Have you ever watched that movie Sliding Doors with Gwyneth Paltrow?  Oh my goodness, you definitely must rent it.  It’s all about what your life would have been like if you had turned left vs. turning right and visa versa.

Have you ever thought, this isn’t the way I thought my life was going to be?  I thought I was going to be doing this or that.

When I was a little girl, I thought I was going to be an archeologist.  True story.  I was fascinated with history and King Tut.  We even named one of our family dogs Tut for King Tut.

I grew up in Hawaii, went to college in Kansas, but secretly wanted to Texas.  I didn’t want to disappoint my Dad who went to Kansas (KU) so I went there.  Ended up back in Hawaii because of a boy.  Decided on a whim to move to California knowing just one person.  Started temping at advertising agencies and stumbled into events.  Met my husband and have a beautiful soon to be middle schooler.

Now I have my own events company.

I sometimes find myself thinking…what if.  What if I went to Texas and didn’t go back to Hawaii for that boy.  Would I be in California?  I don’t think so.

I intended to be an archeologist.  Now I plan parties, conferences and tradeshows, I'm a wife and a mama.  I think I’ve ended up where I was intended to be.

How about you?  What’s your story?  What do you think would have happened if you turned left vs. right?

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My sister and I bought my mom some peonies (from Safeway) to brighten up her day while she was in the hospital.  They were the most beautiful hot pink color with a bright yellow center.  These flowers were so gorgeous they catched everyone's attention.  Some thought there was no way they were real.  Others didn't know what type of flowers they were.  What was facinating was how the color changed.  They transformed in front of our eyes...from hot pint to a very pale yellow. 

The best part of these flowers is the joy that they brought to my mom.

Ms. Alison is a definitely a jetsetter.  Here events have taken her all over Europe and the United States.  Last year she traveled over 90,000 miles.  I'm confindent in saying that she knows what works and doesn't work with her carry-on bag.

Confession time: when I saw her list of items...I went out and bought the Marc Jacobs backpack and brought it with me to Arizona this past week.  I didn't want to check anything, so I packed my purse in my suitcase.  This backpack was awesome.  It's unbelievable the amount of stuff it held.  

Alison has her staples that she travels with.  Here are just some of her must haves.

1// My Marc Jacobs Backpack

2// Canon 5D Mark II for amazing picture taking

3// Sunglasses which are a must

4// Bose noise cancelling headphones with extra batteries.

5// Mophie Juice Pack to keep my iPhone charged

6// Dr. Hauschkas lip balm

7// A good book (currently reading The Girl Who Played With Fire) and of course my favorite magazines; Travel & Leisure, Dwell, and US Weekly.

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It's been a crazy few days, but Mom is doing better.  My sister and I were able to sneak away Saturday morning and take a walk.  Oh that was nice.  We also stopped by my friend Rebecca's (of Fresh Chick Designs) store - Petite Party Studio.  It was so fun to catch up with her and her partner in crime, Shannon.  By the way, if you are ever in Gilbert, AZ, you have to pop by her start because she has the most darling party supplies.  There is something about touching and feeling vs. just seeing online.

Loving the sophistication of this black and gold party via 100 Layer Cake.

A few lessons from Wit & Whistle on how to keep house plants alive.  Yep - I need that.

Create because you can.  A little push that we all need via Jasmine Star.

Lavender Scones, I'm to be making these over the weekend.

Wanna spruce up your backyard?  Poppytalk shares some ideas.

Have you checked out Verily Magazine yet?

In case you missed What's In Apartment 34's Carry-On Bag, you can check it out here.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

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The bookcase in the first picture is unique because of all the shelving and the mirror highlighted in the center.  How fun is the second picture?  It's like your sitting in the trees.  I haven't seen houndstooth on furniture in a long time and thought it added an element of surprise to the space. 

Loving all the shades of blue in picture four.  The outdoor foliage with the curtains would make such a nice backdrop for a garden party.  Wouldn't you love to make some wood oven pizza's in the brick fireplace in photo six?

(pictures shot with my iPhone: Architectual Digest & House Beautiful)

My current obsessions:

1) That jcrew dress because it's just so darling.

2) The Worldmarket metal chairs would make a lovely addition to our dining room.

3) Those Anthropologie plates that I used in my inspired table post - well I loved them so much that I bought them.

4) The Stella & Dot bangles would make a great summer accessory - don't you think?

5) The jcrew sea grass tote would be perfect for our summer boating adventures.

6) The conversation is my latest obsession - the content and the messages are so good.

I wanted to talk to you about Faith today.  Faith.  What does that mean to you?  Some may think religion right off the bat. 

Have you heard saying – “Remember to Keep the Faith”?

When people have said that to me, I didn’t think religion.  To me it meant believe.  Believe in yourself.  Studying for a final exam, practicing for a big competition, trying to win that client.  Believe in yourself – keep the faith.  You can’t see faith – you can’t see belief, you just know it’s there.  Does that make sense? 

Faith and Belief is also about religion.  Have faith that your God will be there to protect you.  I’m still trying to figure out my spirituality, but after you read this, you’ll see that I’m getting a little closer.

Here is a little story about Faith.
It’s been a wild ride and I finally feel like this roller coaster called “life” is slowing down a little bit.  I’m actually writing this at 10pm on Wednesday, lying upstairs in the guest bedroom of my mom and dad’s house in Gilbert, Arizona.

Tomorrow (well when you read this, Today) is kinda a scary day.

I’m going to be up super early on this morning, picking up my sister at the crack of dawn and taking my mom to the hospital for a scheduled surgery.

I haven’t shared much of what has been going on with my mom over the last couple of months.  Let’s just say, if we turned it into a reality show – we would give the Kardashians a run for their money.  I mean – no writer in the world would be able to make up everything we’ve experienced in the last couple of months when it has come to my mom’s health.

Bottom line is after months of doctors appointments, CT scans, MRI’s, blood draws, biopsies, we finally have an answer…well kinda. 

They found a mass in my mom’s colon a couple of months ago and they will cut that sucker out tomorrow.  WOOHOO – get that thing out.  We won’t know for a couple of days the extent of the cancer that is growing, but at least it won't be in there anymore.

You might wonder why we’ve had to wait so long…well there were so many other health issues going on that we needed to see if any of them were related before we could proceed.

Through all of this, we as a family have kept our faith.  We’ve stayed positive.  We didn’t know what the landscape of each day would look like.  We thought we would be doing one thing on one day and then everything would change.  We've been emotional, who wouldn't be right?  But we just accepted it and went with it.  Blind faith I guess and the belief that everything was going to be OK.  Maybe naive but it worked for us.

There is one thing that we know for sure, our family has been touched by God.  He has been there guiding us and in one case in particular if it wasn’t for him, my mom would be with him right now.

So today, we would love your prayers as we keep the faith that all will be OK with our mama. 

If you're stuggling with something, remember to keep the faith.  I love this quote above "Faith is the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."

(image credit: Note to Self)

Enjoy!

ROW 1: 1// umbrella 2// retro 3// champagne 4// glamour girl ROW 2: 1// glam couple 2// mazipan cherries ROW 3: 1// frenchie 2// feather clutch 3// vespa ROW 4: 1// feather shawl 2// peonies 3// retro clock ROW 4: 1// little girls 2// macaroons 3// table

I first met Erin at the ALT summit where she was leading a roundtable about social media.  Loved her then, love her now.  Savvy - oh yes.  Social Media Maven - you betcha.  Stylist extraordinare (head over to Joyus where you can see her in action).  By the way Erin - you need to come to my closet because this girl could use your help!

Man of man - I think my carry-on bag collection is going to be growing yet again.  Erin's bag is the bomb.