Belly Dancing Part 1: My Back Hurts

Tonight I took my first ever belly dancing class. I was nervous and out totally out of my element, but I've been wanting to do this for years! I finally found a dance studio close to my house and I signed up for it right away. So how did it go? I never knew how stiff I was until I had to shimmy and do the snake with my arms. And yes, my back hurts. We had to raise our chests and then drop them. Over and over and over again. I usually don't do that on a regular basis, so my back is not use do that kind of a work out. I'm really uncoordinated as well. We had to walk forward, while pointing our feet and moving our arms at the same time....Yeaaaaaa. I sucked pretty badly. Anyway, besides noticing how long and awkward my arms looked in the mirror, I really enjoyed myself. The teacher is awesome and she has really great personality. I can't wait until next weeks class, but until then....*shimmy, shimmy and shimmy*

More Than Just Earrings...

For all you jewelry wearers, when you ever put on your favorite pieces of jewelry, do you feel as though you have become another person? As though that piece of jewelry has a soul of it's own and when you put on that certain piece, that soul attaches to yours? No? Well, I do. This feeling is probably just confidence, but my imagination gets a little carried away and I lost touch with reality. These earrings are far from being real opals, but I just LOVE the look of them! They have that vintage look to them that I adore and the opal replica makes my heart race. When I wear them, I feel like that I could of easily worn these in another lifetime. A gift. Given to me by my lover, who believes that I am the reason that the sun rises in the morning and why the moon glows at night. Secret messages and heated glances across crowded rooms. Whispered promises of being together forever and a love that transcends across time. *sigh* Yep. These earrings rock.

A Picture and a Story

First time doing this in the morning..weird. Anyway, Good morning all!! I had an epiphany the other day while I was thinking about this guy I used to date. I remember how inconsistent he was with our dates and it got so bad, I finally broke it off with him. As continued with my thoughts, I realized how inconsistent I am. With everything. I would say I was going to do something and then stop. Perfect example, this blog. I actually enjoy writing on here, but then months go by and I haven't posted anything!! I wonder if that is why my friend tried to hook me up with him in the first place. She said he and I are just alike. He's a mess. I'm a mess. We would be perfect together!!! Nope. Which made me wonder if I'm doomed to always attract a guy who is as inconsistent as myself....*insert horror scream here*. Scary thought. Soooo, for the billionth time in my life and on this blog, I'm going to try to break this unhealthy streak by giving myself another challenge. I know most people do a monthly challenge. I'm giving myself at least a week. I decided to take pictures of something/anything that grabs my attention, post it on here and then write about it. Maybe a story, a silly comment, heck, anything!! The goal is to stay focus and consistent. *takes a deep breath* Here we go!!

My mom ordered some Chinese food the other the night and I always have a small love for their fortune cookies. For they're slightly sweet cookie and for the little piece of paper comes inside of them. I know they aren't real fortunes, but they make me smile all the same. When I pulled this one from the crispy shell of my cookie, I was super delighted by this message. Why? Because I just got off from work and I was tired. Very tired. My whole body was sore from all the walking and lifting that I did throughout the day and all I wanted to do was sit. And you know what I did for my "good time"? I took a hot shower, played with my dog, read a book and then went to sleep. How is that considered a good time, you say? I am an introvert. After talking and mingling with people all day, the one thing I enjoy after a day like that, is my peace and quiet. That's it.

Spain!!!!

I forgot to mention (or maybe I did) that the same time I went to Paris, we also we to Madrid, Spain!! Spain was much warmer than Paris, much sunnier and in my opinion, getting around was a lot easier to navigate through this city too. One disappointing thing about our trip to Spain was that our first day spent running around the airport. It's a long, crazy story and some day I'll share the story on here. But for the whole day that we had to roam throughout the city, we enjoyed the sites. Since it was a nice, sunny day, we took the metro to Retiro Park and strolled through the park until we saw the Palacio de Cristal! Unfortunately, it was closed for renovations and we didn't get to go inside. *womp womp* We also got to see the actual Royal Place of Madrid which was pretty neat as well. After all that walking (and getting lost) we headed over to the Puerto de Sol for Tapas and sangrias! There's another back story having to deal with getting tapas, but that too, is for another time. The next time I travel to Madrid and other cities of Spain, I totally plan on enjoying more of the sites, eat more of the food (leaving unwanted guest in the US) and just enjoy life.

All Work and no Play...sucks.

...I really need to become more consistent with this thing. Smh. Anyway, good evening all! I finally worked up the energy to come on here and actually type something for change. Basically, working full-time all the time...kinda sucks. I enjoy the nice paycheck, benefits and over-time. However, I wish I had more energy to do something besides work. My daily routine is usually: morning routine, work, and then home. Once in awhile, I'll do something different, like having dinner with friends, but other than that, blah. On the bright side, one day while I was out visiting my favorite spiritual store, I bought two books: "The Creative Photographer" by Catherine Anderson and "I Could do Anything, If I only knew what it was" by Barbara Sher. I picked up the photographer book to get some inspiration for taking better pictures. Or a better way to share my photos besides Facebook. And it did!!! Throughout the book, Anderson shares how anything you see, can become a work of art. Also in the book, she shares crafts and other examples that you can create with your photos. One example that stuck out me, was personal gift cards. I love cards!!! The more quirky and unique they are, the more I love them! I decided to combine my two loves together and create works of art that I can share with everyone! Here's the first one that I made! I stuck one of my fake flowers (obviously it's fake) inside of my DIY light box and TA-DA!!!! I think it came out pretty good. With the second book, I bought it because I was starting to feel like there is something else that I should be doing my life, but I don't know what. The book helps you figure out what is stopping you and what you think might be holding you back from doing what you really want to do in life. I got half-way through the book before I put it down and didn't pick it back up for weeks. Not because it sucked, but mostly because I have the tendency to start a project and not finish it. I mean, I would just dive straight into it and then I suddenly I just drop it. *sigh* I know I have the potential do more, but unfortunately, I have that bad habit of putting my plans aside and not picking them up again. But the book is sitting right next to me....*opens it and starts to read*

Come Fly with Me, Lets Fly, Lets Fly Away!

*sigh* I love that song. Especially, Michael Buble's version of it. Anyways, good evening everyone! Guess where I got to go a couple of weeks ago?? *drum roll please* Paris!!!! *And the crowd goes wild* It was my first European trip since I was a toddler and I had an amazing time. I will admit it was cold , but I couldn't help but enjoy being in this beautiful city. When we got lost trying to find our apartment where we were staying, my best friend turned to me and was said, "We're walking around in Paris." Then it dawned on me....yea, we were really walking around in Paris. I have seen photos in magazines, scenes from movies and pictures from other travelers, and wishing that someday, I too, will visit Paris. I did. And it was awesome. Our first tourist stop was Notre Dame Catherdal. They were having prayer, so we had to be completely quiet. We were traveling on a budget, so we took the Metro everywhere and I'm actually kind of glad for it. When we were walking past the Arc de Triomphe and saw the circle of chaos (that's my nickname for it), I couldn't imagine riding in a taxi and riding through that mass of cars. And here I thought the people in my town couldn't drive. Sheesh. My only regret I can say, is that we didn't get to eat a lot of authentic Parisian food. Trying to accommodate a picky vegetarian....*sigh* never again. I did grab a delicious crepe from a street vendor, but other than that....nothing. I think one thing I did enjoy was the architectural work on all the buildings, especially the Lourvre museum. I just couldn't help but stare at the buildings and amount of work that it took to design and construct the buildings. Amazing. And the one thing we really wanted to see out of anything else.....The Eiffel Tower. What a sight. I knew it was huge, but it looked like a iron giant in the distant. And like a big kid that I am, I literally squealed when it started to sparkle. The next night, we walked down the stairs to get a closer view of it and my camera battery died, but thank goodness for my cellphone. I will admit, we did not take the elevator to the top, but with it being foggy we probably wouldn't see anything anyways. Actually, we didn't get to see as much of the city as we really wanted to, but I guess that means we'll have to plan another trip to visit again. ;D

Another Pink Tree

Good Evening ya'll! The holidays are now over and if you work retail like myself, that is a cause for celebration. Don't get me wrong, I love the holidays, but that time of year just brings the worst out of people! Anyway, now that the holidays are over, it's time for me to take down my pink Christmas tree. *tear*. I would and can leave it up all year long, but then it would be as special during Christmas time. Lucky for me, I am able to replace it with my new tabletop tree!

Now, it does look like a duck tape tree and even I wasn't 100% sure I wanted to buy it, but it was on clearance and if I didn't like it, I would just take it back. I brought it home, put some batteries in it and voila!!

It's cute!! Cuter than I thought actually.

Welp, it's a keeper and a perfect replacement. Now I just need to figure out where I'm going to place it. Hmmm.....