December 2011 Outings - Disneyland/The Grove + NOTD (pic heavy)

DISNEYLAND

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Let me get this out of the way.... NEVER go to Disneyland on those 5 days after Christmas/ before New Years. You will regret it. Disneyland was packed, which was unfortunate since this was the first time in years that we as a family, the four of us, had gone to Disneyland. These past couple of years, it has usually been my mother and I or my boyfriend and I who have made trips to Disneyland/California Adventure.

First ride of the day, the newly renovated, Star Tours! The last time I visited Disneyland, it was the day after Star Tours reopened. Therefore, I was not able to go on the ride due to the 160 minute wait, and the fast passes had been sold out since early that afternoon. This time around, fast passes had sold out again but there was an 85 minute wait. This was the best we were going to see the line all day so it was the first ride we rode. It was worth it. During the ride, we ran into Darth Vader, invaded the Wookie planet, and almost got eaten by a sea creature. And that is one of the many possible ride experiences you could have as there are 54 different ride experiences.

The Star Tours ship is redesigned with red stripes and no fake damage like before.

3-CPO has been re-polished to blinding perfection.

A new LCD screen that shows the flight statues and video.

Spotted the old pilot robot from the old version of Star Tours.

I thought this was a funny little touch to the bathroom signs in Tomorrowland.

What you see here is a portion of the line to Pirates of the Caribbean ride. I say "portion" because the people in the roped area are in the line while the rest are people passing by, walking around the park. It was bad. Just to put things into perspective, the line for PotC is usually 15 minutes. The wait this day was 45 minutes, but thankfully, it went by pretty fast.

The Christmas tree in Disneyland Main Street.

Disneyland Main Street at night.
The Christmas tree in California Adventure.

View of the California Adventure pier where the World of Color show takes place.

Overall, even though we spent the entire day switching from Disneyland and California Adventure On any normal day, a family with hopper tickets would have time to at least go on every major ride from both parks once. But because of the tremendous amount of people, that was impossible. Some of the rides such as Screamin' and Haunted Mansion closed early while the rides that remained open, such as the Indiana Jones ride, had wait times up to 100 minutes. I'm thinking of getting an annual pass for 2012 for sure.


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THE GROVE
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The next day was our family's visit to The Grove. It's a well known shopping center with some high end and common stores that go in a short loop. In all honesty, it was nothing to write home about. There weren't as many stores as the malls I go to in San Diego or in other parts of LA. It's just mostly the decoration that makes it stand out to me. Also, the movie theater sold matinee tickets for $11 ... that's a deal? I'd suggest going to the Del Amo mall in Torrance, CA or the Fashion Valley mall in San Diego, CA.

Right next to The Grove is the Farmers Market.

Probably one of the only redeeming things about The Grove is that Extra is filmed here where there is always a celebrity guest.

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NOTD - TEENAGE DREAM
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And finally, A NOTD! "Teenage Dream" was what I wore during the December outings. It is apart of the Katy Perry OPI collection. As if I need to go into much detail about this extremely popular nail polish. It's beautiful!

The sparkle on this nail polish is fantastic and I love the actual color of the nail polish which is a pale pink. Having "Teenage Dream" be a pale pink helps to keep the polish from being too loud since that is what the hologram sparkles are there for. "Teenage Dream" is surprisingly wearable and goes with most anything.

The only cons are what is expected for these type of polishes. First off, it is a NIGHTMARE to take off. And second, you will have to shake very well in order to keep the hologram sparkles from settling towards the bottom.

Two coats + One top coat of Seche Vite

Phew! That was one long post! Thank you for bearing with me as I got all my thoughts and experiences out for the last month of 2011 outings. Stay tuned for more.
Thanks for stopping by!

What I'm Lovin' - Fall 2011

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Fall 2011 officially ended on December 21, 2011. So it's better late than never to post my Fall 2011 favorites which does not include any Christmas gifts for obvious reasons.

BEAUTY
1 Dove Go Fresh Deodarant in "Rebalance"
3 B&BW Twilight Woods Triple Moisture Lotion
11 B&BW Strawberry Sparkler body lotion
12 B&BW Jingle Bellini body lotion

13 F21 Love & Beauty nail polish in "Bronze"
14 Sally Hansen Xtreme in "Red Carpet"







15 Covergirl lipPerfection in "Sultry"
16 Revlon Lip Butter in "Strawberry Shortcake"
17 Revlon Lip Butter in "Fig Jam"

18 Revlon Lip Butter in "Creme Brulee"

19 Palladio Herbal Eyeshadow quad in "Copper N Chic"
20 Burberry "Body" perfume
21 L'Oreal Project Runway Limited Editon blush in "Sultry Raven"




HOME
2 B&BW Foaming Hand soap in Iced Gingerbread
- This smells exactly like warm gingerbread and the smell lingers on your hands
4 B&BW candle in Autumn
5 B&BW candle in Fresh Balsam
6 B&BW candle in Apple Crumble

STYLE
7 F21 Necklace - Bronze three speared necklace
8 F21 Ring - Silver spiked ring
9 F21 Ring - Bronze ring with amber-like stone
10 F21 Ring - Silver ring with intricate, tribal designs








FILM - I don't have many film favorites since all the good releases came at the start of Winter
The Muppets
Hugo

MUSIC (songs below link to their own OFFICIAL music video on youtube)
White Stripes - Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground
Two Door Cinema Club - What You Know
Richie Spice - Youths A So Cold
LMFAO - Sexy And I Know It
- This song, and especially the music video, is so silly and over the top that I don't know why people take it seriously enough to hate it
Maroon 5 - Moves Like Jagger
Arcade Fire - We Used To Wait
FloRida - Good Feeling
The Cure - Watching Me Fall (Underdog Remix)
Cliff Martinez - Drive Score
Kavinsky & Lovefoxxx - Nightcall
Karen O with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Immigrant Song

WEBSITE/YOUTUBE
http://nouveaucheap.blogspot.com/
- One of the only blogs that I ALWAYS click on her posts since they are very informative on all the latest makeup deals. And she lives in San Diego, my hometown.
http://www.youtube.com/user/clothesencounters
- A youtube channel run by two girls who have very unique senses of style and beautiful professionally done videos, check them out.
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrArturoTrejo
- Like Shaytards? Well this family is even funnier. "Arturo" is the funniest and his son "JoseLuis" is absolutely adorable.

Two Free Zoya Nail Polishes.

I said I would post about these free Zoya deals so here it goes. Last week, Zoya announced a new code (HERE) to get 2 free of their polishes from their site. All you have to do is pay for shipping. This is a great deal! You're getting $16 worth of nail polish for $6.95. I have yet to decide which polishes I'm getting and am searching through the sea of colors to which I want. I'll definitely do a haul post once they arrive in the mail.

Water Marble Nail Art, Take #6!

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Here is the Christmas water marble art I have been wanting to sport ever since I got Zoya's "Ivanka" this past July. I made two different versions on each hand. On the left hand (my first attempt) I used "Ivanka" in conjunction with "Ruby Red", a bright matte red. And on the right hand (my second attempt) I went ahead and paired "Ivanka" with "Red Carpet", a glittery red.
Each came with different results which I will get discuss further.....

Refer back to my original Water Marble Nail Art post for steps and other pictures.

Nail polishes I used (I only used 2 on each nail):

Sinful Colors in “Ruby Red” (left hand nails)
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in “Red Carpet” (right hand nails)
Zoya in "Ivanka"

(L to R: “Ruby Red”, “Red Carpet”, “Ivanka”)

I would like to get this out of the way by saying that Zoya's "Ivanka" was NOT a good nail polish to water marble with. It's not impossible but its pretty difficult. I would not recommend for use if you are not an experienced water marbler.

In my first attempt of water marbling with "Ivanka" I decided to pair it with "Ruby Red" which is not glittery and therefore would make the glittery green "Ivanka" stand out more. Water marbling was a disaster. When I tried to use a pointed stick to make the design, the green went everywhere and would not stay in place for me to make a decent design for my nails. This explains why the edges of the colors on the close up shots look so muddied and not smooth. However, from afar, they look much better and I have actually received plenty of compliments from women while Christmas shopping.

(left hand; flash)

(right hand; flash)

Replacing "Ruby Red" with "Red Carpet" on my second attempt, on my right hand, fared a bit better while water marbling. My theory is that I used two glittery nail polishes instead of one and therefore balanced each other out better. And I have to say, I do like this pairing better. I especially love how both the colors sparkle in the sunlight. Absolutely gorgeous.

(left hand; sunlight)
(right hand; sunlight)

Have a Happy Holiday! Thanks for stopping by!

November 2011 Outings - LACMA & Getty Center (pic heavy)

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November was a busy school month for me. This included an Excursion Project for one of my art classes. This project, however, was a very enjoyable one as I was able to re-visit two of my favorite art museums here in Los Angeles, CA, the LACMA and the Getty Center.

LACMA

Being the procrastinator I am, I was only able to visit the LACMA at night for only an hour. The plus was that I attended on the second Tuesday of the month, in which admission all-day is free. Also, because I was there for only an hour, parking was free too!

The famous Urban Light by Chris Burden.

Views from the third floor of the Contemporary Arts Building.

I had to sneek in the following photos since photography is not allowed within the contemporary art exhibits. These are just SOME of the art.

Andy Warhol, Rorschach (Third Floor)

Robert Therrien, Blue Plastic Plates (Third Floor)

ASCO Exhibit (Second Floor)
This specific exhibit took up an entire floor and is comprised of the entire artwork collection of ASCO, a small group of Chicano artists, from the 70s and 80s.

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THE GETTY CENTER

The next day was spent at the Getty Center, which is the bigger of the two Getty museums in Los Angeles. Admission is free but parking is $15. I recommend both Getty museums as great date locations. The art is beautiful, there is both a fancy and casual restaurant, there are PLENTY of views, and many sit-down areas to talk, eat or just take it all in.

By the way, if you ever have the chance, visit the Getty Villa in Malibu. That one specializes in more Greek and Roman classical artwork and is just as beautiful. Admission is also free.

Getty Center from the 405 freeway.

Of course I had to take a picture.

The exhibit I wanted to see, Narrative Interventions in Photography.
One of the MANY sit-down areas.
The Getty Center garden.

A finally, these next photos make up the entire skyline view of Los Angeles taken from the back of the West Pavillion Building.

Hollywood mountains. You can even see snow.

In the distance you can see downtown Los Angeles.
The 405 freeway.
Palos Verdes (the mountain), Santa Monica, and Malibu.

To post my entire collection of photos from just the Getty Center would be insane so I hope that these photos gave a sweet little sneak peek into what the LACMA and the Getty Center have to offer.
Thanks for stopping by!