The Best of SimplyLively 2013

It's finally the last day of 2013! I am beyond excited with all the adventures God blessed me with this year. Although I began this blog about 2 years ago, this is the first year I really put a lot of time, effort, and love into it.

I don't think I am exactly where I want to be, but i am sure proud of everything i've done this past year. I have truly gotten better with photography, outfits, and meeting new people.

I really stepped out of my comfort zone this year, and because I did so...i was able to experience things I otherwise would have missed out on. 

I can't wait till this upcoming year.

I hope & pray that in 2014, I can continue getting better in photography and hopefully take my blogging into the next level. I really want to do more outfit & DIY posts.

My general goals are to someday have a photograph in a photography magazine/blog and have an outfit pic featured in a published magazine. Who knows! Maybe this new year!

What are your goals?

Here are my top pictures from 2013. 

Enjoy

My top 8 Lifestyle Photographs

My top 4 Outfits

Favorite outfit of 2013

Favorite photo adventure of 2013

Till next year friends! <3

Style Board: Tribal Print

{Hello}

Once again I am wearing the cute peach blazer I found at TJMAXX for $15.99. I paired it with a tribal print skirt & peter pan blouse that I bought at Forever21 over two years ago. The blazer happens to match the skirt perfectly! Tribal print has gotten more and more popular lately. You see it in skirts, shirts, scarves, and nails. Here are some inspiration from seventeen.com: 

Triabl Prints on Celebrities

You can definitely go to any local store and find some kind of tribal print inspired article of clothing.

Here's how i styled my tribal print skirt with my favorite peach blazer!

At the end you will find a  "style board". These are just some items i found on the web that are similar to the outfit I am wearing! 

Enjoy!

Of course I had to include Hottie Hubby!

                    {outfit details}

                                                 Skirt: Forver21

                                                Shirt: forever21

                                                   Shoes:  (from Marshalls)

                                                   Hat: Charming Charlie


This one is a little bit more dressy than the one I am wearing, but still love it! Let me know if you find any more tribal print items you love, I would love to see them!

{Similar Outfit}
Links to pictures above

 Skirt: Forver21

       Shirt: forever21

   Blazer: Modcloth

Outfit Post- Sweet Peach Blazer

Ever since my wedding I've had an obsession with anything that comes a shade close to the colors peach & mint. As Andy and I were walking around TJMAXX one day before our dinner date, I spotted this Peachy colored sweet blazer in the clearance rack. Of course two of my favorite things "peach" and "clearance rack". I knew I had to get it, specially since it was only $15.99.
One of the many reasons why I love this sweet blazer is because you can style it multiple ways! In this outfit post I am wearing it with a simple white tank and grey jeans. You can definitely make any simple/ ordinary outfit pop and stand out when you add a colored blazer to it!

 Check out my sweet friend Jackie's blog to see how she styled a Zara blazer with an all white outfit!

{outfit details}

 Peach Blazer: TJMAXX
Grey Jeans: TJMAXX
       Tank: Old Navy

      Shoes: Kelly & Katie (from DSW)

       Hair Band: old
      
    XOXO

#TheFunCraftEvent

My very beautiful and smart friend (Meli) is going away to Law School this upcoming week!!  Last week as we were all hanging out we decided that we should have a goodbye party/craft night. Of course, I volunteered to plan the whole event! Andy knows how crazy I become when I plan things! Lucky for him he was away for three days so he missed it! haha

I took this craft night event very seriously! It took me days and hours to plan, organize, and buy everything. I truly enjoyed the whole process!

After a lot of research and planning I decided that the craft for the night would be tissue paper garlands. I had seen them around Instagram,blogs, and Pinterest for quite a while! The materials were very easy to find, it was not very time consuming (for the most part) and I figured it would look adorable in Meli's new apartment!

I am not going to explain step by step how we did these because we just used the HGTV blog as a guide! I recommend using that website as well! At the end of my blog post I will write where I got all my materials! The only step we changed was instead of using hot glue to keep together each tassel, we decided to use small hair rubber bands to tie them together.


Here are some pictures from the night! You can check out some more videos and images here -> #TheFunCraftEvent

#TheFunCraftEvent 

<3

Strawberry & Cream Cheese Frosting

Take home bags- which included scratch and sniff stickers,
a ring pop, and ice cream flavored bubbles.

Mason Jars with Handles for drinks

Bows for each guest

Picnic Basket with all the supplies

So Fun!

Cute Napkins ($1 at TjMaxx)

Friends

Final Product

Final Product

We will miss you Meli!

{All photos above were taken with an iPhone/Ipad} 

Can't wait till the next #TheFunCraftEvent!

I have yet to find the perfect spot in my house for my garland! But I just love how it looks hung up!

{Supplies}

 Tissue Paper & Colored Twine: TJMAXX

         Silver Ribbon: Dollar Tree

xoxo

                                                                         

      

                                                                                                                    

Create & Cultivate Tee-Outfit Post

As you can see, I adore this watermelon skirt! I got it at TJ MAXX for $7.99! You can match it with any tee, including this Create & Cultivate shirt.
Andy started designing his own shirts and this is the first one we got printed! You can check out the website here and buy one for yourself! You can wear it with anything + it's super comfy!
{Click here to see another way to style this shirt}

Yay!

{outfit details}

 Skirt: TJMAXX

       Shirt: Create & Cultivate

      Shoes: Steve Madden (from Nordstrom Rack)

       Hair Turban: Simply Lively

XOXO