$50 Giftcard Giveaway to Sparrow!

You know what I love? Stumbling upon a new online shop I love! Seriously, it's one of my most favorite things to happen when I'm online. 

Let me give you a visual; I'm sitting with laptop in hand browsing the crazy-tangled-endless-vortex that is THE INTERNET, when I find this little gem of a site and when I do, my heart does this little happy dance that matches the big smile gracing my face at that exact same moment. 

(insert cheering)

Yes, THAT'S what I love!

This exact scenario happened to me the other day when I found the AMAZING-NESS that is Sparrow.

Needless to say, my afternoon was spent perusing all the gorgeous merchandise and daydreaming about how I'd style each piece.

Below are standout pieces that are total MUST-HAVES: (in no particular order of course)

The Alexis Wide Collar Jacket

Don't even get me started on this jacket. I could create a whole blog post dedicated to this jacket. Just go buy it already and thank me later.

Berkin Handbag in Black

This is a perfect everyday polished bag. The shape is timeless and the texture, gorgeous.

Knot Your Basic Ring in Gold

I love gold, and I love dainty jewelry, so this made sense. A perfect pairing.

I love the hammered texture and the knot is unexpected yet beautiful! The set also comes in silver.

To celebrate my stumbling on such a fabulous shop to share with you girls, and the owner Kristi being such a sweetheart, we've partnered to host a giveaway for a $50 gift card to spend at ShopSparrow.net!

Can't wait to hear what you'd choose if you win!

GOOD LUCK!

XOXO

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______Don't forget to enter my other FABULOUS giveaways!____

Urban Peach Boutique - Crystal Dahlia Bracelet

Starbucks Alice & Olivia Tutu Mug

$50 Gift Certificate to Neesees Dresses

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Shine Bright Like A Diamond - Neesess Dresses Giveaway!

It's probably not a surprise to those of you that have been following my blog for a while that I love,  love, LOVE sequin! Gold is my absolute favorite, but really any color is fabulous, it's just so gorgeous and FUN, don't you agree? (if you don't, just smile and nod, smile and nod) HA.

I recently found this gem of a sweater and instantly fell head-over-heels.

Gold + Sequin + Sweater = LOVE.

I especially love this sweater since I live in the Pacific Northwest and our weather is pretty grey and chilly most of the time, but this sweater totally brightens the day and my mood too! SCORE!

Speaking of brightening days......

The super lovely owner of Neesees Dresses has so generously offered to host a giveaway for you lucky girls for a $50 gift certificate to Neesees Dresses to spend it however your heart desires! 

How cool is that?! 

COOL. 

Majorly cool in fact.

I'm so so happy and grateful!

Giveaway details are at the end of this post - hurry and enter and GOOD LUCK girls!

XOXO

Downtown Field Jacket - JCREW //  Sequin Sweater - c/o Neesees Dresses //  White ripped jeans - American Eagle AE //  Crystal Dahlia Bracelet - c/o Urban Peach Boutique // Crystal Venus FlyTrap Necklace - JCREW //  Ankle-Strap heels - LuLus //  White studded hobo purse - c/o (personal gift)



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to enter my current FABULOUS giveaways!

Urban Peach Boutique - Crystal Dahlia Bracelet

Starbucks Alice & Olivia Tutu Mug

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Loving my new leopard flat slip-ons!

So I've been wanting a pair of leopard print slip-on flat tennis shoes for a while now and searched and searched to no avail, until the other day I stumbled upon these little beauties at GoJane. I instantly bought them and am so happy I did because they're fabulous. They run true to size and they arrived really quickly which I love! I can't wait to style them with so many outfits!

Mail day is my FAVORITE day - who's with me? :)

A new mug I made that I LOVE - 'RAD is the new BLACK' and those super cute kicks again.

While browsing Pinterest I found a few photos of some others....

These are from ASOS and are almost identical to mine:

More inspiration on how to wear them....

all images via Pinterest

Don't forget to enter my current FABULOUS giveaways!

Urban Peach Boutique - Crystal Dahlia Bracelet

Starbucks Alice & Olivia Tutu Mug

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JCrew Metallic Triangle Sweatshirt DIY

While browsing through JCrew's last style-guide catalog I instantly fell in love with their "Vintage Sweatshirt in Metallic Triangles". Not wanting to pay full price since it was Christmastime and I was trying to save some money I decided it wouldn't be that difficult of a DIY project, especially since my fiance gifted me a Silhouette Cameo for Christmas(thanks love!).

The project took 1 hour from beginning to end.

My bestie and I, (her mostly) set out to find similar grey sweatshirts to practice with.

She scored two grey shirts at Target on sale, and they're a thick sweatshirt-like material, but really any shirt fabric would work.

The paint we used was the Martha Stewart craft paint from Michaels.

I made this triangle pattern in the Silhouette program then printed it on my Cameo on freezer paper.

Next we put the freezer paper down on the shirts WAX SIDE DOWN(very important) so the paper would adhere to the fabric like a stencil. 

Turn your iron on high and press the wax paper firmly until it looks like there are no edges lifting.

Let your shirt cool for a minute then paint, paint, paint!

We peeled the paper off while the paint was still dry and it worked like a charm!

Hope you make one of your own! If you do comment with the link to yours, we'd LOVE to see it!

XOXO

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Starbucks Alice & Olivia Tutu Mug Giveaway! Enter to Win!

Who else is so GLAD it's the weekend. Oh my gosh this week was crazy hectic at work I'm stoked to have time off to relax, recoup, drink coffee and watch the Seahawks play! Speaking of coffee drinking, I do lot of it and most recently have been doing a lot of it out of this super cute tutu mug from Starbucks. I'm embarrassed to admit I've broken two of them. Yes you read that right TWO of them. They're fragile I'm just going to tell you right upfront. So be super super careful with this little beauty if you're the lucky winner! I've decided since I apparently can't be trusted to not break this one, I'm giving it away!

Giveaway starts today and ends 1/31/14. 

GOOD LUCK!

xoxo

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Red, Leopard & A Giveaway with Urban Peach Boutique!

Get excited! I've partnered with the fabulous Urban Peach Boutique to share with you one of my favorite pieces from their shop and to give you the chance to win the same piece. Woo hoo!

The Crystal Dahlia Bracelet is so gorgeous and is beautiful on it's own or stacked with other bracelets. I literally pulled it out of the package when I got it in the mail and put it on my wrist pronto and I've been wearing it everyday since, that's how in love with it I am.

Also because Urban is rad, they've offered Kaizen readers 15% off your next purchase! Just enter "KAIZEN15" at checkout!

Check out their shop (it's chock full of all kinds of amazingness then come back and enter to win your own little beauty! :)

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Friday Favorites in Snapshots

I wore this. See more outfit posts by following me on Instagram here.

And did this. Not pictured; a yummy hot cup of green tea and cozy slippers.

See the newest JCrew new arrivals here. My scarf is from Target and my bag I got a few years ago from Forever21.

Wishing you a wonderful first weekend of the year!

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Happy New Years & Welcome 2014!

My new years table! All found at Target! 

Boy has 2013 been a whirlwind. Lots of learning, growth, progress and setbacks too. Life's good at doling out a good mix of all of them to keep things interesting don't you think? I thought a lot this  week about what I wanted to write as a closing post for this year and it was just SO much. So instead of rambling I've decided to share just the most important bits in list format, because let's get real, lists are streamlined and precise and make us feel organized; something I'm going to continue to work on in the coming year. So....here it goes;

1. Unplugging more
I love technology and blogging and social media just as much as the next person, but I'm finding that the more I'm plugged into my iPhone or on my laptop the less I'm actually living. Yep less living. Less spending time with the people I love, less reading all the books I bought (I have 10 I bought that I haven't even opened), less new adventures, I just feel like the more I'm plugged in the less I'm really plugged into real life.

2. Using my planner more
This goes hand-in-hand with continuing to be better at organization. I have a pretty little planner (here) that I've been using for months, but sometimes I forget to bring it to work or other places and things fall through the cracks and then I end up bothered. I do use my phone a lot too, but I'm a paper and pencil girl and I am more productive when I can visually see it written down. Use. Planner. More.

3. Cooking dinner more
I'm sort of indifferent to cooking. I don't love it, but I also don't not love it. It's just not high on things I like to do so I don't do it super often. I work full time and have two kiddos (9 & 12) so at the end of the day I just want to hop in a hot shower, through on my pjs and relax and spend time with them, not cook. Because of that we eat out, or order in, quite a bit. I grew up eating around a kitchen table with my family and I'd love my kiddos to have the same experience more often then they currently do. I want to use my crockpot more and involve them in helping in the kitchen.

4. Stop comparing myself to others
I think we've all read or heard it before; "Comparison is the thief of joy."
It's so true. SO TRUE. It's difficult to be content with what we have and who we are when we are constantly seeing others who have more than we do. It's easy to lose your joy while scrolling through Pinterest and Instagram and seeing all those beautifully styled photos; perfect rooms and houses, designer clothes, bags, shoes, perfect hairstyles, people vacationing all over the world and not feel a tinge of envy.  It's challenging to remind ourselves that what we have is beautiful and enough, but we must, and though comparison is the thief of joy, being grateful is the way to get that joy back. We are all valuable and super amazing in our own ways, and my life doesn't have to be picture perfect to be amazing and full and happy!
I'm determined to keep that mindset and I hope you will to!

5. Do more of what I love, more often
Pretty self explanatory.

Here's to a brand spanking new year! Here's to doing, growing, and living!
CHEERS!

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