A Toast to Margot Elena

If you do not know this woman then you should. My hands send out their eternal thanks for getting this girl to put any type of moisturizer on them. If you don't know, Margot Elena is the beauty entrepreneur who has brought us three luxurious brands: Lollia, Tokyomilk, and now Love & Toast. I am a huge sucker for any item where it looks like someone took the time with the packaging, so I was not disappointed with the lovely, whimsical detailing. OR the various scents. Yum. My favorite is Love & Toast's PAPER FLOWER which I purchased at The Cosmetic Market. First of all, I think that is quite a romantic name for a hand lotion. Second of all, it smells DELICIOUS. And three....the tube it is in is precious.

THE COSMETIC MARKET

LOVE & TOAST

Now, I do have another favorite. You can never limit yourself to just one. And I have my mom addicted as well, and she is VERY picky about hand lotion (Love you, Mom!). WISH from the Lollia line is divine. And you can buy in giant candle form if you are particularly obsessed. Since you know I love adjectives and descriptions more than anything, I must list the description given. I couldn't write this any better myself.

"A burst of Italian bergamot mingles with notes of cinnamon and pepper, rice flower with accents of jasmine and ylang ylang, all wrapped in sheer amber woods and vanilla bean." -Lollia

UMMMMMM......HEAVENLY.

LOLLIA

Now, I have not bought anything from TokyoMilk, but I did browse through what they had available today and it smelled great. What I loved EVEN MORE was that on their website they also have greeting cards available that are sweeeeet. This one was my favorite. ENJOY!

TOKYOMILK

XOXO

SWEETHEARTS

As promised, a little Valentine's Day weekend update. So- Valentine's Day. Not my favorite holiday of the year. But I don't hate it. I know there are alot of people who are very anti-this day, however I think it is nice to celebrate the love....

PRETTY FLOWERS

Saturday started off fantastic with my Pampered Chef party. I always enjoy having some of my favorite people over at once. It makes my life happy :) So we cooked and drank mimosas with strawberries. My favorite moment may have been when multiple people mistook my homemade fruit tea for orange juice and ended up having fruit tea mimosas. Yuck. Or potentially Preston's amazing reading skills. Or that we nominated each other for various cooking tasks. I still can't decide. So here are a few cute pictures of my pretty friends cooking. Yuuuuum! We had breakfast casserole!

Matty practicing his baking skills for Sven and Lily

Lauren, Kel, and Linds

That evening a group of us went to see Valentine's Day. It was exactly like I expected and everything that I hoped it would be. It made me laugh most of the time, but I was able to cry a solitary tear. Taylor Swift made me laugh the most. And I might have fallen in love with Bradley Cooper again. Another favorite? THE PREVIEWS! Letters to Juliet? The Last Song? YES. From there we went to have some food and drinks at Jackson's. I loved their Valentine's menu. They had a "cheap date" menu and "break-up drinks". Next year, if you need a good laugh, I would suggest Jackson's takeout V-day menu.

SUNDAY. I went to church and was reminded of the ultimate love which cannot be earned or bought and is always so readily available. We had our community group that night and it was so fun! We exchanged cards, ate cookies, and read verses about love. A round of applause is in order for Janae's crafty Valentine's magnet for my fridge! ALSO, I LOVE scriptures and quotes about love. So in the spirit of a belated Valentine's Day, I will share. LOVE!

Valentine's Day crafts!

As God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. -Colossians 3:12-14

You were never poor as long as you had something to love. -L.M. Montgomery

The way that you smile, makes me high

I remember the sunlight, shining down in your eyes

Let's go down to the ocean, true love of mine

-MINDY SMITH

Janae and I before the movie!

at Jackson's

XOXO

CONFESSIONS AND CURRENT LOVE

So, it is now time to confess. Today is the first day of Lent. No, I am not Catholic, however I did attend Catholic school for a while growing up, so I learned about it at an early age.

First Grade Class at St. Agnes

Two years ago I gave up fried food. I did pretty well, however I was informed by friends later on that Chinese food was indeed fried, so I didn't succeed completely. Last year I gave up alcohol. Again, I cheated. Twice. In my defense, I did get laid off of my job and I went to dinner and my dad had a glass of wine waiting for me on the table. Okay, no excuses. So, this year I am giving up something near and dear to my heart. I have a love relationship with Diet Coke. Probably 3-4 a day. I gave up cokes for a minute in college. At the time I was not aware that you were to expect headaches when you gave up caffeine. I had a migraine for four days straight and insisted to the school nurse that I had a brain tumor and she had to do something to help me.


But I think I am meant to give Diet Coke up. Janae called me last night and said that is what she is giving up for Lent and two is always better than one. I was still on the fence. Then I turned on the television and there was a doctors show on discussing all of the harmful effects Diet Coke has. Nothing I haven't heard before, however I still felt it was a little sign. And then there was only one left in my refrigerator. So here goes. 40 days. I have also made an agreement with myself that if I do this successfully I get a sticker on my New Year's Initiatives List which is "Drink More Water". I think by giving one up I will be able to achieve the other. I will keep you updated on the headaches that are likely to occur in my near future.

All of that to say, I am really loving my pretty mug from Natural Life that I got at Davis-Kidd. On the inside it says "Love the Moment"....so this morning I drank some delicious Cranberry-Apple Tea out of it. I am pretty sure I am going to become better acquainted with this mug over the next forty days. Isn't it cute? Natural Life has a great website, too. I bought a really cute bag from them for my friend Lauren for Christmas. GREAT GIFTS.

NATURAL LIFE

And as long as we are talking about tea, I have stocked up on several different flavors such as Vanilla Chai, Herbal Mint, and Cranberry-Apple. I was taken back to what "Stuff White People Like" has to say about tea obsessions. If you haven't read this, please do. HILARIOUS.

STUFF WHITE PEOPLE LIKE # 13: TEA

So, I still have much to update you about. Especially my fun Valentine's Day weekend. But that will have to wait....expect it maybe Thursday or Friday...along with some other exciting news! Heart!

XOXO

FEBRUARY SNOW DAYS AND SAMOA ICE CREAM

OH, 'tis February. The month of love. I will be honest...February is typically my LEAST favorite month of the year. Why, you may ask? A few reasons in no particular order:

a) the holidays have passed and I have typically gained my holiday ten
b) My skin is officially pasty
c) Valentine's Day is thrown into the mix
c) It is cold, and I am aching for warmer days

PLAYING IN THE SNOW

HOWEVER, this February has started off on a good note and I have not been afflicted by my typical February Blues. I will update you at the end of February and let you know if they stayed at bay for the whole month. Since the second month of the year has begun, I feel that it is necessary to update you about my New Year initiatives and where I stand in accomplishing them. After all, it is you who hold me accountable :) I will be honest. My long term goals are coming along okay. This consists of continuing writing, loving, doing things I typically would not do aka being more adventurous, trusting God, and eating more vegetables. Unfortunately, I will not get a sticker until the end of year. But all of the initiatives that could be easily accomplished in one evening have not. These include: taking some time to look at the stars and making a homemade pie. The year is already slipping away. So, my goal for February is to atleast accomplish two of my "could be completed in one night" initiatives by the 28th! I will update you!

On another note, I have recently had many adventures. Last weekend consisted of Nashville's version of the Ice Age. Not kidding. If you know me well, you know that I CRAVE snow and ice. Not because I particularly love cold, because I hate it. But if I am going to endure cold weather then nothing could be more exciting than being snowed in and being made to relax and play with my friends. One of my favorite snowed in memories is from Little Rock four years ago (also in February!). I was living with my two best friends Elizabeth and Courtney and we got snowed into our apartment. We had recently graduated from college and moved to Little Rock with each other. There were three of us in a two bedroomm apartment and we were LOVING it. The ice storm prevented any of us from going to work and we spent the weekend in Valentine's Day themed "pajamas", watched Sex and the City, and ate Edy's Girl Scouts Samoas Cookie ice cream. If you haven't had Samoa Ice Cream before, then you should. It might change your life. (After further research on Edy's website it looks like this flavor is NOT available at ANY store within 50 miles of Nashville! SAD DAY!)

EDY'S GIRL SCOUTS SAMOA COOKIE ICE CREAM

Nashville's snow storm provided everything I could desire given the situation. First of all, BFF Lauren moved in with me two weeks ago from Little Rock so she was around for the fun. On top of that, Paris Hilton's BFF Janae came over and spent the weekend with me. DISCLAIMER: Janae is not REALLY Paris Hilton's BFF, however if Paris met her then it would probably happen. So, the weekend consisted of lots of bad-for-you foods, sappy movies, dance parties, snow fights, laughter, and a hike to Las Palmas for margaritas. Janae and I had one adventurous outing consisting of a drive to buy some wine, Starbucks, and food and ended in a stalled car and a walk home with groceries in hand. ANOTHER exciting initiative for the year? Janae and I decided we are not romantic enough....or atleast educated in the department of romantic movies.

ROMANCE MOVIES LIST

CONFESSION: I have never seen Casablanca, Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, Gone With the Wind.....and the list goes on.

So, we made a list of romantic movies that we feel like we should see before we die. There are a few that we have seen, but should probably watch again. Our goal is to watch all of them by the end of the year. I'm not going to lie- Janae and I together equal two hopeless romantics who like crafts, so we made lists to put on my refrigerator....and, yes, we do receive stickers as soon as we finish each movie! ****BTW, I ALSO MADE A LIST OF MY NEW YEAR INITIATIVES**** We managed to knock a few off of the list when we were trapped inside. We finished Sleepless in Seattle, Steel Magnolias, The Graduate, and Serendipity over the weekend. I have seen Serendipity before and own it, but was reminded of how much I LOVE IT. And the soundtrack! Please go to ITUNES and buy Moonlight Kiss by Bap Kennedy immediately.

DANCE PARTY

God's daily revelations

my new vanity I bought on Craigslist. I really enjoy sitting and doing my makeup somewhere other than my bathroom

starting Beth Moore's new book "So Long, Insecurity" and getting to meet her NEXT THURSDAY!

my guilty pleasure- Justin Bieber's new song "Baby"

contentment

my community group....LOVE THESE GIRLS!

The Bachelor... I am still in limbo on whether it should be Ali or Tenley....

my curtains I got in for my kitchen from Urban Outfitters. They make me smile every morning when I see them

my new gold headband/wrap that was a Christmas present from Lauren. It allows me to pin my hair up and look like I tried to look presentable when it is quite the opposite....

my new bangs!

Scholarships....YES!

My professor, Dr. Alyson Bass- too bad all teacher's aren't that awesome.

Usher, Celine Dion, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson, and Smokey Robinson's MJ Tribute at the Grammy Awards. OMG. Who thought of that?

NOT THE BEST PICTURE....BUT MY PRETTY KITCHEN CURTAINS

HOPEFULLY I will have a picture of me and Beth Moore to post NEXT WEEK. And I shall update you about my (hopeful!) lack of the February Blues!!!

Here are a few other recent pictures from life as well!!!

Lauren's "Welcome to Her New Home!" Party

SOMETIMES I FORGET TO TAKE CERTAIN ITEMS OUT OF MY FREEZER

MORE SNOW!!!!! WITH JANAE AND LAUREN!!!

XOXO