Tag Archives: essie

Latests 12/5

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I have so many things to share with you guys, it’s almost kind of overwhelming. But I’ll do my best.
Going on any type of trip almost always warrants an extra purchase or two. And seeing family over the holidays is usually accompanied by a few gifts. Needless to say, we spent hours strategizing how to most efficiently pack our bags for the return trip home.
But guys, it’s all GOOD stuff. Well worth the extra time it took to cram socks in boots, roll leggings in the tightest balls ever, and hope to god that those suckers still weighed less than 50 pounds.
Some of the amazingly awesome things we received as gifts:
My grandma (ok, she’s not really my grandma but she’s my godmother’s mother) gave us a beautiful silver platter FROM ITALY. I immediately displayed it on our dining room table when we got home, along with all the winter napkins she sewed for our wedding gift.
She also gave us 2 candle holders that are currently accompanying the platter on the dining room table. I love them.
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(not everything is posted in the photos…that would be too much work and I’m just too dang tired! But you can pick most of the stuff out. Whoops, crooked candle.)
My parents gave me 2 scarves and leather gloves. They gave Tyler gloves and an accesorry organizer. Jointly, they gifted us a few ornaments, a cheese board, coasters and my mom made us yet another wonderful quilt.
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 Onto stuff *I* bought.
See’s Candies. My favorite stuff ever that I even recently mentioned in my 2013 Christmas Wish List. I was too spoiled living near See’s locations growing up, so whenever I travel to a spot where there’s actually a See’s store, I make it a point to go and put together my own 1 lb box of favorites. This box included: Milk Bordeaux, Scotch Kiss, Scotch Mallow, Caramel, Milk Butterchew, Milk Pattie, Dark Butterchew, and Peanut Butter Pattie. Oh my yum, I can’t repeat enough how much I adore these chocolates.
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Benefit‘s Advent Calendar. TALK ABOUT A WINNING PURCHASE! I mentioned in a previous post about how I stalled too long to buy this before it completely sold out, so Tyler allowed me to buy the 12 days of Essie instead. WELL. Looks like I now have the best of BOTH worlds! I stopped in an Ulta on Dec 1st and saw the advent calendar itself sitting at the end of the Benefit Display. I totally thought it was a fake display, but when I asked an associate, she said it was the last one left and they were going to send it back at the end of the day since it was Dec 1. She mentioned that because this particular box was on display, people had punched many of the days but hadn’t actually taken any of the product and she would offer me a 10% discount because of that. I looked at the price, and it was $68! (In Canada, the EXACT same thing retails for $79) Of course, I snatched it up and only paid $61.50 for it. Bah-BAM.
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Essie Nail Polish. Because, ummmm, DUH
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I stocked up on warm stuff at Ann Taylor Loft on Black Friday. (See above pic) They were having a 50% off sale, so I snagged 3 sweaters and a wool dress. Then mom bought me a hat. I love slouchy knit hats because a.) they’re cute, b.) they don’t make my head look too ridiculously big, and c.) I can pull them down over my eyes when I catch a few zzz’s on the train.
Can we all just take a second to picture that? Down parka, HUGE cable knit infinity scarf and knitted slouchy hat pulled down over my eyes. Not creepy/awkward at all.
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BURGR in Planet Hollywood. After miles of walking up and down the strip- this please is a ground meat mecca. Tyler and I both ordered the Hells Kitchen burger which included a whole roasted jalepeno and it was HOTTTTTT. Like triple XXX hot. Like, my throat is on fire and I’ll murder you if it means the pain will go away type of hot. Thankfully, we both love heat. And we had some insanely good onion rings and a Sam Adams Cherry Wheat to wash it all down.
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But seriously, go there if you get the chance.
That’s all I have to share for this week..more to come next week! And check out tomorrow’s post and my latest AWESOME workout!

Latests 11/21

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Yay, it’s Thursday again! (not as great as Friday, from a work aspect, but quickly becoming my favorite blog-day of the week. WAIT. NO. I love Winesday Wednesday, too. AH MAN, this is a dilemma.)
I really do love sharing stuff I’ve come across lately- whether it’s crap I buy, do, see, yadda yadda (‘yadda yadda’ NOT being used as a verb here, English Majors). And I’ve got some more cool stuff to share with you this week!
1. So I cut my hair this weekend. 6 inches to be exact. Only 2 people have noticed. 6 inches is a LOT (that’s what she DIDN’T say! oooooooooo snap) But my hair was pretty dang long, so I guess it didn’t make that much of an impact. Of course, at the end of my appointment I was suckered in to buying a Christmas gift set of some pretty nice products. Womp goes the wallet. It’s totally getting wrapped and put under the tree for myself.
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This isn’t the exact set I got, but it looks pretty similar!
2. Gastropost! So this is a pretty neat website- they set weekly food ‘missions’ for people to snap photos of foods/meals that meet the particular mission and post then on social media using their hashtag. Some of the best are taken and put in the local paper! Apparently this has been going on in other big cities in Canada and it was just launched in Calgary this week. In fact, I was contacted by the lovely lady who is running this shindig to see if I wanted to be a part of it. UM OF COURSE. I take way too many pictures of my food- and now I can get in the paper for it! Sweet and yummy deal right there.
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3. A couple of weeks ago, I kinda slammed Lady Gaga’s lastest album. I’m still not loving the majority of the tracks, but after watching her on SNL, I’m sort of obsessed with this song. And the outfit she wore performing the song. It’s been stuck in my head ALL week and I know I’m probably scaring Tyler with random fits of screaming ‘DO WHATCHA WANT, WHATCHA WANT WITH MY BODY.”
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4. I didn’t post about this because I was going to wait until I actually bought it, but now that I know it’s sold out I will proceed to RANT about how upset I am at myself for not purchasing it the DAY it came out: Benefit’s Advent Calendar. Ugh, I would NOT stop talking about it for weeks, and when Tyler actually tried to go get it for me and suprise me with it, he was told it’s sold out everywhere. Insert a night full of tears. Then insert an email I got about THE TWELVE DAYS OF ESSIE. Nail polish, my friends, is AMAZING. I am addicted (remember I went to SEVEN different drug stores to find For the Twill of It?!). In attempts to get me to shut up from my Benefit FOMO, he offered to buy me the Essie gift set. SO I ORDERED IT BEFORE HE COULD FINISH HIS SENTENCE. It gets shipped the first week of December. And I’m so excited. And it’s only available in Canada, so SUCK IT AMERICA. (no no, America, I’m totally kidding. I love you and your Trader Joes and In-n-Outs and lower taxes and amusement parks and Bravo network).
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5. I really love creating my own workouts (this is where I puff my chest and boast about being a group ex instructor and all that jazz. But not jazzercise.) but every once in a while- since I no longer take any group ex classes, I love to rely on other people’s workouts. The past two weeks, I happened to do just that. Below are links to some of the workouts I’ve tried- and really liked!
6. The Chimes Ginger Chews– I’ve seen these all over instgram and the internet, and never gave them any thought because, YUCK I don’t like ginger. But, I needed to make change for a $20 the other day, and opted to buy a small pack of their orange flavored- chews. They were actually kind interesting…in a good way. The chews has good flavor at first, then they had a big KICK of spice. And since I’ve been somewhat of a spice whore as of late, I accidentally ate the whole pack.
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That’s it for this week, what are some of your latests?!!

Confessions

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Confessions. Getting right to it.

1. I really want Reggie to wear his Halloween costume every day this month. It looks too funny and I can’t get enough of it.

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2. I went to SEVEN drug stores yesterday to hunt down my latest Essie obsession. Not only did I text the work ‘EUREKA!!!!!’ to Tyler, but I also shouted it out loud in the store when I discovered my mission had finally been accomplished.

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3. One of my co-worker/new friends invited me to get my hair and makeup done for free. And it just so happened that I was able to get my makeup done by the Benefit counter. Aka: the recipient of most my money for the past 12 years. The girl was trying to sell me some of the products, and every one of my responses were: “I already have that” I managed to pick out two things that I felt I needed the most. Plus I got a free makeup bag and TONS of samples.

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4. When we can’t decide what to have for dinner, it’s almost always Turkey Clubs. They’re yummy and easy to make. That is all I have to say about that.

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5. I have been OBSESSED with edamame lately. Like, I have been ordering it as an entree in restaurants (me-thinks my over exuberant sucking-of-the-pods is what got us our free meal last week. I mean, think about it. You’re a guy and you’re alone at the bar and you see some lady going to town on hoovering some beans out of their straw-like homes and you might be tempted to just pay for the pleasure. I get it.) This weekend, threw together a batch with a sriracha sauce. And it was so good. And my face was sweaty and on FIIIIIYYYYYAAAA (read: fire) afterwards.

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6. My mama sent me some fall goodies! Pumpking pancake mix, a cute kitchen towel, and a frame of her and my dad somewhere in the Adirondacks kayaking. And you follow me on IG, you’ll have read that I am now a cider donut and slice of ma’s apple pie away from feeling as though fall is complete. I’m not one to love the cooler weather (let’s just take a second on laugh at my current geographical location then) but I do love some of that comfort food/outdoorsy mumbo jumbo. To make up for my lack of east coast fall-wonderfullness, I threw together a batch of cranberry muffins. Mmmmmmm SO GOOD.

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7. I have been running outside. You’d think I would have taken advantage of this during the warmer months, but I surprisingly love slightly cooler weather for running. Plus, I feel bad for not having taken advantage of outdoor running in the summer months, so I’m trying to squeeze a few in before it gets dark too early. Let’s all let out a collective sigh for when THAT happens.

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8. I have been loving this song lately. I had to drive into work today to leave early for a doctor’s appt, and I cranked the crap out of my stereo when it came on. Mind you, this is at 7:30am when just about every person on the road is a Mr. or Mrs. Cranky Pants for having to be awake. And I was head bobbing and steering-wheel-tapping. 

9. And now Usher’s damn song is stuck in my head. “These are my confessions….”

Happy Humpday, y’all

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Happy Humpday, y’all.

Tyler just found out that his office is closed until next Tuesday. Hot dang. This gives him almost 3 weeks out of the office, since the day after he’s supposed to go back, we head to New York!

I tried Union Hot Yoga this morning. Yeah…super workout. LOVED the instructor. I’m pooped.

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I read this post this morning and TOTALLY identified with it. There are some dum dums at the gym and I can’t staaaaaand them. (Hint: It’s a Gym Rant)

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I got my hair did yesterday. If you need someone in Calgary to do your hair, ask for Alicia at Karma Salon and Spa.

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New nail polishes: Muchi, Muchi and Pure Pearlfection. (Gotta stay late pre-wedding so I don’t stain my nails!)

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EVERYONE GO MAKE PICO DE GALLO NOW. It’s so summery and so tasty and so…healthy.

  • 2 tomatoes, chopped
  • 1/2 red onion, chopped
  • Juice of 2 limes
  • Chopped cilantro to taste
  • 1-2 t minced garlic

THE END.

We started using those Crest White Strips this week. Gotta have pearly whites for pic, ya know. We got those 30 min ones and basically just sit in silence the whole time because otherwise we talk like we have headgear in. Or we sound like me every night with my retainers in. Because yes, I still wear them.

Tyler is currently manning the ‘Cue so I gotta go get some salads ready for din din. PEACE.

Armed and Ready

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I have a mish mash of things to talk about. I could make this one long cohesive post, but I’m not the best at transitional writing. Or any writing for that matter.

Last night I made a BOMB ASS chicken salad. I didn’t really follow a recipe, nor did I really track the amounts of the ingredients I used, but I’m still gonna share the goods.

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I used shredded chicken (boneless chicken breasts and chicken broth in the crockpot on high for four hours and shredded with 2 forks), red grapes, cashews, celery, mayo, plain Greek yogurt, spicy brown mustard, lemon juice, white vinegar, salt, and pepper.

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It was super yummy and I couldn’t stop ‘mmmmm-ing’ with each bite. Something similar to this might make its way into my Super Bowl menu this Sunday…

This morning, my mom and I went to Target for some random items, then headed over to the nail salon for some pedicures. Not gonna lie, the last time I got a pedicure was when I was in New York in August. I’m not really one to splurge on pampering (at least not on a regular basis) so it’s nice to sit in a sweet massage chair while someone rubs my feet and legs with lotion. note: I specifically sat in the tub before heading out so that I could shave up to my knees. Gross, I know. But hairy legs at a pedicure is even more gross.
Also note, the massage chair at this particular salon is no joke. It kneads and chops and rolls and vibrates and does everything you could possibly imagine. With my back still being sore from my Saturday workout, it was pure bliss.

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I had picked up a new shade of Essie nail polish from Target, so as soon as I got home, I slapped that shade on! (It’s called Armed and ready!!) My mom is convinced it’s grey, but it’s a deep green with a slight shimmer. I love it.

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Today’s workout for Best Body Bootcamp focused on cardio, but I wasn’t really feeling it. Instead, I took inspiration from the deck of cards workout I did this last weekend with Ashley and Athena. I chose to do one cardio/more challenging ‘deck’ and another slightly easier strength ‘deck’. I got my grey gear on and was ready to sweat!
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Round One:

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Start in plank position.20130129-222637.jpg

Squeezing your abs, ‘jump’ your feet as close to your hands as you can, with your feet landing wider than your hand position.20130129-222643.jpg
In a fluid motion, kick your feet back into plank position. and that’s 1!

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Start laying on your stomach, with your knees wide and bent and your heels touching in the air.20130129-223057.jpg

Squeezing your glutes, and keeping your heels together and knees wide, attempt to raise your heels in the air (think of squeezing enough to get your knees off the ground)20130129-223102.jpg
Return to start position. That’s 1!
(Like the sweet demo pics? I had my mom take them in the basement. Super pimp setup down there.)
Similar to before, I did the number of reps per face value, 10 reps for face cards and 11 for aces. The entire round took me about 23 minutes.

I then did a 1 mile incline on the walk before getting a jump on Round 2 which looked like this:

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And another 1 mile incline walk to finish up.

That’s about all I have for now. Let me know if you need further explanation of those dumb exercise pics I posted!

Question:What’s your favorite way to eat chicken? Got any recipes you’d like to share?!!