Design Star rocked my socks off

Remember last week, when I told you that Design Star was premiering that night? Did you watch it? Are you going to watch it tonight at 9pm/8c on on HGTV?

I missed it when it showed on TV, since we were still on vacation in St Louis. But did you know that you can catch it here on HGTV? It's under "Highlights from the show", where it says "Watch the full episode."

In last weeks episode, the 12 designers were paired up, and they had to design a room in the penthouse that they were all staying in. I won't share all of the details, in case you missed it. But let's say that there were some fabulous rooms, and some not so fabulous rooms. 

I said last week that the designer I liked so far was Leslie, simply for the fact that she's from Dallas, just like yours truly. After seeing the episode, I still dig her. She's a bit on the aggressive side, but who doesn't like a woman who speaks her mind. 

Another designer I'm keeping my eye on is Bret. I wasn't impressed with the room that he did, but hey, anyone who is tatted up is worth watching in my book.  

I thought that David Bromstad did a great job as their mentor. Kept them motivated, gave some suggestions without tearing them down. I was also impressed with the judges. Very professional, but honest.


I'm excited for tonight's episode, looks like it'll be a good one!

Disclosure: This post is part of a sponsored campaign by Crafterminds and HGTV Design Star. My opinions are my own.

Highs and Lows 7-17

My giveaway ends on Thursday, go enter if you haven't already!

So here we are again. Time for Highs and Lows. Pretty simple. Share the highs and lows of your week.

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Highs

• Came back from vacation on Tuesday, we spent a week in St Louis.  One of my biggest highs? Sleeping in my own bed. You don't realize how much you love your bed until you have to sleep somewhere else. Big props to my father in law who gave up his bed for hubby and I, and slept on the air mattress in the living room. 

• Got our family and Ava's one year pics done this morning. LOVE LOVE LOVE the photographer, Jill Cornelius.  She did Ava's "newborn" pics (I put newborn is quotes, cause Ava was almost 3 months old by the time we did newborn pics, thanks to all of the NICU stuff)

• The tray that I've been slacking working on for the last giveaway winner is almost finished. I've been lazy, and then we went on vacation. But it's almost finished LP, hope you still love me. 

• Had girls night on Friday night with my girls Candace, Jen, Jenny and Michelle. Awesome, low key night. Love love love my girls. 

• Not much else happened this week, which isn't a bad thing. Came back from vacay, got the food shopping done, and pretty much just relaxed.  

Lows

• Didn't get hubby's car back on Friday like we had thought. So I will be car less again tomorrow. We got it fixed a while ago, but it's been leaking oil, and they broke the windshield wiper lever, so we dropped it off while we went on vacation. This shop is SOOO SLOW, but we get a great deal there cause of our church.

•  Got attacked by fire ants when I was cleaning out the flower bed. See, that's why I don't do yard work. Grrrr.

Dang, I am not complaining about my week. I'll take any week where the highs outnumber the lows.

Meet Rebecca's Whims + Discount Code

Today, lucky readers, I have the pleasure of introducing you to one of my newest sponsors, Rebecca's Whims!

Rebecca's shop is one of those that has a little bit of everything. Hand cut stamps, jewelry, brooches,  aromatherapy, original watercolor art... you could find a gift for everyone on your list. How cute is that tree stamp with the initials?? Love it!

L-R Vintage pin-up brooch     Blue butterfly necklace     Aromatherapy sachet

Personalized tree stamp    Crystal necklace      Red Balloon original watercolor

A couple more items in her shop that I love. How cool is this? Rebecca can take a picture, and carve it into a rubber stamp. Imagine all of the possibilities! Who wouldn't love to have their blog logo as a stamp?

Another item of hers that caught my eye? This precious necklace. It's inspired by her son Henry, who lives with cerebral palsy. All proceeds of this necklace go towards their van fun. Henry has physical therapy and GI appointments on a regular basis,  and with 3 siblings and all of their sports and such, they need a van that can get everyone around. 

Her gorgeous butterfly necklace caught my eye. Vintage art, sealed onto wood, and then hand cut? Yes please!

If you want to get anything from her etsy shop (and I know you will!), Rebecca has offered LCW readers a discount code!

Here's the code: BLING it's for 15% off the entire order!

Zenni Optical, rockin' frames at awesome prices

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Zenni Optical for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
I've needed glasses or contacts since I was in sixth grade. Back then, I had some huge black frames with super thick lenses (thanks to my horrible eyesight). That, combined with my frizzy poodle hair and glasses? Yes, it's as tragic as it sounds, people.
I've finally figured out the whole looks thing. Got those braces off, tamed the hair. I'm a strict contacts wearer, but with the prices and styles at Zenni Optical, I'd be willing to change my mind. This is the same Zenni Optical that was mentioned in Time magazine!
They have glasses starting at $6.95. Yeah, you read that right. And all the glasses (even the $6.95 ones) come with

• FREE Anti-scratch coating
• FREE Full UV protection
• FREE protective case
• FREE microfiber cleaning cloth

And they have some great upgrades that you can add to your selection

• $4.95 Premium Anti-Glare Coating
• $4.95 Sunglass lens tint

And shipping is super cheap! $4.95 for your entire USA order, or $9.95 for your entire international order.
I love that when you click on the frame, it gives you a ton of information. Everything from lens width, frame width, frame weight, etc.
And my favorite part? You can upload a pic of your face, and "try on" the glasses. Saves me the trouble of trying to imagine what the glasses would look like.
The glasses I have right now cost me over $300 a few years ago. I wish I would have known about Zenni Optical back then. Would have saved me a ton of money, and these frames are so much cuter.

Meet The Whimsy Shop + GIVEAWAY!

I've been chatting with Janice for a long time, since the beginning of my blog. She's one of those bloggers that I know is always going to comment on whatever random crap that I post. And as a blogger, you know that people like that are awesome. 

Besides being a crafty momma, she also has an adorable Etsy shop called The Whimsy. There you'll find a ton of gorgeous jewelry, all hand wrapped by Janice herself. How pretty are these? I have one just like the first one in gray, purple and clear. And you could rock this jewelry with anything you own in your closet. I get so many compliments on mine every time I wear it.

And, as a momma to angel babies, and a friend to a lot of women who have experienced a loss, this necklace really spoke to me. Janice explains it more beautifully than I ever could. 


"I designed this as a remembrance necklace for my son, Jack. It reminds me of something precious being encircled by two arms. The necklace is hammered to represent the beauty which comes from going through difficult circumstances."

Janice can do this precious necklace with one, two or three birthstone charms.

And guess what, dear LCW readers? Today you have the chance to win one of these! A gorgeous necklace with two Czech glass birthstones hand wrapped in silver plated wire.

You could do yours and your husband/fiance/boyfriend's birthstones. Or for those single gals, your birthstone with a clear stone. Or if you're a momma to two crumb snatchers, you could get their birthstones. Or get your two favorite colors. Or two clear ones so it matches everything. You have so many options. 

Wanna win one for yourself?

Required entry: 

must be a follower of my blog. Sorry, that's how I roll. Leave me a comment saying that you are (cause you're awesome), and tell me what two birthstone colors you'd get and who it'd represent. 

Additional entries:

Head on over to The Whimsy Shop and tell me what your favorite item is. +1

Heart The Whimsy Shop on Etsy +1

Like me on Facebook +1

Like The Whimsy Shop on Facebook, leave her a comment saying you're stopping by from LCW! +1

Buy anything from her etsy shop, and that will get you 5 entries (leave 5 separate comments, don't forget to use the discount code!)

Blog, Facebook, and/or Tweet about this giveaway and then come back here and leave a link. +1 entry for each way you share

There you have it! Tons of super simple, quick ways to enter!

This fantastic giveaway will end on Thursday July 21st at midnight!

Can't wait? Gotta have something right now? 

How about 15% off your entire order! 

Code is LCW15 and is active until August 5th, when Janice goes on maternity leave.

Parent Choice Infant Formula Saving Sweepstakes

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of PBM Products. All opinions are 100% mine.

When I heard about this sweepstakes, I was really intrigued. I used Parents Choice formula with both of my older girls. I don't use their formula with Ava, only because with her birth defects, she requires a specialty kind. But if she could be on regular formula, I'd go with Parents Choice. I was really happy with it when I used it.

Did you know that Parents Choice formula has been at Walmart for 13 years? That's a lot of money that's been saved over the years. And with today's economy, it's always great to find a way to save those dollars. I have quite a few girlfriends who have formula fed babies, and one of their complaints is always the cost.

With all the money that Parents Choice has saved families over the years, they are doing more to give back. They have launched the Parent's Choice Infant Formula Saving Sweepstakes. One lucky winner will win a $10,000 college scholarship in the form of a College Saving 529 plan. How awesome would that be? I know that with three kids, I'd love to win something like that. Every little bit helps, and this is huge!

The sweepstakes ends August 1st 2011 at 11:59 pm, so hurry up and enter!

Parent’s Choice Infant Formula Savings Sweepstakes

Highs & Lows 7/11/11

So, I'm late this week with my H&L post. We're on vacation in St Louis, came up here for a wedding. And besides not having much free time, he doesn't have wifi, so I can't get on my computer here at his casa. But they're all at the swimming pool, so I've commandeered his computer.

Most of this post will be vacay based, I'm sure, cause you always have a rockin' time on vacation.

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Highs

We all went to the St Louis zoo. It's free to get in (wish the Dallas zoo was like that). The girls had a great time, and Ava did too. You could always tell when she'd finally see the animal cause she'd start to wave at it.

We took the girls to the City Museum. Super cool place, hard to describe. Imagine a 10 story slide, hidey holes and tunnels everywhere, and lotsa fun stuff for a kid to do, all wrapped up in one place. The girls are standing on top of the roof in this pic, about to go down a huge slide. Yes, that's a giant praying mantis in the background.

Went to a bar called Big Daddy's with two of my girlfriends. Got hit on more times than I counted, which is always a huge ego boost when you've got three kids back at home with grandpa. Decided I'm too old to go out and party. Ugh, kicks my butt.

Went to a beautiful wedding. Congrats Pat and Jen! Was able to hang out with a bunch of old friends, met them all in a car club I was in. Yes, a car club. My car had a carbon fiber hood, 18 inch rims, a body kit, lambo doors.... Crazy, huh?

Got to have a BBQ with my bestie Angie. Love her! Met her 8 years ago when I was bawling and needed a phone. Banged on her front door, she opened it and let me in, no questions asked, and she had never met me before. Been great friends ever since. Still talk to her 2-3 times a week. 

Took the older 2 girls to Dave N Busters, and some of our friends met us up there. Super fun time, especially when my oldest daughter beat hubby and Kevin at a racing game.

• Had a fabulous time with my husband, had a couple of dates thanks to my awesome father in law watching the girls. Even went back to the first spot that he said he loved me and took a pic (the third pic).

• Hubby went to court for his expired tags ticket, and it was dismissed.

• Repaired a few broken bridges with some people. Long overdue and needed to be done.  Got tired of everyone pointing fingers at who did what. Who the hell really cares, anyway? Time to get over it.

Lows

• Ava did not want to be in her carseat, and let us know that. She whined the whole trip, except for a one hour stretch where she fell asleep (on an 11 hour car ride). Imagine a sound that makes you want to stick your finger into your brain, just so you can't hear it anymore. Yeah, that's the noise she made for hours. I told her that if she didn't quit it that I was going to drop her off at a church, but she didn't believe me. Hoping that she got it all out of her system before the car ride back home tomorrow.

• I am so stinkin' sick of eating out. Every. Single. Meal. I'm making the biggest chicken broccoli casserole when I get home.

• I have like 700 unread posts in my google reader. Ugh. Did a search for my name first to make sure I didn't miss a giveaway that I won, then marked them all as read. Ugh, too much to catch up on.

I think that's it, dear reader. But I'm tired and can't think anymore.