That 'summer glow'.

My oh my how I love me some spring and summer.  The smell of the air, the newness of the world waking up around me and that beautiful, gorgeous sun that I always wish I could bottle.  My whole life I have been a sun junkie and a beach babe.  My Dad would forever try to get us to go to new places on family vacations but my sisters, Mom and I always chose the beach (sorry Dad!).  We would lay out slathered in oil getting bronzed to perfection right before we went back to school.

As I get older, the more I regret those decisions.  I am very fair, and thinking about the torture that I put my skin through when I was younger makes me shudder.  Mom and Dad always cautioned us against it, but hey, we wanted to be the sun kissed sisters.  (It was also totally unfair that our Mom could sit under the umbrella all.day.long and end up more bronzed than us!!  We totally got our Dad's Irish skin that burned first, not the Italian skin that bronzes!)

So now that I am in my ::gulp:: later twenties, I really really do not want to do that to my skin anymore.  I have always wanted to try sunless tanners on my face but I am super-duper sensitive skinned, so trying ANYTHING new on my face is extremely rare, especially if it's not skincare products.  I bit the bullet a few weeks ago though and bought this:

source

Well.  Let me tell you.  I absolutely LOVE this stuff.  I'm pretty much a Clinique girl anyways with my skincare routine, so I really trust their brand so I figured I would give it a whirl.  It applies really easily, it's not streaky and it's not orange!  I exfoliate with one of their masks first and then put this on and leave it for a few hours.  It lasts about 3-5 days, which is fine for me.  I would rather buy something that isn't super heavy and obvious on the face and just reapply every few days.  Being as fair as I am, it's more natural looking anyhow.

So far, so good!  No breakouts from it and I have applied round two tonight.  I am really glad that I found something I like that works for me that won't require me torturing my skin with sun every year.  And for $22, it's really not a bad deal at all.  The tube should get me through a few months, at least.  Since this works so well, I just may have to try the body tanner they have, too!  Man it feels good to get my summer glow going again!

**I was not compensated for this post, I just really like the product and wanted to share! :)**

the torture of packing.

Packing for a vacation is one of those things that I abhor, mostly because I have so many incidentals that have to be packed at the last minute.  A lot of my makeup routine has liquids that have to be checked under the plane, which I can't put away until I have my face on for traveling, thankyouverymuch.

Happy 4th of July!

I'm so thankful for all the men and women who give their lives in service and dedication for our country.  What a wonderful nation we live in!

I am excited to do nothing but lounge today with the exception of going to check out our property and the progress on the new house, and maybe do a little bit of shopping with my sister to pick out some maxi skirts for Florida in a few weeks.

This is how I'm looking today in all of my comfy-clothes glory:

home decor on a dime.

Since we are building a new house, we are trying to keep money pretty tight.  But at the same time, I'm trying to look at and compile ideas for decorating our new house.  But Target.  Ohhh, Target.  Gets me and my wallet every time.

I had basically gone for conditioner and birthday cards and tried to keep myself away from everything else because I can never seem to get out of there for under $30.  As I was looking at the birthday cards, they have this row of those really beautiful Papyrus cards.  You know, the ones that cost like $7-10 PER CARD.  (Do people really buy those for birthdays/special occasions? I sure don't.  That stuff is expensive, yo!) 

They're beautiful cards with sparkles and glitter and sometimes they're just minimal and simplistic and I adore them all.  I just admire and look and wistfully wish that I could bring myself to spend that much on a card and then I put them back.