Halloween Nail Fail?

Painted nails are becoming the new trend fast!  Okay, not just pained nails but nails that have lavish designs on them.  I have to tell you that the little girl in me loves this!  I use to love painting designs on my nails and I would spend forever playing around with nail polish bottles and toothpicks.  I’m sick at the moment and I don’t feel like doing much of anything but I figured that painting my nails wouldn’t take to much effort and how hard could it be, right?  Wrong.  I don’t have the steady hand that I use to and this is going to take a little practice if it’s ever going to look good.  Okay, here are my nails.

 

Halloween Nails

  What do you think?  Halloween Nail Fail?  I’m thinking so.  I had such high hopes for Frankenstein too!  The blood splatter, although very gross, seems to have potential.  I mistakenly thought the pumpkin would be the easiest one.  The mummy and spider web were easy although not so attractive.

 

What about you?  Have you embraced this new nail trend or are you letting it pass you by?  I’m may be down but I’m not out yet.  I’m going to give this another go next week.  Keep an eye out here for some amazingly awesome nail designs!  Hopefully, awesome.  That’s not a promise.

Let’s Celebrate – Today is My 10,000th Day!

Celebrate each day!

 

Today my husband and I celebrated my 10,000th day being alive!  He said that it’s more significant than my actual birthday because this is the last time I’ll ever add a digit to that number.  Isn’t he the sweetest!?

 

He’s been building up this day up for weeks without telling me the significance of it and it’s been driving me crazy.  I’ve called friends and family to see if they knew of any significance the date held.  No such luck.  I thought I could pry it out of him after midnight last night but that didn’t even work.  Finally, today came and he took me out for breakfast and told me the news.  I am officially 10,000 days old!  When you say it like that it sounds old.  ha.  It’s sad that it’s starting to sound old when you say it in years.

 

I can’t complain.  I’ve had a fabulous 10,000 day birthday.  My life is good!  I have a wonderful Savior, I’m married to an amazing man, I have a sweet daughter, and it’s been a great 10,000 days!  Here’s to the next 10,000+!

 

Have you ever celebrated a unusual day just for the fun of it?

October 15th – Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day

Candle

 

October 15th is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness day. Mothers and fathers all over the country will light candles tonight in rememberance of the child they no longer hold. While there is nothing wrong with this, silence does not make the pain go away. Please say a prayer for those who have lost a child. Mothers, fathers, families, all feel the loss and all need peace in their hearts. Those who have the opportunity, hug your babies tight today and just be thankful you can! Life is such a precious gift!

My #Cinchspiration Update!

It’s time for me to give my Cinchspiration update and well, I feel like a failure.  I do.  I’ve been sick for the past month and I haven’t exercised at all.  I didn’t follow the Cinch plan because I didn’t feel like eating healthy.  I just wanted to sit with a blanket and drink honey tea or sleep.

 

The month started with me taking care of my sick little girl.  I hated seeing her sick, it hurt me to see her uncomfortable.  It wasn’t long before my husband and I were sick as well.  Together we went through two jars of honey and I wrote the post Homemade Cough Remedies after a lot of reading and asking everyone I knew for advice.  The doctor said that I had bronchitis and I went through two rounds of antibiotics and one round of steroids before I began to feel better.  It was bad!  I felt sluggish and I sounded like a man, an old man at that.  Even after the steroids kicked in and I felt remarkably better I had to go back to the doctor because I started having intense chest pains.  It turns out that I messed up the cartilage between my ribs from coughing so hard.   I didn’t even know that was possible!  “Messed up” wasn’t the way the doctor phrased it but I can’t remember his twenty-dollar word for it.  He gave me prescription pain medicine for it but I’ve held off taking it because the pain is bearable.  I’m using a heating pad at night to help ease the pain so I can sleep.

 

Long story short, I’ve felt pretty crummy recently and not only that but I have the overwhelming guilt of giving up on the Cinch program.  I’m not out and I will continue on but I feel so discouraged to get behind like this and lose a whole month.  Everybody falls though, right?  It’s important to get back up and move on.  Here’s to next month!  I can do it!  I’ll be posting a video soon since I no longer sound like a man.

DIY Minnie Mouse Halloween Costume

I’ve been trying to think of a cute DIY Halloween costume for my little girl but I couldn’t think of what would work well for her.  I wanted a costume that wasn’t itchy, that she could wear again, and matched her sparking personality.  That’s not too much to ask right?  Finally it dawned on me when I was shoe shopping.  Shoe shopping can be a magical time!  I found the cutest little Minnie Mouse shoes for my sweetie {pictured below} and it was then that I was stuck on a Minnie Mouse costume.  I bought a monkey costume after Halloween last year for $3 to keep as back up in case I couldn’t find a great costume but it looks like I won’t be needing it!  Here are the pieces of my DIY Minnie Mouse Halloween Costume!  You’ll have to use your imagination to piece together the different items but I think you’ll get the idea. Go here to see my little Minnie Mouse all fully dressed up!

Minnie Mouse Ears Minnie Mouse Ears $4.99 + $4.99 Shipping on Amazon (Also at a local Birthday Express)   Super cute, right?  I think these will make a fun dress up accessory for later too!     Toddler Dress Sears’ Girl’s Dress Multi-tier Short Sleeve Dress – On sale for $22.00 (Originally $44)   I’ll probably throw a short black cardigan around her if it’s cool out.  I love that this is a dress that she can wear again and again.  Plus, it doesn’t have any of that itchy fabric that cheap Halloween costumes do!   Black Tights Amazon’s 3 Pack Tights for Baby – 1 White, 1 Black, & 1 Pink in size 9-18 months $5.99 (other sizes available)   Any black tights will do but I found these for a good price on Amazon.

 

Minnie Mouse Shoes

The shoes that started it all!  Disney Baby by Stride Rite Soft Motion Minnie Mouse $42.00   $42 is a bit much for a Halloween costume accessory so if you aren’t in need of an extra pair of shoes I’m sure any pink or black ones would look great too.   I might add a little black face paint on her nose too!  What do you think?  Would this be cute or am I letting the pink and polka dots cloud my judgment?

Why I Love Living in the South

Why I love the South

 

I’m excited to announce that Embracing Beauty was recently voted as one of the Top 25 Southern Mom blogs.  After I received my reward I was asked to participate in an interview with them.  It was fun to be interviewed and I wanted to share one of the questions from the interview with you.  I was asked “In what way is the South unique from other places you’ve lived or traveled?”

 

*Preface- I know that some or even all of these things are true in other parts of the country/world.  I meant no offense to anyone or any region.*

 

Here’s my answer:

 

In one word “atmosphere” is why I love living in the South. This atmosphere is unique and charming. It’s probably impossible to adequately describe the atmosphere but I’ll give it my best shot!

 

I live in the South because I want:
– my kids to value manners and their elders
– to live in a place where I can hear a wooden screen door slam shut
– to lay outside at night and see a blanket full of stars
– to hear crickets and watch fireflies
– to see women with teased hair and sun dresses
– to see men in overalls and cowboy hats
– to hug people I just met
– to smell honeysuckle so strong I can taste it
– to feel the ground beneath my feet
– to eat blackberries off the vine
– to drink Cheerwine and RC
– to fall asleep on a porch swing listening to the birds
– to hear banjos and fiddles
– to go for a walk and leave my door unlocked
– to actually know my neighbors
– to not be the only woman who brings a homemade cake to a get together
– to see spray painted graffiti on rocks and water towers
– to drive past walls of beautiful kudzu covering the landscape
– to let my kids swim in a creek and learn how to fish.

 

If you live in the South, why do you love it?  Or if you live anywhere else, tell us what you love about that area.

Childhood Dream Coming True?

Julep spring collectionEver since I was a little girl I have loved nail polish!  From as far back as I can remember I had a fascination with beauty products.  I remember many times my mom would get ready and she would lovingly allow me to set on the counter and ask her a million and one questions about make up colors, tools, and nail polish.

Eyelash curler

I remember the feeling of sheer embarrassment when I passed along some of her information to my aunt only to find out it was wrong.  My mom told me that you set an eyelash curler on your nose to use it.  Looking back now, I can see why my aunt laughed so hard when I gave my explanation and I can also see the reasoning behind my mom not wanting to tell me the correct way to use one.   Even after that embarrassing 4th of July night (yes, I still remember that night well!), I continued to seek beauty advice from the comfort of that counter.  My mom was a wonder!  She could put lipstick on with one hand and without a mirror.  My hero!   In my mom’s make up bag, which I can still picture vividly, she had all of her make up products along with her chipped red handled Revlon blush brush, Elizabeth Arden Red Door perfume, and the most amazing bottle of Revlon nail polish.  The nail polish was extra shimmery but not glittery.  I remember holding it and staring at it’s beauty while my mom and I talked.   I painted my nails with that polish, my mom’s nails, and even my Dad’s when he was sleeping.  : )  I thought it was the prettiest thing I had ever seen!  As the years past I found other colors to love and became pretty good at painting little decorations on my nails.   Somewhere along the line I developed the dream to one day name a nail polish color.  I know it sounds silly but hey, I was a kid.  I’ve always half-jokingly said that naming polish colors would be my dream job.  Then, last month, during a Twitter party with Julep I found my moment, my perfect opportunity to ask if I could name a polish.  I asked and I didn’t receive a response back because seconds after I asked Julep was flooded with requests to name a polish that was this or that color.  I’m sure they didn’t know who it was that originally asked.   Pretty pinkThat brings me to why I’m writing this post.  The smart people behind Julep took my idea that immediately spread like wild fire and turned it into a marketing project.  They’re pretty brilliant if you ask me!  However, now I have to work a little to get to be able to name a nail polish color.  I’ve already made it to the second round and this is where you come in!  I need you to vote for my color and comment on it.  I chose the ever girly hot pink color in honor of October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  Voting ends this Friday, Sept. 28, 2012.

 

Here’s how to vote:

  •  Visit Julep on Facebook through this link – http://on.fb.me/QQi0GZ
  • “Like” their Facebook page.
  • “Like” my “Pretty Pink” board.
  •  Leave a comment on my board. I get points for BOTH “likes” and comments!

This is a one time vote that will only take a few seconds of your time.  Thank you for helping make my little silly dream come true! : )

 

While you’re there, feel free to follow Embracing Beauty on Facebook too.  Oh, and AFTER you vote for me be sure and check out how you can get a Julep box of polishes for only $0.01 shipped!  It’s a legit deal I promise and the polish is amazing!

Pumpkin Gummies Are Back!!!

pumpkin gummies

 

I am drooling! I can’t tell you how many years I’ve looked for pumpkin gummies but apparently it was never at the right time.  YES!  I. am. so. excited!  I’m trying to hold myself back from ordering 5 lbs.  I just wanted to write this post and share my love for gummy pumpkins and my victory in finding them.  This is a sweet, sweet victory!  I found them on ebay and even though they are a little costly I know they are going to be worth it!!

 

Haribo fizzy cola gummies

 

In my book, these rank right up there with my other favorite candy, the Haribo Fizzy Cola gummies.  Both gummies but both totally different.  Do you have a favorite candy that you adore?  Perhaps a favorite seasonal one?

 

(Please note that the links in this post are my affiliate links but my recommendation is 100% honest and completely my own.  Hey, I’ve got to find some way to feed my gummy addiction, right?) 

Pink Lemonade 1st Birthday Party!

This is a review of my little girl’s first birthday.  It was a Pink Lemonade Birthday Party! Get ready for a picture-heavy post because there were just too many photos to choose from!

 

Pink Lemonade Party Invite

Isn’t this invite adorable? I can’t take any credit for it though;  this is the

creativity from Lemonade Design Studio.

 Pink Lemonade Party

Here is the sweet table.

 

Pink Lemonade Party Decorations

Outside I hung fluffy pink decorations with pink ribbon.

 

Pink Lemonade Banner

This banner came from Target’s Big Honkin’ Sumer promotion.

 

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

Some of the cupcakes I made and some I bought and embellished.

 

Pink Lemonade Candy

Here is an up close picture of some of the candy.

 

 

Pink Lemonade Birthday Cake

I made the cakes myself but the gorgeous pennant banner is from

the etsy shop, AFeteBeckons.

 

Pink Lemonade Smash Cake

This is my daughter’s “smash cake” on top of a cake stand I made myself.

 

Pink Lemonade Party Food

Here’s a picture of the full spread.  We also had grilled hamburgers with all the fixings.  Our lemonade was from Chick-fil-A and we had fun pink twisty straws for the kids.

 

 

Pink Lemonade Birthday Girl

This is my sweet birthday girl! Her outfit came from Gymboree.  I couldn’t find the perfect pink lemonade outfit so I bought a lemonade outfit for the first half of the party and a pink outfit for after her smash cake.  She didn’t love her cake so while it was nice that there was no mess to clean up I was sad that we didn’t get to debut her second outfit either.

 

 

Pink Lemonade Smash Cake Crying

This is her after everyone sang to her and her Daddy tried to help feed her some.

She would have none of it.

 

Pink Lemonade Cake Layers

Last but not least we cut the cake!  There is a lemon layer between two pink lemonade layers and it’s topped with pink lemonade icing.

 

WOW. What a party it was! I love throwing a party that makes little kids’ eyes light up with wonder and amazement. And of course, maybe a few grownups too. Because as you know, pink lemonade is all about fun, pure goodness, and never taking life too seriously.  My little girl was thrilled to pieces, besides the cake incident,  and that’s what it was all about. Thank you to EVERYBODY who came and made this day such a success! We love you!

 

 

Vendors:

Party Invitations are from Lemonade Design Studio.

Fondant cupcake picks are from Parker’s Flour Patch.

Pennant banner is from AFeteBeckons.

Sleep Number Delivery and Review

We recently got the exciting opportunity to review a M9 bed from Sleep Number.  We’ve been using it for two weeks now and are ready to report in!  You can read about my Sleep Number store experience and finding my Sleep Number here.

 

We went to the Sleep Number store to find our perfect number and then we anxiously waited for the delivery of our Sleep Number M9 bed.  The delivery was scheduled with a four hour window and the team arrived on the very early side of that.  The delivery team was top notch.  They were very professional and had the installation down to an art.  You can assemble the bed yourself and the directions look like they are very well done.  It would have taken us a lot longer to do ourselves but it is definitely doable.  The biggest problem we had was actually the removal of our old bed (which is free with the purchase of the installation fee).  This pointed out another huge advantage of a Sleep Number bed.  You can put one of any size you want in any room of your house.  With our house design you can just barely get a queen sized box mattress around the corner going up our stairway.  The Sleep Number bed comes in pieces that are assembled in the bedroom so you are only limited by the size of the room itself and not by the route through the house.  We couldn’t fit a king sized bed in our bedroom comfortably but if we wanted to give up that space we would not have been limited by the corner of the stairwell as we would be with other beds so this is something to consider when deciding on a bed and this is another unique advantage to Sleep Number.  After the setup the delivery team did a very thorough explanation of how to use the remotes and care for the bed.  They left no mess and did a great job.

 

Sleep Number Frame 2

They assembled the frame in our room.

 

Sleep Number Assembly

Then comes the cover.

 

Sleep Number Foam Assembly
Foam layer.
Sleep Number M9 Foam Walls
A cover for the foam.
Sleep Number Air Chamber Assembly
Two separate air chambers with a lot of individual air chambers inside.  Very nice!!

 

Sleep Number M9 Memory Foam

5 inches of memory foam on top!  : )  My favorite!

Sleep Number Delivery

Knowledgeable delivery men explaining all the details of assembly in case we decide to move one day.

 

 

Sleep Number in Bedroom

Here’s our new, completed Sleep Number bed!!!

 

Honeymoon Matress

Here’s a picture of our old mattress.

 

The next step was sleeping!  Our old spring mattress was 11 years old (about the life of a spring mattress) and it was what we used to call a “honeymoon bed” 🙂 because it had developed a big dip in the middle  that always brought us together.  As delightful as this forced cuddling was it also had the adverse effect of putting a tremendous amount of pressure on our back and hips.  Just like the deflated pressure map test in the store, once the springs started to give over the years there was not enough support to take off that pressure and the result was some back pain.  Neither of us had bad backs but we would still wake up aching every morning for the past few years.  Admittedly just about any bed would have been more comfortable in contrast to this but the M9 was so much better.  No back pain in the morning and less tossing and turning meant more uninterrupted sleep.  My husband usually gets really hot at night and was worried since he heard that memory foam slept hot.  He noticed no big difference in spite of the LuxFit™ foam so the temperature balancing sleep surface seems to have worked in that area.  We have both tweaked our number in the two weeks since we’ve been using it.  I dropped down from a 35 to a softer 30.  My husband tested his sleep number on his back and was a 50 but he sleeps on his side and needed a little more firmness for that so he’s now a 50.  Once you hone in on your sleep number the bed is quite comfortable.

 

Sleep Number Remote

The easy to use Sleep Number remote.

 

The memory foam element to the M9 bed is so unbelievably nice.  I had heard rumors that some memory foam will leave you hot but that hasn’t been the case for us.  The M9 includes 5 inches of CoolFit™ foam with gel technology that keeps the surface cool. It’s also suppose to make it more breathable.  We’ve had no issues with the bed feeling warm and we’re trying it out in the summer {a hot sticky NC summer!}.

 

In addition to the memory foam on the M9, you also get the exclusive Sleep Number DualAir™ technology which lets you adjust firmness on each side of the mattress. This DualAir technology element has made it possible for both my husband and I to pick our perfect of softness or firmness. We’re actually on different sides of the firmness scale so I’m glad we found the Sleep Number brand or we may have never decided on a bed.  My Sleep Number is a 30 and my husband is 50.  I was amazed at how quiet the whole thing is when adjusting itself even with people laying in it.

 

All in all, from the sales to the service to the M9 bed itself we are very impressed with the Sleep Number company.  And looking forward to the future, we’ll also note that where a traditional spring mattress lasts about 10 years, a Sleep Number bed offers a 20-year limited warranty.  This is something you should consider when you are pricing mattresses.  There are no springs to give in over time and develop the “honeymoon dip” so you’ll just have to take the initiative to cuddle on your own.  They also offer a 30-night in-home trial, on the M9 and most other models, to make sure you find it comfortable.  You’ll still have to pay for shipping and return shipping but will be reimbursed for the cost of the bed itself.

 

In summary we love our M9 from Sleep Number for many reasons:
-Individualized comfort.  We can pick our own sleep number for each side of the bed.
-We can change our sleep number as our bodies change (from aging, pregnancy, etc.).
-There are no springs to weaken over time.
-If we move we don’t have to worry about fitting it into any room of the house.
-We won’t have to buy another bed until our kids are grown.
-5 inches of LuxFit™ foam to sink into every night!
-Select Comfort is an American company that stands behind its product.