All That Glitters

I am find myself constantly attracted to things that sparkle. I personally feel that you can cover just about anything in glitter or rhinestones and that thing becomes illogically more attractive. (note: this doesn’t apply to everything. I gave up on body glitter a long time ago.) As we get closer to the holidays, it couldn’t be more true. It’s the perfect time of year to make your home and yourself shine! Here are a few of my favorites holiday sparkles!

Holiday Nails:

My holiday nails. Just enough sparkle!

A little decor bling:

Dollar store finds dipped in glitter

Every girls favorite kind of sparkle:

Ugh, isn’t this just perfect!

Some say glitter and sparkle is girly and cliche. I agree, which is why I love it so much. This holiday season make your life shine a bit more with some added sparkle. As for me I like a little sparkle in my step!

Just enough sparkle to match my personality- ha

California Dreaming

I’ve been doing this A LOT lately! I believe I was meant to live by the water. The sound of ocean’s crashing waves calms me in a way that can’t be duplicated even by the local wave pool. Salty sea air makes my skin happy too.

I’ve been on a mission lately to get myself relocated ocean side. I believe in manifesting your own destiny. If you believe it (and it’s logical and possible), you will make it happen. So everyday, I envision myself going for a run on the beach instead of the gym treadmill, reading my book in with the sea breeze blowing my hair instead of the ceiling fan, driving with the windows down to smell the distinct smell of the ocean instead of the exhaust fumes of my fellow drivers, feeling the sand between my toes instead of the cold tile floor. No exciting news to report just yet, but I am in an active pursuit of opportunities that will allow me to eat my lunch at the beach. Here are a few images I collected to keep me focused.

Ahh, Paradise!

Did Disney Skew My Reality

Sadly, I wasn't born with Disney hair, but my quest is never ending!

One thing is for sure. I LOVE love. It’s kind of an obsession I have. I cry at every wedding. I die for sappy romantic comedies and whenever I am feeling sad, I put on love songs. But how real is love. With the divorce rate what it is, I have to wonder, does it still really exist or are we basing all of our hopes of a happy ending on fairytales? A co-worker and I were just talking about how disney movies not only gave us unrealistic hair expectations, but alsounrealistic ideas of what love looks like. Is it selfish to believe that we deserve the movie ending?

Sometimes, I can be really poetic. As I mentioned in a previous post, I haven’t opened my journal in over a year. I took a little time to read a few entries. A particular entry really struck me. On July 5, 2010, I wrote the following about love:

“Life and Love are impossible to understand. To me, it seems as if they are always getting in the way of one another. I can’t help but love love. I want to feel helplessly unwhole without the man in my life. I want a man to sweep me off my feet. I don’t want a fairytale I just want a story worth telling. I want someone’s kiss to rock my soul. I want a man that understands what it means to be a husband and more importantly he wants to fill the job. I want my life to be extraordinary. I am hesitant to believe that truly extraordinary love and life can exist for women, except those in books and movies. I’m afraid most of us aren’t willing to hold out for both. I am going to. I am going to fall in love with someone, but more importantly someone is going to fall in love with me, all of me, not just the good stuff. I need to keep finding myself and along the way, I’m sure someone worthy will find me too.”

Such a cute photo- Pinterest find

Yep, it’s confirmed, I’m a hopeless romantic. It was refreshing to remind myself that I have always felt like this. If I dug out some of my journals from high school, I am sure they would say much of the same. Who can you be truly honest with if not yourself. I am happy to report that despite everything, I haven’t given up on love and I don’t think anyone else should either. Despite the movies and how hard it is to make love work, I know I will never give up on it. I love it too much. Disney you’re off the hook for my expectations of love, but as far as hair goes, I hold you personally responsible for my disappointment in my hairs lack of volume!

The Price of Sight

This morning I was reminded of the price of sight- let me tell you, it is freaking expensive!! Obviously it’s worth it. Just ask Val Kilmer in At First Sight. Side Note- I can’t help but laugh when I think about this movie.

Here’s a quick synopsis courtesy of IMDB-

A driven Manhattan architect, Amy, relaxes at a resort and falls for the masseur, Virgil, blind since age 3 and assisted by his spinster sister. He helps Amy hear and sense the world, giving her new spirit and a burst of creativity. Over the sister’s objections, Amy takes Virgil to New York for new, radical surgery. He regains his sight. He’s disoriented and must learn to process these new images. Finding his place in a seeing world strains his relation with Amy; his absent father wants to connect with him now that he can see; then, retinal disease threatens to undo the surgery. Can love survive, will he find his new place and his old tranquillity, can Amy accommodate limits.

This film was so fantasaticly horrible it could have been a Lifetime movie! Everytime I watch it (which everytime I find it on television) I am impressed. Life would suck if you couldn’t see! I remember when I was a kid I would walk around with my eyes shut, just to see what it would be like. Even though I usually peeked, my expereiment always ended with stubbed toes, bruises or something nocked off a table.
In High school, I actually started failing math because I couldn’t see the board and I was convinced I would look terrible in glasses. My relationship with the eye doctor started from there. Glasses were the ugly stepchild that came from my union with the eye doctor. I never wore them and they are now broken in the bottom of a box somewhere. Contacts were my best friend. I wore colors to match with my outfits, and pretended I was one of those “lucky people” with dark hair and clear blue eyes. I gave up on colored contacts when gained a little more self confidence and realised my brown eyes were what made me extreamly unique in a family of blue eyed people.

My sweet new specs

Today the eye doctor and I had one of our dates. It ended like it always does, with me cursing the cost of sight. $330 later I have a cute new pair of glasses on the way, a years worth of contacts and a promise to myself that I will wear my glasses enough to make my contacts last two years. Besides, glasses are so in these days. Look at all these cute celebs sporting specs!

The Lovely Anne Hathaway

Stars with Specs!

Val might have been able to survive without sight, but it would never work for me. I’m a visual learner afterall. It looks like this realtionship between me and my eye doctor is not going to go away anytime soon. Anyone want to give me Lasik?

A Bucket List

Like so many, I have had a long standing Bucket List- things I want to do before I kick the bucket. I remember starting it back in high school and looking at it everyday. I was so focused on where I wanted my future to take me. Then, in college, I made some revisions, but most items remained the sam. I wrote them on the back cover of my journal. It’s been over a year since I have opened my journal and even longer since looking at “My Life’s To Do List”. I am a strong believer in positive affirmation. In fact, in re-reading my list created back in 2003 almost 10 years ago, I am struck by how many things I am actually able to cross off. I can only imagine how much more would have been on there if I hadn’t forgotten to remind myself of all the great things left on my to do list.
Today I am adding a page to my blog. My Bucket List. This way, I will easily be able to remind myself of all the things I want and make sure I am working towards them every day.

Can I buy a Mulligan

When I really think about it, I know that I am right where I am intended to be, no matter how frustrating it can be at times. Life is a beautiful disaster! Everything is right as it should be… I hope!

Last Week I got to spend two lovely days out of the office, riding around in golf carts at a couple of charity golf tournaments. The weather was absolutely fantastic and the surroundings were beautiful. One of my jobs was to sell Mulligan’s. For a mere $20 you could by to “do overs”. It got me thinking, what if we could buy a Mulligan for life? Everyone trys to live a life with no regrets, but chances are if you really think about it, you have a few.

 

"What If" no more

Recently I have noticed I have been living in a world of What If’s. What if I hadn’t done that. What if I do that. What if I fail. What if it doesn’t work out. What if. What if. What if. With so many “what if”s occupying my time, it’s no wonder I have lost my ability to extract the joy from anything. Well That all changes today. It is November 1, 2011, the day I proclaim that I am no longer being a “what if” girl! Call Nike, because my new motto is Just do it! Who cares if I fail? The beauty of life is the journey and my journey lately has been dismal at best. Today that changes. Today I bring back the sparkle, the adventure and most importantly my zest for life, love and he pursuit of happiness. The sign below sums it up best. A life without regret is a life well spent. Cheers, A. Allan