Crazy, tragic, sometimes almost magic, awful, beautful life.

WOW! This past week was beyond crazy. This one coming up is looking just as nuts, but I wanted to blog at least a quick recap.

Operation Dating Fiend is in full force. I managed to squeeze in two dates in my ridiculously packed schedule and was pleasantly surprised with both. The first date is from Escondido which is supppeerr far, but he said to pick a place by me and he would do all the driving. +1 for him. Irish Man is 26, college educated, a manager of a brewing company, and well traveled. His name is totally old school Irish (Gaelic, I think he said?) and I didn't even know how to pronounce it! Ha! Not a ginger though, thankfully. We met up for sushi at Riptide which is a really good first date place because there is a lot of outside stimuli. Good if your date is boring you to tears, you can't find something to talk about, or want to take the edge off the awkwardness.

How freakin' adorable is this macrame sushi??

Irish Man was super attentive, pretty good conversation, better looking and taller than I expected, really cute shirt, but TERRIBLE shoes. I think I even mentioned that. I have no filter. No immediate crazy sparks, which seems to be a trend. I'm not even sure I can have those anymore. I think I may be too desensitized for them right away, but I'm assuming they can grow. Right?? Let's hope so. Anywho, pretty good for a first date, but... BUT... sigh. Irish Man had a really weird tick. Sometimes when I would look away, but could see him in my peripheral, he would blink and squeeze his eyes tight more than a few times. I have NO idea what that is about. He did it enough for me to notice, but never when I looked at him. Was it a nervous tick? A crazy druggie? Dust in his eye? Some kind of condition? Help me out!! What is that all about?! He called my later in the week and left me a sweet, but not too sweet message asking me out again. The only day he had off enough time to drive all the way up and back I was completely slammed. Irish man's going out of town for a week for a wedding and we made loose plans for sometime after that. Man... He seems so normal. I'm sure in a week I'll be over it and bail on the poor guy. Ah well.

Date #2 was actually the best so far. Trust Fund Baby and I met up for a quick beer and bite to eat at Karl Strauss (seriously loving these super close date locations.) I actually had to squeeze him in in between a bunch of appointments and puppy training class. Having a time limit on a date actually made it a little more fun since there was no awkward trying to leave if we're not into it. Trust Fund Baby is 22(!!!!) - 23 this month - college grad, rowing scholarship which means super broad yummy shoulders and generally hot bod, has a very prestigious job for such a young kid, and lives with his brother in their huge house on Balboa Island right on the water. TFB isn't actually a TFB, but his family definitely has money and he is extremely determined to make his own fortune as well. Honestly, this worries me more than turns me on. I do not want a pretentious guy with an ego the size of Montana. He's also blonde hair, blue eyes, and tan which is generally not my style. I like my boys dirty, pale, tattoo'd, and dark haired. Ha.

Anyway, conversation was actually pretty fun with my giving TFB a lot of crap for all of the above and him totally laughing about it. I gotta remember that while we're basically the same age, maybe there IS a guy out there that is way older mentally than his actual age. The only thing that bothered me is that I paid for half of the bill. As a rule, I always offer, but if they say they got it I don't put up a fight or get awkward about it. Call me old fashioned -- I think a guy should wine and dine a girl in the beginning. Definitely not a deal breaker, but not a homerun either. We had the best chemistry of any of my eHarmony guys thus far. TFB walked me to my car and 5 minutes later I got a text from him wishing me good luck with Tallulah at puppy class. Methinks a boy doesn't text you 5 minutes after a date unless he likes you. He did mention he was going out of town early the next morning for Havasu with some buddies, so we shall see if/when he calls. Decent potential, people. We're making progress!

Om nom Hef nom.

Later in the week I got a wild hair (hare?) to do a little switching up in my apartment. I used to have a chaise lounge in my old place where I always propped my feet up, but my new place is much MUCH tinier so I had to get rid of it. I basically live on my couch working/playing on the computer so I was really beginning to get annoyed at having to put my feet up on a super hard coffee table or sit sideways. Cue the ottoman! The couch I already had has a matching ottoman with storage that I ran out and got. I threw it at the end of the side I always sit on and poof! instant chaise lounge. This of course meant a new, smaller coffee table, which turned into a new throw and pillows. So far, I'm loving it! Lounging around on it as I'm typing right now.

Tiny kitschy living room re-do.


Pretty new pillows! I'm loving the blue one -- it has a map of the world stitched on it.

New mini coffee table with super cute spindle legs and criss crosses.

Tallulah and her new Preppy Puppy shirt approves!

As I mentioned, the past weeks (months for that matter) have been crazy with wedding season. Here is a quick, little look at what I've been doing. I wish my business blog was as easy to navigate as blogger. Boooo. I'll have to get these and the many, many others up there soon too. I have been so, so, so busy and I am so, so, so thankful! If you ever hear me complaining about being tired, smack me upside the head. I've been so busy, I've even had to hire new stylists for my company! It's very, very exciting but so time consuming. I put up an ad and in less than 3 days I had over 100 responses. I takes a lot of time to weed through the portfolios, meet up with these girls, have them do one (or two or three) model trials, and finally assist on a wedding.

The first girl went down in flames. She was my top pick for hair stylists and had her come to one of my weddings that I didn't actually need her help on, but just to see how she handles pressure and reacts at a wedding. She was 90 minutes late, didn't call, or answer her phone when I called. She said the reason she was late was she "misread" the clock at her work. She said it's not a digital one, but one with a face and hands and lines instead of numbers. When we were alone I told her, in a bout of frustration, that if she couldn't read a clock without numbers we had bigger problems than her being late to a wedding. I basically told her it was extremely unprofessional and rude and I won't be working with her. She cried a lot and apologized, but I was pretty stone faced. I don't have the time or patience for unprofessional girls with no consideration for the reputation of my company. Luckily, I didn't actually NEED her to get everything done.

I finished Round 2 of model trials with my second pick and she did really, really well. She actually worked at a company I used to work at, but just a couple years apart. They used to be a huge stickler about timing, so I feel a lot better about her. We'll see how she does at her first wedding with me!

Charmed Beauty Brides:

Jill - Tasha's good friend. Thanks for the referral!!

Chic, structured up-do.

Bronzey look with a soft side chignon.

Soft half up-do with a fresh face and dramatic lashes.

In LOVE with this girl's skin tone.

Can't wait for Pro Pics!