Sparkles and Lattes

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Confessional Thursday

It's time for another round of confessions. Grab the button, write your confessions and come back here to link up.

I CONFESS...

/ that some work prayers were finally answered. I got promoted to senior agent this week. I feel like it was a long time coming and hoping this is the boost I need to feel fulfilled at work again. We had a position open up in our division, but it was on the corporate side of things, so I thought it was a VERY long shot of getting it. But Wednesday morning I got called into my bosses office and offered the promotion. Plus it comes with a pretty decent raise. Guess I owe Rory a steak dinner now. Side note: he took me to dinner when he got promoted and we always said that was our way of celebrating, so now it is my turn.

/ that we took our first steps into renovating the kitchen. We secured the financing for it and we should get money for it within a week. Now it is time to call contractors and start getting some bids. My dream kitchen is becoming a reality.

/ that mommy and daughter time Tuesday night was a success. My girls were amazing. We played in the tunnel (did you see the video on IG?), played with their ball tower, had dinner, cuddled and sang songs. Before I knew it, it was time to put them to bed and I missed them so much.

/ that I can get up 5 minutes earlier in the morning, get myself ready, get the girls bottles and house in order, feed them, dress them and get us out the door in 10 minutes less time than when my husband is home and gets the girls ready. I just go go go and get it done. But when Rory is home, we go about it so much more slowly. I like the more proficient way.

/ that I may have took at least 50 pictures and a few videos on Tuesday night. I couldn't get enough of my girls and now I have lots of IG photos to share. This never happens.

/ that I get to have drinks with my girlfriends tonight to celebrate my promotion and to send off Stacey to France on her vacation with her husband. So jealous! But I can't wait to hear all the places I must go to when I go for work.

/ that I can't wait to have my favorite macarons when I hit up Europe. Have you ever had Laduree macarons? No. They are heaven. I always get some in NYC and tried them for the first time in London. Now I get to get them in London and France. Calories don't count when they are your favorite dessert. Right?

/ that I really want to skip my dentist appointment this afternoon. Three cavities. Ugh. Has anyone taken mineral vitamins to help with your teeth after kids? Someone recommended it to me and I really want to try it.

/ that I hate the dentist, but pumped to have a few hours at home by myself to catch up on girly tv shows.

And that is all I have for now. Don't forget to link up below.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

From Boils to Cocktails and Tailgating

So my mind is completely scattered right now. I was a single mom last night (husband was in Vegas) and couldn't get my shit together to make this a cohesive post. So randomness is what you get.

First up, something gross. So advert your eyes, scroll down or hit the x on the top left (but really don't). Miss Aves has a boil on her booty. I thought it was a pimple, but babies don't get pimples. Sure they can get baby acne, but not pimples like this. She has this red area that is swollen and had a pus like tip. Gross. I know. It has popped twice now and it leaves blood and pus in her diaper. Plus she can't sit on it unless her diaper is on. I searched and searched online until I drove myself crazy and finally asked for some advice (online and to the pediatrician). Looks like it is a boil, but gotta watch for red streaks coming from it, a fever and it getting bigger. Please let it be this simple. Moving on.

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It's been 18 almost 19 months since delivery, but I still have loose skin on my belly. I carried two babies in there and no matter how many planks or ab exercises I do, it just isn't going away completely. Maybe this will help, maybe it won't. But it's worth a shot.

Did anyone watch the Bachelorette on Monday. WTF happened? They are waiting to tell us who is going home? Nah uh. Speaking of Bachelorette and if I just spoiled the episode for you, I need some summer cocktails to drink while watching Bachelorette. This wine habit costs a lot and I can get more bang for you buck with liquor. So I have been Pinteresting summer cocktails.

Watermelon, lime and cucumber cocktail (and it uses vodka, my favorite)

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I love moscow mules, so adding in strawberries and basil sounds so good and refreshing.

Blueberry mojito

Speaking of another classic with a twist...I love mojitos and adding any and every fruit in there. Sign me up for this one or mix it up with different fruits.

Football randomly popped into my head...ok it didn't. Trying to decide if I want to do two Fantasy teams this year or not. #somuchwork Anyways, I was thinking of what to bring to the first tailgate and starting looking stuff up and this caught my eye. Sounds so good right now.

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I love bacon wrapped poppers. My friend made them on the grill once and it changed my life. These look really good since I don't want to attempt to cook them on the grill.

And that is all I have time for or that I can think of at this moment.

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

My Birthday Wish List

My birthday is quickly approaching (in two weeks, yikes) and I have been trying to figure out what I want. There are not many things that I want. Ok that is a lie. There are not many things that I want that we can afford. #givemeallthethings But I have been racking my brain (mostly because family asked me to) and come up with a few things.

I love love love my Kendra Scott necklace and I would love to add a new one to my collection. These two beauties (here and here) caught my eye. They are versatile and sparkly.

I am in desperate need of new workout clothes. Mine are faded and stretched out. I would love these Lululemon pants. I know Lulu's are expensive, but the quality is unmatched.

A few bloggers, Emelia and Biana, have recently posted about this make up brush cleaner. I have bad habit of not cleaning my brushes enough. I get in the habit and I am good for a month and then I suck at it. With this fun pad, I think I would do it more often and I heard it is way easier to clean than my rub the brush on my palm with soap method.

I have been wanting these wedges for a very long time. I sent them to my husband this morning saying I need this. I want them and they are on sale. Super bonus.

This jacket is a far reach as it is almost $200 and why do I need a $200 jacket? Because it is pretty and we all need nice things for date nights. With Fall fast approaching, this would be a perfect addition to my closet.

And finally....gift cards. I want some from Loft, J Crew and Amazon. This way I can buy myself clothes and have a little me time to shop alone without my girls. I want the Amazon card because it has ALL THE THINGS including ebooks. I have been reading a ton lately and my wallet hates every time I buy a new book. My mind loves it.

I would also love an hour and a half massage.

Did I leave anything off? Other suggestions to send on?

I did buy myself a gift for my birthday this weekend...a Kate Spade purse. I can't find the exact one online right now, but it looks VERY similar to this one. I haven't purchased a new handbag in over 3 years and I only EVER buy them on sale. I can't handle paying full price. Nope. Ok, maybe I just don't have all the money in the world to pay full price. Ha.

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Monday, July 18, 2016

Weekending

It's Monday again. I am exhausted and the weekend flew by in an instant.

Friday, we ditched work for the beach. We dropped the girls off at daycare (since we already paid for it) and headed up to Tahoe for the day. We spent the day basking in the sun at Hidden Beach. It was amazing and I may have gotten a little sunburnt on my chest. I think I forgot to reapply the sunscreen on my neck area. Ouch.

Crystal clear water

Hidden Beach Lake Tahoe

After the beach, we picked up the girls and headed home for dinner and bath time. We also did some packing and finally watched The Night Of. Have you seen it? The second episode was on last night and we haven't watched that one, but this show is soooo good. It is a thriller/suspense mini-series on HBO and we are already hooked.

Saturday morning, I went to get gas, coffee and pastries before we headed off to California. We went to the Bay Area to meet my sweet nephew. But first, we had to make a pit stop for lunch at Chick-fil-a. It was the first time the girls had been there. They LOVED it. We even had to order a second set of nuggets for them.

After lunch, we had a short 45 minute drive left until we got to my sister-in-laws house. And then we got to meet sweet baby Carson.

We were all in heaven. He is so precious, tiny and very handsome. I am one proud aunt and godmother.

We spent the afternoon hanging out with family and helping them out. Around 5 pm, we loaded up for our quick 5 minute drive to our hotel. The girls were getting restless from the car ride and park time with their grandparents, so we quickly fed them leftover bbq (thanks to my in-laws for giving us food for the girls) and then I ventured out for milk, wine and dinner for Rory and I.

I got back around 6:30 where we fed the girls their milk and they went down for the night. Rory and I ate dinner and drank our wine in the dark with the tv as our only light. Such is the life of parents.

Sunday morning we got up bright and early to head to breakfast. My sister-in-law recommended a great restaurant that has a room for kids to play with a massive train set.

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The girls were in heaven. They would play and then eat some and play again.

After breakfast we headed to families house to watch the rest of the British Open, have some coffee and catch up. Then it was back over to my sister-in-laws house for more baby snuggles.

Around 1 pm, we headed out to go to the Vacaville Outlets. We didn't get to shop much as the girls were fussy and tired. They are on a new nap schedule and their whole weekend naps were off. I did buy myself a birthday present.

We stopped for a quick dinner and got home around 6:45. The girls were super cranky on the drive home so we were all tired. After we put the girls down, we relaxed and went to bed early.

How was your weekend?

I am linking up with Biana from B Loved Boston.

Friday, July 15, 2016

Friday Favorites and Happenings

Wow, Friday took a long time to get here, but it is so nice to see you now that you are here. We don't have a lot of plans this weekend, but I am hoping to go to the beach. I feel like I sound like a broken record here. We always want to go to the beach and then the weather turns to crap when we do want to go. Please be nice weather this weekend. Thank you.

One. Dragon Noodles. This is my new favorite quick dinner. I was browsing Pinterest for new recipes and this one came up. I saw how easy it was, read some reviews and decided I needed to make it for us. We had it Monday night and we LOVED it. Seriously, it came together in about 15 to 20 minutes (most time consuming part: boiling the water and cooking the noodles). It was spicy, flavorful and hit the spot. I can see myself making this when we need a quick dinner, something with bold flavor or a cheap dinner. Seriously, make this.

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Two. I finally received my Loft shipment last weekend and I fell in love with the Cropped Skinny Marisa Chinos. I got them in raspberry and love them. I want to buy more pairs. All the pairs. I also got some denim shorts that were way too big for me. The waist seemed to fit but had a 3 inch gap in the back. So weird. I also got this soft black sleeveless top which I paired with my chinos at work this week. Love the outfit.

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Three. I finished The Girl You Lost this week and now I need new book ideas. I have After You on my list. But I need more. So what are your suggestions? I love sappy love stories like Me Before You, love chick lits and thrillers. So send me your book suggestions.

Four. I know this is way in advance, but I am a planner at heart, so I wanted to put it out there now. I am going on a work trip in September all the way to Europe. I will be gone for 13 days. Yikes. It feels crazy to say this because I don't know how I will be away from my girls, husband and dog that long. Especially the girls. They are going to grow so much while I am gone. I am super fortunate to be going on this trip and I am super excited about it. But a bit worried too.

Anyways, I will have some blog posts scheduled, but I wanted to see if anyone wanted to do a guest post while I am gone. I need posts for September 12 - 16 and 19 - 23. I will write posts, still do some link ups and Confessional Thursday, but I know I won't be able to get two weeks of posts pre-written. So if you would like to guest post on my awesome, amazing blog (ha) then please let me know. I am open to all sorts of blog post ideas.

Five. My sister-in-law had her son on Wednesday night and we are over the moon about him. We changed up our weekend plans quickly, are leaving Walter with my parents and heading to the Bay Area tomorrow. I can't wait to hold my nephew and see everyone.

And since we are heading to California, we must stop at Chick-fil-A (since we don't have one here), go to the Vacaville Outlets and grab a pie on the way home.

Cheers to the new baby.

I hope you have a good weekend and I will be sure to share all the pictures of my sweet nephew come Monday.

I am linking up with Karli, April and Erica.

*This post contains affiliate links.

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Favorite Things Blogger Exchange and Some Confessions

A few weeks ago, I signed up to be a part of a blogger exchange. I absolutely love these exchanges and getting to know other bloggers. This one was about our favorite things. Have you ever heard of a Favorite Things party? Basically you picked out your favorite item (under $10 for this exchange) and bring it to a party to exchange with other guests. But this time, it is done through the online blogging community.

Jess from Secrets of a Stay at Home Mom and Sarah from Seeing All Sides set up this exchange, so thank you ladies! I had the best time participating in it.

I picked out my favorite face saving make up product. Maybelline Dark Circle Eraser. This stuff cover it all up. I am talking dark circles, puffy eyes and anything that shows the wear of having children or late nights. I use this stuff daily. I sent this to Emily and Stephanie. I hope you ladies enjoy it!!

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I received favorite things from Missy (My Shitty Kitchen) and Crystal (Hall Around Texas). Crystal is a huge Amazon shopper (just like me), so she sent me an Amazon Gift Card. This will be gone in no time at all since I order from here almost weekly it seems. I was going to use it during Prime Day, but they didn't have my size in the running shoes I wanted. Boo.

Missy sent me Vitamin C Serum by Pure Body. She swears by this and has been using it for a little over a month now. I just started using it this week and I am loving it. I clean my face every night and put it on before putting on a moisturizer. People swear it helps with dark spots (I have a few from the sun) and smoothing of the skin. Sign me up. I can't wait to report back on my results.

Thank you so much ladies for sending me your favorite things.

And I couldn't pass up some confessions, so here are a few for the week.

I CONFESS...

/ that I was secretly hoping my sister-in-law had her baby Tuesday or Wednesday because we really want to go visit her, the new baby and the Bay Area. Come on BabyMayer, we want to meet you. UPDATE: she had the baby last night. I am an aunt and I have a nephew!

/ that I got a phone call Monday afternoon and I knew the number...What number you ask? My dentist. With bad news. See I was told I had no cavities on my x-rays, but my dentist would need to look at them when he got back from vacation. Well he did, and I have two micro cavities and another broken filling. And the broken filling needs a crown in the future. So either get it re-filled and wait a few years for a crown or get a crown now. Mama don't have that kind of money, so filling it is. And so I will be getting 3 fillings next Thursday. Lucky me.

/ that Amazon Prime Day made me so mad. I had all these things I wanted to buy and none of them were part of the deal. No water splash table for the girls, no beach cart/wagon, no ebooks that I wanted and no running shoes that fit. Boo.

/ that I want to cry every month when the daycare money leaves my checking account. This shit is more than my mortgage. Ugh. Can you tell I just paid it?

/ that I have a wedding to attend next weekend (the 23rd) and I still haven't bought them a gift yet. Oops.

Join in below.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

What's Hap-Pinning

I have our kitchen remodel on my mind and I am here to share my inspiration with you through Pinterest. These are just my ideas and not necessarily the pieces we will choose.

I am obsessed with subway tiles. I have loved them since watching the Property Brothers. I love the simple look of them.

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I want white cabinets. Now I know that I have two littles in my house, but I have always wanted white cabinets, so I am going to get white cabinets. Just need a way to keep them semi clean. Tips.