6.28.2014

june twenty eight two thousand fourteen


today is a very special day for me.  today is the day i will marry my best friend.  i'm so excited to begin this journey together with you, cory.  i can't wait to see all that life has in store for the two of us!  you bring so much joy, love and laughter into my life, and i'm overjoyed and honored to become your wife.  i love you, and can't wait to see you today.

6.15.2014

father's day


sometimes, life deals you serious reality checks about how you should not take life or people you love for granted... and this father's day is no exception.  i'm feeling especially lucky to have such a wonderful man who raised me to be the person i am today, and who has always been a great example of a husband/dad to my brother and i.  if i had to use one word to describe you, it would be "full".  you selflessly keep everything in my life full: gas tanks, tire pressure, my wallet, my stomach, and most especially my heart :)  happy father's day, dad!  i'm so proud to be your daughter.

6.13.2014

five on friday 6.13.14

it's friday the 13th! i also feel that i should warn you about the full moon tonight as well... i'm not normally superstitious, but if a black cat crosses my path tomorrow or if my lunch total comes to $6.66, i may just crawl under a rock and stay there all day just to be safe.  they say bad luck comes in threes...okay, maybe i am superstitious.


1.  as i was cruising through my neighborhood yesterday, i noticed that one of my crafty neighbors constructed an herb garden out of a wooden pallet, similar to this one.  i love cooking with fresh herbs, but just don't have the room to place tons of flower pots all over the yard... so this would be a great way to conserve space, show some love to an old pallet, and add a bit of curb appeal to the house!

2.  i was so pumped when i discovered just this week, that my all-time favorite novel as a young adult, "the giver" by lois lowry, is being adapted into a film due out august 15!  i was even more excited to find out that alexander skarsgĂ„rd is a member of the cast ;) see the official movie trailer here.

3.  can i get a "hell yes" for the second season of OITNB?  i'm trying to practice restraint, and not binge watch the entire season in one sitting.  its really really hard.

4.  a friend introduced me to this black bean spinach enchiladas recipe.  they are so yummy and i can't get enough of them!  bonus: after a bit of prep...these freeze really well for a quick weeknight meal (just follow the directions at the end of the recipe).

5.  i believe kim kardashian started the "mermaid shot" instagram craze... but the beauty department has provided a step by step tutorial on the best/easiet way to capture the water flip trick.  as i will have lots of free time in the pool/beach on my honeymoon in a few weeks.... you can expect a few pics of me doing this, haha :)

happy friday... and don't break any mirrors, walk under any ladders, or open an umbrella indoors.  just sayin'

6.06.2014

five on friday 6.6.14

alas... i'm back to blogging!  i'm not sure if all bloggers experience this, but i recently hit a wall of "i'm too busy/i feel uninspired/there are more important things i should be doing."  i hit that wall so hard, in fact, that i took six months off from blogging.  i'm such a fickle person sometimes, and i tend to get bored really easily (total gemini).  however, after many days away, it turns out that blogging makes me a happier and a more creative person.  It keeps me feeling inspired to come up with new ideas, travel to new places, and try new things (even if it means five minutes of my time taking a "perfect" picture of a steaming hot plate of nachos before i tear them apart... now, that's dedication).  so, in an attempt to be more patient and less fickle, i'll share my first blog post (the first of many to come...) in over six months.  and what better way to start than with my favorite weekly post, five on friday!


1.  i super-stoked about this retro one-piece i received in the mail last week from modcloth!  it's like marilyn monroe meets lana del rey.  in my opinion, it's the ultimate "honeymoon swimsuit" and i can't wait to rock it on the beaches of jamaica (in exactly ONE MONTH!!).  plus:  it really sucks you in, and considering we are going to an all-inclusive resort with free drinks and food... i'll make that a double plus!

2.  how cute is this mermaid print fabric i picked up a few weeks ago for a project that i've been working on?  i'll share the details on that in a future blog post :)

3.  after a few failed attempts of searching for culinary lavender at local stores, i ended up ordering some on amazon (where you can literally buy anything).  one of my favorite recipes i've made thus far were these lavender-vanilla bean rice krispie treats by cooking classy.  i never thought RKT's could get any better than they original recipe, but it turns out... they can get better!  my next lavender recipe might just have to be lavender iced coffee.  yum.

4.  i've tried my share of "lip stains" in the past and really didn't like them because i felt like they dried out my lips, however i took a gamble and purchased this lime crime velvetine liquid lip stain in suedeberry and i love it!  it's the perfect bright coral color and lasts for hours, plus it's vegan/cruelty-free!  it does dry to a matte finish (which i'm not a fan of) so i just top it off with a gloss, c'est magnifique!

5.  i know i mentioned in my last post that individual false lashes were the end all and be all, but that was six months ago and i'm self-admittedly an indecisive person.  now, i can't get enough of ardell babies natural strip lashes in black.  they cover three-quarters of the lash line, so they are easy to put on (much quicker than the individual lashes) and they are the perfect balance between natural and va-va-voom lashes.

whew, that felt good.  i'm off to the beach this weekend to celebrate the final single days of one of my very best friends.  i can't wait to bury my feet in the sand, soak in some sun, and do nothing but relax as i await my own wedding at the end of the month :)  i will be back with another blog post in the very near future, until then... have a great weekend and a very happy friday!