Beach Pics

Sorry for the delay in blogging about our girl's beach trip, we got back last Tuesday evening and I have been very busy with work and my cousin's wedding festivities. We had her bachelorette weekend in Atlanta this past weekend and the wedding is this Saturday and I will be traveling to LaGrange for it.

I'd say this collage sums up our trip -

The top beach pic was taken within hours of arriving. This is pretty embarrassing but when we landed in Tampa we took a cab straight to the liquor store, haha. We did not have a car and there were no stores around the hotel. So liquor store to hotel to the beach. Priorities people!

One of several beverages we picked up, Skinny Girl Cucumber Vodka -

 

We drank it with club soda, very refreshing and low cal!

Sheena and I are obsessed with oysters, Allison not quite so much she can take them or leave 'em. That was one of about 5 orders we had over the course of the trip, delish.

Above bottom right pic taken at our hotel's rooftop bar, a fun beachy atmosphere that has a big countdown timer to sunset, gives out free shots and blares "When the sun goes down" at sunset :)

We were very lucky with the weather, didn't rain any during the day

We indulged in lots of fresh seafood, at one meal instead of each ordering an entree we ordered about 6 different appetizers of seafood. So many great spots all around our hotel.

No we did not plan to all wear teal dresses :) Our waiter asked if we had been in a wedding haha.

Our calamari and chocolate lava cake from that dinner, so good. For our entrees I had parmesan crusted salmon (yum), Allison had shrimp and grits and Sheena had lobster ravioli that was heavenly.

Some of the maid's handiwork in our hotel -

Do you think the right one looks like a swan or a snake? It's definitely a swan but Allison yelled, "Snake!" right when she spotted it haha.

Our last full day on the beach -

Of course Allison and I rented a tent and slathered ourselves in our fav sunblock -

Sheena was brave to go on a beach trip with us albinos, lots of "Can you put sunblock on back?" requests and Sheena was shocked at the amount of sunblock I would use haha.

Sunset on the rooftop bar with frozen pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris, ahh vaca

Our last night we went out to dinner and drinks (we stayed within a .3 mile radius of our hotel the whole trip) and met a new friend at one of the bars, this really drunk lady from Norway (I think?) and Allison was the only one who could understand her and carry on a conversation with her haha.

 

 One last stop at the rooftop bar, we grabbed lunch there before heading to the airport

 Bye, Clearwater Beach! Thanks for a fun girl's trip :)

Aannnd one more embarrassing story from the trip, so we definitely missed our flight the way there.... One word: Marta. It was absolutely miz. It was running on some kind of glacial schedule and long story short it tooks us 2 HOURS to get from Buckhead to the airport. I was so anxious because 1. Obvi about to miss my flight to my much anticipated beach vaca 2. I forgot to eat or grab a Luna bar that morning and we all know how that goes when I forgo eating 3. So many people scared me on the train, one man got on and was yelling racist comments and stuff like, "This is MY train!" and I thought we were all about to die and then this homeless man in a wheelchair started quizzing Sheena and I with number and word problems. I turned to Sheena and said, "This is what hell is like." But thankfully we got put on a flight all together just an hour later than our scheduled flight. Everyone with Airtran was very nice and accommodating and said people had been missing their flights all morning because of Marta! Ridic. We were very fortunate and happily boarded our plane with food in tow and arrived just an hour later to sunny Florida :)

Things of Thursday

Just a few random thoughts :) 

One of my current guilty pleasures is Make It or Break It on ABC Family, a drama about a group of girl gymnasts trying to make it to the Olympics. It's super cheesy of course but I've gotten hooked on it. I stopped watching for awhile (because of my jam packed Real Housewives and Bachelorette schedule) but when I was sick about a month ago I caught back up online. Ready for the next season!

Season 3 ended with the announcement of who made it onto the US women's gymnastics team and next season is at the London Olympics, yeah! One ABC Family show I do not like is Secret Life of the American Teenager, I just find it boring and everyone gets on my nerves. I did watch one episode of the new show Bunheads, created by the Gilmore Girl's show creator, and liked it so I'd like to catch up on that one, too. And everytime I've tried to watch Pretty Little Liars I just have no idea what's going on, so maybe I'll revisit that one next time I'm laid up sick. So much to do!

Don't trust Becky, the girl on the top left!

And yes I am aware I may be a tad older than their target audience. This is so going to be me -

A few products I've been loving -

I just love Trader Joe's. I'll be doing my weekly grocery shopping and pick up an item like lavender body spray for just a few bucks. I spritz some on my arms and legs at night to moisturize and I find the lavender scent very relaxing.

And y'all know I love anything Kiehl's, if I were to randomly win the lottery (which would never happen because I've never bought a lottery ticket and probably never will) I would buy every product they have. I especially love their olive fruit hair products, great for my hair that has a tendency to look like straw when too dry. They just came out with a leave-in hydrating cream that I picked up some samples of, of course I'm obsessed. I've been trying to use lots of leave-in conditioners on the ends of my hair to avoid having to get so much cut off when I go in for a trim. I want long, healthy shiny hair :)

Strengthening and Hydrating Hair Oil-in-Cream

And I just got some of their vanilla lip balm and it is heavenly -

Scented Lip Balm

I really want the small Clarisonic! When I got my microderm a few weeks ago the lady was telling me about it. I have some places on my face that are prone to hormonal and stress breakouts and she said it would really help. Chrissy just got the small one and her skin looks better than ever :) And you can use any kind of face wash with it, it just really gets in and cleans out your pours, so basically a mini facial every time you wash your face. I hate when I wash my face with my makeup removing cleanser and then use toner and look at the cotton ball and see there was still makeup on my face. I feel like a Clarisonic would be the equivalent to my Sonicare toothbrush, I can never imagine using a regular old toothbrush now ;)

The Clarisonic Mia

I've been trying to do some different, fun, easy up-dos. Pinterest inspired that goes without saying. Here's my hair today that really has no rhyme or reason. Will someone please teach me how to french braid my own hair? It never ends well when I try.

I went to get my passport renewed on my lunch break today (required a trip downtown, ugghh) because I am going to Montreal in 6 weeks for Shana's bachelorette festivities, holla!

Had my dad mail me my old passport, such a beautiful pic of me at 13 -

And here's taken 2 days ago at the Wal-Greens in Midtown on my lunch break looking thrilled -

Trotter update, y'all!

I am so happy that Allison has joined our team this year! Just wasn't the same without her last year. We have officially hit the ground running and are working hard on our fundraising event, the Boobie-Q on August 4th. Look for your Evite this week!

You may have noticed a flurry of online activity from me requesting donations. Same as last year each walker is required to raise a minimum amount of $2,300 in order to walk. The walk is in October but I am hoping to have my fundraising complete by mid-September. Oh here's my fundraising page :)

Just a few reasons why I am walking again this year:

1. It's a cause I truly believe in. We all know someone who has been affected by cancer and I feel so honored and thankful to be a part of something that is really making a difference in putting a stop to this deadly disease.

2. Last year when we were organizing our team one of the girls came to my mind to ask if she wanted to do it. I won't say who because it's not my story to tell, but I just felt a very strong leading to reach out to her. She did it and had an amazing experience. Well barely a month or so after the walk last October her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She has since been through chemo treatments and is now undergoing radiation, she is doing really well. The whole family felt more adapt to being there for her because of the 3-Day. It is amazing how God works and provides for us even in the midst of unthinkable circumstances.

3. It is empowering to be out in the community raising awareness and educating ourselves and others about something that has such a real impact on our lives. We can all make a difference!

4. Our team has just about doubled in size! As well as Allison our friend Emily and some of Sheena's relatives (one who is a breast cancer survivor) joined. The Harlem Boob Trotters are bigger and better than ever!

I really appreciate all of your support!

Last year's closing ceremonies at Turner Field -

Me, Allison and Mark after the ceremony :)

Misc. Monday

I'm alive! I was MIA last week due to food poisoning or some kind of stomach virus, a very fun time! I'm really not sure what I ate, but I started feeling sick late last Monday afternoon, that day I'd eaten a Luna bar, a frozen Kashi meal and then as an afternoon treat I had a low fat mocha coconut frapp, so I'm guessing it was the frapp that was bad since I eat Luna bars and Kashi meals just about every weekday... Anyways I will stop there and won't divulge any more details :)

Evil frapp...

I am just so happy to be rejoining the world! This week is definitely a better week to not be sick at work and I am excited to go to my spin and Pure Barr classes, small group and kickball this week.

 I had a great weekend here in Atl. On Saturday I had my first ever microderm treatment at the Robin Stiles studio in Buckhead. It's where Chrissy goes and they are running a special on microderms this month. For detox and unclogging my pores I usually just use Kiehl's white clay face mask once or twice a week. The microderm left my face feeling so clean it was just wonderful. She told me my skin is not sensitive just highly reactive, haha. While there I got Dermalogica's tinted face primer that has spf 30 in it. Obsessed, goes on like a glove. Reminds me of Smashbox's primers but better. I use Stila's tinted moisturizer everyday that has spf 20. I've heard from several people that I really should be using at least 30 on my face so this is a much needed upgrade. I may still apply the tinted moisturizer over the primer.

AGE Smart SkinPerfect Primer SPF 30

And I am super pumped about this new product find too, I've lamented for years about how hard it is to find a daily body lotion with spf that doesn't smell like sunblock. I have some from Aveeno but it smells sunblockey to me so I usually just put it on my arms for long car trips. Well last weekend when Tim and I were out shopping I popped in Bath and Body Works to see if they had anything, I hardly ever go in there but thought what the heck. (I know I'm so wild and crazy!) Well I found Broad Spectrum SPF 25 Sunscreen Lotion and it smells really good!

So I am all set for the miz Atl summer!

Bath and Body Works® Signature Collection Broad Spectrum SPF 25 Sunscreen Lotion

Saturday night went out for a friend's birthday in Decatur, the first social thing I'd been able to do in over a week.

We got drinks on the rooftop at Eddie's Attic

Then made our way over to Leon's for dinner

Ashlison Benzort!

The birthday girl, Reena, to my left

Sunday afternoon I went to a Pure Barre class, I forgot how much I liked it! I hadn't been to one since last summer (had signed up for a new client 1 month special) and then didn't keep doing it because it's a little pricey especially along with my LA Fitness membership and I have a gym in my building. Well it's come to my realization along with needing a higher daily spf coverage that I also need to do more strength training. My exercise routine has a tendency to be a little one dimensional due to my strong aversion to noncardio workouts. Running and spinning are stress relievers and allow me to zone out and shift out of work mode, but strength training is just so boring and painful. So I was talking about this with my dad (who is also a runner) and he recommended that I meet with a trainer. He'd met with one at his gym and got a lot out of it. So before my spin class a couple weeks ago I approached a very large man working the front desk and asked how you get set up with a personal trainer. Big mistake. Things got intense from that moment on. We scheduled an orientation for a couple days later and he had me fill out this form cataloging everything I ate -

 

We had our 1 on 1 workout which I really liked. He said he would design workouts for me that were a lot of light reps, so as to get a lean, toned look. (ya know so I don't end up looking like a man, aka my brothers) He told me I was in good shape (in between good and excellent in the body fat range I believe, holla!) but that I just need to tone up some from running. (when you regularly run you get to a point where you plateau and your body isn't building muscle anymore) I went in the next night and signed up and was all set to start the following week. Well the next day this guy kept calling me about random stuff like paper work, scheduling, etc. I did not like that. Soooo I'm now not going to do it, at least not for awhile. It is very expensive and it just stresses me out adding one more thing to my life that involves coordinating my schedule. Literally in the middle of the book club I hosted Friday night I randomly started going on and on about how stressed I was about it, just a random turrets outburst no biggie. I've decided I'm going to start doing Pure Barre again, with that you just buy a package of classes and go when you can. And it is a similar workout to what the personal training would be and Chrissy goes so yay for accountability. Now I just need to get some cute Lululemon gear!

My maxi mania continues, it's one of my fav things to wear to work as my office is very casual and they are so comfortable. Went to Target on my lunch break for some essentials today and got this one -

Mossimo Supply Co. Juniors Stripe Maxi Skirt