Getting our Piggies Ready for Spring with Piggy Paint!

April 5, 2013 By 5 Comments

Piggy Paint

Springtime comes a little bit later here in Minneapolis, so my girls and I have to find fun things to do to get us in the spring spirit even if the weather outside isn’t quite there yet. With April being Earth Day Month, I am featuring lots of great green or environmentally friendly products. That’s why I was stoked to check out Piggy Paint!

Piggy Paint

Piggy Paint is a great non-toxic nail polish inspired by a mom that didn’t want her toddler to put toxic nail polish in her mouth. (Yuck!) From this notion came Piggy Paint was born (They are natural as mud!)

My daughters aren’t toddlers, but I am still concerned about all the toxins that they get exposed too. So we set out our piggies and our paints, and made a day of it!

Piggy Paint

Of course Bayla went for the “girly” colors, she loved the purple and the bright pink. My eldest was more about the bright blue, orange, and yellow. Me, well, I just played along. I let the girls have their way with my piggies, which might have been a mistake in hind sight.

 

We absolutely LOVED the colors that came in our Piggy Paint pack. They were fresh and vibrant, very spring like! One thing we did want to warn you guys about is that you HAVE to follow the drying instructions EXACTLY in order for the nail polish to stay on pretty much at all. After you are done painting, use a hair dryer and blow it on warm on your nails for about 2 minutes (or two rounds of the ABCs)

Bayla wanted flowers on her fingers, which was a challenge because her fingers were SO small! All you have to do is wipe almost all the paint off (or at least so it’s not super drippy) and dab a color for the petals and a color for the center. She was really proud how they turned out!

Piggy Paint

All in all the girls must’ve loved our painting day because they were fighting over who was going to get to keep what color when we were done. (Mom vetoed all that and put them in the bathroom)

If you are looking for some great fun with your kids, I highly recommend Piggy Paints! They are a blast!

If you want to grab your own Piggy Paint, you can visit their website make sure to enter the Piggy Paint Coupon Code piggyfun to save 15%!

You can also find them at select Walmart stores and at Walmart.com!

 Piggy Paint

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Piggy Paint. I received a product sample to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for participating.

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How To Do Yoga for FREE!

April 1, 2013 By 12 Comments
Aurorae Yoga Mats

Right before I had my foot surgery, I had a chance to get a new yoga mat from Aurorae Yoga. If you haven’t tried one, you absolultely need to them are amazing! With my great mat in hand, I decided I needed to start doing some more yoga.

Mr. Crunchy and I don’t really have the budget to pay for yoga classes right now, so I figured I would hit the World Wide Web to see how I could teach myself new yoga poses for free! What I wasn’t expecting was the amount of FREE videos you can get too! It was like a Yogi smorgasboard! (or however you spell that word)

Aurorae Yoga Mat: The Right Mat for Any Yogi

Before you start getting into yoga, I can’t stress how important it is to have a good mat! I have used several yoga mats over the years, even the $5 specials from Walmart. Getting the right kind of mat makes all the difference in your workout. Once you work up a sweat, you don’t want to have to worry about slipping and hurting yourself. The Aurorae Northern Lights mats are built for just this!

Aurorae Yoga Mats

They were originally made for hot yoga, where they elevate  the room temperature which makes you sweat more. What does that mean? It means you aren’t going to slip off your mat and bust your bum! These mats are extra cushy, and have a great color pattern to them. Now that I have one, I won’t use any of the Walmart special yoga mats anymore! (Plus they are eco-friendly, which you know makes me happy)!

Aurorae Northern Lights

Now that you know what mat to grab, check out the list. You don’t know how to do yoga for free, because the best part is I have done the hard part for you! This is a great list of places you can look to find some amazing yoga tutorials,worksheets, books, and videos all for FREE!

how to do yoga for free

1. YouTube: There are literally THOUSANDS of free Yoga Workouts on YouTube! Here are some of my favorite channels.

2. Blogs and Websites: There are a lot of great Yoga Blogs out there that show you new Yoga poses. As an added bonus you always have a blog writer that you can ask questions! It’s like having your own personal Yogi!

3. Your Local Library: Many local libraries have great CDs, DVDs, and books that you can check out. It’s great way to see if you like yoga before you try it!

4. You could always let this guy teach you:

How To Do Yoga For FREE

 

Now what are you waiting for? Grab your yoga mat and get that body moving!

If you want to learn more about Aurorae Yoga Mats and Products, make sure to check them out:

  • Aurorae Yoga Website: http://www.auroraeyoga.com/
  • Aurorae Yoga on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/auroraeyoga
  • Aurorae Yoga on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuroraeYoga
You can also check out great Aurorae Yoga products for sale on Amazon

 

Disclosure: I did receive Aurorae Yoga products to faciliate this review. All opinions are my own

 

 

 

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5 Spring Time Nail Art Tips: Great for Mother/Daughter Time!

March 25, 2013 By 19 Comments
Nail Art Ideas

Ever since my daughters were really little girls they have always begged me to paint their nails. I personally never grew up painting my nails a lot so my learning curve for nail art has had to be a really fast one! This weekend the girls and I picked up some tips from our local Walgreens store at a Sally Hansen nail art demonstration. It was a great fun way to learn about some really great new products that make it so much easier to decorate your nails. Plus, shopping with my Balance Reward card, I scored buy one get one 50% off on both the Insta Dry nail polish AND the Salon Effect nail strips. Talk about a score! Nail Art Ideas When I was younger, if you wanted nail art all the only way you could do it was with a special nail art paint brush and your nail polish. You also had to have a friend to help or learn how to do paint your nails with either hand. (That was always a hard part for me!) Now nail decorating is SO much easier! There are some great new nail shields from Sally Hansen that you just apply to your nail, shape your nail and you are ready to go. Keiran, my eldest, really loved the skulls and hearts. She’s not really a girly girl, but loved these so we had to pick up some! nail art Bayla on the other hand is the ultimate girl! She chose to paint her nails mint sorbet. She also added some of the girl flower Salon Effects nail polish strips, and finished up with the neon pink nail art pen. Her nails are so tiny, but they still turned out really cute! Nail Art Ideas The girls wouldn’t let me off the hook, and had fun painting my nails too! It really makes their day when they can paint my nails, so I let them use their imagination. I have to admit they did a really great job! They painted my nails violet, and used the nail art pen to do some abstract lines on the top. It’s really festive! It definitely gets me in the mood for spring! Nail Art Tips

 

 

Sally Hansen Nail Art

Are you ready to decorate your nails for spring? The girls and I put together 5 tips to fun spring nail art to help you out! Nail Art Tips

1. Make sure to grab a manicure clean up pen: Grab a Sally Hansen No More Mistakes manicure pen to simply “erase” those polish mistakes.

2. Don’t be afraid to mix and match: Get creative! Make sure to have fun using Salon Effects, Nail Art Pen, and various polishes! The brighter the better!

3. Practice makes perfect: If your nails don’t turn out how you want the first time, try, try again! It’s also a fun way to see which look that you like the best!

4. Experiment with different colors: Pick some colors outside of your comfort zone. You might find that the change is a nice one! (I actually ended up loving Lickety-Split Lime, and I am not normally a green person)

5. Have Fun:Nail art is a great way to express yourself, so make sure to have fun! We always have a great mother/daughter day when we whip out the nail art supplies! Just remember to enjoy yourself.

Want to see our shopping trip? Make sure to check out our photos on Instagram and our Google+ Sally Hansen Album!

Want to get some more inspiration? Make sure to check out some runway inspired Sally Hansen social media sites! You can also purchase your great supplies on many of these as well!

You can also grab Buy One Get One 50% off Sally Hansen Insta Dri Nail Polish at Walgreens until 3/30/13!

“I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®  and COTY #cbias #SocialFabric

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Spring Fashionista Event Giveaway!

March 7, 2013 By 121 Comments
fashionistagiveaway

spring fashionista

Welcome to the Spring Fashionista Giveaway Event! The Spring Fashionista Giveaway Event is hosted by The Chief Blonde at Still Blonde After All These Years and Katy from  ModlyChic .  K Squared Glamour is the co-host! We have put together an amazing MAIN event package for you worth over $1200. You can also enter to win amazing prizes on over 100 other blogs as well, including Crunchy Frugalista!

 

 For every giveaway in the Spring Fashionista Event that an entrant enters, they gain one entry toward the Spring Fashionista Events Main Event Prizes.

Go here to enter Main Event==> $1200 in Main Event Prizes

 

The Main Event Prizes total $1200 and Include:

  • $600 White Gold and Citrene Stone Necklace from Emma Parker Diamonds (Diamond engagment Rings) (WOrldwide)
  • $100 Amazon Gift Card (WorldWide)
  • $250 Gift Card from  Midnight Velvet (clothing, accessories and home decor) (US ONLY)
  • $250 in Shoes from  Bobbi-Toad (adorable children’s Shoes) Worldwide

Once you have entered the Crunchy Frugalista giveaway. Make sure to hop around to all these wonderful blogs to earn other amazing prizes too! Plus more giveaways you enter the more chances you have at the main prize!

Fashionista Giveaway

The Crunchy Frugalista Prize Package includes:

  • Infinity x Infinity Helzberg Diamonds Earrings (Retail $99.99)
  • A pair of Real Kids Shades Sunglasses (Retail $29.99)
  • A Gigi Hill purse (Retail $75)
  • A pair of Bobbi Toad girls shoes (Retail $50)
To enter, just fill out the entry form below and remember that you can come back to tweet or pin this giveaway once daily! Good luck!
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Ready to Say Goodbye to Aunt Fanny and Hello Weight Watchers

January 15, 2013 By 14 Comments
Aunt Fanny

OMG, I thought this last year was going to kill me. It’s really hard to learn to “take it easy” when you are someone that is constantly on the go. It’s been torture having to sit on my butt for almost a full year to heel my foot, but since doing too much is how I hurt myself in the first place I figured it was time to listen.

Baby Got Back???

Over the course of the last year, the only thing that got a workout was my remote control finger and the elastic on my underwear, which was suffocated by my ever growing tooshie. Let’s take a second and pay homage to all the big bootie girls out there. Cue Sir Mix a Lot.

Ok, ok, so I have to confess that my weight gain had hit a high point BEFORE my injury, and it’s quite a miracle that over the course of my sofa cruising fest that I have only managed to put on 10 pounds.

A few years back, I had some success with Weight Watchers and lost weight without even exercising. Shhhh don’t tell them. Since I am still limited to what activities I can do, I figured what the heck. Let’s give it another shot. My pants, my sofa, and my pride would probably be thankful if I lost a few, or fifty, pounds.

 Goodbye Aunt Fannie

Aunt Fanny

Here’s my declaration against the butt that warrants a wide load sign. Enough is enough. I have purged my pantry, yes eating it all before you start your program counts as purging, right?! My scale is rearing and ready to go, and I am even taking a “before” picture. Heck, I might even put it as my profile photo so every time I go to reach for a cookie it reminds me that it’s not worth the optional back up beeper my butt comes with right now.

Crunchy peeps are you game to fight the battle of the bulge? No more buying to airplane seats for us. Get excited, and join me to get whipped into shape. I am going to be sharing my journey on Weight Watchers and sharing some tips and tricks so you can follow along whether or not you are attending Weight Watchers meetings. You can do it!

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Kick that New Year’s Resolution in Gear with My Fitness Pal (and an upper body workout or two)

January 14, 2013 By 28 Comments
Upper Body Workout

Normally, I am not one for New Year’s resolutions. I really don’t think that it’s this magical day that you wake up and just decide to fix something you don’t like about your life. Really,  you should have that gumption when you are sick of tired of something and ready to change regardless of the day!

Alas, this year I decided to throw that cyncism out the window and join the New Year’s bandwagon. Last year was such a rough year for me mentally and physically. I really needed a fresh start. Thanks to injury progress and doctor’s clearances, I am now willing and able to clear out the fog and get excited about getting back in shape.

My Fitness Pal

One of my favorite quotes is “a goal without a plan is just a dream.” There haven’t been truer words. You are probably wondering why I am getting all philosophical on you. It’s because your fitness and weight loss goals are just a pipe dream unless you have some really good tools in your arsenal.

To help build your arsenal, I give you Crunchy’s top 5 tools! (You saw that coming didn’t you?) You need to memorize, tattoo to your forehead, or whatever other method will get you to remember this list! The best part is everything on this list is something that you can find in my favorite application, My Fitness Pal!.

1. Food Diary: It’s really important to write down EVERYTHING that you eat. You will be amazed how many calories can sneak in when you miss a bite here or a bite there. With My Fitness Pal, there is no guesswork! They have an amazing bar code scanner that makes it really simple to add thousands of foods to your food diary! If the food isn’t in their database, there is even a spot you can scan it and add it!

2. Support Team: Weight loss and fitness goals are definitely more successful when you have a strong support system. This can be a group of friends or family that want to see you succeed or a group that is trying to meet the same goals you are.

My Fitness Pal is like a built in support team. You can get your friends and family to join with you. They can leave positive notes when you meet goals or stay within your calories. They even get sent reminders to kick you in the butt when you haven’t logged for a few days. That feature is one of my favorites!

My Fitness Pal

3. Exercises that you love: Forget what all those “fitness experts” tell you. The key to fitness and weight loss is to just move more! Trust me, you don’t  want to start out too hard too fast or you will have workout injuries like I did!

My Fitness Pal has a great list of exercises and daily activities that burn calories. I have yet to find something that isn’t on there! Do you garden or do yard work? Count it! Yoga or rock climbing? Yep, it’s in there too. Give yourself credit where credit is due and count up all that activity!

4. Rewards System: To stay motivated, you need to reward yourself. Whether it’s an extra long bubble bath, or a gift card to your favorite clothing store, you need to tell yourself how awesome that you are! Every little step counts towards meeting your goals.

5. Tape Measure: You are NOT a number! That’s why a good tape measure is your BEST friend. Sometimes those pesky pounds may not be budging, but you are still losing inches. A tape measure will help you see the progress you are making even when the scale says you “aren’t”. Just remember it didn’t take you a day to put it all on, so it’s slow and steady that wins the weight loss race!

Now isn’t that simple? You know you are ready to rock this! Crunchy Frugalista and My Fitness Pal are here to support you along the way! To get you motivated, here is one of my FAVORITE upper body workouts! It’s something to keep your blood pumping and it’s simple enough to do it at home. Just do it 2-3 times a week, and you are sure to feel leaner and stronger! All you need is your own body and a set of hand weights!

Upper Body Workout

Please consult a physician before starting any fitness program

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Welch's Light

Compensation was provided by Welch’s via Glam Media.  The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Welch’s.

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Awesome at Home 30 Minute Circuit Training!

January 9, 2013 By 8 Comments
At Home Circuit Training

As of today, the doctor has released me to do some basic exercises! Woohoo! If you guys can learn anything from my tale, please please learn how to prevent workout injuries. That way you won’t have to go through the year of surgery and casts that I have! It’s not any fun.

One positive thing that has come out of it though is I realize how much I take for granted just being able to move my body! I always thought I wasn’t active “enough” since I always carried some extra weight, by extra I mean like 50 lbs. Being out of commission for a year, I realized that isn’t the case at all! I had a lot of muscle on my body, and right now I am working  to build that muscle back up.

Funny Workout Photos

Did you know that muscle burns up to as much as 2 times as many calories as fat? That means if you weigh the same as your friend, but you have more muscle mass you burn those pesky calories more than your friend. (This is a REALLY oversimplified version) What does that mean to you? You need to get moving! You need to build those muscles.

This workout I have come up with is a low impact workout great for those beginning to workout or trying to get back on the horse, like I am! It may seem simple enough, but trust me your heart will be pumping and you are bound to feel sore the next morning. (Is it crazy that I actually missed my muscles being sore?)

This workout takes about 30 minutes including warm up and cool down. I use one of my favorite CDs Now That’s What I Call Music 44 to get my workout going! It’s a great mix of fast and slow songs to mock interval training.

At Home Circuit Training

For this workout, you only need a few basic items

Here are some brief descriptions of each part of the workout:

  • Warm up: Anything you choose, just get your body moving and warmed up
  • Leg Lifts: Place a tied resistance band around your ankles. Lift your legs to the front, side, and back 20 times each on both legs
  • Boxing: Show off your boxing moves. Box to the music. Challenge yourself to box faster during the faster parts of the song.
  • Upper Body: With your hand weights, do various upper body exercises. This could be overhead presses, tricep extensions, bicep curls. Change it up!
  • Abdominals: Do whatever you want to work on. Do lower leg abs, crunches, full sit ups. Changing it up keeps your muscles guessing.
  • Stair Step Ups and Squats: Step up one stair 20 times, and then do 20 squats. Do 2 sets
  • Wall pushups: Do sets of wall pushups. Stop when you really start to burn, but try not to rest more than 45 seconds between sets.
  • Hamstring curls: Lie on your stomach on a yoga mat. Place resistance bands around your ankles, and extend your leg and curl at the knee. You should feel this in your hamstring.
  • Cool Down: Stretch places you want to become more flexible, or just use this time to cool down your body with deep breathing.

 

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Getting Fit in 2013

January 1, 2013 By 2 Comments
Ab Workouts

You guys know my plan for getting fit for 2012, kinda blew up like the Hindenburg. That’s because I went full out of the gate, and took more of the fast and furious approach.

This year I am still in physical therapy, so I am just focusing on doing more, moving more, and loving more.

Since I am limited to what I can do, I am on the look out for workouts that take that into consideration. This is also good for people that will be starting new workouts this year as well. Hopefully with supporting each other, we can stick to making these small changes and see fabulous results.

I was cruising the world wide web, and find this workout that seemed pretty manageable. Check it out!

This has been adapted for peeps like me that can’t use their legs yet. To get full descriptions for this workout, visit Let’s Fight Holiday Fat website and search for ab workout!

Ab Workouts

Finishing that workout burns 183 calories (varies by weight)!

This holiday season, I am done with excuses as to why I can’t (or aren’t allowed to) move my body. It’s time that I suck it up and make slow changes, so I can prevent workout injuries.

The other half of the equation of course is the food part! Just to get a jump start, I wanted to find one recipe that would be really yummy plus add something to my diet. Right now I eat very few vegetables or fruits. This seemed like a good place to start!

This holiday parfait looks amazing, plus it sneaks in some fruits too!

Let's Fight Holiday Fat

To check out the recipe, just head to the “Let’s Fight Holiday Fat” website. Trust me it’s delicious!

If you guys are like me, and looking for a way to make small manageable changes and drop those extra pounds sign up for your free account at Let’s Fight Holiday fat. It has great workouts, recipes, and more. I plan on using it to help me kick my weight loss off on the right foot for 2013.

To find more awesome workouts like this one, make sure to check out the Health & Beauty section here on Crunchy Frugalista

 I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for alli. I received a promotional item as a thank-you for participating

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Look Holiday Fabulous with Lane Bryant #LB12Days

December 7, 2012 By 20 Comments
c600x693

Thank you Lane Bryant for sponsoring this post! Lane Bryant’s 12 Days of the Most Wonderful Surprises is the perfect way to get your must-haves from Lane Bryant and Cacique for the holiday season. Click here for surprise offers announced daily through Dec 16.

Even big girls need a way to look absolutely fab during the holidays. Luckily I have Lane Bryant on my side when I need to look amazing for that special holiday event! If you haven’t heard, Lane Bryant is having the Lane Bryant 12 Days of Christmas. Every day they are having some HOT deals to save you some really big bucks on your holiday wardrobe.

Yesterday Mr Crunchy ran me over to Lane Bryant, he’s such a good guy for that, so I could pick out some new goodies for a holiday party we are going to this weekend. There were so many goodies to choose from. There were these really cute hats, and this amazing sparkly sweater that I loved.

Lane Bryant

Lane Bryant

The party this weekend is a more casual party, so I grabbed a super cute black shirt with some sparkly earrings. (Both were on clearance, yeah me!) This shirt is great because I can dress it up or wear it to a more casual event. The earrings are the same way!

Inspired by some of the goodies I found at Lane Bryant, I made some great looks for another event we are attending later in the holiday season. This outfit is amazing! Don’t you think?

Holiday Glam

The best part is, tomorrow, December 8th, Lane Bryant has a special offer you guys are getting the heads up about! Tomorrow only, you can save 40% off all items in the store, plus an additional 20% off Cacique items. This great offer is valid in-store or online too! Just imagine all the goodies you can get. (Can you tell I am excited?)

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

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Pamper Yourself with #NIVEAmoments #CBias

November 19, 2012 By 16 Comments
Nivea Pamper Yourself Lotion

Even women need pampering from time to time. Whether we are moms, students, wives, or single our lives are ALWAYS on the go it seems! That’s why this weekend, I wanted to throw a party with some of my closest girlfriends just to celebrate and pamper ourselves! There was chocolate, manicure supplies, and of course Nivea Lotion!

To prepare for the party, I went to Sam’s club to grab some of my favorite things chocolate and an amazingly good lotion. (Not necessarily together). I grabbed the two packs of Nivea Lotion and some sweet treats.

Nivea Pamper Yourself Lotion

It was so great to spend time with my gal pals. We spent the evening chatting, manicuring, dipping (chocolate), and enjoying each others company. It was so nice to be sans obligations, children, and men!

For us to munch on, I made the most amazing Irish Cream chocolate ganache! It was so amazingly simple to make, and everyone loved it. We had tons of goodies for everyone to dip in the chocolate sauce. The rice treats that my eldest daughter made were a hit. They were all gone by the end of the night. Here’s the recipe if you want to make it at your next party!

Chocolate Ganache Recipes

 

Print
Irish Cream Chocolate Ganache. Pamper Yourself with #NIVEAmoments #CBias

Ingredients

  • 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
  • 12 ounces milk chocolate
  • 2 8 oz. tubs Cool Whip
  • 2 shots Bailey Irish Cream
  • Equipment
  • Spoonula
  • Large Sauce Pot
  • Shot Glass

Instructions

  1. Place all of the chocolate in the large sauce pot and melt on low, stirring constantly
  2. After it's all melted add the Irish Cream
  3. Continue to stir until blended
  4. Add tubs of Cool Whip
  5. Stir Continuiously until completely blended
  6. Serve with marshmallows, oreos, cheesecake, and more!

Since I have been laid up after having surgery, my best friends decided they would pamper me as well. Mr. Crunchy got some LED Snowflake battery operated lights. My friends hot glued them to my cast, and decorated my cast like a Christmas tree! You think I am joking? Nope, that really happened.

Decorating a Cast for Christmas

While she was busy decorating my cast, my other friends were enjoying each other’s company and trying out the amazing Nivea Lotion. In Indiana, we really have to take care of our skin. It’s so dry during the winter months so we try to moisturize as much as we can.

Nivea Moments

To learn more about pampering yourself, make sure to follow Nivea:

 

 

Check out our NIVEA/Sam’s Club Shopping trip in my Google+ Album

 

 

 

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Beiersdorf for NIVEA.  #NIVEAmoments #CBias #SocialFabric

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Bring a little color to your wardrobe

November 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
me200

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of No nonsense for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I am not normally the type of girl that wears skirts. Though I have found, especially since being in a boot most of the year, that skirts are a great way to easily change up your wardrobe!

Now that winter time is coming, it's a little harder to wear skirts, but I figured I would add another twist. I have fallen in love with the No nonsense tights and leggings. They have a lot of great colors and designs that make it easy to change up your style, plus keep your legs warmer during those long winter months.

You guys no me. I am not about to break the bank on a pair of tights. I would rather have my legs bare! No Nonsense is actually really affordable, and they are in most of the major retailers where I shop!

I was recently able to try both a pair of the tights and a pair of the leggings. The leggings are really comfortable. Look how fab they look with my purple dress. (Just ignore the cast )

I just love how much color the tights bring, and the leggings are really comfortable!

These black pair are just as comfortable, and would look great with my blue top. Check it out!

What would be your favorite thing about No Nonsense tights and leggings? Check out this really cute video to learn more about their great products

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Plus, No Nonsense is joining with Jill Martin, style expert, to add a little color to your wardrobe! She's the perfect No Nonsense partner because "“She is stylish, modern and knows how to make the most out of every outfit in her closet without spending a fortune." I think we could all use a few tips from her!

If you want more information or style tips from No Nonsense, make sure to follow No nonsense on Facebook. Trust me you are going to love these!

Visit Sponsor's Site

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Look ELFing Fabulous for less than $20! #EyesLipsFace #Cbias

October 17, 2012 By 2 Comments
Eyes Lips Face

Being a mom, and being a broke mom, doesn’t mean that you can’t still look fab. I used to be the mom that was always washed up. Crazed bags under my eyes with my hair in a pony tail. Yup, that was me!

Fast forward ten years, and I have learned about great brands like Eyes, Lips, Face makeup. It is not only quality makeup, but it is frugal too. Anytime I would see a $1 on a cosmetic, I would usually pass it over. Too often “cheap” cosmetics were worthless. They didn’t last long, and they usually wrecked my complexion. Eyes, lips, face has me signing a different tune.

Eyes Lips Face

Eyes Lips Face

How much do you think you could get for $20? A lipstick and two eyeshadows, or how about a foundation and a lip gloss? With other cosmetics brands, that is about all you could get. That is definitely not a complete look for $20 bucks. I decided to put #EyesLipsFace to the test and see what I could get for $20. Off to Walmart I went, and here’s what I scored all for quite a deal:

  • Eyeshadow case
  • 2 Eye shadow colors
  • Eyeshadow pencil/liner
  • 2 cream eyeliners
  • Tweezers
  • Tinted Moisturizer
  • Lip Stain
  • Translucent Matte Powder in a compact and blush!
Eyes Lips Face Makeup

It’s crazy how much stuff I could get! Plus, all of this stuff is going to last me for a while. Check out the difference this makeup makes. Here’s the before. (Please refrain from the jokes) I am not quite sure why my “before” pics I always look like I just rolled out of bed.

Eyes Lips Face Makeup

Now let’s wave the magical wand of Eyes, Lips, Face makeup. Here’s what I looked like after less than 15 minutes in the bathroom. (I threw in a hair cut too while I was at it)

Eyes Lips Face

I love the fact for little effort and little cash, that I can look fab. It makes Mr. Crunchy happy too because I am not breaking the bank to support my makeup habit!

Want to checkout my Eyes, Lips, Face shopping adventure? Make sure to check out my Google+ album!

Want to learn more about Eyes Lips Face? Make sure to follow them.

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and e.l.f. #CBias #SocialFabric

 

 

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Staying Healthy is A Frugal Way to Live!

September 18, 2012 By 4 Comments
Cigna Health Care

MAKE HEALTH CARE A PRIORITY WITH YOUR FAMILY

With economic times still being lean, the first thing families cut back on is usually health care expenses. A lot of Americans today consider going to the doctor for preventative measures to be a luxury. In fact, that couldn’t be further from the truth!

Cigna Health Care

My kids all have special needs of some sort or another, so we have had to learn how to budget for all of their health care expenses. Over the years, I have found that maintaining their preventative visits actually ends up saving me a TON of money in the long run!

SAVE MORE MONEY BY PRACTICING PREVENTION CARE

When things got tight, it was really tempting to skip my youngest allergists follow up appointments. Nothing was wrong, so why spend the money to go. After making this mistake a few times, I figured out that this strategy was actually costing me money. When I kept her preventative appointments, she had less unplanned trips to the ER and fewer illnesses throughout the year. We were often able to catch a flare up before it became an expensive problem. Extra medications to get her healthy again where a lot more expensive than just paying for the preventative visit.

Because of my experience with my own kids, I am a HUGE health care advocate. I can’t tell you how important it is to make sure that you make health care a priority for your family. Planning is one of the great tips on the Cigna Health Care Mid-Year Health Care Check in Tips. Even if your family doesn’t have chronic conditions like mine do, it’s always best to plan for unexpected illnesses. (We all know with kids it’s a matter of when they will get sick not if)

JOIN IN ON THE CONVERSATION WITH CIGNA

Cigna even made a neat video series on Youtube that gives great tips on how to budget for your health care expenses. Make sure to check out this video here.

 

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Cigna. I received a promotional item as a thank-you for participating.

Filed Under: Frugal Tips, Health & Beauty Tagged With: , , ,

How to Marble your Nail Polish with Julep Maven

September 3, 2012 By 16 Comments
How to marble your nail polish

I am so excited, I am a Julep Maven! What’s a Julep Maven you ask? It’s a great program where you can get a shipment of your favorite Julep products direct to your door. This was my first time using Julep nail products, but I have to say that I am in love.

Julep Maven

LOVE JULEP MAVEN BOXES

Normally my fingers stay pretty plain. Being an avid gardener, finger nail polish doesn’t ever seem to last on me. Eventually, I just gave it up. Since I was able to try the American Beauty Julep Maven collection, my fingers are colorful again. The maven kit has such great products in it.  In my first American Beauty kit, I received

  • Renee -  American Beauty: spring lilac crème
  • Emma - American Beauty: Soft and feminine seashell pink shimmer
  • Best Pedi Crème Ever! exfoliate, hydrate, and nourish your feet

Beyond the polish, the pedi creme was amazing! Within just a few uses my feet were feeling fabulous. The polish are nice and thick and I didn’t find that they were chipping as easily as other nail polishes usually do. The colors were super cute too!

HOW TO MARBLE YOUR NAIL POLISH

To get a little creative, I decided to learn how to marble my nail polish. Using my two nail polishes from the American Beauty Maven box, I gave it a shot. I have to say that they came out pretty nicely if I do say so myself! Don’t know how to marble your polish? It’s actually really easy. Just follow these simple steps.

1. Get a bowl of water (make sure it’s room temperature)

2. Using tape, tape the edges of your finger nail so you won’t get polish all over your finger.

3. Open the nail polishes that you are going to use. You have to move quickly once the polish is in the water so this helps to be able to go faster.

4. Drop alternating drops of polish on the top of the water. They should start to spread out.

Julep Maven

5. After adding all the drops take a toothpick and swirl the colors until you get a pattern you like. (Do this quickly as the polish dries quickly)

Julep Maven

6. Before the polish dries, find a spot you love the pattern and dip your nail against. Your nail should stay under the water for a few seconds.

7. Use a toothpick to twirl all the polish still on the water. It should wrap nicely around the toothpick.

8. Remove the tape, and use a Q-tip dipped in remover to remove any excess polish.

How to marble your nail polish

 GET YOUR FIRST MAVEN BOX FOR ONE PENNY!

Now that you know how to marble your nail polish, it’s time to get really excited. Usually American Beauty Maven boxes are $20 each! Well, just for Crunchy readers when you sign up for your first Maven box, you can get it for only $.01! That’s right $.01. That’s because Julep rocks!

Head here to get your Julep Maven box! Just remember to use Julep Coupon code MAVENINTRO to get your first box for only $.01!

ENTER TO WIN AN AMERICAN BEAUTY JULEP MAVEN BOX

Then make sure to enter to win your very own American Beauty Maven Box. So you could possibly get TWO Maven boxes for only $.01 (one using the promo code and one if you win the giveaway)! That’s $80 worth of nail polish and accessories for only $.01! Just enter the entry form below to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

Filed Under: Health & Beauty, Reviews Tagged With:

Look fabulous with this mini makeover: Less than $20!

June 27, 2012 By 4 Comments
Makeover

Who has the money to go to high dollar salons anymore? I know I don’t, but I had been feeling a little run down. As a mom, we always tend to take care of ourselves last. If it’s between getting our hair cut or paying the bills, guess which one loses.

Just because you are trying to live frugally doesn’t mean you can’t look fabulous! Tired of looking like a half-crazed mom, even if I may BE one, I decided to give it a whirl with a few at home treatments.

I will tell you first off, I am NOT the best when it comes to makeup and beauty type products. My routines are all simple and easy. I can’t spend hours upon hours doing my hair and makeup each day. Who has the time for that right? Bottom line this makeover took less than 45 minutes, and made a big difference on how I felt and how I looked! (Looked pretty awesome at the end if I do say so myself)

THREE EASY STEPS TO LOOKING FABULOUS

All I used for this mini-makeover was some eye brow wax strips, hair bleach, and hair color. After it was all said and done, it only cost me $20! Plus, I have product left to keep my eye brows and that nasty upper lip hair in check!

If you promise not to run screaming from the blog, I will share my before photo. ( This photo is so bad, maybe I should get a job at the Department of Motor Vehicles)

Makeover

This woman is in need of a serious beauty intervention

TACKLING WILD EYEBROWS CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE

Now that you have seen the beginning, let’s move onto the end. First up, those pesky eyebrows. I have really fine eyebrows, but TONS of stray hairs. It was time to tell those rascals who was boss.

I bought some generic pre-made wax strips. All you have to do is warm them up by rubbing them between your hands. I highly recommend cutting them to fit the shape you are waxing. Even the small strip was too long for the area I was doing. Cutting them helped me make sure I didn’t wax the WHOLE eye brow off! Look at all those crazy hairs!

makoever

FRESH NEW COLOR, MAKES A BRAND NEW WOMAN

After tackling the eyebrows, it was time to do the hair. I had my husband help me do this because I didn’t want to miss any spots. I used L’Oreal Cream Hair Color. It’s really easy to apply, and it had amazing coverage. As you can see, my hair was a really dark brown before I started. At the end, it was a beautiful auburn color. While that set, I took care of the pesky upper lip hairs (I will spare you the picture of that!) Then I sat for 25 minutes to let the hair do it’s magic! After rinsing and drying the makeover was complete! Here’s the finished look

Makeover

Now this hot mama is ready to take on the town!

Ready to try it yourself? What things are you going to do to give yourself a mini makeover? Any tips to share? Trust me I could always use the help!

Filed Under: Health & Beauty Tagged With:

Bodacious Swim Workout for the Aquatically Challenged!

May 30, 2012 By 17 Comments
Workout

Workout

Swimming is a great total body workout. It’s a great way to switch your workouts up during the summer months.

I will be the first to admit that I am not the best swimmer. I don’t drown, but I am definitely not the female Michael Phelps. This workout is great for people like me that pray for the end of the pool, but still want to get fit in the water. You don’t have to worry about getting plucked from the bottom of the pool by a lifeguard, unless the lifeguard is really hot of course!

So grab your goggles, forget about what you look like in a swimsuit, and head to the pool! Trust me this workout is great for anyone!Workout

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My Fitness Pal: Counting calories

May 15, 2012 By 8 Comments
My Fitness Pal

My Fitness PalWhen it comes to the “dieting” game, let’s just say that I am like a well used bicycle. I have been around the block a few times. Everything from Weight Watchers to the Cabbage Diet to the Atkins Diet have been in my weight loss regimen. Since I am writing this right now, you can probably figure out that none of them were great long term weight loss solutions.

The biggest thing about losing weight is I HATE having to think about it. Everywhere you turn doctors are telling you conflicting information. “Your BMI should be this!” “Your calories should be that.” It’s no wonder women across the world are half mad. ( I own that term proudly by the way)

Yeah, I know journaling and “thinking” about weight loss is supposed to help you lose the weight and keep it off, but someone with OCD, like me,  all it does is drive you nuts. (Well, more nuts than you already are) Combine OCD and ADD and you get a woman that can’t remember where the heck she put her journal let alone remembered to record her food in it.

My Fitness Pal

 

Enter My Fitness Pal to save the day! A few friends of mine had mentioned it to me before, but I just figured that it was like any other program. You know, all hype and no results. That or it was too complicated for my ADD brain.

Since I am on this new fitness kick, I wanted to find a free application that I could use on my iPhone to keep track of my food and my workouts. Again, I came across My Fitness Pal. I figured, what the heck let’s give this a whirl. What can it hurt? It’s free!

I have been using My Fitness Pal for about two weeks now, and I have to say I am in love! It fits my lifestyle perfectly. It’s easy to use, and I am actually seeing results. (Three pounds in two weeks, thank you very much!)

My Fitness Pal

 

My favorite feature is bar code scanner. You can scan the bar codes on your food, and it brings up your food item. I haven’t found a food yet that hasn’t scanned. Plus, the My Fitness Pal database has tons of foods listed. The only time I haven’t found a food item was when it was a homemade item, like fudge.

Even the weight loss goals are customizable. When you start your profile, you set how much weight you want to lose each week, and then your activity level. My Fitness Pal does the rest. Plus, the more you exercise the more you can eat! You read that right. My Fitness Pal let’s you figure out how much you can eat and still lose weight. There’s been many days that I can’t eat that much! It’s great!

My Fitness Pal

All these great features, plus your pals can root you on too? You better believe it.  Just search for  your friends and add them. They get to see all your accomplishments and even leave encouraging comments. It’s a great way to make it fun and keep you accountable too, and you get your own cheerleading section to tell you how awesome you are!

Ready to give My Fitness Pal a try? You can find it in the App Store for iPhones or you can visit the My Fitness Pal website. (Also available for Android applications) Want new friends for your My Fitness Pal? Leave a comment on this blog post! Let’s all root each other on and tell that flab to take a hike!

 

Filed Under: Health & Beauty, Reviews Tagged With: ,

200 lbs can kiss my butt, because I kissed it goodbye and other workouts!

May 14, 2012 By 10 Comments
toptenweightloss

Put a chalk mark on the board for Crunchy after only two weeks of workouts, I have told the 200s to kiss my royal red bootie! Never again shall I see that dreaded number. That scale might of thought it knew who was boss, but it didn’t realize that it had awoken the beast!

In previous years when that number reared its ugly head, it would’ve resulted in a puddle of tears and a self-loathing pint or two of ice cream. (Counter productive, I know). This time it stirred the Kraken; the inner strenght and determination ( my husband likes to call it my stubborn streak) that is going to get my weight under control once and for all.

Don’t get me wrong, even at 200 pounds, I am still a hot mama. It’s not the weight that’s the issue it’s the fact that nothing fits! I feel like me in a fat suit. Active by nature, life has just gotten in the way. My weight suffered from me putting everything before myself: pizza, ice cream, cheesecake, I mean EVERYTHING!  (Ok, so I took the phrase “watch what you eat” a little too literally)

After two strong weeks of workouts and a whole crap ton of water, I climbed atop that familiar foe and with positive thinking set the scale to 150 and slung it all the way to the right. Opening my eyes, I screamed “Hallelujah!” I think the lady getting in the dressing room next to me thought I was nuts. The scale sunk down and declared that 200 lbs. was TOO heavy!

Victorious,  I gradually slid it back to the left when it stopped at 199 pounds!!!! So take that flabby foe. Crunchy is one step closer to no longer being gravitationally challenged. Never again shall I see your dreaded number. You, 200 pounds, can officially kiss my slightly less than extra large butt!

This week has been surprisingly easier than I thought. Join by the forces of a workout buddy, my best friend Juliana, and My Fitness Pal. I have really not felt like anything is different except I am more active. I even had not one but TWO pieces of chocolate cake yesterday!

Ready to shed the pounds? These are the top ten things I did in the past two weeks to help get my weight loss rolling! Check it out and then share. What have you done to lose the pudge this week?

Workouts and weight loss tips

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The scale made me cry, but I made the gym my b**tch and other workout nonsense

May 3, 2012 By 9 Comments
Cardio Workout

I have been betrayed! There is a horrid game afoot. All those years that ice cream, cake, and pie told me they would be there for me turned out to be true! They are there for me, right there on my giant fat butt. I knew ours was a forbidden love. Mutually exclusive between them and my size 12 jeans, but I never thought they would betray me and make me cry.

You know that feeling. A long trusted friend and ally, they must not be THAT bad for you. Well, they are. They aren’t your friends, they are wolves in sheep’s clothing. All they want to do is make you look like a beluga whale and never allow you to zip up your skinny jeans again!

Ok, so I am being a little melodramatic, but if I felt betrayed by the food, I felt bitch slapped by the scale. When I went to the gym today, I wore my lightest gear, took off my shoes, and even went to the restroom before braving the beast. (Come on, you know you do it too!) One perspiring foot at a time I surmounted this familiar foe. Thinking to myself it can’t be that bad.

Started out with the slider on the 150 lb mark and started to move the smaller slider until it kept going and going. Holy crap! It hit the end and STILL was too light. Dang it! Now the pulse started to race a little. Begrudingly I moved the big marker to 200 lbs, and ever so gingerly tapped the smaller one until it was level. TWO HUNDRED AND TWO POUNDS! This can’t be right, I’m getting punked right? Where’s Ashton?

WTF? Who's standing on the scale behind me?

 

As the scale balanced itself at this horrid number, I used my xray vision to burn that 200 in the back of my retinas. I hadn’t seen this number since I was PREGNANT, and by God almight I vow to never see it again!

Stepping off the scale, I pulled up my obvioulsy XXL big girl panties and set a determined trail to the elliptical trainer. The scale might have made me cry, but I was going to make this elliptical machine my bitch!

The elliptical machine and I have a good long standing relationship. We are like old dance partners. It only takes us a few steps to get back in sync with each other. As I climb onto my old reliable friend, I begrudgingly put in that horrid 202, set my time to 30 minutes, and start going like a mad woman.

The people at the gym must’ve thought I was nuts because, I was probably muttering under my breath the whole time. “Stupid fricking 200…. what the….this is crap…I’ll show that scale….”

As the sweat started to poor down my face, I realized something positive. Fat girls burn more calories! Within minutes I was well over 100 calories burned. Rock star! The playing field with that nasty scale just might be leveled yet.

My work out was winding down, and I was feeling victorious in my quest. I looked down at the calorie counter and I had burned over 260 calories. Oh yeah, uh huh. Take that scale!!!!

Who's the boss now??

Now I know that this victorious workout out is just the start, but never fear I have an awesome set of workouts lined up to keep me in line. For those of you with bad knees you are going to be excited! All of my workouts are geared towards folks like you.

For the next few weeks, this is the amazing workout routine that is going to be my life. This cardio workout is going to be my ally to showing that scale who’s boss. Check it out!

Cardio Workout

So who’s going to join me in the rebellion against the scale? I want to hear it! Have your favorite snacks betrayed you? Better yet, how are you going to get the scale to beg for mercy?

Filed Under: Health & Beauty Tagged With: ,