Spotlights on...Nicklas Bendtner!

Today's spotlight is on Nicklas Bendtner. He plays for Arsenal F.C and is the true living proof of young talent. Before Arsenal, Nick played for F.C Copenhagen before joiningArsene Wenger'sarmy of youngsters and so far, he has scored 42 goals for Arsenal and he has only been playing for the Gunners for 3 seasons which is an accomplishment by itself.

You see those abs.Heavenly! Okay...lets play a game. Divert your attention from his abs to a lower part of his body and no i don't mean that. Look at his boots. What colour are those? Yes, hot pink. He is very famous of wearing the "Nike Mercurial vapor Rosas". He just loves them. Why? Because he didn't have any pink boots when he was young. Well, it was for a reason.
During the 2006/2007 campaign he was loaned out to Birmingham City which he made 42 appearances and 11 goals. Not bad, Nick. He also has made all Great Danes in this Earth proud by helping them qualify for the 2010 World Cup. Because of his patriotic contributions he was awarded the Danish Footballer of the Year Award 2009 by his country.
IF you had thought this was Nick's mom, you were wrong. This is his rumored girlfriend who is btw, 13 years his senior. I didn't know you liked cougars, Nick. They met when Nick was a guest star on some Danish renovation program or some sort and his now GF, Caroline Fleming who was on the show to renovate her castle(yup, castle, i'll tell you later) to a museum alongside her millionaire banker then hubby. Why does she even have a castle? She is a Baroness to the Danish Royal Family.

POV: Nick is a cute,sexy,gorgeous, sexy,handsome, did i say sexy. Yes I might have a crush on him but there is no doubt that Nicklas is a talented striker who has made his star shine after Arsenal's second main man, Robin van Persie was sidelined due to injury until the end of the season. Best of Luck to you Nick on being one of the Best Strikers in the World.

Currently: Recovering from having a groin surgery. Just celebrated his 22nd B'day. Will recover in about 3 weeks. cant wait to see him netting more goals.

Kristen Bell Hairstyle

Kristen Bell has a very beautiful hair and gorgeous models here are some hair from her please look ok.

Liverpool, Arsenal.

I just got bored then I saw this pic. This pic shows a Liverpool fan with a banner saying " I still TRUST RAFA" which not many people are doing now even Liverpool fans. Rafa Benitez is currently under scrutiny after having a not-so-impressive form this season. Liverpool did win Tottenham 2-0 which moved them to 6th place of the table.

Arsenal have now went to the top of the English Premier League after defeating Bolton Wanderers by 4-2. Arsenal battled back from 2-0 down to beat Bolton and go top of the Barclays Premier League.

Owen Coyle's men - beaten 2-0 by the Gunners on Sunday - took a shock lead on seven minutes through Gary Cahill and Matthew Taylor doubled the advantage from the penalty spot.However, Arsenal rallied through Tomas Rosicky's strike before half-time, with Cesc Fabregas and then Thomas Vermaelen turning things around before Andrey Arshavin netted a fourth to take the Gunners above Chelsea on goal scored. I guess this was their stupid game in hand....:(

Man Utd Players Return to England!

Sir Alex Ferguson and co. had recently went to Qatar for a 4-day training camp in Doha to escape the current Artic conditions all over Europe. But before the game against Burnley, the players had a training at Carrington.

I respect Obertan for wearing shorts...

"Look, No hands"!

In action...

Honeymoon Packing & Fashions

If you watch Bravo's "Million Dollar Listing," you know that one of the realtors, Chad Rogers is super-OCD with the way he packs. I can relate.

My husband always makes fun of Chad and his zip lock bags, but guess who's laughing now?

That's right ladies, we packed almost all of our stuff into zip lock bags. It's all about the roll and compress. Repeat after me "roll...and compress."

Here's how it started out- can you see my dear husband zip-locking? OH YES! I HAVE EVIDENCE!!! Please direct your attention towards the top left of the photo:

Poor Lulu. He gets sad when he sees suitcases because he just knows it means mommy and daddy are leaving. If you could see his face in the above photo, you would see how sad he looks. :(

Here's some of our product zip lock bags. I bought travel bottles for shampoo, conditioner, body wash and face wash. That way I can take good shampoo but not have to worry about bringing huge bottles (and thus taking up lots of room in our luggage.)

Yep, those are sour patch kids below (to the left). Gotta bring some candy fixes.



Above, you can see the inside of our luggage. Oh glorious zip locks! They just make me feel so happy and organized, and clothes stay clean if anything spills and the bag breaks.

Here are a few of my fave dress picks that I packed: (for dinners, etc)

The above dress is from Forever 21. Here is me wearing it this past summer (with a belt from Club Monaco)


I absolutely love that dress. I think it's the perfect vacation dress. Then, there's this white beauty:
And here I am in the dress last summer. I know you can't see it very clearly but it is a great summery dress. It is made of a taffeta material, I think. Also from Forever 21. I love the little flowers at the bust. They add a little something extra. I think it would be a cute after party dress for a bride having a beach wedding.

Continuing with my Forever 21 theme, I bought this cute dress on a whim right before our wedding. I wore it the next day when we lounged by our hotel pool for awhile. It is REALLY short, so I can only wear it as beach attire.

Oh the shortness. Going off on a tangent here but...Forever 21 really needs to consider making a "tall" line. Seriously. I will pay extra for the fabric. It makes me so sad when a gorgeous dress that would cost like $300 at BCBG is $27.50 at Forever 21 but I can't buy it because it's like a shirt on me.

Then there's this pretty cotton dress from Zara. I wore it while getting ready for our wedding. Perfect for slipping over a bikini. I think the detailing on the bust is what makes it so unique and not just a typical cotton strapless dress. It really looks cute on.



Love it!

I wore the dress below to my rehearsal dinner. It is also from Forever 21 (see a pattern here- they have the cutest most affordable dresses!)

I like it. It's bright and flowy, perfect for the beach, if I must say so myself! It is also one of those dresses that you need a tan to rock so this next week will be a good time to wear it! It has a cool criss-cross thing going on in the back with the purple satin strings.

I am also brining this black dress. It is such a staple. I really find it so easy to change the look of it with a belt or another accessory. It has a bubble hem, which can be tricky, but I think because of my height I can get away with it.

That was my bachlorette party- hence the crown. The pic below shows it with a bright pink flower I pinned to it. Believe it or not, the flower is from Papyrus (as in the paper store. yep) I saw it and though...this would look cute on a dress or cardigan or in my hair...it was like $5 so I just got it!

Those are just some of the dresses I packed, so I thought I would share. Let me know what you think! Some of my other picks can be find in previous haul posts where I bought bikinis and other beach wear :)

Then, there is this fabulousness. Behold my beach hat:

Please ignore my shiny skin. I got a spray tan earlier this evening and haven't washed it off yet.

Sigh. This hat makes me feel like a rich person who owns a yacht. LOL. I don't know why but for some reason it makes me think of those society women who wear one piece swimsuits with big huge rimmed hats and massive sunglasses. I love it. Mine is from Zingara Swimwear.

Do you love my plaid PJ pants and workout top? hehe! I'm not always so fashionable!

Before I go, I want to mention that I found a great way to re-use those zip-up clear plastic packages that bed sheets come in- I use them when I pack! I am SO paranoid about losing my luggage that I pack all of my expensive stuff in my carry on. So in this case, I packed my pricey bathing suits, cover ups and dresses into my carry on. I wasn't able to include everything, but I picked what mattered most/what I would wear the most/what was priciest. This way if anything were to happen I'd have some options (though I pray my luggage comes through!) I used the clear zip-up thing that came with my bed sheets and it fit almost all of my bikinis and helped compress them so they fit perfectly into my large, carry-on handbag.

What is your packing system? Are you crazy enough to even have one like me? Do you unpack when you get to your destination, or live out of your suitcase? Let me know in the comments below!

Thank you so much for your support, for reading and overall for being lovely!

xoxo,

Veronika.

An Apology

It has come to my attention that some of my readers found it offensive that I posted about the crisis in Haiti in the same post as the "vacation beauty prep."

My intention was never to offend anyone, but to simply bring to light the fact that I care about what is happening and that the people of Haiti were in my thoughts and prayers.

I am very sorry if the entry offended you, as it is never my intention to offend anyone who reads this blog. Perhaps having the two entries in the same post was a not well thought-out choice. Normally, I just let the negative comments slide, but I felt I had to address this one because people who know me know that I am committed to helping the community in any way that I can- through my work with non profit organizations, through volunteering and through monetary donations.

With that said, I also want to touch on the fact that the charities people choose to donate to are a personal choice and no one should ever be made to feel bad for not donating to a certain cause.

Natural disasters require the help of many people to aid in recovery efforts. Galvestonians in my state are still recovering from Hurricane Ike, even over a year later.

I was very saddened to see the suffering of the people in Haiti. My husband and I chose to make our donation today through The American Red Cross. If you'd like to do so, I encourage you to check out their website.

Thank you for reading,

xoxo,

Veronika.

A Quick Pre-Vacation Update: Vaycay Beauty Rituals

I am going to the Dominican Republic on Sunday on our honeymoon and for my good friend's wedding. Kind of bittersweet considering what's happened in Haiti. Very sad to see all of those images in the news and to think about all of those people. If you pray, I encourage you to pray for this nation and its people.

I don't know if I'm in the minority here, but I totally PREP for a beach vacation. I order new bathing suits, dresses, sandals etc. I love wearing a different bikini every day.

However, the most important prep is my beauty prep. I have let myself get super pale and have been exfoliating like crazy to get my skin prepped and ready...for a professional airbrush tan! I can't imagine arriving in the DR like a ghost, so I am going to get a lovely glow via airbrush. I go to a girl here in Houston in the Galleria area who does an amazing job for $35. Email me if you'd like her info. Considering most places charge 50-100$, I'd say 35$ is a DEAL.

Please make me glow-y like Brooklyn Decker.

Then on Saturday after taking my final pre-vaycay pilates session, (I've gone everyday this week except for Tuesday, when I did cardio and a workout video) I am going for the brazilian.

Yep. For anyone who has done this before- you know the (slight) pain, but you also know the results are worth it. The place I go to (European Wax Center) has great prices and it actually hardly hurts at all. I truly don't feel pain because they use this special beeswax stuff (it's blue.) Apparently it only grabs the hairs and not the skin.

Saturday is also my mani/pedi appointment. I have a confession: my toes are disgusting right now. Like literally patchy Lincon Park After Dark polish chipped all over the place. I am like utterly embarassed when I have to take my shoes off at pilates only to reveal my gross toes.

Truth is, I was trying to save money by doing at-home pedicures, and I have gotten lazy since I'm always wearing tights. I badly need this professional pedicure. Oh so badly. I would take a pic of how bad they are, but no one needs to see that.

Do you do your own nails or do you always get them done professionally?

I am also going to try to do a seperate vacation packing post. I really hope I'll have time to do it tomorrow night. I'm going to show pretty much everything I'm bringing, and also discuss my packing strategy...because I have one...because I'm an organization, type-A freak and I need to pack a certain way.

How do YOU prep for a vacation? Any special rituals or beauty treatments?

I would say the spray tan, wax and mani/pedi are pretty standard (not to mention the MONTHS of working out to look cute in a bikini!)

Let me know in the comments below!

xoxo,

Veronika.

PS- Yes, my luggage is HOT PINK!