kendra scott fall 2016

Last Thursday I enjoyed another great Circle Seven Five event.  One of my favorite parts of this group is that I can combine networking and girl time with things I'm interested in talking about on my blog!  The Kendra Scott store at Preston Center in Dallas was kind enough to host the #CSFpartygirls and give us a look at the new Fall 2016 collection!  You may have seen a lot on my snapchat that night (username: TX.Sass) but today I'm sharing a few photographs of all of the amazing pieces.

The CSF girls sipped on wine (I enjoyed my water!) and had light bites while browsing the store and mingling.  We even got to shop at a discount... There are many perks to being a member of Circle Seven Five!  Ask me more if you're interested (or leave your email below to request an invite... they are still offering a first month free!)  The new pieces are absolutely beautiful!  

my hydrafacial experience

You would think someone like me (someone with a lot of skin problems throughout her life) would have spent a lot of time and money on skin treatments, but that’s just not the case.  Of course I’ve talked to doctors in the past about my breakouts but inevitably I’m told that my acne is mostly hormonal and unless I want to take a pill every day of my life (which I don’t), there’s not a lot I can do.  Being on birth control for awhile helped my skin although it didn’t erase my acne completely.  Trying different skincare targeted to acne has helped, but again never cleared it up.

One thing I haven’t tried is skincare treatments.  I, like a lot of people, have never had a ton of extra income to spend on pricey facials and treatments.  The older I get though, the more I realize that perhaps that has to do more with the way I prioritize my money rather than a problem of simply “not having enough”.  (That’s another subject for another day… something I’ll get into later when I tackle the subject of finances… which my husband and I have been working on for awhile now.  If you’re curious now, you can go read SmartCouples Finish Rich… great read.)

nesting

 Apparently I am in full-on nesting mode.  I'm 26 weeks pregnant and all I can think about is getting our house ready.  Even without the pregnancy, I think I'd still be freaking out a little bit... there's a lot on my plate right now.  We currently own two homes.  We've been cleaning out our downtown condo and getting it ready for sale, but it's not getting done very quickly because there are numerous interruptions.  First of all, Chris works a night shift and sleeps during the day.  I can pack small things and organize stuff, but when it comes to moving boxes, I'm pretty much helpless right now.  I hate that I can't do more and it leaves me feeling pretty down some days.  That and it's just an overwhelming task.  I had grand goals of sorting through everything and not taking anything to the house that we don't need, but that was quickly thrown out the window because there simply isn't time.

csf love

(logo from CircleSevenFive.com)

In the last couple of years I’ve learned a lot about making healthy decisions when it comes to relationships, friends and the people I surround myself with.  This all started when I joined Mary Kay and it was such an eye-opening experience.  I had never really been around such positive women before.  I had never really seen women supporting each other instead of being catty and jealous and clique-y.  It was totally new to me (sadly) and it changed my world. 

(P.S. You can read about being a Beauty Consultant HERE... best decision of my life!)

That was about 7 years ago, I think… I’m losing track!  Since then, I’ve made a conscious effort to make a lot of changes in my life.  This includes deleting some people from social media and in all honesty, deleting some people from my life.  I went through years of really examining the people around me… do they serve me well?  I don’t mean do I get things from them… I mean, do they make me happy?  Do they make me better?  Do they support me?  Do they support my choices and my relationship with Chris?  Do they care about my family?  Do they pray for me?   Along the way I discovered that a lot of people didn’t.  And the people I knew that did… well, I wasn’t really focusing on growing those friendships the way I should.

cactus maxi

Last week I went to coffee with a friend and then we went to TJMaxx.  I had no intention of buying anything but dang it, the clothes sucked me in!  I've been keeping en eye out for comfortable clothing I can wear this summer that will accommodate my baby belly.  I saw this jersey material cactus maxi dress for only $17 and I had to have it!

beauty must-haves lately

I've always had problematic skin... oily to the max plus hormonal breakouts my entire life.  Nothing has changed since my pregnancy.  In fact, for awhile I was worse than normal!  This is sooo frustrating.  There's a few things I've been doing lately, and a couple of different products that I've been using, that have helped out my skin so I'm sharing those today.

pintuck blouse

Hope everyone had a great weekend celebrating Father's Day!  Chris and I had a nice relaxing day at my parents' house, grilling out steaks in the backyard.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to swim like I've been dying to! (omg it's so hot already!!)  My parents replastered the pool and I've been forced to wait until next weekend.  I'm floating around in that pool allllll next weekend, seriously!!

I've been out of town a lot and haven't been to church in over a month.  I have a lot of dresses that are fitting well on me, but this week I wanted to wear pants and a top, so I was so glad that I just got this top from Kohls!  It's really comfortable and lightweight but looks a tad on the dressier side than a few of the other maternity tops I have.  I decided to tie the waist tie around the front to accentuate my baby bump :)  I LOVE the color too!  It's perfect for summer.  

gender reveal

Today I'm sharing our photos from our gender reveal shoot!!  We've known the sex of our baby for awhile, but we really wanted to do something fun to reveal to our friends and family!  Enjoy :)

coffee + lipstick

I'm finally back in Fort Worth!  I've spent the last two and a half weeks in Austin, working on some updates to a house that is about to hit the market.  The design work has been a lot of fun but the go-go-go every day has been exhausting.  Long hours, physical labor and being on my feet all day hasn't been the easiest at 23 weeks pregnant... plus... only one cup of coffee per day! (Yes, I'm still bitching about that)  I'm actually surprised that I was able to go without naps!!  

lately... June 5, 2016

Hey y'all!!  Happy weekend!  I've had a super busy few weeks (what else is new?!) and I haven't had a chance to shoot any new outfits.  BUT I will be shooting a few new things really soon, so stay tuned!  I thought I'd do a "lately" post today and just give a few updates on everything that's going on...

Pregnancy:

Well, I've officially hit the point of needing true maternity clothes.  Even my go-to leggings are too tight around my belly now, so this past week was my first experience with pregnancy pants.