Exciting Product Launch

Hi Everyone,

I'm sorry I haven't been around much this week but I'm just getting over the "plague of doom" as I like to call it which really is only a bad cold. I've been resting pretty much the whole week so I haven't had time to film or blog. I'm getting better so that trend of silence will change!

We're now under three weeks until Disney so be expecting a carry on packing video very soon and possibly a blog to just follow up. Not much is new except for the fact that we're all set for our trip things are progressing nicely. I haven't been shopping too much so I don't have any fun hauls or anything to post. I'm working on cleaning up my makeup station on my dresser for a blog about my current favorites and how I organize my make up. So also look for those things to come

BUT..........

THIS IS THE ANNOUNCEMENT! Sorry for the caps but I'm BEYOND excited by the news I heard today from Sephora. As you all are aware I am in love with all things Disney especially the princesses and I LOVE Makeup. I went absolutely mad for the Sephora Cinderella collection and she's not even one of my three tied for first placing loving Princesses. They happen to be Belle, Jasmine and Rapunzel. Anyways...back to the announcement. Disney and Sephora have teamed up again to release another line of the Princess Make Up collection and this next princess will be Jasmine! From what I have seen and will post below the collection is GORGEOUS! It's a lot of warm colors which is a great contrast from the cool colors of the Cinderella. It will be a lot of golds, browns and pinks, and dark eye liners. The nail polish is gorgeous! Lots of warm colors there too. I was able to snag some photos from the Sephora website (ALL PHOTOS BELOW ARE COURTESY OF SEPHORA, I DO NOT OWN THEM.). So I'll let the collection speak for itself but I am over the moon for this and will be impatiently waiting until March so I can get my hands on this collection. (At least I have a Disney Vacation in between)

The Eyeshadow Pallet, It's got GORGEOUS tones. I am already loving the bottom left and the purple in the middle 

The nail polish minis. Very pretty pinks, purples and an orangy color

This mirror is amazing!

Like Cinderella, Jasmine will have a perfume

This is a new addition that wasn't released with Cinderella, looks like an eyeliner and Mascara kit.

The Promo shot!

Another perfume

The whole collection. This looks amazing! I know I'll be buying a TON of it!

So that's the haps right now! I wish I had more of an updating even though this is a pretty exciting one! This weekend my husband and I are going to do a massive cleaning to get the germs out of the house because he had the flu for the first part of January and I'm now just getting over my cold so getting the germs out is a priority. Then it is superbowl festivities with friends on Sunday! Lots of new things coming in the next three weeks before I leave and TONS coming during and when I get back from vacation!

Stay Tuned and I hope you're all having a wonderful week so far! Happy Friday!

Just A quick Shamless Plug

Hey Everyone,

This is going to be a quick update, no pictures :(. I am just wanting to spread the word about the official Just Danielle Facebook Page. www.facebook.com/justdanielle. I am trying to get to 30 likes by the end of the month. This is another social media platform I'd love to connect with you all on. I'd like to share things that might not be long enough for a full blog, vlog or video review. So if you wouldn't mind taking just a few minutes to take a peek and give me a like if you do like my blog I'd greatly appreciate it! Who knows in the future maybe if I reach a certain amount of "likes" or subscribers there might be a giveaway!

Thanks again everyone for you're continued support and Just in case you didn't already know you can now head over to my YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/JustDanielle85, which now has not one but TWO videos up with so many more on the way!


XoXo
Danielle 

Small Haul and Surprise but Secret Weekend getaway!

So this weekend I was able to spend some time with my parents and my In-Laws in Syracuse, NY. It was a great weekend. We spent the weekend with just our families. My husband and I did not tell anybody we were coming into town because it was a trip specifically to celebrate a milestone in my dads life! (We both grew up there and when spending weekends in town sometimes we get spread a little thin trying to fit in a weeks worth of visits into one weekend) It was also the start of Hockey Season and a good weekend to shop because it was FREEZING! We quietly came into town Friday night and spent the evening with my in-laws which is where we stayed. It was quite nice to be able to spend some time with them. Saturday we visited what is supposed to be this wonderful mall and trying to become the second biggest mall in America, Destiny USA. There were some pretty cool stores there, but honestly with the exception of the Disney Store there isn't much there that we don't already have here where we live but it was nice to walk around and see what is new. I can't go into the Disney store without buying something so I was able to pick up a Cinderella Journal and a Minnie Mouse Coffee Travel mug. Both are so very cute! Then I was able to stop by Saks off Fifth Ave and picked up some Tea Forte Chai Tea which i cannot wait to try. I love Chai and since it is like all of 10 degrees this week all week, i figure this will be a good week to try this tea! I will make an update to let you guys know what I think. After a wonderful weekend with my parents and my husbands parents we traveled home and since I didn't have to be anywhere today I hit the mall! I picked up some travel items for my upcoming trip to Disney, (I didn't photograph that because I've already got them put away in their respective travel cases.) I also picked up some make up setting spray by Urban Decay and an ELF travel pallet that include eye shadows, blushes and lip glosses. It will be GREAT for my carry on, to just freshen up and update my make up look while traveling. I'll probably put it in my carry on. I stopped at one of my favorite stores Lush and picked up Bubblegum lip scrub after seeing a great YouTube review on it, so far I love it, but that will be coming up in a product review blog within the next couple of weeks. So that was my shopping fun!

DestiNY USA!

My Haul!!

In other news, I do have the introduction video up on my YouTube page and I am working on Editing my packing video and and Ipsy openbag. I'm hoping to have both of them up before the end of the week. Also this month I plan on doing a couple of quick product reviews as well as a Birchbox open box, that should be arriving this week,  and in about three weeks be expecting a whats in my/how i pack my carry on and also a quick packing for Disney video. As you know I also have plans to start vlogging every 3-4 days with my husband and we're working on that together but as most of you know editing does take up a lot of time and with the marathon training and work and getting ready for this trip, it's something I really do want to to do but might be slow in starting until after Disney. I will be working on new material and coming up with new things for you guys and I do really appreciate your patience with me as I start getting everything up and running!

Have a good night everyone and Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

Excitement and Motivation

Hi Everyone,

I am super excited and I just had to share! After many months of contemplating I finally picked up a Naked pallet by Urban Decay! I got the just Naked one, not Naked too or Naked Basic (which was significantly less expensive) because I need a pallet with natural colors, in my current make up collection I have a LOT of purples and dark grey's even some shimmery blacks because that's always what I've been told would look good on my dark brown eyes, and with my black hair. I was finding that these colors though were too nighttime for me to use during the day. I wanted something a little bit more classic and beautiful for during the day, especially now that I want to start wearing more make up to work as it's in a location where beauty matters a little bit more than it did. So last night my husband and I went to the mall to walk off our delicious dinner and I couldn't help myself. After continuously hearing about this product on numerous beauty guru channel's I decided that it was time to take the plunge. It has 12 beautiful shades in it. They are: Virgin, Sin, Naked, Sidecar, Buck, Half Baked, Smog, Darkhorse, Toasted, Hustle, Creep and Gunmetal. Naked and Buck are Matte shades which are really good for an understated but still very sexy look, Virgin is not quite a matte, but not quite as shimmery as the rest of the shades. The shimmery shades are amazing too, they can really dress up your eye lid. Creep is a very very dark grey almost black that I think I may use as an eye liner and Gunmetal is just as the name indicates it's a gunmetal grey color that is very very pretty! It would be super chic for an evening look. The rest of the pallet includes a lot of golds and browns and they're just really lovely. It also came with a travel sized version of the Eyeshadow Primer potion which is a wonderful primer. I've used this before and it really prevents creasing and helps my eyeshadow to stay in place. I cannot wait to really start trying out these shades and creating some good looks with it, and once I do, I promise I'll post some pictures of the looks. Sephora has a way of drawing me in, I also was able to nab a Fresh Sugar on the go set! It comes with a Soy Face mask and a Sugar Lip Polish as well as a mascara, those items were almost free, because it came with a full size Fresh Sugar Berry tinted lip treatment which retails for $22.50 on its own! The whole set only cost me $28.50 so the other things only cost $5.00 for items that retail for WAY more! I was very excited for this purchase! So that was my excitement for last night!!!

Sephora SCORE (Plus a Free Sample)

Naked by Urban Decay

Beautiful colors!

The Eyeshadow Potion Primer

Now Onto the motivation part!  I think I've finally decided what I am going to do health and fitness wise. I am going to be changing gyms in the next few weeks or so, I've got to take a tour of the gym I am looking into but they offer classes and personal training and the best part is that their monthly price for JUST the membership including all the classes is the same price that I pay now for my monthly gym membership, It's just as close to my home as my current gym but it also offers me alternative locations that offer more classes and products if i so choose that are also within a pretty close proximity to my home now! As far as nutrition this is something I've been struggling with and I need to really work on changing, I stumbled across a plan called Tone It Up, which isn't a diet or a fad, it's just a plan that revolves around clean, healthy eating which is the direction I'd like to go. That's not say that when I am on vacation I won't splurge a little bit, but when I am home I want to make a dedicated effort to eat more cleanly and less processed foods, so I think this is a plan I can follow and customize to meet my needs. It's a pretty hefty investment but it's less expensive than Weight Watchers which was the other plan I was following, but I realized that WW might not be the best for me because if I don't change the way I eat then when I stop doing it I will fall into the same pattern of indulgence. So those are my plans. I have 6 weeks until the marathon in which I don't feel completely physically prepared for but 6 weeks is a lot of time, so I will be dedicating a lot of my time in these next 6 weeks to building up a little bit more stamina and just mentally preparing myself for my first race! This is something I'm very invested in and something eventually I'd like to continue doing as well as building up the stamina/speed to do another Disney race at the end of the year but actually be able to exceed the pacing requirements rather than just meet them which is where I'm at now. I have my training outfit composed of the same things I'll be wearing at the marathon, just different colors so I know how they will feel. I will post a picture of my race day outfit on race day! It encompasses all of the princess in a unique way, but for now you can see my practice outfit...No make up was just about to run......Don't Judge!

runDisney in Training! This is my training outfit!

I won't be neglecting you guys either in my marathon prep. Actually I have some fun things in the works as mentioned in my last blog, but I'm almost ready to go live on my YouTube Channel, Just a couple more bugs to work out. I plan to have my first video up by Tuesday at the latest. Friday I am taking a weekend trip with my husband and our dog so I do plan on filming a bit of that as well as a weekend trip packing video! So those are some of the things i have in the works for now!

Checking in!

Hey Friends!

Just a quick check in to say Hello, things have been kind of hectic this week so I apologize. I've just started my new full time position so I've been getting used to that and readjusting to my new schedule and new way of doing things. So far everything has been going well but that's really all I'll say about that. Also I FINALLY got my Bath and Body Works London Calling candle, what had happened was they sent me the wrong candle with my original order, it was some Toffee Crunch flavor and it just wasn't my favorite scent, so they sent me the replacement one and it arrived yesterday and it smells wonderful! I have other items in the scent and I just love it! I'm almost afraid to light it because it's not being produced anymore and It just smells so good! I also got a REALLY cool Paris Nights glitter spray that is in the shape of the Eiffel Tower, it's so cute! So that's that!

Bath and Body Works awesomeness!

I've also been contemplating some type of lifestyle plan. I was considering checking out a gym near my new office that offers personal training, but from what I've looking into already personal training does not seem to be within my budget. The last gym I checked out was absolutely stunning, it was clean and professional and all the women that attend look like models but for just a basic gym membership is $50 dollars to get the "extras" like classes it bumps up to $80 dollars per month, and then personal training starts at $150 and that's not even private personal training, so that's just not doable personally each month. I wish it was because as I said the gym is stunning. So I am going to shop around and see if I can find something a little closer to home and that costs a little less money. I was also considering instead of personal training possibly doing the new Weight Watchers 360 program because I think I need more help on the dietary side than the workout side. I can motivate myself to workout, especially when my treadmill moves to my current house. (It's being stored in my parents basement 3 hours away at the moment.) I also have a gym membership that I can utilize for free weights and stretching, but part of the problem with my gym is that they do not offer any type of classes which is what I want because just running or doing free weights bores me to tears so I think classes would be better for me, so that's also on my radar. I'm not sure. It's something I am going to really look into over the next couple of weeks as I continue to prepare for my 1/2 Marathon. So there you have it!

I'm working on my YouTube introduction video and I'm still REALLY bad at iMovie and Final Cut Express. I am still learning. I have some ideas for 2 packing videos in the works, one for a weekend trip, which will be next weekend and one for a carry on which is next months. Wow Next Month! My marathon Disney trip is in 6 weeks! That just hit home considering I am a little behind where I'd like to be in my training, but I do plan on using it to help you guys if you want a new packing style and I hope to start vlogging once or twice per week for now because as you all know I do have a full time professional job outside of the blog and the vlog so I don't have endless time to dedicate but I do want to make sure I bring you guys a quality product and something you enjoy video wise and I don't want to short change my videos because I try to do too many with too little time, so I am working on setting a manageable schedule for vlogging and making organizational and beauty videos. I am also expecting my first ipsy bag within the next week or so, so an unboxing is in the works! I'd rather Quality over Quantity for now until I can get better at both!

Anyways those are my current projects and what I am working on and why things are a little slower that I'd like them to be. Thanks for being patient with me as this is all very new.

Office Makeover!!!!

This is going to be kind of a short one today guys but I just wanted to share that my office is finally set for now!! It's a little small but it'll work for what I have right now! I'll be able to start filming soon!!! Yay My YouTube channel will actually have content soon! So anyways Below is the photo of the before and after!

There will more coming soon! (A new Logo and Background are in the works!)

Here is the before and After for my Office! (See The new one is way tiny!!!)

2013 Resolutions, and 2012 recap!

Hi Everyone!

Sorry it's so late. I promised I'd have my New Years Resolution Blog up by the end of today. I spent most of the day lounging around. Surprisingly after a wonderful party with good friends last night I came away relatively unscathed. No major New Years Day hangover to report. However it is a transitioning point in my life at the moment in more ways than just the new year. I have left one aspect of my professional life and am beginning a new journey starting on Thursday and I'm very excited for the venture. So now that I am winding down my day I figured I'd get to it! I have quite a few resolutions I'd like to begin or continue so without further adieu here they are.

1. Perform more Random Acts of Kindness for both strangers and friends/family.
2. Finish my first 1/2 Marathon which is the Disney Princess 1/2 on 2/24
3. Continue and maintain my fitness routine and goals
4. Hire a personal trainer if possible.
5. To drop 4-6 pant sizes by the end of the year
6. Sign up and complete a 2nd 1/2 Marathon
7. Get more organized both in life and my household.
8. Maintain a clean house by making sure when new things come in old things are donated or thrown out.
9. Purchase a real Louis Vuitton purse (I Know this one is shallow but I've always wanted one)
10. Begin to plan our trip to London/Paris in 2014
11. Travel more before we start trying for children
12. Take my blogging/vlogging to the next level and continue to produce new content regularly
13. Possibly consider going back to college for a post graduate degree
14. Eliminate debts that can be eliminated....I want to try to pay off my student loans and health care credit card.
15. Begin to put money away and start looking to purchase our first home together.
16. Start taking prenatal vitamins to prepare for having a child in the future
17. Have fun, take more chances, stress less, live more and live for the moment.

So there you have it, my list of New Years resolutions, some of them are very personal and some of them are your normal resolutions, some are shallow but things I want to achieve. So that's it. That is what I would like to Achieve in 2013 and beyond. My goals are to make my life and my marriage the best that they can be and continue to grow as a person and a wife. 2012 was very good to me I did a lot and I saw a lot. So here's a quick recap of the major events that happened in 2012.

March - I saw Les Miserables live at Shea's theater, it was a production that changed the way I see musical theater it was an amazing experience. It was probably my 7th or 8th show that I've seen live and by far one of the best at that point and time. I was also full swing into planning my October 2012 wedding which at that point was almost finished, very ahead of schedule.

View from our seats before the show started

The stage Screen

Me all dolled up fro the production

Live guns!

The Production Poster

May - I have to say that outside of October May was my absolute favorite month of 2012. I was able to afford for Ben and I to take an awesome trip to Manchester, England. It was stunning and so much fun. England is my favorite country and this time it would be just Him and I. Our first trip overseas together. (We went to England/Scotland in 2010 with his parents for his sisters wedding which was also an amazing trip). The main purpose of the trip this time was to see Ramin Karimloo who is a West End actor who was branching out into a music career as well and had just released his album. His voice is absolutely stunning so I knew I just had to get tickets. We ended up getting 2nd row tickets because we bought them so early. On this trip we also were able to get tickets to the Phantom of the Opera production in which John Owen Jones and Simon Bailey were the leads. It was absolutely a stunning production and the staging was just amazing! It is right up there in my book with Les Miserables. We visited the Arndale Shopping Centre and City Square. It was amazing. We also happened to be there when Manchester City won their title in football (Soccer). The only downfall was that I didn't have proper shoes for all of the walking we did so we did spent more time in our hotel that originally planned but it was still an amazing trip and we did a lot. I cannot wait until 2014 when we get to go back to England. The Ramin Karimloo show was the close of our vacation and it was outstanding. It was such an intimate concert, not like shows I've been to in the past. He has such raw talent and it was worth everything we paid to enjoy this show. An amazing way to just forget about the wedding planning for a little while and a way for Ben and I to just connect and explore the world.

The Canal Side

More Pretty Water

 I <3 MCR

Manchester Cathedral and a Mini Cooper

The Window at the Cathedral

City Centre Hall

Phantom production poster

City Hall again

Shot from the Concert (Sorry it's Blurry)

Facinator! I wanted it soo bad!

Love Manchester

Simon Bailey and Me!

John Owen Jones & Me

More Blurry Concert Shots

Fish and Chip Shop!

The handsome and talented Ramin Karimloo and myself.

September - This month's highlights were my Bridal shower, which was so much fun. It was held at a state park near Niagara falls. It was a very fun day! My closest family and friends were there to celebrate with me! Also in September I was able to go see Ramin Karimloo again but this time it was in Pittsburgh, PA which is only about a 3 hour drive from where I live. He ended up announcing a US tour shortly after we arrived home from England and since his show was so good in England we figured we'd go see him here since it was so close and we were able to use points from one of our credit cards to book into the Hampton Inn, Pittsburgh for free. It was a gorgeous hotel room with a view of the whole city! The Ross Park mall was AWESOME! There was a Louis Vuitton store (which is where I will be getting my purse from later this year) and a Vera Bradley store. It was a pretty cool mall. The show was incredible. We had meet and greet passes and were able to meet him and talk to him for a moment. He really is a sweetheart! He remembered us from England! It was a very intimate show, only 500 tickets or so were sold for the whole event. His voice is amazing and if he performs in any more West End productions hopefully we can work it into our budget and our schedule to see him, so maybe he'll have something in the works for 2014 when we are planning to go! So THAT was an amazing trip.

Ramin and myself! He is so sweet!

Concert shots! I was allowed to take my SLR to this show!

Banjo!

More Banjo shots!

Dancing Fountain

More of the Dancing Fountain at the Hard Rock

Shot of the City

Gorgeous Downtown Pittsburgh

Another Shot of Downtown Pittsburgh

Krispy Kreme! I haven't had these in years!

Iced coffee goodness!

Vera Bradley Store

Lunch at 5 Guys

Shot from the car window!

View from our hotel room from one window

More of the hotel view

View from the other window in our room

One more concert Shot!

October - This month was amazing and so full of family and love. My birthday was on the 20th and we celebrated by having my bachelorette party! That was a good night! I had an amazing time with my friends. The next weekend was the event I'd been waiting for and planning since June of 2011. The day I married my best friend. The weekend started on 10/26 with the rehearsal dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe in Niagara Falls, NY. It was so much fun. I gave a speech and Ben gave the most wonderful speech! Then we retreated back to our hotel where I spent the night in the most gorgeous hotel room, I've never stayed in such a room, it had a living room area and a bedroom and a huge bathroom and also a kitchen area! It was bigger than my townhouse! (Not really, but it was huge). We spent the morning getting ready just the girls! It was raining all day but that didn't stop us we still had a wonderful wedding! We were able to take photos at a winery indoors and it was  so much fun! The reception was amazing! We had the best tasting food, stuffed pork and chicken parm. There was a photobooth and the DJ kept it rocking all night and played TONS of Disney music! Score for him! We had Ben's family from England, and my family from all over New York State and we were surrounded by our closest friends as well. It was just a wonderful night and I can't believe it went by in the blink of an eye. I'm so happy to be married to Ben, he is my friend and though in our 6 year relationship we had some ups and downs, we made it through everything and couldn't be happier!

Spinny Picture

Vows!(Photograph by Joseph Diebold Photography)

We did have our first Christmas together as a married couple and we decided this time to just to stay home with our beagle and spend the holiday together. Next year we are planning to have a big family Christmas so we'll see how that plays out. It's been an amazing year with way more ups then downs. I am hoping to make 2013 my year and start our lives together and plan some amazing adventures and hopefully make myself a better person and the best wife that I can be! I know it won't be completely perfect but I do know it will be a year to grow as a person and I plan on making it the best that I can!

Sorry it was so long winded tonight folks but I had a lot to share! I hope you like the 2012 Photo tour and I hope you continue to want to share with me in 2013! Stay tuned in the coming days for more fun things in store!! Happy New Year!!!