"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."

So in case you didn't already know... for some of December and basically all of February my husband and I traveled all over the U.S. as he interviewed for his surgical residency.  He went to 14 different places total and I accompanied him to the majority of them.  Although we had a blast PRETTY MUCH everywhere we went, there were two spots that were the most "photographic" and they are the two I've chosen to include in this documentary post about our travels.  Let's start with Charleston, South Carolina.  In my best northern accent "HOLY BUCKETS!!"  I LOVED it so much.  If we don't move there I want to visit at least once a year for the rest of my life!

It's beautiful.  The word beautiful doesn't even do it justice.  So historical, so eclectic, and not to mention it's right on the ocean so even the downtown area smells like salt water!  Lovely.

Although John is more adaptable than I, I would say that we are both warm weather people due to our southern roots.  The smell of the beach and the warm ocean are are somewhat nostalgic.  How can you not love it?

Everything was beautiful.  Every building, every restaurant, even the cemeteries.  Not to mention we went during restaurant week so even the food was pretty!

So overall would I recommend you paying this precious town a visit?  Absolutely.  Go now.  Book your flight.  Land in heaven and enjoy.

Next up, with a HUGE change of pace, is New York! New York!

I mean really, how can you not get excited about this city of lights?

There's just something about Times Square, as crowded, noisy, sometimes smelly and cold it may be, it lights a fire in your veins.  Makes you imagine what life would be like if you lived there.  If you auditioned for Broadway and made it.  If you spent every night on a stage with hot white lights shining in your eyes.  It's a dream.

We tried our best to fit in... Maybe if we look casual and cool with a "we know what we're doing" attitude they won't notice the excessive amount of pictures that we're taking, the childlike oooos and ahhhs, or the pauses before running out in front of crazy taxi drivers hoping to give us a little scare (maybe even a little brush with the bumper) and they'll just think we belong.

Food isn't cheap, that's for sure, but one cheap culinary pleasure?  PIZZA.  If you know me at all, you know that I love pizza. Like... A LOT.  As in.... last dying meal love!  So of course we had to go to Luigi's in Little Italy for what I CONSIDER to be the best pizza in town!

Speaking of towns... Chinatown? Well.... our brisk walk through the streets, ignoring the "Hand bag? Hand bag? Rolex? Rolex?" whispers in our ears, was quite enough...

Highlight of the trip?  I must say in my hour of longing for a delicious dessert that it was the Lollipop Tree!  OMG.  David Burke Kitchen, you got this one right my friend! I mean really??  A tree made of assorted flavors of cheesecake lollipop's?  I can't think of anything more appealing at this moment in time...  My mouth is actually watering as much as my 150lb great dane's right now...

So anyway... before I head off to eat the very last white chocolate covered Oreo in our house, pretending that is is more like a 5 star restaurant's dessert, I'll leave you with this...

Travel.  As much as possible. Wherever, whenever you can.  Life is TOO SHORT to stay put!

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."

-Saint Augustine

Peace, love, and happy travels!

Catherine

Razorback Britt guest blogging!

Hey y’all! I’m Brittney from Razorback Britt. I am so excited to be sharing the contents of my gym bag with you! I’m a Zumba instructor and wanna-be runner, so I always have a gym bag packed. Here are some of my must-haves for my gym bag. (I was gonna share the contents of my makeup bag, but we all know Catherine is the one to be taking that sort of advice from, so I’ll leave that to her!)
Must-Haves for my Gym Bag


For starters, I have to have a good sports bra. I absolutely adore the Under Armour sports bra. It is super supportive, and it even comes with pads for those tight workout shirts! And bonus! They are bra-sized so you can get the perfect one for you.

I love the compression pants from Old Navy. Whether I am running or doing Zumba, or taking a Piloxing class at the gym, these are my go-to pants. They keep everything in place. I call these my “jiggle free” pants. And they are comfy too. I recommend sizing down as I have found they run a little big.

I have to have a big water bottle. I really like Camelbak bottles because they have a straw, but you can close them (which is a requirement in my gym…no bottles that can spill!).

I also usually keep a pre-workout snack in my bag. I really like the ThinkThin Cookies and Crème bar. It isn’t necessarily the best tasting bar out there, but it has 20g of protein and NO sugar! When I’m in a pinch, these make a great snack. I eat half pre-workout and half after.

What’s in your gym bag? Leave a comment below and tell me what you have to have when working out. And come on by Razorback Britt and say hello!

Blog Hop

Blog hoppin' again! Unfortunately I am just now able to post this, sorry for the delay everybody! Get excited about a super fun post from Brittney Lee from Razorback Britt blog! Leave her lots of happy comments :)

Back from the dead!

I'm alive! I'm alive! I am such a terrible new blogger! My husband and I have been traveling all over the US for his residency interviews and I'm just now able to sit and breathe. I owe you SO MANY promised blogs! I'll have to do one with some pics of my travels because as exhausting as it was, we really had a lot of fun along the way. Other than that, a brow blog is top of the priority list! I've had several requests for this and think it's good to show how easy it really is. As someone who has very sparse blonde brows but dark hair I would say the brows are probably the most important part of my makeup routine. I planned on blogging my bun and and wavy hair routines but I feel like there are so many great tutorials on those already that I should go another route. I would love for you all to give me some requests on a few different subjects. Hair/Beauty, fashion, travels, diet/exercise, you name it and I'll do my best to write something worth reading! Hope to hear from you and you'll be hearing from me, PROMISE!

Southern Swap

Hi friends!



I'm so excited to be a part of the Southern Blog Hop! I follow ALL of the women who are participating, and let me say that you should most definitely follow them- they're all fabulous!

And there is also a fabulous Giveaway involved, so be sure to check it out!


Anyways, here are some of my family's traditions for Christmas...

... Decorate our tree listening to this song.

... My parents have an ornament from their first Christmas together, and they kiss each other as they hang it on the tree. So sweet, right? Well, the hubs and I do the same thing now. It's presh.

... We make these cookies (we call them snowballs) every year.... And they're amazing. Only three ingredients are involved (vanilla wafers, frozen orange juice, and powdered sugar). A more detailed recipe post is coming up soon on my blog.

... Up until I was married, my much younger sister and I would have a sleepover in each other's rooms, and we would wake each other up at the crack of dawn so we could wake up the rest of the family.

... Before we open any presents, Dad reads the Christmas story.


So those are my top 5 Christmas traditions that I love!


Don't forget to enter in the giveaway (the link is posted above).

Have a fabulous week!

And thanks Catherine for letting me steal your little space on the internet today. :)

xoxo
Les

Blog Hoppin!

Gimme! Gimme!

Just wanted to takes minute to shares few products that I've started using (or reusing) recently! Other than clothes and shoes, beauty products are my second addiction. Some I end up loving and some get the boot! All of the products below are great and I would recommend them to all of you.

I'm going to combine the first two because they are closely related. I invested in Latisse a few years ago and used it religiously for several months. I ended up stopping for a while because my lashes were getting so long and think I was having to trim a few. It really does work WONDERS and a year after stopping and several lash extensions later (these tend to take some of your natural lashes with them when you pull them off the way I do) I am just now noticing my lashes going back to their natural state.  

I LOVE dramatic lashes so I started using the Latisse again about 3 weeks ago and maybe it's because I've used it before but my lashes are aready noticeably longer and thicker! In addition I decided to branch out from my usual Loreal Voluminous and give CoverGirl Lash Blast Fusion a try, which I'm wearing in this pic. 




The first couple of uses I was in a hurry and didn't give myself enough time to do a good job on them. I was almost ready to throw it away but had some time today and gave it one more chance and turns out I REALLY like it. So give it a try but give it some time!  (These are my natural lashes as of today.  I'll start tracking my progress and will post my ending result in a month or so.

On to the hair, I've been taking Biotinand Prenatal's religiously and although it's worked wonders for my hair growth and my overall hair health, healthy hair is harder to work with. I've been struggling to get good volume and to keep my curls all day. I've never been a mousse person but the root spray I was using wasn't cutting it, so I decided to give Redken Aerate 08 cream mousse a try and it is awesome! 

Initially when I put it on wet hair it feels a little gooey and heavy but once I start drying it my hair really fluffs up with light airy volume!

As for the style holding problem, since I've been trying to grow my hair out I'm really paranoid about some things, especially hairspray. If it has a lot of alcohol it really drys my ends out but it's necessary if I want my curls to last all day.

 I found a great hairspray that contains argon oil and is sooo easy to brush through! It's made by Agadir and it smells great!
Last but not least, my favorite hot rollers ever! 

They're made by Remington and the larger size is great for adding full volume and big bouncy curls. I like to wash and dry my hair, add the bigger rollers and secure them with bobby pins instead of the clips provided to avoid creases and depending on how well the ends curl I brush through, tease the crown and go. Sometimes if my hair isn't cooperating I add curls to the ends with a large barrel curling iron.


So that's it! Nothing too extreme, just some things that I love!

Enjoy :)