Monday, June 18, 2012

I love these Nautical themed candles, and guess what? I Hand-Crafted them myself- And so can you IN 5 EASY STEPS !

It was super easy... 


STEP #1 -Find some cute votive candle holders 


I found a bunch of these on sale for two dollars at Michael's Arts and Crafts.  Since I'm having a Nautical-themed party, I decided it would be a nice to have these candles around the tables as decoration. I bought 14!

STEP #2 -Get some nautical rope -type ribbon to decorate the candle



 I used a glue gun to wrap it around the candle.

STEP #3 - Glue a Nautical Themed sticker or Seashell on the candle









I bought stickers with different fun beach themes and a bag of Shells. To mix it up, I glued a sticker on some candles, and a seashell on the other ones. Mixing and matching is fun and adds a little spontaneity to your arts and crafts.

STEP #4- Insert decorative sand and blue sea rocks and seashells in the candle.




They sell these bags of decorative sand in different colors. I bought off-white to give it a more beachy feel.

STEP #5 -Insert a small tea light candle in each votive (they sell a dozen for about three dollars)

VOILA! you are done and ready to add a little romantic flair to your Nautical-themed soiree... You can also give the candles to your guests afterward as a "thank-you" gift for "lighting up your evening." HAPPY CRAFTING! 


Wednesday, June 13, 2012

DOING THE THIRD TRIMESTER DANCE!




When I met my future husband, I was 34 years old, and I already knew that at some point I wanted to have another child. Fast-forward a few years into our relationship and in a blink of an eye I was already 38, with my 40s looming just around the corner!
Panic set in, the biological clock ticked louder than Big Ben, and I felt that I had to put my foot down and do this pregnancy thing now or lose the opportunity forever.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Time-Travel is possible



I like to take a breath. Fast forward 10 years from now and look at myself now, and tell myself... hmmm what could I have done differently? What are my regrets from the 2012 version of myself? What negative thoughts were self-defeating, useless and counter-productive?

Only then can I be objective and see things with a wider lens. The beauty of it is, you still have time to change your thoughts and actions because you ARE in the present.

Your "future-self" will always be wiser, because with time comes knowledge. Like my mom says "más sabe el Diablo por viejo que por Diablo."(The Devil knows more because he's old, not because he's the Devil.)

I like to listen to my "future-self." She is wiser, more beautiful, more traveled, more relaxed, and more comfortable in her own skin. Because time passed and she realized that her world didn't crash down on her when she didn't get "that job," that cutting off certain friendships really were for the best, and that with all its pitfalls, failures, and disappointments, life still is beautiful if you can learn to savor and appreciate it.

Doing this exercise in reverse can teach you valuable lessons as well.

-I would tell my 6 year old self things like "don't pay attention to criticism, you are unique, you are special." I would tell her things like "things will work out, you will do great things, and travel to amazing places."

-I would tell my 13 year old self, "its okay if you don't know what you want to do, you will figure it out for sure, use this time to explore and have fun."

-I would tell my 30 year old self, "you will find a great guy, have patience, open your eyes and you will eventually pick a good one!"

-And hopefully, one day I will tell my 70 year-old self "you have lived a rich life with purpose, love, adventure, you let all the negative energy that people threw at you bounce right off like a ball and even laughed at it a little, you surrounded yourself with people who loved and appreciated you, and Naibe, hold on cause you still have 20plus years left to go."