Goody! Hair Accesseories That Work!

Have any of you seen the Goody commercial with their latest product, the Spin Pin? I did a few months back and was on the hunt looking for this baby that claims to provide the perfect bun. After visiting several stores, I found it at Target, bought it, and tried it out.

My verdict: love it!

The package comes with two Spin Pins, one for the top of the bun and one for the bottom. You simply twist the pins into your hair and they hold all day long. You just have to make sure you get 'em in there. As the commercial claims, one pin really does take the place of several bobby pins!

I am still playing around with my Spin Pins, trying to master the messy look. I don't know why the cool, disheveled style is so hard for me to pull off. You'd think it'd be easier since it's supposed to look like you did it in 30 seconds! Story of my life ;)

I highly recommend this product to those of you who like to wear your hair in buns. OR, if you're like me and don't necessarily wear your hair in buns very often but want a quick and easy way to style your hair before heading off to work. As part of the Goody Simple Styles collection, the product is right on the mark.

Check out the ways I've used the Spin Pins:

What do you think about buns? Chic or too granny-like? Or better yet, granny chic?




Photo courtesy of: Walgreens

Red, White, and Blue

Photos courtesy of: Gold Canyon Candles, Martha Stewart, bellasugar, Target

Pretty Little Liars

I have a confession. I am obsessed with a show that was designed for 16-year-old girls...and I am 26. But I'm not alone! Pretty Little Liars on ABC Family seems to be doing really well in it's first two weeks on air. In fact, Kate, of Nautical by Nature, and our pal, Amanda, even set up a PLL viewing party this week. We re-watched the first episode, followed by the second as we chomped on pizza. Good times!

Based on the book series created by Sara Shepard, the show chronicles four female friends (Spencer, Hannah, Aria, and Emily) who used to be five, until the fifth, Allison, goes missing. The remaining four lose touch and grow apart - that is until Allison's body appears a year later and they all start receiving threatening text messages from "A". Is it her? Is she really alive? Or is someone playing a cruel joke on them? That's the mystery that drives the show!

This new phenomenon has all the makings of a Gossip Girl-esque show: cattiness, hot guys, privilege, and most importantly, drama...in every sense of the word.

So far there have only been two episodes, both of which have been great! Pretty Little Liars definitely leaves you longing for more. It seems that each week is going to be a mini cliffhanger. If you need any info, ABC Family has you covered. You can even watch past episodes online. If you want to follow on Twitter, they are @ABCFpll. And of course, be sure to follow me @jointhegossip ;)

Who else is watching?

On a side note...I am out of town for work this weekend. I'll be at The Underwear Affair in Edmonton! When I get back I'll reply to comments and visit your blogs. Have a great weekend =)

Photos courtesy of: ABC Family

Cruisin' the SF Bay

And for my final vacation installment...San Francisco!

My last day in the Bay Area was dedicated to the islands surrounding SF, Alcatraz and Angel Island specifically. First was Alcatraz, and my first time at a prison! I am a huge history person, so I was so thrilled to be at the prison that held Al "Scarface" Capone. It's "The Rock", the legend. It was quite eerie, almost like being in a haunted location. I know this is ignorant, but since I had never been to a penitentiary I had no idea just how small the cells are. Forget the other crazy inmates, you'd think the claustrophobia would be enough to make criminals think twice before committing crimes!

An operating prison from 1934-1963, there are no known escapes from the island. Called The Rock because it's a small island protruding from the frigid waters of the San Francisco Bay, a few inmates got far enough as the water. The handful that got away were never found. Did they make it, or drown? Nobody knows...

We had a great time here! It's really a beautiful little isle. In fact those that worked for the prison lived here with their families, many of which had a fondness of their world known as Alcatraz.

Next we hoped on a ferry to Angel Island, also in The Bay. This is a smaller island, but is one that has a beach commonly filled with picnickers and sailboats when the weather permits. So adorable! For this tour we got on a tram with the history narrated to us. I learned that this place where people now camp for the weekend, was once the Ellis Island of the west. Many Asian immigrants came here upon their arrival in America. I had no idea!

It was so peaceful taking a trip around the island. We learned about times gone by, all while taking in amazing views.

If you are in the area, I recommend you visit both islands. At just over $50 for five hours it's well worth it. I even enjoyed the ferry ride from island to island. My hostess gets motion sickness and had to sit inside for the trips (the longest of which was just under an hour), but I spent my time standing on the deck admiring the SF experience.

Needless to say, my 3-day weekend was awesome! I had a fabulous time and am eager to go back. Next time I'll probably focus more on the city itself, checking out all of the neighborhoods.

The Sweets Truck

LA is huge on food trucks. Angelinos like their grub tasty and they like it on the run. From The Grilled Cheese Truck to the Kogi Korean BBQ Truck, we seem to have it all.

And how do we know about these trucks? Twitter - it's a revolution! You follow these trucks and learn where they are at any given moment. And they are never idle. Some of them visit several locations in one day.

That's precisely how I found The Sweets Truck tonight. I was browsing through recent tweets and saw that this bakery on wheels was literally across the street from my apartment. After following for months, they were finally in my neighborhood. Awesome!

I walked over to the truck, browsed their goodies and was about to order a carrot cake cupcake when the helpful "trucker" suggested the cupcake's cousin, whoopie pie. She explained that they are delicious and offer more bang for your buck. Sold!

Oh em gee! That was probable the single best dessert item I have tasted in my entire life. No joke! It was so moist, rich, delectable, and fresh. I could taste the the juicy dark and white raisins. Perfection may just be an understatement.

Follow @TheSweetsTruck on Twitter to get your sugar fix! And if you aren't following me yet, please do so @jointhegossip!

Hangin' With Hippies

As we continue the vacation recap, part two leads us to Berkley! Being a SoCal girl, I didn't even realize that Berkley was 1. near the water, and 2. by The Bay Area. Needless to say this was my first time visiting and I was quite pleased.

My friend graciously took me to Berkley's 4th Street for a wonderful brunch at Tacubaya where I indulged in chilaquilies. Mmm love this dish but you can't find it many places. Chilaquiles consist of sautéed tortillas in sauce topped with scrambled eggs, cheese, and sour creme. Tastes better than it sounds...and looks in the pic I took =)

I expected to see hippies everywhere in Berkley, not the case. I am sure there are still some lurking but I didn't see any haha! I did see a lot of amazing shops on 4th street. There was a Crate & Barrel Outlet, an adorable decorated Benefit Cosmetics, and even a Papyrus store! And then I saw the "naked man" who I had to take a picture with!

After 4th Street we headed up to UC Berkley. It's like it's own tiny community within the city. All of the street signs are in Cal blue and gold colors, there is basically a forest that engulfs the campus, and the school is situated on top of a hillside with the most incredible views!

You can see the entire Bay! From Oakland and the Bay Bridge to San Fran and Golden Gate, it was all right there for us to take in. It really is mesmerizing.

The pictures don't do the view justice. Unfortunately it wasn't a very clear day due to June gloom down on the water. I actually learned that from June until October it's really foggy in SF.

Next to Berkley is a town named Claremont where The Claremont Hotel is nestled in a hillside with another view of The Bay. This grand hotel was a megan mansion turned hotel and spa in 1915. I would love to stay here. All of the history and elegance. Of course it's not cheap!

The second half of the day was celebrated with a BBQ at my hostess's home. I didn't know anyone so I may have had several sangrias to become more social hehe. I had a great time though and after everyone had shuffled out we headed down to the water to take a walk. There is a little marina with sailboats basically in my friend's backyard and I was in heaven! One day I'd like to live in a little seaside village on the East Coast...of course for summers only because I think I would die in a New England winter!

Again, thanks for staying with me for the long vacation post! One more recap to come.

Photos courtesy of: The Claremont Hotel and my camera

Nautical By Nature Blogger Meetup

Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending an LA blogger meetup/trunk show hosted by the amazing Kate of Nautical by Nature! I had a wonderful time. Her home was beautiful, the other bloggers were awesome, and the trunk show featured the cutest kid's clothing!

We sipped mimosas, ate the cutest, most delicious cupcakes made by Angela of Sweet Tea Diaries, socialized, and had an all around blast. The top photo is of the yummy cupcakes. One of the girls, Amanda, told me about the iPhone app Hipstamatic at the party. It takes cool looking pics so I bought it on the spot and this was my first picture!

(Angela of Sweet Tea Diaries, me, Julie of Angry Julie Monday, One Fabulous Mom, and Kate of Nautical by Nature)

(Angela and me)

(Kayce Hughes clothing)

(Amanda, Angela, and Kate)

(Julie, Amanda, Angela, and me)

Photo credits: Nautical by Nature, Angry Julie Monday, and probably some other bloggers from the meetup

Chace Crawford Mugshot

Orange does not do Chace Crawford justice. I prefer the preppy attire that he sports as Nate Archibald on Gossip Girl far more than his jail jumpsuit. For such an attractive man, this mugshot just isn't doing it for me. Not that mugshots typically do...

Friday morning Chace Crawford was arrested in Plano, Texas for marijuana possession. The 24-year-old wasn't actually smoking it and didn't have much on him, but he still got popped.

Chace is just too darn cute for jail! I hope the inmates didn't eat him up before he was bailed out =(

Don't do drugs kids!

Photo courtesy of: americansuperstarmag.com

We'll Miss You Rue!

I am a huge Golden Girls fan! This chick was even into the less popular Golden Palace (which also featured Don Cheadle)...so you can imagine my sorrow when I learned that Rue McClanahan had passed.

I grew up cracking up at Blanche's sexually suggestive character on Golden Girls, even though I had no clue what the lady was talking about! I just knew I liked her, along with the rest of the gals.

I own the DVDs, thanks to Stephanie of Thoughts From Cali, and have seen all of the episodes. Today at work we were talking about the show and I could tell my co-workers what happened in specific episodes they asked about. Yup, I am serious when I say I have seen all of them.

Another pal, Elana of Good Girl Gone Shopping, pointed out that the Golden Girls is my Sex in the City. I'll take it a step further to state the obvious, SATC is a ripoff of Golden Girls. Our generation may be all about Samantha, but before Samantha there was Blanche.

Just think...if we have three best friends that we have great relationships with when we are in our 50s, we'll be blessed. I want to be a golden girl when I get older. Cue the theme song...

Thank you for being a friend
Traveled down the road and back again
Your heart is true you're a pal and a confidant.

And if you through a party
Invited everyone you ever knew
You would see the biggest gift would be from me
And the card attached would say thank you for being a friend.

Rest in peace Rue McClanahan. You will be missed.

Photo courtesy of: US

Sonoma Wining & San Francisco Dining

For the long Memorial Day Weekend I headed up to the Bay Area to visit a college friend who just recently moved up there to work at Stanford University. For three full days we were on the go taking in all of the sights. I am a huge sightseer and that person who snaps a million pictures and has to see everything!

(my hostess and I)

I flew in on Saturday morning, dropped my bags off, and headed to Sonoma County. My friend knew just the spot to take me--Paradise Ridge Winery. Serene is not even a worthy word to describe the setting of this picturesque winery. It was gorgeous and the staff was extremely friendly. As we sipped our various wines we sat on the porch/balcony and relaxed. It was great and we had the place pretty much to ourselves because we got there early.

Next we were off to J Vineyards & Winery. While lovely, it was a bit too formal for our taste...no pun intended. Instead of being outside in the beautiful vineyards, we were in a tasting room. Of course the tasting was much more expensive, $20 per person. While that isn't necessarily bad, it's high compared to Paradise Ridge which didn't charge us because my fried bought a bottle of wine and I had a Yelp coupon.

(Me at J Vineyards)

The rest of the afternoon was spent eating lunch in a nearby quaint town square, then napping. Just the remedy before hitting San Francisco for a night out on the town!

This was only my second time being to SF so I was super excited. We got a bit lost after we got off the BART (for those that don't know, it's the Bay Area Rapid Transit and basically SF's "subway" system). I wasn't too sad we got lost because we got to walk by a bunch of amazing shops near Union Square including Betsey Johnson, Juicy, and Bulgari!

(Caitlin, Jacqueline, Ashley, Kristina, me)

Long story short, my friend I was staying with is my sorority sister. When she moved she randomly learned that another sorority sister (who graduated before me and I don't know) lives in the Bay Area. They got in touch which led to us meeting up with other Delta Zeta alums. These ladies were all from the Northern California area and we were so happy to meet them. It may sound cheesy, but truly, it's nice to have a connection with other women you have never met.

We had an amazing dinner at E' Tutto Qua and I highly recommend it to everyone! So yummy! It's located in North Beach which is an interesting neighborhood filled with pubs, upscale bars, and strip clubs haha! We went to a pub, Kells, after dinner and the girls danced the night away. I don't dance so I was the a paparazzo.

(Kristina and moi)

If you managed to stay with me this whole post I am impressed because this sucker was long! And guess what? That was just the first day! Two more vacation installments to come =)