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Cheers to Saturday!


So after a busy week I'm finally taking a breath and relaxing. Does that sound like your life too? We went to candlelight vinyasa last night with some friends (a great way to start off the weekend!) and then ate at a delicious Mexican place in town. (I say ate, but in fact, I scarfed two enchiladas with rice and beans. Oops). A pretty awesome Friday night, I must say.


My latest interest (or obsession) is this app called Poshmark. To put it in 3 words = easy online consignment.


Got your interest? (At this point, you are either thinking, eww, old clothes gross me out - I've seen the Goodwill, or, you are thinking, Why didn't I think of that?? (I know, I'm wondering the same thing. Darn.)

So you create an account, take pictures and post them in your 'closet' with a brand, size, and price, and then voila! They go into a newsfeed and other posh users can hunt for brands they love or items they want to buy. If they buy it, poshmark emails you the shipping to print out. You box the item up, slap on the postage, and drop it at USPS. Once the package is delivered, poshmark deposits your earning into your bank account.


I tried out the app about 6 months ago with one pair of shoes. They never sold. (Sad face). However, in the past 2 weeks I added 8 items to my closet and sold 3 pairs of shoes. (Wheee!!!!) All my friends know I love to shop, I hate not getting use out of clothing I buy, and I like to save money.... So if I can make $$ on old clothes I never wear, or shoes I bought and wore once, I'm helping myself and someone else!! How generous of me, right?


If you are interested in the app and know someone using it, contact them for a code and both of you will get $5 credit added to your account.


And hey, $5 goes a long way when you are buying new citizen jeans for $25! Sigh. Happiness.


Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!


~C

The Dry Shampoo for you

So I've been using dry shampoo for a few years. If you haven't tried it, you are missing out. Get yourself to the store now and buy it!! But seriously, it's a great product to have on hand. There is no way I can wash my hair every other day, much less every other morning. I have to be at work by 7:30 am which I think is the crack of dawn, and some days I just can't wake myself up any earlier than 6:35. Wimpy, I know. 


However, I hate greasy hair. Ew. So for that 2nd or 3rd day of non washing (or even 4th for some of you out there, we know who you are) there is a great invention called dry shampoo. I have tried a few different brands, from expensive to mid range. But my greatest find recently was the following: Pssst Dry Shampoo. Purchased right at my convenient and local CVS.

I kid you not, this product was around $5 at CVS. And I found it after looking at the beauty product place next door where the guy told me that the best dry shampoo would cost me $25 and only last 5 times. Um, no thank you, sir. So, here you go. Spray, let sit for a few minutes, then comb through. Beautiful! (Sidenote, I have light hair so I am not sure if it blends in well with very dark hair, but I read great reviews on it before purchasing.)


Here is a link to Amazon if you can't find it at CVS: Psssst Dry Shampoo


Happy Monday!


~C

Do you use Poshmark?

So I created a Poshmark account a year ago and listed one item. A pair of shoes. Listing those shoes made me realize a couple things. First, it's really hard to take good pictures on my phone. And second, everyone who is out there blogging must have an amazing camera. Sadly, my shoes did not sell. (I told myself it was because poshmark was so new, not because my picture was so bad).


But today, I took some pictures of a few items I had sitting in my closet. Purchases that I thought were too good to pass up at the time (coach shoes on clearance)? Had to have them. Never mind they were in a bright green color. Wearing them even a few times would get me my money's worth. Sadly, I have only worn them once to date. In their defense, they are pretty cute and I do love bright colored shoes.

However, I needed to make room in my closet for yesterday's purchase. My closet space is small, my friend. 

I drove to the outlets yesterday and snatched up two pairs of Cole Haan shoes on clearance! Specifically, one pair of low open toe nude wedges, perfect for summer, and a great pair of comfortable sandals. Jackpot! And since I am a planner, I was already looking for good sandals for our trip to Poland this summer! yay! How could I turn that down? You're right. I couldn't.




So if you are on poshmark, check out my small (for the moment) shop on the website. My poshmark account is called @marsh.


~C

Dining at The Plumed Horse

Happy Sunday! So last night we went out to dinner at a restaurant called The Plumed Horse.  One of G's co-workers gave him a giftcard as a thank you for something, and we kept forgetting to make a reservation (which must be done at least a week in advance for this place, mind you). So like any other person in this century, I hopped on yelp to read reviews. (Side not: I like to read reviews, but I'm pretty sure I've only written about five. You too? Oh good)




Let's just say I'm glad we didn't go there for New Years Eve... three different reviews said they had gone and the bill was $600 for 2 people. UM, oh my......what were we in for? After reading all of the yelp reviews, we wondered if we, too, might get 'plumed' at this restaurant. However, I'd read enough to know that the champagne cart traveling around the dining room, carved out of solid wood with a marble top, would put us on the fast track of getting plumed, so I politely declined. Our bank account said a silent thank you.



 Fast forward to our meal. The actual meal was very good (nothing that blew my mind, although I'm definitely not a foodie), but what made the dinner a one of a kind experience, was the appearance of random mini foods (four times) that were "compliments" of the chef. One arrived in the form of some sort of cheese ball on a wooden kabob stick (sticking out of a small container growing fresh green wheatgrass!), then there were four mini finger bites that included, I kid you not, a deviled quail egg. This egg was about the size of the fingernail on my thumb. Itty bitty. Can you imagine boiling a bitty egg and then shelling it and stuffing it with the deviled yoke? It was like being at a tea party for a 5 year old. Fabulous!




Other "compliments" from the generous chef included a pre-desert to cleanse our palette, and a post desert (so I guess in reality we had three desserts?) a mini mint macaron and a mini candied pineapple. Oh yeah, and a sea salt and chocolate covered  mini cheesecake ball on a kabob stick. All of these were the size of my fingernail. Needless to say, the entire experience was really fun and totally unique.  And as one yelper put it, there are 4 $ restaurants and there are 4$* restaurants. And the Plumed Horse, of course, is the latter.

Scaly skin no more

Winter is the absolute worst time to forget about putting lotion on.  It's when you and I are desperate to find something to prevent the dreaded scaly skin. Ew, just saying that makes me shudder. Don't you just want that glossy, beautiful skin that you see in the Nivea ads? Well, maybe moisturized skin and a dark tan, but that's just me.  However, if a lotion can't keep my pale winter legs and hands moisturized throughout the day, it's not very good. Especially given that I live in California!

A few years ago, when I was living in Portland, my mom sent me this amazing lotion from a store called Lavish inSan Diego. It's owned by two sisters who make all their own products and everything is all natural. The lotion was fabulous! It was Fresh Citrus scent, with grapefruit, lemon, sweet orange, and roman chamomile essential oils. The best part: it lasted all day long. Lemon oil smells delicious and both lemon and roman chamomile oils are commonly used as dry skin remedies. The lotion takes a bit longer than usual to rub in, but it works like a charm. No more scaly winter skin.

In the past few years, I've repurchased it and received it as a Christmas gift many times. Yay! I've also picked up a few other things from the Lavish store.  Most of them are fabulous. (But not all, the all natural deodorant wasn't a fave.) A bit on the pricey side, but great products.

Fresh Citrus Hydra-Pure Body Lotion

Looking for a good read?

Happy Sunday! So this week I started a book called Hush Little Baby that I chose randomly from the library. I am definitely the person that chooses a book by it's cover. Here's what I do: I wander down the aisle, looking for fabulous looking book spines with fun colors of pink, green or blue and happy looking fonts. Well, sometimes. Well, most of the time. Doesn't everyone? 
However, you must be careful using this technique. My latest observation is that these fun colored books are a similar version of the following: girl is in or getting out of stagnant/boring marriage or career and must then start over and "find" herself. She may or may not have children and be dealing with child's problems. So maybe don't use this technique?
Next, I open the book to look at the font. I hate when the book is written in ittty bitty font, like this, or it's mostly the person's thoughts. Ew. I've worked my way into the third aisle at the library using this technique, and it's been 6 months. Whoah.

 Did I mention that I am a frequent library visitor? Where I live, we have this amazing (like beautiful college campus amazing) town library where almost anything is available. I say "almost" because last week I tried to find a Math CSET book and they didn't have it. Bummer :(  However, they do have dvd rentals which include all the latest releases. I guess no one really cares about this. 
Personally, I think this deserves an extra check in the box. Even if I hadn't realized I wanted to see the movie before, a free 3 day rental opens my mind up to the fact that, hey, this could be a great movie!

But back to the book. Last night I picked it up back up and...couldn't....put...it...down. I had to finish it! And around 11:36 pm, I did. Wow. The story reminded me of a similar Nicholas Sparks book called Safe Haven because of the topic, but that's okay with me. Hush Little Baby, by Suzanne Redfearn, is a fictional story about a women living the seemingly perfect life: married to a handsome man, amazing career, two adorable children. However, life is never what it seems, right? And in this case, the saying is very accurate. So if you are looking for a new read, check it out! But maybe don't start it late at night because if you need 8 hours of sleep like me, that probably won't happen.

Bare Minerals READY Blush: The Aphrodisiac

Up until a few years ago, I didn't use blush. My guiding belief was that if I was using foundation and powder to cover my naturally red (and not a cute pink, mind you) cheeks, why would I then add more pink to them at the end? Silliness! And extra time, which does anyone really have time for in the morning?  However, a few years ago I commented on the beautiful pink glow that one of my friends was sporting. She told me it was Nars blush in Orgasm.


After reading a lot of reviews, I felt like I had been living under a rock - apparently EVERYONE had this blush! Oops. I still thought blush was for old women. Was that just me? After this little discovery, I was hooked. I had to have that beautiful pink glow on my cheeks! So of course, I bought it. And it looked great. A bit shimmery, maybe, but that didn't bother me. However, what did bother me was these annoying little bumps that appeared on my cheeks after using it. Can you say major downer? Also, I didn't feel that it really lasted all day on my skin. And hey, if I'm going to buy a Nars blush, it better last all day. So as of two weeks ago, I said goodbye to my Nars Blush and came to terms with the fact that our relationship couldn't work. (Well, only in theory really, it's still sitting in my vanity waiting for a night where I throw caution to the wind and have one more rendezvous.)


But then...
Enter: Bare Minerals Ready Blush. I'm sure tons of people have used bareminerals since it came out. When was that? No idea, I was still shopping for my makeup at CVS at that point. I tested out this blush at Sephora and the girl applied two different colors.  One was a pinky color and the other color was very similar to the Nars Orgasm color, so slightly coral pink. After using this blush all week, I have found a new love. It's the bare minerals READY blush 'The Aphrodisiac'. It isn't as shimmery as the Nars blush and it lasts all day! Bingo :) Sold.




Grade: A+