Tuesday, April 30, 2013

workin' for the weekend.

we're almost half way there!  my week has been full of meetings, documentation and running around trying to celebrate all of the end of April and early May birthday's (there are a ton)!

I absolutely cannot wait for the weekend because we have a special surprise that will be arriving on Saturday!  I can't wait to share it with everyone!

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Saturday Instagram Recap.

I used to be a lot more interesting on Instagram.

I promise.

Cat napping in my (still) unpacked office.

Spaghetti and homemade meatballs night!

Here's to a more exciting week to come!

Follow me on Instagram: gelfarrar

Pearls and Curls




Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Spring Addictions...

Here are just a few of the things that I am currently obsessed with...!


1. I recently purchased two eclairs from Glaziers food market a few days ago... and I scarfed them both down within, well- two days!  Now they are all I can think about!  Thank goodness I've implemented a 5 days a week at the gym routine into my life, or I would be in trouble since my self control is slim to none.

2. I used to watch Switched at Birth when it first debuted, but then I stopped near the end of season one.  I am a sucker for ABC Family shows and decided to pick up where I left off when I saw they had season two on Netflix!

3. It might sound strange, but I am obsessed with drinking water.  Actually- I have always been!  Since I work in an office that provides free soda, coffee and tea- the temptation is always there.  But, I hate the feeling that drinking things other than water, juice or coffee gives me.  So, everyday on a continuous cycle, I keep a big cup of water at my desk.  I literally drink about 7 cups throughout the workday.  I am convinced that my co-workers think I'm crazy when I get up to pee every 30 minutes!  In the end, the pay off for my skin is amazing!

4. Oh Wedding section of Pinterest.  You suck up so many of my daily hours!  Only a few more weeks until we can lock in our date!

What are some of your current Spring Addictions?




Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Friend Needy.

Do you ever get into a funk where you feel like you have no friends?  I mean, of course you really do... but something feels off.



You text, message and constantly ask your friends to hang out, but they're too busy or fail to respond.

All of your best friends live in different states.  And you just found out that the one who does live nearby is probably moving away in two months.

Your fiance (who feels like your only friend, besides the cats) could potentially be gone for 6 months leaving you all by your lonesome.

And you're convinced that your house is haunted.  Maybe the ghost can be your friend?

You're friend needy and having a pity party about it.  Cue the world's smallest violin.






Monday, April 22, 2013

Weekend Recap: Hiking, Naps and Chinese Food.

I have not "slept in" in over two weeks... I miss it.

Saturday morning we got up around 6:30 am to head out to Red Rock Canyon to do some hiking before it got too hot out.  We decided on the Calico Tanks trail which is listed as moderate on a scale of difficulty and was 2 hours, round trip.

I am not much of a hiker/outdoor person, so I didn't really know what to expect.  I was thinking that trail markers would be everywhere and it would be a nice straight path to our final destination.

I was wrong.  So so wrong.  At some points we were climbing up rocks, scaling ledges and squeezing through jagged rocks.  Here are some of the beautiful highlights of our hike...









We finished up our hike and grabbed lunch at Subway which was delicious since we were exhausted!  And then I had the most glorious of naps.  You know the kind where you sleep for 2 solid hours and wake up thinking it's morning so you're confused?

I've noticed that since we have moved into our new place, Nick and I are able to spend more time together. I can plan things when we have days off together, plus we cook together and are going to the gym 5x a week now (still going strong and sore with that).  We decided to make orange chicken and rice for dinner, but bought some Thai takeout egg rolls since we didn't feel like frying anything in the kitchen.  I also discovered a new favorite wine... that doesn't make me break out in hives!


And so another weekend flies by...

<a border="0" href="http://www.samisshenanigans.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/bN3GboQ.png"/></a>
Sunday, April 21, 2013

Top 5 Beauty Must Haves.


1. Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel: This stuff is the perfect morning and evening face lotion.  It's lightweight and has no scent.  I love it because it doesn't irritate my skin or eyes and works well under makeup.

2. Maybelline The Rocket Volume Mascara: The brush that comes with this mascara is similar to the Cover Girl lash blast, but it's 20x's better!  Two coats and I'm ready to go... no smudges all day long!

3. Missha BB Cream: I discovered this BB Cream when I was in Korea and I haven't looked back.  For a heavier coverage, use alone.  For a light coverage (which I opt for daily), mix a small amount with some tinted moisturizer.  I can't image what I did before this stuff since I have never been fond of foundation in the first place!  

4. Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment (Sheer Berry Rose): For light makeup days, I love the pop of color this lip balm provides without looking too crazy.  It also smells amazing!

5. Clinique All About Eyes Concealer: I have always had horrendous dark circles under my eyes (they're genetic), and this concealer is the perfect balance of yellow undertones to counteract the blue/purple tones and match my skin tone.  It's also not in stick form like many other under eye concealers, so it does not dry my skin out at all.

What are your top 5 Beauty Must Haves?  Create a blog post and link back to me here!

   

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Korea Memory: Pizza!

During the entire 5 weeks I was in Korea, I think I had pizza twice.  Both were very different experiences.  The first was with my first host mom and host brother when they took me to a place called Mr. Pizza.

Mr. Pizza was located inside of a cupcake shop (sort of- you had to go through said cupcake shop to go upstairs to the pizza place)... yeah, I know.  Pretty much perfect, right?

The pizza options were mind blowing to me.  Instead of the standard pepperoni, mushroom and olives the selection consisted of what seemed like an entire dinner on top of pizza dough and cheese!  I was torn on what to try out...and really confused as to whether it would be good or not.

Anyway, we (or more so my host brother) decided on the omyRib pizza.  I didn't really remember the name... so I looked it up online *guilty*.  It was basically short ribs, potatoes, cheese, zucchini and broccoli with BBQ sauce drizzled all on top of it... don't forget the sweet potato stuffed crust.  I really tried to like it... but it just wasn't pizza!  It was dinner at a steakhouse, but not as good I guess.  I felt so bad because pizza is not the standard Friday night, can't find anything to eat in the house so let's order a pie type of deal.  It is more of a treat and it is EXPENSIVE.  A medium pizza could range from $25-$34 USD.  I think that is why my host brother was so excited to eat there.  He even ordered me the "salad bar" option and.... well, call me crazy but it was more of a yogurt and toppings bar more than anything!


The slogan for Mr. Pizza is "Love for Women".  The entire combination threw me off, but that didn't mean I did not want to try it again.  One day when my friend Ariella and I were in Insadong, our host mom's were trying to find a place for us to eat dinner.  We wanted Mr. Pizza, but this was kind of difficult to convey to them so as we walked by Ariella said "OoooHhhh Mr. Pizza" to see if it would catch their attention.  It didn't.

But, for a long time after our trip, and occasionally to this day, "OoooHhh Mr. Pizza" has become our inside joke.  As you can see in the video below, we ended up eating bibimbap for dinner!  At the 1:42 mark I mention Mr. Pizza!


My second Pizza experience was with my second host family at Pizza Hut.  OMG... it was the best.  I remember being really mopey that day since it was day 1 of the switch to host family two and I was really bummed about not having wi fi and the fact that my room was small and had a window that opened into the "laundry room which was technically the kitchen (post on that later).  Hence the lack of photos from this Pizza Hut experience.

Anyway, the pizza's were tiny and again, expensive.  But, soooooo delicious.  They were almost the same as here in America, but better for some odd reason.  The salad bar had all sorts of interesting fresh fruits and I loved it!

My overall concensus is that I like pizza of the American/Italian/New York/Chicago variety much better.  However, I can see why Korean pizza is so popular there, because it really is mostly about what people grow up eating and what is considered "normal" to them!





Monday, April 15, 2013

Weekend Recap: Shopping, Gym and TV.

I love the weekend.  The only obvious problem is that two days fly by way too fast and it seems that nothing ever gets done (even though some of it really does)!

Friday night I spent a good hour and a half moseying around Hobby Lobby.  I picked up some decor items for my office and the kitchen.  I also grabbed some items for a DIY project that will definitely be making an appearance on the blog once I get it all figured out!

We wrapped up the night with some Korean food (Nick's choice... he's obsessed with kimichi).  It was pretty tasty, minus the little dried fish that came as one of the side dishes.  It gave me horrific flashbacks to my second host mom trying to feed me some as a "snack" in Korea.  *shudder*

Saturday we woke up super bright and early to head to the DMV to change our addresses on each of our DL's.  I had to take a new photo for mine... luckily I was prepared and I hope the photo turned out okay.  We will see in 7-10 business days!

I am just now realizing that I should have taken photos on Saturday because we ended up doing a ton of stuff!  After the DMV, we headed to Lowes for plants and paint... followed by Starbucks to fuel up for the rest of the day.  We popped into Pier 1 and they seriously have some of the most awesome home items ever.  I am definitely going to have to save up and drop a lot of money there on house goodies soon!

I had really been wanting to go antiquing for awhile so we stopped into an antique mall... in the ghetto.  We got lost in there for about 2 hours.  They had super neat stuff, but a lot of it was overpriced.  The mall was our next stop because I needed to get two of my Tiffany's pieces cleaned.  Did you know that they charge $15/piece?  That is absolutely insane!  I ended up just buying a polishing cloth from them and doing it myself.  The results were fantastic and I can continue to use it.

And we did pop into a few other stores before going to "linner" at our favorite Italian restaurant.  So delicious!  Then finally... after eating way too many carbs, we joined a gym!  It's pretty much essential that Nick stays in shape for his future, possible, job.  I hate the gym, but I'm sure I'll learn to love it once I start seeing the results.  We ended up going for a session that night and getting back into the swing of things is rough...


That brings us to Sunday!  We woke up early again (so much for sleeping in on weekends) and went to the gym for 1.5 hours!  I was dead tired afterward... not even the coffee, fruit and eggs we had for breakfast helped.  I have been in a tired, sore haze all day.  I've caught up on this season of The Secret Life of the American Teenager (I hope the shows writers know that teens don't really live like that...) and then I left the house to do a little summer shopping (I only ended up with a new dress, cardigan and sports bra).

Now it's time for Sunday night TV shows (Game of Thrones, Amazing Race and Mad Men).  Again, sorry for the lack of photos... I'll try harder next weekend!
Friday, April 12, 2013

The Art of Craigslist.

Never in my wildest dreams would I think that I'd have to guts to meet someone on Craigslist to buy/sell an item!  I have always been a fan of second hand clothing stores like Plato's Closet and Buffalo Exchange.  But, buying other used items just seemed kind of gross (and it actually sometimes is, but more on that later).  Reality set in when Nick and I were moving into our new house a few weeks ago.  We had nothing.

One shopping trip to Walmart and $400 later... we had some things, but not anything that would take up space and make the house look like people spent time in other places than just our room.  We decided we needed a couch and time was running out.  Or so we thought... in retrospect we could have waited to buy a better couch than the one we went with (but again, more on that later)!  So, we found a sectional on Craigslist and I texted the seller and offered $200.  He gladly agreed and we went to look at it that night.  With our first Craigslist experience, we made many mistakes:

  1. We walked into a strangers house at night to look at the couch.  Probably not the best idea, but the people were very friendly and not killers (lucky us!).
  2. We didn't really feel like we had the right to say no after we saw it.
  3. We paid half of the cash up front, not providing us with enough time to really think about our purchase.
  4. We didn't look at it very well.  Or smell it.
In the end, we picked up the couch the next morning (moving day for us) and as we carried the cushions out we noticed HUGE disgusting smoke stains.  And the smell... oh the smell.  I wanted to throw up because the lady cigarette smell permeating from every inch was terrible.  But, again we had paid and were on our way so there was no turning back.  

I washed the cushion covers twice, soaked the entire couch in a water and vinegar solution, scrubbed it and followed up with a whole bottle of Febreze.  Still awful.

So, Nick went at it with a concoction of Simple Green and water, a scrubbing brush and paper towels... when that didn't work he went the Oxi Clean route.  In the end, a co-worker of mine graciously lent me her Bissel cleaner which was the most successful out of our attempts.  But, smoke stains still outline parts of the couch and I swear sometimes I can still smell it!  Lesson learned... you can back out of a purchase if you don't like what you see or smell!

Here is what our couch looks like now.  Not too bad.  But, the fact that Nick worked for almost 10 hours and the $200 cash meant we had ended up with the short side of the stick.  I cannot wait until we can get a better couch!


This doesn't mean that all Craigslist deals go awry.  In fact, today I scored a brand new desk for my office!  I have been looking for a nice white desk to go with the future decor of my room where I plan to vlog and blog!  White desks are few and far between or really expensive.  I wasn't looking for anything of high quality and was going to settle for this desk on Amazon.  I thought the almost $100 price tag was a bit much, but it would be worth it to get the look I was aiming for.  This week I gave Craigslist another go and found a white desk that was almost identical to the one I was going to buy this weekend.  It was brand new and only $30! Plus, the seller even offered to assemble it for me at no additional cost.  We picked it up from his warehouse business and it was a simple transaction that I am completely happy with.  My office is not set up yet, but here is a photo of the desk that was posted on Craigslist.


And last of all, I was recently on the selling end of Craigslist.  I hated my Kindle Fire!  There was nothing wrong with it, but I just never used it and every time I tried to it just made me angry for some reason.  So, one morning I posted it on Craigslist and asked for $120 firm.  I thought I might be asking a little too much in today's Kindle market... I had paid $180 originally, but the model was now outdated.  Surprisingly I had an offer within 30 minutes!  I was supposed to meet the person the next morning at a local CVS store because Nick would be available to go with me.  However, the lady called to say she was able to meet that afternoon and really wanted to pick it up for her daughter.  I felt safe with the fact that we were meeting in a public place and agreed.  In the end, she was more scared of meeting me than I was of her!  I did of course text a few friends to let them know what I was doing and where I was meeting this person... just in case. 

Everything went off without a hitch.  She loved the Kindle and paid cash for it.  This is also another important note... always pay cash when buying and always request cash only when selling!

In the future, I probably will use Craigslist to buy some more items.  However, I will definitely be more careful when inspecting things!  A documentary called Craigslist Joe (you can find it on Netflix) is actually really inspiring and demonstrates that Craigslist is more than just buying/selling.  It's a community!  I highly recommend it to anyone who has an hour or two to check out the film!



Thursday, April 11, 2013

Korea Memory: Our Arrival.

I have been thinking a lot about my travels to S. Korea almost 2 years ago... maybe it's because of the current events going on over there, or maybe it was my recent guest blog post here.

While I was in Korea, I tried my best to document my memories and take video.  But, the whole process what just so overwhelming and I really wanted to be in the moment while I was there.  So, every week, I want to try to recall a memory or two from the trip.

Our first moments in Korea were... humid.  From the moment we stepped off the plane and looked outside, I just knew that the rainy weather + heat would not be a joke!  I was so nervous going through customs because it was my first time entering a foreign country.  But, seriously- they didn't even ask me anything!  My passport was stamped and I was sent on my way to the luggage area.  Now let me tell you... I may have over packed.  FYI- a 5 week trip to Korea does not call for two medium suitcases, a massive duffle bag, a purse AND a backpack.  I think I forgot that I was the one who would be responsible for carrying it all on my own.  So, I found my bags, strapped them on/dragged them behind me and my new friends and I headed to the currency exchange booth.  This was confusing, because even after all of my research I still did not quite understand the rate of USD vs. WON.  But, I exchanged all of my cash and saved my American change because I thought it might be nifty while I was there.


We had no idea who would be meeting us and were just hopeful that once we got out of the baggage area, someone would recognize the herd of American kids and come fetch us.  And they did!  Of course they simply recognized us from the photos we had sent over previously (we just looked about 10x frizzier and really tired in person).


Loading up in the bus was an adventure for me in and of itself.  I didn't really want to put my bags under the bus because I knew they would get soaked from the water on the roads splashing up... and getting them into the bus was rough simply because I'm a weakling!  Lol.  The whole bus ride was an uncomfortable and strange exchange of broken English and gestures.  I think we knew we were heading to a hotel for the night, but we didn't know what to expect.

When we got to the hotel, the bus parked at the top of a street and we discovered that we had to walk about 1/4 mile up the road, in the pouring rain to our hotel!  Looking back, it's funny.  But, in the moment I'm pretty sure I was irritable about it all from exhaustion.  We found out that we were going to be bunking in pairs for the night and in that moment of choosing, a brand new best friendship began to bud (very poetic, I know).  Ariella and I headed into the unknown territory of our Korean hotel room.  Check it out...



Things I remember from that night...
  • When we met with the people from the city of Dobong all I could think about was how hot it was in that room and how disappointed I was that nobody spoke fluent English.  I was being ignorant of course in assuming that even though everyone learns English in school in S. Korea that they would be comfortable talking to people who speak it as a native tongue.
  • I was desperate to get the internet working on my laptop so I could talk to Nick.  Just thinking of that feeling is actually gut wrenching right now because I know that in two months, I will probably be going through it all again except I will be the one left at home...
Here is a video from Days 1 and 2 of the trip to wrap things up for this post!






Monday, April 8, 2013

April Glossybox.

I subscribed to Glossybox again after taking a few months off.  Here is what I got in my box this month...



Sunday, April 7, 2013

How To: Custom Wall Collage.

Moving into our first home and starting from scratch meant that we had to try really hard to make this house a home.  I started with something simple and just bought a wall decal to go above our couch.  I think it looks pretty darn cute, but there was still so much more space to fill.

The empty wall in our dining room was practically glaring at me!  So, I decided to put our engagement photos to good use and make a wall collage.

Things you will need:

  • Unfinished Wood Frames in various sizes (I chose to do 9 frames- 3 4x6, 3 5x7, 3 8x10)
  • Paint Samples (I went to Lowes and found the pre-mixed Valspar paint samples, but you can ask them to mix you a sample in any of the normal colors as well.)
  • Paint Brushes (I purchased a 2" brush for base color and then a variety pack from Hobby Lobby)
  • Newspaper
  • Wood Filler (Optional)
  • Sand Paper (Optional)
  • Photos to go in frames and any other items that will be a part of the collage!
  • Picture Hanging Supplies


The project is pretty simple and the time it takes to complete depends on how you want everything to look.

1. Start by laying out enough newspaper on the floor to cover your work space and opening windows for proper airflow while painting.



2. If your frames don't seem unfinished enough, take a little bit of sandpaper to rough them up.  Luckily, mine were pretty unfinished and did not need any at all.

3. Add wood filler to any spaces on the frames.  This will allow the paint to go on smoothly without any gaps (unless you are going for that look, of course).  Let it dry.  This could take anywhere between a few minutes to an hour depending on the amount used.



4. Now it's time to paint your frames!  I did 2-3 base coats on each one.  Remember to allow them to dry between each coat.  I also decided to do designs on my 8x10 frames to balance the two colors.







5. Place your photos in the frames and arrange them on the floor in the way you want them to hang on the wall.  I recommend that spacing between frames be about 1/2"-2" apart.  But, it all depends on how you want it to look!




6. Hang your photos up and enjoy! (We broke the "N" while trying to put a picture hanging kit on it, so I will have to buy and paint a new one...keep in mind how delicate wood is when doing this project.)


Overall, this project was about $70 (start to finish- including frames, paint, tools, picture prints, etc.)  It is definitely well worth it because I know a lot of my time and effort went into it and nobody else will have this exact piece hanging in their house.

Please let me know what you think about posts like this and if you would like to see more!

hi there!

hi there!
i'm angelica. a twenty something, newly engaged, lover of literature and coffee.
   
Powered by Blogger.

grab a button, share the love.

ebates

Ebates Coupons and Cash Back

Followers

Blog Lovin

Follow on Bloglovin