The Slideshow of the Week

When you're young and days just go by, I think you tend to forget how precious life is. Today we held my Yeye's service, not a funeral, but moreso a celebration of his life. I cried, for sure, but only because God blessed me so much through the life of my grandpa. The church was packed and I was happy to realize that though I was blessed, I was not the only one. 

Yeah for Races!

I am ultra stressed, but I was blessed this weekend to enjoy a day of fun, excitement and relaxation with some friends and my family.  I ran the Baltimore Marathon Relay on Saturday. It was the first time I ran a relay and while it was tough waking up so early only to run about 5 hours later (I KNOW!), I loved being amidst other runners and cheering them on.  The relay allowed me to participate in a run but also gave me the chance to see the elite and top runners, something I miss when I run most races.   Some highlights?... meeting new friends on the shuttle bus and in the line for the portapotty (thankfully the friends I met were willing to skip the portapotties and use the woods instead!) and of course, running the 4th leg with TEAM BATS where I  followed three other speedy running friends of mine.

Today I am thankful to be able to wake up early and get some work done. I'm also very thankful because Kevin and I (or moreso just myself this morning) celebrate our 1 year and 3 month wedding anniversary.  This is enough to help me through the day and to remind to keep on trucking through the next month and a half until I graduate. Lord-willing, I will graduate.  I'm trying to remember that everything is in God's control and with his help, this whole stress ball will be over!!

My Personal Etsy Site

I know a lot of people starting their own businesses, specifically on etsy.com.  I've always thought about starting my own greeting card company (since I was in high school in fact), but since that idea hasn't come into fruition, this past weekend, I thought of a new goal for myself that shows the frugality in me.

My awesome dream is to use all the decorative and card paper I have to make as many greeting cards as I can.  On display today are my first few cards of October 2010.  I might have used less than 5 sheets of paper! I love PAPER!

FYI- the flowers from most of the cards are remnants of table cards used at my wedding. That's right, reuse and recycle!

Shoes

These past few months have been a turn around time for me. I've been trying for years to be fashionable and in style and I believe I am really gaining some ground.  First of all this summer I changed the color palette of my shoes from faded black, brown, and tan to bright BLUE, white, and silver.  I've never had any shoes of true color. A few months ago, I was with friends in the fashion capital of the U.S. (NYC) and caught sight of the Aerosole Saavy.  I was about to walk away to save some cash but boldly went for the buy!  (This is uncharacteristic of me).  The whole transaction, less than $20 and I didn't even have to pay taxes and they made my running toes look cute in no time!  By the way, these shoes are in different colors and are now on clearance at Aerosole's website, some for even $9.99! I got the bright blue, you can get green or a few other choices.  Can't beat that.

This past weekend was another turning point. I went to a bridal shower of a friend who might I mention is quite the fashionista.  When I walked into the party, I quickly found myself surrounded with women wearing high fashion, cute, colorful outfits, hair down, and heels about an average of 3 inches tall. Might I mention I was already the shortest one there? And mind you, these were not just young girls at this party, the heels were widespread even to the aunties all around. I was wearing my cute yet flat shoes that day and I had on one of my cute outfit which turned out pretty bland to the rest of them.

I was highly inspired by this shower. 20 minutes after, I detoured on my way home to none other than DSW. What did I buy? A pair of knee high black boots with a thick three inch heel on the bottom. Let me first mention that oddly, I really hate heels. In fact, for my oldest sister's wedding, I chose to wear sneakers and actually passed through without notice.  The second sister's wedding, I wore flats, only because when I tried to wear sneakers, my friend (coincidentally, the one whose bridal shower I recently attended), refused to allow it and helped me find flats from Payless for the occasion.  So really, a pair of heels is one thing. And let me tell me you, boots are another!  Knee high ones, I might add.  I think I might their big debut may be this upcoming weekend!  

In regard to shoes, I also made a huge discovery today. I've had this pair of shoes I bought maybe 3-4 years ago and I've wore them maybe three times. Why? They killed and scratched my feet up. (This is why I choose not to buy shoes on impulse anymore.)  Apparently a high quality of shoes, however, they scared me away because every time I wore them, they were so annoying and hurtful to my feet.  #1001 why I really do hate heels.  About two weeks back, my sister from Singapore gave me these "no show" dress socks and interesting they helped relieve SOME of the foot rubbing that made these shoes uncomfortable.  From that I learned that fashionable women do have secrets. My sister told me that she saw a lady once use wax to prevent shoes from rubbing and hurting the feet.  I learned the secret of wearing bandaids to help prevent some rubbing.  How come it takes me so long to learn all these beauty secrets?  Well, this morning I made the most amazing discovery. When I wear full socks, my shoes can last a whole day.  What do you know??

I'd also like to brag that today I added a belt to my work outfit, blew dry my hair last night, and wore my hair down for the majority of the day.  And last week I painted my toenails...blue!  That's what shoes can do.