Best Blog Award

Teli over at Pink Confessions awarded me the Best Blog Award! Thank you so much Teli! If you haven't been to her blog, go check it out! She's fantastic. :)



Rules are simple:
1. Link back person who awarded you: Teli, her links right up there ^
2. Answer award questions
3. 7 random facts about yourself
4. Award who are your best bloggers...

Award Questions
1. Favorite Color: Red
2. Favorite Song: I can't pick just one song, but I have been listening to Nicki Minaj all week. And any song by 311.
3. Favorite Dessert: Cupcakes. Hands down.
4. What makes you mad?: Miami drivers, and when I go for a run first thing in the morning and everyone I pass refuses to look at me and say hi. So, unpleasant people really lol. I'm very friendly, and I just want to say good morning to you! Lol
5. When your upset: I tend to bottle it up or pretend its not there if I'm surrounded by people. I feign happiness. Otherwise I'll cry, because I cry really easy. I need to toughen up.
6. Favorite Animal: Dogs. And ducks. And horses. But doggies are number 1 :)
7. Black or White?: White
8. Biggest fear: The ocean. It's beautiful but I never want to be in it. And moving away and losing all my friends, or rather, not having one person to be close to.
9. Best feature: I guess my eyes. They are pretty big, they never look small. :)
10. Everyday attitude: Stay positive and love your life.
11. What is perfection?: Being humble, being imperfect, understanding there's no such thing as true perfection. Everything has flaws, even if just very tiny invisible ones. And that's okay.
12. Guilty Pleasure: Shopruche.com

7 Random Facts:
1. I met Justin Timberlake when I was in grade school. Along with the rest of N'sync. Lol
2. I'm a sucker for fantasy novels. Right now I'm reading the Game of Throne series. It's amazing.
3. I'm a natural brunette, but I've dyed my hair both blonde and red. So I've been all three. ;)
4. My favorite holiday is Christmas, even though its super commercialized. And not so much the actually holiday as much as the season. I love the atmosphere of it.
5. I love Super Mario Bros.
6. I own WAY too much jewelry.
7. Might have mentioned this before, but I'm obsessed with faeries.

Blogs I love reading

overlavish.blogspot.com/
lollipopsandstethoscopes.blogspot.com/
sparklesandchic.blogspot.com/
cottoncandyink.blogspot.com/
organizedxxmess.blogspot.com/

Of course, I love reading all the blogs I follow. ;)

Much Anticipation

I wanted to do a quick post today before the weekend festivities begin. First and foremost, I wanted to thank all of my beautiful followers and those who read my blog. I just reached 50 followers today and I've only been blogging for a little over a month. I feel incredibly grateful to you all. I never thought anyone would find me here in my little corner of the internet, let alone read what I have to say. This is definitely a great feeling. So thank you all! ♥

Tomorrow's the Navy Ball, it's finally here! And I'm so excited and nervous. I've never been to anything this fancy, and I've never been surrounded by a ton of people in the military all at once either. I will make sure to let you all know how it goes. Lots of pictures coming soon, I promise. But, just to give you all a little sneak peek, here's where it will be.

M/V Lady Windridge


Check out that pretty lady! She's 170 feet long and holds a maximum of 500 guests. Here are some more photos.




Pictures courtesy Windridgeyachts.com


I cannot WAIT to climb aboard this sexy beast. P.S. I've never been on a boat. Well, a yacht. And they'll probably play "I'm on a Boat" by Lonely Island. ;)

In my last minute preparations for tomorrow, I ran out to the mall today to get a clutch because I have none that go with my dress. Let me first state that there is something wrong with me and it simply isn't possible for me to go out, get the item I need, and leave without purchasing something else. I checked every store in the mall and nothing caught my eye. I really wanted a bright red one, but sadly one could not be found. I did however find this little sucker in Payless.


All glam and glitter. Perfect for tomorrow.

Oh but wait? I bought these shoes at payless because I saw them. Sigh. However, my entire purchase was 10% off...so at least I saved a little bit. No. Seriously. I have to take my credit card out of my wallet.



And now that I have everything set for tomorrow, I think James and I will devour some pizza tonight when he gets home. :)

My Fall Essentials/Wishlist

1. Chunky knits






Wanna be Ribbon Knit Top - $72.00
Pearl Shoulder-Pad Knit Cardigan - $102.00
Queenswardrobe.com
2. Collars




Angel in Embroidery Blouse - $63.00, Queenswardrobe.com
Arlington Pleated Chiffon Top - $36.99, Shopruche.com


3. Midi skirts




Ponti Midi Skirt in blue - $55.87, ASOS
Whistles Tiger Feather Midi Skirt - $218.25, ASOS

4. Loafers





Vintage Tassel to Classel Loafer - Sold :(
Hot Buttered Rum Wedge - $141.99
Loafer Elise Flat - $34.99
All from ModCloth

5. Colorful Tights and Socks





Red Romance Tights - $18.00, ThreadSence
Color Pop Tights in Plum - $17.99, Shopruche.com
Leaf Pile Over the Knee Socks in Mustard - $17.99, Shopruche.com


:)

My dog, Shadow!

I saw this over at danyellesfashionblog.blogspot.com and I just had to do it. I'm slightly obsessed with my dog. ;)

1. What is your pets name? Shadow
2. What kind of pet is it and what breed? She's a black labrador mix
3. How long have you had your pet friend? A little over a year.
4. How did you get your pet? James and I decided to adopt a dog, so we headed to the Miami shelter and picked her out!
5. How old is your pet? She's almost 2 and a half.
6. What are some quirky things about your pets personality? Well, she talks when she hears high pitched noises. For example, we have a squeaky bone toy and when she hears it she tries to imitate it. It's so cute. She'll also do it if, say, the fire alarm goes off. Also, she's got a bit of anxiety. She whines a lot, and gets upset a lot. I don't know, she was like that when we got her. But I still love her, even though she's crazy.
7. What does your relationship with your pet mean to you? It means a lot. Shadow is like my child. Only much more high strung and she doesn't speak my language. I don't know what I would do without her. We're best buds. ;)
8. What are some of your favorite past times with your pet? We run together every morning. And when I took her to visit home in PA, she got to play with the other love of my life, my parents dog, Rocky, a Great Pyrenees. Also, seeing her play in the snow, since she's a Florida baby.
9. What are nicknames that you call your pet? Hm, brat, baby, princess. None of them being affectionate while said. Lol. She can be a pain in the butt sometimes. But she's still very much a puppy, as Labs tend to be until about four years old or so. Still, I <3 her.



Tried to get a picture of her tongue, she has black spots all over it. Birthmarks!


That's her squeaky bone.


Resting her head on my foot.


<3

Squash, Sweet Potato, and Garlic Soup

Really quickly, I also wanted to share with you guys the recipe for the soup I made this past weekend.

Squash, Sweet Potato, and Garlic Soup

1 sweet potato
1 acorn squash ( I used half of a butternut squash )
4 shallots
2 tbsp olive oil
5-6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
3 3/4 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup light cream
salt and pepper
chives, to garnish

Preheat oven to 375°F/190°C

-Cut the sweet potato, squash, and shallots in half lengthwise, through to the stem end. Scoop the seeds out of the squash. Brush the cut sides with olive oil.

-Put the vegetables, cut side down, in a shallow roasting pan. Add garlic cloves. Roast in a preheated oven for about 40 minutes, until tender and light brown. Set aside to cool.

-When cool, scoop the flesh from the sweet potato and squash halves, and put in a saucepan. Remove the peel from the garlic and shallots and add the soft insides to the pan as well.

-Add the chicken stock and a pinch of salt. Bring just to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, partially covered, for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally until the veggies are very tender.

-Cool the soup slightly, and then transfer to a food processor or blender and process until smooth, working in batches, if necessary. (It was for me!)
-Return the soup to the pan and stir in the cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then simmer for 5-10 minutes until completely heated through. Ladle into serving bowls, garnish with pepper and chives. :)

I had a little bit left over for lunch today, so the bowl isn't completely filled. And yes, this stuff may look like baby food, but it was SO delicious. And very filling for a soup. I tried to make it look appetizing but the truth is it just looks like mush. The flavors seriously make up for that. I can't remember where I got this recipe from, but its not my own creation. I just tweaked it a bit. And the first time I made it, it had a bit more of a soupy consistency than it did this time. Still, very delicious.


Sorry for the crappy photo, I really don't have a great camera. The soup is more orange looking than yellow.

It must be the three straight days of rain...

 So I've been sitting here trying to decide what to write today. I've had a lot on my mind lately, like why I started this blog in the first place, and what I hoped to accomplish. I don't have a solid answer to those questions yet. I think that maybe I wanted to document this journey I'm on, whichever way that is.
 To tell you all a condensed version of how I got here, I'm from a tiny town in Pennsylvania that you've probably never heard of. I went to Fairleigh Dickinson University in NJ, and a little over a year and a half ago I graduated with my BA. It was also a little over a year and a half ago that I met my current boyfriend (who is more than my boyfriend, really), and the day after graduation, I drove my car down to Miami, Florida and moved in with him.
 But while I was winding down and finishing up college, I realized I was going to graduate with no plans for my future. I originally wanted to go into publishing/editing (books), but that changed once I moved. Suddenly I was living in a big city where I had to speak Spanish to get a job. ANY job. And I was applying for job after job, and nothing was coming my way. People would tell me its a bad economy, you just graduated college. Okay. I understand. And the Spanish thing was hard too (I took five years of German). Now I've been unemployed for over a year and a half. But honestly, that's not what bothers me the most. It's really the fact that I have no clue what I want to do. I have no direction. I'm 23 and confused.
 It's really hard for me to say that outloud, to even talk about any of this at all, but I'm slowly learning day by day that its okay to be confused. It's okay. I know the only way for me to find out what speaks to me is to try new things. And I suppose that's my best guess for why I started this blog.

 Blogging is still very new to me. So is fashion and makeup. I think being surrounded by such stylish people here in Miami has also sparked my interest. Moving away from that small town really opened me up to it. So with that all said, I just wanted to thank all of my followers, again, for reading my blog and all your awesome comments. I never thought I'd have anyone reading this at all. I appreciate all of you.

Oh, and here's that Covergirl Hot Passion lipstick I bought. Don't mind my wet hair.

Strength

"Never forget who you are, for surely the world won’t. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you."
-Tyrion Lannister from A Song of Ice and Fire