Old News

What do you get when you combine a Youth Worker, A Student, Hours of Project Runway watched, and Halloween on a budget? You get your own version of a Project Runway Challenge... The Challenge spend little to no money, create a fantastic, memorable black and white costume in less than 24 hours.
First came the 3 min sketch...
Which led to a trip to Costco to grab some packaging tape...and a drive by newspaper stop to load up on free newspapers!!! Then came three hours of ripping, taping and cutting...

After about three hours we had the skirt portion of our newspaper dress...

A few more hours a day later and I had the dress for the Black and White party finished, just in time to debut it at the Halloween Young Life Club.

I went as Old News!

It has been a long time since I allowed myself the indulgence of a new pair of Bunny's Shoes. I walked in and turned to the sales rack and there they were, just calling my name. The last pair, in my size, and 50% off. You really didn't expect me to walk out empty handed did you?

Teal Leather

I'll admit that I have a thing for shoes, as do I am told many women. But until recent my love of shoes was limited mostly to red shoes, and the occasional pair of Steve Madden's. That was until maybe a month or so ago when I fell in love with shoes. Not all shoes, but amazing shoes. Shoes that I have always been able to walk by before without much more than a glance now seem to call out my name.

Usually my bank account keeps me in line though. Knowing that the choice is between rent and shoes, or grocery's and shoes, helps me to say yes they are amazing, but I will have to wait.

That is until this week, this week when the shoes I had been ogling over went on sale. Still I told myself, "self, they will not fit." So I tried them on to prove to myself I was right. As is often the case, (but not with shoes) I was wrong. They fit. They not only fit, they felt amazing. And they looked amazing. But sale or no sale I knew I could not just plunk down the cash (card) and get the shoes. At least not till Wednesday when I got paid. So I had them put on hold...thinking, "that will give me time to come to my senses."

I even called my friend to discuss the shoes, sure that she would talk me out of buying them, after all how practical are teal shoes? Instead she pointed out how logical it was and broke down the cost with an equation about how often I would wear said shoes vs the price. We ended up deciding that they were not much worse than buying coffee. How we got to that conclusion I am still wondering about.

All this to say, that today I gave in and bought myself an early birthday present. See, aren't they amazing...



Totally worth the splurge, after all what's the fun in being a girl if you can't have the shoes to go with it.

Happy Moments

I have been thinking about what makes me truly happy. You know the kind of happy where you just cannot help but smile inside and out. Where you feel totally content. I guess the train of thought started on Tuesday AM when we (my fellow staff and I) were praying, we prayed for joy. Now I firmly believe that there is a difference between joy and happiness, and I don't really want this to turn into a theological discussion about the difference between the two. I just wanted to share what it is that makes me happy with the hopes that it might inspire you to think of what it is that makes you smile. And perhaps thank God for some of those things that we just take for granted. So here is my list thus far...

Dancing, candles, a good cooking show, cooking, sitting outside at a cafe and people watching, coffee, my family (most days), students who get "it", packages that are from friends (not the IRS), cards, snuggling, when I finish a task, spending time with God, the beach, the sun, a good (but not long) rain, certain songs, old people (the funny nice ones not the grouchy ones), chocolate (this is new for me, I used to not like it), time with my closest friends, buying presents for people just for fun, cute shoes, shopping for my house or a new outfit, the days I wake up and look in the mirror and think "not bad", when I get to write, when I am inspired with a new idea, having fresh flowers in my home, eating out with friends, being held, praying, reading a good book, watching a travel show or a movie about Italy, traveling,driving,throwing parties...

Okay, now it is your turn. What makes you Happy.