MY BIRTHDAY!!!

HI there!

I'm having the HARDEST time keeping up with posting in the way that I want to.  We've been SO BUSY and I have so many things I want to share, but I'm just so exhausted at the end of the day that I don't have the energy to stay up until 1am to work on this like I did when I started.  I was going to share the BUSIEST week we've had in a long time - MY BIRTHDAY WEEK!!! - in which we had something planned for every single day from Saturday through the following Sunday and how I got to dress up with full hair and makeup every day. But sharing it in that way just didn't work out.  So, I'm going to break it up and just share this for now.  
My 36th BIRTHDAY week was SO FUN!!!  We had so may things to do, from dinners to private school tours, to sporting events to parties and I loved getting to go out so much and get dressed up.  And really a few hours away form the kids is always appreciated :) 

On  Monday, November 2, quite honestly, I don't even remember what we did in the morning but I know we did SOMETHING! And this is what I wore:

 

I had a fashion challenge that day.  Totally Tassled.  I 

used an old Avon necklace that my 96 year old 

grandmother gave me a few years ago.  The hassle 

is molded - it doesn't actually move! 

And a photo of me with my baby boy, just because he's the awesomest. 

But in the evening, I had dinner with friends at a trendy steak house downtown called STK.  We call our little dinner crew "Jermaine and Josh".  It's a silly play on this meme -

I don't tend to be very sensitive to racial jokes and neither are my friends.  We think this is funny.  My husband is white.  My brother in law's girlfriend is black.  Our friends are everything in between and it's awesome to have such a diverse group of people to spend time with.  We decided on this name as a little joke after our first dinner.  2 Black girls, an Afro-Latina and a White girl.  It just fit and we think it's funny. (If you don't, sorry.)  

We had a lot of fun that night.  It's always fun to get dressed up and go out!  Now that the baby is over a year and drinking more milk, I feel like I can be away more often and not feel stressed about nursing him.  Thanks to my hubby for braving bedtime alone so I could go out! LOL!

My outfit that day was bomb!  I styled it very similarly to how Eloquii styled it.  (LINK)  It's a departure from how I usually dress.  I just loved the idea of the top buttoned all the way up and using the necklace as a collar.  I loved it so much I wore it almost exactly the same way just over a week later to another private school interview.  

Necklace is from Aldo

Top is from Target

Belt and Skirt are from Eloquii (link above)

PS - I have awesome friends.  

I didn't eat any of this. Ew. 

This was the dessert the restaurant gave for my birthday.  They poured hot chocolate over the solid chocolate ball and it melted to reveal strawberry ice-cream inside.  Very cool!

The food at STK was decent, but the service was a little rough.  We found out that our server was actually brand new - it was his first day after training.  That explained why our food took sooooooo long and Kelly's order of 2 sliders came out as 6 with some really expensive truffles on them, which annoyingly the manager gave to the table next to us. So rude. That table was ridic - like 6 REALLY old men with 4 or 5 younger girls, definitely in their 20's, drunkenly singing Piano Man. Ugh. Stop it.

On November 7th, I decided to throw myself a birthday party.  Just family and good friends at our house.  It almost got cancelled when, last second, #2 woke up from her nap with a freaking 101.7 fever. I didn't know what to do! Everyone we could have asked to watch her for us so the party could go on was already coming to our house! So husband drove her to the Walgreens clinic at 3 pm. The party started at 5! She ended up throwing up in the car on the way, but by the time the nurse practitioner checked her at the clinic, her temp was back to normal and she said she felt better.  She was just fine the rest of the night.  No more fever or vomit and ate just fine and had a great time, thankfully!!! The nurse practitioner said that she may have just eaten something bad. Husband gave her Coco Wheats for the first time that morning, so we assume that was what made her sick.  I would have been so sad to have to cancel the party, especially 1 hour before it was supposed to start! Thankfully, she's very good at telling us what is wrong and we could trust that she was good to party on.

I got to wear the most AWESOME cape blazer that night.  From Eloquii. I just HAD to have it!!!

I thought these pink suede heels from Nine West would be a 

fun pop of color. I've had these shoes since 2007.  

I just can't part with them.  I've also hardly worn them.  

This may be the 4th time in all those years I've actually 

worn them out of my bedroom.

Here are a few highlights from the nice evening we had.  Some friends I haven't seen in a long time were able to make it, and I was very happy to see them.  

I thought it'd be fun to have a Glam Mom cake :) 

My daughter's duck lips are ON. POINT.

This is my sister in law and my nephew.  I LOVE  

this photo!  Look at his smile!!!  He's so dang CUTE!!!

I love the look on my daughter's face as they 

helped me blow out my candles :)

My hubby is the best :)

I haven't seen these two in about 2 years, so 

I was SO GLAD they could make it! 

My niece is beautiful. 

I said I was Kim K and she was my North :)  

I was so glad to have a chance to celebrate my birthday this year.  36 is off to a good start.

Until next time!

xoxo,

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Vacation Must-Have : Access to a doctor!

Hi there!

I've decided to do a little series on our Vacation Must-Haves.  This is our 3rd family vacation where one of our children has become sick.

In February 2014, we visited Disney World for the first time and our oldest got an ear infection.

This past summer,  we took a road trip to New York and our daughter developed bronchiolitis (again!), and we forgot her inhaler, so she ended up in the ER.

Now we are in Florida again,  and our baby has developed a horrible cough and spiked a fever.

We've finally realized that we MUST know how to contact a local doctor wherever we decide to go. So,  I want to share this service that we have used twice in Florida.

The Medical Concierge was recommended to us by our hotel concierge.  It's a service they keep on call to help their guests, and it's super convenient.  We used this for #1 and #3 so far and have been happy with the service.

They will send a doctor (an MD, not just a nurse practitioner, like you'd get at Walgreens or CVS clinics) to your hotel room to examine your sick child (or adult) and can prescribe medication if necessary. This worked great for us because we were pretty sure neither child was suffering from anything super serious. It's cheaper than an ER visit and saves you a trip.  I'm not saying it's cheap! I'm just saying it's cheaper than the ER. The doctors both came to our rooms late at night - 9:30 PM for this recent call. At that time,  our only other option would have been the ER, and with babies we just don't want to have to go there if it's avoidable.  So many extra germs, crowds and wait times.  No thanks.

The doctor that came this time was able to rule out step and an ear infection, which were the things we were worried about.  He just told us to monitor his fever (thank goodness we brought a thermometer! Oh yes we did, and I'll be blogging about that next!) and to contact him if the cough got worse. 2 days later, they called to follow up and make sure #3 was doing ok. Even our own pediatrician would never do that!

So, we will be checking into services like this wherever we go from now on. And if you plan to visit FL, keep this info in your back pocket just in case!

Until next time,

xoxo

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OOTD #2 - Disney Edition, and Event Recap.

Hi there!

Day 2 at The Magic Kingdom was a great success!

It started off a bit stressful because the entry to Animal Kingdom was seriously backed up and we were about 15 minutes late for our breakfast reservation at Tusker House.  But, they still seated us right away and the characters came one right after the other,  which was great!

This was our 3rd breakfast at the Tusker House. It's a great character meal and the food is so good! A buffet of sausage,  bacon,  fruit,  grits,  plantains, and so many other things to try. And,  of course,  the Mickey Waffles are always delish. This meal we got to meet Mickey,  Daisy, Donald and Goofy.  Minnie Mouse was there, but we decided not to wait for her, because we had a fast pass for the Finding Nemo show.

We'd never seen this show before, but I want to see it every time we go from now on. It's BEAUTIFUL!!! It's so fun the way they brought the movie to life using puppets and song. It's colorful and clever and I loved every second of it.

After a quick ice cream break (hey,  it's hot here!), we went on the Safari. Our 3rd time doing it, and it was probably the best. Lots of animals appeared, including a female lion. The kids were so tired by this point (the night before with the 9:30 PM doctor visit had them all up until after 11pm, but still awake by 8am) that #2 almost feel asleep in my lap during the safari, so we called it a day after that. Back to the hotel for nap time and dinner, and then off to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party!!!

She was so tired,  she hardly cared there was an elephant behind her.

This was a special event that required additional tickets. The park closed early that day and only those with wrist bands could stay for the festivities.  Free cookies and hot chocolate,  character meet and greets everywhere (Jack Skellington, The Seven Dwarves, princesses with their princes), all rides were open with virtually no wait times and a beautiful Christmas Parade that included Ana and Eksa, Olaf, Buzz and Woody, all the princesses and princes, toy soldiers, reindeer and ended with Santa.  The kids LOVED it. But by the time it ended, it was 11pm. They all feel asleep before we got to the monorail to head home.  Tomorrow we will take it easy and sleep in. They need it!

#1 thought I'd be funny to close his eyes. I didn't laugh.

 Jasmine and Aladdin in the Christmas parade.

Of course I'll include my OOTD. Nothing fancy at all - a Lularoe perfect tee, Gap skinnies and my favorite  CROCS!!! Go ahead, hate on Crocs. I just don't care. These shoes are so comfortable and practical and I can't live without them!!!

My shirt is all wrinkled from the baby carrier.

Until next time (hopefully tomorrow!),

xoxo,

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OOTD #1 - Disney Edition

Hi there!

Our first day at Disney World was pretty good!  We had a bit of a tough time managing the baby as he ended up getting sick.  He had a cough when we left home, but we thought he'd be ok.  By the time we were ready for bed the night we arrived, the poor baby had a 102 degree fever.  We got through the first day at the park with him, but he was pretty fussy and tired, so we called a doctor to our hotel room.  Did you know that was possible?  We did!  Because we've had to do it before - actually the first time we brought the kids to Disney World!  #1 got an ear infection, and we ended up staying an extra 5 days because:

#1 - he was sick
#2 - it was snowing at home and hubby didn't have to be back at work, so why not stay at the Happiest Place on Earth?

Turns out the doctor wasn't able to diagnose him with anything and we just have to watch him.  In the meantime we treated his fever with Advil, and today (Day 2) he was AWESOME! Happy, smiling, laughing, clapping along to music - back to his normal awesome self.

Anyway!  I'll post photos of the trip later.  For now, I'm just going to share what I wore!

I ordinarily HATE shorts.  Like, I only own this romper, one other romper and one pair of shorts and that is all.  I hate them on me.  They look horrible and ride up and just plain get on my nerves.  But THIS?!  I LOVE!  I had to have it.  

It's from Forever 21.  Sadly, it's not available anymore. I bought mine at the outlet.  But it's called the Free Spirit Crocheted Romper, in case you're interested and want to Google details.  

Until next time,

xoxo

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Younique Haul and First Impressions

Hi there!

If you didn't already know, I have been a Younique Presenter for over a year.  I don't really push sales anymore, because sales just aren't my thing.  Plus, I really only joined because for $99, I got a lot of makeup!

But, I really like the brand and I use the products regularly.  (The BB cream is my daily base.  I'm almost out now and I'm kind of freaking out because they are currently out of stock!  What am I going to do?!?!)  So, I do try to keep up with the new products.

Younique recently released pressed eyeshadow palettes (Addiction 1, 2 and 3), lipsticks and a whole line of lip stains, so I just had to try them.  It's easier for me to make videos to cover first impressions, so that's what I did.

I didn't cover prices in the video, so here is a breakdown for you.  FYI - As a Yellow Status Presenter, I get a 25% discount on all of the products I purchase.

Lip Mix Kudos Gift (Only offered in September - No longer available.) $66

Lucrative Lip Gloss - Lavish

Stiff Upper Lip - Sleek, Sultry, Savvy

Moodstruck Addiction Shadow Palette - Palette 2 (Cook with shades of black and silver) - $49

Moodstruck Opulence Lipstick - Pretentious - $19

The Shade Stick (color matching guide) - There is no link for this as it's only available to presenters through their back office. - $12

I've used this shadow palette several times since I made this video, and I LOVE it!!!  Great quality - good pigmentation, great color selection for a neutral eye, and very little fallout during use.

I've also used the lip stains and am really impressed!  The color goes on very sheer.  Once it dries, you can add more and build to the color intensity you want. And it really lasts! It doesn't transfer during eating or drinking.  Or kissing (wink wink!). VERY nice product! I think I will buy all of the remaining colors!  

That's all. Let me know if you have any questions!

Thanks for reading!

Until next time,

xoxo

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