Home Away from Home

Ever since my mom was 3 years old, each year we take a trip to Lake Tahoe during the summer.  While I have yet to make it there in the winter time, I plan to do that sometime this year.  Tahoe is a place that always brings me back and reminds me what is important and family.  Over the year I have brought multiple friends and people with me up to see what my family looks forward to every year and they fall in love with it just as much as my family already has.  This place holds a special place in my heart and I would love to live there one day.  Here are some fun pictures of my most recent trip.

 

I am also happy to announce how excited I am for one of my best friends Laura and Eric, they are expecting and I thought I would catch a cute picture of them by the water since it technically it is  "Babies first Tahoe."

Closing Doors

They say when one door closes another one opens... I am proud to say I've recently closed a door on one chapter in my life and I cannot wait for a new door to open. Hope everyone is enjoying their week. I'm still in Tahoe till this weekend.

Heaven

I've been in Lake Tahoe for three days now, the weather has been more then perfect. My typical day consists of morning run while the sun is just starting to come up over the mountains. Followed by coffee at the beach before the crowds of people move in. Breakfast and then a gorgeous day just laying in the warm sand. The lake is 55 degrees cold this year which is about 10 degrees colder than usual. I stood I'm the water waist deep for two minutes which literally numbed my legs. At night we cook dinner under the open flames, have cocktails or wine, and watch the sun go down. Life doesn't get much better than that. I was hoping to be able to post pictures but I currently have not be able to but there will be tons when I get home. I hope all of you are enjoying your week.

The Little White Dress

The little white dress (LWD) is a key piece in your summers wardrobe.  I am always on the hunt for the perfect white dress.  Just as everyone says every girl should have a LBD (little black dress), every girl should have a little white dress as well especially during the summer days because it is such a versitle piece. 

This summer there have been many different takes on this trend... lace skirts, flirty flocks, delicate dresses... the list can go on forever.  When you pick a LWD you want to make sure you pick something with a classic cut, something you can style it in a variety of different ways for many occasions. 

Here are a couple ways you can style your little white dress, make it unique, and make it YOU.

1. Style it with a leather jacket, a studded bag, and a strappy sandal to play up the rocker chick inside.
2. Make a statement with a beautiful necklace and some strappy platform heels, perfect for mid-summer parties.
3. Put on a relaxed denim jacket or cardigan and platform nude sandal for  more of a casual look.
4. Add a colored shoe for some fun accessories to create a splash of color effect.
5. Add a light scarf,  neutral bag, and strappy flat sandals for the perfect sunny Saturday look.
6. Make your LWD nightime friendly with a black blazer, peep toe heels, and a over sized envelope clutch.

When it comes to shopping try to look for pieces that are great basics and they are easy to layer and style into new looks.  Shopstyle.com is one of the best websites I have found to search for whatever I am looking for. Here is the link to some fun little white dresses.

Here are some of my favs.

Friday Favorites

So I have been trying to think of something fun to end each week with and I have decided to share my favorite findings of the week.  Enjoy!

Favorite Picture (models vs Jackass)

Favorite Decor Piece:  Best Wine Sign I have ever seen.  (I cannot wait to own my own place, this is the frst thing that is going up by my wine bar)

Favorite Hair:  Braids

   

Favorite Flowers

All images are curtiousy of google.com.

Smore Summer

I am always on the look out for fun and simple summer desserts and treats.  This is a fun summer twist to a smore without all the stickness that comes with roasting them over the fire.  It simple and looks delicious and can be made in a matter of minutes.  This is also a very cute idea for kids to make at a birthday party or any summer party where you are looking for a fun craft for the kids to do.

I found this idea on Whimsical Creations (which is a very cute blog with lots of fun ideas and yummy things to make).  I am going to make these for an up coming BBQ in August.  I will post pictures on how they come out.  If you get to try them before I do please post comnments and let me know if you liked them,

Summer Salads

Eating fresh veggies and fruits is a must when it come to maintaining a healthy diet.  I love salads, I could eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  The best salads are simple, usually consisting of only a few main ingredients accompanied by a light homemade dressing.   You could only imagine how happy I was when I stumbled upon Mark Bittman's 101 Simple Salads for the Season by The New York Times. 

After reading through some of these salads I've been inspired to be more adventurous with my salad preparation and trying out new combinations.  As I try some of these out I will keep you posted on my favorites and please share with me any of your favorites as well.

The Summer of Aloe

With summer already in full effect with these past couple of hot summer days, those days can be hard on your skin and leave you with a unwanted souvenir... a sunburn.  Over the 4th of July weekend I was one of those lucky people that came home with some very random sunburns on my shoulders, on the back of my right leg (no where else), and the tops of my feet.

Here are some helpful tips on how to deal with those less than desirable sunburns:

• Take vitamin E to reduce inflammation from your sunburn.
• Drink lots of water to stay hydrated.
• Eating food high in vitamin C.
• Sliced cucumber are not only good for cocktails but they soothe and extract the sting.
• Take a nice cool shower.
• Avoid using harsh soaps and perfumes on the sensitive sunburned areas.
• Keep your skin moisturized with aloe and Shea Butter.

Here are some kitchen remedies that I was able to find online through numerous websites:

•   Mix lavender oil and water together in a small spray bottle and keep it in your refrigerator.  Mist your skin though out the day to soothe the burn.
• Aloe Vera is your best friend, try filling a ice tray with aloe vera and freezing it.  Ru b the frozen ice cubes onto the burned area.  (I don't know why I did not think of this sooner)
• Mix baking soda into your bath and soak for about 15 minutes, giving you skin a chance to soak it all in.  Let your skin air dry instead of drying off with a towel.

If anyone had any other tips or home remedies, I would love to hear them.

Naked

When it comes to make up, less it more with me. I tend to gravitate more towards very natural colors.  I have come to enjoy investing in palettes of make-up which tend to have a variety of colors that seem to compliment each other very well.   I came across this palette by Urban Decay and I feel in love with it.  It has everything you will ever need especially for summer time, it is easy to wear to work for a natural look and easy to dress it up with one of of the darker colors if you are going out for the night.  It is the perfect all around palette of make up. I use two of these colors almost every single day.  Sephora is currently carrying this product (insider information from my sister that works at Sephora), I found out this was just a seasonal palette but because there was a wait list of over 300 people at almost every Sephora they decided to bring it back to not only fill their wait listed customers but also made a couple extras for new customers to try.  So get it while you can cause it will be gone fast, it's only $48 and you can buy it here Sephora. 

Margarita Body Scrub

Lately I have been to looking for all natural ways to make facials and body scrubs out of every day ingredients that you might have at home.  A lot of top selling salons and spas actually use very natural products that we have in our own homes.  I found one for Margarita Body Scrub, spas use this type of mixture when their clients come in for deep body scrubs.  This is also something that is good to use before you use self tanner to make sure that all of the dead skin cells have been removed before tanning so that you do not have discoloration.  This one is so simple and only calls for 4 ingredients:

Ingredients

1 cup fine sea salt

2 oz. olive oil

1 full lime (juiced)

3/4 oz. white tequila

Mix all ingredients together and if you have sensitive skin you can add some more olive oil if needed.  While showering, rub the mixture into the skin in a circular motion.  Make sure to rinse off all of the salt mixture and apply lotion right after you get out of the shower. 

These mixtures work well because lime and tequila are natural antiseptics, so they detoxify the skin and help improve tone and texture of the skin.  I tried it this past weekend and love it, this is something I will be adding to my routine on a more regular bases.  Enjoy!

New York State of Mind

Where would you move to if you could just pick up and move anywhere?  This has been a topic of conversation lately.  I have to say I would pick New York City.  I have been there two separate times in my life and I plan to go back many more.  During the times that I have visited, there was this unstoppable energy that takes over the whole city, everyone moves at a faster pace, yellow taxi's everywhere, and walking is not just to be healthy and fit, people do it as a way of life.  Some of the things that I loved most about New York City  were:  Central Park, pizza, hot dogs, Starbucks on every corner, Statue of Liberty, Time Square,  three story Tiffany&Co, Empire State Building, the cafes, restaurants, bars, and you can walk to them all.  There are so many museums that I have yet to see and so many small places I want to visit, that one person cannot fit them into just one trip alone.  There is a reason that they sell I LOVE NY t-shirts, I fell in love with this city  and after watching this video I don't know how you could not either.

Click me:  Manhattan in Motion

 Here are a couple of my favorite pictures that I have taken during my two visits.

Happiness

Sometimes I run so fast I forget what each step feels like… sometimes I just need to take a break and enjoy the simple pleasures in life, to remind myself what really makes me happy.  So this past three day weekend, I decided to unplug from the world…   I did not open my work computer, or my personal one, I tried to stay off my phone as much as possible, and just really took time to enjoy everything around me.  I spent the weekend with close friends whom I adore and feel I don’t get to see enough of and even ran into a couple friends that I have not seen in forever.  My weekend happiness included:  Paradise Cove, mimosas, Corona Lights (tall can, I didn’t even know they made these), everything baked pretzels (my new obsession), shrimp (which was not as good as it sounded but we still ate it anyways), Venice Beach, watermelon soaked in vodka, watching my friends play football on the beach, fresh taco bar, lemonade & mint vodka cocktails, laughs, hugs, tons of pictures, rum cake that my girlfriend made, pool party, hot dogs & hamburgers, chips & salsa, 4^th of July cupcakes, and I closed the day off with some fireworks from my neighbors back yard.

At the end of the weekend I wanted to capture this weekend in a way so that I could always remember what a perfect weekend felt like and all of the small details that made me happy, so needless to say I was looking forward to blogging about it.  People work their whole lives to reach happiness, like it is a destination.  Happiness is not a destination, it is an emotion you experience along your journey to the destination. 

Don’t forget to memorize what happiness feels like and the importance of each moment to just be.

   

Layers

My little cousin celebrates her birthday around 4th of July and she made a special request for me to bake her birthday cupcakes.  So I tried to make them fun and festive for her and I really loved the way that the colors came out.  Although this takes some time to do all of the layers, it was well worth the smiles that it brought to her face.  The birthday girl loved them; she is already planning her colors for next year's birthday.