Date Night! (w/ Disney Store & Sephora Haul!)

For those of you who don't know me personally, I have been married to my Prince Charming for 11 years this April.  He is my best friend and truly makes me feel like a princess!

I think it is absolutely essential for the health of a relationship that you take the time to grow together and also take the time to go on "dates".

It had been awhile and I felt the itch to dress a bit, so I asked my Sweetie if we could fit a date night into our schedule.  We got a last minute babysitter (thanks Nanny!) and got all prettied up to go out to Cheesecake Factory to try out their yummy eats.  I checked out their menu online ahead of time and was reassured that there were plenty of non-cheesecake options available.

I guess the CF is pretty popular and we were told it would be about 45 minutes for a table....luckily there is an exit to the mall!!

First off, a moment of reverence for my gorgeous glittery heels!

Okay, so first stop in browsing the mall was Sephora where my Sweetie noticed they have the Hello Kitty items I had shown him online (I told you he's my best friend!!  He remembers what I like and points out things to me even if I will probably end up wanting to buy it!).  We looked over the products they had in stock and I decided to take home the hand-held mirror.

It is so pretty and shiny!!!  

Bonus!!!  I had enough points saved up on my Insider Card to get a Hello Kitty eyeliner....in PURPLE SPARKLY!!

I don't know if I will ever bring myself to use it because it is so adorable and purple and Hello Kitty, but at least it will always be gorgeous on my makeup tray!!

Our last productive stop before dinner was The Disney Store.  I am soooo glad I went!!  If you preorder Tangled at their store you will get a set of lithographs to take home with you right then!!  I had preordered online from their site, but was told the lithographs were as supplies last....I was not willing to take the risk of them running out and so I cancelled my online preorder and preordered from the store!!

Check out the beautiful lithos you get:

The outside and inside cover of the folder the lithos come in.

Rapunzel & Maximus

Rapunzel & Flynn stare down

Oooh!!  Rapunzel's Tower!!  This one is getting framed!

Rapunzel & Eugene see the light and each other

I got a few other things at the Disney store, but I'll be showing those off in another post.  

Shopping done, we headed back to the CF for dinner....which was AMAZING!!  So good!!  I didn't have room for dessert by the time we finished our stuffed mushrooms (without clam!  my shellfish allergy and love of mushrooms rejoice in unison!), salad, and steak, I had to ask for the carrot cake to go.  

Once we got home and dinner had settled a bit it took me 3 attempts to finish the carrot cake....an enormous slice and oh so good!!!  

So, to sum things up....Cheesecake Factory is phenomenal if you don't mind waiting and/or spending money at the mall; Hello Kitty + Sparkly = OOOoo!; and preorder Tangled today (it comes out March 29)!!

Have a wonderful day Girlys!!

100 Follower Giveaway from Life and Polish

http://lifeandpolish.blogspot.com/2011/03/100-follower-giveaway.html

Another day, another amazing giveaway.  This one is from Life and Polish who is celebrating 100 followers....someday I'll be there too!!

St Urho's Day Manicure / St Patrick's Day Pedicure

Since today is St Urho's day, I better get a move on and post this!!

(For those of you who may be unaware, check out @Brownielocks' adorable description of the myth, the man, the legend St Urho!  http://www.brownielocks.com/urho.html)

Pedicure Supplies

Base Coat:     Sally Hansen Double Duty

Base Color:    Sally Hansen Hard As Nails in Sheer Vanilla

Layer Color:   Sinful Colors in Irish Green

Top Coat:      Sally Hansen Natural Shine

I don't have too many base coats that I love, so I use the Double Duty strictly as a base coat.  Also, I knew from consulting my nail wheels that Irish Green is kind of a neon color and definitely a bit on the sheer side.  I thought putting down Sheer Vanilla as a base would help some.  

I didn't wait long enough for the polish to dry and seriously smudged a few toes...but it's March and it's still sock / closed toe shoe weather here, so no biggie.

Manicure Supplies

Base Coat:     Seche Wear

Base Color:    China Glaze Flying Dragon (neon) from the INK collection

Layer Color:   Sinful Colors Green Ocean (flaky glitter how I love you!)

Top Coat:      Seche Vite

My Seche duo (buy 1 get 1 free!!  Thanks Sally Beauty Supply!) is my go-to base/top for glitters.  I especially love the thick sealing and smoothing effect of the top coat over coarse glitters.  

I have quite a few Sinful Colors polishes, but it wasn't until this month that I finally spotted Green Ocean in a St Patrick's Day display!!  Yes!  My second purchased flaky glitter (and a steal of a deal at only $1.99!).

I tried to get a variety of shots in different lighting to show how gorgeous the Green Ocean is over Flying Dragon....it is quite an eye-catching green-to-teal-to-blue effect over Flying Dragon's smoking hot purple with shimmer.  Note: Flying Dragon is a neon so it dries pretty matte....I was inspired to use this as a base color by    @Nailsbyasami and her amazing Space Nail.  Thanks Asami!

St Patrick's Day Manicure #1

I LOVE nail polish!  I am particularly a sucker for "gimmic" polishes:  black light, glow-in-the-dark, scented, matte finish, suede finish, and color-changing.  Today's St Patrick's Day Mani is from one of my color changers.

In the picture above you can see a bit of color variation on each nail (a bit darker at the tip).  

The base color used was Icing's Hyper Sensitive from the Mood Swings line.  It changes from a dark to bright green based on temperature.  The stamp used is from Konad plate S06.  I used Konad special white to stamp.  I only stamped the thumbs this time because I was extremely tired, but wanted to see the stamp over a color changing polish.

Now for a color test.  First we'll use cold water.

As you can see, with cold water the polish is a pretty dark / forest green.

Now for the hot water test:

As you can see, with the hot water, the polish is a beautiful bright green.

I could use some more stamping practice as my aim is a little off, but all in all I think this is a winner!!

Recent Manicures / Pedicures - Strawberry Creme Konad

I love to do my nails.  When my "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff (and It's All Small Stuff)" daily calendar suggested the importance of taking the time to do things just for you, I decided to make Sunday afternoons my weekly Me / Nail time.

I wanted to post pictures of a few of my most recent manicures / pedicures that while recent enough to have been photographed, they are not necessarily recent enough for me to be able to properly review.

I will, as always, provide details of what I used.

First up is my first Konad Manicure!  I was so excited to get the fruit wheel (plate M55), I decided my first manicure would be strawberry themed.  

For the base color I used Revlon's Sublime Strawberry from the Fruitful Temptations collections.  It is a pretty creamy pink that smells like strawberries when it dries.

After it had dried I stamped strawberries from Konad plate M55 using Konad special polish in White.

(Please excuse the blurriness...I am still playing with my camera and taking pictures of my own nails.)

Gilded Nails Giveaway

http://gildednails.blogspot.com/2011/02/mega-500-follower-giveaway.html

I'm back with another amazing giveaway.  This one runs till March 31st!

You really have to go to her blog to see the specifics on what she is giving away, but here is a peek.....

Painted Lady Fingers Mega Giveaway!!

Painted Lady Fingers has quite the giveaway for us!!

One lucky winner will win all you see below:

Click here for details:  http://paintedladyfingers.blogspot.com/2011/02/make-it-fancy-giveaway.html

Vetten's Blog Polish Giveaway!

Polish Giveaway!!

Check out the blog below for details on Vetten's giveaway!!

http://vettelicious.blogspot.com/2011/02/finally-its-giveaway-time.html

Great Giveaway and Polish Haul Teaser!

I wanted to start of this post with a thought from my Don't Sweat the Small Stuff (and It's All Small Stuff) 2011 page-a-day calendar.

"If you want to be a more peaceful person you must understand that being right is almost never more important than allowing yourself to be happy.  The way to be happy is to let go, and reach out."


Let that simmer a bit...


What a wonderful calendar!!  This will be the 2nd year I have had one and I can say that it has really helped me be less stressed out and put things into perspective.




Just a quick teaser....I have found some wonderful giveaways which I will be compiling and posting links to in the next few days.

Also, Christmas came a little early yesterday, even if some of the presents did fall off the sled!

Sally Beauty Supply in the Tanasbourne shopping center had 8 of the 12 new China Glaze polishes from the new Tronica line as well as 1 of the China Glaze Wizard of Ooh Ahz polishes I had been looking out for!  They are lined up in front of me with nail wheels as I type!  Pictures and reviews to come!!