Do What You Love - New Blog Find

We all define success in different ways. To some, it's the money you make or the job title. To others, it's a large family and close friends. I believe it's doing what you love with the people you love around you. One of my new finds is a blog dedicated to people who do what they love. Through interviews with potcasts and pictures, it's impossible to not feel inspired to pursue that one thing you never thought you could. I encourage anyone to check it out.

http://www.dowhatyouloveforlife.com/

Pita Jungle for the Pits

I'm feeling a bit depressed today but I can't pin point the cause. Complete lack of energy and motivation. Maybe it's just because it's Sunday. The one perk of my day was lunch at Pita Jungle. My all time favorite restaurant. I also realized today that they began in Phoenix. I found this strange because it is not your typical Phoenix style restaurant. Instead, it's filled with plain clothes cooks and servers, hippie style Mediterranean food and bohemian decor. The food is amazing and the atmosphere is laid back and relaxed. That's probably why I love it and especially needed it on a day like this. Growing up in Portland, it feels like a piece of home in a foreign land. My pesto pizza was just what I needed. The only problem is that when I go there, I have desires to move out of this state...or even the country. To explore and begin an adventure that will lead me into an exciting unknown. Maybe that is the reason for the melancholy. Routine. So necessary, yet very mundane. I long for something random and chaotic. I've indulged myself in these desires before: Moving 3000 miles away from home. Packing up all my belongings in a car and driving to the desert. Shaving my head in the middle of my mother's kitchen. But today, the possibility of indulgence seems impossible. There is something to be said for safe. But I wonder. At what price.

My New Moccasins

The Anniversary Sale was good but I have to say, I've been to better sales at Nordstrom. Although there were deals, I was hoping for rakes of shoes and clothes on crazy sale. To my discovery, it was all the new season items that were for sale. I realize now, how naive of a shopper I am and how much I have to learn. Through it all, I did make one purchase. Ironically, they were not even on sale. I had been wanting a pair of moccasins for awhile, but not everywhere offers this selection. While at Nordstrom, I found a small display for Minnetonka Moccasins. At $40, they were very doable so I tried some on in different colors. I ended up taking home brown ones which I am very excited about. This is my very first moccasin purchase and I'm looking forward to experimenting with them as right now, I'm not quite sure what to wear them with.

I have to admit that the next Nordstrom Anniversary Sale I might not be so eager to make the trip. But not all is lost. Life is all about trial and error. Without this very vital aspect, we would stand still forever and die of boredom.

Anniversary Sale!!!

Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale started today! Although I wasn't able to make it today(sad), I will be there tomorrow!! I'm hoping to pick up some great shoes, some new denim and anything on a great deal. The only place close around here that actually had a Nordstrom is Fashion Square Mall 45 minutes away. They really need to build one on my side of town. They did just build a Nordstrom Rack which I'm happy about - but nothing beats the real thing. I plan to hit a couple of other places along the way like H&M and Banana Republic. I better get to sleep so I can save up all my energy for some marathon shopping! To view some of the great stuff on sale, check out the link below:

http://www.nordstrom.com/

I love love LOVE the 2012 Alice + Olivia Resort collection. It's full of color and my all time favorite, Wide Brim Hats! I've been wanting one for awhile and this is all the more motivation to kick it into gear. I'll keep you posted on that one. Here are my 3 top favs from the collection. Oh! How fun is summer!!

A year later - Is your LV real?

Wow. That worked well. One post and nothing for over a year. I'm on a roll! I think perhaps I had blog mania and got a little ahead of myself. In the past year I've started and stopped fashion school, found my inner confidence and got my credit score to a much better place! I've also found the value of ebay and antique stores. My most recent find was a LV bag......


I found the bag at an antique store in Prescott, AZ for $15. Apparently, the man who owned the booth had never even heard of the brand and was not aware of it's possible value. The woman at the front counter said it was a good find and couldn't tell right off the bat if it was real or not. So, I bought it. This began my research into how to authenticate a Louis Vuitton. During my search I found these 11 main points:




1. The pattern is always symmetrical. Always. If it's off centered or tilted in any way, it's not the real thing.

2. The LV is never cute off. (Except on shoes....cause they are small) You should always be able to see then entire LV logo. All of them.

3. The stitching is always perfect and even. Any loose threads probably means it's a fake. Any seams that might run back and forth from the seam unevenly are not real.

4. LV uses heavy thick hardware. A lot of the fakes use a smaller lighter weight plastic version.

5. LV has a certain font they use. The O is always like a circle. Some of the fakes, the O in Louis is more of an oval. The font is also very neat and never slanted.

6. LV never includes an authenticity card, so if your bag comes with one....FAKE.

7. The tags are never actually attached to the bag, they are placed inside a pocket.

8. The handles NEVER have plastic wrapped around them. This is a big one. I lot of the replica's will wrap the handles in plastic but LV never does.

9. After wear, the leather parts(handles for example) will darken.

10. Check to see if it's ever been part of a collection. If they never made that style....obviously fake. For example, they came out with a cherry print, however, never put it on the speedy. So if you come across a cherry speedy...fake. Also, they never came out with a bag that has the red LV on it. They put pictures on their website of bags that have it to throw off the replica manufacturers, however, they never actually produced them. So, a red LV is a sure way to determine it's a fake. Click on the link to see the current collections:
http://louisvuitton.com

11. Lastly, LV NEVER has sales, discounts or outlets and there are no approved resellers. So, unless you are buying it second hand, it's not real if you didn't buy it from the actual store at full price.


After review of these 11 points, I have come to the realization that even though at first glance, the bag looks real...it's a fake :( It got every point except #4 and #10. The hardware is a little on the small light side and I can't find it in any collection. I found one similar....but not the same.




I was a little bummed about this discovery, however, I'll still keep it and use it occasionally. For $15 - I can fake it once in a while.

First Post - a personal note to self

The first post is always a tough one. Where do I start? How do I begin? Instead of trying to come up with something clever or waste countless hours to come up with a catchy phrase, I decided to be myself. This is me. The good and the bad.

For most of my life, I grew up thinking I could do anything. Like most young ones I had dreams of conquering the world. Somewhere along the way, I lost faith in this idea. I began to think I was only as good as what I was doing right then and there. Most of the time, it wasn't a whole lot. How did this happen? How did I loose myself in skepticism and negativity? Perhaps it was too many disappointments or heartbreaks. Perhaps it was the world telling me I wasn't good enough. Whatever the reason, I lost it.

I am now on a mission to regain my sense of conquering self and find out what I can do. I would like to side note and say that I believe with all my heart that only with God is anything possible. Now that I have realized that, I have also realized what it means to actually live life. To live with a purpose. Wow, it's so much better to have something to live for than to feel like your wandering around grasping at what you think might be real.

I am no longer scared of what the world might think. I'm also no longer concerned with what the world thinks is possible. I've listened to the world and it's left me wasting my time worrying about my waist size and complexion. I've been distracted by what I'm not for too long. I'm only interested now in gaining freedom to know that there is no limit to what I can be. No limit to love, no limit to life and no limit to the possibilities.

This blog is dedicated to regaining what my mother has always believed about me. With God, dedication and a little insanity: Anything is possible.