Monday, August 19, 2013

REVIEW OF BETHESDA DRYBAR

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Recently my girlfriend Kelly invited me and a few girls to Bethesda's Drybar to get pampered before a night out in Georgetown for her birthday. I was excited to try it out!

When we walked in we were offered sparkling pink lemonade or cucumber water - both were delicious.


As you are getting your hair done, they play classic chick flicks and girly tunes - I was in heaven. I chose the cosmo and the birthday girl got the southern comfort. All hair styles are named after drinks!

One thing I hated was the check out process. The front desk girl was very unorganized and all receipts are emailed to you - which she completely forgot to tell us. Another thing was was disappointing is that all receipts are emailed to the individual who books the appointment - in this case, the birthday girl - so in reality when we paid for her hair, our surprise didn't go as smoothly.


While the girls who chose a style didn't love their hair (myself included), the girls who got a blow out loved theirs. I would definitely go back with a group of friends even though I didn't like the end result because ultimately it was a fun and relaxing experience to have with friends. All styles were $40.

The day I have a daughter, I will definitely take her here to get the "shirley temple" for a mother-daughter day.


On the metro heading to Georgetown with the gorgeous birthday girl in the middle!


When we got home I redid all of the ladies hair and make up - Elena is such a classic beauty. She makes me want to go brunette for the fall!



The weather couldn't have been more perfect. We had the best time laughing with friends!

Sunday, August 18, 2013

STUFF LATELY - HOUSE TOUR

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Life has been crazy around here lately! I recently decided to step away from the advertising agency work scene and step into the corporate world. It was a bittersweet decision for me - I really love the fast-paced, high-energy nature of agency life, but I am so ready to see what opportunities are waiting for me with this move. I'm excited for my first day tomorrow!

With that being said, I need to completely overhaul my wardrobe and stock it with corporate essentials. It's time to actually take my clothes to the dry cleaner when they read, "Dry Clean Only" instead of just not sticking them in the dryer after washing and hoping for the best (I can't be the only one who does this). I'm off to the outlets today with Chris' sister. :-)

 Lately Chris and I have been excited talking about the possibility of building our "forever" home. We love love our home now - we've had so much fun with projects, we are less than a mile from our best friends and my mom and our location/back yard is killer - but we also know that realistically it's not our "forever" home and we would outgrow the house when we decide to have kids. <--- I feel like so many of our decisions revolve around having kids now. It's not in the near future, but we've definitely been talking and preparing ourselves that in the next 2 years this will be reality.

A new neighborhood is supposedly coming to the area in 2015 (perfect timing for us) so Chris and I decided to check out a neighborhood by the same builder to see the types of homes offered. We love the area we live now and I couldn't imagine more than a 5 minute drive to my Moms.



I love the exterior of this model - the windows around the door have me sold. How gorgeous would this house look with a hunter green or peacock blue front door? The garage door could also easily be transformed into a carriage style with hardware purchased at HD or Lowes.


One thing I loved with this builder is almost all of the floor plans offer a master bedroom with vaulted or cathedral ceilings. This particular model had french doors leading into the master which had me sold - I'm easy to win over. 


Has anyone seen this mirror in stores? I'm about to call up the agent of this model and ask where the designer got it - I fell hard for this mirror. 


Chris and I couldn't get over the size of the master closet! I mean honestly this could be a sitting room. My mom said we would have to get an ottoman or island for the closet like they have on RHOBH - done. Just call me Mrs. Vanderpump.


 The master bath sold over Chris - right now we only have 1 bathroom upstairs, with one vanity. Needless to say, Chris has moved to the downstairs bathroom to get ready in the morning.


All of the bedrooms upstairs were a good size with french door closets - my mom hates them, I love them. So win for me. 

Did I also mention the laundry room is on the second floor? That is definitely a must-have on our list after having to go into the basement to do laundry. My mom's laundry room is on the second floor and it is so convenient to walk out of your room and have everything there. I can only imagine how nice with babies and kids.


I do appreciate that crown molding and chair railing is standard with this builder. I'm not too keen on the columns (too formal for me), but Chris likes them. 


I will miss having a wood burning fireplace. Nothing beats that smell in the fall/winter. I love the amount of windows in these homes - I love bright, natural light. The windows also had really nice, deep sills. 


This builder doesn't allow you to choose your granite color and I'm pretty sure they only offer 2 cabinet color choices (they typically don't offer choices, but more things come standard without a price increase). That's definitely a bummer in my book - I really love our white kitchen and it would be a shame to paint over brand new cabinets. These were very pretty, just not my first choice. This kitchen is a win for us though - we have about half the amount of cabinets and counter space of this kitchen and currently no pantry.

 All in all, there is no telling what the market or interest rates will be in the next year or two - but we've put ourselves on the list and are excited to build a home we can grow in! Also, I'm pretty sure Chris is happy there won't be as many big projects like replacing toilets and installing granite in our next home.