April 2013 Budget Recap

Tags

budgeting, personal finance, spending

*NOTE: This budget is for shopping/food/gas only, or expense that I can control fully. I’m not including fixed expenses (mortgage, utilities, medical bills) because they’re fixed and honestly pretty boring to talk about. My TOTAL spending is not reflected in this budget. “Food & Dining” = Eating Out + Groceries *

Blown Budgets:

1. Food & Dining  (this category is eating out PLUS groceries together)

2. Groceries

We’re drinking a at least 1 green veggie smoothie every day now so we’re constantly buying produce.  We stocked up at Fresh and Easy, Trader Joe’s, and Costco this month.

3. Clothing

• Forever 21 haul - $45.35
• Urban Outfitters studded sweatshirt, pleated faux leather skirt & a geometric top – $32.58
• A long sleeved, light weight workout top for mosquito coverage at night in Fiji, from TJMaxx – $18.48
• Brandy Melville Eve Silk shorts from Ebay (and NEW with tags! yay) – $7.75
• Brandy Melville Monet top from Ebay – $24
• Brandy Melville LA Bones top from Ebay – $19.99

4. Shoes & Accessories

• Vintage Chanel purse circa 1997, Ebay (and I got it authenticated just in case, phew.) – $1,534.09

Overall budget:

-$1909

The Verdict?

GUESS what item tipped the scale from bad to worse! lol.

Next months plans:

• We cleaned up the garage and we’re getting ready to empty out the kitchen for the kitchen reno while we are gone on vacation
• We’re leaving on Saturday!!!! omgomgomg!
• HAH last month I hoped that I wouldn’t go crazy with pre-vacation spending…..and that definitely happened.  Oh well.  
• Aside from Fiji/NZ/Sydney I’m going to Michelle Phan’s Generation Beauty Event!  I recently got a free invite and luckily I was able to bring Serena along with me…. GIRLS WEEKEND VACAYYY!!! So excited for that as well! May is going to be AWESOME. 

♥ E&I

Born Pretty Store Rose Nail Water Decals Product Review and Demo

Tags

born pretty store, nail art, nail polish, nails, review, rose, water decals, youtube

Nail water decals: (The rose design is DESIGN #9)

http://www.bornprettystore.com/butterfly-rose-flower-skull-water-decals-nail-stickers-p-5310.html

For 10% OFF use COUPON CODE ELLW10

Other Materials:
Pink pointer & pinky nail: OPI Mod About You http://amzn.to/1745o7I
Dotting tool (for glitter dots): http://amzn.to/17pdMjf
White middle nail: Sinful Colors Snow Me White
Ring finger glitte & glitter dots: Revlon Sparklicious
Topcoat: http://amzn.to/Yb1697

FIJI! It’s finally here!!

Tags

australia, fiji, miles and points, new zealand, travel, united

After almost a year of planning, 2 flubbed United itineraries (thanks to their terrible IT), and over a year of collecting miles and points…

We’re finally off to Fiji this Saturday. FINALLY! I feel like I haven’t had a vacation in ages.

Originally we were just going to go to Fiji and back, but every time United screwed up I was able to make lemonade out of lemons and add another country to our trip itinerary.

The agenda:
1 night in Auckland, New Zealand
8 nights in Fiji
4 nights in Sydney, Australia

The total flight cost: 140,000 United points and $235/pp out of pocket (cheaper than a Hawaii flight from Northern California)
The hotel cost: $100 USD for Auckland, $60/night and 4,000 SPG points/night for Fiji, and in Sydney we’re staying at Justin’s cousin’s place for free.

I really could not have done it without the help of miles and points bloggers like The Points Guy and Million Mile Secrets.

Once the trip is over, I will be documenting it in the “MY VACATIONS” page on the blog, with lots of photos and tips if you ever happen to visit one day.

We will also be completing our diving certification there. I’m a little nervous to be honest. I’m nervous about finally scuba diving in the ocean (I did it when I was little and in my late teens but it has been a while) and I’m nervous about going to a new country!

The flight to Sydney for our first layover will be about 14 hours O__O

Do you have any plane-sleeping tips for me?

❤E&I

Melting Icing Nail Tutorial

Tags

dripping, kawaii, melting, nail art, nail polish, nails

Something sweet

Materials:
Essie Van D’Go
Sinful Colors Unicorn
The Face Shop GR505
Sinful Colors Sugar Rush
Sinful Colors Sweet Tooth
Zoya Danielle
Zoya Trixie http://amzn.to/10K6Wja
Fine Nail Art Brush http://amzn.to/14Ojlt5
Dotting Tool http://amzn.to/17pdMjf
Silver sequin stars
CND Stickey Base Coat http://amzn.to/XBrttP
Seche Vite Topcoat http://amzn.to/Yb1697

Neon Tribal Nail Tutorial

Tags

how to, nail art, nails, tribal, tutorial, youtube

Materials:
Zoya Zuza http://amzn.to/15gjNPS
Revlon Minted http://amzn.to/11wSmx8
Kleancolor Neon Lime http://amzn.to/XqszGt
Kleancolor Neon Orange http://amzn.to/XqszGt
Essie Blanc http://amzn.to/ZfweEx
Zoya Trixie http://amzn.to/10K6Wja
Sinful Queen of Beauty http://amzn.to/14FCH3v
QA15 Plate http://www.meliney.com/cat-image-plate-qa15/
Konad Black Polish http://amzn.to/12G4LyE
CND Stickey Base Coat http://amzn.to/XBrttP
Seche Vite Topcoat http://amzn.to/Yb1697
(Freehand nail art polish) Milani Nail Art Nail Lacquer, Black Sketch 703 http://amzn.to/Xquz1p
Konad Stamper & Scraper Set http://amzn.to/ZfspiC
Zoya Remove http://amzn.to/14UI6me
Synthetic Brush http://amzn.to/XXrHf4

Tribal print is very on trend for sunny spring and summer weather. The look can be a bit much sometimes, so I added a glitter accent nail to cleanse the palette a bit. I also included a few other colorways in case you want something a little different.