I'm 24 now!

I spent most of my 24th birthday at work today, from 8 in the morning to a little after 6 in the evening. But before you say anything, it wasn't anywhere near as depressing as it probably sounds! I'm lucky enough to have gotten a job at the same company where my best friend Faustina works. We work in different departments, but I've met some really nice people in my own department (including my supervisor and his manager).

When I walked into the office this morning, the first thing I noticed were all the pink and green balloons. I'm not even joking when I say that there were probably about ten balloons - give or take a few - taped around my cubicle. I have my coworker and new friend Tania to thank for that. :) In addition to the pink and green balloons was a cake with a mylar balloon attached and a bouquet of flowers with even more balloons attached to it. There was a Post-it note from Faustina by the cake and I assumed that the flowers were from her too.

The very first thing I did after clocking in was call her on her extension. This is how our conversation went:

Me: "Faustina!"

Faustina: "Happy Birthday, BestFriend! Did you see your cake?"

Me: "Yes! OMG, thank you for the cake and the flowers!"

Faustina: "Flowers? What flowers?

Me: "Wait, you're not the one who left these for me?"

Faustina: "No...I'm pretty sure those are from Andrew."

Now before I continue the story, allow me to fill you in: Andrew is another one of my coworkers. We met at this party back in December. He then accompanied my newly single self to this party for New Year's Eve. And just because I feel like being coy, that's all I have to say about that for now. ;)

Anyway, I wasn't sure if Andrew had arrived at the office yet, so I texted him. Now this is how our conversation went:

Me: "Thank you for the flowers!"
Andrew: "You got them today?! They were supposed to be delivered tomorrow. I'm kinda bummed out. I had a birthday set of flowers and then the Valentine's set of flowers."
Me: "Awww really? I only got one. Either way, thank you!"

Now here's the funny part: those flowers that I found on my desk weren't from him. They were from Tania. And apparently we both accidentally ruined his surprise. Oops!

My cubicle was so bright and cheerful and festive that I couldn't help but smile every time I'd come back from a break. Also, it attracted so much attention that I got "Happy Birthday!" greetings from just about everyone who walked by, including coworkers whom I hadn't even introduced myself to yet. Oh and throughout all of this, I managed to stay productive too. Haha.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and even though I'll be at work most of the day again, I can't wait to see what the day will bring.

Gossip Girl Inspired Party Invitation

My 24th birthday is in exactly ten days. Rather than spending time freaking out over the fact that I'm going to be in my mid-20s (EEK!!!), I spent some time designing this invitation for a celebratory dinner that following Saturday. This design was inspired by one of my favorite TV shows, "Gossip Girl." I miss Blair and Chuck dearly and it was actually while re-watching the entire series on Netflix that I came up with the idea for this invitation. I figured that just because I live in suburban Orange County doesn't mean that I can't add a bit of Upper East Side style to my life. ;)

Once again, just because I'm poor and slightly lazy, I won't be printing and mailing these out. I'll just be posting these on Facebook and maybe sending a text or two (in true GG fashion!)

The inspiration:

Scenes from the Season, Part 4

And now for the final installment of my "Scenes from the Season" series: New Year's Eve!

I will admit that prior to this year, I never cared much for New Year's Eve - at least not as a celebratory holiday. As far back as I can remember, I've always stayed home (usually in my pajamas) and just watched the ball drop on TV with my parents. While there is certainly nothing wrong with staying at home, I've always wanted to actually go out and celebrate and ring in the new year with friends. Read: attend an amazing party. So when Faustina asked if I wanted to attend a masquerade ball themed party on New Year's Eve, I said "YES!" with pretty much no questions asked.

Let's talk about our dresses, shall we? Just like the dress from Faustina's company holiday party, my dress was a last minute purchase. In fact, so was Faustina's. When I say "last minute," I literally mean last minute. As in, we went shopping for our dresses just a couple of hours before we were supposed to start getting ready. Also, I was the last customer at Windsor before the store closed at 7 pm. (Faustina found her lovely black and blue high-low dress from Wet Seal.) While I definitely do not recommend putting off special occasion dress shopping 'til the last minute, there was something thrilling about this experience.

Now I can't decide if I like this dress the best or if I like my holiday party dress more. While I have become more adventurous when it comes to sheer and formfitting clothing, this dress was a little sexier than anything I thought I could ever wear. The bodice is completely sheer lace save for the padding on the front, which eliminated the need for a bra. Also, the back of this dress is open. I won't even get started on how the tight peplum skirt accentuated my hips. Despite being a bit out of my comfort zone, the moment I tried this dress on, I knew it was the one.

We got dolled up at Faustina's friend Roxanne's house. I've said it before and I will say it again: getting ready for a special occasion/night out is half the fun.

I really hate to sound boastful, but I was having such an amazing hair and face day on New Year's Eve. I did my hair and makeup pretty much the same way as I did for the company holiday party: soft, imperfect waves + subtle smokey eyes and red glossy lips. This might just be my new signature look.

Faustina, Roxanne, and I took quite a bit of time getting ready for this party. Beauty does take time, after all. I'm surprised that Roxanne's husband Daniel and Faustina's friend/my date for the evening Andrew had waited so patiently for us. We ended up arriving late to the party and we missed the buffet and the performances that were scheduled for that night. We still arrived with plenty of time to spare to dance and people watch before the countdown. Afterwards, we had a very late dinner/early breakfast at IHOP.

Oh and by the way, this is Andrew. :)

Scenes from the Season, Part 3

Yup, you guessed it. These are pictures from the Ugly Sweater Party! As much as I enjoyed the more formal Christmas parties with my family, this casual house party at Faustina's house was probably my favorite memory of this past holiday season. (With the possible exception of New Year's Eve!)

I absolutely loved how Faustina and I ended up coordinating our ridiculously tacky sweaters. Plastic ornaments for me; gift bows for her. :) We had so much fun putting together these sweaters and just planning the entire party. By the way, we are epic procrastinators. We bought all of the food and drinks literally about an hour before our first guests showed up. Our party was such a success that we definitely plan on making this a new tradition.

I wish I had remembered to take more pictures with my friends that night. (Too many White Russians and other miscellaneous cocktails - oops!) Here I am with my gorgeous friend Melissa. Notice her festive Christmas earrings. LOVE!

And this is my other best friend Mike. Yes, Faustina and I did give him a hard time for not wearing an ugly sweater. It worked out alright thought because I ended up stuffing some of my shed pink feathers into his shirt pocket. Haha.