Guest Room

After the holidays were over, I decided one of the next areas of the house I would work on was going to be our guest room. It was super plain before (before pics here). I found bedding that I absolutely love from Garnet Hill. It is great quality, and I will definitely order from them again. The duvet itself is from Rue La La. You really cannot beat their prices. I also got a bunny from Nadeau here in town (I love bunnies), and a new framed photo of my godson for some decoration. I still need more decorations, new sheets, and a bed skirt. Oh, and I guess artwork for the walls. (I would LOVE a Jim Harrison - hint hint if you know my hubby. Lone Palmetto is my favorite.)  

I absolutely love this geometric print

 

 Bunny from Nadeau

 MK Andrews book for a guest to enjoy

 Pom Pom throw from Pottery Barn teen

 

 My inspiration for geometric bedding came from this photo on Southern Living's Instagram.  

 

I really like how layered bedding looks, as well as print mixing, and want to continue to perfect the look in our guest room.

 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thursday! I am headed out for a night of fun after work today - something I NEVER do on a weeknight, so I am looking forward to that a lot.  

Spring Fever

I have a super serious case of Spring (and Summer) Fever right now. It is ridiculous. I love summer, and can’t wait for it to get here. There are so many good times ahead in the coming months, and I am ready. Some things on our calendar:  

Feb. 7^th - Miss Midlands Pageant (I am on the committee)

Feb. 14^th - VALENTINE’S DAY! This is one of my most favorite days of the year and I have something great planned for me and Nick! It is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and a surprise for him. (I am also doing a 5K that morning at the Mardi Gras festival with my friend Melanie.)

March 7^th Fleetwood Mac! This has been on my bucket list for a long time, and I got tickets for Christmas.

March 13^th – I have a final, but that means I am done with Clinical Evaluation! (It does not run the whole semester.)

March 14^th – We leave for Mexico!!! We come back on the 20^th.

March 21^st – stuttering lab, again school related so not that exciting, but at this point any little step puts me just that much closer to graduation (August 2017) is how I choose look at it.

March 28^th – The Carolina Cup! Nick hasn’t seemed super interested in going, but I am going to work on him. I haven’t been in YEARS, like at least ten years, and I want to go so badly.

April 5th - EASTER. Another one of my favorite holidays (and time bust out Spring/Summer Lilly).

April – a fun girls night with my “Ya Ya Sisterhood” at home is in the works. Actual date TBD.

April 26^th – our ONE YEAR anniversary (not sure yet what we will do to celebrate)

May 3^rd – family photos/anniversary photos at the beach with our wedding photographer

June 6^th – My godson's FIRST birthday party!!!

June 13^th – Kenny Chesney and Eric Church in concert in Atlanta. I got Nick tickets for Christmas. I feel like a lucky lady with so much to look forward to.

In the meantime, I am struggling to get through long days of work and school. I am just ready for the fun stuff to be here already. I hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday!

Weekend Recap

We had an absolutely wonderful weekend. Friday night we ate at Moe's and saw American Sniper. It was very good. I think everyone should see it. I had high expectations after reading the book, and of course Clint Eastwood did not disappoint. I have grown up hearing about how much my Mom absolutely hated moving all the time and being the new kid in school because her Dad was in the Navy, so I feel like I've always had an appreciation for the sacrifices military families make.   Saturday Nick had some work friends in town, and we went to the Carolina basketball game. It was my first college basketball game. When I was in college, basketball just wasn't really a big deal, and we never went to any games. Carolina got stomped by Kentucky, but I still enjoyed myself. After the game we went to Thirsty Fellow for a late lunch. I really liked Nick's friend's wife and would love to hang out with them again.   Saturday night we had our friend the Reverend (the same one that married us), his wife, and their two girls over for dinner. I love entertaining, and they are all always so much fun! I made baked brie for the first time, and I have to say, I was super pleased with how it turned out. I think I could eat baked brie and drink Cabernet everyday!  

I used this Martha Stewart recipe for the baked brie, and I will be adding it into my rotation of go to foods for potlucks, tailgating, etc. It was very easy to make.

 

Sunday we were lazy and didn't make it to church. I wanted to watch Gone Girl and was going to order it from Amazon, so Nick was forced to give me my Valentine's Day gift early. He had gotten me Gone Girl on DVD because he knew how much I loved the book. We watched it together, and I also gave him his Valentine's Day gift early.

 

Have a wonderful Monday!

Product Empties

Good morning! I had an absolutely heavenly three day weekend. I got some things done around the house, did some baking, went to church, the gym, and even got to watch The Bachelor. It was just what the doctor ordered. I have to really hit the books this week to make up for it.   I've seen this idea on a few other blogs, and thought it was really good. The idea is that you share the products that you liked enough to use the entire bottle. I am guilty of buying products, only liking them so-so, and then having lots of bottles sitting under my sink.  

Bumble and bumble Hairdresser's Invisible Oil

I like Bumble and bumble products a lot, and this one is great. I have really dry hair, if you have naturally oily hair it probably wouldn't work well.

Maybelline Rocket Volume mascara

 Lately I have had a lot of expenses with school (okay so I also went to Pink Sorbet and got new bedding for the guest room). Not only have I had to buy books, but also my student membership to ASHA and a lot of things like that have popped up. I said that to say, I have been getting my makeup from Walgreens and not from Belk. I like this mascara a lot.

  This isn't a beauty product, but I got introduced to Josh while we were tailgating for the bowl game in Jacksonville, and it is a new favorite. It's pretty wallet friendly, and they carry it at the Piggly Wiggly.   I hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday. Yay for short work weeks!  

My Struggle with Acne

I've made the decision, along with my dermatologist, to begin Accutane next month. This decision has been almost ten long years in the making. I thought I would document it on here, in case anyone else is interested or considering taking Accutane. To give you some history:   I did not really have acne as a teenager or very young adult. I'd have a small breakout every once in a while at a certain time of the month, but nothing major. In fact, freshman year of college I distinctly remember coming in from long nights out and crawling straight into bed without washing my face on a frequent basis. I was doing pageants, working out all the time, and really, in hindsight, looked terrific.  

Freshman Year

 

The first time I started struggling with acne was in the fall semester of 2005, when I was 21 years old. It definitely effects your self confidence, and I feel like I always look dirty when I have acne. Fall of 2005 started my long journey with doctors and medications. Since then I have been on two different topical medications, and probably four different antibiotics. I have also tried ProActiv, and am not a fan.

 

I would get on something and it would work great  -  often giving me about a year or sometimes longer of no acne problems at all. I would think I had outgrown acne. Then, one day, it would always quit working.

 

For the most part my acne has been controlled through different treatments and has never been too out of control. However, I do have some scarring from a few bad breakouts and I hate that. Let's just say I look different with and without foundation.

 

I remember winning a pageant and my skin looking okay. I was having a really bad skin day the day I had to ride in a parade, and was so embarrassed. I felt like no one would be able to believe I had ever won any pageant if they saw me up close and saw my complexion. It didn't help my self confidence  that this parade was also televised.

 

Christmas parade in Columbia, SC 2008   Most recently, I have not had to see my dermatologist for acne since 2012 (although I've been in there for other problems), and even that was not a bad breakout. This year around Thanksgiving I started breaking out and it only got worse from there. I went to see her on December 23rd, and she decided that we have tried enough different therapies without long term success and should consider Accutane. The breakout I was having has calmed down a lot since I saw her, but I am still so ready to begin Accutane.   Accutane is a somewhat controversial drug. It can have a lot of side effects, one of which is depression, and it extremely teratogenic. In layman's terms for those of you that haven't had a ton of science classes like I have, a teratogen is something that can lead to a birth defects. For example, mercury exposure during pregnancy may be a teratogen that causes Cerebral Palsy. Some of the birth defects caused by Accutane can be craniofacial abnormalities, cleft palates, and cardiovascular defects.   Accutane is also extremely effective. Among patients using for Accutane for a 20 week cycle, 50% never have acne again. Of those that do, it is much milder. The efficacy rate is what made me agree to it without hesitation.   Just beginning Accutane is a process because it is a federally regulated drug. I am on birth control, so I already had that requirement in place. I had to go to LabCorp to get a pregnancy test just to sign up to join a program called iPLEDGE, and will have to do so every month. I have to log into iPLEDGE every month and let them know my pregnancy test was negative, as well as have the test sent to my doctor's office. I also have to see my dermatologist every month to get the prescription in person. Accutane patients can only get one month filled at a time, and the prescription has to be filled within seven days of when it was written.   This IS a big commitment on top of everything that I have going on with work and school (8 hours this semester y'all), but I am so ready. I am scheduled to begin Accutane on February 13th, so I will update later on about how my first month goes.    

Weekend Recap - Jena's birthday

This weekend I drove up to Greenville for my friend Jena's birthday. On the way I had quite the adventure. I saw a beagle on the side of Highway 26 as I was leaving Columbia and was around the Newberry area. I pulled over on the side of the interstate and immediately called my Mom. She told me to go see about the dog. I turned my car off, got out, and walked about half a mile along the side of the highway, and never saw the dog. A man with a little girl pulled over to check on me and he said he didn't see the dog. I guess it might have run away or something, but I had to try to get it off the side of the road. After that detour, I was on my way to Greenville.   Jena, Jessie, Jessie's two kids, and I had an absolutely wonderful day. We had lunch at the Yard House, including a sinful dessert, and then went to the mall and TJ Maxx.   I hadn't seen Jessie's daughter since before Christmas and still had her Christmas present, so I brought it to lunch. Jena and I got there early and had a seat at the bar and ordered drinks while we waited on a table. This pony got a ton of attention at the bar! I told Jena we should have had it when we were single.  

  Jena and I met when we were in high school. I had always gone to private school, and I was so happy when I finally got to go to public school for high school, although I knew no one there. We can't remember exactly how we met, but we think it was through a club. We have been friends ever since. I am also best friends with Jena's older sister, Jessie.   We've been through everything together: high school, bad boyfriends, proms, many trips to Myrtle Beach for Senior Week, weddings, babies, you name it... We've been friends for about 16 years. Certainly there have been times when weren't as close (all three of us went to different colleges, and Jena lived overseas for a while-when we did get together it was like no time had passed at all) but we three have always been there for each other and supported each other.   I am an only child, so it is so nice to have close girlfriends. As an only, I also don't have a niece or nephew, so it means so much that I am Jessie's son's godmother.   This rooster is a HomeGoods find from Saturday. I stopped at the HomeGoods on Harbison on my way back home since I didn't find what I was looking for in Greenville.  

I've always thought that it looks like our builder forgot to put a cabinet above the refrigerator! I am working on ways to fill up this space.   Sunday I went to church, and then got some things done around the house. Nick is gone for a work trip, and I am very ready to have him back home!   Coming soon: Mardi Gras décor post {Hopefully} hosting a small Mardi Gras party!   Happy Monday!  

Hump Day Randoms!

I have a new respect for moms. I spent the night at our very good friends' house last night to help with their girls. The father was out of town (he is the Reverend that married us), and the mom has  broken leg. We got takeout from Harper's, and the mom and I enjoyed a glass of wine before bedtime. The youngest daughter and I read Stellaluna, and it may just be one of my new favorite children's books. I think the bats look like Trinket!   I dropped them off at school this morning, and I have to say they looked so cute in my backseat. I took their car seats back to their house at lunch, and then made a stop at Pink Sorbet. The After Party Sale was still going on and it did not disappoint! There was still a lot of stuff left, especially if you are XS, S, L, or XL. I wear an M at LP, so there was not quite as much in my size. I still managed to get the new Charlene shift (not part of the sale, but I really wanted it), a maxi dress that was majorly on sale, and this Shake Your Tailfeathers dress.  

 

One nice thing about living in South Carolina is that I can get a ton of wear out of a dress like this. It was something like $44. I really couldn't get over the prices!!

 

Did anyone else hit up the After Party Sale?

 

What are your thoughts on LP doing a line for Target?

 

To be honest, I am not crazy about it. I do not think it will live up to the hype. I did the big Target craze for Missoni. At the time I was really disappointed that I didn't get more stuff. However, the things I did get wore out quickly and were cheaply made. I don't really know what I expected since it IS a line for Target. I also got a Philip Lim bag from Target when that collaboration came out, and it was absolutely terrible quality. The handles were tearing up within weeks of me having it.

 

I will probably go and get a few of the home items, such as the placemats and napkins when the line comes out, but I am not going to go crazy. It won't be the same quality, so it's just not worth it to me. I already feel like some items have gone downhill in quality since Lilly Pulitzer passed away. Some of the new items don't seem to be as well made as the older items I have. My grandmother started me on Lilly Pulitzer several years ago. My grandparents have always gone way overboard, and I am very grateful for that.

  Happy Hump Day everyone! I am exhausted today after my night of fun last night, and have already cancelled Pure Barre so I can go straight home and rest.  

Guest Room Redo!

Good morning friends! It was so weird to get up at six am this morning and come into work. I had about two weeks off, but feel like I haven't worked in at least a month. We had an absolutely wonderful break. I am not going to recap it because I Instagrammed all the photos already. It was relaxing to spend Christmas at home, and our trip to Jacksonville for the TaxSlayer Bowl was great.    If I do not have anything else to blog about, I may blog about our trip to Jacksonville one day this week.   Right now I am busy thinking about a redo for our guest room. Our guest room is super super plain. The furniture is the furniture that was in our bedroom before we got new furniture, and the few things in there are things I had from when I was single.  

 

See, super plain! I spent every penny I made on our wedding last year, so now I want to start really decorating our house.

 

  I love neutrals, and use mostly neutrals in our house, with some turquoise accents. For this guest room, I think I want to go a bit bolder. I am thinking about navy and green or navy and pink. I would like to keep the turquoise lamp in there if possible.  

 

I LOVE this bedding from Pottery Barn Teen and may very well be ordering it within the next few days.

  Do you love this bedding? I would love any input. I hope everyone had a wonderful break!