Hello, Gorgeous!: Rosy Cheeked

My husband is rocking some unfortunate facial hair this week. He's taken it upon himself to grow a beard (though apparently not a playoff beard, which I'm happy about because that's the stupidest reason EVER to mar your face). It wouldn't be so terrible if it wasn't A) just like barbed wire; and B) the same color as the beard my dad wore for the first 20 years of my life.

So for those of you who know my husband, feel free to encourage a good shave.

Now, onward to Bargain Town! Today's deal is actually pretty relevant, considering my husband-y woes. It also goes on the face, but it's much softer and prettier than scruffy hair.

I'm not sure why the package says it's new when I've been using the stuff for 3 or 4 years, but whatever. All of the shades are great, and are perfect for adding a little color so you don't go around looking like a plague victim. But the best part? It's $1.69 and available everywhere. I've been happier with this than my previous Victoria's Secret and Cover Girl blushes, so keep it in mind the next time you need to rosy your cheeks.

Anybody else use Rimmel products?

Go Retro: Golden Oldies

I'm not sure what's up with me lately, but I'm getting into gold. It's been happening slowly over the past couple of years, but my liking this might be proof I've gone over to the dark side.

Unfortunately, I don't see myself going to any red carpet events in the near future, so Timeless Vixen Vintage has done it again--they've gotten me to waste half an hour drooling over a dress that I don't need. And when I say I don't need it, I really mean it this time. I was just 60s retro for Halloween and doing it again the next year would be lame. None of my friends are getting married soon so I don't need it for a wedding. The only charity I give to has really casual events and this (amazing as it is) would make people think I was recovering from a head injury. Gaah! I have NO REASON to buy it.

Woe.

Tell me I'm doing the right thing. It's pure foolishness to buy a $300 dress for no reason, right? Right?!

Miscellaneous: Coco!

I forgot to mention this when I was typing, like, five seconds ago: Conan's last episode of the Tonight Show airs tomorrow, and then the reins are returned to Leno on March 1st.

Epic fail, NBC.

If you're grumpy about this, too, and want to read more, my husband sent me a good article earlier. Clickity-click!

Web Gem: ModCloth Markdowns

Hold onto your hats!

ModCloth is having a Cabin Fever sale! A (gigantic) selection of items are 70% off, so here's your chance to snag some deals. The stuff is selling fast--the dress I wanted sold out before I could get my wallet--so you might want to work on your quick reflexes if you're planning on some retail therapy. And if nothing left in the sale tickles your fancy, their regular-priced items are worth a look, too.

On the Cheap (sort of): Almost, Tina!

So, I missed the red carpet for the Golden Globes last night because I may or may not have been watching football again. (I know, I know, it's weird. But I half-jokingly predicted who would go to the Super Bowl months ago, and so far I'M RIGHT. [Colts and Vikings, by the way.] So now I'm compelled to watch, if only to rub in the faces of my male co-workers.) Anyway, until I made the rounds on my fashion blogs this morning, I only saw the outfits of whomever went onstage. Apparently, I missed a lot.

I checked three different sites, and all of them HATED what Tina Fey wore. Maybe I love her so much that I'm totally unable to make a rational, unbiased decision, but I like it!

It's about two inches too long, but aside from that I don't see the problem! It's a little on the kooky side, but guess what? That's kind of how she is. I think it suits her, and if she only got it hemmed a little more it would've been perfect.

The other sites were complaining about that silhouette, which is SILLY. Now I'm forced to un-do the damage they've done to full-skirtedness! Behold:

See?! Pretty! All of them can be found on this site, which has a fun "search by era" option. From left to right they are $116, $88, and (ahem) $500. You can probably guess, but the last one is real vintage.

So, are you a fan of the big skirt? Or do you think Tina Fey looked a fool? Comment!

Miscellaneous: Team Conan!

BOO! HISS!

Jay Leno is taking back the Tonight Show from Conan O'Brien! Well, according to Perez and TMZ, so take it for what you will, but my husband also heard something about it on ESPN (weird), so it's apparently getting around.

If it's true, then NBC is making a grave error. Another one, actually, since they already failed when they thought Jay Leno in primetime would be a good idea.

You can probably guess how I'm feeling, but here's a visual aid anyway:

Web Gem: Cheer up, Bella!

I have several issues with Twilight, including the fact that Bella Swan is the least enjoyable main character in the history of books. (I won't even call it literature, that's how terrible I think she is.) Even IF Twilight was penned by somebody who knew how to make a decent protagonist, I think I'd still cringe because Kristen Stewart is a big whiner, too:

This is today's shirt over at TeeFury. And I think they're probably calling Bella the mope, as opposed to Kristen, but I think it works for either gal.

Let's have a look at the closeup, shall we?

It has everybody's favorite lip bite AND a tiny broken heart in the upper left corner!

If you want to snap one up for yourself, it'll only cost you $9. The downside is that TeeFury reveals a new shirt every 24 hours, so you need to order today--as in, before midnight Eastern time.

I won't keep you any longer; get your mope on.

On the Cheap: Clearance Coats

Did you know that if there's a gas leak in your house the firefighters will evacuate you? Oh yes. We learned that last night.

I got home from work and smelled gas in our entryway. My husband said it had been that way for a few hours and that the handyman for our complex come by and said nothing was wrong. To which I said, "If nothing is wrong then why do I SMELL GAS?" I started to get sick, and the smell got worse, so we called the fire department. Turns out, the empty unit across the hall had the leak, and it had built up so much that the fumes were creeping over to us. Some cleaning or repair person had been working on it and messed up the connection to the range. Awesome!

Anyway, we had to skedaddle while they aired everything out. The wind chill was below zero again, so today I find myself in the mood to look at coats! Victoria's Secret has some lovely ones on clearance:

Left to right: the grey A-line is now $59.99, the plaid is $64.99, and the classic wool trench is also $59.99. I'm kind of eye-balling the grey one, but I think Chicago wind would blow right in there. Shame.

On a totally unrelated note, the firefighters from last night were very nice. If any of them harbor a secret love of bargains and ever stumble upon this: thank you! We appreciated your help.

Anybody else ever had a gas leak?

On the Cheap: Tentacled Mayhem!

I got Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters for Christmas. If you're unfamiliar, it's along the same vein as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. If you're still confused, here's an excerpt from the back of the book: "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters expands the original text of the beloved Jane Austen novel with all-new scenes of giant lobsters, rampaging octopi, two-headed sea serpents, and other biological monstrosities."

It's awesome.

And since I started reading a few days ago, I've felt the urge to reacquaint myself with ocean life.

I know a lot of these posts end up being filled with stuff from Etsy, but that's because Etsy has a huge supply of weird. And I mean that in a good way, because where else can you find marine life gift tags? Actually, I'd better go in order: Where else can you find a fashionable whale shirt?! And for only $19? That rad octopus necklace is $14.99, the starfish earrings are only $5, and the aforementioned tags ring in at $7.

If you still can't get on board with looking at sea creatures in January, think about all the warm, sunny places that go along with them. (Although, a friend who lives in Florida tells me that it's been in the 20s and 30s at night down there, so maybe think farther south.)

By the way, has anybody else read Sea Monsters, or P&P and Zombies? What did you think?

Wedding$: Where's my time machine?!

Okay. I'll definitely reveal some of my weirdness with this post, but that can't be helped. If you're a regular reader, you know that I tend to have a lot of time on my hands at work. Sometimes when I'm here, a fellow wedding-junkie friend and I sit on Gmail chat and send pictures of dresses back and forth (because we're so cool). Today, she and I stumbled upon THIS:


LOVE. Love, love, love. In fact, I love it so much that I wish time machines really worked so I could go back and get married again. Or I could just convince my husband that we need to renew our vows at the one-year mark. Whichever.

It's from David's Bridal, and considering all of its exquisite glory, it's only $850. I actually read somewhere that the average wedding dress is about $1100, so you'd beat the curve with this one. And look damn good doing it. (Seriously, I WANT THAT.)

Miscellaneous: You can be a winner, too!

Another blog, one very appropriate for my Etsy store, is doing a giveaway of some little pretties I made:


You can win them by heading over to Bride on a Budget. The contest ends at 5 pm eastern on Sunday. And by the way, BoaB was just named one of the 100 top wedding blogs (and/or Twitter accounts) by BrideTide.com, so you know girlfriend has some good stuff over there. If you're going for the win, good luck!

(I'm tossing around the idea of doing a giveaway here, too. I'll keep you posted.)