Weekly Wishes - Nature

Picture: Since this weeks linkup is about Nature this picture fits perfectly. It is a picture of My Guy and I holding our first starfish in Punta Cana.

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Last Weeks Wishes

I am starting back up with Weekly Wishes! I can't believe I got away from doing it but I'm getting back on track. 

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This Weeks Wishes

1. For My Guy to be with me for Christmas. I know this probably won't happen but is it a true, real wish. We haven't spend Christmas together since the Christmas of 2011, I miss him every holiday we are apart. 

2. I wish to make plans for New Years Eve. I have no plans for New Years Eve...none, zero. I want to make it memorable and to be with families or friends and definitely My Guy. I want to be able to remember having an amazing time on my last night as 2013.

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Happy Monday - Outfit of the Day

Monday Before Christmas & It Is Quiet In The Office

Sweater: Express ( and its on sale!) Tank top: It's old. Pants: Victoria Secret (similar) Shoes: Target Necklace: Francesca's 

Nail Polish: Lancome in Miss Coquelicot - True red Ring: Francesca's Watch: Micheal Kors (lovely graduation present from My Guy he sure knows what I like) 

* My absolute favorite accessory right now is this watch and my nail color 

View from our office while getting coffee every morning. It could use some improvement but it's pretty cool seeing huge boats maneuver through the river. 

My desk is currently a mess! I am working on a bunch of end of the year projects. So I better get back to it.

How is your Monday going?

Do you have a desk as messy as mine?

What is your favorite accessory right now?

The Weekender #7 - Before Christmas

Yell at terrible drivers!

I cannot believe Christmas is almost here! Believe it or not, I love Christmas mostly because of the decorations and the love in the air. These past two years have been very different for me during Christmas since My Guy and I have been apart for Christmas since he moved to Tampa ( damn you Tampa for taking him away from me). Anyways, every year I promise myself that I will do Christmas shopping early so I don't have to be one of those crazy people running around from mall to mall trying to find what I need. Long be hold...that was me, again this year. I left most all of my Christmas shopping for yesterday. While I know I still had today to get Christmas shopping done because normal people take off of work today (not me). I'm working today till 5 and then helping around the house so there would be no time for Christmas shopping, unless I wanted to get everything from Kohl's since they are open 24 hours (CRAZY). Oh and side note...my mom was one of those crazy people that went shopping this morning at 3 AM before she went to work....she's a nut, I know. 

I wrapped a total of 8 presents last night! I feel accomplished (but I have 3 more tonight to wrap) 

Have you finished all of your wrapping?

Do you have a certain wrapping paper you like?

Who does most of the wrapping in your house?

All I want for Christmas...

This picture is perfect for this post. We are only half of ourselves when we are apart but together we are each whole. 

...is for My Guy to be here. Let me explain, two years ago My Guy made the decision to move to Tampa to buy a business and I stayed in Cleveland because this is where my home is. Personally, I love Cleveland. I love the four (kinda of) seasons and my family is here (they are a huge part of my life) and this is what I know and love. My Guy and I have been doing the back and fourth thing now for 2 years and I'm just getting over it. Yes it is great to go to Tampa to visit him every few weeks but I need a solid real relationship. So that is why all I want for Christmas is for him to be here. This is the second Christmas we have been apart and it just sucks. He will be there and I will be here but really we will both be on each others minds the whole time. 

One thing I will definitely say is that long distance relationships are hard...really hard. I hope my time is up soon and he moves home.

2013 in Pictures

Well 2013 is coming to end soon...I cannot believe it. 2013 has been a very neutral year for me, there were good times and there were bad times.

 How was your 2013?

2013 in Pictures

We started off the year with a lot of snow and New Years Eve celebrations.

At the beginning of 2013, My Guy and I broke up so I decided to make a change...a change that I will later wish never happened. The picture on the left is of my hair at the end of 2012 and the picture on the right is of the change I made...I cut my hair in an inverted bob. Don't get me wrong, I love the cut and I think it looked cute but I got sick of it. 

For Valentines Day, My Guy sent me beautiful roses (even though we were not speaking to each other since we had broken up). And then things really started going down hill when I got into my first accident, which wasn't my fault. I was on my way to the gym when I got rear-ended. My car was in the shop for 26 days!

We celebrated my parents birthdays! My dad's birthday was in February and my mom's was in March.

I went to Ohio University to visit two of my oldest friends. 

The top left picture is from a Couples Bridal Shower for our good friends Paula & Mihai. And the other pictures are from their wedding. My Guy was the best man and I was a bridesmaid.

My friend Viorica celebrated her 25th birthday in July! The card on the right was the perfect one for our friendship. This girl is awesome and cray cray.

I celebrated my 23rd birthday this year and it happened to be while we were in New York for Paula & Mihai's combined Bachelor/Bachelorette party. We had a blast partying, drinking, swimming and eating. Our cabin was almost in the middle of nowhere so we wouldn't get any noise complaints. My Guy and I drove home early so we could celebrate my birthday with my parents as well. Nothing better than being surrounded by loved ones.

We spent 11 days of August lounging around on the beach in Punta Cana. It was an amazing vacation at an amazing resort. We started going to all-inclusive resorts a couple of years back and ever since we always try a new island and a few resort. This time we stayed at the Riu Palace Macao Adults Only.

We wasted everyday laying on the beach, enjoying tropical drinks, eating way too much food and never getting out of the sun.

Every vacation we go on we try to do at least one excursion. In Punta Cana we took a boar ride to play with starfish and then we went to a private beach where we had drinks and food included. Then we enjoyed a fun catamaran ride back to main land. My Guy and I also did our first zip lining excursion, I wish I had pictures of that too.

This was our last day in Punta Cana. We enjoyed champaign everyday and we made so many unforgettable memories. 

While visiting My Guy in Tampa this summer, he surprised me with a helicopter tour of downtown Tampa and Tampa Bay. 

As you can tell, we were both very excited for our first helicopter ride! I had no idea what the surprise was and I love surprises (only good ones of course).

This year consisted of heartbreaks and building us to be stronger than ever before. I tried a lot of new restaurants and foods (as always), I loved the pizza in Tampa. Starbucks has become my life since school has been so hectic ( a lot of sleepless nights). Colored jeans have become my staple in my wardrobe. I tried to make it in the gym as often as I could ( something I can definitely improve on). I have fallen in love with anti-gravity yoga. Friends and celebrations (from weddings to birthdays) are always on schedule in my life. I ran my first 5K and didn't die. I went to a baseball game (the Cleveland Indians). I loved pedicures. And I fell in love with new fashion trends. 

Looking through these pictures made me realize how much my life has changed but only for the better. I wouldn't change anything that happened this year, including the break up. Breaking up with My Guy was one of the best decisions because it forced both of us to appreciate each other more and to really see our worth. I am so blessed to have these amazing memories and people in my life. I wouldn't change one thing.

Current Fashion Trends

Current Fashion Trends Obsessed with = Lipstick & Sock Bun

I love the simple makeup look with a red lip. I am trying to go a little darker on the lips so hopefully I'll have more pictures of what that looks like. I like the red for a night out and the more muted red for a day of work. And the sock bun is perfect for all occasions! 

The Weekender #6 - Graduation Edition

I cannot believe that I can finally....proudly....say that I am a college graduate! 

That just sounds old. 

When I was younger (like freshman year of college) I used to look at college seniors or alumni as old, but here I am with them all! So like I posted before...I went, I procrastinated but I still graduated!  I am so happy to be done with school but ready to take on my next adventure...finding a full time job and going to get my MBA! Celebrations started on Saturday when My Guy's sister sent me beautiful flowers.

After which I went to Zale's to figure out if I wanted to keep the diamond studs my parents got me or look for something else. I ended up upgrading to a certified diamond! I love them! I will have to post a picture later on since I've had them in my ears since I got them. My Guy gave me the most beautiful watch that I've wanted forever, a beautiful Michael Kors watch!

So all weekend we just celebrated with drinks, drinks and more drinks.

Graduation Ceremony 

The ceremony was long...too long.

Pictures with my parents, My Guy and his mom.

The thing around my parents neck was something that showed my appreciation. You are supposed to give this Stool of Gratitude to someone who made a difference in your college career. I decided to give it to both of them since without them I would have never accomplished so much. 

We had dinner to celebrate and My Guy surprised me with a piece of cheesecake to congratulate me! It was amazing!

A few random pictures. The top left picture is right after I moved my tassel from the right to the left! And the group picture is of some of my friends!

We ended the night and weekend with a great bottle of wine and some beautiful flowers. I owe everything to my parents for supporting me and guiding me in finishing college.

I still can't believe I'm an alumni!

The Weekender #5 - Christmas Party

First Big Girl Christmas Party

On Friday....My lovely guy missed his connecting flight in Charlotte coming home because he was too busy wondering the airport....men these days, will they ever learn?! We had plans to go Christmas shopping and then go to my first big girl Christmas party. The work party was at a 5 star restaurant named XO Steakhouse and we had open bar, a 3 course meal and presents!

Since the party was at a really nice place we needed to dress up ( love dressing up). He wore dress pants and a nice button down and I wore a skirt with a red button down. Love this picture just wish it wasn't blurry. We had such a good time together and with my team. I swear my team knows how to have a good time, I am so lucky to have such amazing guys to work with. Might I also add that they are so funny and they sure know how to pick great wines!

Naturally after the Christmas party we went across the street to a bar to have more drinks in celebration of my graduation. And this is where all of the "too much drinking" began. I swear it was this drink that just ended it all for the soberness. 

After one too many drinks I start kissing the air, thinking I look sexy and whatnot....fail. And then I decided that I wanted to go see Christmas lights at an outdoor mall so naturally we went and had another drink at another bar in that outdoor mall. When we left it started snowing so I decided that I wanted to take pictures..

Yep...that's me on the present, freezing my butt off. And then the evening ended with a drive around the Christmas tree....just kidding.

I had to take a drunken photo myself, as you can tell it's a terrible picture. After this the night really ended with a drive around the Christmas tree.

Kind of blurry...I took the picture and My Guy was driving. I would say it was a successful first big girl Christmas party. 

Christmas Decorations

Here it is...Christmas, well almost. This year Christmas has come way too fast if you ask me. I mean wasn't it just Thanksgiving when I was in sunny Tampa celebrating My Guy's birthday?! Always I love Christmas at my house it just makes everything so warm and inviting. After a few mishaps with the Christmas tree, view post here, we got it together and it looks just as magical.

I adore this picture. Not only because it is my (parents) living room but because its a creation made by me and it encompasses all feelings and emotions of...Christmas.

My newest idea was to put lights under this glass table to just give it some light. Plus I love the picture of my parents from their wedding day. I wish I could have been there on their wedding day to see how beautiful my mom looked and how handsome my dad was. 

Hope you enjoyed a little glimpse into our holiday decorations.

Restaurant Review #5 - Houlihan's Downtown Cleveland

Houlihan's Downtown Cleveland

Great place for lunch while at work

I'm going to keep this short and sweet because I'm sure a lot or a few of you have visited a Houlihan's location before. Co-workers Friend and I get lunch here often while at work. It's quick and good! 

Pictures of Food

Favorite soup! French Onion, nothing better to have on a cold Cleveland day. 

Not my usual salad but still a good one! It's kind of healthy!

Thirsty Thursday

It's Thursday or I should say my FRIDAY! These last few days I've been so down as you can check my FML post. Today I am feeling like a new and motivated woman! I would say that is in part because its my Friday, I have finished all of my undergrad classes and My Guy is coming to visit tomorrow for my work Christmas party and my graduation on Sunday!

Oh and by Thirsty Thursday...I was referring to the extremely large amounts of coffee I've been drinking. Peet, you have become one of my best friends!

My Week According to my iPhone

My current nail color, which I love because its a darker purple. If you want the nail of the nail polish, just asking. My boss sent everyone a Christmas present at home, which was really unexpected and nice. Its been SUPER cold. And it snowed like crazy yesterday.

My drive home last night was terrible. It took me over 45 minutes when it normally takes me at most 25-30 minutes. 

Last night I had my last class as an undergrad student at Cleveland State! I cannot believe I am graduating on Sunday, it doesn't even feel like I'm done. What am I going to do with all of my extra time!? 

Oh and I am so excited for this weekend!! My Guy is getting here tomorrow morning, Christmas shopping, work Christmas party at a really nice restaurant and of course my graduation!! What fun plans do you have for the weekend?

FML...How to get up when you've been knocked down...

Recently I have been feeling like the life has been sucked out of me...therefor I'm going to use this time to vent. For those of you who want to listen (read I guess) please stay, if you don't want to hear about some college (almost graduates) problems then just leave now. Look at this post as the part of the wedding when the priest (or whoever) says "does anyone object for the marriage of these two speak now or forever hold your peace" but instead of speaking it would be leaving. Lets just pretend like that all makes sense. Ok back to what this post is all about....

Have you ever felt like everything you do is just wrong? Well that's how I've been feeling lately and I don't even know why....well maybe I have some clue as to why. Let me start from the top...(started from the bottom now we here):

• FML #1 of the week: I have been a co-op at the same company for 1.5 years and I am graduating college this Sunday (woooo...kinda). All these job posting keep coming available that I'm sorta not really interested in.Let me explain, I'm getting my degree in marketing and I love marketing therefore I want a marketing job. Yes I know that getting a job in your field is hard and blah blah blah. But hear me out...a job was posted for a half administration half sales coordinator position and naturally I didn't want to apply because it isn't marketing. But when the hiring manager went and spoke to my director about me applying I figured I would apply because they are obviously interested in me and I think they are looking to hire me. So I apply, I update my portfolio, I have a 2 hour interview....and then I don't get the job. Really? You didn't hire me after indirectly asking me to apply. FML
• FML #2 of the week: I have 4 classes this semester of which 3 are in class and 1 is online. You would think that my online class is easier than my 3 in classes which consist of Management Strategy, Management Strategy & Policy and International Management. Nope....you're right, my online class is TERRIBLE! Talk about throwing an unfamiliar program at someone and telling them to complete 3 projects with no program instructions. So my online class is now kind of over since I took my TWO finals online but I still have one last group project to finish ... oh and I graduate on Sunday. FML
• FML #3 of the week: Our Christmas tree fell and it is currently just hanging out in the middle of our living room. Read the post here. My mom and I can't fix it because it's too heavy to take outside and do whatever needs to be done to it to be fixed so we have to wait for my dad to come home and fix it...on Friday. So till then we have a random Christmas tree just taking a nap in the middle of our living room. FML.
• FML #4 of the week: I went to Ulta last night to buy some makeup and hair stuff because I'm trying to experiment with new brands and products. I was just wandering around the store for about an hour and I picked up a few good things such as a new gel eyeliner, BB cream (first one ever), little travel size shampoo and conditioners of a brand I've been wanting to try, some face lotion, and some other little stuff....that equaled $81!! Talk about a FML because I didn't realize I had picked up this much stuff. And boyfriend, if you're reading this and are currently mad that I spent $81 on makeup and hair stuff, just remember how much money you lost at the casino. FML.
• FML #5 of the week: Friday I have my work Christmas party at a really nice restaurant called XO and we all obviously need to dress up and look our best. Well, I have nothing to wear and I want to wear a dress. We can add this to the FML list of the week. Oh and I need a dress for my graduation on Sunday....what does one wear to a college graduation in December anyways!? FML.

Thanks for reading my list of FML's for the week, mind you it's only WEDNESDAY! Ahh this week just needs to get better or be over. Yep there it is my first venting FML post and my first post with no pictures. And I don't even care because just.... FML.

Uh oh the tree is falling

I cannot believe this actually happened...our Christmas tree fell while we were putting up ornaments.

Let me back track to a few days ago to explain how Christmas has been going at my house. Last week on Thursday my dad had put up beautiful Christmas lights outside. Every year my dad (and sometimes myself) puts up the Christmas lights outside and my mom&I decorate the inside of the house.

It's a little blurry :/

Personally, I think the lights look amazing! He did a great job. On Sunday, we bought a Christmas tree and put it on the tree mount and let it settle inside before we began putting up ornaments.  

Not a bad looking tree. Well this is where the problem began. The tree is really tall, it hit the ceiling and it was mostly staying up because of the pressure it was putting on the ceiling. Let the decorating begin and the count down to the falling....

My mom and I brought up all of the beautiful ornaments from the basement and we started getting into the Christmas spirit, telling stories and laughing. We had already added the 4 different strings of twinkling lights. And I added the first ornament....

We were standing around the tree trying to figure out how to put the star on top, when my mom decided to cut half of the top part of the tree the tree started to wobble back and forth. So we decided to tighten the mount even more, thinking that we had fixed the problem we were just admiring the tree. And then all of the sudden....TIMBER....the tree started falling towards us!! So we grabbed it and we were both trying to hold it up while deciding what to do.  Well we ended up undoing the mount and take the tree out to figure something else out. 

And that is how we ended up with our Christmas tree on the floor in the middle of our living room. 

Has this ever happened to you? 

How do you get into the Christmas spirit?