Dear Vacation-

I'm ready for you.





Manhattan Beach



Sonoma

San Francisco

Please hurry. Thanks in advance.

 

Love-

 

Jax

Weekend Recap! :)

Hi friends! Long time, no blog.. or maybe just a week. Whatever, it feels like a long time. How was your weekend? I traveled to Denver last week for work, so was pretttttty tired come Friday. It was a great trip and we got a lot accomplished, but it was also a quick one so this girl was pooped and ready for an adult beverage. :)

The weekend kicked off Friday night with Ashley's birthday dinner! Margaritas, some singing, sombrero wearing, and good times. :) 

Ashley, Jenny, Sarah, Brooke, me 

 Saturday, I got up early and was a crazy person. Not really, but I'd cleaned the house, done laundry, organized my dresser drawers (Is it just me or do they get out of control sometimes??), and bathed Gracie....by noon. I dunno what got into me, but I suppose it was a good thing... haha.. :) Then, I headed off to the mall to pick up some stuff at Sephora...annnnnnd I met the 500 point perk (their free rewards program)!

I remembered Leslie blogging about how awesome "That Gal" Brightening Face Primer is, so was thrilled to see it in this month's perk! Admittedly, I knew I was close to the 500 points, so I may have googled around to see what last month's gift was and then opted to wait...haha... I'm glad I did! Also in the perk is Benefit's Dandelion Highlighting Powder and their Bad Gal lash (that's I've also been wanting to try)! It's been a makeup-free Sunday, soooo I haven't tried it out yet, but excited to!

I love beauty products and makeup. It's just such a great little treat for myself. :) It's amazing how happy a new eyeshadow can make a person. Speaking of, I totally want to join Birchbox, but just haven't done it yet. I heard about it from Katie. :) Have you heard of it? You pay $10/month and they send you fun beauty products to try kinda like the Sephora perk I just got. You get mostly trial sizes, but also one full size item each month. It's like a little present in the mail every month! And who doesn't love getting fun mail?!

Okay okay, enough of that... As for Saturday night, Eric and I got sushi to-go, had a fabulous bottle of wine he got awhile ago, and took it easy. We started to watch a movie, buuuuut both passed out before it was over.... haha.. :)

And that was the weekend! I hope yours was a good one, friends!

Monday Funday

*subject line's sarcasm noted* :)

How was your weekend? Mine=good! Headed to the lake with Sara and Will. :) I have some pics, but they're on Eric's camera, so here's a phone one of Sara and me on the deck of the lake house where we stayed. :)

We had a great time! The weather was perfect, the company was great, and the lake wasn't crowded at all since everyone's headed back to college (read: I'm old)...  I may or may not have taught myself a lesson on drinking unfiltered water at the lake house. I was fairly certain my body was revolting against me around 3am.. or that I had ingested an amoeba...haha.. But, whatever.. That was that and life was good again. I'm sure it was a very attractive moment for me. (I love you, Eric...*nervous face* haha) :)

Current obsession: new red jeans I got with a bday gift card at Express. They will be making the trip to San Francisco, despite the face Eric made when I told him I got red jeans. Boys just don't understand. ;)

via Pinterest

 I really really REALLY wanted to see a movie. I was kinda crazy psycho begging Eric to see a movie with me all weekend, so Sunday, off we went to see Friends with Benefits. First things first, I have a bit of a girl crush on Mila. I mean.. how.gorgeous.is.she. And she seems like such a cool chick, too! And second, Justin Timberlake... enough said. :) Anyway, it was a really funny flick!

And this is random, but lately, I've been all "Why can't we all just sing kumbaya and be thankful for what we've got, huh?" :) Okay okay, I don't say that out loud b/c that's weird and people would throw things at me, but I guess I've just overheard lots of random negativity in the past few weeks and it's just reminded me how lame it is to be negative about stuff when you've got so many blessings. I mean.. right? It's not like I'm NEVER a downer (ignore the double negative) but I'm just sayin... 

* all images via pinterest

Good weekend and no negativity at all! Well.. except for the amoeba that tried to attack my insides. (I may be positive, but I'm still overdramatic).  ;)

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

It was a long day and I kinda thought I could use some positivity, sooooo what I'm loving Wed seemed appropriate... even though it's only Tuesday night. Whatev. 

I've got a ton of things I'm loving, like:

* deep breathing exercises. It might sound a little odd, but whatever. My massage guy over the weekend told me how people just forget to BREATHE and it adds a lot of stress in our lives. Plus, breathing can calm you, give you energy, strengthen your heart, etc. Yeah, we all breathe, but I mean deeply breathe a few times a day.... Don't trust me? Read about it! I'm not crazy! Er... whatever.. Just hand my my hemp and granola and send me on my way, but I dig this breathing stuff. :)

* Temperatures have fallen below 100...AND we got some rain!

* Eric and I leave very soon for CA! We're stockpiling things we should do, etc, in San Fran after the wedding. I already booked the Alcatraz night tour. #spooky. That said, we have no hotel...yet. Thoughts or ideas? (I know... We need to get on that).

* Pinterest. I said it last week and I'll say it again. I dig it. I joined the bandwagon late, but I dig it. :)

* Working it out. Lately, I've found myself craving the gym, not dreading it. I think I've passed the annoying hump of forcing myself to go.

* Heading to the lake this weekend. :) Nothing extended, but a little time in the sun on a boat with the temps below 100...Bring.it.on.

* And finally... beverages....

What do I mean?... I mean beverages. It's hot outside. And I notice I pretty much have a beverage near me at all times lately.

Am I the only one who can be totally happy with an OJ, water, AND soda all at once? I like different tastes dangit!

For dinner tonight, I poured myself a gatorade, a water, and a half glass of wine. I've always been pretty beverage obsessed. I like to hydrate....? I seriously have to hold myself back from (1) the stupidly empty calories in beverages, (2) spending extra money to satisfy my random palette, and (3) ordering too many things at once and risking my meal company thinking I'm crazy.

Happy Wednesday, friends!

Weekend Recap!

Hiya! :) How was the weekend? Hot? Yeah, mine too. Although, we had a freakishly strong storm come through on Saturday evening so that cooled things down (and took out some electricity, buuuut whatevs). The interwebs were all abuzz with things like "RAIN! It's about time!" :) I may have excitedly been one of the posters of said phrase on the twitters and the facebooks actually. Whatever. 

So, I'm behind b/c I haven't blogged about last weekend's girls trip up to Missouri. Blerg. But, I facebooked the pics. Does that count? I think it does.

Anyhoo.. as for this weekend, it was prettttty chillax. :) That's right.. no showers, no float trips, no weddings, no parties, no nothing. :)  I truly love doing all of those things (or I wouldn't do them. obvi <-- I like saying "obvi" even though it's prolly super annoying.), but it's also nice to kick back a little. And Eric was out of town for the weekend, so I opted to take some quality Jackie-time. This weekend was one big date with myself! 

Came home from the gym after work on Friday, poured some wine, settled in for the evening, and watched lotsa eps I'd dvr-ed all week from.... Sharks and wine. Good times, people. :)

The little under-sharks-belly fishes seem a leeetle stage 5 clinger to me...

I had a gift card from my bday for one of these....

 ....so I kicked off Saturday at the spa!

The salon/spa is right around the corner from Anthropologie and, having another gift card from my bday, I wandered in. I spied this awesome dress in the sale section for $89...

I love coral! 

....and I had $50 left on my gift card, so I opted to buy the dress for the rehearsal dinner in LA later this month. It was one of those moments where you try something on and sigh like "I.love.this." and do a little spinny spin in the dressing room. (It looks casual, but it's silky, not cotton). Then... wait for it.. wait for it... The girl at the register told me it had been even MORE discounted to... $49! And it was tax free weekend so I.spent.nothing! 

Don't you love it when stuff like that happens?!

I was in such a good mood at the grocery store immediately afterward that I caught myself singing along to the music playing in the store. LOL!

The weekend got even better b/c Lauren came to visit randomly. :) She booked her ticket from Chicago mid-week last week and was here by Saturday morning! :) Kinda crazy b/c Eric was actually in Chicago with his fam... haha. So, the two of them grabbed a drink on Friday and then she and I were having dinner together on Saturday! 

Today, Lauren, her dad, and me went to see Horrible Bosses.. and um.. it's pretty freaking funny. I mean, it's fairly inappropriate and uses a lot of foul language, so let that be your warning... :)

Throw in some laundry, hanging with Gracie dog, more time at the gym, and that was my weekend. :)

Hope everyone had a good one!

Pinning=winning

(yes, I totally just said that).

Okay, I admit it. I love Pinterest!

And..

I

cant

stop 

pinning. 

I'm just getting started and just realized I can "like" and comment on other people's pins, soooo in other words bear with me while I figure this thing out if you're following me... haha.. :)  I also have no idea how to find people, soooo if you wanna find me, I'll follow you back! Here I am. :) 

"Got a secret, can you keep it, swear this one you'll save... "

I have a confession. I love Pretty Little Liars. Like big, fat, puffy heart the show. Watch it? Like it? It's like Gossip Girl....er... the younger, less alcoholic, non upper east side version... with a hint of Desperate Housewives thrown in. Oh.. and it's also based on young adult novels. I just choose not to think about that part. I mean, I'm 30. I'm totally a "young adult." Er... whatever. 

Aria's my fav... 

A is such a mean little hussy, isn't she ... or he?!

Annnnnd apparently ABC Family is becoming my new fav station b/c I also am head over heels for Melissa & Joey. Did you watch Who's the Boss? B/c if so, this is basically the exact.same.premise, but updated and more inappropriate. (Seriously, one ep was all about how he was sleeping with her trainer. Whoa <-- in Joey's character from Blossom's tone. If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't tell me b/c it will make me feel old...haha..). ;)

And also, I'm a little too excited for the new Dallas, set to air in 2012. Yup, I'm barely old enough to remember Dallas, but as an only child, I was often allowed to stay up late and watch things with my parents I probably shouldn't have.. haha.. I now realize they likely just gave up at some point during my "I dont want to go to bed!" tantrums. Anyway, I'm ready to head back to Southfork!

And uh.. finally.. you DO know what week this is, right? SHARK WEEK! Yeeeah-yuuh!

******
In other news, remember my post about how I wanted a denim shirt and a maxi skirt? Guess what! I've found BOTH and for a major steal! I got the shirt at American Eagle on sale at the outlet mall over girls weekend ($15 dollah make me hollah!) and I got the maxi at Express.com on major sale then had a coupon to boot! Hells yes! So then after my happy dance ended, I thought, "Uh... how do I wear a maxi skirt without looking like I'm pregnant?" B/c uh, if you remember this post, I'm a tinge paranoid about that now in flowy outfits.. lol! (Overdramatic=me). Found lots of fun tips on the interwebs and am jazzed to get mah new skirt! Here's just one blog post I found that was helpful. :)

Annnnd onto other things I totally don't need in any way, shape or form, but am digging anyway.... cross body bags!

"I could SO wave at you right now with my super cool free hand." 

I don't think I want one as big as Reese's, but just look at how effortlessly she holds her coffee and has both hands free. I don't really want a nice one or anything, but I think it'd be a fun accessory for the fall, especially for Eric and my trip to San Fran... Do I need to spend money? No. Am I going to? No. But ya know.. if Forever21 gets some awesome, cheap one and my credit card falls out of my wallet on the counter and pays for the bag, it can't be helped...

What are you adding?

Hi friends! How was your weekend? This was the weekend some of my girl friends and I headed up to Missouri for a girls weekend and I have lotsa photos, buuuut I'm tired so those can wait til tomorrow... That said, I have a few photos from Tulsa+ (Tulsa "plus")!

What is Tulsa+? Well lemme tell ya...

Tulsa +  is a group of individuals who came together to help celebrate Tulsa — for what it is and what it will be.

We believe the greater Tulsa community is a wonderful place to live and work. This town has an amazingly diverse culture, a vibrant spirit, a rich history and numerous activities, landmarks and attractions for individuals and families of every persuasion. But many of those positive offerings unfortunately go unnoticed or under appreciated.

Tulsa also has amazing promise. We have vast natural resources, a strong foundation of infrastructure and a diverse vision for growth and new experiences. But that vision unfortunately isn’t as clear to some as it is to others. And it isn’t always articulated as well as it should be. Further, there are numerous ideas by citizens that could contribute to deepen that vision — if they only had a voice.
***
We’d like to see your passion delivered in the medium that suits you best. Be bold, be visionary. Just don’t be silent.

If you’ll send us your ideas, we’ll help you present them to the leaders that can make a difference.

- From the Tulsa+ website

Some fabulous coworkers were on the steering committee for this great, first-of-its-kind movement/event and I got to serve on the event subcommittee to help put this thing together. :) It was a really cool experience to organically come together and create a free event for Tulsans to submit their "plus" for the city. Photographs of things you love about Tulsa? Submit it! A video about the various communities in Tulsa? Submit it!Various local leaders-including the mayor- were present and spoke about how excited they were for this great event.. Overall, we had no idea how many folks would show up, but it was a packed house. So glad to see other people so jazzed about the great things in Tulsa... I'll shutup now and show you some photos...

And guess who agreed to emcee the event! A couple of AWESOME Tulsa bloggers, including one of my daily reads, Tasha Does Tulsa! And check out the event slogan, "What are you adding?" I love that!

Some of us had a little plus making party.. and I made a TU one. Please note my embarassing awesome craft skills! ha! These pluses were everywhere! Really fun!

And there was an opera flash mob... It was fan.freaking.tastic. One guy started singing.. then another.. then more.. Fabulous!

The great event was wrapped up with some planking in front of the Tulsa skyline. I mean.. duh. ;) Andrea (my partner in planking below) did a fantastic job on the steering commitee and as the event's chairperson. :)





All smiles after a successful event with some peeps who helped make it happen...



And random...

I got home after the event and saw that my neighbors' AC had gone out. :( It's happening a LOT around here lately due to these crazypants temps. (The high today is supposed to be around 110). Anyway, they were fixing it well into the night and, as I walked to the kitchen, I saw this-YIKES! No, our houses aren't that close, but the light hit just right and made for a creeptacular .5 seconds for me.. ha!



Nah, this isn't creepy at all, right? *scared face* haha!



Hope everyone had a great weekend!