First Snow!

This is what we woke up to this morning...

Oi Peixinho Bonitinho!

Please say hello to our new pet Peixe (pronounced Pay-shee), which means fish in Portuguese. He is a beautiful orange iridescent beta- I think he is posing as a goldfish to appear sweet and innocent, but I know better. At first he was a little afraid and pretended to be sleeping every time we went to look at him, but now he does laps around his tiny globe house at lightening speeds (it was hard to catch a good pic of him). Even though he is probably the most low maintenance pet around, Alysson has so politely informed me that I'm a very bad fish owner [and Christmas tree owner] and they would die if Aly wasn't here to feed them! hahaaa.. sad but true.. But I love them still.

A New [York] kind of Thanksgiving

We had a very New York holiday weekend. We have had tons of fun (if it weren't for the horrible cold we ALL caught! -Thanks Aly! haha..). I love the new traditions we are making here, but also miss being close to the rest of our family and eating an amazing dinner and tons of leftovers! MMmmm pie...This weekend we were supposed to be at my Mom's house in Star Valley, Wyoming. I love it there! Its so far away and beautiful and so completely opposite of where we live which is so AWESOME. My Mom, stepdad Curtis, and little bro Ian live on a farm where they have an organic store and make their own herbal products. They have horses, dogs and a million cats! I was so jealous that Elliot, Rochelle & Josh and Kendra were going and we wouldn't be there to eat too much and snuggle up to watch Elf after dinner. Instead we free styled our own New York version of a cozy family holiday.

Aly and I couldn't afford to fly to Wyo, and neither could little sis Claire, who goes to college in Virginia, so she came to spend the long weekend with us. After about 9 hours in a car, metro, and greyhound, she made it to NYC at 3am on Wednesday morning. I took Wednesday off so we could hang all day. So nice to have my little baba sis with me.
Thursday we got together with our New York family- Chris, Michael & Kelly. We went to a tiny cute restaurant in the east village called Knife & Fork for a prefix Thanksgiving dinner. It was really yummy, but we were sad for no leftovers to make turkey sandwiches later in the night.

After dinner we headed up to Central Park despite the sprinkles that were dropping on our faces. We got to the ice skating rink after it was dark and thankfully the rain had stopped. I was PETRIFIED, but ice skating was actually really fun! I didn't even fall until our very last lap. My toe pick hit and I went sliding on my belly for about 10 feet. Kelly was laughing at me so hard that she flipped and fell too! haha. I wish we got a picture of us both on the ground soaking wet.. Well, at least I have the bruised knees and hips to prove it! Aly looked so cute with his skinny legs in the skates! After that adventure we went back to M & C's house to make snacks and watch movies.

Last night we went out to dinner with the fam again to a yummy brazilian place in the east ville and on the way back to the train station we found a tiny christmas tree lot on the corner of Houston street. Aly bought me the smallest one in the lot (I've been talking about getting a Christmas tree for days so he totally made my night!!!) Aly named it Florenzo. hahaa. Here is the "before picture". We are going to mish out to Target in a while for decorations and I'll post an "after" pic :) I'm sure it smells so great in here- wish I could smell anything (stupid cold!!). We downloaded some christmas music this morning and got out our favorite Hanson christmas album- its a tradition at my Mom's house to dance and sing to Hanson on repeat!

It's been a great weekend, I'm so bummed that tomorrow is back to reality and baba girl has to head back to VA. But, the best part is that Christmas is only 3 weeks away!!! Or 4, who's counting?? Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!! I'm so thankful for my family and friends and can't wait to be with everyone again soon. Love you!!

It Feel like Atlanta, it feel like LA, it feel like Miami, It feel like N-Y

Here's a list of some goods & bads about living in N to the Y
Pro: Living with deebs and our mini family- Michael, Chris, Kelly & Abby [dog].
Con: Living so far away from all our family and friends in Cali, Wyo, Utah :(
Pro: Don't have to drive.
Con: Mean cab drivers who try to ruin my day.
Pro: Everything is close by & convenient
Con: Why are plane tickets to Cali for xmas so expensive????
Pro: We're closer to Europe!
Con: Why are plane tickets to Wyoming so expensive??? (seriously more than a flight to Europe?.. come on!!!)
Pro: People love to come visit us here!
Con: It's sooooo expensive here!!!
Pro: Being around people of all different cultures who all accept eachother (mostly).
Con: Hot wing leftovers on the sidewalk, subway, etc. what????? who does that..
Pro: Love my job!
Con: Life is ALL about work.
Pro: Girls in my office who have Valley Girl accents even though they're from the east coast..
Cons: Not getting to hear my favorite linguistador's Sarah & Nicky talking real Cali valley everyday..
Pro: Great food, so many cute little restarants to try! mmm... sushi, latin, BRAZILIAN!
Con: Mexican food here is either really disgusting or really expensive (and not really mexican)..
Pro: Get to dress for all 4 seasons
Con: It's FREEZING!!!

...To be Continued

Wish List Pt. 1

My family always tells me I'm the hardest person to shop for. Weird, I've never had that problem myself..?? haa.. When gift time comes, they have no idea what to get me and I can never think of anything I want.. I can come up with all the boring things I need, i.e., proactiv, a vacuum, a swiffer, underwear, snow boots (cute ones if possible) & i can never have enough [black] tights.. But that's no fun- who buys proactiv or swiffers as a gift?? (I seriously did ask my mom for a swiffer for my bday cuz hey, Target is not so easy to get come by in New York!! ..Not in Wyoming either, so uh, that was dumb..).
The truth is, at any given moment, I have a about a million dream items in my head, and listed allover my little pocket journal things that I really want to get for myself! (I'm not completely selfish, Alysson can share too :) I daydream about them all the time and pretend I'm saving up for them...
So, I decided to put it out there in a new series called Wish List with the idea that maybe this will work like The Secret.. You know, where you put out the ((positive vibes)) and talk about things you really want/need and then they come to you! Yay, oh, i hope it works. Here goes..
Part 1
1. Make my house look like the Park Hyatt Seoul, Korea. See pic above. I stayed here last July on a work trip and was in **heaven**. The whole place is amazing- I walked around taking pics of every corner and like a million of the shower- weirdo! Oh well, then, I stalked the girls at the front desk until I got all the info about the beautiful space chair by the window.
1a. Cassina 123 Verdana Lounge

*completely obsessed. It folds up too. And it's soo comfy!! I'll be saving for this for a while.. maybe forever.....

1b. Cool gradient rug I found on Allmodernfurniture.com.

I already got this pretty light from DWR that looks like the tall ones they have in the room.. haha.. obsessio overboard? maybe.. For some reason, I really love feeling like I'm in a clean hotel room with soft white sheets! Maybe it's because our apartment is the size of a HOTEL!!! haha, that's it. I'll post pics once it's all finished. Oh, and.. I'll post pics of our rooftop to try to entice all of you to come visit us! It's the most beautiful view of the city!







Coming soon on the Wish List series..
Part 2. *Chanel boots*-Must find knock off's asap. Infact, shopping for knock offs on ebay and in Hong Kong might become a whole series of it's own..
Part 3. *Neon Light Sign* for my wall- What should it say? "Abbie <3's> Alysson"? "Open"? Or just a picture of a parrot? haha..

Love you All xoxoxoxoxo...........Mariah Carey

**UPDATE**As Chris, my style manager, put it "that rug is sooo ugly".. So that idea is out.. good.. that will save me some money. Our shiny black coffee table arrived and now the warm lodgy feel like the park hyatt hotel is not working since our house is all black and white.. hmm.. we're thinking maybe NO rug, and we just need to get some decorations like pictures and stuff.. but i'm still saving up for my dream cassina chair!!!PS.. THANKS MOM FOR THE BEAUTIFUL VACUUM!!!!! I've been using it everyday :))) yay!!

1 Day To Go...

Hi Friends & Fam!

I've almost made it through my Fall 08 deadline which is tomorrow!!! It's gonna be a late one tonight!! My new job is like quadruple the amount of work than I had at Oakley. We're designing a huge line, AND doing all the development with the over seas factories. That means 100+ emails a day from Asia on top of all the drawings and fittings.. Not to mention we do 4 seasons/year instead of 2. I'm not complaining! I totally love it!! But it keeps me so busy and at work until 11pm a lot of nights. Alysson is getting used to it, which is SAD! But I'm learning so much and work with the best people! See pics of me and my work besties Jenna and Ramon. Our new fave thing to do at work when we are delirious and need a break is to pose for pictures in our oh so beautiful midtown office.

There is so much I've been wanting to write about. I'll start posting this weekend once I have time: Alysson just finished 2 new animations that are HELLO GENIUS! so good, I can't wait to share them (I'll be acting as "proud mom" and posting all his work until he makes his own blog!).. Also, need to brag on my bestie Michael and show some pics of his beautiful collection.. Libs is coming to town next week! Can't wait to see her mini bump and her proud hubby Peter..... When are the rest of you coming to visit???

Love & Miss you all!! xxxooo

Life of a Revolutionary Thinker

One of the many fun things about living with the genius that is DB (dreamboy) is coming home every night to behold his latest creations on paper and computer. He is a creative mastermind! I'm in constant amazement of how he visualizes his ideas thinking of every tiny detail that will make the image authentic adding his signature quirkiness and style in every corner. Did I mention he is hilarious? I was cracking up when i saw this and watched it 10 times!! Entitled "Bad Manners in the Dining Room"

Yeah.. Maybe trying to get a girl tipsy and lookin her up isn't gonna fly.. haha, I'm loving the sound effects!!! Not to mention the music is one of my fave songs ever- Kings of Convenience, "I'd rather dance with you".
We are twin nerds so we're constantly showing eachother our new tricks, shortcuts and skills on the computer and critiquing eachothers drawings. I'm thoroughly impressed at how quickly he acquired maaaajor skills with animation! Soon he will be going to work in the blossoming industry of motion graphics. The next 2 years of art school life will surely be exciting and inspiring, but I can't wait to see who snatches him up after graduating.. MTV? Bravo? Hope so.. Loves me a bit of Top Chef! hehe. . Or maybe have a small firm of his own art directing all sorts of projects. Fascinating :)

"The Family that Blogs Together, Stays Together"

Hi Friends & Family!!!

I had to get in on the blogging fun!! Yay! I love reading all your blogs: Dad & Mary, Grampa, Claire, Aunt Kelly & Michele, cousins Rachel, Kathryn, Joyce, Lizzie, Lori, friends in Utah Kels, Libs & Vern! So much great entertainment when I need a break from work..
My dad helped me decide on the name Smalls in the City.. My nickname is Smalls (since I look like the little boy from Sandlot.. yeah, i said little boy..) and I'm living in New York City, far far away from my precious family and all the things I love in California..

I'll be blogging about my life here and all the "interesting" experiences that come along with this crazy city, working long exhausting hours (fashion is not as glamorous as you think people!), yet loving my job, my progress I'm making furnishing our apartment o' love (i'm obsessioo with it..), karaoke with the twins and kels (weekly event), life with my sweetheart genius twin nerd boyfriend Alysson, and sharing all my latest obsessions- furniture, fashion, ebay and beyond!

In my head I'm always thinking "I wish I could write a blog about what just happened to me and see what everyone thinks". That's how I knew it was time to blog baby.. We'll see if anyone even reads this! haha..

Now back to work.. I have a long night ahead of me!!

xoxoxoxo