Weekend Blog Walk at 'At Home Take 2'!

I'm excited to be featured as the guest blog for the Weekend Blog Walk at 'At Home Take 2'! Take a minute and stop by to say "hi"! And join in the blog hop fun!

Thanks to 'At Home Take 2' for another great blog hop!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Finally a purse tag video on You Tube!

I did a bit of searching and I could not find a purse related tag video anywhere on You Tube to do... I honestly couldn't believe it at first! How could there be no purse tag videos! I've really been into doing tags this month, because I find them just a really fun video to do and they are very stress free. (Compared to reviews and other videos like that where I'm trying to make sure that I'm getting as much information in for people as possible.)

There is a popular "confessions of a shoe-a-holic" tag that has been completed by many, many You Tubers... and has been around for a number of years. I decided to adapt this tag for the purse lovers out there, and thus - the "Confessions of a Purse-a-holic Tag" was born!

Please send me your video back as a video response if you complete the tag, and you can also send me your answers on Facebook or in a comment here... if you don't do You Tube videos. I would love to hear your answers as well!

Pink Nail Polish Wednesdays ~ Minnie Mouse Style!

Official Disney adorableness!!

www.opi.com, OPI Vintage Minnie Mouse Collection

I happened to wander past a display of OPI's Disney Vintage Minnie Mouse collection while in the Ulta the other day, and instantly fell in love with the adorable pink based collection!!

The collection has four great colors:
"Nothin' Mousie 'bout It" - An adorable heart top coat.
"I'm All Ears" - A bright, vibrant pink with a bit of shimmer.
"If You Moust, You Moust" - A light candy pink.
"The Color of Minnie" - A red toned pink that seems the most Minnie inspired color in the collection.

I picked up my favorite of the collection, "I'm All Ears"... and I'm hoping to get a few more of the colors the next time I'm at Ulta if they have more of them back in stock (they were out of the heart top coat and I got the last "I'm All Ears"!) - they are just too cute to pass up!

OPI Vintage Minnie Mouse Collection ~ I'm All Ears

$20 Makeup Challenge!

This was a fun one! What would YOUR makeup look like with only $20 to spend on products AND tools?

Products Used:
- Garnier BB Cream
- (2) ELF Eyeshadows
- ELF Blush & Bronzer Duo
- ELF Blush Brush
- ELF Eyeshadow Brush
- ELF mascara
- L'Oreal Lip Gloss

Lolly Wolly Doodle Mania!

We are in the midst of a Lolly Wolly Doodle Mania at our house! As I mentioned in a previous post about Lolly Wolly Doodle, I'm planning on doing a more complete review and video after we receive more of our items, however with ship times of 2-4 weeks (and usually closer to 4 weeks!)... It has been quite a wait to get everything.

Their items are just adorable though, so I wanted to share a few more of our Lolly gems that have arrived recently!

Lolly Wolly Doodle Pink Zebra Collared Dress

Lolly Wolly Doodle Giraffe Tie Dress

Lolly Wolly Doodle Zebra Smocked Two Piece Set

Lolly Wolly Doodle Snowflake Smocked Dress

Lolly Wolly Doodle Monkey Aline Short Set

Lolly Wolly Doodle Ice Cream Aline Dress

I'm looking forward to receiving a few more matching sets for the girls and also some knit items - and I will be sure to post up pictures and/or video of our newly minted Lolly Wolly Doodle collection soon!

Visit Lolly Wolly Doodle's website HERE, and their Facebook page - for more info!

Pink nail polish Wednesday!

I decided to follow a trend... and do multi-colored pink nails for pink nail polish Wednesday! I used Zoya Shelby and Zoya Lara from the 2012 Beach collection! They remind me of candy, cupcakes, and everything sweet!

Fisher Price toy reviews!

Two reviews on Fisher Price toys - the Zoo Talkers zoo and the Wheelies Stand 'n Play Ramp.

We love the Zoo Talkers zoo and accessories, Cupcake received this as a Christmas gift and it has done really well at holding her attention during the 6 months that we've had it. There are a number of animals that are available to purchase additionally for the zoo and there is also a fun jeep vehicle.

The Wheelies Stand 'n Play Ramp is great for toddler that are into cars! Cupcake just received this for her 2nd birthday and it has been a total hit! She has started really liking cars (waving "hi" to cars, making the "vroom vroom" noise, etc...), so I thought she would love the little Wheelies in addition to the great ramp features. It is a great height for them to be able to access it on all levels and the features are very toddler-user friendly. The elevator makes a fun click noise and the sounds make her squeal when the car rolls over the sensor.

All in all, we've had the best luck with Fisher Price toys over any other brand we've tried. We're very pleased with all of the toys we've purchased. I think the quality is exceptional and the retail prices are reasonable given the amount of use that our children will be able to get out of them!

Day in the Life: 2 year old & 6 month old!

Well, technically she's 7 months old today! (Happy 7 months, Peanut!) However I posted this video last week when she was still 6 months old, a quick mini vlog - afternoon in the life, if you will - following us throughout the middle of the day. Day in the life videos are always so fun!

We were just around the house this day... we went out to sign up for swim class and then played outside later in the day. So it was a fairly low key day in the life!

Things to do before I turn 30!

So turning 29 this year got me to thinking about turning 30 years old... about what my 30s will be like and reflecting back on my 20s. There definitely has been considerable change from the beginning of my 20s to the end of my 20s...

At the beginning of my 20s, I was young, carefree, had minimal responsibilities - but took on much responsibility to gain experience by working multiple part-time jobs while completing my undergraduate degree. The mid-part of my 20s was marked by beginning my professional career, starting my own business (a dance center, which actually come to think of it I could go more in-depth into entrepreneurship in future blog posts), and getting married. We moved a number of times for my husbands job, and thus began the latter part of my 20s... when I completed my Master's degree and we started having a family.

My life now, is consumed with diapers, bottles, and the needs of other people - and while I acknowledge that it is the absolutely best thing I could be doing and its own kind of career, being a stay at home mom does leave me feeling lackluster in the "career" department some days. This is where the blogging and You Tube channels come in I believe, because they give me some sort of outlet, a sort of project oriented world... where I can still complete tasks and have a sense of accomplishment when they are done.

Turning 30 though, is less about where I've been and more about where I'm going... I've imagined being in my 30s many times in my life - and it has always represented a very put together, productive time period in my life.

Thus began my list - a sort of "bucket list" of my 20s, to embrace moving into my 30s in the most positive way possible and kick-starting a new decade or era in the best way that I can...

My "to do" list before turning 30!

• -          Try something I’ve never tried before
• -          Get more organized
• -          Lose 20lbs
• -          Find a good eye cream
• -          Buy 3 new pieces of jewelry
• -          Buy a great smaller purse to use
• -          Buy something I wouldn’t normally buy
• -          Clean out my closet (of clothing that I’m not wearing, etc.)
• -          Take more pictures of myself with the girls
• -          Go see a movie in a movie theater!

This is the beginning of my project and I will try to update along the way on my progress towards May 2013, and the beginning of my 30s.

My Zoya collection!

I decided to do a polish collection video exclusively dedicated to Zoya since it is my favorite nail polish brand!

Zoya colors shown:

Neutrals: Anne, Lulu, Felicity, Pandora, Barbie, Uma, Lyric, Cassi

Grays/Lt. Purples: Dove, Marley, Harley, Brizia, Caitlin, Adina, Lotus, Dannii

Dark Purples: Casey, Jem, Julianne, Stacy, Rhiana, Roxy, Hope, Mata Hari

Reds/Dark Pinks: Divincia, Kierra, Burke, Brooke, Nova, Anaka, Brie, Kimber

Bright/Lt. Pinks: Charisma, Dana, Gilda, Lillith, Areej, Reece, Rory, Chloe

      Others:  Maya, Deidre, Tao, Gemma, Zuza, Tallulah, Shelby, Lara, Reagan, Wednesday, Carly

I do feel like my nails have improved since I started using exclusively Zoya on my finger nails. (I do occasionally use other brands on my toes.) In conjunction with using Zoya's Remove+ polish remover, I feel like my nails have been stronger, have been more apt to grow longer, and have had less peeling problems!

Pink Nail Polish Wednesdays!

I don't normally like to show pictures of the polish on my feet... but I just had my pedicure done and wanted to share the lovely pink color that I chose at the past few pedicures I've gotten. It is OPI's "It's all Greek to me"! A vibrant pink with a bit of depth to it!

I loved the color so much... that I had to track it down at Ulta to have a bottle of it at home to use!

OPI's It's all Greek to Me, Meet me on the Star Ferry, & Base coat

Current Nail Polish Collection & Storage

It was requested that I share my current nail polish and how I store it in a You Tube video. I'm showing my collection in two videos, the first just a general overview - and the second video will be a more in-depth look at my Zoya collection, which is my favorite brand.

Recent nail polish purchases!

These are some of my recent nail polish purchases that either arrived or I picked up this weekend... I've been getting back into nail polish a bit more after I recently completed a nail polish collection video for my You Tube Channel, which I will be posting here on Mom's Got a Brand New Bag tomorrow as well. Zoya is my absolute favorite brand right now, but I also enjoy the formula and range of colors that OPI has too.

My Zoya order:

L to R: Kiki, Star, Nimue, Willow, Miscka, & Erika

Up close:

Kiki, Star, & Nimue

Willow, Miscka, & Erika

I also ordered the Zoya Renew, which is supposed to bring old polishes back to life. I'm interested to try this, and will do a review in the future on how well it works.

Zoya Renew

And Zoya loves me so much, they included two freebies! A lime pomegranate shower gel and a 2 oz size of Zoya Remove polish remover.

The two OPI polishes I picked up at Ulta this weekend came with a free top or base coat, and I chose the base coat. I am normally really bad about remembering to use a base coat (in fact, I didn't currently have one until I received this one) - but I'm going to try to make a sorted effort to use it more often... especially with darker blues, pinks, or purples so they don't stain my nails.

OPI It's all Greek to me, Meet me on the Star Ferry, & Base Coat

Monday Blog Hoppin'!

Starting the week off right, with a bit of blog hoppin' over at Naptime Review! Thanks to the hosts, Naptime Review, At Home Take 2, & Little Becky Homecky for hosting this blog hop!

Pink nail polish Wednesday ~ Zoya Lillith

This week's pink polish has been shown before, but it is such a gorgeous color that it deserves extra time in the spotlight! Zoya Lillith is a gorgeous magenta pink that's rich color just beams off of your nail. I especially like it for pedicures too!

Even though I don't do much with nail polish other than pink polish Wednesdays, I'm a nail polish lover at heart! If I had acrylics on I would do more with swatching, but alas - they tend to ruin my real nails too quickly these days, so I've decided to stick with au naturel for now... However I do have a few fun features coming up showing my nail polish collection & storage, as well as a video specifically on my favorite brand, Zoya, polish collection! So keep an eye out for all of those fun polish videos in coming weeks!

Happy pink polish Wednesday!

Product Review: Planet Explorers EPCOT 2012 Guide for Kids

I was given the opportunity to review the newest Planet Explorers e-guidebook, EPCOT 2012. Planet Explorers is a set of travel e-guidebooks for children aged 8-12. The guidebooks can be viewed on Kindles, Nooks, iPads, and smart phones, and are available for a variety of destinations including Orlando, Las Vegas, London, New York City, and more! They can easily be purchased on Amazon.com, and used immediately after downloading the guide to your device.

The guidebooks offer a concise overview of what children may expect to see at their destination and also offer helpful tips to make their trip more enjoyable.

EPCOT 2012 is one of Planet Explorers' newest titles and gives children 8-12 a glimpse at what they can expect when visiting the park. I've visited EPCOT a number of times in the past, so I'm familiar with the layout and exhibits that are in the theme park. The guide starts with a brief history of the theme park and then starts with a brief description of each of the exhibits starting at the front of the park, with Spaceship Earth and working its way through the different exhibits.

It is written in an easy to follow format that is appealing to upper grade school children and also has quick facts about each of the areas as you go through the guide. It is entertaining and is sure to capture the interest of a grade school children, as they use the guide to anticipate what to expect on their trip, or to plan what attractions they would like to see the most. There are a number of vivid images of each of the areas that also give a visual representation to give a great feel of what to expect in the theme park.

Current price of the Planet Explorers' EPCOT 2012 e-guidebook on Amazon.com is $2.99, delivered straight to your e-reader device!

My verdict: I think that the Planet Explorers e-guidebook on EPCOT is a thoughtfully written travel guide that is perfect for the child aged 8-12. It is entertaining and gives a great glimpse at what to expect during their trip, and would also be handy to reference while at the location to look up details or fun facts along the way. You can't beat the reasonable price either - at an average price of $2.99-$3.99 for the e-guidebooks, I think they would make great airplane reading material, attraction planning guides, and fun fact references while on the trip.

The Planet Explorers EPCOT 2012 guidebook can be purchased:

The Walt Disney World 2012 e-guidebook can be purchased here:



View all the rest of the Planet Explorer titles:
Planet Explorers

Learn more about Planet Explorers: www.planet-explorers.net
And visit their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/PlanetExplorers

* Please note the products in this review were sent to the reviewer by the company to perform an independent review. I've given my honest opinions on the products mentioned.

Featured blog on Mom's Best Nest!

Mom's Got a Brand New Bag is the Fine Feathered Friend blog of the week and Guest Host of the Flock Together Tuesday blog hop on Mom's Best Nest blog! Stop by to take part in the Tuesday blog hop and find some fun new blogs to read! Thanks to all that are visiting Mom's Got a Brand New Bag from the blog hop!

Cupcake's Super Why! themed birthday party!

Well, it didn't go exactly as I had anticipated... but we celebrated Cupcake's 2nd birthday (which was actually in May) this past weekend with family, and had a "Super Why!" themed birthday party!

Cupcake unfortunately turned out to be sick, and we canceled having any kids around her, so her family party turned into a - grandparents' party! We still had a lot of fun and she enjoyed her Super Why! themed party supplies. I ordered a cake and chose a background that I thought would be suitable with the SW! theme, since all of the SW! supplies had to be ordered online - and then gave the decorations that came with the cake (that turned out to be My Little Pony) to Cupcake to play with - which she loves!

I ended up forgoing the different themed areas idea that I had originally for the party, since we didn't have as many people in attendance and I didn't figure the grandparents would really care whether or not her playhouse was a themed "Book Club" area or not... I still really love the idea if you would be hosting a Super Why! party with a number of children in attendance or with a bit older kids that can get into the ideas of different stations. Our water table would have been the "Little Mermaid" theme, bubble wand station a "Cinderella" theme, play house a "Book Club" theme, bounce area the "Princess & the Pea" theme, and slide play area a "Rapunzel" theme.

Alas, it was not to be... and Cupcake is a bit too young to "get" it anyhow, so it turned out okay.

She opened lots of fun packages!

And the dress up clothing was definitely a hit! We couldn't convince her that the tiara was supposed to go ON her head... she just knew that it was meant to be sunglasses instead!

All in all, although it wasn't what I had originally envisioned - still a fun day!

May Favorites!

Some of my favorite products from the month of May!

I'm so excited that I finally found a new vanity to meet my needs! It is the Hamilton desk from Target, I love the details on the sides and that it has one large drawer for extra storage and will be sharing a more in-depth look at my new vanity organization in a future blog post. I moved my handbag storage into my closet, so I am also re-doing my closet organization right now and found some great items at the Container Store to help with the organization. I'm loving the closet organizers in the Como print.

Como Handbag Storage Bin, www.containerstore.com, $21.99

Other favorites of mine from the month of May include:

- Marc Jacobs "Daisy" perfume: I originally wasn't wild about this when I first purchased it back in the winter... but I'm loving it now that it is warmer out.
- Too Faced Natural Eye palette: Just as the name suggests... perfect natural daytime eye looks!
- Fairy Drops mascara: Fabulous volume that doesn't smudge and is long-lasting.
- Dior "St. Tropez" nail polish: Beautiful blue for spring.
- Butter London "Slapper": And electric teal color that is definitely a show stopper!
- Zoya "Reagan" & "Lara": Two beautiful pink polishes from the summer collection that are going to get a lot of wear!

Thanks again to Jen from myhousewifelife for the amazing gifts for being a finalist in her contest!

What a week...

It was a rough week. Cupcake is sick, we're preparing to have family in this weekend for her birthday party... and I'm not even sure she will be in the party mood by then! We did however have time to get a few candid shots of the girls on Memorial Day, and that has been the one highlight to the week.

Typical Cupcake... going the direction SHE wants to, with a smile on her face...

And we didn't get any outside shots of Peanut before it started raining, but luckily did get a few cute pictures of her before leaving the house...

Peanut enamored with having her picture taken!