...on loving shoes, food & life

"Mama, If that's movin' up then I'm movin' out."

2010-06-25T09:44:00.000-07:00

I'm moving next week, I think I'm weird because I like moving. I know it's tiring, but I love the cleaning aspect of it. And moving is really the only time I get to move furniture around. I don't like to move things, once I find a home for them, things do not move.

I also like moving because I get a chance to go through all my stuff and throw out things I have no use for. Through the years I've moved a few times, and time and again I find myself keeping some of the same stuff because it's good and why spend money I don't need to? Some of the things I have, like my super old dresser (13 years and counting baby!) and a really old lime green and wood chair I got for free at a yard sale about 9 years ago are getting a facelift. And I'm doing it myself.

I'm excited and I will post before/after pictures, but that's a project that will take a little time. I'm on the lookout for pretty door knobs for my dresser...Anthropology, here I come (I HATE, but LOVE them).

Here's wishing everyone a happy weekend. I'll be drinking and watching the World Cup both Saturday & Sunday. GO USA & Argentina!!!

*picture via Google images

Here I Go Again

2010-06-22T09:36:00.000-07:00

I will try to jumpstart this whole blog thing. My life has been hectic as of late and I need an outlet. Hello internets, you will be my outlet.

Here's a rundown of things that have happened in the last 3.5 months so you can get an idea of where my head is.

-Grammy's health is not well, she's in another state and the thought of saying goodbye to her makes me choke up every time.

-Doctor told me I can't have babies. Which I have taken harder than previously thought. I've never dreamed about having them, but having the choice taken away from me has made me cry a lot.

-The BF and I broke up. Not because of the thing above, but because we want different things out of a relationship. Correction, I want a relationship, he wants a roommate for life.

-I'm moving out.

The silver lining is that I'm turning thirty in exactly two weeks. I'm moving in a week and a half and I have the best girlfriends in the world.

*art by Noumeda Carbone. I will own this print someday (mark my words universe).

Things I love

2010-03-11T19:33:00.000-08:00

So, I've been over-analyzing what to post waaaaaay to much, so much that it's led to me posting nothing at all. So I decided to write about 4 random things that fill me with joy.

1. Bears

I love bears. They're beautiful, they're resilient. They're survivors and I they're damn cute when they're cubs. Also, the momma bears kick ass. They totally stand up tall to the papa bears who have nothing to do with the cub other than supplying the sperm. So yes, bears rule.

2. Hippos

The only animal I love more than bears are hippos. I've watched the show Jessica the Hippo more times than I can count and I collect little hippos figurines and stuffed animals. I can't really tell you why I love them so much, but I do. The dream is to go to South Africa and wait to see one, or two, or three.

3. Breakfast

I love breakfast foods, I could eat breakfast all day long. And sometimes I have and I could, everyday, but I don't because I'm afraid I'll ruin breakfast. But yes, the way to my heart is a god breakfast meal.

4. DVR

I don't know how I ever survived without it, and I don't want to think about that, but I love it. Most commercials aren't worth watching and thanks to the DVR I never have to deal with them.

Spring is looking grim.

2010-02-14T20:27:00.001-08:00

I came upon something so awful, I just had to post.

Behold, these things:

Um, Colin Stewart? No. No, no, no, no. NO!

These things are fugs and if this is a sign of things to come, well then, I'm sitting this trend out, thankyouverymuch.

Blindsided

2010-02-12T11:20:00.000-08:00

By now, everyone knows of the tragic end to Alexander McQueen's life. People are talking about it, blogging about it, feeling sad about it but sadly, the media is almost oblivious to it outside of the fashion world. And that's the case with suicides. People don't like to talk about it. People don't like to discuss it, and frankly, I don't know why.

I hate thinking that because he's an artist, it's almost no surprise that he took his own life. Dual Kim took her own life not 3 months ago and that came and went with so much silence that it's deafening. Two gifted and talented people are gone way too soon.

I can't help but sit here and wonder why we as a society don't discuss suicide with the same fervor that we talk about our love of shoes and fashion and the latest tragic "reality TV" celebrities. I'm currently lost in a train of thoughts, so I'll just write them as they come to my head:

Why are we so scared to talk about suicide? Why don't we acknowledge that sometimes it all becomes to much? Why are we nicer to each other? Why are we always in such a goddamned rush? Why do we take mental health for granted? Why all the taboos?

I'm just so sad. So terribly sad. I obviously never met McQueen or Kim, but the news of their deaths left me cold and sad and I wish we could hit the rewind button so that someone could have been there with words, or silence, that perfectly fit them in their moment of despair.

R.I. P.

Ugh, times infinity

2010-02-02T08:18:00.000-08:00

This is long, I apologise profusely.

I woke up cranky. Super cranky, my alarm went off and I ignored it for 40 minutes. When I finally got out of bed, I knew it was too late to salvage my mood so I resigned to the idea of having a cranky time getting ready, and a cranky commute (I'm actually smiling now that I think about that). I'm cranky because I'm lazy and I haven't been to the gym in...three weeks. Now, three weeks is not a lot, but I haven't been in a good workout routine for a while now, since late October/early November. Back then, my old friend Insomnia decided to come over for a long, long visit. I've always suffered from it, ever since I can remember, sleep and I just don't see eye to eye. In middle/high school I'd lie awake and watch every single hour pass and go to school, go about my day and see every hour passing on the clock.

Fast forward to my early twenties and I discovered partying and alcohol and being so adept at not sleeping, partying came easy to me, I'd go out, get home at 4, rest my eyes for an hour or so, then go to school/work and do it all over again.

And then in 2005 I got sick. Oh boy did I get sick. It started with the headache from hell that morphed into the body numbing pain from hell so bad that the sound of someone closing their car door two blocks away made me want to take a hammer to my head. Three trips to the ER later and the doctors could not determine what was making me so sick. I couldn't eat. I couldn't open my eyes because the light made the headache all the worse. Those were the worst nine days of my life. My poor mom was worried sick, everything from brain tumor to epilepsy were given as reasons for my feeling so wretched and all were (thankfully) ruled out. The one thing I'd never told, because I was never asked, were my sleeping habits. Until the E.R. nurse on my third trip asked me how I slept prior to feeling like this. "I've never slept more than three hours at a time," I told her. And like that, I was given a sleep aid prescription and I'm sure I don't exaggerate much when I say that it saved my life. I don't know how long I slept, but slowly I began to feel better. It took by body a few weeks to feel better, but it happened. I stopped partying, started working out and sleeping, regularly and I was happy.

I lost a bunch of weight and I was active and happy, sure from time to time I battled my old friend, but I'd find the proper weapon and fight it off. But early last October my old friend came back, with luggage. I don't like being medicated, so when I got sick in 2005 I took the meds for a month or so, and then I began to do things on my own to rest my body, to make it like the act of sleeping. I learned through trial and error what works; warm glass of milk with cinnamon=sleep; lavender bubble bath=massive headache from the awful scent and no sleep. When it came back in October I began to try to find ways to sleep, and nothing was working. My very sweet BF would try to help, but nothing was working. And then I went back to the doctor, and you don't understand, there is no building I fear more than medical buildings. But I walked in with my tail between my legs, with dark circles and tired as ever.

I wrote down everything I did during the course of my day, and week. Everything, which is not too much because I'm a hermit crab. I got a list of things to do and a prescription for an OTC sleeping aid because prescription stuff is just much too much for my system. So here are the top three things I can no longer do: have anything with caffeine after noon; eat spicy things five hours before bedtime (I still don't' know why on that one); and the big one, no working out in the evenings.

Blink.

Excuse me?

Blah blah, blah..."it wakes your body and it takes too long for your heart rate to go back to normal and the endorphins wake you up...blah blah blah...Morning workouts and you'll be fine." And I was, I am. I'm sleeping. I'm rested. I am not however working out. And I'm cranky about it.

In the warmer months, I have absolutely no problem waking up at 5 a.m. to get myself to the gym or jog around my neighborhood. But it's winter and the only thing I dislike more than medical buildings is cold weather and I cannot wake up early enough to work out for the life of me.

I've gained weight, not a lot, four pounds, but I'm 5'4 and I feel them. Beyond feeling those four pounds in my clothes it's what I'm not feeling that is making me so darn cranky, I don't feel energized and I hate it.

I work 7:30 - 4:30 and I while it is possible to get in a half hour workout I don't feel like a the half hour workouts are good enough. My head is all out of sorts, I want it to be warm again so I can jog and get up without hitting the snooze button 8 times and start my day off right. As long as I'm wanting things, I wish I had the ability to sleep without ever it being an issue, that's not going to happen so I just need to find something that works for me, this time around.

I'm a Southern California winter snob, anything below 65 degrees is cold to me. So I ask you, are you a morning workout person? What motivates you to get out of bed during winter? Have/do you suffer from insomnia (hugs for all the yeses)? How do you deal?

This is loooong, so long, that I don't want to re-read it because I may end up deleting it and I don't want to do that. I really want to get this out there because, I'm cranky and I need some advise.

Hugs,

Vee

* images via Google images

I love cheese, both of the food & sentimental variety

2010-01-22T15:55:00.000-08:00

I was sent home from work today because I'm sick. I didn't want to give in, because I hate being sick. I was a sickly kid and now I hate it when it happens to me. But with the crazy weather we've been having here and all my co-workers being sick at one point or another I suppose it was bound to happen.

It's still raining & I'm cold and waiting for the BF to get home, so I did what I always do to feel better: made some yummy hot chocolate and am now on my second cheesy movie.

1. You've Got Mail: I'd never seen it, because I found Meg Ryan...odd, but I saw it and like it very much.
2. My all-time favorite cheesy movie: loveactually: This movie will never get old. My favorite story line is the one between Aurelia & Jamie.

I'm feeling better, spirit wise, my throat however, is killing me. After this movie, I will continue reading Anna Karenina on my new Sony e-reader. I love that little devise, can't wait to take it on the road with me.

Hope everyone has a safe & happy weekend.

It's raining it's pouring

2010-01-20T18:20:00.000-08:00

I'm restless. I love fashion and have found so many blogs written by amazing women and thanks to two of them I've decided to take the plunge and not fear my fear of blogging. Is it OK to send hello's to FemmeRationale & Denim Debutante? Because I am.

Now...to the fashion portion of this post:

It's been raining on and off for the last 4 days in L.A. FOUR! The last time I remember this much rain was Dec/Jan '03/'04 when it rained almost everyday for a month, I was mentally sick of the rain then as I am now. To escape the blues, I've spent my free hours these last few days looking at pretty things and wishing for Spring so I can wear the many pairs of summer-related shoes I've purchased lately. I've also Goggled lots of images of Jacaranda trees in bloom and I can't wait to see them while driving around town.

Here are some things I'm wishing for come Spring:

1. Joie 'Izzy' Three Quarter Sleeve Silk Top
2. BCBGMAXAZRIA Banded Ponte Knit Skirt
3. L.A.M.B. Etoile Hobo
4. Pelle Moda 'Issa' Platform Sandal
5.Alexis Bittar Double Onyx Drop Earrings
6. Alice + Olivia Erickson Beamon for Alive + Olivia Leather Rose Cuff

Taking the plunge

2009-08-27T14:34:00.000-07:00

I'm Veronica, but that's long, so it's Vee.

I'm taking the plunge, I read and am inspired by so many awesome blogs that I finally decided to take the plunge and do this myself.

I love fashion, but darn it if I can afford $1k shoes so I scout the my town and the internet for things I like. I know my body and what looks good on me and I tend to stick to what I know for classic pieces but I do like to take fashion risks sometimes.

I'm a femenist and for some people bieng a femenist means I can't like 4" heels, well why not?

I live in L.A., near the 10 and 405 freeways and I hate traffic. I like chocolate, sushi and anything mango related. I hope to one day adopt a hippo. Yes, a hippo.

I hope I can do this, and if you read it, I hope I entertain you.