Mambo Sawa - "life is good"

Hello again!

Even though I posted a few days ago, I feel like I've been away from my blog for a long time. I'll give you a rundown of the past few weeks.

*the 8th was my 22nd birthday! (I feel too 'old' to not have accomplished something magnificent in my life yet. I'm probably just way too hard on myself. Or maybe I have accomplished something, and I don't realize it...hmm...) I celebrated it with my family & my good friend Jenna (we were roomies my sophomore yr. of college) was here for a few days. Like I said in my previous post, we painted pottery, ate out, even played some Scrabble. haha We're Scrabble dorks. It's okay; we've come to terms with it. Oh, and we saw "The Last Song" which was disappointing, coming from Nicholas Sparks. His movies used to be good! Jenna & I pretty much made fun of Miley Cyrus' facial expressions the whole time. haha Mature? Oh yes. She cannot act, by the way.

((making fun of Miley))

((Jenna & I at the 'Shroom - I don't know what was going on with my eyes that day. I looked like I had morning face all day.))

*the 9th-11th I was at the beach! Kure Beach to be exact - as beautiful as ever. I went with two other good friends from college, Brit & Sarah. I only wish we could have been there longer than a weekend. We laid out on the beach (even though it was chilly), attempted at some frisbee, took a bike ride Sat. morning (I love bike rides at the beach!), ate out Saturday night in downtown Wilmy, & of course, had a few photoshoots. ;) haha (Oh, & got harassed on the pier. Nothing serious or anything, but it still pisses me off so much when guys/men make ridiculous comments & catcalls at girls/women. It's so degrading, and it really really riles me up. I always ignore it, but still. I wish I had turned around and snapped back at them with some comment.)

((Sarah, Brit, & yours truly in downtown Wilmington))

((I love this picture! & that dress - it's soo comfy))

*Let's see...oh yes, after that I was house-sitting. A little extra $$ for my bank account certainly doesn't hurt - after I get the check from house-sitting, I'm going to buy an iPod! I know, I am waaaayyy behind the times, but I want one. I have an older iPod shuffle, but it can get annoying because you can't see what songs are playing, and not a lot fits on those things. I had a few adventures while house-sitting, but the whole story's so long. It involved down power lines, their power being out, candles, dog crap, cat trying to escape 3x, car not starting, looong AAA wait, and crying at the end of it all. Stressful day, but I made it out alright.

*&...not much else has been going on, except that I'm now looking for a job in Charlotte. So if anyone has any sort of connections, let me know please!! I'd really like to find a job there (at least) for the summer, and live down there with Jenna. And then, if that worked out, come fall semester, we could get an apartment and I could go back to school! I've already looked into what kinds of art classes the community college down there has, and they have a lot more variety than the one here. I really hope it all works out, because I feel like I just need this change. I kind of feel stuck in a rut here at home, with my job, and not going to school. I also have hardly any friends around here, which can be hard. So, prayers (& connections) would be much appreciated for this!

*Oh, & today I planted flowers. Can't wait for my babies to grow. :)

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Thanks for all your awesome comments on my posts. They make me happy!

P.S. weheartit Wordless Wednesday will resume next week.

We're all sinking for our sins Unless grace be the wind To fill our sails

Since I didn't do my weheartit Wordless Wednesday yesterday (oops), I'll start off today's post with a few of my favorites from the site. Next week I'll be on top of things. ;)

( from weheartit.com; i would give credit to the original photographers but it doesn't post that)

(up up & away!)

(I'll be there so soon - can't wait!)

(spring is officially here this weekend!)

Lovely, eh?

Also lovely, the amazing deals I got today at Wal-Mart of all places!!! I am so stoked about them, it's almost ridiculous. Okay, not almost, it probably is. haha I'm such a sucker for cute clothes at even cuter prices. My Mom & I went to Wally World with the intentions of looking for swimsuits (a one piece for the gym) & buying ingredients for the delish taquitos I made for dinner (with the help of my Mom & bro).

Little did I know I would find awesome deals on some cute clothes. Get this, 2 of them are the Miley Cyrus line. Before you judge me, you have to admit they're cute. That Miley Cyrus knows what she's doing (she doesn't really design them anyways, they just slap her name on it).

So here they are:

(extra long black cardigan - $5. I was super excited about this one because I've been wanting one of those really long cardigans for awhile.)

(black sequined Miley Cyrus tank top - $3)

(sequins detail)

(cream colored button-up Miley Cyrus sweater vest - $3. I can't wait to wear this one!)

(striped cream colored cotton shirt - $3. This one would be good for a beach cover-up.)

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P.S. The recipe I used for the taquitos tonight can be found here. They were very yummy & everyone liked them!

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EDIT: I don't know why the images are so big; I selected the small size for the ones from weheartit. I don't know how to adjust the size to make them smaller, so bear with me! I used to be able to click the image and make it smaller or larger using the little arrow thing (no idea what it's called). It doesn't let me do that anymore though. I can't even click the image. Hmm...maybe it has something to do with my browser, Google Chrome.

Dear Spring...I've been waiting for you

So, I'm pretty new to this blog and I'm fairly certain no one is reading this. I don't know many other people that have one of these. Alas, that will not keep me from posting on here. Today has been a pretty good day - I watched some of Heroes Season 2. Can I just say that show is awesome?! haha I just recently started watching it, and I believe I'm already addicted to it. It is just such a well-made show, with an original storyline. Later in the afternoon, I ventured to the park for some painting time. I've never done that before - painted outside (I've sketched outside, of course, but never painted - at least that I can recall). The one difficulty I encountered was keeping up with the setting sun - I don't know how Monet did it.
Here is my painting - acrylic on stiff cardboard. I improvised since I don't have a spare smallish canvas at the moment. It's not a masterpiece, but I had fun painting it. It was relaxing. I haven't decided if I should touch it up a little bit more, or just leave it. Suggestions??
The weather was so beautiful, I just had to get out there - it was around 70 degrees today! Wonderful, eh? And to think - it just snowed on Monday. That's good ole' North Carolina weather for you. I cannot wait for Spring - it's definitely my favorite season.
After din-din (dinner for you non-Leah speaking peoples), we went on an adventure downtown! We went to this cute coffee/ice cream shop called Crema. I enjoyed a French Vanilla Latte.
When I got back home, lo and behold, guess who called?! That's right, Bobby! It was definitely a good surprise since I wasn't expecting him to call until tomorrow or Sunday. For some reason, this time around hasn't been as hard on me as it is on him. I think I needed an adjustment period, and now I'm more emotionally stable. Not that it isn't hard at times, it's just that for some reason it's a little bit easier now. And I'm sooo glad that's the case! =) If you have a moment in your day though, please pray for all of our troops. Our prayers are powerful, and they could definitely use them. Pray for their emotional health, not only while they are deployed, but just as importantly for when they get back. Many soldiers go through Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and they go untreated. I think that is definitely one area that the Army needs to put more focus on.

On a lighter note, I have been making jewelry, and lots of it! I usually sell some of my jewelry at City Florist in Clayton (none of my jewelry is on the site, but it gives the address & such). It's not currently at the store, but I'm taking it back up there towards the end of the month to get ready for prom season. Hopefully that will draw a lot of younger girls into the shop, and my jewelry will catch their eye! I'm trying to go to a deeper level with my jewelry and thinking about making a catalog or newsletter of some sort. I'm also trying to decide if I should keep the website I originally started awhile ago, or make a new one, potentially on Blogger. I'm thinking about taking my jewelry to some different stores/boutiques and asking about selling it there on consignment. I have been making jewelry for a few years now, but I'm fairly new to the "business/marketing" aspect of it all. Any help, suggestions, tips, etc. are greatly appreciated!
Here are a few pieces I have made recently.

If you're interested in purchasing any of these, just leave a comment or email me and let me know!

I think that is all for now; have a great weekend and enjoy this gorgeous weather!



~L~