{So...it's Friday!}

....and I'd like to say "HELLO!" from Blondesville! LOL!

It's starting to grow on me...a little:)

Last night was the Electric City Slide Downtown event that raised awareness for DSS Foster Care and Calvary Home for Children. Thanks to Leadership Anderson for sponsoring this awesome event.
I wasn't feeling great today so I took a sick day, slept until after noon (am I really admitting that?!) and then piddled around the house for a little while.

So....Wanna see my new favorite beauty product???

It's my self-tanner back paddle applicator! $4.99 at Wal-Mart and a real lifesaver! It's got a really long handle and it distributes the self tanner smoothly and evenly....LOVE IT!

Gotta be GOOFY sometimes...and just embrace your "I slept 'til noon hair":)

And I also LOVE this new Express Glow from Jergens:) It gives you an almost instant glow and I will maintain it with Jergen's Daily Glow Moisturizer. SYS (Save your Skin) Ladies! Just try it!
I also can't wait to try this new hair treatment Jessica gave me to use on my new blonde locks...I'll fill you in after I apply it tomorrow night:)

Flipping through magazines today led me to this picture of what I hope to get my hair color to in the next few months...after my roots get a chance to grow a bit and my locks get a minute to breathe...lol! Isn't that just a PERFECT combo of GOLDEN and FABULOUS!
Now that I look at it...it's not too far from what I've got now...You know that JESSICA WATSON has got some skills! :) Especially since it's the result of her saving the mess I made of it myself!

Ok...about twenty minutes after application...am I glowing yet?:)
You just love my hubby's dingy old white t-shirt don't you??? A STAPLE for us self-tanning gals! Don't wanna ruin any of my OWN clothes!:)

Love,
Laura

{A scary HAIRY story!}

Sometimes my impulsive streaks get the best of me and yes...it has happened...again!

Let me tell you the story----It's a SCARY one!

Once Upon A Time there was a girl, a very silly girl, who got an urge-an URGENT urge-to dye her own hair---
She prepped and prayed:)...and made a COMPLETE MESS of her bathroom and her head!
Why oh Why?! And it kept getting oranger and oranger...

It wasn't looking very good:(

Hmmm....she checked to see how the back was coming along.....

SKIP AHEAD A FEW CHAPTERS...

Now's the time to admit, I'm a terrible blogger....because I forgot to take a picture of the results! Actually, I lost my camera in the chaos (see above:)----but I went to work today and no one seemed to notice my "orange-ish" roots or the hidden dark spots underneath----but let's just say this---

The girl in that story will never try to color her own hair again!

By now, I guess you've realized the girl in the story was me:)

Luckily I happen to have a GREAT FRIEND who could FIX IT! Thanks Jessica Watson!

So....TA DA! The new me-

WAY more blonde than I'm used to.....

Luckily, Jessica was able to keep it multi-dimensional, shiny, and healthy---a modern-day miracle considering what I put it through!

*and I'm sure a little makeup won't hurt either, I forgot to take a pic until I was already washed up and ready for bed;0)*

But the ROOTS....OH I DREAD THE ROOTS!

~The End~

Love,
Laura

{CVS Haul + Confession!}

Lookie, Lookie, Lookie!!!

Yesterday I hit it big at CVS with clearance + coupons!Everything pictured above cost me about $5 (plus a $3 money card for something I took back earlier in the day)!

Normal Retail Value= $63.89

You can't see the items too good but there's a Bright Coral Revlon Polish, Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stain and Gloss, two Aveeno Active Naturals hand lotion (one for beside my sink-one for my purse:), some Stride Gum, panty liners, and Sally Hansen strenghtening nail treatment! Just that nail treatment alone is $9.99---I know because I almost bought it last week and I'm so glad I didn't!

My cost after clearance savings and coupons=$5.40 (after the $3 money card)

Percentage Savings=almost 92%
YAY!!!

Here's where they took off for all my coupons....
And here it shows how much I saved!:)
I used my new powder this morning and LOVED it! It should last me quite awhile....

These, on the other hand, will be gone by tomorrow! Guaranteed:)

Yay for a successful shopping trip!

Now for the confession---

I got home and thought that my Loreal powder should have actually been less because it was buy one get one 50% off. I looked through the add and certain promotions featured an *excludes clearance* clause but NOT the Loreal products. So I thought I would stop back by this morning and just see what the deal actually was. I was greeted (sorta greeted) by a Lady who I really don't think was happy to be at work in the first place, and she said in a not very nice way "No, you can't get two deals at one time." I said, "Well, I was just wondering because the add didn't clearance was excluded. Is there a manager I could speak with?"

So...to make a long story short....the manager is a man who is much more friendly and understood it was no big deal to me but that I just wanted to make sure I got the right price on my items. We finally found a VERY small sign with VERY small writing that said "offers cannot be combined" and I was satisfied after that (although I still think the add and sign infront of the items should clearly say that clearance is excluded when a certain promotion is advertised). But I wasn't in the mood to press the issue and it was only a few bucks anyway. As I was walking out I said to the Not so Happy and Not so Nice Lady who I talked with that she was not very nice, friendly, or helpful and then thanked the manager again. I feel REALLY bad for saying that to that lady---it was not nessecary and didn't make the situation any better. I just expect people in customer service to be nice and try to explain things to customers nicely and thoroughly. I just lost my patience with her because she didn't even try to be polite in the LEAST. But I still should have been polite and I'm publicly confessing my ugly outburst at CVS! I gotta get it off my chest...lol! She'll probably run when she sees me coming next time and I'll try to be extra nice to make up for it!

Have any of you ever "told off" a cashier, waiter, ect. out of frustration and then wished you hadn't??? (Because I really hope I'm not the only one!)

So let's all have a GREAT DAY and try to BE NICE even when others are not:)

Cause that's the right thing to do!

......and I'm certainly not gonna let it spoil the excitement of my HAUL!!!

Love,

Laura

{Sunday School Social!}

I love spending time with my Sunday School class! I co-teach the three year olds at our church so I miss getting to spend time with my grown up friends every once in awhile:) (But I sure do love all my little friends!) All of our families ate lunch together after church and then went Wren hunting! There is a scavenger hunt in downtown Anderson where you take clues and find all the little wren statues:)

Brooke and Lil' Miss Bailee:)

Travis getting a head start:)

A fun day with my church friends and my hubby!

We found another one!

Girls Pic!

Awww....too cute! It was about time to jump in that fountain---it was hot!

Hi Mr. Wren:) We found you!

I feel very blessed to be a part of such a sweet group of people! I'm already loooking forward to next time:)

Love,

Laura

{J'adore....}

Saturday morning yard-selling with friends and cute little ones!:)
Attempts to catch cute wild kittens that show up in my carport, even though they result in battle scars....
...my new plastic bag holder my Granny made for me:) She can whip up the CUTEST things in a jiffy and I've been wanting one of these for a long time. Thanks Granny...I love you so much and hope you get a chance to read this! I guess I love the cat who refuses to drink out of his water bowl, too!:)
And one last thing for today---you gotta try this new lotion! It's HEAVENLY!
It had me at Honey Apple!

Have a WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY!

Love,
Laura

{Viva Las Vegas: Part 3!}

One of our favorite places was Downtown Freemont Street...the Original Vegas! :) It's kinda old school (compared to the busy strip)...which I really liked:)

A couple of the original hotels

We explored a little while and then went to the most awesome pool EVER! We were able to get into the Golden Nugget and enjoy some sunshine and their TOTALLY COOL slide that goes straight through an aquarium with giant sharks and all kinds of fishies:) Kinda scary-Really fun!

Relaxin and enjoying each others company:) I truly believe that vacations are important for couples and we always enjoy getting to reconnect, make memories, and spend time with each other!

The sun out there is different...it's like the sun on steroids! I had to really lather up with extra SPF and I still couldn't keep the rays at bay:) I think it's because it doesn't feel as hot with the breeze and zero humidity!

After getting too much sun we decided it was time for some dinner....

....and I worried that I had damaged my skin:( Luckily it turned out not to be as bad as I thought:) Yay for SPF 50!

Dinner was a big burger and fries and we enjoyed people watching for awhile....there are LOTS and LOTS of interesting people to stare at....oops...you're not supposed to do that?:) It's impossible NOT TO in Vegas---trust me!

This is the transparent covering throughout Freemont Street. They have a lights show every night, set to music, and the entire place glows....definitely one of my FAVORITE things!

This guy in the pic below...boy do I have a story about him:) Trav took $5 into the Golden Nugget to play craps for a few minutes. He came back out, quickly I might add, without his money. I asked what happened and he said "there was this guy who told me what to play---he said it was the best bet in Vegas---so I did it. He had about $5,000 worth of chips on the table so I thought he knew what he was doing."

I couldn't believe that THIS was THAT GUY when Trav pointed him out to me in the crowd! Bahahaha! The only thing that guy is is probably IN DEBT...which is pretty sad:(

We spent VERY little money gambling and don't believe that it's a healthy lifestyle, especially for a Christian. However, I do think it's ok in moderation, for entertainment, as long as it doesn't cause any problems. I found a pretty good article about the subject HERE....

Guess what? I got asked to participate in a street show:)

He was so talented!

The next day we tried to do a little bit of everything we hadn't gotten to yet:)

Waiting on our friend, Mr. Bus:)

We saw the show at Circus Circus....

...and then hit the strip for a little while.

We saw the fountains at the Bellagio---

---and celebrated Trav's win on the Kentucky Derby! We bet $10 on Animal Kingdom because Travis was just thinking about missing our dog and since we love animals--we thought... why not?

And he WON! Cheering on Animal Kingdom to take the Triple Crown!

It was really chilly the night we saw the fountains but I'm glad we stayed to watch anyway...it was amazing!

The inside of the Bellagio was SO GORGEOUS and FANCY! I felt like a celebrity just being inside:) The flowers were spectacular!

This is a living work of art! I wish it was hanging in my living room:) It's made entirely of fresh flowers.

To top off the last night, we ran into Roddy White and his entourage as we were leaving the Bellagio:)

There were stars in the sky, stars in the hotels, and stars in my eyes....what a wonderful vacation!

And how corny can one girl get? Hehe!!!

Love,
Laura