November 2016 – Over The Deep End

A Holiday Maternity Look & Pink Blush Giveaway!

November 22, 2016 15 Comments

holiday-maternity-look-with-pink-blush-giveaway

Just the other day something incredible happened. I received an email. Now, this email was like no other email I’ve ever received. This email was from a company, specifically Pink Blush, asking if I was interested in collaborating with them as a blogger. Say what? Cue the happy dance. No, really, I did an actually happy dance – my husband can testify to this fact, I’m pretty sure he wishes he recorded it as it was a really sweet dance.

Well, not only was this company one I had heard of before, but it was one I actually did a lot of fake online shopping to. Fake online shopping includes picking out items, putting them in your online shopping cart and then when you’ve racked up a huge sum from all the amazing things you’d love to buy, you close the tab and go to bed. Needless to say, I was very familiar with their cute maternity clothes and immediately jumped at the opportunity to work with Pink Blush.

With the holidays coming up this was the perfect opportunity to find something comfortable, trendy and versatile enough to dress up for the holiday festivities but also wear on a day to day basis – because let’s face it, when you hit the 3rd trimester almost everything stops fitting.

It was so hard to choose, but when I saw this dress, I knew it was the one. It was perfect to dress up for the holidays but just as easily dressed down for a more casual look. Not to mention this dress doesn’t make me want to change into sweatpants 10 minutes after I put it on. It is so incredibly comfortable and the fit is spot on. I have plenty of room for my growing belly in this dress, thanks to the stretchy fabric, which is a relief because I swear I’m getting bigger every single day in this last trimester.

pink-blush-maternity-formal-2 pink-blush-maternity-formal-3 pink-blush-maternity-formal-4

I’ve also rounded up some other amazing options for the holidays on the Pink Blush website which could be yours because Pink Blush has so graciously offered a $75 gift card to their store for one of my readers! Make sure you head over to my instagram to find out how to enter. Not pregnant? No problem! Pink Blush isn’t just maternity clothing, they also offer women’s, plus size, cute baby items, and even things like accessories and shoes! Seriously, what are you waiting for? Go enter this giveaway!

I received my amazing plaid dress for free in return for my honest opinion. This has been your friendly disclosure statement.

Emerson, Little Things, Motherhood

Dear Emerson

November 18, 2016 No Comments

Dear Emerson,

You’re funny, daring, silly, caring, and oh, so darn cute!

You even get me to giggle when you exclaim, “Oh, Emmie toot!”

I love the way you try to negotiate

to increase the pee to jellybean rate.

Or how you count, “Won, two, REE!”

It always gets a smile from me –

But heaven forbid you ever utter “four.”

since it’s your favorite number to ignore.

emmie-poem

You can bust a move to any song

and when you’re laughing you can do no wrong-

except for hitting, that behavior is new

Daddy and I aren’t sure what to do.

You never want to apologize

even though tears stream from your eyes.

You’ll tell us, after, hitting made you feel sad

but never what it was that made you so mad.

We’re really hoping it’s just a phase

and that you’ll soon be back to performing your ballets.

emmie-poem-2

Some days you’re helpful: loading dishes or folding socks –

while other days you’d prefer to play outside and collect rocks.

You love playing keep-a-way with Oliver’s doggy bones

and always demand the “cow game” when you see Daddy’s phone.

You love the library and each week when we go,

it’s so much fun for me to see how you’ve grown.

When we started you just sat there- so quiet,

and now you’ll sing & dance. Yup, it’s a riot!

emmie-poem-3

A little quirk that I find so funny,

anytime you find a penny you say, “Here Mom, MONEY!”

Another oddity that you’ve begun

is requesting random songs to be sung;

a “turkey song,” a “silly belly song,” and “Daddy comes home” are just a few.

Oh Emmie, I do hope you know just how much I love you.

emmie-poem-5

Being your mother is such a treat,

but watching you get older is bittersweet.

While you test your limits and boundaries for sure,

the love you exude is just so pure.

emmie-poem-4

You’re special to me in ways you’ll never know

And every single day my love for you grows.

Yes, my love for you knows no bounds-

Emma Claire, you make my world go round.

Love, Mom.

Makeup, Mom Style, Review

Lancôme Définicil Mascara & Drama Liqui-Pencil Review

November 16, 2016 2 Comments

Every now and again I get sent some awesome things through influenster* to try out in exchange for a review. This is one of those times. Although I received these products for free, these are my own unfiltered opinions.

An in-depth beauty review of Lancôme's popular Définicils Mascara and two of their top selling shades from their Drama Liqui-Pencil line.

I love makeup. As a teen I would often hole up in my room on school-nights and give myself grand makeovers. Bold and daring lip colors, wild eye-shadow combinations, and trying my hand at the latest makeup tricks from the trendiest magazines. It helped that I had an older sister who paved the way into luxury brands for me. I would often get in trouble for sneaking into my sister’s room to raid her ever-growing luxury product collection in hopes that I could save myself some money but still wear the good stuff. As I got older and my preferences got more defined, I felt comfortable splurging on high quality makeup products, always with the help and guidance from my sister, the lovely Sephora staff, and of course Youtube’s top beauty guru’s.

Now, as I’m gearing up to leave my 20’s and enter my 30’s I feel very confident and comfortable with my makeup skills and product selection. As a SAHM, or Stay At Home Mom, it’s important to me that I still wear makeup because it makes me feel put-together, confident, and normalizes my life in bouts of sickness. I know I can still look decent even if my Cystic Fibrosis makes me feel like an 80-year old chain-smoker. Because of this, I still love trying new brands and new products I wouldn’t normally purchase myself. Sometimes all we need is a little nudge outside of our comfort zone to discover a groove we didn’t know we had!

bright-lancome-2

When I was chosen to review some Lancôme products I jumped at the opportunity. A luxury brand that I haven’t ever really dabbled in. I have used one of their mascaras in the past, but that was about it. So when I was greeted with a bright purple eye-liner, I was ecstatic. Just what I needed to leave the comfort of my daily neutrals and vamp up my everyday Mom look.

My go-to for eyeliners that last all day, have intense color, and glide on your face like butter is Urban Decay’s 24/7 line. I’ve tried quite a few other liners but these still win out every time. Imagine my surprise when I use Lancôme’s Drama Liqui-Pencil for the first time and I had to double check to make sure I didn’t accidentally pick up my UD 24/7 liner. The texture was creamy, easy to manipulate and the color payout was fabulous. It was easy to smudge on my lower line and most importantly it stayed put all day long. I even had my daughter poke me in the eye several times for the sake of the experiment. Okay, so that was purely coincidental, but Emmie really did jab my eye lids a few times since she was pretty enthralled with my new purple eyes. While the purple colored pencil was beyond my expectations, the deep noir color dissappointed me. I had high hopes for a comparable Urban Decay Zero type black, but it lacked the intensity I hoped for. The pencil was also not quite as easy to use when lining my waterline and needed a few passes. Overall, if I’m looking for a colored eye-liner to add to my collection I will definitely be considering Lancôme’s Drama Liqui-Pencils.

bright-lancome

Mascara is another item that I am ultra picky about. I have decently long lashes, but they’re pretty thin. I like my mascara’s to be volumizing, dark, and non-clumping. I aim for a very natural look. If there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s clumpy, flaky lashes. I am also pretty picky about my brushes. I find that the little spiky brushes lend themselves well to my goal of natural-looking lashes. Lancôme’s Définicils Mascara claims to be a lengthening and defining mascara for a natural, yet striking look. It definitely lengthened my lashes but one coat was not enough to cover my need for volume. I swiped on 2-3 coats. There was minimal clumping and hardly any fallout over the course of the day. My biggest gripe was the brush. I found it awkward to use and hard to manipulate my lashes to get an even coat. My final verdict is a pass. I love that it stayed on all day, but it just doesn’t suit my specific needs for fuller lashes. If I needed luxuriously long lashes I would be singing a different tune!

*this is a referral link: if you sign up via this link and I get points. Points for what? I don’t really know, honestly, but I figured if they have a referral link, why not use it? And this has been your honest disclosure statement *

Date Night Series, DIY, Husband

Date Night at Home: Build a Terrarium

November 14, 2016 13 Comments

DIY Terrarium for an at home date night. Create these easy terrariums once the kids are in bed for an at home Date Night!

Hubby and I had fallen into a nighttime rut. It consisted of putting Emmie to bed and then going to our respective electronic devices to play games, read blogs, and browse the internet. With baby #2 on the way we both felt we needed to spend more quality time together, sans electronic devices, but we didn’t have the energy, or money, to hire a sitter every weekend for your average “date night.” We looked into subscribing to a “date in a box” type service but being the crafty DIYers that we are, decided that we could come up with our own versions of date nights that could be done at home after the kids are in bed. And so, our At Home Date Night series was born.

I rounded up some ideas, wrote them on some big Popsicle sticks and placed them in a jar. Each Monday we pick out a Popsicle stick so that we have the week to prepare anything needed for an “at home date night.” Our first date night in this series was “build a terrarium.” Building a terrarium was something both my husband and I had wanted to do for a long time. It was the perfect date night for the long weekend. We spent Friday evening rounding up our supplies. On Saturday we tucked Emerson into bed, put on some music, poured some wine (well, juice for me) and built our terrariums. We had such a blast and it felt great to be doing something with each other rather than spending the evening zoning out in front of the TV or computer.

Having date night at home hasn't been easier. A fun, easy way to date your spouse without leaving the house!

Here’s how you can create your own DIY terrarium date night!

Gather your supplies:

Terrarium Container: Glass jars, vases or bowls work well for terrarium containers. You can decide if you want your terrarium to be an open container or a closed container; both work well.

Plants: Gather plants that have the same needs. You shouldn’t mix plants that require different levels of water or light. Succulents do well in open terrariums, but look for other plants if you’re aiming for a closed terrarium. Grab a bag of sheet moss for covering up the open spaces between plants, which helps the plants retain the right level of moisture.

Rocks: You’ll need some type of rock so that you’ll have a nice drainage layer. We chose some river rocks as our big drainage layer, and then layered some aquarium pebbles on-top of that.

Activated Charcoal: Activated charcoal can be found in pet stores with the fish supplies. This helps filter your terrarium to keep it clean and your plants healthy & happy.

Dirt: Choose a high quality potting soil.

DIY Terrarium for an at home date night. Create these easy terrariums once the kids are in bed for an at home Date Night!

Build your terrarium:

Step 1: Set up your draining layer, aiming for the biggest rocks on the very bottom and smaller rocks on top, about 1″ total. Add a layer of activated charcoal about 0.5″ deep to finish it off.

Step 2: Put in roughly 1-2″ of potting soil

Step 3: Arrange plants in your terrarium container, filling in spaces with more soil as you go

Step 4: Add moss on top of any open dirt, surrounding the plants

Step 5: Add enough water to moisten the soil, then admire your new terrarium!

DIY Terrarium for an at home date night. Create these easy terrariums once the kids are in bed for an at home Date Night! terranium-9

Keep following along so that you’ll never miss a new At Home Date Night.

Emerson, Fall, Holidays

Halloween Recap

November 2, 2016 No Comments

Halloween is officially over. We’ve packed away our spooky decor and gorged ourselves on tasty treats. Emmie had a nice time trick-or-treating this year with her friends. She was slow and shy in the beginning but as the night wore on she turned into a pro: running up to houses, yelling “trick or treat,” and remembering her manners with a thank-you…well, most of the time. She had so much fun that after every house whenever we’d say, “Okay, let’s go,” meaning onto the next house, she’d cry out, “NO! No go home!” She loved wearing the Princess Sofia costume I made for her, so much so, that she’s worn it every day since. I think it’s safe to say Halloween was a success this year.

Sofia the first toddler costume Princess Sofia Toddler Costume princess-sofia-toddler-3 Toddler Princess Sofia Costume