antiques roadshow

my mom & I got tickets to the antiques roadshow when it came through town yesterday. she took an old book that she'd had since childhood & I took my great grandpa ace's pocket watch. it was a lot of waiting around in long lines, but we finally got to talk to the appraisers. the book was only worth about $30. we were told the pocket watch was french & made around 1850 & was very rare, due to it's thinness. it's 18k gold, but because my great grandpa used it every day (he rode the bus for all of his errands & was always checking the time), the face was quite worn & therefore not worth as much as it potentially could have been. he appraised it around $2,000.  guess I can't quit my day job. 

 {the moment of truth...}

{one of the twins! we also got to see mark walberg... that's walberg, not wahlberg, unfortunately}

 {inside of the pocket watch, which I had never seen before. anybody know french??}

cousin matthew crawley

remember when I said watching the downton abbey wedding episode was like the best thing ever? well I lied. obviously, meeting cousin matthew IN PERSON is the most awesome thing ever. I went to nyc to visit my friend kristin & we got tickets to see a play on broadway called the heiress, starring him, jessica chastain (from the help) & david strathairn (you know, the dad from the river wild). the play was excellent, especially since we moved from our balcony seats to some empty seats in the second row after intermission.  

afterwards, we hung around the stage door waiting eagerly for cousin matthew (yes, I prefer that to his real name, "dan") like teenagers at a justin bieber concert. we all screamed & jumped up & down when he emerged from behind the door & my camera flash was going off like I was a paparazzo. he was so humble & sweet & gave autographs & posed for photos until everyone in the crowded had seen him. his british accent was pretty dreamy & I even gathered up the words to tell him I was impressed with his american accent in the play. 

oh yea, & jessica chastain was also gorgeous & so incredibly sweet as well. here she is signing a program for my friend kristin. what a night! 

inspired by: a royal wedding

not that royal wedding. the downton abbey royal wedding, of course. you're gonna hate me in about 2.5 second, but I watched the first episode of season 3 last night. yes! a friend sent me a link in an email that looked totally sketchy with instructions on how to view the first episode that just aired in Britain. I got some gross pop-ups of naked lady spam & I probably some kind of virus on my computer during the process, but it was worth it. I don't want to post the link because I am still a little unsure of how safe it is, so I thought I'd do an "inspired by" post instead of some things you can look forward to seeing at royal wedding. you will swoon, for sure. 

royal wedding details here

breaking bad: season five

robert & I got hooked on (or should I say, addicted to) breaking bad really late in the game (why hadn't anyone told me about this show before?!). we started watching them early this year on netflix &  got through all 46 episodes in an embarrassingly short amount of time.  we then spent the rest of the year anxiously waiting season five to make its debut on tv. so when the time finally rolled around, we figured we should celebrate in a big way. luckily, there are a few other nerds out there like ourselves who got dressed up for the occasion too. plus blue meth (rock candy), wads of (fake) cash and a delicious dinner catered by none other than los pollos hermanos, "yo."

{fat stacks + blue}

{breaking bad bingo inspired by this website}

{jesse + walk + tio salamanca}

{the bear from the plane crash + heisenberg}

 {the bear from the plane crash + heisenberg + pregnant skylar}

  {in our storyline, tio is holly's real baby daddy}

mad men: season five

eeek! I am so giddy that mad men is finally starting again. I've been watching it since the very beginning, but last season was just so good, it made the wait for season five so much harder. in honor of the season premiere, I thought I'd post some very old photos of the mad men christmas party my agency threw back in 2008. this was seriously the most fun I've ever had at a work event (and we had lots of parties at this place). 

{photo credit: amc}

{robert channeling pete campbell}

{a christmas smooch}

 {there were lots of inappropriate things done to the peggy & don cutouts. and I'm pretty sure a few girls actually made out with don. can you blame them?}

{amanda looking hot with her candy cig}

{I wish I remember what song they were signing}

{did they know how to do the soulja boy in the 60s?}

royalty

my mom put together the cutest hat box full of vintage goodies for my sister & me to wear for the royal wedding last friday. because if you can't be royalty, you can at last pretend like you are. did anyone else wake up at 5:30am to watch the wedding like I did? I loved every minute.
 

the royal wedding

anybody else getting into the royal wedding? I just can't help it. maybe it's because I really wanted to marry prince william in high school. but once I saw how happy he & kate were together, I accepted fate. sigh. I actually happen to love kate & feel a bit sorry for her & all the scrutiny she's under (don't you love that I talk about her like she's my bff?). I think this wedding graffiti rocks. 

xoxo, gossip girl

ok, I confess. I've watched an episode or two of "gossip girl", a.k.a. the most ridiculous show on the planet. I mean, are we really supposed to believe that NYC is filled with spoiled-brat-private-school-teenagers who have last names like "van der woodsen" & ride to school in limos, sip martinis & hang out at burlesque clubs?

hopefully not. but when I saw this group of cackling school girls crossing the street in NYC last week, it made me laugh.

don't judge

we all have stupid obsessions. I mean, maybe I'm 28 years old & my favorite tv show still happens to be beverly hills 90210 (the original, duh). and maybe my main motivation for leaving work by 5pm is so I can catch the last 30 minutes of 90210 on soapnet. and maybe the highlight of my year was meeting jennie garth at a car show when I was twelve. and there might be a chance, that when visiting los angeles for only three days, that I made my husband spend one of them driving me around to all of the 90210 locations. don't judge, okay.

with the help of this absolutely amazing website (I would seriously donate money if they had a paypal button on their site), I was able to see all of my favorite 90210 locations. if you're not a fan of the show, you won't understand my excitement (sigh). but if you are (you are awesome), I posted some photos so you can share in my childish amusement. baa-baa-ba-ba, baa-baa-ba-ba - (phap, phap)

{"it's dylan. you know the drill"}

{I'm leaving room so that robert can photoshop dylan's porsche in front of me}

 {welcome to casa walsh!}

  {ok. don't get too upset. but the peach pit is now a japanese restaurant!}

and in case you didn't get enough 90210 in this post, a very important day is coming up. yea. that's right. 09.02.10! and of course I'm having a party. will share pics after the event. 

jeff lewis is back!

anybody else out there getting excited about the new season of "flipping out" starting tomorrow? I've missed jeff lewis' sarcasm, neuroticism, anal retentiveness, paranoia & obsessive-compulsive behavior. and jenni & zoila, of course. maybe this season he'll actually let them go #2 in his bathroom... 

regardless, the guy's got amazing taste. I love the way he's renovated these places:

{valley oak patio}

{commonwealth kitchen}

{valley oak bathroom}

{los bonitos}

I'll leave you with jeff's beverage order: “70 percent lemonade, 20 percent punch, 10 percent sprite. If they don’t have punch, do like 85 percent lemonade, 15 percent sprite. If they don’t have lemonade, do like 85 percent punch and 15 percent sprite. or 7-up.”