For the Love of Swap...

Posts to read, friends to meet:




Sara made some changes recently that have brought greater motivation and happiness to her and her family.  She's also in love with thrifting!  Her boys, Owen & Alex, are totally sweet.
Lish is afraid of snakes and has been rejected by multiple body piercings.  She has a lot of heart, and she'll show you how to wear yours three different ways.  I can totally relate to her frustrations here.
Beth takes pleasure in the simple things in life.  She recently shared a few thoughts on less-known social networking sites.  Have you read "The No Brainer Wardrobe"?  Beth has a great review here.
Melissa just bought the hottest shoes I've ever seen.  She knows how to make a puffy coat look good.  And the lady knows how to braid!
Sarah encourages me daily, for that I am very thankful!  She knows how to share a good word!  Have you ever been on a Daniel Fast?
Audrey is one photographically talented lady!  I love Disneyland.  All about her!
Elizabeth shares why we should celebrate everything.  She asks why do you blog? And answers too.  Did I mention she can make sunshine?

Interested in swapping with me?  Visit my sponsor page or email me for more info.

The Verdict {BeautyMint Review}

**This post is not sponsored in any way, just my own personal review of a product I decided to try out.**

A few weeks ago, I began trying out Jessica Simpson's skin care project Beautymint.  Today, I want to give you my thoughts on it and why I won't be continuing to use it.

The initial attractive selling points for BeautyMint:

• Created by a Beverly Hills Celebrity Skincare Expert 
• Visibly reduce the appearance of forehead wrinkles
• Patented technology and premium ingredients
• Low Monthly cost

I am looking for a product that will improve my skin all around, but specifically address the fine lines around my eyes and on my forehead, while minimizing breakouts.

Before / No Make-Up

I was very hopeful that BeautyMint would work, and did notice the following after a few weeks of use:

• Improved texture of skin
• Smaller pores
• Dry skin patches around nose gone!

Unfortunately, I will not be continuing to use BeautyMint because:

• Breakouts - I had an increase in breakouts, as well as tiny pimples
• Forehead skin became very dry and itchy, possibly an allergic reaction to the product?
• No real noticeable improvement of the areas I was hoping to address
• Skin seemed more red and uneven

 After - Skin is More Red, Breakout

I took a close up and you can really see the redness/irritation from the product.

I wouldn't necessarily discourage anyone from using BeautyMint, especially because it is hard to tell whether or not I had a particular sensitivity to one or more of their ingredients.  I'd definitely be interested in hearing from others who have used this product to see if they had any kind of itching/redness occur.

"Pinning!" {wk.10} Take Me Away

Welcome to the "Pinning!"!!!

First timer?  Check out the RULES, then link up below!

This week's theme: Take Me Away!

If you could go anywhere right now…where would you go?

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I'd definitely take the nook…although the Tree house looks like an adventure!

THANK YOU for Linking up last week!  

The Award for Pinning-est Goes to:
This week I just couldn't decide on a winner, 
both Joanna & Kimberly deserve it for their very different and stylish boot collections!

Are you "Pinning"?  

Come on, everyone is doing it.  

Join me MONDAYS for weekly sharing of Pinterest finds.  

After all, together we are "Pinning!"

{Rules}

January 30th: Take Me Away! (If you could go anywhere right now…)

February 6th: Partytime (Plan a party, any party!)

February 13th: RED (Cause, you know, V-day is tomorrow!)

February 20th: P.S. I Love You (Be Creative!)

February 27th: This is My Style (Define your style!)

The Weekly Wrap {1.28.12}

Zion is becoming more and more humorous every day.  

She will do anything to get a good laugh out of us.

 

We have about 5-10 of these tea parties a day.

I'm proud of this close-up shot of my hair this week!

A very dear friend of mine, came to NYC for her work, and visited me.

We had such a great time catching up over coffee.

I never get tired of the sunsets from our neighborhood.

 

Zion is currently obsessed with pockets…and enjoys stashing things in them.

Even in Winter, with the trees bare, beauty can be found.

She sure loves to pick up sticks.

I had fun teaching Zion some exercises this week:

Above was just after she broke a plank position,

below is her practicing a squat.

How was your week lovelies?

Unscripted: Somethings Got To Give

Something has to give.  Something always has to give.  It seems like just when I get a bit of balance in my life, some major flaw reveals itself and my energy has to be redirected in tackling it.  

Currently, I'm struggling with the reality of my attitude toward money.  I know it may be taboo to speak openly about personal financial struggles, but I'm seriously having issues and I will take any help I can get.  You see, I'm a spender.  

My husband, sincere thanks to God, is the polar opposite of me financially.  He is wise, conservative, and conscious of each and every financial decision he makes and how it will impact us.  

I may as well be declared financially blind.  I have the head knowledge and the smarts to manage money well.  I have tools at my disposal to make it easy and efficient to tend our household budget.  But, I just can't seem to stay within the boundaries we've set.

I'm trying to get to the root of the issue.  Don't get the wrong idea…I'm not going on shopping sprees and running up our credit cards frivolously.  I want more than anything to be debt-free this year.  I just seem to have this attitude about money that lacks proper respect.  

When I think about money, I think of the control it has on our lives.  I hate being controlled…by anything/anyone.  I have this rebellion that stirs in me when living in the confines of a budget or a spending cap and it sees every opportunity to use justification as a way of excusing my choices to overspend the amounts we have agreed upon each month.

This mindset is getting me in big trouble.  Its false.  Complete lies.  I am actually giving money more control by letting it wreak havoc in my life {and marriage} as well as keeping myself in bondage by overspending {each dollar overspent could be another dollar towards financial freedom!}

So what do I do?  I need to carve out the false beliefs I have about money and truly make it work for me.  I need to put more weight on each and every financial decision I make.  I need to get back to what has worked for me, until I break the habits.  So that means, I need to use cash again.

Cash only spending has a huge impact on me.  When I leave my debit card at home, I know that I have no choice but to stay within the boundaries of the cash in my wallet.  I can't be tempted to buy that extra box of hot cocoa when I didn't plan ahead of time for it.  And if that means I get to the checkout of the grocery store with more than I intended, I will have to face the embarrassment of putting something back.  This kind of money management also forces me to make a good meal plan and stick to it, something I've sort of stopped doing over the last couple of months.

I think that another part of my struggle is with just being able to say, "no."  Even if it is just a "no" for now, so that I can say "yes" later.  I've been a "Yes" person most of my life, and this ties right into breaking that habit.  

Money, I'm done giving you the keys to our kingdom.