Essie's Lady Like and A Cut Above Luxeffects

These two shades of light pink did a great job of making me feel glamorous. Too bad I still have a crappy camera and crappy lighting. Honestly, it looks so much better in person, I promise.





The picture makes Lady Like look more like a taupe beige than the pale pink it is, and the glitter isn't showing up as well as I hoped. Still, I really love these two together. I'm not usually a "pink" girl, but I kinda love this.

xx

So Grateful for Christmas Gifts

Good morning lovely bloggers! Happy Friday. I still can't believe its already 2012 - sure doesn't feel like it to me. I'm not really one for making resolutions. Not sure why. I just try to achieve the things I that I want for myself, everyday, if that makes sense. However, if I had to choose one thing, it would be to make sure to take my vitamins everyday. Honestly, I always forget. I never forget to take my birth control, or to exercise, or to take a friggin shower. Really. It seems so simple.

Today I wanted to share with you just a few items I received for Christmas. Nothing too fancy, and Christmas has always been very humble in my family. But I did get some things I really needed, like jeans and bras, and tomorrow I'm spending the day after-Christmas shopping, because I haven't done so yet. Hopefully I haven't missed ALL the sales.


Jimmy Choo purse(real or fake, who cares?! It's friggin cute.)
White Daisy Fuentes Cardigan from Kohls
Two pairs of jeans - Levi's and Lucky Brand
Winter Candy Apple lotion
True Blue Mini Face Scrubs - Citrus, and Apricot and White Tea
Essie Luxe Effects Polish - A Cut Above
A pack of rubber duckies, because I love rubber duckies. ;)



I'm so happy, these are the comfiest jeans ever.

And this, readers, is my favorite Christmas gift of all. I'd been dying for a pair of everyday winter boots, since I recently had to trash the ones I bought while in England (the heel had broken off..whaatt?) I originally wanted a pair in brown or camel, but I've come to love these with all my heart. They are from Marshalls, originally $70, but I got them for $30. HELL YEA. This is the nice thing about receiving cash for Christmas.


My Mom got me this cute top. Don't mind Shadow, she's been annoying me all morning.


And a pair of Pink sweats from VS, which I'm currently wearing, so don't mind the ghetto photo.

I'm also waiting for my beloved purse from Ruche to be delivered. I'd been stalking it for about a month, or however long they've had it, and so purchased it with some Christmas moolah.



Anyway, tomorrow I'll finally be getting my Vibram Five Finger shoes, as a Christmas gift from Jim. So I'll finally be able to get back outside exercising. My currently sneakers have died and gone to heaven.

P.S. I bought Jim a Kindle Fire for Christmas. He loves it. Anyone else get one? :)

Holiday in Charleston

My sister, Erin and her boyfriend, Brian, just left about two hours ago or so. I'm so sad. They took my very first car with them too. Since we are moving so soon, and my car is so old (1998 Nissan Maxima), we didn't want to risk driving it across country to California, so they offered to take it back with them to Charleston. At least it will get some more use out of it. I miss it already. And them too of course.

Now that my holiday vacation is officially over, it's hard for me not to dwell on the fact that I will be moving so far away from my family. But I must think positively! And so now I want to share with you all some photos of my time in Charleston during the holidays. I had so much fun. We visited the Charleston Tea Plantation and the Angel Oak Tree, which is supposedly anywhere between 500 and 1500 years old. We also walked the Arthur Ravel Bridge and frolicked in downtown Charleston as well - Marion Square, and the Old City Jail. Very picture heavy. :)











Jim has this look on his face like "it's so old". Lol

I love the sky in this one.









This one kind of reminds me of Back to the Future haha.


A view of the USS Yorktown from the Arthur Ravel Bridge.


We walked to the very end! To the end and back was about five and a half miles. I would kill to exercise on this bridge everyday, the views are breathtaking.

Family, minus Brian who took the picture. My parents and their silly Hawaiian attire...I miss them already.

I took tons of other pictures, but I tried to give you all a glimpse into this quaint little city. Maybe through these you can see why I would love to live there. Still, 44 days and I will be driving off towards the west coast to Cali. Hope you enjoyed these! I'll show you guys some of the wonderful gifts I got for Christmas in my next post. :)

<3 Jess

I'm still here!

Hey everyone! Happy New Year! I'm finally back from Charleston, but I still have family here. I just wanted to let you all know I AM alive and will be doing lots of posts soon! I miss reading all your blogs, so I will be catching up on them soon! I hope you all had a great holiday. :)

xx

Life is good today.

Did everyone have a great weekend? I hope so. Christmas is in five days! Holy cow! That means five more days to shop, so get moving if you haven't finished. ;)

Last Thursday Jim and I went out to Perricone's Marketplace and Cafe. This Italian restaurant in downtown Miami is fantastic. We always go on Thursday nights with some of our friends because they have $10 pasta dishes. If you ever make your way to Miami, definitely check this place out if you're in the mood for Italian food. It's casual, it's quaint. It's got a rustic atmosphere, and if I may be so bold, even a whimsical feel, especially if you happen to sit outside. Their marketplace is swarming with cheeses and meats, salads, chocolate, and gelato. Their chocolates are adorable - usually they are shaped like little animals. Because it's almost Christmas, last Thursday I saw penguins and Christmas trees.

Their food, holy crap. It's divine. Their desserts? Even better. I want to specifically point out one of their pasta dishes - Fiocchi Gorgonzola. "Purse-shaped pasta stuffed with fresh pear and Gorgonzola cheese. Served with a walnut Gorgonzola sauce." Appealing? Or maybe it doesn't sound so good to you? Well forget you ever had that thought. You HAVE to try this. I have gone to this restaurant so many times, wanting to order this dish because I knew how wonderful it tastes, only to chicken out. Mainly because I'd only ever had one bite (thanks to a friend). But I finally got it this past Thursday and man, it's truly sinful. I'm making myself hungry, and it's only 9:30AM. I'm really sorry I have no pictures for you guys, usually the lighting is very dark and it makes taking pictures difficult with my crappy little Samsung.

For dessert I always order the Tiramisu -"traditional luxurious Italian dessert. Imported mascarpone cheese and lady fingers delicately soaked in alternating layers of espresso and Kahlua." I couldn't help myself. It was so perfect.

What I'm trying to say is, if you're in Miami, GO THERE. You won't regret it. :)

I'm going to skip on over Friday, because Jim and I ate sushi, which I talk about way too much. But know it was delish.

SATURDAY, we took Shadow to the dog park, and on the drive back, the AC in our car broke, so we headed over to Volkswagen to get it fixed. Luckily they could fit us in that day, but that meant a little trip to the mall right next door. And thus, I purchased a couple little items at Sephora to make myself feel better, since we were stranded while the car was being fixed.
By the way, I just need to show you guys a picture of my lover's car. We took this photo a couple weeks back, on our way back from Key Biscayne.


I feel like it looks photoshopped, or on a set. Haha. Anyways....







Ok, so no matter the lighting, I couldn't for the life of me take a picture that showed the right color of this Sephora Collection Rouge lipstick. It's "Mmmm...17", which is listed as a muted sandy pink. I love this color. It's now officially my go to lipstick.

The Urban Decay eyeliner I was kind of disappointed with, only because after about an hour it got all up in my eye's business. It smoothed on really nice, but its staying power failed me. I do have very oily lids, but my eye primer just couldn't get this one to stay. I have a couple different primer's so I'm going to try another one today...see how that works.


In three days I'll be headed up to Charleston, SC, for Christmas, and I'll be up there for about a week and a half. When I return to Miami, my parents are following me back down. Needless to say, I will probably be on a holiday hiatus. I will try to do some photo posts and share the city of Charleston with you lovely people. But I can't promise. Either way, I'll definitely see you guys when the new year hits. Love you all! :)

xx

What Would You Love to Do Tag

So Teli over at Pink Confessions did a "Things I've wanted to do my whole life/What would you love to do" tag. I thought it was so great, so I've decided to participate. Her's really cheered me up. I might have done something like this before, I can't quite remember. But oh well. I haven't been having such a great week. I've been really frustrated with my diet and exercise. I'm still sorta stuck at a plateau, and even though I've stepped up my game, the scale barely seems to budge. I did manage to lose a pound and a half last week..but thanks to weekend festivities, that came right back. Lol. Why am I trying to do this during the holiday season? I'm practically setting myself up for failure.

Oh, and when I went outside to run this morning, before I even started, some woman brought her two dogs outside to the path I run on and let go of their leashes. She had a Golden Retriever, and a large Beagle. A very large Beagle, must have been a mix. My dog Shadow, is a Lab/Pointer Mix, and she's only about 50 pounds. Well, the lady's dogs suddenly attacked Shadow. Listen...my dog has always had confidence issues, since the day we got her. I feel like this just set her back. The woman started screaming at her dogs and rushed over to retrieve them, but she then proceeded to stare me down like it was my fault for simply BEING there. And she didn't even have the decency to apologize. I wasn't about to baby or coddle Shadow because I was concerned for her, instead I just left and ran off all the rage. I was so mad. And so upset. Luckily, Shadow wasn't hurt or scratched. She's perfectly fine. I'll just have to take some extra steps to socialize her more now because her confidence has lowered again.

Anyway, I gotta stay positive. Christmas is on its way, I'll get to see my family, I'm moving soon. I've got too many great things in my life, I can't stay angry.

Soooo. Here are some things I've wanted to do my whole life. I suppose its like a bucket list. ;) In no particular order...

1. Travel to Japan
2. Learn to breakdance. I see those people on TV and think, man, that would be so friggin cool.
3. Volunteer or put together an organization that helps the US military. I probably will once I move.
4. Help rehabilitate dogs. Kinda like Cesar Millan!

5. I have a genuine need to make people happy, but sometimes I don't always know how to execute that. I want to be able to step outside my comfort zone and give of myself. It's fear that's holding me back. And it's hard, but I try each day.
6. I would love to work at a botanical park or museum of some sorts.
7. Going along with number 5, influencing someone, even just one person, or changing a person's perspective, or genuinely making someone smile. I had a woman come up to me while running once, and she introduced herself to me, saying she just wanted to say hi because I always have a smile on my face. I want that - everyday. Not for my happiness, but for others.
8. Travel to the Great Wall of China, and China in general.
9. Learn how to drive manual. Jim started teaching me once, but then he traded in his car for an automatic. I want to be in control of the car! This A5 will do, lol!

10. Travel to wine country in CA and spend a few days tasting all that glorious wine. This is a reality that will happen once I move to CA!
11. Take a few classes on Interior Design.
12. And a few baking classes. I love baking.
13. Become better at piano. I took lessons and played from 8th grade all the way up through college, but since I've moved down to Miami, I don't have a piano anymore. I miss it. :(
14. Travel to Germany.
15. Last, but not least, write a best-seller. That's been on my list for so long. :)

I've been meaning to mention that I passed 100 followers. This is unbelievable to me. You guys make me so happy. Honestly. This newly found community that I stumbled upon in September has embraced me openly. I am thankful for each and every one of you. So thank you so much!

Hope you all are having a great week!

<3

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

Just kidding, it's 80 degrees here.












All images courtesy Pinterest.