Arbonne RE9 - I love you!

I would like to go into a little more depth about the RE9 products.  These are the products that got me hooked on Arbonne.  I guess you can already tell it will be a glowing review, but I will go into a little more depth.

First of all there are 5 steps.  That seems like a lot at first glance.  Trust me when I tell you - it goes fast!  This is what the products look like when they come for the first time.  I was so happy to receive my brand new box of goodies!

So, let's get started.  First off, you wash your face.  Easy enough, that's a standard, right?!  After washing your face you spray the toner.  One spritz, done.  Renewal Serum, one pump - rub on your face...Fast!  Next comes the eye creme...This one is tough for me because I really only want a half a pump.  Half a pump for both eyes, and I am done.  Usually I forget and do a whole pump.  Step 5 is day creme with sunscreen SPF 20.  I am hoping we all do that anyway - it is so important!!  At night that step is swapped out for night creme.  Boom - you're done!  I line up the bottles at my "beauty area" and just zip through the steps.  My skin that feels this amazing, I will do it!

So, next you are probably thinking - 5 steps...This must be expensive!  It depends.  If you are used to using drugstore products, then you will have a bit of sticker shock.  If you are used to using Clinique, you will notice it is about the same.  If you are used to using more upscale products - you are going to be saving a ton of money!

The BEST part of all is that I am no longer putting harsh chemicals all over my face!  I never really thought about it, but when they told me it takes 26 seconds for your body to bring in all the junk that is in other products it got me thinking.  I just assumed that products had to be good for you...You know what happens when you assume, right!?  Please think about what you are putting on your body!!

But you could get everything for FREE!  All you have to do is host a party!  Simple!  Invite 4-5 of your friends over for a spa party, and receive great rewards as a host!

Check my website for more details on all of our products!  Up next, mascara and eyeliner!

Arbonne Love!!

So recently a co-worker introduced me to Arbonne...Try it out, she says.  Just take home the bag and use the 5 steps.  5 STEPS???  That seems like a lot, but ok, I'm a sport, I'll try it.  I didn't even know what it was.

I washed my face at 9:30 at night before bed and I texted her.  My face has NEVER felt that way in my life!

Let me give a brief back-story.  I had had acne since about 4th grade.  I have tried everything.  Natural, chemical, the only thing I did not try was accutane, because I read that if you are even thinking of having kids soon, it could give them spina-bifida....WHAT???  I was only a teenager at the time (not thinking of having kids obviously) but that bothered me.  No thank you!  I'll keep the zits!

I tried every item.  Then someone told me about Pro-Activ.  I tried it...It worked to a point.  It was clearer than it used to be - so ok!  BUT - everytime I laid my head on the pillow it bleached the pillowcases.  I started travelling with a towel so I wouldn't ruin people's sheets.  That also started to bother me!  Am I putting bleach on my face??

I ended up clearing up pretty much completely when I had my kids.  Maybe it was all hormonal? I started washing my face with oil (a mix of castor and olive) and that worked well until the summer, when I couldn't get the mix right.  I gave up soap all together and it has been pretty good.  But I still wanted to wash my face.  I tried various Sephora items, but I didn't like those either.

Back to Arbonne.....I was able to try the products for 3 days.  She gave me a full kit, like what I would get if I purchased it.  I didn't want to give it back!  But I had to :(  Something inside of me right then just clicked....I HAD to sell this stuff.  I HAD to be part of this company.  I have a full time job already,  I have 2 kids.  I don't care.  I had to work for them.  I didn't even know anything about the company - it was just calling me.  I am doing it in my spare time for now.  I hope I can make it full time one day, but for now I just want people to realize what is out there in store bought products and help people be healthy.  These products are all-natural, no chemicals, and nothing harmful to you or to animals.  Wonderful!

Then I tried the detox program.  WOW!  I thought it was going to be a tough go, but I find this to be remarkable!  I have no problem giving up caffeine, sugar, gluten, dairy...WHAT???  No coffee?  I don't even care!  I journaled my first few days of the detox and I have taken before pictures.  Now I am just living in detox and I love it, but I will post my first few days for all to read.  It is a very easy program!  I love it!  I have a whole kit of Vegan Protein powder - some of the best tasting powder out there!  Fizz sticks to give you energy by way of vitamins.  Fiber, Pro-biotics, and detox tea.

If you want to know more about the products please comment here, or visit my site!

Please don't forget - What you put ON your body is just as important as what you put IN your body!

Stay Healthy!
Jill

Things I love

Do you have something that you totally love?  I'm talking strictly things that have made a + difference in your life, where when you bought it or signed up for it it was  not a big deal, but now it is AWESOME!  I thought I would throw a high five to these few things!

#1 - Sonos!  Oh man...If you don't have Sonos, you have got to get it, if you desire surround sound in your whole house!  I could be a spokesperson for this company!  I have had more people get Sonos because of me.  It just ROCKS!!!  It is wireless surround for your house.  You just hook it up to the computer, and then control the speakers with your computer, phone, IPad, whatever.  AWESOME!  The playing options are endless...Sirius/XM, itunes, any internet radio, Pandora, Spotify, WHATEVER YOU WANT!!!  I like to have music in the shower...I set the Sonos alarm to start at 6:30 am on the Sirius classical station...Yippee, I never have to remember to turn on the music!  While I am cleaning the house I put the same station on every speaker...No matter where I am in the house the music is pumping!  I love it!  Check it out: Sonos.  I buy my Sonos while it is on special at Target.  Sometimes they will offer a 75.00 gift card per item at Target.  SO - if you go online, through ebates (see below) , and use your Target Red Card (please tell me you have one - you have to!) they can be a really great price!

#2 - Ebates!  I was in line at Target shopping...Wait - I was actually BUYING SONOS!  The lady in front of me told me about Ebates.  I thought it was a scam, but of course I googled it anyway.  It is totally legit!  I get my Big Fat Check and I am a happy girl! You basically just shop through the ebates website.  You get a percentage of money (cash back) from ebates.  It collects in an account, and then they send you a big fat check quarterly.  If for nothing else, you can go to www.magazines.com  and order people magazine, and you get 40% cash back!  I'm totally serious!  If you click on my ebates link I do get a referral, so hook me up while you are hooking yourself up :)

#3 - Credit Card points!  I use this wisely.  A credit card must be paid off monthly, otherwise this makes no sense at all!  I have racked up thousands of dollars in rewards points just by shopping wisely.  I like My Discover Card for online shopping...At Christmas time the stores will offer 10-25% cash back, and all you have to do is go through the shop Discover website!  I also like my Disney and Southwest Airlines cards, and of course, the Target Red Card!

#4 - HGTV.  I have to be careful with this one though...Every single time I turn on the TV and watch HGTV I get an uncontrollable desire to rip my crazy old house to shreds.  When I am in money saving mode I can't turn on the channel...Why oh why won't Candice Olsen adopt me???

#5 - DVC.  I love the flexibility of the Disney Vacation Club!  I have other timeshares in other systems, but I really love this one so far.  It is new for us, but I was able to re-arrange our vacation just a little bit (smaller size at Animal Kingdom) a little bit and now we get to stay at Aulani in a 2 bedroom villa and it costs me nothing extra!  SCORE!!!  I cannot wait!

That is enough for now, let me know what some of your favorite things are!

Wow - it has been a long time...So much has happened since I was here last...Too much to get into, let's continue...

I was sending my husband an article this morning about yet another place I would like to eat at some point when we go back to Disney (386 days but who's counting??), and in the body I wrote..."So many places to stuff our faces...".  Not to be too full of myself, but I LOVED it!  I may hate it tomorrow, but today I think it is so catchy!  I googled it and it came up with no results!  The only time that happens to me is when I horribly misspell something, or I am trying to find out why one of my programs is not behaving.  WOW - did I really think of that and no one else has?  I had to come here and document it (for what I don't know yet)!

I have been a little obsessed with food this week.  Why?  Why else...I made a change to my diet.  I am eating "healthier" (that term is so subjective.  I am not a politically correct person, so for me - this is healthier).  I have started the 4 hour body, but maybe I am only doing 3 hours of it :)  I am doing the food to the T.  The exercise portion - not at all.  Not to say that I am not exercising.  I am probably doing more now than I have since I was 19, I am just not swinging kettle balls.  I have been going to a fitbody boot camp in the mornings...I am amazed at how much I really love it.  I think it has transformed my life.  I have been going since November (I think it was November...Maybe December) and I think I might be addicted.  Prior I had started a running regime with a friend down the block.  Being that we are all busy Mom's it is almost impossible to fit in an exercise program.  My friend and I decided that the only time would be 6:15 am.  Surprisingly, it started out great!  Then winter hit...It hit HARD.  No more running for us, all the sidewalks were covered in ice and the air was so cold 2 of my 3 bathrooms FROZE!  Just about the time I had given up completely, I got a message from a close friend...

Hey - do you want to come try out a bootcamp with me at 6:00 am?  I will pick you up at 5:45.

Who in their right mind says yes to that?  I was (ok, had been) doing 6:15 running and I thought that was insane.  How could I possibly wake up at 5:30?  I am NOT, under any circumstances, a morning person.......

But, I said yes.  I'm not sure why, I think someone else may have been talking for me that day.

The first day the "bullhorn", as my husband refers to my iphone alarm sound, went off and I thought I would die.  I dragged myself up, brushed my teeth, and went downstairs to wait (I put on my gym clothes the night before so I can sleep an extra 5-10 minutes...That is how much I hate the morning)...Maybe she will have slept in and I won't have to do this...Nope, here she comes!

We get there, and the guy instantly has us running laps.  We finish and he has us doing stuff that I never would have imagined doing at 6:00 am.  Squats, lunges, burpees (I would like to have a stern chat with the inventor of those), jumping jacks, you name it, we did it.  But at 6:30 the whistle blew and we were done.  I think the whistle woke me up.

At the end he asked if we were coming back in 2 days...I gave my typical, hmmm, I don't know, let me check response, and my friend said to me.  No, just come, don't think about it, just come.  So I said ok.

The next day...For the love of God, I was soooooo sore!  How on earth would I be able to go to bootcamp tomorrow?  My body is usually pretty sore the next day, and holy crap what have I done sore, the day after that.  I get a txt that night...Bootcamp tomorrow?  I txt back...ok.

The next morning we show up...I may have been limping...I start my laps, we go into the gym part and he starts with his routine of telling us what to do (if men are there he yells at us, if it is just us ladies, it is more of a stern "do this").  I made it through, no problems...How did that happen?  I was in pretty bad shape when I walked in.  This is now a trend of bootcamp.  I walk out feeling better than when I walked in...Cool!

So now, we aim for 3 days a week, and unless weather or sickness gets in the way, we make it.  We actually miss it if we don't go...How sick is that??

Mornings when I go, all is good in the house.  Mornings when I sleep in, all hell breaks loose.  Clearly, it is better for everyone if I get up and get out.  I am home before the kids are awake, and I come in their rooms, see their adorable faces sleeping, and then I am the most annoying cheerleader ever, as I convince them they should get up and get out of bed...Some mornings I think they want to smack me.  I'm ok with that :)

This morning I came home and my daughter (7) was up and setting the table.  She wanted to surprise us.  I thought I was in the Twilight Zone....

Coming soon:
So Many Places to stuff our faces...In, where else?  Disney!

Life Alterations...

As with many people I am finding myself in unchartered waters this coming month...It is called Back to school.  I know this has been going on for years and years, and I myself went through it, but it is a little different now that I am suddenly in charge.  I can remember bringing in my little boxes of tissues, and pencils, pencil boxes, etc etc.  I used to LOVE the back to school shopping.  Not for clothes since I was in a uniform, but all the notebooks and backpacks.  I would come home and pack everything up, then unpack and re-pack.  I realize now that Katie is just a miniature version of me, even as a baby she would do this all the time.  But just Saturday I got our letter from the teacher, welcoming us to the new school (yes Katie, everyone in your class will be new, not just you, I promise!), telling us about all the great things to come, and then providing us with a list of things we need to bring.  These are the things I remember:

1. Clorox wipes (2 containers - lots of cleaning going on.)
2. Regular wipes (2 containers - what are we cleaning with these?)
3. Tissue boxes (2 boxes)
4. Undies and socks in a ziplock bag (I guess they are still prone to accidents at this age...)

Things needed every day:

1. Water (Can I pack a gallon - Katie drinks a lot of water)
2. 2 juices (2?!  Katie will never get through those.  Maybe I will fill the juice boxes with water and fake them out)
3. Healthy Snack (uh-oh - I need some help here.  More later)
4. Lunch with lots of options in case they are picky (she is)
5. Check the folder every night for homework.  That's MY homework...I thought I was finished with school...

Ok, peeps...Healthy snacks?  I went to Target over the weekend to get all the supplies.  Yes, that very day.  Did you miss the part that said I love back to school shopping?  I get to the snack aisle and I blanked.  What do I give this child for lunch and healthy snacks?  I am not a snacker by nature.  IF I do snack, it is most likely not going to be a healthy one.  This is why I don't do it.  Sure if I didn't have a care in the world I would plop down in front of the tv and snack on ho-ho's and cheese doodles, but I can't do it.  So I avoid it.  But now I am faced with making good decisions for my little one...Does this mean it could spread to our family like an epidemic of some sort?  Could we all magically turn into healthy snack eaters?  Probably not, but it is worth a shot!
I ended up leaving the aisle with nothing.  I didn't know what to do.  I decided that I would take Ms. Picky to the store and we would pick out snacks together.  Maybe this would get her excited to go to school, knowing that she packed her lunch.  It would also be interesting to see what exactly she picks out.  She already told me no to goldfish, but yes to fruit snacks...Really?  I know I can do fruit, but I always hated fruit in my lunch bag as a kid.  It would be all warm....Yuck.  I did find these little snack boxes with built in freezer packs that would be kinda cool for grapes or strawberries or something.  So, let's see what I have so far...

1. Fresh Fruit
2. Baked Lays
3. Fruit snacks
4. Jello (who gets full from Jello?)
5. Yogurt

That's it.  That's all I got so far...Man this is going to be a long process...

On the good side...We started our new schedule today and everyone seemed to adapt wonderfully.  That was promising!  I actually was able to work out, and get ready, and be at work at my normal time!  If I keep up the workouts I think I will take the 100.00 a month I was going to spend at the gym and spend it on vacation...Sounds like a plan!

My favorite day.....

Friday has become my new favorite day of the week.  Not for the typical reasons like start of the weekend, summer hours (for all you lucky folks out there), etc. etc.  But Fridays now signify something a little more special and exciting to me.  A few weeks back I decided that my lunch was getting a little too expensive.  I had started going to an absolutely wonderful place called Chop't.  The salads are amazing and as a result I actually started losing weight!  It was the great kind of weight loss too because I didn't even feel like I was making an effort.  The only downside - It is expensive!  I'm not saying it isn't worth it - it totally is.  The ingredients are as fresh as they can be, the portion is the perfect amount, and the quality is outstanding.  Plus it is all organic, and they care about recycling!  How can you go wrong?  My bill would end up being about 11.00, and that was just a lot to spend on lunch every day.  Especially when my particularly frugal husband would go down to Mamouns and spend 2.50 for lunch.  One could argue that it all evens out, and I did that for a while, but then I had an idea.  A perfectly brilliant idea!  In earlier posts I had mentioned a plan for going to Disney.  I mentioned the Annual Passes and how that could save a good amount of money.  I also left you with a cliff hanger.  I know you have been sitting on the edge of your seat, haven't you?  Ok, so then I decided...How could I possibly sit with an AP in my pocket for a year and not take a little side trip?  That is just not possible!  So then I decided to take a look...Hmmm, Katie's birthday would be on a Saturday while we have our AP.  What if I picked her up from school on Friday and surprised her with a trip to Disney!  Just her and I?  How fun would that be?!?!?!  Well, it gets better.  Then I saw that AP holders get a pretty steep discount on hotels during certain times of the year.  I started with staying at a Value but then I thought about it.  This is a once in a lifetime opportunity here.  I think we should live it up and stay at the Grand Floridian.  I have always wanted to stay there, and I need to seize the opportunity.  Plus, it is 40% off...Who can say no to that?  NOT ME!  But, there was a guilt cloud hanging over me.  Why do I get to do this while we leave the boys at home.  Why do I get to choose to stay at a super luxury resort, while the boys are stuck back in Jersey?  So I decided to do something to offset the cost of our girls extravaganza trip (this will include spa visits, yummy meals, tea parties, and I'm sure a good deal of shopping).  SO, I decided that I would start bringing my lunch to work.  For every day I brought my lunch to work, I would deposit 10.00 into a separate savings account.  This is done on Fridays (I even have a reminder in my Outlook although I don't think it is needed!).  This has also had a bit of a domino effect.  Guess who else is having a homemade lunch with me?  Yep, my dear hubby.  I then allow 5.00 per day that he also eats in house.  So that is a potential 75.00 a week that is saved into the vacation account.  I know what you are saying...I am taking his money for my trip.  No, no, no.  This money is for anyone to go on vacation.  I did the math and by the time Ms. K and I go on our trip we will have double what we need!  All from bringing a lunch!  That can then go towards another vacation for the whole family!  I love it, I love it, I love it!  If for nothing else, it has prompted me to start doing something I should have been doing all along, and that is making yummy, healthy lunches for me and the hubs, and saving money to boot!

But the plans have changed a bit (I believe for the better)...Last year we went to the Christmas party, which happens to be going on during K's birthday.  It was really great.  If you have never done it I highly recommend doing it at least once.  I have heard some scuttle that the Halloween party is even better...Sooooo, I checked out the calendar, and looked and found that Columbus weekend would actually be better for us girls to go.  For a couple of reasons...

1. That is the first Friday of the month, and as I am learning, that means half day in the land of school. This means we leave Thursday night or first thing Friday.
2. Monday will be no school because of said holiday.  Extra day!
3. This one is for hubs - Daycare is open and work is closed on Monday.
4. Food and Wine is going on (YIPPEE!), AND the Halloween party - Fun times!

Sounds like a party to me!  And to answer the question that is on your mind...I don't know how I plan this far in advance, I just do.  I have always been this way, and when it comes to Disney planning is half the fun!

Screwed!

In response to my Stripped post...Life is never easy.  Last night I was so excited that I finally removed the stripped screw.  I could hardly contain myself.  Imagine my dismay when I went to Home Depot today only to find out they can't find a match for the screw.  What the hell?  As of now I am going to take the crib over, set it up, and screw in this blasted screw with my trusty Vice Grips.  My brain hurts too much to even think about any other solution...

Does anyone else feel screwed after they eat a frozen diet meal for lunch?  I certainly do.  Those things are about as helpful as my screw.  I just ate an hour ago and I am already hungry!  Granted I think I eat more food than most, but still...I just finished a bag of pretzel m&m's...So much for "diet food".  What else can I eat?  Tomorrow I go back to sandwich's!

But, my phone is fine...Second time that dude has been in the tub.  I need to get off the phone while I am near the tubby!