Easter Sunday

When I was younger, there were certain holidays that I loved.  Mostly Christmas (presents galore), Halloween (candy galore), Fourth of July (fireworks!), and my birthday (technically not a holiday I know, but still a special day).  Now that I've grown older, and some would even say "matured".  I find my tastes have changed drastically.  Christmas is still pretty cool, then I do feel pressure to buy great gifts for my family.  Something they need, and won't secretly want to throw away, yet something that doesn't totally break the bank.  It's tough.  But I do enjoy seeing my nephews open their gifts.  They excitement on their faces is truly magical.
Halloween basically sucks.  I haven't worn a costume since I was 13, and I have no desire to go to a grown-up Halloween party where the women dress like sluts.  Also, we don't get any trick-or-treaters, so it really does turn out to be a boring night.  Plus there's always so many scary movies on TV, I inevitably end up watching 1 or 2 and that scares the crap out of me for weeks.
Fourth of July is still fun, though usually too hot, and my birthday is now just sad.  ("Wow, I'm 31.... that feels so old!  What happened???")

My new favorite holidays?   Well I really enjoyed Easter yesterday.  Brian and I did an Easter egg hunt for the boys, and they absolutely LOVED it!  Plus we feasted together as a family and it was really nice.  I'm looking forward to Memorial Day (sale season begins!).  And I have become a fan of Thanksgiving.  Sometimes my stepdaughter comes to town and it's one of the rare times that the three of us get to be a family.  Last year I made dinner and we sang karaoke and had an absolute blast!

So times have changed quite a bit.  I'm not saying I don't still enjoy getting presents... in fact my husband might say I LIVE for getting presents.  But seeing my nephews run around looking for eggs comes pretty close to making me just as happy.

Sweet Summer Dresses

Sweet Summer Dresses by labellover81 featuring leather handbags

Smythe summer jacket
$830 - stylebop.com

Jessica Simpson cotton dress
$98 - nordstrom.com

Valentino nude sandals
$845 - forwardforward.com

Marc Jacobs leather handbag
$1,195 - ssense.com

Irene Neuwirth gold earrings
$9,660 - ylang23.com

Burberry watch
$495 - bloomingdales.com

Miu Miu hair accessory
$450 - miumiu.com

Rehearsal Dinner

Rehearsal Dinner by labellover81 featuring mid heels

Lace bodycon dress
$425 - reissonline.com

Valentino mid heels
$895 - shirise.com

Valentino handbag
$1,995 - valentino.com

Marco Bicego engraved ring
$2,992 - bloomingdales.com

Kate spade bangle
$225 - katespade.com

Emerald earrings
$68 - sadeesays.com

Eddera hair accessory
$160 - boticca.com

Weekend shopping trip

Weekend shopping trip by labellover81 featuring gold earrings

Twelfth Street by Cynthia Vincent maxi dress
$280 - barneys.com

Belstaff leather jacket
$1,537 - coggles.com

Valentino leather shoes
$475 - saksfifthavenue.com

David Yurman gold earrings
$650 - saksfifthavenue.com

David Yurman oversized sunglasses
$295 - saksfifthavenue.com

Jigsaw summer scarve
£26 - jigsaw-online.com

Guerlain foundation
£44 - debenhams.com

Lancôme lipstick
$30 - lancome-usa.com

Nearly Natural 6535 Forest Fern Permanent Plant - Decor Universe
$47 - decoruniverse.com

My love/hate relationship with Facebook

I haven't posted anything on my Facebook wall since October 19.  It was a purposeful decision I made back then to stop posting cold turkey.  In fact, the last post I made was a video lampooning "Ugg-itis" or something stupid like that.  Basically it showed how fashionistas hate Uggs because they are so ugly, but can't stop wearing them in the winter because they are so warm.  It's a catch-22.  Well so if Facebook in my opinion.

I hate logging in to see how "great" everyone is doing.

"You got a huge new house?  Wow!  I'm so happy for you!" (secretly thinking... I hope it has termites!)

"Oh look, you got married!  Congratulations!" (my wedding was sooo much better!)

"You're expecting!  You look so great!"  (I CHOOSE not to have children.  And boy, look at all of that disposable income and free time I have!)

You see the pattern and problem here.  I'm dying to know what's going on in the lives of people I haven't spoken to in 10 years, but I HATE seeing what's going on because I'm a competitive person by nature.  So I'm hoping that I'll be able to quit Facebook completely by the end of the year.  For awhile, I was only logging on once every 2 or 3 days.  But now I'm back to logging on 2 or 3 times a day.  I will quit eventually, I just need to make sure I go out with a bang.  Like losing 30 pounds and posting a bikini pic, or buying a mansion in Great Falls, putting up the pics and posting "PEACE OUT BITCHES!"
Or maybe I should just fade into oblivion since I'm sure those acquaintances don't care either way.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

So as many of you know, Brian and I went to Ireland last year.  It was our first time there.  Neither one of us was terribly impressed.  Though I will say I have learned to have a greater appreciation for Brian's family's heritage.  I suppose I never cared when my friends would say "I'm Irish" or "I'm Polish" because I  would secretly think.... "No.... YOU'RE AMERICAN!"  I took it as almost an insult that all of these people claimed to be of a different nationality than they actually were.
But something I have come to understand over the past few years, is that I never knew where my family originally came from.  I'm sure most of you know that almost all African American know nothing of their families pre-slavery.  I've been told that my father looks Ivorian (meaning from the Ivory Coast) by other Africans.  It's funny, something that I never knew is that Africans can recognize what part of Africa other Africans are from based on how they look.  Just like Europeans can tell what part of Europe another Europeans is from.  When Brian and I were in Ireland, we became friends with a bartender who worked in our hotel.  He absolutely despised the English, and he could point them out when they walked through the hotel lobby.  But to me, they looked exactly the same as the Irish natives.
Isn't it funny how different that is from America?  We have all sorts of people walking around and I never wonder "is that person from Australia, or Spain?"  It just doesn't cross my mind.  I suppose that's a good thing. I just think as everyone I see as being American.  Though just for today, I guess I like to think I'm a teensy bit Irish.  :-)

Lesson 3: I will always love a guilty pleasure

I have a few guilty pleasures... alot of them are food unfortunately.  But ALOT of them are also TV shows.  I really enjoy any TV show that showcases just how freaky some people are.  For example, on last night's episode of "My Strange Addiction" there was a guy how had an intimate and SEXUAL relationship with his car.  WTH?  He would wash the car, and doing that would turn him on, so in turn he would start making out with the car, then eventually climb underneath the car and.... finish his business.  To put it simply:

THE MAN HAS SEX WITH HIS CAR.  Here he is:

The car was named "Chase" and the guy was seriously in love with it. He said it was "the love of his life".  That had me rolling around my bed laughing hysterically.  Next week's episode is about a woman who can't stop drinking her own urine.  But wait, there's more!  She also uses it to brush her teeth and wash her hair and her face.  Ugh, just typing that made me wince.
Another show I love to watch is "Bridezillas".  I really got into that one the summer before I got married.  I needed to watch something to show me I wasn't nearly as insane as some people can be with their weddings.  Though I will say I feel like instead of being actual true bridezillas the girls are just starting to act out in front of the cameras.  Sell outs!
Finally, the mother of all guilt pleasure TV shows would be "Hoarders".  I actually had to stop watching it for awhile because it was getting to be too much on my mind.  But I do love the episodes with dead cats.  Surprisingly there are alot of those!  For some reason, those older single women love to hoard not only trash and junk, but cats as well.  They'll usually find a cat that's been flattened and maybe even nibbled on by some of the other living cats.  And usually it looks something like a dusty cardboard cutout by the time the cleaning crew gets to it.  Brian can't watch those shows and has to turn his head away.  But I LIVE for the episodes with a petrified cat!

What are some of you guilty pleasures?