GETTING BAKED...THE HEALTHY WAY!!

Well, in light of what Colorado and Oregon now let you LEGALLY do, I don't want to mislead anyone, haha

I was selected by Crowdtap to do a sample share.  I shared the coupon link with a few of my friends (thanks Amanda, Hillary, Tonia, Melissa, Janna, Allison, and Anna for allowing me to share with you!) for Healthy Choice Baked Entrees!

Trés delicious!!! I love the even cooking so you don't get SUPER hot edges and a frozen middle!  Delicious taste, and large enough for even my husband to love for lunch!

Thanks, Crowdtap, for the great coupon for a dollar off, but, at a measly $1.88 these Healthy Choice baked meals are GREAT for portioned lunches or dinners.  I can't wait to incorporate these into our portion controlled dinners for the new year!

RADIANCE...REDEFINED AND AT A REDUCED PRICE!

Did I mention that I'm a BZZAGENT???  It's the word of mouth marketing that I just seem, well, designed to do!  I LOVE talking about products that actually work!  I'm STILL talking about my Dr. Scholl's For Her High Heel inserts, my Neutrogena lip balm AND under eye concealer, my "Brew Over Ice" K-Cups ("half and half" from Celestial Seasonings is my favorite so far!), and I'm STILL using Felippo Berio olive oil.  Other family members STILL use Bzzagent product.  Kimberly uses the Claritin Syrup or tablets when she gets the sniffles, the dogs THOROUGHLY enjoyed the Hill's Science Diet Ideal Balance dog food (would you believe me if I told you they asked for it by name??), and mom and I are still taking the Lipogen for our memory (see how I remembered all my Bzzagent freebies since I became a Bzzagent???).

I HAD to recap, I just LOVE being a Bzzagent, and I'm STILL talking about all of my previous Bzzagent campaigns.  I will get to the REAL reason behind this blog, though, I PROMISE!

My newest campaign was the Covergirl and Olay Tone Rehab 2-in-1 Foundation and Pressed Powder.  When I first got the box I had NO idea what to expect, but I was excited to find a full ounce of the 2-in-1 foundation (Covergirl foundation with Olay "swirled" in), and a full pressed powder.  I took the "before" picture, the one that includes my VERY expensive Estee Lauder creams and Clinique foundation (over $55 a pop, and, since being laid off, that has GOT to stop coming out of the budget).

Oily much??  and I STILL have my pregnancy mask and wrinkles!

So, I have oily skin, fine lines and wrinkles, and some broken capillaries around my nose.  I am just now getting used to overall coverage on my face, and that, to me, STILL feels like I'm "caking on" my makeup.  I just don't like it.  I have the oily face, and I sweat like crazy, so, in the summer I just don't like feeling like my makeup is running down my face.  My routine is wrinkle cream, moisturizer, foundation, and then powder.  That is a LOT of steps for a girl that really doesn't "puff and fluff" as we call it down here!  I would LOVE for my routine to take me no more than 15 minutes, especially if my hair is already straight!  I am a low maintenance kind of girl, even though my skin care regiment doesn't prove that fact!

I'm ready to apply the new Covergirl and Olay products, and I'm debating what to do!  All I need is the 2-in-1 foundation, the pressed powder, some mascara, and a little bit of my Blastflipstick (from Covergirl, of course!), and I'm done?  That CAN'T be all!  But it is!

oooh, smooth!  Wrinkle and shine free!

The FIRST thing I noticed was the smell!  Crazy, right???  Did you know your foundation could have such a PLEASANT scent??  It smelled great!!  I used my makeup brush (I don't use sponges or my fingers anymore, and I use the makeup brush to evenly spread my foundation), and the smell was amazing!  I think I chose the wrong color for my kit, but that's an EASY fix!  My mom would look great in this shade, and I can go buy more with all the coupons I received in my bzzkit!  I think I had FABULOUS coverage all day today, and that included being hot and sweaty in my kitchen while I was cooking for a reunion...not to mention socializing in a VERY HOT church hall (ironic, isn't it??  haha).  I got a little shiny today, but, for the most part, the coverage was AMAZING.  The application was smooth, the coverage was great AND long lasting, and the ONLY thing I would change would be the color (at least for my summer tan).  It felt great knowing I was done with my face in under a minute (my face alone usually takes 3-5 minutes, and I do spend a little longer on my eyes), but I was also getting the moisturizer I've grown accustomed to.

This product is FABULOUS, and I WILL be recommending it to everyone (in fact, I talked about it with at least ten of the women in my family today, all while trying to fit in everything else I love about being a Bzzagent...see paragraph 1, hahaha).  My cousin, my mom, and my aunt will all be getting coupons, and I'm making time to meet some of my other cousins around town to give them their coupons!

I LOVE being a Bzzagent, and now I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Covergirl and Olay together!  I was going to title these my "before" and my "forever after" picturs, but I'll save that for my Bzzreport!

ILL COMMUNICATION, OR HOW HAIR OVERSHADOWED THE GOLD

So the latest Crowdtap party was VERY interesting!  We were asked to watch "Totally Biased" hosted by W. Kamau Bell.  At first I was REALLY interested to see what his special was all about.  After all, his show is produced by Chris Rock, and I LOVE Chris Rock's comedy...although I HATE how foul mouthed he is (and LOVED that Kamau calls him "foul mouthed yoda", ahha, it's SO true!).  I listened to the pre-show stuff for Kamau, and I thought he was really pretty fair.  He does come from more of the African American standpoint, uh, duh, obviously, as I would come from more of the Caucasian American standpoint.  I thought it was going to be a stance I couldn't quite understand.  I'm not black, but, as the standard white people line goes, "I have black friends."  I don't understand what it's like to walk in ANYONE'S shoes, but I REALLY can't imagine what it's like to walk in the shoes of a person of color.  Racism, reverse or otherwise, is such a disgrace and uneducated way to act (I really want to say a lot more here, but I'll be nice).  Anyway, I recorded the show and had some girls over the next night (Friday night was way better than Thursday!).  We had some drinks and food, and chatted before we watched the show.  It was a really intimate group, and I reserved the photos for the "hair discussion" (Kamau started off with an introduction about Gabby Douglas and how her hair not being "done" for the Olympics was a major topic on twitter) we had after the show since we, as women, started focusing more on female issues rather than race issues.  The "Gabby intro" led us to discuss more things female rather than racial.  To be fair, Tiffany was the only woman of color at the party, and her insight was VERY interesting.  We even discussed how it's much different to talk to your close friends and really open up versus a party like this where not everyone knew each other.  My cousin may be DATING a black guy, but it's obviously not the same as being a black woman.  I found the conversation being led a little more towards the issue of being a female instead of race.  Maybe the conversation would have gone a different way if I could have been in a group of African American women, but been more of a fly on the wall.  Maybe the conversation would have gone different if it was all white women, and none of them were in an interracial relationship.  The show itself, however, lent itself to being able to discuss a LOT of different things (fromSheik to Sikh to Shaq to Shake Shack...the guy's a genius, haha), but, women being what we are, we chose to bond over the issues we have being women...not over the color of our skin...or the style of our hair!

Tiffany showing off her "natural" hair (no relaxers or perms or chemicals)

Ashley and Nicole showing off their "not natural" hair, both have color and Nicole (on the left) has a keratin treatment.

 

We really DID have a great time, and, in a way, I'm glad we steered clear of anything that would have gotten too heated.  When the Obama discussion started, and Chris shared his "Obama/Brad Pitt" comparison, we all literally laughed out loud.  We thought it was a GREAT comparison.  But we decided to leave the totally biased comedy to Kamau, and leave our new found friendships in tact.  We did all voice our opinions, or at least scratched the surface of them, but we decided that, with this mixed group, we'd be totally polite.  We're women, what can we say???  It's one of our issues, and the female topic is the one we decided to remain totally biased on!

TESTING THE WOOLITE WATERS...WITH EXTRA DARK CARE!

Hello Crowdtappers!!! Wait, what, you're not a Crowdtapper yet?? Why not?? And why are you reading my great sample shares I receive from Crowdtap yet still not signing up??? I'm SO confused!! I digress (but not really, GO SIGN UP ON CROWDTAP!)

My most recent sample share opportunity was the "Woolite Extra Dark Care" sample share. I wound up combining this sample share with a family party (see the lovely ladies relaxing before a load of laundry!):

So, wait, what does Woolite Extra Dark Care have to do with a pool party? Swimsuits (dark ones, even), food, cute jeans shorts, and old mentalities about Woolite! I was born and raised with a mother that was more gentle on her delicates than she was on us (especially if we ruined her delicates, haha), so Woolite was a STAPLE in our house! I don't recall her using Woolite on anything other than her "unmentionables", our bathing suits, and a few key work pieces she had. I had to let my entire family know (mother included!) that Woolite can be used for so much more than just delicates!

they had to "SEE" for themselves that Woolite
could be used on ALL of their laundry!

Yup, that's homemade ice cream (a Southern staple!), 

and this was "banana pudding" 

(fresh bananas and graham crackers in a homemade frozen deliciousness), 

and, yes, it got all over my daughter...

AND my dad! (he's trying to hide the stain in this pic!)

sweat stains and smell? you can shuttlecock them on outta here with the VERY refreshing and pleasant smell of Woolite Extra Dark (ever smelled the "Dream" fragrance by Gap? that's what it reminds me of!)




 It was a wonderful day to share time with family, and to share the new and updated trends with three different generations (no, my daughter is NOT too young to help with laundry!).

I know my youngest cousin (the adorably cute girl!) was excited to know her jean shorts AND her bathing suit 

would be well taken care of 

(um, she took two samples, should I be mad? hahaha)

and her older brother (on the far right) well, he was just excited that Woolite Extra Dark Care was going to protect all of his...well, you can see he really fell in love with Woolite Extra Dark Care...for his Star Wars dark shirt, his khaki shorts, and even his light saber unmentionables!

Verizon Crowdtap VIP – Photo Challenge "What's Your Favorite Thing To Share?"

Another Crowdtap photo challenge share!! (Have I mentioned you really SHOULD join Crowdtap?? see link below!) Here are the instructions for this photo share: Take a photo of your favorite thing to share Upload it to Crowdtap and caption it with a description and why it's your favorite thing to share I chose a picture of my house (here it is, and I even had it decorated for the 4th, and, TRUST ME, this is decorating for me, hahaha!):

So I'm obviously not just leaving the front door open for any random person to come in and "share" my house, but I DO enjoy having parties (especially Crowdtap McCormick GrillMates parties!), family gatherings (in '11 my house was the last stop on Thanksgiving Day, and we had a sundae bar...banana splits, cherries, wet walnuts, chocolate syrup-Hershey's of course-I digress, and my mouth is watering), basketball gatherings (UNC v Duke, and we WILL be doing that again this upcoming basketball season since UNC won, GO HEELS!), and a great neighborhood street for walking! We are in a great location, pretty central to family and friends, and we are really enjoying "sharing" our home with friends and family. We are truly blessed to be here, and we look forward to many more shares in the future!

CROWDTAP, SAMSUNG GALAXY TABLET AND AT&T

So I'm a Crowdtap member, in case I haven't said that enough on facebook, twitter, and here, hahaha But from time to time Crowdtap asks us to post pics of different stages, phases, likes, hopes, and dreams of our lives. Here's our current "homework assignment": Take a picture of what summer means to you Upload to Crowdtap with a description of why this describes summer for you Share the picture with your social networks So I shared this picture:

So thank you Crowdtap, AT&T, and Samsung Galaxy for allowing me to share what summer means to me! That's mom, youngest niece, youngest nephew, dad, and my sweet girl in the picture. They're all hanging out at the pool in mom and dad's back yard. We don't get to see my nieces and nephew much, but, when we do, we spend as much time as we can in the pool!! Wrinkled fingers, anyone?? Consider joining Crowdtap for your chance to share your favorite moments in life while earning money for yourself AND charity at the same time! Amazing!

So I was lucky enough to get the Crowdtap McCormick sample party! I was given some sauce, spices, and rub and was asked to throw a party and document it! Although I COULDN'T document all the pics I wanted to (I was too busy playing hostess and setting up the food) I had a WONDERFUL time! Everyone loved the spices, but, hands down, everyone's favorite was the Brown Sugar Bourbon BBQ sauce. We had over 20 adults and at LEAST 10 kids, but we had an absolute blast! I was able to celebrate the 4th of July, watch fireworks, decorate the house, and grill using my FAVORITE spices! Getting this sample share was SO cool because we LOVE to grill and have people over, so it was a PERFECT match for my family!

Here is one of the invites! I used the label and attached it to some McCormick Grill Mates packets I had purchased!

Hubby working the grill like a CHAMP! We had SO many shish kabobs, chicken wings, ribs, and chicken thighs! What a night, AND he even cleaned up the house!

My sister in law and my good friend, Cassie...enjoying the kabobs! It was a WONDERFUL evening! We used the spiced brandy and herb on the chicken thighs (delicious seasoning for pork or chicken), molasses bacon on the chicken wings(also good for pork), brown sugar bourbon on the pork kabobs (but everyone used the sauce on ALL the various meats), memphis pit bbq rub on the boston butt AND the ribs (SO tender and yummy, all you have to do is rub in the spices, refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to overnight, then grill), and the montreal steak on the, well, on the steak!

THE MEAT!!!! (those Brazilian steakhouses had nothing on us on the 4th, hahaha) I HIGHLY recommend McCormick spices, sauces, and rubs for ALL of your grilling (or cooking or crock pot or oven roasting!) dinner needs! Thanks again McCormick and Crowdtap!