Cocktail Hour: Strawberry Lime-arita

To celebrate Cinco de Mayo and the perfect weather in DC this weekend I decided to whip up a fun frozen cocktail to enjoy. I'm not a huge fan of super syrupy frozen drinks, so I made my own frozen margarita of sorts. Really, it's more of a daiquiri, but I used tequila (you have to celebrate 5/5 right?). This was pretty easy to whip up, and I just threw everything in the old magic bullet. Hope y'all enjoy

Strawberry Lime-arita 

Ingredients

• 1 cup frozen strawberries (I threw in some very ripe fresh ones too)
• 3 oz Tequila
• Juice of 1/2 a lime
• 1 1/5 TBSP simple syrup

Directions

Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend. Add ice or additional syrup until you reach your desired consistency/sweetness.  Enjoy.

Now I will tell you this is tangy and delicious, and it creates a pretty big margarita so you could easily share it with a friend.  I garnished with a slice of kiwi because it was pretty. Hope y'all enjoy!

All images are original to Blue Dog Belle unless otherwise noted. 

Friday's Fancies: Floral Fun

For this week's Friday's Fancies we are featuring our favorite florals for spring. Personally I'm not a huge fan of floral prints, but I'm trying. I came across this gorgeous pink top from j crew and I knew it would be the perfect piece to build a floral outfit around. The only problem? I've fallen for too many floral pieces! Who knew?

pink j crew top / flounce skirt / floral skirt / evening high heels / Flat shoes / kates spade watch / green bracelet / Pink earrings / gold earrings

On the left I feel like the shoes steal the show, but with some bright color blocking and a gorgeous kate spade watch I think it balances well. But if you wore this outfit you certainly couldn't be afraid of color!

On the right the floral combo is a little more traditional. Add in some fabulous flats, a little sparkle (y'all know I had to) and a fun bangle and you're all set for a spring brunch.

As always come join the fun over on {AV}'s blog!

Now for a new tradition on this blog, Friday Link Love!

I loved getting to catch up with Alissa this week, especially because she was wearing this fabulous outfit! I love her in florals and neon!

Meg is one of my go to blogs for beauty advice and I loved her April favorites post.

Tabitha never fails to make me laugh out loud, this post featuring her attractive bald fiance M had cracking up.

Allyssa had a great mother's day gift guide which has definitely given me some great shopping ideas.

Congratulations Liz on your big announcement this week! I'm so excited to have another blog friend navigating the craziness of law school!

As for the weekend, I'll just be hanging around town trying to enjoy this gorgeous spring weather we've been having. Soaking up as much DC time as I can!!! What do y'all have planned?

Black and White Stripes for Spring

This spring I'm loving the black and white striped combo that seems to be popping up everywhere. Today I wanted to show you a few on my wish list. Some are realistically in my budget, others not so much. But hey, a girl can dream right?

ASOS, $26.60 

I absolutely love this skirt, and think it would be a perfect transition piece for these cool spring mornings. 

White House Black Market, $170 

This dress is just perfection. I love the feminine cut, and the pop of purple is so much fun. 

JCP, $21

This JCP dress is cute too if you want to try out multiple trends in one cost effective look. 

ASOS Skater Dress, $66.50

I love the cut of this dress. All the different stripes going in different directions? As a sewing newbie I'm awed with how perfectly the seams line up. 

White House Black Market, $170

I'm loving the kind of ombre effect of this dress. 

Alice and Olivia, $277.20

How can you not love this? That's all I can say. 

Also, I went to the Blogger Scene Spring Cocktail party last night! It was hosted by the lovely girls of Fashionably Broke and Ashley of Ashley in DC. I got to catch up with some of my favorite gals, Alissa, Erin and Erin and meet so many new friends!

April Beauty Favorites

This month I've picked up a few new things, and rediscovered some old ones. As always I have tried to pull together some high end products and some drugstore ones (though this month leans heavy on the high end, woops).

1. Beauty Protector Protect & Detangle -- This came in my April Birchbox (post coming soon, I promise) and let me tell you, I will never be caught with out this stuff again. DARE I say it's better than my it's a 10. I don't know y'all. My hair is thicker, stronger, shinier and I definitely have less fly-aways.

2. Kate Spade Twirl perfume-- I got this stuff in a birchbox a long time ago, and it has been one of my favorites ever since. After I heard that this perfection in a bottle was being discontinued and was making its way into TJ Maxx stores across the country I've been on the hunt. Well... I finally found it when I was in New Orleans, and I've already gone through a good chunk of the 1.7 oz bottle. Guess I needed to buy it in bulk.

3. Maybelline Color Whisper in "Who Wore It Red-er"- I just picked this up last week at CVS. Y'all know I'm all about the Revlon Lip Butters, but I was curious... While my allegience still lies with Revlon, this is a great product. Super creamy, decent pigmentation and tons of moisture.

4. Supergoop CC Cream-- Now that warm weather is quickly approaching I'm a bit concerned about my face melting off... ha. Last year it was all about the BB, this year I'm sure it will be the CC, oh and did you hear? The DD creams are coming. While it's starting to get a bit out of hand, I liked what the CC claims to offer a little more coverage while still being lighter than your average foundation. While this one is a bit pricy, I really think it delivers.

5. MAC Paint Pot in Painterly-- I think I'm the last beauty enthusiast to hop on the paint pot trend, but y'all this stuff is awesome. If you aren't familiar, it's essentially a super thick tinted cream shadow/ base. You can use primer with this, but you really don't need it. I can't believe the staying power this stuff has, and it makes my other shadows pop!

6. Rimmel Stay Matte pressed powder-- I've actually had this stuff for a while now, but never loved the coverage it gave me. In an effort to shop my stash I reached for this and paired it with the CC cream and absolutely loved the effect! As someone with oily skin this stuff keeps me matte for a good 7-8 hours. Just touch up a bit for happy hour and you're ready to go!

So those are my April Beauty Favorites. What have you been loving this month?