For Morena: Paperie

My fellow blogger, Morena Hockley of Morena's Corner inspired me to finally share some of my paper creations.   The cards that follow are all inspired by vintage magazine ads and articles.  There was a while...about 4 years ago...where I went absolutely nutty for vintage magazines.  Some were relatively affordable; others cost me a pretty penny.  But they were all worth it!  Some of them had AMAZING articles covering such world events as the Nuremberg Trials.  Fascinating to read the take on "current events" all these years later.  

While I have precious little time to paper craft any longer, I still have an armoire full of treasures, tools, stamps, embellishments, papers, etc.  I can't seem to part with any of it...nor can I part with any of these cards.  They are like my babies!

Thank you for the push, Morena!  I hope you enjoy this post created JUST FOR YOU!

Remember to hop on over to Morena's Corner!  You will be astonished at her creativity and completely inspired to create great things.  And...she has a pretty cool sister, too.  And no, I met them separately and figured out MUCH LATER they were sisters!  Both absolutely stunning and exceedingly creative!  

CAN'T.STOP.LISTENING!

(He's kind of hot in the photo...right?)

Because everyone LOVES a little holiday cheer!

A few FABULOUS BLOGGERS have come together to bring you a great October Giveaway...

One lucky winner will win a 100 dollar gift card to Party City to grab those Halloween tricks and treats.

The Giveaway runs from September 18, 2012-October 13, 2012.

Open to the US only.

Click HERE to complete your entry!

A Rafflecopter giveaway disclosure: This giveaway is sponsored by participating blogs.  Fete is not responsible for the winners prize.  For questions or comments on this giveaway please contact 

A Thrifty Diva.

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The River

At this moment I am loving "this moment!"  Sure, I am home on a Saturday night.  But I am not regretting it one bit.  I am laying on my bed...this will be our last night together as my new, fluffy, tall (most importantly) delicious, marshmallow bed will be arriving between 5 and 8 pm tomorrow!  (Shout out to Jonas at Mattress Firm-Huebner Oaks location.)  A tangent...imagine that.  Anyhow, I am laying on my bed, windows open, first cool front of the season sweeping in and around me.  Mary is at my side with her brand new fall sweater keeping her snuggly and warm.  In the distance I am listening to Texas play West Virginia.  It MOST definitely feels, and sounds, like fall.

I am also loving Brown Sugar by Fresh.  

Every year, around this time, I start running VERY low on my signature fragrance Quelques Fleurs by Huobigant.  The timing is perfect, really, as I enjoy wearing The Body Shop's White Musk during cooler weather.  It is too heavy to carry off in Texas summers.  But, here again, every year, around this time I have yet to restock that, as well.  As a result I am forced to start digging into my stash of samples for reinforcement. Last week I grabbed a sample of Brown Sugar and fell into olfactory love!  It is warm like a pie in autumn and it feels just perfect for this time of year.  Added bonus: it is very well priced.  I ordered it online because I ADORE packages in the mail; however I know it can be purchased at Neiman Marcus.  

Every once in a while I receive an email from Hispano Bloggers offering me an opportunity to share with my readers a project or a product they are promoting.  Right now they have asked me to consider a book.  Never one to pass up an offer to read a book, I am more than willing to dive into a book and pass along my thoughts to my Fete-ish-istas!
While I have not received a copy of The River by Michael Neale, yet, I am excited to share the book trailer with you all.   "The river will inspire readers to live the life for which they were created." -John C. Maxwell, founder of EQUIP and The John Maxwell Company.

Source

Gabriel Clarke felt mysteriously drawn to the river, a line of white water and foam, making their way through rugged canyons in the heights of the Colorado Rockies. That passion for the river, from the depths of his being, was undeniable. Its mighty waters called him to feel the freedom and the adventure.

But something held him - the memory of a shocking event he witnessed in the river when he was just five years - something no child should see.

The chains of fear and resentment kept him away from the treasures you might discover in the river. He could not leave his past behind, still trapped, afraid of life than expected.

In this captivating story, Gabriel learns to shed the past means surrender to The River - soul, heart, body and mind.

The River - Book Trailer from Michael Neale on Vimeo.

Because everyone LOVES a little holiday cheer!

A few FABULOUS BLOGGERS have come together to bring you a great October Giveaway...

One lucky winner will win a 100 dollar gift card to Party City to grab those Halloween tricks and treats.

The Giveaway runs from September 18, 2012-October 13, 2012.

Open to the US only.

Click HERE to complete your entry!

A Rafflecopter giveaway disclosure: This giveaway is sponsored by participating blogs.  Fete is not responsible for the winners prize.  For questions or comments on this giveaway please contact 

A Thrifty Diva.

Click here to like Fete on Facebook.

Click here to follow Fete on Pinterest.

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Great Giveaway!

Because everyone LOVES a little holiday cheer!

A few FABULOUS BLOGGERS have come together to bring you a great October Giveaway...

One lucky winner will win a 100 dollar gift card to Party City to grab those Halloween tricks and treats.

The Giveaway runs from September 18, 2012-October 13, 2012.

Open to the US only.

Participating Blogs are as follows:

Thrifty Wifey | Life With Lovebugs | Crazy About My Baybah | Fete | Dollar Sore Deals | Mommy Blog Designs | OC Deal Mama | The Good Penny | Lots 2 Save | Saving Said Simply |A Thrifty Diva Surviving mommy Hood |

Please allow the Rafflecopter to load below.

A Rafflecopter giveaway disclosure: This giveaway is sponsored by participating blogs.  Fete is not responsible for the winners prize. For questions or comments on this giveaway please contact A Thrifty Diva.

Click here to like Fete on Facebook.

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The Bacon-ator

What is YOUR Kevin Bacon Number?

Mine is 3!  Yes 3!  Not even six degrees separate me from The Bacon!

Here's how.....

Source

Kevin Bacon was in Frost/Nixon with Michael Sheen.

Source

Michael Sheen is in Twilight: Breaking Dawn II with Marisa Quinn.

Marisa Quinn is related to me!  So there you go...

Google now offers you an opportunity to learn your Kevin Bacon number, too, or anyone else's for that matter.   Go to Google and enter in "Blah blah blah's Kevin Bacon Number" and watch Google calculate that person's Kevin Bacon Number and connect the dots for you!

(Note: A gorgeous Marisa Quinn at the Alma Awards which will air this Friday.)

I am lovin' my first giveaway!  Fete has been invited to it's first giveaway by A Thrifty Diva!  (Thank you, Michelle Cantu.)

The giveaway event goes "live" at 12.01 am TONIGHT!!!!  Visit A Thrifty Diva and get yourself entered to win a 100 dollar gift certificate to Party City in preparation for your Halloween!

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Be The Earth

Monday through Thursday are a blur.  I don't know why, but I am having to work really hard to remember anything about the beginning of this week.  The one exception is the amazing time I had at Meg and Justin's house on Monday evening.

As we know Thursday rolled around and I was emoting and finding my compassion compass, again.

Friday isn't terribly clear, either.  I remember what I wore and that I was late for work so I took my makeup bag to work and applied a quick face before I had to "face" any of my co-workers.  There were a lot of meetings and I was on auto-pilot.  Information overload.  I sat in the back and journaled.  I WAS LISTENING...it's just I am an excellent multi-tasker.

Upon arriving home I switched on the local news.  I RARELY do this as it is mostly just sad.  I saw the "first" student I ever really connected with (14 years ago) being hauled into jail for calling in a bomb threat at the airport.  That was the breaking point.  His mug shot, his image, his story...I couldn't handle it.  I broke down.  I called my mom.  My dad brought me fajita tacos.  I curled up in bed and cried.  Even Mary didn't like me.  She refused to cuddle with me and kept giving me the butt end of her body. Nice, right?  I realize, at this point, I have left my make up at work.  Thankfully it is the ONE Saturday out of the school year the school will be open.  

Saturday morning I woke up two hours late.  I left the house with wet hair and arrived on campus to put make up on, introduce myself to my classroom neighbor (who was diligently working...legitimately working...unlike me) and made a quick trip to Barnes and Noble to purchase Najla and Kamilah birthday gifts.

I can BARELY keep it together in the children's book section.  Why?  Who knows.  At this point if someone breathes wrong I am liable to shed tears.

With little time to waste I am annoyed by the "wait" at the check out counter.  I place my purchases down.   I am "coyly" checking out this issue of US Weekly when I hear the man checking me out let out a noise of frustration and annoyance.  He looks at me and says, "The computer just kicked me out of the system."  Jokingly, I replied, "Oh...I was wondering what I had done to offend you."  And I laugh.

He says, "I am never offended."

I say, "Oh yeah.  I guess I don't offend easily, either.  Instead I just get hurt.  That's my problem."

He says, "I am Buddhist." (I knew this...he was dripping in the beads of his beliefs...but in a really lovely manner.)

He goes on to say, "The Buddha told his son, 'When you are feeling upset, sad, etc. just be the earth.'  So I tell myself, 'Be the earth,' if I am feeling offended."

"The earth?  Why the earth?  Tell me about that."

(A huge line is forming behind me but I don't care at this moment.)

"Yes, the earth.  Think about what we do to the earth.  We urinate on it.  We defecate on it.  We vomit on it.  We treat it poorly.  Yet we can plant a tree in it and treat it well.  The earth knows no difference.  It just 'is,'."

Crickets from my side of the counter.

"Would you like your items in a bag?"

"Yes, please."

Huge score at Half Price Books today.  (Yes...I am always in a book store or around books or on Amazon.  It's a disease, I tell you!)

Still in shrink wrap...I don't care that this costs 30 dollars.  I am listening as I type and I feel really smart and really cool and like this moment belongs in a movie.

In loving memory of Michael Roman Morales.  Happy Birthday to my angel with really big wings!

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Naughty Makeovers for Nice Girls: Part Two-The Products

Ahh...yes, Part Two!  

It is not, at all, lost on me that when Dimitri made his appearance at Barnes and Noble (La Cantera: San Antonio, Texas) the ENTIRE front row had travelled FIVE HOURS to honor their dermatological hero. (Of course, they travelled five hours from the Rio Grande Valley and I was loosely related to one of them and the other was related to my first ballet teacher.  Texas, though enormous, is kind of just a small world like that...)

After a week and two days of using the following products I am not at all surprised by his sweet "groupie-dead-head" like following!  (They were just too cute.)

So a bit about SKINN Cosmetics:

"SKINN Cosmetics is a line of premium skin care and color cosmetic formulas developed by professional make-up artist Dimitri James.  SKINN formulates and manufactures all of its own products, using highly active, concentrated natural ingredients and avoiding excess water, fillers or packaging.   From concept to compact, from brainstorm to bottle, every product worthy of the SKINN name comes to life under one roof, and under James’ watchful eye. Skinn Cosmetics can be purchased at www.skinn.com."

I was gifted the following items.

Olive and Enzyme Cleanser

Stem Rejen Sirtuin Support Facial Contour Lifting Serum

Collagenesis Twenty-Four Hour Youth Preservation Cream

Palette of Perfection

After a week...here is what I can attest to.  My skin is most definitely more radiant than it has been in a LONG time!  (And that's without water...this has been a week of mostly wine!)  My skin not only looks, but feels, hydrated.  I have noticed an elevated level of "dew-y-ness" that isn't "oily."  It really just feels (and looks) like the skin of my twenties.  In fact...twice this week...I have been mistaken for late twenties, rather than late thirties.  What more could a girl ask for?

Without a doubt I will continue to use these products AND invest in more SKINN Cosmetics products.  

Next time Dimitri rolls through town, I will be in the front row with my iPhone camera ready to grab a photo opp!  

Thank you, Dimitri, for gifting me with these products.  It has been my pleasure to use them!

Souce: Unknown

With all this talk of beauty and make-up...I am forced to focus on the things that last way longer than my hydrated, thirty-something-year old skin will ever last.  (Because, yes, sadly....gravity is already starting to take effect.)  

In my opinion...there is nothing more beautiful than a woman who has lived a life...and learned from life...and has the fortitude to keep waking up, setting her feet on the ground and setting the world on fire.  

No doubt, wisdom comes with experience.  And experience comes with living.  And with living comes days, week, months and years.  Time births confidence and confidence automatically gives way to an appeal that can be defined as "sex appeal," although I think that definition barely touches the surface.  It is so much more than that.  A woman comes into her own at a time when society considers her shelf life WAAAAAAAY past the expiration date stamped on her ass!  What a crying shame!  Some of the sexiest, most wise, most caring, most understanding women I know are far upwards of fifty!  In my opinion...we should be worshipping at their feet and plastering them all over magazines!  (Oh wait!  What?  Centuries ago that is how it used to be?  Imagine that madness!)

To innovators like Dimitri who help keep the modern women well groomed and feeling good about her wise, beautiful, sexy self!

And to you youthful twenty-year-olds in precious bikinis posing on Facebook...I promise, it only gets better from here!  You will absolutely understand where I am coming from one day.

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