Lucky Number 13

Yesterday was Jerbear's sister's birthday. Jessica is 13 years old and holy moly has she grown up the last year or so. I met her when she was six and a half years old and she was teeeen-iny. Now, six years later, she's my height (5'10") and I'm sure she'll still get a few growth spurts before she hits eighteen. It makes me wonder where she gets it because both of her parents are that height at their tallest. But then again, her uncles are tall so I'm sure that gene is swimming around her somewhere.

We went to O'Charley's for dinner Sunday night with her dad and his family and he made this awesome 1-3 cake. We didn't go over afterwards--more on that later--but I still wanted to eat the cake. I wish I had a picture! I saw it on his phone and it was pretty sweet.

And last night, unfortunately, we spent the night in the ER--everyone is okay, just not the story for now. She was wanting a makeup bag like mine so we got her that as a present. Have you seen that little kiosk near the food court in Cool Springs Galleria that sells the Belvah bags? There are cosmetic bags, duffles, totes, and tons more. Jessica's favorite colors are lime green and teal so this was the bag we chose.

I wanted to give her a shout out today even though it's the day after. Birthdays should be celebrated by the month, if not, at least one full week. That's what Jerbear has taught me anyway.

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESSICA!!!!

And to make this post just a tad-bit longer, here are some interesting facts about the number 13. You probably know about these, but some of you might not!

1. If Jessica were a boy, this would be the day that she officially becomes a man!

2. Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of the number 13.

3. The American flag has 13 stripes to signify its' first 13 colonies.

4. A hangman's noose usually has 13 knots.

5. If Jessica were Italian, 13 is literally their luckiest number.

Oreo Balls

My friend and co-worker told me about this recipe for oreo balls a while ago and I wanted to share it with you! If these things have ever hit your mouth, then you know how freaking delicious they are. In my opinion they taste just like cake balls but take half the time to make. AND there are only three ingredients.

WHAT YOU NEED

1 pkg of Oreos (any can work--golden, birthday cake, strawberry ice cream, mint, etc)
1 8oz pkg of Cream Cheese
1 lb of Chocolate (we like to do the opposite...chocolate oreos with white chocolate or golden oreos with dark chocolate, so buy either kind)

HOW TO PREPARE

There is probably an official way to crush up oreos. I think the recipe calls to throw a few at a time into a blender to crush them. But I don't want to jack ours up so we just pour all of the oreos into a gallon size plastic bag and crush them. You can either crush by stabbing it with a utensil of some sorts

or you can use a bottle of beer or liquor that might be sitting around the kitchen. Now everyone knows I don't own a rolling pin. Eek. 

Once they have been crushed to your desired crushed-level, turn the bag inside out and scrap off all that you can into a bowl. Combine these with the cream cheese. It is probably easier to use a hand mixer to get these to stick together but it's just as effective to squish it with your hands. 

Pull out a baking dish and cover it with a piece of parchment paper. Form this mixture into bite-sized balls and place on the sheet. Place it in the freezer and leave for about fifteen to thirty minutes. This allows the balls to harden just a touch so that when they are drizzled with chocolate in the next step, they won't fall apart.

If you can tell from the above pictures, in the top right corner is a picture of this baking chocolate that you can find at your grocery store. It comes in a microwaveable tray. 

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I don't know if we are just the ones who haven't see this, but I thought it was pretty genius. You microwave the chocolate for one minute and stir. If it is still not a creamy texture, microwave it at fifteen minute intervals. I only had to heat it up for that initial minute and I was able to use it for all of my Oreo balls.

After every ball has been coated with the chocolate, I would suggest keeping it in the fridge until it's time to eat them. They'll be fine if left out, but I personally like them when they're not falling apart so easily.

ADDITIONAL INFO

If you have an upcoming baby shower, you can add food coloring to the cookie crumbles and cream cheese mixture to match. And if you have a Vegan friend, you can substitute the cream cheese for tofu cream cheese. It tastes just the same once it's mixed with everything else.

And there you have it!! A super easy recipe for Oreo balls!!

Avon Mega Effects Mascara

So I don't know if you've noticed, but this new mascara has hit the shelf this week. What mascara you might ask?

Avon Mega Effects Mascara is the newest makeup product and I hate myself just a little for not reviewing this until now. I've had the stuff in my makeup bag for about four weeks and keep forgetting to share my thoughts.

MY INITIAL THOUGHTS.

It's smaller than it looks. If I can compare it to something, the bottle is as wide as a blow pop, as tall as a sour gummy worm and the wand is as wide as my thumb. Can you tell there's candy sitting beside me?

It looks just like a paintbrush. A very tiny paintbrush. The downside with this is that because the bristles are straight across, I'm sometimes left with these clumsy marks. I wish it were more curved.

Lovely. Just lovely.

The bristles are plentiful. This is probably my favorite feature. It coats every single lash with one swoop. It gets my lashes black without having to apply a second coat. But I can still apply that second coat if I wanted to, unlike Benefit They're Real Mascara that clumps very easily with two coats.

CONTINUING THOUGHTS.

I still hate the straight-across make of this mascara. Although I've gotten better at the clumsy marks, it never fails that I get them at least once a week forcing myself to re-do that eyeshadow.

I'm still pretty hooked on Benefit They're Real Mascara (for other reasons) but when I need to buy more of my loyal drugstore brand mascara, this Avon mascara is what I'll be purchasing. The formula is THAT good.

H54F

HIGH FIVE FOR FRIDAY!!

I decided to change it up just a little today and list my current five favorite items/products/places instead of five highlights throughout the week. I did go to some pretty exciting adventures this week and over last weekend but I think I'm more excited about these things so that is why I wanted to talk about them.

one

Let me just start with this one. Have you heard that Nashville has this walking trail that has been listed on the top ten walking trails in America? The travel guide listed Radnor Lake State Natural Area as the best in this area. My personal favorite is the Stones River Greenway. You can find a list of all Nashville's greenways and trails here.

two

I was on the hunt for some good smoking tools. No, I'm not talking about smoking some meat on the grill. I'm talking about tools to help you achieve the perfect smokey eye. I was reading through my random new subscription to Lucky magazine and one of the ads was for Maybelline Master Smokey Longwearing Shadow-Pencil. It's not the first of its' kind but it is different than the rest at the same time. It's thicker than a normal pencil but smaller than the crayon-looking sticks and it has a smudging sponge on the other end. I will probably be writing about this over the weekend but I love this product. 

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three

My new favorite place to eat is The Wild Cow in East Nashville. It's a vegetarian restaurant but they can also substitute many items to make your dish vegan. If you remember from this post, my husband and I have been trying to slowly make our way to the vegetarian world. The Wild Cow has burgers, tacos, chips and queso...all the things you already love without having to think about a poor animal being slaughtered. They even have cute pictures of cows up on their walls--my favorite decor ever. Veggie substitutes (tofu, tempeh, etc.) taste just like meat so if you've got a place like this in your city, I strongly encourage you to try it out!

four

I went shopping a couple of weeks ago and bought some things at H&M. All I'm going to say about number four is that if you've ever shopped at this store, you know how exciting it is for the company to finally launch only shopping for the US!! #shoppingaddictsunite

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five

And last but not least, my other favorite beauty product for the day...Benefit Facial Emulsion. I talked about it in my Birchbox review and I have been using it for the last few weeks just to see how my skin would react over a period of time. My skin can be sensitive to certain products so I wasn't sure how it would handle it. But this stuff is glorious. It is a heavier moisturizer than the Neutrogena stuff that I use but it doesn't make my face look thick or cakey underneath my makeup. Best of all? My skin acted like nothing had changed.

I'm linking up with Lauren Elizabeth for H54F!! 

I almost forgot!! It's TAX FREE WEEKEND!! Do a little shopping and enjoy your weekends!

Try on a little neon.

Neon. My favorite color to wear or even just to look at during the Summer. It brightens my moods, makes me look tan and goes with every color. No joke. Just try me.

Purple? Check.

Green? Check.

Brown? Check.

The easiest way to bring some neon into your life would be on your nails. Paint them on solid--

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--or draw a fun design.

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This neon peach is my favorite Summer polish in my collection. It's from Charming Charlie's of all places. And I believe it's called Euch a Peach and it's definitely a neon-peach if there is such a thing. (I can't find it anywhere online...)

I made this one XL so you could see my nails--not so much the sign. But while we're here, how cute is this canvas?! One of my bestie's got this for me for Christmas. I've got it propped on my bedside table.

Shoes can be another way to bring some neon into your life. If you noticed, accessories are a great place to start if you are unsure of how to wear the color. I got the shoes below at Old Navy in May. I wasn't even shopping for shoes but they were on sale so I HAD to buy them. Sale = Automatic Purchase. Sorry, hubby.

You could try neon with a necklace...

...or even with lipstick!

Maybelline Color Sensational in Hot Plum

With Summer almost over, you've only got like a month or so to continue wearing bright colors. Because we all know that Fall is full of gray-taupe everything, pumpkin spice lattes, and FOOTBALL. Get yourself another shade darker of tan while you can and wear some neon!! 

It can light up your life!!! :-)