when i get a smartphone...

• i will download and buy fruit ninja.
• get GPS.
• use instagram.
• get a durable screen protector.
• consider buying a fun phone cover... along the lines of geekiness and nerdiness.

growing green.

lessons from taking care of green things:

• my bedroom window does not have the direct sun that succulents love
• that's why the aloe didn't grow and remained the same size for months. awesome. 
• ~60% hens + chicks (a type of succulent) survived the last replanting and today i replanted them again. will update on results of mission: don't kill green things. 
• herbs may not like me... one of my mint plants is turning purple and the basil is yellow... 
• RIP bob. bob is my bamboo plant that my friend gave me as a high school graduation gift. bob jr shall continue your legacy on my window sill. 
• they need their sustenance of soil and light just as we need of our good God. 

keep it simple. step by step. continually humbled. praise God.

flats, heels, and boots... oh dear.

i bought myself more than one pair of footwear today... i bought six. and just after i made my last post [sigh].
here's what i got:

• black flats
• nude flats
• black leather boots
• black leather heels/errr dress shoe for work? (franco sarto)
• cork wedges/sandals (for summer... it was $3 with the sale and they're super comfortable!)
• classic black heels (they're much more comfortable than the pair i bought during the summer for work)

first three have been on my "to buy/purchase" list for more than two months and the latter three items were indulgences. there was a pair of cork wedges that i fell in love with during the summer time that i chose not to buy but i kept on thinking of them and even went looking for them in the shoe store today. if i saw them on clearance or on sale, i would buy them. comfy and cute. but alas, they were long gone but i found this great deal on the pair i found... why not? as for the black heels, they have a thicker heels which helps distribute my weight and makes it feels twice as comfortable as the heels i already bought. but the franco sarto pair wins all. i owned a short leather boot with a 2 inch heel from franco sarto before and wore them into the ground because they were so comfortable. i was so sad to give them up because they became scuffed beyond repair but i am glad that i found another pair to take me to work! 

i must say that it's always been a challenge for me to find comfortable shoes/heels/boots for my feet. comfort comes first when i go shoe shopping and my mom's been trying to get some for me but i've never quite met goldilocks with what she brings home. i realize that it's a matter of me going and actually trying on the shoe, walk around a little in the shoe store, and then deliberate whether or not to buy it because it really needs to make me happy. the other shoes i've purchased where it was a little too big or a little too small never left the shoe closet. 

this shopping adventure takes me back 2 steps from simplifying my life but the nude flats replaced two flats i can no longer wear and the cork wedges are replacing another pair of sandals i've given up. so i'm satisfied with knocking out my shoe list so well today. next: replacing my timberlands! 

simplify [verb]: to make less complex or complicated.

i have too much stuff; too much stuff to the point my life is cluttered, hard to keep organized, and frustrating when i can't find that one thing among the sheer volume of stuff. and so, i've been mentally changing gears since 2008 to let go and simplify my life. lifestyle changes that have been moving at a snail's pace, most of which has been a mental and emotional battle because of the sentimental value i placed in things that clutter rather than enhance my life. but i praise God for working with me through this aspect of my life because now that i can wholeheartedly let go of things that i don't use and holding onto for those "just in case" scenarios, i feel as though i've been set free from the chains of american consumerism and the mentality that more is better. it's an amazing feeling to have a burden lifted off and to move in the direction where i don't have to worry about what i should wear that day because what i own is what i like to wear. 

since the beginning of this school year, i have been able to let go of:

• one bag's worth of books i don't read (sold to used book store for $4 credit and bought 3 books, two of which completed 2 different series already on my bookshelves!)
• 3 trashbags' worth of clothing i don't wear/haven't worn in 2+ years/won't wear 
• the need to buy things on clearance/sale because it's such a good buy even though it's not a perfect fit

about 1-2 times a month, i would spend a whole saturday organizing some part of my house (closet, bookshelves, study, closet again, kitchen, etc) where there is one pile of things i can let go of. now, you may ask me, an entire saturday? yes. an entire saturday. an inefficient process but one that gets easier the more i do it. and it's more fun now because i'm ponder what i want to highlight in that space and showcase aspects of my personality or of my family. yesterday was one of those days for my closet and today is the first time i can see a noticeable difference; my clothes aren't crammed together and there is space. i like it. 

i still need to cut down on my dresses and summer clothing but that can wait for another saturday when the weather gets warmer. i also haven't quite let go of going shopping yet. i like to check out the latest trends and see if there is a good buy, but i am proud to say that i haven't been bringing home a new addition to my wardrobe everything i go and the time i spent in any store has cut down considerably looking at things that i don't need and end up not buying. i would say that i've come a long way from my shopaholic days,wouldn't you?