Wishlist Wednesday: Yellow

In honor of my wedding anniversary yesterday (happy anniversary, J!), this week's Wishlist Wednesday is the color yellow because that was one of our wedding colors and the color of our bridesmaids' dresses.

I had hoped to find a cute yellow dress that I could bring to Mexico, but I couldn't find anything! If you have any suggestions/seen anything good lately, let me know - I'm still on the lookout for one!

In the meantime, since we're on vacation I figured a colorful shorts and T combo was the best option.

I'm wearing:
J Crew Factory yellow tank top
Tommy Hilfiger Outlet teal shorts
Banana Republic Factory blue, gren, and gold necklace
DIY belt
J Crew aqua rhinestone bracelet
J Crew Factory white and golf bangle
Target orange and gold beaded bracelet (recent and only $4!)
Target Merona cognac braided sandals

It's a little less casual than our wedding wear I suppose, but I like how it still reminds me of our wedding. We did go out to a nice dinner in San Jose del Cabo last night on our actual anniversary, and I wore a nice dress to that - I took pics with the nice camera so I'll be posting those after we get home.

And finally, sorry for any weird formatting, the unedited iPhone pics which may upload in a totally random order, and no links - I'm doing all of this via the blogger iPhone app because I didn't bring my laptop. What did I ever do without my phone, I wonder?

Edited to add 2 things:
1. I'm linking up today with Marionberry Style, so be sure to check out all the other awesome yellow looks today!
2. I'm wearing Essie Haute As Hello on my fingernails and Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream on my toes (so gorgeous in the sunlight, I'll post a better close up soon).

Ps - Modelo Epecial fridge 12 packs are amazing - why don't we have these in the states???

Los Cabos!

I had hoped to post something yesterday, but the Internet here is not great, and gmail/google are not working at all, so I haven't been able to get on blogger yet for a post! I'm using the blogger app now so hopefully this works for now...

Anyway, we're in Cabo! Here are a few pics of where we're at!

I'm going to try to update again tomorrow, but in the meantime, I hope your memorial day weekend was fabulous and that your work week is flying by already!

Casual Friday: Ode on my Favorite Color

This week has been totally insane.  I think it's always right before you're about to leave for a vacation or a few days off when the shit hits the fan, amirite?  I just have to make it through today's shitshow at work, furiously cleaning my house and packing tonight, and a 10 mile run tomorrow morning, and then I am officially on vacation.  Also, I am way behind in my blog reading and commenting, but I'm hoping to catch up tomorrow as soon as my life is mine once more.

Since I'm thisclose to being on holiday (I so wish I were British) and because I sort of want to indirectly flip the bird to my office for screwing me over the Friday before a holiday, I picked a pretty vacation-y casual Friday outfit for today (hello stripes & boat shoes).  I also went for a summery color palette by combining my favorite color of all time, aqua, with my favorite trendy color of the year, orange.  I also took some photos of the amazing anniversary gift my hubby gave me this year - check it out below!  PS - sorry for the iphone snaps today, I didn't have time for the good camera routine (or any editing, obviously).

I'm Wearing

Tommy Hilfiger striped silk cami (similar with sequins!)

Gap outlet orange cardigan (similar)

J. Crew teal chain link necklace (similar in gold - could DIY this into another color?)

American Eagle jeans (old)

Sperry white boat shoes (similar)

J. Crew aqua rhinestone bracelet

Target aqua wrap watch ($10, recent, but couldn't find it online)

H&M mint, cream, peach beaded metal ring bracelet set (recent)

LOFT clear lucite with green top sunglasses (on sale for $15 right now!)

And... my new baby!

Kate Spade Essex Scout bag in "Carribbean"

The best part about this gift is that I had picked it out as something I was going to buy for myself with a little bonus check I got at work, so I showed my husband all like "hey, look what I'm going to splurge on because I'm so awesome at work lately!"  He was really annoyed to have to tell me not to get it because he had already picked out the exact same bag to get me for our anniversary!  Even cuter is that he said he knew he wanted to get me a Kate Spade leather bag because in traditional wedding gift themes, year 3 is leather, so he went into my closet to see if I had any bags in my favorite color; I didn't, so he went through all of the bags on the Kate Spade website to find one in this color.  There were about 4 or 5, but he picked this one, which I obviously loved since I was going to buy it without even knowing it was something he was considering!  It worked out even better because he hadn't bought it yet, and I had just gotten an email that the site was doing a major sale for 2 days only, so he got it for way cheaper than retail!  Awesome!

What are your plans this holiday weekend?  I will be heading to Mexico on Monday, but I'm planning on lining up a few posts for while I'm gone (and I'm going to try to update with some lovely beach photos while I'm away!).  I hope you have a nice, long, relaxing weekend! 

Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link, which gives me a commission if you click and purchase something from that link. It's just like a retail associate who works on a commission basis. When you shop through an affiliate link,  you help support my blog, and it doesn't cost you anything! :)

6 things Thursday

I've been really busy this week wrapping up things at work and daydreaming constantly about my upcoming trip, so this post is just sort of a mishmash of things I've been loving and doing this week.

(1) I know this isn't really super newsworthy, but I am seriously obsessed with J.Crew's Looks We Love feature on the website and in the catalogs (sorry, "Style Guides").  Every look is ridiculously inspiring and simple to recreate.  Here are a few of my recent faves.

Source: J Crew

(2) Butter London's spring collection.  I already featured swatches of the ones I got (Slapper, Trout Pout, and Bossy Boots and Knackered together), but I'm still obsessing over this amazing assortment of colors - it's just so perfect for spring and summer!

Source: Butter London via Temptalia

(3) Mexico inspiration

Our trip is less than 4 days away (!!!), so I'm in a constant state of daydreaming and planning what to wear.  I posted a sunny localtion inspiration board back in winter when I was in a serious state of denial over the snow, and I found so many more great ideas on Polyvore using the new J. Crew striped beach tote I picked up for our trip!

Life's a Beach :) by amandaellen

Easy seaside style by eimilealoisia featuring stuart weitzman sandals

Summer :) by martinadugonjic featuring white shoes

 

(4) Bright jewelry

I picked up a few things for my trip at Banana Republic Factory over the weekend (when will they get a website, seriously?) and I'm so enamored with the bright colors that I've been looking for even more to add to my collection.  BR has a ton of great options (and they're all 35% off today!).  Here are a few I've been eying.  I can't decide... which one is your favorite?

Banana Republic

Banana Republic

Banana Republic

Banana Republic

 

(5) Mini wedding cake

The Mexico vacation is for our 3rd wedding anniversary, so we had to celebrate at home a little early since we'll be gone for our actual wedding date.  We went to dinner last night, and I finally got to show my husband what one of my gifts for him was - an exact replica of the top of our wedding cake!  A girl I work with has a side bakery gig, so she made this for us and it turned out amazing.  He was surprised (I think) and loved it.

I sort of smashed a few of the white dots on the top flowers on my way home - oops!  Still tasted good though :)

(6) Greektown

We did our honeymoon in Greece, partially because we love Greek food so much and had always loved going to dinner in Greektown together while we were dating.  To carry on the tradition, we usually go to Greektown for dinner on our anniversary.  Seriously, there are so many good restaurants here - if you're ever in Chicago, definitely check this area out!  Last night we went to Athena, which was pretty good and the view was excellent!  I love outdoor dining in the summer, don't you?

Carved right into the sidewalks

So that's what's happening in my life right now.  I feel very discombobulated this week, so this post is kind of appropriate in that way for me.  What's going on with you?  What are your plans for the holiday weekend?  Are you taking a trip anywhere, or just making the most of your time at home?

Wishlist Wednesday: Florals

As I've mentioned before, I'm kind of picky about patterns, especially florals.  Sometimes the colors or the way the flourishes end up just rub me the wrong way - I'm sure I'm not the only one.  Because of that, I didn't have very many floral patterns in my wardrobe up until this spring.  Luckily for me, florals became one of the most sought-after trends of the spring and new options sprang up around every corner!  I previously wore this mixed print floral tank, this springy floral button down, and this toned-down scarf on the blog, and I just can't stop adding florals to my closet now.

Most recently, I picked up this Old Navy floral tank, which is seriously so.much.cuter. in person than it looks in that stock photo - the colors look much nicer together than the ON pic makes it look, which I was really surprised by because I often dislike the color choices in Old Navy's patterns and prints in particular.

pockets!

a twee bit wrinkly but still decent enough from being stuffed up into a ball and thrown in my bag

I'm Wearing

Old Navy floral racerback tank (exact)

J. Crew Jardin Skirt (same skirt, different colors)

Nine West cream pointy pumps (similar)

Aaaaand, that's it!

I wore this outfit at work last week during "Bike to Work Week" because it was lightweight and easy to stuff in a messenger bag on my ride into work.  The skirt looked fine, but the shirt did get a little bit wrinkly from the journey.  I also went with no accessories because, well... I forgot.  I like to think that the nice floral pattern makes up for that.  This might be the least complicated outfit I've worn in years.  It was kind of nice, but let's be serious - I was back on the arm candy the next day.

Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link, which gives me a commission if you click and purchase something from that link. It's just like a retail associate who works on a commission basis. When you shop through an affiliate link,  you help support my blog, and it doesn't cost you anything! :)

Beauty Tuesday: May Birchbox

I'm sure I'm the absolute last person on earth to have heard of/signed up for Birchbox, but I'm really glad I finally did.  I was hesitant about doing it for the last few months because I wasn't sure if the products would be worth it as far as size, quality, etc.  I got my first May box last week, but I wanted to wait to post about it so I could try each of the products before I did a mini-review of them so I'd be able to gauge whether they were worth my $10 and hopefully help anyone else who was wondering the same thing!

This month was Gossip Girl themed.  I've never seen the show (for shame, I know - I've had season 1 and 2 borrowed from a friend for about a year, but it's one of those things I never seem to get to), so I'm not sure how much they relate to the characters.  I'm assuming they have beautiful hair and makeup on the show, so that's relevant enough for me.

Here's what you get when you first open the box.

The little pink thing was wrapped much nicer than this when I first opened it; I got a little greedy and had to rip it all open before I could get my camera, so I tried to wrap it back up as nicely as I could.

And the goods are...

Kerastase Cristalliste bain (shampoo) and lait (conditioner) samples - about 2 days' worth (shampoo full size $36, conditioner full size $39)

Kerastase Cristalliste Lumiere Liquide sample - probably a week's worth  (full size $42)

Purple XOXO notecard and pink envelope (10 pack $10)

Full size Color Club Foil Collection in "Disco Nap" gold ($8)

Dr. Jart Water Fuse Beauty Balm (full size $32)

Full size Stila Sparkle Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Curacao (sparkly blue) ($22)

And a few reviews.

Kerastase Cristalliste shampoo, conditioner, lumiere liquide

I used all 3 of these together and liked them pretty well.  My hair feels smooth, less frizzy than with no product, and not weighed down at all.  I would consider buying these in the future, but the price is really what's holding me back - I just can't justify spending over $100 on 3 hair products, especially when I have so many others to use up and others that I like.  I really appreciated the opportunity to try them, though; I think it's nearly impossible to find samples of this brand anywhere else.

Stila Sparkle Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Curacao

Gorgeous, and full-sized!  Love this one, and it seems pretty waterproof to me.  I was able to wash it off easily with soap and water, but with just water dripping on it (on my arm), it stayed put.  And even better, the sparkly blue color will be perfect for my upcoming Mexico vacation!  I love this one because it's something I probably wouldn't buy for myself, but this was a great score in my May box because it's fun, beautiful, and full-sized (so a $22 value, and remember you only pay $10 for the box!)

Color Club Foil Collection in "Disco Nap"

Disco Nap is on my ring finger in this pic, and I literally just painted it over a days-old manicure (in China Glaze High Hopes) to test it out.  The above swatch is 1 singular coat, OVER a bright, almost neon orange.  As you can see, there is no orange showing underneath the gold coat - that's how opaque this stuff is.  Amazing.  The color is a great, foiled gold, and I can see myself wearing this a ton.

I don't have additional photos for the Dr. Jart balm, but that's because I didn't really feel it was worth it.  I'm not a huge Beauty Balm person, maybe because nothing has really sold me on it yet, and maybe also because I like my tinted moisturizers just fine for this kind of thing.  Anyway, this sample was miniscule - enough for one generous use or 2 stingy uses at most.  It felt pretty slippery going on, didn't cover really anything or even out my skin tone much, and got oily later in the day.  Not impressed.  Nice to try, though.

And finally, the XOXO card.  It was just a throw-in, so there's really nothing much to say about it.  I like paper cards, it's cute, and I'll probably use it at some point, so it was a nice little extra.

All in all - LOVE the Birchbox experience and I'm so glad I signed up.  I can't wait for my June box!  How about you, have you signed up for Birchbox, or any of the other delivery beauty services (Glossy Box, or others?)