Safe travels, fashionistas!

Between the wedding whirlwind I told you about in my last post, you won’t believe this. But. I. Went. On. Vacation. This. Summer. Miracles do happen! Not only was this a MAJOR feat because I was successfully able to sneak away for 7 days and not miss a wedding, but my little retail-working self has not vacationed during June or July since… high school?! You all know I love my work, but this is the first summer that this Nordy girl wasn’t slinging sales and clocking 13 miles a day during the Anniversary event (trust me – I wore a pedometer last year and it was SCARY. You don’t want to see those things when they are reading double digits after your regular day at… work!). This year, fear not – I am still a Nordy girl, tried and true (duh), but after 7 summers, I have a new home on the 4^th floor that I LOVE. I am in Human Resources, recruiting and hiring, and this position comes with a wee bit more work-life balance. This makes the husband happy! I thought he would be even happier when I invited him to go on vacation with me, but not so much.

When I say I invited the husband to go on vacation with me, it’s because I did. I extended a personal invite (actually more than one), and I got declined! We did take a lovely week-long vaca to Maui with my family (and yes, I absolutely bought and sent vintage postcards like the one above because they are SO cute and make people smile when they get their mail), but a couple weeks ago, I decided I needed one more mini-trip. I like using “mini” when I want something, because it seems like I’m asking for less. One of my frequently used phrases is “Can I have a mini massage?” This implies that I want him to give me a massage equivalent of service I would pay $100+ for in a spa, but I throw “mini” in there so it seems like a quick and easy request! Try it at home and see what happens!

Back to my mini-vaca. We usually go with a group of friends on a (wild and crazy and not G-rated) house boat trip every year. Last year, 6 couples on the trip were engaged. This year, guess what? They all got married. Not that married people aren’t allowed at Lake Shasta – I proudly pioneered that trend! But, with all the weddings and honeymoons, we took a hiatus and will resume Shasta 3.0 in 2013 (get excited for that post, people)!

Thinking this would be the perfect opportunity to go on a 2^nd honeymoon (ok, more like 3^rd or 4^th but who’s counting? Those things should be endless, right?), I suggested several genius ideas to the husband. First, I generously offered to take him to Lake Chelan, where I could conveniently lay out all day and wine taste all night. Who wouldn’t want to spend a few days with the happiest version of Erin? After I spent 3 days researching places to stay, he informed me he was not interested in going.

No problem! Me and my “mini” requests will not be deterred. I quickly changed pace and invited him to a romantic getaway in Mexico. We love Mexico. It’s inexpensive and guacamole is one of my favorite foods. What’s not to love? When the only “serious” decision of your day is choosing the beach or the pool, life is pretty grand. We went to the Riviera Maya last year and spent 8 days in paradise for practically pennies! We literally NEVER left the resort. I read 9 books on my Kindle, and the husband kept busy refilling our travel mugs with adult beverages. We were both in heaven.  This is why I was confused when he AGAIN dissed my invitation! I was all hot and bothered to go to Puerto Vallarta  and even found an all-inclusive resort that was definitely calling our names. This time, he says we shouldn’t spend the money (or some stupid excuse like that). Would have been nice to know that BEFORE I devoted a week of my life to Travelocity.com! Oh well.

After all that, me and my mini vaca are ON! The moral of the story is – I’m (oh, i mean we) are going to Newport Beach. This place really IS calling our names – frequent flier miles at the ideal days and times, friends to visit, and by that I mean free places to stay? Yep, California sunshine, here I come!

You know I have plenty of dresses to bring. But what else will I pack in my suitcase for along weekend full of fun in the sun? Here are a few of my current faves:

• ring necklace – the husband got this (in mixed metal) for me as my “mini-present” when we were in Maui, and I absolutely worship it. It goes with so much. Easy to layer or wear on it’s own, casual or formal.
• iPad with cute Dodo cover, made especially for J.Crew (here is the chambray one, but I obviously have leopard, which is in-store only - totally won't be offended if you copy me)
• long black maxi dress – I found a strapless, wrinkle-free one and have worn it for many an occasion this summer. It’s ideal for travel and can be quickly accessorized to dress up or down.
• rompers! Love these little guys. I have yellow, blush, and my favorite – leopard! Perfect for swimsuit cover up or just with gold gladiator sandals and some gold bangles for a day out and about.
• big hats! The only problem with the extra large wide brim hat is that it can be challenging to navigate with, especially while driving (warning: danger!) so just beware that looking good really does come with side effects (see big hat PLUS leopard romper above; that's my mom with me, embracing her own visor-hat-hybrid trend. I do appreciate, however, that she is rocking a black maxi. Whew, since she often refers to your truly as her "mini-me!") 

Safe travels, fashionistas! 

wine and the woes that come with it

I apologize for the lapse in posts! Now, the reason I haven’t written is quite simple. What did we just talk about?? Yes, sale season! I have been SWAMPED with that four letter word (s-a-l-e) and it has just tuckered me out. The last week of my life has looking something like this: work/shop-drink-sleep; work/shop-drink-sleep, over and over. Some nights, I have been so exhausted, I even skipped the drink! However, I was sure to make up for that (oh-so-important) part during my wine-tasting weekend…

Us Washingtonians are fortunate to live in a place filled with recreational opportunities – you can boat in the summer, ski in the winter, and drink wine… all year round I guess! (What’s stopping you? You can taste the vino in Woodinville, Yakima, Walla Walla, Portland… Well, that last one’s not in Washington, but you get the point.) We’ll get to that boating/water situation later, and I’m not even going to go INTO snow gear, because that is just ridiculous to drag yourself up a mountain, freeze to death, get your lips chapped, wear outfits that make you look like a puffed-up marshmallow, and claim you’re having fun. Everyone knows this fashionista hates the snow and all the fashion faux-pas that come with it, so moving on to the best of the best: wine-tasting!

First major obstacle to overcome – if you venture to the land of vino in the summertime, hello, heat wave! Also, the more you drink, the hotter you get! Therefore, the mission is this: dress to impress, while not being half-naked. Furthermore, let’s not forget the two words that were made very clear to me the first month of my marriage: no, not “unconditional love” or something silly like that. WINE STAINS. And our outfit must remember that as well.

It was a typical newlywed night in our house a few months back. The wine was flowing and the thank you notes were being written at warp speed by one of us, and with painstaking, heartfelt care by the other. (I’ll let you guess who was writing what.) It is sort of a blur now, as I have tried to forget the nightmare that nearly caused a divorce, (or could it have been an annulment? Probably!) but I will try and revisit tragedy for the sake of my loyal readers. Like I said, there was a little vino amidst the drone of thank yous, and suddenly, a chase broke out! We were running circles around the apartment, and the nimble Tinkerbell known as Erin gracefully leaped over her glass of wine sitting on the hardwood floor. Thinking fondly of my Shrek of a husband, I squealed in warning, “There’s wine! There’s wine!” Then, just as I suspected, Mr. Fee-fie-fo-fum came barreling behind me and PUNTED THE FULL GLASS OF RED WINE INTO THE CREAM COUCH. It instantly shattered and splattered everywhere. There was wine on the walls, wine on the floor, wine.on.the.brand.new.pure.ivory.couch. And then, there were sobs. It literally looked like a murder had taken place on my couch, and I was mourning the loss. And, the husband thought this was hilarious. But no, not I. Crumpled and crying, I moaned that we could never have nice things, and that soon we would be living in a cardboard box, and that such a stain could never be fixed. Weeks went by, and the tears kept coming, as we waited for our warranty technician to come save the day. He came, and he failed. Now, my couch was blue. Blood red, dark blue, grey, a big giant bruise is what it looked like – you would have never known this was once a camel-backed beautiful sofa. Despite my efforts to turn over the cushions, it was impossible. The couch was wrecked, and as I was convinced, so was the marriage. How could you possibly take care of each other if you could not even take care of a piece of furniture? So much for ever having a pet or a kid! We were too dysfunctional to even own a loveseat!

Then, one fateful night, the husband, tired of Tinkerbell’s tears, returned home with… a bin of Oxy-Clean. We lovingly bathed the couch in it, gladly withstood the stench of bleach, and waited with great anticipation to pull the cushion covers out of the washing machine. The results were: perfection. Oxy-Clean saved the couch, and our newlywed bliss! I instantly loved the couch, the apartment, and most importantly, the husband once again. But, my fashionistas, what did we learn from this experience? Numerous lessons. Don’t put wine on the floor, and if you do, don’t ever, EVER play a game of chase. Most valuable – should you stain not just your fave couch, but your favorite, most precious article of CLOTHING – Oxy-Clean can and will fix all!

Now, back to the wine tasting weekend. Fortunately, there was no need for the angel of Oxy yet. But there we were. The terrible two. Me, sweating in a strapless dress, wishing he would just let me buy him some new shorts. Him, sweating in the CORDUROY shorts and driving Miss Daisy all over Yakima. On our next trip, we will be better prepared, and I hope to see our svelte selves in one of the following suggestions:

For the femmes, I am CRAVING a maxi dress. (Truth be told, I do already have one, but it’s from last year and I just NEED another one, preferably printed.) Long, cool and breezy, these babies are the simple solutions to summer events. You could wear one for a number of W words… wine-tasting, weddings, water festivities (like as a swimsuit cover up, or for a day on the beach boardwalk, etc). I really love this one from J.Crew.

But, if you don’t love mustard as much as I do, or the 3-digit price point, this one from Forever21 is a steal of a deal!

For our man friends, what ever happened to the classic polo? This is what I’m talking about!

Then, for those stinking shorts I wish so badly he would let me buy, J.Crew has about ten thousand and seven options. I particularly like their “Club Shorts,” like these ones. Will the wine-glass-punter husband ever be the proud owner of such cute shorts? Stay tuned.