what's in my bag?

So one of my favorite blog posts to read are "What's in my Bag" posts and today, I figured I would join the club and do my own :) I must say that this post is slightly edited as when I was emptying my bag to do the post, I had a Dewalt power-drill battery, my boyfriend's car keys, not one, but two hair brushes and one of my cat's toys. Who knows what I actually carry around everyday but this is what I normally have with me. 

These are what I consider to be my "three essentials" that I cannot leave the house without:
Phone
Keys
& Money
I swear I say this check list to myself each time I leave the house. My iPhone is my lifeline at work to my boss and co-workers and just like everyone else, I am obsessed with it (and cannot wait for iOS7!!). My wallet (well, it's more like a pouch) is designed to look like a post card and has to be close to 4 years old. I think I picked it up at H&M for like $3? I absolutely love it! Finally, my keys! I swear I have close to 10 keys on my key chain and my "thirty-one hang it up key fob" makes it easier to manage them.

You might be able to already tell that my favorite color is pink :) But my kindle and iPad typically go where ever I go. My sleeve for my iPad came from Etsy and I like it because it has a front pouch where I can slip my iPad accessories such as my charger, stylus and cleaning cloth.

I believe I got this cosmetics bag from Target a while ago to hold all my "little things" that I carry with me. There is nothing I hate more than searching for chap-stick in the bottom of a huge bag.

I always make sure I have band-aides with me mainly because some of my shoes tend to give me blisters, that and I'm a clutz. My Benadryl anti-itch cream was a lifesaver in the summer months for bug bite and this stuff works like a charm! I then carry two travel size perfumes, "Love Express" by Express and "Amazing Grace" by Philosophy. These fragrances have a fresh, clean smell and are perfect for work. There is nothing worse than bad breath, which is why I try and carry either gum or mints in my bag. I like the Altoids Smalls because they do not take up too much room in my small pouch.

For my birthday in July, my gift from Sephora was a set of "Sugar Lip Treatments" with SPF 15 and they may be my new favorite chap-sticks. Due to where I work, I am constantly washing my hands and using hand sanitizer and it dries out my hands horribly which is why I always make sure I have a small bottle of hand lotion on me. Finally, now that the fall and winter months are coming, my allergies are will be in full swing and I do not leave the house without my nasal sprays to stop my nosebleeds.

I LOVE my sunglasses and the only thing I'm missing is a pink eyeglass case :)

My iPod Nano tends to always be in my bag because it connects to my car and sometimes I just need to tune the world out.

Finally, here's my bag that all this seems to fit into. I purchased this bag last year from American Eagle from their "Deux Lux" collection that they carried last fall. I just love how much room this bag has but I find that I manage to fill it with the most random things. 

If I could meet myself at 16...

So if I had the chance to meet my 16 year old self, I'd have lots to say but I am going to limit this post to only five :) So let's go back to 2005 when I was in my junior year of high school. 

And what fun would this post be without a photo of myself at the age of 16?

1.  You know that boy you have known since you were 5? He loves you as much as you love him so stop pushing him away. Trust me because he's pretty amazing.

My 1st Car! 1995 Pontiac Grand Am

2. Failing your road test two times is not the end of the world and some day you will joke about it, especially when Tori fails hers. Remember, the third time is a charm!

3. You know that really cute faceplate you just HAD to have for your "oh so cool" flip phone? Yeah, keep walking by that kiosk in the mall because the guy that works there is a creep. He will take your number from your cell phone and call you at strange hours of the night which will force you to change your cell phone number.  Not worth it. Besides, it was ugly.

4. While this may seem, like your hardest year of high school, you'll get through it but let's just put more effort into it! You can really surprise yourself because you'll kick butt in college :)

5. So Anthony is going to ask you to junior prom and when he asks what color your dress is, (now this is really important) make sure you emphasize when you say "light green". Why may you ask? Anthony thought you said "cream" not "green" and when you find out two days before prom, ya won't be too thrilled.  

One more thing, your "sweet 16" birthday party will actually be a barbie themed surprise party, thanks Tara for that!

shopping when you're 4'9"

Being only 4'9", I am often approached with the same question, "where do you buy your clothes?" and it is typically by another petite girl who is no stranger to my struggles. My struggles with clothing usually arise when I am looking for dress pants, jeans and shoes and is extremely frustrating.

So here are my tips for my fellow petite girls looking to buy cute clothes and shoes that fit:

Dress Pants

When I was an undergraduate student, I had to complete an internship as a graduation requirement and I was faced with the challenge of finding dress pants that were not a mile too long. And after walking around the mall, I quickly came to the realization that clothing stores do not typically carry a large variety of petite sizes in stock so they have to be ordered online (but they do exist!).

To date, I have found three stores that carry dress pants for us petite gals: Express, New York & Company and Banana Republic.

Express and New York & Company offer their petite customers a "short" size in their dress pants which is convenient because it takes about 2 inches off their standard sizes. The only problem that I have come across from these pants is that the leg width is often rather big but other than that, they fit rather well. In addition, both of these stores often offer great sales and coupons!

My favorite store to buy dress pants has to be Banana Republic because they have a separate clothing line designed for petite women in mind. As opposed to purchasing dress pants in a "short" size, Banana Republic's petite dress pants are specifically made for women who are 5'3" and under. If you do decide to purchase pants from Banana Republic, take the drive to one of their outlets as you can typically save up to 50%!

Jeans

Similar with my dress pants struggle, I had a difficult time of locating the perfect pair of jeans that I was not stepping on. My favorite jeans are found at American Eagle and while the short size are still a little too long for myself, they always shrink in the dryer. If I am unable to find jeans at American Eagle, I turn to Abercrombie Kids. Yup. While they are considered a children's clothing store, they are one of the few stores where I can find a simple pair of jeans that fit perfectly.

Shoes

Here's my pet peeve about shoes, people think that because I wear a size 2 shoe, my shoes are cheap. Sure, if I want to wear light up sneakers or sandals with butterflies on them they might be cheap but come on now. While I never seem to have difficulty finding cute sneakers to wear thanks to Nike, finding casual shoes has been a nightmare ever since I can remember. Once in a while I would come across a cute pair of flats or sandals at Famous Footwear, Payless or even Target but I could never find cute heels to wear to work or out until I came across Cinderella of Boston.

Cinderella of Boston is a shoe store that specializes in providing petite women with fashionable footwear. More specifically, Cinderella of Boston offers sizes 2 to 5 1/2 in both medium and wide widths in adorable styles.

I strongly recommend checking the size chart prior to ordering as a kids size 2 is equivalent to a size 3 1/2 on their site and even then, I ordered a half size up and the shoe fit perfectly.

I hope these tips help and if you have come across any stores that I did not mention, please let me know!

postsecret

One of my favorite blogs to visit just happens to be the largest advertisement free blog in the world with having over 600 million visitors. I have been visiting this blog religiously for five years now? Every Sunday I grab my phone or iPad and go on over to PostSecret.com and scroll through the week's additions.

So what is PostSecret?

PostSecret is more of a community that was created by Frank Warren in early 2004 after a dream he had while on vacation in France. Frank Warren invites anyone with a secret to mail their true, unspoken secret to him on a postcard in hopes to somehow "free" the secret holder.

Frank Warren distributed these postcards to strangers he came in contact with.

Typically, the postcards that Frank Warren receives are artfully designed by the author that best illustrates their hidden secret. Each Sunday on the PostSecret blog, Frank posts about twenty random secrets that he recently received. These "Sunday Secrets" often contain a range of secrets, to some that are absolutely heart breaking to some that may make you laugh.

I look forward to these weekly posts mainly to see if anyone else has sent in my secret (or to see if any of the secrets that I have mailed in have been posted). It's amazing how well you can relate to someone you never met.

To date, Frank Warren has received over 500,000 secrets in his mailbox and in addition to the PostSecret blog, Frank has also published five books (in each of the PostSecret books that Frank publishes, he always includes a secret of his own!). Frank Warren also holds "PostSecret Live" events on college campuses across the country and more recently, he has taken his tour international.

Back in 2011, I was able to attend a PostSecret event that was held on the University at Albany campus where Frank showed the audience postcards that were banned from being published, provided follow up stories to the more popular postcards and even allowed the audience to reveal their secrets.

After the event, Frank held a book signing event and I was able to have him sign two of my PostSecret books and even identify two of his secrets (credit must be given to Anthony for that idea)! If you're ever given the opportunity to attend one of the PostSecret events, I recommend going.

If you're interested in checking out PostSecret for yourself, please click the link below!
www.postsecret.com

Or follow Frank Warren on twitter!
@postsecret

love locks

This will be the first post of my “Bucket List Series” that I hope to continue. Instead of forming a general bucket list, I wanted to create a list full of specific and unique tasks that I hope to someday achieve.

The first on my bucket list is to visit the Pont de l’Archeveche in Paris, France. The Pont de l’Archeveche is a bridge in Paris that is famous for “love padlocks” that are attached to the railing of the bridge by couples from all around the world. The padlocks act as a symbol of the couple’s love for each other and once the lock is attached to the bridge, the key is then tossed into the Seine River below.  These padlocks, cadenzas d’amour in French, are typically engraved with the couples name, initials, a date of significance or a short message.

There are thousands of locks attached to the bridge and while Town Officials are worried about the additional weight the locks add to the bridge, they have yet to take any legal action that will prevent any future locks from being added. Locks have been removed on more than one occasion due to the additional weight but they are quickly replaced. While Town Officials allow these locks to be attached to the Pont de l’Archeveche, they do ask that keys are no longer thrown in the river and tossed elsewhere instead.

I would love to someday visit this bridge and take in the awe the commitment that other couples have taken to each other in the past and even add a love lock to the collection (hint, hint Anthony!).

I would love to not only add a love lock to the collection but eventually go back to Paris to find the lock on the bridge (yup, now I'm planning two trips to Paris).

If you're interested in reading more about the bridge, check out this site!

http://www.parischerie.com/4384/lovers-bridge-over-the-seine-river/ 

unofficial end to summer

Labor Day is associated as the unofficial end to summer as summer vacations come to a close and kids go back to school. This year, I spent my Labor Day at the Schaghticoke Fair which has been a staple in Rensselaer County for the past 194 years, which makes it the third oldest fair in New York State.

I must say, if you ever plan on making the trip to the Schaghticoke fair, Monday may be the best day to go as it is when you can catch the demolition derby. What's better than watching cars get smashed, run over and even get caught on fire?




Here, the Rugrats car was showing off it's paint job prior to the first heat.




It does not take long after the countdown ends until drivers start crashing their cars into each other until the car refuses to go any further.



I believe this was the fourth heat that had the most drivers, at 15 and was by far the most exciting. These drivers meant business and had no mercy for the car next to them. Even the crowd had to duck from the amount of mud that was being splattered into the crowd, which reminds me, always sit in the back!



At this point, all you could smell was anti-freeze, gasoline, dirt and sweat. These firemen did an awesome job keeping the drivers and spectators safe during these five heats and ensured that no fire got out of hand.




Putting out fires during the duration of the derby is a common sight and luckily today, no one was injured.

Now let's talk about the sights, people watching, rides, attractions and of course, the food! Only at a town fair will you see fried oreos, fried pop-tarts and fried milky-ways! No, I do not have the stomach to even try any of these fried "specialties" but I did help myself to some cotton candy shaved Alaskan ice, which was delicious and about four sizes too big!

Now on to the sights that you will see at the fair, besides the average fair games that are extremely difficult to win, the Schaghticoke fair claimed to house a "headless woman" who was still alive. No, I did not fork over $5 to see this apparent woman who was being kept in a state of the art hospital type room. But I did later google the headless woman and it is nothing more than an optical illusion (well duh!!) which you can buy for a mere $6,500.00, who knew.

Sure, I'll have soda!


People watching at a fair will not leave you disappointed and in fact, I guarantee you will be entertained.