Well we are officially into my birthday month! I am not usually one of those people that dedicates the whole month to their birthday….but this year it has been on my mind more often than in the past. Maybe because it is a big one. They say your 30’s are the best years of your life…we will see about that.
In true 5 year old fashion, I am going to share with you 5 things I wouldn’t mind getting for my birthday!
Michael Kors Rose Gold Watch
Michael Kors Rose Gold Purse
New cell phone case
I have had my eye on a few things at Loft…when do I not?
Michael Kors Black Hamilton Croc Purse
There you have it my friends. My birthday wish list. I hope that everyone has a wonderful Friday and enjoys their weekend!
Let’s all take a moment and bask in the awesomeness of my creative blog title for today, shall we? I mean honestly some days it takes all I have to come up with something that original.
Anywho, Kaeley over at My Mind’s Lends nominated me for a Liebster Award, I am honored. Since I have already done a few posts from other nominations in the past, I thought I would just answer Kaeley’s questions.
1. What is your best piece of blogging advice?
The best advice I can give anyone is to just be yourself. Blog for you. Don’t blog to make money or gain followers, those may never come. Blog because you love it. Blog about what you want to talk about. You will make real connections being you.
2. Do you prefer blogging in the morning or at night?
I try to blog in the mornings before work if I don’t have a post already scheduled. Some mornings that doesn’t happen and I will squeeze in a post over lunch or whenever I can. My mornings can get pretty intense, I wake up at 4:30 am to work out, get showered, do my make up, pack two lunches, take care of the dogs, take care of any dishes that may be left from the night before, iron work clothes, make breakfast, get dressed…that is a lot to do before 7:15 am.
3. If you could meet one blogger in person, who would it be?
I would love to meet Joanna at Jaybirds Flight in person! I would love to just hop on a plane and go visit her in CA.
4. For those who don’t already know, what is the primary focus of your blog?
I don’t really have a primary focus. Ha! I just blog about whatever is on my mind, what I am loving or hating, my daily adventures, topics that pull my heart strings….anything and everything is welcomed here.
5. Why did you decide to start blogging?
I wanted a place to document my daily life. I also realized how wonderful the blogging community is, and hope to make new friendships and connections.
6. Sweet or sour?
Sweet!
7. Hot or cold?
Cold! I love the winter time and I would much rather be cold than hot!
8. Do you believe everything is black and white, or do you prefer the idea of a gray area in the middle?
Sometimes I believe things are black and white, like right and wrong. However, I also believe in gray areas in some situations as well. Some things are not always yes or no or easy to decide. I feel that it is important to have an open mind, and sometimes things to fall in that gray area.
9. What three songs would be hits from the soundtrack of your life.
I am going to pick very random songs…it is hard to narrow them down to just 3!
Little Things- Good Charlotte – This song reminds me of high school and early college. Good Charlotte, Sum 41 and Newfound Glory were all popular then and I can’t tell you how many car rides were full of them!
Here I Go Again- Whitesnake – I have talked about this song before, it was the song that played as we were leaving my grandma’s house in PA when we moved away and always seemed to play when we were traveling. It has a special meaning and place in my heart and always will.
Meet Me Halfway – Black Eyed Peas – This song always reminded Chris and I of our relationship at the beginning when we were traveling between Birmingham and Atlanta to see each other.
10. If you could live anywhere else, where would it be?
While I love that our home is now Birmingham, Alabama…..I do miss Atlanta, GA. Maybe one day I would like to move back. I miss the city, all the things there are to do, and all of my friends. I like that Atlanta and Birmingham are not that far apartment, no matter which city we reside in…we can always easily visit the other. I need to make a trip to Atlanta soon!
I love answering questions and reading other bloggers answers. I feel it is the best way to get to know someone. If you haven’t met Kaeley yet, go check out her blog My Mind’s Lens.
I also wanted to share the new addition to our basement. I started to write a post about this on Friday…but car accidents and other things seemed to take over the day. Does it get more awesome than Mario and Yoshi? I think not!
I love reading posts about what beauty products people are loving. There are just SO many products out there that it is hard to narrow down and decide what you want to spend your hard earned dolla dolla bills on! Am I right? Whether you are shopping at Sephora or your nearest Target or drug store, you can find great products. Here are a few of my favorite things that I have been using daily! (If you click the picture, it will take you to a product page.)
Foundation: Make Up Forever HD (My Casper like skin is 115)
I have tried so many foundations out there. I used to love Smashbox, but I have realized there are better things out there. Make up Forever HD is my go to and I always find myself coming back to it. It gives good coverage, about medium, and lasts most of the day with a primer or BB cream underneath. It is about $42 and lasts me 6 months.
My other favorite is Este Lauder Double Wear. It is a thicker, heavy coverage and I love it for the winter, but I like something lighter and more breathable in the summer. You can not beat the coverage and how long it lasts though. Plus, a little of this stuff goes a LONG way. I have had a bottle last me nearly a year!
Eye Primer: Urban Decay Primer Potion
This is the ONLY eye primer I will ever use. I love it. My eye make up lasts all day no matter what brand shadow and eye liner I use. It never creases. It is the most amazing stuff ever and I swear by it. This is also something that a little goes a long way, and I usually have a tube of this stuff last almost a year as well. The original potion is all I need. They have some other fancy ones, but this works for everything.
Mascara: Benefits They’re Real!
Benefits They’re Real is my all time favorite. Makes my lashes look and feel wonderful, doesn’t smear and it isn’t something I have to “work” to look good.
Let’s face it, sometimes I don’t want to spend $24 on mascara…so I have drug store go-to’s as well! I love Mabeline Colossal Volume Express and Cover Girl Lash Blast. To me they are about the same price and the same quality. If I have a coupon or one is on sale, then that is the one I go for.
Concealer: Bare Minerals Well Rested and Laura Mercier
Concealer is something that I have a love hate relationship with. This is mainly because I haven’t found one that I LOVE and works wonders. I have horrible HORRIBLE dark circles under my eyes. I could sleep for years and they would never go away, darn genetics!
Well Rested and Laura Mercier are what I am using right now. Neither is much to brag about. I will say that Well Rested “sets” my foundation for the day under my eyes and helps a little.
Laura Mercier looks great when I first put it on, but it creases very badly into my fine lines and makes them not so fine. I am not ok with this. I only use it because I paid a lot for it and am too cheap to go get something else until it is gone.
If you have an awesome concealer, please let me know! I have searched high and low with no dice. And don’t tell me Clinique, because that crap creases worse than anything! I have also tried Tarte which is OK and would probably be awesome if my circles weren’t so dark.
Primer/BB Cream: I only use one or the other not both, right now I am using BB Cream more…mainly because it is cheaper and does the same thing.
Primer: Smashbox
While pricey, I like the application and the light feeling this has on my skin. It works pretty good.
BB Cream: Loreal
This stuff is only $8 at Target and works just as good as the expensive Smashbox photo finish. My only complaint? The light is a little too orange for me and I will have to try fair next time.
Eye Shadow: Urban Decay Naked Eyes and Too Faced
With these two pallets, I have every color I could possibly want. I love how I can create a smokey eye, a natural eye, have a little shimmer or matte effect. They are certainly worth the investment, and they last a long time! Plus, Naked comes with the eye primer I was talking about. Can’t go wrong there!!!
Eye Liner – Covergirl Perfect Point
I have been using this eye liner since either high school or college. I have brown and black and love them. So easy to use, lasts all day and cheap! Plus, you can’t mess up. If you happen to not draw a perfect line you can use the smugger on the other side. Fool proof, yes please!
And that is the run down on my everyday make up products that I use. I don’t pretend to be an expert, I just love make up and thought I would share! What products are you loving?
I was sitting in the break room last week, saddened by the fact that my coworkers were heading to an amazing restaurant and I chose to stay behind and eat my salad, whole wheat pita and hummus. A lady walked in who works part time for one of the other companies in our building. She had a happy meal from McDonald’s and was telling another lady that it was on her weight watchers list. Now I am in no way knocking WW. I know that it is a great program and TONS of people have had successful results. However, do you really think you are doing your body any favors by eating a happy meal? That is the third time I have seen her with one in the last few days. I can see doing it every now and then, everything is OK in moderation. Yet it makes me wonder, has she not seen all the horrifying pictures of what that burger and fries look like after 5 days….15 days….90 days? It looks the the day you bought it! If that isn’t terrifying enough, I don’t know what is.
My nephew received Fruit Loops while we were waiting for our food at Baumhauers a few weeks ago. My husband pointed out that he read an article recently that stated that Fruit Loops and many other foods we consume are illegal and not sold in other countries because of the harmful ingredients that it is made of. If you click the picture below you can read the article. It really makes me wonder why we have FDA at all. I feel they are probably being paid off by companies to accept the garbage they put in our foods that is probably killing us. Why would other countries ban it? There has to be a good reason!
I think that it is not only important to worry about how many calories you consume in a day, but what those calories are. Yeah something might be fat free, but what replaced that fat? Sugar free equals all kinds of harmful chemicals in your body.
While it is not always easy or convenient to eat whole foods, nor is it friendly to your wallet all the time…..I still think it is something you should try to do most of the time. I feel the same way about Lean Cuisines and other frozen meals that are loaded with sodium and other crap. Plus, they all taste the same to me…which just sort of freaks me out!
There are lots of healthy options when bringing your own lunch, and you can think outside of the normal sandwich. There are lots of different ways you can prepare salads, add fruit or grilled chicken, change up the dressing and toppings that you use. Pita bread and hummus is always good, or veggies and hummus. I enjoy a good soup whether it is hot or cold outside, just watch your sodium content on it. Whole wheat pasta salad or couscous salad pairs well with other items. Bringing left overs from dinner the night before is always easy. Annie’s makes great frozen food if you need something quick and convenient every now and then. Cottage cheese, yogurt, fruit, string cheese, peanut butter and celery are great add on items if you need something more. Please leave me a comment with some of your lunch ideas, I can always use more!
Has anyone else out there found that eating real foods without preservatives and a bunch of stuff you can’t pronounce is helping in your journey to become fit and healthy?
Well hello there peeps. Someone didn’t show up to class on Friday, and I wish it was for a better reason like being at the beach, or anything other than what I was doing….
Friday morning I wasn’t feeling so hot after my work out. I came and laid on the bed while Chris was getting ready and even said how I didn’t feel like going anywhere. Chris gave me a sympathetic look and said me either, and finished getting ready.
I got a phone call from my husband shortly after 7:00 am. He sounded panicked and told me to start heading downtown immediately, he had just had an accident. I am pretty sure I was dressed, had the dogs put in their crates, had my purse and was backing out of our drive way in less than 3 minutes. I raced towards the interstate, breaking every speed limit no doubt trying to get to him as quickly as possible. One thing will stop my quick arrival, the traffic backing up because of the accident, duh. There were reports all morning of how bad traffic was backed up because of the accident. I told him if you are going to get in an accident, you mine as well screw up traffic good while you do it 😉
What should have taken about 20-25 minutes took almost an hour. He had left the scene already, and was waiting at a gas station on probably one of the most ghetto exits of Birmingham…but who really thinks about that when they just had an accident and just want off the road.
He is ok. I am so so so thankful for that. I didn’t ask any questions when he called me, I knew he would have things to deal with. I knew if he was ok enough to call me, that was all I needed. His back was hurting really bad, so I took him down to the emergency room and his dad took care of his car.
After we sat at UAB for awhile, got some food, picked up my laptop from work and parted ways so he could get his car….I headed home. I was about 4-5 miles away from our house on a back road, and the cars were coming to a stop to turn. No big deal, we started back up again but then another car decided to turn. I came to an almost stop and then BOOM. I got read ended. Are you FREAKING KIDDING ME?!
That my friends in the universe telling me to stay home. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. How do we both get rear ended on the same day? I don’t know. I KNEW we should have just stayed home that morning.
Needless to say, our weekend was spend on the couch watching almost all of season three of Pretty Little Liars and eating horribly delicious food. We ordered pizza and Chinese and had chips and cheese dips, pleasing our inner fat kid selves.
I only had about 3 mini panic attacks on the way in to work this morning. The sound of cars crashing only haunted my dreams every night. That is a sound that you will NEVER forget. This wasn’t my first accident rodeo, but that story is for another post another day.
May your Monday be more cautious than my Friday. Focker out.
