Really Glamour?

Dear @michaelachaela, I disagree with Glamour's advice to you! There's no reason you can have long pretty nails and there is no need to continually file them down!

I have two recommendations for you, and I think if you add these steps in your nail care routine, it will make a huge difference.

1. Keep polish on your nails!

Unpolished nails are prone to breaking, tearing, and peeling. Things like the hairs on your head are often the culprit of little tiny tears in your nails that turn into big breaks, tears and peeling layers.

Keeping a strong coat of clear on your nails will give them strength. I recommend a product called Instant Artificials, which retails for about $8.30 at Sally Beauty.

Sally Hansen also has some fabulous treatment clear coats that can be found at drugstores and mass retailers like Target and CVS. Sally Hansen even has specific products they recommend for dry brittle nails.

2. Take care of your cuticles!

In my experience, I find that caring for your cuticles is another area that affects nail strength and growth. Taking care of your cuticles equals less problematic nails. Less splits, tears, and breaks. I do two things in particular to take care of my cuticles. First, a few times a week, before I apply fresh polish, I use a product like Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle Remover. This softens the cuticles and allows them to be pushed back off the nail very easily. Having your cuticles pushed back allows a better, longer lasting application of nail polish.


Second, I use a cuticle cream with AHA at least once a day to keep them moisturized and maintained. Poshe Cuticle Care and CND Cuticle Eraser are two good ones.

Again, I see no need to continually file your nails down to nothing! Give these tips and try and let me know how they work for you! Once your nails are back in good shape, you can follow my tips for a complete home mani!

Love,

Sasha

Note: Cross-posted on my nail blog, www.ManicureMommas.com.

Salty and Sweet

Do you like salty and sweet together?

Then you need to make Picky Palate's Double White Chocolate and Pretzel Peanut Butter Cookies with Sea Salt, which I made for today's dessert contest at work. (I didn't place, but there were so many entries, I am not at all disappointed!)

This was my first time to sprinkle anything with sea salt, so I was a little stingy. Next time, I am sprinkling with abandon.... the taste of the salt paired with the white chocolate chips and peanut butter cookie was AMAZING.

Did you make any special treats for Valentine's Day?

Confessional Friday

Today I'm linking up with Leslie at A Blonde Ambition for Confessional Friday.

1. I confess to being obsessed with The Bachelor and Dance Moms. Swore I wouldn't watch either (Ben's hair skeeves me out) but of course I am easily swayed by the dramz.

2. I confess that I just this week decided to read The Help. I checked it out on my Kindle through my local library, and I almost can't put it down. It's fabulous. What took me so long? I'll let you in on a little secret- Sometimes I am very stubborn about not wanting to follow along and do what everyone else is doing. I don't think I'll be reading Twilight however....

3. And it other literary news, I am listening to The Litigators (thanks again, local library!) on my ipod during my outside runs, and I confess that it is so good I just want to keep running to be able to listen to what happens next. I have missed Grisham.

4. Continuing on the same topic, I am so so so excited about next week's release of Sophie Kinsella's I've Got Your Number. Hope that my library gets the audio book soon!

What are you reading/listening to right now?

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon referral links.

WFD?

It's been Crockpot Central at the Sashas lately. Because I can only feed my kids so many frozen corndogs....

If you follow my Nom Nom Nom board on Pinterest, you may have seen this yummy gem I pinned- Slow Cooker Parmesan Honey Pork Roast. It was easy and delightful! Even the kiddos liked it.

Straight out of the crockpot

It absolutely fell apart when I cut it (so tender) and the gravy I made with the liquid left in the crockpot was lick-the-bowl-clean good. It was fabulous on the instant mashed potatoes I whipped up.

Tonight we are having 3-packet Pot Roast from Crockpot 365, although I'm making it with pork. You combine 3 packets- Ranch dressing mix, Italian dressing mix, and a packet of McCormick Grill Mates Peppercorn & Garlic- and use them as a rub on your meat before you put it in the crock pot. The combo is really delicious!

What are you having for dinner?

Chuao Chocolatier

I was recently contacted by Chuao Chocolatier, a company that was new to me. However, considering my love of all things sweet, especially chocolate, I was eager to sample their products.

Chuao Chocolatier sent two items for me to try.

Potato Chips in Chocolate bar
Premium milk chocolate with kettle cooked, lightly salted potato chips

and a darling package containing two bonbons.



On the left: the Love Child bonbon (an aphrodisiac blend of a port wine drenched dried strawberry in a chocolate ganache)

On the right: the Firecracker bonbon (guaranteed to blow your mind with chipotle caramel fudge, popping candy and sea salt in dark chocolate)



I cut both open to have a look. On Firecracker bonbon on the left, you can see popping candy and sea salt on the edges. When I cut the Love Child bonbon on the right open, you could see the wine drenched strawberry and the ganache looked so thick.


P grabbed a portion of the Love Child bonbon and before I could stop him, he ate it. He was not a fan, which is fabulous because he is just 8 and should not yet have a taste for alcohol! But I ate the other half and it was divine.... so rich and the strawberry and ganache together were perfect.

WC grabbed part of the Firecracker bonbon, and said "It's popping in my mouth! Cool!" And it was... and the sea salt paired with the chocolate was so so good.



Mr. Sasha and I split the Potato Chips in Chocolate bar and it was divine. Salty and sweet go so well together. This reminded us of a product we used to get for a local candy maker- chocolate covered Pringles.




Chuao Chocolatier is offering a giveaway to win a trip for two to San Diego! Between now and February 14, click the banner above for a chance to spend two nights at the glamorous La Jolla Shores Hotel, enjoy dinner at the beachfront THE SHORES restaurant, and attend a private wine and chocolate pairing event with Master Chef Michael Antonorsi of Chuao Chocolatier. You will also have a chance to win one of 14 Limited Edition Sweetheart Boxes filled with 22 signature Chuao Chocolatier bonbons featuring delectable, aphrodisiac ingredients.

You can also use the code "BLOGGER" and receive 20% off your entire purchase at their website between now and February 14, 2012.

Disclosure: The chocolate products pictured above were provided to me for review purposes.

Confessional Friday

Set me free? I'm there! Today I'm linking up with Leslie at A Blonde Ambition.

1. I took P for some auditory processing testing this week and the poor guy had a rough time at the end (it was almost 2 hours long, and that's hard for kids with sensory issues!). I've been feeling terrible about it all week, although I felt a bit better after her promised me the Root Beer Float I got him at Sonic at 10:30 am that day did the trick. I felt even better last night after rewarding him with $20 of Legos after a very successful Interactive Metronome session. But I do still feel bad for having to put him through that.

2. I have eaten way too many Girl Scout cookies this week! I did mange to lose 4 pounds since I started ChaLean Extreme two weeks ago, but I keep thinking how much more that could be if I hadn't eaten so many yummy cookies!

3. I'm working for the weekend, totally. So looking forward to sleeping in a bit tomorrow and enjoying spending time with family.

4. I had to give poor Bella an impromptu trim the other night after she stuck her head too close to some wet wood stain. I confess that it does not look good at all. But the little paw print she snuck onto some newly poured cement in the back yard *is* adorable.

5. I'm not at all interested in the Super Bowl, but I am so ready for The Voice to start! Go Team Blake!

Modern Day Moms

I'm honored to be featured at Modern Day Moms, where my DIY Mani tips are posted as part of their Beauty 411 series! Stay tuned- I'll be featured again soon with a drugstore beauty post.

Stop by and join their fabulous community!

The Dog I Really Didn't Want

The dog I really didn't want is now the dog I can't imagine not having! She's my little velcro-dog... always underfoot, following me around. So very excited to see me, which is nice because the other two small things in my house are always complaining about the lack of snack choices in our pantry.

So I'm thinking about getting her one of these PetHub Smartphone ID Tags- doesn't that look genius? Amazon has them for $12.50 plus $1.50 shipping and they come in a few different colors, so you don't have to put a pink tag on Butch if that's not his signature color.

From the description on Amazon:

The bar code and web address both point to a free profile for your pet at PetHub's website. This means you can change what's displayed without needing to modify the physical tag. No sign-up fees, no annual fee for the Bronze Subscription. Ever. Just the cost of the tag.

What kind of tag does your dog have? Bella is currently sporting a pink heart tag I printed our phone number on at the Walmartz.

Disclosure: This post contains an Amazon referral link.

Discrepancy

As I place an order for Methyl B12, which doesn't contain cyanide like the B12 I took for over a year (!!!), I find myself craving a Twix. Damn it, it's just down the hall and I even found a crisp dollar bill in my pocket when I got dressed this morning, perfect and ready for our picky candy machine. Kismet? Wasn't that dollar meant to purchase a Twix?

My quest to lose 30 pounds felt like it was going well when I celebrated a 4.5 pound weight loss this morning, but that Twix is my nemesis. There is a discrepancy between my desire to lose weight and my ability to not purchase a Twix.

Discrepancy. That's been the word of the day lately. "P exhibits severe ability/achievement discrepancies in the areas of basic reading, reading fluency, and written expression and is eligible for services for the disability Developmental Delays established Specific Learning Disability."

I was prepared for the IEP meeting when I we received that info. Oh, I had printed out extra copies of suggested accommodations from our eye doctor, brought in examples of his classwork to show areas of concern, and felt ready for anything thrown at me.

But I don't think I was prepared for that sentence. Not at all. It was so official, so final, so foreboding. I wanted to dash out of that conference room, get him from his class, and take him home and take him in my arms and tell him I'd always protect him and never let anyone hurt him. Or embarrass him. Or make fun of him.

Because those are my fears, so they must be his too.

Last night I attended an event with a friend at her church, and oh my gosh I should have taken notes, but my arms felt too heavy to make the effort to get a pen out of my purse. This is probably all sorts of wrong, but the speaker said something to the effect of, "We can teach our kids one of two things. First, the love of the Lord and his grace and protection of us. Or second, to take on our fears."

But I remember being a kid. I remember being taunted for wearing big Sally Jessie glasses when I had an eye infection and having bangs that winged out and walking extremely fast by nature. Freshman year of high school sucked. I remember being left out of things, arriving for plans with a group of friends to discover that everyone had eaten take-out dinner without me, me having been left out of that part of the plans on purpose (I'm not a good dinner companion, I suppose.). Junior year of high school sucked. I remember crying over a Triple Cheese Melt from Arby's with my dad after a silly boy broke my heart. Senior year of high school sucked.

And school was easy for me. So how do I prepare my son for what lies ahead, knowing that there may be even different challenges for him than there were for me? But more importantly, how do I keep from projecting my fears on to him? I think that's that biggest question and what I'm struggling with today.

He's not me. That's what I keep repeating.

Project 365: Last Week

Project 365: 01-16-12

Swatching SinfulColors Sugar Sugar for Manicure Mommas

Project 365: 01-17-12

Yay for Little Debbie seasonal Marshmallow Supremes! I can NEVER find them!

Project 365: 01-18-12

Look who got a little haircut- MUCH better! She can see!

Project 365: 01-19-12

I am loving how this pic in sepia looks in my new Pier 1 frame.

Project 365: 01-20-12

Comparing Physicians Formula Happy Booster blush in Rose vs. the new Pink

Project 365: 01-21-12

Love my $3 Big Lots find- Unchartered TerriTori

Project 365: 01-22-12

More Physicians Formula goodies- the new Matchmaker bronzer and blush

Project 365 Update

Project 365 01-09-12

6 years old, 2nd black eye, eye met door knob on the way into gym class

Project 365 01-10-12

trying to get a good pic- sun is hiding


Project 365: 01-11-12

preparing for P's IEP meeting

Project 01-12-12

getting worse before it gets better

Project 365: 01-13-12

I have the current high score on this Ms. Pac-Man! Yay me!

Project 365: 01-14-12

Oh, Walmart, you make me laugh. Advil next to the beer.

Project 365: 01-15-12

So sad.... my last Diet Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash until next November!

Soup Help Please

We REALLY have great neighbors and we have so many fun things throughout the year- the Block Party, the Poker Tourney (see my trophy above), and two of the guys have a fabulous Dirty Santa Christmas party every year. We've had chili cook-offs, a salsa cook-off, and the Sashas hosted a Mardi Gras party last year.

This Saturday is our yearly neighborhood "cook-off" and this year the theme is "soup". I have a few recipes I found online, but if you have some suggestions, I'm all ears! I'd love to bring home another title!

Currently in the lead is Buffalo Wing Soup, courtesy of A Year of Slow Cooking. I'm also considering her Pizza Soup recipe as well as Cheeseburger Soup.

Leave me some suggestions in the comments please!

Update: Working on My Fitness

You know when you hear about something new several times? And you think, hmmm.... am I supposed to do something with this info? Is the universe telling me something?

Last week, my IRL friend Megan posted:

These are the things I want to focus on this month, and I'll be sharing more on each in detail as we move through January together:
1. Why I quit running (and the weight-training program I've taken up instead).

And later, I saw this facebook post from my friend Liz:



So, friends, ChaLEAN Extreme is on it's way to me! (Click on Shop, then Fitness Programs to check it out.)


But in the meantime, I've reacquainted myself with my old friend Jillian- four nights out of the past five!. I have long been a lover of her 30 Day Shred DVD.

The 30 Day Shred follows a 3, 2, 1 formula (3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio, 1 minute of abs, repeated 3 times) and it a fabulous quick workout. It clocks in at about 23 minutes including the warm-up (I must admit I am a cool-down skipper).

But I've got to tell you that I am loving her newer 3, 2, 1 formula DVD- Ripped in 30- even more.

Here's why:

1. Ripped in 30 has 4 workouts on it, compared to 3 on 30 Day Shred.



2. The workout clocks in at closer to 30 minutes, rather than 23. Nice to add a few minutes, but still stay a manageable length.



3. There are 3 different moves per strength circuit as opposed to just 2. The 30 Day Shred had you doing the same strength move for 1 minute (rough!) and Ripped in 30 does each move for 30 seconds.

So my plan is to continue to do Jillian while I wait for ChaLEAN to arrive. I'm also planning to run the Dallas Rock 'n Roll Half in March, which I did last year and enjoyed. I really need to concentrate on my fitness in 2012, and although I'm not making it an official resolution, I'm setting it as a priority.


Have you tried Jillian or ChaLEAN? Any fitness goals or upcoming races for you?

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon referral links.

Project 365: The Weekend

Project 365: 01-06-12

Sephora by OPI "That's My Fuschia Husband!"

Project 365: 01-07-12

WC with her new art set purchased with a Christmas gift card

Project 365: 01-08-12

The birthday that never ends! WC invited friends to see the new Chipmunks movie with her on Sunday for her birthday celebration. The movie was cute, although I missed quite a bit making eleventy billion trips to the bathroom!

Hmmm.....

Project 365: 01-05-12 Warning!

I have never seen a warning like this on my new Revlon PhotoReady Airbrush makeup! However, I've never used mousse makeup either. I am contemplating whether I want to continue using something on my face that carries such a scary warning sign on it!

Drugstore Makeup Love

Project 365: 01-04-12 Drugstore Haul!

Drugstore makeup is so fun! I think the quality of some drugstore makeup rivals high-end brands.

One brand in particular I really like is Physicians Formula. When I saw they had new colors of their Happy Booster Blush, I was on the hunt.

So of course I picked up a few other things to try as well. After all, I just had a birthday!

Left to right:

L'oreal Colour Riche Balm in Plush Plum (quick review: don't really like it)

Revlon PhotoReady Airbrush in Shell (quick review: liking it! no shimmer like the liquid)

Garnier BB Cream in Light/Medium

Physicians Formula Happy Booster Blush in Pink

Physicians Formula Happy Booster 2-in-1 Bronzer & Blush in Bronze/Rose

Physicians Formula Happy Booster Blush in Warm

Have you picked up any new drugstore makeup lately?

Project 365

I don't take enough pictures! Life is just so busy these days that I actually forget I always have a camera with me- my cell. I am going to set a goal of participating in Project 365 this year to re-train myself to capture memories more. Poor WC doesn't even have a baby book and she turned 6 years old today. I guess I was just planning on handing her a flash drive some day and saying "Here you go!".


So I've decided 2012 is the year- the year of memory making and recording for the Sashas.


New to Project 365? Angry Julie just posted a great Project 365 tutorial, and she's definitely qualified since she participated in 2011.

Here are my first three photos:

01-01-2012
Enjoying our new Modern Family daily calendar

01-02-2012

Celebrating WC's 6th birthday

01-03-2012
Very excited for my Sephora birthday gift- minis of the Original Sugar balm and the Rose version as well

Hello 2012

All I can tell you about planning for 2012 is that the Sashas have made the official move from The Office daily calendar to the Modern Family daily calendar.

I miss Steve Carrell.

But Modern Family... it's perfection. I even convined my so-traditional-so-conservative parents that they would love it, and they begged to borrow my Season 2 even before they finished Season 1. Such comedy gold.

Everything

Best pin ever. (Click to see full-sized)

Tardy for the Party

Look who arrived at the Sasha house yesterday! Christopher Pop-In-Kins!

Yes, I know it was December 23. That's how I roll, very last-minute.

I have never been that excited about the Elf on the Shelf..... I think he's a little creepy.

But when I saw Christopher last week, I had to have him! How cute is he?

He comes with a great book, which we read when he arrived last night. I told the kids I had put in a request for an elf earlier in December, but they were backed up and ours had just arrived, and thank goodness he did, because he would have to head back to the North Pole sometime on the 24th.

And at 3 am I woke up and realized I hadn't moved him. Phew! So now he resides on top of the mantle. And hopefully sometime today I will remember to have him make the trip back to chat with Santa.

Hope you and yours have a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Sashas!

Just wanted to wish you all Merry Christmas!

I'm joining in Angry Julie's Holiday Card Blog Hop! I absolutely love looking at holiday cards!

Soap Box Time

I get so emotional when I watch things about vision therapy, the program that P just competed 28 weeks of.

It is so frustrating that as parents we have to do our own research and find resources ourselves.

The fact that we can't trust opthamologists to make a treatment recommendation for us is unbelievable.

If we had "waited" as it was suggested to us by our opthamologist, where would our son be today? Father behind, that's where.

And I worry for those that can't afford vision therapy. We spent almost $4000 out of pocket, and it was so worth it, but what about families that don't have access to funds like that?

Such a shame that insurance companies don't recognize that vision therapy works.

To end on a positive note, though, P has made fantastic strides since we began vision therapy in May. Although I'm not sure that reading will ever be easy for him, his tracking and focusing have improved so much. He also has had the best attitude through this all- I am so proud of him for that. He understands that everything we are doing, and all the hard work he is having to do, is towards the goal of making reading and school easier for him.

As a supplement to vision therapy, he began Interactive Metronome therapy a few weeks ago with our OT and are already seeing progress there as well.

From www.interactivemetronome.com:

The IM program provides a structured, goal-oriented process that challenges the patient to synchronize a range of hand and foot exercises to a precise computer-generated reference tone heard through headphones. The patient attempts to match the rhythmic beat with repetitive motor actions. A patented auditory-visual guidance system provides immediate feedback measured in milliseconds, and a score is provided.

Over the course of the treatment, patients learn to:

• Focus and attend for longer periods of time


• Increase physical endurance and stamina


• Filter out internal and external distractions


• Improve ability to monitor mental and physical actions as they are occurring


• Progressively improve coordinated performance

Since we suspect P has a visual processing problem in the background, IM will hopefully help him in many areas. Our IEP meeting is on Monday, and I'm anxious to figure out what the school will be able to do to help support his education.

Love Actually

Last night the Mr. and I watched one of my favorite Christmas movies, Love Actually. Such a great movie! And this morning I headed to iTunes (and Amazon as well) ready to download Billy Mack's "Christmas is All Around", and I can't seem to find it available as a single song! iTunes doesn't have it at all, and it's only available on the full album on Amazon. Any other ideas on where I can purchase the song? I pretend to be technologicaly savvy, but we all know I'm not.

Please Watch For

If you are local, please keep your eyes out for Diet Pomegranate 7up.... I have been dreaming about it all year and waiting patiently for it to be released for the holiday season. Haven't see it yet, but as soon as I do, I'll get all the 12 packs I can find!

Holler if you see it!