thinking of starting a business? read this first....

It's no secret anymore that most of us all dream about one day quitting our day job to start our own business--home-based, web-based, or even the traditional brick and mortar type. But for most, we don't know where to start...unsure of our ideas....get unmotivated about 150 million times a day....and worst of all: we only got $100 in the bank!!!!
Arrghhh. What to do? what to do?????
Well...afraid no more!! If you really, really, really (I mean reaallllllyyyyy) think about starting that big dream job of yours with the little money you have in the bank....you probably want to read this awesome book to get you motivated and give you answers to most, if not all, your questions.

The $100 Startup 
by Chris Guillebeau

I ordered a used copy of this book through this mega online bookseller for a bargain. Hey, I am a single mom feeding 4 mouths ok (a toddler + 3 dogs that is!), so bargain is my good friend. I have to tell you, this book is Awesome!!! No you won't find those quick-money scheming plans here. Lots of very down-to-earth business advice. Easy read. No mumbo jumbo talks. Everything written in this book is easy to follow. The author provides many success stories from others who started their successful businesses with very little money.

Most start-your-own-business books out there talk about the ultra successful businesses who got their start from rich investors. I mean, seriously, how many of us little people, know these so-called business investors? I know I don't know any.
Plus, most of us dream about working for ourselves earning at least enough money to support our sensible lifestyle. Sure, we'd love to earn millions a day but of course with most small businesses who start small, that prize will come later on.

So, if you are not getting motivated reading this book, there's something wrong with you.....ok, joking. But seriously, this book is very very inspiring.  In case you are wondering, no I am not paid by the author to write about this book. I blog about it here because I am truly madly in love with this book.
Get your copy and happy reading!!

$100 Startup By Guillebeau, Chris 

it's beginning to look a lot like ... the holiday season!

Okay so for those of you who celebrate Christmas, the big day is coming pretty soon. That means, you guessed it! time to buy gifts!
Who has time to read a 20-paragraph blog entry when you need all the time you got shopping to do?
Okay so I have rounded up some online marketplace to find the absolute best bargains this Christmas season!

Happy shopping!!

1. www.etsy.com
---> THE coolest online marketplace to buy (almost) everything handmade!!! It's easy to find one-of-a-kind gift at this marketplace. A very neat place. My personal favorite.

2. www.amazon.com
---> looking for the latest and greatest new Canon lens for bargain? you'd probably find it here. If you're an Amazon Prime member, you can get most stuff shipped to you next day for a small fee or free  with 2-day shipping option. I buy anything from books to flea meds for my dogs on amazon.

3. www.ebay.com
---> nothing feels like winning a bidding on eBay...or if you're an impatient like me, there is the "buy it now" option for most things you want to buy

4. www.overstock.com
---> from super-sized rug to a brand new dining table set for Christmas...they got it! and what's better is that during the holiday season they ship FREE!

5. www.craigslist.com
---> Okay, you can't really buy anything online here but this is the place for more like the i-want-it-now type person out there to find things they like locally. All you have to do is search for what you are looking to buy, call/email the seller, set-up an appointment, bargain, take home your prize! Holiday season is really a good time to bargain at craigslist when most people are desperate to sell their stuff to get some extra money (ironically, to buy more/newer stuff).

believe in your dream



from this lovely Etsy shop

Audrey and I had a fun Thanksgiving celebration at the Walt Disney World. We loved every single second we spent there. No matter how many times we've gone there....we can never wait to go back again!

I love Disney in general because of it is such a positive company. They radiate joy and happiness. I was lucky enough to be part of the Disney family years ago back when I was in college as an intern. I spent 8 months working for the Walt Disney World. I have to say, it was THE best working time of my life. I absolutely loved it.

Disney has inspired me to believe in my dreams. It is the dream that drives every single success out there. One of my biggest, ultimate dream is to open my own shop. I am a crafty gal. I'm always drawn to anything artsy. I sew so I guess naturally I am obsessed with fabrics. Friends say I am a fabricaholic. I say, I just love fabrics a bit much....ok, a lot.
I craft pretty often.

Right now, I am working on realizing that dream. I have been putting it on the back burner for awhile. Life got in the way, important things happened...and now I finally feel that the time is here--for me to give myself that push to do it. No doubt it is going to be one of the most challenging times in my life to actually own my own shop. But I know I am ready.

When the time comes....you will be the first to know!!!

xoxo,

have a marvelous Thanksgiving....



from this lovely Etsy shop

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving....
Audrey and I are spending the long weekend in Orlando. I am taking her to Disney again. Her favorite place in the whole world---for now.

I am so very excited. This vacation, like the many last vacations I had, is just going to be me and the little Bee. We're so happy together. Spending time together. She and I love holding hands walking through the theme parks. Her eyes lit so brightly soon as she sees one of the Disney characters. She adores Cinderella (I mean, who doesn't??). She thinks the castle is the grandest thing she ever saw. She refers the baloons as "the moon". She loves telling me: "mommy, dreams come true"

We'll be busy at Disney this weekend, so Audrey and I would like to wish all of you a magical Thanksgiving celebration! I definitely have  many to be thankful for this Thanksgiving (or everyday for that matter.....).

november updates...

The year is about to end in a couple of months. Where did the time go? Audrey is almost 3. She'll be 3 in January. By end of the this year I'll be in the house for a year already. How fast time went by.

The house is...well...at least it is still standing.... There are still lots to be done. I have paintings to do. Yes, yes I know...I am too lazy to paint. I know it is not a hard thing to do but when I am home sometimes I just want to relax and do nothing. I picked out the color for the dining room already. It is a lovely shade of pretty light blue green (by Benjamin Moore). The dining room ceiling's paint color is called Bone White by Benjamin Moore as well. The color combo is wonderful. I cannot wait to finish it and post a picture here.

Last weekend I got a vintage settee from an estate sale. I got it for $50. One day I am going to reupholster it. Right now it is in the upstairs porch. When weather is cool and crisp like these days, I like to sit on my vintage settee in the upstairs porch (it's screened in); a hot cocoa in my hand; French jazz music playing in the background. It's the loveliest. I do this when I don't have my little Bee with me. It's very quiet and soothing.

My master bedroom is a work-in-progress. It is okay for now. I am not too too excited about it. It is painted but still got some works need to be done to it. I'd love to have a chandelier hang in there. One of these days I will get one I know.

The Bee's room is pretty much done. I need to paint her bathroom--which is rarely used. Her bathroom is small so it shouldn't take that long to paint.

My craftroom is pretty much done with the exception now I have to hire someone to fix the ceiling. I'd love to have a chandelier hang in there as well but this can wait. Not an urgent need.

The downstairs area is a major work-in-progress. A big mess. Chaotic. I admit it. Mostly due to my lack of excitement in being a handy woman :/
When you live with 2 grumpy old 5-pounder ankle biters aka chihuahuas, 1 highly too energetic jack russell, and 1 needy toddler...... you know what I am talking about. Sure, sure, of course I love them!! Anyways, I will post updates on house renovation progress when I have it. But don't hold your breath on it though!

My little Bee, Audrey, is getting smarter. She is such a joy to be around with now. Wonderful little girl. I love her so much. She copies everything I do--everything. She sleeps on the bed with me. That's our favorite thing to do. We watch princess movies together. She wears her princess skirt every single day. She adores her magic wand. Cinderella is her favorite Disney princess. We go to Disney World gazillion times already--I have an annual pass. That place is her absolute favorite place in this whole wide world. I am serious. She knows now when I tell her: we're going to Disney. She knows! I can see the happiness in her eyes. The excitement. The joy. Each and everytime we go there.

Last night we went to Walmart (I needed to get something....), and we passed the toy aisles....oh dear. Bad idea. She immediately collected all the princess stuff and hapilly put them inside our cart. Then she found princess castle set. She insisted that she wanted one. In every color. Sigh. Then she saw Rapunzel braided hair piece. She shrieked in joy, took one, and tossed it inside our cart. Of course I didn't buy her everything. When we got home, she asked for the Rapunzel hair piece. She went playing with that thing for hours. She kept saying: Rapunzel...let down your hair....
Fun time for her.
I love, love, love, love seeing her happy.

the circus is coming to town

from this lovely Etsy shop

Few weeks ago, I won 2 raffle tickets to go to the circus. The circus is coming to town this weekend, starting Saturday. I immediately thought of taking Audrey there. She has never been to one. This is going to be her first circus visit. I am a bit torn about this plan, to be honest. I have heard the not-so-good stories of circus animals treatment :( but then at the same time, I remember, growing up, how excited I was each time my parents took me to see the circus. I can only hope that they humanely treat these animals we're going to see perform at the circus this weekend.

I told Audrey about the circus, and being a toddler, not-quite-3-yet, she just gave me the look. So funny. She probably still has no idea what circus is. I hope she doesn't freak out tomorrow when we go!

Hoping for the lovely weather this weekend as I have planned many outdoor activities for Audrey and I!

smile!

via here

When you are on the verge of giving up, remember that you always have an opportunity to start over tomorrow.....

Hello August!

via here

Oh my goodness. The first week of August has passed already! Where did the time go?
Actually, if I can be honest...I am excited to welcome the holiday season this year! I've started making a list of things I want to get for myself this Christmas heheh. And I also have a checklist made for things I'd like to accomplish before the year ends.
So so excited!
I know for sure, amazing things will happen to my life soon :)

Happy Friday!



via here

Good things today is Friday. It has been a super long week for me. Not sure why. And last night, my little Bee, accidentally kicked my bedroom window and broke its glass. Sigh. She cut her foot. It was bleeding and she was crying, crying, crying. Had to bandage it up. She got really moody after that. What an event.

I have some low-key fun things planned for the Bee and I this weekend. If weather permitted, on Saturday, we'll be going to the zoo. Fun. Then on Sunday, we'll be going to the beach in late afternoon. More fun!

Tonight, we're going to organize my studio. Got lots of goodies I need to sort out. I also need to reorganize my shops. It'll be a busy but relaxing time at home. Just the way I like it.
Have a great weekend everyone!

xo,
Lita

Little Bee and Peanut Butter

My little Bee loves peanut butter. I mean, she LOVES it! My favorite is Peter Pan Honey Roasted Peanut Butter (the creamy kind). And she loves that one too. Last night, I asked her what she wanted for dinner and she said, "peanut butter"

So I made her peanut butter sandwich for dinner. We had some fruits for dessert and popcorn as snack while watching 'Despicable Me' (boy, she loves that movie!!!).

Was a good night last night. Simple and relaxing. Just how I like it :)

This morning for breakfast, I made little Bee peanut butter sandwich. She ate it without hesitation. Love that girl!

The Pantry

Publix, our local grocery shop, always has buy-one-get-one-free deals going on every week. I get sucked into it…well, every week. I have to admit, I often buy way more groceries than I need. My pantry is filled with boxes of dry pastas, jars of pasta sauce, canned veggies, cake mixes, brownie mixes, all sort of snacks….It is overflowing. So for the next few weeks (or months), I’m going to cook lunch and dinner from whatever we have in the pantry. Sure I’ll buy few things at the grocery store but won’t be as much. And I am thinking probably more fresh veggies to go with what I have in the pantry. Looks like I’ll be eating lots of pasta for the next few weeks!

Speaking of pantry, I need to remodel the pantry at my house. That's going to be a project. Found few inspirations online today. Thought I'd share it here.

from here

from here

from here

My Little Bee's bedroom

I am so excited today. My little Bee is coming home to me this evening. I'll get to spend a whole week with her! I miss her so very much. I couldn't sleep last night thinking about her. Today I took pictures of her bedroom. She loves Hello Kitty and she has about 4-5 Hello Kitty dolls in her bedroom. A couple princess dolls. This is her own bedroom with the toddler bed on the corner. Her room is pink. I painted her bedroom walls Wild Aster from Benjamin Moore. The trims are ivory. I wanted to do a pink curtains but haven't really found "the one" yet. So for now I put those ivory lace curtains from Better Homes and Garden (can be found at Walmart; the ones in her room are the 84" long $8.97 per panel).  They actually go really nice in her room. She loves her bedroom. I need to take picture of the other sides of her bedroom to show the whole thing. The picture below is just a corner. 

I wanted to put an ivory shag rug on her bedroom floor but I thought toddler+ivory rug = bad idea. So, on our last trip to Orlando, we stopped by at Ikea. I got her a gingham pink rug to go in her bedroom. Speaking of decoration, I need to take some stuff out of the garage because I have few of her old stuff that I need to put in her bedroom. I need to remember to buy those ikea frames next time I go to Orlando. All and all, her room looks really darling as of right now. I have some paintings that need to  be hung on the walls. I also need to put a small side table  next to her bed. 

For the longest time she was sleeping with me in my big bed. She loved it. I loved it. But she wouldn't want to go to bed unless I go lay next to her. And I couldn't go to sleep at 8 every night. So I set up her bedroom and got everything ready for her. I remember the day I showed her the new bedroom and I said to her, "Audrey, this is your new bedroom now" She looked at me, gave me a huge grin, then said, "yaayyy." Precious little Bee. 

My little bee is a girly girl. She loves pink. Just like me. I bought her this bright pink dress and bright pink tutu skirt from Target. The skirt was on sale for $3.50 and the dress was $8.00 I believe. She hasn't seen these and I am sure she's going to want to wear them to school on Tuesday!

Aww. My little bee. I miss her. Can't wait to see her tonight! I know she'll be so tired so I am going to take it easy. We'll be chilling. We don't watch TV (I'll talk more about this on another post) so we'll probably be watching some Disney princess movies on her portable dvd player until we fall asleep together.

Lazy Sunday

from this lovely Etsy shop

from this lovely Etsy shop

I am missing my little bee today. She's been away on a Summer trip with her dad since the last 2 Fridays and I miss her like crazy. She's supposed to be back home today. I am so excited. Since she left, I found myself peeking through her bedroom a lot. Wishing I'd find her playing in there. I miss her chattering and following me everywhere I go like a little bee should. 

While she was gone, I was able to do some works around the house. Finished painting the master bedroom + bathroom, and the little bee's bathroom. The upstairs is almost completely painted. Just need the hallway to be painted and that is it! Hopefully I'll be able to finish painting downstairs areas within a month or so. 

Oh lazy Sunday.... I've been scouring craigslist for some deals. I love bargains. I need to get rugs (need one for my upstairs porch, one for front porch, and one for foyer), daybed (to put in my upstairs porch), and night stands (for my bedroom).  I am thinking also of getting a couple wingback chairs. Budget for all: $500-700. Ok sorry for the ramblings here.... 

Have a wonderful Sunday lovely Bees!!

much love,

Lita

Welcome...Welcome....

I've wanted to create a new blog for a while now. And yesterday I thought to myself, why not create one now. So I did. And here it is my new blog. The girl and the bee.
I am retiring my old blog and from here forward will be blogging though this one. 

I am so excited. Got lots planned. Many to talk about. Giveaways.
Well friends, I just want to welcome you to my brand new blog. Feel free to follow this blog.
I'll write more tomorrow!

xo
Lita

from this lovely Etsy shop