What Should I Wear?

We have a diagnosis...

2012-01-24T10:00:00.001-05:00

And my hard drive is dead.

I just dropped my laptop off to see if my files can be recovered.

I bought that computer right before I have birth to Big Girl! Both of my girls' entire lives are on that computer!!

Ugh! I could smack myself for not backing up. Learn this lesson people: BACK YOUR STUFF UP!!!!

I will be purchasing a Time Capsule tout suite.

The good news is that I am having a new hard drive installed and I should have my baby back in my hands in a few days.

Let's all say prayers, cross fingers, and swing a few dead chickens so that all my files can be recovered!!

We're going back to Disney!

2012-01-18T19:36:00.001-05:00

...In 58 days!

The girls started a countdown chain tonight.

Princess smiles all around!

Sorry I've been MIA!

2012-01-11T11:47:00.001-05:00

I'm experiencing some computer problems, so I'm blogging from my iPhone app. It's okay, but it doesn't have all the features of using the blogger computer platform. I will stick to basic posts until my Mac is healthy again, which I'm hoping happens on Saturday when the geniuses at the Apple store get their techie/magician hands on it. Cross your crossables that my baby comes back to life!!!

National Championship OOTD

2012-01-09T13:47:00.001-05:00

My beloved VOLS were not even CLOSE to the championship game this year (heck, they weren't even close to the bowl games!) but I'm still thrilled to see two (count 'em! TWO!) SEC teams are competing for the BCS title tonight. As a show of solidarity, I'm sporting a LSU/Bama outfit today.

Bear Bryant-esque hat: Lane Bryant (years ago)
Top: Old Navy (years ago)
Cami: Victoria's Secret (still available in their 3/$30 shelf tank set)
Straight leg jeans: Lands End (last year)
Fleur-de-lis Boots: Target.com (recent)
Bag: Kate Spade (years ago)

For dinner tonight I'm making Slow Cooker Jambalaya (from www.plainchicken.com), cheddar bay biscuits, and I'm attempting to make elephant ears for dessert.

I'm covering all my bases today!

Geaux Tigers!

Roll Tide!!

NOTD

2011-12-27T18:14:00.001-05:00

Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure in Pat on the Black, with OPI's Sparkle-icious (from the Burlesque collection) on the ring finger.

Xanax in a cup

2011-12-22T12:37:00.001-05:00

This makes me feel so warm, cozy, and loved every morning. There's just something about that jolly old elf that just perks me right up! Hope everyone is having a wonderful and blessed Christmas week! And Happy Hannukah, if I happen to have any Jewish readers!

OOTD 12/15/11- running errands

2011-12-15T22:15:00.001-05:00

Cardigan - J Crew (bought this summer at the outlet)
Ruffled shirt- LLBean (a couple of years old)
Belt- Lauren Nicole Gifts (a couple of years old)
Jeans- CAbi Classic Jean (last season, but I think they still have them if you know a consultant)
Loafers- Old Navy (3 years old)
Bag- New York & Co (fairly recent, similar HERE)
Earrings and bangles- Charming Charlie (recent)

Christmas party season is upon us!

2011-12-06T15:24:00.001-05:00

Hi, y'all!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We sure did. It was busy, but very nice. We ran the Chase the Turkey 5K in town:
(Picture coming soon. iPhoto is being a PITA)

Yes, that's me in the middle. Pink shirt. Goofy trucker-ish Red Sox hat.

Durn Steve and my friends for not telling me how awful that hat looked. My ponytail has higher than I thought, and that pushed the whole hat too high on my head.

Doofus.

GAH!

And I'm on the front page of the sports section looking like a complete asshat. Literally.

The funny part is that we ran the race with my neighbor's family (4 of them, anyway), and all of us BUT the Hubs made the paper. Poor guy.

Nah, I don't think he's too disappointed.

After we ran all over the golf course, we ran to visit with the fam.

All over East Tennessee.

Whew.

What a tiring day. I love seeing all the family, but it's hard to spend 3 total driving around just to spend a couple of hours with each side of the family. The worst thing about Thanksgiving is that it's just one day. Christmas gets spread around across pretty much the month of December, but Thanksgiving is fast and furious!

Speaking of Christmas, Hub's Christmas party was a last weekend. A good time was had by all.

Yada, yada, yada.

I will not elaborate, but I will say that I did enough celebrating to last me through Big Girl's wedding.

Hopefully 30 years from now.

Ugh.

Celebrating is for the young'uns, y'all.

Ugh, I say. Ugh.

Shoo.

I shudder at the thought.

However, I do have a few cute pictures to show off, though. These were all obviously taken PRIOR to the world going pear-shaped that night.

I'm going to use everyone's initials in order to protect the innocent. Or the guilty, as the case may be.

My friend L and me. Yes, I know it should be L and I, but I thought that looked confusing.

L and her husband J

C and AM.

Me and AM. Is that better? I don't think so. Whatever. Obviously I'm totally over-thinking this. And yes, as a matter of fact I AM wearing an Oompah Loompah costume. And a Blueberry Muffin band aid on my finger. I'm a woman not afraid to represent for the Strawberry Shortcake girls.

Moving right along...

Oops. Champagne? Who said anything about champagne? I don't know nuthin' about no champagne!

AM, A, L, and me. You may recognize A from THIS POST.

The Hubs and I. The funny thing is that at the time, he thought this pose was the right decision. He was obviously quite mistaken. He is actually quite a fit guy with no double chin and no GO GO Gadget! arm. Big shout out to C for the photo bomb, though!

Karaoke, anyone? All you need to do is hold this shiny thing and scream. Seriously. We'll all laugh and think you're the funniest thing ever.

See? Told you. HI-larious, I tell you.

Yep. That's where I gotta stop with the pictures.

Remember, I have ~~myself~~ some guilty people to protect!

I have about 10 blog post ideas floating around in my head, and I'm going to try my best to get them all posted soon. Here's hoping!

Hope everyone has a very festive week!

What Should I Wear.... to the company Christmas party?

2011-11-18T23:03:00.001-05:00

Hubs' company Christmas party is coming up in a couple of weeks, and I need an outfit! This is what I've come up with so far. The clothes been ordered, and I already own the shoes, but everything else is negotiable. In fact, the shoes are also negotiable. I'm not positive I'm wearing those particular ones.

I'm obviously not wearing all that jewelry, but I'd like to have feedback on the direction I'm going here. Do I need to have some color somewhere? I'm really leaning towards no. I think the black and gold palette is pretty classic.

Any feedback would be appreciated!

What Should I Wear.... to the company Christmas party? by aharbin88 featuring high heels

Lauren Conrad high heels
$42 - kohls.com

Bottega Veneta leather handbag
£2,205 - net-a-porter.com

Anna Beck gold chandelier earrings
$315 - couturecandy.com

Fringe earrings
stelladot.com

Tasha chandelier earrings
$58 - nordstrom.com

Silk Henley - Victoria's Secret
$70 - victoriassecret.com

Tulle Sequin skirt
$60 - tulle4us.com

Tori Spelling Coin-Design 6-1/2" Cuff Bracelet at HSN.com
$30 - jewelry.hsn.com

Tori Spelling Black Pavé Goldtone Sphere Ring at HSN.com
$10 - jewelry.hsn.com

Tulle Sequin skirt

2011-11-18T22:24:00.001-05:00

Tulle Sequin skirt (clipped to polyvore.com)

Silk Henley - Victoria's Secret

2011-11-18T22:20:00.001-05:00

Silk Henley - Victoria's Secret (clipped to polyvore.com)

The anniversary of my sister's 39th birthday

2011-11-18T19:52:00.001-05:00

My lovely sister turned 39 again back on the 8th. Now, having 2 of any birthday is something to be celebrated, but this particular one deserved major recognition. I set to work planning a big blowout party. I called a local historic inn, set up catering, music, decor, and a bar, and then had to break the news of the $$$ damage to Hubs.

That news didn't go so well.

It took some ~~seducing~~ convincing, but we finally decided to proceed. He set aside the money, I enlisted my brother in law's help, and we set things in motion.

Y'all know what happens to the best laid plans, right?

Yeah, well. Enter a blown hot water heater that soaks the garage of our rental home, causing thousands of dollars worth of damage, and PRESTO! No blowout.

Now, I was heartbroken. I felt like such a jerk. I couldn't do anything for my only sister on her ~~40th~~ 39th birthday.

She, of course, being the wonderful sister that she is, said she preferred it this way because she just wanted to pretend the whole thing never happened. I understand that feeling, but I knew in my heart that she would also be thrilled with a party in her honor.

I couldn't just let it go unnoticed, so I threw her a small little party in Hubs' man cave. I tried to make it as festive as I could, but I sure would have liked to have that big party back.

Oh well. Maybe next time.

Here are a few pictures from the evening.

The birthday girl and her tiara:

Me(goofy grin and all!) and the birthday girl

I got her a couple of pairs of boots for her birthday. I think she liked them!

Sing it with me now, "Boots with the fur... the whole club is lookin' at hurrrr"

The INCREDIBLE cake I had made for her. Not only did it look incredible, but it tasted DIVINE! Hubs has no sweet tooth whatsoever, and he ate more of it than anyone! I know where I'll be getting ALL my cakes from now on! Truthfully, I've always used her, but now I'll never attempt to make my own again:

Close up of the flower:

Please pardon those jacked up candles. I apparently had a few too many of these before I placed those in there:

Margarita jello shots, baby!! These were STRONG! I must have left out a few cups of water or something. Wowza! Notice the truth in that statement, as evidenced in that quality pic.

And, as if that wasn't enough, I had these:

Mimosa jello shots! These were incredibly yummy! Which, of course, means dangerous. They go down smooth, let me tell ya. The good news is that they only have champagne in them (oh wait, maybe some triple sec, too?) so they're not as toxic as they could be.

I highly recommend THIS blog post for some awesome jello shot recipes. I want to start making them all the time now!

I got the inspiration for these cute little "Keep Calm" signs from this blog post on Jimmy Choos and Tennis Shoes. They turned out so cute!

Now for the random shots. Does anyone out there believe that those little white orbs that sometimes appear in pictures are actually ghosts? If so, then we weren't the only ones partying that night!

Hubs and I:

The birthday girl and her Hubs:

Cake time!

We played this game. I don't recommend it, unless you're in a nerdy mood. Not exactly a party starter.

If nothing else, the guys loved our recliners:

I still hate that Sis missed out on her big party, but maybe we'll get to do one in the future. Everyone seemed to have a good time, so I consider it a success!

Have a great weekend!

A hodge podge post

2011-11-18T16:31:00.001-05:00

Hey y'all!

Sorry I've been MIA. Life gets hectic every now and then.

First of all, let me start off by welcoming my new followers! Thank you for joining my little corner of life here! xoxo

My little bloggy break meant that I actually had to go back and read my last post to see where I left off. My memory sucks.

But, it reminded me that I never gave an update about my Sephora purchases! Yay!

I can sum up my reaction in one word: Thrilled!

My makeup primer has gotten the job done without breaking me out, the blush was a welcome surprise, the lip gloss was what I expected (it's quite light, though. Might not get tons of wear), and the High Beam has lived up to its expectations! Here is a pic of me wearing the primer, blush, and High Beam:

I apologize for the crazy faces I have in these pics. I am the WORST at self portraits, and I always have some nutso look on my face when I take them. I always look deformed or cross eyed. Sorry.

I will say that I am having a bit of an application problem with the High Beam. I put dots along the top of my cheekbones, and I typically use my fingers to blend. It blends okayyy, but not great. Plus, it seems to lighten my blush/foundation where I apply it. Is that what y'all have experienced? It's not bad, and it hasn't stopped me from wearing it every day, but it's still a little bit of an issue. Keeps the product from being a home run for me. Maybe someone could offer me a suggestion. Or maybe reassure me that that's what it's supposed to do and it's perfectly fine. One day I blended it with the same foundation brush I used to blend my foundation, and I liked that better than my fingers, but I thought it made the High Beam less noticeable. Humph.

Like I said, though, I'm still wearing it every day. I'm obviously not THAT upset about it.

Here's a quick little OOTD, in case any one is into that.

Forever 21 twofer sweater (no longer available)

New York & Co Jeggings (similar HERE)

Boots from Target (similar HERE)

Here's another OOTD. The girls and I went to a wedding on the uber-wedding day, 11/11/11. I somehow didn't get a picture of the girls, but I did snap a quick one of myself. I'm awesome.

New York & Co top HERE

New York & Co pencil skirt (similar HERE)

LC Lauren Conrad black pumps HERE

Giant calves (PRICELESS)

Did I ever blog about Halloween? I don't think I did. It was pretty unexciting, but hectic. We did a lot of running around so that everyone could see the girls all dressed up, and that didn't leave a lot of time for our trick or treating. Hubs wasn't happy about that by the time we got home, so I think we'll have to stay near home next year and let family come to us. Or send Halloween pictures out. I honestly can't say I disagree with him. We spend a short amount of time driving hither and yon rather than letting the girls have as much fun as possible. I hate the thought of everyone not seeing the girls in all their dress-up cuteness, but they're getting to the age where they are going to start getting upset that they aren't trick or treating all night long. I guess we'll see what happens when it rolls around next year.

Here's a quick pic of me and the girls:

Love my little princesses!

I have a lot more to talk about, but it's family movie night here, so I'm going to hop off and make some popcorn and watch Tangled. I may try to get another post up tonight, though. Hubs and I are going out to dinner with a bunch of friends tomorrow night, so I won't get another chance for a few days if I don't get to it tonight.

Have a great weekend!

Lookie over there---->

2011-11-04T16:06:00.000-04:00

I added a Pinterest button! I totally think everyone should join MY (yes, just me. It's all just for me.) elite Timewasters club. I am completely addicted to Pinterest, and this is one addiction that everyone should have. Join in the fun!

Sephora haul

2011-11-02T22:59:00.000-04:00

Man, narrowing down my purchases at this sale was HARD! And I mean, HARD!

I always say that if we get to choose a personal heaven to go to, mine will be a Starbie's inside a Sephora.

Can't you just hear the angels singing?

I tend to think that sales like this are opportunities to stock up on things you NEED, but you also get to take advantage of good prices on things you WANT. My wants a little overwhelming, though. So I gave in to a few.

First up is Tarte's 12 hour Amazonian Clay blush in Exposed.

I have been hesitant to buy this blush up to now, because it sure doesn't look like much in the packaging. Not bright enough to be a normal blush, not dark enough to be a bronzer. It looks like it won't show up at all. I keep hearing the YouTube beauty gurus sing its praises, though. Not a bad word about it. I figured that now's my chance to try it for as good a price as I'm ever going to get. Plus, Sephora offers free returns if it turns out not to be my cup of tea.

This isn't the right shade. It's just the stock photo

$25 before discount

This next item ended up on my "want" list via a tweet. Not just any tweet, but a tweet from a Real Housewife of New Jersey. TO ME!!

Not that skanky Danielle Staub, either. Eeeyouuuuu!!!

THIS lovely lady!

One night, many moons ago, I somehow stumbled into a conversation about makeup with Jacqueline Laurita! I don't quite remember how it started, but all I know is that I was shocked to death to be talking to a Real Housewife! It was a major moment for me. Call me shallow, call me crazy, but I love those Real Housewives like a fat kid loves cake! And bacon!

Not long after our tweet-versation, she actually started following me! Alex McCord did, too, which was also super cool. But considering that Jacqueline is one of my favorite Housewives from any location, I was just silly excited. I doubt that either of them still follow me (how can I find out? Anyone know?), but it was exciting while it lasted.

One of the things we talked about was her favorite lip gloss, which was NARS Turkish Delight, and that little bad boy is finally comin' home to Mama! I already own NARS Dolce Vita (which happens to be missing at the moment) and I really love their glosses. I can't quite say that they are really worth the price tag, but here I am buying my second one anyway.

$24 before discount

My next purchase also has a celebrity connection, though unfortunately I don't have a direct connection. One of the women whose style I really admire is the Pride of Checotah, Oklahoma herself, Miss Carrie Underwood.

Good grief. What makeup would give me legs like that? That's what I really need.

Anyhoo...I read a People magazine article once that said she uses NARS orgasm blush,

which I already had, Benefit's Hello Flawless powder

which I immediately ordered, and she uses Benefit's High Beam highlight. Now, People magazine is a great resource for all things celebrity. I trust that source. However, when it comes to All Things Carrie, you will never find a better resource that Miss Pink Lou Lou! When SHE SAID Miss Carrie uses Benefit High Beam, I knew it had to be mine. I have waited quite a while, though, just out of sheer anxiety that it wouldn't look good on me, or I wouldn't be able to apply it correctly, or that I would let it go to waste, etc, etc. I always hoped to get my hands on a small size bottle of it or at least a sample.

Big negatory, Ghost Rider.

I've asked for a sample several times in Ulta, but they always tell me that they don't have any. One girl told me they had never had any samples of that at all.

Well, tonight I ordered this little set:

$15, before discount

It includes small sizes of Benetint and Posietint, too. I'm not much excited about those. I just want my greedy little hands on that High Beam! Finally!

Carrie Underwood cheeks, here I come!

My last purchase was what I actually NEEDED.

My Bare Escentuals Prime Time Foundation Primer, Oil-Control. Nothing exciting, but I needed it.

$22, before discount.

Now I've bored you to tears with this novel of a post. I've written it while watching "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". I'll just say that I'm glad I had this post to keep me occupied.

Happy shopping, ladies! You only have an hour left to take advantage of this sale, so if you're interested, get to it!

Sephora Friends and Family sale!

2011-11-02T17:38:00.000-04:00

It's the most WON-DER-FULLL time of the year!

Sephora's Friends and Family sale is back!

The whole site is 20% off when you use your unique code, which you can get by clicking HERE.

I promised myself that I wouldn't shop any more today, after filling my car up with gas, refilling my Starbucks Rewards card, grocery shopping, and making a ~~frivolous~~ necessary Target run, my daily budget is tapped out. But, this code expires today, and there are things that I truly do need. I'll do some shopping and report back here on things I bought.

I wanted to get this quick post up ASAP because the code expires at midnight tonight!

Hurrrrry!

Go!

She made it official!!

2011-11-01T15:53:00.000-04:00

Well, one post about a sad end of a marriage, and now a post about a happy new baby!!

JessSimps has made it official! She's going to be a ~~mummy~~ mommy!

I just love her. I have always loved her, but I was forever smitten when this was on every week:

C'mon now, you know you loved that show. And that shawl.

I secretly held out hope that the world would see a reunion of this gorgeousness,

but, I truly am happy for good ol' Nick and Vanessa. That's a whole lotta attractiveness there, too!

And their wedding special on VH1 made me really feel like they have something special. Especially when I found out they were moving to Cincinnati. That made me feel like they were really taking this marriage seriously and were taking steps to protect it.

I don't know much about JSimps' Babdy Daddy, Mr. Eric Johnson, but that means I don't know anything BAD about him, so that's a good thing.

Congratulations to Jessica and Eric!!

October Birchbox

2011-11-01T11:53:00.000-04:00

My October Birchbox arrived today! Does it seem like to anyone else that I just got my September one?

FYI: This post was started on 10/11, and I'm just now finishing it. Sorry.

Wow.

That happened fast. Just another sign that time goes by so much faster these days. Christmas will be here before I'm ready, that's for sure!

Open, Sayz a meee!

This month's box has a Prep & Finish theme.

Of all the things I saw upon opening the box, I was most excited about this product. I just so happened to be on my last few squirts of my current foundation primer and I was in need of some new. I loved that this one was tinted, which is the one thing I would change about the bareMinerals one. However, after sampling this almost every day since I received it, I'm pretty sure it's breaking me out. My skin had been clearing up since I started the oil cleansing method, and I had a few days of clear skin. Once I started using this, though, my breakouts have returned. I am going to keep using it, though, (durrrrr....) because I have so little of it left. I just want to make sure. If I never clear up before the bottle is empty, I'm going back to my bareMinerals oil-free Prime Time.

Sorry, Ms. Geller. I really wanted to love your product.

I haven't tried this next product, the Intense Radiance Mask. I plan to this week, though, while the Hubs is away on a golf trip. I get to do all my lotions and potions that I don't want him to see/smell while he's away.

Apparently birchbox things this ol' oily-skinned girl needs more oil in her life. I think every box they've sent me has had an oil product in it. This one is actually for my hair, but I'm still using the Morrocan Oil right now, so this one remains unused, as well. I should break it out, though. Maybe tomorrow.

Here are more samples that I haven't tried.

Winning.

Here it is out of the box. I'm not wild about the color, which is why I haven't tried it.

My closet is seriously lacking in the cashmere department, so this one will go unused for quite a while. I am hoping to get Hubs an argyle cashmere sweater for Christmas, though. I'll get a chance to break this stuff out the first time he wears it, since he can't look at food with it ending up on his shirt somewhere.

Love you, Babe!

Even though I didn't get much use from this month's birchbox, I still really love the service. My little heart goes pitter patter when that little pink box shows up in my mailbox every month. If you want your heart to pitter patter, too, send me an email to TNRepublcn at aol.com and I'll send you a referral. Put Birchbox on the subject line so it will jump out at me.

Ta-ta for now!

Fairytale Ending

2011-11-01T10:17:00.002-04:00

Surprise, Surprise

Kim K filed for divorce.

Anyone out there NOT see this coming??? Anyone???

I totally did. Maybe not 72 days after the wedding, but after watching the Kim Kardashian Fairytale Wedding 71 Day Extravaganza (honestly, has E! shown anything else since it first aired?), I knew that was NOT a match made in heaven.

That guy's a total douchebag.

I have not seen or heard of him saying anything remotely kind and loving since he first came on the scene. Who wants to spend the rest of their life with someone like that?

Not this girl!

My Hubs even heard that big time basketball schools really scouted him in high school, but after his campus visits, they stopped recruiting him because he was (and I quote) a "full-of-himself A-hole that no one could stand to be around."

Seck-say, bay-bay.

I would want me some of that, right?

Blech.

To be honest, I blame it on this hideous-ness:

I know that's a lot of diamonds, and I never begrudge some one their bling, but eww. I just don't like it. I think it would make a beautiful necklace, but as a headband (I can't even call it a tiara), it just doesn't work.

Now, I've heard rumors that this whole wedding was done as a money-making scheme/publicity stunt. I actually don't believe that. I think Kim was truly sincere in this wedding. Do I believe she really, truly loved Kris in that love-of-a-lifetime way? Not at all. But I believe she wanted to. I believe she really, truly wanted to have a happy marriage and start a big family like she talks about every time there's a microphone in her vicinity. I think she had the best of intentions, but THIS GUY:

got off the pot before she could marry him. I feel bad for her. I think a lot of people have some sort of idealized image of marriage in their heads, find the first guy/girl willing, and throw a wedding without realizing what life will be like after the rose petals settle. That's what I truly believe happened here. She wanted her happily ever after, and made a bad decision. It happens more often that I wish it did, and unfortunately for her, it happened while the world watched.

I hope she has learned her lesson, and realizes now that she has to cultivate a relationship, not a scene for a TV show.

I sincerely think she's a good person, just a bit misguided. Not nearly the train wreck this wackadoodle has become:

Talk about EWWW.
That girl needs to be institutionalized. For quite a while. She needs a whole re-boot. That's a blog post for another day.

Anyhoo.... I don't think Kim has gone off the deep end. I am firmly on the side that she just wanted something so badly, and wasn't thinking rationally when she picked that goober to marry. I hope she finds someone who truly loves her and whom she truly loves, and I wish her and Prince Charming all the love in the world.

Now, back to MY reality, which today involves two sickly baby girls.

See that circle on the carpet at the bottom of the picture? Thank you, SpotBot. Thank you.

Lots of comforting and cleaning today. Love the comforting, but the cleaning is nasty.

Comes with the territory, though, right?

Gotta go scrub the couch and throw more stuff in the washer and dryer.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween, and may your day be filled with Reese Cups and Butterfingers and no upchuck. Lovely wish. Maybe that should be my Thanksgiving blessing...

Toodle-loo!

I may have crossed it....

2011-10-26T21:28:00.003-04:00

And I may have crossed it....

You be the judge!

The Breakfast of Champions

2011-10-11T10:22:00.000-04:00

Can you hear it?

Can you hear the sound of muscles expanding? Weight dropping? Smiles widening?

I didn't think so.

'Cuz that's not really happening here. Not yet anyway. I'm close, though! I'm getting back into the groove of running. I'm "training" for the local Race for the Cure 5K, so I'm doing my best to be as healthy as I can (except on gamedays- then it's time to defile the temple).

I put "training" in quotes up there because I'm already capable of running that distance. I just want to do it faster.

Along my get-healthier journey, I'm trying to make cleaner food choices. I'm certainly not perfect at it, but I figure if I make a few more whole food choices than normal, I am doing a good thing.

Every little bit helps, right?

I have the hardest time putting a healthy breakfast together. I'm a girl who loves her some Lucky Charms, and it's SUPER hard to give up all that sugary, artificially flavored and colored yumminess.

God bless you, little Leprechaun.

Also, I can throw some nibbles and milk in a bowl and be out the door lickity-split. Putting together a healthy, whole food breakfast is traditionally much more time consuming to prepare.

This is what I've come up with. It's not as fast and easy as cereal, but it's not too bad, either.

First, start with Archer Farms Pumpkin Spice oatmeal.

Add in a half cup of almond milk (or water)

Microwave for 1-2 minutes. I like 1:45.

Sweeten it as you like. I used honey today to make it clean(er), but I normally use a packet of Splenda. I prefer the Splenda. I may go back to that, but I want to give agave nectar a try first.

Stir that up until it's incorporated.

Cover with a thin layer of ground cinnamon. I think nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice would also be good options.

Toss in a handful of cacao nibs.

These cacao nibs are from Navitas. The first ones I tried were chocolate covered cacao nibs by Kopali Organics. They were WAY better, but also WAY more expensive.

I added some raisins:

And there you have it! ENJOY!

It's really good, and not very time consuming. The best variation I've tried is with the Splenda and chocolate covered cacao nibs. I'll do that as a treat from time to time. I think I may also alter this a bit by leaving out the raisins and adding in a little bit of almond butter. I think that would be yummy with the chocolatey-ness of the cacao nibs.

If you try this recipe, let me know! If anyone else has any ideas for a healthy breakfast (no egg casseroles!), I'd love to hear it. I'm always in need of ideas! That durn little Leprechaun haunts me every day.

Have a fabulous day!

Danke Schoen!

2011-10-09T18:41:00.001-04:00

Happy Oktoberfest, lovelies!!

A couple of weeks ago, Hubs and I and some friends spent the day celebrating, well, celebrating. I'm not quite sure what he purpose of Oktoberfest is, but it seems to be a party for the sake of partying. Like, one day, some German fella said, "You know what? I love to party. I think we should have a party. Let's have a party to celebrate partying!! With lots and lots of beer! Whoo Hoo!"

I'm sure this is probably NOT accurate.

But I'm not TOTALLY sure.

Just for the record, I also think that Cinco de Mayo evolved the same way. I'm sure that Mexican fella heard about all the fun that German fella was having, poured himself a delicious margarita, and whipped up a party of his own.

I really should write history books.

We started the day off at a local Oktoberfest celebration downtown. Our city's first ever. I have nothing to compare it to, but I have to say, it seemed like a hit! We had a ball! There was a craft biergarten that hosted several beer-tasting tents. You paid for a ticket, got a T-shirt and a ~~pint glass~~ plastic shot glass, and you could sample anything you wanted, as many times you wanted. Being the crafty veterans we are, we brought our Tervis Tumblers from home:

They filled those babies up for us! Forget those little bitty free glasses. Homegirl knows how to lock it down.

We spent several hours there, acting like we owned the place. We brought tents, chairs, our own glasses.... we were the mayors of that Oktoberfest town.

We even ended up with our own entertainment.

Check out that Tervis, baby.

Let's try that again, boys. This time shoot for "less dorky."

Ah, well. That'll have to do.

Yeah, baby. He's coming home with ME tonight.

After the downtown festival, we went to an Oktoberfest celebration at a fairly fancy restaurant in Virginia. This is normally a really nice restaurant, but they let their hair (and feathers!) down for a little brew-haha every year. Good thing for us, since we weren't exactly in "fancy restaurant " condition by that point.

Our lovely friends Steve and Kelly

More awesome friends Ann-Marie and Chris

Ain't we cute???

Heehee. We convinced Ashley to get on stage with the Oompah band and play the bells.

MORE COWBELL!!

Now for some equal-opportunity humiliation. Durn you, whoever grabbed my camera!

I am so stinkin' hilarious that Ashley can't even stop long enough to get a picture.

Let's see how she does when THIS happens!

Tee hee!

And here are our guys being ultra cool. What up, yo? You can't touch this.

Get it, Steve! Those kicks really need to be higher. You're never going to make it as a Rockette if this is all you can offer.

This is Ashley's brother, Andrew. He's the single man in the group, so he became my pet. I'm not sure he was happy about this, but alas, he had no choice.

Ok, ok. I'll come back where I belong.

Wheeee!!!!!!

We had a great time, and as much as I miss my girls when Steve and I go out with friends, I sure enjoy that time. It's so refreshing for me to have "adult" time, and this sure was a fun day.

Thanks, friends!

What in the WORLD am I thinking???

2011-10-04T22:54:00.000-04:00

I think I may have mentioned a time or two on here that I have problematic skin. "Problematic" is the nice way of saying that I have the skin of a pubescent boy with a French fry addiction instead of a 33 25 year old woman. I am fighting wrinkles and acne at the same time, and I'm losing both battles.

Royally.

Napoleon had a better result at Waterloo.

I am now flailing about, reaching for whatever foothold I can grasp that might lead me to the summit of clear, smooth skin. I have stopped short of sandblasting, but just a smidge short.

Here's a rundown of my nighttime face cleansing routine:

1) Wash my face with Olay sensitive skin foaming face wash to remove makeup

2) Wipe off with clean washcloth.

3) Use bareMinerals Foaming Face Wash on my Clarisonic to get a deep clean

4) Reuse that same washcloth to wipe my face clean.

5) Use prescription Prascion cloths to again wash my face. I used this face wash to fight the acne.

6) I let my face dry for a few minutes (very few)

7) Apply Origins Brighter By Nature Serum and let dry

8) Apply Tarte Pure Maracuja Oil and let dry.

9) Apply 0.05% trenition cream (Retin-A)

I felt like this was an exhaustive cleansing routine, and I have been so disappointed that I have not only not had any results from it, but my acne isn't improving at all. Probably not worse, but DEFINITELY not better.

Then I just happened to be watching some of my YouTube subscriptions, and Leighannsays talked about another YouTuber, Glintzy, and her success with using Lush face products during her own bout with acne. Being the sucker for persuasion that I am, I jumped right on board with Lush products and purchased 3 products right after watching this video:

She sold me immediately.

But did you notice what she used to clean her face with? Olive Oil? Huh?

Have you lost your daggum mind?

Well, evidently I have.

I have been doing it now every night since Friday night.

I have super-duper oily skin, and here I am, slathering on EVOO to clean my face at night.

Nutso.

I also stopped using my Clarisonic, which breaks my heart. I love that thing. I can't help but think, though, that was bombarding my skin with 3 kinds of cleansers, 2 manual exfoliators (Clarisonic and the washcloth), and one chemical exfoliator (Retin-A). As much as I wish I could strip my skin into submission, I had to consider the possibility that I was doing more harm than good.

So, my new nighttime cleansing routine is this:

1) Slather EVOO on my skin, massage with fingertips.

2) Wet a clean washcloth and gently remove the oil and makeup that it removes.

3) Use Prascion cloths

4) Apply Origins Brighter by Nature, let dry

5) Apply Tarte Maracuja Oil, let dry

6) Apply Retin-A

I realize I haven't drastically reduced the steps in my routine, but I have to go about this in baby steps. Like I said, my natural inclination is "Shock and Awe". I want to bomb the blemishes right off my skin, but alas, that's not working.

I'm not sure this is going to be the answer, either, but I had to let my readers know that I'm doing this. It seems more than a little crazy to me. Nevertheless, I'm giving it a try.

Wish me luck.

Happy THIRSTday!

2011-09-29T16:13:00.003-04:00

Happy THIRSTday, dearies!!

After a week of bye weeks last week, football is back in full swing now. T-Man is back on the playing field after getting his hand clubbed up in a cast. He's a real weapon now! My oldest nephew is back on the field this week, too, after a week off. and the Tennessee Vols will take on Buffalo at 12:30 Saturday afternoon. Whoo Hoo!!

I thought I would highlight a great tailgate recipe. I think this sounds like a really awesome tailgate punch. It's called beer margaritas and I got the recipe from Food Network. I think a great idea would be to make a great big batch of these and serve them with limes and salted rims.

Can you salt the rims of UT Tervis Tumblers????

Hmmm.....

That might be worth finding out.....

Back to the recipe:

Ingredients

1 lime, cut into 8 wedges
1/4 cup coarse salt
2 (12-ounce) bottles your favorite beer, chilled
1/2 cup frozen concentrate limeade, thawed
1/2 cup chilled tequila
Ice cubes

Directions

Rub lime wedges around rims of 4 margarita glasses. Dip rims into salt to coat lightly. In a medium pitcher, combine beer, limeade, and tequila. Fill prepared glasses with ice, then with margarita mixture. Garnish with remaining lime wedges. Serve immediately.

Cheers!!

September Birchbox time!!

2011-09-26T19:38:00.002-04:00

It's that time of the month again!!

And this time, it's a good time.

This is what I saw when I opened the box:

The first thing that caught my eye? Those Incoco nail polish stickers! I've been dying to try the Sally Hansen ones (have you seen the super cute Halloween ones? I HAVE to have some!). I don't really know why I haven't bought them yet. I just haven't. Now I get to try these for free! Yay me!

I know they're a little hard to see, but it's a dark background (brown-ish burgundy) with a gold glittery pattern. Sorta looks like a floral lace. Really cool. This is a full set of them, and they range in price from $7.99 to $10.99. The ones with glitter tend more toward the $10.99 end of that range, so I'm going to say that this one item pays for this month's Birchbox entirely.

This month is a special edition Birchbox, and every box included a pink friendship bracelet. I haven't worn it yet, but I think it's really cute.

Each item in this month's box is supposed to refer back to the different parts of a woman's personality. The nail polish stickers are for our adventurous side. The little package contained 3 items, a lip enhancer, a mineral sunscreen and some facial moisturizer. The first item I'll talk about is the mineral sunscreen. It's by colorscience pro, and this is for the "minimalist" Birchboxer. This is a multitasking product that evens out your skin tone while offering SPF 30.

Eww. Finger chub. I swear my fingers aren't that sausage-like in real life.

I actually tried this today. I like the idea of a mineral sunscreen (I've been thisclose to buying the one from bareEscentuals a few times), but I certainly don't think this offers enough coverage to replace a foundation. Maybe if you have very clear skin it would be enough for you, but since I don't, I added bareminerals on top. Next time I'll know to add this as a setting powder on top of my foundation. This product is 0.05oz, and the full size (0.21oz ) is $28. That makes this sample worth $6.66 if I did my math correctly. And it's entirely possible that I did not.

Next up is the lip enhancer from Jouer cosmetics. This product is for the practical side of us. It's not just a lip balm; it will also hydrate, plump, and condition your lips all at the same time! Sounds fabulous, right? Yeah, well. It's just meh. I don't think it's too awesome. Seems just like most other lip balms to me. Has the consistency of the Blistex you can get in a squeeze tube, if you know what I'm talking about.

This sample is 0.07oz, and the full 0.33oz size is worth $14. That means this sample's value is $2.96.

For our crafty sides, Birchbox gave us a Face Nourish- Birchbox Blend from Truth Art Beauty. This is a blend of oils that was done specifically for this Birchbox. It contains organic argan, pumpkin seed, and geranium oils.

As I have said in the past, I have super duper oily skin, and using oil as a moisturizer scares me to death. However, I have already been using a oil moisturizer from Tarte that I've actually been liking. I'm not as scared to try this as I would've been before the Tarte product. I'll give it a try as soon as my Tarte Maracuja oil gets used up.

This sample doesn't have size information on it, but the full size is 1 oz for $54. Pretty pricey, so I'm sure this sample is worth at least $10.

If this is your first introduction to Birchbox, it is a monthly subscription service that mails out deluxe samples to you. The monthly cost is $10, or you can buy a year's worth for $100. You can earn loyalty points by referring friends who subscribe, filling out product reviews, or by buying full sizes of the products. More points=Birchbox credit to use toward their subscription or their products.

I wish I could just post a link to a referral site for those of you who are interested, but I apparently can only do it by email. If you want me to send you one, check out my profile on here and send me an email. Put Birchbox in the subject line so I know you're not spam! You can also catch me on twitter as @MrsMatched.

I hope everyone has a FABULOUS week!!

Happy THIRSTday!

2011-09-22T16:55:00.002-04:00

Welcome to my new weekly Thirsty Thursday post! Now, most of these will be of the adult variety, but I figure a few family friendly recipes would be nice, too.

I don't think I've mentioned my complete and utter addiction to Starbucks (or, Starbie's, as I affectionately refer to it) before, but I am totally addicted. The Pumpkin Spice Latte was my gateway drug. I used to only go during the fall season to get my Pumpkin Spice, but now that there are two Starbie's in my little hick town, I go pretty much every day.

Honestly.

To some, that may be a little embarrassing, but I wear it as a badge of honor.

I love me some Starbie's.

So, here's a recipe I found on the A Law Student's Journey blog. She's a former Starbie's barista, and she spilled her secrets!

All you need:

Apple Juice

Cinnamon Dolce Syrup (from Starbucks!) I like to use the sugar free kind, but some people are pickier than I am! The HUGE bottles run about $6.95 or so...they will last you FOREVER. However, it makes a great cider if you are having a party! People will be SO impressed (I had no idea you could buy their syrups!)

Carmel Sauce- you can pick this up at Starbucks as well, however, you can use a store bought caramel sauce to save a little cash!

Optional- whipped cream

*also, when you buy your cinnamon dolce syrup, ask if they have any extra pumps. It depends on how nice they are, but a lot of times they will give one to you if they have extra!*

Single Serving

For a single cup (and by cup I mean tall size of sbux so 12 oz), add apple juice (12oz or so) add 3 pumps of Cinnamon Dolce (1 pump= about 2 Tbs) you can always add more if you’d like! Then go ahead and heat it up in the microwave like you would any other hot beverage (if you are doing this for a party, just put it over the stove)

If you are a whipped cream person (which I am not!) this is where you put the whipped cream on the top! Then top it off with caramel sauce!

There you have it!

I'm going to see about buying me some pumpkin spice syrup now!

Taylor Swift concert!

2011-09-21T21:58:00.001-04:00

Hello, lovelies! I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend! I sure did. My sister, my niece, and I motored down to Music City for a visit with this cutie:

We had such a good time!

Swifty put on an incredible show. I had read an article online that said her concert was nothing but lots of hair flipping and faux disbelief, and while there was some of that, it was still a great concert. I don't think anyone alive can argue that she's a great musician, and this was a true display of that talent. The concert wasn't a major theatrical production (see a Cher show if that's what you're into). It was mostly her singing and playing guitar (with a minimal amount of hair flipping). She sang THE WHOLE TIME! You know how most concerts will have an intermission, or play a video in the middle, or they'll have a super long guitar solo, or some other kind of stall tactic? None of that here. She was on stage pretty much the whole time. She did just a few wardrobe changes, and she honestly had to be wearing those outfits all together and just peeled one off real fast underneath the stage. She was only off the stage a split second, it seemed like! Amazing!

You know what's ever more amazing???

Guest apprearances!!

Whoo Hoo!

She said something about how great it is to be in your hometown because you can invite your friends to your shows. I look at the stage, and there comes Kenny Chesney! I couldn't believe it! It was so cool.

I sooo wished they had sang more than just one song. Luckily, she wasn't done!

Later in the concert, she brought out new pop star Andy Grammar to sing along on his hit, "Keep Your Head Up". I really like that song, but it's even better live! You can really get a feel for how upbeat it is. Taylor said she listens to it whenever she's having a bad day, and I think I'm going to add it to my running playlist!

And that's STILL NOT all!!!

For her encore, Taylor comes up from underneath the stage on a long Victorian sofa (you can see it in her "Sparks Fly" video). Guess who was sitting at the other end of that sofa? Tim McGraw!!

Swoon...

Yum. Break me off a piece of that.

Faith Hill is a lucky woman.

Rawr.

Anyway, I was so impressed by the concert anyway, but the bonus stars were so awesome! My only complaint is that they just did one song each. I would've loved to have seen them sing more together!

I heard that Friday night's show had Hayley Williams from Paramore and Ronnie Dunn as special guests. As much as I like both of them, I'm glad we were there Saturday!!!

Nashville is always a lot of fun, and it was PACKED on Saturday. Not only was Taylor performing two shows that weekend, but the Titans were playing a home game against the Baltimore Ravens. Every where you looked, there were Ravens fans! I couldn't believe people go that far (and in such numbers) to away NFL games. It was nuts!

Here are a few pics from that weekend.

Unfortunately I don't have any pics of Kenny, Andy, or Tim. My phone AND my camera died! Grrr!

This tree came down from the ceiling, Taylor went out into the audience, and sat there and played a bunch of songs. Super cool!

This is obviously out of order. This is Charlie Worsham, one of Taylor's opening acts.

And this is NeedToBreathe. They were great! I think I'm going to check out iTunes and see if I can find some of their songs on there.

Sis and TT before the concert

Me, TT, Sis

We truly had a fantastic time.

Not only was it fun, but I also learned something about myself. If I have a drink too many, I become that girl who tells you a story about 5908908 times, and totally expects you to think it's sooo funny/touching/life-changing each and every time. I also like to play a game called "six degrees of separation from me," where I try to convince you that I have a connection to pretty much every one who's ever taken a breath in the United States.

Yeah, I'm that girl.

Totally obnoxious.

Total fail.

Lesson learned. Hopefully this lesson will come to mind when I'm celebrating Oktoberfest with a bunch of people Hubs works with this weekend. Eek.

I'll let you know how that goes....

Blogger problem

2011-09-16T08:57:00.001-04:00

Crystal Strand Necklace $142. 60

Lookie what I found today!!! I have always sorta liked Sorelli jewelry (you know, not in love with it, but I never dislike it, either). I don't own any pieces, but that may soon change! I don't know if I can resist these pieces!

Grrr.... Love the pieces. Hate the website.

Apparently I can't snag any more images from the website. I don't know why, but it's incredibly frustrating.

So, I'll post a few links on this uber-boring post. Grrr.....

Crystal Cushion Ring $41.40

Antique- Influenced Hollow Drop Earrings $66.70

Crystal and Cabochon Classic Bracelet $94.30

So, boo for no pictures, but Yay for cool stuff!

Happy THIRST-day!

2011-09-15T17:17:00.001-04:00

I am hoping to start a new trend of posting beverage recipes every THIRSTday. I may need help keeping this going, so if I miss a week, remind me!

In honor of my recent Tennessee football posts, here's a Tennessee cocktail to bring to your next tailgate:

Tennessee Julep

Photo via Pinterest

Ingredients

1 jigger Gentleman Jack Tennessee whiskey
1 jigger apricot schnapps
1 tsp powdered sugar
10-12 fresh mint leaves
crushed ice
water

Method

In a bowl cover mint with sugar. Add a few drops of water and muddle. Remove half of muddled mint and place in a silver julep glass. Top with crushed ice to half full. Add whiskey and schnapps, remaining muddle and top with crushed ice. Stir with a long spoon until frost appears on the outside of the glass. Rub lip of glass with lime and dress with fruit and mint.

Recipe via

Happy dance day!!!

2011-09-14T16:50:00.000-04:00

Whoo Hoo!!!

I have 50 followers now!!! I'm so excited! Thank you to all of my followers, old and new! I am thrilled that you have joined me here, and I look forward to getting to know y'all!!

Welcome to my little bloggy world, my friends! Hope you plan to stay a while!!

Not only do I now have FIFTY TWO (Hi there, you cute little 2!!) bloggy friends as of this morning, I also saw something on the Keeping up with the Rheinlander's blog this afternoon that makes my tummy do little flip-flops.

It's the new official trailer for Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1!!!!!

Squeee!!!!

Omgosh!! That wedding scene looks absolutely incredible. Not at all what I envisioned while reading the book, but I love it anyway. Sometimes I don't mind when movies depart from the book as long as it results in some extra fabulousness.

But that's the only circumstance. Only in the name of couture, people.

And that sex scene? Might just move me from Team Jacob to Team Edward. Rawr.

Just for the record, I am only Team Jacob in movieland. There can't possibly be anyone who is Team Jacob based only on the books. You gotta be squarely on Team Edward if you only have the books to go on.

But Taylor Lautner vs. Robert Pattinson?

Loves me some Taylor! Rawr... RAWR!

On yet ANOTHER happy dance note, my sweet niece, TT, was voted onto Homecoming Court for her school yesterday!! Love her heart, she has been so nervous about it. I wasn't worried about it at all; she's always been my princess. I had no doubt that she would make Homecoming. I'm so stinkin' proud of her, and you better believe that I will have a camera strapped to both hands, both feet, my nose, my forehead, wherever I can get one to stay still!

Way to go, TT!!

We take the good, we take the bad....

There was some rain on our parade today, however. My youngest nephew, T-Man (AKA the one-man show for his football team), broke his hand at his football game last night. The bright side is that it's a clean break and should heal nicely if he doesn't use it for a period of time. He's definitely out for his next game, and then an orthopedic specialist will evaluate his hand to make sure it's healing correctly. He'll know how long he's out after next week's appointment.

Any prayers and positive thoughts you could spare would certainly be appreciated.

I know he's upset about not playing, so I just hope he's able to stay off of it and let his hand heal.

I hate that he's hurting. I sure hope this passes quickly.

Happy hump day, lovies! The weekend will soon be upon us, and that means me, Sis, and TT will soon be in the presence of this lovely lady!

Fun Finds at Ulta

2011-09-06T22:29:00.001-04:00

I actually had some alone time last Thursday. Big Girl was at preschool, and I decided to give Mother's Day Out a try for Baby Girl. I had every intention of just leaving her there for enough time for me to get a work out in, but by the time that was over, I only had an hour left of school. I didn't think I really wanted to go to school, get Baby Girl, drive home, sit there for 15-20 minutes, and then drive back to school to pick up Big Girl. Instead, I decided to waste some time in my favorite shopping center that houses my favorites: Target, Ulta, and Starbucks (AKA Starbie's)!

I, as usual, had no plans to spend any money (other than the requisite Starbie's), but Ulta sucked me in yet again.

They have some of the CUTEST Halloween beauty supplies! I only picked up a few things but I have to go back and get more. I can't stop thinking about them!

This is what I actually bought. I bought the black in the very center (black with silver glitter), the orange (clear orange jelly with orange sparkle) and the glow in the dark on the far left. I bought the glow in the dark for my niece, so I can't tell you how well it works. I wore the orange this Saturday for the UT game. I layered it over two coats of Essie's Braziliant, and it was PERFECT! Perfect on top of perfect. Loves.

Then there were these stencil kits. I sooooo wish I had a reason to buy these. In fact, I want to buy them just to wear the colors in every day life. Weird? Maybe.

Couldn't you just die for that glitter???

This is the best part:

Eyelashes!!

Major.

I had to get close-ups of my faves:

I'm thinking I may have to get one of these glittery ones to wear to Taylor Swift next week.

And these. I told my niece about these, and I'm going to try to talk my sister into letting me put these on my niece for the Swifty concert. Rock on.

Now run out and buy all of these! You know I'm going to.

How 'bout dem VOLS!!!!

2011-09-04T23:07:00.000-04:00

Did you see that butt-kickin' that my VOLS laid on Montana????

Now THAT'S how we start the football season off right!!!

And yes, I say we. My cheering totally made a difference.

GO VOLS!!!

Good news, bad news...

2011-08-31T16:48:00.000-04:00

The bad news is that last night was NOT my niece's first game cheerleading. I wrote that post about it, and even went out and bought her a gift. We got to the game, and lo and behold, there she was, sitting in the stands just as pretty as you please. Oh well. Now I know that her squad doesn't cheer for away games.

Good news: T-man really IS a one man show! He scored FIVE times last night. Actually, 6, considering he scored on the very first play, but it was called back due to an illegal block in the back. He won 46-20, and 13 of the points the other team scored came after Coach took out his 8th graders.

Proud is an understatement. Elated is a better word. I'm just so so proud of him!! Ack, I need another word for proud!

Here are a few pics of last night:

Here he is lined up for the first kickoff. This is the one he ran back to the endzone, but it was called back on a penalty. He's #17 in the center of the picture.

Touchdown!

Lined up at quarterback:

Another touchdown!

Big Girl, Baby Girl, and TT (my cheerleader niece, rocking the side pony)

Here's the picture I am most excited about. Big Girl had "Baby Bumble" to look after for a night. He's her classroom mascot, and her project was to take him home with her and write a story about the "adventures" he went on. Our adventure was T-Man's football game. I had to get a pic of all of them together. I am not only proud of T-Man for playing an awesome game last night, but also that he was awesome enough to take a picture with his little cousin and her stuffed bee!

A real man is secure enough to not feel upstaged by a bee in Mickey jammies.

And I had to get one of me with T-Man, too.

(Front tuck fail. I look like I have a butt in the front.)

Thanks for reading! Happy Hump Day!

Go on with my crafty self!

2011-08-30T13:29:00.000-04:00

I mentioned a new-to-me blog on my last post called Seashells and Southern Belles. She also authors a new-to-everyone blog called the Belles of Saturday. This blog is completely devoted to college football, specifically SEC and ACC football.

You know I'm loving that!

There was a guest post on Belles of Saturday written by the lovely Kelly from Lowcountry Spoiled (another great blog name! I wish I was that creative) about the South Carolina wreath she made. It inspired me to make one for my beloved VOLS, and I was able to do it fairly quickly and easily (although I do have an orange glitter trail all over my house now).

HERE's her wreath.

And here is mine, in all it's orange and white and glittered glory!

Close up:

EXTREME close up!

Now, I am fully aware that Martha Stewart is not going to be banging down my door and begging me to be her successor, but I am still pretty stoked about how it turned out! The best part is seeing how the sun hits it in person. That glitter just shimmers! Martha really knows what she's doing!

In case anyone wants to replicate it, I bought all my supplies at Michael's. I used:

24" grapevine wreath ($8.99)

Fire Opal glitter by Martha Stewart Crafts ($9.99 for the big bottle. WAYYYY too much! Just buy the smaller $3.99 bottle)

3 different kinds of ribbon at $3.99 each. The best part about doing this at this time of year was that I was able to take advantage of the specialty Halloween ribbons, and that's where I got the sparkly orange ribbon. It was also the only wired ribbon I used. Wired works really well, but it's not necessary.

Wooden letters (I can't find my receipt, but I think they were $2.99 each)

Aleene's Tacky Glue (Oops. I forgot I bought this at Walmart. $0.98, I think)

I also used my own hot glue gun and glue, and I have no idea how much I paid for those. Kelly said her wooden letters had staples in the back that she used to "sew" the letters to the wreath. Make do with whatcha got!

Also, if you can find a 40% off Michael's coupon, you could come out even better than I did. I used to see those coupons all the time, and now I don't. Does anyone out there in bloggy land know a trick on how to get more Michael's coupons? Their sales paper is hit or miss in our Sunday paper.

I'm so pleased with how this turned out that I'm really tempted to do another one for my nephew's football team. I could put that one up on Fridays when he's playing, and switch it out on Saturdays when UT is playing. Would that be weird? Maybe even more weird since I don't live in the same city as my nephew, and people here might not get why I'm cheering for a team 30 minutes away. Maybe he would be glad I made it for him, though...

Speaking of my handsome nephew, lookie here:

My nephew is #8, on the right

This is his Uncle Scott peeking behind us.

A Scott-free pic. Get Scott-free? Hee hee. I crack myself up.

This is my younger nephew. He is such a hoot. We went to eat before the game, and he was appropriately dressed. At some point during the game, he turned into this:

A shirtless dude with a feathered headdress. LOL.

My younger nephew is also a stud on the football field. I'm going to his first game tonight, but my Daddy went to watch a few preseason games and said my nephew was pretty much the only player on the team. He's quarterback, free safety, placekicker, punter, and kick returner. Apparently now he's been moved from quarterback to wide receiver (and sometime running back) because he's the only one on the team who can catch the football! Coach figures he can teach someone to throw a ball, so he needs T-Man to catch it/run it up the field.

I'm so excited to see him play tonight. Everyone pray he stays healthy! This team needs him!

I also get to see my niece cheer her first game for her school tonight. She's been a competitive cheerleader for many years, but she's only done it at the local cheer/gymnastics gym. She's now old enough (6th grade) to cheer for her school, and I can't wait to see her! I think she's excited to do it, but I'm also pretty sure she's scared out of her wits. That surprises me, since she has cheered in competitions many, many, many times, but I know how nervous big changes make her. Say a little pray for her that she summons the confidence in herself so she can have fun out there. I don't want this to be a source of stress for her. Lord knows school is stressful enough!

This was the headline in the paper after last Friday's game:

Yeah, they did! Go Chiefs! My nephew ended up with the first tackle of the game (he plays free safety), 1 TD (he's also a wide receiver), and 1 INT! He's so awesome!

I'm so unbelievably proud of my boys and my niece. I love them dearly! I'm the proudest aunt in the world!

I hope everyone enjoyed my wreath and that inspires you to do one, too! If so, email me a pic! I would love to see everyone's interpretation. Also, you can twitpic me at @MrsMatched. I still need to get a twitter button on my sidebar. Add that one to the to-do list....

Have a great Tuesday!

6 MORE DAYS!!

2011-08-28T16:34:00.000-04:00

The countdown is on!

6 more days 'til it's FOOTBALL TIME IN TENNESSEE!!!

Whoo Hoo!

Just try to watch this without your heart beating fast, and getting chill bumps, and having the uncontrollable urge to pour some Jack Daniel's into a hair spray bottle and head to your nearest stadium! Durn dry campus...

Ahhhh.... the memories....

God Bless the SEC!

My beloved UT VOLS have not had the stellar seasons that UT fans are accustomed to, but that has not lessened our pride in our team, nor has it lessened the expectation we all have that this year will be the year we make it back to the National Championship!

Whoo HOO!!

And like any self-respecting Southern girl should do, I've been shopping for my gameday outfits. As you can imagine, finding cute clothes in UT orange can be difficult, to say the least.

God bless the Internet!

Can I getta Whoo Hoo!!!

Enter my fellow bloggers. During the course of my blog stalking, I came across a new (to me) blog called Seashells and Southern Belles. Isn't that name the cutest? I knew immediately that I would make this blog a daily read, and so far, that's been true.

Not only is she a lover of all things nautical (natch), she's a big NCAA Football fan! Too bad she roots for the NC State Wolfpack.

She posted about an online store called Vestique that is just chock full of clothes and accessories that are tailor made for SEC gamedays. Probably for other gamedays, but who's thinking about those?

Not this ol' VOL fan!

Here are some lovely looks that I have my eye on:

Kickoff cutie in Orange

Tangy in Tangerine

Rhythm and Blues tank in Orange

V is for Victory dress in orange

And this one is currently in my shopping bag, and will soon be landing on my doorstep courtesy of my BFF, the UPS man!

Orange Polka Dot Scarf

I soooo wish this one was in orange. The picture looks like it is orange, but the description says it's red. Boo.

There you have it! Some UT football inspired clothes. If you have any other great places to shop for those hard to find orange clothes, let me know!

In the meantime, here's some Good Ol' Rocky Top to get you in the mood!!

V-O-L-S

GO, VOLS! GO!

Great tip!

2011-08-27T07:40:00.001-04:00

As I was going through my RSS feed recently, I came across a FABULOUS tip from Melissa over at 320*Sycamore. See that little doodad to the left of the URL address in the URL bar (it might look like a piece of paper on my blog, or the Blogger "B" on others)? That's called a Favicon, and you can personalize it!

Goodness knows I love to personalize anything I can!

Here's what you do:

Go to your Blogger Dashboard.

Click on Designs, and look for this:

As you can see, I borrowed this image from Melissa's awesome blog.

Upload the picture you want to use, click Save, and voila!

I don't know what the requirements of the picture has to be, though. I first tried to upload a picture of myself, and that didn't work out. I suspected it would be too big a file, but I wanted to play with it. I next tried an "A" avatar a friend made for me, but that doesn't appear to have worked, either. I'm not quite sure what to try next. The blogger "B" is gone, so I know the instructions work, but the "A" isn't showing, so I must have the wrong kind of file or something. I'm going to keep working on it.

If you personalize your favicon, let me know! I'd love to check it out!

Update: It's working now! Score!

Happy 2nd birthday, Baby Girl!!

2011-08-25T15:51:00.002-04:00

My Baby Girl's birthday was August 5th. She wanted a Wo-Wo party. Wo-Wo is her word for dog. To give you some back story you didn't ask for, our dog's name is Walker. We got Walker when my niece TT was 2, and she couldn't say Walker clearly. She started calling him Wo-Wo, we started calling him Wo-Wo, and it stuck. We call him Wo-Wo a lot and now both of my girls do, too. Not only does Baby Girl call Walker Wo-Wo, she calls every dog Wo-Wo. She's perfectly capable of saying dog and doggie, but she chooses not to.

Gotta respect the gumption.

Word.

Anyway, where was I?

Oh yeah. Wo-Wo party. Back on track now.

She has never wavered in her desire for her Wo-Wo party, so I was off and running with that theme. As always, I had these grand illusions of having stuffed doggies everywhere and a gorgeous dessert table with treats displayed in dog bowls and maybe a giant doggie bouncy house and Clifford the Big Red Dog making a personal appearance and.... and.... and....

Heaven help me if I ever win the lottery. I'll bankrupt us on party favors and silly junk like the kinds of things that land you on "Outrageous Kid's Parties" and "Hoarders".

Did someone say Hoarders? Eww.

Back to the party story.

My grand plans never quite make it to reality, but a grand time was had by all, including the birthday girl herself. I enlisted the help of two wonderful Etsy stores, Sweet Birdie's Nest and Print Your Own Tee.

Let me tell you another quick story about Print Your Own Tee. I had used April's shop on our Disney trip last December, with fantastic results. The shirts I made for the kids turned out great, and still look great.

When I made those Disney shirts, I followed the instructions to a T. I assumed I knew exactly what I was doing this time around, even though I hadn't touched this stuff in 9 months. I used some shortcuts, and it didn't turn out great. ENTIRELY my fault, but as such, I don't have any pictures of the super cute T-shirt design that April made for me. I am tempted to do another shirt just to take some pictures. If I do, you know I'll post them here.

In the meantime, you can check out Print Your Own Tee's Facebook page and check out all her great designs! She just posted some UT designs not long ago, so I'll be snatching those up before we kick off against Montana in 9 days! Whoo Hoo!

Here are some of the pictures from that day. I didn't get nearly as many as I would like. I'm the photographer in our family, and I was too busy with party activities to take nearly enough.

Her grandparents got her a pink tricycle!

Her adorable UT dress from her sweet friend Porter. Look at my face here. I think this is my "Aww! How precious!" face.

This Clifford has been by her side ever since this very moment. He is in a constant headlock!

This is the HYSTERICAL helmet my in-law's got to go with the tricycle. She wears it all the time, and it makes me laugh every time I see it!

Here you can see the giant dog that my parents bought for Baby Girl. They also bought her a tricycle to keep at their house, but they didn't want to have two tricycles at the party, so they brought the dog. It's been a huge hit! She lays on it to watch TV, and I've been known to snuggle up with it on the couch myself.

The Sand & Water table is from my sister, Aunt Nee (short for Renee: pronounce that Aunt Nay in your head). The girls have had a ball with that outside. We don't have any sand in it, so I just fill it with water and add bubbles. Instant fun!

Does it get funnier than this????

Big Sis had to try that on for size.

Baby Girl getting a push from cousin A.

Displayed the birthday girl's beautiful pictures!

Here are the supplies we got from Sweet Birdie's Nest Etsy Shop. The sweet and talented sisters made our beautiful invitations, very easy-to-use water bottle wraps, and our gift bag tags. I'm so impressed with their work, and I think everyone should contact them for any party supplies you need. They were able to help me out with making our supplies more "girly" for our puppy party, and they are just so easy to work with.

Our gift bags had bubbles and candy in them. I couldn't come up with any cute dog-themed items to put in there. Kibble, anyone?

Sweet Birdie's Nest also has a blog that you can follow HERE, you can find them on Twitter HERE, and on Facebook HERE. Go check them out!

There you go! There's my Baby Girl's birthday party. I'm so sad to see her grow up, but I'm glad she was able to have such a great party with lots of friends and family surrounding her!

Toodle-loo!

Birchbox update

2011-08-17T21:57:00.000-04:00

I promised I would, so I tried 3 more products from my birchbox tonight. I meant to try 4, but oops. Forgot that step. I'll try again tomorrow.

I wore the hair elastic around this afternoon. Nothing Earth shattering happening here. It's a hair elastic; it held my hair. I hardly think "sophisticated" is the right word to use, but it did it's job. And, truth be told, it probably is a bit more interesting than just a brown band.

I think I've spent too much time on that topic, so on to the other products.

I tried the Befine exfoliating cleanser tonight. I first used my usual Olay sensitive face wash to take my makeup off, then I used this cleanser. I have to say, it was an unusual face-washing experience. It felt more like a treatment than just a cleanser.

It came out of the package a orange-y, thick gel with bits of exfoliating "stuff" in it. I dampened my face, and when I started scrubbing it in, the first thing I noticed was how rough it was. I don't mind that, but if you have really sensitive skin, you might find this too abrasive.

When I had rubbed it around enough that my face wasn't dripping, I looked at myself in the mirror. The orange-y gel had turned into a white mask! I tried to take a picture of it, but my camera died. I was a sight, that's for sure! It was just NOT what I expected from a exfoliator at all.

I scrubbed it in for about a minute. I usually wipe off my face with washcloth, but I decided to just use my hands and lukewarm water since I had already exfoliated. As I wet my face, I noticed the scrubbers rinsed off quickly, and the cleanser that was still left on my face felt very creamy. It surprised me. It still rinsed clean, though, and my face looked great afterward. Well, as great as a face can look in the midst of a major breakout fest.

Once my face dried off, I noticed that my face looked clean, pores looked smaller, the skin tone seemed to be more even, and my skin felt tight. I'm not sure that some of you would like that tight feeling, but since my face is so oily, I like that dry feeling, even if it's only temporary.

I let my face dry for a few minutes, and then I braced myself to try the Befine Night Cream. The word cream still scares me to death, but in the interest of giving these products a fair shake, I decided to try it.

It wasn't creamy at all! Looked like any other lotion I've ever used. That made me feel better, so I put a pea-sized amount all over my face, and it felt great! I just couldn't get over how much I liked this stuff. In fact, now I'm seriously considering buying the full size of this, too. I would also like to look up more of the product line.

I meant to try the LIFTLAB serum, but like I said, it completely slipped my mind. I will set it out tomorrow, so hopefully I can give you a review of that tomorrow night or Saturday.

Have a great night everyone!

My first Birchbox!

2011-08-17T11:52:00.000-04:00

I'm so excited! I got my first birchbox last Thursday. I chronicled the whole opening experience for you!

This is the outer box. I love that it's pink!

Here is the inner box:

This is the first thing I saw when I opened the box. There is a card that describes all of the products in that month's birchbox laying on top.

Here's a closeup of that card:

Then, on to the goodies!

First up, a sample size of Blinc mascara. I got .141 oz of product, and I have a feeling that will last me for quite some time. The full size is .21 oz and costs $24. That means my mascara sample is worth $16.11. Considering this box is only $10/month, I've already come out ahead! Plus, considering I got my subscription as a gift, I am WAY ahead! Yay me!

I have only tried one of these products, by the way. I plan to try them all very shortly and post a review, however.

Next up is Befine Night Cream, 0.5 oz. The description on the card says: Upgrade your nighttime routine with this lush cream- cocoa spurs circulation, while rice bran keeps skin supple and healthy.

I have to admit, I'm nervous to try this one. I have very oily, acne-prone skin, and the thought of putting something on my face that has the word "cream" in it scares the death out of me. Whenever you sign up for birchbox subscription, though, you fill out a skin and beauty profile, and that makes me that they only send me products that are suitable for my skin. I'll end up trying it. But it makes me nervous.

The full size of this cream is 1.7 oz for $30, so this sample is worth $8.82. That brings my total to $24.92 so far.

Next is the Befine single serve exfoliating cleanser with brown sugar, sweet almond, & oats. This cleanser is all natural, paraben free, uses vegetarian proteins, with allergen free fragrance. The back of the package says:

Make a clean sweep.

Gently scrub, heal and hydrate (eek!) your face with a mild sloughing cleanser

Brown sugar, almond & oats remove impurities from deeply clogged pores (yay!) and buff away dull damaged skin cells. Our cleanser exfoliates while naturally balancing your skin's moisture-removing excess oil (double yay!) and nourishing dry (uh oh) sensitive skin.

They sent me 0.34 oz of this, and the full size (4 fl oz) is sold for $25. That makes my sample worth $2.13. The total box value is up to $27.05 at this point.

Now we move on to LIFTLAB's Lift & Fix High Potency Solution. There's no size information on my sample, but the full size is 3.4oz for $85. Pricey.

Please excuse the AWFUL state of my nails. Eek.

The description says it's an anti-aging serum with a PhD- LIFTLAB's molecular biologists spent years perfecting a patented natural protein that strengthens and regenerates cells.

This sounds super cool to me. There are no usage instructions, either, so I'm assuming that I apply a small amount all over my face.

The next product is not only the only one I've tried so far, it's also the one I was most excited about. I got a sample of kate spade's new fragrance, Twirl! I've been dying to try it, but I haven't seen it anywhere near me to give it a sniff. I have been very tempted to buy it anyway, just based on my unconditional love for all things kate spade.

I never brought myself to buy perfume smell un-sniffed, so this sample was so fun. I'm thrilled to report that Miss kate spade did not disappoint yet again! This description says: This flirty scent is a fresh update to the fruity floral. I completely agree with that description, since I am awful at describing scents. Theirs works for me!

I love this scent so much that I may end up buying the full size. I get free shipping, plus they sent me a 20% coupon code for my first purchase. I doubt I'll ever have a chance to get Twirl for $52 again!

This sample was 0.05oz, and the full size is 1.7 fl oz for $65. This means my sample was $1.91, bringing my birchbox total to $28.96.

There was a birchbox extra this month (not sure if they do this every month or not). This month had a twistband Hair Tie. A set of 3 goes for $5, so $0.60 each.

The twistband came laying in the box, and when I first saw it, I thought it had been wrapped around the night cream and the mascara, and I almost just tossed it aside. I'm so glad that I stopped to read the description insert!

The description says: This soft elastic gives the hair tie a sophisticated makeover- it looks as good on your wrist as it does in your hair!

I always have an elastic on my wrist, so this is really cool. I need to make sure I start using this so I can see how "sophisticated" I feel wearing it.

Since I don't have an amount of the LIFTLAB sample, I can't give you an exact value of my birchbox, but it's pretty safe to say that it's valued over $30. A great deal! Not only is a good value, but it's just so fun to get this box of goodies on your doorstep every month.

Like I said earlier, you fill out a skin/beauty questionnaire, so if you were to sign up for the service, your box might be different from mine. Keep that in mind when thinking about the skincare stuff. I imagine every birchbox had the hair tie, perfume sample, and mascara in it.

If you want to sign up for your monthly birchbox subscription, or if you just want to try it for one month, click HERE. I can earn loyalty points if I refer people to birchbox, but I have to email you an invitation to get the referral. If that's something you're interested in, you can find my email on my profile. Shoot me an email and I'll get an invite to you ASAP!

Have a great Wednesday everyone! Toodle-loo!

Sniff, sniff...

2011-08-16T15:47:00.001-04:00

Today was a major milestone in the MrsMatched household. Big Girl started preschool ~~today~~ yesterday! (Sorry about that. I started typing this post yesterday, but didn't get it finished until today.).

I am bittersweet about it. First of all, I'm thrilled that she is strong, healthy and social enough to be able to go to school. Plus, she was soooo excited to go, and I know that is a true blessing.

My heart broke when she walked into that classroom with a barely audible "Bye" and never looked back. I held it together for a while, but as I was buckling Baby Girl into her car seat, tears could no longer be restrained. I wasn't racked with sobs or anything, but I couldn't help but mourn the loss of the baby stage.

I mean, this is it. I can never have the pre-preschool time back. She will now always be a schoolgirl, and I have lost my first born "baby" to childhood. I feel like a brand new mom still! I just can't believe how fast this all goes. People can tell you that you should enjoy this stage because it will be gone before you know it, but while you're in that stress-filled newborn and toddler stage, it's hard to think that there is an end in sight. But I have a baby in SCHOOL now! I just can't believe it. Can't believe it. Can't believe it.

I wish I could think of a more eloquent way to put it, but that's really all I can think of. Pure disbelief.

I am so sad. And so proud. And so in love. I think I've raised a really great little girl, and again, I'm really glad that she's handling this so well. But if she shot a longing glance my way as I walked out of her classroom, that sure would make me feel better.

She did tell me that she was glad I came to pick her up from school. I'm going to analyze the dickens out of that and think that she really likes school, but she also still needs her mama. She threw me a bone, and I appreciate it more than that little heart will ever know. Maybe one day, when she has a baby of her own, she might look back on this blog and know what her Mama was feeling. She'll shed a tear or two and give me a call. I can bring her a cup of coffee and buy her a new pretty, and sit and snuggle on the couch while she grieves the loss of her first born baby into the big girl world.

I never dreamed how awful these milestones would be. And how I would know in my heart that they aren't actually awful at all, but completely wonderful, but still be sad all the same. Either way, I am a complete mess about it. I can't even imagine what big girl school will be like. I imagine I'll be too medicated to know.

Sorry for the pity party. Here's some cuteness to improve the mood around here!

ADORABLENESS!

Baby Girl handled the separation much better than I expected. She yelled for Sissy as we walked away from her classroom, but was fine by the time we got to the car. Wish I could say the same for myself!

My Big Girl after her first day of preschool!

Our first day of school treat: Marble Slab! Big Girl had strawberry because it's pink. Of course. The lady asked Baby Girl what she wanted, and she yelled, "Blue!" So that's what she got! It's cotton candy flavored. Not pictured: My "Almond Joy"- chocolate ice cream with almonds and coconut flakes mixed in.

Toodle- loo for now!

Happy Baby Girl Birthday!!!

2011-08-05T15:03:00.000-04:00

I am up to my eyeballs in party planning for Baby Girl's birthday party tomorrow, but I just had to come here and wish

THIS GIRL:

a happy 2nd birthday!! I can't believe she's turning 2 today. Just CANNOT believe it. I swear I can still feel her moving around in my belly! I was just pregnant the other day, right?!? It's amazing how time flies when you have kids.

The funny part is, when Big Girl was this age, I already had Baby Girl. I remember thinking how "big" Big Girl was at 2, but I think of Baby Girl as my baby. Not a bit big, even though she really is. I just want to keep her tiny forever!

I'm so blessed to be the mother of two exceptional little girls, and today is a day that I will always be so grateful for. I promise to always make it a chance to reflect on how your life has enriched my life, as well as all the lives you touch! You're such a precious little girl, and I'm so lucky to get to be your mom!

XOXO

I'm calling an audible....

2011-07-22T18:09:00.002-04:00

What should I wear.... to the Member/Guest formal? by AHarbin88 featuring cotton dresses

Dsquared cotton dress
£364 - farfetch.com

2 Lips Too gold heels
$50 - heels.com

Tasha metallic handbag
$78 - nordstrom.com

Flower earrings
$150 - maxandchloe.com

Kate Spade pearl bangle
$98 - couture.zappos.com

I know I posted yesterday that I had decided on a Member/Guest outfit, but then I found out that the girl in the couple that are going with us is wearing almost that exact same dress. Oops. On to plan B. This is the new ensemble I've decided on, but the accessories are still up for debate.

Thoughts??

Toodle-loo!

What should I wear.... to the Member/Guest formal?

2011-07-21T07:59:00.002-04:00

Member/Guest formal by AHarbin88 featuring crystal earrings

White House Black Market black sheath dress
$90 - whitehouseblackmarket.com

High heels
$30 - kohls.com

Black satin clutch
$23 - windsorstore.com

Nadri crystal bangle bracelet
$198 - nordstrom.com

House of Harlow 1960 crystal bangle
$88 - shopthetrendboutique.com

Betsey Johnson crystal earrings
$35 - betseyjohnson.com

This is the outfit I've put together for the country club member/guest dinner I'm going to next weekend. I'm going for a country club cocktail look. What do you think? I was excited about this look last night, but now I'm thinking it's not dressy enough. Have any of you gone to a country club dinner? Can you give me some feedback?

If you need me, I'll be lost in Polyvore and Pinterest. ALLLLLLL DAYYYYYY!

Toodle-loo!

Birthday Haul!

2011-07-19T11:22:00.000-04:00

Good morning, lovelies!

Long time, no blog!

This summer has been full, which has been a great thing, but it also takes me away from things I love (you know, really important things like blogs and YouTube!) I've been spending a few days catching up a bit, so I wanted to get on here and get a post up, so you know I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth!

So, I still haven't posted about St. Lucia, and since that trip, I've taken another trip to Myrtle Beach, SC.

What a rough life....

I will get both of those posts up ASAP.

They're a little intimidating to write, because it would be such a long post. I think I'll break it up some by doing a post for each day, rather than doing the whole trip in one huge post.

Except for maybe the Myrtle Beach trip. That's just a lot of this

A lot of this:

And a lot of these:

Which, of course, has resulted in one of these:

So, I need to get my lard butt to the gym tout suite, but nah. I'll sit here and exercise my fingers. That's burns cals too, right? I'll drink extra coffee to make myself jittery. That plan will surely make me skinny again, right?

RIGHT?!?

Anyway, back to the point of this post, it is was my birthday! My birthday was the 12th, so it was exactly a week ago.

Does anyone else still get that butterflies-in-the-belly feeling for their birthday?

No? Just me?

Oh. Ok.

Well, I do. I'm at the age where I am too old to enjoy birthdays anymore. In fact, I am at the age that I should be completely ignoring that they are still even happening. I just can't do it, though. I wake up on the morning of my birthday fully expecting the birds to be singing, the sun to be shining extra bright, my hair to look Carrie Underwood-perfect all day, no acne anywhere near me, balloons and flowers to fill my bedroom, and to hear the angels singing with every step I take.

Not that I've ever experienced any of these things, but that doesn't stop me from expecting it.

This birthday rolled through pretty nicely, though. Except for the poor hubs. His belly hurt almost all day, so he spent some well-deserved rest time in bed. He got up that morning and got us all some breakfast from Panera (you MUST try their Spinach and Artichoke egg souffle. Oh. My. Word! TDF!). The girls gave me their cards (thank you, Big Girl, for my Dora "Happy 3rd Birthday" card. That's one of the numbers in my age! Good job!), Hubs gave me his, and then I got my gift.

I know! So romantic, right? Couldn't you just die?

Nah, first of all, I really did want one of these. It seems like I've needed one several times, and we've never had one. We've gone to buy one a bunch, but we just never make the plunge. Now we have one!

Also, this is just my stand-in gift.

A couple of months ago (well, maybe not that long ago. I don't exactly remember) I broke my beloved iPhone. I have dropped that sucker a thousand times, but this one particular time was outside. On our concrete driveway. Face down. On a ROCK! Ugh. I thought I was going to throw up.

I was hoping to get a new iPhone anyway, so this was a good reason to get one. Luckily, my phone still works, and the new iPhones always come out in June. Just in time for SOMEBODY'S BDay. Perfect, right? Well, apparently the new piece of Apple wonderful-ness is so durn small, the Taiwan manufacturing plan can't make them fast enough. So the launch has been pushed back till September. Just in time for SOMEBODY'S hissy fit.

Grr.

All I know is, Lilly Pulitzer better be cranking out the iPhone 5 case in double time.

So, I have a FABU gift coming, but I'll just have to wait. And sit in the shade in the meantime.

My incredible Mom and Big Sis made up for my sadness, though. They hit the gift-giving ball out of the park this year! My sweet Mama got me the most perfect gift: a year-long subscription to Birchbox!

If you've never heard of Birchbox, it's a monthly subscription service that sends out a box filled with deluxe beauty samples. Not only are they deluxe in terms of size, but also because they are high-end samples. This gives me a chance to try products that I would otherwise be too nervous to try, because I wouldn't want to spend a lot of $$ and then end up not liking it. Each Birchbox comes with a postcard containing an order form for the full sizes of that month's products. If I decide I like something, I fill out the postcard, send it in, and they send me the full-size products that I've chosen! Free shipping! Plus, the more full-size products I buy, and the more feedback surveys I complete, the more loyalty points I earn. More points=free/discounted products! I love this!!! I'm so stinkin' excited to get my first box. I was really hoping to get the Cynthia Rowley-designed July box, but I think my first box will be the August one.

If anyone is interested in hearing more about Birchbox, or wants to sign up, send me an email. I get referral loyalty points.

As soon as I get my first box, I'll post pics and reviews of the products. I'm so excited!

My wonderful Big Sis, pictured here in St. Lucia,

also got me a PERFECT gift. I am so unbelievably excited about this gift. I cannot even tell you how excited I am.

She got me......

THIS!!!

Do you remember the blog post I wrote about it because I loved it so much? I STILL love it so much! OMGosh. I can't believe I actually own it. I am so freakin' excited. Thrilled. I want to wear it everywhere! It's so cute!

The fabric is just a bit on the thin side, but I think that will make it perfect for hot and humid Southern summers. It's also a tad long, which means I'll have to wear a least a bit of a heel with it. Not that I mind that, of course, but I just won't be able to wear the flip-flops with it like she wore in the episode. I'm 5'6", so she has to be at least 5'8.

If you want this dress for your very own, you can buy it HERE (Beware: these are the worst pictures of Alexis I've ever seen. How can that photog make a beautiful woman look ridiculous?).

I was shocked by how affordable the dress was. I expected it to be way more expensive. Even her nicer, cocktail-ish dresses are nicely priced. I sure would like to add a few of those to my wardrobe!

One other thing to mention about this dress: there's a keyhole cutout in the back that will make finding a bra to wear with it difficult. I put it on with my regular strapless, and the back strap cuts right across that keyhole. After having 2 lovely babies, I absolutely CANNOT go bra-less, so I'm going to have to find a low-back, strapless bra to go with it. I think Victoria's makes one. Does anyone have any other ideas?

I will have to doll myself up and take a picture of me wearing it. I'm telling you, this dress is awesome. You need it. You really do.

Ok. That post is long enough. I better go parent for a while, but I'll be back!

Toodle-loo!

We're back!

2011-06-17T09:42:00.000-04:00

We've returned from our FANTASTIC trip to Sandals Grande St. Lucian. I am still getting back into the swing of things, so I apologize for my absence. I will get back soon! I am already preparing for our next vacation in 2 weeks, though. It's our annual trip to Myrtle Beach with my family. I look forward to it every year, but this year is a bit of a whirlwind. Come home from being out of the country, try to re-acclimate myself to normal life, and then get right back into vacation mode.

Tough problem to have, right?

I know, I know. Still, it's a lot.

I promise to share stories and pics ASAP, but in the meantime, here's a sneak peek!

I also wanted to let my readers know about a great deal I found this morning. My girls drink lots of Mott's for Tots, and they are offering free samples and coupons for the first 40, 000 who sign up on Vocalpoint. Vocalpoint is a great site for deals, coupons, and information about a lot of the food and personal care items we all know and love. I've gotten tons of great samples from them!

Here's the link!

Toodle-loo!

New TV obsessions...

2011-05-17T19:47:00.000-04:00

There are a couple of new shows on TV this season that I am completely obsessed with. If these shows could be on 24/7, I would never get off the couch.

I'm glued to the tube!

The first one is a new show on HGTV called "Secrets From a Stylist." The designer on the show, Emily Henderson (who won the Design Star competition on the same channel), does a style interview on her clients, and then determines a blend of design tastes that fit them. For instance, one episode I watched she determined that a guy was "Tuscan Modern." She first designed his living room/dining room in a Tuscan theme, and revealed it to him and got his feedback. Then she comes in and COMPLETELY re-does the room in incorporate the "modern" part of the design. The end result is a gorgeous blend of the homeowner's tastes. She is incredible! And such a little cutie, too. She's so fun to watch, and I'll definitely be DVR'ing this show for years!

Here's a tease:

The other show I'm currently obsessed with is NBC's "The Voice." Have y'all watched this show? It's fantastic! I am not an American Idol fan (I know, shocker!), so I really wasn't interested in watching a singing competition show. I honestly have no idea why I started watching it, except for my ~~slight~~ crush on both Adam Levine and Blake Shelton. I'm also a fan of Christina Aguilera and Cee-Lo Green, so I guess their gravitational pull just roped me in.

Whatever the cause, I'm glad I tuned in!

I actually liked the selection portion of the show better than I like the competition section, but I'm still riveted. If you haven't watched it yet, please do! I think you'll really like it.

Here's a YouTube video of the ad for it:

And, we can't forget the Real Housewives of New Jersey! These ladies aren't my favorites, but I'll pretty much watch anything with the phrase "Real Housewives" in the title!

Sorry so tiny. It's the only one I could find on www.bravotv.com

Off to watch more TV!

Toodle-loo!

Charleston....Finally!

2011-05-16T13:31:00.001-04:00

I can't believe it's taken me more than a month to write about Charleston. Honestly, both being there and writing about being there have been on my mind every day since we got back. I love that place sooo much!

In case it's been soooo long that you've forgotten, we went to Charleston to run the Cooper River Bridge Run, a 10K that crosses the magnificent Ravinel Bridge that connects Charleston and Mount Pleasant.

The race was held on Saturday, April 2, and we got into Charleston on April Fool's Day. We stayed at the historic Mills House Inn, where the likes of General Robert E. Lee and President Theodore Roosevelt have also visited. In fact, there is a historic walking tour that starts at that hotel, because of it significance in Charleston history.

I took a few pics from our balcony, but I'll warn you: I'm no photographer.

This is the little courtyard at the hotel, which has hosted a wedding both times I've stayed at this inn.

Our outside door. Don't ask me why I took this picture. I have no idea. I think I just wanted a picture of every single thing my eyes landed on while we were there.

We got checked in, freshened up, and headed out for a stroll. One of the many things I love about Charleston is that we parked our car on Friday, and didn't touch it until we headed home on Sunday. It was so nice just to walk everywhere we wanted to go!

We met up with our running buddies and ate at Fleet Landing that night. We got a couple of appetizers to share, the chilled blue crab dip with crackers and the calamari (Hubs' favorite- he gets it any time he sees it on the menu). Both apps were tasty.

Me outside Fleet Landing:

For my entree, I got the Pan Seared Tilapia ($18.95) with Fingerling Potato & Sun-Dried Tomato Hash, Charred Asparagus, & Citrus Basil Butter. I almost licked my plate clean. It was delish! I don't think I said a word during dinner, because I was too busy eating!

Again, let me say how delicious my dinner was. Truly excellent. But, if I were to go there again, I wouldn't order it. No sirree. Nope. Why, might you ask? What would I get instead? Oh, honey. Let me just tell you. Hands down, not a second's hesitation, I would order the shrimp and grits, which is what the Hubs ordered for his entree. Now, I like shrimp and grits just fine. I like shrimp. I like grits. I have ordered the dish before at other places, and I always think it's just fine. But these shrimp and grits are in another stratosphere compared to the times I've had it before. This is the stuff dreams are made of. I tried a bite off his bowl, and I didn't want to give the spoon back. I wanted to grab the bowl, stick my face in it, and eat my way out. I said a silent prayer that he wouldn't eat it all and I would get to finish it for him, but no such luck. He felt the same about it as I did, and I think he actually DID lick the bowl. Here's the menu description:

Charleston"Shrimp & Grits" $19.95

Jumbo Shrimp & Andouille Sausage Sautéed in a Shellfish Glaze over Creamy Grits

Ha! Just sauteed. Just creamy. These people apparently are experts in the art of modesty. These grits are heavenly. I think the angels themselves swoop down and do something magical during that "sauteeing" portion of the cooking process. Or maybe the whatever process makes it "creamy." Yeah, it's got to be the angelic creaminess. Ugh. I'm about to swallow my tongue just thinking about those shrimp and grits.

Another view of the harbor from Fleet Landing:

I've got to stop talking about it before I pack the girls up and head down there just to have some for dinner. It's that good. Go to Charleston, and have this dish. If you don't hear the angels singing, then don't tell me. It will break my heart.

Before I go on, let me tell you a little bit about my race prep. I am not a runner, and never had been. When we made the decision to run this race, I started the Couch to 5K program, and then advanced to the Ease Into 10K program. I committed to running 3, 4, 5 days a week some weeks, and I pushed myself to a point that I had never been before. I ate right, I did other exercise on my off days, and I tried to get in the best shape possible before we ran. When the date got close, I was eating completely clean a week prior. I made the decision to not have anything in my body that didn't grow from the Earth, and only drink water. I did that. I didn't have a drop of chemicals or alcohol.

Then these meals happened.

Oh my gosh. I ate my meal, pushed away from the table, and thought I was going to die. Miserable. Then, my cute little perky running buddy says, "How about dessert? I know a great place!" Now, I should've known better. Everyone at that table should've known better. But what did we say? "Let's go!" Idiots. Buncha idiots.

Off we go to a place called Kaminsky's. It's a little bitty place alongside T-Bonz in the market district. They specialize in desserts, but they also have a bar and a coffee shop selection. There's typically a wait list to get inside, so we put our name down and browsed some shops. It didn't take long for our name to come up, and we headed inside and grabbed stools at the bar. We had originally decided to get 2 desserts to share amongst the 4 of us, but that's not what happened. We all got our own, and we all tried each other's.

This was a blessed trip, because apparently angels work in the Kaminsky's kitchen, too.

I had the mixed berry cobbler with ice cream. It is served in it's own ~~ramekin~~ bowl, and it is TO DIE FOR! Honestly. I think Hubs won the best entree award, and I won the best dessert award. Every one of us fell in love with this. Best dessert I've ever had, hands down. I can't say enough about it, because I just don't have adequate words to describe the deliciousness. Just trust me; it's a knockout. Gotta put that one on your bucket list if you haven't tried it yet.

Now, remember when I said I was miserable after dinner? Nah. I didn't know what miserable was until after that dessert. My squeaky clean digestive tract had just been bombarded with every ounce of butter, sugar, and creamy deliciousness that Charleston has to offer. And it was just sitting in my belly like a cannonball. It hurt to move, to breathe, to think. I had just ingested more calories in two hours that I had in two weeks combined. This took misery to a new high. And I've had two kids!

We got back to the hotel, and I couldn't even lay down. When I rolled over on my belly, I could feel that food just sitting in there. It was awful. I don't think I slept a wink that night out of nervousness and misery. Ugh.

We had made all sorts of great plans to get to the race without having to line up at 6AM, but those plans fell through. Luckily, though, we still made it onto the buses with Dunkin' Donuts coffee in hand, and we got to Mount Pleasant in plenty of time.

Race day was coooollllllddddd! I originally planned to wear shorts and a tank top, but I ended up having to wear a long sleeved shirt and capris! It was daggum cold.

Our Race Buddies, Nate and Ashley:

We were in the "G" Corral, which means we expected to finish the race above 60 minutes.

Word up, "G"!

Our friends were in the "B" Corral, which stand for "Butt-Kickers." At least I think that's right.

Anyway, the race was flighted, so the race started 27 minutes before we ever even got to the start line. By that time, the sun was up, and we could really see the massive crowd. 40K people ran this race. It was nuts.

Pre-race portrait:

Fun piece of info: while we were hanging out in our "G" area, waiting for our start, we noticed a group of about 5-6 people dressed up as Where's Waldo? We thought it was cute. As we ran under the start gate, the Live 5 News team was filming the runners, and got a shot of the Where's Waldo? crew. Guess who was right next to them? Me! I was laying in bed that night, watching the news footage of the race, and there I was! Too bad Hubs was already asleep. I looked all over their website for the clip, and as far as I can tell, it cuts off right before us. I still think it's cool, though. I'm easily amused.

The race was tough, but I felt prepared. The best part was when we got to the crest of the bridge and saw the lineup of EMS trucks. When I didn't have to stop and beg for oxygen and a defibrillator, I was stoked. I waved at those guys and kept truckin' right along.

Hubs and I finished the race at 1:02:10. I really wish I could've done it in under an hour, but I'm still thrilled that I finished my first 10K without stopping or needing medical intervention.

Post-race Portrait:

The race was fun, and I think we'll plan to do it again next year. I'll pretty much to anything to get to Charleston again!

We went back to the hotel, rested and showered, and headed out for lunch at Hyman's Seafood. This is a pretty big tourist attraction in Charleston, so we were shocked to virtually walk right in. I can't say I was that impressed with the food, but the Bloody Mary's were fantastic! Yum.

They have pictures all over the walls of famous people who have eaten there, and each table has a plaque on it saying which famous people have eaten at the very table you are eating on. I can't remember who was on our table, but there was more than one. I'm thinking Mel Gibson was one of ours, but don't hold me to that.

Me and one of the pictures on the wall. This is as close as I'm ever going to get to Jimmy Buffett:

After our festival of food yesterday, our race buddies decided to go back to the hotel and take it easy. We all felt pretty rough, but Hubs and I decided to tough it out and do some sight-seeing and shopping. Our friends had some down a day earlier than we did, so they had already done a lot of that. They took advantage and napped, while we trudged our heavy bellies around King, Meeting, and East Bay streets.

My first purchase was at the Savannah Bee Company in Charleston, and I picked up a bottle of Charleston honey. I love honey so much, and I just had to have a bottle of that. I could have bought a bunch more in that store, but really? How much honey does one girl need? Probably not that much.

After we left there, we went to the Pandora store. Hubs wanted to buy me a race souvenir/prize, and I wanted to add to my Pandora bracelet that he got me for Christmas. I chose this one, a "Shoe Lace" charm:

They also offered to clean up my bracelet for free while I was there, so I left it with them and they put my new charm on and polished the whole bracelet up. It was sparkling when I got it back! Beautiful!

We walked around browsed through most all of the stores. I fell completely in love with a navy maxi dress at Tommy Bahama, and Steve encouraged me to get it, but I didn't know what my "allowance" was, so I didn't want to blow it all at once! Now I totally regret not buying it. Oh well.

I (of course) had to go to Margaritaville. I picked up a gift, a magnet, a Landshark Tervis Tumbler (That I don't see on the Tervis website), and a pair of pink flip flops with a palm tree on them. They're so cute, and they look very Lilly! I had to have them. HERE they are in white. I'll have to take a picture of mine so you can see how cute they are.

I couldn't talk Hubs into these. Darn.

Speaking of Lilly, well, you know I had to go there. I really wanted to go wild in here. I picked a bunch of stuff out for myself, and a ton of stuff out for the girls. However, they had NOTHING in a size for Baby Girl. As much as I wanted to get all those cute dresses, I really wanted the girls to match. So I ended up with just one little thing for myself, these shorts:

Aren't they adorable?!? I love them! I still regret not buying a few more things, but I am thrilled with these shorts. I think I'll be wearing them for years.

We eventually just had to go back to the hotel and rest. We had reservations at O-Ku that night for sushi. Again this is a knockout place to eat. It has a very uptown feel to it. I feel like I could have been in this restaurant in New York City. It was very cool.

Speaking of ritzy, before O-Ku, we had drinks at the rooftop Market Pavilion bar. Talk about swanky. That's the only time I felt a little bit out of place. Now, I think I was dressed just fine. I think I carried myself in a way that I fit in with the crowd, but I couldn't help but be aware that the people around me were used to this kind of lifestyle. This was a well-to-do crowd, to say the least. We had a good time there, despite it being so windy that I was afraid that our table umbrella was going to lift off any minute. I would love to go back, but I'll always be aware to sit up straight and to refrain from dancing on the table and requesting "I Got Friends in Low Places."

After O-Ku, we stopped at Starbucks and hung out. We were all exhausted by that point, so it was an early night. I still didn't sleep great, but at least I slept.

I had hoped to do more shopping/sight-seeing on Sunday, but we were both ready to get home. We missed our girls and we missed our bed. There's just something about being home. Before we left, though we got a few more pics.

WTC? Here we are in this la-ti-da hotel and what do we see? A giant portrait of a cock fight?!?!? Are you kidding me!?!?

As we were leaving, we drove around the Battery and Rainbow Row. Still trying to talk Hubs into putting this under my Christmas tree.

Before I let everyone get on with their lives, I have to give special thanks to the sweet bloggers at quite contrary and Megan at My Two Cents...Before I Spend It for offering me lots of advice before my trip. If you haven't checked out their blogs, you must! They're both great, and they give you great insight into low country life. Every time I read a post on one of their blogs, it makes me wish I was there (even more than normal- which is already a lot!). Thanks a bunch, ladies!

Whew. That's it! No wonder it took me so long to finally write this post. It was too freakin' long! Thanks for reading!

Toodle-loo!

Gotta lot of catching up to do....

2011-05-15T16:39:00.000-04:00

What's going on?!?!

Where have I been?!?!?

No where, really. I just haven't sat down and taken the time to write out a blog post. I go to bed every night and think, "Man! I didn't write anything AGAIN!" and then I promise to not do anything else until I get a blog post written. Then I don't.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

I have a ton of posts to do: half bath re-do update, Charleston trip, Easter, Royal Wedding thoughts, Mother's Day, Vacation Prep.....

I'd like to start writing right this very minute, but alas, I can't. Hubs and I are running a 5K tonight, and I need to straighten up the house before my parents get here to keep the girls.

There's always tomorrow...

BTW- one of my new favorite time-wasters is Pinterest. Is anyone else on there? If you are, give me a follow and I'll follow you back! I'd love to check out everyone's pins. I'm Andrea Harbin on there. If anyone needs an invite, drop me a line at MrsMatched at gmail.com.

Toodle-loo!

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T16:46:00.000-04:00

Mother's Song
a Traditional Lullaby

My heart is like a fountain true
That flows and flows with love to you.
As chirps the lark unto the tree
...So chirps my pretty babe to me.

There's not a rose where'er I seek,
As comely as my baby's cheek.
There's not a comb of honey-bee,
So full of sweets as babe to me.

There's not a star that shines on high,
Is brighter than my baby's eye.
There's not a boat upon the sea,
Can dance as baby does to me.

No silk was ever spun so fine
As is the hair of baby mine.
My baby smells more sweet to me
Than smells in spring the elder tree.

A little fish swims in the well,
So in my heart does baby dwell.
A little flower blows on the tree,
My baby is the flower to me.

The Queen has sceptre, crown and ball,
You are my sceptre, crown and all.
For all her robes of royal silk,
More fair your skin, as white as milk.

Ten thousand parks where deer do run,
Ten thousand roses in the sun,
Ten thousand pearls beneath the sea,
My babe more precious is to me.

My heart just fills up when I hear Jennifer Garner read this on the Disney Channel every day. It truly does sum up the love that a mother feels for her child. I am so thankful that my girls were chosen by God to be mine, and they make me the happiest, luckiest Mom in the world. I am so so thankful that I was chosen to be born to my Mom, who showed me the kind of mom I want to be to my girls. I want to know that my girls will be as proud of me one day as I am of my Mom!

Happy Mother's Day!

Earworm of the week...

2011-04-20T11:21:00.000-04:00

The Academy of Country Music Awards

2011-04-05T07:58:00.001-04:00

Did y'all watch the ACMs? I am a sucker for award shows, so I was excited to watch the performances, the fashions, and Blake Shelton and all his hilarious-ness. I'm telling you, if you don't know much about Blake Shelton, you should watch whatever you can about him. That guy is a hoot! Not to hard on the eyes, either. And his Twitter feed is worth a looksie, too.

I started watching late, so I missed the great duets with Brad Paisley and Alabama (I guess that's more than a duet), and Carrie Underwood and Steven Tyler. I need to go back and watch those!

I got to see great performances (and fashions) from other country greats, though. My favorite dress of the night? Pretty much whatever Miranda Lambert wore. She wore two hot pink dresses during the telecast, and both were fantastic!

Whoever her stylist is, I want to shake his/her hand. Her dresses, her accessories, her SHOES! Lord, stop my pounding heart; the SHOES! I die.

I'm going to build my favorite ACM look from scratch. Be ready for lots o' Miranda Lambert!

The dress, the ring, the earrings, and the shoes. Too bad I can't find a picture of the shoes:

via

The legs (not a full picture- I couldn't find one. Trust me when I say she has AMAZING legs!):

via
The eyelashes:

The skin:

The lip color (This picture doesn't do it justice. If you have a chance, google her performance):

VIA

The bracelet and bag (although I realize they wouldn't really match the dress):

via

Honorable mentions have to go to Julianne Hough's dress and Jennifer Nettle's performance outfit from her duet with Rhianna. I know a lot of people might not love this look, but I thought it was pretty great. I can see how she could put it on and feel fabulous wearing it. Her legs go on for DAYS in this jumpsuit, and I think she rocked it.

I have to run for now, but if you have a minute, please check out those YouTube performance links. I watched them while I typed, and those performances were kick butt! Whoo hoo!

Toodle-loo!

How lucky am I?!?!

2011-04-04T22:29:00.000-04:00

I won again! I won another giveaway! I swear, I don't know whether to be totally excited, or to worry about my safety. Maybe this run of good luck has a dark side.

Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo....

For now, I'm sticking with excited!

Sweet girl Nicole over at Puttin' on the Grits had the honor and privilege of hosting the very first ever giveaway from Haymarket Designs. Haymarket offered up a medium tray in any available color and any available design. All of their designs are hand painted by the talented Hillary Ross, which makes them so much more special. Her aesthetic is traditional Southern, which is right in this here girl's wheelhouse! In fact, I'm typing this post as I watch Gone with the Wind, sip my sweet tea, and think fondly on my fresh memories of Charleston. "Traditional Southern" is just about my favorite phrase in the English language right now. Just smell that honeysuckle.....

Oops. Got distracted there for a minute.

I chose the medium tray with the Moroccan tile design in black onyx. I think that design and color combination is so versatile, and that's exactly what I need. I fail miserably when it comes to interior design, so I need classic pieces that can pull their weight around my house. This is functional, beautiful, and will be perfect in any room. What more could you ask for?

My initial thought is to use it to line up perfume bottles and a small jewelry display, but we'll see if that's the way it ends up being used. If anyone has a brilliant idea for me, please be sure to let me know! I need all the direction I can get!

I want to thank Nicole and Hillary again for hosting and offering this giveaway! Bloggers are such generous people, and I am so blessed to have been the recipient of all that generosity!

Toodle-loo for now!

I'm back home!

2011-04-04T11:51:00.000-04:00

We got home from Charleston yesterday. This weekend was sooooo much fun! I plan to do a long post about it, but I want to wait until I have time to get my thoughts and pictures together. I didn't take nearly enough pictures, but I have a few.

I want to thank the fine blogging Charleston ladies over at My Two Cents... Before I Spend It! and Quite Contrary for offering me some advice on food and fashion for my trip. It was very helpful, and provided a YUMMY weekend for us! We ate ourselves silly, so thank goodness we ran and walked while we were there! We would've come home 2 tons bigger if we hadn't!

I also want to do a post about the ACM Awards last night! There are definitely things from that show that I am coveting, so I want to share it with everyone!

Before that happens, though, I just have to go grab some baby girl snuggles since I was away from my sweet girlies all weekend. It's a beautiful day outside, so we're going to go have a picnic! Yay!

Toodle-loo!

I won! I won!

2011-03-29T10:41:00.000-04:00

I just found out that I won an incredible giveaway from Kate over at Centsational Girl! I won a great wall stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils. I am a little nervous about trying it out, but I think it will be perfect for the half bath makeover that we're still working on.

I need to do a follow up post so you can see how much it has changed since my first post about it. The wallpaper border is down, the paint is on the walls, the curtains are bought but not yet hung, and then we'll just need to add accessories and ~~maybe~~ hopefully replace the light fixtures. Then I'll try my hand at this stencil! I'm also thinking I might put it in the "water closet" section of our master bath.

Yay!

Thanks again, Centsational Girl!

What Should I Wear..... to Charleston?

2011-03-28T16:33:00.000-04:00

5 days 'til Charleston! Whoo Hoo!

I'm so excited to be going to my favorite place in the world, but nervous as heck about the race on Saturday.

I've completed the 10K running program that I used to train, and in so doing, I have ran 6 10Ks as of Saturday. I know now that I'm physically capable of going that distance, but I am still having some mental roadblocks. I ran 5K on Saturday, walked a minute, and then turned around to run the 5K back. That last half was TOUGH! Not too bad physically, but it sure was tough mentally. I even had to tell myself that it was just mind over matter, and I had to just keep pushing. Every step was just a step closer to the finish line. I wish I could just enjoy the ride, rather than focusing on the finish, but I guess that will come later.

The fun part about going to Charleston is the shopping training I need to do! Ha! I felt like I needed some new outfits for the trip, so I did a bit of shopping this weekend. After seeing THIS EPISODE of The Real Housewives of Orange County, I fell completely in love with Alexis' black maxi dress.

via

I know I'm late to the maxi dress party, but I just never thought they were very flattering. After seeing her wear one, though, my mind has been changed! I love it. I really wanted to buy that specific one, but it's from her as-yet-unreleased Alexis Casual line. Whenever I hear the release date, I'll be first in line for this one!

So I googled "Black maxi dress" to find one I liked. Not much out there. I went to eBay, where everything can be found. I found a few, but I really wanted something I could try on and make sure I liked before I bought it. I live in a little podunk town, so my try-on options were pretty slim.

Oldnavy.com had some cute options, but unfortunately my local store didn't have a single one in stock. As I was walking out of Old Navy, Maurice's caught my eye. I don't typically shop there, but my sister finds some cute things from there occasionally, so I thought it was worth a try. I found this:

And I loved it! It's a wee bit big under the arms and in length, but this was the smallest size they had available. I snatched it right up! If you want to snatch one up for yourself, click HERE.

They are having a Buy One, Get One 1/2 off sale on their casual clothes, so I got my sister this dress:

which you can purchase HERE.

They also have THIS ONE that I actually prefer, but it isn't included in the sale. I figure I don't need 2 maxi dresses right this very minute, so I can get the one on sale and wait for the other to get discounted.

So, here is my "arriving in Charleston" outfit:

Purse is from Charming Charlie (no online store, sorry!).

Get the shoes HERE

Get the watch HERE

You know what would make this outfit? An awesome pair of earrings! Just so happens that my friend Kathryn over at Sweet Tea and Champagne is hosting her very first giveaway, and it's for some GORGEOUS earrings from Diane Warner . Go check it out, and enter to win! These earrings would be a perfect addition to my jewelry collection, so I'm crossing my fingers that it's MY name she pulls out of her hat!

Toodle-loo!

Day of silence for Japan

2011-03-17T22:43:00.000-04:00

I am participating in the Blogger's Day of Silence for Japan. You can read more about the movement HERE. This means that I will not be posting or tweeting tomorrow, March 18, 2011.

If you wish to donate, you can click on For Japan With Love. I know that every penny will help those affected by that horrifying disaster. Prayers and positive thoughts also be soooo important! Now's the time to help our fellow man and lift all those people up. I think another way to bring some good out of this is to have a greater appreciation for the health and safety of the ones we love. I know I have found myself snuggling closer to the Hubs and the girls a lot more since hearing about this terrible tragedy.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/japan-quake-2011/beforeafter.htm

Hugs and kisses to all, and I hope everyone had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day! My next post will be about how me and the girls had our own little celebration.

Give and Get is Here!

2011-03-15T09:32:00.000-04:00

Give and Get is Here!: "Enjoy 30% off from March 17-20 at Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy plus we'll make a 5% donation to a non-profit." FYI- This coupon is in-store only. If you want an online coupon code, email me at MrsMatched(at)gmail(dot)com

The Gap corporation is offering an incredible way to support a charity of your choosing. When you shop at Gap, Banana Republic, or Old Navy from March 17-20, Gap will donate 5% of your purchases to one of these charities: Lymphoma & Leukemia Society, WWF, Feeding America, Teaching America, Habitat for Humanity, or JDRF. I chose to support Feeding America. I have known this sale a charity drive was coming, so I've saved my purchases until this starts.

I think I've picked out some potential Easter dresses for the girls. We're also having family portraits made next month, and I think I'll be able to find an outfit for that, as well. It feels good to know that purchases that need to be made anyway will help out those in need!

Bamboo Pink- The Opportunity

2011-03-14T18:31:00.000-04:00

I'm sure most of you have already heard about Bamboo Pink from blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc. I heard about it weeks ago, but I just dismissed it out of hand and didn't give it much of a thought. It kept cropping up in blogs I read, though, and after a while, I couldn't get it out of my mind.

What if this was an opportunity of a lifetime, and I was completely ignoring it?

What if this was the next Mary Kay? Avon? Pampered Chef?

What if there come a day when I was so disappointed that I didn't take advantage of this when I had the chance?

What if? What if? What if?

I just couldn't get that nagging voice to go away.

I was once given an incredible piece of advice by a precious friend of mine (Hi, Scarlett!). She said you should never live your life looking over your shoulder. Aren't those great words of wisdom? I feel like that applies in this case. I didn't want to look back one day and wonder what if anymore. I wanted to take opportunities as they come to me, and make the best out of those situations.

Then my good blog friend Lori from over at Shopaholic in Alabama let me know that she had signed up, and since she is fully aware of my deep addiction to jewelry buying (Hi, Kenneth Jay Lane!), she knew this would be something that I would be interested in. She was right. I think I was just waiting for someone I "know" to tell me they agreed it was a great opportunity, too. Once she was in, so was I. I signed up very quickly.

Here's the kicker for me: It's free. Only through tomorrow (March 15, 2011 at midnight Pacific time). This is their 30 day free sign up period, which will never come around again. They are building their sales force by offering this sign up period, so people will be excited and ready to go when the time comes. It's a completely risk free opportunity at this point. You sign up for free, and if you decide it's not for you, your name can be dropped and there's no penalty whatsoever. After midnight tomorrow, that won't be true anymore. There will be a cost associated with sign up from then on.

Another kicker for me is the fact that there are no "in real life" parties to attend. I enjoy Pampered Chef, Thirty One, CAbi, and Premier parties as much as anyone, but I also know that they can be a pain to organize, execute, and attend. I have 2 small girls, and in order for me to host or attend a party, I have to arrange babysitting, get the house cleaned, prepare food, etc. It can be stressful. Bamboo Pink is taking that stress off our plates and only hosting their parties online. No muss, no fuss! Thank you, Bamboo Pink!

Here is some more information directly from the company:

Join what is expected to be the fastest growing women’s internet start-up company in history with Bamboopink.

Bamboopink is a new fashionable, yet affordable jewelry line made and designed by a famous, high-end designer whose current line is sold in upscale department stores, is all over the red carpet and worn by Oprah! This company is the first of its kind, an internet launched company with virtual trunk shows…*THIS IS MY FAVORITE PART* There are no parties to host and no phone calls to make.
Sign-ups are free, with no risks or obligations. The free signing period is only for 30 days (through March 15), after that you will have to pay to be a consultant.

What sets this company apart from other direct sales companies:
* GROUND FLOOR opportunity (probably won’t ever happen to you again!)
* Strongest comp plan in the industry
* Very successful “designer” multi-million dollar jeweler making/backing this jewelry, so sure to be successful
* Instead of growing one sales rep at a time, this business model using the free sign-up period – we can grow fifty sales reps at a time – but the time to do that is NOW!

Take advantage now! Don't be looking over your shoulder and wondering "What if." If you are the least bit intrigued by this possibility, sign up. When else are you going to have the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a brand new business? Especially one owned by a fabulous designer whose pieces have been worn by OPRAH! If she thinks the designs are worth spending her money on, then I am quite likely to agree. Having said that, though, please keep in mind that this is an affordable jewelry line, and is accessible from every budget. You don't have to be a bajillionaire to enjoy these pieces! I promise!

Here are some informative links if you want some more information. Please check them out, and feel free to email me at MrsMatched (at) gmail (dot) com if you would like more information! Just put Bamboo Pink in the subject line, and I'll get back to you ASAP! Thanks for reading!

Toodle-loo!

Finally!

2011-03-05T10:24:00.001-05:00

Push play on the video before reading the rest of this post. You need the ambiance.

It's mine! It's mine! It's ALL MINE!

Finally! I've been trying to get this palette forEVER! I tried when it first came out, and it sold out at Sephora and Ulta in no time. I signed up on www.sephora.com to be notified when it was back in stock, and THREE emails later, I still didn't have it. Same story with www.urbandecay.com, but it only took me 2 tries with them. As soon as I got that email, I didn't even open it. I saw "NAKED" in the subject line, and went immediately to the website and bought it, along with their travel size Eden Eyeshadow Primer that I've been wanting, too. Poof: Free shipping! Just a few days later, this little beauty was waiting for me in my mailbox, and it was all I could do not to jump up and down and scream and holler and cry like those people on the Price is Right.

Behold, its beautiful colors:

It's perfection! You can create any eye look your heart desires with this thing! Honestly, this palette has been upgraded to that list of items I'd grab if my house was on fire. I would take it if I was stranded on a desert island. I want to sleep with it tucked gently under my pillow. I'm in love. Completely, utterly in love. The only want I could love this more, is if it had a hidden "Hugh Jackman" drawer and he popped out, ready to draw me a hot bath, pour me a glass of pinot noir, and clean my toilets.

Toodle-loo! Off to stare at allllll the pretty colorsssss........

Run like the wind!

2011-02-25T11:51:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I haven't posted about this before now. Especially considering it's taken up so much of my time and thoughts lately. I'm training for my first 10K in April. Ahhh!!!

I've ~~ran~~ walked a couple of 5Ks, both of which were Susan G. Komen Race for the Cures. And I did both of them more for the charitable benefits than for any health benefits of running.

I do not enjoy running, and I've always avoided it at all costs, but I've always admired runner's bodies. If I think about all the bodies I would like to model my own after, they are almost all runners. Runners always look so lean and defined, and that's exactly how I would like to look.

When it came time to lose my baby weight after having Baby Girl, I decided to try the Couch to 5K program. I'd heard lots of success stories about it. I also looked at it as a mental exercise. I knew my hesitation to start running was more mental than physical, and I really wanted this as a goal. I took something I didn't enjoy/was scared of and conquered it. I haven't met a lot of goals in my life, and I thought this was something I could mark off my bucket list and achieve.

It was my New Year's Resolution for 2010 to complete the 5K program, with the goal of potentially running the Disney World Half Marathon in January 2011.

I started out great. I ran our neighborhood (hills and all) at least 3 days a week, which is what the program recommends. I started in January, and suffered through the intense cold. I was super proud of myself for sticking with it, since it took a lot of willpower to dodge icy patches and breath razor blades (that's what it felt like, at least).

Then came the Jimmy Buffett concert in Nashville in May. It was a FABULOUS weekend, but I came home soooo sick. Just miserable. I stopped running to let myself heal, and I never did it again. Not until the Race for the Cure in October, anyway. I didn't run another step until that day. I hated that I let my progress go, but that really didn't make me start running again. Just another goal lost.

Then my dear, dear husband dangled a carrot in front of me that he KNEW I couldn't refuse. Some friends of ours were running a 10K in my favorite place in the whole world, and they had asked us to run it with them.

Now, part of me was aggravated that my husband knew this was my favorite place and he had never once considered taking me there until his friends asked us to go with them (I'm actually still a little bitter about that). My cooler head prevailed, though, and regardless of how or why I was going, I was GOING. To CHARLESTON. *queue the Hallelujah chorus*

We are running the Cooper River Bridge Run on April 2. I knew we were doing this in time to make it my New Year's resolution for this year, and so far, by golly, I'm sticking with it! Actually, I want to take that "so far" out. I AM sticking with it.

I upgraded my C25K program to their Ease into 10K program, and off I went.

It's a 10 week training program, and I just completed week 7 yesterday. I am supposed to only run 3 days a week, but I tend to run more like 4 or 5 times a week, so I will probably complete week 9 by the end of next week. After I complete the program, I'll spend the time time before the race working on my speed. Right now I'm between a 10-11min/mile pace and my goal is to be solidly below the 10 min/mile mark.

The race is almost here, so now I need to be thinking about my chosen race attire, and the perfect running playlist. I would love to read any suggestions any fellow runners out there have for me!

Right in time for this post, one of my favorite blogs is hosting a giveaway that would be perfect for run training. Go over to the Suburban Princess's blog, and enter to win 15 (count 'em, FIFTEEN!) Luna bars! Luna bars are made especially with women's nutrition in mind, and all of their products are all-natural and organic. I am really trying to make a major change to an all-organic diet, so this fits right in with my goals. I also admire companies who not only put out a great product, but strive to better their communities at the same time. That's exactly what the Clif and Luna companies do. Please go check out this giveaway and read more about this great product! Good luck!

Toodle-loo for now, and remember to send me any advice you have about clothes to run in or songs to add to my running playlist!

Small Kohl's Haul: Potential Easter outfit for me

2011-02-24T21:58:00.000-05:00

I used to HATE Kohl's. I always saw it as a warehouse of mom jeans and ugly sweaters. Then I heard they carried Chaps, and my ears perked up. I'm a sucker for anything Ralph Lauren. If Ralph liked Kohl's, then who am I to judge?

Then I heard that Vera Wang was designing a line for Kohl's. Then Dana Buchman. And then, quel surprise! LC!

I have been a fan of hers since Laguna Beach first rolled into my life years ago. I thought she really held her head up and stayed classy, even through the drama and cattiness of those silly reality shows. I sooo looked forward to her line at Kohl's. My opinion of them changed!

Fast forward to her debut season, and the best I could say was, "Eh." Nothing Earth shattering there. I thought the same of the next season. I found one top last season that I ended up really liking, so I broke the seal. This season, I'm fully committing to the LC/Kohl's fan club!

This was my first swoon moment. This dress is GORG! I immediately thought it would be a fabulous Easter dress. I bought it today, and I think it's a great buy. It's an odd color, though. Not white, not ivory, sort of a gray-ish tan background color. It might be hard to coordinate this dress with the girl's dresses. It's also a little on the short side. That might not be a great idea at church on Easter Sunday! Regardless of whether I wear it to church for Easter, I'm hanging on to it. It's a great dress at a great price, and I love it!

LC Lauren Conrad Floral Ruffle Chiffon Dress $44.99 (belt not included)

LC also has the perfect shoes to go with this dress (and EVERYTHING else in my closet!). Unfortunately, I can't get the picture to save to my computer. I'll keep trying. In the meantime, here's the link:

LC Lauren Conrad Vermont Peep-Toe High Heels $44.99

While I was thumbing through the LC section of the Kohl's website, and I just had to order this top. It is so spring-y and feminine. I thought it was incredibly versatile, too. My choice of outfits would involve skinny jeans and the pumps linked above. Once the weather really warms up, I think white jeans would be really perfect with it. And even shorts: khaki, denim, white, navy, the list goes on!

One word of caution: it's sheer. Too sheer to not wear a cami underneath. I tried it on with a nude colored tank, but I read a review that said she wore it with a cranberry tank, and I think that would look great, too.

LC Lauren Conrad Floral Chiffon Top $29.99

So what do you think? Are you in love with LC's latest collection? Or are you not a fan? I'd love to hear your opinion!

Toodle-loo!

OPI's new Texas-inspired nail collection

2011-02-15T18:41:00.000-05:00

I have recently become quite addicted to nail polishes, especially those that have a great theme. I fell down the rabbit hole with OPI's Burlesque collection, and I haven't looked back. I am still working on collecting all of those, but I'm almost done!

I have two new obsessions right now: OPI's new Texas collection, and China Glaze's Anchors Away collection. I was at Ulta the other day, and Hubs was waiting in the truck, so I had just a second to run in and out. I ran in, got what I wanted, and grabbed a product from each of these lines. OPI makes these great little shorty gift sets when they introduce a new collection, and it's a great way to try the colors without making a commitment to the big, full-size bottles. I bought my first little gift set with last summer's Shrek collection, and that was the only products I bought from that line. Those colors weren't exactly every day shades for me, so I really appreciated not having to buy the full size bottles in order to play with those fun colors (love the What's With the Cattitude? color!)

Anyhoo, while I was at Ulta, I ran to the OPI Texas display, and grabbed the little mini gift set. I think I would have bought the full sizes if I had more time, but I just wanted to get as many colors at once as I could. The mini set comes with Do You Think I'm Tex-y?, I Vant to be A Lone-Star, Austin-tacious Turquoise, and a mini Rapid Dry top coat. When you see it in the package, it's a super cute red, white (actually silver), and blue theme. Loves it!

I tried the Do You Think I'm Tex-y? color today, and it is shockingly sheer. I don't know if it's supposed to be that way, since I know this collection is supposed to highlight different textures of polish (creme, shimmer). Maybe this is supposed to be a sheer formulation. I'll have to look into it and see, because, so far, I'm not thrilled like I expected to be. I've only laid on a base coat and one coat of color, so I'll go back and put at least one more coat of color on before I make a final decision about it. I really like the color, it's just that the formula is so sheer. As it stands now, it's a great pink shade. The description calls it a "berry" pink shade, but I think there's definitely more pink than berry on my nails right now.

Here are the colors from the OPI website, and the descriptions of the colors follow.

Too Hot Pink to Hold 'Em – is a lively hot pink nail polish shade

Do You Think I'm Tex-y – is a lovely “berry” pink shade

Houston We Have a Purple – is a lovely galactic burgundy-violet shade

Suzi Loves Cowboys – is a fabulous dark chocolate shade

I Vant to Be A-Lone Star – is a fabulous light silver-blue shade

It's Totally Fort Worth It – is a gorgeous shimmery lavender-gray shade

Austin-tatious Turquoise – is a dazzling blue-green influenced shade

Don't Mess With OPI – is a lovely forest green shade

Y'all Come Back Ya Hear? - a gorgeous Texas tangerine shades

Guy Meets Gal-veston – is a lovely coral-pink shade

Big Hair...Big Nails – is a fabulous rosy nail polish shade

San Tan-tonio – is an amazing honey tan nail polish shade

I'm pretty sure I HAVE to have Big Hair, Big Nails. I also have my eye on Suzi Loves Cowboys (although I really wish this had been a Cowboys blue color!), Y'all Come Back Ya Hear?, and Guy Meets Galveston. I'm also really interested in San Tan-tonio, but I'm just not sure about a tan nail polish. That could be rich and gorgeous, or it could look, well, awful. It's pretty much a toss up.

I'll post soon about the new China Glaze collection. It really has me in the mood for summer!

Do any of these colors strike your fancy? Which shades do you have your eye on?

Toodle-loo for now!

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T14:19:00.000-05:00

Happy LOVE day!! May this post find everyone's heart filled with love, homes filled with happiness, and minds filled with pleasant thoughts and memories! Remember, each and every one of us is dearly loved, and we should all strive to return that love to others. Muah!

Paint fail.

2011-02-10T16:23:00.000-05:00

I decided to get a jump start on the home decorating projects I posted about earlier. Valspar Paints is currently offering a sample giveaway at noon every day for 100 days, so I snagged a color I thought I would like for our master bath.

In my mind, I imagined a blue with lots of gray undertones. A spa-like, relaxing color that would look great with our granite countertops and burnished bronze hardware. Ideally, I would have gone to Lowe's, picked out the color I wanted, and then ordered a free sample of it. Instead, I got swept up in the excitement of "Free!" and "Hurry!" and "While Supplies Last!" and I just grabbed the one that had the closest swatch to what I had it mind. It is called "Smoky Blue" and that sounds precisely like what I wanted. A mostly blue color, with some sexy gray smoke in it. Doesn't it look lovely in your imagination? It sure did in mine. I was soooo excited to try it out. My decorating dreams were finally moving along.

Then I put a roller in a paint sample, and got this:

Ummm.... Do you see gray in there? Where's that sexy smoke I was thinking of? When I look at this, I don't think of sexy smoke, or a spa, or relaxation. I think of country ducks with mauve hearts around them. Probably made out of wood. With some cute little phrase about homes and hearts and hats. Probably sold at a craft fair for $1.75. Probably made by a woman with similarly colored hair.

Sigh.

Tweet, tweet!

2011-02-09T09:38:00.000-05:00

I am still trying to figure out how to add a button on my sidebar to link to my twitter feed, but until I do, please find me the old-fashioned way! I'm @MrsMatched on twitter. I look forward to reading your tweets!

Finally! It's here!

2011-02-08T17:03:00.000-05:00

I read about the collaboration between one of my favorite designers (Milly) and one of my favorite cosmetic/skincare brands (Clinique) on Karen's fabulous makeup blog and I've been anxiously awaiting it's debut! And, luckily for me, it's debut just so happens to coincide with Belk's Clinique bonus time, so this little beauty gets to come home with me with lots of free goodies!

Here's a little bit from Clinique about the collaboration with Milly:

Michelle Smith, renowned designer of the women’s fashion and accessories label, Milly, brings her sparkling and sophisticated style to Clinique’s newest spring collection – Pretty in Prints. Michelle has teamed up with Clinique to create a limited-edition makeup palette of essential eye, cheek and lip colours for Spring 2011.
Exclusive to Clinique, the collection mixes rich browns with sweet pinks and is packaged in a sleek silver compact, adorned with a one-of-a-kind Milly print. The limited-edition Pretty in Prints compact is enclosed in a pouch designed by Michelle to showcase her signature Milly aesthetic.

There's a color compact consisting of 4 eyeshadows and a cheek color. The 4 shadows are from the Color Surge Eyeshadow Quad in Printed Pinks and the Blushing Blush is in shade Precious Posy. The palette itself is the signature Clinique silver with a Milly print adorning the top.

The Milly collection also includes a Long Last Glosswear SPF 15 lip gloss in Milly Pink.

I can't wait to bring these home. Hopefully I will be by my local Belk's store this week!

Toodle-loo!

Best. Jeggings. EVER!

2011-02-03T18:04:00.000-05:00

I am relatively late to the skinny jeans party, but I have recently given into the hype. I never thought they would look good on someone my age and weight, but I have found a few styles that I actually like and believe to be flattering. My favorites have been the Bree jeans from CAbi (the ones on the far left in the picture below), but they are starting to get a little loose on me. They are actually just skinny jeans, so I thought I might try a pair of jeggings to hopefully get a better fit.

photo courtesy of www.cabicanary.com

I started with a pair from Forever 21. They were cheap, which is a huge plus, but I think they (as well as most things F21 sells) are made for a pre-baby, still-firm-and-perky body. I wore them anyway, and just made sure I wore a long enough top to cover the muffin top rising out of the waistband.

I really wasn't in the market for new jeggings/skinny jeans. Honestly. But New York & Company, a store that has always been very generous to me with their coupons, sent me a $70 off a $150 purchase coupon. That's a great deal in my book! I bought a couple pairs of jeans, a couple shirts, a black pencil skirt I've been wanting for a while, and a jacket. The pencil skirt was as awesome as I expected it to be, and I wore it all day on Sunday. The tops were okay, but nothing to get all excited over. The jacket was a total bust, but I'm hoping to keep playing with it to see if I can get it to work with my wardrobe. Then came the jeans. I got one pair of regular bootcut jeans, and the jeggings. Even though I wasn't really looking, I thought I would give them a try. They looked nice on the model.

New York & Company Jegging in Gotham Wash $39.95

These are soooo great! The very best thing I can say about them is that they come up higher than most all the jeans I've tried on lately, so POOF! No more muffin top! Whoo Hoo! Plus, they're soft, flattering, and reasonably priced. Score!

So, if you're in the market for new skinny jeans, or if you want to give them a try for the first time, I highly recommend these. I really can't say enough nice things. They are exactly what you want a pair of leggings to be.

Before you buy, make sure you sign up for their email newsletters, and I bet you'll get a coupon in no time! Even if you don't, they are currently on sale for B1G1 half off! I think you can combine this with tops as well, so you can get a really cute outfit for a great price!

Toodle-loo, and happy shopping!