Some Days You Just Need to Smell like Jimmy Choo

Jimmy Choo

I don’t know about y’all but here lately, I feel like I’m in a constant rush, that I will never catch a break. It’s not that I have one big thing I am working on.  But that I feel like I have 50 million other things going on at the same time. My job, family events, church responsibilities, being a wife, trying to keep my house looking nice, all while still trying to have a little fun out of life. It can all feel a little overwhelming at times. Throw kids in the mix and it makes it all seem almost impossible. I don’t know how moms keep sane; seriously I believe y’all have super hero powers or something. 😉

But as I was rushing out the door the other day to go run errands, I threw on a pair of Old Navy sweats. Right when I was rushing out of the room, I took a quick second and sprayed my most expensive perfume I own. Jimmy Choo L’eau. While I was spraying this, I thought what in the world am I doing. Here I look like a bum with my hair all a mess, but I’m wearing my nicest perfume.

Then it dawned on me. It’s okay, and it made me feel special. Just my few sprays of this made me feel more put together.

All of these thoughts came into my mind and a smile spread across my face. If I want to be a nice smelling bum that’s okay, if I want to be stylish and well put together, that’s okay. It’s okay to not be perfect.

Often times as women, we feel pressured to look a certain way when we leave. If we go out in sweat pants we almost feel a since of guilt, like we should have invested more time in our busy schedule to look better.

Why do we feel we should apologize for wearing sweats or looking a certain way? I know I’ve done it. When I arrive somewhere and I’m like “oh sorry, I was just in a rush.” Or when we text our friends to make sure they are going to join our sweat pant trend today.

One thing I am learning in life is that being imperfect is one of the best ways to show your true beauty. The Bible says

 

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” –Proverbs 31:30

 

Once again, and almost daily, I am having to remind myself that true beauty comes from the inside and shines out.

So if you want to wear sweatpants and spray your most fancy perfume to feel better, do it! If you want to wear a stylish outfit but don’t feel like wearing makeup, don’t feel that you have to wear makeup.

Lets start a new fashion and beauty trend of loving ourselves and dressing how we feel, not how the magazines or movie stars tell us to dress.

Be you and wear what makes you happy and comfortable.

Spray your Jimmy Choo and enjoy your day 😉

-Brittany

Favorite Ways to Unwind After Stressful Day

how to unwind after stressful day

I don’t know about y’all, but April always feels like such a busy month. Whether you’re in high school or college and preparing for the semester to end. Or even at work having to learn or do new things. I just feel like stress always builds up right before summer.

Some of us are counting down our days till we go on vacation and some of us are simply counting down our days till Friday. No matter what your countdown is for, we all look forward to having some time off to relax and unwind.

Here are my favorite ways to unwind after a stressful day:

-1- As soon as I get off or home I treat myself – whether that is buying some Starbucks on the way home or making coffee at my house. I treat myself before I even change into my pajamas.

-2- Relaxing bath or shower. I currently can only take a shower but if I had a big bathtub I would light some candles, and take my coffee and soak in the tub. I also enjoy playing a peaceful or spa like sound on my phone with Pandora or Spotify.

-3- After my bath, I would put on a face mask. It makes me feel better knowing I’m helping my skin after a long week of wearing make up. I enjoy the Clarisonic Detoxifying Clay Mask.

-4- Put on my robe and go snuggle on the couch. This is where I might catch up on Youtube or Netflix or explore Pinterest. One tip I must never forget and helps me so much, is to put my phone up or turn my ringer off. It is so nice to detach from the constant beeping of my phone.

Other ways I like to unwind are:

-Sunset walks

-Go eat at your favorite restaurant

– Mani/Pedi

-Stop at Redbox and get that movie you’ve wanted to see

– Have a stay at home date with your husband

 

how to unwind after a stressful day

While reading this, I hope you all plan an evening, a day, or just a couple hours to de-stress and unwind. Maybe even start a count down on your phone for motivation. 😉

What are ways y’all unwind? Please share your thoughts below!

Hugs,

~Brittany

What Candy Says Chocolates – Love! Will Repurchase Again!

Hey guys! I know this isn’t technically the post I was suppose to post today. And I feel bad for not getting out what I had sent in the email. By they way, if you haven’t signed up for my email newsletter, sign up now! I try to send out updates about my blog any other things that I believe is good to share. Like this post here, I actually already told my email group about this, but it was so good I had to share on my blog.

My husband and I recently had our 8 year anniversary, March 28th. We have been together for 5 years before marriage and married for 3 this coming July. This year I wanted to do something unique for our anniversary.

I honestly don’t even remember how I found this company on Etsy, but I am so thankful I did. It is the company called, “What Candy Says.” They make small square chocolates that you can put letters on and pretty much spell anything.

I ordered one that said “Happy Eight Years.” It even had jelly beans inside the chocolate. I actually didn’t know that until I bit into one. Silly me apparently didn’t read all the details. But that doesn’t matter, because the chocolate was DELICIOUS!

Here is a quick list of my Pros and Cons:

Pros– delicious! Absolutely yummy chocolate

– Packaging was great

– 3 free small samples with my order

– 3 cute post cards with stamps!

– Shipped in a timely manner

– They work with you to get what ever you want the candy to say

  – Will repurchase from this company again

Cons – I really did not have any complaints, highly impressed. However, it is a little on the pricey side. My order was $36 including shipping.

Y’all I know, this doesn’t have really anything to do with Fashion, but what fashion lover doesn’t also love chocolate? Also since I was so pleased with this purchase/ company, I had to share it with my blog.

So if you are looking for a unique gift, definitely go check out this store on Etsy. I plan on ordering a graduation gift and future birthday gifts from here.

 

Keep an eye out on my blog Sunday!  Hope to upload my post on my 3 favorite Spring outfits!  Check out my Instagram for more pics!

How I Survived 5 Year Long Distance Relationship – Now we’re Married!

whatcandysays

My husband and I never lived in the same town/city/ state until we got married. I don’t know how much that puts us in the minority but I think we are in our own special statistic.

I grew up in Bowling Green, Kentucky. My husband is from Indianapolis, Indiana. How did we meet? Facebook.

There is a little more to it, than just Facebook. My childhood best friend (also from Indianapolis) is actually really good friends with my husbands family. So through her, is how he became Facebook friends with me.

One night during my senior year of high school, I saw I got a Facebook message from some guy and of course asked my best friend about him. She said he’s a really nice guy, and from then we chatted ever since.

I wasn’t much of a girl who likes to date growing up. My best friend had several boyfriends, and I just never was like that. Call me old fashioned I guess. We started talking in January of 2010 and we chatted every day on Facebook.

I eventually had to give him my phone number; I guess he was too nervous to ask. But I was getting annoyed about having to log into Facebook everyday. So we moved onto the texting level of our relationship and eventually the actual talking on the phone stage.

By March, he and his mom had planned a trip to come down to Bowling Green. His mom, like I said was good friends with my best friends family. So she planned on visiting with them, while we went on our first date.

Side note, I’m pretty sure both of our families thought this was a silly relationship to begin with, we didn’t even live in the same state. It was actually a four-hour drive between us. 

Our first date went well, we actually went and saw the first, “How To Train a Dragon” movie, which now is kind of a special movie to us, for that reason.

From then on, he pretty much would drive down to see me almost every weekend, or every other weekend. We were young and in love. 😉

 

Five years later we got married, and now we’ve been married for almost three years.

So what are my tips, now that you know the background of our relationship.

– 1 – Become each other’s best friend. That is really my tip in any relationship. But if the genuine friendship is not there, it will not last. You have to be able to talk to each other, especially since the physical aspect isn’t always there. We talked about everything, our day, our dreams, jokes, things we like. He was and still is one of my best friends.

– 2 – Be committed. This is not going to be easy. If you feel like you can’t do it or don’t trust the person enough, either spare yourself the heartache, or go back to my first step and work on your friendship.

– 3 – Faith. Both my husband and I love the Lord and try to live our lives showing Christ’s love. Now neither of us are perfect or holy. But I think our faith was a big part of our success. We both believed in being faithful to each other, honest with each other, and believing in God’s design for marriage. We would pray together and read our Bible together while on the phone or Skype.

– 4- Have a countdown on your phone! Some times we would go a month without seeing each other. That was really hard. So one thing that helped me was downloading an app on my phone that would do a count down. I would count down the days till we got to see each other again. It was always fun getting so excited when the countdown was just two or three more days.

– 5- Variety of dates – We knew that when we got together, we would be doing something fun. We would go to museums, parks, go hiking, shopping, or go to the movies. These dates make fun memories. Some of my husband and I most fun memories is when we went hiking in Tennessee to see three different waterfalls, all while it was a rainy day. Also, sometimes its just fun to snuggle on the couch and watch Netflix when you haven’t seen each other in weeks.

– 6 – Have a schedule for talk time. While my husband and I texted through out the day, it is still really important to try and talk on the phone or Skype/ Facetime.   I noticed that when all we did is text, it made me miss him more. Talking on the phone or seeing him on Skype gave our relationship a sense of being together. We actually had a one hour time difference between us. So we had to plan our times around that. Every night before bed, we would try to talk on the phone. Even if it was just to say good night.

 

Now, while these tips might make it sound easy, I don’t want to mislead you. There were nights I would just cry because it wasn’t always easy being so far apart. Our relationship was not perfect and we did have some hard times. But what relationship doesn’t?

It’s funny watching people’s faces when we tell them that we dated long distance for five years. Sometimes I can’t even believe we actually made it. I’m not too big into believing in soul mates, but I do believe my husband and I have a very special relationship. It’s a little freaky sometimes how much I feel that we go perfect together.

But I believe it’s all because the Lord blessed a friendship that started on Facebook.

 

Cheap, Simple Birthday Ideas – Post-it Note Decorations, Surprises, & Dollar Store Ideas

Hey guys!!

My husband’s birthday is tomorrow. Happy Birthday babe! If you are actually reading this. 😉 My husband will be turning 27 tomorrow. I can’t believe we have celebrated every birthday together since we were 19, we are getting old. 😉

Birthdays have always been a big thing with my family. Ever since I was little. Maybe it is a southern tradition?

Birthdays involve your favorite food whether at home or at a restaurant, cake, friends, gifts, and usually a couple of surprises. And that all can get expensive.

My husband and I really try to budget our money and by doing that sometimes we have to get creative. So here are my Cheap Simple Birthday Ideas.

– Make you own birthday card. Sometimes those cards can get real expensive and often times we end up throwing them away. That’s why I suggest making your own, whether by hand or using a computer. One time I found a cute card on Etsy, I don’t remember the catch phrase on it, but it was something about espresso. 😉 Anyway I thought it was silly to order that card online, so I decided to make it myself. Sure it in no way looked perfect, but my husband loved it. And that’s all that matters.

– Candy – My husband is not much of a cake guy but he loves candy, any kind. So I have gotten a 3-5 dollar bag of candy and surprised him with candy all over the house. BONUS I got to eat some while doing the job! 😉

– Starbucks Surprise – I have done this even when it’s not his birthday and it just cheers up his day. Just get their favorite drink and surprise them at work with it. Also usually if you use the Starbucks app, you get a free drink on your birthday!

– Buy balloons at dollar store – SO MUCH CHEAPER!

– My last and favorite thing is with Post-it Notes. I don’t even remember how I came up with this, but my family has done this idea ever since I was little. While my husband was at work, I put Post-it Notes all over the house to surprise him.

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO HERE!

Here are some of the examples I used:

On his pillow – Happy Birthday to my Snuggle Partner

On the top of the toilet (which actually made him laugh) – Happy Birthday to my Plumber

On his laptop – Happy Birthday to my Tech Expert

Next to our keys – Happy Birthday to my Mechanic

On our TV – Happy Birthday to my Netflix Buddy

On the Fridge – Happy Birthday to my Candy Lover (there was a stash of candy waiting for him, when he opened it.)

Next to our picture – Happy Birthday to my Best Friend.

Birthdays do not always have to be expensive; sometimes the small simple things mean more in life. Hope this gives you ideas for making someone’s birthday special!

10 Photos – Day in My Life at the Grand Canyon

Hey guys!  Happy Wednesday!  We are half way through the week, hallelujah!  I know I was scheduled to upload this post yesterday, but I had a horrible headache.  Hope you can forgive me. 😉

Also I was originally going to make this just a normal day in my life, but honestly the day I was suppose to take all the pictures, was just a boring day.  And I didn’t want to bore y’all to death.  So I improvised.

10 Photos – Day in My Life at the Grand Canyon!  Y’all this is in my top 5 vacations I have ever taken.  I hope to go back one day, but have to pay with cash, so that might take a few years. 😉

I already made a post about my overall Road Trip Adventure to the Grand Canyon, check it out here!    So I am going to try to keep this one simple.

 

1- This is where we stayed, El Tovar Hotel actually in the Grand Canyon park.  Highly recommend!

 

2- Room Service!  Gluten Free Pancakes, different syrup options!  Delicious!

3 – Every morning we saw wildlife around the park!

 

4 –  Always start the hike off in the morning with a light jacket!  Also rain jackets are a must there!  

5 – Bright Angel Trail!  We only hiked a little bit down into it.  Hope to eventually hike the whole thing!  They recommend it being a 2 day trip.

6 – My husband made me take this picture, and I’m so glad he did.  Also dress in layers, it gets hot. 😉

 

7 – Lunch time!  Gluten free pizza!  Actually really good!  Yavapai Lodge Restaurant.

8 – El Tovar Lobby, we always tried to take a break in the afternoon.  Gift shop, candy shop, and restaurant in this lobby.  Highly recommend!

9 – This is the most delicious tortilla soup I have ever had!  Gluten free!  The Arizona Room Restaurant.

10- Every evening here has a beautiful sunset!  Bonus you see the outline of what looks like a cowboy towards the lower center of this picture.  And no, there was no cowboy there, so this is just a natural weird thing that happens. 😉

BONUS PIC!

I thought this was strange, who would ever be tempted to drink toilet water!?! 😉

 

Happy Wednesday!