{ getting my butt kicked }

So a few weeks ago I purchased Jillian Michael's 30 day Shred workout DVD and yesterday was the first time I was able to get my lazy butt up to go to battle with this flab-bolous body of mine. The DVD consists of strength training along with cardio in a 20 minute workout. I admit, this work out was a killer! I've done at home work out videos before but yesterday's workout definitely got me using muscles that I have not used in a long time! During the work out, you really felt my muscles being used as there is low intensity weight lifting. :) For me it was more than enough! teehee

I'm going to make it a goal to incorporate this workout into my weekly workout schedule as I am aiming to "shed" some weight by October :\ of course that along with more intense cardio and better eating habits. I'm bad at commitment but I will try my best to journal any goals I reach. :)

On another note, my nieces and sister are coming to visit this Wednesday! Whoo-hoo! I'm so excited! My nieces have never been to SoCal & I haven't seen my sister in sometime so I'm uber-EXCITED and look forward to their trip! (This is actually one of the reasons why I bought my workout DVD in the first place haha, but back to the blogging) So far we have beaches, sailing, shopping, hiking and site seeing in our itinerary :) Come back again for photos!

Tomorrow we are throwing a surprise birthday for our manager. The theme? "Revenge of the Nerds". Word on the block is that this is his all time fav movie, and since it is fun and inexpensive we all figured it was a go. I made signs & our sorority patches. I'll be shopping for my plaid shirt, camel-toe pants, suspenders and pocket protector today :) ! Salvation Army here I come! We've all agreed to come in full gear. Funny thing is we may have a surprise visit from corporate and sales reps in our other offices. HA! That'll be funny to see huh? Will be posting photos from that as well.

As for my apartment I am slowly (but surely) putting it all together. I was able to finally find the screws to mount my TV onto the stand so now I can enjoy my HGTV without the sofa arm getting in the way ;) Along with that I have cleared of most of the junk in my living room (leaving only the wall decor) and assembled my desk. I'm proud to say my living space is ALOT more functional now *yay! Well folks, thank you for tuning into my oh-so-entertaining weekend recap ;) have a great week and God bless!

{ love & serenity }

Last week I had the Mr. come visit. :) It was quite a great visit. He's so helpful and patient with me, Lord bless him. Walked Layla for me, cooked a GREAT steak dinner, did my dishes everyday and helped me move to my new apartment. He's soooo patient with me, seriously I drive MYSELF bonkers sometimes ;) I don't know how he puts up with me, but he does.. and I'm in love with that.

My move was a great test for us. It started off a bit frustrating. I don't like packing nor do I enjoy unpacking.. or moving. hahaha but Peter Parker made it easy with keeping me busy with carrying pillows and blankets as he carried the heavier boxes. What can I say? He loves me. And, on top of that, he let me rest while he continued and unpacked my clothes. What a sweetie huh girls? haha, there was one time where he almost rammed me into a closet door knob, while carrying up the sofa (you can tell I left the weight on his end) but I paid him a favor back when we carried in the bed mattress and he was pushed all the way to the bedroom. hahahaha, good times. It turned out to be full of laughs and faster than I expected.

We decided to take Layal, so she would get use to the apt. At first it was fun adn cute, she kept running in and out of the apartment but her curousity kept driving her further and further from the apartment (take in mind, she was off-leash) so we decided to leave her in the bathroom. BAD CHOICE!!! Not only did she whine and bark but mama came back to find her knawing the door frame. Let's just say, that was NOT something I wanted to report on my inspection list. The last thing I want to do is bring attention to it. *Sigh. It was clearly my fault though, poor girl probably thought I abandoned her. And besides, I left nothing around of mine for comfort.

So tomorrow marks one entire week since the move. It's quite serene and peaceful. My previous apartment was more busy and a little tighter. I look forward to what God holds in my future there. This week? Painting walls, dyeing furnture and decorating! Whoo-hoo!

{ back to the roots }

It's been a while huh?

So, whats new? Not too much, been trying to enjoy the hot temperatures here in Southern California! Aye, sometimes the numbers are so high I can bare staying outside. This weekend I will be running around town looking at apartments then off to Vegas for a 1 day vacay ;)

I'll be moving (yes, again) as my current lease will be ending later this month. A bit exciting and stressful at the sametime. I am going to be living by myself (finally) so this should be interesting. So far I've narrowed my choices down to 2. Pretty soaces, running 800-850 square ft and closer to church. Same city that I currently live in. One I viewed this past Saturday & the other I will be viewing this Saturday. They are only a few blocks from one another. Here's what it boils down to: floor plan, pet rent and stove range. 800 square ft is ALOT to work with being just one person, but not if the floor plan is not functional and does not flow. One of the apartments has a standard $35/month pet rent fee that I do not like, and one has none. Lastly I do not like electric stoves, not only in the way they work but gas ranges are less expensive, so that will also be something I will have to factor in. I'll keep you all posted on what happens :)

Moving on...! I haven't doen too much crafting lately. Over the weekend I've decided I wanted to tackle in a new project. ~`~`~`~`~~`~~~ drum rolls please!!! `~`~`~``~``~~`~`~```~`~~`~`` hmong clothes for Layla!

It's really hard to ignore these urges in me ;) She's my #1 model and I was inspired after seeing Tray's hmong peices this weekend. I've done a little bit of stiching before so this should be interesting :) Heres a few photos that I am holding onto to inspire me, ALSO I came a adorable Hmong inspired outfit out together on polyvore by hovercraft. I absolutely LOVE it! Too bad the garmets are a bit dated and out of stock. Pay a visit and view her other cute outifts she's styled. Have a blessed day family!

Isaiah 40:30-31
"Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

{ love is in the Michigan air }

So, as I stated in my prior blog, I went home again this past weekend to celebrate the union of two beautiful couples: Aong Vang & Cheng Thao and KouKhasha Kue & Tom Lee. Man oh man was it a busy weekend! Sooooo restless and hot! It was like a sticky, hot, tiresome dream! ;) hehe

Really though, it went by so quickly I feel like it was a dream. I got to see alot of old faces, Minnesota, Oaklahoma & Wisconsin faces :) My bff Ntxoo and her little family, Meng and the boys, Nancy and her family and ofcourse those beautiful Michiganders! Sigh, I was was so jet lagged when I first arrived I forgot all the people who I would be seeing.

Saturday was Aong & Cheng's wedding. It was so intimate and adorable! And I'm so surprise to have found out that Cheng is actually the son of my parents' former pastor, 5 terms ago? Earlier that day I went to visit the new (to me its new) outdoor shopping center: Partidge Creek. It was so lovely! Was a little like a cross in between Victoria Gardens and The Grove. They had all the major store I liked; H&M, Forever21, Aldos, Guess? Apple AND For Love (whoo-hoo!). I also came across a store called Love Culture. Pretty cute things in there, a bit overwhelming because there was soooo much stuff in there, but prices were good. I guess a store to compare it to would be Papaya? One thing I was SOO shocked and in love with was that they allow pets! Not only in the shopping center but in the stores AND they have a little doggie play area :) Lovely isn't it?

Sunday was Kayla (KouKhasha) & Tom's wedding. It was a HOT day! Argh! I was running late and sweating. Got lost for over an hour due to the beautiful Michigan construction, stuck in a car with no A/C and missed rehearsal! I had no time for make-up and I saw graphic/sad scene of a groundhog in a roadkill. :( It really made my day sad. Afterwards I was on a hunt for shoes at Somerset mall. Argh, dropped $80 on some Mary Janes that I didn't even love and didn't get to see my baby ALL WEEKEND. Poor baby, was so happy and crying like a maniac when I got home that night. All in all, weekend was fun-filled and full of surprises. :)

Anywho, here are photos from Kayla & Tom's wedding, enjoy! I have yet uploaded the photos from Aong & Cheng's wedding. I didn't have my camera on me much so these photos are brought to you from the hands of Pang and Sheng, thanks guys! Have a blessed weekend family!

{ small projects }

I've recently picked up on DIY acrylic nails. A few of my coworkers were talking about manicures and pedicures and I figured, "why not do it yourself". This was my first attempt and though I pretty impressed with how easy the application was, I'm a bit discouraged as they are started to lift after just after 7 days! :(

I purchased the Kiss acrylic nail kit from Target for only a few dollars, I believe it was $7.99? And the nail art supplies I hunted down at a local swap meet. They were pretty inexpensive as well. The polishes were $1.00 each, gems was $2.00 for a pack of 6 and confetti was $2.50 for a pack of 12. So grand total averaging $18.50 for a whole set? :) Nice, huh? I could just fill them as I like but I have already taken them off and will start a new set. .. hehe. Only down fall: time consuming! I had to file those suckers to the thickness that I wanted and getting into those little crevices were a little painful due to the inexperience and tight sqeezes! Definitely adding a nail drill to my wish list how ;)

Also, a photo of the mask made for my friends Bday masquerade, *blah. I'm only posting it for the simple fact that I attempted. This was my first attempt to make a mask. When I purchased it, it was yellow, purple.. very marde gras ;) I only had an hour to put re-design it so, I didn't have enough time to make it as ornate and detailed as I initially planned to. I'm a bit disappointed, but I'm satisfied with how the overall design and color. :)

{ new project }

Man I've been so MIA, I'm sorry folks! But I wanted to quickly update you on what been going on. :)

I've been traveling a lot. Well, I guess not really "travelling" per say, but keeping myself busy around town ;) About two weeks ago I was in LA for the whole weekend. My roomy recently got married and that was technically the first weekend her and her hubby had alone as "newlyweds". We've agreed on him moving in to make things more convenient for them both. Since I was unable to attend their wedding, I set-up a romantic candle-lit night for them. I bought chocolate, roses and apparel for them and left for the weekend with my baby Layla. :) That weekend we had our hands full! Went to flower and fabric district, mountain hiking, Hollywood Farmer's Market, doggie beach and met up with Mary for a good dinner ;) I was also able to attend "Iglesias" with Tray. What a wonderful church! Great teacher, awesome worship and a message that was focused solid on the word. Amen!

This past weekend I attended a Bday masquerade ball and an announcement dinner. Was a bit busy running around and getting the things we needed as I was helping my friend with the decor for her dinner. It was simple and sweet! :) Attended my first swap meet here in SoCal and purchased some lovely peonies! I LOVE PEONIES! Fortunately found the little things we needed last minute, PTL! And the dinner worked out perfectly!

I'm leaving out of this weekend for my friend's wedding, back to Michigan. Yes, Michigan, AGAIN. These trips are really putting whole in my wallet! Eek! This time I'm taking my baby too because her sitter is also leaving out of town. My flight, with Spirit Airlines, is scheduled to leave Friday evening but with the strike that’s going on it’s not certain. Err.., so far they haven't been flying. This would be day 6 and flights are cancelled up to Thursday. Thursday! That’s the day before I'm scheduled to depart! So who knows if the strike will be over by then :(

Well, this blog is going to be short as I am still at work and short on time but, wanted to let you all know what my next project was! Fabric flower necklace! It’s chic, ornate, and inexpensive and I can customize it to whichever way I like! Here are a few photos of what I've saved to inspire me. Colors, fabric type, and arrangement! Ta-ta lovlies, always remember after a storm there is always a rainbow! :)

{ love one another, as I have loved you }

2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

This weekend I will be travelling back to Michigan :) Going back to attend a benifit concert to assist tribal people in Asia.

If you have a heart of compassion, a hunger for the God's word or a need for revival I encourage you to attend! There will be a love offereing and food for sale so definotely DO NOT forget the cash!

:) Remember family, it all starts with us. Expect God to move in incredible ways and in many hearts! There will be amazing worship, discipleship and fellowship! I'll see you there family!