Best Year of my Life: 2011 In A Nutshell!!

Of all the 21 years I've lived, I have to say that this year has been the most amazingly breathtaking and most extraordinary year of my ENTIRE LIFE!!! I have been sooo unbelievably blessed for all of the wonderful opportunities I was able to experience and the beautiful destinations I was drifted to... and a lot of bucket list dreams were achieved! Fate has taken me all over the world this year with the help of some incredible people!! I want to take a moment to thank each and every one of you for all your love, kindness, & selflessness for blessing me with soo much... so here's a little recap of 2011 through my eyes :)

Ringing in the New Year... Times Square Style (one of my bucket list dreams) ;)

Stumbling about on my 21st Birthday

The Trip of a Lifetime to Cabo San Lucas with a Fabulous Family

Bucket List Dream: Ziplining :)

Cruising the Caribbean: Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. John, Dominican Republic, & Haiti

The Southwest: Vegas, Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Sedona, Jerome, & even Phoenix!

Bucket List Dream: See Celine Dion :)

Bucket List Dream: Be in 2 places at once... Arizona & Nevada

The Loss of One of the Most Beautiful Souls I've Ever Known... we will always cherish the memory of you Aunt Cindi <3

Atlantic City... x3 (we will not mention the 3rd time on the boardwalk though :)

Weekend in Washington, DC

.... & I survived the East Coast Earthquake of 2011!!

Labor Day Weekend in OCMD

&& enjoying bagels on the beach...

Other Good Times with Good Friends!

Reliving my twirling days :)

Kelly's Wedding

Nipsy's 21st

Trolly to the casino!!!

Manhattan for some Serendipity & Mariott Madness with Jen :)

Christmas Time

Friday Favorites

Some of my favs of the week!!!

Favorite Keep Calm Quote:

Favorite "Need to Try" Recipe:

Favorite Scent (Lavender):

Favorite Simplistic Look:

Favorite Quote:

Favorite Photo:

Sigma Beauty Precision Makeup Brushes

So a few weeks back I ranted & raved about how excited & pleased I was with the Sigma Makeup Brushes... but now I'm going to rave about them even more! Sigma has recently come out with the Precision Brushes, which look AWESOME!! My mom & I are real suckers for great makeup brushes- & these really made me weak at the knees. I've seen a few tutorials & reviews on them & they sound pretty useful! Check them out at Sigma's Website to see what each of them do in better detail! There are 2 separate kits, one for eyes & the other for face, & another kit for both eyes & face. I will definitely be putting these babies on my Christmas list!

Glittered Pumpkins

This weekend my mom & I decided to make the glittered pumpkins from Martha Stewart's website that I had seen a few weeks back, and boy did we succeed! Check out Martha's link to make them here (Glittered Pumpkins) or take a peak at how we made them below:

What You'll Need:

Pumpkin of choice

Newspaper/Other paper surface

Medium sized Paintbrush

Small Bowl

Spoon

Glue (preferably one that dries clear)

Glitter

1. Take any size pumpkin you desire to dazzle up & place on paper surface, preferably newspaper/paper plate that glitter can easily slide on (this comes in handy when cleaning up the mess at the end & helps save glitter! I used a store catalog I got in the mail that I was going to throw out- just open it up in the middle to increase your work space)

2. Open up glue & glitter of choice. Pour glitter into small bowl with a spoon & place paintbrush in glue container

3. Take paintbrush & cover half of your pumpkin with glue from top to bottom. Be sure to not hold your pumpkin by the stem or else it may come off, making it not look like much of a pumpkin anymore

4. Take a spoonful of glitter & cover the glued half of your pumpkin with your colored glitter of choice

5. Let sit on "unglittered" side for 1 hour to dry completely

Here are some pics of my gold glittered pumpkin

6. Repeat the same steps as previously on the other half of your pumpkin & 1 hour later...

PRESTO!!! Beautiful glittered pumpkin to use as a centerpiece or other decoration of your fancy!

Makes a gorgeous centerpiece for the Autumn Season!! We placed ours on a wooden tray & covered around it with Apple Spice scented potpourri! It smells AMAZING!