Wish List

I saw these and fell in love...

At $140 they're not totally unobtainable but the "Wish" part of "Wish List" is that I wish I could wear them!  My days of sky high - high heels are over.  Think I could convince Mr. Camuto to make these in a kitten heel?

J'Adore!

Inspiration Monday Pic

Good morning all!!!  Typically I'm not quite so cheery on a Monday morning but after a long weekend, I actually have another day off!  Foreseeing my reluctance to return on this Monday after Thanksgiving weekend, I requested to take this day off to make it a full FIVE day weekend.  Sweet!  Soooo, with further ado, I present the IM pic of the week:

Miss Jessica Alba looking so comfy and casual!  And here is my version...

I had to swipe a button up shirt from the hub's side of the closet since I'm not a big fan.  I find they never really fit me right.  They're either too tight around the hips or they gap at the cleavage area (don't want to blow a button and put someone's eye out!) plus they usually come in 100% cotton which means ironing is involved... Not my thing. 

I did like how this looked though once I got it fashioned "my way".  I would never have thought to put this together myself so I'm going to link up with all the ladies over at Visible Monday too.  I may be borrowing this again!

Don't know what the Inspiration Monday pic is all about?  Fly on over to two birds and join in!  I'm always looking for new friends, so feel free to Follow me and/or leave a comment.  Thank you!

Coffee Anyone?

Good afternoon all!  I haven't had time to post anything even though it's been an extra long weekend.  The hub and I were feeling a bit under the weather yesterday so we just laid around and whined, which is just what we needed!  We're feeling a bit better today so I'm hoping to get in a photo shoot for tomorrow's Inspiration Monday pic.  Stop back tomorrow for that...

I mentioned that the hub and I took a little trip to the thrift shop a couple weeks ago before taking an impromptu drive to Margate, NJ to see Lucy.  While we were there we found the most adorable Irish Coffee glasses - I was smitten!

There were only 5 sets of glass & saucer so originally it must have been a set of 6.  I was only going to purchase 4 (at $2 a set) but decided to grab them all that way I'd have a spare if one broke.  They remind me of something from the 70's since they are rimmed in gold and back then, that was the style.  They are actually in great condition!

We've been using them every weekend as an excuse to have our coffee with whipped cream (and booze!)  Delish!

I love a nice glass even if I'm just having cranberry juice, I'll put it in a wine glass.  There is just something about a fancy glass that makes things taste better. 

Do you have a favorite glass you use often or do you save them for guests?  I hope you had a lovely weekend!

The Morning After

Good morning everyone!  I hope your Thanksgiving was full of thanks and spent with your loved ones as opposed to sitting in a tent in front of a store waiting to get a bargain. Where are the priorities?  Time spent with loved ones can never be measured in dollars.  But that's just my opinion and as a bargain shopper, I can certainly understand the hype and we all make our own choices.  So live and let shop!

My hub and I cooked and we just had my mom over.  Casual.  This year I decided to MAKE a pumpkin pie from scratch because the hub and I are trying to keep things low carb and this recipe was 4 carbs per slice as opposed to 20.

It was fairly easy... Made the pie crust out of chopped walnuts and had the filling in.  Looking good!

Then I realized I forgot to add the Splenda and had to scoop it back out...

So I added the Splenda, poured it back in and baked it...

It looked pretty good too! 

And tasted just as yummy!

All in all, it was a nice meal without any negativity and we all waddled away with full bellies.  After mom left, the hub and I donned our elastic waist PJs and watched Planes, Trains & Automobiles.  We have made it our tradition to watch this movie on Thanksgiving.  If you've never seen it, put it on your list.  It's great for a chuckle while eating that second piece of pie...

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!  Were there any cooking snafus this year or in year's past that you look back on now and laugh about??

It's a short week - YAY!

The trees are starting to look bare which means winter is just around the corner.  I'm trying to take advantage of these last few fall days outside since it is my fav time of year. 

I decided to take my Inspiration Monday pics over in the park while walking my little stinky dog, Harley.  If you don't know what Inspiration Monday is, pop over to two birds and join in!  Here is the pic this week to be inspired by:

For me, I find horizontal stripes don't really work .  Typically I would have hung up this white sweater with the rest of my summer clothes but since I've been doing this fashion blog gig, I've been getting great ideas from my fellow bloggers about different ways to wear my clothes.  I took this white sweater and paired it with a long sleeve top and came up with a fall friendly outfit.

My dog was so excited to run through all the leaves she basically dragged me through the park...

I call this hat my "J. Lo hat" because it reminds me of something she might wear.  I've never really been a hat person but every now and again I'll see one that catches my eye. 

I love the little military inspired button detail on these shoes.

There was a beautiful holly tree in the park in full bloom. 

Christmas must be around the corner!

I'm also going to be linking up with The Pleated Poppy for her What I Wore Wednesday.  The concept is one that was created by fellow blogger, Lindsey and the idea is to get us out of our yoga pants or jammies and be creative with fashion.  I dress for work Monday - Thursday so I have no choice on those days but I just don't have the time to take a pic every day. 

The hardest day for me is Sundays.  I just want to stay in my PJs but between the Inspiration Monday outfit and the What I Wore Wednesday, it's off with the PJs and into something creative! 

It's all a blur!!!

Good evening!  Last night the hub and I attended a party thrown by a fella we met at the big Halloween Bash thrown by Dawn over at Suitcase Vignettes.  The guy's name is Mike and he lives on a big old farm!  He apparently had just built a new barn for his 4 horses and had a bunch of friends over to help him break it in.  There was a huge bonfire in the yard and the DJ was in the barn spinning the tunes which could also be heard from the bonfire location. Such a fun night!

I wasn't going to post the pics because they came out so poorly but then I realized they were kind of indicative of how the evening went!  It was a dark night with just a slight chill in the air - nothing a little nip from the flask couldn't fix and the winds were calm so the fire burned steady.  The DJ spun the tunes that kept us moving and a good time was had by all!

Me and the hub!

 Super toasty!

Dawn & I

 Cheers!  The bonfire is right behind us.  Who ordered the toasted buns?

Dawn dancing in the barn.

Me and Dawn dancing in the barn with Dawn's hub Rob getting reading to join in.

Have you ever danced in a barn?  Been to a bonfire? 

Have a fabulous week!

I'm in love...

And Birchbox is thy name!

I saw an ad on the local news a week or so ago and I thought I was seeing things.  Surely this box of happy service was made just for me!  I love trying new beauty products as you may have noticed.  I flip through my Glamour and Marie Claire mags actually paying attention to the adverts to see if there is anything that might possibly erase wrinkles, give me more energy, add sky high volume to my hair, jump higher, run faster  You get my drift.  I wouldn't dream of throwing the magazine out before I've opened each and every perfume sample and rubbed it on some part of my body, sometimes incurring the occasional paper cut.

The idea behind Birchbox is that for a mere $10 you can get a lovely box sent right to your front door which contains 4 - 5 deluxe size beauty samples for you to try at home.  You fill in a little beauty profile about yourself so they can customize your samples.  I signed up for the autoship which I can cancel at any time.  If you decide you like any of the products, you can purchase the full size version from their website at a reduced price. 

What!? What!?  Where do you sign up right?  AND...AND... The $10 includes shipping.  It's on like Donkey Kong...

Here is my first Birchbox!
J'Adore!

Treasures!!!  Some goodies along with a little tissue paper wrapped surprise...

WOW!  Elizabeth Arden Restorative Treatment, Shalimar Perfume, Zoya Nail Polish and more!

There is even a little card included with descriptions in case you're not sure what the product is and how much the full size is available for on their website.

I was soooo pleased with my first Birchbox, I can't wait to see what's in my next one.  I'm looking forward to trying each and every one and letting you know about it. 

Have you tried any of these products?  Are you a beauty samples junkie like me?

Have a Ball!

Ummm... Yea.  I saw this commercial the other night and it was so funny, I had to rewind it and play it again.  My hub missed it the first time so I had him watch too.  These are jeans that allow men to "crouch without the ouch".  I did not realize there were men all across the country crouching and being sterilized at the same time by their jeans!

Apparently it has become such an issue, that someone has finally come out and designed a pair of jeans that give the "boys" room to clack around!  Whew!!  One less thing to worry about... 

If you want to see the commercial, click the link below to Duluth Trading Co.:

Ballroom Jeans

P.S.:  This company also makes tshirts cut three inches longer at the bottom to prevent "plumber's butt"

Fall In New Jersey

I know a lot of people migrate to New England this time of year to watch the changing of the leaves.  Living in this part of the country my whole life, I never realized that not everyone gets to experience the beauty of the changing seasons - it's one of my favorite things about New Jersey.

Here are some snaps of the colors in my neighborhood right now.

Eat your heart out New England!

Do you get to see the leaves change color in your neck of the woods?

Hometown Shout Out!

Having been on hiatus the last 2 months, I was looking forward to getting back in the swing with the Inspiration Monday outfit from the ladies over at two birds.  How befitting that this week's pic is of Kelly Rippa because Mizz Rippa happens to be from Stratford, NJ, the town I currently reside. 

It was meant to be!

Here is Kelly looking so casual and cute:

I know she's still a Jersey girl at heart!

Here's my take on her outfit:

It's been so unseasonably warm lately, I really can get away with the short sleeves!

I hope you have a fab Monday!

Day Trippin...

Greetings!  Sadly, another glorious weekend is coming to an end.  I just love this time of year when there is a chill in the air but the temps hover around 60 degrees and the sun is shining.  The leaves are almost done changing colors and are starting to fall - hey, is that why it's called "Fall"???

Anyway, the hub and I took a trip to a local thrift store yesterday and when we were done, we didn't feel like going home so we just decided to take a road trip to the shore!  We were headed to Ocean City but on the way, we saw the sign for Lucy.  My hub isn't from this area and had never met her so off we went...  This is Lucy!

If you're from this area, chances are you know Miss Lucy.  She was built waaay back in 1881 - crazy right???  She's an old gal for sure - if her walls could talk!  Along the years she has been a night club and a tavern but is now a tourist attraction and Jersey landmark.  I remember Lucy since I was a little girl.  You can go inside but we didn't opting to walk the beach instead before the sun went down.

This is the best time to go down the shore - hardly anyone else around!  There was a little restaurant right across the street so we popped in for some steamed clams and liquid refreshment and went back to the beach to watch the sun go down...

So pretty.

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend too!

Beauty Product Review!

You may or may not remember that I'm a sucker for the latest and greatest beauty products that come out - as long as I can buy it at my local drug store! 

This was my latest challenge:

So if you don't know anything about gel nail polish here's a quickie of the need-to-know's:  You can get a gel mani or pedi in the salon but it requires the use of a UV light to dry the polish (up until now) and the advantage was that it would give you a super glossy finish that would last up to two weeks - chip free.

I was super excited to find out I could now do it at home with this new Nutra Nail Gel Perfect polish conveniently located at my local Rite-Aid.  There aren't many shades to choose from but I found one I liked and scurried home to give it a go.

It's actually a 3-piece set.  The first coat is clear and it says to apply to just one hand first then apply the color before moving on to the second hand.  First off, the clear coat smells like and acts like crazy glue so be careful if you try this at home - and the fumes!!!  WHEW!  Be sure to crack a window (or not!  teehee!) 

Fast forward  For me, this turned out to be more labor intensive than just using regular polish and touching it up a couple times during the week.  There's a bottle with cleaning fluid and you're suppose to wipe the brush and swish it in the fluid, blah, blah, blah.  Plus, I had to put on multiple coats to get the color even.  THEN when it came time to remove it - what a mess!  I even used the special wipes they sell and it took forever and was messy.

So all in all, I have given up on this after trying two different colors and multiple applying techniques.  I'll leave this to the pros and with a price tag of $11.99 for a tiny bottle (that's not a typo kiddies) it just wasn't worth the effort!

Happy Halloween! Oh, wait....

Yes, I know it was two weeks ago but I found myself here again (missed yas!!!) and didn't have any ideas for a post so...  I was really just checking to see if I remembered my password.  And I did.  So here I am. 

Since I'm here I figured I'd post a pic of the hub and I in our Halloween costumes that we wore to the totally rocking party thrown by my dear friend Dawn over at Suitcase Vignettes!  We DEFINITELY made a fashion statement this year! 

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Dog the Bounty Hunter and his bodacious wife, Beth!

Hope you all had a fabulous Summer!