Tried it Tuesday

Last week I didn't have the greatest of weeks. I had a migraine from Thursday night through Sunday evening. So I didn't get to enjoy much of my weekend. I spent most of the weekend sleeping and sitting on the couch with a heating pad on my head. I had grandiose plans of working on my loft, hanging up some pictures in my living room, and reading. Well, I didn't get around to any of that! C'est la vie! The good side of all of this, though, is that that was the first headache I've had like that in a long time--maybe months. I went and got a massage yesterday and I do feel better. I actually slept through the night for the first time in a week!

I thought I would share a few new things I've found over the past week that I am really liking this week! This week is a real hodgepodge of different goodies that I've found. Hope you enjoy them as much as I have!

Book

Does anybody else love Giada De Laurentiis as much as I do? I love her cooking shows and how accessible her recipes are to the "average" cook. My mother-in-law over the years has gotten me a few of her cookbooks as gifts and I love them. Bjorn and I also love watching Food Network Star where Giada, Alton Brown, and Bobby Flay are mentors to the contestants. I love the way the three of them banter back and forth. You can tell they all are such good friends. 

Well, anyways, I recently found out that Giada has written a new series of kids books! They are too cute! They are called Giada De Laurentiis's Recipe for Adventure. There are three books, and each takes place in a different city around the world (Naples, Paris, and Hong Kong). In each book, the main characters, sister Emilia and brother Alfie, get transported around the world by their for new food adventures. Each book also comes with two recipe cards based in the city featured in the book that are perfect to inspire a love for cooking and cultures in kids! Right now I'm reading the Naples Adventure, and I put the Hong Kong adventure on hold at the library too.

There is a fourth food adventure book coming out in June based in New Orleans.

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Candles

Bjorn and I have been really loving Bath and Body Works candles lately. We didn't own any until about six months ago (I know I don't know why either!), but we love burning them at might while we're sitting on the couch before we go to bed just relaxing. After Christmas during a sale, I bought two new scents, and they are great! One of them is almost gone! The first scent is Applewood Bonfire (almost gone) and the other is Bellini Cafe. Applewood Bonfire has this great outdoorsy smell of campfire on a cool night with just a hint of apple. I thought it would be too strong for me, but it is definitely not! Bellini Cafe smells very fresh and clean. It smells like you just opened a bottle of champagne. I really like it! 

They still have Bellini Cafe at Bath and Body Works, but I think Applewood Bonfire was more of a fall scent. I don't see it on their website anymore. They do, however, have a bunch of new scents out! My all time favorite scent London Calling is back!! It's a tea and lemon scent. It smells like a hot cup of earl gray tea! And American Boardwalk smells pretty good too! It smells like caramel corn :) I may pick that one up when they have their next sale because I have a coupon!

 

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Music

When I was in between sleeping on the couch with my migraine, I was looking at YouTube videos and found an amazing musician who I had never heard before. His name is James Vincent McMorrow. I can't stop listening to him! I am totally buying both his albums!

Cover, "Someone Like You"

Puppy Toy

My dog, Rufus, has OCD. Yes, he does. My dog is seriously my dog. I'm sure I have him for a reason :) He has always obsessively licked things: blankets, the couch, pillows, his brother, my arms, his paws, etc. It's even gotten to the point where he's licked his paws raw where they even bleed. 

This past year, I took him to the vet and asked them about it because it has gotten worse as he got older. My vet said that he most likely has OCD and it's just something that is specific to him, not his breed or anything like that. Some dogs just present obsessive activities like licking to the point where they just can't stop. She said we could put him on medication that may have side effects, or we could find ways to keep his brain occupied and tire it out so that he doesn't feel the need to lick as much. We both agreed medication may not be the best option.

One way to try to help calm his brain is physical activity. In the winter this isn't as easy because of the cold. It's also hard in the heat of the summer. Because Rufie has a flat snout, he can have trouble breathing in the really hot months and can get overheated easily. To try to offset this, I bought him some new toys. He loves chasing toys, so we've been trying to play more when Bjorn and I come home from school. He's so cute too! He carries his new toys to us sometimes and wants to play! He's not the most active dog, so getting him to play more is great! Here are his new toys:

Triceratops

Ewok

My vet also suggested getting Rufie a toy that challenged his brain. I finally found one at Pet Co. that I thought he could play with, even with his flat snout. You hide training treats in it, and then Rufie has to figure out how to get them out like a puzzle. I do have to kind of put the puzzle pieces on a diagonal, so he can get to them. But it works! Here he is figuring it out for the first time! He really likes it!

I'm hoping this helps my Rufie calm his mind a little!

Make-up

My sister, Rachael, loves blush. I have always been more of an eye shadow girl, so I told myself that I would venture outside my one typical blush that I always use, every day and try something new. So I did! Here is one new blush that I tried. I am glad I did! I really like it! I've actually used it almost every day, and even bought a different one, so I'm not a one-note-blush-wearer!

Elf Studio Blush: Elf Pink Passion

I love this blush! It looks a lot brighter than it goes on your face, but you do not need a lot. It is a very bright pink sweep of color on your cheeks, but I feel like it really brightens up my face on those really tired mornings. And it only costs $3! I bought mine at Target.

Wearing pink passion blush

Milani Eye Eyeliner

I love eye liner. I never used to wear eyeliner, but I'm loving it more and more! Recently I found Milani's Infinite Liquid Eyeliner at CVS for $6.99, and I really love it! I bought two colors: unlimited (06), which is a rich, chocolate brown and forever (04), which is a really rich gold color.  I love wearing the chocolate brown by itself or layering the brown on first and then the gold in a thin line above the brown. That's my new favorite combination. The only complaint I have with the gold eyeliner is that it that it can get clumpy when you pull it out on the wand applicator. I really have to watch and make sure that I get the clumps off before I apply it to my eyes. The one great thing about though is that it claims to last 24 hours. I have never had a problem with it wearing off! 

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Milani Infinite Liquid Eyeliner in Unlimited

Wine

Bjorn and I love Pinot Noir. He bought a new one from Kroger last week for us to try. It is called Redtree Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir is one red wine that doesn't usually give me headaches, so when I drink red, I stick to it. Redtree is smooth and has a creamy finish. I definitely tasted some hints of cherries in it. It was $8.99 at Kroger.

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Game

Rachael and I found this fun game at Target called Story Cubes. The premise is that it's a story generator. A package comes with 9 cubes and each side of the cube has a different picture. It's supposed to spark kid's creativity and story-telling skills. You roll the cubes (however many you want), and then you decide how to combine the words into a story. I am going to try using it for my ESL kiddos to spark some creativity and vocabulary use in their story writing. We'll see how it goes! Rachael and I also thought it'd be fun to play too! At Target, one pack of story cubes is $9.99. There are different sets you can buy like "original," "voyages," "actions," and "enchanted." On the storycubes website, there are different suggestions for how to play too!

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I hope you enjoyed reading about some new finds! Anything new you found that you've been enjoying?

Love and happiness <3 Holly