Lovely Obsessions! {4th edition}

I started a new job recently....YAY! And have been so busy that blogging & shopping have been very missed in my life.... so when I got a chance to go shopping I was ecstatic! 

I did some monetary damage but found such lovely things that I am SO excited about!

my pretty Solar Lantern!

Punch bowl!

I've been wanting a punch bowl forever!

Glasses & Goblets!! Couldn't resist they were just so pretty

A yellow purse...ahhhh!!!! 

SHOES!

Last but not least,

I've been wanting a candy dish forever! And finally found one!! WOOOHOOO!

(Of course it's filled with M&M's)

I truly enjoyed hunting for these lovely things!

Here are some cute things I found online and thought they were amazing!

I want!

I LOVE! 

An heirloom brooch bouquet! Just lovely!

Nails done lovely! {part2}

I wanted to try something new for my manicure this week and a while back a friend of mine had told me about the newspaper nails...so I did it.

 It's so easy & so much fun!

 Sorry that my pics are not too clear but I promise it was cute!

Step 1: I painted them a light pink color.

Step 2: Then cut small pieces of newspaper.

Step 3: I dampened a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol.

Step 4: Then placed the newspaper on my nail and held it down with the wet cotton ball for 5 seconds.

Step 5: Peel off the newspaper and apply clear top coat to seal the design! 

I think next time I will try it with the comics section of the newspaper to get some color with it!

Just in case you wanted another way to do this, I found a YouTube video of the design:

Try something new!
Have a lovely day!

A to Z about me!

Hola! Want to learn a little bit more about me?

One of my favorite blogs did the A to Z post and encouraged us to do it too! 

So, I wanted to jump in on the fun!

A. Age: 29
B. Bed size: Queen
C. Chore that you hate: Ironing & vacuuming!
D. Dogs: When I was little we had a semoyan (not sure if that is spelled right) husky named Ewok and I loved him!
E. Essential start to your day: FOOD! Sometimes coffee.
F. Favorite color: Hard to say but if I must then it's red, blue, yellow and gray
G. Gold or Silver:  Hmmm, I like both but I guess gold wins.
H. Height: 5'2"
I. Instruments you play: Well I like guitar & keys but play very little because I never stuck with them....boo!
J. Job title: Direct Care staff for an International Children's shelter by day.....Lovely things maker by night!
K. Kids: I don't want any right now but I do love kids especially my nieces & nephews! 
L. Live: in Texas.
M. Mother’s name: Wanda Ivette....I think her name is so cool! She passed along Ivette to me as well!
N. Nicknames: My family call me Esha, my sister calls me 'E', hubs calls me 'M' & my parents call me Mely or Baby!
O. Overnight hospital stays:  Thank God I have never been hospitalized but I have spent many evenings there with friends and family.
P. Pet peeves: I don't like a messy house, when people aren't straightforward, when people make me repeat myself, I hate being lied to.
Q. Quote from a movie: "I didn't know they gave out rings at the Holocaust" LOL! I love comedies they are my fave! 
R. Right or left handed: Right.
S. Siblings: Brother and a Sister!
T. Time you wake up: I could sleep til noon if you let me!
U. Underwear: Ummm, I wear them! Hahaha
V. Vegetable you hate: Spinach can be gross if prepared incorrectly.
W. What makes you run late:  Ummm procrastination! 
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Teeth & Chest 
Y. Yummy food that you make: I always make lasagna for new company, I think Italian food is my forte.
Z. Zoo animal: Zebras of course! And Giraffes are pretty!

Have a lovely evening! 

Shoes made Lovely!

I know I've said it before that I secretly would love to be a shoe designer. 

Seriously, thinking that this will be my next venture [or at least shoe enhancer because I just want to pretty them up].

I have a pair of shoes that were given to me and so I decided to D.I.Y. them up!

Step 1: Cut a piece of lace & pick out a button to use 

Step 2: Adding lace & buttons with hot glue

Step 3: Spray w/ fabric glitter paint & add extra
buttons or embellishments as desired!

Voilà!

It looks spotty in the picture but I promise it looks way better in person.

I just loved the outcome.....don't you?

Lastly, I have a pair of shoes that my mother in law bought for me and I love them. 

They are comfy & stylish! All I did to these was change the color of the heel.

Original shoe

Step 1: Tapped up and ready for action!

Step 2: Spray to areas needed

Step 3: Let them dry & pick an outfit to show them off!

Hope you are enjoying your lovely weekend!

All Smiles!

This past weekend was pretty eventful! It began with a fun trip to the mall and the APPLE store :D 

I love having Fridays off the spend with my love!

Then we attended the 1 year anniversary dinner for the Spanish congregation at Westover Hills where we go to church! Crazy...that just a year ago we started our spanish services and boy has the church grown astronomically! 

They truly are a congregation of beautiful people. I am so grateful to be serving there! 

Saturday & Sunday we had the talented worship artist Lucia Parker in all of our weekend services. 

She is a worshiper and a sweet heart! I truly had a blast worshipping with her and our music ministry.

Then the weekend ended with some amazing (FREE) tickets to see Carlos Santana...AHHHH!

I was ecstatic for that! He is an amazing musician and his wife is one of his drum players....she is nothing short of impressive! I promise to share some pics & videos later but here are a few for now!

My happy place!

His happy place [my audio nerd!]

Anniversary Dinner...this place is cute!  

Dinner! YUM!

Cool couch inside the restaurant!

 I loved the Old San Francisco Steakhouse it's adorned with an old Western feel...definitely a photo taking kinda place and they have a flapper sitting on a swing....so stylish! I went to get a picture of the flapper but I guess she went on break :( oh well, next time!

Unintentional twinsies! I love this girl!

 Inside the AT&T center

Michael Franti & Spearhead opened up for Santana!  

Lights, camera, action! Phenomenal!

Hope you had a LOVELY weekend! 

MORE....Calm in the chaos! {part 2}

"Life's Tragedy is that we get old to soon and wise too late." -Benjamin Franklin 

Today I had wisdom on my mind, not my own but the words of a comforting conversation.

Sometimes I think too highly of myself, but then comes a moment when God humbles me.

Yes, it hurts and is uncomfortable but it is so necessary. 

Earlier this week I blogged about Calm in the Chaos and I can honestly say that I am experiencing that....YAY! My life lately has been nothing short of chaotic but thankfully the chaos is not winning. For 2 weeks I had 3 jobs and juggling them was quite a task. I've been very tired lately but thankful because God is providing!

Wisdom is something that I have always prayed for. Just like Solomon in the bible when he was faced with the 2 women arguing over a dead baby...that's a great story by the way.

[Found in 1 Kings 3:16-28 this is my favorite story of the Bible]

I remember being a little girl hearing that story and thinking WOW! I want to be wise like that!!

Anywho...are you in need of wisdom or calm in the chaos?! 

It's attainable....I guarantee....

It can be found in a little book called the B-I-B-L-E.

There truly is nothing better than gleaning from God's wisdom.

Sweet Dreams All and Have a HAPPY WEEKEND! 

MORE....Calm in the chaos!

Our annual women's conference at Westover Hills was about 2 weeks ago and boy did I enjoy it! We had great conferences, worship, desserts, giveaways, and I was able to sell some of my lovely crafts, we also had a kicking after party (even some dancing..woooohoooo!)

We heard from a phenomenal woman with a great testimony, her name is Carol Kent. Her testimony is about living every parents nightmare as she got a 'middle of the night' call that her son had been arrested for murder....WOW! Talk about crisis, chaos, drama, & uncomfortable adjustments! 

You can hear her brief testimony in two parts here & here (they are worth listening to).

In her time of speaking she shared how every Christmas is now spent picking out dinner from the vending machine as she goes to see her son who will be in jail for the rest of his life..... heart-wrenching!

Today, I was just thinking about her testimony and how painful that must be...although I am not a parent I just wanted to cry as she was speaking! 

Sometimes in life we deal with pain, conflict, chaos....etc. But I can honestly say that my life & all of it's chaos does not compare to the pain of what this women feels! 

See, in the middle of our mess it seems like there is no hope, no refuge, even no purpose at all. 

The thing that we must remember is that chaos will come, we will be hurt by others and we will even feel alone...even Jesus suffered this. But there is always a little bit more strength to carry us through and by trusting in God we can heal from the most painful of events. It's true! 

God can do some amazing things! 

I'm praying for everyone who reads this....that God would show himself to you, even in chaos.

This is one of my poetic scribbles in honor of life's CHAOS:

I hear chaos coming but I refuse to allow it to change me.

I have been made in God's image so I can make it through.

I feel the brunt of chaos but I will not surrender to my feelings.

There is a meaning to all of this. 

In the process of the pain I know it is strength that I will gain.

God is by my side and in His truth I can confide.

I will not surrender or retreat because I won't accept defeat.

I will feel calm in the chaos because His glory is my deliverance. 

Side by side, 

Through and through, 

Christ's death gives new life that can heal you!

Our event wristbands

Modeling a veil to promote an event where we get to wear our Wedding
dresses again! So excited for that!

Leading worship with my pals!

Excellent giveaways!

I pray that you enjoy more Calm in your Chaos!

1 Corinthians 10:13 (The Message)

"No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it."

Aloha! {Hawaii}

Lately, the Mr. & I have been talking about where we want to travel to & where we want to visit.
I am trying to get him to commit to a Mediterranean cruise for 2012 [we'll see how soon that goes!]
Also our church is doing a trip to Israel which I would love to go but with some family weddings in the near future I am afraid that he won't have enough vacation time to go to Israel for 10 days and that makes me so extremely sad!!!
On top of that, our music ministry is planning a missions trip to Puerto Rico next summer, so that is an expense we will have to cleverly raise funds for [thus the reason I had to pick up crafting hobbies].

In all our chatting and planning I realize that I have been so blessed to travel and experience a lot of the beauty on this earth, while I still have so many things to see, I am blessed & grateful for what I have seen.
Of all the places I have been I think I have LOVED Hawaii the most!

Back in 2006 my parents took us there and oh boy did we have a blast!
It was the perfect vacation, full of fun, adventure and sweet family time!
Unfortunately, the MR. & I were not married yet so he didn't come along on this LOVELY vacation but it was so amazing that I would love to go back with him some day!
Here are some pics:

He was out on the strip of Waikiki dressed different every night.....fun! 

My lovely little family! 

The famous Diamond Head behind me! 

Pearl Harbor...such a Lovely historic place 

a real Hawaiian luau!

 luau (lū'au) is a Hawaiian feast....oh yes a feast indeed!!!

Snorkeling in the middle of the Pacific Ocean :D!

The lovely view from our room

Driving through the mountains was a beauty! This picture does no justice

 We discovered a fun outdoor market...that's my daddy, he's silly!

Beautiful orchid trees were everywhere!

Our hotel :D! 

Water Trikes were fun!

Lovely Rainbow!

Random photoshoot in the park!

We left our footprints in the sand!

We truly enjoyed ourselves and it was a vacation worth remembering! 

Here are some short videos of our time there, Enjoy:

We picked freshwater pearls from an oyster!

At the Luau they roasted a pig in the ground...that was interesting

Luau FUN! 

A hui hou!! (means Goodbye, until we meet again)