Must Have Monday

Since this week is my beach trip, and piggy backing off last weeks post, I figured I would add a few more Must Have Monday beachy items! 

As I said last week I love the sand but I hate bringing it home with me! If you don't own a pair of Havaianas go right now to their website or your nearest Nordstrom and get a pair. They are so comfortable and come in every color imaginable. I went with the solid gold because it goes with every swimsuit!

Along with flip flops you also need a good beach hat! I love this Panama hat from Jcrew! I cannot wait to wear mine on the beach! Along with a panama style hat every girl also need a good floppy beach hat like this one from zappos. I got my floppy hat last year at target and love it!

Now grab some sunscreen and head to the beach!

Summer scents

I have worn the same perfume for literally 9 years until this past year when my mother decided to hijack my scent.... so long Coco Mademoiselle! I have been on the hunt for a new smell for the last year and have yet to find anything I was really crazy about. When my husband and I were heading to St Lucia for our honeymoon I stopped at Duty Free and bought a bottle of the then fairly new Jimmy Choo scent. I liked it a lot, kind of floral kind of sweet but not too much. However it still wasn't like my Channel where I loved the smell. Needless to say within the last 2 months I have found 2 new scents that I love! I am normally a 1 smell kind of girl but have decided to venture out and get 2 and here are my favorites!

See by Chloe is such a clean summer smell I absolutely love it! It's definitely a blossomy floral scent but yet has jasmine in it that gives it a different note. It's unlike any perfume I've ever smelled before and perfect for the upcoming summer month. This is definitely a fragrance to put on for every occasion!

Miss Dior Eau De Toilette is my newest scent. I was shopping with a friend and we stopped to smell it and I immediately without thinking twice purchase this bottle! The pink bottle is a much different smell than the normal yellowish bottle. I think the pink is more floral and the yellow is more musky.This scent is very similar to the Channel which is drew me to it with it's patchouli tones, yet not as strong. It's the type of scent I want to put on when I'm all dressed up and have a special date night planned! This is a good year round scent, not too much floral and not too much musk!

Must Have Monday

Call me the bag lady, but I may have a slight addition to bags of all sorts! This weeks "Must Have Monday" is a good beach bag! I absolutely love anything by scout because it's durable and they have tons of cute prints. I recently got the original deano to take on a beach trip. It's so roomy and folds up easily to fit in a suitcase. My favorite part about this beach bag is it's made from Polypropylene (similar to nylon)which means it's pretty sand proof. I have so many cute straw beach bags but I hate that they always attract sand. Though I would love to always bring back a piece of the beach with me, a sandy suitcase is not the way to do it!

Here are some pics of my new original deano

The straps are very sturdy and lined with hot pink which is so cute! The bottom is a hard rectangle form so you don't have to worry about the bag sagging. I don't have it open all the way in the bottom right picture but it opens very wide and you can put a lot of beach items in it!

Easter Dress

If you've followed my blog since last year then you know how I feel about Easter dresses, you must buy a new one every year! You can see last years post here! This year we are going to the Saturday night Easter service at our church since we have family coming in town to help us plant our garden. This will be the 1st time (probably in my whole life) that I have not been to church on Easter Sunday. However I still had to buy an Easter dress!

I don't own a lot of purple, not that I don't like the color I just usually gravitate towards other colors, but my best friend (who loves purple) gave me the push to purchase this Dorthy Perkins dress. I have just recently been introduced to the DP website and it's amazing! The sizes are European so I went several sizes up with my dress and it fits perfectly. What I love most about this one is I can dress it up with heels and big jewelry or dress it down with flip flops and simple jewelry! I picked out some cute accessories to go along with it and luckily most of them were on sale!

Dress/ Necklace/ Bangles/ Shoes/ Clutch

I hope everyone has a great Easter weekend and enjoy time celebrating our risen savior!

Must Have Monday

I've decided (after seeing so many other blogs with series going on) to jump on the wagon of some good finds! For the next couple weeks I'm going to feature "must have" items every Monday so be on the lookout! It's going to be anything from clothing, shoes, jewelry, and make up, to home items and food of course! This week's must have is a planner!

I know we all have phone's with calendars to keep track of things but there is something special about a planner to me. I have always been an organized person and I love the process of writing things down. Erin Condren is a saint for making such an easily organized planner. I literally would be lost without this!

The outside is totally customizable. There are tons of prints to choose from and you can select upper case or lower case letters. You can also have your full name and not initials. I love how the months are tabbed out in different colors! I also chose an extra tab to keep my pen connected to my planner.

Something I love about this planner is you have a month view as well as weekly view. Since I work normal business hours I keep most meetings on my outlook calendar so the weekly view is perfect for me.

There are several blank pages in the back to take notes as well as a "contacts" section! 

There's also a slip to keep business cards or notes in. I love the little labels to add to each day you have random things going on. There is a "zip lock" type section to keep things you may be worried about falling out!

All in all this is a great planner if you don't need an hour by hour view! If you use another type of planner please share with me because I am always open to new suggestions!

Faith

Such a simple verse but something that stands so true in my life. Without faith I have no clue where I would be and I'm so grateful to have it. There are so many things that have happened in my life that without faith in God I know I wouldn't have been able to survive! Today I am thankful for a faithful God, loving family, and wonderful friends! Sometimes it's good to stop and pause in this crazy busy world we live in and just appreciate life!

Heaven Gained a New Angel

"Dont worry bout the mule goin blind just load the wagon, he know's the way home"

"waffles and syrup or cinnamon toast, it's cocoa puffs and animals I love the most"

These are just some of the silly sayings my Pa always said to us our whole lives. I'll never understand why my Pa was taken away so unexpectedly from us but I do know I cannot wait until that day we are all reunited in heaven. He was more than a grandpa to me, he was a dad, a mentor, a role model, and a best friend. I became a Bama fan as a little girl just so I could be more like him! He was the best man the world have ever known and is greatly, deeply, and earnestly missed! Love you James Allen Shepherd (pa, polly pocket, james allen) :)

"Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.  You know the way to the place where I am going.”- John 14:1-4

SJP at Nordy

If you haven't heard by now that SJP launched a shoe collection for Nordstrom go to the website NOW! As we all know she is a major shoe lover herself, from Sex & the City to her everyday real life she always has the most fabulous shoes. But let's face it we cant all sport a pair of $700 shoes (though I love these) everyday. Who am I kidding I don't own a pair of $700 shoes! But her new line at Nordstrom is close enough to reach that you can save up for a month and splurge on these shoes to feel like SJP for a day! The prices range from $195- $400ish AKA I would wear her shoes everyday because she is so fabulous!! Here are some of my favorites from her new collection...enjoy!

1./ 2./ 3./ 4./ 5.