Friday Favorites

It seems to be that time of the week again -- Friday has rolled around and this week actually went by pretty quick! I'd attribute that to a lovely break from office life as I've been back at my parent's house since Tuesday, lazing about with my boyfr dog (I swear he is my soulmate. Who needs a boyfriend when you've got puppy love?), eating mama's delicious home cooking, and catching up with my brother who has finally matured (if you call kicking each other off the couch mature...) to the point of us getting along and having interesting conversations together.

Along with being home comes the duty of taking my brother shopping. A few years ago when my brother was about to start high school I took it upon myself to update his wardrobe and get him all caught up on the do's and don't of high school fashion... not that he cared at that point. I taught him that baggy jeans are a no-no, skinny jeans don't go with running shoes, and graphic t's from the Gap were cute in 5th grade but not so much as fresh meat in the big leagues. I think I've proved my methods effective since he is now willing to shop at H&M, American Eagle Outfitters, and has his own hand-picked selection of Nikes and Sperry Top Siders. Success!! This kind of time together along with helping him plan out his schedule full of AP classes and imparting my "wise" advice makes me feel like a cool big sister, which I never really thought about until writing this out now. I think we've finally hit that point where he's not just my "little brother" anymore (especially since he's almost hit 6 foot - hah!) and we're more like friends who chat about life and gossip about my ex-teachers who will be his instructors this coming school year. Since I can't keep up with sports or video games, helping him a little through high school, cracking up together while watching Whose Line is it Anyway, and sending our mom ridiculously ugly faces via iMessage with him is our sibling bonding time that I've come to appreciate more and more!

Being at home has also stirred up some creativity because I am LOVING my new blog design. I only just revamped it last night, making some minor stylistic changes in the banner and colors. I was actually hit with a bit of inspiration as I was Photoshopping the image for this Friday Favorites post because I liked how the fonts turned out. It triggered a whirlwind of banner swapping and re-uploading tons of files to TinyPic (thanks, TinyPic, you're my favorite image hosting site!) that ended up with this. I'm quite pleased, even chuffed some may say, because this is waaay more my style in terms of simple and modern yet playful in the colors, though I did enjoy my initial nautical theme.

And now I guess a tie-in of my previous ramblings (shopping, bonding, and inspiration - I swear it all comes together!), I also hopped on the back to school express and picked up some goodies for myself. Banana Republic was offering an extra 40% off clearance sale items so mama treated me to a new sweater and an adorable peplum top for helping her get my brother to try on new jeans. While at the mall I also treated myself to the end of my no-buy with a cheeky little purchase from MAC (my first MAC purchase ever! Blog post to come!). A quick stop into Marshall's after grocery shopping yesterday also ended well as I got me a new piece of arm candy; it's something I adored at first sight but never thought I'd end up with, especially for less than half price! I don't really have any makeup favorites this week thanks to one big mistake: SUNBURN. I went sailing last weekend totally forgot to wear sunscreen... Bad idea. Especially since it the fog lifted into beautiful weather and I came home looking like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer with a permanent asian glow (I don't even get asian glow in the first place)! I've sworn off makeup until this has cleared and am slathering my current moisturizer, Isofurabon (Isoflavone) Soy Milk Cream, all over my face because it itches like crazy and has started to peel. The only perk of this whole ordeal is that it's turning into a tan so I'll look sun-kissed once I escape this burning hell (pun intended)!