Pearl Jam:"Jeremy" unplugged

Eddie Vedder is amazing! I love this unplugged version of "Jeremy". Enjoy, my lovelies!


(Be sure to pause the music in the right side bar before you play the video)

Check it out!

I recently ordered some new checks and thought it would be fun to share this website with all of you! It's been quite a while since I ordered new ones (about two years), so since I'm down to 4, I thought it was about time to place an order. I've previously used the boring blue ones that my bank sells. Since my bank was going to charge me for an order of checks anyway, I decided to go online and look for cute checks instead of sticking with the boring standard blue ones. I made sure that the company I chose was a secure one with a reputable rating. After doing a little research, I decided to go through: www.checkadvantage.com. 

The single checks for this particular set of designs are $13.95 for 150 checks. The duplicate checks are $16.95 for 120 checks. You get free shipping with your order. (The company also has more options for shipping and the number of checks you'd like.)

The checks that I decided on are called, "Retro Twitters" and are described as Whimsical Bird Personal Checks. I think they are absolutely adorable!!!

This set comes with the four designs below:

My Absolute favorite!!! I absolutely love blue birds!

My second favorite. How can you not love the cute little pink bird?!

This one reminds me of the "Three Little Birds" song by Bob Marley!

This last one reminds me of a giant yellow Peep! I guess it's appropriate with Easter coming up!

It's really that simple!

Just a friendly reminder: Pets are a lifetime commitment. If you can't commit to provide one with a loving home, adequate food, veterinarian care, and training throughout the entirety of its life, please do not bring one into your home! They are not disposable...

(Click the picture to enlarge)

Walgreens Finds! Sales, Swatches, and More...

While waiting for my prescriptions at Walgreens today, I had quite a bit of time to kill. So, I decided to check out some of their store items that were on sale. As it turns out, some of their sale items that were buy one get one 50% off, and just so happened to match some of the coupons I had in my purse! (I typically keep coupons in a little compartment of my wallet and take them with me wherever I go, just in case I find the item I'm looking for while I'm out. Today I did! SCORE!!! I pretty much got the Revlon items in the pictures below for free!You can't beat that!!! 

Mini Walgreens Haul (mostly sale items!)

1. Goody QuikStyle brush (It's supposed to help your hair dry more quickly after washing). A bit of background: I have thick, wavy hair that takes at least 30 minutes to blow dry...on a good day! So, if this product can cut down on my hair drying time, I'm all for giving it a try! I've had my eye on one for quite a while now and saw quite a few positive YouTube reviews about it. I will do a review soon after I give it a shot.

2. Sally Hansen's Mega Shine top coat. This is my third bottle of this stuff....enough said! It works ladies! No joke, it dries your polish within 60 seconds. It's also less than half the prices of the higher end brands!

3. EOS lip balm in "Strawberry Parfait". I finished off my "sweet mint" one a few weeks ago, so I wanted to try another! This sucker was on sale too, so it was the perfect time to try it!

4. Burt's Bees Mango Lip Balm. This is probably the 4th or 5th time I've bought one of these. It's one of my absolute favorite lip balms, hands down! This was also a sale item.

5. Sally Hansen's Nail Effects "Not a Peep". This one wasn't on sale, but if you know me well, you know that I absolutely adore birds. I couldn't resist this!!! How stinkin' cute!

6. Essie Nail Polishes: Navigate Her, Blanc, and Luxe Effect's Pure Peartfection top coat. I JUST painted my nails this morning, so didn't want to mess them up by doing swatches. (I will do better swatches of these colors on another day, but for now I thought this would work! I love them so far though!)

(Left to right: "Navigate Her", "Blanc", "Pure Peartfection"

7. Revlon Lip Butters and Colorburst Gloss (All of these were buy one get one 50% off...that in combination with the manufacturer's coupons I had in my purse meant I practically got these for free! Love it! 

(Swatches below)

Left to Right: Revlon Lip Butters in: "Tutti Fruitti", "Lollipop", "Cherry Tart", and on the far right: Revlon Colorburst Lipgloss: "Orchid"

Another view of them. Top to bottom: "Tutti Fruitti", "Lollipop", "Cherry Tart", "Orchid"

(I have quite a few of the Revlon Lip Butters and glosses. I absolutely can't rave enough about them. They are fantastic!They are smooth, pigmented, and come in quite a variety of colors. Most of the colors are quite buildable too, so you can make your lip color as sheer or as pigmented as you'd like! So far, I've been able to get them dirt cheap as well thanks to BOGO sales and manufacturer's coupons. If you love pampering your lips, you should really check these little gems out! I will do another blog post soon with swatches of all the colors that I own so that you all can see the different shades! Definitely keep an eye open for coupons on these products!)

~Another beauty savings tip: If you shop at Ulta and have a free membership card, you will get a mailing to your home every few weeks with a coupon usually for 20% or $3 or so off your next purchase. Ulta also sells store brands like Revlon and constantly has BOGO sales. They also take manufacturer's coupons from Revlon that you can usually find in weekly coupon inserts. Do you see where I'm going with this, my lovelies? You can pretty much get these fantastic items for free if you are smart about your shopping! :)

Homemade Rosemary Mint Fabric Softener: Thank you, Pinterest!

I recently came across a recipe for homemade fabric softener on Pinterest and thought it sounded great! I actually had everything on hand that I needed, even down to the specific conditioner mentioned in the recipe; I found that the conditioner itself wasn't thick enough for my hair type a few months back. So although it smelled terrific, it was just left sitting in my linen closet because it wasn't the right match for my hair. Enter the idea of re-purposing it into a fabric softener for my laundry...Genius! Since I've discovered Pinterest, I've had such a fun time trying out all sorts of fantastic ideas! If you don't know about Pinterest, you should check it out: www.pinterest.com


Before I continue, I want to say that all credit to this source goes to One Good Thing By Jillee's Blog . 


This recipe calls for only 3 ingredients. It takes only a few minutes to concoct, and will undoubtedly save you quite a pretty penny every time you do your laundry. That's a win-win in my book! I've tried it out on several loads of laundry now, and I have to say that I am very pleased. I'm pretty picky about the products I use, so if it passed my test, it's a keeper! (In a side note, I have sensitive skin and didn't experience any negative side effects from using this.)


What you will need:
-Water
-White Distilled Vinegar
-Conditioner
-Funnel
-Clean, Empty 1 gallon jug (I used an empty jug that once held distilled water from Target in it. It had a screw on top which made shaking up the product very easy!)
-Cute containers and labels for storage (optional)


Recipe: 
-6 cups of water
-3 cups of white distilled vinegar
-2 cups of conditioner (I used Suave's Rosemary Mint Conditioner)


Combine all ingredients into a clean, empty 1 gallon jug with a funnel. Put the lid on the jug and mix everything together. That's it, you're done! How simple was that?!


To use it in your laundry, simply add it to the "fabric softener" dispenser in your laundry machine the way you would any other laundry detergent, or pour it into a Downy Ball. If you would rather use it in your dryer, you can soak a clean dishtowel in a bit of the fabric softener and then toss it into the dryer with your clothes. It will make everything smell lovely and reduce static! 

Enjoy!

Notice the empty wine & olive oil bottles? I'm planning to put a pump-type lid and nice labels onto them soon so that they will make cute fabric softener dispensers! (Did you know that most olive oil and wine bottles with screw tops will fit empty soap dispenser tops? Re-purpose those little gems!)

Finished product! 

Be sure to give the container you store yours in a little shake before each use so that everything is mixed thoroughly.

Wordless Wednesday: My Picture Shelf

(One of my favorite things in my house is this picture shelf, & the old family photos that call it home! )

Movie time!

I thought I'd do a bit of a movie themed blog post today! Some are movies that are still in theatres that I've absolutely loved; some are already out on DVD. Below is the list of my current favorites! As you'll be able to tell from the list below, I mostly love Rom-Coms, Comedies, Animations, Dramas, and things of that nature...

1. Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close
2. The Help
3. What's Your Number
4. The Vow

5. The Rum Diaries   

6. Gone
7. Jack and Jill  
8. Larry Crowne
9. Friends with Benefits
10. Our Idiot Brother  
11. Something Borrowed
12. Soul Surfer
13. Tangled
14. Rio     
15. The Darkest Hour 


And the next movie that I'm absolutely going crazy to see??? 
"The Hunger Games"  


In addition to that one, I have a few others on my "list of things I need to see". If you've already seen these, feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you thought about them!

1.The Lucky One
2. Mirror Mirror
3. 21 Jumpstreet
4. The Artist
5. War Horse
6. Think Like a Man
7. Hangover Part II
8. In Time
9. The Muppets
10. Sleeping Beauty
11. Bridesmaids
12. John Carter
13. Titanic in 3-D (Yes, I've seen it a million times before, but I REALLY want to see it in 3-D!)
14. Precious
15. Water for Elephants

Now after mentioning all of these awesome movies, I do feel compelled to spare you all from seeing one of the most AWFUL movies I've seen in ages: "Young Adult". It is quite possibly one of the most horrid, depressing, and drawn out movies I've seen since "Yellow Sky". Save your money on that rental,  my lovelies!

Fun Fact of the Day!

Today's little fun fact is brought to you via "The Big Bang Theory"

Did you know: Fig Newtons were named after a small town in Massachusetts; not after the scientist, Isaac Newton!

Go forth, and share your new found knowledge people!

Aristotle

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Below is my favorite Irish blessing; I think it's beautiful. I have a little card with this blessing that I keep in my home!

"A Little Bit Stronger" - Sara Evans (acoustic)

(Be sure to pause the music in the right side bar before you play this video!)

Friday Fun: What's on my end table

Friday Fun: What's on my end table???

1. A lamp (wooden, with a burgundy/gold shade)

2. A bottle of Germ-x hand sanitizer

3. A burgundy red candle (with a gold cross that has "Peace" in the center)

4. A small Pulse Oximeter

5. Beyond Belief:Pomegranate Fig hand lotion

6. Dagoba Organic Chocolate Lip Balm in "roseberry"

7. A bottle of water 

8. A tissue box holder

9. A wooden sign that says, "I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow"

10. A Sharpie

11. Two coasters

12. A USPS delivery slip

13. A notepad

14. A pack of D'Addario Acoustic Guitar Strings 

15. My cell phone

~ Sounds like a lot of stuff, but it's all pretty organized! ~

What's on your end table? 

Wordless Wednesday: Sleepy Puppies

Nena live - 99 Luftballons Rock Pop in Concert 1983

Here's a fun 80's flashback tune for you today, my lovelies! "99 Luftballoons" by Nena. Enjoy!


(Be sure to pause the music in the right side column before you play the video)

Groucho Marx ruined my childhood!

Today's blog post is about Groucho Marx...or rather, how the bastard pretty much ruined my childhood with his popular rendition of a particular song! It's been a while since I've had anyone obnoxiously sing the song, "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" to me. Much to my dismay however, it happened again on Sunday while I was out running errands. You lovelies have no clue how close I was to slugging the daylights out of a boisterous old  man with my massive purse, when he erupted into that song! As soon as he saw my first name on my card when I went to pay him, his eyes had a disturbing gleam to them and then he just erupted into song! The song that tormented me throughout my entire childhood. The song about a tatted up lady who happened to share the same name as me. I was THISCLOSE to boxing him upside the head with my purse for that impromptu serenade! However, since my purse weighs more than most toddlers, I decided to spare the old guy a concussion and practice a little bit of restraint instead. 


I don't get it! Groucho Marx and his infamously creepy mustache passed away in the 1977, and I was born in 1985. Why are people still singing that horrendous song to me?!?!?!?!?! It is not what I would quantify to be a timeless classic by any means!


Screw you Groucho Marx, and your stupid song too! I am not the tattooed lady! (For the record, I don't even have one tattoo!) It was bad enough as a child that people would CONSTANTLY ask me if I had seen "Beetlejuice", and make references to that movie because of the lead female character, Lydia. This obnoxious song always topped that though! We're talking traumatizing, scar me for life, here folks!

If you have a name that's in a well known song, I'm sure you can relate to my frustration when people, even total strangers, constantly sing it to you!


(Remember to pause the music in the right side bar before playing this video)




In a random aside, I think the main reason that I love the movie, "Office Space" so much is because of the Michael Bolton character, and how he constantly gets asked about the musician that shares his name! Needless to say, I feel his frustration!