Friday Faves

Happy Friday friends! So as we all know by now, today is 9/11...the day that changed our generation 14 years ago. I just want to remember the beautiful souls that were taken that day with a horrible terror attack that shifted everyone. It's crazy to reflect back on that day, I still remember exactly where I was the moment the world change. It's still surreal, but we have seriously come together like the amazing country that we are and remember the day, but have moved forward through the tragedy.

God Bless & Never Forget.

Although a somber day, we must march on. I'm linking up with my favorite girl Amanda for Friday faves!

Favorite Drink

 

It's that time of year again where the leaves start changing and Pumpkin Spice Latte's get ordered at Starbucks everywhere. Since it was still fairly warm out, I decided to get mine iced. They changed it up and I'm still loving it so get and get you some!

 

 

Favorite workout

 

Favorite Pinterest finds

 

 

Favorite funnies

 

September Goals

Happy Friday eve friends! Even though this was a short week (for most of us) it has seriously been a crazy one. Work has been nonstop which has me exhausted on the daily, I literally cannot wait for the weekend!! 

Now I realize I am pretty late in getting some goals set up for September, but with Labor Day and everything else going on...I'll let it pass. I love the idea of setting up goals for myself for the month and keeping myself accountable on the blog to try to stick to them as best as I can. I feel as the seasons start to change, my mind just feels like recharging and renewing which leads me to some of my goals for this month.

1. Drink 120 oz of water daily

I was doing so well at this earlier in the summer, but of course life takes over. I could definitely be drinking more water throughout my day and want to make it more of a point to do so. Not only do I feel more energized when I drink plenty of water, but my skin looks fantastic. It's nuts that such a small change to your day can make a pretty big difference.

2. Spend only on what I NEED & not what I WANT

I am a terrible impulse buyer. Those little impulse stands at the check-out of stores, yup I'll 9 times out of 10 grab something that I just neeeeed. That needs to stop along with spending money on lunch at work when I could wake up 5 minutes earlier and pack myself a lunch. This will definitely be an ongoing goal, but I think this month I can definitely do good on this.

3. Get back on a 2x/week exercise regimen

I was good on doing this in the summer, but of course fell off the wagon. Now that life has seemed to slow down a bit and the weather is cooling off, I could most definitely allot 2 times a week to exercising. I also want to incorporate more at-home workouts into my routine and stepping up to 3-4 times a week...baby steps though.

4. Plan ahead on blog posts & be more organized

I feel like when life gets hard or busy, the first thing to be put on the back burner is this blog. Now that some of my favorite blogging girls are back (hi Jen @ Party of One & Robin @ Living Colorfully, they are the sweetest girls so if you don't already, check out their blog!) I want to make it a point to plan ahead on my posts and schedule them so I'm not rushing to get them out. I feel like the summer is really hard for bloggers, even though we are doing so many blog-worthy things, we never seem to get a chance to actually post and when we do it's rushed and sloppy...guilty! Now that Fall is nearly upon us and the Holidays are right around the corner, it's the perfect time to get back in a good habit about blogging.

I don't want to overwhelm myself with too many goals, but these are some of the biggies that I want to focus on this month. What are some of the goals you are setting for yourself? Any tips on how to stick to any of these, please comment below!

Wanderlust/Wedding Wednesday

Hey folks! I feel like lately I've been all wedding-ed out so I wont be posting about wedding stuff today, but have the linkup below for all of you who are linking up with Macy & I.

Instead I wanted to recap my recent trip to San Antonio with my love. It's where we had our engagement pictures done (I'm still stalking my photographer on any updates, but none yet) and got to re-experience the place where we got engaged over 3 months ago! I'm joining the Wanderlust Wednesday link-up and linking up with my faves Kate, Kerri & Emily! If you have a recent or past trip that you want to share, go ahead and link up with them!

If you want to read about my time in Houston you can read the recap here!

We drove into San Antonio Sunday mid-day so the first thing we did was headed to the hotel restaurant to grab lunch. Afterwards we did a little walking around the riverwalk to scope out possible spots for our engagement shoot. We headed back and I got to work getting myself ready for the pictures. I was originally going to go to Sephora and get my makeup done, but we decided to do more natural looking pictures so I figured I could do my own. I was so so happy that I did my own makeup (although it took twice as long and an almost-breakdown) because it turned out wonderful and my fiance even complimented me on how great I looked!

My makeup work station, I don't think I could have had more stuff on one table!

Selfie before our photographer got there!

After our outfit change, we had to take a mirror selfie ;)!

After 2.5 hours of taking pictures and walking around cobblestone pavements in high heels, we were pooped! All I wanted to do was take my heels off and relax! My cousin brother has been working/living in San Antonio so we met him up for dinner and drinks. We topped that off with some Häagen-Dazs ice cream, it was super yummy and delicious.

On Monday, we slept in and casually made our way down to the hotel restaurant for some breakfast. Since this was the same hotel we got engaged at, the Catering Manager knew we were staying there and gave us complimentary breakfast which was beyond nice! We definitely pigged out since we were heading to the Natural Bridge Caverns in the afternoon. After about a 30 min drive, we made it to the country for some cavern hiking. It was super cool and such a great workout!

We were super sweaty, even though it was a cool 70° in the caves, the humidity was unreal at 90% humidity! 

This was a picture of a picture (excuse the grainy look of it) because we ended up buying the professional one they took.

After the caves, we were told by a few people that worked at the caves to check out Gruene which is a cute little town just 15 minutes from where we were. I had heard about Gruene Hall because of The Bachelorette this past season, they had a one-on-one date there so I was excited to check it out. It was seriously the cutest little town with shops selling Texas gear, antiques, art, etc. Then of course there was Gruene Hall which is the oldest dance hall in Texas and boy was it cool. I wish it was later in the day so a band would have been playing there, but it was the middle of the day. It was so neat how they kept the integrity of the dance hall with no A/C and the same old school feeling of it. My only complaint was it was pretty dead so I could barely find someone to take our picture in front of the building (this is when a selfie stick would have definitely come in handy). When we finally flagged someone down, of course he cut off the Gruene Hall sign (womp) but hey we still got a picture in front!

After hitting up the shops and strolling around, we decided to head back to the hotel. A wanted to the riverboat tour again so we did that and it was still fun! We were able to scope out a dinner spot while on the boat too! We found a cute Italian place and decided to eat dinner there. We just relaxed the rest of the evening since we were planning on heading out of San Antonio around 7am to make it back home well before my flight.

My new favorite home shirt. I picked it up from one of the shops in Gruene, TX and I'm sure you can find a similar style on Etsy! It's literally the softest and most comfortable shirt I own. (I may or may not be wearing it as I type....meaning I definitely am).

Yummy yummy angel hair pasta with my favorite Prosecco!

We made it back to Houston a few hours before I needed to be at the airport so I packed and squeezed in as much quality time with A and his parents as I possibly could. Of course his mom couldn't send me to the airport hungry, so after a massive lunch, I napped! Alas, it was time to go to the airport and leave my favorite city again. It was bittersweet as always, but this time I swear I felt more at home in Texas than ever before (maybe the shirt helped a little), but I'm getting more and more excited to move to Houston (10 months and counting!!!).

I think this beautiful rainbow in the clouds was the cherry on top of a perfect weekend in Texas!

I can't wait to spend an entire week during Thanksgiving since we already have so many events to attend while there, hoping it comes sooner!!

________________________________________________________________________

Now it is your turn! We would love to have you link-up with your wedding tales, planning adventures and day-of memories.

As always, we would love to have you linking up with us and sharing your wedding inspiration, stories and photos of your own! Just please remember to link back to either mine or Macy's blog in order to keep the Wedding Wednesday fun going around.

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Vaca Recap {Texas Traveling}

So another month, another trip to Houston to visit my beau. This was my first trip back to Houston and San Antonio since getting engaged. It was so great being back in my new favorite place seeing my future in-law's and A's family. I got to spend my birthday with all of them and it was a blast. I was seriously beyond spoiled with gifts from my future mother-in-law...perk of her working at Dillard's is Kate Spade everything!!! I also got plenty of goodies from A, his family, and my cousin.

Today I'll just be recapping my time in Houston, tomorrow will be more about our trip to San Antonio where I'll be linking up for the Wanderlust Wednesday link up!

Most of this will be a picture dump, although I wish I took more actual pictures as opposed to snapchats (follow me on snapchat npat62!!).

I got into Houston right around 5ish and by the time we got home it was close to 6pm. We ate dinner and hung out watching tv, keeping it pretty low key since we were both exhausted.

The following day, since A had to work, I hung out with my cousin where we headed to the Woodlands Mall. It was such a cute little area with tons of shops in both the mall and the town center area which is my favorite. We of course had to stop by the Kendra Scott store and redeem our birthday 50% off!! 

After A got off work, we headed home to freshen up and head out for our dinner reservation. We decided to celebrate my birthday just us 2 that night and it was a blast. We were both craving Thai so we went to SongKran Thai Kitchen. The food was pretty good, afterwards we headed out to meet up a few of A's friends downtown at some interesting bars. After deciding we were over that, we went to Rice Village to grab a quick drink at. We found a bar that was playing great 90s music so we stuck around for a bit. After finally realizing we couldn't hang much longer, we called it a night and went home.

Since it was past midnight when we got home and technically my birthday, A gave me my birthday gift which was this amazing David Yurman necklace in a dark purple stone. 

The next day, we woke up and it was my 27th birthday!! I celebrated by having pancakes and we set out to go shopping. For lunch we met up with some friends of A's who we ended up spending 3 hours with! After being stuffed we headed home where A's family all came over to help me celebrate. I couldn't have asked for more kind people to be in my life, they all graciously gave me plenty of gifts, especially my future mother-in-law, who spoiled me rotten!

{from top left, clockwise}

My coworkers sweet gifts and Nordstrom giftcard;

My sweet cousin sis who knows my love of Sephora;

My gift to myself, Kendra scott goodies;

My future mother-in-law who knows I love hard for Kate Spade!

I also got plenty of cash and beautiful cards from other family members, literally haven't been more spoiled in my years!

After getting spoiled, A's cousins and us went out for a yummy mexican dinner. I wore this gorgeous white lace dress that A got for me while we were out shopping. Afterwards we headed back to one of the cousins house to watch a movie. We ended up watching Before I Go To Sleep which was a psychological thriller type movie, it was pretty good and if you need a movie to check out on Netflix, you should watch!

I have to say I had one of the best birthdays celebrating with my new family and feeling more at home in Texas than ever before.  Tune in tomorrow to hear about the rest of my trip where we went to San Antonio!

TV Shows to Watch for this Fall

So I can be a bit of a TV junkie, especially of having an entire summer without too many good shows on. I'm excited for the Fall TV schedule to finally come out later this month and get back into the swing of great TV. I got the idea of the post from Biana from B Loved Boston so check out her picks on what to watch come Fall. I've scoped out my fave new shows that I'll be checking out. I'm breaking it down to give you guys something to watch basically the entire week.

 

 

Sunday

 

Blood & Oil

 

 

The previews for this show has me really pumped. Not only is Chase Crawford (hottie alert) in it, but it's a different kind of show than what's on TV already that has a little bit of everything for everyone. It airs on ABC September 27th.

 

 

Quantico

 

 

Being Indian, of course it's exciting seeing an Indian celeb in a talked about ABC show. This looks like such a good show that has staying power, on the same level as Scandal and How to get Away with Murder. An ABC show airing September 27th.

 

 

Monday

 

Life in Pieces

 

 

This show kind of reminds me of Parenthood which makes it a good buffer for those folks still heartbroken about the show being over. The good thing is this is a lighter comedic show, sounds like a good half hour of your life. Airing on CBS September 21st.

 

 

Blindspot

 

 

I love that this concept is new and different. The trend I've been seeing lately is rebooting old shows or making prequel/sequel type shows. It sounds like a refreshing concept. It airs on NBC on September 21st.

 

 

Tuesday

 

Grandfathered

 

 

I actually caught the pilot on my flight to Houston and was pleasantly surprised at how cute this show was. Of course John Stamos is a hottie still and Josh from Drake & Josh is in the show. Seems like a fun show, kind of like Baby Daddy with a little twist. Airs on FOX on September 29th.

 

 

Chicago Med

 

 

Another Chicago based show, I'll definitely be tuning in. This is a spin off of Chicago PD and Chicago Fire, two shows that I love already. My coworker and I have tossed around the idea of heading downtown and being an extra on the show since they were looking for real medical professionals. This airs on NBC November 17th.

 

 

Wednesday

 

Code Black

 

 

 

Another medical drama, sign me up! I can't get enough and hope this turns out to be a good one. I'll definitely be checking it out seeing as the cast is pretty great. It airs on CBS September 30th.

 

 

Rosewood

 

 

 

I've been slowly seeing previews for this show and it seems like one of those under the radar breakout shows. Morris Chestnut stars in it and it just seems like a fun and exciting show. I hope it sticks around. It airs on FOX September 23rd.

 

 

Thursday

 

TGIT!!!!

 

My Thursdays will be devoted to Greys, Scandal & How to get Away with Murder. If you don't already watch, catch up on Netflix and get with it, you're missing out!!!

 

 

Friday

 

Dr. Ken

 

So you all probably know or heard of Ken Jeong, he's been in movies like Hangover and TV shows like Community, did you know he happens to be a doctor in real life?! He's getting his own show and it looks funny, I have high expectations. It airs on ABC October 2nd.

 

 

Truth Be Told

 

 

Another light hearted comedy show. Mark Paul Gosselaar who played Zach Morris on Saved by the Bell stars in this show. It examines the different obstacles 2 sets of couples have to deal with, seems like a good show. It airs October 16th on NBC.



Wedding Wednesday

Happy Wedding Wednesday friends! In lieu of being exhausted from a bunch of traveling, I'm not posting this week. I'll still have the link up live below for you guys to share. In the meantime I'll be catching up on the blog posts I've missed out on for the past week and work on my recap of my trip.

Here are some teaser pictures taken from my not so professional iPhone camera during our engagement photo shoot!

Waiting for our photographer

Rustic '&' sign for our prop

After our change of outfit, we decided to take our own mirror selfie shot.

________________________________________________________________________

Now it is your turn! We would love to have you link-up with your wedding tales, planning adventures and day-of memories.

As always, we would love to have you linking up with us and sharing your wedding inspiration, stories and photos of your own! Just please remember to link back to either mine or Macy's blog in order to keep the Wedding Wednesday fun going around.

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Butter London Bloody Brilliant Lip Crayon {Review}

Hey friends!! So a couple of weeks ago I got an email notifying me that I won a giveaway the beautiful Meg from Meg O. on the Go where I got 7   Butter London Bloody Brilliant lip crayons!! I was so thrilled because I never win the super cool giveaways like this and have been wanting to try out the new line. I definitely have my favorites (here if you checked out my favorite lippies post) and know there are some shades I just cannot pull off. Luckily I have friends and family that love wearing bold shades that look great on them so they will be getting those. Now let's just get into what the swatches look like!

{From Left > Right}

Tea with the Queen

Teddy Boy

Toff

Ruby Murray

Primrose Hill Picnic

Disco Biscuit

Trout Pout

I did try them all on just to get an idea of what looked good and what didnt, but I didnt photograph it and I didn't want to do that all over again. My biggest pro for these lippies is the fact that they have a sharpener right on the top of the lid!! It's so convenient and works out great!

If you are in the market for new lip crayons I definitely recommend picking these puppies up.


I was not compensated in any way by Butter London or anyone else, these are my honest and true opinions on the product.