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

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

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

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

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

upd8

Dear Blog,

I think we've all decided that at least french pedicures are decidedly out, I keep looking at my feet and thinking "ew." I don't know what I was thinking. My peeps at work just tell me to take it off but then I'm like, well I spent money on getting a manicure and pedicure so I might as well keep it on there because 99% of American women think they look good and the 1% that include me and my friends think they don't look good but are narcissistic enough to think if we wear it, it's automatically in style. Am I right? I think so. However, in the future I will not be repeating this mistake.

I've been in Seattle for a whole year! My actual one year anniversary was July 7th. It has been the fastest year of my life. Aaron and I have definitely had an adventure or two getting to know our new 'hood. Don't get me wrong, I've been homesick and he's been homesick at times but we both are so glad that we moved out here. I can honestly say it's starting to feel like home. The fact that we have more than 2 friends is really helping. Oh, and the fact that I heart, heart, heart my job. It's the bomb. AND in exciting, exciting news guess which Seattle suburb was ranked #1 by Seattle Magazine? Kenmore, or as I affectionately call it "Kenmo'" or "The More." You know, I think it was ranked #1 because it's about to be privy to the biggest party Kenmorians have ever seen; The Shurts' 3rd Annual Short Shorts Slip n Slide Party. If you don't know, now you know. It's next weekend folks, Saturday August 15th. Get ready. There will be photographic evidence.

Lastly, it's the end of an era. My 2004 ibook g4 has been retired and is about to be given to a new owner, my mom. Now, what does that mean for me? It means I got a new computer fools. This is the first brand new computer that I've ever had. I've always been given hand me downs, I feel so special and techy now. I told Aaron I really, really, needed a new computer because I'm a serious blogger. You would think he would have known by now. I think this new computer might be the one of the most beautiful pieces of machinery that I have ever seen. It has a built in camera and here is a picture I took of me, as proof.



I LOVE IT! Have you seen those annoying commercials where the stupid girl is trying to find a computer and she's given $1000 and there's only one mac that meets her requirements under $1000 and she leaves the apple store saying "I guess I'm not cool enough to be a mac person." Yeah, dummy, I guess you're not. Why the eff would someone promoting HP or Dell or whatever lame-o brand it is (the fact that it looks more like a Best Buy commercial means it's a terrible ad campaign in my opinion) suggest that they're not cool enough to buy a mac so they have to buy a pc? I don't get it.

Real Housewives of Atlanta is back on and it's as much of train wreck as ever. And you best believe I'm tuning in every week. The brand new season of Project Runway starts next Thursday and I'm stoked!! That's one of my most fave shows ever. Remember though, it's on Lifetime and not Bravo.

Alrighty folks that's all for tonight!
Signing off from my new computer.

xoxo,
al

What's love got to do with it?

Dear Blog,

I generally keep my fingers and toes manicured and pedicured as a rule because who wants to see gnarly fingers when they're being rung up by moi? Plus it's summer time so the only time I wear non sandals is when I'm working out. My father taught me at a young age that feet have the tendency to be very ugly so I have always taken good care of mine. Dad is also quite the extremist, he thinks that sandals should be outlawed. He dislikes feet that much. All of this to say I got a mani/pedi this morning and I decided to go french mani/pedi because I thought maybe I would like it. The verdict is still out. I used to like it. Then I thought it looked trashy. So I tested the waters to see if I liked it again and I'm not sure. What do you think blog readers? Is french mani/pedi in or out? Also, is it just Seattle or is the economy stabilizing? There were A TON of women in the nail place this morning. Usually it's just me and my nail lady watching Vietnamese soap operas.

A good friend of mine is going through a rocky spot in her marriage and is looking for comfort outside of her home...if you know what I mean. (I will be waiting for the flood of emails in my inbox asking who it is from a certain few bellafrench readers...suffice it so say you don't know her but go ahead and email me anyway! I love email!) I cannot, cannot, cannot explain how sad I feel by this whole situation. Generally, I'm not sympathetic or empathetic. Life is filled with facts and truths and non-truths, I make all decisions based on these. I'm not touchy feely, I don't make emotional decisions, I tell people the truth regardless of what they want to hear and expect the same in return. I sound like such a joy don't I?

However, when it comes to what might be a dissolved marriage I just want my friend to fight for what she said she would fight for when she said her vows. I don't think marriage is something that can be tossed to the side when something or someone comes along. This whole situation has made me examine my relationship with Aaron. The thought of something or someone coming in between us almost bring tears to my eyes and makes me want to hurl at the same time. And that is what I'm feeling for my friend.

That's all for tonight friends! Don't forget to comment about the aforementioned french mani/pedi query. It is quite pressing.

xoxo,
alison