Girly Girl

I like playing with makeup. I don't wear it regularly, except for foundation, mascara and lip gloss, but I think it must be in my DNA. I am, after all, a girl!

I love the beautiful colors in the eye shadows. The blushes intrigue me. And I'm a sucker for my Chanel brushes. Whoever said that having the proper tools was half the battle was SO right!

Sephora may very well be the mothership.

Which is why I was so excited to see Sasha's latest giveaway...

Yes, there should be a picture here. But BOO on Blogger. It's being a poopy-head (maybe taking a lesson from SS#1) and won't let me upload images.

It's a brand-spanking-new A Day in the Life of a Beauty Addict beauty palette from Too Faced. Totally cute.

If you're a girly-girl (or know a girly-girl), go enter. Now.

Ten on Tuesday

I tend to procrastinate. Unfortunately, the blogosphere, whether you're a blogger or a reader, tends to encourage such behavior. With ten days before Christmas and a hundred things few things left to do, I should most definitely NOT be hanging around cyberspace.

And yet here I am.

My only consolation is that you're here too. Of course, you may be one of those people of whom I'm insanely jealous really organized types who have all of your Christmas preparation done, gifts wrapped, baking done, stockings hung...

I have to stop now before I sink into a deep depression.

Anyway, back to procrastinating...

Here are ten of my favorite timesuckers blogs (in no particular order):

1. C. Beth Blog

Beth is mom to Chickie and Zoodle, and wife to The Engineer. The kiddos are darling, Beth is a wonderful writer. Love her. She also aspires to help others love to write at One Minute Writer. One of my New Year's Resolutions is to go to OMW more than 3 times every day a few times a week next year.

2. The Glamorous Life of a Housewife

Whitney is stay-at-home-mom to Weebie and wife to Husby, the med student. She is too cute for words and loves her life as a homemaker and mom. I love reading about her life. She's just so daggone cute.

3. The Ivory Hut

A new fave of mine, I found Ivory Hut through a perennial blogging fave, The Pioneer Woman. Ivoryhut's style is much like Ree's, and I'm really enjoying getting to know her world.

4. The Pioneer Woman

What? You've never heard of The Pioneer Woman? Oh, you've been under a rock in Siberia for the last three years! Oh, okay then. You're excused.

5. Mrs. O

While I'm SO not a fan of her hubby's politics, I love Michelle Obama's fashion sense.

Mainly because I don't really have one of my own.

6. The Vegan(ish) Experiment

This is the tale of one family's quest to go macro-vegan. While I'm not really sure exactly what constitutes "macro-vegan", I love this blog for two reasons. One, I'm a foodie and love finding new, family-friendly recipes. And two, Beckiwithani, who authors this blog, is C.Beth's sister, and I love her writing style as well!

7. There's Always Room for One More

I love reading about Denise's family. Mainly because her stories make The Manimal's exploits seem almost normal. And I have this fascination and admiration for larger families.

8. Octamom

Speaking of larger families, this Octamom should not be confused with the Octomom. This Octamom has a normal life with her hubby and eight (hence the name) children. She's an awesome photographer and I love reading her kid stories (and ohmygranny she's got a lot of them).

Stories, that is. Eight kids is a lot too, but with eight kids, the stories multiply exponentially and...

Oh, nevermind.

9. Amy and Georgie

So this is a two-fer, only because I always think of these chicks in one breath. Like "amyandgeorgie". Just to be clear, though, these are two, unrelated residents of the blogosphere, who just happen to be soul sisters. I started reading them both last year when they organized the Secret Santa Soiree. They're mommy bloggers with hearts of gold.

10. $5 Dinners

Erin hails from the same part of the Buckeye State that I do, and when I procrastinate on her blog, I always feel I can justify my time because I learn a new way to save money on my groceries! She is the coupon/budget queen and actually saves more using coupons at chain groceries than I do at my beloved Aldi.

So there you have it. Go procrastinate. I won't tell!

Monkey See, Monkey Do!

Today I received a package.

It came with a pedigree.

And a declaration.

I unwrapped the plain brown paper to find this.

See the cute little "postage stamp"?

I opened the box...

(I know you can't see a picture here, but it was the sweetest little wrap job you ever saw. Brown paper package tied with a string!)

And it is my pleasure to present the newest addition to the Diva Family,
Miss Beatrice Monkey!

The amazingly talented and creative Sian was SO wonderful to work with! She enclosed Beatrice's story on a little card:

Beatrice juggles the hectic life of working monkeyhood, raising her three monkeycubs alongside authoring five novels, one of which made the Monkey Times Bestseller List 2008. She also finds the time to act as Patron to several charities close to her heart, overseeing the organisation of two annual charity dinners which raise much-needed funds and publicity for sock monkeys in need.

Her tiara and briefcase are removable, for when she's just kicking back with the family. I absolutely LOVE her! She's bound to have some wonderful adventures!