Money Saver Monday: Friends with Talent

Sticking with the beauty note today, I am so lucky to have friends with beautician talent. Courtney, a great friend and finance wizard, knows more than a thing or two about hair color. Instead of getting my $85 touch-up (or $48 Aveda school do), Courtney gifted me with an $11 touch-up - I bought the Clairol kit, she worked her magic. Grays be gone!

Money Saver Monday: Samples!

I'm a produce whore (and I mean that in the nicest way possible) - I love beauty and hair products. Need a nail polish? I have 8 pinks. Need some lotion? I have 6 - 3 types for full body, one for legs only, one with tanner, and one that I'm not quite sure what it does. After we found out I was pregnant, though, spending on product (among other things) was put to a halt.

Introducing - samples!

The other week when I went to visit my new-mom friend, she surprised me not only with fantastic baby stuff that her little boy grew out of, but beauty product samples. These were and are like gold to me! Although pregnancy is supposed to bring on a certain "glow" it also brings on a feeling of total ugliness - for me anyhow. It's weird seeing my body do things and change in ways I never imagined. My skin now has a mind of its own and will be dry one day and oily the next. I won't even go into hair - blech just about rounds it up. All in all, not feeling so beautiful. Beauty samples, though, are like a bunch of mini facials with products I can't afford. In a word - fantastic.

Samples are also great for:

• Travel - I got through Vail with these
• Gift bags - Lisa was an AMAZING host this weekend and put gift bags on all of our beds filled with sample creams for the weather and other goodies
• Saving space - in our tiny bathroom full size doesn't cut it anymore
  

To do: Snow-shoe!

I love anything outdoors - especially anything where I can sweat and somehow wind up covered in mud/dirt/or snow. While in Vail, I added a new "sport" to my favorites list - snow-shoeing! On Saturday the girls and I made our way up the mountain for a great workout, hike/snow-shoe, time.

The gear:









Strapped in:










On the mountain:









An added benefit? You can burn up to 1,000 calories/hour says eSnowshoes.com while snow-shoeing!

Weekend Roundup: Vail!

This weekend Jamie, Courtney jetted off to Vail for a girls weekend with Lisa. I have to say, I miss girls weekends - this was perfect!

At the airport crispy from the week - SO ready to go:









Checking out downtown Vail:









Vailians - so funny:









Ritz Carlton for drinks (I had decaf coffee):









Sleigh ride to an AMAZING dinner at Zach's Cabin:

To do: Get moving!

I just got back from a (fantastic) weekend in Vail with the girls, and while I feel a bit relaxed, I feel more puffy and icky than anything. Giant meals 3-4 times a day, no city hills to walk over, and flying aren't a terrific mix. So, as soon as Jamie dropped me off, we called in dinner to our favorite restaurant over the hill so I could get a walk in. A mile later and a delicious Vietnamese dinner from aux Delices ready I'm feeling much better!

Vail baby!

I'm taking a blogging break this weekend - girl weekend in Vail - woo hoo!

Stories, pictures, musings, and more to come...

Gone snowshoeing...

Thumb suckers

During the ultra this morning the boys were going crazy! I think they must be runners ... in between bopping around and doing flips, they took breaks to suck their thumbs: