Green Fashionista

Last Day to Enter the Giveaway

2012-02-16T08:21:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to send out a friendly reminder that today is the last day for the giveaway, and I'll be closing it out tonight ;0)

You can find it here.

Happy Entering and Friday Eve!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2012-02-15T09:34:00.000-05:00

So glad it's already time for my hump-day link up with Jamie at This Kind of Love for What I'm Loving Wednesday.

Also, don't forget my giveaway ends tomorrow night, check it out here.

I'm loving that my bf from high school and her family are leaving tomorrow to make the trek down and visit us.

I'm loving that my H's parents who haven't flown in over 30 years booked their plane tickets to come visit in April. They're getting back on the horse! :0)

I'm loving that we got our kitchen repainted over the weekend and it's so purrty! Just in time for our guests this weekend and our upcoming housewarming party! You can read about our painting disaster here.

Kinda blurry :-P

I'm loving that even though I'm sad that football season is over that baseball season is right around the corner!

I'm loving my recent finds on Pinterest

Kate Spade Statement Necklace

Hotel Citta Del Mare in Sicily, Italy

Mimosa Punch

Beautiful tea party cake

I'm always loving my amazing husband

What are you loving today?

All About Me.. Blog Link Up

2012-02-13T21:36:00.002-05:00

I kept seeing a bunch of the blogs I follow all linking up to the same post, and my curiosity got the best of me and decided to see what all the fun was that I was missing out on.

Linking up with Neely at A Complete Waste of Make Up, come join in on the fun!

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway if you haven't already. It closes on Thursday ;0)

Why I blog

I love blogging.. at first it was a creative outlet for me to talk about random thoughts and gush about my fashion and beauty must haves. Now, I love the great community that blogging has and have met some great fellow bloggers.

My blog

Green Fashionista is a name I chose since it channels two of my passions.. being green (recycling and doing what we can to help the environment) and all things fashion and beauty. I like to blog about everything from fashion wants to recent purchases to house projects to recipes to random thoughts to pinterest finds to environmental tips to fun link ups and more.

All About Me

I am a college graduate who was born and raised in Connecticut and moved to sunny Florida about a year and a half ago with my wonderful husband and adorable bulldog. We love God, each other, our dog, our family and friends, working out, and traveling. We have definitely been bitten by the travel bug as neither of us did a lot of traveling growing up. Together, we've been to Cancun, Cape Cod, NYC, Block Island, Puerto Rico, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Fiji, Key West, and on two cruises that stopped in Aruba, Curacao, Dominica, St. Thomas and St. John, Cozumel, Honduras, Belize, and Costa Maya.

Our next trip will be to Punta Cana, but we also want to finally cross the pond and go to Europe in the near future. So many amazing places we can't wait to see!

On our beautiful wedding day

Before our sunset dinner cruise in Cancun

At Ghost Bar at the Palms in Vegas

Block Island trip right before we moved

Snorkeling trip in Fiji *honeymooners*

Cruising the western Caribbean

Parasailing in Key West

Crazy Friends (old and new)

We love our friends and have been blessed with great friends back up north and have met some pretty cool peeps down here in FL too.

I'm excited to link up and find some new blogs, and I hope you'll love mine too :0)

Happy Linking Up!

Fill in the Blank Friday

2012-02-10T08:54:00.001-05:00

TGIF! Happy Friday everyone! We made it! And to celebrate, I'm linking up with Lauren at The Little Things We Do for Fill in the Blank Friday, be sure to hop over and link up.

If you haven't already, don't forget to check out and enter my giveaway here.

1. I started my blog because I wanted to have a creative outlet for my passions and every day life. I really enjoy writing it and thinking of things to share with my wonderful followers.

2. One thing I love seeing on other blogs is great achievements/milestones etc.. and fashion and beauty tips. Oooh and wedding stuff! I know a lot of brides are "over" weddings once they have theirs, but I'm still fascinated with weddings and love it when people share their planning ideas and the finished product.

3. Something I love about blogging is the wonderful "bloggy friends" you make and can relate to. It's a whole new community I never knew about until last year.

4. A favorite blog post of mine is probably when I reflected back to our wedding on our 1 year anniversary last year. I love remembering that amazing day and looking at pictures and watching our wedding video.

5. Something my friends in real life know about me that I've never before mentioned on my blog is my outgoing personality. I'm not sure how I come off to my readers, but I can be very outspoken and sarcastic. Some people don't get my humor and even my H sometimes needs to be reminded that I'm joking lol. I'm usually just trying to lighten the mood :-P

6. My new favorite blogs to read are Beautiful Mess , My Beautiful Crazy Life , and Kaytee's World: Life, Love, and Rhinestones

7. Some things I tend to avoid doing on my blog are complaining. I try to keep my blog a happy place But sometimes.. a girl just needs to vent ;0)

Also don't forget to link up with Hollie Takes Notes for Follow Friday!

My 1st Blog Giveaway

2012-02-09T10:49:00.002-05:00

I promised everyone once I reached 50 followers I'd do my 1st ever giveaway, and here she is!

I really wanted to include the mini cube from Essie's 2012 Spring Collection, and I can only seem to find it at Nordstrom. Of course the Nordstroms in my area don't carry it in stores, so alas.. I had to order it and it's finally here!

Shades included:

Navigate Her

Ole Caliente

Tour de Finance

To Buy or Not to Buy

TheBalm Mini Kabuki Brush This is a great brush for getting those hard to reach spots (like around your nose and eyes) since it's so tiny.

I also threw in some samples of products that I use and love that I thought you would want to try out and get hooked on as well.

How to Enter

First, be a follower of my blog.

There are 3 chances to win:

1. Leave me a comment below letting me know you're a follower.

2. Follow me on twitter and tweet about the giveaway @GreenFashonista (yes I'm aware it's spelled incorrectly.. friggin' Twitter has a cap on how long your name can be, and I had to leave out the extra "i" to make it fit.. grrr... I promise I'm not phonetically challenged haha..) and leave me a comment letting me know.

3. Blog about the giveaway and link your post into a separate comment.

I will be closing the giveaway one week from today (February 16th) and picking a winner using a random drawing.

I just want to thank each and every one of you for following my blog, I appreciate all of you and love all of your wonderful comments, they make my day! I hope to do a bigger/more exciting giveaway when I reach 100 followers!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2012-02-08T14:20:00.001-05:00

I'm a little late today for the humpity hump link up with Jamie at This Kind of Love for What I'm Loving Wednesday. I got caught up in a few meetings this morning and haven't had a chance until now.

I'm loving that our kitchen will be getting re-painted this weekend so that it's fixed in time for our upcoming housewarming party. It was a complete disaster..

I'm loving that my bf from high school will be her with her husband and new baby in 2 weeks!

I'm loving that even though I feel like it's taking forever since I've been busy that I'm still in the middle of Mocking Jay. Because as much as I want to finish the Hunger Games series, I'll be so sad when there isn't another book to look forward to.

I'm loving that the NY Giants won the super bowl! (sorry to all the Pats fans!)

I'm loving that my OC ladies are back! And it looks like Tamra and Gretchen have finally burried the hatchet.. lets hope they did for good this time. So over their drama!

I'm loving the new show Alcatraz... GREAT show! And there's a huge twist that is yet to be figured out yet.

I'm loving my latest Pinterest finds this week:

I'm always loving my goofy H.. I have way too many pictures of his silly dance moves.

Kate Spade Surprise Sale

2012-02-07T09:26:00.000-05:00

Oh how I love Kate Spade!

Not that we need an excuse to shop at Kate Spade, but saving up to 75% is a pretty sweet deal.

Happy Shopping!

Today Should be a Holiday

2012-02-06T20:44:00.001-05:00

Man I'm glad today is over.. the Monday after the Super Bowl should be a nationally declared holiday :-P

I'm just sayin'...

We had a mostly quiet weekend since we knew we were going to a super bowl party on Sunday night. And we wanted to put something in the living room before our upcoming housewarming party, so we decided to pick up a little palm and it's nice for the room to not be completely empty anymore and it's so cute in the corner.

Nice to see a little life in our empty room

I made the cookie dough dip for the party and it was ah-ma-zing!

I served it with vanilla wafers and graham crackers

Will definitely be making that again!

Highlight of the evening was our own halftime show when people tried kicking field goals through the party zone tub. I so want one of these!

La Mia Bella Vita Giveaway

2012-02-04T12:38:00.000-05:00

The fabulous Ally over at La Mia Bella Vita is having an amazing giveaway featuring her favorite things. I'd have to say that this giveaway consists of a lot of our favorite things!

1. Victoria's Secret Tote

2. Lindt Truffles

3. Juicy Couture Shower Gel

4. Essie mini in Your Hut or Mine

5. Essie mini in 'Fair Game'

6. Bare Minerals Warmth

7. Bare Minerals Rev-Er Upper

8. Ulta black eyeliner

9. HCO lotion

10. F21 woven scarf with pockets.

11. Assorted F21 earrings in shades of peach, mint and cream.

Head on over to La Mia Bella Vita to enter. Good luck! :0)

Fill in the Blank Friday

2012-02-03T09:50:00.004-05:00

TGIF!!! Linkin' up with Lauren at The Little Things We do for Fill in the Blank Friday

1. If money wasn't an issue, the first thing I'd cross of my life list is traveling the world. H and I are big into traveling and there's still soooo much we want to see!

2. Italian dressing on my homemade baked mac n' cheese is something I like but others may think is weird. I also love to clean! I seriously am Monica Geller!

3. If my life were a movie right now, the title would be Randomness in the Sunshine State

4. Three things I am looking forward to this month are seeing my bf from high school and her little family, our housewarming party, and the super bowl!
5. My favorite song to sing in the shower is nothing.. I must be boring in the shower since I don't sing.

6. If I found out that the production of Urban Decay's Primer Potion was ending this month I'd go out and buy as much as I could.

7. One thing I'll never grow tired of is spending a relaxing evening at home with H and Roxy.

2 link ups on one fabulous Friday!

Join us over on Hollie Takes Notes

Happy Friday Eve!

2012-02-02T20:11:00.002-05:00

Happy Friday Eve! I'm very proud to announce that I worked out twice today! Yay me! I went to the gym on my lunch break and then I went for a run with H after work. So, now I'm now celebrating with a glass of wine :-P

H and I picked up this bottle back in November when we went on a wine tasting with friends. Seriously, my favorite wines are local wines. When we lived in CT we frequented the Connecticut Wine Trail and honestly I've found some of my absolute favorite wines on the CT Wine Trail and here at local wineries in FL. I'm still waiting to go to Napa Valley as well, I'm sure I'll find some favs out there too while taking in all the beautiful sites.

Don't mind me as I ramble on... but I FINALLY ordered my giveaway prize! I had wanted a certain set, and it's only available at Nordstrom it seems (very odd in my opinion) and of course the Nordstroms in my area don't carry it in store. So, I ordered it online and it included free shipping so I turned my frown upside down. It's on it's way, and once it's here, I'll post the giveaway. I'm super excited about it and hope I can do any even bigger giveaway when I reach 100 followers.

And I'm even MORE excited that the 2nd trailer for The Hunger Games leaked today!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2012-02-01T09:54:00.000-05:00

Happy first day of February and Happy Hump Day! We're halfway there! Time for my weekly link up with Jamie from This Kind of Love

I'm loving that the Super Bowl is in 4 days and counting!! I love football, and as sad as I am that the season is almost over, I'm always pumped for the Super Bowl!

I'm loving that H and I have FINALLY started planning our Housewarming Party. Yeah.. we moved into our house in late June/early July last year and still haven't had it. To our defense... we were waiting until we furnished the house more and last week we decided who cares! If we wait until the house is the way we want it, we'll NEVER have the party! So hopefully no one cares that all that's in the living room is a few sconces on the wall and a plant in the corner.. and that half the bedrooms are empty. But there are couches in the family room to sit on :-P

I'm loving that my bf from high school will be coming down to visit with her hubs and their new son in a few weeks. Plus they'll be here for the house warming party! We saw them over Christmas, but I bet their little boy has already grown so much!

I'm loving that I finally hit 50 followers last weekend, and I promise I will be doing my giveaway soon! I just have to get my butt to the store and pick up the giveaway *slacking*.. majorly!

I'm loving my recent finds on Pinterest

2 story closet *drool*

I miss Michael Scott

*LOVE*

I'm always loving my H

What are you loving today?

Super Bowl Goodies

2012-01-31T20:37:00.002-05:00

I can't believe the Super Bowl is already coming up in 5 days! Seriously, how is it already 2012, and how is January over?! Neither of the teams I was rooting for made it.. RIP Saints and Broncos.. and H's Chiefs didn't even make it to the playoffs. But we will be rooting for the G-Men on Sunday since I like Eli and we're both Yankees fans.. it's only appropriate to root for their football counterpart.

Anyone have big plans for Sunday? We are going to go to a party where all the girls bring their favorite dip and all the guys bring their favorite drink. This way the hostess won't be overwhelmed with preparing tons of food and supplying all the drinks. I thought that was a great idea! I was going to bring my famous buffalo chicken dip, but since there are so many other savory dips accounted for already and nothing sweet, I decided I'll try out a cookie dough dip I found on Pinterest. Oh Pinterest.. how I love thee!

1 eight oz. package of cream cheese (softened) -- I'll use reduced fat or fat free cream cheese

1/2 cup of butter (softened)

3/4 cup of brown sugar

1 cup of powdered sugar

1 and 1/2 tsp. of vanilla

1 cup of chocolate chips

Cream together the cream cheese and butter

Add all remaining ingredients and mix well until combined

Serve with graham crackers, vanilla wafers, pretzels, and/or apple wedges

I'm excited to try this out! I've heard great things about this dip!

What do you plan on making for Super Bowl Sunday?

You can find my buffalo chicken dip recipe here. Every party I bring this dip to, the whole pan is demolished! I got the recipe from a friend a few years ago, and have re-gifted it to so many people I've lost count. It is definitely a crowd pleaser! H and I are finally throwing a housewarming party in a few weeks, and when I told him I was starting to put together my menu and wanted his input, all he requested was buffalo dip :-P

Going Back to Essie

2012-01-29T20:54:00.003-05:00

First off, I want to say a huge THANK YOU to all my wonderful followers! I finally hit 50 over the weekend, which means it's time for me to organize my giveaway.

This weekend went by pretty quickly, yesterday we went on a pub crawl for a friend's birthday and I wore a top from VS with my Gap skinnies. I also wore a black cardigan over it, because I got chilly like 5 minutes into the evening since the AC was up so high. Brrrrr!

I still need to work on smiling while taking these pics, I always look so mad!

I also painted my nails with my new Sephora by OPI set

I cashed in my 500 point reward with my last Sephora purchase and got this set which includes a base coat, a new polish, a top coat, and polish remover.

I've been loving a lot of Essie's new colors and would like to purchase:

"As Gold as it Gets" (continuing my current obsession with anything gold and/or sparkly)

"A Cut Above"

Loving "Go Overboard"

"Trophy Wife"

Such pretty colors! I've been wearing so much Sephora by OPI and Muppets by OPI lately, I've been missing out on all the purrty-ness from Essie!

Hope everyone had a fantabulous weekend!

Fill in the Blank Friday

2012-01-27T10:34:00.001-05:00

Time for my Friday link up with fabulous new mama Lauren at The Little Things We Do

1. My favorite place I've ever traveled to is our honeymoon to Fiji was definitely a trip of a lifetime. We've also loved all the cruises we've been on.

2. Europe, South America, and Australia is are somewhere I'd love to go someday.

3. I pass the time on a plane (or bus, or car ride or train) by reading or watching tv/movies. We usually fly Jet Blue that has tv's in all the headrests, if not we have our lap top or mini-dvd player. On our 10 hour flight to Fiji, I tried my best to get some sleep which helped pass the time.

4. My three must-haves when I travel are something to read, something to watch, and earphones. Oh and my travel neck pillow that H laughs at me for!

5. My favorite travel companion is my H of course!

6. The craziest thing that ever happened to me while traveling is other than flight delays/cancellations nothing really crazy to report thankfully. However, my mom and I were in NYC back in the summer of 2005 when the terrorist attacks on the subways in London were happening and we couldn't understand why everytime we got down to the subways in Manhattan they were shutting down. We were only able to take one train that day, and took cabs and the bus the rest of the day. My dad was horrified that we were "gallivanting" around the city trying to ride the subway, but we had no idea until we got home that night.

7. The most exotic food I've ever tried while traveling is nothing too exciting. I have a few food allergies, so I don't tend to branch out too much while traveling so I don't risk getting sick or having an allergic reaction. However, we did try Kava in Fiji.

Picture of a kava plant I took while we were hiking to the waterfalls at Bouma National Park

8. If I could live anywhere else, I'd live in where we live now! Both of us always dreamed of living in Florida after growing up in Connecticut and our dreams finally came true a year and a half ago. No more complaining about the high cost of living and terrible weather. We couldn't be happier! :0)

9. I have been to 33

states in the U.S. My goal is to see all 50. I've gotten a lot of the "boring" ones out of the way by doing a cross country road trip a few years ago.

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2012-01-25T09:53:00.001-05:00

Mid-week link up with Jamie from This Kind of Love for WILW.

I'm loving all the new recipes I've been trying from Pinterest and fellow bloggers. H thanks everyone too!

I'm loving that I'm 1 away from 50 followers! I sense a giveaway coming as soon as I reach it! :0)

I'm loving that I'm almost done with the 2nd book in the Hunger Games Series and can't wait to go on to Mockingjay!

I'm loving that I've been getting closer to H's sister lately with her upcoming wedding and just life in general. I'm so happy to finally have a sister!

Ooh my that's a small pic!

I'm loving my latest finds on Pinterest

I'm always loving my amazing H!

What are you loving today?

Weekend Randomness

2012-01-24T20:29:00.000-05:00

I haven't had the best past couple of days.. nothing major, but just annoyances and let downs. As I mentioned in my last post, we went to Home Depot and picked up the paint and supplies to paint the kitchen. We chose Behr's Berry Cobbler to go with the theme we already had going in the kitchen. Neither of us had ever really painted before, but how hard could it be? Let's just say it was a complete and utter disaster :0(

We woke up early and I made us omelets with mushrooms, tomatoes, and fat free cheese and bacon. Yum!

Then... we started painting...

Let's just say it didn't come out well... at all. We had issues with the lines not blending in from the paint roller even though we made the "W" and followed directions.

I took a picture of the "W" since it made me think of the "W" on Ron Weasley's annual Christmas sweaters

Oh.. and we got paint everywhere! We used painters tape, but it still dripped places it shouldn't.. got on the ceiling.. the cabinets.. you name it.. so we're NOT happy! We're going to have to pay someone to come in and fix it. We were planning on painting our master bedroom next.. not anymore! We've realized we're going to need to pay someone to paint going forward. Oy!

This is what it looks like right now.. it's tough to see the lines or the random paint splotches on the ceiling. The OCD inside me is having a REALLY rough time with this! :-P

Anyone have any DIY home projects that totally bombed?

Then.. last night we got home and the cable and internet were both out since they're building on some of the lots near our house and the guys clearing the lots bulldozed into our cable box outside. Just in time for my Monday night guilty pleasure tv! It seems like other than Pan Am all my shows are on the same night! So not only could I not watch them, but the DVR couldn't pick any of them up either. So no Gossip Girl, Hart of Dixie, Alcatraz, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and How I Met Your Mother. Not a happy camper!

Excuse Moi

2012-01-21T21:23:00.000-05:00

At my last pedicure appointment, I got OPI's Getting Miss Piggy with It as it was a beautiful sparkly red and perfect for the holidays. I was long overdue for a pedicure today, so while H was getting his haircut, I went to get pampered at the nail spa and got another Muppets by OPI color. Today, I went with Excuse Moi. Another ode to Miss Piggy.

I know some people have a weird thing about feet so I'm warning you to look away now lest you get grossed out!

Alright you asked for it!

Here's how it looks on:

Pretty soft pink with sparklies and it's from the Muppets OPI collection which I LOVE!

H and I also picked up paint and supplies to paint the kitchen at Home Depot today. We are planning on tackling that project tomorrow. Pics to follow!

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend :0)

Louboutins and Hair Loot Contest

2012-01-19T19:34:00.000-05:00

I follow the fabulous Lauren Conrad on Twitter and she tweeted about a contest to win a free pair of Louboutins + $500 in Amika Hair Loot! Enter here.

Oh what I wouldn't do for a free pair of Loubies!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2012-01-18T10:35:00.000-05:00

Hump Day link up with Jamie at This Kind of Love

I'm loving that I was surprised with another short week. I thought it was going to be a WHILE before another 3 day weekend, but I completely forgot I finally work for a company that gives us MLK Day off! Refreshing!

I'm loving that H and I are planning a trip to Punta Cana in the spring. Hands down my favorite thing is traveling with the hubs :0)

I'm loving our new coach lights on the garage! When I pull up the driveway now our house looks complete.. now if we could just finish the inside.. lol

I'm loving that we finally picked what colors we're going to paint the kitchen and master bedroom, so our house won't be blah and all the same color anymore. Hurray for pops of color!

I'm loving my finds on Pinterest this week!

Hilarious caption was 50 degrees in Florida (top pic) and 50 degrees in Wisconsin (bottom pic) After having lived in Connecticut and Florida, I can definitely say that this is SO TRUE!

I'm always loving my adorable H!

Yummy Goodness

2012-01-17T19:46:00.000-05:00

Last month at my work's Christmas party, everyone was doing shots, and I just couldn't stomach the thought of a tequila shot with everyone else and poured myself a shot from a bottle that was sitting around and it happened to be Smirnoff's new flavor "Whipped". It was delicious! So smooth, and it's not harsh at all.

So, H picked up a bottle of it today for the house and we each had a glass of it tonight, and I mixed it with my Diet Cranberry juice.. YUM!

Happy MLK Day!

2012-01-16T17:16:00.001-05:00

This is the first job I've had that actually gives their employee's MLK Day off and I thoroughly enjoyed it! It's very important though for us all to remember why we have the day off, and I'm very thankful that I was raised in a home where I never looked at others different due to the color of their skin. I'm so glad for how far our country has come the past few decades.

H unfortunately, didn't have the day off. So there was some griping this morning when he had to get up about how unfair it was that I got to stay in bed and not go to work today. But, then I quickly reminded him how I get up every day while he gets to sleep in as I leave the house to go to work before he even gets up! Now THAT is unfair! :-P

I had a productive day off, I worked out, cleaned the bathrooms, cleaned the kitchen, baked a cake, and took Roxy for a nice walk. I also finally de-cluttered my vanity area, and hope I can continue to cut back on more of the clutter and keep it that way.

I also cleaned my makeup brushes which I've been majorly slacking on the past several weeks. I use this cleaner from Sephora and it even smells pretty!

Now.. onto my organization take-over of our master bathroom. I had done this a few months ago, but then before you know it, Target and Sephora have exploded all over my vanity.

This is a before pic of my vanity:

Before pic of H's vanity:

His wasn't too bad, but it definitely needed to be cleaned.

Before pic of the linen closet:

I pride myself in channeling my inner Monica Geller so something HAD to be done! So, I when we were at Target the other day, I finally picked up a mini-set of drawers to put in the linen closet to help organize my nail polishes and various samples from Sephora and soaps, etc..

Now the linen closet looks like this:

Still not perfect, but much better!

H's vanity now looks like this:

I cleaned the sink area and stored away his clippers and shaving stuff underneath the sink.

My vanity now looks like this:

I got rid of some old perfumes, organized my makeup better, and stored my clarisonic and face washes under the sink. I also moved some random products to the linen closet to help maximize the space. It still is a bit too cluttered for my taste, but it's much better and I can live with this for now.

I also set up H's new bedside lamp we picked up at Target on clearance. Originally $20, and we got it for $10.

I also baked a fabulous pistachio cake this afternoon and it is DE-LI-CIOUS!

In a mixing bowl combine 1 box of yellow or white cake mix, 2 packages of pistachio pudding, 1 cup of water, 3/4 cup of vegetable oil, and 4 eggs. Then add to a greased and floured bundt or a cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 45-50 minutes. Very simple and oh so yummy!

Neither H or I like nuts, so I sifted out the nuts in the pistachio pudding mix before adding the pudding mix to the batter.

For frosting you can make your own using 1 cup of powdered sugar, 1 tbsp of melted margarine or butter, and 2 tbsp. of milk and drizzle on top of the cake.

Home Depot Lovin' Weekend

2012-01-15T21:54:00.001-05:00

I was feeling like poopy on a stick yesterday, but I got a great night's sleep last night and woke up this morning feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the house projects H and I had planned for this weekend.

We went to Home Depot and picked up the coach lights for our garage. We paid for the pre-wiring when the house was built last spring, but had never gotten around to buying the lights. At $60 a piece, they weren't a priority since we needed 3 of them and had other things we were concentrating on. But check out these beauties! They're energy star rated and have timers and motion sensors.

Of course we used energy saver light bulbs too ;0)

We wrestled with them for a while, and one of our neighbors came by to help H with the 3rd one, but we did it and they look great!

Someone wanted to come outside and help, but kept bolting out into the street when a car would drive by so her hay-day was over.

We also picked up some paint chips for the kitchen and our master bedroom since it's high time for some extra color in here. The entire interior of the house was painted in a color called "Sprite" which is basically a yellowish cream, and has white trim on all the baseboards and doorways. It's nice, but it's the ENTIRE house!

For the kitchen, we are going for a maroonish red to go with the rest of our color scheme we've got going on which is black, stainless steel, and maroon like my Gloss Cinnamon Kitchen Aid.. soooo purty!

These are the 3 we narrowed it down to at the store, but we're leaning towards the center one the most which is Behr's Cherry Cobbler. Paint sounding yummy enough to eat!

For our bedroom, I would like a nice gray to go with our black furniture, and H would like yellow. So, we picked up a bunch of yellowish and grayish paint chips to see what we liked best.

The grays

The yellows

One of my favorite yellows is Crisp Ginger Ale

Some of our favorite grays

We have most likely narrowed it down to a grayish color since we discovered that the yellows look too similar to what's already on our walls and we're looking for something different that will pop with our tray ceiling.

Any suggestions for either room?

We also picked up a new lamp for H's bedside table since he's had 2 bite the dust admist our moves and I picked up some things to help organize my bathroom vanity.

Exhibit A:

Yes, something must be done! Stay tuned...

I Officially Surrender

2012-01-14T21:50:00.000-05:00

I have officially surrendered to the couch for the rest of the weekend. H pointed out that I haven't been sick in a while, so when I do get sick I get scared and don't know what to do. Then I realize I need to be a normal person and just rest on the couch. *dunk*

So, after H and I got back from Home Depot and Super Target this afternoon, I changed into sweats and my new fabulous slippers from my equally fabulous SIL. Soooo comfy! I told H and Roxy that I am "one with the couch" and H even cooked us dinner tonight which was really sweet. It's been a nice night of relaxing, reading "Catching Fire", and watching football. A little bummed about the Saint's loss, and now I'm gritting my teeth watching the Broncos trying to hold on. For probably the last time this season.. Go Tebow!

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, H and I were planning on working on both the inside and outside of the house this weekend. We picked up coach lights for the garage and paint chips for the kitchen and our bedroom. We're planning on a maroon color for the kitchen and either gray or a light yellow for our room. I'll post pictures tomorrow.

As for now, Roxy, H, and myself are all under blankets and cozied up on the couch and I couldn't be happier except of course if I felt less cruddy. Time to snuggle back in with my 2 furverts.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

For the love of boots

2012-01-13T22:30:00.000-05:00

As much as I love boots, if they have heels on them, my feet are usually miserable in them after not too long. I've been known to take my boots off at work under my desk because they hurt so bad. Well, those days are over! I finally found a pair that not only look great, but I can wear all day without being in agonizing pain.

I purchased the Rampage Bronx boot from DSW last year, but only recently starting wearing them lately since it's been chillier than usual and boot appropriate weather.

I wore them today over my Gap skinnies and never felt uncomfortable at all which was a great feeling.

Please excuse the flash.. I couldn't get the lighting right. I turned all the lights on and it was still too dark near the mirror *sigh*

And because it's so dark you can barely make out the boots.

I wore my new lace top and black cardigan today from VS to complete my comfy outfit. I should practice smiling while taking these pics! Haha.. I look so mad!

H and I are spending a long anticipated night in after going out for BBQ for dinner and stopping at a sweets shop and we picked up this oreo cupcake. Yum!

H and I are working on the house this weekend inside and outside, plus I plan on picking up my giveaway prize for when I hit 50 followers.

What's everyone up to this weekend?

Fill in the Blank Friday

2012-01-13T09:04:00.000-05:00

TGIF!!! Time for my kick off to the weekend link up with Lauren at The Little Things We Do who's due date is only a few days away!! So exciting!

1. The last thing I ate was the new Kellogs Krave cereal.

2. The last song I listened to was "She Will be Loved" by Maroon 5

3. Using the letters in my name I can spell {Kate}Kate, ate, tek, tak, eak, and that's about it.. pretty boring name lol. Except I do share it with my favorite duchess/princess!

4. If I had to dress in one color for the rest of my life I would pick gold. I was going to say black, but black can get so boring and dreary when done too much. Gold is so vibrant and goes with everything and is my current obsession the past few years. Between sequins and all the sparkly good stuff or just a simple gold jacket or shoes, I'm in love!

5. If you were to look in my bag right now you'd find my wallet, phone charger, ear buds, chapstick, compact mirror/brush, checkbook, coupons, hand sanitizer, lysol wipes, sunglasses, Aleve, Viva La Juicy rollerball, gum, lip gloss, nail file, recent receipts, gift cards, etc..

6. When I finish filling in the blanks I'm going to get back to work 0:-)

7. My all time favorite song to dance to is any song by Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson, or Britney.

Happy Friday!

Thank You

2012-01-12T14:54:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to stop for a second and thank all my wonderful followers. I started this blog almost 2 years ago while I was in the midst of wedding planning, and due to all the craziness I only posted a few times and had a long draught until I came back into blogging full time last February. I think I was around 8 followers at that point (if that!) and now I'm at 46. I'm excited to watch that number grow, as I grow as a blogger.

A lot of the wonderful blogs I follow have done giveaways as they reach a certain milestone in followers, and I always thought in the back of my mind that it'd be a great idea to do a giveaway once I reached 50 followers. That felt so far away only a few months ago, and now here I am only 4 away!

I have big plans for 2012 including a re-vamp of my blog where I'll be getting it re-designed. An overhaul is very much needed and will hopefully point me in the right direction to gain more readers.

Check back soon, as I'll be posting my giveaway once I reach 50 followers. Yipee!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2012-01-11T11:03:00.000-05:00

Time for the "hump day" link up with This Kind of Love for WILW.

I'm loving Tim Tebow!!! I guess you could say I've officially jumped on the bandwagon haha. I used to be a huge Patriots fan (born and raised in New England), but honestly over the past few years Tom Brady has put a bad taste in my mouth.. he's arrogant, short fused, and just not someone I care to root for anymore. So, I was left without a team that I rooted for no matter what. I would root with H for his Kansas City Chiefs (how he started liking them.. who knows! lol) and I also root for our new home team the Bucaneers, but I didn't have a team or a stand out player that I really wanted to see succeed until Tebow Mania began. I hopped right on board, as he has amazing talent, is humble, and has no shame in his beliefs. He's a GREAT role model compared to other top sports stars, and I hope kids are looking up to him and not adulterers such as Kobe Bryant.

I'm loving that Pan Am came back on this week! I really hope they get picked up for another season!

I'm loving that the Boycott Kim website is up to 560,300 signatures and growing rapidly! I hope her sponsers and business partners will get the message.

I'm still loving The Hunger Games! I can't put the book down, but I barely have enough time to read at night, so it's taking a while. I just want to finish it!

I'm loving my Words with Friends app. So addicting!

I'm loving my latest Pinterest finds this week!

Smores Dip... YUM!

Wardrobe staples

I'm always loving my wonderful H!

Happy Birthday!

2012-01-09T21:42:00.000-05:00

Today is a very special day because not only is it Duchess Catherine's b-day, but it's my bff's birthday as well! It hurts that I can't spend her special day with her, but I got to talk to her earlier and her gift is still en route via the US Mail.

I threw her a surprise b-day party 2 years ago where I got 20 of her nearest and dearest to surprise her and we had hibachi and then all went out to the Draft House afterwards. Great night! She was so surprised and started crying. No one deserves it more than her!

My bf with H's bf <3 both of them!

I think this was her birthday in '08

Happy Birthday to one of the best friends anyone could ask for!

And I can't forget... Happy 30th birthday to the new princes.. Duchess Catherine!

She's just so glamorous, graceful, and elegant... she's everyone's princess!

Fill in the Blank Friday

2012-01-06T09:52:00.000-05:00

TGIF! Linking up with Lauren at The Little Things We Do for Fill in the Blank Friday

1. One of my favorite things to do when I have free time is actually relax at home on the couch with H and our bulldog.

2. When I have free time I tend to be less productive than I imagined I would be. Whenever I have a day off with nothing to do, I have so many things planned and usually can't get to everything I invisioned.

3. If I had an entire day completely to myself I would make myself a good breakfast, work out, shower, schedule a pedicure, get stuff done around the house, read, catch up on the DVR, take Roxy for a nice walk, etc..

4. I would prefer to spend my free time (alone or with others...) Sometimes I enjoy my time to myself, but I love spending time with H and with our friends as well.

5. Most of my free time happens on the weekend or on days off. Evenings after work are too hectic... working out, showering, cooking dinner, cleaning up, etc.. by the time I hit the couch with H and Roxy I'm done-zo..

6. The best thing about free time is doing what I want/need to do on my own schedule and sleeping in!!

7. The next time I have free time I should probably catch up on sleep, clean the house, and finally finish The Hunger Games!

Blonde Highlight's Giveaway

2012-01-05T11:24:00.000-05:00

Stephanie at Blonde Highlights just redesigned her blog, and is having a great giveaway to celebrate!

She's giving a lot of great goodies away!

Head on over and check out her new blog design (I'm jealous!) and enter to win these fabulous goodies!

Speaking of blog re-designs... does anyone of have any advice on who I should contact to re-design mine? I would love a major overhaul, and some custom buttons and links. My H is tech savvy, but not enough to help me re-design the whole thing. Is it worth the cost? I guess I most afraid of the cost :-P

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2012-01-04T12:25:00.000-05:00

I completely forgot it was Wednesday until I saw some of the other bloggers post their WILW :-P

Time for my Wednesday link up with This Kind of Love

I'm loving all the time off I've had lately from work, but at the same time dreading that it's back to reality and full work weeks from here on out.

I'm loving that even though I didn't meet my New Years goal for weight loss, that I have lost enough weight to start feeling better about myself. I had a goal of about 15 lbs. by New Years, and I lost 10. I noticed a lot of my pants weren't as constricting and even feeling a little loose. Yay!

I'm loving that there's a very special suprise being sent to my grandfather that he should receive any day now! He's been pretty depressed with his limited lifestyle, and the only thing that lights up his eyes is his family and talking about the Yankees. So, I was talking to a retireed Yankee on Twitter who has 3 world series rings, and told him my grandfather's story and he sent my grandfather an authograph! Can't wait to hear his reaction!

(not the actual autograph)

I'm loving that it's supposed to warm back up again. It's been so COLD even here in FL. We didn't move here to be this cold! Haha... but the nice thing is that even when it gets this cold here, it only lasts a few days. We'll be seeing the 70's again by the weekend :-D

I'm loving my latest Pinterest finds

I'm always loving my H <3

Kate Spade Sale

2012-01-03T14:44:00.000-05:00

Enjoy an extra 25% off sale items in stores and online now through 1/10.

Online promo code is NEWYEAR25.

Happy Shopping!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T21:54:00.000-05:00

Goodbye 2011 and hello 2012!

My eye makeup lasted all night thanks to Urban Decay's primer potion :0)

I got my dress at Forever 21 for only $25! It was on sale and I had scoped it out online, but wanted to go try it on to make sure it fit right. I also picked up new jewelry at Kohls and silly me forgot to put on the new necklace and bracelets before taking my picture at home :-P

Pathetic attempt at capturing my eye makeup. I used my new Naked Palette 2 and the colors Verve, Pistol, and Bootycall.

I painted my nails with Sephora by OPI's Keep Me on My Mistletoe

I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year! Here's to an amazing 2012!

Looking back at 2011

2011-12-31T20:34:00.001-05:00

There are only a few hours left of 2011.. I can't believe it!

You never realize how much goes on in an entire year until you sit down and go through pictures. Going through pictures at the end of each year always reminds me to be thankful for everything I've been blessed with. An amazing husband, incredible friends and family, the best bulldog ever, a new life here in FL, being employed in a tough job market, and our new beautiful home.

January

January was the beginning of a new year not just for me, but for my health. I was finally starting to feel human again after battling labyrinthitis. Absolutely awful experience, but I got through it and H was so understanding and there for me throughout all of it.

We got tickets from my boss for a Magic game that were only 4 rows behind their bench. They were VIP so it included food and unlimited beer and wine. Amazing night!

I got to meet Terry Crews

and Hedo Turkoglu!

February

We went under contract for our house!

H and I on our lot

I got to go to another Magic game. This time it was with my team at work, and we were in a luxury suite! Craziness!

We went to City Walk twice...

March

I had to go to Omaha for work... not really a place I'd ever choose to go to, and I'll never want to go back, but at least I was able to cross off two more states that I've been to. (I've been to 35 and would like to conquer all 50) Plus I met some great girls while I was there, we were all more than ready to go home when this pic was taken at the end of the week :-P

April

One of our friends from CT was visiting in Daytona so we met up with her and had a beach day. Unfortunately, there were a lot of jellyfish in the water so swimming wasn't really in the cards.

We even found this man of war washed up on the beach.. yipes!

H's parents came to visit and we went to Universal Islands of Adventure and I FINALLY got my letter to Hogwarts!!! :-D

May

Our house finally started making progress after the permits finally went through

Friends of ours (who recently got engaged! YAY!) came to visit and we went to Aquatica

So much fun!

H trying a firecracker salmon roll

June

We closed on our house!!

My bf from high school came to visit and she was starting her 2nd trimester here and looked fabulous! I met her son last week when we were home for Christmas.

My brother graduated from the Marines!

So proud of him!

July

One of my bf's from college came to visit

At an ice bar

August

H's bf came to visit as a surprise for the weekend... classic!

I met JJ Redick from the Magic

Miss these two goons together!

We went on the Carnival Dream with friends from CT and stopped in Cozumel, Honduras, Belize, and Costa Maya, Mexico. Beautiful new ship and great ports of call!

Getting ready to go ziplining in Honduras

September

Tailgating a UCF football game with new friends

October

November

We went to a fundraiser with friends and got great food and drinks and played black jack for the cause

There were nights out and wine tastings with new friends

December

The best month of 2011! We started spending more time with new friends that have been so much fun! We had Christmas parties and a fabulous trip home to CT.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy new year! I have to go get ready to go out tonight and wear my new sparkly dress! Pictures to come!

2009... we got engaged

2010... we got married

2011... we bought our 1st house

2012....???

Best of 2011 and what I hope says goodbye in 2012

2011-12-30T12:21:00.001-05:00

I can't believe there is only 2 days left of 2011! Where did this year go? When H and I were home for Christmas last week, it felt like we had just been there for Christmas, it's crazy how time flies!

I wanted to take a look back at this year and talk about my favorites and my not so favorites... I'll start with the good stuff first :0)

The Royal Wedding

I absolutely adore her, and love love LOVE her style even though I wasn't the biggest fan of her wedding dress. She was gorgeous in it of course, but I guess I was just expecting more.

I love all the new tv I discovered.. some are new shows that debuted this year, and others have been around for a while and I only recently discovered how awesome they are.

Amazing Movies:

Great books I read:

Favorite purchases/gifts of 2011:

Gap Always Skinny.. best fitting jeans ever!

What I'd like to say goodbye to and never see again in 2012:

Feather Hair Extensions, I thought they were kinda cute at first, and then it just got overdone

Honestly, America has had enough. What was once a fun family, has now turned into an attention seeking money driven family. What bothers me the most are young impressionable girls who look up to them and want to be them.

Ridiculously high gas prices

No more lockouts! It goes way beyond the greed by the top dogs, as it affects those who rely on the business the home games bring in such as vendors and restaurants and bars in the area.

Overdue Christmas Post

2011-12-28T21:32:00.001-05:00

Christmas was fantastical and I couldn't have asked for a better long weekend at home in CT. H and I flew in on Thursday night, and our friends we cruised with back in August picked us up and we went to Archie Moores for dinner. It had been a long time since we had good buffalo wings, and Archies sure hit the spot! We all shared buffalo chicken nachos, and all of us except for H got the buffalo chicken wrap while H got the buffalo chicken quesadillas. YUM!

Best wings ever!

Friday was a busy day... I had a hair appointment at 10:00 (yes I still go to my hairdresser in CT!) and then H and I went to go visit my grandpa. After that we went to go see one of my bf's from high school and her new baby boy!!

He's perfect!

Even H got to hold him and now our friends are passing along the torch saying "You're next!"

That evening, we met up with a bunch of our friends at BAR for pizza! So, we got our buffalo wings fix the night before, now it was time for our pizza fix! The saying really is true that there just isn't pizza as good as it is in the northeast. I don't get it.. why do New York and Connecticut seem to have down buffalo wings, pizza, and bagels and the rest of the country just can't seem to get with the program? My aunt moved to Michigan a few years ago, and has been known to fly home with a pizza box from Pepe's on her lap!

Mmmm pizza!

Me and my bff

Shenanigans with H and his friends

Me with 2 of my besties from the good ol' college days

Me and some of my lovely ladies

Is it snowing in here?

Nope we're just 5 and were playing with the fake snow 0:-)

<3 them!

Thankfully, Saturday was Christmas Eve and H and I just relaxed most of the day. His sister and her fiancee stopped by and so did our friends who picked us up from the airport so we visited with them for a while before getting ready for my aunt's house later that evening.

H's parents have a basset hound named Ginger (I call her pupperz) and she gets cold outside in the winter so she has this adorable jacket that even comes with a hood!

H and I on Christmas Eve. I'm wearing my new blazer from the LC Collection at Kohls. Love Lauren!

My uncle had a replica made of the leg lamp from Christmas Story

H and I got back to his parent's house and decided to watch The Santa Clause with Tim Allen before calling it a night. Perfect Christmas Eve!

Christmas morning, we got up early and went to go see my grandpa again before heading to my parent's house for brunch and presents. I was a tad emotional, but it was great to see him again before heading back to FL.

My mom always stages a photo shoot on Christmas in front of the tree, this is me in-between my little brother and H

Santa Paws came for Roxy even though she was down in FL. He even came to H's parents house where she got her own doggy stocking! Adorable!

I got a Kindle Fire!

My brother got a new snowboard and H got a blu-ray player

Then it was back to H's parent's house where we ate more good food and opened more goodies! We are both very blessed with amazing families and couldn't ask for more.

One of the best gifts I opened all day was Catch Phrase.

We played several matches with H's parents, his sister and her fiancee, and his cousin. So much fun!

Even pupperz was tuckered out after the intense games of Catch Phrase

Hope everyone had an amazing Christmas with their friends and family!

Tomorrow I'm off on the hunt for a New Years Eve dress! Bring on the sequins! :-D

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2011-12-28T10:26:00.000-05:00

Wow.. it's been a full week since I last posted. I'm majorly slacking on posting pics and reviews of our trip back to CT for Christmas.

In the meantime, I'll be linking up with Jamie at This Kind of Love for WILW ;0)

I'm loving that we had an amazing trip home and that I got to see so many people we've been missing since we moved.

I'm LOVING Jet Blue! We flew Jet Blue up to CT, and Southwest on the way home and Jet Blue surpasses Southwest by far! The planes are cleaner, they have tv's in all the headrests, they brew Dunkin Donuts coffee, you don't pay for your checked bags, etc.. the only comparable part of flying with Southwest is also not paying for your checked bags. Both airlines get major kudos from H and I for this feature, and we almost never look at other airlines because of this reason.

I'm loving my new Kindle Fire!

I'm loving Words with Friends on my new iphone. H and I just started playing with our friends over Christmas and are hooked!

I'm loving that I was able to finally wear all my scarves and boots while we were in cold CT! As much as I love my summery clothes and being able to wear them most of the year here, it was nice to finally wear my boots and scarves!

I'm always loving my wonderful H!

What I'm not loving is sending pics from my iphone and rotating them before saving, and then they still look like this! Grrr..

What are you loving today?

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2011-12-21T11:35:00.000-05:00

Last WILW link up with This Kind of Love before Christmas! I can't believe it!

I'm loving that H and I will be back in CT tomorrow night surrounded by amazing friends and family. So excited!

I'm loving that we have such wonderful neighbors. We spent some time with them last night over some eggnog, and they're just such great people. Plus, they are going to watch Roxy for us again while we're in CT for Christmas.

I'm loving that H and I will both have a 5 day weekend and we get to celebrate with our loved ones back up north. It's been too long since we've been up there and it'll be great to see everyone. I can't wait to build new memories and reminisce about the old ones.

I'm loving my mom! She never ceases to amaze me! First, the kitchen aid showed up in the mail a few weeks ago, then the fooseball table, and now one of my favorite past times around the holidays.. she sent us a gingerbread house kit and a keurig cups carousel that I've been asking for... oh and Christmas cookies!

I'm loving our new fooseball table for our game room that my mom sent us a few weeks ago. I've already beat H a few times!

I'm loving my latest finds on Pinterest

Winter white flowers

Gingerbread Martini

As always I'm loving my amazing H!

What are you loving today?

I miss my heels!

2011-12-20T12:02:00.001-05:00

I've always been a high heeled shoe lover, as I've chosen beauty over comfort for years. And living in FL allows me to wear sandals/flip flops in lieu of flats year round when heels aren't appropriate. But, I recently picked up my 1st pair of flats at Target the other day to wear for Christmas. I decided it was finally time to see what all the fuss was about and I picked up these ballet flats in Pewter. (to be festive of course!)

Well, I wore them to H's Christmas party since there was going to be a lot of walking. I ended up being in A LOT more pain than the girls in heels because these flingin' flangin' shoes gave me the worst blisters! I took my shoes off at the after party in someone's hotel room and people were laughing saying how bad could my feet hurt after being in flats all nights, and once people saw the damage on my heels and on that ball thingy sticking out underneath my big toe I was vindicated.

Well, I took them out this morning for another try and decided to wear them to work. By the time I got down the stairs and out into the garage I was already limping.

Yep.. that's a band-aid on my right foot underneath the big toe. My temporary fix from the pain.

Ladies, does this get any better or should I stick to my beloved heels and stop trying to make this work? Did I just get a bad pair or do flats need to be broken in just like heels?

Red Velvet Goodness

2011-12-19T20:45:00.000-05:00

Our wonderful friends/neighbors were so kind to watch Roxy for us last week while we were at Universal for H's Christmas party festivities, and they even offered (actually they asked!) to watch her again while we're away for Christmas. So, I called up the boarding place and cancelled her reservation. I didn't know how to thank them, but remembered them being excited when I posted on FB about trying the new Skinny Girl White Cranberry Cosmo. So, I picked up a bottle of the deliciousness for them and baked a batch of red velvet cupcakes. They invited us over for eggnog tomorrow night after work, so we'll bring the goodies over then.

These are by far a favorite around the holidays and they seriously taste better than any cupcake I've ever gotten from a bakery.. including Georgetown Cupcakes!

Red Velvet Cake

Ingredients

1/2 cup of shortening

1 and 1/2 cups of sugar

2 large eggs

2 one oz. bottles of red food coloring

1 tsp. of vanilla

2 and 1/2 cups of sifted cake flour

1/2 tsp. of salt

2 tsp. cocoa

1 cup of buttermilk

1 tbsp. of white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Beat shortening at medium speed until fluffy

Gradually add sugar, beating well.

Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition.

Stir in food coloring and vanilla blending well.

Combine flour, salt, and cocoa in another bowl, set aside

Combine buttermilk, vinegar, and baking soda in a 3rd bowl, set aside

Add flour mixture to shortening mixture alternating with buttermilk mixture beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Beat at a low speed until blended after each addition. Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes

Pour batter into 3 greased cake pans or into cupcake cups

Will yield a three layer cake or about 2 dozen cupcakes

Cream Cheese Frosting

One 8 oz. package of cream cheese softened

1/2 cup of butter softened

One 16 oz. package of powdered sugar (I usually use a little less)

1 tsp. of vanilla

Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy

Gradually add powdered sugar beating at a low speed until blended

Add vanilla, beating until blended

On another note.. I finally got to experience two things this past weekend! A gingerbread latte from Starbucks

and

My nail spa FINALLY got the Muppets collection by OPI!

I got "Gettin Miss Piggy With It" on my toes for Christmas. It's the perfect shade for the holidays! It's much more sparkly in real life than in photos :0(

1 Week til Christmas

2011-12-18T22:23:00.000-05:00

Very eventful past couple of days.. H's company put on the most epic Christmas party I've ever heard of. We checked into the hotel on Wednesday night and enjoyed drinks in the lounge and then dinner with some friends. The next day, I had to go to work (boooo) while H sat in meetings. That evening, they treated us to the Blue Man Group. Great show!

Then on Friday was when the real fun started! They shut down Universal Studios for their Christmas party. They had rides running, a red carpet entrance, open bar all night, and dinner on a sound stage. They even had a bunch of characters there for us to take pictures with which was cute. After dinner, we moved outside for a Blues Brother show, dessert, and dancing.

Me and Bart!

Me and H at his fabulous party!

I even met "Marilyn Monroe"

My favorite part of living here.. is dancing outside IN DECEMBER! :-D

After dessert and dancing we moved over to a karaoke theater that they rented out for us... so much fun!

We had an amazing time and during the CEO's speech at dinner, he mentioned that they may be hosting the party next year in Hawaii!!! I told H he better not leave that company lol!

H and I did our "Christmas" last night since we'll be in CT next week and like to do our gifts and stockings for each other privately at home.

He got me a cover for my new iphone

It's from Juicy Couture and I love that it's sparkly!

He got me the Naked Palette 2!

My new desk calendar <3

For my car!

Bath fizzers in my stocking :0)

My family has a tradition of giving ornaments each year (which I love because when I moved out on my own and started decorating my own tree, I had more than enough ornaments) so H and I have continued the tradition with each other and are now giving them to his family as well. This year H got me this snowman ornament from Pier 1. I called him Frosty.

I got H this pirate ship ornament from Kohls since we call Roxy our little pirate since she has a black patch over her left eye.

H also got me some stuff from Sephora which I returned for 2 reasons today. The 1st being he got me another tube of Urban Decay's primer potion that I literally just got last week, and the 2nd being that we bought a new tv for upstairs on Cyber Monday which was a gift for both of us and therefore I told him we'd be on a tighter budget for our gifts for each other this year. Well, H didn't listen and over spent big time. So I returned the duplicate gift and the other gifts from Sephora. It wasn't easy, but I wanted him to know that I was serious about our budget. I felt like such an adult!

Our closet looks like a tornado hit it... but I've decided not to be my normal "Monica Geller" self and let it go. We got back home on Saturday, and leave again to fly home on Thursday. I hate living out of a suitcase, but it'll be worth it to be home for Christmas and to see everyone that we love and miss so much!

It's All About Christmas

2011-12-15T14:39:00.000-05:00

Aside from the decorations, the food, festive drinks, the gifts, time with family and friends, and remembering the real meaning of Christmas I absolutely love Christmas specials and music! I love the radio stations that play non-stop Christmas music and I love that almost every night in December there's a Christmas special on tv. (Tonight at 8:00 on ABC is A Charlie Brown Christmas)

It's just such a great time of year... I love bundling up under a snuggly blanket with hot cocoa and freshly baked Christmas cookies and watching the specials on tv with H.

Some of my favs:

Twas the Night Before Christmas (the one with the clock and the mice!)

The Santa Clause (the 1st one... not a fan of the 2nd and 3rd)

Charlie Brown Christmas

Frosty the Snowman

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Miracle on 34th Street

The Polar Express

Christmas Vacation

It's a Wonderful Life

And when I'm in the car and singing like no one can see me, these are some of my favorite Christmas CD's to listen to other than the classic songs on the radio:

It's not Christmas time until I hear "All I Want for Christmas is You"

I have both of Jessica Simpson's Christmas albums:

Rejoyce

Happy Christmas

Hands down.. my favorite Christmas album. Some of the songs on here are powerful!

Oldy but a goody :-P

What are some of your favorites this time of year?

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2011-12-14T10:24:00.000-05:00

Weekly Link Up with This Kind of Love

I'm loving that H and I will be spending the rest of the week at the Universal resort and are even being treated to a Blue Man Group show tomorrow night! He seriously has the best job!

I'm loving that H's work Christmas party is on Friday and from all the stories of last year's at Disney World it's sure to be epic!

I'm loving that all my Christmas shopping is officially done (including H's stocking stuffers) and is wrapped and under the tree. Well, H's stocking won't get filled until Christmas Eve when Santa comes ;0)

I'm loving all the Christmas cards that have been coming in the mail from family and friends. Love feeling loved!

I'm loving that I'm officially an "Auntie"!! My bf from high school gave birth to a beautiful baby boy yesterday afternoon. I can't stop looking at the pictures she sent me, he's perfect!

I should totally get him this shirt! J/K

I'm loving my new eyeshadow primer! I had a sample of the Urban Decay Primer Potion with my Naked Palette, but I ran out of it pretty quickly and had been using Kat Von D's primer which was just meh. I ordered a new tube of UD's Primer Potion that I got in the mail on Monday, and it is amazing! My eye makeup lasted all day yesterday, and even through dinner and drinks last night with the girls.

I'm loving my new sparkly gold nail polish that I will be rocking for Christmas and all it's festivities. That almost sounded like "Festivus for the Rest of Us". Haha.. love Seinfeld..

I'm loving my friends... old and new! I have the greatest group of friends back in CT that anyone could ask for, and H and I have been getting to know some fantastic people down here in FL as well. *Super thankful*

I'm always loving my silly H!

Christmas and Birthday Palooza Weekend

2011-12-11T21:42:00.002-05:00

Wow this weekend flew by! And I even had an extra day off. Another fantastic weekend bites the dust, but I couldn't be happier. H and I have been having a blast getting to know some wonderful people around here. Last night, we went to a Christmas party/surprise b-day party, and we had in my opinion the best yankee swap ever!

I got a wine and dine set

There were some pretty hilarious gifts... but..

Nothing took the cake like this:

It was a framed funny picture of one of our friends that everyone ending up fighting over... priceless!

The birthday girl loved her Skinny Girl Sangria

We then headed out to a bar downtown to continue the festivities

There was singing...

...and dancing

A good time had by all :0)

Even though we had a fabulous weekend, there was a sad downtown when Roxy cracked her toe nail after our walk on Friday afternoon. My poor girl, we've wrapped her paw up so she can't make it worse so it can heal. Has anyone ever dealt with this with their doggys?

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2011-12-09T22:46:00.001-05:00

To be completely honest, I wasn't exactly looking forward to my work Christmas party, but I ended up having a great time. It was great to see everyone from the other offices around the state, and we all had fun catching up and spending time with each other... and my favorite part was being outside.. in December! I take it for granted sometimes, and forget that it's the time of year where it's usually too cold to stand being outside, and now I can enjoy outdoor living year round. H and I sometimes have to pinch ourselves!

Some of us participated in a cookie swap, and I made creme de menthe cookies.

Mixing it in my new Kitchen Aid :0)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Blend 1/2 cup of butter (softened), 3/4 cups of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 tsp. of baking soda, 1 tsp. of baking powder, 2 tsp. of vanilla, and 2 eggs.

Add Andes chips and mix well.

Add 2 and 2/3 cups of flour and continue to mix well until blended.

Cover and chill in the fridge for 45-60 minutes.

Spoon out 1 oz. of dough and form a ball and slightly flatten

Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees

The recipe can be found on the back of Andes baking chips. It used to be hard for me to find the baking chips anywhere except Walmart, and I usually try to avoid Walmart as I loooove Target. I used to check all the major grocery stores as well with no such luck, but this year I found the baking chips at Target and Super Target! Whoo hoo!

I had a little helper who's all ready for Christmas

I usually take a lot of pictures, but not much was documented from last night except for my outfit before we left, and a very blurry pic of me pouring a glass of champagne from H's phone.

I wore my new sparkly top from Old Navy and a skirt that I wore for New Years Eve a few years ago. I also wore my new Lauren Conrad blazer over it.

Like I said.. very blurry :0(

We also did a gift exchange, some may call it "Yankee Swap". Last year I brought a nice bottle of wine and a Starbucks gift card, and I ended up with coffee mugs that we didn't need. So, this year, I decided to just get one simple gift. I saw this set at Target and I remembered trying it a few years ago and that it tasted just like Baileys without the brand name. It comes with a bottle of the irish cream and 2 glasses to go with it. Perfect gift!

I picked up two, as we have a Christmas Party/Birthday party to go to tomorrow night where we're doing another "Yankee Swap" type gift exchange. I wonder what we'll end up bringing home tomorrow.

Last night we ended up with.... drumroll please......

I was very excited about this! It's the soundtrack to a Charlie Brown Christmas, and the dvd of the Christmas special. I kept asking around who's gift it was and no one owned up to it. There was also a gift card to Starbucks included with the gift which I plan on using for a peppermint mocha.... YUM!

Tomorrow night is a Christmas Party and a surprise birthday party for one of our friends, so I picked up a bottle of Skinny Girl Sangria for the birthday girl. They sell it at Target now! :0)

My other finds at Target today (aside from H's stocking stuffers) were these festive hand soaps:

Smells like Christmas trees!

Smells like candy canes!

I tried on this outfit at H&M today and thought about it for tomorrow night, and maybe paired with black tights and a longer sleeved top for Christmas Eve, but I ended up deciding against it. What do you think? Did I make the right choice or should I go back? I sent the pic to H and he loved it, but I didn't and now I'm not sure :-P

Please ignore the flip flops... but I am just so drawn to all things sequined and sparkly right now!

Tonight, we're staying in and watching Christmas specials on the DVR and enjoying a bottle of wine. Happy Friday everyone!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2011-12-07T11:17:00.001-05:00

It's that time again for the hump day link up with This Kind of Love

I'm loving that I have a short work week. Our Christmas party is tomorrow night, so they'll let us out early tomorrow and we'll have Friday off. YES PLEASE!

I'm loving that I'll have a short work week next week too.. H's Christmas party is next Friday, so I took it off so I can stay with him at the resort they're putting the whole company up at and I can just enjoy not being at work and get ready for what I hear will be an epic party that evening.

I'm loving that we're almost done with our Christmas shopping! And I did 95% of it online! Hurray for no crowds!

I'm loving these Gap jeans I just ordered just in time for our trip home. If they're anything like the Always Skinny black jeans I have I know I'll LOVE them!

I'm LOVING my new Kitchen Aid Mixer my mom sent me as an early Christmas present! I'll be using it again tonight to make Creme de Menthe cookies!

I'm loving my recent Pinterest finds:

Muppets cake pops! Awesomeness!

Blue Velvet Cupcakes

Avocado Grilled Cheese YUM

Christmas Sangria

Beautiful

*Drool*

I'm loving that the Christmas specials are playing on tv. I've already seen Mickey's Christmas Carol and Christmas Vacation. I missed Charlie Brown the other night, but I'm sure they'll play it again!

I'm always loving my adorable hubs

Christmas Wish List and Semi-Recent Purchases

2011-12-06T21:02:00.000-05:00

I'm happy to announce that H and I are almost done with our Christmas shopping!

H's parents: Check!
H's sis: Check!
H's sis' fiance: Check!
My parents: Almost done
My lil' bro: Check!
My grandparents: Check!
My bff Jess: Check!
Our friends we cruised with recently: Check!

And all our Christmas cards were sent out last week and everyone up north is reporting back that they've received them: Fuzzy feelings check! We're on a roll as we dash through the non-existent FL snow in a one horse open sleigh!

I've bought myself a few "presents" recently that I've forgotten to share..

I picked up this beautiful conch shell in Key West when we were there for Thanksgiving to go with our beachy theme in our master bath. It goes great with the coral that I brought back from our honeymoon when I was enjoying beach combing in Fiji.

This ruched blazer from Lauren Conrad's LC Collection at Kohls. It was 50% off and I had another 20% coupon on top of that. Great find!

I always feel so guilty buying things for myself right before Christmas, but I always end up hitting up some kind of a sale (there's so many this time of year!) And I'm still jumping up and down excited about my early Christmas gift from my mom: my Kitchen Aid mixer!

I'm also asking for the following for Christmas:

I hear so many great reviews on The Hunger Games, it's time for me to see what it's all about!

<3 her!

Fabulousness is now packaged in a book

Ugg Bailey Button

Naked Palette 2

Harry Potter Scene It (I solemnly swear I am up to no good)

For game nights!

Keurig Cups Carousel

My bottle broke in my suitcase on our cruise! So needless to say I'm asking for a new one. The only good that came of it is that now my beach bag smells amazing!

I still love the original and wear it almost every day, but this one smells pretty too

More of our dish set from Crate & Barrel

Can never have too many of these!

What are you hoping Santa will bring you this year?

Pink Lou Lou's $100 Visa Card Giveaway

2011-12-05T19:58:00.000-05:00

The fabulous Pink Lou Lou at Confessions of a 20 Something is having a blog giveaway just in time for all that holiday shopping!

Head on over to her blog and enter to win a $100 Visa Gift card!

I love her blog, as she mixes it up and is usually quite hilarious.

Pink Lou Lou with her idol and doppelganger Carrie Underwood