Men's Hanukkah Gift List

So these are some things I would buy D, if we exchanged gifts.  Last year we decided to stop exchanging gifts because it seemed silly.  Technically we were both paying half for our own gifts.  Plus, we would either have to go shopping with the other or point them to exactly what we wanted so we decided instead to both go in on a big gift for both of us.  Mainly, we give each a trip somewhere.  For my 30th, we went to Jamaica, for D's 30th we went to San Francisco and Napa Valley, for our 2nd anniversary we went to Europe, and for our third we went back to Jamaica.  This works well for us, but if we did exchange gifts, below are what I would get D. 

My Men's Hanukkah Gift List by weekendwishlist featuring a comic book

Vintage t shirt / Ravi Ratan comic book / J.Crew Slim brushed twill shirt in heathered plaid / Hester St. Trading Co. Bicycle Bi-Fold Wallet / Sperry Top-Sider Authentic Original Color Pop Gore Boat Shoe / Men's Casio G-Shock Shock Resistant Gray And Blue Ani-Digi Resin Watch / hook + ALBERT Argyle Socks

Subscription Box

So it's that time of the month again - my November Birchbox was delivered! 

 So the theme for the month is More Good, which is basically described as more of everything good.  So let's get on with the good!

The first product in the box is this Bare Love Beauty body lotion.  The description says that it hydrates and improves your skin's vitality.  Sounds pretty interesting - an ultra hydrating lotion. 

There is also this Dr. Jart+ Beauty Balm.  I'm really into these BB creams.  I love how they even out your skin tone, are pretty light, and moisturize all at the same time.  This one is no different, it's very smooth, leaves your skin looking glowing and all the same tone and includes sun screen - which is a must for me.  This is definitely a keeper.  

This product is interesting and somewhat scares me.  It is a Chella Highlighter Pencil.  I've never used a highlighter in a pencil form so I'm kind of nervous on how to use it.  I'm going to try it out this week and see if I can figure it out.  There is a tutorial in the Birchbox online magazine so I may need to go check it out.  If I can figure it out I will let everyone see how it looks & works.  

There was a Elite Therapeutics shampoo & conditioner sample also included.  I'm going to tell you that I won't be able to give a review on this for a little while because I'm going to save to these to bring with me on a trip I'm going on soon for a quick weekend.  I will say the one thing I like just from reading the descriptions is that these are both sulfate free, which my hair stylist tells me is much better for my hair.  

The last item in the box was kind of a let down - and I ate it immediately because it sounded so good!  It was a little pretzel covered in chocolate with coconut dusted on it.  Maybe one of the other flavors would have been better, but I just was not a fan of the taste.  The chocolate was a little bitter which I think is what ruined it for me.  I think it needed a sweeter, milk chocolate flavor to go well with the salty pretzel and coconut.



So all in all, this month's box was pretty good.  Definitely getting some better products these days!  I think this would be such a great gift to get someone also! You can buy a month or 2 or 3 for someone as a gift, which I would definitely love to receive. 

Weekend in Review

So last week was a crazy week at work, super crazy with getting ready for the end of the year!  Which lead up to an amazing weekend!  D and I went with a few friends and their spouses back to Tallahassee for homecoming.  It was a great time!  It's so fun to be able to go back to your old college with friends and reminisce about the good old days.  Even though Tallahassee has changed a lot, it is still a fun town!  D did not go to FSU for undergrad but he's a great sport and as long as we're not playing his team he'll throw on a FSU shirt and wear it while cheering the Seminoles on.  He was an extremely good sport this past trip since I dragged him back to my old sorority house so that I could go on a tour of all of the renovations.  We had fun going to our old favorite restaurants, bars and just hanging out in the places we missed.  Here are some pictures from the past weekend.

Front of the School

We have seen this tailgate setup for the past 2 years and finally went up to tell them how awesome it was - super nice people too

Nordstrom Anniversary Sale Shopping

So currently, I decided to put myself on a spending freeze until my annual Black Friday Shopping Spree.  But, of course it is that time of year again when the women's department at Nordstrom goes on sale during the Anniversary Sale.  So I have put together some of my favorites and things I would be buying, if I were not on a self-imposed shopping spree currently.

My Nordstrom Anniversary Sale Faves 1 by weekendwishlist featuring a low dress

My Nordstrom Anniversary Sale Faves 2 by weekendwishlist featuring black shoulder bags

Weekend Celebrations

Happy Monday all!  Hopefully you had an enjoyable weekend.  I had a very nice weekend.  Friday night I had a friend staying over, so D and I wanted to show her a good time.  We started off with dinner at one of my favorite places, Seven Lamps.  This is a newer restaurant that is located over in the Shops Around Lenox.  It's really better when it's warmer outside because they have a nice area to sit outside, but unfortunately Friday night was really cold!  We had a reservation and were seated right away.  Of course we began by ordering a drink - this place has the most creative and delicious cocktails.  They even have alcoholic slushies!  We looked over the menu and picked a few small plates to share and a plate of cheeses.  Usually the food comes out pretty well spaced here and in the past I've only been given one or two dishes at a time, but for some reason on Friday all of food came out at the same time, so we ended up having a really quick dinner.  Everything was delicious as always, I just wish it wouldn't have been a 40 minute dinner.  So we decided to move onto a different location to grab a couple of drinks and talk.  Now, I don't go out to the bars very often these days, so I pulled up my helpful Yelp app to search for a cocktail lounge nearby.  We ended up heading over to a place called Aspen Bartini.

Aspen Bartini is a cute little martini bar that is decorated like a trendy ski lodge.  They have a long list of drinks you can choose from, or you can do what my friend did and she just described the flavors she was looking for and the bartender whipped her up a drink to match.  She loved it.  I got a drink with blackberry, soda and Crown Royal.  D got a drink that tasted like Maker's Mark, lemon and chili peppers.  And my friend asked for a drink that tasted like citrus, elderflower and used Gin.  Everyone's drinks were delicious and the place was quiet enough that we could talk but there was also music playing.  This is definitely a place you may want to check out for some after work drinks or after dinner drinks.  It was a nice environment and the staff there was ready to please.  They also have a food menu and there were a few people eating when we arrived.

Saturday I had the bridal shower for my good friend getting married in April.  Everything came out great and it seemed as though everyone had a great time. Rather than getting her gifts off of her registry, the invitations asked us to purchase her gifts to use on her honeymoon.  I went in on a gift with a few friends so we could get her a larger gift.  She hasn't decided where she is going on her honeymoon yet so we got her a luggage tag that said "Just Married" and a gift card to a store at the mall she could go to load up on everything she needs.

Saturday night D went out with his boys and I had a chill night at home.  I ordered some Chinese food from my favorite local place, Fortune Cookie and rented a movie.  Afterwards, I gave myself some spa treatments using some Bliss products I had previously purchased. 

Sunday was a day of errands and football.  Doesn't the weekend just fly by so quickly?

Wide Open Road

Have a great weekend - the road is wide open to what you can do this weekend!

Business Casual

My office is pretty casual, but it is still business casual.  Business casual can sometimes be tough since you don't want to wear a full suit but you don't want to be too casual.  This outfit seems to be a perfect fit for the business casual since it is both conservative but still you can express some personality. 

The tuxedo style blazer is from Piperlime from awhile ago.  In the past, I've only worn this blazer on the weekends because it is hard to match to black pants, but I finally decided to wear it with my Express colored skinnies.  Also, I wanted to show a closeup of the lining of the blazer because I love how it is completely unexpected, but when you roll the sleeves you can see the lining print which is a repeating pattern of a cat on a ball.  I don't see either the skinnies or the blazer on the websites, but I feel like they always have colored skinny pants at Express in the back with the more casual clothing.  The blazer may just be too old to find on the Piperlime site now.  The striped shirt is just a black and white striped shirt from Gap.  They have a ton of options and I love them because they wash well.  My shoes are Franco Sarto from DSW and are just so comfortable since they are a wedge.  My necklace is an old one, and I'm not sure I remember where it is from now.  My watch is a Michael Kors gold and silver tone.

Protein Pancakes

So as a little background while I had been in grad school and working full time between 2009-2011 I unfortunately put on a bit of weight.  I was working a super crazy schedule with many 12 hour days and going to grad school part time, so in my free time I just became lazy and did not work out.  Well somehow it took me a while to realize just how much weight I had put on, until I went to an event in January and saw pictures of myself from the event and was not happy.  I went on Weight Watchers for a 5 months and lost a ton a total of 14 pounds.  I was super proud of myself and everyone kept telling me how great I looked.  I then went on an 8 day trip with my husband and parents to an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica and let loose.  I gained back 4 pounds and since then I've  been maintaining from that point. Well, now I think I'm ready to lose the final 10 pounds that I had originally gained while in school. So here we go, this time I'm going to try it on my own though and use what I learned from WW.  So there are a few good websites out there that have low calorie recipes that are delicious. So today, I'm going to share a recipe I got from one of these low calorie cooking sites.
These are called Peanut Butter Banana Protein Pancakes and I found them on the Slender Kitchen Website.  I made a couple of changes but basically these are the pancakes Kristen makes, but I think both versions are great.  Now, of course these don't taste exactly like regular pancakes and you have to enjoy the taste of banana.  If you do like banana and you're looking for a lower fat version of pancakes these are a great option.

Peanut Butter Banana Protein Pancakes
as adapted from Slender Kitchen
Makes enough for 1 person - 3 large pancakes

Ingredients:
 
1 banana that is browning slightly
1 tablespoon Chocolate PB2
1/3 cup Liquid Egg Whites
1 tablespoon ground Flax Seed

Instructions:

I prefer to put all ingredients into my Ninja Blender and blend them all up.  It saves time and makes the concoction much more blended than I could ever get it by hand.
Then heat up the fry pan over medium heat and spray with cooking spray. 
Once the pan is well heated pour 1/3 of the mixture into the pan and let fully cook on that side, about 4 minutes.  Remember, cooking times may differ so keep an eye on the pancakes and look for the edges to begin to bubble up.
Once fully cooked on one side, flip the pancake over and fully cook on the other side.
When both sides have been cooked, slide out of the pan onto a plate and continue with the next 2 pancakes.

I like to eat these with some Sugar Free Syrup.  Enjoy!

Game Day Outfits

So even though college football season is more than halfway through, I figured better late than never!  Here are a couple of outfit ideas for when you're cheering on those Seminoles and you still want to look cute. Here are two outfit options I put together so you can still look good and have fun tailgating. 

FSU Game Day Outfit 2 by weekendwishlist featuring red long sleeve tops

Little Mistress yellow striped dress / Izabel London red long sleeve top / Tory Burch shoes / Rachel Zoe messenger bag

FSU Gameday Outfit by weekendwishlist featuring a pendant necklace

Weekend in Review

So again we had another pretty calm weekend.  Since we were out of town last weekend, we just took it easy.  

Friday night, we had a bunch of friends over for dinner and a night of playing the game Cards Against Humanity.  I had never heard of this game before, but it is hilarious and kept us playing for a while.  For dinner, we served a trio of meatballs, a basic salad, roasted asparagus, pasta and red velvet cupcakes for dessert.




We served 3 kinds of meatballs: Martha Stewart's Honey-Chipotle Turkey Meatballs, Martha Stewart's Chicken Parm Meatballs, and our own recipe for regular beef meatballs in red sauce.  The Chicken Parm meatballs were the hit of the party - everyone raved how good they were, so I would highly recommend them.  I will also admit, I cheated on the cupcakes and used a box mix.  I just didn't have time to make cupcakes from scratch.  I did make the icing though, which also explains why it is looking so sad. 


Saturday we spent the day running some must needed errands, isn't that what your Saturdays seem to become when you get married?  Then Saturday night we of course had to go watch the FSU vs Miami game.  We went to the old official FSU game watching spot, Mellow Mushroom.  It seemed like a lot of people had the same idea so it was a lot of fun to have so many other FSU fans to watch with.  We won, so that was a great night!  Sunday morning I spent at the gym, which always makes you feel good after.  That afternoon I had to a ton of laundry, which is never fun though.  Sunday night I met a friend for dinner at a local restaurant called Barcelona Wine Bar in Inman Park.  This place was crazy for a Sunday night due to them having half priced wine bottles.  It is a tapas and Spanish wine bar and the food here is really good and if you're a vegetarian, they have a ton of really good options.  My friend who I went with is a vegetarian, so we shared a bunch of their vegetarian tapas.  We left completely stuffed and all caught up after gossiping over wine for hours. 

Hope y'all have a good week!

All Hallows' Eve

So in the spirit of Halloween, I figured I would show you some of my previous costumes

 The year we went as the old TV show GUTS contestant and referee

 The year I dressed up like an Olympian Badminton player

 The year we went as Garbage Pail Kids (I was Haggy Maggie and D was Itchy Richie)

And then of course the year we chose our favorite cartoon mice to dress up as - I was Danger Mouse (the really old British mouse detective) and D was Mighty Mouse

As you can see, we're really into homemade costumes... But Riley is a little pickier, this year she was a bucking bronco:

Happy Halloween! 

Polished

One of my friends recently brought to my attention how often I change my nail color.  I used to work in an extremely buttoned up industry so felt as though I had to keep my nails pretty bare or at least natural colors.  Now, I work in a much more laid back environment so I am able to express myself through my nail colors.  I change my nail color every two weeks, sometimes if I feel extra frisky I will change it weekly.  So I figure I would post some of my favorite colors right now, and there are a lot!  But I feel like you need to wear colors you love because you're going to see it every time you look at your hands and everyone else will notice too.  So here we go...

 So starting with the lightest colors.  From left to right (all Essie):
Nice is Nice, Pilates Hottie, and Steel-ing The Scene
The last one is a mix between gunmetal and silver and is really nice for nighttime.  Both of the other colors are light lilac colors and are just super girly and pretty.

 Onto the blues & greens, from left to right:
OPI Can't Find My Czechbook, Essie Mint Candy Apple (seriously my most favorite of all probably), Essie Going Incognito, Essie Butler Please.
These are definitely not neutral and all are pretty dark, but they are just seriously great looking colors.  I also think all 4 of these look great on all skin tones.  I know they're not typical fall colors since they are so bright but I really think they look great at any time of year.

 My reds... For some reason it is really hard for me to find a red nail polish I like.  From left to right (all Essie):
She's Pampered, Times Red Square, Showstopper, Bahama Mama.
The last two are pretty dark and I prefer for my toes.  Showstopper also has a shimmer to it that I love.  The first one is a super bright, happy red that I wear whenever I want to be girly and classy.  Times Red Square is just a super classic, deep red color that is perfect with some dark berry lipstick. 

 So these are some of my favorite pinks.  I have a ton more, but I tried to limit it to just a few. From left to right:
Essie A Crewed Interest, Essie Cute as a Button, Essie Splash of Grenadine, and OPI Party in My Cabana.
Love these - all are super pretty.  The first one is pretty sheer so if you work in a corporate atmosphere where you need to tone down, this is a perfect color.  The third one is a super girly pinky-purple that is so cute on my toes.

 Onto the super dark polishes.  I'm not a fan of too dark of colors, but these 3 I love.  From left to right:
Nicole by OPI Show You Care, Essie Lady Godiva, and OPI Siberian Nights.  The first and third colors are really deep purples. These almost look black but I love them both.  Show You Care looks especially nice with a clear or pink glitter coat painted over.  The middle one is a dark brown that looks just like dark chocolate, it is the epitome of fall colors. 

And finally these really just don't have a category.  All are Essie, from left to right:
Buy Me a Cameo which is a shimmery, pinkish bronze color.  This is a great option if you want a natural color that is not the usual pink or beige.
Next is the First Base Base Coat, which is the best base coat I have used.  It goes on so smoothly and dries really quick.  Plus, I never need to use a top coat with this.  It somehow keeps my nails from chipping, which is a feat in itself.
Lastly Shine of the Times which is a clear glitter polish.  I use this to paint over other colors when I want to add a little pizzazz. 
Seriously how great are the nail polish names?  I so wish I could come up with names for nail polish because it must be so fun!  On my local radio station they actually played a game the other day called "Name of a Nail Polish or Name of an Adult Film".  It was pretty funny because I never noticed how many nail polishes have such scandalous names.  Do you have a favorite nail polish color?  I hope I'm not the only one who is constantly changing my nail color!

Beach, Bells and Bagpipes

So this past weekend, two of our friends got married in Pensacola, Florida. 

Two other friends of ours were nice enough to welcome us all to their family's beach house in Destin for the Friday before the wedding.  We of course accepted with no pause and Friday morning we awoke and were on the road by 8 am on our way to Destin.  For some reason our GPS decided to take us the longest way possible, but nothing could ruin the day.  The weather was perfect, which I unfortunately did not prepare for, so we had to run over to a super cheesy beach shop to pick up a $10 Destin outfit.  Everyone else started arriving shortly after so we all went for a walk along the beach and just hung out on the back deck.

For dinner that night we stopped by a really good seafood restaurant called Harbor Docks.  If you're in town for a visit, you should definitely stop by there.  They had a bunch of daily catches that could be made a few different ways and a long list of sushi. I went for the sushi, and it was really delicious and super fresh.  The rest of the night we spent back at the beach house drinking wine and just chatting away.  Saturday morning we all got up and went for brunch at a local place called The Pancakery.  This is another good choice if you're in town, but be forewarned that there will be a long wait on the weekends.  We waited for about 35 minutes but the wait was worth it.  They have any kind of pancake you could think of, different types of batters and a very long list of toppings to choose from - even M&Ms if you wanted.  After brunch we went back to watch some football and then had to move on to Pensacola for the wedding.  The wedding was lovely.  They got married in a small, historic church in downtown Pensacola and then the reception immediately followed at a restaurant on the water.  Everything went well with the wedding with just one little hitch - unfortunately someone locked the church doors so the bride couldn't come in when it was time.  Finally someone realized and ran to unlock the doors for her.  Other than one little delay, everything else seemed to go smoothly and we all had a blast.

After the wedding our group decided to check out a local pub we had been talking about all weekend long.  So one thing you should know about my friends and I, we are all in our early 30s but sometimes I think if someone listened in on our conversations they would think we were a bunch of 80 year olds.  So Friday night when D and I were laying in bed watching TV we were flipping through the channels and saw a local commercial talking about the $0.18 soup at the pub that is the same price as when the pub opened its doors in 1977.  We thought we had to have misheard that but of course we had to tell everyone about it the next morning so we literally brought up the $0.18 soup about 30 times during the day so after the wedding we had to stop by to check it out.  So we walked over from our hotel to McGuires Irish Pub and bellied up to the bar where we ordered some drinks and a bowl of the $0.18 soup.  It was delish! We had an interesting time at this Irish pub.  First off one of my friends decided to share some steak with a group of random guys who were sitting behind us.  Then as we were getting ready to leave a nice man walked in and started playing his bagpipes.  All in all it was an interesting evening.  Sunday morning we basically woke up and had a 6 hour drive back home so the day was spent mostly with sitting in the car unfortunately. 

Everybody's Working for the Weekend

It's that time again.  The end of the week, the day that you've been waiting for all week long.  So, hopefully you're going to have a fun weekend, so to start the weekend off right, here is just an interesting picture.  It was taken two years ago while D and I were in New Orleans for a weekend.  We were just walking around and saw this interesting pair hanging out in the main square.  At first D tried to be sneaky and take a picture of them while they weren't looking, but they saw him and invited him to come over and take a close up with the stipulation that he send a copy to the gypsy's mom so she knew her daughter was OK.  D agreed and took the email address and took the picture. There are always interesting characters to make interesting stories from NOLA!

Hope you have a silly, fun weekend!

Clean Up Time

I've learned as I've gotten older how important it is to have a night time routine. When I was younger I would go to sleep all the time without washing the makeup off of my face.  I know, the horror!  But now if I make that mistake, the next morning my skin is splotchy and gross looking.  So I've developed a routine to make it easier to follow nightly.  Sometimes I switch it up a little bit, but this is the one I use most nights.

So to start, I put my hair back to get it out of my face.  Then the next stop is to use the Almay oil free eye makeup remover.  I prefer the oil free because it is less greasy and doesn't irritate my eyes at all.  After I get all of my eye makeup off I move onto the next step, the facial scrub.  I really like the Lush Cosmetics Herbalism face wash.  It may seem a little strange, but it scrubs your skin so well and smells good.  Plus, unlike a lot of scrubs, it is so gentle you can use it every day.  You just break a little piece off and add water so it becomes a paste.  Then you just scrub your face with it.  Then about once a week, I use the Mario Badescu Rolling Cream Peel with AHA.  This is an exfoliating cream that you spread on your face and then roll in a circular motion as you watch it peel up.  Then I pour a little of the Kiehl's Calendula Herbal Extract Alcohol-Free Toner onto one of the cotton pads and use that to rub off the rest of the exfoliating cream.  Then, this is a nightly step, but I apply the Clinique Moisture Surge Overnight Mask.  This stuff is pretty nice, you just put a thin layer all over your face and let it dry and then the next morning when you wake up your skin feels so soft.  The next step, and we're getting to the end of the routine, I massage the Replenix Eye Repair Cream around my eyes, especially on the area right below my eyes all over my bags.  Now, I have to be honest I have no clue where you buy this cream from because my mother-in-law works in the industry and got it for me, but I'm sure you can get it from somewhere.  Usually the eye cream would be the last step, but unfortunately sometimes I get blemishes.  The final step if I do have blemishes, I use the Mario Badescu Drying Lotion on them.  This stuff is a life saver!  While it doesn't completely get rid of the spot overnight, it shrinks it a lot and quickens the healing process.  It also makes you look quite silly since it leaves pink spots behind.  I've been using this stuff since I was in high school, and it seriously is one product that anyone who is prone to acne should really use.
So that is my nightly routine.  Do you have any specific getting ready for bed routine that you do nightly? 

Coat Trick

So this weekend was a pretty relaxed weekend and a cooler one at that.  I'm finally able to start unpacking my sweaters and jackets that have been boxed up for the summer. 

 So as I said before, Friday was a pretty calm night, we just went to a local casual pizza place for dinner.  Luckily it was still warm enough that we could even sit on the patio.  Since it was a pretty calm night, I just put on some jeans, a black shirt and this leopard print scarf.  I was also able to take out my lighter jackets, which I'm so excited to finally be able to wear!  The jeans are just the Diva Skinny jeans from Old Navy.  The scarf is from a  boutique called Fab'rik.  There are a bunch of locations of this store all over town, and they also have a website.  Their clothes are super affordable and very trendy.  It's a good place to buy trendy clothes that you don't want to spend a ton of money on.  The green jacket is from Bloomies last fast.  My shoes were a major find!  I got them from DSW a couple of months ago.  They are Vince Camuto and I got them for $20.  They are so comfortable and are cute enough I can wear to work or just casually on the weekend.

Saturday night, we went to a neighborhood pub to watch the Seminoles beat the Tigers.  Unfortunately I couldn't find any of my team shirts so I had to improvise, but it also was pretty chilly out Saturday night.  I wore these red pants that I got from Express last winter, but I feel like I always see them in store.  I can't find them online, but I'm pretty sure I remember seeing the colored jeans in store recently.  I wore just a plain, long sleeve black shirt from Old Navy.  The jacket was also another great find!  I got it from Zara on sale also for $30.  If you have not checked out Zara, you really should.  It is a European brand that now sells in the US.  Their prices range from cheap to moderately expensive, but they also have great sales.  They also have a great men's section.  The shoes are these Steve Madden smoker loafers.  They are super comfortable and I always get a ton of compliments whenever I wear them.