Easy Breezy Beautiful CoverGirl, and so much more!

I have always been a simple girl at heart.  Never one for trendy make-up, just always liked the plane Jane natural colors...hmmmmm sounds kinda like my wardrobe.  Daring, I'm not!  When I buy make-up, I always end up spending a lot of money, but getting "the best quality".  You know, allergy-free, not tested on animals, all-natural ingredients... blah blah blah.

Well, I stepped outside the box last weekend when I was left no other choice.  We were at a wedding on Captiva Island, Florida, with a limited choice of shopping plazas. CVS and Walgreens were my choices.  So, we hit up the local CVS and hunted down something -oh so important- that I had left at home....my child MASCARA!  I bet some of you are having a panic attack just imagining this!  What's a girl to do without her beloved mascara?  Oddly enough, this was my make-up wake-up call.  I have been spending way too much dinero on mascara, it appears.  For $28 you can get a trusty mascara that will plump and clump those lashes into looking like the girl next door.



pic courtesy of readjunk.com



However, for $8.79 you can get mascara from CoverGirl that will make you look like one of the Girls Next Door.

It is volume lasting CoverGirl, in black.  Love it!  Just as good as any high-end name brand mascara. My hubby even liked it.  I mean, I had to fish for the compliments, like blink at him 20 times for him to finally ask, "Do you have something in your eye, sweetie?"  Ummmm no!  I am just rockin a new mascara!  Obvi! - yes, I just said obvi.  

AND, this just in.  Apparently, last week, Sunday, February 19th, there was a $1.00 OFF coupon in the newspaper.  It is good for any CoverGirl product.  Imagine that, mascara for just 8 bucks.  I encourage you to try it.  Like I said, I was a make-up diva for life, until this one fateful day.  If you are always looking for ways to switch up your look, but don't think you can ditch the designer name, think again ladies! 

Some other goodies to report:

It's never too early to buy a dish towel that you'll use in the fall-  www.studiopatro.com  Use coupon code spring10 at checkout...and you can score some awesome new dish towels, like I did, for a great price!

I found the most adorable puzzle that also can be transformed into an educational dining experience.  It's from a store called A+R Store - under the "kidding" section.  www.aplusrstore.com  This will help Jacob to remember which side the fork goes on.  Don't you always question that when you are setting the table for a dinner party?  I know I do.  Oh, and if you spend $100 dollars, it's free shipping.  And let me tell you, it's not hard to spend a hundy when you're on this site! 

No time to wash your hair?  This product is AMAZING!  Seriously, better than Johnson & Johnson's Baby Powder or Bumble and Bumble Hair Powder.  It's called Keratin Complex Volumizing Dry Shampoo Lift Powder for Blondes.  It is about $35.00 and worth EVERY penny.  www.keratincomplex.com  Don't worry you non-blondies, there's some for you too! 

I love a good buy!  Until next time...

 

You're One Of A Kind, Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day!

I had to put on my creative hat.  I knew I wanted to make a Valentine this year.  You know, Pinterest is so inspiring, it almost makes you feel guilty if you don't do anything for every holiday.  I took a look on Pinterest, but couldn't really find anything that was "me".  Then, I received an email from Peartreegreetings.com (one of my favorite stationary/card websites) and it had great ideas for Valentine's.  However, my hubby said N-O to buying Valentines.  He said, why are you spending more money on a card, when you just sent one out for Christmas...the baby hasn't changed in two months.  OK, he soooooo doesn't get me sometimes!  Duh, I needed a project!  So, I decided it was time to get creative, and create one.  I had a vision, from Pear Tree, so it was time to go on my treasure hunt and collect my goodies. 

I got the idea of making my own envelope inserts, from my sister-in-law, Katie.  Awhile back, she made me personalized stationary, and I loved how she made the inserts, so I did my own version.  I got thrifty.  I visited the Dollar Store.  Did you know the Dollar Store sells Reynolds Tin Foil and Saran Wrap for $1.00?  I just paid $4.50 EACH at The Blue Goose for those suckers.  Maybe I will have to start looking at their Sunday Flyer, before I do my "REAL" shopping.  Anyway, I saw some heart shaped doilies, chocolate foil wrapped lips, and lots of other "stuff" that I DIDN'T NEED.  I grabbed the doilies, and the lips, and dashed. 

Next stop, Michael's Craft Store.  I could spend hours there.  But, since I was with a child, I only had 10 minutes MAX.  I grabbed some scrap booking red-dotted paper, blank white envelopes, heart doily stickers (thank you Martha Stewart Collection), and some XO felt stickers.

Last but not least, I stopped at a local paper shop, and bought 50 pieces of card stock, which was already cut into 4x6.  Phew, because I really didn't feel like doing that!

Here's how I broke it down:

All the supplies

Start with a plain, white envelope



Stuff a doily in the envelope, upside down





Cut out a triangle shaped accent paper





Start the gluing process





Keep gluing



Add a cute sticker





Stick on some chocolate lips for a truly sweet kiss




Sending a big smooch to you!


AND, Voila!  It's a homemade Valentine!

One thing I messed up on...I didn't get the Valentine weighed before I sent it.  I took all 48 Valentine's to the post office, and the lady said, your total is ...Are you ready for this???  $100.00.  They were going to charge me almost $2.00/Valentine.  I stuffed them back inside my bag, put my head down, and walked out to my car.  I had to get creative again.  The lips were what was weighing it down, and the felt "XO" letters were an extra .20.  I pulled off the lips, and put them in a dish for me to eat...and peeled off the felt letters, and put them on the back of the card.  There, problem solved...and I slapped a good old forever stamp on those babies, and sent them out.        

We definitely had a great Valentine's Day. 



My little Valentine




Benjamin and Chloe, just Chillin'



Grandpa loves his boys

So mad!  But I still love that face!

Bragging & showing off all his Valentine's!



We made these for Daddy, while he was at work!




OK, I made the strawberries, while Jacob colored on this piece of paper




Best friends



Always on the go!



Smile




Both doing our "kissy" face




Now thanks to the 2.00 postage fee, I will enjoy all these chocolates tonight!



SPOILER ALERT - Exclusively for you, Bachelor Fans

It's not considered cheating if...I only visit him once a week?  We never say anything to each other?  He doesn't even know my name?


Phew...thank goodness!  Then, I don't have to tell Brian about Steve, Reality Steve, that is.   http://realitysteve.com/  I love him.  He gets right to the nitty gritty, and predicts every season for me, so I don't have to!  Anyone that knows me, knows that I hate surprises.   

"OMG, you watch reality tv AND you have a cute dog?  I think I'm in love!"

 So, I love The Bachelor.  That's no secret.  I have watched all 16 seasons.  I was there for Trista and Ryan's "I Do's", there for Molly and Jason's wedding, and I am always there for my girls during their break-ups.  That's dedication, folks. 


So, every Monday, after the show airs, I go to realitysteve.com and I fight to get online.  I say I fight, because I can never get online right away, everyone else is trying too.  Looks like I am not the only one visiting Steve, late, on Monday nights! 


I read all the latest buzz on what Reality Steve has to say about each contestant.  He is pretty brilliant.  He befriends people that are close with the contestants on the show.  Somehow, he sucks all the information out of them...sucks them dry...and gets all the gossip.  So far, he has nailed all the seasons.  If you don't want to know the outcome of Ben's Season, season 16...stop reading now! 


But, if you want to know, here's the scoop...this is it...straight from the horse's mouth!

"Episode 11: (In Switzerland, Lindzi Cox vs. Courtney Robertson)
-The final rose ceremony took place Wednesday, November 16th at a location on the mountain called Sunnegga, with the Matterhorn as the backdrop. Here is a pic to kind of show you the area:

As you can see, it’s pretty high up, and both girls arrived at the final rose ceremony via helicopter.
So with Lindzi Cox and Courtney Robertson to choose from, who did Ben choose? The easy going, horse riding chick, or the girl with the potty mouth that seemed to be disliked by the others in the house and went skinny dipping with him in Puerto Rico? Naturally, Ben went with his head.
Ben got engaged to Courtney Robertson in Switzerland, and is still engaged to her today (Yes, he went with THAT head).
I’m sorry, but this is utterly hilarious to me. Yes, this girl is engaged to Ben:

________________________________________________________
The girl that is an international model/actress, who once dated D-lister Jesse Metcalfe and was his date to the 2005 Emmys (as shown above), the one girl that you can tell from the promos none of the other girls like and probably questioned her sincerity is now engaged to the guy who admittedly said his wine business took off after his appearance on Ashley’s season, who made a “Cream Dream” music video about wet dreams where he was squirting lotion all over the place, was also briefly hanging out/seeing Britt Billmaier from Brad’s season, then had a little fun with Jennifer Love Hewitt six weeks before filming this show? Really? Fifteen previous seasons of the “Bachelor” and not one of the leads has ever gotten married to the final girl he chose in the end. Ummmmm, I think it’s safe to say we should already make that 16 straight seasons of the “Bachelor” that won’t produce a marriage. C’mon people. The guy chose the girl he lusted over and there is not a single chance in hell these two will ever get married. Period. End of story. But it sure will be a hell of a lot of fun making jokes at their expense. By the way, Ben appeared on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show this morning and admitted he had dinner and a date with JLH in August. Funny. Back when the news broke and JLH went on Seacrest’s show to talk about the rumor, she said she randomly happened to be at the same bar he was at and there was no date whatsoever and it was completely coincidental. That should pretty much tell you all you need to know about what happened that night. Ben’s essentially bragging it happened. She is denying it. They can’t even match their stories up. (Her exact quote to Seacrest back on Aug. 17th, “we just happened to be in the same place at the same time.” Uh huh. Not when Ben said, sweetcakes. Here’s a link to the full interview JLH did with Seacrest).
Hey wait! I got it! Best idea I ever had. Since Ben and Courtney have each spent some quality time with D-listers, how about Ben calls up Jennifer Love Hewitt, Courtney rings up good ol’ Jesse Metcalfe, and they can play matchmaker? I mean, JLH just had another guy dump her, and last time I checked, Jesse Metcalfe doesn’t seem to be busy these days. It’s perfect! A match made in heaven. Hey, since Ben and Courtney have no chance of ever getting married, why not at least use their resources and see if JLH and Jesse hit it off. Or is Jesse already one of JLH’s 100 Hollywood ex-boyfriends that I completely forgot about? Whatever the case, I really think they should take me up on my idea. Thank me later. Wow. ABC is gonna have a hell of a time trying to sell this final couple to their audience.
Look, I’m sure Courtney is as sweet as pie, and Ben seems like a decent guy, but seriously people, lets take off the blinders and see exactly what’s happening here. Courtney is on the show to promote her career, and now being engaged to Ben, do you realize how much more publicity she’s gonna get, how many more magazine covers she’ll be on, and how many more TV appearances she’ll get out of this? Whatever plan she had when applying for this show worked. She should probably cut her agent another 5% for probably booking her on this show. I’m guessing Courtney wasn’t sitting alone at home dateless looking for something to do, saw that Ben Flajnik was gonna be the “Bachelor”, and ran to her computer to fill out an application in hopes that she could one day be his future ex-fiance. Call me crazy. As for Ben, he gets an 11 week commercial for his winery, he’s got a woman completely out of his league looks-wise to prance around to all the tv shows and magazines once the finale airs, and he got to show his butt on national tv. Seems like he wins all around. The show is the same exact thing every season except with different cast members. This season will be no different." - told by RealitySteve


There, now we all know what happens.  Why am I still suckered in, even when I know they won't work out?  I don't know, but it sure makes for some good Monday night drama!