Boyfriend Series: Our Top 5 Spots

Continuing with my boyfriend series, I thought I would share some of our favorite places to hangout, mainly places to eat. We live in Charleston so you may not have the exact places where you live (but if you do you should definitely go check them out!), but you may have something similar.

1. 32 Degrees

We LOVE getting frozen yogurt. 32 Degrees is our favorite at the moment, even though there are several other frozen yogurt places around. I think Yogurt Mountain might be good too but we haven't been there yet. He always makes fun of me for putting waaay too many toppings on my yogurt.

His friend Alex's yogurt is on top, mine is on the bottom left, and his is bottom right. This is a bad example because this is probably the ONE time he went overboard on toppings.

2. IHOP

Yes you are probably thinking this is gross, but we love the IHOP. Well, I love it and he tolerates it for me I guess. I'm not really sure his real opinion on it. I always either get the Cinn-a-stack pancakes, or original pancakes with blueberry syrup and a side of hashbrowns. Yummy! And unhealthy, but still yummy!

3. The beach

This is probably cliche. The beach is always a good option. You can tan, you can swim, you can walk, it's just a fun place to go!

4. Taco Boy

Right near the beach is a restaurant called Taco Boy. I'm not positive but I think their only locations are in Charleston. If you are ever in Charleston, you need to go to Taco Boy! There's a location downtown and on Folly Beach. I always get the nachos that are tooo big for me to finish by myself. Oh and if you get tacos, get 2 because they are kind of small.

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5. The movies

Typical boyfriend/girlfriend place to go. He LOVES movies so we frequent the movie theater a lot. We saw Transformers last night, it was so good! Another cliche location for us :P

I think those are our top 5 most visited places. I probably missed some. Let me know if you've ever eaten at a Taco Boy, or if you have anything similar. Where are your favorite spots?

Blog Awards!

So I've been kind of slack with "accepting" and passing on blog awards, so I figured I would lump them into 1 long post before I do another "boyfriend series" post. So first up...

Thank you so much to Gemma Louise from Fashion is Beauty Beauty is Fashion for awarding me the "Top 10" blog award. If you haven't seen her blog, go check it out! It's awesome!

The rules are:

1. Link back to the person who tagged you

2. Pick 10 bloggers to give this to

3. List your 10 favorite products

I'll pick the other bloggers at the end because I think I'll pass both this award and the other award on to the same people (because it's late and I'm lazy)

1. John Frieda Frizz Ease Secret Weapon Flawless Finishing Cream

2. MAC Prep + Prime Skin

3. Benefit's creaseless cream shadows

4. Garnier Fructis Anti Humidity Hairpsray

5. Yes to Cucumbers Facial Towlettes

6. Maybelline Falsies

7. e.l.f. HD powder

8. Lip balm (Yes to Carrots, C.O. Bigelow, Nivea)

9. Urban Decay 24/7 liners

10. Urban Decay Primer Potion

And also thank you so so much to Lauren from Antiqued Gold and Sara from 21SaraLoves for the Best Blog Award! You both have amazing blogs!

The rules for this one are:

1. Link back to the person who awarded this to you

2. Share 7 random things about yourself

3. Award to other bloggers

4. Answer the questions below

Whoo this will be a long post. Sorry everyone! 7 random facts:

1. My favorite colors are aqua blue and pink

2. I hate feet

3. I'm constantly hungry

4. I love cinnamon and peaches (not together)

5. I love going to concerts

6. Ulta is my weakness on payday

7. My favorite candy is Sour Punch Straws. Chocolate is a whole different story

The questions:

Favorite color: Pink and aqua blue

Favorite song: ahh can't pick! I love Hair by Lady Gaga right now though

Favorite dessert: anything dark chocolate

What is pissing you off: Nothing at the moment. But annoying customers were earlier

When you're upset, you: take it out on my boyfriend. Sorry! and eat

Favorite pet: I love them all!

Black or white: Black!

Biggest fear: Feet.

Best feature: Eyes I suppose

Everyday attitude: Chill

What is perfection: Being generally happy with my life. And frazzle bagels are perfection too :P

Guilty Pleasure: IHOP!

I pass these on to:

Abby from Robots in Trouble

Erika from Cafe Fashionista

Holly from Busyxbees

Berniice from Things happen just livelaughlove & learn

Arianne from Arianne Cruz

Ashley from Ashley Brooke

Savannah from Glamorous Girl 2014

Minnja

Raji from What Raj Wants

M & Em

What I'm Loving: June (early)

I'm going to be moving into our official new house at the end of the week, which also happens to be the end of the month so I figured I should do what I'm loving for June a little early.

1. Ice Breakers Ice Cubes in cool Lemon- I have been SERIOUSLY addicted to this gum this month. I'm like a chain smoker when it comes to this stuff, when a piece looses its flavor, I'll spit it out and put in another piece. I can go through probably 2 packs of this in a day if I wanted to. It tastes like fresh squeezed lemonade, and it even has that cooling effect which is PERFECT for hot days!

2. Benefit's Creaseless Cream shadow in Flatter Me- I picked this up at Ulta so I could get that little gift set with 3 of their mini products that I could include in my giveaway. I've been wearing this pretty much every day. I use to just wear MAC's painterly, which is great for concealing and going for the "no makeup look", but this is for the days when I want a little color on my lids. So easy to apply! Also works great as a base.

3. Winnie the Pooh Quotes- I've always been a Winnie the Pooh lover. A.A. Milne definitely has a way with words! You can read some of the Pooh quotes here. They are just so sweet and so inspiring :)

4. The Lip Scrub by Sara Happ- My lips get very dry and flakey if I don't take care of them properly. I think there are good DIY versions of this that are just as good, but I'm kind of lazy and fail at most DIY things, so I like the convenience of this :) Plus I got the Cinnamon Sugar flavor because I LOVE cinnamon. I exfoliate my lips with this at night and my lips are so soft and flake free in the morning!

5. C.O. Bigelow Lemon and Black Cherry Lip Balm- I got this at the Bath and Body Works sale for like $2! So cheap! This is one of my favorite daily lip balms, for giving my lips a little moisture throughout the day. The best part is it smells SO GOOD! It moisturizers just as well as the Nivea a Kiss of Moisture, but has an added amazing smell and sweet taste.

6. My Ray Bans- Sunglasses are a must have for summer and my favorites are still my Ray Ban Wayfarers! Very classy and simple, and awesome quality. I always keep them in my car because the sun likes to blind me, and I'm often too short for my visor to do anything for me :P

7. Garnier Fructis Anti Humidity Hairspray- I mentioned this in my how to fight summer humidity post. My hair is straight on most days and I spray it with this hairspray to lock in my sleek style and keep the humidity out. I have the flexible control one, so it doesn't weigh my hair down at all or make it stiff, and smells incredible. I don't usually use this for curling my hair though, I need something much stronger.

8. Victoria's Secret So Sexy Straight & Silky Styling Mist- Long name, but works wonders for my hair! I spray this in my hair before I blow dry it (if I blow dry it, I try to avoid that as much as I can). It's my favorite heat protectant and my mom's favorite too! It keeps our hair smooth and straight as well as protects it from our heat products!

9. Breakfastatgraceys.com!- Yep, I finally paid the $10 and got my custom domain switched from breakfastatgraceys.blogspot.com to breakfastatgraceys.com. Yay!

What are your favorite things this month?

Inspired by: Sushi

Sushi? What an odd thing to be inspired by. I think it's fun to find inspiration in out of the ordinary things. Like my iced passion tea lemonade outfits, and Sarah from Shades of Sarah who gets inspiration from buildings such as Grand Central Station. And sushi is one of my favorite foods, so I decided to do some outfits inspired by it!

By the way, aren't these the cutest?! Plush sushi! My boyfriend got me the shrimp one and it is so cute! I named him Martin :)

This was such a fun post to do because I adore sushi. What do you think about sushi? What random things inspire you?

Travel

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Where are you travelling to this summer?

Get pumped for my travel giveaway! No I haven't forgotten, I need to buy a few things still!

Summer Resolutions

Summer is a great time to set goals for yourself, because you have more time on your hands (if you are still in school, that is), and no real excuses for not doing things or slacking off on anything. Here are my goals for this summer :)

1. Drink coconut water

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I do drink water everyday and keep myself hydrated on a normal basis, but there are a lot of health benefits that come with drinking coconut water (hello, hangover cure!). I know I get tired of drinking plain water sometimes, and coconut water comes in a few different fruity flavors that is a good switch up. Perfect for the beach!

2. Read more books

I love to read if it's something that is my choice to read. Reading for school is such a chore for me. Even though I enjoy reading, sometimes I get caught up in everyday life and I don't give myself time to read. I'm going to try to relax myself more this summer by reading!

3. Yoga

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Another relaxation thing for me, I've always wanted to do yoga. Not like one of those videos I can do at home (tried it, never did it), but actually get a friend to go to yoga class with me.

4. Don't wait until the last minute to do my summer reading

I do this EVERY summer. I can't really enjoy the last few weeks of my summer because I'm scrambling to get summer reading done. Even though I say this every summer, this time I'm actually going to try to get it done on time.

5. Save my money and not blow my paychecks on beauty products

I buy so much makeup it's kind of ridiculous (and a pain to pack up and move). From now on, my goal is to put a portion of my paycheck in the bank to save for an iPad, and keep a portion out to pay for food, gas, some clothes, and anything else that's NOT makeup.

That's about it for now :) Do you have any goals for this summer?

How to: Get Smooth Lips for Summer

I have problems with dry lips, and I definitely have to work to get them to stay smooth. I think I've finally found a lip routine that keeps them moisturized and flake-free!

1. Exfoliate- Get all the dead skin cells and flakes off of your lips! My favorite lip scrub is Sara Happ's The Lip Scrub, but at $24 it is a bit expensive, so you can find a list of DIY lip scrubs here. I like to do this step at night because it can make your lips a bit red.

2. Super Moisture- I mean a very intense lip treatment here. As much as I hate the smell of Clinique's Superbalm lip treatment, it works wonders. I also use this in the winter when my lips get super chapped. I've heard good things about the Kiehl's Lip Balm #1, but I've never used it.

3. Daily Moisture- For moisturizing throughout the day whenever your lips are feeling dry. C.O. Bigelow's Lemon and Black Cherry Lip Balm and Nivea a Kiss of Moisture are my favorite daily lip balms.

4. Spf- One of the most important steps, especially during the summer! Even if you don't realize it, your lips burn very easily, and the sun can dry them out making them very dry or chapped. Find a lip gloss or balm that has spf in it, like Nivea a Kiss of Protection, Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush Lip Gloss with spf 15, or MAC's tinted lip conditioner.

This may be common sense for a lot of people, but I know my mom had never thought to exfoliate her lips so I thought I'd share :) Let me know what your favorite products for keeping your lips smooth this summer are!

Boyfriend Series: How We Met & First Date

I know I've mentioned my boyfriend briefly in a couple of posts before, but I think it would be cool to share with you all more about us and whatnot :) This will be a series, starting with this post about how we met and our first date.

^not on our first date, but I thought a picture of us together was necessary.

We met through mutual friends actually, and when I first met him I didn't really think we would eventually date. My friend Amanda dated Joe, who is friends with both Jonathan (my boyfriend) and I. Joe was always over at Jonathan's house and Amanda and I would drive over there to pick him up all the time but would usually stay in the parking lot. One day we did go up to his house to hang out. I ended up falling asleep on his bed, so it's not like we did much talking or anything.

One day over the summer I was bored and saw he was online on Facebook, so I decided to chat with him and see how he was doing and if he remembered me (he did). We ended up talking for a while and I started to see how cool he was, since I didn't really get to know him at his house. He's really into paintball and I mentioned that I like paintball too, even though I kind of suck at it. We decided to play together one day, and I didn't know at the time but this ended up being our first "date".

When he picked my up from my house, he brought me a huuuge jar of pickles with a bow on top, because every time he asked what I was doing I was usually eating, and usually eating a pickle. It was so cute! :) We went and played paintball, which was painful and fun, and then went to a movie after. At this point I knew I definitely liked him.

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About a week later, he said there would be a surprise for me after school. So, after school, I went home and waited for it. He sent me flowers with a poem asking me out :) I was so happy, and obviously I said yes. We are still happily together, going on 10 months in a few days! Yay! He's treated me amazingly from the beginning and still does, and I don't think I could ask for anything more :) and I know he's probably reading this. Love you baby :)

On a side note, the travel themed bag was the winner for the giveaway prize. I've already started buying some things, so be on the lookout for that within the next few weeks!

100 Followers!

Yay we made it to 100 followers! Thank you to all of you who comment, follow, read, etc., I love hearing from all of you! Now that I have 100 followers, you know what that means...giveaway time!!

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I still haven't settled on a prize yet so I figured since one of you will be receiving it, I'd let everyone vote since I do have a few ideas. I'm just very indecisive. Anyway I'll list my ideas below and please comment and tell me which one (or ones) you would be most interested in.

1. Fill out a "beauty profile" and I'll pick out some products that I think would work well for your skin, hair, etc. I'll try to keep them kind of small or not full sized so that if you don't like some of them, you aren't stuck with a huge bottle of it.

2. A feather earring (or pair of feather earrings) from Edge of Urge.

3. A travel themed bag of goodies. Maybe like a makeup bag filled with airplane safe beauty products (drugstore and high end mixed) and some other travel necessities.

4. Other. If you don't like any of these post another idea in the comments!

Thanks again to all of you! Please make sure you vote, I want to give you all something you want and would use!

The Verdict

I've had time to try out my 2 new products this week, and I think it's time to share my thoughts on them!

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I ran out of my MAC Prep + Prime Skin (favorite face primer ever!) and decided to try out the Laura Mercier Oil Free Primer since I had store credit at Bluemercury. I did notice a difference in the way my makeup looked and the staying power throughout the day. I didn't get as oily as I did when I used no primer, and my makeup did stay on longer. However, I still think the MAC Prep + Prime Skin made my makeup stay on a bit longer and kept me even less oily throughout the day. I applied powder twice during the day with MAC Prep + Prime (once in the morning, and another time in the middle of the day), and I applied powder 2 or 3 times during the day with the Laura Mercier one (Morning, and 2 or 3 random times throughout the day). I do like that it's a squeeze tube though, so I can get the most out of my product and control how much I get out.

Packaging Winner: Laura Mercier Oil Free Primer

All Around Winner: MAC Prep + Prime Skin

Now onto the foundations. Before I was using the MAC Pro Longwear, and when I ran out of that I decided to give the Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua foundation a try. This is going to be a very hard decision for me because I love both so much but all for different reasons! Pro Longwear has amazing staying power, as in alllll day. I don't do a lot of sweating or running around, so I can't speak for you active people. It has medium coverage which is good to cover my redness and acne scars, and it has a natural looking finish to it. The bad thing is, I HAVE to set it with a powder otherwise it will feel kind of sticky. The blending is so-so, it dries pretty quickly. Now onto the Vitalumiere Aqua. It does not stay on ALL day but it does make it through most of it. It's light to medium coverage so this would be good for girls who don't need a lot of coverage. It feels amazing on the skin and blends so effortlessly. I've always heard people say it's like putting on a second layer of skin, and I have to agree! Since there were a lot of things to consider, I'll have to do multiple winners on this one.

Staying Power Winner: MAC Pro Longwear

Low Maintenance Winner: Vitalumiere Aqua

Winter Winner (feels a bit heavier and more coverage): MAC Pro Longwear

Summer Winner (doesn't feel like you're wearing anything but not a lot of coverage): Vitalumiere Aqua.

All Around Winner: ...Tie! I like them both a lot, it just depends on what I'm looking for that day!

And once again sorry for not posting! I haven't been around internet too much but I will when we get moved into our new house! Thanks for being patient, you guys are awesome :) And 2 more followers until 100! Yay!!!

New Favorite Store and Update!

Hello! I just wanted to do a quick update post on what's been going on these past couple of days. I found a new favorite store! I've always wanted to try a lot of products from high end brands, but we don't have a Sephora here and the makeup counters in department stores are a bit slack. I was walking downtown one day and I saw a sign that listed a bunch of makeup brands, which is what drew me into the store in the first place. I was so excited when I walked in, because now I can try these higher end brands without having to buy online and pay shipping and whatnot. Oh the store is called Bluemercury if you were wondering.

I bought 2 things from Bluemercury (high end brands don't agree with my tiny budget, but I'm hoping these will be worth it!).

First of all, I got the Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua foundation. I ran out of my MAC Pro Longwear, and I've heard this is a really nice light foundation so I decided to try it out, plus I've never bought a Chanel beauty product before! When I ran out of my MAC Pro Longwear, I went to Walmart (this was before I discovered Bluemercury), and got the Revlon Colorstay foundation. I actually really did like this foundation because it stayed on for most of the day like my MAC one did. What I didn't like about it was that it makes my foundation brush smell odd...like hospital or doctor's office. Does anyone else have this issue or am I just weird?

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Anyway, the second thing I bought was the Laura Mercier oil free primer. Since I ran out of my MAC Prep + Prime Skin, which was mentioned in my May favorites, my skin has not been agreeing with me. My foundation doesn't stay on as long and my face got very oily throughout the day. Actually, the reason I got this one instead of the MAC one was because I originally bought the NARS multiple in Orgasm (yes, finally), but returned it and they only offered store credit. I wasn't too impressed by the Multiple in Orgasm. I didn't dislike it, but it wasn't that amazing product I was looking for. Plus I don't wear blush that often, and I wear primer everyday so I felt this made more sense. Hopefully it will do me proud!

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The move is finally done, we are staying at my mom's friend's house at the moment and either Friday or Saturday I'll be staying with my boyfriend for a while. That's pretty much it, nothing new here! Oh and sorry I didn't take the photos myself, I wanted to get this post up and my camera is dead and my batteries are packed away in some box :/

Let me know if you've tried either of those products and what you think of them!