An Update & Thank You

I just wanted to post a quick update.

First of all, I am incredibly humbled and so touched by all of the wonderful comments, emails and formspring comments I've gotten in the last few days.  I consider myself incredibly lucky to have such amazing readers who have such beautiful hearts.

It really means the world to me to have this kind of support at such a difficult time. To be honest, I am still in a lot of shock about all of this.

I am really holding it together right now, because I just booked a trip to Slovakia to attend my grandmother's funeral. I haven't been to my birthplace for 17 years or so now.  The last time I saw many family members I was 9 or 10 years old.

It's going to be a highly emotional trip, but I know I will never forget that I was able to go there to honor my grandmother's memory. My mother will be going as well...and as many of you know we are kind of estranged from each other so that adds additional emotions to this entire trip.

I have to give a shout-out to my beautiful friend Jamie (you can check out her Motivation Mondays post here).  She sent me the most beautiful flowers this morning (peonies and hydrangeas, my favorites!) I am just so touched by all of the support and love that I am so lucky to have in my life.

Today I'm going to go to one of the bigger Forever21 stores with Candice to try and find some hats and gloves for my Slovakia trip and also our Paris/London trip in December.  I also have to return a few things. I've decided to return the American Eagle jacket with the fur hood. I really like it, but I don't know that I'll wear it that often when we are in Europe (because I have my long black coat) and I just would rather buy a jacket that I can layer under so that I can wear it here in Houston too, where it doesn't really get cold enough to wear such a heavy coat. I'm also planning on using my 20% off Sephora coupon today. 

I feel like life is such a whirlwind right now.  I leave on Wednesday afternoon to go to Slovakia. I'm going to carry-on so packing will definitely be tight.  I'm pretty much going to bring all black clothes and boots and a coat so I think I'll do OK with just the carry on and a very large purse. I'm only staying until early Sunday morning.

Thank you again so much, from the bottom of my heart for everyone who sent their thoughts and prayers to me and my family. It really means more to me than I can express in words.

xoxo,

Veronika.

PS---  I don't know that I will be able to blog while I'm gone...but I might try to do some entries in advance so something's going up ever other day or so.  I have a few product reviews that I'd love to share.

7 Things: Blog Related (& Celebrity Baby Bumps Too!)

Hello Ladies!  I hope everyone is having a great week so far! Mine has been busy, but that's a good thing, the work week always seems to go by faster that way.

I have a few things to address/share, so I'll do them one by one.

1.  I am addicted to spray tans.  I just got back from doing another Versa Spa spray tan (I have an unlimited month so I figure I should use it as much as possible.)  I also continue to use my Clarins SPF 6 tanning milk on my face twice a week (usually Sunday night and Wednesday night before bed.)  There's something about having a tan that makes me feel better about life (especially since my body completely went downhill after I stopped working out.)

2. Despite feeling so flabby right now (skinny fat, as I like to call it) I am still totally lacking motivation. I know the moment I do ONE workout I will get my spring back, but that's the problem...I never do that ONE workout to get me there.  I seriously need an intervention. Any Houston readers who want to kick my butt into gear? LOL! I need it!

3.  It has come to my attention (thankfully) that most people prefer my blog without random highlighting, bolding, italicizing etc.  I so very much appreciate the people who gave honest and constructive feedback because I had no idea people felt this way.  The reason I started to highlight/bold/italicize text was because I thought it would make it easier for people to read, not more difficult.  I tend to be a blog "skimmer." I read so many blogs that it would take me forever to actually read every single word so I tend to skim.  When text is bolded it makes it easier for me to get the most important parts of the entry read...but I now understand that's not the way everyone reads and that most people prefer a cleaner text with occasional bolding.  If you have any comments or thoughts about this, please leave them below. But I did want to thank everyone who gave me great advice. I have to admit I was a little highlighter happy. I think bolding still has its place, but I will stop with the obsessive highlighting. It's NOT a textbook. It's NOT a textbook. I have to keep telling myself that!

4.  Some people have asked me why I'm not blogging as much as usual. I try to blog 5 days a week or so, but lately I've had work commitments or weekend social events so I've been too busy to blog as often as I usually do. Everything is OK and hopefully I'll be back to normal posting soon.

5.  My amazing friend Ed who is the most tech-savvy person ever bought me 2 amazing things for my birthday.  One- a tripod for my camera and two, a wireless card for my digital camera so any photos I take directly upload to my computer. No more cords! I can't even express how thankful I am for these items because they are going to make my life so much easier. I think I'm going to buy a camera remote too, so I can take photos of my OOTD's using the clicker and tripod. I think the quality will be better like this but I need to figure out where it's going to be set up, etc. If you're a blogger and you take a lot of photos, you NEED this wireless card.  It's called Eye-Fi.

6.  I'm actually having my entire blogging template redone professionally, so look out for that in the next few months. My friend Maja's husband has his own graphic design firm and generously offered to do it for me! So sweet! It will be nice to have something cleaner and more professional looking. I think the layout will improve dramatically, too.

7. What's in the water? Melissa Rycroft (of Bachelor fame), Christina Applegate and Miranda Kerr (who just married Orlando Bloom) have all announced they are pregnant! It seems like last year we had a flood of celebrities who had babies (Jessica Alba, Ashlee Simpson, Alessandra Ambrosio, Heidi Klum, Jennifer Garner and many more come to mind) and now it's continuing. I'm really happy for Christina in particular because she overcame cancer last year and now she's with child. Such a wonderful thing.  I am baby crazy right now, as you can probably tell.

Do you think there's something in the Hollywood water? That's A LOT of baby bumps!

xoxo,

Veronika.

Question? Ask me on Formspring!