First Friday Favorites Post!

 

Happy Friday Friends!

Today I’m doing my first Friday Favorites link up with Amanda from Meet @ the Barre. Please check out her blog at meetatthebarre.blogspot.com when you have a chance. She is really cool and has a lot of fun posts. 🙂 

 

1. Favorite dream house of the week.

2. I bought this AG denim jacket at work yesterday and I love it. Don’t mind my orbital looking eyes, that’s just the iPhone 4. Anyway, I got it for 45% off because I had rewards combined with my employee discount and the extra 10% off sale that we’re currently having. If you want more information on that, let me know and I’ll send you the website.

 

 

3. The lasagna that I made for my husband’s birthday. It took a long time but it turned out well and it tasted delicious. I hope that my big sister (who makes amazing lasagna) is proud of me. 🙂 I also made my own sauce. 🙂

4.  Trader Joe’s Reduced Guilt Chunky Guacamole. My week is not complete without this stuff. It’s SO delicious.

 

5. Favorite quote. I found this one recently and wanted to share it today. There is always something to look forward to every day. Even if it’s something small.

 

Well that is it for my first Friday Favorites! I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend and thank you for stopping by! 🙂

 

Summer Dress for a Night Out

Hello Friends!

I hope that you are all having a great week so far. I would also like to take a moment to wish my  husband a very happy birthday today. 🙂 I’m making lasagna for the first time ever for his birthday dinner tonight too so wish me luck!

Today I just wanted to share another summer dress look with you, but this time for a night out.

People who know me well know that I love bright colors. Especially pink. So naturally that is why I picked a pink dress for this post. 🙂 This dress would be perfect for a date night, or a girls night out. It also works well with a lot of different body types. At some point I’ll do a post getting into more detail about that.

 I also hardly ever wear heels so I paired this dress with some gold wedges. It would look great with nude or gold heels though. You could also make this look more casual by just wearing a flat sandal or ballet flats with a cardigan. A white blazer or denim jacket would also look great.

Well I hope that this helps give you some ideas for when you’re trying to figure out what to wear for your next night out!

Have a wonderful day and thank you so much for stopping by! 🙂

Weekending: First Linkup Post! :-)

Hey Everyone! I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend. Today I’m doing my first Weekending Linkup. I always enjoy reading everyone else’s weekend recaps, so I though that today I would do one of my own. I’m linking up with Biana from BLoved Boston. I read her blog every day and she is also one of the people who inspired and convinced me to start blogging. 🙂 She is a great girl and has a really pretty blog, so check it out. Just click on the glittery icon above. My apologies too for not having a lot of photos. I don’t take a lot of pictures in general but I promise to include more in future Weekending posts! 🙂   Friday I got a cavity filled at the dentist which was probably not the best way to start the weekend, but it had to get done. I also got a manicure and got one of my favorite summer colors, Essie Sunday Funday. For dinner we went to Coalfire Pizza for dinner. It was only our second time there, but the pizza is delicious there.  The first time we went there we tried the Margherita with half pepperoni for me. 🙂 This time we tried the Sausage & Onion and it was also delicious. For those of you here in Chicago too, definitely check it out! After that we went for a walk in our neighborhood and got some frozen yogurt at Yogurtland. I love taking a walk and enjoying some yummy frozen yogurt. Plus it was such a nice night.

Essie Sunday Funday

Saturday I relaxed a bit and enjoyed an iced coffee before heading to work. It was busy at work and after being sick on Thursday and missing a day, I was happy to see my friends. After work I had a bacon and american cheese burger (the cheese and the bacon are in the burger meat) that my husband cooked for me on the grill. I also enjoyed a nice glass of wine and relaxed. Sunday/yesterday I went to the gym in the morning, and then met a friend who was in town from L.A. for lunch. We met at HUB51 and I enjoyed catching up with my friend. After that I walked over to the Bloomingdales home store and looked around a bit. I also tried a new coffee and picked up some more capsules for our Nespresso machine. After that I stopped by parents place for a bit and then went home and relaxed.

Coffee capsules.

Well that wraps up my first weekend link up, and next time I’ll include more pictures.   Thank you for stopping by and I hope that you have a wonderful day! 🙂

Farmers Market Flowers :-)

 

 

Snapdragons

Hey Everyone!

I hope that you all had a great week. Unfortunately I was sick all day yesterday and spent the entire day in bed. It was the first time ever that I had to miss a day of work too! I would so much rather have been at work with my friends instead of sick in bed.

Anyway, on Wednesday I finally made it to the Green City Market and bought some flowers from Flower Guy.  I used to buy flowers from him every Wednesday last summer.  But because of my work schedule this year, I just haven’t had the chance to get over there.  He was very happy to see me though and I bought two bunches of red snapdragons. I love getting flowers at the market and just walking around there. Hopefully I can try to get down there more often in the next few months before they move inside.

Well, I just wanted to show you a picture of my flowers today. We don’t have any big plans this weekend, but if any blogworthy happens, I’ll be sure to share it with you all on Monday. 🙂

 

Have a wonderful weekend! 🙂

My Makeup Routine: Primer, Foundation, Blushes, and Powder

Hi Everyone!

I hope that you are all having a good week so far.  I wanted to share with you the makeup products that I use everyday. I also thought that I would provide a little review on each product.

1. Laura Mercier Foundation Primer – Radiance. I started using this a month ago and I love it. It gives my face a nice glow, and my foundation looks great for hours. I also use this with the NARS Tinted Moisturizer. I’ve decided that it’s going to be a permanent addition to my makeup bag too. Oh and get the travel sized tube because you only need a small amount, and it’s cheaper than the regular sized tube.

2. NARS Sheer Glow Foundation, in Deauville.  I have used this foundation for the past 5-6 years. It it lightweight and provides great coverage. It also lasts me 6 months to a year. My secrets to it lasting longer are that I only use a very small amount, I alternate with the Tinted Moisturizer, and I also use my fingers instead of a foundation brush.

3. NARS Orgasm Blush. I’ve used this for the past 5-6 years as well and it’s a great color. It works very well with my skin tone too.

4. NARS Nico Blush. I use this as a highlighter and it works well.

5. NARS Light Reflecting Pressed Setting Powder. I started using this in March or April and I love it. It is so much better than using regular powder. It feels lightweight, and I use a flat powder puff and just dab it on. It also creates a nice glow and my make up looks great for hours.

So if you’re looking for any new makeup products for your face, feel free to give any of these a try. I love them all and I’m definitely going to keep using them. This is also the first of many beauty posts, so stay tuned!

Thank you so much for stopping by and have a great day! 🙂

Summer Beauty and Fashion Favorites

Hey Everyone!

I hope that you all had a great weekend. Mine was spent working, a delicious dinner out with my husband, and spending some time with my parents. Today I wanted to share some of favorite beauty and fashion items for the summer. I know that I’m a little late getting on the summer beauty train, but hey better late than never! Anyway,  I added some beauty items because I love reading beauty reviews, and I also love telling people about new beauty products that I have tried. I have added it as a category on here too so stay tuned for more posts! 🙂

Alright, here is my list!

1. Longchamp bag. I bought this bag two years ago and I use it every day. It stores everything that I need, and it goes with pretty much anything.

2. JBrand skinny jeans. I wear these year round and I love them.

3. Grey v-neck t-shirt. I have one from Loft that its super soft and a little longer. I love my white t-shirt too, but I love wearing a grey t-shirt with gold jewelry.

4. Jack Rogers sandals in gold. I’ve had these for six years and they are my summer staple.

5. Gold arrow necklace. I bought one at work and I wear it all of the time. I also like to layer it with other necklaces that I have.

6. Small gold hoop earrings. My sister gave these to me years ago and I always wear them when I want to wear simple gold earrings.

7. Gold monogram ring.  It has my maiden name initials on it, but my parents gave it to me and it is one of my favorite pieces of jewelry.

8. Kate Spade sunglasses. I love round black sunglasses so I had to have these.

9. Essie Sunday Funday and Essie Bottle Service. These are my two favorite summer shades by Essie. Sunday Funday is the perfect coral shade with a little bit of sparkle, and Bottle Service is a bright pink that goes perfect with my bright pink blazer. 🙂

10. NARS lip gloss pencil in Buenos Aires.  This is my favorite color to wear during the summer.

11. NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer in Alaska. I started using this after getting some samples at Nordstrom and fell in love with it. It provides great coverage,  it is lightweight, and it has SPF 30 in it.  Sometimes I use this in place of foundation too.

Well that is it for this list. I hope that you all have a wonderful day and thank you so much for stopping by! 🙂

Our Urban Garden

Hi Everyone!

I hope that you have all had a great week. Today I thought that I would share some pictures of our “urban garden.” One of my favorite things to do is sit outside on our balcony. Sometimes with a snack and a drink, or just when I want to relax. For a while we didn’t have anything out there, and then one day I decided that we should get some flowers. After that we decided to start growing some vegetables and herbs. From left to right in the first picture are tomatoes and basil, hot banana peppers, green beans, and baby spinach. Then along the railing we have some flowers. We haven’t harvested any tomatoes, peppers, or green beans yet, but we have used some basil and made salad with the baby spinach. We got everything from Home Depot and it was fairly easy to plant everything.

Well I hope that this inspires you to start your own garden whether it’s in a yard, or on a balcony.

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone and thank you so much for stopping by! 🙂

The whole garden. 🙂

Tomatoes.

Hot banana pepper.

 

Baby spinach.

Sundress Look Idea

Hi Everyone!

Today I wanted to talk about sundresses. Summer just isn’t complete without them. They are comfortable, and you can create a lot of fun looks with them. I like the idea of adding a summer-y, lightweight scarf with one, especially on those cooler summer days, or to wear at night.

When I was in California I bought a scarf with lobsters and shells on it. Because I grew up on Long Island and went to school in Newport, RI I couldn’t resist it. 🙂 So today I wanted to share an outfit that I recently created. I just chose a solid red dress and paired it with a nautical patterned scarf. I added a trendier looking sandal to make it more modern and urban. If you’re not into nautical patterns, a floral or anything with bright colors would be pretty with a sundress. Wedges, Jack Rogers, or even a casual sneaker would look great with it too.

Well I hope that this gives you some ideas on how you can wear a sundress! Thank you for stopping by and I hope that you all have a wonderful day! 🙂

Row and Twist Exercise

Hi Everyone!

I hope that you are all having a great week so far. Today I wanted to share an upper body exercise with you that I tried yesterday. Click on the picture to watch the video on Fitness Magazine’s website.

This exercise targets your abs, back, biceps, obliques. I used 5 pound dumbbells and did 4 sets of 15 reps. Thanks to my fall over the weekend my elbow is banged up and I wasn’t able to increase the weight. Next time I will though.

I will be adding this exercise to my upper body workout rotation and I hope that you will too.  🙂

Have a wonderful day and thank you for stopping by!

 

Row and Twist Exercise

Graphic T-Shirts

Hi Everyone!

I hope that you all had a great weekend.  My weekend included trying a restaurant and wine place, a Bastille Party at my parents, and falling while crossing the street. At the end of the day though it was a fun weekend.

Today I wanted to talk about graphic t-shirts. I feel like they are everywhere these days. We also get them at work and they are a lot of fun to create different outfits with. They are a great alternative to just a plain t-shirt too. You can pair them with any jean, a bright colored skirt, or even a patterned skirt. They also look great with statement earrings or a statement necklace. I also like the idea of wearing one with a blazer, especially a red or pink one.  I stuck to the basics and just paired them with a skinny jean and a nude sandal. I added a bright red bag for some color too.

I really like this trend and I think that it is also one that you can carry through the fall and winter with some leggings, a sweater, and some boots. Or with jeans and a pair of booties.  I hope that this inspires some of you to give this look a try too.

 

Have a wonderful day everyone! 🙂