VMChick's Weblog

Luxe Box :-)

vmchick — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:07:24 +0000

Well I am one happy camper today! I read a Canadian Coupon Mom blogabout a Canadian company called Loose Button that sends out a Luxe Box full of deluxe sized samples every month in November, and it sounded too good to be true. I did a little research and it seemed really great…then a friend of mine signed up and received the December box…she loved it – so I asked for a subscription for Chanukah. My husband made my day by buying a whole year’s subscription! Today my first box finally came!! Woohoo!! When I opened the shipping box, here is what the box looked like:

My fabulous long-awaited Luxe Box (x2)

The first thing you may notice is that there are two boxes! My first package actually contained a second surprise package…how exciting is that? When I opened it up here is what I found inside:

: Inside the Luxe Box – look at the personalized packaging

I just love that it came with my name on the label – I felt so special. Every detail is so perfect, the boxes are beautiful as is the tissue paper. Inside I was thrilled to find much more than I expected. There was a sample of Pur Minerals Neutral Foundation Primer, a tube of Olay Regenerist Wrinkle Revolution Complex, a Loose Button scent sampler that includes Prada Candy, Prada Infusion d’Iris, Nina Ricci L’Air du Temps, Nina Ricci Nina, Paco Rabanne Black XS for Her and Paco Rabanne Lady Million. There was also a NYX full-size Jumbo Lip Pencil in Pink Nude and a package of Seattle’s Best Coffee – super fun! In the second box there was a Schick Hydro Silk Razor and Fekkai Advanced Brilliant Glossing shampoo and Advanced Brilliant Glossing conditioner. All of that for about $12!! (and I didn’t even mention the coupons) WOW!! I am so excited!!! I can’t wait to try it all…and to receive next month’s box If you want to check it out, you can sign up here.

: All my fabulous samples

Mad at Mercedes

vmchick — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:36:37 +0000

Okay, here is the truth of the matter. I am mad at Mercedes. Not Benz, but the Glee girl. In the beginning of the series, she was such a fun character, I liked her a lot. She could SING, I love her voice. She had swagger and sass, and watching her friendship with Kurt develop was a lovely story arc. And then for some reason, she went from a fun, sassy character who is always there for her friends and an integral part of New Directions, to crazy self-absorbed diva girl. I mean, she totally changed her character and no one seemed to notice. Which is fine, whatever. But then she left New Directions, joined a new show choir and stole members from the old choir. Not cool at all. Then she directly competed with her old choir, after the old choir spent the last 3 months being super nice and accommodating to her even though she totally didn’t deserve it. I am not saying that New Directions was always perfect, but on the whole, she totally behaved like a baby. After her new choir lost sectionals, for some reason she is asked to rejoin New Directions with Rachel agreeing to let Mercedes solo more. I mean seriously? On what basis? And what did she learn from this? And now everyone loves her again. Well not me. I am still mad. I hold a grudge. Why didn’t they say “fine I guess you can come back but no solos until you have proven that you won’t be a wiener anymore and show up late and leave us in the lurch?” Every time I watch a Glee episode these days I feel a little more angry at her. What did this character learn from the experience? Be a jerk and screw your friends over and if it doesn’t work out hey no problem everyone will forgive and forget. Well I haven’t, Mercedes, I am holding a grudge until you have proven yourself worthy again.

TV with Xandrarama

vmchick — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:54:54 +0000

For about 18 years now, I have been watching TV with Xandrarama. That is a pretty long time. It started out (and it was a long time ago so I may be a little foggy on the precise details) with us chatting about the weekly episodes of 90210 (the real one, not the anorexic remake). We found a commonality in discussing the many on and off screen doings of Shannen Doherty, and my undying love for Tori Spelling and Brian Austin Green. From there we went to Party of Five which was endless fun and truly the beginning of our tv love affair. We endlessly worried about those Salingers and how things would turn out for them. In the beginning we would just email or talk after the weekly episode and dissect the story arcs until there was nothing left to say. Then we had some geographical restrictions thrown in so on top of our weekly emails we added in TV-thons where we watched an entire series in a weekend. We also developed a snacking profile that includes baked chips and Dairy Queen blizzards. Occasionally we have tried to add in other things like champagne or cocktails, but they ended up making us sleepy and took away from the viewing pleasure. Over the years we have watched many shows together such as Grey’s Anatomy, Supernatural, One Tree Hill, Veronica Mars, Buffy, Angel, Gilmore Girls, Friday Night Lights…currently we are watching The Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars. We even seem to be able to divide up our leading men so as to not cause too much strife:

	Me	Her
Gilmore Girls	Dean, Jess	Logan
Party of Five	Charlie, Griffin	Bailey
Everwood	Ephraim	Bright
Vampire Diaries	Stefan	Damon
Gossip Girl	Dan	Chuck
Buffy	Angel	Spike

We are actually at the point now where we have our own language, shorthand, and in some cases, life size cut-outs. Now this may all seem like a colossal waste of time to some of you out there…but really, we don’t care! We love our tv nights and emails. It is a great way to keep in touch and makes tv watching a lot more fun. While I am watching an episode, I am often wondering what Xandrarama thinks, or rooting for her fave character to do something great, or for my guy’s hair to continue surpassing all expectations J Yes we could spend our time together reviewing world events (which sometimes we do) or discussing parenting and relationships (it comes up between episodes), but this is just way more fun. Feel free to call us shallow – we will debate your opinions during our next tv skype date in between mouthfuls of chocolaty blizzard goodness. And TVD writers – if you are listening? Give Damon a haircut for goodness sake!

The Big Ten Questions

vmchick — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:57:08 +0000

Oooohhhhhh, just for fun I think I will answer the big ten Inside the Actor’s Studio questions…I know I am not an actor and no one really cares what I think but this blog allows me to pretend for just a minute that someone out there actually cares so here goes:

What is your favorite word?

Seriously? I have to pick just one? I am such a word person…today I will choose “voluptuous”. I love the way it sounds…just like it’s meaning, all curvy and fabulous. Oh and I am ridiculously partial to the word Boom. I have no idea why. I rewind it on tv when people say it to hear it again.

What is your least favorite word?

The “C” word. I hate it so much I refuse to even type it.

What turns you on?

Sincerity, humour, long hair and beautiful eyes.

What turns you off?

Self absorption. (and yes I see the irony in that answer)

What sound or noise do you love?

My children’s voices…sappy, but true.

What sound or noise do you hate?

The sound of a fork or knife scraping against a plate.

What is your favorite curse word?

Jackass. Gosh I can work that into any sentence. When in a pinch Ass will do.

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

Professional Book Reader

What profession would you not like to do?

Accountant

If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

Unlimited books and reading time!

List…

vmchick — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:48:22 +0000

In honour of 2012 (by the way Happy New Year!!), here are 10 things I plan to do this year:

1 – Run my 5th half-marathon (yes I am a glutton for punishment, but it does make me feel good )

2 – Run a 10km race in under an hour – I know I can do this again, I just need to get training…

3 – Celebrate my 40th birthday in style and to the hilt – I am so excited to hit this milestone – it is going to be fabulous!!

4 – Buy an e-reader – I think this is the year where I will enter the unknown world of e-reading and I think I will buy one for both my kids as well…time to figure out whether to go Kobo, Kindle or Sony…

5 – Buy something small from Tiffany for myself – a little bit of me power.

6 – Make some headway on the landscaping and gardens at our new home – it turns out that 2.5 acres is a lot of gardening! We are definitely growing our own pumpkins this year. My husband just actually called to say it turns out we have a birdbath that was covered in overgrowth…who knew?

7 – Read 12 new authors…maybe you readers can pass along some suggestions? I always like to read new authors in the hopes of falling into a really great long series that I never knew about.

8 – Experiment with vegan cooking – I bought a great cookbook in the summer but have been too daunted to actually try it out yet…must get on it. I love the idea of all the health benefits of adding this to my lifestyle – it should balance out the cocktails and fancy dinners I plan to keep indulging in.

9 – Learn a new skill – every few years I get a bit of an itch to learn something new – over the years I have learned to knit, play piano, crochet, write a book, taken some journalism courses…not sure what I am going to take on this year…any suggestions?

10 – Do something humanitarian – I always try to give back and I plan to continue to do so this year. I want to find something different to do this year that won’t cut into my already crazy schedule…better start looking soon.

On brains and beauty…

vmchick — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:46:25 +0000

Okay, so I know this post on How to talk to little girls by Lisa Bloom came out months ago, but I just read it yesterday. I loved it, it was really smart and thoughtful, and what isn’t to love about celebrating a girl’s brain and love of reading? At the same time, I would like to add to the post and say that I think it is equally important to teach little girls to be comfortable in their own skin. I have told my daughter every day since she was born that she was smart and that she was beautiful. She is 12 now, and is remarkably self-confident. I have always tried to show her that I was confident in my looks and brains – and that was a normal way to be. I have also surrounded myself and daughter with lots of smart, beautiful women who are good role models as well. In short, there is nothing wrong with being beautiful, as long as it matches what is within and doesn’t define you. I try to teach her that beauty is in how you treat the people around you, and the people that you interact with on a daily basis. Beauty is in an easy smile instead of a frown, and in forgiveness and love instead of hatred and intolerance. I grew up in the 1970’s surrounded by Barbies – she was my absolute favourite toy. I was dark and tanned and short – pretty far from Barbie’s statuesque, pale, blonde beauty. It never affected how I felt about myself though, because my Mom showed me that beauty came from within and that I was beautiful in my own way. I think that beauty comes from an inner self-confidence as well…you can be super pretty on the outside but if you are insecure and always doubting yourself and looking to others for your self-worth, it will be diminished. In short, this parenting of daughters is super complicated and challenging and I work so hard to give her the tools to be a strong women out in this crazy world as she gets older…only time will tell…

The Big Guy

vmchick — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 12:40:19 +0000

For our book club, I just finished reading A Piece of Cake by Cupcake Brown. It is quite a story, with many things for us to discuss – we actually talked about the book for just about our whole meeting, which is rare. The biggest thing that struck me was her relationship to God. She writes about how she didn’t know how to talk to God. I have to say I am not really sure the correct way to talk to God either, but I do it every day any way. Him and I have a pretty casual relationship. I try not to take up too much of his time, I figure he’s busy, he has a lot of stuff going on, people’s needs to attend to. I keep it short – ask him for what I need very clearly and specifically, and thank him for helping me out. I send him over to help out my friends who are in need, and tell him how much help he better be sending. I ask him to fix all the things that I need a little help with too. I try to not ask for things that are too big or difficult to grant, I save those for special occasions so he doesn’t get tired of me. Most of the time I just ask for a little help to get through the day or to cope with a situation. I think most of the people in my life may be shocked to know that I have this ongoing conversation with God. I just feel like I can use all the help I can get, and in the past he has been pretty good to me. I find that the bulk of my requests get granted. This could be just a fluke or coincidence, but I really believe that God is listening and helping me out. So if you are going through a tough time and suddenly you feel a little lighter, just know that whether you believe or not, I do, and I have asked for a little help for you. Now if you want to start chatting with whatever higher power you believe in, and sending it my way, I am very open-minded and welcoming

Mashed Banana

vmchick — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 12:08:22 +0000

I pride myself on being a pretty good cook. I love to try new things and cook gourmet meals and recreate dishes that I’ve seen or eaten at restaurants. My kids are pretty good at trying most things and they grumble a little bit occasionally at having to eat weird stuff but for the most part enjoy my cooking too. My father is a great chef and has always spoiled us with elaborate multi-course meals of wonderful Moroccan salads and fish and meat. My mom is also a great cook, making us the comfort foods that she grew up on. All of this good food growing up has made me pretty demanding when it comes to good food. Funnily enough though, growing up, my absolute favourite thing to eat was my mom’s mashed banana. And I have been making it for the kids since they were babies and they love it as well. Last night I gave them the choice of anything they wanted to eat for dessert, and they chose mashed banana! I was pretty surprised but also pretty happy as I wanted to get rid of two pretty ripe bananas. Sometimes it is the simple things in life…

Here is the recipe to make this haute cuisine dish:

Mashed Banana

1 ripe banana

¼ cup of milk

1 tsp of brown sugar

Mash a ripe banana in a bowl. Mix in the milk and sprinkle with sugar. Eat

Mashed Bananas

Bat Mitzvah

vmchick — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 23:41:14 +0000

My baby girl turns 12 today and is therefore Bat Mitzvah. I feel a little emotional at how quickly the time has gone. When a girl becomes 12 in the Jewish religion she becomes Bat Mitzvah, which means she becomes responsible for her actions. It is quite a milestone, and we will be celebrating with a lot of joy and pride at the beautiful, strong, talented and kind woman she is becoming. Thankfully she still loves shopping, seeing movies and concerts, reading, swimming and hanging out with me…I know it is all going to end soon, while she stretches out into the world and becomes an adult. As long as she remembers that she likes me, and comes back eventually, I may survive the coming teen years

celebrity splurge

vmchick — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 02:08:49 +0000

I just read this in a People magazine. When Courtney Cox decides to splurge she has a piece of eggplant lasagne. For real. She said it, they printed it. Now let me tell you what a splurge in my world looks like – I start with a Boston Creme donut and a caramel full fat with whip frapuccino. I go from there to DQ and lovingly eat a full size midnight truffle blizzard. After that, I wait a bit, to make some room…then I eat a piece of chocolate cheesecake the size of my head. Now that my friend is a splurge. In my life, a piece of eggplant lasagne is a normal meal, even a “trying to eat better” kind of night. What is wrong with these women? I mean that kind of comment isn’t going to make anyone like you more, no one in the real world is going to identify with that kind of splurge. I can imagine her poor daughter asking for a treat and getting a piece of seaweed. And let’s just mention here that I am a very normal, average weight…I think all these eggplant lasagne splurging women must be pretty grumpy…nothing a trip to Dairy Queen can’t cure .