Here are some of my FAVS that I go to year after year…most can be found at Zappos.

Sanuk Yoga Spree 2, (Sanuk’s are made out of yoga mats–THE most comfy flops ever), usually need to size down, $32

Sanuk Ibiza Kina, (I literally could wear these all day long), $40

Sanuk Yoga Spree Funk Black Stripe, $32

Reef Guatemalan Love (perfect for the beach), $34

Reef Leather Uptown, $44

Jcrew Leather Capri Sandals (love the black too–these are great with even dressy sundresses), $49.50

As you can tell, I’m pretty neutral with my flops.  What are some of your favorite flip flop brands and finds?

Boo-hoo….we did not win the Powerball =(  Well, it’s a lazy Sunday, so I whipped up some feel-good food.

I’m all for a little homemade/a little pre-made…..

The easiest guacamole EVER is chopping up a couple of avocados, a tomato and adding this great guacamole mix.  We like spicy….

My go-to soup mixes are Bear Creek.  The Tortilla is delish.  I add ground chicken, corn, some red pepper flakes and let simmer.  Top with a little cheese and tortilla strips….

Never mind the fact that it’s 90 degrees outside today, but if I had to wait until it was “soup weather”–I’d be waiting at least six more months HA!

Are your flowers blooming?  We’re surrounded by these right now…..

The only bad thing is that it means the wasps are back too.  Wrigley is allergic.  How do we know?  When she was a teeny little pupper, she was trying to catch one in the yard…next thing we knew, the wasp was missing, Wrigley was woozy and her mouth was turning white.  A frantic trip to the vet and a shot later—the vet found the stinger IN her tongue.  Our vet still talks about it to this day, something she’ll never forget.

Happy Spring.  Not happy with flying bugs.

I decided it was time to do a little Spring closet cleaning.  Ugh.  I’ve slowly been picking up those “velvet” hangers and getting rid of all of the other ones in the house.  They really do save room and your clothes don’t fall off of em.  Closet cleaning is such a feat, you really have to be in the right mood to tackle it, right?  It obviously meant loads of clothes to Goodwill…and the fun task of color-coding my shirts.  Hmmmm…now that I’m looking at this pic, it’s kind of bugging me that the hangers aren’t the same color.  What is wrong with me?

I remember when I first moved to Florida, I saw one of my friend’s closets and she had an entire section of tank tops.  Coming from Chicago, I maybe had a handful, so this was crazy to me.  Now I’m that person….and this doesn’t even count the 2 drawers of casual tanks.  Hot & humid weather issues will do that….

I came across this thin sweatshirt that I don’t think I’ve ever worn.  I’m pretty sure I bought it at one of those teeny-bopper stores like PacSun, in the sale section for around $12.  Well, it was a tad too tight, so I grabbed my pinking shears and cut off the neck and arms.  LOVE it now!  Dirty Dancing in the house.

I was motivated from my closet haul, so I finally put together the garment rack that’s been sitting in my almost-finished “dressing room”.  If you haven’t been following it, check out the progress HERE, HERE and HERE.  Not much left to do–just a few things to find places for, but I’m excited to have an easy access spot to “plan” outfits on.

I had bought two awesome pieces of art to put over the garment rack, but didn’t realize it would be so tall (which is actually good for all of my long dresses).  Hmmm…not sure what I’ll do with the walls on that side of the room now.

It feels amazing to de-clutter.  Wonder how long I can keep the color-coordination looking good….

Summer is right around the corner (or already here, if you’re like us and live in Florida).  I thought I’d put together some fun things to help celebrate the warm weather and all the time we spend outside during the season.  What are your favorite finds for the Summer?

The details and where to find them:

West Elm Outdoor Metal Drink Dispenser, $29

Crate and Barrel Leave-In Mini Thermometer (for beef, pork & chicken), $3.50

Uncommon Goods Wine Glass Holder (stick a few in the lawn for hands-free enjoyment), set of 2 for $12

CB2 Striped Outdoor Pouf (perfect outdoor portable seating), $69.95

Crate and Barrel Food Tent (keep the bugs out), $5.95

Sears Swimline Corn Hole Pool Toss Game, $39.99

Tiki Toss Original Hook and Toss Game on Amazon (they have these at a ton of beach bars around here, usually nailed to trees, GREAT game for everyone), $29.99

Target Poolmaster Toss N Splash, $15.89

Target Evening Sky Campfire Ring (summer=bonfires), $54.99

Pier 1 Cabana Stripe Pillow (multiple colors), on sale for $16

Uncommon Goods Bamboo Wine Table (great gifts), $22

Pier 1 Silicone Wine Identifiers (haha), on sale for $6.98

Z Gallerie Chevron Tray and Coaster Set, $39.95 and $16.95

Hope you’ve been enjoying the “favorite lists” I’ve been putting together.  It was a suggestion from a reader, so let me know what other “fav list” topics you’d like me to feature.

Today is a special day….dah, dah, dahhhhhh….this is my 700th blog post!!!  Yes, seven hundred!  My very first post was on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 3:10pm.  Holy moly!!!

In honor of it, I switched out the chalkboard with a new saying.  Always a good reminder when you’re thinking of the past…

As I was trying to figure out what I wanted to write about for my 700th post, I decided I would keep it simple and share with you my three favorite WORDS.

You. Are. Loved.

It seems I Love You can be overused and said without absolute meaning at times.  You cannot help but feel true emotion when you tell someone “You Are Loved”.  Try it.  It has impact.  Hearing it said to you–now that takes your breath away a little.

Thank you for being with me on this writing journey.  Most of you have been here since the beginning.  I appreciate it and love having a place to share my thoughts, stories, travel and finds with you.

The Best Is Yet To Be…….

If you know me, you know I am OB-sessed with jewelry, more importantly, a great statement necklace.  I always get asked where I find mine.  The secret is….everywhere.  Most of the time I’ve got my eyes peeled and browse the jewelry sections at all stores–for the right one to add to my collection (it’s a problem).  I do occasionally spend more than I want (if it’s really amazing), but for the most part, I can usually score some great deals.  Thought I’d put together some fantastic necklace finds to share with you–and almost all of them are under 50 bucks!

Here are the details:

1. Anthropologie Coventry Bib Necklace, $58

2. Francesca’s The Strip Colorblock Necklace, $26

3. Bauble Bar Two-Tone Fringe Bib Necklace, $28

4. H&M Braided Pendant Necklace, $17.95

5. Towne & Reese Harlow Necklace, $40

6. Zara Chain, Cord and Stone Necklace, $29.90

7. Bauble Bar Tea Circle Slice Pendant, $42

8. Francesca’s Crete Beaded Bib Necklace, $34

9. Stella & Dot Fiona Bib Necklace, $118

10. Francesca’s Extravagant Blooms Statement Necklace (multiple colors), $48

11. Aldo Theida Necklace, $35

12. Zara Metal Teardrop Applique Necklace, $29.90

13. Anthropologie Fairburn Necklace (in red or dark blue), on sale for $29.95

A fab necklace can really make an outfit.  Stick to the basics and add a pop with your jewels.

I always tell Wrigley that she’s my favorite black dog in the whoooooole wide world…and Goose that she’s my faaaaaaavorite brown dog EVA.  Well, you can imagine the funny reaction I got when I brought this guy into the house…

Hilarious.  I know, not everyone would get excited and snatch up this little treasure, but I did, I did.  I wasn’t sure of what was going to go in that little spot in my dressing room.  This was the winner (I love the unexpected).  I thought there would be some growling and territorial butt-pushing from Goose, but they were both pretty disinterested–other than some initial sniffing.  Guess they’re secure with their status around here (as they should be).  I would if I was them.  I’d want to come back in another life as MY dogs HA.

Oh–ok, picture time again…we’ll sit here by this fake dog for you….

What a good girl Wrigley is.

Goose (aka: Jekyll and Hyde) decided to be nice to strangers today.

Oh–when we were back in Iowa last October for my 20th reunion, I was going through yearbooks and pictures.  That actually reminds me that I’m pretty sure I never did a blog post on that trip.  I need to do that, pronto!  I got some great pictures and had a blast in good ol Iowa with all of my high school peeps.

Anyways, I came across these adorbs pics of my Dad and I and brought them back with me. Um, when were we ever in a photo booth back in the day and the bigger question, did they even have photo booths in the 70s?.  I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them, but they make me smile.  So…I stuck them up on the Iowa City frame.  Appropriate I thought.

How funny that I have bangs again!  As the world turns…

How cute are we?  Hi Dad–you’re a part of the room now (along with the stranger-danger dog)….

Don’t ya just love spontaneous vacas?  Me too!  CW wanted to surprise me with a little stay-cation over in Orlando last weekend.  I’d been bugging him to go to the parks over there for a long time.  He’s from here, so I think it’s a bigger deal to me I’m sure.  Well, kudos to him for the thought and wanting to surprise me, but I’m wayyyyy too curious, ask wayyyyy too many questions and need to knoooooow what to PACK…so he finally just told me haha!!  Sorry.

We headed over on Sunday morning.

Let me tell you–when you don’t have kids with you–stay at the Waldorf Astoria.  Gorgeous hotel!!!  You know I always take pics of our hotel rooms for ya (I want that chevron blanket)….

The view from our room…we booked this side because it faces the nightly fireworks at Epcot/Disney.  Yee haw.

We headed straight to the pool of course!  So relaxing and not very crowded.  There was hardly anyone in the long pool.

Beautiful cabanas, hot tub, fire pits…this was my day in a nut-shell.

Oh–if you ever see these little lined bags around..they make great gifts.  I can’t remember where I picked up mine.  They’re supposed to be for your wet suit, but I always load it up with all of our sunscreens.  It makes it so easy to keep them all together (I do NOT like to get burned, even in the name of being tan), and still be able to use the bag if needed.  Just an fyi for ya….

We actually stayed at the Waldorf in New York last February.  LOVED it.  They have a “clock” here too.  Off to dinner…

Monday we headed to Epcot.

Um—this is hard to say, but I’m not really a huge fan of Epcot.  So sad!!!  I think I expected more, but all of those virtual rides are annoying.  Bring on the real roller coasters.  The flowers are beyond amazing though!  Omg.

Here’s a major tip….Do Not, I repeat, Do Not be a rebel and go on Mission Space-”Orange”.  There are a ton of warnings, signs and handouts that it’s “hazardous” and pretty hard core, but of course we figured no biggie for us.  I saw the “barf bags” when we got into our “shuttle” and knew it.  We Were Wrong.  Should of gone on the tamer, “Green” version.  It was horrible.  We were both messed up and out of whack.  I was literally off-balance for DAYS.  No joke.

We did Epcot in less than 3 hours.  Unless you want to mosey around the “countries” all day, there’s not much to it.  The food options were  kind of disappointing too-even in the country sections.  But, it was a beautiful day out and we still had fun.  I did like the ride Soarin a lot (where you’re flying all over California).  It was cool.

The night-time view from the room.  We decided to relax, order room service and wait for the fireworks.

CW was obsessed with the “men’s spa area” at the Waldorf.  He is a crazy morning person (you know I am not) and would go down to the gym and sauna room every morning at the crack of dawn (which was good for me, because that meant I got to sleep in–yay–I’m on vacation…don’t wake me up)!!!  He raved about the cucumber washcloths, razors, relaxation room, etc.  I guess it rocked.  I’ll take his word for it–I didn’t step foot in the gym.  Ha-shocker.

He texted me from the gym Tuesday morning to tell me that it was monsooning out.  Arghhh…this was the Magic Kingdom day.  NOOOOO.  I turned on the news and it was non-stop talk about how it was going to pour all day long, literally.  Well, since we booked last minute, we would’ve lost the room night, so that made our decision.  Off to Disney in the rain we went.  It must’ve been in the cards for us, because it had stopped by the time we caught the shuttle at 9:30am.  Another great thing about the Waldorf was that they had a free shuttle to Epcot, Disney, Hollywood Studios and Downtown Disney that went to and fro every half hour or hour.  So nice not to have to pay for parking or cabs…and look at this thing.  Swanky.

Oh–side note.  I grabbed a quick Diet Coke on the way out of the hotel–for the one and only time.  $4.99 for this little thing.  Ouch!  CW was laughing his butt off when I asked the gift shop lady if they sold ponchos.  She looked at me like I was crazy I’m sure wanted to say, “ma’am, this is the Waldorf”.

We had brought a ton of water and diet coke with us (the benefit of not flying), but the soda was gone by this time.  I LOVE when hotels have empty refrigerators in the room and not just the mini-bar to store leftovers and beverages.

I was super excited for this park!!!!

The first thing you see when you come in.  You can’t help but appreciate it and feel like a little kid.  Ahhhh…where’s the rain weather people???

This is the money shot of the castle I think.  From the front there are so many people trying to get pictures, but if you go over to this bridge on the side, it’s perfect.

Self portrait time.  I tried to be good and this is the only pic we have of ourselves.  I usually stop quite a few peeps for photo-ops, but figured I’d give CW a break this trip.  He appreciated it haha!  Did ya notice…some days I have bangs, some days I don’t…it’s THE best–options!!!

Again, the flowers…..gorg.

It’s a Small World after all….over and over and over and over.

This was actually a really great day to be there.  We only waited about 15 minutes or so for all of the major rides for the first part of the day…Space Mountain (had to do that one first of course), Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc.  Now–stroller-dodging, that should be a sport.  Man, some people do not budge with their ginormous double-strollers.  They’ll roll on over ya.

We got Fast Passes for Thunder Mountain Railroad and had lunch while we waited.  I also forced CW to go to the Tom Sawyer Island.  Um…let’s just say, he was not a fan.  If you have kids, you should definitely google “treasure/scavenger hunt” for it.  There are some cute maps and stuff that I think kids would love to look for/figure out.  CW is not in that category.

Last ride of the day…Splash Mountain.  We watched people getting soaked, so I cheated and ducked at the appropriate times.  It worked.  The photo of us that you see at the end was funny.  Everyone else in our little log thing was smiling, getting wet, and me–all you saw was my hair–I was full-on ducking HAHA.

As we got back to the hotel around 5pm, it started to sprinkle….at 5pm!!  It was such a fun day.  We got dolled up for dinner, but ended up cozy on one of the lobby area couches and ordered from there.  Delish.

The Tuesday night fireworks were awesome–better than Monday night.  At one point there were two sets going off and lightning at the same time.  Can’t get better than that for the end of a Disney day.

Thanks to CW for my surprise trip over to Orlando.  Felt like a kid, felt like a pampered adult.  Muah!!

Who isn’t obsessed with finding the perfect hair products?  It’s addicting.  It might be a disease.  Since I shared my Favorite Skincare and Makeup Products, I had to continue with breaking down what’s worked for me and my hair.  Now granted, I have FINE, I mean, F-I-N-E hair, so my favs might not work the same for you.

Let me give you some details.  I’ve gotten away from using shampoo and conditioner and lean towards cleansing conditioners.  They don’t weigh my hair down as much and I need all the va-va-voom volume I can get.  Chaz Dean’s WEN Cleansing Conditioner (Fig is my fav) has been around for years.  CW and I both like these.  I do notice that my hair doesn’t dry out as quickly and it’s amazing for color-treated hair!!

The WEN styling product I really like and use the most is the Replenishing Treatment Mist.  It’s great for days that you aren’t going to wash your hair and need a little life.

Since it can get a little expensive and you have to order it online, I’ve been experimenting with a couple of new cleansing conditioners that I found at Target.  You know, that whole “no sulfate” thing is ha-uge right now.

L’Oreal EverCreme Cleansing Conditioner.  This makes my hair so soft.

Salon Grafix Cleansing Conditioner

Bumble and Bumble Styling Lotion before blow drying.

Garnier Fructis Serum.  I’ve tried em all and this is the only one I use consistently.  Not sticky and really lightweight.

One ‘n Only Argan Oil Spray Treatment.  I hate fly aways.

Moroccanoil Treatment Light.  Pretty pricey, so I don’t use it all the time.

Pantene Hairspray Fine Hair Touchable.  Not sticky at all.

Got 2b Rockin’ It Dry Shampoo (they also make a Dry Conditioner).

Catwalk Curls Rock Amplifier.  This is the ONLY thing that CW will use on his precious curls.

If I’m going for a “beachy/messy” look, I use the Bumble and Bumble Surf Spray

I can’t do this post without mentioning EXTENSIONS.  I am a big fan of clip on hair extensions.  I did a ton of research last year and ended up getting some from HeadKandy.  I think I originally bought the 20″-22″, but I had my hair lady dye and cut them for me–to exactly match and blend in with my  real hair.  I could’ve probably gone with the 16″-18″ and saved a little money actually.  Even my hair stylist said they were the best extensions she’d ever seen.  They’re real hair and SUPER thick.  You just clip them in sections under your real hair.  I have baby fine hair, so they give me lots more volume.  No one ever knows I’m wearing them–till I start unclipping them in the bathroom and stick em in my purse haha.  These def get my seal of approval!

I also purchased these Ken Paves Clip In “Bangs”  before I fully committed to chopping off mine.  Sooooo easy!  It was a lot less scary and totally worth trying a little bang-action out before taking the plunge.

I’ve had my Instyler for a long time.  I switch between it and my straightener.  As my friend Michelle and I can attest to, pay attention—this thing gets HOT, HOT, HOT and you can easily burn yourself.

It’s a wonder I even have any hair left with all the crap that I put in it.  Note:  In case you’re wondering, I’m still loving my new bangs =)