Things I Love - Pedicures

Photo courtesy of healingdream

With summer here it's pedicure time.  While I really don't love actually getting the pedicures because my feet are horrible ticklish,  I do love how they make my feet look.  My opinion is pedicures are pretty much a must in the summer if you are a sandal wearer but they don't need to be done professionally or require colored nail polish even though I am a sucker for deep red.

Here's why I love pedicures:

• Your feet get a clean, polished look.  A must have in my book whenever you wear sandals.
• A flower painted on your big toe gives you a little sassy flair.
• Easy inexpensive DIY project - I'll be sharing shortly the proper way to give yourself a pedicure.  This can make a fun activity for your daughter's next sleep over.
• They make great gifts - to either get or give
• Pedicures make for a great cross generational activity.  My grandmother loves getting her feet done as does my daughter.  Whenever we visit my grandma we make a trip to the nail salon for a four generation nail day.

Do you prefer to do your own pedicures or get them done at a salon?  What's your favorite polish color?

If you like this post you might also enjoy the some other posts in this series:

Wall Words
Gladware
Just Dance
100 Things About Me

Things I Love - Wen Hair Care

For those of you with teenage daughters you know how they are starting to really get into beauty care, my daughter is no different.  Last summer she started hounding me that she wanted to try Wen.  I was not going to spend that kind of money on her but I did put it on her Christmas list. 

When she opened the bottle of Wen on Christmas morning she was pretty excited.  However, when she started using it she really didn't like it.  My daughter's hair if very long and she felt that it made her hair greasy, I wasn't a huge fan either so it sat for a while in the shower without being used.

One day we ran out of shampoo, since I had $50 worth of Wen (yes - I bought the big bottle) sitting in the shower I decided that I was going to use that until I could get to the store and buy more shampoo.  Surprisingly I found that I really liked it the second time I tried it.

Here is what I like about it:

• Saves time - Before I used both a shampoo and a conditioner which took twice the amount of time in the shower that Wen does.  I put it on, wash my face and then rinse. 
• Leaves my hair healthy - I color my hair and as I get older it has been feeling incredibly dry.  I have tried expensive salon shampoos and cheaper regular shampoos and haven't found any brand that leaves my hair as soft as Wen.
• Natural ingredients - I feel like there is so much 'stuff' in everything that we use, if I can weed out some of these ingredients I like to do that.

I know that this product is a little expensive but sometimes I think spending more money on a product is sometimes worth it.  I go as long as I can betwee haircuts so having a product that keeps my hair healthy is worth it.

Things I Love - Wall Words

A few years ago a friend of mine had an Uppercase Living party and I fell in love - with wall words that is.  I actually booked my own party (which I really hate doing) because I wanted to buy more than I already had.  I've pretty much maxed out the walls on my house with words but I'm pretty happy with the results.

Why do I love wall words?

• Meaningful phrases - I try to pick phrases that give me pause and force me to think about what's important, kind of like putting life's instructions on the wall
• Fun - My daughter had fun picking out her words, she feels like she had the chance to really make her room her own
• Easy - I'm not allowed to do any painting in our house (Yes - I'm that bad) but this is easy enough that even I can do it
• Removable - Since these are easily removed I could add this to my wall at work personalizing my space a little bit
• Looks cool - I like they way they look!

Here are some of the different areas that I've added them.  I apologize for the pictures - not the best lighting.

                                                                             Kitchen

Danielle's Room (the green wall really isn't as ugly as it looks here!)

Bottom of the steps into the basement

Grown-Up Family Room

Our Bedroom

Do you have any decorating ideas that you went crazy with?

Meatloaf Recipe

One of the things that I try to do as a busy woman is stick food aside in the freezer as I can.  If you've read some of my freezer cooking posting you'll know I tend to do smaller cooking days because I just don't have the time typically to do an all day cooking marathon.  I find that keeping Gladware 9x13 baking pans is one of the things that helps make freezer cooking successful for me (just to clarify - I'm not being compensated for this review in any way).

I like Gladware for the following reasons:

• Convenient - I like being able to pull an idea from the freezer, let it defrost a little and then stick it in the oven.  By already being in the baking container my husband has absolutely no excuse not to start dinner for me.  To give him credit it's pretty rare for him to complain but if he's going to do it he tends to do it when he has to actually put what I prepped in a baking dish.
• Stackable - The containers are easily stackable so when I go crazy on a cooking day (it does occassionally happen) I can stack a number of these neatly in the freezer.
• Easy Clean Up - The kids especially like it when I use Gladware because if there are leftovers (and that's a big if) all they need to do is stick the lid on and stick it in the refrigerator.
• Portable - If I want to take a dish to pass or provide a meal for a friend I like to use the Gladware so that I don't need to worry about getting my dish back.

This past weekend I made meatloaf for dinner.  When I'm prepping meatloaf I typically will double the recipe since it's just as easy to make a double batch as a single batch and then I have a meal for the freezer.  Here's the meatloaf I made for the freezer

I also promised you a recipe so I thought I'd share my meatloaf recipe with you.  As a warning, I'm not an exact measurement kind of cooker so these are approximations of what I throw in.  Feel free to add more or less to your own taste.

Meatloaf
1.5 lbs of hamburger
1 lb of Italian sausage
1/2 bag of crushed croutons (whatever flavor you like)
1/2 onion (I use a grater instead of chopping it up - that way the kids don't see it)
2 gloves garlic
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 Worcestershire
1 cup cheese
Mushrooms (I typically grate these also)
1 to 2 tbls mustard (I use a Sweet & Hot Honey Mustard)
Salt & Pepper
Raw Bacon

Throw everything except the bacon into a bowl and mix thoroughly.  Prep your baking pan by spraying a non-stick cooking spray on the bottom. Spread mixture into baking pan and layer bacon on top.  Bake in 425 degree oven for approximately 1 hour.  Don't judge doneness by the bacon, sometimes it doesn't look crispy.  I typically will dump some of the grease off about half way through.

Enjoy!

Things I Love - Just Dance 2

Every so often I feel the need to write about something that I REALLY love.  Just to note - I am getting absolutely no compensation for this, just sharing a particular items that I enjoy. 

Right now one of the things that I love best is the Just Dance 2 game for the Nintendo Wii.  My daughter received it for Christmas and we have been having a lot of fun with it.  Here's what I love about it.

1)  It's something we can do as a family.  Mostly it's just my daughter and I playing it but seeing my husband (who has no rhythm) dance to "Proud Mary" really made me giggle.  Especially since his score was higher than hers.
2)  The songs are a a lot of fun and there is something for everyone.  The music selection covers every generation.  We've had my mother and father in law up there dancing with us.
3)  This is the one way to get me to exercise.  I get bored with the treadmill and bike but I find that I can easily dance for 30 minutes.  According to my arm band I reach the "vigorous" activity stage when I do it which should = lots of calories!
4)  This game brings out my competitive spirit.  I love going through all the songs and taking over the high score whenever my daughter beats me.  The need to be 'the best' keeps me coming back time after time.

If you have a Wii game console I would recommend this game as some good family entertainment.