My Newest Obsession....

So I finally jumped on the bandwagon and joined my newest obsession, Pinterest. I am completely, absolutely, utterly HOOKED! I LOVE PINTEREST! I mean I can really stay on there for hours and hours!! 

My absolute favorite part of Pinterest is the food. My 2nd favorite part is the crafts! Two things I love in one place, food and crafts. LOL! And lots of it!

Who else is on Pinterest? Are you?

http://pinterest.com/authenticallyu

Extreme Couponing - Honey Bunches of Oats

It's pretty safe to say that I am trying to start this coupon journey slow and cautious. I have yet to dive into the world of purchasing 20 newspapers in the hopes of savings hundreds upon hundreds of dollars. But for a beginner, I am doing pretty well. The first item I bought and got 100% savings was dental floss. You can read about that experience here. So this time (at the last minute and my family's request), I decided to go to the store and do a regular shopping trip and see if I could at least come out with 50% savings. In the world of extreme couponing, the goal is to have a 50-70% savings rate, ideally. Or even better, get items for free and/or with overage to spend towards something else.That could include coupons, store promotions, and sale prices. On this particular trip, I was shopping for taco ingredients and breakfast food for the house. Typically, this is not how couponing works as you don't save by shopping for what you need at the time. You save by shopping for things that are on sale at that time, then "stock piling" and THEN being able to pull from the pile based on your needs, as opposed to shopping based on your needs. However, the family wanted tacos that night so I tried to at least get 50% with this venture.

The biggest hit item of this trip was the family sized honey bunches of oats! I snagged these babies for nighty-nine cents a piece!! ONLY .99/each!! Too bad I am scary and only got three, LOL. Next time, I'll go for about 5 or 10! :-)

Also, during this trip, we snagged 2 2Liter Ginger Ales for .99, and that counted as 2 of our 10 required items to get the $5 off. We thought that was a pretty good deal. So with 5 of our 10 required items out of the way, we knew it wouldn't be tedious to get the other 5. It really is easy to get those 10 items because there are so many choices so don't let that scare you away from saving the $5.

Additionally, I also had a $5 off coupon that came in the mail because I registered my Kroger Plus Card on Kroger's website.

So total, I spent $34 dollars (including tax) on a bill that would have been $60. Not to bad for a trip that was NOT PLANNED and I didn't organize coupons a head of time.

Have you ever considering couponing or do you coupon now? How is it going for you? How much do you generally save?


Original Price: $3.39
On Sale: $2.49
Kroger Promotion: $1.99 (if you buy 10 items that were a part of the promotion)
Manufacture's Coupon: $1.00 off each
GRAND TOTAL: .99 cents each = $2.98 for 54 oz. of cereal (3 family size boxes)

An apology to my hair....

So, I woke up this morning wanting my hair braided! LOL It seems that as I was recovering from a cold and food poisoning over the past three days, my hair took on a life of it's on. I woke up this morning and could have sworn, if I let it go another minute without some serious attention, it would have dreaded itself into locks with no direction. I guess, I didn't realize how much 3 days would make a huge difference. My hair was dry and brittle and just looks horrible. At any rate, I dreamed of a beautiful style and searched the internet for something similar, this is what I found (to the right). Do you like?


Because my hair is in it's natural state, I spend time between straightening it with a flat iron, having a tamed blow out, or wearing my natural curls. Some people say that natural hair requires so much maintenance but in my opinion, if you give it the attention it deserves once a week, it will do you well during times like these when I was in the bed for 3 days straight. Apparently, I owe my hair an apology.

So today, I am going to love on my hair! I am going to use some of my favorite products and give it some T-L-C. And from the looks of things, I am going to start including my hair journey in this blog as well. Perhaps I will share some ideas or new products along the way, as I continue to explore the things that my hair loves. Feel free to share with me as well! What have you done on your hair journey that worked for you?

Below are some of my favorite natural hair blogs! Enjoy!

• Hairscapades
• Naturally Beautiful
• Afrobella
• Black Girl with Long Hair
• The Good Hair Blog

Also, here are some of my favorite products!

A study done in India shows that virgin coconut oil is a more effective hair treatment compared to other oils. The study compared the effects of mineral oil, sunflower oil and coconut oil, three most commonly used oils for hair treatment in India . The Taguchi Design of Experimentation was used. Using the three oils, coconut oil was the only oil found to reduce protein loss in damaged and undamaged hair when used as a pre-wash and post-wash for hair. The sunflower and mineral oils did not reduce protein loss at all. Researchers believe that the difference in composition of each of the oils accounts for the test results. Coconut oil, being a triglyceride of lauric acid (principal fatty acid), has a high affinity for hair proteins, and because of its low molecular weight, and straight linear chain, is able to penetrate inside the hair shaft. Mineral oil, being a hydrocarbon, has no affinity for proteins, and therefore is not able to penetrate and yield better results. In the case of sunflower oil, although it is a triglyceride of linoleic acid, because of its bulky structure due to the presence of double bonds, it does not penetrate the fiber, consequently resulting in no favorable impact on protein loss.(Excerpt taken from http://www.manilacoco.com)

Luster's Pink Oil Moisturizer Hot Oil Treatment

HEALS & HYDRATES 

Need a quick hair makeover? Start with healing overworked tresses. This self-heating treatment imparts natural conditioners, and rinses clean. Use Pink® Hot Oil Treatment after shampooing to condition and moisturize your hair and scalp and repair split ends. Contains Healing Castor and Jojoba Oils that penetrate dry, damaged hair, restoring softness, shine, and manageability in minutes!

Pantene Ice Shine Collection

Let the best of you shine through
The Pantene Ice Shine collection works to transform lifeless looking hair into gorgeous, shiny hair. Cleansers work to remove dirt and residue while lightweight conditioners smooth the surface of hair strands. The collection gives/provides conditioning and shine to hair—giving it the look of health.

A colorful meal

I've always been told that the best way to know if your meal is good, is if it's colorful! Well, mine was today! YUM! I was so pleased at the colorful appearance of dinner! Citrus/lime baked chicken breast, Roma tomato, sharp cheddar, spinach, brown rice, and buffalo flavored sour cream on a wheat tortilla! YUM!

Below are a few links to websites & blogs that that offer good tips on having a colorful plate:
Science Daily
Food Insight Blog
Chow & Chatter
Nutrition Adventures
Nashville Nutrition Expert
Caledonia Nutrition

This is what I had to drink! And the yummy, yummy sour cream I just discovered!!

Guess who's back......

HEY ALL!!! How are all of you fabulous ladies? Seems as though I let the blog die as soon as the realities of wedding planning became a reality. I've been married now for exactly 1 year, 3 months, 15 days, 9 hours, and 46 minutes!! I am super excited to come back to the blogging world and see how every has been doing. I plan to blog here at least 2-3 times a week and I will start by recapping my wedding. Thanks for being apart of my Perfect 10 world and I am honored you are along for the ride!!

So much has happened......
Let's catch up!!

Blessings,