The Point Of It All

I am finally back in the States and while I am thankful for safe travels and being back with my family I have to tell you I would have loved to stay in the Dominican Republic--the beautiful weather, the eye candy men and the skin bronzing sun was begging me to stay just a little while longer. I returned to celebrate my birthday with my parents, sisters, daughter & (dog)son. We had a special dinner, cake, I opened my gifts and took pics.

I feel like 30 has ushered me into a new era-one of honesty. In all truthfulness I think I had been teetering on the brink of it for a little while, but I needed an excuse to fully embrace it. I realized that a large portion of my life has been spent doing, saying, acting, emulating, personifying what I 'should be.' Not really taking the time to acknowledge how I really felt about situations or never voicing my true feelings about things I encounter for fear of being labeled weak or shallow or the ever feared 'bitch'. Some people might not like it and some people might love it, but the reality of it is I have this one life to live and I have to make it count. So I can live it for impressions and perceptions or I can live it for me-happiness and contentment. This doesn't mean all my problems will simply fade or suddenly I have life all figured out, but it does mean that I am making a conscious effort to live my days full of enjoyment, embrace each moment as if it's my last and acknowledge what I'm feeling despite who might not agree. I'll probably still have moments where I'll say whats acceptable instead of what I really feel, but the point for me is to be happy and honest and comfortable.

My Sole Intention

It was IMPERATIVE that I find the perfect shoe to set off my LBD for 'Cocktails On The Terrace' Friday night. I talked about all my efforts in a previous post and eventually found a pair on Ardenb.com that I thought would suffice-NOT! I kept searching and came across a pair of HAWT pumps by Report Signature on Endless.com. In addition to Endless offering free 2 day shipping they had a promo code available that deducted 25% off the shoes, it was a no-brainer I HAD to get these shoes. I placed my order and imagine my surprise when my shoes arrived the very next day, I have to give a *handclap* to Endless for their outstanding customer service! I was promised the shoes within 2 days, but got them a day early, paid no shipping or taxes and if I want to return the shoes over the next year I can all at no charge to me! The Arden B shoes will be going back with the quickness and I will be rocking these shoegasmic pumps Friday night! Have you ever used Endless.com? If not check them out ASAP!

Party Shoes!

We Are Family

On Saturday I took a mini road trip with 2 of my girls to Raleigh, NC to celebrate a fellow Virgo's birthday. The venue was HOT, if you are ever in Raleigh make sure you check out Solas on Glenwood. There was so much excitement in the air because the party was a surprise for LaToya, who is a self proclaimed private investigator, but we managed to keep it a secret! The look on her face when she was walked in and had that moment of realization was priceless! Her cousins did a great job of planning her evening and I know she'll always remember her 30th birthday as a super special one.

Seeing the effort her cousins put into her party led me to a moment of reflection-I have no close personal relationship with my cousins or any of my extended family. As I celebrate on Friday the only people that I will be surrounded by that I am related to are my parents and siblings, but I will still be surrounded by family-family that I have hand-picked over the years and that I am blessed to have. While we don't share the same bloodline or last names these are people that have loved me, cheered me on, prayed for me & supported me. I know that the type of relationship Toya has with her cousins I will never have, but the 'family' I have is just as special and I know they love me as though we used to get fussed at by grandma together. :)

While I can't change how my familial relationships turned out, I can try to make sure that my daughter has a different experience. Although I am not a part of her paternal family I try to encourage and help foster the relationship with them and I know it will be a few years before my siblings have children, but I hope that the cousins will love each other, throw parties for each other and spend time with each other. I want to encourage her to understand and appreciate the importance of family and hopefully her biological and chosen family will help me with this task. Nana always told me 'In All Things Give Thanks' I am thankful that I see how not to be so I won't continue the pattern with my daughter and I am thankful for my non-related family members that have accepted me with open arms.

Happy Birthday Toya!

Slow Down

As anxious as I am for my trip to Punta Cana I do need the days to slow down just a little. So much is happening and going on and I have been sooooo busy, the princess and I both haven't been feeling well. This past weekend I attended the 30th birthday party for one of my dear friends Toya, she was surprised and shocked and excited and we partied hard! Attending her party led me to a revelation--that post will be coming soon. We had a great time and of course when in Raleigh I HAVE to go to my favorite restaurant of all time-Bahama Breeze.


I returned home in hopes of putting the last minute touches on the details for 'Cocktails On The Terrace' and my trip to Punta Cana, but a nagging cough kept slowing me down, finally after everyone's nagging encouragement I went to Patient First where I was diagnosed with bronchitis---UGGHHHH! I took today off to get some apparently much needed rest, relaxation and hydration, and honestly I do feel a lot better. I am gonna be taking it slow the next few days so I can be at 100% for Punta Cana--time to celebrate!!!

Back To Business

I had a truly enjoyable long weekend & now it's back to business, the princess is heading to Pre-K tomorrow *tear* & I'm heading back to work. Despite being confined to the house every 4 hours for her treatments we managed to have a fun "Mommy & Me' weekend-whenever I'm with her other stuff really doesn't matter.

I need to tie up a few loose ends for "Cocktails On The Terrace' and finalize some details. I wantedto do something that would make my evening memorable for me as well as my guests and I decided on a balloon release. I got the idea from another blog I read, basically she released 30 balloons and had a notecard made up with her website and had each guest at her party write a message on the back with a wish for the finder. It's my hope that the finders of the balloons from my party will come here to let me know where they found their balloon and what they wished for. I made sure that it's legal here in Va so now I need to place my balloon order and decide on a design for the cards that will be attached.

My pumps should be coming in this week *fingers crossed they are perfection* and I dropped my dress off at the dry cleaners the other day so that's ready to be picked up. I need to decide on centerpieces for the tables and check with the venue to see if they have black tablecloths-I wanted a really hot pink flower for the centerpiece but can't find anything I really like, so I think it'll have to be pink roses and I found some black candles. I need to make a list-I operate best like that and being able to cross things off feels euphoric..lol.

I still need to do some last minute shopping for Punta Cana, this summer was SO hot I didn't go a lot of places and thus didn't need to do a lot of shopping so now I need to grab some maxi dresses, sandals, etc. I cannot wait for a whole week of fun in the sun and unlimited drinks-that's the way to celebrate!

I still need to give my full thoughts on Takers but in a nutshell-BEST. MOVIE. EVER! Can't wait to see it again and for the sequel (if TI can stay out of jail long enough--uggghhhh)

Good nite all--it's back to business tomorrow.

A Small Change of Plans

Have you ever had the PERFECT outfit picked out in your mind!?!? It's just what you need to add that extra bit of sexiness and umph to your special night and then...you go to look for it. The color scheme for 'Cocktails on the Terrace' is black & fuchsia and I knew that a pair of fuchsia peep toe pumps would set off the LBD I am planning to wear. I started with my old faithful http://www.dswshoes.com/ to locate just the pair and I was beyond excited when i found a pair of Steve Madden pumps at a great price, however when I went to see if the shoe was available in my size they were only showing them in Black-not the color I needed or wanted-I contacted DSW customer service and it turns out they can use any shoe for the 'model shoe' in any color but the color shown may not be available...say what say who? Doesn't make a lot of sense to me but what could I do but continue to search. I tried heels.com, bakers, zappos.com, endless.com, Piperlime.com and quite a few other sites and NOTHING. I did a Google search and it appeared that Christian Louboutin has the monopoly on hot pink peep toes. I decided that since its my 30th birthday I should splurge and purchase myself my first pair of red bottoms UNTIL I saw the price..right now $800 is not in the budget for some pumps..not even for a pair of Christian Louboutins. I came across a pair of fuchsia pumps on ArdenB's website they aren't peep toe so I had to make a concession there and I don't even know if they will be the right color because the picture on the website seemed dark, but I went ahead and ordered them and plan to keep looking, if I don't come across a better pair at least I will have those to fall back on. The plan was to do some shopping for my trip to the Dominican Republic (more about the trip to Punta Cana coming soon) today, but the princess was sick & mommy duty always comes first so that's on the back burner for now. Is there somewhere I should be looking for my peep toes that I didn't think? Leave me a comment and let me know

P.S I am off to see Takers with my friend so I will let you know my thoughts in the next post.

It's Time To PARTAAAAAAY!

Growing up my mom always made such a BIG DEAL about our birthdays, the entire month was a celebration that pretty much bought you a pass to whatever you wanted to eat, do, wear-IT WAS GREAT! Needless to say I've adapted the same practice for my daughters' birthday and for my own as well. Yesterday marked the start of my birthday month which means it's time to partaaaay and what better way to kick it off than with all the Labor Day festivities that will be taking place this weekend?!?!

I'm finalizing details for my birthday soiree (I don't really like calling it a party) and try to decide what ideas are just too far fetched and which ones are actually a good idea. Right now I have one that I'm working on that I feel is a must do-details coming soon. If you have any suggestions on what would make 'Cocktails On The Terrace' even more sophisticated and sexy let me know....