Sunday Funday

LV Exhibit

Great company. Great Time. Great Food. Great Night!

Sunday Funday, that is exactly how my day was this past Sunday. It started off by my husband and I attending liturgy as we do most Sunday’s (I say most because I’m guilty at times allowing sleep take over–need to get better at that). We than grabbed coffee with our very good friends, Maryann & Steve and their adorable daughter whom we love as our own. We went to a local Starbucks, granted I didn’t have coffee (surprisingly because I LOVE COFFEE) as the ones I like the most are filled with alot of artificial syrups that I feel may upset my stoma so I opted for a warm chocolate croissant–yum! Anywho, we had a great time just being with each other. You ever have those really great friends that know everything and anything about you? That’s them, they are more like family so when we hang out (which is often) it’s more of just being with each other that makes the time enjoyable. We are definitely blessed to have their friendship. Maryann, is truly my best friend and sister that was brought into my life about 8 years ago and since than we have gotten closer every minute. I truly cherish our sisterhood and admire the beautiful wife, mom, sister, and friend she is. Love her.

Mr. LV

After our coffee date, we went home to change for our next part of the day–NYC. My amazing hubby, who is very savvy with finding fun and free activities to do, found an awesome event that he knew would be close to my heart– Louis Vuitton exhibit! Um, yes and thank you! We were able to get 5 tickets so we invited 3 of our close friends we knew appreciate fashion just as much as we or should I say I do, haha (JK, my boo got swag). We all drove into the city together, as we got closer to where the event was we saw this massive LONG line. So, I thought, well since we have tickets, we are good, we for sure don’t have to wait on that long line. Welp, I was clearly wrong, because everyone had tickets (UGH!). It was suppose to be a 20-25 minute wait but that was far from the truth because it took an hour, thankfully it wasn’t TOO cold outside and the great company made the time go by fast. I personally love fashion events as I get to people watch others style and mentally/verbally critique them. My super close friend Monica and I, were having our own “Fashion Police” show. I love Monica besides the obvious fact we share the same name, both have fathers who were priests and now our personal angels, both LOVE fashion. While Mon is more minimalist chic with a head of defined long beautiful curls (super jelly of her head full of curls) I on the other hand dab into many fashion titles for the most part yet we have a common ground of love for fashion and love for each other. She truly came into my life at such a perfect time, I’m super blessed for our sisterhood! Than we had the amazing photographer (check him out on insta: @shadi_b) and comedian, Shadi who just got married and now lives in Dubai–boo! Shadi, is that person who would do anything for you and SO giving. He was here for the week shooting a wedding and so happy he was because he had us dying of laughter-always a great time with him. Last but certainly not least my brother from another mother, Fam. Our friendship goes way back and has grown closer each year. A man of few words but with a killer heart and fashion swag. And than the obvious my handsome, caring, amazing, one-of-a-kind, Mikey. I just love this man to pieces! Always putting me first- can’t thank him enough for all he does for me.

We FINALLY get into the exhibit. From start to finish, it was AMAZINGLY executed! I would totally go back. I learned so much about Mr.LV and the birth of LV as a whole. We got to see firsthand hand-made products he personally did to today’s items. If you ask me, I so wish I lived in the time trunks were used as luggage’s–that era and the LV products just had this regal and classy feeling. I literally wanted everything (no surprise there). It felt so good to be out of my medical head/worry and into my world of fashion aka my passion. To roam the rooms and just glow of awe and fascination of the art and detailed work that went into all his craftsmanship, it was honestly breathtaking. To hear about some of the materials that were used in his bags and clothes brought me back to my fabric class and that led me to being in remission which led me to wishing sometimes I was there again. I guess my mind led to all that because I was wearing a pair of camo pants from Zara and they are meant to be super form fitting so as a result it was a bit snug around my stoma area which annoyed me especially since it was sightly ballooning (when it blows like a ballon due to gas passing) and I had alot of output which I typically do during the evening. The things I do for fashion…I also don’t want this bag to be my life, I just want it part of my life so, I refused to change before we left knowing that it was too tight. Lucky for me, I had a long jacket so towards the end of the night (unwillingly) I had to unzip and keep it unzipped til I got home, just being honest (life of an ostomy bag vs. fashion clothes). We then went out to eat (I unzipped after dinner, so got a good run with my pants) at a pretty good American restaurant called The Malt House. I ate mac-n-cheese with grilled chicken. It was pretty good- funny thing is with an ostomy you have to CHEW your food ALOT, mashed potatoes consistency before swallowing so as a result, I am now a slow eater which anyone that knows me, knows I never ever was lol and I get very full quicker (make sense) so I can never finish my food or make a dent in it.

At dinner

Our night ended by searching high and low for a dessert place that was open, so much for the “city that never sleeps” my butt! lol Needless to say, I remembered Insomnia Cookies is open until 3am but before that we went to check out the Oculus which was my first time to ever see it. It was amazing- the exterior alone is phenomenal, well detailed, and such a show-stopper. Inside, is all white with tons of shops but of course they were all closed. We headed to get some cookies and drove back home. As per usual, our car ride was filled with laughter (more delirium as we were all crashing aka old farts lol).

More from the LV exhibit-want that dress!

I overall, had such a great day. A day free of ostomy worries. A day free of medical talk. A day free of always wondering about my future. It was a day to just finally enjoy life and friendships. To enjoy the little things I love: company, fashion, food. God allowed me to see beyond my illness and ostomy bag. He reminded me how blessed I am with the beautiful life He has made for me. To celebrate it with the ones I love most. It’s not easy some days but days like these make all my worries subside and focus on the good times. As much as I hate my ostomy bags at times, I constantly have to remind myself that it did give me a 2nd chance to enjoy life. So, thank you God for constantly holding my hands through life.

This is my fellow Mon, my beautiful head full of curls sister.

Life is beautiful, it just takes sometime to realize it.