Beginning of a New Chapter

I've been a student for the past 16 years of my life & I still can't believe that this chapter of my life is officially over!

It's the end of...

... Late night cram sessions

... Long weekends of group projects

... Last minute homework assignments at 5 am

... Ever rising tuition and book fees

And ... hours & hours of tedious lectures and note-taking!

Today I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Business-Accountancy from Sac State University & so far it's been a bitter-sweet experience for me. I'm sooo happy & proud of myself for finally finishing and graduating with honors, but I know I'll miss those carefree days of being a student and having the flexibility to make my own schedule ... real world here I come!

All of my closest family came to the ceremony to celebrate my accomplishment & I seriously felt like I was some kind of celebrity with all the paparazzi shots that my family was trying to take xexe but I'm happy I got tons of great shots!

{My friend Yuliya & I before the ceremony}


{My bestie Marina & I ... I'm sooo going to miss our late night calls and non-stop texting xexe ... She was my biggest support and college would have be so dull without her}



{My hubby & I ... He's soo happy I'm done! ... poor guy had to put up with so much while I was in school}


{My mommy & Daddy ... they're so proud to have such a smart daughter ;)}


{My Grammy & Gpa ... so glad that they came to support me}


{My baby brother & I}


{All of my sexy girls!}


{My baby sisters and I}

After the ceremony we all went out to one our favorite Asian restaurants to celebrate ... usually it's so hard to get a good group picture with my family, but somehow it all worked out this time!

I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful and caring family to support me through both the good and bad in my life ... I don't know what I would do without them & I'm just thankful that I have them all!

Bangin' New Do

Ok so I finally took the plunge and got BANGS! {Which by the way I've been wanting since summer but haven't had the guts to get} Ohh how I LOVE my hairstylist ... she reads my mind perfectly!

Here's the results:

Our Peacock Christmas Tree

"Its the most WONDERFUL time of the year..." Not only am I in L-O-V-E with Christmas but I think I might actually be a little obsessed with it! I wait all year long for twinkling Christmas lights... gorgeous Christmas decor... beautifully lit Christmas trees... & of course all the lovely presents underneath xexe

I've been fascinated with the magic of Christmas ever since I can remember ... It brings so much JOY to my life & makes me realize how blessed I truly am to have such wonderful family and friends to spend it with!

Although I do love a traditional Christmas ... I decided to go with something a little different for my Christmas Tree. It all started last year when I decided to add a few peacock feathers and birds to my tree and now its a full blown theme.

I really Love the idea of a White Christmas Tree, but I refuse to buy a fake one ... sooo instead we got extra extra flocking on ours to give it that more modern look! I also Love decorating my tree with birds, butterflies, and feathers so of course I had to add a few new ones to the collection this year.

A few weeks ago I found this gorgeous Peacock tree topper which matches my theme perfectly and some purple birds & ornaments to give it that extra pop of color!

My hubby bought me this turquoise butterfly last week & its probably one of my favorites ... I Love how bright and sparkly it looks. We also got a new black & White table runner and these gorgeous crystal candle holders to add to our Christmas decor!

And finally here's our little {present} sitting underneath the Christmas Tree looking cute as a button!

Fab K's Holiday {Give}away

Although I don't really need the extra competition ... I decided to share anyways {Only becuause I Luv you guys so much }

Fabulous K is having an awesome Holiday Giveaway ... & let me tell you, her name don't lie ... this is serious the most FABULOUS giveaway I have ever seen ... sooo many great sponsors but sooo little time ... so head over their now!!!

My Munchikins

My Sunday School class performed at church this week!

I'm so proud of them ... they all learned their poems and songs perfectly & sounded like lil angels from up above ... ok maybe I'm exaggerating a little ... or maybe a lot xexe, but common on what teacher wouldn't be proud?

We've been doing a lot of fun Christmas crafts with them for the past couple of weeks and decorated our class tree last week {Hopefully pictures will come soon} ... Next Sunday we're making Christmas cookies!!! Can't wait :)

Autumn Inspired

On Saturday I helped my friend Ella throw a surprise B-day party for her hubby's 25th Birthday! ... Well it started out as a surprise anyways... but by the time Thanksgiving came around ... our cover was blown ... & by none other than the father-in-law ... ughhh how I luv parents and their keen inability to keep secrets LoL

Although he knew about the surprise ... I doubt he ever imaged such a fabulous party in honor of his birthday!

The decor was amazing ... all autumn inspired and simply gorgeous ... I especially Luved the berry cake ... mmmm my fav!!!

My hubby was in charge of the program and all the games ... he did sooo good ... there was over 50 peole and I doubt anyone left without a smile on their face!

{Thanks}giving

Another FabuLous idea from Fabulous K ...

I have sooo many things to be thankful for this year ... and this includes YOU ... yes You ... the one reading my blog!!!

I want to thank all of you for following and leaving me super sweet comments all year long! You really make my day and I would L-O-V-E to hear from you and hopefully get to know you better!

If you read my blog or simply stopped by to say hello ... please leave me a comment and share the Love!

Also feel free to stop by Kelly's Blog so you too can get a "Holiday Hello" graphic for your blog...

Miss Russian California

Pageants ... that's definitely not something I ever saw myself doing ... but guess there's a 1st for everything!

A couple of months ago my good friend Nata invited me to participate in a pageant that her company was hosting. I didn't think much of it but decided to give a try anyways. At that time I didn't know what I was getting myself into ... but I sure did find out real fast!

After 3-4 grueling practices for 5 weeks straight I found out exactly what it takes to prepare for a pageant ... and ppl let me tell you it's a lot of hard work! With everything I had going on with school, church, Beta Alpha Psi, and the pageant ... I barely survived the past couple of months LoL

The pageant consisted of 3 parts: Personal Outfit, Wedding Gown, and Evening Dress ... I probably had the hardest time with the personal outfit ... That's the outfit we wore for our opening number and didn't have too much guidelines in choosing it except that we had to be able to dance in it. Sooo here's what I came up with.....

The wedding gowns and evening dresses were a lil easier ... Diamond Bridal Salon handpicked a wedding gown and evening dress for every contestant to model during the pageant.

I L-O-V-E-D my Wedding Gown ... it had a tail so I had tons of fun learning how to be flirty with it and toss it behind me during the pageant walk ;) LoL

We wore our Evening Gowns for the last part of the pageant and had to do our own 1 1/2 minutes routine while our personal video was playing on the screen {I wanted to post it on here but still trying to figure it out} ... Here's my hubby and I taking a quick pic after the event!

To top the night off ... we had an after party with all the girls at Scott's Seafood! ... After sucha long day we barely had enough energy to eat ... & that's not normal cuz the food was D-licious!

Even with all that work, I still didn't win 1st place ... but after everything was said and done I realized that it wasn't even about that ... I had the best time of my life and this experience and the friendships that I made will last forever!!!

{Gray} is the new bLack

I'm sooo in L-U-V with gray this faLL ... And simply can't get enough of it! Seriously if you check out my closet, a 1/3 of my stuff is either gray or a variation of gray/siLver. It's the perfect color and goes great with everything ...

... so to add to my collection ... I went shopping last week and bought this gorgeous military style jacket & super cute pencil skirt from express!

1. High-Waist Pencil Skirt {Express}
2. Military Jacket {Express}

Sweet Baby {aLyssa}

My sis-in-law gave birth to beautiful baby girl last week!

We didn't get a chance to visit them in the hospital, but came over to the house a couple of days later. She looks just like her older sister, just check out that doll face ... too cute for words!

Of course we couldn't go empty handed ... I ordered her this cute personalized onesie on Etsy ... they always have the best stuff!

harVest

{Harvest Celebration}
Bethel Baptist Church 2009

The Fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness,
Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control.
Galatians 5:22

Does time Fly or what?

My hubby and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary this month and I still can't believe that it's been this long ... it's been a wonderful 2 years and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with my gorgeous hubby LoL

Somehow in the middle of all my school craziness we actually had time to take a few days off to celebrate ... we stayed at a gorgeous resort in Palm Desert and did nothing but relax 24/7

We too a zillion pictures but when we went to use our camera on the 2nd day we got an error message saying that our memory card was screwed up ... to make a long story short, we lost all the pictures we took the 1st couple of days but lucky for us I had an extra card stored in my wallet! ... so here's more pictures for your viewing pleasure LoL

On the actual day of our anniversary, we headed to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway for the beautiful views of the whole city! Here's us inside of the tram car!

In the evening we took a boat ride to one of the restaurants at the resort called Mikados ... and had a quick photo shoot before going {my hubby hated it but I know he'll thank me 1 day for all these fun memories}

There was white swans everywhere we went ... sooo beautiful that I couldn't resist taking a few snaps!

I've never been to this type of restaurant before, where they cook in front of you and put on a show while you eat ... but I Luved it, especially our chef Mike! Here he is getting a little Dangerous with fire!

The food wasn't that great, or at least to my taste {I'm definitely someone you would call a "picky eater"} but the Green tea ice cream was definitely a HIT!

Our vacation definitely ended too fast, but we had the time of our life so that's all that matters right? LoL ... well anyways I'll just leave it with this cute sign that we happened to see ... {that was us exactly 2 yrs ago}

That Girl!

Sooo I haven't posted in a while but school has been super crazy for the past few weeks ... I barely have time to breathe, let alone time to post lol

This has been the hardest semester I have ever had with school ... I'm taking my typical 15 units, but it's just not the same this time around ...

Yeah I have to admit that I might be getting a case of senioritis ... LoL but it's more serious than that ... seems that my professors have plotted against me and made all the tests and projects due on the same day ... in addition to that I have hW due every time & almost for every class ... my poor hubby has been suffering more than me cuz we barely get time to hang out.

To add to all the drama I am also currently recruiting with tons of accounting firms and been going to one interview after the other ... I just had my 2nd interview with a downtown firm so praying that I get it so I can have a job waiting for me in January!

Ohh and who can forget about all of the things that I've be doing with church and Beta Alpha Psi ... that all adds up a little too quickly to my busy schedule.

And ... I nvr mentioned but I'm also participating in a beauty pageant on Nov. 12th! It's my 1st one so I'm super excited but all the rehearsals that we've been having are making me go craZy LoL

Despite all this drama ... I still wanna be That Girl ... yeah the one in the picture ... the one still smiling no matter what happens ... I can definitely be that girl ... Ohh wait I am That Girl!

Baby Blue w/ a Splash of Orange

I finally got around to taking pictures of my newly remodeled Sunday School classroom ... So here's the final result!

1 & 3: Picture Frames {Dollar Store} Striped Fabric {IKEA}
2: White Ceramic Piggy Bank {Michael's}
4: Curtains {IKEA}
5: Set of 5 white vases {IKEA} Single Orange Flowers {Dollar Store}
6: White Lamp {IKEA}

I decided to go with a light blue paint color for the walls to create a bright, open space with a relaxed feel. The baby blue makes the black frames really stand out against the wall.

The orange accents really pop-out against the light colored walls, including these vases with single orange flowers that I arranged in a row on the top shelf of my bookcase.

I used old frames that I had laying around the house to create borders for both my Birthday Calendar and the Attendance Board. I used scrap booking paper for the background and the letters, and I decided to go with a birdie theme. There's 12 birds {each representing a month of the year} I still need to write in the month and the kids' birthdays in each bird.

And here's the complete shelving unit. I got all of these storage boxes and file folders from IKEA. They are so convenient and make my shelved look ohhh so neat! Plus they come a variety of colors so it'll work with any design. I'm definitely getting some more for our office at home!

This project took 2 whole days, even with my hubs helping out! Our room looked so horrible before ... with dirty walls and floors, broken shelves and cabinets, holes in the walls, cracks in the floor... and the list continues Lol

I'm so ecstatic that it's finally done! Yay I can actually look forward to coming to class now, and so can the kids!!!

{T.G.I.F}

Ohh how I'm happy the weekend has finally come... Let me tell you its been a crazy busy week for me, and I'm just glad it's finally over and I can actually breath now!

1st of all since it's my last semester of college, all of my classes have been super hard and this week was probably the worse of it all. Here's a quick overview of all the "fun" things I did this week....

...Do tons of HW for 5 classes

...Study for and take 3 accounting tests

...Complete 2 grueling school projects

...and Prepare for and interview for an internship position with the company of my dreams!

I'm so excited about the interview... I felt I did very well, but then again there was also a lot of other very well-qualified candidates who also applied. It would be such a great opportunity for me to get this position and I've been praying about it for a very long time... It's all in God's hands now and I know he knows what's going to be best for me in the long run :)

Well enough of all my blabbing... here's some cutie pics of Bella!
{she got all dressed up for a quick photo shoot on my balcony}

Isn't this the cutest doggie shirt or what? My sweet friend Nata gave it to me as a gift :) Apparently diamonds get around... Not only are they a girl's best friend, but I guess my dog's bestie also!

She was such a good model for me today... usually it's quite opposite, and I can't get her to sit still even for a quick second.