Super Powder?

I've been wearing Bare Minerals loose face powder for several years, until I recently ran out while I was on a business trip.  In a pinch, I ran to the Dillard's across the street from my hotel with hopes that they carried Bare Minerals.  No such luck, but I stumbled upon a trusty Clinique counter that was having a GOP (gift with purchase), and a good one at that.  I noticed they had enhanced their line and added loose mineral powders to their everyday pressed powder we all know and love from our first days in wearing make up. 
To my surprise I tested out the Superbalanced Powder Makeup with SPF 15 and I LOVE it.  It does exactly what it's advertised to do, takes away the shine, balances out skin tone without giving you that makeupy look.  It comes with an antibacterial brush (whatever that means) and it has this handy click system where you shave off powder each time you go to use it, so it's not messy like loose powder. 

We've got a WINNER folks!

$34.95 and should last quite a while. 

Here's a picture of it open with a few clicks, so you can see the shaves of powder makeup.

 Check it out!  

Off to snap some photos with my fabulous friend Jillian Rose!

Happy Saturday!!

XO,

S

I found the Jew in me!

It's been a rough couple of weeks, but once again my favorite food blogger Siri came through!

Visit her, read her, follow her, laugh with her...
here:

www.siriouslydelicious.com

She used this recipe and added sauteed carrots and shredded chicken.

 After trips to two different markets, I attempted to make my first ever Matzo Ball Soup!

(bad Jew, I know)

I cannot believe it took me 31 years to do so.  

It turned out perfect, fluffy matzo balls with the perfect amount of spice and flavor!
I was so glad to share and warm the bellies of my dear friends Ady and Jill with the finished product.

COMFORT.FOOD.

P.S. Since we are talking about food here, I can't leave out mine and Shane's latest find.

I ask you this: 
Do you find yourselves fighting over the small almost un-popped kernels in a batch of popcorn?  

These little guys.

We do NO MORE.

Gladcorn?  Who knew.

Get yours today at San Vicente Foods.

XO,
S

A string of events worth praying for...

I'm not a religious person, but in times like these, I wish I was.  I take a more spiritual approach and hope that the prayers I say are heard and answered.
In the recent weeks, I've learned of illness in loved ones and a tragedy taking a dear childhood friend's husband, leaving behind her, a two year old baby girl and twins on the way. 
I wish my blog had thousands of followers, so I could truly spread the word for those in need. Instead I'm circulating the ways to help through every medium I know. Two incredible websites have been set up and are a great start to making life just a little easier for my friend and babies that lost their husband and daddy. 

The first website is called Take Them A Meal, and while I don't think just anyone should sign up for this, it's probably best to keep it to friends, family and coworkers, it's a site I wanted to share because it's absolutely BRILLIANT.  It creates organized meal plans, so that everyone can bring meals to the family or person in need.

Here's the site:

http://www.takethemameal.com/

The next is a way anyone and everyone can help Kristi, Chloe and the twins on the way, immediately and even years from now.  An account has been set up at diapers.com and she will received gift certificates that are good for thousands of necessary baby products that never expire.

Please go here for simple instructions on how to help the Kaplons!

https://sites.google.com/site/kristikaplon/

Please help spread the word!

Lots of love and prayers to Kristi, Chloe, the babies and their families!

Hold your loved ones close tonight and always!

XO,

S

HOT DEALS Ya'll!

I'm always on a mish for good deals!

Check out these two buys. 

Knock off Ray-Ban's from mall kiosk, $10 (with cloth bag, doubles as lens cleaner)

Compare to Ray-Ban Wayfarer at $139

Super fun for poolside or the beach when you might ruin them (or should I say, I might ruin them)

Do you always need a little something for your I.D., business cards and cash to use when you carry a small handbag?  

Check out this little gem I found at H&M

Only $3.95 - can't beat that!

 Retail therapy at it's finest!  

Finds that made my day and still left money in my bank account.

XO, 

S

Yoga Purchases...

I've been yogaing more, in hopes of finding my inner chi and relaxing a bit, while still getting a good workout in.  So I decided to invest in a new yoga mat because I was a slippin and slidin all over the place and that is NOT COOL.  I went online to the mecca of Internet yoga stores (I am too cheap to buy one at a studio and the one I found at TJ Maxx one was not cutting it), the GAIAM site and read all the little testimonials and descriptions.  After much confusion, I chose the above mat.  It looks awfully purtty, but it's thin and upon opening my package I was extremely disappointed, but I gave it a whirl (as I hate sending things back in the mail) and I'm happy to report,  I definitely didn't slip and slide like before.  Luckily the class didn't have a lot of work on the hands and knees, so I was okay with the lack of padding. 
In addition to my mat, I also bought a fancy pants yoga mat bag! Click here  Super cute, functional and cheap!

Verdict:  I'll give the mat another try, but probably won't buy equipment online again. I think you need to test, see and feel items like a yoga mat, BUT I love my new bag.

Happy Exercising!

XO,
S

I was already planning our retirement...

...until I realized our brilliant idea had already been thought of.  As you know, I love my husband more than ANYTHING, but I also LOVE sleep!  I find that the older I get the harder time I have with it.  Whether it's waking up to pee or just not being able to fall asleep, I just don't seem to sleep as well as I used to. 
Because of this, I take the sleep I do get VERY seriously.  Cuddling, pillow talk, sexy time are all pre-sleep activities.  When it's time to sleep it's MY SIDE/YOUR SIDE and I mean business.  If Shane even creeps near my side I wake up and tell him to move (very mean of me, I know... I'm going to work on not waking him).

So this battle of the bed sides sparked Shane to measure our Cal King, split it in half and put a piece of masking tape on our sheets.  See below.

You're probably laughing, but if you know my husband you know he likes to prove his point!  See he feels very strongly that I'm the bed hog and that he doesn't creep on my side.  Well this piece of tape was brilliant and made us come up with an idea.   Why not create amazing sheets (because quality bedding is of the utmost importance) that have a line down the middle and then under where there pillow goes there are the words MINE/YOURS or HIS/HERS.  Can you see these at Pottery Barn now?  I can.  I was thinking simple and understated, no one would know from looking at your perfectly made bed, only you and yours when you  crawl in to get a peacefully night's sleep on your side of the bed.  :)
 
So after our usual walk around the Brentwood Country Club brainstorming the name of our little business venture and all that we could do with it, pre-planning vacations and retirement with all the money we were going to make, I came home and googled his/her sheets, mine/yours...  And sure enough the idea has been taken.  Here's what I found.

My Side of the Bed, Sheets for Two 

kinda cute, not totally what I had in mind.  kuddos on the simplicity and dual color option

Bed Hog, His and Her Sheet Sets 

these are definitely too busy for my liking, but still it's the same idea.

Back to the drawing board.

Maybe I should really consider manufacturing my Bachelorette Dart Board

Things that make you go hmm... 

XO,
S vs. S

Paper vs. Paperless

As an event planner, I'm constantly planning corporate events and trying to save my company money while still making the attendees of our events feel special!  I recently received a Paperless Post invite from a friend, to an engagement party and thought it was so classy, so I decided to send one as an announcement for an upcoming work event.

If you haven't heard of Paperless Post, click here to do so.  I am a big fan of sending and receiving mail, but in these tough economical times, it's always nice to know of a way to save a buck and tree!

You maybe thinking, I've already heard of a site like this, Evite, well it's different and here's why? 

PP (Paperless Post) vs. Evite - PP is definitely more sophisticated and classy.  You receive an email with the picture of an envelope addressed with your name on it.  Then you click on it, the envelope opens and your invitation emerges.  You can even select envelope liners!  LOVE.  The invitation designs on PP are gorgeous, trendy and something you'd pay to have custom printed.  They also have fabulous styles for business functions. The tracking tools are brilliant, especially for large events that require extensive planning.  Anything you can export into Excel (my life) is a plus for me. 
I used to love Evite for the RSVP feature and so you could send updated messages about your party, but PP also wins in this category.  Your correspondence with the entire party or individuals is made so easy. 

LOVE FEST with this site right now.

Go green!

XO, 

S

The Habit

Here's what I wish I had for lunch, JK, well kinda kidding.

But on a serious note,

Today my momma and I got salads from The Habit 

Here's the description of what we ordered

Grilled Chicken Salad

Fresh romaine, iceberg and red leaf lettuces, Roma tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, carrots and croutons, topped with a grilled chicken breast.$6.75

Here's what I got:

 

Did I miss something in that description, did it say iceberg lettuce ONLY?

My salad basically consisted of the yummy usual on top of these these gross chunks of the iceberg core.  I should have taken a picture, but I was too busy being perturbed.

 I guess I'm in not one to mess with these days (Yelped about Groundlings poor service),

so I emailed The Habit.

I got a speedy response and I am perturbed no more, in fact I'd go back tomorrow for something else!
Bravo for GREAT Customer Service.

Here's the response I received less than an hour later:

Hello Samantha,

I'm very sorry for serving you bad quality lettuce on your salads, I will talk to the management team at Simi Valley to make sure that we improve on the salads quality.

Thank you very much for your feedback.

Please let send you two free char burgers tickets that you can use for next visit.

Thank you

Jorge Ceja

District Manager

805-630-6370 

Guess I'll be enjoying me some burgs after all!  

Happy, happy!

XO, 

S

What's for dinner?

I've been trying my hand at cooking a lot more lately.

Here's a pic of my fancy scallop dinner from my last post. 

Now that I've uploaded my photos, I had to show you an image of my meal because of how close I came in presentation.

Serious party in your mouth meal right here. 

This would have been  at least $30 an entree at a restaurant and cost around $20 total for the two of us.

You do the math!

So last night I made something a little more hearty, still from Cooking Light Mag, but it didn't feel light. 

Can you say comfort food?
menu: 

Italian-Seasoned Roast Chicken Breasts

&

Crispy Topped Brussels Sprouts and Cauliflower Gratin

Click here and here for recipes.

I left out the half and half (oops, mine was expired) in the gratin and it tasted just fine. 

 

Could have used some sliced bright red heirloom tomatoes for color on the plate... next time. 

 

I'll leave you with this. 

If you are a lazy and forgetful cook (like me)

BUY THESE BRILLIANT ITEMS at Traders.

 

I always forget the little ingredients that make all the difference.

Doesn't get any better than individually packed and peeled garlic. 

XO,

S

Perfect weekend with my LOVE!

Weekend started off with a nice night in and this delicious meal. 

Recipe here.

Uh-maz-ing and easy. 

Watched The Romantics, it was okay at best.

Saturday we went on a MUCH needed date to the Bungalow Club with a coupon we bought on 

Livingsocial.com

 (love this site)

Yummy dinner and good wine. 

Fondue fun. 

My LOVE and I, not afraid to take down the entire plate of fruit and marshmallows!

After dinner we had planned to go to The Groundlings (Improv/comedy club) with another coupon we bought, but had a poor experience reserving seats, terrible customer service, didn't go to the show and WILL NOT be returning there! 

Instead we topped the night off by celebrating our friend Mandy's birthday at the Hudson.

Holly hot spot batman, super crowded, but FUN!

  Finished the weekend with brunch on Sunday with the Peykoffs...

I LOVE our friends! 

Now it's time to work off the food and drink.  

Happy Monday.

XO, 

S

"That bitch is back and better than ever"

Can't wait to hear new Britney Spears!

Big fan always and forever!

P.S. On an AI (American Idol) note, I have to say Julie blew it for me last night.  And everyone can shut up  about the judges sucking now and missing Simon.  So they are nice, so am I, who cares if they aren't always completely honest.  I like them!!!  It's not up to them anymore anyways, it's up to America.
GO McDonald!  

XO, 

S