Black, white, mint and brr...rrrrr

Hi beauties, I feel like I have been out from Blogs Ville for a long long time. I have been so busy with finals coming up in a few days and all the preparation for the holidays coming up that includes shopping and planning. Much of my planning have actually been centered on redecorating some parts of my home. The places that are most affected are my bathrooms, laundry room and dinning room. I enjoy decorating and having three bathrooms in a six bedroom house is a huge blessing to me...:)

Also, I had some beauty issues; had a lot of breakouts on my face which usually happens sometimes when I am stressed out. The beauty products I usually resort to are Mary-Kay and Herbal Life products and sometimes, I just do nothing...:) Well, I am okay now and black to blogging!! "Yay!!"

The weather has also been very cold as you can tell from the title of this post. Old Man Winter is finally here..

Did I tell you this post was going to be picture over load? Well, you know now. I did not have time to edit the pictures and I did not feel like leaving out any of them. More so, let's just say I love all that snow I see in the background. Yeah, fresh snow is so beautiful but brr...rrr

 Previously before I started my blog and had a color makeover, I would have just been content with wearing the staple black, white and grey assemble in this outfit and that would have been it. However, I decided to throw in the mint and teal colors with the earrings, DIY bracelet and bag and I absolutely love how it turned out.

It was so cold and my exposed hands were starting to get numb so, I made an attempt at doing some power walking to keep the cold out!...:)

I got to go back to my chores now. Enjoy your weekend and thanks a lot for stopping by my blog. Also, remember that knowing God is the answer to all life's problems. **Kisses**


                                                                                      Beauty
                                                                                          Ojo

Cobalt and black and December First!

Waoh! It's hard to believe that it's December 1st and we are in the last month of the year. Each time I make this statement, I always follow it by this line; "I can remember vividly everything that happened in the previous year like it happened yesterday!" Oh my...well, so long as everything is going as planned and we are all making progress towards achieving our dreams, we'll just take each day as it comes allowing God to take total control of all our situation. And the way we can do this is to believe and trust in him. We also have to maintain contact with him by continually praying and giving him the worship that he deserves.


It's getting very cold now in the twin cities and the time for layering has come; sweaters, snoods, scarves, jackets, boots, name it. However, I am sad to say that I have broken my word on keeping a "shopping freeze" for a year. I had promised myself I was not going to shop or purchase any item of clothing for one full year but...

I took a trip to the thrift store a few weeks ago to look for some items that I can use to decorate my bathroom and found myself looking at the jacket and blazers that were on display and there was a green suede blazer and a tweed blazer that I just could not resist. Do you know that suede is gradually coming back as a trend on the runway and did I mention that these blazers were $6.99 each?...:) Well, I did get them and I went back a few days ago and also saw a neat blazer in hot pink. Now, I can say that I have blazers and jackets in almost every color; black, white, khaki, green, pink, brown...just name it. You need to take a trip to the thrift store sometimes if you need vintage blazers without breaking the bank and you can pay some extra cash to have them dry-cleaned and they are good to go. Also there are great items for decor in the thrift stores too and if you are a good shopper, you will find unique items and knick knacks that will make your guests to ask you for shopping secrets. I have three bathrooms in my house and since I like to change out my decor seasonally, I have found great bargain at the thrift stores. "Recycling everyone?"

My love for color continues and these cobalt blue items; my shoes and fitted tee took this outfit up a notch. The scarf ties everything together and I am all warm and ready to go.

 

 

Thanks so much for reading my blog and I do enjoy getting your thoughts and feed backs. Take care and **Peace!**

 

 

Beauty

Ojo

Denim, Sequin and Happy Thanksgiving...

Happy thanksgiving everyone. It's thanksgiving Friday or black Friday as it is popularly called and I am home just relaxing and taking a break from anything related to work. It was a fun day yesterday at my home; a lot of singing and dancing and eating. It was indeed a day to count all those wonderful blessings God bestowed on us all. Like it or not, everyone sure has something to be thankful for. The pictures in this post were taken last weekend  and I just decided to share it in my style/fashion diary; my blog!...:)

It's a very simple semi casual and semi dressy look and since sequins are somewhat trendy now, I incorporated it into my style with the silver sequin xhiliration shoulder bag. The denim skirt was designed by me. I had always wanted a dressy denim skirt and when I could not find what I wanted at the department stores, I hit the fabric store and with denim fabric in one hand and a sketch on the other hand, I went to see my tailor and this is the final product here.

I like the flared hem of the skirt. You can see a previous post on it here

We finally have our "Minne-snow-ta" weather back. It snowed yesterday and since the temperature dropped a lot, we still have up to three inches of wet snow on the ground and it is really really cold. (Like I said earlier, these are pictures from last week.) It seems like I'll really have to say goodbye now officially to my summer outfits and just embrace all the jackets and boots and sweater dresses in order to keep warm. My goal is to keep on incorporating color into every outfit all through the winter season.

 

The thanksgiving continues everyday and I will keep on counting my blessings with great gratitude to God for his wonderful works. Thanks for reading everyone. **Kisses**

 

 

Beauty

Ojo

My-Shopping...Where?

Hi All, wishing you you a happy thanksgiving and all the best of the season as you dine and shop with your loved ones. What better time to talk about shopping than now; the busiest shopping season of the year? I took these pictures a year ago on one of my shopping sprees with hubby and it really took my mind back when I stumbled upon them in one of my picture folders.
I remember the weather being very nice and mild and I decided to wear this light white cotton top by Nine West and some simple denim; very comfy outfit for shopping in an outdoor mall that had cool nice music blaring from the buried speakers as we moved from store to store. Some sun glasses and white strapy sandals completed the look. I also could not do without my all time favorite teal handbag which comes handy all the time whether I want to dress up or dress down.

                                                                                                    traa-laa...:)

So, to answer my own question; shopping where? I will say that I can shop anywhere and everywhere so long as there are good deals there and quality items. I do not believe that anyone has to shop from high end stores all the time even if you can afford it. There are quality items in affordable stores too and most of the time the high end stores just charge exorbitant prices just for marketing and packaging alone anyway. Usually, I go to to big and expensive stores when they have sales and discounts going on and at regular times, I just go to my dearly beloved affordable store. Most of the time I shop online too because I usually get promotional e-mails in my shopping e-mail account reserved specially for getting discount notifications. I already gave a list of my favorite stores in a previous post I did and I will like to say that since this is the best time of getting good discounts from stores, let's take advantage of it while exercising a little bit of restraint or caution. There is no need purchasing an item if you do not really need it. Save the dollar$$ for something else that will come handy in the future.

 

 

So that is it for now. Happy thanksgiving and God bless! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and reading.

 

 

Beauty

Ojo

My-Shopping...How?

Hi beauties! I'm back.....!! I trust everyone is doing great and gearing up for thanksgiving. Although everyone is in a celebratory mood at this time and ready to do all the end of the year shopping and enjoy all the holidays coming up but please let's not forget the victims of Hurricane Sandy in the East Coast. They still need our prayers and all that we can give to help.

The pictures in this post were all taken over a year ago when my family and I went to the Mall of America for some shopping and some fun and that is exactly the answer to my own question; My- Shopping...how? and the answer is that I just have fun! A lot of ladies enjoy shopping and I will say I am one of them. I do try to shop when I can get good discounts though and whenever there are big sales going on. Yes! That is being thrifty. There is no use throwing money away when it can be saved for something else. And have you ever bought something at regular price and then see that same item go up on sale soon after that at a very great discount? Well, I have and ouch!! it hurts!!!

So now, I just stalk particular shops where I like to shop and the best way to do this is to sign up for E-mail discounts from the store and if you are like me and do not like to get all those hundreds of annoying marketing e-mails in your regular mail, just have a different e-mail set up for store discounts and you can check in occasionally to know what promotions are going on at your favorite store. You can also give your mailing address too if you do not mind and all those coupons and promotional offers can be mailed straight to your home. A word of caution about this though. You must learn how to exercise restraint so that you do not run off to shop each time you get a good bargain. I have shoved a lot of coupons in the trash or passed them off to friends because I do not want to be a shopping addict. it was hard to do at first but now I've got good control and shop on my own terms. Some stores also want you to use their credit card in order to get good discounts and such mail gets in the trash mail too.

                                                                          My beautiful family

                                                                                          Moi

                                                                        My Kids and their friend

                          My baby...I had to add a dash of color to her outfit with the fuchsia ankle boots

                                                                  The leaders of tomorrow

                                                                                     My friend J and I  

Yeah, this was actually the same day the pictures above were taken. We went to the MOA (Mall of America) after church service and I took a change of clothes with me and actually changed in the restroom  into my casual clothes. A quick clean-up with hand sanitizer and I had fun shopping and playing with the kids. Mall of America in Bloomington Minnesota has very a wide range of entertainment for shoppers; parks, theaters...

                                                                           My Church Look

 

My Casual look

 

 

 

Thanks for reading everyone and enjoy yourself with family and friends this weekend and do not fail to thank God for everything in your life including the bad moments. If you give him total control of your life, he will turn your sadness into joy. He is there just waiting for everyone to reach out to him and he will never force himself on anyone but will welcome everyone who is ready to come to him with open hands.

 

 

Beauty

Ojo

My-Shopping...When?

Hi beautiful people, we are gradually approaching the end of the year and definitely the most beautiful time  of the year too with all the holidays, shopping and festivities. Thanksgiving is next week; "Yay!!" and as those of us in the US know, this is the official kick-off of the shopping season. I have not started my Christmas shopping yet but I decided that this is the best time to do a blog post on shopping. More so, since I have had these pictures saved on my computer a long time, I felt like this is the best time to upload them on my blog.


My first thought when I uploaded these pictures a year ago on my computer was that I'll never share them with people due to the serious wardrobe malfunction in the pictures but somehow I changed my mind and I am sharing them any way. **Do not ask me why**...:)

So here I am in this pic strolling through the aisle of a department store in heels. Do I always shop in heels or do ladies usually dress up in five inch heels to go shopping? And the answer is "Yes" and "No."

I was on my way to a friend's birthday party with hubby and remembered that I had not completed my shopping for the week and made a dash for the store. We were a little early for the party and had some time to spare so I rushed from aisle to aisle getting toiletries and all the knick knacks I needed not knowing that hubby who was supposed to be waiting for me in the car had followed me into the store and was taking pictures. You can guess I got quite a shock when I bumped into him in the aisle!

I was wearing this little navy blue glitter dress I bought from Tj Maxx with hot pink Jennifer Simpson's clutch and Victoriassecret pumps in a different shade of pink called lingdonberry. It was close to being matchy-matchy but I liked the way the two colors blended together. I also had silver drop ear-rings with pink studs and a black jacket on hand for the sudden change in weather.

                                                                                                                         Hubby and I

          At the Party and yeah, that is all we had to drink; pop! We are not drinkers at all...:)

So to answer the question "When do I shop?" I will say I shop whenever it is convenient for me. On my way back from work  or online. It is something I always do in a hurry and spontaneously most times. I rarely will leave the house dressed up just to go to the store and shop. It is always something I do while trying to get other things done so I always go to places where I can get good deals and quick check-outs. I am a busy-busy mom...:-) I wish you all a happy thanksgiving in advance.

Beauty

Ojo