self image.

Last week I attempted to do an outfit post for my blog. I learned a few things. I have an image in my head of what I look like, that image is far from the truth. I’ve had two kids and I’m defiantly not 19 anymore. My clothes are really just kind of sad excuse for drapery. My husband calls them “frumptastic.” It’s so true; I have no idea how to dress my current body. Seeing myself like that made me pretty sad, how did I let myself go so bad? I want to feel good about myself inside and out.



I believe that beauty really does come from within. A person who isn’t all that attractive on the outside can be made beautiful by a kind a generous heart. A beautiful person can become ugly if they have a hard and shallow heart. I think a lot of people feel that way about beauty even if they don’t realize it. Say a woman goes on a first date with a man who she is extremely attracted too. She is excited for their evening together and then she starts to get to know him. Suddenly he isn’t so attractive to her anymore. She probably is thinking “If he talking about his expensive car and work out routine on more time I’m going to scream.” I guess they won’t be having a second date.

Although it is important to have a beautiful heart I think it is also important to feel beautiful on the outside. Everyone feels beautiful in their own special way. What I think is pretty and what you think is pretty might be two completely different things, and that’s okay. As long as I have confidence in whatever it is. Some people might only feel comfortable wearing glasses; others might not be caught dead out of the house without makeup on. It’s all a personal preference. If you really feel good about the way you look it will show and really make a difference in your own personal attitude.

The way you carry yourself through life is important. If you stand tall and walk with pride you will command the respect that you deserve. If you walk around hunched over staring at the ground, you will most likely be looked over. Think about the way you walk around in your daily life. Do you show how you really feel about yourself? Or are you just slithering around trying to be seen.

It isn’t easy to feel good about the way you look. Even the most beautiful of people can feel like they look like a “0.” Maybe it’s a good idea to take a deep look into your closet and yourself. See what’s in there that you should discard and what you can update with that will make you feel like a million bucks all the time.

I’m planning on taking steps to make myself not only feel good on the inside but on the outside too. What are you going to do?

weekend trip: canyon lake, az

This weekend was nice and relaxing. A few weekends ago we made a short drive to Canyon Creek Lake, AZ to check it out. I’m so glad we did. This past Saturday we set out prepared. We brought a cooler full of a picnic lunch and other goodies. Aurora really enjoyed feeding the ducks and just playing new the water. Marc and I enjoy the peaceful place we had found. We are defiantly going to be going back there more often. Sometimes it’s just nice to get away, even if it’s just for a few hours.

The drive in is so beautiful.




You know I must have really been enjoying myself. I loaded my photos onto my computer and realized that I didn't even take that many pictures, which is very rare for me. I was way to distracted by how peaceful it was there to grab my camera.

I hope you enjoyed your weekend as well! What were you up too?

have you tumbled in the cool moon light?

Recently I'm become addicted to tumblr. I saw that Merry May had one and I just started using mine to collect images I've found across the web that really inspire me. There are also some really fun and interesting blogs out there in tumblr land.

Here are some of my favorite images I've shared so far:

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This image is from an amazing Ghost Adventures tumblr I just discovered, hipsterghostadventures. You might have to be a fan to really understand, but it is such an amazing image and blog.

my little inspirations^my tumblr^

So, do you tumble? I'd love to follow and share with you!

the other man in my life.

Our poor dog Piston is going to the vet today to have a tooth removed. He's a bit "special" sometimes and chews of weird things like rocks and other hard objects. Him having to have surgery made me think of my very first blog post, which feels like forever ago, which was all about him. When we first adopted him I couldn’t stand him. I thought he was ruining my life and I couldn’t handle it. Marc and Aurora were totally in love with the guy so I decided to give it my best. I cried and whined a lot but Piston and I got through our tough times.

I like to call him "Sir."

He’s two and a half years old now and is finally coming out of his puppy stage. We went through two recliners, one couch, and countless other items due to his crazy behavior; I wouldn’t take him back for the world. It was totally worth it.



Most of the time he lays around all day, I think he probably sleeps about 16 hours, oh to be a dog. He lets Aurora poke, prod him, and sit on him, and he doesn’t even flinch. When we have to take him to the doggie hotel for an overnight stay Aurora cries and cries, she misses “Woofie,” it melts my heart.



He loves hugs and kisses. He just a big cuddle buddy, he really thinks he a lap dog. He well come over and literally sit in your lap. 65 pounds of boxer isn’t small that’s for sure. Piston also loves it when my husband picks him up like a baby and carries him around. It’s one of the funniest things to watch. He absolutely loves Marc. When Marc comes home you would think he brought a t-bone steak with him every day, Piston freaks out! He bounces around trying to chase his non-tail like a crazy person. I really need to get this on video someday.



Piston still has issues. He has some anxiety issues and sometimes relieves himself in the house when he’s stressed out. Sometime when we have visitors he gets a stomach ache and vomits, a lot. He always eats random things. At this point I’ve stopped keeping track of the weird things he’s eaten. His two favorite things are baby wipes (clean or dirty) and dryer sheets, I have no idea why. We try really hard to stop him, but you can’t watch him ever second.



He also HATES other dogs. There are a few dogs in the apartment complex that I think he would be friendly with, but I don’t really want to take that chance. He also adores kids. The only thing I worry about when some kids come up and want to pet him is that he’ll knock them over. He’s not a fan of adults though, mainly man. He’s super protective over Aurora, and honestly, I’m okay with that. I know he would do anything to protect her and our family. Although I never wanted him to be a “guard dog” he makes me feel really safe.

He drive me crazy, but I love the big ding dong!

what's on my fridge?

I’ve been thinking about doing a “what’s in my bag?”post until I realized that my purse really isn’t that interesting. Unless you want to look at diapers and Strawberry Shortcake dolls, so I thought of something different. I was standing in my kitchen and I glanced over at our refrigerator and started to laugh. We have the most random collection of stuff hanging off of it I decided to share. It probably could be worse, and funnier, but I like it just the way it is.

Sorry the photos are a little blurry, I was using my cell phone.
The freezer door.

Eat Coast or West Coast? Why? This is a conversation card from a pack we received when we got a give box from Omaha steaks from my parents. Grew up in the East but we are currently loving the West.

For those of you who don’t know this yet I worked at Starbucks for several years. Marc’s sister and brother-in-law bought this for me when we were in the Outer Banks together. It’s one of my favorite things ever.

We clipped this out of a newspaper the fall before Aurora was born and hung it on the fridge. It might be my favorite comic strip. It’s so cute!

This button has been pushed so many times it’s dyeing. Aurora thought it was so funny when she was a baby, oh memories.

The bottom on the fridge is covered with photos given to us by Marc’s mom. Aurora loves to look at them and rearrange them, I really love them too.

This is our dog Piston. He just looks like he’s being humiliated, or that he’s doing something wrong. Only Granny Pkay (Marc’s mom) would take a photo like this. I LOVE it. Sometimes "potty" humor is just really funny, I can't help it! Not that I don’t get to see this on daily bases, but the fact that there is a picture of it is priceless.

The side of the fridge isn’t as entertaining sadly.

Depressed? Over Worked? Job Suck? Unappreciated? Family Problems? Money worries? Well here is a pill for YOU! FUKITOL. When life just blows… FUKITOL!I don’t think I need to say anything else about that one right?

Well, I showed you mine, so show me yours! What’s on your fridge?

AZ Blogger Meetup Recap!

I've said it once and I'll say it again, this month as totally flown by! All of a sudden one day I realized that the Arizona blogger meetup was right around the corner. I have been excited for this event for months it feels like! What a great event it was too. Chelsea, Danielle, and Kelsey did such a great job. Because this month has been so crazy for us I decided to give myself, and my family, a little break and I only attend some of the daytime activities. I couldn't have been happier!

I showed up late to the event meeting up with the group at the GROWop. Thankfully Chelsea was kind enough to text me and let me know where everyone was. It was a little akward at first, so I just kind of poked around checking out the GROWup and The Butter Toast Boutique (on a side note I can't wait to go back to Butter Toast and pick out some super cute vintage kids clothes!) I finally butted my way into a converstation and things felt a little more comfortable from there. I've always felt socially akward and since I've gotten older I've learned that running into walls or smashing a cake in my face isn't really an exceptable way of introducing myself. It's to bad though, I enjoy all of those things, leave it to an EX-theater major!

Everyone gathered at the GROWop
I heart this store! Can I live there?
Some of the ladies being creative.
Flowers? Yes please!
Coming from someone who works with faux flowers all the time, real flowers are totally different! I give all the florists in the world a ton of credit.

After the fun and festivites down on Roosevelt Row, everyone headed to Frances Boutique. I've never been that far into Phoenix before and I'm really glad I got the chance too. Even though it was just a short drive it really gave me an idea of how different Phoenix is from Pittsburgh. Everything is so spread out and still fairly new. I saw some beautiful articture as well as some more interesting sites. I just could believe how different it was from the crowded city I grow up by. I can't wait to go on more adventures!

Did someone say candy?! Smeeks Candy shop is so awesome!
I got so excited walking in, I can't wait to take Aurora there, she is going to go CRAZY! I've never seen a kid react to sugar quite like little Miss Aurora and this place is loaded!
YUM!
After a stop in the candy story everyone slowly made it over to Frances. This boutique is so beautiful. You walk in and it just smells welcoming. I was seriously inspired just by walking around this places, it gave me such an itch to open my own shop. It also made me realize how much work it takes to do that!
I can almost smell the fragrence again just looking at this picture. I could spend all day there, is that weird? ^.^
Of course I stopped at the adorable kids section!
Love Phoenix or Leave Phoenix. Seriously? Love this shirt.
Anything with words or phrases on it catches my eye! It's a wonder I didn't come out of there spending a ton of money. I was a good girl though!

We were so so lucky the Short Leash showed up and happily opened early to feed all the hungry bloggers. I was so excited to see them pulling up. I heard great things about them from Chelsea and I didn't think I'd ever get a chance to try them. It's amazing what happens when you leave the house. The owners and opporators, Brad and Kat (love the name ^_~) are amazing! They have increadible food too!

A hot dog to this pregnant lady is like gold!
I wasn't sure how to even begin eating this thing, but it didn't hang around long after I did. YUMMY!!!

After we had stuffed our faces, Kelsey and Chelsea presented us with around gift bags given to us by Frances!
How cute is that? It almost made me cry! Stupid hormones.
Inside was a gift box from Smeeks filled with Taffy (that is now gone!), an adorable pair of earrings, a container of the most luscious body butter, and a luxury bar of soap. Wow, seriously, how sweet?!

I'm so glad I made it out to atleast part of the event. I know that everyone had a great time at dinner! The great thing about blogger is that I still felt like I got to experiance atleast a piece of it from photos and stories I've read. I can't wait to see everyone elses posts and photos! I hope that this can happen again, if it does I would love to help in any way I can. It was such a boost and a really high point for me. I feel so lucky right now. I'm so glad we moved to Phoenix, it has been such a great experiance for me, I don't regret it at all. I came home from the event floating on cloud nine I think. Holy inspiration overload!

weekend recap.

Wow, what a weekend. I am completely beat. We had so much fun, maybe too much fun, where to even begin...

Saturday we went to the Chandler Classic Car Show. I was pretty impressed by the number of cars that were there. They had food and vendors and all kinds of good stuff. There were a ton of dogs walking around too. Sometimes I wish Piston was better behaved so he could come to things like that. I guess that will come with age.







After the Car Show we took a little drive and food the local Margaretville. I wouldn't consider myself a full Parrot Head, but I do really enjoy Jimmy Buffett. It's a really fun place. Aurora was good the entire time we were there! She was totally distracted by all the stuff on the walls and ceilings. It's rare for her to sit still through an entire meal, so that was pretty awesome.



Yesterday the three of us loaded up in the car and headed to the Phoenix International Speedway for the NASCAR race. Yes, NASCAR. If you would have told me 5 years ago that I would be attending a race I would have slapped you. My husband loves racing, and after watching it for the past several years ever Sunday from February till about November I think, you get sucked in. It's a really difficult sport. It takes a lot of people for those cars to make really fast left turned for 3 or 4 hours. Aurora likes going to the race, not because she likes to watch the cars. The "wace" is very "woud" she says. She likes to watch the people, walk around, and eat the food.

It was a beautiful day for a race. They called for rain, but it never hit us.

Our tail gate par-tay!

The mother of all funnel cakes, and a very bad idea.

This time we went a little overboard on the food. Aurora got really sick on the way home. I felt so bad. The funnel cake really did her in. We only ate a quarter of it but I think it was too much for her little stomach to handle. She got sick again in the middle of the night we were up watching Blue's Clues at 2:00am. I feel so terrible.

It's been a pretty long, but fun, weekend. I didn't get my homework finished last night and I really should be working on that. Plotting graphs for my math class just doesn't seem as fun as writing a blog post though!



Happy Monday... or something...