Monday, January 30, 2012

[We Had a Ball.]


So I went to a ball. Normal, right? I sort of treated it like adult prom, hence the ginormous living room photo shoot that occurred before the event (thanks roomies). Didn't even take any pics at the actual ball--trying to be cool, you know? But it was kind of a magical night. How can you not adore a boy in uniform? As I walked down the stairs to greet him, "Tale as old as time..." was definitely playing in my ears (I just saw Beauty and the Beast 3D in theaters, okay??), and maybe for a second I felt like a princess. At one point the lieutenant literally swept me off my feet to carry me over some rough terrain (like that army speak there?), aaaand I basically died. 


This LA girl hasn't spent any time around the military (we worship film producers, not army generals), so this was a glimpse into a completely foreign world for me. I loved the ceremony of it all -- glad to see something like that is still alive in this world of ours. There were eight toasts before the meal: "I propose a toast to our Commander-in-Chief." "To the President!" "I propose a toast to The United States Army." "To the Army!" "I propose a toast to The Engineer Regiment." "Essayons!" "I propose a toast to the ladies." "To the ladies!" etc. Generals spoke, awards were given, a lot of "Sir"s were thrown around, army songs were sang...and I loved it all. Such a wonderful night, literally a highlight of my life. 








And then, after a brief hot chocolate stop, we went bowling at the military base, of course.


Turns out that bowling straight and not tripping on your dress are mutually exclusive concepts, which I discovered after uncharacteristically bowling like five gutter balls in a row. So, like the classy broad I am, I hiked it up and proceeded to dominate. In a loose sense of the word.

Thank you, Lieutenant. :)

Sunday, January 29, 2012

[Ball sneak peek.]

Last night I went to an army ball. LOVED every second, especially the pre-ball photo shoot (you know I love me a good posing opportunity...).
Took a million pictures, claro, too many to sort through now, but for now here's the dress and the man:



Yes, that's a bronze star. #legit
More prom...er, ball pictures later.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

[Get some tissues.]

"How easy it is for us to forget how to smile. It's easy to forget. But it's even harder not to love."



Definitely lost it somewhere around the two minute mark...

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

[Two Tunes Tuesday: Midnight.]

some songs about midnight
this is gimmicky, a little
but i love them both
and listen constantly
and i like the lyrics
(but then i only ever love songs when i like the lyrics)
you probably know these
i hope, at least the second
oh - and
you are not to read into these
as always
.



Tuesday, January 24, 2012

[New Year's Eve.]

This is late. Whatevs. I present to you New Year's Eve at la casa Milan.

I warned Mick that spending New Year's with me wasn't spending a hot night out on the town, but rather ringing it in with a night of my crazy family and a four hour card game and kids and Grandma Katies everywhere...and still he drove eight hours just to make my little day. A good egg, that lawyer man... By the end of the weekend, my sisters and Grandma were in love with him, Indiana Jones the dog was his best buddy, and he had a card move named after him {to "Mick", loosely translated: to consistently draw the worst possible cards, dooming one's team to failure}. Meanwhile, high on Diet Mountain Dew, I busily plotted my kidnapping of the adorable little man pictured at the bottom of this post... For now, must content myself with him and his picture perfect family being our adopted white relatives. Everyone should be so lucky.

The game {Hand and Foot}:


The kids, 15 yrs - 26 yrs {minus Ayrten-slash-Kelly, wayyy too cool to party with the family this year}:


The betrothed children, 3 yrs - 12 yrs {do you SEE that love in her eyes already?}:


The super hotties {the moms}:


The 10 deck shuffling {*someone* has graduated from Georgetown law but still can't quite shuffle properly...}:


The sneaky cheating {caught on camera, don't deny it}: 


The mocking Milan for not being able to count her own cards {it just takes me a second, okay?!}:


The real man of my night {no words...just...adorable}:



All in all, probably one of my favorite New Year's Eves ever. My people are the greatest. And any excuse to wear gold nail polish really will always take the cake. Happy 2012!

***

Also, while we're on the New Year's subject...enough people have asked, so I feel like I should clarify: my 2012 suggestions post was written to me, by me. Wasn't a letter from someone else, as some wondered. Relieved that I answered that burning question, aren't you...

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

[Two Tunes Tuesday: Fallen Empires.]

Snow Patrol's latest album, Fallen Empires, came out last Tuesday. I suppose you can make fun of me for liking them, but I'm not sure why you would because they're kind of really good. I once chilled with them back in the days when I had a life and met lots of musicians, and they were really nice and charmed me with their cute accents, so I've loved them all the more since then. The basic jists of each song, in snippets of their lyrics, are: "You've been up all night, and the night before...and your friends keep calling, worried sick...don't keel over now." and "Just some simple kindness...This is all I ever wanted from life." and "Your words have never left me. They're the prayer that I say every day."

Hm. Songs sound really stupid when you extract their lyrics. Maybe I'll condense it even more in my own words: "Get a hold of yourself girl," and "I just want a nice little life, and babies," and "Come back I love you." 



...even more stupid. 

So maybe just listen. On youtube, because the blasted videos won't play on my bloggy blog. Sorry.


Also, unrelated, but always relevant, some Kobe love for everyone:


That is all.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

[grown up dress up.]


Grown up princess dress up is fun.

Especially with Vera.







...your heart out.

_____



"i would like to court you milan. a lot."
"you just like me in that dress :)"
"no i like you when you're in your pjs in your house. i like you in skinny jeans and a sweatshirt. i like you in everything except lakers apparel."

Monday, January 16, 2012

[I miss it.]

Take me back. 
It's happier there.

Friday, January 13, 2012

[Christmas Eve.]

Just a quick glimpse at Christmas Eve at la casa Milan...

Things you (don't really) need to know:

  • In our annual Nativity play, I'm always, always, Mary. Obviously.
  • Mary definitely wore a red cape exactly like the one I'm wearing. And baby Jesus definitely resembled a miniature Santa upon exiting the holy womb.
  • Since high school, I've always imported our favorite Jewish individual, Daniel (affectionately known as D-Hor, even to my grandma), to be my Joseph.
  • We also have him hang up our Star of David Christmas tree ornaments.
  • He loves this.
  • Normally, we all receive matching (or at least coordinated) Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve.
  • This year, we received matching red staplers.
  • We didn't love this.


[Meet me at Bottega Louie!]


My new happy place has been located, people. Over the holiday, Lauren came to see me in LA and we frolicked our way downtown to Bottega Louie for macarons and girl talk. Is there anything better than hours of chatting with a best friend over multicolored deliciousness, IN LA?? I think not. I highly recommend it for all your macaron-eating and people-watching (slash celebrity-stalking) needs. As soon as I can make my little way back across the country, I'll be returning immediately. Who wants to go with me??


Wednesday, January 11, 2012

[Two Tunes Tuesday: Lost and found to be with you.]

Two songs, one new, one old. One just shared by a friend today (thanks Wendy!), one an all time Milan favorite that I've loved for years and have had on repeat for the last couple of weeks. "Lost and Found" is sweet and sad and pretty...you know, my fave...and isn't completely irrelevant (hence the friend recommendation, I suppose...). Meanwhile, "To Be With You" just never gets old, even when I'm listening to it for the 13th time in a row. Agreed? Agreed.




***

This is kind of a lazy Two Tunes Tuesday, but I'm basically dead. I went to bed at 6 a.m. this morning after spending hours editing a certain mister's business school application essays, only to lose some key edits in a freak 4 a.m. computer crash. Luckily, I was able to remember them all and work them back in...just in time for a 5 a.m. computer crash! Cobbled the essay back together again...and then I crashed, finally, at 6 a.m. to the sounds of my early rising roommates getting ready for the day. Two hours later, woke up and dragged my body to work. Worked on more of the essays throughout the day and tonight. I'm pretty sure I can now say that I've applied to business school too...will make it easier when I actually do apply for myself (next year maybe?!?) 

Brain.DEAD.

Friday, January 6, 2012

[2012 Suggestions, Not Resolutions.]



Keep up the reading. You’ve already read two books in 2012, so you’re off to a good start, but don’t pull a you and fall off the wagon. Force yourself to read fiction, because it’s the only way you actually get out of your own head, and you desperately need to do that right now. Force yourself to read non-fiction, because there’s a world out there beyond sparkly things and paintings and your heart that you need to understand. Keep your subscriptions to Vogue and Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone if you must, but you liked Business Week in high school and the WSJ in college, so maybe add one of those too.

Keep discovering new (or new to you) music. Over the last couple of years, you’d forgotten how alive it makes you feel. Remember when you used to go to shows a few times a month? Find a friend who loves seeing live music as much as you do, and start going again.

And how about running a little more? You always have grand ideas about starting up an exercise regime, but you really hate it so you always fail. But anything is better than nothing, which is why you ran one little mile last night and why you’ll run another this weekend and another next week. And it wouldn’t hurt to work on your abs a little too, ya know.

While we’re on the subject, Chubs, let’s lose a little weight. You've gained sooo much since you moved to DC, and it’s gross. Your recent the-boy-I-was-going-to-marry-broke-up-with-me-and-stopped-speaking-to-me-overnight-and-then-started-dating-Kristin-Krueger-right-in-front-of-me diet over the last two months has helped you drop 15 pounds like *that* (everyone should try it sometime!), but the whole too-sick-to-your-stomach-to-eat thing won’t last forever, so you’ll need to figure out another, more healthy approach soon.

Keep trying new things. They don’t always have to be big and they don’t always have to involve crooning in front of a crowd, but they should be things that are hard for you. You went to a stranger’s reception last week—your knee jerk reaction was to refuse, because you hate big groups and strangers, and weddings are particularly painful these days, and the combination of the three is your worst nightmare—but you went, got to play with sparklers for the first time, grew closer to an amazing person, and enjoyed yourself. And this week you posted a video of yourself playing piano to the world (or the three people who have watched it), which was terrifying, but you did it. Push yourself. It’s hard, but you’ll be better off.

And let’s think about bulking up your religious studies a bit. You’ve had the daily scripture reading thing down for years—it’s important to you and your life is like night and day without it, so you’re not going to stop. But there are other things you can be reading too, like General Conference talks and biographies of your religious leaders and even texts from other faiths, that will teach you and help you grow. Also, last semester, you committed to completing an Institute class from start to finish for the first time, and you did it! Now let’s do it again.

You’re so lucky to have the friends and family (and roomies!) you have, but you need to take care of them better, because that’s really why we’re all here. You’ve been wrapped up in your own little cocoon a lot recently, and it’s kind of understandable, but the time has come to check yoself—you and your little life are probably not the biggest deal in the world (what?!), but helping and loving others, even and especially beyond your circle of friends and family, is.

Finally, let’s think a little more positively, shall we? Because of just one person, you’ve been feeling pretty badly about yourself for the last little while, dwelling on all that is wrong and negative and crappy about you. And it’s been made clear to you that there’s plenty. But every now and then it wouldn’t hurt to try, even though it’s hard, to remember a good thing about yourself, okay? If nothing comes to mind, start with your teeth. You have good teeth. And, bizarrely, manicurists always compliment your nail beds. So...... you have that going for you.


You can do this. 2012, let's go.


(P.S. It also wouldn’t kill you to start brushing your hair every now and then or do laundry more than four times a year. Just sayin’.)

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

[Back to December snapshots.]

Before I move on to the Christmas vacation photos and New Year's resolutions, a few snapshots from my December DC happenings:


row 1: Christmas tour of the White House // my baby turquoise tinsel Christmas tree
row 2: a Chic Coco Christmas party // A Christmas Carol at Ford's Theater with Chad
row 3: a Georgetown basketball game // my special new diet dew goblet, prezzie from the roomie
row 4: a stupid question // a good question
row 5: more Christmas at the White House // photo shoot before Tim's office party
row 6: an evening of tapas + flamenco dancing // happiness comes in kate spade boxes