The Smartest Way To Save

Soooo.
Exactly how much fun did you have opening those credit card bills in January?
Stomach churning.

Regardless of how you used or didn't use the plastic fantastic for Christmas shopping
we still appear to be in a recession
and plenty of us are feeling the financial pinch.

And its not pretty.

New year, new decade.
No time like now to fix the financial track you're on.

Last year I was given a book called The Smartest Way To Save
by Sam Freshman and Heidi Clingen.


Quite timely really.
All things considered.

This book is full of hundreds of tips to keep you on track financially,
and keep you out of financial ruin.

It is a very easy read, with everything laid out in layman's terms.
Much of it you already know.
But evidently most of us weren't acting on that knowledge.
So you can use this one as a guide book or a road map.

It sits on my desk and glares at me when Mr Louboutin calls.

If you're hurting,
or if hurt might be on your horizon,
you may just want to take a look.

If you want a brighter financial future,
this is a good place to start.

Here are some words of wisdom from the conclusion of the book:

Remember...
It's not how much you make;
it's how much you keep.

It's not your income that makes you rich;
it's your savings habits.

It's not what your money makes of you;
it's what you make of your money.

It's not how much you own;
it's how much you owe.

It's not what you do;
it's how you do it.

It's not your habits that control you;
it's you who controls your habits.

It's not what you know;
it's what you don't know

It's not what you start with;
it's what you end with.

check out the website www.TheSmartestWay.com

xo

C

Test It & Tune It!

Last weekend was so much fun!
NHRA Test & Tune was in town.
At Firebird Raceway.
Aaaahh!
The season is nearly ready to begin...


Test & Tune is where the teams get to bring their cars out and check out new set ups etc.
Last year tons of teams came to Phoenix.
This year more went to Florida the week before, so the turn out was slim.
Yet fun!

There weren't too many folks out and about this time.

However.
We had a "Tweet up" going on.
Thats where a bunch of friends on twitter all get together.
The Nitro Twitter Gang flew in from all over.
They came in from Chicago, New Jersey, St Louis, Memphis, Sacramento
-many different places, for the 3 day event.


Here are some of us.
I had somewhat misleadingly led everyone to believe that if they flew out of the snow
the weather here would be gorgeous.

The 1st day was rained out.

Day 2?
Brain bendingly cold. Who knew?
I should have been running the bleachers.
But I didn't.

It was extra fun too, because the photographers who got me started in this whole NHRA business were there.
And they are fun.
So we hung out and had some laughs.


Day 3 the sun came out.


Drag Strip Girl shirt and the ever funny, ever high energy, wiley John Force.
He's such a character!


His 25th anniversary car looked awesome!

John Force Racing had three cars there this time.
Mike Neff is tuning John's car this year instead of driving.
Bummer.

Bob Tasca was there as was Tim Wilkerson.
It was quite the Ford-fest.

Brandon Bernstein was there in his new blue Copart car.
Odd not seeing him in red.

John's daughter Ashley Force Hood
brought the girl power for the weekend.


Ashley is one of the most glamorous, fabulous female pro athletes around.

and she's fierce!
This is her starting her first burnout of the day on Sunday.
Last year I wrote a blog post about the Western Swing, and asked readers who they wanted to win Funny Car.
The response was overwhelming!
From all around the world.
Who knew?
Sometimes over 100 hits per hour.
53% wanted Ashley to win.


Last year we saw the debut of the Al Anabi cars. They weren't here this time, but we were all excited to see Cruz Pedregon's new car.

Well, I was.

The Cruzer is often controversial (love that), makes for great TV (love that)
and you never know what he's going to say next (love that!)

This is an old picture of him.


The car looks cool.
Red cars go fast.



I have that exact same hoodie! I wear it on shoots.

NHRA is so fan friendly.
Drivers were coming over to say hi to that cute little boy.
That's John Force in the green suit.
He had just been high fiving him.
Little kids remember things like that.
Forever.


I went up to the top end with my photographer friends
while they were snapping the shoots deploying.


Wickedly cool.
Oddly quiet.
Especially after the high decibels at the starting line.

Had to tweet about it.

@NitroJohn meet at Wilkie's in 10? Roger that buddy...

I hope we have more Nitro Twitter Gang Tweet Ups.
Really cool folks, and tons of fun.
You should join us next time...

I'm so ready for the season to begin!

all pictures courtesy of Gary Nastase and John Amorosano. Apart from that one of Cruz...

Here Comes Superbowl!!!

Woo hoo!!
Superbowl is fast approaching.
And who doesn't love a Superbowl party??
I do!!!

But what's a girl to wear?
You want to look fabulous, feminine and fashion forward.
But you also want to support your team.
Or your boyfriend's team.

Your boyfriend's oversized Colts shirt isn't going to cut it.
(I'm saying "boyfriend", because it sounds more exciting than "husband", if you have one of those instead)

But don't worry ladies, I got your back.

Check these out:


from the very fabulous Halftime Designs (ladies who have the fashionable football fan's best interests at heart).

You Indy fans can wear the Coltini. A blue and white martini glass with a horseshoe.



Saints fans we have the black and gold hurricane glass, rocking it New Orleans style.

Halftime Designs shirts are designer cut and quality.
You'll look hot!

You can find them at Halftime Designs (www.halftimedesigns.com)

Order yours quickly though so it can ship to you on time.
And you will be oh so super-sexy-cool!

I can't for the life of me decide who I want to win this year
as these are two of my favorite teams.

But that means that either way I'll be happy at the end!

Have a fun Friday!

xo

C

Smoke It!!!

So check this out!
This one is for the Nascar fans.
The Tony Stewart Nascar fans.
About a billion of whom follow me on facebook and twitter.

How would you like to park your booty in Tony's chair?
(unfortunately, he won't be in said chair at the time)

This contest is from my friends the RacingFashionistas
Check out their fabulous blog.
My re-posting skills are somewhat lacking,
but here's their post.

(It just got sweeter too, as their buddy Tony decided to autograph each chair!!!)

We like to run contests every now and then for our readers and we have the exclusive opportunity to give you a chance to win one of two limited edition No. 14 Tony Stewart NASCAR® High-Back Leather Bonded Chairs from Office Depot. The Chair features an actual autographed signature as well as an embroidered signature from Tony Stewart.

All you have to do is send us a photo of your desk or office decked out in Tony Stewart fan gear. We want to make sure that one of these fab chairs will accentuate your place of business. The two top fan photos will receive a chair! We will run this contest starting today through February 12th. Both winners will be announced prior to the running of the 52nd annual Daytona 500. You can email the photos of your office/desk to info@racingfashionistas.com

And a little more about the chair....The luxurious red and black bonded leather upholstery chair is cushioned for all-day comfort. It features a padded armrest to help alleviate shoulder strain, gearshift styled gas lift knob, a cushioned seat offering exceptional comfort and lumbar support and sleek racing wheel casters with durable base and scuff resistant foot pads. The chair also features an autographed signature from Tony Stewart, as well as an embroidered autograph. It is priced at $229.99.

Now I personally know several gorgeous ladies who would give their right arm for one of these chairs!
If you're a Tony fan enter this contest quick!
If not, please re-post, reTweet, facebook and/or email this one out to all your Nascar friends.

I can't wait for the season to begin.....

Eye Cream Giveaway!

Hey everyone!

I made you a little video
about the eye cream giveaway.
Time's running out,
so make sure you enter today!

Here's the vid





Here's the link to the eye cream giveaway post
NV Perricone Advanced Eye Therapy Giveaway

The SAG AWards

So this weekend we had the SAG Awards.
There were a few fabulous and noteworthy moments on the red carpet. More so for the dresses than for the makeup.
But here are my faves:

Kate Hudson In Pucci.
This dress really showcased her phenominal body - check out her back!
And I really did like that sunkissed, neutral toned makeup.

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Dianna Agron.
Loved the makeup!!
The bold lip is gorgeous

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Marion Cotillard, as always, looking stunning.
Perfect dress, perfect hair, perfect makeup.
Cannot wait to see what she does on Oscar night!!

Diane Kruger worked this dress like no other.
Love the dress, LOVE the lips!!

Fox 10 Golden Globes Recap

Were you watching the Golden Globes segment we did this morning on Fox?
I think only the Arizona crowd could access it.

We were duplicating my favorite makeup looks from Sunday's red carpet,
so that you can pull them off yourself, and wear them out this weekend.
Fun!

So here's what I used:

My favorite look of the night was the gorgeous Christina Hendricks from MadMen.

Her makeup artist, Vanessa Scali, used the new Depsea and Egerie collection from Shu Uemura.

I used Julie Hewett eye palette in Soiree, applied with an Oval Shadow brush, a Chisel Fluff brush, and lined her upper eyelid with Makeup Forever Aqualiner in black, using a Bent Liner brush.
Then I added some Star Powder from Makeup Forever to make it glisten.

To create that gorgeous, perfect red lip I used my favorite red of all time, Julie Hewett's amazing Rouge Noir lipliner and lipstick and the CorinnaB Lip brush.

Sandra Bullock's makeup artist, Angela Levin used an assortment of Chanel shadows and Beige Felin lips to get this look.

To recreate this beautiful violet eye, I used Dolce by Julie Hewett, with an Oval Shadow brush, then Nars shadows Barbuda with the Chisel Fluff brush and Night Fever with the Angle Blender brush.
Using the Taklon Liner brush I ran some of the slightly sparkly Night fever through her lash line to get a shimmery liner.
I finished her eye with a touch of Julie Hewett Pixie, applied with my finger.

For her cheeks I used Julie Hewett cheekie in Vampie.

On her lips, Chanel's Beige Felin applied with the CorinnaB Lip brush.

To recreate Marion Cotillard's exquisite look, I used the Julie Hewett eye palette in Petite Four. I used the Oval Shadow brush to apply soft pinky Beurre all over, then the Chisel Fluff brush to run Mica over the eyelid.
I lined her eye with MAC Slate pencil liner, then using the Smudger brush I buffed the line out with a soft gray shadow.

That perfect, sexy, soft lip I used Julie Hewett lipstick in Simone

All makeup brushes are from CorinnaB.com
Julie Hewett products


Here is some of the fun from this morning



Don't forget to sign up for the Perricone Eye Cream Giveaway!
Sign up now!!