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!

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.