Winner Winner

Thank you to all of you who entered my giveaway! I wish I had one for everyone but I don't. The lucky winner is:

Allyson from The Blackwoods

I used random.org

Here are your random numbers: 8

 Timestamp: 2010-02-28 23:37:02 UTC

Congratulations Allyson!!! Please email me your addres and your dish will be shipped out!!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Our weekend as been alright...I haven't really felt the greatest, so I've done a lot of laying around. I feel like I am getting a sinus infection and feel blah.

One extra thing. My mom is having surgery on her shoulder tomorrow morning and would love for you to pray for a smooth surgery and that everything goes well.

CSN Stores Giveaway

I am so excited to announce that CSN Stores have contacted me to giveaway one Paula Deen 9"x9" Stoneware Baking Dish to one of my readers!!!!

This dramatic and durable stoneware is uniquely glazed where every piece is different.  It is designed for the oven, microwave, and refridgerator use. Which is big plus in my house!!! You can cook, store, and warm food up all in the same dish and you will not have to dirty a bunch of dishes. And are you ready for this??? It is also dishwasher safe!!!! This piece would also be great for a serving piece at a dinner!

Here is how you can enter for a chance to win this wonderful Paula Deen stoneward dish!

1) Leave me a comment telling my how much you would like to win this dish and a way to contact you!

2) For an additional entry, become a follower of my blog and let me know you are now a follower or let me know you are already a follower.

3) For an additional entry, either blog about this giveaway and link it back to this post OR you can tweet about it (don't forget to mention my twitter name CrystalsLife). If you blog and tweet you can comment twice for two entries!

4) And finally, for one more additional entry, visit Cookware.com and let me know what your favorite item is!!!

I will announce a winner on Sunday, February 28th!!! The winner will be drawn by Random.org.

This giveaway is only open to US and Canadian residents.

Good Luck!!! 

My first CSN Store Giveway!!!

CSN Stores contacted me this week to do my first giveaway!!!

All you girls who love to cook will not want to miss this!!!

CSN is a company that provides you with over 200 websites/ stores making it easier for everyone to shop. They have everything from kids bedding , cookware, houseware, toys, to furniture. You name CSN Stores has it!

Make sure you check back this week for this great giveaway!!! I am so excited about it and I know you will love it too!!!

Tickets

Today I was happy when I went through our mail!!!! Can anyone guess why I was so excited????

Yep, my Beth Moore ticket came!!!! I almost threw it away, I didn't recognize the return address and I thought it was junk mail and then it hit me that it could be my tickets!!!! I was starting to get a little worried that I hadn't received them.  I am so looking forward to this trip with my sister! I know it will be such a good time and believe it or not this will be our first trip together with just the two of us!!!! Have all of you got your book? I keep forgetting to get it and I have a Barnes and Nobles less than 5 minutes from us.

Ok it is a short post tonight because American Idol is on!!! Who is watching??

Blah Monday

I don't really have much to blog about today. It has been rainy here all day and it has kind of put me in a blah mood. Christian and I are both sitting here playing on the computer and watch House Hunters. I'm waiting for the Bachelor Tells All to come on. Are any of you watching it? I hope you all have a great Monday. Hopefully I'll be more exciting tomorrow!

A Clean Saturday

It has been such a pretty day here! It is funny to me how when it is in the 50's it feels nice because it has been so cold here this winter. Christian had to work this morning, so I cleaned the house. It has turned in an all day thing and I am pooped. I've scrubbed the kitchen and bathrooms, vacuum, mopped the kitchen and bathrooms, dusted, laundry (sheets included), and I'm tired. I also took Buddy for a walk and swept the front sidewalk. Sorry I do not have any pictures to share today, you wouldn't have wanted to see me in my cleaning clothes. Speaking of clothes I need to clean out my closet big time! I did every piece of laundry we had today, except for what we are wearing and now I do not have enough hangers to hang all our clothes. We don't really have any plans tonight except for relaxing around the house! Hope you all have had a great Saturday. Tomorrow is suppose to be another pretty day and I'm excited!!!!

Mellow Mushroom

First of all let me tell you how happy I am it is the weekend!!! I swear I wish my life away for the weekends. Tonight Christian and I went to Mellow Mushroom for dinner! We went last weekend for lunch for our time and I have been craving it ever since. It is now one of my new favorite restaurants! The only down fall I've seen is both of our Mellow Mushrooms are in downtowns, so we have to drive around forever looking for a parking space. Is your Mellow Mushroom in a downtown? We live in a city in between two larger cities and they are both about 25 minutes away and we've now tried both!

Tonight Christian got a calzone and I got a spinach, mushroom, jalep., pesto, and cheeze pizza, which were both delicious!!!!! I can't remember the fancy name of my pizza. What is your favorite from Mellow Mushroom?
Here is a picture of me in one of my new dresses I was talking about in my previous post and it was only $12!!! I know this is not a good picture but I was by myself and I do not know how to work the self timer thing.

I would have had Christian take the picture but he leaves before I am even out of bed in the mornings and I'm already home and changed in to comfy clothes by the time he gets home from work.

I tried to do an upclose one too! I didn't work so well because of the flash. Oh well, I love the dress. I wore it with a black shirt under it, tights, and black boots!

One last thing! I need help! I uploaded the new editor on blogger a while back but I have not been able to figure out how to do spell check. Can any of you help? I know this would also help Abby out! I would have asked a long time ago, but I thought it was just me being dumb or something. But this week I saw I wasn't the only person with this issue. PLEASE HELP IF YOU KNOW HOW!!!!! Thanks!

Dressy Wednesday

Today has just been a normal day. It has been a pretty good day, except for my computer has pretty much crashed at work. I don't really have much to blog about, but I wanted to a quick post. Today during my lunch hour I went to Target to walk around and I did manage to find a cute zebra dress! I wanted to share a picture with you, but for some reason my computer won't save the picture. I plan on weaing it soon and I will take a picture when I do! Tonight I went to the Dillard's clearance center with a lady I work with and we found some cute stuff. I got a really cute sweater dress and I am wearing it tomorrow, so I'll share pictures tomorrow. I'm too lazy to take picture right now. My office is hosting an ACC tournament party on March 12th and we are supposed to wear our favorite team attire. Well I am so not into sports and I don't have a team I love and don't really have any sport shirts. But I did find a Wake Forest Tee tonight for $10 and it's pretty cute. I figured I could wear that shirt with gold heals and chunky gold jewelry, since black and gold are their colors.
Oh and on a funny note...My neighbors got a new puppy tonight and I was so excited to see it, so I went running across our driveway and slipped on some ice and busted my butt in front of my other neighbor across the street. She was trying so hard not laugh when she asking me if I was ok. Then to make it better I was in the other room trying on my new dress with some black shoes and didn't realize they were strapped together and when I went to walk I fell again! Anyways how has your Wednesday been? Only 2 more days until Friday....WoooHooo!!!!!

Dog Bowl Stand

So I've been telling Christian for a while that I wanted to get Buddy a dog bowl stand. I always felt bad when I watched Buddy get his food or water, because he had to lean down so far since he is so tall. I've looked at pretty much every store around and they were all way too small. Buddy is 108lbs. and his tall. Christian is very handy and loves to build things out in the garage, so he made Buddy his own stand. He just finished it last night and we brought it in tonight and I LOVE it!!!!

So darn cute!!!!!

We wanted to put something on the front and I wasn't sure what, so we decided to put his name!

I am so happy to have a handyman husband b/c I know I couldn't find one this cute out there in the stores!

Christian also built our aquarium stand also. We have a 75 gallon salt water tank and that is his baby.

This definitely a conversation piece when we have people over and all the kids love it!

I love having a talented husband! My mom and I both have a list of things we want him to build! We are still waiting though.

I told him he needs to start selling this stuff on the side and maybe I can stay home..HA!!!

Hair Advice

I am undecided about my hair and I have an appointment at the end of the month, so I am starting to think about what I want to do with it. I've always been the one to grow my hair out and then chop it off! I also like to change my hair color a lot for some reason, but I usually end up with some sort of high lights. I wanted to share a few pictures with you and then you tell me what you like!

This summer I was growing my hair out for my wedding! I really like the color in this picture. My hair is so thick it takes forever to dry and it gets tangled when it is longer.

I did cut it to my shoulders in August for our vacation b/c I didn't want to deal with long hair while at the beach.

After my wedding in October I chopped it!I was so ready for a change and was tired of dealing with longer hair. It is really easy and it doesn't tanlge at all!

Here is my most recent picture of my hair. It is really blond right now and I am having a hard time with my roots. I feel like they are showing like a week after I get my hair done.

I also wanted to share this picture of me from last Spring with dark hair and yes I realize I look huge in this picture.

Ok so please share what you like best and what looks best! Length, color, style????

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you all have had a happy Valentine's Day so far!

Christian and I exchanged cards this morning when we got up!

He was sweet and got me roses!!!

Christian calls me cupcake sometimes (don't ask me where is got that from), so he has that in parenthesis.

My beautiful 15 roses, I'm not sure why he got me 15!?!? Kind of random..lol, but I love them!

Here we are on our way to meet my family for lunch!

After lunch we ran by Target and they were selling girl scout cookies outside, so I had to get me a box and Christian a box!

Caramel Delites (my favorite) and Peanut Butter Sandwich (for Christian b/c I do NOT like peanut butter)!

I realize a box of cookies is going to help me lose any weight.

I plan on catching up on my DVR'd shows this afternoon and laying on the couch! How has your Valentine's Day been?

Our Valentine's Day

Christian and I decided to celebrate Valentine's Day today instead of tomorrow. We figured it woud be less crowded and now we can spend Sunday at home. When I first got up this morning and took Buddy out, I was shocked to see we got more snow, that covered the cars and yard.

 It has been a really long time that we have gotten this much snow. It seems like we have had snow at least once a week for the past month! I'm am officially ready for Spring.

We had reservations at PF Chang's for lunch, but on our way we dicided we weren't in the mood for Chinese and wanted to try Mellow Mushroom. It is fairly new to our city and it is a good 25 - 30 minutes away, so we've never been. I've hearad great things about the place and I wanted to try. I do believe this might be one of my new  favorite restaurants!

Here we are waiting on a table. It is definitely not the best picture ever, but it works. I am craving some Mellow Mushroom right now.

The atmosphere was neat! It had all kinds of cool chandeliers and beautifl stained glass!

After lunch Christian and I went to walk around a few stores at an outside mall! It was fun besides freezing while we walked from store to store. I did manage to find two pair of jeans for $40, SCORE!!! Since I am so short I always have such a hard time finding jeans and when I find a pair I wear them until they have holes in them. Needless to say I was in desperate need for some new jeans. I also got some new Bare Escentuals make up because I've been out for a while. I've tried other types that were cheaper, but I've decided this is my favorite.

We've have spent the evening at home and we are now watching Julie & Julia! It is cute but it's not my favorite! I'm having a hard time getting completely into it...hence the reason I'm blogging!

Happy Valentine's Eve!!

Oh How I LOVE Him

Since Valentine's Day is this weekend I thought I would do a post about my love and Valentine, my wonderful Hubby! I wanted to share the TOP 10 REASONS I LOVE CHRISTIAN!!! I could go on and on, but I decided to do 10! (these are in no particular oder)

1. He loves me for who I am! There has never been a day in our relationship where he has tried to change me. He might not always understand or question things, but he still love ME!!!!
2. His creativity, he is always thinking of new things to build or do for the house! He is very good handy man and I love that about him!
3. He hardly ever tells me no and will usually give in to me!
4. I love that he does the dishes for me pretty much every night after dinner!
5. His love for me! I know I'm hard to deal with at times, but he does a great job at loving me and being a great husband!
6. He is such a hottie :-)
7. His dedication, when he puts his mind to something he sticks with it until he is finished.
8. I love his outlook on life and always wants the best for us and looking out for us!
9. He has taken the responsibility of paying the bills, grocery shopping, and making life easier on me!
10. I love his fun outgoing personality! He is usually very outgoing and is usually up for anything!

I LOVE YOU CHRISTIAN and I can't wait to spend many more Valentine's Days together! You are the best Valentine ever!

I want to share a few pictures of my sweet husband!

 Waiting on me to come down the aisle on our wedding day!

One of my favorite moments ever...we were just married!

On our honeymoon!

We are celebrating Valentines Day tomorrow and having lunch at PF Chang's! I didn't really feel like fighting the crowds tomorrow night or Sunday, so I made us reservations for lunch!  What do y'all have planned for Valentine's?  It is snowing outside AGAIN (it hasn't snowed this much here in a long time) and our yard is already covered, so hopefully it will now mess up our lunch plans tomorrow.

Restaurant Sanitation Grades

I know not every state has to post their sanitation grade but North Carolina does...Thank Goodness!!! I have a really weird habit of not eating anywhere with a low sanitation grade. When I say low I mean lower than like a 98 or so. They grade them just like we were graded in school..A, B, C...and they give you an actual score. This is the first thing I look for when we enter a restaurant and several times I've convinced Christian to leave. One night we went to Chilis and we left because they had a low B, so we went to a steak house and they also had a B. Everytime we go to a restaurant in that area the sanitation grades are really low, so we've come to the conclusion it might be the inspector in that area of restaurants. Tonight we went to try this new Greek restaurant and they had a 96 as their grade, so we left. This might sound mean, dumb, or rude but I usually always find some nice reason why we need to leave. I always have a hard time when we go to Florida because they do not have to post their grades and I'm always wondering what their grade is. Christian's dad always wants to take us to a hole in the wall restaurant and I love hole in the walls, but only local ones that I know the history and the sanitation grade! Anyways...I just wanted to share with yall a little weirdness of mine!!! Does your state of grades posted?
 I've decided I'm going to bed super early tonight. I don't really feel well and I just want to go to sleep! I hope you all have a happy Friday! I am so ready for the weekend!!! Do you have any exciting Valentine's Day plans?

Potato Soup

Tonight I made potato soup for my first time and I must say it was delicious!!! This was the perfect meal for this cold and really windy day! I wanted to share the recipe with you guys and also because my sister reads my blog and wants the recipe. I found this on a blog a while back, but I'm not sure who it was...sorry! It was one of those days I had my notecards and writing down recipes.

You will need:

5 potatos diced (I used 6 small potatos)

1 diced onion

2 cups water

2 cups milk

1 bar of cream cheese

1 cream of celery

1 cream of mushroom

salt and pepper

Directions:

• In a large pot add potatos, onion and 2 cups water
• Let boil until water is absorbed and potatos are soft
• Then stir in cream cheese until melted (I diced my bar)
• Once melted add milk, cream of celery, cream of mushroom, and salt/pepper to taste
• Let simmer for about 20 minutes

I served it with biscuits again tonight

It is so good!!! Let me know if you try it and like!

You might want to double the ingredients if you want a large amount. It is just Christian and I and we had plenty. A large bowl a piece for dinner and we both have a bowl for lunch tomorrow.

A New Recipe and Cookies

Tonight I tried a new recipe that I got from Jenna's Journey. I've been wanting to try since I've read about it on her blog. I actually took pictures of it tonight while I fixed and wanted to share the recipe with you. You can also check out Jenna's blg because she added a couple extra things in hers.

Beef and Noodles

Ingredients

1lb. of stew beef (or whatever type of beef you like) cut into bite size pieces

1/2 chopped onion

1 can of beef broth

1 package of lipton onion soup mix

olive oil

salt and pepper

noodles of choice (i used whole wheat)

Directions

Heat about 2TBS of olive oil in skillet

Add onion and sautee

Once the onion is translucent, add in beef

Brown on both sides

Add beef broth and bring to a boil

Add soup mix and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes

I let my stand for about 5 or 10 minutes to try to make it thicken

I served it over noodles and with biscuits

Thanks for sharing Jenna!!!

I ended the night with these yummy cookies

They were delicious and I am making Christian take them to work tomorrow or I will eat them all!

My First and Socks!

I won my first giveaway on Abby's blog a couple of weeks ago and received this cute ring in the mail last week!!!

I was so excited to receive it in the mail and I can't wait to wear it! I think I am going to wear it to work tomorrow! Please ignore more plaid pajama pants in the picture above :-) Thanks Abby!!!!

Ok y'all are going to think I am crazy when I share this next picture but I was just trying to be a good mom to my dog and take care of him! While were watching the Super Bowl Christian and I were both freezing and couldn't get warm and apparently Buddy was too. When I got on the floor to play with him his paws were so cold, I even made Christian feel and he agreed. Usually everyone thinks I baby him way too much, but I disagree. So here is what I did to help him out...

I put two pair of my fluffy, fuzzy socks on him. It was so funny he would just stand there and let me put them on him but then wouldn't walk and if he didn't he would hop. I wish I had it on video, it was so funny! They didn't last long, but I was just trying to warm him up!!!!

Are any of you watching The Bacehlor tonight? I love the hometown dates! Which girl do you like this season? I'll probably do a post tomorrow on what I thought of the show tonight! Please share your thoughts!!!

LOVE IS IN THE AIR...and a few other things!

Friday morning I woke up to this...

More snow, ice, and sleet...Christian called me once he got to work and said it took him almost an hour and that the roads were really slick, so I worked from home!!! I love the days I don't have to get up and go to work.

I took the time to clean the house and put out my 3 little pieces of Valentine decorations!

I almost always have towels for each season/holida on my stove!

This cute little plate that I got for Christian one year with homemade cookies!

My little Valentine's Day flag outside! I also usually have a flag for every season and holiday!!!

I also wore my $5 Valentine's shirt I got from Target!!! I love it and I think it is just too cute!!!

Christian and I never really do much for Valentines Day except for a card and maybe dinner. He is sweet and will usually get me a gift certificate to get a pedicure! BUT I do love Valentines day!!! I love all the red and pink and I just enjoy the day!!!

I also spent a lot of time loving on and playing with this cute boy!

Speaking of dogs...Christian and I have been wanting to change Buddy's dog food to a healthier food than Dog Chow. Well yesterday when we went Petsmart it was kind of overwhelming. We had a guy representing the bran Nutro and then we had the Petsmart staff representing their brand Authority. We weren't sure who to believe or what to believe...but we did go with Authority. Do any of you dog owner's have any suggestions? 

Yesterday was a very exciting day! We booked our family vacation for the summer and this will be our home in August for a few days!!!

We are going on a cruise with my family! There will 15 of us and it should be interesting!! We are going on a 4 night cruise and then spending a few days in Florida either before or after. Since Chrsitian is from Orlando and his Dad works for Disney and we get in for FREE!!! I think we are going to leave early and take my nephews to Disney before we set sail!!!!

My sister and I also bought our tickets and booked our room for the Beth Moore Conferance in Atlanta in April!!! We are so excited! You can see my excited face in the post below. Are you going?

I can't believe today is The Super Bowl...it does not feel like it at all. We don't have any plans and will probably end up ordering pizza or something like that and sitting at home! I don't really care about the game. I just like the commercials and half time!!!  Do any of you have any big and exciting plans for tonight?

Super Excited

I am just so excited that my sister and I just booked our trip to Atlanta for the Beth Moore Conferance in April!!!!! Looks like we will be partying in the overflow with all the other fellow bloggers!!!

I wanted to join in on the fun and make a cute sign and blog about it! You can go to read more about it here to read about it and book you a spot too!!!

Are any of you going? I know this trip will be awsome in so many ways!!!!

Show Us Your Life - Beauty Tips and Favorite Products

I am so excited about Kelly's Korner beauty tips and favorite products today on Show Us Your Life!!! I am a sucker for any fun beauty product, I always love buying fun new stuff in the stores. I swear marketing people should love me because I am always the one that falls for them all!!!! I'm like that with cleaning products too.

I am really excited to find some new make up today on here. I have been trying to find a new foundation that I like lately but I think my favorite is Bare Escentuals and I'm out. I just wish it wasn't so expensive. I'm not really loyal to one specifi brand of make up. I buy all brands of eyeshadows and lipstick. Although lately I've gotten most of my lipsticks from Avon. They are cheap and I really like most of them. I've also worn Merle Norm Spice Sachet lip pencil for the last year. I heard about it on Kelly's Korner last year and I've been addicted since then. This is the one I wear most of the time. One item I am very loyal to is my mascara. I buy the same brand every time and every time I try new I end up throwing it away and resorting back to this.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Mabelline's Great Lash Curved Brush mascara. A lot of people I know always ask what mascara I use and they try it don't like it, but it works great for me. I have really long eyelashes and this is the one I've learned that works best for me.

I am always buying different lotions and trying new moisturizers and this is one of my favorites!

I have used St. Ives whipped silk lotion since high school.  I usuallys always have a big bottle of this that sits on my bathroom sink. Christian and I both like it and I think it smells so fresh! I use it for an all over moisturizer.

This winter I have had really dry skin and wanted to try something else to use along with my lotion.

I found this in the shower body lotion and it works so well! Once you are finished in the shower rub this all over your body and then rinse! I really like how smooth it makes me feel but I don't use it all the time and I don't use a lot because it can be kind of greasy feeling. The other downfall with this is it causes your shower to feel extra slick and slimey.

I also use this facial moisturizer every morning.

I really like this Olay Complete Daily UV Moisturizer. I have really liked it this year and haven't really had dry skin on my face this winter. I'm hoping it works just as welll this summer when I'm in the sun!

As far as my hair goes...I am always using different shampoos and conditioners. I don't use one particular type of shampoo but it is usually something to help frizzy hair and make it straight. I have really thick and wavy hair. My hair stylist started using this Redken product on my hair over a year ago and I've been hooked ever since.

I love this product and I use everytime I wash my hair and it smells so good!! My straightner and big round brush is also a very good friend of mine. If any of you have any good suggestions on straightening products, please share!?!?

One other thing I use almost daily is my Cherry Blossom body splash from Bath and Body Works.

I use this almost everyday, I usually spray it on right before I get dressed! I love perfume and I have a ton of it but I don't always wear them everyday. A lot of the scents from Bath & Body Works give me a headache but I love this one!

So there you have it all my favorite daily beauty products!!!