Long hair, yes or no?

Via Pinterest

Okay, my dears, I need some advice.  At this point, my hair falls halfway down my back and has been the longest that it has ever been in my entire life.  I am quite unsure about what to do with it.  It is thick, wavy and dark, without bangs or layers.  It hasn't been dyed in over a year and a half and I'd like to keep it uncoloured.  I spend approximately 5 - 10 minutes on it in the morning (5 minutes to blow dry and 10 minutes if the mood strikes me to straighten) and it takes around an hour to completely air dry.  I don't have the patience for crazy updos and the most complicated I get is tangling it into a snarly fishtail before work. 

Which brings me to the work issue.  I work in a conservative office environment and I'm not in fashion / advertising / design where my look can be more creative and daring.  My most creative look is a pony tail.  I want to maintain whatever semblance of a professional appearance that I still might have and don't want butt-length hair to get in the way of my career progression, so to speak.

That said, I love being able to use hair as an accessory and 'try' to make it do fancy things for different occasions.  I like that I am still the age where I can wear it long, as I've never had long hair as a child or teenager.  To make it clear, I don't want to grow my hair down to my waist for practicality's sake.

So... Do I cut it all off?  Do I get some sort of office-stylish haircut?  Just how long is too long?  Any ladies with long locks know how to wear it well professionally?

The loneliest time of the year

Via pinterest

Starting late last week, through the weekend and into this week, women around the US (and some men as well) have already or will experience two or three hour blocks of profound solitude and loneliness.  Every attempt to talk to a husband, brother, son, boyfriend (or wife, sister, daughter, girlfriend) have been or will be shut down or denied.  Constant pestering to come eat dinner, discuss the work day or get out of the house because it's on fire were or will be rebuffed.  Birthdays, weddings and funerals were and will be missed.  If you are a one computer household, then I hope that you have the patience of a saint and a good book to read.  It's that time of the year again... time for fantasy football draft. 

Because watching football isn't good enough.  One must learn about, research and follow teams and players that one would normally not shake two sticks at.  Because espn isn't good enough - you must also have NFL Sunday Ticket and listen to espn radio.  And if you're like me and get to experience three separate drafts, names like Arian Foster and Eric Decker start to pepper your every day conversation and anything less than instantaneous, seamless, lightening speed internet is cursed with the wrath of a thousand gods.  No wonder Houston is experiencing a power shortage.

Personally, I can't wait for...


Via deadspin

This picture gives me the chills!

Hill Country wedding weekend

To continue upon Frenchie and my weekends-away-from-home trend, we went to my co-worker's wedding in Dripping Springs, Texas on Saturday.  Prior to the wedding, we stopped for a late lunch at South Congress Cafe in Austin, Texas.  It's a modern and casual restaurant on the South Congress strip that serves American / Southern eats.  I had dropped in for a cocktail before but had not eaten there before.  Frenchie and I ordered the smoked brisket hash and the quail sandwich with truffled remoulade; the quail sandwich was delicious and came with a smoky jalapeno slaw.  I could not stop slathering the remoulade on everything.  I also ordered their famous infused bloody mary, with Tito's vodka infused bell peppers, onions, celery, lemons, limes, garlic and jalapenos.  It was very spicy but also incredibly smooth and you could definitely get tipsy by finishing it.  I recommend stopping by for a drink or quick bite.



Pic from Sixthriver Architects

 For the wedding on Saturday evening, the guests were picked up by charter buses from the hotel in downtown Austin and taken to the wedding and reception hall 20 minutes away in Dripping Springs.  The ceremony started at 7 pm in the evening, however we've been having a heat wave (even more so than usual) so the guests sat down at the last moment possible before the wedding began.  Their red-headed little flower girl was so intent on emptying her basket that she went down the aisle twice and the groom had to finally come over to her and dump out the rest of the flowers from the basket so the wedding could proceed.

The ceremony was short and sweet, much to the relief of the sweating men in suits, and we all trekked upstairs to the reception hall.  The wedding colours were white, grey and teal and the entire reception hall was decked out in candle lights and draped white fabric.  The couple had hired a country western band from Houston to play and their first dance was a cute little two-step.  The wedding was very well thought out and each table even had a time table of when everything was going to happen (dinner served, toasts, first dance, etc).  I didn't get as many pictures as I had hoped and am starting to think a better camera may be a good idea.  Hope you all had a wonderful (and cool) weekend!

Pandamonium!!!

My dear friend Carl* has been deathly afraid of pandas ever since he was a small child.  He used to dream that they would crawl into his house while he was sleeping and eat his entire family.  To this day (he's almost 30), he hates pandas and wishes extinction upon the species.  So, of course, at every opportunity I get, I send him panda related things.  Which actually is quite often as panda things appear everywhere.  It's as if there is an inverse relationship around the number of live animals and the amount of merchandise available.  Below are a sample of some of my favourites.  This blog post would be one of his biggest nightmares.  I mean besides the fact that I'm exposing his secret all over the blogosphere.




Okay, this just freaking too cute!  Via tumblr



These cupcakes are amazing.  And admittedly slightly scary



Stenogra-fur notepad in panda

 

Panda skillet for frying up some bamboo - in the panda's head

 

This is not a Halloween costume, I promise.  They were selling them in the ski shops in Breckenridge

 

Angry pandegg does not relish the thought of being eaten for lunch


*Names have been changed to protect the innocent (or wussy)
**I really need to learn HTML.  Thanks for your patience everyone while I try and figure out this blogging thing

Searsucker in San Diego

On Friday night, Frenchie made reservations for us to have dinner at Searsucker in the Gaslamp Quarter in San Diego.  Searsucker is owned by Brian Malarkey, a celebrity chef who was a Bravo Top Chef finalist and on several other cooking shows.  The food is classified as "New American Classic" with an emphasis and specialization on seafood given the location.  We had a difficult time getting a reservation for 7 pm, however when we showed up at the restaurant half an hour early, we were immediately seated and there were plenty of available tables around us.  The restaurant's decor was quite tasteful and I felt like I was dining in an anthropologie store - with the mix of metal / wood and modern / vintage design elements.  I should mention that certain websites will say the dress code is dressy casual, and while we did see people all dolled up, we saw plenty of people rockin' shorts and t-shirts. 





The menu is cleverly divided into 'Bites,' 'Greens,' 'Smalls,' 'Ocean,' 'Ranch,' 'Farm' and 'And...'  We received complimentary cheddar puff bites when we sat down and ordered from Searsucker's specialty drink menu.  I got the Peter Rabbit, comprised of Pimms, basil, carrot and lemon and in all honestly looked a little like Naked Superfood (see below).

Frenchie ordered the honeybadger (of course he would), which was a rye-based drink with lemon and honey syrup.  Two completely different types of drinks and I'll have to say I liked mine the better.  It wasn't too sweet and had just the right amount of tart to offset the basil.  I later had another cocktail (of course I would) that was an apple vodka based drink but the Peter Rabbit was definitely the best because of the unexpected flavour.

For our meal, we ordered:

• Shishito peppers
• Mushrooms + burrata + toast
• Rockfish
• Halibut
• Fried brussel sprouts
• Sugar snap peas & carrots

We were recommended by our server to go with the seafood and Frenchie and I found it on par with a nicer seafood restaurant, which was a slight disappointment.  However, oddly enough, the vegetables served at the restaurant were done extremely well and you can never go wrong with mushrooms and burrata (my fave).  The shishito peppers were very flavorful but I am lucky enough to have a friend who cooks these often for me and I like them crispier and crunchier than how Searsucker served them.  Overall, it was a very pleasant experience with top-notch service but instead of ordering the mains, I would have stuck to the sides and the bites.  We would have loved to have tried the bone marrow, mussels with chorizo and beef tartare with quail yolk.

Zebras have huge heads and other lessons learned at the zoo

So guess what.  We almost didn't go to the San Diego Zoo!  After all that talk, Frenchie actually changed his mind on Friday, partially to try and appease me.  I knew how badly he wanted to go though, so on a sunny Friday afternoon, we journeyed to the zoo.  We learned a great many things and not only about animals.  Actually, barely anything we learned was about animals.  Please enjoy the lessons below.  I know we did.


A. Parents will bring their 3-month old child to the zoo to look at animals.  I repeat, they will pay $40 each to get into the zoo and push a 50 lb stroller uphill for four hours so that their infant can enjoy "seeing" the animals

There's no lesson to be learned on this one.  Just a scenic gondola ride up to the top of the park.  Oh!  Ride to the top of the zoo so you can walk downhill back to the entrance.  Or be prepared to work those glutes / legs / hamstrings / etc.  And wear comfortable walking shoes



B. Zebras have huge heads.  Their heads are much larger than horses' heads, even though their bodies are much smaller, which makes them an awkward animal to look at for more than a glance.  You don't really notice and they're portrayed as proportionate animals but next time you get a chance, stare at a zebra and tell me that's not one big noggin



C. Pandas are lazy bastards.  They barely even have to reach for their food - it's stacked neatly right next to them by the zoo staff so they don't have to strain themselves reaching a paw.  We didn't get pictures of the other panda because it was a lazy, unsocial bastard and was sitting facing away from the crowd in order to eat his bamboo 



D. Kids are much more entertained by fake, inanimate objects than by real live animals.  Exhibit Elephant above.  Children were climbing and falling off all over this thing while the real one stood flapping its ears not 50 yards behind them.  I've also learned why they sell beers and margaritas at the zoo for double the price



E. The spray zone for a lion is 7 - 10 feet.  Spray meaning urine or liquid feces because it's pissed off that you're interrupting its 10th nap of the day (I made the liquid feces part up but it could be true)



F. That's actually not a dead llama (Or whatever.  See, I told you I didn't learn much about animals) behind Frenchie.  It's just that all animals look dead when they nap.  I'm surprised we didn't see more children pointing and crying but it's probably because they're climbing on the park benches and water fountains.  Don't mind Frenchie's forced smile.  He's having a good time, I promise



G. Getting groomed by a zoo keeper is relaxing.  Very relaxing.  The only time the kids were actually paying attention was right after this picture was snapped and the rhino's foot long relaxation extended itself.  There were lots of giggles and then "oh nos"  when it then laid down smack on top of it



H. We got a really cool picture of a gorilla.  The lady on the other side, unfortunately, only got a smear from its butt right before it urinated onto the glass 



I. Giraffes know when they've got a good thing going on.  The reason why it seems like there is no fence in front of them is because there was practically no fence in front of the giraffe exhibit.  The only hurdle preventing them from leaving is a essentially a tallish flowerbed.  Then again, if I got fed and cleaned up after and just napped all day, I wouldn't leave either

More San Diego pictures to come...

Sneak peek of this past weekend

Yes, every single afternoon looked like this with a cool breeze blowing over the water.  After sweating my cojones off in Texas for the past three/four months, it was positively chilly in San Diego during the mornings and evenings.  I have a lot more pictures to share of the San Diego Zoo, Coronado Island, Bay and all the food we ate but they will have to wait until this evening.  Look forward to catching you all up soon!

I should be barred

Often times, you just need some good bar jewelry.  Not accessories that you wear to go get drunk - I'll let you handle that on your own - but earrings, necklaces and bracelets that have clean straight lines without embellishment.  Because sometimes a girl doesn't need to glam it up with gemstones and pearls.  These below pieces can be easily worn with work outfits yet are different enough to be noticed.  I myself am partial to the tiny gold bar earrings and am seriously considering buying a pair.  I didn't include rings because, well, I don't wear rings or know my ring size.  Gulp!  I know, a girl in her late 20s not knowing her ring size?  It's taken me a long time to work up to wearing bracelets so I'm just taking it one baby step at a time.

Tiny gold bar earrings from sarantos.  I could spend too much moolah at this store.  These particular earrings also come in rose gold and different sizes as well

Delicate and light gold bar necklace



Another golden bar necklace that plays nicely with others.  It'd look really nice layered with other necklaces



 Golden bar friendship bracelet from Houston.  This is a unique way of translating the friendship bracelet trend

Girls with small wrists (like me), don't despair!  You don't have to wear bracelets halfway up your arm and right below your elbow anymore.  This bracelet is perfect for you

Quaint California cottage?

Inside the loop in Houston, there are varying types of homes, just blocks from each other.  It makes house "hunting" really fun, especially when you're able to discover gems like this California-style cottage.  The house looks like it popped straight out of wine country, with its low slung ceilings and comfy casual furniture.  Of course if it was in the wine country, the home would also be going for 4x what it is today

I enjoy atypical front doors like this one.  It makes me curious as to what else is different about the home and wonder about what I'll stumble upon next



The front door leads to this foyer, which feels like an area of the house that was enclosed at some point in time.  However, it's particularly smart for those who entertain as it provides a place for guests to place their things 



This is my favourite room in the entire home.  It's so cheerful with its brightly painted walls, natural sunlight and tiny fireplace peeking out



Sigh.  I'd love to do daily swims in a lap pool like this.  And lounge around in a backyard like this.  Minus the kids' playset

Weekend fun finds

While out furniture shopping this weekend (see previous post), I made a few fun purchases. 



This cute little zebra notepad is by Rifle Paper but I could only find it at PaperSource



Hooray for taupe coloured leather!  I'm actually really excited about these Cece ballet flats (I've ordered them in the mail) because they have a slight wedge and were pretty comfy to walk in.  They fit true to size and am glad I went to the store to try these on as I have another pair of J.Crew flats that fit half a size too big 



Yellow hinged belt from Anthropologie - I switched this out from the medium I bought to a size small.  I really like the gold hinges and adding some slight colour to boring black / navy / grey work outfits

Rearranging the furniture

When Frenchie moved to Texas over two years ago, he was actually out of town for the physical "move in" and I was standing in his stead and directed the movers as to where to put all the furniture. Early Saturday morning, we got a harebrained idea to rearrange the living room. The living room had been set up in a very linear fashion with the television on one wall and the sofa and coffee table set up directly across from it. However, we had gotten comfortable with that and had decorated according to the set up of the room. Saturday morning, we tried to mix up the set up. We took the tv from one cable outlet to the other on the other side of the room and angled it into the corner. We then placed the sofa on the other side with the recliner sitting in the corner at an angle. It's amazing how much dust accrues behind furniture in two years and so we vacuumed and swiffered as we went. Pleased with our rearrangement, we set out to peruse furniture stores to find some bookshelves to fill the now empty wall where the sofa used to reside. Although, we didn't buy anything, we came home intending to renew the bookshelf search online and watch preseason football games (him more than I). To our combined horror, the cable outlet on the other side of the room did not work and the cable box was dead. Frenchie called Comcast, who told him that in order for them to activate the outlet, they would have to send someone out and it would cost $20. That settled it, back the furniture went, into the spots that it was that morning. I had my game face on during the morning move and helped with shifting around the heavy stuff but now I was tired. My arms just did not want to cooperate anymore and we did the moving very slowly. As the end result, we did move some of the furniture and angled some pieces so as not to emphasize how long the room is. It looks and feels more spacious than before. I think we'll be okay living with this arrangement, at least until I grow some more muscles.

My books will continue to be crammed in the kitchen cupboards (much like the 60 case of tennis balls we just bought yesterday) but I'm going to continue to dream of bookshelves and reading nooks, aided and abetted by Pinterest.


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Recent read #26: Half Broke Horses

I read Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Wells quickly and quietly over the weekend (how often can you say that about a novel).  Part of the reason for why I read this book was to break up the Game of Throne series, as it was getting to be too intense with a little too much swordplay and warring for much too long.  HBH had been on my Amazon wish list for quite awhile and I haven't read The Glass Castle by Jeannette Wells, so I wasn't as familiar with the author.  The novel is about Wells' grandmother, Lily Casey Smith, who grew up wrangling horses on the plains of west Texas and makes her own way to Arizona to teach in a one-room school.  She is raised by a semi-handicapped father with harebrained money-making schemes and a soft mother who is trying to raise her daughters as ladies out on the prairie.  Lily sets out on her own as a teenager, rides her horse for two weeks to get to Arizona, sleeps on the schoolhouse floor, defends herself with a gun and eventually learns how to drive a car and fly a plane.  The book is written in the first person and Wells is able to skillfully capture her grandmother's voice and the matter-of-fact lessons that she learns in the Wild West.  Each chapter is a page or two so the book is easily digestible over longer periods of time.  Although the end of her grandmother's life is not discussed in as much detail as I would have liked, my interest in Wells as an author has been piqued and I may pick up her memoir and hope that it provides as honest a story as this one did.

Summertime in Western New York

We were at Frenchie's parents' home this past week and were able to relax in some cooler temperatures.  Sidebar: They can leave their windows open during the day and at night!  Not every home has air conditioning!  Sorry, those things are just amazing to me.  The lake view pictures are taken from their home as well as from the hotel and one of the restaurants in the township that they live in - your very own slice of Americana.  I didn't grow up in a little town like theirs and have always enjoyed going home with Frenchie to experience something a little different.

Frenchie was home for a wedding of a high school friend and him and a good number of his friends were the majority of the bridal party.  That meant a good amount of running around and attending a number of social activities.  His sister and her boyfriend also came home for part of the weekend and his parents hosted a family and friends brunch at their house as well.  Throw on top of it New Year's in August and Mardi Gras holidays on the same night (don't even ask) and suffice it to say, I'm worn out after the travel and festivities and need to do a ton of laundry but it's back to work for me.  Is it really only Tuesday?