Five on Friday v6

Today I'm linking up with Christina from Carolina Charm for "Five on Friday" 

Check out the link up below.

This week I've picked 5 "material" things I've really been loving lately. In no particular order...

[one] These Danskin workout tanks have been a favorite clothing item the last week or so. I've had a lot of time to spend studying at home as opposed to going into class so me and lounge wear have been besties. (let's be honest, we're besties all the time) But now that I have a growing belly I'm more particular about what I put on and these never disappoint. They're comfortable without being as sloppy as one of J's old t-shirts plus from Walmart, you can't beat the price.

[two] I posted a while ago about yummy breakfasts in green smoothies. Well first trimester and said-smoothies did not mesh well and just the thought of one had me gagging a few times. Now that my stomach has settled into fewer aversions, smoothies have been making a comeback! These aren't so green anymore but I'm working on adding the spinach back in. For now I'm happy that my fruit intake has gone up and these are such an easy way to accomplish that. Today's mix: 8oz strawberry greek yogurt, 1 banana, 2/3 c frozen raspberries, 1/2 c fresh blueberries and a splash of milk. 

[three] I'm definitely not a nail polish connoisseur but I do have my fair share of bottles stashed in the cabinet in the bathroom. I'm typically an Essie girl with a handful of OPI and cheap $1 bottles thrown in but usually can't allow myself to spend more than OPI-pricing on polish. However, I picked up two Butter shades a year or so ago during a sale and Tart with a Heart has been getting a lot of use lately. I've been sporting the oh-so-trendy ring finger with glitter look the last few weeks and this is my go-to glitter, hands down.

[four] Starbucks Frappy Hour is back starting yesterday and I will definitely be taking advantage of it when I can. I went through a stage where I didn't order fraps because I didn't think they had enough caffeine and I preferred "to spend money on the good stuff". Yikes! Well now that I've seriously cut back my coffee/caffeine addiction (the first step is admitting you have a problem, ha) these are sounding quite delicious. I'm usually a carmel kinda gal and I rarely stray from it but I would love to try something new. Anyone have a customized favorite they love? Any new ones I have to try?

[five] My mom and I have been doing dinners together this week since J has been out of town and we made this salad last night and it did not disappoint! I always love a good spinach base with lots of fresh, springy toppings. (not to mention my love for fruit and avocados over the last few weeks!) Plus the homemade dressing was the perfect addition, not too overwhelming but with enough flavor that complemented the whole thing. We grilled up some chicken breast on the side to give us some extra protein and were left stuffed and happy! I'll definitely be making this salad many times in the coming months.

Happy Friday and happy weekend, friends!

Tying the Knot: Getting Ready Bride

After what seemed like less than 10 minutes of being at the venue, it was suddenly time to put on the dress! I absolutely love the pictures our photographer and his assistant were able to capture during this time as some of my favorite ladies helped me get ready to marry my best friend. 

I did follow with the tradition and included something Old, New, Borrowed and Blue into my wedding look. 

Old: My Dad's wedding band pinned inside my gown

New: My dress, veil, and nude pumps

Borrowed: A string of pearls from my mom

Blue: OPI nail polish from the Holland Collection on my toes and blue undies!

Now everyone was officially ready so the girls and I headed outside to start our pictures in the gorgeous patio of the venue.

All photos courtesy of Ignite Images.

Next up: Me and my lovely ladies!

Need to catch up?
First we got ready

Currently [v3]

Basically this is a post for a few things that didn't deserve their own post but I had to share them with you anyways. I am currently loving.... 

>>> Starbucks Iced Americanos. I don't know why I never ordered one before but ever since, I just can't seem to get anything else. And since it doesn't quite feel like fall around these parts in sunny San Diego, I can go for something iced still. But believe me, when those red cups come out I'll sure be making a switch.

>>> OPI Wooden Shoe Like To Know It. I think it's the perfect fall color without being overly dark. It's a brownish purple with a little sparkle to it and the formula is fantastic. Two coats gets great coverage and they haven't chipped yet which is awesome for my nail-polish-hating nails.

Source: theitaliandishblog.com via Jayme on Pinterest

>>> These amazing apple crisps. I made my first batch the other afternoon using a single apple. But silly me, who was I kidding. I gobbled them up that same night and had to make a larger batch again the next day. They're super simple and bake for long enough to make your house smell like apple pie without all the effort.

>>> TheKnotDOTcom. Seriously it's been my best friend since getting engaged and I'm constantly finding new tools and ideas and endless amounts of inspiration from that site. I highly recommend any bride-to-be to check out all that it has to offer. For example, my most recent use has been related to our guest list. I made an excel file with everyone invited, imported it to the website and have been able to track our online-RSVPs as well as easily create seating plans with an interactive screen to show table placements and such. It's been awesome for this DIY/OCD bride like me.

So tell me, what are you loving this month? Anything you think I'd love too?

The Nail Files: 3x

Today I'm sharing my current polish!

I believe it was a little over a year ago that OPI released a combo pack in their Bright Ideas! colors that included three polishes and one Rapid Dry top coat. My set was part of my Easter basket last year from my mom. I typically don't wear many cooler colors when it comes to nail polish so admitedly I haven't worn the blue polish ever. Oops.

But this week I decided my toes needed a summer color and what better way to do that than with Atomic Orange! I love this color but the polish itself is a little thick. It usually takes three coats to get even coverage without streaks. Plus, incase you haven't noticed, this set of polishes are the minis! I think they are just so cute, little miniture versions of the normal bottles. But I do think the tiny brush makes application a little more difficult. Regardless though I stuck it out and applied all the necessary coats between doing laundry and house work one night this evening.

I love this color and would consider buying a bigger bottle when this little guy runs out.

Link up with Tara and Vicki!

The Nail Files: 2x

It's that time of the week again for The Nail Files with Tara and Vicki!

This weeks polish is 

Topless and Barefoot by Essie

It's a perfect neutral I can wear anytime of the year. I didn't want to go too bold with spring colors quite yet but I'm definitely done with the darker colors from the winter already. After seeing these photos though I might go back and add a third coat because it does look a bit streaky with just two. 

And because I took a sick day I painted my toes as well. 

Rage by Orly

The Nail Files: 1x

Today I'm linking up with the Nail Files hosted by Tara of Fabulous But Evil and Vicki of My Vickilicious Life.

Today I'm featuring my current nail color. 

Pepe's Purple Passion from the OPI Muppets Line

It's a deep purple/red almost wine color with hints of red shimmer.

I currently have this color on both my toes and my fingers. 

Because there's never enough shots with the ring :-)

Trying to illustrate the shimmer and sparkle this color has is more difficult than I would have thought. 

What color nails are you sporting these days?

Nail Polish Swap!

I'm sure you know Tara of Fabulous But Evil? 

And if you don't, then you must go to her blog RIGHT NOW!

Okay, well actually after you check out the rest of this post....

So.... Tara and Celia hosted a Nail Polish Swap recently 

and are doing a link-up today to show off what everyone received. 

I am so so happy with everything that my swap partner Lauren sent me. 

 1. Essie Silken Cord: 

The perfect red for the holiday season

2. Essie Topless & Barefoot: 

An amazing nude/slight baby pink

3. Sally Hansen Strobe Light: 

Amazing pink/silver sparkles in different sizes with clear base

4. Orly Rage: 

Shimmery, metallic copper color

 I'm currently sporting Topless & Barefoot with an accent nail of Strobe Light.

I can't wait to use Silken Cord for Christmas and Rage seems like the perfect color for my toes! 

Thank you Tara and Celia for hosting the swap 

and a big thank you to Lauren for my amazing polishes!  

The Time Has Come

Today was my last final of my last semester of my last year at SDSU! I cannot believe the day has come. Walking past the dorms this afternoon and seeing all the freshmen (now sophomores) moving out with their parents made me kind of nostalgic. It's still supposed to be me moving out of the dorms after freshman year. Heck, it's still supposed to be me graduating from high school but instead it's my little sister. These past four years have flown by and in celebration of the end of an era, I spent the rest of the day having some fun!

I got my nails done with one of my best friends in San Diego. PS- If you haven't heard of gel nails you must look into it. They don't ruin your natural nails like acrylics but won't chip like regular manicures.

The trip to the nail salon also included a pedicure to match my graduation dress.

You'll be seeing more pictures soon of the full dress soon but here's a close up for color purposes.

While we were out, I stopped by the grocery store and ordered cupcakes for our graduation party (complete with red sprinkles for school spirit) and we stopped for lunch and a pitcher of beer. And to top it all off, our lunch was paid for by the random money that was rolling on the ground as we were walking. I love anything that's free!

I came home and added J's Master's hood and my completed set of chords to our gowns hanging in the doorway.

I can't believe we are both graduating tomorrow and I'm so proud of all the accomplishments we've had along the way.

The rest of my day includes a power nap, dinner with my amazing BF and a trip to the airport to pick up family. I cannot wait for the rest of the weekend either. Quality time with both of our families, the actual commencement ceremony, lots of graduation celebrations, and hopefully some amazing San Diego weather. Then it's a quick flight and I'll be back home for a week to celebrate another important graduation next week.

Here's to all the grads around blog land. Congrats!

Thankful v1

I am thankful....

+ that it's Friday and I don't have class or work or anything specific I have to get taken care of today. It feels nice to have a day to myself to watch reruns of ANTM and maybe do some crafting.

+ for the interview that I have with Panera on Sunday morning. I really need a job since I only have class Tuesdays and Thursdays and could always use more moneys. Wish me luck.

+ that I took one of these bad-boy mondo hair clips (they're about as big as my thumb, for reference) and some scrap fabric and made something cute for my hair. I constantly pull one side of my hair back and this looks much better than a few plain bobby pins. Plus it cost me a total of $0.25! The pack of four was a dollar and I used fabric I already had.

+ I also made this braid headband while I had the hot glue and felt out. I've been trying to not use heat (aka blow dryers/straighteners/etc) on my hair lately so this is a perfect way to dress up a messy bun.

+ that I have made such amazing connections with the people I work with at Hospice. Every week I feel like my volunteering is appreciated and recognized by each and every person there and it makes it that much more worth it. I have had some awesome experiences there and hope to continue making memories and strides in health care.

+ that my birthday is in officially 8 days! A whole day just for me? Yes please!

+ for an easy semester this spring. After studying for the MCAT and then studying some more last spring and then working on applications from about the end of June until the end of December, it's nice to have time to relax. There's nothing I have to do or should do. There's nothing pressing on my mind or stressing me out and I am beyond thankful for that. Thank you 9 units of class, let's make it a great end to undergrad!

+ that I found a nail polish I bought a while ago and completely forgot about! How does that happen? Finger Paints "Hue Left A Message" is a sparkly mauve-pink with white sparkles. I like that a single coat could be fairly sheer to use over another polish and that three coats can make it opaque to wear alone.

+ last but definitely not least, for my amazing little family. I love spending time with my two boys and I couldn't be happier. J has been so amazing to me lately I feel like I'm falling in love all over again. And our Ollie boy is such a perfect angel and I can't imagine our life without him now.

Art Dealer Teal-er

Did you know that September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month?

Did you know that the color teal is the awareness color for OC?

Did you know that you should paint your toes the color teal right now, I mean after you finish reading this, to help bring awareness and save lives?

Well now you do.

To show my support I decided to paint, not only my toes but also my fingers in the traditional bright teal color. Realistically any shade of teal will do (OPI has an awesome Ski Teal We Drop color that is a little more subdued) I just figured Go Big or Go Home right?

So I picked up my new teal nail polish and painted away and I hope that people notice. Because that's the point.

Friend: "Oh I like the color of your nails/Wow your nail polish is bright/etc etc"

Self: "Yes, thank you. It's to raise awareness of Ovarian Cancer. Teal is their color."

Friend: "Ovarian Cancer huh?"

Self: "Yep, let me tell you about it...."

* OC effects over 25,000 women in the US every year and is the 5th leading cause of cancer in women

* 75% of OC cases are diagnosed too late, the cancer has already spread and treatment is unlikely to help

* 93% of OC patients that get diagnosed earlier are able to survive it

* There is no test or screen to detect this form of cancer (not even a pap smear) so you must trust your instinct and see a doctor if you have persistence of any symptom

Symptoms

- Bloating

- Pelvic and/or abdominal pain

- Frequent or urgent need to go #1

-Having a hard time eating

-Feeling full quickly

Remember, you MUST see your doctor if you have any of these symptoms daily for more than a few weeks because early detection is crucial to the treatment of the disease.

So go out there and help save baby makers and the lives of women around you.

The information I have listed here as well as more can be found at the Teal Toes website.

And they even have a huge list of teal nail polishes in many brands incase you don't know which one you want to use.

Summer Color

This is the newest polish purchase for the summer so I thought I'd do a review. We always get a new color in the summer time because we have more time to do our nails and more time to show them off. (We is my mom, sister and I by the way, not the bf.) Ulta was having a Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale while I was at home so we jumped on it. The sale was for OPI, Essie, and Piggy Polish but unfortunately you couldn't get different brands. I personally love Essie polishes lately but they're colors were slightly "too adult" according to my younger sister. We decided on Piggy Polish from there because, well, OPI is more expensive than Piggy. Plus it comes with a cute embellishment which is always a good thing. Mom was treating so we were fine with the decision.

I've never owned Piggy Polish before so this was a new trial for me and I have to say I'm happy with it overall. I decided on Daylilly's and Music because it's a fresh, somewhat neutral, but still fun color. I own few polishes that aren't red/pink/golden so I figured why not change it up.

The polish is a little thin (or maybe I'm just not good at painting my nails) because I had to put on three coats for it to be the right shade. It gets that see-through look where you can see all the imperfections if you don't do three. I painted both my toes and my fingers because it's a great color for both. I love the mint-green shade and I'm very happy I stepped out of my "pink polish box." Piggy Polish gets two green thumbs up :-)

First Coat

Second Coat

Third Coat

on a long overdue update

I'm sorry that I have been so MIA lately. I promise that I'll try to be better about it but for the past while there have been other things taking up my time. Between studying and more studying, wanting to enjoy summer at least a little bit, planning for my vacation, and the recent apartment searching I think it's fair to say that I've been busy.

By the way, has anyone figured out how to make more than 24 hours in a day? Because I definitely could have used that recently....

+ I've been spending most of my days, about 9am-6ish doing more studying for my upcoming MCAT. It is officially 20 days away and I'm surprisingly not freaking out this time. I think it's part to do that I've been able to do so much more studying this time around without having to worry about school related things on top of it. It's also because I've taken it once before so I know what it'll be like and I just recently, Tuesday actually, got my scores back for the first test. They were much better than I thought they would be so even though they aren't quite what I want, it's much more realistic to make up the extra points I need this time. It's been nice (not really NICE, but nice since I have to study) that the weather here has been nothing note worthy. Being stuck inside listening to lessons, taking quizzes, and studying flash cards would be much more difficult if it was 75 degrees outside and the pool was calling my name. With all that said, I thought I'd share with you a picture of my lesson book with my childish habit of drawing a heart ♥ instead of writing the letters h-e-a-r-t. I don't know when I started doing this but now it's almost like I can't help it. I was contently listening to my Kaplan Cardiovascular Lesson this afternoon and looked down to see all these little drawings and it made me smile, a nerdy smile but a smile none the less.

+ In the midst of everything else going on in my life right now I desperately could use a job. Like I have time for that, right? Yeah I know, when would that fit in. Maybe there's a job out there that pays $200 an hour so I can work two hours a week and be set... a girl can dream right? It's definitely not something I can really look for seriously though at this point since I'm all consumed with studying until I leave on vacation and will be gone for two weeks. And then right after that my best friend is coming to SD to visit for a week so I couldn't (more like wouldn't) start a job while she was here. It's all fine and dandy because I realize there's nothing I can do about it right now and I'll have plenty of time once all the vacations are done to job search. Plus, it's to the point that I'm really not going to be too picky with where I work as long as I can get paid. With all that said however, I've been trying to cut back on the money I spend since it's starting to get low. I've been making coffee every day at home instead of going to Starbucks even when I am craaaavving a Cinnamon Dolce Latte or a venti Iced Chai. I try to tell myself, "that's $4 you don't need to spend when you have a wonderful espresso maker at home." Maybe I need a new coffee creamer to spice up my home-brew, hmmm? I've also been packing lunches to take to school when I go to study. That way I can be productive all day and not be tempted to go grab Chipotle for lunch. My most recent "spend less money" kick has been to give myself manicures/pedicures. And I have to say, they are totally worth it. I have a tendency to get sick of the color I have on so doing it myself makes my less guilty when I decide to take if off. Pick up some handy Revlon or even splurge for some OPI polish and you'll have tons of good looks for like $8. Yeah it's much easier and much more relaxing to sit in a comfy chair while someone does it for you but this way you don't have to spend the extra twenty. My recent look, I did today actually, was a simple french manicure. My nails are finally to a good length and it looks great. Revlon "White on White" is definitely my favorite french polish and I used OPI "Who Needs A Prince" on top.

+ Many of you may or may not know this but I am a puppy fanatic. It's serious; I think I have puppy-addiction if that's even possible. I literally have to keep myself from being like the kids who ask, "may we pet your dog?" when someone's out on a stroll with their pooch. It's to the point that Jeff and I are moving specifically so we can get a pup of our own. Given that I'll be gone for two weeks, then Jeff leaves for a week, then the bestie comes to visit, we started looking for pet friendly places this week. It's shocking how many places say their pet friendly but then have weight restrictions of 25lbs or smaller so finding a place to get the bread we want limits our selections. By the way, we're getting a golden. However, we've been pretty successful in our first day of going to look at places. We found a place we definitely like already and are going to look at more complexes tomorrow. I can't even try to explain how ecstatic I am that this is finally happening. We've been talking about getting a puppy when we move for about a year and it's sooo close now! So as soon as we can lock down a place that we're going to rent, the search for a breeder can commence. I was already searching for breeders in Souther California last night, Jeff gets really annoyed when I do because I freak out at every picture. But seriously, how could you not want to give this lil' guy a huge hug!?! *squeal*

*Photo from puppiesforsale.com*