Friday Favorites

A few little beauty treats I'm loving this week as we're welcoming the spring season.

My cuticles have been extra dry from the long, hard winter. Couple that with the scalding hot showers I prefer, (seriously, I like to be a nice shade of pink when I come out), I was fighting a losing battle. No lotion was up for the task.

I really wanted a pure vitamin e oil rather than the Sally brand -  but was a victim of the CVS inventory. Proof I don't always know best. This stuff has worked wonders. It is what it says - oil. So, I find the best time to put it on is before bed, and then wear a pair of gloves for a little while - at least until it sinks in and won't rub all over your sheets. This is not a sexy look. But neither are snaggly nails. So as in all things, find some balance.

Since Sally proved herself once, I put her up to the task again. Girlfriend works hard for the money.

Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle Remover Gel

Get's the job done painlessly. Love to multitask with this one as well. Put it on right before the shower and get rid of those cuticles while you're enjoying the scalding hot water. You have to rinse it off with warm soapy water anyways, and there is an abundance of that in the shower. Who said this blog wasn't green?

I recently had to buy some apple cider vinegar for a recipe, and thought, "Hey...you've read something about this." It was not hard to find loads of beauty tips revolving around apple cider vinegar. I liked this page.

I've only tried the hair rinse, so it's all I can vouch for. A couple of tips:
1. Don't use a bottle of water you pulled directly from the fridge. See shower temperature preference above.
2. Expectations. It does not smell like apples. Or cider. It does smell like vinegar. You will have to buck up for 4-5 minutes.

I do think it did a great job of removing a lot of product buildup that was in my hair. It was much lighter, bouncier and just generally fancy free after the rinse. I'm a little concerned about the effect it will have on color, so I probably won't do it more than once a week.

Finally, some oldies but goodies. You have to welcome spring with a hint of color. These two do the trick.

All my favorites for making coming out of winter hibernation a little prettier. Happy Friday!

How to Enjoy Spring

 Slooowly wake up to watch the sun rise.

Perk up and survey the backyard. Legs crossed, preferrably.

Do some spring shoe shopping. Avoid asking if these are too high for your age. Sigh.

Rehydrate outdoors.

Try to stay awake for the two hour season premiere of Mad Men.

Repeat this cycle as needed.

Friday Favorites - Sort of.

The weeks continue to get away from me.

The views from the top of Red Mountain were beautiful last Thursday. Just in time for a beautiful Good Friday. 

After a productive afternoon preparing for Easter, Namath and I headed to the back porch to unwind. Doesn't he look relaxed?

Pottery Barn, Southern Living, nail maintenance, cheese, olives and wine.

 MS came home and joined us. Namath does not like to be cuddled. It wasn't his lucky day.

 As a reward for all my productivity, I picked myself up a little treat. I decided to make the jump from naked eyelids to Urban Decay's version of Naked - some nice earth tones.

 Venus, Foxy, Walk of Shame, Naked 2, Faint and Crave. There are about a million YouTube videos of tutorial of how to use this pallet, if creating different eyeshadow looks isn't your specialty. If it is, I've probably watched your YouTube tutorial.

 I'm nothing if not true to a theme.

 Saturday I headed out for fresh flowers to create this Pinterest inspired centerpiece for Sunday's Easter lunch. As a side note - do you know Starburst jelly beans now have a "Fave Reds" option? I bet you could get them for 75% off about now - even though they are worth full price.

 Good Friday service provided some new inspiration for the chalkboard. I won't tell you how many times I rewrote this. I need to brush up on some alternate fonts.

 By Monday morning, this blonde was needing a Venti Blonde to get the week started right.

I hope you and yours had a wonderful week. Beautiful weather for the weekend ahead. I dare say - Spring has sprung!

Big Girl Weekend

Hellola, and Happy Good Friday!

 I'm reminded every year how much I enjoy Holy Week. There's a few things that have come together this season to give me a broader picture of the magnitude of what Christ did on the cross for us...for me...but that's a post for another day.

We are looking forward to celebrating this Easter weekend for the usual reasons, but an added bonus -  it's the first holiday we'll be hosting in our new home. The first thing I did was plan on serving a HUGE bowl of mashed potatoes. If all else fails, we'll have mashed potatoes. That's my motto.

I've banned myself from the pinterest holiday board for my sanity and my bank accounts sake.

We did take a break from Bible Study this week to have a little craft night, and I came away with this cute wreath. 

I love it, and think I can continue to re-purpose it come Summer, although someone will have to check himself. Jury is still out on rather he doesn't like Easter, the wreath, or my placement of said wreath. He'll be opening an interior design business any day now.

I'll be last minute grocery-flower and decor shopping tomorrow and hope to have pictures to prove it, come Monday.

"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed."

Isaiah 53:5

Wordless Wednesday

Stretch it out. We're halfway there.

Weekend on the Plains

 Namath and I have been left as March Madness widows/orphans these past few days. So, we spent Friday night resting our eyes. 

 With only a few brief episodes of manic barking at stationary objects that have been in the same spot for months - but suddenly present themselves as threats. This is a regular occurrence at our house, but I'm at peace with the fact that my dog has snakes in his head.
 

Saturday morning, I swallowed my Crimson Tide loyalties to head down to Auburn with some girlfriends. It tasted better going down with a Bojangles Bo Berry Biscuit. We love Bojangles, but have only tried the chicken biscuit. I can now on good authority recommend both.

 If there's anything to be a good authority on, I think carbs ranks right up there.

 Meanwhile, MS and Namath were getting in a lot of basketball watching.
 

 After some shopping, we headed to Nail Fever/Nail Pro/Nail World/Nail Plus (I'm sure one of these names is accurate) for some good reading and a pedi. Easily one of my favorite things in all the world.

 The party at the house had moved upstairs. Why yes, we do text pictures of Namath all weekend long. He's fabulous. (Not pictured: him stealing a cool ranch Dorito straight out of someone's hand.You gotta do what you gotta do.)

After pedi's, we headed to dinner for champagne, crab cakes and La Crema. Move over Oprah, these are a few of my favorite things.

 Blondes have more fun.

 We may or may not have been in pajamas by 11, which was fine by me. After a good night's rest and before hitting the road, we hit up The Hound for brunch. The bacon should get a post of its own.

The only orange thing in Auburn I love - pictured left.

 There was a lot of orange around, but the rest and the girl time was good for my soul. Hope your weekend did the same.

Friday Favorites

 While I'm ready to embrace warm weather and longer days, it comes with more guilt for partaking in the below mentioned favorites. I feel like I should be making Namath walk (which he hates), watering something in the yard (we have two whole flower pots), or generally something more than watching TV while eating Easter candy.

 I recently cashed in my workout points at work for an Apple TV. Yes, I realize the irony.

Hello, streaming Netflix. Hello, every season of every show I love available at the touch of this little black button.

 Via recommendation, I immediately jumped on the Parenthood train. The show, not actual Parenthood.I laugh, I cry (well, not yet, but I'm assured it's coming - no spoilers please).

Just because you're inside doesn't mean you can't celebrate Spring. With pastel colored Easter candy. Is there anything better than your favorite candies available in egg shape and bright colors? I think not. I had the Valentines version of these SweetTart gummies, and they were amazing. The bunnies aren't too shabby either.

I also recently heard a rumor of carrot cake M&M's....can anyone confirm or deny?

What's your favorite Easter candy? I have to go with Cadbury eggs - but my experience is there is no gray area here on one's feelings of Cadbury eggs.