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Odds and Ends

by whoorl

Duchamp’s Answering Machine – best colors ever

1. I completed Couch to 5K earlier this week. (Ran 3 miles without stopping at a 10:30-minute mile pace. Woo!) So, in honor of that little achievement, I posted a newbie’s running guide at Babble. It barely scrapes the surface of things I would like to talk about in regards to running, but it’s a quick snapshot of my favorite running-related gear.

2. Okay, one more thing about running. I found this article by Kristen on finding your perfect running pace so interesting. It’s seems that everyone’s body has an optimal running pace, with a woman’s average being a 9:08-minute mile and a man’s being a 7:13-minute mile. What’s your running pace? I’m still slower than average…I ran 3 miles this morning at a 10:00-minute mile, and I can say it felt totally different than running a 10:30-minute mile. Who knew that shaving off 30 seconds from each mile could result in so much more sweat! Wowza.

3. I’m feeling rather blah about my hair lately. Maybe it’s because it’s summer or maybe it’s because I just had to have 4 inches taken off to fix a rather unfortunate haircut. A little sad about that, but what can you do? (Take a shitload of Biotin, is what you can do. Please groooowwwwww, hair. As Richard Marx would say, I’ll be right here waiting for you.) Anyway, if you are feeling a little follicularly unmotivated like me, I just posted the Lazy Girl Guide to Summer Hair. Maybe it will spark a little hair inspiration.

4. I just spent $18 on a loaf of bread, a gallon of organic milk, and a dozen organic eggs. YOU ARE KILLING ME, CALIFORNIA. Luckily, canned tuna and beans are cheap, so this delicious tuna and white bean salad is in heavy rotation. So good.

5. I forgot to mention that the winner of the La Plates giveaway is #69, Jillian!

Congratulations! Love that you will have your newly married monogram on some gorgeous plates very soon.

6. Speaking of giveaways, today is the last day to enter the Hipiti giveaway. Um, $50 at your favorite retail shop, people. J. Crew, Madewell, Gap, Bloomingdales…wherever your little heart desires. (I happen to know every single sale that is going on at those stores, thanks to my daily Hipiti email.) What are you waiting for?

7. Last but not least, I’m writing a series of posts on Disneyland at Babble. If you are planning on visiting the park soon with with a baby, here are my tried-and-true tips for making the day as stress-free as possible with a wee one.

Have a great weekend!

OKC To-Do List (Inspired by my High School Reunion)

by whoorl

Look at us. Cigarettes hanging out of our mouths on the school grounds. Oh, such rebellious behavior! We’re SO COOL.

Part of the reason we are visiting Oklahoma is to attend my 20th high school reunion. How crazy is that? Crotchety.

In honor of my high school days, here are 7 things I will do this week.

1. Sunbathe by the pool while drinking a Sonic Cherry Limeade Slush spiked with vodka. (I will, however, be wearing SPF 30 and a hat instead of baby oil and a foil bib this time around.)

2. Listen to The Cure, Jellyfish, Nirvana, Charlatans UK, and Guns and Roses. Make a mix (tape).

3. Use a payphone. Page someone.

4. Make pizza bagels and/or some sort of random thrown-together meal at 2 a.m.

5. Use hot rollers, rat my bangs, and apply 3 layers of Revlon Toast of New York lipstick. (Brown lipstick trend, please don’t return.)

6. Play quarters. Drink a Beast Light. (Milwaukee’s Best.) Promptly gag and possibly vomit from the disgustingness.

7. And in true high school fashion, ponder life while listening to “Angel, Angel We Go Down Together” by Morrissey. Cry. Go make a pizza bagel.

Odds and Ends no. 13

by whoorl

1. Operation Peony Lim is in full effect over here. My hair is approaching chest level, and I keep looking at photos of her for inspiration. photo credit: Citizen Couture

2. Speaking of hair, have you checked out Hair Thursday lately? Go ahead, take a look. TADA! Hair Thursday is no longer its own website – it’s now over here. Ah, the gang is back together again. Hugs.

3. I was mentioned in Forbes. How cool is that?

4. Hawaii, Hawaii, Hawaii. I may never stop talking about it. I’m all about beach vacation packing essentials (for you) and tips and tricks for traveling by plane (for the little ones) here. I also included more pics from our first day in Maui.

5. I don’t know whether I should be proud or embarrassed, but this week was the first week in a long time that I worked out every day. 3 days of pilates and 3 days of running. IN A ROW. Hot damn! Which totally led me to write about the most popular workout DVDs for ladies over here. Have you tried any of them?

6. I guest posted at Gilt’s Little Inspirations blog this week about no frills, no fuss summer makeup for moms. It’s the perfect quick makeup routine for those of us with little time on our hands!

7. I just ordered some tees from Everlane. Have you heard of them? Here’s the deal. You know those $50 tees you see around (or buy)? Well, they cost about $6 to make – the rest is mark-up. Everlane cuts out the middle man and produces the same soft, high-quality tees for 15 DOLLARS. Oh yes, baby. You need to check them out. Can’t wait to get mine.

8. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for the most super awesome vacuum ever. It runs through next Tuesday.

9. Any plans for the extended weekend? We’re hanging out around here – going to a couple open houses, a barbecue at my cousin’s house on Sunday, and a beach day with the Howertons on Monday. Can’t wait to just chill out before our trip home to Oklahoma next week. (10 days! Sister-in-law’s wedding! My 20th high school reunion! YIKES.) I hope you all have a perfectly relaxing and super fun weekend.

Working the Runway

by whoorl

Bel Bambini recently opened a new store in Newport Beach, and we had the chance to preview the store during a fun party for local bloggers.

Besides attending the party, Wito and Wita were invited to model some of Bel Bambini’s clothes in a fashion show. I knew it was going to be a super relaxed atmosphere, so I agreed. Wito would love it, and Wita…well, we just crossed our fingers when it came to Wita. She’s 22 months old, people. You just kind of hope for the best, right?

To sum things up, here were the kids’ attitudes in regards to the show.

This is going to be fun. I’m happy to be here, mom!

This is bullshit.

Oh, Wita. God love her.

However, once she started to check things out, she changed her tune. Here she is checking out the fashion show platform.

Just a tad suspicious.

It was time to get the kids dressed. I walked over to the dressing area and received both kids’ outfits. I had to do a double-take when I surveyed Wita’s outfit. Not only was it white, but was made by CHRISTIAN DIOR. Two things I would probably never put on messy little Wita, but there she stood, drooling in a pristine white outfit that cost more than her mother’s. Hold me. I told D to please make sure that she didn’t dirty herself while I got Wito dressed. To him, I guess that was code for “give Wita food.”

Or “let Wita rub her tush all over the stair carpeting.”

Wito’s shirt was adorable. (Ben Sherman.)

After the kids were ready, they hung out for a bit of storytelling.

On with the show! Beautiful India.

Dapper Kembe.

Kristen and I taking a break from discussing how we are going to make Wito’s and India’s arranged marriage seem “okay” and “cool” to them.

(Because really, you guys? Are they not the cutest couple or what? Arranged marriages aren’t that horrible, right?)

TLF.

When it was time for my kids to make their appearance, Wito stood on the platform with a sweet smile.

And Wita?

Well, she did some dancing. The kind of dancing that would be appropriate during, let’s say, a 1920’s vaudeville act.

I little bit of the action was filmed for this video. Check it out around the 4:34 mark.

Good times, people. Good times.

Easter Weekend at Mammoth

by whoorl

The lovely folks at Hotels.com provided us with two nights lodging during our trip to Mammoth Lakes, California. Hotels.com has a fantastic loyalty program called Welcome Rewards which rewards you with free hotel nights for your accumulated purchases. For every 10 nights, get 1 free. Just think of it as one of those buy 10 car washes, get one free cards, BUT SO MUCH BETTER.

Last month, D and I were lamenting that we had become rather lax in regards to traveling as a family. On one hand, we have my son, who racked up over fifty flights before the age of two, and then my daughter, who will be turning two in two months and has been on about, um, five. You all know how it goes, though…more kids, more financial commitments, a lot of reasons why we have been relative homebodies over the past year or two.

(I also think it’s fair to point out that Wita is a horrible flier. Squirms, screams, whines the entire flight…not so enjoyable. Wito has always been a complete delight on planes – maybe because we started him much earlier? Who knows…)

(I ALSO would like to point out that the minute I spoke aloud about our lack of travel, three (THREE) traveling commitments came about in the course of a week. So, I’m basically living out of a suitcase for the first three weeks of May. Thanks, universe! Way to go overboard.)

When March rolled around, we started throwing around the idea of an extended weekend road trip over spring break. I mean, we could spend years traveling the state of California alone! Plus, if Wita wanted to scream the entire trip, only our ears would have to take the punishment, not some poor business traveler that made the mistake of sitting in the row ahead of us. Win, win. Right about that time, Hotels.com contacted me about helping us to take a little excursion, and it all fell into place.

Next up, where to go? Unlike the majority of the country who dreams of sandy, warm beaches over spring break, that’s kind of our daily grind around here. I wanted to see some snow! Wita is almost two and has NEVER seen a snowflake, and that needed to change. We decided on Mammoth, hopped on the hotels.com website, and chose the Westin Monache Resort as our home away from home. (SO glad we did. The hotel was absolutely lovely, the one-bedroom suite was perfect for our family of four, and our suite had a full kitchen – dishes, pots, pans, stove top, dishwasher, the works. Perfect. Also, the hotel sits right across the street from the main village and gondola, so we never needed our car.)

We had such a great time. There was still lots of snow on the mountain, but the temperatures were in the 50s. Perfect weather. We built snowman, went sledding, hung out in a local igloo, rode the gondola 135 times, danced to a live band in the village square, and ate so much food. (For those of you who are interested Schat’s Bakery, Roberto’s Mexican, and Burgers were our favorites from the trip.)

All in all, it was the best. Leaving the laptops at home and fully focusing on our family for four days was exactly what we needed. Thanks so much to Hotels.com for the opportunity to get away!

The Hair Photo a Day Project

by whoorl

Have you all heard of Fat Mum Slim and Pantene’s Photo-a-Day Collaboration? Obviously, I’m a fan of Fat Mum Slim’s Instagram challenges, and I think I might need to join this one a day late.

The best part about this particular photo challenge is that it leads up to April 27th, when Pantene and Seventeen are hosting the first-ever National Donate Your Hair Day, which will benefit the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program. They’ll be encouraging people to cut and donate their hair so that they can create free, real-hair wigs for women who have lost their hair due to cancer treatment.

Kudos to Pantene and Seventeen for putting together such a fantastic program. You can read more about the photo challenge at Fat Mum Slim. Who’s in?