Itzbeen

Itzbeen has to be by far the most useful gift we received upon Charlotte’s arrival.  You keep track of when you last fed and changed you baby. It also keeps track of when they last slept and has a nifty fourth button that we used to keep track of when we last gave her medicine.  Itzbeen has a nigh light feature so that you can locate it and the screen has a back light making it easy to read.  It is  a lot easier to hit a button than to try to recall at 3am when you last gave your baby medicine.

Fresh Sugar Honey Tinted Lip Treatment

A few years ago, I started using Fresh’s Sugar Lip Balm.  It is expensive but I had tried just about everything to treat my chapped lips. I hate feeling like my lips are coated in vaseline or as though I dipped my lips in wax which is pretty much how every lip balm felt.  This Christmas, my husband gave me a tube of Fresh’s Sugar Honey Tinted Lip Treatment. I love it! I still use my old Sugar Lip Balm, especially when I am just kicking around the house, but when I am going out, this is a great alternative to lipstick. It has a hint of color and moisturizes my chapped lips at the same time.

A Game of Thrones

These books were recommended by everyone and I never added them to my reading list because they are long and I wasn’t sure about reading another series.  I noticed that a TV series was being made and I decided I should read the books before watching the show.  My best friend lent me her copies a few weeks before the end of my pregnancy. I just finished the fourth book.  They are amazing books!  There is intrigue, war, love, and a cast of characters that you find yourself loving and hating. I highly recommend these books!

I have had some fun on Etsy. I bought a lovely baby book from Ruby Love Designs and these three adorable headbands from Monday’s Child.

My friend Nicole gave me a coupon for Smartfood.  If you ever wander around Target, I guarantee you have seen boxes of this at the end of the checkout counters over the last year.  I am always up for a new healthy snack option and I had a $1 coupon. I decided to try their Chocolate Cookie Caramel Pecan Popcorn.  I have to say I enjoyed the taste of the product. I am not so sure how healthy the snack is, but it does have a good amount of fiber and calcium.  I need to do a bit more research on the health benefits of brown rice syrup and chicory root.  What has me writing about this product is the amount of packaging this product uses. In each of those large boxes setting on the shelf is five 1 ounce bags of the popcorn.  The snack bags only take up 1/4 of the room in the box. You could easily fit 12 to 15 bags in a box.  I am so turned off by the waste the packaging created that I couldn’t enjoy the snack. I won’t be buying more unless Frito Lay changes the packaging.

When I was a child, my mother had a bottle of Avon Rose perfume. I would sneak into her room to smell the perfume. Something about the smell of roses brought a sense of peace and happiness. Over the last few months, I have been looking for things that evoked good feelings. I was delighted to find this new scent by Chloe.  The scent is described as,

“Top notes of pink peony, freesia, and lychee embody subtle freshness. At the heart, midnotes of magnolia flower, lily of the valley, and rose rise to sublimated femininity. A base of velvety elegance comes to fruition through cedarwood, amber, and honey.”

The perfume is available at Sephora starting at $85.oo for a 1.7 oz. bottle.

I made the decision to subscribe to Netflix during this last round of IVF treatment.  I have to stay at home and in bed for the better part of two weeks and I really needed something to pass the time. I have fallen in love with the Australian drama McLeod’s Daughters.  Tess and Claire are strong women and their stories are fascinating.  The series is available for instant download on Netflix, so there is no wait for discs in the mail!  Once you start watching you can’t stop.  If you don’t have Netflix, you can also purchase the series on Amazon.

I bought this Villa Footed Bowl from Pottery Barn.  I just loved the shape of the bowl and found it to be the perfect size for their Rose potpourri.  The small bowl is only $20.00.

Sephora is the only distributor of Philosophy’s Cinnamon Hot Dots body wash. This is the only cinnamon based body wash I have found in a while. My husband loves it!

Fresh’s Sugar Lip Treatment

I hate chapped lips and I have tried just about every lip balm, chap stick, lip gloss etc. out there without a clear winner. I had a great coupon for Sephora during the Christmas holiday, so I used it to buy this lip treatment that had been recommended.  Fresh’s Sugar Lip Treatment with SPF15 has kept my lips in perfect condition this winter.  It is expensive at $22.50 for a tube but there is no denying the end results!

Progressive Magnetic Measuring Spoons

I love my new Progressive Magnetic Measuring Spoons.  These spoons are magnetic, so they snap together for storage and the best thing is that each spoon is level on the bottom, so you can measure out a spice and set it aside until you need it. No SPILLS!  They make these in the above color or in stainless steel.  I found them on sale for $5.99 on Macy’s before Christmas. The best price I can find now is $7.95 on Amazon.

Barefoot Contessa’s Maple Roasted Bacon

photo by: misocrazy

Ina Garten is a genius! I made this bacon as part of Christmas breakfast. I did not make enough.  This would make my top five of favorite foods. I don’t have a picture of the finished product because it didn’t stay on a plate long enough for me to get a picture.  Make sure you use center cut bacon and real maple syrup when making Maple Roasted Bacon.

If you have dark circles under your eyes or laugh lines that you want to disappear…try this! My sister loves Benefit products and I have to say, I am starting to love them as well. If you don’t want to order them online, visit your closest Sephora.

I have a few social occassions coming up and I decided that versus digging in my purse for paper and pen to collect numbers that I would have calling cards made.  This is an example of what I ordered from Nella Designs on Etsy. I got 50 cards for $18.00.

I love fruity smells for the summer and I swear this smells like you smeared mango and oranges on your body.  This was $10.50 from Bath and Body Works.

I am addicted to Sobe Strawberry Kiwi “Calm-O-Mile” Lifewater. If we find this at a store, we buy all they have on their shelves. It is good stuff! Target has the best prices in our area. I can get 5 for $5.00.

Last but not least, I love the song “When Love Takes Over” by David Guetta featuring Kelly Rowland. Roll the windows down, enjoy the breeze, and blast it!

A friend of the family is getting married in June and I found a beautiful Waterford silver-plated frame that had originally been  $80.00 for $32.00.

My last find was a set of 100% cotton, 800 thread count sheets for my king sized bed for only $52.00. These sheets feel like cool butter against your skin. I don’t think I will want to leave my bed tomorrow.

I did learn a valuable lesson today about final sale/no returns. I somehow managed to pick up a queen set instead of a king set and I realized it only after leaving the store. Luckily the queen and king sets were the same price, so they allowed me to exchange because there was no need for a transaction. If the king sheets had been more expensive, I would have been out of luck with getting the right size. Always check the size of sheets, because people move things around and don’t always put things back in their right place.

Pretty

Hypnotic

Lifting

Engrossing

Compelling

I love Tervis Tumblers! They are the best cups for keeping your drinks cold or hot.  You can use them in the dishwasher, microwave and freezer. They also float which let me tell you comes in handy at the pool. Virtually nothing can destroy these cups and they are guaranteed for life.  Tervis sells a wide variety of emblems for their cups and today I ordered a University of Georgia cup. The cups are a bit pricey. The 24 ounce tumbler I bought today cost $22.95 with shipping and handling.  I have given these as gifts and while a little skeptical at first everyone comes around to loving these cups!

Felix Doolittle just sent me their March newsletter. They are offering 20% off their calling cards and personalized junior bookplates. Use the promotion code: MARCH09. I just love the whimsy of Felix Doolittle products. They are thoughtful and unique gifts!

Crate and Barrel sent me an update on their spring products. I fell in love with these two vases. They retail for $19.95 each. I bought two bundles of daffodils and a bundle of tulips in the last two weeks. I love pulling out my vases and setting them around the house. It just makes me smile. Great gift idea for spring weddings or birthdays!

I love my chap stick, lip balm, and lip gloss. I keep them stashed all over the place. Nothing bothers me more than chapped lips. I was in CVS last week and I came across this NIVEA product called Hydro Care. I have used NIVEA lotion before and I thought I would give their lip care a try. I love this stuff!  It is light, not oily, and inexpensive compared to department store lip moisturizers. I have used Clinique’s Moisturizing  Gloss for a while and that costs $13.50 for a tube. NIVEA uses shea butter and jojoba oil to leave your lips soft.  It costs $2.69 for a tube.

I found these hand soaps on Rose and Radish site. I have to say they weird me out a bit. I do think it would be funny to see people’s reactions.  Each hand costs $21.00 plus shipping and handling.

I found these cards by Earmark on Etsy today.  I think we all know one person who may need a subtle reminder to shower and if you work in a field related to computers, you probably have a whole staff that this applies to.  Nothing drives me batty like a person that can’t park and I have been known to throw-up because of someone talking with a mouth of food. (Really weak stomach!) What I like about these cards is they allow for anonymity. A pack of 10 cards is $8.50.

I was looking through my new Gardener’s Supply Company catalog and I came across these neat hooks made to look like old faucet handles.

I fell in love with Jane Jenni mugs back in March. I was shopping at the Mod Cottage in Rehoboth Beach and they had a nice selection of her mugs. So I bought this one for myself for Christmas. This just cracks me up.

I  saw these mentioned on Oh Joy!’s site and I fell in love. The ceramics are by Polly George of Kent, England. Each piece is unique in that she slip casts each piece and decorates them with her trademark white birds, butterflies, and roses. The vase is £63.00 and the cup is £18.00. You can view her website by clicking here.