A Nice Day

Last Sunday me and my husband went to the annual Italian Wine Festival. I love going. This is the only wine festival I go to. I love the Italian music and seeing all the Italians. Almost like home. The food is good, the wine is good and there are a lot of DIY'ers.

After we walked around and drank wine my husband stopped off at the park. We took a 2 mile hike around the area and it was real nice. I had a good time.

Afterwards, we went to check out a dog park. They re-did this park and made it exclusively for dogs! There are separate sections for big dogs and little ones.

It was a great day. Mostly we are running about with sports for our son and for my husbands coaching. This was a nice break. Something so simple just made a great day.

Justice Served

I read the paper from back home online weekly. One day back in October I read an article about a 35 year old girl who was dropping off her son to see his father. Apparently they had an argument prior about child support and I guess she was seeing someone new. This enraged him and he shot her six times in front of their son. Four of the shots were fatal. The trial just started this week and ended with less than a 40 minute deliberation finding him guilty of first degree murder! The defense attorney tried to argue that he shot her in self defense. No one bought that. This guy is known to abuse women and he was living with his common law wife and girlfriend.

I do not know anyone from this story. It touched me because this girl is close to my age and it happened back home. Not to mention this 12 year old boy witness this. I am glad justice was served. I am glad this guy will rot in prison with no chance of parole.

I hope these women who are involved with him wake up and get a sense of self worth, before they become a victim. No one should feel inadequate that they need to put up with any type of abuse. You have to be strong, know what you want out of life and be positive and know you deserve well. When people feel so low about themselves it is very hard to pick your head up. It is easier and less work to sulk and be negative then it is to be positive.

Thrift Store Find!

I love browsing around thrift stores! Today I went to one of my favorites to kill time on my lunch break. I found a cute bag with a red shoe on it for 55 cents! This is soooo me! I am going to use it for my yarn meets to carry whatever I am currently crocheting! Then I saw a chef photo album that had a whole bunch of recipes in it from another person! That was $3.

I have my kitchen decorated in chefs so I loved it right off the bat. Plus, using the photo album as a recipe holder is a great idea. I have a box filled with recipe clips and index card size that will fit in there perfectly and keep them clean!

Sometimes I can go to thrift stores and never find anything, but there are days when you find fabulous stuff!!! Thrift Store Couture Baby!!!!

Buy Handmade

I love handmade! I do not buy anything anymore as far as fashion accessories unless it is handmade. People put their time and efforts into their designs and you can bet you are getting good quality from these artists! It is one of a kind.

When you buy handmade items you are supporting artists, crafters, small business owners and you are also helping them live their dream. Can you imagine how you can make someone feel just by buying their design?

Handmade items are not mass production. You get to know your local crafter/designer so you are getting a part of them.

BUY HANDMADE! :)

Yoga

I love yoga! I have been practicing it for about a year. I love the stretching and they way my body reacts to it. For me, yoga is an art. It is not about just putting your body in crazy bends, but it also transforms you.....the practice itself.

I subscribe to the Yoga Journal magazine and I read an article in it that pretty much sums up how I feel. That article inspired this blog. The article was called The Art of Staying Young. It talks about how yoga keeps you young and pliable.....at any age. The more you practice the better you get and the better your form gets as you get older. This article also talked about serving other people is a great way to stay young. If you serve, the fulfillment of helping others is a rewarding one. There is so much work out in this world to be done that we don't need to focus on trivial little things. If you take care of others, you will be taken care of.

Another thing in this article that was mentioned hit the nail on the head for me. It talked about how we usually worry about when "X" happens, I'll be happy, when, when,when. Why not be happy now? Yoga teaches that you cannot base your life on contingencies. Things can change at any moment. EVERYTHING changes. Good times, bad times. It is all a wave in life. You have to ride it out. Appreciate everything....and relax, it is all good!

Yoga helps me keep myself in check. I just started learning this. I can't imagine how far it will take me.

Favorite Wines

These two bottles of wine are my FAVORITE!!! They are Sicilian, Nero D'Avola. The Ruggero di Tasso is the fruitiest with a bite of spice. The Epicuro is less of a version of that. I have not been to the wine store in a good bit to pick up these two, usually my wine rack stays stocked with these!! I love wine and no matter what I try these two will remain my faves.

My favorite place to get wines are Trader Joe's. I never had a wine I did not like and they are cheap! No more spending $$$$ on wines. Everything at that store is great. They have a large selection of organic, vegetarian, quick meals, heart healthy etc. and everything is priced right!!

Books

I love to read. Usually I read two books at a time, alternating between them. I guess it is the Gemini in me. Anyway, the last two books I bought are The Time Traveler's Wife and Eat Love Pray. I read about Time Traveler's wife on someone else's blog. I love looking at blogs for this very reason, it exposed you to new things. I just started reading it and I really do love it. It is different from the normal stuff I read, but I am going to be hooked on this so far. Claire and Henry and there traveling love and it seems like she is into Art! Bonus.

The second book, Eat Love Pray, I looked it up because I kept hearing about it. What sucked me in was that she travels to Italy! She also travels to two other places, but I love anything Italian. This one I am going to like because this girl is on a self journey of discovery after her divorce. I think we all go through self discoveries. I know I am. I think I will really like to see all the new and exciting things this girl learns.