Best of 2008!

Dear Blog,
It's that time of the year again when everyone and their brother is coming out with their "Best of 2008" lists and I thought, why not jump on the bandwagon? I did it last year, might as well do it again. Plus, I have TONS of stuff I love this year. Despite the recession, which I am not participating in by the way, I managed to score myself some of these fancy items.

1. Plaid! Oh my, how I love plaid. I know you're all thinking "Alison moved to Seattle and now she's in love with plaid." Well, I've always loved the Grunge era, I think you all know that. Alas, that is not the reason I'm in love with plaid this year. (wo)Men's Wear was all the rage this year and when fashion from the runways trickles down to us normal folk, since we're not going to be wearing crazy pantaloons with top hats and gloves, we wear plaid! J Crew has some great options, in fact that's where I got my shirt. I wear it with everything, jeans, leggings, you name it. You can go anywhere with plaid.
Vest and beer receive an honorable mention but certainly not a best of.

2. lulu! Need I even say it? lululemon pants make you look great, and they feel great! Add to that their wicking, four way stretch and gusset (anti-camel toe) features, you can't go wrong!

3. Chanel Precision exfoliating face wash. Luckily I have good skin so I wash my face with cetaphil and usually buy Dove moisturizer, but sometimes I just buy whatever is on sale cause I'm cheap like that. But, I was noticing that even though I have clear skin it doesn't have that dewy, fresh look that all of my favorite celebs have. So, I went in search of some makeup that would give me a glow. I went to the Chanel counter because I was sure they would have something I could use and I found out it's not make up that gives you that look, it's exfoliator!! Who knew? Not me. So I bought some, it's a little pricey at $45 bucks a pop but it has given me excellent results. Plus, I bought it in February and I still have some now in December. You only use it about once or twice a week. I highly recommend the investment.

4. Favorite new music of the year is MGMT. Lately there have been few bands that I get really excited about listening to their albums but when I wake up in the morning I automatically put this cd on. It's so good. All of their songs are layered and usually have a build up of sorts which I like. It's something to look forward to! They sound very British but they're from Brooklyn. Weird. Anyway, check 'em out.

5. Favorite celeb of the year is most definitely Victoria Beckham.




I try to not use such banal terms as fierce, but Victoria Beckham is effing fierce. In the photo above she's just walking around the Meatpacking District in what look like about 5 1/2 inch heels and a fur stole. Who does that and makes it look normal? I'll tell you who, Victoria Beckham. And that is precisely why I love her. She makes the unreasonable look reasonable. Posh, can I be like you when I grow up? Minus the gross fake boobs, they make you look like a fem bot.

6. Handbag of the year is Louis Vuitton. You know, I really used to dislike Mr. Vuitton but all of a sudden his checkered print really started to grow on me and then it was all I could think about. It was like, I became obsessed with Louis Vuitton and anytime I saw someone with a bag I was very covetous. And you know what God says, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor. Plus, these bags will last forever and hell they've been around since the late 1800's or early 1900's, they're not going anywhere. So, I saved my money and bought me one. Why not right? You only live once. Now I don't have to mutter "bitch" underneath my breath everytime I see a woman with "my" handbag.

Last years favorite things are still some of my favorite things of this year. Christian Louboutin, Tory Burch and OPI still reign supreme in my household but it would be kind of silly to buy anymore because I wear workout clothes everyday. Hey, I'm not complaining it's quite comfy. Sometimes I do miss dressing up but I will again one day. I still love Amy Winehouse but I don't know how long she's going to be around. Crazy ho smokes crack for breakfast, ewwwww.

There you have it, my best of's for the year 2008! Can't wait to see what 2009 brings!

xoxo,
alison

Merry Christmas from the Shurts family!

You didn't expect anything traditional did you?
Merry Christmas!
xoxo,
Alison

I heard there would be rain but WTF?

Dear Blog,
So when Aaron and I decided to move out to Seattle everyone and their pup told us that it was going to rain and we were like duh. BUT, how come no one told us that it snowed a shit load out here?? And when I say shit load, I mean that we prolly have about 8 inches outside of my house and guess what folks? It's still coming down. I don't know when it's going to stop. It was supposed to stop today but nooooooooo, it's still snowing.

Now. I know this might surprise you, but I am not in love with snow. Why? Well. Snow inhibits me from doing the things I want to do, when I want to do them. For example, what if I want to go to the grocery store and buy some chips? Well, all of dang Seattle has already gone out and bought all of them. What the heck? And they took all of my favorite cheese dip too. Now what am I going to eat to clog my arteries?



Guess I'll just have to eat some healthy food because there was tons of that at the grocery store. Apparently when there is snow people just want to eat carbs.

I can't believe it's been a couple of weeks since my last post. A lot of things have happened.
We got a tree.



We went ice skating.



And then it started to snow and at first we were like yay! Snow. And then, it just kept snowing and snowing and snowing and people were freaking out and you know what I'm just tired of it. I just wish this snow would stop.

Anywhooooodle, Christmas is right around the corner and I'm excited! It's going to be a different kind of Christmas this year because it's just going to be me, Ron and little angel Bella. I don't know exactly what we are going to do so if you have any fun Christmas traditions you think the Shurts might enjoy, send 'em our way. 'Cause there's only so many times I can watch Christams Vacation. Cousin Eddie grosses me out.

xoxo,
Alison

Oh Facebook

Dear Blog,
I think just about everyone I know is on Facebook these days, even my mom and I just got a friend request from Aaron's dad...which I haven't accepted yet because I have a certain reputation to uphold with the Shurts family. Geez. I mean, I know I'm going to have to 'friend' him but I feel like maybe some things on a facebook profile shouldn't be shared with in-laws. I can see Tony calling Aaron and asking what does "Alison has the spirit of a hustler and the swagga of a college kid" mean in her status update? And then Aaron will be all, "Well, Alison grew up in the 'hood and learned at a very young age the value of the hip hop genre. You had to speak hip hop to survive in Columbia, SC." And then Tony will wonder what kind of woman his upstanding son married? And then, it's all downhill from there. Now, one might say don't put hip hop lyrics in your status put something more vanilla like Michael Buble lyrics. And to that I scoff because I will not change who I am because of my friends on facebook. I am more T.I than Michael Buble and that is just the way it is people.

What's up with all of this facebook nonsense? Well, BellaFrench reader, Grace, shared with me this hilarious You Tube clip yesterday and I thought you all might find it funny as well. Because it is oh so true.




xoxo,
Alison

From sunny and warm to cold and damp

Dear Blog,
What up peeps? Oh yeah, I keep forgetting I'm supposed to be talking like an adult these days.
Hello there people. As I write, I'm sitting here watching Elf with Aaron and looking around in amazement that my house is NOT decorated to the hilt, I mean I'm practically married to Clark Griswald and it has almost been a week since Thanksgiving. See, normally the day after Thanksgiving Aaron and I put on our Christmas sweaters, hop in the Jeep and then go cut down our tree somewhere in York, SC sweating all the while cause it's normally 80 around this time of year. This year for Thanksgiving we skipped the 4000 calorie meal and hopped on a plane to St. Thomas. It only took a red eye flight and 14 hours to get there, but when we got there we sure were glad we did. We were greeted by some locals who gave us shots of coconut rum, I'll take two please. I then knew it was going to be a good vacay vacation. We proceeded to head to the best bar in a parking lot in the entire universe, Duffy's Love Shack and drink 1.50 drinks for about three hours. It's such a small freaking world because our server at Duffy's Love Shack on St. Thomas is from South Carolina. Not only is he from South Carolina, but he is from Columbia and he went to Spring Valley. He was quite a bit younger than me and I didn't know who he was but I'm sure we know some of the same people because that is how Columbia is. It ain't that big folks.

Now, as much as I would love for you all to believe that Aaron and I are total jet setters and when we have a hankering to travel to St. Thomas we just go, but alas, we do not. Aaron's sister got married to her beau, Beau, of eight long years. It was quite a lovely wedding and they got hitched without a hitch. Man, I'm cracking myself up with all of these play on words tonight.

We had a great time in St. Thomas. It wasn't too hot, it was just right. I would love to regale with you tales of what we did but I can sum it up pretty quickly; eat, drink, sleep a lot, lay out on the beach, Aaron snorkeled, and I read a lot and listened to my ipod. Oh, and Aaron was in the wedding and he had to wear a linen shirt untucked with some khaki dress pants. Man, that was funny. You need to look at his pictures on his facebook profile. He is looking like straight up Miami Vice!

Only 22 days 'til Christmas!!
xoxo,
Alison