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Ailee Petrovic

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Influenster BellaBox Review

4B3A0531I recently joined Influenster, which is a community of “trendsetters, social media hotshots, and educated consumers” (their words, not mine!) who live to give opinions of products and experiences. Influensters get to try new products from top brands, which is a pretty exciting part of the program. My friend, Maddie, introduced me, and I was so excited to get my first VoxBox this week – the BellaBox, filled with tons of exciting beauty products (and well, chocolate, so there’s that!). If you want to be a part of Influenster, click here [yup, that’s a referral link – I’d love if you used it!].

I’m reviewing all of the items that were in my VoxBox today! I think that I may be a little adventurous for the next box and do a vlog. Exciting stuff, right?

BellaBox

Talk Derby to Me

535808f0b7739$!900xThis Saturday is the 141st Kentucky Derby (they were doing this in 1874?!), and we’re going to a Derby party at Julep on Saturday. Ashley of Sugar & Cloth and Meredith of Cake & Confetti are styling the event, so you know it’s going to look fabulous.

The obvious predicament Derby-goers are faced with is their outfit for the big day. The Race for the Roses is notorious for the fashionable attendees, almost as much as the actual horse race. I’ve put together four outfits to help you decide what to wear, each being inspired by various style icons: Kate Middleton, Sarah Vickers, Lauren Conrad and Erin Andrews. Which is your favorite look? Are you getting dolled up for the Derby this year?

Week in Review

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny Sunday, so I decided to take our wading pool (currently used to house play balls) outside for a little ‘swim.’ Isla had been standing by herself for 10 second stretches of time in the last few weeks, but hadn’t really taken many purposeful steps (just a few between objects, like from her walker to the table). While we were in the pool, she got very adventurous and began taking 4-5 steps from one side of the pool into my arms. Sasha was at Home Depot getting tools for my projects (thank you, love!), and when he walked into the backyard, he was floored (and very excited!) to see her waddling across. After we dried off inside, she started doing longer walks in our playroom before expressing her exhaustion by having total Jello legs (short video here). There were lots of ‘Yay, Isla!!’ chants yesterday, but I’m equally nervous about how many breakable items we have at reaching distance. Time to get serious about baby proofing! Isla’s favorite Instagram-friend, Livi, is totally motivating her – check out this video that her sweet momma posted yesterday. She’s amazing! Go, Livi, go!

The definite low point of the week was getting my first cavity filled. I am such a baby. I opted in for the laughing gas, and I still felt like I was going to faint. And then the ache in my jaw all day long? I’m brushing five times a day now and going to start using Act. No more cavities for me!

A few highlights of the week included:

  • My seriously amazing husband bought me a Canon 5D Mark III camera and the 50mm f 1.2L lens to show his support of my photography business, which I’ll be sharing more details about soon and hopefully ‘launching’ in less than a month! I am still learning the ins and outs of it, but I adore it. Half of the photos below are taken with the new camera, and the others are with my iPhone and my trusted Nikon D5000.
  • Meeting one of my college best friends, Blake, at Sweet Paris after church on Sunday – Sasha ordered my vegan crepe, which we laughed about as it arrived covered in powdered sugar and Nutella. I joked that he was trying to get me back for the one time I ordered him a salad and it had a cream dressing. Needless to say, I picked out the fruit from the crepe. I do love Sweet Paris though – especially the restaurant’s interior design. See my friend Christie’s post about it here.
  • Going to Tiny Boxwood’s with one of my favorite people in the world – Brooke – on Saturday for a mid-afternoon drink. Tiny’s has the best drink in Houston (in my humble opinion) – the white wine mojito. Yummm.
  • At long last, my bestest friend, McKenzie, and I celebrated her birthday (ahem, which is in July! Yikes!) with a spa date at the Houstonian’s Trellis Spa. We enjoyed the sauna, our treatments (massage and facial), and a glass of bubbly in our robes afterward. It was pure heaven!
  • Enjoying a wine and cheese night with two girlfriends on Tuesday – I am guilty of eating the entire Brie triangle. I cannot stop myself. I love spontaneous girls nights like these!
  • Getting my hair cut and colored by Eric Vaughn at Estilo Salon. He is so wonderful, and although I am the world’s least patient person and almost didn’t survive a three hour appointment, I love the outcome and had The Paris Wife to read while letting the color set.
  • Family visits from my mother-in-law, dad, and my older sister! She came over for dinner and a game night of Bananagrams, which I’m slightly addicted to. Since we’ll be spending most evenings in during our trip (except for our night out in Paris with a babysitter!), I’d love to hear any fun two-person game suggestions!
  • Being treated to TCBY twice in one week. With all of the self-serve places popping up, my loyalty to TCBY that was built during college sort of dissipated, but it’s back. We are addicted!
  • Receiving my first Voxbox from Influenster. I will be reviewing the products this week!
  • Finally hanging up our new West Elm mirror in our master bedroom and selling our futon – now all that’s left is to get a bookshelf and have the room painted, and the room is complete! I’m so excited.
  • Carter’s Instagrammed about my Baby Hospital Bag giveaway last week, which helped spike entries! I got very excited to see all of the giveaway pins on Pinterest! Thank you for participating. The winner of the giveaway is Daphne K.! I’m so excited for her and her sweet baby girl due in May.

4B3A0531 W1W2

Midcentury Modern Inspiration with Chairish

the-saguaro-hotel-palm-springspalmsprings

When I think of midcentury modern, my mind immediately goes to Palm Springs  – for a million reasons, but mainly because Kelly of Studio DIY posted photos from her stay last year and all of the cool homes they saw (double image above from her post here). They stayed at the colorful Saguaro Hotel, which is totally on my bucket list of places to visit. This architecture and design style also reminds me of one of my favorite bloggers, Ashley of Sugar & Cloth, as she recently posted some DIYs inspired by this style (planters and side table). Although our house is definitely more modern than midcentury modern, I love appreciate the style.

MCM1

Favorite Floral Fashions

SpringFever

Dress | Crown | Cards | Shoes | Pillow

There is no print in the whole wide world that I love more than floral. I not-so-patiently wait for the arrival of spring so that I can dust off my bright floral dresses and blouses to don. And then comes peony season. I cannot wait for these gorgeous flowers to start inundating my Instagram feed. It’s just the best.

I am constantly adding florals to my Shop page, and so I wanted to do a post sharing all of my flowery favorites. As a completely closeted (until now, I suppose) Kylie and Kendall fan (I refuse to follow them on Instagram, but totally stalk), I thought I would never be able to pull the trigger on these Madden Girl shoes (amn’t I a bit old?); however, if Rachel thinks it’s cool, then why the heck should I not? Great logic, n’est-ce pas?