Happy Halloween

Darling Husband and I look forward to Halloween all year because we get to eat all the candy that our littles forget about by November 2nd!

Here are my spooky creatures at their school Halloween Party, which was a very important day in my "Mommy Book"...I actually got to attend and help with their parties this year!!

We have a Candy Corn Fairy on the left and Harry Potter on the right.  

Karson is in the middle keeping everything under control :)

I hope everyone has a happy (and safe) day!  

How the times have changed...

Call me old-fashioned, but I still appreciate the days of books where you actually had to turn the pages. 

But who needs those, when we can read books on daddy's iPhone?  

It's the little things...

that make life such a blessing.  My little princess (aka: my Gracie Belle) turns 6 years old today!  To celebrate her birthday and my mom's October birthday earlier in the month, we had a girl's day out and went for pedicures.  Gracie loved every second of our Girl's Day.   And of course, being the birthday girl, got a mani and a pedi :)

Happy Birthday Gracie!  Thank you for blessing our lives for the past 6 years. 

Quality not Quantity

So I have come to the time in my life where less is more.  I am a stay-at-home mom, so I no longer need an extensive wardrobe of dress pants and cardigans, yet I still like to look nice.  After cleaning out Darling Husband and I's closet this summer and then beginning the daunting task of selling the kids' outgrown clothes on ebay..I came to the realization that we have too. much. crap. 

With that, I decided that I will begin buying a few classic pieces each season, knowing that may cost more, but will also hold up much better for longer.  I am really going to try to stop buying too much at places like Forever 21 as they don't seem to last much longer than a season in most cases.  Not only will I wear my clothes more often because I will have less, but I won't have to return nearly as much.  Those of you that know me know how I love to shop online but end up returning half of what I buy due to it fitting wrong or looking different, blah, blah, blah...  Well, I am happy to let you know that those times are no more.  I will still continue to browse online (duh!), but will actually wait until I can try on and purchase items in-store. 

Without further ado, these are the few pieces that I hope to add to my wardrobe this fall/winter:

Burberry Wallet

Frye Paige black riding boots

BB Dakota "Janika" Faux fur Vest from Revolve

A few cozy sweaters in fall colors:

J. Crew

Ann Taylor Loft

Ann Taylor Loft

Express Camel Tiered Wool Coat

So, what is on your fall wishlist?

Weekly Product Review: Sonia Kashuk Blending Sponge

I know I just did another Sonia Kashuk review last week, but I can't not tell you guys about this cool little sponge thingy.  It is called the blending sponge and is made by Sonia Kashuk, which to my knowledge can only be purchased at Target.  Let me just tell you that you. need. this!

It is a knockoff of a more expensive sponge called the Beauty Blender.  I have not tried the actual Beauty Blender but I see no need to as this works perfectly for me. 

Now many of you are probably asking, 'What is wrong with using my finger or my makeup sponge that comes in a pack of 8 for like $1'?  Well, nothing is wrong with that as that is what I have done as well.  I have 2-3 foundation brushes that I bought because of the hype and yeah, they are fine, but I always just go back to using my fingers to apply foundation.  Well, friends, I think that time of my life is done.  This magnificent little beauty tool is my new best friend. 

So, this is what you do: You put the little "thingy" under running water and then squeeze it out a bit so it is damp.  Then you put a pump of foundation (I use NARS Sheer Glow) on your sponge and dab it around your face.  There is no rubbing, no tugging, no fierce blending that makes your face look like you just spent hours on the beach.  You just lightly dab around your face and this beautiful little tool does the blending work for you.  You are left with a soft, natural look instead of a caked on "my face doesn't match my neck" look.   You may be wondering, like I was, why it has such an odd shape.  Well, let me just tell you...the small end is for concealer!  I LOVE a 2-in-1 beauty tool!  So once your foundation is on and perfect, you turn it around and repeat the steps to put your concealer on.  And again, you are left with a soft natural finish!

This is one of my favorite new things in my makeup regime and I am sad to admit that I have looked at this thing at least a hundred times at Target and passed right on by thinking to myself "I feel sorry for the sucker that spends $10 on a sponge thingy when they can go two aisles down and buy a pack of 8 for $1".  Don't I feel like a fool.  So anyway, I have eaten my words and I am loving this!  

Weekly Product Review: Sonia Kashuk Remove Eye-makeup Remover

I think I have literally tried every makeup remover out there.  I used to be faithful to Pond's Bare and Repair--it was gentle and had "good-for-your-skin" ingredients...I loved it.  And then they discontinued it.  Since then I have been on a search to find something as good as it was and I have tried high end (Lancome), mid-end (MAC) and drugstore (Neutrogena) and while some were good, none of them were good enough to repurchase. 

But then I found Sonia Kashuk's Remove!  I really, really like this stuff!  It comes in a 4 oz. container and it is one that you have to shake to mix the oil and water.  It feels like nothing going on and it doesn't sting!  Let me repeat, IT DOESN'T STING!!!   That right there is enough to make me repurchase if it takes off any makeup at all.  I wear contacts, so I have to have something gentle and this is definitely gentle...but somehow they figured out how to take makeup off at the same time!  It takes all of my eye makeup off very easily  Retails for $10. 

So friends, this might be a repurchase in my future!  For now this is what I am loving and the pretty purple color is a little bonus!  Plus, it's easy to get as I am at Target 2-3 times a week...shhh. 

I hope this helps you if you are looking for a good makeup remover!

Dinner in a Pumpkin

I love pumpkins...I make something with pumpkin in it once a week during fall so I am always looking for new recipes that include pumpkin.

I found this recipe this summer on one of the blogs that I follow and I could not wait for fall to arrive to try it!  As soon as pumpkins hit the stores and the weather cooled off enough, I tried it!  It was a hit with Darling Husband and I, but the kiddos weren't as keen, so I plan to make a few small changes to make it more enticing to them next time.  It is definitely a hearty recipe and I will probably wait until it is downright cold outside to make it again.

A couple of recommendations:

If When I try it again, I will probably do individual sugar pumpkins and make them each a little different.  For example, I love mushrooms and Hubby does not, so I will probably add mushrooms to mine and I want to try the water chestnuts idea as well. 

I will only make 2 cups of rice to add.  Four cups was way too much and I found that it was mostly rice, whereas I would have liked more meat. 

Overall, it was a very easy recipe--the hardest part was cleaning out the pumpkin :)  I can't wait to try more from the same blog---some of them looked DELICIOUS!

Here are a few pics of how mine turned out:

Getting ready to go in the oven

 My boys waiting for it to get done.

Happy Cooking!

Maybelline Falsies Mascara Review

This week I will be reviewing my current favorite mascara.  I admit, I tried it purely because the tube was pretty.  Purple is my favorite color and I like the pretty blue writing.  As you will soon find out about me, I am a sucker for packaging.  Well, lucky for me, this time the product lived up to the pretty package :)

I picked it up in Blackest Black at Target for about $6.  I don't like to spend a lot on mascara because it has to be replaced so often, so most of my mascaras come from the drugstore.  The first time I used it, I didn't love it, but this was due to user error more than the product itself.  I quickly found out that you have to use a light hand when applying, because it can look too thick and clunky if you don't.  This may be a positive aspect to some, but for my everyday "mommy" errands, I like to look a bit more natural.  When applied with a light hand, it separates and lengthens lashes beautifully and even adds some natural volume.  I usually use two light coats and the result is perfectly polished "stand-out" lashes.  For a night out, I think I could definitely use a heavier application to get the "Falsies" look, but I would be a little more careful to actually keep the mascara on my lashes and not my eyelids. 

Overall, this product is a win and unless I hear about a new mascara that guarantees something that I have to have, I will be repurchasing.   For now, it is a staple in my everyday makeup routine.