Give Thanks

Happy hump day and Thanksgiving eve y'all! I just wanted to pop by and express some thanks. Today is tough, 2 years ago I got into my very first nasty car accidentand walked out with just a tiny bit of whiplash and nothing more. It's kind of kismet that it happened the eve of Thanksgiving because it really truly made me appreciate being healthy and alive.

 

Not only am I grateful for my health, but there are so many more things in my life that I am so entirely grateful for:

 

Parents

 

Sister

 

Cousin

 

Aunts & Uncles

 

Nephews

 

An amazing boyfriend

 

My amazing friends

 

Two jobs I loooove

 

Target (I mean let's be real here...)

 

Blogging

 

&

 

YOU!

 

Thank you guys for keeping up with my life and reading, I know there are a lot of you that are frequent commenters and readers and I truely appreciate that and appreciate you. I definitely wouldn't want to keep coming back to this here blog without the support of blogging friends, so thanks!

 

Little Baby Garvin

 

P.s. I probably won't be back until next week, so enjoy your Thanksgiving with your family and friends that feel like family. Be safe and eat lots of turkey/food!!!

Eye Makeup Obsession

Guys, I am obsessed with makeup. I hope this isn't news to you all, but if you're new around here and didn't get the hint from my blog name...I love makeup. I feel like a hoarder sometimes because I collect them like a hobby.

When I went to Houston, my cousin who is a makeup aficionado as well, gifted me a bunch of her palettes that she wasn't planning on using. One of the ones she gave me was the Lorac Pro which has been on my wishlist for quite some time and I was going to purchase for myself. Luckily she was nice enough to give me hers and I was thrilled. I have been having so much fun playing around with the different colors. They are so well pigmented and last all night when used with a primer. I seriously see myself using this palette more now than my Naked 2 & 3. I love that the top row has matte colors which can be used for daily wear and the bottom row has the more sparkly and night time colors.

 

 These items are my go to for either daily wear or night time eye makeup. I start out with the UD eyeshadow primer potion-Original on my eyelids, then play around with colors on the Lorac PRO palette. For the matte colors my favorite two are Cream & Mauve and for the shimmer colors, I tend to gravitate towards Nude, Champagne, Pewter, & Deep Purple. I can't wait to watch tutorials and explore more with this palette.

Once I've got the colors that I want, I use a liner (not pictured) on my top lid. For my liner, my favorite technique is to use the black eyeshadow color from the palette with a very thin and angled brush. I find myself creating the lines way better than with a liquid liner or pencil, so if you have any black eyeshadow that gives you good pigment, I recommend trying that technique.

Then it's time for some mascara and my absolute tried and true favorite is hands down Benefit They're Real! This is such a great mascara to wear on a daily basis without ruining your lashes. I never deal with clumping or falling out with this mascara which is a huge deal for me. For someone who has over 20 tubes of mascara (thanks to my Ipsy bag) I have gotten picky with what mascara I use.

From there I use my Anastasia Beverly Hills brow gel to keep my brow hairs in place. I got this in my Ipsy bag months and months ago and have been obsessed with it ever since. I never used a brow gel before this and now I can't go back. If I'm filling in my brows (when I'm really going out someplace fancy, takes too long for a daily thing) then this is a perfect way to keep the hairs in place. I totally recommend picking this up and trying it out for yourself.

The final touch is the UD all nighter long-lasting makeup setting spray. This stuff is seriously god send. I cannot say enough good things about this setting spray because it literally doesn't move a thing on your face for the entire day. I have used the e.l.f. setting spray and for a $3 spray it's great, but I don't think it lasted for as long as the UD one. Humidity is going to be a thing I will have to battle in Houston during the summers so this is going to be in my makeup bag for the foreseeable future. Go get you some asap if you haven't tried it yet.

Sorry for the crappy quality of the iPhone camera

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own and I wasn't paid or compensated in any way for this review. I purchased all products or recieved them through a monthly service which I paid for. Links are added for readers to find the products on the sites I like to shop at.

Weekend Recap

Hey folks! It's rainy/snowy/slushy outside and completely miserable. I so totally wish I could be at home in my pajamas under my warm and comfortable blanket, but alas I need a paycheck so I'm at work. Blogging away because apparently none of my patients want to be out there in the miserable weather, I quite frankly don't blame them.

 

This past weekend was actually a beautiful (probably for the last time) weekend in Chicago. On Saturday I headed downtown in the late afternoon to check out the Mag Mile Lights Festival with my best friend. Neither of us had gone before and we thrilled to get to see Mickey & Minnie Mouse...yes I am an adult, and yes I don't care if you judge me for my love of Disney. Elsa from Frozen was also there, but the parade was too long and we were getting hangry so we high tailed it out of there to find food.

 

 

(Notice there are childrens shoulders and heads in almost every picture, thats basically what we dealt with standing on our tippy toes to see the parade)

 

After the parade, we grabbed food and headed to the Chriskindlemarket in Daley Plaza. I hadn't ever been there and was excited to walk through and check out all the booths and grab a bavarian pretzel! Not only did I get that, but I got hot cocoa in the most adorable snowman mug, so worth the $7!

 

 

 

On Sunday, it was rainy and gloomy all day so the sister and I did some damage at the stores. We went a bit Christmas/holiday decor crazy and grabbed a bunch of stuff. I've already started putting stuff up around the house and can't wait until I put up the tree!!

 

That evening, a few friends and I went to see Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1. Phew that's a long title. I really enjoyed the movie and if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. Let me just say I cannot wait until the next and final one comes out.

 

 

The sister and I got matching holiday pajamas and were so excited to try them on, well at least I was.

 

They're from Victoria's Secret and if you buy PJ's you get free slippers and let me tell you those bad boys aren't coming off my feet whenever I'm home, they are SO warm and cozy!

 

Linking up with Lisa & Bella for Weekend Recap!

 

 

Houston Recap: Part 2

Hey folks, so this is the second installment of my Houston trip from last weekend. If you missed part 1, you can read it here!

 

So I left off mortified that I had thrown up my entire lunch and dinner at his parents house, with them fully aware of what had happened...

 

That night was a doozy and I was just looking to basically forget about it. The following day, Sunday it was rainy and gloomy pretty much the whole day, which sucked, but we made the best of it.

 

We headed to Highland Village to visit a few more shops and grab lunch nearby. I got a bunch of stuff from Lush which I cannot wait to try out and had more fun window shopping. The area was busy, but so festive with big bows on the buildings and Christmas cheer spread all around. Although with all the rain, my hair was the size of Texas...but the bigger the hair, the closer to God right?!

 

Since I was a bad blogger and it was rainy, I didn't take any pictures of the shopping area, but found one on Google that depicts it pretty well.

 

 

That evening we headed back to the Sugar Land Town Center and walked around a bit (the shops were unfortunately closed already), but we got to see the Christmas tree in front of City Hall & of course took a selfie in front of it.

 

 

We went to a bar for a pre dinner drink and chatted about the future. It was so nice to finally sit down and map out where we see ourselves in the future and what sort of timeline we want to work with. Let's just say things are exciting and this time in 2 years I will most likely be a Texan resident full time :)! I love that A is super easy to talk to and isn't afraid of having the major talks about the future.

 

After that conversation, we headed over to Escalante's for dinner. It was yummy since I had been craving Tex-Mex since being in Houston.

 

After dinner we had gotten tickets to see Interstellar at the Santikos Palladium. The screen was massive and it was definitely an experience, so if you are in the Sugar Land area or are near a Santikos theater, I highly recommend it. The movie was amazing, although it was long. If you haven't seen Interstellar yet you need to go watch it soon, but prepare yourself for about 3 hours of your time.

 

Monday was my last day in Houston (insert sad face here). Thankfully it was a beautiful day with the sun shining, of course on my last day. I packed my bags and said my goodbyes to my aunt and cousin, A came and we headed back to his house to hang out and have some lunch. I was feeling way better and knew I could be a much better guest this time around.

 

I redeemed myself by helping his mom out in the kitchen (still working on more brownie points) and having a conversation with her. She is super sweet and such a great cook. We all sat down for lunch and talked about the next time I would be coming back (March for the Rodeo, woohoo!!) and possibly having my parents come along with me, told ya we discussed the future quite a bit this weekend. After lunch, his dad had a dentist appointment since his tooth had been bugging him so they headed out and we stuck around and watched TV for a bit before having to leave to beat traffic to the airport. As his parents said their goodbyes to me, his mom came out with a bag full of goodies for me. She got me a lovely Fossil watch that I'm already in love with along with a beautiful pendant necklace. She was so sweet to get me gifts and I figured since she was giving me such nice things, she must like me right?!

 

 

 

When we left for the airport, I told A to make a quick pit stop to Shipley Do-nuts to pick up a yummy donut.

 

 

Naturally, I started to get sad on the trip to the airport because I knew this amazing weekend was coming to an end and I was heading back to cold, dark Chicago. It's always bittersweet, but I was glad that we got to spend the time we did together. Once at the airport, I hauled through security and headed straight to Starbucks to caffeine up and grab some inflight snacks.

 

 

 Once back in Chicago, I was greeted by single digit temps and flurries...oh also my mother who kindly picked me up in the frigid temps late at night.

 

Until next time H-town.

 

 

Pinterest Lately

Hey folks! Today I'm co-hosting the Pinterest Lately link up with Rebekah.

This weeks topic: Fall meals for cold nights.

This topic is perfect for anyone who is suffering through all the cold weather we are experiencing. If you're lucky enough to get warmer weather, comfort food is still always a good idea especially around the holidays to make it feel more like winter. Here in Chicago, there is no confusing we are definitely in winter. So if you have some great Pinterest recipes for cold weather, link up your posts or Pinterest account with us!

Pinterest

Pinterest

Aside from soups, desserts are always a great idea along with the best drink of the winter, hot cocoa!!

Pinterest

Pinterest

Houston Recap: Part 1

Hey blogland! I'm back from my awesome Houston trip and sad to be back in cold, snowy Chicago. Although the weather didn't cooperate the whole time while I was in Houston, I would definitely take that over snow and negative wind chills, trust me. Well anywho, I figured I would break this trip up into 2 posts to not bombard y'all (see I sound Texan already, lol).

 

I flew into Houston on Friday afternoon and was picked up by my amazing boyfriend. He got us tickets to the Houston Rockets game that evening so we decided to just head downtown and hang around grab a few drinks and have some dinner. We ate at this great Italian place, Mia Bella and I had the yummiest pasta dish. After dinner we headed to the Toyota Center for the game. We were a bit early, but we got to enjoy the pregame show and just chit chat. The game was a blast, although I was pretty tired. The Rockets won, thank god!

On Saturday, we head out to do some shopping at the Galleria. We stopped by the Williams Waterwall which was pretty awesome to see and snapped a few pictures, of course. I picked up some skincare stuff and a few clothes, but it was fun to window shop a bit (hint to my Christmas wish list) and see the mall all decorated for the holidays (albiet, a bit early).

 

 The mall was nuts with holiday shoppers already, but it was still a fun time. I love the variety of stores, high end and low end that the Galleria offers.

In the evening, I was going to meet my boyfriends parents for the first time (insert freak out here). I wasn't feeling great after lunch, for some reason it just didn't sit so well with me. I thought I would be fine, but as you will soon find out, I wasn't. When we got to his house, his parents greeted me and I gave them my gifts (hello, brownie points). We sat and talked for a bit and got to know each other, they are as sweet as can be and I cannot wait to be apart of this family.

Before dinner, A showed me his baby/childhood photo albums which was so fun getting to see him and get to see his childhood through pictures. During that time, I felt super nauseous, but figured it will just pass. We went to sit down for dinner and his mom had cooked up a storm. There was so much food I wasn't sure how I was going to get through even a little bit of it. His mom kept putting more and more stuff on my plate (typical Indian mother) and I knew I was not going to be able to finish it. Well about half way through dinner, things headed downhill on the nausea front. I basically dodged to the bathroom with my hands over my mouth, barely making it before letting everything out.

 I.was.mortified.

After my stomach had exacted it's revenge, I just stood in front of the bathroom mirror in my boyfriends house while his parents probably were sitting outside shaking their heads like what has he gotten himself into. I was upset that this was happening the very first time I was meeting his parents, my future in-laws! When I figured enough time had passed and nothing more was going to be coming out of my body, I slowly made my way back outside. His mom had nicely put my plate away, noting I didn't have to eat anymore, thank god. They asked if I was feeling ok and if I wanted anything. The amazing part that made me love his parents was that they barely made a big deal about the ordeal, just wanting to make sure I was feeling alright...how amazing are they?! I seriously lucked out because in any other situation this would have ended horribly.

Afterwards, A & I headed to a Starbucks in Uptown to grab some coffee and sit and talk since I wasn't up for much more activity after all that.

Come back tomorrow to find out about the rest of my trip...hint: his parents invited me over again and it went SO much better!

 

 

#SOTWW:Country Week

Hey y'all. Since I was in Houston this past weekend, I've definitely been in more of a country jam mood. My absolute favorite country jam so far is by Sam Hunt. If you don't know who he is, Google that bad boy...he's definitely a looker. Yum, yum...break me off a piece of that.

 

 

 

Ok anywho...(wipes the drool off)...here's his song if you haven't heard it yet.

 

 

 Plus a cute acoustic version, look at that smile...sigh.

Linking up with Helene!

In other news, I've been obsessing over Starbucks Caramel Brulee Latte lately. It's the perfect holiday drink and if you're a Rewards member, you can score 50% off holiday drinks from now until Nov 30th with code 2267!

Go get you some.

SOTWW: Taylor's Week

If you don't know what my title is abbreviated for, check out Helene's blog to get the low down. Basically it's what song you're jamming out to this particular week. Last week it was Waves, which is still such a catchy tune. This week though, with the release of Tay Tay's brand spankin new video for Blank Spaces, this song has been replaying in my head since watching the video. P.S. if you haven't seen the video, what are you waiting for...check that ish out because it's pretty spectacular.

 

 

Now say what you will about Tay Tay, but I love her. She's my homegirl and I've always thought she has an amazing way of songwriting (even though they're mostly about boys/breakups, sometimes the bad times make the best songs). I'm loving this entire album and have been definitely replaying this song along with Out of the Woods.

 

Also, tell me you don't tap some body part while listening to Shake it Off?!

 

 

I cannot get over how adorable her cats are, she has them named after Oliva Benson from Law & Order: SVU and Meredith from Grey's Anatomy. I love those 2 characters and her love for her cats is just undeniable and trust me I am NOT a cat person.

 

Ok I will stop gushing over Taylor and her adorable kitties, but go and listen to her entire album you won't regret it!

 

 

 

Tour Around Blog Land

Morning folks! I was asked by the lovely Tabitha to participate in a tour around blog land and it sounded like a fun and unique way to meet some new (and old) bloggers. So thank you to Tabitha for letting me participate in this! If you don't know Tabitha you need to check out her blog, she's not only a student and mommy, but she also has an etsy shop with her wonderful creations so if you are holiday shopping, check out her shop on Etsy!

Here are the questions

What am I working on?

I usually don't plan my posts too far in advance unless I have prompts. Right now just working on getting a few posts done for this week and writing down ideas for future posts. I have been trying to become more organized as far as the blog goes, but I do good for a while and then drop off the wagon.

How does my work differ from others in its genre?

Well I guess I would be considered in the 'lifestyle' category which has a ton of bloggers. I love being able to be individual and share my life with others, but I feel some stuff (like link up's, etc) are similar to other blogs in my genre. I do enjoy link up's because it's a great way to get together with a bunch of bloggers, yet try to maintain individuality.

Why do I write/create what I do?

I like writing what I do because it helps my readers understand me a bit better. I love sharing things about my life that can't be done through other forms of social media like Instagram or Twitter. I also like it because it becomes some what of an outlet to let me write what I'm feeling or thinking without too much judgement. I know things on the Internet are here forever, but I don't think I'm ever inappropriate, plus my readers are awesome with their endless support and motivation when I need it!

How does my writing/creating process work?

Well like I mentioned earlier, I'm not completely a planner when it comes to this here blog. I try and there are moments where I have tons of posts scheduled and drafted up ready to go, but majority of the time I'm either typing one up the night before or the day of (usually at work, whoops). I hope to be more planned, but if that doesn't work out, hopefully what I'm doing is good enough.

Next stop on the blog tour

Kate @ Green Fashionista

Kate is awesome! She is a blogger that I absolutely love reading about & connecting with on a daily basis. She's a Florida girl who has an affinity with fashion, champs, and Kate Spade...this is probably why we get along so well! She has a wonderful hubby & adorable pup, Roxy. Check out her blog and leave her some love, trust me you won't regret it!!

Emily @ Martinis and Bikinis

Emily is another fantastic blogger who I adore. She also resides in sunny Florida, but she is originally from Trinidad. I know we can all be jealous, but she is as sweet as can be so you can't be too jealous. Emily definitely knows how to enjoy her weekends in Florida and does a wonderful job of recapping them and making you feel like you were there. She also has some great recipes that will make you mouth water! Check out her blog and you'll know what I'm talking about!

These amazing bloggers are the sweetest ladies I've had the pleasure of meeting and you should definitely check out both their blogs. They also co-host an awesome link up every Tuesday where they share amazing recipes and you can link up your recipe along with. So if you are in need of some recipes or want to share yours, check them out!