommended that I actually wear it when I drive so I don't grind my teeth as much. At least its not huge. It only goes up halfway up my teeth and its custom-made. 

My Life - My Phone: This is Pocket PC 6700. Its actually a huge phone but I am such a text message junkie that I need something with a full keyboard and a touch-screen.

Notebook: Also part of my NY Resolution, so I can remember stuff I keep forgetting. Also thinking of doing Stephanie's Idea.  Hence the heart stickers on the inside. I like stars but I also love hearts.

Ipod: Project Red. I got it for free as part of my purchase of my Mac. I had a 30 GB on top of this one but it kicked the bucket a couple of months ago.

Sudoku: my addiction. I always carry a book with me. I particularly like this one b/c it has a hard cover and a spiral on the inside. I could get the digital version of it on my phone but its not the same. Yes, I do it in Pen.

Lancome Lip Gloss in Heatstroke: It just looks pretty on my lips it goes with any lip color really.

So there you have it, what I drag around in my purse everyday. 

YLT-Day 7: Silver Lining

So the last couple of days have been a roller coaster with the electricty going out the water pressure being down to zero and having one car accident. Life as of today seems to have calmed down. We continued to look at cars today and have finally found the one we wanted. Well, that Aaron wanted. He got a 2004 Saturn Ion 2. Its not new, but its new to us. So at least now I won't be embarrased to be seen in his car.

YLT- Day 6: Shit Happens

Aaron had a car accident yesterday. He was driving on the freeway and the SUV in front of him stopped and he kept going. His car is basically totalled and is in safe keeping at an auto-body shop near the accident site. On ther perk side *at least the way I am choosing to look at it at this moment* Aaron will be getting a new car. We went to look at new cars today. Well not new cars... pre-loved as Aaron like to call them. Our two candidates are the Ion and the Matrix. Both are kinda cool. I love toyota but the Saturn was pretty sweet too with its extra 3rd door deal thing. So it has feeling of a coupe but with some of the functionality of a 4-door.

We still have a lot of things to go through regarding this whole car deal but hopefully it will turn out for the best. I just hate car accidents. My car has been in 4 of them and its just such a headache.

Day 3 - Electro baby found!

My bf is a dork. He lost his brand new electro baby cell phone that he blew $400 on 3 weeks ago. I wonder if he realizes that he lost it? He probably does realize that he lost it, but is freaking out that he lost it and doesn’t know where it is. Living/Working in a big city we normally don't expect the kindness of strangers. But out of some serendipity there is a human being out there that cares about someone else besides himself and decided to text message me to let me know that he found the Treo. Not surprisingly, foreigner (that doesn't know better about LA yet). Quebec Guy, you rock and we thank you!

Hopefully, now my bf will stop making Canadian jokes.