Summer Black

Tank Top: Old Navy (for only $5!)

Necklace: American Eagle

Jean Shorts: Charlotte Russe

June Favorites

My favorites from the month of June are a few beauty products.

St. Ives Green Tea Cleanser: I love this product. It has worked well to reduce the redness in my skin and keep blemishes away.

Midnight Pomegranate Body Scrub: I had a spend $10 get something free coupon for Bath and Body Works. Their perfume was on sale that day for 50% off so I got one of those and picked up this body scrub for free. It smells so good and feels kind of luxurious.

Say Yes to Carrots Shampoo and Conditioner: It's nice to know I am using an all natural product and it has left my hair feeling very soft.

Faith Hill Perfume: I have wanted this for quite awhile so I finally decided to buy it. It smells so good...perfect for summer!

What were your June favorites? Please leave a comment...I would love to hear from you!

Fashion Friday: Long & Short

Shorts: Charlotte Russe

Tank Top: Wet Seal

Cardigan: Old Navy

Necklace: Charlotte Russe

Crab Dip

I thought I would share a yummy dip recipe in case you needed an idea for the 4th of July weekend. I LOVE this dip...it is soooooo good!

Crab Dip

Ingredients

8oz crabmeat

1 bunch green onions, finely chopped

1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped

1 large celery stock, finely chopped

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tbsp. mayonnaise

2 tbsp. lemon juice

raw veggies or crackers to serve

Preparation

Cut up or flake crabmeat and combine with onions, bell pepper, and celery. Stir in sour cream and mayonnaise and season with lemon juice. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours for flavors to blend. Serve with veggies or crackers.

Ikea: What We Bought

Today I want to share with you a few of the items we purchased at Ikea. First, we bought this green and white striped throw blanket for the couch. I wanted to bring more green to the room so this blanket has helped with that.

We needed a lamp for the desk so we picked this one up. It is very industrial looking and I love it.

We also bought these small green storage boxes for the bookshelf in the living room. Again, to help bring more green into the room.

We also bought a few more frames for our collage wall in our bedroom. The pictures are from our wedding and honeymoon. I still have one more frame and little project to add so when I get that done I will be sure to show you all.

We also bought a wok and 4 steam less wine glasses. However, we only came home with 2 unbroken glasses! I won't show you pics since wine glasses and a wok aren't too exciting! We also finally found the white shelves I have been wanting in stock so we got those for above the desk. I have to finish styling those so I will show them when they are done. Did any of you hit up the Ikea sale this weekend? I would love to hear about it since I have never been on a sale weekend. Is it worth going?

Ikea Inspiration

I mentioned in my May favorites that we had recently taken a trip to Minneapolis. Since we were there we of course had to stop at Ikea! I can't wait until we have a house and can really shop there and implement their ideas and products. I wanted to share with you some of the things and set ups that caught my eye.

I love this dining room table and chairs. You know I love all things black and white so this set up is right up my alley. I also love the dishes and centerpiece. I have 3 of those candlesticks (they are in our bedroom). I love how they lined them down the center of the table...I will have to remember this!

These are some of the light fixtures that caught my eye. There were a lot of cool ones. This is one reason I can't wait to have a house. I would love to have some of these light fixtures.

I love this closet! I dream of having a huge closet someday. Something pretty and organized like this would be great- just add one of those awesome light fixtures to it. Someday....

I have had my eye on this mirror for awhile. I absolutely love it. I just wish I had a place to put it.

This bedroom caught my eye. It is very pretty, but not very masculine....

Have you been to Ikea lately? What are your favorite Ikea products?

Fashion Friday: Summer Cardigan

Tank Top: Wet Seal

Open Cardigan: Younkers

Bracelet: Charlotte Russe

Jeans: Silver

May Favorites

There are a few blogs that I read that do a monthly favorites post so I thought I would give it a try. I like reading about what products/things/activities they have been enjoying lately. It gives me ideas of things to do or products to try. So here are my May favorites....

Grilling! I shared our deck makeover on Monday. My husband is a great cook and he has grilled a lot already this summer. My favorite thing he makes are his apple pork burgers. Yum!


Ikea! We were recently in Minneapolis and made a stop at the Swedish store. I will share more soon about what we came home with!

The farmer's market! I love spending some time on a Saturday morning wondering around the downtown farmer's market with my hubby. It is so nice having fresh Iowa grown veggies to eat all summer long.

Heels! After a long winter it is nice to wear some strappy heels. My favorites are the Cynthia Vincent for Target wedges and the Old Navy black ruffle heels.

Eyeliner! This is one makeup product I rarely go without. I feel like my eyes get lost without it. Target has a cheap makeup line called Elf. I have been using their black eyeliner pencil and I love it. It works so well and is only $1! I definitely plan to try more products from this line.

What were some of your May favorites? If you do a favorites post, please link to it in the comments section...I would love to check it out!

Deck Makeover

Life has been busy lately but I'm back! I am going to show you our deck makeover. We are lucky to have such a big deck with our apartment. We have been using and enjoying it a lot lately. Last summer it was basically empty so this year we wanted to make some improvements so we could spend a lot more time out there. I already shared the chair makeover and the herb container. So here is our improved deck...

We have 2 tomato plants and one bell pepper plant in the three big pots by the grill. This is our mini garden. In the corner by the door is our mini flower garden. The flower container on the table is a big peaches can from Sam's Club that I painted white. Lee drilled a few holes in the bottom for drainage... another way to recycle! I found the lantern at a garage sale a few years ago. There are 2 of them and I think I bought both of them for $1. We are really happy with how it turned out!

Fashion Friday: Floral

There have been a lot of florals on the blogs this week so I thought I would wear some to brighten up a rainy Thursday.

Cardigan: Target

Tank Top: Kohls

Jeans: Silver from The Buckle

Shoes: Cynthia Vincent for Target

Before and After: Herb Planter

Remember this planter I picked up on the curb?

Well it is now my mini herb garden on our deck.

I bought a can of chalkboard spray paint and painted a strip so that we could label the herbs. I think it gives the planter a little more character...along with the rust spots! I really like it and think it turned out cute!

Have any of you done any projects lately? Do you plant herbs? Any herb tips for us?

P.S. See how the deck chairs turned out here.

Fashion Friday: Silver Sleeves

This picture doesn't really do the shirt justice. It is super cute in person. Oh, and please excuse my ghostly skin!

Shirt: New York & Company
Necklace: Forever 21
Jeans: Silver from The Buckle

Major Sale Alert!

So it has turned into bargain week without me knowing or planning it. I happened to come across another great sale Monday night that I wanted to let you all know about. I decided to stop at Old Navy quick on my way home from work. I saw the commercial on TV advertising their dresses on sale for $15 so I wanted to check them out. I didn't end up buying any of the $15 dresses BUT all the clearance items were an additional 50% off! I didn't go crazy but I came home with 3 pieces that I will get a lot of use out of.

Long Pink Dress $8

Green Tank Top $4

Pink Sports Bra $3.50

Have any of you come across any big sales lately? Let me know... I love a bargain!

A Good Day of Shopping

My Mom and I hit the mall on Saturday and came across a big sale at New York & Company. Everything in the store was 50% off...yes I said EVERYTHING! Here is what I came home with....

The detail on the sleeves - love it!

This shirt can be worn with jeans or dress pants - so pretty!

What can I say... I love black!

The necklace and ring I got - I can't wait to wear the necklace! Did any of you find any good bargins this weekend?

Fashion Friday: Stripes

White Cardigan: Target

Shirt: Kohls

Jeans: The Buckle

Shoes: Cynthia Vincent for Target

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

I thought I would share our delicious supper with you. Lee made fajitas and piña coladas that we had with homemade guacamole and the best salsa from our favorite Mexican restaurant. We used the salsa dish we bought in Mexico on our honeymoon :) YUM!!

How did you guys celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

How I Spent My Saturday

We started the morning out at the opening day of the Farmer's Market...

while we were there we had breakfast...


and tasted a little of this...

we came home with a chive plant, coffee beans and a bottle of wine from a local winery. Here in Iowa there aren't any fresh veggies yet but we are looking forward to when they arrive at the market!

Then we picked up a few things at this sale.

Image from Google

We headed out to a nearby lake for a picnic lunch.

The rest of the afternoon was spent running some errands and then we ate here with Lee's parents to celebrate his Mom's birthday. (Totally forgot to have our picture taken while we were there!)

Image from Google

We had a fun weekend! What did you guys do?