It's Time.....

To share some of our engagement pictures!

The photographer we chose, Kym Ventola of Ventola Photography is seriously amazing.  Many years ago when I did bridal modeling I worked with Kym and ended up with my pictures in a magazine.  I have loved her ever since :)  Her style is amazing, so natural and carefree. I love how she works with lighting as well. 

Without further ado...here are some of our favorites!

So what are your thoughts? Do you love them as much as I do?

Currently

Time for another life update!

C

Well C’s team has clinched both playoff games at home (assuming they win the first one) which is awesome.  The bad news is that they have lost 2 games to some really tough teams and they don’t have the best record in the league anymore.  That means that if they make it to the Arena Bowl….it might not be in Arizona! Boo! I really don’t want to have to plan a trip across the US just two weeks before my wedding….but I totally will if I have to.

My arm looks huge...eeeew

C has been talking like this might be his last year playing football but I don’t want to believe it.  I think he is just really sore and tired right now, but come next February he will be ready to go again! At least I hope…I really enjoy going to these games and seeing him play.

Playoffs start this weekend, so fingers crossed they do good!

Books

I finished both Matilda by Roald Dahl and Dark Places by Gilliam Flynn.  Matilda was actually not like I remembered.  It was surprising to me how many bad habits it might teach kids about getting revenge!  It was still cute though and a very easy read. 

Dark Places was very….dark.  I honestly wasn’t sure what the book was about, but I knew I liked Gone Girl which is written by the same author.  There were some slow parts to it, but I really liked the storyline and it kept me interested which is great. 

I can’t really say that for the book I am currently reading though, which is In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.  I am supposed to be finished with it by the end of the month for my book club and I doubt that will happen.  Right now I am on the fence about just giving up.  I rarely give up on books, but this one is really testing me.  I keep hoping it will get better and the action will get more intense, because its terrible right now. There is sooooo much extra gunk to read through that I don’t think is relevant to the story.  It’s really driving me nuts!

TV

Well, I have to say that this season of the Bachelorette wasn’t very exciting.  I dislike both of her final choices.  I can’t get past the feeling that Josh is a complete player who knows all the right things to say and do, so I guess I like Nick better.  Which really isn’t saying much.  We will find out who she chooses tonight!

C and I have started watching Scandal (Finally!) and we love it.  We are halfway through the second season now.  Gotta love Netflix!

Another fairly new show we love is the Cabanero Effect.  Have you guys seen this show?  It’s basically a magician who plays practical jokes on people who basically think they are going nuts by what they are seeing.  It is HILARIOUS!  I highly suggest it :) 

What books and TV shows are you loving right now?!?  

House

Well after A LOT of inspection issues and thinking we may not actually keep moving forward…..its official!  Its ours!   Eeeeek!  The seller agreed to fix around $6,000 of problems, which we just can’t believe. We close on Wednesday, which is just crazy. I will be posting pictures hopefully sometime soon!

Well that’s my update!  What do you have going on these days??

 

Boxy Charm Review - July

Boxy Charm time!

This box is $21.00 a month with free shipping and is a “beauty box subscription that surprises you each month with the best beauty products from popular and chic brands. Each box contains full size and luxury size beauty samples from preferred well-known brands.” They aim to cover a whole look from makeup to nails, which I really like. 

This box came later than it used to, which bummed me out a little.  I used to get it in the first or second week of the month, now its almost the last!

The theme is “America the Beautiful” which is cute, but again coming much closer to the 4^th would have made it even more fun!

That being said, here is the July Boxy Charm!  

            1)      Pur~lisse Pur Protect SPF 30 Moisturizer –  1.7 oz. (FULL SIZE)

             I’ve gotten the regular moisturizer from this brand in a different box and I do have to say I 

             liked it. I would not, however, spend $55 on the darn thing.  I mean, it’s almost the size of 

             the tubes of lotion you can get for $1 at Target….it’s definitely not that amazing!

Full Size: $55.00My Value: $55.00

            2)      Appeal Cosmetics Luxurious Lipstick in “Mock Up”– .06 oz.  (FULL SIZE)

I actually really like the looks of this lipstick, it may be the perfect color for me.  It’s not too nude and not too pink. Also, it’s not red! Yay!  Oh yeah, it’s also not worth the $22 price tag. Who the heck pays that much for an unknown brand?

Full Size: $22.00 My Value: $22.00

3)   Lauren B. Beauty Nail Polish in “Rodeo Drive”– .5 oz.  (FULL SIZE)

Though this color may not be for me, I do have to say I adore the packaging.  It is cute and whimsical and I love the look of it! Again, not sure I’d pay that price for it though.

Full Size: $18.00 My Value: $18.00

4)   bellapierre Shimmer Powder in “Harmony” –  .08 oz. (FULL SIZE)

I have a powder like this as well and I really do love it.  The shimmer of it is beautiful.  I am quite happy to add another color to my collection!

Full Size: $14.99 My Value: $14.99

5)   bellapierre Natural Lip Liner in “Nude” – .06 oz. (FULL SIZE)

I’m not one to use lip liners very often, but I guess it is cool that this one is all natural. The color actually looks like it could work for me as well. A lot of the really tan kinds of colors look terrible on me!

Full Size: $18.00 My Value: $18.00

Final Cost: $21.00

Final Value: $127.99

Well this looks like a fantastic value, but as always I think that is more due to really high prices of the items.  I do think I will get use out of almost all of them though, which is great!

I can’t wait to use the lipstick and the shimmer powder for sure.

If you’d like to get Boxy Charm, you can sign up here!

(Also, I swear I’m not a review blog….I just like sharing these fun things! I have not been compensated for this review.)

Wedding Invitations.....Part 2

Last week I talked about all our wedding invitation options and the ones that we loved from Wedding Paper Divas. 

Well....my order came in the mail a few weeks ago!

 If you haven’t guessed already….we went with the same look as our save the dates.I adored how the sparkle looked on the white background, so I just had to do the same for our invitations!

We choose to add the bracket style, use pearl white shimmer paper and use fancy gold envelopes as well, which went perfectly with the gold on the invitation.

For RSVP’s, we chose to do two separate things. 

For the older generation and those far away, we chose to do traditional RSVP cards, also with the bracket style and a gold envelope.  We added some fun wording at the bottom asking for peoples favorite songs to make it more whimsical and not so serious. 

For those closer to us and more tech savy, we included a small card asking them to go to our website to RSVP.  I really loved the idea of these as they helped us save money with smaller paper, no extra envelopes and no return postage.  

Unfortunately, when I received the RSVP cards, I was pretty bummed.  They were soooooo small! About two inches by two inches.  Yes, it does say that online, but it was on a separate page that I unfortunately didn’t check. My plan was to put them in the envelope with the invitation, so I know some of them got lost inside. I'm sure some people only pulled out the invitation and didn't even see the card.  We did our best to use all of the reply cards we had and only use a minimal amount of the insert cards, but I’m still not happy about it.  I have a feeling a lot of people will be asking how to RSVP because they didn’t see that dinky thing!

Besides the tiny RSVP card, I absolutely love the look of our invitations….what do you guys think??

 

We Found a House!!!

Oh my goodness you guys!  At the same time I was posting about not finding anything we liked last monday....we found something we loved!

Everything has moved SUPER fast and our lender is aiming for a close date of July 30th.  As in 10 days from now. So many things have already happened and all we really need to do now is get the inspection taken care of, which is happening ASAP.

So yeah, add moving to my list of to-dos before the wedding.  Eeek!

The house is 1800 square feet, has a huge garage and 4 bedrooms.  Perfect for starting our family.

A glimpse!

Please keep you fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly!

Ipsy Review - July

Ipsy time!

As always, this is one of my favorite times of the month….I love getting this bag in the mail! As I’ve always said, this is the best bag out there, especially for such a low price.  If you are looking to start a beauty subscription, I would definitely try Ipsy first.

Also, it’s only $10 a month….how can you not go for it? 

The theme of this month’s bag is “Sensationally Sunkissed.”  

So here it is….the July Ipsy bag!  

            1)     Lord and Berry Mini Kohl Eyeliner in “Black Silk” - .02 oz.

            This just angers me.  Most people throw away their eyeliner when it gets to about this size 

            because it’s just too hard to work with.  How is this any benefit to me? Also, I can’t find any 

            real details on the product online except for things in England.  I am completely guessing on 

            the value here, but it can’t be much with how tiny it is!

Full Size: $20.00 My Value: $3.00 (estimate)

            2)    Hang Ten Dark Tanning Oil – 1 oz.

             I guess this is ok.  I am not one to really sit outside and tan, but this is helpful to have when 

             I do!  I can’t vouch for how well it works though….

 Full Size: $11.99 for 8 oz. My Value: $1.49

            3)    Models Own Nail Polish in “Red Sea” – .47 oz. (FULL SIZE)

            Well since I am not 10, this isn’t really my kind of polish!  I will be giving this to my junior 

             bridesmaid (who is 10) though. I’m sure she will love it.   This product is also from   

             England. I would never order anything from them! I had to use a converter online to figure 

             out the price.

Full Size: $8.57 My Value: $8.57

4)   Bare Minerals Cream Eyeshadow in “Devine Wine” – .03 oz.

I don’t really like this either.  For me, I’d rather have a much lighter color cream shadow to use as a base. This is way too dark and a color I would likely only use in the crease.  I don’t think this is something I would ever buy either, I mean, just check out the color options, how boring! It sounds fancy with the whole 5 in 1 thing, but to me it seems like just another expensive cream shadow.

Full Size: $18.00 for .10 oz. My Value: $5.40

Yes the pic is upside down.... but the colors are still boring!

       5)  Clear Clinic Vanished Clear Spot Treatment – 2 ml

I guess this is ok.  I mean, it’s a great travel size and they say you can put it under or over makeup which is helpful. It’s pretty pricey, though I am sure it lasts a long time!

Full Size: $35.00 for 7.5 ml My Value: $9.33

Final Cost: $10.00

Final Value: $27.79

I’m sorry, but this bag sucked.  I mean, it’s a terrible value and full of cheap un-useable products. Such a bummer.   With all of the surveys and product reviews I have done with Ipsy, I am really disappointed that this is the bag they came up with for me.  I think this may be the worst one I’ve ever received!

What are your thoughts?

If you’d like to give it a try you can sign up here!

(As always, I swear I’m not a review blog….I just like sharing these things in hopes that other people will get to have the same fun that I do!  I am not compensated in any way.)