1 Dress | 2 Ways

Hi there!

If you follow me on Instagram, then you probably saw this red dress I wore 2 weeks ago.

Not really a dress that is appropriate to wear to the office, right? Wait! Oh yes it is! ;)

Simply tucking the dress into a pencil skirt made it perfectly polished for work! The layers from this outfit made it a little too warm to be wearing in July, but I will definitely be keeping this trick in mind when the weather gets cold again.

Thank you so much for reading!! :)

My Wedding Reception Dress - 1 Year Later

A white lacy dress screams warm, sunny days! This is actually the dress I wore to our wedding reception last year! One of the reasons I bought it is I knew I would be able to dress it down for a casual look after the wedding (the other reason is that it was 40% off :P). Today, I decided to mix it up a little bit by adding a chambray top underneath and throwing on some booties.  In the past, I've worn my chambray top over my dress, but I really like how it looks under my dress too--with a statement necklace of course!!

I hope your week is off to a great start! Thank you so much for reading! :)

Girly Sunday

I decided to dress up pretty girly for church this morning! Whats more girly than a bright pink dress? A giant pink bag with quilted hearts and a big pink bow, of course!
 
Thank you for reading! Have a lovely Sunday! :)

Michael kept making me laugh with his "professional photographer" moves ;)

Polka Dots and Leopard Spots

How's your Saturday going so far? Ours has been nice and relaxed over here! We slept in this morning (and by "slept in", I mean I got up at 6:30 and Michael was up an hour later).  We've been lounging around our place all day, but are headed to a BBQ and pool party soon!

Thank you so much for reading! :)

My Summer So Far

Hi there!

Summer is in full swing -- the thermometer in my car yesterday said 116 on my way home from work. Some states get "Snow Days", so today I took the liberty of giving myself a "Hot Day" and used up some PTO. Happy 3 day weekend to me! ;)

This summer has already been a blast!

• Michael's birthday, which we celebrated by going up North to fish with my in-laws
• Shopping, swimming and a BBQ over the 4th of July
• A conference with my church's high school group in Nashville, which was SO much fun!! My favorite part was hanging out with some awesome people! And learning how to play Banana-grams! And getting to see For King and Country live! And packing meals with Change This World! And hearing Greg Stier and Kyle Idleman speak!
• Girls' nights out
• Devouring BJ's new Peanut Butter S'mores Pizookie ohmygoodnessSOGOOD
• Oh, and then there was the day our apartment flooded. . .and today we discovered it now has mold. . .but we'll just forget about that for a second :P

We have even more fun plans for the rest of the summer! I need to get better at taking pictures for the remainder of the summer. Writing this tonight has made me realize I have hardly been using my camera, unless you count my daily outfit posts on Instagram!! ;) Here are a couple of pictures that I do have of this summer so far:

 

A relaxing day spent fishing at peaceful Willow Springs!

 This is the cutest "fortune" I have ever gotten from a cookie before! Of course I got it when I was eating dinner with Michael. :)

This is inside of the hotel and convention center we stayed at in Nashville. It was like a mini-city inside of a huge dome, complete with a river running through it!

And here's my favorite joke I've heard so far this summer:

Q: Why do girls always hang out in odd numbers?

A: Because they can't even.

What have you been up to this summer? Heard any funny jokes? I'd love to hear them! :)

Thank you so much for reading!!

Married Life

Hi there!

Michael was out of town all weekend -- 3 days/2 nights. It's the longest we've been separated in the year we've been married, and I can officially say I am thankful he does not travel for his job!! Before he left, I was thinking "ohhhh yeah, I get to hog the entire bed! I can turn the AC down so our apartment isn't freezing! I get to watch whatever I want on TV!" I did get the bed to myself and I did have an awesome weekend spent with my sister and a couple of girlfriends, but I have to admit that I also missed the heck out of my husband every night. :P

Tonight after church he had to go back into the office to finish up a big project. Even though he knew he would have a long day today, he put our dinner in the crock pot this morning! A beef chuck roast with potatoes and carrots -- delicious! Now it's 9:45 and raining/thundering/lightning/storming outside......I hope he comes home soon!

Surf's Up VoxBox

Hi there!

How is your weekend? It's turning out to be a pretty awesome weekend over here--Friday night out with my girlfriends, lazy Saturday with my husband (plus, he's making burritos for us for dinner as I type this. YUM!), followed by a Sunday spent with my mom and sister! I am feeling very loved, and it doesn't get much better than this! :)

Last month, the lovely people from Influenster sent me the "Surf's Up VoxBox"! I don't do much any surfing as I live in the middle of a desert, but these products were fun to use sans waves! ;)

 

Products in Box

CoverGirl Bombshell Curvaceous Mascara in Very Black

Sinful Colors Nail Polish in Song of Summer

Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration After Sun Ultra Hydrating Lotion and Soothing Aloe Gel

Jamba Juice All Natural Smoothies (Coupons)

First Aid Shot Therapy Pain Relief

I will not be reviewing the First Aid Shot Therapy because (thankfully!), I've been pain-free since I've received the box and haven't had any reason to try out the product!

CoverGirl Bombshell Curvaceous Mascara

I was very excited to find the Bombshell Curvaceous Mascara because I've been wanting to try it and have thought about purchasing it. I was even more excited when I found that it was in the only mascara shade I wear, Very Black. :)

What makes this tube of mascara so fun is it's double-ended! They make it super easy to use too--one side is labeled with a big 1, and the second side is labeled with 2, so you always know which side to use first!

The first side you use is to volume and curl your lashes. (Notice the curve in the brush). My little lashes definitely need help in that department!

The second side you use is to finish your lashes with the intense black color!

I was very happy with how voluminous and dark my lashes looked all day long, and would definitely buy this BombShell Curvaceous Mascara again! It's very convenient to only have to use one tube of mascara to get the volume, curl, and thickening you want instead of having to use two or three different products.  I will mention that I have only used this mascara a few times, so I don't know how long one tube lasts.

Sinful Colors Nail Polish in Song of Summer

This is definitely a color I have never had in my collection!

This was a fun, summer color to wear on my nails! I was not a huge fan of how it dried on my nails, however. There were air bubbles on some of my nails, and 2 of my nails chipped within my first 24 hours of wearing the polish.

 Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration After Sun Ultra Hydrating Lotion and Soothing Aloe Gel

A few days after getting the VoxBox, Michael and I went fishing with his parents up North. I did not think to apply sunscreen on my legs because they never seem to get any color, and wouldn't you know, my legs ended up burning! This Soothing Aloe Gel had shown up on my doorstep just in the nick of time! It did feel very soothing on my legs, and it seemed to help the redness fade more quickly.

Jamba Juice All Natural Smoothies (Coupons)

I will admit I was pretty skeptical to try this product. Michael used to work at Jamba Juice before we got married, so I have had my fair share of smoothies! I didn't think making one at home would even compare to what I could buy from an actual Jamba Juice, but I was presently surprised!

The smoothie packs come in bags of frozen fruit and yogurt chunks. The instructions on the back say to simply add some apple juice, and blend! It sounded easy enough.

 

I decided to try Caribbean Passion. I didn't have any apple juice, so I blended it with some of Welches Orange Pineapple Apple juice instead. (A healthier alternative to store-bought juice would be freshly squeezing some juice yourself!) After 30 seconds of blending, I had a yummy smoothie!

 

According to the Nutritional Information on the bag, this qualifies as 2 servings? Ummmm sorry, no. This is one Katie Serving.

 

I asked Michael to try some because well, he is the Smoothie King. ;) He said he was impressed by how well it had blended and had the same consistency as a smoothie from Jamba Juice. I agreed, and thought the flavor was very yummy!

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Overall, I was very happy with the products that I had the pleasure of testing! I would definitely recommend the CoverGirl Bombshell Curvaceous Mascara, Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration After Sun Ultra Hydrating Lotion and Soothing Aloe Gel, and Jamba Juice All Natural Smoothies!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Thank you for reading! :)