November Birchbox

For months and months I kept hearing about Birchbox and seeing so many of your posts about it...well, I finally joined! For those of you that don't know, Birchbox is a company that delivers a box of beauty products to your door once a month for only $10. You could get makeup, hair products, skin products, perfumes and more! Every month you will get different products to try and it will always only cost $10. Most of the time they are mini sizes of the products but it allows you to test them out and if you find one or more that you really like you can buy them on the Birchbox website at a discounted price.

So, I received my November Birchbox in the mail last week and here is what I got:



1. Anastasia Lash Lifting Mascara- I was not a fan of this mascara AT ALL. It did not "lift" them and it was way too light. After spending a couple minutes on each eye, I could barely tell I had any mascara on.

2. Supersmile Professional Whitening Toothpaste- I have used this product before and always liked it so I was happy to get a new tube of this. Over time this really does change the color of your teeth. It does make your teeth a tad bit sensitive but just use Sensodyne to help with that. This product is not going to work with just a couple uses so you would really need to buy a whole bottle and use it consistently.

3. Kerastase Elixir Ultime- BEST HAIR PRODUCT EVER!!!!!!! Seriously, this stuff is amazing and everyone needs it. It is a light, clear serum for hair...you can use it on your hair before blow-drying or use after blow-drying & straightening to nourish, keep soft and shiny. I have been using this product for exactly 1 week today and I have seen a big difference in my hair. It is smooth, super soft and smells amazing. When I joined Birchbox I got a 20% off coupon to use on a product...this is what I used it on. LOVE LOVE LOVE this and you will to! :)

4. Befine Night Cream- I have only used this a couple times but I really like it. You wash your face at night and apply this cream and go to sleep! It is very hydrating and leaves your skin feeling fresh & moisturized. It claims that it helps to decrease the appearance of fine lines and helps with circulation but I don't think I have used it enough to see those benefits. It is definitely a product I would keep using though.

5. Alex & Isabelle Classic Hair Ties- I am sure these are great but not for me. I always see these in magazines and have a few friends who love them but I don't wear my hair up much and when I do, I just use a solid black or brown hair band. So, I don't have much of an opinion on these because I will most likely never use mine.

And that is it for this month!! Can't wait to see what goodies I get in December!

It's Friday!!

Happy Friday, friends! This has been one of the most stressful weeks I have had in a looong time so I could not be more ready for it to be over. I am still sad I am not on my way to North Carolina right now with my family but I am going to try to make the best out of this free weekend at home. I will probably have to work a little bit tomorrow but then I plan on trying to finish most of my Christmas shopping and catching up on sleep. And I swear I am going to do my LA posts!! I need to blog about all the details so I don't forget anything!

Until then I am wishing my nephew, Tanner, a very happy 1st birthday!! :)








PS- I finally ordered my Erin Condren Planner that all of you keep talking about! I can not wait for it to come in!! And I joined Birchbox a couple months ago and I got some awesome goodies this week that I can't wait to share with you.

Pass the margaritas please...

I AM ALIVE, I swear! But, I am officially stressed up to my eyeballs. I managed to find a few minutes to get a quick post in but it is going to be short.

I am so behind on reading all of your blogs and obviously posting...I have been on Pinterest only once in the past 8 days...I have only been on Facebook a couple times and even that was on my Blackberry. I feel so behind and out of the loop. It is amazing how much social media really affects your life when all of the sudden you don't have time for ANY of it.

I am going to try really hard to post about our trip to LA tomorrow or over the weekend. I have so many pictures and details to share! But, until then, here are a couple updates...

-I had to make a REALLY hard decision this week...my nephew's 1st birthday is this weekend and my sister-n-law (go check out her blog... www.slancasteriii.wordpress.com/ ) and my brother have been planning his first birthday party for months. I bought my plane ticket a couple months ago and was so excited to spend the weekend with them and see my sweet nephew. My flight is supposed to leave in the middle of the afternoon tomorrow but due to some things going on at work now I had to make the decision not go to North Carolina for his birthday. Work is INSANELY busy right now and I have some major projects that are going to be audited along with several other things going on and I could not afford to miss a half day tomorrow. :( I looked for other flights leaving at different times but they were way too expensive or they would get me there after his party was already over so I just had to finally make the decision to not go. I was sick to my stomach about it on Tuesday night. I called Chris, my Mom and my brother crying (I think all this stress is making me a little overly emotional this week). I am sure they were all thinking I was being a bit of a basketcase. I actually am getting teared up again as I type this. (See why I need some margaritas???) Anyways, I hate that I can not be there and I have been in a funk about it all week. At least I will get to spend a couple days with them when they are here in December for Christmas!

-Our House(s)- Our house has been up for sale for almost 3 weeks and we have had quite a few showings. Whohoo! No contract on it yet though. Luckily we have 3 months until our future is house is completed so that gives us some time to sell ours. We met with the design center for our new house this week. Have any of you ever gone thru that process before? It is so fun getting to pick out the tile, hardwood floors, carpet, granite, knobs, etc.. but there are SO many options to choose from! I am really happy with everything we chose and can't wait to share pictures when it is all in the house :)

That is going to have to be it for now. I hope to get things backt to normal soon and hopefully I will have a really good LA post for you tomorrow!

xo

Getting in the Christmas Spirit - Guest Post

Hello Eat.Pray.Love.Run readers!! It's Lia here from life is aMAYESing!

Leslie is crazy busy right now with work, selling a house/building a new house and everything else in life! So I thought I'd take over her bloggity blog for a day.

Leslie and I have never actually met in person, but her husband {Chris} and my husband {Corby} were fraternity brother at Texas A&M! So I feel like Leslie and I have known each other for a while. And I know that when we do finally meet, we will be GREAT friends!!

I know that Thanksgiving is a week away, but I am already in the CHRISTMAS spirit! I love Christmas so I am going to share some fun decorating ideas and recipes for those holiday parties that are coming up!

{all photos courtesy of Pinterest. you can follow me on Pinterest here.}

I love these ornament trees! Great for a table centerpiece!

Nothing says Christmas like cranberries!

I love the idea of using peppermints to decorate with!

Love this ornament wreath!

Beautiful!

You can't have a holiday party or get together without yummy Christmas treats!! Here are a few recipes to try!

Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe via

Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes
recipe via

Peppermint Bark Cheesecake
recipe via



Cranberry Holiday Sangria
recipe via

I hope this gets you in the Christmas spirit! I am currently sitting at my desk at work clearly not working listening to the Glee Christmas album! LOVE Christmas music!!


Don't forget to head over to my blog to say hi! Happy Thursday!


xoxo

Pinterest Wednesday- All Things Thanksgiving

Wow, Thanksgiving is 2 weeks from tomorrow! Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday of the whole year...it involves the best food, fun decorating and most importantly, spending time with family & friends. Go link up with Michelle at The Vintage Apple for Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday!














Happy Fall! =)

First Guest Post!

While Mrs. Lia Joy is enjoying a few days in Las Vegas with her hubby she asked me to do a guest post for her! Since Thanksgiving is just a couple weeks away I have all sorts of yummy recipes on my mind so head over to her blog to check out a couple of them :) You can find her blog here:
( http://lifeisamayesing.blogspot.com/ )

Hellooooo from California!

Hi Everyone! I am typing this post from sunny (and cold) Los Angeles! It is FREEEEZING here. I never thought it would be warmer in Houston than southern CA. I flew in yesterday morning and got to work. Hubby flies in late Thursday night and we have a fun filled weekend planned...can't wait until he gets here!

Now, for a few updates....

-Tomorrow I am doing my first guest post!! Whohoo!! Check back tomorrow for more on that...

-WE FOUND OUR FUTURE HOUSE!!!!!! Our house went up for sale last week and has gotten a lot of showings so far and a couple from France actually really interested in it so we spent the weekend looking at houses again and found one that just started being built that we fell in love with. It will be ready in February and it is our perfect house...it has everything that we wanted in a new house and in our price range AND in the location we wanted. So, we have started the paperwork and now get to start designing the house! Here it is right now-


And here is the model (it will look like this when it is done except the stone & brick colors will be different)-


YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are SO excited! Now just keeping our fingers crossed our house sells by February.

-I feel really bad that sometimes I don't comment back to people who leave comments on my blog :( BUT...it's not that I don't try. Some people do not have their email set up on their blogs so when I try to respond to a comment that was left for me, it goes to a "blogger no-reply" email. So, I am very very sorry to a few of you that consistently leave me comments and you never hear back from me :( Set up your email addresses on your blog and I promise you will start getting A LOT more comments! It makes a big difference, I promise :)

That's it for now. Remember to check back tomorrow for a link to my guest post. Happy Tuesday!

7 days in Los Angeles

I am heading here on Monday:




Whohoo!! This is my first trip to the LA area and I am so excited. I am going for work Monday-Friday then my husband and I are spending next weekend in LA, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Malibu and Santa Monica. We are going to see and do as much as possible in 3 days! I have done A LOT of research and have a nice, long list of things to do and places we want to see but I thought I would ask if any of you have been there before and have any recommendations...good restaurants, any good tours you did, things to avoid, etc?? Our hotel is overlooking Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood so I think we are in a great location.

Hope yall have a great weekend! xo

I love blog swaps!!

I participated in my first gift swap a couple weeks ago and it was so fun! Now I am hooked :) Who doesn't like meeting new people and getting fun gifts in the mail?!



I joined the Fall Scarf Swap over at Sweet Tea Diaries ( http://sweetteadiaries.blogspot.com/ ) and was paired with fellow blogger, Janna at Happiness is a Journey ( http://happinessisajourneyforjanna.blogspot.com/ ). Her blog is colorful, happy and she is from Texas! =) I got my package this week...Here is what was in it:

I love all the goodies she sent me :)

And here is what was in my package to her:


See?? Fun, right?!

I am really excited about this next swap...2 of my fave bloggers, Lindsey at The Bargain Blonde ( http://thebargainblonde.blogspot.com/ ) and Raven at A Momma's Desires and Pacifiers ( http://www.amommasdesiresandpacifiers.com/ ) are hosting a Glitz and Glam Christmas Blogger Swap- "How The Glitz Stole Christmas." Head over to their blogs and check them out and sign up!

A Book Review & What I'm Reading Next

After reading several other bloggers reviews of this book I decided to read it and I LOVED it! If you are looking for a new book to read and you enjoy "chick-lit" I highly recommend this book. Here is a brief summary I found on Chic Gallerie:

Annie Adams finally had her life on track: her career allowed her to travel the globe, and she had a comfortable life in Los Angeles with her live-in boyfriend, Nick, a reliable group of friends, and a great dog. So when Nick decides he needs a break from the relationship, Annie’s world is shattered. Pulling it together, she drags herself to a local restaurant where she meets the chef, Griffin, the sort of man she never thought she’d fall for. Three months later Annie finds herself married and living in Griffin’s hometown in Massachusetts, where she isn't so sure she made the right choice. With THE FIRST HUSBAND, Laura Dave delivers an engaging and heartwarming story about a woman torn between her husband and the man she thought she’d marry.

Next up on my Nook:


The new Nicholas Sparks book, The Best of Me. I love all his books so I am sure this will be great too.



Divergent by Veronica Roth will be next. Everyone says if you like the Hunger Games trilogy you will like this too so I can't wait to read this one!


I have a lot of traveling coming up so I am sure I will fly through these and need more to read...
Anyone have any other good book recommendations?

Happy Reading!!