D:

I just saw this this morning, but now nothing else matters. Terry is even transfixed.



IT'S ALL CHIVAHN'S FAULT. My only purpose in life now is to scream this at top volume. IT IS ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT.

xoxo,
Bre!

Music Monday #3 - Siouxsie and the Banshees

Ahhhhh, Music Monday is late! I've been soooo busy with schoolwork this past week, you guys. When they warned us that they were stepping it up, THEY WERE NOT KIDDING. The workload has pretty much tripled, even with them dropping a class for this quarter, and while the first two classes are normal, the actual coding class is sooooo challenging. Don't get me wrong, I LIVE for this kind of analytical stuff, but it's very hard so far. So all I've been doing is taking care of Jade and having mom watch him while I have to do school. It really needs my undivided attention!

ANYHOW. Heh! Here's this week's Music Monday. I haven't been listening to too much music, but here it is anyway!

Siouxsie and the Banshees with 16 plays! WOOHOO! This is a band that I really should have been introduced to in my childhood, but my mom was much more into Depeche Mode and Duran Duran (okay, more like OBSESSED with). A few internet friends who shared a love of my favorite band (theSTART) were also extremely into Siouxsie and the Banshees, so I decided to finally check them out I believe in summer of 2006. I've been hooked ever since :D

And here's my favorite song! Actually, this album is incredible, too! <3!



If you wanna be friends on Last.fm, my profile is here!

xoxo,
Bre!

Belkin BZ111200-06 11-Outlet Conceal Surge Protector LOVE!

Hey guys, this post doesn't really fall under any normal category (and this is definitely not sponsored or anything), but I'm so stoked about this surge protector I bought from Amazon that I HAVE to share!

Somehow, I've managed to keep the same power strip from my first computer I ever had when I was 11 years old. This means I've had all my important data relying on a piece of garbage that was about 16 years old and was probably going to not only fry my beloved electronics, but probably catch something on fire. DON'T ASK, I really don't know! Replacing a power strip was really not something I ever thought or worried about, until Jade started scooting around on his own. Then my cable mess became a HUGE concern. Last week I got a pretty substantial check from what was left over from my financial aid, so I figured, "why not?" Even better, I found one that actually concealed all my cables for the most part! It's a Belkin BZ111200-06 11-Outlet Conceal Surge Protector, and it's $24 at Amazon. Worth every penny! I forgot to take a before picture to show you how gnarly it really was (because I was so excited to get everything set up!), but in this picture taken in our old apartment, you pretty much get the idea:

Holy hell! How nasty is that? Also, AWWWW. Jade loves when dad plays guitar!

And here's what it looks like now!

Does my heart good to see this look so tidy! And in case you're wondering about the 16 year old beast of a power strip:

D: D: D: Those are 10 years worth of nicotine stains. I used to smoke something fierce, you guys have no idea.

Still need to get some of those cable zipper cord organizers, but until then, this is a VAST improvement. LOVE IT!

Anyone buy anything simple lately that improved their lives dramatically?

xoxo,
Bre!

Adventures in Northernmost Seattle...

Yesterday was much-needed. A last hurrah before starting school back up full time, if you will. Chivahn, Jade and I had a little adventure in Ballard and Northgate doing a bit of shopping. We hit up Goodwill, where I snatched up a TON of frames and these magical Peter vs. Giant Chicken figurines:

Five bucks! SCORE!

Had lunch at the Red Robin at Northgate mall. This was actually Jade's first restaurant outing and he was so stoked about it, he kept yelling (gleefully!). I'm sure we disturbed more than a few people, but at least he wasn't crying, right? Heh!

Dropped into Ross and Target real quicklike, grabbed up another clearance frame and a pencil skirt. Also a dress that I have to return. Bah! Northgate isn't exactly close to me!

Now I have to think about getting back into the swing of my classes! This quarter things are stepping up a bit and we're going to actually start doing coding, so I have three classes instead of four. A little scary, even though I did really well last quarter with a GPA of 3.6. Proud? Proud.

And HEY! My Safeway finally has my other crack in stock (my original crack is, of course, Monster)! I've been stalking the dairy aisle for the past few weeks looking for this and they finally had it on Sunday! Woohoo!

OH MY GOD YUM.

Did you guys do anything fancy this weekend?

xoxo,
Bre!

Shoes-day Tuesday #6 - Glitz & Glam!

1. Naughty Monkey "Hollywood" $74.95
2. Jeffrey Campbell "Rock Star" $195.00
3. Jeffrey Campbell "Pewter Glitter" Litas $159.95
4. Gasoline Glamour "Dragon" pumps $ unknown D: D:
5. Aldo "Hafen" $100
6. Bordello "Teeze" platform pumps $74.99

Those gloriously Gwar-esque heels are KILLING ME RIGHT NOW. And the Rock Stars are what my dreams are made of *sigh* One day... one glorious, glorious day...

Music Monday #2 - Deftones

Let's pull up the ol' Last.fm screenshot here...

I'm on a hardcore Deftones kick this week. To tell you the truth, I usually am and you're gonna see them in this feature so much, I'm probably gonna have to use the runner-up's video. They're one of my favorite bands EVER, and have been since I was about 15 years old. Finally got to see them live last April at The Paramount in Seattle and holy eff, were they amazing. I'm also just a tiny bit in love/lust with Chino Moreno :D

*swoon* Live @ The Paramount, Seattle WA 4-14-11

Bloody Cape is probably one of my top five favorite songs ever recorded.



Until next week! <3

xoxo,
Bre!

Bre's Week In Links 9-17-11

It's been a while! And I'm a few minutes late, but better late than never! Just a handful of interesting links this week! :D

Gala's wedding. Simple and gorgeous. I'm totally jealous (and the video was so sweet it actually made me a little misty... that NEVER happens!)

Project Finsk = <3!

This Finnish girl Tanja's showcase of extravagant makeup looks is one of my new favorite blogs. LOVE HER. Here's the look that sucked me in! GORGEOUS!

Oh god, EVERY SHOE IN THIS POST. Why not meeee?!?

Berndt Offerings on Etsy is now selling the Debbie Harry pendant! Hooray! Gonna snatch it up soon! <3

I can't really deal with Lady Gaga anymore, but one thing we'll always have in common is an affinity for the highest heels humanly possible. If I could afford any of those beauts (they look like Noritaka Tatehanas to me), you'd best believe they'd be on my feet RIGHT NOW.

That's all for now! I'll try to build up a photodump for next week!

xoxo,
Bre!

Just for fun :D

A. Age: 27
B. Bed size: Full :/
C. Chore that you hate: MOPPING. Holy eff, I can't stand it. And I mean manual mopping, not Swiffer mopping.
D. Dogs: Love 'em, but couldn't possibly take care of a dog and an infant at the same time. Hopefully in the future when we have a house!
E. Essential start to your day: Energy drink/caffeine in any form.
F. Favorite color: Turquoise
G. Gold or Silver:  Silver
H. Height: 5’4
I. Instruments you play: Used to play clarinet in middle school and high school band. Not very well, but I did it for years...
J. Job title: Student/homemaker, I guess.
K. Kids: One boy, Jade, and he's turning 8 months on Saturday!
L. Live: Everett, WA
M. Mother’s name: Gina
N. Nicknames: Man, I don't think I can possibly begin to list them, they're ridiculous... I guess Bre is a start, my legal name is Breanna, but I hate it. I don't think it fits me as well as just 'Bre'. Plus people can't ever seem to say it correctly, even though it's the simplest name EVER! They always want to say 'Bre-AW-nuh'. It's 'Bre-ANN-uh'!! Just like it looks! GAAAHHHH!! Heh!
O. Overnight hospital stays: After Jade's arrival, we were in the hospital for two days.
P. Pet peeves:  SoooooOOoooo many. The biggest is bad spelling and grammar and really dumb slang words becoming the norm. I hate the word "swag" as in "swagger". SO. MUCH.
Q. Quote from a movie: "I want you to teach me how to be fabulous." - Party Monster
R. Right or left handed: Right
S. Siblings: One younger brother, Brandon, two estranged younger sisters.
U. Underwear: What about them? I'm kind of a panty-hoarder in addition to my shoe problem.
V. Vegetable you hate: I don't care for cucumber unless it's sliced in a sandwich with a bunch of other stuff.
W. What makes you run late:  I have a tendency to dawdle.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Mostly of my mouth. Scratch that, a TON of my mouth. I've had a LOTTTT of work done.
Y. Yummy food that you make: Grilled cheese! I also make a BADASS eggnog pie for the holidays!
Z. Zoo animal: I can't choose. I love all of them.

I love fall!

I keep seeing these posts, but I can't help but contribute to the heaping pile of them currently on the internetz :D I love fall! Not only does my birthday indicate its imminent arrival, but everything I really really love follows. List time!

source

5. Halloween stuff!
Halloween stores are popping up and my wallet is severely hindering me from bringing home ALLLLLL the spookies. I took Jade to Display & Costume and Value Village yesterday to check out some decorations and whatnot, but I only walked away with some glitter spiders :c Gah! Also starting to think about costumes! We think Jade's gonna be a little dragon! Do you guys think it's too early to start decorating? I'm fighting extreme urges to put my purple christmas lights in the windows!

source

4. Squash!
I. LOVE. SQUASH. Lots of people think I'm crazy, but every fall, at least once a week, I buy a giant acorn squash and eat the living hell out of it baked with butter and brown sugar. NOM!

No Mark At All

3. Mild weather/leaves changing!
Usually our summers are pretty intense (well, for us) here in Washington. They're normally in the 80-90 degree range (which I know isn't anything compared to everywhere else, but we're used to rain, rain, and more rain!), and HUMID, so by the time fall comes around, I welcome it with open arms. This year we seem to be having summer right now, but it'll start to cool down here pretty quick. Which leads into...

ModCloth $64.99

2. Fall fashion!
I've worked in retail my entire working life, and every time fall came around, I'd get super excited about getting wool pea coats in shipment! I can never afford them (I only ever bought one while I worked at Guess, despite my discount! Sad!), but I think they're so gorgeous and the absolute epitome of fall!

I carved this Dr. Tran pumpkin in 2009! Loved him!

1. PUMPKIN EVERYTHING!
I'm not just talking about Starbucks, guys (in fact, I dread getting pumpkin spice lattes there because I've had too many that were less than great :c). I mean pumpkin pies, pumpkin bread, pumkpin scented everything, pumpkin coffee creamer, you name it, I'm getting my grubby hands all over it! In Washington (more specifically, in Marysville and Arlington) we have a chain of espresso stands called Espresso Connection and they make the BEST PSL I've ever had, hands down. If you ever come across one, PLEASE try one (or a chai, they make the best chai tea lattes EVER). I wish we still had an Espresso Connection in Everett, I want one right now really bad!

So that's it! What do you guys love about fall?

Music Monday #1 - M.I.A.

New feature time! Just gonna be a quickie weekly thing, but still something I can't see myself losing interest in. Every Monday, I'm going to go into my Last.fm and see what artist or band I listened to the most and post a video from them! Sounds awesome!

As of today, my most played artist of last week was... M.I.A. with 17 plays!



This video is so silly and lo-fi, but that's part of her charm. Lovelovelove this song, love M.I.A. to death!

Do you use Last.fm? I'm obsessed with it! Add me!

xoxo, Bre!

Todaaayyyyy...

Super looking forward to this afternoon. One of my best friends, Chivahn, works insane 12 hour days in her salon, so occasionally I drive to her adorable little place in Fremont (near Queen Anne in Seattle) and help her out with housework and organize all her stuff. It may sound crazy, but I really, really enjoy this. I love my boy with all my heart, but sometimes mama needs a break. It may seem even MORE crazy that I spend the majority of these "breaks" cleaning someone else's house, but, like I said yesterday, I am the epitome of a Virgo. Cleaning, sorting, organizing and putting stuff away is total zen time for Bre. Not to mention the drive is usually pretty relaxing if I don't hit any traffic, and I usually don't because I like to get there early. Today I might get stuck on I-5 because I have to wait until Terry wakes up this afternoon so he can watch Jade :/ This needs some explanation...

My fiance, Terry, is on this crazy-ass rotating schedule at his job. He works Monday and Tuesday, has Wednesday and Thursday off, then works Friday-Tuesday, gets Wednesday-Sunday off, and the cycle starts again. Ridiculous, right? It gets worse. Not only is every single shift 12 HOURS, but every two months he swaps shifts between day shift and graveyard. It. Is. Awful. He's on graveyard right now, which naturally means he sleeps all day. So if I want to do anything by myself during the day (and it's not the weekend when my mom can hang out with Jade), I really can't. I have to wait until Terry wakes up anywhere from 3-5pm. The only good part of this schedule of gnarliness is that he gets 5 days off in a row every two weeks (which he's in right now), so Jade can spend an extended amount of time hanging out with his dad. Not so much on graveyard shift, though. It's heartbreaking when we wake up at 7am, Terry walks in the door at 7:30-ish and pretty much has to go right to bed. I'm definitely grateful for his job, it has landed us in this amazing new apartment, kept us fed and warm and overall pretty comfortable, but it's still pretty rough at the same time! We all miss each other quite a bit.

So, now you can probably see why I look so forward to getting out of the house as little as I do, heh! Our schedules are just... insane, and barely line up with anyone else we know, so ANY sort of me time or friend time is welcomed with open arms.

Do you guys deal with ass-backwards schedules? How do you cope?

xoxo, Bre

6 Things I'm Loving!

6 things I am LOVING right now (could this evolve into something more? Maybe! Trying things on...)

6. Caffeine. This goes without saying. This morning I couldn't think of fully functioning until I drove to my old neighborhood just to get a great deal on two Monsters. Ha! The one downside of the new neighborhood is that none of the stores have 2 for $3 Monsters! That's okay, though, I'd rather not fear for our safety!

(source)

5. Driving! Something I never really get sick of. And it's been so fabulous outside lately that it's been even more enjoyable! Super thankful for my AC, too!

(source)

4. Anticipating all my favorite shows' new seasons! I almost can't take it anymore! Parks & Rec, SNL, Workaholics, Family Guy...

shopnastygal.com

3. Salivating over every new Jeffrey Campbell shoe this season. ESPECIALLY THE PEWTER LITAS HOLY GOD.

The gorgeous view out the window on my birthday morning!

2. Our new apartment! I love it soooo much. We feel so safe and unconfined here. Our neighbors are friendly, quiet, and generally keep to themselves, the laundry room is always available, and best of all, there are no obnoxious little kids running around, staring in our windows! It's been the best apartment experience I've had in my life so far! LOVE IT!

1. My lovely Terry. My birthday outing didn't quite go as planned, but he did his best to make it awesome and I love him dearly for it. Thank you for you, sir <3

What are you guys all about this week?

Halp! I'm lost!

Heylookitmahfridge. And... elbow?

Hey, guys. Just wanted to drop in and say that I'm still here, but still pretty lost as to what I wanna do with my blog! I've been mulling it over and still kinda coming up with the same sort of features. I wish I had a more clear idea of what I wanted to put out into the internets! Maybe I'm overthinking it. I have a tendency to do that- I AM a Virgo. But it still feels so... jumbled. An Etsy shop promo one day, but I'm not a promoter. A collection of shoes I'll never, ever be able to afford another, but this is far from a fashion blog (although hunting down fabulous shoes is one of my favorite things ever!)! I know for sure I want to share a bit every week about Jade in the photodumps and whatnot, but I definitely don't want to take the plunge into Mommy Blog land. While I thoroughly enjoy reading a couple of Mommy Blogs, I don't want to plaster my son's entire life all over the internet. Just not very comfortable with that concept (NOT judging anyone who does! It's just not for us :D)

Soooo... I dunno! Thoughts? Suggestions? If anybody has a really great blogging e-course I should check out, or something along those lines, please send it my way! I don't want to abandon this blog, I'm just at a total loss for inspiration at the moment!

xoxo, Bre