Road to my Louboutins

I don't know why but I'm currently obsessed with Christian Louboutin's shoe collection. Well, I know why.. the shoes are absolutely fabulous but unfortunately they come with a hefty price tag. Every reality show that I secretly watch, the girls are always wearing the red soled shoes. I don't want them because all the stars have them, I want them because every time I see them I just love them more and more. Pathetic I know.. and I know that Kim Kardashian, Lauren Conrad, and Bethenny Frankel have closets full of them, but all I'm asking for is one pair that I can treasure.

But my lusting after a pair of shoes is going to have to be put on hold until after we close on our house. I can't wait until our spending freeze is over! I sincerely doubt that the first thing I'll go out and buy is a pair of Louboutins, but I've been dropping lots of hints to H that they would make a fantastic birthday gift in August.

Now back to reality.. Tonight was my night off from working out so I whipped up homemade backed mac and cheese and it was delicious.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Boil 16 oz. of elbow macaroni for 9 minutes
Heat 1 quart of milk on high in microwave for 5 minutes
In a large sauce pot melt one stick of butter over medium heat.
Add 6 tbsp. of flour and mix together
Add 1/2 tsp. of pepper
Add 1 tsp. of salt
Add 1/2 tsp. of onion powder
Add 1/4 tsp. of dry mustard
Add milk to mixture and turn heat up to high until mixture reaches a boil. Be careful not to scourge it.
As soon as it bubbles, remove from heat and add 8 oz. of shredded sharp cheddar cheese.
Drain macaroni and add to mixture.
Add 4 oz. of mild cheddar cheese
Pour into a greased 9x13 dish
Sprinkle 4 oz. left from 8 oz. bag of mild cheddar cheese on top
Take a little bowl and melt 1 tsp. of butter or margarine in the microwave and then mix in 2 tbsp. of parm cheese and 4 tbsp. of breadcrumbs and sprinkle on top of casserole.

Bake until it bubbles for about half an hour.

To make it lower in fat, I usually use 1% lowfat or skim milk and fat free sharp cheddar cheese and reduced fat mild cheddar cheese.

I serve it with salad and homemade italian dressing. Enjoy!

Christian Louboutin Recipe

Continue Reading →

Sunburnt in Omaha

I've been such a bad blogger, but I've been so busy! I've been away all week in Omaha for work. I have to admit I was pretty depressed when the plane landed here on Monday, but it's been going by pretty quickly and I've gotten to know some great co-workers. Definitely not a place I'd ever consider living, but it was nice to experience something new for the week. I also miss my husband and my fat doggy so much it hurts! I can't wait for him to pick me up at the airport on Friday!

We spent as much time together as we could the weekend before I had to fly up here, so we went to the beach on Saturday and had fun playing in the waves, but of course got burnt! We wore sunscreen, but still got pretty burnt and it's starting to worry me how many sunburns we've both had. It's so bad for your skin and your health. I just hope neither of us have caused any permanent damage. In the past year or so I've tried to become a lot smarter about sun protection. Skin cancer is a big fear of mine, but the quality of my skin is as well. I don't want to be wrinkly and freckly if I can prevent it at too young an age. I do my best to moisturize and I don't lay out as much as I used to and I sure as heck don't go fake-a-baking anymore. In college, my friends and I would go tanning all the time, and we even coincided it with getting our nails done together. I look back at it and it makes me sad that we were so foolish.

I do enjoy the look of a nice tan, so I will continue soaking up some good Vitamin D, I just want to limit my intake and try not to get burnt anymore. Living in Florida that may not always be possible, but I'd like to continue being smarter about protecting my skin. I've also never gotten a spray tan. I'm afraid of it making me appear orange or it getting on my clothes? Have you ever gotten a spray tan? What should I expect? Did you like it? I'd love for some feedback :0)

Continue Reading →

Another Great Weekend

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the weekends go by. I feel they're super important because we should work to live not live to work and it's so refreshing to sleep in, have time for yourself, and enjoy the company of friends and loved ones.

I started off our weekend by going to happy hour and enjoying some yummy martinis. I tried an Italian Apple Martini which was delicious. One of my friends asked what makes it "Italian" and I had to explain it had Amaretto in it which is my favorite!

Saturday morning it felt great to sleep in a little, and then I got up and went to spin class. It felt so great to be at spin again, after being too late to get a pass last week (even though I showed up 10 minutes early!). Later on, H and I drove out to a local winery and were pleasantly surprised at the whole experience. First of all, Florida is known to be flat, but as we got closer to the winery we noticed we were in the hills. The views at the top of the hill where the winery was were gorgeous. It somewhat reminded us of the airport in Nadi, Fiji. They had free tours and free tastings! We got to taste 8 different wines and their champagne. Back at home on the Connecticut Wine Trail, we're used to paying $6 or $7 for a tasting and only sampling about 5 or 6 wines, then to buy a bottle it'd be anywhere from $15 on up. We bought a bottle of red and white for only $8.99 each! We'll definitely be returning in the near future!

Yum! We enjoyed the red last night while I was cooking dinner.

Best little doo-hickey ever! I'd always wanted one these wine openers, and my mom gave one to me and H for Christmas a few years ago. No more breaking the cork while struggling to open a bottle of wine or half of it dropping into the wine which always made me sad.

The time change got the best of us, and we ended up missing church on Sunday morning. So we got up and went to the gym together. I worked out hard and H said I was "shaq'd" (his slang for soaked in nasty sweat because Shaq always gets really sweaty... clever H) but I felt great getting another great workout in. It was gorgeous out afterwards and the pool was calling my name, but I also had a $25 off a $50 purchase coupon for Express that was waiting to be used and I wanted to get a new top or two for my work trip to Omaha next week. So off to the mall I went... 

I ended up getting this top, but in purple because I need more color in my wardrobe

And I also got this top, but tried it on with the stripes, and traded it back for the same shirt but in solid black.

I wrapped up my weekend by cooking a pot of sauce which is H's favorite dinner and making cookies.

My sauce recipe:

1 small can of tomato paste
1 large can of crushed tomatoes
1 large can of tomato sauce
1 white onion
Garlic
1 lb. of 93/7 ground beef (7% fat)
Olive oil
Turkey meatballs (sometimes I add them, sometimes I don't)

Heat olive oil on medium heat in a large sauce pot.
Cut up onion and garlic and shred in food processor
Add to the olive oil and saute
Add meat
Saute until meat is no longer red/pink and is all brown
Add tomato paste
Using the tomato paste can, fill with water and add to the pot and stir.
Add crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce and stir. Turn down the heat to medium low and simmer. Add meatballs if you choose.

I serve it with spaghetti and garlic bread.

Cake mix cookies are the easiest cookies I make.

1 box of cake mix (any flavor)
1 stick of butter
1 egg

Mix all three ingredients together and portion onto a nonstick cookie pan. Bake for 9 minutes at 350 degrees.  I made these cookies with the Funfetti cake mix, so yummy!

Hope everyone else enjoyed their weekend, at least Monday is over with. This time next week, I'll be posting from Omaha. I hope that week goes by quicker than any work week ever has and that I will be symptom free from any labyrinthititus flare ups from flying.

Express Recipe

Continue Reading →

Just say NO to fanny packs

If you're around my age you probably remember all the moms sporting fanny packs when we were in elementary school. It was nice and easy for them, they could swap out their purse that would have to be carried or swung over their shoulder for something that was effortless while out and about with their children.

Sensible and practical? --Yes
Fashionable? -- NO

Well, come to find out after more than 2 decades of it being widely known that most people sporting a fanny pack are laughed at behind their backs, the fashion industry is trying to re-inflict this horrible item on us again! Urban Outfitters is selling what looks like a bad southwestern designed fanny pack for $48 and Gucci is selling "waist packs" for over $400.

And it's not just fanny packs that the fashion industry is trying to push at the public again. Flare legged pants and platform sandals are supposedly making a comeback this spring as well. All I can picture is how I dressed in high school when I thought I looked so cool, but in reality looked awful.

I just got into the whole skinny jeans craze several months ago because it took me a while to be comfortable enough to even try them on, and I ended up loving them so much that I bought several pairs. I love the look of skinny jeans, and in my opinion flare leg pants are just sloppy looking and outdated because to me it brings back memories of middle school and high school. I can't imagine how those who grew up in the 70's feel. They've seen this trend try to come back twice now.

Remeber these chunky Steve Madden shoes? I totally rocked them in black, dark brown, and tan back in the day.

Well... Steve Madden is trying to bring the look back...

This is the new Steve Madden Slinky. Doesn't look "new" does it?

The fashion industry seems to be going the way of Hollywood and movie making. They're no longer taking new chances and just recycling old ideas that should have been left as classics.

It's time for some new fresh ideas and as for me... I never let fashion magazines dictate my style. I buy and wear items that are not only fashionable but that I actually like. The flowy floral sundresses and oversized tees with skinny jeans will be in my wardrobe this spring, along with wedges and my go-to pumps and sandals. But I promise you that you won't find a single fanny pack, flare legged pair of pants, or chunky slip on pair of sandals in my closet.

Continue Reading →

Weekends Should be Longer

Why do the weekends always go by so quick?! I feel like it was literally just Friday afternoon and I was so thankful that my horrendous workweek was over and it was the weekend and alas here we are on Sunday night and I'm getting ready for my OC ladies to return at 10:00 on Bravo.

The weekend was good, it felt so great to sleep in and have some "me time". Yesterday morning I left for my spin class and when I got to the gym and asked for a pass for the class the guy at the desk said he had given them all out, I was so upset and shocked that I asked "Really?" and he reassured me the class was filled up even though I showed up early as I always do. So, I decided to go over to the cardio area and give myself my own kick-butt workout. I ran for 1/2 an hour and then did some strength training. It felt good to get a great workout in even though I missed my favorite class. After showering and having some lunch, H and I went over to visit our lot and see the progress. They staked out our lot so now we know how far back our land goes, and there's more than enough room for our pool and to have plenty of grassy area leftover. We also got to meet some of our future neighbors who are closing later this week (jealous).

I decided to use a YouTube tutorial to achieve that "smoky eye" look to go out last night using my Urban Decay Naked Palette. I thought it came out great, just not as much "pizazz" as the girl in the tutorial of course. I didn't use false eyelashes, but I still feel like I should have achieved more of the look.

I liked her tutorial I'm just bummed I'm not artistic enough to fully achieve the look. Below is the tutorial I used.

Today was more relaxing, I got a bunch of housework done and made a pot of sauce for dinner and I tried a new recipe for dessert. I got a cake recipe out of my In Style magazine. Every once in a while a recipe in one of my magazines catches my eye. I tried a pasta dish last week that neither H or I were too crazy about. It came out ok, but wasn't good enough to try again. But I tried another recipe tonight called Cocoa Pebbles Crunch Cake and it was GOOD!

Cocoa Pebbles Crunch Cake

1 oz. (approximately 1 square) semisweet chocolate

8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

3 large eggs

4 tbsp, plus 1 tsp vegetable oil

1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups cake flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

2 8" cake pans

4 cups Cocoa Pebbles loosely packed

1 16 oz jar of Marshmallow Fluff

1/4 cup milk

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Heat chocolate in a microwave safe bowl for about 40 seconds until melted, stirring every 15 seconds

Using a mixer, cream butter and sugar

Incorporate eggs

Mix in oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate

Scrape down sides of bowl, add flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder

Mix on low speed until batter is smooth

Spray cake pans with nonstick spray

Divide batter evenly among pans and bake cakes for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean

Cool cakes in pans

In a large bowl, mix Cocoa Pebbles and 1 and 1/4 cups of marshmallow fluff. 

Brush bottom layer of cake with milk, top with crunch/fluff mix

Place next layer of cake on top 

Recipe calls for more fluff/crunch mix on top, but I used a can of white frosting instead which H and I thought turned out better. 

Refrigerate any leftovers. 

Naked Palette Recipe

Continue Reading →

What a week!

Man I am just utterly fried this week. I don't know what happened, but work has been high speed and high stress this week. Each day I think it'll be better than the day before, but I just keep getting more and more behind with more and more "rushes" getting dumped on me where I have to stop what I'm doing and change gears. I'm soooo glad tomorrow's Friday. I've also been feeling cruddy this week with some bad headaches and feeling some lingering symptoms from my labyrinthititus that have flared up again today. Blah... I just hope they pass soon because I have to fly in 2 and 1/2 weeks to go to Omaha for my job and I'm already scared that the flights will be detrimental to what I've been through the past few months. I've made so much progress that I don't want to go backwards.

I'm very much looking forward to this weekend for some much needed relaxation. I can't wait to sleep in, go to spin class and spin out my work frustrations, and relax with a skinny girl margarita. Yum! H and I also plan on visiting our home lot and taking pictures of the progress since last week and maybe hitting up a local winery for a wine tasting. I'm also super excited for my OC ladies return on Sunday night. I've watched Real Housewives of New Jersey and Beverly Hills, but no one compares to my OC ladies! Looking forward to some Vicki "whoo hoos"!

* Clarisonic Update* It's been another week, and I'm still on the tail end of my "purge". My skin looks so much healthier and always feels so great after I'm done with the cycle, but I'm still breaking out just no where near as bad as 2 weeks ago.

Clarisonic

Continue Reading →

What do you do to help?

I was at work yesterday and was blown away when someone came into my office and we were discussing something and at the end of our discussion they realized they didn't need the huge stack of paper in their hands anymore and just threw it in my garbage. After they left, I of course fished it out (it was on top and there was nothing else in there except for my granola bar wrapper) and brought it over to the shredder bin which also recycles the shredded paper. I don't know why but when people throw out things that can be recycled it makes me cringe especially when it's in larger quantities, and it shocks me every time I see it happen.

How I recycle:

~All bottles including juice bottles, shampoo bottles, contact solution bottles, etc... are all recycled and not thrown away.

~All cardboard is broken down and recycled even smaller items like cheezit boxes, cereal boxes, milk cartons, egg cartons, all get broken down when finished and recycled instead of thrown in the garbage.

~All cans including H's soda cans that he brings home from work each day (I'm so proud of him!) and food cans like when I make a pot of sauce or a can of soup all get recycled instead of thrown away.

~I bring back to MAC. For every 6 containers you bring back to MAC they will take them back to recycle and give you a free lipstick or a free eyeshadow. You have to go to an actual MAC Cosmetics store not just the kiosk inside Macys for the eyeshadow though.

~I never throw away paper! Anything that comes in the mail gets brought to work and dropped in the shredder bin.

~I pay all bills online and all of our statements are paperless.

Some may think this is all ridiculous, but when it becomes your routine it's really just second nature and you're really making a difference. Now the next list are things I do not only to help the environment, but also to save money.

~We replaced all the bulbs in our home to energy saver bulbs.

~We always turn the lights off when we leave a room, and use minimal lights at night.

~We stopped buying bottled water and bought a Brita pitcher.

~We always run the dishwasher late at night which isn't considered peak time.

~We unplug all appliances that aren't in use (except the fridge, stove, tv's, lamps, and clocks)

~When we lived up north we used draft blockers in the winter and insulated our water heater.

I've noticed a big difference in our electric bill and when we lived up north and had upstairs neighbors with the same exact size floor plan, our electric bill was 1/3 what theirs was and in the summer when they were constantly running their AC it was 1/4 of theirs! Of course we run our AC when it's hot and the heat when it's cold, but we leave it at a reasonable setting so it kicks off quicker.

What do you do to make a difference for not only the environment but your wallet? Or what are you willing to start doing to conserve and/or recycle? Every little bit helps :0)

Also, I thought I'd give an update on my Clarisonic use. I'm unfortunately still going through the "purge" but I see a difference between how bad my skin was last week compared to now. I knew I'd have a bad purge because the whole reason I purchased the Clarisonic was because I was running out of options and so frustrated at how bad my skin has been when I've never really dealt with bad skin. I can see it starting to get better, but I know it'll probably still be a few weeks before I see the results I'm looking for. I'll keep you posted ;0)

Clarisonic Recycling

Continue Reading →

The rest of this week was quite eventful. I've been telling people that I can't imagine how anyone can plan a wedding and buy a house at the same time. My H and I have been going through so much stress with our new house being built. It's like deja vu from this time last year when we were getting down to the last few months before the wedding. Oy the stress! Hats off to those of you who balanced both at the same time. But it's all worth it, and we stopped by our dirt lot this weekend and took pictures of our lot and our sold sign. Very exciting!

It's amazing to think that empty lot will have our home on it all ready for us in the next few months. We couldn't be happier and are eagerly awaiting to watch the progress and move in.

Moving down here has opened up so many doors for us from enjoying the outdoors all year round to buying our first home that will be our forever home to us both finally working at jobs that we are both very happy at. My office had it's kick off this week and after being in meetings all day, we were treated to going to see the Magic play. What a great evening, we were in one of the luxury suites and the Magic won by a lot! 

Saturday night, my H and I stayed in and got a bottle of my favorite.. Skinny Girl Margarita and had a Netflix night. It's so good and I love how it's so much better for you then regular margaritas. It's made with agave instead of sour mix so it has far less calories and isn't as indigestion inducing. All we were missing was some freshly made guacamole!

This morning before my H and I went out for the day I decided to try out my new dry shampoo. I keep reading about it and wanted to try it out for myself. So I didn't wash my hair and sprayed it with the dry shampoo, waited 2 minutes and then brushed it through and styled as usual. It worked great, I instantly noticed that my hair looked fresh and smelled great too. But by the time we got back home later that afternoon I was more than ready to wash my hair. My official review on it is that it's a great quick fix, but it's not something I can use as a substitution all day in lieu of washing my hair. I have very fine hair, so I can't get away with it as easily as girls with thicker hair that doesn't get oily as easily.

I also started using Tresemme's volumizing mousse before I blow dry my hair and I've noticed a difference in how much body I have. Again just like with the dry shampoo it's great in the beginning, but it doesn't last all day. Any suggestions on a great volumizing mousse or dry shampoo I could try and maybe have better luck with?

Now on to my last beauty experiment. I finally got a Clarisonic after being overly frustrated with my recent breakouts (never really dealt with bad skin but now in my mid-late 20's it's been horrible). I first tried Proactiv and it worked great in the beginning, but still didn't clear me up completely, but after a month or so it started to get really bad again. So I decided to purchase a Clarisonic and cross my fingers that I wouldn't experience the "Clarisonic purge". Well after the first few washes, my face felt amazing. So soft and it was much fresher looking. About a week into it, I started to notice the purge and that I was breaking out pretty bad. It's been about another week and a half and I'm definitely still experiencing a purge, but it seems to be easing up thankfully. I'll post updates on how my skin is doing and hopefully it'll continue to clear up as the Clarisonic pulls out all the "crap" that's been underneath my skin that regular facial cleansing wasn't taking care of on it's own.

I've been using my Clarisonic with Clean & Clear Advantage face wash, but I'd also like to try Philosophy's Purity.

Now I'm going to cap off the weekend with H and watch the NBA All Star Game. Go East!

Clarisonic Dry Shampoo House Skinny Girl Margarita

Continue Reading →

Life is Good :0)

I have been MIA from my blog since before the wedding and I apologize! Life has been crazy busy. We got married in June, then were gone for 2 and 1/2 weeks for our honeymoon. When we returned, we enjoyed the last month and a half of summer with our amazing friends and family.

The summer of 2010 was absolutely amazing. My bridal shower, the bachelorette party bus to Mohegan Sun, our wedding, Chrissy's infamous pool party, our bbq and pool party and campfire, river tubing at the Farmington River, day trip to Block Island with Katie and Alex, living it up in VIP at Shrine with some of our best friends, and more of our friend's weddings. 2010 is definitely a year to remember and was just what we needed before making one of the biggest changes in our lives.

The last week of August, I got a phone call for an interview down in Florida. My husband and I have been talking about moving to Florida ever since we started getting serious and we knew as soon as the wedding was over we'd be looking to move. I booked plane tickets and flew out for my interview 2 days after the call. I was offered the job at the end of the interview and was on cloud nine on my way back to the airport to fly home. I couldn't believe it was finally happening! We moved 3 weeks later and started our new lives together in a much more desirable climate.

A month later, we flew back home for another wedding. We had a blast and it was great to see a bunch of our friends that we already missed so much. Upon returning home from the wedding weekend, I started to feel really ill a few days later. At first I thought I had low blood sugar, then I thought it was a bad virus. But after a few weeks of feeling ill with no signs of feeling better I started to get scared that something was seriously wrong. My doctor had no answers and was perplexed as to what was bothering me. I finally self diagnosed myself after hours of research online and reading forums of people who have been experiencing the same miserableness I have. I'm 99.9% sure I was suffereing from labyrinthititis. The symptoms were debilitating to say the least and here's a list of what I went through for almost 2 months straight:

-I felt seasick.. which led to me feeling nauseous when it would hit


-I also felt really disoriented a lot which was kind of like being drunk without the good feelings that come with drinking

-I had a very stiff neck and upper back and severe pain in the back of the lower part of my head

-I went through periods of exhaustion, but also had a hard time sleeping through the night

-Sometimes you just don't feel a part of reality, it's like you know you're there, but you feel like it's a dream and you're not really there

-Near the end was when I started to become really sensitive to noise and my ears started to hurt

-I was very sensitive to different lightings. I felt the most sick going into stores (like Target or the grocery store... the mall was completely off limits or else I think I would have passed out) and in my boss' office because of the way the light came in through the blinds and it was always hot in there.

-I also felt sick when I had to talk to someone and maintain eye contact

I'm thankful I was able to come to work, but I looked like a zombie and struggled to get through most days. It's such a scary feeling, but around Thanksgiving weekend I decided to cut out caffeine which was advice I found on one of the forums I had been reading about my virus. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I've been addicted to caffeine for several years and couldn't live without my morning coffee, and my diet cokes, unsweetened iced teas, etc.. but once I cut out the caffeine, I noticed a big difference. I've had 2 maybe 3 slight attacks since I cut out the caffeine. And one of the mini-attacks happened on a day I brought an iced tea to work so I know caffeine was a huge culprit in my feeling so crummy. I still feel off sometimes and feel a little sick at times, but I have come a long way since October and November and couldn't be more thankful for the progress I've made. Life was put on hold for several months because I could barely leave the house to go to work or to go grocery shopping. My amazing husband was understanding throughout the whole thing since it put his life on hold too.

My biggest fear is having to fly up to Omaha for training for my job next month. I just hope that the flights don't trigger my symptoms where I feel ill on the plane or throughout my training days away from home or even worse bring back everything I had been dealing with for so long. I hope I'll stay on the road to recovery and never be that miserable and helpless again.

Now onto bigger and more exciting news, my husband and I bought a house! Aside from the much more desirable weather, we moved to Florida because the real estate prices are worlds away from real estate prices in Connecticut. My husband and I can't imagine why people choose to live somewhere with miserably long winters and ridiculously high real estate and taxes.

We decided to have a brand new house built in a development close to where we've been living down here. The house is going to be our "forever house" and is going to be huge! We're still blown away at how far your money goes down here, because if we bought the same house in Connecticut, it would easily be three times the price it is down here. We're just so thankful for our lives have come together, we're now married, living where we've always wanted to live, and we're building our dream home. Ahhhh life is good :0)

And I'll leave you all with a hilarious clip from our wedding of my husband and his good friend Brian rapping to Warren G's Regulators. We finally edited our wedding video down to just the song and uploaded it to youtube. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tteJqDisP8U

Continue Reading →

Beautiful Weekend

This past weekend was just amazing! The weather here was unbelievably gorgeous! I came home Friday after work and did my 30 Day Shred work out, then showered and started making the buffalo chicken dip for the b-day party. As I predicted, the dip was a huge hit, you can never go wrong with that recipe!

Saturday was even more beautiful than Friday was, so we went to the beach for the first time this year with some friends. It was so nice to put on a bathing suit and lay in the sand hanging out with good friends. LOVED it! We went home and showered and ended up going back to the beach.. but a different beach with another couple and got sandwiches and had some wine at a table near the water and then walked up and down the boardwalk and  capped off the night with some ice cream. What a perfect day! After a long winter, this was a long time coming..

Sunday, we went to church, and then my fiance went off to the movies with some of the guys, and I went shopping with one of my best friends on the hunt for a dress for my bridal shower which is in a few weeks. We stopped in Express, Charlotte Russe, and Macys before I found a super cute dress for super cheap at Forever 21.

I also got the necklace there and another top that I wore to work today..such great deals!

Anyone who knows me knows I'm a huge environmentalist.. I cringe when people throw paper or plastic in the garbage. Plus the makeup I wear  is MAC Cosmetics, so I'm in love thinking about their recycling program. If you bring back 6 empty MAC containers they will give you a free lipstick. (I used to get free eyeshadow by going to the actual MAC store, but if you go to the kiosks inside department stores, you can only trade them in for a lipstick.) So, I chose a new lipstick that wasn't too "in your face" since I prefer the more natural look when it comes to my lips.

I chose the lipstick shade  Creme  Sheen  and it's  beautiful. I also wanted t o finally get some primer because my makeup always seems to mysteriously disappear and my makeup artist for the wedding told me I should use primer. So, I asked the consultant at MAC about primer and she gave me a sample of the Prep & Prime Skin primer and I used it today and LOVED it. I will definitely be purchasing that at my next trip to the mall. I love free stuff! 

Last but certainly not least, what would a trip to the mall be without a trip to Victoria's Secret? I picked up a bottle of their new Keep Glowing Tan Extend Body Moisturizer by Beach Sexy to put on after a day in the sun at the beach to moisturize your skin and keep that beachy glow. Its smells great! It has a very similar smell to Clinique Happy. I also got a free pair of VS panties with a coupon, they always send me coupons so I've scored a bunch of free stuff from them over the years. More freebies! :0)

I also received my party dress for the bachelor/bachelorette party bus trip to the casino next month in the mail from Body Central. I absolutely LOVE Body Central, they have a lot of great party tops and dresses for cheap. I normally order stuff that are "deals of the week". Right before we went on a cruise last fall, I ordered 3 great dresses for only $9 each during a sale. Below is the dress for the bachelorette, it's a silver bubble hem party dress and fits great!

http://www.bodyc.com/ 

30 Day Shred MAC Victorias Secret

Continue Reading →

Happy Friday!

TGIF.. and around here it's finally starting to warm up. I enjoy being outside and can't stand the cold weather. I can't wait to go lay at the beach this weekend and enjoy the outdoors once again. Although.. I may end up a tad pink.

Tonight is my almost sis-in-law's boyfriend's birthday celebration. (Mouthful to say huh? It'll be so much easier to just say brother in-law in the future!)  I'm making buffalo chicken dip to bring over for the festivities and everyone always scarfs it down, it's SO GOOD!

The buffalo chicken dip recipe is:

2 cups of shredded chicken (cooked chicken)
2 packages of 8 oz cream cheese
12 oz bottle of Franks Red Hot
1 cup of Bleu Cheese dressing
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

Mix the shredded chicken, cream cheese, red hot, and bleu cheese dressing together and put in a 13x9 pan. Sprinkle the cheddar cheese on top and place in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Then it's time to enjoy! Just serve it with tortilla chips and celery sticks.

I use a food processor to shred up the chicken, but you could just chop it with a knife too if you don't have a processor.

Also, I only use about 8 or 9 oz. of the Franks Red Hot instead of 12 because lets just say it wasn't good on our tummys for the next day or two after, the hotness was too much, but go for the full 12 oz. if you're brave!

Recipe

Continue Reading →