Hot Man Parade

Happy Friday everyone! Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Can you believe September starts tomorrow? Eeeek, where has the year gone?

Any suggestions for future HMPs? Sam Clafin (the new Finnick) was suggested last week, and wa-la, he's here now! I'm always on the lookout for a new guy to add! 

Shopping Fall Trends

Last weekend on my way back from visiting my sister in San Diego, I stopped by to visit my sister/brother-in-law and the SIL and I did some shopping. I was pretty restrained, but found some gorgeous pieces at HandM, I'm gonna have to go back and snag a few of them!

Sadly, summer is quickly coming to an end. Two weeks ago, it was still light outside when I left for work and now it's dark. On top of that, all of the September issues have come out. Then, if that wasn't a reminder enough, I've heard reports of Christmas tree displays! Christmas! Geez louise. I'm trying to soak up every last bit of summer I can; wearing all of my tanks, dresses, and shorts before it's too late.

One thing that is helping ease the pain of the end of summer is all the gorgeous fall trends! There's some amazing trends coming up that I'm looking forward to sporting. 

Here's some of my favorites (click pictures to their links):

Hunter Green

This color looks great on all skin tones and pairs well with your basics, plus royal blue and rich gold.

Richly Hued Bags

I love burgundy in the fall! It pairs so weel with other rich colors and a deep colored bag adds to every outfit. Seriously want to run and buy this right now, and I'm kicking myself for not buying it last weekend! It's a beautiful color and great size.

Jeweled Collars

These pretty little pieces are all over blog land and stores. It's so chic and adds such a beautiful touch to a t-shirt and jeans or your sheath dress.

Printed Bottoms

Jeans and leggings are getting a make-over this season with lots of fun prints. Fantastic to bring some life to the cold season.

Arm Candy

I love a cuff by itself, but it also looks great paired with dainty feminine bracelets.

Jeweled Hair

I've seen blinged out hair on the red carpet, but I think it's easy to wear in real life and to the office with a chic headband or detailed barettes.

These are my favorite pieces I've seen so far, but there's so many amazing trends this fall like brocade, military details, and oxblood. I'm hoping to add just a few pieces that I can wear and re-wear for years.

What are you looking forward to wearing this season? What's your favorite trend?

Wash, Tone, Moisturize

The last couple of weeks I've received some comments and emails about my skin care routine, so I wanted to do a post about the products I use. Some of these items I've done reviews for in the past and have been using for year. Right now I'm using a make-up remover I don't care for, so it's not included, but got some great suggestions I'll be testing out in the future.

Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Wash Pink Grapefruit Foaming Scrub
This wash is effective enough to fend off acne, but gentle enough to use everyday without drying me out, plus it smells delicious.

L'Oreal Go 360 Clean for Sensitive Skin 
I've been using this cleanser since it came out and I love it. I use it combined with my Oil of Olay Pro-X Cleaner. 

Oil of Olay Pro-X Advanced Cleansing System
I use this cleanser almost everyday, but will skip a day or two depending on my mood. It's a great exfoliater and really helps my skin to glow.

Neutrogena Alcohol-Free Toner
This toner is awesome and because it's alcohol-free it doesn't dry out your skin. I use this every morning before moisturizing.

Oil of Olay Complete All Day Moisturizer for Sensitive Skin

This is my holy grail product, I've used it since high school. I really love all of the Olay brand products and will probably start to use more as I age. Which, you know is happening right now so I should probably hop on it.

Mary Kay TimeWise Firming Eye Cream
This little betty is a gem, I only use it at night because it's a little bit thick and I don't like to layer make-up on top of it.  

My skin is pretty normal, but it's easily dried out so I mostly use sensitive skin products to stay on an even keel. Like, I said above, I've used most of these products for years and don't really care to stray. If I feel like my skin needs something more or what I'm using isn't working anymore, I'll always start to see what else is out there that I can try. 

What does your skin care routine look like? What are your holy grail products?  

5 Favorite Things

Reading has always been a passion of mine. I've loved to read since I was a child and I'm so happy that it's something that has always stuck with me. I can get lost in a book for hours, days even. One of my favorite childhood memories is going to the library with my Grandmother (she is the best!) and after reading books, we would watch the movie. It instilled something in me, because I still do the same thing now. The books are always better than the movies (except in the case of Dexter, those books are garbage) because there's so much depth and emotion that can't always be expressed in film.

So I thought, and thought, and thought, about what my top 5 books are. It was so incredibly difficult, and I'm sure as soon as I hit publish I will have missed one which is why I've included a few honorable mentions now and will maybe have to add some more. So here are the books that I can read over and over again and find a different way to laugh, cry, or relate to the characters.

Little Women

Even though I had seen the movie a 100 times, I still felt all of the love, anxiety, anger, and anticipation for each sister.

The Princess Bride 

The movie has been a favorite of mine since childhood, I can't believe I hadn't read the book until a few years ago. William Goldman wrote both the book and the screenplay, so they're nearly the same, but the book has more insight into Inigo Montoya and Fezzik. It's also hilarious in some other extra details. 

The Help 

I couldn't put this book down! When it came out, it had been so long since I had read a book I couldn't put down. It's an incredible story of such amazing women.

To Kill a Mockingbird 

I didn't read this until after college and was so mad it was never required in my classes to read in junior high or high school (how it was skipped over, I'll never know or understand) because then I could have enjoyed it several times over.

The entire Harry Potter collection 

One of my favorite collections of all time. I love all of the characters, the stories, the excitement, and the journey. It took me years before I read these books, but it kind of work in my favor because I didn't have to wait years for the next one to come out. I'm still sad the series is over.

 Now for honorable mentions:

The Glass Castle and Half Broke Horses 

These are both based of Jeannette Walls life and family and are such incredible stories.

The Other Boleyn Girl 

For one, I love time period books, and the fact that this is based around true events (it's very fictional though, don't be confused) among royalty and two sisters, it's all up my alley. The book is so much better than the movie, I seriously hated Anne, ugh, she was so mean.

My Sister's Keeper 

This is really the only book I've cared for from Jodi Picoult and the first one I've read of hers. The story kept me engaged the entire time.

A Thousand Splendid Suns 

I couldn't put this book down. How women are forced to live in other countries is appalling and this story of these two women who have come together over such trials is incredible.

Again, I know I must be leaving some out, but these are my top favorite books.

What are some of yours?

Have you read any of these? What did you think?

Hot Man Parade

California Sunshine

This past weekend I got the chance to finally visit my sister down in San Diego. I die. It's so gorgeous there and has such a great energy, not to mention the shopping and the taco shops!We had such a great time together, it went by too fast. I'll have to make another trip down there!

We went to The Beachwood and had lunch and hung out on their rooftop. It was a pretty sweet place and a ton of fun! If you get the chance to go down to PB, you want to definitely check this place out!

After The Beachwood we hopped around to some other places and just had the best time!Lahaina was a cool small bar with a huge outdoor patio. It was packed shoulder to shoulder!

I haven't seen my sister in forever and it was so great to spend time with her. Just looking through the pictures make me want to go back asap! Can't wait for my next trip down.