scared straight {instyler}

Have you tried the instyler products? I have to admit I am pretty skeptical about hair products and tools, but I have to admit after trying the Max 2-Way Rotating Iron I am hooked! (And that is coming from someone who is too lazy to even blow dry on most days!)

I love how easy the Instyler Max 2-Way Rotating Iron is to use! I don't feel like it is as harsh on my hair as a flat iron and man does my hair have a glossy SHINE when I am done!

See exhibit A:

I had to cut, cut, cut several people out of the pic, but you get the idea. P.S. i was able to have about a hot 5 minutes to use the Max 2-Way Rotating Iron before i was off chasing this little one around the house!

Thank you to Vocalpoint for sponsoring this post by providing me with free products in exchange for an honest review.

cyber Monday {aka the only Monday to look forward to}

DEALS, DEALS, DEALS:

1. Anthropologie: 20% off sale and FREE SHIPPING ( no minimum purchase!)

2. JCREW: 30% off regular prices, 40% off sale! and FREE SHIPPING! 

3. Target: buy one get one 60% off on clothing, shoes, and accessories and FREE SHIPPING!

4. asos 30% off everything!

5. GAP 40% off your purchase and FREE SHIPPING with a $50 purchase!

6. Piperlime 30% off regular priced items and 40% off sale and FREE SHIPPING!

7. Gymboree 50% off and FREE SHIPPING!

8. Hanna Andersson 15% off and FREE SHIPPING!

9. Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids FREE SHIPPING! with the close FREESHIP

10. Zara up to 50% off and FREE SHIPPING on orders over $50.

Happy Cyber Monday!

birthday party for under (ish) 100 dollars

Z turned 1. It was hard on this momma. I truly cannot believe how fast this year went. 

We decided that we didn't want to go overboard for her birthday. We invited Z's grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins to celebrate. Q's sister's family and q's brother's family both live on the west coast and were not in attendance, but everyone else made it. My brothers both travel for work but made it a point to be here for her party which is so great of them. el for work but made it a point to be here for her party which is so great of them. 

When we talked about Z's birthday Q and I wanted to do something a little smaller and more reminiscent of our birthday parties as kids. And I did it for under(ish) 100 dollars. I say under(ish) because it's not quite, if you throw in Uncle Sam's cut :). 

Here's the breakdown:

cakes: 42.00

food: 30.00 (this is a little off because we had some of the ingredients at home and my mom provided the salads)

plates, etc: 2.27 (we used left over disposable cutlery from another party and only purchased enough paper plates for the kids)

decorations: 20.18

TOTAL: $94.45 !!!!

Here are my tips and tricks for throwing a birthday party (or really any party) on a budget.

I started a board specifically for Z's first birthday. Over a few months I pinned, pinned, pinned and pinned some more! About a month before her birthday I spent some time narrowing my ideas and deleting pins to narrow my scope. Let me say that this process helped a lot!

When we talked about Z's birthday Q and I wanted to do something a little smaller and more reminiscent of our birthday parties as kids. And I did it for under(ish) 100 dollars. I say under(ish) because it's not quite, if you throw in Uncle Sam's cut :). 

Here's the breakdown:

cakes: 42.00

food: 30.00 (this is a little off because we had some of the ingredients at home and my mom provided the salads)

plates, etc: 2.27 (we used left over disposable cutlery from another party and only purchased enough paper plates for the kids)

decorations: 20.18

TOTAL: $94.45 !!!!

These took a little time but the price was extremely low! I spent about $5.10 including a few other dot garlands that were hanging about the house. There are several tutorials on Pinterest including this one here. These were pretty easy to make, just time consuming. 

Z's high chair. Again the idea came from Pinterest. I used a piece of burlap meant for scrapbooking and leftover felt from her party hat to add the 1 on the front. Most of the ribbon is leftovers from other projects but again this cost about $3.00.

I made this part hat for about $2.50! I purchased fleece sheets from Hobby Lobby, 1 sheet of firm felt and elastic for the strap under her chin. I was a fleece/felt novice, but it turned out to be one of the easiest projects. 

BALLOONS!!! I get most of my balloons at the Dollar Tree. Balloons are just $1 as opposed to $5 at the local grocery store.

This was where I splurged. Z's "Betty" cake (all kitty cats are Betty right now). And it was 100% worth it. We purchased our cakes from The Cake Lady and she never disappoints. 

Z's smash cake, because we couldn't leave out her dog Annie.

I forgot about the present table and so that morning I quickly whipped up a skirt for the table with some streamers.

When you are looking for party decorations don't forget to shop the "dollar" stores. There are so many very inexpensive options for very little money at these stores. 

Why I didn't want to spend too much on a cute hat. It was on her head a hot 2 seconds!

Here are a couple of links to felt tutorials that will help you to whip up a hat in no time for very little money. here (a template to print for roses), here (flowers and a tutorial how to make a flower headband) 

Here is the link to my Pinterest page and the board that I pinned to is "Say it's your first birthday"

thanks

lady walker

We have a walker at our house! I didn't expect my little Z to walk so soon (10 months!) but she's up and moving! Another bonus to having a little walker is all the cute dresses and skirts that have been on hiatus because of crawling can come back into rotation! And I think this one fits that bill! It's from gap.com and oh so shimmery and cute! 

{image via gap}

{image via gap}

{image via gap}

weekend warrior {just kidding, i spray painted some chairs}

Q and I tackled the garage the other day. When we moved into our current home I was 7 months pregnant. So with a moving company and lots of help, we put the house together. But the garage didn't see much love.

With the garage looking so good, I couldn't avoid these rusty folding chairs any longer. 

We have had these folding chairs that we bought on an auction  for years. But they were looking pretty tough so I picked up a can of spray paint and gave the chairs a quick spray. 

the BEFORE picture

I used a steel brush to smooth out the rusty areas.

mid process

final product! I used the seat again because the seats were in very good shape and I hate to create unnecessary waste. :)  

There are tons of cute redo ideas for folding chairs on Pinterest. We mainly use these chairs in the garage. Specifically Q uses them for his {insert robot/computer voice} fantasy football league draft. So I love theses next two ideas but, I don't think that Q and his buddies would be that impressed! A couple of cute examples: here  & here.

What is your latest DIY?

happy halloween!

The day after! Z is still recovering! {must be nice to be a baby with her own king sized bed :0)}

Z had a great 1st Halloween! She was a monkey! {see exhibit A}

Can you guess my costume? 

Earlier in the week we carved pumpkins. 

And on Halloween we took Z trick or treating with friends, aka around the block. Z loved it!

I just loved her costume. It's from Chasing Fireflies available here.