Do

make someone smile

 

{Save this}

I think I'm going to make it my special mission to make people smile. I know how important and loved I feel when someone goes out of their way to do something nice for me, so I need to start being more proactive about doing the same. At the end of the day, I want to feel like I've helped make someone's day a little bit better. And this Audrey quote is the perfect reminder for me.

Hot air

 

"Your mission: Be so busy loving your life you have no time for hate, regret or fear."

Karen Salmansohn

Happy Friday lovely friends. Have a fantastic long weekend!

from now on -

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thoughts

"Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world." - Marilyn Monroe

"Breath in inspiration and trust yourself. The answer is yes you can." - Unknown

"And above all watch the glittering world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it." - Roald Dahl

"May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be." - St. Therese of Lisieux

For your Monday

This made by smile this morning, so I had to share:

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Happy Monday & Happy November!

Fits us perfectly

 

happy Wednesday friends!

It will be a miracle if I survive..

I'm teaching a dance intensive all this week, so my time and energy is limited till further notice!

Have a great week!

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Cause I haven't in a while

It's been a few days since I've posted, and it's been at least a few weeks since I've shared another Bethenny quote. Why not kill two birds with one stone?! You know.. that saying is too violent for me.. I've never really liked saying it.. poor little birdies.. but have always found the meaning to be so very useful.  SO! If you don't mind, I think I'll start using something like, "plant two flowers with one seed" instead. It has a nice ring to it.. SPREAD THE WORD.. 

A n y w h o.

I've been spending more time reading, and less time wondering around the house aimlessly searching for productivity. And I like it. For those of you just tuning in (where have you been?!) I'm currently reading almost done with Bethenny Frankel's book, A Place of Yes. Her sense of humor and advice on everythingunderthesun, has been so motivating and refreshing to read. I've practically dog-eared the top and bottom corners of every page!

 

Here is a slice of something I read today - which inspired me to first, write this post; and second, continue being my own, "one-of-a-kind" gal, and to go for what I want.

-----

"Your individuality is your strength. The qualities about you that are common will help you blend in when you don't want to call attention to yourself. However, what makes you you will help you rise up and be different and stand out from the crowd." - Bethenny Frankel

"Today, difference is your strength, your power, and your trademark. It's your signature. It can still be difficult to be different - sometimes even harder than it used to be. Even so, it's time to embrace being yourself. It's time to be authentic. You have no more excuses not to explore the many ways that being exactly who you are really can be your biggest asset. It's time to see the beauty in your difference." - Bethenny Frankel

"Do each thing you do to the best of your ability. Be passionate and committed, and go for yours. It's the only way to get your life moving." - Bethenny Frankel

Stay cool friends!


pinterest

Happiness for your Tuesday

"Don't make money your goal.

Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can't take their eyes off you."

- Maya Angelou

via

Happy Tuesday friends! This is another quote featured in Bethenny Frankel's "A Place of Yes". If you haven't gotten it and read it yet, then what the H-E-double hockey sticks are you waiting for?! Huh?!

In other news: I haven't seen my cat since about eleven this morning. It is very unlike her. Normally she's all up in my face. Today I frantically ran around to every room calling her name. Usually she either comes running to me, or answers with a meow. I've checked all her normal hiding and napping spots, and haven't found her. I easily freak out, and probably shouldn't be so worried because I'm sure she's around here somewhere. She's strictly an indoor cat, so I'm nervous that she somehow got out.

Oye.
I fret too easily.

Something I should type in bold, highlight, and post on every one of my walls

The following is an excerpt from A Place of Yes by Bethenny Frankel. Here, she dishes about her experience on Skating with the Stars. And I just had to share with you, because I know you'll know, exactly what she's talking about.

"I learned two important lessons from this experience. One: know your limits! Women tend to take on too much and spread themselves too thin. Perfectionist noise! You have to do what's good for you, girls. You don't have to say yes to everything! Two: When you do say yes, keep going. No matter how difficult it gets, plowing through and taking responsibility for what you decided to do can transform you. It builds character, and it helps you push yourself to accomplish what you never dreamed you could."

I am about half way through this book, and I can't seem to put it down. I find myself agreeing with her, most of the time and laughing or crying for the rest. She has so much wisdom and good advice about living your life. I feel as though this book couldn't have been dropped on my doorstep (no, not literally) at a better time. No matter where you are in your life with your career, relationships, self-esteem or what have you, this book will make any and all of it, ten times better.

So be prepared for more quotes from the pages that I've dog-eared along the way!

Taking time to say hello!

Blog friends! It's nice to see you! Where have you been? What's new?

Actually, the question should be where have I been? I've been up to my eye balls in paint.. that's where. Every possible free second that I have, I am scrubbing, vacuuming, painting, cleaning, painting, painting annnnnnnnnnd painting. A new home is so much work - but I couldn't be happier. And when my honey and I are finally finished painting every room in the place, it's going to feel so fresh and lovely and wonderful and rewarding! We're going to be the proudest house parents there ever were.

Operation 'Give Our Home A Face-Lift' photos coming soon!

***

 

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Enjoy your Hump Day folks!

quote for the week

"Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy."

Eskimo Proverb

Rest in Peace dear friends.
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See you on Saturday for Weekly Gratitude =]

“For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.”

 

 

 

 

These photos make me happy - still haven't fully recovered from my crazy weekend.. hope everyone is enjoying the beginning to their week =]

 

Happy Tuesday friends!

Ralph Waldo quote

Photos: 1] 2] 3] 4]

For the l o v e of boots!

Fall is my favorite. Warm apple cider. Bright leaves. Pies. Family. Thanksgiving. Yum.

O h h h   yeah. And new shoes. Meet the newest addition to my shoe collection:

In Light Gray

In Black

{famousfootwear}

I love love love these boots. Someday, one wall of my "roomdedicatedtoshoes" will be floor to ceiling packed with boots. Super cute and warm. Something else that stole my fall-style-loving-heart - a woman wearing a scarf. But not just any old scarf. It had a hood! How fantastic. Why didn't I think of that. So adorable.   I.Must.Find.One.

or make one ; )

*

favorite thing today - [besides boots and hooded scarves] :

 "Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not."  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

What's your favorite thing about today?

 

happy weekend

   

                                                                                     [swing]

Favorite thing today:

dancing in new pointe shoes, 

&

"For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. 
It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul. "

                                                      Judy Garland

                                                                                                              happy trick or treating everyone,

a day of happy

That was yesterday. Boyfriend and I celebrated 3 years and 3 months together. That's thirty nine months in case you were curious. When we mentioned it to anyone yesterday, we described it as our 3.3 year anniversary. Thought that was kinda cute. Another thing that I unknowingly celebrated was my 111 post. Although it isn't a significant typical celebration in the blog world, I think all of you might be willing to make an exception. please? If you're laughing at my crazy logic for celebrating my 111 blog post, think about how cool you thought it was when people, or even you, got married on dates like 07/07/07. I've made my point.

 HAPPY 111 POST LITTLE BLOG OF MINE : )

Teal & pink cupcake lives here!

Instead of celebrating with cupcakes, last night I made cherry cobbler. Recipe that Alivia shared with Dana and I. Didn't come out as good as I played it up to be. It was almost too gooey, and the filling spilled over the pan, making a mess of the oven, and creating a smog of smoke in the kitchen. Opps. I was so disappointed. [I should've made cupcakes]

 

I worked on my blog forever last night. Mid conversation with Dana, I let out a successful "Yesssssss" as I clicked the view blog link and saw my lovely page all perfect and aligned. He looked at me and said "What? Did you're blog do what you want?" I don't know how, or why, but once I get going, there's no stopping me. There's always one more thing I want to change or add, and once I finally come to an agreement with myself to stop for the night, another idea pops into my head, and for fear of it running away, I quickly scribble and navigate all over blogger. It's bad. But I accept it. And so does my wonderful, sweet boyfriend... I think.

My favorite thing today -   <3

What's your favorite thing today?

"A good way to stay healthy is to eat more Chinese Food!"

My sister and I had Chinese for lunch. It was delicious. Sushi. Rice. More Sushi. Crab Ragoon. Pineapple. yummmm. When I opened my cookie the tiny paper read:

 "Memories make what we are. 

Dreams make what we'll be."

What type of fortune would you rather see inside your cookie? The ridiculously silly kind [hence the title for this post] or the life changing insightful kind? If I had the job of creating fortunes for those delicious little dessert thingies, I would probably come up with some pretty silly remarks. Like, "Dude. Find a breath mint.. NOW!" Personally, I'd rather laugh than feel a dramatic, black cloud suddenly appear when I read the confusing mumbo jumbo written in blue.

 By the way - I could eat sushi and pineapple all day everyday!

****

- Someday my boyfriend will get me a cute bicycle like this one - 

 

                                                  enjoy the rest of your Hump Day ; ]

                                                                  

college-free life thus far.

 There's no doubt that I've been busy. As I'm sure most of you have noticed. Or haven't. By the time I even get around to thinking about blogging, I'm already tucked in bed. And once my teeth are brushed and clothes are laid out for the next day, [yes, I do that! Stop laughing!]  there are very few things that are more important than my pillow. I don't know how all of you daily bloggers do it. 
So I guess this post's intention is to catch all of you lovely people up, on my oh so entertaining life. Post college!


Here it goes..
It's been about a month and a week since we left NYC/NJ and it feels as though it was a lifetime ago. It's so strange that such significant and important moments in our lives approach all of a sudden, pass ever so  s l o w l y, and disappear in a heart beat. 

My life currently consists of:
working at the boyfriend's office usually 9 am to 6 pm everyday.
teaching dance to some of the most energetic and inspiring little people I've ever known.
living with my wonderful and loving boyfriend.
making jewelery, scarves & blankets in hopes of selling.
dancing in a modern dance company [we're going to be on tv in a couple weeks!]
looking for more opportunities to teach & perform [I'm auditioning for The Nutcracker tomorrow!]
cute little daily routines that the boyfriend & I instinctively repeat [waking him up & getting his coffee, having lunch together, carpooling to work, going to bed ridiculously early.. ]
trying to be all photographer-like by taking pictures whenever I can.
So. Yep. That's it.


I'm trying to post more of my photography. Although, sadly, I haven't been able to spend as much time with my camera as I have wanted.
A few weeks ago, I taught a summer dance intensive, and we took a trip to Jacob's Pillow. I still can't believe that this was my first trip there. It's in Becket MA, which is seriously only an hour from my house. Anyway. These are just a couple of the photos I took while we were there. We saw a show on the Inside/Out stage, which was amazing. If you ever get a chance to go, please do! It's simply breathtaking. Especially in the summer. OH! And they do weddings.. check out their website. So lovely. I told the boyfriend about it. Not sure it went over too well. So.. I intended to post something about Jacob's Pillow weeks ago, and it was saved as a draft which I had obviously forgotten about. Surprise, surprise.


Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival

more Jacob's Pillow photos to come.. maybe some others too ; )

Until then..

"May you always have,
enough happiness to keep you sweet; enough trials to keep you strong; enough success to keep you eager; enough faith to give you courage; and enough determination to make each day a good day"

love.

Week four - in an organized list form..

cause that's the way I am.
And lists make me happy:

Ballet is still a little irritating.
However, Mr. Atwood's animated personality as well as his ability to sing in a combre back, continues to keep me thoroughly entertained.
Dunham still makes me cry [Not exaggerating. I'm super discreet].
The thirteen-sixteen year old dancers in my class still don't have spacial awareness.
Body conditioning is relaxing & Mrs. Amos's witty comments make me smile.
Our apartment is so much cooler than three weeks ago. We turn the AC once in a while.
The television has a cord now so we can at least watch movies.
Speaking of movies, we went to a thrift store today and I bought "Top Gun" on VHS for $.50!
I also bought "Hairspray" on DVD for $3.00!
West African is so much fun, but when it's 3:00 and time for class I'm so exhausted.
Sometimes it's a piece of cake to walk up the five flights of stairs. Most of the time it isn't.
However, the fourteen block walk [sometimes sprint] to and from Ailey is easier now, and considered a separate workout in our book.
I love exploring The City, and yes, sometimes Union City for new/interesting places to eat and shop!
I can't stop thinking about how delicious the tea & goodies from Alice's Tea Cup were.
I want to go back real bad.
Too bad they don't deliver : (
It's hard to believe that we only have two weeks left of classes.
I'm excited to perform in the show. Although everyone is clueless as to whether or not we have classes that day and what time rehearsals are.
I miss my family.
I miss Western Mass.
I miss my kitty Amber!
We've spotted a black & white kitten hanging around our apartment a couple times and are tempted to take him & love him since he seems lonely.
I surprisingly still have money in my account [I thought for sure I'd be in the negative by now].
I've been getting really excited that 1) I don't have to go back to school, and 2) I have a job doing what I love!
We've seen famous faces while at Ailey [Company members galore & Judith Jamison]!!!!!!!
I really love cold showers & usually take two a day. It's the only faucet in the apartment that doesn't constantly produce hot water.
Frozen grapes are SO good.
Thankfully, we haven't missed a bus or dance class since that day during our first week.
We've only gotten caught in the pouring rain once or twice, and it was after class so we really didn't care that we got wet.
I feel really old when dancers in the class talk about how they are going to be Juniors or Seniors in High School!
I'm still shocked that I am dancing at Alvin Ailey.

I am so blessed and thankful to my family & friends for supporting me in every way possible. You will never know how grateful I am & always will be for this experience. I love you all!

****

Things I want to do in the next two weeks:

Go to "Carlo's Bakery" [from Cake Boss on TLC] it's in Hoboken NJ, which is the town over from us!
Go to a Yankee's game!
Visit The Museum of Natural History because I know that I'll love it!
Take a trip to see our friend Mary Elizabeth who lives in Battery Park & see Ground Zero.

[I apologize for the list form. It makes me feel organized, and when I'm really tired and try to blog, I end up blabbing or forgetting what I wanted to say]




I really love this quote!

I hope everyone is enjoying summer. It will be over before we know it.
15 days till I get to see all of your beautiful faces again!