My Handmade Jewelry and Wedding Update!

My newest hobby is jewelry making. My mother in law got me started at this. At her house she has boxes of beads, pearls, wire, Swarovski crystals, gold chains, sterling silver chains, and everything else under the sun one would need to make beautiful jewelry. The last couple Saturdays I have spent over at her house, and she's been showing me how to make gorgeous jewelry.

Here are my latest creations:

Pearl and Swarovski Bracelet:

Ryan's mom designed this and I made it. I really like the way it looks; it would match perfectly with my wedding dress!

Sterling Silver Crystal and Pearl Drop Earrings:

I was just playing around with beads, crystals, and dusty pinks pearls here. I may make them into earrings or an anklet, not sure yet.

I'm loving jewelry making so far! I like designing feminine and delicate  pieces so far, full of pale pinks, ivorys, crystals and pearls. I think it would be intereting trying some lace inspired jewelry; very vintagey and antique looking.

Just wanted to share the first few things I've made with you =)

Wedding Update

We have gotten a lot done, but there is still to BE DONE. It really never ends until you are walking down the aisle, and even then, you are planning your life together in your head! Here is where we are at thus far:

Things to Do @ 4 Months Prior:

- Book the rehearsal and rehearsal-dinner venues.

-Select and order the cake

-Send your guest list to the host of your shower

-Purchase wedding shoes and start dress fittings.

- Schedule hair and makeup artists. 

 -Choose your music

So we are doing ok, considering we've got 2 out of the 6 tasks done and it's April 1st tomorrow. (Wedding is on July 30)

We went to a cake tasting last weekend at Brulee Bakery (cutest website ever - check it out) and got to taste some lemon cream, strawberry vanilla mouse, cococnut cream, chocolate raspberry cream, and chocolate wedding cakes. They were all good, but we both agreed that the chocolate raspberry was our favorite.

So we want a chocolate raspberry buttercream cake (fondant=YUCK), with white cherry blossom exterior. (2 tier). It should look something like this:

Still not sure if we will be using real flowers from the florist for the blossoms, or have the cake designer create sugar flowers. We will see!

The exciting part will be wedding shoe shopping! I'm debated going all out for a high end pair. What do you think? Or a more affordable pair of mid priced Vivienne Westwood's might not be bad either:

I love the heart on these, and the low heel would be perfect to wear throughout the day, plus they would add a fun element to the dress. (No one would really see them). Can't find the pink ones online though, only the white/black which isn't near as much fun!

Any advice on good wedding shoe options?

Outfit - Wine Tasting

Here is the outfit I wore a to wine tasing a little while ago:

Sweater Garage//Tank Aritzia//Jeans DKNY//Scarf Chado//Boots Charlotte Russe//Bag Louis Vuitton//

How was your weekend?
Just when I thought Spring was here, it decided to snow lots again this morning. I guess I should have expected it, being March and all .. Oh well!
I'm in a good mood this morning because I wrote my last exam for the semester on Saturday, and now I can get back to wedding planning. My classes were Business Law, Finance, and HR Management, and I managed to do decently on all of them. But oh how I despised the Law course! Is there anything more boring?! Criminal Law I can see would be interesting, but Business Law - bland.. HR was pretty bland too, but I LOVED Finance so much! I think they should teach an intro to finance course in High School, it's so valuable in teaching kids how to be smart with their money .. it would save so many kids from getting credit cards when they're 18 and getting into massive amounts of debt. Luckily I've always been pretty good with money, but I still think they should teach this course in high school. I'm just fascinated by the time value of money and how it can grow as if it's alive; it has a mind of it's own which is so neat, it just needs a person to direct it, but it can do so much for you. I can't wait to take other Finance courses and I hope I love them as much as I did this one. My prof was so nice and helpful, he gave me a finance calculator, how nice is that? I was just doing all my calculations in excel (best thing ever) but we couldn't use it on the exam, so he just gave me a finance calculator for free. I love when profs go out of there way to teach; there are so many who just don't care.
Anyways, that was my little schooling rant, I hope you have a good week.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I love the light hearted enchantment that comes attached each year to the 17th day of March.

Kiss me, I'm (part) Irish!

How Irish Am I?
My parents immigrated to Canada from England in the 1980s
My dad's parents immigrated to England from Ireland in the 1940s.

How does that work? Would I be half Irish, since my dad is FULL Irish? But he was born in England, so even though both his parents were full out, top of the mornin', demon drinkin' Irish, does mean my dad was too?
Ahh well, it doesn't really matter. Either way there's enough Irish in me to celebrate with a few too many beers ...

Do you believe in Leprechauns?

A leprechaun (Irish: leipreachán) is a type of fairy in Irish folklore, usually taking the form of an old man, clad in a red or green coat, who enjoys partaking in mischief. The Leprechauns spend all their time busily making shoes, and store away all their coins in a hidden pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. If ever captured by a human, the Leprechaun has the magical power to grant three wishes in exchange for their release. Popular depiction shows the Leprechaun as being no taller than a small child,with a beard and hat, although they may originally have been perceived as the tallest of the mound-dwellers.

Fun Fact: My parents were married on St. Patrick's Day; today they celebrate 38 years together.

Silly St. Patrick's Day Jokes:

Q: What is out in the yard all summer and is Irish?

A: Paddy O'Furniture!

***

Q: What does a leprechaun call a happy man wearing green?

A: A Jolly Green Giant!

***

Q: What do you call a fake stone in Ireland?

A: A sham rock!

***

Q: How did the Irish Jig get started?

A: Too much beer to drink and not enough restrooms!

***

Q: How can you tell if an Irishman is having a good time?

A: He's Dublin over with laughter!

***

Q: What kind of car does St. Patrick drive?

A: A Prius … because it’s “green.”

Enjoy your St. Patrick's Day!

Have a green beer (or two), eat a green cupcake, talk with an Irish accent, and don't forget to play little tricks on people.

=)

Or you can stay in with a green blanket and watch the silly horror movie Leprechaun with the young Jennifer Aniston

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Happy Valentines Day!

Hi, Dolls!

How was your Valentines Day? I'm a little late posting this, at 9pm on Valentines Day, but it's still the day of love for three more hours, so may as well=)

I luckily had today off, so I slept in until around 8, and Ryan stayed home for a little bit, too. He surprised me with a gorgeous heartshaped box of Purdy's and a single red rose.

I love the classic heart shaped box of chocolates =)

Ryan had to head to work right after, so I spent the first part of the day with myself.

I ended up walking down to the post office and sending off all of my wedding save the dates - glad to cross that off of my list! After that I walked around the neighborhood in the gorgeous weather, bought Ryan's gift, and came home to relax and watch some tv.

At around 6pm, Ryan came home with our dinner; my favorite sushi from my favorite restaurant, Kinjo. We got mostly Volcano rolls, a few scallops, and a couple octopus (for him).

I love my take away sushi =) Of course we had a nice bottle of wine as well.

AND

Ryan got me an amazing Valentine's gift! He's so thoughtful; I've been wanting one for awhile, but never said anything .. and when he came home today he had a big box with him. I looked at it closer and saw it was ....

A Tripod!!! For my camera  =)

I'm sooo happy =) Now I don't have to keep asking Ryan, "Babe, can you take a pic of my outfit?"
It was actually quite strategic on his part to get me this gift =P

Happy Valentines Day!

Shopping Bag: Hello Kitty for Sephora !!

Hi, Dolls!!

How many of you have gotten any Hello Kitty stuff from Sephora's new collection?

I wasn't expecting much, and didn't want to buy some only for the HK packaging, (I'm trying not to be such a sucker for packaging these days - we'll see how that goes).

But I was actually A LOT more impressed with the collection than I thought, and I bought the following products :

Above: Apple Cheeks Hilighter in Cotton Ball, Sweet Gloss lipstick in Pink Grapfruit, Pen Pal Eyeliner in Goodnight Dreams

^ Hilighter and Lipstick

 Pacakging is sooooo cute!

^Is this not the prettiest pink you have ever seen?

Pen Pal eyeliner in Good Night Dreams (black)

I LOVE this eyeliner, it has the perfect felt tip ... even better than the Lancome Artliner in my opinion.

^Swatched from left to right: Cotton Ball, Pink grapfruit, Goodnight Dreams

Free gift Time!!!

Another 500 points on my Beauty Insider Card !!! I like this prize better than the last one I got ... Mostly for the benefit blush that I got!

A sample size of Benefit's BAD gal Lash in black. I was impartial to this .. I think there's much better mascaras out there, but it will be good to carry around in my purse for touch ups =)

 

I was SUPER happy to get this - my first Benefit blush in Coralista!!

Coral is my favorite color for blush =) Haven't tried it out but sure it's great. Have you guys tried this before?

 

Quick pitstop @ LUSH for some Valentines goodies =) Frog Prince bath bomb and Magic Mushroom Bubble Bar! I used the bottom half of the bubble bar last night in my bath and even with only half there were TONS of bubbles. Now I can use the other half at another time.


Before leaving the mall, I stopped in at Dynamite. Haven't gotten anything from there in awhile, but there were some great deals. The abover purple shirt was ...... $10! Couldn't pass it up.
And the below snake skin inspired tunic which will look great with leggings or tights!

After shopping, we went to the see The Roomate with Leighten Meester. I knew it would be bad, cause it got horrible review on Rotten Tomatoes, but I still wanted to see it! Overall, it could have been better, but I did enjoy it =)

After the movie, we went to Earl's for dinner. I had the White Orchid martinit and loved it =)

Hope you had a great weekend!

Day 05 - A Time You Thought About Ending Your Life

I've never thought about ending my own life. I mean I've thought of it, but not because I'd actually consider doing it. I've tried to wrap my head around what it would take for me to actually end my life, but I just can't.

I'm not a psychiatrist, but I don't think anyone purposefully takes their own life who is not mentally ill or imbalanced. Anyone who has serious suicidal thoughts needs to get help as soon as possible. Just like a women who feels a lump in her breast wouldn't ignore it, a person who thinks of taking his/her own life needs to see a trained professional immediately. It is a mental illness/disease that cannot be ignored; it can be fatal just like cancer or AIDS.

So I've never thought about taking my life, but that's not to say I've never been depressed.

The hardest time for me was moving to the "big city" from the tiny town I'd lived in before. I knew no one and I was 13, the age where one needs to feel accepted most. I was teased for my appearance, shunned, and had never felt so low. I was ridiculously lonely; every weekend I'd try to think of things to do to keep the boredom of not having any friends from killing me. I hated lunch at school because it meant I would have to walk around the school looking for people to talk to until the bell rang for afternoon classes. Luckily by the middle of the year, a new student started in my class, and I immediately made friends with her. She was British, and my parents are too, so I felt really close to her and we got along really well. And after that we started making more friends together, and soon I belonged to a group that I felt comfortable in. But I'll still never forget those dark days of loneliness. They changed who I was forever.

You never know who your kindness will change

Day 04 - Describe Your Thoughts on Religion

Eeek. Isn't this one of the two things you are never supposed to talk about? Religion and Politics, there you go. There's nothing more foreboding of arguments, fights, and heck, world wars, than opening up the religion can of worms, so I'll keep this short and sweet. I'll describe my beliefs and throw in a couple thoughts and be done with it.

***

Okay, so I'm Agnostic. In case you don't know what that means, I'll tell you. The dictionary defines Agnostic as:

–noun
1.
a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as god, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable, or that human knowledge is limited to experience.
2.
a person who denies or doubts the possibility of ultimate knowledge in some area of study.

Basically I don't claim to know the where, how, or what of how we came into existence.

I'm not atheist, as I'm not doubting there is a God, but I'm also not claiming to know for a fact there is.

I grew up in a Christian family, and I know the Old Testament and New Testament fairly well. Growing up, I went to Sunday School, participated in Christian extra curricular activities, and went to Christian summer camp for many years. As I got older, the things I'd been learning weren't adding up/computing in my mind and I eventually made the personal choice to cease with what I'd been taught in favor of non-religion. (Or would Agnosticism be classified as a religion in itself? Probably not, as it carries no beliefs for or against a higher power.)

This being said, I value and appreciate all forms of religion out there. I don't look down on people who don't share the same thoughts of religion as me. I know they are just different, and differences should be respected, not demeaned.

What I like about religion:
-It provides structure for people in a very unstructured world.
-It can give people meaning and hope to move forward in times of crisis. A "positive escape" so to speak. It carries many people through extremely difficult times in life, in a healthier and more positive way then say, drugs or alcohol would.
-Most religions carry a morally sound code of ethics that it's believers are inclined to follow. The Ten Commandments and the like of different belief systems certainly never hurt anyone.

What I dislike about religion:
-how it segregates people
-that it can conflict with scientific progress and the higher education of society. (Happens less and less nowadays as science and religion are increasingly merging, BUT - this progression is still very new and "left sided" for some sects.)
-it's cause for all major world wars throughout the history of mankind

So there you go!

I usually like to end my posts with a question for my readers. Only respond with your thoughts on religion if you feel like it; I know it can be dicey. I'm just following the 30 day blog challenge!One of the reasons I decided to do this challenge was because I felt the questions were very intriguing, and would show a lot more about who I am.

Day 03 - Thoughts on Drugs and Alcohol

The plight of human kind!

Drugs scare me/gross me out. Weed smells like sweet garbage to me, or a skunk, which is something I don't want people to associate me with. Pipes gross me out, how they get passed around with everyone and their dog's mouth coming in contact with them.

The hard stuff, coke, heroin and the like, are enough to give me nightmares, just thinking about what they can do to people is enough to keep me away for good.

Alcohol - oh alcohol. I'm from a longggg line of heavy Irish drinkers on my paternal side, and (not that that should be an excuse - there are plenty Irish who DON'T drink) my penchant taste for beer and wine does have to be kept in check. It's been a learning process throughout the years, (especially in my teens/early twenties), and I'm still learning, but I always have to go in to drinking with my wits about me - if I completely let go and open the flood gates, I'm carried far, far away and the results are seldom ducky. I recently did a cleanse for the month of January and it was great at getting my system back to how it should be - getting rid of any cravings, and just allowing me to fully enjoy a single glass of wine or beer as opposed to a few every weekend. I'll have to keep an eye on my drinking for my whole life, it's just the way it is for me, but if it helps me live a healthier life, I don't mind taking extra steps at bettering myself.

One final piece of advice:

{Drinking & Driving: You're playing Russian Roulette and it's only a matter of time before you're caught, kill someone, smash up your car, or kill yourself. Just don't do it.}

What are your thoughts on D & A?

30 Day Blog Challenge! Current Relationship

Hi Dolls!

How are you? Happy it's Friday?

I know I am!

Sorry for my (again) lack of posts in the last little while!

I'm introducing this 30 day blog challenge which will hopefully get me back on track with consistant posting!

I saw this blog challenge that one of my fave bloggers, Rasha was doing, and decided to be a little copycat and do the same!

I've seen a lot of blog challenges out there and debated participating, but the questions on this one were really up my alley as I feel they'll tell you a lot about me, which since you're here, you (hopefully) won't mind knowing! I knew I had to do this myself=)

I'll still be doing my regular beauty/fashion inspired posts, but these questions will go a little deeper to reveal more layers about me.

So, from the pic about, you can see that question is :

Day 01 - Your Current Relationship - If Single Discuss How Single Life Is.

If you know me, you know I am definitely NOT single! I'm engaged and getting married in six months! Crazy, right?

To describe my relationship I would use the word, HAPPINESS. I know, not very creative, right?

But that's the emotion I feel most when I'm with Ryan.

I'm always laughing and enjoying myself when I'm with him.

He was/is completely different than any man I've ever known, and within weeks of meeting him, I knew I'd be marrying him!

He's super sensitive, (he's an artist), but also has a masculine ambitious side (an o&g geologist during the day) that is SUPER protective .. I always wanted that! Like me, he has huge dreams and aspirations and I can't wait to be there when all of them come true. He persued me like crazy when we first met, and he honestly DOES make me feel like the only girl in the world. *Cue Rihanna song*.

I've learned that anything in life can change in a heart beat, so I try not to take this amazing love I've been given for granted. I'm living for today and fully taking advantage of what we have, as tomorrow is never promised.

I really do feel like we were made for eachother. Of course we fight/argue from time to time, we are human! But at the end of the day, the bumps in the road make us stronger than ever, and I honestly look forward to having a best friend for the rest of my life.

Hopefully you didn't gag too hard reading that, dolls!

Feel free to comment on your own relationship in the comments!

Cheer Up, Buttercup =)

What do you do when you need to cheer yourself up? Do you have any old stand-bys? Here, in particular no order, are the things I do when I need a little pick-me-up after a rough day/week/month:

-Shamelessly indulge in lots and lots of reality tv. This is sure to make you realize that things could be much, much worse than they actually are. Shows of choice are My Strange Addiction, Toddlers & Tiaras, Jersey Shore and The Bachelor. Instant reminder that hey, my life is pretty damn good after all.

-Give myself permission to sleep in as long as I want. On the weekend of course, when I don't have to be at work. Because one thing that would be worse would be getting myself fired for not showing up! On the weekend though, I love to turn off my alarm clock, pull the covers up, and have nowhere to be but right there in my warm and toasty bed.

-Go Shopping. Of course this is cliche, but it's called retail therapy for a reason. Even if it's just window shopping, I love poking around shops aimlessly. My favorite is makeup shopping, I could do it for hours. Whether its Sephora or Shoppers Drug Mart, I always love swatching makeup and picking up a few treats for myself. I also love bookstores and could spend hours in there.

-Watch old crappy horror movies. To get me laughing of course. There is nothing funnier than seeing how silly they used to (and still quite often are)be. This is better if I can do it with someone else, someone who doesn't mind me rewinding the worst parts to laugh at over and over again.

-Go out for my favorite meal. For me this is sushi, and I had it on Tuesday night. I love my sushi, and the fact it's not calorie loaded also cheers me up

-Surround myself with visually appealing things. For me this means "cute", but for you it could be intriguing, mysterious, serene, etc. I love anything kawaii, so this and Japanese mag scans always lift my spirits!

-Surround myself with a trusted support system. There are people who will genuinely care for you and what you're going through, and then there are people who will pretend to care but will be secretly delighting in your misfortune.(Sounds sinister, I know, but it's quite true) So know who the real ones are, and lean on them accordingly, even if it's only one person. These are the people who usually help the most.

-Read some inspirational quotes. They always make me feel better. There were/are a lot of wise people on this earth who's words truly transcend time. Click Here if you're so inclined.

I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday, I'm sure I will devote this weekend to doing ALL of the above and then some!

So, what do you do to cheer up?