January 2017 Favorites

Hey guys,

Happy Monday! I hope you guys had a great weekend! I went worked most of the weekend and then I also went to Disney on Saturday so that was fun! I'll be doing a post on my day trip to disney soon! 

So I decided to start doing Monthly Favorites again this year. I like doing them, plus it gives you guys a chance to try new things that I maybe recommend and liked. 

1) Z: The Beginning of Everything

This is a new Amazon Original and I have fallen in love with it. Christina Ricci is an amazing actress and this show is very addictive. I already can't wait for season 2 (which they haven't even announced because the show just came out on the 27th so it's way too soon). However, this show can only be watched if you have Amazon Prime or Amazon Video. I totally recommend getting Prime because it's only $99 a year ($8.25 a month which is around the same price as Hulu and Netflix but you get more for your money) and it comes with free 2-day shipping, Prime Video, Prime Music, Amazon Photos and so much more! If you would like to sign up, you can do so here. If you already have Amazon Prime, then I totally recommend watching this show and I seriously hope they get a second season.

2) Marble Coasters

My sister gave me marble coasters for Christmas and I absolutely love them. I have recently fallen in love with all things marble and I am constantly searching for new things to add to the house that are made out of marble. Plus, my bedroom furniture is mirrored and so I need coasters so I can have drinks in my room and these work perfectly and totally go with my room! 

These aren't the exact coasters that my sister bought me but they are very similar. Mine just don't have the copper colored diagonal stripe.

3) Real Techniques Makeup Brushes - The makeup brush on the left 

So this makeup brush set is great but I prefer to use the one on the left. The one on the right in my set must have been a dud because every time I go to use it or wash it, all of the hairs fall out and eventually there won't be any left haha. But I love using the one on the left for my crease color because it's so big and it helps to create a more dramatic, full look. Plus this set is only $8 and can be purchased at Ulta which is a great price and deal!

4) Love, Rosie

I love Lily Collins! She's a great actress and I first discovered in Shadow Hunters: The Immortal Instruments which didn't do too well as a movie but I really liked her as an actress. And of course, who doesn't love Sam Claflin?! They're a both so great in this movie. I had been dying to see it since it came out but I didn't feel like buying it without seeing it and I'm pretty sure it never went to theaters (but I could be wrong). However, they put it on Amazon Prime and so I was finally able to watch it. It has it's good moments and it's bad moments and there are parts where you are like "Are you serious?" and then by the end you are pretty happy haha. 

5) Leggings

So I have never really been a big fan of leggings. I'm not entirely sure why but I am trying it out. I  recently wore a pair to Disney so I could test it out for real. I didn't really like it but I think my main issue is that I don't have enough tops that I can wear with leggings. I'm still not a huge fan of the whole leggings as pants trend. I prefer to make sure that my butt isn't showing and I don't really own a lot of shirts that are long enough to cover my butt and still short enough to not be considered a dress. I have plenty of sweaters that are long enough but there might be times where I don't need to wear a sweater, I might need to wear a short sleeve shirt because it's so hot outside. 

I think once I find some shirts that are long enough then I will get into the trend more. My other issue is that I really prefer to wear dresses and shorts. I'm okay with showing off my legs and to me wearing those two items are more comfortable. They're more freeing haha!

6) I Don't Want to Live Forever by Zayn and Taylor Swift

I absolutely love Taylor Swift and so automatically this is the best song (only until she comes out with something new haha) but I have been listening to it non-stop and the music video was pretty good as well. It was kind of depressing but still interesting!

7) Marc Jacobs Velvet Noir

Right now, this is my favorite mascara, I have been using it pretty much everyday this month and I recommend it to everyone who asks me about my lashes. I love everything about this mascara. I love the brand, the color, the formula, the brush, and the packaging. It's such a great mascara and if you want to try it but don't want to pay full price then they sell travel version as well that will last you a long time.

8) Trader Joe's S'mashing S'mores

These are seriously the best things that Trader Joe's sells! I promise you, you will not regret buying these. We bought them for a friend recently and she had to go back and get more because she fell in love with them. And she actually taught us that you can put them in the microwave for a few seconds and make them into a really s'more where the chocolate is a little melted and the marshmallow is all fluffy!

9) My new bedding! 

I absolutly love my new bedding that my mom bought me! It's so cute and it goes perfectly with my theme. I also love the pops of pale pink that are on it. It's also reversible which I love because it's like you're getting two bedspreads for the price of one! 

10) TRESemme Keratin Smooth Shampoo

I found this shampoo at Target (I'm sure they sell it other places as well) and considering I dye my hair, I should be buying more expensive shampoo but I just never got into that whole thing. I have such oily hair that I have to wash it every night and I also have a lot of hair which is why I wash it every night. It takes forever to dry and I don't like to blow dry it unless I'm in a hurry. I try to use the least amount of heat on my hair as possible because going back to the whole oily thing, if I use like any product (heat protectant) whatsoever then my hair gets so oily so quickly. I'm not lying or over exaggerating, I promise. I have even done the whole train your hair thing where you don't wash your hair for a while thing and then wash it and then don't wash it for a while and just keep repeating that and it never worked for me. My hair was still just as oily and so eventually it just because too gross for me and so I had to go back to washing my hair every night again. 

But I love this shampoo because it makes my hair so soft and it's also smells really good. Every morning, I smell something really good and then I realize it's my hair and I'm like "Whoa! My hair smells really good!"

Thanks for stopping by!

Feel free to leave a comment or share this with your friends!

XO, Steph

This post is not sponsored but does contain affiliate links.

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Blooper Photo's 2016

Hey guys,

So I was originally planning on posting this before the end of 2016 along with a review of my favorites memories from 2016 but unfortunately that never happened. I got way too busy with work, the house, and the holidays. 

But better late than never, as some would say. So today's post is me showing you who I really am! Sometimes it can get a little boring waiting for your sister to figure out the right settings and holding the same pose to make sure that it's going to be good enough. So I may or may not occasionally make some pretty funny faces and/or poses while waiting and she just so happens to shoot them. So here is a collection of photos that I have been saving all year to show you guys.

Also, there are some challenging parts to this whole fashion blogger like trying to figure out how to walk down stairs without looking and making sure you don't trip and land on your face! Haha fun times!

By the way most of these were taken either before we've started the whole process or after we've taken more than 100 photos of one outfit!

WARNING: this post contains some unattractive photos so please be kind! I just thought they were super funny! 

 

 

Sometimes I think I'm cooler than I really am!

Me trying not fall to my death! (this log was like a foot off the ground so I wouldn't have fallen far haha)

I think we took over 300 pictures of this one outfit and I was so ready to be done, if you can't tell haha. 

I'm trying to do the moon walk here but I have absolutely no idea how to do the moon.

This is my, "Did you take the picture already?" face.

This is me pretending to hail a taxi in the middle of nowhere because my sister told me to do something!

Trying not to fall down!

This is what it's like to be a fashion blogger in South West Florida! It's so windy here like all the time.

This is me telling my sister that she should be standing over there instead of where she is standing haha! I'm kind of bossy!

Trying not fall again without looking down this time! 

I hope you guys enjoyed this post and these photos! And I hope they made you laugh a little!

Thanks for stopping by!

Feel free to leave a comment or share this with your friends!

XO, Steph

Patio/Backyard Inspiration

Hey guys,

So today's blog post is the inspiration for our patio. We live on a canal and we also have a pool (just some info for you). It's hard to find images of patios and pools together on Pinterest. Also, some of the images are actually from retailers websites instead because I have specific furniture in mind that I want and so I just decided to use those photos instead of finding other ones on Printerest.

So the first few images are the patio furniture set that I want. The theme for the patio is nautical and kind of piratey. We plan to have a gallery wall maybe that features an anchor, a mermaid (maybe), a ships wheel, maybe some type of compass, and some other items that we find and happen to like and that go with our theme.

We recently went to an antique store on our way home from Tallahassee and we found these iron hooks that have an anchor on them and so we plan on hanging them on the wall so we can hang up towels outside while they dry out or you can put them on the hooks before getting in the pool instead of taking up space by lying them on a chair. 

Soooo, if you can't tell by now, I am obsessed with the color navy. It's my favorite color and I pretty much want it everywhere! So far it's featured in 4 different locations throughout the house. Is that a bit much? I don't think so haha!

We have a sliding glass window in our kitchen that looks out onto the porch. It also has a bar height countertop underneath of it outside. The countertop that is currently there is falling apart and I really want to get it replaced a soon as possible. We kind of had this idea of having it match the kitchen but I think it might be a while before we have the kitchen redone so I think we might just replace it with a random piece of countertop that we find at a stone store or there's this local store that we purchased our tile from and they also sell countertops.

Instead of barstools, we have a couple of director's chairs that we plan on using. They are this light color and we plan on staining them a different color and them we replaced the seats with the color that's down below. The counter outside is pretty long so eventually we will probably purchase a couple more director's chairs but for now we're just going to stick with the two just incase they don't work out.

We recently go a part of our fence installed. Fences are extremely expensive just so you guys know haha. We decided that instead of wasting the money on getting the whole yard done we would just get a dog run and fence in the rest of the yard later whenever we have some leftover money. I couldn't find any images of a dog run with just grass, this one is the closet I could find haha. But eventually it's just going to contain grass and maybe a couple of small trees that don't really grow that big.

Currently there are quite of few bushes that need to be removed and some rocks as well. There is like the tiniest amount of room for the dogs right now and so I really want to add more grass for them to use as soon as possible but we haven't really figured out the best way to remove the roots from the bushes. So we are currently working on that and then eventually I want to add some other items as well such as a dog house maybe and some water bowls for them even though neither of our dogs prefer to be outside for very long haha. 

We also want to build a fire pit outside. We used to have a metal fire pit and we left it outside under our covered patio in that bag that came with it and it still completely rusted away and we have to throw it away. So now we want one that is a little more permanent.

We've also been looking at things to put firewood in so we can keep a stock pile of firewood and just have a fire whenever we want!

I would love to be able to have an outdoor theater type of thing. This is pretty much just a dream and I might just have to settle for a TV on the porch but a girl can dream and if we were able to pull this off, I think it would be so amazing!

My sister is obsessed with games and my mom recently got into woodworking so I found these wooden giant yard games that I thought would be fund to make and have to play whenever we have guests over.

 

Eventually we're going to build a dock and so I found these two items on Pinterest that looked pretty interesting. Our canal doesn't have very pretty water but I still think it would be a neat feature to add to the dock haha.

This might also come in handy incase someone catches something and they need to clean the fish!

Thanks for stopping by!

Feel free to leave a comment or share this with your friends!

XO, Steph

Things to do Thursday: When You're Broke

Hey guys,

So I was originally going to do my top 10 things to do in Ireland for today's post but I have a lot that I  want to say for that so and I also need to go through my photos and pick out which ones I want to use in the post. Plus, I am currently like super broke right now lol so I thought this post was fitting haha.  

I know that when I chose not to work in college that I would end up struggling in the beginning and that's okay. That was my choice, I wanted to be able to say that I traveled throughout college and that I got to spend time with my family. I was also able to purchase a couple Louis Vuitton handbags, a pair of Chiristian Louboutin heels, and a pair of Chanel sunglasses. I also made it to a VIB Rough level at Sephora one year which was pretty amazing (this means I spent at least $1000 on makeup and beauty items in one consecutive year). I went on a vacation every spring break that I helped pay for, I also paid for all of my rent and other bills. I thankfully didn't really need to rely on my parents that much for money when I was in college and I am so grateful that I was able to have the GI Bill because of my dad.

I am relying on my parent's a little more now unfortunately, but I try not to ask for too much money. Eventually, one of my goals is to be making enough money by the end of the year so I don't have to ask my parent's for any money but chances are my mom will still take me shopping if I need clothes for the blog because she has all of the credit cards and she likes getting the discounts and points that come along with most of those credit cards haha.

So every time I see one of these lists, I'm like that totally costs money so I really wanted to see if I could come up with 10 things that you didn't need money for at all but unfortunately everything involved money and so basically there is no way to do something without spending at least a little money.

This is more or less a list of 10 things that I like to do that don't involve spending money. It's kind of meant to be funny but we'll see! Sometimes I think I'm funnier than other people think I am haha.

In theory, all of these cost money some way or another but I think when most people come up with these lists they aren't counting on you having an empty tank in your car, no food in your fridge, or no electricity (haha).

1) Watch a movie and/or catch up on my favorite TV shows

I love watching movies by myself of with my sister. We're both really big movie people and we're always trying to find new good movies. I am also really addicted to TV and I watch so many TV series that sometimes it's hard to keep track. I actually stopped watching a couple of shows this season because I was unable to keep with him them.

2) Spend time with family and/or friends

My family is basically my best friends! I love spending time with them. Spending time with your family and/or friends is very important. It helps to strengthen bonds and it's also just good for the soul. We all need that connection that spending time with loved ones can provide!

3) Cuddle with my dog!

So technically my dog hates cuddling even though I love it. He loves to be carried though, so sometimes I will just pick him up and carry him around the house with me and consider that my cuddle time. When he was younger, I would take him outside and try to get him into playing fetch because we always go to the dog park and I see these owners playing fetch with their dog and I'm like I want a dog like that. But whenever I would try to teach him to play, he would just sit there and give me this look like "Are you serious? You want me to chase after that thing? Not going to happen!" I'm not even joking. My dog is so high maintenance that he doesn't like walking on wet grass and sometimes in the morning he will refuse to go to the bathroom until later on when the grass is dry.

4) Go on a walk in park or a bike ride somewhere

I would like to put that I would go on a hike somewhere but unfortunately there isn't really anywhere to hike in the city that I live in so a walk around the block or in a park will have to do. However, I do prefer bike riding over walking. My family and I are always trying to find new places to ride our bikes.

5) Bake something sweet

I love to bake! It's one of my favorite things to do and one of my goals in life is to open up a bakery. I little have the largest sweet tooth and my bakery would serve almost every different type of dessert. I would also love to see homemade ice cream in my bakery.

I haven't really baked in a while and sometimes I lack the motivation or inspiration (and sometimes ingredients) to actually bake something. Plus I've always wanted to be one of those bakers that creates something special and unique but I just don't bake enough to be able to do that. However, I sometimes like to find new ways to bake something so I can say that I didn't follow the recipe exactly and it still turned out amazing!

6) Write blog posts so I can get ahead of schedule

Sometimes I like to just sit and write. However, I might not always posts some of the blog posts that I write because they may be too personal and I just don't feel like sharing them at the moment. I might share them someday but sometimes it's just nice to be able to write something down or in this case type something up and not have anyone else look it but you're still getting the words out that you need to say.

But I do enjoy pre-writing some of my posts if I have the free time just because it's make it easier and I feel more productive when I am ahead of schedule!

7) Browse my favorite clothing stores

One of my favorite things to do it to go onto Forever21's website and browse their new arrivals section and just add things to my basket or cart. I typically never actually buy anything but it's still fun to do. It's find of like my virtual version of window shopping. It also gives me ideas for new blog posts to do so it's semi-productive haha!

8) Read some of my favorite blogs

There are 3 main blogs that I follow (The Sweetest Thing, Southern Curls and Pearls, and Covering the Bases). I occasionally will read some others as well such as, some YouTuber ones but I mostly just stick to my 3 favorite. Two of them are best friends and they are constantly going on vacations together or working with each other so it's fun to get to follow along with them and see where they are going in life. The other one I discovered because she knows one of the other ones and she is also friends with a couple YouTuber's that I watch. She lives in NYC and I love to watch her snapchats because she is always posting images and/ or videos of her view from her apartment in the city! 

They post during the week but I typically don't have time to actually read their posts until the weekend on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

9) Watch YouTube videos

I follow so many YouTuber's and to be honest, I have like no time to watch all of their videos. I like to use the "Watch Later" feature but most of the time, my list just keeps growing and growing and I watch like 2% of the amount of videos that I add to that list. So I will typically go to the "Subscriptions" tab and see what the latest videos are and watch a few of those every day that I am able to.

10) Browse Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime for new things to watch

No seriously, I love doing this. I go on each of these sites and find new things to watch and add them to my watchlist even though I barely have anytime to watch any of the things I add to the list. Granted I could be watching one of the items on my list instead of finding more things to add to it instead but I just have this weird obsession with making lists. I have had journals full just of "To-Do Lists." I'm always making lists.

Thanks for stopping by!

Feel free to leave a comment or share this with your friends!

XO, Steph

2 Year Blog Anniversary

Hey guys,

So 2 years ago today I published my very first blog post. And if you happen to go back to the beginning, just remember that I started this blog as a class assignment so if some of the posts seem kind of weird or look kind of weird, it's because I was following the guidelines that we had to follow when we posted certain posts.

If you read my blog, then I want to say thank you! I really appreciate it :)

My most popular posts:

1) Louis Vuitton Speedy Bandoulière 30 Review

2) Tory Burch York Tote Review

3) Louis Vuitton Neverfull GM Review

4) Olive Green Ankle Pants

5) My First Ever Blog Giveaway

My Favorite Blog Posts to Write:

1) Summer Vacation 2016 Paris Day 1
2) 25 Things to do Before I Turn 25
3) Pink Hair!
4) Decorating my Undergrad Graduation Cap
5) Spring Break 2016 Ireland Day 1

And just to give you a sneak peak, here are some blog posts that I plan to write about in the future!

Future Blog Posts:

1) Top 10 Things to do in Ireland
2) Before and After Images of our House
3) Designer Dupes Series
4) More DIY's
5) More Personal/Get to Know me Posts

Some things that I want to work on include figuring out how to be better with social media. I can get on here and just write away but whenever it comes to positing things on social media, I pretty much fail. I never know what to say and then I always forget to share my posts or anything at all.

I also still plan on eventually creating YouTube videos as well. I'm currently looking for a second job and so once I get one I am hoping that I will be able to spend that time filming and editing YouTube videos instead of looking for a job.

I hope you guys have enjoyed reading my blog so far! I love you and stay tuned for what's to come!

Thanks for stopping by!

Feel free to leave a comment or share this with your friends!

XO, Steph

Garage Inspiration

Hey guys,

So I decided to go ahead and do a garage inspiration post today. I know that I haven't posted anything in the last few days and I am so sorry. My plan was to blog every single day for the rest of January but I got a little off track and then it's like when I miss one day I get out of the routine and forget to write and work on the blog.

So currently our garage has some DIY storage that the previous owner had put up. I think we plan on leaving all of it up and maybe just adding to it some more. Our garage currently has white walls but the built in shelves are still the normal brownish color they come when you buy wooden shelves at a hardware store so eventually it would be nice to go in and paint everything inside the garage completely white.

Our floor also needs to be majorly paint. There are stains everywhere and the previous owner had painted it a reddish color and so it's fading away in certain areas and has already completely come off in other areas. So it would be nice to repaint it like a gray color maybe but I'm not sure. My sister and I haven't really discussed the garage too much. It will definitely be one of the very last things that we do since you don't typically show off your garage to people haha.

The previous owner had a built in work/tool station and so we plan on leaving that up just so we can leave our tools in the garage instead of having find somewhere inside the house to store them.

The previous owner of the house never labeled all of the switches on the circuit breaker so we are still trying to figure out which is what. I bought my sister a label maker for Christmas so chances are we will just use that instead of color coding everything. However this is a really great idea and I also think it makes it a little more pretty!

Our washer and dryer are both inside the garage which kind of stinks but that's how it typically is when you buy and older home. Eventually we have a plan to bring it inside the house but when we do that we will most likely loose the half bath and the spare closet that we have. However, we could just add a lot of storage space to in the laundry room and it will be like we never lost the half bath.

There currently are some shelves in this part of the garage that the previous owner had put up. I think we plan to leave them because you can always use more storage space but we will probably need to check them out first and make sure that they are secure enough to put stuff on.

I really like this storage idea for lawn chairs. We are always using chairs like these either at a park, some type of outdoor event or even at the beach so it's always good to make sure you have plenty.

I found this on Pinterest (just like I found everything else haha) and thought it was a unique way to store your extension cords.

Eventually we want to see if we can get both of our cars in the garage and having tennis balls hanging down from the ceiling is a good way to make sure you are parking exactly where you need to parking so you don't hit anything.

MY sister and I each have our own bike and I would like to be able to hang them on the wall some where inside the garage just so they are up and out of the way but they should also still have easy access.

Thanks for stopping by!

Feel free to leave a comment or share this with your friends!

XO, Steph

What to Wear Wednesday: Church Edition

Hey guys,

Sorry for the late post! My sister and I actually took these photos real quick today and then we've been so busy still trying to get the house together. I'm also trying to look for a new/second job (but technically third lol).

For the first What to Wear Wednesday of the year, I thought I would do a semi-funny post. I have been going to church my whole life. I was born and raised in church and I plan to continue to go to church for the rest of my life. I thoroughly enjoy attending church and invite anyone who has ever thought about attending church, to take that step and just go. You never know, it could change your life for the better!

I'm not one of those people that has a crazy story about when I first discovered Jesus but that's okay. I don't think that everyone has to have one of those stories. I've known Jesus my whole life and I have always felt him there and knew that no matter what I would be able to get through anything because Jesus has my back just like I have his. I don't really want to talk to much about religion here mostly because that's not what this blog is about but also because I'm not a fan making people feel like I'm trying to shove Jesus down their throats or pressure them in to attending church. 

However, when ever I talk to people about attending church they sometimes ask "What do I wear to church? Do I have to wear a dress or is there a dress code?" Plus one time my sister and I wear doing some research and we found this article that said that "What to wear to church" was one of the most Googled questions so I thought I would share my insight on this considering I have been going to church for a very long time.

There are three options that I'm suggesting and I'm going to list them from the fanciest to the most casual.

1) A Dress

This is normally what I wear to church. I love dresses and it's the one day a week that I get to dress up and wear heels so I try to wear a dress and a pair of heels as often as I can. Sometimes I have to wear something different depending on what I am doing after church but I can wear a dress then I will most definitely be wearing one. I love them because they are easy to throw on and you don't really have to plan much of an outfit. You just put on the dress, find a pair of shoes, some matching accessories and you are all ready to go.

2) A Skirt

If you aren't the dress type then you can always wear a skirt. However, if you aren't the dress type then chances are you probably aren't the skirt type either haha. But I typically prefer to wear dresses over skirts because they're so much easier to just throw on and go. So maybe there are some people out there that prefer skirts over dresses, who knows? 

3) A pair of jeans

You can always wear a pair of jeans if you are unsure what to wear. It's casual and half the time it's what I end up wearing because it's comfortable to just throw on a pair of jeans and head out the door. Also, instead of jeans you could wear a pair of slacks or colored pair of pants/jeans.

So in all honesty, it doesn't really matter what you wear to church, we really are just glad that you are there and took that step to join us! We welcome anyone and everyone and we try not to judge, even though sometimes it can be a little challenging (we all sin sometimes haha!).

I recommend bring a jacket or sweater with you if you are a first time attender because for some odd reason, church's are always very cold. Also, you don't need to bring a Bible with you if you don't have one, they're aren't required. Besides most people just use a Bible app that they have downloaded to their smartphone. 

P.S. Yes I know I'm pale! I have like to no time to self-tan and if I go out in the sun all I do is burn!

Thanks for stopping by!

Feel free to leave a comment or share this with your friends!

XO, Steph