Yuck!

Happy Monday Product Junkies!! I hope you all had fantastic weekends. Ours was mellow, but productive! We cleaned, shopped, ate, watched movies and snuggled (it was nice and chilly here!). Kevin also golfed and I think he is going to try to get out as much as possible since he won't have as many free weekends for long :) 3 weekends left people! This is crazy!!!!!!! So I normally don't like to bash products on here(if you don't have something nice to say...) but this one recently made it onto a magazine's best of list and I couldn't disagree more! By now you all know that I am fiber obsessed and I also really believe in the health/diet rule of combining fiber and protein at every meal (when possible). Needless to say when I saw that Fiber One was making cottage cheese with added fiber in it, I was super excited!! I had about 2 bites before I realized that this was disgusting and tasted chemical-y. Blech. Gross. Yuck. So I'm back to my old cottage cheese (Knudson brand the l/f one) and I just make sure I get fiber w/ it back adding either strawberries, raspberries or blueberries-yum!

Baby Soft & Whiskey?

Ok, my new hobby is wondering around Target/Babies R Us/the mall/Costco/etc looking for any possible baby item that I need and still don't have...I think I'm all set. Along the way I found a new product that I doubt I'll use on Baby B but have been using it on myself and love it!! It is Johnson's Baby Cocoa and Shea Butter Creamy Oil. It is nice and moisturizing and it isn't sticky or oily at all. It leaves my skin soooooooo soft and who doesn't love that. Im not in love w/ the scent-it smells like Cocoa and Shea Butter (shocking), and those aren't my fav scents-but it doesn't smell bad either. Funny enough the first time I used it and crawled into bed w/ Kevin, he asked me if I had been drinking whiskey. This is funny for a couple of reasons: #1. I'm pregnant and don't drink while preggo and #2. I have never even tasted whiskey in my whole life and he knows this (I prefer wine and champagne thank you very much!). So it was hilarious to me that he asked that! I asked him to smell the bottle of lotion to see if that was what he was smelling and sure enough-he thinks it smells like whiskey :) So there you go, I have super soft skin but I smell like a drunk :)

Love this Conditioner

Alright Bloggers, I have a confession: for as green as I try to be, there is one instance where I'm a big waster...I'm a conditioner over-user. The bottles always say to use a "quarter size" amount of conditioner and I like to use about $2.00 worth of quarters :) I just like to use it all over my hair (except not my scalp obvi) and use a lot so I can detangle and make sure that every last strand/inch got covered. So this leads me to my issue with very expensive conditioners-I can't justify using a smallish bottle of $40+ conditioner, it just wouldn't make sense. It would last me 2 weeks tops and that is just ridiculous. Sooooo I was at my salon (Bravo Salon and Spa in Pasadena-they are amazing!!!) and was asking what are good, not too spendy conditioners? At first they stuck to their guns and just recommended what they sell there (Kerastase and Bumble) and after some pleading on my part, I got a certain stylist to whisper that the Sleek Line by Matrix is great and is WAY cheaper than Kerastase. So I tried it and I LOVE IT!! It makes my hair so soft and shiny and ahhhhhh it just is wonderful :) AND a big huge bottle is between $25-$30 so I can continue to use and huge amount w/out feeling guilty!

Busy, Busy

Hello!! Sorry I haven't been posting as much as I 'd like-I have been a crazy woman. I just got back from a trip to San Francisco for some training (more on that soon!). It was me, my business partner Van, Kevin and the pups. We drove up and it was quite a road trip (6-7 hours each way). I would not suggest such long road trips to people when they are this preggo (35 weeks)-I had not had much swelling this entire pregnancy and after sitting in the car for so long-I was all bloat :( Huge :( Oh well-we had a great trip and I am SOOOOOOOOO EXCITED for what the new year has in store for my business partner and I :) I feel like I am living a dream :)
Now I'm home and in the home stretch. I have 28 days to go unless baby B decides to come earlier than scheduled. It is insane to think that life will be so different in less than a month. I have lots to do (get the carseat installed, wash his clothes and bedding, hang the curtains in his room, set up the monitor, pack our hospital bags, etc.) and am excited to get it all done. We took our first baby class last Thursday night and I loved it!! It was based on "The Happiest Baby on The Block" book-it was so cute and we practiced swaddling (Kevin is a very good swaddler!!). We have one more this week mainly on infant care and a breast feeding class next week. After that I think we are all set! I'm not taking a birthing class bc we are having a scheduled c-section (for medical reasons-its a long story). So good news is no more trips for me until 2011!! I'll be back tomorrow w/ a fantastic conditioner!!

This Feels Soooooo Good!

Bloggers, Im not much of a workout dvd kind of gal. I love classes (barre classes to be specific, and the best barre class is The Dailey Method to be even more specific!), I think I feed of the energy and music in class and just cant recreate that at home. BUT I have to say that this prenatal pilates video is fantastic!! Its called "10 Minute Solution: Prenatal Pilates" and it is great! The instructor, Lizbeth Garcia, is very preggo herself (I'm guessing about 8 months) and she isn't annoying like most video instructors. The video is in 10 minute segments and is great for beginners and more advanced preggos. I like it bc it just feels really good to do it AND when I don't feel like exercising-I can say-"ok I'm just going to do one 10 minute segment" and I normally feel so great after the 1st 10 minutes that I end up doing at couple more segments too! I ordered it on Amazon and it will be a gift I give to my friends when they get preggo(along w/ some books that I really like!). Alright-I'm going to go do it right now!

Operation Eye Cream

Bloggers, the product I get asked the most about is eye cream. I have tried several (probably close to 30) different types/brands/formulations. So it is shocking to me that I don't have an easy answer when someone asks me which eye cream is best. I think the problem is that as I'm getting older (yes 30 is the new 24, but still my eye wrinkles seem to know how old they are) I need more from an eye cream than before. Before, anything that was nice and moisturizing would do they trick. Now I need tightening, plumping, moisturizing, line filling, and the list goes on. So I will make it my personal mission in the next few months to try and review as many eye creams as possible in order to bring you guys my final answer!!! In the meantime, above is a picture of an old favorite of mine. It is great if you are in your 20s and don't need the heavy duty eye cream yet. It is Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado and this is a beauty favorite for a lot of people. It is nice and thick and you actually should rub it between two fingers before you apply it in order to warm it up and thin it out so it goes on nicely. It is moisturizing and feels great. It isn't therapeutic enough for me and these smile lines-but if you are young and don't need the big guns then it is an awesome choice! It is $25 for a little pot-but it lasts a long time bc you don't need much. You can get it where ever the sell Kiehl's (Nordies is easiest for me) and the nice think about Kiehl's is they tend to give samples so you may be able to try this product before you invest in it!

Great Smelling Body Wash and Some Major Water Retention

Good Morning!! I hope you all had a fantastico weekend! We did-we basically were professional eaters ;) What I mean is we had dinner plans every night this weekend and I ate and ate and ate! It was great to catch up with some of our favorite people! This is no joke-Sunday morning I woke up and weighed myself (I do this every morning preggo or not), and I gained 2.5 lbs in ONE DAY!!!! AHHHHH crazy! I'm sure some of that was water weight (fingers crossed!) bc the night before I did eat a lot of savory and salty (and delicious!) food. Bacon wrapped dates stuffed w/ blue cheese? Yep I had a bunch. Bruscetta? Yes ma'am I ate about 10 pieces of it. Baked Bree? The most delicious/moist roasted chicken (that was salted 2 days earlier)? Mashed potatoes? Bread salad? Bread Pudding for desert? Well I guess you get the point. I think I had a food hang over on Sunday...Seriously! So this week I'm going to try my hardest to go low sodium and eat reallllllly healthy. I'll keep you posted :)

As for my product post for the day, this one is affordable and smells divine! Its Softsoap Moisturizing Body Wash in Pomegranate and Mango and I looooove the scent! So does Kevin! It really is just a yummy, fruity wash that smells great and it suds up nicely when used with a shower puff or washcloth. AND did I mention is cheap? I get it at Target and I think its about $3-$4 for a bottle of it. Love it!

I Must Be Nesting....

Happy Friday Bloggers! I am on a humongous cleaning frenzy...I heard that this happens when you are preggo and getting close to your due date. I love it and can't stop! I want to be able to eat of every surface in my house by the time this little one gets here :) Soooooo that leads me to Swiffer Dust & Shine Furniture Spray in Lavender Vanilla. I love it! I use it all the time! It smells so nice and it really does a nice job of repelling dust. Alright-I have to go organize some drawers now :)

A Great Suggestion

"I love looking at your blog! Hahaha..I've had to curb my desire for products cuz I never use them all.... Have you ever tried Cerave lotion? Its amazing. I put it under my make up and its water based and doesn't make foundation all weird."

Bloggers-this was sent to me from a friend on BabyCenter. For those of you who don't know what BabyCenter is, it is my favorite website where I spend and bunch of time and have made some great/supportive friendships :) It is the reason I neglect Facebook :) This was from Sammy-who is expecting her 1st baby next spring-Congrats Sammy!!! AND thank you for the product suggestion!!
I actually have used CeraVe before and was very impressed...back when I was a drug rep-I would call on Dermatologists and they always had samples of CeraVe in their offices (so of course I helped myself!). It is gentle yet moisturizing (think of it as a better formulation of Cetaphil) and it comes in cream or lotion. I like to use a light/gentle moisturizer for my face in the morning(bc I always put sunscreen on after it) and this is the perfect product for that!! I like to use something more heavy duty and therapeutic at night (got to fight these darn wrinkles!) so I probable wouldn't use it as a night cream-but its a great daytime option :)

Check Out My New Ride

Oh Bloggers, I have a confession to make...I am a tad bit stroller obsessed...Always have been and probably always will be. It got really bad when I used to walk along the strand (the "strand" is a walkway that is next to the beach and stretches from Redondo Beach all the way through Manhattan Beach-it is always packed full of healthy families/people walking/running/pushing strollers and walking dogs-great for people watching!). This is the creepy part-I actually used to wear my darkest glasses during my daily walks so I could check out people and their strollers w/out it being super obvious! I know it's sick. BUT it allowed me to find the BEST stroller!!! It is the UPPAbaby 2010 Vista Stroller. I got it in black although it comes in some really great colors if you like colored strollers (the green and the silver were close contenders for me!). It is basically a better/more modern/more hip version of the Bugaboo Cameleon. It is organic and very well made-not too heavy and it folds up super easily. It has a really nice big basket underneath for shopping trips and also comes w/ a bassinet! I LOVE IT and cant stop strolling the pups around in it!! (So yes that officially makes me the crazy woman in the neighborhood who pushes her dogs in a stroller :) When choosing I was looking at the UPPA, the Bugaboo and the Orbit-but after test driving them and having Kevin give it a whirl-there was no comparison!!! Now I just need Baby B to get here so he can share in the fun!!!!