So, this post is all about this gorgeous two piece set I wore the other day! It is baby blue, has flouncy shorts, that are loose enough to make people wonder if they are a skirt, and an easy zip closure. The top features a criss cross back strap, and a tie at the back, which makes this top absolutely gorgeous!

I paired my outfit with some white wedges, a chic Kendra Scott piece Imade at the color bar, and a beautiful blazer from Virginia Wolf NYC. I added the blazer, because, I ordered a small inthe top, and I probably would have done better in a medium across the chest, so the blazer helped me feel a bit more modest in an otherwise showy top! 

Hey y'all,

I am SOOOOOO excited. After years wondering what it would feel like to have a "pout" reminiscent of Angelina or Kylie, I can say, thanks to Skin Envy in S. Austin, I do!

I mean there was a trend for a hot minute, thank goodness its over where people would use a plastic bottle and the power of suction to draw the blood to the lips and inherently give them that amazing duck lip glow. Except that it was a serious case of poor judgement, because their lips went from pretty to a legitimate duck bill. Not. Cute. I am fairly certain, everyone that made videos of themselves pre and post that challenge, wound up laughing at themselves, because the results were that funny.

And, of course I have bought my fair share of lip plumper in a lipstick style applicator, you feel the tingle and your lips pink up, and it does make a slight difference, but overall its really the same gimmick, very short term results, if any, and no significant difference in appearance.

So, I decided to push away these gimmicks, and false possibilities and go straight to the amazing source. Medical grade Fillers, that have been tested and curated and are applied by professionals to assure the best pout possible. Which is what I did. SCORE! I went to SKIN ENVY, in South Austin, they have a great location with tons of parking, and an awesome staff. I was so impressed with their office, and how well laid out their waiting area is. It is a small area, but while I was there it comfortably fit 4 different adult patients, and my two munchkins! BTW, they were completely okay with my kids waiting in the waiting area while I had my consult and treatment.
For me, there was this huge moment, where I couldn't stop looking in the mirror. You will be swollen, for the first few days, like really really swollen. No offense to Joan Rivers, but you may look like her for a hot minute. But not to worry, because the swelling subsides, and your lips look glorious. I love that mine rendered a subtle difference. I learned about the shape of my lips, and the "science" that goes into using fillers and the reason or reasons why they are not only a good idea, but also a great tool in minimizing the appearance of aging. I had no idea that my lips aged with the rest of my body. I guess it makes sense, but that was a foreign concept, now that I know, its like that old, "yellow car," gimmick, where you don't see yellow cars until you state that there aren't any, and suddenly they are every where. Well after learning about my lips, I now see aged lips everywhere. Weird.

So what I learned about my own lips. My top lip was larger than my bottom. Which is perfectly "fine" everyone deals with asymmetry to some extent in their bodies, so it wasn't out of the norm in that sense, but the typical lip shape, is a top lip that is 1/3 and a bottom lip that is 2/3. In my case, it was the other way around. Also with aging we begin to loose the definition of our cupids bow, that cute little indent at the center of your lips, that gives you an arch. So we added a bit of definition there, and then on my bottom lip, which I have ALWAYS had issues lining to the corners of my lips..I looked like a clown. serious clown lips, I found out it was because again, my top lip was bigger in volume but also in width, so my bottom lip ended inside of my top, meaning that lining to the corners was out of the question.  I simply had the wrong lip shape. Most of these images are selfies I shot in my car, right outside of their office...I was a bit excited, and kind of look like a deer in the headlights, BUT my lips look awesome, so- who cares! ❤️ f


I had, Restylane-L used, the L stands for Lift, and I love the results. It's a Galderma product, and really just helps to fill in the lost collagen, and remove wrinkles. It also helps to moisturize the lips from, the inside out, which during the summer is a HUGE plus! Take a look at their office, and be sure to call and schedule an appointment, they offer a full suite of services! I can not recommend them enough!











Schedule your appointment today! Tell them I sent you! ❤️ Love you guys! 😘😘😘😘😘 Oh, P.S. here is my Before and After!


XO-
Serenity

Vitamin Therapy is the new New, and I'm in love!

Look how cozy I am..ignore my Frankenstein arms!

So, besides  two amazing rooms, there is also the most amazing relaxation, group therapy room! It is AH-MAZING! The whole set up is this gorgeous room, with a huge white sectional sofa, and cute little white pillows. Of course everything has turquoise accents, as is the theme, there are cute little tables everywhere, adorable tufted turquoise ottomans, and plenty of IV Drip portable stands. The idea behind this room is the perfect place to come with a group, maybe a bachelor or bachelorette party.. pre or post a crazy night out, they have a drip that helps with hangovers!!! So, ya big time bonus.. you can come hang out with your girlfriends, drink coffee, water whatever you want, sit and chit chat for a mere 30 minutes and feel rested and recovered, or just be ready to hit the town and dodge a hangover all together! Wait until you see how cute this room is.. also the divider between the cute group room and the massage room, is barn doors... BARN DOORS ARE MY FAVORITE! I really can not speak highly enough, about the quality of care, the exceptional staff, and the beautiful decor and atmospheres. 












































 






 Can't you just picture yourself hanging out with a group of friends getting your VITAMIN on? I am serious, hangovers are the worst especially when you have to make it through a weekend of events.. or think about ACL or SXSW, pop in here, and get ready to hit the festival, and leave feeling recovered, and relaxed! YES, YES, YES!

So IVitamin, is centrally located just off of Congress and Riverside, so super easy to get to! Which is great, because we all know that having a central location is key in Austin. Traffic, right?
Do you want to go to IVitamin yourself?! I know y'all do, so do yourself a favor, or a friend, friends, a loved one, whoever... we can all benefit from vitamins, and check this place out! Their address is :

IVitamin ATX
515 S. Congress Avenue
Austin, Texas
7 8 7 0 4 

You can schedule an APPT online at: 
http://ivitamintherapy.com
Or just give them a quick call and let them know you are coming at: 512.275.6448
Want to learn more about the specific drips, and pricing? Click this link... http://ivitamintherapy.com/pricing/


Thanks for coming... its the best, you can thank me later! I accept all forms of thanks, but my favorite is being paid in TACOS! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

PEACE AND LOVE,
Serenity 😘 

You know what's funny? I seem to always have a desire to write and read and fall in love with literature, but I can never bring myself to pencil in time to write on my blog. I have this desire too, but I think I get lost in the idea of it being imperfect, ad redundant so I just wind up not writing. Anyways, I am writing today so woohoo... no it is not going to be perfect. ha!

Okay, so a lot has been happening in my little world. I wont go into gory details, but its been a bit up and down, and there has been a lot of self examination. A lot of inward thinking, trying to navigate life altering decisions, and repercussions of those. I guess it is haplessly confusing if I don't go into some detail so I will elaborate without trying to bore you with the inexplicable details.

I have a series of medical conditions that cause me intense pain during my "time of the month" within my uterus. The pain isn't the only issue, but it is certainly the main issue. Dealing with lupus I have become an expert at pain management, sleep deprivation- not so much, but pain I can usually hide 9 times out of 10. This is different though, there is no hiding it and its been getting worse.

With all of that being said, my Dr. has encouraged me to have a hysterectomy. Having a hysterectomy is important and almost essential in my case because I have lupus and the medicines I am on to treat it, coupled with my compromised immune system in general put me at a really high risk for heart attack amongst other things, should I get pregnant in general. So obviously pregnancy is not something I should want, obviously I have two children and as all of my doctors keep saying, at least your family is complete.

It is. I suppose. I have two children, I have mentioned it before, but the timing of these decisions coincides with my daughters 7th birthday, which has brought back so many memories or her birth, and my sons and the happy. incredible thoughts that come to mind when you look back and remember how wonderful that was. I mean lets be honest, being a parent to a newborn is HARD, and you don't sleep, and its SO MUCH WORK, but the thought that I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO HAVE A BABY AGAIN is kind of really really hard for me. I didn't want more, and I cant have more, because I could die if I did, but the permanence of the situation, the idea that in 3 weeks that possibility will be gone forever is almost deafening. It is excruciatingly painful to think about, and even more so, to think about the possibilities if I didn't move forward with the surgery and then did have to face the inexplicable decision of a childs life or my own-- I wouldn't be able to choose myself, I just don't think that I could. But yet, it scares me so.

I am always trying to focus on long term goals, not focusing on managing my illness for today but trying to preserve the tomorrows and the years from now, but doing everything I can today to make the future easier. This is one of those situations, there are band aid fixes for lupus, and for the conditions within my uterus, however with any band aid solution comes the need for more and more band aids. I just feel like it makes more sense to fix things the right way the first time, than to have to keep re-fixing it every so often. I don't know. I just always try to look to my future and my quality of life, and that of my family. If I can just go through the hard stuff now, and get it over with. than everything will get better and everything will be easier and inherently better right?

Blah. I am over talking about this, these decisions suck, and I'm scared, and I cant stop staring at babies and mourning a loss that I haven't had yet, but its difficult, it is really hard.

Can I just tell Y'all a secret real quick? I am obsessed with time, with its certainty with the fact that it keeps trudging on despite all odds, the seconds keep ticking, the minutes keep passing, and hour after hour, day after day it just goes by, effortlessly so. I am entranced with the idea of a moment, moments, a life that transcends space and time, with this idea that their truly is a love that time will lie down and be still for, that you can somehow infinitely stretch out those seconds and minutes and hours and enjoy those incredible moments a little while longer. I just want to have more time, it is such a futile thing to wonder about, time, sadly we have no control and like I said it keeps going on, but I just wish that I could find more of it. That I could live certain moments in slow motion, to enjoy every second, every ray of sun in the sunrise; every chirp of a birds song, and somehow truly, really, completely enjoy it-- and have the time to! The old saying is, to stop and smell the roses right?! The whole point of that saying is that in life, we don't even find the time to do that... how long does it really take, how have we become so busy that we cant enjoy the little things? I just wish I had more time, more time in those moments before sunrise snuggling with my daughter, giggling and talking amongst ourselves. Playing soccer with my son, before practice starts and just laughing and laughing, imagine if those moments could just last a little longer. I just know that there are things I have missed, either with my kids, or friends or whoever, that I just wish, I would have recognized at the time how profound that moment really was. I guess that's the thing about time, you never know you are having the time of your life until the moments' over.

I guess for now, until we figure out this whole time travel and space time continuum thing, my advice to you would be to remember, that every moment is fleeting. Every giggle, every laugh, every kiss goodnight, every hug, every moment is important, and since we cant make time go slower, we should focus on spending more time in those moments.

If I had it to do over again, I would have done it differently. I would have made other choices, smarter choices. I would have reminded myself that the opinions of those who don't have to deal with the consequences don't matter.  I know what I want now, I know what I would change if I could, I just wish it wasn't to late. Please have the confidence to say what you want to say today, to do what you want to do, irregardless of what others think. Remember, it's your life, you deserve to be happy, and it is far better to regret the things that we did say, than to regret the fact that we never had the courage to say them in the first place.

Always
Serenity