A New Face

Hi Dolls, 


I know I haven't been around lately, but I pinky promise to work on it. As you all know I am an avid fan of Bare Escentuals, and recently they launched a new skin care line. Obviously this peaked my interest, so I headed over to Sephora and grabbed some samples of the Purely Nourishing Moisturizer and Pure Transformation Night Treatment. I am pretty psyched about both of these and will keep you posted as I burn through some quality samples. Also, a BE boutique is scheduled to open at my local mall this spring, I know what you're thinking......AMAZING!!!!! I will definitely be one of their best customers, and that's a promise. 


In other beauty news, I am nothing without some bad ass black mascara. I am switching mascara to Yves Saint Laurent MASCARA VOLUME EFFET FAUX CILS. I have all the eye lash length I will ever need, but they are platinum blonde and could use some help in the volume and curl department. I was previously using Lancome HYPNOSE, and really liked it....here comes the but. BUT, I was noticing that it was getting pretty dry throughout the day, my lashes weren't holding their curl, and it no longer seemed worth the money. So I am stepping it up to an even more exclusive mascara (insert eye roll here) hoping that all my volume and curl problems will be solved. Cross your fingers!!!!


I have to take a moment and give Sephora completely unsolicited recognition. They have the most amazing return policy, and when you are playing with beauty products trying to find something you like a return policy can be your BFF or worst enemy, wahhh. Sephora will let you return anything at any time, even if you have used some or most of it. They want you to truly give the product a chance and realize that this may take more than 15 or 30 standard days. So, props to you Sephora, for being a girl's best friend! 

I have also been playing with some Alex and Ani bangles trying to come up with some fun wedding looks for the bride or the bridesmaid. I love them layered and am loving this set I recently put together right now....

This is 2 mother of pearl bangles in sphere shape, one blush pink beaded bangle, and one pink birthstone bangle. All shown in gold.

Please excuse the crappy iphone pictures, they don't do the jewelry justice. I think this set would be too cute on my bridesmaids against their black dresses. The pearl adds a classic elegance while the sparkly pink adds some modern sparkle! PSA: These bangles aren't all available individually on the site, but they are in the store or if you call/email them, the customer service department is fantastic!!!!!!

Last but not least...

Verizon now carries the iphone and I was eligible for an upgrade. You know what that means, hehehehe!! I dragged poor fiance to the store two weekends ago and I got the iphone! This turned out to be a win-win situation for both of us. I have been drooling over the iphone forever = win for me. Fiance has been drooling over the ipad since it came out, but didn't want to spend the money on it. Since I no longer needed my ipod touch (the phone holds music) I turned it over to my fiance = win for him and we didn't spend the $500 on the ipad. YAY!

That is all I have for you as of today, but I will leave you with this too cute, AAAWWWWWWW, puppies are amazing photo.

My 5lb papillon fell asleep on my belly on the couch last night. Behold the cutest picture of your life (and mine):

xoxo,

amanda

Done and Done!

Hi Dolls!!!!!!


I have been super busy, and have tons of news for you. The last few weeks of my life in a nutshell are as follows:


1. I got a new job, that I still can't disclose, but I am obsessed with it. Everyone I work with is amazing, and they are all so nice, YAY!


2. We booked our photographer, insert fist pump of glory here (don't judge!). If all else fails we will have pictures of me in my dress with fiance, at the church and the hotel holding our unfinished cake topper (bangin'). This is a feat in and of itself. This was a huge "check" off of my wedding to-do list. For the longest time I couldn't get fiance to understand why pictures of us would cost so much, or why our friends couldn't just use their cameras and email copies to us. While this is what works for some couples, I want keepsake, amazing, once in a lifetime photos of us. It took a ton of explaining to convince fiance that having 2 professional photographers, for 7 hours, with a boat load of benefits, (i.e. an album, rights to the photos, photo editing, etc.) at the price we are getting, is actually a deal. Once he started to understand he let me dddrragggg him to a face to face meeting with the photog, and he fell in love with her style. Now, all he can talk about is how he wants to get a picture of this, or a shot of that, or he'll ask if I think our photog would like the ideas he has for "cool" pictures. He is awfully silly, but I think I will keep him :)


3. Fiance is a pretty amazing valentine, and always knows how to surprise me!


4. My Mom is also amazing Valentine, every year she gets me a gift bag filled with surprises, and this year she made us dinner and Valentine's brownies, yummy!!!


5. My Dad is another amazing Valentine. He left work early to stop by my new job to drop off a card, and impress all of the ladies in the office with his mad suave Dad skills!!!! 


6. I am so blessed to have so many amazing people in my life that I am now sitting here in shear awe at how lucky I am to have all of these incredible people who care so much about me in my life. 


7. I am going to stop before I make you all gag or make myself cry, which ever comes first!


In less mushy news, eat your hearts out. literally.
Valentine's day inspired wedding!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE this wedding!




I hope you all had a great Valentine's week/weekend. I am dying to hear how you celebrated, if you feel like sharing!!!! 
More wedding news to come as I get it. 
xoxo,
amanda

every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end

Hi Dolls!!!
I hope you all had a great 3 day weekend, and for those of you who worked...sorry :(


I have some super exciting news, I GOT A NEW JOB!!!!  I don't want to give too many details yet, until I am actually there, working and getting paid by them it won't seem real. But get excited!!!


I received a Sephora gift card for Christmas, and was out of my fantastic eye cream, so I decided to see what Sephora had to offer. I found a new eye cream that I love 10 times more than my last Olay one.
I found Clinique's repairwear, and I am now pretty obsessed with it. It moisturizes way more than Olay, it is so hydrating that it has worked wonders on my dark circles. I now look rested and all glowey and dewy. I will definitely be buying it again, and I highly recommend it to any bride to be who needs wedding ready eyes.

In other wedding news, I booked the bridal suite for the weekend of the wedding, yay!
The hotel our reception is being held in has contacted me to put together a room block. They have had a conference reach out to them to book 200 rooms, and prior to letting anyone else book for the weekend of my wedding they have given me exclusive reservation rights until February 4th! This is AHHH MAZING, it means I can get my room block together and that way when my guests go to make their reservations the rooms will be available for them at a preferred price point. Conference 0, Amanda 1.


I lost 1.5 lbs this week for my weight loss challenge, then had a set back and ate 3/4 of a bag of cookies....womp womp. So back to the gym it is, I went Monday, today and I am planning on going the rest of the week as well. Next weigh in is on Saturday morning, and I want to lose not maintain (yet). Cross your fingers and put a good word into the skinny bride fairy for me :)


That's all I have for you today, have a great week!!
xoxo,
amanda

2 down, 4 to go!

Hi Dolls!!!


I hope you are all sticking to those New Year's resolutions, one week in!! 
I have been better about my spending, still not where I want to be but this resolution is a work in progress. I have also taken on a January Weight Loss Challenge on my favorite wedding site Project Wedding. My goal is to lose 6 lbs in the month of January, I have already lost 2...great start in my book. I have a fantastic partner, who has had amazing success on the South Beach Diet, she has already lost 10 lbs (jaw drops). I will keep you posted on my less impressive, but still better than nothing progress :)


Other wedding news, I found a hair piece that I like even more than the last one I posted. Fiance likes it too, I am 99.9% sure I will be ordering this within the next month:

...except the ribbon would be white. What are your thoughts?? Does it work with the dress??
I think it will look amazing with all of the blingtastic details on my gown, I drool over this headpiece bit time!!!


I have also found what I think would be a great ring bearer pillow/guest book set for us. One of the amazing ladies on Project Wedding posted it:

If we got this I would go with the guestbook and pen, still 50/50 on the pillow (I may want to use a ring bowl instead). David's Bridal sells the set in separates which is perfect for me, now I just have to wait for a coupon or sale...heavy sigh...


In other news, Jersey Shore Season 3 started this week and I got my fist pump back in action. If you have ever watched it you might agree with this, I hate Sammy she is a B word, a C word and a snot. Snookie is still as hilarious as ever. If you have never seen it, stay away, its like a car accident, once you see it you can't turn away and it becomes addicting. 


It snowed here again this weekend....not enough for fiance to go out and plow, so it was more of an inconvenience for us....grrrrr, no plowing = no extra money, double grrrr.


That is all I have for you today.
I hope you had/have a great weekend!
xoxo,
amanda

Happy 2011!

Hi Dolls,
I know that I have been super MIA on here and on fb lately, and I need to apologize for that. I had a super busy holiday season, but I am back, and I am hoping that 2011 will be a much better year.
Since I last logged in a ton of stuff has happened....
I went to the Alex and Ani sample sale and stood outside for an hour and a half at 7am on a Saturday morning in 20 degree weather. All to score some deals. I was able to get bangles for $10.00 each EEPPPPP! I got one for my Mom, my BFF and myself. YAY!!! So now I have successfully hooked 3 people, my Mom, BFF and me. 
Thanksgiving was very relaxing this year.
Christmas was a great time, but also hectic. Both of my parents are remarried and Fiance has a huge family, so sometimes it feels like we spend more of Christmas weekend in the car. Have you ever seen the movie Four Christmas'???? That's us, but we don't have a Range Rover :)


What many of you don't know is that I got onto the world's worst insurance plan in 2010. I had to pay for everything, EVERYTHING, out of pocket...we are talking $200 a Dr's visit....$235 for my lady appointment....$200/mo in prescriptions....WHAT THE FRENCH!!!!!
This year I am pleased to announce that I got on a regular, normal plan with deductibles, insert HUGH sigh of relief here.


This is the time of year to make New Year's resolutions. Mine: stop wasting money. 
At this point you are probably asking yourself how a bride to be, at an entry level position with a mortgage, car payment, and student loans could even afford to waste money now. Well, I can't and that is why I need to stop. So, I will not be buying lunch at work anymore unless we legitimately have nothing in the house. Every time I go to the mall I will ask myself, is this something I need or want? If the answer is want, then I will put it on a list somewhere and when I get a bonus at work or when it's my birthday I will revisit that list and make some decisions. No more buying food at the market that will end up going bad. I will make a list ahead of time and go in with a budget. I will also start using cash more for day to day purchases. I have found that I am much more likely to use my debit card than cash. I think twice before handing over 3 $20.00 bills, but I don't think twice about using my debit card for $60.00.


I also promise not to abandon you for  over a month again :)


What are your New Year's resolutions?
How do you plan to keep them?


xoxo,
amanda

newest obsession

Hi Dolls!!
I hope that you all had an amazing Thanksgiving, ours was very relaxing...and for the first time since I have been a working gal at the age of 16, I had black Friday off. WOOOOHOOOO!!! Fiance and I hit up the malls and got some great deals, I will definitely do everything in my power to get it off again next year :)


A few things that have happened since I abandoned you 2 weeks ago:
My mom turned 50 (insert your best AARP joke here!!) HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!! I gave her the birthday gift I found on Etsy and she cried, it mad me so happy that she loved it.
I have found 98234029384 things that I want Santa to leave under my tree. 
Our tree is up and the Christmas decorations have taken over our condo.

My Mom and I saw Pauly D, from the Jersey Shore, in Homegoods at 2:30 pm on a Friday afternoon, with a body guard.....good choice Pauly D, Homegoods is known for getting super out of control at a moments notice.
I lost 1 lb :) This is awesome for me since it takes me a super long time to lose weight, now I am on a health kick to keep it off and work on the next one, yay!!!!!


Wedding events:
I have decided that the headband I posted last time is #1 on my list, but that I want to wait to get one until my dress comes in and I can go see it again. I have saved it under my "faves" on Etsy. 
My BFF/MOH and I discovered a Jeweler in Newport this summer, Alex and Ani. I had totally forgotten about them until recently, and I have been scouring their website. Their jewelery is made from recycled materials from the US, and it is so fun!!
I have fallen in love with this bangle, which happens to be my favorite color, and has a special wedding meaning:
"Known as the love stone, October's rose helps the wearer feels a strong sense of self-worth, therefore being worth love. Rose is also the stone of unconditional love in marriage. Wear rose to motivate gentleness, forgiveness, compassion, kindness and tolerance. Each charm hangs from Alex and Ani's patented Expandable Wire Bangle, the most innovative concept in jewelry, which allows the wearer, with the slide of a hand, to adjust the bangle for a perfect fit. Wear alone or mix and match with other Alex and Ani styles for a custom look. Available in Yellow Gold and Shiny Silver".


So, I am really hoping this pink one might be under my tree, or any tree that Santa leaves gifts under for me :). I also think this would be a super fun gift for my Bridesmaids, because it will match my wedding and I love the unconditional love theme that it carries with it. 


I discovered a body scrub this week from Aerie, it smells like sugar cane and it makes my skin baby soft and all glowing.  As of right now, you can't buy it online, but I was able to score 3 for $15.00 in the store. They are regularly priced at $14.50 each, so I got an amazing deal. If you get a chance to stop into an Aerie store, and if their body products are on sale, get a scrub, it will change your life (obviously I have a very exciting life if a body scrub is a game changer hahahahahahahahaha). Seriously though, its amazing and I am sorry I haven't discovered it sooner. Go try it out and get your bridal glow on!!!



That is all that I have for you this week! Have a great weekend!
xoxo,
amanda

fighting the urge

Hi Dolls!!!


I am dying for this headpiece... I really want it for the wedding! What do you think? Will this work with my dress?? It's only $39.00....maybe Santa will get it for me .
It can be found here on Etsy. This seller has a ton of other wedding day chic hair accessories and head pieces that double as sashes/belts, just like this one!




Also, I need to tell you about my Maid Of Honor/BFF's boyfriend's movie....

November 20th my friend's indie film Gotta Find Barry premiere's at the Park Cinema in Cranston. The story of 2 gravediggers who break into a haunted mansion to find the spirit of their dead best friend so they can hang out one last time. It'll be a fun night, so go to richcampent.com and buy a ticket for $10!!!!!

If you are in RI you need to go see it, the trailer is hilarious and I am sure the movie won't disappoint!!

Hope you are having a good Tuesday. Don't forget to check out the movie, and leave me some opinions on the head piece. I love inexpensive glam wedding pieces!

xoxo,

amanda