Coral Corral

outfit details – dress: American Rag // boots: Charles Albert // belt: Xhileration (came with another dress) // bolero: I have no idea! // glasses: Derek Cardigan (buy here) // purse: street faire find // cocktail ring:vintage // necklace: Once Upon a Smorgasbord

I forgot how terribly irksome it is to take your own outfit shots via self-timer and tripod. I’ve been very spoiled by having Tim take my pictures whenever he’s in town (he’s oh-so very patient and even gives me directions on where to look or how to pose), but since he’s in Ohio for a week I need to go back to the way I started. And damn, it’s been a bitch!

In the process of trying to take shots of this outfit I wore last week (it’s been a busy weekend full of wedding festivities so I haven’t been able to do a write-up until now– mah bad), my tripod got knocked over by a sudden gust of wind while my 3-month old camera was still mounted to it! Thankfully, the camera only has a bit of a scratch. *PHEW* But the little removable part that the camera screws onto totes broke. I superglued it back on, but now I don’t have the convenience of taking it off and whatnot. Oh well!

But enough of my moaning, check out my purse! It’s a friggin horse saddle!!! I found it at the Lodi Street Faire earlier this month and fell in love immediately. Whenever my mom and I go to flea markets or street faires, I usually have a certain thing I’m looking for. A quirky bag wasn’t on my agenda (now that I think about it, I didn’t really have anything on my agenda), but once I laid eyes on it I knew I had to bring it home with me. I’d be a fool to pass it up, right? It was originally marked at $55, but mom (a total haggling pro), asked the vendor what her best price was and she said $45. SCORE!

Tip: When bargaining with vendors at street fairs and whatnot, throw out phrases like “What’s your best price?” or “What’s the best you can do on this?” if you’re interested in an item because then it sounds like you’ve been doing this haggling thing forever and have it down pat. Plus it sounds a lot better than, “Can you go any lower?”

I made the necklace I’m wearing with a little horse toy that I adorned with pink ribbon and some flatback Swarovski crystals. I dubbed it my “Neapolitan Pony” since the colors go along with the ice cream flavor. ERMERGERD, doesn’t a bowl of that sound super tasty right now?! I actually made quite a few of these necklaces with other animal toys, but have yet to put them on my Etsy store ’cause I’m lame like that. But if you’re interested in ordering a custom one, don’t hesitate to ask me! I’ve actually done three custom orders for these little animal necklaces already via Instagram; four if you count my mom’s birthday request for a hippo

Cheers,
Nina

Happy Mama’s Day!

I just wanted to wish a Happy Mother’s Day to all the mamas in the world!

Whether your baby be human, fluffy, or still in your tummy, I hope you have a stupendous day with your loved ones!

Cheers,
Nina

OOTD: The Crazy Dog Lady Edition

outfit details – blazer: Martha Stewart for Petsmart (buy here) 

The other day Rory and I went to Petsmart to drop off a ‘thank you’ present to his trainer and then she showed me all the cute clothes they just put in stock. We had him try on a few jackets and he was so patient — he even lifted his legs up when it was time to put them through the arm hole! So of course I got him a couple of things including this red tweed herringbone blazer! Actually, that thing’s been in stock for awhile, but it was on sale! When I get Rory clothes I usually  get practical things like sweaters and jackets that he can wear for walks when it’s cold out, but on occasion I’ll get him something impractical because I think it’s cute.

Don’t judge me.

Anywho, I’ve been doing on Etsy stuff, and work just started last week and I’ve been on the lookout for another job thus my absence from this blog, so I thought it would be a good idea to make Rory the star for this post since he just got a new outfit!

He’s usually a good sport in front of the camera, but he was a reluctant model today.  You can tell he wasn’t having it, his eyes are saying “You suck, mom.” But he became all lively again once he was blazerless and filled with treats! He’s currently napping on his chaise lounge by the window. I swear, if Rory was a Pokemon he’d be Snorlax because all he does is sleep (or Lickitung because his tongue is crazy long). And yeah, my dog has a chaise lounge. It’s ridiculous.

I remember in high school I decided that my dream was to live in San Francisco, work in some sort of artsy field, and have a dog with a knitted argyle sweater. Well, I went to school in SF and totally fell out of love with the city (I still think it’s fun to visit, but I don’t want to live there), trying to find an “artsy” job is kind of impractical but I make /sell jewelry and have a blog to keep me sane while I find a “practical” job, and now I have a dog so the last bit of that dream should’ve easily been fulfilled right? Um… no. Of all the clothes we’ve (my aunt and I) acquired for Rory, I have yet to get him a knitted argyle sweater. He has a hooded fleece one though, so I guess that counts? <– no, it doesn’t.

Cheers,
Nina

Barks & Rec.

My fluffy baby Rory is going to be graduating from his beginners class at Petsmart next week! But he has to pass the evaluation test first — meaning he needs to perform all the commands we’ve been teaching him for the past 5 weeks perfectly. No pressure whatsoever. For the most part, Rory’s a good dog, but sometimes he doesn’t like to listen and gets overly excited around other pups. In class he’s known as “the mean one” or “fiesty one” which makes me really sad because he’s so fuggin’ sweet… just not around other dogs. Rory’s also the only boy in the class and the eldest at 15 months (I think the youngest pup in the class is 5 months old). I really should’ve enrolled him early on, but TARDISes (what is the plural for TARDIS?) and time turners don’t exist, so oh well.

Before his class last Thursday, my friends and I took him out to the park for a walk. Or rather, he took Jen for a walk (he doesn’t have that loose-leash walking down quite yet). Fresh air seemed to be all he needed since he did super awesome in class that night!

And since I wore a cute outfit to work that day, we did some OOTD (outfit of the day) shots around the park. But it was soooo windy and the lighting was off pretty much everywhere, I ended doing a few shots at home (full outfit shot is down below).

While trying to get rid of clothes I don’t wear often, I came across this hot air balloon dress by American Rag in my closet that I haven’t worn since my trip to Disneyland in May. I forced myself to make an outfit around it because I didn’t like the thought of not having it in my closet. :/ Both my earrings and necklace are second-hand purchases. I got my teal crystal earrings at the Lodi Street Faire just in time for prom! I was into teal a lot back then. And when I say “back then” I mean 8 years ago. Yikes! I found my necklace at the local flea market last year. It’s a fragrance locket, or perfume necklace. I’m not sure what to call it, but the inside of it contains some nasty scented wax. The gold cigar band ring was given to me by my super stylish grandma (super stylish grandma can be seen here). And my navy and purple cuff is from the Coach outlet store. Yay outlets!

outfit details:

• dress: American Rag
• cardigan: Old Navy
• necklace: flea market find
• earrings: street market find
• ring: my grandma gave it to me!
• bracelet: Coach
• boots: Madden Girl
• tights: Hue

I’m assuming there will be Halloween parties this weekend, so I hope you all have fun and be safe (of course)! I dressed up as Minnie Mouse for my co-worker’s costume/going-away party last night, so I shall post pictures of my costume in the upcoming days. And if you’re not doing anything festive this weekend, I hope you have fun as well!

Cheers,
Nina <3

Rory’s 1-Year Homecoming Anniversary

24 September 2011: My heart melted when Rory climbed up on my shoulder and knocked out.

According to Timehop, today marks the day I picked up Rory to live with me for all of evers! It’s crazy to think that it’s been a year since I’ve brought him home —  I still have moments where I look at him and say, “Oh sh!t. I have dog!” I’ve been wanting a puppy ever since I was wee lass, but our household couldn’t accommodate a dog at the time, and I had this thing where I didn’t want to pick up dog poop. The site of fresh canine fecal matter alone set me on a gagging spree, so how was I supposed to clean up after a dog EVERYDAY? But my tune’s since changed, although I get enraged when I see random poop when I’m out and about because other people can’t seem to pick up after their own dogs… I mean, seriously. Is it that hard to put a plastic bag in your pocket or purse? But I digress.

It’s been an amazing year with my little companion. All the poop and pee spots I’ve had to pick up and wipe have been more than worth it because I LOVE this little dude like no other.

November 2011

Sometimes you end up looking like your dog.

February 2012: Rory does not like the Cone of Shame.

April 2012: Rory wants Tim to play with him!

April 2012: Probably my favorite picture of Rory.

Pooh’s co-pilot!

May 2012: Rory at 8 months old.

Look at that sweet smile!

September 2012: Rory relaxing on his chaise lounge. Yes… he has one of those.

Rory and I during his little lion man haircut phase.

And thus concludes the pic spam of my little man.

Here’s to many more years of love and fluffiness!

I’m not dead yet…

Oh my, it’s been quite awhile since my last update hasn’t it? Ew. I just started a blog post with a question. Ever since my junior year of high school I’ve tried to avoid starting anything off with a question — my English teacher said it’s a cheap way to engage a reader. Sorry, Mr. G! And sorry to anyone who does happens to start off articles/posts/essays/etc. with questions… awkardly looks to the side and scrunches mouth.

But anyhow, I shall be writing about random and nerdtastic things here in a bit, including my attempt at an easy-peezy Nutella cookie recipe I found on Pinterest! However I’m working on a couple of posts that will be featured on other blogs. Bear with me please.

For now here’s a picture of Rory with a commission piece I had done by Jenny Parks, the creative master mind behind Doctor Mew! It’s Rory dressed as his namesake!!!

LOOK AT HOW AWESOME THIS PIECE OF ART IS. LOOK AT IT. LOOK!

And here’s Rory’s namesake (in case you’re not familiar with Doctor Who, and in case you’re not you should really acquaint yourself with it):

via Tumblr

TTFN!

Adventures in Petsitting

Hangin’ out with Jezi.

About two and a half weeks ago Tim’s mom and sister went to Ohio for a whole week and asked me if I would be able and willing to housesit/petsit for them. I said yes without hesitation! A whole week alone with dogs (and one cat)? HELL YES. Plus it feels nice that they trust me enough to stay in their home and look after their animals.

Taking care of Rory is a challenge in and of itself (he can be such a stubborn a$$hole!), and I had agreed to watch over their three beloved digs (not a typo, that’s what they call them), Brady, Schatzi, and Jezi, and cat, Molly. It felt a bit overwhelming, but I was up for the challenge. They’re good dogs anyway, so I wasn’t completely worried.

Brady and Schatzi napping on the futon barrier that was supposed to keep Rory from wandering around the house — he knows how to jump over it now, so… AH!

Rory and Jezi all nice bundled up.

I stopped by a few days before they left to see how they go about feeding them, and then I got a tour of all the little doohickies around the house (watering flowers, security alarms, etc). I also did a test run to see how they’d respond to me coming in and feeding them the day after. Luckily for me, they freakin’ love me — so it went well.

Schatzi usually does her own thing when Rory and I are over, but she cuddled by me quite a few times and kept my feet warm. <3

Every time Brady saw me pet Schatzi or call her, he’d come over and butt in to get all the pets and cuddles.

I was prepared for Brady’s thick drool to hit the hardwood floor come breakfast and dinner time (hence why a paper towel is placed on the floor by the food), I was prepared to hold him in case he had a random seizure,  I was prepared for Jezi’s sneaky kisses and knew when to avert them (she’s sweet, but she eats poop), hell, I was even prepared to cleanup the litter box every other day. What I wasn’t prepared for was something else I didn’t even think would happen.

Poor Brady. That guy’s stomach is super sensitive. He ate Rory’s food when I was preparing their dinner. Later that night I was on the phone with Tim and that’s when I smelled the funk. “I think one of the dogs tooted… oh God, it’s so potent!” Several minutes later, it didn’t go away. I got off the couch to adjust myself and then I saw little brown spots around the table. I thought they could be mud prints from when I let them in. But they weren’t shaped like paws. And then I saw a big goopy brown sludge pile and that’s when my heart sank.

“Tim, I think one of the dogs had diarrhea.”

I was panicking. I got off the phone with Tim after freaking out (“Oh my God, Tim. Oh my God. Oh, it’s so gross. OH GOD, WHY? TIM, WHAT DO I DO?”), rolled up my sleeves, and got down to business… Mike Rowe style.

I’m glad no hidden cameras were placed around the house for reality show purposes because I was HORRIBLE. I made whiny noises, I constantly cried out, “OH MY GOD THIS IS SO GROSS!” And gagged numerous times. If I were being filmed for a reality show, Joel McHale would’ve probably featured me on The Soup and made fun of me to no avail.

Brady had diarrhea the next day too. And to boot, Rory ate all kinds of plants when I let him outside to play with the other dogs, sooo he threw up quite a few times (he even puked on my Hello Kitty blanket and the blanket the digs sleep on in the family room). At one point, he had a root in his mouth that looked a lot like poop. He wouldn’t drop it, so I had to reach in and get it. AHH! Can you imagine taking out mysterious items out of your dog’s mouth?

Brady and Schatzi.

fun fact: Jezi’s nickname is Wormtail.

Rory made himself at home right away (that’s also the blanket he puked on).

Long story short, I knew taking care of animals was going to be hard, I just didn’t realize it was going to be that hard. But despite the loose poop and puke, I enjoyed their company very much (animals > people, it’s a fact) and even offered to petsit again if they ever needed me to.  :D

3 Things That Make Me Say “Weeeee!”

Okay, so maybe these three things I’m about to talk about don’t necessarily make me say, “Weeee!” out loud, but they do have the capacity to put a smile on my face, literally make me LoL, or just make me happy in general — therefore, they have a certain “weee!” factor.

Instagram:

ANDRIODS FINALLY HAVE INSTAGRAM!!! I don’t know what took them so long. I really don’t. I had been so jealous of iPhone users for the sheer fact that they get to have this uber amazing photo app on their phones that enable them to make their pictures all fanciful, and they could upload them to pretty much any effing social networking site they want to. Ugh! My sister told me the joyous news about a week ago and my mindset has basically been “INSTAGRAM ALL THE THINGS!” Rory has been my main subject so far (naturally).

You can find me under the monicker Chezfancypants. Like… if you want to follow me, or whatever. Yeah.

CommunityChannel:

Tim re-introduced me to CommunityChannel on YouTube last night, run by Natalie Tran. She’s been M.I.A. for awhile, but she started making videos again about a month ago. In case you’re not familiar with her, she’s a silly Aussie girl who talks about little  problems that happen in everyday like, like standing around awkwardly when you and your friend run into someone they know and they engage in conversation without even introducing you, how all the usernames you want are already taken on every damn site on the internet, or how her mother mysteriously covets things she threw away, etc. WATCH IT!

Chandler Dances on Things:

Awhile ago, someone I follow on Tumblr (I think it was Janine, my homie from Germany) reblogged a gif of Chandler Bing dancing on the dinner table of The Last Supper. I clicked the source link and found the site Chandler Dances on Things. This Tumblr consists of Chandler dancing on anything you can possibly imagine: Hogwarts, Equestria, the Death Star, the TARDIS, Pride Rock, the Sham Wow dude, Yemen, and one of my favorites, the bow of the Titanic. And today happens to be the 100th anniversary of the day the Titanic sank. Could that BE anymore coincidental?

Happy Tax Day/100th Anniversary of the Titanic sinking/my nephew Matthew’s 10th birthday, y’all!

B i b l i o p h i l e

When I was in school I was soooo frustrated with the amount of reading I had to do for all of my classes. I studied Creative Writing, so of course I knew what I was getting into. And like all my professors say, you can’t write unless you read. ‘Tis very true. And I liked a lot of the short stories and a handful of books that were assigned to me — I was just frustrated by the fact that I never had time to read the books that I wanted to read. Actually, that’s a lie. All the time I spent on Tumblr, Facebook, and Netflix (and sometimes I did all three at once), I could’ve been reading a book that I wanted to read for funsies. But… um… I didn’t. :/

Now that I’ve graduated and have more free time than I’d actually like to have, I DON’T READ OFTEN. What the hell is up with that? Starting from this month on, I’m challenging myself to read at least one book each week and  write more. I finished reading The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin last week, and am starting The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger again. I started it a couple years ago and didn’t finish it, so I’m attempting it once more. I liked it, but for whatever reason I got distracted and never got around to finishing it. A lot of people have read this in high school; none of the English classes I took in high school had this book on the lesson plan, so I feel extremely deprived.

Other books I was deprived of in high school:

• Brave New World by Aldous Huxly
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding
• 1984 by George Orwell

Those are the only ones I can think of at the moment, but I know there’s more.

I’ve been told that The Catcher In The Rye is a book you either love or hate because the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, is a bit of a prick. One time on Facebook I took a quiz to see what literary character I am and my result was Holden. My sister said it fit because we’re both angsty. I’m glad she didn’t say because we’re both pricks.

Here are some other books I plan on starting/re-starting/re-reading this month:

I got 'An Abundance of Katherines' over the weekend with my 15% off coupon! Tim just picked a random book off the shelf to take a picture with.

• Looking For Alaska by John Green
• An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
• How To Be Good by Nick Hornby (started this earlier this year and got distracted)
• American Gods by Neil Gaiman
• Stardust by Neil Gaiman (was in the middle of this years ago and had to put it away because of school)
• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
• Peep Show by Joshua Braff
• Slaughter House Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• Breakfast At Tiffany’s by Truman Capote (my favorite book of all evers)

Enough blogging about reading books. It’s SSR time!

Cone of Shame

My poor little Rory is currently in a world of pain –  he got his junk snipped off yesterday. In order to keep him from trying to lick his phantom sack, he has to wear the Cone of Shame! I feel really bad for my baby, he’s going to be rockin’ this thing for 2 weeks. Ahh! I was told that I could put him in a baby onsie since it’ll keep him from licking it. Anywho, after the surgery, my aunt and I went to Petsmart to buy him new food. She stayed inside the car with Rory, but when I got out he was yelping so loudly that people walking nearby looked to see where the commotion was coming from. Oh, and he totally peed on her too. He’s never peed on anyone before! I’m hoping it was just because he was startled and in pain.

Needless to say, with the condition he’s in, I’m in full-blown mommy mode. *serious face*