Show me the money!

I absolutely, positively, 100% love volunteering with elementary students. Honestly I cannot get enough; I love the 30 minutes I get to spend weekly with the five year olds. Their lessons deal with working, saving....i.e. finance for the five-year olds for the layman. My first lesson dealt with writing a few words...and their spelling skills needed a little work. I was used to dealing with third graders, fourth graders and fifth graders but hey it is after all a learning experience for all of us--me included! After that I turned everything into a mini-writing assignment. If they drew something to that they wanted I made them spell it out...slowly sounding out all the letters for them. Can you believe a five year old spelled out Super Mario Brothers Lego?!
One particular lesson dealt with learning the difference between the various coins. This turned out to be quite the comedy. I was talking them through the various coins and I showed them quarters, dimes, and some dollars. They got fairly excited about the sight of cold hard cash. We then moved to the scratch off bookmarks and I handed them coins to use....at this point I heard shouts of "Gimme the money!" This was very humorous, then the kiddos tried to keep my spare change. Teaching kindergartners is most definitely a circus and you never know what they will say...but trust me, it's worth it!

Glitteratzi....

Everything that glitters is not gold...sometimes it's pink! Check out these glittered starfish on etsy. Summer project :)

Long live McQueen!

A tribute to Alex the great.“If you ask any lady they want to be taller, they want to be slimmer, you know, and they want a waist. I'm not here to make people look like a sack of potatoes.” -Alexander McQueen

Snow more!

Some photos of the Alabama snow day at my parent's home. February 12, 2010. Oh, how I wish I had been able to go home for the snow. I halfway three-quarters of the way considered making the drive north. Barring icy , wet, snowy roads I would have gone. I lived there for twenty some odd years and saw snow once in the nineties and I move away and South Bama gets snow twice--last year a light covering fell and this year a thick coat of powder that lasted a couple of days. I wish I had gone so badly.....a little time with my parents and dogs...not a bad break if you ask me! Hope to see them soon. But, thankfully I did have the ability to work from home on this snow day and you better believe that I ran outside when the flakes fell for a few brief moments. I even took it to the next level and threw on my snow gear as I do have a minor major winter clothes obsession. My ensemble consisted of a woolly plaid Tracy Reese coat from Anthropologie, jeans, a sparkly J.Crack toboggan, and my Hunter wellies snow shoes--that's right--snow shoes! Ah well the few white flakes were absolutely wonderful I just wish there had been more! Thought of the day: "Snow days are to kids as cancelled meetings are to adults." I guess I am a kid at heart because I would take a snow day any day. Bring on the flakes Mother Nature!

Baby cakes.

How's this an idea for a king cake? Everyone gets a good luck baby.

Heart Day....

So I think I needed these sunglasses for the 14th. The funny thing is I got them for the Kindergartners....hmm does this mean I have the same taste as a 5 yr or 5 yr olds have mature taste?

My Lovin' Cup!

I just hit up eBay to search for lucky decor and in the process I remembered how much I had wanted a vintage silver trophy, or rather a collection. How pretty these would be filled with flowers or sitting by themselves as a collection. These definitely fit the bill for something shiny. Turns out in my search I realize these are literally "Loving cups" typically given for tennis championships. Oh, how I want one, or ten! These remind me of The Stones song below:

I'm the man on the mountain, come on up,
I'm the plowman in the valley with a face full of mud.
Yes I'm fumbling and I know my car don't start.
Yes I'm stumbling and I know I play bad guitar.

Give me little drink from your loving cup.
Just one drink and I'll fall down drunk.
Check out the Phish version here:

Luck be a lady....

Bored with my current mantle I began dismantling the mantle last night....and creating some makeshift art. Given a sudden lack of Christmas in my life I was thinking what I should do. I found some inspiration in the upcoming green day....St. Patrick's. I scoured my abode for anything with a green tint and created a four leaf clover from some broken jewelry. I had been meaning to create a Christmas tree....but four leaf clover it was.

I made a Lucky banner from vintage book pages....but honestly I think I need something brighter and cheerier. Maybe something glittery, so I may go on the hunt for some more green today.What do you all think?

NYCFW2010

New York City Fashion Week has been in full swing. Olympics, what Olympics?!?! (only joking!) Here are some of the looks:

Tees with everything.Pale neutrals.Feathers.Tights.Statement jackets.Tights with shorts (my fave).Black.

I'm baaaaaccckkkkk......

Safe and sound, well I'm back maybe not safe and sound. Turns out on our flight from Vegas to Atlanta to Florida my bag was a few steps {or planes} behind us. We arrived at the airport to watch the baggage tracks go round and round and eventually stop to find that my ever so noticeable leopard print baggage was not on it! I was shocked having never lost a bag or had one arrive late....this is my worst fear mind you (well one of my worst). We hurried to the tiny baggage claim office and waited in line to fill out paper work. Finally we get to the lady...."where's your ticket?" she quizzes....I did not have a ticket. I handed her my boarding pass only to be informed that this would not work and that she would let it slide this time. Finally scrounging through my laptop bag/purse I found it! She then tells us that my bag will not arrive until tomorrow....but wait they won't deliver it to my apartment. WHAT??! I have to go back to the airport at 9:03pm. I complain to the beau but to not avail he drops me at my apartment and leaves me by myself to go back to the airport. Begrudgingly I get in my car and drive back....OK so I hate going places at night by myself. Not to mention I had to lug the 40 pound bag up the stairs myself. UGH! All this reminds my of what someone once told me, You've got baggage. {Just like in RENT--No one's perfect. I've got baggage! Baggage, wine and beer}

I like it, I love it....

....I want some more of it! Yep, you guessed it Diet Coke. Turns out not everyone shares by affinity for this tasty beverage, nor does everyone understand my need for this cold treat. It could be a worse addiction right? Well on my trip to Vegas after my shower the first morning I realized CRAP?! No Diet Coke in the room....wearing PJ's and having wet hair I was not stepping out.....I called room service and ordered 3 at roughly $2.50 for each plus the room service charges. The total was roughly $16, but so worth it....I drank two and stowed one in the mini bar for later. Guess what people I forgot to buy some the next day as well....so I drank the two in the mini fridge. Total $10......on the third day I remembered and stopped by the gift shop and bought 3 20 ounce bottles. Heaven! Then on the day we checked out my date storms in the room....saying "Did you order room service?!" I said "yeah some Diet Cokes"....he says "from room service or did you get them out of the fridge?" "Both," I said....little did I know how bad this was going to go over.....I will probably never live this down, but really I would have done the same thing had everything been on my tab. Actually some guys would have known that they did not want to face me without caffeine and gone to buy me some....trust me--little things mean a lot and getting me that Diet Coke mitigates any animosity I would have otherwise. In my defense I got about one meal a day because I brought my breakfast, missed dinner one night, barely had it the other, and bought my lunch one day...so really in the whole scheme of things can't I trade that dinner for $40 in DC? {I have the uncanny ability to justify anything, I suppose.}

But the real kicker is that the beau proceeded to complain and complain about it even telling the taxi driver....really I thought....finally at the airport I popped out two twenties and muttered irritatedly exclaimed bluntly, HERE! I really don't want to hear about it. That did not work-he refused to take it. I think he was shocked...but really what else was I to do........but order another.

....here's to you Diet Coke!

Just can't wait to be king!

Okay, Okay I guiltily admit that I was the one who wanted to see The Lion King. I think I injected the words lion king into random conversation enough to kill someone (well not quite). I can't help it, I share an affinity with Disney classics and could watch them for hours on end (well used to be able to); my top picks would include Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, The Jungle Book, Mulan, Pochahontas, Lady and The Tramp, 101 Dalmatians.......and that's just the animated classics. Thankfully my date caved and told me on Tuesday morning that if I went and got the tickets we could see the show. I got up and busied myself to see if tickets were still available. Hooray I found some....I called mom to see what I should do. I felt so guilty getting them.....especially since I knew the man of the hour really really really did not want to go. I think it must have been an age thing and he missed the cult-like following Disney had. Oh well I was about to enlightened him. I phoned the concierge to see if they could find me better tickets than the ones I saw online. To my surprise they did! I quizzed them about if I could pick them up and they said yes...well through some miscommunication it came down to I had to pick them up from Will Call at The Mandalay Bay....all the way down the strip. I met the boy for lunch once again. I felt guilty not meeting him since he was going to see The Lion King. Well I was so excited I had texted him earlier and told him we needed to get the tix by 6:30...he said sure, then to my surprise at lunch I find out he's in class until 6:15......looks like I would be tasked with going to the opposite end of The Strip to pick up the tickets....and that I did. Bummed I was missing some prime shopping but excited I was going to see The Lion King I headed to The Mandalay Bay. I entered the hotel and wandered aimlessly heading toward one Will Call area to later find it was closed. I think I circled the casino several times before I finally got a lay of the land and found the right window. An hour and a half later I had the tickets and headed to shop....an hour later I was back at the Mirage to get ready for the show.

The show was great, long, but great. Just as I had expected, I had not seen the movie in years, but I remembered all the characters names and loved every minute of it. Sure it was geared for kids, but hey aren't we all kids at heart? Glad I got to see this one, but I would rank Love and Santana higher for the record I was wrong.

They say you want a r{evol}ution!

Vegas Day 2: The plus one went to his conferences and lectures while I slept after a grossly sleepless night thanks to my inability to set an alarm and calculate time zones (go ahead, laugh mom!). The alarm charmed and chimed enough to wake the dead. I slept...not soundly....but I slept. An hour later I woke up and got ready to shop. Anthropologie here I came! I headed to the shops at Caesar's and wound my way around to find THE one and only Anthropologie. I shopped my way through several stores and met the guy for lunch then quickly continued my rampage through the Vegas stores. I headed back to the hotel at five to get ready for the show....The Beatles: LOVE Cirque du Soleil performance! I was a little iffy on going to a Cirque show.....but Beatles music was a no brainer....I knew I would at least enjoy that. We met a group of his friends at The Revolution before grabbing a quick sushi dinner. The Revolution bar was cute, quirky Austin Powers inspired hangout. Based on some of the photos I have found online the inside takes you into a more of a "Yeah, baby" frame of mind. The show turned out to be more than I expected. I 100% loved it. It was like a So You Think You Can Dance performance choreographed by Wade Robsen. It was genius, light on contortion but heavy on the dance moves, costumes and choreography. It was Broadway meets Cirque. Every song was perfect. The Octopus' Garden was created with a series of dancers draped in white spinning from the air......Here Comes the Sun yielded a giant orb and Lucy.....what else but a sky of diamonds. I could not have asked for a better performance and I would definitely watch it again! I give it a TEN.

Viva las Vegas.

The good, the bad, and the Vegas. The good: a trip to Vegas since I had never been, Santana, Beatles: LOVE, The Lion King, Anthropologie, Juicy Couture, 7 jeans and other miscellaneous shopping. The bad: baggage {literally}, communication, tickets, Diet Coke, and more baggage. The Vegas: bright lights, tourist destination, desert.

I admit I had mixed emotions about leaving the Sunshine State it could have been the fact that my travelling partner failed to phone me for three straight days before our departure on Sunday so that left me a bit disheartened. A finally got the call on Saturday and began the ritualistic packing. A few hours later I was miraculously packed, zipped and ready to Viva Las Vegas, or so I thought. I was picked up a little after 6 am. I was quizzed and quizzed....was I sure my bag was under 50 pounds? I said absolutely.....well it had weighed 53 pounds....but really in the whole scheme of things what was three pounds.....well those three little pounds turned into 13 big ones! We dropped my bag onto the scale and were greeted with a "WOW" by the angry, uncaffeinated airport employee....63 pounds.....63 pounds.....she kept asking if there was anything I could take out or move to another bag. I was like no....no way. Did she not see my bag? There was not one cubic inch of space left...not to mention I wasn't going to move my handbag from my carry-on to the checked bag for fear of losing the Gustto. "Hhhhufff" I exclaimed, "let's go to the truck and unload." I started unzipping and removing a ton...a few pairs of jeans, 3 pairs of shoes (who knew Converse were that heavy) several shirts and several more expletives later I felt like I was well on my way to flying freedom. With the help of my date we zipped up my bags and headed back to the scales. The line had doubled. We inched toward the scale and lo and behold a whopping 39 pounds...no way there was simply no way that my bag had lost 24 pounds of clothing and accouterments....10 maybe but not 24. Oh well, the scale was off but there was no time for a challenge. We had 30 minutes to make the flight...would my bag make it?
Well our flights were for the most part uneventful except for the 3.5 hour one from ATL to Vegas...we sat for a little bit on the tarmac as we were informed that there was missing foam around the door....that is was unnecessary. Great, why not duct tape I thought? They also had to replace {yet another unnecessary} part, this time the engine....so many unnecessary parts....so little time but we landed safe and sound with bags to boot. We hopped on the bus to the hotels and were quickly at The Mirage. There were Vegas Valentine's brides everywhere...scary I muttered. We quickly changed for an early dinner. Forgoing red and opting for my traditional black on the plane ride over, I had a red Vivienne Tam dress calling my name for heart day. Dinner-check now on to Carlos.....SANTANA at the Hard Rock. Great band...great energy and close seats=perfect.
.....on to Day 2.......

Happy Valentine's from the air....a little less than two hours until Vegas....what to do, what do do? Just discovered a photo op was closed--the Neon Museum. It had been featured in Anthro among other publications....ah well there will still be a ton to do. In the meantime here is a snow pic. More to come....

Be strong.

No matter how difficult..always get back up and try again....as say these earrings. Love them.

Fluff Mama.....

These crack me up!

So true.

Yes....there most definitely is.

Happy hearts.....

Mom, here's an idea for one of the many showers you have to throw.

{Sun}dance like no one is watching.

Some heartfelt picks from Mr. Redford's shop. There were some other cute picks, but the photos would not download. Darn. Oh well check these out.

Get a leg up....

I need to start packing, but am procrastinating.......hmmmm what to pack. Black definitely...but I really wish I had a pair of these jeans...If it were going to be a little wamer I might be able to pull this off...hmmm maybe that's a veto. Hey, it worked for Free People.