Fabulips Bachelorettes

I was going to save this post for a TGF but I already have one for this week and I just couldn't wait an entire week to post about this "fabulips" event I went to last week with Mandy. First off I absolutly love all things Bachelor. It doesn't matter if it's the Bachelor, Bachelorette, Bachelor Pad, I love them all. What's not to love? These people really do provide me with pure entertainment and there aren't many shows out there that make me laugh so hard that it brings me to tears. I used to feel like it was a waist of time and I would say there is no way I'm watching next season, but now I just embrace my love for the Bachelor because it's kind of like a car wreck, you just have to watch. Brian has come to love it too or maybe he just watches it because he knows I like it so much. Brian thinks that maybe one of us could go on the show and be the only ones to make it while being married, lol. (If you watch you will understand.)

Anyways, on to the event. Mandy invited me because she knows I love the show and she needed a "photographer" since this was an event she was blogging about. Mandy also works for a blog called MomTrends. Check it out here: www.momtrends.com this link will take you to the page that tells all about our fun event. Bliss Spa was promoting their new product 'Fabulips.' It's a facial for your lips that you can add on as a treatment at the spa or do yourself at home with thier treatment kit. The Bachelorette gals were there because after kissing all those men their lips needed a good cleaning, haha.

I did get to talk to Ashley and it was hard to decide what to ask her but what I really wanted to know was 'what is the secret to remembering all of the guys names on the first night especially.' She said that they don't get a sheet with pics beforehand to study or anything like that but throughout the night the people from the show do try and help her out. Also she said she was really motivated since she didn't want to look like an idiot on national TV. Then once she decides who she is keeping she tells the producers and they tell her what order to announce the names in. Gosh and you thought it always such a coincidence that the two she was on the fence about were always the last ones to be called. So since she has to remember their names and a specific order they only do 5 roses at a time, take a break, and come back to hand out 5 more. And we thought the rose ceremonys were long at home with all the exagerated pauses and announcement of the last rose, well it's way longer for them. I think my question was good and I'm glad I know now. What would you have asked?

From the left: Me, Ashley (Brad's Season), Ashley (the most recent Bachelorette), Jen (Andrew Firestone's Season), Mandy

They handed us a rose as we left and gift bags

I took Mandy's too since she was going to another event

In the gift bag was the complete Fabulips Kit a $45 value

Thanks Mandy for taking me I had SO MUCH FUN!

Kate Spade Sample Sale

I love Kate Spade Handbags. Today they started their online sample sale. Lots of cute bags and clothes too. Stuff sells pretty quickly though so don't wait the sale ends Thursday.

http://www.katespade.com

I confess that I splurged on one.

I don't have a camel colored bag, do you like it?

Shutterfly Offer

I was asked to share the card below that I created on Shutterfly and received a $10 gift card for doing so. I'm not sure if everyone who shares their cards or projects will be offered the same deal but it's worth a shot. I think these cards are such a great idea for personalized birthday messages, thank yous, or to say a quick hello. This card was only $3.09 and if you want to pay an additional $0.99 they will address it and send it directly to your recipient. Considering the price of postage and cards (unless they are from the $1 store) I think this is a good deal for a personalized message. There is also a coupon code to make a free card like this if you want to test it out. Just enter: CARD4U and get your free 5x7 card. I'm not sure how long the offer is good for.

5x7 Folded Card

Birthday Sketch Birthday 5x7 folded card

To view our collection of birthday card designs, click here.

View the entire collection of cards.

Surviving the Storm

For anyone who is wondering, yes I have decide to brave the storm. I am on the 11th floor so I'm not worried about flooding but I am a little concerned about flying debris and broken windows. The wall in my living room and bedroom is floor to ceiling windows but hopefully, living in a new building, they were built to withstand strong winds. On the positive side I found some humor in this whole Hurricane Irene debacle.

Top Things To get at the Store:

Water

Chips & Beer

Bread

Most people had two large bottles of water in their carts along with three bags of chips and four cases of beer, totally makes sense.The stores were actually out of water when I went but I did manage to find two liters of Figi Water since in a crisis no one wants to pay $3 for a bottle of water. I mainly filled every pitcher and jug so I have no worries on the water front. I also pulled out my camping head lamps. I was always wondering when those might come in handy in the city. And I have all my candles ready but I am lacking a radio. When Radio Shack is out of radios there is no point in going anywhere else. I am looking forward to reading a new book and my People magazine with my headlamp at night though :) I am attending a Hurricane Party later in the building at Bob & Kristen's where they will appropriately be serving hurricanes. If you want to have your own party here is what you need:

Hurricane Recipe:

• 1 oz vodka
• 1/4 oz grenadine
• 1 oz gin
• 1 oz light rum
• 1/2 oz Bacardi® 151 rum
• 1 oz amaretto almond liqueur
• 1 oz triple sec
• grapefruit juice
• pineapple juice

Directions Fill a hurricane (or any other tall glass) 3/4 full with ice. Pour all the alcohols in first, then follow with equal parts of grapefruit and pineapple juice. Serve and enjoy! (For those not drinking alcohol, you can use sprite and orange).

Last thing, I may tell Brian he is never allowed to leave me for an extended period of time again since last week I was sick, Tuesday I survived an Earthquake and now tonight I'm going to brave a Hurricane. As the little boy I watch says, "Holey Mole Guacamole."

TGF...

Thank Goodness For Throat Coat Tea and the good ole Neti Pot. I was sick last week and if it wasn't for these two guys I might not have recovered so fast. Being sick without Brian around is really aweful. I had to make my own tea, and wait on myself, ugh not fun. Most of you know Brian takes really good care of me and that's probably why I got sick in the first place. Having to do dishes at night and no one to tickle my back or give me foot massages was just to much for my body to handle. But I am feeling much better now and these two guys had a lot to do with that. Hurry home Brian before I get sick again :(

I do not use a Neti Pot everyday because I don't have allergy problems but if you suffer from allergies it is highly recommended. I use it when I am sick or congested and it works great. I would recomend getting a ceramic one not plastic. The one pictued is the one I have and it's from the Viatamin Shope. Here is a link if you want to read more about the benefits and how it works.

http://www.webmd.com/allergies/sinus-pain-pressure-9/neti-potsYogi Throat Comfort herbal tea is wonderful if you are suffering from a sore throat or a horse voice give this wonderful tea a try! It has a mixture of some awesome herbs that feel like a warm blanket on your sore throat. The tea is a blend of fennel seed, licorice root, cherry bark, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, clove and pepper. It provides instant sore throat relief.

Harbor Cruise

The day before Brian had to leave for Baltimore we were invited to go on a birthday cruise for Joe's 30th Birthday. We haven't ever been on a boat and cruised around at night like this before and now I'm wondering why not, because it was so much fun and a really cool way to se the city at night. We went down the East River and up the Hudson and around the Statue of Liberty. There was also really good food and an open bar. Joe knows how to have a party and is such a great guy. I'm really glad Brian and Joe are such good friends and when you are with Joe you know it's always going to be fun.

Our Yacht, of course you know the famous SNL song everyone was singing.

The Empire State building on the left

This is everyone in Brian's class except Valerie.

From the Left: Jamie, Kevin, Bob, Kevin, Cutie Pie

S.O.S. Birthday Boy

Trying to capture Lady Liberty in the background

There She is Miss America

OK for the next two pictures ,taken at different points in the night, I'm not really sure why the boys love this pose but I have pictures of them doing this on several different occations. Can anyone explain? Does it date back to the Jewish chair dance but modified into a drunken dude bonding ritual?

The Help

Sunday I went with my friend to see The Help. Sometimes I am really disapointed when books are turned into movies especially if the book was really good. The Help was one of the best books I read last year so I wasn't going to get my hopes up for the movie. But I am very happy to report that the movie was excelent and it definitely surpassed my expectations. I would recomend anyone to see this wonderful film, but don't forget to bring the tissues because it has a few touching moments. I would also recomend reading the book first because the book has an element of suspence that the movie doesn't and if you see the movie first the read just won't be as interesting. I'm not sure if it touched me in a different way because I am a nanny but all of my friends I know who have children are wonderful mothers and I can't imaging a time when "the help" were more of a real mother figure than the real mother. GO SEE THE HELP.

Brian's 29th Birthday Celebration

A couple weekends ago we headed to Atlantic City with six other friends to have a fun weekend getaway and to celebrate Brian's 29th Birthday. We rented a house on the water over looking the manrina with several flashing lights from the casinos in the background. We had an amazing time and the whole weekend turned into one big celebration. Not much sleep was had on this trip and now I think I know what "party like a rockstar" means. I wouldn't make a very good rockstar because it took me a week to recover from two nights of staying up till 5am. It was a great time of dancing, hanging out with friends, soaking up sun, eatting, more eatting, shopping (they have good outlets there), and a little gambling.

View from our balcony durring the day

Brian's Present from me

Yeah Right!

Relaxing Beach Day

It was a little windy

Brian getting ready putting on one of his real presents and new jacket from Diesel

Yeah for the timer on a digital camera to capture the whole crew

Not sure what we thinking here except that we liked the glass sculpture in the background but we were sick of taking boring posed pictures

Hanging out VIP style in da club

Dancing the Night Away Happy Birthday Babe!

Stella & Dot Fall Line & Handbag Launch

Mid July the fall line launched and this week they launched their small handbag collection. The Handbags are featured in Septemeber InStyle's "Launches You'll Love." They are really nice quality leather and are manufactured in the same factories as Coach, Prada, Burberry, and Kate Spade. The Clutches can be adorned with Stella and Dot's broaches as well (Sold Seperatly.) Early Christmas shopping anyone?

www.stelladot.com/laurarose

Columbia Annual Barbeque

Back in July we attended the Columbia Barbeque. This year I don't have any pictures from the soccer game because it was one of those 95+ degree days and I was not about to sit and watch a soccer game. I did come and meet up with Brian later though. The pool was a nice relief from the sweltering heat and the food was amazing as always. I can't believe next year will be our last barbeque. Bian is already almost 3 months into his 4th year so the end is in sight. In January he will be interviewing for fellowship positions and find out in March. This year is pretty exciting in the residency world, and when he returns in 8 weeks from Baltimore he won't ever have to go back there again, Yipee!

No I am not Glowing that is Sweat...Gross

Watching the creative but painfull bellyflop contest

Some arial flop shots: Katie

Mark

T.G.I.F

I really enjoy reading all of my friends blogs who have cute themed days or topics that they write about. I have wanted to do a themed day but couldn't decide what until now. Everyone is so glad when Friday rolls around so my Friday posts are going to be based on this unviversal joy that the weekend is finaley here "TGIF". I am going to post about things that I want to say "TGF" Thank Goodness For... It could be new shopping finds, something great that happens durring the week or someone, etc...

This week I'd like to say "Thank Goodness For Wonderful Customer Service from JCREW Men's Store."

Lsat weekend Brian and I did a little shopping on Maddison Avenue including a stop to the awesome JCrew Men's Store. It's better than a regular JCrew and the customer service is top notch. When I got home I realized the watch strap we bought wasn't in the bag but it was on the reciept. Then to make it worse when I was cleaning on Sunday I shreaded the receipt. Oops! I thought it was hopeless but I called the store on Monday anyways and told them what happened, shreader and all but that wasn't a problem for them. With my card number they could look up the transaction, found the strap color, and had it curriered over to my building and left it with the doorman. I was plesently surprised and shocked that the customer service was that good. I will be shopping there again :)

Hanging Out

OMG I'm still so behind on my blog, this pics were from like three weeks ago so I barely remember what I was going to say about them. Mostly this is what we have been up to for the month of July: Going out with Brian's co-residents (everyone in all the following pics are residents) every weekend and sleeping in or lounging in the park during the days. I love summer but I'm sad Brian is leaving on Sunday to do a Baltimore rotation for 9 weeks so our summer days together are almost over :(