Chic Obsessions

Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet Polish - Target $2

I am absolutely loving this polish. I get so many compliments whenever I'm wearing it. It looks especially good when I'm wearing something black. This polish dries super fast and it is on the thicker side so you don't have to do more than one coat.

Target Gold Bar Sandals - Target $19.99
These amazing little sandals are perfect. They have a urban edgy feel to them that I love.

Maybelline Red Revival Lipstick - Any drugstore, $6
There's not really much to say about red lipstick. It's fabulous. I wear mine all the time, even when I don't have on any other makeup. As you've heard your entire life it's a great way to look pulled together. They key is finding one that looks good on your skin tone. I love this shade. I normally mix it with a little gloss for an extra POP.

These pics look familiar? If you're following me on Instagram you've seen them! Check out my pics and click to join my Instagram party @chicsahm.

Chic Link Up

Happy Sunday! I was doing a little reading through my blog roll and came across this fun questionnaire. I found it on the Southern Glamourista's blog. I decided to join the link up and answer the questions too! What are some of your answers to these questions? Can't wait to see what everyone shares in the comments!

1. What is your dream job?

My dream job was to become a journalist. My major in college was broadcast journalism and I loved it. Ultimately I would have loved to have made it to a major network. CNN, NBC, CBS. But that was then. After college I discovered that I enjoyed connecting with people on a different level, which is why I love doing this blog. Who knows, maybe I'll still make it to a major network. Hopefully I'll be speaking on a panel with other Moms or getting interviewed because my children's book is on the NY Times Best Seller's list. I would be happy with either one of those! :-)

 

2. If you had just won the lottery and didn't need to work for money, what would you do with your time?

I would definitely travel and see the world. I would also start my own foundation for military families and give back to the families that help keep this country free.

 

3. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was a kid I wanted to be a teacher or a news anchor. I met (when I say met I mean she shook my hand) one of the local news anchors during a parade and it just stuck with me.

4. What piece of career advice would you give to someone just starting out in your field?

I would tell them the same thing I whisper in my daughter's ear every night before bed, "Dream as big as God's promise".  Pray and have faith. You can never go wrong with that piece of advice.

5. What are your biggest pet peeves in life, blogging, or at work?

Hmmm. I would say that my biggest pet peeve would be people being late. I hate being late for anything. 

6. What are your biggest fears?

My biggest fear is not living in my purpose.  I am very big on living a purpose driven life. (That book changed me. I still read it over and over again. Right along with The Secret.)

 

Kitchenista: A Better Potato Salad

Everyone has had some version of potato salad. Some are great. Some are gross. Some are yellow and some are a creamy white.  There are thousands of different ways to make this yummy side dish. I personally prefer the recipe that I am sharing with you today. Of course, it is a recipe from my Mother's kitchen. I haven't been able to eat any other kind of potato salad since my Mom created this version. I've taken this to many a potluck it is always a hit. My bowl always returns home empty! I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as we do. I always pin my recipes to Pinterest as well so be sure to repin them to use later. Happy Saturday!

Ingredients

7 Red Potatoes (skin on)

Celery chopped - a couple sticks (or more to taste)

Red Onion - finely chopped (about half the onion)

Boiled Eggs- 4 to 6 (depending on your preference)

Bacon Bits - Oscar Meyer (2 bags)

Dill Pickles - 1 jar

salt & pepper- season to taste

Old Bay- season to taste
Dill Weed - season to taste

Mayonnaise - Add a tablespoon at a time. Do not over mayo your salad.

*This recipe will make a small family size bowl. Of course you'll need to increase the recipe for a potluck or cook out.

Directions

Considering you have done all your prep work (boiled eggs, chopped celery & onions, etc.), wink wink. Cook your potatoes until they are to your preferred doneness. (I like mine soft but with a little bite.) Drain potatoes. Drain dill pickles and add to potatoes. Add all other ingredients. Add one tablespoon of mayo at a time until you get the consistency that you want. Try not to over mayo the salad. Stir. Stir. Add seasonings to taste and boom you're done. Remember to cover and refrigerate until you are ready to serve.

Friendship Friday

I haven't done a Friendship Friday post in quite a while. Here are some blogs that I think you will enjoy reading this weekend. These are all blogs that I follow personally. What are some of your favorite blogs of the moment? Click the "Friendship Friday" label to see all my favorites! Have a great weekend everyone!

Baby Teems

Curly Mama

Crazy Mama Drama

Casual Chic Mom

Mommy Delicious
This Cookn' Mom

I am linking up with

Kitchenista: Honeybun Cake

You would think that with all that we have going on right now that I wouldn't be bored. Well, today I was tired of organizing and cleaning. I thought it would be fun to take a break from that and bake a cake. Cause cakes make everything better, right? My Mom shared this recipe with me a few months ago. This is my first time making it and I think it turned out great. It smells delicious! I added walnuts just because, and I used Crisco instead of cooking oil. I'll serve it after dinner tonight with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

Oh. If you're wondering why these pics look a little off it's because my sassy little sous chef wasn't feeling up to baking today. I had to hold her the entire time I was making this cake. You will notice that my brown sugar is still crumbled, had to skip a couple steps, ha ha! Still tastes good though!

Ingredients

1 Box Yellow Cake Mix - I used Duncan Hines

4 Eggs

8oz Sour Cream - I used Daisy

3/4 Cup cooking oil

1 Cup Light Brown Sugar (or more to taste)

2 tablespoons of Cinnamon (or more to taste)

For the Icing

1 Cup Powdered Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla

1 to 2 teaspoons of Milk
(you will probably need two batches to cover cake)

Directions

Preheat oven to 325. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Mix all of the ingredients together. Pour half of the batter into the pan. Set the other half aside. Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle half of the sugar mix over the batter in the pan. Add the remaining batter, spread evenly. Sprinkle the remaining sugar mix on top. Take a fork and swirl the top layer. Bake 35 minutes. Pour icing over cake while it is still hot.

For the Icing

Cream all ingredients together. Pour over cake right out of the oven!

Patience is a Virtue...(or at least that's what I'm told)

Never in my life have I ever been a patient person. I got my first job at fourteen. Ya know, cause why would I wait until I'm sixteen. That's two whole years of money I'm missing out on. I got my driver's license on the day of my sixteenth birthday. And when it took too long for my college of choice to contact me I made my parents call to see what the hold up was. Impatient? Spoiled? Both?

See. I'm that girl. The one that wants her kid to start talking sooner. I'll never be able to wait until my delivery to find out what the sex of my baby is. Waiting to find out about housing in Texas is probably giving me a small ulcer. See what I mean? I'm not patient.

I prefer to say that I'm overly assertive. A bit of a type-A maniac if you will. As I told you a few days ago we are moving back to San Antonio and I am working on having a more positive mindset about moving all the time. While I do feel like I'm doing better with that I have also noticed that my patience level could use a bit of work too. I mean, is it me? Am I the only one that feels like everyone else is a little too patient? A little too laid back?

I'm the kind of person that doesn't see the value in waiting to do what could get done immediately. What are we waiting for? Like. Seriously. Call and schedule your appointment now. Make your list now. Get dressed now. Run your errands now. Write that book now. Start that business now. Do something. Put your wheels in motion. I feel like I've been doing a lot of waiting lately. I know that hard work will never go unnoticed but waiting for the hard work to pay off, well, that's where the patience needs to come in.

I believe that everyone has a little bit of hustle in them. And I don't mean hustle in a negative way. I mean it in a "when I wake up in the morning I am going to live my life on purpose" way. If someone calls me I am going to return that call. Or better yet I am going to actually answer when they call. I'm going to return all my business related emails. I'm going to move forward. I am going to progress.

After reading The Secret about a million times (cause sometimes I need to be reminded) I really do try to put out into the universe what I want back. Maybe since I put out that "why haven't they emailed me back" vibe I get a lot of slow responses. As I try to become a more patient person I think of that cliche phrase about marathons and sprints. I'm not saying that we should all be rushing through life but I'm pretty sure even marathon runners don't want to be the last to cross the finish line.  Patience. It's a virtue. While I'm working on becoming more virtuous I'll continue to recite my three Cs. "Don't Compare. Don't Compete. Don't Complain. What God has for you is for you.

As a military spouse I deal with a lot of hurry up and wait. Plan plan plan. Then wait wait wait. Would you consider yourself to be a patient person?



All Around the World Wide Web...

So excited to share the badge for my blog! Be on the lookout for this badge all around the world wide web! You'll know it's me when you see it!

I am working on some exciting things and I can't wait to tell you all about them!

Stay tuned my chic friends!

Embrace Change

It's no secret that we'll be moving to Texas next month. We have about thirty days left here in the Peach State. I can't believe that when we moved here (from Texas) I was thirty days out from having Savannah. Now she's almost two and we are moving yet again.

I remember when we moved from DC to San Antonio I was so sad. I loved living in nation's capital. The city was so vibrant and diverse. I met some of my favorite people there. When my husband called me at work and told me we were moving to San Antonio I was so shocked. Other than the San Antonio Spurs I didn't know anything about the city. I wasn't excited. I wasn't embracing the change.

I feel like I have grown so much since then. Maybe I've become an Army Wife veteran now because I have finally come to a place where I'm okay with all the moving. Even though I am not completely crazy about Texas I have a peace about going back there. As a military wife there is so much that happens that is out of my control. I have learned that it is much easier to go through the process of it all with a more positive attitude.

I know the next month won't be easy. It will be frustrating and hectic. There isn't anything I can do about that. All the preparation and organizing that I'm doing should help. This time around since I am more familiar with the city I am going to make the most out of our time there. I'll make sure that we experience some of the festivals. Go eat on the River Walk more often. We might even catch a Spurs game. Complaining gets you no where if the outcome is the same once those words leave your lips. I feel like I've turned over a new leaf. I don't have the bad anxiety I would normally have. Seven years into this lifestyle and it is finally becoming easier. Love that.



Stylish Saturday: LBS - Little Black Shoe

I'm finally getting caught up from this weekend. As you know I attended a baby shower in Charlotte for my newest nephew. We had a great time and the baby got tons of stuff. Saturday after the shower my soldier and I went on a date with my best friend and her boyfriend. Since the weather was pretty crazy I didn't know what to wear. It was hot, humid and rainy. I decided to go with an all black outfit. Shorts and a blouse. You can never go wrong with that. The most exciting part of my outfit however was my shoes. They are simply lovely. I originally bought them to go with a ball gown.  Now I wear them with whatever. The studs make them edgy and the bow makes them a little girlie. I love them. With the right accessories, they also look great with a tee shirt and jeans.

Nordstrom - circa 2009 Linea Paolo

I am linking up with Monday Mingle!

Hairy Situation

As you know I will be attending my newest nephew's baby shower tomorrow. I'm very excited! I wanted to get something done to my hair for the weekend. I'll be seeing lots of family and friends so I wanted to switch my look up a bit.

I scheduled an appointment with Dyevercity Salon here in Augusta. I have to say that I was pretty nervous about getting my hair straightened because I've always had a bad experience with it before. Either the stylist would cut an extreme amount of my hair off or they wouldn't have actually styled my hair. I know that some stylists get intimidated by natural hair. Stacy at Dyevercity is not one of those stylist. She took my fly coily ringlets and turned them into a beautiful head of curls. I am so happy with how my hair turned out. She answered all the questions I had about me and my daughter's hair. I was in and out in under two hours, super professional. My hair is bouncy, full of body and feels incredible!

If it wasn't for our big move next month I would go back to Stacy in a heartbeat. If you're in this area be sure to look her up! Here are some before, during and after pics.

fresh face. no filter. LOL

after shampoo. detangle.

all blown out.

the finished product.



What do you do with your hair when you're ready to switch it up a bit?

A Day in the Life: A Moment in Target

Today Savannah and I visited our local Bullseye to do some shopping for a baby shower I'll be attending this weekend. We got there printed out the registry and began shopping for things that had nothing to do with our mission. Somehow we ended up in the shoe section. I found some super cute sandals for the both of us. Her sandals were on sale for like seven bucks. Great deal.

Anyway, after we did a little shopping for ourselves we drifted over to the baby section to pick out a gift for my newest nephew. After selecting a few things we went over to the greeting cards and gift bags. This is where our moment with a well meaning stranger (read moron) happened.

There were some stickers hanging on the end of the aisle near the cards for baby boy baby showers. Ever since Savannah was potty trained she has a strong affection for stickers. We used them for her potty chart. So whenever she sees stickers she says "stickas stickas". Yep. She double times it. So while I was trying to pick out the perfect card she was pointing and saying "stickas stickas" in hopes of maybe taking some home.

Enter the well meaning stranger. Her voice sounded like a judgemental substitute teacher. "What is she talking about?" I responded. Oh, she's showing me the stickers. "How could you possibly know that?" Well, because she's saying stickers and pointing to them. Insert my blank stare. "It sounds like a bunch of baby talk to me. Do you speak baby?" I grabbed a card and pushed my cart to the next aisle. As I'm walking away I heard her tell her male companion "Only babies know what they're saying. Adults can't understand."

Now. As Moms we all know what our kid is saying most of the time. Baby talk or not. This is my first kid so I won't assume to know everything but I do know that if my kid is pointing to stickers and saying "stickas stickas" chances are she's talking about stickers. The lesson that I learned today was "Never engage in a conversation with a well meaning stranger (read moron)." Especially the judgemental ones. Some strangers have no shame. To make matters worse when I got home I realized that I forgot to buy lotion. Why did I forget? Because I got sucked into a small chat session at the end of my trip that irritated me and distracted me from my mission. Sigh.

I selected this post to be featured on my blog’s page at Blogs for Women.

Shrimp Fried Rice & Beef and Broccoli

I love Chinese food. I could probably eat it almost everyday. Unfortunately, I don't always live in cities with great Chinese restaurants. After being given a wok for my birthday a couple years ago I started making attempts at some of my favorite dishes. Last night we had shrimp fried rice with beef and broccoli. It was delicious. I found the recipes on Pinterest. (of course) I ended up having to increase some parts of the recipe because I made so much food. I was highly impressed with how it came out.

My tips for the beef and broccoli recipe would be to start cooking the beef first. Instead of taking the meat out when it's half way done like the recipe suggests, leave it in and add the rest of your ingredients. I found that everything cooked so fast and there was really no need for that step. If you find that you need more brown sauce keep making small batches of the recipe separately. That way you are getting equal parts of all the flavors. You don't want it to taste like a mouthful of soy sauce or oyster sauce. You want it to taste like brown sauce.

For the rice I recommend making the rice the night before and putting it in the fridge. (your rice should be old and cold) I would also make sure you have prepped all of your onions and veggies. I didn't do this and again because the wok cooks so fast I felt like I was wasting time. My dinner could have been done a lot sooner. I cooked my shrimp until they were half way done. Then I added some bamboo shoots, green onions and two scrambled eggs. After that was done I added my rice, some soy sauce and white pepper to taste. This rice was delish! I would definitely make it again. Here are some pics from dinner. Will you be trying this? What are your favorite cuisines to make?

These recipes can be found here and here. If you enjoyed this post click Follow to become one of my chic readers. You can also follow me on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram for more chic fun! Thanks for stopping by!

My 100th Post: Reflection & Fun

Wow! I can not believe that this is my 100th post. Very exciting. I was going to post about the Chinese food that I'm making for dinner tonight but when I realized that my next post was my 100th I thought I'd do something a bit more fun. Before we get to that how about a little reflection.

When I started this blog it started as a hobby. I wanted to have something fun to do that would use my background. The posts that show up here may not be Time Magazine material but it's fun for me. I feel like my journalism degree is kinda paying off. A little. Maybe not but you get where I'm going.

I am so happy with the response from all my readers. Thank you for spending a little bit of time with me each day. I know this blog may seem a bit random at times. We talk about food, fashion, beauty and motherhood. But that's me. I'm a random kind of girl trying to find my groove as a stay at home Mom. Sometimes it's easy. Sometimes it's fun. Sometimes it's awful. I wouldn't change it for the world and I am happy to share my latest happenings with you.

Now for some fun! Since a big part of my personality is my sense of humour I wanted to share some of the funny things I've seen on the world wide web this week. If you are following me on Instagram and Twitter you may have seen them already. If you're not following me, you should be. I'm a lot of fun. :-) Oh, and be sure to check back for that Chinese food post. It's coming!

Beauty. It's a Full-Time Job

This weekend my Mother and I were talking about all things girly. Nails. Hair. Diet and exercise. The basic things most women think about at least once a week if not everyday. After talking about hair dye and blowouts on natural hair it hit me. This beauty thing is a full-time job.

Like most women I feel the need to keep up my appearance. I'm not talking about red carpet night club first date appearances. I'm talking about looking decent. Just decent enough to run errands on a random Wednesday afternoon. That's it. I feel that just looking pretty enough to step out into the world pulled together all the time is a lot. A friend of mine from the little lady's playgroup always looks great. Her make-up. Her outfit. Her hair. I'm not quite sure when she finds the time to get dolled up, but she finds it. Now I'm not saying that I never have it together, but I am saying that I could have it together a little more often. And by often I mean more than just the weekend.

It's like my daily appearance suffers from the "peanut butter but no jelly" syndrome. I'll have on a cute outfit but no make-up. A cute outfit and make-up but then I'll have on a hat (albeit a cute hat) because I "didn't have time" to style my hair. On a great day I'll have all that going for me but I'll still be lacking pretty nails and toes. Peanut Butter. No Jelly.

So how do I plan on getting it together? With every thing that I have going on right now a mani/pedi is hardly at the top of my to-do list. However, I want to have it at least somewhere on the list. So this morning I thought of a good way to keep me up to date on everything. As a stay at home Mom I have a little schedule of when I clean, grocery shop and attend play dates and other fun outings. The first thing I need to do is meal plan. This will allow me to visit the grocery store once a week instead of going everyday. (Don't judge.) Just that one tweak should free up tons of my time. Now I can add a beauty schedule into my routine. This Friday I'll be going to get my first blowout this year. (Again. Don't judge)

I'm excited about going to the salon. I also plan to try out one of the fun manicures that I've seen floating around Pinterest. Followed by a pedicure and face mask. See. The key is to catch yourself and call yourself out when you feel like you're slipping. I was slipping. In a major way. Telling myself I didn't have time for things that at one point I would have never allowed myself to miss. I had to switch my way of thinking. It is very possible to plan for our next two trips, our move half way across country and Savannah's second birthday without looking like a hot mess. I've already started exercising again so getting back on track with my new beauty routine will be a great addition to my pretty full schedule. I always wondered why famous people have glam squads. Now I know. Because it is pretty damn hard to keep all this looking good. It is a full-time job by itself.

How do you find time to stay "fancy"?

Stylish Saturday: Chambray Shirt

Saturday I attended my husband's first MMA tournament. It was great! He placed third. I was super proud since he had only been training for two months and he was fighting people who had been training for years! Pretty impressive don't you think?

Since I'd never attended an MMA fight before I had no idea what to wear. I decided to go with some blush colored jeans and a denim top. I'm still not sure if I was dressed appropriately because most of the women had on super short denim shorts or activewear.

Shirt- American Eagle

Pants- Express

Belt- H&M

Shoes- Target

Ear Rings- Forever 21

Watch- Michael Kors

-posted with my chic iPhone