it's been awhile...

Wow, it sure has been awhile since my last post.

School, work, and my internship has been absolutely crazy!

I promise personal posts and inspiration posts will be coming more frequently 

now that I'm back in the hang of everything!

In the mean time, here are some pictures of things that have happened 

since my last post over the holiday season to catch you all up on my semi-interesting life.

1. Brought Brooke home from study abroad by spending Christmas & New Years in Florence and Venice, Italy with the fam!

2. Rooftop parties with my best friends.

3. Four Peaks Brewery adventures.

4. Wine bar outings with co-workers.

5. Waste Management Phoenix Open with Nick!

6 & 7. Vegas with the bests.

How have all of you been?? I've missed you!

❤

an arizona weddings holiday

I love the holidays

& I especially love how the holidays are filled with company parties & family get-togethers.

As you all may remember,

I'm doing a marketing/production internship with Arizona Weddings Magazine.

(& a huge perk of the job is getting to write blogs for the new website!...launching soon!)

www.arizonaweddings.com

Their holiday party was at the JW Marriott at Desert Ridge, and it was amazing.

We enjoyed a chocolate making class taught by a world champion while we sipped on champagne & wine.

After the class, we had an amazing lunch in our private ballroom.

They even gave us all 

(myself & Ashley--the other intern, included) 

gorgeous silver necklaces with our initials.

Here's a few pictures from the event & if you click the link below, 

it takes you to a fun video compilation that Kristina put together!

 Arizona Weddings Magazine Holiday Video
❤

a belated birthday post...

Olivia got a birthday post,

so here's a little belated birthday post to my bestest friend

Paigey!!

We've been best friends since Freshman year.

You thought I was weird, and I thought you were rude

...at first...

and then pretty soon, we became inseparable.

Roommates since sophomore year and here we are graduating in May.

Can't wait to be like the Sex & the City girls

and stay best friends for the remainder of our lives through new jobs, cities, & adventures.

Love you boo boo <3

Happy 21st Birthday!!

(a couple weeks late in the blog world)

❤

birthday festivities

Last Thursday, Olivia celebrated her 21st birthday!

&& to make it even better, her best friend, Haley, from LA came out to visit for the weekend!

Thursday:

We headed to Mill Ave (where all of the college kids hang out) and hit Cue Club 

& they went on to Robbie Fox's after I left.

This place is where all of my friends that I haven't seen in forever have disappeared to!

We literally ran into everyone, and we're so excited to go out more often.

me, Olivia, & Haley at Cue Club

Friday:

I worked during the day on Friday, 

but right afterwards, I went home and got ready to go see the new Twilight movie with the girls.

We got tickets to the new AMC Esplanade Dine-In Theatres.

They were so nice.

Cushy, reclining, wide chairs while watching the new movie & being served mojitos, cosmos, and parmesan fries is definitely the best way to watch a movie.

The movie was pretty good too!  Very intense!  

Bella looked scared to death walking down the aisle,  but her dress was gorgeous...

actually the back of the dress was gorgeous--

and now all of those Twi-hards can buy the replica dress!

via

After the movie, we went home, got ready and headed out to Scottsdale for more birthday celebrations!

We started at AZ/88 where my boyfriend, Nick, works in Old Town 

for Strawberry Lemon Drops & Espresso Martinis.

This nice man that had a crush on Nick, made us napkin roses,

and we were on our way to American Junkie (one of the popular bars).

The rest of the weekend was filled with more work, and some relaxation thrown in there.

Needless to say, it was one of the most exciting weekends I've had in awhile.

So so so happy that my best friend is finally 21!

And Paige turns 21 this coming Friday--soooo excited!

Hope you all had a great weekend too.

xo

❤

last chance looksies

Olivia & I decided to head to Last Chance in Phoenix today in order to complete one mission: 

find good buys.

For those of you that don't know, 

Last Chance is the store full of "last chance" items from Nordstrom's once they leave Nordstrom Rack.

The bags were gorgeous!!

Unfortunately, I only seem to have a taste for Marc Jacobs bags, which are still $400-$500 at Last Chance.

But, their shoes were absolutely amazing as well!

Livs snagged some super cute Steve Madden sandals for $20 & a black shoulder bag for $2.

And I got away with two sexy pairs of Steve Madden heels, each for only $20.

originally $130

originally $90

I can't wait to wear them next weekend for Olivia's 21st birthday celebrations

and the following week for Paige's 21st birthday celebrations!

I've decided that I need to go here every month or so in order to build my shoe collection.

I ❤ fabulous deals!

from paris, with love

Last week, I got back from the most amazing trip of my life.

I've been fortunate to do a lot of traveling in my life, but this was the first out-of-country trip 

that I took without my parents.

My amazing sister, Brooke, is studying abroad in Milan, Italy

which I'm sure you know if you follow her blog...and if not, you should.

Since the longest we've been apart previous to this study abroad experience was one week,

we decided to cut our four months away from each other down to two.

I had the most AMAZING time & got to hang out with her best friend from exchange, Sheri!

We stayed in Milan for the first night and the last night,

but we spent most of our time in Paris!

I had gone when I was ten, but I sure do appreciate it a lot more now that I'm older.

The city of love really lives up to its name, and I did fall in love with it.

I can't wait to go back...and if you've never been, GO!

I'll let the pictures do the talking :)

Our "French" sight-seeing day!

Reunited @ The Louvre

Our constant "pick me up" cappuccinos!

Arc de Triomphe!

Le Tour Eiffel

Recommended for Paris' best macarons!

Love locks on Pont des Arts <3

Luxembourg Palace & Gardens

Moved to the best table in the house!

Getting ready for our Girl's Night Out in Paris!

Le Milliardaire on the Champs Elysees
Free entry + free table + free bottle of champagne + American R&B/Hip Hop Music = Perfect Night Out.

From Paris, with love.

❤

an enchanted evening

Last night, I had the privilege of attending Taylor Swift's Speak Now tour

with mom in Glendale for her second night & second sold out performance of the weekend!

I had heard she put on a great show,

but it was absolutely amazing.

She sang beautifully--just as great as on her album, and was so appreciative of her audience.

She even went to the back of the arena to perform for those who didn't have the best seats in the house.

And in order to do this, she had to come down through the aisles,

and since we were the first row on the side (mom won amazing tickets from KNIX),

mom even got to touch her arm!!

I was too shy, as usual, but seeing her two feet away was pretty incredible.

She's such a beautiful, talented, and sincere human being.

Here are some photos of the show...but nothing does it justice.

And, not to disappoint...she had a special guest at our show!!

Jim Adkins from Jimmy Eat World & Taylor sang The Middle.

Loved every minute of the show...even the warm up band NEEDTOBREATHE was amazing!

Kind of like a Kings of Leon type of sound!

Loved it.

Who went to her tour around other parts of the country & what did you think??

❤

finally no labor on labor day

Olivia and I decided to take a spontaneous Labor Day Weekend trip since we amazingly didn't have work!

We started our little road trip late on Friday night, 

so after plenty of little snacks and coffee/energy drinks to keep us awake, 

we arrived in the valley around 2 am.

Saturday morning, we woke up and had delicious bagels at Bagel Bagel Cafe 

in Porter Ranch where Olivia's sister works.

Afterwards, we drove with the windows down and the music up to Malibu for a beach day!

It was absolutely gorgeous outside.

After the beach, we went to get our nails done (I finally got the mint green I've been wanting!!) 

and headed back to Olivia's parents house for a fun BBQ.

The food was incredible: hummus, baba ganoush, taboule, eggplant salad, veggie burgers,

skinny girl margaritas, and someone brought Diddy Riese for dessert!!

Sunday was filled with fun.

Our friend Oren had a pool party that turned into a night time party as well.

I was carried out of the kitchen on a bar stool and thrown into the pool...totally bat mitzvah style.

We went home to change into our night time clothes and stopped at In-N-Out on the way back...

might I just add that adding the sliced peppers to the "grilled cheese" changes everything.

It was incredible.

We left Monday morning at 6 am and got back to Arizona around 1 pm.

I was insanely tired, but the view of the sun rising on our drive out was beautiful, and it was great to have a full day ahead of us once we got back home.

I hope you all had a fun Labor Day Weekend!

I don't think I've ever celebrated Labor Day...usually I'm working, so it was fabulous!