Fabulous Finger Fashion!

There is one main thing I need after a week of moving and that is a manicure! The state of my nails is super embarrassing...especially now that I'm living in a city where everyone looks perfect. All the time.  Yeah...I need to work on that.  So, instead of dwelling on the tragic state of my hands I'm going to turn you over to Alexis from some fabulous finger fashion!

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Hi "Sunshine State of Mind" readers! I'm Alexis and I blog over at Living the Wifestyle. I started my blog in April and it has been a great way for me to get to know other bloggers and has become one of my favorite hobbies! I am so excited that Robin is moving to my state! I just know she will love it in Florida! If only I can get her to be a Gator fan, too!

Today I'd love to talk to you about one of my favorite things: nail polish!

My favorite trend right now is the accent nail! Here are some of my favorites! I hope it gets you hooked like it did me!

This is my go to manicure. Essie's Fiji with Set in Stones as the accent nail = Love it!

Source: via Alexis on Pinterest

Here are some of my other favorite accent nails, some of them are a little bold for me, but maybe one day I can pull them off!

Source: wholesomefashion.blogspot.com via Alexis on Pinterest

Source: imgfave.com via Alexis on Pinterest

Source: cupcakesandcashmere.com via Candle on Pinterest

Source: justpinitblogs1.blogspot.com via Shimon on Pinterest

Source: mycrazy-beautifulife.tumblr.com via The Humble Conduct on Pinterest

As you can tell, glitter accents are my favorite. I haven't quite figured out how to do an ombre accent nail but I love those too!

Hopefully this inspired you to go get your accent nail on! I'd love to see pictures! :)

Come see me over at my blog, Living the Wifestyle, and be sure to introduce yourself! I love meeting new people!

What do you get when you mix beauty, a love of football, and a master chef?

You get Kaitlyn from Wifessionals!  

Remember the Virtual Tailgate link-up? (It's still going on, so hurry up and make your deliciousness!) It was all this pretty lady's idea.  Thanks to her we have tons of new tailgating recipes to use this season!  She also has the most amazing hair ever, and gets to live in all different parts of the country. Go say hello!

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Hey everyone! First off, I want to give a huge thank you to Robin for having me here today (: I recently started Wifessionals after I found myself in a completely new life from what I've been used to. I just married the man of my dreams, who happens to be in the Army. A week after we got married, we packed up everything in Nashville and moved all the way out to The Middle of Nowhere, Arizona. It's been a big change and I REALLY miss the South, but it doesn't look like I'll be headed back any time soon! We just found out we're now moving to Colorado!

I post everything from:

Delicious recipes - The crazy world that is the Army - Mishaps with our new boxer puppy - Fashion tips and tricks - The highs and lows of daily life - Random ridiculousness - Tips to save money - SO much more!

Basically, these are my confessions of being a wife....or rather, Wifessionals.

So come stop by and say hello! I love meeting new people. I'd especially love to hear from you if you know anything helpful about my new home in Colorado!!

God bless!

I bet you thought your family was cute...

I know, I did too.  Just when I thought I had it together and figured I'd have a pretty good looking family one day I get pictures like THESE for a guest post.  It's just not fair.  They probably aren't even trying. Le sigh.  Well lucky for Samantha she is also incredibly sweet and one of my favorite blogs...so I'll put my jealousy aside and introduce you today! You can thank me later.

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Hi everyone! I'm Samantha and my home in the blog world is Hooah and Hiccups.

From the title, you may be able to guess that I'm married to a soldier in the United States Army, as well as the mommy to a beautiful baby boy. I started blogging when my husband deployed to Afghanistan and I was keeping life "normal" on the home front.

 My blog covers everything from military life, to recipes, to mommy tips and stories, to how to remain calm and collected during the "hiccups" along the way. I love photography, shopping, cooking, and spending time with my husband and son. Being a military family, we are no strangers to moving around and spending time apart, so I'm always striving to make the best of the time we have together. I love meeting new people and finding new blogs, so please come visit me at Hooah and Hiccups!

You know what's better than Christmas?

When your best friend makes a blog.  I am not exaggerating at all when I say it was one of the most exciting days of my life! (What's not exciting is the incredibly awkward high school photo she decided to put in this post!) So now I am deciding to be the bigger person and share her.  Only because I really love you guys and know you will adore her too! Without further adieu...here's Felicia from 

Long Slow Beautiful Dance

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Hi there, I’m
Felicia! I am so excited to be guest posting for Robin this week! Robin and I
have known each other since 9^th grade and have been best friends
ever since! I recently started blogging in order to keep her up to date as she
travels to Florida with Dom... something I have to admit that I'm not
entiiirely crazy about...BUT, if someone were to steal her away, I'm glad it's
him. (He DID wear coral shorts to my engagement party... major bonus points!) I’m
going to be blogging about life, love, friends, teaching and, as promised, I’ll
be doing Wedding Wednesday! So, in the mean time, let me introduce myself a
little!

Here are the basics…

I am engaged to the most wonderful person that I
have ever met. Kevin and I have been together for over four years and I cannot wait until our wedding day! (Robin
is a bridesmaid, naturally!)

I
adore him.

I am a First Grade Teacher

I love, love, love taking pictures of
everything

I am addicted to Grey’s
Anatomy…addicted. So is Kevin.

I love the color yellow. It’s so
bright and cheerful! I think it best reflects my personality 

There is nothing better than a nice
cold glass of Riesling and watching the Bachelorette with your best girlfriends

I love the ocean. We vacation in
Scituate, MA every year and never want to come home!

I have this stuffed animal named Sheepy
who still sleeps in my bed and protects me from anything scary in my closet

Do not put peanut butter M&Ms in
front of me. I have no self control.

Robin saved my life in high school
when I was new and had no one to sit with at lunch. Yup, I was that girl…

Yayyy
less awkward picture!

I am extremely crafty. It’s a family
joke to pick out the present that I wrapped.

I’m a sucker
for a summer dress and a cute pair of heels

I love country music and my girlfriends
and I frequently belt highly out of tune beautifully serenade each other
on road trips

So…

If you have continued reading and
have not been scared off yet, I am super friendly and hoping you’ll come check
out my blog! Thanks to Robin for letting me guest post!!

Go shower her some love here!! You won't be sorry :)

I love my Online Friends GFC Hop! Come find new blogs!

Welcome to the I Love My Online Friends 'GFC' Hop!

Last week we had 95 link ups. The magic number is 130 to break our record! I hope that this is the week for it. Do you think we can? For more info on the hop and guest hosting, please read HERE.

  Well, are you ready? Let's go hopping! RULES FOR THE HOP  

1. Please follow your host and the fab five on Google Friend Connect (GFC). 

  Tami @ The Things We Find Inside 

Mindy @ Marigold Road 

Rebecca @ New Momma Beckers 

Heather @ Mommy Only Has 2 Hands 

Robin @ Sunshine State of Mind 

Amanda @ Mommy is Coo Coo  

2. Link up your homepage and start hopping around. Remember, this is a blog hop, you've gotta do some hopping in order for it to truly be worth your time. When you get a new follower it's always nice to return the favour. Visit their blogs, leave them a comment and/or return the follow. 3. You are not required to, but it would be great if you could tweet about the hop and/or grab the button and share it on your blog. The more people that see this hop, the more blogs for us to visit and the more followers we gain.

Thanks and Happy Hopping!

<center> <a href="http://www.thethingswefindinside.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="The Things We Find Inside" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-E4Pe3QZHV-c/UBMuD54p3jI/AAAAAAAABOI/miLphfBSIUY/s1600/GFC+Hop.jpg" /></a></center>

Virtual Tailgate: 4 Ingredient, 5 minute Mexican dip!

MEXICAN DIP {easiest ever}

{puppy photobomb!}

Ingredients

·      1 brick of cream cheese

·      1 can of chili

·      1 package of shredded cheddar cheese

·      Jalapeños

Directions

Use a spoon to spread the cream cheese around the plate as a base.  Pour the can of chili on the cheese and spread evenly.  Repeat with the cheese.   Finally, place jalapeños on top and microwave for 3 minutes or until the cheese is fully melted. 

Go linkup your recipe with Kaitlyn at Wifessionals!

Farewell Letters

Dear Mom & Dad: Thank you for the best childhood anyone could ask for.  The experiences and opportunities you gave me have completely shaped who I am today and I know I wouldn't be half the person I am today without your love and support.  You both taught me my love for travel, the theater, lake life and snooze jazz.  You also taught me to me how to be brave.  How to move across the world alone for 6 months.  How to know when a man is right for me. {My mom said she could read everything she needed to know about them the first time she looked into their eyes.  She was always right.} You taught me to say yes to every opportunity that was thrown at me. I love you both so much.  I will miss you more than I'm letting myself think about.

Dear Friends: I was going to do individual shout outs, but that became far too traumatic and as I showed you last night denial is where I like to stay.  So to all of you, you are the best friends in the entire world.  From being awkward in middle school {thanks for those pictures Allison!! Not.} to kind of getting it together through high school, and moving away and finding ourselves in college, we never lost track of each other.  When we get together it's just like the first time.  Only with less braces and better hair. I love each and every one of you so much and promise not to let any sort of distance change that.  Get ready for weekly skype wine dates and lots and lots of phone calls. My heart broke saying goodbye, but I think it's kind of awesome to love people so much it hurts. 

And for some laughs...at my going away party we attempted to bring back the emotions game!

Angry

 Confused

Eagles won the SuperBowl...

Long Distance Lovin'!

I am so excited to announce that Dom and I are being featured on {long distance loving}today! It is perfect timing because starting tomorrow...

We are no longer long distance!

2 years, 2 months and 12 days after our first kiss, Dom and I will be living not only in the same state, but under the same roof.  I cannot even begin to describe how happy that makes me! 

On Alison's blog I'll be talking about what it was like to become long distance (after dating only 2 weeks) and how it made our relationship that much stronger!

 Go check it out here!

Saying goodbye.

My life is about to change in so many incredible ways, but sometimes I'm stuck with some not so welcome emotions.

Sadness. Fear. Nostalgia. 

By no means am I second guessing my relationship with Dom or my choice to move.  I know that my life will be so blessed with love and happiness, but moving back home has reminded me of all the people and love that got me where I am today.  It scares me to leave that behind.  This feels so different from college.  Even though I moved 6 hours south to D.C. my home was still my home.  I was just moving for a few months at a time and then I would be home.  

Now, I'm creating a new home.  A new life.  My home will be in Florida, not New York.

My parents won't be in driving distance away if I have a crisis.  It will be a plane ride. Dom and I will be depending on each other completely, heart and soul.

My mom is my best friend and I worry being apart will separate us.  I know we will call and skype and facebook, but somehow this feels so final and it scares me. 

I think this is part of growing up and it is a good thing.  I am still very much in denial and just focusing on the good (which it mostly is).  My parents are throwing a going away party on Thursday, and I am just thinking of it as one more time I get to see everyone I love.  If I think of it as saying goodbye I would lose my mind. 

I prefer to avoid goodbyes.  Besides my best friends, I left college without saying goodbyes.  After graduation I just left, because it was easier.  I prefer to think of it as a "see ya later."  Goodbye is just too much.  It's too final.  

My best friend is planning her wedding.  I am so blessed to be a bridesmaid, but it makes me sad I'm not going to be right there for every single step.  Thankfully, she made a blog and I'm forcing her to do Wedding Wednesdays to keep me in the loop

 I know in my heart things will be different but not in a bad way.  It is just scary.

I like to talk to people about when they are going to visit, since we have 3 bedrooms and no friends.  If I know when I'm going to see them next it's not so final.  I'm not losing anybody.

I think what is the scariest is the finality of it.  I am never coming back to New York to live. (As far as I know.)  Dom isn't even applying to any medical schools in New York, so no matter what it will be at least 5 years.  That is huge to my 23 year old self.  There is so much scary and unknown up ahead and there's no stopping it.

Not that I would want to.  I love Dom to the moon and back, and cannot even fit into works how excited I am to take this next step with him.  I know that no matter what life brings we will have each other and this will just be one of the craziest adventures we have in our life together.   I do not regret this choice for a second...

I just wish everyone I love was coming with me.

New York State of Mind

This weekend I did a whirlwind family trip to NYC!  A few months ago my dad was on a business trip to the city and saw Ghost on Broadway.  Contrary to the terrible reviews (I honestly think they saw a different show) he absolutely loved it.  He raved about it and we were planning on seeing it when my dad got an email that it was closing on Sunday! So he bought tickets and we planned a quick trip to see it Friday night. 

 Dom was supposed to come with us, but because of work stuff he had to cancel last minute.  I was bummed but my old neighbor and great friend Liz lives in NYC and was able to join us! It's so strange. I feel like only yesterday we were walking around the neighborhood complaining about our boring lives, and now we're all grown up.

Obviously, many cocktails flowed...

Outfit!

Dress: Urban Outfitters Blazer: Zara Shoes: Guess Necklace: I'm guessing Target, maybe Forever 21.

Ghost was absolutely incredible.  When you think Broadway, you usually don't think special effects.  The effects in this show were unlike any I have ever seen, and made the show that much more amazing.  The 2 leads had crazy chemistry and we were all sobbing by the end! Oda May Brown was absolutely hysterical! Even if you don't know the movie by heart you will still enjoy it.  I have no idea what the critics were talking about in their awful reviews.  I've seen hundreds of shows in my life and this is easily one of the best.  They must have seen it on a really off night! I could not recommend it more if it tours in your town!  

Here's a highlight video if you need more convincing...

Ugh, I still have chills! Seriously. Go see it. 

Saturday we saw Spiderman which was so much fun.  We say it a year and half ago when it was still in previews and it was dreadful.  Luckily, they have completely changed the second act and it was so great! Not to mention LOTS of yummy men in tight Spiderman suits. ;) 

All in all it was a great trip to NYC!

Throwback!

1. What were you like in Middle School/HS?(pictures)

I had a lot of fun in high school.  I had a great group of girlfriends who made everything so fun.  We weren't into partying (that came in college!) but could always entertain ourselves doing the most random silly things ever.  I spent my after school hours dancing and "kissing a lot of frogs" as my mother would say.  Lots of bad player boyfriends, but each one taught me something and my taste GREATLY improved as the years went on!

 Junior Prom

2.  What were your favorite past times?

I danced ALL the time.  At the studio, at school, in the hallways.  We also played the emotions game, which I had completely forgotten about until looking through old photos for this post! What is the emotions game, you ask? Oh, just when someone yells out an emotion and then snaps a picture while you act it out. 

Most hilarious game. EVER.  

I'm definitely bringing this one back.

Gangsta.

Happy.

I have to pee.

{Funny, because I almost peed my pants looking through these.}

3. What songs were you obsessed with?(Backstreet Boys anyone?)

I went through a brief ACDC phase in early high school (can't remember why...?) but at the end of high school is when I got into country and LOVED Rascal Flatts.  Taylor Swift has just come out with "Tim McGraw" which quickly became one of my favorites. 

4. What fashion statement do you look back on and cringe?

Not so much a fashion choice but my lack of make-up! I want to go back in time and make myself over.  My school had a dress code, so I don't think I wore anything too hideous! 

5. Who was your celeb crush?

Orlando Bloom. Swoon.

{He's still pretty, but doesn't knock my socks off like he used to!}

 

6. What were your favorite tv shows/movies?

Love Actually was and still is a favorite.  Mean Girls was definitely up there, as well as Legally Blonde and all those cute girly movies.  We are all obsessed with Grey's Anatomy and I never missed an episode of Desperate Housewives!