5 Little Grins Week 18 [Link Up]

Happy Monday! I'm not sure why I am up and at-em earlier than normal, but I am, so let's take advantage of it! [Coincidentally, I put makeup on and cute accessories...who am I?]

<a href="http://www.beawarriorqueen.com" target="_blank"><img alt=" 5 Little Grins " height="246" src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/4fb1b81a9b1ad6d17c9317ea03174589/tumblr_mucw6eXUKG1s3gqbyo1_400.png" width="350" /></a> 

We'll go ahead and say it: Most people think Mondays suck / are the worst / should die a fire-y death. I'm sure you get the picture.

We've all had our fair share of bad Mondays and bad Tuesdays and just plain ol' bad days. Instead of focusing on the bad, what if we focused on the good things?

What if we focused on the little things that made us smile today, yesterday, last week? Could our whole attitude change? In time, would we find that we're having more good days than bad?

Cassandra, Paulina and I would love for you to join us on our weekly link up counting at least 5 things that made you smile in the last week. We could start our Mondays on this positive note!

Of course, this is all about encouragement, so hop on over to some other blogs and leave a positive note and make a new friend!
The Rules! (These are really just kind suggestions)

1. Follow your hosts: Cassandra, Raewyn, and Paulina!

2. Link up your post that includes 5-ish things that made you smile in the past week

3. Comment after you link up

4. Go visit some other blogs and make some friends!

5. Have fun, and don't forget to smile!!
Last week was a tough one. They come around every once in awhile, but I am so happy that I had these little things that I can't help but grin...

1. Iman and I went bowling more this week. I suppose I should say that I went bowling with Iman more this week, since he probably bowled the same. It was fun and relaxing, mostly because it was just the two of us, or with a couple of friends :)

Blogger Happy Hour!! 

2. I participated in my first Blogger Happy Hour hosted by Erin @ Living in Yellow and Whitney @ I Wore Yoga Pants. That was fun - and gave me tons of ideas!
3. On Friday, I got my first Brazillian and it didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would!!! 

My new watch!! Officially the first nice watch I've owned as well 

4. Saturday had an impromptu game night with some friends - We downloaded Cards Against Humanity [legally, for free!] and my friend gave me a moustache watch she had found! 
5. We had dinner with my grandparents yesterday. They're a little crazy, but I love them. It's was extra special because my grandpa was out of the hospital [he had sceptic shock last week] and I got to take one of his blue shirts home for my "something blue!" 

goofing off Friday night :) 

How did your week go? 

Check out one of our featured Warrior Queens:

So You're Having A Bad Day...

I used to have this weird superstition that I had a bad day every Monday because Friday the 13th was always my good day. In my head, there obviously had to be some trade-off for having a fabulously lucky day every Friday the 13th.

I was okay with having a bad day on Mondays. It was Monday after all. I could expect it. I could do all sort of weird things to "make it a good Monday." Somehow, during all of that...I actually started having a bunch of really good Mondays, and now they're like any other day - some might be good, some bad, and others just so-so.

Today I'm going to share my bad day cure-all's. Some are silly and don't make any sense, but that is their point - to make you laugh by being silly!

1. Put more effort into your wardrobe / style
   
   If you know me, you know that I don't put much effort into my style choices. I've improved a lot over the years but I will always be most comfortable in jeans and a tank top, flip flops, my hair a mess and a  smudge of eyeliner. But when I have a bad day, I like to wear a dress, put on some lipstick and heels and strut it.
   
2. Wear your favorite undies.
   Nothing says comfort like your favorite undies. Bonus point: Do they make you feel sexy?
   
3. Bake something delicious.
   For me, this is two-fold. a) I love sweets. b) Baking is a major stress reliever. Focusing on the task at hand takes my mind off of everything else. My favorite things to make? Brownies or my Peanut Butter Nutella Cookies...recipe to come!!
   
4. Paint your nails.
   I suck at  this, so I go to the salon and get a mani/pedi. They're super cheap in Cali and I couldn't be happier about that. But even having a friend paint my nails make me feel a little better.
   
5. Watch your favorite movie.
   
6.  If you're at work, be silly with your best friend. Like this:
   
   
   
   
7. When all else fails, start your day over.
   Sometimes I climb back in bed, take a cat nap and pretend it's a new day. Gotta jump outta the bed with a positive attitude all over again!
   
8. Listen to, and sing, Bad Day by Alvin and the Chipmunks.
   I'm not kidding about this. There is a video from my freshman year dorm of my roommates singing this song (with helium voices) when we were having a horrible day. I watch it whenever my day sucks. I'd share it but it's way too embarrassing.
   

P.s. The things that make don't make any sense to and I do not recommend for bad days include adamantly refusing to work on Mondays.

Wedding Wednesday Fabric Shopping

So, I never really do these link things every week, but I am super loving Wedding Wednesday. Mostly because it stops me from just gushing about wedding stuff every single day on my blog about being an independent woman...LOL. Also, I feel like I'm actually getting wedding stuff done by talking about it because we are in the patiently waiting time. Just under 9 months to go!

Today I wanted to tell you why I did not post last Wedding Wednesday...because I made it a literal Wedding Wednesday by going dress fabric shopping!!!

The Saturday before my mom got the almost pattern for my dress. I say almost because she is going to make some adjustments to make it specifically to my taste [obviously]. Which meant that the next day I had off [and fiance-free] was fabric shopping!!

My MOH/best friend came with my mother, god mother and I. My godmother is buying the fabric as my wedding present :)

We left bright and early and hit LA traffic, of course. But for this type of thing you don't mess around! We got in the cool new Toll Road/Carpool Lanes to get into downtown in my godmother's Crown Vic [I love driving in that thing, people think you're a cop and they move out of your way!].

We chose to go to the Fashion District in DTLA because it would be much cheaper and nicer than any of the other areas around [yet another reason why I love living in SoCal]. It's perfectly fitting, too, because Iman got my ring from the Jewelry District and we're getting our flowers from the Flower District. YAY for warehouse pricing!

As we walked in my best friend and I were pretty overwhelmed / didn't know what to look for. Luckily, my moms are experts. So we looked at a few pieces and then found this PERFECT fabric. Only, it was small...not enough to make a bodice. The lady told us that they didn't have any other sizes of that fabric and I was so so sad.

But we kept looking and found the same fabric but slightly wider! Still too small, but it was progress. Another lady came over to help us and then she pulled out the full size fabric!!!

That first lady did not know what she was talking about!!! The rest of the pieces of fabric were easy to find and we got some accessories...I'm not giving away too much for fear that Iman will decide to read my blog for once!!!

All of it happened in an hour. We didn't even have to pay for parking!! I didn't cry, but I got super super close. Which I think is a good thing. I'm weird and I cry at the most inopportune times.

After that we headed into Pasadena for some Afternoon Tea [which my MOH won a free tea for two today because she guessed the little prince would be named  George!] and then we all made it back in time for our afternoon appointments.

Successful day!



P.s. My mom totally injured herself getting into the car when we were leaving and we all got worried that we wouldn't make it on time because we had to stop and ice / butterfly her wound. Silly mama! I'd show a pic but she'd kill me!