Coming home from Vegas is a mental and physical shock, or at least it was for me. So I was thinking that I would document how I got myself back on track in case anybody else happens to party too much in Vegas. But I bet you are all way too responsible for that. 

For me it had to come in increments, I only had the time to get a few hours at a time. I returned to Minneapolis at 5am and then had a few different commitments during the day Wednesday, so I slept when I could. Obviously it is ideal to get a solid nights sleep as soon as you can but that didn't happen for me so I did what I could and by Thursday night I was back to getting a full nights sleep. 

And if you are not able to get that great night of sleep it makes all of the other steps to recovery so much more important. 

Lemon water is key to starting to expel the toxins that your body accumulated in the land of sin. Eating out, being around smoke and constant cocktails, it could be called ' The Toxicity Buffet.' So fill up a glass of warm water, squeezed in a lemon slice or two and drink up. It is especially helpful first thing in the morning. 

The first morning after I returned home I gargled with warm salt water a couple of times because my throat was scratchy. Between my constant chatting with new friends, the way I was screaming and singing at The Bank and all of the dry air my voice was shot. 

And even after the warm salt water gargle I decided it was necessary to make some chamomile tea and then add copious amounts of honey to soothe my angered vocal cords. 

Vacations are not an excuse to drop your work out, I mean while I was in Vegas I did walk up and down the strip wearing heels, and danced in crazy high platforms - that has to count for some kind of a work out!

Jumping back into a fitness regime is hard after a few days off so to ease myself back in I did ten minutes a yoga several times of day, it quickly resolved all of my soreness and I was back to a full hour in yoga sculpt in no time. After sleeping on an air mattress and on the plane my neck was stiff and my legs were also a bit tight (from the 9 inch platforms) so I couldn't wait to get back home and start my fitness routine again but it still wasn't easy, which is all the more reason to continue your work out routine while on your rockstar vacation. But I didn't get an intentional sweat on while in Vegas... and IT'S OK. I just had to work harder to get the aches to subside. 

As you may know from the review, my first trip to Vegas was to see my friend of ten years - Kaitlin Barnaby, so when it was time to leave my heart was heavy. It was tough when she went on Big Brother, even more difficult when she moved her whole life to Las Vegas. Lucky for me I have an amazing group of close friends that are still here in Minneapolis for me to play with, coming home to them helped to ease my soul during my 'post Vegas depression.' Coming home should be as exciting as leaving, if not you might need to re-evaluate your living situation. 

xox, kp

Sunday @ Noon - Arrived in Vegas
                         - Dropped stuff at Kait's condo
                         - Senor Frogs // ate + drank + enjoyed the patio + met BB ppl
                         - Got ready for the night
Sunday @ 7pm  - Dinner at FIX
                         - Lounging while BB ppl mingled with fans at Lily Bar
            Midnight - move to the club, The Bank
                         - danced my ass off until 4am 
                         - regrettably ate Jack in the Box
    Monday @ 11 - Woke up, got ready, headed to the strip
                   @ 2 - Senor Frogs for lunch + adult beverages 
Then a whole afternoon of running around the strip, and riding the New York, New York roller coaster with Gene, Topaz, AJ, Cowboy, Dan, Liza, Peter, Alec and many more than I am sure I am forgetting. I apparently liked the Big Brother Canada crew a little bit better than Kaitlin's cast. (It is probably Canada's proximity to my home state Minnesota!)

                    @ 8 - Kait and I regrouped + ate some pizza
               9:30pm - We saw Mystere at Treasure Island, a Cirque du Soleil show that basically had my jaw dropped from start to finish! The things those people's bodies can do is so amazing and definitely motivating. Not to mention how much imagination goes into the whole production, I loved every minute of it and can't wait to go back and see Zumania and O! 
                          - Then we stayed up until all hours of the night with our new Canadian friend AJ from BB Canada.
    Tuesday @ 11 - Woke up
                          - Had breakfast at the Coffee Shop at Treasure Island
                          - Mimosas + Pool Time

           6:30 pm - We got ready and had dinner at Seafood Shack with Kaitlin's father and brother and Liza!
                      - Liza, kb & I walked around the shops at the Venetian
                      - We said goodbye to Liza :( 

           9:30 pm - Kb and I made one last stop at Lily Bar, had a cocktail & watched Daniel Park perform. He is a super talented young man who has just booked a residency at Lily and will be playing every Tuesday. He is seriously so entertaining, he played multiple instruments. does great covers, writes lovely original songs as well and mixes live. I hope I get to see him play again!

This is Kaitlin being sad at Lily Bar because she is about to have to take me to the airport! 

I am thankful for the few days that I had with kb and her new Big Brother family. I am thankful to those pseudo - famous who were warm to me and engaged me as a human even though I am a non - famous. I will admit that some of those reality 'stars' sucked just as much as it seemed they would, but those people exist everywhere and I don't waste my time on them in the normal world so I definitely wasn't wasting my precious Vegas time trying to find the silver lining in these shitty people. 

I had a great time in Vegas, I will be back very soon to see Ms. Kaitlin Barnaby & the rest of my new Vegas friends!

xxxxooo, kp

It happened, I flew to Vegas to surprise Ms. Kaitlin Marie Barnaby on the day of her Big Brother 15 Wrap Party. Kait worked her ass off to plan a wonderful evening for everyone, it started with course after course of amazing food at Fix. And then we walked across the foyer of the Bellagio to a lounge called Lily Bar where all of the pseudo - famous people took pictures and mingled with the supportive fans that came out. 

To be honest I wasn't sure that I was going to thoroughly enjoy the company of these reality stars but most of them turned out to be fantastic people. I had a great time getting to know them and I didn't even really mind that much that I was asked to take about 100 pictures, hell I might even put reality star personal photographer on my resume. 

Any way I am so glad that I pulled the trigger and bought a super expensive ticket to visit my bestie Kaitlin! Spontaneity is definitely my modus operandi. 

xox, kp

I am going to be straight up, I have been drunk and been dumb enough to get behind the wheel of a car. The first summer I got my drivers license (oh yah that means I was 16 and not even of legal drinking age yet) I was at a house party drinking 151 out of an apple juice bottle when my friends decided how delicious Perkins sounded. (SIDE NOTE: Perkins is never a good idea and only sounds good to drunk people, when in actuality it always tastes like crap.) Anyway, we piled FOUR people into my TINY S-10 pick up truck and drove the 5 minutes to Perkins. Lucky for me and everyone else on the road at the time nothing happened but the fact that I still think about how I barely remember making the drive, but I do remember how stupid it was and how easily I could have killed someone. 

The life that I have built since then is utterly amazing and I could have 
very easily thrown it all away that night.

DUI/ DWIs can cost thousands of dollars, they take up a ton of time, result in community service hours, court fees, you'll have your license revoked for an amount of time and not to mention YOU CAN'T GO TO CANADA FOR TEN YEARS! Seriously, the entire country of Canada will shun you for your bad decisions. 

Imagine this.. "Hey Pam, we are road tripping to get some french fries and gravy up in Alberta. Wanna join?" 
"Shoot Darrel, I can't join in on the fun because with a DUI on my record the boarder patrol won't let me in." 
TALK ABOUT A BUZZ KILL! And its not even just Canada, it is harder to get a travel visa to go visit any country, that could limit your ability to study and or work abroad during your lifetime. Would my Perkins trip have been worth it if I never would have been able to see Europe? Not even.

I came across this really intense video from a fatal crash in Maryland and I will admit now, as a disclaimer of sorts, that I bawled through the whole thing. 
My intention is to give you ample reasons to avoid the life changing, 
possibly, LIFE-ENDING, mistake of drunk driving.

I don't ever remember calling a cab in high school but luckily I had a best friend who made the healthy decision not to drink, EVER, so I had a built in sober cab most of the time. I do however, remember thinking how smart it was when a few ladies showed up to a party in a cab. It seemed so foreign, so adult, SO SMART! Cabbies are not going to ask you why you need a cab, just don't be wasted enough to make it obvious and it shouldn't be a problem. It's not like the cab driver knows how old you are, so just be chill. If you need a ride home but don't have the cash I am sure your parents would way rather pay the cab fare than pick you up from prison, or ID you in a body bag. 

UBER is an app that you download onto your smart phone and then register your credit or debit card and wha-la! you now basically have a personal driver (that you pay for each individual trip). The genius part is that you never have to pick up the phone, the app uses your GPS location to set the pick up location and the driver will text you when they arrive. No tipping, no cash ever, the driver's tip is included in the total. Your card will be charged and you will get an email receipt, also after you get dropped at your destination a screen will pop up asking you to rate your driver. It is all very stream line and I have had great experiences with the service. Even my negative experience turned out to be no biggie, a driver charged me $12 for a ride that he never actually picked me up for. All I did was reply to the email receipt and it was refunded with no hassle, and I was even able to give the driver a bad review. The drivers are contracted different than regular cabbies and have the ability to rate the clients based on their experience during the transaction, so if you are a dick then you won't get picked up the next time. 

I've used UBER several times in Chicago (harder to get a town car there), while I was in Denver we had an awesome promo code and took the service everywhere and I've been starting to use it more in Minneapolis. (Although another of my favorite car services is First Car, check them out as well! Locally owned by a friend of mine.) 

If all goes well I will be using these tips from GalaDarling's a lot in the near future! Homeopathic No-Jet-leg pills, who would have thought?!

Short but sweet, my gorgeous friend Davee always has something smart to say and something beautiful for you to look at on her blog. 

I don't mean to be a bummer on Friday morning but I care about each and every person that reads this blog and I wouldn't want any of your party animal alter egos to make a fatal mistake. Please use these car services and be safe when you decide to drink. 

xox, kp

It was too hard to boil my love into one reason so I stocked piled few things that I couldn't help but share with you all.. Enjoy. 

xox, kp

You may know Mary Lambert from Macklemore's 'Same Love,' she is responsible for belting out the hauntingly honest female vocals, she smart as f*$% and she can even write! Reading her blog is a treat for my heart; her words are firm, articulate and honest. Below is one of my favorite excerpts from a post called, 

IT’S HERE! IT’S QUEER! IT’S CUTE! I’M CRYING! where she released the video for 'She Keeps Me Warm.

Her outlook on things is so positive and the way she writes about her journey is so empowered. Her brain is just as beautiful, maybe more so than her amazing vocals. To reinforce how intelligent and brilliant I think she is I will cite her most amazing blog post, titled 'I want to talk about Body Positivity. Ok.' I have read this post over ten times, over and over crying the whole time (her & I are on the same page when it comes to how many tears we produce). I am so proud of this girl for putting her story out there, onto the internet. I think it is so important that other girls get acquainted with her impressive perspective, so often positivity is underrated.
                                          I LOVE THIS GIRL. 

I don't love her because Macklemore thinks she is dope, I don't love her because she puts on an amazing show and can sing like an angel, I don't love her because she is blowing up on social media and trending within the music industry, I don't love her because she is going to be more famous than Katy Perry. 

(ok finally here is the ONE REASON that I love Mary Lambert)

I LOVE HER BECAUSE SHE LOVES HERSELF & BECAUSE SHE IS SPREADING THAT MESSAGE IN ALL THE RIGHT WAYS. SHE LOVES HERSELF UNAPOLOGETICALLY. LADIES LOOK NO FURTHER, THIS WOMAN... 
MARY LAMBERT IS A CLASS-ACT ROLE MODEL. FOLLOW HER, LIKE HER, LISTEN TO HER, LEARN FROM HER, WATCH HER... not in a stalker way but seriously this girl has a lot to offer our world and I am so glad that I was on this train early enough so that I had this opportunity to introduce my reader-franzz to this one of a kind woman!


xox, kp   

Miraculously this outfit came together out of sheer disorganization. I have been in transition lately so my living space is a bit crazy but these shoes, which have been a favorite of the summer, really begged to be near those bright orange harem pants I bought in Spain last summer. Pairing the shoe-pant combo with this classic tan sweater was a bit of a long shot but when I pulled it over my head and looked in the mirror my eyes smiled. The sweater is Gap and I inherited it, AKA it does / did belong to my mother. Thanks ma. 

The first time I rocked these epic shoes (that were purchased from an outlet where designer goods get dumped 'after' the season is over) a very good friend of mine reported his opinion about the heels...

And he is pretty stylist person - for a heterosexual white male :) Only kidding.

Fall is a wonderful time of the year for many reasons but one of my favorite is that fashion is alive. Your clothes are begging to be layered and seen in ways they've never been. I challenge you to make some of your favorite pieces from the summer and try to transform it into a look appropriate for the fall temperatures. 

Happy layers, sweaters, boots and scarfs!

xox, kp

I did something last night that I have trouble with sometimes. It is something I have difficulty committing to. It is an act that I should partake in more actively and more intentionally than I have been doing lately. It is definitely something I need to do more often.

Last night I SPONTANEOUSLY STAYED HOME, and spent some quality time with myself. I used my inner strength and turned down several appealing offers that involved me leaving the house, like dinner with Shelly Marie and a late night drink. But no, I said no to those gracious people in order to relax at home. I got a few things checked off the list and the most incredible thing that happened was that I got a great night of sleep! I even read a chapter of a book. A solid 9 hours which some people would say is excessive but my body loves itself a good 9 hours! 

So with a few tasks achieved, my bookmark moved forward and the bags under my eyes slightly reduced I woke up Monday morning feeling fantastical! My conclusion, it is important to spend time alone and it is ok to miss out on something in order to do so. It is very easy to get caught up in go, go, go. I live my life running from one amazing thing to the next and I wouldn't change it for the world but every now and again you need to stop and STAY HOME for more than an hour at a time. Try it, I promise you will get something done that you've been saying you'd get around to forever. Let me know how it goes!


xox,kp

A night full of wine and long talks, catching up with a few of my closest ladies friends! Drinking that entire 1.5 liter bottle of Moscato was probably a bit aggressive but we were having heart to hearts for about five hours long and a girl gets thirsty talking about love and life. We talked about everything from ex-lovers, to present lovers, all the way to fake boobs and the Denver Airport Conspiracy Theory. Our convos can get a little weird but we don't apologize for our lack of filter or our diverse range of interests. (And neither should you!)

Spent the day eating a lot, taking a nap and then making a date with the my lovely blonder half Chloe! Early on Saturday I received an email inviting me to spend the evening at Two Pony Gardens for a pizza night, brick oven baked culinary masterpieces, beautiful scenery, complete with horse drawn carriage rides. Chloe was the perfect choice to bring with me, although it was rainy and cold we did not let that stop us from smiling. Chloe is someone I can count on to always foster positive energy (#love#love#love). We explored the dahlia garden and took pictures of the gorgeous grounds for several hours as we waited for our melon salsa, heirloom tomato, brick oven pizza. It was a truly magical evening, and I am so thankful for the time with Chloe and the whole Two Pony's family!

Chloe and I headed back to the city where we both got re-ready and headed off to the second half of our Saturday night. The rest of my story goes like this... 
 
Rhea + Michael + Me = Mobb Deep @ Epic

HIGHLIGHTS:

1) Carnage's set
2) The delicious fully loaded nachos I purchased around 12:30am
3) All of the bros that were hollering at Rhea all night ;)
4) That Mobb Deep came out at all.. the waiting had us worried. It's so #thuglife for the headliner to not grace the stage until 1:30 am, resulting in a set less than forty minutes long.

I spent the better part of the day with some of my favorite gentlemen: My brother, Ferg and Siwek. They watched football and I pretended to do the same but instead I read blogs and ordered delivery green beans and mac n' cheese.
TIPS TO FAKING FOOTBALL:
- Pay attention enough to know who is playing who
- Know who the quarterback is & chirp insults about the opposing team's quarterback's mom er something.
- Don't talk very much, but yell a lot and loudly.

Even if you don't like football it is sometimes ok to tough it out, maybe five it another chance and smile because you are spending time with people that are important to you.

xoxox, kp 

I don't ever remember a boy ever being a total dick-head when my legs were less than smooth BUT it is a rare occasion when anyone is actually appreciative of the effort that I put into hair removal. This brings up the issue of why you are removing the hair in the first place, are you doing it for your own pleasure or someone else's? Honestly I may have started shaving my legs because in our culture we are taught that this is how we gain acceptance and that we are supposed to behave this way. Now that I know the difference in the physical feeling of smooth versus stubbly I don't think I could ever have straight-up hairy, au naturel legs again because I associate the smooth feeling with hygiene and feeling fresh.

I think boys should be a lot more accepting of hairy legs, or at least more tolerance for stubble. I do enjoy the feeling of my smooth, freshly shaved legs BUT that doesn't mean I am going to take the time to make sure they are perfectly waxed every day. Some ladies have it easy, with your Norwegian heritage and your blond, thin hair but I have some serious thick, angry, dark hairs going on. My legs have stubble around my ankles 24 hours after shaving and waxing my unmentionables has to happen at least once a month with touch ups in between... MY POINT IS LADIES that some people are hairier than others and our cultures' obsession with hairlessness is HELLA unhealthy and weird. ALSO it is a FACT that boys should NEVER even think about saying anything if they happen to notice a girl with unshaved legs! OR even armpits for that matter! Come on guys give us some leeway, your 5 o'clock shadow is seriously over exfoliating our cheeks and chins!

So next time your lady friend is rocking Tarzan limbs kiss her hard, and if you're feeling really romantic... stroke those furry legs!

For those of you being called to challenge this societal view I am incredibly proud and inspired so I am going to provide you with these awesome resources.


Hairy Challenge

The Sparkleicious asks if we are obsessed with hair removal?

The answer according to Kim Kardarshian is YES.

Paloma Goni has decided it is not for her. Goni's article is a fantastic read, even if you are still forming your opinions I suggest it highly.


Good luck in your journey and I encourage each and every girl to decide for themselves how they feel about their hair and what they are going to do about it. 
The only thing I know for sure is...

<3


xox, kp