Fancy Friday Favs

Is it just me or was this the longest week ever?! I don't know if it's because I'm in vacation countdown mode or if it's because I had an event on Tuesday night which made Wednesday feel like it should have been Friday, but man I'm glad it's actually Friday!

1. I'm still loving this skirt that I posted about on Wednesday, such a great dupe of the Express version.

2. Tuesday night, my company hosted their annual awards gala which is a piggy back off the recent Academy Awards. It's a fancy event with a cocktail attire dress code, a red carpet with photographers, and they fly in the nominees from all over the world. It was fun to watch the nominee videos, and the host was funny a la Barney Stinson Neil Patrick Harris.

*Awards pre-game show at a co-worker's place*

It was held at a beautiful center downtown, and my favorite part was at the end when confetti cannons went off and covered us all in confetti as a celebration.

*All good awards show hosts take a selfie with the audience Ellen-style!*

And of course... after the awards it's the after party...

3. I was so excited to win Biana's Talaria Flats giveaway, and they arrived this week. Such a great idea, and they're so pretty!

4. I'm excited to be co-hosting Wino Wednesday next week with the lovely Lindsay and Amanda. Link up your favorite wine or champs with us, and find some other great drinks just in time for the weekend.

5. I'm loving my recent finds on Pinterest:

Linking up today with Rebecca for That Friday Blog Hop, Christina for 5 on Friday, Tif for High Five for Friday, and Amanda for Friday Favorites. Hop on over and join us! Happy Friday!

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Don't forget to enter our Too Faced Palette giveaway, only 2 days left!

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Murad Daily Clarifying Cleanser

A few weeks ago, I opened up here about my on-going battle with adult acne and how Murad's Acne Clearing Solution seemed to be one of the only products to help. But I had also wanted to take it a step further, and ad their cleanser to my routine. After a recent Sephora trip, I picked up the travel set which includes not only the cleanser, but also spot treatment and a convenient travel case which will of course come in handy on my upcoming trips.

My routine now consists of using the cleanser with my Clarisonic Mia, afterwards I apply the Acne Clearing Solution, and last but certainly not least I apply to Acne Spot Fast Fix to problem areas. I believe that the combination between the active ingredients of Salicylic Acid and Benzoyl Peroxide are what help clear up my skin (similar to ProActiv's active ingredient combination). The ingredients may sound scary, but these products are formulated without parabens, sulfates, and phthalates which is great news!

Clarifying Cleanser | Acne Clearing Solution | Acne Spot Treatment

My skin would still need to be airbrushed for perfection if I was ever professionally photographed, but I am enjoying clearer skin than I've seen in years and I'm definitely happy with the results.

Murad Sephora Skin Care

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Express Stripes Found at Target

Ever since Express released their spring collection, I had my eyes and heart set on the High Waist Elastic Strip Full Skirt. When I hit up their 40% off sale last week there were only a few left in the store which didn't really fit (they seem to run very large), and I was swimming in the size I tried on as it was super poofy. So, I decided to give up on the beautiful skirt until I stumbled upon a replica at Target for less than half the price. This skirt pairs perfectly with some bold colors, and I plan on having a lot of fun playing around with different colorful tops to continue keeping it looking fresh.

Skirt and shoes - Target | Top - Express | Bag - Tory Burch | Sunnies - Marc Jacobs

What are some of your favorite dupes you've been able to find for less at Target?

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Don't forget to enter our Too Faced Palette Giveaway

Express fashion Marc Jacobs Nordstrom OOTD Target Tory Burch

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Buffalo Chicken White Bean Chili

When Emelia linked up her recipe for Buffalo Chicken White Bean Chili, I knew I had to try it out as buffalo flavored anything is always a good idea in my house. I switched things up a little bit, and threw it all in the crock pot before heading to work one morning, and came home to the house smelling of buffalo flavored goodness.

Ingredients

Diced grilled chicken
1 can of reduced sodium chicken broth
1 can of reduced sodium white beans
1 packet of ranch seasoning
About 6 oz. of Franks Red Hot (Buffalo Wings Style)
1 can of Rotel, drained
1 small carton of fat free half and half
1 cup of cooked brown rice

Directions

Cook rice according to directions on box
After rice is cooked, combine all ingredients into the crock pot, and cook on low
Garnish with reduced fat cheese and sour cream

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Link-up Rules:

1. Follow Emily and myself on GFC and Bloglovin

2. Link up your favorite recipes or food related posts

3. Grab our Recipe Swap button and link back to both of our blogs

4. Be sure to visit other blogs and find new recipes! 

Recipe

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Beautiful Weekend + Too Faced Giveaway

What an absolutely gorgeous weekend we just had here in Florida! It's crazy how we just had the coldest weather all year late last week, and then the weekend warmed up and was simply beautiful.

Friday night was spent in with some yummy food, a movie night, and snuggles with Roxy. I also came across a great furniture sale at Target, and decided to pick up this tufted chair to go in the master bedroom so we can finally have our sitting area to read. It was 20% off, then I had an offer code for an additional 10% off, and on top of all that I saved another 5% with free shipping for using my Red Card. Can't wait for it arrive and complete the vision I had for that room.

Speaking of great deals at Target, I came across these throw pillows on clearance marked down to $7.48 from $24.99 each. I also had a cartwheel for an additional 15% off, Target wins again!

*Plus they're Roxy-approved*

Then we had a visit from little Miss Lola to spend the night. I was so excited to "babysit" while Emily was in Trinidad for a wedding, and K also had a wedding to go to that evening. Absolutely loved having 2 bulldogs in the house for the evening. 

That evening, friends came over to continue our HP marathon, and they brought their little man. Too many pictures were taken of Lola and the baby as it was cuteness overload in the house. Later, K joined us after the wedding for some beers by the firepit. Such a great night to be outside.

Sunday was also spent outside soaking up some much missed sunshine by the pool. Even Roxy was enjoying the warmth, as she loves to sunbathe.

Joining Biana for Weekending

and

Lisa and Bella for Weekend Recap

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Too Faced Eye Shadow Collection Giveaway

Kate - Kate the (Almost) Great

Elizabeth & Luke - Something Saturdays

Kate - Green Fashionista

Alison - Simply A

For this month's giveaway, we're doing something a little bit difference: the winner will get to choose which eye shadow collection from Too Faced they receive! The choices are: Natural Eye, Cat Eyes, Boudoir Eyes, Country Nashville, and Rock n Roll. Details: - The giveaway goes from 2/23/15 12:01 AM - 3/1/14 11:59 PM. - You must be in the USA to win. - You must be over 18 to win.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Friday Favs

Even though it was a short week for me, it sure feels good to be Friday, especially with so much to love this week. And a certain special blogger is celebrating her big day today, Happy Wedding Day Amanda!!

1. Since we were off on Monday, we decided to go out for breakfast, and take a walk on the beautiful trail near where we ate. We picked up coffees at Panera after putting our names in at a cafe, enjoyed the beautiful weather, and then had a delicious breakfast on the restaurant's outdoor patio. Now that's my kind of Monday morning!

2. Found a cute new doggy bakery and spa for Roxy (still cracks me up that doggies have day spas!), and fell in love with their treat buffet. Too cute!

3. Painted my nails this week for the cause with OPI's "I Think in Pink" with a layer of "You Glitter be Good to Me" on my accent nails.

4. Ok... a lot of you know about my sequinned legging fiasco. If not, I'll fill you in...it all started when I posted about these fabulously beautiful sequinned leggings last week. A bunch of people told me to go for it, and place the order. I finally did over the weekend, only to get an email several hours later that my order was cancelled because the item was out of stock grrrrrr. I then went back to the website where it was still showing my size in stock... double grrrr! So, I decided to call customer service. They apologized for the inconvenience and told me that the next size up was available, and they offered me 25% off for the hassle. So my sparkly pretty pants are on their way, and I'm hoping they won't be too big. And if any of you had any trouble placing an order, call customer service and let them know. Hopefully they'll have a size similar to yours and they'll hook you up with a discount as well.

5. Loving my recent pins on Pinterest this week:

Linking up today with Rebecca for That Friday Blog Hop, Christina for 5 on Friday, Tif for High Five for Friday, and Amanda for Friday Favorites. Hop on over and join us! Happy Friday!

Also, if you haven't taken my short survey yet, you can find it here. Looking forward to reading all your answers!

H&M OPI

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