Philosophy Shower Gels

Philosophy shower gels are some of my favorite things. If I were Oprah, I would make a gift basket with every scent, and give it to myself. My birthday was last month, but if you are thinking, “How can I randomly go spend money on Maria?” this is always on my Under $20 present list.

The best part about these shower gels is that they smell almost exactly like what they’re supposed to. That sounds obvious, but I am not a fan of when something is called “Apple,” but smells like a scratch and sniff sticker from second grade. Philosophy markets these as a shampoo/shower gel/ bubble bath, but I have enough hair that I would go through a bottle a week if I used this as shampoo too.

My favorite, (especially in the winter months) is Cinnamon Buns. It smells and looks like the icing on cinnamon rolls. Yum! If you’re on a diet, this will either help your cravings, or you’ll be in the car in a towel heading for the nearest Cinnabon.

Next time I am at Sephora, I am picking up Senorita Margarita, one of my favorites, and great for summer which, where I live, lasts from mid April through mid October. I love everything margarita, and craved them the entire time I was pregnant. Wine and all other booze grossed me out, but Mama wanted her ritas. Senorita Margarita was the closest I got. I thought about telling people I was considering the name Rita if one of the twins had been a girl, but figured they would have assumed that I was drunk.

Another favorite is Strawberry Milkshake, but I am excited about trying Crème Brulee, and ‘be a Peach’, as well as Spiced Apple Cider in the fall.

Although I do like chocolate, things that are fake chocolate scented kinda gross me out, so I have avoided those scents. Let me know if you’ve tried them and think I should give them a chance.

Next time you’re at Sephora, ask them for a free sample. They can put any of the shower gels in little pots to take home and try.

$16 at Sephora

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The Miracle Blanket and Happiest Baby

This is a super awesome swaddling blanket. Super awesome enough to make me talk like I'm in junior high. It looks a little medieval, but don't let that scare you. The babies cannot escape and it makes them feel really safe and secure and completely chills them out. It's hands down the best thing we used to get them to sleep the first four months.

Not cheap, so we only bought one per baby, but worth it. They slept in these for every nap and bedtime.

Check out their website and scroll down to the bottom where you can type in your zip code and search for a store.)

With this, I would also recommend the Happiest Baby on the Block book, which explains how to calm babies when they cry, and made me less overwhelmed with two babies. I think Netflix and Amazon have the DVD if you don’t have time to read. I had a lot of time on bedrest.
There’s a good summary so you don’t have to read the whole book, which is important if you get the book after the baby comes, because you will be like, "It's two in the morning, and I have five minutes to myself! Teach me how to get this baby quiet and happy now so I can sleep!!!"

It’s very practical, step by step, not all kum ba ya. Well, maybe a little kum ba ya. But awesome, awesome, awesome. My brother watched me take one of the twins (baby not boob), who was screaming bloody murder, swaddle him in the Miracle Blanket, and turn him on his side (a technique in the book). He became silent immediately, like turning off a light switch. My brother cracked up and said, “Cool! Do it again with the other one!”

http://www.thehappiestbaby.com/

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Sorry from Slackerville

Sorry to be such a bad poster. I am making no promises now. Many of my recent posts may be baby product related. I really didn't want to have baby stuff on here, because it's nice to have something non-baby related, but so many people have asked me recently for some baby present recommendations that I will probably cheat and post email responses. Lo siento.
Read on. If there's anything to read. Read more!

Souper Salad To Go

1. Please don’t think I’m being trailer park here.

2. Please don’t tell me horror stories about salad bars. In my world, everyone washes their hands in the restroom, waiters don’t spit in food, and salad bars are sterile enough upon which to perform surgery.

We get Souper Salad To Go somewhat regularly, usually when there is no food in the house and I am not feeling up to a huge grocery run with two children who can’t even sit up yet. Of course that probably won't happen until SuperTarget starts selling wine by the glass, with a little holder on your cart for the glass. Texas readers note-Central Market sells wine by the glass, and their little carts have drink holders, so you can shop great produce while getting your drink on. But I digress.

You can’t beat what you get for the price, and while I enjoy cooking, I really enjoy not having to wash and cut up vegetables for two days.
For about $6.50, you get a big takeout container for the salad bar, two pints of soup, two pieces of bread, and a small cup for salad dressing.

I prefer to use my salad dressing cup for the chocolate pudding.

Julius and I can usually make two meals out of it for each of us, one and a half if we’re really hungry. I usually keep leaf lettuce and bagged spinach at home, so I skip those, and load up on all the other vegetables instead. I realize that this makes me the little old lady who steals Sweet and Low packets, but doing it this way means the lettuce doesn’t get soggy if you don’t finish the salad.

Now, scuse me while I move my salad-eating self and my box of artificial sweetener into the double wide. Read more!

Barefoot In the Kitchen (No, I'm NOT Pregnant)

I love cooking. The past few months since the boys were born however, my cooking has largely consisted of pouring cereal and milk into a bowl. For my birthday dinner, I actually asked my parents and husband to let me cook. I can’t remember what meat I cooked, but the side dishes I made are below, all from the The Barefoot Contessa Family Style Cookbook.
I met the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten, at a book signing at Central Market recently, and she was very cool. I made the Rosemary Polenta again yesterday, and it was super easy, which inspired me to write this post.
Let me emphasize that I am not at all trying to be the “Yummy Mummy, a humorous foodie who juggles kids, while cooking amazing food. Check out her great blog, The Yummy Mummy Cooks Gourmet. My blog would be, “Crazy Maria Actually Cooked Instead of Getting a Rotisserie Chicken.”

But this blog is not about recipes, it’s about cool stuff we have that our friends would want. I have all five of the Barefoot Contessa Cookbooks and you want them.
The Barefoot Contessa
The Barefoot Contessa Parties!
The Barefoot Contessa Family Style
Barefoot In Paris
The Barefoot Contessa At Home
*Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics (comes out in October)

Go buy one. You’ll love them for several reasons:
1) They have beautiful color photographs for every recipe. Call me a kindergartener, but I like reading cookbooks with pictures. Lots of them. This may be why I have made more recipes from her cookbooks than any others I own.
2) She is big on using quality ingredients, and then featuring them prominently in the recipe. Those of you who like my lemon bars---her recipe.
3) She does a great job explaining how you can make recipes for entertaining so you can enjoy your guests, rather than run around like a crazy person.
4) Every single recipe I have made from her cookbooks has been great. If I spend time cooking, I like it to be worth it. (Note-Ina owned a gourmet food store in the Hamptons, so sometimes a recipe makes a large amount. I have cut some in half.)
5) If you or your friends are vegetarian, she has great side dishes and recipes that could easily convert and be a satisfying vegetarian meal.

All from The Barefoot Contessa Family Style by Ina Garten (The Flickr photos are not photos of the actual recipe, but look like it and are much prettier than if I took one. Ignore the extra stuff in the polenta pic.)

Rosemary Polenta
Photo by SunSirrah on Flickr

Great because you can make it in about 10-15 minutes, chill it, and then slice and cook it in the pan in about 5 minutes, right before you want to eat.
I have made this verbatim and with modifications and they both turned out well. My modifications were extra rosemary, extra parmesan, and using just milk instead of milk and half and half.

Roasted Carrots

Much better than they look in the picture, which is the picture from the book. I used baby carrots because I was lazy.

Garlic Sauteed Spinach
Photo by Laurel Fan on flickr

We make this all the time now. It takes about 5 minutes. My dad, who has always hated spinach, went back for seconds. Read more!

Hot legs

OK, I am willing to admit that I have a little bit of an obsessive tendency about the whole body hair thing. My eyebrows will testify that they have suffered overplucking in the name of this obsession, and my legs will certainly attest to numerous abuses they have endured as I have tried to figure out how to best control the misery that is stubble. BUT--life has gotten significantly easier for both my legs and me, as I have discovered the Venus Breeze!! A friend recommended it, and because I was starting to feel a little guilty about all the disposable razors that were going into the landfill because of my obsessiveness, I gave it a try. I have to admit I was skeptical--I have not been thrilled with the results of past razors with replaceable blades. They seemed to dull quickly and then the bleeding would commence. However, the big advantage of this one is that it has these solid shaving cream strips on the top and bottom of the blades, so you just wet it and glide it over your skin. No shaving gel or cream and somehow, not a single cut! And I have been able to use each blade refill multiple times (five or six) before replacing. Here's the link to the website:

www.gillettevenus.com/us/

Even better--they sell it with twelve refills at Costco (or at least they did a month ago). I am smooth and stubble-free for the warm weather. Now if I could just find a self-tanner with no funky smell to it, I could actually wear shorts! Read more!

Frontera Salsa

When I moved to San Antonio, there were plenty of competitors vying for the title of ‘best Mexican food,’ both in restaurants and the grocery aisles. Moving back to Dallas, I have been surprised and a little frustrated with the lack of authentic, flavorful salsa available in grocery stores. In moments of desperation, I have even fallen prey to buying salsa made in (gasp) “New York City!”

I have found a few gems though. HEB/Central Market has a great fresh salsa in the refrigerated produce section (Roasted Medium is my favorite), but the store near my house only carries it sporadically.

For those without either of these stores, or who live outside of Texas, I am happy to suggest a great substitute. I found this salsa, made by Rick Bayless. He’s the goatee sporting chef who has several restaurants in Chicago, and has had a cooking show on PBS since pre-Food Network days.


The website describes it as, “A combination of dried and fresh sweet red chiles with fire-roasted tomatoes, onions and garlic.” I say, “It’s full of smoky salsa deliciousness.”

Check it out at SuperTarget. Read more!

Taming the Beast

All the books promised me that after I had my son the massive amount of hair that erupted on my head would fall out, but it didn't. All that hair moved in with the massive amount I had before. I have been trying to find a way to keep it tame ever since, especially after I straighten it. Not an easy task in the summer. I finally found two great products that work with each other, but also just as effectively alone. The first is Shine Shock from John Frieda. I use the brilliant brunette, for obvious reasons, but it is also made for blondes and redheads. I find it works best on dry hair that has been styled already, kind of as a finisher. It keeps my hair straight without looking greasy. And it holds the frizz at bay. The other product is Silk Drops Smoothing Serum. It does basically the same thing, except it's in more of a liquidy form. It's great for quick touch-ups. I just squirt some in my palm and run it through my hair. When it is really humid I use both and my hair never looks greasy.

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Clinique mascara

Hi, Maria and girls!

After Maria started this blog, I've been wanting to post this item, but all the steps required to get there (ie, take and upload a picture! Whew!) prevented it from happening. Last night, it occurred to me that a picture and description are probably already online.

Some disclaimers: I've never been excited about a mascara. Ever. I don't even particularly like Clinique. My grandma buys lots of stuff, and being a former salesperson in another arena, cons the "sweet girls" into giving her extra gifts with purchase, of which I am often the beneficiary!

So, when I ran out of my usual mascara, I tried this, and LOVED it! It makes my lashes look so thick, long and not clumpy!

Here is the link: http://www.clinique.com/templates/products/sp_shaded.tmpl?CATEGORY_ID=CATEGORY4904&PRODUCT_ID=PROD10409 If you try it and love it, let me know! Read more!

If you're lazy like me....

....then you don't bother with much makeup. Part of it is that I stay home most of the time and my skin seems to be happier with me if I haven't used foundation, cover-up, powder, blush, etc on it regularly. The other part is that I am just lazy. I have to admit I didn't wear much makeup when I worked full-time! However, when I do want to look a bit less like I just got out of bed, I do the mascara-and-lipstick thing to perk up my features a bit, and I swear by M.A.C. lipstick! It comes in creamy and sheer formulas and tons of shades and stays on really well! I first bought some to wear at my wedding in 2001. I went all out and got the lip pencil too, but the lipstick stayed on so well that I didn't really need the lip pencil. That shade was "Cosmos," sort of a brownish-pink and probably one that most folks can wear. Since then I have acquired many more, but my favorites have been "Shhh" which is a sheer red that I honestly believe anyone can wear, and "Viva Glam" which came out last year as a fundraiser for HIV research and treatment. It is a pretty universal shade of brownish-red. As a bonus, M.A.C. will accept all their old makeup containers for recycling and they're quite affordable--lipstick runs about $14. Viva la M.A.C.!!! Read more!

Mascara

I have always been super picky about mascara. Probably because I am one of those lazy people that never takes mine off. Mascara circles just drive me crazy! I have tried every mascara from expensive name brand department store brands to the cheapest one you can find. Anyway, last year after I had Lily and James was in Iraq, I was living with my parents and I was in need of new makeup including mascara. I came upon this while getting a prescription at Walgreens and I have been in love ever since. It works so good. It makes your lashes look long longer and it stays on all day and I have never had so much as a speck of it anywhere else on my face including under my eyes. I have no idea how they make this stuff but it is awesome! The best part is that it's cheap too!

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I Like It a Latte

Oh, what a cheesy punner I am. I know this is a place to share ideas for the best ways to spend your money, if you're spending it. Humor me a little bit as I post a way you could spend a half hour.

This is SO not a place to discuss politics, so I want to be careful not to go down that road. I do, however, enjoy shows that teach about the political process for its own sake. I was a fan of The West Wing for several years.

I recently started watching Morning Joe, on MSNBC in the mornings, since I am up early feeding the boys, and enjoy thinking about something other than poop . It's on from 5-8 am in our time zone (Central). I really like it. The host is Joe Scarborough, who was a Republican congressman from Florida for several years. I am pretty sure his co-host Mika is a Democrat.

I am a big proponent of hearing different perspectives and of discussion for discussion's sake. I like Morning Joe because it is funny, and pretty balanced. It's also more relaxed than most news shows, so you get a longer discussion of and with the candidates. They spend a little more time talking with the candidates, and ask good questions, but are pretty respectful of them.

Joe raves about Obama's speaking ability, and Mika hearts her some Huckabee, though they probably won't cross party lines to vote for them. They discuss everyone's strengths and weaknesses, and joke around with them as well. Mitt Romney's hair and Mike Huckabee's guitar playing have come up quite a bit. They also had quite a bit of fun with the clips of President Bush in Israel, being serenaded by a girl singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow, while holding a rose, like he was on The Bachelor.

It's an fun analysis of news and politics, and I feel like my brain cells are at least atrophying at a slower rate.

I promise my next post will be about something completely shallow and consumeristic, like lip gloss.

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Foundation-ugh!~

Well, I have always had trouble with foundation. I have used cheap, expensive, oily, dry, too dark, too light etc. Well, I fell upon this foundation when I was in a play at church. There was make up all over the place for us to put on so we wouldn't look like ghosts on stage. I saw all kinds of foundations in millions of different colors and of course could tell right away which were going to be so thick that it would nearly be impossible to scrub off your face. Well, I had a minimal part in the play so I went for one that didn't look to theaterish. I saw a good ole Maybelline brand called Dream Matte Mousse. I had seen commercials for it so I wanted to try it. Well, 1 year later I still use it. It is great! It goes on so smooth and soft. It covers blemishes amazingly and does not make my face dry or oily. It is just right. It fact it feels like it has moisturized my face after putting it on. Also, a little goes a LONG way so it lasts forever! I feel kinda silly putting a Maybelline product on here as one of my favorites, but it is! Read more!

Finally some comfy P.J's!

I hate shopping for something to wear to bed. Usually I end up in one of my hubby's t-shirts and some bottoms that I've had for years. Well this Christmas I made it a goal of mine to find a good set of Pajamas. I am typically very picky. I didn't want fleece, I didn't want a heavy cotton that would stick to my sheets and make it hard to move my legs, I didn't want shorts since it's winter time in Colorado and our bedroom is above the garage, etc. I looked at quite a few stores, knowing that I'd probably end up back at the Gap like I usually do for my underwear and jeans, etc. That is exactly what happened.

So Santa brought my P.J's. They are so comfortable and the pants don't ride up to my hips in bed. Yahoo! I hate having hip wedgies! They are 94% modal and 6% spandex. I'm not sure what modal is but I L-OVE it! And it comes with a cute top as well.The bottoms were $39.50 but I just saw that Gap is currently having a 60% off sale. That calls for another YAHOO!

Happy Sleeping~Rachel

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Lip Saver to the Rescue

I LOVE Aveda's Lip Saver. This is a big statement from someone who used Carmex from... well, age 7 to 28. Yes... you read that right. I know all the Carmex tricks (leaving them on their side in the car in the summer so you don't have to dig it out from under the nails kind of stuff) and have had multiple little empty pots of Carmex that I held as tiny little treasures of accomplishments. I have tried so many lip moisturizers to only be let down or have to change because I would get some funny dry patch. I know, sounds weird, but true. You name it... I tried it.

During my first adult make over, the nice funny haired lady at an Aveda store put heaven on my lips. The sheer/clear also has SPF 15 and runs about $8. It is also available in colors for around $11 (Lip Tint). A little high for a Carmex replacement (some of the little old pots even show the price influx over the years!) but soooo worth it. Read more!

Good stuff....

I have ugly hands. Not necessarily anatomically ugly, but not well-kept. I wash my hands a whole lot and I wash a lot of stuff (bottles, nipples, binkies) by hand and even though I use rubber gloves, my hands look like they belong to a 60-year old metal worker. I also live in the desert which does not help. And I don't like to get manicures because the polish chips so soon and also because I do things like dig in dirt and draw with charcoal, etc, etc. So here are my two things for my poor hands that I feel help a lot:

1) Just A Minute 60-Second Manicure Scrub--this stuff smells delicious and if you use it regularly, your cuticles actually look somewhat nice.

2) Burt's Bees Shea Butter Hand Creme--strange but pleasing sesame scent and really moisturizing. I use it before I go to bed at night.

Now if I could just remember to do it daily!

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GOLD BOND Ultimate Healing Skin Therapy Lotion

Since my first year as a teacher, I have always been a big hand washer. When I brought home the twins (literal twins, not a boob job), I became even more diligent about it. While I feel like a germ-fighting superhero, my hands tend feel like those of an 85 year old desert dweller. I am on a perpetual quest for the best hand cream ever. This is my current favorite. It’s thick and rich, non greasy, and after one use leaves my hands smooth enough for any cheesy Frenchman to kiss.
$5.99
At most grocery stores and drugstores Read more!

365 Pink Grapefruit Body Wash

I love pink grapefruit. I LOVE shower gel. So I double love this body wash. It smells amazing, like you went to Florida, picked a pink grapefruit, and rubbed it all over you, but without the sting or stickiness, or people looking at you like you were hitting the hooch. It’s a little reward for getting up in the morning, like coffee. It’s a great price too. So great, that you’ll be surprised you got it at Whole Foods. It’s from their own organic product line, which also includes shampoo, lotion, and other scents like lavender.
$1.99 for 16 ounces. Yep, you read it right.
$1.99!!!
At Whole Foods

I will post a picture as soon as I can find one. Read more!

My Obsession...

Some of you know my obsession with “Best of” lists. I have mentioned before that I will plunk down five bucks for any magazine with that phrase on the cover.

One of the few TV shows I watch is The Office. I was inspired by reading Mindy Kaling (Kelly)’s “Things I’ve Bought That I Love” blog one day. She writes a little like I do, or how I would if I dressed blingier, listened to more Beyonce and dropped f bombs.

I was thinking, “Hey, I have some friends who always have the inside scoop on fun places to eat, or cool little gadgets. How fun would it be if we had a place we could swap ideas?”

While my first posts may be about beauty products, this is in no way limited to those.
So, here you go. Let’s see how it goes. Read more!