Look What I Found!

Today I had the brilliant idea that I should clean out all of my bags. I have a laundry basket full of bags, many that I do not use regularly. I was looking for an Alice gift card (click for a referral link) that I knew had twenty something dollars left on it, but instead of finding that gift card, I found all of this stuff:


1 bottle of nail polish, 6 cotton swabs, 2 nail files, 1 wood cuticle pusher, 4 elastic bands, 1 barrette, 11 bobby pins, 1 tube of mascara, 4 lip glosses, 1 hand sanitizer, 2 chapsticks, 2 band-aids, 2 cough drops, 1 face cream, 5 tampons


1 packet of Splenda, 2 pieces of candy, 1 bookmark made at camp, 50 cents in change, 1 stack of napkins, 1 Tide to go, 1 moist towelette, 2 matchbooks, 2 pairs of ipod headphones, 4 gift cards/certificates with balances, 1 CD (New Moon soundtrack)


4 pads of Post-It notes, 19 pens, 7 pencils, 4 batteries, 11 paperclips

I also found countless receipts and 12 pay stubs. Clearly I need to clean out my bags before I put them in my basket. I can't get over the number of writing utensils. Hilarious!

Winner!

Wow. Le Creuset was a good choice for a giveaway!

There were 122 eligible entries and the lucky number was 110. Congrats La Petite Chic!

Easy Italian

Where I grew up in NY there are a plethora of amazing Italian restaurants and I come from a family of very talented Italian cooks. Needless to say, I have a high standard for Italian cuisine. When we moved to DC (and NC, for that matter) I was greatly underwhelmed by the quality of Italian restaurants. When we first tried the Italian food various places had to offer, we ALWAYS left unhappy and longing for the food from home (both home cooked and from our favorite restaurants). Now we know better and rarely eat at Italian restaurants....so I have to get my fix via my own kitchen. (Or by ordering from this yummy place and having them ship it to us....but that is only for special occasions!)

Given my snobbishness, I should be ashamed of what I just whipped up in my kitchen. However, the meal was delicious, easy, and way cheaper than anything we could have gotten at a subpar restaurant in town. I had all the ingredients on hand and it required no planning whatsoever.

Here's how you can do it too:

• Boil water and cook your favorite pasta. My pasta of choice tonight was penne.

• Butter two pieces of Italian bread and sprinkle with garlic powder or garlic salt. Bake on a cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes in a 350 degree oven

• Put together a mixed greens with garbanzo beans and croutons (I usually add roasted red peppers to salads, but didn't have any on hand today)

• Heat Bertolli Premium Pasta Sauce (we used Vodka Rustica, but also love the Champignon & Portobello sauce with angel hair) in the microwave for 90 seconds

• Transfer cookie sheet to the broiler and let bread cook for 1-2 minutes to help make the bread crispy

• Pour the sauce on the pasta, grate Parmesan cheese over the sauce, serve with the bread and salad, and enjoy!

No, Bertolli isn't offering me money, or products, or anything for this post. I just really love their microwaveable sauces. I know I am probably breaking some unspoken, Italian cardinal rule by liking a sauce that comes in a pouch and is cooked in the microwave, but I don't care. They are easy, convenient, and taste great. With the staples that I always have on hand, the sauce helped me pull together a last minute, delicious meal. I will definitely continue to buy them, especially until I can make my own killer sauce and/or we move back to a town with good Italian food.

Le Creuset Giveaway!

I am so excited for this giveaway! Last week I was contacted by a guy at CSN stores about an opportunity to host a giveaway for any one of their millions of products. CSN is an e-commerce company with over 200 online stores, including one that sells mailboxes, another that sells barstools, and a site dedicated to cookware. I browsed a few of their stores and found countless things I would love to offer, but ultimately decided that I could not pass up the opportunity to give away some Le Creuset!

So without further a do....

One lucky lady (or guy) has the opportunity to win a Le Creuset 9" Square Baking Dish AND a 5" Baking Dish in Caribbean!According to the Cookware.com website:

Le Creuset's Square Dish is truly an all-in-one dish that you can use for baking, slicing, serving, and storage. Poterie Stoneware can be used in the oven, broiler, or microwave and will not absorb odors or flavors. The durable finish resists chipping, scratching and staining. This beautiful and colorful piece has sure grip handles to go straight from baking to tabletop, making an impressive presentation.

Features:

• Bonus 5" Baking Dish
• Bold Caribbean color
• Does not absorb odors and flavors
• Oven and microwave safe
• Durable, non-porous enamel resists chipping, scratching, staining
• Convenient grip handles
• Refrigerator and freezer safe

Specifications:

• Material: Stoneware
• Dimensions: 9" W
• Capacity: 1.5-Quart
• Cleaning and Care: Dishwasher safe

To enter, please leave a comment with your favorite item from any of the CSN stores. You can receive additional entries by posting about this giveaway on your blog and/or tweeting about the giveaway with a link back to this post. You will get one additional entry for blogging and one additional entry for tweeting, for a total of three possible entries. Make sure you note in your comment if you have done one or both. Unfortunately, I can only accept entries from the U.S. and Canada. This giveaway will close on February 7th, 2010 at 5 PM EST. The winner will be announced on February 8th, 2010.

Here are a couple of my favorite items to help get you started!

Whitehall Products Bone Leash Holder. This would be perfect for Kona's many leashes, and the best part is it can be personalized for free!

Rogar Hammered Steel Bookshelf Pot Rack. If we owned our place I would definitely hang this on the exposed brick wall to save space in our kitchen!

ETA: Ugggggh Blogger!! Why must you be so difficult to format!?!? Please excuse the color/font/size changes. I can't figure out how to make them all the same. Boo!

Outfit Planning FAIL

Some of you may have noticed that I did not post my outfits this week. We got a few inches of snow on Saturday so naturally my school district decided yesterday that we would be having a two hour delay this morning. I knew I would have plenty of time to get dressed today so I decided to relax last night and save my outfit planning for tonight.

Now for the funny part.....

Guess what I am wearing today?

My "uniform" of course!

Cable knit sweater - Loft

Brown pants (at least they have a pattern!) - Gap

Suede loafers in Merlot - LL Bean

I tried to add some flair with my headband. I get fun credit for that right??


Ignore that lovely splotch on my throat. I've mentioned a few times that I have super sensitive skin. I must have been touching my neck right before I took this picture, hence the splotch.

This just proves that if I want to wear fun, creative outfits that don't consist of cable knit sweaters and some form of khaki pants, then I need to plan ahead!

Bridal Shower Info Request

Alright ladies....I need your help!

I am planning a bridal shower for my best friend and I do not know where to begin. We just picked a date and now I am trying to get all the bridesmaids on the same page so that we can start the planning process.

What are your tips, ideas, etc.?

The bride's only request is that we do not play any games, so other than that I am open to anything.

I also am looking for bridal shower invitations, so if you have seen any that you absolutely love please let me know!

Thanks in advance!

Keep Calm and Carry On

Thank you all for your sweet comments! It sounds like a lot of people were having crappy days as well. I hope everyone is feeling refreshed this morning and ready for a new day.

I have another rough day ahead of me, but I am just trying to remember this motto:

Image via Amazon

I also try to remember that there is a glass of wine, a snuggly puppy, and an adoring husband (who brought home Red Velvet cupcakes yesterday) waiting for me at home. Thank God that they always make me feel better!!

Call Me Alexander

Today has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Image via Amazon

I am overwhelmed and very stressed.

I am going to head home tonight, make dinner, take a bath, and just relax so that I can get up with a better attitude tomorrow.

I just have to remember that things may not be all that bad and I am lucky to have a job. Right, Alexander??

Outfits for the Week!

Is it really Sunday night already?

This past week was a big success and I wore the exact outfits I had planned for each day. It was so nice waking up knowing that I would not have to venture into my closet to find something to wear. I will admit that there were two days where I thought "I really don't want to wear this" as I was getting dressed, but those moments were fleeting and did not creep back into my thoughts for the rest of the day. I actually really liked all the outfits I put together and felt great about what I was wearing every day.

I just finished putting together my outfits for this week and I must say it was a tad harder than last week. I tried to incorporate color and mix things up, but I am not sure how successful I was. Let me know if you have any suggestions for how to make the outfits better!

Monday (no school for the kids; training for me):

Black Bottom Ruffles Tee, Always Skinny Jeans: Gap
Beige Cardigan: J Crew
Black Pumps: Cole Haan
Pearl/Chain necklace: American Eagle circa 2004 maybe?

Tuesday (test*ing observation):

Ivory turtleneck sweater: Loft
Ruffle Dress: J Crew
Ivory tights: drug store?
Brown leather boots: Stein Mart circa 2006

Wedensday (meeting day):

Blue Ruffle top: Gap
Fushia cardigan: J Crew
Khaki Martin pants: Banana Republic
Rose bow belt: Old Navy
Brown Mary Janes: Payless circa 2007

Thursday (lots of time with kids):

Pattern Dress: TJ Maxx circa 2008
Teal tights: Gap
Black Cardigan: Loft
Ruffle flats: BC Footwear

Friday (lots of time with kids):

Silvery tank top: Loft
Purple Cardigan: J Crew
Polka dot belt: J Crew
Joe's Jeans
Silver Revas

As I just typed everything I see that I like cardigans and ruffles this week. It's funny how I didn't realize that I was picking similar things until now. Oh well. I'll try to add more variety next week! I also want to try and wear different shoes next week. Clearly I wear the same ones over and over. I didn't pick jewelry for the last couple of days because I want to see what will go best with the outfits once I have them on. Again, let me know if you have any suggestions!

The Classics

Last week after dinner at Hook for Restaurant Week, AJ and I decided to stop at Barnes & Noble to use a gift card I received from my Secret Snowflake (we're very PC at my school). I really hate shelling out money for books unless there is something specific I need, so I browsed the Home & Gift section for stationary, desk accessories, and organization stuff. There were a bunch of things I wanted, including all of the red crocodile items, but I couldn't decide on just one thing so I gave up and went to find AJ to see if there was anything he wanted.

As we continued to browse we stumbled upon the Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classics. Have you seen these? If there is one kind of book I will buy brand new, it is a classic. These are beautiful books and are a steal at $20 a pop. I really want to collect them all so that we have the books available for our future children. For now we settled on one for each of us, which should hold us over for a while.

The Complete Sherlock Holmes for him and Jane Austen's Seven Novels for me.

I have only read one of Jane Austen's books, but it was back in high school so I don't really remember what it was about. I also haven't seen any of the movies. I am hoping to read all seven novels by the end of the summer. I am in two book clubs so I will be reading other books between now and then as well. I think I can do it, right?

I also plan to read Sherlock Holmes at some point. AJ already finished the first story, and he said he will never be able to enjoyably read another author's mystery novels because these books are so well written.

Have you read any of these books? Which is your favorite?

ETA: Barnes & Noble did not ask me to write this and I was not paid for this post. Do I really have to write this every time I talk about a product? Lame!