Month: December 2010

Happy holidays!

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I love the holidays. It makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside, like I’ve just drank a gingerbread latte (my holiday drink of choice!).

I’m so excited to spend this Christmas at home. We have family coming in tomorrow from Seattle and Vancouver and they are staying for a week. We have no real plans except to eat and spend time with each other..and I cannot wait.

I love holiday baking, so I probably have make sugar cookies with my 4 year old niece. Also, we will go see Christmas lights and decorations in San Francisco.

We don’t really do gifts, but we got something for my niece and family that are coming over.

Do you have any holidays traditions or customs? Is there something you are excited to do during this holiday season?

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The arrival of my first paycheck coincided nicely with the holiday season. I made my first BIG purchase and bought the latest Kindle as a Christmas present! I’ve always been a bit hesitant, because I love the feel of books, but after playing around with the Kindle for only a few minutes I fell in love. It is so light and sleek. Plus, I love that I don’t have to wait forever to buy a paperback version of a book now.

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More importantly, this holiday season I am very grateful for all that I have: a roof over my head, never having to worry about when my next meal will be, good health, and supportive family and friends.

I hope that you have a wonderful holiday season, however you are planning to celebrate!

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Books turned into movies

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Earlier this week, I was wondering when the trailer for Water for Elephants will release. I read the book a while ago and loved it. When I found out that they were making it into a movie, I wasn’t sure what to think.

I love books, I love movies, but the books-turned-into-movies phenomenon has almost always had less than appealing results.

I love the Confessions of a Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella, but the movie? Eh. The Harry Potter books are brilliant, yet most of the movies can’t seem to capture that essence. There is no one to blame as books and movies are completely different mediums and often times books just don’t translate well on screen.

The only book-turned-movie that I enjoyed was The Namesake. It was beautifully done. While it didn’t stick to the book, the changes it made enhanced the movie, instead of bringing it down.

In Water for Elephants..the main character is supposed to have red hair, and yet Robert Pattinson is not a redhead. The most important character of the book, Rosie, is renamed Tai in the film. It makes me wonder why the writers change little things like that. Why not just let is be as it is?

Anyway, the official trailer came out yesterday and here it is. It actually looks really good and despite my complaining, I know I am going to watch it in theaters anyway. 🙂

Now I just can’t wait for the trailer for Something Borrowed to come out!

Are there any books-turned-movies you LOVED or absolutely LOATHED? Let me know in the comments!

Black and Blue: A Bridal Bash

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About a month ago, my friend and I put together a bridal shower for one of our best friends who is getting married. Having a lot of family friends that are older than me, I have been to quite a few bridal showers, but never really put one on.

So my friend and I got together one afternoon to plan the location, the food, and the games. The location: my house, the food: Mexican, and the games: toilet paper bride, the paper clip game (where you can’t say certain wedding-related words), and how well the bride and groom know each other.

Then, we took the bride-to-be shopping for her dress, so we can decide on a color scheme. She ended up finding a cute black dress, so we settled on black, blue (with the rest of the guests wearing blue), and silver.  Next up came numerous trips to Party City for decorations..lucky for us we found the perfect paper products to complement our theme!

Here are some pictures of the day itself: The spread entailed: seven layer dip, Mexican rice, guacamole, salsa, chips, Mexican salad, and burrito rolls. Delicious and all homemade! The paper products are in the left corner..aren’t they cute?! Here is a closer look.

This was probably my favorite part: the candy bar. We found as many blue/black/silver candies as we could and placed them into martini glasses/glass bowls. It was a creative and easy way to add to the decor of the party.

Our decorations.

More decorations.

For dessert we had a hot chocolate bar..the toppings included cinnamon, sprinkles, whipped cream, chocolate chips, and pieces of Andes mints. It ended up being perfect because the weather that day was very rainy and cold.

And of course we had cupcakes (along with cheesecake – which is not pictured). Yum yum.

All in all, it was a fun experience- from the planning (I love party planning) to the actual party itself. Now I feel pretty confident about planning a bridal shower. Just in time, since I know I have a few to plan next year! 🙂

Reviving the Blog

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I am finally updating my blog after almost 8 months. I stepped away from it for a while because I wanted to have a clear theme. And yet here I am, 8 months later, with no theme/topic in mind. But I felt that I should just get myself to write, no matter what it was about and eventually (hopefully) a theme will emerge!

So what have I been up to these last 8 months? I honestly have no idea..I went on a family vacation to Peru (Lima and Machu Picchu) and Seattle. I landed an awesome internship which has now turned into a job. All in all, things are pretty good!

I had a random urge to write in here tonight. I thought I would take the advice of my good friend, Pari, and write about three good moments from my day.

1) We have been getting the house ready for family that is coming to visit next week. So today, I pulled out my old kitchen I used to play with, along with my Polly Pockets and Barbies for my niece. I’m so excited for the holidays! Loads of family coming over, good food, and holiday baking! 🙂 What could be more perfect?

2) Over the weekend, our AT&T Uverse went out which meant no TV, internet, or phone. I occupied myself during the daytime (by shopping :)) but at night I was so bored. Then I remembered that I have my Gilmore Girls DVDs. Gilmore Girls was my absolute favorite show during high school/the beginning of college. I know a lot of people were put off by the way the main characters spoke, but I loved it. It was so quirky and witty.  I always used to wish I could live in Stars Hollow! Since this weekend, I have been watching a few episodes a night..it’s a great way to end my day!

3) My parents brought me home falafel and hummus/pita from The Falafel Drive In. We have been going there for years and they have the best food. I didn’t even know until recently that it was featured on the Food Network. Pretty cool!

Anyway, that is all I have for today.. It definitely won’t be 8 months until I write in here again! 🙂