Right before New Year

Being fed up with our good weather, we went up state looking for cold and chill and snow! Crazy, I know; but living in a constantly moderate weather gets old really fast, I tell ya!

That little road trip helped me discover the perfect Car Ride outfit: Jeggings, boots, tunic, long thin cardigan with a coat, hat and scarf ready at hand on the backseat for those freezing chills when you stop for coffee.

Jingle bell, Jingle bell, Jingle bell rock

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What a bright time, it’s the right time,

To rock the night away…

Have I told you how much I love Christmas? I love the decorations, the lights, the colors, the presents, the happy people, and the holiday spirit. I love the snowy landscape (in pictures and movies!), the Santa’s workshops and houses in the malls and I love the cheesy holiday music. Love the holiday movies, the food and the sweets, the lazy atmosphere and the relaxed smiles.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Yalda

For Iranians everywhere, Winter Solstice Celebration on the longest night of the year is the time for families to gather and await the birth of light, the breaking of dawn and the return of sun.

Although these days we look at our Yuletide celebration as an excuse to eat as much watermelon and pomegranate and nuts as we can!

Happy Yalda, my dears!

Leave of absence

It’s been raining cats and dogs for the last four days and still more is in store. I’ve staying home shivering under a blanket and wishing for the rain to stop. On those rare occasions that I had to go out, my fluffy boots have been a blessing, keeping my feet warm and dry. You all know how I hate getting wet!

That train trip, cold weather and junk food eating wrecked havoc with my health and I am a little under the weather. In addition I have to plan and pack for our trip next week. I also have lots of stuff to prepare for next quarter and school work.

So I won’t be able to have any new post for the next couple of weeks.

Enjoy your holidays and see you guys next year!

A train ride

I finally did it, taking a train to Santa Barbara with a friend. Yes, it was enlightening, amusing and slightly alarming! Aside from airplanes, my other use of public transports in the last ten years had been a five hours bus trip five years ago, a half hour metro ride two years ago (both in Iran) and a two hour trip from South Bend to Chicago last year. So you can understand the significance of an eight hour total of a round trip by train, surely!

I just wish I had dressed warmer!

Tomato soup

I’ve been wanting a nice hot bowl of tomato soup for sometime now. Unfortunately the cafes we frequent don’t have it on the menu. Well, until tonight apparently. So I was filled with joy upon seeing it written on the board and ordered it. As luck has it, we were late and they’d run out of tomato soup!

Finally “Tangled”

Yeah, finally! Totally worth it too! It is one of those movies that you leave the theater smiling, wishing they would make a sequel.

Orange leopard

The first party of the season and I didn’t know what to wear. What do you wear to a small informal dinner party where the hostess and other ladies are super stylish?

I went with my tried and true combination from Thanks Giving dinner: Leopard print and orange. Moving the pieces around a little and I got a whole new look.

Note: those shoes look more orange in real life than in the picture.

What I love these days:

Fluffy boots. Water proof, warm and cozy, the ultimate in self indulgence. Now I understand why Ugg boots are so popular. However, I prefer these chic alternatives to chunky shapeless Uggs.

My new phone. Giving me the ability to check my email ten thousand times per day, oh joy! …and it is Red, a happy orangey red!

My “Bath and Body Works” lotion in Black Amethyst. Two years using it and I still love it. It is restful and lightly fragrant. Although I liked the old packaging better.

Aside from these, my nose is to the grindstone and the pile of text books is growing beside my bed!

The Herbs

Just a quick post to say:

Does anyone remember “The Herbs”? Do you remember Dill the dog who was always chasing his tail? That’s how I’m feeling these days. Chasing my tail while nothing gets done.

That’s it people, … and I’m still alive!

What I loved this week:

Turkey dinner doesn’t count, does it? OK, in that case,

Berets. I don’t really care if some people think of them as passé, pose-y or downright ridiculous. I love these hats. I am assembling a little collection and already own four different colors. They are the best accessory for cold nights. I like the constructed wool ones by the way, not the knits.

My high heeled black boots. These make you instantly dressed up even if you are wearing dark leggings and tunics. Put your coat on and you are ready to go!

My Maybelline lip stains. I’ve been looking around for a good lip stain for years now and had become disappointed by Cover Girl and Tarte versions. Maybelline’s is so far the best I found on the market. I own two shades: Cranberry Crush 65 and Cherry Pop 75. They provide a smooth base for a top coat of lipstick or a shiny gloss.

Chocolate pecan pie

Sometimes the whole point of dinner is the dessert at the end, although I usually am too full at that point! I wish I was reckless enough to order dessert first or have just dessert instead of the actual meal. Sometimes I hate my goody-two-shoes personality!

Being Thankful

This year I am thankful for:

-my health

-my tolerant and patient husband

-my wonderful and supportive family and the chance to visit them this year

-my friends who always host Thanks Giving dinners and haven’t let me roast a turkey in all these years!

-U.C.C. and Dr. Jeannie

-my wonderfully supportive advisor

-Shopping Gods for some unique finds

-Blockbuster and Netflix for providing much needed distraction at the click of a mouse

-Dark chocolate, macaroons, cream puffs, cupcakes, white chocolate cookies and Walker’s shortbread butter cookies for helping me deal with stress!

-my cats for being wonderfully hug-able

-….

-…

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Yes, yes, thank you all! Without you this year would have been very hard to get through!

-Ooh, and a wonderful outfit for letting me eat as much turkey as I could!

“Tangled”

I read that “Tangled” (based on Rapunzel) is going to be the last Disney fairytale for some time (here and here) which will be sad. In the age of Japanese anime-inspired cartoons, Disney’s well-made happy ending low violence fairytales are a refuge from all the hustle and bustle and disappointments of real life (especially for adult viewers!). So it is with mixed feelings that I go out to see “Tangled”.

Editor’s note: (11/24/10) We ended up going to Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows part 1 instead of Tangled. My statement, however; remains true. As wonderful as cartoons like Monster’s Inc, Up and Ice Age have been, they are no match for Dumbo and Bambi! Also I have to watch Tangled before the New Year!

Brrr, it’s cold!

It is so cold you can see your breath freezes (not really, no!) and it is also wet and rainy. Outfit transition from day to evening goes something like this:

Those days…

You know, one of those days when you keep saying to yourself “gosh, I have to start doing some actual work” and “gosh, I have so much to do” and then you keep promising to do more and accept more and more responsibility and then you kinda collapse under the sheer weight of all the things you have to do? And then nothing gets done? Yeah, one of those days…

p.s. and yeah, I have a thing for matchy matchy. Like you didn’t know!

What I loved this week:

My family! Thank you for the great gifts! I love every single thing but most specially the striped top, gloves and the leopard print trench coat.

Aviator sunglasses. They are classic, light and look good on everyone.

Rain, rain rain! Watching the beautiful gray skies, dark green hills and foggy landscape.

Gingerbread latte

I gave up on trying new flavors (or even seasonal flavors) in my coffee. First because I am not a coffee-drinker, secondly; they all taste the same. Well except for Salty Caramel which is just salty. Salt in your coffee or hot chocolate? Ugh!

Hello Blue Jay

Why do I associate Blue Jays with winter? There is this picture in my mind of a little Blue Jay sitting on a branch in the middle of snow. The perfect color combination!

We don’t get snows (or blue Jays for that matter) down here in southern CA but I can dream, can’t I?

Cranberry

…and ash…or dove?

Whatever you want to call it, I love the liveliness cranberry brings to gray.

Cranberry

…and cream

I love this color and right now so close to thanksgiving I have cranberry sauce on the brain. Despite the fact that I had to add a brown cardigan to the outfit, I liked this color combination.

Come back tomorrow to see another cranberry outfit!

Sick days

Dragging yourself to do errands when you are not feeling great requires the most comfortable outfits. Just what the doctor ordered!

What I loved this week:

The brand “Free People”. They offer gorgeous clothing and accessories if a little on the pricey side.

A nice headband. I am thinking something in more muted colors and embellished with bows or flowers.

A large nice cup of hot chocolate. What can be cozier than drinking hot chocolate and watching the fall foliage in a chilly afternoon? I specially love the Mayan (or spicy) hot chocolate.

All Fires Extinguished

Does this outfit look suitable for Fire-extinguisher training? Well, the more important question is how am I supposed to lift a heavy extinguisher by myself? And that whooshing noise is scary, don’t you say?

I guess the critical question is why I need Fire Safety Training at all. It is all due to the little thing called Working in a Laboratory. Yuck!

Overdoing it!

Remember I was pretty excited about this leopard print trend? I spent a lot of time (starting from midsummer) collecting my favorite pieces in this print…and now? I don’t want to wear any of them. Everyone and their great aunt are wearing leopard print! It is like the only fall trend that OC has adopted this season. It looks as if everyone owns at least a cheap polyester top or a pilling cardigan, some in the most garish colors like yellow and mustard with sickly green dots… ugh!

I am so heartbroken over not being able to wear my obsessively selected accessories.