Estrea European Skin Care Giveaway Event!

I have recently started working with an amazing European Skincare line, Estrea. They are new to the US, but have proven success with over 15 years of business in Europe. 

I have been using the products for about 1 month now and seriously love them. But don't just take my word for it! Starting next week, there will be 12 blogger's reviews of Estrea products PLUS 12 giveaways! 

You can get ready by following Estrea on Twitter, liking them on Facebook and making sure you are following these fabulous bloggers who are reviewing these fantastic skin care products! 

RomyRaves

@RomyRaves

Our Love Nest

@ourlovenest

I Love You More Than Carrots 

@LvdMoreThnCrrts

Stealing Baby Kisses

@Mommainpearls

Le Musings of Moi

@Lemusingsofmoi

My Crazy Busy Life 

@mycrazybusylife

A Complete Waste of Makeup 

@Neelykins

The Chatty Momma

@TheChattyMomma

Saving Money Living Life

@SavingMoneyII

Running Backwards in High Heels

@RuninHighHeels

Chapters of Our Life

@Annie0702

And meee! @stilettodiapers

Hint, hint...there will be a special savings to those who follow Estrea on Twitter! 

Family of 4 Pictures!

One of the first friends I made blogging was Rachel. We had our first meet up in 2010 and were roomies at Blissdom '11 and '12. This month, we took our friendship to the next level when she came to my house and we ran a half marathon together. 

While she was here, she was kind enough to use her mad photography skills to capture our growing family. I am IN LOVE with her work! If you are in the Birmingham/Cullman, AL area, make an appointment asap! 

How did we become 4 when it seems we only met a hot minute ago?

 My sweet Cooper!

Coop rocking the "to infinity and beyond" pose.

 Even though Callan isn't looking, I think this is a framer. (Who am I kidding? I'm framing them all!)

 Total sweetness, that boy.

Those eyes make me want to say yes to whatever he wants.

My new head shot. Haha. This will be going on all my bloggy business stuff.

This was a nearby winery later in the day.

 Where I clearly had a glass too much.

 I told Rachel that this pic embodies our friendship. Always so many laughs!

 Thank you, my sweet friend, for all of these pictures. But most of all, though, thanks for being an amazing friend. I'm so glad you weren't the total internet creeper I was scared may be waiting on me in Nashville. 

 Internet friends are real. True story.

A note to the crazies. Lets talk Disney Jr and DirecTV.

You could say I got over the moon a wee bit excited that there would be a show out of the story Guess How Much I Love You? It's my fave book ever. The commercials for the new Disney Jr. have been all over for the past month and my 3 year old's instant love of Doc McStuffins is undeniable. 

Since Friday, I have been looking for the new channel and couldn't find it. I googled to find out where it is on DirecTV only to find out they don't have it yet. Fine. I'm not about to start complaining about it. We have a 4 hour block of shows in the morning that I can record.  They'll have it eventually and we can watch an episode of Guess How Much I Love You? online sometime.

What I did find, though, pissed me off. 

These were some of the endless comments from people judging Disney for creating this channel. Judging Moms for wanting this channel. People mad that Disney Jr will eventually replace SoapNet.

Shelly

Posted March 22, 2012 at 10:53 AM

Terrific. Once again ABC is kicking soap fans in the teeth while the tv can act as babysitter for toddlers. Shaking my head.

MBmomof3

Posted March 22, 2012 at 11:28 AM

This is wrong on so many levels, where does one begin? One more reason for me to boycott Disney.

Debsafan

Posted March 22, 2012 at 2:21 PM

More lies from Disney, They just want to slap soap fans in the face one more time. Kids need to be outside playing and not watching TV getting fat and lazy. Shame on Disney. But I would expect nothing less.

Frank Tien

Posted March 22, 2012 at 1:37 PM

Disney wants your toddler’s brains and your wallet. That’s all this is.

Now, I know there are parents who let their kids watch too much TV. 

This channel isn't changing them or anyone else. 

Just because a channel is 24 hours a day doesn't mean kids will watch it for 24 hours. I don't need TV for the 4 hour window in the morning. That's when we go out and play. I need it at 5pm when I am trying to cook dinner with a baby on my hip and a toddler pulling on my pants leg. I don't let my 3 year old watch most channels at that time. Why? Because I'm a responsible parent who monitors what goes on with the TV and the kids shows at that time aren't age appropriate. 

I need it a 3am when my child can't sleep because he doesn't feel good and needs a distraction. Lord knows there is nothing but things I've recorded to watch then. What about when you have multiple days of miserable rain in a row (hello east coast) and you are slap out of inside activities?

My 3 year responds so well to doing things I ask in "3 special steps" just like Special Agent Oso. He also has learned letter sounds, counting and math skills from TV. These shows were created by teachers and people that know how kids learn. Ways I don't know how to teach him. 

Besides, I think I'm more concerned about the people who are watching the Soap Network all day getting fat and lazy than the 2-5 year olds. 

Easter Memories: Sponge Rollers and Hair Woes

At Blissdom this year, Hershey's kicked off the Easter season with a Virtual Bunny Trail. Its a  link up our favorite memories, traditions and Holiday tips to share! They also let us create a virtual Easter basket filled with Hershey's goodness to send home. It was there that I realized that Hershey's really does make all the good candy! Don't even get me started on the amazing ration of peanut butter to chocolate in the Reeses eggs...

I have very fond Easter memories from growing up. 

My sister's and I always had froofy dresses with matching bows and we always wore our pearls. 

(I'm in the middle. And I totally have middle child syndrome.)

We colored Easter eggs at my Granny's house almost every year. 

Don't be jealous of my insanely fashionable outfit at the tender age of 5.

But, my most frequent memory, was my love/hate relationship with the pink sponge rollers. 

I BEGGED for them every year. My Mom would even take them to my Grandparents house so I wouldn't be without amazing hair on Easter, no matter where we were. 

Unfortunately, they seem to be a staple of every Easter picture for multiple years in a row.  

And those things made sleeping a complete misery. But I told myself, "beauty hurts" and would take the pain for 1 night. 

The problem is, this was the result of those rollers. Every.Single.Year. 

I never liked the way my hair looked when the rollers came out, so this is how our family Easter picture always looked. Lovely, huh?

I guess I don't learn easily, because with any mention of Easter, I was pulling out the bag of pink sponginess and planning my day of absolute beauty. And if I ever have a girl, you better believe there will be sponge rollers in her future. 

Because its tradition. 

Check out the Celebrate with Hershey's website to find recipes, crafts and many other tips to make your Easter amazing! 

First day of spring. {A fashion post}

Can I get a wahoo for the insanely nice weather we've been having on the east coast? 

Hello shorts. 

This was my shopping with the SIL's on the first day of spring outfit. 

The ruched sleeves are my fave part of this shirt.

A pop of color with the belt...

...and even more on the toes. 

I think I may live in coral this summer. 

Outfit Deets: 

Shirt - F21

Shorts - American Eagle

Belt - F21

Sandals - Target

Sunnies - Prada (Gift)

My jewelry is seriously lacking these days thanks to my lets pull/chew/drool on everything wee one. Has anyone tried that teething friendly mommy jewelry? I may be in the market for some for the next few months!

I guess they call me a runner.

I finished the race! My first half marathon and I finished all 13.1 miles. I seriously can't believe it. 

This was the gear for the day. Knee high St. Patty's socks, Sparkly Soul head wraps, and green glitter ring fingers. 

Since there were 25,000 other runners, we decided to skip parking and ride the good ole Metro. This is Rachel and my excited 5am faces. 

Casey and Ashley completed our running quad. 

These were all the other runners that were squished in the Metro with us. Total fun. 

As we were running, the hubs came to take our pics. 

The sun made for some doozies of Coop, but that is the finish line in the background.

And after we all finished we met up for a photo op before limping to the car. 

Here's all my details:

Overall: 9697 out of 16291

 

Division: 1809 out of 3025

 Gender: 5620 out of 10707

• 5 Km
• 10 Km
• 10 Mi

• 31:33
• 1:02:57
• 1:44:49

• Pace
• Chip Time
• Clock Time

• 10:37
• 02:18:59
• 02:50:38

• 
  

My total time was 2:18:59. My goal was just to finish, but I had put in an estimated time of 2:30, so I'm pretty excited. I'm already thinking about doing another one in May...I'm addicted. 

This.Is.Happening

Tomorrow! 

I still can't believe I'm doing this, but boy am I excited! 

Wish me luck! 

A few first

First 3D movie. 

He sat straight up, clinging to the bag of popcorn for the first 30 minutes. Totally loved The Lorax, though.

First time in the swing.

Loves the park as much as big bro already.

First picnic of the year.

Apparently, the sun caused extreme squinting. 

First solid food.

Didn't cause magic sleeping through the night, but he liked it nonetheless. 

First time in the exersaucer. 

And he totally loved it. 

How are my kids getting this big?! 

DIY Stone Backsplash with AirStone

We were in Lowes to buy paint last week for our bedroom when we passed this display for AirStone veneers. We had been wanting to do our backsplash, and when we saw these, we knew they were perfect for the job. We finished painting the bedroom (reveal to come) and moved right on to this next project. 

This is the kitchen before we got started. 

These stones were really easy. All you do is spread the plaster and stick them up in whatever pattern you like. 

It's so easy a 3 year old can do it. 

As your wall starts getting filled, it becomes more puzzle-like, trying to fit pieces instead of cutting. Which can be done with a hacksaw, by the way. I used my new jig-saw on a lot of the longer cuts. 

The last row at the top was the most time consuming of the whole project since all the tiles had to be cut lengthwise.

But when it was finished? It was totally worth the work.

This is a reminder of what the kitchen looked like a few days before we moved in when construction was just about finished. 

8 hours and $240 later, our kitchen has had a face lift. It completely changes the look of the room and I'm in love!

BlissDom Fashions

So I had this grand idea to snap pics of all the people I though were fashionable at BlissDom. It worked better in my head since juggling a stroller, (as is so wonderfully displayed in the first few pics) diaper bag and a camera wasn't always so easy. I did ask a few great people to let me take a shot, but lets just start with what the hubs refers to as the clown outfit. 

I could live my whole life in these coral skinnies. 

My oh so lovely roomie, Rachel, rocked the skinnies with a cuffed blazer. One of my fave looks this winter.

And I had to take another shot of her when she wore this sheer blouse. The pops of turquoise jewelry made the outfit come together.

Loving the mustard coat and layers on the sweet, Heather. 

This is Hayley of The Tiny Twig. I saw her adorable self in this cute JCrew dress and purple tights and knew I wanted her pic! Her book, The No Brainer Wardrobe, helps you dress with less fuss. 

Is that a MAN? At BlissDom?! Why, yes it is. This was kind of a starstruck moment for me. This is Jason Hudson, who taught a mobile photography session that I went to. He is an incredible photographer. You will want to follow him on Instagram (@jasonhudson) asap.

His style is exceptional, as well. Reminds me a bit of Don Draper and what I wish I could get my hubs to wear!  

Well, that was over faster than it should have been. Thank you kind models for letting me snap your fashion!