I think I am going to start saving...

For a trip here:



That would be Greece.

I have always wanted to go. And it has been a while since my last visit to Europe. It may be time to say Hello again.

I guess I will start saving. Although I don't want to go to Greece by myself. No, no that wont do.

Maybe by the time I have sufficient funds to support my across-the-pond-endeavor, I will have a significant other in my life who will be self-sufficient enough to afford Greece on a whim... and perhaps he will want to go to Paris, Madrid, Rome and London too... Oh, now I'm just being fanciful...

I guess I should learn how to start saving now and in the process wait for the perfect travel partner.


Peace,

A huge thank you!

I know I have gone overboard on the posts today. But much has been happening around Rose Colored Glasses today... ah-hem... can you guess the change? Ah, Yes, once again a new header and overall design!

I am ecstatic with this new header! Yellow is my favorite color, and gray is my favorite color that I would never admit out loud is my favorite color. Oh, and did you see that little silhouette there in the middle of the header... yes that is a Westie fashioned after my very own Potter!

How perfect right!

I have to give props where props are due.

Thank you to Mrs. Lauren Bennion!

Really everyone, she is amazing! She is so creative and sweet and just all around pretty special!

I also must add that she is a twin! A twin of my dear friend Blake Airdo whom I went to college with! And again, Blake is talented, Creative, a fashionista, sweet and just all around special!

you should follow them both on twitter: LaurenBennion and blakeairdo

And check out Lauren's blog: http://dereknlauren.blogspot.com
Oh yes, and their special little etsy shop where you can own a piece of their creativeness too: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7557078">



(How Gorgeous are they? And you can't forget to notice sweet Olive!)

Peace,

Just took a Glimpse at Anthro

I haven't been in Anthropologie in awhile. It used to be my haunt. The last time I went was about a month ago in Nashville with my friend McCall. I looked, I tried on, I swooned but I carried no bags out of the store.

Today I got an itch for my old friend Anthro. So I decided to just say a quick little "hello" and then scurry elsewhere.

Here is what I found during our brief interaction:


The Latizia Cardigan. She is quite warm, very flattering and, Oh my, this red... incredible!



I thought the rimpled cardigan looked sweet. I think she would look lovely in my closet and even better around my shoulders.



I simply adore this Scarlett Blaze shirt dress. It is somewhat of a fashion orphan in stores. No one seems to have bought one. There were sizes and sizes galore hanging on the rack. But I made McCall try it on, and low and behold, it was so cute! It looked amazing on her and with boots! (McCall you must buy this dress). I will adopt this little fashion orphan to go into my sweet closet home.

What are some of your "at a glance" finds?



Peace,

Lets Talk Pavement Pounding!

Ok. If you haven't noticed the Pavement Pounding segment has mysteriously disappeared from any posts of the late. I could blame it on my bad memory or that I have just too many exciting posts to write but really there has been a lack, on my part, in the pavement pounding department.

I am full of guilt.
I look at my well intentioned, ever precise, running calendar every time I walk into my bathroom. And shame overtakes me as I see where I should be, versus where I am.

But I'm not quitting.

Nope, I still constantly think about that half marathon. I still have enough time to train that I haven't blown it for myself, yet. :/

But last night I put the shame aside and got back out to pounding the pavement and, to my surprise, I really had an amazing run!

I went one mile with Potter so it was more of a jog than a run. But really we had barely any walking breaks during that run.

Then I dropped him off and headed back out for mile 2! I was so proud of myself! I just kept telling myself to go. (it really is all mental.)

I plan on running most nights this week. And if I keep the pace up like last night I think I will do fine running my first 5k which is in 2wks!


Peace,

Is that sunshine out my window?

Good Morning, good morning.
I feel refreshed on this Monday morning. I had a lovely first fall weekend. Why, you may ask? Because I didnt do anything! I had no appointments or plans just a great weekend to do whatever I wanted. Here is what I did:

I wore no makeup... Really it is nice sometimes to just have nothing on your face. It felt great.

I had a new one of these installed in my house:


Why was this exciting? Because my old one was about to blow up my house and I got a great price on it from My big sister in sorority and her husband who actually are moving right down the road from me and already had a washer and dryer in their new place. SO I got a new improved dryer at a great price and my good friends are moving in super close. I say that is exciting!

There was a lot of this going on this weekend:



I lounged, hard core, this weekend. I caught up on all my shows, watched a movie and even caught some random shows I had never seen before (i.e. Guliana and Bill which you can see on the TV screen).
I also got some good reading time in! Something that I have thoroughly missed.

I also woke up on Sunday after sleeping in till 10:30! 10:30! to this:



Sunshine! Not just sunshine, cool temps and cloudless skies! It was amazing!

Needless to say I spent time with this little boy outside:


As you can see, he had quite an adventure outside, and I was quite amused just watching him dig.

I hope your weekend was just as great as mine!

Peace,

Guess who won her two favorite Marc Jacobs dresses on Ebay?

Oh I did! So excited! I got the pansy dress and the kaleidescope dress for around 60% off! You can't beat that. And to top it all off, I got a Lilly dress for $45.00 that will go amazingly with tights and boots!




I am a very happy girl!

Run Run to Ebay!

Peace,

My Rose Colored Glasses are a littel dark!

I am on the hunt for a dark circle eye cream. I have them. Sometimes they look mild, somtimes it looks like I have been punched in the face. I asked my Twitter friends for suggestions and I recieved nods for these products:






They all sound like great products. But I think I am going to pick up the olay this weekend since it can be found at the drugstore and wont cost me a pretty penny since I am just starting out my hunt.

But I did notice this little cream on Sephora's website under their top sellers for eye creams:



It peeked my interest, but I will see what the drug store has to offer first.

On the subject of skin care. I really care about my skin alot. So should you! I uest to use the tanning bed, not alot, but every once in awhile. I also uest to be a sun worshipper. Rarely did I put on sunscreen ( Oh I know, terrible). But that all has changed for me. Never again will I use a tanning bed. Never again will I go without sunscreen and without a hat at the beach or pool! It is just so important. I have realized (being the wise old soul I am :) ) That I really want to age well and that means starting now.

(For all those worried about cutting off the tanning and sun worshiping for fear of looking like Casper, dont fret, I HAD to find something to keep my glow and I have been thoroughly satisfied with Clarins Self Tanning Gel, Loreal Bronze sunless tanner and a Jergins natural glow face moisturizer and body lotion. I have a great summer bronze without the sloppy orange.)

On a normal day here is my face and body care routine:
At night I wash my face with either Philosophy Pure face wash or Philosophy microderm exfoliating wash. I love these washes because my skin is so sensitive and these are very gentle yet do their job.

Next I put my Latisse on. Is a stimulant that activates eyelash growth. This product is amazing! Really I have been using it for about a month and I can already see great results!

I then put on my Aveeno Radiant clear moisturizer mixed in with a little of Jergins natural glow moisturizer (gotta have some color on my face!)I also have been using a retinoid cream which are usually used to treat acne but have been proven to boost collagen which helps fight wrinkles. I slather this on every other night. ( you tend to peel with the retanoid and with my sensitive skin every other night works best.) I then top this all off with a dab of Vaseline. I know it sounds crazy, Vaseline on your face! But honestly... It is an amazing moisturizer and I hear it does amazing things to keep skin young and wrinkle free. Just a dab though! a little goes a LOOOONNNGGG way!!!

In the morning, again, I wash my face with Philosophy Pure face wash, dab on some Aveeno moisturizer and then top it off with sunscreen ( I like Aveeno spf 30 for face) and then I make my face up with my new favorite thing, Bare Minerals Well Rested concealer and Summer Bisque foundation. I LOVE this stuff! It is so light which is essential to me but provides unbelievable coverage!

So there you have it. My little rant on skin care. STOP using the tanning beds and wear sunscreen EVERYDAY even if there is a tornado outside!

Happy aging to you!


*** I also wanted to ad that I take Vitamins,lots of them. Daily I take 2 servings of Juice Plus Vegetables and 2 servings of Juice Plus Fruit. Juice Plus is a daily serving of just plan vegetables and fruits in powder form so that if you don't have time to eat your normal serving, you still get them. I also take a Woman's Multivitamin daily along with 3 fish oils. I recommend everyone take a multi-vitamin. You don't have to go as far as I do but just a one-pill-a-day multi will boost your immune system greatly.

Peace,

oh oh it's magic...

Seriously! Ebay, thank you!

here are my purchases:


Peace,

Ok I'm sold...

On Ebay! Thanks to @FloridaBrides (check out her blogs: http://daniellenicoledowning.blogspot.com/ and http://floridabridesblog.com/) I am now a little bit addicted to Ebay. I have always known about it and ever since I jumped on the blogging/twitter train I have heard and read about great finds which peeked my fascination. But when I decided I had to have this dress:

I started talking about it on twitter and Mrs. @FLoridabrides piped in to let me know it was available on ebay! For CHEAP! I was ecstatic. Not only was it amazing that she shared this deal with me and helped a girl out, it wasn't the only thing I found.
I also picked up a Lilly Pulitzer silk dress for fall for an amazing price!

Here are some of the features I love about Ebay:
Buy Now: Sometimes you just gotta have that item!
Watch: you can click watch an item instead of bidding or buying right away
Save Search: If you are looking for something particular and it is not on Ebay you can save the search and they will notify you when and if it is listed.
Sellers Stores: A lot of sellers are not only selling one item but many and a lot of them have Ebay stores which offer more incredible deals on brands that you already love.
THEY HAVE EVERYTHING! literally everything.

The one things that intimidates me is bidding. I am a buy it now girl. But I would love to get into the bidding wars. It just makes my anxiety run wild! Any tips from any of you avid bidders out there?

So, I encourage you to try it out. Usually I will shop online or in stores, remember the name of a certain piece and then just type it into the search bar on Ebay and see if it pulls it up. That simple! And you never know what other treasures you will find on your hunt!


Peace,

Hi my name is Caroline and I suffer from LOD

I am in a rut right now. Let me just vent about this rut for a second:

I am the worst about sticking to something and following through. I have no discipline and it drives me crazy. This lack of discipline pertains to everything in my life.
The three things that I HATE that are affected most by my LOD (lack of discipline) are:
Dog Training
Eating
Exercising.

Dog Training:
this is hard. Really hard. Potter is stubborn. Quite stubborn and it takes patients and consistency. I try I really do because I know it is for both of our well beings that he is trained and disciplined. He is potty trained, he can sit and he comes. But that is about it. Where I fall short with my LOD is walking him and exercising him. I HAVE to get on a normal routine with this. I have every intention of walking him but I either have something planned or it is raining lately. I feel guilty about this and I know he will act out worse if I don't exercise him...

Eating:
Oh Lord I have no discipline when it comes to this. I am not necessarily an over eater but I def eat whatever I want whenever and I am not the healthiest. I have told myself for two yrs now that I am going to start cooking and stop eating out... yea right. I have done neither. My diet consists of, a granola bar for breakfast, a pbj or turkey sandwich for lunch, some snacking in between, and then a dinner of either a sandwich, pizza or soup. Really that is it. Or I eat out. I have got to start eating healthy and cooking. How boring and not healthy is this die?! ugh RUT!

Exercising:
This is a BIG LOD! I want to be a runner, I want to be in shape, I want to be kick ass and have a kick ass body. But that takes time and discipline both of which I am lacking in. I am GOING to run that half marathon! I am! I guess that is the first step to shutting down my LOD in this area. It's not that I don't like to exercise. I always feel much better when I do, It is just finding the time to stick to something consistently. I uest to love spin class. I uest to go MTR at 5:45 but then I started to have social plans at that time and I got a dog which needed my attention right after work so I couldn't ever make it to spin anymore. Same with running. I would normally go out for a jog after work but if I had plans afterward I didn't want to take the time to shower and get ready all over again! and then after work, usually I have about a million other things I need to get done. So I have concluded, I am going to have to start working out in the mornings... this makes me cringe. Bit if I am going to choose a killer body and feeling good over LOD then it is just going to have to happen.

So there is my venting.
I will let you know how my LOD recover goes.

Peace,

Random thoughts from a rain drenched girl

There is rain in the forecast all week. It has been raining non-stop since I returned from vacation. I am water logged. Seriously, where is the sun.

This past weekend was the one I needed. I rested and caught up on my life outside of work. I:
Went to driving school...lame... but got out 2hrs early so I cant complain.
Attended a beautiful bridal shower.
Went and saw the informant! (pretty quirky, but entertaining)
Went to church (such a great series going on, check out www.churchofthehighlands.com if you are interested)
Scrubbed the Hell out of my house (cleaned for 4hrs. It is sparkling)
caught up on some DVR... Still not completely caught up though...
Did some laundry on top of it all.

I'd say I was pretty productive.

On another note, Did any of you all watch Mad Men last night?
I love this show so much. It is pretty amazing. You should def start watching if you don't, you wont be disappointed.
But last nights episode was exceptionally spectacular. As usual Don was evasive, Roger delivered the best lines, there was a lawn mower, blood, crazy Betty and even a new side to little Sally revealed. Perfect.

The Emmy's were last night. I didn't get to watch them but I did parooze the web this morning to see all the gowns.
Here are some of my faves:

I love January Jones and I especially loved her dress and look. A little risky but it definitely worked for her


I also love Kristen Chenowith's whole look. Hot Momma and she is as cute as a button


Deborah Messing also looked stunning and spectacular


But I have to say, Kim Kardashian... No. Please go see Rachel Zoe and let her advice you on your style. And please, never wear blue eyeshadow again. Thanks.


And I really tried to like Blake Lively's get-up but that hair just ruined it for me. She is so beautiful, but not when she looks like a praying mantis



I hope yall's Monday is going well and a little bit sunnier than mine!

It's Friday

Today I am jumping for joy. It is Friday. I know I only had a 3 day week but I am now a firm believer in returning from your vacay one day early so you have time to catch up in your own space before hitting the grind again.

Tomorrow morning I have to go to driving school (lame) and then I have a wedding shower to attend. But tonight I plan on:

Walking Potter
Cleaning the house
Seeing a movie with some pals
Getting in my bed and watching a movie snuggled in my covers

Saturday afternoon I will be:
going to Lowe's to buy plants
Walking Potter
and catching up on a little of this:


and this:



and a couple of other reality addictions that I am nursing.

Sunday... Who knows... maybe finishing the book I have not had time to look at in about a month...

I love weekends.

Happy Weekend to you!

A little Stressed...

Coming back from vacation I feel like this:


Out of control! There are just not enough hours in the day. I haven't had time to unpack so there is just crap all over my floor. I haven't had time to run, feelings of guilt are overcoming me. I cant figure out how to work my new computer because I don't have time to really sit and look at it and work with it. And forget about anything leisurely. My DVR is about 90% full, it is overwhelming me, I don't think I will ever finish the book I am reading but I have about a gazillion more I want to read and I need to clean.
WHEW!
Thinking about all of that and getting back in order makes me feel like this:



I love my job and I love being busy and having things to do, people to see and places to go, but sometimes you just need down time in your own space to get back on schedule and get things right.

I planned on doing all of that this weekend but...
I have to go to driving school, I will never get another ticket because I am so annoyed right now that this ridiculous driving class is going to take up my Saturday morning. Buh-Bye Sleeping in and run with Potter.

How do you all manage to work and on top of it keep your house in order, have time for socializing and get everything outside of work done?

Suggestions please.

But on an up note... I really do love my life :)

Im back....

I'm back from Vacation! It was an amazing trip. The funny thing about it was that it was packed full of activity yet very relaxing. I think it was the company I was keeping on the trip.


I cannot even begin to describe the sweet setup that my brother had us staying in. Thank you Blake for accommodating us! It was magnificent!


Friday, the first thing I did was go and get my eye checked out. And thank god they prescribed me some cream which instantly helped.

The rest of the afternoon I just paroozed Michigan Avenue.

Saturday My bothers, sister-n-law and I headed to the Cubs game. I loved it. We had perfect weather and Wrigley Field was so incredible.

Sunday We headed to see U2! Holla! Y'all I cannot even express the insane-ness that is U2! They played at soldier field which is the Bears stadium which holds 61,500 people and on top of that the field was crammed full of fans! it was insane. The fact that this band of 4 can pack out stadiums that size over and over is incredible. They don't disappoint. They played an outrageous set filled with old and new tunes. And I have to say Bono is other-worldly and The Edge could be the sexiest man alive. GO SEE U2, even if you aren't a huge fan... Go!

It was a wonderful weekend! Now back to reality.
But here are some pics for your enjoyment!

The Group: Chris, Me, Tad, John and Rebecca


Wrigley Field entrance



Inside the Field


U2 Spaceship Stage- WILD!


The 360 Screen- pretty incredible!


=
The Edge and Bono on stage!

If I had an apartment in a Big City it would look like this...

If I lived a big city, urban life (preferably in Chicago) I would want my apartment
to look something like this:





(all photos via decor8)

Here is my plan for my single gals day in the city:
find the apartment I am staying at... I hope it is easy
Check out the Loop
Check out Linkin Park shopping ( I hear it is pretty great...)
Chinatown, if I have time and if it is worth it
Millennium park, I really want to see the bean

I cannot tell you how much I actually NEED this vacation. I am so tired physically and honestly, emotionally too. I had a break down last night (sometimes you just need a good cry) and in the midst of my crying and self-pity, I was thankful, as I looked at my little carry-on suitcase, that I had scheduled this vacay at just the perfect time!

Before the meltdown... dreading packing...


Post meltdown... ready to get the hell out of dodge...



See you all next Wednesday!
(you can keep up with me on twitter during my vacation, I am not going totally technology free. There is a button on the right side if you are interested.)

Au Revior!