Pampering me at Xenon Academy

me all beautified

This post is really for my lady readers but if you guys want to read to, then great.
This week I have been pampering me. Frankly, sometimes you just need to do that. For me, it has been a long time coming.

Earlier in the week I started by getting a manicure and pedicure. Being diabetic, I really should have pedicures often but I don't get to. Anyway, if you have never had either, stop what you are doing...wait, after you read this...then stop what you are doing and go have one. I am here to tell you they are the greatest! My feet feel fantastic and my nails are all pretty because I had acrylics done on them.  The hubby even picked out the color and I continue to get compliments on that so, kudos to the man!
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So, today, I went on phase two of my pamper me plan. My friend Stormie and I frequent a salon called Xenon Academy-Denver. It is a school to learn all the ends and out of cosmetology. We had made appointments (not that you need one) earlier in the week. I needed some hair touch up...ya know what I mean right?

Sierra S.

I made an appointment with this gal...her name is Sierra. She had fixed my "wisdom roots" a few weeks ago and well, it was time again, so, I called on her again.

Sierra is funny and very personable and frankly, knows her stuff. She even remembered stuff I told her like eight weeks ago. Amazing! I told her when I publish my first book that I am going to dedicate a line to here that says, "she listened to all of my dribble." *wink*
To say I am happy with her work on my hair is an understatement. She makes me look good. No joke!

Sierra making me look beautiful!

I told her about me being a blogger and that I was so happy with her and Xenon that if it was ok with her, I wanted to blog about her. She thought that was cool and as you can see, I took photos too! I told her to continue to do her thing (after all, I had been there an hour at this point) and to not pose. So, what does she do...

Sierra posing! LOL

I plan to have an appointment with her again in about two weeks to...well...wax! No, not wax there...wax the eyebrows. I do not need to be looking like Bert from Sesame Street for gosh sakes.

Anyway, the only problem with Xenon is when you do get a student who is top notch and work with them awhile, eventually, they graduate. Unfortunately, Sierra is graduating at the end of July and moving on to open her own salon with her mom.

Then what am I going to do?
~Naila Moon

Friday Follow, Stuff and #100HappyDays Update... 5/30

Can you believe we are moving into the Summer? Geeze, time just seems to fly by. All those day I had wished it would hurry up...

Anyway, here it is another Friday and it is time to share and enjoy cyber friendship.  Last week I was busy and forgot to post so, I have two weeks worth of #100HappyDays for you.

What makes you happy?

#Review of Square by Square from Thinkfun

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

I love to play games. I like the challenge of them and how they keep my mind working properly. uh hmm...
I have made many a homemade games but love to play the boxed ones too.

That is why I was excited to receive this fun pattern game Square by Square from the Thinkfun company. This game comes with:
*Game grid with storage chamber
*60 cards
*8 blue piece
*6 green pieces
*Game-go bag

  

The Square by Square game is slated for children 5 and up which seems to be about right, although, I could see for a younger child it may not hold attention very long.

Square by Square is a challenging game with 60 patterns that challenge children to think while they are using the manipulative pieces that help them with fine motor skills. Thank goodness it comes with a bag to hold all the pieces otherwise, I could see the pieces getting lost really quick.

On each card it states what the child is making. This is a nice plus for the emergent child reader and writer. Also, there are a couple of hints on the back of each card that helps the child that may be stuck and to help boost their confidence to complete a task.

One other plus for this game is that it is meant for the single player. This means that a child is only challenging his or herself and is not under the normal pressure to win as many games do. The fun is in self discovery and learning.

Learn:

*Spatial reasoning

*Discover multiple solutions

*Perseverance

*Gain confidence

Here is a video review where my husband played the game and his thoughts at the end.

I think overall, I give this a 4 stars as I like the game and think kids would too. This would be something nice to have in the car for short trips as an alternate to other things.

Disclosure: I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

~Naila Moon

Wordless(ish) Wednesday...

There is nothing better tasting than at the movies!

Mondays Music Moves Me:Memorial Day

Today is a freebie day which seems rather appropriate since it is also Memorial Day here in the U.S.

I wish to thank all of the men and women who died to defend our country. You are not forgotten by me.

 I dedicate todays blog to PFC Andrew J. Habsierger. He died in Iraq defending our country. He was only 22 years old and he was my former student.

First up:

Next one:

...and finally...

Sunday Sayings: Decoration Day aka Memorial Day

Memorial Day is actually tomorrow. It originally was called Decoration Day and was a commemoration of the Union AND Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War. Graves were taken care of, decorated, and families often reunited on the grounds to remember. 

The date of Decoration Day was chosen because no particular battle anniversary was on that day.   The southern states did not recognize this holiday until after WWI.

As years went by, the holiday was extended to include all military who have died serving our country and thus became Memorial Day. Memorial Day is to not remember the living soldiers but the dead and to be grateful for their ultimate sacrifice.

“The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land." ~ General John Logan, Grand Army of the Republic

~Naila Moon

#Review: Shoplet Office Supplies-iPad Holder & Office Binder with Label Holder #shopletreviews

Come closer to the screen, I have a secret. It is not an overwhelming OMG kind of a secret but it is one none-the-less. Ready?

I covet office supplies! I do! This is not a joke. In fact, my daughter has the "sickness" too. *chuckles*
I love all the colorful pens, paper, binders and plain ole office supply stuff. I seriously cannot get enough of it.

 That is why I was so excited when I received office supply stuff from Shoplet.com to review.

See my giddiness!

The company sent me the Samsill smart iPad case and the Samsill 3-ring binder with label holder. I recently have managed to get an office space in our apartment and need organization. For me it is key and that is where the office stuff comes in.

Check this out.

First is the Samsill 3-ring binder. I can never have enough binders it seems. There is always some sort of paperwork or even in my case, artwork to be filed. This is going to be a major win for me. This one came to me in a burgundy kind of finish and is 1 inch rings. I generally like the smaller rings so that is great. these rings are sturdy and can hold up to 225 sheets of paper. The D-rings make the paper easily flippable which of course, I like.

The left hand side has a pocket for additional storage which I think is always necessary to have. If nothing else, it can hold stuff until you are ready to file it on the ring. I only wished it had two.

This binder also has a hard cover finish which is always nice compared to the softer covers. I think these particular binders hold up longer. Since they are made for heavier use, that is another win! Of course the label area makes it easy to mark the contents which again, is always a need.


Now, on to the iPad holder.
I honestly do not own an iPad. I know, I am probably the last on the planet.  However, I do know enough about technology to know if I did, I would want and need this!

As you can see, this one sits up quite nicely on my desk with a dual landscape positioning. The soft cover feels great in my hands. The smart iPad case was sent to me in blue but they have a variety of colors which is cool since I like a lot of color choices.

Do not let that soft cover fool you though this is made to protect that precious piece of technology!
The nice thing is, it has ports and cutouts so you control what you need to while using your iPad but not have to worry about protection. It also has a magnetic enclosure that makes it easy for accessibility when you are ready to use it again.

Finally, this particular smart iPad case is compatible with the 2nd-4th generations of iPads. I am sure that is a great thing for those of us who do not have the latest piece of techno gadgets.

So, there you have it. Go check out Shoplet and maybe you will be as giddy as I get too.

Disclosure: I received two products from Shoplet.com for my open and honest review. Never-the-less, I was not required to present a positive review. The review here is 100% my own and I received no monetary compensation.

#MondaysMusicMovesMe...Women of the 60's-80's

Oh yeah, it is time to hit the dance floor and boogie on down to the hottest tunes with the hottest music meme around. It is time for Monday's Music Moves Me hosted by XmasDolly and the dance floor cuties of Cathy, Colette, Stacy and yours truly!


Our Spotlight Dancer this week is Gillian! Shake it girl!

Don't forget we have an unbelievable extravaganza coming up with prizes galore. This is a do not want to miss for our 200th episode!
Ok now, on to the tunes!

This week is theme week and it is showing off the ladies of the 60's- 80's. This should be fairly easy but we shall see.

Starting off with the 60's: The Marvelettes were an all American girl group that consisted of school friends, Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart, Georgia Dobbins and Wanda Young. The group eventually became just the three.

Moving on into the 70's: This gal, originally lead singer for the Supremes, broke off on her own in 1970 and never turned back. She made many a song for herself with a solo career. She also happens to be a favorite of mine from the 70's era.

Rounding out this musical day of women we hop into the 80's: As with the 70's there are so many mentionable names that could be dropped. However, the anthem for girls of the 80's came from this gal. As with all women, we are a force to be reckoned with but boy sometimes, we just like to have fun too!

#100HappyDays...Friday Follow

I like to take on a good challenge once in awhile. Think the 52 week challenge, the A-Z challenge just to name a couple.
I think it keeps me sharp and aware.
I had heard of a challenge called the #100HappyDays challenge which seemed ok to me.

The premise is to take a photo every day of what makes you happy and post it with the above hashtag. You do not even actually have to post it publicly as long as you post it to the official site every day.

The site says that 71% of people do not complete this challenge. You know why? The excuses are...no time, I am not happy...I cannot find a photo...I missed a day...blah, blah,blah. LOL

First Day

You do not have to be giddy 100% of the time or even be having a great day 100% of the time, the point is finding one thing...any thing that makes you happy that day.

So, back to me...I decided to do this challenge and started it yesterday. I will be posting on Twitter every day @NailaMoon but if you do not catch me there, hopefully you can catch up on Friday when (if I remember) to post the week.

2nd Day

Try it out...it is for a mere 100 days...BE HAPPY!

Missed Tuesdays Coffee Chat and Rory's Birthday Party

How could it possibly be Wednesday. Surely it isn't and has been Tuesday all day. No? Pfftt....
Well, since everybody keeps telling me it is indeed Wednesday that means I missed coffee chat with Rory at Time Out For Mom. It also means I missed her fabulous birthday party.

Oh well, better late than never! She had rules you know. What to bring and all. She said she was going to provide Licorice and Beer which in all since of the word seemed weird. She then mentioned something about Lasagna and Buns, which is still strange but sounded a bit better.

She also mentioned the fact that Captain America aka Chris Evans, would hopefully stop by and bring the cheese plate and espresso. Yum, I do like cheese and well... Captain America is pretty yummy himself.

Anyway, I thought about what I could have brought to her party, you know if I had actually gone. Although, I have to admit, her party was in Canada and that is a long way from me. However, if I had gone, I guess I would have brought noodles and meatloaf. That would have been nice.

What would you have brought? That is if you had gone to her party. Tell me in a comment, maybe next time, I will have a better idea.

Red Hot Music: #MondaysMusicMovesMe

Well, hello my musical people. It is once again time to rock out with the Monday's Music Dance crew hosted by Xmas Dolly with co-host Stacy, Cathy, Callie and Moi!  If you have been with us awhile then you know we like to spin the tunes and share, share, share.

Look what is coming up soon too: 200th Week! Just in 10 short weeks it will be here and we have something BIG planned with loads of prizes. Fun, fun! Join us now and get in on all the fun we have.

Now, let's get to this weeks music which is a freebie week. Leading off this week is our Spotlight Dancer is Vandy J. Make sure to go say hello to her too.

So, let me get this party started with one of the hottest violinist around and an equally hot group:

Let's keep this moving on with a flip back to the 80's. We can certainly "relax" into this music. Or can we? ;)

This next one I do "believe" we will all like. 

Rounding out this music journey today, make sure to "call me" or text if you would like to hear something special on my blog. Hee hee.  Have a good week all!

Sunday Sayings: Mother's Day

This is my Mother with the first person to make me a Mother, 27 years ago. Happy Mother's Day!

A-Z Reflections #atozchallenge

They always ask us to do these reflections after the A-Z challenge and I can certainly see the value in it.
I can also see the humdrum of it too. I mean for gosh sakes, we just finished the A-Z Challenge for the entire month of April and they want us to write more! In my case, it was every single day of April.

In any case, here I sit in my new reading chair and I reflect. zzzz...oh, sorry, I nodded off a bit.

Anyway, I am thinking of the ideas I had to write about and what made me write about them. I am thinking about how I absolutely did not prepare in the least for this challenge this time. Seriously, there is value in doing that. You simply do not get overwhelmed. Flying by the seat of your pants is NOT recommended, although, as I proved, it can be done.

I am thinking about all the people that stopped by. Wait, there were very few newbies and those that did come by have been coming by for quite some time. In fact, I do not think I ever did see any of the "minions" say hello. Hmm....

I made a grand attempt to at least begin seeing people on the list but the truth is, the list is 2000 freaking people! It is almost near to impossible with the writing, family time and all that. Of those I did visit, I would only say about, maybe half if that, was I interested in going in seeing again. Some people just do not know or do not know how to write good content. I realize it is a learning process though.

Others, did not write anything at all which I kind of thought defeated the purpose of the A-Z but, I can admit I was wrong if, I was wrong. I also saw many people who made the attempt, they really did, but by the time I got around to see them, they had given up. These people should have been removed from the list but I can only imagine that it takes a bit to find them with 2000+ people participating.

Overall, you simply have to know what you can and can't do.

Final thoughts...I do hope that they bring back the video challenge. I know many people who participated in that on their own. Maybe it was an offshoot of past A-Z and I did not catch that. However, it would be great to have back...perhaps even a different month?

Also, maybe more minions so that more people get visited and revisited. Also, perhaps the minions do not get worn out.  Just some thoughts from me, in my reading chair or maybe...

...this is just all a dream sequence and my thoughts do not really matter anymore than the points on "Whose Line Is It Anyway."

Coffee Chat: Brain Teasers, Riddles, or Word Games

Growing up I had this game called "MasterMind" that I often played with my Dad. It is a game of logic that at first frustrated me but as time went on, I learned through the power of deduction to break the "codes" my Dad set up for me. Sometimes, I even stumped him.

Logic games have always been a bit of fun for my mind. Do you play Luminosity? I have on occasion. Believe it or not though the one I hate the most is Soduko. Oh, I have bought a game magazine or two but they simply just drive me loopy and I get impatient working on them. My daughter, loves them!

As a child, I watched my Grandparents play different mind games. My Grandpa loved crossword puzzles. The harder the better but he could do them in nothing flat. He always mesmerized me when he did them.

My Grandma's games of choice were word seek and find puzzles. She had tons of magazines with these puzzles in them. She often took them on vacation with her. If I was around, she let me play the games with her. She would even buy  me my own sometimes. I love them to this day and have a book in my purse.

I often would listen to my Dad or Mom tell a riddle to us kids. Sure enough they would stump us but my parents never told the answers. Sometimes, the riddle would be told over and over until we finally got it. I did eventually.

Here is one:

Giveaway: Blast Zone Magic Castle Inflatable Bouncer

Finally Spring is here and that means Summer is right around the corner. Hot Summer nights with a cool glass of lemonade, splashing around in the pool and having bbq's. Summer means fun! Why not have a little more fun with the sure to be "hot" giveaway. Check it out!

 

Blast Zone Magic Castle

TheNightOwlMama.com and StuckAtHomeMom.com along with MommaDiane.com, SoberJulie.com, Intelligent Domestications, An Alli Event, Mommy Has A Life, In The Kitchen With KP have partnered with a group of amazing bloggers to bring you Blast Zone Magic Castle Inflatable Bounce House Giveaway.

The hot summer is about to hit how will you keep your kids busy having fun and cool all summer? Blast Zone has the answer! From Bounce Houses to Inflatable Water Slides Blast Zone carry's the best inflatables.

Tricia from Night Owl Mama was able to review the Great White Wild Inflatable Water Slide and shared some really fun photos and thoughts about it! Be sure to check out the full review.

 As a special Gift for our readers BlastZone has supplied this coupon code: Blast Zone Coupon Code / Discount Code Get 10% your Blast Zone purchase on Blastzone.com by using this special discount code BOUNCEBLOG, for those interested in purchasing an inflatable from Blastzone.com.

 Disclosure: Naila Moon of Just The Stuff Ya Know was in no way compensated for this post and was only asked to help promote. I am not responsible for prize shipment.

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday's Music Moves Me and All That Jazz

I swear to you, Monday's Music comes around so fast! Welcome, welcome to another addition hosted by Xmas Dolly and co-hosted by Stacy, Callie, Cathy and of course me!




Our Spotlight Dancer is none other than my hubby Tamirisc from Chronicles of the Man Cave.
Put on your dancing shoes Honey and please don't step on my feet. Hee hee!

This week we have a theme which is Lots of Brass & All That Jazz!  I have my jazz hands up and ready to go.

 First up from the movie Chicago, I bring you the song, "All That Jazz":

Next up: I have always favored jazz and had the sound a lot in my home. Every Sunday we listened to Smooth Jazz on the radio or often known as 'the quiet storm'. This piece is new to me but oh, I love it!

Moving on into the classic jazz artist, one of the CD's I loved to play over and over was Dizzy Gillespie. Here he is with another classic Charlie Parker. Check out this sound!

The big band sound was a favorite of my Dad's. As it turns out, the father-in-law I never knew, was a big band director and often played the music of the time. You could not get by without, Count Baise.

Finally to round up this musical day of Jazz. How about a more contemporary piece with brass sounds and the musical stylings of Phil Collins.

This is with him singing....and....without!