Adventures in Vandyland

Pinterest Love And Some "Eye Candy"

2012-02-01T12:11:00.000-08:00

Are you already following me on Pinterest? If not, you probably should. I pin some pretty kick ass stuff. ;-) I would love to follow all you lovely ladies too! The more pinners, the merrier!

Here are just some of my recent Pinterest finds...

Fab Home Decor

Source: Uploaded by user via Chelsea on Pinterest

Is this mixer not the most fabulous mixer ever? This thing screams my name. Maybe I would want a blinged out red one instead though?? Yep, I would definitely replace my black one for a red sparkly one.

Source: thewickedcandles.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

I've talked about how much I adore these candles on my blog before but now they have more colors to choose from. They are called "Wicked Candles" and the black and purple ones belong in my house. Like NOW.

Source: thedecorista.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

This room has me completely obsessed. I am infatuated with everything about it. That black chandelier and the black walls are gorgeous! I would change one thing though...I would make this room my closet instead of a book room. Hehe.

Get In My Closet Now

Source: michaelkors.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

Michael Kors Large Rock N' Roll Hamilton Tote. I love the stud detailing on this purse. It gives it a little edge...and we all know I like things with a little edge. :-)

Source: tumblr.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

These Louboutin's will be mine one day. My life won't be complete without them.

Source: etsy.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

TaylorSays is selling shirts now! I bought this one a few weeks ago and have gotten so many compliments on it already. I loooooooooove it!

Source: neimanmarcus.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

Holy sexiness. I love me some red heels. Especially when those red heels are sky high YSL's!

Truths

Source: Uploaded by user via Chelsea on Pinterest

Don't mess with my princesses. Ever. The end.

Source: Uploaded by user via Chelsea on Pinterest

Yes, Yes, Yes.

Source: polyvore.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

Can I get an "Amen"??

And for your viewing pleasure, here is some hotness straight from my "Eye Candy" board...

Source: images.search.yahoo.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

Jax from SOA in all his gorgeous glory.

Source: images.search.yahoo.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

Ami James and his sexy as hell tattoos.

You're welcome and you're welcome.

You totally want to follow me now, huh??

So Damn Funny (And True)...

2011-12-21T12:56:00.000-08:00

Seriously. These videos are dead on! I say this shit all.the.time. I'm sure most of you have seen these already, but it's still funny even after watching it ten times. Now somebody needs to make a "Shit Guys Say" video!

Sisterly Love

2011-12-12T13:46:00.000-08:00

I love taking pictures of my sweet princesses. Sometimes they all cooperate, sometimes they don't. But that doesn't stop me from snapping away! :-)

Thanksgiving in their matching leopard print shirts and black jeggings. Yes, I'm that mom that loves coordinating my kids clothes on occasion, hehe...

Precious little Sage (who is growing waaaaaay too fast)...

Big sisters lovin' on baby sister...

Presley and Addison modeling their (faux) fur vests...

Happy baby with a beautiful smile...

Addison loves giving Sage kisses...

And then sometimes baby sister gets tired of taking so many damn pictures, bahahaha...

I seriously have the most gorgeous little girls ever. End of story. :-)

Nail of the Day- China Glaze "Skyscraper"

2011-12-07T10:35:00.000-08:00

This polish is from the China Glaze Metro Fall 2011 Collection. It was sold out online when I bought a few of the other ones from that collection, but luckily I found one left at Ulta the other day. It was so lonely so I had to save it! ;-)

This color is described as: "A sparkling, glitter blue reminiscent of the sky over the city."

I would describe it as a dusty, dark (denim maybe?) blue jam packed with silver and blue glitter. You know I love me some glitter!

It's a super pretty color and goes on so smooth (like most other China Glaze polishes). I have never seen a blue quite like this one so I'm happy to have it in my collection. Although I do like it, I don't totally love it. I think I would love it if it was a shade darker...but maybe that's just because I have an obsession with dark, dark nail polishes. I did two coats, which covered nicely, but it could have probably used three for good measure. The baby was done being patient while mommy did her nails so two coats was all I could accomplish, lol.

Picture in the shade:

Note: Please excuse the ripped skin on my ring finger in the picture above. I had just scratched my finger on something right before taking this pic. Super sexy, I know.

Picture in the sun:

Overall: Unique color, smooth application and layers nicely. Very pretty but not amazing.
Price: $8

Show Me Christmas- My List! {Link Up}

2011-12-06T12:57:00.000-08:00

What's on my Christmas list this year, you ask?? Check out my list of the things I would love to find under the tree for moi (take note Santa...and hubby, lol)...

Coach Sequin Spotlight Bag

OhEmGee. This purse is a-freakin'-mazing. It's so obnoxious-in-a-good-way, flashy, in your face and I need it in my life. Stat. This beauty is at the top my list this year!

Michael Kors Large Grayson Sequin Satchel

While we are on the subject of purses, lol. Look at that gold goodness. Beautiful. This purse would look so sexy with one of my all black outfits. Love it.

TaylorSays "You Can Ring My Bell" Heels

I got my first pair of TaylorSays heels over the Summer. Remember this post? So, naturally I think it's time for a second pair. You know, because my first pair of TaylorSays heels needs a TaylorSays friend and all. That sounds like a good reason, right?? ;-)

Chanel Mother of Pearl Sunglasses

Long story short, I had a pair of these that I absolutely loved. Then I lost them at the freakin' mall. Instead of some nice person turning them in to lost and found, some asshole decided to take them and make them theirs. Sad story, huh? In conclusion, I miss my Chanel babies and need another pair. Please and thank you Santa.

Cult Nails "Clairvoyant" *(formerly known as "Unicorn Puke")

*Yes, it actually used to be named "Unicorn Puke". :-)

I am addicted to nail polish for those of you that don't know. I love buying polish and generally always have my nails painted. I have a ridiculously large collection that brings a smile to my face whenever I look at it. Sickening, I know. Awhile ago I came across this specific polish on a beauty blog. You guys, it's so awesome. It's like nothing I have ever seen before. You have to see pics of it on the nail to do it justice, but unfortunately I can't show you any since I don't own the polish (yet). And I don't want to steal another bloggers pictures. Back to the point: Of course, I immediately go to the Cult Nails website to purchase it and what do ya' know...it's sold out! *insert sad face* From what I've heard, it's going to be sold out for quite some time too. I'm super bummed because I would love to have this baby in my nail polish collection. Maybe Santa can hook a sista' up?!?

Speaking of nail polish, I just bought some gorgeous ones the other day. This time of year always bring out the super sparkly, extra blingy polishes! Maybe I will start doing a "Nail of the Day" post once a week to show you guys some of the beautiful polishes out there?? Hmmm, we'll see.

Wow, I just got waaaaaaay off subject. As usual.

Anyways, that about wraps up my Christmas list! Do you notice a trend here? Apparently, I love anything sparkly and/or flashy. Hahahaha...

Make sure to head over to From Mrs. to Mama to link up! I would love to see what's on your Christmas list this year.

A Little Bit of Randomness...

2011-11-08T13:19:00.000-08:00

Hey there! Long time no see! However, I do have a pretty good excuse for abandoning my blog lately...

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

Life with three kids has been amazing, beautiful and fun with a little, actually make that a lot, of hectic and crazy mixed in. Sage is 4 weeks now (Umm, hello? Wasn't I just in the hospital giving birth to her?!?). She is a total sweetheart...not to mention ridiculously adorable! Presley and Addison adore their new little sister by the way...

*insert proud/happy/thankful mommy tears*

Onto some randomness:

- Cool weather has finally graced us with it's presence here in California. Thank God! I'm not a fan of hot weather so I'm always uber excited when Fall and Winter arrive.

- Halloween was so much fun. Presley was a "Sparkly Witch" (as seen in Exhibit C above), Addison was a "Princess Pirate" (see Exhibit B above) and Sage was a little ladybug. She decided to do her trick-or-treating all bundled up with me in the Moby!

And look how happy she was to be a ladybug for Halloween:

Oh, and this is my husband on Halloween. He likes to wear this scarier-than-shit mask to make all the neighborhood kids cry...

Hehehe.

- Can I just say that I'm starting to panic about losing all this baby weight. Yes, I know I just gave birth 4 weeks ago, but I'm so tough on myself I feel like I should have lost more weight by now. I'm so impatient when it comes to losing pregnancy weight...I feel like a whale and I want it off NOW! My favorite is the "mildly pregnant looking" belly you still have even after the baby is out. I mean, c'mon now. Why can't we just leave the hospital with a flat tummy?? Lol.

I'm going to wrap this post up with a few things that I'm loving right now:

1. Slatkin & Co. "Marshmallow Fireside" and "Winter" candles

These are seriously my two favorite candles of all time. I've been a huge "Winter" fan for a few years now so I always make sure to have a few of these in the house. The description of "Winter" is: A festive holiday blend of shimmering pine, orange clove, crisp bay leaf and warm winter woods. It literally smells like winter. Love it.

The "Marshmallow Fireside" scent is new this year and I'm totally hoping they make it a permanent scent. It's soooooooooooooo good. In fact, I bought 3 full size ones because I'm scared they will stop carrying it once the holiday season is over. Gotta stock up! Lol. The description of "Marshmallow Fireside" is: Toasted marshmallows and sweet vanilla cream wrapped in the aroma of rich smoldering woods. Divine!

These are my two staple scents, so chances are if you come to my house it will smell either like "Winter" or "Marshmallow Fireside". :-)

P.S. Bath & Body Works, if you're listening, DO NOT EVER discontinue these two scents. Or else.

2. Moby Wrap

This wrap is a lifesaver! If you are pregnant or have a new baby you need one of these. They are super comfy for mom to wear and baby loves being in it. I have been using the Moby like crazy with Sage and I can't believe I never had one before with the other girls.

3. Our cleaning lady

Bahahahaha! No, but seriously. This woman has been my freakin' hero lately! (The lady in picture is not our actual cleaning lady by the way :-D) With a newborn baby at home plus the other two, I have had no time for cleaning. Our house is fairly large so cleaning it (to my standards) takes for-ev-er. My amazing husband has been gracious enough to hire a cleaning lady for me until Sage gets a little older...and a little less needy. Which will be around age 2, right ladies?? ;-)

Anyways, hopefully I can start making a little more time for blogging because I really do miss it. I hope all you ladies are doing wonderful and enjoying this beautiful Fall weather! xoxoxo

Sage Lynlee VanDenHoek

2011-10-08T08:43:00.000-07:00

The princess has arrived!

Please meet: Sage Lynlee VanDenHoek...

Born: October 7, 2011 at 7:12 pm.

Weighing in at: 7 lbs 2 oz and 20 inches long.

We are over the moon with excitement to finally be able to hold our beautiful, perfect baby girl. She is absolutely gorgeous, just like her big sisters! (I'm not biased or anything though, hehe) More to come later...

P.S. How amazing is that picture? Fresh out of my womb and already gripping daddy's finger and staring at him. Melts my heart!

Impatiently Waiting...

2011-10-01T11:10:00.000-07:00

Random *painful* contractions...

achy back and legs...

diarrhea (TMI??)...

nausea...

exhaustion...

and general miserable-ness.

This pretty much sums up my last few days.

Will this stubborn baby just come already?!? Yes, I know her due date is still a few days away but the least she could do is arrive a couple days early after all this pain she's been putting me through. ;-) We are soooooooooooooo ready to meet her!

39 Weeks

2011-09-26T16:19:00.001-07:00

How far along: 39 weeks! Eeek! :-D

Baby’s Size: About the size of a watermelon.

Development: Your baby's waiting to greet the world! She continues to build a layer of fat to help control her body temperature after birth.

Weight gain/loss: Too much. I think the damn scales at the doctors office might be broken. Oh, and ours here at home might be too. ;-)

Maternity clothes: That would be a big fat yes.

Best moment this week: Lots of contractions (about 7 minutes apart the other night, but then they stopped) and finding out I'm 2 cm dilated as of last week. Let's hope I made more progress at this weeks appointment! I would love to hear that I'm 4 cm now, lol.

Symptoms: Painful contractions, peeing constantly, lots of tossing and turning at night, swollen from the heat (my wedding ring won't fit past my knuckle! Boo!) and tons of aches and pains.

Food cravings/aversions: Cravings include Oreo's with ice cold milk, Rubio's and In-N-Out. Aversions include many things these days...I don't have much of an appetite anymore.

What I'm looking forward to: Going into labor soon hopefully! Everything is ready and waiting for baby girl. We can't wait to meet our beautiful princess. :-) Plus, I can't wait to get my body back...this momma has a lot of baby weight to lose!

What I look like this week:

33 Weeks

2011-08-17T12:11:00.000-07:00

How far along: 33 weeks (and 1 day)!

Baby’s Size: About the size of a honeydew. At my appointment a couple days ago, my doctor said she will probably be on the smaller side when she's born. My first born was 7 lbs 11oz and my second was 6 lbs 11oz...my doctor says she will most likely be around the same size as my second born. You'd think with all the weight I gain I'd be birthing 10 pounders, lol. Apparently, I make small babies!

Development: She's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and her skeleton is hardening. The bones in her skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for her to fit through the birth canal.

Weight gain/loss: You don't even want to know. Let's just say, I'm a freakin' whale.

Maternity clothes: Duh!

Best moment this week: Hearing baby girls heartbeat at my regular OB checkup. Best.Sound.Ever. I could never get sick of hearing that! I also started doing all of her laundry (clothes, burp cloths, towels, etc.). Hanging all of her tiny, adorable clothes in her closet makes her arrival seem so much closer! And by the way, she already has more clothes than me and she's not even here yet. Yes...I have a major shopping problem! :-)

Symptoms: Breasts are disgustingly ginormous, major lower back pain on certain days, serious lack of energy, appetite has decreased slightly, round ligament pain and quite a few Braxton Hicks.

Food cravings/aversions: Cravings include vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup, milk, pancakes and Rubio's. Aversions include butter and anything greasy and/or fried

What I'm looking forward to: Meeting princess #3 in 7 weeks. I'm hoping she will be a good little girl and surprise us a week early. (I can dream, right??) I delivered a little early with my last two pregnancies, so I've been pretty spoiled up until now with not ever having to go over my due date. I say, let's keep that trend going! Lol. Also, we get to have one last ultrasound next week! Can't wait to see her one more time in my belly before she enters the world!

What I look like this week:

Wordless Wednesday- 1st Grader!

2011-08-10T10:16:00.001-07:00

Presley's first day of 1st grade was today! She looked pretty damn adorable and uber fabulous in her sparkly outfit (if I do say so myself)!

New Car!

2011-07-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

Some of you probably read the title to this post and thought: "New car? Didn't she just get a new car?!?"

Why, yes I did. About 4 months ago to be exact. Remember this post? I got a wild hair up my ass and decided that I wanted a minivan instead of an SUV. So, my loving husband went and bought me a Toyota Sienna. Even though he didn't like minivans he bought it anyways since I was going to be the main driver (he has his truck so he only has to drive the minivan when we all go somewhere together on weekends). I went from driving a big ol' Escalade to a minivan. And I was very excited about the Sienna...at first.

The first couple months I was really enjoying having a minivan. Sliding doors, very kid friendly, ideal for a big family. Sounds perfect, right?

Wrong. After those first couple months I started having some regret. At first I didn't share my feelings about the Sienna with my husband because he had just bought the damn thing! I didn't want him to think I was ungrateful or unappreciative. What were my reasons for the sudden change of heart, you ask?

1) I missed sitting up higher in an SUV (we used to own a Denali, then we got the Escalade so I was used to driving large SUV's).

2) I missed having a more powerful engine. Yes, I know I'm not a race car driver, but I at least want my vehicle to have some pick up and go!

3) I missed the look and style of SUV"s. I just could not for the life of me look at the Sienna and feel happy about it. The whole look of it just never grew on me.

4) I never felt right driving it. It just wasn't "me". And let's all be honest, everyone wants to feel comfortable and happy with their vehicle.

So, as it turns out, neither me or my husband are minivan people. We are definitely SUV people. He must have sensed my disappointment with the Sienna because one day we started discussing if I still liked it. I was honest with him. I told him not to worry about it though...maybe I'll start liking it again (yeah right!).

Thankfully for me, I am very blessed with a super generous and understanding husband.

Yesterday he bought me the beautiful GMC Yukon Denali that I had been wanting for awhile!!!! *insert squeals of excitement*

It's gorgeous and I'm totally in love with it. When I walk out into the garage I feel happy just looking at it. Which is way more than I could say for the minivan! In fact, I jokingly told my husband that I wanted to sleep in it last night because I love it so much. Bahahaha...

Is that man a saint or what?!? Sometimes I can be a real pain in the ass/high maintenance so I definitely count my blessings with a husband like that!

In conclusion, I'm happy to report that I'm no longer a "minivan mom". I am right back where I should be...an "SUV mom"!

Oh, and I promise to keep this vehicle for a lot longer than a few months! Lol.

28 Weeks

2011-07-12T12:02:00.000-07:00

How far along: 28 weeks! Hello third trimester! :-)

Baby’s Size: About the size of an eggplant.

Development: By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

Weight gain/loss: At my last doctors appointment I had gained a total of 30 lbs. Yes, you read that correctly. 30 lbs! I feel like such a fat ass. According to our scale at home, I lost about 2-3 lbs since that appointment though. Hopefully our scale isn't lying to me, lol.

Maternity clothes: Duh! Every now and then I'll throw on a regular tank top when I'm just lounging at home, but the bottom of my belly always sticks out of them. Haha. I have been living in maternity maxi dresses this Summer...those things rock my world.

Best moment this week: Hitting the third trimester! I can't believe how quickly the second trimester flew by.

Symptoms: Breasts are gigantic (and leaking already btw...too much info, I know, but I had to share), major lower back pain on certain days, energy level is non-existent again, appetite has decreased slightly and round ligament pain.

Food cravings/aversions: Cravings include fresh fruit, Rubio's Gourmet Grilled Shrimp Tacos (so delish) and those super soft sugar cookies with the frosting and sprinkles that you buy at the grocery store (thanks to Allie over at Table For 3-Actually Make That 4 for mentioning these in a recent post...now I can't stop thinking about them! Lol). Aversions include fast food and anything greasy or fried.

What I'm looking forward to: Meeting this baby girl in 12 weeks hopefully! I'm measuring a week ahead, so fingers crossed she will surprise us and make her entrance a little sooner than expected...not too soon though!

What I look like this week:

Backyard Fun

2011-07-11T12:07:00.000-07:00

Today was a hair up in a ponytail, comfy clothes only, barefoot, chillaxin' in the sun type of day.

Those days are hard to come by lately. There are always errands to run, cleaning to do, laundry to fold, etc. So, it's nice every now and then to just take it easy and enjoy doing nothing!

I feel like a mommy failure this Summer. This is Presley's first "summer break" from school so I knew that keeping her as occupied as she was each day at school would be difficult. Some days I can tell that she's plain ol' bored though, which makes me feel bad. But other days we have a blast so hopefully those days make up for the bored-out-of-her-mind days.

Addison can pretty much keep herself busy doing just about anything. She doesn't need quite as much entertaining as her big sister so boredom doesn't ever seem to be an issue for her. (Thank God!)

But alas, I don't feel like the "fun mommy" I'm used to being. It doesn't help matters that I'm seven months pregnant in the California Summer heat. I have almost no energy on certain days. On those days I feel like even more of a mommy failure. The girls would play outside all.day.long. if they could, but I can only stand the 100 degree sun baking down on my oversize body for so long people!

On days like today though, we have fun with the simple things.

Bubbles, chalk, backyard fun, and some (much needed) cool breeze.

And moments like these make even the most relaxed days extra special...

He Knows The Way To My Heart...

2011-07-05T12:34:00.000-07:00

My husband is a very smart man. He knows exactly what makes me smile and what gets me super excited.

Shoes, of course! :-)

Some of you might remember my post awhile back right after I discovered TaylorSays on Etsy. I included a pair of her custom heels in my post because I loved them so much.

From the moment I laid my eyes on her orgasmic shoes, I knew I had to own a pair one day.

Good Girl Gone Bad

You Can Ring My Bell

The Prettiest Star

Saddle Up Baby

See what I mean? Are these not the most fabulous, rock-n-roll, unique, sexy shoes EVER?!?

Each one is a custom, one of a kind creation by kick ass California artist, Taylor Reeves. This girl is way talented. Not only does she make canvas art, motorcycle art (I'll take a chopper hand painted by her any day!) and clothing art, but she also makes these heels into art by hand painting the soles.

*Swoon*

A few weeks back I realized that I hadn't visited TaylorSays Etsy site in quite some time. She had a few new pairs for sale and I fell in love all over again. I was instantly reminded of how I desperately needed a pair of these in my closet. As I was staring at the computer (and maybe drooling a little), my husband asked what I was looking at. I showed him her Etsy site and pointed out my favorite pair of heels not really thinking much of it. He always tells me how I have waaaaaaaay too many shoes, which I do, so I didn't expect him to contribute further to my addiction. Hahaha.

Well, I'm here to tell the world that my husband is the most amazing, generous, thoughtful man alive. He bought me my favorite pair of TaylorSays shoes for my birthday!!!! Best.Husband.Ever.

Here is a picture of the beautiful babies I chose:

All That She Wants

I seriously die over these shoes!

I'm like a giddy little girl everytime I look at the picture of them. They'll take 2-4 weeks to get here since they are custom made and she has to hand paint the soles of them, so until the UPS man rings my doorbell I will be on pins and needles!

I just have to deliver baby girl #3 in October, lose my baby weight, then I will totally be rockin' the most kick ass shoes ever. I don't think I can quite pull them off right now with my swollen feet, extra 30 + lbs (!) and lack of balance due to this big ol' belly, lol.

Now I have to decide which pair will be the second addition to my TaylorSays collection...hehe.

P.S. Sorry about my blogging hiatus lately (again). I've been actually wanting to blog, but I lost my camera after we got back from vacation! If I don't find it soon then I guess we will just have to buy a new one. Oh darn! ;-) I have some great pictures from our Monterey trip to share, but unfortunately that will have to wait until I can find the missing camera.

SweetPea & Fay...I'm Still In Love!

2011-06-22T16:19:00.001-07:00

Remember this review I did on a few eye shadows and a lipgloss from SweetPea & Fay?

Remember how I raved about their products and only had positive things to say about them?

Here's a little reminder about their mineral cosmetics in case you forgot:

"Our highly pigmented mineral shades are 100% NATURAL, smudge proof, water proof, crease free and last ALL day. Our eye shadows are pigmented enough for any skin tone and gentle enough for any skin type.
All mineral eyeshadows and be worn dry or wet for a more dramatic feel. SweetPea And Fay`s 100% Natural cosmetics are unique in everyway. Wear them alone or with other shades, our super blending formula makes it easy to get striking effects."

Contains NO:
- synthetic dyes
- fragrances
-preservatives
-parabens

Well, if you didn't go check them out after reading that review, head over there now. Because I'm still equally impressed with their products and even more exciting...they have tons of new mineral eye shadow colors available!

I just placed an order for a few new shadows and I literally could not choose. All the colors are seriously that amazing!

Just wanted to remind you ladies about SweetPea & Fay. Their cosmetics are beautiful, unique, long lasting and of course natural. If you're still lusting after a quality mineral makeup brand , then SweetPea & Fay is your answer. They are the only mineral eye shadows I use and I fall more in love everytime I get a new color!

Join Me In My New Addiction!

2011-06-09T12:51:00.001-07:00

Ladies, have you tried out Pinterest?

If not, you should probably go check it out immediately!

Seriously, stop what you're doing right now and go.

I first heard about this majorly addictive website from the lovely Queenie over at The Planet Pink (one of my favorite blogs, by the way).

It's basically an online pinboard where you "pin" all the things you love/want/need that express you, your style, your life, etc.

I've been playing with the site now for a couple days and it's so.much.freakin.fun. Although, pinning all this awesome stuff is making me yearn for my pre-pregnancy style and body back ASAP, lol.

Come check out my pinboard (which is still very new and slightly bare) here:

And if you feel like pinning with me (and other fellow bloggers), let me know and I can send you an invite. Apparently, without an invite it takes awhile to get approved for an account. So, just shoot me a comment with your e-mail address or e-mail me at chelsvandy@yahoo.com and I'll send you an invitation!

Let The Countdown Begin...

2011-06-06T16:18:00.001-07:00

...until family vacation!

Can I get a "woot-woot"??

My husband, the girls and I will be heading down to Monterey for a few days to enjoy some much needed relaxation, family time and fun in the sun.

Our view from the hotel room will be something like this:

We'll get to spend plenty of time watching these adorable little fellas:

And of course we'll be soaking up some Vitamin D playing (and relaxing) here:

The girls are most excited about visiting the aquarium. Monterey has an a.m.a.z.i.n.g. aquarium! Even though we've been there quite a few times, it never gets old.

Oh, and this pregnant momma is really, really looking forward to some coconut shrimp from Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.! Lol. It's the little things when you're 23 weeks pregnant, you know? ;-)

The Graduate

2011-06-02T12:44:00.000-07:00

I just watched my first born princess graduate from Kindergarten.

Right before the school bell rang the teacher and students did a countdown from 10 to 0. Once the countdown was done they were officially 1st graders!

I, of course, cried like a baby the whole time. Should I expect to cry this much each time one of our children moves onto another grade, or can I just blame this instance on pregnancy hormones??

We are so, so, so proud of Presley. She did such an amazing job in Kindergarten and soaked up every minute of it. Her lovely teacher did nothing but rave about her constantly. (Proud mommy and daddy here!)

Oh, and did I mention she was best dressed out of all the kids?!? She taught those boys and girls all about being fabulous. ;-)

Time to kick off Summer break now! Then next stop: 1st grade! Let's hope they are ready for her ridiculous cuteness. Hehe...

First day of Kindergarten:

Last day of Kindergarten:

Congratulations to our beautiful, smart, oh-so-sweet Kindergarten graduate!

I'm A Blogging Failure

2011-05-31T08:23:00.001-07:00

Wow...it's been way too long since my last post. Things have been busy around here lately and unfortunately blogging took a temporary backseat. I'm hoping to get my blogging butt back in gear ASAP!

For now, let me update you all on the recent happenings with our family:

* I am 22 weeks along in my pregnancy today! I can't believe I'm already over halfway done. A couple of weeks ago we had our 20 week ultrasound. We were so excited to see our little one again! Oh, and by the way, she is still a girl! :-)

* Ready for some shocking news?? (drumroll please) I am now officially a minivan-driving-mom! Yep, you heard that right. We traded in our Escalade for a Toyota Sienna about a month ago. How do I feel about the new ride? I freakin' LOVE it!! In fact, I actually love it more than the Escalade! It even has more features than the Escalade, which I didn't think was even possible. I've been wanting a Sienna for awhile now, but the hubby wasn't loving the idea. We were both "anti-minivan" people forever, but with baby #3 on the way I changed my tune. Everyone with 2+ kids raved about the Sienna and how convenient it was with multiple children. Finally, my husband came around (especially after I mentioned how much cheaper gas would be in the Sienna vs. the Escalade, lol). After some searching we found the exact one we wanted...the right color, fully loaded (and then some!), Limited Edition, AWD, etc. It's perfect! I never thought the day would come that I would be driving a minivan, but now I can't imagine driving anything else.

* Presley only has 2 days left of Kindergarten!! Holy crap. I can't believe how fast her first year of school flew by. More importantly, I can't believe she is going to be a 1st grader! She is seriously growing up way too quick. :-( We are so proud of her and how well she did in Kindergarten...especially being the youngest in her class. She learned so much and progressed in so many areas. She definitely exceeded our expectations. I see the words "Honor Roll" in her future! Hehe.

* Speaking of princesses growing up, Addison has started potty training! We officially started about a week ago and she has done a.m.a.z.i.n.g.! She caught on so quickly (I'm sensing a trend here with my children being really damn smart, lol). She even got to pick out her first pack of big girl panties...she chose Tinkerbell, of course. Our goal was to have her out of diapers completely by the time princess #3 arrived, so I'd say we are ahead of schedule. Woot woot!

* Remember when I told you all about the new furniture that my wonderful hubs bought for me for Mother's Day? Well, it all arrived the day before Mother's Day which worked out perfectly because we had the family over on Mother's Day for brunch. I adore everything we picked out. And I adore my husband even more for being so generous and spoiling the hell out of me with new furniture AND a new car for Mother's Day! Hehe.

* We ordered baby girl #3's room decor a couple weeks ago. I love damask print, so I immediately fell in love with the look of this bedding the second I saw it. It's super chic looking but still cute enough for a baby. We won't be using the matching window valances/matching curtains because I think it looks a little overkill, but everything else is adorable. Hopefully the little princess will love it! Now we begin the big project of turning bedroom #4 (which is currently the office) into her room!

I think that about does it for updates right now. Hopefully you ladies will hear from me again soon...and by "soon" I mean before the year 2012. ;-)

17 Weeks

2011-04-27T13:31:00.000-07:00

How far along: 17 weeks (and 1 day)!

Baby’s Size: About the size of an onion.

Development: Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.

Weight gain/loss: No comment! I'll just say that ice cream and Easter candy has been tasting way too good lately, lol.

Maternity clothes: Definitely. I'm rockin' the preggo pants, tops and super comfy maxi dresses (which I have a feeling I will be living in this Summer).

Best moment this week: Starting to feel baby moving and kicking more often! Love it! Also, our youngest (Addison) kissed my belly and said "Hi baby sister" yesterday. Is that not the cutest thing ever?!?

Symptoms: Breasts are becoming extra ginormous, round ligament pain and fatigue.

Food cravings/aversions: Cravings include fruit roll-ups, strawberries, Honey Bunches of Oats cereal and ice cream. Aversions include veggies and pizza.

What I'm looking forward to: Feeling the baby move every day regularly...one of my favorite parts of being pregnant. :-)

Milestones: We found out last week that we are having another GIRL! Woo-Hoo! Can't wait to meet princess #3!

What I look like this week:

Team Pink or Team Blue??

2011-04-18T19:07:00.000-07:00

So today we had out 16 week "Gender Determination Ultrasound". I could not fathom waiting a whole four more weeks to find out the gender so I made hubby fork over the money to find out early. What can I say? I'm just way too impatient!

Well, let me just start by saying that we almost left there not knowing if the baby was a boy or girl. The baby was so active and wouldn't get in a good position for us to see the goods! I think this was a huge indication that the baby will be equally as stubborn as big sister, Addison. (Lord help me!)

We were able to get some other really good pictures of baby while we were trying to get a gender shot. Here are a few:

Partial body and profile...

Legs and feet (love it!)...

Hand and spine...

Thankfully, we got really lucky because right when the (super sweet and determined) ultrasound tech was about to give up and reschedule us, the baby got right in position and held still! Hallelujah!

The ultrasound tech smiled, paused the screen, started typing and this is what we saw:

Yep, another GIRL is on her way! Yay for all things pink and sparkly! (I'm sure all you mommies of girls notice that tell-tale sign of a girl on an ultrasound...those little white lines, lol)

We are beyond excited to have another beautiful princess joining our family! I can never get enough of the girliness. Hehe. My husband has years ahead of him of chasing boys away with three girls in the house...poor guy. He's a little stressed. Lol. We can't wait to meet princess #3 in October! :-)

Go team PINK!

What's New?

2011-04-05T13:44:00.000-07:00

I've been a bad, bad blogger lately. Can you ever forgive me?

Here's a little update on what's new with our family:

Last weekend we went to RC Willey in search of an ottoman. Well, we found our ottoman...

...and we also found a new (beautiful) sectional and a new (also beautiful) dining room table.

We went in for an ottoman and came out with an ottoman, sectional and dining room table. Now that's what I call a successful shopping trip! Lol.

I'm so excited for our new stuff to get here. It will still be about 2 weeks because we had the sectional made custom to be exactly how we wanted it. Once it all gets here I will make sure to post pics though! Now we just have to sell our current couches and dining room table before the new ones get here!

Last week we had our 12 week ultrasound (actually more like a 13 week ultrasound since I was already 13 weeks). It was so amazing. The baby was moving all around, opening and closing his/her mouth and being stubborn of course. Gee, I wonder where our children get that stubborn trait? Lol.

Anyways, everything went great with the ultrasound! I swear, even though this will be my 3rd child, I am still just as amazed when I see the ultrasounds. It's like each time is the first time. I wish I could have an ultrasound every week!

Here are a couple pictures of Baby #3:

Isn't he/she adorable already?!? ;-)

In other pregnancy related news, today I am 14 weeks! About 2 more weeks until we find out the gender. I can seriously barely contain my excitement! Eeek! April 18th can't come soon enough.

Baby bump at 14 weeks:

So, that about does it for my update. I'm off to continue my search for the perfect double stroller. Wish me luck because I'm having a hard time falling in love with one.

Let me leave you with a recent pic of my sweet little princesses and their crazy morning hair, hehe:

Shop The Look

2011-03-23T11:49:00.000-07:00

From the moment I came across shopthelook.net, I knew I was in accessory heaven. They have pretty much anything and everything you could possibly be looking for in an accessory. Dressy, boho, casual, edgy, statement pieces...they have it all.

Their site includes everything from necklaces to bracelets to rings to scarves to hair accessories.

Oh, and did I mention that their prices are pretty impressive as well?

I was super excited when Shop The Look let me choose two pieces to review for my lovely readers.

Here are the two pieces I chose:

This necklace is the epitome of a "statement piece". It's big, beautiful, catches the eye and needs nothing else with it. The second picture shows the amazing detail. Isn't it gorgeous?!?

These earrings are A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.! I love large, chunky earrings like this. And with all the gem colors, they could really go with almost any color outfit. I tried to capture the sparkle factor in the second picture, but it doesn't even do it justice (no sun this week in California!). Out of all my earrings, and I have a lot, I would have to say these are my new favorites!

I must admit, I was impressed from the very moment I opened the box. Each item was carefully packaged in it's very own black velvet bag. Not only does this make the piece seem more luxurious, but it also helps protect the jewelry from possible damage in transit. This was a great touch that not many companies take the time to do anymore unfortunately. Kudos to Shop The Look for that!

As far as the actual pieces go, I am highly impressed with them as well! Both the necklace and the earrings seem really durable. A lot of times when you only pay a small amount for accessories they fall apart after only a couple wears. This isn't the case with the jewelry I chose from Shop The Look. Both pieces seem to be made very well with quality being the number one priority.

Overall, I am 100% happy with the jewelry pieces I chose from Shop The Look! I'm always excited to add a new accessory to my collection that is versatile, durable and beautiful to the eye. And I will definitely be purchasing more of my accessories from them in the future.

Go check out shopthelook.net to see their huge selection and awesome prices! And hurry because today they are having a sale...50% off all earrings (woot woot)! Just enter the code: EAR50 at checkout.

Disclaimer: These items were sent to me by the company for review purposes. I was in no way compensated for my review and all opinions are mine.

12 Weeks

2011-03-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

How far along: 12 weeks!

Baby’s Size: About the size of a plum.

Development: The most dramatic development this week: reflexes. Your baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, his toes will curl, his eye muscles will clench, and his mouth will make sucking movements.

Weight gain/loss: So far only 4 lbs...this is shocking to me because usually I have gained way more by now in my pregnancies! Woo Hoo!

Maternity clothes: Still using my belly band with my regular pants, but I have been using both regular shirts and maternity shirts.

Best moment this week: Getting to hear baby's heartbeat yesterday!!!! ♥

Symptoms: My symptoms have really eased up the last couple weeks since my first trimester was coming to an end. Every now and then I'll get a wave of nausea (especially if I smell something nasty or if I'm hungry). Other than that I'm feeling pretty good! I even have a little more energy now!

Food cravings/aversions: Cravings include macaroni and cheese, Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal and Jimboys tacos (all pretty healthy huh? Lol). Aversions are still vegetables and anything deep fried.

What I'm looking forward to: We get to see baby this Friday at our 12 week ultrasound! Oh, and finding out the gender on April 22nd!

Milestones: I made it to 12 weeks! Second trimester, here we come!
:-)

I'm not going to include a belly picture this week because it's pretty much the same size as it was last time. Although my uterus is growing, my bloating has also gone down (a lot) so my belly really hasn't got any bigger over the last couple weeks. I'll make sure to include one next time though!

Sweet Relief!

2011-03-21T12:52:00.001-07:00

Well, my doctors appointment this morning went great! My doctor found the baby's heartbeat right away and she said it sounds perfect! It's such an amazing sound...I wish I could listen to it all day.

And she changed my due date from October 5th to October 4th! Hey, one day makes a huge difference when you're 40 weeks preggo, lol.

At the end of my appointment she high-fived me and said: "Congratulations. You've made it through your first trimester!" Sweet, sweet words to my ears!

I feel such a huge sense of relief now. I feel like I can truly enjoy being pregnant. I no longer feel like everytime I look at baby stuff or discuss baby names with my husband I will jinx it. I feel like I can breathe!

Thanks to all of you amazing ladies who took the time to comment on my last post and/or sent me words of encouragement. Your positivity has seriously helped me get through my first trimester and I adore each and every one of you for that!

Nervous.

2011-03-20T17:10:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow will be kind of a big deal.

Why you ask?

Because tomorrow morning I have my 12 week doctors appointment.

This means that we will get to hear baby's heartbeat...if all goes well.

This also means that I will be "in a safe zone" since my first trimester will be coming to a close (I will be 12 weeks on Wednesday...woot woot!).

I'm pretty damn nervous because the way this appointment turns out will decide if I finally get to relax and stop stressing so much.

Heartbeat= Pure joy, happiness, relief, less stress and finally being able to enjoy this pregnancy a little more.

So, I'm really hoping to hear that heartbeat because I could use a little less stress and a little more relief, lol.

Any extra prayers and good thoughts from you ladies would be hugely appreciated. I'm feeling fairly positive that everything will go fine, but I still can't help but be a little nervous.

Part 2: You Had Questions, Now I Have Answers!

2011-03-17T13:30:00.000-07:00

If you missed Part 1, go here and check out those questions first. Let's continue on with the rest of the questions you ladies had for me!

Q: "What attracts you to your husband?"

A: The list of why I am attracted to my husband is a long one, but I'll give you the main reasons:
- He is sexy as hell! ;-)
- He is the most amazing daddy. Seriously. Watching him with the girls melts my heart. It's so surprising that a total manly man/strong and silent type can be such a ball of mush and sweetness around his girls. My favorite is when he has tea parties with them, hehe.
- He is so smart (and is usually right about everything 99.5% of the time...but don't tell him that I admitted to that!)
- Even though he's not the worlds most emotional man, he can still turn on the romance when needed.
- He's a total man. Not feminine at all. He is a pure, strong, manly man who loves football, hunting, etc. and I find that so sexy.
- He smells amazing all.the.time. Even when he's been outside sweating, he still smells so damn good. I don't get it!
- He's such a great provider for our family. He has always been very financially smart and secure. AKA: He has had his shit together since day one, which is a huge plus in a husband!
- He can make me laugh like no one else. :-)
- He puts me in my place when I need it. I can't stand men that let women walk all over them. And my man definitely does not let me walk all over him...and I adore that about him! He stands his ground and puts me back in check, which I need from time to time. Lol.
- He is so generous. The majority of the time, if I want it, I get it. Although, he has put his foot down on purses for now. Apparently I already have too many?!? Nonsense! Hahaha...

I could keep going forever, but I have more questions to answer so I'll stop here!

Q: "If you were on Survivor, what would be your one luxury item?"

A: This is a tough question for me because a) I never watch Survivor so I have no idea what they consider "luxury items" and b) I love all luxury items so how could I ever choose just one! I'm a total girlie girl, so the thought of being on that show is really unappealing. I need showers, I need my toothbrush, I need toothpaste, I need deodorant, I need my jewelry, I need perfume, I need my makeup. In fact, I've never even been camping. Sad, I know. But, I guess if I had to choose I would say my toothbrush and toothpaste because I would go crazy not being able to brush my teeth!

Q: "What inspired you to start blogging?"

A: This blog actually started out as a way for my mother-in-law and sister-in-law to keep updated on what's going on with our family. They live far away and we don't see them often, so I thought this would be a good way to have them here with us in a way. I started coming across all these blogging networks and it kind of flourished into something a little bigger. I started meeting other amazing mommies and found that blogging was a great outlet for me as a stay at home mom. You know, a way to have some adult interaction when most of my days are spent interacting with my little ones! I love blogging and I especially love all the women I have met!

Q: "I love how you flip your style from time to time...are you planning on keeping your hair dark for summer or will you lighten it up a bit?"

A: After having my dark hair for quite some time now, I'm definitely ready for another change! I have been considering going back to blonde again, but can't decide for sure yet. My natural color has been getting darker and darker over the past couple years, so keeping it dark is easiest right now. We'll see how I feel in a couple months though!

Q: "Are you thinking about names for baby #3 yet?"

A: Yes! I have finally allowed myself to start thinking about some names. I was so afraid that talking about names would jinx us, but then I realized that was silly! Even though I still feel worried about another miscarriage sometimes, I came to the conclusion (with the help of my smart husband) that I need to stop stressing and enjoy the pregnancy. I feel way more positive lately and have stopped focusing on all the "what-ifs". Plus, I'm almost done with my first trimester so that's a huge relief! So far we have come up with one boy name (we always have a hard time thinking of boy names we like) and about 6 girl names. We'll probably make our final decision after our gender determination ultrasound next month!

Again, thanks for all the great questions! I hope this gave you all a chance to get to to know me a little better. :-)

Part 1: You Had Questions, Now I Have Answers!

2011-03-16T09:07:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all your great questions ladies! I'll probably break the questions and answers up into a couple different posts. Otherwise, this post might be a mile long!

Let's get started!

Q: "Where did you and your husband meet?"

A: This is kind of a long story, but I'll try to give you the short(er) version. My husband (Rick) and I have actually known eachother since I was about 14. No, we didn't go to school together. He is actually 11 years older than me, so when we first met I was 14 and he was 25.

My older sister was getting married and her new husbands best man was...Rick! Basically my husband was my brother-in-laws best friend. Are you confused yet? Lol. So, at my sisters wedding I was a bridesmaid and Rick was a best man. I was only 14 at the time and my husband is not some disgusting sexual predator so obviously nothing happened! Can you say "jailbait"? Hahaha. I was just his friends wife's little sister at the time.

Fast forward about 5 years and I found myself at a concert with my sister, her husband and Rick. Remember, my brother in law and Rick are best buds at the time, so they were around eachother a lot. We all had a blast at the concert. On the limo ride home I found myself wanting to know more about this Rick guy. He was pretty damn sexy, I loved the way he carried himself, he liked to have a good time but was still a gentlemen...oh, and he had a really nice vehicle. ;-) Don't lie ladies, you know that's kind of a turn on! I was about 19 at the time (he was 30), and I had always been attracted to older men so I had no qualms about our age difference.

The next day I called my sister and started asking her about Rick. Was he seeing anyone? Was he a good guy? What kind of girls was he into? She was a little apprehensive at first (turns out Rick was quite the party animal and quite the ladies man in his younger years!). Well, apparently Rick was interested in me too and soon we were going on double dates with my sister and brother in law. We had so much fun together, laughed all the time, had AMAZING chemistry (if you know what I mean, lol), he was financially secure, he was a hard worker and did I mention how damn sexy he was?!? Hehe. Anyways, he was (and still is) everything I ever wanted in a man.

After that, the rest is history! I'm so thankful and lucky to have this man as my husband. We make such a great team and I couldn't imagine my life without him. He is a perfect daddy, an amazing provider and the greatest husband a girl could ask for. I thank God everyday that our paths crossed when they did! ♥

Q: "What is your favorite date night?"

A: Hmmm, good question. I'd say my favorite type of date night is something simple. Like dinner and a movie. Last October we did dinner then a haunted house for a date night and that was super fun! I just love the chance to get dressed up, sit down with my husband, talk to eachother and enjoy some alone time. So, I'm not too picky when it comes to date night.

Q: "If you could meet any celeb, who would it be?"

A: That's a tough one! I think it would be a tie between Ray Liotta and Johnny Depp. Can I just meet both of them at the same time?? Lol. For some strange reason, I've always had a huge crush on Ray Liotta so I know for sure I would love, love, love to meet him. But Johnny Depp is amazing too! So, my final answer is: BOTH!

Q: "Are you hoping for a baby boy with this pregnancy?"

A: I've been getting asked this question a lot! In all honesty, I really don't have a gender preference with this pregnancy. I would be completely happy with another girl, but I'd also be completely happy with a little boy. I know it sounds cliche, but all we want is a healthy baby. Boy or girl, it really doesn't really matter. I am so excited to find out the sex though! April 22nd we will find out...pink or blue?? :-)

Okay, since my answer to the first question ended up being the length of a novel, I think I'll stop here for today! Make sure to check back in for the second part because there are plenty more questions waiting to be answered!

Day Trip To The San Francisco Zoo

2011-03-10T13:05:00.001-08:00

First off, welcome new followers!

Now onto our little trip! A couple weekends ago we decided to take a day trip to San Francisco. Our main goal was to go to the zoo since both of the girls are totally into animals right now. The weather was practically perfect the day we were there and we had such a blast! (Except for when Addison tripped and split her little lip open on the concrete...poor little princess) Here are some pictures of our day...

On the way home Presley started taking some pictures. My little photographer loves taking pictures! Here are some of the super fabulous moments she captured :-)...

I think my favorite part of the zoo is almost always the meerkats. Those little guys crack me up. In fact, I think I could watch them for hours and not get bored. The girls loved all the animals of course. And our wild child Addison was attempting to get in the cages/enclosures so she could play with the animals. Typical Addison, wanting to play with tigers and bears, lol!

Oh, and don't forget to stop by this post to leave your questions for me!

10 Weeks

2011-03-10T09:17:00.000-08:00

How far along: 10 weeks (and 1 day)

Baby’s Size: About the size of a lime!

Development: Your baby has now completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature. He's swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy.

Weight gain/loss: I'm too scared to check. Maybe I'll muster up the courage next week. Lol.

Maternity clothes: Not yet. I'm still able to fit in most of my regular shirts, but I definitely have to use my belly band every day. I can't even come close to buttoning my pants.

Best moment this week: Setting up our gender determination ultrasound! April 22nd is the day!

Symptoms: Sore boobs, mild nausea on and off, round ligament pain, and pure exhaustion...still. In fact, I might fall asleep while typing this.

Food cravings/aversions: Cravings include Mexican food, pastries (like muffins, cinnamon rolls...you know, the really fattening stuff), cereal and pasta. Aversions include vegetables (the thought of veggies makes me gag) and anything fried.

What I'm looking forward to: Our next appointment where we will get to hear baby's heartbeat and getting to feel the baby move soon hopefully. (Along with showing sooner, apparently you can feel movement sooner as well after multiple pregnancies)

Milestones: The fact that we only have 2 more weeks until we hit the 12 week mark. That is very exciting to me. :-)

What I look like this week:

Before you look at this picture, let me say a couple things.

1) Before this pregnancy, my belly was pretty much flat. I'm not saying I had a six pack, but my belly wasn't really sticking out, hanging over my pants, etc. The belly I have grown in the past 10 weeks is purely from this pregnancy.

2) I have heard many times that with each pregnancy you start to show a little earlier. This is technically my 4th time being pregnant (including my miscarriage), and I can definitely say that with each pregnancy I have started to show a little earlier.

3) Granted a decent amount of my current belly size is bloat, but regardless, I am shocked at how much it has grown already. Shocked! (But loving every minute...plus people can already tell I'm pregnant so I was able to completely pass the "is she pregnant or just a little chubby around the middle?" phase!)

Prepare yourselves...

Yeah. Can you imagine how big this belly might be by the time I give birth?!?

And hey, don't forget to leave your questions for me on my last post! I would love to hear what you ladies are curious about. Ask anything you want!

Calling All Curious Minds...

2011-03-08T09:01:00.000-08:00

I'm following in the footsteps of one of my favorite bloggers today, Mommy Gator over at Table For 3- Actually Make That 4. And just like her, I am asking for your questions.

Questions about little ol' me that is!

I love the idea of this. It gives everyone a chance to get to know eachother better by breaking down some of those blogging walls. Plus, I'm naturally a very curious person myself, so the idea of getting to ask someone any question I want is a tad appealing to me. :-)

So, ladies, bring me your questions! And in return, I will bring you my answers!

It can be questions about anything; myself, my husband, my kids, my house, my pets, etc. I'm a very open person (maybe too open sometimes, lol), so no question is off limits. Except for ridiculous questions like: what is your address?, can I get your social security number?, what about your bank account number?, etc. Those questions are off limits, obviously! Can't wait to see what you ask!

And please feel free to join in!

My Name Is Chelsea And I'm A Paranoid Nutcase

2011-03-02T08:55:00.000-08:00

Warning: This post may be a bit long and wordy. Please bear with me through my rambling. I hope that those of you who have gone through a miscarriage can relate to my craziness. And I really hope I'm not alone in my obsessive symptom checking and paranoia. I wouldn't want my husband to have to check me in to the looney bin. :-)

I'd say that title is pretty straight forward and to the point, right? And I'd say that kind of sums up how I've been feeling (mentally) since finding out I was pregnant this time. Let me begin to explain by telling you about the day we had our ultrasound back on February 18th...

First of all, I'm sure you all know by now that I had a miscarriage back in August of last year. A "missed miscarriage" to be exact (means there was no cramping or bleeding and I still felt pregnant for the most part. Essentially, you have no idea you lost the baby until an ultrasound shows no heartbeat. Talk about a shitty surprise, right?). Said miscarriage is the sole reason for my current pregnancy paranoia.

Let's continue...

From the very moment I got a positive pregnancy test with this pregnancy I have been an emotional wreck. I am so scared to lose another baby that I spend way too much time analyzing my symptoms. In fact, my husband has banned me from Google, WebMD, etc. because he knows it's simply making my stress and paranoia worse. He is a very smart man.

Fast forward to the day of my first ultrasound.

I had noticed that my boobs were becoming a little less sore the few days leading up to the ultrasound. (I knew this because I literally touch my boobs every 20 minutes to make sure they still hurt. See? Total nutcase.) I pushed my fear aside and simply chalked it up to fluctuating symptoms. The morning of the ultrasound I woke up and immediately starting touching my boobs. I touched, pushed and damn near beat them and to my complete disappointment they were barely sore. As in, not at all really. Then I made my next move. My biggest mistake. I went into the bathroom, took out my last remaining pregnancy test (out of the 20 that I had already taken) and peed on it. I had noticed that as my pregnancy progressed the positive line kept getting darker. This was very exciting to see because to me it meant that my hormone levels were rising.

Not on this morning though.

As I watched the pee move over the screen, I started to get nervous. The line wasn't developing as quickly as it had a few days before. I went back after a few minutes to look at it and the line was indeed lighter than all the tests I took before.

I went downstairs into the kitchen and immediately started bawling in front of my husband. I told him that I lost the baby again. He hugged me and started asking me questions. Why did I think that? Was I bleeding? Where is all this coming from? I told him about my stupid (non-sore) boobs and the damned pee stick. He was sure just by listening to me bawl that I knew what I was talking about. We both spent the morning depressed but trying to act normal around the girls.

On our way to the ultrasound, I just knew what would happen. We would go in for the ultrasound, the lady would start looking for a heartbeat but she wouldn't find one. I was preparing myself for this. My husband was trying to be positive, but I was being the rain on his parade.

We get to the doctors office and check in. All the pregnant women around me make me want to start crying again, but I compose myself. When we finally get called back I tell the nurse right away that "I'm about 98% sure that I have had another missed miscarriage". I tell her my reasoning for feeling this way and she decides to skip all the paperwork for now and get the ultrasound done to confirm what I was thinking.

We are then greeted be another nurse who will be doing our ultrasound. She was seriously the sweetest lady I have ever met. She was kind, compassionate, talked with us for awhile and in a calm way prepared us for the worst...again. I laid down, she turned the lights off and I grabbed my husbands hand. I refused to even look at the screen, but my husband was watching.

After a few seconds (which seemed like an hour to me), I saw my husbands face change a little. He was looking very intently at the screen. He looked surprised and a little shocked. Then the sweet nurse said the most beautiful words ever:

"I have some really good news after all that horrible talk we just had. We have a heartbeat!"

My husband and I started crying and hugging eachother. (But don't tell anyone he was crying. That's just between us. He's much too manly to ever admit he actually cried a little! Lol) I looked at the screen and sure enough, there was our little baby and a beautiful heartbeat. I have never felt so relieved.

I then proceeded to tell the nurse that I loved her and I wanted to kiss and hug her. I did end up hugging her, but the kiss will have to wait I guess. Lol. The nurse told me that my symptoms may be disappearing because the placenta is starting to take over for the yolk sac. The yolk sac is what gives off most of the hormones, so when that begins to disappear my symptoms might disappear as well. I left the office that day with a few pieces of advice: quit over-analyzing your symptoms, relax and enjoy this time.

I went through the rest of the day in a state of complete joy and shock. We were so ecstatic!

And, ironically, the day after the ultrasound my boobs started hurting again and nausea came knocking at my door. I welcomed these symptoms with open arms.

I spent the next week or so trying to relax (and trying to refrain from touching my boobs so much). I felt confidant that this pregnancy was going to be successful.

Fast forward again to this week.

My boobs are less sore again. My nausea has subsided. And I am becoming a paranoid nutcase again. I know damn well that it could be normal. I know damn well that the angel nurse told me "Now that we have seen a healthy heartbeat, your chances of miscarriage become very remote" (music to this mommy's ears). I know damn well that my symptoms might very well be back in full force next week. But I still can't shake the fear.

I am counting down the days until my next appointment. We will get to hear baby's heartbeat at that appointment, then I feel like I can definitely relax. Until then, I have to try my hardest to take a chill pill and listen to my husband. I need to be positive and understand that I have two healthy children, have only had one miscarriage and we have already seen a strong heartbeat with this pregnancy. I need to breathe...and quit touching my boobs.

Moral of the story: Even one miscarriage will mess with your head and make you a complete paranoid nutcase.

8 Weeks

2011-02-23T11:55:00.000-08:00

How far along: 8 weeks

Baby’s Size: About the size of a kidney bean. So tiny!

Development: Webbed fingers and toes are emerging from the hands and feet. In the brain, nerve cells are branching out to connect with one another.

Weight gain/loss: Can someone please explain to me how I already gained 8 lbs??

Maternity clothes: Not yet. Although I do find myself reaching for my belly band on some days. They say with each pregnancy you start to show a little earlier (since your stomach muscles become more relaxed) and for me, this is completely true! I know most of it is bloat, but I seriously look 20 weeks prego already.

Best moment this week: Well it wasn't this week, but last week we got to have our first ultrasound and see the little heartbeat! :-)

Symptoms: My boobs are super duper sore, mild nausea on and off and extreme fatigue. I'm talking pure exhaustion here people. I could literally fall asleep standing up I think.

Food cravings/aversions: Cravings include Chipotle, ice cream and anything else sweet I can get my hands on. Oh, and watermelon. Too bad it's not in season. As far as aversions, the smell of butter is absolutely horrific to me right now. Random, I know.

What I'm looking forward to: Hitting the 12 week mark so I can chillax a little.

Milestones: I finally let myself start telling everyone last week. I was scared I would jinx the pregnancy if I told anyone, but I decided to let go of that fear and share our exciting news!

A New Look & A Big Thank You!

2011-02-22T15:14:00.000-08:00

Today felt like a revamp-your-blog-kind-of-day, so I went ahead and did it finally. I've been wanting to change it up for awhile but never got around to it. Luckily I had a little free time today so Adventures in Vandyland now has a new look! I still have a few small things to redo, but all in all I'd say I'm happy with it!

Also, I wanted to take a minute and give a BIG thank you to all of you who commented, sent me a message, tweeted me, etc. wishing me a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby. It meant so much to have so many of you sending good thoughts and prayers our way! I'm pretty nervous with this pregnancy (simply because of my miscarriage last year), but having all of this amazing positivity around me has really helped to ease my stress. I can sometimes be a "Negative Nancy", but lucky for me I have caring, positive people (my husband, family, friends and you ladies!) surrounding me and keeping me in the right frame of mind. Thank God for that! :-)

A Heartbeat Is A Beautiful Thing!

2011-02-18T19:11:00.000-08:00

Super exciting news: We are expecting Baby #3!

Yay, yay, yay!!

We have known for a few weeks, but I was too nervous to share the news until we actually saw a heartbeat. I guess having that miscarriage last August has made me feel pretty stressed out this time around. I was feeling really superstitious and basically refused to let myself tell anyone.

Today was our first appointment and I am very happy to report that we have a healthy, beautiful baby growing in my belly with a strong, beautiful heartbeat! *huge sigh of relief*

Here is the first picture of Baby # 3:

We are feeling so blessed and thankful right now. Baby's due date is October 5th...right before my husbands birthday! I'm just praying for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby (any extra prayers and/or good thoughts from you ladies would be super awesome!).

Tuesday Tunes!

2011-02-15T13:35:00.001-08:00

Man, I feel like it's been forever since I've participated in Tuesday Tunes! Today I chose one of my current faves: Kenny Chesney's "Somewhere With You". I could seriously listen to this song 1,000 times each day and still not get sick of it. Enjoy!

Sweet Pea & Fay Mineral Cosmetics

2011-02-10T12:28:00.000-08:00

Before I get into this review, let me take a moment to explain my past feelings regarding mineral makeup...

Personally, I have always been a fan of the idea of mineral makeup. As far as actually being a dedicated user of it, that I was not.

I have tried really hard to find impressive mineral makeup over the last few years. Unfortunately, I have always been let down. Mineral makeup always tends to have less pigmentation and hardly any color payoff. I absolutely hate when you buy a product only to have it not even show up on your face, eyes, lips, etc.

I always kept searching for that elusive super amazing mineral makeup brand however. Because let's face it, mineral makeup is way better for your skin.

With that being said, I would like to take a moment to say: "Thank you mineral makeup God's for bringing me Sweet Pea & Fay". Hallelujah!

"Our highly pigmented mineral shades are 100% NATURAL, smudge proof, water proof, crease free and last ALL day. Our eye shadows are pigmented enough for any skin tone and gentle enough for any skin type.
All mineral eyeshadows and be worn dry or wet for a more dramatic feel. SweetPea And Fay`s 100% Natural cosmetics are unique in everyway. Wear them alone or with other shades, our super blending formula makes it easy to get striking effects."

Contains NO:
- synthetic dyes
- fragrances
-preservatives
-parabens

I was like a kid in a candy shop when Sweet Pea & Fay let me choose three mineral eyeshadows and one mineral lipgloss to try and review for you all. Go check out their shop and you will be in color heaven, lol! All the colors were so beautiful and eye catching, I had a hard time choosing. In the end I chose:

Buddy Boy- A cross between taupe and light charcoal (LOVE! My fave of the bunch)

Silly Willy- A purple with subtle blueish undertones. (One of a kind color! Fun and bright)

Milo- A silver, light charcoal gray color. (A beautiful staple silver/gray)

And the lipgloss I chose was:

Pixie Blood- A bright yet sheer strawberry color.

When I first received these products in the mail I immediately had high hopes. The packaging was good quality (and super cute- you know I'm a sucker for chic packaging), the eye shadows looked pretty amazing in the jars and the lipgloss was a gorgeous bright color.

I tried not to get too excited yet though. I haven't exactly been wowed by many mineral makeup brands at this point, remember?

I swatched the colors. I was starting to become a little impressed. I tried each color of eyeshadow on my lids. I was becoming even more impressed. I wore each color for the whole day, morning to night. I was officially 100% impressed with Sweet Pea & Fay.

Swatches from L-R: Buddy Boy, Silly Willy, Milo, Pixie Blood lipgloss.

(One swipe each with no primer underneath! Ran out of primer right before swatching these. With primer underneath, these colors will be even more insane!)

The eyeshadows are A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. The pigmentation and color payoff is superb, the colors are gorgeous, the staying power is perfect and the application is like butter. And the best part? It's all minerals! There is not one bad thing I can say about these shadows.

The lipgloss is a really nice color. It has decent color payoff without being too bold. And it's definitely buildable. You can just swipe on one layer for a sheer tint, or throw a couple more layers on for a brighter look. My only complaint on the lipgloss is the smell. I'm a huge "smell person", so I am always very aware of smells. The smell of this lipgloss isn't bad, but it's not great either. I do wish it had a more pleasant smell.

Overall, I am now a certified fan of Sweet Pea & Fay! They have totally changed my mind about mineral makeup. They have proven that mineral makeup can be good for your skin as well as super pigmented, beautiful and fun. So, thank you for that Sweet Pea & Fay!

If you are on the hunt for an awesome mineral makeup brand like I was, please go check out Sweet Pea & Fay!

*These products were sent to me by the company for review. All opinions are mine and mine alone!*

Remember The Crimp?

2011-02-03T12:01:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I'm sure most of you ladies remember it well.

Let's see. When I think of the crimp, I reminisce of nights going to bed with damp, braided hair. Ahh, childhood memories.

In all actuality, I always had a fondness for the hairstyle. That's why, here at our house, we're bringing crimped hair back in a big way. You're welcome.

I'd say Princess P definitely pulls off the crimped hairstyle!

A side view...for your viewing pleasure.

Girls, what's with the faces? You can have a cookie if you smile...

M'kay, that's a little better (Fact: bribing for decent pictures usually always works).

Oh, and by the way, Princess A can't wait to rock the crimped hair when she gets older.

P.S. I might be a tad biased, but I'm pretty sure I have the cutest little girls in the whole.wide.world. :-)

Honeycat Cosmetics

2011-02-02T12:42:00.001-08:00

Have you ladies ever checked out Honeycat Cosmetics? If your answer is no, then that's just crazy talk. They have the sexiest/cutest/most indulgent bath products I've seen in awhile!

"Honeycat products are created and developed by owner Theresa Spruill. A veritable feast for your skin that we know you're gonna love! Honeycat makes grooming time an event. Our products promise pleasure for your entire body. They are sexy, sensual, safe and chock full of what's-good-for-your-skin-stuff. Honeycat products are natural, and never tested on animals, especially sexy felines."

Yay for cruelty free!

I was so stoked that they sent me some goodies to try out. And I'm even more stoked to tell you all about the awesome products they sent me. Here are the goodies I received:

Honeycat Shower Gel

The smell of this shower gel is out of this world! It's like a sweet, delicious, adult beverage for your skin. I am happy to report that my skin had no negative reactions to it either, which is saying a lot since my skin is super sensitive.

Chick Of The Sea Foaming Bath Crystals

Have you ever seen a more chic tuna can?? Lol. The smell is so yummy. Like rasberries dipped in chocolate! I've never been a big fan of bath crystals, but I did enjoy this product.

Frisky Kitty Bathtime Fizzy/Bath Bomb

I adore bath bombs, so when I saw this in the package they sent me I was in heaven. If you have never tried a bath bomb, you must. They make bathtime sensual and fun at the same time! This bath bomb left my skin super soft and moisturized. I wasn't a huge fan of this scent, but that's only because I don't care for the scent of lavender. If you like the smell of lavender, then you'll most likely love the scent of this bath bomb.

Chocolate Bath Melt Treats

Oh.Em.Gee. This product smells and looks just like chocolate. So much so, that my youngest daughter saw these on the bathroom counter and attempted to eat them. Luckily, she never got it to her mouth. Lol. Seriously you guys. These are AMAZING! They leave your bath water super silky and make you feel like you're bathing in chocolate. And we all know how happy chocolate makes us, right ladies? :-)

Wow, wow, wow. I adore this stuff. The packaging is adorable, the scents are insane, the ingredients are natural, and the quality is spot on. Even their website is fabulous. Go check it out! I most definitely see some future purchases from Honeycat Cosmetics in my future!

*These products were sent to me for review. All opinions are mine and mine alone!

Today I Lost My Vlogging Virginity

2011-01-19T15:38:00.000-08:00

Warning! This ended up being way longer than I anticipated (oops!). Also, I'm kind of talking a mile a minute and saying "umm" about every 2 seconds, so bear with me. All in all, I really enjoyed doing a vlog. Me thinks I might do them more often! If you have any questions at all for me, just let me know!

P.S. This video is the wrong size for my page because I had to upload it on YouTube. I tried uploading it on Blogger but it's taking way too long...as in it's been over 2 hours and it's still uploading. Argh. Help please??

Dita Von Teese Beauty Book

2011-01-18T23:32:00.000-08:00

Dita Von Teese will be releasing her very own beauty book sometime this year. I, for one, am very thrilled about this. Who wouldn't want to know the tips, tricks and products used by our very own modern day pin-up? The red lips, the flawless porcelain skin, her to-die-for wardrobe. Seriously. This woman oozes glamour...

I will definitely be keeping my eye out at the bookstore for this one.

And then I will read it while wearing my sequined corset and favorite red lipstick. :-)

To Vlog Or Not To Vlog? That Is The Question.

2011-01-18T08:31:00.001-08:00

I feel inspired this morning.

The beautiful and super fabulous Amanda over at Chasing Twins in Louboutins posted her very first vlog! I have always loved the vlogging concept but never had quite enough courage to do one.

Why, you ask?

A) My voice sounds like a little kid with a stuffy nose over the phone and on camera for some reason. But not in real life. Weird. Remember the little brat, Angelica, from that cartoon "Rugrats"?

Yeah, I kind of sound like her. Sexy, I know.

B) If I step out from behind the curtains I fear that I might lose some followers. It might be too scary for you all to bear.

Lol. Kidding, kidding! Kind of.

Watching Amanda's vlog has given me a shot of courage though. Plus, I really like the idea of doing beauty product reviews by vlog every now and then. I feel like vlog reviews sometimes come across more clear and to the point than written posts do.

I need to know how my readers feel about this. Would you like to see a vlog every now and then, or would you rather me just shut the hell up and continue writing?? Let me know what you think loves!

Who Are You?

2011-01-15T16:45:00.000-08:00

I saw this today on my good friends blog, Table For 3- Actually Make That 4 and I loved the idea behind it. So, I decided to do it too! Feel free to join in.

I Am...happy!

I Want... anything and everything sparkly/Hello Kitty related.

I Have...the sexiest, hunkiest, most generous, most amazing husband in the world. ♥

I Wish...that no one would ever harm a child or animal in this world. That makes me sick to my stomach.

I Hate...dirtiness and clutter (I am an OCD neat freak).

I Fear...dying young and not being able to watch my children grow up.

I Hear...the football game on and the girls playing in the playroom. :-)

I Search...for the answers to everything.

I Wonder...what I did to get such an amazing life. I am the luckiest girl in the world!

I Regret...nothing. Everything happens for a reason.

I Love...my husband, my kids and shopping! ;-)

I Ache...in my leg. No, really. My leg is aching really bad today for some reason.

I Always...wear makeup in public.

I Usually...have my nails painted (98% of the time).

I Am Not...patient.

I Dance...with my princesses to kick ass music.

I Sing...with the girls Barbie karaoke machine. Lol.

I Never...want to be boring. Life is too short to be boring.

I Rarely...wear sneakers.

I Cry...hardly ever. I don't like crying.

I Am Not Always...perfect.

I Lose...at Wii when I play with my husband every time.

I'm Confused...when it comes to math.

I Need...my husband and my children.

I Should...be folding laundry.

Who are you?

Five Question Friday!

2011-01-14T08:34:00.000-08:00

Welcome new followers! I'm so excited to have you here. Make sure to leave me a comment if you decide to follow so I can visit your blog and follow back! And make sure to follow me on Twitter: @ChelsVandy. Happy Friday loves!

1. What movie could you watch over and over again and not get tired of?

Goodfellas! It's my favorite movie of all time. Plus, I've always had a huge crush on Ray Liotta. He's my second husband...he just doesn't know it yet.

2. What's your biggest pet peeve right now?

People in California. Kind of a broad statement, huh? Really though. I honestly feel as if Californians are becoming more rude, more selfish and worse drivers by the day. I was born and raised here, but I'm so itching to get out of this state. (No offense fellow Californians)

3. If you had to describe your best friend in five words or less, what would you say?

Crazy, fun, bitchy, feisty, fabulous...kind of like me! ;-)

4. If you did not have to worry about money or go to school what would you do for a living?

Exactly what I'm doing now: being a stay at home wife and mommy!

5. What is your one "splurge" item, that you will always buy, no matter the cost?

Can I have multiple splurge items?? Hmm...decisions, decisions. I will always splurge on sexy heels (because I'm a shoe addict) and makeup products (because I'm a beauty product junkie). I'm think of starting a few support groups for shoe and makeup addicts. Anyone care to join?

Beauty Product RAVE!

2011-01-12T14:14:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder how celebrities get their skin to look as if it's glowing?

One way they achieve this look is with the use of highlighters (no, not the fluorescent yellow kind that you used in school!).

First thing is first. Let's do a quick rundown on highlighters...

Face highlighters are meant to reflect light off of your face for that lit from within look. Within the product is teeny tiny shimmer which is what causes the light to reflect off of it. Not glitter. Just shimmer. You never want a highlighter with big, chunky glitter. Highlighters are an amazing beauty product invention! They brighten your face, gives your skin a dewy look, accentuates your cheekbones and can even make your nose look straighter.

The key is putting the highlighter in the correct areas...

You only want to apply highlighter on the top of your cheekbones, slightly up your temples and down the center of your nose. Some people like to use a little highlighter on their chin and center of forehead, but I choose not too.

The important thing is don't overdo it! You don't want to look like a frosty disco ball so use a light hand. With most highlighters, a little goes a long way!

There are many forms of highlighters out there; powder, liquid, cream. I have personally tried every form and I am here to tell you today...

...that I have found the holy grail of highlighters!

Insert Urban Decay's Urbanglow Cream Highlight in "Sin"

Hallelujah! This stuff is AMAZING! (And I'm diggin' the packaging) I know it's only January, but this is definitely my favorite beauty product purchase of the year so far. I have used highlighter for a few years now, however this was my first time trying a cream highlighter. If you haven't tried a cream form highlighter...DO IT! You will never go back to powder or liquid form.

I could seriously rave about this all day long, so I'm going to shut up now and get to the pro's and con's!

Pro's:
- Perfect amount of shimmer
- Super creamy and blendable
- Feels like silk going on your skin
- Ideal highlighter color for most skin tones
- Kick ass packaging
- Cruelty free product (woot woot)
- Lasts all day
- Gives your skin that coveted "glowing and dewy" look

Con's:
-None! I honestly have no complaints about this product.

Overall:
I'm in love. Duh! I'm sure you can tell by this post that I'm pretty stoked about this product. Basically, every woman should own a highlighter. And the Urban Decay Cream Highlighter should be it! It's a genius beauty product that will make your skin look gorgeous. Who doesn't want that? I know I do!

Price: $24
Where to buy: Sephora, Ulta, urbandecay.com

On a sidenote, I've come to the conclusion that I need a new camera for these beauty product posts. I want to give you guys more pictures and swatches with detail and my current camera just isn't cutting it. So the hunt for a new camera begins! Any suggestions?

Stylish Blogger Award & Tuesday Tunes

2011-01-11T09:13:00.000-08:00

Huge thanks to my friend over at Frugal Invitation for my newest award!

Yay, I love this one!

Here are the rules for accepting this award:
1. Thank & link back to the person who awarded you this.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pay it forward to 10 recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact those bloggers and tell them about their award.

Let's start with 7 things about myself...

1) About 96% of the clothes in my closet are black
2) I usually wear black (hence all the black clothing in my closet) then use sparkly, colorful accessories to spruce up my outfit
3) I'm majorly claustrophobic
4) I adore anything and everything sparkly (which I'm sure you were all very aware of by now!)
5) I'm horrible at making decisions
6) I can't stand Lady Gaga or Taylor Swift
7) I'm very fickle about my hair; one month I want to be blonde, the next month I want to be red, the next brunette, etc. It's a vicious cycle. (Maybe this is connected to #5, lol)

Now I will be passing this award onto 8 blogs. Yes, I'm only passing it onto 8 blogs, not 10. Sue me. And some of these are newly discovered, but a few are blogs that are an inspiration and long time favorites of mine. Yes, I'm breaking the rules a little. But that's okay. I like breaking rules.

1) Truly Trying
2) Table For 3-Actually Make That 4
3) Freckles and Fudge
4) Strawberry Freckles
5) The Lean Green Bean
6) Babblings of a Mommy
7) Chasing Twins in Louboutins
8) LA 'n' LA

Now I leave you with my song choice for this weeks Tuesday Tunes...

P.S. Love Pink, love this song, love her message and love, love, love the part when the asshole bull fighter gets what he deserves! ;-) Enjoy!

And don't forget to join me on Twitter: @ChelsVandy
I'm super happy I finally joined. I like it way better than Facebook! If you haven't joined Twitter, you should. We need more bloggers there!

Finally Jumped On The Twitter Bandwagon

2011-01-10T13:54:00.000-08:00

So, who is on Twitter? I finally caved and joined and I'm kind of lost already. Hopefully I'll catch on quickly. Come find me *pretty please with a cherry on top*. I don't want to be a Twitter loner for too long.

My username is: ChelsVandy.

I also added a widget here on my blog. It's on the right hand side under my Facebook button. Hope to see you all there. Time to get busy tweeting, haha!

Lulu's 15% Discount For My Lovely Readers!

2011-01-06T15:26:00.000-08:00

Have you guys ever checked out Lulu's? If not, then you need to. Stat!

They have super fashionable clothes, adorable accessories and some amazing heels. Plus more! Here are just a few of my recent faves from their site...

Blaque Label Supernova Sequin Dress

Go-To Glitter Grey Blazer

Cinema Lights Silver Cuff

Vidimus Necklace

Privileged Battle Grey Studded Cuff Ankle Boots

Qupid Neutral 35 Nude Velvet and Patent Stiletto Heels

Lulus was nice enough to give all of my blog readers a 15% discount on their website! I'm so stoked to be able to offer all of you such a great discount at a site that I really enjoy. All you have to do is enter my blog's personalized discount code at checkout...

*The code is: VANDYLAND (it is case sensitive so make sure to use all caps)*

The discount is valid to all my readers in the US and Canada and the code is good until January 9th 2011. (One use per customer) The coupon is for 15% off your total purchase and is good for everything on the site!

So make sure to head over to lulus.com and put your discount to good use! Happy Shopping!

Hard Candy: The Good & The Not-So-Good

2011-01-06T13:19:00.000-08:00

Today I have two products to review by the brand Hard Candy. One product was sent to me to review by the company itself and the other product was purchased by me.

Hard candy has recently made a big comeback in the makeup world. The quality of their products has majorly improved as well. In all reality, the quality and pigmentation is shockingly amazing for the price. The major negative for me? Hard candy is only sold at Wal-Mart currently. I try to go to Wal-Mart as seldom as possible. I really can't stand that place. And when I do have to go there, I make it quick and to the point because I want to get out as quickly as possible. I really wish Hard Candy would branch out to more companies. If I could buy their products at someplace like Target, Ulta or Sephora I would definitely own more Hard Candy products.

Enough babbling. Onto the reviews...

The item that hard candy sent me to review is the Walk the Line Liquid Eyeliner.

They sent it to me in the color Asphalt, which basically means black. The description on the box reads:

"Line and define with this easy to use liquid liner that has a fine, flexible brush for precise application. Dries fast and stays put."

Personally, I am more of a cream or gel liner type of girl. I find them way easier to work with than liquid eyeliners and they create a neater line in my opinion. I have found a couple liquid liners in the past that I like however. Every now and then I will use a liquid eyeliner so I do know what I like and what I don't like.

Let's look at the pro's and con's of this product:

Pro's:
- Super cute packaging
- Affordable price
- Stays put all day

Con's:
- The wand is too long; makes it very hard to create a perfect line
- The brush is too stiff; also makes it hard to create a nice line
- Only sold at Wal-Mart

Overall: If you can't create a nice, neat line then what's the point of using liquid eyeliner?? There really is no point! I found it a little frustrating trying to use this product. I felt like I had no control mainly because the wand is a little too long. For precise liquid eyeliner application you want the wand to be on the shorter side and the bristles to be pliable. This product had neither one of those features unfortunately. Next time I reach for a liquid liner, I won't be reaching for this one.

The next Hard Candy product I'm reviewing is the Sheer Envy Face Primer.

I purchased this product myself after hearing a few rave reviews about it. I was super excited to try it, especially since I had heard multiple people say it gives your skin a "glowy" look. We could all use a little more glow, right? For those of you that don't know, a face primer is basically the same thing as an eye primer (except for your face obviously). It preps the skin for concealer and foundation, helps the makeup to go on smoother, makes the makeup last longer, etc. This primer is silicone based which means that it will also help to fill in fine lines so your foundation won't settle in them. The back of the box says:

"A lightweight formula that enhances the skin's texture and primes the skin for makeup application"

Umm, yes please!

Let's check out the pros and con's in my book...

Pro's:
- Applies very smoothly; feels so silky and lush
- Gives your skin a nice sheen without being shimmery or glittery
- Makes foundation last longer
- Affordable price
- Nice packaging

Con's:
- My sensitive skin couldn't really tolerate it. :-(

Overall: I really do love this product. It does everything it promises plus gives your skin a nice sheen. The only downfall for me personally? I suffer from eczema sometimes and I have super sensitive skin. This product just didn't work well with my skin. I'm so bummed about this because I was really stoked about this primer. I'm thinking it might be the silicone in it that my skin doesn't like. So, if you know your skin doesn't do well with silicone based primers then you might want to skip this one. Otherwise, give it a try! You probably won't regret it.

Where to get these products: Wal-Mart or walmart.com
Price: Liquid Eyeliner- $5.00
Face Primer- $8.00

Too Good To Be True? Legit? We'll See!

2011-01-05T08:19:00.000-08:00

This almost seems too good to be true. However, I know a few people that are giving it a try. If everything this company is saying is true, then this would be by far one of the easiest ways to make money.

We could all use a little extra shopping money, right? ;-)

Anyways, I signed up yesterday for PayBox and today my account is up to $45. I've earned this "money" by simple signing up, taking a couple (really quick) surveys, voting on debit card designs and choosing my favorite merchants. Super easy! According to the company, the money you accumulate in your account can be used to spend on whatever/wherever you choose.

I am in no way endorsing this website. I will for sure endorse it if I actually get to spend the money I accumulate though! Just thought some of you might want to check it out since it could (key word: could) be a pretty easy way to make a little extra money.

Go check it out here: PayBox

Etsy Love!

2011-01-02T13:48:00.000-08:00

I love doing these "Etsy Love" posts. There are just too many amazing things on that site that I have to share. Here are a few of my most recent favorite Etsy finds:

Hello Kitty Bling Compact Mirror

This compact would seriously make me feel happy everytime I pulled it out of my purse!

Shabby Chandelier With Swarvowski Crystals

This Etsy shop has adorable retro inspired clothing for kids. This chandelier tee even has little crystals on it to add a little bling! In my book, you're never too young for some bling! ;-)

Itty Bitty And Bad Tattoo Style Tee

This is another favorite (from the same shop that the chandelier shirt above is from). My youngest would totally rock this tee because she is most definitely itty bitty and bad! Lol.

All That She Wants

I am madly in love with these shoes!!!! They are beyond kick ass and they need to be in my closet ASAP.

Sweet Treats Necklace

How cute is this childrens jewelry?!? My five year old is really into jewelry lately and she would love a little necklace like this. Does anybody else have a sweet craving now after looking at these?

EyesCandy Cell Phone Case

I'm placing my order for this phone case immediately. Like when I'm done writing this post. Hello Kitty, sparkles, girly skull...I'm in phone case heaven!

Can you tell I love me some Hello Kitty? :-)

Speaking of Hello Kitty, my husband bought me a super fabulous Hello Kitty purse the other night that I've been eyeing. I saw a celebrity wearing it recently and immediately fell in love.

So what do us wives do when we find something we like?

We e-mail a picture of it to our husbands of course! (This e-mail might even have a little "rated R" message attached to it, further tempting him to consider purchasing said item??) Don't lie ladies, we all do it!

Anyways, that night while watching a movie snuggled up on the couch, he told me to go grab his debit card. He went online and bought me the purse! He said it was a little thank you gift for being such a great wife and mommy. Best.Hubby.Ever. ♥

Winner, Winner!

2011-01-02T12:50:00.000-08:00

According to random.org, the winner of my 200 follower giveaway with Bountiful Blessings Baby Boutique is...

(insert cliche' drumroll here)

Comment #4: Mommy Gator

Congrats Mommy Gator! You have 48 hours to e-mail me at chelsvandy@yahoo.com.

Thanks to everyone who entered. I have a couple super exciting giveaways coming up in the near future, so stay tuned!

P.S. Can someone please tell me how to put the picture of the winning number chosen on random.org on my post? (That way you all can see the number chosen) It won't let me save it like a normal picture. :-(

Swollen Eyes, Sickness & Other Christmas Fun!

2010-12-30T08:32:00.000-08:00

Can you believe that the year 2011 will be here in less than two days? Crazy. I remember when I was little I used to think that the year 2010 would mean flying cars, people living on Mars, and robot maids. I guess I jumped the gun on that one because I have yet to see any of the above, lol.

And I hope you all had a beautiful Christmas! Ours was wonderful. The girls opened more presents than I thought was humanly possible...I feel like we were opening presents for 24 hours straight. It was an awesome day though and we had a lot of fun with my (very loud) family!

Unfortunately, my husband was sick for Christmas. He never gets sick. But wouldn't you know it, his body decides to get as sick as possible (for the first time in like two years) right at Christmas time! Bah humbug! He was a total trooper through all the festivities though. Poor guy just went back to work today and he's still not 100%.

Oh, and I woke up the other morning with my eye swollen halfway shut. It was definitely not a good look for me. And the best part was that I had to run some errands that day.

Swollen eye= no eye makeup allowed
No eye makeup allowed= me freaking out; I don't do public outings without makeup... EVER.

So what was my answer to this swollen eye/no eye makeup allowed dilemma? Wear my sunglasses inside and outside of course! I looked like some wannabe celebrity rockin' my shades inside Costco and the grocery store, but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do!

Anywho, I hope all you beautiful ladies have a kick ass New Years! See you in 2011!

*And don't forget to enter in my current giveaway if you haven't already. The giveaway ends at midnight and the amount of entries are low...which means your chances of winning a super adorable hat is even better!*

200 Followers Giveaway!

2010-12-21T15:18:00.000-08:00

I was so stoked to see that I had reached 200 followers the other day! Thank you so much to all my kick ass, super fabulous readers! To show my appreciation to you ladies, I decided to do another giveaway.

I'm doing this giveaway with Bountiful Blessings Baby Boutique on Etsy. The owner has been so kind as to give one of my lucky readers a super cute hat from her shop...winner's choice! Here is a quick bio on the owner of this Etsy shop:

"I am a SAHM of 3 amazing children. I am also a college student pursuing a degree in Nuclear Medicine Technology. I love to create things, and love to crochet. I hope you enjoy my handmade items as much as I love making them. :)"

I absolutely adore her baby hats! I could definitely picture my youngest sporting a few of them. I might even try to squeeze my 5 year olds head into one, lol. Here are just a few of my faves...

I love, love, love sock monkey hats! And this one could work for a boy or a girl!

The perfect hat for a newborn baby girl. I wish I would have had this when my little princesses were first born!

Love it! And again, perfect for a boy or girl.

A more girly version of the sock monkey hat...which I will definitely be purchasing for my youngest!

This hat comes in many different colors. Umm, I'll take one in each color! Lol.

Most of her hats come in different sizes up to 24 months (Newborn, 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-12 months and 12-24 months). It's so helpful because she actually gives you measurements for each of these sizes...that way you don't have to guess which size will fit your little ones nugget!

These hats are perfect for this time of year, especially with the little earflaps to keep your baby's head extra warm. And by the way, is there anything cuter than a baby in an adorable hat?!? :-)

Like I said, the winner will have their choice of one item from this Etsy shop. Come one, come all and enter this awesome giveaway!

Mandatory Entry:
- Tell me which item from Bountiful Blessings Baby Boutique you would choose if you win the giveaway!
(And you must be a follower of my blog, obviously!)

Extra Entry (2 possible extra entries):
- "Like" the Adventures in Vandyland Facebook page
- Make Bountiful Blessings Baby Boutique one of your Etsy favorites

(Make sure to leave a separate comment for each extra entry so I can get an accurate count of entries!)

Giveaway will end on December 31st at midnight. Winner will be chosen via random.org.

Good luck everyone!

Latest Happenings

2010-12-20T15:08:00.000-08:00

There is really no time for much blogging this week...busy, busy getting ready for Christmas. All you mommies know how crazy it is the week of Christmas! I just wanted to post a few recent pictures from "Vandyland" (AKA: our house, lol)...

Presley had her Christmas party at school last week. She looked so adorable in her sparkly tutu skirt, rockstar boots and Hello Kitty jewelry...the three most important things when putting together a party ensemble, right?!? :-)

I caught the girls snuggling together on the couch the other morning. Can you say cutest thing ever?? There is nothing better than being able to catch sweet memories like this on camera! Luckily Addison was really into "Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends", otherwise she would have ran if she saw me trying to take a picture, lol.

I had another hair appointment the other night and I'm loving the color! My stylist was able to get the red a little more vibrant this time and she even did some brighter red peekaboo highlights underneath (which you can't see in the picture). It's so hard to capture the true color on camera, but it's getting pretty close to that gorgeous red color I'm aiming for!

The color my stylist and I are trying to achieve:

That about does it! If I can't find time to post again before Christmas, I just wanted say "Merry Christmas" to all my fabulous readers as well as your families! I hope you have an amazing holiday!

P.S. Please don't forget to "Like" my blog on Facebook! I would consider it your Christmas present to me! Lol.

P.S.S. I reached 200 followers the other day!!!! Ahhhhhhh! I'm so stoked about this. Look out for a giveaway (or two) coming your way to celebrate! :-)

My New Favorite Guilty Pleasure

2010-12-14T15:38:00.000-08:00

We all know I love a good, trashy, can't-stop-watching reality show. Real Housewives, Rock of Love, Teen Mom, Tori and Dean, etc, etc. Recently I came across a new reality show on E! that will be added to my list of favorite reality shows. May I present to you, Married To Rock...

This show chronicles the lives of four women: Susan Holmes McKagan (wife of Velvet Revolver bassist Duff McKagan), Etty Farrell (wife of Jane’s Addiction frontman, Perry Farrell), Josie Stevens (wife of Billy Idol guitarist, Steve Stevens) and AJ Celi (girlfriend of the Cult guitarist, Billy Duffy). I have to admit that Josie (the one laying on the floor in the picture above) is probably my favorite. Yeah, her boobs are the size of beach balls on steroids, but she's not afraid to be herself and have fun...I love that. So many people these days are afraid to have fun and loosen up for fear of what others will think. I say, do your thing Josie!

I'll be honest. The first time I tuned in to watch I was a little bummed. I was hoping that the rockstars (AKA: the husbands) would be more famous, but realistically, how many big time rockstars would really want to be on a reality show focused on their wives? Anyways, once I got over that minor disappointment I decided to watch another episode. After two episodes I was hooked.

It's basically Real Housewives with some rock-n-roll and raunchiness thrown in the mix...right up my alley!

It has everything I look for in a reality show: it's fascinating, trashy (but in a good trashy kind of way), over-the-top, flashy...and personally, I love over-the-top and flashy! If loving this show is wrong, then I don't want to be right. And for you reality show lovers out there, check this one out if you haven't already.

Tuesday Tunes

2010-12-14T08:20:00.000-08:00

This week I'm featuring one of my favorite bands on Tuesday Tunes...Nickelback. (Yes, I am a Nickelback fan as well as a true rock music fan. The two CAN go hand in hand despite what some think!) The song is "Burn It To The Ground" and I love it, love it, love it. When my husband and I saw them in concert this is the song they opened up with and it totally got everyone amped up and ready to rock. Now we rock out to it at least once a day with my i-Pod! Enjoy (after the stupid advertisement they make you watch before the video)...

And make sure to check out Truly Trying...she is the brains behind "Tuesday Tunes"!

This Is What Happens...

2010-12-12T21:04:00.000-08:00

...when your 5 year old gets a hold of the camera.

Her Pillow Pet was modeling for the camera.

The football game on the TV.

The view of the Christmas tree from a 5 year olds height, lol.

I have to give her credit for taking such a cute picture of her little sister. Truth be told, my ass was to the left in this picture while I was bending over cleaning out our hallway closet. Of course I immediately cropped that out of the picture! :-)

Our pool table. She obviously has yet to master the flash option on the camera.

Pillow Pets and I.

Her Hello Kitty necklace that she actually took like 10 pictures of...all of which looked exactly the same.

Daddy was not home at the time to get his picture taken, but I'm sure she will attack him with the camera next time I let her "play" with it. She took an obscene amount of pictures and had such a blast the whole time! I loved seeing all the pictures she took when she was done...it's nice to see things from a childs point of view every now and then. And who knows, maybe she will grow up to be a famous photographer!

A Cult Classic

2010-12-09T15:53:00.000-08:00

There are two things that are for sure when it comes to me and lipstick:

1) I love to rock a red lip every now and then,

and

2) I'm kind of a "brand snob" with lipstick.

What I mean by #2 is that nearly all of my lipsticks are higher end (MAC, Chanel, Kat Von D, Smashbox, etc). I rarely find a lower end brand that I like. Actually, scratch that. I rarely even give a lower end brand lipstick a chance. I know, I know, shame on me. I never even take the time to check out drugstore lipsticks and I have no idea why. I like what I like, and that's it. I'm admitting right here, right now that I am a certified lipstick snob.

I have recently fell in love with NYX lipsticks though and this got me thinking that there just might be other lipsticks I like out there that I have never even bothered to try! Enter Revlon's "Cherries in the Snow"...

I heard about this lipstick awhile ago and my interest was immediately sparked but I ended up forgetting about it *gasp*. This lipstick is a cult classic and has such a huge fan base. It's one of the most talked about lipsticks of all time and has been around since the 1950's! At Rite Aid the other day I came across it and decided to give it a try. I had low hopes for this drugstore lipstick (remember, I'm a lipstick snob), but I must say, I really like it!

The best way I can describe it would be if red lipstick and rasberry lipstick did the dirty and had a little lipstick baby, this color would be it. It's gorgeous! First swipe of it makes you think it's more pink than red, but then after another swipe the red starts to come out. It's like this confused little lipstick can't make up it's mind what color it wants to be...but I adore this confused lipstick!

(With flash- notice how it looks really pinky?)

(Without flash- now it looks red!)

(Please excuse the lack of makeup elsewhere on my face. Just wanted you to see the color actually on!)

This shade would work great on just about every skin tone and it's super buildable. You can create a toned down red lip with it, or go all out with a brighter red lip. It's really versatile, creamy and I have never found a color like it. This is definitely a winner in my book and I'm so glad that I decided to give this lower end lipstick a try.

So, ladies, do you like to rock a red lip?

A Must See For Everyone...

2010-12-08T20:09:00.000-08:00

I know a lot of you have probably already seen this video, but that's okay. There is absolutely nothing wrong with watching it multiple times! I always watch it when I need a little pick me up. It's so uplifting and beautiful. Could you just imagine how awesome it must have been to make this video?!

I swear, I will never get sick of this one!

P.S. Don't forget to "Like" my Facebook page for Adventures in Vandyland! See that little white and blue box to your right? Up a little more...up just a little more...yep, that one! Thanks dolls!

Will You "Like" Me...Pretty Please?

2010-12-07T16:55:00.001-08:00

Hey, ya'll. Adventures in Vandyland is now on Facebook! Would you all be so kind as to come join me there and press "Like"?!? *que batting eyelashes* Thanks a bunch all my beautiful followers! :-)

Adventures in Vandyland

Promote Your Page Too

Tuesday Tunes

2010-12-06T19:31:00.000-08:00

This week I'm participating in Tuesday Tunes with a good friend of mine over at Truly Trying. She is new to the blogging world and she thought up the brilliant idea of Tuesday Tunes! I adore music so the first time I saw her do this on her blog, I knew I had to join in. It's pretty basic; share a song that you are loving right now and let others enjoy the tunes! Head on over to Truly Trying and welcome her to the blogosphere, then join in on Tuesday Tunes if you want to participate!

I have been totally diggin' this song lately. I never used to be a huge fan of Rihanna, but her songs lately have definitely been a little more kick ass so I have become a certified fan. (Plus, her new fire engine red hair is pretty awesome! She totally pulls it off!) I could do without the rap part in the beginning by Drake since I'm not really a rap fan, but it's only a small part and it does add a little something to the song so I can live with it! Enjoy...

Must.Have.These.

2010-12-06T09:45:00.000-08:00

Love.Adore.Need.Them.Now

Where the hell can I find more candles like these? They are called "pre-dripped candles" and I must make them mine! They totally remind me of the ones Kat Von D has in her office on LA Ink. I saw them today on a website, but two things stopped me from purchasing them:

1) This website only had 2 colors (the cream and pink in the pictures above), both of which I am not too interested in. I want more color selection!

and

2) The large size one was like $45 on this particular website. I, personally, have no real problem paying this amount for a candle, but my husband might murder me. Apparently candles are a total "woman thing". Men truly don't understand why we need to so many freakin' candles...especially expensive ones.

So, here I sit. I just spent like 10 minutes scouring the internet for more of these beauties (in different colors) and I can't find anything! Help me out here people...where can I find these????

Sephora Gift Ideas

2010-12-03T13:16:00.000-08:00

These products would make the perfect gifts for the beauty product lover in your life. I would know because I, myself, am a huge beauty product lover. Duh!

Kat Von D Tattoo Chronicles Palette

"Kat's secret weapons for pulling off a long-lasting, rockin' look come together in a beauty stash that includes false lashes, eyeshadows, and primers. Plus, a secret compartment reveals a hidden double-ended rollerball fragrance that embodies Kat's two sides: saint and sinner" Price: $55 **I adore Kat Von D products! Her eyeshadows are so smooth and pigmented and her lip products are equally as awesome. Love, love, love this palette!

Sephora Collection Antibacterial Brush Set- Sparkle Edition

"Our bestselling brush set can now be carried anywhere—and in style—with this limited-edition black sparkle case. A fantastic gift, it includes all the brushes needed to create a full face. The soft, synthetic fibers distribute just the right amount of pigment for a perfect result every time. With a slot for each brush, it's perfect for travel" Price: $60 **Every make-up lover needs a good set of brushes. Plus, they come in a sparkly case...you can never go wrong with anything sparkly in my book!

Tarte The Jewelry Box

"An exclusive, limited-edition palette packed with 32 new eyeshadows, eight lip glosses, a mineral bronzer, a new shimmering powder, five deluxe long-wearing eyeliners, and a detachable necklace" Price: $52 **Tarte has amazing products. This set has an obscene amount of eyeshadows...plus they are a "cruelty free" company!

Sephora by OPI Eighteen Piece Mini Nail Color Set

"A perfect gift, this Sephora by OPI set includes 18 shades that range from essential to edgy. These longwearing, chip-resistant colors include a versatile spectrum of reds and a sampling of daring colors that can add fabulous fingertips to any look" Price: $48 **Ahhh, I love nail polish. Just looking at the picture get's me all excited!

Sephora Favorites Collector's Edition Fragrance Sampler For Her

"This set of nine fragrance samples includes a voucher for a full-size version, making it a perfect present when you're not sure what to choose. Its box opens to reveal a range of Sephora's bestselling women's fragrances that can be sampled right away. From the fruity, urban chic of DKNY Be Delicious to the luxurious, floral sophistication of Prada Infusion d'Iris, choose a favorite, then take the included voucher to a Sephora store to receive a full-size version" Price: $75 **The perfect gift for a perfume whore like me, lol. And the voucher for a full size of your choice makes this gift even better!

Lorac Tie Dye For Lipgloss Collection

"These ultra-rich lip glosses feature a tie-dye inspired swirl of one-of-a-kind color. Formulated with acai berry and pomegranate for a boost of protecting antioxidants, these glosses do double duty keeping lips moist and nourished" Price: $25 **Don't these look awesome?! And Lorac lipglosses are seriously amazing!

Make Up Forever Rock Forever- Dany's Essentials

"A rock 'n' roll-inspired makeup case piled high with 29 product favorites handpicked by Dany Sanz, MAKE UP FOR EVER's Creator and Artistic Director" Price: $299 **I will definitely be begging Santa for this one!!

All of these products can be found at Sephora (AKA: one of the happiest places on Earth) or sephora.com...happy shopping!

Yum...

2010-11-30T17:06:00.000-08:00

Here is some eye candy for you all to enjoy:

No other words are needed in this post.

That is all.

You're welcome.

Beauty Product Review: NYX Concealer in a Jar

2010-11-29T16:15:00.000-08:00

Stop the presses everyone. I have found a WINNER!

Can we all agree how hard it is to find the perfect concealer? For me personally, finding a good concealer has been a pain in the ass. I have tried expensive, higher end concealers and I've tried less expensive, lower end concealers. Before now, I was never completely impressed with any of them. It was either too thick, too thin, dried my skin out, had no staying power, etc, etc. It seemed as if I would never find a concealer that would satisfy me. Until now ladies! Check out NYX Concealer in a Jar:

I have been using this for a few days now and am totally loving it. The price, you ask? Only $3.99! Umm, yeah, seriously. I would have gladly paid $20 for this, but the fact that it's so affordable is pretty exciting.

Pros:

- Comes in a jar instead of a stick. I have always preferred jar concealers over stick concealers.
- Creamy consistency
- Goes on super smooth
- Doesn't make my skin look "cakey"
- Blends into the skin perfectly
- Buildable. You can take this from a medium coverage to a full coverage by simply adding a little more.
- Stays put all day
- Awesome coverage. Really, really awesome.
- Nice packaging

Cons:

- Can't find this particular item in my area (my local Ulta only stocks a few NYX products) so I have to order it online. I order all my NYX products from cherryculture.com
- Has a very light smell. It's not a bad smell, but I just wish it was completely unscented.

Overall: The "pros" definitely outweigh the "cons"! I have always been a fan of NYX products. They are nice quality and good pigmentation for low prices...you can't go wrong with that, right?!? A few of their products are even dupes for some MAC products. Anyways, NYX is definitely a brand you should check out. I'm so stoked that I decided to give their concealer a try! I am super impressed and excited about this product!

Price: $3.99
Size: 0.25 oz.
Where to buy: Ulta, nyxcosmetics.com or cherryculture.com

Crock Pot Spinach & Artichoke Dip

2010-11-28T12:37:00.000-08:00

I love lazy Sundays. The hubs is watching football (AKA: yelling at the TV), the princesses are "reading" books to eachother, and I'm doing some cleaning while making some homemade spinach & artichoke dip in the Crock Pot. It's super simple and pretty delish. Here is the recipe...

Ingredients:

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 package (8 ounce) cream cheese, cubed (I use reduced fat or fat free)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 can (14 ounce) artichokes, drained and finely chopped
1 package (10 ounce) rinsed fresh spinach leaves, stems removed and finely chopped

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on high heat setting 2 hours, until hot and bubbling. Stir well and serve with tortilla chips, sourdough bread, etc.

Enjoy!

Black Friday ONLINE!

2010-11-26T10:47:00.000-08:00

I have never been the "lets wake up at some God forsaken hour so we can sit outside of a store while freezing our asses off to get a discount" kind of girl. Black Friday shopping has never really appealed to me. I personally feel as if there is no discount good enough to deal with lack of sleep and rude, crazy people. I would rather just wait until the crowds have left the stores and just pay full price for the things I want. To some, this may sound crazy, but getting in a fight with some crazed lady over the last 50% off Wii game just doesn't sound tempting to me. And I know that's probably what would happen if I were to participate in Black Friday. Yes, I have a temper (my excuse is that I'm part Indian, lol). I can't stand rude people who think the world revolves around them and them only. And I'm definitely not the girl who let's people walk all over me. AKA: if you mouth off to me the situation might get ugly. And these are the reasons, I feel, that make Black Friday shopping not a good idea for me!

However...I did discover Black Friday shopping online today. ONLINE! This means no crowds, no pushy people obsessed with bargains, and no verbal arguments! Can I get a woot-woot?? The deals might not be quite as amazing as the deals in-store, but that's perfectly fine with me. I just have to share my first purchase with you because I am madly in love (and maybe a tad obsessed):

So sexy and kick ass! I saw them and knew right away that I had to make them mine. Can't wait to get these babies and rock them with my black skinny jeans for either A) date night with the hubs, or, B) date night with the girls!

So, ladies, I will be spending my day after Thanksgiving at home, relaxing with my family and doing a little Black Friday online shopping. For those of you that brave the cold and the crowds out there in the real world, I salute you. You have 10x the patience and determination that I do!

Where The Hell Is Santa When You Need Him?

2010-11-23T08:49:00.000-08:00

This...

...is what my children want for Christmas this year.

Yes, that's a cat.

(Que conversation with my four year old yesterday)

Me: So what do you think you are going to ask for this year for Christmas?

P: Ummmm...all I want for Christmas this year is a cat. A small, cute, furry one.

Me: Oh really? Wow. That would be kind of neat, huh?

P: Yep. And what's what sissy (what she calls her little sister) wants too!

Me: (laughing inside my head) And did she tell you that herself? (mind you, her little sister is only 21 months)

P: Uh-huh. And I want a cat small enough that I can take it everywhere with me! Even take it to school and put in my backpack!

So, yeah. Apparently my children are banking on a cat for Christmas. The only problem is that neither my husband or I thinks this is a good idea.

Why you ask? First of all, we have two dogs in the backyard that don't really care for cats (to put it nicely). I would hate to see what would happen if that cat ever got stuck in the backyard. Second of all, I really don't adore the idea of the smell of a litterbox anywhere in the house. Third of all, I really, really, really don't adore the idea of cat hair being stuck to everything in the house.

Don't get me wrong, I do like cats. I had a couple cats when I was little, but they were outside cats that only came in every now and then. If the day ever comes that the hubby and I decide to get a cat, I will definitely want it to be a (mainly) outside cat. Unfortunately, with our dogs being outside dogs I don't really see that whole situation working out anytime soon.

Although, if we could find a cat just like this, then I'd probably be all for it...

Who doesn't love Puss in Boots??

It's really so hard to say no to these precious, princess faces...

But they are kind of SOL this year on the whole cat idea. Dad says no, mom says no, so that just leaves....Santa. I guess it's up to him!

Quick Beauty Product Review Update & A Cry For Help!

2010-11-23T07:55:00.001-08:00

I had a blast doing my first beauty product review the other day! I hope you ladies enjoyed reading it and found it helpful.

I have already received a few questions and I've been trying to figure out the best way to answer the questions I get. I am still slightly "tech stupid" so I can't figure out how to set up comments so that I can respond to comments/questions right underneath as a "reply" (while at the same time alerting the commenter that I have responded to their comment). Ummmm, does that make any sense?

So, until I can figure out how to do this (any help from you tech smart ladies would be awesome!), here is what I'll do...

When someone posts a question in my comments under a post, I will either:
A) E-mail that person back with my answer *if* I can find their e-mail address and/or they have a link to send them an e-mail on their blogger profile.
B) If I can't find an e-mail address or link, I will simply post my response under their comment as another comment. So, check there if you have not received an e-mail with my response to your question.

I know that last option is lame, but it will have to do until I can figure out how to set my comments up differently. Please help!

All About Me In 30 Days: Day 6- 20 Favorite Things

2010-11-22T12:25:00.000-08:00

Here goes:

1. My hunky, sexy as hell, funny, and oh-so-amazing husband
2. My gorgeous, sweet, caring and spunky daughters
(The next 18 things are not in any specific order)
3. The ocean
4. Shoes
5. My Escalade
6. Rock music
7. Makeup
8. Red wine (mainly Pinot Noir)
9. Nail polish
10. My jewelry
11. Black skinny jeans
12. Tattoos
13. Cold weather (yay for Fall and Winter!)
14. Tea
15. DVR
16. Candles
17. Juicy Couture perfume
18. Circus animal cookies
19. Basically anything that sparkles
20. Odwalla Superfood (the gnarly looking green color one)

I'm sure once I post this I will remember a few things I forgot, but seriously, how could we ever narrow down our favorite things to only 20?!?

Beauty Product Review: Sephora's Mini Colorful Mono Eyeshadow Set

2010-11-21T15:50:00.000-08:00

Sephora brand eyeshadows can really be hit or miss for me perosnally. I have found a few that I really liked, but then I've also bought a couple that were kind of crap. The other day while at Sephora I ran across this limited edition set of 5 mini shadows as part of their holiday specials.

(From L-R: Sweet Candy, Midnight Kiss, Made In Manhattan, Engagement Ring, Swimming Pool)

I'm not a huge fan of pink eye shadow, but I liked the other four colors so I figured I'd buy it. Besides, $20 for five eyeshadows is a pretty good deal.

Once I started playing around with them at home I had mixed emotions (as I've always had about Sephora eyeshadow). Here are the descriptions and my thoughts on this product:

Swatches from L-R:

Midnight Kiss: royal, purple shimmer
Made In Manhattan: charcoal, grey shimmer
Sweet Candy: bubblegum, pink shimmer
Engagement Ring: silver with silver glitter
Swimming Pool: rich turquoise shimmer
(All colors are swatched over Urban Decay Primer Potion to show true color)

I was really expecting to love Midnight Kiss, but unfortunately it really let me down. It appears so vibrant in the package, but once I swatched it I realized it needed a lot of layers to get it close to where I wanted it. Bummer on that one!

Made In Manhattan is a nice, simple charcoal color. I use dark colors a lot in my makeup routine so I love charcoal grey's like this. It's perfect for a smokey eye.

Sweet Candy is actually quite pigmented for a light pink (light pinks are infamous for lacking in pigmentation), however I know I will hardly use it simply because I don't reach for light pinks when doing my makeup.

Engagement Ring without a primer= not very exciting. Engagement Ring with a primer= that's more like it! This is fun, glittery (but not too glittery) color that's perfect for a night out. I can totally see it used for a sexy, smokey eye on New Years Eve! But you must, I repeat, you MUST use a primer under this one.

Swimming Pool definitely caught my eye when I first saw this set in the store. My first thought was that this one was going to disappoint me. I was sure that it would have hardly any pigmentation and not show up at all. Colors like these can be very deceiving. I was wrong! You can see on my swatches what a gorgeous, vibrant color this one is. It has the perfect amount of shimmer and would look great as a pop of color with a brown smokey eye. I can see it now!

Overall: I was pleased with 3 out of 5 of these eyeshadows. I'm still super bummed about the purple. I'll try to work with it some more and see if I can't get a better color payoff with it though. The standouts in this set for me were Engagement Ring and Swimming Pool...I would have paid $20 for those two alone, so for me this set was worth the money.

Where to get it: Sephora or Sephora.com
Price: $20.00 ($40.00 value)
Size: 5 pots (0.053 oz. each)

So, that was my first beauty product review! What do you think ladies? Any thoughts, suggestions, constructive criticism (lol), something I missed that you would like to see in reviews??

And The Verdict Is...

2010-11-21T14:23:00.000-08:00

Thanks for your input on the possibility of me doing a few beauty product reviews here and there. It seems as if everyone has the same thoughts: simply throw the reviews on my current blog. I agree. For now I will only be doing reviews every now and then, so there is really no need for a whole separate blog. Maybe if I get really into I will eventually start a "Mommy Vandy Beauty Blog" of some sort, but we'll see! For now though, I will just stick with my one blog.

With that being said, I wanted to give you all a quick rundown of what I will be doing for the beauty product reviews...

- I will be doing reviews on both "higher end" (MAC, Nars, Urban Decay, Chanel, OPI, Smashbox, etc.) and "lower end" (NYX, Prestige, Sephora brand, Ulta brand, Milani, etc.) products. I will admit that I do prefer higher end when it comes to cosmetics, but I do find some lower priced gems that really work great sometimes. So, I definitely don't discriminate!

- I will include makeup, nail polish, hair products, skin products, bath products and maybe some fashion products in my reviews.

- I will try to include swatches of all makeup products and nail polishes included in a review.

- I know that not everyone has the same taste in makeup. Some like colorful, vibrant, edgier looks and some like neutral, more toned down looks. I personally like both (depending on the day). Sometimes I like to bust out my brighter colors, glitter liner and have some fun, but other times I like to just stick with my usual dark, shimmery, smokey eye. One day you may find me wearing a nude lip, then the next I may be rockin' a red lip. It all depends! And that's what I love about makeup! (end ramble) My point is that I will try to accommodate everyones likes to the best of my ability. I know we all don't love the same things, but hey, that's what makes the world go round.

- If you have any specific requests (a certain product you would like me to review) or questions on products, feel free to contact me by e-mail or simply leave a comment on my blog! I can't guarantee I will review your requested product, but I will definitely try if it's something I feel interested in checking out. I also love suggestions on great products that you all have tried and enjoy using!

I hope you ladies will enjoy my beauty product reviews. I know I will because I have a serious addiction to makeup and all things beauty related!

All About Me In 30 Days: Day 5- Favorite Quote

2010-11-21T09:39:00.000-08:00

I have a few quotes that I really love, but my absolute favorite is:

"A day without laughter is a day wasted" - Charlie Chaplin

I mean, really, does that one even need an explanation?? Love it and live by it!

Whatchya Think Ladies?

2010-11-20T09:41:00.001-08:00

I really want your opinions on this.

I have always been into makeup and beauty products for as long as I can remember. I have a makeup collection that is ridiculously large and I adore Sephora. I could (and probably have already) spend a disgusting amount of money in that store.

Lately I have been tossing around the idea of doing makeup and beauty product reviews. I enjoy reading reviews on products, so I figured why not do reviews of my own? It's always a great idea to check out some reviews before spending money on beauty products...especially since there are so many out there that don't deliver on their promises.

Anyways, I know not everyone is interested in this subject, but I also know a lot of women are. So, my question is:

*If* I do decide to start doing beauty product reviews, do you think I should just throw them in every now and then on this blog or should I create a second blog dedicated solely to those reviews?

Whatchya think about this ladies??

All About Me In 30 Days: Day 4- Favorite Book

2010-11-18T12:19:00.000-08:00

I used to read all the time. I love reading. I really do. I love going to the bookstore, looking at all the books, enjoying the ambiance, etc. However...

(Why is there always an "however" or a "but"??)

...finding the time to read a good book these days has been quite the challenge. Two young children, a husband, cooking, cleaning, laundry, errands...those are just a few things that prevent me from reading. For those of you mommas with multiple kids that still find time to read, kudos to you. MAJOR kudos to you!

I do find time every now and then. But when I do start a book it usually takes me 500 years to finish it since I only get the chance to read it ever so often.

Wow. This has turned into a total ramble session.

Let's get to the point. A couple of my favorite books that I have actually completed within the last few years include:

The "Twilight" saga by Stephenie Meyer...of course! Those books totally sucked me in (no pun intended). Love the movies, love the books. But really, who doesn't love vampires?!?

"How To Make Love Like A Pornstar" by Jenna Jameson. Don't judge. The book is not about what the title makes it out to be. That woman is a freakin' mess these days, but the book was still super interesting.

For you ladies that have the time to read, what are some of your favorite books?

All About Me In 30 Days: Day 3- Favorite TV Show

2010-11-16T07:58:00.000-08:00

Okay, so you all know I'm a "Real Housewives" junkie. I never miss an episode. There are also a couple other reality shows that I regularly watch. Surprisingly though, my favorite show(s) are not reality shows at all.

Without further adieu...wait, can I have two favorites? This is my blog, I can do whatever I want!

So my two favorite TV shows are:

"Sons of Anarchy"- This show is amazing. I love everything about it and am completely addicted. If you haven't seen it go watch it NOW! Besides, you can't go wrong with a few hot men (mainly Jax!) on some hot Harley's, right? ;-)

"Big Love"- I'm also pretty addicted to this show. There are always surprises, twists and turns and drama. It's strange, but they actually make polygamy look exciting, lol. I wait on pins and needles for the new season to start each year.

What are your favorite TV shows?

All About Me In 30 Days: Day 2- Favorite Movie

2010-11-14T21:04:00.000-08:00

My favorite movie of all time is "Goodfellas". I could seriously watch that movie every day for a year and not get sick of it. "The Godfather" is a great movie, "Casino" is pretty awesome, but no other mafia movie compares to "Goodfellas"!

I have a confession though. Part of my love for "Goodfellas" has to do with one of the actors in the movie. I have (and have always had) a huge Hollywood crush on this guy. Everyone thinks I'm a complete weirdo for it, but to me he is so hot! I just can't explain it.

*Swoon* I just love me some Ray Liotta! In case you didn't know, he's my second husband...sshhh, don't tell my first husband! ;-)

So ladies, what's your favorite flick?

All About Me In 30 Days: Day 1- Favorite Songs

2010-11-12T18:59:00.000-08:00

I love, love, love music! I couldn't even imagine a world without music. I listen to all kinds of music, but my favorite is rock. Some of my favorite musicians are Paramore, Three Days Grace, 30 Seconds To Mars, Nickelback, Five Finger Death Punch, Pink, Breaking Benjamin, Kid Rock, Jamey Johnson, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Lynyrd Skynyrd...the list really goes on and on.

But as far as my favorite song goes, The Beatles hold that title for me. It's called "Blackbird" and it really holds a special place in my heart. My daddy used to sing it to me every night before bed and the lyrics are so beautiful. In fact, I just got a new tattoo last week with my favorite lyric from "Blackbird" on my wrist!

It says "Into the light of the dark black night"...my favorite line in the song!

(This was the day after I got it so it's still pretty red and swollen in this pic.)

So, yeah. That's my all time favorite song! What's yours?

All About Me In 30 Days

2010-11-12T18:44:00.000-08:00

So, I've decided to participate in "All About Me In 30 Days". It's pretty much self-explanatory. Each day is a new topic and I give my own personal response! However, I know damn well that I won't be able to post something once a day, every day... therefore, I will be doing the "All About Me In 30 Posts" version!

Go check out Nolie's Place if you feel like participating!

So, here are the questions:
Day 1 ~ My favorite songs
Day 2 ~ My favorite movie
Day 3 ~ My favorite television program
Day 4 ~ My favorite book
Day 5 ~ My favorite quote
Day 6 ~ 20 of my favorite things
Day 7 ~ A photo that makes me happy
Day 8 ~ A photo that makes me angry/sad
Day 9 ~ A photo that I took
Day 10 ~ A photo of me 10 years ago
Day 11 ~ A recent photo of me
Day 12 ~ Something I am OCD about
Day 13 ~ A fictional book
Day 14 ~ A non~fictional book
Day 15 ~ My dream house
Day 16 ~ A song that makes me cry (or want to)
Day 17 ~ An art piece
Day 18 ~ My wedding
Day 19 ~ My talent
Day 20 ~ My hobby
Day 21 ~ A recipe
Day 22 ~ A website
Day 23 ~ A Youtube video
Day 24 ~ Where I live
Day 25 ~ My day in great detail
Day 26 ~ My week in great detail
Day 27 ~ My worst habit
Day 28 ~ What’s in my handbag
Day 29 ~ My hopes, dreams, plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 ~ A dream for the future beyond the next year

Friday Blog Hop and Five Question Friday

2010-11-12T09:57:00.000-08:00

Welcome new followers!

1. What is the most physically painful thing that has ever happened to you?
Hmmm, like most mommies out there, I'd probably have to say childbirth. The contractions are pretty intense. It's definitely all worth it in the end though...all that pain brings you a beautiful little baby! :-)

2. How much sleep do you get at night?
I'm pretty lucky that both my girls are (and have always been) pretty good sleepers. Due to this blessing, I usually always get 7-8 hours of sleep. Woot-woot. Thanks princesses. This makes mommy very happy!

3. How long did you believe in Santa Claus? How did you find out that he does not exist?
Wait, what?? There's no Santa Claus?!? Now that's just crazy talk!

I don't remember what age I figured out it was all a sham. But I do know that once I became a mom I had to start doing Santa's job for him. Lazy bastard! ;-)

4. What was the last movie you saw in a theater?
Wow, it's been awhile since I've seen a movie in the theater. The hubs and I don't usually go see a movie on date nights. I think it was "Shutter Island" though. That movie was a trip.

5. What do you wear to bed?
Getting a little personal this week, eh?!? Lol. Depends on the night. Some nights one of my husbands t-shirts and some nights nothing. Is that TMI?? Hey, you ask, I answer.

Oh, and for those of you wondering about my hair color decision, I went with this color at my appointment the other day:

My stylist couldn't get the color as vibrant as I wanted this time because of the dark brown/almost black hair color I already had in my hair. She said next time we will be able to get it closer to the picture though because the dark dye will have faded a bit. It looks AMAZING in the sun, but in the shade the red doesn't pop as much as I'd like. So, hopefully after my next appointment in December my color will be almost identical to the picture above!

Hello Lover....

2010-11-04T15:27:00.000-07:00

Everytime I find of pair of hot shoes that rock my world I feel like Carrie Bradshaw. The joy I feel inside when I acquire a new pair is actually quite sickening. I definitely have a weakness for shoes...mainly stilettos!

Today at Nordstrom Rack I came across these spicy heels:

I think I might have even said "Hello lover" out loud when I first found them. Oops! ;-)

Love 'em, love 'em, love 'em. They are sexy, edgy, versatile and maybe a tad bit stripper-ish (which is okay as long as I'm not actually wearing them while sliding up and down a pole, right? lol). Oh yeah, and I can't forget the part my husband would be proud of: they were originally like $100 and I got them on sale for $30!! Woot-woot.

So, I'm picturing them with black skinny jeans, an off the shoulder top and my new favorite necklace:

*Swoon*...Grigio Design never seems to disappoint me! I seriously adore every piece of jewelry I have bought from there.

And by the way ladies, thanks for all your input on my hair post! I'll let you all know what I decided to do and post some pics after my appointment.

Soliciting Your Opinions. AKA: Help!

2010-11-02T16:36:00.000-07:00

Okay ladies. This Friday I have a hair appointment (color, not cut). I'm one of those people that gets bored with things quickly...especially my hair, so I'm ready for a change. I can't quite decide on the exact thing I want, but I have a general idea. Care to help me with your opinions pretty please?!

Before I show you what I'm thinking (thanks to Google images!) let me say a couple things:

1) Yes, I am a married woman and a "suzy homemaker" ( a "suzy homemaker" that wears skull & crossbones jewelry, nail polish 24/7, loves her 5 inch heels and is addicted to tattoos, mind you! But still a homemaker nonetheless!)
2) Yes, I am a mommy to two gorgeous children.
However...
3) I am still only 25. (I figure I still have a good 5+ years of being able to get away with fun hair colors, right? Or so society says unfortunately. I say rock whatever color you want at any age!!)
4) I like to have fun with my hair and spice things up a bit.
5) I like trying to look like a rockstar even though I'm obviously not one, lol.

So, even though I'm a dedicated wife and stay-at-home mom, I'm still young (and young at heart!) and I like to have fun with my look. With that being said, I might be into an edgier look than you but I would still love your opinion! Here are my thoughts:

I'm obviously going with a certain theme here, right?! I'm really digging the black/red and dark red look lately. (I think I might be kind of in love with the first pic.) I was also thinking of just sticking to my almost black color with just a few red peekaboo streaks underneath, but I couldn't find a pic of this for the life of me. :-(

So, whatchya thinkin' ladies??

P.S. And just FYI, I have fair skin and green eyes!

Halloween Photo Dump!

2010-11-01T16:45:00.001-07:00

How was everyones Halloween? Ours was awesome! I had so much fun getting the girls in their costumes. Presley was Snow White and Addison was a ladybug. They were way too freakin' adorable (if I do say so myself)! We ended up going over to my Aunt's house so my Aunt, Uncle, Mom and Dad could see the girls in their costumes. We all had dinner then headed out for a little trick-or-treating around their neighborhood. The girls had a blast collecting candy (the majority of which they will never get to eat!) and seeing all the other kid's costumes. We had planned to do a little more trick-or-treating once we got back to our house but by the time we got home the girls were exhausted! So, we just ended up handing out candy to the kids around our neighborhood! Here are some pics from the night...

Family Pic at my Aunt's house!

Snow White & the little ladybug!

The most beautiful Snow White I've ever seen.

Love my husband ♥

The girls with Nana and Papi

Candy please!

My hubby, my Dad and the girls

My husband being uncooperative during picture taking, lol!

The most adorable ladybug ever!

Trick-or-treating!

Baby girls first taste of a lollipop!

Pretty, pretty princess :-)

Found this at my Aunt's house and she was obsessed with it. So cute!

And The Winner Is....

2010-11-01T08:08:00.003-07:00

Are you all just dying to know who won my giveaway with Grigio Design?!?

According to random.org, the winner is comment #3: Blue Gate Photography.

Congratulations Nicole from Blue Gate Photography! Please send me an e-mail at chelsvandy@yahoo.com ASAP with your shipping address and what item(s) you have chosen from Grigio Design up to $30!

And enjoy your gorgeous new jewelry! :-)

Last Call!

2010-10-30T08:21:00.000-07:00

Don't forget everyone...tomorrow is the last day to enter in my giveaway from Grigio Design. So, if you haven't already entered, go do it now!! You won't want to miss out on this chance to win some amazing jewelry. Trust me on this people.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween! I'm super stoked to get my girls all dressed up in their (adorable) costumes and do some trick-or-treating. Have a blast ladies!

P.S. Remember that concert I went to last Saturday night?? Ummm, yeah. It was, by far, the most kick ass concert EVER! My husband and I had such an awesome time. And let me just say, all three bands put on an amazing show, but Nickelback seriously, majorly rocked. Anyone who likes rock music should see them live ASAP! You won't regret it.

We All Just Want To Be Big Rockstars...

2010-10-23T15:23:00.001-07:00

If anybody needs me tonight this is where I'll be:

Nickelback

Three Days Grace

Buckcherry

Woot woot! The hubby and I are going to the Nickelback, Three Days Grace and Buckcherry concert tonight. I'm so stoked. My husband is most looking forward to seeing Nickelback but I think I might be more excited to see Three Days Grace (and for Buckcherry to sing "Crazy Bitch", hehe). All three bands will rock the house for sure because they all have some pretty awesome songs. Time to party like rockstars baby!!

RIP Roseville Galleria

2010-10-22T10:07:00.000-07:00

This is what happened to my local mall yesterday...

I could literally see the black smoke (and smell it) from our house! :-(

Check out this news article about it before you continue with this post:
Fire Flares at California Mall After Standoff

Let me start out by saying, thank God no one was hurt. This whole catastrophe could have been a lot worse but thankfully everyone was evacuated safely.

With that being said...I am devastated. I kind of felt like crying yesterday as it was happening. My husband says I might need some help if I actually feel like crying about a mall burning down, lol. Men just don't understand!

First of all, this has totally put a damper on my shopping addiction. This mall had it all. Tiffany & Co., Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Sephora, Lush, Nordstrom, Children's Place, H&M, Forever 21, the list goes on. To think of all those shoes, purses, etc. burning makes me ill.

Second, this really had to happen right before the Christmas shopping season?? Really?!

Third (and most importantly), this mall is where myself and all the other Roseville moms go with our children. We go there to shop, we go there for playdates, we go there to let our kids play on the inside play area when it's raining out, etc. It's so scary to think about it because I was literally on my way to the mall when this situation went down. To think that my children and I could have been there when this lunatic decided to do something really stupid is extremely disheartening. Roseville has always been known as the safe, clean, newer, more high end town around the Sacramento area. I have always felt safe here and I felt good about my kids growing up here. Unfortunately, what happened yesterday is an example of how things are starting to change around this town. The home foreclosures in the area have really started to bring in the "riff raff". I hate to sound crude by saying this but it's the truth. Houses that have been foreclosed on become really cheap targets for people that would normally not be able to afford one like it. Don't get me wrong, this can be a great opportunity for some people who are decent and respectful. But unfortunately it always brings in the not-so-decent, not-so-respectful people who are used to living in a completely different type of environment. Since the downturn of the economy I have slowly started to notice more crime in this town. It's very sad to watch actually and it makes me really question if I want to raise my children in California anymore. I know crime is everywhere but it seems to just keep getting worse and worse in this state. Maybe it's time for a change of scenery?!?

Okay, I'm done ranting now.

Make sure to go and enter my giveaway here by the way! It ends October 31st.

And please pray that we can get our mall back ASAP...I might go nuts without it!

Giveaway! But Not Your Average Giveaway...

2010-10-19T20:25:00.000-07:00

...because this quite possibly might be the most kick ass giveaway EVER!

Remember that gorgeous, rockin', eye-catching necklace that I raved about yesterday in my Etsy Love! post?

Yeah, that's the one. *swoon*
Well Grigio Design has way more where that came from!

Miss Skeleton Cameo Earrings

Lady Delahaya Necklace

Miss Skeleton Rococo Necklace- White/Hazy Blue

Arwen Solid Sterling Silver Earrings

Ummm, yeah. Can we say "ADORE"?!? And that's just a small taste of what this Etsy shop has to offer! Needless to say, immediately after I came across this Etsy shop I had to make a couple purchases. I can't wait to get that package in the mail/on my doorstep!! Realistically, I could buy everything available in that shop (especially the "Miss Skeleton" pieces!) but then my husband might want to kill me. So, to keep the hubby happy I'll just buy a few things at a time, hehe. ;-)

Anyways, the owner of Grigio Design and creator of this amazing jewelry is so sweet that she is letting me host a giveaway with her! I am so stoked about this because I have never been able to find jewelry like this before. It's totally my style. Unique, a little rock-n-roll, a little vintage, gorgeous, and all around KICK ASS! It's so exciting to be able to share these pieces with you all. These are the perfect accessories to make any mommy (or non-mommy!) a little more rockstar. We all love feeling a little more rockstar, right?!

So, here's the deal. To enter you must do at least 4 of the following 5 super simple things:

1. Follow her Etsy shop on Twitter: grigiodesign
2. Add her on Facebook: Grigio Atelier
3. Like her page on Facebook: Grigio Design
4. Heart either one of her shops: www.grigio.etsy.com & www.grigiodesign.etsy.com
5. Follow her blog: www.grigiodesign.blogspot.com

*Oh, and you must be a follower of my blog of course! :-)*

Comment this post once you have done 4 out of those 5 things and let me know you want to be entered! (Make sure to leave your e-mail in the comment so I can contact you if you win.)

The lucky winner will have her choice of anything from Grigio Design up to a $30 value!!

The giveaway will end on October 31st (Halloween!!) at midnight.
Good luck everyone!

Etsy Love!

2010-10-19T09:52:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when I have a few minutes to myself I like to head over to Etsy and check out the goods. I always end up finding things I love! I think you could literally spend a year looking at that site and still not see everything though. They have so much! Anyways, here are a few fabulous things I'm eyeing these days...

Miss Skeleton Rococo Necklace

I'm in LOVE with this necklace. A little rock-n-roll with a side of Victorian elegance. Need.This.Now! I think it's safe to say that I want to buy everything at this Etsy shop!

Black Diamond Studs

I am always looking for new black earrings. I love the way they look against the skin plus they are so versatile. This earring is great because it mixes the black with a touch of sparkle! Who doesn't love some sparkle, right?

Hot Pink Satin Peony on Zebra Print Beanie

Both of my princesses would totally rock this hat (if I do say so myself! Lol). The satin flower makes this childrens hat stand out from all the other animal print hats out there. So cute!

Spring Branch and Cage Removable Wall Stickers

Isn't this adorable for a little girls room?! The pink birds make it so whimsical yet simple. Now I just have to decide which room it will go in...Presley's or Addison's? Decisions, decisions!

Ruby Slippers

Okay, so I'm kind of committing blog robbery with this one but they are so amazing I just had to show them! I saw these for the first time on the totally fabulous "Chasing Twins In Louboutins" blog and I fell in love, love, love. I'm a total shoe whore and these are the epitome of hot shoes. If you're a shoe addict too I highly suggest you go check out this Etsy shop to see more heels similar to the Ruby Slippers. Seriously: A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. shoes!! And thanks to Amanda from "Chasing Twins In Louboutins" for bringing these to my attention! If you are into fashion and style like I am, you should head over to her blog...she has pretty damn good taste!

Would You Like Fries With That Artificial Burger?

2010-10-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

Ewwww, this is so gnarly. All of you should go read this article.

"The Happy Meal Experiment"

I'm sure we are all well aware (and have been for some time) that McDonald's food is not healthy, nutritious, or even delicious for that matter. But this article just bumps it's nastiness up a few notches. I'm guilty of letting my 4 year old have an occasional happy meal, but I've always tried to make fast food a very rare exception in our family. After reading this article, McDonald's might have to become a forbidden word in the VanDenHoek household, lol.