deck the halls // christmas song chalkboard sign

This project is so easy. Just find a piece of wood that works, spray that sucker, and write your favorite Christmas song lyric!

1. Find a piece of cheap wood in the Ikea As Is section | 2. Buy Krylon Chalkboard Spray Paint from your local craft store | 3. Find some Chalk Ink (I got mine from the local Japanese 99 Cent store!)

Gimme! Music

1. Modern Vampires of the City - Vampire Weekend | 2. M.I.A.- Matangi | 3. Beyoncé - Fancypants new drop it secretly like it's hot album

beauty roundup

1. Clinique Naturally Glossy mascara | 2. Neutrogena Sensitive Skin Sunblock | 3. Maybelline Gel Eyeliner

I thought I'd share my staple beauty/skin products! Are you excited? I know you are. Stop being so excited! OMG!

The first is Clinique's Naturally Glossy mascara. I've used this bad boy since high school and have never looked back. It's my every day mascara; it gives a little lift, doesn't irritate my eyes, and can build up to be more dramatic. I definitely have other mascaras I use for nights out, but this is a staple, every day choice.

My second pick is the Neutorgena Sensitive Skin SPF lotion. For those of you who know me, you know I gots the cray-cray skin. Seriously. I'm allergic to most everything that is supposed to be soothing in skin care (oats, tomatoes, eucalyptus) and I went through several tries before finding a facial sunscreen that works and is non-irritating. This is a physical, not a chemical, sunscreen. If you have reactions to SPF, you should use physical. Google that shit.

Last but not least is my magical Maybelline Gel Eyeliner. I mean, godDAMN, this eyeliner is awesome. It takes a few tries to get the swing of it but once you do, the payoff is incredible. It's super long lasting and has such a great pigment. I would highly recommend playing around with it, even if you're scared of gel eyeliners. It's around $7! Common, people. 

apps & desserts // december

I decided I'd share my favorite mobile apps and delicious desserts every month with you all! This month it's Evernote, which I've been using nonstop to organize my work and personal life (I have a "Christmas" notebook which contains several notes including gift list and decoration ideas) and a Martha Steward lemon pound cake I made last week. 

The features I love about Evernote are: syncing across all devices (for me thats my iPhone, iPad mini, Macbook Pro, and iMac), amazingly beautiful and clear design, and really neat features. Even if you don't use it for work, I'd encourage you to take a look at it for your personal lists (it has a feature where you can put check boxes next to each item...my list-makers, you feel me, right?).

I have not baked in a long time, and it was awesome to get my feet wet again with this delicious lemon pound cake by Martha Stewart. It was very easy to make and requires so few ingredients  Oh, and the actual bake time is fairly fast, so once you get it in the over you don't have to wait super long to enjoy it with chai, hot chocolate, or a hot toddy (as we did this past weekend). 

What apps and/or desserts are you enjoying? Leave in comments!

deck the halls // decorating music

deck the halls // christmas quotes

This year I really wanted to make an effort to spend as little money as possible on holiday decorations. The primary reason was obviously to save money, but I also wanted to see what I could come up with if I was forced to be creative. In the era of Pinterest, I feel that there's really little room for excuse...there are so many ideas!

My first project took less than ten minutes and I busted it out while watching News Room. I call it Christmas Quotes. 

What you need:

1. Ink pad with your favorite holiday colors 2. Festive alphabet rubber stamps 3. Adorable quote from a beloved holiday movie 4. Neutral frame 5. Quote from a beloved Christmas song

Have fun, and please comment and share if you made one, too!

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a fall full of festivals

lake merrit

The post title says it all, really. Our first fall in Oakland has been full of holiday festivities. The trees up here are full and bright, dripping down leaves of crunchy orange on all the side walks. I was in Sacramento for work the other week and there were literally piles of leaves in front of quaint houses. It's so picturesque! Leaves turn colors in Long Beach, too, but for some reason up here it feels like a whole new world of autumn. It's been made even more wholesome (yes, there is something more wholesome than piles of leaves) by the events we've shared with our friends up here.

Karva Chauth

My first Karva Chauth! I wasn't going to fast at first but then decided to do it at the last minute. I ate nothing but a Jamba Juice smoothie all day and let me tell you, I was grumpy as all hell. Ric surprised me at home with treats and bits 'n bobs he got me from the Indian store in celebration of Karva Chauth. I love that fella. For dinner we went to House of Curries, our local Indian haunt. When we first moved to Oakland, we ate there 3x a week because we had yet unpacked everything.

Diwali

Our wonderful friends totally made our first Diwali away from home so memorable! At first I was going to do a big Diwali blow out and once I started planning, I started experience acute planning fatigue. What could be bringing this on? OH WAIT THATS RIGHT I PLANNED A 300 PERSON WEDDING THIS YEAR. I embarrassingly changed the E-vite to a cocktail party theme and swallowed my disappointment. Cue friends to the rescue! Val brought fireworks from Pacifica and everyone was super interested in the story of Diwali (for which I used the YouTube video below). It was such a magical night.

 After our cozy Diwali celebration on Sunday, our neighbors had a proper Diwali pooja on Monday night. It was wonderful to feel the commonality with other people practicing my religion. I'm so happy that we have religiously-active neighbors!

Friendsgiving

Val and Miguel took the lead on Friendsgiving this year, our first one in the Bay Area! They set up at Dolores Park and really went all out. We had such an amazing spread! I brought 4 bottles of chilled champagne, obvi. After the picnic we went back to their new apartment in the Mission and drank it up. I accidentally had (hopefully*) dog poop on my shoes and stank up the whole house. But it was Friendsgiving so even though I was a stink bomb, my friends had to love me anyway. MUHAHAHA.

Holiday Cocktails

Next month Claire and Kasey are hosting Holiday Cocktails in lieu of a Christmas celebration... stay tuned!

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