Great Finds!

I've come across some really great products recently and thought I would share the finds with all of you!

I follow a few of the "frugal blogs" (Money Saving Mom, Fantabulously Frugal, Frugal in Virgina) for the deals info and advice on different ways to save money. One of my favorite types of posts are the ones alerting everyone to free samples. The samples make great travel items and often introduce me to various products I normally would not buy.

Photo from Burt's Bees

A couple weeks ago I received a sample of Burt's Bees Natural Acne Solutions Targeted Spot Treatment and I am OBSESSED. I was worried that my skin might break out after going off the pill, so when I saw this free sample I signed up right away. My skin isn't bad, but I definitely get a few ginormous pimples every now and then. The spot treatment is a liquid that you rub anywhere that you have a pimple and it literally works like magic in just a couple of days. The bottle says the active ingredient is salicylic acid, but the website lists a bunch of other inactive ingredients (in case you are interested). It retails for $10 on the website and I will definitely be ordering a bottle when my sample runs out!

Switching gears....

I recently ordered a tea set and a coffee set from Yedi Houseware via One Kings Lane (let me know if you want an invite!) and am very impressed with their products, so I wanted to share these finds with you too!

My mom's family draws names for Christmas because there are so many of us (I think there are 40 people?) and we can't buy gifts for everyone. This year we drew my 3 and a half year old cousin. While browsing One Kings Lane I stumbled upon the Yedi sale and knew that the Polka Dot Tea Set would be perfect for her. Here she is last May at my bridal tea:


Yes, she is squeezing her tea bag with her hand. Hehe.

The set is great quality, cute as can be, and comes in really nice packaging. I can't wait to see her open it on Christmas day. I remember I was her age when I received my first tea set and hope she enjoys hers as much as I enjoyed mine. When I was looking at the website just now I saw that the tea set was featured in Oprah at Home magazine!


I also ordered the Birch Coffee Set from One Kings Lane for AJ's parents. These colors fit perfectly with their style and I know they will get great use out of them. They are so hard to buy for and I thought this was a practical gift that will hopefully last a long time. This set was featured in Good Housekeeping magazine!


You can't really see the details in this picture (I love how the inside is a different color) so here is a photo from the Yedi website too.


Hopefully this was a useful post. I have a tendency to only call out companies or products that suck, so I wanted to spotlight a few things that have made me happy lately!

Pretty, New Things

After a long, taxing day at work (I am having a hard time transitioning back into work mode after an 11 day spring break), I came home to a nice surprise from Lauren Nicole Gifts.

The other night I read a Lauren Nicole Gifts blog post that said:

"I have a bunch of things that I want to give away (products that I took off of the website because I only have one left). The first TEN bloggers to leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite Easter memory was will get one of these items."

I just happened to be one of the first ten bloggers to respond and I am LOVING the sterling silver engraved pendant she sent me!

This picture doesn't do the pendant justice (the flash makes it look scratched and I think you can see my fingerprint, haha), but it is definitely beautiful in person. I especially love it because it's got my new* monogram.

Now, the good news for you is that Lauren Nicole Gifts is planning to do more "grab bag giveaways" each month for the next few months, so make sure you are subscribed to her blog!

Also, my friend Julie from Wearing Mascara has asked that I check to make sure all her readers know that she recently switched to WordPress. So....everyone make sure wearingmascara.com is showing up in your Google reader because Julie has moved!!

*At what point is this not my new monogram, but my actual monogram? Same as being a newlywed?

Wedding Party Gifts

My gift to my bridesmaids was an embroidered bag, with a matching make-up case. I couldn't leave my flower girl out, so she got an embroidered mini-bag (and yes, those are her actual initials):

I know the blue is not one of our wedding colors, but the pink and green bags I found were very pastel-y, and obviously wouldn't match our bright color scheme. Honestly, I thought the pink and green looked too much like a diaper bag....not the idea I was going for! So, I opted for the bright blue instead.

Alson chose to give his groomsmen embroidered beer mugs:

And our ring bearer got a bat with his name engraved on it:

Photo from personalizationmall.com

I hope everyone loves their gifts!