Getting Away

One thing I love about being off work for the summer is that I have the flexibility to spend time with friends and family.  I've actually had a quite a few busy weekends with weddings, showers, birthdays, and just spending time with friends.  In a couple weeks, I will be traveling out of town to spend time with some friends and family for a few days.  I'm not going on an actual vacation this summer since I'll be going on a trip for a good friend's wedding in September, so this little getaway is going to have to satisfy me until then.

My trip is going to consist of a baby shower / BBQ, shopping, eating at yummy restaurants, and more shopping.

Weekend Getaway featuring American Eagle Outfitters

I'm going for cute, comfy, and casual here...

• Striped dress & denim jacket - This is pretty much my favorite kind of outfit.  I love cute knit dresses and they're perfect topped off with a denim jacket.  I plan on wearing this to the baby shower / BBQ and maybe out to dinner.
• T-shirt and jeggings - I'm only going to be driving about 3 hours away, but I still want to be comfy yet cute and ready to go out and about.  I love this tee and my AE jeggings are pretty much the yoga pants equivalent to jeans.  
• T-shirt & scarf - I'm a sucker for scarves and I still love them this time of year in lightweight florals.  I've been wearing this one from Aerie a ton lately.  It's a nice way to dress up a basic tee without piling on the accessories.
• Striped blouse - This was a great buy back when I last visited the J.Crew Factory store in Oklahoma.  It's become one of my favorites because it's kind of dressy, but still comfortable and versatile.
• Metallic sandals - You know you made a good choice when you get asked if these are the $150 sandals in the J.Crew catalog...  Nope, they were less than $20 from AE!  These seriously go with everything and add a teensy bit of glam without being over the top!
• Crossbody purse - I love crossbody purses for traveling and shopping.  They're so convenient!  I bought this black one from Coach last summer, but they brought back the same style this year.  I wish I could justify getting another color (or 3)!
• Go with everything necklace - I have a very similar necklace that was a $2 Forever 21 clearance find several years ago.  It goes with everything and I get compliments on it whenever I wear it.  It's proof that you shouldn't always discriminate against inexpensive jewelry.  
• Versatile makeup palette - I'm currently loving my Too Faced Natural Eye palette and their Better Than Sex mascara.  I can create a lot of looks with this palette.  I love that I can go with a lighter look during the day, but then add some darker colors on top for the evening.  Plus the packaging isn't super big and bulky so you can still stash it in your purse if you want it on the go.

What are your go to outfits / accessories / makeup for a weekend getaway?  

TpT Tuesday: On Social Networking

Does anyone else get slightly overwhelmed with all of the social networking opportunities there are out there?!?  I Facebook, blog, Pinterest, and Instagram and sometime feel like I can't keep up with it all!  I also try to separate my personal world from some of my networkings, but sometimes I struggle with figuring out that line.

For example, I've got a Facebook page for my TpT store.  I have hundreds of Facebook friends, many of which are teachers, but in trying to get followers for my store page I don't want to blast my friends with posts about school stuff and products that many of them don't care about.

I know that Instagram can be a great tool for networking, but a few months ago I decided to go private on there because kids from my school had figured out how to find teachers on there...  And let's face it, we don't want the kids seeing EVERYTHING we do on the weekends.

I started a separate Pinterest account for my TpT stuff, but I've found I already have a HUGE following on my original ("personal") account, so why bother with switching back and forth when I already have tons of people following me already?  If they don't want to see my other pins, they don't have to follow those boards, right?

I'm just rambling...  If any of you have any good suggestions for social networking, I'd love to get your input.  I don't want to overdo it, but I also don't want to underdo it either.  I don't want to overwhelm my friends and family, but I do want to use them as a tool to get more followers.  

I didn't do a whole lot of new products this week, but I did manage to get three new items up!  

Click here to download the calendar pack!

Click here to download the *FREE* welcome banner!

Click here to download the word wall headers!

Finally, I would LOVE if you would go "like" me on Facebook.  I'm thinking once I reach 100 followers on there I'll do a sale or do a giveaway.  Last week I asked for an idea for a new theme for materials and whoever gave me the first theme gets all of my creations for free...  So, gray chevron and bright colors it is!  I'm hoping to do fun little things like that, so you never know what may happen!

Oh, and here's my new board on Pinterest as well!

Happy Tuesday!

Makeup Monday: Ulta and Sephora Haul!

Recent Makeup Buys

A couple months back I wrapped up my 100 day ban on buying makeup and nail polish.  It just so happened that this ended right at the same time both Ulta and Sephora had coupons out.  

(In case you're not aware, Sephora has a Beauty Insider / VIB sale twice a year...  Once in April and again in November.  Otherwise, their brands are pretty much always full price unless you happen to catch a rare clearance find.  Ulta has coupons all the time, but only 2 or 3 times a year do they include the "prestige brands" into those deals.)

I like a mix of high-end and drugstore brands of makeup, so I like to take advantage of these deals when I want to add some fancier brand products to my collection.  I must admit, I went a little crazy, but I'm super happy with everything I purchased.  All of these products are good everyday essentials that I felt were worthy additions to my makeup collection.

Naked Basics Palette - I love my Naked 2 and 3 palettes and have found myself more drawn to the matte shades than I would have thought.  While I wasn't super excited about this one when it came out a year or so ago, I'm so happy I bought it!  It's a definite winner!

Too Faced "Mascara & Bronzing Holy Grail" Set - I've heard a TON of good reviews of the "Better Than Sex" mascara from Too Faced.  This set came with a full sized mascara and good sized mini of their bronzer for the same size as the lone mascara.  So far I really like both of these!

Urban Decay "Triple Threat" Eyeliner Trio - Other than a couple samples, I've never had a high end eyeliners before.  I usually get super cheap ones, but I've noticed more lately that some of those don't last that well throughout the day.  I spotted this little trio at the checkout at Sephora and decided to give it a try.  I like that it's 2 blacks (regular and matte) and a navy, so I got some good, but basic variety.  I've used these the past few days and see why people rave about their quality!  These definitely stay put throughout the day!

Nars "Orgasm" Blush - This one gets rave reviews all the time and I've wanted it for several years now.  I finally went for it and I'm so happy I did!  It's a beautiful color and I now understand how some people say this is most versatile blush out there.

Nars "Orgasm" Lip Gloss -  I've never purchased anything from Nars until now, but this may become a new brand I'll come to love.  I spotted this one when I was picking out my blush and thought it was a gorgeous shimmery nude.  This stuff stays on amazingly well throughout the day, even through sipping drinks and eating lunch.

Smashbox "Quartz" Limitless 15 Hour Cream Shadow -  I have 2 of these already and use them everyday as a base for my powder eye shadows.  I wanted this color for it's pink tone to work with the colors in my Naked 3 palette.  This one has a little more of a shimmery glittery tone than the others, so I've actually been wearing it alone a fair amount!

Real Techniques Blush Brush - I wanted to try another Real Techniques brush since I love my foundation brush so much.  These are really good brushes for the price!

...And one more that I forgot to add to the picture.

Image via Sephora

Too Faced Natural Eye Palette - I bought this one a little bit later as part of my "I Survived the Worst School Year Ever" budget.  One of my friends bought this one last year when were were shopping and she raves about how much she loves this palette.  I love this thing!  I admit, it looks very similar to my Naked palettes, but it really is quite different.  I'm really loving Too Faced right now!

***

Has anyone noticed how the names of a lot of popular makeup products are very sexual?  I personally think it's just a funny and slightly clever way to market things, but I had a friend on Facebook post about how offended she was by all of these names and she wouldn't buy certain brands anymore because of the names.  I joked with my mom about how I was going to have a skanky face now with all of these products.

Anyway...

I picked up a couple drugstore items on sale at Walgreens and a couple NYX Butter Glosses at Target as well, so I'm taking it easy on the makeup purchases again for a while.  I'm not doing an official ban at the current time, but I am going to try to go until school starts again before I get anything new.  I have wayyyyyy too much, so I'm working on using up some of what's in my collection and experimenting with new combinations.  Pinterest is sooooo good for ideas!  :)

  Have your purchased any new makeup goodies recently?!?

Fashion Friday: Why Loft is one of my new favorite stores.

Over the next few Fridays I'm going to share with you a few of my favorite stores and why I like to shop there.  I love discovering new places and sometimes overlook stores that are really great.  In working at the mall, I've learned that sometimes people miss out on  shopping at great places because they're not in their normal shopping center or they think that a store doesn't fit their image or target demographic.

***

I first noticed Loft about 5 years ago from a magazine ad...  I remember it featured a soft pink tank, a cream cardigan with a tan floral print, jeans, and an army green jacket.  I'm guessing that I'd never paid attention to that store before because we didn't have one nearby, but that ad haunted me with that beautiful outfit.  Right around that time I went on a road trip to Colorado and found a Loft store.  I bought about 1/2 of the outfit right off of that ad and after that I was hooked on that store.  Unfortunately, the nearest stores were about 2 1/2 hours away from home and they haven't hopped on the bandwagon of reasonable shipping costs, so my purchases from there were few and far between.  I did some pretty serious damage at their Times Square store a few years ago, but other than that it was just a couple items here or there.

And then it happened last fall...

We finally got a Loft store in town AND it's only about 5 minutes from where I live!

I'm pretty sure I was in there opening day.

Ever since then, Loft has become a favorite for work clothes and the part of my wardrobe that I call "dressy casual"...  You know, the stuff that you can dress up or down and that can easily transition from work to weekend.  

Those skirts!  Both scored on super clearance, of course!

My wild new floral print cropped jeans!

1. There's always a sale.  There is never a reason to pay full price there.  They always have some sort of deal going on and a lot of times you can score stuff at pretty significant discounts.  I've managed some really great deals on new arrivals and of course have scored some amazing clearance finds.
2. They have really good "dressy casual" clothes.  I know I already said this, but this store is perfect for the whole work-to-weekend thing.  A lot of what I own from there can be dressed up or I can rock my distressed jeggings and it works either way.  It's obviously a lot more cost effective if the items are more versatile like that.
3. They carry petites!  I teeter right on the edge of petite and regular in dresses and pants, so I love having the option of choosing between one or the other.  
4. Everything is so pretty!  If you've read my blog for a while, you know I love my neons, but sometimes there's just something to be said for pretty neutrals and prints.  Speaking of prints, I'm not a huge print person, but they always seem to have ones that appeal to me and get me to branch out of my comfort zone a bit.
5. The fit!  I feel like I'm at that age where it's not really that appropriate for me to buy juniors clothes anymore (although let's face it, I do occasionally), but I'm not quite ready for "mom clothes."  (Moms please don't take offence to that, but I think you know what I mean.)  I really like to fit of a lot of their clothes and really haven't tried on much that made me totally cringe.  I find a lot of it to be really flattering to the curves, but it doesn't feel too old and frumpy.  Aside from American Eagle jeans, Loft jeans are my next favorite for fit.  Their dresses are also very flattering and they typically have a good variety of styles to fit different tastes and needs.

Do you shop at Loft?

What are your favorite things to get there?!?

TpT Tuesday

I hope you're having a terrific Tuesday!  

It's amazing how for it being summer I have been super busy over the past few days...  My weekends have been packed with weddings, showers, and birthday parties, so it's been a fun start to the summer.

I had a lot of extra time during my weekdays last week since my brother was away at camp, so I put in a lot of time on some new Teacher Pay Teachers products.  I don't know about any of you who are also on there, but it's sometimes a little overwhelming to see all of the amazing people on there and their fabulous and creative products.  I'm starting off slow and with some basics for the classroom and we'll just see how it goes from there!  

I have been making some classroom items in a cute bright pink, green, and blue polka dot design.  I'm still working on making more to go with this theme, but here's what I've got so far...

PS ~ I was having some issues with linking when I wrote this post (and was too lazy to try to change everything again), so if the image links aren't working here's the link to my store!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Third-Grade-Rock-Star

Makeup Monday: Favorite Lip Products

Happy Monday!  

 I thought I'd kick off the summer by doing a Makeup Monday post about something that we all love...

LIP PRODUCTS!

I wanted to share a few of my current favorites as we move into summer!  I usually go a little lighter on the rest of my makeup this time of year, so it's a fun time to let my lips stand out a bit more.

The majority of my lip products are drugstore brands, but I do have a few high-end items (most of which were freebies or in sampler sets).  My one high-end lip gloss that I have purchased is the Nars Orgasm lip gloss, which is a new one for me.  I love it!  The color is a gorgeous pinky golden nude that is glamorous, but not over the top.  If you're going to drop the big bucks on a lip gloss, this is definitely one to consider.

The other two are samples from Sephora, but ones that I find myself reaching for fairly often.  Benefit's Coralista is such a pretty coral that is bright, but still one that you can rock everyday.  Buxom's glosses have great staying power and from what I recall they have a nice color selection.

I still love my Revlon Lip Butters, but I must admit that I like Maybelline's Color Whispers a bit better.  They're very comparable, but I like the Maybelline formula better for its smoothness and texture.  

I've not tried any other ELF lip products, but I really like this jumbo lip crayon.  For the $2 or $3 it costs, it's a total steal! 

These lip glosses were my first NYX purchases last year.  They have a HUGE color selection in these!  These are probably my most used glosses these days.  The staying power is okay...  Not amazing like the Nars gloss, but still good.  These are really great for layering over other lip colors (like the ELF crayon) when you want that extra shine.

This NYX Butter Gloss is my most recent Target find.  It was a total impulse buy, but I seriously love these.  I'm definitely tempted to snag more colors.  These are so incredibly smooth and add the perfect amount of color.  I think I prefer this formula over the NYX Mega Shine Gloss (above) and would probably choose to purchase more of these over those at this point.

What are your favorite lip products for summer?

Do you have a brand you love?

Classroom Wish List

Every summer I'm faced with the decision / dilemma of how much money I want to spend on materials for the upcoming school year.  Yes, school has only been out for about 2 weeks, but I'm that person who's already planning and plotting out what items I want and what sales to hit.

I try to keep my out of pocket spending to around $100 or less if I can help it.  Our school's PTA graciously reimburses us for supplies up to $100, so I usually not to spend a whole lot more on top of that.  For the most part, after completing 7 years of teaching I have accumulated a pretty good collection of supplies.  BUT, as with anything, after 7 years some of that needs to get upgraded and replaced.  

Right now, I think my big splurge might be one of Erin Condren's Teacher's Lesson Planners.  It's a bit of a splurge considering they start at $59 and I've made my own plan books and grade books for the past couple years.  It's sooooo tempting to have EVERYTHING all in one nice neat organized place and on top it that something that is sooooo cute as well!  One of my friends bought one last year and LOVED hers and said that she's planning on getting another one for next year.  It appears that everyone online that has one thinks they're pretty awesome as well!

Another item I am considering is some new supply / book bins for my classroom.  I have a set from Target that have lasted 5 or 6 years, but are starting to show some wear and tear.  I managed to snag mine the first year Target carried them and only paid $1 each.  Target realized what a gem they had, though, and now I believe they run $2.50 or $3 each.  We'll see...  I may just replace the broken ones or possibly splurge on these pretty ones from Really Good Stuff.

Another temptation I've recently had is to change up my classroom theme.  I've been using Creative Teaching Press's Poppin' Patterns collection pretty much since the beginning of time.  I still love that collection, but with my vast collection of K-State decor I am really tempted to go with a cute purple, black, and white theme.  Much of what I have already goes with that color scheme, so it would mostly involve investing in some new borders and a few other things.  I know how OCD I can get, though, which is why I have previously selected such a bright and colorful theme.  Once again, we'll see.  

Other than that, there really aren't that many special items I'm looking to get for my classroom.  As I get more into this Teachers Pay Teachers thing I'm realizing how much I can make on my own!  My district has a copy center that I can submit jobs to online and get many of my goodies printed.  If I go with a new color scheme I will be sure to create most of my own decorations to go with that theme!

What's on your classroom wish list for next school year?

What do you think is worth a splurge?

Anyone out there have an Erin Condren Teacher Planner?  Do you love it?  I'd love your feedback and input!