Friday Favorites: Where Are You March?!

Hooray for Friday!

The last few Thursday's have been whirlwinds, so I'm glad to be back sharing my faves. 

Today I'm linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea. 

We're sharing our favorites from the week.

Grab their graphic and linkup with your favorites from the week.

Baby!!!

Two of my dearest friends had their first baby!

This is the first baby to our friend's group!!

I was so fortunate to get to sneak a peak at her and hold her when she was just barely 24 hours old!

I loved every second of it!
Tonight we're going over again to visit.
Can't wait to end my Friday with sweet little miss!

Banana Republic Friends and Family Sale

I hit the jackpot a couple weekends ago at the Banana Republic Friends and Family sale. 

I got 5 pairs of jeans that FIT me!!

Woohoo!

It's so hard to find pants that fit, so I'm ecstatic when I do. 

Scalloped Dress

via

Stylish Petite shared this photo on Instagram earlier in the week.
I just love the classy, sleek look of this scalloped dress.
You can find the dress here.
It comes in 4 colors.
I love that it comes from Macy's.
A store that's actually within an hour of me.
I have some gift cards and I'm sure I can find a coupon, so I might actually invest in this simple, cute dress!

Chocolate Mint Cake

Last weekend I made this scrumptious chocolate mint cake found in Mix and Match Mama's bundt cakes book.

I made it for home and then one for work.
Everyone loved the hint of mint!!

Plant Update

These are the first seeds that I planted-Geraniums. 

I recently transplanted them into larger containers.

Here are some newer impatiens.

The weather is starting to break, and I'm looking forward to some warmer temperatures this weekend. 

Enjoy your day!

Clarisonic

I got my first Clarisonic somewhere around 2010.

I went to my dermatologist for a regular checkup and stopped by their boutique on the way out. 

I think they were having some type of promotion, but I couldn't leave with the Clarisonic that day. 

They mailed it to me, and boy has that little machine worked great for the past 7 years!

I noticed a few months back that mine wasn't charging like normal.
I needed to charge it much more often than I used to.
One day it just wouldn't turn on.
It makes a sound, but it won't fully click over.
I've tried leaving it charged for days and still nothing.

The thing that I love about Clarisonic is how helpful their customer service department is.
I called to ask if there was anything else I could do to get mine to work again.
The gentleman I talked to was so courteous and walked me through some steps before determining that it must have just worn out.

I was very pleased with their service when he offered a coupon code to buy a new Clarisonic at a discounted price.
So, now I'm in the hunt for my new Clarisonic.
The old one I had they no longer manufacture, so I need to pick out a new one and choose fast.
My coupon code expires at the end of the month, so I'm weighing my options and hope to decide this week.

Mia 1

This cleanser seems like the closest to my old Clarisonic.
It has one speed and removes dirt and oil.
$129

Mia 2

This cleanser has 2 speeds-delicate and normal.
It seems very similar to the Mia 1 except that it has 2 speeds instead of one.
While my skin can definitely feel fragile, I'm not sure that I really need the two speeds.
Usually if my skin was irritated, I would just skip the Clarisonic for a day.
$169

Mia FIT

The Mi FIT is sleeker, slimmer and has two speeds-delicate and powercleanse.
It seems similar to the Mia 1 and 2 except it seems like more of an updated model.
I'm not really sure that I need all of this.
It's not like I'm going to be caring it around places with me.
I buy it, place it in my bathroom and no one ever sees it.
$219


Mia Smart Profile

This cleanser is a whole body one.
It has four speeds and will automatically adjust speeds depending on what type of skin you are on.
This machine sounds super smart, but I can't say that I would want to use my Clarisonic on my whole body.
$299

For some reason my computer keeps freezing.
I wish I could show you some larger images of the products.
Do any of you have one of these newer models from Clarisonic?

I really wondered if it was worth the $.
I wasn't sure that I was going to replace mine, but honestly I can tell such a difference without it.
I love the smooth feeling of my skin when I use it, but even more I love how clear my pores are.
I can already see the buildup around my nose and my chin.
Even though this seems like a splurge, I think I'm going to save in the long run.

I've always had temperamental skin.
I spend so much time washing, moisturizing and treating my skin, yet some days I feel like you wouldn't even be able to tell that I do all of that.
I wish I was lucky enough to have perfect flawless skin, but I guess God didn't choose that for me.
So, I'm going to use the best products I can to help me out.

Please let me know your thoughts on any products by Clarisonic.
I'm guessing I will go with Mia 1 or Mia 2.

Workin' It: Balancing Work and Home

Hey Ladies!

Today I'm linking up with Shay and Erika to share how I'm workin' it!!

You should grab their graphic and linkup too!

Today's post it about how we balance work and home. 

This is a great topic. 

I'm so excited to see how everyone else seems to manage life at work and life at home. 

This can be so so hard sometimes. 

I tend to get in over my head at work. 

Sure, we have set hours, but truthfully I don't even know what they are because there's so much work to be done that I'm always there before and after our required time. 

I find it extremely hard to separate work and home. 

So, I can't wait to see all of your tricks and tips to help me out. 

Being a teacher is sometimes the best profession ever and sometimes not. 

I get so caught up in trying to do the best at my job that I really put too much time and effort in it compared to my life at home. 

Once upon a time I was skipping out on Sunday meals at my grandma's and not doing anything besides grading and planning. 

I would wake up early, go to work, come home, plan and do it all over again. 

I slowly started to despise my job because it was stealing the life out of me. 

My co-workers were quick to tell me that you have to put an end to it. 

The papers are never done being graded and there's always another lesson to plan, but you can't kill yourself over it. 

Here's how I work teaching and home life. 

It's not awesome, but it's better than it was. 

I Get Up Early and Go To Work Early

I'm a morning person, and I know that, so I capitalize on it. 

I know that I do my best work in the morning, so I set my alarm early and head to school. 

I love being the first person there. 

I can make copies without a line, prepare my day, grade and lesson plan without being disturbed!

Then, when the bell rings at the end of the day, I clean up the day's mess, get things organized for the next day and leave. 

I want to go home and enjoy the sunshine, run and see my husband.

It's best that I go to work while he is still sleeping, so that I can come home to him in the afternoon. 

I really really really hope that one day when we decide to have a family that this will work. 

Right now I go to work before my husband and get home after him, which stinks but it is what it is. 

I have a commute to work, so that doesn't help, but I'm hoping that he can get the kids ready for the sitters/school, and I can pick them up.

This is the spot that welcomes me every morning right around 6 am!

Sunday Planning

I love to plan out my outfits and meals on the weekend. 

Usually I wash all of our clothes, set out my outfits for the week and iron/steam them on Saturday or Sunday. 

I hate being rushed, so this allows me to premake any meals that I can, along with having my clothes ready, so that there's no hassle in the morning. 

My week goes so much better when this happens. 

If for instance we go on a trip and I don't have my clothes or meals ready, life just seems bad. 

I love planning things out so much that if we are going on a trip over the weekend, I will plan out more outfits, so that they cross over into the following week so that I'm planned and ready to go when we get home. 

 Pack Your Lunch

I'm not a happy person when I'm hungry, so I pack my own lunch and do it the night before. 

This kind have falls into the category above, but I thought it should be it's own category. 

I put my silverware, napkin, and snacks in my lunch bag the night before. 

In addition, I portion out anything that needs kept in the refrigerator so that all I have to do is pull them out in the morning, throw them in my bag and go. 

This helps me from eating junk and having good nutritious meals. 

In addition, I pack my husbands lunch. 

We're opposites in the fact that he's not going to prepare anything ahead of time. 

He will be running out the door to work at the last second. 

To prevent him from eating junk, I pack his lunch too. 

This helps him to eat healthy meals and have it ready at his fingertips in the morning.

Limit After Hours

This is super hard, but I've been trying to limit the hours that I spend at home on grading and lesson planning. 

I try to keep myself from working over 1-2 hours at night and even try not to work one whole day on the weekends. 

This is definitely the hardest. 

If I know Alex has someplace to go, I will pull out school stuff because then I don't feel guilty.

The problem is when he's home and doesn't have anything to do, and I have a list a mile long. 

The more years that I teach, the easier it gets, but still teaching is time consuming. 

I think my students deserve my best, but so does my husband. 

All tips and tricks of how teachers balance work and home are GREATLY appreciated!!

Props to you moms who balance teaching and a family!!

I don't know how you do it!! :)

Christmas Getaways

The title might seem a bit puzzling, but I love planning ahead. 

My husband and I have a big goal to hit. 

If we hit it by the end of the year, we are going to celebrate someplace warm and fun!

I need YOUR help in planning. 

Since I'm definitely type A and love to have things organized and planned out ahead of time, I've been working on planning out ideas for where we might want to go. 

Last summer we got married in Marathon, Florida

We enjoyed our time at the Courtyard Marriott

 I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful place to get married!

 We enjoyed Marathon and the Keys and then set sail on our first cruise...

Royal Caribbean treated us well!

We didn't love Nassau, but we're actually going back here in a few months. 

CocoCay was gorgeous!

 And our last stop was again at Key West...just miles away from where we said "I Do!"

We rounded out the summer in Mexico with friends!

 Secret Silversands had the best sports and entertainment team!

They made the days fun and fly by. 

Unfortunately, the beach was rocky and full of seaweed, so we spent our time by the pools!

This summer we are ready to set sail on another cruise to Nassau, Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk. 

Have you been to any of those ports?

If so, comment below on what you loved or hated about them. 

I'm in the process of booking excursions and other fun things. 

Last time we booked with Royal Caribbean; however, this time we're on Carnival because our Norwegian trip got changed to Cuba, and I'm not sure that they have the clear blue water and white sandy beaches that we're looking for. 

We will even get to celebrate our first anniversary on the cruise!

In addition, our hope is that we will get to round out our year someplace warm. 

We're thinking of going on a 4-5 night getaway to Mexico, the Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, etc. 

I need your help. 

Where would you suggest we go?

It would be right after Christmas through the new year. 

There are SO many resorts that I thought I'd gather some feedback from those who have gone to different resorts in warm, sunny, tropical places. 

Would you return?

Do you have other suggestions!

Even if you haven't been, do you know someone who has or have you heard good things about a certain place?

I'm all ears today!

Thanks so much for your help!

Banana Republic Friends and Family Sale

Today is the last day for the Banana Republic Friends and Family Sale!

I love this sale each year. 

Recently, I've been saving up my Banana rewards. 

This past weekend I cashed in big time!

So, here's what I love about Banana. 

They have pants that FIT me!

The closest Banana store is nearly 2 hours away, so I don't go often, but when I do go, I shop big!

My favorite pair of jeans came from Banana, and unfortunately the die was transferring over to my purse and other clothes.

I did everything I could to savor those jeans, but I couldn't stand ruining anything else, so I shipped them back. 

Banana reimbursed me for my purse and my jeans. 

This isn't the first time that they've done that. 

I love how caring their customer service department is. 

They want their customers to be happy!!

So, I've been wearing nearly the same one pair of jeans over and over because they're really the only ones that fit. 

My problem is petite jeans are usually too short but fit around the waist. 

Regular jeans are usually the right length but don't fit around the waist. 

I've tried on nearly every jean from every store. 

They just don't fit. 

I've had jeans taken in, but most of the time they need taken in too much, so there's a bulky piece of fabric in the back that rubs against me.

So, my mission on Saturday was to find some new jeans and dress pants that fit!!

Within one hour I had these beauties in my bag and all for just over $100!

I hit the jackpot big time!

I know I could look around the store forever and try on every jean, so as soon as I found a few pieces and went to the dressing room I found the sweetest sales associate to help me. 

She searched and found all of these jeans in my size!!

We started with the initial dark denim color, and then I asked for others in the same size and she brought the black and light denim with the fringe, like below. 

I'm not typically a huge light denim person, so I asked for the dark denim and she looked high and low for them. 

They weren't where they were supposed to be, but she came back to my dressing room after finding them in a different location.  

I thought of only getting a few pairs, but I couldn't pass up the great 50% off 5 items sale. 

So, I got ALL 5!

Light pink, black, dark denim, dark denim with fringe, light denim with fringe

I was able to use 3 rewards that I had acquired and got everything for $107!

That's over $500 worth of pants for what one would normally cost. 

The dress pants just weren't working out. 

I really need petites in them, and this particular store doesn't usually carry petites, so I'm going to browse online to see if I can find the same ones. 

I did end up with a few tops...

top

top

top

The last top is the softest tee ever!

I was able to snag all of these for just under $30. 

They gave me the 50% off these items as well. 

Then, I had two rewards to use on top. 

I'm not sure if you are able to keep using the 50% off 5 items over and over. 

I've gotten more than one email a day about it, but perhaps it has the same code. 

Regardless, they allowed me to do it in store. 

Real soon, I'm going to try to see if my code will work online as well for some dress pants.

So, if your a Banana card member, go shop!

If I find out that my code will work over and over-I will post it for you to use!

5 Fast Facts-Gardening Indoors

Today I thought I would share with you some fast facts on starting and growing your own plants. 

Way back as an 8th grader in school I did my science fair project on which type of light would best grow marigolds. 

That started the growing your own flowers phase, and it since hasn't ceased. 

Every winter my dad and I choose which plants, flowers and vegetables, we want to grow ourselves. 

We order the seeds and plant them come February or March. 

I've come to realize that the ones we grow ourselves are nearly the best plants that I will see around. 

There are still special greenhouses that I will go to, but they aren't close to where I live, so I can't count on them for everything because my time to go is limited. 

The local greenhouses plus Walmart, Lowe's, etc. don't have the best variety or the best looking plants. 

Normally, it's workers who don't really care about the plants or know how to care about the plants taking care of them, thus they aren't super healthy when you buy them. 

If you're even the slightest bit interested in growing your own, DO IT!

So, I have 5 Fast Facts for you on HOW to do it. 

1. Order your seeds online

Burpee

Jung 

Territorial Seed Company

Try out one of the three companies above. 

They have the best selection of seeds that actually produce. 

In addition, they are usually running some sort of sale to make the seeds even more affordable. 

It's actually much more cost friendly to grow them yourself, even with all of the supplies that's needed. 

2. Purchase a light

It's easiest if you buy a light and a stand, but I would definitely advocate for a light. 

A light makes it easier for your seeds to get light, especially in the dreary winter months.

I have two different kinds of lights. 

The one below came with the stand. 

This other one we easily bought online. 

We hook it onto the shelf above it, and it works great!

3. Purchase good soil

I like to use Jiffy soil.

Don't use something that has too much fertilizer or something that's too sandy. 

4. Purchase a heat mat

A heat mat helps to speed up and promote sprouting. 

We don't have a ton of extra room in our home, so I initially thought I would put my plant stand in the basement. 

Since it's winter, the basement is super cold, so we got extra heat mats to help keep the plants at a more normal temperature. 

Fortunately, we found space in our dining room for them, but the heat mats still help. 

I notice that my seeds start sprouting A LOT sooner than it says on their packets. 

I think a lot of it has to do with the lights and the heat mats.

Box to stand

The heat mats are super easy to use. 

Just plug them in and there you have it!

5. Water your seeds from the bottom

This is a big one, and I just started catching on to it last year and this year. 

Watering your seeds from the bottom helps them from getting too much water and helps not to disturb the seeds. 

Some of the seeds aren't deep in the soil. 

Some, like petunias just sit on top of the soil. 

They can easily be swept away if you are using a spray bottle to spray them with water or if you put too much water on top of them. 

I like to leave some space towards the edges of my flats that don't have soil or seeds in them, so that I can pour water down there. 

This prevents me from having to pick up the whole flat to water it. 

I simply pour the water in and it disperses throughout the entire flat. 

Well, there you have it. 

5 fast facts about gardening indoors or at least starting your plants indoors. 

I give my plants a good three months indoors, and then I will slowly start acquainting them to the outdoors. 

Chicken Tetrazzini

A delicious and simple meal that you can make ahead and will still have leftovers for the next day!

This tetrazzini can be made with chicken or turkey!

Items You Need:

1-8 ox. Package Thin Spaghetti

1 Lb. Mushrooms-Sliced Thin

1/2 C. Butter

2-3 C. Cooked Chicken or Turkey

1 Can-Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 Can-Cream of Chicken Soup

2 C. Sour Cream

Grated Parmesan Cheese

What To Do:

Saute mushrooms in butter.

Cook spaghetti and drain.

Combine mushrooms, spaghetti and other ingredients except cheese.

Butter 9x13 pan.

Turn casserole mixture into pan. 

Top with Parmesan cheese. 

Bake at 300 for 40 minutes.

*My family likes to add olives, but I'm not an olive fan, so I leave it out. 

Saute mushrooms.

Cut up chicken.

Mix together ingredients.

Pour into pan.

Enjoy!