Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Wintry Dry Skin Relief

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I live in upstate New York, where it gets very cold and windy and dry in the winter. And, boy, does my skin suffer for it! I’m always on the lookout for a product that will help my dry, wintry skin.

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I’ve recently had the chance to try some of the new products in the Suave Professionals® line, which offers women everywhere access to premium quality products with the finest skincare ingredients, in this case, authentic Moroccan argan oil. The products I tried out are part of Suave Professionals® Moroccan Infusion Body Care, which feature authentic argan oil from Morocco, a lightweight oil rich in nutrients and antioxidants that leaves skin looking silky and radiant and moisturized. I had the chance to try the Moroccan Infusion Body Lotion and the Moroccan Infusion Dry Body Oil Spray.

Here’s how Suave describes these products:

The Body Lotion is a “daily moisturizer that absorbs quickly for up to 24 hours of radiant, non-greasy hydration”  The Dry Body Oil Spray “has a non-greasy formula that absorbs instantly and seals in long-lasting moisture.” They go on to say, “New Suave Professionals® Moroccan Infusion Body Care products, clinically proven to moisturize as well as Moroccanoil®†, feature a light, luxurious fragrance and are infused with authentic Moroccan argan oil, a lightweight miracle oil known to be rich in nutrients and antioxidants.”

My thoughts: I really liked both products. The Body Lotion goes on smoothly and is non-greasy, something I really appreciate. My hands felt and looked much better almost immediately. I’ve also started spraying the Dry Body Oil on my legs after a shower and they are really appreciating it! Both products do what they are advertised to do and my skin does indeed look better.

I’ve used products with argan oil before and liked the light, natural scent of the oil. I wear a very light perfume — light enough that the scent of the Suave tends to overpower it. I suspect that many will love this scent though.

   †when clinically tested with comparable Moroccanoil® products. Moroccanoil® is a registered trademark of Moroccanoil®.®

• Find more information about the Suave Professionals® Moroccan Infusion Body Products at www.Facebook.com/SuaveBeauty.

• Visit the Suave Beauty Facebook Page to get tips for radiant skin, style advice from celebrity stylist Brad Goreski and enter the “Radiant Wishes” sweepstakes for a chance to win Suave Professionals® Moroccan Infusion Products, a spa day or a trip to Los Angeles.

• Each comment left on this post will automatically be entered for a chance to win a $1,000 gift card. Just leave a comment with a response to this question:

 

For a chance to win a $1,000 gift card, let me know which of the Suave Moroccan Infusion Body Care products you would most like to try.

Sweepstakes Rules: 

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

  1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
  2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
  3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
  4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected. The Official Rules are available here. This sweepstakes runs from 2/7/2014-2/28/2014. Be sure to visit the Suave Professionals® brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!

Re-Thinking the Studio/Sewing Space

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Over a foot of snow on the ground here with more coming on Saturday.

My head is spinning. February, you are a cruel mistress.

Thanks go to our neighbor who, as we were sitting in the house getting ready to tackle shoveling, started to snow blow the entrance to our driveway. You know, that place where all the heavy and impossibly hard to shovel snow plow build up is. What a lifesaver! Then he proceeded to do a bit more of our driveway as we shoveled the top and the paths to the doors and the shed. Even with his help, we were out there about 2 hours. Sore backs all around.

The bed? Oh my heaven. With tired bodies and the aforementioned aching backs, we sank in to that pillow top and slept blissfully.

I’m in love.

I’ve been making a few changes to my studio/sewing space. For quite a while now, I’ve felt it was too cluttered. What I found charming a year or so ago is now just plain too much. So, since we had to move some things to get the bed up the stairs, I used that time to to reconsider what I wanted in that space. I decided to clear everything off the mantel shelf and take everything off the walls. I’d already moved the bookshelf into the bedroom (it’s right next to my side of the bed.) While I was waiting for the new bed, I repainted the mantel shelf in a lighter shade of aqua and moved Mabel out of the way of the incoming mattress, which got me considering a new place for her to live.

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Note snow on skylight. Makes for a rather dim photo shoot.

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I wanted something more striking and graphic on the mantel shelf. One day I had the idea to create a display of some of my favorite egg cups, arranged in a straight line all the way across the shelf.

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They always make me smile and their pastel colors look good on the aqua shelf. They are also a collection, variations of the same thing, and that makes for a more striking display. I bought that fifties-era print several years ago when I was working in San Diego. (I used that frame to display something else for a while but I decided to change it back. I missed it.)

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Hello, cheery, happy egg cups! I’m glad you’ll be right by my side when I’m sewing.

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Since I’ve been editing a bit in every room of the house, I had this pretty, but empty, frame sitting around. That adorable badge says Mockingbird Hill Cottage and I’ve always loved it, so I decided to hang it from the frame. I like it.

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Remember those frames I was painting? There were from the dollar store – made of plastic, black and silver, the usual document type frame. I painted them the same aqua as the shelf and now they display the Studios Magazine and Romantic Homes Magazine features. I don’t know if you remember, but I had these in much larger frames before and they hung over the bookcase, which used to be on this wall. This is much simpler.

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The little vintage spice shelf that holds The Lamb with the Party Hat has been moved to the right side of the sewing machine.

And I moved Mabel into the bedroom, where she remains, ready and waiting for a sewing session. The little table she was on just took up too much room in what is already a very small space. That’s the same reason I moved the bookcase. I wanted to make it easier for Don and I, especially Don, to maneuver around that corner.

Oh drat. I forgot about the Claudia program I just framed in the shadow box. I wonder if it should be part of this space?

I promise more photos when there’s light streaming in through that skylight.

Don leaves tomorrow. We’re already very sad but grateful, of course, that he has work. There will be two lonely girls here at MHC.

Don’t miss the chance to win a $1000 Target Gift Card. Visit my post on the new Cartwheel App.

Happy Thursday.

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It’s Here

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A note: I have two posts today. Scroll down for my latest book review and a giveaway.

It’s here.

Somehow, between Monday’s snow and today’s massive snowfall (10 inches and counting so far) the delivery was scheduled for yesterday…the only snow-free day so far this week.

The delivery guys were a bit strange…no small talk with these rather unhappy, cigarette smoking delivery men. I liked the first two guys that delivered the wrong size bed better. Scowls from the first guy, hemming and hawing about whether he could get the bed up the stairs. (I always knew they could.) Don ended up helping them with the mattress and I helped them with the box springs.

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And there it is. As soon as they left, Don and I fell on the bed, just like little kids. We love it. Although I always seem to take a couple of days to adjust to a new bed. This bed’s pillow top is such a contrast to what we had that it will take some getting used to.

I plan to make a slipcover for that headboard with the fabric that was on the old headboard. Wait and see.

Here it is, dressed in its finest. At least so far.

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I got the coverlet from Garnet Hill – a one day sale at half off. That price was about $60. Though I had wanted something aqua, this was such a good deal that I went for it. And I find myself really liking the gold. The texture is silky and gorgeous. It warms up the room so beautifully.

I bought a longer dust ruffle, which I was afraid would be too long. But it works! Overstock, about $28.

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The throw pillow on the left: HomeGoods, $20. The one on the right I already had. The quilt? You know all about that. My only complaint is about the sheets, which are Rachel Ashwell/Target sheets. I love that they are cotton and they are extremely cool to the touch, which makes this woman who runs hot very happy. The fitted sheet is great. But why the heck do top sheets always run small? This has happened to me more than once. I can barely tuck in it on the sides of the bed. This is a 12 1/2 inch deep mattress, but most beds nowadays are that deep. Maybe top sheet sizes should be rethought? Just a suggestion, Rachel Ashwell.

Delivery was around 3:00, so these photos were taken later in the day.

What do you think?

Happy Wednesday.

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Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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