Happy Less Stressed Monday?

Since Monday seems to give everyone a feeling of stress because let's face it most of you would rather be doing something that you want to do rather than working for the money that lets you do it.  I thought today being Monday would be a great day to discuss our stressed out skin. 

Why is our skin stressed out?!? We as a Nation are getting more and more stressed therefore we are eating poorly, working long hours, having more sickness in our families due to the stress bleeding into our home life, rushing around with no time to wash our faces, and being in recirculated air filled buildings most of the time. 

Ahhhhh.... what are we to do?

I cannot help with the stress of course because it is there and to quote one of my fav movies Christmas Lampoon "I don't know what to tell you we are all in misery", but I do know that we all need PT, personal time.  EVERYONE needs those few moments to yourself locked in your bathroom EVEN men!  How can you find time for it?  Make and appointment on your calendar just like you would to go to a business meeting or to meet a friend or family member.  Put it on the books now because you are not getting less stressed and you are not getting younger so let's all make a date with our at home DIY spa! 

Prepare to use your time wisely.  Go to your local store where you purchase your everyday "luxury" items to pamper yourself or if your appointment with your DIY spa is several days away order some really glam pampering products online!

Here is a list of Allure's Best of Beauty that you can try.  I always try a few products from their list every year when I run out of certain products and it never has disappointed me!

Here are some of the products I am loving right now:

Burt's Bees Cuticle Cream - great way to hydrate those stressed out cuticles that we give little attention

Source: allure.com via Sprial on Pinterest

Gel Nail polish kit - AHHHHmazing they really do last more than two weeks and this kit will save you the $$$ going to a salon to get it done!

Source: sensationailgel.com via Sprial on Pinterest

Alba Unpetoleum - Great for hydrating tired stressed out skin!  Only use if you are getting ready for bed or not planning on putting on makeup for a while because this stuff is thick and really plumps up your skin for a nice glow.  Make sure you clean your skin really well before using this as well.

Source: diapers.com via Sprial on Pinterest

Burt's Bees has some great natural products and I love to scrub my face/neck at least one time per week, if not more, with this just to remove any build up in my pores plus get a refreshing clean feeling!

Source: soap.com via Sprial on Pinterest

In my opinion you always can relax with a bath so get some awesome bath products from LUSH! They will make your bath smell like a dream!  This is one of my faves the LUSH bath bomb in twilight (crazy name I know) but it is wonderful:

Source: lushusa.com via Sprial on Pinterest

Tons of other products I love, but these are a few to get you thinking about what you might want to try!  These are low end products so if you wanted to try them they will not break the bank either which might cause you to have less stress about trying to relax!

Happy less stressed Monday!! :)

St. Patricks Day Ideas

With the St. Patricks Day holiday fast approaching I wanted to put some of the ideas I found on Pinterest here so maybe you could make your to do list this weekend to prep for next weekend during the holiday!!

For Breakfast:

Source: iammommy.typepad.com via Sprial Bound on Pinterest

Tasty Treat:

Source: ucreateparties.com via Sprial Bound on Pinterest

Table Decorations:

Source: itswhatmakesmeme.blogspot.com via Sprial Bound on Pinterest

For Kids Projects:

Source: meetthedubiens.blogspot.com via Sprial Bound on Pinterest

Hope you have a great time picking out things to do with your family and find a lucky rainbow with a LARGE pot of gold!!!!  Make sure looking for that is on your to do list for sure!! :)

Travel - Zaragoza Spain

My Husband and I lived in Spain for about three months which allowed us to travel around Europe.  Our lovely home away from home was in Zaragoza Spain.  We loved experiencing a different culture, but during our trip we found that the people there really are not much different than the people we love at home.  Everyone that helped us worked with my Husband and they were all very welcoming.  Here is an official description of all that Zaragoza has to offer at - Wiki Travel Information .

Our experenice was amazing!  We took many walks in the beautiful city center (Free WIFI too) around the Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Pilar and the Ebro River:

We traveled everywhere throughout Zaragoza by the City bus and it was a wonderful way to really take in a lot of sites plus easy to pay with a city bus card pass.  We also were there during one of their festivals called Festival El Pilar which is packed full of entertainment, bull fighting, amazing food/drinks (TAPAS), and such an amazing display of love of their culture.  Here is a photo taken of the amazing floral arrangement in the middle of the city center that was in tribute to the Virgin Mary:

I could go on and on about this trip because it was fun to try new foods, try a new language, and have so much fun while learning a LOT!  If you are in Spain during the week of October 12th especially stop by Zaragoza to check out the Festival El Pilar, stay in the city center so you are near all the action, and enjoy a fun time!!  

Travel - Bahamas

My Husband and I LOVE to travel.  One of our favorites destinations was our honeymoon when we visited the Bahamas for a week. 

This is a link of the resort where we stayed:
Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort

These are photos we took of the resort that was like a postcard:

Not only is this location beautiful, but you get so much when you stay there all included in the price.  We had as much food/drinks and fun that we could fit into just a weeks time.  It was really wonderful.  One of the activities that we took part in was snorkleing and after the shock of being put into deep water with tons of fish wore off we had a great time looking at everything under the water!  Of course we played hard, but we also relaxed while eating some really great food each day at all of their on-site restarants and buffets!  Our room was always stocked included in our price with food and drinks as well.  Here I am chowing down on some of the good stuff they had:

Off of the resort we had an adventure by bus to the straw market where we purchased one or two things to take home with us then we got on a fun water taxi to visit the beautiful Atlantis Resort which has all kinds of things to do in and around their grounds!

All in all I would for sure visit the Bahamas again because they are a big tourist hot spot and they depend on money from tourism there so everyone is more than hospitable every step of the way!! 

Some travel tips for the Bahamas: Make sure you have a small day backpack for short trips if you plan to leave the resort, sunscreen, light clothing that will dry fast, good sandels because you do a lot of walking around on different surfaces, fun dancing dress clothes that are comfortable, address book because believe it or not we made some great friends there, and a water proof camera so when you do water sports you can take some photos!

It is whats for dinner...

Wendy's chili - yes I said it and I love it!!! http://m.wendys.com/product.jsp?family=7&product=28

I promise I'm not going to take a photo of everything I eat BUT it is good and semi good for you!

For dessert my child and I made some very pretty rainbow cupcakes - so much fun making these! Not good for you but oh so good!!!

Gel nail polish 2 weeks old

Update... I LOVE GELS!!! After two weeks they have grown out from the bottom due to normal nail growth BUT totally amazing still no chips or splits!

I also found that you can go to Wal*Mart and get a DIY at home kit called Sensationails that I am going to try because then you would have no need to spend as much money plus be able to change colors more often!!

Video tutorial:

Here are my nails two weeks later:

We will we will pin you

Just got into the new craze of pinning on Pinterest. Such an interesting idea and I love it. I actually use to take photos and web addresses and put them in a word document so that I could keep track of ideas and things I loved.

I have also wrote list after list with items we needed or wanted in my journals with their approximate costs because if you own a home you know where I am coming from when I say you ALWAYS have some part of your house you need or want to change.

Anyway I think Pinterest is a wonderful tool to organize all the things you like so when you are ready to buy you can click and go for it.  Check it off your to do list!! I wasn't paid to say all of this but I had to share that I do love this new app!
Watch out pinning is addictive but here is the website to see what I am talking about: http://pinterest.com/  or you can get the app on your smart phone or ipod touch too