from my camera / girls' weekend

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last weekend my parents celebrated their anniversary in palm springs, so jarman and i got to stay and 'babysit' my three (not-so-little) sisters. jarman ended up working almost the whole time, so we got to have a fun girl's weekend. on saturday we started out at the farmer's market in temecula. we got some pretty flowers, fresh lemonade, and a couple of the best gyros in the world.

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then we did a few photo shoots of the girls, of course...

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then we had a lazy afternoon watching friends and taking naps. once we felt disgusting enough from laying around, we headed to starbucks for an energy boost and came up with the genius idea to throw a party. the girls invited all their high school friends and we all pitched in to get drinks, candy and snacks. we played ping pong and the boys had a fifa tourney (jarman made it to the finals, which he was super proud of). but mostly, we danced our aces off. it was seriously so much fun, even though it was only me and my sisters and cousins who were dancing, while everyone else did other things. we loved it. oh, and jarman danced with us for a while and somehow got everyone to do high kicks? i was super sore. sometimes when you're 23 and live in temecula you have to hang out with high school kids on the weekends. it's cool.

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we are obviously very good dancers. look how in sync and serious we are. we don't mess around.

how we roll.

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I feel like it is time for an update on where we are currently at in life. I mention bits and pieces, but have never fully described our situation. Where do I begin? Well Jarman and I moved back to California after spending a few months doing internships in Washington, D.C. and travelling the east coast. We were lucky enough to have the program paid for through scholarships and my job that I was able to keep long distance. Jarman was working at a law firm, which reconfirmed his desire to go to law school. I spent my time at the National Museum for Women in the Arts, which reconfirmed my unsure desires to continue my art history education.

While I am still debating on getting a graduate degree, all of Jarman’s hard work towards going to law school is finally paying off! He has been accepted to one law school so far and we are anxiously awaiting more decisions. We will most likely be going somewhere in (Southern) California, though we have made no final decisions yet. We have about 8 months until law school starts, so we have moved in with my in-laws for the time being. Most people tell me it’s nothing to be embarrassed about, that we are allowed to be young and poor, but it’s still a little humiliating. Luckily I love my in-laws and they have made it so easy, and honestly we are happy to spend as much time with our families in Temecula before the craziness of law school sets in.

Jarman just got an awesome job at some company doing accounting work. He is so happy to be able to surf as often as he wants, and annoy my little sisters with his repetitive antics. I am happy to be working (still at Ace Test Prep), helping my mom with all of the events and things she gets herself into (weddings, decorating, bridal showers, etc.), and blogging. I love having something to constantly think about and work on, because honestly, I miss school. I like feeling productive (without actually being productive in most cases). I love learning more than anything, and typically I need things that help me to do so. This blog has provided so many opportunities for me to learn and share. We may not have the most glamorous existence, but we have been fortunate in millions of ways and are living our happy lives (including rofl-ing constantly.)

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happy christmas!!

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i hope you have a wonderful christmas and spend it doing the things that matter: hanging out with family and eating till your clothes don't fit. oh, and here are some of our yearly tear-inducing christmas-sunday-sisters-pictures-in-front-of-the-fireplace. i love these people (and lots more who aren't pictured) a lot!

last year's christmas party

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i didn't get a chance to share pictures of our christmas party last year, and since we don't get to throw one this year i'm going to do it now. this is really just jarman and his friends at their finest. they are hilarious, but sooo obnoxious. but mostly hilarious. they decided to make the party an ugly sweater/turtleneck party (though the girls just decided to look cute). and then they took family pictures in front of the tree.

i was really proud of my christmas decorating. looking back on it, everything looks really awkward in our weird house, but it was our first christmas as grown-ups and you have to start somewhere right? when i was younger i bet my mom that i would do an orange christmas tree. i figured this was the year to deliver. i went with pink an orange decorations and even diy-ed some geometric orange and gold balls. i'm pretty craftsy. yes our couch is in front of a bookshelf and a door to a closet, but i really wanted to have a fireplace scene. it would have been nice if i had thought to include firewood to make it look more complete

oh! another diy- i made those pom-pom strings on the shelves, and attached some pom-poms to our stockings. pretty much all of the ornaments on our tree i stole from my mom, and somehow you can hardly seen them. i used pink and orange tulle on the tree as well, and got our cute glitter star topper at west elm. the piece-de-resistance was that pink feather wreath. my aunt and i fought over who got it, and i most definitely won on the 'i'm-a-poor-college-student' argument'. gets them every time. while i don't necessarily miss that little house, i do miss getting to decorate for christmas!

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my (extravagent) wish list

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somehow i could not make this wish list with all of the items under $100. pathetic/hypocritical right? while all the items i have included on the previous lists are things that i would buy, these are the things that i really want and would indulge in.

1. leather shift dress ($90) i am in love with this dress. enough said.

2. rebecca minkoff quilted purse ($295) i have decided that i want my next purse to be red. and i think this is it.

3. tumblers ($8/each) these cups have been on my list for years. i want every color really.

4. plane tickets- to anywhere. next year we really want to go to japan, san francisco, seattle and portland. oh, and chicago and paris and london. really, we want to go anywhere.

5. sequin pants ($68) or anything with sequins.

6. Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 ($499) i want to replace my kit lens with a new walk around one. i have read really good reviews of this one. and it's much cheaper than the canon ones. 

7. leopard fur coat ($145) ever since i saw this over on a little dash of darling i have been dying for it.

8. toulouse-lautrec canvas ($150) you can never have enough art, right?

9. duvet cover ($119) i think it's time for new bedding. i'm imaging this duvet cover with some bright sheets, and mismatched throw pillows.