Olay Regenerist Thermal Mini-Peel and a Little Bit of Wedding Talk

Hey ya'll! How is your week going? I've been super busy the past few days so I apologize for my sporadic blogging. I'm getting really deep in to my wedding planning right now and that seems to be taking up all of my free time. I feel guilty for not really blogging about any of my wedding stuff, so I feel like I need to catch ya'll up on some things.

• Our wedding date is set for July 7th 2011- 167 days!!! OMG
• We're getting married at Gulf Shores, Alabama- I have always wanted a beach wedding and I'm so excited! How fun will it be to have our families and friends hang out on the beach for a week?
• I'm going wedding dress shopping this Saturday! I have put this off because I wanted to make sure I was actually having a beach wedding before I bought a dress.
• My to do list is a mile long right now. I'm having a hard time staying organized so I'm looking for any tips you married girls have.
• Also, I want ya'lls opinions on a big issue Gabe and I are facing right now. Joint bank accounts or separate? I have always assumed we would keep separate checking and have a joint savings. But I have had so many people tell me there's no way that will work! So whats a girl to do? I like my independence and I know Gabe does too. But is there something wrong with separate accounts?

Ok enough with the wedding talk. I have been looking for a new face scrub lately because the one I was using was not cutting it anymore. Not wanting to spend a ton of money, I went to Target to look for something. I seriously spent an hour looking. Finally I decided on Olay Regenerist Thermal Mini-Peel

 What Olay says- 
"Regenerist Thermal Mini-Peel exfoliates surface skin cells for the results of a mini-professional treatment . . . rejuvenated, newer skin.

• Rejuvenate. . .water activated, self-heating formula deeply warms skin to relax pores

• Reveal. . .nourishing hydration for skin that is beautifully moisturized

• Regenerate. . .exfoliating glycolic acid + micro-crystal complex gently polishes skin's surface for the look of newer skin"- Olay website

My Opinion-

 I'm in love. I know I say this all the time about products, but seriously this stuff is amazing! I love the self-heating thing. It feels wonderful. Plus, it exfoliates really well but doesn't irritate my skin. The little exfoliating beads are softer than most scrubs so I wasn't left all red afterwards. I followed it up with my night cream and woke up to super smooth and soft skin. I have seriously been touching my face all day! This is perfect for my winter skin blues. The only downfall, it cost like $18. That's a little steep for a drugstore brand, but you actually get quite a bit of product so I think it's worth it. 5 out of 5 stars! I would definitely buy it again. 

Have a good day ya'll!

Weekend re-cap: Off to the races!

Happy Monday! How was everyone's weekend? Ours was good! We spent Friday night at home catching up on some TV shows and going to bed early. Saturday we went to the horse races with some friends. It was opening weekend at Oaklawn  so of course it was absolutely packed. We spent the day eating, having a few drinks, and trying to win some money. So much fun!

Me and Gabe waiting for a race to start

Waiting to check out the horses in between races

My winning horse :)

After the last race of the day. And thankfully the only time we went outside that day. It was cold!!

After the races we had dinner in Little Rock at Bravo with friends.
Sunday we were lazy all day. I did manage to get a workout in and then we went to the movies to see Black Swan

Um, crazy! I'm still on the fence if I liked this movie or not.
Today, Gabe and I both had the day off work for MLK so we had breakfast at Panera and then did some grocery shopping. The rest of my day has been filled with cleaning the apartment, doing laundry, and working out. Anyway, no news on the career front for me :( I'm still substitute teaching in the mean time so I'm not totally bored out of my mind.
Hope everyone has a good week!

Yantra Mat Review

So I told ya'll that I got the Yantra Mat for Christmas. If you didn't read my first post on what a Yantra Mat is, you can read it here. Ok so I've been using this for a few weeks now and I am obsessed. I seriously can't go a day without using it now. The first week I started off laying on my back for 10 minutes a day as recommended by the makers of Yantra Mat. The second week I worked my way up to 15 minutes a day on my back + 5 minutes with it rolled up under my neck. Now I'm on week three, and I'm doing 20 minutes on my back a day + 10 minutes with it under my neck.

Now I know what ya'll are really wanting to know, How does it feel? The plastic spikes were a little sharper than I thought they would be. So at first I was kind of nervous. The company recommends wearing a t shirt the first few times while you're getting used to it. When I had the t shirt on, I couldn't feel anything at all, so I just wore my sports bra. The first couple minutes of laying on it can be a little intense the first few times. I had to remember to keep taking deep breaths and relax. After the initial discomfort subsided, I had this intense feeling of warmth spread across my back. Almost like I was laying on a heating pad. Then, I could feel my muscles and my entire body start to relax. Now that I've been using it for a couple of weeks, I don't really have any pain or discomfort when I'm laying on the mat. I'm just totally relaxed.

How do I feel after using the Yantra Mat? My back and neck pain has definitely subsided. The first few days of using this, I would get up and my back would pop, almost like it was re-aligning itself. I'm not having near as much muscle pain or headaches as I used to. I usually Yantra after I work out. It's when my muscles need it the most. I have also noticed that I feel more relaxed as a whole. Especially in the hours after using the mat. The company said that it's common to fall asleep on the mat. I've never actually fallen asleep, but I sometimes go into a half awake/ half asleep state. This goes away as soon as I get off the mat. I use the mat in the evenings though because it does make me a little tired.

Would I recommend this product? Yes. But only if you are willing to seriously dedicate your time to it. You have to learn to be still and just relax while laying on it. You also have to be willing to give up the time to lay on it. Like I said, I spend around 30 minutes on it. It's a great time to relax and let go of your day.

If you have anymore question about the Yantra Mat, feel free to email me. Also check out the website here. Have a good day!!

Graduation Gifts to Myself

So I decided a couple of months ago that I would use some of my graduation money to treat myself to 2 items that I've been obsessing over for awhile now. So last week I finally gave in and bought:

Tory Burch Revas

I bought the black/silver pair and I LOVE them! They are so comfortable and I've been wearing them non-stop. (except for in this snow mess) I'm definitely thinking I need a few other pairs in different colors!

 

I also treated myself to the DVF Julian wrap dress

This one was a little harder for me to spend my money on, but I look at anything Diane von Furstenberg as an investment piece that I will wear for years. And I love this dress. I can't wait to have a job to wear it to :) (yeah, job search has me a little frustrated right now) I think this one was really worth the money. It's a classic!

I always think it's good to treat yourself to a little something after a big accomplishment. And I think that these made perfect graduation gifts. :)

Snow!

Hey ya'll! Hope everyone is having a good week. We've had some snow this week, so I haven't done much of anything! It started snowing Sunday afternoon and didn't completely quit until Monday afternoon. I think we got around 5 inches where I live. So obviously everything shut down. Gabe was even off work yesterday! I actually took a few pictures of the snow.

Today the sun actually came out so I'm hoping everything will start to melt. I like snow for about one day and then I start to get bored and ready to leave the house.

Have a good afternoon!