Favorite Red White & Blue

I am linking up to today!

Even though the 4th of July is at the beginning of the month the topic for July is Red, White & Blue.

For the first time this year I actually decorated specifically for the 4th of July.  I pulled out all of my red, white and blue decorations and bought a few new things to add to what I already had.

Blue and I are good friends when it comes to clothes.  I wear a lot of blue (and white) and I don't shy away from bright lipsticks.  Needless to say, this leads to many days where I am wearing clothing that are blue and white along with some red lipsticks. Patriotic without even trying! I have more striped maxi dresses than I care to admit and the majority of them are shades of blue.

You can't see it super well in the photo above but my current favorite thing to wear with my white pants is this Eyelet Hem Sweater. It is a lightweight sweater but what I really like it that it is long enough to cover my rear.  Always an added bonus when I don't have to worry about my underwear showing in white pants.

A Wedding Weekend (No, not my wedding)

On of my cousins got married on Monday so I went down to Salinas Saturday morning to participate in all the festivities. My fiancee joined me down there on Sunday afternoon to join in the fun.

My sister and I had originally planned to have a little bachelorette party for the bride on Saturday night.  This plan didn't come to fruition so we decided to take the bride and groom wine tasting instead.

My uncle (the groom's dad) agreed drive us around wine tasting so we set off on our adventure.  It is kind of hard to tell from this picture but the bride and the groom both have fabulous sashes that my sister made for them.

The third (and final) winery we went to had these really fun red frames and we couldn't resist taking a few fun pictures before we headed home.  

I was doing a reading at the wedding so Sunday I headed to church for the rehearsal.  The weather this weekend was bizarre.  So hot and humid!  I know this is normal for the rest of the country, but there is no such thing as rain or humidity in a Monterey County summer so we are vastly unprepared in the air conditioning department.  We sweated our way through the rehearsal and then headed to dinner where we all drank our weight in ice water.  Ok, there were other things that we drank in addition to water too.

I don't have any photos of the ceremony (I was busy) but it can't be a wedding post without a few pictures of the bride and her dress!  She is beautiful and she looked beautiful in her dress.

The reception was at my aunt and uncle's house.  They set up these really cute hearts that hung from their pergola. I made the bride and groom pose it the heart because who doesn't need cheesy heart pictures? Congratulations to the bride and groom!

After the bride and groom were done taking pictures I couldn't resist taking a few heart pictures with my handsome fiancee.

I never got around to taking engagement photos so I am contemplating using one of these heart pictures on our save the dates.  Any thoughts?

Summer Decorations

As I have said before summer isn't really that conducive to fun holiday themed decorations. I took my patriotic decorations and put up a few summery feeling decorations.

I found this twine and twig wreath at Target in the dollar section a few months ago.  I didn't have a plan for it at the time but I figured I could decorate it at some point.  Some of the flowers I used in my spring decorations had twist ties on the back of them so I added them to the wreath.  

I like that since the flowers are just twist tied onto the wreath I can take them off and use them again for other things.  I am not sure what the final version of my wreath will be but this works for now.

I again decided to leave the grass in my wooden bowl again.  I added a few flowers and some really cute baby flip flops to make my centerpiece feel a bit summery.

This chipper sign is another dollar spot find from Target that I just bought because I like it.  I didn't have any specific plans for it at the time but it looks great next to my jar of corks.  

Happy Summer!

My Second Stitch Fix

I got my second Stitch Fix on Thursday.  I knew it as being delivered so I made my fiancee stop at the mailbox on our way to his mom's house, because I didn't want to wait another day for it!  He didn't share my enthusiasm but he indulged me anyway.

My box had 2 dresses, a pair of pants, a shirt and a necklace.

This is the shirt and the pants that came in my box.  I took the pants out of the box and just about started laughing.  They looked so tiny that I knew there was no way I was going to even get them on over my hips.  The pants were really stretchy and proved me wrong but I am still not keeping them.

I don't wear pants very often, but when I do I wear them to work.  I have never been able to make fitted pants work appropriate and as you can see from the above picture these pants are no exception. Showing off my rear end is not the goal for work clothes.

The shirt that came in my box was really cute.  It had an interesting neckline and will look great with a pencil skirt.  I am definitely keeping this shirt.

This blue polka dot dress and long necklace were the next things I tried on.  I have not made my final decision on whether to keep either of these pieces.

I love the color of this dress and the polka dots but I am not completely sold on the high neckline.  I feel like high necklines sometimes make my chest look kind of funny.  I can't decide on this one.  Opinions are welcome!

This necklace has a black design on one side and diamonds on the other.  I like that it is long and delicate but I can't decide if I will wear it enough to justify keeping it.  Again, opinions are welcome!

The final thing in my box was this pink dress.  I like this dress and its interesting neckline, but I am not sold on the color.  If this dress was cheaper I might think about keeping but I can't justify spending over $100 on a dress that I don't have an occasion to wear it for. 

 I actually found this same dress in really pretty blue on the Nordstrom website so if I ever do have an occasion I might think about ordering the blue one.  It makes my butt look good so that is always a good thing.

I am keeping the shirt and still making up my mind on the necklace and blue dress.

If you are thinking about trying Stitch Fix and want to use my referral link that would be great. https://www.stitchfix.com/referral/3489719 If you just want to enjoy looking at my pictures of my fixes that is great too!

The Legion of Honor-High Style

Last weekend I went to San Francisco and met a friend at the Legion of Honor to see a fashion exhibit.

It was a holiday weekend and I didn't want to take my car to the city so I hopped on the Caltrain.  I live a few blocks from a Caltrain station but my station is a commuter station which only runs on weekdays. My fiancee dropped me off at the closest station and I headed to San Francisco.  I took the baby bullet up and it only takes about an hour.  The way back on a non-bullet train took about an hour and forty five minutes, sadly.

My friend picked me up and we headed to the museum. I have a membership to the De Young museum and as part of my membership I also have a membership to the Legion of Honor.  I have been to the De Young lots of times but hadn't been to the Legion of Honor in years.

When we headed into the museum we headed straight for the fashion exhibit.  There were quite a few people there but not nearly as many was I was expecting for a holiday weekend. The exhibit is a collection of clothes and shoes from the Brooklyn Museum's Costume Collection. We quite enjoyed looking at the clothes in the exhibit even though we had actually seen some of the clothes before.  We had gone to New York about 5 years ago and actually seen a fashion exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art that contained some of the same pieces.  There were some really pretty pieces but as expected no flash photography was allowed.

After looking at the fashion exhibit we took a break and split a carafe of wine in the cafe and enjoyed the view.  Fashion, a girl friend and some wine sounds like a good time to me!

We went and looked a few more rooms in the museum and then headed out.  The view of the ocean from the parking lot was so pretty I had to stop and take a picture.

The exhibit runs for another two weeks so if you are local I recommend checking out.  The exhibit is not huge and actually the museum as a whole is not huge.  You could spend about half a day there and see the whole thing without too much trouble.

My Beauty Routine

I talked about my favorite hair products a few weeks ago, so it only seemed fitting that I talk about the rest of my morning beauty routine too.

I have skin that likes to go crazy.  My chin and my forehead are super greasy and my chin breaks out fairly regularly. My cheeks and my nose are super sensitive, dry and peel fairly regularly.

I ether use Cetaphil or Murad Soothing Gel Cleanser to wash my face and then I carefully apply Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion to only my upper cheeks and nose.  If I get the lotion down near my chin it looks like an oil slick by lunchtime.

I apply a Murad Invisiblur primer to my whole face and let it set for a few minutes.  It is a little pricy but I like that this primer does many things all in one.  I then put on Sephora 10 Hour Liquid Foundation with a big fluffy foundation brush.  Depending on how my face is doing that day I also put on a bit of pressed powder.  Sometimes the liquid foundation is enough coverage but not always.

The rest of my make-up routine varies quite a bit depending on what I am doing that day.  I have pretty much blonde eyelashes so I wear mascara if I am going to work or dressing up for some other occasion.  I have been using a variety of mascara samples recently but haven't settled on my favorite yet.  I add eyebrow color, blush and something on my lips for work and then I am out the door. I have a whole assortment of lip colors but I have currently been alternating between two Nars lip crayons.

I wear more make-up if I have extra time in the morning (haha, I wish) or if I am doing something special but this is my basic daily routine.  Any product suggestions are welcome!

My Week in Pictures

Sam Hunt, Hunter Hayes and Lady Antebellum in concert! Best concert of the summer so far.  Lady Antebellum is so good live!

The sky at Shoreline was just so pretty

Prom pose at my sister's going away party!

Big group picture at my grandpa's 90th birthday party

Yay! I made it to Thursday! Long week at work despite the fact that it was only a four day work week.

 This sign is on my wall next to my computer just in case I need a little reminder.

















Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!