fashion, food, fitness + a dose of sarcastic gossip
I hope you all had a great St. Patrick’s Day Weekend!
We had a great time celebrating and over-indulging this weekend!
I am moving slooooooow this morning.
Friday we had cocktails on the porch before heading out for sushi date night.
The newest addition to the porch is this tray for the coffee table. I love oversized trays and this one is no exception.
I have a great closet staple to share with you today!
A tweed jacket is always a timeless piece you’ll have forever, and I love the fun green color of this cardigan.
This is another find from that “mom store” I’ve talked about before!
And it’s currently 30% off!Â
// STRUCTURED TWEED CARDIGAN //Â
size down one to two sizes – I am in 00
// CLUTCH – on sale 45 % off! //Â
We had such a wonderful weekend visiting friends in Chicago.
I’m fairly certain I erased all of my 30 days of hard workouts with the copious amounts of food and drinks we had – my jeans are rull tight and I’m scared to see the scale tomorrow morning, but ya know…. when in Chicago!
I missed so much TV the last few days that I have no idea how on earth I am going to find the time to see everything! I didn’t realize that they did MORE episodes of Bachelor Winter Games until I saw on instagram that Clare is engaged to Benoit. Soooooo I need to see how that happened!?
also, of course her name is Clare with no I….. does anyone on the Bachelor ever have traditional spelling of names!?Â
We are heading to Florida at the end of the week and I have been eyeing some last minute warm weather pieces like these cute striped shorts, maxi dress, and a cute jumpsuit.
I hope you all have a great start to the week!
I am off to an early workout class to have a great start to a fresh new week!
I hope you all had a great weekend!
I wanted to share a quick outfit before recapping the weekend.
This dress is one of my favorites, and you know when I love something I tend to get it in multiple colors!
The dress is back in stock and comes in a few new colors and they keep restocking sizes (because they always go quickly!) It’s such a steal and can be worn in so many ways all year round.
// LEITH RUCHED DRESS //Â wearing size S
I am in NAVY INDIA INK, but I love the new NAVY NIGHT HEATHER color
You have seen this dress previously HERE and HERE.
:: Weekend Recap ::
We had a laid back weekend spent dodging the rain and enjoying a little bit of the Winter Olympics.
We went for tacos + margaritas to watch the opening ceremonies Friday night.
I couldn’t believe they are able to take that many drones and put them that closely together in a tight formation? It still blows my mind what technology can do…..Â
We went to the mall Saturday morning (I hate the mall…. but it was never ending rain and we had been up since 6:30 AM thanks to my lovely husband that couldn’t sleep).
We popped into Abercrombie & Fitch – don’t judge, it’s changed! – because lately I have been finding such great stuff. I live in their snap pullovers to and from my workout classes .
They are having 50% off their dresses and a bunch of other things were on sale.
This sweater dress is so soft and cozy and was only $34.
I also snagged this bikini top and these bikini bottoms for an upcoming trip to Florida.
They are so stinking cute!
Also, I don’t know if all of the stores have it, but their dressing rooms are insane. You can change the lighting to all of these different presets and their skinny mirrors are to die for. I need to steal their mirrors for every room in my home immediately.
it also helps because the 16-20 year olds working there make ya feel RULL old. when I was waiting for the girl to unlock a dressing room, I saw my reflection in the hallway mirror and was like “WOW that is a skinny mirror like no other. my legs have NEVER looked like that!” and laughed. she giggled and was like “oh is it?” and I was like UM YEAH just wait….. enjoy it while you can you lucky thing…….
Saturday night we went for dinner at drinks with friends at Hobnob. I love their live music brunch on the weekends but this was my first time going for dinner. I had the Zucchini Noodle Pesto Lasagna and loved it.
Sunday morning Kip and I went to spin class. We’ve been making it to the morning classes together on Sunday’s and it’s so nice to get up and get the day going! (and get the workout of the way).
similar tanks : TANK //Â Â TANK
I attempted a new recipe Sunday afternoon
these Peanut Butter Fiber Muffins
and they were awful. Aw. Ful. Ranging from no taste to a nasty taste.
I tasted zero peanut butter I can tell ya that much.
I had one bite, forced my husband to have a bite (ha!),
and then they wen’t straight into the trash can.
I cut my losses and made a batch of Almond Butter Cookies instead, but this week I did Kristin Cavallari’s recipe that has butter + sugar in it because Kip loves those but does not love Gwyneth’s super clean recipe quite as much.
:: Weekly Inspiration ::Â Â
I hope you all have a great Monday!
I hope you all had a great weekend!
Before sharing some pictures from our weekend,
I wanted to share this gem from Old Faithful Navy.
This faux suede jacket comes in 4 colors and feels buttery soft.
And the price (of course) is great – I love me some stores that are always having sales.
also – if you don’t have eBates yet – GET ON IT. Old Navy does 8% cash back!!! Use this link for $10.
// OLD NAVY SUEDE JACKET, comes in 4 colors, TTS or slightly large, I sized down to XS // JEANS // MONOGRAMMED BOOTIES and IN LOVE WITH THIS STYLE //Â LINK NECKLACE, SIMILAR //Â
:: Weekend Recap ::
Kip got back into town from his business trip just in time for a sushi date!
I wore this flowy floral top from this post that is on super sale currently!
// FLORAL TOP, comes in a bunch of solids and prints, runs large, size down // WHITE JEANS, old navy – love these, run TTS and ON SALE // Forever21 BOOTS, here in BLACK and CHOCOLATE boots run TTS// MONOGRAM CLUTCH // MONOGRAM EARRINGS // SIMILAR MONOGRAM NECKLACE //Â
Saturday we met friends for drinks at The Family Dog, and then headed to Superica for dinner.
Superica is so, so delicious!!! I love their food – and their brunch is absolutely amazing too!
Sunday Kip and I made it to 10 AM spin class (I mean, who are we!? So proud of us) and I made us some post workout smoothies (I’m trying hard to get him back on the smoothie wagon….. )
his smoothie recipe // my smoothie recipe
 I have cut down on my fruit, so I only do half a frozen banana in mine,
but he likes strawberries + blueberries + half a frozen banana
We had lunch with my family and then I was craving something sweet (Kip was eating a Cheryl’s cookie and I wanted it so badly but looking at the ingredient list I decided to make a 20 minute healthier option: Gwyneth Patltrow’s Almond Butter Cookies. Â
you can get Gwyneth’s recipe here, and I also have made Kristin Cavallari’s Almond Butter Cookies too! Gwyneth’s are super clean with no added sugar and no butter, but Kristin’s are definitely more delicious and sweet with grass fed butter and coconut sugar.
It was a crazy rainy weekend. Ugh. But I do love getting to wear my red hunter boots!
They are having a big sale on boots right now – my exact pair in black is down to almost $100. These are the best boots for rain and snow! I have the boot socks for when it’s super cold out.
They run TTS in my opinion!
You can shop all of the boots here.
I also did a post on Saturday with another great sale at Tuckernuck. They have SO much great stuff on sale for an ADDITIONAL 20% off with code BIGCHILL.  These earrings are less than $20 – plus free shipping – and so much more.
My earrings that I wore with this black jumpsuit are also part of the crazy sale!
// BLACK JUMPSUIT // I am in size S, runs TTS but is long – I still need to alter length!
//Â FIRECRACKER STATEMENT EARRINGSÂ //
Shop more favorites below :
Have a Happy Monday!
I hope you all had a great weekend!
I had two of my girlfriends in town visiting for the weekend and we had a such a great time!
Friday we went to Barry’s Bootcamp to kick off the weekend on a high note before indulging for the remainder of the visit.
We stayed to shower in their showers because of all of the Oribe products….. when it’s $32 a workout class, YEAS I am going to get my moneys worth.
Later that day we went to Ponce City Market for lunch and hung out on the roof with the fire pits. It was such a relaxing day!
Later that night we headed to West Midtown for dinner and popped into The Painted Duck, the new bowling and game place here in Atlanta. It was PACKED but such a neat space! Definitely recommend it.
Saturday we went to Venkman’s for brunch.
I had been their once to see Yacht Rock (loved Yacht Rock and recommend!) Their brunch was delicious! They have live music and bottomless mimosas and their brunch menu was great! We shared the Blueberry Ricotta doughnuts which were amazing, and I had the breakfast huevos rancheros. They were SO GOOD.
For those with kids, I saw online that they do a Frozen themed brunch in the mornings too!Â
It was finally a gorgeous weekend, so we walked the Beltline and headed to a couple of other spots for snacks and cocktails before heading back home.
If you haven’t tried these Trader Joe’s Frozen Croissants they are worth a try! You leave them out overnight and they get nice and big and flaky. I love the chocolate, but I am not nuts for almonds, so the almond flavor was just okay. William Sonoma makes a plain croissant that I prefer to the almond, but otherwise they are a close second!
Sunday was absolutely gorgeous and almost 70 degress (finally!). Kip and I went on a long walk after the girls left and worked on some home projects. We are having the roof being replaced this week – it’s a pain, but I know it needs to be done, so at least we’ll have peace of mind when it’s over!
I tried this red lentil pasta with some pesto and chicken sausage yesterday – it was good, but not great, and definitely has a different texture than regular pasta.
It has a lot more protein but is still fairly calorie dense, so I’ll probably pass on trying something like this again
I am taking a break from gel/no-chip manicure because my naisl are so thin and week, and I already want to run back and get my french gel. This is OPI Tagus In Ur Selfie
I feel like my nails look awful with just regular polish (slash they do because they are all chipped already!)
I am starting my 30 Day Challenge Today with a visit to Blast for a workout class – more on that tomorrow!
I did this last year and it’s a great kickstart to health + wellness routine after an indulgent two months or so!
You can read about last year’s challenge in this post.
Sunday’s Inspirational Quote for the Week :
Happy Monday Everyone!
and don’t forget…… SUMMER HOUSE STARTS TONIGHT!!!
I hope you all had a great weekend!
We had a great one, filled with more Christmas movies, brunch with friends, a visit to the Miracle Christmas Bar, some home projects, and packing up for our trip tomorrow morning!
I got my nails done with friends and then went to brunch at Hobhob, which we all loved.
The food was great, as was the service, and they had a great live music too! We will definitely be back.
I shared the Breakfast Pizza which I definitely recommend, along with a great omelette. Other orders people liked were the fried chicken fingers, fried egg sandwich, and the chicken burger.
I was determined to get to the Christmas Pop Up Bar before leaving town, so somehow I convinved Kip to go get in line with me at 4:30 for the 5:00 opening. Within minutes of us getting in line it was SO long. We were able to get in the first round – thank goodness, because then it becomes one in one out and the wait shoots to hours on end.
It was fun – and I am glad we went – but it definitely wasn’t anything *that* great. There are so many bars in Chicago that just do Christmas decorations that I felt were more fun than this. I’ll take a cozy Butch McGuire’s over this BIG space that you can tell was just done for the occasion any day. BUT it was fun. And the food was surprisingly good! (Cocktails not as much, but I’m not much of a cocktail drinker anyway!)
Sunday I dragged my tush to Pure Barre, and quickly cancelled it out followed it up by making some Christmas treats to bring in to work today (I’ll share the simple recipe this week!)
Since I swore off fake baking a few years ago (not gonna lie…. I do miss it…. it was so nice to have a base color going into vacation and to not burn so easily!) I am always looking for a good self tanner.
This Express Tanner is THE BEST that I have ever used.
There’s a couple reasons this St. Tropez Express Tanner is amazing :
1. You rinse it off after 1-3 hours, so you aren’t stuck overnight or for hours on end worrying about the color. For light tan, rinse at 1 hour. For medium, rinse at 2. For deep, rinse after 3 hours.
2. It gives an INSTANT tan, and then the color continues to develop for the next 8 hours or so. But if you need a tan quick it gives you that instant satisfaction too!
3. It gives great color, doesn’t have a bad odor, and I have used twice this week with no streaks or messes despite not trying too hard with the application!
4. NO ORANGE. No oompa loompa with this at all.
I shared a fun and easy DIY on instagram over the weekend.
I received this a few years ago at a White Elephant party and it is the most praised Christmas Decoration every year in our house.
All you need is :
A Wreath
Ribbon
Mini Ornaments
Mini Liquor Bottles
How cute is the finished product?!? People will go crazy over it!!
I ordered a ton of the books that you all had recommended and am trying to decide which to pack for the trip! Thanks for your recommendations!
I love reading from actual books, but vacations make me realize that I should maybe consider getting a Kindle or an E-Reader of some sort so that it doesn’t take so much space in my bag!
I just saw that Amazon has this Fire Tablet which would make such an amazing gift.
It’s like an iPad but a fraction of the cost. You can use it as a Kindle, and then like a firestick with access to Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go and all of your onDemand shows, and more – all for UNDER $50!!Â
Have a great Monday!!!
