Merry Grinchmas.

This little family wishes you the Merriest Christmas. We had such a lovely Christmas Eve dinner with friends and much cheer. Today was incredibly enriching spending time together, watching the Beavis and Butt-Head Christmas special, eating our traditional Mexican dinner, and opening presents. {Pictures to come!} Most of all, we are grateful for the birth of the Christ child. For His life, ministry, and atonement. Merry Christmas.  

Our Bunnie-Moon.

My Bunnie wreaks of hotness. For our Bunnie-Moon this year we exchanged gifts in the morning. For the Seven year mark the traditional materials are copper and wool.  These are extremely difficult materials! And Bryan is so tough to impress when it comes to gifts. I scoured the earth for the perfect gift; online, e-bay, thrift stores, you name it. I couldn't find it. Then I visited an adorable store in Silverlake and found a copper necklace with an arrowhead-esque charm on it. I loved it.  But would my Bunnie be impressed? He was! He totally dug it. I was so excited that he was pleased. Isn't the necklace rad? Isn't my sweetheart dashing? He is the coolest guy I know. I'll be back to show you the BRILLIANT gift he gave me!  

What I Wore Wednesday: Purple Rain T-Shirt.

Yes, I occasionally wear a t-shirt.  Not often.  Usually not out of the house {like today.} But occasionally. It's a rare bread of woman that looks hot in a t-shirt. I'm just not that girl. It doesn't play up my assets. But, I'm in love with Prince, and PURPLE RAIN. He's iconic. He's the soundtrack of my childhood. He makes me want to wear leather and throw a wrench into the system.  

High School Cliques.

I recently discussed this phenomenon with some peers at work. Apparently my school had far more cliques than most high schools.  I thought I should jot down a few, so I can recall them when I'm an old lady.  Think about where you fit in.

1. Curbies:  Curbies sat where else, but the curb in front of school so they could smoke.  They could also be blended in with punks/skaters/musicians.  Think Nirvana.  Some of them were high, some of them pretended to be high.  They wore band shirts, baggy jeans and skate shoes; Vans/Airwalks/Chucks.


2. Marching Band Geeks:  They were an extremely dorky group of people.  They had to be at school to practice at 5am.  They didn't consort with non-band members.  A microcosm in this group was  the color guard.  They wanted to be in cheer, but couldn't make the cut.


3. Popular Kids:  The females never wore the same outfit twice.  Most of them were cheerleaders and dancers.  They were thin, beautiful, and wealthy.  Some of them smoked and did cocaine to curve their appetites.  The guys:  they were star athletes, classically handsome, drove nicer cars than the principal to school, bullies, slept around with freshmen girls.  Copied people's homework and cheated on tests.


4. Goths:  Think Marilyn Manson:  all black, eyeliner, pale make up, trench coats, chains, black lipstick, platform Hot Topic shoes.


5. Anime Club:  Usually composed of Asian kids and peppered with a few mute white kids that hid comic books in their text books during lectures.


6. Magic Kids:  Tragic breed of dork, they were out of shape, used inhalers, audible breathers, didn't date, and had a lunch table all to themselves to play their Magic games.  Their ring leader looked like a leprechaun.  


7. Drama Nerds:  These were the loud, obnoxious students trying to get attention.


8. Choir Kids:  They were ALWAYS singing, wearing choir t-shirts, and hanging up posters to promote their pops concerts.


9. GLASS club:  Gays Lesbians And Straight Supporters.  There were only three members.


10. Stomp/Black Union:  They were socially selective, listened to Rap and performed at pep rallies.


11. Harvard Bound:  Students constantly studying in the library and checking their class rank at the office.  They only fraternized with lesser GPA students to join clubs to look well rounded on their applications and resumes.


12. Jocks:  Mostly dumb as stumps, permanently wearing jerseys, spiking their hair, frosting the tips. 

New Things, and Roasted Cornish Game Hen

What with my new-ish job (math teacher at Scottsdale Prep Academy), I haven't been able to blog much, but we've had such a charmed life this last few months - I can't complain! A 2.5 week trip to Europe...



...some weekend trips (below is one of our many to California)...



...buying several pieces of furniture for our home (including the West Elm Andalusia rug that I ADORE!!)...





...and lastly (and most recently) acquiring a new dog, Ted.



Teddy is a rescued Wheaten, and we are IN LOVE WITH HIM! He is such a doll, and a total marshmallow; he loves to snuggle and most importantly, he love to play with our sweet Lucy!



They play so well together, it's such a blessing to us. What with Lucy taking up less of our time (thanks Ted!!), I've been able to be more domestic. Though I always feel like I'm not domestic enough (How DO those women hand make every meal/cake/card/gift and then have a perfectly organized and clean home, and perfect kids and they look perfect b/c they have enough time to go to the gym in their perfect life?!?! They must go to bed EXHAUSTED every night! Worth it? I don't know...), I have been improving. Yesterday evening I tried, successfully, to roast 2 Cornish Game Hens. It was an interesting recipe, and b/c I am not as awesome as the aforementioned super-women, I was out of a few ingredients and had to substitute. However, the meal looked and tasted fantastic!



The game hens did not brown the way I would have preferred, but not bad for a first try! I served them with a spinach cranberry salad and a wild rice blend. I roasted the hens (stuffed with lemon, garlic and rosemary, of course - and rubbed with olive oil salt and pepper) for about an hour (until internal temp reached 165, the standard temp for whole poultry) and then used the runoff to make a light gravy. It was uber-simple and easy to do. I found that one hen feeds us quite well for 1 meal, and we shall have delicious leftovers for tonight!

I am hoping to try some amazing new recipes after Christmas (including the green curry masterpiece pictured below!!).


Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with the blogging, but we shall see. I have 3 or 4 weddings to attend in the near future (here I come, crafty, hand-made gifts... NOT!), as well as about 1 billion evaluations of students to complete. However, I think I need to make more time for this, it's such an amazing de-stresser. Meanwhile, if I could wear any outfit I wanted to the weddings this season, it would have to be this amazing ensemble:

The Chanel earrings and Valentino clutch are just TOO amazing (read: TOO EXPENSIVE!!), and you can't have a wedding without a dance to classic Dean Martin tunes. Ahhhh, outfit bliss!

And as if this post didn't have enough seemingly random photos for you, here's another...



This is our Christmas tree this year. It had an adorable little snowman skirt, but Lucy and Ted thought it was their "play-mat" so we had to pull it up. Not bad for a cheap-o tree! And we had such a fun time decorating it! (Thanks for your help, Tovah!)

Until I have the chance to blog again, I'll leave you with a few Europe photos...

On the beach in Alicante, Spain:


Nice, France; with the Mediterranean in the background:


And the whole crew in front of Buckingham Palace!


Until next time, Ciao!!

Culture Club: LACMA.

Last night Rachel and I went to LACMA to enjoy priceless works of art.  I thoroughly enjoyed re-visiting the LACMA museum.  There's a special vibrancy about her collection.  Rachel gave me some great insight on different forms of art, and perspective.  Afterwards we visited Luna Cafe for a very cute dinner.  I had such an eventful long weekend; two parties, a romantic anniversary dinner at Craft, dinner with friends, playing with kids at church, and much in terms of cookie consumption.  

Seven Years.

I remember the night before our wedding.  My mom and I went to go drop something off for him.  He was packing his suitcase for our honeymoon.  He looked exhausted, but devilishly handsome. His suit and tie were hanging at the ready for the following morning.  I was in utter anticipation and excitement for morning's light.  Because when you love someone since you were 15, you want to bound to that person forever.  After seven years of marriage Bryan remains the most fascinating, talented, and most striking man that I've ever known. And he belongs to me.  I am wildly fortunate.