American Idol, are you loving this season or what?

BEST.SEASON.EVER.

We are thinking so. 

First off, love, love, love the new judges!  Randy, I could take or leave, I feel like he's on repeat, but Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler are awesome to watch. Holly stunning Jennifer! True musicians, giving worthy opinions.  The talent seems to be pretty amazing this season as well, several artists I would go out and buy their CDs right now.  Loving the pianists, base player and unique voices.  Looking forward to seeing if mine and Shane's predictions of the Top 5 come true. 

Hard to pick, but here we go...

Mine: (in no particular order)

Casey Abrams

Jacob Lusk
Julie Zorrilla

Lauren Aliana

Paul McDonald

Shane:

James Durbin

Jacob Lusk

Casey Abrams
Lauren Aliana
Julie Zorrilla

I think James Durbin is fabulous, but kinda like I'm watching Lambert again, so I think America might not vote him as far as they would if it was something new and fresh for Idol.  Looks like we see pretty eye to eye who the talent is.  We shall see... Who knows? 

Happy watching... 

XO,
S & S

B-B-B = Bonnie.Be.Beadin

As most of you know, my momma is one crafty gal (the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, I LOVE CRAFTS too)!  If she's not knitting something, she's coming up with some sort of cute/creative gift to make or dipping chocolate covered strawberries or pretzels for event...  As of late, she's turned in her needles for stretchy thread and beads.  I cannot get over how  hip she is.  She came up with this little idea and all the sudden, I see beads everywhere.  Even Randy on American Idol was rockin beads all last week.

 Here's one of BBB's latest creations.

And another...

So fun to layer with other bracelets!

Off to yoga...I heart having days off!

XO,
S

Things that make me happy

During a week that hasn't been filled with smiles and laughs for me, I thought I'd share something that does make me smile! 

these yummy little jellies make me happy...  

On another note, last night we (Sham) watched another great flick, kinda on a roll with the documentary style indie films as of late. 

Check out Waiting for Superman

I'd be lying if I didn't say how terribly disturbing and upsetting it is to watch how poor of shape our country's education system is in. We all need to do our part in improving it.  I plan on finding a way to to do mine!  I will let you all know when I figure out what that is.  I did donate to my cousin's classroom, but there's got to be more. 

XO,
S

All in ONE weekend blog!

Catfish, Cupping, Upper West, 30th Birthday, Valentine's Day Feast = Quite the Eventful Weekend

 

 

Rent it, you will not regret it!

Catfish Review

Went in for an acupuncture visit, came out looking like this

I didn't have quite this many leper spots, but I had the same procedure done

It's called cupping, click for a more detailed explanation of it's benefits. 

After I got cupped, I spent a lovely day with my Adydu enjoying the almost 80 degree LA weather in January.

Saturday evening, Shane and I ate at Upper West, a newish hot spot on the west side.  The atmosphere and bar were fabulous.  The food was pretty good, minus the dessert which we shouldn't have ordered. 

We shared the Burrata- definitely recommend

I got the crab cakes - YUM

Shane got the beef carpaccio and the smoked bacon blue cheese fries - carpaccio was delicious (or so he said, I don't do raw beef) and the fries were good, but a little too soggy for our liking. 

For dessert we got the cinnamon sugar donut bites and they were overcooked.
Drinks were Excellente! 

Would definitely go back for drinks and apps!

Happy 30th Birthday to our dear friend Tessa!

Last but not least we celebrated Valentine's Day with my mom and Barn on Sunday!

Menu included Filet's (for the ladies)/Rib Eyes (for the men), Lobster, Farmer's Market String Beans and Roasted Rose Bud Potatoes Oh My! 

Topped dinner off with Secretariat, an inspirational Disney movie (true story), great for the whole family! 

Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours! 

XO, 

S

Jillian Rose

Has a nice ring to it, well it should.  It's the name of one of my dearest and oldest friends.  She shares her name with her photography company, Jillian Rose Photography .  I couldn't be more proud of her recent leap to owning and running her own photography business.  She's already off to an amazing start!  There is nothing more fun than watching a friend pursue their dreams and passion, while growing and becoming a true artist. 
So why the blog about Jilly.  Well yesterday I had the pleasure of her entrusting me to photograph her for her website and blog.  You see, people want to know who's going to be shooting them on their special wedding day or family portrait,  but the problem with most photographers is they are always behind the camera. We spent yesterday afternoon running around Santa Monica and Venice getting Jill out from behind the camera (where she's all too comfortable, you'll even notice it's in most of the pics with her) to being in front of the camera.  We had too much fun! 

Some favorites of the day...

I think I've recovered...

Hosting is one of my favorite things, but man can it be exhausting.  Sunday was our Third Annual Super Bowl Party.  I think we officially hit maximum capacity in the Ball House, even with our brilliant outdoor living room (thanks to my smart hubby, who saved me from having a panic attack when he came up with this idea), the place was packed.

Our patio converted...

Can you say standing room only? 

Fun was had by all, even our youngest and cutest guest!

Time to relax and have complete control of the TV until next football season!

xo, 

S