Five on Friday

Happy Friday! We made it through the week and in just a few short hours it will be the weekend, wahoo! I'm linking up again with some of my favorite women for my usual Five on Friday post. Thank you April, Darci, Christina, and Natasha for hosting this every week! one// Sarah Jessica Parker cards at Hallmark I think it might be the southern soul in me but I sure do love me a good handwritten note. Pair that note with some beautiful stationary and my heart just smiles! I travel with lots of stationary on me as every college I visit, I normally leave behind 3-5 thank you notes (so you can imagine I'm going through cards like wild fire). Last night I popped on over in to Hallmark mainly to find Josh a Valentine's card and the worker persuaded me to buy Sarah Jessica Parker's new stationary box set. I'm not too crazy about the price of $12.95 for only 10 cards but I do love the high quality that they are. 

Hallmark
two// 2014 Winter Olympics The Winter Olympics start tonight, need I say more? I'll admit that I get more into the summer games than I do winter, but nothing will ever beat the opening ceremony of either. I think the main reason I love the opening ceremony so much, is for one night the entire world seems to be unified. 

via

three// Birthday

Y'all, this past week my little sister turned 19! Where has the time gone? It did not hit me until her actual birthday how quickly life goes by. She will be 20 in less than a year now and my mind still cannot comprehend that. To me, I feel like we should still be those little girls with cow licks in the top right of this picture. This was the first birthday that I've been away from her for and it was a lot harder than I originally imagined but I sent her lots of love and goodies throughout the day!

four// Godly Friendships

Four years ago this summer, God sent the most amazing lady into my life that has now become one of my very best friend. Emily Sue and I worked at mission camp together for 8 weeks in 2010 and were not that close to begin with but after that summer a beautiful friendship began to develop. My friendship with Em is one of my most prized relationships on this earth and I was more than honored to stand beside her this past August as she married the love of her life in what was truly the most unique wedding ceremony I've ever seen. Over the past few weeks all of her wedding pictures have finally been seen and it's without a doubt that I am so thankful her photographer captured the shot below. I knew there was nothing more I wanted to do than pray for Em and Derek right before their marriage started and it was such a highlight of the day for me. Thank you God for such a beautiful friendship that is truly centered on you!

 Tara Mauldin Photography 

 Tara Mauldin Photography 

five// $75 Sephora Gift Card Giveaway

Lastly, don't forget you have until 11:59PM on Sunday night to enter for your chance to win a $75 gift card to Sephora! I know you don't want to miss out :-)

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Winter Wonderland

By the time you read this I'll be on a plane headed out of New Jersey and into Pennsylvania  That was obviously written before my connection got canceled due to weather in Detroit so I'm staying here in New Jersey one more night (which I am super excited about)! If you've been following the weather, you're bound to have seen the winter weather the North has gotten over the past week. Not to mention if this new snow storm hits just right they might get 31 inches this weekend. Like what? Is that even possible? I do have to say though I have loved every single bit of living in this winter wonderland for the past ten days and yes, my 23 year old self had to go play in the front yard. Who can blame me? We never get snow like this in North Carolina!

Also, don't forget you still have a few days to enter this wonderful $75 Sephora gift card giveaway!

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Sephora Favorities

Happy hump day friends! We are halfway to the weekend and what I hope will be some warmer weather up here in the North. If you visited me yesterday you saw that I've paired up with 4 other amazing bloggers to host a $75 gift card giveaway to Sephora! Today I'm sharing with you all seven of my favorite products from Sephora in hopes that you can find a new favorite product. Don't forget to enter the giveaway below!

one// Naked 3 by Urban Decay ($52): If you've been following my blog for a while, you've probably seen the numerous post I've done on wishing this Naked 3 eyeshadow palette could be mine. While at first it might seem a little pricey, the money I spent on my Naked 2 palette was the best money I've ever spent. I bought mine last spring and I have not even used half of it and it is a makeup product I use everyday. The Naked 3 is on my list because it has more of a pink palette that could brighten any face! two// Tsubaki Deep Hydration Sleeping Mask ($34): Anyone else out there suffer from super dry skin during the winter? No matter how much moisturizer I lather on my face, the dry skin always seems to pop back up halfway through the day. I was introduced to this product a few months ago and my life has been changed. You leave this mask on over night and wash it off in the morning. Not only is the dry skin gone, but your cheeks are left feeling smooth as a babies bottom! three// Be Legendary Lipstick ($20): Every young women needs a nice shade of red to wear out once in a while and this shade by Smashbox is my all time favorite. four// butter Nail Lacquer ($15): One of my favorite colors to paint my nails in the spring is a mature light (baby) pink. Besides Essie, butter is my go to polish and I love the way this beautiful polish adds color to any spring day! five// Pure Beauty Blender ($20): The shade of my face changes with the seasons but I'm not a huge fan of always having to buy new foundation. This blender works magic and allows me to keep my favorite two foundation shades throughout the year while making the transition from my face to my neck look natural.  six// Pout-o-matic Spa Powered Lip Treatment ($48): Okay, this one might be 110% completely random but I love it. I do not like dry, cracked lips...eww! I used to use a scrub almost on a daily basis but this treatment will last for a week! It doesn't hurt one bit and literally makes your lips so smooth and kissable! seven// Stay Flawless 15-hour Primer ($32): Primer became my best friend about a year ago and I'm not sure how my makeup stayed on before I started using it. I love this 15-hour primer because it literally last as long as it's name states. 

Life Could Be a Dream // The Modern Tulip // Southern Abundance // 

Denim & Daydreams // Ready or Not

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February Sephora Giveaway!

I'm so excited to bring you all another giveaway this month! Every girl loves makeup, am I right? So I've teamed up with 4 other bloggers to bring you a chance to win $75 to splurge on your favorite makeup goodies at Sephora! Just in time for Valentine's Day! I mean who can resist this? So treat yo'self and enter below. :) Stay tuned tomorrow to see my personal favorites from Sephora and get an idea on just what you could spend your $75 on!

Life Could Be a Dream // The Modern Tulip // Southern Abundance // 

Denim & Daydreams // Ready or Not

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway will run from 12:00 am EST on February 4th - 11:59 pm EST on February 9th. Entries will be verified, so please be honest. Good luck! :)

February Goals

Happy Monday beauties! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I'm currently watching the snow fall here in New Jersey and let me just say, I thought North Carolina snows were beautiful until I witnessed this amazing show God's putting on here today in the North. 
Well, since it's the first Monday in February I thought I would discuss with you all my goals for the month. If you read my post on January goals you saw that each month I was going to share with you all my blogging and personal life goals. For blogging goals I accomplished 4/5 (which I think is pretty great!): I purchased by first layout from the beautiful Jana Tolman Design, I created a Facebook fan page (just have not launched it yet), I hosted my first giveaway, and I signed up for the Blog Baton (even though I have not heard a response back yet). The only goal I did not achieve was blogging 20 times (I hit 18) but I was still very proud of those 18 post. I hit 4/5 on my personal goals as well: I did better at staying in tough with friends by sending snail mail, texting random day brighteners, and picking up the phone more often to call and see how everyone was doing. I completed and submitted my NC teaching application, I only bought two "wants" this month (both under $25) so I drastically lowered the amount of money I spent on the road, and I've done much better at living in the moment and not focusing on where I'll be next. The only goal I did not achieve was the reading of two books; I read one and I'm halfway through the other so that's a start!
Now on to my February goals:

What are your February goals?