A Day In My Life: The Zoo!

I purchased a Zoo membership when I visited the Philadelphia Zoo a few months back and it has been one of the best investments ever! I wasn't sure how this worked, but apparently Zoo Members are allowed either free or discounted entrance to their reciprocal Zoos! I decided to visit a zoo a little closer to home last weekend with my brother and my nephew and because it was a reciprocal zoo of the Philadelphia Zoo (where I hold my membership), we were able to get in absolutely free! :) If you have kids in your family or just like animals and things like the zoo like myself, investing in a membership is such a great idea!

Ok, onto the photos :)

I got my nephew a Zoo Key (kids always love these things, I remember even loving it as a kid myself!) It was fun for him to interact with various animal exhibits using this key. 

Along with the regular Zoo exhibits, they also had a petting zoo which is always fun. We were only able to feed the sheep this day, but of course we went ahead and attempted to feed an alpaca to only be told that it could have bit us! Yiikes! Thank goodness my brother did the feeding and not my nephew haha :)  This pig was HUGE!

There I go feeding the animals and probably talking baby talk to them because I seem to ALWAYS do that! lol A beautiful peacock roamed the zoo as well and was actually quite the model ;) Nephew did a pony ride and we even saw some pretty aggressive looking jaguars, SCAARY! Maybe it was feeding time, or it could have been the little chipmunk that was teasing them on the sidelines ;)

Get out this summer and do things like this! They can be super inexpensive if planned well, and remember to pack a lunch! :)

Rawrrrr (the aggressive jaguars hahaha),

xox

Shop and Tell: ULTA, Bath and Body Works, Target

Did some shopping this past week and thought I would share some of the things with you!

Target/ULTA:

Pictured above:

• Freeman Cucumber Peel-Off Mask
• Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Under-eye Circle Concealer in Medium (this was a repurchase!)
• Revlon Kissable Just Bitten Lip Stain in Lovesick
• Sample Macadamia Deep Repair Hair Masque (wanted to try it before dropping $30 on the full size! haha)
• 3 Covergirl Outlast All Day Lip Color in Nude, Ever Red-dy, Always Rosy

Swatches from above mentioned lip colors: 

1.  Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stain in Lovesick
2. Covergirl Outlast Lip Color in Always Rosy
3. Covergirl Outlast Lip Color in Ever Red-dy
4. Covergirl Outlast Lip Color in Nude 

 *Product review on these coming soon, I am still trying them out ;)

Bath and Body Works:

Pictured Above:

• Slatkin & Co. Candle in Pineapple Orchid
• Slatkin & Co. Candle in Pomegranate Lemonade
• Decorative Candle Display Jar

I wanted some new summery scents since I burn candles year round :) These colors were also so pretty! In addition to the above mentioned things, I also purchased two wallflower refills in Gingham Apple and Market Peach! :)

My candle just made me want to make a pomegranate lemonade...::sigh::,

xox

OOTD: Yet Another Graduation BBQ!

These photos were taken very last minute, literally as we were walking out the door, so they were snapped with an iPhone, next time, I will try and have my good camera around so I can get better quality photos of detail, color etc! :)

Here's the Rundown:

Shoes- Jessica Simpson
Dress- Forever 21 (came with belt)
Watch-Michael Kors (the rose gold one that has made MANY appearances in my blog posts ;)
Hair- Curled with a clip-less curling iron and they fell into simple waves :)
Ring-Although you can't really see it here, it is the hot pink crystal bow ring that was also in my other Graduation Party OOTD posted not too long ago, for more up close pics of it, take a look at that post!

This was a very impromptu OOTD, hope you enjoyed! I wanted to keep it simple yet elegant and also remaining outdoor party appropriate :)

Have a Wonderful Day,

xox

My Favorite Pasta Dinner Lately-Recipe Included!

At work yesterday, I began craving this meal so badly! It is hard to plan entire meals to cook because I get out of work at 7 and by the time I make it home the last thing I want to do is cook a full on meal, but sometimes, like in this instance, it is a must! This dish is so savory and my boyfriend actually eats the broccoli which must mean its delicious as he is not one for greens! lol The first time I made this dish was a few months back when I saw it in my FOOD magazine, I was in love!  (By the way, if you are a foodie like me, I HIGHLY suggest subscribing to that mini magazine, it has AMAZING recipes every month and they cater to the season!) Anyway, back to my craving haha I stopped by the supermarket after work and picked up the ingredients and I definitely wasn't disappointed with the turnout!

Here is how I made it happen:

Rigatoni with Sausage and Broccoli: 

Ingredients: 

• 1 pound rigatoni
• Salt and ground pepper
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 heads broccoli
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest, plus 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 pound Italian sausage MEAT (You can purchase just the sausage meat without the casings, that's what I always do!) --I used Mild, you can use hot if you'd like, next time I will probably try that!
• Parmesan, grated, for serving

 Lets get to it:

1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions. In last 2 minutes of cooking, add broccoli and cook until bright green and crisp-tender. Reserve 1 cup pasta water; drain pasta and broccoli.
   
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together oil, garlic, lemon zest and juice, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
   
3. Add sausage to pot and cook over medium-high, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, until browned and cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat, return pasta and broccoli to pot, and add oil mixture. Toss well to combine, adding enough pasta water to create a thin sauce that coats pasta. Serve sprinkled with Parmesan.
   
   *This recipe originally had Anchovies incorporated in the sauce, which I hear really brings out the flavors of the dish without actually tasting like fish, BUT I just cannot bring myself to put them in here lol If you would like that version then add 4 minced anchovy fillets into your olive oil mixture!
   
   
   This dish is an amazing next day dish as well! The flavors almost marinate all together overnight and it is almost more delicious :)
   
   
   
   
   

buon appetito!, 

xox

DIY: A Wreath To Display Spring/Summer/Fall!

If you have been reading my blog for some time now, then you know that I also made the wreath we use around the holidays. You could say I am somewhat of a wreath lover! haha I always see those pre-made ones in my local craft stores, but that just seems like the easy way out. If you are however, on a time crunch, or maybe your creative juices are just lacking lately, getting one of those pre-made ones may just be exactly what you're looking for. Personally speaking, I like starting from scratch, this way you not only save a little money, but have tons of fun making it just as YOU want it!

I went out on a whim today and stopped by a craft store because I had gotten a 20% off your ENTIRE purchase coupon in my email. After the long cake tasting I did today for another event I am helping coordinate, I figured since this craft store was on my route home, I would stop in and see if they had the sunflowers I was looking for for this particular wreath I had mapped out in my mind. Boy did they have them, and SO much more! I could swear they had just replenished their entire stock of silk florals because let me say, they had so much variety!

I looked around for some inspiration and didn't really see anything comparable to what I was thinking that I wanted to make but I did gather some "data" and figured out that a wreath of the sort that I made could cost you up in the price range of  $55-70! Keep reading below if you would like to see the one that I made for under $35! :)

Here is what you would need if you are thinking about making one of these bad boys:

• Silk flowers of your liking and some greenery to go in the gaps
• A grape vine wooden branch wreath like the one in the top side picture above
• Some wire cutters and scissors
• A few yards of gardening wire (green) --This is in case you need to secure any stubborn flowers down.  As you may be able to see above, the bottom sunflower was being VERY stubborn and would not bend properly, so I used this gardening wire to secure it the best I could)
• A device that will allow you to hang your wreath on the door. 

It was hard for just me to take photos of myself doing the actual assembly of this wreath, but in a nut shell you just separate any bunches of flowers into single flowers leaving some stem so that you can easily intertwine them in the branches of the wreath.  You then just maneuver each individual flower in between and underneath the branches of the wreath and secure them with some garden wire if need be.

This wreath was SO simple to make. The worse part was the soreness I now have on my fingertips from tightly working with each branch. This wreath will last me way into the Fall season. I love the colors I chose because they are really suitable to Summer and Fall :)  Let me know if you make your own wreath!

Sore Fingertips,

xox

Overdue IMATS/Drugstore/Sephora Shop and Tell!

In April, I had the pleasure of attending IMATS NYC (International Makeup Artist Trade Show), I am so lucky to be able to just hop on the train or in my car and go because it is so close! I must say, if any of you attended the one we held here in the city last year then you will probably agree with me when I say that this year was SO much more organized and better overall! There was so much more space which meant we got to have more vendors! We even got to walk around without bumping into others ;) haha I can definitely say that I had such an amazing time there! I even met Kandee Johnson, one of my very favorite women.  Inglot and NYX had the longest lines from what I could tell, but it was all worth it :) Check out what I picked up below as well as from Sephora and Target :)

Kandee and I :)

INGLOT & NYX Concealers in a jar purchased from IMATS, Sonia Kashuk Concealer quad purchased from Target.

INGLOT Freedom System 10 Shadow Palette purchased from IMATS, LOVE these shadows, so beautiful and pigmented!

NYX Lip Products and JulieG Nailpolish purchased from IMATS

Tarte Mini Sized Eye Primer and Face Primers purchased from Sephora, Model in a Bottle Setting Spray Purchased from IMATS.

Mini Tarte Bronzer in Park Ave Princess and Blush in Amused purchased from Sephora.

Also stopped by the Give Good Face booth and picked up one of these awesome T's! I like to wear this when I am doing makeup on someone haha too funny!

Along with this, the only other thing that I didn't photograph because I am in the process of cleaning them would be my Royal Langnickel makeup brushes, picked up 4 single face and eye brushes.

I will probably review some of these purchases further with a little more time, want to make sure I test them out well!

It's Not A Magic Wand,

xox