Black Friday Beauty Purchase

Did anyone else notice that there wasn't much of a  Black Friday, this year?  Most of the deals in my area all took place on Thursday night.  When did everyone do away with the Friday deals? I hope next time I get a memo of the switcharoo!

I had talked myself of not shopping on Black Friday, but yet I still found myself shopping on Thursday night at Walmart, Michaels, and Ulta. 

I was very pumped to purchase a $50 Brother sewing machine from Walmart.  It's funny how one purchase can make my weekend.  Why yes, I do believe in retail therapy! 

While at Ulta I came across BareMinerals' lippie and blush sets for $10!  Naturally, I bought both sets.  I am being good and giving "Turning Heads" as a gift but I am keeping "Light up the Room" for myself.  For $10 it's a good deal.  I don't thing both items are full sized but trust me, they have plenty of product. 

I also picked myself up a Revlon Lip Butter since these seem to be the talk of the town lately.  Mine is in Cotton Candy.  I have to say, the lip butter is thick and a pretty color but I haven't yet understood the rave. 

All of the products were hard to swatch.

Revlon's colorburst Cotton Candy lip butter is a pretty bright mauve pink with hints of gold

bareMinerals' Cassis is an amber, caramel sensation

bareMinerals' Precious Pearl blush is a burgundy mauve (almost too dark for my pasty face!)

Did anyone else find amazing deals on cosmetics? 

Your momma's panties - back in style?

Is it just me or is anyone else seeing a resurrection of the not-so-sexy granny panties? 

picture source: Forever 21

I first noticed the epidemic this summer with swim suits.  At first I thought the trend was cute, vintage, and a good throw back to earlier swim suits.  However, now - they have crossed the line!  We do not need to take 5 steps back and suffocate our tummies.  Trust me, this is not the epitome of sexy.  There is a reason why we call this style, granny panties! 

So, maybe the marketing approach is not sexy, maybe the focus is now on comfort.  Well, I can honestly say that wearing underoos up to your belly button, is not comfortable.  It's like trying to fit too much batter on to a cupcake tin.  Too much always spills out.  It creates unnecessary bumps and lumps. 

I beg all the clothing retailers and designers, please do not bring these back! 

What are your thoughts on the Steve Urkel panties?

Cupcake Items: Plasticland

I recenly found the cutest site (it's toxic to my wallet - but it's free to look!).  I'm usually behind on the times, so you may have heard of Plasticland.  They offer a bit of everything; clothes, decor, crafts, etc. 
I loved browsing through their decor section because they had such an interesting variety of fun and whimsical items. 

I have been wanting a cupcake apron for a long time, but every apron I find is really over priced!  The Cute as a Cupcake apron is undeniably adorable, but still too high priced for my cheap taste.  Looking at cute but out of budget aprons inspires me to create my own aprons. 

Believe it or not, I really need magnets!  I have maybe 4 magnets to hold all my papers.  It gets a bit challenging with wimpy magnets.  I adored the above magnets but I really want to make my own!!

These were really cute too, but I liked the clay ones better! 

I am so tempted to purchase this cupcake garland for my kitchen.  How can you resist it's adorably sparkly cupcake-ness?

Cupcake Kitchen Dream Achieved

A few months ago, I shared with you how I wanted to have a cupcake themed kitchen, well the goal was achieved!  I painted my kitchen a dusty pinkish purple.  People have told it's girly, but it's my kitchen, why should I worry about that?
I won't lie.  It was hard to find cupcake items and a bit expensive to decorate and equip my kitchen all cutesy. However, I found a few thrify deals that I wanted to share with you all!

I became obsessed with home decorating stores. Never, did I find Bed, Bath and Beyond so exciting than when I needed to organize and decorate my kitchen. I became a BB&B coupon addict. Dare I share that I found myself looking through my local recycling center for coupons? Yep...I got a little crazy...but I got a butt load of coupons!! Rest assured, I'm better now. I am no longer the Sméagol hiding in your local recycling center.  I have matured into sexy Legolas.

  I started my decor hunt with Home Goods, and I found cute cake related wall art on clearance.  I got the above piece that I hung above my stove for $4.00!  I desperately wanted a cupcake timer, but they were more than $20+ so I settled for a cute strawberry timer for $6 from World Market.  Then I found the silly cupcake sponge at my local Five Below.  Lucky for me I found a whole bunch of cupcake goodies at a nearby Dollar General.  I was able to get cupcake shaped plates, which I am using as a spoon rest.  I also purchased cupcake dessert plates, place mats, recipe cards, pot holders and towels.

Just about everything was a dollar, so I pretty much bought out Dollar General of all their cupcake items.  They had so much and so many choices!  How could I settle with just one pattern?

Cupcake place mats, and a cupcake sharing plate that I got for $3.00!

I spend quite some time on these chairs while computin' so I wanted some cute, bright cushions to go with the cutesy theme.  This past weekend, I found 4 cushions on clearance for $5.98 each at Pier 1 imports.  They were originally $24 each.  I just about screamed in excitement when I found them. 

 

I found this cute cupcake container at Marshall's for less than $10

Cupcake wall art - found at Home Goods and Kirklands

Note the cupcake tray and DIY cupcake clock

I wanted a really cute cupcake clock, but they were sooooo pricey...so I just made one myself

The lighting in these images is bananas..my kitchen lights just don't like to play nice.  This is a shelf that I have in my kitchen.  I got the clock at Dollar General and the two cupcakes at Marshall's for less than $4.00. 

My most favorite item is this giant cupcake, cookie jar.  I splurged and purchased this sucker from Pier 1 imports for $25.  Compared to my other bargain finds, this purchase was expensive.

 

Lastly, I desperately wanted needed a cupcake rug.  Amazon was quite disappointing, but somehow I stumbled upon Lillian Vernon, and I was able to order a personalized rug.  It's awesome!  Did I mention it was only $20?  Sweet :)

I am not completely done with my Cupcake dream kitchen.  I eventually want new curtains.  Currently, I have white curtains with purple grapes, but one of these days I will be sewing my own curtains. 

 I hope this was helpful for those wanting to find cupcake items for their kitchen.  You would think decor is easy to find, but it was a total scavenger hunt for me.  Even when I did find cute things, they would be ridiciously expensive!  I am glad I held out and bought my items for a bargain price.  I will continue to share cute kitchen decor I find with you all <3

BOGO Del Monte Offer

Del Monte is currently offering a buy-one, get-one free coupon for those interested in trying out their fruit naturals cups that are made with 100% fruit juice.

If you are intersted in snagging this coupon, please see this link.  You will need to register with Vocalpoint in order to download your coupon (don't worry, the site is free!)  Hooray for coupons!

*I am not being compensated by Del Monte or any other organization.  This offer was presented through vocal point, and shared by me.  I am not compensated by Vocalpoint in anyway.*

Fall Theme Nails

Autumn is just around the corner.  With Autumn comes yummy cinnamon, pumpkin and sugary scents and treats.  My favorite thing to bake around this time is pumpkin muffins and my yummy pumpkin chocolate chip cake.  I just loooove pumpkin and cinnamon around this time.  Did I mention, I like pumpkin and cinnamon?

Since I was craving sweets, I decided to paint my nails to take my mind off my cravings.  I went with a burn orange theme with gold a criss-cross pattern.

What your Autumn cravings?

Otakon

It's been ages since I have blogged but I have had many distractions to keep me busy.  One of them being: a new home.  I moved in to a new home, so I have been packing, unpacking, painting and decorating.  It's been a bit exhausting!

Many weekends ago I attended Otakon, and if you are not familiar with Otakon it is a anime - Japanese culture convention.  I know it sounds terribly dorky, but even if you don't like anime (like me) it's awesome!  It's amazing to see the streets of Baltimore turn into an anime explosion.  Just imagine you are walking down the street and in front of you are Gothic Lolitas, to the right of you are a pack of sailor scouts, and to the left of you are full on, furry costume Pokemon.  It's unreal!  I would recommend going if you want to have a good laugh and if you want to be impressed at people's craftmanship skills.  Some costumes are unbelievable.  They are so eloborate, so heavy, so crazy, you wouldn't believe someone actually made it from scratch!  It's inspiring.

Some pictures that I snapped

 

 TIRA! I secretly want to cosplay as Tira for Soul Calibur 4

 

Ms. Frizzle!   Does anyone see Rufio hiding out in the background? RUFIOOOOO!!

In case you are wondering, I cosplayed as Maya Fey from the DS game series of Ace Attorney. 

I made the costume last year, but this year I bought a wig.  Since this was my first time wearing a wig, I didn't really enjoy it too much.  I attacked my head with bobby pins and hair spray.  If there was an open flame nearby, I guarantee my head would've been in a blaze in seconds. 

 

Before you go on and say, why aren't your goodies on the display...take note that these Maya's are actually channeling Mia, thus they have bigger busts. 

Mia and Maya action

Edgeworth holding a dollar above Gumshoe's head.  Hilarious.

I think I may do an additional post in the future for Maya cosplay pointers.  She's not a hard character to cosplay but details are important, people!  You can't just show up to a con magatama-less.  Plus, I want to hand off tips that I picked up while making my costume, accessories and doing my makeup.

I hope you enjoyed the dorkiness!

Target Hello Kitty Totes

Has anyone noticed that Target has become a Hello Kitty magnet?  It seems they have just about everything with Hello Kitty.  Trust me, I'm not complaining...but what is up with Target and Hello Kitty?  Is there some sort of unspoken union?

So here I was minding my business in Target today when I walked into the Hello Kitty totes...sweet baby kitty....

Purple

Gold animal print

Silver

Why must I be tempted by such cuteness?  I had the urge to purchase the silver, sequenced tote but I resisted!  There are still a ton in my local store, but online they appear to be sold out.  If you're interested in snatching these babies, hope into your local Target!  I believe the totes are only $20!   Donate into the Hello Kitty/Target marriage!

Cupcake Kitchen Theme: Ideas

I recently purchased my very first home.  Although I haven't officially moved (2 more weeks, until I do!!) I have been on the hunt for cupcake related kitchen goods.  The hard part about finding kitchen related cupcake decor...is that there isn't much available at nearby stores!  Total bummer!

If you're lucky, you may find items at your local Bed, Bath and Beyond, Dollar General, Target, Walmart, TJ Maxx and Marshalls.  To be honest, useful cupcake related decor for the kitchen is a rare find!  

So my searching has led me to the magnificent Internet.  For the past few weeks I have been actively searching for cute, but reasonable cupcake kitchen items.  Although most of the things I have found are over priced, they help me gather ideas for my kitchen. 

Cupcake Kitchen Ideas by Vintagelex on Polyvore.com

Sweet Kitchen Idea by Vintagelex on Polyvore.com

I'm obsessed with the cupcake shaped measuring spoons, but I can't talk myself into spending close to $10 for measuring spoons.  That's just a wee bit crazy!!  As soon as I move in, I'll be sharing my cupcake kitchen decor finds with you.  One of my favorite purchases was the Pier 1 imports cupcake cookie jar. SOOO cute!  It's pictured in the second image (look for the strawberry cupcake topping).

Nails Flash!

Believe it or not, I actually got my pretty little nails on the China Glaze, Crackle polishes!  You would think these suckers are like gold because every time I went to Ulta in the past weeks, they were all sold out! I recently purchased the Broken Hearted Crackle polish and since then I have wanted to pair it with a bold fun color.  To my luck, OPI released the Pirates of the Caribbean, Stranger Tides mini set.  I paired the Crackle polish with the OPI Planks a Lot.  It's a fun polish look that is effortless.

Have you guys had a chance to try the Crackle collection?

Sunday's Best: Kitty Baths

I think I speak for all cat owners when I say, bath time is a pain in the ass.  In my case, it literally is a pain in the ass, since I always pull a muscle when quarreling with my stinky, furry baby.  It's sad, but true.

Yesterday, I gave Spotty a bath.  I have documented most of the bath time in photographs as it is very tragic and yet amusing for both Spotty and myself.

Bath time usually starts with me capturing Spotty and locking him in the bathroom while I prepare the tub for his highness. While I am busy getting things ready, Spotty desperately looks at the door knob, praying that it magically opens.  Next, Spotty is placed into lukewarm water, usually this is the time when sad mews escape his lips.  We exchange sad looks and he finally accepts his watery destiny.  It's bath time!

Typically, my cat behaves himself in the tub.  This is not to say, that he does not try to escape at every given opportunity.  He accepts the bath but is always looking to pounce away.  After he is shampooed and rinsed, Spotty is gently removed from the tub and delicately dried off.

I always attempt to dry him with the cool setting on my hair dryer, but Spotty prefers to do this step himself.

Spotty is sentimental, so he usually ignores me or gives me the stink eye for the rest of the day.  Yesterday, however he took his vengeance by taking a wet nap on top of my bed.  Thanks, Spotty....

Since it is pure torture for my cat, I typically bathe him a few times a year....unless he rolls around on something gross outside, then it happens more frequent! 

I hope you enjoyed the kitty bath adventure, see the below video for a hilariously tragic kitty bath.  The silent kitty scream, cracks me up every time.