Dear Reese ...

It's your favorite Aunt here ... Aunt Lindsey, of course.  I cannot believe you turned 4-years-old on Saturday!  From the moment you were born, I've loved you more than I knew was possible.   Here I am holding you for the first time.  You were the most beautiful, perfect baby I had ever laid eyes on.

I never knew when you were growing in your Mommy's belly that you would be the best thing that's ever happened to me. You were the happiest baby, always giggling and showing off your big blue eyes and presh dimples.  You totally should have been a Gerber baby and made your Aunt rich.  

You didn't like to sleep through the night though, which reminded me I was not ready for babies until at least I was 35. As time often does, it flew by.  Before we knew it, you were celebrating your 1st birthday in style as a pirate ...  Arghhhhh!

Then your 2nd ...


Your 3rd ...


And on Sunday, we celebrated your fourth at Chuck E Cheese aka your heaven. You were the most handsome little spidey we'd ever seen.  You played some football:

Played games with Daddy:

And Mommy lifted you up for all to see during your birthday song. 

You got really excited when your cake came out.  I know everyone really appreciated you licking it.   

Happy 4th Birthday to the the smartest, funniest, cutest and most perfect little boy!  Aunt Lindsey does have a heart, see?

XOXO,

Aunt Lindsey

A big THANK YOU + what I'm loving

Well ladies, looks like we did it! All of our voting paid off!

This little blog of mine won CBS Dallas' Most Valuable Blogger in the Lifestyle category!   I cannot say THANK YOU enough for all of the support I received from you, my lovely readers, my friends, family and people that didn't even know me who voted!  I appreciate each and every one of you so very much.

A special shout out to all of you that tweeted, facebooked and blogged about this for me.  I still can't believe I actually won, but I suppose CBS wouldn't play a prank on me. So here it is, my blue winning virtual ribbon. Check out this little diddy that I'll cherish forevs:

Go here to see the full list of winners in each category.

Now that you got a proper thank you, let's go over some things I'm currently loving.  It's been way too long since I dished on some faves:

1. I love that I was having my first ever "No Heels Allowed Happy Hour" with Patty at my apartment last night when I found out I won.  If you missed this post, go here and you can read how to host your own No Heels HH.  I made us a meat and cheese tray with assorted crackers, Feta stuffed green olives, Dijon stone ground mustard and my new favorite drink concoction (see #2 for details).

Get in my belly!  This is so much better than paying for over priced glasses of wine at your nearest watering hole. I'd much rather kick off my heels, plop on the couch in PINK VS sweats and catch up with my bestie from the comfort of my humble abode.  Wouldn't you?

2. So whenever I pick up my favorite bottle of value-sized Riesling at my corner 711 (you read correctly), I always stick it in the freezer to quickly speed up the chilling process.   I normally put a few cubes of ice in my first glass to cool it off, but the ice melts and waters down my wine. Yuck, me no likey! 

Well Bs, I had a stroke of genius and added frozen sliced strawberries and frozen raspberries to it to keep it cool with out watering it down.  Plus they add a great flavor.  Try it then thank me later. I'm loving this concoction!

3. I love that I am the proud new owner of my very first pair of Hunter Wellies!  This is basically the best thing that has happened to me all week (other than winning CBS MVB, of course) Gilt {dot} com has tons of Hunter boots on sale online until Saturday.  I almost got the pink, but ultimately went with the pearl white. 

They were $89 instead of $145 and I think they'll look gorgy in the white snow.  You know, because it snows all the time in Texas.  If you want a pair, hurry up because these boots are going fast! Go here.

4. And how much do I love my Raven and Caroline??  Let me count the ways.  For one, they sure know a way to this blonde's heart.  Obviously that's through eye make-up.  Raven hooked me up with an Urban Decay Naked eye shadow palette and DIOR mascara!  I'm fancy now, y'all! 

By the way ... if you're thinking, "The hell?!? But your birthday was in August?" ... I thought the same thing. Why has this trick NOT sent me a birthday present yet?  She claimed it was out of stock on Sephora online so it was on back order, yadda, yadda, yadda ...  I believe her. I guess. Just kidding boo! I love you for being so sweet and thoughtful and treating me to these splurges. This present was well worth the wait!

Now #crazycatlady Caroline ... that little hussy.  She surprised me with my favorite beauty product of all time. Like I'm not joking, I will go to Ulta's headquarters and stage a sit-in if they ever discontinue their Automatic Eyeliner.  How lovely of her to send me some along with a little NARS primer.  Be still my heart.

5. And last but not least, I'm loving that I caved and bought a Missoni for Target travel neck pillow.  No I did not wear it driving all the way home and no I was not sitting on my couch wearing it during No Heels HH. OK, I was.

I almost got a few other things, but controlled myself.  All I really want is this throw, but that is out of stock every where.   Did y'all scoop up any Missoni for Target? If so, what and what do you think of it?   I was not blown away.

OK Bargainistas, that is all for now.  See you back here tomorrow same time, same place. Thank you again! I can't say it enough. XOXO

I winged it then I ate it. And I liked it.

I know you don’t come to my blog for recipes, but every now and again I like to throw one in the mix if it’s cheap and easy enough.  Especially if it’s a recipe I winged and liked because let’s face it, I’m not the second coming of Bobby Flay. 

In fact, I'm the complete opposite. I “cook” by meticulously reading and following recipes line by line.  I’m also the girl that writes my grocery list in chronological order of what I will hit in the grocery store first to last.  OCD anyone?

Needless to say, I don't "wing" recipes.  However, Sunday I had some pork chops in my freezer I needed to cook, but I was too tired from my busy weekend to go to the store.  Instead, I grabbed a few items from my pantry that I hoped would suffice.   I threw the ingredients into my Slow Cooker (a gift from God) and five hours later, a yumm-o meal was prepared.  Literally the meat was falling off the bone, so I thought I would share this very basic slow cooker recipe yours truly created:

 Directions:

1. Season 1.5 lb of bone-in pork chops with cracked pepper and garlic powder.
2.  Pour 2 Lipton Onion Mushroom Soup Mix contents into large bowl and coat pork chops (acts as a breading)
3. Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat and brown pork chops.  Set aside.

4. In slow cooker, whisk the carmelized onion and reduced sodium cream of mushroom soups together, add your browned pork chops, cover and cook on low for 5 hours. 
5. Serve over brown or white rice.

Ta-da! you have yourself a home cooked meal on the cheap:

I slow boiled french cut green beans with diced ham as a side.  Seasoned with pepper, wine & garlic seasoning and about 1 tbsp of margarine.

If you test this out, let me know what you think!

Grown-up slumber party and other weekend festivities

As mentioned in Friday's post, my beautiful cousin Sierra stayed with me this weekend and I loved having her in Dallas with me.  Let's discuss the weekend highlights, shall we?

Friday night my besties Liz and Stefanie came over to my apartment for a grown-up slumber party.  Not sure what a grown-up slumber consists of?  Well, allow me to elaborate:

Bachelorette veils and sashes were bedazzled ...

Bow bouquets were meticulously crafted ...

A trip to the sketchiest convenience store of all time was made.  See exhibit A, B and C for reference:

My fave Queen Helene Mud Mask was adorned by all for a truly frightening site ...

Again, I'm single because why?

And obviously vino was consumed in generous quantities.  A prerequisite for any grown-up slumber party.

Here's the closest I'll ever come to wearing a veil.

Saturday morning Sierra made a Starbucks run while I whipped up some breakfast tacos and put my pink blender to use by blending some fresh green fruit smoothies.  My $17.99 blender works like a charm by the way (in case you were wondering). 

In the afternoon, I went to the neph's first soccer game and it should come as no surprise to any of you that he was the MVP.   Would you expect anything less from my Reesey pants?  Our little David Beckham in the making:


Saturday night Sierra and I enjoyed some melt in your mouth & expand your thighs Chuy's Mexican Food for dinner:

And we sipped on some Sangria and Mexican Martinis.  Unfamiliar with the Mexi Martini?  By all means, let me to introduce you to some more Texas greatness:

We came home at least one pant size bigger each, so we changed into sweats and delved into some DVR'd Datelines.  We were highly disturbed to learn of this panty snatching Canadian Air Force Colonel:

And this, my friends, is what nightmares are made of and exactly why I was hiding with knives in the dark that one time.

Sunday afternoon Sierra left me to drive back to Houston, but I'll get to see her pretty face soon at Thanksgiving.  Next weekend the only thing I plan on doing is packing for my impending move, which happens in t minus 20 days.  Have I mentioned how much I hate packing/moving? Least. favorite. thing. ever.  Anyone want to come pack for me?  I'll pay you in e.l.f. goodies.  Plleeeassseeee!

Current Love Affair: Big Lots

Hello ladies!  I couldn't send you off for the weekend without a proper Friday post, now could I?  Seems as though most of you were intrigued, some disgusted (you & you) with my Frito Pie post yesterday.  All I can say is, don't knock it till you try it. It's heaven in your mouth.  Trust.

Now ... on to more important things.  Like my current love affair with Big Lots.  I got this Modella polka dot train case there yesterday for $3.  It even has compartments for your make-up brushes.  Perfect size to fit in your purse, too.  Love!  They had several sizes and patterns to choose from. Who knew?

I also got this  St Ives In-shower Exfoliating Body Polish in Shea Butter & Oatmeal.  It's supposed to gently exfoliate and cleanse to leave your skin smooth and irresistibly soft . We'll see, I haven't used it yet. I love their shea butter and oatmeal lotion, so I have high hopes.  Only $2.50, so if I don't like it, oh well.

And 2 of these Aveeno SPF 50 Sunblock Sprays for only $4 a bottle.  That is straight up SPF robbery.

The neph's 4th (cannot believe it.) birthday is next Saturday.  He is obsessed with taking my kitchen utensils and pretending he's a chef. I got him this play kitchen set in blue for only $35 bones:

Last but not least, I spotted some e.l.f. goodies!  I have never tried their nail polish, so I got their Summer Ready collection for $4.50.  I've heard their polish isn't exactly fab-o, but I'll be the judge and def report back.  It's cheap, so I doubt it'll be long lasting. And you know how I feel about cheap nail polish:

So that about sums up my Big Lots splurge.  Here is a link to all of Big Lots' current clearance merch if you want to take a gander.  I am thinking I need one of these $99 accent chairs for the new lair.  Perfect for my soon-to-be vanity area, don'tchathink?

via

Tonight I'm having girls wine night at my apt to craft two PinkLouLou veils (#veilsweatshop) for Bachelorette parties I have coming up. Wish me luck because I need it. I'm too embarrassed to show you the only other veil I made a few years ago.  Let's just say when I showed PLL, all she said was, "at least you tried." That bad.

Also, I have a visitor staying with me this weekend ... my gorgy cousin, Sierra, who is in town from Houston.  I mean, don't hate her cause she's beautiful cause I do:

OHMAHWORD (& thank gawd)... TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO VOTE for moi for CBS Dallas Most Valuable Blogger!!!!!!!!!  I appreciate all of your support more than you know.  You bargainistas have been ahhhhmazing and it makes my heart ridiculously happy.  I've already got a blonde army ready to stalk CBS if I don't win.  Watch out & cross your fingers because I don't want things to have to get ugly. (I kid.)

Over and out. TGIF!