"Excuse me, have you seen my mind?"

Sometime between last night and today I seem to have misplaced my mind...I truly lost it. I'm really looking forward to a relaxing weekend, watch General Conference, maybe go stay with my parents (that always helps) I'm really excited to have my girls put on their Easter dresses, so maybe I will take my kids to Temple square, and take some nice pictures of them in their Easter attire......yeah I think I will do that. What I really need is some sister time, I miss her. I would love to take off to Vernal for a few days...stupid school! I won't see her for a long time, she's going on a 2 week vacation...UgH how dare she? She's going to New Jersey to see the Cake Boss bakery....and she's going to New York, and then they are off on a caribbean cruise for their honeymoon...UGH! They should take me, I need a vacation, then maybe I will locate my mind again! One good thing about today, we are planning an awesome Enrichment night for May...oh sorry it's called Relief Society weekly activity.

                                     That's all for my mindless rants! Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.

General Conference

I cannot believe this weekend is the first weekend in April! Time is flying lately, that means only one more month till my Roman turns 3....I'm going to cry! That's going to be a different post.....Anyway, it also means General Conference weekend. I love General Conference! It is when our modern day leaders and Prophets give us instruction, to learn more about my religion click here. Now, with my excitement, comes the not so much excitement from my kids...you see, I make them sit and watch all of Conference...well at least the Sunday sessions. What I've done in the past is buy them a cool notebook and some cool pens and have them write down the name of the person that is speaking, and to write one thing down about what they said in their talk.....you see this is what my mom did with us, and I still do it to this day! I still have some of the notebooks that I used during General Conference, I write something for each talk, and I love to look back and read what I've written over the years. I guess, I really wanted to do the same with my kids, but I have learned that what works with some, does not work with others, so it is time to make our own family traditions for General Conference weekend. I've been searching for some ideas online, I found this, which I really like. I'm on the search for some other ideas.

Restaurant Review

Lugano Restaurant
33rd south and 2300 east

Rick and I went out last night, it was last minute. My mom and brother came over and they suggested we take a break and go out. I was in the mood for Italian food, I love Italian food. To give a little of a background, my grandfather migrated to Argentina from Italy, my grandmother was also Italian and I grew up eating my grandmother's homemade pasta every Sunday and Thursday. Spaquetti, lasagna, ravioli, gnocchi, polenta, marinara sauce made from the tomatoes my grandfather grew, urugula salads, lots of cheeses, garlic, bread, olive oil....etc. Restaurants can't touch my grandmother's food, but I like to try new restaurants and I had high hopes for Lugano, but I was highly disappointed. I had a caesar salad, which was great, their bread and assorted olives was great, my husband ordered a margherita pizza which was good, the mozzarella on the pizza was amazing but my pasta dish was DISGUSTING! I ordered the Nappa Cabbage Spaguetti dish. The waitress said everyone raves about this dish, but I really don't see how. It was bland, it had cauliflower on top and tons of bacon YUCK! Maybe I ordered the wrong thing, because the reviews that I've read for this restaurant are mostly positive. I ended up eating lots of bread, olives and some of Rick's pizza. Lesson learned. Next time we think of breaking our Cheesecake Factory routine, I will think of this experience, and snap out of it. I would have preferred an Italian dish at the Cheesecake Factory.

Heaven!!

I was browsing the blogs I follow and I found a post for a Whipped Hot Chocolate Bubble Bath....ummm YES PLEASE! This would be heaven right now! Then I started browsing what kind of bathtub I need that would complete this piece of heaven on earth for me, and I found this

YES! This would be absolute heaven! Since we don't have a bathtub like this, I am now on the hunt for a hotel that has a bathtub like this....for a quick weekend getaway so I can try the whipped hot chocolate bubble bath! I need this!

I WON!

The doorbell rang, I opened the door and there was Jen standing with a pretty rectangular silver box and she said "you won" I won her blog giveaway, 30 dollar Nordstrom giftcard. I have to hide it, because my husband only shops at Nordstrom and it's his favorite place in the world! AHHHHHH!!  I never win anything! I would take a picture of myself holding this silver box, but I just got back from the Rec Center, we went swimming and I look horrid and I smell like chlorine! Anyway, I'm so excited, this is going straight to the Mac counter. I'm also thinking.....I don't have very many followers, as my 2 year old says to me "mom, you have no frrriiieeennndsss!" he drags out the friends part, so it's extra piercing to my heart. I think I need to start bribing people to follow my blog. I think I may follow Jen's lead and do a giveaway....soon!
Thanks for making my week Jen!!!

Make up haul!

So, my sister and I watch makeup tutorials on youtube all the time! Well, she got me hooked on them....  after many years of trying to get her to put make-up on, she finally started and now she's so good at it, and loves it so much that she may go school to become an aesthetitian. I'm excited! So everytime these professional or even amateur youtube girls go shopping they call it a make-up haul...I had one today....sort of....well, for me it was. Make up is the only thing I spend money regularly on. I love it! My husband continues to try to get me to stop wearing it and go "natural" but I always tell him "NOT HAPPENING!" So I wanted to share my favorites! I had been telling my hubby that I was out of a few things, so today during lunch he had me meet him at Sephora....he's a good husband, he goes with me, since I don't have anyone else to go with in the middle of the day and on such short notice. So...."these are a few of my favorite things"(products) I just sang that in my head! (Sound of Music)



I've been using bare minerals for 4 years. I like it, because it doesn't make me break out like other products. I use some of their eyeshadows too, I love the colors they have, but hate that it is loose powder so the fallout from their shadows is ridiculous!



Foundation powder





I tried this as a sample, and I loved it, so today I bought it. It makes your face smooth and it makes your foundation look flawless! 



primer



 I'm not much of a lipstick girl, I love lipglosses though, and my favorites are from Mac. Right now I have one that is called Lovechild.... I also love the bare minerals Bluxom lip plumpers, but I'm banned from those because Rick hates the tingly feeling on his lips after I kiss him!


Mac lipglass


                I love bronzers, but also love blush, So here's the best of both worlds!



Nars duo blush/bronzer



Now for the eyes.....my sister got me into eyeshadow, I was never an eyeshadow fan, but we love trying different looks and she told me about Urban Decay

This is my favorite palette at the moment.....I use it everyday! I'm actually going to buy this again, because I'm out of my favorite color which is the 3rd one from the right. I used it too much. :(



Urban Decay Naked Palette

I found one of their smaller palettes on sale today, this one

Urban decay Show Pony



Mainly I bought it because it has one of the shadows that is on the naked palette that I also love and I'm out of, it's called toasted (last one on the bottom)

I'm not very picky with mascara, I can go and get one at the grocery store mostly I use this one....

cover girl

                ....but once in a while I splurge on mascara, the last one that I tried was this one



Mac false lash


 I liked it, but I would rather spend money on other things than mascara.

 Lastly on this list is liquid liner, I've always been afraid of liquid liner, but this is also something that my   sister taught me to use, and I really like the Sephora liquid liner



sephora liquid liner

                                                      It's easy to use, and lasts a long time. 





And before I finish.... here's a product that I'm about to bust out soon! Sunless body tanning lotion. Yes, many of them make you look orange, but this one doesn't.... and I do love to spray tan, but when I don't have time to go spray tanning, I use Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess. LOVE IT!

Another Sweet Giveaway!!

My neighbor and friend, Jen is doing a giveaway on her blog! Check it out right here
Follow her she's one of the coolest people I know!
Good luck everyone!

Giveaway!

                                      

                  Check out this giveaway! Follow Aubry's blog and enter for a chance to win!

                                                                             Click here and good luck! (even though I want to be the winner) :)

Cake Wars!

I was in charge of my parents' cake on Saturday for their birthday (yes, they have the same birthday) My husband loves to bake cakes, and I have never met a man that is so particular about the way he makes cakes. Not to mention that he thinks he's the best at it, and that I cannot outbake him! Anytime there is a family gathering, he's the designated cake baker. I needed to challenge this, because I think I'm pretty amazing at cooking and baking! Here are some of his weird rules or whatever you want to call them

1.    he only uses Duncan Hines mixes. When we first got married I bought some boxes of Betty Crocker cake mixes because they were on sale, and it was like I had commited a CRIME! He will not use them!
2. he insists that the way he mixes the mix is like no other, and that's why they come out so moist and fluffy
3. he also says he knows exactly when to take the cake out of the oven, which to me, the exact time to take a cake out of the oven is when it's BAKED!...I'm just sayin'
4. and that the secret is also in the way that he frosts the cake
5. Lastly, (which I will fight him to the death about) is that box cake mixes taste better than cakes made from scratch!

My parents are not fans of box cake mixes, and I think he felt a little offended that they didn't ask him to make the cake for their birthday.....they love him, but I'm their daughter so I WIN!
I found this chocolate cake recipe by Martha Stewart here Martha knows what she's doing, so I figured I would try it. It was AMAZING! The consistency of it, reminded me of the Linda's Fudge Cake at the Cheesecake Factory. My parents are also not big fans of frosting so they wanted me to frost the cake with real whipped cream. Needless to say, everyone LOVED the cake! It was good.....what did my husband say about it? "It's good, but still not as good as my Duncan Hines" GRRRRR!!! Whatever! LOL
                                          
                                               Here's a pic of my parents with their cakes


Yes, my mom is 4 years older than my dad. We tried to switch the cakes around on my dad, but he was not having it!



Who knew!?

When hubby and I decided to go back to school (what was I thinking? Never again!) We decided to pick a couple of online classes for me that would be fairly easy....FAIL! We picked Nutrition (fairly easy) and Human Sexuality( my thought was...I've had 3 kids, this will be cake!) YEAH RIGHT! Who knew there was so much to know about Human Sexuality!? Certainly not me! Grrrrr! This class is killing me slowly. Aside from the fact that I have to keep my book hidden because I'm scared that my kids will open it!(it's pretty graphic for children) I was reading a very explicit chapter last night, I was home alone while reading, yet I kept looking around, and I felt like my mom was going to come out and say "What are you reading!!?" I kept thinking, "my mom would have a heart attack if she was reading this!" Scratch that, she would have a heart attack if she read any of the pages in this text book LOL, seriously! Next on my list assignments that need to be turned in? I have to create a questionnaire and interview family, friends, and even neighbors about myths and what they know about contraception.....awesome! This should be good!

Should be sleeping......

but....instead I'm still up, what am I doing so late?
                                                THIS!

ribbon, scissors, embellishments, felt, glue gun

Tomorrow is one of the most stressful days of my girls' elementary days......PICTURE DAY! I know, I'm psychotic, but picture day, is so stressful for me. So I'm making hair accesories for my girls, and I'm having a hard time deciding what goes better with their outfit, so I have to make a couple so that we can have options....after all, I don't know what kind of hair day we will have tomorrow....it may not go as planned. I'm stressing myself out just thinking about it! AHHHHH!  Today we went to get shirts, this is how the conversation goes with my husband... (me) Honey, the girls have picture day this week, it's their spring personality portraits so I want to go get them a shirt.
(Rick) They have tons of shirts
(me) Yeah, but they are all wintery kind of shirts, and this is for the spring portrait
(Rick) Hmm
LOL...guys just don't get it...but he agreed anyway. :)

Another thing that I stress about....recess, if I was the principal, I would cancel recess on picture day until all the kids got their pictures taken...I mean come on! REally? How long do they think elementary girls can keep their hair done!?

It's truly ridiculous that I'm up making hair accesories, and blogging about it instead of being in bed.

Welcome to my neurotic world!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!!

As soon as my girls got in the car yesterday when I picked them up from school, they reminded me that it's Dr. Seuss' birthday on March 2nd. How could I let this opportunity for some fun pass? So we had green eggs and ham!! The kids were a little skeptical at first, but once they saw how I made the eggs green, they were ok with it. Food coloring is not scary at all.



They don't look green on the picture...but they were!

I remembered that I have a fish cookie cutter, so we recreated the classic One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, Dr. Seuss book. We had a lot of fun decorating.

our fish cookies

When we were done decorating, we watched The Cat in The Hat, which I'm not a big fan of the "Hollywood" version of that, but my kids love it, so I endured through it. What a great time they had, we may have to do a character or book themed night more often.