JUST DANCE FOR THANKSGIVING

Happy Thanksgiving Day to everyone!!

greeting you while cooking for our thankgiving dinner tonight....

here is a picture of our turkey last year which I already forgot how we cooked... it was our first time cooking turkey, so we were kinda clueless... but it turned out good... not bad for a first time!

as you all may already know, I am Filipino & I did not grow up here... we've been here for a little over 10 years but we never really celebrated Thanksgiving until a couple of years ago.. & it was just because the manfriend was born & raised here & he started looking for that tradition that he was used to having while growin up with his family... so to give him that, we started cooking & celebrating Thanksgiving... which I don't really mind... I kinda like that feel of having to prepare for something spent with family....

also, it was my Mom's birthday last Sunday so we're kinda celebrating her birthday at the same time... it's very low key though... we're not having that much... just a simple dinner....

this year we are having spaghetti, some Neptune salad, mashed potatoes & gravey, pumpkin pie, my mom's birthday cake, strawberry jello pretzel salad & maybe add some other stuff later on...

& of course we're having a Maple-Roasted Turkey with Sage, Smoked Bacon & Cornbread stuffing... (click HERE if you are interested with the recipe)

take a look at our bird this year...

our friend Renan gave it to us... he gave us one last year as well...I'm thinking that it became a tradition from then on... he said he doesn't know how to cook it, so he will give it to someone who can & then just come over to eat there... & that's exactly what he did last year...

the stuffing....

yummy cornbread with all kinds of other yummy stuff...

this is what's cooking in the oven right about now...

on the other note, we bought Just Dance 2 a couple of days ago....

so the plan is just a simple dinner & play Just Dance 2 all night loooong... LOL

here are the little monsters dancing away yesterday... 

they looooove this game!

their favorite is the "Monster Mash" by The Frighteners.... & here they are doing the Frankenstein walk... LOL

another fave is "Jump" by Studio Allstars

***sigh*** priceless!!

we wanted to get them the Just Dance Kids but it was sold out when we went....

I would give you a breakdown of all the things I am thankful for, but if I do that this post would not end.. so let me just take you to a shortcut & say that I am thankful for everything that's in my life (especially the ones photographed above).... everything in my life is a part of ME... whether it's bad or good, I am thankful for it....

I am also oh so thankful to all my 399 followers... I'm one follower shy of hitting 400! YAY!!! thank you so much y'all!! a giveaway is in the works!

how bout you?? what are you thankful for this Thanksgiving Day???

anyhoo.... that's what's up with me on Thanksgiving day..... gotta end this now & get back to cooking... LOL

hope you all have a good one!!

HALLOWEEN LOOK + 120 EYESHADOW PALETTE LOOT

for Halloween, my niece Chrystalline, from Washington, wanted to be a Harajuku Girl... so when they were down here a couple of weeks ago for vacation (to go to Vegas), she had asked me to do her makeup & to give her Mommy(Christine) an idea of how to do it on the actual day....

so here's our version of the Harajuku Girl makeup....

I used the 120 Pro Eyeshadow Palette that I ordered from eBay which I received the day before we left for Vegas... talk about perfect timing!!

I wasn't actually prepared to do this look... I only brought a few stuff for me to use for this trip, a few lippies, 4 eyeshadows for neutral & smokey eyes, liners, mascaras, you know, the essentials & not much extra baggage in the makeup department this time... I know!! it's like impossible right?! especially for me, I usually bring 3 foundations, 5-6 lippies, 3-4 eyeliners, 2-3 mascaras, 2 eyebrow kits, 3-4 eyeshadow quads for different looks/colors, 2 different bronzers, 4 differents blushers, fix plus, setting powders & the list goes on..... but not this time.... I think it was coz this trip wasn't really planned for us, we decided to go last minute.... so I just threw whatever I really need in my makeup bag & left...

the only reason why I brought the 120 e/s palette was because I was gonna give it to my cousin, who lives in Vegas, as a birthday present... but I had to open it coz I didn't wanna disappoint this little girly... she was soooo excited about getting her makeup done for this halloween costume... & I'm so glad we did it, coz I had fun doin this look... she was so easy to work with, of course she was uneasy & a little impatient at first, but what 10 year old doesn't get antsy right?! I loved how she was very still & did not complain one bit....

anyhoo, here are the rest of the products I've used (as far as I can remember... LOL)

- I didn't use anything on her face, per her Mommy's request, Chrystalline is only 10 years old so I ain't trippin... we don't wanna mess with a skin that young anyways & besides she has perfect smooth skin that does not need to be covered with any foundation...

- for her eyes, I used MAC's Painterly paint pot & NYX jumbo eye pencil in Milk as base.... I also used the 120 color palette for most of the shadows applied (the colors used are marked on the picture below)... MAC Blacktrack fluidline topped with MAC Carbon eyeshadow is what I chose to line her eyes with.... her Mom, picked out L'Oreal double extend mascara in Blackest Black from my makeup bag & applied it on her lashes.... Christine doesn't wanna touch her eyebrows, so we didn't do anything to them....

- on her cheeks, I used my new NARS blush in Desire (I will do a post on my recent Sephora haul next)... I wish I could've used a cream blush as base so the color would pop out more, but like I said, I wasn't really prepared to do this look & had to work with what I got...

- for the lips, I used MAC studio sculpt concealer in NC30 to erase her lip color... then Petals & Peacocks lipstick to create the small puckered lip effect.... since we didn't use any foundation on her face, the concealer on her lips became very obvious, but this is all just a trial that we did for fun... so I'd say, it's not bad!

hope you enjoy this look....

silly pictures are my most fave... isn't she sooo cute?? to me, she's the perfect Harajuku girl...

& of course, I always save the best for last.... my fave! the silliest of them all...

I can't wait to see pictures of her makeup & outfit for tomorrow... if I get a hold of her pictures from halloween, I would def post some on here....

a little info on my 120 Colors Eyeshadow Palette loot:

I ordered this palette from eBay on the 2nd of October

received it on the 12th, an exact 10 day turnaround time, which is not bad considering it was shipped from China...

I've heard a lot of complaints about a lot of the palettes (from various companies) such as the 120's & 88's comin in with broken pans so I made sure I asked for the seller to package the item securely to avoid breakage... & the seller surely complied to that request...

they wrapped the palette in bubble wrap, then used styrofoam for cushion....

& I am very pleased to see that all pans came in great condition... not one of the eyeshadows chipped...

included in the kit are 2-60 pan palettes wrapped securely in plastic....

which also came with a plastic film protection on top of each of the palettes...

 here are the 2 palettes....

the one on top consists of blues, greens, yellows & oranges



& the bottom palette contains the whites, blacks, grays/silvers, some aquas, purples, pinks, reds & a few browns...

the bottom palette comes with a red ribbon tab (seen on the right side) which allows easy pop-up access...

I didn't get to do any swatches because I decided to just give it to Christine so she can use it on Chrystalline for halloween, but I can guarantee you that all the colors are highly pigmented & very vibrant & you can take my word for it....

I got this awesome palette for $0.99 +  $11.99 S&H = $12.98 total

I've compared prices with different companies selling these kinds of palettes (Coastal Scents, BHCosmetics, Sedona Lace & etc.), & this is the cheapest I've found so far...

I was very happy with this purchase & I can't wait to get my own....

I will be purchasing 2 more of this palette, for my cousin in Vegas & for moi....

if you have any questions about this purchase (like the name of the seller), just shoot me a comment & I would be glad to give you the info as much as I can...

hope you all have a fun & safe halloween!!!

A LITTLE UPDATE & SOME HAULIN

sorry for being.....

I feel like this was the most hectic month everrrr.... summer's officially ended, school's officially started (August 16th) & I am now officially the busiest Mom I've ever known... LOL.... as many of you know, I have 2 boys & they are now both goin to school.... my oldest, Devean, started 1st grade & my baby, Deion, started preschool..... & boy oh boy! lemme tell you I have never been this busy in my whole life... my day starts at 6:45 AM now... drop one off, drop the other off, pick one up, pick the other one up is what mostly consist my day.... they have different schedules too.... imagine if I'm workin?!? sheeeesshhhh!! that would be crazeee!!!

it was hard getting up really early in the morning at first coz I got so used to sleepin in until around lunch time... I picked up this habit since I stopped workin in '08 & kept it until right before school year started... I know, I know! it wasn't such a good habit, I'm not proud of it either.... I'm spoiled, I'm lazy, I'm too comfortable having people around that cooks & does other things that I don't have to worry about... but you know what, I'm glad I now have a reason to get up & do things, kick some sense of responsibility into me.... I gotta admit, I like it... I like getting up early in the morning, I get things done, I have time to do my workout.... & I feel like I get to bond with my kids more.... I love it....

{ some pictures of the little school boys & us droppin them off to their first day of school }

I was glad I get to capture this one... awwwww....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

my baby did not want Mommy to leave.... =( leavin him there cryin was the hardest thing to do...

but he was sure happy to see us when we picked him up later that day...

but yeah, that was the reason why I have abandoned my blog temporarily.... no more stayin up late during school nights & of course, weekend is play time.. so I really have no time to blog lately.... sorry to all my fellow beauty addicts that were looking forward to my posts.... I am still trying to adapt to my new schedule & I'm pretty sure I will find the time for bloggin eventually....

anyhoooo... back to the more interesting stuff...

so lately, while I was away from the whole blogging scene... I've been pickin up some stuff here & there... not too much though... for some reason, I don't see anything that really gets my attention.... I know I have stuff on my drool list but I just don't have a strong urge to pick any of them up....

here are the things I got for the last couple of weeks....

WARNING!!!!

PICTURE HEAVY

from Sally's
China Glaze nail polishes

Curlformers Hair Curling Spirals

from CVS

Milani lipstick in Rose Hip

reminds me so much of MAC's Petals & Peacocks lippie

from Ross

Color Club nail polish sets

Rebel Debutante

Yacht Club

{click to view full images}

I have been looking for this brand for a while now, I was so happy when I found it at Ross, I got them for $7.99 each vs $20 regular price each...

from Rite-Aid

L'Oreal H.I.P. Shadow Duos

Wet n Wild Lipstick

the one with no label is the Bare It All

I've opened only the Bare It All so far.... this has become my go-to everyday lip color... it's the best neutral lip colored lippie... I apologize if it looks gross... haha... I've been using it so much lately

Wet n Wild Color Icon Creme Shadow Pencil

Wet n Wild Color Icon Eyeliner Pencil

I also got several pieces of clothing & some accessories that I will blog about in a different post... I don't wanna go way overboard... so watch out for that...

another update.... I had my hair trimmed again... I'm actually tryin to grow it out, coz I'm getting kinda tired of this hair style, I've had it for more than almost 2 years now..... but the back gets so thick & shapeless.... so i had to visit my stylist for a little trim in the back & on the fringe...

cam whore much???