Gearing Up for the Weekend!

Im looking forward to the weekend. Although I need to do some serious cleaning in the bathroom and my guest room and folding/put away laundry... Im still looking forward to the weekend, besides all that other stuff (which may or may not get done).

Tonight I am going to see one of my little cousins go to the prom. You know these "family/friend prom gatherings" are a big deal these days.. and I am happy to be apart. This cousin is on my dad's side, so I dont get to see them often.. this will be nice. Then I will go past and see my grandparents. They are staying in the same general area as my cousin's house.

Then on saturday, I get to hang out with one of my good friends in Annapolis (eating ofcourse) and then we are gonna go to the Curve Appeal Fashion Show where I get to meet Diva in Deep Thought. If I had not mentioned, which I may not have, but Curve Appeal is a plus size consignment shop in the GlenBurnie/Annapolis area. I havent been there yet but I hear great things about this store. Diva in Deep Thought was the one who suggested to her readers about the store. I told my girlfriend about it, and well the rest is history.

Then Sunday, I guess I will finish all the house chores that I started... maybe, lol!

Today's Outfit

white skirt - LaneBryant

pink tshirt - OldNavy

necklace - some trendy junior store

sandals - NineWest

Dont forget to join my Giveaway

Entries end on MAY 31!!! ... so hurry up!

and post the giveaway to your blogs too!

Grey skies coming at you

I got this skirt a few weeks ago while shopping at Target with Hubby. I couldnt decide which color I liked best and since hubby was buying I had to choose one, LOL. If it was MY money, I would have gotten all the colors. I saw that BBM has the same skirt (different color) in this post. I was thinking, aawwwwll, we think alike, lol~ But this skirt is perfect and very very comfortable. I will surely be able to wear it all summer... Does anyone else have this skirt? I would love to see how you styled it.. send me pics.. and I will do a recap!

I need a few more tops to compliment this skirt. I am really thinking about buying some tank tops and trying to embellish them with flowers and ribbon which is all the rage now in TheGap, Banana Republic, and even eShakti. I want one bad! has anyone seen a DIY project for those shirts. It seems easy enough and I think it would be perfect with this skirt and more like it.

Today's Outfit

grey print skirt - Target

black tshirt - OldNavy

khaki cardi - FashionBug

These are some of the tshirts I am trying to make.

POST UPDATE:

I LOOOOOVE MY FOLLOWERS... and readers.. THANKS ladies for those blog links. I cant WAIT to try some of these.. I am going to ask my grandmother for some of the scrap fabric at her senior center.. thats FREE!!!!! (ok ok .. I will make a donation, lol)

MaMa, I want to Siiiiing!

So I watched alot of tv last night.
FIRST was Operation Repo - Seriously, that show is hilarious. Why do these people act like they have been paying their car payment and they have no idea why the repo man is at their door? They KNOW that they havent paid the bill.. but it sure makes for funny reality tv.

SECOND was American Idol - I am still totally disappointed with Casey. He is really cute and all and he did a pretty good job with the John Mayer song, but I am so over him.. I hope America can see through his pretty smile, nice hair and cute face - and recognize that he cant sing that well. Now on the other hand, I love Lee's voice. He reminds me of Elliot Yamin from another season of Idol. I really hope he wins. But I wont be mad if Crystal wins. She rocks~

THIRD was GLEE - How can anyone not love Glee? That show is too too funny. But I wasnt that impressed with last night. Doogie Howser ([Neil Patrick Harris] i know, i am really showing my age here) didnt do anything for the show, but his number with the teacher was so good! OMG, and I was totally surprised to realize that the teacher from Vocal Adrenaline was Rachel's momma. I hope that boyfriend doesnt hurt Rachel for real. They are so cute together.

Ok, thats it for the tv updates.
I watch all those different music shows and I cant sing a bit. But I sure wish I could. And the fact that I cant doesnt stop me from singing either. I sing aaaaalll the time. Whenever I feel the urge, I bust out in song! I can remember my mother telling me along time ago when I was in elementary school.... you just sing baby, even if no one wants to hear it, lol... and so I do!!!

Today's Outfit

Gold sandals - Payless

Blue skirt - LaneBryant

Turquoise tank - LaneBryant

Blue shrug - LaneBryant

White Jacket (worn to my meeting) - Avon

Ivory Rose Necklace - Rue 21 or some Junior store

And I want to send a big

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to Miss E at Plum Proper

today is her 30th Birthday... and its a BIG DEAL!!!

... enjoy those vegan cupcakes!

Up In the Air Review

So I finally got to see the movie Up In the Air with George Clooney. I thought I knew what the movie was about but I really was surprised by the movie. I mean, it was about a guy who travels the country and fires people for a living, which must be a difficult job especially during a recession. Who wants to hear that they are fired in these hard economic times. But I digress.

The part of the movie that I was most surprised about was the lesson that he learned. I had not expected that there was a good part to the movie. Although I thought the movie was really slow,

I still enjoyed it. I think that it really brought to light a lifestyle that I am not familiar with but I could genuinely sympathize with. I am very close and connected with most of the people in my life - family, sorority, bookclub, friends, etc. So I find in interesting to meet people who are not connected to people at all for whatever reason. And the Clooney character seemed so genuine when talking to the people he had to fire, there was no way that you would think that he was not sincere. I guess thats what it means to be good at what you do. Clooney truly made the people feel inspired, and tapped into the most vulnerable sides of people. Did he truly understand those soft sides of people because he didnt really seem to have that soft side of his own? He was totally disconnected from the rest of the world and stuck in the routine of his traveling life. His goal was only to get to the next destination but there was no inbetween. I guess this is why I could sympathize with him, because he has no idea what he is missing by being so disconnected.

And for those that saw the movie, what do you think happened in the end? After he showed up at the lady's house and saw that she had a family. I am sure he was devastated. Do you think that made him go back into the shell of a lifestyle that he was living before she awakened something in him to make him want to finally settle down? What are your thoughts? What did he do?

In honor of the world travelers and all the flying time in the movie (which the cinematography was awesome), I wore my parisian inspired skirt today.

Today's Outfit

Blue Parisian Inspired skirt - Macys

Yellow cowl neck sweater - Ashley Stewart

Black cardi - FashionBug

The Big Reveal - SugarLand Giveaway

Well well weeeeelllll Ladies,
I have been waiting all last week to tell you about this great giveaway. I have joined with SugarLand Boutique to offer a $30 gift certificate giveaway. Drawing will be May 31, so there is plenty of time to enter!

Here is how to enter. Each item is a separate entry:
1. Follow MrsHall in Training
2. Friend SugarLand Boutique on Facebook
3. Check out the website and tell us which items you are loving!
4. RePost this giveaway to your page so that others can enjoy a chance to win!!!

ALSO, for all of my loyal followers ... and future followers ...
SugarLand Boutique has offered a
10% OFF DISCOUNT, just use coupon code MRSHALL
and shipping is FREE!!!!!
Coupon code ends at the end of the summer (Sept 23) so buy all that you need now, lol!!!

The Birthday Edition

First I just want to say Thank you - Thank you - Thank you, for all of your kind words and prayers for me and my family. Last week was a pretty rough time for our family. We are still in the emergency stage and soon we will begin the rebuilding. Its a process, and I am so grateful for all of your support! Thanks Ladies, thanks so much!

Well, if you didnt know before, I thought I have said it a million times,
Birthdays are a Big DEAL!!!

My little cousin, Alice, was the youngest to loose her belongings in the fire. She lives at my grandparents house with her mom and dad (and brother and sister) who also help to take care of our grandparents. But her things were lost in the fire and today is her 10th birthday .. so the family did as much as we could to make her birthday special, even given the circumstances. We celebrated on Sunday. Little Alice, loves her teddy bears, most of which were lost in the fire, or too smoke filled to be saved.

So I got Alice a new outfit to wear for the day. We had a full day of activities planned.

Alice's Sunday Birthday Outfit
All from Target
black ballet flats, striped tights, black flouncy skirt with pockets, pink and black heart tshirt

My Sunday Outfit
Black sandals - Payless
Black studded leggins - Macys
Black and white graphic top - Macys
and a well overdue, new hair do, lol!

The day started with a trip to Build-a-Bear. Aunts and cousins all joined in the fun! Alice got to make her own bear, and because it was her birthday she got to make two - Hello Kitty and a Jonas Brothers dog. She was so excited~and so were we.

After Build-a-Bear, we went back to my aunt's house for a family cookout! There was food galore and a giant chocolate chip cookie to celebrate the occasion. Fun times were had by all!

IN OTHER NEWS:::
Miss E at Plum Proper will be celebrating her 30th Birthday this week too! Big shout out to the upcoming birthday girl!!!!

No Movie ... real life drama

So what I thought was going to be an uneventful evening with dinner and a movie turned out to be a real life drama. After I made my post yesterday, I got an emergency call from my cousin that my grandparents house was on fire. She wasnt sure of the details so I just ran out the office and went to the house.

When I got there the home was in total devastation, but everyone was safe.

The top is a pic of the porch after the fire. The bottom is a pic of grandma on the porch in 2006. They were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary.

This is the entry door after the fire. And the other pic is grandma and baybay on the inside of the house in 2006.


The top pic is the fire damage in the living room. The other pics are the same living room during a family gathering after the death of my grandma's brother.

This is a pic of my grandfather - baybay - room where the fire started. He said an old space heater was the cause of the fire. This room was completed lost and there was a few inches of standing water on the floor.

The bathroom damage.

These are pics of my grandmother's room which is on the first floor near my grandfather's room. The bathroom separates these two rooms. For the most part, everything was lost in this room too.

Kitchen damage.

The kitchen is in the back of the house and was not badly burned. But the smoke and soot damage was overwhelming. The other pics were from a family gathering.

This is a curio cabinet that held alot of my grandmother's trinkets and wedding cake toppers of her children. After the fire, this cabinet was completely sealed shut, the only way to open it will be to break the glass. This cabinet is the dinning room, which is on the other side of where the fire started.


These are more pics of my grandparents the day of their 60th wedding anniversary, sitting in the dinning room. all of the flowers/plants behind my grandmother were tossed out of the window so that the fire department could put out the fire. Grandma was saddened by that, me too. Gardening around the house (and everyone elses house too) is one of her favorite past times. She said that she may just give it up. I hope not.

Overall, it was a difficult day. Today will be filled with more errands, medicine pickups, etc. so no outfit post today. I am just truly blessed that all of my family was safe. The house can be replaced, but their lives can not be. Also in the home are my aunt and uncle and their 3 children, all of whom are fine and safe. Sure, there is plenty of sadness of the loss of the house (which I am sure I will mourn for years to come, hunh - I mourned when they changed their telephone number after 30+ years.). but we are a strong family who will work through this. Its good to have a place to let this all out. I guess this is what the blog is for. I thought about not sharing this but my family is so much apart of my life, how could I not write something. Maybe I will let it stay up, maybe I will remove it later (as not to make the blog so "heavy" and sad).
But for now, this is my blog entry for today.