24 is the year for new things

Well, maybe more like 2010 is the year for new things, I'm not sure. All I know is I've gone to two roller derby bouts, I dated two marines, I've taken pole dancing classes (quite fun!) and now I am signing up to try The Bar Method class. According to Kelly Osbourne and Dita Von Teese say it's a booty kicker. I'm excited.

Friends Make Life Worth Living

(sorry for a blurry picture)

Monday I came to the office to find a wonderful package on my desk! Oh boy oh boy I do love packages. Inside was not just a book from the book swap I signed up for but also a mix CD to go with the book! So awesome!!! Thank you so much!

Not only was there a mix (tape) but also there were parts highlighted in the book. I was so excited because the book is actually one of my favorites and I really needed to read it again. This time it's going to be even better though because I get to see the parts that really spoke to my bookswap buddy!

I'm so excited, so very excited!

I could use a cupcake.


I woke up with a hangover of the worse sort. A bad date hangover. Luckily I am not the one with regrets this morning but I have to deal with the sad apologies from the one that does. I'm 100% sure I won't be seeing this one again.

It always amazes me when you lay things out from the beginning and the other just doesn't listen. They hear what they want to hear, see what they want to see and ultimately put me up on a pedestal that I can't help but fall from.

I can see a silver lining in this though, through the frustration of last night and this morning. I know that I no longer deal with tough boy with soft side drama, and I know that I do like someone else. He's just gone for a month. Of course.

Other than that, it's my 2nd mom's (stepmom) birthday today and I must get ready and go get her a card. She's in Las Vegas with my dad until later tonight. I was going to say that because she's there it doesn't mean I waited until the last minute but halfway through the thought I realized that yes, yes I did wait til the last minute.

Oh well.

Hope your Sunday is filled with happy and not hangover.

Me Night

Finally got around to doing the DIY craft I have been wanting to do since I set eyes on it from over at Bleubird Vintage.
Here are hers... (isn't she just the prettiest thing... love her style)

Check it out

and after an hour plus some minutes, maybe thirty... here are mine!!!!



TAAADAAAAAA!!!

I was suppose to get my lazy bum to the gym tonight (the one in my parents house :)) But really needed some me time so I stopped by Michaels, picked up my black paint (Target does not believe in black paint, especially not the waterproof kind) and I grabbed some canvas boards for another day and off I went, straight home to paint my little shoes.

One more thing off my checklist.

Oh! And it's time to retire my journal soon. She has 4 pages left. I've never gotten that close to the end of a journal before, I always leave at least 20 pages because I get so excited about a new one. But this journal has been amazing. I've been pasting things in her and jotting all kinds of stuff down so I'll kinda be sad to see her go. I'll post some pictures probably this weekend of fun (everybody safe) pages.

But for now I must go prepare an Icebreaker speech for a Toastmaster class tomorrow.

<3 C

My Heart Aches, 43 days left

Life Starts Here

Life did start there. I love that store almost more than life itself. I miss the wandering days.

Obsession

I cannot, absolutely just can. not. stop thinking about tattoos. It was bad before, then I went to my second roller derby, then I met a boy at said roller derby, while dating said boy he procured himself a new tattoo... the itch for color in skin grew. Then one night we watched LA Ink for hours on end... it's all downhill now, then I bought Kat Von D's book... Oh goodness. I'm lost forever and there's no digging me out. This want just won't stop.

I have the perfect idea for my Portland trip. I've wanted fall color leaves for a while, now I've discovered the placement and layout. I'm so excited. I must must must find money for this, I must must must schedule an appointment during my vacation, I must must must come back with some color and I'm not talking the skin cancer kind.

Research/ Color inspiration:





Found using Google Images

I have to find my artist, I have to find my time, I have to find the money. I'm so excited

50 Ways to Build Your Optimism

Found at weheartit

1. Be realistic about your expectations.
2. Accept the past, manage the present and work hard towards the future.
3. Seek for a ray of light/hope in a negative situation. It’s a bit difficult considering all you are going through, but there’s always an opportunity lurking somewhere in the dark.
4. Utilize what you have for now and aspire to grow in every area of your life, remembering you can only swallow food in bits and pieces before taking another big bite.
5. Be authentic, be yourself and stop hiding behind the MASK of pretence.
6. Get infected by being in a network or company of constructive people, because optimism is positively contagious.
7. Have a dream, believe in it and do everything possible under the sun to run with it.
8. Accept you are human with imperfections.
9. Express love towards other people.
10. Be selective of what you read, hear or watch from the media. Excessive media influence could dampen your spirits.
11. Develop the habit of using positive affirmations constructively.
12. Listen to music. It has the ability to make your mind wander a bit. Come on!!! dance to the groove; sing even if it won’t get you auditioned for XFACTOR.
13. Exercise regularly. Taking care of your body mind and soul builds courage and resilience to face the pressures of the world.
14. Avoid living in self denial.
15. Try as much as you can to stay calm when overwhelmed with the issues of life.
16. Be thankful for everything you have, who you are, the people around you…..
17. Develop a sense of humour. Cultivate the habit of laughing or cracking jokes.
18. Spoil yourself and make sure you enjoy doing so. Go on vacations, get a massage, eat out……..
19. Improve yourself at the slightest opportunity you have. Your capacity to succeed in life will depend on your personal drive to take each opportunity as stepping stones to fulfilling your life long dream.
20. Be gracious enough to accept things you cannot change. There will always be things you cannot change no matter how hard you work at it.
21. Reflect and focus on the good things that have occurred in your life.
22. Create a positive attitude.
23. Don’t harbour any form of resentment particularly with issues from the past.
24. Know when to call it quits. Some things aren’t just worth the effort and time you put into it.
25. Occupy yourself with things that bring out the best in you i.e. family, children,friends, travelling, reading etc
26. Focus on creating solutions and not drowning in problems.
27. Be a positive role model to your children, friends, family etc. Be a source of inspiration to people who look up to you.
28. Be good at your job demonstrating your useful skills.
29. Have a hobby to keep you occupied. It could be a form of sport, reading, writing etc.
30. Improve your physical appearance when necessary.
31. Get some rest because it is required to put things in perspective.
32. Learn something new in order increase your knowledge.
33. Be passionate. Embrace life and everything it stands for with love and passion.
34. Show persistence in all your endeavours because it’s one of the keys to happiness.
35. Worry less because it reduces the level of your anxiety..
36. Celebrate the successes of others.
37. Be determined and motivated to excel in all you’ve set out to do.
38. Learn to try out new things.
39. Maximize your success and give attention to your failures remembering that failures are learning experiences that yield positive results if handled properly.
40. Set a goal so that you will have something to look forward to when the going gets rough.
41. Practice the habit of forgiveness.
42. Avoid clutter. Be organized not only with your things but also with your thoughts and your plans.
43. Create a positive environment in your home or office.
44. Read several motivational stories, blogs,quotes….
45. Think positively about who you are.
46. Develop a strong ambition.
47. Visualize happy thoughts. Imagine a picture in your mind what you want to achieve and how you can achieve them. Oftentimes, what you create in your thoughts give birth to what happens in reality.
48. Walk tall, with your head high up exhibiting confidence.
49. Smile as often as you can. It has a way of showing your sincerity.
50. Have a blend of optimism in the way you pick, choose and say your words.

Full article here

A kiss with a fist is better than none

We Heart It

Well I've spent a good portion of today sleeping thus far. Let's be honest, I've only left my perch on my bed to run downstairs and see if my roommate had felt the earthquake. He hadn't. Oh well. I read twitter just to feel a little blue about not having a Valentine then I just realized what my whole day consisted of yesterday and I realized that feeling down was not necessary.

Yesterday was lovely. I finally got to seeing Dear John. Wonderful. Amanda Seyfried is gorgeous and so is her voice. Oh my goodness. Lady can sing and it looks like she can also play guitar. Beautiful.

I teared up but none spilled over. I was shocked. I then realized that I have this way of trying to be tough with guys and it made a little more sense.

I hope you all are having a marvelous Valentine's Day filled with fun and love. Single or not. Let's not do the SAD: Single Awareness Day, I'm making a huge effort not to. I think it will make my life a little more positive. :)

If that doesn't work, go here

The post definitely brightened my day.


Love love love

Saturday Morning

Good Morning!

It's been a crazy and sometimes long week. I had something to do every night after work that would keep me out until past my bedtime. So little miss C here was a very tired girl. The week isn't over yet, and I still have lots of plans, but I was able to fit some sleep in by going to bed a bit earlier than usual for a friday night.

This week has been filled up with two birthdays, visits with friends work outs (short and sweet because they had to be squeezed in), a toastmasters meeting, a sleepover, haircut (THANK GOODNESS), and other things I'm sure but have failed to log in my memory.

It's been hectic but ultimately good. I had a breakdown of a day thursday but I evened myself out in the end.

Now I must get ready to meet up with a lovely boy, we became friends over a love of roller derby. Oh how I love roller derby. But that's a story for another time.

I hope my buddies for the Valentine's swap received their cards! I have received a couple of mine and they are absolutely gorgeous. I feel like mine are inadequate or at the least amateur compared to the skills I have seen. Incredible. I guess that means more and more practice for me. :) Oh shucks, have to do more crafting.

And Carolyn I'm so excited that you got your book! I love it, love it, love it and feel so great when I get to share it with new people!

Well, I'm off for another day!

JUST SO STOKED!

find it here

Sorry, but I'm really, really excited that it's Friday. So much so the f bomb had to be dropped.

Love Love Love

Excitement!!!!

So today during lunch I purchased my plane tickets to get myself back up to Portland for a visit. It's been about 8 months, maybe more and I've been going crazy to be back up there.

I'm so excited. I was almost jumping up and down. Almost, but I decided that was unprofessional.

I'm going to go to my favoritest place EVER: Powell's. And I'm going to eat delicious vegan food. And some not so vegan food, but mostly vegan food. I'm going to Voodoo Donuts and Muy Thai by where I use to live and Nicholas's Meditteranean food and oh my goodness. So excited. I'm literally starting the countdown today...

50 days left, 51 including today but it's half done so I'm going to let this day slide :)

And then I calm down

I have a hard time keeping a positive attitude sometimes but then I go perusing blogs and I find a simple happiness again. Earlier today my heart swelled with joy when I saw that I have not one but THREE known followers AND you dear readers (that I didn't even know existed besides my faithful Portland friend B) are not only reading and stopping by but also commenting!!!
I wanted to skip around my work with joy. Alas that probably would have been a bad idea because then I might have had to explain why I was so happy which then would lead to explaining why I was on my own blog instead of doing work...

but I digress...

After lunch I came back in a funk again and so I took a second after answering emails to stop by Decor8. More specifically I paused more than briefly on this post. Definitely was a good idea because I came upon this picture:

I instantaneously feel in love with the pillow in the girl's left left hand. Oh sigh. So then I followed the links on said blog post and found a gorgeous collection by Anne Hubert. I suggest you take a look if you like cute things, and I'm pretty sure you do.


In closing, I am less frustrated and stressed now and I'm ready to get back to work (kind of) and I appreciate you more than you know!

<3 C

Birthday Sooooon!

Pretty Please with Sugar on Top!

As of today it is exactly a month til my lovely little birthday. What will I do? So many options but what I really want to do is get up bum up to Portland. Up there I want to get my tattoo. Not sure I'll have nearly enough money to do this by then but here's to crossed fingers and high hopes.

I would really love this necklace. I'd take the money for a tattoo and a plane ticket first of course... but if there was something else to get this would be it for sure!

Getting Inspired

So I've been putting off putting together my Valentines cards for the swap... not because I'm not excited but because I have so many ideas and I worry that I won't be able to bring them to perfect fruition. But tonight is the night, I will sit down with my pens, paper, magazine pictures and swirling ideas and create beautiful/fun cards.

One lovely valentine may get a version of this:

Frickin Cute!

Oh goodness!

I can't wait to go home and get started. I think it's going to be a night of champagne, good music and paper strewn across my room. Excited?! Of course!

<3

Oh joy! Oh joy! There is a giveaway made perfect for me!!!
As you know (because I mentioned it in previous posts) I reallllly want the Instax Mini 7s REAAAAAAAL bad. Yes I have acquired the instax 210 but I MUST get the mini. The 210 will be good for shots of places and things and such but I really want the mini for shots of friends. Something to carry around whenever.

So here's the lovely link to the contest... cross your fingers for me!!!

Keep moving forward!

Loves it

February 2nd... what am I thinking about?

1) I've been here about 8 months and my original promise was to stay here a year. Four more months. But if I don't plan for something else now then I won't ever leave. Planning is not my strong point, at least not with myself. I can plan other people's ways but when it comes to me I always feel lost in my lack of confidence in strengths and abilities. Something I must work on obviously.

2) I'm going crazy with want for a tattoo... I've kept my want at bay for soooooo long. But I've decided 24 is the year. Yeeees Ma'am. By 25 I will be sporting ink under my top layers of skin.

aaaand

3) I NEED to have a craft night soon. Must make my Valentine Cards for the swap. I have so many ideas but haven't taken the scissors, paper and glue out. I'm excited because one of the people I am making a card for is a lovely lady who's blog I read just about daily. She may have been how I learned about the swap now that I think about it. :)