What I'm Loving Wednesday

Happy "Friday"! Since tomorrow is a holiday, most of us have tomorrow and Friday off and that is just what the doctor ordered.

Linking up with This Kind of Love for WILW

I'm loving that this was a short work week and our office is getting let out at 2:00. I can get to the gym and spend some much needed mommy and doggy time before dropping her off at the boarding place.

I'm loving that my BF from high school is super close to giving birth to her baby boy!! So excited to be an "auntie"!

I'm LOVING that it's less than a month til we fly home for Christmas. My BFF said yesterday, "Let the countdown begin!" So excited to see everyone! It's been too long!

I'm loving sequins lately.. as in my last post.. I'm obsessed!

I'm loving that I've been staying on track with my weight loss goal by New Years. Those Loubies are so close to being mine! :-D

I'm loving that H and I will be in paradise and relaxing on the beach with clear turquoise water on this long weekend. MUCH better than our original plans :0)

I'm loving that Christmas is 1 month and 2 days away! It's almost time for Roxy's Christmas bells!

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A Post Dedicated to Sequins and Sparkly Things

I've been noticing lately how drawn I am to everything sparkly and sequins. Then I saw Fashion Boulevard's post today and I was in love! Her dress was fabulous!

I just can't stop thinking about how much I want all of this!

Would love for my closet to have this many sparkly pieces

So pretty!

LOVE these Loubies!

Love this dress for a fabulous night out... New Years is right around the corner!

Perfect to dress up any top

Gorgeous!

This skirt combines 2 of my favs.. gold and sequins!

If only I had savored all those old dance costumes from growing up. I was a dancer and a gymnast for 13 years, and my mom says she has saved every single costume and competition uniform. They must be stashed away somewhere with all my American Girl dolls. 

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Another Amazing Weekend Comes to an End

H and I had an incredible weekend! I'm so sad to see it come to an end, but at least it's a short week this week! So looking forward to going to the Keys!

We went to Happy Hour on Friday after work, and then went out for the evening. One of H's friends is seeing a bartender at a club downtown, so we drank for free all night. She amazed us... as soon as one of our drinks looked low she replenished it and kept bringing out rounds of shots. So much fun at the time.. Saturday morning not so much. *oy*

The bartenders were all wearing beautiful dark blue sequined tops, so I asked H's friend's girl where they got them from, and she said they were only $25! Sweeet!

Saturday was a slow start, and I didn't get my morning workout in unfortunately. We got some things done around the house and then got ready to go to a wine tasting with some friends.

We went to a beautiful winery and did a tour and then a tasting. We all stocked up on bottles of wine (I picked some up to bring back to CT as gifts, since so many people have brought me a bottle of my favorite local CT wine when they come to visit, I'm going to bring a bottle of a local FL favorite to them). 

I also picked up a cork holder, as H and I have been saving our corks since we were dating and they've been overflowing out of the dish we had them in.

I love things neat and organized so this made a huge difference to me :-P

After the winery we all headed to a sports bar for food and drinks. I was super hungry, so I felt so much better after we ate some food. The boys played pool and started competing for shots while I sat with the girls and got to know them better. Great day! 

Today, H worked on the yard while I cleaned the house and made my weekly pot of sauce and baked pumpkin cheesecakes. 

All ready for the oven!

Finished product

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Beat three 8 oz. packages of cream cheese until smooth

Add 15 oz. of pumpkin puree, 3 eggs, 1 egg yolk, 1/4 cup of sour cream, 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar, 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon, 1/8 tsp. of ground nutmeg, 1/8 tsp. of ground cloves and beat together until well blended.

Add 2 tbsp. of flour and 1 tsp. of vanilla, beat until well blended.

Pour into crust and spread out evenly and place in oven for 1 hour

Remove from oven and let sit for 15 minutes

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours

Serve with whipped cream or cool whip

*I substitute in reduced fat or fat free cream cheese and sour cream to help make it a little healthier, and it's still delicious!*

*I also serve with fat free cool whip*

*I don't have a cake pan for cheesecakes, so I bought 2 pre-made pie crusts and baked in those*

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend and is looking forward to the short week and Thanksgiving! :0)

Recipe

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Linking up for Fill in the Blank Friday

TGIF! Linking up with The Little Things We Do for Fill in the Blank Friday.

1. A nervous habit I have is talking too much.. I tend to not know when to stop :-P

2. Something that makes me sad is my grandfather and one of my friends from back home's health. I hate hearing about them suffering, and really wish there was something I could do or at least be closer so I could visit them more often. Counting down to flying home for Christmas!

3. Today I am thankful for everything good in my life. My wonderful husband, our amazing doggy who's so sweet and too funny at times, my friends and family, our jobs, our new house, our opportunities to travel, our health, I could go on for a while...

4. My favorite room in my house is the family room since that's where we spend most of our time. The big tv is in there, comfy couches, and we've been enjoying a nice breeze lately through the windows.


5. I can't stand incosiderate people... enough said.


6. If I had an extra $100 to spend on whatever I wanted today I would go buy the coach lights that we want to put outside on our garage.

7. The last person I hung out with was aside from my H, we have wonderful neighbors and we've been getting to know some other couples that are great. I've really been enjoying our time getting to know everyone. We're finally settling in :0)

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Overdue Product Reviews

I've been meaning to post about my recent goodies, and I just hadn't gotten around to taking pictures and I wanted to make sure I was giving each product a fair chance before exclaiming how much I love them or complaining about how much I didn't love them..

First product is a rave!

Bumble and Bumble Hair Thickening Spray

I love this spray! I was skeptical that it wouldn't do what it says, but it does. I immediately felt a difference after the first use. I saw extra body in my hair and when I pulled it into a ponytail it actually felt thicker. The only thing I don't like about it is the smell, but it's not overpowering so no biggie.

Sephora Collection Foundation

At first, I really missed my MAC Studio Fix, but after I gave it a chance for a few days, I can honestly no longer tell the difference. On a weak day I may revert back to my Studio Fix, but I'm pretty convinced this foundation provides the same amount of coverage with a cheaper price tag and extra Beauty Insider points!

Loreal's Elnett Hairspray

I picked up the mini bottle at Target to try it out. I've been unsuccessfully trying to curl my hair lately, and heard that this spray was the best to use when trying to get your curls to hold without the hard texture. If my hair actually would cooperate, this would be a great spray. However, just like the Bumble and Bumble Hair Thickening spray, I hate the smell. Actually, the smell with the Elnett is a lot worse. Yuck-a-puh-tooey.. but it works!

I'm glad I gave Sephora by OPI another chance. Above is a picture of Metro Chic which I wore all last week with minimal chipping and touchups. This week I've been wearing Naughty is the New Nice and H loves the color on me and I love that it's sparkly. I've gotten a few compliments on it, and it's a keeper.

This pic doesn't do the color justice! 

One of my favorite bubble baths yet! Smells sooo yummy! I combined this with vanilla bath salts and thoroughly enjoyed it last weekend ;0)

Benefit Eye Bright

I reviewed this in my last product review, and didn't rave about it.. at all. But... I continued using it, and I still don't LOVE it, but I like it a lot more and have learned how to apply it better. My reason for not loving it is that it doesn't have staying power. It disappears pretty quickly. It looks great at first, but before I know it, it's faded away and is a distant memory.

 

Happy Thursday evening ladies, tomorrow is FRIDAY! Any fun plans for the weekend? I'm sooo ready for the short work week next week and to celebrate all that I'm thankful for. 

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What I'm Loving Wednesday

Linking up with This Kind of Love for What I'm Loving Wednesday..

I'm loving that doing these weekly posts show me how quickly the work week goes by. I feel like I just did WILW and yet here we are again.

I'm LOVING that we're going to Key West next week. Our original plans for Thanksgiving fell through, but in all honesty we dodged a major bullet. We are so much better than that and are thankful to be moving forward and on to bigger and much better things with people who have common decency and are actual adults. *vent over* So we switched gears and decided to just get out of here for a few days and enjoy a place we've never seen, but can drive to. We're super pumped!

I'm loving that H will finally get to go parasailing with me! He's never been, and I know he's going to love it!

I'm loving my Gap skinnies, they look great and they're so comfortable and don't feel like jeans at all! Double bonus!

I'm loving my Naked Palette. I've had it for a while, but I only recently really started experimenting on my own away from web tuturiols and creating my own looks.

I'm loving my mom.. she's been a great support system in the past week, and helps me put things in perspective and understand that sometimes people are just irrational and impossible to understand and will have to learn the hard way when real life lessons come their way.



As always I'm loving my wonderful H

What are you loving today?

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Red Velvet Pancakes

I tried another recipe from Pinterest and it was yummy! Great recipe for Christmas and Valentines Day.. so festive!

Red Velvet Pancakes

They were delicious! But mine were no where near as pretty as the pictures on Pinterest

Combine 2 cups of flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp. salt, 6 tbsp. sugar, and 4 tbsp. cocoa powder. Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk together 2 eggs, 1 and 1/2 cups of buttermilk, 1/2 cup of sour cream, 2 tsp. red food coloring, and 4 tsp. of vanilla. 

Combine wet and dry ingredients and add 1/2 cup of chocolate chips (optional). 

Pour pancakes onto griddle and flip and serve..oooh and enjoy! 

Recipe

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It was an Outdoor Lovin' Kinda Weekend

So much can happen in one little weekend, it's crazy! I had a great weekend with H, plus I was reminded again and again how incredibly lucky I am to have such amazing friends and family that love us so much back in CT. I miss you guys more than you'll ever know! If it wasn't for such amazing support and love, it wouldn't have been as comical but more hurtful to be amazed yet again. I've been left speechless on a number of occasions by someone who I thought I was growing close to. I completely agree with the phrase.. fool me/hurt me once shame on you..do it again and shame on me. Well, shame on me!

On a much more positive note.. H and I had a fabulous weekend! I picked up Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II on my lunch break on Friday and as of right now I've already watched it twice :-P

Friday night we went to a fundraiser that H's work hosted/sponsored. It was so much fun! There were several booths from different restaurants with amazing food. open bar, live music, black jack, and it was set outside on a lake, except the casino tables were inside. It was such a beautiful setting, and we had a great time with great people.

I wore my new gold sequined top with my gold heels from VS, but I was shameful to all my CT peeps back up north. It was maybe in the 60's outside that night and I was sooo cold I kept my cardigan on all night and kept hanging out by the space heaters! *Hides in corner in shame*

I tried matching my eyes to my top using my UD Naked Palette. I used sidecar all over, then half baked on the inner corners, smog on the outer corners, and then I swept virgin over it and brought it up to my eyebrows. This pic doesn't do it justice.. *sigh*

The guys tried teaching us to play blackjack. I played back in CT during trips to Mohegan Sun, but it's been a while and was kinda sad.. 

These may or may not have been a bad idea 0:-)

We spent yesterday afternoon relaxing and watching Deathly Hallows (again) and then got ready to go to my co-worker's 40th b-day party. 

It was nice getting to know some of my co-workers better and their spouses. 

Today was a beautiful day outside. We went to Lowes and picked up some more gardening tools and a new hose so H could wash my car. We worked on our landscaping in the front and H started putting Christmas lights on the palm trees, although I told him we're not lighting them until after Thanksgiving! Counting down the days until we go away for Thanksgiving, Christmas shopping, Christmas specials, decorations, and of course flying back to CT to see everyone. 

How was your weekend? 

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Fill in the Blank Friday Link Up

TGIF!! I'm linking up with The Little Things We Do again on this beautiful Friday morning.

1. My favorite new blog of the moment is Pink Lou Lou at Confessions of a 20 Something she is too cute and at times hilarious!
 

2. Something I am thankful for is amazing friends and family and of course my H!


3.  Something that made me laugh this week was an interview with Dwight Howard on the radio the other day. He was asked if he would ever date a Kardashian and there was a pause before he answered and then he said "F NOOO!" Everyone on air was cracking up.

4. An item that is currently on my wish list is Can I have two? My kitchen aid stand mixer in gloss cinnamon and of course a pair of beautiful Loubies 0:-)

5.  I am excited about H and I's impromptu trip to Key West with Roxy! Even Roxy is able to come.. she sure is my well traveled doggy! She was born in Iowa.. flown to New Hampshire, then her original owners had to give her up so she came to live with us in Connecticut. Then we moved to Florida so she made the drive down here, and then we brought her back to CT for Christmas last year, and now she's going to make the trek to the southernmost part of the continental U.S.

6.  If I were a color I would be gold. It's just so vibrant and mood lifting yet elegant.

7.  My favorite way to spend a chilly fall day is by wearing one of my favorite scarves and pairs of boots and taking Roxy for a nice brisk walk. Then coming home and curling up with a cup of hot chocolate. Yum!

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Tis the Season for Ebates

I discovered the amazingness that is Ebates this time last year, and couldn't believe all I had to do was go to their site first before doing any online shopping and I'd get paid for doing so! At first, I couldn't understand how it worked, but after doing some research I came to find out that merchants pay Ebates for referrals. By going to Ebates first, I can see all of the online promos for a particular store and if I click on the link for the store and shop on their site through Ebates I get a certain percentage of what I spent back in a check.

For example, if I were to make an online purchase through Target, I'd go to ebates first and do a search for Target. A list of their promotions going on will come up with their offer codes and I can choose to enter the Target site through there. Ebates redirects me to Target's site and voila! I don't have to do anything more except shop as I normally do online.

So far, I have received 2 checks in the mail just for shopping online and going through ebates. 

Popular retailers I've shopped online at and received cash back:

~Sephora

~Victorias Secret

~Target

~Gap

~Old Navy

~Nautica (for H)

~Snapfish

~Apple Store

~Bed Bath & Beyond

~Best Buy

~Kohls

This comes in handy around the holidays, considering I try to avoid the malls as much as possible and do most of my Christmas shopping online. 

The best part is you get paid for referring people to their site.

If you like to shop online, definitely check out Ebates and sign up today. 

Happy Shopping! 

*I tried super hard not to sound like an informercial and I think I failed*

It could have been worse if I said "If you sign up in the next 30 minutes you'll receive double cash back!" :-P

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