So many adventures. So few times.

My photo
My life is pretty dull. I play with a toddler, watch a lot of Yo Gabba Gabba and experiment with the crock pot. I have no bed time and I find humor in Laffy Taffy jokes. Conan O'Brien is my anti-drug.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Hershey's Spreadable PB disaster cookies. LO-freaking-L

I was sent a jar of Hershey's spreadable chocolate (oh, hi. You've never heard of it? YOU ARE MISSING OUT, FRIEND! This stuff is ridiculous) and I thought I'd be all creative-like and instead of dipping strawberries in it or pretzels or putting it on toast, I'd merge my two pregnancy BFFs and make them into cookies. Ya know, peanut butter and chocolate. This seemed completely  logical to me.

And I took pictures as I went, kept track of what I was adding and doing and comparing peanut butter cookie recipes I'd used before as a template.


So I measured out all the ingredients, divided so 50% would be peanut butter cookie batter and the other half would be Hershey's chocolate batter. Seriously, I'm a genius in theory, right?! I even let my little sous chef assist me.


And I introduced her to the Hershey's spread. To say she is a fan is a gross understatement. 


HUGE fan.


I swirled together the peanut butter batter and chocolate, mentally patting myself on the back (okay, crap. You caught me. I physically patted myself on the back too. Seriously, I was so proud of myself...) and thinking I could trademark this recipe. Batter taste-tests proved this was redonk good. I envisioned a couple hundred Pinterest pins within a few days. My blog would be on the front page of Pinterest for being so danged innovative and cutting edge. I would maybe win an award. The Pioneer Woman would knock on my front door unannounced and inform me that I've changed her life.


Seriously, life was good. For a brief moment, everything was beautiful. Crowdtap would name me member of the year. Hershey's would ask me to be a paid intern, and my only responsibility would be to eat Kisses and Cookies and Cream bars. Oh my gosh. Can you even imagine?!


And then they came out of the oven. They weren't burnt per say, but the chocolate didn't bake so well. And by 'so well', I mean that it pretty much scorched while the peanut butter portion of the cookies were undercooked. Sigh. 


The silver lining: Not only did I only use half the Hershey's jar on the cookie dough, I only used half the mixed batter on the cookies. That means that I still had a giant bowl of Hershey's and peanut butter cookie dough to eat raw. WOOOOOOOOOOOOO! If I could break dance, I would. Unfortunately I can't even regular dance without throwing my hips out or causing a flare-up of Braxton Hicks, so luckily for all of you I'm going to refrain from dancing and instead carry on with my cookie dough eating. When the dough is gone, I'll start on polishing off the Hershey's. 



...If the husband doesn't eat it all first. 

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I received the Hershey's spreadable dip free from www.crowdtap.com to review, but the opinions are clearly all mine. 

Sunday, January 5, 2014

VIP Fabfitfun Winter Box Review. You know you're jealous.


 Shortly before New Years I got a notification that a quarterly fabfitfun box had shipped out to me but - my bad - I had never updated my address and it was being sent to the little blue house that is no longer our home. In a panic, I selected a FedEx pickup location about 40 miles from my cozy spot on the couch and eagerly anticipated the surprises that awaited me when the beautiful white box would finally be in my greedy grip. Friday, E and I trekked into the zero degree winter weather so I could collect said box (and go to a Coach Factory store, but I digress). 


I told myself I'd wait to open the box until I got home and had the toddler down for a nap, mainly so I could relish in each item and savor the moment of scouring through the health and beauty goods, curated by the beautiful and inspirational Giuliana Rancic. Because, surely, if its good enough for her it's definitely good enough for this mama.  The wait for 1 pm's sleep session couldn't come quick enough.

And no, I'm not just saying this: I definitely wasn't disappointed. Chocked full of goodies ranging from skincare and cosmetics to pampering and encouraging a healthy lifestyle, this may be one of my favorite boxes to date. For a $50 fee, customers received $274 worth of goodies!


1. Simple Foaming Facial Cleanser: $7.49 - I'm newer to this drugstore brand but I've rapidly become a fan. This is going directly into my cleanser rotation once I use up my almost-gone bottle of Clinique.

2. Physique 57 Classes: $25 - This is a coupon for 5 classes to download. As it expires on March 12th, I'm thinking I won't get to utilize this before it expires since my due date is late February. I plan to pay it forward to a friend I think will really get to take advantage of the workouts and appreciate it.


3. Bioxidea Miracle 24: $19 - This one face mask is $19. $19!! It's a nutrient-infused, cutting-edge face mask that is said to smooth skin and reduce signs of premature aging. Looks like I'm going to be rocking this bad boy while I soak in the tub tonight!

4. Lora Jane Bracelet: $29.99 - This is a fitness bracelet intended to remind you to "Move, Nourish, and Believe". I'm not huge on fitness bracelets (heck, I used to hate even wearing my Tiffany bracelet while I ran, and that sucker NEVER came off. Until it did and I lost it in the middle of a Walmart store, but that's another story for another time) but I like the message behind this one, to remind you to take care of yourself.


5. TruEnergy Inspired Earbuds: $39.99 - Um, hi. My name is Buffy and I adore funky anything. Some bright yellow and orange earbuds that feature superior sound quality, enhanced bass AND noise reduction? Um, okay. Where do I sign?! Plus it has a built-in SoundShare splitter so your friends or boyfriend or girlfriend or sister's cousin's mother can listen in to your tunes like a creepster.  

6. NYX Eyeshadow Palette: $8 - I feel like I'm late to a very, very awesome party. NYX products are highly pigmented and AFFORDABLE. This 5 color shadow palette is in Ciao Bella and I'd say that the majority of colors are really flattering on my typically pasty and freckled face. There's a bolder coraly pink that is a little weird for me. It's more like a blush shade for me rather than something I'd wear on my lids, but the rest of the colors are definitely winners.


7. Beauty for Real lip gloss: $22 - I'm obsessed. Not only is the color super flattering while still bold, it's a little tingly on my kisser. I like tingles. ALSO there is a mirror on the side and a little light in the wand. I dig the color, but if I didn't it'd still be awesome to keep in my purse for searching for parking meter quarters.

8. Skyn Iceland Icelandic Relief Eye Cream: $45 - I haven't busted out this bad boy yet, but as I'm starting to spot a few fine lines around my eyes (it must be the looming 30's creeping up by way of wrinkles) I'm excited to test this blend of vitamin K, peptides, cotton powder and Icelandic kelp. Because Icelandic kelp is way better than kelp from, say, Florida.

9. MeUndies Gift Card: $20 - it's really more of a coupon code than a gift card, but it's enough to redeem for 1 pair of undies from the site (or, as your girl here did, I redeemed for two pairs of socks). I haven't received said socks yet, but I placed my order around 2:30 and by 4 pm I had a shipment confirmation in my inbox. This makes me giddy.


10. The Giving Keys Never Ending Necklace: $55 - At first blush I was a little unimpressed by this necklace. It's a little key with a single word meant to motivate. But upon further research, the necklace is intended to be worn until you meet someone who needs the message more than you, at which point you pay the key forward and instruct them to do the same. Given that I'm about to pop a kid out of my uterus, I think the message (mine is 'strength') couldn't be more perfect or applicable. It's now hands-down my favorite item in the box, even more than the badass dayglo headphones.
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Overall, I'm super giddy about the content of this box. If you want to check out the box for yourself, direct your booty over to www.vip.fabfitfun.com so you can also get these amazeballs quarterly boxes o'happy! 

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Baby T's Geektastic Nursery Reveal!

As the world probably knows, I'm knocked up. The little guy (endearingly called Tommy by people in the know) is getting his own nursery, and when it came to a theme or general idea for the room I was torn. E's old nursery was intended to be various birds and bright colors, and somehow merged into being pink and green and full of cartoon owls. Cute, but not really what I was envisioning. For T, I wanted something that he could grow into, something he'd identify with as he became a toddler but a room that wasn't so mature it wasn't fitting for a youngster. Since I couldn't really pin down any one idea, I decided to make it a big ol' geektastic room!


Now, I want to say outright that I have a few more finishing touches, and I'm deliberately not showing the main dresser and hutch... mainly because it's still filled with random pink cluttery items leftover from Emma crashing in this room for so long. 


In fact, she still feels a strong sense of ownership to this room. Kid, enjoy it while you can because your little brother is SO going to kick you out of here soon enough!


I didn't want any one space to be overwhelming with any single show or character, but there is definitely hints of Star Wars in every nook and cranny. Hey, when your husband is letting you do pretty much whatever you want in a room, you might as well throw him a bone to ensure he likes the room too!



I think the part I'm proudest of is the yellow striped blanket. I spent many an hour crocheting that bad boy, and since I'm DEFINITELY still a beginner at crocheting it was purely made from love and not so much from skill. It truly helped me form a mental bond with the little dude in my gut when I was in the earlier months of pregnancy and still filled with nerves that something would go wrong. It's actually big enough to be a lap blanket for myself and I kind of envision snuggling him in the late hours in the new giant recliner, with the blanket in my lap and the kid in my arms. Sigh. Cue the misty eyes from surging pregnancy hormones. 


And finally, these bad boys. Inspired by a Pinterest pin a friend referred me to of another geektastic nursery, I wanted something original for the walls. I made these one afternoon during naptime and absolutely love how they turned out. In fact, I love them so much that I actually created a little tutorial I'll post at a later date! 




 I still need to hang a mobile or two and come up with something for the floor space below the Space Trooper pictures, but overall I'm giddy with how the whole room turned out. If you want to know where anything came from, shoot me a comment below and I'll hook you up with details.