Praying today

This beautiful little girl is undergoing a major major surgery today and could definitely use being lifted up in prayer. Not to mention the long long recovery days to follow, for her and my friend who’s pregnant with their third. They survived the month long ‘house arrest’ where they couldn’t leave the house to ensure she stayed healthy and now faces an even greater challenge.

She’s expected to stay in the hospital for upwards to 7+ days after the surgery where they won’t let her eat the entire time. My heart aches for what they’re about to endure, but I pray God heals her and makes this surgery a success.

My friend doesn’t know I did this, but I know the importance and power of prayer, so I ask for yours today for their entire family. And if you would like to participate, I would love nothing more than to shower my friend and her daughter with get well cards. I know you don’t know them but I think it would be a great brightener to her daughter’s tough days ahead. Not to mention my friend’s, who will be under an enormous amount of stress these next few weeks.

If you’d like to mail a card, you can email me, amazinggrape81{at}gmail{dot}com, or say so in the comments and I’ll provide an address to mail it to where I’ll collect them and hand deliver them to my friend.


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A big huge thankful me - 41

Hidee ho, Ranger Joe (name that tv show)

I’m sitting here picking away at my gel nail polish. pick pick picking. They’re driving me nuts! I’ve been lazy and won’t make an appointment at the salon to have them take it off for me for a measly $5, so instead I choose to have them snag on everything they come in contact with. Anyone else like that?

This past weekend has been one big ball of Captain Insane-o! From Friday morning to well after 11pm Sunday night, I was zipping here there everywhere and this girl is a big haggard.

I had many great parts to my weekend. Met w/some lovely ladies in the morning, followed by having lunch with a good friend with shopping immediately after. There’s nothing better than having someone trust you with picking their outfit choices. And there’s nothing worse than going shopping and not being able to buy anything…or I should say, not buying the 2 things you absolutely die for, because they happen to be the 2 most expensive things.

You can bet I’m keeping an eye on them in my virtual cart online, waiting for them to go on a 75% off sale… it could happen!

What are the 2 things, you may ask? Red corduroy pants and an emerald green silk top that I’m positively in love with! The pants are just a hair too short and I can’t decide if I’m ok with that, but they fit everywhere perfectly and I haven’t found a pair of pants that fit perfectly in months!
{side note: did you know Ann Taylor offers customers wine, Saturday nights?!}

For the rest of the weekend, the only sad thing about it was that I didn’t get to play with my new baby. My sweet and glorious beauty that arrived Friday. Things were too incredibly hectic, that I only got to touch it for 10 minutes after getting home Friday and it breaks my heart.

Please, I’d like you all to officially meet Montague

He goes by Monti and Gue as well and answers, “as you wish” when I ask him to do something for me. He’s remarkable and you wanna know the best part!??? I told G-man I was going to buy him because he went on an amazing sale, and G-man said he’d buy it for an early Christmas present!!

I nearly leapt out of my skin, I was so elated!! My very owe 5D Mark III. I’ve wanted this camera for so so very long and I can’t wait to learn it. I feel so blessed that my sugar daddy love would do this for me. It truthfully was the last thing I was expecting.

So now I have 2 cameras. But I would love nothing more than to sell my first camera to a blogger who is wanting to start out with their first DSLR. My original camera is a Canon Rebel T1i and it comes with the 18-55 kit lens, plus the battery charger, cables, and manuals (that were bought in addition to the camera). It’s a wonderful camera to learn from. Super easy to use and as you’ve seen in my past posts, it takes beautiful pictures.

I’m asking $400 for it w/$5 shipping and I’ll send it insured to anyone in the US. :) It could be your’s or someone special’s Christmas present, as it was for me almost 3 years ago. If you’re interested or know anyone who is, email me: amazinggrape81{at}gmail{dot}com


How were your weekends, friends?? Pin It Now!

One week down

Last Thursday, I pulled the trigger..bit the bullet! …cocked the gun? no..that doesn’t work…

I officially canceled my Directv. Like, officially officially. No temporary turn off for 6 months to see how I do, no cancel it and 1 hour later call back to pleeeeeease keep it on!!! Its off. And its off for good.

I’m waiting for the box to arrive for me to mail my receiver back. They don’t know I still have the other box they sent from my original failed attempt to cancel, so I’m patiently waiting for it to come. The guy was good though. He made every effort. Sighting how I’ve been such a loyal customer for so many years, how I’m eligible for a free updated HD DVR since I’ve had mine for so long, how he could save me $30+ on a different plan.

All I had to do was say, okay. But I’m done! I’ve griped and complained long enough about what’s showing on tv these days. The commercials alone are enough to make me feel unclean, and I’m happy I finally did it.

I’m not going all nun on you, I still have Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime, so it’s pretty much like I still have tv, only I won’t be inundated with the trash that’s all over the channels. I should also state that dumping nearly $100 a month on a service I barely use was getting to be a bit much for me. I could use a good cut back.

Not to mention my need to fund the haircut and color coming up in November. Gotta pay for it somehow. ;)

It’s nice. The quiet is nice. My mind looks forward to the cleansing again. It began getting used to the reality shows and sitcoms again, deeming them funny and okay to watch. I think I can go the rest of my life with never watching another reality show ever again.

And though this wasn’t my big ol’ happy announcement I mentioned Monday (which if you follow me on Instagram {emily_grapes} or twitter you’ll see it there today) it’s what’s going on in these parts.

I have parties throughout this entire weekend, plus I get to spend time with a friend who sees me as her fashion consultant…which scares me a bit. I go to you all for fashion advice and sometimes get it wrong, so for me to be the one that says yes and no for her is a bit intimidating.

I’ll leave you with 2 pins where I came to mind when my friend’s saw them.
LeAnna thought this was fitting for this post I wrote. Which I wholeheartedly agree. Love it!!

And Michee thought this was perfect for this post I wrote.

via southern slang etsy

I love you ladies, and I especially love that you think of me when you see certain pins. Warms this heart over here.

Have a warm, soup filled weekend!!

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I saw the sky

Friends, I saw the sky yesterday and you know what color it was? It was blue, but not just any blue, it was robin’s egg blue and baby blue, light blue and a crisp deep blue. It was so beautiful!

Where I live, I don’t normally get to see the sky for what it really is. Living in a city that boasts the worst air quality in the entire country, leaves me seeing a brownish gray haze almost every single day. Where the sun’s glare off the smog is so bad, sunglasses are the only way to be able to see where you’re going. Where they post flags at the schools that announce the kids aren’t allowed to play outside because the air quality is too bad that day.

But it rained Monday. And for just a short 24 hours, the air was clean again. And it was good. And it was beautiful. I hadn’t seen the sun shine so crisply or so brightly in months as it did that Tuesday morning. It was a moment that left me praising and thanking God for the beauty all around me with the bright sun shining on the farms and cows. Yes, even the cows looked beautiful in that sunlight. Enough to make me wish I had my camera.

I love the rain. How it washes away the dirt. the grime. How it brings freshness, and a renewed spirit to all that it touches. I’m so thankful I got that 24 hours of clean fresh air to renew my spirit.

A few weeks ago, I had the utmost pleasure of shooting my friend and her family when they were harvesting their raisins on their vineyard. She called me months ago laying out her vision of what she wanted for that day. To capture her beautiful family of 6 all working together to harvest the raisins at sunrise. I didn’t know what to expect but I made sure to bring a couple lenses, my sneakers (because I have this thing with ants getting all over my feet) ((ants love the sugar of certain vineyards)), and my half and half for coffee…because it was a Saturday sunrise shoot after all. This girl needed her coffee afterward!

The last two are a testament to how hard the family really worked that morning. All of them. It was such a joy to see all the children excited to help Mom and Dad. To see them work hard and proudly to show they can work right along side their parents in the family business. It put my constant yawning and cat naps on their couch  (while their baby slept) to shame as they continued to work.

It’s refreshing to see true work ethic and team work in a family. It was a blessing to spend the morning with them.

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We are all like animals

As I was contemplating life and all its wonders {as I do so very often}, I looked out my living room window and saw a cute little kitten speed around a wall and my mind drifted to my friend who asked me to catch that kitten for her and her family {which obviously, I still haven’t done}. That made me think more of her and I remembered they’re under “quarantine” in their house so they don’t get sick because their daughter is about to have a major surgery and she needs to be very strong for it. (please keep them in your prayers)

A month ago, my friend said I’d probably be the only one allowed over in October because I don’t have kids nor do I carry around a bag full of germs. {yay me!} So as I continued to contemplate life, I imaged me telling her that I’m ‘healthy as a horse!’ so that I might come to visit. …and thus created a list of all the things I thought of us people saying in relation to animals.

There are moments when I have far too much time on my hands…and Sunday was one of those moments.

I know I missed a lot more, so give me your best..or your worst. Let’s hear them!

What are some animal references you find yourself or hear someone saying a lot?

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A thankful me - 40

Weekend, where’d you go!? You were there and then *poof* you were gone! so so quickly.

The weekend was a pretty great one. Lots of craziness ensued. Lots of cheering and pumping of arms in the air. Anyone else celebrate when they clean their showers? How about toilets? Vacuum? I did them all on Saturday. You know those kinds of days… where you forego all sense of hygiene beyond teeth brushing because all you’re going to do is break into a sweat with cleaning? It’s a good thing I didn’t have to face anyone. I even waited to take the trash out after 10 because let’s be real…no one needed to see this mess that was me.

I’m happy to report I showered Sunday morning.. you’re welcome.

Sunday was probably my favorite day in a very long time. So many great and wonderful things happened yesterday! That I’ll probably share with you at the end of this week. Life changing..mind blowing…epic happenings over here. The world as I know it will be changed forever.

I did a pretty great thing Saturday that had me standing in my closet for a long time admiring my work. I re-organized everything. I wanted to see how much room I’d save by stacking my clothes and turns out, I save 5ft of space by doing it this way! 5ft!!
 
And this reveals to you just how much I don’t have color in my closet.. I’m a darks kind of gal.

It cost me zero dollars to do this. I’ve always been into the black hangers that the stores give for free when I’ve bought clothes over the years, so I’ve collected quite a few of them. Enough to have 95% of my wardrobe hung with black hangers, which in turn lets me stack them.

I was pretty excited.

What will I do with that extra 5ft you may ask? Not a darn thing. I have this thing where every time I reach in my closet to organize or straighten, I end up finding 4-5 more pieces to get rid of, which dwindles my clothes even more because I rarely replace them. Which is just what I did this time. 5 tops I never or should never wear again are in a bag ready to be donated, along with a pair of shoes.

Makes me thankful for all that I have and the ability to give things away and still have enough.
This whole weekend I’m thankful for! Having a 20 year old say she thought I was 24 was a sprinkling of sugar on top an already wonderful weekend.

I’m thankful for surprises and great friends. For other’s generosity and not having to drive my car for 2 days straight. Truly thankful for that one. And lots of laughter. Gosh, its so good to laugh.

How was your weekend, friends?

Random question of the day: Does anyone else lose copious amounts of hair daily??  I leave a hair road trail everywhere I go, it drives me crazy.

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My attempt at fashion

I once was a jeans and t-shirt kind of gal. But then I started wearing shorts and I became a huge shorts and t-shirt kind of gal. I prefer those over dresses and skirts and now jeans since jeans can be suffocating. Not to mention oddly tight around my knees… maybe my knees are getting fat.. hard to explain.

On rare occasions I’ll wear maxi dresses or skirts or even go so far as wearing a real dress to work. It’s rare but it happens.

I have a point…stay with me.

Last week I felt all black. I love wearing all black. Some love bright colors where me, I feel awesome in black. Now I have a small confession that I almost didn’t want to admit. When I posted the outfit on instagram everyone thought it was a dress or a skirt. Even G-man thought it was a dress…and I didn’t correct anyone, because well, I didn’t want to kill the happy mood. But I was wearing pants…as you can tell now that its blown up.

Sooo, since I was all deceiving and all, I thought I should redeem myself. Ok…that’s a fib. You all made me feel so good about this outfit (as a dress) that I had to wear the top again over the weekend, only with a skirt, so I could feel that fabulousness AGAIN.

Remember…I like to be complimented often..call it a disease if you will.

So while I was in Las Vegas for a team rally for lia sophia, I jumped into my friend’s closet to find something to wear because this girl has clothes…and shoes..and then more shoes, so I managed to pull it off pretty well, I think.

I feel better now that I’m not steering you all wrong anymore with the pants picture. Obviously the skirt and red heels are hers. But what made the day even greater was I was set to speak in front of all the lovely women and when I went up there I got into what’s being dubbed my “Party Emily” personality. She’s a lot funner (it’s a word) than normal Emily and while talking, I saw a girl in the back stand  up to look at the heels. Well, I couldn’t very well have her crane her neck, so I popped the foot up and one of the ladies happened to take a picture right at that moment.
You guys didn’t know I was so nice...

Wouldn’t you know it, everyone thought I was wearing a dress who complimented me. Naturally I didn’t feel the need to correct them, because it would have meant me lifting up my shirt to show them the skirt and being in public and all I didn’t feel it was the most appropriate of things to do, so I said thank you with a big ol’ grin.

*Moral of the story: Secretly sneak your friend’s pencil skirt into your luggage and wait to see if she notices.

Have a fabulous weekends, my friends!


*kidding…I didn’t steal the skirt

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Orange you glad?

First off, thank you everyone for your sweet words yesterday. I know there’s a lot of you married and single who know how I feel, so thank you.

Now! Saturday night a few of my friend’s and I went out to dinner. Since it was our last night in Vegas and one of the girls hadn’t been to Vegas since she was 17 (she’s now 29), we decided to make it worth her while…and by that I mean we went to eat at the Hard Rock Casino. It was close by. It wasn’t our first choice… but the food proved to be good.

After walking uncomfortably through the meat market…I mean, casino, we made it to the restaurant where they sat us in the “orange light” section. I noticed they had a yellow light section and a green light section. Far less offensive than the orange we were in and far more forgiving.

We chowed down on their chips and salsa, talking about all things girl and had a great time together…even though we looked like oompa loompa’s.

Afterward we piled in my friend’s SUV and drove down the strip..twice, so our friend could get a look at everything.
(our friend who get’s a good picture of her since her orange one didn’t turn out well) so that’s what skin is supposed to look like…

It was a good opportunity to point everything out to her that we knew. Fun little facts and memories we had at certain parts of the strip. Reliving many stories, laughing as we deciphered if they were real or if they were 2 stories combined.

(mom, I promise I was not in the car w/Jossie as she met guys at a light who invited her up to their hotel room for a party..and I promise I didn’t go into their room with her either…at least I think I didn’t.) She thinks I was with her all those years ago but I don’t have but the vaguest memory of this story, and no I wasn’t drinking..

Any way, I was so eager to see the Bellagio fountains. My all time favorite on the strip. I’ve spent hours at their wall watching each fountain show. I’ve watched them from a room at the Bellagio, I’ve watched them from a terrance…any way, anywhere I can, I’ll watch their fountain shows. And thankfully, they didn’t disappoint as we drove by slowly the second time and the Beatles began to play.

It brought tears to my eyes…that and because the rest of the car wasn’t into it like I was, but mainly because I got to see the fountains.

A little remnant of the strip.

Orange you glad I took you along my Saturday night? (I had to…I’m sorry) I should probably mention we all were in bed before 11. Party animal central!

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Looking at myself

I've been following along with She Reads Truth and doing their bible studies...in my own way. I read what they say to read every morning, I think it over, underline and sometimes write notes in my bible. I don't go full out with a notepad filled with verses, notes and doodles to have it really stick. I do what some would say is the minimum, and though I'm not necessarily content in my methods of studying, I'm thankful I'm reading God's word daily.

Though, there's been a struggle going on each day I read. I read for others in mind. I read a certain verse and think, 'if only they would read this.' 'if only I could get them somehow to understand this.' 'this applies to them so much right now' and I would underline and make notes with them in mind. Not me.

Every day I see myself doing this and every day I do my best to stop. To put myself in front. To read for me and what I need to work on in my life, because I know what I'm saying they need to read is what I need to read as well. My heart is just as deceitful and bitter. It holds the same amount of clamor and wrath and anger and slander and malice. (Eph 4:31) I may hold it in (for a little bit longer than them) but I still have it there in my heart and it still spews out of my mouth easier and quicker than others.

I pray a lot about having the verses work in my heart, in my life, and its becoming almost a daily prayer because I can't stop wanting others to be changed by the verses I read and having their eyes opened. I know it won't effect them. They aren't reading it so obviously no changes will be made in their lives, but its mine that its needed in.

Even with this ongoing revelation, I still feel the desire for others to change. Reading an excerpt on Katie's blog from the book "Bittersweet" had me thinking of all my married with kids friends, and wishing they'd read the book. I've seriously debated talking about this for so long but I know you read my blog and in every way I want you to take anything I say, the right way, so I’ve struggled with opening up.

How can I share that I feel like I'm nothing to just about all my married with kids friends, because they never make time to hangout with me? That I see them (or hear about) them hanging out with other friends but when I ask for just one hour of their time, they don't have it. They're too busy, or the kids are impossible to get away from... 

I do understand that when kids come into the picture EVERYTHING changes. I. get. that. And when you add 2, 3, 4 or more kids under a certain age, life is thrown into a tailspin. But I feel left out. Maybe I'm too selfish. Maybe I put more stock in the friendship. Maybe I'm being incredibly unfair. Maybe when my day comes and I have a brood of children at my feet the light bulb will go off and I'll call to apologize.

Right now? I don't get it. And it makes me feel like retreating. Like not even putting in the effort anymore because they don't want to. I don't have the kids in common, play date, get-together’s to be our connection. It makes my time here lonely. And isolating. And disconnected.

I'm not in the same place as anyone around me and I feel like the odd man out, and without Facebook, it makes my outsider feelings complete.

I know I've already taken huge steps back from everyone I've known in my little town. Helping the isolation by not texting or emailing or reaching out to them, because honestly? I'm tired of rejection. It hurts and I don't want to keep getting hurt. I'd rather go to work, go home, do a jewelry party with strangers who make time for me and go back home to a quiet empty apartment, than text a friend and not hear back for days. Or suggest to plan a get together and have it never work out.

I'm not content or happy in this, but its less painful this way.

There’s always the exception and that exception came over last night. I had a great time. We planned 6 weeks ahead and actually had our ‘date’ stick, and I was so happy it worked out, because we had such a nice time.

Like reading verses, if I choose to read that book, or any other, I need to read it for myself. Because God knows how much change I need to do in my own heart. I can pray all day and night for God to change and soften my heart but until I'm willing, it will remain in the same state of discontent and frustration.

Ephesians 4:32 speaks loud enough to me that it stings.
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

"be kind and tender-hearted.."  two things I could definitely be more of...

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A thankful me - 39

It’s back to the grind for me today…and you, I figure. I had the best 3 1/2 days off! If ever there were days that needed to creep by and actually did, it was my 3 1/2 days off, and it was wonderful.

A trip wouldn’t be without stories, and this trip didn’t disappoint. I went to Las Vegas in case I didn’t mention it at any point, and I left Thursday afternoon. Leaving work early had me all sorts of excited as I headed to the airport. Walking toward the security check, I saw that I would be the only one there.

No lines, no wait..just a bunch of bored TSA agent’s standing around. I almost took a picture.

After sitting in what I thought was my terminal for 1 1/2 hours waiting for my flight, I decided to really look at the monitor that showed me I was in fact in the wrong area, not to mention floor. Thankfully I was still so early, it didn’t effect me in any way and it wouldn’t have mattered if it did because my flight got delayed thanks to the crazy thunder storms and flash floods that were going on in Vegas.

30 minutes later they announced we had literally 30 minutes to board and take off in order to make “the window” to land in Vegas, so we all needed to be quick and go straight to our assigned seats. Everyone sprang into action. Passengers sat down, moved out of the way, buckled up and were quickly filling up the plane. And then…the drunks came on board.

5 grown women who decided to start their Vegas vacation early got drunk at the airport and decided to take 5 other passenger’s assigned seats, so they could sit together on the plane. When the 5 other women came on board to claim those seats, the yelling drunk women weren’t wanting to give them up and told them to find other seats. Precious minutes are ticking by as the long line of passengers waiting to take their seats are growing impatient in the aisle.

After many passengers began yelling and screaming at the drunks, the 1st attendant finally forced the drunk women to take their original separate seats (much to their loud whining), and move out of the aisle so everyone could sit in order for us to leave. We barely made it out..and there may have been laughter when the flight attendant announced that they won’t be serving any alcohol to any passenger they believe to be intoxicated.

It was a good thing we got into Vegas when we did because the floods and hail came! It might be hard to tell but that is a river of water flowing quickly down my friend’s street that same night.

The hail came down harder than I’ve ever heard it. If I knew how to put the video from my phone on here to show you, I would. It was pretty crazy!

My schedule stayed pretty busy the entire trip but it was one of those great busies that I enjoyed.

I’m so thankful I got to go. That work let me have it off. That I got to hangout with some beautiful fun women and eat fatty foods and load up on McDonald’s coffee with my 9 creams.

I’m so thankful I got to see a sweet friend I haven’t seen in 13 years and hold her precious 8 week old baby that fell asleep in my arms, and having my oldest be… I mean oldest “friend” lend me her car to drive around Vegas on my own.

I’m glad I’m home now. Back in the swing of things. To the normal and every day. Going on these short little weekend trips, help make these normal every day days better. A rejuvenation of sorts.

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Lost and gone forever?

I had quite the scare the other night with my old pictures. A long long time ago I used to upload all my pictures onto kodak gallery online. Everything was stored there from the early to mid 2000's. Probably close to 2,000 pictures were saved online that I would email to friends and family and G-man when he was overseas. It was my go to for anything pictures, Christmas cards and photo books.

At the beginning of the year, Kodak said they were closing their website and transferring all the pictures to shutterfly’s site. I didn’t think much of it since the email said everything would be taken care of for me. Come the beginning of July, their site shut down but I didn’t bother checking either site to see where my pictures were.

Fast forward to Monday. I was looking for a particular picture and needed to get it from shutterfly, but after logging in, it showed zero albums. zero pictures. I was freaking out! All those pictures gone! My trips I took, all my work pictures with my co workers from prison, my nieces nephews family, all gone!

It took 4 shutterfly logins (because you know if you keep logging in and out of the same website they’ll magically appear) and 2 kodak gallery logins to finally scroll down and read where it said, ‘to complete transfer of your pictures, log into kodak gallery here.’

Hmmmm, I don’t remember ever doing that….

The moment I do, all the pictures show up in shutterfly. Talk about heaving the biggest sigh of relief!! I started looking through them all and figured I’d share some fun ones…there’s a good chance one person will kill me after this..

Clearly you can see I’ve always been a fan of sunsets. Pier in Cayucos, CA.

Avila Beach, CA

I still have this skirt! I wore it that one time at the wedding and held onto it for 7 years before finally wearing it again.

Remember my story about my close friend who would do anything for me? That’s him. :)

Santa Barbara, CA. Which was absolutely beautiful!

My long time childhood friend, that I’m seeing today, who I’m sure would like to kill me but let’s take the focus off her and on my side 1990’s bangs I’m sporting.

Getting all fancy for my date with G-man in San Francisco where he took me to a fancy shmancy restaurant and a symphony after…all while he ran a 105 temperature! What a guy!!

Hours after chopping my hair off, not to mention coloring it. That cut took entirely too long to grow back.

A little flashback Thursday if you will. I’m heading out to see my friend for the weekend. We’re doing some fun stuff that involves a little place called Vegas. Ok, I’m probably not going to come close to the strip! I’m going for other reasons, but we’re having a slumber party at her house with 3 other women. I’m sure her husband will love all the women taking over the house!



~ ~I just wanted to throw it out there in case anyone’s interested. I’m having a little 24 hour lia sophia sale that starts today, if you want to be included in it, make sure you include your email in your comment and I’ll email you the information and what it’s all about. Anyone that orders (within the US) will get their order shipped to them by me. :)

Since Christmas is coming and the new Special Edition Catalog is rockin’, I figured why not offer it in case you’re interested for yourself or for Christmas gifts.~ ~ Pin It Now!

A thankful me - 38

Hi there friends! Happy Columbus Day to all of you who actually get the day off. Happy Monday to all us suckers who have get to work it! kidding kidding

How we don’t have the day off to pay homage to the man that discovered America is beyond me! He discovered the country for pete sake! I think I’m going to take up a petition.

So the weekend. Let’s talk about that. It was in the 70’s!!!! This was monumental. For the first time since April or May, I didn’t have to turn my a/c on when I got home from work Friday. It was glorious. And then Saturday night was the first night I woke up to pull my covers up (and my a/c was off too), then in the morning I actually took a warm shower. First time in MONTHS I’ve taken a warm shower. All previous showers have been cold, its been that hot!

I’m really excited for this.

I got a mani/pedi over the weekend. First time I got gel nail polish on my fingers. Its just like shalack, but gel and I think I like it. I went with a neutral color because I’m all about subtle. Its supposed to stay on for up to 3 weeks.


My pedi….well, I’ll be honest and say it’s the worst polish job I’ve ever had. Like ever. I’m embarrassed for anyone to actually look down. Thankfully I wear closed toed shoes to work so they can’t see them, but the next time I go to that salon (because I really like the salon) I’ll be booking my appointment with another person.

I also did something else this weekend that warrants a mention. …I pet a dog. yes yes, I did. But I should mention it’s a puppy, which totally is the only reason. Though, I guess (just because it was in my face) I did pet the older dog. They were very well behaved. I’ll give them that.

I also stuck my flats in the freezer… what? You don’t!?

The claim is, if you keep them in for at least 24 hours, it will get rid of the smell…or the sweet and pleasant odor that you leeched all over them… whatever you want to call it. I did it for a good 48 hours because my sweet and pleasant odor was on there real good and needed to be abolished. I have yet to wear them, though I did give them a good sniff and they still have a hint of “me”, so we’ll see when I wear them next how well it really worked.

{this picture reminded me to put the bacon out to thaw! baaaacon!!!}

And then (no and then) I saw a very beeeeautiful sunset. Where I snapped picture after picture while driving down the road, until I could stop and take a proper iPhone picture. It rivaled my Hawaiian sunsets.. but they still win out.

The rest of the weekend was filled with Costco samples, Kohl’s (where I didn’t buy a thing), great food (where I didn’t cook a thing), sweet and adorable old ladies, jewelry and my parents 39th wedding anniversary.  (Happy official Anniversary Mom and Dad!)

And that is what I’m most thankful for this week.

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The soothing sounds of soundtracks

I’m a big advocate for soundtracks. They have the ability to excite you, make you cry, dance, give you chills and what can be most important; sooth and relax you.

I grew up with soundtracks. Les Miserable, Phantom of the Opera to start and as I got older, I got into the movies; Forest Gump, Titanic, Chicago… to name a few.

Even in college, the guys were heavy into Star Wars I, and I can’t even tell you how many times we listened to that soundtrack in their dorm room or on our way to Denny’s.

Once I started working for the prison system, as I’ve mentioned before, I had a very difficult time with sleep. I’d either lie there with anxiety knowing I had to start my Monday the next morning, or lie there afraid someone had broken into my house and played out every scenario of that happening. Or what was sometimes even worse, having really bad nightmares that would wake me up drenched in sweat with my heart pounding so hard it would just stop.

When nights became too much for my head to handle, I would grab my cd player and put in my favorite soundtrack; Meet Joe Black. The only soundtrack that had the ability to sooth me to sleep. Sometimes it would take only a few tracks, sometimes it would take the entire cd, but in time, I’d drift off to sleep.

To this day, its still one of my absolute favorite soundtracks. Even as I write this, I’m listening to it picturing where we are in the movie. And that’s what’s so great about soundtracks! If you’ve seen the movie enough, you can play the entire scene in your head as you listen. There’ll be times I’ll pause in what I’m doing to play it out in my head and a little smile will appear because as always, its one of my favorite parts.


Every soundtrack evokes a different emotion in me. When I’m needing to decompress from the day, I’ll play my ‘soundtracks' playlist that begins with Pride and Prejudice, followed by Meet Joe Black and then Pearl Harbor. It continues on to others, but these are my top 3 favorites to have me unwind. If I’m feeling more upbeat, I’ll listen to Chicago and sing along or {when I had it} Raiders of the Lost Ark.

I plan to always have soundtracks in my life. I think its very important for my {future} kids to appreciate the finer music. The symphonies and feeling the emotion in every note they make. To sit back and close their eyes as they soak in the sounds, being able to pick out the cellos and clarinets, the violins and flutes. Feeling the beat…

I can certainly go on and on about it, that’s how passionate I am about beautiful music. What also gives me a huge appreciation for it is watching how the composer made the music. G-man and I one night, awhile back, watched a documentary on the Rocky movies. In it, they talked about the music. In the very first movie, they had such a low budget, they filmed primarily in the middle of the night or at dawn. That’s why you see so many morning shots. They had to because they didn’t have a permit to shoot in the city as it was too expensive.

With the music, generally they’re given weeks (if I remember correctly) to watch the movie and play the music in their studio repeatedly, along with a large budget but right before doing their first run through, the composer was pulled aside, told the budget was slashed to virtually nothing and without telling the musicians, started the recording and had them play every song for the entire movie.

They played every song once. That’s it. What you hear in the movie was their very first run through. Now if you watch that movie again, {which if you’re anything like me, you’re forced happy to watch it every time it comes on} I’d imagine your appreciation for it all will increase. Maybe its just me thinking its cool. But I can’t help it, I do.

I know I’m not alone in liking soundtracks, so what kind do you listen to?

What are your favorites and your go to’s?

Any that fall in line with Pride and Prejudice and Meet Joe Black? I would love recommendations on similar ones to add to my collection.

Happy Friday and weekend everyone. Oh and that’s my very first collage so go easy on me with how simple it is.

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When is it ok to spend?

So you all must think I’m a little crazy..well, maybe not all but the majority of you since my last post. I question if I should share 1/2 the things that go on in my head with you, so usually reduce it to about 1/3 and even then, sometimes it’s too much.

But oh well. As many of you have said, I’m transparent. I say what I say and it may be random, heartfelt, deep, funny or just plain weird, but its me in all my goofiness.

random unrelated but pretty picture

I’ve had a lot of money thoughts lately. Thoughts in the way of wanting to spend a lot. I’ve had the itch for two weeks now, though I’ll admit, its died down considerably. Sense has crept back in and allowed me to function at a normal level again but I still think and question certain amounts of spending.

I put it on twitter and got quite the response, so I’ll put it here to see what you’d do.

If you knew you’d get a phenomenal haircut and color, would you spend $300 for it?

The type of cut and color where you know will be amazing. Where no other stylist you know or go to could ever come close.

This is the debate I’m having right now. I’m seeing my awesome stylist in November for a cut, but saw “Belle” on Once Upon A Time (the show) and absolutely fell in love with her color. It’s a highlight/lowlight color so it would take work and I’m considering having my stylist do it along with the cut. This will most likely cost over $300 but let’s just say it’ll be a solid 3. I’ve already made the appointment for both since its easier to cancel than add but I’m not sure if I can fully take the leap.

I’m back to my sensible spending ways and have a hard time choking down that amount, but in the same I was about to plunk down over 3 times that amount for a camera lens just days ago.

Do you see where I can justify spending the “chump change”? Its still so easy for me to fall back into my old spending ways when I had a ton of money. It runs through my blood, so to speak.

I’m also aware of all the things I’ll be spending a lot of money on that’s coming up. Things that might trump the color, so again, the debate wages on inside.

I like what Angie said, “…There is nothing wrong indulgence as long as you aren't going into debt over it!”

I agree. And its nice being pampered with the assurance I’ll be more than 100% satisfied with the result.

Money…or more like spending, has been on my mind lately and just wanted to see where you stand.

SO, would you spend that? Or could you see yourself spending $300 on something else that was in one sitting?
Or would you absolutely never spend that much money on yourself? Maybe because you don’t think you should? Or aren’t worth it? Or just plain don’t think you ever need to spend that much on yourself period.

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Vanity filled

via

Is this vain? Is this smart? Is this putting way too much thought into it?
Hard to say, but what I've decided to do..or at least cut back considerably in doing is drinking out of a straw. Random, right?

I bought this nifty new water bottle to replace my, older than I care to admit one, that has a straw in it. At first I thought it was so cool. I no longer had to hoist the bottle up with the fear of it dribbling down my face, chest and lap (cause that was happening) but I started to pay attention to the lip pucker...and there's a lot of lip pucker. I drink almost a gallon of water a day out of it so imagine, if you will how often I'm sucking down on that straw. 
By week 2 is when I noticed that it simulated a smoker. {do you think I'm crazy yet?} Maybe you do, but I'm around a lot of smokers and I see the horrible lines they have around their mouths from the constant pucker and heck if I (the non smoker that I am) will have those lines from drinking out of a straw! I'm getting wrinkles regardless. You all know, if you've been around for awhile, I've been talking a bit about them on my face and neck. Its natural, its going to happen, but I certainly don't want to speed up the process over a silly straw!
After moving the straw to the left side of my mouth...then the right side..then not fully putting my lips on it and having it spray all over me and looking like a fool, I decided to take the lid off every time and drink like its a glass of water. Surprisingly, I'm almost doubled my water intake because of it.
Feel free to call me silly or superficial, I don't mind. I prefer to age gracefully…not to mention slowly. I'm sure someone will say, 'so you won't kiss because it may cause wrinkles?' and no... I'll happily kiss for 30 minutes and not think once about any wrinkles forming, but a straw? There's no enjoyment in those wrinkles.
have you thought of this? 
- I never did in my 20's but I'm in my 30's now and I'm a lot more aware of what can affect and damage my skin. 
Speaking of vanity, I put the 'pin it' button on the blog for the cookies, Friday. Just in case anyone wanted to pin it and have it be a quick easy way and now its on each and every post and I can't remove it! I've gone into HTML and searched all over for it and can't find a way to take it out, so I promise, I'm not so conceded that I think you'll want to pin every single post I put up.
And seriously, if you know how to find it in my HTML, tell me and I'll send you a cookie!







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A thankful me - 37

Hi hi hi everyone!! It’s October and you  know what that means, right!? if you know, fill me in…

My weekend was insane-o.  I slept… listened to Michael Buble… took out the trash…twice! and had to wash the dishes! I’m not sure I’ll fully recover. In all actuality, I did do all those things but Saturday was a bit exhausting (as I yawns just typing that out).

I was at my friend’s house at 6:30am to do a sunrise shoot of them harvesting the raisins from their vineyard and afterward, I stayed to watch the baby while she went back out to work. My word, it was tough work. I was tired just watching them! Ok, I was tired in general from being up so early and then watching what had to have been the easiest baby on the planet. After carting him around in the Radio Flyer {note to self: invest in Radio Flyer for future} for a good 45 minutes, we went back inside and within 15 minutes, he came over to me on the couch. I pulled him up and 5 minutes later we both were passed out.

At some point, I jerked awake not sure where I was or what the heck was on me. Good thing I don’t flail my arms or anything since clearly he was still sleeping on me, but it certainly had my heart racing. Sleeping babies on me aren’t exactly an every day occurrence over here.

Good thing he’s their 4th, because as I was standing up to take him to his crib, I managed to kick the loudest toy possible across their hardwood floor, while the 3 year old came in slamming the back door. Kid didn’t flinch once.

Here’s a glimpse of that morning..
This happens to be one of my favorites.

This past week, I have more than enough to be thankful for:
- Monday a co worker brought me chocolate and not 4 hours later another co worker brought me Starbucks, and a third co worker offered to buy me lunch. All for no apparent reason. I admit, I was a little more than suspicious.

- later on in the week that 3rd co worker surprised me with lunch…but not before accidentally giving me his tongue burrito instead of my carne asada burrito. Yes, actual tongue! I made sure he removed the offensive burrito off my desk himself…all while thanking him of course.

- potluck Friday commenced and the food was in abundance, and my cookies were eaten
- getting some nice accolades at work
- seeing the sunrise
- marking the 5th anniversary of our first date 

I realize most of my thankfulness revolves around food this week but my belly has been quite happy. How was your weekend? Did you catch the sunrise?

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