Happy Monday and leap day friends! Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! I don't know about you but mine felt like it went by way too fast. Who decided that the work week should be 5 days and the weekend only two any way? I seriously need to have a talk with them. Before I get into my weekend recap with Biana I just wanted to apologize to any one who has noticed me not commenting as much on your blog as I used to. My work has been cracking down on security and privacy settings so a lot of blogs I used to regularly visit are now blocked and occasionally I can get around them if I view your blog through Bloglovin' but if any where in your post that day you use a word that my work doesn't deem "appropriate" it gets blocked. I try to comment on some blogs before I get to work but I know a lot of you don't post until after 7 am and I leave for work at 6:30 am so if you post after then there's a chance I won't be able to view your blog. And I'd love to view everyone's blogs when I get home from work but if I go to the gym after work I usually don't get home until 7 pm, then I make dinner, take a shower and by then it's almost bed time! Ok, enough of that, on to my weekend recap!

Friday I had a busy day at work so I didn't do much after. I absolutely love my job because I get to wear many hats and Friday I got to play the role of photographer. We release three different (small) publications and on Friday I got to shoot a spread for our summer edition. No people are involved so it's not that hard but it is still time consuming! So come May/June I'll officially be a published photographer!

Saturday morning I woke up and hit up the gym since I missed out on a day this week. After the gym I headed out to do some shopping since I have a gala to attend for work in two weeks and I definitely don't have anything formal enough to wear! I ended up finding a very simple black satin gown that I think is going to be the winner. After shopping I headed over to Brass Tap to meet up with Kerri for some drinks and corn hole before heading over to her place for a charcuterie an game night.


Kerri is the best hostess! She had the largest charcuterie try ever and so many delicious snacks. We ended up watching a few episodes of Fuller House before putting on some music and breaking out CAH. Fuller House was definitely cheesy but cute and the 90's kid in me is stoked it's back! After a few rounds of CAH we decided to venture out and hit up one of our favorite local bars for a nightcap before heading to bed. Sadly it was the worst drink I've ever had from there... so we didn't stay long.

 Sunday I woke up and took my fur baby to the groomer to get his hair cut and went for a 4 mile bike ride. Then I headed out to the pool for a bit to soak up some sun before running my obligatory Sunday errands. I ended my weekend with a healthy dinner and Resident Evil: Retribution. We seriously need another day in the weekend! Hope everyone has a fantastic week!


 

Happy Friday dolls! I have been so exhausted this week. Between work, my lack of sleep the end of last week and getting to the gym again this week I've barely been able to keep my eyes open past 9 pm so I am ready for the weekend! I don't have a ton of plans this weekend and I'm perfectly fine with that. I do plan on doing a little shopping though and with that, let's jump right in to my Friday Five with Amanda!

1 // So a few weeks ago I posted about a pair of snakeskin sneakers from H&M I was dying to get. Unfortunately I couldn't find them but while I was in Target I randomly came across these and I picked them up instead. I had no idea DV by Dolce Vita had a Target line but it's super cute and these are SO comfy!
2 // Kind of obsessed with this ring! It's the perfect mix of silver and gold and I love that it's dainty but has the stacked look to it. Definitely a great every day ring.
 3 // This top needs to make it's way into my closet ASAP. Story of my life LOL! Definitely the perfect brunch shirt. Mimosas are always the answer.
4 // I am a die-hard watch lover. The main reason I can never get an Apple watch is the fact I love switching up my watches too much to commit to just one every day, especially when Michael Kors has SO many cute watches out right now. I am currently obsessing over this one but there are like 4 others on my radar I'm loving as well. Now if only I had more wrist space...
5 // I must be in a shoe mood this week. Ok, more like espadrilles because I'm also loving these! I love the colors, the beading and the mixed print. So perfect for spring and summer!

Hope everyone has an awesome weekend!

Happy Thursday lovelies! The weekend is so close I can almost taste it! I've been downright exhausted this week so I'm ready for a nice relaxing weekend and if my dog allows it, sleeping in past 7 am. I actually wrote this post a few weeks ago but kept it in my back pocket for a week like this week! I'm not (and never really have been) a huge fan of the color pink. I have very few pink articles of clothing in my closet, and while I don't mind pink as an accent color (hello Lilly Pulitzer) I was never really the person who needed something in pink. When they released the Pantone color(s) of the year I was shocked to find that I actually was more drawn to the rose quartz color than the serenity, especially given that blue is my favorite color.

My initial thought was "pale pink and baby blue... how original" but the two colors are so often seen together that it makes sense. But the main thing I love about the rose quartz is like the color black, almost every skin tone looks good in it.Whether you wear it as a main color in your outfit, as an accessory or even just as decor in your home, rose quartz goes with everything. In honor of one of the Pantone colors of the year, I decided to put together some things I'm loving lately all in rose quartz.

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8

Ok, so technically the title of this post is a little misleading. If we want to get specific it was 32 hours in 3 different airports but who's counting, right? Most of you know by know that Kerri and I had a long weekend in Dublin planned out last week but it definitely didn't go as planned. And honestly, the story is almost to funny (at this point, not so much on Wednesday or Thursday) not to share so why not explain what happened and how we made the most of it... kinda. 

It actually all started with my parents who up and decided they wanted to go to Dublin. They originally asked us to go back in January but Kerri didn't have a lot of time off at the time and it was pretty last minute so we decided to schedule it for February instead. My mom works for an airline and my dad used to so we get to fly at a deeply discounted rate on something called non-rev (non-revenue) or also known as stand by. The deeply discounted rate sounds amazing (and is!) until you get stuck somewhere. See, flying non-rev means you aren't guaranteed a seat together or even on the airplane at all so you try to book traveling non-rev around times you know there are plenty of open seats available on the flight, which is exactly what we did... or so we thought! When we originally listed ourselves on the stand by list 2 weeks prior to our trip there were plenty of first class and coach seats available so we thought we were golden to make it to Dublin but boy were we wrong.

I started out the day waking up at 4 am to make it to the airport by 6:15 am after going to bed WAY later than I should have the night before due to looking at last minute flight information with my mom. Surprisingly we made it on our first flight, sitting together and in an exit row next to a flight attendant and we were on our way to NYC to wait out the 11 hour layover. Our flight attendant was super awesome and she hooked us up with some mini bottles for cocktails for free to help our layover be not so sucky. 

After landing at JFK we had about 5 hours to kill before my parent's flight landed so we worked, walked around and checked out some of the stores and restaurants before deciding to grab some lunch at PizzaVino. Lucky for us, terminal 4 at JFK airport has a lot to do and see so we really weren't too bored waiting for my parents to get in so we could head up to the Sky Lounge. 

The Sky Lounge is the perfect place to spend the day if you have a long layover. In the warmer summer months they have an amazing outdoor patio, free wine, beer and food and (in my opinion) the best part... showers! Oh yeah, and free wifi and plenty of places to sit and unwind while charging your electronics. 

Not to mention it's a great spot for people watching and celeb sighting! We saw Anthony Anderson and Keanu Reeves all in a matter of minutes just hanging out in the Sky Lounge. 

After spending about 5 hours in the Sky Lounge we headed down to our gate to prepare for boarding but oh what a mess it was when we got down there. There were people every where, the stand by list had grown exponentially and it was definitely not looking good for us making it on board. Little did we know that the Dublin Film Festival happened to be the weekend we were heading over there so flights booked up unexpectedly at the last minute bumping us from getting a seat on the flight. Lucky for us... or so we thought... we had a back up plan! Don't make it to Dublin? No problem! The flight to my favorite city in the world, London, left  a little over an hour after our flight so that left us with enough time to rebook ourselves and get over to the gate. When we got to the gate for London it was just as much chaos as the flight to Dublin. After seeing the stand by list and some of the same people waiting at the London gate who were at the Dublin gate I knew there was no chance we would be making it to the UK.

I'm not going to lie, at this point I threw a mini hissy fit then sucked it up and headed back to the Sky Lounge for another drink and figuring out our next steps. I suggested staying in NYC for the weekend or looking into another US destination just to get out of town and make the best of it but due to extreme exhaustion and maybe a wee bit too much wine everyone just wanted to head home. The Sky Lounge eventually kicked us out and we proceeded to a gate around 2 am to catch a quick 1 hour catnap before jumping in a cab and heading from JFK to LaGuardia. Just to recap, at this point we've been up almost 24 hours straight and tensions are definitely running a bit high. 

This trip marks the first time in my life I can say 1. I didn't have to wait a single minute for a cab out of JFK airport  and 2. I was among one of the first 10 people in line for check point security at LaGuardia.

In effort to cut this short I won't get into any more details about our experience at LGA other than of course with the way our trip was going we didn't make the first flight back to Orlando so we had to move to a different gate (again), I had to go talk to a gate agent about getting my ticket rolled over because for some reason they were showing that I had actually made it to London (newsflash people, I'm standing in front of you, I obviously am not in London!), and the icing on the cake? We happened to be on a flight home with the one person Kerri and I absolutely positively did not want to be stuck on an airplane (or anything else) with. So basically the travel gods were 100% against us making this trip and I'm actually thankful we were able to make it back to Orlando about 32 hours after we started our journey. It was definitely not the adventure either of us had planned on our wanted but looking back on it now I just have to laugh at massive bad luck on this trip! Once back in Orlando we definitely made the best of our weekend and the weather was gorgeous so I really can't complain. While I think I'm going to hold off flying non-rev for awhile one bad experience isn't going to turn me off of it forever.

Sorry this was so long! I honestly could have written so much more about our experience (32 hours is a LONG time, especially when you're awake for pretty much all of it) and I had planned on making this funnier but I got exhausted just writing it...maybe I'm still not quite at the laugh about it phase but I know now that next time I should specify what kind of adventure I want!

Happy Monday dolls! I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend! Mine definitely didn't go even remotely as planned but I made the best of it and still had a great weekend so I can't complain. And I'm probably WAY less tired today with the way my weekend went as opposed to how it was supposed to go so that's a good thing, right? Linking up with Biana for my weekend recap!

Well, I technically started out my weekend on Wednesday/Thursday but I'll go into that more tomorrow. It's one of those must share stories that I can laugh about now but at the time... just no. So skip ahead to Friday...


Friday after a full 11 hours of sleep I felt refreshed enough to head out and make the best of my day off. I headed up to Blue Spring State Park to check out the manatees. Kerri and I had originally wanted to do this the previous weekend but by the time we were going to head out it was at capacity so it was nice to get to go on  a weekday even though it was still busy. After the spring I headed home to enjoy the sunshine by the pool before meeting up with Kerri for dinner and happy hour out on the patio.


Saturday we headed down to Disney, we were pretty determined to make it to "Ireland/the UK" this weekend! We parked at Magic Kingdom and took the monorail over to Epcot for some food and beverages. After a tequila shot in Mexico we headed over to the UK (FINALLY) for a beer then walked around "the world" a few times before heading back over to Magic Kingdom. We finished our night with a few rides and some fireworks before heading home.


Sunday I woke up and headed out to brunch to refuel from the 6 miles we walked the day before. After brunch I headed out to the pool to take full advantage of the sunny, 77 degree day!

Also, today you can find me guest posting over at B's blog while she's finishing up her fabulous vacation so head over there and check it out! Just to give you a little teaser of what you can expect...

Happy Friday lovelies!  Kerri and I were supposed to be in Dublin right now but unfortunately the travel Gods were against us and after 34 hours of no sleep, managing to get up to JFK and stuck there we are now sadly back in Florida. So instead of my usual Friday Five post I'm taking a bit of a mental health/me day to catch up on sleep, relax and enjoy my day off since it was a vacation day. I'll be back to my normal blogging schedule next week but I just wanted to sign on and wish everyone a very happy weekend and fill everyone in since if you follow me on Snapchat {pamelanicole84} or Instagram {sequinsandseabreezes} you were probably a bit confused about where we were and what was going on! So have an amazing weekend and I'll be back Monday with a full explanation of our crazy 34ish hours in JFK!

Happy Humpday lovelies! I recently got another group of elf products in the mail that I'm excited to share with you! I've been wanting to try out the elf skin care line for awhile now so when these showed up at my door I was super excited to test them out. I've continued to be impressed with the elf products and for the price you really don't have an excuse not to try it!

The e.l.f Flawless Eyeshadow is perfect for traveling or every day. The step by step "guide" helps you achieve a flawless look or you can use the shadows individually on their own. I love that the black doesn't have any shimmer in it which makes it before for lining your eyes if you don't have eye liner available.

The e.l.f Daily Hydration Moisturizer is an Allure 2015 Best of Beauty Award Winner and after using it, I see why. This is a very lightweight, lightly scented moisturizer that leaves my skin feeling smooth and soft. I love that it doesn't feel heavy on my skin and dries relatively quickly. I only use it at night as I prefer a moisturizer with an SPF during the day. The Facial Massager is an "eh" in my opinion. I didn't hate it, I didn't love it. I definitely didn't notice any huge changes in my skin after using it so I probably wouldn't purchase on my own.

The Cream Blush Palette is something I've never tried before. I usually stick to powder blush but I like that the cream blush is easily build-able and blend-able. You don't even need a brush to apply this blush, you can easily swipe it on with your finger tips to create a flushed glow. 

Last is the e.l.f. Satin Lipstick in Touch of Berry. I've been incredibly impressed with the e.l.f lipsticks so I had high hopes for this one but sadly I didn't love the color. The berry is a pretty shade but lately I've been more drawn to nudes so I think I would have preferred the nude color. This is a much lighter weight formula than the other lipsticks I've tried from e.l.f so it feels a bit more like a chapstick than a lipstick. I might give the nude color a try and see how I like it though!

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Happy Tuesday friends! Just as a warning, this is going to be a bit of a photo dump but I really wanted to share some of the beauty of Orlando (and Florida) many people don't even realize exists. As you may have read yesterday, I spent Saturday out exploring the natural side of Florida. There are tons of natural springs in Florida many of which are located under 2 hours from Orlando. We originally wanted to head over to Blue Springs State Park, which is about 45 minutes from my house, but due to the park being near capacity we decided to head to a smaller spring, Kelly Park Rock Springs Run. 

Rock Springs is located just northwest of Orlando and is known for it's free flowing crystal clear water and year round water temperature of 70 degrees. It's a popular place in the summer for tubing and swimming and it also has grills and picnic tables to enjoy a nice meal out at the spring. The park opens at 8 am and in the summer I highly recommend getting there early as the park does often fill to capacity early but since we went during the winter we were able to get there around 11 am and have most of the park to ourselves. It's a $3 per vehicle entry fee with 1-2 people or $5 for 3-8 people. Since it was a bit too chilly for these Floridians to get in the water we took advantage of the nature trails throughout the park which often lead to the gorgeous blue water of the springs. 
 The weather was a perfect 70 degrees and slightly breezy when we went out for our hike so I decided to take advantage and rock my new workout top I posted about on Friday paired with my favorite capris. The low back of the top made it perfect to wear my cute sports bra. It looks incredibly like the lululemon Free to Be Bra but a fraction of the cost and it's incredibly comfortable. I topped of my look with my cheetah print Nike Free 5.0 sneakers which are super lightweight and perfect for walking and running.

top: target / sports bra: forever 21  / capris: target {old, similar here} / shoes: nike / necklace: kendra scott / sunglasses: ray-ban

Welcome back friends! Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend and is recharged, refreshed and ready to start the week! Ok, now I just sound like a motivational speaker, sorry! I was actually able to get some rest this weekend and the weather was gorgeous for the first time in a few weeks and I have a short week this week so I'm a bit peppier than a usual Monday morning. Linking up with the lovely Biana for our weekend recap!

Friday was pretty relaxed (as usual) since I was exhausted from the week. It was absolutely gorgeous weather Friday so I took advantage of the fact I drive to work on Fridays and I headed out to the mall to do some shopping on my lunch break. I picked up some new workout clothes since I've been back at the gym and a few other things. After work I headed to meet up with Kate and the boys at our favorite Mexican restaurant for some margaritas and dinner before heading home to relax.

Saturday I slept in just slightly and then headed out to meet up with Kerri and enjoy the gorgeous sunny, 70 degree day. We headed over to Rock Springs Run Reserve to enjoy the wildlife and do some Florida hiking. After getting about 5 miles in we headed to Sanford for some drinks, food and darts.


Sunday was super relax day. Kerri and I got our nails done first thing in the morning then I ran a few errands and spent the rest of the day curled up on the couch watching Pirates of the Caribbean and snacking!


Hope everyone has a great week!

Happy Friday and Valentine's Day weekend friends! We are finally looking like we're going to have one nice day during the weekend so I fully plan on enjoying some time outside tomorrow! Other than that I'm probably going to spend my weekend relaxing since I have been absolutely exhausted this week and I feel like I'm starting to get a cold. Is any one doing anything fun for Valentine's Day? Linking up with Amanda for our Friday Favorites!

1 // Ya'll know how much I love stripes so when this dressed popped up on my Facebook (darn you Revolve Clothing for stalking me) I had to check it out! The dropped waist is so cute and since it's on sale I think it's going to make it's way to my closet... 

2 // I got these Clairns Multi-Active samples from Influenster and I've been incredibly impressed with them. The Multi-Active Day Broad Spectrum is a great morning moisturizer with SPF 20 that leaves your skin feeling silky and radiant and the Multi-Active Night helps reduce the look of fine lines and wrinkles while you sleep!

3 // Since I'm back at the gym I decided to run out and get some new cute clothes and when I saw this top at Target I knew I had to have it. It's perfect for the cooler days we've been having and it's cute enough to be worn as a top out running errands or even grabbing lunch!
4 // Have you seen the new Fitbit Alta? As someone who has been flip flopping between wanting a fitness tracker and not (and knowing I don't want an Apple Watch because I love my other watches way too much) I think I might finally give in for this one!
5 // I'm not usually a huge fan of snakeskin print but for some reason as soon as I saw these shoes I immediately wanted them.They're sold out in my size online but I think I'm going to run over to the mall on my lunch break and see if I can find them in store!

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Happy Humpday loves! It's all downhill from here... does any one else get the New Found Glory song stuck in their head after saying that? No, just me? Ok cool. I don't know why but I have been so tired this week, it's been a struggle to get up every morning so I am definitely ready for the weekend (although with my luck I'll be wide awake at like 6 am on the weekend). Lately I've been layering clothing like a homeless person. It will be in the upper 30's when I leave for work, then in the mid 60's while I'm at work and back down in the upper 40's or low 50's when I leave work so Ive been trying to dress for the crazy temperature swings. Oh and did I mention that we've been having crazy winds on top of the weird temperatures? So there's that too!

Happy Tuesday loves! I'm not even going to lie, I just realized Valentine's Day is this weekend. I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's day; don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against the holiday, I just prefer to celebrate it low key and do something special on a random day a different day of the year. But just because I don't go all out for it doesn't mean I don't love getting a little something to say "I love you" and vice versa. However I don't see any reason to spend a ton of money on something so I decided to put together a little last minute Valentine's Day gift guide of 15 things under $50 for her and him!