Thursday, May 31, 2012

Wordless Wednesday

My Final Fantasy 14 Character, Juggy... :) I love playing with my husband and son. 

Maaaail Call

Oh I love ordering things online...because getting things in the mail is like Christmas no matter what time of year it is! Today was a double package day...

My girlfriend Joelle told me about Sanuks and I had to try them out. She made them sound so dang comfy! I love the Fiesta print! Mine arrived today and she (and they) did not disappoint. They have the feel of a really comfy, durable flip flop or several yoga mats layered on top of one another...supportive, cushy, springy. And the fabric outsides appear to be durable, too. But, they don't cut into my feet anywhere. I see more of these in my future...maybe black or navy blue next. See!

Sanuk Donnas...love at first step-in.

My second package was a secondhand book that I bought on Ebay. My Izzy is showing great urges to learn. He is by nature an independent boy...and I think watching big brother have school-time everyday has made his hunger for input even stronger. I considered putting Izzy into a Montessori-type preschool program since he is very close to three...then I realized that I can do it at home! So, I ordered my first Montessori preschool book.


Here it is on Amazon if you are interested. I'll will be reading it and reviewing it soon. I have heard nothing but good stuff! 

Some days I just love my mailman. <3

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Cocktails! Moscato Wine Spritzer




Its HOT out and after a day of shopping and shipping I decided to take the boys out shopping. I grabbed a bunch of cheapy nail polishes at Ulta and some shorts at Old Navy. Then I went to Costplus for some sparkling mineral water.

I had a few bottles of wine open at home...I LOVE to open a bottle of wine and drink about 1/3 of a glass every Friday with my husband as he has his celebratory weekend beers. So, tonight I made spritzers!! White wine spritzers are great for a cocktail when you are watching calories and its hot out. Its very light. I am not a Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc or Chenin Blanc drinker. Immature palate. :) I love them sweeter... Riesling, Gewurztraminer, White Zinfandel (Beringer!) and Moscato. But, when its hot Moscato can be a little overly sweet. That is what was in the fridge so I decided to make nice light spritzers out of them!

Moscato Wine Spritzers

One Part Chilled Sparkling Mineral Water
One Part Chilled Moscato Wine

Cheers!




Target Haul

I wanted to give Justin a chance to nap after work yesterday. He had to be up really early. The only way daddy gets to nap is if I get the baby out of the house so we went to Target! Logged nearly 3000 steps on my pedometer.


Izzy and I had a blast. We both picked out a yogurt...he hit the $1 area like a tornado. I got a new polish...Wet 'N Wild "I Need A Refresh-Mint".

I have read alot of good stuff about ELFs Shine Eraser Sheets...you get 50 in a pack for $1 at Target. Had to try them! Great for on top of tinted moisturizer.

OH! New Pedometer. I try to hit 10,000 steps a day...I do half the time. Before I was trying I was only getting about 3,000. As much as I run around the house I actually have to get myself out and take a walk to hit my goal. Sometimes twice in a day.

I got Wet 'N Wilds liquid liner in black. Needed some more. I go through it fast. I have not been able to find a liquid liner that I can apply that works as well. Its easy to apply, it stays on well and one line is all I need. So many times I found myself having to apply coats to keep my liquid liner from streaking. In the winter I am a kohl girl...but in the summer that just makes a mess. Liquid liner works best for me. For beach days I do waterproof and like to use bright colors. Wet 'N Wild has pretty blue and teal...the plum is OK. A little muted for my taste. For $3 I have all the colors.

Impulse magazine buy at the register. It turns out Jessica Simpson is the new Weight Watchers spokesgirl. Am I the last to know? She is trying to get in shape for a December wedding. Weight Watchers new plan did not work for me. At all. The old Points plan worked like a charm, but then they changed it and gave me LOTS more points. It was confusing and I could not stay under points for the longest time. Then when I did...I still did not lose. Just count your calories and make sure you are getting some good protein, leave out the refined carbs and do not eat fruit after lunchtime. And do your cardio...thats the plan for now. I used to be a personal trainer and its what worked best.

It confused me that Jessica Simpson named her child Maxwell...and its a girl. But, now that I know its awesome. I guess she is referred to as Maxi. Which is cute!

Q-Tips, bananas and sunscreen for the kids.

I like aerosol sunscreen so I can just chase the baby, spritz him and release him back into the wild. Its alot like the wildlife associations tagging system. I haven't yet had to use at tranq gun. This was my first time using the Target brand of 50 SPF sunscreen. It left us kind of shiny for an hour or so. But the shine wore off. It went on so easily and light that if it hadn't left the shine I probably wouldn't have trusted that any came out. I suggest applying it outside. It leaves a bit of a cloud after you spray it.

:)

Mommy Mani aka Lightning Fast Polish Change


While I was waiting for my hair color to set I did my nails and tried out a trick I recently pinned on Pinterest


This Revlon "Lavender Pastelle" with a streak of Wet 'N Wilds "On A Trip" on top.

Heres the tip: Dip your hands in ice water afterward for a couple minutes and they dry in a snap! It worked like a ok. The top layer was still a little gummy afterward. I needed a touch after rinsing my hair.

I think I will stick with my lightning fast nail change:

It takes me forever to use the cottonball/nail polish remover method. It just smears it and I have trash left over. I had tried the nail polish remover in a tub with the foam inside. Better...but after a few uses the foam starts getting messy (I like bright and deep colors). So one time I had acrylic nails (they never last long for me) and I wanted them off so I bought a tub of artificial nail remover with these little plastic bristles inside. It is like this one.

Then I am set to polish.

I follow up with a coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip. I love this stuff...my polish stays on thru a few of my most grueling nail days. I use it on fingers and toes.



Warning! The first time I dropped this it shattered. I have dropped many nail polish bottles and this is the first time one broke. I was shocked! I ran out and bought another bottle right away. I am just more careful now.

(as I type my children are sticking one of those strange stretchy quarter machine toys into my up-do)

Before finding this stuff I went without polish quite often. Its hard for a mom to carve out half an hour of her day for her nails very often. There are just so many other things to do with a kid-free free half hour (Pinterest, Facebook, Target). But I have found a way to do my nails in five minutes. I like to do it outside because of the fumes.




Spraypaint: A girls bestfriend

I inherited a Sunbeam Mixmaster MMA...circa 1965. I am in love. But she needed a pop of color.

Enter Rustoleum spraypaint in sky blue *swoon*

I masked her hardware off with tape and gave her a light even coat, let it dry for about five minutes. Then I gave her a good once over. I like to unmask ASAP to avoid the paint sticking to the tape better than it has adhered to the item I painted. I love it!


Then I did what I ALWAYS do when I am painting or dying something. I ran around the house looking for ANYTHING else that could be painted. 

I found a basket...it holds my ebay items that I have for sale so I don't get them confused with other items. 

Toddler not for sale...today.

And I found a vase...it was dark purple and was just a little too muddy of a shade for my taste. So now it is blue.



It is sitting happily on our breakfast table that I painted yellow a few weeks ago. Isn't buttery yellow just delightful!? Please send me links to what you have transformed. I could look at makeovers alll day long. 




It was a great day! I woke up to the brightest summeriest of mornings! I got my shoes on and looked down and saw the brightest every sunbeam on my livingroom carpet! Its only May and we are close to 100 degrees each day. Toasty!

I had a great meeting with Errols Educations Specialist. We chose to homeschool thru the local charter school and it has been an amazing experience. His last day of school is next Thursday and we have lots of sanctioned finals between now and then.

Then I noticed that my roots could not wait another day. My son and husband swear that people would all love to have dark brown roots and medium brown hair...to men this is "highlighting" and people pay good money for it.

Being budget conscious, I have never had my hair professionally died. When I tell people that I get a variety of looks. From concern to pity and usually a really stern talking to. I am sure that after my hair turns grey I will need professional help (in more ways than one...hullo, traumatized)...but until then I will probably go with "box color" as long as I am happy with the results.

Today I was super cheap and went with Colorsilk Luminista in Light Blond.



Its about $4 a box. Its  this is what gave me the color lightening effect in the above picture of my roots. Far from making me light blond and I am glad. And a day or two later I follow up with a toner to get the inevitable brassy orange out.


The Results...an even, lighter brown. A little brassy for a couple days, but I don't like to process more than I have to all at once. I am ready for summer!



Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Summer Has Arrived!!!

Ok...not really. But here in Sourthern California summer is in full swing. The boys prefer cool weather, but hubby and I could not be happier to see it warm up. Winter felt like it lasted forever. It was harsh and punishing and felt like it went on forever!

Happy Memorial Day and thank you to everyone that has served our country. You are so appreciated.

Justin actually did not expect to have the day off. Sunday night he found out that he did not have to work the next morning...it was his first Memorial Day off since getting out of the Marines and he was THRILLED! We went out and got a kiddy pool with cup holders, inflated it and loafed in the sun until we were pruned. It was HEAVEN.

I am a lucky girl. So much love. So much fun. Living in such a beautiful place.

For dinner we cooked up some sausage and the biggest zucchini from our garden. Check it out!!


We are very proud! There is something amazing about growing your dinner.

Our Zukes Recipe:

3 cups chopped zucchini in one inch cubes
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper
4 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese (or more to taste if your are like us and love cheese)

Heat the oil in a pan, add the chopped zucchini, salt and pepper...saute for 5-10 minutes until the zucchini softens and begins to brown. Then remove from heat and toss on the Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.


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