Saying Goodbye to a Friend….

Hello Lovelies,

Saying goodbye is never easy, regardless of whether it's a momentary goodbye or an everlasting goodbye.  Sadly, I'm here to write about one of the saddest moments of my life.  Last Thursday, my beloved cat, Tinks, passed away.  Tinks, whose real name was once Princess was the greatest cat a person could ask for.  In fact, Tinks was more than a cat or a pet, she was my first friend and honestly one of the few that I could always count on.

I knew this moment was bound to come sooner rather than later but I always assumed this wouldn't of happened to my Tinks.  My Tinks had been through so much in her 22 years of life.  Funny thing about Tinks is we were never really sure how old she actually was.  See when we actually found Tinks, or should I say when Tinks found us, we assumed she was a kitten because she was so small.  My family and I had just moved to the town we still live in and it was a very stormy night.  My dad had driven his Corvette through a flood and parked the car in the detached garage.  Normally, these facts wouldn't be really important but all those facts lead to Tinks stumbling across our paths.  Through, some divine intervention my dads car had caught on fire and the garage was quickly going up in flames.  Tinks, or the little stray black cat was in the neighborhood and decided to alert us that the garage was on fire.  For being such a small cat she really had a set of pipes on her.  She meowed loudly enough that my dad got so annoyed with her that he went outside to try and get rid of this "annoying" cat.  Once my dad saw the fire, the annoying cat was quickly forgotten.  After some time, the fire was extinguished with minimal damage done to the car and the garage, my dad decided he would reward this cat with some tuna fish as a thank you for saving my family countless dollars.  This was the moment that Tinks decided she was going to stay with us and look after us.

I knew for some time that Tinks wasn't doing to well but I chose to ignore the fact that this could be my last moments with her.  I made sure that everyday I told her how much I loved her, just in case it was the last time I saw her.  However, I never thought Tinks would have died while I wasn't near her.  I've always heard that cats in the wild tend to go and hide when they are about to die because they don't want to burden their families.  Tinks is no different.  She waited until myself and my family went away on vacation.  I had heard she wasn't eating but I never expected the phone call saying that she died to have happened 4 days after I hugged and said "see you later!" It's been a week since she passed and I'm still struggling with feeling guilty because I wasn't there for her in her final moments.  I know for a fact I wouldn't of been able to handle that moment, but at least I would have gotten to say goodbye one last time.  I also would have told her how much she meant to me.  She was the only pet I've ever had and honestly I couldn't have asked for a better pet! She was purrfect, and I'm surely going to miss her.

As I write this I'd be lying if I didn't mention the fact that I am BALLING MY EYES OUT.  Today, was my first day home since she passed and I keep expecting her to jump up on my bed and snuggle with me.  Or when I was standing in the kitchen I kept looking down the hall waiting for her to come running down the hallway.  Not seeing her waiting on my bed when I got home broke my heart.  I'm no longer going to have her annoying little butt trying to back her butt into my lap trying to lay on my lap while I watched tv, or having her stick her poopoo paw into my food in hopes that she could steal some human food.  I'm really going to miss those moments, which is odd because whenever she did those things it would annoy the hell out of me, but now thinking about them just makes me smile.

Tinks da stinks, booboo kitty, evil shadow, stupid kitty, lala, tinkers stinkers, and most importantly Princess, I loved every moment we spent together.  You were truly the greatest gift i never asked for.   You set the precedent for all my future pets, and sadly I know that they will never measure up to you!

The last picture and moments spent with Tinks

22 years of friendship…. Thank you so much Tinks for always being there for me.  I can't believe you're gone but I know you're in a better place.  I know this isn't goodbye it's a see you later!

Must Watch: Blackfish

Hello Lovelies,

Ok, so I literally just finished one of the best documentaries I have ever seen in my life, Blackfish.  Blackfish, is directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, and it chronicles what a horrible life killer whales lead in captivity.  From wrangling orcas away from their families in the wild, to keeping them in pens, Blackfish shows just how inhuman these whales are treated for entertainment purposes.

Now, I like many of you have visited Sea World.  I was always amazed by how amazing these creatures really were.  I even envisioned myself one day wanting to be one of the trainers.  However, after watching this documentary I realized how misguided and how remorseful many of these trainer felt after leaving their jobs.  They talked about the many accidents that happened that often the fault landed on the trainer, not the whale.  After visiting Sea World numerous times, I never thought of the fact that these whales were forcibly removed from the wild and forced to swim in a "bathtub" for the rest of their lives.  I even thought that these animals loved what they were doing, that they seemed to enjoy the relationship they formed with their trainers.  What Blackfish succeeds in doing is showing the behind the scenes videos of some of these attacks or "accidents" as Sea World has claimed they are.  They show that these creatures are often fed up with being treated like show pony's who respond to verbal commands and are forced to perform day after day.  

Video from youtube

The scene that devastated me was when they showed baby orcas, being forcibly removed from their moms.  Right before that scene was shown, orca experts explain how baby whales, calfs, tend to stay with their moms for most of their lives.  After the whales are removed from the moms, to go to other parks, the video shows the moms crying and screaming while searching for their baby.  It's heart breaking because they whales are unable to protect their young.

Overall, I will give the movie Blackfish 5 out 5 stars.  It is a must see, eye-opening experience about the mistreatment of these whales.  While myself and many of the trainers in this movie believe Sea World doesn't need to shut down completely, they do need to reevaluate how they treat, train, and obtain these beautiful creatures.  As one of the trainers put it, Sea World has single handily open many people's lives to the world of marine biology and created a sense of intrigue into the mysterious world of the ocean.  The next time I see an orca, I hope it's on a whale watching tour on the West coast where I can admire these creatures in their natural habitat, where they should be!

Merry Christmas to All and Happy Birthday to ME!!!!

Merry Christmas my lovelies!!!!

Well technically its 11pm on Christmas Eve when I'm writing this but by the time you read it, Santa will have already visited all you good girls and boys!! It's the most wonderful time of the year because it's CHRISTMAS TIME and it also happens to be my birthday!!!! Yes that's right, I was born on Christmas Day!!!

Now for some time there has been a debate about whether or not having a Christmas birthday is a good thing? I honestly go back and forth with loving the fact that I have a Christmas birthday and hating it.  When I was little I used to think it was so cool that my birthday was on Christmas because I was the only person I knew that had that birthday.  However, as I got older it became more and more difficult to celebrate my birthday because I could never have a physical party on my actual birthday, many of my friends would go away for Christmas, or everyone was busy with shopping or planning their Christmas parties.  As I got older I began to find the fact that I shared a birthday with the big man upstairs pretty hilarious (i.e. this year I dared my mom to ask the bakery to write "Happy Birthday Tori and Jesus! which shockingly they did!!!)  I'm also rocking this great shirt for my Christmas PJ's from lookhuman.com

Now, every time I tell someone my birthday is on Christmas, 9 out of 10 times the first thing they ask is "Do you get ripped off when it comes to presents?" Honestly, I've been fortunate that my parents have always spoiled me rotten when it comes to presents and really go out of their way to make sure that I feel appreciated on my birthday!  To make this day feel super special, I laid down a few guidelines for my family to follow... 1. NO CHRISTMAS/Birthday cards.  I'm sure many of you have never heard of this but the lovely company known as Hallmark actually makes a card that is marketed for those of us that were in fact born on 12/25.  2. Wrap my presents differently.  Now this may not seem like it would be a big deal for people who don't have a birthday that shadowed by a major holiday but for me it makes a huge difference.  I simply ask my family to wrap my Christmas presents in one wrapping paper and my birthday in another so we can distinguish which is which.  3. Opening my presents at different times.  Usually my family will all open all our Christmas presents first then take a little break and later open my bday presents.


For those of you that have the privilege/misfortune of sharing the same birthday as me I wish you A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY and oh yeah, Merry Christmas, or what ever you celebrate!

My next post is probably going to be showing you what I've bought/received for Christmas and my birthday!

My Warby Parker Experience

Hello Lovelies,

Sorry for the delay but I've been busy trying to accomplish my Christmas shopping!  I'm practically done but I feel like I could use a few more little tiny gifts!

Anyhow, the last update I posted showcased the A-M-A-Z-I-N-G  home try on program Warby Parker has to offer.  I did two rounds of home try ons and found that I liked most of the glasses.  I was able to narrow my choices down to two choices: the Nash and the Welty.  Ultimately, I decided on the Nash glasses because I had those in front of me but I can honestly say I don't regret my decision.

I absolutely love these glasses.  The quality of these glasses far surpasses the $95 price tag.  When I went to order these glasses I did experience a bit of a hold up (which I attributed to the busy holiday business) but the lovely customer service representative explained that my prescription actually held up the process.  So aside from that hold up I would definitely, definitely recommend this company!!! I actually visited their showroom in SOHO because my friend wanted to pick out a pair of glasses and loved that experience as well.  I would highly recommend visiting one of their many showrooms because you can try on all the glasses in every color imaginable instead of only getting 5 choices at a time.  They are also able to order your glasses and do any test that may need to be done in house (which is awesome!).

This morning I awakened to the Santa mail man delivering my glasses.  I couldn't wait to open them and try them on because I was wondering if I made the right decision.  Once I opened the package I can honestly confirm that I did make the best decision.  Who knows, maybe I'll even buy another pair in the distant future!

Until Next time.....

* my next post will probably be after Christmas and it will be updating you on what I got for Xmas/birthday.  Hint hint... it may include a new Kate spade bag that I've been eyeing for months!

  

Warby Parker

Hello Lovelies,

Sorry I've been MIA but I've been so busy with work, because its the busiest time for any retail worker....... Black Friday weekend.  But enough about Black Friday, I have a post all about my feelings towards Black Friday, and believe me they haven't changed since I wrote that post.

Anyhow, on to one of my favorite new companies.... WARBY PARKER.  I've recently received the news that my once 20/20 vision isn't what it used to be.  To be fair I can see well during the day but I've noticed that I'm squinting more and more when I drive at night and am having a difficult time reading signs.  I've been told I have night time near sightedness, which means I need glasses when I drive.  I was kind of excited to receive the diagnosis that I needed glasses because I just began picturing all the different choices of glasses  I had.  What I didn't realize when I was daydreaming about glasses is just how expensive frames are and how expensive a prescription is.  My best friend, told me about Warby Parker and their at home try-on program and told me I should check it out.

Warby Parker was founded by 4 friends who wanted to create cute and trendy glasses that didn't cost $250+. "The Warby Parker aesthetic is vintage-inspired with a contemporary twist. Every pair is custom fit with anti-reflective, polycarbonate prescription lenses" that you get for the reasonable price of $95!!!! If the price alone doesn't convince you to try out a pair of Warby Parker pair of glasses, the simple fact that for every pair sold Warby Parker will donate a pair to someone in need through the non-profit VisionSpring.

The only thing I don't like about Warby Parker is that there is no showroom near me.  Sure, I could easily hop on a train and visit one of their 3 NY showrooms, but that just seems annoying to me.  However, before this one little nuisance makes you think you can't get a pair of great glasses, you need to look into the home try-on program.  Warby Parker will allow you to select 5 frames to try at home.  

The HTO program is so simple and is really the best way to try on glasses.  

1. Log on to www.warbyparker.com
2. Select mens/womens optical or sunwear
3. After selecting "optical" you will see all the eyeglasses that Warby Parker offer.
4. Once you click on a pair of glasses you can see alternate views of the glasses and the different colors the frames come in.
5. You'll see on the right hand side that you have the option to click "Add to Home Try-On" or to try on virtually.
6. You are able to pick 5 pairs, however if you don't pick 5 pairs, Warby Parker will pick options that they think will work for you.  
7. Now here's the great part, your HTO is completely free.  Warby Parker does ask for a credit card number and they will charge your account $1, which will be refunded after a few days.  
8. After a few days you'll receive your HTO in a nifty display case.  
9. Now for the fun part, try on your glasses!
10. You have 5 days to try the glasses on, wear them out, take tons of pictures, write a blog post about it.
11. Once you've made a decision or your five days are up, you need to package up the box and attach the prepaid packing label and drop them off at a UPS location.
12. Once Warby Parker receives your package they will email you.  You have the option of ordering a pair, if you found the one! or you can pick 5 more glasses to try-on. 

Photos of the glasses I picked:

Clyde in Blue Marblewood

Wiloughby in Striped Chestnut

Welty in Whiskey Tortoise

Pierce in Oakwood Brown

Chamberlain in Saddle Sage

Currently, the Welty is my favorite pair followed by the Pierce.  I also like the Chamberlain, but I think the frames are a little too big.   I'm not sure I'm 100% sold on any of the pairs so I think I will do one more round of HTO before making a decision.

I will write a follow up post once I decide on the winning pair!

Until Next Time!!!!

"It's Just A Bad Day, Not A Bad Life"

From Pinterest

Hello Lovelies!!

So as you can see by the title of this post, I've had a bad day.  But if we're being 100% honest, I've had a series of bad days.  Truthfully this week has just not been one of my weeks.  As I write this I'm listening to All Time Low's song Weightless.  If you haven't heard the song or of All Time Low, I highly recommend them!! Weightless is pretty much my bad day anthem.  The song starts off a little off tempo then builds up to the chorus that becomes my bad day motto "maybe it's not my weekend, but it's gonna be my year!" 

For me, positive thinking is not my strong point because I'm kind of a glass half empty kinda girl.  I'm not proud of that, and believe me I'm trying to re-evaluate my bad days and approach them differently.  Ever since I've been little I've stressed about the little things in life.  I was a perfectionist and hated anything that prevented me from accomplishing things exactly how I imagined.  As a mental reminder I've been wearing an Alex and Ani bracelet that says "It is what it is!" Those 5 words have honestly helped me realize that there are some things that I can't control and I can't make myself sick over worrying about every little detail.

With that being said I will outline how my bad week started:

On Sunday I was blamed for a mistake that wasn't actually my fault.  It all started when I made the mistake of assuming that my one boss had finished a task the day before and didn't double check that he did in fact do it. At the time, this little mistake didn't really bother me until I heard from another employee that my "boss" was talking poorly about me in front of other employees.  I've recently been promoted to a new position so I am still in the process of learning everything and unfortunately my one boss doesn't seem to understand that.  I had no problem with my boss pointing out that maybe I should of double checked that fact but I'm a firm believer that if you have a problem with something I've done, then you need to tell me, not talk about me behind my back.  I'm not in high school anymore and I can assure you it's been a LONG time since my boss has been in high school.  Let's be adults and actually talk through situations, not gossip about each other.  

Although Sunday wasn't a completely terrible day it didn't start my week on the good note I was expecting.  Monday was completely uneventful which was nice.  However, Tuesday was a complete NIGHTMARE.  I woke up and started my day like I normally do.  I was eating breakfast and checking my emails when I realized I had an email from my bank.  I randomly receive emails from my bank so I wasn't completely alarmed until I read the first sentence of the email.  I don't remember the exact wording but I believe the words went something like this "Dear Victoria, we've noticed some unusual activity on your credit card.  As a precaution, we've placed a hold on your account.  If you haven't made any purchases please contact us at xxx-xxx-xxxx right away!" I immediately panicked because I hadn't used the credit card recently so I had no idea what purchases they were talking about.  After calling the bank, I was told that someone had purchased $253 worth of products on Sears.com and had attempted to make a $650 purchase there when my account was flagged.  Now, not to be a brat but when she told me this I immediately told her I have never shopped at Sears, nor would I randomly buy nearly $1000 worth of stuff in one shopping trip.  At this point during the phone call I was shaking.  I had my credit card in my possession so I have no clue how someone had accessed my account information.  Luckily, because I had a Bank of America credit card I was protected from fraud and they quickly deleted my account information and will be reissuing my a new credit card.  (On a side note, I've been looking for something to curve my shopping addiction.  Although I would of liked something less severe, I think credit card fraud has scared me enough to stop shopping for awhile!).

I needed to calm down from this horrific event, so I began searching Pinterest for some quotes that will help me get through the bad day.  I found these three quotes that helped me realize that we all have bad days, but we can't let those bad days define us or destroy us.  I need to learn to let things go and not constantly stress over little things that I can't control.

 I hope everyone else is having a better week than I am.  I'm determined to have an absolutely amazing week next week and hopefully I can update you on the great things that happen to me then!

Until Next Time....

"A Book A Day, Keeps Reality Away!"

Hello Lovelies!

In all reality, I am not able to read a book a day, but I have read some pretty incredible books in my 6 month hiatus from blogging that I'd love to share with you. As a child, I hated to read, which I'd attribute to my difficulty in grasping how to read when I was a child.  I hated, hated, hated to read aloud in class because I had such a hard time.  However, it wasn't until middle school that I learned to love to read, when my 6th grade teacher encouraged us to take a few minutes out of everyday a read a book of our choice.  With that being said, as I grew up I discovered so much from reading books of all different genres.  Recently, some of my favorite books have been discovered on Amazons Top 100 Free books, which is an amazing place to read books that you wouldn't normally read.  Another reason why I've been reading so much lately is because me and my friends decided to form a book club.  The guidelines for the book club were pretty simple, each month one member of the club would select a book to read and once the book was complete we all would meet up and discuss the book.  Originally, we set out to not pick books that were in a series, were not sci-fi, shouldn't cost more than $10, and each member HAD to complete the book and not complain about reading it.  As the months have gone on some of the members have had a hard time agreeing to all these terms but we've managed to read some amazing books along the way.  What I've also loved about our book club rules was after each member picked their book the following book needed to be a classic or a NY Times Bestseller (this months is Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez).

So without further ado, here are some of my favorite books that I've read recently:

Gabriel's Inferno/Gabriel's Rapture by Sylvain Reynard
What's interesting about this book is it mixes in parts of Dante's Inferno in with heated love story (similar to Fifty Shades of Grey).  If you've liked Christian Grey, you'll love Gabriel Emerson.

The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
My friend picked this book but I was interested in reading it because I had seen a preview for the Starz show that stared Max Irons.  The book was great, the series follows 3 of Gregory's books so its interesting to see how they mashed up and made me want to read a few more books by her.  I will give you one warning: her books are not for the faint of heart because they are pretty long.

Hello King Edward

The Edge of Never by J.A Redmerski
This book was a random purchase, but I loved every second of it.  This book follows two young strangers who become fast friends on a Greyhound bus.  This book shows that sometimes you are destined to meet certain people.  The sequel is coming out November 5, and I've been anxiously awaiting it to download on my kindle for months now.

Easy by Tammara Webber
If you loved Beautiful Disaster, you'll love this.  It's very similar but I'm biased and if you had to choose between the two I'd read Beautiful Disaster first!

The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden/ The redemption of callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorensen
Jessica Sorensen has quickly become one of my favorite authors.  I stumbled across one of her books that was free on Amazon and have read nearly everything she's written since that day.  Callie and Kayden grew up in the same town but were never friends, until Callie stepped in and saved Kayden's life.  After a few months a chance meeting has Kayden wanting to know more about the girl that saved his life.  This book is good and the sequel is even better.  Totally worth the read.


I hope some of you will check out these suggestions and I'd love to hear any suggestions some of you may have!

Until Next Time.....