Dessange your own way!

Ah!
It seems like it has been FOREVER since I have actually even looked at this thing. Shame on me. I should have been blogging periodically about things, even if only for my own benefit.

But SURPRISE: since this is my first blog in a while - it'll be nothing less than a review of a product I was recently selected to try. TADA!
Thanks to Influenster and Dessange Paris - I got to try a new hair product line that is now available at target called, obviously, Dessange Paris.

What was included in the nice little box where Illuminating shampoo, Illuminating conditioner and a Rise out Brass color correcting creme. They also have a  Illuminating Elixer, which sadly I did not get to review. Now, these products were targeted towards blonde hair, thus why it these products are called California Blonde.

The one thing that I will say straight forward is that these products are not sulfate free, which is generally the shampoos I stick to. And even though I do not mind using sulfate shampoos, especially if they are good - it would be even more awesome if this was sulfate free line.

So, lets start with this shampoo and conditioner. Both are suppose to brighten, and bring out the color radinance and softness of  the hair. Both did accomplish that in the end. I absolutely love the way that this shampoo lathers up, which probably has to do with the sulfates in it, but it just amazing how little shampoo you actually needed to get the job done. And the conditioner worked very well on its own to untangle hair, and leaving it managable, although as always - I find that I need to use more conditioner than shampoo. Both have passion flower scents which make a nice hot shower even nicer. Seriously, they both smell amazing and it doesn't just dissapiate when you get out of the shower and towel off your hair.  Both are about 9$ at Target, so its not too far off from the shampoos that I usually spend money on including Organix, Not your Mothers and L'Oreal EverPure. Its likely that this will be a shampoo that I use sparsely - because like I said, I like to stick to sulfate free, but I can see myself keeping this on hand, especially for summer.

Now, moving right along to the brass color correcting creme. I absolutely LOVE this stuff. Its a once a week treatment, of basically adding blue pigments to your hair. And now you don't even have to go to a specialty store to find it,  IT'S RIGHT AT TARGET!

If you have platinum blonde hair - like I do, you know how annoying it is to have brassy looking hair due to weather, other shampoos and even sun. Which is why we have things like toner, or purple shampoos to help fight the brass. For this I usually use Ions purple conditioner that is paraben free, but honestly - this stuff may have just won me over. Its a little bit more pricey at 11$ but unlike purple shampoos - this actually adds blue pigment to your hair. Its is a rinse out, and you're suppose to keep in on for 5 to 10 minutes and rinse. I found that it also conditioned my hair, so there were no tangles as well, but for those that are lighter blondes - watch the clock. Because if you leave in too long, you WILL end up with a temporary shade of bluish grey in your hair. Much like if you leave on toner for too long. But the hair comes out looking great, and I can say that, at least for me, this will definitely prolong the times I need to go between between root touch ups.

So this is a picture of myself on New Years. You can see how the my roots are starting to look pretty brassy, and while florescent lights definitely do not help the situation - I have to use purple shampoo and toner to combat this issue. I tend to use those two products about once a week, or twice a week during summer. After using the the whole line, the brassiness was pretty much gone.

Pretty big difference, and this was just after one use (this was my first use and I left the rinse out treatment on a little too long, so a bit of my hair is more greyish than white in this picture, ha ha).  But a week later, my hair still doesn't have as much brassiness as it would if I had continued to just use the Ion purple conditioner that I have. The brass color correcting creme also works really well by itself, so if there is only one item that you feel like you need to buy - that would be my suggestion.

So overall, the line is great. Like I said, its likely that I would only purchase the shampoo/conditioner once in a while when I need to "switch up" shampoos (am I the only one that does this?), but I don't think that I would use it on an every wash basis. However, I am totally converted to this brass color correcting treatment. And even though, its a bit more and you get less - I'm willing to spend it because I also don't have to use it as often.

I am so grateful that I was able to try a product that I truly love. So once again, thank you influenster!

So much slacking, but yaaay first Vox box.

I feel like I just stopped writing in this, I have no idea why it seems like this year just flew by in a flash. A lot has happened and in fall, even more will be happening. Ayden will be going to PreK and I will likely be going back to work. My husband and I celebrated seven years together, and our first year of marriage. Husband and I attended the WWE Raw Monday Night event and ended up being on tv, since we were in the front couple of rows. I've been whipping myself back into shape and am closer to my goal weight than ever before.

But for now, I guess I just wanted to share what I got in my very FIRST spring vox box from Influenster.

This box included:

1.  Rimmel London Scandaleyes Retro Glam Mascara - which are suppose to make your eyes look bold, wide and have more volume. You're also suppose to get a less clumpy result, I suppose in part because of the way the wand is shaped. 
2. Kiss Everlasting French Nails - which I am somewhat skeptical about, as I have never had a good experience with fake nails. But these are suppose to be super comfortable, flexy and have a "real short" length, which is great for those of us who do not like having long nails.
3.  Peach pie car Freshener from the Labor Day Movie - which I have actually yet to see, but a car freshener is always good, right?
4. Playtex Sports Fresh Balance - which by the brand, at least the females can guess that its tampons. I've actually seen the commercials about this type with my girl friend. They are suppose to have "order shield" that is designed to neutralize any type of order and it has "sport protection" for the athletic woman. My friend and I were just wondering how big the whole oder thing is an issue, but none the less, I'm happy I don't have to spend money this month on tampons. 
5. Nivea Skin Firming Hydration Lotion - which promises firmer and more toned skin, within as little as two weeks!
6. Softlips cube - Promises radiant, soft, moisturized lips. And its also available in Pomegranate Blueberry, Fresh mint and Vanilla Bean.

Of course upon receiving the package (which I had forgotten about), I ripped the package open with glee and got started looking and trying out some of these products. So far, I can tell you that the Nivea cream is nice, not very greasy but it stings on my hands and irritates my eczema on them. It might be because it seems to have a scent. Oddly enough, it did not irritate the eczema on my face, so I might end up using it on my face exclusively. Its weird because I've used Nivea creams before and had no problems with the ones I've used. I have also tried out the Scandaleyes Retro Glam Mascara, which is wonderful. It really doesn't clump, and makes my eye looks pretty wide with the bolder eyelashes.

It not insanely outrageous, but it gets the job done, and while I usually use two different mascaras to get a more bold look, I noticed that with this all that was needed was just a few strokes. So, comparatively, this is a pretty good mascara to the ones that I'm used to using. The one that I use most is L'Oreal Paris double edge mascara, which gives me length but is not quite so dark and thus not so "dramatic." Last but not least I used the Softlips cube, which is pretty adorable, and does add shine and moisturize. The only down side is that its flavored. I hate flavored lip balm. It seems that it needs to be reapplied often and I feel like I lick most of it off than keep on. Weird. But its very compact, and kind of looks like a case that you can store loose power in. The actual lip balm is a cute semi circle attached to the top. So while its cute, and does provide moisture relief - its not something I will personally go out and buy due to the whole flavor factor.

That leaves only  a few things untested, and I really can't wait until I have the opportunity to try out the Everlasting French Nails. 


ETA: I tried them out. They are still a bit longer than expected, so I filed them down. Application was probably the hardest part, it was a bit messy (or I just don't know how to put on nails) and some of it got on my skin. That is some strong stuff, let me tell you. But all in all it looks good.

More clothes that inspire me!

 

Halloween is so close!

This weekend was a lot of our Pre Halloween outings. A couple of weeks ago, we went out to Grants Farm to partake in their spooky festivities (that night we also found out the Cardinals were going to the world series!) and our family enjoyed the haunted tram ride, magic show and just wondering around the Grants farm grounds.

But of course, closer to the end of the night is started to pour, and a few days later we all ended up with a cold. Our son got the worst of it though he had a fever in the higher 100's. Between taking care of myself, my sick child and my poor husband, I somehow managed to finish our costumes that week.  But we're all still pretty congested at the point.

At any rate, on Friday we went to Boo at the Zoo, it ended up being WAY colder than it was in previous years and but as always, worth it. They have so much set up to see and do! We walked around for at least an hour and a half just enjoying all of the decorations they set up and looking at other peoples costumes. Ducia automatically made friends with two other little ones that were also dressed up as dinosaurs.

showing off his spider, he never knows what to do with closeups.

Lets not lose our heads.

The zoo was dressed up in spooky areas, starting with the straw maze that was new this year. It was pretty small, but considering who the maze was set up for - it was perfect. Ducia lead us into dead ends twice, and kept trying to point people in the right direction when he saw them going the wrong way. They also had a crafts area, which this year was set up inside where kids got to make spiders. Although I think our favorite areas were the "Venus Fly Trap Forest," which scared Ducia a bit when a "swamp monster" crept out of the grass but he quickly recovered and wanted to go again, and the "Haunted Hollow with Creepy caverns and spooky swamp" which was basically the same thing - but with more spiders. All in all it was pretty fun even though by the end of the night we were all frozen. 

The next day, Jose and I had to go to the Central West End which holds a Halloween celebration every year. This year was a lot better (and the Cards won!) it was much warmer and many people recognized who I was (although I did get at least one person who thought I was Elvira and one who had never even seen Who framed Roger Rabbit). I was a bit frustrated with my wig because we had been to two Halloween stores and still unable to find a wig that looked more like Jessica Rabbits hair. So we settled for one that was red and long, at that point I was kind of over it. We also had to get me some gloves (and hubby too) and some red shoes (which I am now in love with). Hubby was pretty easy to shop for - except apparently rabbit ears are more of a "girl accessory" and so we were unable to find any that weren't "sexy bunny ears." I mean, come on. Really? There is NO regular rabbit ears? Why must everything be sexy?! Anyway, CWE was pretty awesome this year and there were a ton of costumes that were just excellent. I think my most memorable moment was watching a girl who was decked out in Belles yellow dress and just gorgeous, pull out a cigarette and start smoking.  There was also a couple who were fully decked out in 18th century garb and they were just brilliant. It was probably my favorite costumes by far. They probably cost and arm and a leg too. 

I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way

Male Harley Quinn is out to destroy my dear husband.

 We ended up taking a lot of pictures with people, and being asked quite a few times to pose with people as well. By the time we got home around 1, I was ready to just crawl into bed and fall into a dead sleep. 

Then Sunday, my husband had to finish painting my moms living room (he is basically her go to guy for remodeling her house, he did her kitchen during the summer) while my mom and I went out to take Ducia out to Ghouls in the Garden which was a sold out event at our local Botanical Gardens. 

Trick or treat

My mom always says it reminds her of communist Russia, because pretty much all you do most of the time you're there is stand in line and wait to receive their treats. We got there at 2:30 and were pretty much done by 4:30, and a majority of that time was spent standing. Although we did get to go to the Children's Garden as well, and got to read and do puzzles. This is our second year going, and hopefully we'll be able to go again next year. I love how they set up the garden for this event and the fact that they don't hand out just candy, some of it is popcorn, home made cookies, they even have gluten free snacks they pass out and a "watering station" where you can enjoy a concoction. When we got home, I was put in charge of carving my mom a pumpkin. I always know Halloween is just around the corner when I have to carve her a pumpkin. I have yet to carve mine! 

By the time I finished it was really dark so you can't really see it. But I had to glue all of these spiders onto the pumpkin and that seriously felt like it took forever. I eventually switched to fast drying superglue, which I was hoping to avoid because I hate how it feels on my hands. But my mom seemed to like it, I'm opting for a simpler look this year. Less face like and a bit more decorative. I haven't even ventured into our basement to get our big blow up Frankensteins monster thing.  Or any of the decorations I usually hang up. 

And yesterday, my family decided to go to six flags, which was surprisingly closed for the season. I could have sworn that they are usually doing fright fest until at least Halloween, but it seems like they since this year Halloween is on a Thursday - they just closed up shop. It was kind of disappointing (lets not even mention the fact that I bought a "fun pass" and only went ONCE). So we ended up going to to Creepy World, this is the second house this month we've been to (the first one we went to is the darkness)  and can I just say, I am way too timid to be rude to people or really be "scared." The thing I hate most about Haunted houses is the loud noises and people constantly yelling at you, its not frighting, its startling and a tad bit annoying. Creepy World is like 7+ haunted houses in one location and you go through all of them. I usually go in front because, as I said, I don't really "do" scared. Sisters in law were having a jolly time, and clutching to hubby the whole way. Followed by this guy we know, who was scared out of his mind. Its always mind boggling when guys are more scared than the girls. :) For 5$ extra you get to do Zombie hayride paint ball (which I didn't know it was going to be paintball, and I didn't really want to do it) 

Photo bombing is becoming a trend. (Benji, Fani, Jose & Dulce)

Its really uncomfortable to wear those goggles on top of glasses, so I wasn't able to see anything, topped with getting paint splattered on my favorite sweater - it just wasn't my cup of tea. The guy who photo bombed the picture was part of a group who's "one of those guys" that go to haunted houses and mess with the people there. Entertaining to watch, to be honest. But probably pretty annoying to the workers. The rest of the house was okay, although, like I said, I'm too timid to be rude, so when the workers start talking to me, I oblige in awkward small talk. I will say that that my least favorite part was the fun house of terror, because this very push clown was really aggressive and like shoved me out of the way in one part. One of the nicer people of the night was a guy dressed up as a joker carrying a huge ax and that was trying to taunt me ("I'm going to get you!") he also had a tiny light up ax which I told him was the cutest thing I'd seen, and he told me that he'd use it to chop me up. It was a laughable moment. 

And here we are closer to Halloween now than when we started. Its suppose to rain all the rest of the week, so I'm not sure where we stand on trick or treating, but hopefully the forecast changes between now and then. Ducia has been watching a lot of Nightmare Before Christmas and has become obsessed with the song "This is Halloween," he keeps running about the house just singing it, always followed by "whats this?" Its adorable. 

I also repainted our entry room and am in the process of painting our living room. I'll post about both when I'm done. And now I'm off to prepare myself for a spooky Halloween, by watching horror movies galore.

What I want in my closet.

Recently I've been more active on pintrest, as I for a while, lost interest. But upon coming back, I've discovered just how many inspirations pintrest has. I've been looking at mostly clothes, because being the clothes hoarder that I am (haha), I have a closet full of stuff that I actually do not need. I cleaned out my closet in the middle of summer getting rid of the things that I usually don't wear and just donating them, and I'm thinking its probably time to do it again, since I should stock up on more wintery clothes. Plus, I need to part with some of my character tees. 

I've recently discovered that I really love the way tulle things look paired with jean jackets, and adding a bit of edge to an otherwise femme outfit.

Tulle with jean jacket, polka dots with solid scarf, ruffled back, neon splash

Bird print, business casual, knee high boots, motorcycle jackets, femme dresses with solid sweaters, lace and low back

Beige pumps, tulle with sweater, tights with flowy skirts, print tights through pants, mid calf brown boots

If its cold, more (mushroom and wild rice) soup will do

I've been pretty obsessed with this easy to make mushroom soup I've devised up. It came from the idea of my son eating chicken and wild rice soup when he wasn't feeling his greatest. I don't eat chicken, so I wanted to find something that would replace that. Mushrooms, I find, add a lot of flavor and protein. I don't measure most things that I make, unless I'm following a specific recipe and even then, after I master it - I eyeball ingredients and try and make it my own.

All the things you may need

The things that you will need (which you can change or add to, if you do/don't have the ingredients) Black pepper corn, Chives, Salt, Basil, Dill Weed, Mushrooms, Wild rice, Garlic, Cream of Mushroom, Bay Leaves, Green Beans, Carrots and Celery. There are many times when I add in parsley, or use different mushrooms - like Shiitake instead of the regular white mushrooms.

I always start off with the two things that need to be sautéed. Garlic and Mushrooms. I add a bit of olive oil to the pot, use two garlic cloves and about five or six mushrooms. Both are sautéed in the pot until the garlic is golden brown and the mushroom a bit soft.

Lightly sautee those mushrooms and garlic!

Next come the carrots, celery, green beans, and if you have some other thing to add - that too (peppers, onions, squash, potatoes, even beans). I'm not a big fan of cooked vegetables, but devour them raw. I use a handful of carrots, handful of green beans, and one stalk of celery. After I add those, I add water and turn the heat to low.

Choppy, chop, chop

Next come the spices. Salt to taste, two to three whole peppercorns, Basil, Dill weed (which makes any soup better - in my opinion and smells delicious!), Chives and two bay leaves.

Herbs and spices

I let this simmer for a bit, and then add wildrice (I used box ones, which contain an herb packet, which you can use or not use, I use a little bit of it). Or you can even use brown rice. I let the soup sit until the rice is tender, sometime you might have to add more water if it has gotten too low. After the rice is tender, stir in the Cream of Mushroom. Let the soup simmer for another 10 minutes.

And WAHLA! Delicious, delicious wild rice and mushroom soup. On the down side the soup becomes less soupy the longer it stands, so I when I reheat a bowl it in a pot I add some water to it. I also eat most of my soups with sour cream, in this case, I sometimes like to add Salsa as well. I've been eating this soup for about three weeks now, and I haven't grown tired of it because each week it changes if I have something extra to add or if I want to switch it up.

enjoy!

Délicieux! Fantastique! Jouir de!

Don Jon

My husband and I recently went out on a date night, because we haven't spent enough quality time together AND my inlaws felt like Ducia should spend more time with his cousins, but that is a story for another day.

After a whole bunch of debate on what exactly we were going to see, he watched to see Gravity and I wanted to see Insidious 2 (as I'm always down for any horror movie), we settled on Don Jon. Joseph Gordon-Levitte's first film. If you guys don't know, he started up a company called hitRECord, which is an amazing art community - so many new and young artists uploading their art, music, stories, poems, everything. Its just down right cool. On top of having a very cool production company, there will also now be a hitRECord show - basically a variety of show, where anyone and everyone can contribute. Anyway, if you're interested, link is up there.

Lets just jump right into the movie though, below is the trailer.

The one thing that first comes to mind after watching the movie and rewatching the trailer, is that they try to sell the movie as more of a comedy that it actually is. I mean, its a funny film that I really liked - but it wasn't a total comedy. The base of this movie is really focused around on a guy (Jon) who is a total play boy, but is also addicted to porn. My husband and I disagreed on this for the better part of the movie, because as he thought, 'the guy just enjoys porn' I quickly saw a problem when Jon said he preferred porn to the  real thing AND he would watch porn after he had sex and a "release." At any rate, Jon finally finds a girl he thinks he can commit to, but alas his porn still takes priority and once his girlfriend finds out he watches porn (several times a day, I might add), he lies, tells her it was a one time thing, and swears he will never look at it again. That, of course - is a lie. His relationship progresses, he takes Barbra to meet his family, who are thrilled because they think he has found the one, he stops hanging out with his buddies in favor of pleasing his new girlfriend, she even convinces him to take night classes so he can get a new "better" job. And as we see, from his side this amazing relationship is being built off of the lie that he doesn't watch porn, which is what Barbra expects, and from her side its being built solely on her expectations which are slightly unrealistic. In one scene Jon is helping Barbra pick out curtain rods and tells Barbra he's going to go get some swiffer pads, to which she cops an attitude asking why he cleans and how embarrassing it is for a grown man to clean his own house and insists he gets a maid. This is clearly NOT a match made in heaven, but since a relationship is a new thing for Jon, its quite clear he doesn't know any better. Julianna Moore (Esther) plays a pretty small - but crucial role in the film, Jon meets her at school. At first he isn't very interested in her, she is a mess and very forward. But as it usually always happens, the truth about Jons frequent porn use comes out, Barbra looks at his Internet history and sees he often looks at porn (46 times in one day!) and breaks up with him over his lying. Jon, of course doesn't see it that way. What he sees is that Barbra doesn't like porn and because he watches it - thats why she is leaving. And nursing his broken heart - he locks himself up at home and watches porn continuously for days. When his friends finally step in, he discloses why Barbra broke up with him and his friends are supportive that she's the bitch and she wasn't worth it anyway. They encourage him to keep taking the night classes, and he now shows an interest in Esther, who he immediately lays. She asks why Barbra broke up with him, and starts questioning him on his porn usage (throughout the film we see Jon struggle to give it up a couple of times, but he just can't), to which he confides in her that he prefers it to the real thing and can stop "when ever he wants to." Esther asks him when the last time he masturbated without using a video or pictures, to which Jon replies that he hasn't since he was a little boy and back then it was to pictures. Anyway, upon trying to do it without the porn, Jon realizes that he can't and that he may have a problem, he tries to give up the porn for good. After a week, he goes to see Esther and she takes him back to his place, where we find out why she's a mess and she psychoanalyzes Jon and why he doesn't have that feeling of loosing himself in real sex as he does when he watches porn. She basically opens him up to what a relationship is really like, to try new things and with his giving up his porn and his routine - he finds new things in life that he enjoys and finds that sex can be just as, if not more gratifying with the right person.

ANYWAY, the film was really good and if you don't mind having a ton of porn clips pop up throughout the film, its one I recommend you see. I think that is very much based on stuff people have experienced, and its very relatable I feel for both men and women.  On one hand we see this young guy who is replacing something he isnt finding in the real world, with fiction that he perceives to be true, on the other we have this young girl who bases her expectations on romantic films. When these two meet up, its one expectation against another and when finding either meets the standard - one turns back to porn, and the other moves on to a different relationship. And its only through opening himself actually up, to new things that Jon experiences what he has been missing and replacing with porn. Which I think happens to all of us in some point in life, I know that for a really long time when I was younger, movies played a big role in how I expected my relationships to be, and I would constantly draw parallels between my partner and Buffy's love interests. And as I got older, I would realize how unrealistic some of those expectations were, and although some of those expectations have stuck with me for now, although the reasoning had changed, I found someone who filled mine.

I keep telling myself that I will upkeep this journal as much as I can, but then find myself doing other things and just plum forgetting. I'm really excited its fall though, the weather has been great (although my house for some reason is freezing) and I have stocked up on ALL THINGS PUMPKIN! Pumpkin bread, pumpkin cream cheese, pumpkin bagels, pumpkin seeds - you name it, I've probably got it. Along with all things pumpkin, comes Halloween. And this year I've decided to try my hand at making homemade costumes for me and Hubby. Last year we went as Lucy and Ricky from I love Lucy, and the costumes turned out pretty excellent

 

Party at the Central West End - it was super cold

 

Party we threw at the house

 So this year, I've decide to try and make my hand at making the Roger Rabbit costume, and Jessica. If I can make them before times up, I'll try to make Wilma and Fred Flintsone so we can wear that to go ToTing with Ducia in costume.
Ducia will be going as what he was last year, a dinosaur. In the middle of last year his love for them was somewhat subdued. But this year it has picked up in full force and he decided he wanted to be a raptor.

 

Raptor Ducia

So wish me luck!

PS. We're recently welcomed a new member into our ever growing family. My youngest SIL just recently had her first baby - Nathan. She is one lovely mommy.