Lately

88F in January. Whaaaaa??? Can it stay like this forever? Perfect patio weather.

New hair. Auburn inspiration.

BubbleBath by OPI. New mani fave.

West Alabama Ice House. Lazy Sunday afternoon with friends.

Oyster season!!! Yum.

New bling in my Aggie Ring. My grandma's diamond from her engagement ring. Sentimental and I will wear it always.

My First Ikea Hack

There are a wealth of creative posts about how to DIY any IKEA item out there to make it look super custom and super expensive. And I love it.

I bought two IKEA Lack Side tables in a turquoise color when I first moved into my apartment to use as coffee tables. They have served me well, but I was getting bored with them and decided it was time for a change. Enter- the Ikea Lack Side Table Hack. There are many tutorials floating out there on the internet, from converting them to ottomans, to adding decorative trim or brass corners for a more campaign style, to adding nail head trim for a more sophisticated look. You wouldn't even guess that the two tables cost less than $20 for both! This was my inspiration, minus the nail head trim.

Here is a before picture of my tables and how I had used them as dinner coffee tables. The main focus of this pic was obvi my new couch, but you get the gist of how I used them.

Here are the steps I followed to create my new custom side table:

Step 1: Unscrew the legs to one of the side tables so that you have one of the tables in tact and just the top to the second table.

Step 2: Place the side table with the legs on top of the second table top and position how you want them. Lightly mark the outline of the legs so that you know where to position when it comes time to glue. 

Step 3: Use the glue you have selected and place a small amount on all surfaces (the four legs and the four places on the top where the legs will be placed). Wait 5-10 minutes until the glue becomes tacky.

Step 4: Once the glue has become tacky, carefully line up the legs with your markings and  press down on the top of the table. You can place some books on the top of the table in order to weigh down the table during the drying process if you want. Glue should be dried after about 2 hours.

Step 5: Style your new table as desired! I used some of my favorite coffee table books, a cute pottery barn, LOL tray, my favorite VOLCANO candle, and a gold tray to have somewhere appealing to keep remotes. Whats nice about this DIY is that now there is a space underneath the table to place a basket of my magazines.

So there you have it! I really love the idea of placing these brass corners on the edges. Maybe this will be my next addition. 

26.2

So Sunday was the Chevron Houston Marathon! This was my second marathon, so now I can say that I have completed my first marathon in 85F weather and my second now in 45F windy, rainy weather....

I woke up at 5:30 am to pouring rain. So glad I tracked down a rain poncho the night before. It rained on us until about mile 8-9, which was definitely an experience. Overall, I liked the course and the run because I was familiar with the area and it was reallllly well organized. I highly recommend this run (they have a 5K, 13.1, and 26.2 options.)

My official time was 5:09. I felt really good up until about the 16 mile mark before I had to start putting in walking intervals and then somewhere along mile 23 I tweaked my knee which made the last 5K super fun. But I did it!

The gear.

J snapped this pic of me at mile 26. The finish was so close, yet so far.

Done!

Obligatory medal pic!

2013

via

Happy New Year! I can not believe it is 2013 already. I always talk about new year's resolutions but then do not really take them seriously and always end up breaking them... go figure. So this year, I would like to think of them as goals I would like to accomplish this year, rather than resolutions.

1. Smile more. Enough said.

2. Stand up straight. I tend to have horrid posture.

3. Organize my apartment (finally) and purchase new rugs for living room and bedroom.

4. Go on a trip with J. We are thinking Yellowstone. How lovely will that be.

5. Plan a girls trip. Destination TBD.

6. Be good to my body, mind, and soul.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

I hope this happy time is spent with family, much laughing, and good wine and treats.   I am in San Antonio for the next couple of days celebrating the holidays with my family. My Grandma and Aunt drove down from El Paso so it will be very nice to relax and get to see them!

    Merry Christmas! 

Picture is from my Pinterest. (Words overlayed are my own).

Silent Night

Tonight is Christmas Eve and one of my favorite Holiday traditions- Candle Light Service. It is so peaceful and I love seeing all of the candles lit up around the church as the lights dim and voices come together to sing Silent Night.

I managed to snap a picture of our tree with the presents underneath before my little brother sorted all of the presents by person in anticipation of opening them up first them Christmas morning. We are all about efficiency in my family.

Merry Christmas!

New for the Night and Customer Christmas Party

Renting dresses is seriously the best thing on the planet. I mean, there are tons of dresses in my closet that I have only worn once (shameful to say). Therefore, whoever thought up the idea to rent dresses to people for a fraction of what they cost was a genius.

Enter- New for the Night. One of my friends had rented a dress from them earlier this fall for a wedding and told me how awesome and pain free it was. So I decided to check it out. And, I am so glad I did! I got this gorgeous  gown for a customer Christmas party I was attending and it worked out perfectly. They are located on Westheimer in Houston so I was able to make  an appointment at their show room and try on dresses to see what sizes and styles worked for me before I took the plunge and purchased.

Our Christmas party was so fun and my date cleans up well, don't you think!?