– after oogling over hand-painted Hermés trays for so long, we added one to our den –

– this fringe beauty that I can’t wait to take on the town –

– hot pink roses –

– two pair of shoes that are each under $30 and seriously adorable (mules / sandals) –

– palm leaf crosses from my mom, something my Catholic grandfather use to always do for us –

I haven’t been this excited on a Friday in quite a while because… C and are headed to Maui tomorrow for a full week of a “second honeymoon” vacation!  As Southerners, neither of us has ever been to Hawaii because it’s almost 10 hours of flying, so now that we can cut that time in half we’re excited to travel somewhere brand new together.  CBL will continue on as usual, and I will be sharing snippets on instagram, facebook and twitter so let’s do this together you guys. And if someone doesn’t hand me a floral lei when I get to the hotel like everyone gets in the movies I’m going to throw a riot. I’m just 100% envisioning Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Just Go With It because I’m an American and that’s just what we do.

Confession: I’ve been a little sad lately about leaving Lula LaShonda for a whole week.  She has been doing SO well even though she was given only a few months to live in July 2014… and she’s still with us! I have only left her for a few days at a time other than our trip to Mississippi back in October. While I’m convinced I’m loving her back to health, C is convinced she doesn’t actually have cancer and is instead living like she’s dying while I let her sleep in the bed, sleep in between us, eat canned food every night at exactly 7pm, eat the dog’s food, drink the dog’s water, sleep on my clean clothes, headbutt me at 4AM… but I mean, “she has cancer, let her do whatever she wants!”  I plan to do a full blogpost about this situation soon, but I wanted to give a quick update to all of you who have asked about Queen Lu (and thank you so much!). Thankfully while we are gone my sweet coworker who is a cat lover is going to keep my girl, and I know she is in great hands. My brother’s family will be keeping Bailey the indoor pony – and she’ll have fun with her cousin, miniature dachshund Pollack!

Do any of y’all have Maui recommendations?  I’d love to hear – counting down the minutes over here. Hope everyone had a wonderful week following the beautiful Easter holiday – thank you so much for reading. XO –

– two spring necklaces (here and here) and a cuff that are seriously eye-catching statement baubles –

 – a pretty green bralette from Hazel & Olive –

– a pre-sheet washing day that Bailey took full advantage of –

– a sweet surprise from my always sweet girlfriend Miriam –

– falling for all this talk about dry brushing – what do you guys think about it? –

My favorite day, we’re already back to you Friday.  And I’ve got a pair of drawstring harem sweatpants (oh yes, that’s a thing) that has my name written all over it.

So I’ve been trying to watch what I’m consuming this week in preparation for a week of living in bikinis and I gotta say: it sucks.  I’m one of those girls who would rather be 10 lbs heavier if it means I can eat french fries, macaroni & cheese and drink bottles of wine.  The only time I was able to halfway have discipline in my life was before Miss Teen USA and our wedding… other than that my life is just like, all about the tacos.

Christian came home last night from a work dinner and I was like, “what did you eat? Was it good? Tell me what it tasted like.” And he was like, “maybe you should eat a hamburger tomorrow.” AND MAYBE I WILL.

I like how I say all this and I have a photo of cupcakes in my Friday’s Five – seriously who am I even kidding. Who else is hangry out there? Let’s talk about it.

Have a great weekend you guys and thank you always for reading my crazy talk! XO –

– scrunchie heaven thanks to Twistband – more on my scrunchie vice below –

– touches of pink –

– breakfast on the patio solo after rising early with my sweet –

tray c/o | mug c/o | spoon c/o

– I’m obsessed with these candles and seeing what piece of jewelry is hiding in there for me! –

– trying out Sole Serum for my most beautiful and also most painful stilettos –

Welcome to the weekend!  It kind of blows my mind that we have only two more weekends until we are in Hawaii… and my body does not feel prepared.  I have been working at a pretty fast pace lately and attending after-work events at least 3x a week which means my exercise habits have fallen down the gutter. Not to fear, I’m kicking it in high gear next week so that I can feel confident living in a swimsuit for a week, with my collection of coverups of course (more on that here in case you missed the post about my love affair for cute coverups!).

Can we talk about my new velvet scrunchie (in the first photo)!?  So when I was in the fifth grade, I had a lavender floral scrunch + matching top combo from the Gap that I was all about.  Somewhere down the road the shirt was tossed, but the scrunchie has escorted me through high school, college and my now married life.  Along this road, sure I’ve had haters criticize my bedtime beauty accessory, but no comment could ever break up this love affair.  I always say I have hair like a six-year-old – it’s really fine, straight as a board and creases extremely easy.  For this reason the scrunchie will always be my bedtime companion.  Thanks to my friends at Twistband I have now upgraded from my fifth grade selection to this sleek black beauty. One day you guys will get an action shot of my scrunchie love – I shall not deny you of this pleasure. 

Who else has a 1998 beauty/fashion accessory they cannot live without? I kind of feel like my scrunchie is on par with like… your jr. high retainer or something (mine was tie-dye so cool).  Thank y’all so much for reading and having a beautiful weekend!! XO –