May Month in Review

June 3, 2019

Gal Meets Glam Gal Meets Glam Collection Polly Cross Back Pleated Sundress. Sarasota, Florida. St. Armands Circle Lilly Pulitzer

Gal Meets Glam Gal Meets Glam Collection Polly Cross Back Pleated Sundress. The Bazaar on Apricot & Lime in Sarasota, Florida. Sip & Mingle event by Mandy.

May quickly became one of my busiest months this year! Whew! I attended one wedding, one graduation, and one blogger dinner event to name just a few of the exciting things I checked off my to-do list last month. Here is a recap of some of the things I did over the course of May. Enjoy!

Movies/TV Shows I Watched

Avengers: Endgame (in theaters)
Game of Thrones (HBO)
A Quiet Place (Amazon Prime)
Dead to Me (Netflix)
Someone Great (Netflix)
Extremely Wicked Shockingly Evil and Vile (Netflix)

Music I Loved

Me! – Taylor Swift

Truth Hurts – Lizzo

Here With Me – Marshmellow / CHRVCHES

Don’t Give Up on Me – Andy Grammer

Blog Posts I Loved

How to Casually Style a Midi Skirt the Summer | Louella Reese
How to Wear Wide Leg Crop Jeans | Poor Little It Girl
This Season’s Best Budget-Friendly Swimwear | Danielle Gervino
Walmart Favorites May 2019 | Life by Lee
10 Beach Vacation Day-to-Night Looks | BrightonTheDay

New Makeup I Bought

Maybelline Brow Precise Micro Eyebrow Pencil

I’m switching up the color of my eyebrows for the first time in years! I typically stick to drawing in my eyebrows with a dark brown color, but lately, I am experimenting with shades of Auburn to really match my red hair. I love filling in my eyebrows in the morning. It’s become one of my favorite steps in my morning makeup routine these days.

Looking in the mirror and seeing my eyebrows come to life with help from a few strokes of my micro eyebrow pencil completes my makeup for the day! You can find a bunch of eyebrow pencils at the drugstore that cost under $10.

My Maybelline one is great because you can also use the opposite end to brush your brows up and out to add volume. The Maybelline Eye Studio Brow Precise Shaping Pencil – Auburn – is also another one of my eyebrow pencils loves. That one is just $5.39, too. This type of eyebrow pencil is a thicker wax formula so you need to go easy when you start to apply it directly onto your brows. I remember when I first started using it and I went overboard with the amount of product I applied to my brows and they looked too thick for my liking! The key is to apply little by little until you are satisfied with how your brows look.

New Skincare I Bought

Kate Somerville’s EradiKate™ Acne Treatment

Before I embarked on my travels to Ohio, I noticed an annoying pimple growing on my bottom lip. What a bummer to have a red mark on my lip before the wedding! I immediately headed to Sephora the day before our trip to purchase some emergency pimple products. I talked with one of the kind employees at my local Sephora and she helped me pick out some relief. I bought a bottle of Kate Somerville EradiKate to put on my pimple at night.

The 10% sulfur and zinc oxide found in this bottle instantly dried up my pimple over the course of the weekend and it slowly disappeared as time went on. This $26.00 bottle was a great find! If you have dry skin, I do want to warn you that this will continue to dry you out, so be sure to follow up with your favorite moisturizer.

Jan Marini Age Intervention Duality

My skin care routine has changed dramatically over the past five years. No longer do I worry (too much) about breakouts because 1) I completed an intense round of Accutane 2) My skin has calmed down since then. However, I can’t live without a few essential skin care products and the Jan Marini Age Intervention Duality cream is one of them.

Some time ago I partnered up with Jan Marini for a paid blog collaboration. I also had the opportunity to talk one-on-one with Jan Marini herself on the phone as she explained the science behind the products she chose for my specific skin care needs. I learned so much information from Jan and wrote down every piece of skincare advice she gave me. She is a trusted name in the professional skin care world and has developed cutting edge solutions to today’s most common concerns.

We talked about my old skincare routine from when I suffered from painful acne and what I need to do now to focus on maintaining a breakout-free complexion. Out of all the products she sent me, I saw the biggest change in my breakouts by religiously committing to the using Age Intervention Duality cream on a nightly basis. It has acne-eliminating ingredients like benzoyl peroxide and retinol to kill acne-causing bacteria. I am HOOKED! So this month I needed to make a repurchase of this cream.

New Items I Bought

AE Long Sleeve Embroidered Bohemian Top
Walmart Beverly Hills One Piece Swimsuit
Sheer Plaid Black Smocked Top
LOVE Necklace
Clear Mini Crossbody Tote
Faux Garland Eucalyptus Hearth & Hand Target
Strappy Zip Front Floral Denim Crop Top Wild Fable
Carla White Button Front Tank
Charismatic Vibes Beige Statement Earrings

Places I Visited

Sarasota, Florida

My boyfriend Brian and I took a Saturday day trip down to Sarasota for my friend Mandy‘s Sip & Mingle event. We explored the market venue for a few hours and even experienced a tarot card reading from a psychic. The venue is called The Bazaar on Apricot & Lime and features a range of local artists and treasures. The Sip & Mingle event gave me the opportunity to connect with a few Sarasota based bloggers, too. Since I typically interact with my usual St. Pete and Tampa bloggers, it was neat to get to know a few bloggers in this area of the state.

For the event, I wore my new Gal Meets Glam Polly gingham pink dress (swoon!). I picked this dress up in a size 6 and comfortably wore it throughout the day for the Sip & Mingle event and while we cruised through the upscale shops found at St. Armands Circle after the event ended. Brian had never been to St. Armands before so I was excited to take him to such an energetic part of Sarasota. While out shopping, we found my Mom a pair of starfish earrings for Mother’s Day, too.

Cincinnati, Ohio

I watched and celebrated my cousin Kelly get married to her now husband, Lance. The weekend was filled with happy memories, emotional tears, and plenty of food! I wore a striking red dress from Dillards to the reception ceremony at the hotel. This was my first time in Ohio and the state has an interesting combination of farm life and city life.

Unfortunately, while in Ohio, I caught a cold. Dang airplanes! This meant I spent the majority of my time sick in bed. I was able to have lunch and catch up with my cousins before heading back to my hotel room for a quick nap in between events. I watched A Quiet Place and ordered Uber Eats from PF Changs to relax.

Austin, Texas

For the Memorial Day weekend holiday, I traveled with one of my best friends Jessica to watch our best friend Nicole graduate from The University of Texas with her Master’s Degree in Social Work! It was an exciting weekend packed with dinners, a boat ride, and plenty of authentic Texan cuisine.

At first, I thought it was going to be pouring rain the entire time, but the Texas weather changed when we arrived and it was just cloudy! For the trip, I packed a few cute things from Misred Outfitters. I am working with this local boutique and while in Austin I wore a taupe & striped midi dress one day and a colorful striped halter midi dress on Saturday afternoon.

Restaurants I Tried

Gen X Tavern

This hot new (yet nostalgic!) spot in Tampa kept popping up on my social feeds. I went out with my boyfriend to see what all the fuss was about one-night last month. The Gen X Tavern includes the best of the 80s and 90s inside a spacious downtown Tampa location. Although the drinks on the menu were creative and tasty, the atmosphere made it virtually impossible to have a conversation. The menu became more limited as the night went on and a few of the items we wanted to try were unavailable. I ate some cheesy nachos and Brian had a burger.

The noise in the central bar area was overpowering to the point that I almost wanted to leave. However, the two of us grabbed our drinks and walked around the space to look at all it had to offer. Old-school Mario Kart was the highlight of our night as we played a few rounds together. The decor is well-done with plenty of odes to the Breakfast Club era and MTV. The nostalgic board games in the back of the restaurant are a great way to spend a couple of hours with friends reliving your fondest childhood memories. I would give the Gen X Tavern another try for a late lunch or happy hour instead of making it my “going-out” place of choice.

Whiskey Cake Kitchen & Bar

For a blogger dinner date, roughly 14 of us blogger chicks dined at Whiskey Cake Kitchen & Bar last month. The restaurant is conveniently located just outside the International Plaza Mall. The farm-to-kitchen dishes found on the menu are made with the best local ingredients for high-quality meals. I casually sipped on my tasty sweet tea while the rest of the girls piled in and sat around our table.

The atmosphere of the kitchen & bar was moody and dimly lit (probably the exact ambiance they want) which made reading the menu more difficult, in my opinion. The dinner menu featured items like chicken and waffles (I need to try that next time!) and pork brisket. I settled on ordering the brisket and it did NOT disappoint my taste buds, people!

Besides all of the fun chitchat and grub, we also all found out Ayana and Ashley are pregnant! I am so pumped to see these gorgeous ladies turn into full-fledged MAMAS. The excitement is real!