Currently, May 2017.

You all know that May is my birthday month. What you may not know is that I share the same birthday month with my husband. As a matter of fact his birthday was yesterday - two days after mine, on May 6th. So happy belated birthday to my love!! I am doing another monthly currently post and linking up with Anne.

baking: nothing, I am not a baker, I wish. But I have been buying some of the little mini yellow cakes that are shaped like cups and I fill them up with fresh strawberries cut up really small and some whipped cream (the thick condensed kind) on top. Sometimes I add chocolate syrup, caramel or honey on top. So yummy! 

listening: (this very moment that I am typing this) to Camila Cabello - never seen or heard before as a singer but she sings quite well - at the MTV Movie Awards, live. It has probably been ten years that I haven't watched the MTV (Movie & TV Awards) and I had no idea that they were held outside but it seems like a cool show.

loving: all the flowers that are blooming everywhere and remind me how much I love Spring. Flowers in the garden, on the trees, gorgeous tulips everywhere and the prettiest succulent plants at our local markets. What I am not loving though is the very brisk and very chilly temperatures we have had so far this first week of May. Damn, it has been coooold! Today was a high of 52 degrees but it was mostly 44-46 degrees throughout the day. Come on that is nowhere close to what Spring temps should feel like. So much rain too. At least I hope all this rain will do good to all the pretty flowers I talked about.

planting: hmmm, I have never tried planting anything (with the exception of tomatoes and radishes) but it can't be that hard right?! I'd love to plant some new flowers, colorful beauties you know.

remembering: my grandma.Yesterday May 6th marked 12 years since she has been gone and is now an angel looking up above to protect me and my daughter. I cannot believe a whole decade has gone by. WOW! 

Since this is my birthday month, I am taking it easy, enjoying it and try not to be too hard on myself. It is also mother's day month after all. But one of my ever-going plans/goals is to constantly clean out and purge my closet which I am doing some of each day (including today). Let's look at last month's plans/goals and how I measured up.

- work on finding a pre-school for Vivian that she can go for at least 2 or 3 days a week. - Not done. This is getting harder and harder each day. Some that I have liked and were decently reasonable are too far away from where we live. Still working on this.
- Clean, organize, get rid of and purge a lot of my closet and Vivian's. - Some done and some I am continuing to do.
- Have an outdoor picnic with home-made sandwiches and freshly-squeezed lemonade or home-made smoothies, in our front or back yard, with Vivian. - Not done unfortunately because most of the days when it has been warm, I have either been at work or had no time to do so.
- E-Mail, get in touch with and be a lot more attentive to brands and sponsors for upcoming collaborations this Spring and Summer - Done but it is one of those things that I am continuously working on too. I am currently in the works with a couple of children's brands for some Mommy+Me posts where 'the main character. will be Vivian.

Since I shared my birthday blog party here and here - a tradition I have been doing in my blog for four years now - I thought it was fun to look back at my most favorite Birthday Party looks I have posted on the blog, each year. 

four years ago.

This was the first year of the blog birthday party and 18 beautiful ladies joined me. Unfortunately most of the bloggers that participated in my blog birthday party then do not blog these days, a few blog rarely or have changed direction (more into lifestyle bloggers than fashion bloggers) or the names of their blogs. A couple of the ones that don't blog still post their outfits on Instagram. And two of these ladies still blog these days, have become moms to girls themselves and have really grown their blogs a lot, have become very successful. As far as the outfit, I shared two outfits for my first blog birthday party including this sexy denim mini dress. BTW, the other one (not pictured) is a hot pink shirtdress with puffy sleeves - or statement sleeves which are so in these days. The dark-wash light denim strapless cocktail dress with the double button detail on the front was my favorite look of the two and also the fancier of the two. This dress is by Arden B. I love it and it is still stuffed away in Albania. I styled it with a Stunning Colorful Silk Rosette Choker Necklace and some Patent Leather Strappy Peep-Toe Pumps (it looks like red shoes are my signature, when it comes to birthdays). 

three years ago.

This was the smallest Birthday Blog Party I did because I asked only a few current favorite bloggers to participate. Ashley is a blogging pro who still blogs these days. Her blog keeps growing each year. I have always loved her style and pizzazz. Laura is one of my best blogging friends who continues to blog and is currently expecting baby #2 after a long struggle. Both Ashley and Laura participated this year in my blog birthday party, also. Danielle and Jenn haven't blogged in a long time but I do remember I loved Jenn's style and blog. And J has turned into an awesome food blogger cooking delicious vegetarian dishes. She is always one who dresses to impress, still. In this post, I talked about my love for dresses and how they were associated with my birthday. As far as the outfit, it is possibly my most favorite Blog Birthday look ever! I loved this B+W Houndstooth Ruched Sheath and how I styled it with an Oversized Modern Grid Print Clutch and Python Print Pumps. Also, I curled my hair a little.

two years ago.

This was the first year where I extended my blog birthday party two days. There were a total of 15 ladies participating and I asked them each to write a blurb about their outfits and wear a dress or a skirt. Almost all of these ladies continue to blog and have become great friends to me in my blogging journey. Several of them were part of my Blog Birthday Party this year, too. The second look - also dressy but more daytime dressy than nighttime dressy - can be found here and you can see some photos with me and my husband, too. The look above is a Fit+Flare Little White Dress embroidered with aqua and gold metallic flowers. It is currently sitting in my closet in Michigan and I need to wear it again soon since it is beautiful, fun, girly and totally on the current embroidery trend. Love how I styled it then with the super light Coral Statement Earrings, Colorful Bangle, Turquoise+Fuchsia Satin Floral Pumps and my Coral Mini Clutch.

last year.

What, not a dress! Actually last year for my blog birthday party, I asked the 16 participants to style Red Shoes and say something about their shoes. Several ladies returned from previous years and some of these fashionistas took part in my blog party, this year. I styled this Navy Leaf Print Jumpsuit with Red Satin Pumps that I have had for years, and a White+Navy Shearling Clutch. For my second outfit I did stick to a dress though and wore head to toe red (here).