A Whole Pile of Stuff

A little awkward randomness tossed out there during a very long period of silence.....especially since it is April and the quiet remains.  All with good reason and the answers will all be seen in due time.

I have decided to take a break aka vacation from blogging for the remainder of the year.  My focus in this section of the cyber web has been slightly scattered with everything going on in my day to day along with all the grand ideas that I have floating thru my head.  So instead of everything going to shit here, I will be getting my direction together, finishing up finals, spending time with family,  and enjoying a break from my day job then coming back next year.  Unless of course I need to share something or wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday or whatever you celebrate at this time of year....sometimes I think we should just say Happy Fat Pants Season.  Fat Pants season is fairly short so enjoy it while it lasts.

No Reply blogger...I received a very nice email the other day related to my blog.   I went to reply to the email and realized this person was a "no reply blogger".  This saddened me since I wanted to thank the individual for the kind words they shared and my happiness that they are enjoying my blog.  So without further words being said....I would like to share a link that will explain on how to check/change your no reply blogger status.     Here you go :  http://www.venustrappedinmars.com/2013/06/google-ultimate-no-reply-blogger.html


I almost had this whole brief moment of deciding to skip over my fave things from the month of November until I recalled this whole concept of showing things that are the "shit" is something I look forward to when reading other's blogs....so without further delay the November faves.


Moment:

Beauty Product -

This creepy looking alien aka the Lush Bath bomb...yeah those things are the bomb.

Clothes - We are in a transitional time, so there has been nothing that is sticking out in my mind

 

Ghosts of Weekends Past - Long Haul

Let's hear it for four day weekends.  It was glorious for me.  The hubbie , not so much.  not only could he not partake in my adventures, but he got called into work basically every single day.  Sometimes it really is not nice to be needed.

Thursday I was cooking/baking like crazy.  Made some muffins and chili to take with and leave behind.

 

Also managed to get the wreath that I bought put up.  It is the first time that I have had a fresh wreath for outside.

 

Afterwards, we headed to Shopko for the hubbie to splurge on himself.  Then it was home for our traditional Thanksgiving day pizza before I headed off up north for a few days.  What I realized is I absolutely love it when my trailer can stay in one spot and all you have to do is plug in a heater, flip on a light and unload your crap especially when you are getting up there in the dark.

 

Next morning was slightly chilly...ok right around freezing.

 

 

I ran to town to get a few things from Shopko before keeping my promise to the dogs.

 

When in Rome...hit the puppie park.

 

A stop off at Pritzls....had me finding a cute sign for the camper and a sweatshirt for the hubbie.

 

I also decided to swing by Lake Arrowhead to see if there was any ice.  No ice, but the spot where we sat in summer is under water.

 

After our little excursions of the day, we headed back to camp for a fire and dinner.

 

Dinner of course was the chili that I made the day before.  My dinner date, Little Man.  The others were patiently waiting on the floor for crumbs.

 

The rest of the evening was beautiful...a  lovely full moon and nice warm fire.

Saturday morning after snuggling for a bit...it was time to clean up/pack up and head home.



 

Rest of Saturday was spent getting things in order....making some dinner and chilling.

 

Sunday, aside from doing our normal Sunday things we also started doing the Christmas decorating.  The tree is officially up and our 2015 ornament has been hung.

 

And that folks was our little extra long weekend...now it is time to start the countdown to Christmas.  Keep your eyes open, it is coming quick.

 

 

Ghosts of Weekends Past - To Hell with Fall

To hell with fall or so Mr. Winter has said.  It appears that Mr. Winter thought it would be a fine idea to come to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving.   Here is the beauty that we awoke to Saturday morning...

 

A little soon, but then again maybe not.  It truly is not or was not uncommon for snow to grace Wisconsin in November.  I do not mind the snow, hence my love of cross country skiing....the cold weather though that accompanied this though was a little much.  I need to ease into 15 degrees.

 

At least, I had a nice warm bath that was graced with my bath bomb from Lush. 

It Looks like some sort of alien. This is what it looks like when you pull it out after it has been fizzling a bit.  I am going to make the assumption that someone out there has done this though, so I am not feeling like the only odd duck in the room.

 

With the snowy weather, I used it as another excuse to have the steppie take me shopping.  Sadly though the roads were not in the slightest bit slippery to give her some experience with that.  I did get Forest's Christmas shopping completely finished and I found this....

pretty awesome hat, which the hubbie hated so it stayed at the store.  Plus the steppie tried on a blanket scarf, since that is the new trend that she feels she needs to follow.  Personally, I think it is crazy, you might as well be walking around with a throw blanket on your neck.  This girl will be sticking with her everyday scarves.

 

Saturday evening, we put on the most comfortable clothes possible and saw Mockingjay 2.  I read the book, they did a good job reflecting what occurred in the book. We loved the movies and the books.

 

Sunday was spent as normal...cleaning, shopping, family dinner.

 

Now this week, shall find us enjoying the short work week and our little Thanksgiving tradition.

 

May everyone have safe travels.

 

 

Christmas Magic Mall Haul

Once upon a time quite a few moons ago, my parents would load us up in the car and we would drive to the big city.  We would go to all the malls look at the lovely lights and Christmas decorations then have dinner at Red Lobster.  Memories and tradition.

Now just the other day the magic of Christmas at the mall and the yearn to spend all came rushing back.   It is no longer a common place for me to see this in the everyday as I do not fequent the stores as I once did when I lived in a bigger city. It was a quiet day at the mall being  a weekday and not after Thanksgiving though (thank goodness).  Now it was almost a magical moment seeing the decoration as I was wandering thru watching the hustle and bustle of the people.  Thank goodness though as an adult I am not as mesmerized by the escalators as I was as a child.

Ok...now let's see what the "haul" looked like.  A little disclaimer that yes it is the holiday season and the items below were all for me...any gifts for others that were purchased are not included below because no one gets any peeking  :)

LUSH

Had to pick up my normal Grease Lightning.   Plus I will be trying some new things:

 

1.  The Sacred Truth Fresh Face Mask:  This mask states that it helps dry skin.  With winter my skin gets extra cranky. 

 

2.  Bath Bomb - Sadly I don't recall the name of this one

 

3.  Brazened Honey Fresh Face Mask:  Deep cleansing, brightening and exfoliating. Actually used this once was happy with the result, just not the smell...a little to flowery. If it makes my skin lovely though, I will get over it.

 

4. Big Blue Bath Bomb

 

5. Sympathy for the Skin - Slightly thinner than what I have used in the past which makes it absorb quickly aka great for when I am running late in the morning.  It does have a nice warm cozy smell too it.

 

 

 SEPHORA

 

Darn you Sephora for sending me the notice to pick up my birthday gift.  I did accomplish smelling a whole bunch of perfumes and deeming that they were all stinky aside from grabbing a few things.

 

1. La Vanilla the healthy deodorant - Travel Size

 

2. Sephora Sleeping Mask

 

3. Nars Lipstick Pencils (Birthday Gift)

 

ULTA

A lot of new (based on recommendations from you tubers and Allure's best of beauty) and one tried and true.

 

1. St. Ives Even and Bright Citrus Scrub

 

2. L' Oreal True Match Powder

 

3.  Soap and Glory Rich and Foamous Body Wash

 

4. Maybelline Volum' Express The Falsies Push Up Drama Mascara

 

5. Simple Cleansing Wipes  - These are a tried and true

 

6. Soap and Glory Smoothie Star Body Buttercream - Seriously people this smells like a fricken cookie...win.

 

 

 

 

And then there was a mail day aside from the Mall Haul

 

CELESTIAL SEASONINGS

 

 

I have been loving having a cup a tea before I go to bed.  So I decided to expand my sleepytime tea experience...as you can see.

 

SEPHORA

 

Yes, this is why I did not want/need to go to Sephora at the mall.  VIB members got 20% off for a few days, so I used the chance to buy some things I wanted to try and expand my perfume collection because damn perfume is expensive.

 

1. Marc Jacobs Perfume Decadence

 

2. Samples:  Clean Rain and Marc Jacobs Daisy Dream.  I love getting little perfume samples because they are perfect for traveling.

 

3.  Korres Lip Butter Clear Gauva

 

4. Drunk Elephant Skin Brightening Kit

 

5. Tony Moly Panda's Dream So Cool Eye Stick

 

Now before I part...let me give you a close up of the beauty of the Marc Jacobs Bottle.

Oh my goodness yes it looks like a little purse and smells delicious.  From the Sephora website:



Notes:
Italian Plum, Iris Flower, Saffron, Bulgarian Rose, Jasmine Sambac, Orris, Vetiver, Papyrus Woods, Liquid Amber.
Style:
Qualitative. Opulent. Surprising.

Now it is time, I am going to say my farewells and keep on shopping.

 

 

Ghosts of Weekends Past - Puppies

T'was the weekend of the pampered, spoiled or maybe I should say teased puppies.  Really nothing all to exciting to report on Friday evening.

Saturday all the fun began.  Morning was a trip to the feedmill to get the puppies more food and a new rope toy.  Then it was time to roll up my sleeves and dive into some serious puppie treat baking. 

This went on all afternoon until my son got home from work so we could road trip to the next twon over.  He needed some more work pants...plus I used it as an excuse to get him to smell some colognes.  Because you know when you are 18 it is time to start moving away from just the body sprays.   We also hit up the new Applebees.   The atmosphere compared to the old building was much more open.

Even with their new menu items, I couldn't help but get the same old thing.  Later in the evening watched the movie "Dark Places" based on the book I recently read.  I thought that they did a great job recreating the book.  Yet reading the story was much better then seeing on the tv, which the hubbie could attest too.  He did not read the book and thought the movie was just ok.  

Sunday once again it all went to the dogs (even before I went grocery shopping), it was a long due bath day for them.  They are so super soft and snuggly now.  Bullet loves the bath and it takes forever to get him to come out.  He even has a special duck that he tries to drown.   Chuck hates the water....period.  Little Man is on the fence, like he thinks it is ok but really just not sure.  Kind of hard to figure it out though while your brother is in the tub stirring up the water trying to drown his duck.

 

Then it was grocery shopping, house cleaning, and baking another puppie treat.  Yes, I will probably have the fattest dogs in the neighborhood.

 

Pizza puppie style.  The weekend came to a close with Sunday family dinner and discovering that Chuck is out of stock....

 

Enjoy the rest of your week.