The Sunday Currently

(Linking up with Lauren, as usual!!)

Watching Pretty Wild on Netflix in preparation for seeing The Bling Ring soon. No shame in this game.

Reading some articles about Alexis Neiers. Again: no shame. None whatsoever.

Writing a to-do list for Monday-Wednesday. Lots to do before I see Kelsey on Wednesday and Garrett on Thursday!!!

Excited for the new blog design Meg is doing for me!!!  

Wearing my new favorite outfit. I went to church with my parents this morning, so I had an excuse to wear some of my favorite wedges!! 

Drinking iced coffee

Thinking about whether I should take a nap or not. I'm not really tired, but it IS a rainy Sunday afternoon. A nap seems like a must.

Anticipating the super short week I'm about to have!!

Feeling content in a way that only comes from a lazy Sunday afternoon. I know you guys know what I'm talking about.

Also, I'm not sure how many of you only follow me via GFC... I've never put much into it since there's been talk of it going away since I started this blog, but just in case you follow me there, I'd love for you to follow me on Bloglovin' as well!

Happy Friday!

Well! What a week, in both the blog world and the real world. Wendy Davis went HAM on the Texas Senate and was able to filibuster a damaging bill in Texas, and SCOTUS overturned DOMA, both of which are pretty incredible. 

I talked about how I should really just move to the beach (which happened to be Garrett's favorite post) and showed you a new shirt that I got. I also reviewed some FABULOUS Sally Hansen polishes, so go check them out!! 

I have to say thank you to all of you who responded to my Perceptions and the Internet post. It's nice to know that a) there are plenty of people willing to tell me to shut up if necessary and b) you guys worry about the same stuff!!! It really did make me feel much, much better, so again, thank you.

Also, the OBBF (original bloggy best friend) got drunk, and subsequently cut off at a winery last week, and I just think that makes her Hero Status for real. This is the text she sent me:

Sober enough to text? Tooooooooootally.

I had to laugh when I read Meg's post about how Blogging Gives Her a Complex because I had to agree to EVERY SINGLE ONE. Worried about DOMA ruining your marriage? Those fears are totally warranted, because here are ten ways DOMA is going to ruin traditional marriage. Here are five posters to narrate your boring life and 15 ways to guarantee you'll get food poisoning this summer. You're welcome.

Rick Perry said some awful things about Wendy Davis.. things he should absolutely be ashamed of. (Rick Perry? More like DICK Perry, AM I RIGHT?) He has also already called a new special session. So that's cool and mature and productive. Cameron Diaz is the lastest to join Jamie Foxx and Quvenzhané Wallace in the latest version of Annie, which is being produced by Jay-Z and Will Smith. It should be pretty good!! Here is a list of all the companies that have dropped Paula Deen this week, and just for fun, here are 25 other celebrities who have let their mouths get them into trouble. Finally, here is a beautifully written letter to Rachel Jeantel, the girl who was on the phone with Trayvon Martin when he was shot by George Zimmerman. She's been getting some truly disgusting hate since she first took the stand, and this letter is so amazing. 

 Also, after four years of blogging, I finally met someone who lived close to me! I thought having bloggy friends close was only for people who lived in cool places like DC. And BONUS: she loves the Real Housewives! I smell a new BFF. I get to go to Noodles&Co tomorrow for the first time! Oh, and see my brother, I guess. We've been expecting thunderstorms yesterday and today and both day have ended up being sunny, so that's awesome.

#IHeartMyNailArt: Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat!!

I've mentioned this a few times before, but I am just absolutely obsessed with nail polish. Some people go for shoes, or purses, or lipstick... me? Nail polish, all the way. I get so excited every season when the new trends and colors come out. It's basically my Christmas. So when I heard about the new Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat polishes, I knew I had to try them!! I bought mine at Walgreens, where I was able to use my Balance Rewards card to get the polishes buy one/get one 50% off, PLUS 500 bonus points! (Which, let's be honest, will undoubtedly be spent on more nail polish.)

Apparently, lots of other people had the same idea I did, because they were almost all gone!!! That's a good sign, right? Since I'm a total sucker for good marketing, I scooped up a few of the Sally Hansen Insta-Dry polishes in addition to the three Fuzzy Coat polishes.

I was able to get (L-R) Fuzz-Sea, Peach Fuzz, and Tight Knit.

There are lots of different things you can do with these polishes, but first, let's talk about exactly what they are. The Fuzzy Coat polishes are a matte, bar glitter set in a clear base.  I like this better than some other glitter polishes because you can brush it on instead of dabbing it, but it's important for each layer to be as thin as possible, as the layers can get heavy very quickly. My application advice to you is to wipe all the polish off of the brush, and then quickly dip the brush in again so only a little bit is on the brush. It's easily buildable, but be careful!

There are three different things I wanted to try with these polishes: an allover nails look, an accent nail, and a striped nail. 

"All-over" Color

Peach Fuzz over Vigorous Violet

Accent Nail

 Fuzz-Sea over Mint Sprint

Striped Nail

Tight Knit over Sonic Boom

Since the Fourth of July is coming up, I've been brainstorming nail art ideas. I pulled some inspiration from FabFatale, as I love how unique her designs are, and I knew they would be easy to recreate with Sally Hansen polishes.

 When I saw the bright blue in Tight Knit, I knew it would be PERFECT. And recreating the stripes is super easy too - I just used some thin craft tape! (See below.) I like this art because it's cute, but still SUPER easy.. and since the glitter is so piece-y, you can make little mistakes and no one can tell!!!

See? So easy! Which is good, because I am decidedly NOT an artist (I just play one on TV).
I've always been a fan of Sally Hansen polishes, and these were no different. They're so fun, and GREAT for summer. Go scoop them up before they're gone!! [You can find all the colors online at Walgreens.com here if you'd like to purchase!]
Want to know more about Sally Hansen and the #IHeartMyNailArt campaign, or just need some more nail inspiration? Just click below!

To see additional pictures, check out my Google+ album!

Why life should just shut up already and let me live at the beach.

So as you know if you follow me on the other social networks, you saw that I went to the beach last week for a few days. It might be the only time I get to squeeze in some beach time this whole summer, so it was nice to be able to get some time to lay on the beach, drink some margaritas, and get away from the city. 
And I started thinking. Nobody ever wants to leave the beach, right? I sure don't. I want to stay forever. And this is why:
My hair always looks AWESOME at the beach.  Saltwater + wind = THE BEST HAIR EVER. It's an added bonus that you don't have to add heat to your hair. No extra damage!

All wave, all the time.

Tanning oil makes everyone and everything look better.  You guys know what I'm talking about. Being covered in oil makes everything look softer and let's be real: sexier. I wish I could walk around covered in Banana Boat all year long.

Praise be to thy tanning oil.
Being tan is always better always. I know, I know, skin cancer. But if you try to tell me you don't feel hotter, skinnier, and all-around more awesome when you're tan, you're lying to me, and you're lying to yourself.  Bonus: bright lipstick looks way more fun on tan skin.

You can. not. tell me that the right isn't wayyyyyy better than the left.
Summer beer is the best. Son of a Peach? Check. Purple Haze? Double Check. Summerfest? All over it. Summer beers are light and refreshing and fabulous. And everything tastes better when you're drinking it at the beach, right?

Sorry about my face in this one.
You can read the trashiest books. No one expects you to read War and Peace while you're laying in the sand, right? This is your chance to read the most ridiculous, the most embarrassing novels out there. So do it, girl! Indulge. You know you want to.

That may or may not be (but definitely is) 50 Shades of Gray. Now that I'm not at the beach anymore, I'm super embarrassed.
Of course, there are the negatives. Cell phone service at the beach during the summer is the WORST because there are so many people. Summer beers aren't around all year long. It gets cold there too. You live in a tourist town all year long.
But who cares about those? Not this girl!!! So give me the sand, a drink and a trashy book, and leave me alone. 
At least until Summer is over.

Welcome to the Texas Senate, where everything is made up and the points don't matter.

Photo courtesy of CBS.com

I had a different post planned for today, but I just have to talk about this awesome woman right here.
In case you live under a rock/didn't get on any social networking sites yesterday, Wendy Davis attempted to filibuster a bill that was put forth in the Texas Senate that would severely limit access to abortions, birth control, cervical cancer screenings and other health care issues that women deal with every day. 
Without getting into a debate about abortion, I think everything that happened last night was FASCINATING. I think Wendy Davis is incredible. I think Sens Kirk Watson, Rodney Ellis and Royce West are amazing for standing up for women and our rights.
The quote of the night, however, goes to Senator Leticia van de Putte, who says, after beint interrupted multiple times, "At what point must a female senator raise her hand or her voice to be heard over the male colleagues in the room?"

I could point out all the shady things that happened last night, but I won't. I'll just say that we're going to be talking about everything that happened last night for a really long time, and I'm so glad I got to watch it all unfold. WENDY DAVIS FOR ALL THE AWARDS.
EDIT: DOMA AND PROP 8 STRUCK DOWN TOO? THIS DAY IS THE BEST.

Perceptions and The Internet

I'm pretty proud of how I've gotten this blog off the ground, and established a small, but very solid following in just three months. But growing your blog comes with some growing pains, right? 
I think a lot about how I come across on the internet. Maybe more than a healthy amount. I always forget that my friends in the blog world are people who have never met me in real life.. it's crazy!! Because we've never met each other, it's easy to misinterpret things that you read. 
I worry about coming off as pretentious or a know-it-all.  I'm not so cocky that I think I have a ton of things to "teach" you, because I already think you're all so very awesome. But: I love sharing things with you guys. I love sharing new recipes or products or clothes or blogging things that I've learned, but I don't ever want to sound pretentious or fake. I think of my blog as another way to talk to my friends... I would call my friends and tell them about a new recipe that I love.... in that same way, I'll post it on my blog. Does that make sense? If I ever start to sound like a pretentious douchewaffle, you have my full permission to tell me, okay?! 
I worry that when people meet me, they'll say "wow, you're so different in person than you are on your blog." I try to keep it real. The problem here is that in real life, I have a pretty huge personality. I'm loud. I'm kind of obnoxious. I curse sometimes. (Sorry, Mom.) I try to keep it toned down on my blog because I want it to be pretty universally appealing (and family-friendly), while maintaining my own voice. So far, this hasn't been a problem, but you never know, you know? (I'm sure that Garrett would tell me if I started sounding ridiculous. Right, babe?) 
I worry about being TOO positive.  I talk about this in-depth in this post, but I've mentioned before that I try really, really hard to always look for the good in the world, and I want that positivity to carry over into my blog. But I don't ever want you to think that I think my life is perfect. It's far, far from it. The way I see it, there's more than enough negativity floating around all the time, right? All I can do control what I put into the universe, and I choose positivity. But please know that I have my issues just like everyone else. I don't ever want to be so happy and positive that I stop being "real." 
I worry about people liking me. We all want to be liked, whether we're willing to admit it or not. I'm so humbled every time someone says "I love your blog!" because truly: it's ASTOUNDING to me that people think I'm cool enough to start reading my blog, and then more impressively: they keep reading!!! It's craziness! 
I worry about being a "sellout." I have a couple sponsored posts coming up that I'm REALLY excited about. They're both products that I've used for a while, so when the opportunity to talk about them on my blog came up, I was pretty excited! I want my blog to maintain MY voice, but, you know, it's nice to have someone throw you some money for blogging occasionally, right? Right. I promise to only review things that I have strong feelings about, and I promise to keep them sporadic, so you never feel like I've turned into a sellout blogger who only posts products. (Same goes for giveaways and linkups.) Everything in moderation, right?
I'm not the only one who worries about these things, right? RIGHT? 

Sunday Currently

PSA: If this dog becomes ours, puppy spam will reach an all time high. And probably not stop ever. Are we good with that? Yes? Good.

(Linking up with Lauren, as usual!!)

Reading a metric ton's worth of blog posts. I'm so behind!

Writing some posts for this week. I have every day planned (for once) so I'm trying to get Monday through Wednesday written today. Send me some productive vibes, okay?!

Listening to the squeaks coming from the new toy I bought the dog. He loves it, duh. (see obnoxious yellow toy in picture)

Watching HGTV, as usual.

Drinking coffee, duh. 

Wishing I was still at the beach. Although I missed the dog while I was gone.. so maybe I wish I could take the dog WITH me, and that we were still at the beach? Yes. Yes, good.

Anticipating the afternoon... I'm going over to the Farmer's Market, DSW and my favorite coffee place. I loooove Sundays.

Wearing the cutest shirt you will ever see ever. (see below) Could you DIE at the bow on the back?! I die. I DIE from cuteness.

Feeling caffeinated. Not sorry.

    

Have you linked up for the Super Sunday Sync yet? Do it!!! 

Are you feeling super today? Link up for the Super Sunday Sync!!

Welcome to Super Sunday Sync #41!
Last week, we had a great turn out of 87 links.  Let's get over 100 this week!  Spread the love!  Share on G+ and Twitter :)

Rules for the "Super-est" hop ever:

1)  Link up a family-friendly post (or your homepage if it will always be decent, please not to another hop) that you think is SUPER!

2) Follow your hosts {Dawn and Kera} and our GUEST HOSTS {Alyssa Said Hi and Double Tha Love}, the first 4 links, via RSS and/or Bloglovin'.  We also appreciate (and return) any Facebook Likes, NetworkedBlog, and Twitter Followers.  Be sure to leave a comment telling us how you follow, we'll follow you back!

3)  Visit and follow the blog before you, and a few others {the more, the merrier}.  We're all looking to have more followers, that's why we're hopping, right?  Remember to leave a comment and we'll follow you back.

4)  Grab a button and put it somewhere people will see.

<div align="center"> <a href="http://dawnsdisaster.blogspot.com" title="Super Sunday Sync" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM9G8tSfXu7Glhyphenhyphenbm18ouiAqH01MB2svISXK8Yy_ptTZDlH9h8baTnTw2Tyektfzz8GODAmoZ1VUJ3GfUYYme_38s9BAtuhrGAVlVQ1aJt0497sryS8cz5Fbkppw-k4_jmQpV2LnOBSFBD/s200/SSS+Button_NEW2.jpg" alt="Super Sunday Sync" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

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Getting this one up a little late in the day... whoops!!! Sleep was much more motivating last night than a blog post. So it sure was an exciting week here in blogland, huh? It made grateful for the friendships I have forged in the short amount of time I've had this blog, and made me realize I've made some good choices in who I associate with. You guys are awesome. (Related: my favorite post this week was definitely the one about Not Being That Guy.)
I also have to say that I LOVED getting all of your responses to my post about bullying. I have to be honest, I was a very discouraged (and angry) when I saw the responses to the original post. And we still have a long way to go, but your messages showed me that there are plenty of you who are smart and ready to advocate for people who need it, and I love that. Again, my blog friends are the best.
If you don't follow me on Instagram, you didn't see that I decided to sneak off to the beach for a few days with my mom, so that's fun! (Also, I'd love it if you added me on Instagram... it's private because of some nosy relatives, but I love to follow my blog friends on there! So get on it, okay?
Also, if you haven't entered our Boozy Bloggers giveaway, you better get on that, too!

Kim and Kanye APPARENTLY named their daughter North West. I can't, you guys. I cannot. Here are 45 thing we thought we'd accomplish by now and didn't. In news that will make you go "are you serious?" a mom in Paris got arrested for trying to take the equivalent of the SAT for her daughter. Here's how to write the great American novel in ten easy steps.

Michael Hastings died this week, and while I have a lot of thoughts about it, I'll just focus on this remembrance piece on him. Butter enthusiast and professional racist Paula Deen skipped her Today Show appearance this week, because, you know, she doesn't like that people think she's a professional racist. (Also, John Oliver obliterated her on the Daily Show, and that was amazing too.) Here's an interesting article I read recently about Millennials surviving in the new economy.

Well, as I said, I'm at the beach!!! The only thing on the agenda for this weekend is puppy time, a trip to Target, and lots of iced coffee. This is silly, but I'm excited about my new followers coming from the giveaway! (it's the little things, right?) I'm pretty tan, and I'm pretty excited about it. I'm super excited about the things I have planned on the blog next week. 
Have a great weekend, everyone!!!!

The B Word - Revisited. (and the last Thursday Thoughts!)

Today is the last Thursday Thoughts, so I had to link up!! Thursday Thoughts was the first link-up I ever got to co-host, so I have a special place in my heart for it. Big ups to Jamie and Jaime for hosting for this long. 

I mentioned during my Roundup on Friday that Blair had a really interesting post about bullying last week. It really resonated with me, and so the few days following that, I kept up with the comments. (I also had a really great conversation with Blair about it via email.) I'm not going to rehash everything Blair said in her post, but it's something I've been thinking about a lot in the last week - specifically, the things that people have said in response to the question Blair posed: Can adults be bullied?
(Note: this post isn't meant to put any specific person on blast. The comments on Blair's post are things I've been seeing and hearing for years... her post was just the catalyst that got me to put all my thoughts into a post of my own.)  
Being in the education world, bullying is something that I care about very, very much. I see it all the time, and it's incredibly hard to watch. 
What is equally as hard is seeing all of the misconceptions and misplaced blame that surround bullying, and that's what I'd like to talk about today.
As I discussed yesterday, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. And Blair ended her post with a question - obviously, people are going to respond. But seeing so many people simply say "adults can't be bullied because adults are free to change their environment" is frustrating and discouraging for several reasons.
For one, who has the freedom to simply quit their job and find a new one whenever they want? If you haven't been job searching lately, let me be the first to tell you: job searching SUCKS. The fact that YOU have to go through the entire job search process because someone ELSE is being a jerk is completely backwards, especially if it's a job that (outside of that person) you enjoy. AND all of this is operating under the assumption that you'll even be able to find a new job, which we all know is not a guarantee. 
I think it is INCREDIBLY unfair to say to the victim of harassment that they should be the one that has to change. If it's just someone you "hang out with," that's one thing. It's totally different when you can't control that person's presence in your life. You can't tell someone to "just deal with it" or worse, to "grow a pair." It's way deeper than that, and if you think harassment always has a simple solution like that, you have a whole lot to learn about being an adult.
All of these things have one common factor: they place the blame and responsibility on the victim, and not the aggressor. And that, my friends, is completely inexcusable. We don't know what the conditions are in each situation, so we can't make blanket statements like "just ignore it! it'll get better eventually. Because we don't know that. We need to start being proactive. We have to do better. 
Ultimately, I think it all boils down to this: when are we going to stop telling people to "have thick skin" and "get over it," and start teaching people to not be jerks? It's something we need to work on,  we need to make it a priority, and we HAVE to stop blaming the victims.
And that's all I have to say about that.

The one where I wanted to enter the giveaway I was co-hosting.

If you read this blog, you know how much I love my wine. In moderation, of course, but I love it nonetheless. So when Adriana reached out to me asking if I would be interested in getting in on a giveaway that was centered around wine, you better believe I jumped at the opportunity. The prizes are fab, the ladies are beautiful, it's pretty much the best.

The stars have drunkenly aligned and these AMAZING bloggers have all come together in one place, at one time to present you with the best Boozy Bloggers Giveaway there ever was.

Adriana // Sara

Alyssa // Cortney // Kate // Emily // Sarah // Carly // Candice // Stephanie



There will be 3 winners.

3 lucky, inebriated winners. With our help, and under the guidence of Sara and Adriana, those 3 winners will find themselves in a state of alchy bliss.

Will you be one of those lucky lushes?

      

**Brew2Go provided by The Product Farm**

     

**Party straws provided by RubyPop**

**Flag drink stirrers provided by ThePerfectHostess**

      

**Vino2Go and Vino2Go XL provided by The Product Farm**

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