Cashmere Mafia: The Working Woman's Sex and the City

I recently finished watching the complete series of Cashmere Mafia courtesy of instant streaming by Netflix. The show certainly has some resemblance to the beloved Sex and the City: four women, New York City, life of luxury, and an eerily similar theme song. The difference: the Cashmere Mafia women are high-powered executives balancing family and work. Oh and they've dropped the explicitness found in many of the SATC episodes. These ladies are trying to prove that you can have it all but....it won't be easy.

While Sex and the City focused primarily on the social lives of our beloved ladies, Cashmere Mafia focuses heavily on the professional and familial lives of the leading ladies. However, that is not to say there is not fabulousness (I know that's not really a word, but it should be) in every corner. High-powered executive means lots of money which means trendy restaurants and expensive clothes. I guess I have something to look forward to...Brianne, I hope you'll join me. Oh and Kristin, there is a make-up executive in this set, perhaps they had you in mind.

I would absolutely recommend watching this show, especially for those of you still mourning the end of Sex and the City. Why Cashmere Mafia only lasted a mere 7 episodes, I do not know. Perhaps it tried to hard to fill the void of Sex and the City. This show definitely had the chops to make it onto my weekly DVR recording list. So spend the time (less than 7 hours) to watch this short-lived but nonetheless enjoyable show about four women who prove you can have it all.

Sex and the City

So after one full year, I have finished watching every episode of Sex and the City. Last fall I began buying the individual seasons one-by-one, with a little help from Kristin who bought me season six (both parts). Now it is with deep sadness that I have concluded the series and watched the series finale. So I may be 6 years late, but that does not make me any less sad to see the series end. Why they ever decided to it I do not understand.

After finishing the series, I must also say that so glad they came out with the Sex and the City movie. It really did wrap up a lot of loose ends and pull things together nicely. While the second movie was totally unnecessary to completeness of the series, I will certainly never complain about anything new related to Sex and the City.

Speaking of Sex and the City 2, I recently bought the DVD from Target! I can't wait to watch it again...I love those ladies. I am through and through a Sex and the City fan. My current bedroom decorations are loosely themed by Sex and the City. The walls are decorated with city scenes of Paris and of course New York. The color scheme is Tiffany Blue, with various Tiffany bags and boxes. To top it all off, I have all things sparkle, gemstones and glass to match the glam of the movie covers.

After concluding the series I am left to wonder which of the lovely ladies am I? I watched the series tributes included the DVD set and apparently everyone says they're Carrie. And I must admit most of friends would probably say the same thing, right or wrong. I am pretty sure I am definitely not a Carrie. My best guess would be that I fall somewhere in between Charlotte and Miranda. Although, perhaps it matters what group of friends you're with. Which of the girls do you think you are? My guess...a lot of Carries and probably not a lot of Samanthas. But who knows you may surprise me....




Next up, I am re-reading Sex and the City, the book. After that, the newest book from Candace Bushnell, The Carrie Diaries. I will keep you posted!

Keeping my fingers crossed I'll make it to New York AND Paris in 2011!

Book Review: Sweet Little Lies

I enjoy all things Lauren Conrad. Thus, it must come as no shock that I am reading her book series: LA Candy. I just finished reading the second book in the series, Sweet Little Lies.



This makes for a delightfully easy read. It is a very quick read. I completed the book in two days while traveling for business. This book definitely requires that you have read the first book in the series. The book leaves you wanting more and wishing perhaps that you had taken longer to read the book.

While the author swears that the characters and events are pure fiction, it is still difficult to separate the story from "The Hills." The writing is imaginative without being superfluous. This is certainly no Charles Dickens. You will hate the traitor and sympathize with the heroine, yet you will most identify with the best friend. Perhaps, this is because you know the truth. You will feel frustrated and angry, then relieved and happy.

Prepare to find new best friends in the world of Sweet Little Lies and feel free to guess which character is Audrina...

If This is Austin...

...it really is not that exciting. Everyone hypes about what a cool city Austin is. After spending a week there, I have come to a different conclusion. Austin may very likely be a very fun city when you are there with a group of friends on a weekend....maybe even a Thursday night. I've heard 6th Street is wild on Thursday nights. However, Austin by yourself during the work week? Not as cool...and I tried. I went down to 6th Street with a coworker on Monday....totally dead! Not that I would expect much, after all I did go to Berkeley. But unfortunately, the city did not live up to the hype.

However, I did manage to find a few worthwhile picture spots. I must say they are pretty good considering they were taken from the car. I took a ton of pictures of the Capitol building. Its a neat building. It looks like a brown version of the US Capitol in Washington DC.



They say everything is bigger in Texas, I don't know if that's true, but they certainly don't let you forget that you are in Texas. That means Longhorns territory...GAG! Austin is home to the University of Texas Longhorns...arch enemy of my beloved Oklahoma Sooners. Everywhere you go there is UT stuff. Every car has a little silver longhorn on the back. Double GAG! However, I did take a drive to the campus and saw the stadium. I even found this little sign



I think that after this season's triumph in the Red River Shootout, that longhorn logo ought to be changed.

On a completely separate note, the CW has once again stabbed me in the heart. Six weeks!! No new episodes of any shows for 6 weeks!! And of course, they always leave with something juicy left unsolved. I guess I will have to resort to nightly Netflix to fill my spare time, that is when I'm not in Vegas.

You Just Finished DevCon. What are you going to do now?...DISNEYLAND

After the Boston and Seattle whirlwind, I spent the next two weeks in the office. The days felt slow after the craziness in the weeks before. No shocker was I very excited for the upcoming trip to Anaheim for a week long show that I had been prepping for since my second week on the job. I was about to see months of hard work and projects come to head. Plus, I was going to Disneyland and following up with a trip to San Diego to see the boyfriend.

The show proved to be the most exciting and eventful one yet. It was a week full of drinking every night until 2 am and long days on my feet. At a conference of 700 men over 30, a pretty girl at age 20 stands out. I was certainly not lacking attention all week, nor a supply of drinks from the hotel bar. It was a lot of fun and I made some great connections.

I was also lucky to snag one of the secret Twilight Passes to Disneyland. This ticket is only available through conferences and allows you to enter the park after 4 PM at a discounted price of only $40. Now, normally the park closes on Thursdays at 8 PM, but for some still unknown reason the park was open until 11 PM that night. I ended up with 8 hours of park time for only $40. My lovely boyfriend drove up from San Diego to get me and set off to Disneyland.

The park was exciting as it was all decked out for Halloween.



If you have never gone during Halloween, the one must see is the Haunted Mansion. It is completely redone for Halloween as the Nightmare Before Christmas. From the inside, you can't hardly tell its even the same ride. I snapped some pictures of the outside and slightly dark on the changed up inside.




The trip was a lot of fun, but after the long week at the show, I was pretty tired. We only made until 10:30 PM, still not too bad considering we had a drive to San Diego still ahead of us.

The next day Matt surprised me with a bay cruise for my birthday. It was really exciting and quite romantic. Matt has a secret romantic side that he brings out every once and a while. It was super fun and not nearly as cold as we had suspected. Thus, the slightly large jacket from Target I bought that afternoon was a bit of a waste. It was a really fun birthday weekend, well pre-birthday weekend!

In the Footsteps of Dr Fraiser Crane

After finishing up my show and whirlwind tour of Boston on Wednesday, it was off to Seattle for another show and a whirlwind tour. It was true Seattle weather...rainy, overcast, and cold. After finishing the show on Thursday, a took off to find the Space Needle. While it is priced like a crazy tourist attraction, it is worth it once. I had to do it and this was my chance. For those that may go in the future, be prepared...it is MUCH colder at the top than on the ground. Bring gloves! And maybe a hat.



I took this really cool picture...while stopped at a stop light. I also attempted some while driving, some successful others not due to the delay on my camera. Probably not that safe, but its hard to get a good picture from valet parking stand at the Space Needle. There is a great view of the city and the ocean, but I have done it once and probably won't do it again, not at that price.

The next day I finished my meetings and had a few hours to kill before my flight so I went down to Pike's Place Market for lunch. I saw the fish throwing and ate lunch at a cafe along the water. Pike's Place market is like a crazy awesome farmer's market. I would definitely shop there if I lived anywhere close.





Pike's Place is also home to the original Starbucks. This is a large Starbucks that features the original logo. Despite my aversion to coffee, I do love the Carmel Apple Spice. I could not avoid this tourist/historic stop. For those interested, here is the original logo.


After this enjoyable afternoon at Pike's Place, I headed to the airport. I was met in San Francisco by my wonderful boyfriend who flew from San Diego to spend the weekend with me. I had all of these fun things to do and places to eat while he was here. Unfortunately, I was utterly exhausted from the trip across the country and back. Our weekend ended up being spent on the couch watching 12 hours of college football and eating nachos. A pretty awesome weekend. We also went and saw The Town. It was only fitting and actually a pretty good movie, although much more lovey dovey than expected. The next trip is Anaheim/Disneyland/San Diego....in two weeks!

Following the Freedom Trail to...Adulthood?

So I am just about 6 months in at my first post-college job. A real job....a career field. I'm doing sales, marketing, and business development for Total Phase, a small privately-owned tech company that makes development tools for engineers developing embedded systems. What is an embedded system? Basically, it is anything that functions like a computer, but is not actually computer. Examples? Phone, TV, remote control, microwave, cars, ultrasound machines, your iPod, airplanes....pretty much everything electronic can use our tools. If you want to know more, our website: www.totalphase.com

So now that I have probably lost most of you...the exciting part. My job allows me to travel...A LOT! I am traveling about every two weeks and visiting some really cool places. First trip: Phoenix, Arizona....in the middle of August. If you've never been to Phoenix in August, then you'll just have to take my word for it...HOT HOT HOT. August is not the best time to visit Phoenix. 90 degrees at 9 am is excessive. The plus side = the AMAZING hotel. The JW Marriott Grand Desert is a beautiful golf resort in northern Phoenix with multiple pools and a lazy river. The bathroom in my room was the biggest hotel bathroom I have ever seen. It was larger than my Modesto and Mountain View bathrooms combined. Separate tub and shower with dual sinks....HUGE!

After that a week long show in San Francisco. San Francisco = long commute, no hotel. Nothing too exciting except for a dinner proposition from a gentleman easily 30 year my senior. I do not look old enough for that to have been appropriate. The week right after was the most exciting trip(s) yet...Boston AND Seattle.

The Saturday after the show in San Francisco, I took a red eye flight to Boston, Massachusetts. I arrived at 8 am Sunday morning. Unable to check in at the hotel for several more hours, I decided to start the sight-seeing. So I started walking at 10 am, my first stop the Visitors Center at the Boston Common.



From there I started on a guided tour over the first half of the Freedom Trail...a walk through colonial history. I was led by a quirky history teacher dressed as a British soldier dressed in the red coat who sought to debunk many of things we are taught about the American Revolution from childhood. Being the history nerd that I am, I loved it all. At Granary Burying Ground, I found the tombstones of some of America's founding fathers.




<---- Paul Revere

Samuel Adams ---->






Then, the Old South Meeting House, the site of where the Boston Tea Party was conceived. It is now a cool little museum, but unfortunately I was too tired at the end of the day to make it inside this one.


Then it was the Old State House where the line "taxation without representation" became infamous. The building is now the museum that houses a lock Daniel Webster's hair. Just steps outside the front door, is the sight of the Boston Massacre marked by a star in the brick.















After that my guided tour ended at Faneuil Hall, the center of the Freedom Trail and historic Boston. It was a lively area with street performers and lots of tourists. From there I began the second half of the Freedom Trail on my own. This part of the walk talk by the oldest tavern in America, the oldest restaurant in America known as the Oyster House. My first stop was Paul Revere's house. It is a very tiny place restored to look like his family's house.



Then I walked through Little Italy and beautiful parks to reach the Old North Church. Remember, one if by land, two if by sea? This is the church where they hung those important candles. It is a BEAUTIFUL church, with a ridiculously long line to get in. I chose to skip the inside tour and just glimpsed through windows and admired from the outside.


After that it was across the bridge to Charlestown, a very quaint town where it is hard to believe people actually live. It looks like something out of a movie set with American flags on every other house. It was not until I saw a group of kids playing street hockey that I realized people actually get to live in this spectacular place. For you movie buffs, this is also where "The Town" starring Ben Affleck takes place. It is on this side of the water where I found the Bunker Hill Monument and the USS Constitution also known as Old Ironsides.















That concluded the tour and marked the beginning of the return trip. At the end of the day I walked over 12 miles, after only 4 hours of horrible sleep on the plane. I was quite exhausted. The next day, I was so excited to visit Cheers, the bar the awesome TV show was based on. The food is average but it is must visit spot for any true Cheers fan...because sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name!

The Beginning of the Rest of my Life

Approximately two weeks ago, I participated in two graduation ceremonies at the University of California, Berkeley. I have just completed my B.A. in Sociology and Media Studies in three years and I'm starting the rest of my life in approximately two weeks. Right now I'm living in limbo between moving out of my sorority in Berkeley and moving into my new townhouse in Mountain View. Limbo is also known as my parents house in Modesto, which means laying by the pool and catching up with old friends. I just returned from San Diego where I made the trip to Disneyland for two days and two nights. We appeared to have beaten the summer crowds and skipping weekend lines for a fabulous trip of short lines and perfect weather.

During my first day back, I met up with my lifelong best friend, Kristin, and set out on an adventure to secure ourselves tickets to the upcoming Listener Appreciation Concert (LAC) featuring Craig Morgan. We expected the crowd to be small considering it was the middle of the Thursday, but we were proven wrong as we encountered an shall we say interesting crowd of the unemployed, unshowered, and a variety of other "characters." While my plight was unsuccessful, Kristin managed to win a set of two tickets.

We then succumbed to the emptiness of our stomachs and ventured to a local Mexican restaurant, El Rosal. El Rosal was a frequent spot for many family and many other locals with their fabulous bean dip and complimentary chips and salsa. My mother visits so frequently that she no longer has to order her "bean and cheese burrito with green sauce and sour cream." After a delicious lunch, we ventured to the newest addition to the Modesto hotspots, Oodles Frozen Yogurt. Unfortunately, the sorbet machine was being cleaned and seeing as Kristin is a vegan that meant no ice cream for us.

Our next adventure took us to the mall for some shopping, which is not always the best plan when I'm trying to avoid spending money. During my vacation I decided I wanted a new piece of jewelry. I'm not one to change jewelry everyday and simply wear the same expensive pieces everyday. Thus, all of my costume jewelry goes unused. Seeing as I already have four rings on my fingers, I decided a bracelet would be the optimal addition to my daily wear. I already wear a Tiffany's bracelet I need to find one to match on the same wrist. A visit to Swarovski had me quickly lusting after several pieces of jewelry. A visit to their website found even more amazing pieces I quickly added to my wish list. Tiffany's however features plenty of bracelets I'd also love to add to my wrist. However, I'm really not one to buy without trying things on first, which means I must make a venture to the city to visit the amazing Tiffany's store to try on the objects of my lust before making my decision.

Tonight, I'm headed to the Southern Voice Tour featuring Tim McGraw, Lady Antebellum, and Love and Theft. I'll be spending my first night in Mountain View, sleeping on the floor due to a lack of bed, but don't worry I'll be back tomorrow for more adventures including a night out to see the new Sex and the City 2.