Scarves

So my bff N suggested I incorporate scarves into my outfits, and she sent me a link to a lovely Hermes pamphlet with different scarf ideas. Most of them require a large square silk scarf, which I am currently in the market for, so I had to be a little creative in incorporating those ideas. One idea was called something like "The Necklace" and it required the square scarf to be folded into a rectangle. Well lucky me, I have a rectangular scarf that I got for free at one of the booths at a Society of Women Engineers conference. I pulled it out of the back of my closet and knotted the ends and threw it on over a plain t-shirt.

I felt a little matronly, but I think a snazzier outfit with the scarf might do the trick. I'm thinking maybe a colored shirt and a jacket and the scarf on top of all of that? I don't know, I'm not used to wearing scarves but I'm going to keep trying to find something that works.

Gross smelling kitchen products

After a fun weekend with my sister (details to follow), the husband and I spent some time last night getting stuff back in order. We cooked dinner, did the dishes, and scanned and emailed all our tax documents to his cousin the tax preparer. After we did the dishes, I decided to pull out a new countertop cleaner from Target. It was on clearance and so I just grabbed it on the way to the checkout line.

Unfortunately, I didn't check the scent of the cleaner. I sprayed one spray on the countertop last night and my nostrils were immediately assaulted by a prune-scented blast of air. I checked the label and there it said in small purple letters "Plum & Nutmeg." Ugh. The worst smell ever.

I'm going to have to return the cleaner at Target when I go this weekend to return some of the dresses I bought on my last trip. There is no way I can live in a house that smells like prunes.

My sister is here!

I'm so excited to be hanging out with her.

Style Transformations

I promise to post more of these soon! I've been really bad about taking pictures...

Stressful weekend

So I'm looking forward to a relaxing week after a harrowing weekend. It started out well -- a long run on Saturday morning for the first time in weeks, lunch at Pink Taco at the mall, a movie (The Lincoln Lawyer - highly recommend), some shopping, and then hanging out at home with some episodes of The Office.

And then it went downhill. We went to an Italian restaurant for dinner -- La Botte. The reviews were positive and it got a Michelin star in 2009, the last year the LA restaurants were rated. So we expected something great. Instead, we had an awkward waiter who just stood there waiting for us to give us his drink, appetizer, and entree orders instead of asking what we wanted. And we were waiting forever for the waiter to take the order and then to bring the check. And the worst part was that the food just wasn't worth it. =(

Anyway, we were excited because after that we were going to a party hosted by one of my coworkers who lives down the street from us. It was going to be easy -- go there, hang out, have a few drinks, and walk back. Except that we locked ourselves out of the apartment. After calling a locksmith who failed to open the door (apparently we have a special un-pickable lock), we walked over to the party where the host was gracious enough to let us crash with him and then drive us to the management office to get a spare key in the morning.

On Sunday morning, we avoided the street closures from the LA marathon and drove through the rain to get our key and go home.

But unfortunately, after getting home and taking a nap and cooking dinner, we went back into crisis mode. A friend had relationship issues and the friend who let us crash with him needed a jump -- both at the same time. So after running around for a bit trying to help, we had a chance to take a deep breath and eat some semi-yummy Indian food for dinner. (It's always a risk when we make two new dishes for dinner but luckily they both turn out okay.)

And you may be wondering, why is this week relaxing? Well things are in good shape at work and my sister is coming into town on Wednesday night. It should be a good time =D