I looked down at my toes today and smiled.
I got a manicure and a pedicure on Saturday. I always do a little something funky with my nails....it's just my personal taste. Anyway I guess with the 4th of July and me just plain feeling better about myself I elected to paint my toenails red.
For some reason this morning, even though it was raining, I chose to wear my snazzy flip flops with this cute pant outfit. I keep a heater under my desk for unwise decisions such as wearing flips on a wet day in a cool temperature office, so this morning when I went to turn the heater on my toes hit me as funny.
I remembered when I was a little girl and my mother (who liked to look good- she was fierce) would be painting her nails/toes; I'd want mine done too but I was never allowed to wear red because it was too grown. As a matter of fact most everyone in my family (womanwise) would warn of red's fast behind ways with that "you ain't grown look on their face." Even when I turned 13 and lived with my grandmother we'd be at Jamesway looking at wet n' wild lipstick and nail polish and grandma would remind me to avoid the red.
This morning I looked at my toes and smiled...those are good memories

Never made it to the yarn store in Maryland. My manicure and pedicure ended up taking forever and by the time we left we were already cutting it close.
It took almost 2 hours to get there b/c of traffic so we didn't go. It was still an awesome weekend. My friend placed 2nd in the figure competition (short class). Honestly she was robbled. Well she wasn't robbed but she should have got first. The girl who won actually won her pro card last year but turned it down so she could still compete in this division (how weaksauce is that?). In my biased but very accurate opinion she still didn't look good enough to be Teenie. The crowd was displeased but all of us were/are still VERY proud of her.
The "pro" was sweatin' bullets there for a little while too, she even came up to Teeny after she had already been such a snitty hooch and was like, "wow, I have to say you look really good etc etc."
Anyway, nevertheless, Teeny did awesome especially for her first competition ever. This show was actually a very good and accredited natural amatuer competition too. We had done our homework at some other poorly ran and poorly organized events. What a difference!
I am just very proud of my little homie. Maybe it will be me on stage next year....gotta stop eating so horrendously first!

Today hub and I are going up to Annapolis, MD to watch my good friend Teeny compete in a figure contest. I'm pretty excited for her. I talked her into doing it so I could pretty much live vicariously through her :-)
She looks awesome. The two of us have been training together for months in the gym and I'm sure tomorrow the fruits of all her labor will pay off...
We are going up the night before so we aren't stressed running around the morning before the show. I'll be helping her put on massive amounts of tanner and I'll also be doing her makeup.
Anyway, we will leave at 1:00ish today and visit this store.
I hope that the store is better than the website. There is a fiberworks in MD too but it's too far away for todays trip. I'll most likely have to make a special trip for that one....
Anyway, I've got an action packed weekend. Hopefully I'll have a couple pictures and of course I'll post up whatever I purchase...maybe I can find something for my secret pal today!! I'm off to get my nails done. Gotta look cute for the show...
o, Be sure to scroll down and see my post about my secret sistah friend (must steal one of those cute little buttons when I get back) she sent me a whole rack of stuff that I just love but I didn't get a chance to finish putting the pictures in the post until this morning so it's got yesterdays date etc etc etc. Check it out folks.

Not to make a racially blanket statement but here it goes.... This is for the freaks of nature over at bath and body works and walmart NEWSFLASH: As long as there are black women on earth there will be a need to make coconut and tropical scented lotion/bath gel/bodyspray. I mean coconut lime verbena is fine and dandy but I need a strong coconut scent folks. I mean with that stuff its like "Do I smell like coconut or do I smell like citrus?" One would think with it being summer and all these scents would not be hard to find but goodgoogamooga I can not find what I need. I feel desprite. How am I suppose to live? Show me the coconut that's all I'm saying... PS- I did however, find some Queen Helenes cocoa butter at walmart and was very satisfied

LORD HAVE MERCY!!!! My secret sistah friend HOOKED ME UP. I hope I can show all the wonderful things she sent. Of course blogger wants to have a spasm fit when I've got something important to say. First off, I must say that it made my day to find a package waiting on my door when I got home from lunch yesterday. I thought about recreating it all so everyone could react along with me as they read but some how I refrained. I'm sure my husband would have made even more fun of me than he already does for being a 25 year old knitter- I keep telling him "knittin' ain't just for grandmas"...I digress. First off she sent me these personally hand made stitch markers. They are beautiful. The pictures do them no justice. They are just way too cool! She sent me this book full of patterns for unusual but practical and easy to knit entertainment. The book was mixed in with my very first stash of fabric for sewing. Now I have zero excuses. I actually can't wait to get my dining rm table set up to sew this week. I'm just going to do it (like Nike you know?) You see there, all that fabric to sew, you see it? Awesome. I also received two different types of sock yarn in an assortment of blue colorway (love love love) and do you see over there? My secret pal sent me Lion brand because she knew I would appreciate it and I'm not yarn snob. I don't discriminate (I like them black, white, puerto rican or haitian...-just a little background hip hop for ya...:-) Others would call it ghetto knitting but I prefer equal opportunist knitting myself, Thank you very much. Anyway, can you believe the Homespun she sent me is the exact color and dyelot I have in my very own stash here at home. I was so elated to find that out. Now I have no idea what the heck I am going to make but at least when I figure it out I will have yarn all from the same dye lot...Can you see tje Lion brand Big she sent too? What fun! In the picture to my left You can see two balls of South West trading company Optimum wool, in red. My grandmothers favorite color is red (she is one snazzy woman- only in her 60's- yup she started young). Definately think ing about making her something special with that. Just a little sumtin' sumtin'. :-) I decided that it is very important for me to handknit all my loved ones something before I leave for Italy next summer. I've kinda plotted out on paper what I need to start buying and what I can use in my stash for all the hats, scarves, and little purses I need to knit up. So all this has really enhanced my options and helped a great deal. Thank you so much, your generosity has touched my heart. This Christmas will be a very knitted Christmas. I loved EVERY SINGLE ITEM secret friend. LOVED IT. Thank you so much. Thank you for making my day just by seeing the package and thank you for greatly transforming my stash! I can't wait to find out who you are...

I found the label!!
I got a couple of comments on the sock yarn I was using and today I found the label as I was tearing apart one of my many knitting bags...
It's called Sockatta. The label says it "The Plymouth Italian Collection" All I know is that I like the feel/texture and the color, plus once the yarn shop lady told me I could make both socks out of one skein I was feeling pretty good. It's 45% cotton, 40% superwash wool, and 15% Nylon. Does that add up? Yup...good.

Have you ever had the inkling that no matter how much you give, some people will always want more? It's like when you're dating, people want to know when you're getting married, when you get married they wanna know when are the kids coming...so on and so forth.

I grew up not having a lot and appreciating the little things. Even now the greatest gifts to me are the ones that take thought and time. Those things seem more valuable to me than spending loads of money. This could very well be the reason why knitting/crocheting appeals to me so much; these are things created from my being. My personal minutes and hours of my thoughts, prayers, hopes, frustrations. (If any of you ever receive a knitted gift from me know that you share a very special part of me..) Ok I'm going off on a rant.

I got into that trying to make the point that the people that always request more no matter how much or how little one gives will NEVER be satisfied. It also has dawned on me that these same people can never take a step back and see how blessed and how much a head above the rest they are in the world b/c they are constantly focused on what is not being done and what could be better. It's a pattern to be sad over b/c a lot of joy and good times can be destroyed or missed by focusing in on small flaws. Everyone knows by now that life isn't perfect but man almost perfect ain't bad.

Couple things-none knitting related.... * Aeon Flux only somewhat entertaining and not my favorite movie * Pho Saigon just simply yummy and delightful. Mmmm mmm good. Quickly becoming one of my favorites. Beef is good but I've actually started to get the chicken and it is incredible. And here is a couple of things about me: * If you send me a message I may use lots of exclamation points because I really am just that excited. * I'm pretty easy going; some may think I'm high maintenance but really it's the little things that please me.

Yup, this is what you see just minding your own business on the way to eat, on the way to the beach, on the way to pump gas, on the way to shop. This is what you turn your head to the right and see.... Turn your head to the left and see this. This is just walking down the street people. Not staying in a resort, not traveling a couple miles to some place to see sights-this is just what naturally surrounds you. How awesome and different would life be if it consisted of this everyday. Like they say on the mainland, "No hurries, no worries...." On a sour note WTC (what the crap!)...My freakin' hamstrings and biceps are drawn up so tight you could bounce a brick off of them...tonight I need to stretch hardcore especially before powerlifting Saturday. Anyway, here's a little sumtin'sumtin' My socks! I started to knit them but have no idea what the heck i'm doing so they are too small and a little ugly; they will be ripped out very soon. I just bought the harlots knitting rules book and signed up for the first time sock knitters club so this should make a difference in how my 1st pair turn out looking. O how I do love ankle socks though. I hope they can help a sistah out.

I've been back at the gym for two day now. It has felt fantastic to be at it again. I am still not on the total nutrition tip though. Working on that. I should be good by the beginning of next week food wise. My next goal is our next beach trip. I think we're going to Nags Head- iono- I let y'all know when I really know what's up. I just know that it's at the very end of July- beginning of August. Hopefully I can save up enough vacation time. I think I may only take 3 days off from actual work and just use a weekend or something- whatever.
Back to the gym. Tonight was abs, back, biceps, and calves . I got smoked man. I didn't adjust any of the weights lower than what I was doing before, actually we did 5 pounds higher on every set and I hung in there. On the close grip lat pull down I had to pump the music up and focus hardcore though. I made it thru and afterward I felt fantastic! I feel really good. So glad I'm back on it. I've decided I'm back on the supplements and I am adding 3 mornings of cardio to the routine. I'm just going to stick to the weight program as stated. Hopefully DH and I really will get up and run together in the mornings like we previously discussed. Here are my goals for the next leg...

1. Fit a size 10, (actually 8 if I want to be radical and zealous) by next beach trip (I'm between 12 and 10 now)
2. Get in at least 3 cardio sessions a week
3. Focus work on triceps and inner thighs
4. Start training for 8 miler
5. Do more active things on weekends

lt would have been nice if my previous post would have posted like two weeks ago...stupid blogger! Guess you guys thought I fell off the earth Well, anyway-if you read below I we had a lot happen then we went to Hawaii. The trip was SO amazing--wait scratch that, the trip sucked, the visit/the vacation was SO amazing. If you are really interested in going to Hawaii you can read more about it and see pictures of the place where stayed here. My father in law is blogging about it! I thought he was so cute for that. Not only is he an official blogger but he and mi madre (inlaw) are both myspacers. How cute can you get? I'm sure you'll hear Hawaii come out of my mouth more than you can stand for the next one million years. It is truly that beautiful. I am now an advocate and I believe that every person should experience this magical land of wonder... Hopefully when blogger is not being so ridiculous about uploading pictures I will be able to include some in my post to beautify my site. Oh by the way, I finished the front and am almost done with the back of my rainbow tank. It's too cute. I started to knit a sock (anklet) and got past the heel turn but am totally clueless about how to pick up the stitches and were to knit next. I am confused because I am not using a particular pattern. I have just kinda of been putting together the patterns of several socks I liked. I really like ankle socks so that made it a little different too. Again, I'll post some pics when the system can handle.