Custom clothes GIVEAWAY!

Hiya friends!

So, I promised I'd have a fabulous giveaway for you this week and here it is!

You have the chance to win...wait for it...a custom mini wardrobe from my friend's brand new fashion line! Mini wardrobe= one custom piece of each item in the very first line of my friend's new clothing line, Vestida! We all love local boutiques, Modcloth, Lulus, etc, and her stuff is the exact type of cute stuff that could someday be sold at those places that feature up and coming, but smaller-scale designers! :)

And all you have to do in order to win is follow my friend, Maria. :)

Okay, now that I have your attention and you're wondering what the hell I'm taking about, let's get to the details about why the giveaway is happening...

The book...                                                  
My very dear friend, Maria, is writing a book...or rather a series of them. She's finishing book number one right now...and that's where this giveaway idea was born.

Maria :)

Let me interject here and tell you Maria is one of the most fabulous and energetic people I know. Her laugh is infectious and her determination to succeed is beyond anything I could describe. She's creative, fun-loving, a great friend, and can turn even the most mundane into the best, most fabulous memories. She chairs philanthropic events, and even decided to live in the local homeless shelter for a few days just to understand their plight and better meet their needs through philanthropy. (Read about that here and then read more about Maria here.)

In short, she's freaking interesting so I can guarantee her book will be interesting.
I'll let you head over to her blog to read about the book, the concept behind it, and why she wants people to follow the journey as she finishes it.

And this is where you come in. Maria is asking for folks to follow her as she finishes her book...through her blog, her twitter, her social cam, whatever way you prefer. Not only will you be helping her by giving her some great initial visibility to bounce things off of, but you'll also get a kick butt chance to win a custom mini wardrobe.

Okay, now you're thinking "Wait, I understand what you're saying about the book, but what's with the mini wardrobe?"

The fashion line...                                               
While she's been writing the book, she's also been working with her mom, an expert seamstress, to gear up for a launch of a new fashion line, Vestida, or Spanish for "dress up." She's been working on this line for almost a year now and is preparing for the official launch with a local fashion show on August 16. The girl already has investors, an event planner (for the show), and tons of other stuff set up. She's a leetle bit ambitious. ;) (Yours truly gets to be in the show! Please pray I don't pull a Carrie Bradshaw and fall on my face).

She's fashionable, right? I mean, her clothes will be cuh-ute!

In short, Maria has put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into the past year of her life as some of this came closer to fruition. Do I have pics of the clothes? Not yet because it hasn't officially launched. But, here's how Maria describes the clothes:

Vestida Designs will be a fusion of vintage glamour and modern polished looks and the beauty, it’s all custom tailored to fit your hot little bod without the custom price tag.

As teaser pics become available, I'm sure Maria will post a few. ;) It's wear to work, wear to cocktails, wear to everything! :) I can't tell you how many times I've seen Maria in something adorable and complimented her, only to hear "My mom made it!" in response.

The giveaway...                                                 
We want you to follow Maria as she finishes her book and launches this awesome fashion line. By just adding her to your reader, you're helping get the word out. Plus, her blogs, tweets, and music selections are pretty darn interesting, so that's an added bonus. ;) 

She's actually hosting the giveaway, but I'm helping her spread the word.

The ways you can enter her giveaway are listed below.

1. follow her blog - http://marialivinglife.blogspot.com/ (and let her know in a comment on her blog)
2. follow her on twitter @marialivinlife (and let her know in a comment on her blog)
3. follow her on social cam: socialcam.com/u/4wR3xgek (and let her know in a comment on her blog)
4. Write to her and tell her what you think. She just wants to hear from folks! :) 
5. Tweet about this and ask others to follow Maria. 
6. Mention this giveaway in a blog post or otherwise ask bloggers to follow Maria :)

For each one of A, B, C, E or F you do, you get an entry into the grand prize drawing for the mini wardrobe! 


This giveaway closes the day the fashion line launches (August 16th), so get your entry in through the following ways above!


Who doesn't want fun, stylish, custom-fit, FREE new clothes that no one else will have?! If you answer "me," you so crazy. ;) 


An added bonus!
I've decided to sweeten the pot a little bit! :) We all know how I love to purchase frivolous and unnecessary beauty products, so thought a $25 gift card to Sephora is the perfect added giveaway! 

How do you enter? 

Easy!

1. Do any (or all) of the above methods to enter Maria's giveaway (above). 

2. Leave me a comment on this post letting me know what you did to enter! You don't have to list every way you entered, but at least one. 

I'll select the gift card winner the same day Maria draws the fashion line winner (August 16). :)

I've thrown a lot of information at you (sorry...I was trying to be detailed), but you have two giveaways and one is the prerequisite for the other.  Easy peasy. :) I'll just end it with a thank you in appreciation for anyone who enters Maria's giveaway to help my friend get some great followers and great feedback about her projects. You rock, friends! 

What I'm Loving... Tuesday!

So, I didn't want to wait til Wednesday. Whatever. 

I was just sitting here, eating hot tamales and watching the Olympics and I thought "I need to do a what I'm loving post... likerightnow." haha.. :) 

1. The Olympics! I feel like my favorite tv show is airing brand new episodes all day long every single day! I find myself yelling, leaping from my seat, holding my breath, smiling, laughing, crying, clapping.. (Seriously, yesterday during women's synchronized diving,  I realized I was clapping. all alone. in the living room.) 

I always love swimming and gymnastics, but this year I've been loving EVERYTHING. Having food poisoning sucked, sure, but being stuck on the couch wasn't so bad considering so many events were on. 

Did your heart totally break for Jordyn Wieber because mine certainly did. Wow. She's freaking top four! The whole "each team can only send two people" thing isn't right in my opinion. I'm glad more kids get to play in the sandbox, but I just feel badly for Jordyn. *sigh* 

And I'm addicted to swimming. Addicted. Don't you just love Missy Franklin?! Her smile is just infectious! Here she is after winning the 100m backstroke. 

And despite Lochte's hype, I'm still a Phelps girl. He's humble, he's charming, and he's freaking FAST! And he's also pretty fun to follow on instagram and Twitter. You should totally follow him. Just saying.  I mean, I dig Lochte and the whole American team...obvi...but when they're against each other, I'm cheering for Phelps. 

 2. AUSTIN! It's officially booked for Eric's 30th birthday trip in early September! Thank you thank you thank you for the recommendations, advice, etc. We're staying off 4th street so we're close to all the activity. My main thing now is planning some options for activities and food, so if you have any more recs, feel free to keep em coming!

 3. Ginger ale and hot tamales. You know when you're sick and have no appetite for anything at all and then all-of-a-sudden, you FINALLY start feeling better and have a strange craving for something random? Just me? I don't crave these things together, but Ginger Ale has been my beverage of choice since Friday. We're talking I've gone through almost a 12 pack. And hot tamales are just awesome anyway, so there's that. When I'm recovering from being sick, I pretty much give my body whatever it wants to eat, regardless what that is.

 4. How I Met Your Mother. Um... How was I not watching this show until now?! I randomly started watching it from the beginning on Netflix a month or so ago, have managed to pull Eric into the madness, and now we're on Season 5. I find myself saying "high five" and "legend...wait for it...ary." I'm trying to avoid any and all spoilers but am so curious who Ted ends up with! Who is that dang girl with the yellow umbrella?!

5. Tassel necklaces. I've liked these for awhile, but just haven't bitten the bullet. This one is the Windsor  from Stella & Dot. I love S&D, but why are they so pricey? I mean, they're not horrible, but just enough for my to talk myself out of it ya know. 

 6. Pinning fall clothes. It's approximately 110 degrees outside and I'm pinning sweaters and jeans. Whatever.

via Pinterest

Weekend Recap

...aka the weekend of "the poisoning" but I'll get to that...

Guess what Thursday was?! I don't know why I'm making you guess because I'm going to tell you in .5 seconds.. It was Eric and my 4 year anniversary! Wahoo! What's it an anniversary OF, you ask? Good question.  

                   (You're about to head down memory lane. Feel free to skip ahead if you'd like).                                        

We'd been hanging out in groups as "friends" (but we totally dug each other). On July 26, we were doing just that.. hanging out with a group. Then, it started storming and we all just decided to go home. Eric was going to take me home (we totally used every excuse to hang out with each other without admitting the obvious). The storm was far away at that point, but the sky lit up with gorgeous flashes every few minutes. Eric asked if I'd be interested in going to watch the lightning, so...we did. We drove to a spot on the outskirts of town and just sat there, watching the lightning and talking. It was just one of those butterflies-I-dont-want-this-night-to-end nights. :) 

I'd love to say we got together after that night because we obviously liked each other a lot, but no... we were jackasses. We were both coming out of previous relationships that left us feeling burned and untrusting. So, instead, Eric started dating a hussy with a high-pitched voice and short skirts and I dated a guy friend. Blerg. We definitely kept seeing each other during all that though, but we wouldn't get serious...and neither one of us would step up and say "Hey, I just want to date you and only you." Finally, in late fall, we had the talk.. You know... "the talk." I believe I had some wine in my system and I possibly went total and complete girl on him. (Just had a flashback and cringed). Eh well.. Whatever. In short, in late fall, we got serious. :)

We tried to celebrate that late fall date as our anniversary and it just didn't feel right. So, we switched to that one night we drove to the outskirts of town, watched lightening, and let our guards down. I think that's the perfect anniversary date to celebrate. 

We took a pic that night! I am so glad my picture craziness pays off sometimes b/c it's fun to look back on. :) 

P.S. I did the fun labels in labelbox (free). Kinda addicted to it. :)

Eric sent me the prettiest flowers ever to work on Thursday. Isn't it funny how you mentally say "I don't care if ever I get flowers...I mean...whatever...they're just flowers..." but then when you get them, you swoon and can't stop smiling? Just me? 

We'd decided to do a nice anniversary dinner this weekend. :) 

And then...around 2:30 am on Friday morning, the poison attacked. 

What poison? 

I don't know. I refuse to blame sushi, but thinking back to Thursday's meals, it's the likely culprit. 

My friend hilariously compares food poisoning to a personal everything must go sale. Gross? Totally. Hilarious? Absolutely. 

I tried to go to work on Friday morning, but that was pretty stupid on my part. Came home at lunch and passed out on the couch. Eric and I were supposed to go to OKC Friday evening for a baseball game, but I couldn't function and had to lay perfectly still and breathe deeply every time I thought about ballpark food, so that was out of the question. 

I was bored and trying to lay still. Hence the self portrait. I dunno. 

G snuggled up next to me the whole time... I just love this little pooch!

Anniversary dinner this weekend became chicken noodle soup and ginger ale thanks to nurse Eric. As an aside, it is SO much better to get sick living with Eric than living alone. I used to always try to drag myself to Walgreens or wherever and almost pass out/vomit/die in the process. If you've ever lived alone and gotten sick, you totally feel me on that one. So, it was pretty great to wake up and see that he'd gone to get me some treats. :)

Oh, I almost forgot to mention. Friday morning, I was dragging my sick self out the door to work because I'm stupid and I fumbled and dropped my iPad on the porch. It hit just right on the corner and the rest is...well... the photo speaks for itself. 

I was in SUCH a funk at that point. I was sleep deprived, sick, and had just broken my awesome iPad. I'm one of those "bright side/perspective" people. So, I thought "Hey, at least I'm lucky enough to HAVE an iPad." And then I pushed that away and opted for the "Whatever. This sucks. This day sucks. Everything just sucks." Sometimes you just have to embrace the suckage for a little while.

Saturday, I backed up the iPad and took it to get the screen replaced. Feeling a little better, I was also in a better mood. :) Check out just one of the awesome gems I found on the iPad that I'd forgotten about. Photobooth makes you do strange things, people. Strange things.

And finally, we didn't get to go to dinner for our anniversary, but we opted for non vomit-inducing fruit smoothies from Jamba Juice (YUM) and a matinee of the Dark Knight on Saturday afternoon.  :)

Finally feeling back to normal today and gearing up for some more Olympic watching tonight. :)

                                                           Giveaway head's up!                                                                       

I have a preeeeeetty awesome giveaway coming up this week, so keep your eyes peeled! Not sure when I'll post it because we're working to finalize some details, but I'm SUPER excited about it because it's coming from one of my very dear friends. :)

Product review: sugarbomb!

I love trying new things and reading product reviews, so when I get something I kinda dig, I feel the need to take 2 minutes of your life you'll never get back and tell you about it... haha... :) Awhile ago, I ran out of bronzer. *gasp* Yeah, yeah first world problems. Anyway, even when I slather on smelly self tanner attempting to keep a glow, it just doesn't do much for my face. Enter my love of bronzers. 

I've always been a fan of Nars Laguna and Too Faced Sun Bunny, so that's what I went to Ulta intending to purchase. I asked the sales person if they had any more Sun Bunny since the shelf was out of stock. She said she'd check, but urged me to try Benefit's new Sugarbomb. I looked at it and politely agreed, but thought "No way in hell. There's orange in there!" And then the weirdest thing happened: I liked it.  

She said it works best on fairer-skinned people hoping to get a glow without looking streaked, stained or too shimmery. Since I don't have a darker complexion, I have no idea if she was right or wrong about it being better on fair-skinned folks, but it works for this freckled, blue-eyed blonde quite well! :) It's really a blush, but it definitely gives a natural bronze glow with just enough shimmer in my opinion. I've been brushing it on all over my face in a light layer-with more emphasis on my cheek bones-and I just love it!

If you're wanting to look TAN from a bronzer, this isn't your thing. It does add color, but you really have to build it to get a deeper bronze going. And even then, it would proably look more pinkish bronze than tan.
I was wearing it last weekend (below post) in the birthday night photos. I don't know if that really helps you or not, but you can see how I have a little bit of a pinkish/bronze glow on my cheeks in that photo of me making fun of the tiny drink.. haha.. :) That's how it looks on my skin over a powder foundation.

Oh and no, I was not compensated to write this. I wrote this random rant all for free. ;)

Weekend Recap!

This weekend was a busy one, but a good one! :) 

Friday night, Eric and I got together with my mom to celebrate my birthday! My birthday goes on forever in case you were wondering about why you keep reading mentions.. haha.. Nah, my mom was out of town on my bday and so were we, so celebrating got a little postponed. We introduced my mom to our fav little Mexican place. She didn't seem as impressed as we are, but she also didn't have a margarita, so that could be why. ;) 

Saturday, Eric and I headed out to celebrate his friend, Chris', 30th birthday with dinner and drinks. :) I wore one of my new bubble necklaces! I don't know how many people have asked me if it's from JCrew. I always 'fess up (b/c I have to share the awesome deal!) but am pretty impressed that no one can tell! Hell, I can't tell, so how would they? 

Making fun of our tiny little drink. But it was good, people. 

Sunday, we headed to OKC to celebrate Dennis' wedding! I know I've mentioned Dennis before, but to catch you up, I consider Dennis my best guy friend... I mean, aside from Eric obviously. Dennis, Mary and I worked at the law firm together and all left within a year or so of each other and have stayed close. We called our little trifecta the "family" and the "circle of trust." haha.. We have so many awesome memories together. My office was next to the conference room, so we'd always convene in there when the partners were meeting, hoping to overhear something. Stupid, thick walls. :)  If everything happens for a reason, the reason I worked at that law firm was so I could meet Mary and Dennis. :)

And I couldn't have picked a more fabulous girl for Dennis. I could write a whole blog post about how wonderful Stephanie is. I am just so happy for the two of them!

It was a gorgeous ceremony at the OKC Farmers Public Market! I'd never even heard of the place, but it was a stunning venue.

Dennis gave Steph cowboy boots with "Love" inscribed on them that she wore with her dress. :)
The little bags were for the candy station and had cute sayings on them like "count the happies." (I really like the phrase "count the happies.." I'm just saying). 

I dig his chili 

Seriously, could they be any cuter?

The family! :)

The weekends are zooming by. I can't believe we're more than halfway through summer! The temps here have reached a daily average of approximately 10 thousand degrees...or more like 104ish. 

I'll leave you with couple gratuitous photos of Gracie dog with her bone. Once she hears Eric or me pull into the drive and lock the car, she runs to the door or perches on the sofa with her bone as if she's showing it off as she greets us. It's pretty adorable. :) 

Accessorize your summer, deal on bib necklaces

Hiya friends! So, as I wrote in a post last week, I've been fairly obsessed with the bib/bubble necklace trend. I've actually just been pretty obsessed with accessories this summer period. I mean, fun bracelets, bright colors, big necklaces, fun earrings.. Yes, please! Having a pretty bauble makes the 100 degree temps much more bearable. Some trends I kinda struggle with because there's no way I could pull certain things off (a hundred things just flashed through my mind), but I have no problem getting on the accessory train.



via Pinterest



via Pinterest

Anyhoo, wanted to tell you about a sweet deal (yup, just said "sweet deal"...I know) from GroopDealz.com featuring 12 different colors of bib necklaces for just $19.99 each! And they have SO many more color options than anywhere I was looking before. I love the black one because it will transition into the fall/winter really well. (How on earth am I thinking about fall/winter when it's 8000 degrees outside? Whatever).   



To be 100% honest, GroupDealz contacted me about their sale on these necklaces, so technically you could say this is a sponsored mention. But, I wouldn't mention if I didn't really like the product or the service. I think you've probably read my blog long enough to know I rarely do sponsored posts and am pretty picky about them. It's a great deal from an experienced seller and I wanted to share. :) Plus, I've purchased something GroupDealz before and been very happy with their service and the product. That said, you really have to jump on these deals fast b/c they're quick sales.

Okay, go forth and get your accessorizing on! Happy Monday, friends! :)

Weekend Recap!

Okay, how is already mid July and how do weekends go by so quickly?! I found myself pinning a fall outfit the other day and stopped for a split second like "Jackie, stop this nonsense! You are only allowed to think of flip flops and tank tops!" 

Thursday, some of my girl friends and I got together to celebrate my birthday! :) We ate at Edward Delks downtown (yum!), had some vino, and a great time. Beth hosted the dinner and brought little flower arrangements and candles for the table. She's so good at making even low key things so significant and special. At one point, the girls all went around and gave me a wish for the upcoming year along with something they love about me or our friendship. Glad I wore waterproof mascara because each toast was so incredibly thoughtful and kind. I am so fortunate to have these girls in my life. :) 

Clockwise: me, Lauren, Sara, Maria, Kristy, Beth, Timberly, Sara

Saturday, we hit the lake to celebrate Eric's friend Ryan's 30th birthday! His fiance rented a boat and we enjoyed a day on the water. :) Please note Eric trying to surf on the tube. I was serious about his new-found love of this whole surfing thing. 

Speaking of 30th birthdays, thank you all SO much for your tips about Austin on my last post! You guys rock! Hopefully we can get something booked and start figuring out details soon! :)

Other things that happened this weekend: My computer ran out of hard drive. I didn't even know that was possible. I mean, I knew it, but it's never happened to me.  And it's not due to the many high tech programs I have installed. Oh no.. it's mostly photos. Of that I'm sure.*sigh* So, I've ordered a new one and get to wait for it to arrive. #firstworldproblems My computer is running at a snail's pace and does angry things when I try to download photos, etc. Sheez. So I guess some Barbados posts are gonna have to wait. Arg.

Speaking of photos, I'm really trying to get into this Instagram thing. I mean, I love pictures (obvi), so it only makes sense. :) And I really do love the app a lot! That said, I really wish their dashboard/feed was a bit more user friendly. I don't often have time to visit the app more than once or twice a day, so we'll see if my interest here sticks. *shrugs* I don't really want to link it to my facebook or twitter directly, so it's probably a bit more cumbersome with me being high maintenance about it. I don't like linking everything together for some reason. Is that weird? Are you that way, too? Anyhoo... I'm Ok_Jax if you wanna follow my photographic randomness. :)

Hope you had a great weekend! :)

Barbados-Day 1!

So, I know re-living my vacation day by day isn't likely on your list of "must-reads" but I like to do it to look back on because it makes me happy. :) Plus, I look at these photos and still can't believe we were JUST there. It feels like it took forever for vacation to get here and mere moments for it to breeze by! Europeans have it right with their whole "holiday" thing. I mean, three or four weeks of vacation at one time?! Heck.yes.

Okay, moving on... We flew in on Friday night kinda late so we really just got to the hotel and crashed. Plus, we were a little bummed that Eric's luggage didn't make it. The luggage thing just kept going around and I said comically "Wouldn't it be funny if your bag just didn't make it?" I quickly apologized for my little comment.

Anyhoo, we checked in and told them Eric's luggage didn't arrive and they immediately gave him a resort t-shirt! So nice! That hospitality pretty much remained constant everywhere we went for the entire trip, but especially at our lovely hotel. We stayed at the Bougainvillea Beach Resort. It's commonly known that the hotels that make your credit card cry a little bit (probably where Rihanna stays when she visits...I mean just saying...) are on the west side of the island, a bit farther than where we were staying. And when we took a tour out there, we were SO glad we opted for the Bougainvillea. Centrally located, amazing staff, excellent accommodations (our room was pretty much beach front!), and arguably the best beach we saw on the entire island. I wouldn't have traded our experience there for  anything!

Not my photo. I forgot to get a good resort pic, so I stole this one from the web. :)

***So, Day 1!***

We woke up and pretty much decided to beach it up the entire day, especially once we got a look at how breathtaking it was. :) I threw open the patio door and was like "Eric, you have GOT to see this." :)

A little walkway leading away from our hotel

Our hotel's beach! Stunning. I just LOVE the blue-green water in the Caribbean.
Man in speedo become a frequent topic of conversation among us and our fellow traveler friends. He rocked speedos the whole week. We dug him. 

It took approximately 5 minutes for Eric to find the boogie board stand and hit the water. :) He boogie boarded so much on the trip that our friends on the beach we barely knew would come up to me and comment "He's growing fins, isn't he?" haha... 

I joined in the boogie board fun for a bit. This photo cracks me up because I was actually really impressed that I caught a wave... haha! I just kept trying and no go. And finally...wahoo! 

We had some drinks at happy hour... This is the view from our room btw. The bar was within 20 steps, the beach within about 75. Not.bad. 

View from the open air hotel lobby 

We walked down to Oistins- a little fishing village about a 10 minute walk from our hotel- for dinner. Lots of street vendors and little shops set up serving fresh fish. We heard Pat's Place was the best, so that's where we headed!

Eric ordering our food. The guy cooks it just to the left right there on the outdoor grill!

Local beers. Picnic tables. Self portrait. Happy. 

Pat's didn't disappoint! The local specialty is flying fish. That's what Eric got (far) and I got the tuna.
We quickly realized we could have likely shared. 

We came back from dinner and headed to the beach! We grabbed a couple beers, flipped around some beach chairs, and listened to the live entertainment (who were actually quite good) while chatting, cheersing, and relaxing. :)

The hotel restaurant at night 

We were wiped out from a day in the sun and traveling the day before, so we hit the hay early. Isn't that hilarious on trips... that you're ready to hit the hay by like 9 p.m. and it feels SO LATE? Funny.

So yeah, that was day 1! Thanks for bearing with me, friends!

Advice on Austin?

Hiya friends! Quick post asking for some tips...

Eric's 30th is FINALLY approaching! I tease with the 'finally' b/c I'm just a wee bit older, so when I turned 31, there's two months where he's still 29. The "Hey, Jackie, did you hear what I said or are you losing your hearing in your old age?" stuff keeps flying out of his mouth during this month and it's super hi-larious. *sarcastic eye roll*

:)

Anyway, want to do something fun to celebrate! He threw me a pretty awesome shindig last year, but he doesn't want a big shindig like that. So, thinking something smaller here and then a weekend away might be fun! Buuuuut not anywhere super far b/c that would kill the whole "quick" (and affordable) weekend trip thing. We thought about Vegas, but he didn't seem super thrilled with that. Ideally, I think we'd both like to go to Seattle, Vancouver, Montreal, or somewhere totally unreachable from Tulsa for a quick weekend in other words...haha..

Actually if Eric had his way, we'd be taking a surfing vacation. That was his favorite thing in Barbados. I'll post about that later, but let's just say I considered paddling a big feat in my surfing lesson.

Neither of us have been to Austin, so we're leaning towards giving it a shot! Obviously things could still change, but wanted to ask y'all.. Have you been to Austin? Do you live in Austin? If so, where would you suggest we stay? Off 6th street? Or in the SoCo area? Somewhere else? Hotel suggestions? HELP!

Also, please mention any great restaurants or must-do/must-sees if you have any! Right now the hotel thing is where my googling efforts are being spent.

Other options we've tossed around include New Orleans, Chicago, and St. Louis. But, neither of us have been to Austin, so it has extra appeal.

Any tips appreciated!!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

What I'm Loving...

1. I'm loving that I got all my Barbados pics organized and posted on fbook! I was SO lazy about doing it for last year's trip to San Fran and forgot some of the little, fun details in the time lapse it took me to upload. I know the details aren't as exciting for everyone, but they're excellent little memory bookmarks for me. I'll post more on here soon... since I am sure you're all on the edge of your seats waiting to see my cheesy vacation photos....haha.. (Sarcasm intended). 

2. I fell in love with this necklace from JCrew. 

Via Jcrew

 But, it was $150! WHAT THE?!

And then I saw it on Pinterest!

Via Pinterest and hellofashionblog dot com

(Isn't she so stylish?! Check her out on hellofashionblog dot com for great outfit inspirations!)

There are a ton of knock-offs out there, but they're still around $50. I like it, but...I mean.. it's bright yellow. So, yeah... 50 bucks for a necklace I'll wear a few times before fall or before I break it? Eh... I just couldn't commit.

So.. what do you do when you want something? You google, of course! And I found one on ebay from China for $16 with free shipping! I mean, sure it's a knock off. And it may very well fall apart after one wear, so I'll get the "told you so" from Eric, but hey... you can't beat $16! I'll let you know about the quality when I receive it if you're curious.

3. The notebook! I'd never read the book or seen the movie. (I know I know). I read the book on the trip and bawled on the plane like a little girl. And then saw the movie when we got back...and bawled again. I'm kinda bummed the movie ended differently than the book. I'd put the book on my bday list, so Eric's mom got it for me before we left...and thankfully she also got me the sequel, The Wedding, b/c I loved the sequel even more! The movie doesn't really leave room for a sequel.. *shrugs* Anyhoo, good stuff. I don't usually like romantic books, but I really dug these.

I've been a voracious reader (yup, just said voracious and not sure where it came from) lately. Three books on vacation alone. Welcoming any recs! Currently finishing The Secret Life of Bees.

4. Loving that I have a low key birthday dinner with some of my girl friends this week! Coming back from vacation and still celebrating is kiiiiinda awesome.

Vacation...by the numbers (We're back!)

Hiya friends! We're back from Barbados! Sorry I kinda failed to mention we left. I scheduled some posts, but didn't mention that we'd be gone in so many words. We had our house broken into a couple summers ago (when it was just Eric's house, not my house, too :) ) Anyway, since then, I try to keep the details light on anything completely unlocked to the interwebs. 

We left last Friday the 29th and got back the night of Friday the 6th. We had a blast and I have tons of photos (duh). Surprisingly, we didn't take as many as we usually do... likely because we sunned it up on the beach more on this trip. :) 

So, before I dive in to the recap posts, here's our vacation...by the numbers. :) 

Our hotel's beach

2- The number of bags we took. 

1- The number of bags that arrived with us in Barbados. Eric's bag took a little side excursion to Ecuador...where it apparently stayed all week. Thankfully, it wasn't as bothersome as it could have been. I mean, we were in paradise, he was able to buy a swimsuit and a few things, plus he had some shorts/shirt in a carry-on. He gets MAJOR points for just rolling with it. I'd love to say I would have been as cool about it, but... 

1- OKC Thunder shirt we saw someone wearing at our hotel on the first day! 

8ish- The number of women I saw reading 50 Shades of Grey on our beach throughout the trip. 

1- time it took for Eric to stand up on the surfboard during our lessons. 

18 (approximately)- times it took for me to stand up on the surfboard during our lessons. 

46- The number of years Barbados has had its independence from Britain. It was crazy to meet people that remembered the country gaining its independence, being allowed to buy property for the first time, etc. 

2- pina coladas I averaged per day. Our hotel bartender was kinda amazing.  

4ish- times I heard British accents and my mind immediately heard the Rimmel commercial saying "Get the London look." 

0- times I wore a watch all week! Vacation knows no time restraints. :)

1- time we were asked by a fellow traveler friend we met from the east coast "Garth Brooks? Does he have any big hits I'd recognize?" Eric and I exchanged a glance of disbelief. 

31- the age I turned on July 3 during our trip! :) Thank you so much for all your thoughtful birthday wishes on the blog and facebook, friends! I had a fabulous birthday!

Countless- cheesy luggage cracks we made. "Oh there's a plane! Wonder if it's coming from Ecuador.." *stifled laughter* "What should I wear tonight? I have the brown shirt...or....the blue shirt...or the brown shirt...?"  

0- times I checked work email. I limited myself to Facebook communications only. :)

6- fun friends we met on our trip: honeymooners from London, a couple from NY traveling with their daughter playing collegiate club field hockey, and a couple from Canada. (PS..I SO would have played field hockey if I'd known the teams played in places like Barbados! Sheez!)

On my birthday before dinner 

It was absolutely beautiful and we had a really great time. I think Eric and I are officially going through a bit of vacation withdrawal...haha...

I hope you had a great week and I look forward to playing catch up in the blog world!