it's the most wonderful time of the year

merry christmas and (hippy) happy holidays, friends.

by now, with my severe lack of postage, i doubt there are any readers but i am going to post anyways.

i recently resigned from my job because i found a new one and timing had it that i ended up with two wonderful (and much needed) weeks off. my two weeks basically started yesterday and i have decided that i am going to craft the time away.

my first project, candy to go with my holiday cards, failed. the molds i used for the candies smelled like silicone and the scent, no matter how long i soaked or how hard i scrubbed them, would not go away. i was so bummed. they were adorable.




my next project went significantly better. i made my own wreath! i am completely obsessed with it and it is now hanging on my door.
it was a lot easier to make than i thought it would be. i just bought a plain wreath at michael's (as well as all my decorative accents) and used floral wire to tie everything down.
i wanted something a bit more simple and with a vintage feel. they had a bunch of random bouquets of twigs, and other things so i found ones i liked and ended up cutting them apart and using each piece of the bouquet separately.
i also bought a bunch of spiral twigs, cut and attached them and then put dabs of glue and sprinkled silver glitter on them to give them a little sparkle.

it was definitely a fun project.










now i'm doing a puzzle. i haven't done one in forever and i am very excited. so far, so good.


i also plan to organize my room, download lots of music and blog.

will keep you all posted on the progress

tacky tuesday is back

tacky tuesday is back. it's been gone, but it's back and it is back with a vengeance (that word is hard to spell).

this photo is from either 1989 or 1990. either way it is frightening. and i mean scarrrrrry.....enjoy.


and thank god i was not old enough in the late 80s and 90s to wear this crap - granted i got stuck in plenty of awkward matching "sister" outfits - but this is scary. it is like an ice skater's costume mixed with a wedding dress in vegas mixed with an opera gown. not a good combo. i don't even think we need to comment on the hair. let's just say it's sexy and be done. ha.

hope everyone has a tacky tuesday.

sissy day!

happy birthday to my sissy!!!



happy birthday to you!
happy birthday to you!
happy birthday dear sissy!
happy birthday to you!

and many many many many many more.


if i could, i would get you


or

or even


but i can't (sorry). so you'll just have to deal with this blog post and the present i actually got you.

i hope you have an amazing birthday sissy and that all your wishes come true. i love you soooooooooooo much!!




xoxo (lil) sissy

behind

ugh i am so behind. i haven't posted since bo jangles passed away and for some reason it is even hard to just type this. i am in a rut and i don't know what to do. i don't like using this to complain but i am not a fan of my job - i am constantly stressed (to the point of constant nausea) and that is all i will say on the topic. oh, and i still don't have my own room. this is getting so old.

last saturday i finally got to go to disneyland! i was so happy! me, sissy, j and k all went and had a fabulous time!

the four of us at disneyland!
and on friday we did a blogger dinner and i finally got to meet a she is such sweetheart! i can see why the girls really like her. it was a great dinner at an adorable (and fabulous) restaurant and i would definitely go back there again.

the five of us at dinner - so cute

so what else?

yesterday was my friend j's birthday, 23. we had dinner a great restaurant called lola's in weho and i will most definitely, without question, go back there again. i had amazing salmon with a few grilled shrimp, fresh spinach, potatoes and mushroom. it was uh-may-zing. their entire menu looked awesome - hence me having to go back.

hope everyone has a great rest of their week, only one more day until friday.

rest in peace beautiful

today we put my girl, mr. bo jangles, to sleep. she has been sick for a while, she suffered a stroke and had been deteriorating ever since. it was a heinous experience but thankfully she is no longer miserable.

rest in peace beautiful.....

idea, amazingness and tacky tuesday all in one

my friend j posted about her grandmother's gorgeous silver. seriously, this stuff is beautiful. well it gave me an idea....i was given my great grandmother's dishes about a year ago and j's post made me want to share.

the color is slightly awkward but those are the dishes. i love them. they are from the 20's and that's really all i know. they make a beautiful table - i used them at my birthday.

how amazing is this??

i got it last weekend. it's blue glass and it's from thailand and it's amazing.

speaking of last weekend....i went to the fabulous getty villa for the first time. it was so beautiful. if you are ever in los angeles you must go visit. it is an absolutely gorgeous museum and has some incredible art.

pitchers

minoan seal

gorgeous tiled fountain

view of the villa from the pool

and now for tacky tuesday.....drum roll please

ok so obviously this is tacky but what's even better is that you can purchase this shirt (and other wonderfully tacky ones) at sunshine and company.


maybe i will wear one with my kate gosselin wig for halloween. that would just be the tackiest of the tacky. in fact it might be too much.

chap stick

i (like my sissy) spend a lot of time looking for the right chap stick. i used to have an amazing one and they took it off the market. it was mint flavored carmex and it tasted amazing and provided incredible protection. since the carmex was no longer an option, i switched to blistex lip renewal (or something like that). well, i ran out and was at the drug store to get a new one and i came across lypsyl...

i'm kind of in love. it has a good minty flavor, comes in a good sized tube and is light and not sticky. i think it's working well too. i've only been using it for about a week but so far so good.

hope everyone is having a wonderful week. two more work days and it's the weekend!! what are you doing for the weekend? anything exciting??

it's tuesday......

and you know what that means......TACKY TUESDAY!

this one is stellar. i must say that when i saw this i almost fell over. it is just tack tack tacky.


yes, ladies and gentlemen, that would be the kate gosselin wig. i have a feeling it is going to be heinously popular this halloween. the question is whether or not she gets some of the sales profits. i hate her and refuse to give her my money. i don't know if i have discussed this before, but i do not watch the show. i think she is a fame whore and i think she pimps out her kids for her own personal gain. hello, book tour?!? the woman wants a talk show. she's not right. but, back to the wig, if she doesn't get money from sales i would totally buy one and dress up as her for halloween. it would be amazing.


come back next tuesday for another exciting edition of tacky tuesday at the shiny penny.

i believe!

jillian and ed are still together! she's moving into his place in chicago! and they plan to get married in the next 12 months! ahhhh! are we going to have our second (i think) successful season of the reality show?? i freakin hope so! i believe in jillian and ed...i really do. and i really believe that they can stay together and make it work (thank you mr. gunn). oh god, now i want to talk about project runway.....later....patience is key. ok, so jillian and ed, i was saying from the beginning of this season that the vibe of the show felt different than past seasons. i believed that jillian was different than every other bachelor or bachelorette, meaning that, i felt that she was looking at the situation differently, especially because she said from the get-go that being engaged at the end of this was not her goal, her goal was to find someone she could get engaged to. well, i think she's a smart girl and she knows what she wants and she's ready to get it. jillian, if for some crazy ass reason you happen to read this (doubtful, but still)......you go get it girl! you deserve it! you're fabulous!

i love you, get the f*ck out of my room……and other random musings, as well as tacky tuesday

not sure if i have mentioned it but i share a room with my younger sister. she is going to be a senior in high school in the fall and to say that we are different people would be an understatement. she’s short, i’m tall. i'm 23, she's 16. she wears her hair curly, i wear mine straight. she's a fan of awkward high-top converse, i prefer fashionable sandals and the occasional heel. she listens to music that is either people screaming or sounds like dying cats, i listen to the beatles and kelly clarkson (amongst many others). i’m a fan of making my bed every morning, she is not. those are just a few of our many (wonderful) differences. i love my little sister, but i want her get the f*ck out of my room. thankfully my wish will soon come true. little sister is moving into our former garage/converted office. my dreams are coming true. at the age of 23 i will finally (finally!) have my own room. woo! now only if i can get a lock on my door….

my digital camera is basically dead. so sad. and what’s worse is that if i want a new one i have to either buy it myself or wait until christmas (december!) or my birthday (may…too far). Neither of those options sound too good. i am trying to save money and kind of just bought a rather large purchase and don’t really want to go spend another (around) $200. note to reader: i probably will, regardless of what is said here.

now, my rather large purchase is…......a new car! i got myself (really, all by myself) a brand new honda fit.

isn’t it so f-ing cute? it’s name is nug. it doesn’t really have a gender...it’s just nug. i used to have a jeep and i just couldn’t stand having an suv in this city anymore. it was chugging gas faster than drunk college girl chugs beer at a frat party. so i decided to get rid of it. i hadn’t initially thought i was going to get a car that day but i test drove 3 cars at honda (the fit was the 3rd...time's the charm) and i fell in love. we are totally bff and nug gets fab mileage. it has a 10 gallon tank and i got almost 250 miles (basically all street) on it in one tank. my jeep had a 20 gallon tank and got just over 200. (math time) so, i spend half as much on gas and fill up less often. i would say that mathematically that amazing and a worthwhile purchase. go me!

and now for tacky tuesday. this one is a doozey. i wish my camera was working so that the photograph was better, or that i could find it online, but i was able to snap a shot with my phone camera. enjoy the tack.



how bad is it? seriously? scale of 1 to 10. 1 being not tacky at all and 10 being “oh my gosh i could throw up and die from the tack.” it’s painful. in case you can’t tell, that is a pastel pumpkin wish fish coming out of it. i don’t know why, how, who, where, what. i know nothing except that it is terrifyingly tacky. so s clearly had to share.

next! woo! tv time! my sissy and her friend were having a convo and her friend said that, and i quote "tv is awesome." i must say that i agree whole-heartedly. tv is awesome.

the bachelorette season finale was last night and jillian chose ed. i love ed! i was sad when he left and happy when he came back. he fits her nicely. if the 'after the final rose' show wasn't on so late i would post this after, but i guess i'll just have to post again tomorrow about what happens.

until then, my friends........

tacky tuesday

happy tacky tuesday




wow....that's tacky.

thirsty thursday

hello there! welcome to thirsty thursday at the shiny penny. thirsty thursday is new and exciting. each week i will post a yummy cocktail recipe for your enjoyment. use them, don't use them....i don't care.

thirsty thursday's origins lie in in tucson at the u. when i was in college, thursday was a huge party night and eventually we got to calling thursday, thirsty thursday. it stuck. now i bring you a slightly less raucous version of thirsty thursday.

here we go.....


i like to call this pompagne (it sounds awkward but keep saying it and you'll like it too)

what you need:
-champagne flute
-champagne (chilled)
-pomegranate (chilled)
-pomegranate seeds (chilled)

to make:
-pour champagne into flute (leave about an inch of space in flute)
-pour (hefty) splash of pomegranate juice into flute
-scoop teaspoon of pomegranate seeds into drink

enjoy!

coming to a magazine stand near you.....the lauren conrad cartoon

well, well, well....look who finally got their own comic book.

oh wait, that's supposed to actually be lauren on the cover of shape. that's hysterical. can you say retouched??

ps - i'm talking about her face, btw......although her body is probably retouched as well.

it's back.....

the daily sexy is back. it went away for quite some time but it's back and this one is damn good.

enjoy!

thank you wired magazine! i had no idea brad was a techie.

coming soon (next tuesday) to the shiny penny is "tacky tuesdays!" get excited! it's going to be epic. i love tack. it's my favorite thing in the entire world, so we will now have tacky tuesdays. now, i cannot take credit for this idea, it was given to me by my sissy and our friend j. the two of them are brilliant.

and remember to follow me on twitter! if you don't have it, get it. it's addicting!!

weekend warriors

happy monday morning, kiddos. the weekend's over. who's sad?? i am!

it was a pretty good weekend. one of my friends from college was in town and i got to see him and some other people. it was really nice to see friends that i hadn't seen in a while. i enjoy a good reunion.

here are some of my fabulous photos from the weekend. the first one is just about the classiest thing i have ever seen in my life.

a two-piece suit for $5?!? hot dog, what a deal! and it comes cleaned and pressed. well, isn't that fancy.

see, now these are fancy. who doesn't love cupcakes? my friend that was visiting from out of town does. so of course we got some cupcakes to celebrate his visit and his recent college graduation.

and how cute is the polk-a-dot one?? adorable.

so, who watched entourage last night? i did! thoughts? i didn't hate it, truthfully. i had set myself up that this season was going to suck but the premiere was entertaining. the biggest draw for me is still ari and lloyd and their relationship. if they get rid of lloyd (in any way) i would be devastated. ari and lloyd were at their best a few seasons ago, particularly where lloyd is still growing on ari. i especially love the one where lloyd is dressed all crazy and he asks ari if he likes his outfit and ari's response is, "you look like michelle kwan in drag." total brilliance.
what's your favorite ari/lloyd moment? or perhaps, favorite entourage moment??

does anyone reading this watch true blood? if you do, yay! how good is it? and if you don't, and you have hbo, you should. i have never been a fan of vampires but this show is good. it's funny, sexy, well written, dark and witty. season one is available to rent/watch everywhere and season two is four episodes in. watch it. it's good. you won't regret it.




who wants it to be friday already??
i do!

twitter

have i told you guys how much i enjoy twitter? i think it's just brilliant and i love that celebrities use it as a means of reaching out to their fans. i also love that most of the time it's actually celebrities. i follow a few but only good ones: ellen (the best!), tina fey (hilarious!!), kevin nealon (doug on weeds), perez (loves it), maroon 5 (obvs), rachel zoe (twitter style tips, c'mon!) and hugh jackman (because's he's hot) and some others. it's fun. it really is. i recommend that if you don't have a twitter you should just jump on the f*ckin' bandwagon and get one. it's fun. deal with it.

and that goes for my friends that read this and don't have twitter. especially newman. oh, and i can put her name on her because it's not her name. obvs. that would be really mean if her parents named her newman.



follow me, friends!!

gross

so today has definitely been one of those days. i am starting to feel sick so i am totally run down and when i got to my car after work i was greeted with my car beeping at me to fill it with gas. now, let me say that my car gets horrendous mileage. i truly mean horrendous....like barely 10 miles per gallon. i also pay for my own gas, so this inconvenience is eating up my money. i went to go fill my tank today and by the time i got to the gas station i had literally 8 miles left, so i was basically filling up from empty, and my goodness was i met with a wonderful surprise. please reference the photograph below.

yes, that does say $55 and some change. and guess what, in about a week, i'll do it again.

also, my friend's interview on the inside dish with ross mathews is up so you should definitely go check it out!

so fierce!

the insider

well, as i've said before, my life is basically uninteresting but my friends (well, some of them) have very interesting lives. particularly my friend L. L is an entertainment reporter and lives quite the fab life. well, she has gotten quite the break. today she was on the insider with ross matthews. the video isn't up yet but you can watch it here so obvs keep checking back.

oh and also, you can follow us both on twitter. we love it.
Me
and L

victimized

i have been victimized! i received a call this morning from my (fabulous) bank's fraud protection number and was told that someone in two different european countries tried to take money out of my account. i couldn't believe it. i am so careful about credit cards and using them online and such. i had to cut up my card (sad) and am now waiting for my new one. i am sad and card-less.

obviously something we hear about it but i never thought that it would happen to me. clearly, i was wrong.


f*cked up.

fabulosity

we finally sat down and did it! we re(re)designed my blog! yippee! and i must say it is pretty fabulous. not only is the girl way cuter with this color scheme but i also have a super cool blinky header. and of course it's all thanks to my fabulous sissy. i could definitely not do it without her. she is super creative and fabulous and this whole blog thing is solely because of her. so thank you sissy. you are fabulous and loved.


you should go over to her design blog and order something.

or perhaps, you would like to follow her on twitter. she's kind of funny. not as funny as i am....of course.

the life

my life may not be very glamorous but i have a friend who's life is. she works as an entertainment writer/reporter and she gets sent on some amazing jobs. the other night she got to cover the young hollywood awards and the one person she was dying to meet was there.....and she got to interview that person. now, she wasn't working on camera that day but that's where she ended up. and eventually, she was on e! news. she got to meet her (american) idol......adam lambert. i would have killed to have been there simply to have seen her reaction in person but this video is a pretty great substitute. enjoy it (below).....the end is priceless.



you can also follow her on twitter.....she always tweets her sightings

you can also follow me on twitter....if you like my blog you'll love my tweets!



you should also definitely check out this video that my friend at girl you so well spoken posted. i watched it this morning and almost fell over. hysterical!

game, set, match.

saturday night in la the spike tv guys choice awards took place. well, one of the greatest "guy" movies ever was inducted into the guy hall of fame, none other than fight club. now, i must say that i'm a girl, but i love fight club. it is one hell of a film. go rent it if you haven't. well, mel gibson was presenting the awar and david fincher (director), ed norton and brad pitt come up on stage to accept the award. everyone walks up and brad goes up to mel and goes, "thanks, sugar tits." best three words i have ever heard. i wish i could have seen it happen, i have no idea what this awards show is.

now if you don't get the joke please read the following: when mel gibson was arrested for dui a few years back, he was arrested by a female cop in malibu. mel, either before or after his hate-filled anti-semitic called the female police officer "sugar tits." i hope that if the officer reads about this awards show that she enjoys her day in the sun and laughs her butt off. i read it and laughed hysterically. i can imagine brad pitt walking up to mel gibson and saying it, it would be brilliant....and lord knows, mel deserves it.

i wonder if angelina had a hand in it? although, she doesn't seem like that funny of a person. brad on the other hand seems hysterical. granted i would love brad even if he had the personality of a piece of cardboard.




happy monday blog universe.
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fabulous friday!

well, it's not technically friday here but it's ok. it's time for fabulous friday and this way i know i'll get it done! i meant to do it last week, i really did. i even had the picture on my desktop ready to go, but of course, i just never got to it. but this week's is good and i am very excited!

fabulous summer tv show!

my fabulous summer tv show of choice is, of course, weeds!

so excited for june 8th!

in homage to fabulous summer tv shows i would like to state my real favorite summer tv show. it was only on for a summer was billed as a "coca cola summer premiere"........young americans. it was fabulous. it starred kate bosworth and katherine moennig, amongst others. i don't know if any of you watched it.....besides me and the sissy, of course.

the basic gist is that there is a group of students at a private academy for the summer. there's drama and it's good.




hope everyone has a fabulous friday
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bone to pick

so everywhere i look i am reading that kelly clarkson is fat. ok, so kelly is not a size two. big flipping deal! she's gorgeous and she has talent.....buckets and buckets of talent. give the girl a break. go harass the tarts that don't. like jessica simpson and lindsey lohan. go tell lohan she looks like she gained a few and needs a juicy burger...............................see, wasn't that fun? now leave kelly alone.



and while you're leaving her alone, you should download her album. it's awesome. particularly "i'm ready."

fabulous friday

could this fabulous friday be any more perfect for me??? my sissy did a great fabulous friday post today! i am just going to say that she chose it specifically for me because i do a lot of fabulously (not so smart) things. the only question now is, where to start??

well, there is the time that i put a burning candle under a shelf. or maybe the time i put paper in the toaster. oooh, there's also the time that i decided to make a grand entrance on parquet floors clad only in stockings. clearly, none of those things ended well. truthfully, i have too many of those types of moments to keep track of but here's a pretty good one....
so when i was in the first grade i had a huge crush on a boy named k. i also had a diary - after this i did not have a diary. well i wrote in my diary, very poetically, mind you, "dear diary, i love k. but he does not know it that i love him." my sissy of course harasses me about this passage till this very day. i like to think i was a young romantic and budding poet. or maybe not so much.

and then there was time that sissy was with me and she said that she wished that she could run like a gisele (instead of gazelle)





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yay!

here it is! the present i have been waiting for.


my crosley keepsake record player. it is a 'keepsake' because it has a usb connector so i can upload all of my records to my computer. it is also totally portable and is a great size. kind of excited! i got it yesterday, courtesy of my fabulous father (or pops as i like to call him) and have already listened to some of my favorites. the first thing is played? the beatles magical mystery tour, specifically penny lane. for those who don't know, i am huge beatles fanatic and penny lane is my favorite song and is also the inspiration for my blog's name. the name came to me out of nowhere one day and stuck. i love it.




penny lane is in my ears and in my eyes

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birthday extravaganza

this birthday has been pretty fabulous. i got to have a great low-key bbq with some of my closest girlfriends, went to a fabulous dinner with my mother, sisters and great aunt and got some pretty great stuff too.

let's start with some concert photos. oh, it was the robin thicke and jennifer hudson concert. it was fabulous and fun!

j hud looks absolutely gorg and absolutely preggolicious.

shaka kahn showed up and then earth, wind and fire came out to sing 'happy birthday' to j hud's manager

birthday flowers. i really just wanted low and fat bouquets of white hydrangeas but of course m could not find such things and came home with this. it totally grew on me and i can't wait to dry out the lilac.


little sis got me an amazing gift! an original vinyl recording of the grease soundtrack. grease is one of my favorite musicals and the record is in fab condition.

sissy d got me a couple of really great things

a journal. i am going use it (as i said to d) "to write crap in." ie: lists, notes musings etc.

custom stationary (choc brown + green)

a seal and purple sealing wax (because my aura is purple)

and a vase and candle......sissy said she is going to get me sand. we will see how long it takes (just kidding....but seriously)

my mother got me the 2nd best present


yay for a grownup big girl wallet.....it needed to happen. i've been living out of a credit card case and small-ish clutch bag.

tomorrow i get my best present! i will post what it is once i have it and can photograph it!!!



THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR THE BIRTHDAY WISHES. IT MEANS SO MUCH TO ME AND I HOPE (IF YOU ARE A NEW READER) THAT YOU COME BACK AND KEEP READING. I PROMISE I'M FUNNY AND I'M NOT ALWAYS SO SELF-CENTERED.







much love!
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