warriors v. lakers

 After work for Brett's birthday we all met up and decided to eat at this place called Texas Road House. None of us had eaten there before but it was only 9 miles from the colosseum, so we decided to give it a try. They had huge portions and an endless supply of fresh homemade bread and peanuts on the table. We were all so full at the end we could hardly move - but we piled back into the car and headed up to the stadium. {Oh, did I mention it was pouring rain??}

We arrived at the game in plenty of time to find our seats and then find our favorite beers. The first couple of period's the crowd was pretty quiet and the Warriors were down. Then in the 4th period, the last 12 minutes of the game, the Warriors seemed to wake up and suddenly start giving the Lakers a run for their money. The last five or sick minutes just turned into a complete nail biter with who was holding the lead. Unfortunately in the last few seconds, Kobe was fouled and successfully made his two free throws, to bring the final score to 101 W - 104 L. It was still an amazing game to watch and definitely one of the most exciting sporting events I have ever been to.  So Happy Birthday boyfriend, I hope it was all you could have wished for!

X x

25

Today is Brett's birthday. It's also a Tuesday, which means he is at work and I am at work. Double :[ :[

Brett isn't really that into birthdays though. All month I have been asking what he wants to do for his birthday and a few 'maybe we could do this..' or 'how about we...' but nothing more came from that. I, on the other hand like a little party, a little attention and lots of fun. Maybe it's me trying to be 10 again having an awesome pool party over summer {my birthday is July... in case you forgot ;) }

However we did score some amazing tickets for the Warriors vs. Lakers basketball game tonight, so we are all trucking up to Oakland after work {probably in the rain, uhg} and watching the game. {There will definitely a post on that later!} Then maybe some cake and some cards and presents if he's lucky {he is!} and it will be a wonderful evening.

So happy birthday my quarter life century boyfriend. You're everything I always wanted. Happy Birthday

X x

Operation: Closet Overhaul

Operation Closet Overhaul has begun! Let me tell you, I have been talking about doing this for months, and this project has been looming over my head for long enough. These past couple weeks I have been slowly going through everything in my room and closet and really purging through everything. This weekend I finally got it sorted out into designated bags with a destination in mind.

• Princess Project
• Used Clothing Store
• Craigslist
• Potential Garage Sale
• Donate

 

I have some clothes that are in great shape that have either been worn once or twice, even some still have the tags on them and just got lost in the depths of my closet. Those clothes I am taking to some local recycled stores and trying to sell them back and earn a little cash. Other clothes I have are still in good shape but I don't think I will be able to sell them back, those are in a different bag that I am going to try to donate to a local shelter for people in need. I also had a couple of old dresses from high school that I wore to Prom or Homecoming - those dresses I know I will not use again. I heard about the Princes Project so I googled it & found the nearest drop off station and turned in my three dresses. Hopefully some girls will find them and look stunning at Prom! :)

I even found a bunch of change lying around everywhere... so I took it to a CoinStar machine and 2 minutes later I had a $35 gift card to Amazon.... oh the possibilities are endless for what I can get!  :)

I read lots of people's blogs and comments, especially from Lauren Conrad's site as she gives advice on continual closet organizing, so thanks everyone for the help to get this started.

X x

st. patrick's day fun

• sleeping in and staying warm under the covers for as long as possible
• searching for somewhere that has green bagels remotely near us {no such luck}
• driving from fast food chain to fast food chain trying to get their "green" spirited menu items, {free french fries w/ green ketchup @ burger king, shamrock shake @ mcdonalds!}
• sending a little st. patty's day cheer
• the weather was in true irish fashion, {cold, gloomy, rain here & there}
• nothing that a little baileys & hot chocolate can't fix - yummm!
• eating some scrumptious cupcakes with leprechaun decor

What were some of your st. patrick's day activities?

X x

Hiking + Beach = Best Sunday Ever

In addition to hiking Castle Rock {see here} the next weekend Brett and I ventured over to Santa Cruz and the UCSC campus because they are also known to have a lot of great hiking trails. We arrived a little later in the afternoon and began hiking. Neither of us have been here before so we just decided on one of the loops and went for it. We hiked for a couple of hours and went through the forest and up to this great lookout point where we could see down miles and miles of the beautiful ocean coast line. As the afternoon went on, the temperature just kept rising and rising. As we made our way back down the trail it was decided that we needed to get beach side. Along with the rest of the entire bay area we headed over to the beach. It was just the perfect day, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon it was still 80 degrees with bright sunshine and hardly any clouds to be seen and it's the beginning of March people! I will let the rest of the pictures speak for themselves, but all in all it was one of the best Sunday's I've had in a long time.

X x

Castle Rock State Park

The past two weekends here in the bay area have been absolutely amazing! Both weekends Brett and I headed out into nature for two completely different hikes - one by the beach and then this one with the pictures above at Castle Rock State Park.

Castle Rock runs through the Santa Cruz Mountains and has a combination of rock formations, beautiful scenery and dense forest. The trails are a little more experienced because one minute you are walking on a large cleared out trail, the next minute the trail disappears and you are climbing over rocks to get back to the trail. You also get to go through some dense forest and completely lose all sounds of civilization until you get to a clearing with a ledge or a huge rock {see last picture} and realize just how high you have climbed along with some amazing views of the forest and even out to the coast. They also have camping grounds which you hike to and miles and miles of trails. We ended up hiking around for about 4 hours, Brett almost had to carry me back to the car because I was so tired at the end! :]

Unfortunately they are planning on closing down the park because of our Governor's current budget cuts to stop funding for the park rangers. I believe that there are a few groups and organizations working to keep the park open and funding for the park rangers to help maintain and watch over the area. Hopefully their efforts pay off and we can all enjoy this amazing park for a lot longer.

Whether you're a local or tourist & even a little "outdoorsy" I would highly recommend this entire area, also known as the Saratoga Gap Trail for anyone to come and take advantage of some of California's beautiful landscape.

X x

"Wear Your Letters on Your Heart"

Good Morning My Little Cookie Jar readers! Today is a special Monday because it is International Badge Day for all Panhellenic Sororities. The NPC (National Panhellenic Conference) is a council of women from 26 nationally recognized sororities who help govern and support these sororities. Today millions of women from all sororities come together and wear their badges proudly. Even though your collegiate years in college are short, your membership in the sorority is for a lifetime and today I am proudly wearing my Alpha Phi and Order of Omega pins at work.

Q: When is International Badge Day this year?
A: Monday, March 5, 2012.

Q: When did International Badge Day start?
A: The celebration to honor sisterhood was started in 1997 by the National Panhellenic Conference. The date is generally recognized during March, which is also National Women’s History Month and set aside for International Women’s Day. The inaugural campaign was titled: “It’s as Simple as Wearing your Pin … With Pride.”

Q: Who started this tradition?
A: The creation of this event was the idea of a sorority woman. In the spring 1996 issue of Alpha Sigma Alpha’s “The Phoenix,” Nora M. Ten Broeck wrote an article titled: “A Simple Solution — Wear Your Membership Badge Today.” The article described her personal experience of wearing her sorority pin to work one day.

National Panhellenic Conference
Alpha Phi International Fraternity

X x

Happy... Birthday / Founder's Day / March 1st

Wow, who knew March 1st could be packed with so much happening! Between a very important birthday, Founder's Day for a very important fraternity and starting to make things festive for St. Patrick's day.



Sunday evening, March 1st 1868.....

Today is Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity Founder's Day. These are some of the most hardworking, dedicated, trustworthy and overall fantastic men I know. They definitely deserve to have a very happy Founder's Day and I hope each chapter is doing something special, especially the ZO!

Today is also not only my Alpha Phi sister, but my pledge sister and former roommate in college. I definitely went through a lot with this amazing girl right here.. from sharing the same major and classes to our crazy adventures, heartbreaks, celebrations and love. {and yes it did rain on my college graduation in Los Angeles in May}

And lastly... I found these adorable print out's.. just like the one's I did for Valentine's Day from the always amazing website Pizzazzerie. I have printed some out as before put them around the office and home for some cheer. Thanks for finding / creating these adorable pictures and words to share!

X x