Photo dump - It's been too long!

This whole "I have been MIA from blogging lately" thing has become all too familiar and redundant. I'm awful at blogging as of lately and have totally thrown the New Years resolution of "blogging daily" out the window with the "eat healthier", and various other promises I made to myself. 

Yikes. 

Well while I was avoiding this little ole blog here and living life as it comes by; here are some things that I have been up to: 

Lots and lots of cupcake making. 

I have been brushing up on my creative cupcake skills with all this time away from my blogging. 

Obligatory beach - leg/feet sand pic. Spending some time at the beach- FINALLY!

and lots of time outdoors with all this nice weather. It's been so nice but my allergies have been severely suffering from it. Can't with them all, I guess!

oh, and lots and lots of birthdays. My MaryJ's 9th birthday with her pretty flip-flop cake made by her oh-so talented Mama.

and of course my little brother Petey's 21st birthday. What an evening!

and of course more 21st birthday celebrations for Kiri : ) 

can't forget Greek Easter with my love. 

Sorry for the massive photo dump! I'll try to post more often-to avoid these incredibly long posts, hehe 

: ) 

Takeaway Truth.

I like this. 

Makes sense right? We need to love ourselves before others can love us. We need to believe in ourselves. We need to have faith in ourselves for others to have faith in us. 

I think sometimes we need to remember this because we tend to forget. Well I know I do, at times. 

Thought this was a nice little quote to get the week started. 

So look in the mirror and tell yourself you look pretty fly today. 

And smile. At least wear that proudly today....but try to direct it at someone because otherwise you'll look a little creepy...or someone will think you are up to something. It could go either way. 

; ) 

75 Degrees!

Today it actually felt like spring. 75 degrees! I captured my excitement before my drive to work this morning. As you can see above my happiness and twinge of creepiness was so very apparent. I went outside for a walk to break up my day at work I almost didn't make it back in. 

The warm weather does crazy things to me. I actually am motivated to work out, go for a run...and not just motivated but I actually enjoy it...who knew. David and I spent the rest of the evening outside after my run. We took Romeo and went out for water ice, went for a long walk, and then watered my almost dying flowers (I am working on my not-so-green thumb). 

I am so excited for more warmer days. I promise I won't post anymore creepy/excited photos ; )

Please tell me you enjoyed this warm day too!

April Favs.

Photo Credit : Anthropologie.com

I am beyond excited to sport these babies around! I went on overload online shopping this week. The sun and thought of warmer weather right around the corner broke the flood gates that were strongly holding my credit card back from making any purchases lately. I love the colors yellow and red in general but in shoes, they are ahhhhmazing! When I saw these lovelies from Anthropologie I couldn't resist and so....the online shopping began. Here are more of my favorites for April and part of the reason I can't contain myself with excitement for spring and summer to finally be here. 

Target makes me happy again! Cute red wedges with polka dots inside. 

Colored/patterned skinnies and slacks. My closet looks like a rainbow exploded but I don't mind it at all. These fun styles are from the Gap!

I had been looking for the perfect panama hat for the summer. Finally found it at Urban Outfitters last week. Come on sunny 80-degree weather!

Tory, I want all of your dresses, shoes, bags, etc BUT I love the Blythe Dress. Dress it up, dress it down, wear it to work. I want. 

What are some of your spring favs?

xoxo

Prankin' days are over.

I used to love playing pranks on April Fool's day. Yes, I was the girl who would go to school with crutches on April Fool's day with a pained look on my face as if I had broken my leg on a rough round of 'capture' at the park the night before. Once I'd get everyone's sympathy and right before all of my classmates grabbed their crayolas and construction paper to make 'i hope your leg gets better' cards, I'd start laughing and say 'GOT YA'. I used to get so much joy out of seeing the look on people's faces once I tricked them. That's cruel isn't it? Yikes, I promise I'm not that mean.

I didn't have any artfully sneaky and genius pranks today....bummer...but I did smile a few times relishing in years past. So...then I called David and told him I lost my job. (I hope I didn't jinx myself). He didn't like that one and didn't think it was so funny. No, I didn't lose my job....thank goodness but I thought it would evoke some sort of emotion with a strong punch line at the end ( I can hear the sizzle of the drums). It didn't. As I said... "I'm just kidding, " the words trailing ever so slowly at the end, realizing my joke wasn't so humorous. David said, "You need to practice on your pranks." I guess I need to just stick to the whoopee cushion from now on or maybe just concentrate on blogging. My prank days are dead. I'm not allowed to do any pranks for years to come. Sorry guys.

On to brighter things, those pretty flowers up there on my sink (don't mind the messy kitchen behind them) made me happy this weekend : ) 

Happy April Fools, again : )

Green Smoothie Challenge!

image from simplegreensmoothie.com

I started this 30-day Green Smoothie challenge today! Woo hoo! 

I started making green smoothies a couple of weeks ago as an addition to my normal daily routine. I wanted to get as much greens and nutrients as possible and what could be better than in one pretty yummy drink. 

I'm addicted now. Despite David's disapproving and mildly disgusted stares as I'm blending and enjoying my drinks; they actually are quite delicious. He swears he'll never drink one but we'll see. I'm also practicing patience this month....wink-wink. 

Anyway, I've been using spinach and avocado as my greens right now. I'm a beginner - remember guys. I like to add fruits like bananas, frozen peaches, strawberries, mangos, etc. I also throw in some ice, some water, and at times a little splash of organic orange juice. On top, I like to sprinkle some chia seeds for added nutrients and then voilaaaa....tangy and so yummy. 

The 30-day Green smoothie challenge is a fun way to introduce a healthy aspect to your diet and sticking to it for a month. A nice detox from all those weekend binges and happy hours, right? (mine is more from all of the weekend cupcakes and pizza..I like to eat my calories instead of drinking them!)

So, I challenge you guys to try it if you like. Who knows...something that may seem 'not so' appetizing, may actually be something you enjoy...once you get past the awkward green color. A Shrek smoothie. come on, try it : ) Go to simplegreensmoothie.com and check it out. 

Happy Monday and April Fool's Day : )

tales of our mini road trippin' Sunday.

On Sunday David and I took a mini road trip to Hershey to have brunch with my parents. It was nice to just drive somewhere for the day. Well, I thought it was nice. After one too many renditions of Whitney Houston's songs and listening to Whitney's best songs of all time cd made by yours truly; David had enough of me...but there was some pretty scenery to pass the time.

 What was even better....we found some ahhhhmazing little antique stores/malls on our way home. I for one...absolutely love antiques, old trinkets, and could walk around these places for hours just going through everything. My dad is the same way. Throw him in an antique store and you will find him a few hours later sorting through old license plates and vintage lighters. We are two peas in a pod, that man and me. 

(some pretty antiques--like this telephone...that I wish I could find a place for in my home)

My mom and David are quite the opposite but they did seem to find some amusement in my dad and I, slowly walking through each aisle and marveling at all of the old treasures we would find. Frank Sinatra was playing in the background in one particular antique shop and I jumped on a 1960s purple Schwinn cruiser....not wanting to leave it. David then, brought me down from my crazy antique hysteria, broke my heart, and said it wouldn't fit in the car. Bummer. I'm on a mission to find one just like it. 

Me- on my future purple 1960s Schwinn cruiser...that I plan to own in the near future. 

Sadly, I didn't get my cruiser, so you won't see me riding around on that thing any time soon. I do promise I will have one some point in the near future though. Anyway, I did leave with some pretty fun trinkets. I went home with a few vintage mason jars to fill up with my some daffodils and sun flowers, some beautiful milk glass candle sticks for the candle-less dinner table in our home, and a vintage woven basket for our bathroom. I guess I should get some candles now and do some laundry so I can fill that basket up with pretty towels : )

It was a fun day and a relaxing weekend. I'm retiring the Whitney cd for a while...I promised David that. Oh yes, and he wanted me to tell you all he bought the "coolest" vintage lighter (that he flicks open like a true 'greaser' (movie reference) while walking around with a content smirk. The things that amuse him....why I love him so much ; )

Hope you all had an equally enjoyable and relaxing weekend!