En Pointe ~ Ballet Lessons

En Pointe

I used to be a ballerina - for about three years, probably between the ages of 4, 5 and 6. I also wanted to go on to having those beautiful pointe shoes like the older girls in the class right across from ours. One time I remember going up on my tippy toes like you would if you were in pointe shoes, but I quickly stopped when the teacher yelled at me to go back to regular ballet slipper feet.

I decided to quite ballet for gymnastics, which I loved for about 3 or 4 years. We then moved out to the country and I finally was able to settle into my true dream, horses. Even so, I've still wanted to be a "ballerina" with those pretty pointe shoes and graceful lines dancing to classical music.

This past year, dancing has really gotten to be "in" not the bopping you remember doing at highschool dances so many years ago, but rather ballet, or even xomba! Ballet is such a great way to get fit and is a great way to express yourself in a different form of art.

I also think that Natalie Portman in Black Swan (now in theaters) has also really inspired a lot of people to try ballet! It is amazing what she went through in a year to play such a convincing role as a ballerina in this movie!

Make a new year resolution to take a ballet class! You might just find yourself going back for more!

Nuzzle Perfume Giveaway and Review

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Did everyone have a good Christmas? I hope so! I know I did. It was crazy, and I'm still tired (16 people in our house, and 8 of them kids for 4 days!) but we had a lot of fun!

I have a treat for you!

I was sent three nuzzle bottle of perfumes, and two of them are for you! First let me tell you why I love this perfume so much.



I first discovered it flipping through a catalog a few years ago. I then was thrilled to receive it for a Christmas present! The smell of this perfume is just lovely. It is quite addictive as well. Unlike a lot of perfumes, it doesn't just rub of, it sticks for quite a bit of time. The bottle is also beautiful, in a pretty pink color and with a horse shoe charm that you can attach to a necklace chain and wear it as a necklace if you want to!

This perfume is absolutely perfect for the horse lover - but even if your not a horse lover, it still has a wonderful smell!

My friend, Bekah, was over the other day and she spotted my Nuzzle perfume, she grabbed it and couldn't stop smelling it! It's her new favorite perfume, and she just loves it! Something about the smell of Nuzzle is just the perfect mixture of confidence and feminine!

Would you like to win a bottle of Nuzzle? There will be two winners!

To enter:

Mandatory: Visit the Nuzzle website and tell me one other product you would like to try!

+1: Follow GFC

+1: Subscribe to my email newsletter (sidebar)

+1: Like this blog on Facebook and leave a comment on the page letting me know you entered this giveaway!



+7: Email me to buy a Papa Murphy's Fundraiser card for $5. They are worth $50 and if you use only one coupon out of the many that are on it, it will pay for itself. The money raised from purchasing these will go to help pay for my trip to Washington DC for 4H Washington Focus, where we will learn about the government and visit the National 4H building, among other things that we can bring back to enrich our community.

Good luck! Thanks for entering!

Giveaway ends: January 15th

Disclosure: I was sent three bottles of Nuzzle free of charge to review one and give away the other two. All opinions expressed are 100% mine.

Dream Catcher

Baohien Ngo

Dreams. They are fascinating things - full of mystery, creativity, beauty, sometimes horror, and mostly everything in between. Will we ever know the full truth behind them? Darlings, they are dreams, something that fills us all with wonder and thoughts after we wake up on what we were doing in that make believe world we just left.

"The thing about dreams is that they're true. I am a flower in the forest by the river waiting for you. I am a star in the sky by the sea, a teardrop in your eye, a word in your book. In my dreams I live in a teacup in your kitchen, you live in the seashell by my bed. We sing a duet with the moon as our song. At sunrise, I'll find myself speckled with purple lilac, you'll breathe the scent in with lips in a smile. One morning you understood the smell of flowers and walked away. You painted the walls into stone, the door faded into smoke and the windows turned to shadows. Darkness said you took the stars in your pocket. The thing about dreams is they're true. It's the middle of the night. I turn on the TV and see birds die. Those birds are lies."

Unicorn Dream magazine Issue 3

I have a dream catcher. My poppa bought it for me years ago when I was little when he went on a trip to Texas. It is pink. Dream catchers are supposed to capture the bad dreams and keep them at bay. I think it works, except for the few times one slips through the open spaces between the leathers. Dreams are a world of imagination, anything can happen, anything is real.

What are dreams to you?

Fish VS. Fishes {A School Girl Lesson}

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It's always good to freshen up your mind with something new, right?

I introduce to you, A School Girl Lesson.

Fish VS. Fishes

This year I am taking a course in Marine Biology. In one of the modules in the book, it was talking about "fishes" using the word, fishes. I laughed and wondered how the editor could think this could be correct?

Well, 129 pages later, I found the answer.

Fishes is the proper scientific term to talk about a plural amount of fish that are of different species. If you have more than one type of fish that are all the same species, you use the term "fish." If you have more than one and more than one type of species, you use "fishes!"

Sentence example:
Fishes are extremely important to the ocean eco system.

Feel free to leave a comment using a "fishes" sentence!

Holiday Sparkle Inspired

Vogue

It's easy to get *too* caught in the busy rushed part of this holiday season. It's so easy to forget the point of all of it - to laugh, to have fun with your family, to remember Christ, to give, not necessarily gifts, but meaning. Take a moment, relax, enjoy these images that reminded me of the stunning holiday season, with just the right amount of sparkle.

Jenny Peckham

Anne


NoaNoa Mini


Paolo

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

5 Feet of Snow and Counting......

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Well...not that much!

It's been snowing like crazy all day! Just south of here they've already gotten 20 feet of snow, here we have almost as much! And watching the news, they're telling us that we are supposed to be getting blizzard winds soon and more snow, snow, snow!

I have a little problem...

....A stinky, disgusting feeling foot problem.

A few minutes ago I was just out feeding my two horses, Figment and Bailee, and I grabbed Figments blue grain bucket (he has a blue one and Bailee has a pink one). When I grabbed it, I didn't realize what was to come.

Two seconds later "EW! EW! EW! EW!"

Figment had peed in his blue grain bucket.

And it almost all fell into my boot.

I didn't have socks on.

Now, off to take a warm bath to clean my foot.

With my Fraiche bath ball.

Also, there's a great giveaway going on to win a Dinosaur Train DVD! It ends tommorow, this is such a great educational show!

Holiday Inspiration Link Roundup!

Have you ever seen such cute stockings? Imagine all kinds of different crazy, wild, funky, and adorable stockings lined up on your mantle this Christmas! Free People is offering a free tutorial on how to make them yourself!

Other inspiring links:

*Great Lego Gift wrapping idea (not cheesy!)
*The cutest pink Christmas Village + tutorials! Pink miniature Christmas trees anyone? I think yes!
*Sugar Cookie Ornament DIY
*Great Pillow Pets giveaway (extra gift idea!) ~ only 1 entry!
*Whimsical holiday decorating ideas
*We all need some toning before Christmas - Yoga for the glutes is perfect!
*Free night at the Hilton in Beverly Hills this Holiday season
*Perfect for holiday favors!
*Perfect giveaway for all those tangles that you can never get out!

Let me know what your favorite link was and if you have any more great holiday links!

Wings

Holiday Gift Idea - Pillow Pets Giveaway!

I was first introduced to Pillow Pets last year, and I will admit that I wasn't so sure about them.

However, earlier this year, my cousins (2,4,8, and 10) each bought a Pillow Pet when they stopped at the mall on the long drive from their house to ours. I was surprised when I saw them! They were such better quality than I ever expected them to have been!

In real life, I was surprised to find that these open up huge! Also, the quality of them is amazing, I love how soft they are! I was given the opportunity to review and giveaway a Unicorn pillow pet and I have used mine countless times already, especially for traveling long distances! these are perfect for any age, my Mom wants one!

While I was babysitting my cousins, we were scrolling through the Pillow Pets website, my 4 year old cousin, Taylen, loves the frog pillow pet, he has the turtle and is so looking forward to eventually getting the frog one!

A couple things that I've found out about Pillow Pets however that you should keep in mind...

....If you purchase the ones at department stores they are lower quality and not as big.
.....The ones online and in the mall kiosks are larger and higher quality!

Would you like to win a Unicorn Pillow Pet?

Mandatory entry:
Leave a comment on the Magical unicorn bio!

Extras:

+1: Like Pillow Pets Facebook page!
+1: Subscribe to my blog (sidebar)
+1: Follow GFC!
+1: Enter the Knot Genie Giveaway!

Please leave a separate comment for each entry!

Contest ends 12/23

Good luck!

Kate Towers - Inspiration

Don't forget to enter the Knot Genie giveaway!



I first discovered Kate Towers in the fabulous Belle Armoire July/August issue and have been enamored by her work.

Kate Towers started her designing career by "taking over" a little vintage clothing shop with her friend, Holly Stalder. Soon she started to make bags and bracelets that she then sold there. Soon, they were the owners of this little shop and soon it became into a full fledged vintage clothing shop, filled with vintage, and even clothes that others brought in that they had made! It took of from there!

Soon Kate started sewing, and eventually, her line turned into what we know it as today! Be inspired by some of her stunning work!

Two imensley interesting education Holiday gifts

Hey! Before you start, have you entered the great Knot Genie giveaway? Perfect for a holiday gift, and only 3 entries so far! Enter here!

Whitney Shoots Photography

It's December...and we all have those holiday gift exchanges to participate in, not to mention all of the gifts for friends and family members! In the past couple of days I have come across two educational/interesting/fun gift ideas that I am so excited about, plus they are perfect for both kids, young adults, and adults! I am so excited to share them with you!

First up...

Last night I watched "The Cove." This is a documentary on whats going on in Taji, it is stunningly horrendous, thousands upon thousands dolphins are getting killed and eaten. The meat is being packaged as whale meat, even though it is dolphin, and dolphin contains huge amounts of mercury in them which is not being told to the consumers that are thinking they are eating whale or the ones who know they are eating dolphin but think its healthy. The practice that is going on here is frightening.

I really feel like this is one of those movies that everyone needs to see, the word has to get out about this, it just has to stop! The more people that see it, the more people will want to help, and the better chance we'll have at stopping it.

On amazon you can buy it from $4.47 used or $5.49 new. This is perfect for a gift exchange because the price is so low! I'm planning on gifting many copies of this!



Next up, a little more light hearted!

I heard about this fabulous book this morning from respect love learning blog and am so excited about it I had to share!

"The book of General Ignorance" is perfect for all this facts that you always thought you new, but were actually completely wrong! It is packed full of interesting questions with the full true answers along with them! What do dolphins drink anyone? Who invented the telephone? Nope, not Graham Bell my friends!

I think this also would make just the perfect gift exchange book, or something to add on with another gift! It is a great learning book and interesting to any age!



Will you be buying "The Cove" or "The book of General Ignorance" for a gift this holiday?

Knot Genie! It's magic! {Giveaway}

Alexandra Sophie Image

I have thin, straight hair and it gets so tangled that it hurts to brush it through at time! Even if I brush my hair, it will get tangles back in it in no time at all. I went tubing with a few friends this summer on their lake, and didn't put my hair up in a ponytail and later regretted it! It was in complete utter knots! I only wish I had my Knot Genie then.



Knot Genie was so kind to send me three brushes, two to giveaway and one to try out for myself! I love my knot genie brush!

When I first opened my brush, my Mom ran it through her hair and let out a little "ouch!" the first time, the teeth on the brush are a little harder than expected so you don't need much pressure at all. When not used with a lot of pressure it feels almost like a head massage! I even tried it out on my little cousins hair, she is 2, and she loved it! I asked her if it felt good and she nodded her head yes.

Now, for the real test.

My little cousins older sister, Mckenna, who is 8, has crazy thick hair, straight with a little bit of wave. In the morning before school when her Mom brushed her hair, she would squirm and sometimes cry because it hurt so bad to have her hair brushed! This went on for years. I brought her a knot Genie to use and she wouldn't stop brushing her hair! She used it so much and LOVED it! No more squirming around to get away from the brush!


I'm so thrilled about this brush! I would suggest it to anyone, kids, teenagers, adults! One thing that I did find, is that it is very good for brushing your hair through with, but you'll probably want another regular brush to put it in a do because of the wide oval shape of the brush. This wouldn't prevent me from suggesting someone to buy one though!

Another thing that I did like about these were there packaging, I felt it looked high quality and expressed the company well!

And, as I said before, Knot Genie sent me extra brushes to giveaway!

Would you like to win one? Of course you would!

Mandatory: Subscribe to this blog via email (in sidebar)

Extra:

+1: Tell me who would benefit most from winning this!

+1: Follow via GFC

Please leave a separate comment including your email address for each entry!

Ends: 27, Decembre 2010
(French form of writing a date ;) )

Good Luck!