Oh My Holga! ...The Photos

I decided to experiment with my new pink Holga on my trip to Oregon.

The fun thing about the camera is that you never know what your photos are going to look like or if they will turn out. In the end, I sent 46 exposures to be developed and I received 20 back. From that 20 about 8 were actually cool.

Here are a few from the Redwoods:

And a vineyard:

Oregon love!

Style Envy - MK and A

Truth be told, I have no idea which one is Mary Kate and which one is Ashley but I can tell you this; these twins have style and I am envious of it!

Now, I am only guessing here but I believe the same twin is on the right in the first picture, the left in the second and again on the right in the last picture. Which ever one she is, I want her clothes - all of them!

Bright coral and turquoise is my favorite color combination. I love how the two colors compliment each other and can brightened up any outfit. A lot of times when I am wearing a neutral outfit, I will throw on my favorite bright coral cocktail ring and my turquoise earrings and I will feel instantly chic and glamourous!

Picture 2, fur vest and long dress... yes please! Love the outfit and love the beach waves!

And finally, I would like to give a shout out to classic pieces! Look how cute her black leather jacket is with her fitted dress! Adding a leather or jean jacket to an outfit can make all the difference in the world!

Olsen twins, "you got it dude!" (sorry)

What I Have Learned About Me

"... anything worth doing is worth doing well." Barbara Ehrenreich

What I have learned about me is that I don't give up. If I can not achieve it the first time, I take a different approach and try again.

There is no better example then the "psychedelic rainbow cake of 2010."

This year for my co-workers 36th birthday I decided that she needed this psychedelic rainbow cake that read about on http://www.omnomicon.com/rainbowcake

A cake like this screams I was born in the 70's! I love it!

So the recipe was easy enough:

2 boxes white cake mix

24 oz of clear diet soda (2 cans, ginger ale and sprite work well)

gel food colouring

16 oz whipped topping

2 oz instant fat-free sugar-free pudding mix (2 smallish boxes)

The Dieting
Mix the cake mix with the soda according to regular instructions on box. It will be lumpy afterward. Again, you can use any white cake recipe you want, this is just how I do it.

The Rainbowing
Measure the total volume (by my estimate, 64 oz), then divide by 6 and measure into separate bowls. There are 8 oz in a cup, so 64/6 = 10 to 11 oz, or 1 cup + 2 tbsp.

Stir colour into each bowl with its own spoon. For the first colour into the pan, measure out 2/3 to 3/4 of your mix (in this case about 1 c) as close to the middle as you can. Drop in your first three colours, then work on the other pan with the last three colours. So if you’re doing rainbow order, the first pan should have red, then orange, then yellow, and now the purple, blue and green go into the second pan. As a recap, this is so both layers are roughly the same size.

Bake the cake for however long the box tells you to bake it. Check it when the box says to, but usually it’ll need an extra 5 or 10 minutes or maybe more because of the density of the soda method. Just keep baking, checking back every 5 minutes or so until a toothpick to the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before moving to a wire rack.

And there was a recipe for frosting too:

Meanwhile, make your frosting. Just mix the pudding mix in with the whipped topping for a few minutes. Dye if you’re into that.

Frost your fat-free cake with your fat-free whipped frosting. Eat.

Initially I was thinking this would be so quick, so cute, not too bad for you and delicious.

Here is what I put in the oven:

And here is what I pulled out:

And this is what I did with it:

It gets better too, while my cake was baking I decided to make purple icing. Purple icing my friends, is not so easy to make:

So after my failed cake, my failed purple icing and a short temper tantrum, I gained my composure and created this:

And (literally 5 hours later) I ended up with this:

Sweet, sweet victory!

I can report that the soda cake was delicious! Who needs eggs and oil when you can use a can of Sprite?

Meet Me in St. Louis

My mother will be visiting me this weekend and she will be arriving by train!

How picturesque, right?!

Anyway, as soon as she emailed me her travel confirmation, I emailed her back the picture above (you know, sometimes a lady needs a point of reference when it comes to her outfit). In the email I said "this is the typical outfit for woman traveling by rail. And, I think there is a lot of singing that takes place; please remember to warm up your vocal chords."

So haha, whatever.

When I reply to my mother's email, I didn't notice that my father was cc'd. Apparently, he read it first and yelled: "DIANN! You are never going to believe what you have to wear! AND there's SINGING TOO!"

Whoops!

Ah parents!

Style Envy - Rachel Bilson

I love Rachel Bilson's style. Her clothes, like Kourtney's, appear effortless though well thought out. She has her own unique style and her outfit choices never stray. She always finishes her look with the perfect shoe. Everything she wears is cohesive, but not matching.

I love and appreciate things that go together beautifully but have no trouble standing on their own.

And with that in mind and because I loved The O.C., I bring you this:

What I Have Learned About Me

This weekend I am going to my hometown. Not only will I be there for Father's Day, I will be seeing a few friends that will also be in town.

What I have learned about myself is as I get older, my circle of friends becomes smaller but more valuable. They are a precious few who would drop anything to speak with me, that would never judge me, that would tell me when I was wrong but would figure out a way to make it right. These are the kinds of people matter the most.

With people like this, I feel the most like myself. And no amount of friends can compete with that!

I hope your weekend is also full of family and friends!

Nick and Jessica Forever!

It is a common known fact that I loved Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica. I loved everything about the show: the cute blonde, the hot husband, the brotherly love, the singing, the innocence. It was right up my alley!

Tonight I was watching a show on VH1 about messy Hollywood divorces. To my dismay, Nick and Jessica appeared at the top of the messy divorce list!

Gasp!

I know with every thread in my body that these two will eventually reconcile. They have too, for my sake!

One of my favorite parts of the show was Nick and Drew's relationship. Sister #2 and I have a very similar one. The clip below is of them moving the tv stand by sliding in on a ladder. I love all the times Nick asks Drew if he is okay and Drew says "no".

For the record, I do not own the book.

For the record, I am surprised!

Style Envy - Kourtney Kardashian

I love Kourtney Kardashian's style! I would take her closet over any of the Kardashian sisters.

It's easy, comfortable and fresh. She has hints of seasonal trends but remains true to herself. Her outfits are casual enough for everyday but have those extra elements that take her flawlessly into night.

Kourtney Kardashian, I salute you!

"I'am in Miami Trick"

We have made it! It is finally the premiere of Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami 2!

I love these sisters and I love this show! If you are like me and follow Kourtney,

Khloe and Kim on Twitter you know how busy their lives are. They literally

go from appearance to appearance and get their few hours of sleep on the plane

ride in-between. They are the hardest working sisters in the business and I can

not wait to watch them do it all (again)!

Kardashian love tonight at 9:00!

Waz Uuuuuup?

So, two days to catch up at work was just what I needed. Last night

5:00 PM came and went and I was still working diligently. I left work

about thirty minutes later with one thing on my mind, Delicious Beer

Drink!

Delicious Beer Drink is a recipe that was brought to my sister and

I a few years ago. Lets just say our life's have never been the same

since.

All you need is:

1 can of frozen limeade concentrate

5 beers

You put the limeade in a pitcher and pour in the

beers. Stir and break up the limeade. And voila!

My first stop on the way home was at my local grocery store for

supplies. I bought my items and left in record time. Once home I

pressed the elevator button and waited. And I waited. And waited.

We have two elevators in my building, though they both take a

while they have never taken this long! By now there was an

elderly man waiting with me and a girl with about 4 bags. To make

a long story short the elevator never arrived so I started my journey

up 12 flights of non air-conditioned stairs. Luckily at about flight 3

I stepped aside and opened one of my frosty brews.

Having a drink while getting some unsolicited exercise... a great way

to start my weekend!

"All You Hear is Time Stands Still in Travel"

Tomorrow marks my first day back at work from my Oregon vacation.

I am not one that goes on annual vacations nor do I take vacation days (unless there is something that need to do). So taking 6 days to travel and experience a new lifestyle has been wonderful!

Spending time with only my family reminded me of who I am and where I come from. I literally spent 6 days without make-up, high heels, fixing my hair or watching my mouth. It was pure bliss!

Luckily, I have just 2 days of work this week. I am hoping that this will give me enough time to catch up on everything without being too overwhelmed... actually, I know it will!

(The picture above is my sister Amber and I at the Trees of Mystery in northern California)

Oh My Holga!

The camera situation is a thing of the past! After carefully researching digital cameras, I thought screw it and went in the entire opposite direction and purchased a Holga.

This completely manual, plastic camera is just what I need to capture my Oregon adventure. It doesn't have any frills, allows light to seep through the cracks and prides it self on imperfect pictures. All in all, I can relate.

Why take tourist photos when you can be creative?

These pictures are beautiful, I feel mine will probably just be black.

This could be due to the fact that I am not used to a manual camera and advanced the film to the 4th exposure before I realized what I had done.

Please don't judge...

Oregon Girl

Okay, here it goes. I leave for Oregon in a few hours.

Have I finished packing? No.

Am I sleepy? Yes, yes, yes - a thousand times yes!

Delirious? Yes.

I can report this, I have lots of new songs on my iPod

and the good people of Oregon will never have to see

me in the same pair of shoes twice.

My vacation wardrobe also reminds me of Edina from

Absolutely Fabulous.

But I need to be more alert to go into detail on that one...