FINALLY we are in September! As I told you guys before, my favorite season has to be Fall. Here in Arizona, Fall weather comes a little later than it does in other states. We usually don’t feel cooler temperatures until late October or early November. However, it doesn’t stop us from welcoming Fall in September!
Today, I want to share with you 5 of my favorite Fall trends!
Okay, I know what you’re thinking…SHORTS?! Like I said, here in AZ, it’s still above the 90’s until October. I have been LOVING these paper bag shorts lately! I think they are so cute and so much comfier than jean shorts.
Something I have been dying to get is a camel colored coat like this one. It just looks so classy and warm! I love the classic look it adds to any outfit and I also feel like it is a color that looks good on anyone!
Also, notice her cheetah print shoes! I noticed cheetah print is coming back and it’s EVERYWHERE! Personally, I am not a big fan of animal print but in cases like this, I find it very cute and it pairs really nicely with the camel.
These knee-high boots grow on me more and more every time I see them! I also love them paired with this sweater dress, I think it is absolutely adorable!
Another thing I am excited about this Fall/Winter season in big, baggy, comfy sweaters! I LOVE sweaters, and for a girl that lives in Arizona, I honestly have too many. But I don’t care, they are just so cozy and cute and look good paired with jeans, legging sweats…you name it!
I love hats. I wish I had more of them. My goal this season is to wear more hats, similar to this one! I just love them and they are PERFECT for my 3rd day or 4th day hair.
What Fall trends are you loving and excited about?
Happy Wednesday (almost Thursday) everyone! Today, we are continuing our wedding series and I want to talk about everything we wore for the wedding!
So I am just gonna get right into it…
Let’s start with the big one…my wedding dress! Quick little backstory, this dress was SO DIFFICULT to find! Oh my gosh. I always knew I wanted to wear a long sleeve, all lace dress on my wedding day. For some reason, it was so hard to find one that I liked. Then I was on Instagram one day and saw that this couple I knew from high school got married and her dress was EVERYTHING. I was not friends with her on Instagram at the time, but I was with her sister so I reached out to her and asked where her wedding dress was from and she told me Luv Bridal.
I immediately started looking on their website and found a few that I really liked, including this one!
Unfortunately, since the wedding was only a few months away, we did not have time to order the dress in my size so I had to get one off-the-shelf. The smallest they had the dress was a size 4 (I am a 0) but after trying it on, I was in LOVE and it could definitely be altered to fit me!
The dress itself ended up costing a little over $1000 and alterations were $500 so we ended up spending around $1500 for my dream dress!
Next up, our bridesmaid’s dresses! Okay, so on my last post, I told you a fun fact about these dresses. I HATED them. Okay, maybe hate is a little strong but I was not that happy about them. Originally, I wanted these gold dresses with open-backs but unfortunately, we could not go with those and I won’t get into detail about why but honestly, I was so broken hearted over it.
I spent FOREVER looking for other dresses and you guys know, I am picky! It took me longer to find bridesmaid dresses than it did to find MY wedding dress. I looked EVERYWHERE. Finally, I found these ones from Lulu’s. They were $70 each and are still available online if you do like them. Alterations were around $30 but the only alterations were to add fabric to the cleavage area and sew the slit down more so it wasn’t as high.
I DO NOT like the alterations that were made what-so-ever and I actually cried when I saw the dresses in person.
At the end of the day, it is what it is and I was very happy with the wedding. Also, my bridesmaids did make the dresses work because they are all so gorgeous but if I had to do it all over again, I would get the dresses I originally wanted.
Now I want to talk about the girl’s accessories. I had my amazing florist make the flower crowns for each of the girls and I loved that they made the dresses look better! Since the dresses were long, I had the girls wear whatever shoes that they were comfortable with (as long as you couldn’t see them). They were allowed to wear any jewelry they pleased and I also gifted them with the cutest little “knot bracelets”. I will post a picture of them below!
Moving onto the boys! Jaden’s suit is from Men’s Warehouse. We ended up just renting his but Jaden was not happy with it and honestly, I wish we would have just bought a suit and had it custom fitted for him because he did not feel good in his rental one. (I think he looks cute but I wish he would have felt that way!).
We asked the boys to wear a white button-up shirt (which was easy because all of our boys are members of The Church of Jesus Christ!), navy blue slacks, and brown shoes. The ties, I purchased from a local tie shop and they were super cheap and matched the dresses perfectly! I do wish we would have told the boys to all wear brown belts but hey, what do ya do!
And last but certainly not least…our shoes! Jaden’s were just apart of his rental suit. Mine…are simply my favorite shoes in the world and I love them so much that I still find any excuse to wear them!
My shoes here are Christian Louboutins! Specifically, they are the Pigalle 85mm Nude Patent Leather Pumps. They are $695 and they were a wedding gift from my parents! I have to admit, that when the reception started, I did change into my sandals but that is because I did not break them in enough for the wedding. Now, I can wear these bad boys for hours and even dance in them (I wear them to weddings a lot)!
I love them so so SO much and I am so happy that my photographer got this cute shot of our shoes!
Jaden’s shoes were also rented with his suit.
Alright, I think that is pretty much everything! In future posts, I plan to talk about our wedding rings, our schedule and maybe a honeymoon post so stay tuned for all of that! Make sure you are following me on my Instagram (click here to follow me!) and/or subscribe using your email on the side of this page to be notified when new posts are up. See you all on Friday for a new Friday Favorites post!
Happy Friday my loves! Today’s Friday Favorites is all about my favorite beauty-related things lately. This can be anything from beauty tips to what I use to shave. Yes, I am keeping it real on this blog!
Tinkle Eyebrow Razors – $4.80 (2 Pack) from Amazon
Like most women, I have hair on my face. I’ll admit it! I LOVE these little razors because they help get all of the annoying facial hair. I especially love using this for my upper lip. They work AMAZINGLY and they are so affordable! I highly recommend these!
Drybar Triple Sec 3-in-1 Finishing Spray – $26 from Sephora
I know you have heard me go on about this stuff a lot but I just discovered a new tip that I wanted to share with you guys involving dry shampoo! Typically, you spray dry shampoo in your hair when your hair is getting oily and you need to freshen it up without washing it. One of my favorite girls on Instagram (Her handle is @livingmybeststyle) said that she liked putting dry shampoo in her hair on the same day that she washes it because it’s not as oily the next few days. I decided to try it and sure enough, I noticed that my second day hair still felt like my first day hair.
Flamingo Women’s Five Blade Razor – $9.99 at Target
Back to body hair because ya know, it’s still summer and shaving has become apart of my daily shower regimen. This is my current razor and I absolutely love it! I have probably been using this razor since Flamingo came into Target. My favorite part about it is that you buy this set for $10 and then you just have to buy the replacement cartridges. I think they are 4 for $8.99.
CeraVe Moisturizing Cream – $11.99 at Target
So for YEARS I have used Bath & Body Works lotions until I decided that I wanted to put something better on my skin. I love that they smell so yummy but I hated the thought of putting so much “fragrance” on my skin. I learned that so many nasty chemicals can hide behind the “fragrance” ingredient and that it kind of scared me. I started looking for a better alternative and I found this stuff. I LOVE it! I also really like the Facial Moisturizer by CeraVe so I have been using that as well!
Also, I do not buy mine from Target. I buy mine from Costco because I am pretty sure it is like $11.99 for a 2 pack at Costco (don’t quote me on this though), but if you have a membership, I highly suggest buying it from there!
Bio Oil 2 oz Bottle – $8.99 at Target
If you are a mama or an expecting mama dealing with stretch marks and itchy skin, I HIGHLY suggest buying this stuff! I did not have stretch marks my whole pregnancy and then they appeared right after giving birth. I have been using this stuff on them since having Lexi and it has helped so much! Of course, it doesn’t just magically get rid of them, but I would never expect them to just go away. It does help ease them though and keep your belly nice and moisturized!
Also, I like to use this by mixing it with my CeraVe cream. I get some of the cream and drop a few drops of the Bio Oil in it, mix it together in my hands and then apply it to my skin! Works wonders!!
So as most of you know, Jaden and I are in the process of building our first home. If you haven’t already read Part 1 of this, you can find that here.
We are beyond excited and feel so blessed to be able to do this. Jaden and I have been working our butts off for it and to see everything coming together has been amazing!
The point of these posts are to share this amazing journey with all of you and to also keep a “journal-like” post for myself as we are going through this process.
In my last post, we left off where the framing went up and the windows were being put in! A few weeks later, our house looked like this:
Around this same time, our Loan Officer was checking in with us to grab updated pay stubs and we started turning in ALL THE DOCUMENTS. This meant it was time for everything to go to the underwriter and I was so nervous! I was just praying that we would be approved because obviously we are first time home buyers.
Eventually, our drywall went up and this was so exciting because our house started looking like a house. It was nice to walk through and get a picture of where we will put everything and how big each room is.
In our development, they only had two model homes and neither of them were our model so we had no idea what our floor plan looked like in person! But everything was pretty much what we had in mind as far as size and layout.
So this is what the outside of our house currently looks like! This picture was taken a little less than 2 weeks ago and since then, we have our baseboards in and our doors and garage door are in.
About a week ago, we got a call from our Loan Officer saying the underwriter has approved us for the loan! Since then, we have been filling out paperwork and preparing to close at the end of September.
So now I am going to show you some pictures of the inside and what they have done so far and also what I have planned for them.
This picture above is Lexi’s room! That back wall here is where her bunk bed will go. Yes, she is only 14 months old and still in her crib but my parents are giving us my baby sister’s old bunk bed which is SUPER cute! It is from Pottery Barn and it’s in amazing shape so they are gifting it to Lexi for when she is ready to transition. For now, we will be putting her crib in our room and she will be in there with us until then.
This here is our office or as Jaden likes to call it, his “man cave”. In here will be Jaden’s desk and gaming area and on the other side, we might put some of Lexi’s toys like her mini kitchen and stuff.
This is Lexi’s Bathroom/Guest Bathroom. I just recently ordered a bath rug from Walmart that was on sale for $13 and it’s SO cute! I can’t wait to put it in here. As for the shower curtain, I know what I want but I can’t find it ANYWHERE. Walmart used to carry the curtain I want but they are out of stock so I am just going to use my old one until they get it back in stock or I find another one I like.
This is our hallway leading to the kitchen. So I have been SO back and forth about what to paint the inside! Originally, I planned on Repose Gray because it is my FAVORITE paint color! But then I thought about just keeping the walls white but using a semi-gloss paint instead of the matte white they already have them in. Now I am thinking of doing something in between! I think I will still do Repose Gray but only 50% instead of 100%, that way it is lighter. What do you guys think?
This is a corner of the laundry room and that right wall is obviously where our washer and dryer will go. In the corner, we could have upgraded to have a sink but it was kind of expensive so we decided not to add it to this house. Maybe our next one! On the opposite side of the washer and dryer is a blank wall and I am thinking of having Jaden and my Father-In-Law build me a little table to put there so I can have a spot to fold and put laundry on.
Here is our master closet! One of my favorite rooms in the house because it is so big! On the left here is my side and in the back right side is Jaden’s and then we will share the shelves there in the middle. I am also thinking of putting my little vanity against the blank wall here on the right so I can get ready in here.
Also, where I am standing is a doorway to the laundry room which is what sold me on this floor plan! I LOVE that our laundry room is connected to the closet because it makes putting away our clothes so much easier so we don’t have to carry them around the house to fold and all that!
From the closet, we are in the master bath! This is our double sink vanity and I cannot wait to show you guys the cutest rug that I am going to put in front of here. Also, I saw that Joanna Gaines posted about all of the new Hearth & Home stuff coming to Target and I am ALL OVER IT. I saw the cutest towels that I would love to put in here!
Finally, we are getting to the kitchen! So this little nook is in our kitchen and I realized how blank this wall is without anything on top of the desk. There was an upgrade for cabinets but again, it was expensive and so we passed on it.
So then I started thinking, what could I do here…and it hit me. Two floating shelves that go all the way across this space! Since the shelves need to be custom sized, I am going to have Jaden and my Father-In-Law build them to put here. I am still deciding on the kind of wood stain to do but I can’t wait to see it all together, I think it is definitely going to make this side pop!
On the opposite side of that nook, is the kitchen! On this side of the kitchen will be our dishwasher and sink. I also can’t wait for you guys to see our countertops! I went with a white quartz and it is SO PRETTY!
And on this side will be our range and fridge and of course, our island in the middle! We have yet to pick a black splash, I know I showed you guys an idea of what I like in my last post but I am still looking. You guys will learn quickly (if you didn’t know already!) that I am very picky about everything so I am super careful about everything I pick out!
I just realized that I didn’t get any good pictures of our master bedroom or our living room but you guys know I will update you on my Instagram so make sure you are following me! You can click here to follow me!
IT’S FRIDAY! I love Friday’s for a few different reasons. One, it’s my first day off from working all week. Two, I get to spend all day with my baby. Three, it’s girl’s night which means my mom, sisters, Lexi and I get to hangout, eat good food and have some girl time!
For today’s Friday Favorites, it is kind of just some random things I loved from the week!
First of all, I am so excited because Jaden and I got the call from our Loan Officer a few days ago that we have been approved for the loan on our house! We are still a little over a month out so we plan to just keep doing what we are doing and hope that everything continues to go smoothly! But I’ll admit, it is so hard to not feel over the moon about it. We can’t stop talking about it and we are having fun figuring out what to buy for the house. Since we are building, there is A LOT that we need to buy. Blinds, washer/dryer, fans, food…etc! So we are trying to figure out a budget so that once we close, we can get what we need and still have some money leftover of what we saved.
Anyways, the first picture is an idea of what I am thinking for our backsplash. We don’t have a lot of backsplash area but we would still like to work on it at some point! I love it because it is not a backsplash you see everyday!
We will definitely have to buy a new doormat because ours was destroyed at the apartment. I want one that is unique too and has a cute saying on it or something. I like this one because I am a huge Nirvana fan so it instantly caught my eye!
A little fun fact about me, I ALWAYS have my nails painted. If you ever catch me without my nails painted, something might be wrong. I paint them myself, always, because I change up the color so much that ya girl IS NOT going to nail salon every week to pay for a new color! Painting my nails is like therapy for me and always makes me feel put together. This color is my current fave and it is called Fiji by Essie.
Another fun idea I wanted to do is put a silly sign in our bathroom! This one is my current favorite but I also like a sign that says “Hey there sweet cheeks” so I am tied between those two!
A few years ago, I started practicing Buddhism and because of it, I was the happiest I have ever been in my life! I am a worrier and I have REALLY severe anxiety so Buddhism has always helped me tackle it. Unfortunately, I fell out of practicing it and I have gone through dark periods the last couple years. Not because I was going through anything dark but just because I was trying to adjust to all the changes in my life. I got married, became pregnant and had a baby. All amazing things! But change is very difficult for me.
Jaden, being the amazing person and husband he is, has been encouraging me to take the time to practice Buddhism again. He is SO supportive about it and it just reminds me why I married him in the first place. So lately, I have been doing just that. This quote is a good one because it is something I struggle with a lot. Naturally, I am not a positive person, so training my mind is something I really have to work on but I feel like I have been doing so much better about staying positive and seeing the good in everything around me.
So last night, I noticed that Taylor Swift was dropping all of her songs on YouTube and I about died! I was SO EXCITED! I listened to every song with Lexi and we jammed out and picked our favorites! I have bought every Taylor Swift album so obviously, I plan on getting this one too! My favorite songs so far are Lover, The Man and London Boy.
Happy Tuesday! So something that has been so highly requested since I got married is to share all about my wedding. How I planned it, where I bought my dress, what we did for food, etc…
I had planned on doing a series of YouTube videos back in 2017 when I got married but since I got pregnant shortly after the wedding, I just was not in the mood to film OR blog. Although Jaden and I have been married for almost 2 years now, people are still asking me to do wedding posts so here I am!
I figured these posts could help a lot for those who are planning a wedding or just want to be prepared when they eventually start that process. For me, I was planning my wedding long before Jaden even proposed because I already knew I was going to marry him only a few months into dating. When ya know, ya know, am I right?
To start off this wedding series, I want to share some tips to begin wedding planning. After all, this is one of the biggest days of your life so you want to start planning and get all the advice you can as soon as you get engaged!
Buy a Wedding Planner or Binder & Notebook
Kate Spade New York Bridal Collection Wedding Planner – $48 (Dillards)
One of the first things I did when I got engaged was buy a planner. The one pictured above is the exact one that I purchased and used and boy, was it a lifesaver! It is the size of a regular binder and comes with pages for pretty much everything you need. For example, a budget page, timeline, to-do lists, a page to fill out songs for the DJ, guest list and so much more! It was SO helpful but if you don’t want to pay for that, you can always buy a regular binder and fill it with notebook paper. You can even print off templates online that you can stick in there that are similar to the pages I talked about in the Kate Spade binder.
This binder will be your wedding’s lifeline, believe me. You will take that thing everywhere and constantly be looking at it!
Figure Out a Timeline and Budget
Depending on how long you have to plan the wedding, your timeline will always vary from those you find online. I got engaged in April and we had our wedding in October so that gave us about 6 months to plan which, in wedding time, is not a lot of time! In my Kate Spade planner, it had a timeline page that was for a span of 1 year, but it still worked for me! I just moved everything up a bit.
There is also a budget page to help plan out how much you want to spend on things for the wedding. This is SO important because weddings are not cheap AT ALL and you definitely want to be mindful of how much you can spend.
Typically, the things that will be the costliest are:
-Venue
-Food/Catering (ESPECIALLY if you plan to serve alcohol, but we did not have alcohol at our wedding as a personal choice)
-Dress
-Flowers/Decor
Get All the Quotes You Can and Use People that Network Together
This next tip goes hand in hand with the last one. Since budgeting is important, I advise you not to go with the first person/company you find. Definitely get quotes and ask around! My mom says her rule of thumb is “always get three quotes” and I think that is genius!
Also, use people/companies that network with each other! So our Photographer shot our engagement photos and our wedding photos (she’s basically my family’s photographer now because we love her so much!) and she knows our florist. It was nice to have people we were already working with recommend other people that they knew to work with us on other parts of the wedding. You can always trust those that do weddings a lot too because they knew who to recommend and sometimes they offer deals when you go with people they recommend to you.
Start a Wedding Website
I started a website using Minted because it is free and super easy to use! The wedding website is more for your guests but it is so helpful for them because you put everything on that bad boy! You will be able to link your registries here (we were registered at Target and Amazon), people can RSVP through there, if you have people from out of town coming, you can link all of the info so they can book rooms, you can also post details about the wedding and where it will be and so much more! It is really nice to have that website so that guests can just go there to find all the info instead of having to text you about it because you’re already busy enough!
To Save on Food…Have Food Trucks!
When we went to our venue, the woman who helped us plan at the venue recommended using Food Trucks to cater the wedding and it was honestly one of our favorite things about our wedding! In our town, we have what is called “Food Truck Friday” where all these food trucks lineup and people can come to eat and have a good time. We went there and tried out different ones and then got the info for our favorite ones. Then, we went home and reached out to the owners to get quotes for our wedding. In the end, we saved a lot by doing Food Trucks instead of traditional catering and our guests LOVED it! We had 4 trucks total, one soda truck for drinks, a pizza truck, a burger truck and a donut truck for dessert.
To this day, our family and friends talk about how cool the food trucks were. It was a HIT!
Complete a Wedding Day Timeline and Give This to Your Whole Wedding Party
This is one of my favorite tips because I like knowing that everyone is on the same page. I am pretty sure my in-laws think I am crazy because I handed everyone wedding day timelines but it was because I NEEDED everyone to be aware of what was happening and when! Once I solidified a timeline, I made copies for everyone in the wedding party that had a very detailed timeline of the wedding so they knew when to be there and when everything was going to happen. It was a big help because no one had to stand around wondering what they should be doing or what was going to happen next because it was all in my 3 page packet!
Assign the Wedding Party Jobs to Help Keep the Wedding Going
This is yours and your partner’s big day and you have been putting your blood, sweat and tears into this thing so when that day finally comes, you deserve to just enjoy it! My family, as you can probably tell, is SUPER helpful. They were always asking what they could do to ease the load off me. I decided to give my wedding party little jobs here and there to help move the wedding along. Especially when it came to the timeline! I had to have people that would follow the timeline and push everyone else into following it too. My parents were the best because they were always in the background making sure everything was taken care of!
Always Do What YOU Want To Do
Like I said earlier, this is YOURS and YOUR PARTNER’S big day! No one else’s! One of my biggest regrets when planning my wedding was worrying so much about everyone else and what they would like. This isn’t their wedding!
One of my husband and I’s biggest fights ever was over bridesmaids dresses. Yes. Our. Freaking. Bridesmaids. Dresses. I won’t go into detail about the argument but let’s just say…in the end, I went with dresses I absolutely DESPISED rather that the one’s I wanted simply because I was trying to be considerate about my bridesmaids and what they wanted to wear. Obviously, everything turned out fine and in the big picture, the dresses were fine BUT I still wish I would have just went with the dresses I wanted because they were so much cuter and more my style!
Now, when I talk to my sisters and sister-in-laws, they all say they would have worn whatever I asked them too and I’m like AHH! Don’t tell me that!
Don’t Spend Too Much On These Things
Since weddings are so pricey, here are some things I wouldn’t spend too much time or money on…
-Invitations. These do not need to be super fancy and expensive. After the wedding is over, guests will throw them straight into the trash so it is not worth overthinking and overspending. Vistaprint had great deals on invitations that are cute but simple!
-Hair & Makeup. This is definitely just a personal opinion. I did my own hair and makeup and so did my bridesmaids. It helps when all your bridesmaids are gorgeous too! I also watched A TON of hair and makeup tutorials on YouTube so that helped a lot!
-Cake. Don’t hate me cake people! Here’s the thing, cake is good. But there are other alternatives that I have found that guests seem to like better. For our wedding, we had a small cake just for my hubby and I. For our guests, we had cake pops made and they were a hit! It was SO much easier to hand out and way more convenient for guests.
So there you have it! All of my best wedding tips! I will be posting more wedding related posts soon so make sure you subscribe by email and follow me on Instagram! Both of those can be found in the sidebar.
You guys…I have been having crazy writers block this past week. I have all these ideas about what I want to post but as soon as I sit down to type it all out, my mind just goes blank! It has been SO frustrating but I bought a notebook and I have been jotting everything down so it has been getting a little better! I should definitely have some more posts next week because I hate that my last post was also a Friday Favorites!
Oh well, what do ya do.
Anyways, this week’s Friday Favorites post is dedicated to Fall because it is almost that time of the year and I am SO DANG EXCITED I COULD PEE.
It is almost September which means Fall is just around the corner and I am so excited because Fall is by far my favorite season! I love all things Halloween and pumpkin-y so this sign immediately caught my eye. Also, Jaden and I received some exciting new recently…we were told our official move in date for our house! If everything goes smoothly (fingers crossed!) then we will be able to move into our house at the end of September which means we are just in time to start decorating the house for Fall!
This front door is so stinkin’ cute! Unfortunately, my front entrance is SO narrow that I won’t be able to decorate around the front door like this but I can still add a cute mat like this one and hang a wreath on the door to dress it up a bit more!
Definitely making some pumpkin decorations like this soon! These sayings are so silly and cute, I love it!
I love everything about this picture. Her outfit is so adorable, I want all of it. I have always wanted to experiment more with hats because I do love them so I would love to find a hat like this one! So if you see one, let a girl know!
Fireplaces are a rare sighting here in Arizona because many of us Phoenician’s have no use for them! IT’S TOO HOT. But…I think they are gorgeous and if we ever had the money, I would love to put one inside and outside of our dream home! I just think they give off that cozy-chill-vibe and I love it.
Some exciting things are coming up in the next few months, moving into our house, I am turning the big 2-5 and a lot of fun blog posts! It has been a crazy few weeks but I am ready for the Fall and Winter months for sure.
Happy Friday everyone! So when I had my old blog, every Friday I would post a “Friday Favorites” which was a post featuring things that sparked me joy in the last week! These could be products I’ve tried, songs I liked, quotes that inspired me or even just Pinterest pics that I really liked!
I really enjoyed making Friday Favorites posts so I am going to start them here on my new blog! This week, I decided to do a home edition.
If you guys follow my Instagram, you know that our drywall has officially been done on our house which made us super excited! Since then, I have been ALL OVER Pinterest and Instagram getting inspiration for how I want to decorate the new house so I really want to share what I found this week and see what you think!
So I want to start with bathrooms! In our house, we have the master bathroom and a guest bathroom/Lexi’s bathroom. I am so stumped on what I want to do with the latter of the two. On one hand, it is a guest bathroom so I wanted to keep it neutral, maybe even something a little boho like the picture above. My “typical” style is pretty glam/farmhouse so the boho would be a little different for me but I REALLY like it. Right now, I am obsessed with this shower curtain that is from Walmart.
Also, these towels are the perfect match and I think the towel rack is so cute! Again, completely out of my comfort zone but I LIKE it.
On the other hand, I want to something super girly and cute like this! Now THIS is more my style and something I would normally do. Technically, this is Lexi’s bathroom so I feel like it would make sense to make it a little girly and fun but I just don’t know what to do! Also – is this mirror not the cutest thing?!
Now for some organization inspo! We have a very decent sized linen closet in our master bathroom that I am super excited about! I love how clean and organized this one is.
On top of that, we have a decent sized pantry too that I am ALSO excited about! My mom’s pantry is super organized like this so it’s only right that I do my pantry the same!
As for Lexi’s bedroom, I really want to do a pretty floral wallpaper like this on one of her walls. All of her furniture is white and she has a pretty floral “L” to hang up on the wall. I am super excited because my parents are giving us my baby sister’s bunkbed for Lexi’s room and it’s one from Pottery Barn so you know it’s super cute! I mean her bed costs more than Jaden and I’s! She won’t be in it for at least another 6 months-1 year but it’s so cute and I know she will love it when she’s bigger!
Okay…THESE PICTURES THOUGH. I love blown up, simple pictures like this so I really want to do some of us or just Lexi because I mean, she’s the cutest!
Alright guys, here is the big idea that is just messing with my mind lately and I am so stuck, I have no idea what to do. At first, I wanted to paint the inside of my house Repose Gray. But now, I am thinking about just painting the walls white! I think for pictures, it will look better and it’s a smaller house so the white will make it feel a little spacier. The issue is…all of my furniture is white and I just don’t know how I feel about the white on white. In my kitchen, the cabinets are white and the countertops are a white quartz but I actually LOVE all white kitchens so I am good there. It’s just the rest of the house…
So I was thinking…what if I paint some of my furniture? I thought this mint color would be so cute on my entertainment center but I am worried I will get bored with it fast…
Happy Wednesday everyone! Today’s post is all about my favorite kind of beauty products and that is HAIR PRODUCTS!
I am a sucker for hair products and my hubby will tell you…I probably have way too many but honestly…I feel like you can never have too many hair products so…
I want to talk about all of my current faves lately because I am super confident about all of these products and now that I am officially one year postpartum, I feel like my hair is finally returning back to normal, aside from these baby hairs…holy moly these BABY HAIRS!
So let’s jump right into it…
BUMBLE AND BUMBLE HAIRDRESSER’S INVISIBLE OIL, $40 (ulta)
Okay, so I bring this one up first because it has officially entered my shrine of holy grail products! I was skeptical, I have to admit, because I was using a Redken hair oil before which I was not super crazy about but I used it until I ran out and was on the hunt to try something new. I figured this would work similar to the Redken one but oh. Em. Gee! It is AMAZING. I cannot believe the difference it has made on my hair since I started using it! I know it is a little pricey, believe me, I was back and forth about it because of the price but I bit the bullet and bought it and I am so happy that I did! It is SO worth it, in my opinion!
How I use this: After I get out of the shower, I put like half-a-dime size amount in my palm and put it all over my hair. Then, I put any other products in that I feel like using that day. After that, I blow dry it and style it! It seriously leaves your hair so smooth, soft and healthy looking! It is the best!
DRYBAR PREP RALLY PRIME + PREP DETANGLER, $23 (drybar)
If you guys don’t already know, I am a big Drybar fan! I have loved Drybar products since I started using their products years ago. I love trying new things from them and was so excited to finally use this! I have to be honest, I have never been disappointed by any of their products so I expect a lot every time I buy a new one and this one joins the list of favorites!
This stuff not only detangles, but it also protects your hair from heat so you it’s like a 2-in-1 which I really like! Normally, I use my IGK Mistress Hair Balm (which you will hear about next) and my Chi Iron Guard but lately, I have only had to use this which is nice.
IGK MISTRESS HYDRATING HAIR BALM, $29 (sephora)
I have mentioned this quite a bit in my Instagram Stories because I am in love with it and I have had so many people reach out to me saying they went out and bought it because I have raved about it so much! (*cough* IGK PR Team, I’m right here! Wink wink!) This stuff smells SO good and it makes my hair super soft and keeps the frizziness away after blow drying my hair which is amazing! I also love that it is a leave-in conditioner because I do not condition my hair a lot so I can depend on this stuff to help with the tangles.
AMIKA FLUXUS TOUCHABLE HAIRSPRAY, $25 (sephora)
Amika is a brand that I have recently started trying and I am so surprised that I had not tried it sooner because not only is there packaging super cute but I am also loving their products! Hairspray is something that I do not stress about too much because in all honesty, I haven’t really been totally WOW-ed by a hairspray yet. I also do not like the way most hairsprays smell so it makes me mad when I use all these other products that make my hair smell amazing only to be ruined by bad smelling hairspray. That is, until this one! I really like the way this one smells and I do like the hold!
DRYBAR DETOX DRY CONDITIONER, $23 (sephora)
Shocker, another Drybar product! My holy grail dry shampoo is by Drybar so I definitely wanted to try the dry conditioner too. I bet you’re wondering…what is the difference between dry conditioner and dry shampoo? The answer is pretty straight forward actually and it’s simply the same as the difference between shampoo and conditioner. Dry conditioners have similar benefits to regular conditioners that you would use in the shower. In my honest opinion, I do still prefer the dry shampoo over the dry conditioner but I will continue to use this until it is gone because I do still like it!
So this is a product that I actually used a while back when it first came out, forgot about it, found it, tried it again and love all over again! I actually bought this back before I got pregnant. Shortly after finding out I was pregnant, I got super sick and it took me months before I actually styled my hair or put on makeup again so I was out of the beauty game for awhile! My hair is super thin and can fall totally flat if I don’t use any volumizing products so I was so happy when I found this in my stash.
How I use it: Before blow drying my hair, I will put a little over a marble size amount in my hand and spread it through only certain areas of my hair. Specifically the areas that need more volume. I will say, you have to be SUPER careful with this stuff because using too much will make your hair feel super heavy and almost “dirty”. That’s the only downfall about this product but once you learn how to properly use it on your hair, I promise it is awesome and does exactly what it needs to do!
If you have any hair products that you swear by, please let me know! I LOVE trying new hair products and am always open to try something new!
I have been so back and forth about making this post because it is not something you would normally see on people’s blogs! Typically, people post about all of the things they DID buy from Nordstrom’s Anniversary Sale but we have been trying to save all the money we can for our house so unfortunately I couldn’t let myself participate in the sale this year! However, I did take a look at everything in the sale and found so many things that I would totally buy if I could!
Some of these brands and things I have used before so I can honestly tell you my thoughts and some I haven’t tried but would love to one day!
So here is what I would buy from the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale…
BEAUTY BLENDER ALL THAT GLITTERS MAKEUP SPONGE SET, $35
I have been a beauty blender fan since I started using them years ago! They are so worth the money and this deal is a STEAL because normally one sponge is $20 but you get 2 sponges and a sponge holder all for $35! This is definitely the very first thing I would get because this a deal that is pretty rare and honestly, I only ever see it during the anniversary sale.
This is a brand I have wanted to try for forever now and I have always heard great things about it! Living in Arizona, sunscreen is a staple for these hot summer days. Everything I put on my skin has SPF in it because the sun is brutal here and now that I have a baby girl, I keep her skin as protected as I can too. This brand is also known to be safer and contain 35% less alcohol content than other sunscreen brands which is good to know too! Since I am getting older, I have been a lot more careful about the things that I am applying to my skin and my family’s so this definitely caught my eye.
BUMBLE AND BUMBLE SUMMER FAVES HAIR SET, $25
So in this little pack comes a full-size Hairdressers Invisible Oil Heat/ UV Protected Primer which I LOVE! It is by far one of my new favorite hair products! I just recently bought this stuff before the sale and I fell in love with it! Also, this little pack includes a travel size Surf Spray and this stuff I have used for a very long time! This stuff is perfect if you love your hair in beachy, textured waves like I do! I also love putting it in my hair after I shower and then just letting my hair air-dry and it makes my curls look like I just came out of the ocean and makes my natural waves look AMAZE! Lastly, it comes with a dry shampoo which I have never tried before but I would love to!
NORDSTROM AT HOME ROUND MARBLE & ACACIA WOOD SERVING BOARD, $49.90
Of course since we are building a house, I have been all over pinterest, Pottery Barn, Nordstrom and any store that sells home goods trying to find ideas on what I want to do in our house! Luckily, all of our big furniture I am keeping the same so it’s just the little decorations that I am on the hunt for. One thing I look forward to is having people over to see our new house which is why this adorable serving board caught my eye!
NORDSTROM AT HOME CUDDLE UP FAUX FUR HEART ACCENT PILLOW, $31.90
I immediately thought of Lexi once I saw this pillow! She loves anything pink and fluffy so she would love this cute little pillow. I also have an idea of what I want to do with her room and this would go perfectly!
NORDSTROM AT HOME KENNEBUNK BLISS PLUSH THROW, $25.90
Anyone close to me knows that I am OBSESSED with blankets! I have way too many and then just when I downsize my stash, I buy like 10 more. It’s so bad but I don’t care, I mean, you can never have too many blankets! Plus, when those chilly ‘Zona days come around (rare but they do exist) everyone comes to me for some cozy blankets! This one immediately got me because it looks so comfy and I see it on everyone’s Nordstrom Sale ads so I am guessing it is popular and just as cozy as it looks!
BP COZY TOP AND COZY BOTTOMS, $25.90 each
I am a sucker for anything comfy so I would definitely be buying these!
I have been looking for earrings like these everywhere and my ears are super sensitive so I usually have to get brands that don’t use specific materials to make their earrings otherwise my ear breakout like crazy! I trust Nordstrom so I would love to have tried these!
RAY-BAN HIGHSTREET 49MM ROUND SUNGLASSES, $104.60
Okay, these are probably one of my favorite things from the sale and would be one of the top things on my list! I love Ray-Ban sunglasses so much and I thought these were so cute! I normally wear aviators, so this is a little out of my comfort zone, but I would love to have these!
NUNA RAVA FLAME RETARDANT FREE CONVERTIBLE CAR SEAT, $374.90
So when Lexi was around 11 months, we started looking at car seats because she was starting to outgrow her infant car seat. Per usual, I researched like CRAZY about car seats and what was out there. Ultimately, I narrowed down my options to the Graco 4ever or the Nuna Rava. Jaden and I were going to get the Graco since it was half the price of the Nuna but my amazing parents offered to help us get the Nuna for her birthday so we ended up getting this one but in Caviar (black). Now that it is on sale, I would LOVE to get a second one because we have two cars and during the week Jaden and I have to pick her up and drop her off at her Grandma’s while we both go to work and switching the car seat back and forth can really be a pain, especially since the Nuna is freaking SOLID and I am a tiny girl! We also know that we want to start trying for baby #2 next year so it would be nice to have a second Nuna for the next baby since the one we currently have will stay with Lexi until she outgrows it. I also ADORE this color and it is a Nordstrom exclusive color!! So if you are on the search for a car seat, this one is AMAZING!
Well there you have it, everything I would love to get from the Anniversary Sale if I could! I was a little sad that I couldn’t participate in the sale this year but I am obviously really excited about getting into our house soon so it’s all good!
Also, I need ideas for future posts because I am definitely having writer’s block lately so let me know what you guys want to see! If you haven’t already, follow my Instagram account which is linked on the side of my blog! There, you will get updates on all of my posts and more.
Nissa St Gelais 