On The Ninth Day of Christmas, Nature Gave to Me...

An easy floral arrangement to rival your Christmas tree.
(Continued from last Christmas. If you want to check the other eight days, check my blog history from last December right here!)

Flowers are my passion. They are the easiest and most beautiful way to decorate your home any time of the year.  And floral arranging is a lot easier than you think!  Just follow the simple rules and a regular, store-bought bouquet can be a wonderful addition to your Christmas table.  NO MORE  ONE CUT AND STICK IN A VASE!

1.  Pick your vase.  If you have a tall vase with a smaller opening, that will work best.  It allows the flowers to stay tightly packed and, more likely to stay in the position you want them to. If you have a shorter vase or one with a wide opening, a floral frog is a great tool to use.  I wanted to decorate with a vintage milk glass vase, which you can see has a very wide opening. So I enlisted the help of a floral frog.

2. Separate out your flowers from the bouquet.  There are several categories for flowers and a specific order they are added when you are arranging.

Focus Flowers:  Usually roses, gerbera daisies, large mums, hydrangea, lilies. Whichever flowers are the biggest (and the least plentiful) in the bouquet are the focus flowers.

Roses and Large Mums

Secondary Flowers:  Most often, these flowers have 2-3 stems included in the bouquet. They are usually alstromeria or carnations.  Secondary flowers can also be of the TALL variety: lisianthus, delphinium, snapdragons, statice, liatrus, stock, etc. 

Alstromeria in
red, white and yellow
White carnations

Pomps:  These are the most plentiful in the bouquet (and usually the cheapest).  There will be several stems. They are usually mum-type flowers with multiple heads on a stem.  They fill the space quickly.

Kermit Pomps (green)
Multi-stem Mums (red)

Filler and Greens:  Filler flower is usually babies breath.  There may be another small blossom type flower or berries included. Wax flower is another popular filler flower, along with Queen Anne's Lace.  Just like the name suggests, it's used to fill in the spaces left when you're at the ending stages of arranging.

Greens are just as they sound;  anything that is leafy and green.  These are usually placed in the arrangement first to give it stability and you build around them.  But since very few greens are included in store-bought bouquets, and it's not nearly enough to create a stable base, I always add them last.

Babies Breath (white)
Hypericum Berry (often in Holiday bouquets)

Various Evergreen branches

3.  Start arranging.  You want the flowers to be at varying heights throughout the arrangement, otherwise it will just look like a blob of flowers! The best way to do this is to hold the flower up against the base of your table (or where the base of the vase is) and make a cut on the stem where it will stick up out of the base at the height you want.  Cut long and stick it in the vase to see if it's at the right height.  Always better to cut too long!

Measure the flower to
the base of the vase or
table top

Start with the focal flowers first.  Ideally, you want them in odd numbers (in stems of 3s or 5s) to create balance through the arrangement;  at varying heights of short, medium and tall.  But unfortunately, store bought flowers don't always follow the rule, so you have to improvise! I had 3 red roses, one white rose and the two large mums originally, but used some of the roses in another arrangement I needed. So, here's what I had left.  Two roses opposite sides at a short height and medium height.  And two large mums at opposite sides and medium height.

Focal flowers first

Next, add in the secondary flowers again at varying heights opposite of what's been added already.  If you don't have a focal flower at the tallest height in the arrangement in the center of the arrangement, a secondary flower should fill that role.  You can see how the yellow alstromeria is quite a bit higher than the other flowers and it's in the center of the arrangement to draw the eye up. Make sure you are looking at the arrangement from ALL ANGLES. Walk around the arrangement to see that it's balanced from all sight lines and the flowers are equally distributed. Even stoop down to view the vase at table level and add a few flowers at the base of the vase.

Alstormeria added
to fill in spaces
around focal flowers

Pomps and multi-stem flowers are added next.  Anything added in this step and beyond begins to fill in holes in the arrangement.  Keep these flowers at the medium to low range in height.

Green pomps and multi-stem
carnations are now added.

Lastly, the filler flower and greens are added. Since I only had one stem of berries to add, I made them quite tall to balance out the arrangement and to be seen. 

Berries are added to be seen.

Next is the Babies Breath.  It should be stuck in at varying heights at places where there are large holes in the arrangement.  Keep it low to medium in height.  It should be tight to the arrangement.

Babies Breath added

Finish it off with the remaining greens.  If you have tall evergreen branches, those can be kept taller and stuck in the middle/sides of the arrangement. If you have fern-like greens, cut those short and stick in the base of the arrangement to give it fullness around the vase. Greens can be cut in half and individual stems can be pulled apart for shorter lengths.

I had very loose, leafy evergreens.  I added them
throughout the arrangement, making sure to
give the base fullness first, and then kept the
remaining greens tall to fill out the arrangement.

Here's the final product on display on my Christmas table! 

Remember, even after you think you're done, you can still make changes as you look at the arrangement. I don't think I've ever made an arrangement that I haven't "touched up" a few days after I have finished.  You just notice things with fresh eyes after you've walked away a few times! It's really NBD!

Most of all, don't be intimidated by flower arranging. The more you do it, the easier it gets! 

HAVE FUN and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

The Hi-jinks of Tom and Jerry: 20 Days of Elf on The Shelf Ideas

Fun and games!

Of course we're all aboard the Elf on the Shelf train.  And why not?  Believe me, I understand all the "anti" arguments.  I really do.  But when you have peeps like me (and a bazillion others on the internet and Pinterest) to supply you with ideas, your excuses are futile.

Just kidding.

It is what you make of it.  And my husband and I love to joke around with our kiddos. And boy does this afford us the opportunity to do so!

So I present to you, 20 Days of Tom and Jerry...to help with your Elf on the Shelf planning!

Please pilfer....and ENJOY!!!

Tom and Jerry parachute in
for the year!

Battle Elves!

Everybody loves "Snowmen at
Christmas"

Playing with the band

Celebrating a Browns' victory
last season!

The villains strike again!

You're in Buckeye Country!
O-H-I-O

Hiding with some fellow North
Pole residents!

Who doesn't love to color?

After a "rough" day, T & J
left a gentle reminder from Santa!

We were sorely lacking in
the snow department last winter.

Elves need keep their smarts in
shape!

Lack of snow = indoor snowball fight!

Date Night!

 Techy Elves!

Missed breakfast at
the North Pole!

Everybody loves a classic!

Giving thanks and praise

On the morning of Christmas Eve,
our elves leave a small present for
each child.  This is my son's Elf, Jerry.
Last year, my daughter stayed
at Mimi's and Tom brought
her present to Mimi's house.

      

Just Like Michael Myers, Halloween Brings Me Back.....

I have no excuses.  I have no reasons.  It's been a long time and, frankly, I've been busy and unmotivated to blog.  I've got about 10 topics started as drafts...we'll see.

But, cue the creepy music...

virgin teenagers about to go all the way at the secluded camp-out...

the dummies who go looking for the strange noise in the basement...

IT'S HALLOWEEN!!!!!  (It was Halloween almost two weeks ago when I began this post. Then it took two weeks to get the pic I needed for this post. Meh.)

And I offer you this year's KrausHouse Halloween costume masterpiece!  It was quite the no-brainer for us this year considering what we spent doing with our early summer days. (You can read about that here).

And if you'd like to see what previous year's ideas have been, you can check those out here.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!

BOO AT THE ZOO, 2013
AVENGERS ASSEMBLED

BAM! POW! WHAM! A Batman Birthday!

We've been a little Super Hero crazy in our house the past month....with good reason!  "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" has been filming all around Ctown all June.  We've been fortunate enough to catch filming on three occasions where we saw explosions, stunts, a super bus crash and a surprising kiss between "Black Widow" and "Captain America"! I have to admit, I was more than a bit star-struck being so close to Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson.  

So. Cool. 

But it was also an extremely unique opportunity for the kids to be able to witness what it takes to MAKE a movie:  how long it takes to set up and film an action sequence, how stunts actually work on a set and how many people it takes to make a movie.  They were totally taken with the whole thing.  I could have gone down to the filming sites everyday, with a lawn chair, drinks and snacks, kicked back and enjoyed the show. 

SO. FREAKIN'. COOL.

I cannot wait to see the results next April.

Black Widow and Captain America
(Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans)

We watched the filming of this bus crash scene.  It took about 2 hours
to set up and practice;  about 1 minute of actually filming for about
20 seconds of actual movie footage.

Stuntmen jumping off the Shoreway bridge.  They "opened fire" on the
bus crash when they landed.  

Stunt woman for Black Widow being thrown through the air by
The Winter Soldier.

The Winter Soldier

Also, Monkey turned four last month and requested a Batman themed party, which I was very happy to oblige.  We kept it a low-key affair, just family and neighbors for his requested Sunday evening "steak-over" (what  Monkey calls a "cook-out").  So I began my quest for AWESOME Batman-themed cupcakes.

PLAN A

I found a super small bat shaped cookie cutter online.  I ordered it with the plan of using it to cut small black fondant bats as cupcake toppers.  The cupcakes would be frosted in vintage Batman blue and yellow, with the fondant bats resting on top.  Great plan, right?  Too bad the cookie cutter didn't arrive on time....

Enter,

PLAN B

(Isn't it funny how sometimes Plan B ends up better than Plan A?)

Since our Batman theme was more of a vintage Batman than Dark Knight Batman, I jumped on Google and found images for the classic "BAM!", "POW!", "WHAM!", "POP!" from the original TV show.  I printed them out, cut them out, taped them to toothpicks, stuck 'em in the cupcakes - and HOLY AWESOMENESS, BATMAN! Here they are!

News Junkie: A Bit of a Rant on Modern Media

Some may call it being nosy.  I prefer inquisitive and curious.  It stated at an early age.  Whenever I heard a siren near my house, I wanted to find it and see what was happening.  The local shopping center caught on fire when I was in elementary school, and I remember begging my mom to come with me to go watch the scene unfolding.  To be fair, it was well within walking distance from my house. Just sayin'.

My earliest memory of news junkie-ness was the Challenger disaster.  I was in middle school and had a vague personal connection to one of the astronauts, Judy Resnick.  She was my dentist's niece and he always told me about her during my visits. I remember not wanting my mom to turn off the news and reading the newspaper every day for a week.

In high school, I was fortunate enough to be a part of an award-winning, student-produced TV news show broadcast on a local cable access station .  It was then when I realized, while I loved being able to bring the information to viewers, I wasn't terribly sure I could be as "tenacious" as I needed to be to dig into people to get the scoop.  But I never lost the love for the story.

The news game changed in college.  Cable news offered wall-to-wall coverage.
OJ.
Oklahoma City.
Then, 9/11.

In the past few weeks, two riveting stories have grabbed the world;  one several hundred miles away, the Boston Marathon bombings, and one in my own backyard, The Miracle in Cleveland.  And the ultimate  game-changer, social media, completely altered the news gathering, news reporting and news consumption universe during these two events. The ability to watch a man live tweet the shootout between police and the bombing suspects was indescribable. But the flip-side of that unprecedented access was the ugly side - the rush to be the first to report something. It resulted in gross indiscretions and misinformation by traditional TV media, wild accusations with no consequences by "citizen journalists" and sensationalism by everyone at its "finest".

During these two events, I followed my Twitter feed while simultaneously watching cable and local news outlets.  Twitter was astonishing to me for the Boston Bombing coverage. I learned about the Boston Bombings from my Twitter feed on the way home from the zoo with the kids.  I scrolled and scrolled every time I stopped at a red light.  That was around 2:45 pm that Monday.  When I arrived home 15 minutes later, the cable news networks were just starting to pick up broadcasts, and I had yet to receive any breaking news "alerts" from my phone which are tied to my CNN and MSNBC apps. Even though the TV coverage was slow to catch up to Twitter, I didn't turn off the TV and computer until well into the early morning hours. On the Thursday evening of the release of the suspect pics, I crawled into bed a little before 11:00 pm because it seemed new developments had stagnated. I checked my Twitter feed one last time. Various people I follow started RTing reports of the shooting at MIT.  I rolled over to my husband and told him what was going on. He replied something to the effect of it's gotta be related to the bombings. In my head, That's exactly what I'm thinking. Too coincidental to NOT be.  On went the TV to accompany my Twitter feed. All initial reports were very careful to point out that there was NO apparent link of  the MIT shooting, a reported car-jacking and robbery of a convenience store to the bombings. It was one the first times throughout the endless reporting, the cable newsrooms (especially CNN) were finally showing restraint. Surely it was tied to the criticism of the erroneous reports from a day earlier, spearheaded by CNN, that a bombing suspect had been arrested.  The over-correction was NOTICEABLE. But I would bet, every producer on hand was chomping at the bit to run with the almost common sense idea that these things HAD to be related.  I proceeded to spend the entire night (like up until 5 AM, when I just couldn't keep my eyes open anymore) glued to my phone and TV as the events unfolded;  tweeting with a friend in Arizona about what we were witnessing.  Once a direct link between the events was established, Twitter and cable news let go of the all restraint shown earlier,  and  the wild accusations began flying quicker than the bullets on Laurel Street .
The suspects are caught....
No, they're dead.....
No, they're on the run......
Yes, one is dead.....
No, one's being arrested, NAKED!
Then the craziest - a report identifying one of the bombers as the missing Brown University student, Sunil Tripathi.
Then watching the cable news reporters in Watertown on Friday was a circus in itself.  Reporting while speculating on why a neighborhood dog is barking, why police cars are backing up....the absurdity went on and on for hours. And yet, I still watched, afraid I would miss something. But my viewing was now with a measured eye.

The Miracle in Cleveland, the event that hit my home, didn't require me to use social media to feel connected to the story. It was happening a little over 10 miles from my house. I found myself getting more and more frustrated with the barrage of misinformation, wild reports and accusations being bantered about through the media, both social and traditional.  I felt especially defensive regarding the scrutiny being placed on the Cleveland Police due to the eye-witness reports coming from "neighbors" claiming to witness horrific things going on (naked women being lead around on leashes in the backyard by men, seeing naked women chained to a wall in the attic, etc.) which, according to their accounts, resulted in minimal police contact or no police attention at all.  I found these reports suspect from the beginning, from an almost common sense standpoint. I thought to myself,  if someone were to call police reporting these things, I'm fairly certain the reports would illicit more than a cursory police visit.  Also troubling to me was that all the immediate neighbors, who would have the best advantage in witnessing something, SUSPECTED NOTHING. I watched four separate interviews with the girls who claimed to have witnessed the kidnapper in the backyard with one of the women while she was naked.  In their first interviews, they didn't show their faces and claimed that they called police, who never responded.  By the time they made it to primetime Piers Morgan, being interviewed with their mom, the story had changed.  And when asked directly by Piers, the girls said they never called police.  And when Piers asked their mom if the girls told her, she said they told her hours after it had happened and she figured it was too late to call police by then. Hmmm. In too deep with the story by then?  I wondered why would a man, who had obviously gone to excruciating lengths to keep these women secret, would walk one of them in the backyard NAKED for all of the neighborhood to see?!?! I wonder if anyone brought up these points in an editorial meeting on CNN?  Has it come to this - the "reputable" media, who is so hungry to be the first  to have reported the "smoking gun" detail, will take the "15 minutes of fame people" who are so desperate to be a part of the story, as fact and run with it?  And even though the FBI/Cleveland Police held a news conference, in which they stated the GIRLS told them they were allowed out of the house on only a few occasions, while fully clothed in disguises, to go to the garage for a short period of time;  CNN is still trying to push these neighbor reports as credible even during interviews as late as Friday afternoon.  I listened to lawyer talking-heads squawk endlessly on why murder charges weren't  levied against the kidnapper during his arraignment. DUH! Even I know they can bring further charges against him at a later date.  How's that law degree working out for ya? OY!

When does common sense sink in in a newsroom setting? When does the producer or editor finally decide that something is just not credible enough anymore and let it go?  I saw evidence of restraint  and excellence in reporting with Pete Williams and The Boston Globe during the Boston Bombings. They seemed old school.  I guess I'm still old school;  I'd rather take the truth with time, than sensationalism instantly.
I've learned my lesson. But I won't be giving up on Twitter altogether, just streamlining my credible follows :)

And as much as I LOVE Anderson Cooper - I can no longer take CNN seriously.

Forty for 40: #3 - Family Dinners...Bread + Cheese + Your Pantry = Easy, Delicious "Gourmet" Grilled Cheese

I know the time is fleeting for us to have sit down family dinners on a regular basis. Heck, (most)Ms, Ts, Ws, THs are already shot right now and it's not even due to the kids' schedules! It's only going to get worse.  But, I do love to cook, so I'm taking advantage of the times we do get to sit down together.  Here's how we threw together a fun night of cooking together...

A Ctown culinary favorite is Melt Bar and Grilled, which married outrageous combinations in grilled cheese sandwiches and great craft brews.  It's packed every lunch and dinner.  Why? Because they take the basic, American favorite and give it spectacular grown-up twists! I DARE you to find someone who doesn't LOVE grilled cheese!

So, I was struggling to find something for dinner last week because it was a "use all the frozen leftovers" week and frankly, we were sick of soup.  (Man, did I make A LOT of soup this winter!!) I bought a really fresh loaf of tuscany bread and some apricot preserves at Whole Foods earlier in the day and it served as the inspiration for GOURMET GRILLED CHEESE night!  So simple and sooooo good!

Here's what we dug out of the cupboards and fridge. Everybody picked their own ingredients!

Mom's Sandwich

Some of the basics from our pantry and fridge.
I love the cheese variety pack from
Costco! It's perfect for any kind of sandwich
and has a wonderful variety.

*inspired by my favorite brie party recipe*
-sliced brie cheese
-apricot preserves
-balsamic vinegar

Slice the brie into bite size slices and place on one of the bread pieces.  Spread apricot preserves on the other slice and drizzle the balsamic vinegar over the apricots.  Put sandwich together and grill.  A pleasant surprise was the caramelization of the vinegar on the outside of the bread. YUMMY!!!!


Dad's Sandwich
*simple yet tasty*
-Sweet Red Pepper Jelly
-Cheddar and Gouda slices




Sweet Pea's Sandwich
*my veggie loving girl*
-mashed avocado
-sliced cherry tomatoes
-bacon
-sliced gouda
My little girl CANNOT get enough avocado! I love it!!!



Monkey's Sandwich
*inspired by the classic*
-bacon
-tomato
-swiss

Clearly not as completely outrageous as "The Parmageddon", but a step up from American cheese and tomato soup.  Open your cupboards, think about your favorite taste combos and fire up the frying pan!

Forty for 40: #2 - My Youth

Hey Ladies of the '80s, a show
of hands who had this poster hanging
on their bedroom wall?! (ME!)

There was a LOT of reminiscing going on a few weeks ago.  #TBT (throw-back Thursday) was a week-long celebration. Why you ask? One simple, gorgeous and rockin' reason - BON JOVI!  I saw them in concert at Quicken Loans Arena on March 9th .  They were my first full-on MANIA band.  I remember having a complete meltdown in seventh grade because my Walkman (um, yeah - remember those things? If not, google it)  broke and my dad took it to work to give to an engineer to fix. He took it without taking my cassette of  "Slippery When Wet" out first.  The Walkman was gone for week, and you would've thought someone performed a lobotomy on me by the way I languished around the house.

Ah. Teenagers...Middle Schoolers...can't wait to experience those years from the parent side.

yeah.
can't wait.

But Jon and the Boys got me thinking about my days growing up and how much I LOVED my adolescence.  I wouldn't have changed anything about those days in my neighborhood and my schools.  I am an only child, but never felt like one. I had 10+ kids living on my block, all within +/- 4 years of my age.

It was amazing.

When we were little, the roaring of the Big Wheels signaled the start of the day; up and down the driveways all morning long. As we got older, summers were spent kicking the can, painting bases on the street and sidewalks for wiffle ball and kickball, waking up and heading straight into the pool until lunch and then back in until dinner - unless we had softball or baseball games that night. We played tennis in the turn-around behind our houses and tackle football in the field next to it.  We rode our bikes anywhere and everywhere. I could easily ride to my grandparents' house on the other side of the city, a good 20 minutes over major streets, and my mom wouldn't give it a second thought. We played in our neighbors' yards without fear of being yelled at, walked up to Southgate on a regular basis to grab an ice cream cone or to shop, or down to Henry's Bi-Rite for some candy or to run a grocery errand for Mom.  The neighborhood memories are endless.

Same can be said for school.  I loved school - obviously enough to become a teacher ;-) If I could go back and do it all again; from elementary all the way through to high school, I wouldn't change a thing. Not that it was all rainbows and unicorns, but knowing how some people are absolutely miserable through junior high and high school, I feel pretty lucky.

Now, if you ask me about college and my early 20s, it would be a different story. I guess I had my "angst" a little later in life.

I am hoping Sweet Pea and Monkey can look back as fondly on their youth some day. I will do everything in my power to provide the opportunities for them. But I think the most important thing I learned while thinking about this post, is some of the best things just happen....all by themselves.

Double Dribbles and Double Birchbox: How MARCH MADNESS calmed mine

Aside from the 48 hours that is Christmas and Sweet Pea's birthday, the opening days of March Madness run a close second to my favorite two days of the year.  For the Friday games, I used to take a personal "mental health" day from work to sit back, relax and CHILL OUT.  It was the perfect time for it when I was teaching.  A welcome break in the LONG stretch between the last "no school day" of President's Day and the downhill slope to the end of the school year, Spring Break. 

Seeing as I'm now enjoying my SAHM status, one would think that the Madness would not necessarily provide the same respite it did in the past.  But au contraire! This year, I am especially thankful for the Madness, because it's given me a chance to catch up on THIS! Still busy, just with different things - most of which is my amazing volleyball team.  I've been gone three weekends in a row.

So here I am with my hubs in the WO-man cave, with brackets and March Madness squares easily accessible, enjoying some QT together.  And some quiet blogging time.  Thanks, Madness, for letting me not be caught up in the madness of life for 48 hours.  I'll be back at it tomorrow at a two day tournament....

In the meantime, here's my review of my February (yes *GASP* February) and March Birchboxes.  At least I got a chance to use most of the products :)

FEBRUARY BIRCHBOX

This month's box focused on being "Red Carpet Ready"! I love all the "prep" products included in this month's box!

Beauty Protector - Protect & Detangle

This spray leave-in conditioner has a wonderful smell and feels even better on your hair.  It provides 7 hair functions, with one being specially formulated for color-treated hair (YAY!).  I put this to the test at our recent family getaway to Kalahari Resort and Water Park with being in pool water for two days and my hair felt great! Didn't let my hair dry out at all. Plus, it never felt heavy or greasy, which are two things I've found problematic for my hair with leave-in conditioners in the past. I'll be purchasing a full size of this for the summer months!

Color Club - nail polish in Mamba

This cherry red is screaming for summer on my nails! Can't wait!!

Juicy Courture - Courture La La

I like the fruity scent of this new fragrance. But seeing as I have TON of new fragrance from Birchbox, I'm sharing this one with my neighbor :)

WEI™- Golden Root Purifying Mud Mask

I am most excited to try this.  I've never tried a mud mask. Truly waiting for an appropriate "mud mask" moment which should include a hot bath and big glass of wine.  I'm hoping it's soon.....

BEAUTY EXTRA

WEI™ - Pomegranate Buffing Beads

I've always loved using facial exfoliators with buffing beads. This product is unique in the fact that it's dry and you add water to make it the consistency you want.  GOOD STUFF!

*Plus, we got an extra treat of a Ghiradelli Caramel square.  You know, cause all those big Hollywood celebs are popping chocolate the day of the Red Carpet ;) 

MARCH BIRCHBOX

Birchbox also ran with the "March Madness" theme this month. It included a wide and exciting variety of veteran products, and introduced new "rookies" to the BB family to help prep your entire body for spring! Almost like a beauty spring cleaning! 

I have to say, this could be my favorite box so far. 

MAKE - eyeshadow

Two products for this rookie company, MAKE, hi-light my box this month. I LOVE the taupe color eyeshadow I got.  It's the perfect neutral for everyday wear!

MAKE- Face Primer Broad Spectrum SPF 30

I have been waiting to try a face primer to see if it truly does make your foundation and powder have staying power.  I've worn it  few times, including to the BON JOVI concert at the Q (blog post coming!), and even rocking out all night didn't make this product fail!

Nick Chavez® Beverly Hills - Color Saver Sulfate Free Shampoo

YES! YES! YES! Color saver!!! This shampoo leaves my hair feeling soft, extremely lightweight and easy to style.  The scent is light and wonderful.  Wish I could have tried it paired with the conditioner, but I may take the risk and buy them both in full-size and see.  If you have color-treated hair and it's feeling dull, dry and lifeless - give this product a whirl!

Whish - Shave Crave Shaving Cream

I was also able to give this product the ultimate test during our Kalahari visit. What dries legs out more than winter weather +  cholorine + hard water + shaving? Answer: Nothing.  This is a great moisturizing shaving cream. The consistency is more like lotion because of the shea butter.  So while you're shaving, you need to rinse your razor after every pass on your leg, but it does the trick keeping them soft! And is smells great!

BEAUTY EXTRA

Madewell for Birchbox - Emery Board

Who doesn't love a well made and pretty emery board?  Mine made it's way into my purse and has rescued me several times already! Thanks Madewell and Birchbox!

Forty for 40: #1 - Facebook and Twitter

 It's about 6 months away.  Me turning 40.  I'm really ok with it.  Really.

But it has made me very contemplative lately.  I find myself looking at things differently. Cherishing the little things.  I am incredibly lucky in all the "major" life categories: married to an incredible man who truly could not be a better match for me and is my best friend; raising two beautiful and full-of-life children who have absolutely made our lives complete; living near (exception being my BIL and SIL in CO) all the important people I love most in my family in a city I adore.  I am truly thankful for all I have.

I though it would be fun to think about the little, quirky things I am finding myself thankful for these days.  I'm calling it "Forty for 40:  Small Things I'm Thankful For".  My goal is to get them all done by the BIG 4-0.


I've celebrated "40" with 2 friends this month. Two very dear friends with whom my path to friendship has been very different.  One I've known since we were less than two years old and have been through everything that life has thrown at us in 38 years.  She's the closest thing I have to a sister.  The other is a friend I've known since middle school, who has grown into one of my most favorite friends as an adult.  It got me thinking about my adult friendships. And I know most people think Facebook, Twitter and social media, et al are the decline of human relationships as we know it; on the contrary, I find myself being thankful for them because of the "rekindling" of friendships they've provided.  I have found fantastic adult friendships with people whom I considered casual friends in high school and my younger days.  I love that I can tweet about the Red Carpet with my favorite fashionistas in New York City and Chicago ALMOST like we're sitting in the same room.  I love that I discovered  people, whom I knew as fun teenagers, have become great adults with whom I thoroughly enjoy spending time, sharing ideas, rooting for teams, learning from,  debating, and laughing. And friends that I ADORED in high school, with whom the passage of time inevitably had us drift apart; seeing them again feels like we never skipped a beat. I can honestly say without Facebook and Twitter, I doubt that I would have found these relationships.

I know A LOT of people use these outlets in ways that are very unattractive, petty and "high school-ish".  I cannot imagine being an adolescent right now navigating growing up in the glare of social media.  I'll find out soon enough as Sweet Pea and Monkey reach that age far too quickly for my comfort.  But for now, I'm choosing to find the fun, the good, the positive -  the rest, eh...there's always the "hide from news feed" option.

I Love (Last Minute) Lucy

That's me.  Last Minute Lucy.  Works well under pressure.  The closer the dead line is, the greater the creativity flows.

So, for all you fellow LML Mommies - here's my contribution for a small class Valentine gift. Monkey's preschool class is only 6 three year olds, so why not have some fun with them!?   I decided to head to one of my favorite places for inspiration - the Target Dollar Stop.  And low and behold, THESE beauties spoke to me:

The classic, fun echo microphone!  So I picked up 6.  Came home and whipped up the tags on the computer.   Attached the tags with some red wrapping ribbon and VIOLA! a fun, easy and cheap alternative to the traditional valentine "treat".  

So, you've still got a day to spare.....the Dollar Stop is calling your creative name!

January's Birchbox: A Wonderful Welcome to the New Year!

Better late than never! But looking on the bright side - being late allowed me to use all but one of the products in January's box.  And this month's is one of my favorites so far.  It was full of a wide variety of products I could try out immediately.  I also love the fold out poster of 25 ways to make little changes  in your life to start the new year out right.  Birchbox had some fun suggestions without the guilt of breaking a resolution.

JANUARY'S BIRCHBOX

amika - Color pHerfection Shampoo

The packaging alone on this shampoo had me won over! The scent completely converted me! I used this shampoo on Sundays nights, when I typically do a "clarifying" wash of my hair with a shampoo other than my daily.  I have been using the Birchbox samples I've received over the past few boxes.  You can tell by the lack of lather that this shampoo is FULL of natural ingredients and it made my hair feel healthy.

Harvey Prince - Skinny Chic
I have been contemplating changing my beauty profile because I feel like I'm getting A LOT of perfume samples.  Probably because on the question "What beauty product do you tend to splurge on?", my answer was perfume.  But I'm glad I didn't before I got this sample.  It's really clean, fresh and light.  I have worn in everyday since I got the box.  Perfect everyday scent.

My™ - Multi-Purpose Mattifying Moisturizer
This moisturizer took some getting used to, but not in a bad way.  It just has such a different texture and finish than anything I've ever used.  It has made a huge difference on the staying power of my make-up.  It lasts all day long and doesn't seem to let my foundation break down like before.  I am considering buying a full size of this stuff!

theBalm® cosmetics - Hot Mama
FAVORITE ALERT! This 2-in-1 blush and highlighter is exceptional!  It adds just the right shimmer for everyday wear and it's a universally flattering color.  I have also worn this everyday since I tried it out a few days after I received my box.  I like the shimmer on my face in the middle of winter!

BEAUTY EXTRA
Deborah Lippmann - the Stripper to go

Nail polish remover gloves for on the go nail emergencies! Have mine stashed in my purse. No manicure sirens have sounded yet :)