Starbucks Venti Mugs & Caramel Macchiato Coffee Creamer

I lived nine long coffee drinking years without these awesome Starbucks Venti mugs but now that I have them, I don’t know how I did it! How did I get by refilling a normal size coffee cup so many times when I could have had a super-duper sized mug that I only needed to refill twice? Better late than never

Last night Matt & I went grocery shopping and got the new Caramel Macchiato coffee creamer. We were tired of vanilla and hazelnut so we switched it up! All night I was looking forward to the morning when I could drink coffee AND try a new creamer! LOL! The little things!

Now that I told you I’m excited over drinking coffee, I want you to be excited so here’s a picture of me in my PJ’s waiting for the coffee to brew. And yes, I watch it brew while I pace and wring my hands.

I love my coffee

And now that it’s brewed and I’m enjoying it while morning blogging, let me just say.. the Caramel Macchiato creamer is delicious! It’s so yummy! What a great way to start Tuesday!

I hope everyone has a great day! And if I have a great day and work out hard, I might reward myself tonight with this:

Costco-sized bottle of Champagne!

Now I’m off to get ready for work. Be good today, friends!

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Pantene for Blondes

One thing I really hate is when my hair fades. And it does. All. The. Time. I love the feeling of freshly done hair and I realize it can’t stay that way forever (without constantly having it done) but there’s got to be something that helps your hair keeps it’s color.

Since I got my hair done last Friday, and was out of shampoo & conditioner, I found this to be the perfect opportunity to try new s & c for blonds. I purchased Pantene Pro-V for Blonds and I’ve used it once. I am disappointed with the conditioner (it doesn’t really condition or lather like normal Pantene does!)

The shampoo & conditioner both smell great but quite honestly, I think only time will tell on whether or not it helps me retain the just-done luster that I like.

I also bought a conditioning cream to use once or twice a week, or when I feel like my hair is extra brittle.

Pantene Conditioning Cream

I used this once already and it made my hair sooo soft. It smells great, too! You use it after you shampoo, leave it on for 5 minutes, then rinse. I didn’t even straighten my hair after I used it.. just blow dry and done. It was great. It’s $6 for the little tub which is actually pretty inexpensive compared to it’s Loreal equivalent, which goes for $8. Overall, I really like this product so far. Let’s hope it doesn’t work against the blonde shampoo!

Now I’m in the market for a good, dry shampoo that I can buy at Target or Walmart.
And I’m open to suggestions on a better blonde shampoo and conditioner!

What do you use for your hair care?

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Bret Michaels on Billboard Magazine

When I first saw this photo yesterday, I was cracking up. It took me a few seconds to really digest what I was looking at before I laughed and said “how ridiculous”. In fact, my co-worker and I had quite the chuckle over this magazine cover. And even so, I was hesitant to post it because I know you guys don’t come here for celebrity stuff, but I had to because I wanted to talk about body image.

Bret Michaels may be in good shape, but he does NOT look like that. I’d be willing to bet my house on it! I (admittedly) watched Rock of Love and I’ll tell you what, Bret wasn’t that fit.

But this just goes to show you: the media has created, via Photoshop and other photo altering tools, a bubble of perfection around celebrities. They make them look so thin/fit/strong/etc that us “normal” people begin to think that is what really healthy people look like. I hate that!

If you’re a man and you look like that, you’re in good shape. But magazine covers that display extremely edited celebrities really tick me off because young people look at their favorite celebrities on magazine covers and idolize them.

Show celebrities as they truly are! No one is perfect and sometimes we want & need to see that!

Ugh. Today is just a rant day, isn’t it?

What do you think of Bret Michaels on the cover of Billboard Magazine?

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Gallery View on my Google Nexus One

I use my cell phone a lot. I’m not one of those people who is constantly text messaging, talking on my phone, playing games, or just browsing Facebook, though. Oh, no, that isn’t me. Even though I can do all that on my phone I use it for checking my Gmail and taking pictures. Seriously, my cell phone camera gets used more than my big camera!

I use my camera on my cell phone for many of my 365 challenge photos as well as my day-to-day food photos, since I am not always home when I eat. Other than that, I’m not really a cell phone person in the typical sense. Here’s why: (Caution, mini-rant portion is next!)

I find it very obnoxious and rude when you are trying to have a conversation with someone and they can’t listen to you because they are on their phone. Ugh!

I hate when I try to talk to someone and they pull their cell phone out mid sentence and stare at it while nodding their head to me, like they are still actually listening.

When I give my undivided attention to you, the very least I expect back is the same.

If you’re mid sentence, don’t answer your cell phone.

Don’t text me something that should be said in real life, or at very least, over the phone.

It’s cell phone people! Unless you are working, you don’t need to be on it 22 out of the 24 hours of the day! Seriously! No one is that important!

Why so many text messages? Do you not have e-mail?

Okay, rant through Now you guys tell me–are you a multi-tasker in the normal sense or are you glued to your phone all day, too? What is your biggest cell phone pet peeve?

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Diet Pills to Help You Train for a 5k??!

Hmmm…

First let’s set the record straight: there is a difference between a supplement and a diet pill. Metabolife, which was banned by the FDA in 2004 for the use of ephedra and it’s dangerous side effects, is a diet pill. Most of Metabolife consists of is caffeine. Taking caffeine pills that also have other things in them, like chromium picolinate and calcium, doesn’t mean it is good for you, that it will work, or that it is safe (Metabolife is not FDA approved).

If the FDA isn’t approving these pills, why is Active.com, the place where athletes and runners come to look up racing information and healthful events, supporting them? It kind of bothers me. It sends the wrong message and idea to those who don’t know much about Metabolife.

((Yes, people should be smart enough to research a product before they pay for it and put it in their body but sometimes, that doesn’t happen.))

And Active.com shouldn’t aide people in consuming selling unsafe or undesirable products. Am I alone in thinking this?

If you’re interested in learning more about the bad effects of diet pills and/or the side effects of Metabolife (before you decide ), these articles might interest you:

• What Are The Bad Effects of Diet Pills?
• Metabolife Side Effects
• Too Good to be True
• Metabolife

What do you guys think: Am I wrong to be irritated that Active.com is sending out e-mails with diet pill coupons or should I just think of them like a business; they are getting paid by Metabolife and therefore doing what’s best for them rather than what’s best for their customer?

I would love to hear what you guys think!

P.S. For a HEALTHY GIVEAWAY, don’t forget to enter my CLIF CRUNCH GRANOLA BAR 4-BOX GIVEAWAY! It ends tomorrow!

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