Oh, gosh! What a wonderful week it’s turning out to be! First and foremost, I finally bought my precious new Mac. I have been waiting to buy this beauty for 5 years!!

Y’all, it’s so pretty I can’t even really contain myself as I’m typing this post.

Second awesome thing this week…I launched my greeting card business! When I went to San Diego for work back in June, I found this adorable anchor charm that I wanted to send to my cousin (she’s obsessed). I didn’t want to just throw it in an envelope but I quickly found that I didn’t have any cute “just because” cards. So, it sparked me to just create my own. It’s been a long 4 months and more so a long week – I literally was in tears fighting with shopping cart plugins all week. But needless to say, my baby is alive and ready to be purchased! Here are some of my favorites:

I think I’ve told you all before that I’m not much of a horoscope person but I think that’s kind of a lie, because I now read it religiously every day. Anyhoo, I thought it was pretty funny because today’s actually said “happygolucky” in it! Here it is:

This should be a really fun day for you, Aquarius. Your charm is extra high today and those who cross your path will be lifted by your kind heart and your jubilant spirit. You may even find that special invitations and opportunities pop up all day long. You can magnify the joy of this fortunate time by assisting those in your midst who need a helping hand, some words of encouragement, or just a smile. And with your happy-go-lucky aura, you may also attract a wonderful chance to get ahead financially and personally.

So crazy, right? (Do you think the app on my phone reads my emails or something? It’s always so dead on!)

Okay, sorry for my horoscope tangent – back on track…

I already had a handful of people asking me if I was going to create holiday cards and my first thought was, “but I just made all these!” Then I realized today that holiday cards might be a fun adventure too. So, I’ve been sketching a little and coming up with some cute holiday cards ideas so stay tuned.

(If you wanna check out my greeting cards, go here: http://www.hglcreations.com)

Lastly, I have a new fun interview with a recent band crush that I will be posting later today to the Sing Me Sweet series and I am so excited! And it’s only Wednesday! I cannot wait to see what else the week has in store. Oh, and my nephew recently turned two and I just had to share this cute photo of him. Hope you all are having a great week, too!

xoxo

Have any of you ever seen that show, Secret Millionaire? The show basically documents a millionaires experience where they go undercover in a city that has high poverty and crime and they volunteer at organizations. In the end, they donate however much of their own personal money to the organization. My friend, Jessica, told me about this show last week and I was pretty obsessed with watching it. Every show puts you on the brink of tears because even though in the end these organizations are getting thousands and thousands of dollars from essentially a stranger, it’s amazing to see how much people have sacrificed in their own lives to just help other people.

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of going to Give Kids the World, a local non-profit organization in Orlando, that exists only to fulfill the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses. They bring their entire family to Central Florida, for free, and give them the experience of a lifetime with trips to the attractions, a wonderful home to stay in for, and lots of activities around the grounds, including ice cream for breakfast, movies at the pool, and even pirate vs. princess dinners. They have helped over 115,000 children get their wish and the organization is truly truly amazing. On a weekly basis they have about 7,000 volunteers help them make these memorable experiences happen for these children and family.

Even though I didn’t get to work directly with any kids, it was just amazing to walk around and see everything that they have built, from the ground up, to help other people.

When I went, we split up in two groups – one was to do some hard manual labor outside and one was to set up Christmas for the kids in their theatre. (They set up Christmas every week for the kids.) Of course, I ended up in the manual labor group where we took up juniper bushes and their roots and then built a drainage ditch. Talk about sweating!

Between watching Secret Millionaire and the volunteer work I had the pleasure of doing a few weeks ago, it just makes me realized how much more we can give and do for people less fortunate. Even if it’s only a few hours.

How do you give back?

*To learn more about Give Kids the World, visit http://www.gktw.org/

[Disclaimer: We did not actually participate in cow tipping, people. It's a joke. Now, carry on...]

I am no stranger to the land of zipping and this past weekend I had the pleasure of joining some of the other Central Florida bloggers at Zip Orlando! Let me just tell you, it was a blast! I swear, it never gets old zipping through trees and over water and animals. I can’t imagine getting to do that everyday!

We started off at the Zip Orlando office and then piled into a van to go to the Green Meadows Petting Farm, where they have built the zipping course. (So, just in case you decide to be lame, you have a place to go while you wait for the other brave souls. =) )

Part of having a good time anywhere and at anytime is having good company, and we definitely had a great group of people, including our guides, Brooke and Carl. Those two are crazy and absolutely a blast. From making me feel comfortable zipping (as if I wasn’t a pro already), to joke telling, to making us sing songs as we zipped through the trees… there was never a dull moment! And in case you were wondering, I sang The Beatles, Yellow Submarine, as I zipped through the trees. I know my amazing voice definitely didn’t scare any animals away. =)

The zips ranged from from 225 – 950 feet long and upwards of 65 feet off the ground! And you can also enjoy the dual racing zips but don’t ask to race me because I’ll surely beat you.

Check out some photos from the day below!

And don’t forget to say hello to the cows…

So, who wants to come night zipping with me? Y’all know you wanna wear glow sticks while flying through the trees. =)

*For more information about Zip Orlando, click here

Forgive me and the ramblings that may occur in this post. I’m on a bunch of Prednisone & its making me hyper as hell. I literally can feel my heart beating through my arms and fingers and I’m so jittery I can hardly type. Nonetheless, I’ve been feeling prettyyyyy shitty lately and after 10 days, I finally feel like I am getting somewhere. I have had my fair share of allergy issues over the past years but nothing as terrible as the last 2 times. Really, I just blame it on Orlando. I never had allergy problems before I moved here. So, yeah. Boo you, Orlando.

Anyway. After drugging myself and spending countless dollars on Mucinex, Clariton D, Flonase, cough syrups, I finally went to an allergy specialist, because nothing was helping my cough. Apparently, I have some kind of allergic asthma, which is causing all the coughing attacks, weezing, shortness of breath, etc… It’s just so crazy how you develop more and more issues as an adult. I guess that’s what comes with getting older.
–no comment on the age thing, people–

I go back next week for skin testing & will probably be put on a prescription allergy pill and inhaler. Fancy.

For now, I have a sample inhaler and am taking high doses of Prednisone. Fun!

(Hey, I’m just trying to keep my spirits up.)

Needless to say, I’ve been spending some quality time with my couch and bed as well as watching an inordinate amount of Netflix and Redbox. (I would recommend renting The Debt, The Help, The King’s Speech, and Sarah’s Key.) Seriously. I really like Redbox. Not sure why I haven’t used it before.

Anyways, before the rambling goes any further, Happy Valentine’s Day, kids.

*Photo Credit

I think it finally hit me today that it’s nearly mid-December and the year has officially started to wind down. When did 2012 decide to just sneak up like that?

I can easily say that 2011 has purely been about relationships. I have always been very blessed in who has been put into my life. But over the past few years, I have kind of struggled with knowing who to let in and who to politely shut the door on. Often times, I give people one too many chances and end up getting burned in the end. But this year, this year has been different. I feel like I finally have become much stronger and I feel like I have a good grasp on realizing who does and doesn’t have my best interest at heart.

So, when I look back on 2011, I’m not thinking about who is no longer in my life, I’m just smiling remembering all the millions of moments I have shared with all the wonderful people I am truly blessed to have in my life. I smile thinking about how much we have grown as individuals and as friends and it just makes me so happy.

In a couple of weeks I’ll be starting a new job and another semester at school. I am looking forward to both as well as continuing to build & enjoy my friendships.

Happy Holidays, friends. May yours be filled with joy, love, and laughter.

“Our relationships are mirrors – who we choose, who we let choose us, how people treat us, how we handle the hard patches and the good times – it’s all a mircocosm of our own personalities.” ~Bethenny Frankel

I’m starting to get super excited and nervous about my half marathon. It’s about 10 weeks away and even though I’m WAY behind in my training (see also: 4, 15 hour days a week with school), I’m trying to stay optimistic about my running & being able to accomplish this but sometimes it’s a little difficult. (Doubt is a bitch, isn’t it?)

I’ve run more 5K’s than I can count and I have run one 10K but I don’t have any medals to show for my accomplishments. Is it shallow of me that I’m really looking forward to having a medal after the half? Oh, it’s not? Good, because I am. =)

Anyway, my cousin sent me an article earlier in the week about a woman who lost 50 lbs with the help of her online supporters and obviously, her dedication. After being sucked into her Tumblr for at least 30 minutes the other day, I found myself lighting up after every post I read and I found myself motivated and inspired to FIND time to run, regardless of my insane schedule.

I’ve been getting up a few mornings a week to run before work and although I can’t commit as much time as I’d like to, it’s better than nothing, right? And even though my eyes are oh so tired when I’m lacing up my shoes, it feels so good to be running again. I get some weird satisfaction out of battling myself during a run and I smile when my legs are sore.

So, I give you full permission to slap me if you find me complaining about being tired or not wanting to run. And after you slap me, please remind me to come read this post.

“Time spent wishing something was easier is time wasted. The things worth going after will be at the end of very difficult roads. That’s the way life works. Don’t sit around and wish things were easier. Get better. People have a tendency to want to make the obstacle smaller rather than make themselves bigger. But you are the only part of that equation that you control.” ~LL Cool J

(yeah, I just quoted LL Cool J – deal.)

In other news, my nephew just turned 1 this week (please tell the time warp to slow down) and I had to share a few cute photos:

Have a great rest of the week!

Get excited!!

I finally switched my blog over to WordPress from Drupal (sorry, Drupal friends). I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now but just have not had the time. Regardless, it’s done & I’m pretty pleased. It’s quite different from my old site but it’s now consistent with my “brand” (I feel like a princess when I say that) and I think it will be much easier to maintain in the future.

Anyway, hope you like it as much as I do and I’m also pretty excited to be going to Dallas next week! Thought this vacation was never going to come.

Photo credits: http://weheartit.com/entry/8335288 & http://weheartit.com/entry/13420769