Cheers and best wishes for a happy, healthy, successful, and great 2013!  2012 consisted of very many weddings, trips, and fun times with family and friends.  I was able to grow in my career, and also grow personally :) We never know where we will be in one year's time, but I am sure it will be an interesting twelve months!  Something different I am doing this year is to start off the year with an empty jar and fill it with notes about good things that happen ... I will empty the jar in one year and reminiscence on all the awesome stuff that occurred.  Watch this space for more posts, photos, and random thoughts from yours truly.

The past couple of weeks I had the opportunity to travel for work to Arkansas and West Virginia. Not very hip cities, but I went places where I would probably never would have actually thought to go to. Here are a few snaps from Little Rock and a couple from my drive to Martinsburg. The former was obviously more exciting, given that the Clinton Presidential Center and Library is there.

Inspired by some of my very good friends and their amazing pictures, I decided to take up photography. This lasted 72 hours, after I realized that the digital camera I owned was from 1998, the shutter speed takes longer than dial-up internet, and that I have no money to invest into this (expensive) hobby. Below are about a dozen of the hundreds of random photos I took from three days in Los Angeles last week. Thanks to Poladroid, I was able to make them look cooler than they actually are! ;)

Poster of the week:

Song of the week: "Power"

Collection of the week: Christian Dior Resort 2011

Interview of the week: M.I.A. with Lynn Hirschberg

Comeback of the week: Frame Bags

Article of the week: "When MTV Could Actually Inspire"

Tweet of the week:

“can CHANEL please help me out by getting me some stickers to put on my scram bracelet so that i can at least wear a chic dress?! maybe!? x.” – Lindsay Lohan

Collabo of the week: Barack Obama / Paul McCartney / Jerry Seinfeld

Party of the week:

More evidence I should have been an artist (or just that I need to get out of the house?): making a garden out of play-doh.

I’m trying to make it a December to remember. Two double oh nine resolutions to follow. Happy Holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving to you, assorted girls, boys, kids, adults, lovers, haters, bffs, stalkers, secret crushes, not so secret crushes, and everyone else that reads all these musings!

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” - Marcus Tullius Cicero

Courage - Nike

I may not have had luck on my side this past weekend while in Las Vegas (getting stuck in an elevator, leaving my cell phone at McDonald’s, and clashing with an American Apparel employee at the Caesar’s Palace Forum Shops) but I certainly still do believe in the Olympic spirit. And so does Nike. Just watch. Just do it.

You may not know this, but somebody is having a birthday this week... That’s right, it’s your old buddy America :) And to celebrate, President Bush has given all his loyal subjects Friday off. With the specter of a long flag-filled weekend looming in the horizon, some folks have decided to check out a little early- including me! I will be at Zuma, lifeguard station #7 from tomorrow till Sunday. Come out and catch a wave, eat some pie, and wear your stars and stripes. Happy Independence Day!

Shoes of the week:

Song of the week: “Bossy”

Worker of the week: Leonardo DiCaprio

Article of the week: “The Tao of Mary Kate”

Upgrade of the week: Strawberry Shortcake

Interview of the week: Anna Wintour with New York Magazine

Quote of the week:

“One day in the distant future, the children of our children’s children will look back upon the ‘aughts’ for retro inspiration and stumble upon the sartorial black hole that is Paris Hilton. Her egregious crimes against fashion are too numerous to list here, but in this photo of Her Tragedy, accompanied by her boyfriend Benji Madden, the offending look is very wannabe It couple: If you took a snapshot of Kate Moss and Pete Doherty from two years ago, photocopied it 27 times, covered it in Velveeta, ran it through a Hot Topic sample sale and then sold it as a cheap knock-off on Canal Street, it would look like this picture.” – Elizabeth Spiridakis

Collabo of the week: Converse / Pharrell / Santogold / Julian

Party of the week:

I am a couple hours away from flying to Toronto for the weekend and just wanted to jot down a few random highlights from my time in Los Angeles last week :

• Going from LAX to Camden House to Republic to Il Tram.
• Watching Steve Urkel’s entourage fight outside the club (why does Steve Urkel even have an entourage?)
• Sneaking into the Four Seasons sauna and spa at midnight.
• Dining at Bandera, where appropriate attire is required, with not-so-appropriate attire.
• Sana’s birthday dinner turned party turned game night turned jam session.
• Stalking Brandon Davis and James Blunt at the Les Deux parking lot.
• Celebrating my grandmother’s life at a memorial dinner.
• Going to Paris Hilton’s house party.
• Two subjects (the movie 300 and the city election ballots) dominating every conversation.
• Having too much fun with family and friends.

A special shout-out to everyone (Alex, Arash, Arezo, Arya, Mona, Negar, Nima, Poya, Roya, Sepeedeh, Shaadi, Vargha) who came out for Sana’s birthday (especially Safa, who flew all the way from the east coast haha) and a super special shout-out to Nika, Monica, Farid, Bassim, Yalda, Samar, Rauz, Anna, Negin, Sam, Isaac – although more than half of you don’t even read this blog, I had tons of fun on our various adventures – and am looking forward to more in the summer.

It is 2007. And winter break was too too too too much fun. Now it is time to go back to reality. But before, here are some pictures...

Life’s a beach. And then its fall. More specifically, today is the fall equinox. To reminisce, here are some random summer oh-six highlights:

Considering I am the only person left on the planet left without a digital camera, these are just limited pictures. Thanks to everyone who sends me their photos! Enjoy.