What's in my MAKE-UP bag?

I had so much fun doing what's in my purse that I wanted to do a what's in my make-up bag, too!

I am a bit challenged when it comes to the makeup and beauty world. I have bought ALL of my makeup through word of mouth or recommendations from friends, family or other bloggers. (Except my eye liner...more on that later). I know everyone has those 'favorite/gotta have it/can't live with out it' makeup products.

My messy, unorganized, jumbled make up bag

First of all, I love my makeup bag! It was a freebie from Victoria Secret about 5 years ago and it holds SO much that I have never needed another make up bag. The clips on the end of the bag are your typical hair clips that I cannot live without. 

Welcome to my make up bag!

• BareMinerals. I have used their foundation, warmer (bronzer), veil and eye shadows since I could remember. I just started using their Prime Time (primer) and I also love how it keeps your make up on all day!! It just all works so well. I only use the lip tint when it's a special occasion or my lips are looking a little pale.

•  Urban Decay Naked and eyeliner. The crazy amount of money I paid for Naked was totally worth it though. I also have the eye shadow primer that I swear by. Urban Decay eyeliner however, is my newest product in my bag. I do like it, but not as much as my favorite all time eye liner. 

• Eye Liner. The Urban Decay was same as above. The little black stub is my all time favorite. 
• My eye liner is a brand that I've used since Jr. High and I have never bought another kind (until recently) because I love it!   Presenting... the only eye liner that makes me look like I'm awake, it's by Palladio! Ya, try looking for it. You won't find it, trust me, I've hunted down searched for it; Sephora, Ulta, Walgreens, Target, you name it and I've been there. And if you do end up finding it, tell me where you found it and I might have you send me the whole stock and pay you back. 

• MAC eye shadow. As you can see, the top container is empty and the bottom one is near the end.

• Lip stuff. I rarely use my Juicy tub, but when I do, I love it. I do, however, put on Bath and Body Works lip color and then Maybelline Baby Lips on a daily basis. Couldn't leave the house without this stuff!

• Cover up, foundation AND suntan lotion ALL in one. I love it! It's called Neutrogena Healthy Skin Enhance. I put it on right after the shower as like my base coat for the day.

• Then, I put this stuff on, Prime Time. If I'm eye shadow, then I'll put the eye shadow primer on as well. This is the Urban Decay eye shadow primer and it's great!

• The bronzer on the bottom is Olay but I rarely use it. Only when I need a little extra sun tan I just dab it on my cheek bones. 
• My blush is Dream Bounce but I don't like it. So, if you have any blush recommendations, I'd love to hear them! This one is like matte and you have to apply it with your finger. I find that when I put it on, it wipes off my bronzer and is almost TOO pink for me. Suggestions?

• Mascara!!! The one thing I cannot leave the house without putting on. I have used (far right, pink tube) Maybelline Great Lash (black) probably since freshmen year of high school. The orange one is CoverGirl, waterproof and I use it if I know I am going swimming. And the middle mini tube is my new obsession. It's by Benefit, called 'They're Real' and literally it makes your eye lashes look fake. One of my girlfriends told me about this and I went to Ulta to find it and it was $23 FOR A TUBE OF MASCARA!!! I could NOT justify paying that much for mascara, so (leave it to Ulta to put the travel size stuff at their checkout line) I bought the little, travel size one for $12. It better last a frickin' long time!!! 

• Randoms. Eye liner sharpener, hair clip, bobby pin and hair tie, because let's be serious...who DOESN'T have extra bobby pins laying everywhere??

• Other notably products. 
• THE BEST SELF TANNER ON THIS PLANET- St. Tropez. I swear by this and actually bought it because another blogger recommended it.
• Perfume: (the one on the left) Juicy called Viva La Juicy. It's very fruity but classy. I wear it during the summer.  The one on the right is Burberry The Beat. This is my daily perfume. It's light, but smells delicious. 

• Last but not least, the item every women should have in her make up bag. Vaseline! It's eye make up remover, Chapstick, itch cream, ointment and whatever else you want to use it for. Plain and simple.

Now tell me, what are your favorite/gotta have it/can't live with out it makeup products?

Easy Delicious Summer Salad

The other day, I accidentally made the best summer salad ever! My mom had left over qinuoa so I just started looking through the cabinets to see what I could add.

I came up with this:

Easy Qinuoa Summer Salad 

1 1/2 cups of cooked qinuoa

1/2 cup of dried cranberries

1/3 cup of crumbled feta

1 whole lemon squeezed (juice) 

2 tbs of olive oil

This is definitely one of my 'eat clean' recipes that I love! 

Let me know what you think. :) 

What's in my Purse?

I always love seeing what's in other women's purses, so I thought, 'hey, maybe someone is interested in mine' just a random thought. Anyways, I have a huge blue LongChamp purse that I absolutely love. It's big, easy to find things and fits everything in it.

WARNING: I LITERALLY JUST DUMPED OUT MY PURSE AND SPREAD THINGS OUT JUST SO YOU CAN SEE THEM. IT'S MESSY!

I apologize for my picture skills. I don't know how to save a microsoft document into a JPEG yet. Help?!

1. My big LongChamp bag. I love it!

2. My Coach wristlet that has my ID, credit/debit cards, and cash.

3. My refillable Starbucks cup (which was only $1 and I save .10 every time I use it at Starbucks-SCORE!)

4. My water bottle that I constantly fill up many times a day

5. My new KindleFire. I love it. You never know when you're going to be sitting somewhere wasting time, when that time you can be reading your favorite book. Right now I'm reading Gone Girl. So good!

6. My travel medicine cabinet. It has Advil, Ibuprofen, Kleenex, chapstick...you know the essential things that you'll never know you need until you need it.

7. Coupons. I always put them in my purse with the intentions of using it. Nope I still haven't used those coupons since I've taken this picture. opps! 

8. Notepad with pen. Just for notes or to-do lists.

9. My reward card wallet: Kroger, Jewel, Victoria Secret, insurance cards, Starbucks, movie giftcards, etc. I have probably have 22 cards in there. I also keep a permanent marker so I can write on the gift cards how much are left on them.

10. My monthly planner aka my life line!

11. My camera. Although, these days, my new iPhone5 has been my camera. :)

12. Old checkbook. Which reminds me I need to order more checks! 

What's in your purse??

I'm a Big Girl Now

Have you noticed?

I have a new blog design, along with a button!!! I have to give Stephanie from How Sweet this is AND (her blog design website) Stephanie G Designs credit for my amazing design. She did fabulous! She was so easy to work with and quickly replied to e-mails. Thanks Stephanie for a beautiful design!

We took Tio to Bark in the Park that was being held at a minor league baseball stadium. He loved it!

Not only do I now have a new design, which makes me a big girl (insert smiley face here), but I've also gone in on a phone plan with The Boy. My mom kicked me off told me this was the last year she was going to keep me on the family plan and then I had to pay for it on my own. So, why not?

And I have finally landed a teaching job here in the Chicago suburbs. I had many interviews and the job I accepted is for a 1st grade teaching position. I'm excited because I know 1st grade. I know how the students will be (crying, boogers, untied shoes, etc) and I know the curriculum, which makes me more comfortable. I will be going into the school year (I'm hoping) prepared and I know more confident than I did last year. This will be my 2nd year teaching. That still sounds crazy to me as I'm typing that out.

Lately, I have been fostering more puppies (pictures coming soon), hosting a bachelorette party and getting my classroom ready for August. I have also been cooking up a storm lately and I have found and made some great recipes lately!

Anyways, if someone is looking to do a button swap, I'll be more than happy to do one. I'm not sure I'm ready for sponsoring someone else's blog nor do I want sponsors, but I love the idea of a swaparoo! :)

I hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday!!!

I Juiced!!!

Well, technically, I did a juice detox. Arden's Garden 2-Day Detox to be specific.

When I still lived with Mrs. D in Tennessee, she found out about Arden's Garden detox from a friend's blog. Basically, all you drink for 2 days straight is 2 gallons (1 per day) of this fruit juice. It's suppose to get rid of the toxins in your body and help you loose weight. I did NOT do it to loose weight, but I loved the idea of ridding your body of chemicals and such. The juice is made from grapefruit juice, lemon juice and orange juice. That's it!

Mrs. D had to do a little convincing and 3 days later, 4 gallons of juice was sitting on our front porch in huge boxes waiting to be refrigerated.

Well, that same week just so happen to be the last week of school and the weekend I was moving out of Mrs. D's house and back home to Chicago. So, I did not detox until that next week when I was home in Chicago.

I was very skeptical though. How can you not eat ANYTHING for 2 days? This girl loves to eat and loves her food. Mrs. D and I joked that no one would ever wake up the morning of their juice cleanse and say, "Hmmm....I wonder what to have this morning for breakfast...oh, that's right, JUICE! And then again for lunch, dinner AND dessert". It was comical to say the least.

Verdict: I LOVED IT!! Surprisingly, I was not hungry for 'food' and whenever my stomach grumbled, I just drank another 16 oz. of juice and it was satisfied. Honestly, the first day sucked! It was hard to get the whole galloon down in one day. By day 2, it was a breeze.

I would definitely do it again, but this time (since I couldn't this previous time) I would like to do it with someone. Mrs. D had the same experience, she loved it as well. She actually claims that her skin and hair were shinier and glow-y. I found that I slept great those 2 nights!!

I am looking forward to ordering it again! Have you done a cleanse, detox or juiced recently? What was it and did it work for you?

Things I Want This Summer: UPDATE

I have accumulated a list of things that I want this summer. Now, realistically, I won't get all of these, but I just accepted a job offer to teach 1st grade here in the suburbs of Chicago, so I can afford SOME (or a few) of these things.

In no specific order:

• A new macbook pro (this current macbook is on it's last leg)



• A 'professional' big boy camera

• The iPhone 5 

I GOT IT YESTERDAY!! The boy and I went in on a new plan together! Big 'adult' stuff right there. :)

• Oakley Sunglasses. I've done the cheap-o Target brand for 15 years. On to bigger and better things. 

• A new bike

• Comfortable 'teacher' shoes. I'm getting foot surgery in a month and I need to be able to look professional yet still be able to walk come August 14th! :) Any suggestions??

Now onto things I want to accomplish this summer:

• Clean, organize and set up my classroom.
• Have an easy foot surgery recovery.

That is all for now. Off to get my nails done today. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far!

Influenster Box #2

I just received my VEET® EasyWax™ Electrical Roll-On Kit in the mail the other day. I was actually super excited to try this out because I was going to buy a new pack of razor refills a few hours, until this came.

I knew I was receiving this VoxBox so I let me leg hair grow out a little longer than I usually do... don't judge me. Good thing I did because the instructions said to do the same thing.  The directions were so easy to use. They were labeled and sectioned off into 3 different parts of the body, depending on what you wanted to wax (underarm, bikini line or legs).

 I have this weird thing where I hate causing my own self pain, so I had my sister pull the paper thing off. That worked much better.

It came with a nice stand, after waxing towel things and wax strips.

You can see a little bit in this picture of the piece of skin I waxed. (Sorry for the graphic pictures) 

Overall, I like this product. Now, I just hope the wax refillable is budget friendly.

I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.