Birchbox Time!

Well, well, Birchbox...we meet again at the mailbox.  I know I say this almost every time I get it, but I love my monthly mailbox surprise! For April, Birchbox teamed up with Women's Health Magazine...wasn't really reflected in the box (I guess I was expecting a resistance band or something??) but we all got a year's subscription to the mag!  Which I'm pumped about.  I get Self right now, and have had it for about four years and I think after reading the same fitness mag for so long you tap out on the tips and tricks they offer.

Here's my haul:

Oribe shampoo and conditioner ::  I lovedddd these two products.  I think I got 3 or 4 of the sample packets in my box, so luckily I can hoard it a little.  The smell is amazing, the lather is great, and my hair felt clean but very soft and style-able after using it over the last few days.  I might honestly consider splurging on these.

Skin & Co. Bangnodoccia Body Gel :: This body gel.  I was super excited about it when I opened my box.  And then I showered with it.  And the smell.  It was so overpowering.  Very floral, and almost smelled like something you would get at a hotel.  The later was great though, and once I was out of the shower, my skin smelled amazing and it wasn't so noticeable!  3 out of 5 stars.

Mirenesse Glossy Kiss :: I got this color, which is an orangey-red with maybe some blue undertones--my teeth looked very white when I put this baby on.  It's kind of scary at first.  It's pretty bright, and I think if I had a nice tan, this would look good....at night.  I'm just not one for bold lip color, at least yet.  I was flipping through reviews on the site, and some women had used theirs as a cheek stain--so I plan on trying that out.  I was bummed a little since it's a full-size product so it would be awesome to *love, love* this one.

via

Kusmi Love and Boost Teas ::  This is a loose tea.  I don't have a tea strainer...so I basically can't try these. I'm not a huge tea person, so I'm probably not going to run out and buy a tea strainer for these guys either.  If someone has a DIY way to enjoy loose tea that doesn't include cheesecloth, or something else I definitely don't have "laying around", please share!

Supergoop! eye cream ::  SPF 37, good texture, etc.  I use the Smashbox BB cream every day that has SPF 35, so for me this wasn't super exciting.  I'm not very familiar with eye creams, but this was something new to try, hence the whole point of Birchbox!

Nom :: Skinny Chocolate Chip Banaynay Bread

So, I lied when I recapped my weekend. 

I also made this perfect chocolate chip banana (banaynay) bread.  

And yes, banaynay is real thing--in college, a few of us were extras in a commercial at Wrigley Field.  And one of the guys took a banana from the kraft table at lunch and carried it around all. day. and it got so disgusting.  And somewhere in there, "the naynay" began.  We all took pics with it, etc.  Ok, anyways, the recipe.

The recipe comes from Skinny Mom, and of course, I found it on Pinterest:

a lot of times, i screenshot pins i want to try so they're in my album and stay fresh on my mind! try it!

I followed the recipe exactly, with one change-up.  The recipe calls to make it in two loaf pans.  I had every intention of doing this, but when I poured the batter in, it wasn't very high-and maybe that's part of what keeps it low-cal.  Because the slices don't look very high in the photo.....?? Mystery to be solved.

But anyways, I put it all in one, and baked it at 330 (which is the recommended temp.) for about 50 minutes.  For the last 25 minutes, I covered it with foil to prevent over-browning.  Mine still browned a little more than in her photo (hence why I have no good photo of mine!) but it is delicious nonetheless!

This is honestly the best banana bread I've ever made, including ones with full eggs, oil, and regular flour.  This recipe really sold me on subbing in applesauce--others I've tried have turned out dry, and this bread is rich, dense, and tastes like it has 0 shortcuts in it!

The Weekender

Very, very low-key weekend happened around here.  Friday  was happy hour, a mountain of BBQ, and two movies on Netflix--Hunger Games and Bachelorette.  Highly recommend the second if you're looking for a vulgar, but ridiculous and funny girl comedy.  But guys will like it too, it's pretty ridiculous, and not at all like Bridesmaids.  Think more cocaine, more f-bombs, and less puppies and giant cookies.

took this weird selfie Friday before happy hour in our parking garage

picked up "a little" bbq after happy hour

We love us some BBQ, apparently.  We ate no where near all of this & they accidentally gave us FOUR extra sides we didn't order.

and by little, i mean what is wrong with us?!

about 11 pm on friday we had to make a golf ball run.  early tee time + forgetting = walmart stop

Saturday was so uneventful I have no photos of it-we went to Target, Academy, and Bed Bath and Beyond.  And then Trader Joe's for some grocery shopping.

Which, by the way--go immediately to TJ's (if you have one near you) and get their frozen breaded eggplant cutlets (see here)  for $2.29, and then bake them, and spoon a little TJ's marinara on top and enjoy the most simple, but delicious meal of your life.

Fast forward to Sunday:

coffee & couch morning

the game 94 seconds makes me so crazy---'merican isn't a musical style, but a UNICORN is a mode of transportation? #win


Linking up this weekend with:

Spring is Happening :: H54F

We are in full on spring mode here in Houston (I hope!)  B and I both marvel at how quickly you can adjust to warm weather year round after 25 years in the Midwest.  I got a little nostalgic for snowy winters and cute winter coats earlier this week looking at Chicago pictures.  Then I remembered how cool it was to not have to wear a down coat to my ankles.

Here's my usual round up of the week::

1.  Craziest thing I did this week?? Create a button for my blog that's now debuting on Friday!  So go ahead and grab it, we can swap, whatevs!  I honestly have no idea how all of that works but I see them on everyone's blogs, and I gave it a go.  Pretty pleased with it for now & like the pop of b&w on my very colorful page.

<div class="Sara-In-Texas-button" style="width: 200px; margin: 0 auto;"> <a href="http://www.saraintx.blogspot.com"> <img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY1dG3_8QHZPMs_G6T7fYIvO8Q-VyOOp5gRkh30pTo8eQZ73q-CCczdDoInRnVf3ZqXaGyvPH9jDmosbf-TpRtM_Oue0NPYmfM3zNs2Gi39OrEe83VBi02Dsby-FQVGmXGeaCa6mnxTlXK/s200/spring%25202013%2520006-001.JPG" alt="Sara In Texas" width="200" height="200" /> </a> </div>

2.  I finally got a photo into this beautiful frame we got for our wedding--ok, this actually happened *last* week, but I'm behind & I've been admiring it this week.  We have been joking that we basically have to get a dog because we are starting to have too many photos of our wedding/ourselves around the place.  And if you were hoping we wouldn't be those people who do a photo Christmas card with our dog, you're sorely mistaken, we definitely will!

:)

3.  I had a job interview for one position that turned into a job interview for a different/ok, better position *snaps*.  We'll see how it pans out...I'm working a lot on letting my anxiety about finding a job go and just trusting that God's plan for me will happen when it happens.  

4.  We signed our lease on our new place this week!! It's for real, and final.  This situation couldn't have worked out better for us, or the girl we are sub-leasing from.  Now we will have to book movers, but that will be easy enough.

weird pic, but this is our new place.

5.  I booked tickets to Chicago for my friend's law school graduation weekend!  I am *so excited*.  For more evidence of that, please see Wednesday's post over here.

can't wait to celebrate for peeper & have a mini reunion with my friends there

6.  Birchbox came on Wednesday! And boy did I get hooked up:

tag team with women's health mag for april! super exciting

my haul this month

Here's what is inside:  three samples of the same color-protective shampoo/conditioner, an eye cream, a body wash, tea, a y e a r long subscription to Women's Health (big yay!), and a full-size creamy lip pencil/gloss/color.  I will definitely be playing with my samples over the weekend/next week and posting my reviews soon.  I was actually very pleased with the items I've tried so far, and this is one of my favorite boxes all-time I'd say.  Mayyybe the year of Women's Health is swaying me a bit.

7.  For good measure here's a seventh:  We ate a lot of homemade guacamole this week.  Inspired by how much I ate last weekend with the girls in town probably!  Since there are just two of us, we use one avocado, about half a small vine tomato, and chopped red onion to taste.  Then I put about a teaspoon or so of the guac pre-mix you can buy at the grocery store...if it's not quite right, we add a little more.  One mix packet calls for two avocados, but we've used one pack across two so far with plenty more left.

please enjoy sorority afghan as the super classy backdrop

Happy Friday and have a relaxing and great weekend, everyone!

linking up with lauren as always

New Place, New Additions

So, as some readers know, we are moving to a new apartment at the end of May.  Our current place has carpeting (which I greatly dislike), and new place has stained concrete floors (big yay!).  Obviously when we buy a house, I would prefer a combination of hardwoods and tile throughout (except bedrooms at B's request), but that's another day, another convo.

One of the biggest things about the new place is that we will need at least one rug.  So here are some potentials I've been
scoping:

via

hm this one looks like it has more "pop" on the site
via

via

this guy got a little blurry, but i love it
via

What do you think?  I want a bold, but modern/classic look.  Something we won't get sick of in a year or two, but something that doesn't remind you of your great-grandma's house either.  Something with color for sure-I'm drawn to blues, and our couch is sort of a dark mushroom color-neutral and can match with many colors! Send websites or suggestions my way, y'all!

Update :: Also found this one in a magazine today when my internet was down:

the only issue is that it's indoor/outdoor and may be too thin/not very good-feeling on the feet?!

:: Chi-town, I'm coming home again ::

You guys, you guys, you guys.

Chicago is the greatest.  It cracks me up living in Houston, because people are always like, "Oh you lived in Chicago?? It's SO dangerous there."  I have several responses to this...varying from "Well I lived in safe areas..." to "Oh and Houston's such a prize all the time?!" JK on the last one--usually I just say that not all Chicagoans live in the bad areas.  All major cities of  course have their issues, though.  But I don't think most Chicagoans would say "gun violence" as the first thing that comes to mind.

Personally, I think of all of the amazingly fun times I've had there, and the hilarious stories, and my bachelorette party, and my college and grad school days spent in the loop, running scared from all the pigeons on Wabash.

the buildings.  sears tower. 'nuff said.

always taking architectural boat tours even though you've lived there. (i've done at least 7.)

brewers vs. cubs at wrigley.  from a neighboring rooftop. ps go brewers.

friends who make you emergency kits like this full of treats when you move to milwaukee

view looking right from my balcony

View straight-on from my balcony (this was at my fifth apartment in the city)

Work Christmas party at The Palmer House

Watching the Packers crush the Bears time after time on their turf

the sweatiest fourth of July's imaginable

watching Transformers 2 or 3 or whatever film right in front of my place! 

old place! Small, but well-loved

having to drive an hour minimum to get this close to farm animals

the storied ornament house at the Chriskindlmarkt where you can only walk one direction and not double back!

potato pancakes and gluhwein at Chriskindlmarkt--omnom.

I have a million more memories & photos of living here.  I am so excited to be going back in a month for a weekend trip to see everyone and celebrate one of my best friend's graduations from law school!

Setting it all aside

Usually I post recipes, and tell you about my weekend, and of course, wrap-up my weeks!  When I start DIY-ing things I will definitely be sharing more of those, and a lot of that is in the works right now.  But for now, I'd like to share a semi-serious post about what's been happening.

Right now, we have a lot going on in our lives.

Since one year ago, we have moved across the country for B's cool, new job (& away from both families) (but hey, we love TX now!), I finished grad school (& left school for good for the first time in 21 years!), got married (!!!!), we lost his dad in January, and then my mom had a big health scare in February.  Life is starting to relax again, but it's still a balancing act.

While there are obvious positives, like getting married and finishing school and new jobs, a lot, ok, most of it has been tough too.  We both get overwhelmed by everything that's going on, but I just want to say how good it feels when we decide to put the anxieties aside, and enjoy our life together.

We have been through a lot more than we ever expected this early on in our marriage, but I think that in a couple years, we will look back and realize that we made it through the fire relatively unscathed, and for that, I'm proud of us!

So if anything, this should serve as a reminder that sometimes you need to pop in a movie/go out for a meal/take a walk together and make the time to unplug from your phone, blog, iPad, laptop, etc. and just enjoy your good company and the other blessings life has given you. 

Well, well, well.

As some of you may have noticed, I took a little blogging hiatus this week while my lady pals from Wisconsin came into town for a visit Wednesday night through Sunday morning!  Since all but one hadn't been to visit us in Houston, it was fun to enjoy the weather, shopping, and most importantly? the drinks.

Here are all the abbreviated highlights in photos:

Gave myself a really nice bright pink pedi.  Color does not show through well on film but it's Elephantastic Pink by OPI.  Perfect for summer mani/pedis.

Wednesday am started off right.  Pinterest does not always mean a win.  Snapchatted this gem to the girls.

Wed. night we went to IKEA for pillow covers & I got a froyo.

pre-thursday night bar crawl

baked in the sun friday & got a side pony shadow-burn

Three Olives Loopy Vodka + gummy bears = delicious treat.

:: besties ::

Thursday night at the bar

So that is basically everything that has happened around here!  Today I dropped the girls at the airport around 4:30 am and came home to sleep for about 7 hours.  It was a really great weekend full of lots of shenanigans that shall not be spoken about on the internets!

It's April, Peeps!

Ok, so here's my recap of what we did this weekend--

Friday Bry had off from work (and as we all know, I still haven't found a new job), so in the morning we went to check out a potential new apartment.   VERY excited.  I can't tell you how much we were overpaying at our current place, and now that he's been in Houston for almost a year (!) and myself since October, we have a  better grasp on areas, and whether or not we really needed to live in a "cool" neighborhood.

Let's be real, we are *not* that cool, so clearly we didn't need to overpay on location.  I think we will be very happy at our new place at the end of May since it will also mean that it's puppy time then...and wow do we need a puppy in our lives.

We had breakfast together, and then he went off to bottle some beer he's been making with a friend.  Because even on days you don't go to work at a brewery, you brew beer, check it's quality, and bottle it for a competition.  Ended up having dinner at said friend's house--huge steaks, artichokes, double baked potatoes, and probably other things I am forgetting.  It was a fat kid pig out fest.

Saturday started out very innocently.  We applied for our place and got approved.  Then we somehow ended up at the Galleria on a mission for sunglasses which quickly de-railed into a couple new dresses, new tops, some shorts for him, etc.   *cue danger zone music*

I made a ridiculously delicious meal for dinner on Saturday, cashew chicken over rice.  I will post the recipe later this week--so easy and literally haven't gotten such good reviews on a meal since I learned my mom's beef stroganoff.  It is a pinterest recipe, and a pleasantly surprising one at that!  (I think we've all been there with the shitty internet recipe situation.)

as bryan said, "the chicken looks like steak...and i like it that way."  that is code for, wow lots of soy sauce!

Sunday morning---Happy Easter!  I made another killer meal-honey ham, cheesed-up potatoes, green beans with green onions and bacon, and an arugula salad with green apples, red onion, walnuts and the most amazing champagne vinaigrette (it's from Trader Joe's, go now.) (And no, I can never spell "vinaigrette".  Thx spell check)   We had some angel food cake with fresh strawberries and of course some Easter candy.

oh and we had a really nice bottle of red too. oops.

someone else had approx. double the amount of perfect potatoes i did.

Oh, also, I made some killer caramel pecan rolls that are a family recipe for brunch along with hard-boiled eggs (dyed, duh.) and some crispy bacon that wasn't needed for the beans later.

this is an old pic from Christmas, but you can see the aforementioned pecan rolls.
can you tell i have a favorite holiday breakfast?! 

Pretty domesticated weekend as far as all that goes--we also got to Facetime with our nephew for his 10th birthday on Saturday.  We sent him a Dr. Who Monopoly set, and a couple of books, so it was fun to watch him open everything in real time.

This week is going to be crazy--I have FIVE amazing girlfriends coming into town Wednesday night-Sunday morning (6 am flight out), and they are all staying with us....so there may not be as many posts this week, and I may not even make it to Friday at the rate we will be enjoying sun & cocktails.