Saying Goodbye to Apartment 302

Goodbyes are always bittersweet. If you want to get cheesy, you can say it marks the end of one story and the beginning of another. However, in the end, even the tiniest of goodbyes always make me sad.

Today, our dearest Mari and Bao said sayonara to their super cute apartment #302. And it was funny because I think I was more upset about it than them. It’s not like they lived together for that long, but I just felt that these past couple of years, the girls and I did a lot of growing up. And I felt, a lot of my personal growing up took place at their lovely apartment.  And Bao and Mari sure knew how to make me feel welcome!

Their apartment was really cute. It was a charming two bedroom with really nice tall ceilings. (You can see Mari’s old room somewhere below^^) I remember laughing with Alisa when we saw the (ugly) seafoam green railings, but other than that, the apartment was so perfect for all our little GNOs and all our get-togethers with the gang.

Well, the girls threw a goodbye Bari Apartment (Bao+Mari=Bari) at my request (how sweet of them), and yes, I was the last one standing…or more like, last one out because I knocked out cold on the floor. The night was pretty much a blur, but I don’t remember the last time I had so much fun just talking nonsense for so many hours with all our good friends. I bet if Alisa ever reads this post, she’s gonna roll her enormous twinkly eyes and call me a drama queen, and yea, I’ll admit to being a big ball of melodrama. But I just wanted to take this time, before I went to bed, to pretty much log and close this part of our girly history with each other. So don’t hate.

Group shot in the tiny kitchen.

View from Veranda

Mari’s cute bedroom.

Clair

Beautiful decorations! I think Alisa took the lead on this one.

Jason and Garrett

Bao, Jason and Mari Fruit – kawaii

Mari takes a bite of her first dinner at #302 and vows to only wear clothes that match the front door.

So goodbye lovely apartment #302! We will miss you along with the overpriced ikea couch, super old-fashioned, tiny silver TV from the ’80s, your double-paned windows and beautiful seafoam green door and railings! (and I will probably get killed for posting all these pics…)

Super Cute Play Rug

Do you have adorable kids? We don’t! Not that they’re not adorable…it’s just that we really don’t have kids.

But if we did, I’m sure Alisa would buy this super cutie patootie 3-D Play Rug for us all! Otherwise known as activity rugs, these lovely pieces of fabric will no doubt create an endless amount of joy and genuine good ol’ play time for your beautiful children.

Forget traditional doll houses and Micro Machines (do they still make those?) Give your kids a chance to play with an entire city. Teach your little ones the rules of the road and why traffic jams and accidents occur. If you have a darling princess-y type little girl like our dear Bao, you can smile and sigh while you watch her eyes light up as she goes crazy with interior decorating and organizing her purses and shoes.

And the play rug is a true space-saver. All your kids need to play is a few horses, houses, people and some props, and they can sit there for hours, interacting with their fellow children-kind. So before toasting your child’s brain and body with inactivity and television, make sure to give these adorable 3-D play rugs a shot!

Alisa calls them, “Rugs so cute, it will make you want kids.”

Inspiration from Bao’s niece, Kyla Madison Grant – pictured ever-so-cutely below <3

Kyla in her stylish outfit (check out the gold sandals!)

Obviously, we just like showing her off because she’s so cute.
Thanks to Bao-Thy for these adorable pics!

3-D Rug pictures courtesy of lmnop.com.au

Renegade Craft Fair – San Francisco

As I mentioned in my previous post, the girls and I went to the Renegade Craft Fair which took place at the Fort Mason Center Festival Pavilion in beautiful San Francisco.

The fair was pretty crazy and packed with tons of people. Our group totally got separated a bunch of times, but that’s actually when we spotted all the super cute items. Okay, well maybe Mari spotted them

The cutest item on our list was these super duper omg cutesy colorful kitten shaped crayons. They were so adorable, and the booth was bustling.

They are called Kitty Baby Love. We actually found these online also, so click here to purchase!  They are sooooo cute!

We thought this lady with the gigantic pin cushion on her head was pretty cute. Her coworker without the pin cushion was totally jealous that we didn’t take a flick of her.

Screaming mini toast in moss. I don’t know what the purpose of this item is, but it’s super cute, and I think the picture looks pretty cool.

Cute oversized scarf. Very kawaii.

Take a look at these adorable plant labels. I don’t plant things, but I thought that giving a cute plant with one of these labels would be a sweet gift.

Mini paintings! Mari and I swore we will one day make these. By the way, Mari is actually a really good artist of cute items. We’ll showcase that in another post one day.

Funny and cute eye masks. The “piss off” one is totally for Alisa.

The girls looking at the most adorable hair pins and clips. They were flowers made of felt. I think Bao bought a little one for her baby niece.

The big pink one was adorned with Swarovski crystals and cost about $45~$50.

Random gingerbread felt plushies.

Going to places like this really makes you see just how talented so many people are. Thanks for finding this place, Alisa and Miya!  And thanks for driving, Jen.  You found the best parking spaces, haha~

For more information on the Renegade Craft Fair coming to your area, check out their website at www.renegadecraft.com.  Click the San Francisco link for more information on the artists from this post

Beautiful, Colorful Pasta

Jazz up your summer pasta entrees with this unbelievably beautiful pasta by Pastificio Pozzo del Re. The rainbow colors will simply astound you. Each color is actually indicative of different all natural ingredients like spinach, tumeric, red beet, tomato, carrot and red peppers. How clever! The pasta is also very flavorful.

La Table de Nana, one of Alisa’s favorite bloggers, prepares this pasta with shrimp just perfectly. The below description is taken directly from her blog:

We baked the shrimp in the oven while I was cooking the pasta. In a saucepan, I warmed some EVOO and butter..added fresh garlic,red chili peppers from Italy….some lemon juice and white wine.. ..Reduced it all .. then quickly added the cooked shrimp..loads of chopped fresh parsley from my little herb pots..and lots of grated lemon zest..tossed w/ the pasta.

The scrumptiously delicious looking pasta below is the result:

Omg, drool…

Click Here to Buy  – a bit pricey

Introductions are in Order!

I’ve just been blabbing away these past few weeks, but it looks like it’s time for some intros. I talk a lot about Bao, Mari and Alisa, but who the heck are these people?

Well, let’s start from the top. These three gals are my best friends for many years now. We’re simple girls living throughout LA and we all enjoy cute things, whether it be fashion, makeup, technology…pretty much ANYTHING cute.

Bao, aka Baoie, is our awesome trend-setter and dance machine. She’s a tiny, short lil one with a supreme sense of fashion. She also has some amazing pearly whites. Her claim to shame is going to Disneyland and not being able to find California Disney…

Mari, aka Mar, is everyone’s big sis. She takes care of us with magical beverages. She can sniff out cuteness light years away and her parties always rock. She pronounces “pancakes” as “pain-cakes” which I always found quite funny.

Alisa, aka Ari, is my bff since age three.  She is the epitome of a Scorpio with a touch of Martha Stewart. Bet you never met one of those before.  We are polar opposites. Why are we friends again?

I’m Cindy, the organizer/planner with an obsession for cute gadgets, diamonds and things like Milk Toof. A lot of people love to vent to me, and I can listen to their grunts and moans for hours. Sometimes I wonder if I’m just a nice, caring person or simply amused at other people’s misery. I hope it’s the former…

G is the techy, web guru working all the code behind the cuteness. He doesn’t get enough credit and for some reason, doesn’t want to be associated with this site. I can’t imagine why.

Please don’t hesitate to say hello sometime… <3 <3

We always have waaaay too much fun with our fobby poses.

Sexy Denim Leggings

We love skinny jeans. They make a simple t-shirt look super cute. But sometimes, we’re not so in love with the super tightness of the fit…especially in the waist area after our GNOs…So Alisa suggested the trendy Denim Leggings. I didn’t even realize she wasn’t wearing REAL jeans, and wow, they looked really good on her.

So I happily ordered a pair of black BDG Denim Leggings from Urban Outfitters. They are super cute, totally gives you the skinny jeans look and are mighty comfy. I especially love the high waist on this pair.  I like to wear these denim leggings with a long white or gray t-shirt or long loose tank (with or without a graphic) and flats for a casual look or a long, dressy black tunic top in my new Seychelles heels for a night out. Love them!

Click Here to Buy

Cute, Colorful Sundae Spoons

The girls and I were able to enjoy a nice little dinner for Mari’s birthday. We started off with some drinks while chit-chatting to catch up on our latest updates. Everyone looked very cute, and Bao was even wearing the Mixed Charmed Bracelet from Forever 21 and rocked it in her recommended oversized t-shirt and skinny jeans.

We quickly moved on to our favorite part of birthday dinners: GIFTS.  Mari got a lot of cute, practical and very useful gifts such as a mini travel blow-dryer from Brookstone, Luckies Zipper Pulls, a large silver shower head and an adorable strawberry plant that sits in a little egg.

My favorite among the gifts was from Alisa. Her gift included these SUPER cute, candy-colored, acrylic Sundae spoons from Crate and Barrel. I absolutely love sundaes, smoothies, ice-cream, parfaits…pretty much any kind of dessert so I turned into the green-eyed monster when I saw them and vowed to get my very own set. And it’s perfect as they are on sale on the Crate and Barrel website. Only $3.95!

Top-rack dishwasher-safe

On sale for $3.95 (regularly $4.95)

Click here to buy