Thankful for Thanksgiving memories!!

I hope everyone has had a happy and blessed Thanksgiving! I know that my family and I sure did. As usual, we went to my Grammy and Papa's for Thanksgiving with my parents, aunt, and cousins, and seriously ate so much food that we were miserable afterwards, lol. 

Here are some pictures from yesterday.... what I like to call Thanksgiving Memories :) 

my hubby found the wishbone while carving the turkey :)

my Papa and his turkey leg

3 of my handsome guys

me and my love

                                                   

my sweet babies

one of my cousins, my daughter, and my hubby

me and my baby girl. she is growing up way too fast!!

My Papa. He is 87 years young and I'm so thankful to have him as my grandfather!

My youngest son, Jett, and my Grammy. Seriously, these are my two favorite pictures from today. Absolutely precious!!!! 

my little family, minus my stepson (he went with his mom's parents to visit his aunt).

My Grammy and Papa..... Thanksgiving day was also their 67th wedding anniversary!!!!!! 

To say the least.... we had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am truly blessed beyond belief and have so much to be thankful for! 

my first PINCHme box and some other randomness :)

It's been a little while since I last blogged. I have been super busy, and my stepson has been here a lot recently (which is a huge welcomed change!) so I haven't really had time to blog much lately. 

I wanted to share my first PINCHme box, and a couple of pictures from over the past week :)

PINCHme is a new cool website where you can pick and choose your very own free samples, take surveys on them after you have received them, and earn points for reviewing the free samples to earn other free goodies. 

If you'd like an invitation to PINCHme, leave a comment below with your email address and I'll send you an invite. 

This is what I got the first time around: 

I love both of these products and will definitely be buying the full size SOON!! 

Now for some pictures from the last week of my life:)

These are our sweet babies. Top left is my stepson (bonus son) Hunter, top right is our youngest, Jett, Bottom right is our middle son, TJ and bottom right is my oldest and one and only daughter, Skylar. These four kiddos totally have my heart! 

I absolutely love driving through the back roads of south east Georgia and seeing all of the beautiful cotton fields.... this is what we call "Georiga Snow". Who doesn't love the complexity and simplicity of a cotton field?

and lastly, I leave you with a picture of my mismatched socks. My socks NEVER match! After all, life is to short to waste time matching socks ;) 

these are a few of my favorite things - November {Makeup}

With this blog post, I am going to share a few of my favorite makeup products for November. You may notice that I am NOT including mascara and eye liners because well, I use way too many of them on a regular basis! haha. 

Okay, so I'll start with the top.... 

1)The Age Rewind dark spot concealer.... seriously, I'm in love with that stuff!

2) The Read Deal Remedy Stick 3-in-1 by Laura Geller. Seriously, that stuff is AMAZEBALLS! If you need a good mattifier and primer, get it!! 

3) My Mirabella blush in Rose Shimmer.... LOVE it! 

Now for the picture in the middle...

1) My Stila Luxe Eyeshadow Palette. Especially the three in the middle, as you can probably tell. And especially the pink diamonds one. I have hit pan with it already. 

2) the gold eye shadow laying on it's side... it's my bellapierre shimmer powder in celebration. That has been my go to for my lower lid this fall! 

And now for the bottom.... the huge mess of lips stuff, lol....

1) Julep's mint-strawberry lip balm ... seriously, if you don't have this stuff.... GET IT!!! 

2) The lip crayon next to my Julep lip balm is a Pur Cosmetics lip gloss stick in Berry Pretty... it's my go-to lip color right now. 

So that's a few of my favorite makeup products for November. Leave a comment below and let me know what yours are :) 

Bowtie Sausage Soup {Recipe}

So last week I shared a yummy soup that I threw together... you can find that recipe here. This week, I came up with something similar, but a little different. This time no tortellini and no spicy stuff. And honestly, I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but it is soooooo good! It's better than any of the soups you'll find in a restaurant.

It was soooooo cold here today for South East Georgia. Our high today was only 56 degrees, so I thought it would be the perfect evening for soup!

This is what I like to call "Bowtie Sausage Soup" 

Use a large crock pot or stock pot (I personally use a large crock pot)

Ingredients needed: 

1 - 48oz carton of swanson chicken broth

1 - cans of cream of mushroom soup

2 - cans of diced tomatoes (i used the kind that's flavored with basil & oregeno) 

1 - bag of baby spinach

2 - blocks of cream cheese

1 - Box of bowtie pasta

1- pack of Italian sausage (I use the long, small kind that has 8 to a pack)

Directions:

Pour chicken broth into the pot. 

Cut up one block of cream cheese and add it to the chicken broth. 

Next, add the can of cream of mushroom soup. 

Then add your cans of tomatoes. Add in the box of bowties. 

Begin shoveling in the baby spinach. You may not be able to use the entire bag - I could only use 3/4 of the bag. 

Cut up your sausage links into small chunks and add them in.

Then cut up your second block of cream cheese and evenly add them to the top. 

Stir, and cover. 

Let cook until boiling and then turn to simmer and allow the spinach to shrink down and the cream cheese to completely soften.

Serve in a bowl and top with shredded cheese (optional). 

What is your favorite soups to cook on a cold night?

Be sure to look on the side and FOLLOW me :) ------->

I have Klout, do you?

If you're not signed up with +Klout, you should be! I've been signed up for several months now and have received some really awesome #KloutPerks. The last one I received was an EcoTools kit which included two sets of falsies, and an eye shadow brush and an eye brow brush.... for FREE :) So yeah, I love me some Klout! 

Klout actually launched in 2008, and basically all you do is connect your social media accounts, and Klout measures how much influence you have with others, online, by your activity and how others engage with you. Then they offer you Klout perks, not just as a reward, but also to help you spread awareness about certain things. It's simple and you don't have to answer a million and one questions or take surveys.... all you do is just do what you already do online. Connect with others. 

Over the weekend, I received another Klout perk from McDonald's.... 

Thanks +Klout and thanks McDonald's.... #ImLovinIt :) 

Happy Veteran's Day {2013 edition}

Veteran's Day is the Holiday where we take time to thank and remember all of those brave men and women who have served our country, past and present. If you ask me, this should be every day, but today is the official federal holiday observance.

I personally have several veteran's in my life. My granddaddy (God rest his soul) and my great uncle (his twin brother) both served in the Navy. My papa served in the Army. I have another uncle who served in the Navy. My daughter's dad also served in the Navy. At one point in my life, I was an army wife. My brother is currently serving in the Army, and I have a couple of cousins who are currently serving in the Navy. I could go on and on but you get the point.

this picture gets me every time.

Through the feel of war they brave this day
How proud they stand, their unselfish way

Our soldiers bear what we cannot see
They assure our right to live life free

Each trained will face an unknown fate
Our support they need, don’t hesitate

Just imagine how this land would be
Without their courage - catastrophe

All the liberties we have grown to know
Would not exist, this life would go

Find a thankfulness within your mind
Speak gratitude for our bravest kind

Have the willingness to show you care
For fallen heroes, hold back no tear

Reach out to God with his guiding light
For our troops do pray, both day and night

America raise your flags to wave
For we truly are 'home of the brave'

- Roger J. Robicheau ©2003

I don't always wear RED lipstick....

...but when I do it's Wet n wild's 509A (cinnamon). 

excuse the cheesy pic lol

I'm totally not a red lipstick girl. Truth be told, I've only worn it out in public one other time in my life. And it didn't turn out good, lol. 

I even tried Urban Decay's #69.... nope.... definitely a no-go. 

So I found some lipsticks on sale at Rite Aid earlier today, and got 3 of them for $0.99 thanks to my wellness plus card! So I jumped on it. And, I'm happy to say, that this is one red lipstick I can actually wear. And the longer I've worn it today, the better it looks. 

That's right.... Don't hate. 

lol 

These are the three I got for $0.99!

What is your favorite lipstick shade(s) and brand(s)?

You just can't beat a good deal!

So I needed a new MAC #187 brush. My old one was getting, well.... old. So I got online to scour the internet for a good deal and I found one!!! This brush retails for $42. I found it on ebay for $3.25 + FREE SHIPPING. It does not get much better than that!! I got it in the mail yesterday, compared it to my old one (that I bought from a retailer), and sure enough, it's the real deal. Seriously....... how freakin' awesome!?!?!? 

This is what I look forward to each month!!! {box & review}

BLUSH MYSTERY BEAUTY BOX, that is!!!! 

Seriously, this is by far my #1 favorite subscription box each month. I've subbed to this box for the past 8 months, and I have not been disappointed yet. For $24.95 a month, you get well over $100 worth of full sized and deluxe sample sized beauty products, and extra samples to go with it. You seriously can't beat it!! 

This is what I got in my November box. I love it! 

sorry it's blurry. ugh!

This is a break down of what I got this month:

Pur-lisse Protect SPF 30 Essential Daily Moisturizer (1.7oz.) - $55.00

SmartLash Eyelash Enhancer (0.16oz.) - $125.00

Elizabeth Ardin Beautiful Color Maximum Volume Mascara - Black (0.36oz.) - $19.50

Anastacia's HydraFull Gloss - Sorbet - Delux Sample

Cargo High Pigment Pencil - brown (0.034oz.) - $16.00

Traditions by Nick Chavez Horsetail Root Lifting Spray (2oz.) - $9.00

Resist Ultra Light Super Antioxident Concentrate Serum - Trial size

along with a few other samples. 

Seriously.... all of that for only $24.95!!! 

Do you subscribe to Blush Mystery Beauty box? If not, what are you waiting for? Leave a comment below with your email address and I'll send you an invite, where you'll also receive a $10 credit :) 

My very first Sample Society box {review}

A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from beautybar.com  with an offer for my first month free for a sample society box. So, of course, I took the bait and jumped on it! lol 

I must say that so far, I am very pleased! I got notification that it shipped out on the 4th, and I received it yesterday. Super fast shipping! 

sorry for the crappy quality photo. I need to get some cleaner and clean my camera lens.

What I got in my box:
Borghese Splendore Brightening Makeup Deluxe Sample-SS (awesome deluxe sample size)Annick Goutal Eau d' Hadrien Eau de Toilette VOC-SS (honestly, I don't really smell this that much)

Illume Balsam & Cedar Tin SS Deluxe Sample (this smells sooooo good! I lit it last night for a little bit and it had the entire house smelling like Christmas!)

Jane Iredale LipDrink SS Deluxe Samples (this was really small, not too impressed)

Murad Pore Minimizer Deluxe Sample SS (used it today and love it)

It also came with a little booklet from Allure, and a $15 off of $50 order. I am going to sub for the next couple of months and see if it's something that I keep permanently. It's hard to tell after just one box, but so far, I'm impressed. 

It's $15 a month, and for deluxe sample sizes, that's a pretty good price. I am really excited about the Borghese. I used it when I did my make up this morning and it's a wonderful highlighter! 

You can click on the banner to the right to get your own Sample Society box, or leave a comment with your email address and I'll send you an invite :)

Where does the time go? {Happy 9th Birthday}

9 years ago today, God blessed me with my little bug, Trent... aka TJ. He is growing up so fast into an incredible little man. He was my biggest baby, weighing in at 8lbs 2oz and that was 5 weeks early! My Dr said that if he would have gone full term he would have been over 10lbs! But to this day, he's a skinny little thing lol.

 He was my easiest labor and delivery, by far. I had an amazing Dr that made sure I felt no pain. But to this day, he's the one that keeps me on my toes and challenges me daily. God knew that this little boy would be special enough to have OCD and ADD. As trying as it may be sometimes, I wouldn't want it any other way, because with each new day, TJ shows me how awesome he is daily by overcoming his struggles with OCD and ADD, and he doesn't try to use it as an excuse or a crutch, he just accepts the fact that it's something that he has to overcome. It's not always easy, but it's always worth it. I would not change one thing about this kid, even if I had the opportunity. He is one of the smartest, brightest, sweetest, and friendliest kids that you'd ever meet. 

Words cannot even describe how blessed I am that God chose me to be his mom. 

So happy 9th birthday to my little man, TJ. 

I love you bigger than the world!!!!

Anna's Tortillini Soup {Recipe}

Okay, so I am going to share a recipe that is just absolutely delicious! I've been seeing recipes for tortillini soup circulated around, but they're all different. So I started studying them and decided to take MY favorite ingredients, and make my own version. And let me just say that it was an INSTANT hit in the Watson home! :)

Use a large crock pot or stock pot (I personally use a large crock pot)

Ingredients needed: 

1 - 48oz carton of swanson chicken broth

2 - cans of cream of mushroom soup

1 - can of regular diced tomatoes

2 - cans of diced tomatoes with green chilies 

1 - bag of baby spinach

2 - blocks of cream cheese

2 - packages of 4 cheese tortellini (I get this in the deli section at Kroger)

1 - Large jalapeno sausage link

2 - Large Italian sausage links 

Directions:

Pour chicken broth into the pot. 

Cut up one block of cream cheese and add it to the chicken broth. 

Next, add the two cans of cream of mushroom soup. 

Then add your cans of tomatoes (you can use 3 cans of regular diced tomatoes if you don't want it spicy). Add in the packs of tortellini. 

Begin shoveling in the baby spinach. You may not be able to use the entire bag - I could only use 3/4 of the bag. 

Cut up your sausage links into small chunks and add them in.

Then cut up your second block of cream cheese and evenly add them to the top. 

Stir, and cover. 

Let cook until boiling and the spinach has shrunk. 

Serve in a bowl and top with shredded cheese (optional). 

Be sure to look on the side and FOLLOW me :) ------->

my Julep for November {review}

Friday, my Julep Maven box for November arrived. Let me just say that I am super thrilled with my box this month!!! I chose the Bombshell box for this month, and had enough jewels to choose two free add-ons :) It is all absolutely PERFECT for the fall!!!  To be honest, I was very iffy about this month. On the website (and in pictures) that polishes just don't look that appealing to me. They are sooooo much prettier in person and swatched, though. I've been wearing the color "Nic" since my box arrived, and I love that it is so red that it looks almost black. In the next couple of days, I will be switching it up to another color from this box. I love them all and it is so hard to decide!

This is what I got.................

    

this is what came in the box

these were my add-ons

the lip gloss {swatched}

 The colors for my box this month are as follows (from left to right):

Lip Gloss - Posh {sheer black honey}

Polish 1 - Brielle

Polish 2 - Nic 

Add-on 1 - Chloe

Add-on 2 - Autumn

And as you can see, the lip gloss isn't nearly as dark as it appears to be in the tube. The texture is very creamy, not sticky. In my opinion, it is the perfect consistency for a lip gloss!

If you'd like to sign up for Julep, and receive your first month's FREE, simply follow this link: 

http://www.julep.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/204395/

Freeman's Spooky Mystery {Happy Mail}

So Freeman's beauty supply did a Spooky Mystery Bag where you could get an entire box of products for only $20. I jumped on it! And in the spirit of the theme "spooky", my box arrived today... just in time for Halloween. 

This is what was in my box: 

click on the picture to make it bigger!

I am on a children's event planning team at my church and we just hosted our big fall festival tonight, so I am way too tired to list everything individually and I will come back in the next day or two and list everything individual, and see what the worth of the products were for only $20! but I am super pleased with everything that I got! There are a couple of things that I can't use that I will list on my Swap/Trade board on Pinterest.... You can find that here: http://www.pinterest.com/sogachick/up-for-swaptrades/ 

Did you get the Spooky Mystery bag as well? If so, what did you get in yours?

#SoapandGlory {Happy Mail}

I have been hearing a lot of great things about Soap and Glory. I have a huge problem with huge pores, so some friends of mine told me to try "The Greatest Scrub of All" facial exfoliator. Sephora was having a sale (I think they still are), so I got the exfoliator for $10.50 and the Face Soap Clarity 3 in 1 daily detox for only $3. Plus, some amazing perfume samples. (I am a perfume sample junkie these days!). 

Sorry the picture is a little blurry....

Have you tried Soap and Glory products before? If so, how do you like them?

The perfect GOLD {makeup}

Unintentionally, I am all about some gold this Fall. I don't know why... I've never really cared for gold beauty products before, but this Fall, I am all about it. 

I keep getting a ton of compliments on my eye makeup when I use this trio, so I figured I would blog it in case anyone wants to know what I'm using to get this look.... 

Just excuse my cheesy expressions, lol

[click on the picture to make it bigger and see more detail]

So.... for this eye shadow look, I use three shadows:

For the base and highlight, I use Benefit's creaseless cream in bikini-tini

In my crease I use Stila's pink diamond (from the Luxe eye shadow pallette) 

and then for the gold, I use BellaPierre's celebration. 

It's hard to tell in the pic where I have my eyes closed, but it has just the right amount of shimmer. Honestly, in my opinion, it's the perfect gold! 

And then for the rest of my makeup, I used benefit's dr feelgood for my primer, revlon's photo finish foundation, too faced primed and poreless powder, revlon's photo finish pressed powder, and for my eye liner, I have been using Urban decay's 24/7 liner in oil slick on my upper and bottom waterline. And today I used Tarte's lights, camera, lashes mascara, but normally I use benefit's they're real. And my blush is mirabella's highlight blush in pink rose. And by this point, my lipstick and gloss was non-existent. haha

Anyways.... so that's my favorite eye shadow colors right now. I'm especially diggin' the gold for this fall. Don't get me wrong, I switch it up and have a ton of colors I use, but I am loving this gold, and I get a ton of compliments when I wear my eye make up like this. 

What's your favorite eye shadow colors this fall?

Happy Mail {Swaps}

Just FYI, I am addicted to subscription boxes. Yes... that's right... the addiction and recovery counselor (in training) has an addiction, herself! 

My top 5 favorite subscription boxes are:

1) Blush Mystery Beauty Box

2) Ipsy

3) Julep

4) Glossybox

5) Graze

I'm also subbed to birchbox, sample society, beauty box 5, love with food, bulu, and a few more. I told you... addicted! 

Part of the fun that comes with subscription boxes (aside from getting awesome beauty products and samples for literally a fraction of the cost), is swapping some stuff that I already have or have no interest in, with other ladies who share my addiction. 

Last week I did 4 swaps. Here are the goodies that I got from 3 of those (one was that I swapped some mascara for a J.Cat fat eye pencil so I didn't take a picture of that). 

Look at all of those wonderful goodies I got :) 

Swapping is half the fun of subscription boxes. I have a swap board on pinterest if anyone is interested. I don't have much on it right now, but I'll be adding more later... 

http://www.pinterest.com/sogachick/up-for-swaptrades/

What are some things that you've swapped for lately?

Speaking of Fall colors....

I love Fall. I love everything about Fall. Cooler temperatures, crisp air, hoodies, bonfires, leaves changing colors.... and speaking of colors, I love Fall nail polish colors as well. 

I was in CVS the other day, and I was heading to the front to check out, and of course they keep the beauty section at the front to pull me in.... and I walked by the Maybelline Color Show nail polishes and my eyes immediately went to this gorgeous golden color....

It's from the "Vintage Leather" collection, in the color "classic camel" (895) and I am loving it! It reminds me of the same color that maple leaves turn in the fall. 

It's has a matte finish, and it's sooooo pretty! 

What do you think of this color? 

(don't mind the messy job I did. I took a picture before I cleaned it up). 

My daughter let me do her makeup :)

So let me just say that I LOVE having a daughter! I love my boys too, but they are boys, so I can't be all girly with them. Today, my daughter, who is in the 7th grade, let me do her makeup for once. I love doing my own, but have never really done anyone else's, so it was so much fun! She's an all natural kind of girl, with big beautiful doe eyes and loooooooong eyelashes (to die for!). So she wanted a natural look. Here is the end results. I'll list the makeup I used down below. 

Isn't she GORGEOUS!?!?! and yes, I know, she looks older then a 7th grader. I get told all the time that she looks like she's 16! 

What I used on her face: 

Miracle Skin transformation face bb & beyond

Too faced powder foundation in honey beige

Mirabella highlighting powder in shimmer rose

Too faced shadow insurance primer

Benefit's creaseless eye cream in bikini-tini

MicaBeauty shimmer powder (shadow) in bronze

Stila eye shadow in pink diamonds

Julep Kajel Eye Glider in carbon black

Benefit's They're Real mascara

Pop Beauty pouty pop crayon in barely bitten

Emani organic lip shine in blush 

Let me know what you think of this natural look :) 

Work in progress!

Hey y'all! I'm not new to blogger by no means, but my account was hacked last year and my old blog was deleted, so I've decided to start a new one that will be full of my daily life, opinions, inspiration and funny pictures, beauty box subscription unboxings, anything that has to do with makeup/beauty products, and more fun stuff. Until I get it off the ground though, you can find me on tumblr.... http://nevrdullyoursparkle.tumblr.com/