Strike a Pose

(image:google)

.......and the Oscar goes to.... Well she didn't win an Oscar but Helen Mirren was my best dressed pick for the Oscars.  I think she looks stunning in this Vivienne Westwood gown.  It is so elegant, slightly regal and has a youthful touch with the structured shoulders. They add a little drama which is always fun.

What do you think? oh and have you seen R.E.D? such a good movie and as always she is great!

28 days later

I have been away from the blogging world for over a week now and I have to admit I have kind of missed it.  I went away for the weekend to Atlanta and had a great time but unfortunately I have been ill ever since I got back. 

I am not quite 100 % but I wanted to try and get back in the routine of blogging and have a couple of things I really want to post.  The first being
NO FAST FOOD FEBRUARY IS OVER and I am excited to have completed my goal.  In fact I plan to continue to stay away from fast food as much a possible.  I feel much better not eating so much junk when I am on the run.  I will admit it was tough when driving down to Atlanta not to just want to pick up something quickly but I did it. 

However, I do want to evaluate types of foods or restaurants that may not be considered fast food but might as well be.  When I planned No Fast Food February I didn't factor in Pizza and Paneras as fast food, but I recently started using mint.com and it categorizes your purchased for you.  It feels that Panera is fast food.  Obviously a Soup and Salad there is going to be a much better choice than that Bacon Cheeseburger so I think I'm ok with allowing this as an option when I need something quick.  Pizza on the other hand I am putting in the fast food bucket.  I guess because I don't eat it to often at home or out that I didn't think of as something I would like to cut back but it is.  Although its a yummy comfort food its not the healthiest.

I am working on options for packing my own lunch so I don't get bored with what I am making.  There is only so many turkey sandwiches and lean cuisines I can take.  What are your suggestions for a packed lunch?

I am NOT smarter than a 5th grader!

In England Pub Quizzes are a staple in most local drinking establishments.  My Mum and Dad used to go every Monday when I was little.  Since I moved here when I was 17 I never had the opportunity to join in on the quizzes but LOVE trivia, I might suck but I love it.

Well my friends told me about Quiz night at a local Irish bar here in Roanoke and invited me to join them yesterday.  I knew I wouldn’t be much of an asset to the team but thought it would be fun anyway.  I think I’m a person of average intelligence but didn’t know a lot of the answers ugh.  I know a lot of random facts but few things relevant to this quiz!

Here are some of the questions:

Name all Seven Men’s and Women’s Olympic Gymnastics competitions. Um what? I have no clue, I get bored watching the Olympics and I’m obviously not into sports unless its soccer and then it has to involve either David Beckham, Manchester United or England! lol.

Name all the main characters on the Addams Family. Not so bad, I did dress up as Wednesday for Halloween once.

How many steps are in Big Ben? Ah a question about England, I should know it right? Of course not! I don’t think anyone is even allowed up there! I guessed 235 but it’s really 334! So remember to place that little fact in your random knowledge folder incase someone asks you lol

However I did get this question right!!

Whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta? LADY GAGA of course J Paws up little Monsters lol

(credit)

Anyway, it was a fun night and hopefully ill go again and study before hand J

Off to Atlanta this weekend to shop for Stella Jewelry and enjoy some Southern Hospitality!  Hope everyone is enjoying the lovely weather.  I can’t wait for Spring!

Spread some love

credit: IMDB

Happy Valentines Day!!

"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around" ~ Prime Minster (Hugh Grant, Love Actually")

I hope everyone has had a great day filled with Love!! 

I know many people place a big emphasis on Vday and other despise the day, I personally don't have much opinion on the day regardless of my relationship status.

I do however think we shouldn't wait until February 14th to spread the love around.  We should always make sure people know we care no matter what.

My favorite "romantic" movie is Love Actually, one its British and I love British humor :) and two it has lots of great stories about different types of love and that if you look around you can find love all over.

My Week

I know you are all patiently waiting to know how my week went, right?  Oh your not? Ok well I’m going to share anyway. J

Last weekend was not very eventful.

It started out sad by going to support a friend who lost her father.  I know she will be ok but it hurts me to know she has to go through the pain I remember so strongly from when I was a child.  Times like this renew my thoughts on loving your family and friends as much as you can and making sure they know you do.  Sometimes that’s hard to do, life gets busy, people make mistakes and hurt each other but regardless if you care about someone we should always take a second to tell them.

Saturday ~ I helped a high school friend pick out her Wedding Dress.  I was excited to help; I love shopping and love looking at the dresses.  She asked me to make her a Bridal headpiece because I’m “creative”; I know what she wants and am pretty confident I can make it but what if she doesn’t like it?  It’s the most important day of her life; I don’t want her to be disappointed.  Oh and I won’t see her before the wedding so I won’t know until then if she likes it or not agh! 

Sunday ~ I spent most of the day de-cluttering my life, throwing away things I don’t need and getting things together to donate or sell.  It felt good to clear out the unnecessary things I had laying around.  I know this will help simplify and organize my life.  I also went grocery shopping, I never do a real grocery shop, so I got things to pack lunches for work and light snacks instead of junk food!!

The rest of the week I have spent my spare time with friends and family.  I had a girl’s night with my Mum; we went shopping and got some great deals, had our hair done and went to dinner.  Unfortunately the service at dinner was horribleL.  Yesterday; I met some girls from my part time job and went to one of their son’s basketball game.  8 yrs old playing sports is sooo cute, he scored 3 pts and played great.  You can tell they love just playing to play and aren’t upset if they loose.  The other team however I feel is in a mini basketball boot camp.  They were running plays and had hand signs it was crazy to see them soo into the game on a serious level.  

On the business front, I made some new pieces and bought a printer.  I know exciting stuff buying a printer. I also participated in DIY Desgin Your Life.  You may have already read the blog from earlier in the week if not take a look.  I wrote out six intentions I want to fulfill in my life.  It was great to write out my goals and I have had some great feedback from friends as well as those in the blogging world.  Plus my blog was mentioned on one of my favorite blogs makeunderyourlife.com, very exciting!

Today is 11 days into my No Fast Food February and I haven’t stopped at any fast food joint.  I am reevaluating which local restaurants may be consider fast food too.  Plus I am down to two cokes a day and only water after 7 pm.  FYI caffeine withdrawals suck! 

Our First Etsy Order

Last week I mentioned I had uploaded eight of our pieces to Etsy.  I was really excited to get that started. It takes a long time to get good/decent pictures taken to ensure the product looks accurate for the buyers to see.  Then you need to ensure the descriptions entice the consumer and tags are appropriate for people to find the products.

It took me approximately three hours to finish the first eight and I am still not happy with the titles and descriptions.  I know I can't learn the easiest and best ways for online selling immediately and trying to keep that in my mind but I am frustrated with how long it took to add so few items.

Then comes today and I find out we made our first sale on Etsy.  This honestly made my day.  It was the little boost that made me feel those three hours last week were worth it.  I should provide a disclaimer here that the buyer was my college roommate but still our first sale. Plus so she lives in a different state so its a legitimate business deal, right? Renatta is a natural when it comes to looking stylish and never has a bad outfit in my opinion. This makes the sale a little sweeter because if she likes our product it must be relevant. I hope :)

These are the earrings Renatta purchased, I can't wait to see her rock these!

Thank you Renatta for being our first online customer <3

Designing my life

Last week I talked about creating the life I want in business and at home.  Since then I have been reading http://www.makeundermylife.com/ almost everyday.  It is a great blog about living life with intention and the owner's business story is really inspiring. Jess created Jess LC (http://www.jesslc.com/) as its jewelry, I'm obviously a fan but I love everything about her brand and the fact she started when she was 15 and now has her pieces in over 100 retailers. 

I am finding motivation from the blog, to simplify my life, figuratively and literally and to listen to my gut, trust my instincts and do what I want with this life and not what other suggest is right for me.  I know my family and friends offer their advice in support of me and I couldn't ask for better supporters, but pushing my own ideas and wants away is not helping me move forward.

As part of her DIY Design Your life I am writing six intentions I want to fulfill with my life, kind of my like a more serious version of my 30 before 30.

I have by no means had a terrible or hard life but I have had my struggles and although I feel like I've overcome the tragedies in my life well, I know there are parts of me hanging on.  Those parts of me stop me from truly living.  Loosing my father at eleven has affected my whole life, some good some bad.  I now know that you should cherish everyone you love everyday because you never know what could happen to them.  I feel like this is a good trait but also hinders me as I am constantly worried about what if I lose someone, this I need to let go of and enjoy every moment with them.  This also stops me from opening up to people or opportunities as I am scared to loose something I had or am comfortable with.  I plan to make a conscious effort to be more open to change.

With the speed of life and the million and one things always going on I forget to enjoy the little things.  I want to seek out something beautiful that we normally take for granted each day.

As I am still working full time, I am dedicated to the spending my free time building my brand and product lines so that ultimately I can make this my career.

They say once you find a job you love it will never feel like work and you will be successful as you are passionate about what you do.  I know I can make something of my hand made jewelry and know its what I love.  I need to put my "gut" feelings into actions and I will be successful.  To get started I am making over my website and setting up the look book photo shoot.

I have been very lucky to travel throughout the US and in other countries.  I feel like every time I travel a part of me is found.  I want to experience other cultures and be open to what the world has to offer.  There is a real difference between visiting somewhere and experiencing a city/country.  I only want to experience places in my travels and will start  by seeking out the non tourist activities in my future adventures.

I have to make a confession that I am a Coca-Cola addict,  I want to be healthier and I know the sodas are not helping.  With my No Fast Food February I am also taking the opportunity to cut back my cokes.  This doesn't seem like a very serious intention to design my life by but to be healthier over all is something I want and this is part of that.

My final intention is to learn how the blogging world works, how does a link up work? How do I change my template from something not in the simple options?  I also know I have bad grammar and I am working on consciously thinking about what I was taught not how I text lol.

I am my intentions will change over time and I am excited to have goals to meet and can't wait to be able to update my progress.

Rachel Zoe

So I often incorporate Rachel Zoe verbiage into my everyday life, it started out being for comedic effect at work with a friend who is obsessed with the Rachel Zoe Project on Bravo. Much like any smart gay man is, Andy Cohen? It was originally a joke to talk in a monotone voice but now it has become a way of life.  I have been consumed by the Zoe Camp.  I even have the book! I die.

To get the idea watch this amazing parody video on You Tube.  Even though it’s not Rachel is exudes her perfectly lol

I now find myself saying “I die”, “obsessed” and “out of control” in a monotone voice ALL the time along with shut it down.  It’s become quite a problem.  This weekend I was looking at new make up and in response to the sales associate asking me if I liked it I said “I DIE” meaning in Rachel Zoe language, it’s beyond amazing and the lady looked at me like I was CRAZY! Obviously she needs to add Bravo to her cable package!

By the way Armani does love plums! lol

Creating my Life Week 2

This week I feel like I didn't have a lot of motivation to just get things done to create my small business but never the less I did get some work done and made time for myself.

Saturday ~ I had an amazing sushi lunch at Metro, it was great to be off work early enough on a weekend to be able to go downtown during the day.  I also picked up some great beads and spent the afternoon working on new pieces with Tricia.

Sunday ~ I pretty much did nothing all day.  I did visit Salem Antiques and Collectables, my Mum's store is opening a booth there.  The building is great and is building up a nice selection of furniture.  Check out www.salemantiquesandcollectables.com if you are into Antique hunting.

Monday ~  I did laundry ~ exciting stuff!!

Tuesday ~ Went shopping for more supplies and got quite a bit of the new collections made.  We seem to be on a nice roll of getting out Spring Collection together, but I also feel like its not fast enough.  We need a lot of new pieces for the store and then need items specifically for the photo shoot and online sales. I am impatient and want everything to be done today which is not realistic.

I know I shouldn't try to rush things but I have a clear view of what needs to be done just not how to get there.  I want to jump from the beginning to the end right away but I know that won't make my business work.  I need to learn some patience.

Wednesday ~ I felt like I was getting sick so I rested most of the day.

Today ~  I got some stock pictures taken of the new pieces and added them to our etsy store.  The names and descriptions need some work but I am excited to have some items posted.

Visit www.etsy.com/people/StellaJewelryStore to see our pieces!!

*Update on No Fast Food February 3 days in and I haven't been near a McDonald's lol

No Fast Food February

One of my 30 before 30 is to stop eating fast food for a month.  Working two jobs made it easy for me to have an excuse to use drive thru's to often as I was always rushing from one place to another.  So with my life being less rushed and fewer hours at the part time job I am using February as my No Fast Food month.  As I am writing this I just realized I picked the shortest month.  Wow my subconscious is smart lol.

As of today I feel like this will be an easy task, there is no reason why I HAVE to have fast food, except for the fact chicken minis are sooo good lol.  I just need to plan my busy days better and make sure to actually take a lunch to work with me instead of just saying "ill run out for lunch".  I know my friends are saying there is no way you will plan ahead, but I am determined.  I also think I will feel better/healthier at the end which will be great and worth giving up those Sonic Bacon Cheeseburger for.

I will update you as the month goes on and if I slip up and give in I vow to start over again until I complete one month fast food free.