February Photo A Day Round-Up

Happy March first bargainistas!  Last month I ditched my BlackBerry and became immediately addicted to my iPhone and more specifically, to Instagram. I started fellow blogger FatMumSlim's February Photo A Day Challenge halfway through the month, and I did my best to play catch-up.  Unfortunately, I'm missing a few of the days.  Nonetheless, here is a glimpse into my February via my iphone/instagram..  The photos are in no particular order.

WORDS.

[from the fridge]

HANDS.

[gel mani before Vegas]

STRANGER.

[Betty Boop slippers tucked into Apple Bottom jeans in the mall in public. Some people just shouldn't leave the house.]

SOMETHING YOU ATE.

[turkey wrap and side salad]

BLUE.

[blue eyes on a rainy day]

CLOSET.

[side 1]

[side 2]

DRINK.

[Saturday morning coffee]

 HANDWRITING.

[desk calendar]

MAKES YOU HAPPY.

[Bear and Reese giving kisses]

SOMETHING YOU HATE TO DO.

[don't even bother leaving me one. I won't check it.]

HEARTS.

[Vday Card from Momma Bear]

SOMETHING NEW.

[I c!hecked my mail and hit the jackpot this day! Feb Birchbox, elf mineral make-up package, KiKi La Rue dress, new Us Weekly, Fitness mag and Vday Cards!]

PHONE.

[work phone I never use]

SHOES.

[shoe shopping for Vegas]

SUN.

[bright Vegas sun]

YOUR VIEW TODAY.

[view from the top of my stairs]

WHERE YOU WORK. 

[desk drawer at work. Can't show you where I work.]

GREEN.

[SkinnyTaste cilantro lime tilapia tacos]

SOMETHING YOU'RE LISTENING TO.

[My rickety fan and TV (The Challenge was on)]

TIME.

[my living room oversized clock]

I loved playing along and it was a great exercise to work your creative side of your brain.  It was also so much fun to see how others interpret the prompt each day. I highly recommend you play along because the March Challenge starts today!  I am in, are you?

A stunning Vegas wedding

Welp kiddos, I'm back from Vegas and still trying to catch up on my sleep so my apologies for the delay on the recap.  

The wedding was perfection and Kristina was seriously a vision. I had the best time and can't imagine the weekend going any more perfectly.  

Her hair was perfection. Her dress was perfection.  Her make-up was perfection.  See for yourself.  I already know y'all are going to die over her dress.

Joshua and Kristina's first look:

Snaps from the stunning wedding day:

our bouquets 

Bride getting beautified.

me, Lesley (grooms sis) and BFF Liz

Liz and I at reception

We're working backwards today, so now for the rest of the pictures from the wedding weekend:

First time flying first class.  It was the life. 

Did I mention Emmitt Smith (ex Dallas Cowboys player) was sitting directly behind us on the way there? He's on the right. You may recall he also won Dancing With the Stars back in the day.

on the way to the rehearsal dinner

My rehearsal and wedding shoes. Both from Dillards. 

if getting married means all this ... sign me up immediately.

Kristina - 

You've been my best friend since 6th grade when we would sneak out of reading class to play with our lip glosses.  I love you and was honored to stand by your side.  I am so thankful and blessed to have you in my life, and I couldn't be happier for you and Joshua!  Start planning our NOLA trip immediately.  

Love, 

Lindsey Lee aka honey boo boo child

We have come a long way from our matching gap cardi sets.

BEAUtiful Mess takes over Bargain Blonde

Hey you bargainistas! 

It's me...Beautiful Mess Steph!

(My armpit says "HI!" by the way...)

PS: that picture is total fraud. I really know nothing about that camera. I just know I love it.

Anyways, since Lindsey's in Sin City for the weekend, you're stuck with me! 

...I can already sense the excitement...

Some of you may know me (and in that case "HI friends!!") and some of you are probably wondering who the heck I think I am calling myself "The Beautiful Mess".

Let's work this thing backwards, shall we?

"Mess" pretty much sums it all up. If I had to rename my blog, I'd change it to something along the lines of "Hot Mess Express" but that would take too much work that I'm just not willing to do.

The "Beautiful" comes into play because of this guy...

Oh hai there big boy! ;)

Meet Beau. He's my husband so I can say stuff like that.

NOW do you see where "BEAUtiful" comes from? 

Get it? 

Beau....Beautiful...

Ok-well it made sense back in the day when I created this lil blog-o-mine...

So anyhoo, I'm from Lindsey's state. 

Or maybe she's from my state.

Either way, we're both Texans which basically means we're the shit in every possible way.

Not really.

What it means is that one day, just ONE day, I will be meeting this little Bargain Blonde we speak so highly of. (By the way, she doesn't "officially" know this so hopefully she's cool with it all. I mean, I guess she thinks I'm alright because here I am hacking into her blog for the day but it only makes sense that we meet due to the fact that we only live a couple hours away from one another.) Duh.

We can all be sure mine and Lindsey's meet up would inevitably end up in a booze-induced trip to the ER and I must say, I look forward to that day. In the meantime, that I have had the privilege of meeting many other bloggers in this little world of ours.

In saying this, I think you should meet them too!

(Girls...this is in NO particular order so don't get your panties in a ruffle.)

1. Kristen @ All In My Twenties

[proof!]

Okay so it would be unfair for me to actually say I "met" her because Kristen is the one who STARTED my blog for me. Literally. She called me one day, asked me for my gmail login, designed, named and created my blog. She then forced me to write in it. We go way back. Like college, way back. (You can read about that love story here) We were both dating guys in the same fraternity, I lived with her at one point and she was even in my wedding. What I'm trying to say is sister is hysterical and has NO SHAME. Her blog is focused on her long-distance relationship with her main squeeze, Chris, her two pups (Tugger the bully & Lilly the schnauzer) and every once in a while she posts videos of herself vomiting in mid-air. I tell no lies. She has no filter and she's damn proud of it...which is reason #9485 why I love her.

****

2. Katie @ Keep Calm & Carry On

[proof!]

Oh where do I start? Katie and I "bonded" via internet (that doesn't sound totally weird and awkward, does it?) maybe 6 months ago. She's from Ohio and so with me being a Texan, I don't know HOW her and I could have SO DAMN MUCH in common. It's almost creepy how alike we are. So anywho...Katie and I met like less than 2 weeks ago. With both of our husband's in tow, we actually went on vacation together to Florida. (Which you can read alllll about here, here and here.) My point is: I'm legit. She's legit. We promise to not disappoint. Aaaaaand I'll be going to stay with her this coming May for her birthday bash because we're real-life friends like that now...booyah!

****

3. Kate @ Every Mile A Memory

[proof!]

Kate & I sporadically met at one of my alma mater's football games (University of Houston...GO COOGS!) She, by far, has THE COOLEST job and gets to travel EVERYWHERE with her husband and it just so happened she would be at the same game I was at! Kate blogs about ALLLLLL of her travels, her handsome man-candy and her furchild, Cali. It's so surreal meeting this person you've followed for so long because even though you've never really met in person, it's like you know EVERYTHING about them. I'm pretty sure her husband was pretty freaked out when I walked up and said "Hi Bryan! Where's Kate!?"

****

4. A big ol' group of Houston bloggers!

[proof!]

Left: Lindsey & Savanah

Right: Me, Megan & Meg

After about a year and a half of blogging, I found out there was an entire blogging group from Houston that gets together on a regular basis. Kinda like a sorority, but no hazing (that I know of). I've actually met up with the group a couple times now but could only find this pic of the 5 of us. This was actually my very first blogger meet-up so to say I wasn't completely weary of the fact that they could be creepy old men would be a total lie. ;)

****

Moral of the story: GO OUT OF YOUR WAY TO MEET THESE AMAZING WOMEN!! The girls I have met through blogging has literally been life-changing. It's hard to believe that I can actually call some of them my "best friend" knowing that we met over the world wide web. Weird, I tell ya!

Very weird.

But very cool.

Signing out,

The mess 

In Da Club: Vegas Style

Well hello there Bargainistas!  It's me...Beth...from Shenanigans of a Southern Redhead (formerly SweetBef's Blog) As you know, our favorite little Bargain Blonde is out perusing the Vegas strip getting ready for her BFF's wedding this weekend.

Lindsey has been to Vegas numerous times in the past.  I, unfortch, have only been once and that was almost 3 years ago. 

I thought about sharing with you gals about my first strip club experience ever in Vegas, but I wanted to keep it clean for Lindsey's readers. (Hi Momma Bear Riggs!)

Instead I thought I'd share a few tips that I learned during my 4 day vacay in Sin City.  Getting into those swanky night clubs is WAY easier than you think.  And for those that may not know this or for those that haven't been to Vegas maybe this little tidbit of information will help you successfully get your party on.

1. You'll probably be approached by some weirdo creeps with bookbags passing out "party passes" to get you into the clubs.  Don't talk to them.  It costs you NOTHING to get into these celebrity ridden clubs.  They'll make you think it does. 
2. Figure out what nightclub you'd like to party in and go the hotel where that club resides.  There you'll find a nice lady or gent sitting in front of the club and all you have to do is write your name on the guest list.
3. Now this guest list does not mean you'll be poppin' bottles all night, but it will get you entry and you won't have to wait in those ridiculously long lines.
4. If you want a VIP table and bottle service you'll have to fork over around $400 or you can do like we did and make friends with fellas at a VIP table and mooch off their booze.

By finding out this out early we were able to go to Kellan Lutz's (of Twilight fame) birthday party at Prive' in Planet Hollywood and the next time were able to enter the Pussycat Dolls Lounge and PURE in Caesar's Palace with no problem.

Sadly, we didn't see Kellan Lutz, but we did see Lance Bass in Prive' chatting it up with two female little people at his own VIP table.

I hope this helps you non Vegas experts on your next excursion to Vegas.