mtv vma's 2011 thoughts

i hope you all watched the 2011 mtv vma's on sunday! here are some of my thoughts:

fashion

hits

 

victoria justice



beyonce

katy perry

misses

nicki minaj, sorry to say :(

deena from the jersey shore

justin bieber - just terrible. and the snake??

almost

britney - would have been fabulous with different shoes

selena gomez - not a fan of the demi-maxi skirt

lady gaga's opening performance

lovelovelovelovelove
as a former lady gaga fan, i had grown veryvery bored of her lately. it's the same old thing - the wow factor and the shock value. it's like gaga - just be a good performer and stop covering your talent with dresses made of raw meat.
but tonight, i loved her performance! the monologue at the beginning was so original and i love how she stepped outside of herself and into the 'joe' character. i was also relieved that she didn't try and do some crazy wardrobe change before the performance.

beyonce's performance

i have to admit i fast-forwarded my tivo during her performance. i don't mind beyonce, but i wanted to get past her to see more action. luckily, i pressed play right before the end of her singing and just in time to catch the cuteness of her showing off her new baby bump. didn't you die over jay-z's reaction? such a precious moment!

britney tribute
there was a britney tribute? i saw all the little girls dancing to her greatest hits, but i think i missed the star-studded tribute to one of the biggest pop stars of all time..


amy winehouse tribute
i wished russell brand would have been more focused and organized, because he was kind of babble-y; but you could see his sincerity and his honesty. the footage of amy recording with tony bennet was very sweet, and the bruno mars performance was a nice celebration, i thought.

awkward moments
when i realized the dancers in the britney tribute were all little girls
when britney's achievement award acceptance speech turned into beyonce's performance intro
when i realized i have no idea who tyler the creator is
cloris leachman with the jersey shore girls
how i didn't even know the show was over for like 10 minutes

cakes that come in a cup

soooo yesterday was our friend, bryon's, birthday, and today is my friend carmella's birthday (she just got married, remember?!) and i baked some cupcakes in honor of all the birthday celebrations!

no, i did not use that jack daniels in the cupcakes, lol!

naked cakes

icing time!

baking is tiring work

my favorite kitchen assistant

yum!

back in action

hello lovies..

so i am well aware that i've been slacking on posts lately. trust me, i feel very terribly about it!

it took me longer than anticipated to bounce back from my new york trip, but i think i'm finally back in action and ready to get this shit started!

here's what you can expect in the next couple of days:

some special birthday shout-outs

thoughts on this year's mtv vma show

the few pictures i took in new york

plus showing you what i mean by working a trade show

and of course some other goodies <3

ps. head over to sometimes sweet to check out her black & decker steam mop contest!

slacker

 

i apologize for my slacker-ish ways as of late. i haven't been able to bounce back from my NY trip as quickly as i had hoped, which has been reflected in my lackluster blog posts. i think i might take a short hiatus; i could use the time to finally clean the apartment (since it didn't get done while i was gone..) and put together some worthy posts for you guys.

in the mean time, enjoy this picture of a kitten in a hammock:

30 day photography challenge: days 16-20

here's a recap of days 16-20 of the 30 day photography challenge over at baby a photography:

day 16: a photo experimenting with light trails

day 17: a photo with street lights

 
 day 18: a photo depicting an emotion

day 19: a photo that involves landscape

day 20: a photo of what ever i please

make sure to check baby a every day for a new photo!

until next time..

<3 alaina

flying home!

good morning all! my coworker and I are waiting to board our flight home to LA!!! ps this is also the first time I've ever blogged from my phone, which is.. interesting. anyway, can't wait to be home with my man and my pup, and I will be sure to update you all on my trip! until next time.. Alaina <3

is it thyme to cook with carey?

we are such bad, bad people, carey and i..

so, i'm still in new york, but come home tomorrow thank the good lord jesus..

but unfortunately, there wasn't any time before i left to plan a meal with carey :(

carey's sad face

august just wouldn't be complete without one of carey's fantastic creations, so she'll be back next thursday the 25th with something delectible for ya'll!

the people in your neighborhood

 

explore the faces of new york

30 day photography challenge: days 11-15

here's a recap of days 11-15 of the 30 day photography challenge over at baby a photography:

day 11: a black and white photo

day 12: a photo experimenting with bokeh

day 13: a photo edit that i like

day 14: a photo focusing on eyes

day 15: a photo of what ever i please

make sure to check baby a every day for a new photo!

stayover relationships

i came across an article that had a headline that was something to the affect of the relationships that young people have these days are 'slowing the path to marriage.'

apparently, research shows that stayover relationships are on the rise. stayover relationships are committed relationships in which the couple does not live together. somehow, this results in delayed marriages for couples who maintain separate households.

so why are people staying over at their boyfriend or girlfriend's house and then going home the next morning? control. for these young adults that are "going against the social norm," one of the most attractive aspects of delaying 'moving in' is that they can control their possessions and the pace of the relationship.

want my perspective??

randy and i live together, which most of you know. i moved into randy's place 2 weeks shy of our 2nd anniversary. in our relationship, it is tough to say how things would be different if we didn't live together now, especially in the context of stayover relationships because i've never really lived on my own. after graduating high school, i went to san diego for college and lived in the dorms with a roommate for a year. then my second year i was in an apartment with 3 roommates, some of whom were revolving (it was a hellish experience, but that's another topic..). when i decided to move back home after 2 years is SD, i moved in with my parents, which came with its own challenges. then after living with them for about a year, i moved in with randy and his roommate left. so i've never kept a household on my own.

liz - my first roommate

obviously i would much rather live with randy over any of the other living situations i've had. but would i ever want to live on my own? i think i would want to, but in the end i don't know if i could do it. i know people who live completely on their own with no roommates and love it. but me, i get lonely so easily, that i don't think i could do it. with randy's work schedule being so different from mine, i'm alone a lot in our place so i get enough 'me' time, but knowing he'll be walking through the door 5 hours after i get home from work is so comforting.

as mentioned above, the reason people delay moving in with their significant other is control. do i feel like i have no control? sometimes. but to be honest, i attribute that to gender roles more than i do the fact that we live together. the next step for randy and i would obviously be engagement. but do i get to decide when that happens? no, because randy and i are far too traditional for me to ask him to marry me; i never saw myself down on one knee, no offense.

i think the thing that gets lost in our relationship is the 'newness.' yeah we miss each other all day and it's nice when we both come home each night, but going on dates isn't the same, having dinner together isn't the same, and sleepovers aren't the same as they were when we weren't both under the same roof. it's so easy to become too familiar with someone when you live with them, and i think that's the part randy and i are navigating through right now. i've been living with randy for about a year and a half, and the honeymoon phase is definitely over. when i was bringing my stuff from my parent's house, i wasn't thinking, "i can't wait to ask randy not to fart in front of me and to do his laundry every week." but one of the best parts about being with randy so much is that i'm also living with my best friend. every night we laugh and talk and joke around and make fun of each other. sure we could definitely still do that if we weren't living together, but there's just something about creating a household together that strengthens our commitment to each other and warms my heart about our relationship.

so do i wish we had a stayover relationship? nope. do i think living together is for everyone? nope. do i think randy and i are delaying marriage? i sure hope not.