four on friday.

{late nights here}

last week, i decided to pull a little inspiration from emily schuman over at, 'cupcakes and cashmere' and write out a list of five inspirational bits of the week. well. instead of doing five, i think i would feel much more excited/happy if it was made four. as you know from this post, it's my favorite number. long story short? every friday from here until the end of my bit of blogging time {that will hopefully be a long way away!}, i will be posting four special moments from the week. 

they may be sweet memories, exciting travels or the simplistic {annoying} complaints of a college student. feel free to leave something special that happened during your week in the comment box below. my followers are my favorite people {pretty much ever}, and i adore hearing from you!

 {tickets to an oh-so close dancing tour!}

 {light curtains tied with lace}

{the "finding nemo" exhibit at the el capitan theater}

is it autumn?

{we're still doing this in my neck of the woods.}

due to the fact that today was around ninety degrees, i'm having trouble with the fact that it's supposedly, "fall". my mama has called from nashville and bragged about their chilly weather, but california is still nice and sunny. {the nice part is debatable}being a november baby, this is really difficult for me to deal with. my fall weather is going to be cut down to a couple of weeks...and i'm not happy. especially since my journal entries tell me that my school pretty much flooded last year around this time.

what in the world is happening?!?
since i feel like my world is falling apart, i have to comfort myself with bits and pieces of autumn. {i know, i know. another list. but i'm tired and it's late and you know you love 'em}

- pumpkins are on sale at the grocery store
- i changed best friend's name to, "Meredith Grey" in my phone, which means fall tv seasons have started up
- nighttime is getting chillier
- getting under the covers is now necessary at bedtime
- lemonade is on sale
- people are planning halloween parties{?!?!??}
- gas is going down, just a little bit ;)

has fall come to your town? it's time to share with LA, everybody! ;)

the {im}perfect ponytail.

i am not very talented with my hair. up until high school, i would beg my mother to pull my scraggly blonde hair up into a ponytail, and curl it for my dances. i didn't buy a straightener until last month, and i can't use a curling iron for my life. yes, yes. you can laugh. how does a person {woman} get to the age of twenty without using those hot and scary styling tools?

honestly? i don't know.

i either didn't care, or was just too lazy. i would much rather sleep for another two hours then spend it on my bathroom counter singeing my bangs and scrubbing my face with powders. but then of course, every time i do it i have the time of my life. ;) Make-up is fun, and so is pretty/celebrityworthy hair. i just don't have it very often.

{this is how i should have spent all of my high school years. with my hand right...there ;) }

my battle {or lack thereof} with hair made me think about all my other +weirdo quirks, so here's a {baby} list:
1. i love plain celery. a lot. yes, you read that right. all. by. itself. {collective gasp}
2. i'm still scared when the closet door is left open at night.
3.  music is always playing when i take a shower. it's usually country, and then i commence to singing into my razor.
4. i only drink 2% milk out of a glass. {and usually a wine glass, at that...}
5. when i take my clothes out of the closet, i always bring the hanger, too. which is dumb because then it ends up on my floor for a week.
6. i find the counter to be a perfect place to sit, at any time. and much to the chagrin of my father.
7. i still hide a little bag of chocolate chips under my bed. {i'm still doin' it, mama!}
8. four is my favorite number {4}, so i like to make lists/live life in multiples of four. case in point.

my best friend had to help me make my  list, but i would absolutely love to hear from you. anything quirky/fun that you think needs a little airing out?

too many plans.

so...i went to work on my second, "make it your own" post. but then i realized that best friend had sorted laundry all over the floor, my closet was a mess and the trash was still in it's place. i don't think you want to see that ;) i'll be posting the next in my little baby series next monday, when my home is once again clean and photo worthy! for now, i've made this space my own with some clutter. great.

instead, i decided to do a blurb on san francisco. i'm headed back next week to spend some time with my grandma {shh! she doesn't know yet!}, and to spend some time in that gorgeous city by the bay. i've always loved it, and my heart catches when i see the bay bridge, think of powell street or the embarcadero. i'm sad that i live so far away now, but it's neat to know that there are so many other cities out there to explore.

i first visited when i was four months old, which was fitting, because i would be a bay area kid for roughly ten more years. after we moved {and i moved out}, i started making trips. it wasn't very far, and the theaters called my name. i ate lunch under the golden gate, and walked crissy field. i was introduced to amazing street vendors and tumbled my way down the filbert steps of telegraph hill. tip number one? throw away your map. i found these stairs by accident ;)

i've run up and down the hallways of city hall, toured a million coffee shops and had the best pizza in the richmond district. my camera fairly exploded with pictures of the golden gate, and i've lost myself quite a few times up and around all of those crazy hills {in a stick shift, no less}. san francisco was the place where i went to clear my head in college, and after the move to LA, where i took those who had never been. somehow, it never gets old. it's a place that's different every time you go.

what about all you lovely people out there? i left my heart in san francisco, but where have you left yours?

 {go here.}

 {bring your walkin' shoes.}

 {don't be afraid of the parking}

{change your life here}

making it yours.

i am not a fan of ikea. i know that there are a million different men/women/children that will swear by it, but honestly? i just can't. i find the furniture is a bit too stark, and all of the rooms are based on organization rather than the idea of bringing your own personality out through design. sure, i'll buy a bed frame {guilty}. but then i painted it and strung fairy lights over it and made it my own. you don't have to spend a ton of money to make something drab cute, you just need to spend it wisely.

due to my utter disdain for ikea, i thought i would dedicate a couple of posts this week to the subject bringing a bit of you through your space.

first up?
the room everyone wants to forget about. {the bathroom}

i like to keep my counter clean and neat, with only a couple of little tchotchke's. make sure the necessities {makeup brushes/soap} make an appearance as well as those pretty perfume bottles, and you can add tiny touches like toothbrushes in a mason jar. functional+cute. even though you might not want to brag about your bathroom, i promise. fresh flowers and candles? make it so much nicer. {and better than ikea. i'm not biased! ;) }

 {homemade pamela soap, seen in this post}

 {the versatile mason jar}

 {perfume bottles}

 {makeup brushes in glass jars}

 {little french flowers}

{everything together: girly/neat}

five on friday: 'cupcakes and cashmere' style.

in honor of the lovely emily schuman {she was absolutely darling, by the way!}, i thought that it would be neat to create a list of five pieces from this week that were inspirational, or just plain exciting. if you follow cupcakes and cashmere, then you know that she puts together a blog post of her week highlights on friday.
i'm a fan of that idea, obviously. so here are a couple of my sweet moments from the last week in september.

what about you? anything that inspired you this week?

{getting to meet emily in beverly hills}

 {the pretty details on a new necklace}

 {falling in love with creamy peonies}

{calm and cool sunday afternoons}

{bruschetta with mozzerella+sundried tomatoes}

book signing.

this blog post is short because i am extremely excited. why, you ask? igettogotoabooksigning!!!!! okay, okay. a little slower now...i get to meet emily schuman of, "cupcakes and cashmere" and get my book signed. all with her signature gold pen, no less. and yes, i realize that the photo above makes me look like i'm five. especially since my messy room provides the perfect backdrop. i should stop watching "grey's anatomy" and actually clean it...

i'm going to fight traffic on the 405 at rush hour, and make sure my outfit is a bit more fashionable than skinny jeans and a t-shirt because this is kind of a big deal. i've seen my favorite novelist, so now it's time to meet the first blogger I have ever followed. i was reading a "glamour" magazine a couple of years ago, and she popped up as a blogger to watch. thus, i have followed her blog ever since. it's been so much fun/inspirational. she literally teaches me how to dress...and make pasta for summer. it's great.

what about you? who are your favorite bloggers?
is there anyone you would fight rush hour LA traffic for? ;)