Beach or Bust

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Vaction time is here! If you are reading this, then my boyfriend and I are probably on our way to the beach for vacation. We are going to Hilton Head for the week and are hoping to take a day trip to Savannah and Tybee Island as well. I am so super excited because I haven't been to the beach in 3 years!! Well I hope everyone has a great weekend and I'll be sure to share lots of pictures and stories when I return!

Show Us Your Life -- Money Saving Tips

This week's Show Us Your Life topic over at Kelly's Korner is Money Saving Tips. Being a single girl, it's hard to be fabulous on a single income, especially in this economy. So I am always looking for ways to save money, especially when it comes to fashion and beauty.

My biggest tip is that in order to save money, you have to shop smart, and sometimes you have to hold out for deals. I of course always want instant gratification, so it’s hard to hold out until things go on sale, but it’s totally worth it in the end.

Coupons – I am a big fan of coupons, and am always signing up for email and mailing lists where I can get great coupons. I don’t think I ever go shopping for clothes, crafts, or even beauty items without a coupon.

Store Cards/Reward Cards – Store credit cards are great because you can get awesome rewards and coupons. Also, I think the sales people tend to treat you better and help you out even more when you are using a store card or coupon. Does anyone else ever feel that way?? It’s like, oh you have our card! Now I will be your best friend and show you amazing deals!! They probably think you will or have spent a ton, which I typically have!! Just make sure you pay them off every month, because paying interest kind of defeats the purpose of saving money =)

DIY – One of the best ways to save money is to do it yourself. I know sometimes it’s quicker and easier to pay someone to do things, but in the end it’s always costlier. I have been doing my own pedicures and manicures for years. I actually taught myself to do a French manicure, and it actually looks pretty good (years later!). I bought a lot of the True Blue Spa products at Bath and Body Works to do all of this at home and they have some great products for your feet. It all probably cost me the same amount as one really good pedicure, and the products typically last me all year. I also think it’s important to buy good quality nail polish. I only use OPI, and it’s what they use in the salon anyway. It’s a little more expensive but the bottle lasts a long time and it tends to not chip so quickly. I can typically get a week or so of my nails looking pretty good before they start to chip.

Mix expensive with inexpensive – By mixing expensive items with inexpensive items, you can still feel like you are being pampered, but at the same time you won’t be broke. One example of this is that I always mix my expensive scented body lotion with some inexpensive scent-free body lotion (like the generic brand of Vaseline Intensive Care). I am very dry, especially in the winter, and if I just used the expensive scented kind, I would go through a bottle every other week! By mixing it with an inexpensive lotion (which I buy in the largest bottle possible!), I can stretch out the scented lotion, and it’s actually more moisturizing for me. And I still smell good!

Hopefully you can use some of these tips, and I actually have even more tips here. You can also head over to Kelly’s Korner for even more money saving tips.

Recipe for a Girls' Night

So my girls came over Sat night and we had a SATC Girls' Night. Although it's funny, we only watched one episode of SATC. We spent most of the night talking and catching up (we hadn't seen each other in about a month!)

Anyway, just wanted to share a few things I made for the evening. I prepared most of it ahead of time because I spent the majority of the day at the Beth Moore So Long Insecurity similcast (which was A-MAZ-ING!). I will post about that later this week. I really need a few days to let it all sink in and process.

BTW: The first two are my versions of the recipes. You can click on the hyperlink for the original recipes

Easy White Pizza -- from 5 Ingredient Fix (so easy, and so good!)

1. Take 1 large pre-made pizza crust
2. Brush with olive oil
3. Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella cheese (I think I used about 1.5 cups)
4. Drop tablespoon sized amounts of ricotta cheese (I used the low fat version) all over the pizza
5. Add a little kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
6. Sprinkle with italian seasoning
7. Bake according to the instructions on the pizza crust package (about 10-12 mins at 375 degrees, or until brown and crispy)

Blueberry Sangria Lemonade -- from Sandra Lee (I've made this before, and it's always a hit!)

Mix the following into a pitcher:
-- 1 (12-ounce) can frozen concentrated pink lemonade
-- 1 bottle (750ml) of white wine of your choice
-- 3 cups lemon lime soda (Sprite, 7-up, it all works)
-- 1/2 cup vodka
-- handful of frozen blueberries to make it pretty
(Recommended to let sit for an hour to let all the flavors blend together)

Whole Wheat Chocolate-Blueberry Cake -- from BHG April 2010 issue (FYI this is sooo awesome, and also low in fat and calories):

Ingredients
-- 1 cup whole wheat flour
-- 1 cup sugar
-- 6 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
-- 3/4 tsp. baking powder
-- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
-- 1/4 tsp. salt
-- 3/4 cup water
-- 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
-- 1 egg
-- 1 cup frozen light whipped dessert topping, thawed
-- 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate pieces

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In medium bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In blender combine water, blueberries, and the egg. Cover and blend until smooth. Add to flour mixture. Whisk until well combined. Pour into greased 8x8x2-inch baking pan.
2. Bake 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack. Invert onto serving platter.
3. In small microwave-safe bowl combine dessert topping and chocolate pieces. Micro-cook, covered, on 50 percent power (medium) 1 minute. Stir until smooth. Let stand 5 minutes. Pour onto cooled cake, spreading evenly.

Makes 9 servings.

Nutrition Facts
Calories: 230
Total Fat: 6 g

Pink Saturday - 4/24/10

“It's really hard to walk in a single woman's shoes -- that's why you sometimes need really special shoes!” – Carrie SATC

That is probably one of my favorite quotes from Sex and the City! And I thought it was very appropriate to share today since I am having a SATC DVD party tonight with my girls. We are going to watch our favorite episodes of SATC.

And of course I am totally excited about the SATC movie coming up in a few weeks. We are all planning on getting together for a girls night to go see it. This will actually be our 2 year anniversary of our group because our group's first meeting was 2 years ago at the first SATC movie premier. I hadn't joined the group yet, but we did have a SATC movie DVD launch party later that year, so I did get to watch the movie with the girls then.

Hope everyone has a great Pink Saturday! Check out Beverly's blog for more info on Pink Saturday and to find other Pink Saturday participants.

The blog that I choose to visit this week was Le monde d' Erika. Erika is from Europe, and she has a bunch of fun crafty things on her blog and some great photographs. I am loving the pink dress created in cross stitch in her blog header!

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Show Us Your Life -- How We Met

My boyfriend and I have been dating for about 10 months. It's crazy because it doesn't feel that long. Anway, we actually met through online dating. We both hate to admit it though. But as you get older it gets harder and harder to meet good quality men (especially when you are working all the time!).

So around the first part of June I had decided to give online dating just one more try. I had been doing the online dating thing for about 9 months, and I had gone out on a ton of dates, but just never clicked with anyone. For some reason I just kept finding things wrong with every guy I went out with. Part of me was worrying that I might have some type of commitment issue going on, and because of my ex, that wouldn't suprise me.

Anyway, so I decided to give it one more try for one more month and then see what happens. If I didn't meet anyone, then I was going to take some time off (online dating is actually a lot of work!) So I was searching for potential guys, and I came across this guy that was kind of cute. I think I "winked" at him, and then just went on. I don't normally like to make the first move with guys, but the "wink" option is a great way to let a guy know you are interested, and then they can make the first move by emailing you. He emailed me back a few days later, and we instantly hit it off.

It's interesting because we found out in the first couple of emails that his hometown is like 30 mins from my hometown. And then we found out that we both used to work at the same grocery store (in the same town!). He worked there until the Spring of 1995, and I started working there in the Fall of 1995, so we just missed each other by 6 months! We always say, wonder what would have happened if we met each other back then. We could have been together for 15 years!! (Ok wow, now I feel kind of old...ha!)

Anyway, so on June 17, we went on our first date to PF Changs. I remember watching him walk through the door and thinking, wow he is even cuter in person! We both had great conversation over dinner, and then after dinner he asked me if I wanted to go somewhere and get a drink. Of course I didn't want the date to end, so we went and had a drink at Adobe Gillas. We left around 10 pm, and he walked me to my car and told me he had a great time and then gave me a hug.

Of course I worried will he call me, but he did call me the next day, and I think we have spoken on the phone almost every day since then (there have only been a few times that we haven't spoken, but we typically at least leave each other voicemails if we can't get a hold of each other (usually due to traveling).

For our second date (if you can call it that), I actually went to one of his hockey games. I kept thinking to myself, I hardly know this guy, why am I going to his game, but I did and thought it was kind of cool.

I am so excited because we are going on our first vacation together beginning next weekend. We don't spend a ton of time together (usually because of my busy work schedule...we see each other a couple of times a week though), so it should be interesting to spend an entire week together! Wish us luck!!

Happy Earth Day!

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I have been trying my best to incorporate “Going Green” in my home. Some of these things are rather simple and easy, and actually not only helps the environment, but also helps save money as well!

Energy saving light bulbs – about a year ago, I replaced all of my light bulbs with energy saving light bulbs. Now my electric bill was never really high to begin with, but I did see a small decrease in my bill after the switch. Plus they last a really long time, so that keeps me from having to stand up on a ladder or chair to replace my ceiling lights =)

Turing off the lights – I am really good at turning off lights, but I do need to work on unplugging chargers. I have heard that this uses 5 watts of energy per hour when they aren’t recharging a battery.

Recycling – I have been recycling paper, plastic and glass for about a year now. It’s amazing how much this cuts down on my trash. I actually now have a little trash can under my sink for trash, and I only have to take it out a couple of times a week. I used to have a large trash can, but I found that the majority of my trash was recyclable, so now I just have a Rubbermaid bin that I use to hold my recycling. Luckily I don’t have to separate my recycling, so I just throw it all in together.

Water bottles – I installed a Brita water filter on my kitchen faucet, so I just keep filling up my water bottles instead of drinking bottled water. We also have water filters at work. This helps to save a TON of money on drinks throughout the day. I started buying those Crystal Light drink packets also to flavor my water. They are only about $2 or $3 for a pack of 12 and are very tasty.

Gardening – The last couple of years I have been growing my own tomatoes. Last year I attempted bell peppers and cucumbers, but they didn’t grow very well because I can only grow them in containers. This year I will try the tomatoes again for sure, and I am going to start my own herb garden as well. I love growing my own vegetables. It makes me feel proud that I can actually grow something that I can then eat!

Paying bills online – I no longer get any paper statements, which helps keeps the amount of mail I have to go through down as well. I actually pay everything online, and utilize http://www.mycheckfree.com/ to pay some of my bills. They have a wide variety of utility bills that you can pay online, and they email you when the bill is due. With only a few clicks, you can pay you bill easily each month.

I am sure there are a lot of other things that I can be doing to help the environment, but I feel that every little thing counts. If you have any "Go Green" tips, please share! I actually found even more tips on Southern Living's website.

So Long, Insecurity

So I finally finished the book So Long, Insecurity and I loved it! And I just finished it in time because one of the churches not far from me is broadcasting the simulcast of Beth Moore's event in Atlanta this Saturday, and I just got tickets to attend it. I am so excited to hear her speak (somewhat) in-person.


So I'll admit I was a little skeptical of the book at first, but by the final chapter I really felt like I had not only learned something, but that I actually felt like I was starting to see some changes in my confidence.

I actually started this book almost 2 months ago. I was going through some tough times at work, which were starting to impact my personal life as well. I came across this book through another blog that I follow and I thought it sounded interesting. After researching it a little further, I finally decided to purchase the book. I actually debated on renting it from the library, but am so glad that I purchased it. There were a couple of times where I was so moved that I actually took notes in the book to refer back to.

The first couple of chapters were ok, but things started to really hit home around chapter 5 where it started to explain where insecurity comes from. This chapter hit me like a ton of bricks.

In this chapter Beth talks about dramatic change and how sometimes change can be so dramatic that it will impact you for years to come. I admit that I hate change, especially big changes, and the last couple of years I have had to deal with some big changes. I don’t mind little changes, but I always fear big changes like what if I lose my job, or my home, or what if something happens to my family, friends, boyfriend, etc. With the economy these days, there are a lot of changes that can occur that you just cannot control. I guess change that I cannot control is my biggest fear of all. This is where I start questioning, “Why me? What did I do to deserve this?”

Beth explains that “God uses change to change us. He doesn’t use it to destroy us or to distract us but to coax us to the next level of character, experience, compassion, and destiny.” I’ll admit that when I read these 2 sentences I just had to jump up and highlight this part of the book!

The end of the book wraps up by once again focusing on fear. Beth quotes the following verse (and changes “he” for “she” for more impact):

“[She] will have no fear of bad news; [her] heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD. [Her] heart is secure, [she] will have no fear; in the end [she] will look into triumph on [her] foes.” Psalm 112:7-8

Beth translates this passage by saying that no matter how bad things may seem, God will help to work things out to our advantage in the end. One exercise she explains is to think about one of your worst fears. And think about how this will impact your life. You may grieve, you may be very mad, and it may really impact your life. But then think what you would do to get through it, and think about 6 months or 1 year, or even 5 years later, how do you think you would have gotten through it and how would your life be different. She says it’s important to think about more than just the immediate changes and impacts on your life, but to think about how chances are you will get through it, and your life will move on. One of my favorite quotes is “If God took you to it, He’ll get you through it.”

There are many more things that I took away from this book, but I won’t bore you any longer. I highly suggest this book to anyone who may have insecurities, or really to any woman out there whether you think you are insecure or not. This book really causes you to think, and of course Beth is so encouraging and empowering that just a few chapters in you already feel so much more confident as a woman.