Do we really only have two weddings to go to this year?? That seems crazy given the 6 we attended last year. We have one more in LA during Thanksgiving weekend but a couple weeks ago we headed to our old haunts in Houston to attend the wedding of our good friends Samir and Rachel! It was so much fun seeing my old coworkers and getting dressed up in all the clothes we brought back from India:
Since I work with furbabies all day and get covered in everything by the end of the day, my uniform is basically old shorts and tank tops. Add the fact that for over a month the temperature here has been 100+ degrees and there’s really no motivation to get dressed up.
Yesterday, something miraculous happened. We watched movies. In the afternoon. Y’all, we haven’t done that all year! We finally got to a point where the house is pretty much done. Seriously. Furnished, decorated, the whole bit. There are a ton of medium to long-term projects but at this point, we would be OK with folks coming over. And we’ll be even more ready in a couple weeks when we have our Housewarming.
So we celebrated with drinks and movies and then went out for a dinner party at our friends’, so I finally got a chance to get dressed up….nothing too fancy. Perfect end to the weekend!
Top: Thrifted, $3 - Jeans: AG, $100 - Shoes: Kenneth Cole Outlet, $14 - Watch: Citizen, $60 - Bracelet: Le Tigre, $5 - Necklace: Garage Sale, $2
My girls and I are headed to Miami this weekend! And since we spent the rest of this weekend eating cake balls (I promise we were taste testing for the reception) I’ve given up on dieting and have determined I shall just wear a cover-up over my swimsuit during my Bachelorette Party trip. Can’t wait and hopefully I’ll find some time later this week to show off some of the fun things I’ve decided I need for the weekend. Need I tell you.
No, not together. That would be bad.
For Bear’s birthday, I surprised him (along with some good friends) with a day of brewery tastings!
He had a great time and was properly drunk by 3 pm. As it should be.
But we’re not done yet..that was just his present. For his celebration we’re having a fun birthday BBQ, complete with a vodka spiked watermelon and margarita machine! We’re joining forces with Andrea for her birthday…can’t wait!
In the meantime we have been charging ahead at the house. Both the garage there and at my parents’ place is stacked to the brim with new and old goodies. We’ve been thrifting and shopping and garage sale-ing for furniture and decor. We’ve also got all new fixtures and lights. The painting is now done! The carpet upstairs is now done! The tiles are now installed! The cabinets and countertops should be finished by tomorrow and the flooring should be done by next week before the appliances arrive. Then we start filling ‘er up…
I think I’ll do a huge before and after once it’s all decorated but for now here are some of the paint and flooring (and new fans!):
Master Bedroom and Bathroom – walls are painted a yellow color that took us forever to choose and then the ceilings are the same color cut with white so they are lighter and make everything look bigger:
Guest Bedroom – love the soft green stripes:
Game Room – had to have that red somewhere in the house (it’s been an accent wall in every place I’ve lived after moving out):
Still have to post the painting job in the office and all the cabinets…as well as the floors. Will update again soon!
I had my engagement makeup trial yesterday with Maris Malone Calderon. She absolutely rocks and really listened to me and gave me a look that I feel still looked like me, just a much less flawed version!
And since my makeup was done anyway and it was the 1-year anniversary of our Drinko De Mayo celebration last year to rock out on our last days of consulting life (quit and never looked back, whoo!), we decided a date night at La Sombra was in order. If you haven’t been there and you’re in town…go immediately. It’s yummers.
Dress: Anthropologie on sale a few years ago – $25, Belt: Thrifted/Garage sale – $1-2, Shoes: Aldo Outlets – $14, Purse: Thrifted – $10
Have a wonderful weekend! We will be spending our time picking out tile…and carpet…and flooring…and paint!
Thank you all for your support with our loss and for understanding my break from the blog. The grief still punches me in the stomach many times a day and it takes me a moment (or hour) to recover but we are healing slowly. We miss him and love Trigger every moment of every day and we appreciate the love from you all.
Life however doesn’t take too kindly to breaks and while we gave ourselves a week or two, it came back at us full speed. My business is busier than ever (and it’s exciting!) and I’ve been spending a lot of my time volunteering at the shelter (we currently have 3 very cute foster kitties stinking up our guest bathroom in case anyone is interested) and then of course planning the wedding. The house hunt was on hold for awhile but we’re back at it and while we’re being picky, we know we’ll find the right one for us and all furbabies present and future.
I got an email the other day asking if I wanted to attend a special event at Blo Austin, the latest location of a very fun and practical concept of salons – no cut, no color. Just a shampoo and a fun style. I immediately said yes because I needed it to pull me out of my ponytail and smelly animal clothes funk and I’m so glad I did.
The salon is just plain adorable and all the ladies (and guys) are the sweetest. They gave me a ‘Hair Menu’ to look through and I chose the ‘Red Carpet’ look. Ashanti was sweet and did a great job on my blowout!
Before (forgive the unwashed, unstyled hobo look):
After…blown away! (sorry couldn’t resist):
Blo also gave me a bag full of goodies like yoga classes and coupons for future blowouts (in case anyone is interested!) and a trial of the hairspray they used, Aerogel, which is incredibly light and soft. And some fun pink cotton candy – I was tickled pink! Seriously, I must quit with the puns. I blame the champagne. Kidding. Don’t drink and drive, kids.
But DO go out and get your hair did at Blo – they are doing $21 blowouts tomorrow on their opening day! They also offer updos and birthday or bachelorette parties and even come out for events to you. They have locations all over Cali, Florida and TX.
This inspired some much delayed outfits posts:
Skirt, Shoes, Bangles, Belt, Purse: All thrifted and around a couple bucks or less each. Top: Old Navy, also a couple bucks. My whole outfit was like $8-10 I just realized. Score!
Have a blessed weekend!
I’m not the biggest fan of tights. Because, well…they’re tight. I’m not a big fan of anything restricting my legs (dirty!).
No seriously, I change into pajamas the instant I get home and according to the masses on Facebook, I’m not alone.
As for tights or pantyhose…I have always found them incredibly uncomfortable. So much so that when I try them on to decide if it goes with an outfit, I’ll put only one leg on and another pair of tights on the other leg to minimize the amount of time I must wear them.
So while I find tights very versatile, cute and fun, let’s be honest: I wear them because then I don’t have to shave.
Saturday, before my birthday dinner, I went through my one-leg ritual and finally decided to just give up and shave.
Clearly I’m not a fan of shaving either. And while growing up, I was unlucky enough to have chicken legs for which I was mocked…it just meant I always wore jeans. Until college when I kicboxed and unearthed my calves.
But now, the fiance is regretting the day he told me he didn’t mind if I didn’t always shave. Muahaha…man captured…shaving ceased.
Long story short…here’s what I ended up wearing Saturday night (with my lovely new purse that I forgot to hold in these shots):
Dress – Random Store in Sydney, Australia, $14
Shoes – Bakers bought from Savers, $10
Jacket – H&M, $15
Belt – Thrifted or Garage Sale or Estate Sale, $?
I have the greatest friends. I received so many great presents that night (who knew 27 was such a special age?) including some very thoughtful clothes and books from Andrea and an adorable mug from Cathy, tons of candy and cute wallets/clutches.
And in unrelated news, I wore my new beaded tunic on a date night and was way overdressed. It happens a lot to me. I do not mind whatsoever.
Tunic – Thrifted, $8
Purse – Thrifted, $?
Jeans – AG, $100 or so?
Shoes – Aldo Outlet, $14
In even more unrelated news, how cute are these pillowcases my friend brought me from Japan? Seriously, the greatest friends!:
Hope you have a stress-free week!
My birthday is a couple days away and instead of presents (Bear wanted to get me an espresso machine to support my recent Starbucks addiction…thanks to my recent Gilmore Girls obsession. Thanks Andrea!) I asked for a morning of garage sales and thrifting. We found some amazing things including great clothes, a desk for Bear and children’s books. But my favorite was this beaded tunic (only $8 or so):
Then my parents gave me something in this pretty bag….
It was this pretty bag!
I am so incredibly spoiled. Speaking of beautiful things and being spoiled, here’s my engagement ring:
The sides aren’t diamonds – the four leaves are my birthstone (Aquamarine) and the ends are Bear’s birthstone (Alexandrite). The Alexandrite changes from light to dark green/red depending on the light…just like Bear’s personality. Damn Gemini.
My ring is gorgeous but I wouldn’t ever recommend Brilliant Earth to anyone. Stay tuned for my bitchfest on their horrible customer service and the awful experience we had.
But that’s for another entry. For now, let’s all just enjoy my birthday week.
Whee!
