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A few months back my friends and I were talking about Arnold Palmer (the drink, not the golfer) and wondered how one gets a drink named after them.

Apparently, it used to be known as the “half and half” but because the golf legend once said it was his favorite drink, the moniker stuck.  Nowadays, you can go to any restaurant and the Arnold (Arnie) Palmer is immediately identified with the refreshing half lemondade - half iced tea beverage.

I have made a concoction that is a salute to Mr. Palmer’s drink of choice.  Combine Simply Limeade (great bitter to tart ratio with just a smidgen of pulp) with Jasmine Tea (my personal favorite is Stassen Pure Jasmine Green Tea). When you brew the tea, the floral aroma of the tea instantly makes the entire kitchen smell divine.  You may want to steep some extra just so you can savor the tea by itself.  Pour the tea (about 3 cups) in a half-full bottle of Simply Limeade.  Chill it for a few hours and remember to shake it before you drink it because the pulp does settle to the bottom.  You’ll have the perfect summer afternoon drink…I promise.  The jasmine notes blend beautifully with the tartness and cuts the bitterness of the lime significantly.

If you’re a fan of the Arnold Palmer, then I guarantee this is a great twist to a classic drink.  And who knows, maybe someday, when you’re ordering the “Anita Chu,” a tall glass of limeade/jasmine tea will be in front of you, and you’ll know exactly where the name came from.

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Sometimes, I just want to snuggle all day with her…her cuteness inspired me to write a few haikus.

white, gray furry cat
sleeping on, next to, near me
purring ’til asleep

~*~

Licks faucet water
Enjoys eating grasshoppers
Eukanuba too

~*~

Ashley you had me
From the first I time saw you
My love for you swells

~*~

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As a Product Manager at Gifts.com, I am constantly dreaming up the latest and greatest project that makes gift-giving that much better.  If you haven’t been living under a rock, then you know that the current internet trend involves online communities, social shopping, and networks. To keep our site fresh and cutting-edge, we try to release products that involves the N.B.T. (Next Big Thing).

With the launch of Gift Answers, we have begun conversations between gifters to see what ideas they have to offer outside of our professional Gift Guru staff.  In the few days post-launch, I have been pleasantly surprised that there is a small nook for an online gifting community in this vast internet space.  With that being said, I hope the 5 people who read this blog (and those who haven’t yet been contacted by me via Facebook) will take a peek at “my baby” that I’ve been toiling over for months.  Gift Answers is alive and kicking so make your gifting voice heard!

HOLIDAY ALERT!  Mother’s Day is only a week and a half away so make sure you check out Gifts.com for the perfect gift for their superstar mom.  We’re the one place you need to go for Gifts For Mom, Gift Cards, and Gift Certificates.

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Warning:  This post may contain sensitive material so please do not read further if you do not have a sense of humor.  Remember, I’m a style commentator not a social one.

I was watching Larry King the other night and the women of the YZR (Yearning for Zion Ranch) compound were on pleading for the return of their children.  They were soft-spoken, looked melancholy and seemed deferential to Larry. The women were private about their recent plight, only to say that they’re praying everyday that their sons/daughters be brought home to their mothers. While I was listening to their very sad story, I just couldn’t help but stare at how they looked and what they were wearing. 

It was a time warp where the descriptions I read in Laura Ingalls Wilder books were right there in High Definition.  The eyebrows, the prairie dresses, the HAIR!  The stylist in me wanted desperately to apply some makeup, update their wardrobe, and vamp up their tresses.  And while my heart felt anguish for all the lives of innocent children being torn apart, my brain couldn’t stop thinking, well wouldn’t she be pretty if…

During my morning routine the next morning, I look in the mirror and had my usual “what should I do with my hair besides pulling it into an updo with a claw clip” moment.  Usually, I will just pull it up into an updo with a claw clip.  But upon remembering what was on TV the night before, I twisted my straight black hair at the hairline so it kind of poufed up in front.  After a spritz of hairspray to hold it, I was pretty satisfied with the outcome.  At work, my co-worker complimented me on my hair.  So I guess what I call my FLDS-Chic hair was a success and won some style points!

I am neither condoning nor commenting on the alleged actions that have been discovered of this group.  The point of this post is really just to let my readers realize that you can find style inspiration at the most unexpected times, from the most unexpected people.  It just takes a little imagination, creativity, and sometimes a polygamous religious cult to get you over the hump.

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My friend at work and I had a hankering for some lunchtime H&M shopping this past week because the weather was so gorgeous, and store windows have become so springy.  At H&M, I eyed a pair of metallic blue ballet flats and just had to get them.  Usually, I get more subdued flats like black, silver, or gold.  These bright blue ones were so striking that I thought it would work wonderfully with my warm weather outfits.

Yesterday, I got to go to the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament at the Honda Center in Anaheim.  I rustled up my UCLA basketball jersey and something seemed all too familiar.  AHA!  The ballet flats I just bought a few days before were the same exact palette as the stripes of royal blue nylon along the sides of the jersey.  It’s not often when you are able to make a cute outfit from an otherwise sporty get-up.

Those who don’t know me, I bleed bruin blue and gold (which flows through my veins along with the Lakers and Dodgers platelets).  Going to this game was a big deal, and them winning it an even bigger one.  I can’t single out the bad officiating as the reason for the close game.  Our team just seemed off, out of sync, lethargic.  So with 10 minutes left in the game and the Bruins down 10 points, I felt sick to my stomach that the #1 seed in the West, the highly touted, often predicted champs of this year’s tourney, MY UCLA Bruins would get upset in the second round.  We whittled down their lead and finally tied it with a few minutes left.  As the game went down the final 10 seconds, Collison scored a basket as the 90% bruin fanbase erupted.  A steal and game punctuating dunk at the end of the game sealed the deal.  So I was able to breathe a sigh of relief, I looked down at my sparkling blue ballets and smiling knowingly that they transformed to my lucky bruin shoes.

So it’s not smooth sailing from here on out.  The game against the #9 Texas A&M Aggies just proved how nothing’s a guarantee and how many holes the bruins have in their game.  They need to step it up big time for the next round if they even want to have a chance to reach the Elite Eight.  So for Thursday’s game, K. Love and Collison should do exactly what they’ve been doing, Shipp needs to practice his shooting, Mbah a Moute can read up on what “travelling” means, and they better just hope that I’ll be sporting my bruin ballet flats.

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Lately I’ve have been obsessing about a shoe that was popular in the 70’s/80’s.  I distinctly remember eyeing these shoes that my sister, 9 years my senior, wore with her Gunnie Sax calico and lace dress.  They were these 4 inch high rubber heeled leather sandals, made by Cherokee.  They seemed so sophisticated and mature back then as anything that added 5 inches to a 5 foot frame would be.  And while my older sister got to prance around on these platforms of style, I had to make do with my boring flat jelly shoes for at least another 8 years.

I’ve recently become nostalgic of these shoes and have begun a determined search to find a pair to wear around this summer.  As with any hard-to-find or vintage item, I turned to Ebay to begin my quest.  I guess the combination of a small shoe size (6) and acceptable condition makes it a little harder of a task.  I started watching a couple of pairs with the initial bid of $9.99 and felt hopeful of my chances.  But with many Ebay auctions these days, the real price of an item isn’t reflected in the beginning days, but rather in the last few hours/minutes when bidders furiously click against one another. 

Yet, I was pretty confident I would run away with a bargain since who really would want a pair of stinky (nothing Febreeze can take out), 25-year-old leather sandals?  The answer…a lot of damn people.  What started as a $25 bid, quickly hit the $50 mark, and as I typed 7 then 5 then hit submit, I was met with the evil red “X” saying I’ve been outbid.  At that point, it pained me to pay even a dollar more for this particular pair so I waved the white flag, thinking I can wait for another auction for a similar shoe.  Just like the commercials, I felt like the loser who let someone else get away with “Shopping Victoriously.”  To further rub salt in my wound, everytime I look in my “Didn’t Win” section, those adorable vintage wedges showed up, purchased by kpheeyy for $50 more than I entered in for my highest bid.

I tried one more time to get another pair on Ebay only to be outbid again, with my $75 limit.  I went as far to ask my mom if she happened to keep my sister’s pair and she actually had…until a flood at our house a few years ago left everything in our garage into garbage.  So while my ongoing conquest for Cherokees continues throughout the spring, I will just have to admire them from afar.

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I have never been involved or had any interest in politics.  I don’t understand much of it, at UCLA, poli-sci courses were about as interesting as chemistry ones, and in social settings I prefer not to talk politics since I will just come off as a dolt.  However, that all changed last year when I started following a certain senator, who’s path to the White House was, at the time, just a bright twinkle in his eye.

I was an early adopter of Barack Obama’s charm and charisma, perhaps due to his amazing smile, dapper demeanor, and ability to goofily dance on Ellen (yet still seem respectable).  Smitten by all this, I quickly purchased my “Obama ‘08,” “I have a Crush on Obama,” and “Team Obama” paraphernalia from Cafepress.com, not really knowing the impact this junior senator would have in the 2008 presidential race.  At that point in time, all I knew was that I had a good feeling about him.  I liked what he stood for. I liked that he was the exact picture of the “American dream” that I envisioned.  I liked that he was a minority that grew up with whatever prejudices he had to endure to get to where he is today.  However, it would be short-sighted of me to just vote for a president just because I like him.  I wanted to back up my instincts by reading about his upbringing, philosophies, and political issues I feel are important.

So I did my homework.  I read “The Audacity of Hope,” watched the debates he was involved in, and took the test online that matches your answers with the candidate that shares similar beliefs.  Luckily, or as fate would have it, I enjoyed the book, agreed with his position in the debates, and matched with him on the online test.  As the Iowa caucus approached, I never had more interest or been more invested in a political race in my 12 or so years of voting.  When he actually won that state, I was suddenly hooked in this thing we ironically call the “political process” and actually began to care who was going to be on the ballot come November. 

That’s when it struck me.  Barack Obama’s words and overall persona has caused my Entertainment-Tonight-watching, Perez-Hilton-reading tendencies to occasionally switch to CNN and NPR.  His mantra “Yes, we can!” would come across as trite from many politicians, but from Obama lips, there is a sense of sincerity and passion that cannot be faked.  It’s hard to explain why or how he’s able to do this, but it seems like I’m not alone.  His message is resonating from middle-America to homogenous southern states and middle-class minorities to the Hollywood elite.

With Obama’s popularity rising, so was my realization that I am, once again, going with the most “trendy” thing to do.  During one of our heated IM debates about the Democratic candidates, my friend Tom said to me the quote I used to lead this post.  I laughed at both the audaciousness and truth behind the statement.  I guess I really can’t shake off my Trendanita moniker anytime soon, whether it’s about my taste in fashion, media choices, and now politics.  So I’m just going to suck it up and embrace the fact I am on the same bandwagon as Scarlett Johansson, the big O, and a Black Eyed Pea. But I guess a wagon that represents change, hope and the possibilities of the future is a pretty good one to be on…especially if Barack Obama is in the driver’s seat.

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I’ve been a very bad blogger, I’m not gonna lie. (Shout out to my lil’ bro)  But with the holiday hustle & bustle as well as other stressors that came up, I haven’t been very inspired to write.  However, becoming pretty much invalid the past week, I’ve had a lot of alone time to think…and as a result, have been able to drum up some topics that will likely become F.B.P. (Future Blog Posts).  So for my 4 readers out there, my blogging is a little rusty and I apologize in advance if this next one doesn’t meet my usual standard.

My friend K. and I were chatting the other day and we came to the realization that we’re 30-somethings who are reliving our middle school years, largely due to Facebook.  The conversation sounded something like this:  “OMG, Billy recently added this trashy looking girl to his friend list, then all of a sudden he blocked me from looking at his friends.  This must be an ex of his and maybe he’s dating her again but it’s so lame that he took the time to block me…” so on and so forth.  For the record, this isn’t my friend’s first foray into what I will now call “CSI: Facebook”.  A previous investigation involved an ex-boyfriend who was “cuddled” by a random chick who she knew little about, so she wanted to know more only to find, the said random chick’s profile is blocked to the public. 

Surprisingly, or maybe not, these scenarios have become increasingly more common in the last year or so.  Another good friend of mine, M., will be the first to admit that she is the lead detective of “CSI:  My Space” and I could easily be her second in command.

To make things even more complicated, Facebook has the ability to announce to the world if one’s been groped, drop-kicked or married…which brings me to my next story.  One day, I innocently logged into my FB account an lo and behold, this guy I used to have a thing with showed up as “married” in the FB News Feed section.  I’ve since lost touch with him until out of the blue, he added to me to his friend list a few weeks prior to me seeing this “married” status.  Being the perpetual bachelor that he is, I was both shocked and happy to see him finally settling down.  I immediately email him, through FB obviously, and the responses I got were short and quick.  “Yeah, can you believe it?”  “Got engaged over Christmas.”  “Yes, we have to catch up.”  Just like that, it felt like I’m back at Rosemont Junior High School, and that Liz just told me that Heather told Karin that Ryan was going with Cathy (Because back in the day, kids, other than myself, would “go with each other”).

Who knew that some 15+ years later, this thing called the internet would help me become the reincarnation of myself at age 14?  I always look back at my adolescence with mild embarassment of them being my awkward years.  I had braces, straight A’s, a terrible 80’s wardrobe, and perfect attendance…an ideal daughter, yes, a popular kid, far from. 

As I compare my current Facebook adolescence with my real one, I chuckle at the fact that I’m now friends with 75 (and counting) people, have a vast social network from friends to internet executives, am “going with” a wonderful guy, and have a great wardrobe to boot!  If my actual middle school years were really like this, then I could easily say that those were the best years of my life.  However, I am utterly grateful that I didn’t hit my prime that early and the best years are still to come.

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