Gypsy Rose Lee

About a year and a half ago our family got a most wonderful addition.  As a graduation present my parents decided that I could get a dog.  Instead of supporting a puppy mill and paying an exorbitant (English 9 vocab word!) amount for a designer dog, we went looking around the nearby shelters.  After almost a week of searching, I found her at the SEAACA shelter in Downey CA.  She was not the prettiest of puppies, but there was something about her that I saw potential.  I mean, who couldn't love this face?

(This was the picture that they had of her on their website)

I'll be honest, at first I was not impressed and my mom was skeptic of the thing in the corner of her eye.  But, after spending some time with her, I knew that I wanted her.  Unfortunately the way that they operate is to hold the animals for a certain amount of time before you can adopt them.  If you come in and like an animal, you put your name in and they give you a number and a date to come back.  Number one has until 10am on that day to claim the dog.  If by 10am they are not there, it goes to number 2 or 3 and so forth.  Being number 2 I was very nervous and showed up so early that I had to sit there and wait for at least 45 min.  But, I lucked out and number one never showed up.  She was all mine!

That evening we picked her up and brought her home.  I was so excited that I had to take pictures, even though she was so out of it from her surgery.  She was so small!

This tiny little thing became an instant hit with me and my family.  Of course we took silly pictures of her and spoiled her rotten!

I named her Gypsy after a musical that I love, and it fits her very well!  Here she is in her pink bed with only a fraction of her toys.  A scraggly little thing only about three months old here.

She just has this way about her to make you feel happy, loved, needed, and playful all at the same time.  Whenever I come home, she is there to greet me with a ton of excitement!  There is just so much comfort coming from this dog and whenever I have a bad day, or am feeling blue, she cheers me up and gives me all of the hope that I need.  I cannot imagine my life without this dog and she has made the past year and a half incredibly wonderful.

I realize that she is just a dog, but she's here for me when I need her, especially when I just need someone to listen.

 
So if you have a dog, give them a big hug.  If not, then go get one and love it as much as you can!  And as always, HAVE FUN!

So Sweet!

So today, I definitely wore my pink dress and got so many compliments!  First another teacher told me that she loved me in pink this morning, so I spent the day feeling good.  Then towards the end of the day I saw one of my sixth period drama class students and she stopped to tell me how cute I looked!  It was really nice, and made me feel much better about the tiring day. 

Other than that, I came home to my wonderful puppy who always gives the best welcomes and got a chance to relax and just hang out.  It is so nice to just come home after teaching and relax.  No one to hang out with, nothing to do, just spend time with my puppy and catch up on "My Fair Wedding" and "The Real Housewives".  So enjoy some relaxing time and as always HAVE FUN!

Adventures in Shopping

Last night my mother and sister Michelle left for Phoenix to have a family friend take Michelle's high school graduation pictures.  But, before they left, my mom took me out for a little shopping/bonding time!

We couldn't decide if we wanted to go to Nordstrom's Rack or Lane Bryant.  She wanted shoes, and wanted, well, everything.  But, I wasn't too excited to go to either because the clothes in my size aren't really very trendy, or my style.  I end up buying a piece of clothing that is decent, and I have to tell myself that it's cute but feel frumpy when I actually wear it.  There are so many cute clothes out there that I think are so cute, but they don't fit.  I just don't understand why they can't make them in a bigger size.

Then my mom remembered another store that she used to shop in, and they have shoes.  So, we went to Avenue to see what they had.  The moment we walked in, I was a little skeptical... I heard two different people being asked if they had an Avenue Card, and if they "wanted to open one and receive 30% off of their purchase today".  I hate that! When someone offers me a store credit card I am immediately turned off, especially if they ask me before I get to the register.

So we got away for a while and started looking for shoes.  We actually found some cute pairs that we were planning to buy.  As we were looking though, the first worker comes up to ask if we need any help, and then asks if we want an Avenue card.  We said no thank you and she finally went away.  Not 30 seconds later, the next lady came up and asked us the exact same questions!  It was so annoying to be bothered when we were just trying to find a cute pair of sandals.

Then we got to the clothing.  There's just something off about the clothes there. It is like they attempted to make things cute, but fell short.  We decided to check out the jeans, which were on sale for only $25.  They had boot cut, straight, and skinny, and of course I went for skinny.  They had stacks of jeans on one table which were all boot cut and straight.  Behind were more stacks on higher shelves.  My mom and I tried looking for my size and noticed that there was no order to them, and it was hard to see the sizes.  She did what anyone would do who wanted to look for something to purchase and took down a stack to start looking through.

Not long after, one of the workers came over as if she was annoyed at us for trying to shop in her store.  My mom finished with the first stack and the lady condescendingly took the stack from her, tried to "tidy" them up, and put them back.  She then started to look herself so that we would not mess up her precious stacks.  We let her deal with it and walked away to try on some leggings that we found on another rack.  When they didn't fit, we ran out of the store.  Didn't even buy the shoes. I'm serious when I say that we ran!

Luckily we were across from Nortstrom's Rack.  There we each found a super cute new watch, and a pair of shoes!  She found a DKNY large face watch with white leather band for only $25 and a pair of black sandals marked down from $62 to $13!  I got a very girlie black metal Betsey Johnson watch with pink rhinestones around the large round face.  Then I found an adorable pair of  Nine West flats which are beige and have a peep toe.  So at least something good came out of the day and I love what we found! 

Here's a picture similar to the watch that I got. (On mine, the rhinestones are pink instead of white)

So always keep looking and you will eventually find what you love!

HAVE FUN!

Ted is Awesome!

I am so sorry for not posting yesterday!  It was so hectic!  In the morning I had to tape myself teaching a lesson plan in 20 min so I was of course slightly nervous.  Another unfortunate part about this was that I had to dress professional and the temperatures reached about 80 degrees.  For some reason, dressing professional these days means to either wear pants, a pencil skirt or a sheath dress.  Pants were of course out because of the hot weather!  Left was my sheath dress which is awful for full figured girls like myself, even with the spanx on... So needless to say, I felt a little frumpy, and scattered yesterday and was not in a girlie mood. 

That is however, until school was over and I got to go see my wonderful boyfriend Ted who drove all the way down from Malibu to see me!  He brought me Chick-fil-A and treated me to the movie Rango.  They were both awesome and I recommend them both to everyone.  The fun did not stop there.  After the movie, he indulged me by going into the nearby Marshals and Ross for some shopping!  Unfortunately no incredible deals were found, but it was fun to hang out with him and check the two locations out! 

Our night continued back to my house where we watched some very funny television shows and just relaxed.  It was a perfect evening with my wonderfully thoughtful boyfriend!  It is always hard to see him go because I miss him almost immediately.  I cannot wait to see him again on Saturday when we go to the Paley Fest for Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared.  Should be fun, especially because I'll be with Ted! 

HAVE FUN!

Magazines

Unfortunately for my boyfriend I have a growing collection of bridal magazines.  He hates them, and I have to hide them when he comes to visit.  No worries though because I LOVE them!  I do make it a point to not subscribe to them, only because I don't want a huge pile of them to remind me of my addiction.  I also sometimes avoid buying them in the super market because the women at the check out like to ask me if I'm getting married, which is when I have to reveal to them that in reality, I am just another loser constantly fantasizing about her wedding.  This weekend however, I did buy the latest Brides Magazine and Martha Stewart Weddings. 

Out of the two, I have to say that I love Martha Stewart's more.  There are just so many cute crafts and activities that caught my eye on almost every other page.  From DIY tips that anyone can manage along with gorgeous dress picks that match my style and (hopefully) eventual theme.  The soft pinks really catch my eye because so many others are just trying to throw crazy colors at me!  I like being different, but classic at the same time and Martha understands! 

Now, based on all of this, one might think that I am crazy for always thinking about weddings when my engagement ring is very far away.  But, for some reason, I just do not care!  Weddings are a day of joy and the ultimate way to show everyone how much you love someone and are willing to spend the rest of your life making a family with them.  I was into them before I had a boyfriend, and when I'm finally married, I will probably still be into them as well. 

So pretty much, I like weddings, Martha Stewart gets me, and I like weddings! 

HAVE FUN TED!

Have Fun!

Who doesn't like to have fun!?  I know that I do!  Sometimes, in a life so cynical, focusing on the fun and letting things roll off my shoulders helps keep me sane.

One thing that I find fun in is shopping! Especially when things are on sale! I seem to have done pretty well at Macy's recently.  First, a while back, I found a skirt marked down from $70 to $10 and then a dress for only $6!  This weekend they were having a big sale and luckily I have my friend Kim to talk me into going to check it out (Not that she had to try very hard).  I lucked out again and found three super cute dresses that I can also wear to teach in for under $100.  Plus, I had a gift card which made it all the better! I tried to look for pictures of them online, but had no luck...

For a girl my size, it is often hard to find cute dresses that also fit.  Finding three in just one trip was a big deal for me.  It made the experience a lot of fun and made me feel better about myself.  I now have more options to feel pretty and feminine when I go to work.  I get so sick of wearing frumpy pants and frumpy tops.  Getting to wear more dresses makes a huge difference.

Anyways, wear a dress, feel pretty, and have fun!

Love, Jen 

Today I Wore A Skirt!

It's true, and it was glorious!  I missed feeling pretty when I left the house and today made up for it!  Other than that, my day was typical as usual. 

I have been noticing something strange around campus though.  Everyday I see students, mostly males, wearing shirts, or with stickers on their folders from the OBEY clothing company.  All one has to do is watch "Exit Through The Gift Shop", a documentary about street art that was nominated for an academy award (and should have won) to know where their clothes come from.  But, whenever I see students in my class wearing one of those shirts, I try to connect with them and ask if they know who Banksy is.  I immediately get looks of complete confusion! They don't even know who Shepard Fairey is, the guy who created the clothing line from his own street art.  I try to explain to them how legit those guys are but it goes right over their heads.  It's funny how saturated the whole thing is when it gets to the point that people wear things with such meaning, and have no clue what they are about. 

Today though, one student overheard me talking to another about Banksy and he was excited and surprised to hear that I knew who he was.  Then another student chimed up!  Lots of awesomeness with that one and now hopefully they'll respect me even more! (cheesy/lame, I know, but for a teacher, it's like gold!)

That's all for now I guess.  Enjoy life and know the meaning of what you wear!

HAVE FUN!

Dressy Day Thursday!

I had gotten all of these cute clothes for student teaching, but because it has been so cold in SoCal recently, I've been stuck in pants and the few tops that I have.  So, today I decided that I would break the mold and wear a pretty pink dress that I got for a whole $6 at Macy's! I love this dress and paired it with long black leggings, a long black sweater and attempted to wear my back-up pair of black Jessica Simpson heals.  My favorite pair of Seychels lost the little rubber thing at the bottom of the heal!  Knowing that the Jessica Simpson ones might cause some distress, from standing all day and walking back and forth on campus, so luckily I brought a pair of flats.  But I lasted in the heals for a whole 2 periods! Pretty proud of myself for that one because I kept up my girlieness for that long!  Don't get me wrong though, the flats work in terms of girlieness because they are super cute, suede Tommy Hilfiger with beige stitching and a small buckle.

So! thanks for reading about my wardrobe choice for today! It was fun to pick it out and I felt good! (minus the pain in my feet! but I'm trying!) 

HAVE FUN!

Delicious!

This morning as I was getting ready to leave, my mother informs me that dinner will be all left overs because she will have a later meeting.  Which a late meeting for her means that it was scheduled to end at 5pm.  Whatever the case, I was not looking forward to the same thing that I had eaten for lunch today again for dinner.

So, after another long day of student teaching, and designing a blog, I decided to get dinner for my family from Portos!  No one would answer the phone so I just went and ordered some of my favorites.  There was a line of course, but nothing too bad, other than the creeper in line behind me who lacked a sense of personal space.  Anyways, I finally ordered and got some potato balls, chicken empinadas, cheese rolls, and medianoche sandwiches.  Let me tell you, they were delicious!

Let me preface this with the repetitively proven fact that once my step-dad finds out that I like something that he has yet to see or try, he automatically dislikes it.  Case in point, he refused to ever watch the movie "Happy Feet" because he "hates rap music".  This "rap music" is slightly, if at all heard only in the previews.  We constantly reminded him that the movie does not focus on rap music and that it would be something he would enjoy, but he just kept putting it down.  Finally, after my mother forced him to watch it, he did and LOVED it!

As you can tell by my random back story, I was worried that all of the hype that I gave to Porto's in my house that he would not even try it.  I was pleasantly surprised!  He not only started to eat the food, but he actually told me how much he loved it!  Finally, my girlie expertise on delicious food is being recognized by my stepfather!

What does all of this have to do with being "girlie" you might ask.  Well, I love to cook, and Porto's inspires me to try and figure out how to make their delicious potato balls.  (Deep fried mashed potatoes with meet in the middle!)  I love them and I want to add to the foods that I can make for my boyfriend Ted!  Luck him! 

Let me know of any other great food in the Southern California area that I should try, or anything that I should attempt to make!  Thanks!

Hello for the First Time!

Well here I am, actually writing a blog... I told myself that I would never do one of these, but now that I'm starting to teach English, I feel like it will give me a chance to practice writing and being more creative!  So thanks for following, reading, and helping me with, well, whatever!

In case you were curious as to what this blog will be about, well I guess just a little of everything, especially things girlie!  I love weddings, baking, musicals, fashion, puppies, and pretty much anything with a classic, pretty, fun, girlie twist! Have fun and good luck!

Thanks for reading!