Linking up - Purple & Brown

Greetings everyone - I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  The weather was so nice this past Saturday, I decided to take my photos outside to play along with two birds and their Inspiration Monday link along.  If you haven't played before, click here to check it out (and get some happy news at the same time!) 

This week's photo is Miss Taylor Swift looking snuggy in hat and coat...

I grabbed my purple pea coat and hat and off to the park I went!  I get so many compliments on this coat because of the color.  Most people think Black or Navy when it comes to a pea coat but I went out on a limb when I bought this last year and went with color!  I definitely feel visible when I wear this coat so I'm also linking up with Patti over at Not Dead Yet Style for her Visible Monday link-party!

I've always wanted a pic of me throwing a hat in the air and the hub happily obliged by snapping these pics and about 100 others but these were the ones I liked. 

Although there are few similarities between my pics and Taylor's, I was inspired and I hope you were too - can't wait to see what everyone else wore!

Have a fabulous week!

Birchbox #3 - UPDATED

UPDATED & REPOSTED: I am so excited to have just found more BB lovers! I'm linking up with Jennifer over at Vintage Gwen and Allison over at Feeding My Temple for a beauty product party! I'm so excited to find fellow bloggers/product junkies! Check them out and link along here if you can!

Good afternoon lovelies! I'm wondering if I'm the only one who has a drawer like this tucked away some where in their home... Am I alone in my organized hoarding???

I never have to buy makeup, moisturizer, bath gel or hair products again in my life - but, oh, I will!!! This is what my monthly delivery of my Birchbox brought...

Lots of goodies as usual! I really love the Origins products lately so I have a face wash from them I'm anxious to try, there is a perfume sample from Juicy Couture (Mmm, Juicy! LOL!), waterproof eyeliner in a lovely brown/copper shade by Stilla that I'll be smudging on and a few other treats! Let me at them!!

Not sure what a Birchbox is? Check them out here. I shall return shortly when I've had a chance to wash, spritz and line my way through my latest goody box!

THIRSTY THURSDAY!

Good morning my friends - (my) Friday is finally upon us!  Nothing is better in the morning (as a brunch cocktail or hangover cure) or on a cold day than the spicy tomato flavor of a Bloody Mary.

You can make it as spicy or mild as you want, using either more or less hot sauce, or (better yet) add some horseradish instead! Bloody Marys are often garnished with a celery stalk, but many will either use a pickle spear or both.  Here is a lip smacking delish recipe for our Thirsty Thursday!

Ingredients:

3 oz tomato juice

1 1/2 oz vodka

1/2 oz lemon juice

1 dash of Worcestershire sauce

celery salt

ground pepper

hot pepper sauce to taste

celery stalk and/or pickle spear for garnish

lemon and/or lime wedge for garnish

Preparation:

Add the liquid ingredients in a highball glass over ice cubes.

Mix well.

Add the seasonings to taste.

Garnish with the lemon and/or lime wedge and celery stalk.

CHEERS!

Linking Up (Lazy Like & Layered!)

Hello dahlings!!  Today I'm linking up with the Pleated Poppy for What I Wore Wednesday.  If you're not familiar - check it out here!  So the gist of the dealio is that you take a pic of yourself each day during the week and post your outfits on Wednesday.  Kinda makes ya wanna spruce yourself up a bit - like run a brush through the old mat and put on shoes in place of the bed slippers - when you know you're sharing it with thousands (or in my case tens) of other ladies!

I wanted to participate but I'm really bad about taking outfit pics so I cheated (twice this week!) and recycled my pics from my last few outfit posts because I wanted to play along and didn't want to just post one pic.

It's funny because when I put all of my pics together, I noticed something very familiar about them all............ I likes me layers!

I wore this to work.  I couldn't find the right look with the light pink sweater so I added a brown belt (to match the boots and pants) and a cardi and away I went!

Wearing a short sleeved cardi with a long sleeve top underneath.  This layering technique had never occurred to me until I saw a fellow blogger do it - brilliant!

Trying out my new thigh high black boots with leggings.  I was never a belt person until I saw a fellow blogger wear one under a cardi - another fashion tip I stole picked up!

Sash-ay, Sash-ay!  LOL!  Still looking for outfits to wear my thigh high boots with -  but really - this look is about the attitude!  By the way - the cuffing of the jean - another bloggy steal!

Do you get ideas from your fellow bloggys???  Which ones are your favs????  I'm always looking for more ideas and friends!

Birchbox #3

Good afternoon lovelies!  I'm wondering if I'm the only one who has a drawer like this tucked away some where in their home...  Am I alone in my organized hoarding???

I never have to buy makeup, moisturizer, bath gel or hair products again in my life - but, oh, I will!!!  This is what my monthly delivery of my Birchbox brought...

Lots of goodies as usual!  I really love the Origins products lately so I have a face wash from them I'm anxious to try, there is a perfume sample from Juicy Couture (Mmm, Juicy!  LOL!), waterproof eyeliner in a lovely brown/copper shade by Stilla that I'll be smudging on and a few other treats! Let me at them!!

Not sure what a Birchbox is?  Check them out here.  I shall return shortly when I've had a chance to wash, spritz and line my way through my latest goody box!

Thirsty Thursday!

Thank goodness it is Thursday.  Even though I had a three day week, it was exhausting - bring on the weekend!!!

A shout out to my fellow lushes imbibers!  Raise the roof!!!  Sometimes you need to just get in and get out so this week's cocktail for Thirsty Thursday is a shot! 

As the temps get lower and work gets crazier, I find myself counting the days until the hubs and I go back "home" to Jamaica (50 days!!!!) and then I think of rum.  Ya, mon!

24K Nightmare

1/2 oz Goldschlager
1/2 oz Jägermeister
1/2 oz Rumple Minze
1/2 oz Bacardi 151 proof rum

1. Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice.

2. Shake and strain into a shot glass.
3. Bottoms up!

Cheers!

It's a fine line...

Happy Monday!!!  I've had my coffee and I'm awake now so HEY!!!!  Ok, easy on the caffeine...  Anyway, I'm kinda-sorta cheating because I'm repeating this post and linking up with two birds for their Inspirational Monday.  Mostly because I have not had time to take any new pics but also because this totally goes with their theme this week!

I've been seeing these great outfits with women wearing the knee high boots so I found I pair that I really liked and ordered them.  The problem is finding the right outfit for me to wear them with without looking like this...

I don't really wear skirts so I found that black leggings is the way to go but with my ample thighs, I needed something longer on top to cover a multitude of sins!  I tried various colors but found that all black is really the best choice - looks slimming and acts as camouflage!  This is how I wore them...

Since I'm recycling this post from last week, I can't really claim to have been inspired by this Eva Longoria pic but perhaps she was secretly inspired by me??!!??

She's too cute!

I have my sweater boot toppers on in this pic too but since everything is black, it's really hard to see them.  Here is a closer look.

And a pic without the boot toppers.

I like them better with the toppers on them.  What do you think?

Do you have a pair of knee high boots?  How do you wear them???

Bringing it back!

Good afternoon! 
You may or may not recall a little weekly feature I use to do called Thirsty Thursday?  I use to post a beverage recipe each Thursday because I don't work on Fridays and Thursdays ARE my Fridays and besides, who needs a reason to have a cocktail?  Not me!!!

I haven't posted one since August so as crazy as things have been at work and the fact that I have a FOUR day weekend (off Monday for Martin Luther King Day!), I thought a cocktail recipe is just what I need. 

I have been SUPER busy at work so in order to wind down and get ready for the weekend, I figured tequila needed to be involved and this recipe sounded tasty!

Cosmoquila
2 oz Tequila
*1 oz Cointreau
*1/2 oz Fresh Lime Juice
Shake ingredients in mixing glass with ice, then strain into a cocktail
glass.

* Means these are optional!!!

CHEERS!

Birchbox #2 - Review

So you may recall my last Birchbox had lots of goodies like hair oil, perfume, lip gloss, etc.  If you missed it, click here.

There was one product that stood out above and beyond the rest.  So much so that I bought the full size version already.  That product was...

The PORE-fessional made by benefit.  I had never tried their products before but this is going to be a new staple for my makeup bag from now on.  I have large pores on my nose but was hesitant to use this because I have a really oily T-Zone and I have used primers in the past but they just seemed to make the problem worse.

Not this one!  It reduces the appearance of large pores without making your face oily and gives a matte finish - J'adore!! 

If you have the same issues, give this stuff a go and let me know how it works out for you. 

Loving Layers!

My name is Shayla and I'm a cardi-aholic!  I have tons of cardigans.  I just really like to layer, mostly because the office I work in is notorious for being unpredictable temperature wise.  I have a fan on top of my desk and a heater under it.  At any given time through the course of the year it could range from freezing to stifling hot so we've learned to dress in layers as a matter of office survival!

Another plus to cardigans - you get more wear out of your wardrobe.  So those short sleeve or even sleeveless tops you would typically have to stash away during the colder months can be worn under a cardi and no one would be the wiser!

I'm just trying a couple different looks here and linking up with Tammy over at SilverStyle for her Trending Through the Decades: Layers post - check it out here!

Cardigan closed...

Semi-opened... Hmm... not sure...

Gotta get a close up at the bracelet I bought in San Antonio.  It's prettier in person because it catches the light and sparkles - Oh, shiny....  Where was I?  LOL!

Come and link up with Tammy and the gals over at SilverStyle!

I was inspired!

Good morning everyone!  I'm linking up this week with two birds for their Inspiration Monday challenge.  If you don't know what it is, click here and check it out.

Here was this week's pic...

I'm not really a polka dot kinda gal but I found myself with two black and white polka dot tops to choose from.  I liked different things from each top so I layered them and came up with this...

I'm wearing my knee high boots too because I'm experimenting with new ways to wear them.  I wasn't feeling the polka dots though...  So I tried something else.

That's better!  I've been trying to find something to wear this cardi with and just haven't really liked anything so far.  I've had this cardi forever but I can't remember what I use to wear it with.  If I get tired of wearing something, I will sometimes tuck it away for a year or two then pull it back out and put it back into circulation which is what I did with this.  I think I'm liking this look so even though it's nothing like the original pic, I was inspired by it!

The best part of my version of the polka dot look was my earrings which you can't even see so here's a close up...

I love these!  A flea market find - real turquoise and sterling silver.  I remember I paid a hefty $15 for them - that's top dollar at a flea market - but I really liked them and think it was worth every penny!

I can't wait to see how you all were inspired.  Have a great week!

Resolutions Shmezolutions!

Happy Sunday!  I'm not sure why it's "Happy" exactly because that just means the weekend is coming to an end and the work week is looming...  BUT that's not until tomorrow so we'll worry about it then!

I was wondering if anyone makes New Year's resolutions?  Anyone?  Do you tell people what they are or do you keep them to yourself?  Do you make them every year?  Do you ever actually keep them?

For the past few years (and again this year!), I've made the same ones because I never manage to fully keep them although I try.  They are...

Get more sleep

Loose weight

Pay down credit cards

Yesterday I charged a pizza on my credit card and sat up eating it and watching "The Nanny" reruns until 3:00 a.m.  Whew!  The pressure is off.  I'll still try though...

Care to share your New Year's resolutions???

Happy New Year!!!!

I know, I'm a bit tardy!  I was on a little break.  Christmas came and things got busy then the hub and I spent a few days in San Antonio ringing in the new year with family then it was back to work and now - the weekend and time to play catch up!

I hope you all had a fantastic time over the past few weeks - I'll have to read up and find out what I've missed.  Our San Antonio trip was made even better because the weather was perfecto!  Sunny and mid 70s, unseasonably warm even by Texas standards. 

We stayed in a gorgeous resort located on the second highest point in San Antonio so we were able to watch the fireworks at midnight on New Year's Eve from all over the state!  They were bubbling up all along the horizon - just an amazing thing to see.  Sadly, the pics didn't come out because it was just too dark but I do have a couple pics to highlight our trip.  Enjoy!

There was a nature trail at the resort - watch out for rattlesnakes though!

The resort was actually located on a HUGE golf course.  Top of the world ma!

This was at the resort - clear blue skies and an amazing view.

Me at the resort looking wind blown!

The resort featured an ice skating rink and a few pools and Jacuzzis.

Me and the hub!

Taking a barge ride along the San Antonio Riverwalk.

It was such a lovely day!

Remember the Alamo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you have a fantastic year ahead!