A Little More Shopping- Rosettes, Stila and American Eagle Denim

Well, I pretty much think the picture above says it all. Baby pink. Rosettes galore. I told my husband the sweater was the epitome of who I am as a person. LOL. I got it today at The Limited for (gasp!) regular price. I just loved it too much. The rosettes are large, so a simple camisole is all you need under this pretty sweater. It is crop length. Love it. I can also see it being adorable with pearls.
Baby and nude pinks are supposed to be big for spring, so I'm glad to have gotten a great pink piece to start the season off right! My second purchase was this pretty blouse from Macy's. I believe it was $25.00. It is sheer, so I'll have to wear a camisole under it. I really like the geometric style pattern. It was in the juniors section, which surprised me. Chloe from The Chloe Conspiracy always wears the "Artist" jeans from American Eagle, which look really cute on her, so I popped into AE today to try them on. I know I've been whining about how much I ate on vacation, but I guess I am OK because I was able to get a size 4 (long) jean, which I've never gotten from there before. Here they are: I don't have a pic of me wearing them yet but they fit great. AE jeans tend to stretch like crazy, so the snug fit of them now is perfect. They cost $39.50 which is great for denim. I also stopped by at Sephora to make an exchange, and picked up this cream lip/cheek color by Stila called "petunia." It's a pretty bright pink/peachy color. I've never used cream blush, but I've tried it on my lips already and love it.

The swatch above shoes the pretty warm pinky color. It was kind of a random buy, but I love it. I will try it on my cheeks this week, and report back!

Other than our little shopping trip (my DH got a few things too), today has been a pretty high-energy day.

I once again purged my closet of older clothes I never wear to donate to charity. Then I cleaned and organized to my heart's content. This is my workout clothes drawer!

I want to actually make a Flip video of how I organize my closet, but it needs a little more work before I do that. I need more drawer dividers too.

I also want to thank each and every one of my readers in this entry for being a follower. Today I reached more than 300 followers, so I'm going to celebrate with a contest. I'm actually not certain what the prizes will be yet...I'll have to take a trip to Ulta and see what goodies I find!

Tonight, I will use my Calrisonic for the first time...very excited!

I also have an awesome Motivation Mondays post for tomorrow.

What did YOU buy this weekend? anything exciting? Thanks for sharing your comments with me!

xoxo,

Veronika.

I Got It (Clarisonic) & Other Weekend Buys (Oh, and My Hair Cut)

Well ladies, I finally got it! I went and bought the Clarisonic Mia at Sephora with my 10% VIB discount. I got the pink one. I got the Mia because I like the size of the Clarisonic itself, and the charger takes up less space. Since it is the same brush head, I hope to get awesome results.

I have a strategy for my Clarisonic use. I pray I won't go through a purge period, so to avoid it, I am starting off slow. I am not going to use it twice a day (or even once a day) and I am going to use it only on my non breakout areas (so I'll use it on my forehead, nose and cheeks, and avoid my chin and jaw.)

I will give updates as I use it. I can't use it tonight because it has to charge for 24 hours first. So Sunday will be my first Clarisonic cleaning day.

Here is a pic of my Mia, right next to my Sonicare toothbrush:

Before I get to the rest of my purchases, I'll show you lovely ladies my new haircut. Today was hard because I actually had more cut off than I had planned to. I love it though. I needed it. Basically, my hair was so damaged and snapping off, that my "length" at the back of my hair was actually just the longest part of my hair that hadn't broken off yet, so it kind of formed a "V" at the back. When my hairdresser showed me in the mirror, I was like, just cut it off. David talked me through what he would do, I took at deep breath, and off we went to the washing sink.

I really love how much lighter it feels, and how he took the front layers up shorter. Now keep in mind, this is hair I've been running errands with all day, and laid on the couch with for hours before I took these pics (watching the last episodes of Season 2 of True Blood: love love love):

Here is a shot of the length so you can see how far it goes down my back now:

Here are some more shots of the layers:

Anyways. I really like it. It's a bit shorter, but it's healthier and softer.

I've made a new commitment to myself this year. I want to focus on making everything the best it can be. Taking better care of my hair, skin and body. I want to take my vitamins regularly and just focus on keeping my skin in great condition. Next on my list is a Vitamin C serum for my skin.


Now onto my purchases. My friend Heather (who got married on the beach) wore these gorgeous earrings on her wedding day from Swarovski. I had to have them. Not only are they oh-so-pretty, but they are exactly like my engagement ring! It is the same look of a round center stone with pave around it. Love them. They are the style called "Angelic." They retail for $75.00. I told my husband they were his Valentines day gift to me, and he said I ruin surprises. I think he meant to say "thanks for making gift-giving so easy."


Love them.

I also got this great final sale skirt from Ann Taylor today. It has an awesome animal-print-like texture (and we all know how much I love animal prints). It was $39.98...originally $120, which obviously I wouldn't have paid for it.


I was once again disappointed with my trip to Forever 21. The stock just wasn't great today. I tried about 7-8 things on, and bought one top. It's just a simple pink and black striped top, for $10.80.
It looks kind of shapeless, but it is really nice on. It's actually one of those tops I picked up thinking "this could be very good, or very bad." For $10.80, there wasn't much to lose.

You know I can't resist a Victoria's Secret coupon, so when I got one in the mail for a FREE lacie panty (they are my fave!) and $10 off of any bra, I was sold.

I got this cute animal-print bra for $24.50.

Here it is on VS model Miranda Kerr:

I love her. So pretty. Speaking of Miranda Kerr, how awesome is this recent pic of her ( I believe it's from GQ):

I love her hair...kind of actually reminds me of how mine is now (the length and layers.)

Back to shopping... I got this cute workout headband for $1.50 at Forever 21:

Yes, I wear headbands with bows on them to work out. I still like to have cute accessories. Plus, this one has little teeth in it to really hold hair back.

My final purchase was this awesome bracelet from Forever 21 for $7.50. It looks a lot like some of the ones I've seen at J. Crew and Ann Taylor for $80-$100.

It is much more sparkly and awesome in real life. Very happy to have gotten such a great deal on an accessory I've had my eye on for awhile.

That's all for today ladies. As always, thank you for reading and if you have any questions or comments, please leave them below!

xoxo,

Veronika.

Australian Open Finals Preview

I know this is a football focused blog but I also have a few other sports I like. One of them is tennis and recently I have been following the Australian Open, the 1st grand slam of the year. Tomorrow is the finals and its either world no.1 Roger Federer who might win his 16th grand slam or world no. 4 Andy Murray, who might win his first grand slam ever and end the 74 year drought for a Brit to win a grand slam since Fred Perry in 1936. Even Federer, who beat Murray in the 2008 U.S. Open final, is joking about it.“I know he’d like to win the first for British tennis in—what is it, like 150,000 years?” the Swiss star said after winning his semifinal against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday. “The poor guy has to go through those moments over and over again.” Murray's achievements so far has been amazing. For him to be world no.4 but has never won a grand slam shows to you how much talent he has in his tank. The 22 year old Scot has one of the biggest burdens one person could have, the whole UK and possibly the world when he faces a player most people consider one of the greatest tennis stars ever. It took 17 grand slams for Fed-Ex to even win one which was Wimbledon 2003. This is Andy's 17th grand slam and second grand slam final. Will he win it? I think he is prepared mentally and physically to win it. He is talented, cute, skillful and he said he could have been a footballer if the whole tennis thing was not working. If he has got the chops to win over Rafael Nadal, he can win over Federer. Good Luck Andy, we will all be rooting for you!

John Terry's alleged affair

The whole world is in shock after hearing this startling news. John Terry, captain of Chelsea and England has been having an affair. But not just with any woman, allegedly with former Chelsea and England teammate Wayne Bridge's ex Vanessa Perroncel . The England and Chelsea captain's lawyers won a high court injunction last Friday after learning that a newspaper was preparing a major story about him. There were rumors circulating about it at the Chelsea Training Ground but due to his authority as Captain, no one actually dared to ask him about the rumor. Wayne B was one of the loved players at CFC and he still remains in touch with everyone despite transferring up north to Manchester City. Chelsea will play Manchester City at Stamford Bridge which is few days after an England friendly against Egypt at Wembley. Those two will be interesting to watch if they are both involved in it. But this is not JT's first "away fixture". There were many other woman who said they had something going on with England's number 1 but this is by far the most shocking of all allegations. My entire life, I have had the uttermost respect for John Terry because he is arguably the best defender ever. But maybe now, Steve McLaren might be wondering why he chose such a man as an ambassador for England to the whole world.

Back to the Swing of Things

I wish the title of my post was true! I expected to come back from vacation and get "right back into the swing of things" and that's just not happening.

Our Christmas tree is still up. Our house needs a deep cleaning. I actually DID do laundry, but there's more. Oh and my closet is also a mess again. Massive massive mess and disorder.

We have no groceries, we haven't cooked (I'm eating cheerios and wheat thins with peanut butter for dinner and gross lean cuisines for lunch.)

It's been nearly a week since we got back and I just haven't gotten it together yet. I'm getting my hair done and shopping Saturday (because Lord knows I can't go a week without doing SOME kind of shopping- but at this point, it really should be groceries.)

My one accomplishment this week was actually going to pilates class tonight, where I felt so out of shape it was borderline embarrassing. At one point, the instructor said change levels if you're tired...I'm pretty sure he was referring to me.

So, what's the plan to get things back to normal? I'm going to knock it all out this weekend. If I don't, my entire next week will lag on like this one has, and another seven days will go by with everything out of whack, and I can't let that happen, because I will go nuts.

As many of you know, my husband lost his job last April, and this past Monday he started a new job. I am so happy for him and proud of him, but I will definitely admit it has been a massive adjustment for me, for us both. In addition to being away for a week on vacation, we came back to a situation that was a complete 180 from the last 9 months. I definitely have to learn to divide everything up again now that we are both working.

For example, I haven't done groceries since May. I might have to take on that duty again since I actually enjoy picking out what kind of food we buy. It was nice not to have that on my list though.

Sorry for the boring entry, they will be back to normal next week, when I feel some relief from the sudden changes and lack of consistency going on in my life right now.

I think I'm just one of those "needs to have a schedule" people.

Thanks for listening. Do you still have your tree up? I hope at least one person says yes.

xoxo,

Veronika.
PS- isn't her hair gorgeous? I love the way it's layered! Hair-trim inspiration!

Taking the Calrisonic Plunge & Other Updates

I think I'm finally going to do it (purchase a Clarisonic skincare brush.) I seriously cannot deal with my skin anymore. Today, after a LONG day of work that started with a 5 a.m. wake-up call, I glanced into my rear-view mirror as I was driving home and was horrified to see that my makeup somehow just looked awful, uneven, poorly blended, etc. I don't remember it looking so gnarly this morning, so I thought it must be because my skin is uneven and I haven't exfoliated in weeks, and over time the oils and other grossness just made it seep into my pores and smudge all over the place.

I've heard great things about the Clarisonic including its ability to even out skin, make products work better and reduce pore size.
It's a pricey investment, but after pondering the importance of healthy skin for awhile (prompted, no doubt, by my SPF-70 obsession while sunning myself) I think the investment is worth it to have great skin, since glowing, healthy skin is among one of the most desired beauty traits for most women.

My skin has just been feeling rough, uneven, red and blotchy etc. Of course, I can cover all of this up and make it look nearly flawless...but I don't want to have to do that, I'd rather just have skin that is as awesome as possible on its own. This isn't to say I don't want to wear makeup/a base, but I'd like to be able to not always wear a base and feel good about how my skin looks sans coverage.

Some girls have mentioned there are websites that sell the Clarisonic at a discount price...if you know what these are, please let me know. I might purchase from Sephora anyways, for the return policy and the points, but I'd love to know how they are priced elsewhere online or if you got a great deal somewhere. Feel free to let me know how you liked it in the comments as well!

In other news, I am seeing my lovely David on Saturday morning for a trim. Yep. I have re-evaluated the situation and I don't think it's that bad. I think I was just being a bit dramatic. I do want to have the layers reshaped and the ends trimmed up and possibly bring some of the layers up a bit, but I'd still like to keep the length, because I just love having long hair.

Please share your awesome-skin secrets, products and advice in the comments below!

xoxo,

Veronika.

Blogging: Our Honeymoon

My lovely readers...I apologize for my lack of posting, but I had an amazing time on our honeymoon/at my friend's gorgeous wedding so I'll make this post sort of a fun, lighthearted vacation wrap-up post.

Before I start, I'll share our finally blogged wedding with my fellow wedding-obsessed readers. Our amazing photographer Craig, at Studio 563 blogged our wedding here. You can also view his entry about our wedding being published here. Seeing those photos just brings back all of those lovey-dovey wedding day feelings. Sigh. It was awesome to come back home and see this.

Speaking of weddings, my gorgeous friend Heather married the love of her life Matt on the beach at the Majestic Elegance Resort in Punta Cana. She was stunning, and the wedding was absolutely incredible, beautiful and most of all FUN. They built a dance floor on the beach that was slightly elevated and we danced the night away (which IMO is the most fun a wedding can get- eat, drink and be merry...and dance all night!)

Here are a few shots of the stunning bride and her groom. Congratulations you two, love you guys! (They are on their honeymoon in St. Bart's and probably won't see this for awhile...but, here we go!)


And here's what I wore to the wedding: (Dress- Lulu's, Belt- Club Monaco)

Most of our vacation was spent laying on the beach and by the pool. I got a decent tan, but not nearly as dark as I used to get. I am so paranoid about skin cancer and wrinkles, that I wore an SPF 70 on my face the entire time and SPF 70 on my body for the first few days (I later switched to SPF 30 on the body.) Better safe than sorry, right? I did manage to burn my chest area on the very last day, but otherwise I am OK.

Here are some pics of the pool area: (so pretty)

The pool basically ran down the entire length of the resort. I laid-out on that ledge a lot reading on a pool chair: (That's Emily Giffin's "Love the One You're With" novel, which was really good.)


Here are a few beach shots:

I like to call this hair "wind-blown chic" LOL!



And some evening shots:

My awesome low-back VIX dress:

We had a wonderful time. The resort was beautiful. The customer service was a little off, but overall we had an incredible time!

Thank you so much for reading and there is a lot more to come now that I'm back to regular blogging...I've got some great "Motivation Monday's" posts coming up and some hauls and product reviews.

So, tell me- what did I miss last week in the blogosphere? I am working on catching up!

xoxo,

Veronika.

Spotlights on...Nicklas Bendtner!

Today's spotlight is on Nicklas Bendtner. He plays for Arsenal F.C and is the true living proof of young talent. Before Arsenal, Nick played for F.C Copenhagen before joiningArsene Wenger'sarmy of youngsters and so far, he has scored 42 goals for Arsenal and he has only been playing for the Gunners for 3 seasons which is an accomplishment by itself.

You see those abs.Heavenly! Okay...lets play a game. Divert your attention from his abs to a lower part of his body and no i don't mean that. Look at his boots. What colour are those? Yes, hot pink. He is very famous of wearing the "Nike Mercurial vapor Rosas". He just loves them. Why? Because he didn't have any pink boots when he was young. Well, it was for a reason.
During the 2006/2007 campaign he was loaned out to Birmingham City which he made 42 appearances and 11 goals. Not bad, Nick. He also has made all Great Danes in this Earth proud by helping them qualify for the 2010 World Cup. Because of his patriotic contributions he was awarded the Danish Footballer of the Year Award 2009 by his country.
IF you had thought this was Nick's mom, you were wrong. This is his rumored girlfriend who is btw, 13 years his senior. I didn't know you liked cougars, Nick. They met when Nick was a guest star on some Danish renovation program or some sort and his now GF, Caroline Fleming who was on the show to renovate her castle(yup, castle, i'll tell you later) to a museum alongside her millionaire banker then hubby. Why does she even have a castle? She is a Baroness to the Danish Royal Family.

POV: Nick is a cute,sexy,gorgeous, sexy,handsome, did i say sexy. Yes I might have a crush on him but there is no doubt that Nicklas is a talented striker who has made his star shine after Arsenal's second main man, Robin van Persie was sidelined due to injury until the end of the season. Best of Luck to you Nick on being one of the Best Strikers in the World.

Currently: Recovering from having a groin surgery. Just celebrated his 22nd B'day. Will recover in about 3 weeks. cant wait to see him netting more goals.