ooh! something shiny!

so, you know i'm a pretty big fan of sparkle athletics. my first sparkle skirt was part of my costume for my first half marathon two years ago - the inaugural tinkerbell half. remember?

since then, i've worked shifts working in their booth at other run disney expos. it's always fun, and they compensate their volunteers with "sparkle bucks" - credit towards merchandise. and so when they put out a call for help with their biannual inventory check at their office in nearby orange, i jumped at the chance. and although she isn't really into the sparkle skirt thing, the teen got roped into came with me too.

you would never guess that behind this nondescript, boringly blah door lies the home base for one of the most popular vendors at the run disney expos. 

it was easy, busy work that had us sorting through piles of fun stuff like sparkly headbands:

sparkle sleeves:

and "schwings," which are little decorations in different shapes that are attached to your running shoes. 

by the time our shift was over, everything in the warehouse had been accounted for. there were rows and rows of skirts, wings, "race legs" (like leg warmers, only cuter), and other accessories.

 

before we left, i got to do a little shopping to spend my sparkle bucks. i had a lot of fun perusing the bins, and added these beauties to my collection. 

the hub had mentioned that he would be coming back from south orange county at about the same time we'd be done.  after trading a few text messages, we decided to meet up in the downtown brea area for lunch. 

the teen and i got there first, so we spent a little time checking out some of the stores that lined the streets. there were some really cute little clothing stores, so we may have to make our way back down there sometime. besides, we knew the bean would dig this place:

lunch was at bruxie, a gourmet waffle sandwich restaurant. 

i went with a prosciutto and gruyere sandwich, served inside a beautifully cooked, perfectly chewy waffle.

the general manager of this place is one of the bean's friends' daddy. he's super friendly and chatted with us a bit before leaving for a meeting. but not before leaving us with a parting gift: frozen custard flown in from wisconsin with cups of housemade caramel and belgian chocolate sauce. 

shhhhh. dont tell the bean we had ice cream and waffles without her.