Wordless Wednesday- Easter

"I love my girlfriend-Trish's Wordless Wednesdays over at Pink Preppy Lilly Lover, so I'm going to join in starting this week with an Easter Edition. :)"

 

Images via

XOXO- Vy

Catching up with one of my favorites- Cathi

Good day!!! Yesterday was such a whirlwind of a day.  I'm still in shock. 
*blink.blink*
I came into my office yesterday morning, just like any other morning and was hit with a not-so-good surprise. All I can say is that I now report to someone else, and my boss who I enjoy working with is, on leave until further notice. :(  Needless to say, my day was rocked.

Cathi and her DH- Mike

But the BEST thing about yesterday was that one of my besties, Cathi whom I haven't seen in about 10 years, came up from Georgia and had dinner with Tommy and I last night.  This is the woman picked up everything for a 2 weeks and drove with me across the continent from Nevada to Virginia Beach when I was leaving a bad relationship. We had such fun stories to re-tell last night from the time we were in the middle of Wyoming about  48 miles from any exit with a gas station (we'd just past an exit with gas stations) and ran out of gas.  We had to call a tow truck and had them bring out 5 gallons of gas. 2 hours and $50 later, we were on our way again.  I don't think we talked for the rest of the state.  We told Tommy stories of our need to buy lottery tickets in every state, hoping that we'd HAVE to win big, and about the Roach Coach hotel we stayed in. Ewwww.. Oh the experiences we had! We learned a lot about each other since we were stuck together in a car driving 3000 miles. We were already great friends, but the drive brought us even closer.
We were supposed to start our new lives together on the east coast in Virginia Beach, but after 2 weeks, she went back home to Nevada to be near her children. It was not a fun goodbye, but she had promised that she'd come back.  We kept in touch when we could. I moved several times and I was probably the harder one to keep in touch with.  Then along came Myspace and Facebook- we reconnected and starting talking on the phone again.  Modern technology can really be a great thing.
Not only did Cathi and I connect, she also found her high school sweetheart on Facebook and they also reconnected.  He was divorced in Atlanta, she was divorced in Arizona, they planned a meeting, and next thing I know, Cathi moved down to be with her love in Atlanta. They are now married, and moving even closer to the East Coast. By the end of April, they'll be in either the Carolinas or Virginia. I'm just sooo excited we'll be within driving distance of each other once again!!!
It's these moments in life like time with friends and family that I truly cherish.  Time is priceless and true friendships should be held onto.  It's so easy to get consumed with life's daily grind, but harder to make time for some of life's simple gestures.  I'm trying to work on making that phone call or send a card when I think of someone, whether it's family, friends, or anyone I'm thinking of. On that note, I think I need to call my mom...
Have you called someone you love today???

XOXO- Vy

Raindrops on Roses...

...and whiskers on kittens...

All you need to know are the first two lines of one of my favorite songs to know what this post is really about...

Beach= Happy place

Nothing reminds me of summer like steamed crabs!

Orchids! They're so beautiful and exotic!

My pink camera... I never leave home without it!

I adore anything toile!

My Mac

Shoes! Shoes! Shoes!

Audrey Hepburn and Breakfast at Tiffany's

Tilghman Island Inn- Eastern Shore

My brother and dad

Golfing (with pink balls of course)

THE ULTIMATE LOVE OF MY LIFE!

And those are a few of my favorite things...
What are some of your favorite things???
I'm thinking about making Fridays my "Friday Favorites". :)

I'm off to Poquoson, VA this weekend, Tommy's hometown. Poquoson is just Southeast of Williamsburg and just before you get to Virginia Beach (my hometown).  I'll share more on Poquoson in another post. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

 XOXO- Vy

Wedding Planning Wednesday- Shoes

Shoes, shoes, shoes!
I've got the gown. I've got the veil.
I'm a shorty, so the gown I've bought has to be altered to fit my little short self, and to accurately gauge how much they need to take the gown up, I need to have my shoes. Awww shucks, I HAVE to go shoe shopping??? You're going to have to twist my arm!
So I'm on a mission to find the perfect shoes! I'm a girl all about details.  So instead of going with traditional white bridal shoes, I'm going to go with pink shoes! It'll make for some fun pictures and it's totally me! (Thanks Trish for the extra vote). So, in my preliminary online search, I've found the following:

Badgley Mischka

Badgley Mischka

Badgley Mischka

Miu Miu

I will have to say that finding pink bridal shoes is not as easy as I thought! So I expanded my search to pink evening shoes/ heels.

Stuart Weitzman

RSVP

Pour La Victoire

My gown is diamond white, in organza, and has Swarovski crystals and flower details.  I could go toned down, light, and girlie; or I can go bold, fun, and colorful. What do you all think?

XOXO- Vy

Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry's

I know some of you are gonna be mad at me for telling you... BUT
TODAY, TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 2010 IS FREE CONE DAY AT BEN AND JERRY'S!!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE ice cream! It's one of my weaknesses and not good for my Weight Watchers diet.  I am a total sucker for ice cream.  During high school I'd come home everyday and eat a bowl of ice cream...any kind really. But my all time favorite is Breyer's Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream... YUM!!! It's like a taste of my childhood. I remember many a family event where we were treated with some of this yummy goodness. All the kids in my family were fans of it, and still are! 

I will have to say that a couple weeks ago Tommy and I were at the grocery store and I was in need for another container of ice cream.  I like the Edy's Slow Churned ice cream because it's 1/2 the fat, 1/3 fewer calories, yes- tastes the same as regular ice cream! (At least that's why the package says and that's what I'm going with.) So, I take a look at the Edy's ice cream display, and what do my eyes see??? EDY'S GIRL SCOUT SAMOAS SLOW CHURNED ICE CREAM! I had to get it! I immediately went home and scooped a bite out of the container...It was AMAZING! If you love Girl Scout Samoas cookies, and you love ice cream like I do, you'll LOVE the marriage of these two sweet treats! And for a serving size of a half cup, it's only 120 calories! Apparently, they're only available January- April. So you've got to try it before it's gone!

Here are some pictures of Tommy and I at the Ben and Jerry's Vermont Factory... yes, we did the tour and got our free sample.  And I bought my favorite ice cream bowl there... it always makes me smile.

My ice cream bowl from Ben and Jerry's

I had to beg Tommy to pose in this picture

Ok, I think this one was really for the kiddos... but I'm a forever kid at heart! :)

XOXO- Vynuss

Spring's First Blooms and the National Cherry Blossom Festival

 
It is so refreshing to see the sun and feel the warmth of Spring... well at least over this past weekend. (Today it's raining and the sun peeps out from time to time, teasing us) It's so nice to be able to walk outside sans jacket or heavy winter coat. In fact, being the shoe-a-holic that I am, I've already started to pull out my peep toes and flip flops! I know it's probably a little early for the flip flops, but being a beach girl, it's NEVER too early for flip flops!! It just makes me get even more excited for summer and beach weather!  Oh to take my shoes off and let my toes sink into the sand... "Dear beach, I shall be at your shore side soon enough."
It's been in the upper 60s/ low 70s here in Northern Virginia. Tommy and I took our dog, Marley, for a nice stroll around the neighborhood. As we're walking and talking about our future, we turn a corner to see a tree starting to bloom. Of course being the picture taker I am, I had to get a shot of it. It just makes me happy to know that it's Spring!!! :)
One of the fun things about Spring and Northern Virginia is the annual Cherry Blossom festival celebrating the beauty of the cherry blossoms surrounding the Tidal Basin.  The cherry blossoms were given to the US from Japan as a gift and celebrates the friendship between the US and Japan.  I haven't been to the festival in a few years, but this year I'm definitely going to make plans to attend.  If you're around the area between March 27, 2010 and April 11, 2010, be sure to stop and see the cherry blossoms! I love them because they are beautiful and pink!!! The opening ceremonies are Saturday, March 27th at the National Building Museum in DC.  There will be all kinds of festivities Japanese inspired. There's also a parade on Saturday, April 10th at 10:00 AM. You can find more information about the festivities and events here.  While you're in the area there's tons of other things to do and see... you've got a bunch of Smithsonian Museums, Restaurants of just about every cuisine and price, and lots of shopping.  C'mon out and see the sights and festivities, maybe I'll see you there!

XOXO- Vynuss

Surprises in the mail- JEWELRY!

There's nothing I love more than getting packages in the mail (I can't say the same for bills).  This week was a pretty good week of surprises.  First, coming back from Vegas, I received my Lilly Pulitzer Pink Jubilee Toile Cuff which I got from Bethany over at Maryland Pink and Green.  She's got a really great blog that I love to read. If you love Lilly and all things preppy and girlie, you should definitely add her to your reads.  The neat thing is that we're practically neighbors (she's in Maryland, and I'm in Northern Virginia) so I got my braclet in snappy jiffy! Don't you just love it?!? I feel in love with it the moment I saw it and HAD to have it.  Of course since it's pink and I LOVE to wear pink, I'm sure it'll get a lot of use. Thanks Bethany!!

Then on Thursday after a crazy day at work and an exam in Philosophy, I came home to get a package from Tommy's cousin, Kristen.  She'd sent me a new charm for my bracelet.  What a great way to brighten my day!!! Tommy's family all collect Chamilia charm beads/ Pandora charms, and I just started mine.  So Kristen got me a dragon!  Being Asian, I have always loved dragons and believe they are good luck.

New Dragon from Kristen

And here's the dragon on my bracelet.

My first charm was from Tommy, it's the Yoga Frog to the right of the pink glass bead.  Of course I'd like to collect all the beach themed charms... there's so many to choose from!  I would have to say the next couple ones I'd like to get are:

Dragonflies as it's my signature

Sand Castle

Sand Dollar

Whale... isn't it just cute!?!

What do you guys think? Anyone else collect charms?

XOXO- Vynuss

Happy Birthday to my Brother- Chris

At our Aunt's wedding
I'm wearing one of my Lilly Dresses!

Today is my younger brother, Chris', birthday!  I absolutely love him to death!  Growing up, he was all that I had.  Our parents split when we were fairly young, and our dad raised us single-handedly. He was  At times he was a bit of a nuisance, hopping on the other phone line when I was chatting with my friends or even worse- my boyfriends.  The worst part about it was that this was back in the day when the phones were attached to the walls and we didn't have mobile phones. So he'd lock himself in the room and listen to all my phone conversations, and I couldn't do anything about it. At least not until he emerged from the room.  Then he got smart and didn't come out until our dad came home from work- I wasn't allowed to hit him then. Lucky kid.

Remember these??

Another funny story that I can remember about my brother is about the day he was born.  On March 19, 1984 my little brother was born.  I, being only 4 years old and not allowed to stay at the hospital overnight, was at home with my uncle.  My dad came home to pick me to take me to the hospital see my new baby brother as it was visiting hours; I refused.  I didn't want to go.  I remember being so jealous that there was going to be someone else and I wouldn't be the only child. Now, I couldn't imagine not having my brother! I love him, he's my world.

Happy Birthday dear brother!!!

XOXO- Vynuss