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!

The one about my love of maxi dresses

So... maxi dresses. For me, maxi dresses are kinda like the mint color craze on Pinterest. I mean, I saw mint and was like "eh, whatever." And then I saw more and thought "that's really cute" and more.. and more.. and then was like "IhavetohavesomethingMINTrightnow!" So yeah. That happened with me and maxi dresses. Last year, I got two. And now this year, I've purchased one more. Add that to the two I already had. That's a lot of long dresses in a state that exceeds 100 degrees pretty much all summer. But they're just SO COMFY. And flowy. And romanticky-feeling (I make up words and phrases). And chic. And... and ...and....yeah. You're getting that this post is going nowhere. Whatev.

I'd been lusting over one I saw at Dillards, but it was way overpriced. And tie dye looking. By the way, I've officially reached that point where I have to ask myself "Is that even trendy? To wear this tie dye looking thing? Am I old? Why don't I know this?!" *insert state of panic* And then it's overcome by the too-cool-for-school-30-year-old in my head going "Whatever. I like it. I can wear it if I want to." Okay, moving on... So, I wandered into Dillards last week and it was on SALE for half off! Birthday present for me!



So cute, right?



I came home, proudly boasting to Eric that I got myself a birthday present on major sale, to which he looked over and replied "Gawd, another long dress?" Is it just me or do boys not get the long dress thing? Whatever. I like it.

Anyhoo, thought I'd post some of my other favs :)



from Anthropologie last year



I got this one at a local boutique in Tulsa, but actually saw it online at this place from a Pinterest link! They have some other great long dresses if you can catch them before they sell out.

The below is from my 30th birthday last year. Oh yeah.. my birthday is tomorrow. :) Happy birthday to me! I'm officially IN my 30s. I'm not really phased by that...or at least as not as much as I thought I would be. I was a lot more reflective last year. And I mean.. it's not like I'm throwing all my cares to the wind or anything, but I'm pretty darn good...and more relaxed for this birthday. And I have many blessings for which I'm so very grateful.

To be honest, it feels kinda cool to be in my "early thirties" instead of my "late twenties." Late twenties felt older in some weird way. Early thirties feels young! It's all about perspective...and the box you check on forms asking for your age. I'm at the bottom of the bracket again. Boom. 

From Banana last year- a birthday gift from two of my girl friends who knew how obsessed I was with it :)



Wishing you a safe and happy 4th of July! Sparklers and birthday cake for everyone! :)

Confessional Friday

Joining in the Confessional Friday fun today.... 

1. I dislike Facebook emailing. I do it.. I mean.. sure.. Sometimes that's the only email I have for someone and I need to email them. And vise versa I'm sure. But I hate it and often neglect it. For some reason, I'd rather clean the grout from in between the bathroom tiles than check it.

2. Okay, this one is a big one. Hanging my head in shame as I type it. I went tanning. Yes, I know. I sit here talking about how I haven't tanned in years, but I was just so pre-vacation pale. I broke down and went. I didn't go a lot (3 times total), but I had to tell someone, so might as well tell the whole internet (random rationale). Anyway, not proud.
3. I let Gracie sleep on the bed when Eric was out of town for work one night last week. Shhhh... he doesn't know. I changed the top blanket out (where she slept) so there was no risk of getting discovered with rogue puppy fur. Besides, he's allergic so I really did remove anything she touched and switched them before he got home. No harm, no foul.

4. I confess that I'm totally addicted to two apps: I'd Cap That and CatPaint. I'd Cap That: Seriously friends, it's freaking hilarious (and often inappropriate. There's your warning). Download the app, select a photo and it captions it for you. Catpaint: You literally put cat photos all over your photos for no reason at all. And it meows when you do it. The cats can even have lasers if you want. I have no idea why I'm 12 years old and find this so funny, but I do.

5. I confess that I purchased a new blow dryer last week-not because I needed one- but because I lost my concentrator nozzle thing. And it’s been lost for over a year. And you can’t just go buy the stupid things alone and ensure they’re going to fit. It's been annoying me for a year, but I've refused to spend $$ on something I didn't really need. Anyway, went to a different stylist last week and she did a cute flippy thing with my bangs. I tried to do it sans concentrator and it didn’t work. So, yeah. I used my 20% off Ulta coupon for a new blow dryer just for that stupid little piece of plastic. But, lookie how cute, right?!


Yay concentrator!

 So yeah, there you have it. These are my confessions... ;)

Weekend Recap!

So, not only is my own birthday coming up (wahoo!), but I also have quite a few friends with summer birthdays, too! Lots of reasons to celebrate under the sun...er... or maybe in the air conditioning. ;) 

Thursday, a group of us headed to Pinot's Palette to sip and celebrate Beth's birthday! As you can see, a couple girls in our group went a little rogue...haha..Eh, well.. whatever. It was fun. It was also hilarious to see how everyone's painting technique...ahem... changed... with a few glasses of wine.. haha... 

Saturday, we continued celebrations.. but this time for Lauren's birthday! We packed our stilettos, threw our hair up, and got our pole on at Vixen Studios. No one in our group had ever done one of these classes before, so there was a lot of laughter and blushing. We had a blast! We learned how to spin, flip upside down (or at least flail around trying to flip), 'booty pop' (still laughing about that one), and climb the pole. I have a new found respect for strip...er...exotic dancers b/c that stuff is HARD. I woke up today and was fairly certain I'd possibly broken a rib, have multiple bruises, and feel like I've got beaten up a little bit...haha.. After a few texts with some of the other girls, I'm not alone. Well worth it though.. hilarious good times!  

Last night, we all went to dinner to continue Lauren's bday celebrations and today, I took it easy, ran some pre-vacation errands (wahoo!!!), etc.

Good weekend for sure. And um.. while we're talking about poles, 'dancers' and all that, who else is pretty pumped about Magic Mike? I mean... just saying...

Tuesday= "A" day

Things I'm ecstatic about: Pretty Little Liars is back on for the summer!

Typically, I loathe summer tv. I end up liking a random series that inevitably doesn't make it and get annoyed that I wasted time getting so addicted to it. And - gasp - I'm not really into the bachelorette this season. It's just so LONG when I don't have a DVR anymore. Two hours is a lot of time to commit to watching d-bags compete for a rose. Just keeping it real. I mean, some of them are probably legit. But the ones that aren't...blech. I was much more interested in it when I could ffwd through the cheesy parts. 

Okay, back to Pretty Little Liars... 

Do you watch? 

Okay, if so... please tell me I'm not the only lamo who gets freaked out watching it sometimes! I mean.. it's kinda scary, right?! (Let's not talk about the facts that I'm 30 years old and this show is on ABC Family). I mean.. they go in the WOODS and dig.up.bodies. What on earth?! 

Also, when did Hannah get gorgeous? I mean, she's so cute this season, right?!

Yeah, I just did a whole post about Pretty Little Liars. There's that.

Recapping!

My weekend recap is really more last week's recap because weekend was used to recover and relax. Slightly backwards, buuuuut whatever. 

Last Wednesday, Eric and I party rocked (yes, I just said that) at LMFAO! While the floor looked somewhat like a superfun- but crazy-neon rave, we were thrilled to have the opportunity to enjoy a great view and seats up in one of the suites! 

An inflatable giraffe just flying through the air... totally normal.  

PACKED show!

I don't think I can put enough emphasis on the blast we had at the concert! We turned the suite into a total dance party- jumping around, laughing and singing! It was seriously one of the best concerts I've been to in a long time! 

Okay, so maybe Sarah and I danced more than Andrew and Eric... haha..
 (We look like we were going to hit them).  I caught Eric shaking his head and laughing at me a few times as I jumped around, happy as a clam. :) 

Well-worth being a little tired on Thursday!

Thursday was game two of the Thunder v. Heat finals! Lemme just tell any non-Okies out there, Oklahoma has gone THUNDERCRAZY! It's freaking fantastic! I didn't even used to pay that much attention to the NBA...before the Thunder that is! I mean.. I know the players names and faces and can even spout off previous games' stats... I mean.. who am I?!  I've never seen the whole state united like this for one team. It's so.freaking.cool.

Went to lunch Thursday and the sushi place Thundered up my sushi roll! ha! They dyed the crunchies Thunder blue (even though they look green in this photo).

Thursday Thundering Up continued as Melissa and I headed to a fundraiser called Top of the Town where local bars, buildings, and restaurants team up for an event on top of some of the major downtown buildings. (Very cool idea, right?!) Anyway, we decided to wear our Thunder gear!

Oh and we also put on Harden beards. Fear the beard, people. Fear the beard. 

Some other friends were having a party on Friday where they got Afroman to come perform... at their house! We'd fully intended to go....until neither of us wanted to get off the couch. It was pretty ridiculous really. This is what happens when you get old, people...haha...That said, the week had been pretty awesome, so probably best to pause the social butterfly-ness on a high. :) 

Saturday was more of the same laziness...Eric and I lounged for awhile, watched Sherlock Holmes, and ended the day with grabbing Indian food and ice cream. Fab. :) 

Sunday, we went to brunch with Eric's fam for Fathers' Day, then we all headed to see MIB III. I dunno how you feel about the MIB movies, but this one was my favorite of the series...hands down. Josh Brolin was fantastic as young agent K. 

Oh and have to throw this photo in... We'll be in Barbados for the 4th of July, so might have purchased these this weekend, fully intending to rock them on the beach. Was gonna pack sparklers, but apparently the whole flammable-explosive-firework thing is frowned upon by security. Blah.

Gratuitous photo of Gracie snuggling while we watch the Thunder game tonight... :)  

Hope you had a good weekend, friends! And hope Monday isn't too manic for any of us... *cringe*

Sunday Social :)

Joining Neely and Amber today for the Sunday Social! I feel like all I do is blog weekend recaps lately (probably b/c my blog quality time is predominantly on Sundays) so thought I'd break the monotony a little. 
This week's questions:1. Favorite movie of all time?Dirty Dancing! I have a ton of favs, so it's hard to pick.. I mean, Shawshank Redemption, You've Got Mail, Garden State, X-Men... I just dig movies period. But, Swayze wins. My lil sis in my sorority and I used to even know some of that Hungry Eyes dance and would laugh hysterically acting it out at functions. Yeah, I know... 

2. Fav movie quote?Oh gosh.. again.. so many!
But, I pick the "lightning could strike" quote from Meet Joe Black. Gosh, I love that movie. 
Love is passion, obsession, someone you can't live without. I say, fall head over heels. Find someone you can love like crazy and who will love you the same way back. How do you find him? Well, you forget your head, and you listen to your heart...Cause the truth is, honey, there's no sense living your life without this. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love, well, you haven't lived a life at all. But you have to try, cause if you haven't tried, you haven't lived. 
Or possibly this one from You've Got Mail:
Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.
3. Best movie for a girls night?Hmm.. I can't even think. I dunno. Maybe a rom-com or a movie where a chick kicks butt. Still thinking...
4. Fav celeb eye candy? While I love me some Ryan Gossling, I've also been loving Jeremy Renner lately. I've been intrigued with him ever since The Hurt Locker. Given his role in the new Avengers annnnnd that he's kicking @ss in the new Bourne movies coming out, my crush is only growing. He plays an awesome bad@ss action star. Just saying. 

 5. Best break up movie? The Break Up. That movie left me ho-hum the first time I watched it, but it's definitely a good "that's-just-how-things-go-sometimes" breakup flick. 
6. Movie star closet I'd want to raid?* Reese (I pretend we're on a first name basis)* Nicole Richie 
:) 

Weekend Recap!

Last weekend was the annual Tulsa Tough, a huge three-day bike festival for both pros and amateurs. Races took place all weekend around downtown and riverparks. 

On Friday, we headed down to watch the criterion races through downtown. Thousands of people lined the streets the whole weekend to watch the cyclists speed by. It's CRAZY how fast they're going! They create a breeze that catches your hair as they ride past. 

The guy behind us looks very concerned about the race

Eric and some friends rode in the grandfondo race on Saturday morning, a 68 mile trek all over downtown and surrounding areas of Tulsa. As I was walking over to the finish line, I ran into Beth cheering on her dad, who was also riding in the race! She made a cute sign, right? I wish I'd made a cute sign. Next year. :) I had a cowbell when Eric rode in. That counts for something, right? 

68 miles... and done. :)

He kinda rocks. Just saying. 

I headed to celebrate Cooper's second birthday after the race. Can't believe he's already two! Apparently, he's been waiting on people to sing him happy birthday all month.. haha...Adorable. :)

Saturday night, we headed to a friend's cookout and then back to the races for a little bit before totally crashing out. Eric rode almost 70 miles. I was just lame and tired. ;) 

The weekend wrapped up on Sunday with margs and Mexican food.... perfection. :)

Tomorrow, I will be wearing my neon yellow shorts and party rocking with the best of them at LMFAO! And my upcoming weekend may or may not include seeing Afr0man at some point. What is happening to my life? haha...

I am freaking CRAWLING toward vacation. I wake up in the morning and immediately think of how many days we have left til we leave for Barbados. I come home and surf online for additional swimwear, shorts, and other stuff I don't need. Sorry if my posts are kinda meh right now. I'm having a hard time being motivated to do anything except think of what kind of beach hat I might want to take. ;)

Weekend Recap!

A little late on the weekend recapping, but I gave up soda this week (woohoo) so the delay seems to be right up there with the slow mo my brain is feeling... I've given it up before and it's not like I drink that much anyway, but still. It's just bad for you. Bad, I say. 

Okay, moving on... Saturday morning, Eric rode in the Tour de Cure, benefiting the American Diabetes Assn. Last year, the temp climbed to around 100 degrees. On a 75 mile bike ride, that is not exactly ideal. This year, the temp was a fabulous 80-something. :) 

Sunday morning, we got up and left for Dallas! One of Eric's childhood friends he grew up learning to play guitar with was getting the opportunity to play at the House of Blues! He was one of 20 acts featured for the night. A winner was chosen by the event sponsor, Warner Bros, and will be flown out to LA to record some songs. Very cool, right? Did he win, you ask? Well... keep reading, my friends.

Okay, so we were kinda busy last week and forgot about that whole booking a hotel thing. Oops. But, have no fear, Hotel Tonight to the rescue! It's not a site, just an app, and they release awesome deals for that night at around noon. We ended up landing a fantastic deal to the Magnolia Hotel in downtown Dallas. We'd stayed at a Magnolia in Denver and loved it-great rooms, boutique feel, free cocktail hour (wine/beer), breakfast, and free milk and cookie bar at night. Um.. they had me at the cookies. ;) Anyway, the Magnolia hotels are really great and I highly recommend.

We hit up the cocktail hour before leaving for the show.

Sometimes the self timer goes off before I can sit down.. Just saying..

I was very proud of my bracelet arrangement. 

Eric with the star of the evening and his friend, Davis Blake. :) He's got a really good bluegrass, rock-type vibe with his music. Check him out at the link! 

Love this photo! Thank you, random stranger in line to get in to the showcase. :) 

Very cool venue at the House of Blues in their showcase room. This was before the show started (obviously)

Davis Blake and the Section 8s performing :)

I multitask. 

There was a lot of talent that night... but some of the bands were a little..ahem..lively.. This one had guys with masks, dancers, and a guy in the background looking like a bouncer rocking back and forth looking hard core. I really wasn't sure what was going on; I just stayed out of the way.

And the best news... Davis Blake and the Section 8s WON the showcase! They're headed to LA to meet with Warner Brothers soon! So cool!

Other than the showcase, we shopped a tiny bit on Monday, had a fabulous lunch with Eric's uncle that lives in Dallas, cheered on the OKC Thunder on our drive back, and basically just had a fun, brief road trip. :)

Hope y'all are having a good week!

I regularly injure myself doing normal things.

Last night, the weather was abnormally, fabulously cool for June in Oklahoma so a a few of us decided to hit up Summer's 5th Night at Utica Square. Summer's 5th Night is a series of summer concerts on Thursdays where people bring their own chairs, wine, food, etc, and just hang out listening to live music. Good stuff! Seriously, from May-Sept, I just keep a canvas chair in my car in the event I want to go to Summer's 5th Night... haha..

We weren't the only ones eager to enjoy the weather...Can you say PACKED?! :) 



 From there, we moved the festivities to a little bar to watch the Thunder dominate (woohoo!)

Taken just moments before I out-clumsied myself.

Okay, here's where the night got clumsy. Or rather I did.

Remember this post? Ya know...the one where the kid stomped on my foot, thus leaving me with painted skin, sans toenail. (It finally fell off-gross).

That's on my left foot.

Well, I got done Thundering up and decided to call it a night. Between my car and the bar was something you might not think could be dangerous- a sidewalk. I started strolling on said sidewalk and I don't know if it was the long dress or a lip in the pavement or what, but somehow my right toe hit the uneven, broken pavement...HARD. I recovered well. I mean, I wasn't going to fall over right there grabbing my toe like I wanted to do. I made it to my car as I saw the mangled tiny area of skin on front of my poor little toe and the bleeding. Gross. I know. It's gross.

After a few tears, a peroxide bath for my toe, and a huge gauze bandage later, I'll survive. So glad I didn't need stitches...er... I hope I didn't need stitches. Many thanks to Eric for cleaning my wound and bandaging it while I bawled whined about how they need to fix the sidewalk. My other favorite part was seeing him not-so-subtly looking in the living room to make sure I didn't get blood anywhere. I was like "WHATAREYOUDOING?! I am WOUNDED! Who cares about the floor right now?!" (Me=a tinge overdramatic sometimes).



Current state of my toe. Blerg.



Dear Barbados- Please ignore the blonde girl with really beat up feet when she comes to visit in a month. Thanks.

Sheez.