the happy bean

i'm baaa-ack and so are the sweet valley twins!

2011-04-27T17:14:00.000-05:00

So after my month long hiatus, I'm back. Not sure why I quit writing, but I just did and now I'm back, ready to go. Anyways, if you didn't already know, Francine Pascal just released, (like last month), a new book starring Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield! The infamous twins from Sweet Valley. How exciting! I remember reading Sweet Valley Twins and Sweet Valley High. And if you were anything like me, when these series were popular, say 15 years ago, then you couldn't get enough of Jessica and Elizabeth. The new book is called Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later and it's awesome.

front cover.

back cover.

The girls are now 27. Elizabeth lives in NYC and Jessica lives in Sweet Valley. Remember Todd Wilkins? Oh yeah, he also plays a MAJOR part in the book! I bought this book last Friday and finished it yesterday. Four days was all it took to get wrapped up into the lives of the twins before it was over and I was sad to see it end. Granted the writing isn't the best and the story can be jumpy/choppy at times, but if you ever loved the Wakefield twins, then you have to read this! Reading the book definitely took me back in time. It was a trip down memory lane.

i mean, look at these retro pics of Jess and Lizzie. look like the old book covers?? (from inside cover of book).

But now, it's 2011 and the twins and I have grown older together, we're practically the same age! If you weren't yet convinced that you need to read this book, here are a few more names that might jog your memory---Lila Fowler, Ken Matthews, Bruce Patman, Steven Wakefield, Caroline Pearce, Enid Rollins, Winston Egbert. You just HAVE to read this book to see what everyone's up to!

look how happy it made me.

weekly deal!

2011-03-17T21:34:00.001-05:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

SO I have a new trench coat that would be so apropos to talk about today, because it's GREEN, but that's not gonna happen. I very recently stumbled upon a spectacular deal at TJ Maxx that I just had to share. This proves that you DON'T have to have spend and spend and spend to spruce up your wardrobe and get ready for spring! My old silver, everyday watch ran out of battery. I was on the hunt for a new everyday watch. Definitely wanted something chunky and bold, but didn't know what that was until I saw this! A DKNY beauty. I love a good deal and this DKNY watch was definitely a steal! Retail: $115. TJ Maxx Deal: $30! check it out.

big, bold and classic.

simple, easy to read face.

with adjustable links, i was able to get it sized perfectly for me!

definitely makes a statement. trendy yet classy.

Be sure to keep on the lookout for my next deal of the week! you don't have to spend your savings to look good. ;)

read in death

2011-03-15T21:05:00.001-05:00

Another new obsession that will keep me occupied for quite some time, well maybe until summer, is JD Robb's (aka Nora Roberts) ...In Death series. If you're a sucker for a good mystery, like me, then you'll definitely want to check out her books! The main character, Lieutenant Eve Dallas, is at the heart of every story along with a good murder. The books are set in the future, mid 21st century, and the futuristic details added by Robb are fun and lighthearted. No science fiction-y, confusing time travel stuff here. Just a good story with a little romance and a lot of mystery. Each story builds upon itself, so definitely read the titles in order. I've read the first three--Naked in Death, Glory in Death and Immortal in Death and 29 left to go!!! There's no possible way I can keep track of the order of these books, but thankfully JD Robb, herself, has put together a neat, little quick reference list of the books IN ORDER, because I heard Amazon doesn't easily put them in order and at my public library, they're in ABC order...yuck! So anyways, here's the quick reference list...

Can you believe that this series began in 1995 and she's still writing books? The newest addition to this series came out in February, of this year! So, start reading!

It is my mission to read this entire series...I'll keep ya posted on how I'm doing. I heard the storylines get a bit predictable, but once you're hooked, you're hooked. So far, I've been stunned with who the murderer is in each story, so hopefully the pattern continues. Plus, I'm a sucker for any mystery. Agatha Christie mysteries are quite predictable, but I love them all.

p.s. If you only associate Nora Roberts with romance novels, don't write these books off. The In Death books are heavy on the mystery and suspense and light on the romance. I think that's why Nora Roberts wrote these books under a pen name, so that she could disassociate her name from romance.

Also, on a side note...my husband and I are going to Phoenix in June and guess what I found to do there? Visit a locally owned bookstore wholly devoted to mystery books! It's called The Poisoned Pen. How cool is that? I'll have to let you know how it turns out. I'm super excited to visit.

keep on reading!

i just got slushied...

2011-03-06T20:12:00.001-06:00

For today, I have THE perfect combination--Glee and OPI Black Shatter, (yes, again!)! Enough said.

So, IF you haven't heard, Sephora by OPI has launched a Glee collection of nailpolish! It's new. It's exclusive and it's limited edition! The colors are fabulous and aptly named...Gleek Out, Miss Bossy Pants, Slushied, Mash Up, Hell to the No, Diva-in-Training and Who Let the Dorks Out?! Check out the colors on Sephora's website. And definitely watch the video below!

I ordered Slushied, a wonderfully bright, opaque turquoise blue and I love it. It's a great color for spring and summer. It only took two coats to get a bright blue nail. The polish goes on smoothly and doesn't chip. In addition, I couldn't paint my nails without using my OPI Black Shatter, SO, I made myself some ShatterTips. A new rendition of an old classic. See how it turned out below...I'm obsessed! and pretty proud of myself. :) What can you do with Shatter?

slushied nails. shattered tips.

love. love.

up close and personal.

book and a movie!

2011-03-05T18:38:00.001-06:00

There is pretty much nothing I love more, (well maybe my family), than books and movies. I LOVE to read and I read of a whopper of a book a few weeks ago. I'm so glad that a coworker passed this book along to me and told me to read it and then let her know what I thought. My only regret is that I didn't read it sooner! The book sat in my school bag for a good three months before I took a chance and read it. Anyways, here's my review of Hunter Huntress by Darcy Scott.

Genre: Psychological Thriller/Suspense, Adult Fiction
Length: 340 rapidly moving pages
General Summary: Jamie is a grieving mother who lost her two-year-old son in a car accident. Jamie has never fully dealt with the death of her son and soon finds a way to get revenge on the man who caused the accident. Jamie lies to her husband and betrays her friends in order to carry out her mildly disturbing plan of revenge.

My thoughts: Oh wow! A real page turner! Once I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down. The author does a fabulous job depicting the hurt and grief Jamie experiences over the loss of her son. Unless you have personally lost a child, there's no way one knows how that feels, but I think Darcy Scott came as close as possible to describing those thoughts and feelings. At times, I thought Jamie's plan was eerie and disturbing, but I can only imagine that the thought of revenge was worth it for her. The book was extremely well written and left no holes in the story line. The ending is extremely surprising. Your heart may break, but will then be healed over by a turn of events.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK and if you visit Darcy Scott's website, you can learn where to purchase the book, or check your local library!

Next item of business--a movie you must see! It's in theatres right now and it stars Liam Neeson. Any guesses?? The movie is Unknown and it is awesome! Lots of plot twists, good guys vs. bad guys action, (but who's who?) and Liam Neeson, duh! If you loved him in Taken, then you'll love him in Unknown and if you haven't seen Taken, shame on you. (It's an action-packed wonderful little movie that might scare parents into never letting their children travel alone). But anyways, I don't want to give too much away about Unknown, but if you've seen the previews and you think you've got the movie all figured out, then oh boy...just you wait! So, go now and spend a night at the movies. You won't be disappointed!

a little slice of heaven

2011-02-27T19:57:00.000-06:00

Ok, I'm going to be quick, because the Oscars are on, (YAY!!!), but you have to try the Red Velvet Cupcake cappuccino available at Circle K/Marathon gas stations. It is a-mazing! It's the best couple dollars you'll spend all day AND if you go on Mondays any size of coffee is only $0.99! So, get your butt out there and indulge yourself!

the devil wears prada

2011-02-26T23:32:00.000-06:00

First of all, let me just do a little family PR work. Apparently my sister and brother are both trying their hand at blogging, so check out their blogs and follow them! They each have their own flavor, but you won't be disappointed!

Brooke's blog

Clark's blog

Now, on to some very exciting news...for this past Valentine's Day my hubby surprised me with the best Valentine's present ever! We weren't planning on exchanging gifts since we are bombarded with beautiful celebrations of life, marriage and holidays from October through January (a.k.a. we already had bought each other numerous gifts), so you can imagine my surprise when I opened a card from my sweetie with a note that said these were on their way!

Oh how I had drooled over these when I saw them in the store. I tried them on and oohhed and ahhed over them, never expecting I'd be the proud owner of a pair. But here I am a few months later and I can't wait for it to be sunny every single day so that I can wear them 24/7. The sunglasses, or SGs as I like to say, are incredibly lightweight, yet sturdy. The frames are large, which I love, and somehow are square, yet rounded at the same time. Very retro. The hint of gold adds a little touch of glam and the gradient lenses are oh so sultry and sexy. A definite summer accessory! And one that won't be taking any boat trips, float trips, kayak trips, at all--I have other SGs for those purposes. :)

Here's a sneak peak of my wonderful and glorious surprise...

box #1--how exciting!

box #2--the tension is building!

oh how beautiful!

just breathtaking...i bet you didn't know SGs could be breathtaking ;)


a little attitude never hurts.

Now, all I need is a beach, a bathing suit and the sun and I'm set. Well, the beach might be a stretch, but the sun and suit are definite possibilities. Here I come summer!

i'll shatter till i drop

2011-02-25T17:30:00.002-06:00

Yes, yes, I know...I'm a little late in discussing my extreme love for OPI's Black Shatter Polish, but hey it took me awhile to track a bottle down. All salons in my town were sold out, (I mean they only get one or two bottles a piece) and they couldn't even order more! I had a friend in St. Louis try to track some down, but to no avail. So, I had to resort to ordering some from Amazon and paying extra money, but it was sooo worth it! I even got the new Serena Williams color, Simply Smashing, for my extra effort. You better believe I followed the tracking on the package from the day it left its home facility. And of course, I had to try out the shatter the day the box arrived in the mail! (See the amazing results below!) I'm hooked and have already planned out what my next shatter project will be. So, be prepared to fall in love. :)

you won't believe how quickly it shatters. a quick swipe of polish and voila!

simply smashing! on my fingers, above.

a new adventure

2011-02-25T17:04:00.000-06:00

So, this blog is my therapy, (much cheaper than retail therapy, which I'm pretty good at, too) and this is why:

I have a wonderful husband, a fabulously close family and an amazing job as a high school librarian in a local school district. Yes, I love working with teens. Yes, a teacher's schedule rocks. And yes, we still complain about not having a long enough winter or summer break. But hey, we can dream too, right?

BUT...I want to get out and experience the world and that does not mean working at the high school from where I graduated. I had a few brief spurts of freedom while living away from my hometown during my college and grad. school years, but that's not enough and hardly counts. Maybe if I was from a bigger city I wouldn't be so antsy to get away, but I'm not. The cold, snowy winters (it snowed again last night!) and the lack of a big city feel makes me yearn for a different place, preferably some place much, much warmer! Now, don't get me wrong...I love my hometown. I had a great life growing up and will defend my hometown till I'm blue in the face, (so, no talking down of my town!), but I feel like there's more out there to see and experience.

But because I can't just up and leave, I've decided that I need to focus on the positives. So, to help me see the good in my life, (which there is a whole bunch of), I'll be blogging about whatever makes me happy--books, movies, clothes, shoes, food, traveling, warm weather, etc., etc., basically anything and everything that puts a smile on my face, a spring in my step, a flutter in my heart or whatever other cliched expression you can think of. :)