january round-up

the rest of january was full of all kinds of random moments.  while still on winter break from school, the bean went back to millennium dance complex for some fun dance lessons:

and we were lucky enough to catch my friend amber during at least one session.

i picked up the crochet hook and followed a pattern to make this:

and while it looks like - well, let’s just say it - giant anal beads, with a few twists and flips it turned into this.

the bean and i realized that the delicious boba shop we’d discovered in nyc has a couple of locations in so cal, so we made the trek out to alhambra.  

the hub and i started going on morning walks together - we’d walk around the block a few times, or venture out a little further to grab a coffee at a local indie shop.  they were fun little dates, and it was nice to spend that time together.

the bean and i met up with the getalong gang to continue an annual tradition of getting together around the new year for some korean bbq.  unbeknownst to the kids, we decided to have everyone show up in matching kirkland sweatshirts.  they definitely cringed once we gathered and they realized what was going on, and we got a few looks as we talked and laughed through our meal together.

do you remember the party i attended last year where we were asked to dress as pop divas?  this year, the theme was “barbie.” this should have been an easy one for me, but i went through a few different ideas (thanks, amazon) before settling on one i felt comfortable enough to go out in public in.

january was also the start of “7ish at 7ish,” which is a 7:30am sunday boot camp class with anywhere from 4-7 of my best friends (depending on who’s available to show up).  we meet at a gym in pasadena and get our asses handed to us by my friend trish’s personal trainer - and then we pick a spot to go for breakfast immediately afterwards. heh.  this was our first session:

the class is always challenging, and we usually trade messages throughout the week about how sore we are.  but as much as we bitch and moan about it, i think most of us are secretly enjoying it…or, at least, are proud of ourselves for sticking it out. 

and here’s a random picture in my favorite hoodie to close it out.

in my barbie era

as well as i think i know my child, the bean finds ways to surprise me all the time.  i was super amused to learn that despite their distaste for barbie dolls throughout their childhood, the bean was really excited to see the barbie movie.  even funnier to me was the fact that they owned far more pink clothing than i do, and pink is my favorite color!  

while we were out in the burbank area on the day we went to that disneyland memorabilia exhibit, i decided to stop at the warner bros. studio store because i'd seen somewhere that they had a barbie pop-up shop.  you don't have to buy a ticket for the tour to shop at the store because duh, they won't say no to taking your money.  they even let me park in the structure for free while we shopped, and then we stepped into the elevator.

they made it really easy to find once we got out of the elevator and went through security.

photo op!

it was fun to browse through all of the movie-themed merchandise, and of course we picked up a few things to take home.

we browsed inside the store too, but i managed to hold myself back from snagging anything from the extensive "friends" merchandise area.

we did throw in these "ted lasso" biscuits even though i've only seen a couple of episodes.  the old lady was the first to crack them open and we were both pleasantly surprised to find that they were really delicious.  kind of like a thick, chewy shortbread that was just the right amount of sweet.

i really wanted this barbie swimsuit to work, but it just didn't fit right (nor was it particularly flattering).  i tried it on just long enough to snap this quick selfie and then packed it back up and sent it right back before i talked myself into keeping it.

i'd managed to secure tickets for the bean's circle of close friends for a sneak peek showing of the movie the day before its official release (apparently i really love seeing stuff before the general public gets to).  and because i'm extra like that, i decided to make myself an outfit to wear.  i had enough fabric to make myself a couple of different options that looked great on the hangers, but not on me.  boo.

and so i took them both apart and did some careful cutting, which resulted in this.

here's our barbie movie 'fits:

and we managed to score some of the exclusive movie merchandise when we got to the theater.

the movie was just as fabulous as we'd hoped and dreamed.

and then afterwards, i got them to stop for a quick group shot before everyone went their separate ways.

it's barbie's world, we just live in it

so the moment i found out there was going to be a world of barbie experience in l.a. i set up a reminder in my phone to score tickets the second they were available.  this surprises you not at all, amirite?

the old lady was a huge barbie fan back in the day, so i knew she would totally be down to go.  what i didn't expect was that the bean would also be interested - they were most definitely not the doll type when they were little.  in fact, the bean was damn near anti-barbie back then.

but i wasn't gonna argue it...an afternoon in santa monica with both of my kids immersed in the world of everyone's favorite fashion doll?  yes please!

it was pretty cool and cloudy when we arrived at santa monica place, but since we'd be indoors i wasn't too worried about being cold.

once we scanned our tickets in, our first stop was the build-your-own-barbie station.  i'd bought one and figured they could just share it...haha, like small children.  they were given a handful of options for the basic doll (hair and eye color, hairstyle and simple outfit) plus two more clothing items, three accessories and two pairs of shoes.  not surprisingly, they worked well together and seemed to be satisfied with their end result.

plus they got this fun shiny tote to carry their new doll in.

when we finally entered the life-size dream house, there were lines to see everything and predictably, a shitton of little girls and their doting parents who wanted to stop and take photos of them at every opportunity.  

the bean paused to peek inside barbie's refrigerator.

and with no hope of getting a decent photo in barbie's closet, we settled for a quick selfie.

barbie's pool was open, but with a very long line to even take a peek so this is as close as we got.

and this is the only shot i got inside the theater, where there were barbie animated movies playing on loop.

the line was surprisingly short to take pictures in barbie's camper.

and - well, yeah.

the "paul mitchell-sponsored beauty salon" was...not what we were expecting.  instead, it was a virtual try-on mirror thingy that kept us occupied for about 30 seconds before we decided it was super lame and walked away.

i really wanted a picture in front of this wall of tiny shoes, but it was not to be.  i just took this from a distance and cropped the kid standing in front of it right out.  heh.

there was a bunch of retro memorabilia that was pretty fun to look at.  barbie's come a long way and done all kinds of stuff over the years.

the bean, who is rather hesitant to actually get behind the wheel now that they have their learner's permit, said that if we could find this car in real life they'd be willing to drive it.  uhhhh...sure.

there was more stuff upstairs, too.

once we'd had our fill of shenanigans, we made our way back downstairs and past the camper, where the bean paused to "play some music."

of course, there was a gift shop at the end (where we picked up some very pink barbie hoodies) and then we were outta there.  the old lady was beyond over it and breezed right past while the bean and i took this.

so...yeah.  i just saved you the price of a ticket to the world of barbie.  you're welcome.