Tuesday, December 8, 2009

If you're not first, you're last

Dear Blog,

It finally happened. Aaron told me I needed to dress up more. Now, I know what you're thinking. Something along the lines of "Why on earth would anyone tell Alison she needs to dress up more? Girlfriend dresses up to go the grocery store." I will tell you why. About a year and a half a brand of yoga inspired athletic apparel happened to me. I'm not going to mention the name of the brand for google alerts sake, but I will give you a hint; I work for this company and the fruit "lemon" is included in the name. Does that help? So, over the course of a year and a half I've acquired quite a bit of 4 way stretch, flat seamed clothing that is oh so comfortable and is quite flattering and fashionable if I do say so myself.

I digress. Back to Saturday and the "dress up more" comment. Let me set the scene for you. I go to Spokane for a trunk show with one of my coworkers and Spokane is no hop, skip or jump away from Seattle. It's almost 300 miles away and you literally have to drive through a big ass mountain range to get there. (The Northwest. Sigh. I remember the days when I thought little hills were mountains. I didn't quite know what I was talking about. The skiing is waaaaay better out here. This ain't no Winterplace, WV.) We do a trunk show for these women, go see "The Blind Side" (you should see it!! it's wonderful!!) go to sleep in our cheetah themed hotel room (don't ask) wake up and then begin the 300 mile trek back over the big ass mountain range to Seattle. I drive a European engineered car and I have a size 9 1/2 foot and before I knew it I was topping out at about 95 mph on the way back. I KNOW RIGHT?!? Who drives that fast? Me apparently. I would look down at the speedometer and scream about how fast I was going, slow down and then inevitably speed back up again. Shoot. Now, I know what you're thinking again. Where was the cruise control? Well, I've only had the car for about a year and haven't taken it on too many road trips. When we do go on road trips Reliable Ron drives us there and you KNOW he doesn't speed. And that would be my excuse for not knowing how to engage my cruise control. I was making record time back to Seattle and before I knew it I looked in my rearview and saw a cop car. Double shoot. I get in the right lane and say a quick prayer to Big G that he wasn't going to pull me but who I was kidding? Me and Big G both knew I was getting my very. first. ticket. in about five minutes.

That's right. My very first ticket! I've never been pulled for speeding ever!! And I drive extraordinarily fast all the time! I love driving fast. I want to be the first one to everywhere I'm going. I blame it on my parents, they both have lead feet. Hey, I'm a member of generation y don't we blame everything on our parents? I can't believe I've never gotten a ticket actually. Nonetheless, I was very upset that my impeccable driving record was now blemished. I even mentioned that to cop in the form of; "I have absolutely no reason why you clocked me topping out at 90. It's the German engineering. Have you seen my impeccable driving record?" Big smile, casual hair toss. He was none too impressed by clean driving record but he reduced my ticket to 80mph in a 70. I think it was the smile and casual hair toss.

Then I get home and find out and we're going to dinner with some friends and all I want to wear is my comfy yoga clothes and a casual jacket but noooooooooooo, Ron thinks I need to dress up more and actually wear like real pants or something. What is he thinking?!? Real pants? Blasphemy. So I put on jeans and called it a night.

xoxo,
Al

Thursday, December 3, 2009

It's December 2?? Seriously?

Dear Blog,

Oh my, how I have neglected you. Rest assured, you have never strayed far from my thoughts.

I needed a little reprieve from the blog. I feel like blog world is getting a little...used. Back in the days of dport7 and uncle urb I thought having a blog was so cool and I couldn't wait to have one. And then everyone and their mom (literally, even my mom had a blog for a couple of days--no offense Ma, your blog was legit!) had a blog. And for me, the blog has lost a bit of the old luster. Am I crazy? Am I being a narcissistic, self involved blog elitist? Well, yes. Both actually. My blog needs a facelift. I'm tired of brown. So, this is a public request for my beloved husband, Ron, to give my blog a makeover because you are the best graphic designer in the entire universe to infinity and beyond. Thank you very much in advance. Love, me.

Another reason I haven't blogged for almost two months is because I have LITERALLY had the craziest past 6 weeks of my life. Let me regale you with my schedule. After we got home from Brooklyn/NYC, my mom-in-law came into town. Spent a long weekend with her entertaining our little hearts out. The following weekend I went to Landmark for three very long, head trippy, self excavating days. After Landmark, I proceeded to get a sinus infection and f*ck up royally at work. And for those of y'all who don't know me, I don't f*ck up. I recover from both the sickness and my lil' mistake and am then informed that I'm heading to Miami for two weeks to do some work with a team down there. While in Miami I proceed to turn 29, work my butt off, go the beach, become crazy attached to the team down there, laugh, cry, try to get a tan. I get back from Miami and celebrate Ron's 29th birthday and then am off to Vancouver for a conference where I get to see my work bff Christie! We only get to see each other once a year because she lives in Cleveland, OH and you know, I may travel a lot but I ain't goin' there. Sorry Christie.



I got home the weekend before Thanksgiving and then...you guessed it, it was time to get the store prepped for Black Friday and the crazy holidays that ensue. Call me crazy, but I enjoy the crazy holiday season in the retail world.

There you have it. Those are all of my excuses valid reasons for not blogging for almost the past 8 weeks. However, God is indeed listening and He has told me that there have many, many, MANY prayers for ole' BellaFrenchie to return and I am back and will be blogging more regularly.

In the meantime, stay tuned for BellaFrench's facelift.

xoxo,
Al

Monday, October 12, 2009

No sleep IN Brooklyn OR SoHo

Dear Blog,

You know the Beastie Boys song "No sleep 'til Brooklyn?" I mean, I get it, Brooklyn is exciting and yay! we're going to Brooklyn! But, what happens when you get to Brooklyn? You still don't sleep. Now, I like sleep, in fact I can sleep almost anywhere. It's a little known fact about me. I will fall asleep in bars and/or Nascar races, but that's another post. However, one (of many) of the nice things about traveling from west to east to visit college friends for a wedding we've all been waiting for is the fact that there is a three hour time difference and I can stay up til three and not wake up until 11 and still remain on my West Coast schedule. If this weren't the case, then I definitely would not have survived the 6 days I spent in Brooklyn/SoHo with our bff's.

So, we traveled to the aforementioned Brooklyn for the nuptials of Ron's friends from SCAD Paul and Kate. They've been dating for 8 years and you can hear about their fairy tale romance on none other than The New York Times, HERE. Now, who gets featured on The New York Times? Kate and Paul. Who has their wedding sanctioned by the Pope? Kate and Paul. Finally, who has an oil portrait commissioned by the Rybicki's of the lovely couple on a subway en route to a Yankee's Game? I think you get it by now, Paul and Kate. In Alison speak, their wedding was the bomb, off the hook, off the chain, any sort of street euphemism you can think of for 'GOOD', that was their wedding.




I love a wedding! When a bride is walking down the aisle I always get a little teary eyed, there's just something so beautiful about it. I especially love a wedding in a church. The last couple of weddings we've been to have been outside and don't get me wrong, those are beautiful too. There's just something about getting married in a church that is so special and serious and ceremonial that speaks to me. You feel me blog world? Discuss. Disagree. Just comment 'cause I love comments too.

One of the highlights of the weekend was meeting #2 BellaFrench blog fan: Linda Diehl! (Naturally, mom and dad are tied for first. They did birth me after all.) This weekend was the first time I had the pleasure of meeting Paul's parents. As soon as I met Linda, I knew we would be friends for life. She has been keeping up with BellaFrench ever since the creation of the blog and we immediately started chatting about current goings-on. What a way to start up a weekend! Thanks Linda!!



After all of the wedding festivities were over, Aaron and I traveled to meet our other friends, Spurge and Gilly for three days of fun, frivolity, drunken shopping extravaganzas, brunch, five napkin burgers and DVR.
Here is the highlight reel:
You a jerk, I know.
Trade 'em in.
Fantasia and Kandi's sweet, sweet moves
Skyline Park. You had to be there.
Why are we sitting by the kitchen?
Don't be tardy for the party; country version a la Aaron Shurts
Basically, all around foolishness. But out of this foolishness came a challenge. A 30-Day Yoga Challenge. To get yo' mind and yo' body right. Spurgeon. Alison. West Coast. East Coast. Oct 15th. More details to come. But basically the details are two cross country bff's are holding each other accountable for 30 days of yoga. We are going to be so buff and enlightened. Love us some yoga. Ommmmmmmmmmm.



xoxo,
Alison

Thursday, September 24, 2009

An extra shot

Dear Blog,

When Aaron and I moved to Seattle we knew that we would be in for some interesting sights and experiences. You can't move from the bottom right side of the country to the upper left side with there not being any changes. However, I did not in my wildest dreams think that one of those interesting things would be the so-called "Bikini Barista" stands. In case you don't speak coffee, a barista is the dedicated individual who arises before the break of dawn to make coffee for the masses! Basically, I'm friends with all of the baristas within a one mile radius of my store and you would be quite surprised at the amount of Starbucks in Seattle in a one mile radius. That is not the point of this post.

In Seattle and other surrounding cities there are drive through coffee stands on almost every corner parking lot where there isn't a Starbucks or a Tully's. Let me paint a picture for you; are you familiar with a mini barn? Just picture a mini barn with a tacky sign and a gimmick for an "almond joy mocha" or something and that's a coffee stand. Now. Just picture a coffee stand with a scantily clad young girl serving up the brew and THAT my dear friends, is a "bikini barista". It's disgusting! I can't even justify my disgust in this post. These girls are wearing lingerie and serving coffee and being blatantly exploited by the owners of these joints. It's just gross. I can't help but think about these girls parents and what they must be thinking? Even as I write this my heart rate is going up, up, up. Aaron always finds it somewhat amusing that I get so fired up about these places but in my mind it is prostitution. SIIIIIIIICK!!!

Well, looky what I found tonight on Perez. I have to admit though, when I read this I chuckled, the comments are especially funny to me.

http://perezhilton.com/2009-09-24-grab-n-go-espresso-and-a-hooker

In other news, has anyone gotten Pearl Jam's new album, Backspacer? It's so good! If you have an extra $10 and feel like buying an album, I suggest this one heavily. And in other, other news Aaron and I went to see them on Monday night! In case you're new to this blog, Pearl Jam is my favorite, favorite, favorite band and this was my fifth time seeing them and I will see them five more times when the opportunity arises. The concert, as always, was amazing and Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam never cease to amaze me. Here is an excellent review of the show, http://www.spin.com/articles/pearl-jam-slay-seattle.

That's all friends!
xoxo,
Alison

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Huffy in a Puffy

Dear Blog,

Since I am responsible for two blogs I am going to cheat and post the blog that I wrote for work on my personal blog. It's really not cheating. Here you go!

Puffy jackets have always been an enigma to me. The burning question in my mind was how does one look NOT so puffy IN a puffy? At 5’8 and roughly 145 pounds I do not exactly have what one would call a “petite frame” and I was deathly afraid that a puffy jacket would make me resemble Ralphie’s little brother in everyone’s favorite holiday movie; A Christmas Story.

However, the Seattle winters call for a jacket that is both warm and water resistant and when l________* introduced a jacket that boasted both of these important features…well I had to get my hands on that jacket. So I did.

Believe it or not, I have already had the chance to try it out. While everyone was grilling out for the last summer hurrah on Labor Day, I was at a music festival in Seattle where the temperature didn’t get out of the low 60’s and there was light to heavy rain. I was going to be there all day and into the evening and I thought this was going to be the perfect time to try out my puffy jacket.

I slipped it on and after one or two or twenty looks at myself in the mirror at every conceivable angle I came to the conclusion that this jacket outlines my silhouette and does not make me look huge at all. It almost felt like a second skin, it was neither bulky nor bunchy. The hood kept my ‘do in tact so on the off chance that I ran into Fergie of The Black Eyed Peas after the show I wouldn’t look like a frizzy mess. The luon thumbholes on the sleeves kept my sleeves down so when I was clapping or dancing wildly I didn’t feel one raindrop or the wind. Most importantly, it kept me both warm and dry.



Now if I could just convince my husband that I need one in every color I will be set for the impending Seattle winter.

*I like to keep my employer on the DL.

xoxo,
al

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Runnin' on Empty

Dear Blog,

I love blogging, don't get me wrong, but I take this blog seriously for all you readers and I'm always thinking of the perfect, funny, sassy, saucy, authentic topic. I will sit down in my front of my computer and write, rewrite, back space, read and re-read until I think I have the BEST blog ever. I like to surprise Aaron with it and then grill him about what his favorite part was, what he thought was the most funny and generally whether or not he even liked it. So when I was bemoaning on the couch that I had nothing to blog about, I wasn't surprised when I had a pillow in my face. The bellafrench fam has just had one of their busiest weekends yet.



Friday night Aaron and I went to see one of America's greatest singer/songwriters, Jackson Browne, at one of our favorite local wineries. I know I've mentioned before how much I love music and how certain songs will elicit emotions from a period of my life that I haven't thought about in years. When I think of Jackson Browne, I will always be reminded of road trips in the family Volvo. He is an artist our whole family likes and we could always agree to listen to him when traveling to all the places we would go. (The Williams' like to drive. We just get in the car and off we go.) One of my favorite JB songs is "Late for the Sky." When I was in high school I was convinced that I could convince my ignorant youth group leader that a song deemed secular could still be religious or spiritual in nature with that particular song. I worked so hard getting ready for my 'presentation' and interpreted the lyrics and was excited to share with my youth group. I was shot down fast and hard. Be wary of chubby youth leaders who wear gold cross earrings and polyester suits. But, I digress. The concert was wonderful. The live music that comes to Seattle is a major perk of living here. Next on the plate; Modest Mouse, Black Eyed Peas and Franz Ferdinand at a local festival and then the coup de grace; PEARL JAM!! Oh how I will forever be loyal to Eddie Vedder and the men of Pearl Jam.

Saturday entailed a wedding of one of my coworkers. Aaron's mad dancin' skillz garnered the attention of the ladays. I will not go in to details but there may or may not have been some butt grabbage on Aaron from a lady admirer. Do work Ron. Shake it like I taughtcha. The wedding was beautiful. The great thing about weddings is they always remind me of my wedding , or maybe that's just me.




Around 11:30 pm after the wedding we picked up my mom from the airport!! We've been having non stop fun. Well, I don't know how much she's been having. So far she has cooked three dishes for us and done about 4 loads of our laundry. She insists she likes doing this...aight. I love having my mom out here so she can get a little taste of our lifestyle. I like showing off Seattle and the store and having her meet my peeps. So, we're all having a good ole time.



Mom is going to be here for almost another week, so more exciting stories and pics to come.

xoxo,
Al

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Slippin n Slidin

Dear Blog,

You know, it's about 80 degrees in the house and having a laptop on my lap makes me even hotter, however I have a particular spot on the couch that is so comfortable and I can then look at people.com, barneys.com, neimanmarcus.com, all my peeps' blogs, email WORK and also watch Bravo CNN. It is tres convenient and I won't give it up even if it burns my legs or makes me infertile. Laptop comes first. Little AliRon's second. (ed. note: Please do not send me any propaganda about laptops making me infertile, I won't read it 'cause I don't believe it. Guess time will tell.)

Status Update! My dad won the Williams weight loss challenge. He has successfully lost and maintained 10 lbs. Way to go Big Don! I'm still hovering between the 5 and 6 pound weight loss. I must admit that I have not tried that hard lately. I've been enjoying dark chocolate m&m's a tad too much. My dad's weight loss has inspired me to get back on track. Aaron and I ran yesterday for the first time since Hawaii, we went about 4 miles and I was fixin' (southern euphemism for 'about') to die after that one. If I'm going to run the Seattle half in November then I need to uh...run more than once a month. I wish I could be more like my friend Drew who gets up and runs every morning at 5:30 am or something crazy. Every time I have grand intentions to get up early I tell my alarm clock to quit trippin' and I go back to sleep. See how I managed to turn that paragraph about my dad back to me? It's a talent. Anywho, way to go dad! Be on the lookout for your prize in the mail.

Speaking of Drew and also trippin', Drew has been politely asking me and Ron to post pics of the SSS&SP (short shorts slip&slide party) pics. It was so fun! Here is my favorite picture of the whole afternoon/evening.




The look on Aaron's face is classic. I'm sure you're now wondering what I was doing? Well wait no longer my friends:


That's right. I was chatting. Don't judge me. It was kind of cold that day. Like I said, it was fun but I think it would have been more fun if more people came. I think people are scared of short shorts. Get over it people. It's fun. Enough said. We'll have it next year and I'm expecting you all to be here. Oh and yeah, our grass looks sad but believe it or not we haven't had that much rain in ole Seattle this summer. This being Aaron and my first summer here we didn't water the grass because we thought that would be ruh tarded. Little did we know that we are the ruh tards.

Status update: My mom is coming out here on Saturday!!! Let the games and southern frivolity begin y'all! I love it when she talks and people ask her where she's from, everyone loves a southern belle.

I think bellafrench needs a facelift. Any suggestions for new a color theme? A new snotty phrase at the top?

Also, in an effort to update more often I was thinking about adding a new section called That's What She Said, I know, original right? Anyway, in this section I would just write anonymous little quips that either I have said or I have heard from one of my friends/coworkers/cohorts/conversations with Aaron, etc. Here is a little preview:

Friend A: What do you think, Alexander McQueen or Louis Vuitton?
Friend B: Hard to say. I have a heated sexual response to Alexander McQueen. Louis Vuitton is kind of rap video.

That's all for tonight!
xoxo,
Al