i-am-elle

I have a question for all my Sugar friends.

Has anyone used products from Mario Badescu?

I recently received samples from them. I've been using them all week... and so far so good. Just wondering if anyone else had experience with them. Any fave products?

I have my eyes on the Drying Lotion, Drying Mask & Facial Spray. Any recommendations and/or experiences would be greatly appreciated! I'm still working on perfecting my skincare routine. My cheeks still breakout on a weekly basis!

Btw, sorry I haven't been on in a while! Hope all is well with everyone.

For me & my boyfriend's one year anniversary (which was on Valentine's Day!), we went to Baltimore, Maryland for the weekend. We rarely get enough alone time together since I moved back home, so it was a huge treat to be able to go away with him for a weekend! My parents were really cool about it too. Mission accomplished.

We left early on Saturday morning to begin our 2-hour & 45-minute drive to Baltimore. Our tickets to the National Aquarium in Baltimore were slated for 11 am, so we didn't want to be late! Even though I Mapquested just about every possible set of directions we would need for our whole trip, we ended up using my Dad's GPS most of the time. That thing is a lifesaver!

The National Aquarium was a lot of fun because I love going to aquariums! We saw the Dolphin Show & the 4-d Immersion Theater. I could have stayed there all day, but it was getting too crowded since it was Presidents' Day weekend. Families everywhere I turned! I was getting dizzy. After touring most of the facility, we left to check into our hotel.

For dinner we met up with my cousin & his family who live in the area. I had the pleasure of being the first one from my family to meet their baby daughter in person! Whenever I smiled at her, she smiled right back & melted my heart! I have the biggest soft spot for children, so it was a great way to end the night.

The next day, we headed back to the Inner Harbor to have lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was ok, nothing special since I have eaten at a Hard Rock Cafe before... I think in Orlando? Anyways, when we got back to the car after lunch, my boyfriend noticed there was a note on my windshield. Apparently, someone had sideswiped my car while we were at lunch & left a long scratch on it. The person left their name & phone number, but it ended up being OUT OF SERVICE. What the? We ended up calling the police to file a report. We stayed at the "scene of the crime" & waited for the cop to arrive (who was a really cool guy, I should have taken a picture with him!). Everything turned out fine I guess, it just sucks that it took 2 hours out of our time left in Baltimore!

Finally, we made it to the Maryland Science Center to see the Body Worlds exhibit. I've been wanting to see this for the longest time! I never got the chance to see it in Washington, DC & New York City, so I was thrilled to find out it was in Baltimore too.

The BODY WORLDS exhibitions are first-of-their-kind exhibitions through which visitors learn about anatomy, physiology, and health by viewing real human bodies, using an extraordinary process called Plastination a groundbreaking method for specimen preservation invented by Dr. von Hagens in 1977.
Each exhibition features more than 200 real human specimens, including whole-body plastinates, individual organs, organ configurations and transparent body slices."

It was eye-opening & informative. You have to see it!

After Body Worlds, we were on our way home. We stopped by his sister's baby shower near DC (she's giving birth in March!) to say hello & eat, then back to our home cities. The weekend seriously went by too fast. I feel like I never have enough time with him! But, absence makes the heart grow fonder, eh? I do love how we cherish our time together much more.

Sorry this post was so long. Thanks for reading!

I don't know if this will be considered too much information for you guys, but my butt tingles when other people shampoo my hair.

Haha... Wait. Let's start at the beginning.

I've been itching to get a haircut for about a week now. Although I'm growing my hair out because I want long, flowing locks for the summertime, I know how important it is to get regular trims every 6-8 weeks. After work today, I went straight to my favorite hair salon. My regular stylist wasn't in, but I'm not picky so I decided to stay anyways.

The friendly Filipino lady (who, for that day, became my stylist) led me straight to the sinks so that she could shampoo my hair. She told me to call her "Auntie Bergie" & started to ramble on about her career at Hair Cuttery, & I immediately began to feel at home. Sometimes it's nice to just listen to people talk about themselves while you smile & nod (or at least try to, it's a little hard when your head is literally in their hands while they shampoo your hair). And then something happened that I always seem to forget about by the time I leave a hair salon... my right butt cheek started to tingle like mad when she put the water spray behind my right ear. Tingle tingle tingle! It was like someone was tickling me from the inside. HAHA. I think my nerves and neurons crossed paths at one point during my early childhood development -- & caused my right butt cheek to feel whatever is happening behind my right ear. My booty always tingles like that when I get my hair washed by at a salon - always! Weird, eh?

Please tell me something like this happens to someone else.

Btw, my hair turned out nicely! Sadly I have no pictures, but it's not a drastic change. Well worth the $15.

This is going to be a totally random blog. I'm sorry if I don't make sense sometimes... just keep reading & maybe at one point you'll understand what I'm saying. This post will consist of ramblings about work, friends, boys & makeup. And maybe food. If this interests you at all, welcome to the mind of iamelle!

Work:
So, my new job has been going pretty well. I work for a small real estate investment company that helps families who are going through foreclosure & bankruptcy. If you've been paying attention to the news at all, you probably know that U.S. home foreclosures rose by 75% in 2007. That's terrible! People are behind in mortgage payments, therefore are forced out of their house. I love how my job works hard to help these people get back on their feet. It's also a very laid-back environment where I'm learning something everyday & allowed to make mistakes. I have direct contact with clients, so I get to exercise some of my skills learned from being a Psych major in college. Woot!

Friends:
I just have to say that I LOVE my girls! My two BFFs are amazing, smart, beautiful, SUCCESSFUL young women who continue to inspire me everyday. I can vent to them about anything & not feel stupid. I talk to one of them everyday through Gmail while we're at work... I don't think I could get through a slow day without her. While I was driving home from work today, our song came on the radio -- Pat Benatar's "Love is a Battlefield" -- which you might remember from Jennifer Garner's cute movie, 13 Going On 30. I called her up right away because I knew it would make her smile. I smiled the whole way home as well.

Boys:
PASS. Haha. I've talked about relationships, marriage, sex, etc. too much this week. And it's only Wednesday!

Makeup:
So, speaking of driving home after work -- while I was driving home from work, I was behind this ugly brown van. On it's bumper (go figure) was this bumper sticker:

So I got to thinking... Sephora or MAC needs a bumper sticker like that! Haha. It may not be classy or whatever, but I would so put that on my car! Anyone else with me?

Food:
I'm starving. I need to eat. I'd love to have a big, juicy steak right about now. *drooling*

Ok, time for me to go. I'm going to stuff my face with whatever's in the kitchen (IF there's anything since my parents don't cook much anymore), then be girly by organizing my makeup collection. I bought a new drawer set so I'm excited to rearrange some things in my makeup stash. Woohoo! Thanks for reading my random blog. You deserve a cookie. Chocolate chip.. mmmm.

Ok, so who's ready to find out what happened on my birthday? Yes, I know I'm super late on updating about this.. my birthday was over two weeks ago! Sorry!

Anyways, you might remember my post entitled "Overnight Get-Away" from the end of December. In that post, I shared my predicament on turning 23 & still living in my parents' house. Well.. thanks to everyone's advice & well wishes, my birthday turned out better than expected. And I didn't have to lie to my parents too much.

I had to go with a little white lie, though. I decided it might be too much of a shock to be totally honest with my parents about my whereabouts for the night, especially since I had JUST moved back in. I told them that my out-of-town friends rented a hotel room for me so we could hang out & drink. My mom didn't even think twice when I told her. She just said, "Happy Birthday!" and went back to getting ready for work. HAHA. I was really scared to tell them I wasn't going to be coming home that night, but obviously I got worked up over nothing. Of course, they don't know it was just me & my boyfriend at the hotel. We'll keep it that way.

As for my birthday dinner, it was so nice seeing all of my close friends. I'm glad my college friends came down too, it was too sweet of them to drive down just to have dinner with me for a couple hours. Turning 23 isn't all that exciting or grandeur -- at least not for me -- but being able to spend time with my friends was more than I could ask for.

And being able to spend quality time with my boyfriend was a special treat as well! He rented a room at the Hilton at Oceanfront. It was a NIIIICE room with an ocean view. I told him not to splurge too much, especially since it was only for one night, but he never listens to me. I'm not complaining though.. a girl deserves to be spoiled every now & then.

Once again, thanks for all the advice & input, Sugars!