What Do You Use?

Hello there!

I don't know about you, but I'm always interested in reading or hearing about what hair, toiletry, and beauty products other people use, so I thought I would share with you what I normally use on a daily basis.


Shampoo:

My shampoo is always changing. There are two that I have bought repeatedly, but other than that I don't really have any favorites. I like Herbal Essences a lot. Tousle Me Softly and Long Term Relationship are the two I've bought more than once. I like trying different ones though, if they match my hair type. I stay away from anything that says "volume" on it. I don't need to add any more volume to this vast mess of hair.
Herbal Essences just has a wonderful smell that stays with your hair, even several days after washing it. I LOVE IT.

Currently I am using Melaleuca's Affinia moisturizing shampoo. Robert's Mom has an account with them, so I was introduced to their products through Robert's family. I use a lot of their cleaning supplies. That is entirely a whole other topic, but I'll say this: They are a bit on the expensive side BUT they try to use natural ingredients in their products. And their stuff smells wonderful. Moving on.

 

Conditioner:

I've used it, but I haven't seen much of a difference. Plus, I try to keep it simple when it comes to my hair. I don't like spending a ton of time on it (except with different hair styles). Conditioner is just one more thing. When I have used it, I usually bought whichever one matched my shampoo.


Eyeliner:

I used to use the cheap eyeliner pencils at Wal-mart until I found Mary Kay's eyeliner. I'm in love with their bronze eyeliner at the moment. I just glides on so easily. I've tried all of their colors, except black, brown, and steely.

Eye Shadow:

I rarely wear eye shadow. But when I do, I use some of Melaleuca's Sei Bella colors.



I have their 'Ice' and 'Mermaid' colors.



Lip stick:

I don't really wear lip stick. It tastes nasty. Not that I'm trying to taste it, but you know...it just happens! I usually just stick with lip balm.

Chap stick/Lip Balm:

I love Skittles Strawberry Star-fruit lip balm! I wish I could buy it in bulk. I have tried all of the flavors but this one is my favorite. It smells wonderful!

 

 

 

I am currently using Melaleuca's Peach Mango lip balm....just because I'm out of the skittles.

I've tried all their flavors except peppermint, I think....

 

Deodorant:

This might be TMI for you guys, but I use Men's deodorant. It may seem weird to you, but it smells a whole lot better than anything I've found in the ladies section! It lasts longer too.
 I like Speed Stick's Ocean Surf. Unfortunately I discovered that my brother uses the same one, because when he was home for a visit, he accidentally used mine thinking it was his! EWWW, boy germs!

Toothpaste:

I believe I mentioned that I hate anything peppermint in my last post. Well, finding a toothpaste that doesn't have peppermint in it has been a nightmare. I've used TONS of different ones, but I've finally settled with Melaleuca's Cinnamon Tooth Polish, for now.

Hairspray:

I currently do not have a hairspray. I don't have any favorites either....I am open to any suggestions though!

Hair Color:

I love temporary hair color. I've been known to color my hair with markers. I have even tried the nasty smelling spray stuff that stores have around Halloween.
 I recently found one that doesn't smell too bad, and looks pretty good on my hair color. Blonde's would have better results, I'm sure, but I'm not blond and I don't think I ever will be. I like my hair color, and I don't want to permanently change it. Bleaching might help make the colors brighter, but I'm not up for doing that either...
So, here they are. Splat Washables. I think they only come in these four colors.....but I did try them and they DO wash out. I have only tried the blue so far, but I am planning to do a review on these in a later post.

Other random hair products:

I love the split end protector. My hair is just FILLED with split ends and breakage. This also helps with frizz. A remedy for all those short, broken hairs that like to stick up on top of my head.

The mousse makes loverly wavy hair and it looks (but doesn't taste) like whipped cream.




Herbal Essences Long Term Relationship Split End Protector



Herbal Essences Tousle Me Softly Mousse

 

 

 

 

Can you tell I love bright rainbow colors? That is what usually attracts me to the product in the first place....hehe :)
What do you use?
Let me know in a comment or in a blog post!

~Mary

Random Things About Me No. 1

 

The King and I

Getting to know yoooooou. Getting to know alllllllll about you!

I love that movie.

So. Today I thought I would share a random post about myself. My likes, dislikes, etc. Y'know?

I guess I'll start with ten random things:

1. My favorite colors are purple, aqua, sage, forest green, black, black and white, and burgundy.

2. I can be a picky person. I don't try to be. Sometimes I don't realize when I am. My husband usually points it out for me, though ;) It is mostly with home décor. If I'm going to buy something, I'm not just going to go out and get the first thing I see. I re-search it to death, until I find something I love. Ladies, you know what I'm talking about, right?

3. I would live in Ireland if I could. We visited in 2011, and I fell in love.

4. I have a passionate hatred for snakes.

5. I really hate jealousy. It tears people apart, and no one ever has a good reason to be jealous. Be happy with what you have. Be happy for others. Life is better when you don't spend your time endlessly wishing or wanting for something you don't have right now.

6. I am not a morning person. Robert says I get the grumpiest look on my face when his alarm goes off. Well, yes. His alarm is obnoxiously loud and I can't reach it. Or smash it.
My alarm is a ringtone on my phone, and I don't hate it. I might resent it, but I've never had the urge to pulverize it.

7. I love to sing. I have never excelled at playing an instrument, but singing always came naturally to me. I sing best when I'm by myself. I don't know why, but when I sing around others, my mind is always racing. What are they thinking? Do they think I'm annoying? Do I look weird when I sing? Does my voice sound different to other people than it does to me? AM I NORMAL?!?!
*Clears throat* Yeah. You get the picture.

8. I really love fairies. Modest fairies, that is.

9. I dislike fish, peppermint, coconut, and coffee. Iced coffees aren't bad, but I just don't like the bitter taste of coffee.

10. I am the youngest of four children in my family.

So there you have it! Things you might not have known about me.
 I might make this a continuous thing. I don't know. Other bloggers seem to have a schedule they go by...like Picture Saturday, Random post day, etc. A schedule would be a good thing for me. They have deadlines.

On the other hand, I only have one day that I really sit down and post something....anything else is just whenever I have a brilliant idea. So, that is something to think about.....decisions, decisions.

Also, do you have any suggestions for my blog?

Such as:

Is the font okay? Is it hard to read? Does my background color make it worse?

How did you design your header? I need to sit down and do mine soon....

Input is appreciated. 

Have a lovely weekend!

Valentine's Day 2014

 

Hi peoples! 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day, single or not.When I was single, I used V-day as a great excuse to eat more chocolate and watch sappy romance movies that guys can't stand ;) My hubby has been a pretty good sport with those though.....unfortunately he isn't up for watching one every night in February like my sister and I did while we were still living at home. Drat. I enjoyed it while it lasted! I guess I need to plan a girl's night out to sate my girlish heart.

Despite my hectic past few days of work (why does everyone wait until the last minute?), my Valentine's day was pretty awesome. Got home at 5ish and got a call from Mom and Dad asking if Robert and I were interested in getting Chinese. She got an enthusiastic yes. No cooking? Count me in! So I changed into my new dress from ThredUP (which I'll show in some pics below) and Mom and Dad brought the Chinese :) 

Here are some pics of the day:



The Dinner Table and Pink and Red Roses from Robert.

A Valentine garland I made a few years ago.

The greenery garland is from our wedding table. I just recently placed it above our dining room door to add some color to the room.

The "Love" sign was something I made a few years ago with wooden letters from Wal-mart and scrapbook paper cut to fit, then modge podged onto the letters.

 

We finally got a frame for this! I found this picture at Hobby Lobby awhile back. Originally I swapped it out with another picture that hung in my childhood bedroom, but now it will be kept out year round. I LOVE these pictures!

When V-day comes around I usually set out all my romantic books and movies to show my appreciation. These are a few good reads. (Warning: P.S. I Love You has some adult content which I DO NOT support. I may do a review on it someday, but for now, please read with caution. Otherwise it is a good story.)

More decor. Again, these romance movies both have fast-forward worthy parts in them, so keep the remote ready, especially when watched with little ones.

Cutesie window stickers from Wal-Mart.

My ThredUp Dress! You can see how I layered with it in pics below.

Chocolates from Robert :) He even remembered that I liked the design on the box!



My card. We always use sealing wax on our cards to each other

Robert's present from me. I work at a candy store so I get to make special packs like this. My inspiration was from the Percy Jackson series. If you haven't read them, Percy's mom works at a candy store and buys him blue candy to prove to her unfortunate husband that blue food does exist. We just finished the series so I thought this would be perfect!

We're adorbs, I know.



Our activities fro the evening. I found a Romeo and Juliet puzzle at Jo-Ann Fabrics last year (I fell in love with the pic on my copy) and plan to frame it once we put it together. We're still working on it. Er, well, Robert is working on it, mostly. I'm horrible at putting together huge puzzles.


I combined the roses the next day.

 



My Mother- in- law, or "Mother-in-love" as she says, spoiled me with some pretty jewelry for my V-day gift :)

I put some of the roses in this re-usable vase that my aunt gave me.

I forgot to add this in the Christmas post! Robert made me this AWESOME pot rack for part of my Christmas present!!!!!! It is so perfect for our kitchen. I was completely surprised. He knew I wanted one, but I wouldn't have dreamed he would make me one! I couldn't have pictured anything better than this.

 

He also made this side table with my Dad for our stove, to fit in the gap between the wall and the stove. I am just absolutely loving it!
 



Tonight I made Chicken Breasts with Bacon wrapped around and Sage sprinkled on top. They were delicious!



For our side, I made fresh Brussel Sprouts, halved and cooked with a chopped onion in olive oil.
 



Last, but not least, dessert. Banana Crumb Muffins



 Happy Late Valentine's Day to you all! 

Of Phantom of the Opera Music/Guest Rooms, Birthdays, and Valentine Pretties....

Hello there!

How is everyone surviving this weather? We got about a foot of snow overnight. Yeah. I'm thrilled! (that comment was just dripping with sarcasm) More shoveling. More wind. Bleh.

On the bright side, the weather is so nasty that I get today off! YAY! 

I've had so many blog post ideas floating around in my head, but every time I've tried to sit down and write about them something else needed to be done instead. Oh, the joys of life.

So here I am. And I have a boat load of pictures to share with you!

Here is what went on in January:

            The celebration of my 19th and Robert's 22nd Birthday. Yes, we have the same birthday :) I made Robert a chocolate cake with snowflake sprinkles and I attempted to make petite fours. Neither turned out as planned, but they tasted good.

              Yeah, we're getting old. One candle for each of us. Don't judge us, we wanted to eat cake!

Mom gave me this :) It was yummy!

This is me after I had my wisdom removed...oops...I mean wisdom teeth removed :D All four of 'em and all were impacted. I look horrible in this pic :P I'm glad it's over. Cross that off my list of "The fun things you get to do once you're an adult".

Most of January was spent recovering from this, and being cooped up in the house and at work due to the lovely weekend winter storms we've been having lately.

"The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway" Ha! Rub it in, Elsa. Want to use your magical powers to remove the snow off my driveway? Oh wait, I already did that.

And here is what I've been up to so far this month:

This is a project I began in September: Our Phantom of the Opera themed Music/Guest room! I'm so happy with how it turned out! Despite how long it took to paint :P

Before........

 Prepping and Painting.........

  Don't mess with this woman. I was tired of painting at this point.

 After..........I made the felt wall hanging in the pic above.

  I love how the red turned out!

              Robert and I painted the mirror black and silver, and the candle stand was also spray painted black. I painted a black design on the candles too, just to add some artwork. They looked a little bland by themselves.

I got the idea to cover light switch covers with scrap book paper from Shealynn at Shealynn's Faerie Shoppe. Here's the link to the tutorial: DIY Switchplate Covers.

 I love barbies....so obviously there was going to be a Christine/Erik combo in this room! I need to make a mask for Erik.

 I printed off some sheet music from the Phantom and modge-podged it to this magazine organizer.

 My Egyptian shelf. I love Ancient Egyptian history. I wanted to be an Egyptologist when I was little, after watching the Mummy movies.

 Two wedding gifts from two different people that go together perfectly!

     I had the idea of using my guardian angel picture with the idea of "The Angel of Music" in mind.

 I even decorated the trash can. I cut out a mask shape with scrapbook paper and stuck it on using double sided tape.

    My caged "lark". If you've seen Sweeney Todd, you'll understand.

   My brother found this music box for me. It plays "The Music of the Night".

 My Christine costume I made for Halloween.

                  And here we are as The Phantom and Christine during our Halloween party!

This room was an awesome project and it took about a month to complete. Some of the decor I already had, and some things I repainted or made from scratch. I love designing rooms :) There are so many themes to choose from! This one was no-brainer though :D Music room? Definitely POTO.

    Here is what I'll be working on today...Valentine decorating! It won't be a mess for long............

Here are some pretties I've found lately: FROZEN valentines! I love the one with Olaf on it :D The two mailboxes are for my niece and nephew. They like hello kitty and star wars at the moment. These were too cute to pass up! The girl outfit is for my other niece. I love the leggings. Babies in leggings are adorable. The skull and crossbones outfit is for my future son, whenever he comes along. I'm not pregnant, yet. But hopefully sooner than later! I tend to buy baby clothes every once in a great while. If I see something I like and will probably never find again, I'm going for it! I dislike a lot of boy clothes out there right now, so when I saw that this was the last one on the rack, I grabbed it and ran :D

So that's what I've been up to lately. Besides shoveling :P

Hope you're staying warm. If you live in a tropical climate....PLEASE TAKE ME WITH YOU!

Cheers!

~Mary