sirena serpentina

The Yelp event at the Museum of Latin American Art [MoLAA] was fantastic. They showcased these belly dancing fire dancers known as Sirena Serpentina and I went into a photographic frenzy. Leanne and Paul of Sargeant Photography were also there taking pictures, but I couldn't help taking so many of my own. Mine are taken on a Canon G10 on ISO of 800 and 1600, and I switched off between AV and P settings. We were all over the floor in the front row, snapping away at the amazing images that these girls made with the fire and their bodies. Here are a few of my favorites...

rockabilly / sailor / skipper / andre agassi

This is actually the first changing for Halloween. We also attended a masquearde ball for Yelp before this, but those pictures are to come when Sargeant Photography posts them. We changed into sailor/rockabilly/skipper/andre agassi wear for the second house party.

I love this image!
Thank god I turned on the flash because the girl taking this picture was quite intoxicated.

Zach and Michelle as the skipper and his first mate! How unbelievably cute did these costumes turn out?!
I'm loving the pipe Zach's sporting, and Michelle's anchor necklace is the perfect finish.

Rhett and and Morgan as Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf. OK, so the timing is off by 10 years, but who's counting? Rhett is tennis player Andre Agassi in the 80s with the spandex shorts and long hair. The hair creeped me out big time, but it was the funniest costume ever. When he bounced out of the bathroom in full gear, I think we all peed our pants laughing. I just realized that we did not take a group shot of all our costumes together ..so I'm sorry to say that you will miss out on seeing Rhett's pink spandex shorts that we were all so privileged to see.

We went to In-n-Out after the masquerade since the food was not so filling there. After stuffing our faces silly with animal style fries, cheeseburgers, and jalapenos, we headed off to the next party! These are some extra shots of Zach and Michelle when we were waiting for our food. I'm running in the background.

it's begun

I can't believe 3 years has gone by. It's begun. barbri. barbri starts after graduation usually, but for us, it's incorporated into the last school year in pro skills classes and long lectures on Friday afternoons. I hate this box, and I don't want to open it. When I do, then it's official. My first set of barbri books that will start my journey towards the 3 day exam for the California bar.

red horse barn wedding

I went to a traditional Mexican wedding with Mariyan awhiles back at the Red Horse Barn in Huntington Beach, and forgot about these pictures. I didn't even know there was a barn in Huntington Beach! The wedding was super fun because of the culture exposure. The men were all in cowboy hats and boots, and all were carrying bottles of Petron. I found myself toasting out of a communal cup of Tequila more than once, and it was just a great time to be had by all.

I absolutely love this dress from my cousin's closet. She didn't like the colors and gave it up. I couldn't believe my luck. I adore the dress, and since then, I have had so many requests to borrow it.

flea market

The Napa flea market was more of a swapmeet with tons of fake Reeboks and UGG shoes. However, we did manage to find a few stalls that had REAL VINTAGE stuff. I mean, you can tell that the women selling these items owned and wore these things at some point. This stand in particular I loved, simply because the lady was so nice, and she had a story for everything. I bought some really rad clip-on earrings.

before we tore through the bags

i really wanted this necklace but i forgot to buy it!

these are the items that we found and set aside to buy. leanne got most of it, but i bought the two pairs of fan-shaped earrings on the left.

sunflowers and castles

The second day in Napa was a bit strange. The tastings were below par after we hit J. Keverson/Hart's Desire...but we still had a great time prancing around in the vineyards.

cakebread sunflowers are SO BIG.

castello di amorosa

wandering through vineyards

on the castle grounds

Castello di Amorosa is very pretty, the castle modeled like medieval times. However, the tastings were really bad, and the tour lacked any luster. The dungeons were closed to the public although the brochure says they have awesome ones. We had more fun on the grounds of the castle than the tasting. Cakebread was really disappointing since the website said nothing about appointments. When we arrived, the parking was packed with groups of people, all waiting to go into their tasting. We opted to walk around the vineyard and enjoy the gardens instead. Raymond's grounds were nice, but when we went inside, a corporate party was going on...and I felt like I was in an Irvine office building. Since the tasting table was packed with corporate personnel on their day off, we decided to head over to the next one at Goosecross. I called beforehand, and the girl told me they closed at 7. Upon arrival, the people there all told me they were closed and handed me a coupon to Jessup. First, we didn't like Jessup. Second, WHY Jessup?? I called again to see who i talked to, and found out that they have another tasting location in downtown Napa. Well, THANKS for telling us that Goosecross! blah.

However, there is a great ending to this story. This pic is kat utterly happy that she finally got her Prisoner. We have been trying to contact Orin Swift all day, and they have not responded to anything we sent them. At Tra Vigne, the life saving restaurant in St Helena, the 23 page wine list had the Prisoner!!!! We ordered a bottle with the most amazing dinner. We were all craving different things during the day, and mentioned them to each other. Tra Vigne had ALL of it: filet mignon [what i was craving], tombe tuna [what kat was craving], and spinach ravioli [what leanne was craving]....and it was all absolutely delectable. Not only that, the sommalier told us where to find The Prisoner to buy at retail! We went the next morning, and picked up the last 3 bottles at St Helena Wine Shop for $35 apiece! Soooo happy!

napa, once more

Darling Napa, I can't get enough of you. I'm sitting in the back of my friend's car, taking the weekend off with the girls. We drove up to hit 2 specific wineries to buy a wine we had in a restaurant: J. Keverson's Sangiovese and Orin Swift's The Prisoner. In the process, we, of course, had to stop by some other recommended ones as well. Although most tastings were below par this trip, which is something I never experience, the trip was an overall success with the finding of both wines, and the best meal ever at Tra Vigne.

We stayed at the Chateau Hotel, which was a perfect location and place for us 3 girls. We got upgraded to a suite for free [thanks yelp!] and we had 2 huge bathrooms, a living room that can fit 10 more people, and a large bedroom. It isn't a romantic place by any means, but it was definitely my kind of place to stay with friends.

planning wineries

I am so in love with this MAx Azaria dress. It is so comfortable and has pockets!!

domaine carneros

don't you just love our colors? ^_^

max azaria red dress, sam edelmon ballet flats

color coordinated: tan

yes, we planned to match, again. The boys also wore tan, but I forgot to take a pic of all of us. I love michelle's waist ruffles and the black lace that goes all the way in the back. After I saw her dress, I knew which tan dress I was going to wear to match it. This Forever 21 number has gotten so many compliments [which i'm very happy about] and it's also so comfortable! I can wear them with gladiator platforms, or just a comfy pair of strappy brown sandals.

wine appreciation club

I was recently introduced to the wine appreciation club. One person hosts the event each time and everyone brings a type of wine for all to taste. Tonight, it was pinot noir, which is my favorite, so I was very happy with all the new pinots I got to try. Michelle, Rhett, and Zach threw the bash at their house and it will be hard to beat this shindig, in my opinion.

michelle and the boys made a fantastic feast for the party
lamb and beef sliders, fig hors d'oeuvres, meatballs,
tapenade, truffle cheese, & pate

here's lookin' at you, kid

we counted 23 bottles by the end of the night

monday night football

Monday night football is so fun when you have awesome friends and awesome food. Zach made carne asada and margaritas and we enjoyed it over the Miami Dolphins v. NY Jets game. I learned what a passing interference is.

michelle made me a "skinny margarita" to go with my plate of carne asada nachos.

I piled everything on my nachos, and it was pretty much a he-man portion. I couldn't finish the whole thing, but I did make a nice dent in it before Rhett finished it off.

legend cellars

Tonight, we went to Legend Cellars for their semi-annual event. Legend Cellars is basically a wine storage facility, and they host these events where all the owners of the cellars come and open a bunch of $100 bottles of wine to taste and share. I did not even know these existed, so I was quite curious to see what it was all about. We didn't stay long, but we got to see some great cellars that I am very envious of, and tasted some great wines.

this hallway is where the party's at!

there was a one man band.
he played the best hits of the beatles, credence clearwater revival, and cat stevens.
and this is michelle...also known as la. ^_^

zach saw the louis XIII and had to take a pic with it. i thought he did a great job

is that SEDIMENT?!

well of course there had to be one of these...in a classy place or not!

fantastic shoes