Been Gone So Long...

But I'm back! It's been months since I've blogged... time for that to change. Why? Because I actually have a bit of time back in my little hands! 

A lot has happened in the last few months- got a "promotion" at work, planned a wedding, interviewed for a new job the week before my wedding, got offered said new job 8 days before my wedding, GOT MARRIED!, honeymooned, had my last few days at old job, and then started new job. BAM. 

Yes that is a lot to cram into a small amount of time. But I did it, I'm on the other side, I'm happily 2+ months married and starting to settle in.

I will be blogging regularly again and I'm so excited to be back! 

So, what is my first, extremely important subject, to blog about?
New hair. Yep. Time to change another thing! 

I've had long hair for many years now, and although I'm not going to actually chop it all off (don't let me do that ever!) I do want to freshen it up both with style and color. Here are my inspiration pictures! Appointment is tomorrow... wish me luck!  

Color Inspiration... this is currently the length of my hair.
I love the honey brown and blonde.

Cut Inspiration- medium length bob, but layered? Is that a "Lob?"

Cut and Color Inspiration- Ah, Julia from Gal Meets Glam, so pretty.

 Another shot of Julia from Gal Meets Glam

Cut inspiration again.
I love the easy look of the style. (We all know it won't be that effortless though right?)

Color inspiration... and maybe cut inspiration if I chicken out! 

No style inspired blog would be complete without Lauren Conrad. Love her.

All Image Source

I'll let you know how it goes and will be blogging about all that is and has been going on for me!

M.I.A.

Yep. That's me in a nutshell, blogging world. Missing in Action. I apologize for my serious lapse in blogging. I have a new job, a side job, a part time job, wedding planning and a tiny tiny tiny bit of time to see friends and family. I'm barely sleeping. I've never been so busy in my entire life! I don't want to complain about any of it, because mostly it's good stuff. But many, I'm tired. 

I will do my best to take even 5 minutes every few days to check in and be a blogger again. I love it so much, and I miss it. 

Must. Find. Time.

In the meantime, please understand that I miss it, and miss my fellow blogging friends!

Have a wonderful Sunday! Hope to talk to you all soon! :)

Sincerely,

A very tired Kara. 

I said "Yes!"... see it in pictures!

My man is amazing. In so many ways. 

One of them, is the fact that he arranged for his sister to be hiding out on the beach, taking pictures of him asking me to marry him. I feel so blessed to have these pictures that I will always be able to look at to remember such an amazing moment in my life. I was completely unaware that this was going to happen, was so shocked and on top of it all, was so happy to see his sister immediately after! It was so great to see a family member and share the moment with her. 

Here are the pics!

Here we are... as far as I know, just walkin on the beach- one of my favorite things in life!

Still walking... right about now, Matt is telling me to check out tide pools in the rocks to our right. I didn't believe him that they were there, but climbed onto the rocks for fun anyway.

He "tricked" me by giving me an anniversary card, which really was a "will you marry me?" card! I was shocked, literally said "No!" in complete confusion...to which I then said, "I MEAN YES! Is this really happening?" Then he got on one knee and asked me to marry him!

This is me saying "Yes" again, and crying (sobbing), and "oh my God!" and "holy sh*t!" 

(classy I know). It was honestly an out of body experience!

 Big hug, lots of tears! (happy tears of course!)

More hugs, more tears!

 The kiss!

Then we saw his sister and she took this picture... we can't stay serious for TOO long! :)

And finally... a celebratory dinner with his sister/our secret photographer!

So amazing! Such a wonderful day that I will never forget!

Living in the Moment

Today starts my quick beach vacation with my man... I'm SO happy to be getting away to this beautiful beach with my favorite person. I mean come on, look how gorgeous!  

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I want to share the lyrics of my new favorite song with all of you. I've decided it's the new theme song to my life and it starts today! :) I've been a HUGE Jason Mraz fan since 2002, thanks to my dear friend Bianca and this song is off his new album. Enjoy, read, and think about it! I'm off to the beach! Check my instagram for fun pics!

Living in the Moment: 

Lyrics by Jason Mraz and Rick Nowels.

If this life is one act

Why do we lay all these traps

We put them right in our path

When we just wanna be free

I will not waste my days

Making up all kinds of ways

To worry about some things

That will not happen to me

So I just let go of what I know I don't know

And I know I'll only do this by

Living in the moment

Living our life

Easy and breezy

With peace in my mind

With peace in my heart

Peace in my soul

Wherever I'm going, I'm already home

Living in the moment

I'm letting myself off the hook for things I've done

I let my past go past

And now I'm having more fun

I'm letting go of the thoughts

That do not make me strong

And I believe this way can be the same for everyone

And if I fall asleep

I know you'll be the one who'll always remind me

To live in the moment

To live my life

Easy and breezy

With peace in my mind

I got peace in my heart

Got peace in my soul

Wherever I'm going, I'm already home

I can't walk through life facing backwards

I have tried

I tried more than once to just make sure

And I was denied the future I'd been searching for

But I spun around and searched no more

By living in the moment

Living my life

Easy and breezy

With peace in my mind

I got peace in my heart

Got peace in my soul

Wherever I'm going, I'm already home

I'm living in the moment

I'm living my life

Just taking it easy

With peace in my mind

I got peace in my heart

I got peace in my soul

Oh, wherever I'm going, I'm already home

I'm living in the moment

I'm living my life

Oh, easy and breezy

With peace in my mind

I got peace in my heart

I got peace in my soul

Oh, wherever I'm going, I'm already home

I'm living in the moment

My weekend...

Not the best weekend. 

I was recovering from minor medical procedures and just wasn't feeling 100%. 

I'm still not. I'm okay, but just not doing great. 

I was well taken care of by my mother, family, and guy. 

I had wonderful friends checking up on me. 

*For all of that I am thankful.*

There was some other stuff that happened, for which I understand I am partially at fault for, 

but that mostly just hurt my feelings. 

I'm glad tomorrow starts a new day and new week that include a party, days off and a wedding!

A special thanks to that amazing man in my life for dealing with me and caring for me. I love you.

Some thoughts about this weekend...

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Totally M.I.A. and High Five (or 4) for Saturday?

I'm sorry I've been so spotty with my posting lately. Life has gotten crazy busy, I've been sick and dealing with doctors (and the lifestyle change of no milk and no soy, whaaaaaa!?) and haven't had a free moment to myself let alone to my blog. Sad face.

To make up for it, here are a few pretty pictures to look at. I'll do my best to keep up next week! Happy weekend everyone! I haven't forgotten about you! 9 more followers and it's giveaway time! ;)

:::one:::

I had a Stella&Dot party at my apartment and I bought peonies for the occasion. (see below) I got to use my guy's grandma's vintage white milk glass vase for the first time since she gave it to me. I'm so in love with it I can't even handle it! It makes me happy.

:::two:::

Gorgeous. 

:::three:::

This came in the mail today... been on backorder for a while! It's even prettier in person!

(www.stelladot.com/sites/karachase for more info)

:::four:::

I've been lacking in outfit posts, I know. Here is a quick shot of my most recent favorite outfit that I wore to my friend's bridal shower. Sorry for the terrible iphone photography and pasty white skin!

My Lunch with Andy Cohen

That's right, THE Andy Cohen. I don't think I've fully discussed my love of reality TV, mostly that which resides on Bravo. It's a problem really, more than a love. I must watch. That Andy and his brilliant casting has hooked me in no matter what. I've watched "The Real Housewives" series since season 1 of the OC and literally every episode of every city since. I've been listening to Vicky Gunvalson "wahoo" for many years. I can't get enough of it. 

My love doesn't stop at housewives. Generally speaking, if it's on Bravo, I'm watching it. I also watch every episode of "Watch What Happens Live", which Andy Cohen hosts. ("Andy Cohen's got the 4-1-1...") Andy's officially a part of my life and I'm okay with that. I'm even more okay with it after my "encounter" with him on Wednesday.

By some miracle, he was doing a book signing/interview/lunch event in the very small, town-next-to-my-home-town, on a Wednesday at noon. Say Whaaaaat!? My friend and co-worker Dan told me about it and I called for tickets immediately. 2 minutes later I had purchased tickets to have lunch, listen to Andy get interviewed and get his book signed. I asked my very understanding manager (who is a huge fan as well) for the day off and she said yes. It was on!

First I had to choose my outfit (I mean, I blog about fashion mostly so of course this was important!) - not too dressy, but still put together. (see whole outfit here) I also had to allow plenty of time to be sure my "side pony" was perfectly imperfect. Somehow I knew he would notice. (In my dreams right?) I sound a little ridiculous, but he talks about his love for the side pony so obviously it had to happen. I was NOT the only one sporting one, but I must say, mine was complemented multiple times. Just saying. :)

We all took our seats, which we chose ourselves. My friend and I chose one toward the back for comfort since any seat in the small-ish restaurant was a good seat. (Little did we know what would happen in a matter of minutes.)

 We each had a "Danville" swag bag at our seats. Cookies from local eateries, gift cards from local businesses. Decent stuff. A nice surprise.

Here we are, patiently waiting for not more than 10 minutes. Seriously, we already had our tea and salad. We were quite comfortable. And then... Out of no where, just behind our heads...

 We heard, "Hey Guys!" Thinking it was the host or the restaurant manager checking on us. But no, it was Andy himself. We chatted... No biggie! :) My Friend Dan and Andy had a moment regarding a past twitter post- Andy remembered, it was fun to watch.

Then he was just waiting to be announced, right next to me. No zoom necessary on my camera phone. Just hanging out with Andy....

We listened to a fun interview with a local broadcaster, and then he took questions from the crowd. He dished some gossip and then it was time for the book signing. I also took a pic of the drink menu (below) notice the names of the signature drinks. Perfection.

Here we are, at the book signing. He took a picture with everyone which I thought was so kind. And when I walked up, he said, and I quote, "Hey Side Pony!" Yesssss... :)

It was such a fun day, and I couldn't have asked to spend it with a more fun friend, Dan. Great memories. I'm not the "superfan" type, but I had a great time. Andy was so much how is he on TV which I really appreciated. It was like meeting a friend. He was so approachable, not "celebrity-ish." 

I highly recommend his book, "Most Talkative" on sale now. I haven't put it down since I got it!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! And as Andy would say "Mazel!"

Over 50...like what!?

I've been crazy busy... well mostly preoccupied, but busy too. I missed a milestone people. I hit my 50 follower mark, AND went over it! YAY! 

Thank you so much to all of my followers. I feel so blessed to have met you and feel lucky to be part of this lovely blogger network. 

So... I've always been the type to set new goals when I reach past goals. What's the new goal? 

100.

Yep, let's double it! When I do (power of positivity!) I promise to do a giveaway!

Here's to 50 (2!) and onward to 100!

Love you all!

My weekend with Lola

As I mentioned on Friday, I had a sort of crummy week. But my weekend was super fun. I'm going to call it my "Weekend with Lola." Who is Lola you ask?

Well, Lola is my dear friends' adorable Boston Terrier Puppy. I got to dog sit for an afternoon, which was originally going to be a walk and potty break, but turned into an all out fun in the sun outing. I picked her up and drove her to my sister's house to meet my (almost) 2 year old nephew. She got to run around like crazy, and even dip her paws into the baby pool.

Lola, meet Evan.( It's safe to say they hit it off immediately.)

Evan even tried to kiss Lola.

 After Lola ran around for a while, Evan tried to teach Lola about the baby pool. 

After 2 hours outside in the nearly 90 degree weather, it was time to take Lola home. I'm sure she slept until her Mama got home.

 I met up with them later for dinner, and after, Lola got all snuggled up with on the couch with her Mama. A big yawn, and she was out for the night!

Then, Sunday morning we had coffee and breakfast where Lola, her Mama and I hung out on the deck. It was already 75 degrees at 10 am. Perfect Sunday morning!

Tough life this gal has, tough life!

That was my weekend with Lola... hope you all had a wonderful weekend too!