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Monday, March 7, 2011

An outfit for my Kindle

If you know me at all, you know my new Kindle must be outfitted in the most perfect cover.  I don't do plain.  

Because my new book is, in fact, 1400 pages long, and I have another book to go right after it, I have plenty of time to find the right cover. 

I've started my research now and come up with a few favorites.  I will say that I have a major problem spending what the Kindle cost on it's outfit...but of course, all the outfits I like cost as much as the damn Kindle.  Typical...well, not really...

I've compiled a few of my favorites and maybe you guys can help me narrow them down and psycho stalk them until they go more on sale....




1.  Great Expectations cover by Kate Spade on sale for $69.99

2.  bookworm cover by Rebecca Minkoff on sale at Nordstrom for $99.90 - down from $125

3.  Juicy Couture - can't find price anywhere...

4.  The Great Gatsby cover by Kate Spade $69.99

5. M Edge-Go Crackled Gold $39.99 (totally do-able and very chic!)

6.  Diane von Furstenberg Kayley Canvas $89.99

7.  Kate Spade canvas cover - price unavailable

8.  Diane von Furstenberg limited edition Kayley Canvas - price unavailable

While doing some research on the prices/names of the above selection, I came across a crapload of options on Ebay...happy me. 

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Right now....

This weekend was spent cleaning my disgusting house, spending some much needed QT with my hubbaroo, and trying to figure out how to "descale" my Keurig...

For months, I've said I was going to start some home projects.  As it turns out, my weeks are so exhausting that my weekends are spent taking the breather I need to gear up for the next week.  Maybe I'll eventually get used to going on no sleep, but my gut says probably not.  I'm definitely not complaining, but I guess I'll just have to get creative with how I prioritize my time. 

My girlfriend, Chrissy, is staying at our house Thursday night.  The idea of having guests throws me into tizzy of obsessive cleaning and redecorating.  Chrissy is literally coming here after work on Thursday, spending the night, and waking up at the crack of dawn Friday to leave...she will have no time to notice the small very large imperfections in the guest bathroom paint job or lack of seating in the living room.  Still - everything must be perfect. 

I de-cluttered the guest room and got rid of the bookshelf covered with every single book I've ever read - I threw the books into the middle guest room, and my plan is to keep the door shut until it all magically disappears.  I'd seen these shelves used as bars in dining rooms, so I went that way instead of the way of the trash...the shelf is old old old and needs a new paint job, but I thought until I could make that my next project, I'd put it in the room and test it out....

behold:


Of course, we have no barware, so if this stays, I'll have to go out and actually purchase things to make it more of a "bar" and less of a random shelf in the dining room.  The new table and chairs are really quite big...and I guess the shelf off in the corner maybe throws off the symmetry as seen here...


Gah!  I swear the walls do not look like this in person.  Good grief.  Also, pardon the mess on the table... I'm going to have to have you all over to prove it because every photo looks like Disco Dining Room.

Although, I do have to say that the shelf is a great size for the space - the table and chairs AND a buffet really may be way too crowded.  My goal was to get a buffet, add some lamps on each side and have something not so bar-like in the room since neither myself or the hub are big liquor drinkers, but I'm not a huge fan of the buffet that matches the table.  I'm also not a huge fan of matchy-matchy...but if I wait for the perfect one, we could be like this for years... we'll see - I could go back and forth all day.  Not to mention, a new, dimmer capable chandelier is most needed. 

After I moved furniture and painstakingly cleaned every last corner of the house, I made the husband take me out for Mexican where I ate an entire plate of nachos by myself - in addition to the complementary chips and salsa, a margarita and more wine at home.  I guess I really felt the need to reward myself.  This is why I have yet to see the results from the four to five days a week at the gym...I eat that many calories over the weekend.  Gross.

Today I tackled the "de-scaling" of my Keurig.  I've had this thing for three years and I've never cleaned it.  I know...not only terrible but amazingly disgusting.  I noticed that my coffee tastes terrible, so I figured a good clean could help. 

This is what my Keurig looks like now...

uh....how are we not done yet?

I have to let it sit like this for four hours before I can run a fresh water brew cycle and hope that this week's coffee doesn't taste vinegar-y.  This is very complicated.  I'm sure they could make some money employing technicians who come out for a yearly tune up. Not only that, but I'm intrigued by this water filter brick they sell at Bed Bath and Beyond near the Keurigs.  I think this is as apart it will come, and I see no place for a water filter.  Somebody help me.

Until that works itself out, I'm just munching on this..(and blogging)


Cheddar-freakin-cheese popcorn.  Orville Redenbacher is a man after my own heart.  What did I say again about gross weekend calorie consumption??


Yay for tomorrow being my Tuesday!  I took Friday off so that Chrissy and I could ride out early for our weekend trip to Charleston.  Morgan will be joining us (and I think Leslie will also come out since we're invading her hometown), and our plan is to relax, wander around aimlessly, and drink wine.  It's a much needed and spontaneously planned trip for all of us.  More on that later...

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Love This Junk

How is it that I named this blog Love This Junk after my many Love This Junk posts on Kindredly, but don't have any Love This Junk posts here?  Weird...well, here is a list of some junk that's made it's way into my good graces...

My good friend and fellow blogger, LK, introduced me to OPI's axxium gel polish.  In 2010, I became a manicure junkie.  Each week, you'd find me at my local Beauty Nails gabbing it up with one of the technicians.  I suffer from not enough time and little patience, so I was always messing up my nails soon after leaving the salon.  First of all, it's just not possible for three layers of wet polish to completely dry within one hour.  What is dry to the touch is definitely not dry to the impact of slamming your nails into something, which is what will no doubt happen right after a mani.  So, I tried axxium at Lily Nails in Atlanta.  None of the salons in the burbs were on the gel nail bandwagon...unless you were talking about the pink and white claws, which I was not.  After a successful two week stint with axxium's bubble bath, I took it to my local salon to be soaked off. 

They had no clue what walked through their doors.  They were filing, trying to get all scary with that electric file thing...the whole time I'm trying to get "there's an easy way to get this off" translated into Vietnamese because I was certain they were going to file my nails down to nothing.  They made a few phone calls, and began the process of getting the polish off.  The soak off process is a bit tedious.  Especially if you don't have much time on your hands.  Also, if you're like me and have super sensitive hands and feet, this can be kind of painful if they get to digging all in your cuticle.  After getting a few weeks of normal manicures, I asked Beauty Nails if they'd begin carrying the gel polish...and now they do!

I've had Bubble Bath, You Don't Know Jacques, Lincoln Park After Dark, and Dulche de Leche from OPI.  Bubble Bath and Dulche de Leche were a bit "naked" looking.  Especially DdL - super naked, don't get it unless you want to look like you have super shiny naked nails.

 My local salon also purchased this line which I am currently wearing in a pretty pinkish-glittery color.  It's not love, but it's not hate.  I will say the application process is much easier with this line.  My salon hasn't found their comfort level with just using brushes from their current inventory, so she has to painstakingly clean the OPI brush from base coat to color coat, which again, takes time and makes me fidgety. This particular brand of polish is more in line with what they are used to, which results in a much better manicure for me.

I ran into two displays in one weekend holding Sally Hansen's nail polish strips.  I figured for $8, I'd give it a try.  It claims to be super easy to apply and last for two weeks...I purchased the below pattern, Misbehaved.

 image via

Application is actually super easy, and for my first time, I thought it looked pretty professionally done.  I wore it to work the next day, and my co-workers were all pretty impressed.  Fishnet fingernails are not exactly the most professional of things, so because of that, I only wore them for one day before getting my Lincoln Park After Dark axxium mani.  I recommend...there are several different colors and prints to choose from.  I think next time, I'll just try one of the metallic ones...


So, springtime tanning efforts went into effect in January.  My co-worker told me about L'Oreal's Sublime Bronze lotion, so I got it.  I picked up my trusty Neutrogena spray, but I'm not getting anywhere with that, so I tried this.  I love it.  One problem, it wears off like a spray tan...splotchy looking skin.  So, my suggestion is to keep building the tan. Use this as often as you can get away with.  Of course, it's a bit hard for me because I usually hit the gym before work...sleeping in tanning lotion, then going to the gym and sweating...I just envision streaks and a brown sports bra - gross. 



And finally....I love my Kindle.  I got it for my birthday, and I'm in love.  I'm kind of annoyed that I have two books on my nightstand that I must get through before I start using my it, but it's all ok.  I can use this time to find the perfect case because you know it can't be plain.  


So, what are some of your recent favorite finds?  Please share....