a new use for something old and pretty

while i was perusing a new blog find recently, i came across a little craft inspiration. i had a desktop calendar i had received for my birthday a little over a year ago {thanks rach!} and was trying to figure out what to do with it since the year was up. it was too pretty to just toss in the trash so imagine my surprise when this new blog showed me just what to do {here}.

i had a bunch of pretty leftover calendar sheets...

and just cut them up however i could. i made big pieces to perhaps use as little cards (or perhaps stick in a frame like she featured?). i also cut some small pieces to use as gift tags.

pretty right? there was one that i couldn't bare to cut up. september. since A and i got married in september of 2011, i thought of a different use for this one.

i added a little heart on our wedding date and am going to frame it and put it in a wall of frames. wanted to keep this one as a reminder of that wonderful day (and showcase that pretty design that was featured that month).

it's stored away safely until i start building a wall of frames someday.

any fun craft projects y'all have been working on?

lip arsenal

remember {here} when i mentioned that one of my NY resolutions was to wear more lipstick? well it's because i have enough lip products to supply an army of make-up loving women. seriously. i tote around 12 lipsticks/glosses/balms in my purse every single day. i think i have a problem. so my goal is to use them way more so i don't feel so bad about the fact that i have so many! so i thought i would share my arsenal with you.

{top to bottom: super strawberry, mega melon, chunky cherry}

these three clinique chubby sticks are my absolute favorites. i am really loving a colorful lip look right now and these are perfect to get one. i need to be brave and learn to wear them everyday (see one of my favorite bloggers here - she rocks a lip all the time and i am jealous of her courage. it always looks so good!)

next up are the balms that i carry around. apparently i'm a little brand loyal with my lip balms. all three are from fresh. the larger ones are no color. the smaller one (that i got for free with my sephora points) has a pinkish/red tint to it.

{L to R: advanced treatment, sugar, sugar rose}

and then there are the others. ones that i have toted with me for quite sometime. all collected over a few years (the laura mercier is new-ish. kinda like a balm but is very red. love to swipe it one with just mascara on!)

{L to R: nars turkish delight, mac lipglass in viva glam vi, laura mercier in crimson, nars lipsticks in dolce vita and barbarella, jouer in birchbox pink (came as a sample this month in my birchbox).}

so those are all my faves. i would recommend the clinique chubby sticks over anything else. i really love them a lot.

any other bloggers out there have a fun lip beauty product to share?

best vacation ever {part 3}

final recap of our honeymoon...

poolside at the resort

dinner at the lounge restaurant one night. A got a cheeseburger. i got a puerto rican rice and beans dish and sauteed veggies. 

our little kitty friend. we named her kitty and wanted to take her home. she was so dang cute and always came to say hi at night because she always got dinner from us. kitty always had her tongue hanging out of her mouth. she was adorable but camera shy.

dinner. you can see the fire pit in the background.

we took a taxi one of our last nights and went to a restaurant called next course. had a yummy dinner with my new hubby!

i'm pretty sure this was our last night on the honeymoon. picture in our room before dinner.

we had such a wonderful time. some highlights that i wanted to mention (that i didn't get pictures of):

- bio bay tour. vieques has the largest bio bay in the world. we took kayaks out and in the bay, they have plankton that glow when they are disturbed in the water. so if a fish swims or you put your hand in the water, it glows with plankton. it was gorgeous. 
- hanging by the fire pit on one of our last nights with other newlyweds that had just arrived for their honeymoons.

- walking to get fruit at the cafe everyday.

- lunch in downtown esperanza at duffys. yummy food on the water.

- sitting at the pool. the chairs were wonderful, the pool was perfect and they had chairs that sat in the pool. we spent a lot of time there.

love reminiscing about our perfect vacation. let's go back A?

best vacation ever {part 2}

welcome back to our honeymoon recap. here we go with part 2...

these next few pictures capture one of my favorite memories from our honeymoon. every morning we would wake up and go to breakfast at one of the few restaurants at the resort. it was very empty usually (except on the weekend) because it was low season. 

we got the same thing everytime. neither of us ever got sick of our choices because it was SOOOO good. my goodness, take me back there right now. i always got cranberry juice and A got french pressed coffee (one time he ordered a large and literally they brought out a french press that could have easily held enough coffee for a table of 10 people.) i ordered a belgian waffle and a fruit cup (YUM) and A got french toast. i miss that belgian waffle. and i miss the view more. 

handsome hubby

the beach at the resort

lots of seaweed this day...

these next pictures were from when we took the jeep out for a day to one of the best beaches on the island. this was blue beach. we planned on snorkeling but A was the brave one to go out and do it for awhile. i only did it for a few minutes. 

A snorkeling

on our way back from the beaches we stopped by a food truck that we read rave reviews about. it was by far my favorite meal the entire time we were there. authentic puerto rican food - carnitas. 

part 3 coming soon!

best vacation ever {part one}

A and I went to the island of vieques in puerto rico for our honeymoon. it's a pretty empty island and we stayed at the only resort on vieques. it was such a perfect way to wind down from the craziness of our wedding. we were there for 10 days and had such a wonderful time.

first off, let me show you where our little island was located. see our little island to the right of the main island?

{map link}

i'm going to write this post like a travel journal. i want to remember all that i can about our honeymoon so going to write little details along the way.

this picture is one of our first nights on the honeymoon. they had these round big beds with pillows galore up at the main building of the resort. this was our view from one as we were lounging.

this was a little attraction on the island. we found it when we were out driving. it's the oldest tree on vieques. look how small A looks compared...it was ginormous.

pardon the hair. it's going to look like that in most pictures. humidity + what felt like a billion degrees means ponytail 99% of the time.

this was our little island rental that we had for 24 hours. a brand new jeep wrangler. it was so awesome and perfect for driving around the island. you'll see below how crazy all the roads are...and only a few of them are paved. 

there are wild horses all over the island. it blew my mind when we first saw a herd. they are everywhere. out in the middle of nowhere. in one of the two towns on the island. walking in the middle of the road. everywhere. i was kind of in heaven. 

the US navy had this island up until around 2003 i think (part of the reason why it is so untouched). there are still remnants of our navy around the island. we found a bunch of bunkers out on one of our drives. 

remember how i said the roads were kinda crazy looking? here is an example. they were so narrow - i hit a lot of branches! these are obviously paved. some of the others were just mud with the biggest potholes ever.

one of the first secluded beaches we found. 

at dinner at "el patio" in isabel II one night. not our favorite but it was nice to visit this town and eat out on their little patio. i'm pretty sure i had rice and beans and A had steak. as you can tell, he didn't really like it. :) excuse the poor lighting - like i said, we were out on the patio which didn't have the fanciest lighting.

i'll be back with two more posts full of honeymoon pictures and adventures!

guilty

have y'all seen these videos? pardon the language in the titles but i couldn't not share these with you. they make me laugh out loud because they are so true. i can't tell you how many of these things fly out of my mouth daily.

enjoy!

are any of you ladies guilty of such things? do tell!

if any of y'all are on twitter, there is a twitter account to go along with these. i've retweeted a few that are things i say all the dang time. how can these not make you laugh? {twitter here}

working it out

over the last year, i have really gotten into a healthier lifestyle of going to the gym and eating better. since it has become a big passion of mine, i figured i would start talking a bit about my favorite exercises as well as maybe share some of my favorite eating tips with y'all. so here we go...

i have grown to love going to group classes. i feel like i push myself a lot harder in group classes because i have a trainer hollaring at me to go harder. my usual rotation during the week includes abs class, intense body, and yoga. however, i have found a new favorite. have y'all ever tried spinning? i tried it for the first time back in december and i have to say that i am absolutely hooked. i don't think i ever sweat as much as i do in spin class (TMI?) it's definitely my new favorite class to take at my gym.

{link}

lately, i have been looking online for some new workouts to do if i want to change it up and exercise on my own. i also met with a trainer for a few sessions (too bad i can't afford to meet with one all the time. thank goodness the few sessions i had were all free!) ever tried burpees? {described here} i absolutely hate them but they really are such a great thing to incorporate into a routine. definitely have to add the pushup in there to make it harder.

i found this quote on pinterest awhile back that i repeat often in the gym. over and over again when i have to run, do burpees or anything else that pushes me hard. i promise it works!

{pin}

this is a good one too...

{pin}

have y'all tried any workouts lately that you love? i love chatting about this stuff so feel free to share!