Your Whims Wednesday #159 {And Features}

Time for another Your Whims Wednesday Party!

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Sorry for not getting this up last night...completely forgot about it! Better late than never though :) Here are some of my favorites from the last party!

DIY Ombre Chevron Skirt by Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom

  Strawberry Pretzel Bars by Life with the Crust Cut Off   Bachelorette Survival Kit by Life's Tidbits   Thanks to all who linked up! Grab a button if you were featured :)  
<center> <a href="http://www.mygirlishwhims.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y77/Becca187/featurededited.jpg"/></a></center>   Now... onto this weeks party!

I show off my girlish whims weekly on my blog, and now I want to see yours with 
Your Whims Wednesday!

Guidlines:

1. Link up as many projects as you would like: as long as it is one of your girly ways, you can link it! I'd love to see crafts, recipes, style posts, etc. Anything and everything feminine :)

2.Please add my button (code at the top of this post) to either your blog post or somewhere on your blog. 

3. Take a quick moment to comment on at least one other entry. We we all love comments!! 

4.I'd love if you would follow me as well :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Full Coverage by Kotex While Working Out

This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and U by Kotex but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #UbyKotex  http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV

I have such a fun deal to share with you all today! I'm always such a sucker for freebie deals :) As ladies every month we get stuck buying pads and tampons.  Definitely not my favorite purchase to make every month!  Luckily though this month I was shopping at Walmart (a must for these necessities since they have the best prices) and found that while supplies last you can get a FREE set of Goody Hair Elastics with a U by Kotex Sleek Tampon and Cleanwear pads purchase! (The goody elastics will be attached to the box)

 I love the design of the Kotex tampons and pads.  There's not much else "exciting" about that time of the month so having some cheerful feminine products brings me at least a little joy ;)

 I buy the Kotex brand because having full coverage at the gym in my Zumba class is a MUST.  I always keep a spare in my gym bag in case I get caught off gaurd!!

There are a lot of really fun things about my Zumba class.  I burn 500-600 calories at every class, get to workout to fun dance songs, wear cute gym clothes (I just love this blue set I just bought!!), and I FINALLY made a friend in my class so I actually have someone to talk to before class instead of standing awkwardly by myself staring at my shoes.....

 There are also a lot of pretty funny/awkward situations at Zumba class.  First off, you are encouraged to shake whatchayo momma gave ya. I have quite perfected the booty shake and am pretty proud of myself for that. :) I decided NOT to share a video but here is an up close and personal sneak peak of my rear-end mid shake:

Hah! There is a lot of booty and booby shaking going on during our songs.  But however funny I feel shaking my butt in front of everyone there's always a grandmom who manages to do it better than me! Seriously.  There is this 65 year old woman in my Saturday class who could whoop me on the dance floor any day. Some of the moves in that class are also pretttttty suggestive which just makes it so much better because the grandmom rocks them all too. 

There is also always a TON of sweat happening in class.  I'm lucky because I mostly sweat from my head...er...wait did I just say lucky???... ok not really lucky because then my face turns bright red during class...but at least I don't sweat as much from...other areas which becomes quite prevalent at the end of class when everyone is bending over to stretch!!! There is always one guy who comes to my Monday class that always dresses so nicely in coordinating workout clothes but lord bless him his fancy little shorts have crack sweat ALL up and down his rear by the time he leaves. 

Every week without fail my Zumba friend also manages so sweat so bad she sweats off her mascara! I didn't even know that could happen!! She tries to fix it at the end of class but it just ends up smearing more.  The yoga people who come in after us must think we are a mess.  Sweaty cracks and raccoon eyes galore.

So, obviously there are a LOT of awkward situations in my Zumba class.  But you know what? Shaking your butt and sweating through your pants has just come to be expected in class. You know what isn't expected though? Having your period leak.  A lot of body shaking and moving and sweating can be forgiven during Zumba but having your period leak is just one awkward situation that is NOT expected and would be WAY too embarrassing if it happened. Luckily with the full coverage of Kotex the only thing I really have to worry about in class is if grandma is going to out-shake me AGAIN and what move is coming up next. 

 Whatever your workout routine may be: Zumba classes or Yoga classes or just working out in front of your TV in your living room, your period is never something you want to have to worry about while exercising.  Cover yourself with the full coverage of Kotex, and be sure to take advantage of the free Goody Hair Elastics available at select Walmarts!

Easter Weekend

In an effort to make my blog more personal this year, I figured I would share some more personal photos from weekend happenings and such! We had a lovely Easter weekend so I thought I would share a few photos quick.  A lot of these can also be found on my instagram if you want to follow along!

I hardly ever buy fresh flowers for our house but this weekend since we had friends coming over AND it was Easter and flowers were everywhere I bought a few.  I love how these pink flowers look in a collection of turquoise jars on our coffee table :)

We had two other couples over for dinner on Saturday night. I made these Chicken Caesar Flatbreads from Cassie Craves which are sooo yummy and perfect to make for company coming over as they are not very difficult to cook! I'm naughty and add a little bit of cream cheese onto the flatbread too ;)

It was fun to be able to see some friends, I feel like once spring time hits we all come out of hibernation and make more of an effort to hang out on the weekends. Hubby doesn't look too happy in this picture we took out getting fro-yo. It mightttt just be because he was the only completely sober person in this picture haha.  Hey! Friends over and wine in abundance just go hand in hand for me :) Unless you are the DD like hubby was. Then you just have to put up with us!!!

 

I got to spend some time crafting this weekend. I was quite productive and cranked out a bunch of new pretty earrings.  All of them are newly listed in my etsy shop and I'll have tutorial for two of them coming soon.

And of course we got to celebrate Easter this weekend. I love Easter for what it stands for: Jesus rising again and a reminder of the sacrifice he made for us, and also because it's one Sunday where you can really dress up for church and not look out of place :) I got this cute pink lace dress at Ross this weekend - it's so girly I love it!!

We had brunch with my family for our Easter meal.  My mother decided to do a "Caribbean Themed" Easter meal.  Yeah, try to come up with a Caribbean themed side dish to bring for Easter lunch and let me know how that works for you.  Um...should I bring some curried goat? Fried plantains?? In this type of situation I really wish we could have stuck to the traditional glazed ham and scalloped potatoes. In the end I brought a rice casserole as my side dish which kind of fit the Caribbean theme even though it was a Mexican recipe. Shhh don't tell :)

Hanging out with my cute niece!!!

We ended our Easter weekend with a family hike/walk/jog with our doggie Jefferson since it was so nice out. Hubby always likes to pack a full ruck for exercise when we go out. I think it's a little much :) But Jefferson looked so cute sitting next to it waiting to leave!

We  also just bought him a harness since I've been taking him out running on our local trail a lot more.  This little doggie has so much energy! He is always pulling on his collar so hard so we thought a harness would even out the strain for him.  Of course I let hubby pick it out though and he orders a freaking tactical harness for him.  Now Jefferson can even carry his own little pouches and everything on it it.  Pretty extreme if you ask me, but it did work well and tactical or not he does look pretty cute in it :)

So that's a brief overview of our Easter weekend.  I love the weekends now that it's getting a little warmer outside: I don't squirrel myself away inside all weekend trying to keep warm and actually go out and live a little more! 

What were you guys up to this weekend? Did you have a nice Easter with Family?

Your Whims Wednesday #158 {And Features}

Time for another Your Whims Wednesday Party!

<center> <a href="http://www.mygirlishwhims.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y77/Becca187/YWWsnip.jpg"/></a></center>

Here are some of my favorites from the last party!

Vintage Window Chalkboard by Atkinson Drive


Floral Stamped Earrings by My DIY Corner

Beaded Bowls by Etcetorize


Gold Fringe Earrings by Everyday Bijoux

  Thanks to all who linked up! Grab a button if you were featured :)  
<center> <a href="http://www.mygirlishwhims.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y77/Becca187/featurededited.jpg"/></a></center>   Now... onto this weeks party!

I show off my girlish whims weekly on my blog, and now I want to see yours with 
Your Whims Wednesday!

Guidlines:

1. Link up as many projects as you would like: as long as it is one of your girly ways, you can link it! I'd love to see crafts, recipes, style posts, etc. Anything and everything feminine :)

2.Please add my button (code at the top of this post) to either your blog post or somewhere on your blog. 

3. Take a quick moment to comment on at least one other entry. We we all love comments!! 

4.I'd love if you would follow me as well :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Bead Fest Spring 2014

 Bead Fest Spring came to town again this weekend, and I was very excited to attend this year! Bead Fest is a HUGE bead show that comes to the Philly area two times a year and only hits up a select other number of cities throughout the year.  The very best part is that I live only 20 minutes away from the expo center it's held in so I easily zipped over this weekend to get some shopping on!

To see some recaps of past shows and the goodies I bought you can check out these past posts:Bead Fest 2011, Bead Fest 2012, Bead Fest 2013

 

Bead shows can be overwhelming.  There are SOOO many beads and SOOO many shoppers.  It's way too easy to spend WAY too much time there and also spend WAY too much money!!! As I am not made of unlimited funds I tend to stick to the cheap strand sections.  You can get some really cool beads for $1-$3 a strand and not break the bank while doing so.

At some tables there are just literally PILES of bead strands to dig through.  I kind of wanted to jump up on the table and have someone bury me under the beads - THAT'S how many there are.  I don't think the vendors would have really appreciated that thought so I refrained haha :)

 



I stopped to say hello to some of the vendors this year such as the Beadalon booth.  I found out recently that Beadalon is actually based out of Eastern PA, only about an hour away from where I live! Wyatt from the Beadalon team was there demonstrating some of their new finding creation tools.  They really have some neat new products out! (Shout out- you can find many of the Beadalon products online at Prima Bead with no shipping!)

I also stopped by the Jesse James Bead Booth to got to meet Candie Cooper! It was great to connect with another jewelry maker in the industry to actually makes her living making jewelry and teaching others.  Jealous much??? :) She was also insanely nice and let me interupt her lunch to chat a bit!

One of her necklaces was on display at the Jesse James booth that she had recently posted on her blog. It's pretty cool to follow a blog and see a project posted one week like this Statement Necklace and then show up the next week at bead fest and see it in person!  

Here's the haul that I took away this year:

A good amount of strands and some metal accent findings and components. I just love this close-up shot of my beads. These are the things that make my heart go pitter patter....  

I probably spent about $110 on everything.  Beads are little but they sure do get expensive real quick!!!

Lastly, I thought I would do a round up of some of the tutorials I've posted over the last year that were made with supplies I grabbed at Bead Fest in the past:

DIY Beaded Dangle Necklace

DIY Square Bead and Chain Necklace

 

DIY Silver Sparkle Necklace

  

DIY Beaded Bib Teal Necklace

 

DIY Chain & Charm Necklace

So many pretty necklaces! Hopefully I'm able to make lots more of pretties and post about them over the next couple months with the new supplies I got.  If I'm still lacking for inspiration, Bead Fest Summer is coming back to town in August and I mayyyyy just have to go again for another visit!