A big thank you to everyone who entered this giveaway!

& Congrats to everyone else as you will be getting a sample for yourself as well! Big thanks to Become Beauty for supplying & shipping these excellent prizes! I have e-mailed all of the winners to confirm shipping addresses & they have 3 days to confirm. If a winner has not e-mailed me within that time frame a new winner will be chosen!

Looking to enter another giveaway? My H2Pro Vivace 1″ Giveaway is still happening & its a fab prize as well!

All of these winners were chosen by Random.org by Rafflecopter.

I was tagged to do this & thought it would be fun! Thanks to the girls at TruBeautyGems for tagging me! My 11 Things About Me is going to be pretty basic, just a forewarning! I wanted to give out a few facts for new readers! I added pictures & such as well, but that’s just because I think that its most visually appealing 🙂

 11 Things About Me:
 1. I was born & raised in Huntington Beach, CA & most of my family still resides there

My Dad & Me

My Mom & Me

2. My husband & I eloped after knowing each other about 3 months. 3.5 years later we’re still happily married.

2008

2012

3. I work lots of different jobs on my own & have one normal job which is as a preschool teacher in the afternoons.

4. I have a Boxer/Shar Pei mix named Cobo, a Poodle/Shih tzu mix named Zeus, & a tabby named Gizmo. All three are rescues.

5. I rarely if ever drink soda. I never drank it going up. If I really want some, I reach for Dr. Pepper most often.

6. My nails actually grown & turn up. It makes it really hard to keep polishing looking fresh & not chipped.

7. My birthday is next month on the 7th. I’ll be 23.

8. I hate tofu. Doesn’t matter how you cook it.

9. I have 3 tattoos.

From 2007. I miss having purple & teal hair!

10. I hate cleaning my brushes & put it off till the last second. One of my goals this year is to get over that.

11. I like REALLY spicy food. No, really.

Their Questions for me:

So in case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been in & out of blogging lately. Between covering shifts for fellow teachers to being beyond ill, the computer hasn’t been my friend. So what did I do? I ate a lot of Jello, watched some bad tv, & read Diary of a Mad Fat Girl by Stephanie McAfee. I love to read & what else can you put down & pick right back up when you’re sick? As I drifted in & out of consciousness, this was my bestie.

I love books that star a funny, quirky lead so this fit right in. The main character is Graciela “Ace” Jones & she is just the right mix of all things sugar & spice. She kept me laughing throughout which is also quite important. She’s a southern charmer for sure! Between Ace & Sookie, I feel like we need to be stationed in the South so I can sip a beer, have a BBQ, & really learn how to be southern myself! Sure these two are states away…but still… I feel like they’d click.

Basically this story boils down to a girly mystery. Ace’s best friend is in a bad spot, real bad. What would you do besides try to solve it right? I don’t want to go into too much detail, but this is definitely a feel-good chick flick in the making. But way funnier & without the tissues. Hurray!

I think this is the perfect spring break read. When I say that, I mean full of giggles & something I wouldn’t read in front of scholars. I can’t be the only one that loves a quick, entertaining book right? So if you’re looking for something along those lines, check this one out & tell me what you think!

Feel free to join our book club discussion online & please do comment below if you have any questions!

This book was sent to me for sponsored review. This does NOT guarantee a positive or negative review, as always, my opinions are my own. These ramblings are mine & mine alone. Please see my disclosure policy for more details!

I love Busy Philips & apparently tonight is no different.Minimal makeup with fun additions like her shoes & earrings. Although this isn’t the dress I would’ve picked, she’s beautiful & rocking pop of color pumps. I will always be on the side of pop of color pumps. The whole look together? Hmm, not sure about that flow! I wish it had more shape with that print as well, she has such a killer figure!

Plus, check out these earrings! Talk about statement pieces right? Love it or leave it?

I love this look, gorgeous gorgeous GORGEOUS. I am such a fan. Normally I like contrasting colors but I find this whole look stunning. Would you wear a gown that matched your hair? Love it or leave it?

Now that we are finally settling in, I was ready to make my first Sephora order to our new address! The Sephora Friends & Family Sale happily coincided with this which was a true stroke of luck! I loaded up my cart (ok, overflowed it!) & set out to order. Then, I was road blocked. I tried for over 15 minutes to edit my address, switching it around and practically upside down. I finally gave up, upset because there were Christmas gifts & giveaways in there, and e-mailed them. Here is the conversation:

Me: 
I wanted to use my code last night and was very excited, but it said it couldn’t ship to me. My address has recently changed but I find it hard to believe Sephora would refuse shipment to a US Military Base. I tried it every way could. Plus, I can’t even use my discount anymore.

Sephora:
Dear Stephanie,

Thank you for contacting Sephora.com.

We are excited about your interest in our website, but unfortunately, Sephora.com cannot accept APO billing addresses. To place orders successfully on our website, the billing and shipping addresses must be based in the United States (non APO/ military address), as well as the issuing bank of the credit card.

Fortunately, we do have a storefront on Amazon.com, and Amazon can use APO billing addresses. Sephora will ship via their site to a US mailing address, and you can use your APO billing address on this site. We suggest you visit:

http://www.amazon.com/sephora

To view our Sephora retail locations outside of the United States, please refer to the Store Locator at Sephora.com.

If we can assist you further please feel free to contact us again at 1-877-SEPHORA (1-877-737-4672).

Regards,
Stephanie

Sephora.com Client Services 

I’m angry, hurt, & very confused. Sephora basically just told me “We don’t ship to the military, but feel free to shop on Amazon!”

FYI, when you shop on Amazon you can’t use your points, discounts, or get samples. You also can’t participate in the sales. After so many years as a loyal customer, I am shocked. I mean, “Sorry, you’re military” and that’s it? “Fortunately” I can order through Amazon and they can help me find Sephora stores outside the USA. ARE YOU MESSING WITH ME? I live on a MILITARY BASE, not in France! How is my family being the military making us “less than” citizens of the United States?

I’ve written back to Sephora to clear CLEAR verification of this, though they seem to have made it pretty clear. I’ll post when they return my e-mail.