weekend randoms.

since some of you may be gearing up for the 4th of july weekend, i thought i'd share some pictures from last weekend. we certainly have been enjoying the longer days by packing in the activities and staying out as late as possible.

as mini-she gets older, i've been seeking volunteer opportunities to teach her about giving back. i signed us up to help at one of the bigger book sales here. we were "adders" which meant we totaled the customers' books and sent them to the cashier. it was a great opportunity for mini-she to use her math skills. on this day, everything was 50% off, so people didn't come to us with one or two books...they brought box loads of books to add up!

mini rolled her teenage eyes when i told her we'd be there for seven hours, but supporting our public libraries is a good cause, and the organization took care of their volunteers. mini got a free t-shirt, a yummy lunch, and a box full of books at

great prices.

they fed us the most delicious lunch consisting of a

curry-chicken-apple salad sandwich and this beet-pasta-feta salad. after googling, i found out that this was a pasta called ancini de pepe.

we also got free shave ice from one of the vendors there.

they used homemade syrups; this strawberry milk flavor was so good...you can even see the strawberry seeds!

sunday mornings are spent watching mini-he's football game. it was a really exciting game. we were in the lead, but the other team scored literally in the last 30 seconds and won by 2 points.

in the afternoon, we headed to the courts to roller skate, play tennis, and shoot some hoops. tennis is such a great workout.

and, boy, those 10-foot baskets are hard to make...

i mean, i'm only 5-ish feet!

if you are celebrating, have a fun and safe 4th of july.

a hungering for attention.

yes, guys...it's a new book! after three months, i finally finished live wire and i'm moving on to the hunger games. i know i'm way behind on this, but mini-she bought the book and i need some easy reading to make up for the last couple of months. i'm still not on the bandwagon, but that's what i said about twilight and i ended up buying all the books. we shall see.

this week it's all about colored denim [and a few other things sprinkled in]. the trends have pressured us to color block and pair brights with brights, but sometimes everything just blends together. lately i've been pairing my colored denims with neutrals so there's no question as to where the focus should be.

have you read the hunger games?

how do you wear your colored denims?

(denim, f21)

picture this.

tired of seeing this book?

me too. i hope to finish it soon. i was thinking about the characters and wondered what they looked like. one of the main characters is an ex-pro basketball star with all the physical traits that go along with that, plus he's a badass agent of some sort who can fight his was out of a sticky situation.

but his name is myron. i just can't picture it.

don't you wish all books were made into movies?

do you put much thought into the characters as you read a book?

chipotle cheddar pretzel thins.

(skirt, local boutique; blazer/tank, f21; shoes, victoria's secret)

a mix-up in paperwork has highschooler, jane, living a double life as a twenty-something assistant in the fast-paced world of fashion. jane sports the most amazing outfits and is always (literally) running around in fabulous heels. the show has a nice balance of teen drama, workplace politics, and flirty romances...a little something for everyone. i was surprised to learn that this is a new show and look forward to the summer premier in june.

skimping on time + a savage beauty.

just another dress i scored from my sister.

after wearing it once, she decided it wasn't the right color for her. i thought it looked great on her, but who am i to argue with my big sister?!

taking outfit photos has become quite a challenge recently.

two new tenants moved into the building across from ours, so the open parking lot in the back of my office is now filled with cars (making it an unpleasant backdrop), not to mention the people coming and going.

if we are not running late, mini-she will snap a few pictures before she goes to school. on this day, she gave me about 45 seconds of her time resulting in only six shots. obviously only two were decent, and neither was a full-length.

i was wearing these shoes.

(dress, michael michael kors, (similar); shoes, marc fisher (similar))

i won this book, alexander mcqueen: savage beauty,

in a giveaway hosted by terri at rags against the machine.

i've never splurged on a fashion book before,

so i was ecstatic to receive this.

sometimes we take fashion for granted, just loving things for what we see on the surface...but it was a real eye opener to read about the designer's life, the inspiration behind each collection, and his view of women and their bodies.

it's a beautiful book with eye candy on every page.

here's a few peeks, but you'll have to get your own to

see the rest!

(alexander mcqueen: savage beauty, available at here.)

cheese with that wine.

i was sad to get the email last week

that borders is going out of business.

i'm a page turner.

always have been, always will be.

 i know i can click and ship, but it's not the same experience as browsing the shelves, flipping thru the pages

to make sure the print isn't too small,

reading the back cover...

tragic.

almost as tragic as amy winehouse.

her music will live on in my car.