words

I've seen this on a handful of blogs lately & I think it's really fun. I think this would be something very fun for me to recreate by hand since I love {physical} writing so much.



This is ~Wordle~ of my Blog. Fun, huh? You should give it a try!

The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had a recipe shower the week of my wedding where my friends & family showered me with their yummy family recipes. It was one of my favorite showers, because it was so personal & it involved food. By and large, the one recipe that I have used the most is Brown Eyed Blogg's Mom's recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies. I've tweaked it a little bit, because I like my chocolate chip cookies a little less sweet & a little less chocolate. I mean I like the chocolate, but I think semi-sweet chocolate is too bitter for cookies. Weird? You are welcome to think what you like of me.

I made them on Sunday night for a cookout we had at our house on Sunday evening for our employees and I thought OMG ~ I HAVE to share this with my blog friends! If it was possible for all of you to come over and taste them fresh out of my oven, that would be just great, but unfortunately, that's not so possible.

Ingredients

Cream together

1 Cup of butter flavored Crisco (the secret weapon)

1/2 Cup of White Sugar

3/4 Cup of Brown Sugar

2 Eggs (add one at a time)

1 teaspoon Vanilla

In another bowl mix together

2 Cups of Flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda (OOPS -i didn't have baking soda, so I used a touch of baking powder & it was fine.)

1/8 teaspoon of Salt

After the dry ingredients are stirred, begin mixing them into your batter. Then stir in...

1/3 Cup of Oats (quick or regular)

1 Cup of Pecans

1 Cup of Milk Chocolate Chips

Bake at 350 until desired done~ness of your cookies. Then lock your husband in another room and enjoy those cookies like you know how to!

I like to pull my cookies out a little before they're done, because I like them super chewy to the point of being dough~ey. Can anyone count how many words I made up in the post?

Now that we've sufficiently dipped into our weight watchers flex points, head over to http://www.fourfatchicks.blogspot.com/ & check out a MUCH healthier recipe for your Wednesday!

The Sony Cyber-Shot

Are any of you in the market for a great little point and shoot camera? Justin got me the pink Sony Cyber-Shot for Christmas last year, and I'm still learning things about how to use, but I've loved it from day one! Of course I love it because it's pink, and this is cute...Justin thinks I will automatically like anything that's pink, so I'm just waiting for the holiday that I unwrap a Pink GPS or worse a Pink XBox controller! Besides being pink, I think it takes really good pictures for being a little old point and shoot. Here are some of my favorite captures in Vegas!

my baby's got a secret

I stayed with my sister in law on new year's eve, and completely forgot my deodorant. I sweat like a hairy fat man, so I can NOT skip a day and had to borrow hers. {i hope that doesn't gross y'all out... i share mine with you!} All she had was secret clinical and I liked it! I really felt like it kept me fresh and not sweaty for a LONG time, so I rushed out and bought some for myself. I'm always looking for a good powerful deodorant, lest I don't stank Justin out of the house!

If you read the directions it specifically says, Apply at night! Y'all, I try, but I can NOT for the life of me remember to apply at night! I do really good for a week or so, and then I forget. The weird thing is, I don't think it works that good if you apply in the morning! What's that about?

So, I'm wondering... do any of use this and HOW do you remember to wear it? I keep it by my bedside and STILL forget! Maybe this isn't the one for me, so is there something stronger and better that I HAVE to get instead? Help a sister out!

Last one to the TWITTER party is a rotten egg!

I finally gave in to the distraction that is TWITTER! Allie and Ryan have been twittering for a while now and on my drive to work I had this random thought pop into my head and I thought, I have got to put that on my blog. Then I figured you probably wouldn't want to click over to this blog to read one sentence, so all signs pointed to TWITTER!

Basically TWITTER is 140 character blogging or a website where you can put only facebook status updates for all you facebookers. If y'all are anything like me you have random thoughts come into your brain and you think that would be such a good blog post and then you realize you can only form 2 more sentences to go with that thought, but it's worth sharing with SOMEONE! If that happens to you ~ TWITTER is for YOU!

If you'll notice to the right of your screen I have a scrolling update of my Twitterings and so far I think I'm pretty good about keeping it updated, but now I want you to join me! I'm sure all my fabulous bloggy friends have fantastic thoughts that I'd love to be distracted with throughout the day and night! Follow me at www.twitter.com/lesliflowers and YOU join ~ www.twitter.com! Last one to join is a rotten egg!

Oil of Olay Regenerating Serum

Tomorrow I will be back regular posts in the morning, but for today you'll have to deal with 2 posts, sort of.

I was talking with Christina tonight and we were talking about how she usually takes my recommendations ~ case & point ~ she went out on Monday and bought those UGG Sweater Boots! If anyone deserves them, she does, because she lives in a Chicago where it is winter 53 weeks out of the year! Yes, winter is so long there that it adds another week to the calendar.

It reminded me that I have a new moisturizer that I am in LOVE with and y'all will be too once you try it out. I have been using the Oil of Olay daily cleanser and regular Olay moisturizer for the past year with good results. The regular moisturizer isn't heavy and didn't break me out, but I didn't feel like it was really correcting anything. i.e- making my skin smoother, lightening sun spots, diminishing wrinkles, etc.

So, I bit the bullet the other day and upgraded my lotion with the Oil of Olay Daily Regenerating Serum.

In about 2 weeks time I have noticed the greatest difference. My face feels smooth and hydrated! Girls ~ If you live in a northern climate this is a MUST! I hate that I didn't know about it in Chicago! I've been using it twice daily and can tell a noticeable difference in the appearance of my sun spots that I acquired from my 10 years that I practically slept in a tanning bed. And, you know, there wasn't a rough getting used to you period, because if I was going to break out, I certainly would have this week.

The best part though, is that I think it's a fantastic make up primer! My powder goes on smoothly and evenly and lasts up to 12 hours if I don't touch my face. Now, on your way home from work today stop by the CVS and pick this up! You can thank me later.

Sweet Leaf Tea

Unfortunately for poor little old me I've been suffering from an illness for right around a week. I'm sure it's just sinuses acting up or allergies flaring from the weather change, but either way I HATE 'EM! I'm not sick very often, so I don't wear it well. Symptoms include but are not limited to ~ runny nose, chest congestion, raspy truck driver voice with a touch of pre-pubescent teenager, scratchy throat, headache, chills, and coughing. Not to worry... I'm taking the medicine and hope to be on my way to a speedy recovery.

The silver lining to the sickness is that I found a fabulous new tea made right here in Austin, Texas to soothe my throat and tantalize my taste buds. I ADORE tea ~ green tea, sweet tea, unsweet tea with splenda, peach tea, hot tea, cold tea and now I can add to my list ~ Sweet Leaf Tea!

I spotted the tea at a restaurant the other day and instantly reached for the peach flavor, because peach tea is my favorite drink, but then hacked half of my chest out and decided on the mint & honey. It was a fantastic choice! I'm not usually a fan of bottled tea or tea from a drink tower, but this tea tastes like it was brewed with fresh mint and local honey and then poured directly into my bottle.

If you are not lucky enough to be in Austin, TX, go to their website ~ www.sweetleaftea.com ~ and type in your town/city to find out where you can purchase this tea deliciousness!

Best of the Best

I'm a sucker for a Best Of list. I use my barometer of agreement to determine how legit the list is. I also take these recommendations to heart and two lists that I trust completely are The Austin Chronicle Best of & the Allure Readers' Choice Awards. Since the Austin Chronicle list hasn't come out yet, let me touch on the Allure Readers' Choice Awards. Is it just me or does anyone else give three cheers to their product cabinets when they see one of their products on the list?


And the winners that i use are...


Nails: OPI Nail Lacquer in Lincoln Park After Dark - I wore it when I lived in Lincoln Park and I'm wearing it right now. It must be true love.




Face: Jergen's Natural Glow Face Daily Moisturizer - admittedly I go back and forth with Jergen's and Olay daily moisturizer, but Jergen's face glow lotion is much better than Olay's face glow.





Hair: John Frieda Collection Luminous Color Glaze - you know I love this and I promise it will make your hair shine like a wig!


Tools: Sonia Kushak Blusher Brush - I've been using this blush brush since the Sonia Kushak line first came out and I recently bought the powder brush and another eye shadow brush. They work fabulously and stand the test of time!


Honorable Mention: as you well know, there is not an honorable mention section, but I had to share my own. Maybelline Great Lash - this might be the cheapest mascara on the market, but let me tell you...I have long eye lashes but on seeing Ali's eyelashes I had to know what she uses, because honest to gawd they looked like fake eyelashes! This was it and now I'm hooked!



Ok, so here's where you come in! I trust your opinions, especially after the tex-mex tour recommendations!


What's on your list? Is there anything that I have to RUSH out and get today? And I need some eye cream! I used to use Benefit Cosmetics Eyecon, but I lost it and I didn't great results, so what should I be using? I need a cream that will brighten the skin underneath my eyes and reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

wedgie free

i'm sure that somewhere deep down justin dreams of a time when his wife will be the type of woman who always has sexy unmentionables on underneath it all, and let's face it - part of me wishes i was as sexy and steamy as the victoria secret ads.  but let's face it... i'll never be that tall and sometimes comfort calls.  and i'd rather be comfortable than walking around work or anywhere picking out a britney spears size wedgie from my hiney! 

enter the no ride up wedgie free underwear ads by hanes.  have you seen them?   i saw them a couple of times on tv and thought there is NO way those actually work.  the last time i wore big cotton granny panties, without fail, they ended up in a big crumpled cotton clump up my crack.  nice.

however, i needed a solution, because thongs were not cutting it with my work pants, well they were cutting it, but you know what i mean.  i fell for the marketing scheme and figured what the hell - i'll give the no ride up panties a try.  i started with a three pack, and after 3 days of wear i rushed back to the store to purchase SIX more pairs!  the definitely cover your booty, but don't give you the bad panty lines.  i love them and could NOT recommend them more.

with that said, they are great, and i can assure you that you're man probably won't love them and you have my permission to blame your wedgie free granny panties on me, but don't you think he would love it a lot less if you were digging around there in public. 

Update: The Fit Flop

a while back i asked y'all if you had any thoughts on the fit flop, and several of you have asked if i got them and what i think. i did get them and i'm here to tell you that i'm in love. real honest to goodness love with my fit flops.

christina got a pair to "test" with me and i'm happy to say that they have our overwhelming stamp of approval because they've passed the city and the country test. (turquoise toe nail polish, heeeeyyyyy!) i can't really tell if they give me a work out or not, but i do know that my feet and back don't hurt when i walk any distance in them and that's good enough for me.



you know when you wear something so much that you feel naked with out it... like your watch or your rings... that's me and my fit flops. i swear it put them on the minute i get out of my bed and don't take them off until i crawl into the covers at night. even when i dress up i find myself looking for a way to make them work. my sassy little sandals are sadly collecting dust this spring.

by wearing them 12 hours a day for the past month i feel like i've gotten my moneys worth out of my black ones so i put some of my wedding gift card money towards these brown ones below. for your information macy's carries more colors than bath and body works.



wish you could see them in person... the top is bronze with raspberry, tan and cream stripes. darling! just go get some... i promise your feet will be very happy.

behind the times

my husband is a music snob and he proudly embraces the title like a badge of honor. like snobby in the way that he refuses to buy music from itunes. yeah, he knows that the artist get money from that and you pay so it's not stealing. he just likes to purchase C.D.s in their cases with their jackets. What if your computer crashes and you've only purchased your music online? you'll certainly lose it all. but if i have the cd in my hands it won't matter what happens to the computer. plus i like to have the jackets, and my collection is a conversation starter, he says. a conversation that i don't want to start here.

so, unknowingly, i gave him 2 ipod gift cards for easter LAST YEAR. back when i was a good girlfriend who made him an over the top easter basket. i finally FOUND those cards the other day. they've been hiding for a year. since what's his is mine now and he won't use them anyway i made a purchase.

this is my first FULL cd purchase since Britney Spear's greatest hits and I got Amy Winehouse, Back To Black. please try not to judge my affinity for crazy women.

however, i'm really digging my purchase! i love oldies - 50s, 60s, 70s and my car radio usually stays on oldies, and this has an "oldies" flair but still a little pop. it was the perfect background music for my big spring clean on saturday! my other two purchases were Alicia Keys: No One (which i would have gotten the entire C.D. but christina has it... that's as good as me having it.) and Maroon 5: Makes Me Wonder. i'm just a little behind the times.

would you recommend? - The FitFlop

awww... i was going to share some birthday pictures, but alas, my computer insert thing for my sd card is in the computer bag which is not with me right now. stayed tuned for pictures of the birthday cake that said, "Happy Birthday Lelsi." and i thought the missing E was my biggest worry...

thanks to my family, i have a little extra birthday money on my hands and i've been brainstorming ways to put it to good use. i thought about a new watch, but haven't found one bling~y enough and have decided to wait on the iphone until the economic stimulus package comes along.

the one thing i can't get off my brain is the FitFlop. so, what do you think about them?

if you know me you know my cheap self is having a HARD time justifying $50 for a pair of flip flops - even if it's birthday money. i, of course, couldn't get any color other than black because they would be the most practical and wouldn't look as filthy dirty as the others. so, tell me - do you have them? are they comfortable? and to be honest with you i care more about the comfort than the "workout" they supposedly give you.

it would be nice if they could make my legs that long... but most importantly, would you recommend them?