Second Wedding?

Would it be insane to have a second wedding after 3 years of being married just so I could wear this dress from the White by Vera Wang collection for David's Bridal? It's $1200, but if this had been available 3 years ago, I would have been all over it!

Maybe it could be a destination wedding too.... :)

Scientific Housewife Answers Your Questions

Thanks to everyone that submitted questions to my Ask The Scientific Housewife feature. Now, onto the answers!

Krysten at 'After I Do' asked:

1. What is your favorite part of your wedding day?
2. What were you like when you were younger?
3. What are you looking forward to this year?

Great questions to start us off!

1. My favorite part of my wedding day was finally walking down the aisle and marrying my best friend. The thing that made it wonderful was the fact that it had been cloudy all day and I was beginning to worry the weather would be bad for our outdoor ceremony. Then, right before I walked out, the sun came out and stayed out the entire ceremony. I thought that was a good sign :)
2. I actually went through a lot of phases when I was young. I was really energetic and always talking and moving, then I went through a tomboy phase in middle school before I finally became a girly girl by the time I got to high school. My grandparents said I was a handful because I never stopped moving around and doing cartwheels.
3. Probably the most exciting thing I'm looking forward to this year is our trip to California. It's in the planning stages right now but we would like to go to San Francisco, Yosemite, and Sonoma County. I've never been west of Louisiana so it will be a whole new experience for me but I can't wait to go!

 Kat from My Girls and Me asked:

1. What are three words that your best friend would use to describe you?
2. What is something that makes you happy?
3. If your life had a theme song what would it be?

 These questions are awesome!

1. Three words I think they would use would be fun, loyal, and supportive.
2. The obvious answer would be spending time with my wonderful hubby but another thing that makes me happy is eating, haha. Trying new restaurants or making something delicious at home, I love food and the wine that goes with it :)
3. This is a tough one! I would have to go with my favorite song, which is "Soul Meets Body" by Death Cab for Cutie, my favorite band. The first time I heard this song was with my husband, then boyfriend, and it invokes so many memories and feelings that it definitely could be my theme song. 

Krystal from Village asked:

1. You have such a fun blog! And you designed that room with the green furniture? I love =)

First off, thanks for the compliment! I try to make my blog as fun as possible. To answer your question, I did design that guest room all by myself. I wrote about it here and talked about painting the furniture myself here.  I am really proud of out it turned out, especially since I did it on such a small budget. The furniture was free and I spent 5 days painting it. The linens, nightstand, lamp, and mural are from Ikea and the rest of the items were from Target. The thing I am most proud of about the room is that not one thing in there cost over $20. It just goes to show you don't need a lot of money to make a nice room :)

If you have any other questions you'd like me to answer, post them in a comment below and I will add them as the day goes on.

Also, don't forget to enter my $50 Lush Gift Card Giveaway, it ends tomorrow at midnight!

Ask The Scientific Housewife

I had so much fun at the last Ask The Scientific Housewife that I wanted to bring it back again! If you have any questions about science, beauty, books, traveling, marriage, or anything you've seen me write about in the past, feel free to ask them in the comments section and I will answer them on Monday :)

Here are a couple of fun pics from previous posts:

 Me enjoying a wonderful Lush mask

 My shoe collection in my closet

 The hubby and I at an USF game

 <3 Our wedding day <3

Me as Gagaloo 

 Giving an awesome MOH speech

My "green" guest bedroom I designed

I can't wait to see all of your questions!

Introducing My "Big Sister"

The wonderful Krysten over at After 'I Do' came up with a great idea to pair up veteran bloggers with novice bloggers in a Big Sister/ Little Sister fashion so that each blogger can learn something from each other. Even though I've been blogging for a year and a half, I still need some advice on how to make my blog better, so I signed up as a little sister. Yesterday, I received an email from my big sister and I'm so excited about who it is!

It's none other than the fabulous Connie from Sogni e Sorrisi! Here is a little about my new big sister:

• She lives in Toronto, Canada
• She has a great fashion sense
• She is gifted in the kitchen
• She is hella creative
• She won the 2010 Canadian Weblog award for Fashion & Style

If you haven't checked out her blog, please stop by and see what this fashionista is up to! I can't wait to learn stuff from her :)

Lush Gift Card Giveaway

 This Giveaway is now closed. Thanks for entering!

Thank you to everyone that voted for the next giveaway! The clear winner, by 38%, was the Lush gift card. So, my wonderful readers, I present you with my Lush Gift Card Giveaway!

One lucky winner will receive a $50 Lush E-card, sent right to their email, to be used online or in a store!

To Enter:

• Follow the blog and leave your email address in your comment (mandatory) 

For extra entries:

• Tell me what you would buy from Lush with the gift card
• Follow me on Twitter
• Like Scientific Housewife on Facebook
• Blog about the giveaway and leave a comment with the link
• Tweet about the giveaway and leave a comment with the link
• Post the giveaway on Facebook and leave a comment with the link

That's 7 entries to win! The giveaway will be open until midnight of February 1st. Good luck!

Taxes, Giveaways, and Books... Oh My!

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! Mine was quiet, but I did manage to do our taxes and I'm happy to say that we are actually getting money back this year so yay for us! We'll be saving it all for our trip in June but I will tell you more about that after we finalize some plans.

I finished this book over the weekend and thought it was pretty good. It was written differently than most because it was narrated by three women during the Tudor dynasty... Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Jane Boleyn. I always love reading  Tudor historical fiction and this definitely kept me entertained.

Today is the last day to vote on my Giveaway poll at the right of my page. So far, Lush is winning but jewelry is coming in at a close second place. Whichever item wins, I'll be posting the giveaway tomorrow so stay tuned!

It's That Time Of Year

I never used to have a problem with doing my tax return. In the past, it was easy and it always ended up with money in my pocket. That was, until last year.

The 2009 tax year was not great for us. The hubby got laid off and was unemployed for 3 months, collecting unemployment so we could pay our bills without digging too much into our savings. That, among other things, led to a difficult tax return and us ending up paying the IRS $400. Boy did that suck!

This year, I am seriously thinking about paying someone to do our taxes for us and praying that we either break even or get something back. All it takes is one year of paying to scare you out of doing your own taxes.

Do you do your own taxes or do you have someone do them for you? In your opinion, is it worth the money to have them done?

Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette

When you are eating healthy, salad can be an important staple in your diet. However, a lot of the salad dressings out there can be packed with unhealthy ingredients and olive oil with balsamic vinegar can get kind of boring.

Tonight, I am making a Mexican-inspired salad and this dressing will be the star. It's super easy to make and you can put it in a Mason jar and keep it in your fridge for 1-2 weeks.

Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette

Ingredients

• 1 cup packed cilantro
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• Pinch of minced garlic

Preparation

1. Puree cilantro, olive oil, lime juice, orange juice, salt, pepper and garlic in a blender or food processor until smooth.

 Recipe: Eatingwell.com

Giveaway Poll

I'm thinking it's time for another giveaway, but instead of randomly choosing something, I thought I'd let you choose yourselves!

On the right hand side, I have a poll of 5 items you can choose from for me to giveaway next. The poll ends at midnight on January 24th and the winning giveaway will be posted the 25th.

How many times do you get to choose a giveaway on a blog? Vote and stay tuned to see what the winning item will be!

Back To Book Club

Back in October, I wrote about joining a book club at my local library. Since that first meeting, I haven't been able to go back because we got short-handed at work and I had to work every day instead of the 4 days a week we previously were working.

It hasn't been a problem because I really didn't miss anything in the past 2 months, but I really wanted to go this month because of the book we read. Well, I pulled some strings and got the day off so I am heading to my book club meeting to discuss The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

My opinion of a book club is that it's there to read something you normally wouldn't pick up and this is definitely one of those books.  That aside, this was a pleasant surprise and a great read! It's about an autistic boy who wants to write a book about finding the killer of his neighbor's dog. Not only does he find out who the killer is, he finds out something about his own life that he never knew and goes on an adventure that is increasingly more interesting due to his perception of the world and how he handles things. It really puts you in the head of someone who has trouble in some areas but is acutely intelligent and aware in others.

I'll be interested to hear what the older women think of this book and if any of them have had experience with someone like this before.

I highly recommend this book if you are looking for something different or fast to read. It will really make you think and look at autistic people differently, at least it did for me.

Movie Weekend

Happy Tuesday everyone! I was off of work yesterday and spent the entire day cooped up in my house while it poured outside. I would have loved to go to a museum or something else fun but that will have to wait another day.

I spent a lot of time this weekend watching movies, both at home and in the theaters.

My husband has been dying to see the second Tron movie, so I went with him to see it in 3D. The graphics were amazing and I'll have to admit that it wasn't was bad as I thought it would be.

As you may know, I am a huge Colin Firth fan and he has gotten rave reviews (as well as a Golden Globe) for his portrayal of George VI in The King's Speech . I saw it Sunday and I loved it! It was surprisingly funny and upbeat and the interaction between Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush was genius.

I've seen this movie a couple of times, but as a wine lover, it never gets old. It's about the 1976 Paris Wine Tasting and how surprised the French were to learn that California could make wine better than them. Since we are possibly planning a trip to the wine counties of California, this movie definitely got me excited for wine tours and tastings.

We also watched the Golden Globes Sunday night, which were interesting to say the least. I usually love Ricky Gervais at awards shows but he seemed a bit off that night. What I did love was the collection of emerald green dresses that decorated the red carpet. These ladies looked amazing!

How was your weekend?

The School of Essential Ingredients

I received this book from my mother-in-law for Christmas and automatically fell in love with the cover. Don't you want to be there right now peeking into the window or enjoying that beautiful bench??

The book is about a woman named Lillian who opens a restaurant and starts teaching cooking lessons, but her way of teaching is unconventional and without recipes. She believes in feeling and taking in all senses of cooking and knowing what flavors go well together rather than reading it. The book focuses on each student taking the class and how their lives changed after meeting Lillian and cooking with their souls. A man is finding cooking again after losing his chef wife, a mother and wife is finding herself again, as well as an older couple rekindling their relationship despite their history, among others.

If this book doesn't make you want to get into the kitchen and smell everything you use, I don't know what will. She introduces so many amazing dishes, and the author was kind enough to post the recipes of those dishes on her website. That roasted crab sounds especially delicious!

If you need a jump start into home cooking or love reading books about food, this is a great book to read.

Thursday Playlist

My awesome playlist today, courtesy of Pandora:

Brothers on a Hotel Bed - Death Cab for Cutie (one of my favorite Death Cab songs)
Be Still My Heart - The Postal Service (lyrically awesome song from Ben Gibbard)
Let Go - Frou Frou (on my favorite movie soundtrack, The Holiday)
Let Me Know - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Microphone - Coconut Records
Jerk It Out - Paper Tigers
New Slang - The Shins (awesome song from Garden State)
Upward Over The Mountain - Iron & Wine
The Freshman - Jay Brannan
Oh, I Need All Of The Love - Josh Rouse
Warning Sign - Coldplay
The Recluse - The Ugly Organ
Everest - Ra Ra Riot
Heartbeats - Jose Gonzalez

My Gift to Myself

So my birthday has come and gone and I am finally fully recovered from the "events". I got some great gifts but I'm really excited about a gift I gave myself :) My friend N gave me a $25 Sephora gift card and I knew exactly what I wanted to use it for. When my birthday arrived, I was surprised and elated to get an email from Sephora saying that the item was in stock. So what did I do next? I hurried over to the site, bought the item, and jumped for joy at the birthday present I just gave myself.

You're probably wondering what item at Sephora would get me so excited...

Only the Urban Decay 15th Anniversary 24/7 eye pencil collection! This baby is the mother of all eyeliner sets and it has every color you could possibly want on your eyes. It only helps that the 24/7 eyeliners are one of the most long-lasting and pigmented eyeliners out there.

The price tag was a little steep ($92) but they are all full-sized and at $17 a pop, you are saving some $200 in the long run. Plus, I'll never have to buy eyeliner again... in a year or two :)

Did any of you snag this set and what do you think of it?

Rough Day

First of all, thank you so much to everyone that wished me a Happy Birthday! I learned a valuable lesson yesterday... ask your birthday off of work, because chances are it will be the busiest day you've had in awhile. Even though the beginning wasn't so hot, I had fun spending time later with my hubby and friends at Brass Tap for some drinks.

Speaking of drinks, I am currently a little under the weather from last night so I have no fun or fashionable blogging for you today but, by tomorrow, I will be back to my happy, housewifey self :)

Birthday Girl

This day marks a unique day in my life. Besides turning the big 26, it also happens to be on 1/11/11.... must be a good sign!

Happy Birthday to me! :)

Birthday Party Weekend

Given that my birthday is on a Tuesday this year, I decided to have my birthday party the weekend before. Last year, we had a small luau-themed party at the house but I wanted to do something fun this year, so we went and played laser tag!

The place we went to is right down the street and has an awesome laser tag area (think Legends of the Hidden Temple). We recently got a Groupon where 3 laser tag games and 1 beer was $10, and it came out right before my party!

After playing laser tag, we went to Applebee's to drink and eat and I sadly watched my Colts lose :( It was a great party though and I got some great presents like

This Lush gift set

Sephora Gift Card

Wine from Sonoma County

and my most favorite gift so far....

The Active 2 for PS3

I didn't even know this workout game existed but I'm so glad the hubby got it. You wear 3 bands and the system picks up your movements so it shows you working out next to the trainer. They have different length programs and exercises for whatever your needs are... it's like having your own personal trainer! We used it for the first time Saturday and my legs are still sore!

Sunday, we were extremely productive. While the hubs cleaned out and organized the garage, I finally took the Christmas tree down. We also went through all of his stuff from home and will probably have to have a garage sale soon.

All in all, it was a great weekend and now I am looking forward to my birthday in 1 day.

How was your weekend?

A Vintage Dress for Spring

The wonderful Rachael at ...It's Simple Love... also owns an amazing vintage store on Etsy called Ande Monster Vintage. She recently had a $20 dress sale and I snagged up a vintage dress that I had my eye on for weeks. Yesterday, I got it in the mail and it is fabulous!

The dress on Etsy

Beautifully packaged

Love the design

Me trying it on for the first time

It may need to be taken in a bit at the bust (I don't fill it in as nicely as the model does), but I love it! This looks like the type of dress that I would wear walking around downtown Tampa or having a spring picnic in the park. Doesn't it just make you want to spend the day outdoors?

Thank you Rachael!

Where I'd Like To Be Right Now

 Skiing the Swiss Alps

 Staying in a Swiss Chalet

 Unwinding in a chalet suite

 Enjoying the evening with wine in a chalet wine bar

Relaxing in the heated pool overlooking the Alps

Where would you like to be right now?

Pictures from Riffelalp Resort 2222m  in Zermatt, Switzerland

Moroccan Quinoa and Chicken

To follow our resolution of eating healthier this year, I've gone to explore foods that I normally would never eat or have even heard of. One such food is quinoa.

Quinoa is a type of grain originally found in South America and is considered a complete protein. It is high in fiber, magnesium, and iron and supplies amino acids important to our bodies.

To try it for the first time, I printed out this recipe from Fitness Magazine and made it last night. Not only did the hubby and I love it, but it's so fast and easy to make. If you haven't tried quinoa before, I highly recommend it!

P.S - The only place I was able to find it was the organic section of my grocery store, which means it can be pretty pricey.  

Morrocan Quinoa and Chicken

Ingredients

• 1  3-ounce  chicken breast (or use rotisserie chicken, skin removed)
• 1  cup  water
• 1/2  cup  dry quinoa
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2  tsp.  cumin
• 1/8  tsp.  cinnamon
• 1  tbsp.  olive oil
• 1    lemon, juiced
• 2  tbsp.  fresh mint
• 2  tbsp.  raisins

Directions

Make it: Grill or bake chicken until 165 F. (To save time, use rotisserie chicken, skin removed.) Bring water and quinoa to a boil, lower heat to simmer, and cover for 10 to 15 minutes, or until water is absorbed. Fluff cooked quinoa with a fork and toss with salt, pepper, cumin, cinnamon, olive oil, lemon juice, mint and raisins. Serve chicken over quinoa.

3 Free Zoya Nail Polishes

Zoya is at it again! One of my favorite nail polish companies is doing a fantastic promotion right now where they are giving away 3 free nail polishes for the price of shipping and handling ($6.95). That's 3 of any of their hundreds of colors for free (Originally $7 a bottle).

Go to www.zoya.com, pick 3 colors and add them to your cart, enter the promo code FB2011, and check out. It's that easy!

What 3 colors did I select?

 Snowsicle

 Rea

Riley

If you have never used Zoya before, this is a great opportunity to try it out for less. Their polishes have great coverage and they have so many colors and textures to choose from!

A New Year

Happy 2011 everybody! I hope your New Year's weekend was fun and safe. We had a great time this weekend bringing in the new year :)

Friday - We spent the day at a friend's house watching the USF bowl game. Thankfully, we beat Clemson and won the Meineke Car Care Bowl :) Needless to say, that was a great way to end the new year.

That night, we attended a New Year's Eve party, hosted by the wonderful Carmen, and enjoyed a beautiful spread of hors d'ouvres and cocktails. The decorations were very festive and everyone looked snazzy in their outfits.

 

The hostess with her decorations 

 

Carmen and I

 The hubs and I

 The beautiful ladies

 Dress shot

 Bringing in the new year

 Sparklers to celebrate 2011

Saturday - After the obvious sleep-in, the hubby and I went out for breakfast and I later joined the girls for a day of shopping. That night, I watched two movies (Message in a Bottle and Funny Girl), which did not have happy endings.

Sunday - This year, we have made a resolution to eat better, so we started at the grocery store and avoided frozen pizzas and boxed dinners. We then stocked up on $90 worth of beer and wine at Total Wine (don't ask why, haha) and had lunch with Carmen and her beau. We then went to Cigar City to drink some amazing beer and I made our first healthy meal of the new year... Steak and Pepper Tacos. We ended the night watching The Expendables (terrible movie).

 

Steak and Pepper tacos... delicious!

Today, I took the day off to take down Christmas decorations and milk my long weekend before going back to work. It's been a busy weekend but I had a great time and I hope 2011 turns out to be a fantastic year!

How was your weekend?