Laughingly Ever After

2014 – A Year End Book Review

January 7, 2015 mrs_ellyk Comments 1 comment

I did this post last year too and I like the idea of keeping a list of books I read throughout the year. The current tally is 50 books! WOO HOOO! That was my unofficial goal for the year. It was also a rather pricey year for books at Casa de E. hehe. Thanks to mint.com Matt was able to pull up how much I’d spent on books. Whoops. It was a little more than I expected. I feel like this was the year of the series though. I got sucked into ~~several~~ numerous series this year. Most of the books weren’t more than a few dollars but it adds up for sure.

A Demon’s Wrath: Part 2 (Peachville High Demons Book 8), Sarra Cannon

Demons Forever (Peachville High Demons Book 6), Sarra Cannon

Rival Demons (Peachville High Demons Book 5), Sarra Cannon

Shadow Demons (Peachville High Demons Book 4), Sarra Cannon

A Demon’s Wrath: Part 1 (Peachville High Demons Book 7), Sarra Cannon

Beautiful Demons Box Set, Books 1-3, Sarra Cannon

Hard to Come By: A Hard Ink Novel, Laura Kaye

Thirty-Three and a Half Shenanigans (Rose Gardner Mystery), Grover Swank

Conquer Me (Royals Saga, Book 2), Geneva Lee

STRIPPED, Part 3, Kellie Perkins

STRIPPED, Part 2, Kellie Perkins

Billionaire Unmasked ~ Jason (The Billionaire’s Obsession), J. S. Scott

Being Neighborly: a novella, Carey Heywood

One Night with a Billionaire, J. S. Scott

BROKEN SYMMETRY: A Young Adult Science Fiction Thriller, Dan Rix

Command Me (Royals Saga, Book 1), Geneva Lee

STRIPPED, Kellie Perkins

Crash (Billionaire New Adult Romance), Vanessa Waltz

Going Down (Wish Upon A Stud – Book 1), Elise Sax

Hard to Hold On To: A Hard Ink Novella, Laura Kaye

Shattered Hearts (Shattered #1), Octavia Wildwood

The Job Offer, Eleanor Webb

PSYCHOPHILIA: A Disturbing Psychological Thriller, Michelle Muckley

Thirty-Two and a Half Complications (Rose Gardner Mystery), Denise Grover Swank

Thirty-One and a Half Regrets (Rose Gardner Mystery, Book 4), Denise Grover Swank

Thirty and a Half Excuses (Rose Gardner Mystery, Book 3), Denise Grover Swank

Twenty-Nine and a Half Reasons (Rose Gardner Mystery), Denise Grover Swank

Business as Usual (Off the Subject Book 3), Denise Grover Swank

Redesigned (Off the Subject Book 2), Denise Grover Swank

A Separate Peace, John Knowles

After Math (Off the Subject Book 1), Denise Grover Swank

Top Secret Twenty-One: A Stephanie Plum Novel, Janet Evanovich

Hard As You Can: A Hard Ink Novel, Laura Kaye

Hard As It Gets: A Hard Ink Novel, Laura Kaye

Presumed Dead (A Dylan Scott Mystery), Shirley Wells

The Back Road, Rachel Abbott

Only The Innocent, Rachel Abbott

Worn Me Down (Playing With Fire, #3), T.E. Sivec

Because of You (Playing with Fire, #2), T.E. Sivec

Sleep Tight , Rachel Abbott

A Beautiful Lie (Playing with Fire, #1), Tara Sivec

Here (YA Romance), Ella James

Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes (Rose Gardner Mystery), Denise Grover Swank

The Last Year Boxed Set, Books 1-4, Trisha Leigh

Last year I kind of got on a paranormal kick. I’m not normally one to read about things like witches, demons, or aliens, but this year found me reading about all of these things. Mostly the books are well written and suck you in. Here are a few highlights from the past year.

The Rose Gardner Mystery series by Denise Grover Swank

These books are similar in style to the Janet Evanovich series I’ve read for the past few years. The difference being Rose has a gift for seeing things that will happen in the future. It could be something as mundane as a dog running away or something big like a murder. Her “visions” find her in a series of comical adventures which lead to a relationship with a local State Trooper. Over the course of the series (which isn’t complete) Rose finds herself in numerous bad situations caused by her visions. The books are funny and well written. By the time I finished the last one, I’d say I was a tad bored with the series as a whole but I also read most of them back to back. I will more than likely keep my eye out for the next book and read it when it comes out.

If you hadn’t noticed I’ve developed a little bit of a thing for Denise. Something about her books draw me in. If you are looking for a new author check her out!

The Playing with Fire series by T.E. Sivec

I stumbled across these books when I was looking for something a little more “adult” oriented. I was pleasantly surprised that the storyline was actually good. The sex scenes were steamy but played well into the storyline. This series is about 2 friends who set out to find the truth behind what happened when one of their friends is tragically killed. Book 4, the last of the series, came out in Sept but somehow I missed that one so I will be downloading it later today. 🙂 You can now buy the series as a boxset if you’re interested. I would definitely check out this series if you like a little spice and a fast moving story. (ETA: I read book 4 in a day and it deals with pregnancy loss. It was quite the tear jerker. I think you could read the first 3 books and not miss if you don’t read the 4th book)

The Hard Ink series by Laura Kaye

Not a bad overall plot but the individual storylines pretty much the same: troubled guy meets girl in some extraordinary circumstance and falls in love. All of the books take place over the course of a week or two. A group of dishonorably discharged Army buddies come together to find out what really happened on a mission gone wrong involving their commander when the commander’s son goes missing. His daughter contacts one of the guys and the group is reunited in order to save the son and clear their names.

The Peachville High Demons by Sarra Cannon

I finished the year with this series about witches and demons. Harper is a teen that has been bounced around from foster home to foster home when she finds herself at a home for girls in Peachville GA. Once arriving, Harper starts to discover that Peachville isn’t your ordinary small town. The town has secrets and she is about to be thrown right into the middle of them. It turns out Harper comes from a long line of witches from Peachville. The story unfolds as she falls for Jackson, a demon from another dimension. Together they set out to right the wrongs being done the demon world by the Order of Shadows witches.

Happy New Year!

House update – It’s coming together

December 12, 2014 mrs_ellyk Comments 2 comments

Last weekend I hosted a baby shower for a friend at my mom’s house. Her house is about 10 mins away from our new house. Once the shower was over, mom and I decided to go check on the house progress. I was peasantly surprised to see lights were up and fixtures were in. As part of our offer, Matt and I asked for upgraded bathroom fixtures in the Master bath. It really was such a small thing but something I am now super happy we asked for. I think it really looks nice and adds a little something to the room.

Mom and I also ventured up into the attic. There was a good bit of room up there but the stairs are really steep so I’m not sure how we’d get anything of substance up there. But you can get up there if you need to. Coming down was an adventure because the stairs are so steep it was kind of scary. I told her I had been there done that, and I wasn’t going up there again! 😉

Attic looking towards the front of the house.

Overall I’m pretty happy with the lighting package. I’ve known from the start I would replace the dining room light. I fell in love with a chandelier from World Market. I’m not that crazy about the foyer light so I have a feeling that will be replaced at some point too. The bathroom lights are fine but I might replace the globes eventually. They just seem a little plain. But really, I’m just so happy with got this house!

IMG_4040 (1) — Island Pendant – which we both LOVE

The other builder we were considering finally has some of their houses for sale. The plan we were looking at is for sale with about 700 sqft less than we got and pretty close to the price we are paying. I feel like we got an EXTREMELY good deal from our builder, plus I think our house will be much nicer in the end. Not to mention it’s already appraised for more than we paid. 😉

Kitchen faucet and tile. Tile will have white grout (though I kind of like it dark, it’s too late to change now)

Subway tile around the fireplace! Really glad we changed this.

Mud bench. It will be painted the same as the doors but the bench will be left natural.

Laundry room cabinet and SINK!!!! I am so excited to have a sink in the laundry room!

While we were there, we stopped by the office. The builder’s agent was on site and I wanted to check in with her. She told me that her and another agent agreed the vanity in the Ensuite bath was too small. She was going to work to see if we couldn’t get it changed out. I must say it doesn’t look as bad with the vanity sink and lights in but it’s still not ideal. I really just hope they change it out for something a little wider.

Matt and I will be running by the house this weekend so I should have more updates next week.

House Update – Cabinets, flooring, and moldings oh my

November 25, 2014 mrs_ellyk Comments 1 comment

Friday we took Matt’s parents to the house. I heard the cabinets were in and I suspected the flooring was down but man were we surprised. All the hardwood had been laid, all the cabinets were in, and the moldings and shelving were in.

I am in LOVE with the kitchen cabinets!!!! They are everything I hoped and more. They are beautiful! I couldn’t be happier if I’d actually gotten to pick out our cabinets. The floors are equally amazing. You can see the variation in the wood and it’s going to look great once they’ve been sanded down and poly’ed.

Matt and I were totally surprised to see they had the moldings and shelving done. The bookcases beside the fireplace were also done and look great! We were both glad we decided to have them be cubby style. We had the option to have one component and one cubby or both cubby. Cubby was totally the way to go.

The only thing I wasn’t really happy with was the vanity in the Ensuite bathroom. It is comically small. I’ve emailed the builders agent to see if that is the correct vanity but I haven’t heard back. I’m sure she will say yes. I’ve told Matt it will have to be replaced because I think it’s going to look stupid and well, dinky. I’ll have to find out how much it will cost to upgrade, otherwise it will have to be changed once we move in. (Which won’t make Matt happy but oh well.) In my townhouse I was able to find a vanity on CL for about $50.00. Maybe I’ll luck out this time unless we can get the issue resolved.

House Update – We have Tile

November 18, 2014 mrs_ellyk Comments 0 Comment

Matt and I ran over to the house on Sunday to see what progress had happened over the week. As soon as we walked in the door we saw a huge pile of wood flooring in the dining room. There was another large pile in the living room. Somehow even with 2 piles it didn’t look like it should be enough! Then I noticed some tile items. I immediately went to the downstairs bathroom. WE HAVE TILE! I checked upstairs and all the bathrooms and laundry room were in progress as well. I have to say, I was a little bummed the hardwoods hadn’t been started yet but we are starting to see progress!

I will say the title isn’t exactly what I wanted but overall it’s not bad. I would have preferred white marble in the master (I’m all about some white rooms!) or at least the new 12×24 tiles but those weren’t an option and well the white marble was more than Matt was willing to spend. In any case, I think the tile looks good.

Upstairs Guest Bath (half Jack to bedroom #3)

Ensuite bath (aka guest suite/bedroom #4)

Master bath – looking at the vanity area

I’m hoping for more progress by the end of the week. Matt’s parents are coming to town on Friday and we will take them to the house to look around. This will be their first time!

Skin Care – again….

November 17, 2014 mrs_ellyk Comments 0 Comment

I know, I know. I seem to change skin care routines all the time. It’s nice now that my skin isn’t so super sensitive, I can change things up for time to time and not worry.

This new routine is a mix of several previous skin care routines. So here’s what I’m currently using:

Cold pressed, unrefined Coconut Oil (I get mine from Costco for around $15.00)
Cerave Foaming Facial Cleanser
Olay Pro-X Advanced Cleansing System
VoilaVe Rose Hip Oil

I start with Coconut Oil. I scoop out a little bit with my fingers and massage the oil into my skin. I find this is a good way to breakdown your makeup. Once I’ve massaged my skin I will use a cotton round with a little Coconut Oil to remove my eye make up. I would suggest lightly wetting the cotton round, otherwise you’ll get cotton fibers stuck in your eye lashes. Once I get the majority of my eye makeup off, I flip the cotton round over and wipe off the rest of my face. You will still have a decent amount of oil on your skin. And most times I will actually use whatever oil is left on my hands to massage my skin a bit more. I basically just use the cotton round to remove the makeup before massaging more oil in. You can do this as long as you want. Some nights I take my time and others I just do a quick once over before moving on to the next step. This is the facial massage I kind of follow, but not really. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h022_ZDnv0&app=desktop

Once I done massaging the Coconut Oil into my skin, I get about a quarter to half a pump of my Cereva Cleanser. I add a little water and rub it on my skin but just enough to get the product on my skin. Then I use my Olay Pro-X to cleanse the rest of my skin. This doesn’t actually remove all the oil but I feel like it does a good job of removing any remaining dirt.

After I rinse my face off, I pat it dry and apply 3 drops of the Rosehip Oil. True Rosehip Oil does NOT smell like roses. It has a very earthy smell. Matt says my face smells like grass after I apply it. The Rosehip Oil absorbs pretty quickly into the skin (like 5-10 mins). I then apply my Mary Kay eye cream and moisturizer.

As you can see, this is kind of a process but it seems to be working pretty well for me. My skin has gotten drier as I’ve gotten older and I really like using oils. I feel like my overall complexion has evened out some since I’ve started this routine. I also feel like my blackheads getting better. I haven’t had any crazy breakouts either. I would recommend this routine for all skin types. Dry skin needs the moisture and oils actually help oily skin not over produce oil.

You can also search the blog for OCM and that will pull up a post or two regarding the Oil Cleansing Method. You could do this with Coconut Oil instead of the process I am currently using.

Under Contract!

November 10, 2014 mrs_ellyk Comments 1 comment

Say what?!?!? So a funny little thing happened over the weekend, Matt and I went under contract on a house. But wait, I thought you guys were looking at lots? Well, we were. Here’s what happened in the past week and a half.

I was over in the neighborhood 3 out of 5 days last week. I met my mom to look at lots the Friday they were released. Matt and I went back on Sunday and then I went over with our realtor, J, on Tuesday. While J and I were there we also stopped by another builder. The plan had been to see how many lots they had left and basically we would compare the two builders and see what might be better. We quickly realized they had 2 houses that were in progress and both for sale. We walked through both and the more we saw the more I fell in love. After some not so subtle hints to Matt I was finally like, “I want this house!” J contacted the builder and started to see what we could work out with either house. Fortunately one house was a little further behind in the process and we decided that one would work better. Thursday afternoon Matt and I met J at the house for a quick walk through. Then we went to the office to start talking about the house. We found out the finishes that had already been chosen and discussed the options still available for change. Once we got all the prices we were set to make an offer.

Our offer was submitted Friday morning and by Friday afternoon we had a counter. We talked it over and submitted our counter. Unfortunately the builder didn’t respond and by 9:30pm we decided to accept their offer. We just had to wait for the contract. Saturday was kind of nerve wracking as we waited, and waited. By mid afternoon as we were leaving the State game we got the contract. Once we got home, we started reading through all 46 pages. Matt signed and then I signed and we were done. We were told we would have to pay our deposit before the builder would sign so yesterday Matt and I headed over to our new house to pay our money and look around!

It was nice to be able to take our time and wander round. We took a bunch of pics of our house and we also took pics of the house next door. It is further along and the finishes are similar so it’s nice to have a few pics of what ours will look like (but I will post those later – gotta pace myself 😉 ). With that said, I’ll post some pics. 🙂

Me in front of the sold sign. Matt didn’t tell me my eyes were closed.

Back of the house/porch which will be screened in later

And the lots are open!

October 31, 2014 mrs_ellyk Comments 1 comment

It looks like the blog might officially be taken over by house stuff, and I am STOKED! I’ve mentioned a few times that we were looking. Well as of right now, the plan is to build a house in a Golf Course community in an area around Raleigh. I’ve been patiently waiting since August to find out where their lots would be. The only *slight* downer so far is my original email said the prices would start in the Low’s but now it looks like they will start in the Mid’s. :/ I hope we can still make it work.

It was odd because I checked the builder website this morning and didn’t realize they had finally posted the house plans. This also meant the site map had been released! WHAT!?!? I’ve spent the last hour looking over the lots and taking a Google street tour. But here’s the thing, they are NOT the lots Matt and I thought they would be. We assumed they were going to be in another part of the neighborhood instead they are sprinkled into an existing section. While I guess it’s okay, I feel like the other lots were a little better. Anyway, it is what it is so we will make do. I plan to run over there this afternoon to scope out the lots and see which ones are better than others. The plus side, is Matt and I know where these lots are and we are familiar with the streets so just looking at the site plan we already have an idea of what might be good.

For the past few weeks I’ve started pinning items for our new house! I am having the best time looking for ideas and searching for new furniture. I never properly decorated our current house because Matt kept telling me to wait until we “move into a new house”. Well THAT time has come! Unfortunately we will need a decent amount of furniture for the new house and we won’t be able to purchase it all at once. But that will give us time to live there and decide what we will need and where.

Here is a map of the lots.

Let the house planning begin!

Happy Halloween!

Ramblings

October 2, 2014 mrs_ellyk Comments 0 Comment

Holy blog batman! It’s been a while. There is not much to report lately. I’ve been busy with work. I was moved to a new group and so far things are much better. I am still doing what I was doing but the group is more organized now with a good manager. 🙂 It also looks like I might be able to expand my current position. There is nothing currently going on with the house. Not much we can do until the lots open up and we see what the prices will start at. I am pretty hopeful it will work out because I am literally dreaming about the house plan we have picked out. I am super excited about possibly building a house. I know we will have to make some compromises but it’s very exciting!

I will try to have a review of my new fiber lashes this week. I’ve had them for a few weeks now but I’ve only used it a few times. I don’t feel like I need them every day but I do think they work pretty well so stay tuned.

I also have a couple of craft projects to complete. I finally broke down and bought a wooden E that I plan to cover with wine corks. There is no shortage of corks at the house so I need to start sorting through them to see which ones will work the best. I also have all the items I need to make a ring holder. I think I want it to be a surprise because there is a fun, whimsical aspect to it. We don’t have a home game this weekend so I should have the time to work on one or both.

Hopefully I will have a review and at least one project to post next week. 🙂

IT Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC Cream

September 8, 2014 mrs_ellyk Comments 1 comment

Okay so I am FINALLY doing my review on the IT Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC Cream. I’ve had this product for a few weeks now and I must say, I really like it. Do I love it? No. Would I repurchase? I’m not sure.

Let’s review it. First off it has a nice thick consistency but, to me, it doesn’t feel heavy on the skin. I feel like it “melts” into my so it doesn’t feel like I have foundation sitting like the Lumi does. Next, the box says it is medium to full coverage. Eh, I think it’s more of a light to medium coverage. Now maybe this is purely based on application. I tend to buff my foundation in pretty well. I don’t really care to have foundation sitting on the skin. And well, I’m not great at building coverage so…yeah. The foundation has a bit of a citrus scent but I don’t find I can smell it once it’s on my skin. Apparently, the scent comes from the snail exact? That’s just something I found online.

One thing I really like about this foundation is the finish. Since I have oily skin, this gives me a nice velvety finish. I don’t find it to be matte but it’s also not dewy. Even by the end of the day, I don’t really feel too shiney. I also feel like it has pretty good staying power. I normally set it with my Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder. I should add, I don’t think the powder really helps to keep me “matte” but I do like the powder.

Like I said, I’ve worn this for a few weeks now and even after being out in the hot this weekend and last weekend, I felt like my makeup held up pretty well. Saturday Matt and I went to the NC State game and when we got home I took a pic of my makeup. It lasted through fairly hot temps for several hours.

Okay, I guess I should discuss why I don’t love it and why I might not repurchase. While I love the finish, honestly, I don’t feel like there is anything so super special about this foundation. It has a nice finish and pretty good coverage. It has pretty okay staying power, but for the money I feel like there are other things out there that should work just as well right? Overall, I’m not completely blown away by it. (My favorite foundation of all time was from Estee Lauder but it has since been discontinued for the Double Wear – which I am also not a huge fan of but might revisit at some point. )

This is after the game on Saturday. I’d had makeup on all day plus 4+ hours of being outside in the heat and sweating.

My next review will be a review of some new fiber mascara! :O

How to: Plastic Coated Cabinets

August 25, 2014 mrs_ellyk Comments 2 comments

I’m going to switch it up and not actually post anything beauty related today. I know you’re shocked! Ha! With #operationhousehunt under way, Matt and I slowly started to work on our “to do” list for the house. One project included sanding and repainting the bathroom vanities. The paint was peeling on both of them and the plastic coating on one of my doors had started to pop off.

First off, can I just say, who in the hell thought it was a good idea to cover cabinet doors with plastic? Anyway, here’s what you’ll need:

Goo Gone
Sand paper and/or power sander
Paper towels (damp and dry)
a plastic scraper
screwdriver/exacto knife
Kilz (or any primer paint)

Okay, so step 1 is to remove the plastic from the doors and panels. On all but one of the doors and panels, I was able to get a little edge pulled up and peeled from there. I had one panel that was really stuck so I used an exacto knife to get under the edge to get it started.

Next, use your Goo Gone to remove some of the adhesive. I tried sanding first and the adhesive just clogged up my sandpaper. The adhesive also gummed up into little balls from the sandpaper. The Goo Gone didn’t remove all of the adhesive but it did help.

Once I felt like the adhesive wasn’t as sticky, I wiped everything down with a damp paper towel. Then I used my sander. There were still a few spots that gummed up so I used my plastic scraper to scrape off the excess. You can kind of see it in this pic. I used about one piece of sandpaper per door. Even though the adhesive isn’t very sticky, it was still on the doors.

After all the doors and panels had been Goo Gone’d and sanded, I wiped them down one more time with a damp paper towel to remove any excess dust. I used a dry paper to clean them up and then we started painting. We used 2 coats of Kilz and about 2 coats of our cabinet paint. The doors weren’t quite as smooth as I had hoped they would be but overall it looks much better.

I should add, I didn’t bother to remove the plastic coating from the back of the doors. It’s white and I’m a little lazy. 😉 It just didn’t really make sense to add the extra step though you could. I also didn’t bother taking a pic of the final product. Since we still need to paint the bathroom and replace the flooring, I’ll do a before and after when everything is complete.