On the 10th day before Christmas: a Starbucks tree

In an attempt to out due my Starbucks themed holiday wreath that I did last week for decoration at work and to keep the theme going, I created a Starbucks cup tree much to my coworkers amusement.

Instead of buying six drinks and washing out the contents after or snagging a bunch, this time I simply asked the woman behind the counter if I could just have six of their red colored holiday cups and well, there you have it. I then stacked them on a chair in the corner of our office for everyone to put their Secret Santa presents underneath our non-denominational cup tree. It was my coworker, Asif, who trimmed and tied the bow that's on the top. I just had it around the base of the stacking like a tree blanket, which wasn't as impressive. I think it came out well: 

The Bloggers Blog admired our "tree" and has included this post in their Blogging the Holidays recap. Pretty cool. 

Oh and I got a lovely Chinese tea set in pink from my Secret Santa and my giftee enjoyed a punching devil puppet that I got him and an 80s movie book.  

The attack of the hair dryer

Before I left for my birthday trip, I was trying to get everything done in time--pack, meet my friend, shower, etc.  So, when I was drying my hair I put it on HOT, so it would dry my hair quicker, which it did.

When I was putting it away though and rolling the cord around the dryer the front grill area and scraped my bare stomach, just under my chest and stuck to my skin causing an immediate burn. I ripped it away to find the spot was already red and swollen. After I put some ice on it, four burn lines were revealed. Now it looks like a cat scratched me or I had an incident with an exacto knife. Who knew a stupid hair dryer could do this? Even putting my thin shirt on that day irritated the area. It's hard to tell in the photo since the pictures kept coming out weird due to the awkward locale.

I've been putting Vitamin E oil on it to stop it from scarring, which would be really unfortunate since it looks like I was clawed and would be revealed whenever I wear a bikini.  I've also been putting these moist burn pads on it called 2nd skin, which are supposed to help. The lines are starting to scab now and when I sit they bend with my tummy, which hopefully won't disrupt the healing process too much. 

FYI the dryer was a Vidal Sassoon 1875 Ion Select.

A birthday sweeter than wine

I had a fabulous birthday weekend visiting Temecula and it's vineyards and casino. Despite the phone calls and presents, it didn't feel like my birthday though, because for my entire life it's always been cold and December-like on my bday. However, here I was wearing a tanktop, stretchy capris and flip flops in the morning when I met my friend Nicki for breakfast before heading on my trip. It was surreal. After all, on December 4th last year in Manhattan it had already snowed and I had blogged about seeing a guy build a snowman.  

Without traffic the drive to Temecula is only a little under two hours. We had traffic going there but sailed back on Sunday. It was a perfect quick getaway, because by going that little distance it felt like we had entered another state. The mountains were cool and the leaves were changing and falling there, it was quite different than LA of course.

We visited the up and coming South Coast Winery and Temecula's original Callaway vineyards, which my mom's previous company, Allied Domecq, had owned at one point.  The tour at South Coast cost $20 but was very personal and included a wine and cheese tasting and a souvenir wine glass. The Callaway tour was free and interesting, but more to the point, you had to pay for the tastings too and received four samplings and a free wine glass for a total of $7.50. We of course bought wine and champagne at each place. We also ate and stayed at the Temucla Creek Inn and lost at Blackjack at the Indian casino Pechanga, but gained our money back at least at craps. Instead of dice though they use cards at the craps table, it was weird but interesting. 

I like it like that

Things I'm digging about Cali/LA so far

• When filling out online forms, the California state option in the pull down menus are closer and requires less scrolling than selecting New York
• The governor is a robot from the future
• Beaches and bonfires
  
• Cheaper drinks
• Getting hit on while driving
• Malls
• Wearing flip flops and open toe shoes in December
• Strangers are more pleasant, even cashiers
• More fast food chains
• Good Mexican food--but bad Italian :(
• No rain
• Palm tree lined streets
• Living with my boyfriend
• Being 3 hours behind (less information overload, but more emails)
• Not lugging my groceries several city blocks and having my hands turn white from the plastic bags cutting my circulation off
• More relaxed lifestyle
• You only hear a siren once a week vs. once every 30 mins
• Costco and Target are within reach
• Playing softball after work in the "winter"

PS: My birthday is tomorrow and we are taking a quick trip to Temecula area for some wine tastings. That's another cool thing about being on the West Coast.  

My coworker and office roommate, Rachael, surprised me with a cake today at work with the guys here. Very sweet--the cake too.

On the 20th day before Christmas: a Starbucks Wreath

When traveling home for Thanksgiving and waiting at the JFK airport I couldn't help but admire the new holiday themed Starbucks cozies that were placed around each hot container. They have different patterns and fun bright colors. So instead of grabbing just one sleeve insulator for my tall green tea, I took a blue one, a candy cane colored one and a bright green one. 

I had them sitting on my desk for some additional flare, when a coworker joked that if I got a few more I could make a garland. That's when a light bulb went off in my head, I think I even heard a little egg timer ding. For my big idea I was going to make a Starbucks coffee cozy wreath for my office door. I'm big on imposing holiday cheer on others, don't worry I stop just short of annoying and keep it at endearing. For Halloween, I brought in mini pumpkins and candy corn, and now it was going to be a colorful cardboard wreath.

I'm not sure if I'm more proud of the final result or my espionage skills that were employed to get the other cozies. After all, I don't even drink coffee. I'd order a vanilla cream for my boyfriend then snag a handful from the counter. I even picked up one recyclable sleeve that was sitting on the side of the street (it looked clean and it's not like I had to touch the actual cup or straw, just slipped it off). Yes, I know I'm supporting a corporation, blah blah, whatever it looks cute.