Manni Monday

Gosh it's Monday already??? Where does the time go? However thank goodness it's Monday because I'm linking up once again with







which is always the highlight of my Monday :) So this week I'm not doing a new color but I'm returning with a favorite of mine. It's called Fruit Sangria by none other than Essie. 


I love it because it's not quite a red but not a pink either- a happy medium :) I've also got a lot of compliments on it too. It looks great with a good tan. Here is how it looks on my nails: 

What do you think??


I also want to announce a GIVEAWAY! Since we all have a passion for nail polish and I love my Essie I want to giveaway a polish from their latest collection Bikini so Teeny. Here are the colors you get to choose from: 

Here are the rules: 


   * Become a follower :) 
   * Tell me which is your favorite color out of the new collection
   * What is your favorite Essie color?
   * What nail trend are you currently loving?


You can enter up to 4 times- I will announce the winner on next week's Manni Monday. Good Luck!! 

Friday Letters

Hello Friday, how I'm so glad I am off today and get to enjoy you. Once again linking up to

Dear Hubby, how is it that I fall in love with you more & more everyday? Thank you for being you and for being my biggest supporter and always acting as a team. You always seem to make me laugh and I adore you quick witted sense of humor- yes even if it's at my expense.


Dear 50 Shades of Grey, I know I mentioned you last week but I almost finished with the first book and you have me wanting more! I want to know where this "relationship" is going to go. Okay and I have to admit I may have bit my lip with my husband but he didn't find it to be a turn on. haha. But that's as far as I will go.


Dear Life, it's funny how things play out. I was never a big believer in karma but I am now a believer because you know what it does happen and it's funny to see how it can bite back. I never wish evil on anyone but you want to throw things in my face well then don't live in a glass castle where my stones can easily make your castle tumble.


Dear Chicago Weather, Yes it's been HOT HOT HOT but I'm lovin every minute of it! Plus it helps me get my tan on! 


Dear Self, I know we'v had this love/hate relationship recently with my body but I think keyword here think I'm starting to come around an accept it. I'm not in love with it or embrace but at the end of the day what is a girl to do when she works out 6 days a week 2 hours a day?? Only a couple more weeks until we see a Dr and get some true hard hitting answers. 

Thursday Crush

Good Morning Thursday! Once again linking up with Framed Frosting for

I felt bad for not linking up last week but time just got away from me. I am very excited to share all the goodies I am loving this week! 

So the first thing is:

This is MAJOR and not to mention the best go to always looks good fashion accessory. Plus I've been obsessing over this bracelet for at least 8 years if not more. I finally decided to take the plunge and get fitted for it and buy it! It is a process especially because apparently the life of the rich & famous give Cartier bracelets to their grads all the time they are out of stock in the size I need. So I have to wait until they come in on boat from France- I've waited this long what is another few months or so?? A ton of celebs are also in love with this collection; 

Kourtney always wears her two plus the ring (I would love to add another bracelet and a ring to my collection- haha). I however have very very special meaning behind my bracelet and could not think of a better to make a symbol of something that I held so dear to my heart. 

So I know I'm a little late to jump on this band wagon but I just recently got my first pair of Tom shoes and WOW! have I been missing out! I purchased these:

I really wanted these:

But of course they were a Nordstrom exclusive and sold out instantly. However I am very happy with my choice of the pink glitter and let me tell ya they are probably one of the comfiest shoes I've ever owned. I walked all around downtown Chicago in them with no problem. These shoes were made for walking. Love! 

Since we're on a shoe theme I also am loving my Tory Burch sandals

I buy at least one pair every January and make it my go to summer sandal. I purchased these this year and love especially with the gold Tory symbol on the front. Then my lovely devil dog 

decided to eat them! I was so pissed. I could re-order them but it kills me to do so, I may just cut my losses and wait until next year. Stupid dog. 

Last but not least I'm also loving my 

Kindle. I got this before the iPad but I still favor reading books off my Kindle. It's so easy on the eyes, durable, and easy to take to the pool. While I was on my stay-cation and went to the pool this went with me and it was just so easy. Love! 

What are you loving this week??

Carnival Fun

I'm such a sucker for a good carnival, not so much for the rides but the food and the games. So every year the lovely town I live in has a carnival and fest and yes it brings back many memories but let's just face it who doesn't love being a kid again?? So this year when it was going on I was on my Paleo Diet, and since I was trying to be really good I was very limited to what I could eat. I normally can't wait for any festival because I have this obsession with funnel cakes and I always treat myself to one every fest we go too. Well this would be the first year in I don't know how many years I would not be enjoying one of those yummy funnel cakes. None the less the food was good and I survived. Here are some pics of our carnival adventure. 

Manni Monday

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend and to all the dads out there I hope they had a fabulous Father's Day. So this week I went very much out of my comfort zone and tried a new nail polish company. 
I have seen lots of press about Butter nail nail polish and have seen them in there pretty packaging displayed all of from Sephora to Macy's. I have to admit I am always intrigued by the packaging, simple & sleek.

So on Thursday my nails were driving me CRAZY and I needed them reshaped and a polish change stat! So while I wasn't planning on this impromptu nail change I didn't bring a nail polish with me to work. One of the many beauties of working in a mall is I had endless stores to go to get my quick fix. So I ran to Macy's (the Macy's in my mall has this great beauty section that carries tons of great top line cosmetic brands including Essie and Butter). So while I browsed my the Essie collection nothing was jumping out at me, and the ones that were I already owned (isn't that funny when that happens?) Since I knew leaving empty handed was not an option I decided to step outside of my norm and go check out the Butter section. 

They had a ton of colors that were just POPPING out at me. I decided to keep it simple so I selected a color that caught my eye first. It's called Yummy Mummy and it's this great neutral shade, and we all know how much I'm a sucker for a good neutral. 

Here is what it looked like on my nails: 

It's an okay color. Am I loving? No. One thing that I don't like at all is that these nail polishes are sealed shut so there is no way for you to test the color out on your nails before you buy it. And let's be honest for $14.00 I want to make sure it looks good on my hand. Luckily the girl at Macy's was nice enough to say if I didn't love the color I could return it. So after I wore it for a couple of days I made the decision to return it. I just didn't feel like it was this amazing color to make it into my collection. 


Have any of you guys tried the butter collection? What did you guys think?? 


Thanks for joining me for another . . . 

Friday Letters

Gosh Friday already thank goodness because that means only 4 more days until my next day off! I am feeling overwhelmed with all I have to do on my day off. How can that be after I just came back from a 10 day stay-cation?? Who knows.


Dear Self: Those last 10 days of relaxing and filling my days with a good book, a pool, sunshine, and working out is exactly what my mind, body, and soul needed. I feel like I can now be a better friend, wife, and manager. Only 3 more weeks until my next 10 vacation but whose keeping track ;) 


Dear 50 Shades of Grey: I know you have mixed reviews however this reader is really enjoying the book so far. Yes it's elementary writing quality but isn't that exactly what a good summer read is?? Plus the steamy sex scenes don't hurt either. haha. I love how you have taken over a nation and have all the women talking. It is defiantly the conversation around the water cooler. 


Dear Summer: Can you please stay here forever? I love the hot beating sun and sitting outside enjoying a good drink and a book. Plus I feel like it makes everyone in a better mood and more people are out and about. I socialize more with my lovely neighbors. 


Dear Crossfit: I am very very happy with the accomplishments I've made this week! I may not always be the fastest or finish first but it's about the quality of the work out. Well that's what I'm going to keep telling myself. 


Dear Hubby: Happy early Father's Day. Even though I haven't given you a child yet you are an amazing Father to your son. I love watching you two together- the way he looks up to you and tries to be just like you. It makes me fall in love with you more and more. I can't wait to one day give you a child of our own (hopefully a girl) because I know you will be just as fabulous of a weather to her. 


Dear Blogger Friends: I promise next week I will get 5 entries done. I am so bummed I missed yesterday because I had a good Thursday Crush post. Oh well it will wait until next week. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to all 20 of my followers for reading everyday on my crazy life and thoughts. 

Summer Reading

I had a hard time deciding on what to write today but finally was able to come up with a topic. I have no idea why I was having writer's block well okay to be honest I did have a topic to write about but I haven't quite formulated how I want to write it yet. And this topic of Summer Reading has been on my To Do List to write. 


So I had started off the summer reading with this book-

With all the reviews that I saw on Amazon (73 to be exact) and most of them were glowing of this book. So I had downloaded a sample (have to love technology now a days) and I was impressed with the sample so I purchased the kindle version and was excited to start my new book. Well let me tell ya the sample was the best part because it dragged! I'm not one to quit a book but I heavily contemplated quitting this one. What didn't I like the book? First off I felt like the point of the story was lost and at times I forgot what the point was. Parts of the book just dragged on and on. One thing that really annoyed me was in Part 2 of the book all of a sudden it changes point of view and it's sudden change and unexpected and as a reader it made it confusing and then you almost had to back track in the book because now this other character is rehashing all of Part One that you just struggled through. All in all I finished the book however I did leave a 2 star review on Amazon. 


I have now moved on to probably the most talked about summer read 

and I have to say so far I'm really into this book, okay now get your mind out of the gutter I don't mean because of the highly sexual explicit details but because it's a light read and I think perfect for the summer. I know everyone loves or hates the book but I have to say I'm flying through the first book and I'm liking it so far. I can't wait to see how the series plays out.


What's on your summer reading list??