Short Stay in London

Hello Everyone!

I hope your weekend was great!

So like I promised in my last post I am going to be sharing my trip to London with you. 

My mom had a business trip in London, so me and my dad decided to join her. We left for the airport on Saturday January 10th for our flight to Washington D.C. at around 11 am, which was then delayed until 4 pm due to mechanical issues. We got to D.C. with about an hour until we had to board for our flight to London, which it didn't look like we would get on (my mom works for an airline so we fly on standby). The flight to London turned out to be on the same plane we had just gotten off of and was having the same mechanical issue. Now our flight to London was delayed until 1:30 am, but around 12 am they announced the flight had been canceled. After the announcement all 200 and something people started sprinting to the customer service desk to be the first one in line to re-book there flight and get hotel vouchers. So we just sat in our seats and tried to find another flight back to Houston to try and get on the 3 pm flight that left out of Houston to London on Sunday. We ended up taking a van from Dulles to the Reagan Nation airport at 3 in the morning to get on a flight to Houston that left at 5am. Once there our flight became delayed once again, I do not know why because I had fallen asleep as soon as I got on the plane. Once we got back to Houston everything was smooth sailing from there. 

We arrived in London on Monday, a day behind schedule, which sucked for me since I was only staying in London until early Wednesday morning. 

My first day in London, sadly I didn't really leave the airport, my dad and I took a nap while my mom went to her meeting at the hotel which was connected to the airport. Then we went to dinner at a restaurant in the airport and then back to the hotel bar for drinks with my mom's co-workers. I wanted to go into town and go shopping (we were 40 ish minutes from the center of London) since we finished dinner at around 6, but I lost on the vote. 

So the second day my dad and I did every touristy thing you could possible do in London. 

First we took a walk through Green Park to get from the subway station to Buckingham Palace. I must say I did a great job at navigating throughout the whole day, including the subway. Green Park was nice, and well green for it being winter. It was typical weather for England that day, which is my favorite kind, but I could have lived without the wind. 

However, the pigeons in this park were a bit on the crazy side. They would fly inches away from you, and I personally don't like birds ever since one pooped on my head when I was younger. I will say that they do have some pretty feathers. 

 We then got to Buckingham Palace, which I thought it seemed a bit smaller in person. There was quite a lot of people visiting at the same time we were, so it was extremely difficult to get a picture of the whole building without getting shots of other people. 

 They also didn't have any of the "typical" guards, with the big fluffy hats and red suits. I am not sure if they even have them at Buckingham Palace or if they still dress like that, but it didn't really matter either way to me. I am not the kind of person to want to try to mess with them. 

This is one of my favorite pictures, I just really love how the gate looks with the building.

 Now, I know this is the back of the statue, but we didn't walk all the way around the square or whatever you would call it. I have no idea what this statue is called or what it is for. If you know please feel free to tell me because honestly I am to lazy to google it. 

We then moved on from Buckingham Palace, and took a nice walk to Big Ben and the Eye. 

 We walked by another park that I do not know the name of. We even got to see some of London's cute little taxies, which I never did get to ride in. 

 One reason why I love Europe more than America is there architecture. These were just some of the cute apartment building we saw through the day. 

 This picture is tied for my favorite along with the picture of the Eye, which is shown below. It was just about to start pouring rain when I took these last few picture. I just love how the grey sky makes the colors pop out. 

We didn't end up going on the Eye because they were doing maintenance on it. It then started raining so we took cover in a building next to the entrance of the Eye for about 20 minutes. After it stopped it was finally time to go shopping!!!

 I went to Primark along with a trip to SuperDrug. I might make a haul post on the things I got from Primark, since there is quite a few. I went a bit crazy . . . the store was one of the biggest I have even been in. There was 3 or 4 floors I can't really remember because I only went on two of them. It seemed like this store was half the size of my local mall. The only things I bought from SuperDrug was some of Zoella's (Zoe Sugg) bath products and Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation, since we don't have it in the US.  After all the crazy shopping we tried to find The Good Life to get a snack/small lunch, but this was the one time when I got lost so we head over to Nando's instead. I have heard many good things about Nando's and I will say they are true. The food was really good. I would love to go back and try other things on the menu. My dad even took the napkins we didn't use as a souvenir. 

This ended my day in London, and I loved it just as much as I thought I would. I will defiantly be going back to England as soon as I possible can. I would love to stay longer in London and get to see Brighten as well as other cities. 

On Wednesday I took a bus to Gatwick airport and flew to Stockholm. I then spent the next few days visiting my boyfriend and his family before leaving on Sunday to return home for school.  

Thus ending my trip, which was an amazing amount of fun even with the ruff beginning. 

I will talk to you guys later this week or next, depending on when I have time to post. 

I hope you all have a great week! 

xoxo Makenna

Big Clothing Haul: Forever 21, Target, Buffalo Exchange, and more!

It has definitely been awhile since I have posted on here, so I thought I would start back up with a clothing haul! The past two weekends I have been shopping for new clothes so I can get rid of a lot of my old ones. I will say that I have bought more than I had planned, (and spent more money) but my closet needed updating. So over the past two weekends I have been to Target, Marshalls, Blackbird Trading Company, Forever 21, and Buffalo Exchange.

So lets start with the items I got from Target. The first thing that I purchased was a gray short-sleeved t-shirt dress. I have seen a lot of these lately and have really wanted to try the trend, it was also a plus that it was on sale. I must say I do like how casual it is, but yet you can make it dressy at the same time. I plan on pairing this with a pair of combat style boots with knee high socks sticking out or scrunched down. You could add a belt to make your form more defined and even add a dark colored cardigan for a more fall look. The next thing I bought from target was a charcoal gray cardigan. I only have one other cardigan and it is white, so I really wanted a gray or black one to go with outfits the white one would not work with. This was more of a standard than an impulse buy. The last thing I bought from Target was a pair of dark green jeggings I have never had dark green pants, but I have always wanted to buy a pair since I already have many items to pair with them. I also couldn't pass up the fact that they were jeggings, since I bought my first pair I no longer wear real jeans. All of my jeans now are stretchy denim or just plain jegging material. 

The next store I went to was Buffalo Exchange. It is actually a thrift store that has gently worn clothes and a lot of name brand items. I walked around the whole store before I really started looking in the racks of clothes. The first item I bought stuck out at me as unusual, but I felt like I had to have it. It was screaming from me to pick it up and take it home with me. The item was a black and white knit animal print cardigan. I am not much of an animal print person, but for some reason this just felt like something I would wear. I do have a rule when it comes to shopping: No matter how weird or unusual an item is if I liked it enough to pick it up and wonder if I should buy it, then I will buy it. I don't want to be scared of trying something new because of the fear of what other people will think, so if I liked it then I will buy it. The second item I bought was actually a pair of shoes for my boyfriend, Daniel. I know how much he hates shopping, but how much he actually needs new clothes and shoes so I decided to help him out. I had a choice of baby blue vans with laces or these gray levis shoes. I decided that the gay ones were a better choice since he isn't very fashion conscious and he could wear these with anything. I put a ? on how much the shoes were if I bought them retail because even after looking online I could not find these shoes, but I am sure they would rang anywhere from $30-$50. The fact that I only paid $17.00 for them seems like a deal to me. 

 The next store where I bought the most was Forever21. The first thing I grabbed was four tank tops for $1.90 each. I choose black, gray, cream, and maroon. I know in the picture it looks red but it is actually a maroon color in person. Over the past year I have some how lost all of my tank tops/undershirts so it was easy to pick these up and the price wasn't to bad either. The next item I got was a black floral dress with courter sleeves and a crisscrossing back/cut out. I love how this dress looks on and the sleeves are very important to me since I got a new tattoo on my arm. It is completely covered by the sleeves and will be great to wear to job interview. The next two items I got wear two paris of jeans, one being just plan black and the other camo. I have not had camo pants since I was around six. I have always wanted to get a pair but never thought I could pull them off. Once I  saw these I felt like I just had to go for it, and with the blessing of my friends I decided to buy them. I must say I am glad I did and can't wait to wear these when it starts to get cooler.

 The next item I got from Forever 21 was also a big leap for me. I bright red sweater. I am not a bright color kind of person. I like to stick to darker shades and colors so when I saw that the dark teal sweater I picked up came in bright red I had a big decision to make. Should I stick to a color I know and love? or go a bit more bold? Well as you can see I went for bold. I have always envied people who wore bright colors in the fall and winter and this time I thought I would be one of them. I asked my friends how I should wear the sweater knowing that I would have to accessorize, which is something I haven't done in almost five years. So this brings me to the next item I bought, a black and gold statement necklace. This necklace goes with more than just the sweater, it goes with almost any outfit. I love the way it looks and will be pairing it with a lot of outfits I will be wearing from now until winter. The next item I purchased was a cream colored shirt with a black front pocket with zipper detail. You can't really see the zipper on the pocket, but I promise it is there. I love how simple this shirt is and how easy it is to wear.

I also wen to Marshalls and bought just a couple of things. The first was a black sheer boho styled shirt with a beautiful patter around the neck and bottom of the shirt. I thought this was another good selection for job interviews, since I have quite my last job and am looking for a new one it has been a priority to find clothes that hide my new tattoo that is at the top of my forearm. The last thing I got from Mashalls was a new pair of shoes. I picked these slip on snakeskin printed shoes. I have been looking for patterned shoes for a while and love how these look. I am sure these will now be second in line for best shoes, while my black converse will alway be in first place no matter how ratty they get. 

 The next store I went to was another thrift store called Blackbird Trading Company. It took me a while to find some things I liked, as in all thrift stores, but I did find a few things. I also continued to be a good girlfriend and bought Daniel a new button down shirt. I am not sure how much it originally cost, but after looking online at other J.Crew shirts I found that they range from $70-$80. Now, I bought this one for $11.95 and it looks almost brand new. This is yet another reason why thrift shopping is always better. The next item I bought was a pair of gray joggers. I am still not sure how I feel about these pants, they are very comfortable and make my butt look like it belongs to one of the Kardashian sisters, but I am just not sure how to wear them or what to pair them with. It will probably take a few hours going though my other clothes and trying everything on to find out. The last item I bought its probably one of my favorites. It is a sunflower tank top with a cut out back. I love sunflowers and when I say this I just knew I needed to have it even though in about a month or two I won't be able to wear it when it starts to get cold, but I am sure I will try. 
So if you have made it this far thank you so much for reading and actually making it to the end! I would like to end this post by announcing you can now follow my blog on Bloglovin, and if you don't know about Bloglovin it is a website/app that allows you to follow any blog on the internet and it will update you when a new post is added and it is completely free! It keeps all the blogs you follow in one place and makes it so much easier to read. If you would like you can follow my blog my clicking the link on the right side of the page, or you can click the Bloglovin tab/page at the top of this page, or you can also click here to be taken to the page. Thank you for reading and I promise I will be posting a lot more this month!

Warby Parker Review

 About a month ago I looked in to getting a pair of glasses, but I didn't have a whole lot of money to spend on them. I was watching one of Tyler Oakley's YouTube videos when he mentioned this company Warby Parker. He said you could try on 5 glasses for free in our house and that they started around $95. I proceeded to go to the website and see for myself just what they were all about. After seeing what he had said was true I picked my 5 pairs of glasses for my at home try on. The deal was they would ship you 5 pairs of glasses for free, you don't even have to pay shipping, you then have 5 days to try them out before you have to send them back.

They even pay for the return shipping. After you ship them back you can then, if you want to, order the pair you picked out. The glasses come in there own individual bag inside the box, they even include a sheet where you can write notes about the glasses to help you decided. One thing that I did find helpful was that you could upload pictures of you in the glasses on Instagram or Twitter and use a hashtags they created to get peoples opinions on which glasses look best. I ended up doing so, although I must say I don't look to happy in any of the pictures and I find quite funny. 

I did end up getting a lot of comments saying I should pick #2, but I did decide on getting #1. The picture of #1 really isn't the best one of those glasses, but they are almost the same shape as #2 just with a thinner frame. After a lot of debating I finally decided on #1 and ordered them on the 5th of July. I knew I wasn't going to get them anytime soon since it was a holiday weekend, but I just wanted to get it out of the way. It took about a week to receive them, which felt like a very long time compared to the 2 days it took them to ship the try on kit. 

The packaging was really nice; you had the standard postal box, which contained a nicer box, which contained a glasses case, which then had the glasses and a glasses pouch inside. 

Over all I am happy with my glasses! Although, I am still trying to adjust to them and it feels like it is taking forever. I know it hasn't even been a week yet, but I am a bit tired of getting headaches and feeling sick every time I wear them. This did scare me because I thought maybe they put the wrong prescription in, but like I do with everything else I don't know I googled it ( I don't think googled is a word, if not I am making it one). 

On all the pages I read they all said it was normal to feel like you are looking through a fish bowl for the first week. Hopefully, by this coming Saturday I will be used to them. I have been wearing them all day for the past few days to try to get my eyes to adjust to looking through glass. If it is not fixed by then I will be taking a trip down to my eye doctors to see if the glasses are actually the prescription I needed. I am hoping that this does not happen and my eyes just adjust, so I will not have to deal with returning and reordering. Over all I am happy with my glasses and would definitely use this company again for my next pair. 

Small Clothing Haul

Awhile ago I went to our local outlet mall mainly to buy a pair of Nike Free 5.0 and ended up coming home with more than a new pair of shoes. The first store I went to when we arrived at the mall was the Nike Factory store. I originally wanted to get the plain black and white Nike Free 5.0, but they ended up not having that color in stock so I decided to just get the black, blue and pink ones (picture down below). I didn't want to order them or get them anywhere else because they were cheaper at the Nike Factory store than anywhere else. Since I bought new shoes I needed a new work out outfit to go with them right? I looked around at the Nike store, but everything still seemed so expensive for an outlet/factory store. So we went around to the other athletic stores and I finally came across a good deal at Reebok. I ended up getting an outfit there for the same price as a pair of shorts back at the Nike store. I ended up getting a pink tank top that I paired with blue camo-type shorts with some pink lettering on it. Since we were already at the mall my mom and I decided to walk around to other stores and see what kind of deals we could get. One of the stores we went to was Banana Republic where I saw a beautiful sun dress. I was instantly saddened when I saw it was a size to big for me, but I insisted on trying it on once I saw the stretchy elastic at the top. The dress ended up running small and fitting which made me happy. The pattern is spectacular and great for summer. Another store we went into was American Eagle. They were having a huge sale and I end up buying four different items from there. I of course had to get another pair of "stretchy" pants or jeggings. This time I decided to go with plain black high waisted pants that were cropped at the the bottom. I also got three dresses from there. I didn't take pictures of them and they are in the dirty clothes pile so..... I will just explain them. They are kinda modeled after the Brandy Melville dress that has the cut out in the back. The dress from American Eagles was a bit longer, which I like a lot more because I don't like walking around worrying about weather or not my dress is covering my butt. I got 3 different patterns: floral, solid fuchsia, and a tropical-ish pattern. My favorite was the floral one but after I washed it once it shrunk to the size of a long shirt, which was quite depressing. I now know I have to wash them by hand. I know I will still wear it will just be more difficult to pair things with. 

*Also as promised I posted pictures of me in each pair of glasses I picked out from Warby Parker on my Google+: Makenna Kupgisch , Instagram: @Makenna_Kupgisch, and Twitter: @MakennaKupgisch or you can find the links at the top of the web page, but the links won't show up if you are on the mobile sit. I would love it if you could comment which one you think looks best to help me pick a pair!!