Friday, June 28, 2013

Weekly Couponing Wrap-Up

This week I headed to CVS to do my couponing.



I bought...

2 Colgate Toothpastes @ $2.99 each
used $2/2 coupon
paid: $3.98
and received $4 ECB back, making them 2 cent money maker!

2 Crest Toothpastes @ $2.99 each
used (2) $1/1 coupons
paid: $3.98 
and received $4 ECB back, making them 2 cent money maker!

1 Toms Deodorant @ $3.99
used $1 coupon
paid $2.99
and received $1 ECB, making it $1.99 total

1 Venus Razor @ $12.29 (the cheaper ones were all sold out...)
used $3/1 coupon
paid $9.29 
and received $4 ECB, making it $5.29 total

2 Duracell Batteries @ $4 each
used (2) $1/1 coupons
paid $6 
and received $1 ECB, making it $5 total

I also used a $5/$30 coupon, and $21 in ECB. 
My total paid out of pocket was $3.08 and I have $14 ECB to use next time!


How'd your couponing go this week?!


Thursday, June 27, 2013

Prepping For This Busy Weekend.....

Man, I am so ready for this weekend to be over already!

I spent last night working at the dance studio for three extra hours then I normally work prepping for the dress rehearsal and recital. Then I took home a HUGE stack of papers that I worked on for at least another hour. There are still quite a few things that I need to work on today before the dress rehearsal but hopefully everything will go off without a hitch. I will be there tonight, Friday and Saturday...

Some sad news this week, my great grandma who was 100 years old passed away early Tuesday morning. She was a great woman and it is very sad to see her go. Although we kind of expected it since she was so old, it is still a sad time. Her services will be on Saturday, adding to the stress of the weekend....

You might remember when I went to her 100th birthday party back in October...

Then finally on Sunday I am going off wedding dress shopping with Rachel, the bridesmaids, her mom and future mother in law. It will be quite the event, and I will be babysitting later that night after the dress shopping. It will be a crazy weekend for sure!


What are you guys up to this weekend?

I will be back tomorrow with my weekly couponing wrap-up, and then I'll see you again on Monday with my weekend recap!

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

June Birchbox Review

I was really excited when I received my Birchbox this month and couldn't wait to try everything that was inside!


First up is the Davines shampoo which I didn't love. It made my hair feel all tangly! I liked it in combination with the conditioner and treatment, but on it's own I definitely wasn't a fan!


I was a little bummed that I received Mod in Manhattan a white nail polish when there were other nicer colors that were sent in peoples boxes.



I tried wearing it in two different ways, plain with nothing but two coats of the polish and then after a day I added Sally Hansen blue crackle polish on top of it. It was nice to see that I can use it with a top coat and create a totally different look. While this polish is certainly not something I would have picked off the shelf for myself, it is definitely an asset to my nail polish collection.



I was actually very excited to try the Something Blue perfume, but was quickly disappointed once I got a whiff of it. It smells like old lady! To me anyways. I couldn't even finish this tiny little sample up. I was done!


I tried this Suki cleanser in the shower and tried to use it as gently as possible on my sensitive skin. It is a sugar scrub and seems like it could really hurt sensitive skin. I was excited to see that I didn't break out from this product and will continue to use it until the sample is gone. I'm not sure that I would repurchase it however because I do like cream cleansers much better because I don't have to worry about scraping my skin!


I loved this Davines conditioner, it smelled so nice and I wish that I had gotten a bigger sample of it. In fact if the conditioner and shampoo sample sizes could have been switched that would have been fantastic. I mean who uses more shampoo than conditioner? Not me, I am so the other way around.



I didn't notice any difference in my hair by using the Davines beautifying potion. I was hoping it would be wonderfully smooth or frizz free or something but unfortunately it wasn't!



I'm still not sure what to do with these postcards...perhaps put them in my postcard scrapbook?! I'm not sure yet!

What products have you loved lately? What products have you hated?

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Happy Birthday Brittni!

Happy Birthday to one of my oldest and bestest friends...Brittni!



Brittni and I have been friends since FIRST GRADE. She is an amazingly wonderful person and I am so lucky to have such a great friend =)

Happy 25th FGB- Love you!



While on the topic of Brittni's birthday I thought I would share what I did for her present this year...



I made her a "movie bucket" complete with a $25 movie gift card, starburst candies, a mike (from monsters inc) pez dispenser, reeses peanut butter cups, and girl scout cookie bars.

I got the idea from a movie bucket picture on pinterest which everything was held in a popcorn bucket. I couldn't get a popcorn bucket but I thought that the beach bucket got the job done!

Have a great day everybody!

Monday, June 24, 2013

Weekend Recap!

Wow it's been a busy weekend! I literally don't think I stopped the entire weekend! 

On Saturday I worked for 4 hours in the morning, and then headed off to our annual gym show to work some more. We had two shows and I am definitely glad they are over!!

Later that night I needed to blow off some steam so I headed over to the Westerly Summer Pops concert with Brittni and Steve to have a picnic dinner, listen to the show, and watch some fireworks.





We had a great time, and it was so nice to see Brittni since her birthday is tomorrow and I wasn't sure I would be able to see her on her actual birthday!

After a great night with Brit and Steve I headed home to get some sleep...then Sunday morning I took a nice hike with my dad.







I'm not quite sure how long of a hike it was miles-wise because we ended up getting lost a few times...and I totally forgot to track it on my phone. However, we ended up hiking for about 90 minutes which was a great workout! I took a nice long shower afterwards and then got ready to meet my co-worker Doreen to work on a few things for our upcoming recital.



I ended up hanging out with her and her family all afternoon, her husband Mike made us some yummy drinks and we had a great time just hanging out.



I had to leave around 6:30 because I had plans to go to the movies with my friend Kristin! We went to see Monsters University which was absolutely adorable. If you liked Monsters Inc AT ALL, you should definitely go see Monsters University! It was amazing, absolutely adorably amazing. Go see it.

We got out of the movie in such great moods because it was just so adorable. Unfortunately I had to water someones plants for them, go get milk (no place was open- I had to go to a gas station where some kid was as high as a kite...), and drop mail in a mail box before I got home. It was crazy doing random errands at 9:30 at night. Always a fun time =)

Finally, I got home, in time to see the HUGE moon in the sky and get a great nights sleep.




How was your weekend? Was it crazy busy?! What did you do?

Friday, June 21, 2013

Weekly Couponing Wrapup

I didn't do a ton of couponing this week, only one trip! I do have to say I was a little annoyed with the trip I did take.

I thought I would be able to coupon on my free item, but couldn't so my deal wasn't quite as good as I wanted it to be.

I am excited however that a new CVS just opened in my area and will be trying to coupon there and see how it compares. My closest CVS is slowly becoming my least favorite. Some of the older women in that store are not coupon friendly at all!

Anyways, this is what I did...


I bought...

2 Gillette Custom Plus 3 Disposable razors @ $8.49 each
used BOGO coupon (Cashier did not deduct the Max value, only $8.49 was deducted- bummer)
total oop: $8.49

1 Girl Scout Cookie Crunch Bar @ $1.19

Total Spent: $10.31

Received $3 back in ECB, making the Gillette razors $5.49 total for two, not bad but not great either!

I already have a much bigger trip planned out for next week so stay tuned!

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Fitness Update and Workout Recap

I have decided to make a commitment. I am always so wishy-washy when it comes to my workouts..I will go hard for a few days and then all of a sudden I drop those workouts and lay on the couch instead. Well not really, there's not too much laying on the couch going on..but you know what I mean.

A few months ago I got a rude awakening with how much weight I've gained in my stomach. I don't think I truly realized how bad it was until someone asked me if I was pregnant. Yup, embarrassing doesn't even begin to describe it. That wasn't even the worst part...someone else asked me again a few weeks later! I know, I honestly felt like I wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

The problem is, I'm a very petite person. I'm 5'1" and everything about me is tiny, so when my stomach starts to poke out even a tiny bit, I look pregnant. Great.

So I've been working out quite a bit over the past few months but I have been up and down with what I've been doing and I'm not noticing that belly fat come off as quickly as I would like it to. So here I am making a commitment to follow a workout plan and stick to it.

As of this past Monday I am now officially following the ToneItUp Workout plan, I may alter is from day to day..and since my work schedule is all over the place this week and next week I may not do EVERYTHING on their plan, but I'm going to be working up to it!

You can read more about their plan on their website, but here is an update on what I have done over the last few days...

Monday:

First off, my new running shoes! So far I LOVE them. I usually wear a size 7, but I bought these in 7.5 and they actually fit really nicely, I'm not sure the 7's would have been as comfortable as these. They definitely inspired me to get running!



Ready to go!


Before running I wanted to share a couple of pictures of my problem, so I took pictures of my stomach. Basically I want abs. I don't want any stomach flab, I want a tight and toned stomach and I am super excited to work towards that goal.



 While running, Roxy got a little angry with me. At some point I'll figure out how to post a video of the noises that she makes. She laid there and barked at me through the whole second half of my workout.


I alternated running a half mile and then walking a half mile. Equaling out to a 1 mile run and a 1 mile walk. The tone it up plan told me to do two miles of walking, running or biking- so I still did 2 miles, just changing it up into intervals to keep myself interested!


I of course put my calorie count into MyFitnessPal to keep track of my calorie intake for the day!

Oh and once I was done with my workout, Roxy was ready for hers!



Also on the agenda for my Monday workout was 50 push ups and 100 tummy tucks. I didn't find these that difficult


Tuesday:

On Tuesday I had an extremely busy day at work so I ended up doing my two miles at 9pm!


I ran 1.25 of the miles and then walked for 0.75. More running then the day before!
I also did my 100 tummy tucks and 50 pushups.


Wednesday:

I took Wednesday as a day off, even though Tone It Up didn't say to. I think right now I need two days off. If you are a dance teacher with an annual recital you will totally understand that right now I feel like my brain and body is shot!


Thursday:

Today I plan on doing my 2 miles, 50 push ups, 100 tummy tucks, and also complete the Tone It Up Thailand Tush Routine 3x!


Also, I received the Tone It Up Beach Babe 2nd Edition DVD yesterday! I am really excited to try it and am thinking that I will try it out tomorrow for a circuit workout. It only took 2 days to get my DVD which is AMAZING, so if you order yours, it will come quickly!

What have you been doing for fitness lately?!




Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Project Start Organizing My Makeup...

So my makeup was a disaster. My system was not working. So even though I didn't have an organization system planned out for my makeup and other products, I decided to lay out all of my makeup on the floor and get an idea of my categories and what kind of storage I will need when I change my system. 


I pulled out all my drawers and started to sort what was in each box and drawer, making sure that I checked out expiration dates on products and tossed them if that was what needed to be done.


I sorted out all my nail polish by brand...




Then I sorted out all my makeup products into categories, face makeup, lips, eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara, perfume samples, etc...


I also made categories for sunscreen, haircare, first aid, etc..


Look at all those empty drawers and boxes!



I also decided to take all of the lotion out of the bottom drawer of my jewelry armoire and store it with my other extra lotion... seriously no more lotion for me. I think I have enough to stay smooth for the rest of my life.


My perfume was okay on the tray, I love it there and there isn't a ton I can do to make it go faster, perfume takes a long time to use up! I will not be buying any perfume for myself anytime soon though!


Look how empty!


Also on my dresser, I have a cute little jewelry box that belonged to my grandma. I keep some important little treasures inside here..


Now, look at the mess I made....


Roxy was far from impressed...


All right! Now time for the organization part! I knew that I wanted to to store my nail polish away in a drawer, and decided that since my former lotion drawer was now empty, I figured why not use it for my nail polish collection and nail tools. I really like this system for now...but eventually would like to have my nail polish stored so I can view all the colors- but that is something for the future!



Next up, what I put in my plastic organizer... in the top drawer I placed all of my hair elastics, clips, and bobby pins.. they are organized inside jewelry boxes which worked out really well!


The next drawer is full of eyeshadow. Seriously how many do I need? No more. I just love eyeshadow....and it's easy to get it free which makes me just want more! =)


I also have a second drawer of eyeshadow unpictured, but it looks very similar, and just includes mascara and eyeliner as well.

Next is concealer and face products. All of those concealer sticks were free, so don't judge me! I have a few face masks in here, a setting spray and some other face products.


Here are some other face products, my foundations, my daily moisturizer, and my eye cream..


Then all my lip products and blush/bronzer products were combined into this one drawer.


Now my tower of drawers is back up and running with all new contents.



I also decided that the box I had been using as my daily makeup box will now be my "first aid/medicine" box. So far, I have bandaids, neosporian and my contacts/cases.


Closes nice and neatly to hide what is inside!


My makeup brushes and tools now can breathe and have their own space on top of my dresser


In my basket, I placed all my sunscreen and makeup remover- basically things that I use daily during the summer!


Looks good!


All my hair items are still all in this basket but needed some tidying up! Looks much better!


And all that lotion I mentioned? It's now in my closet with my other stockpile storage. Someday I'll use it all up...but until then I won't buy any! (Unless it's free....because then it's not really buying it right?!)


Just a recap...here are my nice new clean spaces!




So much better. At some point I will be changing this up to have my makeup in a non-plastic organizer. I would like to have a set of drawers to organize it in possibly....

Here are a few ideas of how I would eventually like organized my makeup and other products...

source
The above is actually the same system the Kardashian sisters have...I absolutely love it, but it is super expensive...

source

Once again, I love this vanity...but it is super expensive and way more space then I actually need.

source

This is closer to what I am actually looking at getting...something that can hold quite a bit of product, but won't take up a TON of space...

I will keep you updated...but for now I'm happy my system is working a bit better! =)

How do you organize your makeup?