Romantic Beach wedding

My sister’s wedding festivities are inching closer! and I am getting so so excited!

Read HERE for their incredible proposal story!

Since our family is from Texas and his from Florida, and they know live in Birmingham, they decided on mutual ground and are getting married at Bentley’s on the Bay in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. It is going to be gorgeous I cannot wait!

She chose colors that I think are perfect for the beach, brown and blue!

It will look a little like this except my dress is more of a turquoise color and the men won’t have jackets (sorry I don’t want to share actual photos until after)

I love looking at pictures for beach weddings, they are so romantic and there are so many cute ideas

cute centerpieces

love these hairstyles but maybe something a little messier?

or maybe with a flower in her hair

love these couple shots

How cute is this????

I am a little sad because her first shower is in Birmingham tomorrow ON HER BIRTHDAY and I can’t be there.

So to my sister, I love you so much I wish so badly I could be there. Have a wonderful shower and birthday!!

Have any of you been or had a beach wedding?? Any tips or ideas to share?

My makeup routine/new Product Reviews

I love makeup and recently have purchased a bunch of new products that changed up my routine and I looove them so I thought I would share!

my makeup drawer all divided up by category – love!

First, I apply the Pixi Flawless and Poreless Primer (found at Target)

This is probably my favorite new product! I never applied primer before but after buying and using this product I’ll never go without primer again. Let me tell you, if you don’t use a primer your mind is about to get blown! It makes such a huge difference in the way my makeup looks when I use the primer versus when I don’t.

Next, if I am going out/applying nighttime makeup I apply the tinted moisturizer – I think I saw this product on Shasta’s blog

This product is pretty good, it evens out your face pretty well and sets a good base.

Then I use the Pixi eye bright kit (found at Target). AMAZE. this is my other favorite product. I almost freaked when it went missing last week. There are four different colors I mostly just use the brightest white one for under my eyebrows and in the crease of my eyes. It really brightens up my eyes- I have always used a highlighter under my eyebrow but this one you can actually see for hours and in pictures! and sometimes I use the pink if I want to highlight my cheek bone.

Then I set with a dash of powder bronzer and contour my cheeks

I use the E.L.F. contour brush (LOVE- Target)

and Cargo Bronzer – this giant thing is only $32

Next, I apply a dash of my NARS orgasm blush with this new E.L.F. blush I bought and looooove the look. The NARS is a great bronzed blush look but this brighter E.L.F. color brightens up my cheeks a lot! perfect for summer!

Then I start doing my eye makeup! I know you are really supposed to do your eyes first but I like to do them last….make sure to knock off excess shadow on your brush so it doesn’t ruin your face makeup!

I use my new E.L.F. brushes, o.m.g. big THANK YOU to Lindsey aka The Bargain Blonde for introducing me to these amazing tools found at Target.  Why are they so great, you ask? 1. The length: They are really long, I love loooong brushes I feel like I have more control. 2. Every brush has the name on it so you won’t ever forget what its used for

3. The quality: LOOK at that contour below.

4. the PRICE! great quality brushes for $1-2 a piece! How can you beat that??

I use a variety of different cheapo eye shadows but this one from Rimmel is my favorite.

Then I put a little eyeliner only on top

And then apply my new favorite mascara

Cover girl Lash blast. Love the big wand this stuff makes my eyelashes so full and long!

Here is me out this weekend with all of these products on

So there you have it! All of my favorite makeup products! And even better… they are all affordable! I love makeup but cannot stand to empty my wallet on items that I feel you can get the same look for so much cheaper!

What are your favorite affordable products?

To run or not to run

I have always loved and played sports. My family is a huge sports family, all of the men played either football or basketball into the college level and my cousin is playing football NOW in Europe for the United States team! So to say sports has always been in my life… is an understatement.

I love what team sports brought to my life. It builds your character, it teaches you determination, hard word, to be competitive but be respectful. Acceptance that sometimes you can try your hardest, but there will be times when you still lose. It teaches you that even when you think you are the best, if you don’t watch your back someone better is coming right around the corner. Always be on your game. Real life scenarios. That is why I think it is important for all children to grow up and interact in team sports, whatever sport it may be.

Running. not so much. I never understood it or liked it one bit.

In high school, I was on the track team for 1 race. 1. then I went back to offseason basketball. The weird thing is, I played basketball my entire life. Where you are running. a. lot. Constantly. But I hated running. I loved team sports, workouts where you are thinking about so many other things that you don’t even realize you’re working out.

I have heard people say so many things about running for so long “Running is so relaxing, It is so freeing. blah blah blah” I thought they were freaking crazy.

Then, after high school I searched for so long for a consistent work out that I would enjoy, Something to give me the excitement and love that I had for basketball. I started running with two of my good friends a while back and now I understand. It was hard at first but the more I ran the easier it got. the more I ran, I wanted to beat my previous distance and the more I enjoyed it. It relaxes me and brings me peace. It allows me to be alone with my thoughts. I NEVER thought I would ever say that.

so it started as being just for fun and to get in shape but now I am training for my first race! I am lucky to have a great friend to do it with, we are going to start small – a 5K in August. and a 10K in September. But eventually, I want to run a marathon!

So for now I will admit, I like to run. (Gasp!) I wouldn’t consider myself a runner. so If any of you runners out there have any websites, or advice to offer it would be much appreciated!

Going to go run now :)

DIY Sunburst Mirror

I love the look of a sunburst mirror but they can get quite pricey!

Target – $89.99

Horchow – $249

love this one from Ballard’s but its $149!

Let’s face it I am a broke college girl that loves a bargain so whenever I can cut corners I do! When Megan from Honey We’re Home posted HERE about Hi Sugarplum’s DIY Sunburst Mirror I knew I had to recreate it!

Cassie’s Sunburst Mirror

I followed her tutorial pretty closely

She calls for a 12’’ floral ring, an 18’’ floral ring and 2 packs of Wood shims.

Note* I had to buy 4 packs because the ones I found were smaller

Then you hot glue the wood shims around the 12’’ floral ring spacing them how you wish. Some pointers I picked up were to make sure and glue where the shim touches the 12’’ ring AND the 18’’ ring so it is all glued together. Also the floral rings have holes already in them so make sure to leave one a little open at the top to hang

my mirror

once you glue the first row of shims all around the 12’’ ring, wait a little while for them to dry. Then start gluing another row either longer or shorter than the first row to create depth.

Cassie’s Mirror

Let those dry for a little bit. I have a good glue gun that gets really hot so I really didn’t have to wait long at all, maybe 5-10 minutes.

Then I chose to spray paint mine a Cranberry color so it would have a good contrast against our apartment walls. I let it dry, then went over it again with the spray paint.

Then I glued the mirror on

I left a heavy vase on top for a couple hours to make sure it set

Note* Because you have different layers of wood, make sure you are gluing where the mirror TOUCHES the wood.

Then once it was dry, I hung it above our fireplace with 1 nail!

So there you have it! Super easy, great size and only cost about $25! I love how it looks & I already have a few people wanting me to make them one! :) Definitely going to be tackling some more DIY projects soon!