Bachelor Recap, Clarisonic & A Gorgeous Dress

I wanted to get on yesterday to post my thoughts on this weeks episode of The Bachelor, however, I had a weigh-in at my sons school for CafeMom's Litter Free Lunch Challenge and was so exhausted, that I didn't get a chance to do it!

So I was really shocked (in a good way) by Mondays show. Jake got a lot of flack for sending 4 women home, but I completely agree with him and think he did the right thing. He is there for love and to potentially find a wife in a short period of time. If he knows the chemistry just isn't there and he's not meshing with someone, why keep them around another week and lead them on? Good job Jake! Now keeping Vienna on the other hand, I'm still not sure about. He must see something completely different in this girl that we are just not seeing. I'm not hating on Vienna or anything. I could honestly go either way. I just don't really see it. But like I said before, Jake could be looking for a polar opposite to him and I can definitely see how he could find that in her!

On another note I have to send back my Clarisonic =( I'm pretty sad about it. It died after 4 days of using it and while I can send it back and get a new one, quite frankly, I just don't feel like dealing with the hassle of it. I would be really afraid that it would happen again and next time it might be beyond the 30 days for me to return it. It worked great but my skin spazzed the second I stopped using it and I just don't want to be that reliant on a mechanical object for the sole reason that I might not be able to afford a lifetime of Clarisonics. So it's back to the drawing board for me. I think I'm going to give a regular skin brush (manual one) a try. It can't hurt right? I found this Facial Cleansing Brush at Sally's and for $1.99 it's not the end of the world if it doesn't work ;)

***UPDATE***
Per the advice of one of my readers, I'm going to call Clarisonic tomorrow and see if they can send me one before I send it back. While Skinstore has been absolutely lovely in the customer service department, they wanted me to send the defective brush back and wanted to wait to send me a new one once they got the old one. Though they do have incredibly fast shipping, I just don't want to wait! So we'll see what Clarisonic says. I guess I'll give it another go. It does work really really well and I did get it for a really really great price! even if I don't really like the spot brush much ; )

To round up this post I just have to include a photo of this gorgeous dress I came across!!! I am in love. Seriously.... IN LOVE!!! But at $160 it's pretty steep and I'm just not sure whether I should splurge, tie-dye silk or not. Whaddya think???


So what did you all think of Jake's actions on this weeks show? I can't wait to hear all your thoughts!

Maxi Dresses & Vamp Diaries

What do these things have in common? Absolutely nothing! But that is where my mind is at right now, lol. I am so so so excited because today, right after I was talking to my husband about it (and I mean like 2 sec after literally) I got an email from Hautelook with the sample sales for the day. Well wouldn't you know that one of the sales was for Gypsy 05! I've been dying to get a few of these dresses since last summer when I saw all the celebs wearing the dresses in the weekly's constantly. I am a HUGE fan of Maxi dresses and love them for the summer. So I am happy to say that I got right on the sale and snagged the following 3 lovelies...







I cannot wait to get them!!! On another very important note, Vampire Diaries starts back up tonight! I seriously love this show!! I don't know if it's all because of Paul Wesley or what, but who cares?



The man is hot and I def don't mind spending an hour once a week staring at him! And I love vamps!! I think the Twilight franchise def missed the boat on him. He would have made a fantastic Edward in my humble opinion ;) And to add the excitement of the Vamp Diaries return after what felt like a major hiatus, Sean Faris is joining the cast!



Love, Love, LOVE!!! If you don't know who he is, rent Never Back Down! Not the greatest movie in the world, I mean c'mon, the lead girl is named Baja ffs, but it's def a gun show between Sean Faris and Twilight hottie Cam Gigandet!!

Any other Vamp Diaries fans out there?

About Me...

I've had this blog for quite some time, and I just realized that I probably haven't shared a whole lot about me! I plan to change that as time goes on, but in the meantime, here are some little tidbits...

~ I got engaged to my wonderful husband at the age of 20 on our 6 month anniversary. We moved in together 2 months later. About a year and half later we got married. We also got the news that I was 3mo pregnant 1 mo before our wedding! We had to change my dress and our honeymoon, lol. We've now been married for 7 years!!

~ I still have no clue what I want to be. My dream career would either be a makeup artist or a personal trainer for women. But those careers just aren't practical in Jersey.

~ I have TMJ and suffer from it and the problems it has caused me almost daily. I've been on a quest for treatment for the last year and still have no clue what road I will go down. I'm hoping to make some kind of a decision soon.

~ I have major addictions to magazines, lip balms, & ruffles

~ I was a mom at the age of 23 and it just came natural to me. I love being a younger mother and wouldn't have it any other way =)

I love ...

~ Vanilla scents
~ Robert Downey Jr
~ Foreign Films - especially French
~ Anything outdoorsy
~ Reality TV
~ Working Out (when I have the time)
~ Kitties
~ Teen shows like One Tree Hill, 90210, Vampire Diaries, etc

I don't love ...

~ People who lack manners
~ Rude People
~ Hypocrisy
~ People who refuse to accept responsibility for themselves and who won't apologize
~ lack of hygiene
~ Peas
~ smoking/smokers

Some of my fav movies are ...

~ Love Me if You Dare
~ Across the Universe
~ August Rush
~ The Holiday
~ On the Edge

And last, but not least. My biggest celebrity crushes are (right now)...

~ Ashton Kutcher
~ Paul Wesley (from Vamp Diaries)
~ Hayden Christensen
~ Cillian Murphy
~ Robert Downey Jr (def my biggest of all time!)

So that's me in a nutshell ;)

The Bachelor - Week 3

I wanted to start this back when the show first started, but things have been a bit crazy here with running around on the weekends, appointments, etc. So I am starting a bit late in the game, but I plan do a follow-up each week on Tuesdays ;) Let me start by saying that I am a HUGE Jake fan!! I know that a lot of people think he's a "cheeseball" but he won me over with his charm. I think he's gorgeous, sweet and kind and any girl would be lucky to be Mrs. Jake Pavelka!! I am also very pleasantly surprised at how he is handling being The Bachelor. I was wondering if he would be too nice to deal with all these girls and if he would get walked on a bit. But so far I think he's handling it really really well and he's not taking any crap, but he's doing it in a nice way. =)

I'm not going to cover every single thing from the last handful of episodes because it would be way too much! Initially my fav's were Ali, Tenley, and Elizabeth (before she took the crazy pills!). Now things have changed quite a bit...


I'll start with Ali. I've liked her from the very beginning. I think her and Jake seem as though they would fit well together and compliment each other. I think she has that "girl next door" quality and she seems pretty nice! But.... even if how she feels towards Vienna is warranted, I'm not sure how I feel about the trouble she seems to be stirring up in the house. I guess we'll see what happens with her next week!



I liked Ella in the beginning as well, but she remained kind of just a blip on my radar until this weeks one-on-one date. I think she's really pretty and seems like a genuinely nice person! Upon first glance do her and Jake appear to be the perfect looking cookie-cutter couple? No, I don't think they do. But that doesn't matter. I'm looking forward to seeing how she progresses on the show!

Now on to the other part of this weeks show...



I became an Elizabeth fan immediately. I thought she was gorgeous and she kind of charmed me with the whole football thing in the premier. Do I think that she looks like Jakes type? Not at all. But I don't know Jake and I don't know his "type" lol, so maybe she is. Then came last weeks show and I thought the letter and the whole kiss thing was a little odd. I def think Jake was right on about the teasing! I'm sorry, I just don't believe she was withholding a kiss because of her morals. What was this....

"Do you wanna kiss me? But you can't. I know you do. But I won't" stuff?!?!

The icing on the cake was before this weeks rose ceremony when she was supposedly blindsided by the fact that Jake thought she wasn't being genuine. She kept going on about how he was upset because she won't kiss him. Why do people on these Reality shows do this?!? It's on TV, HE DIDN'T EVEN SAY THAT!!! For pete sake I just wanted to jump through the TV and shake her! I think she really thought that she could manipulate Jake with her looks and desire etc and he would keep her around. Sad that it bit her right in her A$#!

Which leaves me with...


Michelle. Wow... just .... WOW. Where on earth do I start?!? My goodness I was shocked that he kept her around after the first show! I honestly don't even know what to say but I'm sure for those of you that watch the show you can imagine the plethora of thoughts I must be thinking! lol. And what was with that comedy act? The comment about the coconuts!!! LOL. Again ... wow.

So I'm really looking forward to next weeks show! I heard a rumor about who gets the final rose, but I won't divulge on here. I also read some very interesting things about a show coming out this summer that I will definitely be looking forward to! Until next week!!

**all photo's are the property of ABC.com**

Clarisonic Skin Brush Review!

Hi lovelies! I would like to thank all of my new followers for following my blog and for all the wonderful comments =) I'm looking forward to reading your blogs as well!!!

So it's time for my first of what will probably be a handful of reviews of the Clarisonic Plus =) First off, I want to say that the customer service with Skinstore is wonderful! They offer coupons, they have a live chat which is great if you don't feel like talking on the phone, they offer free shipping on orders of $50+, and my order shipped out SO fast!!! I think I ordered really late on a Tuesday night (so technically Wednesday) and I had it by Saturday! And if you sign up for MyLuckyRewards (this is free and is not an aff link) you will earn cashback (8% for skinstore) on a special luckyrewards visa card! Ok, so on to my review...

I got the brush this past Saturday, but I didn't get a chance to use it in the morning because the mailman came after I had already gotten a shower and we were on our way out to a birthday party. However, I did use it that night before I went to bed and WOWZA! That is the softest my skin has been since I was a baby!!! lol. One thing that might happen, not be gross, is that I got a couple pimples within like 10min. I think probably because dry skin and such forms a shield that must prevent the oils etc in pores to properly drain etc. But it was really no big deal at all.

I've used the brush in the shower in the morning and before I go to bed at night and so far so good. I have small minor blemishes that have come to the surface after a couple days, but I expected that. Most peoples skin purges when using various things such as microdermabrasion, new face creams, masks etc. So I was prepared for that to happen. My only complaint is that the body brush attachment has a sensor that only allows one speed for this brush and it really zaps the battery! I use it on the face brush in the shower and by the time I use the body brush it lasts about 1min and then dies. So my advice would be to plan on doing the face and body at separate times. I may even purchase the normal bristle brush and just use that on my body on the highest setting. But I do feel the brush is good for elbows, knees, etc. And the extra speed is nice. But the normal brush may work on rough spots just as well?

But other than that, so far I'm very pleased with the purchase. I don't know that I would have paid the full $225 for it, but I had my coupon for skinstore as well as the cash-back so I essentially got it for $165. I'm happy with that price! I would definitely recommend that anyone that has trouble with clogged pores etc try it if you have the extra $$. Will your pores be completely clean after one use? No. But they will start to gradually open up after a couple days and I am hopeful that they will be completely clean in another week or so. I'll be doing an update in a few days!

Happy New Year & A Recipe!

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday and a very Happy New Year! I truly hope all of you have a very happy, healthy, and prosperous 2010 ;) So I don't think I've mentioned it before, but I'm a huge Bethenny Frankel fan! She is my favorite on Real Housewives NYC and I really love her recipes!! I'm very into cooking - especially when you can cook healthy but still get the taste of unhealthy without all the processed, bad-for-you ingredients! Bethenny recently came out with a new cookbook called The Skinnygirl Dish, which I was anxiously awaiting after reading and loving her first book, Naturally Thin. The new book is excellent! Not only is it loaded with tons of fab, healthy recipes, but Bethenny also gives you tons of substitution options and lists them under each recipe for multiple ingredients! Now I could certainly do this with a lot of recipes in the books I already own, but who wants to sit there and actually take the time to figure out what else might work and possibly waste time and $$ trying it, only for it to turn into a major culinary mess?! Not me!

So we went to a NYE party at my Grandpops and I decided to try Bethenny's Guilt-Free Artichoke & Spinach dip. I served it with Tostito's baked Scoops and it was a huge hit! Everyone kept telling me how delicious it was as they all congregated around it, lol. So here is the written recipe, and you can also watch Bethenny's Video as well....


Guilt-Free Artichoke & Spinach Dip

by Bethenny Frankel
from The Skinnygirl Dish
Serves 6

~ 1 pkg (about 9oz) frozen artichokes, defrosted & drained
~ 1 pkg (about 9oz) frozen spinach, defrosted & drained
~ 1/4 c freshly grated parmesan cheese (not kraft!)
~ 1/4 c shredded Monterey Jack cheese
~ 1/4 c part-skim ricotta cheese
~ 8oz reduced-fat or soy cream cheese
~ 2 tb non-dairy or low-fat mayo
~ 1/2 tb lemon juice
~ 1 clove garlic, minced
~ 3/4 tsp salt
~ 1/2 tsp black pepper
~ 2 dashes tabasco sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Combine all of the ingredients except 2 tb of the parmesan in a large bowl or food processor. Blend or pulse until mostly smooth, but leave some artichoke chunks for texture.

2. Pour the mixture into an ovenproof dish or casserole. Sprinkle with the remaining parmesan. Bake for 20min, or until heated through and just starting to bubble. Let the dip sit for at least 10min. Serve warm with thin slices of baguette, raw vegetables, backed tortilla chips or crackers.

**Bethenny's Use-what-you-have Variations**

Variation 1: instead of frozen artichokes or spinach, try...
~ canned artichoke hearts, drained
~ fresh spinach
~ leaving either artichokes or spinach out and doubling the amount of the other

Variation 2: Instead of parmesan, try any other grated or shredded cheese

Variation 3: Instead of Monterey Jack, try any other crumbled or shredded cheese.

Variation 4: Instead of Ricotta, try...
~ part-skim cottage cheese, whipped or not
~ Silken Tofu

Variation 5: Instead of Cream Cheese, try...
~ Flavorful soft goat cheese
~ Feta
~ Blue Cheese

Variation 6: Instead of Mayo. try Greek Yogurt or plain soy yogurt

Variation 7: Instead of minced garlic, try...
~ 1/2 tsp garlic powder
~ 1/4 tsp garlic or other seasoned salt (reduce salt in recipe by 1/4 tsp)
~ 1/2 tsp onion powder

Variation 8: Instead of Tabasco sauce, try...
~ any other hot sauce
~ Dash of cayenne pepper
~ pinch of red pepper flakes


I really hope you all enjoy the recipe!!! I would highly recommend this book!

PS - this is not a paid review, I just really and truly love Bethenny's recipes ;)