What I'm Loving Wednesday!

Hey guys! I wanted to do my very first What I'm Loving Wednesday and showcase what things I'm loving right now!

- I'm Loving that I only have 6 more weeks of class left!! I have been getting overwhelmed with classes (why did I take 4 classes in the summer again, anyway). Just keeping in mind that I only have 6 more weeks left of classes is a nice thing to look forward to I guess. 

- I'm Loving my very first guest post with the help of the lovely Vicki who blogs over at My Vickilicious Life (so you should check it out). 


- I'm Loving all the people I am able to meet just through blogging.


- I'm Loving that I get my very first Birchbox this month! I have heard so many great things about it and I cannot wait to try it myself. If you have never heard of it, or even if you have and have been on the fence I would just say go for it. At just $10 a month (you can cancel whenever you want) you can't go wrong, plus I love to try out new products and this is the perfect way. If you are interested, here is a link https://www.birchbox.com?raf=zdhkj


- I'm Loving my workplace's summer fitness program. Working in the healthcare field, you would think it would be easier to take care of your body, but on the contrary. We don't have a gym or workout facility at our hospital, but we have an awesome wellness department who has great programs going on and this summer it's the Commit 2B Fit program. They give you a pedometer and you have to walk (or run) at least 10,000 steps per day for the 8 week length of the program. I didn't realize how much of a challenge it could be at times to get those 10,000 steps, but I am excited for it and can't wait to see some progress!

- I'm Loving that the Miami Heat lost the first of 7 games against the Thunder yesterday and I couldn't be happier!! I couldn't pass up writing this one because although I am a die hard Chicago Bulls fan, I really want OKC to beat the Heat in the Finals and after yesterdays game, I am sure they will!  

What are YOU loving today?

Social Sunday with Ashley and Neely

I am very excited to be blogging and linking up with {Neely} and {Ashley} today. This is the first linkup for Social Sunday and if you don't know what it is it is a great way to blog during the weekends (which we all know is hard to do) and meet new bloggers along the way! You can visit either of the two lovely girls' blogs to learn some more info, but here are the questions for this weeks link-up!


How did you come up with your blog name? I actually had started off with a completely different name and kept changing it until it just felt right, I felt like I was doing more makeup-ish blogging (along with other stuff), but I felt it was creative enough, and short and sweet :).


What is your favorite thing about blogging? Blogging is a great way to express yourself and get your voice out there in the world and it is also an amazing way to meet some pretty amazing people. In such a short amount of time, I have already connected with some pretty awesome bloggers who have helped me improve many things in my blog.


What is one thing you have discovered because of blogging and now can't live without? I have learned a lot of new tips and tricks on a vast number of things ranging from beauty tips to blogging tricks to just different product reviews. It really is nice to know what products to shop for and what is really working for people first before buying them. I really feel a sense of community with blogging and love that!


Facebook and Twitter? And why? Twitter! I used to be all about Facebook, but lately I think Twitter is great because it is quick and you can just connect with people easier I think, but Facebook I still use mostly because of all the hundreds of pictures I have on there (I should back those up somewhere, shouldn't I).


If one celeb read your blog who would you want it to be?  I think I would be Taylor Swift. I love her and she is super humble and sweet. I know she is really a busy person, but she seems so down to earth and real and just seems like she cares about her fans and the people who have gotten her to where she is and that really makes a person stand out.


What is something you want people to know about your blog?  I'm just a down-to-earth girl, just living life and hoping to make some sort of impact on this world (albeit tiny), but I want to show mostly myself that there are more things out there for myself and that I am capable of doing those things. I never imagined myself to be where I am at this stage in my life and I am here so I am thankful each and everyday for the opportunity to continue on. So hopefully this blog is just a growing experience for me to just continue on in learning about myself and my ability to not only learn myself but teach others about hair/makeup/fashion (but I am by NO means an expert, just an enthusiast)!


I had a lot of fun doing this week's Social Sunday and can't wait until next Sunday to link-up with all you wonderful ladies!!

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Evening everyone! Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend so far. I have been running around and when I got home all I wanted was something healthy to drink and in my freezer I have had a bag of market pantry fruit smoothie. This is really easy to make and all you need is a bag of the fruit smoothie which I got from Target, a blender, either 1 cup of water or juice (whichever you prefer). If you want a thicker smoothie you can add some ice in the blender as well. 

In the blender you mix the bag of fruit smoothie, the yogurt packet that comes inside the bag, 1 cup of water or juice, and the ice if you prefer. Blend together until you get the consistency that you like.

Blend, blend, and blend!! Once it is a nice and creamy, you can either drink it right away or do what I did and make some smoothie pops. I have a Popsicle mold and placed the smoothie in that and placed it in the freezer for a few hours so I will post some pictures after a few hours of it getting nice and frozen! Whatever didn't fit in the Popsicle mold I put in a glass with a sugar rim around the edge and drank to make it extra fancy! This smoothie turned out amazing and it didn't take long at all, I definitely recommend it and the only downfall is I wish it made more, but I think next time instead of 1 cup of juice I can add more! 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone and I'll be back to do a link-up with Ashley & Neely tomorrow!!

Amber's Blogiversary Giveaway

Hey everyone! Amber over at Brunch with Amber is hosting an entire week of giveaways to celebrate 2 years of blogging!! This is such an accomplishment for her and she is hosting some pretty awesome giveaways. 

Her first giveaway is today and it is a "girly prize package" for all you girly girls out there go and enter her giveaway today and all this week for a chance to win her fabulous prizes!! 


Good Luck to all who enter!!

Nail Files

Happy Friday everyone! This is the first time  I am ever doing a link-up and I have been wanting to do one for a long time now, but this is one of my favorites because I am obsessed with painting my nails (almost too much). I become hypnotized when I pass by a display of nail polish especially anything by OPI, Essie, or Sally Hansen. Their colors are just to die for and I just love their quality and they just seem to last for a long time. I think my favorite summer color has got to be OPI's Thanks A Windmillion. It is a mint/teal color that is not too overly bright or not too dark and I find that it goes with just about everything. I find myself wearing it on my fingers and toes a lot more this summer and probably will continue to, unless I come across another favorite! 

What are some of your guys' favorite colors this summer?

linking up with Vicki & Tara!

Home decor haul

So today I had night class and afterwards my mom told me about a sale going on at Garden Ridge (which for those who don't know is sort of a warehouse store that has a pretty great selection of home decor/misc items for pretty stinkin' cheap). So the sale was for 75% off regular price and I just couldn't pass up the chance to check out what they had. I had been looking to get some new frames and whatnot for my room anyway and figured I would see what they had. Well I walked in and had about 45 mins before they were closing to get through all their sale aisles, which were pretty messy, and since they weren't clearly marked I kept having to go to the scanner to see if it was truly on sale or not. Well all in all I found some pretty awesome stuff to add to my room and it all goes with the color scheme of my room perfectly! I actually think I may be going back tomorrow a bit earlier to get a little bit longer to shop since I need a better mirror for my room and did eye a couple today. So here is what I got today.

This first is a set of 3 shadow boxes in pink. The original price for it was $14.99 and I paid $3.74 for it! I have been on the hunt for these for such a long time because I have a plethora of things that need to be placed on shelves and these are going to be perfect!

This was originally $5.99 which isn't too bad to begin with, but I only paid $1.49 for it. I think this is cute. They had two more that said smile and laugh, but I just couldn't let myself get them because I already knew I didn't have much room to put all this stuff up.

This is probably my favorite things that I got today because it is a magnetic picture board, but I am in love with the pattern of it. It was the last one like it and it matches my closet curtain and body pillow patterns perfectly. For an original price of $19.99 I only paid $4.99 for this board. Also notice the cute red bow detail at the top, super cute!

This is probably my 2nd favorite item from today's purchases because I had been on the hunt for one of these big frame collages for a long time now and to find it in pink is awesome! I also love the pictures that are already in the frames, can I keep those in there or is it necessary to change them to people I actually know?! Well anyway this gorgeous 8 frame collage is originally priced at only $12.99, but I only paid $3.24.

This was my final purchase and I couldn't pass this one up. I think this was adorable and it's actually not even for me. One of my best friends is a teacher and she is actually getting her own classroom after a year of sharing one with another teacher so she needs to start decorating her  room with personal items and her two favorite things are the color green and books so this could not be more perfect and the original price-tag on this was $4.99 but it was marked down to $1.24 so I for sure could not let this one go. 

I think this is one of the few times I have been kind to my wallet, paying close to $16 or so with tax for 5 high quality home goods items. It is refreshing to know there are places like Garden Ridge that still offer great items for the home including some pretty cool artwork, frames, wall scones, candle holders, luggage, etc at very affordable prices. If there is a Garden Ridge near by you I highly recommend checking them out because even without their sales they have very affordable prices, and for those medical professionals who need scrubs they even sell affordable scrubs in so many different colors, sizes, varieties! 

I was not compensated by Garden Ridge or any affiliates for this post, all opinions are my own!

Free dinner ya'll

Hey everyone! I was trying to get this post up last night, but my internet was really acting up and I just got too frustrated to try fixing it. Anyway last night I got to go to a dinner through work at this fancy steakhouse. I feel like this is a perk working in a hospital and especially in a specialized department like cardiology. Now I am only a tech in the department for the time being since I am in school, but I still get invited to all these events since I deal with all the pharmaceuticals used, etc. This particular dinner was hosted by a pharmaceutical company that provides our department some of our lovely cardiology drugs and there was a cardiologist who spoke about the changes that have helped patients throughout the past few years from the last medication that we used and during this we enjoyed some pretty awesome food. I had never been to this steakhouse, but I had heard some pretty amazing stuff and free wine so there was no complaining! This was my outfit, nothing fancy:

1. Top: Target, mossimo supply co. boyfriend tee in black
2. Jeans: Gilly Hicks, vintage denim cheeky stretch in dark navy wash
3. Watch: Nine West, gold watch with diamond accents and mother of pearl finish face
4. Bracelet: Target, tan chunky bracelet w/ gold & diamond accents
5. Shoes: Target, merona emeline braided flat sandals in gold


If you can tell I am sort of obsessed with Target, I just bought those sandals and decided they went with all the other gold accessories I had on (also wore my gold Michael Kors handbag) and they have so many other pretty colors that seem like they go with many outfits that I may be picking up later this month! So onto the food, like I said as soon as I got to the steakhouse, we had a private conference room which was nice we were seated and offered red or white wine and I graciously accepted the Chardonnay.

Yum :)

They then brought out family style apps for the entire table and before I could even snap a picture everyone had grabbed them up (that's how yummy they were!) but shortly after that we were presented with our steak house salad 

Icceberg, Romaine and baby lettuces with cherry tomatoes, garlic croutons and red onions topped with a vinaigrette

Albeit, it was just a salad, but it was such a good salad and whatever was in the vinaigrette was amazing, just the right amount of creaminess! Next up was the entree and for that I ordered the penne pasta dish with vegetables in a butter sauce. 

Looks delish, no? Well it definitely was, by this point I was stuffed, like ready to unbutton my jean button stuffed, but I had to remind myself I was in public and I couldn't do that. Pretty soon after finishing dinner they brought out the dessert, which is my favorite part of any meal. I was worried I wasn't gonna be able to eat it, but low and behold my stomach made just enough room to devour the dessert. 

Chocolate sin cake w/ fresh seasonal berries in a sweet cream sauce

I mean beyond delicious. Afterwards, a few of us hung back to finish up the wine in our glasses and just gossip, but considering a few of us (not including me) had work early the next morning we all decided to call it a night. 

It is nice to know that even in an economy like ours employers like mine still get small perks like these, this is nothing compared to what we used to get years before, but it is really nothing to complain about. All in all it was a great night.