Essie

I hope everyone had a fabulous Memorial Day. Kevin and I went up to my family's lakehouse and had a great time.

For years I have only bought OPI nail polish. It stays on pretty well and doesnt chip. I recently bought some OPI for Sephora and was not impressed but that is a story for another day...

I have been seeing online that a lot of women like Essie nail polish. I hadn't really even heard of Essie before so on my recent trip to Target I stopped by the nail polish and picked out two colors.

Mademoiselle:

and Lollipop:

I am really happy with both colors. Mademoiselle is very light and perfect for just wanting your nails to look polished, not really painted. I put lollipop on my toes and its a great summer red. My self-given pedicure has lasted two weeks with barely any chipping and my self-given manicure lasted two weeks and probably could have gone a bit longer but it was starting to chip at the edges so I took it off.

Seeing as Essie is about $1 cheaper than OPI I think I am switching over unless I really find an OPI color I love. Anyone else have some favorite Essie colors for me to try out?

Happy Memorial Day!!

I hope everyone has a great Friday and an even better weekend! I know I will definitely be enjoying my extended holiday; I hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend and remembers why we have Monday off.

I want....

We've been in our house for just over 2 years and there is only one room that is missing a big item; the formal dining room. We don't need it except that we are starting to host more and more family get togethers.

Therefore...I think we DO need it! I have been scouring CraigsList for a while and have come across some good deals but nothing I absolutely loved. I have my heart set on this set from Macy's.

I really like the wooden chairs but they also increase the price by a few hundred dollars.

Here are the upholstered chairs in "natural". I really like this option as well; maybe even a bit more than the wooden chairs and its cheaper.

Pretty, right? We will have to get a formal dining set by Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve as we will be hosting a lot of people for one of those holidays. I think next time they are on sale I will bat my eyelashes at my hubby and see if we can order it.

Best Year of My Life.....So Far

Last Friday Kevin and I both took off work and celebrated our anniversary. We had such a great day.

He gave me a beautiful bouquet of handmade oragami tullips. Tulips just so happen to be my favorite flower :) I thought it was a really cute way to incorporate paper as part of the anniversary gift. He also bought me that beautiful handmade Italian vase which I love love love!

And in keeping with the tradition of paper gifts for the first anniversary I gave Kevin a graphite sketch by artist David Bjurstrom. I came across his work at the art festival I attended a few months ago and had to get this piece for Kevin. It's so beautiful in person and the detail is just amazing.

We had lunch at our favorite sushi place and saw Pirates of the Carribean 4 (highly recommend btw) and then relaxed until dinner time. I have a new favorite restaurant...The Boiling Crab. HOLY GUACAMOLE! This place is heaven on Earth. You can get all different types of crab, lobster, crawfish, shrimp with your desired seasoning all cooked up for you. The sweet potato fries were also amazing. I wish I could eat there every day.

I can honestly say this past year has been the best of my life and our second year together is already off to an even more amazing start-I am the luckiest girl in the world to have married my best friend and soul mate.

Anniversary Plans?

My 1 year wedding anniversary is quickly approaching and Kevin and I still have no idea what we are doing. We both took the day off work and have come up with 2 options:

1. Kemah

 It's only about an hour drive from our house and its right on the water. Plenty of restaurants and they have a fun boardwalk where you can play games and go on rides.

Kemah is more low key than option #2 but that also means less things to keep us occupied throughout the day.

2. Galveston

 Galveston has some gorgeous architecture and historic buildings.

 They also have The Strand; block and blocks of shops and restaurants and plenty of live music to enjoy.

 There is also a Moody Gardens. Something fun to do during the day but kind of expensive.

I think there is more to do in Galveston but Kemah is prettier. I can't decide!

P.S. I am so excited to give Kevin his anniversary present! I will post about it after our anniversary on the 20th.

The Perfect Egg

I love eggs. I grew up mostly eating them scrambled but I have started to love them all ways. Kevin makes awesome over easy eggs and for some reason I always mess them up. I break the yolk or the outside is burnt and the inside is soggy. I can't win. THEN I saw this post on one of my favorite food blogs.

It's like magic. You get a perfect egg every time!!! I probably made myself 3 eggs this weekend. It's so easy to do:

1. Spray pan with cooking spray and let it heat up on med-high heat.

2. Crack egg into pan and let the bottom of the egg get white. Add salt and pepper.

3. Add 1Tbs of water to pan and cover for about a minute to a minute and a half.

4. Enjoy!

Box of Stuff

One of the pleasures of having your own home is having your parents give you back all of your "crap". My mom finally unloaded the last "box of Lauren crap" she had at her house. The following is what was inside:

My high school senior portraits.

 A Klein Bearkats t-shirt.

 A book report on the book "Gentlehands". I got a 93/100!

 A clay puppy that I painted. how cute!

 Some random beanie babies and such. Please note the Princess Diana commemorative bear in it's protective case still.

 A clay jewelry box that I painted. Apparently I had a hard time staying in between the lines....

 A deer antler but of course that makes sense!

 My most favorite item from the box. My Sanrio Spotty Dotty coin purse that clips onto your belt loop. I wore this thing so much in elementary school!

 The flower girl basket from my cousin Cindy's wedding. I was the flower girl (duh).

Some really nice cards that I had saved from my dad. Made me smile to read them again!

Pretty interesting stuff, eh? I packed it all back up and had Kevin put it up in the attic with the other "Lauren boxes". Brought some nice trips down memory lane!

Wine Bottle Recycling

Anyone who knows me knows that I love me some wine. I normally recycle the bottles the old fashion way but I came across these cool options to recycle them in your home.

How cool would this be along a garden pathway?

What wine comes in blue bottles? I think I have only had some reisling that came in a blue bottle and i'm more of a chardonnay girl....might have to change it up though.

I am also drooling over these wine torches. I think my mom and I are going to make some for her back yard.

Any other cool wine bottle ideas out there?

BBQ Chicken Pizza Braid

I have been meaning to try this recipe out for some time and just never got around to it. Big mistake-this bad boy is delicious! I found the original recipe over at one of my favorite food blogs For the Love of Cooking. Her pictures are much prettier but I think ours tasted the same. It was super easy to make. I made my normal pizza dough recipe, rolled it out and then cut the outside strips. Filled it in with grilled chicken, bbq sauce, onions, mozzarella & cilantro. Fold over the strips into "braids" (I use that term loosely because mine just looks like a blob) and then bake for 30 minutes.

Really, I think I could have eaten half of it all by myself. Hope you enjoy!