Lady's got a brand new bag!

That's right! Me. I've got a brand new bag. Mega Messenger/Laptop bag to be more specific.

Yes, it looks quite a bit big on me, but any laptop bag would. This bag was made to my specifications by Candy Glendening who's business, Candied Fabrics has seemed to have taken off in the last few years. She starts with her hand-dyed fabrics and creates from them scarves (silk), totes, purses, clutches, even journal covers (and more!). She allows her customers to personalize every inch of the bag which in my case even included the size of the inside pockets (there's a pocket for a pen or pencil and a slightly thicker pocket for my slightly thicker than usual lipgloss) as well as the exact dyed purple fabric patch.

I chose the flower on the front - an Echinacea.

I chose the 'squigglies' (her technical term is 'fiddlehead') for the side cell phone pocket.

To further personalize her bags, Candy gives her customers the option to stitch their names on their bag. Odd as it may sound, I find it kind of weird to see or hear my name so I didn't want that but I still wanted to make it personalized in that way. So I decided a great idea was to choose one word that could be a positive reminder to me every time I opened my bag. And so I chose:

Generosity. Candy liked the idea. So there you have it. My very awesome, very sturdy, very ME bag.

There are some more photos that she put together for her blog that I'll share:

HERE

HERE

Now, it wasn't cheap and I really did fight myself over it for a while. I caught my first glance of Candy's work at the Orange Muffin Festival in Redlands (urgghh... old people) I believe back in early 2010 or even late 2009, I forget. But I couldn't bring myself to spend that much money on something like a bag. I'd read her blog and see her in our paper every so often. Then I saw that she made Natalie, a line dance instructor I had, a laptop bag. Then I saw Candy in a photo in our paper the same week. And THEN as I was composing an email to Candy to tell her I think it was time for me to give in to my urges (after having talked it over with Chantal - she said I deserved a present to myself - 'go for it'), my co-worker Joy said something out loud about her. Cur-azy! So all that kinda sealed the deal.

I will still look at it and say "God, I can't believe I spent that much" but she let me know that the bag she's using now has held strong in the past year and she uses it often, so hopefully in a year I'll look at it and say 'damn, you're still here, you're still beautiful and now I see you're worth the money I spent on you.' And then I'll probably hug it. Because that's what I do (I guess I'll have to start hugging things now).

Unfortunately the next week is when our work told us our pay is being cut 5.5% but oh-effing-well. Got the bag, it's cool and I gave her a deadline so that I could have it just in time for my flight to AZ which is this coming week. I'm taking one overhead luggage bag and my laptop bag and that's it. I'm still worried about what to take and not take, but I guess I'll deal with that a little later. I set up a date to rent a car so that's taken care of now.

E.yes L.ips F.ace - mo more

Watching - Adult Swim

I made a makeup purchase from elf a few weeks ago. I got in last week. I got:

Eyelash curler

Eyelid primer

Concealer/highlighter duo

All over color stick (Golden Peach)

Liquid eyeshadow (Mocha Madness & Misty Mauve)

I haven't used the curler yet.

The primer actually works really well and I'm pleased with it.

The under eye concealer doesn't seem to really do anything for me, the highlighter isn't too bad. I used it under my eyebrows, above the eyelid primer.

The all over color stick has a nice shimmer to it but I'd rather use blush. I haven't found a good spot to put it on my face yet. The thing I like most about it is that it smells like peach. Like a lot. :P

And now the liquid eyeshadow. The Misty Mauve is the only one I got to try.

I don't like it much because it's a bit too shimmery. The whole of it seems too reflective. It's also thick. It feels like I've sprayed my eyelid with hairspray. If it was just a little thicker, I think I could peel it off my eyelid. It's a little uncomfortable just because my eyes aren't used to something so heavy being on the eyelids.

I didn't get to try the Mocha Madness...

...because it came to me with the cardboard backing seperate from the package and there was even some makeup on the outside of the cap. Also, the makeup inside looked a little less than that included in Misty Mauve.

And now the main reason for this blog. Here's the email elf and I went back and forth on and the reason I won't buy from them again.

ME: I received a package from elf as my very first purchase. In it I received all the items I ordered, however one of the liquid eyeshadows (Mocha Madness) was separated from it's cardboard backing and looks like there is less in it than the second liquid eyeshadow (Misty Mauve) that I ordered in the same shipment. Here is a photo. The twist off cap/wand has what looks to be some of the Mocha Madness color on the outside. I don't know if I can request a new Mocha Madness be sent to me because I fear that this one may possibly have been opened and used.
elf: We apologize for items missing/damaged item from your order. We have issued a refund on your credit card and are very sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.
ME: Is it possible for a replacement to be sent to me? By refunding $1, it is refunding the money I spent on the item, however I bought multiple items from elf in order to make the shipping cost to be what I considered worth it. I don't feel that paying a few dollars for shipping on a $1 item that I had already ordered and had shipped to me is something I would ever do. I was really upset when I found my item opened but was told elf's customers service is good. Of course getting $1 back makes me happy but now I'm left without that one item I ordered and don't feel confident enough spending more money on more products to make the shipping worth it again just to find out that this may possibly happen again. If I could get an unopened Mocha Madness liquid eyeshadow sent to me I will feel more confident in elf and its customer service, likely purchase from you again and let my friends and blog followers know.
Thank you.
elf:Thank you for your order with e.l.f. Cosmetics.
Unfortunately, at this time due to a high volume of orders, we are unable to ship you those items. It is our policy to make sure you are credited for all items missing from your shipment.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.

I got $1 back but I'm not going to spend like $3 to have a new one shipped to me and because I'm not confident in their customer service and don't want this to happen again with an order from them, I won't be making anymore orders to elf.

Chantal & Nichole go to Solvang (and Little Tokyo)

The night before our vacation our company decided to let us know that most employees who make more than $10/hr will be getting a 5.5% pay cut that will be reflected in our March paycheck. So that was bummer news that caused me to drink a little more than I would have that night. I had some friends over and didn't end up going to sleep until probably 1am while I set my alarm for 6 am.

Usually when I drink I end up waking up early, but this time was a little ridiculous. 4:45am is when I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. So I got up and started packing in the dark so Stuart could continue to sleep. I even half assed-ly did my makeup with the low light of the rising sun behind the curtains.

Chantal came to pick me up, we stopped at Staters so I could get some orange juice and another beverage to hold me over for the 3 hour drive that included chits and chats and me playing my CD's for Chantal.

The first thing we did in Solvang was eat. We parked right in front of a damn sock shop and I was freaking out because socks are my weakness (a bond Kevin and I share) but I was able to tell myself there would be time for socks after sausage. We had a pretty yummy sausage and meatball lunch with red cabbage and mashed potatoes and gravy.

We stuffed ourselves and headed to the sock store where we spent like 20minutes and I bought one pair that was $13. :( Why do super cute socks have to be stupidly expensive? I also dropped a few bucks on these items:

Sweater (matching, Chantal has one too).

This is a purchase I was excited about because it's apparently a $60 sweater that was on sale and lowered even more because I did that 'text this number and get $5 off' deal and got this Izod sweater (big deal according to Chantal) for less than $6.

Shoes (that match the sweater, great $3.50 find)

That's Stuart's big foot. I took this the day after I came back from the trip.

Scented candle (no photo needed, boring candle)

Three inspiring key charms and a key ring holder thingy-ma-bob

After all the walking around and shopping we went to a small wine store and did some wine tasting. I had some sweet desert wines. Decided it was time to go to our hotel but made a stop at some plant/garden/accessories for Chantal (which she called her mom to tell her about the place they've never been to before). Then we made a stop at the emu/ostrich farm.

Oh that was fun. :D I think Chantal was still feeling her wine tasting because she was pretty giggly. We fed them with a big plastic bowl that was glued to a metal dustpan which we were told to hold tightly to the handle with both hands because, and sure enough, the emu would bite the bowl and try to take the whole thing away.

It was here that we chose to take our Facts Around the World photos that we hope will go in the newspaper. I like how our vacation was in Solvang but we take it at the emu farm. :P

So we both took turns feeding them and taking photos. I even stole some extra food from one of the feeders where there were no emus so we could keep feeding them.

I ended up buying some Ostrich jerky and a cute purple bow headband with what I'm assuming is an ostrich feather on it.

We then went to our hotel, checked in, found information on a close wine tasting vineyard, I looked up directions on my laptop and we set off on a 20min drive only to find out that we were too late. :( They close at 5 but the last wine tasting is at 4:45. DOH! We were like one minute too late.

So we went to dinner at the Anderson's Pea Soup restaurant (I ordered veal which I wasn't pleased with, it was quite bland) and then back to the room to drink some alcohol she brought from home and watch television in bed ... at like 8pm haha. I was pooped from lack of sleep.

At this time an amazingly funny thing happened. Chantal revealed to me, and herself, a 13-year blonde moment had be realized. A Kay Jewelers commercial came on and ended with their slogan jingle - 'every kiss begins with Kay.' Chantal said "I've been kissed plenty of times and I've never gotten jewelry!" I told her 'so kiss doesn't begin with K' and after a silent pause she had her 'aha' moment. Kiss DOES begin with the letter K and that's the play on words that the slogan is founded on! Hoorah! Everyone give Chantal a pat on the back. :D We laughed for a bit. Good times. It deserved a laugh.

So the next morning I felt so bloated and gross and I realized it was because I hadn't farted at all the day before because Chantal doesn't like natural bodily functions like that. I was burping the night before but that's because I had a bubbly Mike's Hard Lemonade. Hard not to burp. But I wanted to point out to her that I didn't poop in her presence. I pooped at the restaurant and didn't fart. And I was bloated with gas! Lordy.

We went back to Solvang for some Ableskevers and coffee and headed out on the road back.

We had planned to stop in Little Tokyo on the way back so I could let her experience something new. We had lunch at Shabu Shabu, a restaurant where they provide you with thinly cut slices of beef and some veggies and noodles and a bowl of boiling water where you cook the food yourself.

It was better than the first time I ate here because I was able to put some hot spices on my beef and that gave it some nice flavor. This place is always busy. We waited for about 45minutes to be seated.

We also went shopping in my favorite Little Tokyo store, not sure what it's called, but they have lots of cute little things and I picked up some stationary, panda cookies and ramune.

Before leaving we also got a pastry snack. The name I do no know but it is basically a red bean paste in the center of a fluffy pancake batter num-nums.

The only other time I've eaten this was at the Buddhist temple I went to a few years ago in CA and I loved it there too.

And that was the end of our adventurous trip!

BTW, Walmart doesn't have 1hr developing anymore and I'm sure no place does. I took my camera in to get it developed and it will take a whole week so I'll update this post with more photos when I get that back.

EDIT: Here's more photos!