Aren't You a Blogger?

Aren't you a blogger is the question that I ask myself, especially, when I haven't written on a regular. Last weekend as well as this weekend infused the love of blogging in my spirit. Why the delay in blogs you ask... simply, because I've been a bit lazy and I'm sooo over my blog design/layout (a new layout is in the works).

Last weekend I had a chance to attend a Celebrating Women Bloggers Reception at Last Call by Neiman Marcus at Potomac Mills. I was sooo excited that there was an actual fashion event in my area, which meant I didn't have to drive all the way to DC. At the event stylist Lani Inlander presented us with several upcoming Fall trends. Afterwards we were provided with an overview of Last Call by the managet Tim Boiles. Now if you're a serious shopper that loves a designer brand as well as a discounted price, Last Call is the store for you. This is the only Last Call by Neiman Marcus in the state of Va. And, they have a regular shipment from Barney's (gasp). Tim even stated that his store occasionally receives the coveted Chanel every now and again. Last Call totally laid it out for us from the tasty decadent food, to the awesome swag bags. Let me just say I was happy to even receive a swag bag considering I didn't RSVP initially.  Lastly we were given a tour of the Fashion District at Potomac Mills by Caroline Berry Green, who is the Director of Marketing & Business at Potomac Mills. There are going to be some big changes coming to the area. They are getting a Cheesecake Factory and a Pandora Outlet (yay).

If that little bit excited you, you have a chance to see what I mean by coming out to the Celebrating Women Runway fashion show, hosted by stylist Lani Inlander on the 22nd of September. There will be complimentary refreshments, wine tasting, live music, and a after party. If that's not enough, the first 50 people to RSVP will receive reserved seating at a runway show, a swag bag,  as well as a $20 American Express/Simon gift card.

Later that evening, I had a chance to get my cherry popped at Ikea. How in the heck have I lived here 5 years and have never visited Ikea...smh. Luckily Brea and ViVi was going there too so imagine the fun we had. I am sooo in Love with Ikea and can't wait to go back!!!

It's Official!!!

via: Pinterest

Sooo It's official, I'm ready to start dating. I haven't gone on one single date since Uncle Rukus (the preferred name for my ex) and I ended our relationship. I remember after we first broke up I didn't even want to look at another guy, they all just disgusted me. I'd go to the gym and try my bestest (yes bestest) not to make eye contact with someone of the opposite sex. Welp, let's just say things have changed. I have a very flirtatious personality, and it has been peeping its head out a little too often. I had a guy at Marshall's thinking that I wanted to walk him home (totally not what I was implying, simply wanted his opinion). Most of my friends are casually dating and I think (kinda sorta not sure) that I'm ready for the challenge. Note, that I used the word think. Honestly, I've fallen back into the habits of the old single nonchalant Kristin. That basically means I'm concerned with me, I only have time for me, and I can kinda do without the (sometime) annoyance of being attached at the hip to someone else. Like, I look back and think, I really spent a lot of time with that dude and kinda neglected things that were important to me, for things that I thought were important to us. So this time around I'm doing me... if and only if I have time, I'll make an exception to hang out, other than that I'm not pressed to have a free meal or free adventure with someone that I'm not feeling conversationally or physically. 

Here's the kicker... I joined an online dating site. I can't remember if I stated on this blog that I wouldn't go that route again or not, but its the route that I've taken. I won't lie, these first few minutes have been entertaining to say the least, but after a while it became a bit overwhelming. The site I joined is a free site and my friend warned and encouraged (at-the-same-damn-time) that I'd get some jerks but there may just be a needle in the haystack. I'm not sure if I'll give you guys a play by play (if any one's reading) of what's happening, but I may chime in a bit. So far I have met a few thirsty mofo's, they're like 'I hit you up but you never said anything'. My thoughts are maybe you're not attractive or maybe your screen name is pushingmylovedeepinsideyou or maybe, just maybe, I'm busy.   I swear to you all, I hate the dating phase, you know, the what's-your-favorite-color-what-do-you-do-do-you-have-any-kids type of conversations. In a perfect world I'd like to have a face-to-face interview with the non-psycho (cause we all know guys say their exes were psycho) ex girlfriend and see what dude is really about; that would definitely save time and maybe heartache as well.

Who knows, I may just meet the prototype of my future husband who will become my future baby daddy (had to do that for the ratchets)!!!

Roadtrip: Richmond

A few things I picked up.

This past weekend, I got a chance to take a road trip to Richmond, Va. For some unknown reason the city truly intrigues me (trust me, I don't know why). When I saw that Kinky Keenya was hosting Return of The Curls, I knew that would be the perfect reason to have a road trip, however, I didn't know if I had the time off from my side hustle. Luckily I did, so I asked a friend if she'd like to take the journey with me and she was game.

Let me just say whenever I'm taking a trip or visiting a friend, I go straight into planner mode, I guess its the analyst in me. I went directly to yelp.com to start my research. There were quite a few places that I won't visit although I didn't get a chance for all, but they are on my mental Richmond to do list. I can't lie, I kinda go a little overboard with getting things just right so that my (high) expectations are met. Honestly, when I go on a trip/vacay, my inner Rachel-Ray-$40-A-Day comes to surface, I am indeed a BIG foodie. But second are my living arrangements. For me life is all about the experience, right? Since I was sharing a room with someone, I wanted to make sure that it was budget conscience.  I mean, I searched and searched, read review after review and was unable to simply choose a hotel. I ended up making myself frustrated and simply chose one of the unpublished hotels. I got the hotel at a discounted rate and paid before I actually knew which one, luckily for us it was 4 star, so that was kool. We ended up getting the Omni.

The trip down to Richmond wasn't as bad as I thought, I can not drive long distances and I took my car. On the way there, I saw sooo many small restaurant chains and stores that reminded me of my small town (Waffle House, Shoe Shoe). We arrived at the room and it really was nice, well the foyer. I've seen better rooms, but hey it worked for the night. We ended up going to the event and staying for all of about an hour. Had we known the fashion show would be later we would have arrived later. The main company (curls.biz) that I was interested in didn't even product to sale. Epic Fail. There were a few of other well known brands in the building such as Karens Body Beautiful. And there were a few vendors that had t-shirts, jewelry, and other handmade items for sale. My friend and I ended up buying a pair of African earrings. I also saw a few subscribers (well mostly my friends subbies, lol). Funny thing is, I always play the role of not being on YT, trips me out when I tell subbies and they actually believe me.

After our short stay at the Expo, we decided to get a lil bit of shopping on. I read that Short Pump mall was pretty hawt. I guess the portion that I omitted reading was that it's actually a town center and not an actual mall. It wouldn't have been a problem if we weren't getting a preview of what hell felt like that day lol. I mean it was super hot and the whole town center, walk-outside-from-store-to-store concept just ruined it for me. Next up was time for a bit to eat so we stopped at a place that I'd bookmarked earlier called deLux. The pictures on the website made the restaurant/bar seem more interesting. However, the reviews I read on the food were on point. As an appetizer we ordered the salt & pepper calamari (just to spill the beans, I am having a secret love affair with calamari right now and could eat it everyday).

Although there were other venues, I'd like to visit, we left after stopping by one of the local favorite eateries, Peraly's. The food was all that and then some. I swear their salmon patties taste identical to mine. This restaurant reminded me of my grandma old house. The decor was very quirky and we had the BEST waiters (probably in town). Did any of you all attend Return of Curls? Also, if you live in Richmond, let me know where  the locals hang.

A piece of the hotel, salt & pepper calamarie, and breakfast

I kept being asked if I were part of the Fashion Show (nope, just fashionable).

For the record I had on pants not tights, lol!!!

I'm like WTF

Super Saturday at Tyson's Mall

Today was such a Super Saturday at Tyson's Mall. If you didn't know, I work part time at Kiehl's and today was the ending stop for their 3rd Annual Life Ride event. This event is such a big deal so that meant we all had to make sure we were in place on time to make our guest comfortable; and sell our wonderful products at the same time.

Life Ride is a charity motorcycle ride partnered with Amfar. Kiehl's USA President Chris Salgardo led the way on the ride. Kiehl's also made donations at each of the stores the ride stopped at totaling $90,000. Not only was this a big to do in our store, it was also a big to do in the area since several celebrities showed up. I actually had a chance to meet model Tyson Beckford. Let me just say that he was super sweet and very handsome. Total win, when your inside (personality) matches your outside appearance.




My Manager and I with Tyson Beckford

 Not only was this big but my former place of employment, Lush released their new makeup line. If you have sensitive skin, this line may be up your ally since all of Lush's products are vegetarian and even a few vegan products. I was excited to stop by and play in their area.

Thinking of June in July Pt 2

I'm still thinking of my 30th birthday weekend. It really turned out to be great. I will admit, I was super nervous about turning 30. Not because I'm officially out of the young, fun, 20s decade; but because I didn't feel as if I'd be able to celebrate it as I'd like to. I wanted friends from Ga. and family around. I mean I wanted the big she-bang!!!  And because that wasn't feasible, I'd decided to give up. It wasn't until my mom appeared in my dream, and while the two of us ate Chipotle she simply stated that I had to do something. And just like that, the wheels began to turn and I did ALL of my planning. From recommendations from Facebook and Yelp, to making reservations, and sending out Evites. Honestly, aside from the addition of family/friends and the fact that I should have ordered a birthday cake (go with your first mind, I will definitely have a cake next year) I wouldn't have changed a thing. My weekend celebration started out with drinks at Stan's followed by a visit to an 18 floor makeshift museum full of art, booze, and music. Early that Saturday morning, we sat out for some zip-lining followed by a dinner later in the afternoon. The night ended with my friends getting me VIP at a lounge. The weekend was GREAT, I'll let the pics be worth a thousand words...

 

 

 

Thinking of June in July Pt 1

Let's just say, I totally wanted my FAV month June to be the month that I blogged my butt off, but procrastination got the best of me yet again. So here I am in July still thinking about June and wanting you all to relive some of my Fav moments.

So since the month of June is my FAV (once again) I was super ecstatic that I'd recieve two monthly mail boxes. Last month was my second month recieving Birchbox and my first time receiving the CurlBox. Birchbox is always an unexpected treat since I'm not really into makeup. But for $10, I'll give it one more month. Last month was the Jetsetters' box and since your girl has a few trips up her sleeve I'm excited that I got it. I look forward to next month but if it fails me, I'm done.com. I do have a complaint though, after viewing YouTube videos of what others received I feel like I may be missing out a bit. Last month I looked at my box and at others and was like I-wish-I-had-that!!! Take a look below at what the Birchbox offered me for the month of June.

My second box was the Curlbox, it was the box that I was most excited about. I guess my excitement stemmed from the box they had for the month of May. That particular box was jam packed because it was the creators' Myleik's birthday. I sooo HATE that I missed that one. She had confetti in  it as if it were a true gift to her subscribers.   Let me just say that this box contained one item that made me keep it around for another box. The curls.biz shampoo included made me feel as if it were a birthday gift to me since I'd been wanting to try the product out. An ex co-worker of mine raced about the curls.biz products  and I was too cheap to go purchase them. Let me just say after using the shampoo, I totally understand why she raved about it and I am making it my mission to go and purchase the line soon!!!

So have any of you tried out any monthly subscription boxes? If so, which one(s) were your FAV and which one(s) did not meet the mark? 

Happy 5th Birthday Lyric

Today's is my baby's 5th birthday (Happy Birthday Lyric) , so I wanted to dedicate this post all to her.  When I first got Lyric, I was super scared of dogs. I remember going to the pet store the day before getting her and saying if she was still there the next day she'd surely be mine. Luckily for me she was still available. When I said I had no clue on how to 'raise' a dog, I'm happy that I stayed the course. Little did I know Lyric became my therapy dog so to speak. I got her about 4 months after my moma died and she was there for me throughout all the tears.

Although I get aggravated with the many responsibilities of being a pet owner, Lyric is more that that to me she's family. Our personalities are sooo similiar. She's the life of the party when others are around, as am I. She's a super flirt whenever there is a male presence, yep got it honestly. And when its just the two of us she is super laid back. I mean she doesn't even bark. I wouldn't trade her for the world, you probably remember the worse-mistake-I-never-made.

These past 5 years have been great, we've traveled together, shopped together, and at the end of the day I know that she'll always be in my corner, A Girl's Best Friend!!! Love ya Li-Li AKA Scrappy Do!!!

Goodbye 29... Hello 30!!!

via: Pinterest

Last night I said goodbye to my 20s and hello to my 30s. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it but I am definitely having a Marvin Sapp Never-would-have-made-it moment. What I'll say about my 20s is that it was definitely 10 years of learning. I mean sooo many lessons!!! Although I've slacked a bit on the 30 days to 30 I will definitely keep the series up and rename (30 and 30) it a bit so you can hear some of those lessons.

I have a birthday celebration this weekend so I'll definitely be back with the tea!!! I've heard 30 is when you really know who you are. I'm looking forward to what 30 has to offer.

Seeing is Believing

I have always been the type of girl that preferred glasses over contacts. Even back in the day when colored contacts were all the rage, I did not fall victim to the trend. I keep a fresh pair of frames!!!

It has been a while since I actually purchased a pair of glasses but when I saw the RayBan Cats, I just knew they had to be on my face. I searched all over for them after I found out that they couldn't be ordered by phone from RayBan. I found a RayBan Rep. near my home and what he wanted for the glasses were reasonable but he didn't take insurance (no deal since I pay into that every month). I also went to a reputable eyeglass chain that didn't have them in stock but said that they could order them for me (of course they were on back order).

Long story short I decided to look into a site that my line sisters raved about years ago and I'm sooo happy that I did. I checked out Zenni Optical and look what I got.

Can you tell by the pic that this was taken at my Grandma's house? Hint- Baptism picture, lol.

I know you guys see that the frames I have on, are almost identical to the RayBan's that I was unable to purchase. This pair, with my subscription, came up to less than $35 dollars with shipping. And I was super excited because I was quoted 14 days shipping and they actually arrived earlier #winning. I plan on getting the same frame in another color soon. There are plenty of discount online eye wear sites available, which companies have you tried?