Travel Essentials

The upcoming Holiday's mean some travel will be happening.  I put together a few of my travel essentials.
First of all when picking out what to wear I always go for comfort. (Which could be why I am no fashion blogger.)  My winter travel attire is usually leggings, a VS sweatshirt, Uggs and Ray-Bans.  Comfy and warm.
I just love my monogrammed weekender bag and it's the perfect size to put all the things I want easy access to in the car.  I always bring along a pillow and blanket, hand lotion (no one wants dry skin), Ear buds, car charger, baby wipes (great for cleaning hands and spills in the car), of course snacks because I am always hungry, and I rarely leave home without a Tervis Tumbler of water.

If you aren't driving to your destination and will be flying where you might need a rental car check out Turo.    Turo is a peer-to-peer car rental service, they offer many different models of cars and price ranges depending on your needs.  You can rent anything from a mini van to a G wagon or even a Jaguar F-type.  After browsing around their site I now want to go rent a car!

If anyone tries their service out let me know I would love to hear your experiences!

Gift Guide

The Holiday's can be tough when it comes to gift giving.  I always have the hardest time figuring out what to get people.  I put together a few of my favorite gift picks and the best part is they are all under $50.  I don't mean $49.99 either like really under $50.

1.)  Essie's mini four pack of holiday polish.  I might be a polish addict.
2.) Old Navy's PJ pants.  I buy some every year, so comfy and cheap!
3.) Kate Spade Glitter Studs.  Studs are my favorite earrings to wear and these are glitter too.
4.) VS Fries before Guys Tee.  I love this shirt, it might be my life motto and its super soft.
5.) Kate Spade sticky note set.  I just really love sticky notes and think others should too.
6.)  Lilly Pulitzer Agenda.  I think an agenda for the new year is a great gift anyone could use.
7.) 6 ft iPhone cord.   Need I say more? I don't think there is such a thing as a long enough phone              cord.

The holidays is also a time we receive gifts and what better way to thank the giver than a personalized card?  My favorites of course are from Treat by Shutterfly.

You can pick from premade cards and personalize them with your own message or pictures.
If you are forgetful or short on time they will even mail your card for you.

What are some of your favorite gifts to give or receive?
 

Hangbag Survival Items

When browsing through Rue La La's premier Handbag Guide I got to thinking about my handbag survival items.

Most of the time I carry a larger handbag and seem to have anything and everything in there but lately I have been carrying a smaller crossbody handbag, it is easier when out shopping and running errands.

With a smaller handbag I have to keep the bare necessities, a smaller wallet, hand lotion, chapstick, lipstick, giftcards, notepad, sunglasses, travel size perfume, and a concert flyer?

What are your handbag survival items?

Go check out the Rue La La Handbag Guide to help decide which handbag is best for you.

How to clean your makeup brushes

Something I don't do enough is clean my make up brushes.

Sharing today a super easy way to clean your brushes.

 

You may think you are ahead of the game, but you could be wrong.

Last week I saw Sam's Club was going to be having a big sale that upcoming weekend and one of the items was the new iPhone 6 for only $99.  And I just happened to be in the market for a new iPhone 6.

Mama C who isn't usually up for waiting in line just to get a better deal was willing to go with me.

We had planned our Saturday we would wake up and get there early around 9 since Sam's opens at 10, get my new phone and have the rest of the day to do what we wanted. Great plan, except we figured out at about midnight that Sam's was opening early for the special sale. We would now need to get up at 4:30 in order to be ready and out the door since Sam's is about 45 mins away in order to get in line.

4:30  a.m. rolls around and we decide we will wait and pay full price since we weren't prepared ahead of time.

Later in the day we happen to be going by Sam's for some other things anyway and while we were there one of the girls working asks if we would like to upgrade our membership to the Plus membership.  I asked her if they would be getting anymore iPhones in since they were sold out and she assured me that if we upgraded they would be having a sale this past Saturday with the same iPhone deal for the plus members only.

Mama C upgraded and I planned ahead this time and made plans to wake up at 5:30 Saturday and be in line early.   Some of my friends were in town and we were celebrating my birthday and one of my best friend's birthday so I knew I would be up late but willing to make the sacrifice of sleep.  Friday I called just to verify that they would have them because the sale paper we got in the mail didn't show they would be available.  The lady on the phone assured me once again they would.

I met my sister at Sam's Saturday morning at 6 a.m. we got in line...

Sam's Girl:  "What deal are you girls after today?"
G:  "Were getting the Iphone 6's."
Sam's Girl: "Oh haha thats next weekend."
Me: "umm you're kidding me right?!" (death glare)
Sam's Girl: "uh I uh yeah we will have them next weekend you can come back then."

I had no words.  G and I went to the car and I called to speak with a manager who told me he was sorry they wouldn't have the special that day but I could come back Black Friday and try again.

Girl Bye.


 

The Interview

I decided last week to test out the interview world again and agreed to an interview Monday morning.
I wasn't very nervous because I was going in with the mindset of if it worked out great but if not no big deal it wasn't meant to be anyway.

Of course I woke up every hour that night thinking it was time to get up and finally 6 am rolled around and I decided right away that I was not feeling getting out of bed.
Don't get me wrong I enjoy being up and around and getting an early start to my day, but for that first 10-15 mins after my alarm going off I'm not pleasant.   Plus sleeping in always wins.

Starting off I somehow managed to rip down my blackout curtains in my room rod and all.

As I was putting on my pantyhose I ripped a hole in them.  No problem I happened to have another nude pair.  Ripped a hole in those too except this time it wasn't as bad so Mama C fixed them the best she could with some clear nail polish after scolding me for only buying one new pair.

I could only find one nude pump but thankfully Mama had a pair just like them for me to wear.

Then we noticed I had deodorant all over my dress and the hem of my dress had come undone but thankfully wasn't noticeable. (or the deodorant drew away from it.)

At this point I couldn't even remember if I had put conditioner in my hair.

We got out the door finally after almost forgetting my blazer and yes I said we because my mama was driving me because 1) the interview was downtown and I tend to panic driving downtown and didn't want to chance being late. 2) we were going shopping and running errands afterwards. 3) She was picking Baby girl up close to where my interview was anyway so it all only made sense for her to drop me off so I wouldn't have to worry about finding the building and parking ect.  and 4) I can have my mama take me if I want.

Once we made the hour drive to downtown the address was difficult to find after circling the block numerous times we saw a firefighter and decide to stop and ask him if he knew which building the office was in because well he is a firefighter and they usually tend to know directions well.  Wrong. This guy was nice but he wasn't even for sure which street we were on.

I gave in called the office and found out which building they were located in which ended up being the first building we thought.

I made it early and it went well.

So the moral of the story here is always buy more than one pair of pantyhose.

Bye Sweets Bye.

I was going through pictures on my computer to move to my external hard drive and what I came across was not pretty.  I found pictures  from the past year where I was HUGE.  I don't remember by any means thinking I was a skinny minnie but I sure didn't realize how large and in charge I had gotten again.

From January to August I managed to lose about 18lbs and in efforts to keep this weight off and maybe lose a few more pounds I decided to try to start cutting out sugar.

Baby Huey cut sugar out last year for a month and lost quite a bit of weight.

It's not just about the weight issue but also feeling better and getting healthier.  I might as well start now before the holidays begin than wait until I'm several pounds of fudge in and 30 lbs later to try to get rid of the extra baggage.

Mama C and BH said they would do it with me and  today was our first official day and I have to admit I did cheat but on accident.  I had a piece of candy and a teddy graham.  

Usually sweets aren't my big issue but since moving back home where my family loves sweets and keeps them around always I have found myself shoving them in more often.  I think the hardest part of this will be cutting out sweet tea.

Wish me and my waistline luck!

 

WILW

What I'm loving Wednesday...

Keeping this one simple.

1.  My Chromecast.  I had looked into purchasing a Chromecast months ago to stream Netflix and had kinda forgotten about it,  I had been using my Wii before and when I moved I couldn't figure out how to get it to connect to wifi again and it's just a pain so I remembered the Chromecast and ordered it. So glad I did!

2.  1989. T Swift's new album. Yes I went there. I have come to terms with the fact that I really do love me some T Swift.  You probs won't find me front row at her next concert but I always buy her albums and look forward to the next so theres that. I was skeptical about this one at first but I'm really liking it.

3.  Young Living essential oils.  I love these essential oils.  They have really helped with my sinus and allergy problems and are great to diffuse around the house to get the house to smelling good.  So many different great uses for them.

4.  Fall and everything about it.  

Treat yourself

I have always been one to carry a camera and take lots of pictures. Now by no means am I a photographer and I may have had the worst pictures in my photography class in college but I still love taking lots of pictures.  

I even hoarded a bunch of scrapbooking supplies with plans to sometime get around to scrapbooking and that hasn't happened yet.  

A few years ago I came across Shutterfly. I have used Shutterfly numerous times for gifts.  I love giving personalized gifts and found Shutterfly books to be perfect for that.

Anyway recently I was introduced to Treat. Treat is a new greeting card website by Shutterfly.  Treat has every kind of greeting/stationary and thank you card you can think of.

Which is perfect because I love sending cards and with my recent move I am looking forward to sending many of my friends and old coworkers cards to keep in touch.  Treat is also a great place to go to find cards for engagement and wedding congratulations, baby announcements, or anything else you may think would be fun to send a card for.

Here are two of the Treat cards I made for two of my besties.

You can make your own card and add pictures or personalize a pre-made card from one of their many categories.

You can even pay for postage and Treat will mail your cards for you.

What are all the cool new jams?

 Since I have had some extra time on my hands to catch up on my TV shows and E! News, and learned a few things along the way.

For starters I don't nor have I ever found Brad Pitt and Angelina brother kissing Jolie to be the Sexiest Couple.  Jen had him when he was at his best and I don't get the appeal to Angelina.  So no I don't care or find it a surprise that after 15 kids they are finally getting married.

When a celeb instagrams a photo it like means a lot.

The floral nail trend is not cute.

No matter how ridiculous I find the Kardashians I will always get sucked into watching. Let's be honest it's mainly for Scott though. 

The bachelorette will always end up annoying me.  I don't think I will ever make it through a whole season and really though who gets engaged after dating only a few months? Yeah that will last.

People actually get surgery to have better looking selfies.  

Bab's and Janelle keep me coming back for more Teen Mom.

Little Problems...

If you love your Big like I do you should go check out Little Problems shop.  

(I have not received anything for this post I just like helping people out.)

Little Problems started as a twitter account and now has a shop where you can purchase fun stuff to show your love for your Big.  They just did a relaunch and have some new products.

Right now if you spend $15 you receive a FREE gift with your purchase PLUS a portion of each order is donated to a charity. 

Don't you have a heart and like free stuff?

Stadium Cups

Koozies for the summer beverages.

You can never have too many party shades.

Who knows maybe there will be a giveaway soon.....

Guys just don't get it.

It's no secret that guys just sometimes don't understand us girls or the things we wear.

I have heard many times what are you wearing?  What is that? Why would she wear that? Do you like that? I don't get it?

Girls clothing that guys just don't get and might be a little frightened by...

Fringe Boots. I happen to love fringe boots.

Leggings especially printed leggings.

Rompers.

High waisted shorts. (mom shorts)

Overalls.

Crop tops.  (Did you get that for a fraction of the cost since they gave you a fraction of the material?)

Head bands, bows, ect...

Big purses. ( Is that a suitcase or a purse? super guilty in here.)

PS. All images are in no way shape or form mine, I found them via google. K thanks.

#beautytipswithlauren

Everyone should go check out my friend Lauren, she just has the best Vine videos thats all. 

What I'm Watching Wednesday

I have mentioned before sometimes I have my shows I binge watch on Netflix, well since I have a little more time on my hands these days and figured if I pay for satellite I might as well watch it I have been actually keeping up with a few shows when they air on TV. 

Weird I know?  

It can be difficult having to wait that entire week to see what happens on the next episode instead of watching the whole season in one sitting but I am pushing through.

What I have been watching lately...

Total Divas. 

I know what you are thinking, wrestling? wait what?  Really though its soo good and it's more so about their lives not so much wrestling.

The Bachelorette.

I am giving it a try again, I'm not promising to hang in there for the whole season but I'm watching for now and she is a Phi Mu, plus I really like looking at Josh.

I wanna marry Harry.

Okay maybe I have only watched this once and honestly can't say if I will again but I just wanted to say did these buffoons really think they would be competing to marry Prince Harry on a TV show?

Until my good quality shows like Chrisley knows Best, Southern Charm and Eric and Jesse come back on who knows what I will find myself sucked into.

Advice for Grads...

It's that time of year again for graduates, which got to me thinking about advice I would give to those that have recently been spit out into this place we call the real world.

Some things you should probably know about post grad life before reality slaps you hard in the face...

First and foremost the fun is over.  (jk post grad can be fun I guess)

 

The career gods are not going to show up at your door begging you to take your dream job off their hands, unfortunately this is not a thing.  Trust me I know I am still anxious at the sound of a knock at the door.

No matter how often you visit or don't visit your college town things will never be the same again. Everyone will always from here on out be younger, skinnier and make you wish for your youth to return.

Everyone and their dog will get engaged, just hopefully not to their dog thats just really weird. Every. Single. Day.  and you may be single and no where near this stage in your life and thats okay.

There will be plenty of people who appear to have the perfect job, life ect. according to facebook and instagram anyway.  Just keep scrolling life is hard.

You may have imagined your life one perfectly planned way, but you could be wrong.

You are probably going to get a job or two that you hate.

You might move back in with mom and dad.

There will be people who land their dream job right away.  Those people are rare and no one liked them anyway.  Kidding. Kinda.

And most importantly you are probably not alone in any of this.

In the meantime  for those who are still taking classes and getting ready for a new semester go check out CampusBookRentals.com  start saving that money now while it is still acceptable to be a broke college student and rent your books.

Some perks of CampusBookRentals.com is 40-90% off bookstore prices and free shipping both ways. (I'm a sucker for free shipping) And they donate to Operation Smile with each textbook rented, so go try out Rentback.com

Count me out.

Some days you just don't feel like participating in life.

Those days for me are usually called Mondays.

Some valid reasons I feel are acceptable for taking the day off from Life...

It's a Monday.

You have nothing to wear.

The sun is too bright.

The wind is blowing.

Someone else just got engaged along with the 52 other people on your newsfeed.

You just love your job so much.

You didn't get a full 10 hours of sleep the night before.

You would have to shower and make yourself presentable for the day ahead of you.

You might have to talk to people.

You might have to be nice to said people.

Yeah sometimes it would just be better to not participate.

 

What's on your playlist?

I listen to a lot of music.  

I have to play music while I get ready in the morning, driving, working, I am even about to purchase a speaker for my shower.

I have spent probably thousands in iTunes but lately my main go to for music is Spotify.

I prefer to listen to a new album before I buy it so I'm not stuck just liking one song from the whole album and the best part is Spotify is fo FREE. 

(No this wasn't sponsored by Spotify I just really love it.)

I listen to a little bit of everything but my go to is always country and red dirt of course.

Some of my favorites this week/always... 

 George Strait (duh)

Garth Brooks

 Dean Brody 

Turnpike Troubadours

 Hunter Hayes new album

Josh Abbott

 Kristen Kelly

Casey Donahew

Wade Bowen

Kyle Park

Jana Kramer

Mac Miller

Who are some of your favorites?

 

That blogging rut.

The blogging rut, yeah you know the one.

I feel like mine has been going on for quite some time now.  

I really enjoy blogging but let's be honest  it doesn't always come easy.

I can't tell you how many times I have went to write a post and nothing.

I will think of an idea and half way through the post it gets deleted and nothing gets posted.

Well I am trying to get off the struggle bus and get back to posting more than once every few weeks.

I thought I would share some blog posts ideas to use when nothing is coming.

Show us your space.  I don't know about you but I'm kinda nosey I enjoy seeing where people blog, sleep, live. ect.

Organization tips.  Whether it be organizing your cabinets, closet, life share it.

Cars.  I just really like cars, this could get interesting. Post a pic, some people look like they live in their car (sometimes me), some won't even eat in their car?

Your OOTD.  So this one I kinda have a love hate relationship with sometimes I love seeing OOTD and sometimes I really get annoyed with them. I have never done one but who knows maybe I will give it a go.

Something that makes you happy.  A kid, a puppy, food, whatever floats your boat.

Favorite Apps.  I love apps and love finding new favorite apps, like today I learned about the app Glide.

Your favorite people.  Sometimes you just want to share your favorite people in life.  It's okay.

Letter to your younger self.  I have never done one of these but always meant to.

Your morning routine.  What do you do to prepare for the day?

What are some blog post ideas you have?

 

Life.

I have really abandoned my blog lately, I think about posting I really do and then it doesn't happen.

It could be my quarter life crisis but I just don't know what I want to do with my life anymore.

Being a big kid and deciding what to do with your life is hard.

If only the real world were more like the game LIFE.

Everyone gets married around the same time in the game.

You get to pick your career and salary by drawing a card and if it isn't that great you just steal someone elses or draw a new one at some point.

You don't have bills every month, just if you happen to land on that space every once in a while but if you got the good salary card then it doesn't really matter.

I mean yeah you have to drive a van/station wagon but everyone has the same car just in different colors so no one really judges you on the bad taste in car choice.

But real life is not like the game so if anyone wants to pay me to stay home and craft and blog all day, I'm available.

 

10 things...

10 things you might not know about me...

I'm pretty OCD.  Everyday I have a schedule and I rarely get off track.  I'm talking certain times I refill my ice water, check email, eat ect...

I can actually cook.  Contrary to what most people who know me think I really do cook and it doesn't turn out too bad.

I don't understand Tumblr.  I like it but I don't get it.  I see something, I want to click it and find out where it came from but nothing. I guess that's why it isn't called Pinterest.

I am a Pinterest Addict.

I spend entirely too much time on sites like Buzzfeed and Elite Daily ect... How else am I suppose to know which 90s girl I really am, or how much I love cheese or 25 reasons I am single?  I wouldn't if it weren't for those sites.

I don't do selfies.  Like ever really.  I'm just awkward like that. I can't.

I monogram everything.

I usually prefer to stay in instead of going out.

I rarely ever leave the house without sunglasses.  Even when its raining you might need some sunglasses.

I don't understand when someone says they don't like country music. That's all I need to know about you.

Binge TV

Everyone has those shows that just suck you in and next thing you know the weekend is over and you just completed watching every episode ever filmed of said show.  You may not have cleaned your house or even showered for that matter but you sure know what happened in episode 16 season 2.  Netflix was made for people like me I don't keep up with shows on regular airtime because I just can't. I'm impatient so I can't handle waiting an entire week before seeing what happens next and I don't do commercials.

My binge shows are...

Gossip Girl.  All time best show. Ever.  I just don't understand how it's just over just like that over. I may or may not have watched the series a couple of times.

90210, the newer show not the original.  While I love the original and nothing can ever replace it I really love the remake.

Hart of Dixie.  How is it that more people aren't obsessed with this show?!

Don't trust the B in Apt 23.  This is definitely one that I had to get into once it was available on Netflix.

 

Teen Mom/16 and Pregnant.  This show has always just sucked me in and I can't stop watching. Babs is my girl.