#20- Gwen Stefani

So, many of you who have known me for awhile probably are aware of my "slight" love of Gwen Stefani (and furthermore No Doubt). This woman is my inspiration to life. I love her. I have never met her, I have never spoken to her, or received her autograph, but non-the-less I love her (and have since I was about 12 years old). She is like a muse to me; for fashion, for hair (in my younger years I had, at times, a full head of platinum blond or pink hair), for charitable work, for basically everything life has to offer.

I have attended over 13 No Doubt and Gwen Strefani concerts here in San Diego throughout my life (every major headlining tour at least once for ND and twice each for Gwen solo). The first concert was No Doubt's "Tragic Kingdom" tour, I was 13 years old. My dad dropped my friend Becca and I off at the San Diego Sports Arena by ourselves, a pretty intimidating thing at 13 since back then there was a very heavy punk/ska following (I'll admit we were a little nervous). Weezer opened for them, it's a day I will never forget. Neither will I forget any of the 12 other concerts I've seen with ND and Gwen. It was even to the point that when I saw Gwen's concert for a 2nd time on the same tour (all the way from the nosebleed seats) I could tell she was pregnant, I left telling everyone I knew she was, and no one believed me, a week later she announced it. (I also guessed her baby's name would be Preston, it was Kingston, pretty close)

I also own many of Gwen's product lines including an original L.A.M.B from LeSportsac handbag, quite a few Harajuku bags and perfume, and a least one item from every concert I've attended (including a hounds-tooth hoodie from the most recent ND tour). I wish I could list more, but they're not cheap items to buy (hence the fact I don't have a real L.A.M.B purse or shoes yet, stress on the YET). My next item to purchase will be this special Japan Relief Harajuku shirt with proceeds going to Japan. Gwen loves Japan so much she actually donated one million dollars of her own money after the tragedy hit, she's also selling these shirts to help out, and hosting an auction on ebay that starts on April 11th. I can not tell you how proud I am of her, she really is an amazing person and truly an inspiration! The big prize in this auction is a tea party in LA with Gwen, this is a dream come true for me (and every one of her thousands of fans). I know I won't be able to out bid all of her crazy fanatics, but my god I wish I could! To spend an afternoon sipping tea with Gwen herself?!? I'm speechless just thinking about it (a rarity with me), and to think it would go for such a great cause at the same time! (sigh...) So if anyone feels like making my life complete and wants to try to bid on this once in a lifetime experience on my behalf I will love you forever, and ever, and ever and ever! ;)

For the most part I think I'm just thankful that I had such a wonderful role model growing up, and still do to this day. Yes, she's definitely alternative, but what a woman to admire! She's so much better then the tramps the kids these days are into (Brittany, Lindsey, etc). She has built an empire (music, clothing, accessories, purses, you name it), she gets to do what she loves everyday, and she's always reminding herself to be thankful of that. We sure do have a lot in common. :)

So thank you Gwen Stefani, for a lifetime of inspiration. For always inspiring me to: grow up to follow my dreams & passions, be a successful hardworking entrepreneur, be a fashion diva and embrace all the creativity I can, and to most importantly remember to always spread the love and gratitude! I love you girl!

#19- Adventures!

Thursday's post is being thankful for adventures! I was supposed to go to school Thur evening for my bio class on the skeletal system (totally not my cup of tea, let me tell you). I was grumpy from trying to finish my homework quickly and make it to school, as soon as I put my completed homework away in my folder I received an email from my teacher: "a water main has broke on campus, Mira Costa is shut down for the rest of the day due to no water, class is canceled for tonight" Woooo Hooo!!! That was the best news I got all day!

So Andy and I hopped in the car and took off, we originally went out to run some errands (bank, return rental movies, etc) but we got hungry. In our search for food we decided to head down the coast and try happy hour at this place called Encinitas Ale House. It was a quaint little bar on the 101 South Coast Highway with a good happy hour special (half off all appetizers) we felt adventurous so we deiced to get the "muscles and scallops plate", the "calamari" and the "beef bruchetta" and a couple of beers. Everything was very delicious. Afterward we went for a little walk around the block, even though it was pretty chilly. We hopped back into the car and drove up and down Coast Highway a bit more, watching the pelicans fly by and the crazy people in the ocean. We then drove all the way up to the top of a mountain in San Elijo, where we watched the rain roll in from the coast, looked for our house, saw a beautiful sunset peak through the clouds and froze our little butts off.

We came home, got under some blankets and watched a movie. All in all a pretty fun day, way better then sitting in school for sure! :)

#18- sleep

Wednesday's thankful thing was dedicated to sleep. Mainly because sleep was the reason I didn't get the blog post up, lol! I love sleep, unfortunately it doesn't love me. We have a tough relationship, sleep and I. I want to go to bed at a normal hour, wake up at a normal hour and be a normal person, sleep doesn't agree with that at all. I spend hours and hours awake most nights, tossing & turning, staring at the clock changing hours, listening to my brain go on and on about everything it can possibly think of at once, poking/pushing Andy since he's breathing or snoring in my face, or trying to convince Chomper to stop barking in his sleep and come snuggle with me (has never once happened). For some reason Wednesday night I just couldn't keep my eyes open, I got home from school around 7pm and was just exhausted! I walked in and Andy was napping on the couch, I decided to join him since my body wouldn't let me do anything else, and I slept. It wasn't glorious, wonderful, dreaming sleep, but it was restful come easy sleep. So thanks sleep, for finally (for once) coming easy to me. Now let's try to shoot for a better time to make that happen every night. :)

#17- Yoga Pants

Is there anything better then wearing a pair of comfy yoga pants? I love yoga pants, if I could I would wear them everyday. They're slimming, make your booty look good, and are oh so comfortable. I can move all around in them, do yoga or Pilates in them, jog/go to the gym in them, grocery shop or run errands in them, and they never become uncomfortable. I like to keep mine simple, always black and mostly print-less, but you could really go nuts with color/print/fabric choices if you wanted to. I've heard it's really only a Californian thing to wear your yoga pants out in public, apparently the rest of the country changes into them at the gym or yoga studio and then changes into normal clothes again before they leave said gym/studio. To them I say: your freakin loss! Thank goodness I live in an awesome city, with awesome weather, that I can spend the entire day in yoga pants and flip flops (and a shirt of course) and no one even looks twice. It's our norm, and it totally rocks. It may be one of the reasons I started working at a yoga studio, so that I had even more excuses to buy and wear more yoga pants. My yoga pants now outnumber my jeans by at least 2 to 1. I've had to rotate out a few pairs recently from being too worn, always a sad day, but with me living 2 blocks away from the Prana warehouse that holds an annual sale in Dec I'm always restocking. (LOVE the Prana sale! That will have to be it's own post in Dec) So today I say thank you yoga pants, for you make me so happy to wear you all day long. ahhh....

#16- neuro bliss

Today I am thankful for my new found addiction... the drink "Neuro Bliss". I just discovered it at school the other day, I was feeling really stressed out and a little frazzled, I wanted a drink (adult beverage) but couldn't leave in time to drink a whole drink quickly and get back before my last class. I went to browse the cafeteria for something refreshing and discovered the pretty blue bottle with the word "BLISS" on it. I thought I would give it a try. It was lightly fizzy, lightly flavored, and (after reading the label) packed full of "feel good" stuff.

After further investigation I found out this little bottle claims to: 

-help reduce stress

-enhances mood

-supports memory

-promotes a positive outlook

It's packed full of B vitamins (the energy boosting ones), a few other vitamins and minerals, and a few things I have no clue what the heck they are. Though I didn't believe this was any cure all wonder tonic it did do a good job at taking the edge off of my stress and after having another today I did feel a little lighter and more energized. Sure it could all be in my head, but even if it had no effects I actually really like the flavor. It's reminiscent of something vaguely familiar that I can't quite put my finger (or tongue) on.... like something from my past, but in any case I really like it. I'd like to try some of their other "flavors" like Neuro: sonic, sleep, trim, sun, aqua, sport but not sure if I'll go as far as trying the gasm flavor! Check out their website for more details http://drinkneuro.com/. Thanks neuro drink for my little pick me up! (and a caffeine free one at that!)

#15- Spring Break

So, as some may have noticed, it's been a week since my last posting. (eep!) Not really up to date with the whole one-a-day thing, but we're just going to call it a "spring break". While many kids, students, and parents did celebrate spring break last week I was just feeling a little disconnected from the internet/blogger world. So we're just going to keep moving forward from here, chalk last week's absence up to a spring break from life and start with today! :) I'm thankful for my little spring break, and for the chance to be able to check out and take care of a bunch of things, and know that I can always come back to my busy life. During my break I competed in a bridal show table-top design competition (which I took first place in the "most royal" category and third in the "color me wow" category. Woot!), met with some brides, did a huge spring cleaning in my house/garage, attended some wonderful Pilates classes at Peace Love and Yoga (that totally kicked my butt), got to attend the amazing Summer's Monday night class at Yoga Vista (I don't ever get to go to since I'm in class at Mira Costa during that time) and went kayaking at Carlsbad Lagoon with Andy. Pretty good week! So thanks everyone for being patient with me and allowing me to enjoy my little break! Until tomorrow... ;)

#14- My FRIENDS

Ok, while I am very thankful for the show "Friends" and might actually post about my thankfulness of said show one day to fill in the days, today is just about how thankful I am for all of my personal friends. (I just think the logo is a nice touch since I can't add a picture of me with each and every one of my friends on here.... or could I? Well, we'll just stick with this.)

I have the best group of friends anyone could ask for! If you've been reading/following this blog daily (I know it's tough, even for me to do) :) you'll have read some postings about specific friends, and more will be coming over the next year, trust me, but in general as a group I'm pretty lucky to be able to call them all my friends.

Facebook states that I have a little over 200 "friends" though I wouldn't really consider many of them actual true friends. I can say that I have quite a wide group of true friends (more then most people I think). Many of them I've known since I was 11 years old, many have stood the test of time from middle school, some from baton, others from band, but all of these friends have been here for me for over half my life. Seriously, it's not like we lost touch for huge gaps of time, no the friends I had in middle school are still the people I hang out with today. I've been in many of their weddings, I've planned their baby showers and attended their parties. It's really cool to be able to say that out loud, how many friend do you still have from when you were 12? I'm pretty thankful for that, I hope it means I'm doing something right. Then there are the "newer" friends I've added to my list over the years, they come from all over and I've met them in many different ways but somehow they have all found a place in my heart.

And it doesn't stop there! Just having all my friends IS something to be thankful for in itself, but my friends are really the best kind of friends, the type that love me, support me, and help me every chance they get. They pull together to support me at my charity events I host (not only participating & donating but also their time to help me decorate & work at them), many have assisted me at weddings, some have helped me get my start in the wedding industry, I have muses, I have shoulders to cry on, I have people to confide in, anything and everything you can imagine a person doing for you I can name a friend in my list that will with one call.

So thanks everyone for being so awesome, you truly are the best group of friends a girl can ask for. I am truly thankful to have each of you in my life, and while we might not always be as dramatic or exciting as a sitcom I love all of us just the way we are! ("I'll be there for you...." Just so it's stuck in your head all night) You're welcome ;)