What I Received on Mother’s Day

I am so blessed and so lucky to be recognized on Mother’s Day. It was wonderful of my mom to get me a present “from Dean” and it was really touching. I had to work my 12 hour shift on Mother’s Day, so it was nice of my mom to come by after work and spend a couple of hours with us. On a similar note, except to see a similar post for birthday presents. It’s the thought that counts, but I ALWAYS love everything that I am gifted. I am just so lucky to be surrounded by people who love me now.

Dean smashed my coffee cup a few days after moving into the new place. My mom bought me this one to replace the old one. It’s a major upgrade, because I love this one 100x better than the old one that I had. It’s blush pink and rose gold, going perfectly with my office theme colors. The saying on it is also 100% true.

These stack bracelets were also a gift from my mom. I don’t wear jewelry that often anymore, but I can see myself wearing these. They are in one of my favorite colors (purple) and look pretty on. I have a few shirts that these would look nice with. They aren’t cheap looking bracelets and you can wear them stacked or individually.

I am officially a size small now. My mom got me this shirt that says “Espresso Yourself” at Kohl’s. Even with a black bra underneath, this shirt is not see through. It is super soft and comfy. My hair is getting really long and I am growing out my bleached hair. I need to refresh my blue color but I am loving my natural dark blonde roots coming in. My natural hair looks so much darker compared to my bleached end colored in a light blue/green. It’s no secret that I have struggled with my weight, so it feels good to be a size small. A size that I have never been before. I still exercise 2 hours a week and I feel better than I have in a long time. Still considering chopping my hair off though.

With Love,

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Birthday Hauling: Sephora

I did a little Sephora haul for my birthday and I spent $57 USD and some change. I was very frugal as I usually spend $100 at Sephora alone for my birthday. I organized everything by samples, free gift with purchase, birthday gift, and purchases from low to high. I am brimming with excitement over everything that I have picked up. I have swatched everything out and it is so beautiful. Everything is exactly how I thought it would be. I read so many reviews and do a lot of research before I pick anything up at Sephora. It is an expensive place to shop and I want to end up with something that I will more than likely love instead of return.

High Expectations Cannabis Facial Oil

This is wierd, but I am just going to put it in my bathroom with my skincare to use up the sample this month.

Drunk Elephant Lala Retro Whipped Cream

I am excited to have another sample of Drunk Elephant and I will put this in with my skin care to use up this month. I don’t want these samples building up again.

Josie Maran Whipped Argan Oil Body Butter in Unscented and Honeysuckle Vanilla

These are always nice to try and I already know that I love this sample. I am putting it in my bathroom to use up immediately.

Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask

I am happy to have snagged a baby size of this to try as it is on my Sephora Love’s List to buy (and the Avocado one). I am putting this baby size in my bathroom immediately as well, because I have been dying to try it. I do have another sleeping mask open, but this is more of a gel and does something different than my other one. It smells like a watermelon jolly rancher, but also a bit fresh in the after note. I am sure that I will be out of this baby soon enough. It is a third of an ounce, so enough to make a decision if I want to purchase a full size or not.

 

Drunk Elephant Beste No. 9 Jelly Cleanser & Protini Polypeptide Cream Duo

This was the birthday gift that I picked this year, because I do not support Kat Von D. I still would have picked this up though, because I have been dying to try Drunk Elephant products. I even added a kit to my Love’s List since my declutter post. I am putting the cream immediately into my bathroom as I need a gentle night time cream for after treatments and harsh masks. The cleanser will be put away as I am using something else at the moment as my night time cleanser. I only use a cleansing wipe or water in the morning after a thorough night routine.

 

 

 

Too Faced Bronzed Peach Melting Powder Bronzer in Toasted Peach

I paid $10 for 12.5 grams of bronzer, which I feel is a steal. I only paid a third of the original price making this essentially drug store. The packaging is super adorable and it smells lightly of peach. I don’t find the scent too strong and I really like it. It contains a nice mirror and the bronzer isn’t shimmery. It is glowy, but I don’t feel like it is too much. Even though I have oily skin, I have been into glowy skin and makeup looks lately rather than my matte go to. The bronzer isn’t too brown or orange on me and blends out to be very light. I can be light handed and also build this bronzer up. It is the perfect color for my light skin and it will still match me in the summer since I can build up the color. The cream to powder formula is really nice as well. I like to dab with my fingers and buff out with a buffing brush. It’s perfect.

 

 

Urban Decay Naked Skin Highlighting Fluid in Skywalk

I paid $14 which is half priced for this beautiful light blue highlighter. I have heard good things about it being used as an under eye corrector for dark circles that brightens up the area and makes them disappear. This is for sure opaque and a lovely highlighter. You can have it look straight up purple/blue on the skin or blend it in for a diffused lit from within look. It is very thin and lightweight. I can see why it was made in the Naked line. Right now, I just got an under eye corrector in a FITFABFUN box, so I will wait on using this as an under eye corrector. I will be using it as a pretty highlight though. I have been dying to get one in this shade. Blue/purple highlights look really nice on my skin tone and really brighten up my face. Put on my cupid’s bow, it makes me teeth look whiter as well. Overall, I am really happy with this already and I’m sad that it’s being discontinued. I love this cream highlighter and I don’t usually like creams/liquids. It really has to be something special for me to not put it in a project pan.

 

 

Ciate London Glitter Storm Palette

I paid $30 and saved $10 off the original price of the palette. I wasn’t going to get a palette originally, but those glitters?!!!! They stole my heart and swatched out, they still look lovely. These are one finger swipe swatched btw. I wanted to see how opaque they were. I like to build up my eye shadow. These have amazing pigmentation. The glitters have a nice eye shadow base to them and I love them all. My favorite glitter would have to be Firestorm, which is the red/pink one. None of the colors are too dark for my hooded eyes. The packaging of the palette is pretty to look at and very weighted. It feels expensive like a $30 palette. The only color I don’t get in this palette if Whirlwind which is the matte peachy shade. It’s a sore thumb. They could have done a soft rose or a cream and it would have looked a lot better. Still using every shade though. I am so excited! This palette is very me, which is why I bought it. This palette will motivate me to use up my project pan items, so I can bring this out and play with it.

I am so happy with my Sephora purchase! Not one product disappointed me right out of the gate that I purchased. I am looking forward to playing around with all of my new makeup. Hopefully, I move out some project pan items in order to do so. Keep my motivation up. I tend to lose motivation around products. I might switch it up and do a monthly makeup rotation instead……let’s see how I do with the first project.

With Love,

Birthday Hauling: Marshall’s

I went birthday hauling online and in store for the month of May. I shopped at Marshalls, Etsy, Sephora, and ELF. Then, my boyfriend and I decided that we are going to get a hedgehog. I had cashback on a credit card, a rebate, and I added in a few extra dollars for my birthday. I save my cashback all year to spend on my birthday, so I don’t break the bank. lol. Hedgehogs are initially an investment with buying their habitat and the hedgehog themselves. After that, it is a low maintenance pet and very affordable. I am super excited to be getting a hedgehog! It’s going to be a boy and we already picked out his adorable little name. I am hoping in a few months we will be able to buy one. I want to make sure funds aren’t too tight with affording daycare before committing to a pet.

 

BECCA X Chrissy Teigen Glow Face Palette

I bought this face palette for $19.99, so half off the original price of $40. We were supposed to see a movie on date night, but it was all sold out. We went out to eat instead and browsed at the mall. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted this palette or the Aurora Highlighter Palette by Anastasia. I ended up going with Becca, because it is a face palette and I already know that I love the formula of her products. I love, love, love the packaging on this. It is super pretty! I have no clue who Chrissy Teigen is. I bought this solely as a Becca product.

 

 

From Left to Right: Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed Highlighter in Rose Gold, Luminous Blush in Hibiscus Bloom, Sunlit Bromzer in Malibu Soleil, and Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed Highlighter in Beach Nectar.

I love this palette! I love all of the colors in it. The bronzer isn’t too orange or muddy. It is the perfect brown that can be worn light or built up. The blush is the prettiest pink flush that I know I will be reaching for a lot over the summer. The rose gold highlighter would look good with a bit of a tan, but I can still use it now with a light hand. The peach would be perfect year round and great in the winter. It would be very work appropriate for a glow. I love this palette so much. I might pull it into my next project pan just to get some use out of it.

With Love,

New In For Dean

I have another round up of new items that I purchased for Dean and there is more to come. I had to buy a lot of stuff to redo his room for safety reasons, so there will also be a room tour update for Dean. I haven’t done one since I first moved in almost two years ago. Also as I write this, my car is currently in the shop, because my tire almost caught on fire. You can smell burning rubber and feel the heat radiating off the tire. I burnt myself a little on the rim when I was fire extinguishing it just in case. I ended up paying $230 for new pads and the labor. Everything else was under the warranty. If I got that promotion, it would help a lot. I am writing this a week before the post goes up, so I will update if I get any news on this.

I let Dean have the Noise Putty, since all three of these were just $1. He loves playing with it, so I am sure that all of these slimes will be a hit. It is a more firm slime, as the name suggests, it is more like putty. It isn’t noisy unless you put it in the container and press down on it to pop the air bubbles. For some reason, I thought that you could make noises with it in your hand. The Silly Sludge seems more watery. I am glad that they all seem like they are going to be different textures and consistencies.

I saw these at Walmart, so I picked up another pack. They only have this pack out during the summer and even though Dean has only gone through 1 bubble stick, I need to have a back up pack just in case. We use bubbles everyday for therapy, so it is something that he needs to have. It calms him down when he is upset. At under $4, it wasn’t a big spend and I can still wrap it to put under the tree.

I found this 3T outfit on clearance at the end of the summer for 5 or 7 dollars. He doesn’t have many shorts that are going to fit him next year, so he will at least have one pair that will fit him until I buy him some summer clothes. I thought the outfit was super cute. They only had this complete outfit for a 3T. Most of the clothes were for children under 1.

This stuff really works on Dean’s dry, sensitive skin. Serena wanted to model with this photo. I think she did a good job. She could sell this product. Aveeno is still better than Equate though. Equate does a good job, but I would still invest in those expensive $3 jars. They work overnight and give his skin a serious amount of moisture. Equate is good for the rest of his body, but isn’t quite enough on his dry patches. This is also a lotion, though. The Aveeno is a balm. There is no Equate version of the balm.

I took this picture with the new camera! It is a pretty good camera. I think the pictures can come out a bit pixelated, but kit is good for the short term until I can get a better camera next year. I really want to get a Nikon camera. Something in the $100 dollar range that takes good pictures. This is fine for blogging photos and pictures of Dean. But for great action shots of Dean, I need a better camera. This way, I can have one camera that takes great photos and another as a backup for when the other one breaks unexpectedly. Like I said, this is a great cheap camera to take pictures of, but it isn’t high quality. The quality is good, but a better camera has crisper quality if you get what I am saying. I spent $60 on this camera, but I am setting money aside next year for when I see a Nikon go on sale and I will snatch it up. An upgrade for sure from my old phone.

With Love,

New In For Dean

So, Dean is going to be having a bunch of these posts, because Christmas and his birthday is right around the corner. He also has been escaping his crib. I had to make a big order for a bed, a gate to go around it for safety purposes, tv mount, cable wire covers, gate for the kitchen entry way, and a new mattress. I am just happy to be taking these pictures with a camera. I still have a few of my phone photos left over from the month or so without a camera. Now, I have a brand new phone that takes WAY better pictures, so if I am ever without a camera again, the quality won’t suffer as bad as this time. I am super excited about the holidays being around the corner! Having a child has brought back that Christmas magic to me.

Aren’t these little work boots adorable?! Dean needed a new pair of sneakers in the next size up and I thought since it was already getting colder out, he could get a boot version of a pair of sneakers. He has real winter boots from last year that I had bought a size up, so they are still good for this year. He just outgrew his size 5 and now has two pairs of size 6 boots. I am very strict with the amount of shoes that Dean has. Children are always growing, so I feel like two pairs are plenty until he can wear sandals, then three would be fine. He is a boy, so I don’t think he really cares what’s on his feet.

With those growing feet of his, he needed new socks and I had to go to the men’s section to get them. That’s where they keep the little boy socks! These are toddler socks that fit sizes 4 1/2 to 8 1/2, so they should be good until he walks holes into them. He just graduated into a 6 recently, so these will wear out before he actually grows out of them. We are still using the infant socks on him, since they aren’t worn out and still easy to slip onto his foot. I’m happy not to buy socks for a long time, except for me. I’ve worn mine down to holes and currently have two pairs and a half…

YES! I bought Dean this Paw Patrol fire truck for Christmas. It goes 2 MPH and is so cute! I am currently charging it up. You have to charge it once a month to keep the battery full and after each use. It is worth it to be able to see him use it on Christmas morning! I am so excited to give it to him. I can imagine the smile on his face now. He is really into fire trucks at the moment and how could I resist this? He is going to love this motorized truck. It is mostly for indoors and during the summer on level dry ground.

Dean has sensory seeking behavior, so he needs more toys that stimulates his senses. I thought this slime kit would be fun to make with him. It also has glitter which is a favorite of his. It has everything we need, so I hope that it comes out right. I thought he could help me mix everything together and watch it turn into slime. It will be a fun activity when we are housebound during my dad’s surgery. This is also a Christmas present, but it may be a birthday present.

The last Christmas item for this post. I bought Dean the knock off of kinetic sand. I will still buy the real kinetic sand, but I thought I would try this out. If it is the same, then I would buy this one again, because it is so much cheaper than the real thing. I have been buying an item here and there every week to slowly build a good stash of Christmas and birthday presents. I can’t afford it all at once, but buying an item every week makes it really affordable. I started out thinking that this will be a small Christmas, but I think it will be a regular Christmas. He might not have the most expensive things, but he is loved and has tons of stuff to play with.

With Love,

Marshalls Haul

I am super excited to bring you a very small and modest Marshalls Haul. I needed a refill on some pretty notebooks and I told myself that I could spend $20 ($10 for each class) as a treat. I am pretty sure that I got As in both of my classes. I am just waiting for the results of the finals to come out and I’ll have my transcript grades ready. I couldn’t believe what I found for $20. I got to buy two seriously expensive items that would have equaled $63 at Sephora. I am happy to only pay 1/3 of the price for both of these products. I haven’t done a haul in forever! I have been really good at using what I have and not buying anything I already have. I decided to replace my skincare with ELF products. ELF has been killing it lately and there is free shipping with a $25 order. If I can find what I need at Marshalls for less than ELF price, I will get it. Otherwise, I’ll be placing an order at ELF. Let’s get into the haul!

I got this adorable book for Dean for $2.99. The book is originally marked at $9.99, which is insane! Dean sometimes literally eats books, so $3 is an easy buy for me and it’s no skin off my teeth if its ruined in a week. He loves to flip through the book and the poor spine can only take so many flip throughs. I am so happy to have such a great boy who loves to “read”. He takes after his mother for sure. This is a cute Easter book with tons of pages, so it is a lot of bang for your 3 bucks. Dean and I also bought my dad a soap that he promptly opened and complained about no scrubby pieces. LOL. I had to tell him all the benefits of Turmeric and he’s on-board with it now.

I got a two pack of notebooks for $4.99 for my next semester. They are super cute and I needed something bigger than last time. I couldn’t find any Kate Spade, but these have the same theme and I am really loving it. $2.49 isn’t a bad price for a quality notebook and I love the thickness of these pages. It beats buying a $1.50 notebook from Walmart where my PaperMate InkJoy Gel Pens bleed through the page. One of my notebooks from last semester still has a few pages left in it, so I’m using that for reviews.

Yes, I got the $25 Anastasia Stick Foundation in Fawn (a contour shade) for $9.99! I am super excited about this find! It wasn’t swatched and in pristine condition. The box wasn’t even opened! I didn’t realize it was a contour shade, but as you can see it disappears into nothing on me. I can for sure pull it off as a light foundation. The packaging is so heavy and luxe. I am in love and I plan on using this as an all over base. Maybe contour on the days that I can building it up. I also plan to use this to cover up spots. The color looked scary swatched, but like the tab on the outside of the package, it blended into my skin flawlessly. It is definitely matte and I am interested to see how long this lasts on me.

Hell yeah! I got a $38 Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Poured Creme in Prosecco Pop for $9.99, the same as the foundation stick. This highlighter is PERFECTION and I love the golden sheen on my cheekbones. The dark spot on it isn’t from being swatched. It is from the thin plastic protector, but some of the highlighter came off on it. I’m going to use up the product on the protector sheet before swirling this around. There is no hard pan on this and no spray over. The protector just lifted up a deep layer of product, you get to see the deep base to this highlight. It still works for me though. It isn’t too deep. My Marshalls also had Rose Gold, but I thought that it would be too deep for my complexion compared to this taupe/gold highlight. Two of the bottom photos are with flash to really captured the golden sheen, otherwise it looks very taupe/pinky/yellow to me.

Well, that is my haul! I am going to enjoy my treats now. I know that I will be using the contour stick every day and comparing it to two other creams from Smashbox that I own. One cream is too orange and the other cream might be too brown. So, I might be decluttering both of them. I also have three Smashbox cream highlights that seem to be just glitter eye gloss. I think I will keep them for my eyes, but I don’t enjoy them as highlights with that slippery feel to them that never dries down. I hope you enjoyed what I picked up. There will be another mini haul in November and probably some Black Friday hauls as well.

With Love,

College Essentials Haul

AHHHHHHH!!!!!! I am so excited to have started online college at SNHU! It has been a hot minute since I have gone to college or to school for that matter. I thought that I would share with you my essentials for going back to college, specifically for online college. It really applies to any sort of school or if you are just looking for fun paper supplies. This is personal to me, so it may not suit you. These are the things that I know that I need to start the semester out right. I am interested to see how many of these things I don’t actually used. I think that I will use everything though. You never know. Sometimes, I just buy things because I think I will use them, but then never actually touch them. Until years later and I’m like Why do I have that?

These are my paper supplies. I have my favorite kind of pens: gel. Also, my favorite brand: PaperMate Ink Joy. I have never tried these pens, but my two favorite things? I think this might be my new favorite pens! I love to color code my notes, so I love having a rainbow supply. I have seen packs of just blue and black, so if I need a refill on the basics, I can get them. Note cards are a must for me. I need them to memorize formulas and key terms. Washi tape for when I have books, so I don’t mark up the pages. Not sure I will use them this semester, but you never know. Flags and sticky notes are basic necessities to page mark notes and quickly jot down information. I don’t have any physical books this semester, which limits my flag usage. I bought these two planner kits at Walmart and they are so cute! The flags, I know I will use and I hope that I find use for the other little stickies as well. My planner and notebooks will be so cute! Speaking of which…

These are my two Kate Spade (May she rest in peace) notebooks for my two official classes: Perspectives in History and Applied Social Science. These are super cute to tote around. Notice a theme here with all of the cute? The rose gold notebook goes with my office theme (Rose Gold) and my baby blue books goes with my room theme (Tiffany Blue and Silver). I am loving this style of notebook and that it is hard cover to survive in my bag. I feel so cool taking these out at work. They are my aesthetic through and through. I need to be on the lookout for an office meeting themed one. Kate Spade is my spirit animal and always will be.

A planner is a must for managing my busy life. I need to juggle my work from home days, college work, and home life in one planner. I considered getting one to separate school, but what would be the point? I need to balance out my whole life and see it in all together in order to manage it best. A phone to keep in touch. My Kindle Fire to do my work on when I am at work. I know I could use the computer, but some text books can only be downloaded to one device. I would chose my Kindle, so I can have it with me on the go to do my college work. I need to invest in a case for it though. I am pretty sure that this Kindle will be dying soon. My extended warranty is expiring in August and they usually don’t last much longer after that. I would get it in the same 7inch screen size. I really like it. Maybe with more room though. 8GB isn’t a ton.

Last but not least, because it is expensive. You need a good laptop. I have a HP here in Rose Gold that I paid $500 dollars on Amazon for and it is worth $1500. I love the rose design on the keyboard and yes, this was a limited edition. It seems to be selling for $700 now for the refurbished model, which is the one that I bought. I take care of my electronics, so I know that this will last me years like my 8 year old Dell. I love the backlit keyboard and the touchscreen screen. It has all the bells and whistles at a third of the price. I would keep an eye out on Amazon, because the prices are always influx. This is a beautiful laptop and worth every penny. They keyboard is a full size standard. I have a lot of comfortable wrist space and the 17 inch screen is perfection.

These are what I believe are online colleges essentials for me. I am looking forward to learning in all of my classes and chatting with my classmates. Not sure that I will do a whole lot of connecting on our school’s community (it’s like a private Facebook platform but not Facebook). I have a life and real friends to keep up with. Great if you are going to online school instead of traditional college and want to connect with other students. I’m just more of an in-person person instead of a virtual person.

With Love,

5 In: Walmart & Marshall’s

I have been lightly shopping lately and have been picking up things here and there. These are the latest things that I have picked up. I am pretty proud of all of my purchases. I like to say that I am a frugal shopper and since I discovered Marshall’s, I never want to shop at Sephora again. Will I? Yes, because sometime you just want something and Marshall’s doesn’t always have what you want. I have been making it a habit to go to Marshal’s once a month to make any of my beauty and skin care purchases. The mark down is unbelievable and makes my high end collection that much more affordable. But let me stop rambling and show you the good stuff.

This shower caddy was on clearance at Walmart for just $5. I love having all of my products up and out of the shower now. My shower used to be super cluttered with all of our stuff and now, my dad and my stuff sit in this caddy and Dean’s stuff sits on the shelf in the tub. Everything isn’t all over the corners and edge of the tub and on the floor. It is supper refreshing how clean and organized the shower looks now. I need to get some under the sink storage organizers and possibly a piece of furniture for the bathroom to put towels in. Like the over the toilet kind except I don’t have room where the toilet is (the heater is behind there), so I would put it near the washer/dryer.

This is a boring repurchase, but this is the best toothpaste under $5. This keeps my teeth relatively white. I need to buy the white strips to make them as white as I want them to be, but this toothpaste does a good job at keeping them from getting yellower. If you used this with the strips, I think it would have no problem keeping your teeth as white as you want them. I want a natural white, so I only want my teeth one or two shades whiter than they already are. I love the taste and my teeth have never felt cleaner. It feels like I just came back from the dentist. I love that really clean feeling.

I am a HUGE fan of Kate Spade and Marshall’s has a ton of Kate Spade. I think I might buy a couple of decorate boxes to keep out of season clothes in next once I find coordinating room colors (anything Tiffany blue, gold, silver). I have a Tiffany blue Kate Spade notebook currently and I love it. They had this cute Rose Gold Pearls notebook for $3 and I had to have it for school. I will be taking two classes, so now I have two Kate Spade notebooks for it. I will definitely pick up two more for next semester, so if I see more next month, I will be sure to grab more to prepare. The paper is high quality and looks very classy when you take them with you like I will be taking them to work. I will be writing a post about my college essentials soon enough.

My prized win of all? This Collector’s Edition BareMinerals Deluxe Mineral Veil Finishing Powder for $9.99 worth $58 and originally went for $38. This is a huge powder at 24 grams of product. I think this will take me a whole year to go through and the packaging is to die for. Hopefully, I will be able to pop the sifter and refill. If not, I will reuse it as a holder for something. It is stunning packaging and a collector’s piece. Who would have thought that I would have found this at Marshall’s? AND it was completely sealed and untampered with. The powder has a light salmon color to it, so it color corrects slightly. It really does blur out pores and gives my face that perfected look. Stella always raves about BareMinerals and I have to say, I am impressed so far. I will definitely be buying more BareMinerals if I see any at Marshall’s.

OMG you guys! I had to share these PaperMate InkJoy Gel Pens that I have been wanting so badly for school. They are on sale at Walmart right now. They are currently $8.98 marked down from $15.98. You could practically buy another pack with your savings! I didn’t do that though, I bought two other cute stationary products with my savings instead. You should check out Walmart.com or your nearest Walmart to see if they have any of these. This is my first time buying these pens, so I need to see if I like them enough to buy them again before I go crazy and buy more of them.

That is my little haul to share with all of you. I will be doing a separate in-depth online college essentials post that will cover some of the things I bought here, but mostly new stuff to talk about. Most of the stuff, I didn’t personally had to go out and buy. They were leftovers from my previous college years and failed hobbies. lol. Does anyone else do that? I tried hobbies, because other people liked them but I could never keep up. It just wasn’t my thing. The only hobby that has lasted for me is blogging. Probably because writing is my passion.

With Love,

5 In: Dean Edition

I decided to rename my haul posts, because I always just feature 5 products at a time (unless it is a store themed haul like Macy’s or Sephora) and I am going to be naming my review posts 5 Out. I will be reviewing 5 empty items at a time. Do not worry. I am still doing a listing empties post, but now my reviews will be a block of 5. A fellow blogger pointed out that my reviews are really short for a full post, so I thought that I would group 5 together to make it interesting enough to read and not annoying. I hope you all like this new style. I also wanted to announce that I will be going to an every other day posting schedule to prepare for college. So, every week there will be 3 to 4 posts instead of 6 to 7. Thank you for understanding.

Dean has been OBSESSED with Deb’s bubble wands lately, so I bought a pack for him for us to use at home. His Paw Patrol bubbles were running low anyway. He has a preference for the pink and blue. I don’t think he knows that the bubbles aren’t any different in the other tubes. lol. It is super fun to watch him pop all of the bubbles or at least try to anyway.

This squish ball caught my attention while looking at the swings in Walmart. I gave Dean the option of green or blue and he picked the blue. It is a really cool, fun ball. I remember having a similar ball minus the texture pieces and smaller. It was also filled with a shimmer liquid that was deemed to be toxic if swallowed, so it was taken off of the market. These are empty but like huge stress balls. I kinda want one for my desk at work now if they have a purple one. Dean loves the different texture that this ball has. It is very sensory engaging.

I bought two sets of crib teething guards on Amazon, because Dean has been eating the paint and wood off of his. I knew that the gelly ones wouldn’t cut it for us, so I opted for the cloth. It took two packs, a total of 6 pieces to fully cover his extra wide crib.

They are washable and I plan on washing them once a week. They took about 45 minutes to tie on all of the pieces securely. It requires some retying maintenance throughout the week of a few of them that he tends to pick at. He hasn’t been able to remove them yet and I hope he doesn’t learn soon. He is not ready for a toddler bed, which is my last resort (a plastic one) if he removes me and starts eating the wood again.

I bought Dean his own stringing bead set, because this is a skill that he needs to build on. He loves trying, but gets easily frustrated. He hasn’t mastered how to get the string in the hole by himself yet. Once you get it in for him, he can push it the rest of the way through and pull it through the bead on the other side independently most of the time.

I had to buy another straw cup for Dean. The other two were worn out and started pouring out. I am going to be buying a few more. These are the only cups that he is really into and works well with him. He sips assisted out of a cup, but he is just too hyper to learn right now how to drink out of a cup. These cups make it so easy to keep him hydrated. When I buy a few more, I will try to get him to drink his milk out of them. I think that I will finally throw away the bottles for good. It might be time for him. I will have to see how he does in the next couple of months. I want to make sure that he is ready to let go. The dentist isn’t worried about the bottles, just that he brushes his teeth and doesn’t drink milk in the crib to sleep. I brush his teeth every night and morning and he gets a bottle of tap water at night. It’s been hot at night in his room.

Well, this wraps up Dean’s purchases over the month of May and a bit of June. I love to spoil him. I forgot to photograph the four books that I scored at Marshall’s for him. I paid $9.70 for 4 hard cover baby books, which is a steal. Three of them were $3 each and one was 70 cents. He goes through books a lot. He flips through them so much that the spine breaks and he’s not exactly gentle with them either. It just makes it super affordable to enrich his mind by saving at least 50% off of his books.

With Love,

Birthday Haul

My best friend in the whole world recently gave me my birthday present and I want to share what I got from her with all of you. She always knows just what to get me and it is so funny. She is the one person that I find hard to shop for. We are both into beauty and books and she has a ton of both. Most of the time, she already has what I am thinking of getting her. The past two years though, I had been giving her a book in a book series and she really loved that, but she bought the next book herself. lol. I always ask for hints every year, because I don’t want to be that person who gets them something they already have. Luckily for me, I have an idea of what to get her this year and she will be impressed. Impressed, I say!

Who doesn’t love some sheets masks? The best part? She got me a cruelty free brand. Yes, you heard that right! She has been listening to my recent beauty rants on my blog. I couldn’t be happier! The brand is The Sharing Co and they donate a small portion of their sales to animal shelters. The Hyaluronan Mask is to help Pit Bulls, which I would own one if I could. The Soothing Mask is to help out Dalmatians. The Elasticity Mask is designed to help the Tabby Cat. The Brightening Mask has no animal in mind, just that happy animals (like playing in the snow) give them a better chance of survival at a shelter. The backs of the packets are so educational and when I start to use these up, I will definitely share what they say in my reviews. I cannot wait to try these and I have been more into pampering myself lately. I have been masking a few times a week and try to do a sheet mask every two weeks or so.

And of course books! My two passions in life: books and skin care. LOL. All kidding aside, I am really excited to read all three of these. I have already cracked into the Sarah Dessen book, because I read an excerpt in the most recent one that I read Saint Anything and it made me hungry for another Sarah Dessen novel. I really like the more mature themes in her recent books. I have to say that she is back up there with my favorite authors. Dangerous Creatures is a spin off series to Beautiful Creatures. I am unsure if I should read it or read the other three books first in case this one contains spoilers for the other books in the other series. Since You’ve Been Gone seems like the perfect summer read to read by the pool, which I totally plan on reading it there.

Thank you so much D! I really love everything and it was so thoughtfully picked out. I am so grateful that God brought such a great friend into my life who has been my rock through all of my ups and downs. Living life with me is a roller coaster for me and I’m glad that you have my back and I get to spend my life growing up with you.

With Love,