2013 in Review

Um do I really need to say it? 2013 FLEW BY. Like. A. Speed. Train. It was filled with a lot of learning, loving, wine tasting apparently and embracing life. I guess if I had to pick 1 word to describe it would be LOVE.

I was gone the first half the year being  swept up by the heat of film production...and meeting a boy. We had a few ups and downs but it's hard to believe that it's almost a year since he came up to me at the bar I was at for my Birthday Party and asked if I wanted a drink. You might remember me mentioning how scared I was to host a birthday party out here, as most of the people I considered (mentally) my friends are still in the Midwest. As stupid as it sounds, I was completely surprised how many people actually showed up. So many people that, in the back of my mind I loved, also loved me back.

I also went to 4 weddings this year! Long time friends and short time friends there was a lot of celebrating the love of 2 people and each other.  2013 was one giant Love Fest in my head and this Flipagram is my ode to it!

Sniffle Season

Like clockwork, right around Christmas {usually during} I get a bad case of the sniffles. With temps in the high 20's out here this weekend, I think they were brought on early, with a raging sore throat. I've been trying to stay warm and hydrated with lots and lots of tea. I'm straight tea drinker. No sugar, cream or honey ever.  My favorites are Bigelow Constant Comment, Peets Masala Chai and Winter Solstice and Numi Rooibos Chai. All very citrus-y, spicey and Christmas-y.

There is something in cough medicine and drops that makes me really nauseated, so last night, when I needed to up my game with this sore throat business I decided to give the mysterious Hot Toddy a try. I think it comes up every winter at holiday parties and general, what is a Hot Toddy? I was chatting with a co-worker at a party recently who told me even when she was a kid her mom would make her Hot Toddies for when she had a cold. If a mom swears by it enough to give alcohol to her child it has to do something right?

 

1 oz brandy, whiskey, or rum
1 Tbsp honey
1/4 lemon
1 cup hot water
1 tea bag

 

Directions:

Coat the bottom of your coziest mug in Honey

Add the shot of your favorite liquor

Add Juice of 2 lemon Slices

Heat Warm Water and Soak Tea bag

Add Tea, Slice of Lemon and Cinnemon Stick to Mug

Enjoy

To google I went and found a whiskey based recipe {I just can't stomach rum much any more and I'm not old enough for Brandy}. A little honey, whiskey, lemon and Constant Comment tea in my mug and it was suprisingly soothing! I don't know if it was the whiskey or the honey, but one of these before bed does things Nyquil wish it could. Also, it's Christmas-y and I support all things Christmas.

Wednesday Wisdom

I saw this on Pinterest and it really hit home for me. It's something I've been working on and really helps when looking at the blessings in your life. I highly suggest taking this online quiz {and encouraging family, friends, co-workers, significant others etc} to as well. It really helps you understand each other better, and the was we express/receive love and appreciate best. Especially with the holiday's approaching and spending time with people you love, but don't always see eye-to-eye with!!

Thanksgiving Weekend {a.k.a Christmas Prep}

I chose to spend Thanksgiving in San Francisco again this year. The stress of 2 days of traveling for 2-3 days of Family and Friend chaos has just proven to be exhausting. Especially if I'm returning in a few weeks for Christmas.

Thanksgiving itself was pretty relaxed. The BF and I took a small hike through the Presidio, watched a little of the Cowboy's game {....I napped} and went to his former co-worker's house for the meal. His co-worker is Philipino so it was kind of fun to have some different food mixed in with the usual Thanksgiving fare.

The rest of the weekend was prepping for Christmas. With only 25 days to celebrate this year, I wanted to jump right in!

I got this gorgeous bay leaf wreath at Trader Joe's for only $10!  I 'fake' hung it with red grosgrain ribbon. I didn't trust the ribbon to hold it on it's own so I used a wreath hanger and then pulled the ribbon up from the top! I'm kind of obsessed with how perfectly it goes with our new Red Front Door!

I purchased gifts for my Grandma's a few months ago, and have since been looking for the perfect ribbon to go with my classic brown wrapping paper. I love how simple and elegant it looks! I ventured to Britex in Union Square {braving the crowds of out-of-towners}. I'd never been there before, but for having 3 stories filled with every button, ribbon, fabric, sequin you could ever want I of course found what I was looking for almost instantly. This dark evergreen ribbon, it's grosgrain with a little stretch for fitting around the packages.

Saturday night Emily and I went to Book of Mormon! First time seeing it and it was spectacular! Everything I hoped for and more. I'm going again Thursday with the BF and cannot wait. We tried to get a pic doing the exuberant jumping pose from the banner. Obviously #nailedit.

This Week's 30 Days of Thanks

I should have probably seen this coming. I'm finding 30 Days of Thanks a little overwhelming in my super busy life. I find myself getting up in the morning, thinking about what to be thankful for, but never getting the time to sit down and write an amazing post....or even a sucky post. My goal is to condense them into a week. Yes, I realize this is not "Thankful Thursday", but it's better than nothing.

Here are the things I was/am Thankful for last Week!

1) Accountable Committee Members
Chairing a committee for a volunteer organization means you were one of few people that was actually accountable last year so you can handle doing all the work this year. We hold monthly meetings, delegate action items, close our eyes and pray they'll be done in time. So far this year my committee has been absolutely amazing. Only 1 ball has been dropped and it was promptly picked up by another committee member willingly! Knowing how intense this has turned out to be for me, even with delegating I am so so thankful I can trust them!

2) Michael's being SO CLOSE to my office
I've been working on gift bag design and Michaels has been an absolute savior. It's 2 blocks from my office so I've spent many a lunch roaming the aisles. It's also got me in full Christmas decoration mode (post to come soon on that), but sparkles and cinnamon and paper meche deer have got me ready to go!


3) The Ability to Give-Back 
One of my favorite quotes is "To whom much is given, much is expected" and volunteering has always been a passion of mine. It was easy in college, I felt like they had volunteer opportunities out like free pizza. When I moved to San Francisco it got HARD. I don't know if it's real life or being in a non-profit loving city, but it is impossible to find an organization with an opening. That lead me to Junior League, which not only has a huge monetary impact on the community but access to  grassroots, hands dirty volunteer experiences that make you feel great! Especially this time of year when people wear their gratefulness on their sleeve I'm so happy I'm able to be involved.

4) My Mom is Coming to Visit!
This might be a selfish reason, but my mom has always been willing to help where she can. There are certain areas of my life I'm been avoiding. Primarily room/home organization. As a young adult when your parents come to town, consciously or sub it starts an evaluation of the status of every aspect of your life. I realize that I've fully ignored any nesting instinct for at least a good year. My parents just moved, so I hope she's still excited about this stuff, but we're going scrub, hang, redesign, re-organize the shiz out of my apartment and I'm pumped!

5) Zipcar
I spent the first half of the week getting a bunch of Gift Bags put together for a meeting on Wednesday. I thought the Gift Bag assembly was going to be the hardest part, but boy was I wrong. To decorate the gift bag tables I needed a half dozen gold, metallic '8' shaped Balloons. Easy for any party store right? After arriving at work late due to a Doctor's Appointment and wrangling 8 members of my team together for a work lunch, I thought all I would have to do was make a phone call that afternoon and pick them up on the way to the venue. NO ONE had them! Well, one place did but it closed at 5pm and I wouldn't be able to get there until 6pm. Disappointed I switched my efforts to figuring out when to pick up the gift bags from headquarters.....when I found out that closed at 5pm. At this point I'd have to leave work immediately to get to either place in time. Zipcar saved the day, zipping me around town in an SUV full of gold tinsel and balloons. I really couldn't have gotten it all picked up and delivered without it.

6) Wine Club Memberships
I have a slight obsession with Francis Ford Coppola's Sophia Champs. So much so that when I stopped at the winery I decided to not only buy a case, but join the wine club. I've gotten 2 shipments already and my wine cabinet is filling up and staying full! With the insanity of last week, I had more then my fair share of glasses of wine. With the holiday season coming up as well, they'll be great hostess gifts!!

7) Laundromat Being Steps from My Front Door
No seriously it's 2 doors down, I don't even have to put a bra on if I don't want too. With my mom coming, I decided it was deep cleaning time. So EVERYTHING got washed.  Having it be right next door is almost as good as having one in house. If enough machines are open I can whip in and out of there in an hour with all 5 loads washed and dryed!

Royal...er Baby Griki Watch 2013

                  

The Royal Baby (check)

Baby Kimye (check)

Baby Griki (?)

Due yesterday,  Kingsley and Grant (AND THE REST OF THE WORLD ) are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Little Miss. Phone on emergency vibrate at all times.

                    

                      

The Weekend ~ 30 Days of Thanks

After a crazy week of fast-paced work, learning new software to actually do work, picking up a project that got dropped by one of my fashion show committee members in addition to the non-stop e-mails that come with my own projects, moving offices and working out I could not be looking forward to the weekend. Slow down for a day. Get a blow out. Sleep. My own time and hopefully some actual beautiful fall weather!

Good Coffee -30 Days of Thanks

There is no denying that San Francisco is the land of the gourmet and the land of hipsters (do those things even go together?). Not only does that combination produce new, cutting edge meals but also really good, artisan coffee. I don't consider myself a coffee snob at all. I'll drink whatever, but the stronger the better.

My boyfriend on the other hand is a flat out, 100% coffee snob {he did get pretty excited about a 'peppermint mocha with extra sprinkles' when I told him the Starbucks red cups were coming out, but I didn't tell you that}. When we drives me to work in the morning we stop at a little place near my house that roasts their own beans, but his favorite by far is Ritual Coffee. Hitting up the good places several times a week, I have definitely noticed the difference in quality. There's a lovely 'roasted' taste to the small names like Blue Bottle and Ritual that you just don't find a Starbucks and I'm grateful to have these options right outside my door. On the flip side, these artisan coffee do come with a price. Yes, I appreciate the taste, but I'm also thankful because when I do go slumming it at Starbucks I feel like my $4.00 latte is a steal!

My Smart Phone - 30 Days of Thanks

via weheartit

Like a lot of us, my smart phone is my life. I have the world at my finger tips; family, old friends, new friends, weather, bus schedule, google {the answer to any question you could ever have}, e-mail, blogger...literally everything. I've heard every arguement for and against the constant contact with the world it provides, but I relay on it primarily as my schedule maker, my list keeper and my life organizer. I've very much considered swapping in my phone for an old school nokia and just upgrading to an iPad mini...but it just won't fit in a clutch.  I really don't know how I would make it through my day or life without it.

Days 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 - 30 Days of Thanks

As it's November 5th, I'm a little behind on my 30 Days of Thanks. I decided to kick it off with 5 things in my life I'm thankful for:

Clean Roommates

In addition to liking nice things, I'm also a little OCD about order and cleanliness especially in my living situation. There is nothing more satisfying that coming home to a room in perfect order, folding back the sheets and slipping into a formerly made bed. I have 3 roommates, all found via Craigslist and I cannot tell you how absolutely lucky I feel that everyone a) appreciates and the value of nice things AND b) appreciates the value in keeping those things and the house nice. Even the guests at our raging Halloween House Party refilled our ice trays and moved the fragile Glitter Pumpkin and fragile candle hurricanes to safe place on the bookshelf before starting a rousing came of kings cup on the coffee table! All of us were up bright and early the next day (in our various hungover states, of course) scrubbing, wiping and vaccuming. Especially with this time of year, filled with lots of tiny, delicate decor I trust them completely and am so thankful I can decorate and not worry!

A Home to Holiday in the Snow

The holiday's are truly my favorite time of the year. The weather cools, you get to bundle up in soft sweaters and snow makes venturing outside of your cozy house, for anything, an adventure. Living in California now makes almost all of those things impossible. Except for getting dark at 5pm, nothing is really 'cozy' about it. You have to bring the holiday's in with decorations and scented candles, but that's the only difference between December 5th and October 5th. The majority of my family lives in the midwest, where I'm from, and I'm able to travel back to the snow covered roads and rooftops for a week to really feel Christmas. The family, the food cooking, the coziness and closeness of Christmas all wrapped up in a variety of homes throughout the midwest. I don't know if I could get through the year without looking forward to that.

My Grandma

I'm a fairly independent person in that I don't really talk to my family all that much. Not that I have a horrible family, but I've never really connected with any of them on a really personal level. I never felt that community, that 'team'. I've felt support to blossom and grow into the person I wanted to be, but there was never a 'we'. It was Mom, Dad, Brother and Me. 4 individuals. In my adult life I've seen how growing up like that has affected my life and relationships in both positive and negative ways. Even though I'm content with my independence I think everyone can agree that there is something amazing about someone you can really connect with. My Grandma has been the closest thing I've had to that. Sure, she's a little stuck in her ways like any older person is, but she's always there to listen and offer her 2 cents on her almost 80 years of experience. I talked to her for 2 hours yesterday about various things in my life and got caught up on the rest of the family (or at least the parts they felt they could share with Grandma). After I got off the phone I realized I don't really have another person in my life I can relate to like that and the fact that she's part of my family makes it so much better. 

Google Drive

Life, applying for jobs and co-chairing a committee this year has made my life pretty hectic. I'm constantly writing lists, documents, notes etc. I need to be able to access them anywhere! When someone calls, when someone e-mails, when I have an idea or need to reference something... Google drive has, amazingly, allowed me to do that and keep myself sane. 

Scented Candles

I love candles. I love how they set the mood with lighting and scent, they can be relaxing and uplifting at the same time. Like I said re: snow above, its hard to get the Holiday feeling I'm used to out here in California. I've recently indulged in a little more candle shopping than usual and I'm excited to get them 'fired' up for the holiday season.

30 Days of Thanks!

If you've followed me the last few months  year you know that I've been trying to refocus my life/mind on positive things. I gave Thankful Thursday's a go and my monthly goals have tried to push Thankfulness and positivity in my life. Ryann, who blogs on Unspeakable Joy is doing "30 Days of Thanks" for the month of November. With a goal of blogging daily about things in your life you are grateful for to bring more attention to them in your life.
I was trying to think of the words to describe why I've been trying to focus on appreciating the things I do have and bringing light to the positive, but Ryann's post I think put's it perfectly.

"These days I have been so selfish and continually looking towards the "next big thing" without truly living in the present and rejoicing in each day. I'm going to be honest, until these past few months, I really had it easy. Everything was so comfortable surrounded by my friends while I was in college, close to home, sure of the most immediate next steps... graduation, marriage, the move, and my first "big girl job". It was all so exciting! But even then, I was still living for the next thing.....

.....But some days I am really lonely. Some days I wonder if I'll ever move on from here to start a career I love. If I'll find friends here. Some days I just question God. "Why Raleigh?" "Why Martha?" "Why this rejection?" Not good, my friends. This month, I want to embrace the many blessings the Lord has given me. God hasn't guaranteed everything is going to be easy, and it is this hardship and struggle and hurt that draw us closer towards him. For that I am SO thankful. Which is why I am moved to share with you each day of the month of one thing I am thankful for. "

Shoes , Shoes, Shoes!

Ugh! I've had complete shoe envy lately! Perfectly timed with my mother's visit in a few weeks, I want to re-do my entire collection!

Here's what I've been lusting after!

     

Classic White Jack Purcell's

Kate Spade Tock Flat

      

                      LK Bennett Shilo Pump

LK Bennett Sledge Pump

Nine West Mela Wedge

Leopard Smoking Loafers

Fancy Halloween: Daisy Buchanan

Hope everyone had an amazing Halloween. Although I didn't party it up last night, the roommates and I decided to throw a party last weekend for the annual event. Quite honestly, it's probably one of my least favorite holiday's, but the day after marks the beginning of the most wonderful time of the year!

I've been lusting after a tulle skirt for a while, so with the intention of incorporating some sort of sparkley witch hat I thought I had my costume figured out. The skirt came and the zipper was broken so with 2 days to go before the party I needed something new! Lucky for me, net-a-porter popped up with this Oscar number on my Facebook ads. I knew instantly I had to be Daisy Buchanan. Add this stunning headband and faux fur scarf and it would be absolutely perfect! 

However stunning that version of the costume would have been, the price tag is a little much for a house party. Where do you go to find cheap, yet semi-chic costume supplies? Forever 21. I originally ventured in looking for a tulle skirt, but ended up finding the perfect Daisy alternative:

                           

Dress, Pearl Necklace, Gold Necklace, Headband

A Few Favorites!

Elizabeth W Hot-Cold Flaxseed Pack (Zebra)

Kate Spade's STUNNING Grande Bow Heels (Black and Pink)

Essie's TomBoy No More

Jonathan Adler's Darjeeling Cookie Jar

Busy Fall Weekends

There is a reason I've been avoiding the impending "September Goal" follow up post....mostly because I haven't completed most of them. Work sped up tremendously, then came to screeching halt all at the same time Junior League commitments picked up! I feel like I've been going a mile a minute and my to-do list never ends (yes, blogging is on there!).  I've been spending my weekends playing catch up with a lot of things. This weekend was filled with Public Relations planning, Glitter Pumpkin's, Scented Candles and lots of fall celebrations!

The boyfriend and I spent Saturday at SF Magazine's fall fest, sampling delicious food and wine from all over the bay area! Saturday night was some girl time celebrating a friend's decision to quit her job (which was decided at 1pm on Friday) and new job offer (which was given at 4pm on Friday). Sometimes things just have a way of working out.

Sunday was spent at Kingsley's beautiful baby shower! I missed the first one due to wedding plans, so it was very exciting to get to celebrate with her finally! It's so hard to believe the Little Miss will be here in a month from tomorrow and in 17 years she'll have, hopefully, pledged Theta. We taught her how to do twin star hands this weekend so she's halfway there!

New ABD Coffee Mugs!

If you haven't seen already Ashley Brook Designs just released a new set of her darling coffee mugs {including a holiday one} here they are! I am absolutely obsessed!!

I'm so happy to see the 'Miss Fancy Pants' for the fabulous single ladies and absolutely cannot stop laughing over 'You Can't Sit with Us'!  I think it's going to come down to these 3 for me:

Or I could just go for broke on 4. Not quite sure what the BF would think of this, but if it matches mine it's cute right??

P.S. She may or may not already have her Holiday Shop up at running and I may or may not have already been browsing!!! {t-2 months}

Adventures at Home with the Gel Manicure

I have a confession. I'm a nail biter, which is Not. Cute. My nails get short and hang-naily, plus the whole chewing aspect. I've found the best way to combat the biting and keep my nails pretty is gel manicures. At $35-50 bucks a pop it gets a little expensive to get them as much as I need them so I decided to try an at home kit. 

The Sally Hansen Insta Gel strip was on sale for about half the price of my usual mani so I snatched it up! 

                                                   

The kit comes with a nail buffer, 2 sets of gel strips, nail cleansing pad, he gel top coat and the tiny UV light for drying. Replacement Gel strips run between $8 and $13, which would save you about half of what you'd be spending on salon Gels.

                                       

The steps are fairly easy. File and Buff your nails and then clean them off with the cleansing pad (which is basically an alcohol pad). It's important to get your nail as smooth and clean as possible so the strips stick. 

Next you apply the strips, nail by nail.
The strips basically feel like semi-hard nail polish. They come in several sizes and are fairly long, so size up your nail by width and press it on to your nail. They also provide and orange wood stick to smooth out the wrinkles and run along the edges to make sure it's really stuck on there. To trim the length you fold the end over the tip of your nail and press down until the strip naturally creases and rips.


Both of these steps were a lot easier than I anticipated, but I could see you having difficulty if your nails are shorter.


When you've done this to all your nails on one hand you apply the gel top coat. It's thicker and stickier than a normal top coat so be careful.

Next you put each nail 1-by-1 under the tiny LED light that came with the kit. The light is timed for 30 seconds, but it was definitely necessary to put it under twice. I probably could have done it three times just to make sure, but I got a little antsy.

All in all they came out beautiful. They were even, shiny and had the same surface 'stiffness' of the salon gels. You do need to make sure you really seal the corners with the orange stick though or they do start to look like little stickers on your nails. 

They ended up lasting me about a week, so not sure how cost effective it would be. It was also pretty tedious to do this all nail by nail. I think it took me about 45 min/hand, but it might have been because it was the first time. I haven't tried it again yet and....I'll admit, I went back to salon gels. It was worth a shot though and will definitely be worth it for any last-minute-manicure needs!

Wonderful Wedding Weekend {aka Summertime Saddness}

This summer has been really the summer of weddings for me, attending 5 in total, all over the state and country! This weekend was one for my former roommate out here. We met on craigslist about 3.5 years ago as we were both frustrated with the aggressive/expensive search for a city apartment and were running out of time before our current leases expired. I didn't have the balls yet to post an actual 'wanted' ad on Craigslist, so I started reading hers. Mid-Twenties. Just broke up with Boyfriend. Has nice furniture and cat (if possible). Sounded safe right? I sent her an e-mail and we both agreed to look at the last few places we had showings at in the upcoming weekend and then would get drinks and start our search together.

I went to look at this flat that had 2 rooms available. 1 was pretty tiny, but $100 cheaper than the other one. Moving from the 'burbs to the city I was already going up in rent quite a bit and had convinced myself I could live in the tiny one. The flat was gorgeous, lots of common space and the girls were nice. When one of the girls called to say they'd love for me to move in, they informed me the smaller room had been taken. I was devastated really thinking I couldn't swing the extra $100 a month and passed. I reached out to B {craigslist lady above} and she had found a room that weekend so we weren't going to need to start from scratch. I resorted to looking at studios, within the 24 hours of hearing B took a room, searching for studios and semi-realizing that paying an extra $100 for a huge room is better than an extra $300 for a small studio I received another e-mail from B saying she had just gone to sign the lease at her new room and my name had been on there as well, but she heard I wasn't taking it! I definitely won't say it was fate, I looked at 2 more crappy apartments before sucking it up and taking the bigger room, but it was sure weird. We lived together for 2 years. That boyfriend eventually came back into her life and they got engaged a little over a year ago. It was so amazing to see her and them start from where they were in such a bad place and grow to such a great one.  She was never the "fairy-tale" type. Very laid back. Even when they got engaged she wanted to wait a few years before the wedding. Do to scheduling etc they moved it up a year to this past weekend.

ANYWAY, my point. I went to a lot of weddings this summer. A lot of beautiful, beautiful weddings. Please don't get me wrong when I say this, as I'm a 'fairy-taler', but I think a lot of people's weddings reflect this grand idea of who the 'want' to be and not who they 'are'. I didn't really realize this until I saw B's wedding this weekend. It was in a backyard, with their closest friends and family. The flowers were beautiful, the food delicious and everything felt so them. During the vows, the speeches and the dances you can feel their couple mojo and love emanating through the room and it felt amazing. Something I think everyone should feel one day. It will probably be one of my favorite weddings ever, I can only hope to have the same feel at mine.

Needless to say it was a perfect way to end my Summer (of Weddings) and it was only appropriate that the overplayed song of the weekend was "Summertime Sadness". I literally threw out my neck dancing to it so many times this weekend. Summer 2013 was a great one, a long one and (even though Christmas is right around the corner) I'm sad its over.

Thursday Tumbls

I thought I'd dedicate my favorite Tumbls this week to my favorite "Tumblrs"

...besides myself of course!

Prep In the Bay

There aren't a lot of prep's out here so we have to appropriately represent!

Bourbon and Pearls

Puppies, bourbon, cute preppy outfits with some vintage flair!

The Glitter Guide

This is one of my favorite blogs and the internet and their tumblr

 just embodies everything they put out there!

The Brunette Prep

This might be my favorite tumblr. Classic, elegant, preppy!

Seabelle

Good mix of romance, southern style and preppy boys!

Hollywood Assistant

I do have a minor addiction to all those gif blogs. This one hits the closest to home and is a go-to every morning. Like group therapy, but on tumblr!

The Loved Black and Gold

Kappa Alpha Theta. Elegance. Glamour. I love everything about it!

Recent {Beauty} Obsessions!

Almay Liquid Lip Balm ( in Rosy Lipped)
I have largish lips and it bothers me to bring tons of attention to them. I usually stick with a nude lip gloss to add a little color, but isn't over bearing. I was using a Gap lipgloss for a while (soo 1998, but I loved it) and then they stopped making it. On a trip to Target, I needed a quick replacement  (because finding the perfect lipgloss requires months of research and sampling) and I grabbed this lip gloss mostly because of the color. #1 it turned out to be on sale for $2.99 and then #2 it turned out to be awesome. The color is a neutral with a hint of pink so it doesn't wash out your lips, it lasts forever and isn't sticky at all!!


Origins Modern Friction
In the summer, my skin is oily so I wash my face twice a day. This leads to drying in my t-zone and really attractive skin flakes that attract all the foundation I put on to 1 area. I've used Orgins Modern Friction a couple times a month, but I've upped it to once or twice a week now and it keeps my skin so smooth and those really attractive skin flakes in check!

Bliss Ingrown Eliminating Pads
With all the summer weather I have been shaving a TON (and maybe mixing a little shaving with waxing...sshhhh) but with shaving a lot and cross-waxing comes copious amounts of ingrowns. I've tried a couple things but my Waxer turned me on to Bliss Ingrown Eliminating Pads and they work great! They're not overly drying and they're easier to travel with then liquid roll-ons....oh and they smell great too!

Aveda Damage Remedy Daily Hair Repair
I'm trying to grow my hair out, but it gets frustrating when the ends start looking dry and I have to get a trim. My hair stylist told me it was due to heat damage and recommended this heat protectant to keep the ends looking great. It's also a detangler and has quinoa protein to repair existing damage!

Weekend "Getaways"

I've been heading home "for the weekend" about once a month now for the past 4 months. There have been bachelorette parties, weddings, one of those I-Need-To-Sit-On-The-Couch-At-HOME-And-Do-Nothing weekends. When I say home, I'm referring to my parents house which is.....2,000 miles from San Francisco so heading back for 4 days could be quite the adventure. I've officially mastered airport security and the perfect weekend getaway bag! Last weekend I flew back, for a wedding,  and what will hopefully be the last time before the holidays...heres what I'm tucked away!

I find the classic LL Bean Boat Tote in medium to be the perfect carry-on size! Monogrammed, of course, like Reese is carrying here and seem in the background of my instagram from this weekend above! I do wish I would have gone with the longer handles for a little better over-the-shoulder action.

Vera Bradley's 3-1-1 Cosmetic Case is great for getting liquid toiletries through security! I usually throw this in my purse so I can easily remove it  without unpacking everything.

I love Aveda products, I don't use their shampoo, conditioner and body wash in my normal routine, but I find something luxurious about having them when I'm traveling AND they come in travel size! 










When it comes to your ensembles step 1 is to check the weather! Once you've figured out climates, I've found the best way to pack for a short getaway is to do it by outfit. The nice thing about short travel is that you usually know what you'll be doing (Friday: Dinner/Drinks, Saturday: Wedding,  Sunday: Brunch & Shopping) it's just simple to pick out an outfit  (down to the jewelry, shoes and necessary panties) for each and then pack a few extra basics. Plane Clothes, Sweat Shirt, Yoga pants and you're good to go!