Review #1

I have realized that I love to tell people good things about new products I have purchased and stores that have unique finds, great selection or prices, or fabulous customer service. So here goes a few reviews that I have been saving up...

Products
Movie: "Dear John"
Rating: *
Reason: Another N.S.'s movie/book that ended with no purpose. Have you seen "Nights of Rodathe"? If not...please don't. It ended like that. The credits start to role and you realize you just waisted $9 on a ticket, $8 on popcorn, and $5 on Diet Coke for 2 hours of your life to be waisted when you could have spent $22 on a new shirt that would get multiple uses and compliments, but instead you waisted money and time on something that adds no value to your life - in fact it took something from you because that could have spent time with your ____ or you could have been doing something productive. I hate going to watch bad movies when there is so much hype about them.

Avon: Anew Foundation & Powder
Rating: *****
Reason: I used to sale Avon so I tried it all and their elite brand is "Anew" and their foundation is fabulous, but their powder ties it all together. I get so many compliments on my make up and I tell people it is Avon and they don't believe it. So save yourself some money and ask a consultant to try it out...best part is you can return it and get your money back if it is the wrong color, but I'm sure she/he won't mind ordering some samples for you to try out before purchasing. Another tip: "Anew" goes on sale every other month basically so wait for it and you get can the powder for free when you do the B1G1.

Ulta Brand Eye Shadows
Store: Ulta
Rating: *****
Reason: I love it when you swipe your eye shadow brush onto your eye lid and all it takes is 1 swoosh. The color on the pallet is the same as the color on your eye lid. You don't have to apply a few coats to get that pretty color. I also love the price and variety. They have probably over 60 colors to choose from and their sales are usually 3 for $10 or B1G1. You can't beat it especially when you have a monthly coupon for $3.50 off a $10 purchase.

Snapfish
Rating: *****
Reason: I wanted to do a scrapbook of our Disney Family Vacation, but after ordering the 70+ pictures I realized I do not have the time. So I looked into doing a book online where the pictures are in the pages and it looks like a real book. I used shutterfly at first but never purchased it because it wasn't exactly how I liked it and it took forever to do so I just saved it and thought..."I will come back to it." I joined Disney Movie Rewards because we get these points every time we purchase a movie from Disney and I saved enough points to get a free photo book from Snapfish. In my head I thought it was the same company, but it wasn't. Snapfish is SO MUCH FASTER and has tons more pages and ideas. I was able to put a book together in half the time and it is so much cuter and I got it for FREE. Plus they give you 20 prints for free when you sign up. I'm a believer. I will probably go back and do all of Bailey's pictures on these. Especially since you can scan in the professional shots.

Store
Jo Ann's
Rating: ****
Reason: They just had a grand opening this past weekend and I was so excited to go because I am a hobby collector and this is where we flock to. It is very fresh and clean feeling. They had a fabulous selection of jewelry and enormous selection of fabrics. Their prices were the same as Michael's (excluding the fabric -- they had good prices on that), but their stickers/scrap booking section was fairly small -- although I'm not into that anymore. They didn't have anything that the other craft stores would have in their baking section so I was disappointed in that. Their home decor/holiday area couldn't compare to Hobby Lobby's vast selection. Where they surpass the competition is in all the classes they offer. They have TONS of them and they are at different times of the day and week. Another big thing is they have ALL the sewing machines out for use so you can try it before you buy it with someone to help you. So this will definitely become my fabric store and place to take classes.

Guitar Lesson #3 -- Ouch!

Last night I had my third guitar lesson. I was able to spend more time this week practicing so I was feeling good about my finger placement. Before my lesson I tuned my guitar all by myself (pat on the back). This time we worked on chords and I was struggling. I would get my fingers perfectly placed thinking "this is not so hard" but then my pudgy fingers (see post about my small hands) would touch the strings that shouldn't be touched and the result was bad. I was pressing so hard on the strings and trying as hard as I could to move things around that I didn't realize the pain in my fingers until I released them. Ouch! So this morning I woke up thinking the pain would be gone but it is still there. I heard that it hurts your fingers in the beginning, but I didn't realize the soreness would linger...no pain, no gain.

Another thing I didn't realize is how slow it takes to learn to play. This is my first time learning to play any instrument so I had no clue about anything. If it wasn't for a guy at work helping me get my guitar I probably would still be "thinking" about doing it. So for the next few months I am going to put aside other hobbies and focus on playing my guitar. Last night's lesson became more than just checking "learn to play guitar" off my list...when he showed me how to make actual music I felt a passion to learn as much as I could. Up until now I wasn't taking it seriously -- yes I would take time to practice, but it wasn't something I loved. I'm excited now about practicing and getting better at it. I'm a "things" person. I like to have something to show for the time or money I spent. Like with sewing or cake decorating I have a product to show for the progress I made, but with guitar I have nothing to show besides my self improvement.

Stay tuned for Guitar Lesson #4!

Fabulous Weekend

From my last post I said I would redeem myself with pictures of hot pink cupcakes and my first decorated sugar cookies on sticks. Well I forgot to take a picture of the cupcakes but they turned out really cute. On Thursday I finished a birthday cake, had my guitar lesson, and made cupcake icing. On Friday I baked the cookies. On Saturday I iced the cookies, baked the cupcakes, informal recruitment from 10AM -5 PM, and "Bal Masque" that night. On Sunday I iced the cupcakes and went to informal recruitment from 11:30AM -6:30 PM. It was a very busy weekend, but one that will be remembered. Some say I overdid it and had too much on my plate, but when you love what you are doing it doesn't seem like work at all. I wish I felt like this about everything and one day I hopefully will...in God's timing.

To all my ZTA sisters out there - Theta Nu brought it. I was so proud of them. At our school greek life isn't that big so turn outs for informal recruitment are very small. They invited back 9 and 6 came to bid night! I will let you do the math on where the other 3 went among 2 other sororities. I do love being an advisor even though it takes time away from my family; although, Miss Bailey did attend her first ZTA bid night and loved it!

"Bal Masque" was really fun. Blake wore a Tux and I wore a bridesmaid's dress from my best friend's wedding back in October. The band was good, my feet were sore, and I sang to the top of my lungs to "Sweet Caroline" and "Don't Stop Believing".