Author: xoakelly

Beauty

MY GO TO SELF TANNING!

by xoakellyLeave a Comment on MY GO TO SELF TANNING!

If you’re anything like me, spray tan is life. You feel better, look better, you swear you look 10 lbs skinnier with a nice bronzed tan! Unfortunately for me, being in South Korea, there are ZERO spray tan booths here. When I first heard we were coming to South Korea for about 7 months,I immediately googled two things 1) do they do tape in extensions and 2) are there spray tan booths in Seoul, South Korea. NO LIE. Hahaha! Andddddddddd sadly, they do not have spray tan booths/ tanning beds here! In their culture, they believe the whiter the skin, the better. They even have bleaching booths and serums here. Which is total opposite of what I want to be! Hahaha! So, I stalked up before I left ON ALL the tanning lotions, bronzers and mists. My favorite tanning products are St. Tropez foam and Bondi Sands mist. I recently discovered Bondi Sands while in Australia as it was in every drug store. I purchased the “dark mist” and it’s a game changer, I LOVE it! I do a little potion mix with these 2 products. This is how I achieve my perfect right out of the tanning salon airbrush look:

The night before I need to look like I just was in the Bahamas for a week, I exfoliate in the bath, shave and scrub off,any remains I may have! You can use any body scrub, or even use a small hand towel soak it up with soap and get to scrubbing in the warm shower. If you look a little red from scrubbing, don’t panic,you are doing it right! Beauty is pain, AM I RIGHT?? Showering is also okay. I just feel its easier to get off any remaining spray tan/ exfoliate while in the tub!  After getting out of the bath, I moisturize with my nivea lotion! I let that soak in for about 30 minutes. Once that’s completely dry, I get out my tanning mit (St. Tropez Tanning mit) my St. Tropez mouse, and rub that all over my body. I always seem to notice I start with my legs. I use about 2 pumps per body part (example: 2 pumps lower leg, 2 pumps thigh, 2 pumps stomach, etc.!) I rub it, in a circular motion with my mitten. I wait again.This time only 10 minutes and do a second layer. For pajamas, sleep in loose clothes, no sports bras or booty shorts. I always wear Casey’s shirts to sleep in! In the morning, when I take a shower I don’t scrub and rub! I simply get under the water and quickly, and I mean QUICKLY soap my body down and out in 3 minutes! I never want to be in there for more then 5 minutes as that will take off the tan. After my shower, I carefully dry off. You do not want to grab the towel and rub your skin with it, lightly, dab off or air dry! I personally air dry! Once you are dry, again moisturize with your lotion! This allows your tan last longer! Being moisturized makes your tan last longer, go on smoothly and evenly all over! After 30 minutes I again, get my tanning mit out, apply the St. Tropez mouse again! After 10 minutes, instead of going over again with the mouse.. I grab my Bondi Sands mist spray which is also in dark and mist that ALL OVER MYSELF. I swear it’s the perfect combo! I believe the Bondi Sands mist spray doesn’t do much without a base, with the St. Tropez as my base it makes me that perfect dark bronzed 10 lbs lighter goddess we all wanna be! 😉 I never tan my face..ever! I always have a second foundation on deck for when I’m darker, and I just whip that out! I can always tell when girls do their face and honestly it looks like they just rubbed mud all over and all I can think about is their poor pores on your face! I SWEAR going the darker shade in your foundation is key! For your hands and feet, simply go over it once lightly with your mist!

BEFORE&AFTER

Another product I do love for last minute, SOS I need to be Tan in 5 minutes is Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs! Now, I LOVE this product, Sally and I have had a perfect relationship for 7 years now! While dancing for the Phoenix Suns, we ALL used this! Its defitnely WAY thicker and cakier, more of a flawless tan and you will be SO DARK, IMMEDIATELY! I only recommend this if you don’t have time to let your St. Tropez to soooakkkkk into those pores! You must be careful with this product though! It will get on your clothes if you start sweating or if you spill something on your leg you will look like your melting!

I LOVE being really dark so I always go the darkest in my products!

St. Tropes Mousie & mit

https://www.ulta.com/self-tan-dark-bronzing-mousse?productId=xlsImpprod13781267

https://www.ulta.com/applicator-mitt?productId=xlsImpprod5070019

BONDI BEACH

https://www.walgreens.com/store/c/bondi-sands-self-tanning-mist/ID=prod6393464-product

Sally Hansen

https://www.walgreens.com/store/c/sally-hansen-airbrush-legs-leg-makeup/ID=prod3178633-product?skuId=sku3177465

NIVEA

https://www.walgreens.com/store/c/nivea-essentially-enriched-body-lotion/ID=prod6177784-product

Travel

..SPRING TRAINING 2019

by xoakellyLeave a Comment on ..SPRING TRAINING 2019

Well the time has come… spring training is over!!! We had such an amazing time between Australia and Japan, and it was such an experience for us to have spring training in 2 different countries in one year! A little background on baseball (for those who have no idea what spring training is) and background on his team:The LG Twins are a Korean baseball organization, just like any other team in the MLB back in America. They are obviously based in Seoul, South Korea and play all the other KBO teams in South Korea. They have spring training just like the MLB does back in America (where spring training is in either Arizona or Florida.) Spring training is pretty much getting all the guys ready before season. LONG days of training and a couple of games. My husband is a pitcher, so he only plays every 5 days but still must go to the fields! While he’s at the fields (from 8 AM- 3 PM) I have lottttssss of free time!

We spent 5 weeks in Australia and a little over 2 weeks in Japan! In Australia, we stayed in Rooty Hill, which is 45 minutes outside of Sydney! There wasn’t a lot to do in Rooty hill, it’s a smaller town, but every three days the LG twins had an off day and that meant one thing to us… EXPLORE SYDNEY!

For our first off day we went to Bondi Beach! I’ve never heard of it before, but it was the most BEAUTIFUL BEACH I’ve ever seen in my life! We went to iceberg pool which is right above and overlooks the beach and had lunch up there. We hung out at the pool instead of the beach because it was so crazy packed. After we got a good bronze on, we headed down to the shops that are all along the beach which was so freaking cool! We sipped on amazingly fruity cocktails all afternoon and enjoyed some chocolate ice cream until it was time to head back to Rooty Hill. I really would have loved to of gone back to Bondi Beach but unfortunately, we never did. It was so far away from our hotel, it took us about an hour to get there! The other off days consisted of zoos, shopping at Westfield mall (the biggest mall I’ve ever been too and it legit, is a huge maze trying to find your way around there!) Two of the nights before the off day we decided to stay the night in Sydney, that way we woke up and we were already there to hit the town! On one of those nights, it was Valentine’s Day, so it was so perfect to have a nice romantic dinner in! Casey surprised me as I walked into the room and had bottle of Veuve champagne for us and rose petals on the bed in shape of a heart! Also, side note … always wanted it and always have seen in movies, but OMG what a pain to try to go to sleep in! Like what do you do? Throw all the rose petals to the ground? Then my OCD kicks in and wants to clean everything up! All in all, it was so very sweet and super cute! We had a nice romantic dinner at the hotel we were staying at The Sofitel, which I 100% recommend if you’re ever in Sydney!! We stayed at The Sofitel which is right on the harbor that overlooked the Ferris wheel, and man what an amazing view that is! Another off day I decided it was time…time to say ADIOS to my hair extensions and take them out…SADDEST DAY EVER!! I had done a ton of researching online and found an adorable salon in Blacktown called Ombre Hair Sydney. I went in for a consult a week before and they were super nice, knew what they were doing and I felt very comfortable getting my hair done by them, I’m super picky when it comes to my hair! I also decided to do a Foe root, so that I don’t have to worry about touch ups in Seoul and took out my extensions for the same reason- not to worry about who will be doing them! My stylist was sweet enough to give me a little bit of bleach and toner to touch up the front of my hair line, so it’ll always be brighter around the frame! I had bought some clip ins hair extensions from them so I can throw those bad boys in when we have a night out, but honestly, I’m loving being able to run my hands through my wispy mullet hair 🙂 conditioning treatments, bun, and biotin pills alllllll 2019 YA FEEL?! ANYWHO, I recommend Sydney for anyone who is thinking about a trip down UNDAH! It was a blast when we got away from our sweet little home in Rooty Hill and totally wish we were there the whole time, so we didn’t have to commute back and forth! There are tons to do, tons to see, everyone there is so freaking friendly and the coffee is amazing! The only thing is, and I’ve talked to a lot of people who have been there (they also agreed with me) we didn’t find any AMAZING restaurants! I could be totally wrong and maybe we were looking at all the wrong places, but we were definitely disappointed in that, because we LOVE OUR FOOOOOD! One of our Uber drives told us about this famous little hot dog stand that everyone knows about, and everyone goes to if they come to Sydney, so we of course checked that out – Casey’s favorite food is HOT DOG, gross I know 😂 and it was amazing! It’s called Harrys Café De Wheels. Up on the walls of this cute stand it had pictures of Elton Jon, Cher and many more celebrities that had been there years and years ago! The one thing I do have to say what I fell in love with there is TIM TAMS… OMG. We bought about 10 boxes on our last day! I’m a huge chocolate girl, I love my chocolate, and it is the most amazing chocolate bar I have had. Ever. Dark chocolate is the WAAAYYY to go!

Bondi Beach Iceberg pool
❤
  • AMAZING BUILDINGS IN SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
  • SHORT HAIR- I DO CARE! THANK YOU OMBRE HAIR SALON! XOXO
  • FAMOUS “HARRYS CAFE de Wheels” A MUST IN SYDNEY
  • VALENTINES DAY XOXO

Touchdown to OKINAWA!!! Okinawa is a tiny island and the water is SO crystal clear. It’s so beautiful! Like I said earlier we were only in Okinawa for 2 weeks – a little different then Australia spring training. Since we were here for a short time, Casey only has an off day every 5 days! The hotel we stayed at was nice, it was a Sheraton and more of a family resort! There was a tiny gym here which is why I didn’t film any of my workouts because there was about 10 people in this small little space and I’m an awkward turtle to be filming myself in front of people! Anyone else wonder how some girls can just strip down to their sports bra and lulu pants and take those bomb mirror selfies with 50 people behind them starring? Ya, I’m not one of those girls 😂. I definitely got my workout in, because what else is there to do for 7 hours alone?! I’d start out my day by getting in a great gym sesh, then head down to the beach which was RIGHT outside our hotel! When I’d be done relaxing on the beach, Casey would just be getting done with practice or game! I was super bummed I didn’t go to any of his spring training games, but they were pretty far away, and the language barrier is so REALLY difficult. Especially when Casey has no idea where the games are being held and there’s no Uber. Luckily, I got to watch on YouTube. Whoop whoop for technology! Haha! We had 2 days off and one was spent all day on the beach with my hubbbbyyyyyy and the other we went and ventured off with 2 of the other American players on his team to American village. Okinawa has a huge air force base here and right outside of it is a village called American Village, which has little shops and Americanized food!

NOW … WE ARE OFF TO OUR HOMEEEEEEEE FOR THE NEXT 7 Months in Seoul South Korea! I cannot WAIT to have a kitchen – went SIX WEEKS WITHOUT ONE and for baseball season to finally start and to go to the games! I will still be traveling, but just around South Korea! There are 9 other teams in South Korea LG TWINS play during the season and I will be going to them all! It’s super nice that I can travel by train and we don’t have to fly anywhere! I listed some links of where we stayed and favorite places to go if you ever go to these amazing places! 🙂 THANK YOU AND PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO MY BLOG SO YOU NEVER MISS OUT ON ANY OF MY LATEST POSTS! Xoxoxo

OUR HOTEL IS TO THE LEFT, LOOK HOW INCREDIBLE IT IS ..XOXO
GO BABY GO BABY GO! #3
AMERICAN VILLAGE
Wedding

OUR WEDDING PLANNING NIGHTMARE..3 MONTHS OUT!

by xoakelly1 Comment on OUR WEDDING PLANNING NIGHTMARE..3 MONTHS OUT!
OUR WEDDING PLANNING NIGHTMARE..3 MONTHS OUT!

      I STILL CANT BELIEVE my wedding is over! Its already been about 4 weeks since Casey and I said “I do!” Our wedding was SO unbelievably perfect I wouldn’t have changed a thing. My wedding planner, Ashley, at Your Jubilee was incredible and the venue at the Clayton House was EVERYTHIG I dreamt of. A lot of people don’t know this though, BUUUUUUT.. we planned it ALL in three months. Yes YOU read that correct.. three months. We had originally gone with a different venue/wedding planner, but it became A NIGHTMARE ….SOOO let me tell you a little BACKGROUND OF IT ALL, and how it all went down!

Back in February 2018, I had found my dream venue at The Croft in Phoenix, Arizona. It  was everything I wanted and more. It had the old empty rustic glam feel that I wanted. Chandeliers in the ceremony and reception room. The owner of The Croft Angela is also the “wedding planner” and you couldn’t bring outside wedding planners to her venue because obviously, she OWNED it and IS a wedding planner too. Her husband was a florist; so no need to get outside floral vendor. She also said that she had A HUGE warehouse of furniture, no need to use outside vendors. Pretty much like a “one stop shop.” Couldn’t have sounded anymore perfect to us and we paid the deposit immediately! It all just sounded so perfect.. ha..ha…ha…. :/ weeeellll…..

 WE had our 1st meeting “my vision board of wedding “ …which actually was just a slide show of a previous wedding she had planned and we were pretty much copying everything . She wanted to “re do” this look but couldn’t because after THAT wedding she had got an email from the bride that she couldn’t post anything on The Croft social media for some “drama” that had happened at the wedding.  … RED FLAG #1.

Over the summer, we had tried calling and emailing Angela but hardly ever got a response back. Her sweet assistant would get back to us, but she wouldn’t know any answers to our questions! Example: we needed a calligrapher for our acrylic signs (not knowing it was SO abnormal for us to be buying signs and researching it) her assistant had no idea who did calligraphy in Phoenix  😖(DOESNT 80% of weddings have calligraphy) Y’all are wedding planners?!? She told us to simply google one (LOL) but my wonderful momma found one off Instagram* shout out to FREED HANDS * 😂… RED FLAG #2

So after many months of me and my mom planning my wedding, (thank God for Instagram and Pinterest) I often would think, it’s so abnormal… She never gave us a check list, NEVER called , emailed , reached out to me FIRST, asking how everything was going. It was like hunting her down to get a simple yes or no on simply just asking to MEET with her for a time, date, etc. In October , we had a meeting , to go over EVERYTHING. When she sat down and opened up the folder she had time wrong, # in my bridal party…wrong ,the colors of my wedding …WRONG. I was holding back tears as she would cross off what she wrote down and what was correct “always coming back as if I told her “ ?? WEIRD FLEX BUT OKAY?!?!?!. We asked to see this “HUGE warehouse of furniture” she had so we could pick out some things a liiiiiiitle different from the slide show.. like maybe different couches, cutesy décor?!  Never ever showed us, she would always beat around the bush. She pointed to the ONE WHITE couch that was IN HER OFFICE and said this is the one you could rent from me, this is all I have. Just one?! ONE ?! (Holding back tears)

*AFTER MEETING…*Got into car*…. BURST into tears* … I am NOT having my wedding here. It’s 3 months out and she doesn’t even have the TIME correct?! I couldn’t IMAGINE how the day of wedding would go?!!? RED FLAG NUMBER 3

My amazing superhero mom called a wedding planner, Your Jubilee, and had told her everything. I still wanted it at the venue, I loved it so much… , but I just wanted home girl Angela to take a seat and to let Your Jubilee handle it all. They would come in as ‘mid planners’ for the finishing details. They called Angela and to told her and Angela was not okay with it. She had told them how she operates, and no outside planners allowed. She called and apologized and said she was so sorry, she was in Europe most of the summer and would love to have us have our wedding there and she – in her EXACT WORDS “wasn’t 100% in , but now she is” L-O-L.

If I couldn’t have Your Jubilee and Ashley, I was out. Your Jubilee had found me a venue (that night -the same DAY as the last meeting with Angela) The Clayton house was my second option, and they had an opening THE SAME DAY as my initial wedding date .. a sign FROM GOD. I had already sent out the save the dates, which ALSO on my own, had to figure out what website to do this on. I didn’t know a wedding planner was supposed to help.

Yes, we did lose money from The Croft (deposit of venue 😑- not fun) BUT I couldn’t have been happier then working with Ashley and Your Jubilee. Your Jubilee did more for me in just 1 month then Angela had in those 8 months. Your Jubilee contacted me more in just 1 week then Angela had in 8 months. I think I repeated in our meeting with Ashley “sooooo this is what it’s like to be planning a wedding ?!?” 50 times. They invested, listened, put their artistic talent into it and it WAS A dream. They didn’t copy a wedding they had done just so they could post on their social media since they couldn’t the first time, they created this look. They were heaven sent and if you are newly engaged or planning to get married soon. HIT. THEM. UP. I seriously wouldn’t have changed anything at all. It honestly just scares me to think if I HAD stuck to The Croft and with Angela, what would have happened the day of wedding.

I’m not about ever blasting anyone / companies on social media, but I really don’t want what happened to me happen to anyone else. There were tons and tons of red flags and yelp reviews – go look for yourself – that The Croft was bad news, but always would hold on because of the venue. And always Angela would turn it around and say it was the bride and groom fault. PLEASE, PLEASE if you are planning a wedding, go with your gut instinct. If your planner isn’t making you happy and isn’t doing what needs to be done and you’re paying them for it, DO NOT stay with them. They are supposed to be making your life a thousand times less stressful, like how Ashley and the whole Your Jubilee team did for me! I linked their website down below with some pictures so you can see how amazingly beautiful they planned this wedding in THREE FREAKING MONTHS! XOXO

((Here are a few photos of how AMAZING Your Jubilee created our wedding look! I haven’t received all my wedding photos back-so just sharing a couple from what they captured!  In the next couple months ill be posting a couple other WEDDING THEMED blogs on all the incredible venders we used, day of wedding details, and more))

Your Jubilee :https://yourjubilee.com/

About Me, Wedding

OUR LOVE STORY…

by xoakellyLeave a Comment on OUR LOVE STORY…
OUR LOVE STORY…

In the Summer of 2014, Casey was back in Scottsdale, AZ, rehabbing his elbow and I was living out my dream as a professional dancer with the Phoenix Suns. One afternoon i had noticed on Instagram, a super cute baseball player had followed me and liked a couple of my pictures-romantic right?! HAHA. I was freshly 21 and single, so i immediately gave him a follow back and liked a couple of his 😉 a week or so later, i got a DIRECT MESSAGE from Casey. It was a picture of an adorable puppy, saying “ When are we hanging out?” (Later found out he had just got his French bulldog, Mays a month before). I couldn’t say no to that FACE (Mays- not Casey’s HAHA). We started texting back and forth, me blowing him off, making every excuse why I couldn’t hang out (gotta play hard to get sistah). So finally we agreed to movies, and just like that…our first date! If you know Casey, he is the most genuine, kindest, funniest person I’ve ever met, so i definitely was super interested. After that first date, we began to hang out almost everyday until Casey’s rehab came to an end. Casey was back to his home, which is in Florida for the offseason and immediately flew me out to meet his family where we officially began to date! Since then, Casey and I have been going from city to city, traveling for baseball and pleasure and making our journey the most fun we could have! Fast forward to January 2018, Casey finally worked up the courage to ask me to marry him in Vail, Colorado. It was the most incredible time for the both of us. We then got married January 26, 2019 and it was the most magical day/ night of our lives. We now are on this AMAZING journey as Casey is playing in the KBO this season. I am along for the ride with my husband as newlyweds. We are currently in Australia for half of spring training then the other half will be in Japan! The regular baseball season will take place in Seoul, South Korea. We can’t wait to be on this once in a lifetime experience and hopefully start our own family soon!

  • OUR FIRST PICTURE TOGETER- 2014
  • SECONDS AFTER HE ASKED!!! 2018
  • THE BEST DAY OF OUR LIVES- JANUARY 26,2019 ❤
Travel

FAV suitcases, makeup case, etc.

by xoakellyLeave a Comment on FAV suitcases, makeup case, etc.
FAV suitcases, makeup case, etc.

SO as MANY of you know, I had to pack up my bags to move across the country for 8-10 months (depending on playoffs). IMMEDIATLY, SO many questions rushing through my head… how many suitcases can I bring?! WHAT DO I PACK?! AUSTRALIA, JAPAN, THEN SOUTH KOREA?! WHATS the weather like? ARE THERE SPRAY TANS AND DO THEY DO TAPE IN EXTENTIONS THERE?! (that’ll be for a later blog-& lets be REEEALLLLLL, that was THE FIRST QUESTION that came to mind, hehe). We were only allowed to bring three suitcases each and of course a carry on, and MAN was it time to get alllllll NEW luggage which I was THRILLED about!

I did SO much reserch on finding a lightweight, great quality but yet not costing an arm and a leg and OF COURSE, most importantly, a luggage set that was SO CUTE. Along with getting a whole new luggage set for each, it was time for a new makeup case and jewelry bag/case!

For my suitcases, I got all 3 of them on Heys.com ((LINK BELOW!)) I was super happy to see that they were on sale, AND STILL are on sale:) I purchased the black n gold PORTORO MARBLE which is so cute and to DIE for. For all three of the suitcases I purchased, I got the biggest size, which is 30″. The three differett sizes they come in are 30″, 26″, 21″. All suitcases have 360° spinner wheels, zipper-released expansion system allows for an extra 20% in packing capacity and TSA lock. They have a whole selection of Marble hardside suitcases which are white marble “BIANCO”, black marble “DAKARA” and the one I purchased, black and gold marble ” PORTORO”.

-30″- ORIGINAL PRICE : $359.99, $179.99

https://shop.heys.ca/collections/hardside-luggage/products/portoro-black-marble-30-fashion-spinnerh


ALRIGHT, now lets talk makeup & jewelry organizer! For both the cases, I already had in mind what I wanted..something to keep me ORGANIZED. In the past, I’ve always had huge makeup cases and jewelry bags that were great for putting everything in it, but nothing to keep organized and separated. Don’t you hate when your necklaces get all tangled? Or you can only find THAT ONE hoop. I FOUND the PERFEEECCTTTT cases for ALL that!! I was so excited when I found both of these!

  • HOLDS SO MUCH AND WILL KEEP YOU SO ORGANZIED!
  • DIVDERS MAKE IT SUPER EASY TO MOVE AROUND AS YOU PLEASE
  • BEHIND MY MAKEUP BRUSHES I CAN HOLD UP TO THREE EYESHADOW PALETS!

BELOW is the link where I got my makeup case and I purchased it on my favorite website…. AMAZON for only $20.98!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072B94GXN/ref=nav_timeline_asin?_encoding=UTF8&th=1

The jewelry organizer bag has made my life SO much easier. Never having to dig through all my necklaces, untangle them or try and find a missing earing. It’s a double sided hanging organizer case and it’s AMAZING. One side is for necklaces/braclets, the other is for all your earings (MY HOOOOPS…. embarrassed at how many I have! HAHA) So easy to fold up and put in your suitcase, then hang up once you’re at your location! I found this bad boy at MICHAELS FOR $13.39!

https://www.michaels.com/folding-canvas-jewelry-organizer/10273399.html#start=6