A couple weeks ago, I had the distinct honor of being invited to participate in a fundraising event hosted by my friend, Cinthia Arriola. As the the owner of Funki Monki (a neighbor of GAL Fashion), Cinthia was this year’s Chair of the El Paso Diabetes Association, a disease which affects 50% of the patients admitted into our local hospitals. The “Shades of Blue” Diabetes Association Gala will be held on September 9.

Cinthia’s passion for the community and philanthropy despite her young age is inspiring, a quality she has inherited from her mother-in-law Yolanda. Yolanda founded the Southwest University of El Paso, an institution that helps educate those who can’t afford a 4-year university.

In anticipation of the Gala, the Arriola’s hosted a morning brunch event at their home, which challenged guests to wear all-white outfits. Attendees savored a spread by Mesa Street Bar and Grill, while the Dior Make-Up Counter offered makeovers to both models and event guests. A GAL fashion show was the icing on the cake!

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It’s most wonderful time of the year: the blistering summer months are coming to a close and fresh, Fall trends are cropping up in stores. One of the top trends for Fall, I’m happy to report, is florals: bright, happy flower prints are gracing runways from Gucci to Céline. This is great news for the budget conscious consumer, since Spring prints can be transitioned into the new season with the addition of cashmere sweaters, boots, or bomber jackets. The prints are now a staple of every wardrobe that can be paired with almost any bottom and accessory. Shockingly versatile, florals are here to stay, so pull them out of your closet and freshen up those flowers with tights and cold-weather accessories come winter.

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We may be more than half way through the year, but I’ve realized that it’s never too late to create goals for yourself. January 1st isn’t the only time of year for goal-setting and self-improvement

The beauty of life is that you can wake up one day and make a decision to change. To become a better you.

Now actively making decisions is just the beginning, you have to follow the decision with an action.

For instance I will share with you a few of my goals and how I actively am working on them.

Discipline- this is something I have lacked my whole life, the discipline to wake up early, to exercise, to read. The action is setting my alarm clock everyday for 6:30am even on weekends to train my body. Push myself to be active daily even if its only for 30 minutes and read partial of a chapter or even better listen to a podcast to learn.

( In these scenarios, I am not necessarily cheating the system I am tweaking them to see what works best for me.)

Taking Risks: This one is scary, most recently I went on a trip with the Gals to go zip lining, I had fear and anxiety the entire time, from the drive up the mountain to the final action of the zipline, I never knew how fearful I really was of adventure. But that’s ok, we all have things we are afraid of what I learned that fear is like the boogyman, its only real if we let it become real. So I am actively doing things that challenge my fear and am following the 5 second rule. It takes 5 seconds to push yourself to do an action that’s how long it takes the brain to say YES or NO. So like Nike I am just doing it, scary but so fulfilling and liberating.

Commitment: when you commit to something the right thing to do is to stay committed “consistency” in good or bad times. Have you ever been hurt and said, that’s it im done with you! ( a friend, a co-worker, a marriage?) In life if we make a decision we should stay committed and follow through. Action? When I am in a situation when a friend hurts me, a customer, anyone the mail man even instead of dismissing them I am actively forgiving and pushing myself to continue what we began, why? Because I want to be committed, I want to be loyal and I want to actively be there for the people I surround myself with in good times or bad and I am going to actively let people off the hook because no one is perfect.

In conclusion this blog is about encouraging my readers to really make goals and reach for the stars, why? Because I belive all of you can set goals, accomplish them and be a better you!

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