Fancy pants!

FASHION BRAG TIME AGAIN.

So, today we had a fundraising event involving fashion and accessories and ladies buying stuff to benefit us, right? AWESOME. The auction featured donated accessories and bags. Yesterday my boss and I went to the event company to go through some of the loot, especially checking out the rejected stuff. She was like, "if there's anything you love, you can take it, as long as you then donate the opening bid to the agency." So, I scored a pin, two bags (one sparkly and fun, one velour and fun) and some notecards. How do people get rid of such amazing stuff?

WELL, THEN THERE'S TODAY. I was in charge of selling things donated from a vintage store. Stuff like... vintage YSL and Christian LeCrouix (sp?) and Escada suits and shirts and skirts. It was so the perfect job for me. And my boss was like, "if anything doesn't sell, you can have it, because it's 100% donated." There was one YSL suit that I was eying and eying and eying and before the event, my other coworker said, "you are going to be pissed if someone buys it. Put it away now, and buy it later, so that you can be sure you have it." Oh, and did I mention that things were all priced UNDER A HUNDRED DOLLARS? I mean, some of the pieces were totally freaky weird (see muppet vest below) but the red YSL suit is awesome and classic.

I mean, I admit I'm a label whore, but the important thing is that I am a discount label whore. I would never buy anything so fancy at retail price, but to be able to have it - even if I just sell it on ebay in thirty years, is awesome. I was so glad I hid the suit away, because all of the good stuff got snapped up really quickly, and I would have been sad. Plus I wrote a check and supported a wonderful cause!

So here is some of the fun stuff I tried on, and what I actually purchased:
This Escada vest is made of fox fur, and makes me look like a muppet. It was actually purchased though, by a sort of quiet middle aged lady. I think part of it is my superb salesmanship - I was like, "this is a bargain! Even if you just wear it out once for fun, you are totally getting your money's worth!"

My second favorite jacket. Unfortunately, it was just a little too small to be comfortable.

Sparkly Escada shirt - it's really amazing. And yes, I bought it ($20!) I don't know how that got left on the racks. People are silly!

This is the top to my Yves Saint Laurent suit. It's such a pretty color and fabric, and the buttons are funky. The only downside is that I absolutely cannot get the skirt to zip. Even with Spanx on. It is not even close - and far from cute. But whatever! The jacket is awesome and worth it, and I am so excited!

Oh, I so love clothes and accessories. I only hope that someday we make it rich, and I can be a lady who lunches and goes and buys fabulous clothes at charity auctions.

Afterwards, we retired to the Polo Lounge (the event was at the Beverly Hills Hotel) and we saw Heidi Klum sitting and having lunch, so that was pretty thrilling. It's been a pretty rough week for development, in terms of trying to do all of our event planning (because in addition to the one today, we have another one tomorrow!) and government grant submission (see: my head exploding on Monday afternoon) so it's nice to be able to have a drink and relax a little afterwards. The best part is that I work with amazing people, so even when it's back to back to back craziness, we help keep each other's spirits up.

Speaking of craziness, the Ralphs across the street from us is apparently on fire! News at 10.

San Francisco!

Mom and I had an amazing time in San Francisco. We managed to see most of the big sites, took all kinds of public transportation, and spent a lot of time looking and exclaiming over beautiful things - lots of fancy jewelry and lots of beautiful flowers. I joked that our trip consisted mostly of going, "wow, this is pretty... look at this, this is beautiful... oh I love this..." as we walked.

We stayed at the Westin St. Francis, which was very nice, and more importantly, was located right down the street from World of Charms, DSW (I blew a shoe) and Sephora (we love lipsticks.) Friday was mostly walking and shopping, Saturday was Golden Gate park, and Sunday was the Golden Gate Bridge (we walked to Marin and back) and then Lombard Street. We'd gotten on the wrong bus leaving the bridge (but thankfully headed back to the city!) so we hopped off on Lombard and decided to walk up to the crookedest street. It was straight up, and then pretty much straight down, and thankfully we found lunch shortly thereafter, because I was flagging.

We also had Irish coffees at the Buena Vista, a fabulous dinner at Boulevard courtesy of Dad, and some delicious dim sum. I'm so glad mom was able to be my date - I absolutely love San Francisco, and spending time with her, so it was a perfect weekend. Well, until our flight to Orange County got canceled at the last minute. The ladies at the Admirals Club were able to get us on an evening flight to LAX, and Tim drove us home so I could pick up my car. I had one of my more stressful days at work, but our grant went in with three minutes to spare (no joke... I nearly had a heart attack.) I came home and Tim had gotten me flowers, and we went and had sushi and frogurt. Now we're pumping the AC and relaxing. It'll be an early bedtime tonight!

Pictures!
Dogcatrat!

Crabby crab!

Mom's a good sport

Towards the end of Day One, at the Buena Vista cafe. We are drinking to kill the pain in our feet. Thank goodness that we picked flip flops for the next two days - I don't care what podiatrists say!

Mom being awesome on the cable car. We rode from one end to the other and got our entire $5 worth.

My BFF at the Golden Gate Park!

Mom and I with some lilacs. They smelled loverly.

The Conservatory of Flowers. I tried not to pout too much at boring olde plants!

Us dressed up for fancy Saturday dinner at Boulevard.

Day Three at the Golden Gate Bridge

Sweaty and exhausted - but having seen the crookedest street!

THE WORLD'S MOST AWESOME CHARM! IT'S A SQUIRREL IN AN ACORN HOLDING AN ACORN!

We'll be sure to wear some flowers in our hair

Sorry for the lack of updates! Things have been busy and boring all at the same time. We've spent a lot of time with the fam-damilies recently - putting a lot of miles on the car going to and from Orange County. It's been nice to see everyone.

Work has been crazy stressful for me. We're applying for a government grant, and the bureaucrats love to have you fill out forms and use obscure online submission systems. Grants.gov brought me to tears earlier in the week. The grant is due on Monday, but I am out for the weekend and trying not to stress (per my boss's orders) because I am taking mom to SAN FRANCISCO this weekend. We fly out early tomorrow (Friday) morning. I am so excited! The trip is my birthday present to her. She's never been to San Francisco, and I love the city so very much. I have my new fancy dress, and a couple of scarves, and I'm ready to go.

I'm really excited about taking mom on vacation. Even though she always says that she is not interested in being my friend, she is totally my bestie. We are going to have a great time, and eat so much dim sum.

Then next week I have my big grant due on Monday (by 5pm.) Friday is a work event, and Saturday is our bowling event. Thanks to everyone who has donated to Team Sequins - our team of five has raised more than $1,000! I keep joking with my fellow development team members that the first of May should be a departmental "team building" event at the spa. Just an idea.

And YES, Tim and I are still looking for houses. We have an appointment with the realtor the weekend after next, and are going to tour like crazy people. Don't fret.