Favorite Social Media & Why I Love Them

I love social media. Some might say that as a society we're way to connected or involved in social media, but I believe everything in moderation. These tools have become my faves for connecting with family, friends and other bloggers. So today a run down of my favorite social media outlets and why I love them. 

1. Instagram (@worleyhouse)

I love pictures, I always have. I probably use Instagram the most these days. I love being able to share a quick picture and now video with everyone. Quick fun snippets of life. 

2. Twitter (@worleyhouse)

Twitter used to be my #1 but now it's a close second. I love that you can have quick conversations with people about issues or topics that are important to you. I love that I've been able to talk with favorite bloggers and even a few celebs that have replied to me. :) I also love sharing articles and blog posts this way. Choosing your words wisely is my favorite part as you've only got 140 characters to do it in!

3. Facebook (/worleyhouseblog)

There was a time when I had no intention and didn't want to join Facebook but when I moved away from family strait outta college I decided that Facebook was a great way to keep in touch. Now, it's become a fave tool of mine to not only keep in touch but it's helped my business and blog grow.

What are some of your fave social media apps and how do you use them? Leave your handles below so I can follow you too! 

IHeart: Mario Badescu Skin Care



Can't believe how fast this week has been flying by, it's already Wednesday! Our Easter weekend was good. We had planned to go out of town to visit friends in Northern Arizona but due to some car issues we ended up staying home for the weekend. Ava contracted pink eye somehow, and we spent Friday night in Urgent Care for the first time. She was not feeling well all weekend, and was really whiney and didn't sleep much. But, she's doing a lot better since getting on antibiotics. Hoping she'll be back to her normal self by the end of the week. We had a pretty low key Easter because of this, I'd planned a big egg hunt for her and some other things for us to do as a family but we ended up staying home and hanging out on the couch with our sick girl after church.

****** {enter total change of subject here}

Anyway,here's the real subject of this post. It's been a while since I've shared with you some of the things IHeart, so I thought it was a perfect time to share with you some more of my fave things. Let me say first I've struggled with acne my whole life. Except for when I was pregnant my skin was amazing. I'd be preggers all the time if it meant I could still have great skin and minus everything else. he, he....

I've tried every skin care line, over the counter, prescription ones, everything! You name it, I've tried it and I can tell you what I think of it and if it works.

A couple years back a friend of mine introduced me to this skincare line that she'd been using. I decided to give it a go, since I've tried everything else I had nothing to lose. She was right, it worked amazing. For a while there I stopped using it because truth be told it's about $15 a bottle for the face wash alone. A little pricey for me, I'm pretty cheap when it comes to products like shampoo, soap, etc. But, I've been able to find coupons to stores like ULTA which make it a little easier on my pocket book and my skin says thank you. 

 I picked it back up this weekend, and I vow to never again stop using this stuff. Within days my skin was clearing and was better. Now, I just have to actually remember to wash my face. Because really when I've had a long day, and it's late I'd rather just crawl into bed than wash my face. {who's with me?}

They have a ton of options in their line of skin care but I use the Acne face wash and the cucumber lotion on my face. They have eye creams, peels, and this awesome drying lotion too:

You can go on their site and find retailers in your area, and look for the coupons from retailers like Macy's, Nordstrom, ULTA and Sephora.

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

{if you haven't entered the Letterpress giveaway scroll down to enter to win a Letterpress of your very own!}

Little Book of Food

Remember my Little Book of Ideas? I took that same concept, and turned it into my Little Book of Food. 

Every month or so, I go through the stack of magazines I have [if any] and tear out all the food inspiration and recipes that I want to save, and store them in this 3 ring binder that I had left over. 

See Hubby birthday cake from last year?

Always handy then for me to look back on and make some yummy things for dinner or lunch or holidays!

Do you save stuff from magazines, if so how do you do it?


Be Creative Challenge
Week #19

Best Game Ever!

Just got done watching the best game ever! Congrats to my Iowa Hawkeyes for winning (24-14) the BCS Orange Bowl tonight against Georgia Tech!

I proudly wore my black & gold and cheered them on from my couch! Hubby even cheered too!

photo credit: sportsfix.com

Esty Finds:

I love looking through Esty, if you've never looked through Esty you have to go to the site and look at some of the handmade creations. I love crafts and just about anything handmade and original. This is the perfect place to find such things. I was looking for a few custom creations for Baby G's nursery and found a few pretty little things, take a peak:

Pink & White Chandelier with White Doves $60

Wood Sweet Dreams Sign $20

Tutu Stool $28

Blue Scalloped Mirror $62

PS- Baby G= baby girl. We've picked a name but we're not ready to reveal it just yet. So for now she'll be referred to as Baby G!

Clean Sweep

Have you heard of this product? The Pledge Fabric Sweeper! I've tried many lint rollers, and other pet hair cleaners to combat Bentley's over abundance of hair, and this seems to be the best so far. I saw it on a commercial, and thought I'd give it a go! For $4 you can pick this up at any store. I used it for the first time, and I'm hooked. It's disposable, no refills just throw it away when it's full. You can get coupons inside the box for another purchase of one as well. You can beat that!

Tried and true, I've tested this and I give it two thumbs up!

Smells Good!

Pineapple Orchid from Bath & Body Works. This has to be my new fave scent! I received the candle in this scent as a gift from a friend, and I fell in love with this smell! I've been burning it for the last couple days straight! Orion and both love it! I want to pretty much have this in every inch of my house....even my car! Jump on over to the store smell for yourself! You'll love it too!

Contain[Yourself]

Do you heart this place as much as I do?

Do you wish your closets looked like this? I sure do.

Does this pantry inspire cooking?

Any organization store, is pretty much awesome to me. I admit it, I love to organize.

If you love this place as much as I, here's a special treat for all of my blog readers;

**Shop online then select the store where you'd like to pick up your order. There are no shipping fees and your order is ready when you arrive!Shop online at www.containerstore.com and choose in-store pickup in your Shopping Cart. At checkout, enter promotion code REALSIMPLE629. Offer ends June 23, 2009**

Happy Organizing people!

Little Book of Ideas!

I decided a couple weeks ago to finally get rid of all my magazines that are piling up. Here was my problem; most of them were ones that I saved because their was an article I loved, or an idea I wanted to save for later. I was keeping them for a reason, obviously. Here's my solution; I sorted through each one and ripped out the articles that I wanted to save and put them in a separate pile. Then found an old 3 ring binder from college, cleaned it out and re-used some of the plastic report covers and put them all in a book, that I can refer back to. I like to call it; My little book of ideas! Now, I have a place for all the articles that I was saving. They are all in the same place, easy to find, easy to access when I need them. And the magazines? Well, they are now on their way to being recycled. It was a great way to reuse, reduce, recycle and de-clutter my house! And the best part; it didn't cost me a thing! Everything I used, I already had on hand!

Thank You Mr. Mailman

It's here! My sweet lens came in the mail today. I've been anticipating it's arrival for a couple days, and today it's here! Thank you Mr. Mailman, I can stop stocking you now (well, at least for now till my other new lens gets here.) It's the Canon 50mm 1.8 lens, which probably means nothing to most of you...but to me it means magic! Hubby likes to call it "my money making" lens.

{my new lens}

On a side note: Mrs. B at {She's Star Crossed} has a weekly feature on her blog called; "In Real Life." And this week I was the comment winner! I thought I was pretty clever too, Thank you Mrs. B for having such a wonderful blog for me to read each week! Go check out her blog!

With out.

It's almost 8:30 am here in Minneapolis, and I am sitting in Caribou. I've already been up since 6 am! Most of you are thinking... what's the big deal I do this daily. And, it's not a big deal it's just not my normal routine, but today I am up and at it. I decided to get a jump start on my day, since yesterday I was lazy enough for both Hubby and I. However, I did do 3 loads of laundry!

Since I decided to be productive, in all my hurrying this morning to get Hubby to the train on time I forgot the 1 thing, I need to survive the day: my planner! Oh my goodness, my life revolves around that little pink book. Now, I am sitting here trying to remember all the things I put on my "to-do" list for the day. All the things I wanted to accomplish today, and phone calls to make. I can't recall it all, that' s why I have a planner in the first place...right?!?

I remember loosing my planner when I was in High School, and feeling pretty lost. How was my homework going to get done with out it? It'll teach me a lesson in putting it back in my purse when I'm done with it.

So today, I am without.

Get Glowing!

This is my alternative to, "I have an office job, and sit inside all day, no time for tanning."

I've found three great ways to achieve that summer glow, while I sit inside during the day. I like to pretend I have a tan! Shh...don't tell!

Here they are in order (first to last) of what I feel works the best!

Strike Gold! This is by far the best, doesn't streak, goes on even. And gives the best instant results. It's about $15. If you get the Bath & Body while they are having their summer sales you can score it for about $5. I stocked up.

Jergens Natural Glow. This takes a little longer to see results, but I still love it. And at $6 a bottle it's cheap. And, if you got to their website you can print off a coupon and get even more savings. How can you beat that?!

Mark's Instant Vacation Sunless Tanner. They have a formula for face & body. It works great, no streaks, and you can see where you put it on. It's tinted for this factor. Regularly $8 but on sale now for $4.99. I love it. You have to order it, so it takes a little longer, but well worth the wait. Get it here!

She's a saver.

If you know me, you know I am cheap, I am a saver, I clip coupons and have them organized. Since moving into our house I've been trying to figure out ways to save and make sure things do not get out of hand. With a from an apartment to a house comes bigger electric bills, more to clean, and more ways to figure out how to save. I came across a few articles, that I thought were helpful, and I thought I'd pass them along:

10 Ways to Cut Monthly Bills


13 Tips from Financial Planners





Before I got married I had some debt, (a lot, actually) It was my goal to pay it all off before we got married, I didn't want to bring any debt into our marriage that was ultimately a result of my irresponsibility, I didn't want that in my new life with my husband. I set some real goals, and made a plan to get all my debt paid off. It took time, planning, and a lot of hard work that wasn't easy. But in the end, I paid it all of 4 months before we got married.
More and more I am seeing young people today throw their money away, or make silly decisions with their money because of lack of education on the subject. Debt at any age is serious, but when you are a young twenty something graduating from college is enough debt to carry. You shouldn't make it any worse by making silly decision that will effect you and your credit for years to come.

I learned this lesson the hard way, and I am grateful for it. Even though it wasn't fun at all, I learned a lot about myself, my spending habits, and the ways to correct it all. I am no expert by any means, I just know what I've been through and how I did it. And I know now that with lots of hard work and determination everyone can have the life they have dreamed of without going into dept. I don't mean to rant, but I really believe that if more and more people cared and were educated more about money matters we would see less debt in America.

Here's some tips that I learned:
- figure out how much you make, and then how much all your bills are.
- make a budget.
- figure out what items in your life you can live with out/or cut down (eating out, shopping trips, lower your monthly cell plan, etc.)
- make a list of credit card debt, if any. pay the lowest one off first, and then keep working from there till they are all payed off.
- open a savings account. If you don't have one already. Even if you just save $20 every pay check it will add up to a lot over time.

Some resources:
http://www.jeanchatzky.com/
8 Simple Ways to get out of Credit Card Debt
Money Moves for 2008

Happy Saving!
xoxo-