Meet Jingle... Our Shelf Elf!!

Day 1: The kids found Jingle enjoying a lift from a new pal



Day 2: Enjoying the view out the front window from a precarious perch



Day 3: The kids left some cookies for Jingle, who decided to to share them with some new friends

He wrote them a note to thank them

Well Where the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks Have You Been....

This is what you might be asking yourself, Where in the world has Stephanie been. Well I will tell you, that I have been on one grand adventure after another since we last talked. I will keep all the gooey details to myself and share some of the highlights with you;

• You might have heard that we had a little hurricane here on the East Coast. Ok so maybe it wasn't little. In fact it was huge. We lost power for 9 days and ended up moving into a hotel for part of that time. Our road was a mess and we can still see evidence from the damage.
• We had a huge Halloween party and it was a massive hit, and so much fun!
• For Halloween the kids were Harry Potter, Hermione, and Ron and it was voted that I, therefore must be Lord Voldemort. I'll spare you guys the pictures since they might be used later as blackmail
• My classes have gotten progressively harder as the semester has progressed and finals are coming up so I have been more busy than normal.

I hope ya'll had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Ulta I Love You!!

WOOT WOOT I got me a 20% coupon for Ulta this week and this is what I went and got myself. I love me some Too Faced!!!

Organizational Sundays

Sometimes I get these notions in my head, and I just can't seem to shake them until I take action. I had just such a notion today and man o'man was I sorry I did. First let me mention, although I think I might have before, that I am an organization freak of nature. I make my bed every morning and I can't stand clutter or things not in their proper place. When my room, bathroom, closet etc... are unorganized it makes me feel as though my entire life is out of order. So for that last couple of weeks I have been feeling out of sorts every time I opened the doors to my closet. Truth is I have too much stuff and not enough space.

 

 

So I spent most of the day trying to decide what to do with the limited amount of space I have and the massive amount of stuff I have. After sitting in my desk chair and staring into the abyss that has become my closet for what seemed like hours I finally decided that the only way to fix it was just start rearranging. Which ended up looking like its own version of chaos.

After getting started

What my room looked like with everything removed

It was a daunting task but after putting things back and then taking them out once again I think I finally found a solution.

After

Top Shelf

Shelf on the right

The thing is, I am moving next year so I have decided to start taking things out and sending them back home to MI in preparation. So I removed quite a few of the cloths I no longer wear or don't wear often as well as moved all of my shoes up to the top shelf since they take up the most space. While I still am not happy with the use of space, I am content with it for now. An emphasis on " For Now"

 

Hope Y'all had a great weekend!



Experimental Thursdays

So I wanted to do an experiment today. I am a sucker for mascara, so much so that I had to purchase another plastic drawer organizer to store it all. So as I was walkin through Ulta today (as I do many days) carrying around 3 new packages of mascara, yes you read that right 3, I thought to myself "I wonder if these things really do all they say they do". I had never really paid attention to the packaging of these cute little tubes before, I simply bought them because they promised longer lashes or fuller lookin lashes. So with that, this blog post was born. I bought three new mascaras today; Maybelline Colossal Cat eyes, Maybelline Illegal Length and L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes. So here is my before picture, my lashes are, I would say, of medium length and volume.

 

 

So today I am going to try the Maybelline Colossal Cat eye. Here is what the wand looks like

This claims to add "Instant volume" " no clumps" and "Full and Spiked at the corners" so here is my after;

 

 

 

As you can tell there wasn't a very noticeable difference. My lashes look darker yes, but not noticeably longer or thicker. I do however like the darkness of this product though, so plus on that. Otherwise this is a great big fail.

 

*update this mascara did last all day though*

 

 

Stay tuned for next weeks Experimental Thursdays!!! 



Oh Yes it's Ladies Night....

Woot Woot I love me some girls night out!! Last night I went out with a couple of my girls to celebrate both of their birthdays, and we had a blast!!

I am lovin the fall weather, since that means I get to rock a scarf (and a leopard one at that!!). So we went and seen the Movie Argo, which was fantastic, and then had dinner at this lovely Mexican restaurant. We laughed and joked and talked for like 3 hours and it was so nice!!

This week I have been lovin this new palette (well new to me anyways) that I bought off of Hautelook.com. Its the Balm Nude Tude, which I have been pining after for a while so when it came up in their sales I was like "Snatch" and "Now your Mine"

Hope Y'all are havin a great weekend!!

Steph's tidbits:

• We have been super busy around our house lately gettin ready for Halloween. We are throwin a party and the kiddo's have loved going shoppin for decorations
• Wahooo I logged 18 miles runnin this week!! I am a beast!!
• I took a Kickboxing class this past Thursday and it was an Awesome workout but man oh man did I feel it later!

*here's somthin funny. When ever I do a spellcheak on my blog posts, it always highlights words missin the "G's" at the end. Sorry folks but I come from the midwest and we like to leave the G's off words, can't help it.

Mid-Week Makeup Break....

Just realized how long its been since I posted anything makeup related. So I thought I would mention a couple of things: first, I have not been wearing very much makeup lately mostly because I am working out so much (I REALLY REALLY want to wear those darn shoes !). Usually after the gym or my run I grab a quick shower and then only have time for a quick bit of eyeliner and some mascara, with a bit of lipstick. That being said I am loving the following products since they pack a power PUNCH with only a little work:

Both of these products cost less than $10 (even less if you have a coupon or discount for Ulta!!).

On My Way to Being Shredded :)

So for the last seven days I have been worshiping the workout God I like to refer to as: JILLIAN MICHAELS

 

After reading numerous bloggs depicting the A-M-A-Z-I-N-G results of her DVD workout system, to which I really didn't buy into the hype, but decided to give it a try anyways. And it turned out to be my lucky day because the 30 Day Shredd was on sale on Amazon. Double Awesome! After the first day I was exhausted. Now after 7 days I am already seeing a difference. And I am in L-O-V-E!!!!! I have so much stamina, I have run 3 miles everyday except one. That day I ran one mile at my lowest target time. Today I also took a new class at my gym called H.E.A.T. which totally kicked my butt. Here is something I have noticed about myself; I don't stay motivated if I am focused solely on losing weight so I needed something else this time around and I found it in the form of this:

And These:

Fantastic Motivation Right!!!! I found these on JustFab.com and am Blissed Out over them. In other news........................ I have none, LOL. My life is super lame right now :) and strangely I am ok with that!

 

Hope your life is LAME right now too!!!

Long Time No Blog...

Hey guys :) Sorry its been so long since I have blogged but the end of August and the Start of September have been crazy busy for me. Let's recap:

August:

• I ran a second 5K (did a little bit better than my first but not enough to be excited about)
• Took a 9 day trip to Seattle and Alaska- had an awesome time and saw some downright AMAZING things ~ plus a Seattle Mariners game!!

September:

• Kids started school ~ and so did I
• I have ran everyday in September except for 5 days. Pretty good if you ask me!

So that's what I have been up to. My classes, which I only have two going right now, are pretty laid back so far but I am trying to get ahead as much as I can in preparation for when it starts to get really crazy typically around the middle of October when my other 3 classes start. As of right this minute I am on schedule to graduate next spring and I could not be more excited. As for the working out; being on a cruise for the last week of August and beginning of September proved to be a bit of a challenge (since there is food EVERYWHERE on a cruise) but I only gained 1/2 pound which I think is quite an achievement. I am still running most everyday and am planning on running a third race on the 13th of October. I have lost 2 more pounds since the start of September but I am still struggling with Willpower when it comes to food. Sometimes I feel like I get food on the brain and until I eat it it wont go away. And that's when I feel at my weakest; but I am starting to recognize the triggers and hopefully will get stronger each day. Do you struggle with Willpower in any aspect of your life? In other news my sister and her husband are thinking about coming out here sometime in the near future, hopefully around Thanksgiving or New Years. I am really looking forward to that since I haven't seen my family since June. I really love this time of year, the leaves are starting to change and the mornings are cool I love the Fall its such a great time of year!

Hope y'all are having a great start of the new season!!

So Here's the Deal...

I am the kind of person who needs to put things in writing. If I am going on vacation, I write down a packing list (often multiple). If I am studying, I write down a schedule... You get the point. So recently I have decided to start taking this whole losing weight thing seriously, if you've been following the flow of this post then you might correctly assume that I am going to WRITE down my goal. Here's the Goal:

Lose 45 pounds by 2/8/2013

That is a little less than 6 months from now (granted I did in fact set that goal on the 8th of August) and would put me at my goal weight of 133 pounds (you do the math). Now I can't even begin to remember when the last time I weighed 133 pounds, and if you were to ask me (on a rough day mind you) I would admit that I feel like my boobs alone weigh that. Its a big goal but one that I feel I should be able to accomplish, its a soft two pounds a week. So what have I been doing so far and what am I going to do from here forward? I have trying to really paying attention to how and what I eat, as well as counting calories. I am trying to stick to 1200 to 1400 calories a day. I have also started running, ALOT. After my first race on 7/7/2012 I really caught the running bug and was running at least three times a week until I ran a second race on August 12th. Since then I have run, almost, everyday. But with all the running I find myself hungrier so I have been looking for snacks that contain lots of protein that will keep me fuller for longer, so far my favorite has been smoothies. I make a couple on Monday morning and freeze the ones that I don't plan on enjoying that day. Then I take one out of the freezer when I get up in the morning and by the time I am done with my run and workouts for the day it is the perfect after burn drink! On days when I don't run, either because I am feeling sore or simply didn't make the time (or when it rains, I can not stand when my cloths get wet) I try to either do some sort of weight training or another calories burner. Here's what I did today; it's a nine minute interval with no stopping (come on everyone has 9 minutes!)

• 1 minute-March in Place
• 1 minute- Jog in place (do it fast!)
• 1 minute- Jumping Jacks
• 1 minute- Side to Side jumps
• 1 minute- Jog lightly
• 1 minute- Jumping jacks
• 1 minute- Squats with kicks, alternating legs
• 1 minute- Jog lightly
• 1 minute- Jumping Jacks

I rested for 1 minute and then did it two more times. By the time I am done I am sweating like crazy. I have also started meditating twice a day for 15 to 20 minutes each time. This was simply a curiosity I had in the beginning, and when I saw the benefits I decided to give it a try. My insomnia is so much better as a result of meditation. And I have also found that my focus is completely different now, I don't hear any other voices when I run or get distracted as easily. I occasionally go to the gym usually to take a class, like Yoga or to use the weight machines. 98% of my running is done outside. Going forward I plan to continue running at least 5 times a week (if not more). But I don't want to just lose weight I want to get stronger so I might break down and hire a trainer for a couple of sessions just so I can feel confident that what I am doing is right for me. I am also going to continue running races. I have another on on the 8th of September (an 8K, that's 5 miles) and a couple of others planned through the end of November. I am very excited about seeing what my body can accomplish and all that I am capable of!!

Stay tuned :)

 

 

GlamBag Friday!

Well I got my Glambag recently. I am on the fence about this one. I don't LOVE the bag but I usually give these away anyways so that doesn't really bother me.

I like the color of the nail polish and the lip gloss, but both of these are MyGlam products which I am all for but it seems that we should get products from a multitude of different companies instead of just from them. Other than that nothing significant in the bag. I usually am all for the products from Myglam but this month I am pretty disappointed.

Whew... that was Great!

I had me a nice little vacation from Blogging, but now I am back and ready to get back at it! First order of business: BirchBox. I received my August box the other day and I have to say that I am starting to feel more confident in my decision to stay with them. They seem to have really stepped up and taken peoples complaints into consideration.

I really like everything that I got in my box; especially the quick curls. This product works great with my curly hair and makes my hair feel soft and smooth.

Good Job Birchbox, Good Job!

Fun Facts...

I thought you guys might enjoy learning some random fun facts about me:

1. I have signed three marriage certificates, but have never been married
2. I have worked as a Nanny for this family for the last 3 and 1/2 years. Before that I worked for two other families each for 1 year.
3. I know how to shoot a gun, wakeboard, kneeboard, ride a horse, drive a tractor, and drive a stick shift
4. When I graduate college next spring, I will have completed my bachelors degree (a 4 year program) in two years
5. I have been a resident of three different states
6. When I was younger I wanted to be an actress when I grew up
7. I LOVE to read and can devour a good book in a couple of hours
8. I love the sounds of a thunderstorm, motorcycles, my running sneakers hitting the pavement, and my mom's laugh
9. I usually have a dream every night. Sometimes they are scary and most of the time they are in black and white
10. I am obsessed with Harry Potter. Not only do I now have an HP tattoo, but I also win every time I play trivia, have read the series 5 times, own all of the movies on blue-ray and once had a cat named Felix Felicis.

There you go dear readers a few fun facts!

Night Y'all

And Then.... I Was 26

Well today was the BIG day! I can say that it was pretty uneventful and normal day. I did take the kids to see a movie (Ice Age 3) and had Ice cream for dessert, a real treat! I did not complete everything on my list, but am looking forward to making my new one. I did get three gifts from my mom, The Core Four DVD set from YesNetwork, Pretty Little Liars season one, and a pair of headphones for running. I got lots of wishes on Facebook and texts today which always warms my heart. Being surrounded by lots of love can have that effect on a person :)

I have truly enjoyed talking to you guys so much over the last 7 months but one thing is certain I will not being adding blog everyday to my new list. It's way too much pressure. So don't be nervous if I go a couple of days without posting, I promise to keep you all up to date. And I promise to start beauty blogging more often.

Night Y'all !!!

The Eve

So tomorrow is the big day. As I approach the milestone that marks my emergence into the latter haft of my twenties I am decidedly freaked out. What have I accomplished? What have I done? What does my life mean? And then I think, its ok that I don't have the answers to these questions yet. I am still figuring things out and that's okay too. And while I might not accomplish everything on my list I don't see this either as a failure but more as a future list, things I can accomplish in my life to better myself. As well as hope that I will forever be changing myself, bettering myself, accomplishing new things. In fact I have decided to make this a yearly thing, creating a list that I hope to accomplish before my next birthday.  Tomorrow I turn a year old and with all hope that also means a year wiser!

My last picture as a 25 year old!

A Night Under the Stars

It was a beautiful night to sleep under the stars don't you think? Well it was for me, and it certainly was here in NY. The weather was perfect, not too cold, not hot in a word perfect. I even convinced the kids to sleep out there with me, we had a lot of fun watching for the first stars and pointing out the ones we knew. Then we settled down and settled in for a long nights sleep. It was so relaxing, I can't even describe to you, dear reader how relaxing it was. It was lovely. Until I realized that I was going to wake up with one wicked backache, and the mosquito's were loving my newly tanned skin. But I stuck it out, until 6:30am that is. Then I slid through the screen door and made my way to the comfy comfy couch. In life don't we all just need a comfy couch.

The Day After...

This morning I woke up with a searing pain in my foot and it took me a couple of minutes to figure out why. Then I remembered that yesterday I had gotten a Tattoo there. Now here is a fun fact about me, I am highly suseptable to brusing, I bruise so easily even though I have a high threshold for pain. I know doesnt make sense right. So today I woke up to a bruise the size of texas and my foot about three times the size it is supposed to be. But it is totally worth is because even above all that the Tat looks awesome! I am so happy :)

A little Pre-Birthday Gift

To myself! Every year I buy myself a birthday present. This is mainly because I don't like "asking" for things from my family. So I buy myself something that I have wanted for a long time but never really had a reason to purchase. Last year I bought myself the trip to Paris, the year before that I bought myself Yankees tickets to the new Yankee stadium (something that I had never done before) and the year before that I bought an Ipod touch. This year, you might be wondering, I am headed off today to get me my gift. What is it? Well you will just have to be patient and see!! I will be sure to post pictures once I return. Well I have returned friends and am happy to share the fruits of my labor with you:

Ta Ta dear friends!! My new Tattoo. Its a picture of the Golden Snitch from Harry Potter, as if I had to tell you that :) I am so happy with the results but am in SOOOO much pain. It really really hurt, but I am proud to admit that I did not cry once nor did I scream out in agony. I was even able to hold a conversation with the guy that was doing my tattoo and another guy who was just hangin out. I have wanted this tattoo for the longest time and am proud to say that I am a SUPER FAN!!

Hope Ya'll had a Great Sunday. Now I am headed to bed with saran wrap around my foot!

A Long Walk

Today the family that I work for took me out for my birthday. We did a beautiful hike (an 8 mile hike to be exact) along Mohunk Mountain. It was so beautiful, snakes included (a snaked crossed our path twice while we were walking, Yuck). We did this thing called the Lemon squeeze it was sooooo amazing!

This is the Mohunk Mountain Hotel. It was so beautiful from the top of the lemon squeeze.

It was literally barley wide enough for me to fit shoulder width across. and this ladder was squeezed in there to climb up and then you have to shimmy up the last 1/4 of the way to the top. But it was so worth it, just because of the view. It was a lovely day, but I am thoroughly exhausted, and I have big Big BIG plans for tomorrow. Good Night Dear Reader, until we meet again. 

Friday Night Lights

I am planning a low key night since tomorrow I am going on a big Big hike. So I will keep this short and sweet :)

Night Y'all

Tonight..

Nothing much exciting is happening tonight. Sorry for the boring post.

And Then it Was an Addiction

I am so addicted to Pinterest. Incredibly so. I wonder how I possibly lived before I found this site. Okay so its not as bad as that yet, but I do love it. I have gotten so many fun ideas for my house (future one that is) cool outfits, and yummy treats to make for all my favorite friends. I also am addicted to all the shoes on there, so is my debit card :)


Night Y'all !!!

A Then a Pink Bag Showed Up

This always seems to happen. One day I will get my birchbox and then the next day I get my GlamBag, which I got today!

I really like everything I got in this bag as well. Everything that is except the bag itself. I really really don't like it. I can't wait to give it away.

A Brown box with a BIG Suprise

A birchbox that is. I was pleasantly surprised by my birchbox this month. And I like everything I got in my box. Especially the ear buds!

Night Y'all!! 

Is the Past Ever Really the Past?

This is what I have been contemplating today. How long can the past really stay in the past? Eventually don't we all have to face our past mistakes and choices? I think we do, our past and our futures are really one thing since our choices take us where we hope to go and our mistakes turn us into the people we eventually become.

Your thoughts?

Meandering Saturdays....

I seriously need to find a hobby. Without classes on Saturdays I feel a little lost as to what to do with myself. I have been reading a lot of books lately ( the better to cross of #1 on my list) and running 3 miles every other day, but I still find myself bored around the middle of the day. Hmmm what to do with myself.....

Any suggestions?

And then Again...

Remember how I said I have been loving color in my makeup lately? Well today I really added some color. YELLOW! I have never used yellow before since I was scared it would make me look washed out and sick, but I was pleasantly surprised that I really liked this look.

I am going to do a tutorial on this look soon, since I love it so much. Happy Friday everyone!!

A Little Color Never Hurt

Lately when it comes to my makeup I am in LOVE with lots of color. Today I rocked subtle color and am in love with this look:



This is so simple to create:

Use Naked lunch (MAC) as your transition color, pull the color up your brow bone

Use Glamour check (MAC) as your crease color

Apply White Frost (MAC) on lid. Pack on the color

Apply Naked Lunch along lower lash line

Apply Black eyeliner (I used Perversion from Urban Decay) on top lashes

Apply Blue eyeliner on loner lashes, outline inner corner (I used Radium from Urban Decay)

Coat lashes twice with favorite black mascara.

* Enjoy!! 

Run Little Chick Run...

So ever since my race this past Saturday I have had running on the brain. I have even signed up to run another 5K. I am the type of person who needs a goal to work towards otherwise I feel like I start losing my mind. And given the fact that my classes are over for the summer I really need something to keep my brain goin. So runnin it is. I really want to beat my time of the last race and to become a more efficient runner over all. So my goal is to run every other day from now until race day. This will also help me reach my goal weight. Which is takin longer than I had hoped, but like they say all good things take time.

Happy middle of the week Y'all !!

Going ZOO Crazy

Today I took the Kiddo's to the Bronx Zoo. We had soooo much fun (but that's obvious since we always have fun!). The reason we went was because the zoo had a baby Giraffe born at the end of May and I had been dying to see him. It was worth the 45 minute drive!!!

He is so adorable! A perk of the day was that "members" (those people who have premium membership at the zoo) got to stay late and listen to "zookeeper" chats, in which the zoo keepers talk about what it takes and means to take care of some of the animals. It was really interesting and the kids learned alot.

Some of the other animals we saw:

All the animals were great but the Giraffes were the best!

Hope you guys had a great Tuesday!!