Pregnancy Skin Issues Begone with Beaute De Maman

Had the pleasure of trying the awesome Beaute de Maman line of skincare products developed by a board-certified OBGYN especially for the delicate skin of pregnant women - and while at first a little skeptical of noticing any sort of different beyond the already gentle approach I was taking - I was blown away.

I am typically not one for boutique skin creams as I prefer to be able to grab my beauty products at any local grocery - I am, after all, a busy mama! (the Beaute de Maman website says you can find their products at CVS now!) One stop trips are key nowadays. Sadly I still have a Kohl's gift card from Christmas 2012 I haven't used yet because I just never make it that direction - but I have SOOO been meaning too - this mama is in need of a new wallet and purse - mine is looking downright shabby :/ - wallet is missing the zipper pull and the interior coin zipper is broken and the purse is getting worn edges. Work, home, grocery store, park, not much time or energy for extra trips with a toddler in tow to just pleasure shop. Oy.

Anyways, back to this skincare line. :) Sorry, got off track for a bit.

Between the face and body acne cream and the facial scrub blackheads that have been on my nose for as long as I can remember have vanished - and we are talking post baby #1 blackheads here!  Pretty much a miracle worker this stuff! In fact I plan on using it after pregnancy to see if it will continue to help with light my adult acne issues - because it most definitely cleared everything up and nothing that I have before now has! It is made with gentle and natural ingredients like tea tree oil - which you can smell hints of in the acne cream and with hormones being crazy with breastfeeding etc I am sure I will get way more than 9 months of benefit out of these products.

If you are suffering from pregnancy skin issues, like hormone induced acne, sensitive skin when you didn't have that before, and stretch marks - this line is a great product to try. I imagine if you are not accustomed to the smell of tea tree oil that that might set you back at first on the acne cream, but I found it was still just faint enough to not bother my queasy tummy and the facial scrub is indeed a scrub which I don't prefer to use everyday - just feels so harsh to have sharp, rough granules scrap at your face both morning and night - this typically doesn't bother me at all but if I am having a particularly sensitive night it does.


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Disclaimer: I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe would be good for my readers.

Friday Favorites

Currently pining for these adorable brass earrings from The Word Jewerly shop on Etsy... ($3.95)

Nutella & Go! At Walmart!

I have found a new addiction - nutella & go! I knew I loved nutella but did they really need to seal the deal and make these fabulous little to go snacks?? Oh my! So yummy!

Picked some up after spying them in the check out aisle at Walmart for my husband and I's stockings for Christmas and they never made it that far! Oops!

Loving This: How to Build Community

Print Available From Blue Barn Press

"HOW TO BUILD COMMUNITY- turn off your tv, leave your house, know your neighbors, look up when you are walking, greet people, sit on your stoop, plant flowers, use your library, play together, buy from local merchants, share what you have, help a dog, take children to the park, garden together, support neighborhood schools, fix it even if you didn't break it, have pot lucks, honor elders, pick up litter, read stories loud, dance in the street, talk to the mail carrier, listen to the birds, put up a swing, help carry something heavy, barter for your goods, start a tradition, ask a question, hire young people for odd jobs, organize a block party, bake extra and share, ask for help when you need it, open your shades, sing together, share your skills, take back the night, turn up the music, turn down the music, listen before you react to anger, mediate a conflict, seek to understand, learn from new and uncomfortable angles, know that no one is silent though many are not heard - work to change this"

Loving Thirty-One Gifts & Basket Love

I know I've seen this lovely basket somewhere before - probably a blog. When I looked up info about Thirty-One Gifts for an upcoming party that a fellow church member was throwing I all but cried for joy! I found it! Yay!

Such a lovely picnic/multi-use basket and reasonably priced too! $30 for the small and $38 for the big one.

I am slowly realizing that I have a small great love for baskets. I use them to house our little ones toys, our dogs toys, towels by the door for wet puppy feet, in the laundry room to corral and hide random detergent bottles, stain sticks, etc, in the bathroom for towels and misc items, in the livingroom to hide our hoard of mail and paper, theres a basket to hold my yarn - ok maybe two of them for that job, a basket with spools of ribbon in my craft area, basket on the kitchen counter to hold more important mail pieces...baskets, baskets, baskets! :)

And so now another will soon join our little basket family...yay!

A Must Try Tea! Vanilla Caramel Truffle

My friend, Sarah L., shared this fabulous new tea with me a few weeks ago. She told me it was the best ever - and wow! I am very impressed! This tea has a great flavor - almost has a hint of coffee. Vanilla and Caramel?? Yum! Definitely a must try!

My Loves

Matthew and Lola - two of my loves! :)

Paw Prints on My Heart

Lola has this cute thing where she sticks out her tongue just so and then looks at you with absolute adoration. See it?

Oh yeah and she has a little buzz cut if you can't tell. Have to get her in the groomer so they can undo the damage we did - so she may be sporting an even shorter look here soon!

The 7 Days of Stacy-fest!

First, a little background, Stacy-fest begins on February 14th and ends with a grande finale on February 20th. So Valentine's Day to my birthday! I don't require that this holiday occurs, my husband kind of invented it. :) I'm uber loved and he's uber amazing! I'm going to hold on to him, ladies - so don't get any ideas!

Day 1: Dolce & Gabana perfume, day with my husband, icecream & dinner at Adobo Grill.

Day 2: Dinner with my Dad, Cindy & Matt at Palomino and a surprise of chocolates & Fun Dip - one of my favorite kinds of candy - the stick is the best part!




Day 3: New pens and pencils for my desk at work in a range of gorgeous colors!



Day 4: Garden goodness! New gloves, a tote and tons of new seeds!



Day 5: Breathtaking bowls. A matching pair of the prettiest bowls!



Day 6: A lovely new children's book to add to our growing collection, a $20 gift card to Barnes & Noble and a cute little metal bookmark!

And lots of cards in the mail! One from my mother-in-law, Sue, had me extra excited! An order for two Old Fashioned Bleeding Heart plants to be delivered to our house in March! I've been wanting these gorgeous flowers for a long-time - they are perfect! Thank you!!



Day 7: A bottle of wine and a badmitten set! :) Free icecream at Cold Stone Creamery.. Shopping at all my favorite stores - found some great little things at my favorite antique place! Dinner with friends and a few good rounds of Apples to Apples!

Also received my new favorite Bath & Body Works scent - Ile de Tahiti Inu Tiare Flower - smells like the beach! Thank you Nick & Krista!

Not to mention all the birthday love I received on Facebook, via text messsages on my cell, from everyone at work and from all my blogging pals! Thank you, Return to Rural, for the special post! :)

Cottage Chic

Found this online today - defines your personal style for home interior design. Now I can finally describe what the style I love -I don't think I had a name for it before.

Cottage Chic - it's perfect! A little beachy, a little modern, a little old, a little new - all with a light background...its me to a T!

The quiz says I am mix of three styles.

53% Cottage Chic
24% Contemporary
23% Zen Style

Take the quiz on Sproost.com to find YOUR style!

Fabulous February

Did I tell you all that I love February? It is pretty much a marvelous festival full of fun things for me -liiiikkkkeee......Valentines Day's AND my birthday!

Matt and I started off the Valentine's Day exchanging gifts and cards and smooches. :)!



Here's the lowdown of our loot. Matching mugs full of M&Ms and cinnamon jelly hearts, the Dolce & Gabana Light Blue perfume I've been dying to have....yum! Breakfast at Tiffany's and mushy gushy cards - ahhh perfect!

Then we ran about town visiting an art exhibit and the art museum - where I almost had it out with a security guard and almost broke down the stupid glass door. Fun!



Finished up the day with my muy favorito ice-cream from the South Bend Chocolate company - may I suggest the sugar cone with a scoop of Blue Moon and a scoop of Cookies & Cream. The best!



Then wrapped up the day of love by keeping things spicy at Adobo Grill. The skirt steak and fruit infused margaritas were amazing - not to mention the amazing guacamole and the handsome eye-full I had at the other end of the table.

Have I ever told you all how lucky I am? This man is amazing.

Funny Stuff

You all should read my husband's blog - he had the day off today and was feeling pretty hilarious apparently! I love how he makes me laugh!

Much more blogging than I've been able to do in the last few days!

Matt's Micellany

Starting Off the 2009 Scrabble Playing Season with Style

In addition to finding my official scent for 2009 - I also have found the perfect the thing to rekindle my passion for Scrabble. I think I was beat one too many times in the latter part of 08 and became a little bummed. However, after finding this nifty little Scrabble Score & Tile Tracker book at Barnes & Nobles - I am excited to start the 2009 playing season!

It has the pocket word lists I oh-so-love. Three letter word with a Q and no U?? Oh yeah, I know it! :)

Also, has a diagram on each score sheet so you can record the whole came and to go back and analyze the moves. Fun! Now I can see what went wrong or right in each game!

Tried it out on Matt when we got home from the mall (so maybe I was a little hopped on on that perfume) but I have officially broken my losing streak and beat him 337 to 271!

He was really quite the opponent tonight pulling out words like QAT, EXERT and snatching up quite a few double and triple letter word scores!

Heavenly Scent

Traipsed through the mall today with the husband in tow, it was actually his idea to go to the mall, so I blame this all on him. :) Did a pretty good job at just "browsing" at each store. Did leave Bath & Body Works with five less dollars than we came in with AND Wetzel Pretzel snuck another $3 out for a delish cinnamon pretzel.

BUT on the way out, as we walked out through Macy's - it hit me. We were being goofs and sniffing all the perfume at the counters - making faces at the scents we hated, etc. All fun and games, right?

Well, in sniffing all the perfume I came across this...(a little x-rated so beware if you're at work or what not).



Yup, Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue...the BEST scent EVER!! It's right up there past RALPH Ralph Lauren.

It has been over 4 hours ago and I am STILL sniffing myself. Good thing I drenched my coat in so it will last a few days until I can sneak back in for a few more puffs when the sales people aren't looking. I know you CAN try the stuff, it's just that when they SEE you use it - they want to SELL it to you.

Granted, I WILL own that perfume one day...I just don't want to be goaded into it by a pushy sales person. Plus it needs to be on sale, mmmm k?

Maybe Valentine's Day?? ;)

When The Dog Bites

Hehe! Ah, my clever mind is still going it at with the marvelous post titles! Thought I would use this verse of the song to post a pic of one of my favorite pooches.

Don't look too deep into those chocolate brown eyes - she'll sucker you in! Looks guilty actually, she probably just got done destuffing the new toys we got them for Christmas or picking on the cat.

Warm Woolen Mittens

Half of the reason why I've been missing from blogland lately is all my holiday knitting and crafting. Though I haven't exactly stitched up any mittens lately - I have been chugging out the scarfs and hats...and trying to eek out a few beer cozies (they are harder than they look). As you can see from the pic I've finally bought myself a pair of circular needles! Someone's noggin will be toasty and warm this Christmas!

Another one of the things I am hoping to get done before too long here is a few pairs of my lovely fleece handwarmers - a pair or two that I want to hand out to a few lucky readers of my blog (that is, of course, if I have any left since my recent hiatus).

That's right a giveaway is coming soon!!! My first ever! Eeek! (more details coming soon!)

Bright Cooper Kettles

My most favorite thing! No further explanation needed. :) Visit his blog!

Whiskers On Kittens

Don't you just love my two new gorgeous bowls - they are part of my early Christmas present from the hubby - been eying them (and other things) at the antique store lately!



So the first thing I had to do was use them for something grand - like stringing up festive popcorn and cranberry garland! Never done it before, but was quite a hoot. The dogs kept snatching up any stray kernels and cranberries that went haywire in the process and the cat kept ninja attacking the strand.

Definitely bought too much cranberries though - hoping to whip up some cranberry salad with the left overs!

Raindrops on Roses

Views from inside my favorite antique shoppe, A Certain Charm, all decked out for the holidays!

Will have to post a pic of what I am came home with!! :)

Beautiful Beach Comber Bracelet at Red Envelope

Oh, my bracelet is on-sale at Red Envelope from $85 to $39.99 (hint, hint - Matthew!) Potential Christmas present maybe? Just kidding - kinda. maybe. ok not at all. :)