“Don’t Forget About You Friday’s”

HAPPY FRIDAY!!

Welcome to our second Don’t Forget about you Friday Event!

For the new bees we started, "Don’t Forget About You Friday’s" 2 weeks ago. Every other Friday you have to buy something for yourself and share it with Connie’s Purse followers. This idea stems from Aintee Connie loving Friday’s and shopping. We will honor her memory by treating ourselves to a little something every other Friday.

This is what I picked up…

I found this dress at Marshall’s (Aintee Connie’s Favorite Store) and on my way to the register I found the perfect shoes to match.

This dress and shoe combo became the perfect Birthday outfit.

I found these cute pearl hoop earrings at Forever 21.

 I Love them!

If you would like to share your “Don’t Forget About You Friday” purchase please leave a comment or send me an email at Conniespurse@gmail.com.

Until next time let’s live life and love life. People will still Love you if you Love yourself.

Our next “Don’t Forget About You” session will be Friday, April 8^th.

Happy Shopping!!!!!

Lakeesha

 

Please visit these fabulous blogs to which this is linked.

Just A Girl

I Love Pretty Little Things

"Favorite Things"

Birthday Gifts and a Few of My Favorite Things

Hello,

I’m back…I took a little mini break from everything to celebrate my Birthday and I had a good time.

Thank You so much for all of the Birthday Wishes.

I would like to share some of the gifts I received and a few items I think every girl would love.

I would like to introduce you to the latest addition to “Connie’s Purse” Blog.

Aunt Ernestine from Minnesota gave me this very cute initial bag. Isn’t it cute? I love it! Thank you Ernestine, this is definitely something Aintee Connie would have given me.

My husband and the kids bought me this Wii Fit game.

Here is the deal. I had a gym membership paying $50.00 a month and I never had time to go. I’m not a morning person and I was too tired to go after work. This is the perfect gift for me because now I can work out at home at my own pace and save $600.00 a year. I have also found that it draws the whole family together because everybody wants to try. I love having my family together especially in a house full of teensJ. I would recommend this game for people with busy schedules that still want to work out and get fit.

My sister sent me this beautiful  fruit bouquet from edible arrangements.

This is a great healthy gift to give  and it makes a nice center piece on the table too. The fruit was so good. Thank You Sister!!!

My good friend Stephanie and Sabrina who’s like sisters to me got me a watch. A lady can never have too many watches. My pastor once said, “A man without a watch has no place to be”. I love that phrase because time is importantJ.

They also gave me this Victoria Secret Shimmer Mist. It’s the perfect light mist with a delicate scent. It has a light glow with a shimmer. It’s very nice to put on when you are going out and have on a sexy dress and want your skin to have a little extra glow to it.

If you have some favorite things or tips you would like to share. Please leave a comment or send me an email and I will share it on the blog.

Remember…This Friday is our "Don’t Forget About You Friday’s". I can’t wait to see what items we all have.

Until Next time live life, love life and enjoy your favorite things.

Lakeesha

"Words of Encouragement"

Words of Encouragement

In Today’s Purse I would like to share some words of encouragement. As some of you may know today is my Birthday. My heart is happy because I am here to see another day but it is also heavy because it’s my first birthday without Aintee Connie here to celebrate with me. As I look back on my life she was with me for every birthday.  Aintee loved birthdays, she made a big deal about it and would do anything in her power to make sure her family and friends enjoyed their day.  I am trying to stay strong and encouraging as she would and hopefully today’s post will help someone who need to hear some encouraging words. Some of these messages were sent to me from her and others were sent as words of encouragement to me. Enjoy

God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change….Courage to change the things I can and the Wisdom to know the difference.

"Many of life's failures are men who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."   Thomas Edison

“I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” The road to success is not straight. There is a curve called Failure, a loop called Confusion, speed bumps called Friends, red lights called Graves, caution lights called Family. You will have flats called Jobs. But, if you have a spare called Determination, an engine called Perseverance, insurance called Faith, a driver called Jesus, you will make it to a place called Success.

This is my favorite…Thanks Keena

I wished heaven had a phone, so I could hear your voice again...I thought of you today, but that is nothing new...I thought about you yesterday and days before that too. I think of you in silence, and I often speak your name. All I have are memories and a picture in a frame. I miss u aintee/mommy, and all the others up there looking down on us! ♥

As a birthday gift to me I would like for each of you to think about the people in your life and the things that they have done for you and thank them for it.

I would like to Thank each of you for following "Connie's Purse". It means the world to me.

Make it a great day because I am!

Until Next time, Live Life, Love Life and Be Encouraged.

Lakeesha

"Don't Forget About You Friday's"

Happy Friday!!!!

I thought Friday would never come.

In today’s purse I want to talk about not forgetting about you.

Losing Aintee Connie has really opened my eyes to a bunch of things. The way I use to live my life had so many restrictions on it. I realize that I was putting the restrictions on myself.  I never wanted to stray away from what I thought was normal. She would often tell me “Girl don’t worry about it”. I think I finally know what she meant by that phrase. She wanted me to enjoy my life, and not run to everyone else’s "beck and call"; to not worry about every bill and problem, and most importantly to not forget about myself. I decided that since Aintee lived for Fridays and LOVED to SHOP that we can all do something in memory of Aintee's loving Friday’s.

Here’s what we are going to do.

We will call it, “Don’t Forget About You Friday”

Every other Friday we must buy something for ourselves. It can be anything: a pair of socks, a tube of lip gloss, a dress, a car, etc. There are no limits. We should enjoy the things that life has to offer us and stop putting restrictions on ourselves; let’s live life and love life in Connie’s Purse. When you buy the item you can take a picture and send it to me to post or leave a comment and let us all know how you treated yourself. I will kick off this Friday. I am finally starting to lurk around the stores again. At first it felt strange shopping without her but now I’m starting to feel a little better.

This is what I picked up...

I could not pass up these shades. Aintee Loved her shades she had a pair in every purse. I found this great sunglass case.

I went to Trader Joes and picked up a bottle of wine and my favorite red wines glasses.

Finally...Here is my 50 Follwers Give Away. Whenever we went shopping and found something we really like we would buy two. This DIVA sunglass case can be yours. Once Connie's Purse has 50 followers I will give away this case. It is totally Aintee Connie's style and I hope you like it too. I know that I have a couple of fella's that follow, so I will find a gift for you guys as well. Good Luck! We are only 21 followers away.

The perfect gift to put in your purse. Until next time let's live life and love life. People will still Love you if you Love yourself.

I would like to dedicate this song to all of the Superwomen that follow Connie's Purse.
Alicia Keys-Superwoman

Our next "Don't Forget About You" session will be Friday, March 25th. Happy Shopping!!!!

Please visit these fabulous blogs to which this is linked.
Just A Girl
I Love Pretty Little Things
It's A Very Cherry World

Magazine House

“Magazine House”

As the spring time approaches, I have been thinking about what rooms/areas around the house I would like to spruce up a bit. Aintee Connie came across my mind as I thought about her house and how well kept it was.

Aintee Connie lived in what our family refers to as a “Magazine House”.  I believe every woman strives to have a “Magazine House”. A magazine house is a well organized house, everything having its place, looking like a picture from the magazine, because it’s so neat... It’s very clean, clutter free and it smells good.  I take that back; the only places in Aintee’s house that had clutter were her closets because she loved to shop. LOL! She was very good with color coordination, and decorated for every holiday or just because. Aintee Connie and my mom started teaching us about cleaning very early in life. We would have to get up early on Saturday mornings and clean the house from top to bottom before anyone could go out and play. I believe all of the kids have carried that trait of cleanliness with them. Aintee and I would often shop at Crate & Barrel, CB2, Home Goods and Marshall’s to get ideas for the house or to pick up items to make the house look dainty. Aintee has inspired me in so many ways with decorating. It’s hard to look around my house without thinking of her. For most of the things that I have in my house, she either told me about them, picked them out, or bought them for me. I started to give up on the idea of having a magazine house when my kids were small but now since they are all teenagers I have started my journey.  As you think about projects and things to change in your house this spring, think of Aintee Connie and her magazine house ways. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to have a magazine house, but starting to get things organized is a great start. I’m starting with organizing my documents and files. I will follow up with you guys with my progress. What project are you starting with? Email me or leave a comment and let me know.

In the meantime, I would like to leave you with some pictures I found of Aintee’s house...

This is Aintee Connie's dining room

This is the kitchen counter "Thanksgiving 2009"

This is the living room; you see how eveything is in place

Here is a wall my husband and I put together in our house with a little inspiration from Aintee Connie. She purchased this clock for us as a house warming gift and this is what we did with it.

A strange thing happened on the day she passed away the batteries went out and this very same clock she bought for us stop ticking. My husband replaced the batteries and it's going again. I love to look at this clock everyday it reminds me that we are only here for a period of time and we should enjoy every moment because we never know when our battery will stop working.

If you want that "Magazine House" you have alway's dreamed of...Make it happen. Your home should be a reflection of you and filled with the things you like and over flowing with Love.

Until next time...Enjoy this beautiful day and think about some things you would like to tidy up in your house, in your life, because we only have one life to live.

Have a fabulous "Magazine House" Day!

Please visit these fabulous blogs to which this is linked:
Good Life Wednesday
A Delightsome Life
Wow Me Wednesday

Salmon Croquettes "Connie Style"

Salmon Croquettes

“Connie Style”

In today’s purse we are making Salmon Croquette’s "Connie Style".

Aintee Connie loved fish. I think she ate just about any type of fish prepared many different ways. Today, I would like to show you what I remember about Aintee and my Mommy cooking Salmon Croquettes. Aintee would have them for breakfast with grits and scrambled eggs. I have seen her prepare them for lunch or dinner with some light fluffy rice. This is the way I remember her preparing them. They were so delicious. My daughter and I attempted to make Salmon Croquettes, “Connie Style”.

Ingredients

o   2 cans of Pillar Rock Pink Salmon

o   4 tablespoons Green Onions diced

o   ½ Yellow Onion diced

o   Yellow Corn Meal

o   1 Egg Beaten

o   Vegetable Oil for Frying

Prep Time about 15 minutes-Cook time 10 minutes-2 cans make 8 patties

1.   In a large bowl mix 2 cans of salmon, green onions, yellow onions and egg. Mix well and remove the little white pieces from the salmon.

2.      Form into patties and dust with yellow corn meal both sides

      3.      Over medium heat, heat oil in medium skillet

4.      Fry until golden brown about 2 minutes each side.

Side Dishes Recommended

Fluffy White Rice

Corn on the Cob

Here are our finished Salmon Croquettes "Connie Style". We even added a glass of wine.

Thank You for cooking with me Kyana. I really enjoyed our mother daughter time together and our dish look fantastic. It reminded me of the time Aintee Connie and my Mom spent in the kitchen with me sharing receipes.
Priceless...

We hope that you will try"Connie Style" Salmon Croquettes and let us know how you like them.

Have a great day!

I hope you will visit the following blog to which this post is linked.
Thursday at Life as mom.com

Connect-The-Dots To Healing

Connect-The-Dots to Healing

Do you remember the worksheets with connect-the-dots?

Connect-the-dots are worksheets with dots on them with numbers or letters. Connect-the-dots worksheets are mainly used for young kids to enhance their learning skills in counting and alphabet. The finished worksheet is usually an animal or a picture of some sort. As you start to connect the dots you start to get an idea of what it is before it’s complete. Once you have connected each dot correctly you start to get excited to see the finished product.

I am having a connect-the-dots moment in my adult life.

*Dot number 1 started when I returned to work for the first time after Aintee Connie passed away. My supervisor gave me a number to call for counseling and I did that same day.

*Dot number 2 started when I met Sarah, my therapist a week after I called.

*Dot number 3 started when Sarah gave me a resource for group counseling. I called and I met another therapist named Karen.

*Dot number 4 started when Sarah began to read my mind and suggested I start a blog because Sarah was really on me about keeping a journal.  She put me in touch with a friend of hers named Cheryl.

*Dot number 5 started when Cheryl emailed me the link to her blog My Sisters Cottage dedicated to her sister Nancy.  Nancy passed away after a battle with cancer a few months before Aintee.

The dots have been connecting every since.

*Thanksgiving Sarah gave me a memorial candle to have in memory of Aintee. That triggered me to make Connie candles for my mom, sister, and cousin. So we can burn them when we need to be close to Aintee.

CONNIE CANDLE



CONNECT-THE-DOTS



*Karen works for a company that specializes in grief counseling. In my initial, intake the group that was in session was about to end. So, Karen offered me individual counseling until the next group started this spring.

*When I started blogging Feb. 1^st, Cheryl welcomed me with open arms. She was one of my first followers and so was Sarah. Cheryl was able to help me with set up questions and blog parties. We developed a connection through the loss of our loved one.

*Through blogging I found Myia who I never met. (Her story is featured on blog dated 2-10-11 "Connie Girl") She knew Aintee and a lot about me from what Aintee told her personally. This touched my heart like you would never imagine. Myia and I often exchange emails and she sends me daily inspirational text messages. I plan to meet her in April for spring break when I visit Ernestine.

*I have been blessed with friends at work, Millie and Christel who are understanding and allow me to have a moment when we are at work. They take the time to listen and offer advice. I Love You Guys!!!

*Aintee’s co-workers (old and new) still call, text and email to check on us. The special ladies in Aintee’s life Ernestine, Gwen and Lil-Red check on me often. It’s all out of Love for Aintee. They are my connection to her and I am their connection to her.

ARE YOU STILL WITH ME?

*The Love of my family and good friends that knew the special relationship that I shared with Aintee has been keeping a close eye on me. I appreciate every lunch, dinner, conversation, text message, email, visit but most importantly the love and support. You will never understand what this meant to me.

*Know I am five months in, still connecting the dots and I am excited to see the finished product.

I want to share the special gifts that made me think about my life in a connect-the-dots way.

 I had a tough day at work on Friday, and when I got home I had a package from Cheryl.

Here it is…

I LOVE THE PURSE STICKER!!!

 It’s a magnet!! This is Connie’s style all the way!!

Thank you Cheryl for the magnet it’s in a new home on my night stand. Every morning I can think about the blog dedicated to Aintee Connie and smile in my heart and know that I now have a blog girlfriend.

Thursday, after a tough love session with Karen. Our session was mainly about is Aintee presence with me.  Karen stressed that she is still with me while constantly pointing at the heart. At the end of the session Karen gave me flowers.

Flowers were the confirmation that she is still with me.

Aintee Connie and I would go to Trader Joes often and buy fresh flowers and a bottle of wine.

*These acts of kindness, the candle, the magnet, the flowers and the relationships I have was that Aintee speaking to me. Through these ladies I see a reminder that she is with me all the way.

*I had to share this with you because GOD is a provider and he will provide what you need when it’s needed.

When was the last time you connected the dots in your life?

*You see how all the dots are connecting in my life. I am so excited because it’s truly amazing. I’m just glad GOD has placed the right people in my life so that I can see it.

My connected dots are starting to spell out BLESSED and I am eager to see the finished product.

Sometimes you can’t see the full picture but be patient and you will.

Although this has been a rough road for me and my family, GOD is providing us with all the resources and tools necessary to carry on. Everything and everyone in my life are right where they need to be.

Thanks to all that care for us. Aintee Connie is with me right in my heart just like she was from the start.

Carry on with life and connect your dots when all of the dots start to form and work together for the good it makes life worth living.

Death is a tragic thing only if you haven’t lived.-Tyler Perry

Aintee Connie lived her life. How will you live yours?

Connect those dots………………………………………………………………………………………