new make-up

I feel like I'm in a make-up lull. I wear the same thing day after day. It works for me, but I am a girly girl so I like to feel pretty. This past weekend I was browsing around Target (for an hour and a half) and found myself in the make-up aisle.

I'll admit it. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging. The millions spent on market research on how to make a product sell -- works on this girl. I was immediately attracted to NP Set. Sadly the packaging is the only part I like about the product.

Pasarella Powder Foundation

works like any other foundation I've ever used - no miracles, just takes the shine off my face

Baked Powder in Blush Set

it's extremely light and subtle - I felt like I had to put too much on for it to be seen on my skin, overall ehh

Eye Palette in Cairo

it comes with a brown, coral, and white -- looks shimmery and pretty but just like the blush is extremely light, couldn't even tell I had it on

Lip Stain & Plumper in Coral

I had high hopes for this one - big fat fail, it didn't stain my lips any sort of color and whatever is in it to "plump" your lips just made mine sting and feel like they were on fire

went straight into the trash

My Target trip wasn't a complete bust though. I came home with this:

I got mine in orange and white, but Target.com doesn't have a picture available so you'll just have to see the navy and use your imagination.

Alright ladies, make-up suggestions please!!!!

**NP Set did not endorse this review (obvs). Just my little ole opinion.

welcome home wednesday: the dining room

Onto the next room in our house, the dining room. I love the open floor plan between the kitchen, dining room, and living room, especially since that is the heart of the house and where everyone congregates.

View of the dining room from the kitchen. The dining room is the only room in the house that has hardwood floors. The rest have carpet.

The other side of our kitchen bar. 

Our front door is in the corner of the room. We hardly ever use it.

The view of the room from the head of the table.

View of the living room from the dining room.

Now some close-ups. My grandmother, my mom's mother, painted all of the oil paintings in our house. I love every one of them. The top flower was giving to me for my 14th birthday I believe and the bottom flower I picked out of the many in her house after she passed away. I definitely get my creativity from her.

Another painting done by my grandmother. The desk below it is an antique from the hubs side of the family.

The front door. It's a bit odd, but when I show the master bedroom I'll explain it's location a bit more.

The picture of the three labs was given to us by my parents for Christmas. The table is another antique from the hubs family. It was one of three sections that all fit together to make a huge banquet table but unfortunately we only have the one piece.

Our china cabinet was the first piece of furniture that the hubs and I purchased together. The hubs heard about an online auction and we were the only ones to bid on this beauty. I love how it displays all of my Spode Woodland Hunting Dogs china.

I come from a long line of lab families. My parents have always had labs along with my mom's parents. These three dog plates were my mom's, but she gave them to me because they just fit so well with our decor. I have another lab picture that needs to be framed and added to the wall.

Hope you enjoyed the tour through our dining room!

take me back tuesday: more cute baby

Now that I've finally taken the time to scan in a huge lot of pictures, I can schedule take me back tuesday in a more timely manner. Hooray for preplanning! I told you I just love my baby cuteness so here's another picture from the very early years.

Again, loving the dress. Also you might notice the itty bitty baby ring on the necklace around my neck. Unfortunately I pulled on the chain and the ring went flying. It'd be such a cute piece of jewelry to have now if I hadn't been such a brat and lost it. Oh well.

sure hope I can keep this beauty alive

It's no secret that I don't have a green thumb. My mom once gave me a cactus for my room and I stuck it on a shelf and completely forgot about it. I killed a cactus, one of the most hardy plants. Hopefully I can change my killing ways if only to keep this beauty alive.

Anyone have any tips? I don't know what I'm doing, but I do know that these gorgeous roses need to stick around.

the blue angels

Last weekend, on my actual birthday, the hubs and I took a day trip to Charleston. Charleston is by far my favorite city. We arrived around noon and had lunch at AW Shucks. After lunch we walked around and went through the market to kill some time before we went to the pier for the main attraction - the Blue Angels.

Sorry for the picture overload. These pictures were just a few of the nearly 150 the hubs took that day!

outfits of the week

I decided that I will post a recap of all my OOTDs at the end of the week instead of day by day. I had planned to post this on Friday but drinks with friends at Miyabi's got in the way. No worries, it was not a repeat of the last time we went out. I had one drink. I was good.

Monday

jean jacket - Gap

navy floral dress - made by me!

I apologize for the beyond horrible picture. I didn't look this awful on my little blackberry screen. I would have retaken if I wasn't already in my jammies.

Tuesday

purple top - Belk

blue pants - Gap

necklace - New York & Co.

shoes - Zappos.com

Alright, now that I've taken the most awful picture for the second day in a row, I believe I need to attempt taking it somewhere else. Our bedroom has the only full length mirror, but the lighting is just horrible. Sorry y'all. 

Wednesday

white top - Banana Republic

jeans - Gap

red shoes - Tom's

My new shoes came in and they are soooo comfortable. I highly recommend getting a pair. You help give a pair to a person in need while enjoying their cushy goodness.

Thursday

navy top - Gap

navy and white stripped pants - Gap

pink watch - Charming Charlie's

white t-strap heels - Naturalizers via Zappos.com

I felt super skinny in this outfit. I think it's the navy. Whatever is was there's a good chance you'll see this outfit again.

Casual Friday

red and white stripped top - Belk

jeans - Gap

This outfit is pretty plan jane. You're lucky I'm not wearing just a tshirt. Speaking of tshirts, work gave us another uber ugly safety tshirt. You'd think a printing company with seven graphic artists could come up with a better design. It looks like a really bad piece of clip art slapped on the back of a tshirt. The part that boggles my mind is how many people wear these things to work. Nearly everyone in the office was wearing this Friday. Ugh.

welcome home wednesday: laundry room and kitchen

My very first installment of welcome home wednesday! I know y'all are just dying to see our new house with as much as I've been talking about it. Now that it's all clean and put together I'm ready to show the world. Well at least the blog world.

Let's start with the side entrance into the laundry room.

The view as you come through our side door into the laundry room.

My gorgeous red GE washer and dryer. I seriously love them. I keep a fleece blanket on top so they can't get scratched. The kitties adore sleeping up there especially when the dryer is on.

I'm all about being organized. A place for everything and everything in its place. I use the cabinets above the washer and dryer to hold all of our cleaning products. I also have a dry erase calendar to keep track of our busy, busy lives.

The view of the laundry room from the doorway in between it and the kitchen.

The view of the kitchen from the doorway in between it and the laundry room.

Our beautiful new Whirlpool fridge. The previous owners took their fridge with them so we had to get a new one. So far I love everything about it.

You might notice the two tea makers on the counter. We like our sweet tea and probably go through a pitcher a day. The Coca-Cola curtain was made by my mother-in-law and the Coca-Cola appliance cover (over my red Kitchenaid mixer) was a Christmas gift from the hubs. All of my kitchen appliances are red and most are Kitchenaid. 

The original dishwasher, range, and microwave were all white. Since I wanted a stainless fridge I had to get matching everything else. The microwave and range are Whirlpool, but the dishwasher is Kitchenaid. We were able to sell the old white ones in less than 24 hours for exactly what we were asking for them

We're lucky enough to have a bar counter top and the two chairs came from my lovely mom. You can see that the kitchen opens up directly into the dinning room. 

This wall divides the kitchen/dinning room space from the living room space. I love all of the display space and quickly filled it with many of my Coke things. There's also desk space where I keep my lap top and red stool. You also might notice my Coke housewife apron hanging on the wall to the right, below the Coke bottle opener. And yes I sometimes wear the apron as I make dinner.

A close up of the desk space. The red Coke circle in the top left of the picture is actually a phone. My parents found it at a flea market and even though we don't have a land line, I just had to display it.

I also love that I have a designated space to put all of my cookbooks and glassware. In our old house the cookbooks were stacked on the microwave and countertop, not pretty.

That's the first look at our house. Next Wednesday I'll show y'all the dining room and perhaps the living room. I haven't yet decided how long I want to stretch this series out. Let me know if there's something else you want to see in my kitchen or laundry room. Don't be shy!