{Friday Loves}

Happy, Happy Friday!!! This week flew by, thank goodness! Here are some things I am loving this week....   1.  Kate Hudson I have always been a big fan but holy moly, I think she looks the best she has ever looked and I am so happy she is coming back to TV and movies! Did you see her on Glee last night?  LOVED it!    

2.  My new May Books!

I bought the 2012-2013 calendar and one with lined pages for notes.

I also think these are great for gifts! 

 

      3.  New Baked Lemon Shrimp Recipe I made this on Monday night and it was DELISH!  Another Pinterest recipe success!   Ingredients- - 2 Large Lemons - 1 LB of shrimp, peeled and rinsed - Butter  ( I used 1/4 of a cup but the original recipe called for way more) - 2 TBSP's minced garlic - Italian Seasoning   What to do- - Line a shallow pan with foil.  Slice lemons and lay out flat all over foil.  Place shrimp on top of lemons.  Melt butter in bowl and stir in minced garlic.  Pour mixture over shrimp & lemons.  Sprinkle with Italian Seasoning. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.   

      4.   2 New Books I Read   - My Reality by Melissa Rycroft Easy, cute read about what lead her to go on The Bachelor, her time on the show, the heartbreak she went thru when Jason dumped her in from of millions of people for someone else, and her life since the show, with her husband and baby girl.  This was not a page turner or anything spectacular but it was cute and cool to her all the inside info about The Bachelor and DWTS.     

    - Love Unscripted by Tina Reber I am not done with this book but I am LOVING it so far.  It is similar to Beautiful Disaster, Thoughtless and other books in that category.  

     

5.  My latest Old Navy dress! Love all of their Fall clothes :)

I have a white scarf and brown knee high boots that I plan on wearing with it as soon as it gets a little cooler!

And on a side note...let's discuss Britney Spears.  I am a HUGE Britney fan.  Yes, she has gone a little crazy the past few years and she may lip sing most of the time but if you have ever seen her in concert you know what an amazing performer she is. 

BUT.... I have watched the last 2 nights of The X Factor and I have a few complaints....

1.  She looks old.

2.  I can't stand the way she claps.  Pay attention next week, it will drive you crazy too.

3.  She needs to fire her makeup artist and hire a new one.

I still love her and love her as a judge but she definitely needs some help in the style/makeup department.

I am afraid she will never be the old "pre-breakdown" Britney :(  

What do you think??

Have a happy weekend!!

Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesday & A Little Blog Love

  I'm linking up with Michelle today for Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesday!  Head over to her blog and join in :)  Here are some of my favorite pins from the past week:    





    And now I need a favor from all of you! A family friend of ours has a really awesome blog, All That to Say, and I need your help with something..... She has the chance to become a ghost blogger for some famous authors out there but she needs some more support from followers.  Please take a second out of your day to check out her blog and consider following her.   I promise you will love her blog...she is hilarious, has the sweetest family and she has an amazing faith in God.  I grew up with her sons and have known their family for at least 15 years.  They recently adopted 2 cute little girls too.  Oh and she loves fried chicken as much as I do :)  So, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take a few minutes to check out her blog!  I will owe you for life :)   Aren't they the cutest???  

     

 

{Elaine Turner City Centre Fall Collection Preview}

On Wednesday, August 29th, I attended the Fall Collection Preview @ Elaine Turner in Houston's City Centre, benefiting the CHRISTUS Stehlin Foundation for Cancer Research ( www.stehlin.org ).  My best friend just so happens to be one of the managers there and this was her first event (plus I had my eye on a really sparkly, fabulous clutch) so I couldn't miss it.    There was wine, yummy appetizers, a photographer and of course, really beautiful accessories, bags and shoes. I pretty much want everything in the store.     

  A little about Elaine Turner:    "Headquartered in Houston's historic Rice Village, Elaine's design loft is directly above her flagship boutique in an art deco building painted the brand's signature color pink. A second store in CityCentre opened in February 2011. “Rice Village is like your chic Aunt from Palm Beach’s living room with hi-shine floors and chandeliers,” says Elaine. “CityCentre has midcentury influences, an indoor/outdoor sensibility, more of a mod edge to it.” The shoe salon with its plush pink couches is at the heart of both stores, inviting customers to relax, socialize and enjoy a glass of pink champagne. The merchandise is a playful mix of her handbag and shoe designs, as well as her favorite jewelry, clothing and home decor. Many of these items can be found in Elaine's own home and closet. In fact, Elaine's first handbag was inspired by raffia, which she was using to re-paper the walls of her Houston home. As a joke, her husband suggested that she should cover a handbag in raffia and voilà - the Jackie bag that launched her fashion empire was born. Her use of exotic materials like raffia, bright grasscloth, glitter hair calf and cork—along with her pink jacquard lining, bamboo accents and crown hardware —became the DNA of her brand."
( via Elaine Turner website )      Some of my favorites:     The Ali Fold-Over Cross Body   ( I have been hinting to my hubby that I NEED this bag badly :) )  

      Jewelry by different designers  

      Clutches, Handbags & Wallets   (this is the clutch I bought!)

   (I bought a wristlet for money/credit cards/iphone in this print)        Boots    

If you don't live in Houston, don't worry, you can still shop Elaine Turner's designs....check out your local Neiman Marcus, Saks and of course, the Elaine Turner website.  But if you happen to live in Houston, head over to the City Centre or Rice Village locations! :) 

Happy Shopping!! 

Vegas & Weekend Recap!

  Well, this should be a post full of pictures from day 2 and 3 of our trip to Vegas over Labor Day weekend but the pictures on my phone and camera are not cooperating with blogger so this will just be a picture less, quick recap.   -Saturday 9/1/12 Slept in, ordered room service, laid out at our hotel pool for a few hours, dinner at The Stratosphere, saw Lacey Schwimmer from DWTS, saw Peepshow with Holly Madison (she had just announced a few days before that she is pregnant! We were dead center, 2nd row...about 5 feet from her and all the other dancers) ,  had cocktails at The Wynn (home of Prince Harry's wild night), danced all night to DeadMau5 @ Tryst Nightclub at The Wynn, drank too much champagne again, went to bed at 3 AM.  My father in law got a table and bottle service again at Tryst and he even had a security guard/body guard for our table.  Any time we needed to go to the bathroom, the body guard took us.  When we were ready to leave, we were escorted out by the body guard.  This is how my FIL does things =)  I could get used to that!   -Sunday 9/2/12 Slept in, watched the fountains at the Bellagio, ate lunch at Olives at the Bellagio, walked thru the lobby's of all the hotels, rode the gondola at The Venetian, took a nap, dinner @ Yellow Tail Sushi in The Bellagio (so yummy), saw Cirque du Soleil's O show ( AAAMAZING!), had a table at The Bank Nightclub (with 2 bodyguards again), partied with Criss Angel, a backup dancer for Kanye West and a new member of the Houston Rockets.  Once again...this is how my FIL does things :)  The Kanye West dancer was texting with Chris Brown and kept telling us he was coming too but he never game.  This may have been the must fun night of my life.  It once again included dancing ALL.NIGHT.LONG and drinking champagne.  Went to sleep at 4:30 AM.  

  I hate it that I can't share more pictures :( Boo.  I can't even upload the rest of them to Facebook. Ughhh... Anyways...it was the most fun, crazy weekend I have had in years, or maybe ever.  I have definitely gotten my fix of Vegas though.  I don't want to go back for another year or 2 at least.  It's been a week and I am finally just now feeling recovered.      And now for this past weekend....   Friday night we had my parents over for dinner and to see hubby's new car and some things we have done to our house.  Speaking of hubby's car...I can FINALLY show a picture.  

  I used to work for BMW so they gave him a great deal on the car that he really wanted.  It was too good of a deal to pass up so he went for it.  And we absolutely love it!  I am now the driver of his Tahoe...I love it but parking it is taking some getting used to.    Saturday, hubby and his best friend headed to College Station for the first SEC game against Florida.  I ran a couple errands, took a 3 hour nap, watched The Lucky One, went to Hobby Lobby, then watched more movies.   Sunday, more of the same...ran a few errands but mostly just laid around and did nothing :)  It was a much needed, relaxing weekend.  I am officially a football widow for the next 6 months so this will be quite a few of my weekends over the coming months.   

  Now onto a busy week ahead! Hope you had a great weekend! xo        

Labor Day Weekend in Vegas- Day 1

  We arrived in Vegas mid afternoon on Friday and checked in at our hotel, MGM Grand.  We only had a few hours before dinner so we just walked around the hotel and had a drink at one of the 20 bars.  For dinner, we had reservations at Sushi Roku. If you are looking for a sushi restaurant in Vegas I would highly recommend eating here or the place we ate at on Sunday night but I will get to that later.  Sushi Roku is in the Forum Shops that are right by Caesar's Palace.  Next we headed over to The Cosmopolitan where we had a drink at the Chandelier Bar while we waited for the rest of our group to get there.  The rest of the night we had a table at Marquee Nightclub for Avicii.  This is not my normal type of music but when you are in the club that is rated one of the top clubs in the world, with 1500 other people dancing and going crazy it was hard not to get into it.  He was AMAZING!! The energy in that place that night made it so fun.  We danced for hours, drank too much champagne and did not leave until close to 3 AM. I have not done that in years...   So, here are some pictures from our first day!  (please excuse the not so great cell phone pictures)    

  Chandelier Bar @ The Cosmopolitan    

 

No idea what the problem is but my computer refuses to save this picture when I rotate it.  But I had to post any way.  This would be my brother in law...loving the Dom. :)    

 Biggest champagne bottle ever.  We could barely hold it! (sorry...this won't save when I rotate it either)    

I found myself and our group on the far left side in this picture! Whohoo! (All Avicii photos from Marquee's Facebook page )   And that is it for day 1... day 2 and 3 tomorrow! :)