My August Favorites

Happy Labor Day weekend and first day of September! This has been a crazy week. I had back to school and all the stress and excitement associated with that, then on Friday my wonderful in-laws took ALL the kids to spend the weekend with them. Justin and I have 3 days to ourselves! Our 3 year anniversary was August 20th so we've been celebrating the past few days. Friday night we hopped around town, slept in on Saturday and lounged around most of the day, and then met two other couples for dinner. This morning Justin went for to his fantasy football draft so I am in the house ALL BY MYSELF. It is such a rare occurrence that I'm not quite sure what to do with myself. Read? Clean? Watch TV? Work? Workout? So much to do, so little time.

The end of summer is upon us so I thought I'd share some of my favorite things from Summer 2014.

Makeup and Beauty
I splurged and purchased the "Modern Mermaid" box from Birchbox. I had a promo for 20% off and they were offering free shipping so I was able to get this and a mystery sample pack of products for  $35. I gave the nail polish and lip balm as gifts and kept the rest for myself. I absolutely love the blue eyeliner and the sea salt spray for adding texture to your hair. I've had several compliments on the blue liner already. I keep the perfume in my purse and use it throughout the day at school-its a nice scent and one I wouldn't have picked out myself. I don't have much use for the waterproof "mascara" so I'll hold onto that for next summer.

If you haven't signed up for Birchbox and decide to check it out, don't forget my referral code https://www.birchbox.com/invite/crystalking

Sports

I know I mentioned the World Cup in a previous post, but how can I not mention it again? It was so fun to watch the USMNT's run at glory. I spent a whole month living and breathing FIFA soccer. I loved going to bars around the area to watch the games. I can't believe I have to wait another 4 years for the next World Cup. 

Music
For my birthday Justin bought me tickets to ACL this October. I'm so excited!!! I've been listening to all the artists that will be headlining and I stumbled across Phantogram. I had heard one of their songs on 91.7 KXT and wasn't too crazy about it but I gave them another chance and much to my surprise I am REALLY digging their music! I love Metric and Phantogram reminds me of them in a way.  Check out my favorite song by them:
Phantogram Black Out Days
I also heard the next band on Sirius Alt Nation and I've been listening to their songs on repeat:
Fenech-Soler Last Forever

Books
I didn't get to read as many books this summer as I would have liked, but my fall list is pretty extensive. It has a bunch of scripts on it (I'm a theatre teacher) as well as Stephen King. I've never read any of his books and looking forward to it! There is one book that I really enjoyed that I didn't think I would like so much-"If I Stay" by Gayle Forman. Every other page seemed to have me in tears. The main character is in a horrible car crash with her mom, dad, and bother, and she has to decide if she wants to stay here on earth or move on. When I was reading the reviews I unfortunately found out the ending, but I still enjoyed the book.

What are your favorite things from Summer 2014? Any special memories?