Great Post Christmas Week Sales

The week after Christmas always has some great sales and this year is no exception.

C.Wonder, which was a huge hit at our family Christmas this year, ran a sale of an additional 50% off all items on sale all day on Dec 26th. I perused the site and there were some great tie blouses and a really sleek puffy vest that was a great steal if anyone picked it up, but a few of the pieces I was checking out in store were not available online tonight, and I am nowhere near a store location, bummer.

If you missed out on the C.Wonder deal though, there are a bunch more great options running for a few more days.

Birchbox is running a great deal through December 31st and you do not need to subscribe to their box service to take advantage of their great online store. I have discussed my Birchbox subscription in an earlier post that you can find here, but to recap, if you create a Birchbox account, you can reap tons of benefits, including $10 for every 100 points earned through purchases (and each dollar spent earns you a dollar). In addition, through December 31, you can earn additional points, if you reach certain spending tiers. If you spend at least $35 and use code: buy35bonus35, you will get an additional 35 points added to your account on top of the dollar amount you spent. If you spend $50 or more though, use code: buy50bonus75 and you will get an additional 75 points added to your account. It is also great to note that their shipping is fast and their customer service is fantastic. Good to also note that they are offering free shipping on all orders over $25 through December 31st. I am thinking about picking up this dirt. luxe salt scrub in lemon leaf, it smells amazing, and this Spornette Little Wonder for creating some fun updos.

My Birchbox Picks by preppy-lizzy on Polyvore

Another great sale this week is being run by Kate Spade and Jack Spade. Both are offering an additional 25% off their sale items. The Kate Spade sale is running through 1/6/13 and the Jack Spade sale through 1/13/13. Some of the pieces at Kate Spade I am loving are this Steps Carolyn Dress, the Cobble Hill Little Minka in Dark African Violet, and the Luxury Heel in Forest Green.

My Kate Spade Picks by preppy-lizzy featuring kate spade

At Jack Spade, I would love to dress my hubby in the Ronald Flannel Work Shirt in Green Plaid, the Noel Crewneck Sweater in Navy, and the Coated Canvas Sierra Brief in Orange (one of his favorite colors).

My Jack Spade Picks by preppy-lizzy on Polyvore

Are you going to take advantage of any of the holiday deals this week?

Merry White Christmas!

I hoped everyone had a wonderful Christmas full of family traditions, delicious food and great surprises under the tree.

Our family had a wonderful whirlwind of a Christmas. We arrived at my parents' house in the Catskills around 3am on Christmas morning after spending Christmas Eve with my mom's side of the family at my Grandmother's house in New York City (my dad and I each drove a car). We woke up around 10am to start opening presents and enjoyed tea and muffins while we went around the circle one at a time for a few hours opening gifts, enjoying each other's new treasurers.

Around 1pm, my dad went down the mountain to pick up my Meme from the train station while my sister cooked eggs and sausage and my mom started the roast. Over breakfast we toasted to the holiday with a nice glass of homemade eggnog (apparently George Washington's recipe).

Once Meme arrived and we were all showered and prepared for the rest of the day, we enjoyed wine and hummus and played a rousing game of Holiday Charades, which had everyone laughing their ass off by the end of the game. My 82 year old French grandmother trying to reenact Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer by twitching her nose like Samantha from Bewitched and Deck the Halls by waving her arms at the around at the decorations without speaking are priceless moments.

Around 9pm, we enjoyed a fantastic Roast Beast prepared by my mother, complete with string beans, carrots, stinky cheese, a pear walnut salad, roasted potatoes and more red wine. We also enjoyed some rousing conversation around our family histories as the wine continued to flow. Gotta love family get togethers.

Finally, to close the night we enjoyed some homemade gingerbread and fresh whipped cream that my sister made and opened our stockings. We always end Christmas by opening our stockings and while this year we may have started to go into the wee minutes of December 26th, I would have to say this was another Christmas success.

Now as we sit next to the fire enjoying some tea and watching Fred Claus on ABC as the snow begins to fall, I wanted to wish you all a Merry Belated Christmas from my family to yours!

A Christmas Story Now with Music

Sorry for the lack of new material these last few days. Things have been crazy as Dan and I have been busy getting packed and traveling to NY for the holidays. We got in late last night and today has been  whirlwind start to our holiday with our family.

Traditionally we get our Christmas started on Christmas Eve with a big celebration with my mom's side of the family at my Meme's house (my grandma's house) for dinner and Christmas presents. But this year we got things started early, with the whole family going to dinner in the theatre district and going to see A Christmas Story on Broadway.

The musical was really a delight. Running only for the holiday season, it was true to the story without being word for word so that it still felt like it was worth going to see the show. The highlights of the performance were those of Johnny Rabe as Ralphie, Jean Lauria from Wonder Years fame as Jean Shepard, Erin Dilly as Ralphie's Mom, and the rest of the kids that made up the cast, especially the tap dance performance of one little boy during a "Kid at Christmas."

But my favorite performance of the night had to be Johnny Rabe's performance in Act One of "Ralphie to the Rescue." It was the perfect musical update of Ralphie's showdown with Black Bart from the original Christmas Story sequence.

If A Christmas Story Musical comes to your town next holiday season, go for it and get yourself tickets, its a great open to the holiday season, or in my family's case, close. Honestly I cannot think of a better night and a better way to start the Christmas season. (But this doesn't mean we won't be watching A Christmas Story Marathon on TBS tomorrow night mind you...)

Some Holiday Love

Last weekend, our group of friends got together at our friends place for an Ugly Sweater Party with White Elephant Gift Exchange. While I had plenty of time before the party to secure an Ugly Sweater, I of course lost track of time and found myself the day before the party sweater less. Now there is a store in Hermosa Beach that sells Ugly Sweaters, but I could not bring myself to pay this woman $30 for a sweater she bought from Goodwill for $5 at most. (Apparently she has a deal where they call her whenever they get one in). My other option was to hit the nearby JC Penny since I had heard they had sweaters for $7 but in fear of them being sold out, I let my indecisiveness stop me. It was now the night of the party and I was stuck deciding between two options: 1. Be relatively cute in a red sweater or sequins Rudolph tee from J.Crew, or 2. Breaking out my Nick and Nora Flannel Christmas PJs from Target that Dan and I had purchased for our first Christmas Card together.

Because Dan didn't want to rock his PJs alone, I changed quickly into my PJs and we were out the door. My PJ set has sock monkeys rocking Santa hats, sliding down candy cane poles and Dan's has snowmen skiing on candy cane skis. Grabbing my Ralphie teddy bear that has his own ugly sweater and Santa hat and throwing my hair in pigtails, we were out the door for some fun festivities.

I will say if you are comfortable enough to rock pajamas for a party, they are a perfect other option for an Ugly Sweater party and much easier to find in my mind. Also, they are way comfortable! I will do my best to find an ugly sweater after Christmas this year though, because as Ugly Sweater Parties become more popular, it couldn't hurt to have one, just not one that costs more than $20.

We also had a great time with the White Elephant Exchange. We set a limit of no more than $20/gift and I have to say some gifts were very creative. Dan and I brought a Jack Daniels gift set and this really cool nut dish in the shape of a beer bottle. Dan first started out with Harry Potter Scene It only to end up with a Terrordactyl (it was spelled this way too), that screams ever time you touch it. It's horribly hilarious - but I may have to pull a mom move from Christmas Story and accidentally break that thing just like she did the lamp. I tried once already at the party, but that stupid thing lives on.

For me, I started out with a box of random junk from our friend Nate, included a camo hat from his company, a jean vest made from a jean jacket, a bag of decorative beads, and a place mat. For some strange reason, our friend Brian wanted the hat, so he took my box and I ended up with a gift card to Peets Coffee. Best trade ever in my mind.

I hope we make this an annual tradition because the party was a great time and tonight we are following up with a Girls' Night In at Heather's to watch Love Actually. To celebrate Britain, I am bringing scones (and chocolate chip brownies because they are just awesome).

How are you celebrating this holiday season?

What a Proposal!

So if you haven seen my DVR, you know I love "How I Met Your Mother." Dan and I make a point to watch it every Monday night and I have never missed an episode. I also have all the earlier seasons on DVD. My husband told me one night when we were dating that I reminded him of Robin Scherbatsky. He was a keeper that very instant.

I have been a huge Barney and Robin supporter since they were dating and I have been anxiously waiting the episode they would get engaged since last season's finale when we flashed forward to Barney and Robin's wedding.

Now these two had been dancing around each other all season long with more ups and downs then I could deal with which in the end all turned out to be the final play of the playbook, The Robin. In typical Barney fashion, he basically played Robin all season long to get to the point where his final play also ended with him proposing to his best friend and only love, Robin. I am sure she will be dealing with the fact that their was some deceit in them getting to this point, but ultimately there is no one better for her and we all know that. It is also important to note that Barney did this only in hopes of winning her back, he knew there was a chance she would say no, but he had to try.

I love that HIMYM took the time to really give this episode and this moment its time to shine and instead of their typical 30 min show, did an entire hour last night. It really allowed all the characters a chance to shine in their story lines and set up so much for the rest of the season. The fact that it was Ted who drove Robin to the WWN building so she could stop Barney from proposing to Patrice was unbelievably selfless and I can only hope that Ted soon gets his happy ending. He epitomized the meaning of true friendship to both Barney and Robin in that episode. I am also not ashamed to say that I was in tears during that proposal. I thought it was Legendary!

I should also comment that the Jinx storyline in the first half of the episode is one of my favorites ever and integrated so nicely into Ted breaking the jinx to tell Robin about Barney and Patrice. This only reiterates the strong writing that has accompanied this show since its inception.

I am looking forward to the rest of the season coming in January. There is so much to look forward to: bachelor/bachelorette parties which I am sure will be Legen.. wait for it and I hope you are not lactose intolerant... dary!, wedding planning with Lily, a refocus on Ted and his search for true love, and I've heard a Robin Sparkles episode on February 4th. So let's Suit Up everyone!

XOXO Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl's series finale was on last night and I have to say, overall I am very satisfied with how the show ended. The show was a 2 hour show last night with the first hour a retrospective of the past seasons. Personally, I fast forwarded through like I have done with every other series retrospective. I feel like they are waste of time.

Since the retrospective took up an entire hour, the show was like always an hour long. I honestly felt that it was a little rushed for an hour and would have preferred a shorter look back and maybe an hour and a half show. The five year jump came quickly and only had like 6 minutes of airtime and then the series was over, I wish they had given that a little more credence and given some more closure to all our characters and not just one or no liners.

Still I am pleased to say that finding out who Gossip Girl was was surprising and not surprising at the same time.

SPOILER ALERT: At first I couldn't believe that Lonely Boy himself was the man behind the phenomena, but then it started to make sense. He had a younger sister, so he got girl talk, he wanted a chance to be in the in crowd and of course he always had Serena as a muse. He made her an It Girl only for the chance to one day be an insider not just an outsider looking in.

I also could buy that most of the group was just impressed or forgave him so easily, since as Nate pointed out, he didn't post about life threatening things, like Chuck and Blair's accident.  And honestly, no one's life was ruined by Gossip Girl, in fact, it helped them in the press in their current careers and lives.

But back to the flash forward. I was happy to see Chuck and Blair happily married with a son, but wished that we really could have had more time to enjoy where all the characters were in their lives at that point and that we could have actually enjoyed Dan and Serena's wedding.

Ultimately, the show wrapped up nicely, and I have to say, I really liked the Gossip Girl voice over that closed the show. It's a phenomena that cannot be stopped.

XOXO Gossip Girl

Let's Hear it for the Boys! Of Gossip Girl that is

With the series finale of Gossip Girl only hours away, I wanted to do a retrospective on the fashion choices our favorite boys have made over the years. While they are not all the fashion trendsetters their female counterparts were, Chuck, Nate, and Dan all had their own signature looks. While Chuck may have been my favorite over the years with his dapper duds, Nate and Dan were not far behind. And the one thing they all have going, they all look very debonair in a tuxedo.

Here are just some of my favorite looks from over the years.

The Ever Dapper Chuck Bass:

 



The Preppy Prince Nate Archibald:

The Intellectual Dan Humphrey:

The Great Debate: Birchbox vs Ipsy's Glambag

So I have been subscribing to Birchbox for the last five months and recently decide to try Ipsy's Glambag and compare the two subscription services. Both services cost $10/month and are full of great beauty products, but that is where the majority of their similarities end.

Birchbox sends you a variety of products and has 3-4 standard boxes each month. You will receive just one of the four and usually it is filled with 4-6 products. Birchbox sends beauty products that range from moisturizers to stretch mark cream to body scrubs to makeup to health food samples. They take an approach to the complete beauty package and end up introducing you to great new brands. You are able to review the products you receive each month and can often earn rewards points with reviews and purchases of full size products. For every 100 rewards points you earn, you get $10 to spend on any of their full size products that run the gamut. The only drawback I find with Birchbox is that you cannot select your sample type preferences or have sample profile customized to your skin tone, hair color, etc. Still, because of Birchbox, I have discovered patterned zip lock bags for travel, a great body scrub from Dirt, a kick ass hot pink lip gloss from Jouer, and the best dry shampoo powder from Lulu Organics (this may be the best find ever and it smells like lavender!).

Super cute Birchbox packaging for December.

So what did I get in my December Birchbox? This month I got some CC Cream from Juice Beauty, Juicy Couture Perfume from Juicy Couture, Advanced Volume Shampoo from Nick Chavez Beverly Hills, Hot Mama blush from theBalm cosmetics, a $50 gift card to Rent the Runway, and Maple Bacon Milk Chocolate from Chuao Chocolatier.

My December Birchbox.

 The Juice Beauty CC Cream is really nice. It is all organic and also has an SPF 30 so its a great sunblock as well as base moisturizer. The sample size is 0.17oz so good for 1-2 uses, but this is the first CC or BB cream I've tried and its nice to get to test the product out before investing in one.

CC Cream packaging.

I don't love the amount of perfume samples Birchbox sends because I am very attached to my Chanel Chance perfume, but it nice to have if I feel like mixing it up. I've got Kate Spade Twirl in November and I am looking forward to trying it out. The Juicy sample is 0.05 oz and should last you longer than you expect. The scent is nice and light but not too fruity which I like.

Juicy Couture Perfume Spray.

I am really excited about the Nick Chavez Voluminous Shampoo. Its a 2oz sample so its great for traveling and it smells amazing. I am already planning on taking this with me to New York for Christmas. I will also say that Birchbox has sent some great haircare samples and I really look forward to them.

This is a great sample size. I really like the hair care samples from Birchbox

The next sample in the box that I am especially excited about is theBalm Hot Mama blush that ca also double as eyeshadow. The sample is 1.0oz and is another great product to travel with. I have started to find that my Birchbox samples are great when I am trying to travel light. theBalm products remind me a lot of Benefit cosmetics (and both are San Francisco based) and the Hot Mama sample can double as an eyeshadow as well as a blush.

The last two products in my box are a $50 Rent the Runway gift card that is good through the end of February 2013 and the Maple Bacon Milk Chocolate Bar, that I ate before I could take a picture. I was really excited about both of these deals. I am stoked to try Rent the Runway for our dating anniversary this February since a number of my friends are huge fans. I also have to say that I was already a fan of Bacon Chocolate and this one was no exception. What is more appealing about this products chocolate is that Birchbox carries a variety pack with 7 different chocolate mixes (unfortunately you can only get on the wait list right now).

Thanks Rent the Runway!

All in all I was really happy with my Birchbox this month and I have been the past few months. I enjoy getting to try such a wide range of products.

Now to compare my Ipsy Glambag. When you join Ipsy you fill out a very complete survey about yourself and your beauty preferences. You also give information on your skin tone, hair care, coloring, etc. which help to customize which products you receive each month. The biggest difference between Ipsy and Birchbox though is that Ipsy focuses on makeup products only. I have also noticed that their samples seem on the larger end in terms of Birchbox makeup samples vs Glambag makeup samples. Finally the last difference I've noticed is the packaging. Ipsy Glambags come in reusable makeup bags while Birchbox comes in a strong cardboard box. I actually think I prefer the boxes first because I have used them as drawer organizers, while I only foresee myself using the glambag bags for gift packaging (which is still useful). Ipsy's website I also find is less user friendly than birchbox, but there is lots of fellow subscriber advice on how to use the products each month, which is a cool feature.

This nice satin grey bag would be great to package a gift.

So what came in my Ipsy Glambag December bag? Nyx Ultra Pearl Mania Loose Eyeshadow in Pearl, Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Black, Be a Bombshell Lip Gloss in Hot Mess, Mirabella Prime for Face and Eyes, and Mai Couture Highlighter Papers. It also game with $20 off at an online company like ShoeMint where you could essentially get half off one product (all products were $39.95) but this often requires a subscription.

My December Glambag.

I am really excited to try this Nyx loose eyeshadow in this shimmery pink color. I plan to break it out for NYE this holiday season. I may need to get a lesson from a fellow Glambag subscriber on the Ipsy website though. The sample is 0.06oz but seems to be the standard full size they sell. I am pretty sure this will last me quite a while.

Nyx Loose Eyeshadow in Pearl

I love a good eye pencil, but right now I am very attached to the Stila liquid eyeliner pen. Still I like Urban Decay's products and it is a nice compact size. The sample is 0.03oz and is a smaller size than their standard pencil but still quite large and very easy and comfortable to handle.

Great travel size but not too small to fit nicely in your hand!

I love red lip gloss and lipstick and I cannot wait to try this Be a Bombshell Lip Gloss in Hot Mess. This is another full size product at 0.11oz and is a great red color. The lip gloss itself is also very easy to apply and is not sticky like a lot of lip glosses on the market. Still, it has good adhesion and you don't feel like you will have to reapply all night.

Love a good red lip gloss. It is my go to color to make me feel dressed up.

The Mirabella primer is a clear face and eye primer that glides on very smooth but but feels a little slippery after application. Since it is a large sized tube at 0.45oz, I will continue to give it a chance, but I am hesitant at first application. I prefer Benefit's Porefessional since it doesn't leave you with a greasy feeling.

The last product in my December Glambag is the Mai Couture Highlighter Papers. I am really excited to try this. It is a full size product with 20-25 sheets and has instructions on the back cover about how and where to apply with papers. They are like oil blotting sheets that give you a great sun kissed glow. These are great to throw in your purse for quick touch ups on the go!

Feel very luxe using these!

Overall I am very satisfied with my first Glambag and will continue to subscribe and see what other great products I can try out. But if I had to pick one, I still think I would remain loyal to Birchbox. Still, only time will tell.