My one month hiatus/sabbatical/vacation is now over!  I had an amazing break filled with family, friends, beach, design (and lots of laziness) and am excited for this new job.  I kind of miss having a routine but it was definitely nice waking up and having nowhere to be.

Since I have been living in t-shirts, bathing suits, and pareos the past month, I realize I kind of love being comfy all the time and don’t really miss the whole “business casual” thing.  In my attempts to look semi-decent for the new job, I decided to pull out the big guns today:  a new mauve/pinkish Forever 21 blazer my mom bought me when she was here (thanks Mom!), an old Calvin Klein black dress, and some new Jessica Simpson black heels I got for a steal deal ($44!) on Hautelook.  Janelle, I hope you approve of my outfit — you are my style icon.

Anddd I’m off.  Wish me luck!

I’ll be in Santa Barbara until tomorrow visiting my cousin, Scottee.  I LOVE this adorable little town so so much.  I went to school here for 4 years and I met some of my best friends and my boyfriend here, so this place holds lots of special memories for me.  She had to work for a few hours this morning, so I came to a coffeeshop to get some design work done.  Can’t wait to revisit all of my old stomping grounds!

Yesterday afternoon, I met Sarah and Sarah for lunch at Kafe Neo in Long Beach.  I met Sarah [SkinnyRunner] in Hawaii earlier this year and I had never met Sarah [OnceUponALime] before.  I read (and love) their blogs and have exchanged 19,832,941 e-mails with both of them over the past few months so it’s weird how much I feel like I know them.  They were my first “real” clients for design work and so it was a lot of fun to all meet up in person!  They both write extremely funny and sarcastic blogs and are so sweet (and blonde, gorgeous, and skinny) in real life.

On the way home, I was falling asleep and was about to pee my pants, so I got off the freeway in Santa Monica and figured I would find a Starbucks or Coffee Bean on every other corner.  I did.  And problem solved.

I am currently in a really exciting transition in my life.  I recently quit my job and have a WHOLE month off before my new job starts.  It’s only been two days and I could really get used to this whole not-working thing.  Don’t worry though, I am keeping busy with design work and tanning.  It’s great.

On another note, I’m pretty sure my boyfriend and I are in the top 10 Most Boring Couples.  We spend wayyy too much time in coffeeshops: him studying, me working (well, before I quit my job).  One of our favorites is Fresh Cafe in Honolulu because the coffee is delicious + reasonably priced, they have good food, and there are a lot of outlets for our computer plugs (one of my top criteria in my coffeeshop ratings!).  We camped out there yesterday and I am proud to say that that is where this little blog was born!  Isn’t that precious?

I never ever ever thought I would start a blog.  I love reading blogs and I get so inspired through my beloved Google Reader, but my own blog?!  Yeah right.  Sharing information with strangers online?!?  Weird.  Depending on what people blog about or what pictures they post, it’s crazy to me how much readers can know about someone’s life, but not know them. at all.  [I’m even getting vulnerable writing this knowing I am going to hit “publish” in a few minutes!]

However, I also think blogs are one of the coolest and most incredible forms of communication.  I am really excited to start my own and hopefully be able to pursue my passion of freelance graphic design through my blog!  It will be pretty much be a random hodgepodge of everything I love and adore, from date nights to design projects to running.  Hope you enjoy!