2017 Travel Diary | Waking Up In Vegas Part 1

Hey loves! So I am finally getting down to recapping our trip to Vegas. I don't know what it is about traveling that just makes me lose all want to do much of anything. The few days after we got back, we've been dealing with issues my car is giving me and other things that have been coming up so needless to say I've been keeping busy.

We traveled to Vegas on Thursday and came back to Houston on Sunday evening. Once we got to the airport, our driver was ready to pick us up...definitely a great perk of staying at the Aria Sky Suites. I've never stayed at Aria, but I have to say I'm very impressed with the hotel and the service, definitely the best I've had and we are definitely loyal to them (hubby has been staying there the past 5-6 years now).

THURSDAY:

Private entrance for the Sky Suites at Aria.

We freshened up and headed out to explore...I had been craving some Secret Pizza ever since I was there 2 years back for my friends bachelorette party. If you haven't heard of this it's basically a little hole in a wall pizza place that serves amazing slices! It's located on the 2nd floor of the Cosmopolitan but doesn't have any signs so it took us a minute to actually find it. We were so hungry at this point we each ordered 2 slices and scarfed it down! 

We then made our way over to Planet Hollywood and the Miracle Mile Shops for a makeup appointment I had at Sephora. Since I'm a VIB Rouge, I figured I would take advantage of one being right across the street and book a makeup appointment. I was a bit early, but they were able to accommodate me and I loved my makeup artist, we were chatting away the time and I loved my look, minus my lip. It was a little too vampy for my taste and it just didn't work on me so I took that off and replaced it with a nice mauve color.

I made my way back to our hotel and met up hubby who was watching some of the March Madness games. I decided to partake in it and it got down to the wire at the end of some of the games, the excitement in the room was electric!

We headed up after some of them ended and got ready for our dinner at Lemongrass which was a delicious Thai restaurant located inside the Aria. Our food was absolutely delicious, I had some soup, spring rolls and the Pad Thai. The service could have been better, but the atmosphere was very cool.

Afterwards we headed over to Bellagio for the Cirque De Soleil "O" Show. It was an incredible show and I was just fascinated. The only thing I wish is that we didn't book it on the night we had just gotten there because we were both exhausted!!

We headed back to our hotel and decided to call it a night!

FRIDAY:

I woke up bright and early, thanks time difference and headed down to the Spa for my facial. I had access all day to the facilities so I decided to go early and take advantage of that. I soaked in the whirlpool for a bit until I was called. Let me tell you that was the best facial I've ever had, the technician was so professional and experienced. Even during the extraction, I never felt discomfort and she gave me some samples of moisturizer and sunscreen to use afterwards. Once I was finished, I went into the hot stone room and laid on them for a while before showering and heading back up to the room. Perfect way to start the day!

When I got back to the room, hubby was awake and we decided to get ready and head out for breakfast. We did stop to enjoy the view from our room, even though it wasn't a strip view, we were able to check out if the pool was busy or not.

We made our way to Hash House A Go Go at the Linq Hotel. Even though we had thought we were there early enough, the line was pretty crazy and we had about a 45 minute wait. It was well worth it because our food was amazing!! 

We decided to walk our way back to Aria so that way we could burn off what we just ate and get a little pedestrian view of the strip. We rested up a little bit before heading down to the pool. It was the perfect weather, not too hot and not too cold. I stayed cooled off in the pool enjoying my frozen cocktail.

After soaking up some sunshine, we headed back up to the room. I took a quick power nap before headed back over to the Miracle Mile Shops to go to  DryBar for a blow out. It was my very first time here and I was excited for it! The whole experience was great and they did such a fabulous job with my hair, plus I didn't have to worry about doing my hair that night!

We met up with a friend for some drinks at Cosmo to watch some games. A few hours later, we headed back to our hotel room to get ready for the night. We ate at Javier's at Aria that night and it was great. It was definitely a late dinner because the place was so booked up, but service was kind of lacking again. The ambiance was great and you didn't feel like you were in a hotel casino!

We got tickets that night to go to Jewel Nightclub at the Aria to see Lil' Jon. I wasn't expecting the amount of people that showed up, but it was packed and so much fun! We aren't much of the clubbing type, but we figured when in Vegas! We had promised some friends we would take tequila shots in their honor so we did that...ended up getting them for free since the bartender was just overwhelmed with the crowd and forgot about us! We must have found the married couple crowd because that's where we were pretty much hanging out until around 1am when we decided to call it a night.

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Since this post is already long and picture heavy, I've decided to break down the post. I'll post about all the excitement that went down on Saturday and trust me you won't want to miss out. I'll mention how I'm basically BFF's with Nick Carter and something scary that happened during our time in Vegas!

Spring Sephora or Ulta Gift Card Giveaway

Happy Monday friends! We got home late last night from Vegas so today's post is just being brought to you because of this awesome Spring giveaway I'm a part of. I will be back for a full recap of my Vegas shenanigans, but as of right now I am really struggling. This week is going to feel super long, but here's to hoping it goes quickly for me and all of you!!

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To get you fresh and ready for a new season, a group of us blogger babes have teamed up to gift one lucky person a $75 Sephora or Ulta gift card --winner's choice and a bunch of my tried and true favorite products including a GlamGlow mask, BECCA Highlighter and more. The giveaway ends Sunday April 2, so be sure to check back on the blog next week to see if you're the winner!

Thank you for all your support and constant love, good luck!

The Giveaway Gals:

Emelia  Lindsay  Ashley 

Kate  Macy  Emily  

Kerri   Nikki  Chelsea

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Weekending | Short Workweek Ahead

Happy Monday friends! Was it just me still struggling to get out of bed due to this time change...I feel like I'm blaming the time change a lot, but seriously you took away a precious hour of sleep from me!

Anyway, luckily this is a short week for me since we are headed to Vegas on Thursday!! Tonight I'm hitting up the Rodeo one last time for this year with my cousin and I cannot wait to see Florida Georgia Line perform!!!

On Friday we celebrated St. Patty's Day a little bit at work by putting temporary tats on each other, a lot of people were off due to Spring Break so it was fun just goofing off.

Saturday we woke up bright and early and headed to the Galleria area for some last minute shopping. I didn't really need much, just some of my usual stuff at Sephora, but hubby needed some new shoes and shirts. I was proud to say I didn't buy myself anything besides what I needed at Sephora! After a quick lunch at Cheesecake Factory, we headed back home to relax the day away. I loved my new shoes that I got last weekend so much I decided to wear them when we went shopping, not the best walking around a lot kind of shoes, but they looked cute and I broke them in for Vegas.

That evening we rented The Accountant, I fell asleep during the last 30 minutes so that should tell you what I thought of it. Hubby watched the whole thing, but agreed with the 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, he didn't think there was much of a complete story, like we knew certain things, but felt there was more that needed to be added. Sorry Benny Ben, you're brother totally beats you on the acting front....stick to directing!

Sunday was spent being super productive, getting a ton done around the house as far as cleaning and laundry. My MIL is going to India for a month sort of last minute, so getting prepped for that has been a doozy. The next few weeks without her are going to be long and tough, but it'll be good practice for me running a household on my own! In the midst of all the packing and cleaning her and I got done that day, we decided to take a little break to get pampered and get mani/pedi's. My color is definitely more of a neon orange/coral color, but it doesn't really show in the picture. I love this color because it pairs super well with a nice tan which I'm hoping to get in Vegas.

Again if you missed out on my snaps from last week's Rodeo fun, be sure to follow along tonight while I experience it all over again! Snapchat (npat62) & Instagram (npat62)!

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Linking up with Biana for Weekending!

Friday Loves | My First HoustonRodeo

Happy Friday loves! This week has felt long and I've been off since the time change...still not adjusting well to that. I think if they want to change the time, we should have that whole week off, whose with me?!

Anyway at least this week was fun, albeit long. If you followed along on my Snapchat story (npat62) or Instagram stories (npat62) you probably saw all my over-snapping from my very first time at the Houston Rodeo. It was such a blast and even though I was beyond exhausted that night after we got home, it was well worth going to bed a little later than usual.

We got there early enough to walk around the carnival grounds, play some games and grab some yummy food (see: saying Oo I need that to just about anything). I played one game and luckily won (beating out a bunch of kids, whoops) to win my Hello Kitty mermaid plush...I love her and am glad I only had to spend $5 to win her.

After walking and eating our way through the carnival grounds, we headed inside to our seats to catch the actual rodeo shows. There was a lot of cowboy stuff going on, here are the few pictures that I took of that (mostly everything else were videos).

I was kinda bummed that they only had one event that featured female riders, but that was probably one of my favorite events of the night. Of course my absolute favorite event was mutton bustin'. If you don't know what that is, you need to youtube it asap. Imagine bull riding except take out the bull and add sheep and then a small human gripping on for dear life as long as they can stay on...that equals just about the cutest thing ever. Also this yardstick pina colada was much needed after all that walking around.

Once the rodeo events were all through with, they transformed the area with a stage ready for Sam Hunt to entertain us for the next hour. He was such a good performer and even though we were all the way up there, we still had an awesome view of the revolving stage! It makes me even more excited for Florida Georgia Line (incase you missed all my snaps and instastories, be sure to catch them this coming Monday when I Rodeo again!)

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Overall it was such a fun time and I cannot wait to experience it one more time this year! Next year hubby and I already decided we need to take a day off from work to enjoy the full day of events. If you've never been to Houston or to a rodeo, I highly highly recommend partaking in the fun next year. I already convinced many of my friends and family to make the trip up next year to experience it! 

Linking up with Andrea, April, Katie, and Amanda!

Weekending | Springing Forward

Happy Monday morning cupcakes! Today was the first time I felt the time change and it was awful! Walking out to my car and having it be pitch black out...no thanks! I want my sunshine back!!! The only good thing that comes out of today being Monday is that I get to leave work a bit earlier and head to the Houston Rodeo with my main squeeze Sam Hunt (oh and hubby too 😉). Catch all of the fun the Rodeo has to offer on my snapchat (npat62) and Instagram (npat62)!

This weekend was pretty low key, we did a bit of shoe shopping and eating yummy (but awful for you) foods too! 

Friday night we ended up renting Manchester By The Sea, overall I thought it was a decent movie. I absolutely loved Casey Affleck's acting, but kind of got annoyed by the other characters. 

Saturday we headed out to a few stores before a big rain storm hit us in the afternoon. We went to DSW to use up some giftcards I got. Let me tell you, I always head right to the clearance section of this store because 9 times out of 10 I will always find something there in my size and at an incredible price. I ended up getting 2 pairs of shoes, a fancier pump and wedge sandals. The pumps were originally $79.94 and I ended up getting them for $17! The wedge sandals were $49.94 and I ended up paying $34.94! Here are the wedge sandals I got, but I couldn't find the pumps. They seemed to be the only pair at DSW that day too, so I wonder if they were on final final sale. I love that these wedges look cute with the gladiator-esque style, but are super duper comfortable! Plus this color goes with just about anything and everything under the sun! 

I had been craving some cupcakes so we headed over to Gigi's to grab some yummy treats. I couldn't wait to dig into this confetti cake I picked up, let me tell you...best decision ever! 

Sunday was spent waking up an hour later than usual (thanks DST). I didn't really feel the time change Sunday because we didn't have much planned. I didn't feel sleepy at the time I usually go to bed and ended up sleeping a half hour later than usual. Which definitely made it difficult to wake up this morning. For dinner we met up with our cousins and headed to our favorite, Chuy's! 

Can we just take a minute to talk about a super cute "Beauty and the Feast" shirt they had on their wall...too bad they didn't have my size or else that bad boy was coming home with me...now to stalk all the Chuy's to find my size!!

So waking up this morning was probably already awful, but then add that it was basically night-time out. Luckily it's Spring Break week which means minimal traffic and getting to work a whole 20 minutes sooner than usual. I'll take it especially since getting out of work will be 100% worse this week.

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Linking up with Biana who celebrated her birthday this weekend and is frolicking around La La Land :)! 

Five on Friday

Hey folks, sorry for my lack of showing up here with you guys! I just dropped the ball and this week was quite the doozy, luckily it went by super quickly which was great! We don't have much planned for the weekend except doing a little shopping for our upcoming Vegas trip! Between my MIL's colonoscopy which had us up at 4am, my 2nd appointment with the dentist for this god awful root canal and craziness at work, can I just say THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY!!

Earlier in the week we got my cousin's save the date in the mail and it made me super excited!! I cannot wait to go to Tampa and see everyone again, too bad it's all the way in December, but I'm sure it'll be here before we know it! How adorable are they and how gorgeous is this picture?!

I didn't share this picture from our Go Texan Day which was last Friday. A bunch of us dressed up at work and it was so much fun wearing our jeans and cowboy boots to kick of Rodeo season in Houston! Let me tell you, I'm already over the traffic around the medical center and it's been a week!

This week we also had International Women's Day, it made me proud to be a strong, independent and fierce woman like many that have come before me. I was also loving Snapchat's fun filters!

Last night I went to a rep dinner and it was my first one in Houston. We went to this super cute little restaurant in Rice Village that had this fun farmhouse fresh look and the food was absolutely delicious! I'm definitely adding it to my restaurants to try out, especially for brunch. Plus there is an adorable milk and cookie stand right next door, could it be any better?! Check out Tinys No.5 if you're in the Rice Village area of Houston.

I'll leave y'all with some humor now....

Seriously the worst feeling in the world...

OMG yes!

🙌

After a tough week of crazy people at work...just looking to make it through the day folks

Sometimes I'm not even sure how I made it there in that much time.

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This coming week is going to be busy busy busy and I'm excited for it! Monday we go to see Sam Hunt at the Rodeo and Thursday we celebrate our 8 month wedding anniversary with a dinner with some friends at our favorite restaurant. Then the following week we head to Vegas and I cannot wait. The anticipation of it is just killing me because we have not had a vacation where it's just the two of us since our honeymoon in August!!!

Happy Friday loves, Linking up with Andrea, April, Katie, and Amanda!

Favorite Purchases | February

With February over and done with, we're into March and Springtime! I discovered some great new products in February and I had to share them with you. None of these are sponsored in anyway besides me actually loving it.

Transforming Walnut Scrub ($28)

This scrub was something my little sister told me about and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I had tried some of hers when I was in Chicago and I was instantly hooked. It not only smells amazing, but the way it makes your skin feel afterwards is amazing. Considering how budget friendly this is, I know I will continue to use this in my skincare routine.

eBags Mother Lode TLS Weekender Convertible ($119.99)

So after reading about this on Kristen's blog under her packing tips I knew I wanted this. The fact that I got such a great deal on it totally helped and the reviews on this thing, out of this world. Since we have quite a few big trips planned for this year I figured this would be the best thing for me so I could overpack without having to bother with checking bags in. From the reviews, you could pack 2-3 weeks worth of stuff for Europe in the bag...that's insane! Even though Vegas is a short trip, I'll definitely be packing this so I could test it out before our 7-day cruise and London!

So Totally Clean Anti Blemish Pads ($6.99)

So I picked these up kind of on a whim because I wanted acne pads that felt like they were working and making a difference. I got these at the beginning of the month so I've had a good amount of time to figure out if they are helping or not and let me tell you, these bad boys make a difference! I have a few other products from Formula 10.0.6 and I enjoy all of them so I knew this was a brand I could trust. These definitely sting so make sure if you have cystic acne to slowly go over them. They have the max strength salicylic acid in each pad and I use it all around my face every night. It's not too drying or burning (just be extra careful around your eyes). For the price tag you can't beat this.

Lace Up Ballet Flats ($24.99)

When I saw these on Biana's post in red, I knew I needed a pair similar. Turns out they were from Target and super affordable!! Under $30 for the shoes that everyone is talking about?! Yes please! These are not only cute to dress up an outfit, without a heel they are probably more comfortable to walk around in. I know these will be getting some good use in Vegas later this month!

Coty Airspun Loose Face Powder ($7.99)

When I ran out of my setting powder towards the end of Feb, I was on the hunt for a good loose powder that would get the job done and if it were with a drugstore price, I was sold. After doing a little bit of research and reading multiple sites reviews, I came across this one. Guys this stuff is dirt cheap and it actually works!! Literally my makeup doesn't move an inch the entire day with this stuff. I also find that the quantity of this product is much bigger than others. I even use more than I need just because it's so cheap and there's so much of this stuff! You can pick this up at Walgreens or CVS and it won't break the bank at all! It also has various shades, but I got the translucent full coverage. It does have a little fragrant scent to it, but it doesn't bother me much at all.

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That's about it folks. I bought a few cute dresses and tops from Old Navy, but haven't gotten them yet so I can't sing their praises quite yet. What are some fun purchases you've made last month that you can't get enough of?