5 Things That Made My Week Wonderful

Friday, there are no words to describe how much I love you :) TRUE STATEMENT. 

Since I love Friday so much, today I'm going to tell you 5 of my favorite things from this past week.

one//

I got my temporary diploma! I'm almost official :)

two//

Me & 3 of my girlfriends started a girls' bible study group type thing. I'm SO incredibly excited to get closer with these girls and build unbreakable bonds with them :) Yay community!

three//

BEACH DAY SATURDAY! It hasn't happened yet, but I'm too excited to not include it. What makes this beach day even more special than other ones? Friends from NC are down to visit...stoked to spend some time with them and to meet their new baby girl! 

four//

I finally had my car cleaned & washed. OH MAN I have been putting that off for months. My car was absolutely dis.gust.ing! But now it's as good as new. You know you love my sweet bike rack on the back...

five//

My Thursday night "to do" list was the length of my arm. And guess how much I got done...ZIP! Adam showed up at my apartment when he got off work with a Redbox & ice cream so needless to say I threw my "to do" list out the window last night. I love him so much :) Take that "to do" list!

Did you have a wonderful week?! I sure hope you did! 

And you know what else I hope? That you have an even better weekend :)

I'm linking up with Lauren for High Five for Friday!

Must Haves for Summer by Alexis

The first thing I want to share is the winner of last week's giveaway (a header design by Paper Crowns)!

Congrats Kayla :) I sent Natasha an email with your info so she should be contacting you soon!

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 Today is a special day, because YOU get the pleasure of meeting one really sweet girl!

Her name is Alexis and we have been exchanging emails for a little while now. Let me just tell you, she is absolutely wonderful! She is so encouraging and I have to say that I love watching her blog, Christian WifeStyle, grow. It's one of my regular reads :) PLUS she is a fellow Floridian! So say hi to Alexis!

Blog // Twitter // Facebook // Pinterest

Like what you see? WELL the rest of this post is brought to you by Alexis herself...so take it away, girl!

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Hi Lovely Little Things readers!

I'm Alexis! I am 21 years old, a recent graduate of the University of Florida and have been married for three years. I live in the sunshine state a few counties away from Jess and I love it. I've only lived in Florida and would be perfectly happy if it was the only place I ever lived!

I have always been a makeup, skincare and nail polish junkie. Since Summer is officially here (at least in FL!) or will be in your state soon, I wanted to share some my favorite beauty products that I love to use, specifically tailored for summer heat!

I used to have skin issues, including oily skin and breakouts. I tried many different types of facewash, from super expensive brands to drugstore brands. I eventually developed dry, red patches on my face and was about to give up. I had read so many good things about Cetaphil and decided to give it a try. I will never use anything else on my face! Cetaphil helps control oil in the heat of the summer and keeps breakouts to a minimum.

MAC Prep + Prime Face Protect with SPF 50 is my favorite foundation primer to use. Before this stuff, I would already have an oily t-zone by lunch but this keeps my oily skin under control all day, as well as helps my foundation to last until I take it off at night.

Clinique Acne Solutions liquid makeup helps even my skin tone and keeps oil from clogging my pores. It is pure magic for oily, breakout prone skin!

I picked up this MAC Fleet Fast blush a few days ago and it will be my go-to blush this summer. It isn't too much pigment for tan skin but gives the subtle pink glow on cheeks that I love.

I recently fell in love with Clinique's Almost Lipstick in Tender Honey. The famous Black Honey showed up too dark on my lips because I already have a lot of pigment in them but this color is natural and matches anything. I hope they never stop making it, I don't know what I would do! This is perfect to throw in a bag to take for summer activities to keep your lips moist since it has a chapstick feel.

Can't forget about the nails! Seche Vite is a miracle worker for me! I would always mess up my nails before they dried so gave up on home manicures until I tried it. This top coat dries very shiny and super fast. It is perfect for bright nail colors that are so trendy right now!

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Okay, I keep hearing great things about this Seche Vite top coat. You know what? Alexis has sold me, and I'm going to pick some up this weekend :)

I would be forever grateful if you dropped by Alexis' blog and showed her some love from Lovely Little Things :) I promise, you won't regret it!

The Wonders of Warm Lemon Water

It's been awhile since I've shared anything health related with you, so today I want to do just that!
As many of you know, I'm planning to start a career in the health & fitness industry. I'm so stoked about it and lately, I've been exploring a lot of different health/fitness options in effort to broaden my knowledge.

What good is knowledge if I don't get to share it with someone?! That's where YOU come in :) I want to share a health tip that I've been using the past 2 weeks.

It's pretty simple....
Are you ready?

Drink a glass of warm lemon water every morning.
Sounds pretty gross, doesn't it? I thought so, too when I read about it for the first time on Lauren Conrad's blog. But honestly, it's not as bad as you'd think! And the wonders that it's done for me are mind boggling. But my mind is boggled pretty easily...just saying.

Pro #1: It really helps your skin!

I've been struggling with acne ever since I started wearing MAC make up. I recently made the switch to Bare Minerals, which you can read about here. It has been a miracle for my skin. So my acne is under control thanks to Bare Minerals...and now, thanks to this wonderful lemon water concoction, my skin has a natural glow to it. Lemons are loaded with vitamin C and they help rejuvenate your skin from the inside out. Hello CHEAP anti-aging remedy! My grandma even made a comment this past weekend that my skin looked really good!

Pro #2: It boosts your energy level!

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I am by no means a morning person. BY NO MEANS. I have such a hard time waking up and getting out of bed. It's miserable. But once I'm up and I drink my glass of lemon water, I get a burst of energy & feel refreshed. It's not the same feeling that coffee gives you. No jitters/shakes, no smelly coffee breath and NO crashing at 2 P.M. The energized feeling lasts throughout the entire day. Lemons hydrate and oxygenate your body, which in turn makes you feel revitalized.

Pro #3: It helps your stomach!

This may be a little TMI, but I'm just being real...drinking warm lemon water every morning really keeps things moving in your insides...if you know what I mean. In other words, it keeps you regular/cleansed. It also aids in digestion and keeps you from feeling bloated.

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There are many other pros to drinking lemon water, but these are the 3 that have directly impacted me the last 2 weeks.

So what I do:

I fill a glass with about 14 ounces of warm water. 

(I use room temperature water)

I squeeze the juice form 1/2 of a lemon into the glass of water.

I drink the water.

Yep, that's it! And in case you're wondering, I still drink a smoothie and a cup of coffee every morning as well. I don't think I'll ever be able to give up my coffee. EVER! I just love the smell, the taste, the warmth...okay, enough about my coffee addiction.

A little disclaimer: the lemon water is not as enjoyable as latte from Starbucks, far from it actually.

But trust me...it will do wonders for your skin, innerly level & stomach!

So what are you waiting for? DRINK UP

:)

source

My Undeniable Love for Snail Mail

I'm pretty sure that I've made it perfectly clear just how much I adore snail mail. All kinds of it!
I love a good mail day...you know the days when you open your mailbox to find the cutest little handwritten letter or a package that you've been impatiently waiting for? Those days are awesome. I find myself running into my apartment and throwing everything else on the ground so that I can dedicate all of my attention to the mail...am I the only one who does that? Emails are wonderful, but there is nothing like getting some good old fashioned snail mail, you know?

I love writing letters, too! Especially when I get to write them on adorable stationary. Kind of like this:

I have a list of all of the thank you letters and just because letters that I need to write and send out. My list was getting a bit out of control when Natalie from A Moment of Wonderful told me about her new Etsy shop wonderfulwriting. I was planning on buying some stationary since my old set (the blue & green pictured above) was running slim. I had 8 letters to write this weekend and only 5 cards left. UH OH.

Well Natalie pretty much saved me and sent me 3 of her creations for me to write letters on and send to others! How sweet is she?! Let me answer that for you...really freaking sweet! :) She is just starting up her shop, so if you are in the market for some stationary HIT HER UP! I promise you that she is absolutely one of the sweetest people to work with! Thanks for letting me show off your work, Natalie!

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Saturday I went mountain biking with a good friend, Danielle. We hit the trails for almost 3 hours and it was SO MUCH FUN. I know that I live in Florida and there aren't any mountains here, but I promise you that this bike ride was intense! I love getting fit and having fun while doing it. Biking is a great way to get in some cardio, while still having fun with friends!

This is us "prepping" for the ride. You know, adjusting our CamelBaks (yes, we bought CamelBaks) and putting air in our tires...being legit bikers and all.

Danielle sporting her CamelBak and me sporting my...thumbs up? 

We had so much fun riding the trails and looking at all of the beautiful things that surrounded us, despite the 95*+ heat that was beating on us the entire time...

The aftermath - my dirty legs & ankles. Pretty disgusting but SO worth it. After we biked, we stopped at Publix to get subs for lunch. When I got home I walked into my apartment and I kid you not...I fell asleep on the floor right inside the door. I was PASSED OUT. 

After we napped and showered (one of the best showers of my life...I was disgusting) we got ready and got sushi and fro-yo...2 of my favorite things!

Then on Sunday it was the infamous Toy's birthday! Toy is my Grandma for those of you who don't know. UM how awesome does she look for being almost 70?! PRETTY DANG GOOD if you ask me! Thank you for the good genes, Grandma ;) And the other picture is my Granddad & I. He has lost A LOT of weight since January, when he decided to revamp his life and start living a healthy lifestyle. I'm so proud of him!

And I couldn't leave this one out...we were trying to snap pictures in between the random bursts of wind. Yeah, our timing was a little off on this one. Check out my sweet hair...

Hey at least it's long enough to finally be blown crazily by the wind right?! ;) 

Before I Kick the Bucket

Hello lovelies :) Happy Memorial Day!
I hope you have wonderful things planned to celebrate!

Last week's Smell the Roses task was to make a bucket list.

The reasoning behind this is so that we don't lose sight of smaller goals that we have for our lives. I know that it can be easy to get caught up in the ever growing list of daily to-dos, but I think it's super important to keep your goals at the front of your mind and do whatever you can to achieve them :)

Your life will not be fulfilled by completing mundane tasks day in & day out, so make time to go after your dreams & passions!

So there you have it, the start of my bucket list! I think it would be a cool idea to frame this and keep it somewhere where I see it every day. That way my goals & dreams are brought to my attention constantly!

I saw a picture on Instagram that Lindsay posted a few days ago. She tagged me in the picture and said "This one is for you, @lovelyjesscuh!" I absolutely LOVE it! And I love her, obviously :)

I decided to go ahead and keep the link up going since I got a few emails asking me to :) So if you made a bucket list grab a button and link up!

<a href="http://www.lovelylittlethingsblog.com/p/smell-roses_24.html" target="_blank"><img alt="Lovely Little Things" border="0" src="http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/pp143/jessicavenoy/LLT.png" /></a>

Next week's task:

Show appreciation for your job.

Lately I've had a lot of you asking me about my job. Well that made me realize that I don't show very much appreciation for the job that I have, which is awful since so many people are struggling to find a job right now. So this week I want us all to show appreciation for our jobs! You can do whatever you want...write your boss a thank you letter, bring breakfast for a fellow co-worker, etc. 

In regards to your bucket lists, I leave you with this...

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