Big Volume Hair

I took a little walk through the beauty products at a local store this weekend "ooh"ing and "ahh"ing over all the new products I can't wait to try. Obviously I couldn't leave the store with everything in hand, but I did leave with one treat for my locks. TRESemme's 24 hour body blow dry lotion. Can you tell that I love the results?

My hair has never been so big & bouncy! For a relatively large bottle, it cost under $5 & will last a long time. To read more about it, you can visit their website here. I don't think you can purchase anything via the site, but you can at least check out what they offer. There is a whole line of 24 hour body products including hair spray, mousse, shampoo & conditioner. For those of you who want a lot of volume for little cost, this is going to be your go-to... well, it is for me now anyway!

Do you have any big volume tips you'd like to share?

xx

Reddit Humor

When I'm bored I go to a little website that was introduced to me by my brother. It's cult-like humor is sometimes annoying, but most of it usually gives me a laugh. Reddit's funny section is full of random funnies & sure to make most people laugh. Some of the humor is rather vulgar, & if you're easily offended I don't recommend clicking on the NSFW (not safe for work) posts.
You click on a link on the left side of the page & read or watch the video/cartoon/article/facebook post, then hit the back button to go back to the list & click on another link. (It gets addicting sometimes!)
Here's a little preview of some of the humor you will see on Reddit. It's important to read the title of each post before looking at the actual post.

"I'm a terrible parent"

"The relatable version of Gotye's song"

"My girlfriend got a new MacBook and found this on it. I guess her dad couldn't resist..."

The pages of funnies are endless. When you get sick of funny posts, the top of the website has a list of other topics you can check out. Give it a try. If you hate it the first time, give it one more look in a few days. You'll start to catch on to the poster's inside jokes & more of the posts will be relatable.

What are some of your favorite websites you go to to kill time?

Baked Nutella Oatmeal

Everyone seems to be on a Nutella craze lately, & I can't help but join in!
I woke up starving, but my cabinets & fridge were nearly empty.
All I had was cereal, milk, oatmeal & nutella. I could normally eat cereal for every meal of the day, but the diet (if you can call it that) I'm following doesn't allow for cereal.
I stumbled around the internet to see what I could make with nutella & oatmeal and came across a blog called girl meets world. Her breakfast recipe came to my rescue.

What you need:
1tbsp + 1tsp Nutella
1/3 c milk
1/2 c oatmeal
A couple sprinkles of cinnamon
A dash of salt

Heat the oven to 350F. Put all of the nutella into a microwave safe bowl & microwave it for 15 seconds. Take it out, whisk in the milk until smooth.

Mix in the oats, cinnamon & salt. Look to see if you have an oven safe bowl. You'll need to lightly grease it. None of mine say they are oven safe so just to be on the safe side I used a small loaf pan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.
The smell of heaven will begin to seep from the oven.

These pictures would be so much prettier if I had an oven-safe bowl...
When the deliciousness finally makes its way to your tongue, your tastebuds will do a party dance. The flavors of the oatmeal, hazelnut, & cinnamon are almost (almost!) too much to handle.

Enjoy!

Mother's Day

I hope all the moms of the world had a wonderful Mother's Day. My Mom & I had a mother-daughter night at a show about how Victorian women dressed. It was very informative, yet hilariously presented. Victorian clothing is worth a google. I also surprised my Mom with perhaps the biggest card in the world & some lilies for her garden.

The weekend started off with rain & cloudy skies, but it ended with a smiling sun. Hopefully it continues throughout the week...
What did you give your mom for Mother's Day?

Thrift Store Finding

As I mentioned yesterday, I hit up some garage sales. Unfortunately I didn't find anything I had to have. I didn't want to go home empty handed, so I also went to a thrift store. I found a whole load of goodies, but walked away with only 3 things. The beauty of it all is that I only spent $6!

My favorite item was a sterling silver serving tray that cost half of my daily spending. I thought $3 was a little steep, but I knew it had a lot of potential ;)

To paint on metal, you'll need coarse sandpaper & some spray paint. Yep, that's it.

Rough the item up a bit with the sandpaper. This is just to take off any top coat the last person (or mfg) may have put on it. It could prevent the new paint from sticking.

You definitely want to get all the little sanded particles off the item, so give it a good wash in the sink (if possible, if not, grab a garden hose).

Then you're ready to paint. Give it one good first coat & let it dry. If you're in the sun this will only take a few minutes.

Then give it another coat. If you think it's necessary, give it a third coat.
I am now the proud owner of the cutest little serving tray!

You can bet your bottom dollar you will be seeing this little guy in many future posts!
Give it a try. It's so cheap & simple!

xo

Sale Season

'Tis the season for Spring cleaning, which means I'm spending my afternoon hitting up garage sales in hopes of finding some hidden treasure. If I find something good, don't worry, you will know about it! I'm always looking for craft projects, never anything that's already perfect.

I realized recently that my blog is quite absent of pictures of myself. Here's a quick Instagram picture I snapped on the way out the door...

Tell me, what are your plans for the weekend? Anything good going on?

xx

LC Fashion Line

As I get older, I find myself falling in love with ruffles, bows, & everything else completely girly. I feel like I went for so long wearing jeans & t-shirts that I'm trying to make up for it now by wearing frill all the time. Someone who has been changing with me is Lauren Conrad. I started watching Laguna Beach when I was in high school & followed her through The Hills. Now I get to wear clothes directly designed by her thanks to Kohls.

Is she not the cutest thing ever? I already own 2 pairs of her shoes, which you can see here & here. Because the Kohls store near me doesn't always carry everything I want from her line, their website is where I like to shop (& even just browse the line).

Her style is simple & effortless, yet she always looks stunning. The LC line at Kohls is mostly under $50 & so easy to wear. If you haven't looked at her line yet, I highly recommend taking a peek!

XX

My photographer, Emily

This started off as a "test post" to see if I was really over my limit of pictures. Apparently I'm not. So now that I have this lovely picture of J & I, I thought I'd add a few more. I mentioned my photographer before in this post, but she's so talented, I wanted to give her another shout out. I still can't believe Emily was able to photograph my wedding. She is the most talented photog around & you can see more of her work here.

If you would like more information on how you can book Emily for your wedding or engagement, visit her here.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures! Heather

BH's Easy "Diet" & Exercise Routine

Is it too soon for another post with weightloss tips? I don't think so either.
I'm not one to diet. With Greek & Italian heritage, I'm constantly eating pasta, rice, red meat & everything else weight-loss guru's say to lay off of. Not to mention, even if I do really well on a diet, I ruin it on the weekends with take-out & delicious treats from around the town.
And then I discovered Brett Hoebel on Friday. I've already dropped 3 pounds & the "diet" is incredibly easy.

In case you just joined this blog, I have a vacation scheduled & I'm eagerly trying to lose some weight before jet-setting. I'm excited to get my beach body & prance around in a bikini on sands like these...

An example of a mealplan for me is:
8oz water with lemon juice (upon waking)
1/2 cup oatmeal with cinnamon & berries for breakfast
Rice cake slathered with peanut butter for a snack
Salad with grilled chicken, berries & walnuts for lunch
Apple with cinnamon and/or almond butter for snack

Now dinner varies, I've had a Lean Cuisine, salad, eggs for separate dinners. It's definitely the meal I like to give the most variety to.

Click here for one of Brett's mealplans & here for a second mealplan to get you started.

Honestly, this isn't even like a diet for me. It's all the foods that I normally eat, & it still gives flexibility to throw in somewhat less healthy meals here & there. For example, J's mom made a taco bar for last weekend's get-together. I loaded up my tortilla with lettuce, tomatoes & olives, then used sparingly the hamburger meat & other toppings.

Here's what Brett includes in the diet:
Brown Rice (this includes rice cakes)
Natural nut butters (peanut, almond, hazelnut, etc.)
Lean meat (chicken, turkey, fish)
Eggs
Berries
Apples
All veggies
Nuts

And I have one more treat for you. Brett has created a 5 minute flat belly workout that works like a gem. He claims in 30 days you will be transformed & I believe it! I swear to you that last night J & I agreed my belly is already looking different & it was only 4 days later! I do it twice a day because I'm trying to get in shape quickly & to be quite honest, it's not hard at all so 10 minutes is a piece of cake.

For whatever reason, I cannot embed the video, but click here to go the workout.

Alter your diet & do this video workout & I can guarantee you'll start dropping lbs quickly!

XO

Little G & The Countryside

J & I took another trip to the country to visit family. This time it was for his sister's birthday. We always enjoy the company & food, but the highlight of our trips is ususally what comes out of our nephew's mouth. Little G is always coming up with ways to make us laugh.

 (Uncle J was spinning him until he was so dizzy he couldn't walk at all)

Little man couldn't wait for cake & ice cream, but after the candles were blown out & he had his very own slice & scoop, I think more ended up on the table & floor than in his mouth.

He's always so full of energy & keeps us all laughing.
On a side note, my in-law's yard is so relaxing & beautiful. They have built a huge deck with comfortable furniture & the yard is full of huge maple trees that shade a lot of the area. It's truly serene. Take a little peak...

I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Tell me, what did you do? Any plans for this week?

XO