Everyday Should be Considered a Blessing

    In lieu of my last post, I've decided it's best I look at the blessings God has given me.  I mean really if we look at all the bad or rough spells, we could never see or appreciate the good there is. Life will constantly throw us a curve ball or knock us back 5 steps after taking just one forward. But even during all that, there are still blessings to be thankful for, small and big.
    To keep myself in perspective in this rough time & during the upcoming holidays I am going to do a daily post about something I'm thankful for. They won't always be long or huge in depth but I will daily let everyone know something I feel blessed with.

   Today I must say I feel blessed to have my kids. I think they have opened my eyes to so many things. I have gained a new appreciation of patience, tolerance & unconditional love that I don't think we can truly get any other way. They have helped me grow so much as a person. Life truly would not be close to the same without them.

   It's easy to appreciate life if we just take the time. If we give ourselves a second to be thankful for all we have, then we worry less with what we don't.

   What can you say you are thankful for today? What blessing has made you a better person today? Opened your eyes?

Deep Slow Breaths

   Do you ever feel like the world is swallowing you whole? All 10 months of this year I've been swimming in that sensation. To be honest I guess I should say I have felt like this for the last 34 months.  Nothing before Feburary of 2011 really compares though. Not even close to an ounce of comparison to the months from Feburary until this very day. Feburary is when my mom was diagnosed with Stage IIII lung cancer. And my whole life changed.

    I'm setting here, in our local emergency room, watching the most admirable, strong man I've ever been blessed to know. My dad.  Due to many factors that, at this moment, I'm too angry to discuss, I'm watching him smother & suffer needlessly. This is our second ER visit in 3 weeks. In between those he has been hospitalized for 8 days. He's going to be admitted once again today.
    He is enduring all of this while grieving the loss of his wife-best friend-confidante of 42 blessed years, my mom, in April of this year.  He is fighting to live, fighting to get better. And I'm angry. Angry at what has him to this point. Angry that carelessness & disregard for others runs so rampant in todays world.  Angry that I have to see my dad suffer so & even more angry because I'm doing so after seeing my mom suffer the last month of her life. Selfish? Yes! I'm human & I am going to have this moment to be selfish. I'm going to be angry at the world. I'm going to be angry at all the controllable & uncontrollable factors.
    I'm going to take this moment to be selfish before the world swallows me up.  I'm going to cry because I love my parents so & don't want life to not have them in it. I'm going to scream because there's too much emotion & not enough time or patience in the world to let it out. I'm going to rejoice because God is holding my moms hand now & she's not in pain. Rejoice because I know He has His arms wrapped around my dad. And I'm going to sit in the silence of my fear & take comfort in knowing God will always be by my side. I'm going to hold my head up & make it through anger & all because I have four beautiful boys that look to me to make sure how to deal with things. I'm going to do my best to show them the best way. I'm going to take in every moment of everyday & cherish the good & bad because I've been blessed beyond measure. And when my selfish moments over, I'm going to take deep, slow breaths and go forward.

Let's Spread a Little Influence

   I love trying new things, don't y'all?  I've always been the one who goes for the odd or least known; often times discovering fantastic things before most or figuring out the duds before they become a trend.
   Last July I was perusing one of my fave magazines, Woman's World & came across a spiffy little site.  It was all about testing products & giving feedback to the brands & consumer's through lots of different channels. Ha needless to tell y'all, I jumped on the site!  It is Influenster.com.  When I signed up in August last year, it was still very new.  They still had quite a large number in their community to be so fresh. At that time it was open to the public & sort of in beta stages. 
     Influenster offers what's called a voxbox.  In a nutshell, if you actively interacted with Influenster.com, twitter, facebook & had a blog you could pre-qualify for a themed voxbox chalk full of goodies.  You aren't ever guaranteed getting one. Often times brands are targeting specific demographics which plays a huge part in getting picked. You also have badges to unlock which represent your life & interests.  They're no fees or subscriptions. You're required to answer a post experience survey to stay active. 
     You have the option to complete brand specific challenges for an opportunity to win rewards & unlock the brand badge.  Usually these challenges consist of talking about the product & your experience through twitter, facebook, blogging about it, sharing pictures etc.  Thus the birth of my first blog.      Since I've been a member I have participated in 4 voxboxes, & a demographic specific product reviewing.  I have been very pleased with all the things I've got to try.  They recently did a relaunch of the site (its lots of fun & great improvements), made it invite only, and broaden your opportunites for giving your thoughts about a product.
    They also recently reached a milestone number of members & are officially going public with their company.  Everyone should check out this spiffy little article about Influenster reaching 200K users.
   So when I get some great Influenster products, y'all will be the first to hear about it!! Let me know what you think after you check out the site!!
  

Sinful Mani

So I found 2 lovely deep colors from the Sinful Colors line; Exotic Green a rich olive tone green and Kissy a deep sparkly teal polish. 

I used Exotic Green on all my nails & topped my middle finger with Kissy.  This is the first accent mani I have done. They just don't appeal to me. But I like this one well enough. 

I liked the formula on both polishes.  Exotic Green was more sheer than I normally like but it was easy to build to a good opaqueness.  Its a beautiful color on its own but I can see a gold going gorgeous with this.

I LOVE Kissy! Its super hard to photograph though. It kept coming out w/ less green than you see in person.  Its a deep sparkly beauty :-).  It matched really well with Exotic Green & only took one coat to cover.

I topped the mani with Sally Hansen Diamond top coat. I like th super glassy finish it has.

All in all, I am happy with my colors as well as the manicure. What do y'all think?  What's your fave green tone? 

A Few Wet n Wild Goodies

I had a spur of the moment shopping trip with my oldest son today. So I decided to swing by Walgreens and check out the Wet N Wild sale I had heard about. Much to my dismay I had swung by late in the game and lost out on what I'm sure was some fantastic goodies.  While trekking my eight year old through the makeup isle where he would shake his head at the many seemingly torturous items, I did find some pretty sweet goodies to add to my ever growing collection. Thought I'd lay out what I got in a quick over lay before giving you the detailed low down about each product this week.

I happened across a meglast polish & top coat set. Gorgeous color- I Red a Good Book.

Then a fabulous set of Color Icon lip liner and the ever loverly Purty Persimmon matte lip stick. This I think I am anticipating using more than any other!

And I grabbed two Color Icon Shimmer eyeliners in Copper and Black. In the picture below you can see a quick swatch of these gorgeous liners.

Here's a quick swatch of Purty Persimmon. Haha please excuse the misspelling in the picture. It's late!

And finally here is a quick, if somewhat sloppy, swatch of I Red a Good Book. Luscious red!

I saw a few of the Fergie Collection but nothing I REALLY wanted was in stock. I'm anxious to try the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I know it will probably be kind of a pain but I cant't help but be drawn to it!

What do you all think? Like my goodies? what great Wet N Wild goodies have you found lately?  Comment and let me know!

Oh and dont forget to check back in this week for more details about each goodie!

Let's Mix it Up! Nail Polish Fun.

I adore playing with polish. Whether it be stamping, mixing polishes, embellishments, or whichever.
So this weekend mani I decided to dabble mixing some colors. I used 2 fave Wet N Wild fast dry polishes, Hannah Pinktana & Sage In The City, along with my latest Sinful Colors, Love Nails.

HANNAH PINKTANA

SAGE IN THE CITY

LOVE NAILS

I started with three lovely coats of Hannah Pinktana & gave it some time to dry. About a minute sufficed.

3 COATS

Then removing 90% of the polish from the brush I dabbed Sage In The City spiratically over my nails.

A little dab here, a little dab there.

Giving that layer 60 seconds, I then used the same process to apply Love Nails.

All finished!

Finish with a top coat & viola'! A spiffy effect. I really like the turn out. What do y'all think?
What's one of your fave ways to glam up your nails??

Sinful Colors: My Newest Find

Ok ok. Its been forever since I have chatted it up with y'all about cool & fave goodies. Sorry about that! I've been a super busy momma with lots of mommy type duties & other personal "me" consumers.
But I'm back & I have a stunningly eclectric blue by Sinful Colors polish I picked up at my local Wal-Mart.  I'm a sucker for the bright electric colors of summer. This one was Love Nails.
I've had Sinful Colors polishes in the past & really enjoyed them. Being a momma on a budget I like the quality of these polishes for $1.98.
Their brushes are smaller than I prefer but they're a pretty decent brush. This is a quite sheer polish. I used three coats to get the look I wanted. But I like the slight variations you can achieve with the different number of coats.
I saw a couple more I may have to swing by & pick up in the near future. But for now this one is brightening my days.
Have any of the rest of you tried the summer collection of Sinful colors? What's your fave Sinful Colors.

a close up with the flash.

New Wet N Wild Nail Color To Show off!

      Got a new Wet N Wild nail polish today!  Permission To Proceed from the Spoiled line- a CVS exclusive. Spoiled is one of my absolute favorite nail polish lines ever. Variety with such intensity.

pre-clean up after 3 coats

Its such a deep full green that screams summer to me.  Very reminiscent of the lush green grass gets after rain in the summer and of fresh ripe watermelon. This would be an excellent pop of color in any summer wardrobe. Its a rather opaque color and will take a few coats to achieve a deep color.

pre-clean up after 3 coats.

Besides awesome colors and a fantastic price ($1.99), the brushes in this line are phenomenal. The bristles are sturdy and fairly thick. The brush is wide enough to cover my entire nail in one swoop. Oh yes, fabulous coverage! I wish all polishes came with this brush!

As you can see the brush fully covers my nail.

I can't wait to make my way through all the colors of the Spoiled nail polish line! So stay tuned to see what other colors I pick!

Have you tried any of the Spoiled line? What colors are your fave? Any to suggest? Comment below & let me know what you think!

7 Things Not to do When You Can't Sleep

   All of July I've dealt with bouts of insomnia & tonights no different. The clock ticks on & I rummage for various sleep aids. Warm milk, check. Counting sheep, check. Turning off all electronics, check. Deep breathing, check. Relaxation techniques, check. Sleep-lost in the dark.
    Amongst all the trying to sleep I thought I'd pass along a few things not to do when you can't sleep. I'm sure there's oodles but these 7 I like best. And please keep in mind, sleep deprivation is a torture tactic. So be prepared for what you're about to read! Haha!

7. Don't play Triple Town on your phone. It'll suck you right in & before you know it, the sun is up & at it!

6. Don't decide a triple scoop sundae with hot fudge sauce sounds like a good ideal. Ultimately it'll just give you a sugar rush then crash that doesn't result in sleep. Plus it'll ruin all the hard figure flattering work you did the prior day.

5. Don't spy on the neighbors.  Ever heard the saying "the freaks come out at night"? Trust me, spy on your neighbors at 2 in the morning & it'll make perfect sense.

4. Don't peruse the internet looking for insomnia remedies.  Its just going to suck away the hours before ya know it. Surf for them during the day so maybe they'll work by night fall.

3. Don't check your Facebook, Twitter or emails!  Once you go in, you'll never come out!  (Don't say I didn't warn you!)

2. Don't settle down for a zombie apocalypse movie. Once it gets going, you'll be too engrossed in watching your significant other or pet for signs of "zombification" to watch the movie or sleep. Seriously! Lack of sleep can turn an insane man sane!

And number one is....

1. Don't have to go to the bathroom AFTER the zombie apocalypse movie.  No sleep + flesh eating zombie movie= accident waiting to happen. 

Oh My! Hiking it is!

   Kids all nestled snuggly in bed, hubby still at work, chores all checked & what is this momma doing? Starting my first bucket list of sorts. And much to my own sort of surprise I've been researching hiking trails.
    I'm not an avid hard core hiker but I enjoy some well spent time communing with nature.  Unplug, unwind, & reconnect. I'm not an expert at the ins & outs of this wonderous task but I know that it can go from a casual saunter around the bend to a complex mail-myself-packages trek in a second.
     I've hiked the backwoods of my community here in Kentucky quite a bit. The historical Camp Wildcat almost feels like a second home. As much as I love the nooks & crannies of my stomping grounds I do yearn to branch out & see the wonders of other backyards. So here I sit making my top 5 hiking trails bucket list!
    The first new trail I'd love to give a go is in Kentucky, near Stanton actually. Located in the Red River Gorge you'll find Gray's Arch Trail; a roughly 3.3 mile trek that leads to a 50-foot natural sand stone arch. Check out some great shots of the arch here. Reviews of this trail lead me to believe its moderate in difficulty & chucked full of beauty! Found this to be a good run down of the trail.
     Next up on my Hiker's Bucket list trails off to Whitley City Kentucky. Yahoo Falls. Home of what is said to be Kentucky's highest waterfall cascading in at 113 feet high. Although worth the footsteps, what I've found on it says make sure you go in a rainy spell as it comes from a small stream. This site has some good tidbits of info as well as gorgeous pictures. Along with great visuals, the energy of the history of the massacre in 1810 I would say is unreal. One quick sum up about the massacre can be found here.
    Leaving the wonderous Bluegrass state, I would love to explore some trails along South Carolina; spend some time in Caesar Head's State Park. My whole reason for that would be to meander the 2 mile trail to Raven Cliff's 420-foot falls. Can you imagine the awe one would get standing in the presence of such natural amazement & beauty? Worth every single step of that two miles. A stunning photo & a bit more info can be found here.
    Traveling on around, I'd hit up the Berryman Trail in Missouri near Steelville. But of course after educating myself much more in hiking. The info I've gotten on this trail is that its very very difficult. It has some shorter cuts but the actual whole trail is 24 miles long. Maybe this should be my last pick, huh? After some easier ones, work my way up to this doozy.  I don't know that I'd ever be up for the full 24 but who knows. I may just make it one day before I'm old & grey haha. The descriptions I've read of this trail though definitely make me want to work towards the full trek.  You can get some information here. And gorgeous photos here. (Have you noticed yet that I'm slightly drawn to water?)
    Last, at least on this short list, would be traveling up to the beautiful Maryland. There I'd delve into the beauty that is the 15 mile Susquehanna Trail in Harv De Grace. What I have gathered about this trail is that its a plethra of history, plant life, wildlife, diffculty, & much more. The crisp clean air of Maryland & the serenity of Mother Nature. Sounds good to me! Get a little more insight about Susquehanna trail here.
     A nice little work towards list if I do say so myself ;-).  Let me know what you think about these trails or suggest one for me to try! Hoping to trek a local trail to VanHook Falls again soon now that we've got some rain. I'd love to hear from everyone!