... to all us first borns

"If You're the Oldest...You may have a higher IQ than your younger siblings, but you're also more likely to have allergies and asthma. A Norwegian study of over 240,000 males found that eldest children had average IQ scores about 3 percent higher than second-born and 4 percent higher than third-born children. Firstborns have higher odds of developing asthma and allergies because of different conditions they experience in the uterus, according to research from the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom, presented at the American Thoracic Society's 2008 International Conference. "

--taken from today's AOL "In Lifestyle" main article

daily dally

So, I was putzing around in the blogging world and came across a blog (wish I remembered to copy the address) that had a random daily question to answer and today's made me laugh, and since I doubt I'll do it every day... I thought I'd humor myself and do it today since I'm bored and my husband and dogs are gone....

Daily Question:

If you could beat up any celebrity who would it be?

Stefanie: I would beat up Mario Lopez. I hate him- he's such a skeeze. He's nasty, he's gross, he can't keep his snake in its cage, he's a moron... shall I continue? I think it would be fun to make his pretty little face all nasty and puffy. So there.

Who would YOU like to take your aggression out on?

fab four

This pretty much sums up our summer as of late.

Absolute *bliss*--

We miss Leah and Cory, though, and can't wait for our sweet six pack to be back together!

On a whole different note: I literally AM begging for plans for August. Please. Zach and I will be living with his parents, who will also be playing host to Zach's cousin, his wife and their 1-3 kids, on any given day. That's 7-9 people in a house, along with 4 dogs, 1 cat and a snake for a whole month. We'll need our space. Please.

why we fear for my dad's safety on the roads...

... and can anyone venture a guess at what that used to be?

That's right... a Mclaren Mercedes. I was right when I said that it probably wasn't street legal in the States! Can you believe...!? WOW. And in the first picture, you can see how far away from the road the car... well, the wreckage was. I've included a generic photo below, just for comparison's sake.

an artsy fartsy, loop living crush

I have recently discovered all the wonderful writers in the blogging community. I found Artsy Fartsy through Marina @ Penny Lane Designs. She's so funny and she has the most amazing style and I just love looking at the things she finds online. Design Crush I found through Ivy's blog. Her daily recipes, her brilliant little musings and her wonderful finds keep me entertained for hours. My favorite blog I've found, though, is in(side) the loop-- talk about talent and an eye for design! These three ladies inspire me- and in the next year, I expect to frequent their little corners of cyberspace to get inspired about decorating my future home.

I cannot tell you all how anxious I am to have my own home. My own space to decorate. I am tired of being a renter, I'm tired of having no control over things in my house. I am tired of a stove that only half works and an air conditioner that's got a temper, and hot water heater that only heats enough water for one shower every two hours. I can't wait to be in a building that wasn't built before I was born (hopefully), one that doesn't have massive cracks in the walls, and one that doesn't have huge holes in the wall that allow cockroaches to penetrate every little nook and cranny of my space. I would love to have a kitchen- a real kitchen. I'd love to have a place to set up a table and chairs. Oh, to eat dinner at a kitchen table with my husband! I can only dream for the next year.

However, I have started to browse the online world and find little bits and pieces that I think need to find their way into my home eventually. I'm going to share some of them with you now, because I don't see the point to ferreting them away and not sharing my *small* excitement with my dear friends and family.

The first thing I've found that I'm totally in love with is this adorable set of vases. If you know the Clarks, you know we adore being near the shore, my sweet hubby loves to go fishing and I've practically grown up a stone's throw from the water. As I've said. I can just see these on a mantle with some colored water and small palm fronds. Oh yes, I said palm fonds.

I love the idea of bringing natural, earthy elements into my space. It just seems so much more... organic and beautiful. I don't care so much for the smaller shell, but I think the large one with the beautiful sea glass is to die for. It's sad that I'm thinking about things in relation to a certain type of floor plan, but I can't help myself!

I love these. Love, love, love, love these! I can see these being beautiful filled with shells during the summer, hand painted eggs during the spring, fake acorns and cranberries during the fall and ornaments during the winter. On a beautiful sideboard or a sofa table? Stunning, I think.

I. MUST. HAVE. THESE. Actually, they have a set that's also a mix of colors, but can you imagine these white stones against a dark, dark wooden dining table? Stunning! Especially with the plates we have, their earthenware look, and their design. I am enamored of these. And they're not too expensive! I was very surprised. I have already told Zach there WILL be stones everywhere, I think they're natures most perfect form of artwork.

Fabulous. FABulous! Again, natural quartz in a stunning shape. I love the way the candle light bounces off of the crystals. I got almost giddy excited over these things. I actually think the clear and amber choices would be pretty on the stone runner above., however I'm thinking that mixing too much rock.mineral in one place would be overkill... but I'm sure I'll manage to find a place for them!

I cannot tell you all how much I enjoy looking at the little things. I am so excited to have the opportunity (and funds!) to start making my house into the place I have in my head. My only stipulation is that I remain true to my own design style and don't let myself be influenced by anyone. I don't want my house to turn into a Pottery Barn showcase, and I don't want it to turn into the New Territory/Pecan Grove typical house. I want it to be eclectic and funky with silly little pieces that make everyone smile. I'm so excited to get there, and I'm only a year away!

myPod

While waiting for my sweet husband to get home for the *second* time today, I decided to entertain myself with this. I think I'll surprise myself, but I also think I need to seek out my iPod and plug it into iTunes before I start... for fresh data.

Total length:
655 items, 1.9 days, 2.55 GB

First and Last Songs (by title):
AC/DC by John Patridge on the New Starlight Express Soundtrack
2 x 4 by Metallica: Load

Shortest and Longest Songs:
Iron Man, Jack Urbont: Iron Man Soundtrack; Time: 0:20
One Rainy Day/Safe and Sound, Godsmack: IV; Time: 16:41

First and Last Albums (by title):
... And Justice for All: Metallica
Young Lust: Aerosmith

First and Last Artist (by name):
a-Ha (song: The Living Daylights from my Bond...James Bond album)
50 Cent

Top Five Most Played Songs:
1. Candyman, Christina Aguilera
2. DamnKid, DJ Boborobo: Iron Man Soundtrack
3. Give It to Me, Timbaland
4. Beautiful Liar, Beyonce & Shakira
5. The Scorpion Sleeps, Rob Zombie

When searching for the following words, how many songs show up?
Sex: 13
Death: 3
Love: 36
You: 59
Home: 1 (Welcome Home (sanitarium) by Metallica- don't kid yourselves)
Boy: 8
Girl: 28 <-- thanks in large part to the Spice Girls... a guilty pleasure


So, all in all, that quite makes me laugh. My top five songs are terribly cringe worthy...I have a habit of finding random, usually pretty bad, songs that I love and I keep a special playlist on my iPod called "Stefanie's Random Songs She Likes" and I just put them all there and listen to that while I'm screwing around the house. I love to put it on when I'm cleaning house. Metallica and Godsmack and Rob Zombie are my favorites, but not good for chores. And my Iron Man soundtrack is my all time favorite to work out to. I don't know why, just is. I do have to say, I think it's a horrible misrepresentation of my music taste though. I have two songs by 50 Cent. That's it. 251 of my 655 songs are Metal- that's my genre. Everything else is a mash-"soundtrack" being the next largest genre. I would like to point out that even with every single Metallica song released on an album on my iPod, there are still only 3 songs that show up when I searched "death." So you can back right off of them. I will say that my Metal numbers will be rising with the release of Metallica's Death Magnetic. I'm ecstatic. I'm over the moon. I adore these men, I cannot wait for this new release, and it's supposedly some real, good, metal up your @$$. That's their saying- look it up. Anyway, can't wait. Love them, so excited, you get the idea. My sweet little Mustang's stereo is going to get a massive workout from that album once it's released, I think. To Heather's and from, it'll give me plenty of time to memorize the new lyrics. So there, my musically dedicated post. I should do this with Zach's iTunes, but I'm too afraid. He's all metal and country, with some rap in between. It'd make him look bipolar or something. Have a good Monday, everyone!!

And excuse the massive run-on. Apparently blogger has decided that when I push "enter" I don't really mean it. I've fiddled with it for ten minutes and I'm about to give up. Apparently, this is something I'm not meant to win.

sunday is for resting...

... unless you're a 4th year vet student who is on call for the large animal clinic. Then you'll be called at 8:15 in the morning, remain there until 5:10 in the afternoon, only to get called back at 8:30 at night. It's been great not having my husband home on one of the two days I can usually rely on. Not. I just hope THIS case doesn't decide it doesn't want to stand up after the surgery and Zach makes it home before 1 in the morning. I'm about tired of being all alone today. Thank goodness for my sweet dogs and cat. They're not my husband, but they're great companions anyway. Poor Zach.

pot luck & pintucking

Wow, I have to say, I'm pretty good at those _______ & ________ titles when they start with "p." Today was so enjoyable. I've got a lot of things to talk about. I have to try and make some sense out of the title anyway, don't I?

I spent a lot of time getting ready for my dear friends to come over today, including giving Jethro a bath for the very first time all by myself. He was so stinky and he hadn't seen Brenton in a year, and I didn't want B to be greeted by a big stinky mess. So he got bathed and he smells like oatmeal and vanilla right now. Which isn't bad, but in a few days, I'm going to be so tired of my dog smelling like a bakery shop. I think we'll have to go fruity with his next shampoo- it's so much more bearable for me.

My dad sent me the most insane pictures from his office the other day. Somebody had photographed a wreck outside Doha, where my dad lives in Qatar. Well, this car was in such a state that you couldn't tell WHAT it was, or what it had previously been. The only reason I could tell that it had been a car that was worth a lot of money was from the one headlight. It's insane- my dad sees cars in Qatar that we never see in the States- probably because they're not street legal here. Wow. Dad said with that, the owner (if he survived?) will be out buying a new one the next day. So wrong.

I know this is totally random, but humor me. I've decided to try and define my own personal style. Laugh, if you will, but I know that a lot is deduced about a person from the way they present themselves. Well, I'm tired of presenting the world with basketball shorts and Aggie t-shirts. Not that my previous uniform is bad, and I will continue to wear this around the house, but I just don't want that being what people see me as anymore. I've become much more interested in fashion, I've discovered a couple websites that I love. We, of course, don't have the money for me to make any dramatic change- but as my sweet husband says: "one day." My mom always says it doesn't cost anything to look- and that's a philosophy I adhere to! I look and look and look and it doesn't cost me a dime. Nice. Thanks mom. But I also have decided that I love the surfer brands, namely Hurley and Volcom and Roxy. I like that their clothes are feminine and yet, not girly. Lindsay and I talked about that today- no ruffles, no lace. I'm working hard to define myself, and I think that the first place I'm really working my magic is through my hair. In January it was long and brown and plain. Being honest. Then in February I cut it off, into what was MEANT to be an edgy cut that came out all wrong. So I'll have to get it done again. Now, in June I added blue highlights. In August I'm going back to my extension man and I'm going to get my hair cut and I'm going to have him look at my extensions and give them some oomph. Not everyone will have hair like mine and I like that. I'm trying to express myself creatively- and slowly but surely, I'll get there.

Enough about me! On to the fun stuff! We had SUCH a good time with Lindsay and Brenton. We were only sad that dear Cory and sweet Leah couldn't be there with us. Zach and I really don't know what we're going to do without our friends next year in Houston. It's going to suck to have our best friends spread all over the state. Anyway- no despairing yet! Brenton came over a little early and he and I hung out until Zach got home, at which point the poor guys had multiple errands to run (ice and tequila). We got out the wine, got out the appetizers and just enjoyed each other's company. Lindsay arrived not too long after Zach got home and we made margaritas and messed around while Zach fired up the grill. Our menu was amazingly yummy:

Vintage Grape Red Wine
Blue Curacao Margaritas
Dill Dip with Cheese and Cracked Pepper Triscuts (yummy)
Captain D's Steaks (and Tilapia for me!)
Lindsay's yummy smashed potatoes
Paula Deen's Mayo/Parmesan/Pepper Corn on the Cob (don't knock it- try it)
Zach's signature queso with habanero peppers (ouch)
New York Style Cheesecake.

We all contributed, we all had a blast. The food couldn't have been better, even though we went a tad overboard and loaded ourselves with heavy food and then decided to sit outside for hours and hours- not a great idea. The boys bought themselves some cigars and after dinner we went outside and sat around for a while and then the boys decided they needed beer and more cigars so Lindsay and I enjoyed a good girl chat until they got back, at which point we got into some rounds of 42 which was so much fun.

I love spending time with these people. Lindsay, Brenton, Cory and Leah are the dearest friends we've made in college and just my absolute favorite people in the world. Lindsay, Cory and I are so much alike and we're all so close and I'm just so glad we're getting to spend time together now. Brenton is moving to Dallas soon to join Leah and we're hoping to see them again soon. Leah and Brenton are VERY interested in the trip to Hawaii in Oct. 09 and we are ECSTATIC that they might join us. I cannot think of two people I would rather vacation with. We also got into a really rousing discussion about Walt Disney World at dinner because all 4 of us are absolutely in love with it. We've decided that we all need to do the land/sea Disney vacation together soon too. With Cory. We'll drag him along. Lord help Cory- Brenton and I are on par with each other as far as enthusiasm goes, I'm like the biggest Disney World trivia nerd I know and with these people I know I can let down my hair, run around and wait in line for characters and they're not going to think I'm crazy. It's a wonderful, wonderful feeling. I can't wait. I know these people are going to be our friends for life. And I love it.

We're meeting for breakfast at La Bodega on Saturday and then heading out to The Dark Knight together. Then next week we're pot-lucking it again. This time we've decided on Butter Burgers, Angel Food Cake, Roasted Potatoes and whatever else strikes our fancy. *sigh*

What bliss is this? I don't want to come back to Houston in August now!

*********If you got down here, congrats! This was a long post!*********

the way to a man's heart...

Zach and I enjoy Throwdown with Bobby Flay on the Food Network. Bobby battled a Marine Captain early on in throwdown: steak. Bobby got beat, and good. The recipe is amazing, it's good on fish and shrimp, as well as on the steak. Here is the recipe:

Disco’s Hot and Tangy New York Strip Steaks

from
Captain Eric “Disco” Dominijanni
MCB Camp Lejeune

Marinade
1 can (12 ounces) cola
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup garlic teriyaki sauce
1 habanero chile pepper, finely chopped with seeds
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1 tablespoon freshly ground ginger
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

4 New York strip steaks, about 8 ounces each and 3/4 inch thick
Extra virgin olive oil

1. In a medium bowl mix the marinade ingredients. Place the steaks in a large, resealable plastic bag and pour in the marinade. Press out the air, seal the bag, and turn several times to coat the meat. Place the bag in a bowl and refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours, turning the bag occasionally.

2. Let the steaks stand at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before grilling. Remove the steaks from the bag and reserve the marinade. Pour the marinade into a small saucepan, bring to a boil, and boil for about 10 seconds. Set aside about half of the marinade for basting the steaks. For the remaining marinade in the saucepan, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until it has reduced to the consistency of a dipping sauce, 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

3. Pat the steaks dry with paper towels. Lightly coat the steaks with oil.

4. With the lid closed, grill the steaks over direct high heat (500°F to 550°F) until cooked to desired doneness, 5 to 7 minutes for medium-rare, turning once and basting with a little of the boiled marinade. (If flare-ups occur, move the steaks temporarily over indirect high heat.) Remove from the grill and let rest for 2 to 3 minutes. Serve warm with the dipping sauce on the side.

Makes 4 servings

Thanks to: http://www.commandofthegrill.com/winner_recipes.html




I seriously encourage you to try this. It's amazing. My mouth is watering thinking about this yummyness. I had to share because it's a hard recipe to find from time to time. Write it down. Save it. You will use it and it will be a hit. You can trust me. My husband won't make steak any other way.

Thank you Captain D.

guillermo del toro makes us smile...

What a wonderful week/end we've had! Since our return from Brownwood last Sunday, we've been fairly tired and really just trying to catch up around the house. We've managed to get the dogs back into some kind of rhythm, but I have yet to hit my stride. At the moment, Jethro is laying in one of my piles of laundry, snoring like a man. He loves to lay in the piles of dirty laundry, Zach says it's because they're saturated with our smell, and he's always really loved things that smell strongly of either of us. So it's kind of cute, in a quirky way.

Zach's completed one Anesthesia rotation with his next starting on Monday. He's had some big surgeries and some sad ones, and he's had some disappointments. Like two BIG cats coming in for surgery and he didn't get to work on either. One of them, the t****, was fought over. I told Zach I'd just want to hug it when she was under, just so I could say that I had done it.

But! He starts round two on Monday and THEN we're headed back to Houston on the 27th. For a month! Zach's going to be an intern at Brazos Bend Animal Hospital. We're very excited for him- so anyone who has pets- GO TO BRAZOS BEND WHILE ZACH IS THERE! Make him feel like a valuable asset- haha! I really DO encourage all of you to visit while my sweet husband is there, he's going to be an amazing doctor. He's so gifted, so smart and so very capable. I promise you, Zach will be a vet that has a following and I'm just glad I jumped on that bandwagon early. VERY early. Haha!

So! Our weekend! Lindsay and I made plans for all three of us to go to dinner on Friday night. Sadly, Zach got called back in for a surgery and couldn't come with us, but we brought him dinner so he was able to kind of enjoy our little escapade. Then while he was eating, Lindsay and I ran to the mall for an hour and when we got back, Zach wanted to head to Northgate to meet some of the anesthesia people at Mad Hatters... well, Lindsay and I drove my car in case he had to go BACK to surgery, but he didn't. So after a bit, we got a little bored (not to mention I was getting eaten alive by mozzies!) and decided to walk down to Bodega to see if Brenton was there- and he was! Hooray! We sat for about four hours in that place just playing catch up. We left at about 1:45 and made plans to meet there again for breakfast at 10:30. It's been wonderful seeing him again. We're doing a pot luck dinner next Thursday night, the four of us, and we're very excited. Zach's going to bust out his marine steaks (minus trying to make the marinade drunk) and I'm going to make corn on the cob like Paula Deen does and I'm going to attempt Madelines. Hopefully. Else I'll go with our favorite standard, the Oreo Ice Cream Dessert. We figured we might tempt Cory with it. Haha.

After breakfast, Zach and I had some running around to do and then decided just to mess around and we walked around the mall (stimulating stuff in College Station) and then decided to go to the movies. We've been on a comic book roll, so I vetoed Wall-E and Kung Fu Panda and Wanted in favor of Hellboy II. Oh my gosh, it was so good! I liked it better than The Incredible Hulk (sorry, Edward Norton) but not as well as Iron Man. Duh. It was a beautiful film, though, visually. If you haven't seen any of Guillermo del Toro's work, it's all very stimulating. He's done Blade II (very good) and Hellboy, as well as Pan's Labyrinth. I think Pan's Labyrinth is the best example of his style and his talent- that film is disturbing, but amazing. I recommend it highly- Zach and I watched it over a year ago and still talk about one of the creatures. You'll notice some stylistic similarities between the look of the more human like characters in Hellboy II and Blade II- but they worked both ways. Zach said it might have even been his favorite comic book movie of the summer, thus far. I know he expects The Dark Knight to debunk it next week. I'm very excited to see that film too, I think it will be somewhat sad, but growing up my little brother and I played Batman for hours and watched Batman for hours and read Batman comics in Norwegian for hours, so it's just one of those things I think I'll always love. It's just the great debate among comic book super hero fans: powers versus no powers. Lindsay and I are on the no powers side: we prefer our heroes to be billionaires who decide to save the world- hello Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark! Haha, Zach is a powers fan, his favorite being Spider-Man- shocking I know.

I think that's it for now, friends and family. I'm exhausted and have a lot of housework to do tomorrow and I now have a reason to clean! Hopefully I can snap some pictures on Thursday of one of our last few times with our dear friend Brenton- Lindsay and Zach and I will be the last of our group left in College Station. I'm so glad we've got Lindsay!

8 for 2008

I saw this on someone else's blog and I just loved the idea. You post 8 pictures of your 'couples' friends. So here you go- my 8 couples!

*** I just have to say THANK YOU to everyone who I got pictures from. I love you all very much and I hope you don't mind my using photos of you. Trevor, if you see this, and extra, super special thanks.***

Bailie and her husband, Travis. Bailie was my best friend in Norway, and the sweetest, best friend I've ever had. I miss this girl like crazy, and didn't she become quite the fox? Ow ow!

Jessica and TJ.

Sweet Kelsey and her boyfriend, Chris. I used to babysit this girl. Now she's a lady, going to prom. Oh my gosh, how I adored this child. And now she's a beautiful young woman. I feel SO old.

Brenton and Leah. They're the absolute sweetest people you could ever hope to meet.

Salinda and Randall!

Sarah and Jeff.

Sarah and Sean!

Sweet Trevor and his boyfriend Ryan.

wonderful & wacky

Firstly, I hope that everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. We were very lucky to spend the weekend with Zach's family in Brownwood, TX. We drove up on Friday morning and came back Sunday afternoon. It was wonderful getting to see our family, most especially Zach's dear cousin, Bo, who graduated from Marine Flight School and was on break for a couple days before reporting in at Pensacola. We cherish all our time with him, and look forward to his moving back to Corpus. That will be wonderful! I already anticipate a number of cousinly weekends on the coast. I was very happy to spend time with my dear, darling Hannah (below). She's just about the coolest chick you could ever hope to meet! I love my cousin Hannah!

The 4th of July was fairly quiet and uneventful, except for a few incidents with sparklers. Dear Jackson decided to flip around his sparkler which had burning paper on the end. When he did this with too much zeal, the paper went everywhere, and one time a piece landed on his shirt. Lord, only Jackson Kennedy could catch himself on fire with a sparkler. But other than that it was a sweet, calm 4th. Cory made it to Brownwood a few hours after us and we were happy to share the whole weekend with him.

Saturday was the 8th Annual KDWall Ranch Barn Dance. KDWall being, of course, Aunt Darlene and Uncle Kirk. We welcomed even more family on Saturday, as well as my favorite girl in the whole, wide world, Miss Lindsay Gillaspie. The 5th was also Jackson's birthday so that was extra cause to celebrate. We had a great time, it was so good to sit around with Hannah, Lindsay, Cory, Gray, Bo, Tyler, Ashley and anyone else who drifted in. I think Gray and Zach had a good time, and the picture I snapped of the two of them cracks me up. Thank you, Gray, for a good laugh.



The drive home was somewhat tighter than it had been on the way up because we took Lindsay home with us. We were happy to have her, and the drive seemed so much shorter with Lindsay to chat with. I sat in the single seat in the back with the dogs, and they had issue with the fact that they didn't have the whole backseat. But at some point, they decided to spoon (see below) and Jethro put his arms around Shiner and she nuzzled down into the crook of his arm. OH. MY. GOSH. How totally cute! We also saw quite the car on the road, the Challenger! Its engine is bigger than the engine in Zach's truck and it's not even available on lots yet- Zach just about lost his mind. I snapped a couple pics, but the driver hit the accelerator as I was doing so... I was hoping for much better images than I got. But it was exciting for Zach, none the less.






I also have to celebrate in my own small way. The BIG fight that I've been waiting for since April took place on Saturday night. 'Rampage' Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin. I am the ONLY person I know who was rooting for Forrest, and NOBODY I know thought he had a chance in hell to win. BUT HE DID! HOORAY! I was over the moon. On cloud nine. Elated. You get the idea. Zach's liked Rampage for a long time, but I like Forrest the best, I'm not a big fan of Rampage and I'm disgusted by people who don't really know too much about MMA thinking that oh yeah, I'll root for Rampage because he's a sure bet. Whatever. So there, I was right and everyone else was wrong and I have to rub it in a little bit because I took a lot, A LOT of crap before this fight. Now I'm waiting for a Forrest vs. Chuck fight- Forrest will have to defend the title at least once before Rampage gets another shot at him, so I'm hoping they'll sign Chuck up- I'd really hate to have to root against him, but Forrest's my fighter. That's MY Forrest from now on. Team Forrest! All the way!

these are a few of...

My Favorite Things!!

I've thought about doing this for quite some time, and finally have enough of my favorite things to actually make the post worthwhile. Here they are, some of my favorite products that I enjoy/use. I hope I'll help someone to find something they love too!

1) Tarte's 4 Day Stay

I love this stuff! I adore makeup, but don't actually want to bother with putting it on most of the time during the summer. This product is in effect a lash stain that does what its name suggests, it gives your lashes color for 4 days. I used to use DiorShow Mascara, and thanks to Sephora, I always had samples and never had to buy it!- but I hate washing mascara off every night. Thank you, Tarte, for such an amaaaaazing product!

2) Hippo Shower Cap

How CAN you resist this? Isn't it the funniest/cutest thing you've ever seen? I saw this and knew I had to have it. Since washing your hair every day is supposed to be bad for it, I've tried skipping every other day and found that a shower cap was a sudden necessity. I adore this one, but it comes in other styles too, a strawberry, a watermelon, devil's horns and a teddy bear. But I have a thing for hippos, so this was right up my alley.

3) Beautique Day Spa & Salon

I hate trying to find a salon. Hate it. I've always been in the habit of using whoever my parents use and that's been working fine, but my friend Sherri (from fencing class!) recommended her guy at this salon, the Rice Village location, and I love the place. The stylist I use is awesome, he's the extension specialist, and he's so nice and friendly. His assistant is the sweetest woman and they're so personable and helpful, it's seriously the best experience I've ever had. Hello, Beautique!

4) Philosophy Surfer Girl Exfoliating Shower Gel

As a rule, I love Philosophy's shampoo/body wash/bubble bath combo products. But this one is even better than those other ones! I've used their Raspberry Sorbet and their Apple in the 3 X ones, and this one is the best yet! I love it for summer, the scent is yummy and the exfoliation factor is so nice, it makes me feel so clean.

5) Philosophy Surfer Girl Flavored Lip Shine

Yum, yum, yum! This is my first try at their lip balms/ glosses and I have to say, thus far I am impressed. They're not greasy or sticky and smell so nice and are so silky on. And as for the scent, it just smells like summer.

6) OPI Russian Collection- Midnight in Moscow

When I was in high school, I used to get my nails done regularly, but once I graduated and moved away, I stopped bothering with the solar nails and just let mine go natural natural. I never painted them or anything, until I found myself really liking the dark nail trend. Over Christmas 2007, I picked up the Russian Navy shade and wore it constantly, until I found Midnight in Moscow, which is in fact a more brown with red shimmer. It's so pretty, and I love the color on my skin. The picture doesn't do it justice- It's NOT purple-y at all.

7) Revlon Nail Jewels

I hate going to nail places anymore- I'm so particular now about my nails and I just am not satisfied to pay to have them done when I can do better myself. I love to add a little something when I have the chance- and usually end up using these small rhinestones to add a small flower to my thumb or a heart or something like that. I did have flowers all over my big toes for a while, and that was neat. It's way cheaper than getting it done at a salon too!

8) Victoria's Secret Stimulating Body Scrub

I bought this stuff not really knowing what I was getting. I love it though, and only use a very little at a time. I usually rub it on my legs right before I shave, if I want a really, really smooth shave. It's the best, there's a noticeable difference and I really like the way it buffs away all the gunk that lotions and creams leave behind. Seriously, a great product, even if I don't use it the way they say to on the package.

9) & 10) Fresh APPLEseed Brightening Exfoliator & Essence

This product is one that I rely on Sephora for, I always take the opportunity to snap it up in sample form when it's available. At the moment, the product itself is just too expensive for me to buy regular. Together, they're a wonderful product, I love the way my skin looks and feels when I've used it. The smell is also really nice and clean, which is wonderful, because I hate when anything I put on my face smells alcoholic or harsh. Together, quite the wonderful little combo!

11) Masterpiece: The Complete Jane Austen Collection

I adore Jane Austen's work, and recently, PBS showed all of these films over a few months on Sunday evenings. I wasn't able to catch most of them (okay, any but Sense and Sensibility) the first time around, but now Houston's station is re-airing them on Thursdays so I've been able to mostly catch myself up. I've also invested in most of these films, all except Pride and Prejudice, because I frankly just don't like this version as much as the new version, and since I already had that one, I'm good. This is the CLOSEST thing to a stereotypical 'chick flick" that I'll watch. Of the group, I like Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility the best- they're wonderful! This is what I pop in the DVD player after Zach's gone to bed and I need to wind down.

12) Skinny Cow No Sugar Added Ice Cream Sandwiches

I crave ice cream, in a bad way. Especially during the summer. I recently discovered these, and since they're only 2 Weight Watcher's points (I don't do WW, but I have a general enough understanding) and that's better than a cocktail. These are really delicious, you can't tell they're low fat and they're guilt free. Thank the good Lord above for giving me ice cream I can't feel guilty about. It's a wonderful thing!