These Boots Were Made for Walking...

My friend Steph and I went on a mega girls day shopping adventure yesterday. It was much needed after an insanely long week at trial (for my job). Ooooh Lordy did we shop! We first hit up Cosette and Lulu e Bebe, which are two fantastic boutiques at the corner of Lake Otis and Tudor. They are both owned by Lulu and are simply fantastic! I started frequenting it right after it opened and am totes addicted. It is a mix of Domino magazine, Anthropologie, and Urban Outfitters. I am not joking. If you like any of those, Cosette is the place to check out. We chatted with Lulu for a bit and bought some goodies. This being Steph's first time there, she is now addicted.

Then, onto the Nordy's Anniversary Sale. Oooooh snap! I used to work at Nordstrom part time about 2 years ago for about 3 years. I only helped out around the holidays and sale times. It was fun for sure. Towards the end of my time there, I am pretty sure I just got paid to hang out with my manager, which was cool because she is a great friend of mine. So, whatevs. Either way, the Anniversary sale is out of control. It is the best sale of the year. I bought way too much, but honestly, I don't care. I deserve it!

I have been on the look out for a new pair of boots for quite sometime. I was on a mission yesterday to find the perfect pair! Nordys was the place. I tried on a pair (that Steph ended up buying) that were exactly what I was looking for. No go, my feet are retarded. Then, I found the above pair and fell in love!! They were wicked cheap too!! Yes, they are suede, and as Steph pointed out, she cannot handle suede, it reminds her too much of the 80s, hahahaha! Well, I LOVE the 80s, so bring on the suede! I am stoked to figure out what to wear with these new boots and glad I finally found something that I liked. Did I mention I am a shopaholic?

Rachel Getting Married

Awesome cast.

The other night after a long, long last day of trial, I went to Jon's house and we watched Watchmen. I freaking loved it. We will save that for a later post. I was so blasted exhausted I could not even handle it. I had all intentions of going to bed at7 and waking up 24 hours later. Then, Watchmen was 3 hours long and I got a second wind. So, I went home and watched Rachel Getting Married. I LOVED it. It has received mixed reviews, and I was a little unsure what to expect, except for an incredible performance from Anne Hathaway.

Well, Anne blew me away. I have always liked her movies, but not necessarily her as an actress. I really did like her in The Devil Wears Prada (freaking love that movie). Drugs, scandal, death, family dysfunction. This movie was a hot mess, but I found myself really connecting with the characters. Not really sure why. I am not a drug addict and I am really close with my sisters, but whatev. I cried like a baby. I was watching it by myself and that is never a good idea, that just makes it so much easier for me to sob like mad because no one is watching. I am a basket case and basically cry at anything.

Anne's performance was stellar for sure, but so was the ensemble cast. Her father and sister were fantastic! I found myself rooting for Anne's character (Kim) the entire movie and really felt lonely and sad for her. Man, why do movies get to me so much?!?!

Rome: Dirtiest City.

The Coliseum, my favorite part of Rome.

Ok, back to my Italy posts... We finally made it to Rome after a ridiculous 4 hours train ride from Pisa. We did not even see the Leaning Tower of Pisa because we got in after dark and were so annoyed with the town, worst town in Italy. We were stuck on this crazy train with about a million 16-18 yr olds heading to the Labor Day free concert in Rome. People were sitting on the floor, standing with their armpits in my face, you know, the usual. Thank goodness we all three got a seat, otherwise that would have been a horrible, horrible train ride. As soon as we arrived in Rome, I already did not like it. The train ride really pissed me off. We realized that yet again, most of the museums and other things we wanted to see were closed for the holiday, so we went on a night walk (Rick Steves book, pretty sweet walk) to the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Spanish Steps and a few other places. I will say this about Rome, it has a beautiful and awesome nightlife!

The Coliseum was breathtaking. I think I took more pictures of the Coliseum, than anything else on our trip. We got the audio guides, which was a first, and I am so glad we did! I was constantly envisioning what really happened there and that was awesome! I kept thinking about Gladiator, obviously, and it made it that much more real. I then of course, could not stop thinking about how hot Russel Crowe was in the movie.

We saw Trevi Fountain 3 times and I was still in love by third time. It was breathtakingly beautiful. The Spanish Steps were pretty, but I could not really tell because of the thousand people sitting on them. I literally had to kick garbage out of my way to walk up the steps. I was not to happy about that. I found Rome to be the dirtiest city I have ever been to. I have traveled to a lot of big cities, so that is saying a lot. I also was no impressed with people leaning on statues in the Vatican museum. Really?!?! That put me over the edge. How about a little museum respect? Just a thought...

After a insanely long time in the Rome airport (2 very very long security lines, good times), Kim and I departed Italy on our way back to the states. David followed on a different flight. I was ready to leave, but already planning my next trip back! Italy was the greatest experience. I cannot wait to go back and spend more time on the coast and Tuscany!!! If you ever have the opportunity to go to Italy, DO IT! And ask me to go with you, because I will.

Mr. Thornton or Mr. Darcy...That's a Toughie

Mr. Thornton, wearing his shirt the way I told him to.

Where do I even begin... Facebook, of course. So, my sister Hillary and I are basically obsessed with RomComs and "Period Dramas". Okay, let's be real, we just love movies in general. Pride & Prejudice? Hell yes, I will take Mr. Darcy any day! So, Hillary had been talking to me about North and South before I moved and I was so busy gathering all my business that I was not really interested. Then, I saw that she was freaking obsessed with talking about it on Facebook with our friend, Marie in California and I knew something must be real fantastic about this show! Just to clarify, Marie and I have a Bachelor/Bachelorette obsession that we frequently talk about on Facebook and we seem to have very similar interests in the way of tv and movies. So, naturally, I started to get anxious to hear more about this show, and frankly, a little jealous that this awesomeness was going on without me!!

I cannot even describe North and South, except to say that it is amazing. I imagine that everyone reading this post has seen Pride & Prejudice with Keira Knightley (stupid question, I know), and, like me, was a little sceptical that any movie could surpass its greatness. But, I am pretty sure North and South will be added to my "watch at least every 2 months" movie pile, right next to P&P. As soon as I watched the finale of N&S, I rewound it and watched the last 5 minutes again. I did the same the next night, because naturally, that is the best part of the whole series!

Mr. Darcy, does he ever smile?

Can you compare Mr. Darcy and Mr. Thornton? I don't think so! They are both total a-holes who eventually win your heart. It took me much longer to fall for Mr. Darcy than for Mr. Thornton. As soon as I saw Mr. Darcy I was like, really, that is who they picked to be Mr. Darcy? Then I became obsessed with him, obviously. As soon as Mr. T appeared on the screen, I looked over to Hillary and said "he is hot." Sold. Something about him being such an ass was really appealing (that sounds real bad). Maybe because you could also see his love for Margaret and that he really was a sensitive dude. Darcy was just a turd the majority of the time, but wicked charming. Yes, he loved Liz, but hellllloooo, you don't break up a girls sister and her bf, okay? I don't know which one I like better. That is pretty much asking me which of my handbags is my favorite, it is torture to chose! I am now officially obsessed with both of them.

Let's be clear, Pride and Prejudice and North and South quite possibly have the best endings to any movie I have ever seen, short of Notting Hill, which is the ultimate ending for RomComs. Right? They are totes worth the watch! Great, now I want to watch them both, right now!!

All That She Wants...

Yeah, you know you want to finish that sentence with "is another baby". I cannot even tell you how addicted I am to Ace of Base. Last week, my friend Kevin and I went to a record store in Minneapolis, where I stumbled upon this gem and almost peed my pants. It was used, obviously (as I highly doubt A of B is making any more album copies), but I did not care, as I was still in shock that 1) A of B had a Greatest Hits album and 2) Some idiot would get rid of their this classic pop album. I knew right away that this album would be the start to soooo many car dance parties, it was not even funny.

And so it began...The night I bought the greatest album ever, Lacey and I were headed out for the evening. What do I surprise her with in the car? Ace of Base Greatest Hits, baby! So, obviously, we had to have a car dance party. It was out of control! I am pretty sure we remembered ever single word to all of their hits. When we went out that night, I found it important to tell everyone and their mother that I had just bought this glorious album. Most responses were "They have more than three songs?". Uhhhhh, duh! I was offended. They obviously were not a mega fan in the 90s like I was.

Now that I am back in Alaska for a month, I can guarantee you that Amy and I are going to have several car dance parties. Hells yeah! It's a beautiful life, oh oh oh oh, it's a beautiful life...

Mr. Keyboard, We are NOT Friends!

Seriously, what the BEEP!

Why is it sooooo difficult for my keyboard and I to cooperate!?! I am confused. I have spent an hour (on two separate occasions) typing my Rome post, only to have the whole post deleted by what most would call a "user" error. Riiiiight.... I do not believe that is true. I have had my new laptop for only 2 months and it is still not reading my mind. I mean really, at this point, it should know that I am addicted to celebrity gossip sites, blogging and Facebook, and definitely not get in the way of that! Bitch please! It should also realize that when I accidentally hit ctrl+D, I really don't mean it!!!

Mr. Keyboard, you better learn to read my mind real fast, or you are not going to have a happy life. Just sayin.

Cinque Terre: Favorite Place On The Planet. Hands Down.

The start of our hike. BEAUTIFUL Vernazza, the second village

(of the five in Cinque Terre). This is were we stayed.

Cinque Terre is the region of five (cinque) villages on the beautiful, most amazing, Northwest Italian coast. I cannot say this enough, Cinque Terre is my favorite place on the planet. As soon as we arrived, I knew it would be. I had heard about it from my sister Kim and her husband Josh, who had been there 2 years prior and totally fell in love. You can hike between all of the villages, through the hills, along the ocean, beautiful. So, we started in Vernazza, where we were staying, and went to the next three villages. It was the most amazingly beautiful hike I have ever done. Above is a view of Vernazza at the start of our hike. I apologize for the multiple pics, but I have soooo many more I wish I could post, but I will spare you.

Locks along "Lover's Lane" (Via dell'Amore) between the villages of Manarola and Riomaggiore.
My lock is the newest looking gold lock on the top middle.

The hike became more and more beautiful the further we went and the closer we hiked down to the ocean. There was a section of the trail that was sheer up from the ocean, we were walking in half tunnels carved out in the cliffs, it was called the "Lover's Lane" (come to find out later). There were graffitied like a mofo, but it worked. I would never really say that graffiti was beautiful, but I think that this walk would not be the same without it. I was mesmerized. We kept noticing that there were random locks (as above) all over fences lining the trail. A little confusing. Then, we can upon all the graffiti and, what I can only assume was called, the "Lover's Chair" with locks on the railings surrounding it. I had to put my lock on there, obviously. I had to leave my mark on Italy. I have never been so excited in my life. It was sooo great!!

Me and my new Italian best friends from the Blue Marlin Bar in Vernazza.
Mossimo, Jeffrey, and Perfection (as Kim and I liked to call him)

We finished the magnificent hike and had an amazing dinner in Vernazza. Where Kim and David proceeded to chat up a couple of older ladies. Next thing you know, they are offering to do David's laundry if he will haul their bags down the stairs from their hotel in the morning. Done and done. Random!!! We had read in the Rick Steves book (we called him our fourth traveling companion, he made our Italy trip that much better) that the best local bar was the Blue Marlin. So, obviously, we headed down there. Oooooooh man, we had no idea what we were in for. BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE! Yep, I just said that. We proceeded to drink a ton, I was watching all the locals guys with their dreads (I looooooove dread locks, fyi). Hotties with naughty bodies indeed. Just saying. There was a local pommeranian that was hilarious. He/she pranced in the bar, and noone even noticed, like it happened all the time. Soo awesome! So, I was taking my usually ridiculous self pics and pictures of the hot bartenders and awesome bar owner, Mossimo, bustin a move with drum sticks on liquor bottles behind the bar.

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Next thing you know, Mossimo is talking to me. He is asking me about taking pictures, yada yada. He asked if I would take more and email them to him. HELLLLLL YEAH!!!! It's on bitches! At this point I was so freaking excited/buzzed that I could hardly contain myself. After bartender Jeffrey (born in CA, but Italian - awesome!) made us awesome drinks and shots all night, I took a shitton of pics, and probably said "this is my favorite bar on the planet" about 100 times, the bar was closing and it was time to head out. I went over to Mossimo and told him we were leaving, but I wanted a pic of the three of them. He made Jeffrey and Perfection stop making drinks and get together for a pic for me. Precious, obviously. Then, I was like, I want to be in one with you all, too. Mossimo, "yessss!!! get back here" (behind the bar). That is the picture above. Then I said goodbye to Mossimo and we made sure that I would email him the pics. He hugged me and kissed me on each cheek (I almost died). I was in love... Said goodbye to Jeffrey, he was the best, and we made our way down to the water front, then back to our room!!! TOP NIGHT!!!

The next day, we packed up and headed to the first village, Monterosso to lay on the beach. (They have the only beach in Cinque Terre). It was a glorious, relaxing day. From where we sat on the beach, we could see the other 4 villages along the coast (above pic). Absolutely amazing!!!! If you ever go to Italy, you HAVE to go to Cinque Terre. Next time I go to Italy, I want to spend the majority of my time there, it is totally worth it!