Happy Hump Day!

It's finally the middle of the work week! Only two more days until the weekend and I know everyone's excited for that!! One of my favorite things to do during work whenever I get a free second is look at quotes on Pinterest, We Heart It and Tumblr! Over the past week I've accumulated some quotes that I really like and would like to share with you!

My Day in Delaware (On A Budget)!

I am so excited to write this blog post about my day in Delaware yesterday! If you didn't read yesterdays blog post, Cody and I decided to go to Ocean City, MD because we finally had a day off together! Also, it was like an early anniversary date. I had so much fun and I've been looking forward to sharing what I did and how much we spent in total with you! So, lets get started!

We woke up around 9 am to catch the Cape May Ferry (located in Cape May, NJ) which was going to Lewes, DE. It took the jaws of life to get me out of bed because I was so tired but eventually I got out and got dressed! We stopped at WaWa to grab some morning coffee, or in my case a French Vanilla Cappuccino, and headed toward the ferry!

We intended on getting on the 10:30 am ferry so that we would make it to Ocean City, MD, with plenty of time to enjoy ourselves. However, when we got to the ticket booth to buy tickets for the ferry, the woman told us that the 10:30 ferry was full; which meant we had to take the 12:00 one! We were so upset but she told us that sometimes if there's room we may be able to fit on the 10:30 one! Annnnnnnnnnnd.. luckily, there was room! We were the last car in our lane able to fit onto the ferry!

If you haven't been on a ferry before, it's a HUGE boat that you drive your car onto! It drives through the water (obviously) from one location to another, cutting the travel time in half. It makes it really easy for commuters because it's a shorter distance and if they commute back and forth from work everyday, they don't have to worry about being exhausted and falling asleep behind the wheel! The round trip price for the ferry was $80; that included the car, Cody and me. The $80 is definitely worth it when you think of how much you would've spent in gas driving there. Each ferry is different but they're HUGE usually 2-3 floors and very spacious. There's a great view, mini food court, arcade, TVs and everything else you could possibly ask for during your mini travel period.

Here are some pictures of the view:

 Birds always seem to follow the boat and sometimes you can even see dolphins!

Cody was having a lot of fun! We were loving the breeze coming off the water and we were still a little tired so it was keeping us awake! The morning was over-cast which was making us worried about the possibility of rain during our mini vacation. After about an hour and fifteen-ish minutes, we finally got to Delaware! And there was absolutely no traffic getting off of the ferry; it was very well ran. We had a 45 minute drive to OC, MD but we were excited to see cool stuff along the way!

Like this bridge for example:

Make Your Monday Matter!

Monday is one of the most dreaded days of the week. Monday means the end of a relaxing and stress less weekend and the beginning of the hectic work week. For most people, waking up Monday morning is a task in itself; especially after sleeping in on the weekends. I figured I'd dedicate this blog post to inspirational quotes that will help you drag yourself out of bed on this beautiful Monday morning!!

Keep repeating this on your dreaded Monday morning, positivity is the key!

Take chances! You never know what great things can come out of it.

Luckily this Monday morning is one I've been looking forward to for weeks! Cody and I finally have off of work on the same day (which rarely happens). We "took a chance" and decided to do something we've never done before. We're on our way to Delaware for some fun adventures, shopping (because there's no sales tax) and good food! I'm really excited. 

Here's some pictures of my outfit for today!

Sunday is a day for resting!

Before I start writing I would like to share that I reached 2,000 views on my blog today!

I completely intend on spending my entire Sunday resting up and enjoying my day off. So today (and most likely every Sunday) I will be writing a "mini post"!

I was planning on starting my day at 9 am but it's currently 1:20 pm and I'm still laying in bed. Well, I guess you can say that plan failed but I'm about to get out of bed now and start my day!

On today's agenda:

- get a manicure and pedicure, which is definitely needed. I hate walking around with chipped nail polish! I go to "Moon Nails" on Ventnor avenue. (Used to be "Long nails" until a woman named moon bought it) I love it there! 

- since I work almost everyday 10 am to 6 pm it's very hard for me to get to the beach, so I have to settle for the best best thing.. going to a tanning salon. I go to Island Sun in Ventnor. 

- I've been searching around everywhere for inexpensive gym clothes, so when I find them today expect a future blog on them!! I also need sneakers, which I'm kind of excited to pick out because I rarely wear athletic sneakers.

- and lastly, I need to sign up for the gym! I'm thinking either Island Gym in Ventnor or Tilton Fitness on Tilton Road.

I'll let you know how my day went in tomorrow's blog post! I hope you all have a very relaxing Sunday! 

I figured I'd leave you with a little something to think about: 

All of the places mentioned above are located in Atlantic County.

What are your plans for this beautiful Sunday? Which gym or nail salon do you go to? Comment below to share and don't forget to subscribe!

"Still Into" Hayley Williams' funky fun outfit!

Have you seen the video for "Still Into You" by Paramore? If not you're not only missing out on a great song but an extremely daring outfit as well! The lead singer, Hayley Williams, pulls off one of the best outfits I've ever seen in a video; it's [the video] is fun and eccentric which definitely suits Hayley. Whenever the song comes on in my car I can't help but dance and formally embarrass myself in public; but the song is so catchy that the embarrassment is definitely something I can live with!

Here's the video:

I know, I know.. you can thank me later. It's great right!? So hard to contain those dance moves you've been dying to bust out. Since her unique outfit isn't the only thing that stands out to me, I'm also going to post the lyrics to the song!

"Still Into You"

Can't count the years on one hand
that we've been together
I need the other one to hold you
Make you feel, make you feel better

It's not a walk in the park
to love each other
But when our fingers interlock,
Can't deny, can't deny you're worth it
'Cause after all this time, I'm still into you

I should be over all the butterflies
But I'm into you (I'm into you)
And baby even on our worst nights
I'm into you (I'm into you)

Let 'em wonder how we got this far
'Cause I don't really need to wonder at all
Yeah after all this time I'm still into you

Recount the night that
I first met your mother
And on the drive back to my house
I told you that, I told you that I loved ya

You felt the weight of the world
fall off your shoulder
And to your favorite song
we sang along to the start of forever
And after all this time, I'm still into you

I should be over all the butterflies
But I'm into you (I'm into you)
And baby even on our worst nights
I'm into you (I'm into you)
Let 'em wonder how we got this far
'Cause I don't really need to wonder at all
Yeah after all this time I'm still into you

Some things just, some things just make sense
and one of those is you and I (Hey)
Some things just, some things just make sense
and even after all this time (Hey)

I'm into you, baby not a day goes by
that I'm not into you

I should be over all the butterflies
But I'm into you (I'm into you)
And baby even on our worst nights
I'm into you (I'm into you)
Let 'em wonder how we got this far

'Cause I don't really need to wonder at all
Yeah after all this time
I'm still into you
I'm still into you
I'm still into you

  

So catchy! My favorite part definitely has to be the line "Let 'em wonder how we got this far 'cause I don't really need to wonder at all." It's such a clever line and definitely one I can relate to. I've been with my boyfriend for almost two years and I still have the same feelings for him that I did the first day we met!

Here's a picture of Cody and I at my senior prom: 

Well, enough mushy love stuff and onto the topic I am MOST excited to write about: HAYLEY'S OUTFIT! I have been drooling over it, literally, since I first saw the video.

PERFECTION! From head to toe, perfection. It's very rare that someone could pull off a look like this, but she does effortlessly. If you're dying to know where each piece of clothing she is wearing is from, you're in luck because I did some research and found it all online! 

1) Topshop Dweeb Crop Top ($20.00),
2) Topshop Wide Hinge Detail Belt *SOLD OUT* ($40.00)
3) URB Neon Yellow Melting Tights ($65.00)
4) Dr Martens White 1460 Boots ($120.00).
5) Rose Pink Latex Swing Dress from Syren Latex ($243.00).
6) Unif Pastel Moto Jacket, available at Dollskill.com ($170.00)

In total this outfit comes to$658.00! Which is something a rock star could totally afford, however, that is definitely not realistic for someone with a budget! Which is why I'm going to give you some alternatives that are very similar but less expensive.

FriDIY! Make Your Own Lip balm!

HAPPY FRIDAY! The weekend is finally here and I'm sure many people are very excited about that! Since summer is here, beautiful weather comes along with it; allowing you to go to the beach, lay out by the pool and relax! Another thing that tends to come along with summer is chapped lips! I have such trouble with my lips being chapped during the summer season. Along with keeping my body very hydrated by drinking lots of water, which helps with chapped lips, another thing I am very persistent with is applying lip balm/chap stick. I am a huge sucker for lipstick because I am intrigued by all the fun colors you get to choose from. Whenever I'm in line ready to purchase my lipstick I always wish I could find a chap stick in the color I want. Then, suddenly, a light bulb went off in my head.. which led me to the idea of making my own lip balm!

Ever since college I've started shopping at CVS. They have GREAT prices and you can sign up for their "Extra Care Card" which offers you coupons and "Extra Bucks." The coupons are great and the more you spend the more you get rewarded with Extra Bucks. Extra Bucks is CVS cash that you can put toward your purchase lowering the price! After every purchase at CVS, you'll get your receipt with sooooo many coupons attached to it as well as how much "Extra Bucks" you've acquired. It also informs you of the great sales that will be going on next week! I highly suggest that you get all of your DIY needs for this project from CVS and get your own "Extra Care Card!"

Here's an example of what Extra Bucks look like:

Okay moving on! The items you will need for this DIY is vaseline, your choice of lipstick, and a small container to put your new lip balm into!

Pictured above are the items I purchased from CVS and in total it came to around $10.00. The 5 piece travel kit contained perfect containers for lip balm! I didn't mind buying the travel kit because I know it will come into use later and it was only $5.99! 

The lipstick is called "Blossom" by NYC. It was 99 cents and I fell in love with the shimmery pink color; so perfect for summer!

I decided on a small container of Vaseline and it was only $1.75!

Time to get started on the DIY!

Go On A Blind Date With A Book!

I love reading; almost as much as I love writing. There has been countless occasions where I completely disregarded a book sitting on a shelf because of it's cover art, which is totally judgmental of me. Now that I've started a blog, I realized how upset I would be if someone disregarded my blog post based off of the title. The picture on the outside of the book shouldn't matter as much as the material written inside of the book. The picture we paint for ourselves inside our head while reading the book is more prominent in our minds than any cover page ever could be. A book is suppose to make you feel something, anything, and these feelings can differ from person to person; which is why I think it's ridiculous to judge a book by it's cover. One person could fall in love with a piece of art, while another hates it; the same goes for cover art. It's nearly impossible to choose artwork that satisfies everyone, so why not just pick a book based solely on the content? 

I've heard of one person blind dating another person but I've never heard of a person going on a blind date with a book! It's something that a few book stores and libraries have been picking up on recently. It's simple! The idea is to make sure the person buying the book CAN'T see the cover. You can use any kind of paper (brown paper is used here) and decorate it in any type of way that interests you (they added a simple bow as seen above)! You could find these simple, inexpensive, items at your local CVS or Dollar Store! Once the book is all wrapped up, remember that you have to put the price on it as well as a few descriptive words for the book; so try not to over decorate! The few words will grab the readers attention and have them interested in the content of the book as opposed to the cover. It will also arouse their curiosity regarding the "blind date" process. If you're thinking about hosting your own "Blind Date With A Book" it would be a great idea to test it out at a yard sale! Books are usually huge hits at yard sales! 

Mammograms and Motivational Mornings

Good morning blogging world! It's currently around 9:00 am and I'm getting ready for work! But before I do, I feel like it's necessary to blog! And it's very important that I start this blog off on a positive note and end it on one!

I found this quote on Pinterest yesterday while I was browsing through my feed. I couldn't seem to get this quote out of my head! It's definitely something I can relate to. There's has been countless occasions where I've been indecisive about what I should or shouldn't do; I wonder what the outcome will be and if the risk is worth the reward. This particular debate I have with myself is usually strenuous, lengthy and tiring. Normally, I get frustrated with my lack of judgement and ability to make a quick decision; however, once I saw this quote the opinion I had of my "dissatisfing" trait completely changed. See, I may not be producing the greatest idea in the quickest way possible, but, I'm producing a better and newer idea than I did yesterday. I mean, really, I should be lucky I have an idea at all! And that's what life is really all about, right? Growth.. And shaping yourself into the person you want to be, whether it takes you ten years or ten minutes. Take as much time as you need with your life and accept your indecisiveness as a good quality rather than a bad one!

On an entirely different note, I felt as though this blog should have a very inspiring beginning and end because I have some "not so fun" news to share. In July of last year I decided to undergo surgery for a Brest Reduction. I will talk more about before, after and during, the surgery in a different post because for right now I would like to focus on the present instead of the past! Yesterday, I had to go get a mammogram because one of my breasts have been swelling randomly and extremely sore for a long period of time. The reason I'm letting the entire world know about this is because I was terrified to get a mammogram. And I did one of the worst possible things which was google "what does it feel like to get a mammogram?" Before I knew it I was reading stories about how painful it was from women all over the world. My palms got more and more sweaty with every link I clicked on and I could feel my anxiety skyrocket through the roof. So, I'm here to put all of that nonsense to rest because that's exactly what it is, nonsense. I wish I had never gotten myself so nervous for something that I barley felt (even though my left breast was extremely sore)! 

Birthday (On A Budget) Part 2!

Hello to all reading this blog post! Thank you for stopping by :) I'm catching up on some Pretty Little Liars while I write this blog post! I'm very new to the TV show and I'm liking it so much that I've been breezing through episodes! I'm currently watching the third season on Netflix to try and catch up with season four (which is on TV) and I'm really enjoying it so far! 

Anywho, in my last blog I mentioned that I wanted to talk about Cody's birthday dinner but I got a little distracted blabbing on about his birthday party. So, onto the fabulous birthday dinner! We went to eat with Cody's sister, brother, sister in law, father and his fathers girlfriend. It was such a great time and I was so happy to see everyone! Before I start on where we went and how AMAZING everything was I'm going to post some pictures of my outfit from that night! 

I paired a white baggy button-up blouse with a tight denim acid wash skirt and strappy sandals. The acid wash skirt is a size medium from Pac Sun. It's high-waisted and it was $39.00. One thing you should ALWAYS splurge on is denim; denim will last forever! The white baggy blouse has gold buttons and is also a size medium. I decided that I didn't want to wear it tucked in, so I let it flow over the skirt. It has a really nice fit and was soo comfortable. I wore a simple black (kind of) sports-bra garment underneath the sheer blouse and loved the way it looked! Especially because my strappy sandals (from H&M) were black also. The blouse is from Charlotte Russe and was $14.95. Such a steal! The shoes were $12.00, so, all together my outfit came to $66.95! A full special occasion outfit from a retail store for under $75.00! Sounds like smart shopping to me!

Here's what the outfit looked like put together:

Birthday (On A Budget)!

My boyfriend Cody's birthday was on July 16, he turned the BIG 2-1!

Here's a picture of the big, bad 21 year old eating the BIRTHDAY BREAKFAST I cooked for him!..

It was definitely an exciting time for, not only him, but every member of his family and his friends as well! We threw a "Christmas in July" themed party which turned out GREAT. We even rented a Sno Cone machine that was in the shape of a polar bear. It couldn't have worked out better! Now, I originally intended to fill up this post with details of the AMAZING dinner we had last night at Carmine's in Atlantic City, New Jersey, (located in the Tropicana Casino) but I'll save that for the next post!

So, let's start off with the food! My mom owns a restaurant in Ventnor, New Jersey, Called Domenico's. Luckily, she catered the party which saved me a very big amount of money! I was so relieved that I could put some of the food funds toward the decorations.

Here's a picture of the way we had the food set up:

I also picked up some snack food from Sam's Club. If you do not have a Sam's Club Card, I highly suggest getting one! They sell large quantities of food at (almost) wholesale prices. It's a great way to shop because it allows you to buy things in bulk for a cheaper price than if you were to buy them individually! I picked up a huge box of Capri Sun juice, lemonade, chips, dip, hamburgers, hot dogs, hot dog buns, hamburger buns, lollipops, those red candy-cane looking mints that remind you of Christmas :) and I also picked up this really cool iced tea pitcher! In total I spent about $150 there which was great for the amount of stuff I got, especially because everything came in such large quantities!

Now, onto the biggest hit at the party, the Sno Kone machine! It cost around $60.00 to rent the machine and then when you arrive at the store you have the option to buy the Sno Kone Juice and cups for the ice to go into. All together I spent $75.00 renting the Sno Kone machine. I got three packs of cups, the Sno Kone machine and two different flavored juices. Everyone LOVED it and it was well worth the money! I rented it from AC Party Rental located on the Black Horse Pike in Egg Harbor Township, New jersey.

 Here's a picture of the Sno Cone machine and their website: http://acparty.com/

My friend, Brittney, was REALLY liking the polar bear head.. Can you tell?

However, the thing that made my night wasn't the Sno Cone machine, it was the fact that everyone really took the theme of the party serious and got all dressed up for it! We had a green, red and white dress code and it made me so happy to see that people cared enough to acknowledge the theme!

Here's a picture of one of my favorite outfits from the night!

All-in-all the party was a HUGE success. It [the party] got us all in the Christmas spirit! Here are some more pictures from our very own Christmas in July celebration!

Welcome!

Welcome to my brand new blog and thank you for reading my very first blog post! I'm still getting used to this, so try and bear with me while I learn the ways of the blogging world! If you would like to know some background on me you can click on the "About Me" tab! I also have a tab that will lead you to my online thrift store, so click away and explore! I look forward to discussing my day-to-day thoughts, savings and experiences with everyone!

Don't forget to subscribe and follow me on twitter and instagram! @BriMazzuca