There is something about ThredUP....

Well, hallo :)

This is a post I've been meaning to do for several weeks and I'm just now getting around to it. But it kind of worked out because now I have more pictures to share with you!

I've noticed that several other bloggers have recently discovered ThredUP, a website that is sort of like an online thrift store. I'm mainly a thrift shopper when it comes to clothes, and finding this site was a huge highlight of this year. You don't even have to leave the house to shop! I'll just start with saying that it is really super cool and amazingly awesome.

I discovered ThredUP on Pinterest (Thanks to AmandaBeth for posting the link btw!) and I've been hooked ever since. The best part is that when you are new to ThredUp and you click on a link that somebody has posted or emailed, you automatically get $10 to spend and so does the person that posted the link, no strings attached. You can literally buy $10 worth of clothing and not have to pay anything except shipping OR if you've added shipping into the $10 limit, then nothing at all! 

You can also share your own link, which ThredUp will give you once you have your own account. There is also the option of sharing via email or facebook, and whenever someone clicks on your link, you'll get money to spend!

How awesome is that?!

Here is my ThredUP haul:

My ThredUP Haul! So far....:D

Pretty Polka Dot Packaging.

The hoodie and the two shirts next to it are by Abbey Dawn, one of my favorite brands that is no longer in stores. I just typed  the brand in the search bar and it gave me all the results for that specific brand!  The sleeveless jean shirt used to have sleeves, but I'd been longing for one of those cute jean vests lately so off they came! Getting one for free beats paying $50 in-store!

The red dress and black dress I actually got for free because they both had small tears that they didn't notice when they were inspected the first time. So I was refunded for both! Since sewing is another one of my hobbies, this wasn't a problem for me. Both are easily fixable. I was actually pretty pumped about the defects! :D If this isn't something that floats your boat, ThredUp does have a return policy if you aren't pleased with your item. I haven't had to use it, but I haven't heard any complaints about their return service as of yet.

 

I love their tags!

Here is the hole in the black dress.....

.....and one of the holes on the red dress. It's no wonder they didn't notice them on this one, they are very hard to see.

 Now, you are probably thinking: So what happens when I run out of people to share the link with? Is that the end of free credit? Nope! There is another way to earn credit to either spend or cash out on ThredUP. They have something called clean-out bags, which they send to you for free so that you can send nearly new clothing to them in the brands they accept. Pricing varies depending on the condition and brand of the item you send. All the info on what they accept is on their website so check it out if you are interested! Also, they cover the shipping as well, so this doesn't cost you anything!

My first clean-out bag! I haven't shipped it out yet, but I managed to fill it to the brim :)

Guidelines to follow. They'll send you this card in your clean out bag envelope.

On the other side....Note: the brands the state here are not the ONLY brands they accept. Again, check out their website for more details.

More instructions.

All ready to get shipped out! I'm pretty proud of this bag. I kept saying to Robert: "Just look at it!" :D

Well, that has been my experience so far! I'm thrilled with this site and I'm sure you will be too. Let me know if you love ThredUP! I love seeing other people's hauls :)

Here is $10 for both of us to spend! Have fun shopping!

Pure Happiness

HI!

I'm extremely happy at the moment, so I wanted to do a quick post!

I FINALLY HAVE A DECENT BLOG HEADER! *squeals with happiness*

You have no idea how happy this makes me. That thing has been bugging me for awhile, but I hadn't given myself the time to research all the different options out there. Thanks to The Wonder Forest, I was able to design my own header :) *dances around* SEE HOW HAPPY I AM?!

"I am most content" - Evangeline, Nanny Mcfee.

Yup, that pretty much sums it up.

Thanks for putting up with my off-center header for waaaaay too long, people!

Pixlr is an awesome site. I'm addicted.

Now I am not very tech-savvy, and if you aren't either, here is a wonderfully helpful Pixlr tutorial on Youtube:

It's fun once you get the hang of it! And probably another time waster......oh well ;)

I feel so accomplished. I can't stop looking at it....it's...so...beautiful. *happy sigh* (Robert is looking at me weird, lol)

 Well, I'm going to float away on my cloud of happiness now. Goodnight, friends!

My New Pair of Fingerless Gloves.

So not terribly long ago, Treskie, a fellow blog friend, had this brilliant idea to re-purpose some of her favorite socks, one of which regrettably developed a hole in the toe region. They are now a pretty cool pair of fingerless gloves.

She provided an awesome step-by step picture tutorial, which you can find here.

Now, I LOVE fingerless gloves. I have a few pairs that I've found at Claire's and I've attempted to crochet myself a pair (I believe I mentioned them in an earlier post). I didn't get very far. Yet! I haven't given up. The thought just never crossed my mind that I could turn a pair of socks into a pair of gloves. I'm just loving this! There are so many cute and colorful socks out there these days.

Fortunately I had a pair of socks that I loved, but didn't wear very often because of the length. These one's are quite a bit longer than the one's Treskie used, but I really like them. They keep my arms warm!

They go very well with my fedora.

Thanks for the tutorial, Treskie! I'm in love with my new gloves :)


Here are some random pictures of the month:

My Dad found this "Olivia" notebook for me! It looks great in the Phantom of the Opera room. I had been thinking of finding a cute notebook to write lyrics in, and I think this one fits the bill!

I'm in love.

I've been reading "The Faerie Path" by Frewin Jones lately and I was tickled to find that when I removed the dustcover, it looked really lovely on the inside!

Pretty colors! They make me happy.

Ta-ta and Cheerio! Have a lovely night or day wherever you are :)

A Really, REALLY, Late St. Patrick's Day

Hi!

I'm sorry you haven't heard from me in a while! In the past few weeks a lot of people have come to visit, and I hosted a St. Patrick's day party on the 15th. There were 27 people in my small house for that party. Yeah, you read that right. Therefore, it has been kinda crazy around here. The party was awesome though, and we got to see family that we don't get to very often :)
 The week after the party was my recuperation week, just to do nothing or anything I wanted. Well, kind of anyway. Work doesn't fall into the "fun" category, but other than that I had a good bit of time to tackle some small projects. I utterly failed at convincing myself to sit down and blog. That is something I need to work on.
 In my next post I'll be posting about some of those projects, but for now I'll just show you some of the St. Paddy's day pics.

Unfortunately, I can't share pictures of the people who came to visit. Most of my family doesn't want their pictures out on the web, and I completely understand that. Some I still have to ask, but I'll save that for another day. It kind of stinks, because I love family blogs with lots of pictures and I would love for my blog to be like that......but there are also a lot of weird, creepy people online that I don't want my family exposed to. So for now it's just me and Robert.

Here are some pics of the par-tay:

My rainbow with a pot of gold. I put corn chips in it for the "gold" :D

A rainbow of Jelly Beans for a project below.

Rainbow Bark! I found this on Pinterest. Here's the link to the recipe.

A project for the kiddos, also found on Pinterest. Source.

I bought the Reeses miniatures that are wrapped in gold, and Mom helped hide them in the basement for the kids to find :)

Celtic decor.

A quick picture of what I was wearing, before the party craziness.

My sister made a veggie Irish flag and......

.....a fruit rainbow! Nice,yes?

It looks like leprechauns invaded my bathroom!

And here I am in the sheep shirt I found in Ireland :)

I hope your St. Patrick's Day was a blast!

Mardi Gra/Fat Tuesday

HI!

I meant to post this earlier today, but you know how that goes. Time flies by without you noticing :P

Right now I'm watching "The Princess and the Frog" with my hubby. It's at the part where Ray *spoiler alert* passes on and becomes a star. *sniff sniff* *sob* That just chokes me up!

I'm sorry, I'm getting distracted.

There it's done.

Okay, where were we? Ah.

I always like watching that around Mardi Gras. It just gets me in the mood for all the New Orleans goings on this time of year. 

That brings me to the subject of my post. Mardi Gras. A.k.a Fat Tuesday. My family never celebrated Mardi Gras growing up, but being Catholic, Fat Tuesday was always a big day of eating up the last of whatever you were giving up for Lent, before Ash Wednesday. 

I wish people wouldn't look at me like I had a chimpanzee on my head when I have a cross of ashes on my forehead. I realize some people have never heard of it, but it's still kind of ridiculous. Anymore, I just brush it off. (Not the ashes! People's comments.)

So, back to Mardi Gras. I didn't really know the reason why we had never celebrated it until recently. And I was like, oh that's why.

If you didn't know,  here's a link to a website about how it all started and why it's ended up the way it is now. Just go to the history and traditions section.

But I also discovered after reading up on the history of Mari Gras, that I actually kind of like it. The beautiful masks, the beads, the king cake, the beignets (french donuts), the colors, etc.
And if you ever want to visit New Orlean's during Mardi Gras, but have been afraid to because of the wild college spring-breakers, you just have to know where to go. There are family friendly streets to go to that don't allow the wild people or any of that nasty stuff to pass through.

I was really happy to hear that :)

So today, I dressed accordingly:

I even wore my beads to work.

The masks in the pic below are one I've been working on for my Etsy shop.

And here are some random Mardi Gras pictures that I thought looked pretty awesome.

Look what my sister got me for my late Valentine's Day present! Just look at it! IT'S ADORABLE! I need to think up a name for it.....

For dinner tonight I made Chicken breast with Chili seasoning, chopped up tomatoes, and cilantro. It smelled and tasted wonderful!

And french cut beans, just for kicks. I seasoned these with Garam Masala, and Salt and Pepper.

Well since it is so late, I shall end this post here. 

Happy Beginning of Lent to you! And Happy CLEAN Mardi Gras!

Cheers!

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!