Sorry in advance for the lookbook phone pictures.  I don’t bring my nicer camera with me when I go on the rode (unless of course I have a weekend trip somewhere exciting!).  Don’t you just love the background?  LOL!

I’m in love with this blue, black, and green color combo.  

The Dressing Room Outfit

Sweater Cardigan:  Old Navy
Shirt:  Converse One Star, purchased at Target
Trousers:  Old Navy
Patent Booties:  Payless
Necklace:  Forever21
Bracelets:  JewelMint, H&M, random vendors

 Close-ups

Love this necklace.  The gold, orange, and bronze tone brighten up the outfit just enough.

JewelMint, cousin’s creation, rosary bracelet purchased in Fatima, Portugal, H&M, random vendor (purchased this YEARS ago in either Korea or Singapore)

I’m finally home!  Just got in this morning and it feels good to be back even if I was only gone for a couple of days, in time to enjoy some sunny California weather (especially since I was in the rainy Northwest all week).

I’m currently on the road right now which is the reason for the lack of posts this week.  Work hasn’t seemed to slow down, which keeps me busy but is EXHAUSTING.  Especially these days… because I’m PREGNANT!

I’ve been waiting to announce our wonderful news.  I’m 23 weeks along and due mid-June.  We told our families and friends around the holidays.  First granddaughter (yes, we’re having a girl!) on my side and third (WOW GIRLS!) on my husband’s.  Yay for girls!  Can’t wait until she’s here and I can dress her up like my very own mini me.  Can we say fashionista in the making?  :-P

I’m going to try and not turn this into a pregnancy blog.  I may blog some updates about how it’s going.  Perhaps I’ll blog periodically tips on how to dress your bump, which I’m still learning to do.  It’s been an interesting adventure.  I cry sometimes because I can’t find things to wear or think creatively (pregnancy brain perhaps?  or maybe because I’m torn between dressing for SUPER comfortably and stylishly) about putting outfits together.  I athink I’ve been having issues putting outfits together because I’m getting big for my regular clothes and I really don’t want to buy maternity clothes or bigger normal clothes right now.  I refuse to conform.  Anything that’s cute and stylish thats made for maternity is price.  :-(  But I’ll see what I can put together.  I still have clothes from when I was a couple pounds heavier that I can wear for the next couple of months, so look out for lookbooks.  I do believe moms to be should dress for comfort but we don’t have to look frumpy!  Victoria Beckham, Rachel Zoe, Jessica Alba, Kourtney Kardashian, etc. are all my style inspirations for this pregnancy.  The first three months of my pregnancy I was NOT adventurous in the kitchen.  Morning sickness and a sensitive nose kept me away from my “happy place.”  Eventually when she’s (the little one.  sorry folks not sharing her name until she’s born!) here and ready to eat solids, I’ll start blogging about creating baby food dishes.  But that won’t be for another 9 months.

I hope you continue to follow me on my adventure!

He made this a couple years ago.  Giada’s Steak and Brie Sandwich with soup and sparkling wine.  

I really like staying in on Valentines Day.  No noise.  No crowds.  No overpriced check.  Simple is romantic.  Plus a way to anyone’s heart is through their stomach.  (hardeeharhar… cheesy I know!)

Here are a couple of tips to make the night in special and romantic.

Flowers.  No matter how cheesy and how much you’ll be supporting your florist, they liven up the house and make it feel romantic.  You could do a skinny vase with a singular rose and that would be fine.

Candles.  Duh!  To set the mood.

Champagne or wine.

Take the fancy china out and dine on these tonight.

Again, I’m buying into the holiday (AGH I know!) but chocolate covered strawberries.  Something is so sexy about these morsels.  If they’re not your style, how about strawberry shortcake or chocolate lava cakes.  A warm cookie with ice cream is just as good.  Nothing too fussy.  It’s the effort that matters.

Even if you don’t have a date this Valentines Day, enjoy the holiday with those you love and indulge in the cakes, cookies, chocolates, etc.

Hope you’re spending this day with loved ones.  Happy Valentines Day!

WTH was up with Nicki Minaj’s outfit on the red carpet.  Let’s not even start with that performance?!?  I’m all about creativity and pushing the envelope and I don’t usually get super offended when it comes to my religion, but I was APPALLED with this outfit and her performance.  AGH.  Trying TOO hard to be like Gaga.

The Beach Boys are REALLY OLD!  When Ryan Seacrest said they were celebrating their 50th anniversary of their first hit… or was it album, I was shocked.  Don’t you remember when they were on Full House?!?  :-P

I know it was short notice, but I was expecting more of a Whitney tribute.  Perhaps they’ll do something bigger in the coming weeks or month.  So sad.  I grew up on her and was actually listening to a song or two of hers on my ipod a couple days before her death.  But Jennifer Hudson did awesome singing “I Will Always Love You.”

Now onto the DRESSES of the evening.

The theme of the night seemed to be don’t show too much cleavage but I’m going to show some back plus SPARKLES!

LOVED LOVED LOVED Taylor Swift’s dress by Zuhair Murad.

Another Zuhair Murad red carpet favorite was Kate Beckinsale.  LOVE how she carries this dress.  Definitely wearable and something I’d wear for a fun night out or a girls night out in Vegas.  :-)

Another shimmery dress that I was in love with was Kelly Osbourne’s.

Onto the shimmery but no-show cleavage dresses like the one Carrie Underwood wore.  While I wanted to LOVE it (I do love the sparkles and color), I don’t love the silhouette.  She looks a bit top heavy for my liking.

I was in love with her dress when she performed with Tony Bennett though.

Another no show cleavage dress that was also blue but I did not like was Katy Perry’s.  She looks really top heavy also!  Not flattering at all.

But I did love her dress that she threw on after her performance.  Love the gold!

Not in love with Rihanna’s lips in the above picture.  Way too early 90s for me and maybe a tad Tina Turner esque.  I loved her red carpet make-up with this dress instead, but still wasn’t feeling the hair.  But her make-up and the dress is simple and sexy.  Reminded me of Angelina Jolie for some reason.

Another LBD that I loved was Gwenyth Paltrow in Stella McCartney.  Gotta love the black and gold combo!

Someone that pushed that envelope in a good way was Fergie in Jean Paul Gaultier.  But I wished her underwear was the same color or nude.

Whose performance wow’d you?  Whose dress were you in love with?

Now I’ll leave you with one of my favorite Whitney Houston songs.  I do love her ballads but this song reminds me of when I was about 5 years old and my parents would play music on Saturdays while cleaning the house.  While they were cleaning I was dancing around the living room.  :-P

I wanted to have an egg salad sandwich for lunch the other day but without all the calories.  I still wanted a little bit of mayo flavor, so instead of using a two tablespoons of mayo, I used one tablespoon of light mayo (or fat free if you would prefer not to intake all those calories.  I used light because my husband doesn’t like fat free and it’s a compromise between regular and fat free.) with a tablespoon of non-fat greek yogurt.  Creamy and tasty!  You could even make this recipe without adding the mayonnaise, if you’re not a big fan of mayonnaise.  You could probably use the mayo and greek yogurt method for shrimp louie salad or tuna salads or like I mentioned above dips!  I have a great recipe for a greek yogurt dip that I’ll be sharing with you all next week (it’s actually making an appearance in the picture below).

NOT YOUR MOM’S EGG SALAD SANDWICH

recipe by me
makes one sandwich 

INGREDIENTS

1 hard boiled egg, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon non-fat or light mayonnaise
1 tablespoon non-fat or 2% greek yogurt
2 tablespoon chopped green onion
1/2 stalk of celery, chopped
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Wheat or multigrain bread (We’re eating healthy here people!)
Green of choice (I chose arugula because I like the peppery taste against the creamy egg salad.  In the UK they pair their egg salad sandwich with watercress)

DIRECTIONS

 Mix chopped egg, mayonnaise, greek yogurt, onion, and celery together.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Toast bread slices.  Assemble egg salad and greens between the bread slices however you desire.