Day Off

Today my day is completely free!

I have a day off with no obligations! YAY!!! 

Of course I made a few plans to enjoy it (:

Today is going to be a pampering day for me, to kick off my anniversary weekend the right way!

First, I'm going to straighten my hair while watching Netflix (MY FAIR WEDDING! MY FAIR WEDDING!)

Then I'm picking Kala up and we're going to get our nails done

And then we're picking Allie up and we're going to officially hit up the Outlet Shoppes of Atlanta!

And I'm super have a plan woman, so of course I've already picked out the stores we're definitely going to have to go to, plus whatever they wanna go in.

We're going to start in the upper right, because that's where I parked when I worked at the Chick-fil-A there, and it's closest to Kate Spade! Of course, Kate Spade is stop number one for me! White House Black Market and J. Crew are next for me. Maybe a stop at Steve Madden too, depends on them. I have a feeling Allie will want to stop at Michael Kors.

Tommy Hilfiger is another definite stop for me, then Puma at the end of that aisle. We will then walk all the way down to Charlotte Russe and Adidas (we're stopping at both!) and work our way back. And we'll stop by Columbia and Papaya over here. Then I want to go inside the food court and use my coupon for Cupcakelicious, and maybe visit Claire's.

Then there's Nike, JOS A. Bank, and Nine West in this aisle, with a stop at Bose for Luis.

My main reason (excuse) for going today is to buy an anniversary present for Luis, so hopefully I'll find something awesome for him in one of those stores, if not, he loves Bose and music.

I'm not sure how long our shopping trip will be. I could easily stay there until close, but I doubt Allie and Kala will want to shop from 3 to 9, so we'll see. 

And then I'm going to go see Luis tonight and kick off our anniversary weekend!!!

I probably won't post again til Monday, so be excited to hear about how the weekend went!

Miss America!

Before we get to London Fashion Week, something else deserves a post.

#MissAmerica was the hashtag to tag Sunday night!

I didn't watch it live because I was with Luis (Saturday was our month-iversary and it continued throughout the weekend!) and he doesn't like that kind of stuff so we watched Now You See Me, World's Most Dangerous Gang, and Olympus Has Fallen instead. I'm not really complaining, we had a great time together and all the movies were great (Even though Olympus Has Fallen had a very similar plot to White House Down, and I'd much rather watch a movie about Channing Tatum saving the president than Gerard Butler... Just being honest here. Nothing against the Catholic Scot, I absolutely loved him in PS I Love You!)

Anyways, back to Miss America.

Congratulations to the beautiful Miss New York, Nina Davuluri!

I was so excited to hear that she had won, and even more so after watching the reruns of the pageant. She was fabulous, and she's been handling the win so well!

It seriously pissed me off to see all the tweets. If you want to really see my reaction to those... Here they are:

I was pretty upset to see all that nastiness. And then for some people to go in afterwards and say they were just messing around is just as bad. It's not funny, it's not a joke. Racism is very real and oppressive and some people just need to realize that it needs to end ASAP. We are too advanced a society to be putting up with this kind of behavior. Grow up guys.

Anyways, I thought her performance was amazing, and well deserving of her title.

I think that's exactly what Miss America should be. America is a land made up of immigrants, a land of diversity. It's a melting pot of an incredible number of cultures, traditions, religions, and rituals. All kinds of different people live here and make it the great country that it is. Miss New York did an amazing job of showing that cultural diversity that is America. I loved it!

But she wasn't the only superstar of the night. Miss Iowa definitely deserved something for making it as far as she did. She'd gorgeous, talented, and brilliant. No one can dare say she's disabled!

If this Miss doesn't provide inspiration to somebody, somewhere, well then I don't know what does.

Miss Florida was also incredibly brave and talented. How many women feel so comfortable as to go out on a runway in front of millions of people wearing a brace?

Not to mention wearing a brace while half naked in a bikini or while twirling batons. High fives all around for Miss Florida (not to mention that Florida is one of my favorite states!)

And a special shout out to Georgia, just cause I live here. And she did pretty well too!

I do find it hard to believe that 53 beautiful women could come together in a competition and not be catty...

But yay for group hugs and on-stage good sportsmanship!

Lonely

So Luis is away for two weeks on a road trip with our friend, Jon...

...And I'm all lonely in Atlanta ):

Jon moved to Seattle about a year ago, and now he's moving back to Atlanta, but since he bought a car while in Seattle he wants to bring that back to Atlanta too. So the two geniuses decided that it would be a good idea to drive from one ocean to the other in a stick shift car. Pray for them please.

And they can't even come straight from Seattle! They needed to make a stop in Los Angeles first and come through the south instead of cutting straight through the Midwest.

I just watched the movie Road Trip (the one with Robert Downey Jr and the slow guy from The Hangover) with Luis like last week, so I'm not feeling good about this. I even made Luis take his passport with him just in case they mistake the Mexico border for a Texaco (movie reference).

Luis is having fun though, so at least there's that. Although I am kind of jealous that he got to visit the Space Needle...

...and the first ever Starbucks... I love Starbucks!!!

And he keeps sending me pictures of all the beautiful scenery (I've never been out West), which only makes me even more jealous!

Oh well, at least I'm going to Florida this upcoming weekend, so I won't be completely bored while he's gone. I do really miss him though...

Saying Goodbye To My Dorm

This post has come a lot sooner than I thought it would...

My lease at Kennesaw is finally over.

Talk about bittersweet.

I can't wait to a cheaper dorm, because $580 a month for my teeny tiny dorm room with no kitchen is absurd. I'm moving to a $555 dorm that has a stove, a living room, a washer and dryer. That's $25 cheaper for a lot more things than I have now. Only negative part is that I'm going to have 3 roommates this go around instead of just 1. Hopefully we'll all get along *fingers crossed*

Even though I'm sort of looking forward to changing scenes, this room has been my home for the past year, and I hate moving around. I think I just finally truly settled in the place, and now it's time to pack up and move on again. I just barely finished decorating the place, and here we go again.

So you guys got to see what my dorm looked like while packing up, but here's what my dorm looked like before moving time came around:

My poster from my Life Teen 'graduation' that the class of 2013 made for us, surrounded by two beautiful butterfly portraits that I bought this year:

My butterfly boards that I got from Wal-Mart hanging over my closet:

This is by the door to my room. The cross that Luis gave me for my 15th birthday (we weren't even dating yet!) and a key hanger that I bought this past year:

The shoe hanger over my door... honestly one of the best things I bought all year. Along with a cute little "I <3 Me" pillow door decor thing that I've had forever:

My (somewhat) organized closet:

My awesome coordinating bed. The fact that my comforter and pillows match make me happier than you can imagine. Plus my and Luis's little stuffed animal family in the corner:

My calendar, which is pretty much the only decor I haven't taken down yet, because I'm afraid that because it's a stick on, I won't be able to save it until the next dorm:

My lamp, courtesy of Luis, and the super messy makeup and jewelry drawer behind it.

I also have a little frame that hangs over my bed with the "Don't Quit" poem, a Mother Theresa quote plaque, and another cross hanging over my make up/jewelry station that I didn't take pictures of.  (Do you see the butterfly/love/Christian theme of my wall decor??) I worked so hard all year to make this place homey, that now I'm sad that it's so super empty and filled with boxes. I'm going to miss it.

But hopefully my dorm this upcoming school year will feel just as much as 'home' as this one felt, and I'll make friends with my new roommates.

Here's to a great, new home!

Packing Up

I have been packing nonstop like crazy these past two days.

My lease expires this weekend and I hadn't really started yet, so that's always a problem....

So Luis and I have been going crazy on my dorm. I have so much more stuff than I thought I did! Kitchen stuff, bathroom stuff, decoration stuff, school stuff, makeup stuff, random stuff that I can't throw away but also don't what to do with it stuff, paper stuff, memory stuff, extra stuff. It's insane!

I started the packing really organized. All the decoration goes inside this box, all the kitchen stuff inside that box, books in this one, clothes in the suitcase, etc etc. But then I realized how much STUFF I have, and changed gears. Now it's, oh this one fits here, that one fits there, I think I can shove this one here.

Plus there's that tedious part about packing and cleaning that goes like this: "I was looking for that!" "What's this?" "I forgot about this!" "Oh, I remember this... Good times!" "Let me read this." and nothing ever gets done because I'm too busy reminiscing or reading.

I brought a crazy amount of boxes home from Chick-fil-A, hoping and praying that they'd be enough to put everything up with. I did forget that I have 3 suitcases, 2 laundry baskets, and tons of those big Ikea-like bags that I could also put stuff in. Plenty of storage space, thank goodness.

I'm here emptying everything out. I took everything out of all the drawers and out of all the cabinets and all storage space in my room, but the thing that makes me feel like I'm moving the most is my empty closet. I've been sleeping on a mattress without and linens other than a pillow and a quilt, and it's my empty closet that gets to me.

Go figure.

All my clothes are so neatly folded into my suitcases (read: my bulging, overfilled suitcases), unpacking them is going to be a pain and a half.

Everything is starting to look so empty.. Things are going inside boxes, boxes are going inside Luis's car. It's kind of emotional, thinking about leaving this place that's been my home for almost a year now.

Anyways, Luis and I are finding ways to enjoy ourselves while packing... Especially since the dorms give us these awesome bins to roll our stuff (and ourselves) around in!

I was slightly reminiscent of the Taylor Swift "22" music video, and I bet I was having just as much fun as she was shooting it.

Plus, on a quirky aside, we lucked out and got bin 116, which, for you non-Lecrae lovers out there, is pretty much Lecrae's anthem. Romans 1:16 I am not ashamed! I went to his concert last year and we chanted one one six at the top of our lungs, because we're not ashamed of the Gospel!

But now we're wrapping up and it's time to say goodbye to my dorm...

Bye bye...

Here's To The Crazy Weekends

So I know I'm pretty late on this, but this past weekend was insane and it deserves a post!

Friday was the real adventure.

Alexa and I bought a Groupon together for $18 mani/pedis (I mean come on, who could resist that when most mani pedis are upwards of $30???) but we didn't look at how far away the nail salon was before purchasing... Whoops!

So Friday after I got off work, I picked up Alexa and we drove all the way to Douglasville (which was over an hour long ride with traffic). We show up in a cute, dainty, old-town looking downtown Douglasville. Turns out that our nail salon was actually a one lady show inside a barber shop. And we were supposed to have made appointments because she was actually just heading out. OUCH.

We then decided to just wander around this cute little dainty town and look, but we found nothing to do. Everything closed down at 5 and we had no money anyways.

So we start heading out, super thirsty and overheated because it's a million degrees outside. We stop by at a Racetrac to get some gas and water, and the real adventure starts.

Some background information: Lulu's gas pump is on the opposite side of most cars, so I always have a hard time getting into a pump. This time, I'm lucky enough to have a whole lane to myself so I can get into the one that would have me heading out, it was great!

What wasn't great was that there was a lady trying to come in the opposite way into the same pump, but there was a car driving right in front of me, blocking my view of her. Needless to say, she was upset.

I'm not a mean or rude person, and I definitely don't have road rage (although I do get slightly upset when people don't use their blinkers). So I start apologizing. My windows are rolled down and so are hers, so I figured she heard me. She then pulls up in the pump behind me, gets out her car, and starts cussing me out like crazy.

This lady was absolutely insane. I don't know what was her problem. And it really upset me too, because she had the Jesus fish sticker on the back of her car. Honestly, it is a shame to be representing our Lord and Savior in such a poor way. I can't imagine a worse thing. The devil's best weapon is a Christian who shows of his or her faith, but lives the opposite. Don't get me wrong, I'm not judging her to be a false Christian, but her actions that day were not representing Him well at all.

Anyways, she follows Alexa inside the gas station yelling at her too. Then she comes back outside, yelling some more. She called me all kinds of mean names. Although I won't deny, the one that offended me the most was not the curse words and the degrading terminology she directed towards me. What hurt the most was the fact that she called me 'raggedy' and 'bum'.

Excuse me? Now my pride and ego are hurt. Here I was in gorgeous Franco Fortini heels, a beautiful Oriental looking red and black dress, with Talbot earrings and my red lipstick, and this lady in sweats and a tank top has the audacity to call me raggedy. I care a little too much about my looks and clothes to have people dissing on my appearance. Go ahead and call me anything else, but leave my wardrobe out of it. Thank you. It might seem extremely superficial, but my pride is my weak spot and mine of the deadly sins.

She then wrote down my license plate number and snapped pictures of both of us, talking about how she was going to find us later. She even goes so far to tell us "I have a gun in the car and I know how to use it!" She also told us she's military and she's going to use that to run our tags, and that we could write down her license plate number all we wanted to because hers is a fake.

As soon as there was gas in the car, we hightailed it out of there!

And she followed. She followed us out the gas station all the way to the highway and would even switch lanes when we switched. So of course, I called 911.

We then went to the courthouse to file a police report and tell the officers what had happened. I was literally shaking all the way to the courthouse and didn't stop shaking until I was almost back home. They assured us that military cannot run tags and there would be no way for her to find us. Still nervous tho!

That was the biggest adventure of the weekend really.

After we got back to Alexa's house we got ready to go to a party at Carlin's. It was a going away party for a friend of hers. We didn't stay very long though. I had to work in the morning and I wasn't in the mood to work on an all-nighter.

Saturday I went to work, then picked up Alexa and Alise afterwards to go back to Douglasville and get our nails done (We had an appointment this time!). We ended up getting there way early, mostly because this time there wasn't any traffic. She was about to go get a late lunch when we got there, so we joined her at a pretty cool Jamaican restaurant. We didn't eat, but she did share some of her jerk chicken with us, and it was super spicy! (For my weak taste buds at least)

Finally, we went back and she did both Alexa's and my nails. She was super friendly and we chit chatted the whole time about Alise's nail and make up aspirations, as well as my love for clothes, weddings, and cakes. She told me that I should definitely go into fashion, because I was obviously a connoisseur. I loved her the moment she said that! I was wearing the cute Forever 21 pumps I bought for my birthday, along with a peach-ish salmon colored peplum skirt and a light blue, button up, sleeve-less top. It was an adorable outfit and I wish I had taken a picture in it! One guy told me I looked like a flower!

I showed her some of my cakes and now she wants me to make her a fake cake as a display to put in the salon so she can show it off to her customers and get me some business. She was really nice and encouraging to both Alise and I in our non-traditional dream jobs. It would be pretty awesome if I could be a wedding planner/ fashion industry/ bakery owner. She got me dreaming again, which is nice, because other than the bakery thing, no one has ever really encouraged me in any way about the fashion industry or wedding planning, which I think I would enjoy even more than the bakery.

She also did an amazing job on both Alexa and I. It was probably one of the best pedicures I've ever had! I 100% recommend her, so go check her out on her page, especially if you live close to Douglasville! I'll definitely be going back to her whenever I can fit the drive and nails to my budget. She's really affordable too, even without the Groupon!

After our mani/pedis were done, we went back to Alexa's to get ready for Pedro's birthday bash/ end of summer party.

On our way to Pedro's, we got a flat tire (Alise's car, not mine. Thank God. I don't think I could handle two flats less than a month apart). We were pretty scared, because it was night time, we were in party clothes, and definitely not in the best of neighborhoods. Fortunately, a nice man stopped and he had a jack to help us fix the flat. We left him a small tip and went on our way.

Pedro's party was pretty fun. Alexa had to work in the morning, so she and Alise left early, but I ended up staying with Luis, and we had a blast!

Overall, we had a pretty crazy fun weekend. It's a shame that summer's almost over...

Although I can't wait to see what the rest of summer leads to!

Food Inc

Luis has been bugging me for weeks to watch Food Inc with him.

He kept telling me about this that and the other that happens with our food and animals and whatnot.

Finally, the other day we were cuddling and being lazy, so I asked to watch a movie on the computer, and he volunteered Food Inc. I caved in and said yes.

I'm still not sure if watching that documentary was a good or bad thing.

Watch the video on their website here

I honestly wanted to cry at some parts of the film, and on others I wanted to go purge everything I've eaten in my last 14 years here in the United States.

Both animals and humans are treated like dirt in the food industry here.

Animals are all force fed corn, because corn has become increasingly cheaper to produce, and it's produced by the masses. Corn corn corn corn. There is probably an overabundance of corn, so why feed animals anything else?

It doesn't matter that a cow's diet should consist primarily of pasture, if pasture is expensive and corn is cheap. We're going to force our cows to learn how to eat corn... And when they adapt to corn and get all super sick, we have to suffer the consequences of e.coli. that apparently originated with people forcing cows to eat corn. It's like making a lion take on a berry diet, doesn't work folks.

Then they show a whole bunch of differences between now and then, and the comparisons are disturbing to say the least.

Here's two of the ones that bothered me the most:

In 1972, 50,000 food inspections were conducted by the FDA. Only 9,164 in 2006. With more and more people getting sick from food, why are we cutting the number of inspections so drastically? The video makes several accusations against these animal farms, including the revolting one that cows walk around ankle deep in their own feces. It's really gross everything that they point out in the documentary.

Then there's the chickens. I think this picture speaks for itself:

The poor little chickens can't even stand on their own legs because they grow too quickly and their muscles never develop well enough to hold themselves up. And they never see the daylight, so sad.

This above picture is of the only farmer brave enough to speak out against the companies. And the below is of a pasture-less field filled with cows.

It's all so terrible how they treat the animals and process the food. The few companies behind the entire system make a huge profit off of it, and drive the prices for customers down, making it near impossible for others to compete.

I mean really, when you live on a budget (like me), which one looks more reasonable. Lord knows I have had more than my fair share of Ramen noodles and ravioli since moving to college. The healthiest I get is pretty much Activia yogurt. When I can buy a case of noodles for the same price as a stem of grapes, it's simply more practical for me to buy the noodles. And that is a true fact for any person or family living paycheck to paycheck.

I think that the sign of a good documentary is one that makes the watcher think, consider things they haven't considered before, and motivates the person to change something about the world or their lifestyle. I'd say that this documentary was a successful one. I definitely walked away from the film (That's figurative because we definitely watched it lying down and took a nap afterwards) wanting to change something about my lifestyle.

We both looked up organic brands and talked about how we could start eating more organically, and perhaps even making a difference in how the system works. We're both broke college kids now, and it's hard to make those changes right away, especially since my dorm lacks a kitchen (my biggest pet peeve about my dorm). But instead of buying Activia on my last grocery trip, I bought one of the organic brand yogurts. Expensive, but worth it. It was delicious. I'll just have to cook with organic ingredients when I finally get my kitchen!

Here's the flyer from the Food Inc website:

What do you think about the documentary? Any changes in your life?