Summer Polish Favorites

I'm an admitted polish fanatic, before having Ellie I painted my nails weekly. Since becoming a mom, I've slowed down on how often I get the chance to paint them, but my polish collection is still growing. Changing your nail color is such an easy and quick way to try new trends, add some color, and change up your look. I have a few shades that I keep going to time and time again. There are a few shades that I've come back to each summer year after year. After lots of evaluating, I've narrowed my favorite must-have shades to 8 gorgeous colors.

Essie Fiji // Essie Play Date // Essie Bikini So Teeny // Essie Go Ginza

Sinful Colors 24/7 // Sally Hansen Blue Away // Sally Hansen Fuchsia Flare // China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy

Play Date and Blue Away are new this summer and I've used them a couple of times already. They're such fun vibrant colors. Below are some of my IG shots of the colors:

Essie Fiji

Essie Play Date


Essie Bikini So Teeny

Essie Go Ginza

Sally Hansen Blue Away (fingernails)

Sally Hansen Fuchsia Flare

China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy

What are some of your favorite summer colors? Did I forget to include one?

Have you entered my Younique giveaway yet? Head HERE to enter!

Product Review & Giveaway: Younique 3D Fiber Mascara

My beauty routine has been rocked. I've heard a lot about a new product by Younique, a 3D Fiber Lash Mascara, but didn't think too much about it. Then Jamie contacted me to try it out and do a fun giveaway with Younique and I took the plunge. Holy moly. When I went out to lunch the other day I was asked 3 times if my lashes were fake! 3 times!! I've been asked several times since about what mascara I'm using and if they're fake lashes. I felt like my lashes could be part of a butterfly effect.

Younique is an all-natural company that started in 2012 and the 3D Fiber Lash Mascara was their flagship product. It's a three step process that uses a gel and fiber combination. You start with a coat of your own mascara (not necessary, but a personal choice), apply a coat of the transplanting gel, apply the fibers, and then the gel again to seal it all together. One coat of this is all you need!

My first day using it I was kind of timid, but now I'm a total pro. My biggest tip is to apply the gel generously at the end to really seal in all of the fibers. When I did this, I didn't have any fall out. That's my biggest pet peeve with mascara. The mascara lasted all day long, is water resistant, and washes off easily with a bit of face wash. It retails for $29, but is seriously worth every single penny. I usually never spend more than $10 on mascara, but I have not tried a single mascara that gives this kind of boost.

The giveaway is for Younique's Rose Water which helps balance and tone oily skin, soothes and cools dry and sensitive skin, and cleanses and purifies normal skin. Check out all the ways to enter below and best of luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Want to check out their 3D Fiber Mascara or their other products for yourself? Go HERE to purchase and test them yourself! Your lashes will never be the same!

Our Father's Day Weekend

Why does Saturday and Sunday go by so quickly? If we could just squeeze one extra day in, that would be heaven! It seems I'm never ready for Monday to be here already each week. I'm still staying with Matt's parents during the week, but it looks like that is coming to an end and a work transfer is finally on the horizon! Please cross your fingers and keep us in your prayers that it all works out!

Matt's grandfather passed away a few years ago and was buried up in Oxnard and we've talked forever about taking a drive up there and spend some time. This weekend we finally did it. We went up with Matt's Dad to take some flowers to his grave site, stop to eat, and just enjoy an afternoon together without any schedule. It was such a beautiful day and made for a nice drive.

On our way back we stopped at the Fillmore Fish Hatchery to check it out and feed the fish. It was really cool! Matt and I both grew up fishing and it was neat to see how they "farm" fish. I posted on IG a video of the fish swarming to the food, there were so many! It's free to visit and the fish food was only $.10 so it's a great stop for families and kids.

After the fish stop, we went to a honey farm. Matt LOVES honey. I'm not too big about it, I like it in my tea and that's about it. It's really healthy for you and I like learning about the different types of honey and tasting them each, but Matt and his Dad are both honey bees. After trying the different flavors they went back and forth about which ones to buy, that the clove flavor is hard, that Matt doesn't get why the avocado one is such a big hit because he doesn't really care too much for it, etc. I love watching them together, they are carbon copies of each other.

Then we headed to a family party to celebrate my cousin's 30th birthday. It was so much fun, there was a taco man and live music Ellie just loved dancing to. I wish we could have stayed all night long, but Ellie was tired from such a long day so we had to leave earlier than we wanted to get her home to unwind and ready for bed.

Then for actual Father's Day, we relaxed at home together in the morning and then headed to a pool party/bbq. Ellie and I got Matt some "man" stuff- an ice chest, golf glove, badminton racquets/birdies, a horse shoe game set up for our yard, and some candy.

It was a great family filled weekend and the weather was perfect. I hope you all had a great weekend!

Baby Must Haves: 11 Months

So this post is so ridiculously late being published because I needed to get the links and pictures, etc. The post itself was written in real time so I'll just leave it as is and please remember that it was actually written two months ago.

This is the last month my little baby is still a baby, she’ll be moving onto toddlerhood and the time is passing so quickly. A week or so ago, we dressed her in “big girl” jammies (a short sleeve, no feet two piece set) and I wanted to cry my eyes out at how big she looked. That night when she woke up, I nursed her back to sleep and rocked her much longer than I should have cherishing that quiet moment between us.

I’ve mentioned before in previous posts that Ellie is high maintenance in terms of having our attention and being held a lot. Sometimes it’s frustrating that she needs/wants to be held all the time when I need to get things done and wearing her doesn’t work for whatever I’m doing. Someone often comments that I must get sick of it or hate it and I always reply, “It can be frustrating, but I only get to hold for such a small amount of time so I enjoy it”. I try and savor the little things with her, I’m only going to get to hold her for a few years and then she’ll be too big for me to pick her up or rock her. There will be a time where she won’t need me here for her in the same way. Since becoming a mother, I’ve really tried to focus on my time with Eleanor. I don’t want to look back with regrets and wish that I took advantage of our time together better. One quote I heard and has always stuck with me is “The days are long, but the years are short” and I think about it often and how true the words really are. I hope I can continue to savor our moments together and not get distracted by life or tantrums to let these days pass me by.

With these last weeks before her first birthday, I’ve been super emotional. It catches me at small moments like the night in her big girl jammies. This year has been such a fantastic journey. I love how much Ellie changes and grows on a daily basis. The look of sheer joy on her face when she enjoys something, how proud she is of herself when she learns something new, and the belly laugh from our nighttime tickles warms me up inside. She has so much personality and I can’t wait to hear her talk and be able to express herself more.

Two Piece Jammies- Besides the heart ache changing from footed jammies to the set, these jammies are perfect for summer time. Also, it’s hard to find footed jammies in 18 months so I don’t have much of a choice at this point either. These whale ones crack me up from- I smirk every time I think about the cute play on words.

Snack Cups: A little girl at daycare uses these snack cups and our DC provider told me how much Ellie loves them and always shares (snatches it away) with her. I didn’t realize Ellie was old enough or have the motor skills to use a snack cup yet, but babies surprise you. I went out and bought her some before Easter and she has gone to town with them. She holds onto that sucker like her life depended on it.

Sun Hat: We are spending more and more time outdoors and with Ellie’s fair skin and nearly bald head (she has hair, but it’s so light it’s hard to see all of it) we have been wearing lots of hats to help protect her from the sun. I bought this hat earlier this year, but for the life of me cannot find it for her anywhere since we’ve moved. I remember packing it away, but have yet to come across it. We have the exact same hat in a 2T version that doesn’t have the chin strap on it and thankfully she keeps the hat on! Woohoo! I’m happy she enjoys wearing it and plan on buying a few more- especially some swim hats like last summer.

Toddler Swing
Another gift from the Easter Bunny, we've had a ton of fun with this swing. She just giggles and giggles as we push her. The only con is that the straps are not an ideal length for the height of our deck so we plan on having them extended. I guess it just depends on your patio area. This is the gift that will keep on giving, all the kids at our housewarming party wanted a turn on the swing.

Our First Family Pictures

An exact year to when we took our maternity pictures (check them out here and here), we met up with the Lovers of Love duo to do our first family pictures. I was so happy to work with Dana and Nate again. They are the cutest couple and I absolutely love working with them and their work is phenomenal. We went back and forth on where to take pictures and finally decided to do them at the same place we had our maternity session- the California Citrus State Historic Park.

We took the pictures back in April, but I've had to wait to post them until after Mother's day because of a special picture we took for Matt's mother. She made Ellie a beautiful baby blanket when she was born and I wanted to take some pictures of Ellie with it as a surprise. Now that the cat's out of the bag I can finally post the pictures!We have a ton of pictures, but here are my favorites.

My outfit: Midi Dress (on sale!) / Shoes: Old (similar here and here) / Earring: Very Jane
Matt's outfit: Shirt; RVCA (short sleeve version) / Jeans: Express / Shoes: Vans
Ellie's outfit: Carters Cardigan & Short Set / Shoes: Carters (sold out, similar here) / Headband: Harts & Flowers