In honor of Game Of Thrones season 7, I have a special series of #winenotwednesday for you! Each week I’ll share with you a yummy, happily evil lil drink but it’ll be more happy than evil 😉
Today’s stir up is the Mother Of Dragons potion featuring some fresh cracked black pepper because, black hearts and a swift kick to the throat. Easy on the salt bae sprinkle or you’ll prolly gag on this delicious ‘dragon blood’. Okay before I get any more obnoxious, here tis.
Stir it up baby! You’ll need:
rose champagne
dragon fruit
black pepper
kiwano fruit (aka dragon spikes)
Drop cubed pieces of dragon fruit into your flute, sprinkle with some black pepper for fun, and garnish with your ‘dragon spikes’. Yup, I’m doing this every week sooo. Enjoy 😉
What potent lil potion do you wanna try next week? PS who’s your least favorite GOT character . . . I could name a few!
Just in! Our wedding photos! Prepare your eye holes to be bombarded with all of my favorite moments, photos, and memories of this most perfect day! This is just a handful of snapshots that I had to share immediately, a mini wedding album, but don’t you worry- more to come! It was just so hard to pick my favorites, they’re all my favorites!
I had three dads walk me down the aisle, that’s right, THREE! I was so damn proud of that too because my birth father, step dad, and dad were all present to walk me, all drama free, and nothing but love. That’s my twin – my beautiful mom with my dad in his dress blues! And that’s THE kiss <3
My daughter Corrine was my Maid Of Honor, and my bridesmaids in order from left to right . . . my best friend from college Kiki (11 years of friendship!), my sister Maria (whom I hadn’t seen in 11 years!), Nikki- who easily became one of my favorite all time forever friends over all our wedding bonding, Corriney- my heart, and Miya who I traveled the world with! Joe’s Groomsmen were: Steve- (Nikki’s husband) one of the most genuine people you’ll ever meet, Mark- the Best Man who Joe grew up with, Michel and Bobby (Joe’s handsome brothers), and my brother Roger dawww <3 What a good looking group! I’ve never seen Joe so happy, so emotional, so serious, and so strikingly good looking than on the day of our wedding . . . just look at that face.
One of my favorite photos captured is that above, of our wedding party and parents greeting us as we were announced for the first time into our reception. Our first dance was to an acoustic version of Joe’s and my favorite karaoke songs! Right after the song played the DJ played the original version and those two songs will forever be special to me. Afterwards, I’d ran over to our “L.A. friends table” and that’s this picture with my babes Bailey, Linz, Ashlee, and Jamie and we’re probably giggling and oogling over Joe’s vows – these ladies are some of most closest friends in life and I was so happy to have them all there.
The Great Room at Savage Mill is where we had our reception held, 127 of some of the most important people in our lives were there to celebrate with us and it was a 3 part, 12 hour party! A chapel ceremony, Great Room reception, and an after party at Joe’s childhood home! I gotta tell ya, every single person rallied and partied until the very end. They ate, drank, and laughed with us from start to finish. It all began on Thursday June 29th with arrivals in Maryland and wrapped up on Monday the 3rd with the final departure of our friends Nikki and Steve back to L.A. To say that our wedding weekend was the most magnificent 4 days of our lives is an understatement yo. It’s become the most beautiful memory for us to reflect on and I’m so happy that we can relive that week through photography, video (coming soon!), and social media.
Of the many gifts that our friends and families gave us, two particularly remarkable items made me so very grateful. A beautiful girlfriend of mine, Michelle (and wife of Best Man Mark!) made our wedding cake! Like with her hands! And lots of love. She made enough cake for 127 people and I was blown away by how gorgeous and delicious (homemade marble!) that cake was. Like, how do you even. And then there was the ‘guest book’. My insanely talented sister in law, Emily (and parter to Groomsmen Michel!) hand painted that stunning bee with oil paints. Like staaaap. She painted it on vintage wall paper that I got to pick out, also in our wedding colors. It became our theme and our guest book that everyone left lil love notes for us on. “Meant to bee”. Get it 😀 Our wedding favors were jars of honey and jam, homemade in Virginia. “Meant to bee, so spread the love”. Yes we are cheesy and we love it.
That’s Mark giving his Best Man speech, making us all laugh and cry at the same time, and that’s Joe more than likely saying something surprising, hilarious, and inappropriate all at once to Fr. Leo. I thought those two photos represented the beauty of the room and the beauty of friendship. Leo and Joe have known each for years and he’s legit the coolest priest you’ll ever meet. Also, he beat Bobbly Flay making Bobby Flay’s famous fajitas – yea that guy, he married us!
Ugghhh I could go on and on and on. I’ll save it for next time. Thank you for sharing this day with us, you all made it so remarkably memorable and I can’t wait to share the video with you all! Now off I go to pressure Joe into editing it for me <333 #welcometomarriagejoe
P.S. if you want to see some of the photos from some of our guests, look up #exoticnationwedding #jessjoewed and #jjmarriedlife on Instagram xoxo
For all my fellow #winemoms out there, this is for you! My babes over at Tone It Up started a Wine Not Wednesday IN their meal plan, talk about balance! It inspired me to get shakin’ and I’ll take it up a notch each week for you here, sharing my favorite cocktails, spirits, and liqueurs – because sometimes wine’s not enough and a cocktail is in order! So cheers to feelin’ frisky, no whining allowed. Pun intended.
Raspberry Champagne Float
Shake it up baby! You’ll need:
glass of champagne
your favorite sherbet
fresh fruit
Mix it all together and enjoy babes! It isNational Ice Cream Day on the 16th so double cheers to the freakin’ weekend <3
Are there any particular ingredients you’d like to see used in next week’s #winenotwednesday?
Cake that’s good for your cakes! Hey, when you were born with a pancake booty you take all the help you can get, and your girl over here is carbing up to build these cakes. Get excited because I’ve FINALLY found a recipe for cake that tastes amazing and doesn’t taste like protein powder! A cake mix that is just like the full sugar, full fat, full gluttonous cake without the extra calories . . . and without tasting like fake sugar. You know what I mean!
Lil Buff Protein Cakes is a cake mix I found *thank you Instagram* and have incorporated into my weekly meal prep. Their mix is gluten free, vegan friendly, microwaveable, and has a whopping 26+ grams of protein y’all! Also, if you’re a cookie lover you’ll be happy to know that their mixes can also be prepared into cookie form! And with flavors like Cocoa-Crave, Fit-fetti (featured here), and Lemon-Berry Squeeze you’re gonna wanna go ahead and buy a few pouches of each, just trust. I purchased some Fit-fetti and limited edition Red Velv-Fit and I can’t get enough. Here’s how I made these high-protein cakes, and did I mention that they taste amazing?!
I made this particular pouch of Fit-fetti into heart shaped cupcakes and baked them with applesauce and a smashed nana. That means these babies are vegan, gluten free, and completely guilt-free. Even if I did devour 3 of them while they were still warm, frosting melting off of ’em and all. Y O L O
The magical thing about this recipe is that it actually tastes like funfetti cake out of the box because they’re fluffy like the one out of the box. Oh boxed cake with your fluff. It’s our eternal desire to chase that fluff, except that the fluff is full of ingredients that you don’t need. And though delicious, it also makes my sensitive belly fluff, because bloat.
Bonus points for these rainbow sprinkles that come included along with a recipe for frosting! An alternative frosting that I can down with because it still contains key ingredients like cream cheese and vanilla pudding haha
Perfect for your pre-workout and delicious as your post-workout, if you haven’t given Lil Buff Protein a try, do it! They’re delicious, healthy, packed with protein, and they’ll grow your gains.
Have you tried protein oats, protein pancakes, or protein cake like I’ve mentioned here? What do your taste buds tell you? Be honest, you can tell me.
It started off slowly with me switching over to a natural deodorant at first. But now I’ve fully submerged myself – and my entire family – into the world of au natural! I’ve got paraben free, sulfate free, cruelty free products all around my bathroom, and even Joe now (reluctantly) wears all natural deodorant.
I say reluctant because he gave me an eye roll when I threw out the 4 Costco antiperspirants he purchased last month but I mean, health. Also, his mom is a breast cancer survivor, which to me means everyone in our entire merged family should jump on this bandwagon. It’s really hard to find ‘natural’ products that ACTUALLY work so today I’m sharing with you my tried, tested, and approved list of skincare, body care, and hair care products that I currently have on repeat this summer. Here’s my natural and cruelty-free beauty routine and I can’t be held responsible when you too become obsessed.
I dumped out my skincare dufffffel and here goes:
OSEA – a natural, vegan, organic, non-toxic, family owned brand that’s been giving me life since I first discovered their Atmosphere Protection Cream. It protects your skin from pollution, the weather, and sets your face up for success. Yes you read that right, welcome to the new power suit, yo face. Here’s the breakdown babes: cleanse, tone, refresh, protect. Their Ocean Cleanser is super gentle, it’s an organic seaweed gel and it exfoliates and hydrates your skin all at once. When you’re done un-dulling your skin, hit it with a few spritzes of the Sea Vitamin Boost! It’s rich in antioxidants, locks in moisture, and is perfect to tote around for mid-day pick me ups. My absolute favorites especially during this warmer weather!
Mario Badescu – cleansing lotion that smells like cucumbers, I love swabbing this over my face with a cotton round after I’ve washed my face. It removes any residue makeup and isn’t drying at all.
Color Lover – primer 11 is a leave-in treatment that is free of sulfates and parabens, it strengthens and moisturizes your hair. If you’re like me and you color and curl all the time, you’ll love this and it smells great.
PUR – hydrafluid I love for these warmer months because it’s a sheer, lightweight tinted moisturizer that is buildable enough that you don’t have to wear another foundation over it. It’s for my more dry skinned readers out there as it’s a bit oily and leaves your skin looking dewy and fresh.
Nip Fab – hydrate hyaluronic acid shot can be combined with any moisturizer to to give you an extra boost of hydration. I add one drop to my 2 pumps of OSEA atmosphere protection cream each morning and my skin looks low 20’s and not mid 30’s lol
Native – all natural aluminum free deodorant! Back at it again with this product because I won’t stop until you’ve all converted! We’re supposed to sweat, we’re human baby. This one featured is their Grapefruit and Bergamont scented deodorant and I almoooost love it even MORE than the coconut vanilla . . . almost 😉 It’s so good!
And all things Coola – I’m a loyal daily consumer of these 3 products right here. The usual suspects, they’re mineral based, they don’t feel thick, greasy, or heavy, and they hydrate and protect your face and body. Not to mention, they smell like a tropical getaway. Do ittt, ahem GUAVA MANGO, you won’t regret anything from this line. It’s my final line of defense in my daily beauty routine, right before I apply primer and foundation. I’ll never go back to using store bought SPF ever.ever.never.again.
There you have it friends! My updated beauty routine! I’d never suggest a product to you that I myself don’t use and trust, so I hope you give some of these a try and let me know what you think!
Are there any all natural products that you’re currently obsessing over?
The other day I realized we have waaaay too many candles in the house. Out of the desire to make something simple with my hands and steer away from our candle-overload problem, this little DIY came about. I’d always read about making your own smudge stick and seen so many Pinterest DIY’s but I’d never taken the plunge and just did it. So I finally decided that would change and just went for it, and it was super easy and inexpensive!
Aside from being visually appealing and all around lovely, smudge sticks are a fantastic way to get any indoor or outdoor space cleansed, energized and smelling great. They’ve been used in sacred rituals for centuries and I kind of hold a little place in my heart for them because they’re magical and so easy to make.
I used those little pre-packaged white sage and rosemary sprigs from the fresh produce section because they were easy to find and inexpensive. You’ll only need one package of each herb you choose, because one package will be enough to make at least two smudge sticks. You can switch it up and add cedar, sweetgrass or any other herb that you please. Flowers are a great idea too, they’ll add some color and smell wonderful, so I also added chamomile to mine. Roses, lavender and pretty much any flower with soft, bendy petals will work. You wouldn’t really wanna use tulips, for example.
It’s really as simple as you’d think. Take your herbs and flowers and arrange them however looks best to you. There really is no messing up with this one, because it’s going to look beautiful and smell so good. You can’t even be mad at that! You may have to cut the ends and modify them to match one length. When you’ve used up all your herbs or you’re content with how it looks, wrap it in twine and tie it up nice and safe. Voila! A beauty is born.
As far as letting the herbs dry out, I hung mine upside down for about a week and a half. When they’re all dried up, they’re set to be used. Burn them in your space or outdoors for a good energy cleanse, give them as gifts or put them in the bathroom for whenever someone lays a stinky one. They even work as decor, just lying around on the coffee table.
We’re less than 3 weeks out from our BIG day and I promised that I wouldn’t turn bridezilla on you. I can’t promise that I’ve kept that promise so here’s to sharing all my ups in the hopes of preventing all the break-downs!
I wouldn’t say that planning a wedding is fun necessarily, unless your idea of fun surrounds endless lists of to-do’s, spending an obscene amount of money on the raddest party of your life (okay that actually sounds fun), and making decisions you didn’t even know mattered. But you can find joy in the stress of wedding planning I promise!
Of all the decisions I’ve had to make and all the choices I’ve had to choose from, hands down the most fun part *besides picking out my wedding dress and marrying my best friend* has been the center piece making, and thank you cards/stationary creating!
I mean how magical are these Basic Invite thank you cards <3 Complete with our wedding colors in artistic subtle splashes and this simple yet classic script, I can’t wait to personalize these babies. Could there be gold glitter involved? We shall see 😉
What I enjoyed most was taking the time to pick out every detail from our color combination, to the specific slate grey I wanted for the writing. The Basic Invite site offers you an instant preview so I was able to play around with the design to try and match them to our stationary until they were exactly what we wanted.
We went with champagne envelopes of which they printed the names and addresses on for us (absolutely do this and save your grip for those honeymoon pina coladas! I mean, it’s FREE!) and I even got us ‘eternity’ stamps for the mail. We cute!
Although you wouldn’t be able to tell with the muted envelopes I chose, there are over 40 different color envelopes for your musings. Unfortunately for me, we found this service too late in our wedding planning game to order wedding invitations from them, but luckily for you I’m here to share!
Their wedding invitations are a part of a set and with their ‘try before you buy’ policy, they allow for a custom sample to be sent to you so, win win! Everything from Save The Dates to wedding programs and matching thank you cards (ahem me!) are available and they make it uber convenient with their free address collection service. I’ve thrown the word ‘free’ around a lot in this post but hey, if the shoe fits . . . get it in every color.
I’m so excited for these next few weeks to fly by so that I can wrap up all of our final plans, I leave on the 23rd which is in TWO weeks! TWO! So if you’re in the midst of wedding season like myself, than I hope this post helps you to find some joy in the hustle and bustle of it all and inspires you to get creative when it comes to dreaming up your first impressions as husband and wife.
Take some time to breath and get back to what really matters, which is marrying your person, but also to find joy in the stress of it all – they say we work best under pressure anyway! Also that’s for me to re-read and apply for myself 😉
Are you a stationary or personalized thank you card kind of person? Would you prefer to design your own table place cards and menus or are you like me and you’d rather click it, print it, and move on with it?
With all of the pool side bronzing you’ll be doing, the ocean dips you’ll be taking, and the festivals you’ll be prancing around, today I’m sharing with you my must have summer hair and skincare products!
After a week in Palm Springs for my friend Miya’s annual birthday tradition at the Avalon Hotel and Bungalows, I really know what it feels like to crave hydration and replenishment. It was 110 degrees on our first pool side bronzing day ONE HUNDRED AND TEN DEGREES lol. One of the most relaxing and beautiful places to visit, here’s what I toted along with me so that I would remain dewy and moisturized.
suncare protection –Coola is hands down one of my all time favorite sunscreens, for both my face and my body. It’s a mineral sun protectant and smells like damn heaven
sweat and odor protection – I don’t know about you but even poolside I still swipe some odor protection under my arms because, 110 degree weather and bronzing . . . and sweating. I’ve raved aboutNative before but if you haven’t jumped on the natural deoderant band wagon, their Coconut Vanilla scent will make you take the leap, trust
lip moisture – lets not forget about our pouts while we’re out there surfing the waves and sipping down those pina coladas. This Hanalei lip treatment is so rich and I love the light vanilla smell it has. It also doubles as a lip gloss because it’s so moisturizing that your lips will shine baby
hair leave in and smell goods – this Sea Salt spray by my girls over at Tone It Up is making a come back with this post becuase it’s THAT versitile. Create to foster body and movement in your hair, I also use it as a leave in for the pool/beach because it’s also hydrating to my hair. And if you haven’t guessed already, yup it smells just like a coconut
hair leave in and wash outs – after a long day under the sun I condition my hair with this coconut oil deep conditioning protein pack. About once a week I’ll leave this treatment in my hair while I shave my legs in the shower and then rinse it out for the softest hair you’ve ever seen. Keepin’ that coconut theme going, this too smells like the ripest coconut in the middle of an island
I can’t get enough of these summer time hair and skincare products so I hope you try them out and let me know what you think. Also, I hope you like COCONUT! haha You can take the girl off the island but you can’t take the island out of the girl.
What are your favorite summer time hair and skincare products?!
If there’s one thing I would go back and tell my younger self, it’d be to invest in time not things. As a single mom – not only was I unable to save money each month due to my strained budget, but even if I had, no one had ever taught me what to do with it … or at least I don’t remember that part.
However, I do remember that each holiday no matter how dreary my bank account was, I made sure Corrine had gifts under the tree and a pumpkin to carve. Looking back, I can tell you exactly where my money was going . . . child care, credit cards, and bills. Even now, many years later, I find myself in awe of how much I spent on things like fancy baby formula and phone bills! From one mama to another, from one human to another, we don’t have to be doing it all wrong.
I recently tried AT&T GoPhone prepaid service on a monthly plan with Unlimited Data, Talk & Text. We wanted to see how much saving on a common everyday service can lead to investments in our family that we’re able to make with the money we’re saving. Since I’m also a girl on the go- signing up for AutoPay and saving $5 a month on my GoPhone service is just a little icing on the cake. Who doesn’t like cake! Just having the financial control and pliable spending, has made all the difference. And, AT&T GoPhone has the nation’s best data network making the switch to GoPhone even more sweeter!
Always capturing our adventures on the go! Explore explore explore!
Luna is a super model. And also an adventure pup!
I try to capture all the memories I can with my phone and now they hang on my wall.
Why yes, that IS 2 cameras you see, and the one taking this photo, AND the 3 phones we toted around lol
What’s in my purse? Oh, just the essentials 😉
Isn’t she a beaute!
We now actually have savings set aside especially for family vacations, adventures with our pup Luna, weekend travels with our friends, and most importantly – as of recently, for our upcoming wedding. Money isn’t everything but it sure does fund your options, and when you’re a parent who’s also planning a wedding, money goes away when all you want it to do is flow.
To pay it forward to you, my fellow adventure seekers and dream weavers (quick what’s the next line of that song?) we’re spreading the abundance and giving away a pair of tickets to the San Diego County Fair which we’re attending, and I’ll also have a giveaway for you on social media, where you’ll get to win a little something from AT&T GoPhone!
I love the work we do but I particularly enjoy when we get to team up with a premium brand that has an ethos that falls in line with what we’re already doing. As a mom, it’s important to me to save money because every penny counts, and with extra money you realize all the things you used to have to say no to. Let’s start saying yes, and you can say yes to this opportunity and enter our giveaway 😉
We’ll be at the San Diego County Fair on Saturday June 10th and we’d love to see you if you’re in the area! You can find us at the AT&T GoPhone booth from 2pm-4pm soI hope we get to say hello and bring it in for a hug! Plus you can play skeeball, ring toss or wiffle ball toss for free with a chance to win a prize at the AT&T GoPhone booth! You can enter our giveaway by sharing with us what you’ll do with all that extra money you’ll be saving and TAG me on Instagram. Use the hashtag #ATTGoPhone and #Giveaway. You can read all about it at https://www.att.com/gophone/ and we’ll announce the winners on my Instagram before the fair!
Okay, don’t forget to call your mom, it was just Mother’s Day and she’ll appreciate it. I hope this post inspires you to do more, save more, and connect more!
So, what would you do with extra money each month? Each year?! Share with us your bucket list, your big dreams, and even some frivolous aspirations that you have!
This post is proudly brought to you in partnership with AT&T GoPhone. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own as always.
Always capturing our adventures on the go! Explore explore explore!
Luna is a super model. And also an adventure pup!
I try to capture all the memories I can with my phone and now they hang on my wall. 
Why yes, that IS 2 cameras you see, and the one taking this photo, AND the 3 phones we toted around lol 
What’s in my purse? Oh, just the essentials 😉 
Isn’t she a beaute!