letters.

dear sisqo-the-racoon, you are the cutest. i am so glad olga won you while playing whack-a-mole on the boardwalk. you may be the cutest stuffed animal ever, but i am ashamed to say, that the thought of your origin and dusty boardwalk game housing has crossed my mind numerous times partnered with a silent..."yuck".

dear not-so-discreet girl that was puking in the mcdonald's bathroom at midnight in some who-knows-what-it's-called town in new jersey on our drive home from atlantic city, yolo? i guess but you could have been a bit more quiet. you almost made me enter vomcity. yikes.

dear face, i love you so much. you have been so good to me but you are having a pimple party this week and it is so not welcome or appreciated. these parties were cool like .... 7 years ago. so not cool now. tell them to leave. party's over.

dear disney world, for some reason i really miss you and want to visit you again. on a bad day, i could just walk through magic kingdom, find minnie mouse's house and just sit in there, pretending like we are best friends. who doesn't want to be best friend's with minnie mouse? .....anyone? first girl (mouse) that could ever pull off polka dots. you go girl.

dear summer sun, you have been blazing the last couple days and i am looovin' it.

dear new job, i promise i will do my best and hopefully we set off on the right foot and love each other. that's what i need right now. new beginnings, cheers to them : )

dear anyone who reads this blog, even though i say too much or embarrass myself or have nothing really interesting to say, i get really giddy every time i see someone comment and actually enjoy what i'm writing about. so basically, you make my day and i'm really glad that this blog isn't just a fun place for me but for others too : )


and thank you to the various blogs that gave me this awesome letter writing idea. it's entirely too much fun and i could keep writing more and more but i need to go to bed.

hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend so far, xoxo

trufula trees, pretty skirts, and stuff

i was so ready to regale you with stories of my week accompanied by lots of photos but sadly, i really didn't take many this week nor do i have any interesting/exciting stories to tell about my week.  i am starting my new job on monday, woo hoo so today and the rest of the weekend will be filled with a lot of relaxing, relishing in my last few days of freedom, and a dance recital, graduation party, and baby shower thrown in the mix. going to be busy! 

i am making cupcakes for the baby shower on sunday so i will definitely be posting photos later in the weekend of my creations. in the mean time, i have been trying to find some baking/decorating inspiration from pinterest. it has literally become my go-to for creative ideas, recipes, fashion inspiration, home decorating, and pretty much everything and anything. 

some of the things i've been pinning lately,

trufula tree cake. i love the colors on this cake and really want to try to make something similar soon. i just need to have a party (or someone else does) so i can attempt this much creativity.

i can't put into words how much i love this outfit. it reminds me of sex and the city movie, where carrie bradshaw is wearing the large, voluminous skirt with the casual t-shirt. i think the mix of the dressy, vibrant, flowing skirt and the simple/casual denim jacket on top is so beyond stylish. i am definitely trying something like this out for the summer nights.

brights are all over my wardrobe lately. i've been buying neons a lot and i love adding them to a seemingly boring/mono-colored outfit for a pop. i love these t-strap shoes so much that i need to find them. 

i love this quote and too-often think like this, hehe

in love with this color scheme. 

i promise i should have some more interesting stories to come from this weekend. 

hope you all have a happy friday : )

thursday wishes.

i wish...

-time would slow down for the moments i wanted to savor and enjoy and would hurry up for the moments i didn't like so much and wanted to get through as quickly and painlessly as possible.
- growing up wasn't so hard all the time and that missing younger years and past memories wasn't so bewildering.

- that i knew exactly what i wanted to do with my life at this exact moment.
- i could afford all of the things i want from anthropologie...like....tomorrow
- that i really do become ripped in 30 days, just like jillian michaels promised me when i started her videos.
- that ice cream didn't have calories but am thankful that frozen yogurt is still so delicious.
- that wishes came true if we closed our eyes super tight and wished really hard.

what are some of your wishes?

one last one..

wishing you all a happy thursday : )

xoxo

ripped in 30 challenge: day one

jillian michaels has always been good to me. her workout videos have always been tolerable, somewhat fun, and have given me super awesome results. i always did one of her workouts on demand (tv) and then would go for a run/walk and did yoga pretty regularly. when on demand stopped featuring their exercise tv function, i was severely depressed...really, not kidding. i will admit at the sake of being called extremely ridiculous, that i did blame ondemand for gaining weight, because i didn't have my weight-loss guru-mentor (even if she can't see me) to guide me and kick my butt. 

now, i would have to go buy jillian michaels dvds (yuck, but anything to have her back in my not-so-trim lifestyle). so i thought maybe i should try different types of workouts and i did. i took up running consistently...got bored. i tried circuit workouts from the internet...got bored. so now.... i caved and bought my favorite jillian michaels videos and am starting all over again with my love affair. 

i'm starting with this baby...

has anyone tried it? i'm hoping it kicks my butt because well, it really needs to be kicked. ever since i have been experimenting with different cupcake flavors, attempting new frosting tricks...my thighs have been experimenting with new shapes and sizes as well.

as for healthy eating, i am a pretty healthy eater for the most part but lately with trips and busy schedules of fun (yikes), my healthy eating patterns have completely disappeared. so today is a brand new day. starting this workout regimen and bringing back healthy eating into my life. i forgot how much better it makes me feel. i'm going to try to post some of my favorite healthy recipes as i go on as well, which may come sparingly because when i do attempt a new recipe and am successful, i usually gloat about it for two weeks because i can't quite believe it myself...before i start a new one. 

i decided to post about it today because i was wondering what some of your favorite workouts and healthy eating tips were? please share them.

so here we go! day one! wish me luck because i guarantee you i will not be able to walk by day 4.

weekend full of wonderful.

this weekend was long and amaaazing. there was a little relaxing, a girl's night, and two days full of the beach and one of my most favorite people on this planet, David : )

and of course i took as many photos as possible. how could i not? i totally wanted to share all of them and everything i did. plus, i actually got dressed this weekend. i couldn't pass the photo opportunities, hehe!

friday night, i hung out with two of my favorite little kids in the world, petey and marissa. i can't quite explain the love i have for these two kids or the amount of laughs that i let out while spending time with them. they consistently let me relive my *kid* days and help me not take life so seriously all the time. we had a pretty eventful night, i must say. we had pizza, baked the best brownies which vickie didn't mess up this time (as they said), and watched alvin and the chipmunks of course. we had such a blast that this is how the night ended (below). Petey passed out while watching the basketball game. Marissa and I curled up in the kids room and watched a cinderella story and planned our summer sleepover. (I severely wish i was 8 years old again).

saturday night was a total girls' extravaganza for one of my best friends, Aileen's 25th birthday! basically, we all dressed up, drank margaritas/sangria, danced a whole bunch, and took a ton of photos, just like any other girls' night, right? since the weather is so incredibly awesome lately (summer's here!) it is so much more fun to go out! plus, the outfit possibilities are so much more awesome.

my best friend is malibu barbie, did you know? hehe

ahh, and sunday david and i drove to ocean city for two days. we haven't spent too much time together lately since his work schedule changed : ( but this was the perfect getaway before i start my new job next week (ahhhh) and he goes to chicago for work : (. look at the clear blue skies! i took this photo as we were going across the bridge into ocean city. i yelled, "put down the windows, i need to smell the jersey shore!" now, i know if you've been there, grew up around here, you totally know what i'm talking about, right? there is no smell like the jersey shore. that is what summer is for me, along with the boardwalk paired with ice cream and some caramel popcorn (but i will get to that later)!

after spending the day on the beach and david frying himself against my incessant attempts at telling him to put sunblock on : ( his feet were not happy campers, hehe ...we decided to get dressed up and go to dinner in atlantic city to check out the new casino. i promise he does smile sometimes but he just isn't the most cooperative photo taker. it could be that i am snapping photos of him and everything else all the time.

dinner was delicious but the sangria was even better. i've been having a love affair with sangria lately. i think i'm going to attempt to make some for the next party, whenever that will be. 

skirt: h&m, belt: vintage

me, outside of revel : )

i wanted a big ice cream cone so badly but our drive home was longer than expected. i thought all of the ice cream shops were closed but david drove around ocean city to find one open...and he found one! what a keeper, he is.

top: old navy, jeans: jbrand, bag: marshalls

my rainy sunday outfit. wearing the rainbow.

while we walked the boardwalk it started raining. so we found some cover in the photo booth : )

and of course, johnsons popcorn ended my weekend. i can't go on the ocean city boardwalk without buying a tub and bringing it home. it doesn't last super long in our house but tomorrow i start ripped in 30 days...(well i'm going to try), so i ate it tonight, savoring every bite!

how was your weekend?!

hope it was awesome!

xoxo

cleaning out the garage and some photos : )

happy weekend! 

it's saturday morning and we're cleaning out the garage. i went from happy to overwhelmed to frustrated...and now i need a shopping outing. 

but before i head out to spend some moolah...i found these funny old photos from when i was a kid...oh the memories.

this photo is my mom holding me as a baby. we were in greece, visiting my grandparents (my dad's parents). look at momma's hair! haha i love it!

little ole me.

me and my godson niko in florida when i was 17. yikes, time flies.

and last but totally not least. me and my best friend, kelli. 17 years old. and these poses totally represent our friendship. oh dear. who was i trying to seduce? hahaha

there is so much more that i am sorting through later on. 

i'll have to share some throughout the week, some throwbacks for ya'll! 

as for now, i am going to go shopping.

dancing and fun tonight for one of my girlfriend's birthdays and then sunday and monday will be spent at the beach with my love. woo, i am so excited : )

how's your weekend going? 

hope it's fabulous!

oh, randoms, about me.

decided to share some random facts and things about little ole me on a boring/relaxing friday night: 

1. i love to sing. not good. but sing..in the car, in the shower, in the kitchen, living room, and really, anywhere. mostly ballads. i love whitney. sometimes they are lavish performances.
2. i get way too invested in television shows. sometimes they affect my life more than i would like them to, but hey what can i do?
3. baking is one of my favorite things to do. especially cupcakes.
4. summer makes me happy.
5. books are my favorite things. as much as i like downloading books on my ipad (so easy), i still like buying the actual books. i wish i had my own library.
6. i hate doing crunches. more than anything.
7. on rainy days, i just want to sit on my couch and have movie marathons.
8. thunderstorms scare the hell outta me and my doggies, especially in the middle of the night.
9. i love clothes and styling outfits.
10. shopping is cathartic to me.
12. i reorganize my closet at least once a month.
13. i actually enjoy writing and completing to-do lists. i know, it's weird.
14. chocolate and french fries are my weakness.
15. i collect greeting cards and go to target to just read the cards to find new ones to add to my collection.

it's kind of strange that sometimes. i have a hard time thinking of random facts about myself. does that mean that i am changing and forgetting who i am? i sure hope not. oh yeah, i had bangs once and looking at them now, not sure what i was thinking? hehe

that was fun.

hope your friday night is too : )

living up my youth, in one week.

i can't begin to tell you what my past two weeks have looked like besides lounging by a pool, listening to call me maybe too many times, reading too much christian grey, and drinking one too many drinks. hey, i'm not complaining, at all but...i guess that is what the beginning of the summer does to you when you have free time before a new chapter/job in your life starts. 

what i am slowly realizing is that i would never ever survive if i lived like this all the time. it's been amazing doing absolutely nothing but at the same time this whole "no structure" thing is making my mind and body so out of whack! 

anyway, what i really came to say is...i have severely been slacking on the blogosphere lately because my freedom and summer has hit me like a bucket of cold water. i've been going crazy enjoying myself and this newfound happy-go-lucky mood all the time. who knew a few 80-degree, sunny days could do that to ya? 

anyway, here are some photos from my past week of crazy before real life starts up again in oh, 10 days. (i still have 10 more days of freedom...i'm not sure i will survive!)

pool days. night swimming.

i read christian grey. i needed something to distract me afterwards. love isabel gillies and her books, happens every day and a year and six seconds.

found him on one of my walks this past week : )

we fell in love. soul mates. sadly, could not take her home with me. ps: did you catch the sweet curling iron burn on my forehead. i rocked that all week as well ; )

who doesn't love razzles?

lots of nights out with friends

and i'm going to leave you with my dance/fat pose....classic kitchen dancing in heels, who doesn't do that?

what's your favorite things about summer? i think that will be my next post. i can't explain how much i love summer and what it does to my overall mood. what about you?

xoxo