Hold on to the good and let go of the bad

Lord knows I am no where near where I wanted to be at this juncture in my life. But I'm happy for EVERYTHING that has ever happened.

Without the let downs and failures, I would never know how to pick myself back up and start anew. I would never know that I had the strength to stand on my own two feet and try again. Without the heartbreak, I would never know how to let myself be open and free again. How to simply be more than content with MYSELF. Without making mistakes, I wouldn't know how to do it the right way. I've always said that I don't believe in regrets, rather I believe in learning from everything you encounter, good or bad, you can always take a lesson away from it.

I think like everyone does a spring cleaning of our homes, we need to do a cleansing of our lives. If that means cutting out bad habits or negative people in our lives, so be it. We all need to reevaluate ourselves time and time again.

I write this as I'm coming into that stage again where I'm simply at peace with myself. I haven't seen this "peace" in what seems to be a really long time, but I can see it coming and boy am I ready for it. It seems that recently, I often find myself surprising...well myself. I've come to conclusions, resolutions and revelations within the past year. And, I'm looking forward to what is to come.

So to all of you that are in a gray area of your life. Just look at how far you've already come. Learn to let go, and look forward to the good to come. I honestly believe that everything starts falling into place only when you are truly at peace with yourself.

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saturday night with the ladies

saturday night was reserved for dinner with 3 important people in my life, 2 of my closest friends and my goddaughter.

we chatted and giggled the night away at Cha Cha Cha's, one of our favorite restaurants. and then continued our tame evening at my house. these are the moments that keep me going. just enjoying each other's company while having meaningful conversations and laughing the night away. don't get me wrong i do love our nights out at club dancing the night away... we always seem to be laughing when we are dancing too! hahaha you have to be there with us to understand. (jill - "why you ain't dance like that with me!!!" lmao) but, having the moment to soak it all in while it's happening, just makes me thankful for all the moments i've been able to laugh it up.

here's a picture of me and my goddaughter, sydney. she was copying me b/c i was wearing an off the shoulder!




lipstick - wet n wild 906D - wine room

this was taken after a few glasses of sangria. great for more of a true red look.

gym appropriate attire update

In my "gym appropriate attire" blog, I write an anecdote about a person wearing dress shoes to the gym. And holy moly wouldn't you know it...I seen it again!

I went to my core exercise class on tuesday and as I was cooling down from my run on the treadmill (which was great btw, very rare b/c I hate treadmills runs), stretching and getting ready for class I noticed a couple of mats over there was a guy wearing dress shoes. I giggled to myself and also felt sorry for the guy at the same time. I mean doing plank exercises are hard enough as it is. Wearing slippery dress shoes must have made it extremely difficult.

After class, I was able to get a picture...I HAD to show you all...




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weekend fun

last weekend was a pretty tame weekend for me. i stayed indoors, but that doesn't mean that i didn't have fun. family time is ALWAYS a blast with our family. don't believe me, ask any of our friends? orrrr come on over and just TRY to keep up.

so saturday, my sister and i went out to finish up HER xmas shopping. i was already done and had no intention what so ever to buy ANYTHING, except for a few hair thingys for my goddaughter. first stop, stonestown. we checked out gymboree and i found the cutest shoes that i HAD to get them for my goddaughter. then we went to check out forever...mistake #1 i ended up buying a sweater. and of course we had to stop at h&m...mistake #2 i ended up buying a gold blazer.

then it was off to serramonkey, as we like to call it. the h&m in serramonkey has a kids section so janice finished off her xmas shopping there. i however, have been eyeing this grey blazer for quite some time now and finally gave in and bought it, mistake #3.

i haven't shopped for myself in some time so i guess it's ok. and the pieces i bought are classic and versatile, so i can always wear them. (that's me justifying my purchases...lol)

last stop target! it was crazy in there so we got what we needed and were off to go home and wrap presents. well...i was going to wrap presents. my sister hates it and i LOVEEEE it, so i do it every year.

change of plan...apparently we were having a get together at my grandparents house b/c they were going back to pi early. my aunt and uncle got my grandparents a laptop for xmas and we set them up with skype. no more calling cards needed. needless to say, explaining to my grandparents how to work skype, let alone the computer itself was hilarious. while showing them the capabilities of skype, with my grandpa on his new computer and another computer on the other side of the room, my uncle decides to moon my grandpa through the computer screen. LMAO!!! holy moly you HAD to be there. (see i told you we're a fun bunch!) we ended the night with the cousins at my house and we drank wine and TRIED to watch movies the rest of the night. (stupid redbox!)

sunday..."are you ready for some footballllll?" the niners played seattle and it was my cousin, jonathan's bday so we had a little celebration at our place. the cousins came over and we watched as the niners beat the seahawks!!! woo hoo!!! i wish they played like that every game.

funny pictures taken while we were shopping:

don't sleep on target

Target is almost everyone's weakness...or at least for a lot of people I know. I know that I can go into Target intending on only getting a couple of items and instead I come out with a bill of $100 or more easily!

And it's been a little harder now that they've come out with cute clothes too. I mean cute clothes at an affordable price, it's so hard not to just think "oh it's only 10 bucks!" and throw it in the cart.

Last season, my sister found some really cute boots. And I found some awesome galoshes. So, I always make sure to keep an eye out for any good deals.

Luckily for me I found these cute over the knee boots for about $25. I also found a pair of black leather over the knee boots for the same price. (I'll post a picture of the black ones later, as I had to get a bigger size.) Woo hoo for deals! The price has since gone up but they are still under $30, STILL a great deal!

I was really reluctant to post this blog b/c I kindda wanted to keep this secret to myself. Butttt, I decided not to be selfish and share my great deal with you all. Merry Christmas! lol






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905D Smokin Hot Pink

this morning i meant to grab 907C mauve outta here, but i grabbed 905D smokin hot pink, so since i've never worn this color i decided to go with it and of course write a review about it. if you are looking for a nice matte hot pink color, i definitely recommend you to try this one out.

i put this on at about 730am and i didn't have to reapply until after lunch at 130pm. it definitely lasts the 4 hours wet n wild promised.

these bottom two are closer to how the color really looks

and please excuse my messy cube...don't judge! haha!

gym appropriate attire

ok, so who am i to dictate what you find comfortable to workout in? no one actually. i just thought i would give you (whoever "you" are out there reading this, b/c i honestly don't know who reads my blog) a couple of funny stories and tips at what to workout in. and please feel free to comment with your anecdotes about what you've seen.

when i think of inappropriate gym attire, the first thing that comes to mind is when i used to work out at fitness usa. i worked at stonestown, and fitness usa was in the mall so it was convenient for me to workout there. everyday i went in, there used to be this older guy on the treadmill wearing jeans and dress shoes. i always thought it was sooo weird. but now, all i can think about is how uncomfortable that would be. and omg the chafing! OUCH!

then i see those out there that run around the lake in air force ones. i understand that you may just be getting into running and these are your old shoes and you don't want to mess any other sneakers you have up. but really? those shoes are hella heavy. do yourself a favor and get some good running shoes. and if you want to do yourself one better, figure out how your foot pronates when you walk/run and get the type of shoe you need. (if you want to know where to get tested for this, i'll add it to the bottom of this blog)

so what IS gym appropriate attire the, mel?! well really it's what's comfortable for you and does not hinder you from accomplishing your task.

i used to wear an old t-shirt and shorts or pants. it was comfortable and didn't hinder me from doing what i had to do. this is totally fine. but, if you sweat, and are wearing just a cotton shirt it gets sticky and if you sweat a lot it gets heavy, especially for boys.

i totally recommend getting drifit clothes. well nike calls it drifit, addidas calls it climacool, champion calls it duo dry, etc...i'm sure you get the hint. when i was training for Ironman and they talked about workout gear, they summed it up with one phrase, "COTTON IS ROTTEN!"

i usually wear a drifit tank top with built in sports bra and drifit shirt over that. or a sportsbra and drifit shirt. if i'm running outside and it's cold, i'll throw on a drifit jacket. if you are running or working out outside, the drifit will keep you warm and cool at the same time. you see if you are wearing a cotton t-shirt/sweatshirt, the sweat gets absorbed by the cotton, so if it's cold out, the water (aka sweat) on your shirt gets cold and you will be too. and like i said earlier it will stick to your body (yucky and uncomfortable) and weigh you down. if it's warm out, the drifit is a breathable material so you won't get overly warm.

drifit type clothes are fairly inexpensive now. you don't have to buy nike. target sells champion. and my favorite jacket to run in was a gift from mervyn's i don't even know the brand but it's drifit.

pants or shorts, i usually wear capri running pants. they are like second skin to me, so i barely even notice them. again, these are drifit type material. this is to prevent any chaffing and not be in my way when i'm running, or doing cardio, or just doing yoga.

now shoes...if you really want to get into running and want to find the type of shoe that is going to benefit you best, get tested. you can go to sports basement and ask for help. they'll tell you to take your shoes off and they'll watch you walk across the room. or find a place that has the rocket dog testing. i went to road runner sports. they have you walk across a mat that sees where you put the weight when you walk and then they have you do a light jog on a treadmill where your feet get filmed. you then watch the tape back with the worker and s/he slows down the footage to see exactly how you pronate your foot. then they'll tell you which type of shoe to buy. and what brands carry it. now don't feel obligated to buy there, b/c the shoes are wayyyy overpriced. but, if you do end up buying the shoes from roadrunner, you can test the shoes out for a little while and return them if you feel they aren't right for you.

if you aren't getting into running a good light weight shoe, perhaps a cross trainer, should be fine.