Almost done!

As of tonight, about 90% of my Christmas shopping is done!  Just gotta pick up a few items at Walmart and the Dollar Tree that I couldn't purchase online and were out of stock when I went on Monday.  Totally forgot to grab the Glitterazzi Brown shade of NYC's Showtime Glitter eyeliner while I was there  :'(  But it's on my list on my phone now, so I won't forget it next time!

Also, this week is almost done!  I am soooo excited to be going to Disney this weekend for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party!  I haven't been to any of the parks at all in probably 10 years - and I only live 1.5 hours away!! Hoping we can go to either the Rainforest Cafe or T Rex restaurant for dinner one night!  They look amazing in photos!  I will certainly post lots of photos no matter where we end up, plus plenty of photos of the park all lit up and Christmas-y!!  May need to make a photobucket account or something to hold all the pics, no way I will be able to upload them all in 1 blog post, lol

Hope you all are enjoying this magical time of year, try not to let yourself get caught up in all of the stress!   Merry Christmas! 

NYC New York Color Show Time Glitter Eyeliner Review

OMG!!!!!!   I can't tell you how much I LOVEEEE  NYC New York Color's Show Time Glitter Eyeliner!!!  

 
Ok, I must admit, I was already in love with NYC's eyeliner pencils (as you can see), but I hadn't found this one in stores before!

Just like NYC's other eyeliner pencils, the new Show Time Glitter eyeliner stays on all day with no smearing or running.  And it is PERFECT for the holidays to give yourself a little extra sparkle thanks to the glitter.  

Not sure why my skin looks so orange here, lol

It glides on so smoothly, even non-makeup experts like myself would have no problems with it! And at $2.50, it is affordable too! 

I received the shade "Show Time Black", but it is also available in "Starry Blue Sky", "Glitterazzi Brown" and "Paparazzi Purple"!   The black is great for going out at night, but a little too dark against my complexion for things like work. The site shows they are available at my local Walmart, so I will definitely be looking for the Glitterazzi Brown shade when I go grocery shopping sometime this week!  (To find out where you can purchase it, go to NYC's website and click "Store Locator" on the top right side of the page.)

As a reminder, I received this product free from Influenster in my College VoxBox for testing and review purposes.  If you would like more information about Influenster or an invitation to sign up with them, send me a message or leave a comment!

Puppies!

Here are some photos of my little mutts in their Christmas costumes as I promised earlier.  I remembered! So proud of myself, lol

'Tis the Season....for craziness

Well, I obviously didn't get to do any posts over the weekend, nor did I get any extra sleep :(  Ended up having to work and then run a bunch of errands (I did manage to get the dogs a Christmas present and buy the little one a reindeer outfit though!  Will try to post pics tonight!)  And I see no extra downtime anywhere in the near future - parades and work meetings this weekend, Disney/Orlando the following, Christmas the next and finally New Years! I'm excited about all of these things, but I know I'm gonna have a hard time making it through them...especially with how worn out I already feel.

And stress does not help with fatigue! Got a call from my bank on Friday afternoon that my credit card number had been stolen! Some asshole spent over $750 on shoes and clothes while I was giving blood just to get 2 free movie tickets (Oh the irony!).  So between the stress and lack of blood I crashed very early Friday night.

Anyway, back to my original point, I will get the rest of the reviews for my College VoxBox done this week/weekend!  I've even set up some alarms on my phone to remind me to post (this fatigue has made me so incredibly forgetful it's not even funny!). 

TGI(almost)F!

Thank God, only 1 more day left to make it through this week!  It's been a pretty rough week as you can probably tell  =(  I'm hoping to post some more product reviews and recipe photos this weekend, but I honestly don't know if I will get around to it or not.  I've had an issue with fatigue for about a year now and, while it was doing better for a few months (but never completely went away), it has been coming back with a vengeance the past few weeks ='(   I've had several blood tests and tried different supplements and medications, but my Dr can't figure out what is causing it and nothing seems get rid of it. I really thought something was wrong with my thyroid based on other symptoms I've read about online, but nope, from all tests my thyroid appears to be functioning extremely well.  So for now I just have to deal with it and wait for things to get a little better again.   And hopefully I can spend some extra time sleeping this weekend  =)

Broadway Nails imPRESS Press-on Manicure Review

My first review from my College VoxBox!  =)

First, I have to say that I loved the design on the nails, they are super CUTE! (It's called WinkWink, btw.)

 

And the container they came in was so cute too!  In the shape of a bottle of nail polish!

 The instructions were VERY easy! And there was NO messy glue! 

 All you have to do is go through and pick out a cover to go on each nail and line them in the order they go on,  like this:

Then clean your nails with the pad provided, this ensures they will stick firmly to your nail.  Finally peel the tab off the back and place then over your regular nails.  

And voila! Instant manicure!

Now for the negatives:
I put the nails covers on on Thursday morning (I wanted to show them off for Thanksgiving dinner :) ) and one already came unglued by Sunday morning (with several more feeling loose, edges coming up).  The tips were chipped by Sunday morning as well.  Not so bad that it was highly noticeable by others, but it was definitely noticeable to me.  I tend to like "fake" nails over just painting my regular nails because they usually resist chipping for much longer, so I was slightly disappointed. 
Also, it was a little difficult to get the tabs off the nails once I had one hand done and I was working on the second, so I had to have my boyfriend help me.  Being able to put them on by myself was a large part of why I was so excited about trying these nails since there was no glue involved, but sadly I still couldn't.  I will say this may just be a problem I had, though, only because I haven't had long nails in a while so you may not have an issue with this. 
I loved the design on the tip of the nails, but you could clearly see the glue edge through the nails (even at arms length) and it made them look tacky and cheap.  I was honestly a little embarrassed to show them off because this flaw was so apparent  :(

Final verdict: I would recommend these nails if you need a quick manicure and don't have the time/money to get to a nail salon.  For $7 (average price online) they work and are fairly easy to put on, but don't expect them to last more than 2 - 3 days.  I did get compliments on how pretty the design was, but the nails just didn't last as long as I expected them to (package says up to a week).  The concept is great and there is hope for this product, it just needs some tweaking.  My biggest issue was the glue edge being visible and this would not have been a problem with some of Broadway's other designs.  You can see them all here. I may end up trying out one of the solid color/pattern designs (that aren't see through!) during the holidays with all of the parties that will be going on.

Here is what the package looks like if you are interested in trying them for yourself:

 And just a reminder, this product was provided to me for free by Influenster for testing and review purposes. If you would like more info about signing up with them, send me a message  :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all have a great day with family and friends tomorrow!! Just finished baking 3 dozen cookies, now I'm exhausted and ready for bed!

Over the holiday weekend I will be posting reviews of some of the items I received in my College VoxBox from Influenster, make sure you check back to read all about them!  I will also be doing an update with new pics on the progress of my teeth whitening using my Crest Whitening Strips!

***College VoxBox!***

WOOHOOO!!!!!!!!!!!
I got my College VoxBox from Influenster yesterday!!!

I'm sooo excited to try out all of the products and review them!

So here's what I got in my VoxBox:

Broadway Nails imPRESS Press-on Manicure

NYC New York Color Show Time Glitter Eyeliner

Necco Tropical Wafers

 Sheets Energy Strips

 

Pentel RSVP Pen

Cookie-Candy-Brownies

As previously promised in my Yumminess post, I made the Cookie-Candy-Brownies!

The first step was to put cookie dough in the bottom of the pan (I cheated and used store bought dough since this was just a quick trial run).

 

Then I layered pieces of candy that we had lefter over from Halloween.   I used Reese's, Milky Way, Snickers, Twix and 3 Musketeers.

The third layer is brownies. Again, not from scratch, I used a box mix (actually, now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever made brownies from scratch....need to add that to my To Do list!). 

   Then you bake at 350 for about 45 minutes.  And get this:

The first trial didn't work so well because the pieces were way too big to eat (very rich!) and they were very crumbly.  

I ended up changing the way I did it a little bit when I made the 2nd batch to take to my family's Thanksgiving this afternoon.  Sadly, I was in a hurry to get them done, so I didn't have time to take any during pics, only one of the final result.

I only used Reese's and chopped them up to make a "crumble" as the second layer.  That way I could cut the pieces smaller and still have some of the Reese's taste in each bite/piece.  That also let me make the brownie layer smaller since it was overwhelming the first time. I was smart and lined the bottom of the pan with aluminum foil (and also sprayed it with Pam), so I could lift it out and cut it easily.

Here's the final product:

Possibly making candy stuffed cookies for Thanksgiving dinner with the other side of the family!  Pics to come if I have time to do it.  My other food project in the works is to make candy covered Oreo's! I bought molds at Jo-Ann that are Christmas themed and have things like snowflakes and Santa on them.

Operation Backyard: COMPLETE!

I HAVE A BACKYARD!!!  

My boyfriend and I are so blessed we have wonderful friends and family that helped us finally get our backyard cleaned up last weekend.  

Here are some before photos so you can see what we were working with, lol:

  Btw, all the green you see are weeds & vines, NOT grass!  

(And this was even after we coated 

the whole backyard with grass killer!)

The leaves were so thick, no photo could do it justice.  We only have a 0.25 acre lot and there are about 5 - 6 trees in our back yard.  I'm certain the prior owner/tenants NEVER touched a rake!  The limbs and brush were from some tree work we had some done. Some of the trees were hanging over the roof, so we had them cut back in case of a bad storm. 

Even though it was chilly that morning it was burning up by the afternoon, especially standing anywhere near the fire! 
I wound up getting so hot, I actually ended up with a heat rash  :(

Ahhh, the result of all of our hard work!  It looks sooo good....and HUGE!  I swear our backyard doubled in size!
 

 And needless to say, our puppies absolutely love it as well!  For the past 3 months the only "backyard'' they've had was a small fenced area on the side of the house that's maybe a 1/4 of the size at most.   I wish I'd had my phone on me when we first let them out, they were so cute running and exploring! It would have made a great video  :)

My boyfriend wants to pressure wash the back of the house, then he said we can replace the screens and have the windows open! 
Oh, and I may be trying to figure out how to sew new covers for the porch seat cushions (the current ones are a little mildewed and washing them with bleach did nothing)...this should be interesting! 

Beautiful Fall Weather

Ahhh, loving the weather today!  Perfect temperature and not a cloud in the sky!  It actually got down into the 30's last night, I just wish we could open the windows.  We need to replace the screens because there are holes in them, but that's a project for this weekend  :) 

I've been searching Pinterest for some DIY Christmas gift ideas, so I actually have a lot of projects I want to start on!
To see some of the ideas I want to try, check out my Cool Ideas Pinterest board:  http://pinterest.com/BeachBunnyBrit/cool-ideas/

Microwave Chicken Tacos!

Yes, you read that right.  I made chicken tacos in the microwave tonight thanks to a WONDERFUL Pampered Chef recipe.  The original recipe is actually for fajitas, but my boyfriend and I are very picky eaters and ours turned out more like tacos.  You are supposed to use their Deep Covered Baker stoneware, but unfortunately I haven't been able to afford that yet  :(   So I'll admit, I had to cheat and use another dish I have because it MUST be covered.  I'm co-hosting a Pampered Chef party in a few weeks though, and I'm hoping to be able to afford it by then (or at least the smaller version, which is supposed to be perfect for cooking for 2!).

*Sadly, I was so hungry, I totally forgot to stop and take pictures, lol. 

It was so easy!  I just roughly chopped up some onion and bell pepper and put them in the bottom of the dish with a little lime juice. (Even if you're like us and don't like the taste of them, I still recommend putting them in because they give the chicken a wonderful flavor and aroma.)  Then put 2 chicken breasts seasoned with taco seasoning, salt, pepper and a little onion powder on top.  Put the lid on and pop it in the microwave for 15 minutes.  While it was cooking, I got all the other ingredients ready, tomatoes, cheese, sour cream, etc. When the chicken is done, you can cut it up with Pampered Chef's Salad Choppers, but again I don't have them (one day! and when I have a kitchen big enough to hold it all!) and just used a knife and cutting board.

The chicken came out moist and tender. My boyfriend could not believe I had just made it in the microwave, he told me at least 3 times how good it was!  This is definitely going to become a staple in our house thanks to its ease of preparation and wonderful taste! 

 

Influenster

In case you haven't heard of Influenster, you really should check them out!  They are a great (FREE!) company who rewards their members for reviewing companies and products, either good or bad.  They recently re-did their website and it's taken me a little bit to get used to it, but now that I'm a little more comfortable with it I quite like it.  It's great to have an idea of your rank among other member, both overall and in specialized areas (you can get expert badges in areas like gaming, fashion and more).

The only downside to all the changes is that the site is now invitation only, so it you decide you are interested and are serious about being active, send me a message. 

Yumminess!

I've been seeing all of these recipes with cookies or mini candy bars stuffed inside cookies or brownies on Pinterest and I HAD to try it out!  So much for my diet, lol 

I figured I would start out with a fairly easy one - an Oreo cookie inside of a chocolate chip cookie.
It ended up being a little too messy for me to take "during" photos, so I had to just settle for an after photo...of course "after" I had a bite to show you the center!

It was delicious!!! 

Next I want try the cookie/candy/brownie version with a Reece's peanut butter cup stuck in the middle of a cookie bottom layer and brownie top layer!  Thinking about making them for Thanksgiving as a surprise for everyone  :)

Caramel Latte Nescafe Memento....Finally!!

Ok, here it is!  I tried out the Caramel Latte flavor back at the end of August, but I've got to be honest, I didn't like it very much  :(   It was nice and foamy again, and had a surprisingly creamy texture, but the flavor was just too watered down and bland.   Unfortunately, I won't be buying them in the future. 

I've looked for packs of the Mocha flavored Mementos while shopping at a couple grocery stores, but so far haven't had any luck finding them (to clarify, haven't found any of the Nescafe Memento products in any flavor).  I sent a message to the company asking if they will be coming to any of the stores I go to (Walmart, Publix and Winn-Dixie) anytime soon and will update if I get a response from them.

Update - 10/18/12:
I did receive an email back from Nestle, but it never actually answered my question, they just gave me a script answer about how they have no control over where products go once purchased by a retailer.  :(   And those mocha's would be wonderful this time of year as its starting to get a little cooler...

Update - 10/23/12:
Went grocery shopping at Wal-Mart tonight and low and behold, they had Nescafe's Mementos! I had given up on them and wasn't even looking for them, I swear they jumped off the shelf at me! :) 
And at only $0.50/drink, I wanted to do a happy dance.  Much better then the $3.00 you'd pay for a small drink at a coffee shop!
 

Changes

I know, I know, I've been gone for a while and never ended up posting a review for the Caramel flavored Nescafe Memento, but I will do it by the end of the day!

My life has felt like a roller coaster (HATE them!) for the past few months and I've been really down. So I decided I'm going to make some changes in my life and this blog is going to be part of it. I've been avoiding posting anything new because I haven't done much healthy cooking lately.  But from now on, I'm going to use this blog to talk about all the things going on in my life....good and bad! So whether I make something healthy or sinfully fattening, exercise or don't, feel happy or sad, I'm gonna post about it. At least expressing my feeling should help me feel better, whether anyone is reading/listening or not!  =)

Crazy days

Boo, I haven't had a chance to try out the other Memento sample yet  :(  It has been a crazy couple of days and I've been rushed to get out of the house, so I keep forgetting to bring a mug with me. *Fingers crossed* tomorrow morning will be a little more relaxed and I can make it before leaving  :)  Hopefully I'll have a review up tomorrow, so until then.... go here to get a sample of your own!

Nescafe Memento - Mocha

I was so excited to receive my first sample in the mail last week!!  It was from Nescafe and there were 2 samples of their new Memento instant coffee beverages - 1 was Mocha and 1 was Caramel Latte.  I started out with the Mocha one this morning since I prefer chocolate to caramel  :)  

Let me start by saying they are super easy to make - which is great for me with my lack of kitchen skills!  All you have to do is add hot water to the powdered mix.  It instantly became foamy, just like one at an expensive coffeehouse.  My water was a bit too hot, so I had to wait until it cooled off some to try it, but once I was able to it was delicious!  I have to admit that I'm one of those people who love the smell of coffee, but can't stand the taste of it so I was a little worried it wouldn't be chocolate-y enough for me.  My fears proved to be unfounded, though, and the balance of flavors was absolutely perfect! 

I'm hoping to try out the Caramel Latte flavor tomorrow morning, so another review will be coming soon.  And the Nescafe Memento Mocha flavored coffee beverage will definitely be on my next shopping list!