Going the Distance: March 2012

Guest Post: {av} from {long distance loving}

To wrap up my week of guest blog posters (which sadly means that my vacation is ending...boo!), I got the lovely {av} from {long distance loving} to come by and visit you all! I have been following {av} since way back in the day when I, myself, was in a long distance relationship. Lucky for me, those days have passed, and I'm in a much better dating situation (with the guy who I am currently beach-bumming with!), but I still love to see all of the fun things that {av} posts about on her blog. If you haven't, go check her page out, and link up for Friday's Fancies!!
I need to get back to soaking up my last full day of the beach and all of its glory!
See you, my bloggie friends, on Monday!
Love, Jenn
~.~.~.~.~

A very happy Friday to each of you! My name is {av} and I'm the blogger behind {long distance loving}. Every Friday, I host a link-up called Friday's Fancies. Jenn has been a loyal linker for almost a year now, so I'm thrilled to fill in for her while she's enjoying a tropical getaway in Jamaica :) Here's a little peek at a fun beachy get-up, perfect for a day by the ocean!

1) I couldn't get enough of this Rag & Bone Simple Tote--the pop of orange propels this canvas tote to another level!

2) Though this cover-up is a little "louder" than I would normally wear, I knew this W Swimwear Tie Dye Tunic was a winner. Regardless of the style of suit underneath, there wouldn't be any weird neckline issues--you know exactly what I mean ;)

3) A dash of gold makes these Kate Spade Felix Cork Wedge Sandals the ultimate choice for any beach vacation! They are versatile and vibrant, all at the same time.

4) Another bold burst of orange, this Saha Warmer Waters Bikini would be a brilliant addition to any Jamaican jaunt.

5) These Oliver Peoples Kosslyn Cat-Eye Sunglasses evoke a bygone era--without being old and boring. I would positively love to have these sunnies in my rotation!

6) With an elegant twist, this Soo Ihn Kim Jinx Cuff is a fun finishing touch to this cheery ensemble.

{click here to join the mailing list for Friday's Fancies, so you can dream big with us in future weeks!}

And don't forget: no beach getaway is complete without sunscreen! Be sun savvy when you're enjoying the sunshine--and have many fewer wrinkles down the line!

Jenn: soak up every minute of your vacation!

The rest of you: enjoy your weekend!

xoxo {av}

Guest Post: Trish @ Tales from Trish

Trish is one of my best buddies from wayyyyy back in college. We were in the same orientation group in college, and then a year later (sophomore year) got randomly placed as roommates together. And we've been buddies ever since! I got her into the blogging world, and now she has like triple the amount of followers that I do lol. She's an awesome girl, super creative (although she doesn't think that she is), is always there for me, and I just love her to pieces. Definitely check out her blog, Tales From Trish! So, without further ado, I bring you Trish to entertain you while I'm away!

Love, Jenn

~.~.~.~

"Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take you

To Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama Key Largo, Montego baby why don't we go Down to Kokomo We'll get there fast And then we'll take it slow That's where we wanna go Way down to Kokomo"

Ok. I know you didn't come here to to read me sing.

But every time I think of "Jamaica" I think of Kokomo. How can you not?!

Anyhoo. While Jenn is off experiencing this...

{via}

...I'm here experiencing this

{via}

Okay. So it's not THAT bad. But anything up next to Jamaica doesn't seem as good.

Well.

There's one thing that is good.

That makes a gal happy:

Booze

Adult Beverage

Hooch

Toddy

Tipple

Mommy-Juice (can I use that one even though I don't have kids?!)

Juice

Dranky-Drank

Who doesn't LOVE a good drink?!

Who doesn't LOVE A good Happy Hour?!

Yes. I said it. Happy Hour!

You get together with your friends - your gals - and you have a drink, or two, or few.

And you end up leaving with ab muscles hurting so bad from all the laughing or big red round eyes from all the tears - OR if you're REALLY good you leave with both!

Do you want to meet up for a virtual Happy Hour?

If so - raise your hand...

...ok.

Now - Put your hands back on the keyboard and let me know if you raised your hand, becauuuuuse.....

Jenn and I are going to be hosting a joint link-up, coming soon, that will be a virtual happy hour, where we can all post/blog/discuss/comment about anything and everything. All of the things you would bring up over a happy hour drink with your friends--you'll be able to link-up and share during our virtual happy hour.

That's all I'm going to say about that for now...

I'm going to let Jenn tell you more when she gets back.

Meanwhile - feel free to lick your monitor for a little buzz.

Oh - and incase you didn't know -- this message has been proudly brought to you by MEEEEEEE -

Trish @ Tales from ...

Visit Me!

Peace Out Girl Scouts!

Guest Post: Casey @ Poodleism

I'm SO happy to have Casey from Poodleism guest-posting for me while I'm away. Her sense of humor/sarcasm is right up my alley. She's not only one of the first blogs that I started to follow, but after reading her blog, it was one of the ones that inspired me to start writing my own! (So now you know who you have to thank, at least in part, for that! haha).

I first started following Casey not only because she is super funny, she also has a cute-as-can-be poodle, just like me (hence the blog title)! If you don't follow her, read this post, and then go check out her blog--you won't be disappointed!

Love, Jenn

~.~.~.~.~

Hello everyone! I'm Casey from Poodleism and couldn't be happier to be guest posting today for sweet Jenn! Her and I are getting to be pretty good bloggy buddies and I'm psyched to be partnering up today!

Although spring has just begun here in Austin, TX, we've been in spring fashion mode for a few weeks. We have an abundance of warm weather, so the shorts, bright colors and sundresses have been out and about bigtime. Both in the real world and on Pinterest (let's just face it, maybe more on Pinterest), I keep seeing mint green and am LOVING it.

So, here are some mint pretties I've got my eye on this spring...

via

I've been really trying to get on board with the whole colored denim thing and I think I'm finally ready. I love all these mint options... especially with the chambray shirt at the top left. Gorge.

via

This is a comparison of OPI Gargantuan Green Grape, China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint and Essie Mint Candy Apple. Is it wrong to want them all?

via

If I went to an office everyday, I'd copy the crap out of this outfit. There's no such thing as too many ruffly office tops, right?

via

Though overpriced, Kendra Scott can really do no wrong in my book.

via

Though that particular hue is a tad bit more aqua-y than mint, I LOVE the color combo.

via

Shoulder Strap AND handle(s) is my main prerequisite for a purse. Make it mint? Yes please.

Honestly, I'm much more likely to wear these over anything else on this page, but a girl can dream, right? #comfortslave

Now that I've gone on a legitimate mint rant,

What colors are you nerding out about this year?

Thanks for reading, and come visit me over at my blog anytime!

Guest Post: Pinky! from pinkpersistance

Today I have for you my first bloggie-to-real-life friend to entertain you all today. Her name is P!nky and she blogs over at p!nkpers!stance. She's a super sweet chick, keeps me entertained throughout each and every work day, and I heart her to pieces! Read her post and then check out her page if you haven't already!

Peace out girlscouts!

Love, Jenn

~.~.~.~.~

Hey Going the Distance readers. My name's PINKY and this is me:

OH haaaaaaaay!

I blog over at pinkpersistence and you should totally come join the PINK party.

I like to:

Dance

Drink wine

Hang with friends

Party party

read

drink wine (duh)

Play soccer and kickball

go to the gym

and indulge in a sweet glass of wine...WHAT!?!?!

Besides drinking wine (I'm not a lush, really!) one of my FAVORITE things to do is go out dancing with my girls. I loooooooooooove getting all dolled up, dressing seksi and dropping it LOW on the dance floor while the DJs bangin' some fly beats.

DROP IT DROP IT LOW GUUUUUUUUUURL!

I mean come on, what girl doesn't like to jam out with her friends on a dance floor while looking super duper cute?

(If you don't have rhythm it's okay, I'll still dance with you!)

Going out dancing is all about fun, drinks, friends and a good time.

UNTIL you meant the CREEPERsss...

Uuuuuuuuuuugh! Please raise your hand if you know what I'm talking about?

(YEAH I SEE YOU, RAISE IT PROUD!)

I will never understand WHY guys think a group of chicks dancing together is an invitation to come up and rub their body on ours.

EWWW GROSS!!

Don't boys KNOW that girls don't dress up for guys

WE DRESS UP FOR OTHER GIRLS!

Am I right or am I right?!?!

Now, pleeeeeeeeeeeease don't think I'm getting preachy.

Trust me, I've had plenty of nights of dressing up

hoping to meet a hottie with a body at a bar,

back when I was in my early twenties!

(GASP, late twenties sounds soooooooooooooo gross to me right now)

Below are some examples of WHEN it's not cool to creep:

Knee high boots do NOT MEAN HOOKER, please walk away!

Just because I'm dressed as a bottle of liquor that DOESN'T mean you have a shot!

My tummy may be showing but NO TOUCHING!!!!

On stage where NO ONE can creep is where I'm the happiest dancing

Everyone has a lil BRITNEY SPEARS IN THEM! Doesn't mean we're easy like she is.
YOU BETTER BE wearing shoes in gas stations too ladies

Yeah, Don't wanna dance with you thanks!

I'm having PLENTY of fun without you dude, trust me!

Those were pretty ridiculous right?!?!?

Yeah, I ~~take pride~~ I mean shake my head at myself sometimes.

Moral of this post, just because you fine ladies look HOT

that doesn't mean dudes deserve to creep!

Next time a dude creeps just tell him:

I'm Not Here for Your Entertainment!

I hope I haven't offended or pissed anyone off, but I felt this is something dudes need to know.

Want more? Come visit *me* post haste!!!

Now, please ROCK OUT to this AWESOME SONG!!!

PREACH IT PINK, PREACH IT!

Guest Post: Shannon from Page: Twenty-two

Since I'm on vacay in Jamaica for the week, I got a line-up of awesome chicks to post for you all this week. First up is the lovely Shannon from Page:Twenty-Two. I actually discovered her when another bloggie friend of mine went on vacation and Shannon guest posted for her. Since then, we have been known to comment and email back and forth throughout the whole week. She is a super sweet chica so you should definitely check out her blog! Enjoy!

Love, Jenn

~.~.~.~.~

Hi Going the Distance Followers!!

I'm here to entertain you guys today while Jenn and her man soak up the warm rays and sip on pina coladas in Jamaica!!

Is anyone else grossly jealous?

No?

Just me?

Moving on....

Since our friend Jenn is on vaca and the rest of us are most likely stuck at work, school or at home, I thought I would bring a little bit of Jamaica to you all and share some delicious (and EASY) recipes for island inspired cocktails!

Yum!

Are your mouths watering yet?? Hold tight....its almost happy hour!

If you'd like to check out my blog....please do!

I love new followers:)

Cheers, everyone! Thanks for reading.

All Packed!

Just wanted to stop in one last time before I depart tomorrow morning.

It's 11AM the day before we are leaving (I'm heading over to MG's place in a little bit, that's why I'm already done), and I am all packed and ready to roll (get it? I have a roller bag...roll....get it?? teehee--can you tell that I'm giddy??)! And, I've packed for 7 days in a carry-on. Are you impressed???

Let's wait til I get back and see how many things I forgot haha.

It appears that we're leaving just in time as the weather in DC is rainy/dreary and supposed to be in the 50's and 60's this week (as opposed to the 70-80's that we have been having lately). Couldn't have worked out better!

I hope you all have a great week, and enjoy the lovely ladies who I have coming by to guest post for me/you! I will have a drink for each and every one of you at the resort (which might actually be quite close to accurate lol) :)

Happy last week of March!! See you all in a week!

WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!

Oh my goodness, people, I did not think that this day would ever come, but it is here. The last day of work, for 17 glorious days--and our Fridays are always half days, so as of 1:15 today I will be footloose and kid-free (see what I did there?? :). I'll come back to work and it will be an entirely different month.

Now all that is on my agenda are the following:

-Give Cooper a bath and take him to my parents' house where he will surely be spoiled beyond belief (and love every second of it)
-See Hunger Games
-Try and avoid my roommate when I am actually at my apartment this weekend
-Figure out how to pack a week's worth of clothes for Jamaica into my carry on (this might sound impossible, but I DID do long distance for 2 years and I am QUITE the good carry-on packer--plus, all I really need are some bikinis and sunscreen right??) :)
-Get all of the paperwork and travel stuff in order for our trip
-Make sure MG isn't terribly hungover from the bachelor party weekend he is going to (God help him and his liver....lol)...and if he is, be thankful that it's not me haha
-Relax

I have a great group of girls to guest post for me while I'm gone next week, so be sure to come by and check them out!

I will apologize in advance that I'm going to be adding the "captcha" option to comments while I'm gone so that I dont have to approve comments. Since I have been getting a ton of spam comment posts lately, I don't want those to overtake everything on here. So, I apologize--I know that captchas suck....please don't let that stop you from commenting! (They will disappear once I get back from Jamaica, I promise!)

In the meantime, I will be daydreaming about:

I CAN NOT FREAKING WAIT!!!!!!

And the fact that I get to go with this guy makes it even better:

(look forward to more pics just like this after we return!)

I hope you all have beautiful, relaxing weekends, a fantastic next week, and I look forward to sharing all of the vacation adventures with you upon my return!!

It's OOOOOOOK!

It's Thursday, and I can not wait for this week of work to be over. It's so close that I can almost taste it, but it feels like time is moving at a snail's pace! So, in order to pass the time, I figured I'd link up with Amber at Brunch with Amber for It's OK, Thursday!

It's OK.....
.....that I couldn't fall asleep right away last night because I couldn't stop making a mental list of everything that I need to pack for Jamaica. I literally had to tell myself to shut it down in order to get some shut-eye.
.....that you all are probably sick of hearing about Jamaica. Don't worry, only one more blogging day of that! :)
.....that I woke up in the middle of the night feeling stressed out thinking about where I'm going to live when my lease is up in July. Seriously?? I'm already worrying about this??
....to be a little bit peeved that it's foggy this morning because it totally makes my hair frizzy and I don't like it.
....to realize that it is going to be humid in Jamaica, and I may as well get used to the ugly frizzies!

....to have used a $100 gift card to Target in one shot, and still had to pay $30 via credit card. At least I got a cute dress (on the left), some travel essentials, snacks, and a couple of new bras and undies with it! I suppose it's not so bad considering I haven't been to Target in well over a month (did you just gasp? Cuz I did too when I realized how long it had been!)

....to be excited to erase my entire month of March from my wall calendar at work, because when I get back from Spring Break it will be April 10th! :)
....to be mega glad that, when I talked to my dad on the phone last night, he sounded SO much stronger than he has in the past few months, AND that he said he is finally noticing some progress with his cardiac rehab and how he is feeling. There's still a ways to go, but I'm really glad he's finally getting a turn for the better after everything he's been through since his heart attack. Yay for healthy dads!
....that I was both laughing and rolling my eyes when I saw this video last night, that made me think that maybe I need to stay in the education field, just to make sure people don't come out as dumb as the girl in this video--check it out, watch it, laugh/roll your eyes, and be thankful you knew the answer before the husband explained it:PS, I love the face that it pauses on when you start the video. Complete and utter confusion mixed with disbelief lol
I hope you were as entertained as I was!
Happy Thursday!!

WILW and Oh How Pinteresting!

Happy Hump Day! This makes me happy for many many many reasons! But, I will get into that below! In the meantime I am linking up with Jamie and Michelle for two of my tried and true, favorite linkies of the week!

I'm loving that it is the middle of my LAST week of work before vacation. That means that there are just TWO more work days before I can enjoy 17 glorious days of no work. It's also helped that some of that time will be spent in Jamaica with MG, as well!

I am a massive dork, I know :)

I'm loving that the Hunger Games is coming out this weekend. I'm not sure if I'll get to catch it this weekend, but the fact that it is here, I am uber stoked for (wow, did I just say uber stoked?)

I'm loving that Spring is here, both in terms of the weather we've had for the past couple of weeks, and officially on the calendar now. Yay for outside activities and sunshine!

I'm loving that one of my kiddos whose in 6th grade wrote me a card thanking me for helping her with her speech, and told me that it means a lot to her and her family. SO sweet!

I'm loving that MG and I bought our tickets to Maine for his family reunion in July (I guess he is planning on keeping me around for a bit hehe). It's nice to be with someone who WANTS to show you off to his family, and is excited about it. I'm totally looking forward to it, cuz I absolutely adore his family.

And, as always, I am loving Pinterest and all of it's awesomeness!

This week I've been pinning....

It's Spring, which means I want more dresses, like this beauty of a maxi sundress!
I'll take her body, too, while I'm making wish-lists!

Summer Pesto Pasta Salad (with pine nuts, tomatoes, chopped green onions, and peas)

I LOVE pesto...probably more than I should considering I also like to be kissed. But, this looks delish, and totally worth it!

Hunger Games Recipe: Herbed Goat Cheese Bites
Looks like a fab appetizer, in honor of the kick-A book!

Who doesn't "awww" at a puppy pile???

In case you didn't know.... :)

<--Like what you see? There's more where that came from!!

I hope your Hump Days are full of happiness and sunshine! I'm off to daydream about beaches, sun, sand and tropical drinks!!

Spring has Sprung!

Happy Tuesday and happy first official day of Spring!!! It's my MOST favorite season of the year! The weather is awesome and all kinds of fun things happen in the spring (like Spring Break trips!! Wooooo!) :)

The weather during Spring makes me insanely happy, if you couldn't guess. Even if I am having a bad day, and I go outside to mid 70's weather and sunshine, I'm instantly in a better mood. Lucky for us, here in DC, Spring "sprang" a little bit early this year. And I am NOT complaining (just as long as it lasts as long as it normally does!)

Since I have been anticipating Spring arriving, and now that it is actually really officially here, I got inspired and have been finding all kinds of things to be excited about. "Like what, Jenn?" you may ask. Well, let me tell/show you!

Cherry Blossoms come to DC!

Since the weather is a lot warmer much earlier, the cherry blossoms are already making their appearance in DC, as opposed to peaking in early April. However, they are super pretty and it's always fun to see. The tourists, not so much, but it's still pretty and fun!

I also love that the weather in Spring is never really too too cold, or too too hot, so I can wear almost anything in my closet....like shorts, short sleeves, long sleeves, pants, dresses...