Friday Favorites - January 20th 2017
Happy Friday...again! Where is the time going? The past seven days is a blur. TGIF.
Today I'm linking up with Erika, Andrea, and Narci to share my favorite highlights from the past week. I enjoyed sharing this last week so think I'll keep it up. It allows me to share a little more than just a neat outfit idea or great sale, although that will hopefully always still be included! You can't score a great deal unless you shop, right? ;) No, no, nooooo! New Year's goal = shop less. I guess I need to call in the reinforcements on that one.
Moving on...my favorite moments/items/highlights from the past week are below, in no specific order.
Favorite #1
Rocks Box! Seriously. I received a 3 month subscription to www.rocksbox.com from my LPIC JMo for my birthday, somewhat as a guinea pig. The idea of Rocks Box is that while you have a subscription you get to try out three pieces of jewelry at a time. You go through a questionnaire to create a profile of the styles, colors, metals, stones, brands, etc. that you are normally drawn to and then you can peruse items to select as a "wish list". You then also indicate if you have any specific functions coming up (i.e. I previously had New Years and holiday parties to indicate). Your "stylist" then selects what to send you. You may or may not get items on your wish list depending on their availability. Once you receive the package in the mail (fast, and prompt delivery), you can wear them for however long you'd like (during your subscribed time of course) OR you can mail them back (one of all of the items) that you don't like or no longer want to wear that ANY time. Rocks Box includes a prepaid shipping label to send it right back and as soon as the shipment label is scanned into the system they allow you to pick out your next wish list items and BOOM. Immediately the next items are in the mail to you. The turn around time is FAST.
What's neat too is that if you like the items you receive you can buy them at a discounted price. Double win. I've really enjoyed this 3 month subscription so far as it's allowed me to try jewelry I haven't wanted to spend the money on or haven't been sure I'd really wear certain things all the time although they're so pretty (and I was right). I have another month to go. Wish me luck! I think I just have too much jewelry that I don't get to wear often enough as it is. WHO says that?!?!? Ultimately though, I think it makes for a cool gift and something I'd considering giving to someone else in the future.
If you want to join www.RocksBox.com, you can use my referral code: rebeccabbff522.
Below is just an example of some Kendra Scott Addie earrings I sampled this past week in gold/rose gold. =)
Friday Favorite #2
I made this Paleo cake for my friend Emily's birthday last weekend. I think the recipe I followed for the cake part needs some tweaking. I winged it on the Paleo chocolate covered strawberries and Paleo "ganache" but I think those turned out great. I was very pleased with how the cake looked! I rarely bake for aesthetic appeal, mainly because I am just not that gifted. This time it turned out really pretty! I'll share the recipe for it on Monday (stay tuned!). If you need recipes or suggestions in the mean time you can check out my previous recipe posts or email me!
Friday Favorite #3
Finishing the half marathon has to be on this list because ummm...ouch? I'm not 100% sure why this half was harder for me than the ones before and when trying to determine what is different the only thing I could come up with is that I have been eating so differently with Whole 30/Paleo than I did when I ran the half twice, two plus years ago. I literally hit a wall between miles 8-9 slooowwwiiinnnggg down to a point that several times I looked down to see if my feet were still moving. How I was making progress, I am not sure because I literally felt like I had lead stumps by that point.
What you see in this picture is me looking down to gauge if the pavement was moving at all, literally my mind saying, "Yes, GO!" My body was saying, "Nope. No more."
Why's that girl smiling over there? What's her secret?
But, I made it! Woot woot! Hooray!
If you have any curiosity as to how long and hard I have worked to getting to the point to be able to even run ONE mile, you can check out my Health & Fitness Journey post here.
Favorite #4
My post half marathon recovery landed me on my living room floor to stretch with dripping wet sweaty hair (sorry y'all), drinking chicken broth. I was sprawled out in this location because its the largest area in my apartment to spread out to stretch, NOT to watch myself in the mirror. I don't normally take photos while writhing on the floor, however when I rolled over I did take a moment of serious reflection and observation at just how great my makeup stayed on during the run, especially my red lip stain. Who's the real MVP that day? My Sephora Collection Cream Lip Stain is totally the MVP for the win. I wore "01 Always Red - matte bold classic red" over my Ulta Automatic Lip Liner in "Scarlet - medium bright red cream". I also use this lip liner when I wear the Loreal Le Matte - Mad for Matte that I mentioned in last week's post.
I'd also like to give an honorable mention to my all time favorite Estee Lauder "Double Wear Stay-In-Place" foundation and Estee Lauder Double Wear "Waterproof All Day Extreme Wear" concealer too because they too stayed on great despite the excessive sweating in the Houston humidity. #winning They work great to cover my Rosacea too.
Favorite #5
I ordered this "Wool Sidewalk Skirt" from J. Crew Factory before in other colors and returned them because of the fit. Turns out, I just needed a smaller size. I've eyeballed it forever and kept reading the great reviews wondering WHY it didn't look the same on me. Well, I got the memo finally and when it was on super clearance recently I took the chance to order it a size smaller (on final sale no less) and it fits great! I love it. It is so comfortable and cute. Because of the elastic waist you can wear it as high or low as you want which also makes it cute with boots. I sported this outfit to work on Monday and now wish I had more in other colors!
*Side note: this skirt's color is perfect for Valentine's Day or Christmas. Just sayin'. For the exact J. Crew Factory skirt click the links within the text above.
I can't locate the exact skirt on ShopStyle, but I have rounded up similar ones if you're interested in this complete outfit. You can click here to shop this look or copy and paste this link into your browser: http://www.shopstyle.com/collective/everypiecefits/42639286
You can check out previous posts I've shared with some "fashion" bargains by clicking here.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday and an even better weekend! If you enjoyed this post please share it, and make sure you're subscribed to receive new posts via email so you don't miss out on future posts. *Note, you do not have use Blog Lovin' to subscribe. That is a 3rd party site that is helpful if you read multiple other blogs.
XOXO
