Happy Halloween!

Ahh! I'm slacking! It's been two days since I've blogged. Shame on me.

Well, I can't really babble on like I usually do right now either because I've got loads of homework and a midterm tomorrow, so I'll make this quick.

Saturday was my father-in-law's Halloween party and it was such a great time! I got to play with all the kiddos and of course we dressed up. I think I told y'all I was going as Pinocchio this year, and Mikey naturally went as Geppetto. 

Here are some pictures from our super fun night with family and friends:
Outfit deets: blouse - Speakeasy Vintage; Velvet suspenders - Forever 21;Vest - Ruche; tights - ModCloth; flats - Target 

The cuties dressed up as Little Red and the Big Bad Wolf are my father-in-law and his lovely girlfriend, Marilyn; the sweetie pie dressed as a little hippie is Isha, our friends' daughter (they're also our upstairs neighbors); the hottie in the "Like a Virgin" Madonna get-up is Marilyn's daughter, Melissa; the caveman and woman are Isaac and Lissi, Isha's parents, and bat girl is, Isairah, Isaac and Lissi's other daughter (they have four beautiful little girls). 

My costume was very inexpensive, as I had all the pieces already in my wardrobe. I love the velvet suspender shorts! Mikey actually made my Pinoc' hat himself! It turned out perfect and kudos to Mikey on his little DIY project. 

I have to say my favorite moment from the night was when Isha grabbed me by the arm and said, "C'mon Roni, let's just go sit on the stairs and tell each other secrets." I laughed and replied, "Secrets?" To which she responded so seriously, "Yeah, you know, secrets...ones that not even Mikey knows." LOL! This girl is 4 years old but she is definitely wise beyond her little years. :)

We got home from the party at about midnight and Mikey went straight to bed. I tried going to sleep too, but I just stared at the ceiling for about ten minutes before I got up, grabbed my little storage container of old pictures and cds with pictures saved, and sat on the couch till 9 am reliving old memories. I laughed and cried (a lot) and realized yet again how much I miss so many people that I used to spend so much time with. To include my brother and sister, Danny and Monika. I can't wait to see them for Christmas this year. And my nephew Nathaniel! It breaks my heart that I'm not getting to see him grow up the way an aunt should. But my sister, being the wonderful sister she is, sends Mikey and I pictures of Nathaniel two to three times a day, everyday. Plus she sends the cutest videos, and Mikey and I gush over him like crazy. 

Here is what Nathaniel dressed up as for Halloween today: (I gave my sister, Monika, and her boyfriend Gilbert the idea ;))

Pubert Addams!!!! Isn't he the most adorable little goth baby?!!! I die over this picture. 

Well, I must run and be a productive student. I hope you all had a spooktacular Halloween!

Goodnight darlings.

Love,

Roni

TGIF/Roni & Mikey date day

This week was nothing short of exhausting and completely mind-numbing. I am going to fully enjoy sleeping in tomorrow.
Mikey over slept and missed class today so I was really excited because I knew that as soon as I got home we could get out of the house after a long week of school+eat+sleep (boring!). First, I had him snap a picture of 'what I wore today', then I exchanged my jeans and flats for a skirt and wedges, and we were out the door. We headed to our new favorite place to just walk around: Montclair!
We had lunch at The Office again, then walked over to Anthropologie to exchange our recently purchased magnetic timer (for the kitchen) because it wasn't buzzing when the time was up. They ended up refunding our money and giving us the timer for free since they were going to throw it away! And guess what? We just now realized it wasn't broken after all, lol. Yay! It's so cute and adds the perfect little touch of my beloved retro. If you have an Anthropologie near you, you should really visit it -- they always have the neatest trinkets (and best clothes).

After Anthro we walked over to an optometry place so Mikey could check out some glasses. I've already got my next daily-wear pair of glasses, just need to get the lenses put in. I'm stoked because they're 50's vintage cat-eye frames that I scored at Speakeasy Vintage (also in Montclair). They've just been sitting untouched, all wrapped up, on a shelf in my closet for over a month! That is no place for vintage.

Wanna see them? Here they are:

Next, we grabbed cupcakes (Twinkie and Samoa) and headed to Michael's Arts and Crafts to get supplies needed to make my Pinocchio hat for my father-in-law's Halloween party tomorrow night. Oh, I'm dressing up as my favorite little wooden boy/favorite little liar. :) I didn't even get to assist in making my hat because Mikey is so obsessed with crafts that he deemed it "his project". I didn't mind at all, and he did a wonderful job! Thanks baby. 

Here's us in Montclair grabbing the cupcakes :)

And as if we hadn't already been out on the longest date day possible (not that I'm complaining -- we had FUN!), I reminded Mikey that we still hadn't gone to the State Scare haunted attraction, and Halloween is only 3 days away. So of course we went! We took our neighbors/friends, Isaac and Louis, and after the 'Scare' we went for some more thrills...like getting Gelotti's Ice Cream -YUM- and driving down a dark, spooky road that's sandwiched between a river and cemetery. 

All in all, today was a productive day, as in, we didn't waste a minute, and I love days like this. 

Here's what I wore today:

Outfit deets: Flannel, Jeans - True Religion; Flats, tights - Target; Skirt - Forever 21; wedges - Chelsea Crew via ModCloth

Before I meet my husband in our pajamas to watch late night cartoons, I want to leave y'all with this quote I found on my friend Chappie's blog. I asked her for the source but she didn't know. 

Here's some truth for all, from Anonymous:

"What you think you are worthy of is what you attract. You change your reality when you change your mentality."

Remember this before you start to sell yourself short. Let these words be motivation to encourage yourself, rather than discourage. Remind yourself that you are worthy of everything you are in search of to make you a happy YOU. I promise I'll be one of your biggest cheerleaders if you need me to. But I probably already am. :)

*Hugs*

Goodnight darlings.

Love,

Roni

Rainy days are the BEST days

Hello friends!

I'm on the brink of narcolepsy so I'm going to make this one quick...Well, as quick as I can make a blog post. Judging by what I've written so far, I'm only capable of short novels. Lol 

Pretty much all my friends know that rainy weather makes me absolutely happy. Where grey skies and dark clouds make most people roll their eyes and dread leaving the house, I am 100% happy to go out and be apart of it. Sure, nothing is better than getting to stay home on a wet and dreary day, relaxing on the couch with the windows open, maybe watch movies all day long, but I do love getting to run around in it. 

Mikey and I had class together today and we took some pictures in the school parking lot. :)...Then he dropped my phone and pieces went flying everywhere. I went from "yay's!" to "you clumsy little sh*t" in half a second. hahaha But no worries, the droid is alive and well.  

Here we are prior to Mikey's mega fail:

*You can't tell from here but these rain boots have little owls, trees and autumn leaves - adorable! I'm addicted to dresses with cowl necks. Especially sweater dresses -- so perfect for fall and winter. And doesn't Mikey look adorable in his purple cardigan I bought him? :)*
Outfit deets: Sweater Dress - Daffy's; Cardigan - New York & Co.; Rain boots - Nordstrom; tights - Target; Umbrella - H&M

And now I'll leave you with a little video of a song I used to listen to religiously back in 2004/2005 (when I lived in Oklahoma). I never really got into this band's (Straylight Run) other music, so I'm not sure how good or terrible it is, but this song was so significant to me and came out just when I needed it, so it felt nice to hear it today...on repeat.

Here's the link to the song/vid: (feel free to let me know if you liked it)

Straylight Run - Existentialism on Prom Night

Goodnight guys and gals.

Love,

Roni

The Flaming Lips and Colombian food were the highlights of my day

I love my drives to and from school. I turn my music way up and nine times out of ten, I reminisce. That brings me to....

Today I thought of Y'ALL, Morgan & Jon.

I listened to The Flaming Lips like crazy in the Mini today and boy did it take me back to Vegas and the great times I had with two people that love The Flaming Lips as much as I do: Morgan and Jon. *We listened to TFL like it was the only band in the world at times.* The three of us worked together during my last four years in the Air Force; they are two of my favorite people in the world. We did a job together that was extremely monotonous and often times under-appreciated, but the joys in that environment came from getting to see these two everyday. Not only did we joke for the entire 9 hours we were in the office together, but we played music all day, everyday. And we got up and danced all the time! We didn't care who was walking by to see us while we busted a move to some Black Kids, all the while dancing in our uniforms...totally breaking the rules, haha! Jon, I still think of you every time I hear "Look at Me (When I Rock Wichoo)". I'll never forget the day we all found an empty box, tucked the side flaps in, wrote all over the exterior and gave it a face and a name: Dance Robot, or D.R. as we lovingly referred to him. Anytime someone tried on D.R.'s head (which curious people in flight suits always did) they had to dance, so we'd pick a song and turn it up. :)

The last two years working in that office were really hard on me, as there was a very negative and hurtful person in the office that was constantly getting under my skin (and everyone else's really) and I had to keep myself daily from smacking her with my keyboard, but Jon, Morgan and our other co-worker really came together to keep the level of positivity dominant. 

Morgan, I miss being there for you in person and hearing your contagious laugh. I love how hard you laughed when I told you that you sound like the lead singer of Passion Pit, that time you were singing quietly at your desk. I remember the exact afternoon that I knew you trusted me: you were hurt by something 'she' said and you asked me to talk to you outside the building, and when I saw tears in your eyes and listened to what you confided in me with, I knew that we were going to be friends forever. I still think of you as a little sister and absolutely am thankful that we didn't lose touch just because I moved away. I hope that Mikey and I will visit soon so that I can meet your little Christopher! I love you, Morkie!

Jon, jeez, where do I begin? You and I bonded on a totally unique level. That talk you and I had in the office that one day: the talk that seemed destined to happen because not a single person 'bothered' us for paperwork for about an hour and a half. Remember it?  Our talk about what LIFE is really about, dreams, traveling South America in a hippie van, and the "robots" of the world...I told you how I've only had that discussion with two other people in my life; that deep conversation that just doesn't happen any old time; that conversation that I live for. After we had that talk I remember we both laughed and said something along the lines of, "Wow" and knew then that we were meant to be friends, great friends. I miss our analyses of certain songs and movies and the way we deliberated on how they impacted our souls (we're so passionate! lol).   You were always such a good time and I'm satisfied that I have the dance videos to look back on from many fun nights. :D Mikey and I adore you and think about you often when we watch deep and meaningful films...or when we watch The IT Crowd and Moss comes on screen. Even though during the last few months you've sucked at keeping in touch - yes, I'm calling you out - I still love you very much like the brother I always thought of you as. And I miss doing the Jack Bunny dance with you when I remember Owl Jolson: "I like to sing-a about the moon-a and the June-a and the Spring-a..." I can't wait to see you and Ronda and get our JB tattoos, 'cause we're Big Bunny & Little Bunny! :) 

Here's a picture of Morgan and Jon so y'all know the two sweeties I'm talking about:

When I headed home from school I was caught in brutal traffic, I mean no one was going anywhere. As I said before, I was listening to The Flaming Lips, so for the first time in caught-up-in-traffic-history I didn't mind. Going less than 3 miles per hour I got to see things I hadn't noticed before, like a yummy looking Indian restaurant, pretty flowers in the dividing section of the highway and a jug of sweet tea, still half full...who on Earth would throw out a jug of tea?! And who was drinking it in the middle of the highway? Definitely left me quizzical. But something else I noticed that I thought was worthy of mention was: at one point I looked up at the sky and noticed its extraordinary shade of blue mixed in with the cottony white that seemed to blend in like salty waves, and I thought to myself how the vision above me made it seem like the world were upside down. It looked like the Earth's ocean was completely on top of us and we were just driving cluelessly underneath. *Think of the way the blue changes in the ocean right as the sun's going down - that was the color.* I've never seen the sky look like that. It was beautiful. 

...And now I'll leave you with what I wore today! I actually woke up uber late and had zero time to really get ready, so I went extremely casual...but made sure I wore some statement shoes! 

Outfit deets: Top - French Connection; Jeans - Hot Topic 2007; shoes - ModCloth

Oh, before I go, you should really pick up The Soft Bulletin album by The Flaming Lips if you don't already own it - it's one of the greatest cds ever. Oh, Oh, the Colombian food in my neighborhood is legit. Mikey and I never had Colombian food until we moved here, and it's definitely one of my faves now. Friends, when y'all come for a visit remind us to take you for some. Sweet dreams!

Love,

Roni

It's Tuesday & I'm all over the place

Hi, dolls!
So I figured I'd take the time to blog before I black out. You see, I have this love/hate relationship with Procrastination...we've been seeing each other for as long as I can remember and last night I pulled an all-nighter to catch up on homework that I had more than enough time to complete. Shame on me. What's worse is this isn't the first night of no sleep that I've put myself through this semester. Tuesdays are my busiest days with three 2.5 hour long classes that are all scheduled within 10 minutes of each other and 'conveniently' located nowhere near the last one - there's no time for even a water break! I know that doesn't sound like a big deal, but by the time the day is over - and I'm on a self inflicted day of no sleep - I'm beyond exhausted and my brain feels like mush. Every time I create these problems for myself I say an inside promise that "it's the last time"...it never is. Procrastination is a wicked temptress. 
I drove to school at 9 am with heavy eyes, but I made it a point to put myself in a good mood to last throughout the day and through my interactions of class discussions (Tuesdays classes are very oral participation oriented and I hate dead silence in a classroom; I enjoy sharing my opinion and getting involved with the topics presented - it makes the day go by faster!). So in efforts to remedy my exhaustion and uplift my spirits a bit, I played a little old country. Ronnie Milsap to be exact. Most of his songs take me back to 2008 when I was teaching Mikey about old country western singers, and we'd listen to Ronnie Milsap holding hands while driving around Vegas with no particular destination in mind. That aimlessness was always fun, and through the images of my mind I could see clear as day the exact intersections we waited for green lights at as we sang along together and exchanged our usual "red light/stop sign kisses". This morning Ronnie Milsap put a smile on my face and made me feel like I'd fallen in love with my husband all over again, just in something so free as reliving the simple memories we've made. :)
Enough with the mushy-Mikey stuff!
I want to do my first ever little edition of what I'm going to call, "Today I thought of YOU". Well, I think of a ridiculous amount of special people in my life throughout every day so I can't always list all of you, but I promise you'll come up ;)  Today I want to write about a friend who was in my head a whole chunk of the day because not only was she the inspiration for one of my recent Fiction Workshop pieces but I believe it was this day last year that I flew out to see her in Tennessee...

Today I thought of YOU, Paige. 

I know you've got a lot going on in your life right now, but just remember that I'm always only a phone call away and I've got great ears! For those that don't know, Paige and I have quite the story for how we became friends and YES it started with drama, lol. We always joke about how our friendship is literally worth a thousand words, if not more, for how we came about. We went from total strangers communicating through Myspace (old school!) thousands of miles apart, to drunk dial buddies telephoning from Belgium to Vegas nightly, to finally meeting in person two years later during a 9 day stay at her house (who does that with someone they've only ever talked to through email or phone? I did, lol), to the best of friends that talk on the phone every week and plan regular annual visits! It's probably the friendship in my life that requires the most work, mainly because of the fact that it wasn't built in the same fashion as my other friendships...or like any friendship. We only ever get to do the girls nights on the couch with junk food, dancing all night at Cowboys, shopping trips, dinners with drinks and other girlfriend type things when we're together...when we fly to one another. So it takes a different level of dedication to make this particular friendship work, because again, it didn't start out with a solid foundation of everyday-togetherness like my other best friends. And then again that's what makes mine and Paige's friendship so special - because even though all we've ever had were phone chats and 4 visits back and forth to date, we've learned enough about the other and exchanged hundreds of stories that we feel like we're together even when we're far apart. We've made it clear that the distance that's always separated us has only made our hearts grow fonder, therefore making it a constant reminder for me in general that friendships and relationships alike take a degree of honest and wholehearted commitment in order for them to stay healthy. It's so easy to get lazy about staying in touch, but it's even easier to just send a quick message or text saying, "I'm thinking about you." 

 Here are pictures of Paige and I - one for every visit we've made thus far. I miss you, Lovebug:
*And just in case you didn't know, you can click on the pictures to make them easier to view - I say this because I just figured out you can do it, lol*

And now I'll leave you with what I wore today! It was quite chilly and I should have packed a jacket, instead I packed a PB&J sandwich. :) I really love the color of this teal/green dress. It's a sleeveless summer dress but I paired it with black tights and a thick Darling cardigan to make it more fall-esque. 
Outfit deets: Dress - Forever 21; cardigan - Darling via ModCloth tights - Target; shoes - Payless 2009  

Ignore the bags under my eyes! I will treat myself to a coma tonight. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful night and I'll be back tomorrow! 

*Bear Hugs all around*

~Roni

Why, hello there!

So here goes the introduction:
My name is Veronika but my nickname since birth is Roni. Everyone calls me Roni so you can too. :)
I've had a few friends for a while now tell me I 'need' to start a blog...I'm not sure why, but recently I've found myself with the desire for a new outlet or new atmosphere for a means of expression, other than where I normally babble on Facebook. It dawned on me that a blog can be my little creative nook every once in a while, or everyday depending on how often I feel the need to share something neat or what I deem as memorable...which will likely be a ton of things since like the title of my blog states, I'm a very nostalgic person - I actually refer to nostalgia as being like a disease to me since so often I'm plagued with these overwhelming feelings of "I remember when" or "I miss...". It's quite sad, lol, but I'm happy that I have so many beautiful images to keep going back to in my mind. My life has had its share of what I call 'shit shows' but they don't compare to the truly glorious moments I've experienced, and both the good and the bad have taught me lessons or given me something I can cherish. 
Other than documenting how I spent my days I'd like to note the outfits I wore since I'm very big into fashion and it's one of the things that friends and strangers alike are very aware that I'm passionate about. Music and movies are definitely passions of mine as well and pieces of each of those arts are muses for my style.  For example, I listened to a lot of doo-wop music growing up as a child and watched a ton of films that were set in the 50's and 60's that I developed a deep fascination for those eras and have incorporated a great deal of the fashion trends from back then into my style today. I remember always telling my mom that I was born in the wrong decade or that in my other life I was a teenager in 50's and I wore poodle skirts every day and had a boyfriend that looked just like James Dean. It was the music that just made me fall so helplessly in love with wanting to be apart of it all. Songs like "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" by The Platters, "Girl on My Mind" by Buddy Holly, and "Sea of Love" by pretty much anyone that's ever covered it, were just so romantic and for me, define the purity and depth of love that the music of that time showcased. I envy the guys and gals that got to slow dance to those songs at their school dances. And movies like Shag, Cry Baby, American Graffiti, Breakfast at Tiffany's and so many others are just many more of the images that have inspired my tastes throughout these last 27 years. 
OH! I should warn the blogosphere that I'm incredibly new to this so if I make a few mistakes or don't know how to put links up or whatever, please don't be too hard on me. I'll get better - hopefully, ha! And I do hope my blog won't be terribly boring to people. For now, seeing as how I don't have any followers since I just did this on a whim in the wee hours of a Sunday night, this will be like my public/personal journal documenting my life. 
I guess I'll start with this weekend. On Friday my mother-in-law, Doranne, came up from North Carolina (I forgot to mention I'm currently residing in New Jersey -I'll update the "about me" section later) and we all met at my husband's grandpa's (we call him Pop Pops) house in Secaucus.  It was a lovely time! We celebrated Pop Pop's 80th birthday a couple months early since Doranne was in town and made a party of it with pizza, pasta and my favorite...CAKE! It was nice to see all my husband Mikey's aunts, uncles and cousins, whom I refer to all as my own family members. At one point during the evening I sat on a chair and watched all the family-togetherness ensue and it made me choke up with happiness, as this is the kind of thing I miss doing with my own family back in Texas. I'm just glad that we're living in a state where we do have family close-by and I can enjoy these moments again. 
Here is what I wore to Pop Pop's house on Friday:
*I'm a major sucker for peter pan collars! You will see these a lot on my blouses, cardigans and dresses.*
Outfit deets: Dotted with hearts blouse-Forever 21; Tulle cardi via ModCloth; Jeggings - Pac Sun 2008; shoes - Jeffrey Campbell via Solestruck

Saturday was an exceptionally beautiful day in October! I mean it was GORGEOUS! It was just one of those days where even you yourself just feel wonderful inside and out, and I know I was exuding a supreme level of happiness. :) Mikey, Doranne and I set out to our neighboring town of Montclair and enjoyed lunch at a cute and uber busy little restaurant called Raymond's. When I saw that they had a few Mexican breakfast dishes I lit up with excitement! (I'm 100% Mexican, even if I'm asked DAILY by total strangers if I'm Asian, Jewish/Asian, Black/White, Black/Asian, Romanian, Indian, Hawaiian, etc. LOL!) I ordered the migas plate and although it didn't taste quite like my mommy's, it was still satisfying.  It was nice to sit and chat with my mother-in-law over lunch and I know my husband was beyond thrilled to be sitting across a table from his mom. I adore his love and respect for his mother - it's definitely a quality every woman should seek out in their partners. After lunch we had to take Doranne back to our apartment to pick up her car so she could go back to her hotel and prep for her 35th high school reunion! Can you imagine that?! Oh dear, I can't believe next year will be my 10 year high school reunion! It went by way too fast and I'm still unsure as to whether or not I will attend...I'm leaning more towards the latter. Anywho, after we got home and Doranne left we sort of just lounged around our apartment for an hour and then I blurted out how bored I was and Mikey suggested going back to Montclair to walk around (it's such a cute town!), so we did. We went to a Halloween store, Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, and finally to The Office Beer, Bar and Grill where we had wings, nachos and drinks. I had my favorite Belgian Beer, Lindeman's Framboise. If you haven't tried it, DO IT. It's absolutely delicious. My girlfriends and I would go through a couple bottles every time we got together for movies and chats in Vegas. I just associate it with great memories every time I take a sip. :) 

Here's what I wore on Saturday:

*note the peter pan collar dress - told ya!*

Outfit deets: Dress - Etsy; tights & oxfords via ModCloth; bag - Melie Bianco  

And here is a picture of Mikey and I as we waited to cross Bloomfield Avenue at some point that night. 

I look like I have Bugs Bunny teeth in this picture! Lol, maybe I do...?
Well, today (Sunday...actually it's now technically Monday) has been very uneventful, but I'm not complaining. Mikey and I slept in till 3 p.m. (don't judge us) and then watched television together. Bridezillas is a guilty pleasure of mine and I actually got him to watch it today! He HATES that show. I don't blame him; the women are sometimes pretty frightful and I know I'm already a handful, although nowhere near as 'wild' as they can be. 
Other than overindulging in trash TV we did homework and ordered a bbq chicken pizza from Dominoes - YUM! 
I hope you enjoyed my very first ever blog posting (even though I know I'm really just talking to myself right now)!
Goodnight and sweet dreams. 
Sincerely,
Roni