Lauren Conrad for Kohls

I decided to tag along with my mom tonight when she went shopping at Kohl's. We were going to shop for her, and I wasn't planning on buying anything so I wasn't even looking, until I saw this:

And I thought to myself, "What?! Can it really be? My favorite sweater has a TWIN? and it comes in black!?"
If you're not familiar with my favorite sweater, let me refresh your memory:

I honestly take it with me everywhere because I just feel better having a sweater with me, and it goes with e v e r y t h i n g. I got it on ebay, so imagine my surprise when I see the black version right in front of me in kohls! and imagine my even BIGGER surprise when I realize it's part of Lauren Conrad's collection. I remember hearing that she was coming out with a collection but I didn't really think much about it, but when I started looking around at more I started realizing that she actually had some really cute things. I saw this top and thought 'that looks really chic and comfy... maybe I'll see what it looks like on'

But on my way to the dressing room I realized I was wearing a dress, and I needed some bottoms to try it on with... and I quickly just grabbed these boyfriend jeans... as soon as I put them on I was smitten! They were so cute on, they were soft and fitted and just... perfect. I ended up walking out of the store with all 3 items, but I could easily have started trying on the dresses and other tops. I never thought I'd like a collection by a reality tv star so much, or any celebrity for that matter (expect perhaps Gwen Stefani, but she's on a whole other level in my opinion) I'm just so excited to have another favorite sweater and a pair of boyfriend jeans!

and my shopping outfit:

Dress: (newly acquired from my sister) Ruche
Scarf: Anthropologie
Shoes: Toms

Don't be sad, blog... I'm still here.

Many apologies for slacking on the updates. I've been ridiculously sick this entire week and I've been trying to use all my energy to get better before I go to Texas on Wednesday. I'm still checking blogs and emails, I just can't get myself to actually get ready and take pictures :( I'm crossing my fingers that this cold goes away soon and I can get back to outfit posts in a couple days... we shall see!

Starting my fall wardrobe

So believe it or not, last night I made my FIRST TRIP EVER to H&M! I was always under the impression that the closest H&M was in orange county and never got around to actually going to it, so when my sister told me that there was one in the Riverside mall, I had to go. And the above picture is all the goodies I left with (minus the orange skirt which is from Anthropologie, but I felt like it still deserved some camera time.) I feel like I've been so good with not buying clothes and saving my money that I kind of went a little crazy. But sometimes adding a little freshness into your cloest is a good thing.

The only downside was that it meant having to go to the mall, which I've never been a big fan of. Though, this time it wasn't bad at all... it wasn't crowded and I think some retail therapy did me some good. BUT, not being used to going to the mall I forget that you actually have to WALK and for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to wear some strappy wedges. I remember them being comfy when I wore them to my hair appt (later realizing, hmmm hair appts don't involve too much walking) but they were definitely not comfy by the time I was walking to the car. Now I have two big blisters on both my feet. But all this spending money and attention to my feet made me want to start looking at shoes (go figure) so while looking around online I found these:


and I kind of want them. I think they'd look fabulous with a skinny capri or soft dress. They are, of course, out of my comfort zone, but I think that's what I like about them. And last night I was watching Oprah and she was wearing a shirt with stud pyramids on it and I thought, "this definitely is a sign!" hah. What do you guys think? Would you love them more if I told you they were on sale? because they are!

Also, I would never have any place to wear any of these, but I think they still deserve to be shown, because they're wonderful:






sigh. Fabulous, right?

The first two shoes are from Aldo and the last two shoes are from Bakers. And right now I'm going to go listen to 'Heads Will Roll' by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs AGAIN because I can't stop.

Of all time!

This made me laugh for like 5 minutes straight. make yours here!

It's the time of the season

Toby trying to telepathically tell me to throw the toy




My sister made this really cute chalk writing of my blog name!!
Thanks Jessica for always doing a 'photoshoot' when you come over ;)

Yesterday was the first day where it really started to feel like fall was on its way... the perfect amount of warm with the perfect amount of breeze. So this is the time when 'transition' outfits must be brought out to accomadate the changing weather. And since yesterday was a pretty lazy day, I just threw on some capris and a tunic and bundled up in a scarf. I cannot wait to start wearing more scarves! yay autumn!

Tunic: Marshalls
Capris: Bitten
Wedges: Steve Madden
Scarf: Anthropologie

Normal Days

It's days like today, when we reflect on what happened in our lives and to our country 8 years ago, and realize what a gift a normal day is. A day without upset and chaos, fear and aggression. Just a normal uneventful day can sometimes be such a luxury though we may not realize it. A day when everything is quiet and still, familiar and comforting. A day when all is well in our lives. Normal day, you are a treasure.

The evolution of a sunset

Disneyland 1/2 Marathon!

Saturday afternoon my sister and I drove down to Disneyland to get ready for our half marathon. We had to go to the health and fitness expo to get our bibs...




This shirt pretty much summed up the whole thing.

walking out... they had cute track looking carpet



We saw Goofy, and decided to go say hi... when I went up to him he started acting all shy and bashful haha but then got a little fresh..
and twirled me into this mock prom photo poseAfter this we checked into our hotel room and grabbed some dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. My other sister Jessica stayed in our hotel room, and we decided we should be in bed by 7pm, but didn't actually get to bed until 8. That doesn't mean we actually slept though. 3am comes awfully quickly!


My sisters, my sister's friend Janelle and me at 4:30 am! Aaah! So early (as my face obviously shows) My sister Melissa made us all these really cute minnie shirts.

Melissa and I were the only ones that had the same corral which meant we had a different start time then Jessica, but somewhere around mile 4 Jessica caught up with us (for a couple minutes and then speedy gonzalez was off again) way to go Jessica, running almost the entire first part!


Around the time I got out of bed that morning I started feeling that maybe I wasn't ready to do the run and started freaking myself out. Even many times during the race (mile 4...6...8..11...12 hahaha) I felt like I couldn't go any further and was going to give up but my sister kept telling me we couldn't get up until we got to Angel's Stadium. So I kept thinking I just had to get to the stadium... so THIS was a beautiful sight!



Walking into the stadium. It was actually really cool being able to run around the field at the Big A and seeing ourselves on the jumbo screen.





So we made it to the stadium! My personal goal had been met. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the stadium wasn't until mile 9... so by the time I got there I thought "I came this far I might as well try and finish"

At mile 10! yeah... ignore the time... it took us awhile to get there :)

going back into California Adventure... these weird chefs on stilts were there to greet us



the last 2 miles were the hardest for me. It was way more physically and emotionally challenging than what I thought it would be. I know there are A LOT of people that can run half marathons like nothing... but let me be clear: I am not a runner! I went into the race telling myself that I knew I wasn't going to finish it and I really wasn't in the condition to actually go through with it, but its amazing how much your body can actually handle and seeing THIS was actually the most beautiful sight of the entire thing.

My sister and I finally crossing the finish line. I know I look like I'm miserable, but I was just soo relieved to finally be done. I had no energy to do any sort of finish line dance or fist pump haha.

After we finished we went to get our medals and grabbed some water from the refreshments table. I didn't get a picture with mine because I literally walked from the refreshment table straight to my parents car because I just wanted to sit down. But here are my sisters with their medals! I'm so proud of both of them! I can't believe we all finished! I'm so proud of Jessica for running as much as she did, I know how hard she trained for it. and I'm so grateful for Melissa for doing the entire thing with me and not letting me quit (or faint during the last 2 miles, haha)

So now I can cross off "finish a half marathon" off my list, even though it wasn't even ON my list until 4 months ago! This experience made me realize just how amazing the human body is, and how much it can endure. This time last year I was on the couch, unable to walk, recovering from surgery on my leg due to melanoma.... and a year later I'm walking 13.1 miles. I may not have placed, or made a great time but I finished and I still feel like I accomplished so much. This made me realize a lot about myself... what I can take, how far I can push myself and what I need to improve on. Would I do it again? I don't know. Every part of my body is sore and I can barely walk... but maybe in a couple weeks I'll think differently. Right now I just keep telling myself that I actually did it!