Fitness, Scary Stories, Malachite, Cat Traps, & More!

I confess...  I took a four day weekend this weekend just because I could!  I had to work on Memorial day so I figured why not take a day off later in the week to make up for it-and then I thought, why not take two?!

I confess... I'm sticking with this whole gym thing and loving it.  I love feeling tired and sore, and I love that I feel sexy in my sports bra.  For the first two weeks I wore a sweater to the gym to hide things I didn't want bouncing around (a.k.a my fat arms) but it being 90 degrees out I finally decided I didn't care what people at the gym thought.  I'm just going to go and do my thing!

I confess... I'm a total girl.  I have enjoyed buying cute workout clothes too.

I confess... My heel has been hurting me for the last month or two.  It started out being just once in a while and now it pretty much hurts all the time.  Someone thought it might be an issue with arch support so I went and bought some shoes and inserts ($186 worth) that are made specifically for that and running impact at a store that does a test to see what kind of shoes you need.  So far my foot hurts worse in them...

I confess... When I heard that they are going to be making a Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark movie I searched frantically for my books.  Couldn't find them, so I immediately ordered a set on Amazon.  Love.

I confess... We went to our favorite bakery/coffee shop, Pierre Country Bakery & Cafe, which is owned by a cute French couple the other day.  The new manager is very nice.  When I ordered 1 Napoleon and 2 Thumbprint Cookies he said "I'm going to give you two Napoleons."  And he put them all in a box, handed them to me, and said "You know what, it's all on the house."  Well then sir.   Thank you.  A way to a girls heart and all of that is through her fat ass... And wallet-free is nice.  I'll take it!

I confess...I finally got my number one lemming nail polish.  Aly's Dream Polish Malachite!

I confess... It's officially Summer.  Maybe not by the calendar, but it's over 90 degrees now.  What kills me is that it's freezing at work, cool at the gym, cool in my car, and hot as hell in my apartment.  My body has lost all ability to regulate my temperature due to working in an ice box!  Oh well, I plan on using this Summer to soak up as many fun Summery moments with the roommate before he moves to Canada.  Like long evening drives and hopefully camping soon!

I confess... Dating is hard when you're out of practice.  It's been so long since I dated someone for more than just a few dates that I have no concept of timing... Or how to do it.  LOL, oh well... It's nice to be dating someone, if that is what it is.

I confess...  The cat traps are working.  (This is Shawn & Justin's Buff Wellington the third, or The Boy as we call him.  He is huge, and super lovey/cuddly.

What do you have to confess this week?

Linking up with:

Handmade Wonder Woman Love

I love Wonder Woman.  Not only is she absolutely gorgeous, but she's one fierce lady!  I find that having Wonder Woman goodies around reminds me to empower myself.  When I put on my Wonder Woman shirt I specifically choose it for the day because I feel the need to feel strong and hit the day head on!  So what better way to combine my love of supporting handmade and this superhero than handmade listings?  

1 // Vintage Wonder Woman Print by Dania Piotti

2 // Wonder Woman Swimsuit by Kooj

3 // Wonder Woman Bodice Sugar Cookies by Smith-O-Later 

4 // Wonder Woman Makeup Zipper Pouch by The Curious Needle

5 // Wonder Woman Teen/Young Adult Costume by 2Twos

6 // Wonder Woman Toms by Green Morning

7 // Wonder Woman Print by The Tiny Hobo

8 // Training to be Wonder Woman Workout Tank by Vinyl Vocabulary

9 // Wonder Woman Apron by A Little Geeky

10 // Wonder Woman Leg Covers by Zanza Designs Clothing

11 // Wonder Woman Vinyl Wall Clock by Re-Vinyl

12 // Wonder Woman and Cap T-Shirt by SteGentileNerdArt

13 // Blue Titanium Wonder Woman Engraved Ring by Ann Jewelry World

14 // Wonder Woman Doll by Little Ida Crafts

Which item is your favorite?

May Group Giveaway: Support Handmade - 3 Winners!

Hello lovelies!  Can you believe May is just about over?  I can't, this year is flying by!  My fabulous sponsors have teamed up again to bring you an absolutely fantastic May giveaway which supports handmade business, and I LOVE supporting handmade.  There will be 3 winners.  1 winner will win a surprise Indie Gift Box and two others will win $25 Etsy Gift Cards!  Are you excited?  You should be! 

Indie Gift Box | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

Indie Gift Box is a monthly themed subscription box filled with handmade goodies from independent artists and artisans!  It's filled with beautiful one of a kind items that will make any heart happy!  I recently wrote a review and shared the April Sweet Spring box so you can read all about it and enter to win another one HERE!  Don't forget that you can take 15% off the first box in a subscription with code INDIECHAOS15!

Blog | Bloglovin | Instagram | Twitter | Pinterest

Rainstorms and Love Notes is a lovely blog written by Ashley Nevis from North Carolina.  On her blog she shares about two recipes a week, the occasional DIY, funny stories, and talk about TV, football, and more!

Check out these great posts: DIY Script Scarf, Salted Caramel Shortbread Bars, and Lunch Love Notes.

Blog | Bloglovin | Pinterest | Instagram | Facebook

Fantastical Sharing of Recipes is a block written by Sarah, and she does exactly what the title states-share recipes!  For example, check these out: Maple Bacon Cinnamon Rolls, Pizza Burgers, and Buffalo Chex Mix.

Blog | Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Amber Nicole is a self-titled blog by a saucy tattooed and pierced mamma and military wife who writes great posts such as Cupcake Sandwiches, DIY Dry Shampoo, and Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas.

Blog | Bloglovin | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram

From L.A. to LA is a blog by Shoshanah, and while she writes about life from time to time she reads a lot of books!  Check out these posts: The Facebook Breakup, In the Land of Men, and Steak it to Me.

Blog | Bloglovin | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Antiques & Coffee is a lovely blog full of live and heart, written by someone with a love of inspiration.  Check these out: May Inspiration Board, DIY Distressed Jeans, and Pop Art Makeup Halloween Tutorial.

Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin

Manicures & Extra Sprinkles is a blog by Christin who writes a lot about beauty-because she is a beauty! Check out these posts: DIY Body Scrub, M&M Rice Kripsies Treats, and 5 Day Eat Better Plan.

Enter the Giveaway

Open Worldwide - Ends 6/10/14 at 12AM

Entering the below Rafflecopter agrees to all Terms and Conditions within.

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Indie Gift Box: Beth
$25 Etsy Gift Card: Brittany
$25 Etsy Gift Card:: Lauren

Win a 16GB iPad Mini

A Dose of Paige has been around for two whole years. To celebrate, she's put together this amazing giveaway! So get to entering and get to celebrating!

   

 Yep! That's right! An Ipad mini! Here's the deal: This giveaway is open from May 27th-June 17th at midnight and you can enter using the Rafflecopter widget below. This giveaway requires no purchasing of anything and is void where prohibited. The associated social media networks in the Rafflecopter widget are not affiliated with this giveaway in any shape or form and is sponsored by various bloggers listed in the widget. The winner will be selected at random using the Rafflecopter widget and will be contacted by Paige within a week of the giveaway ending. The winner will then have 48 hours to claim their prize before another winner is selected.

Most of all though, have fun! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Distance {Musical Mondays & Giveaway}

What is Musical Mondays?

Musical Mondays is a weekly linky party where we share a song we're into for the week, and talk about why we like it-or why it effects us.  Along with talking about music, I host a (usually) month-long music giveaway. 

This week's song:

Distance

by Christina Perri & Jason Mraz

The sun is filling up the room and I can hear you dreaming
Do you feel the way I do right now?
I wish we would just give up because the best part is falling
Call it anything but love and I will
Make sure to keep my distance
Say I love you when you're not listening
And how long can we keep this up? Up? Up?

Please don't stand so close to me I'm having trouble breathing
I'm afraid of what you'll see right now
I give you everything I am, all my broken heartbeats
Until I know you'll understand and I will
Make sure to keep my distance
Say I love you when you're not listening
And how long can we keep this up? Up? Up?

And I keep waiting for you to take me
You keep waiting to save what we have
So I'll make sure to keep my distance
Say I love you when you're listening
And how long can we keep this up? Up? Up?

Make sure to keep my distance
Say I love you when you're not listening
How long 'til we call this love? Love? Love?

This song.  My heart.  So many feels.

I've been listening to the new Christina Perri album a lot since I downloaded it a few days ago.  This song is from the old one, but it's amazing.  I love Jason Mraz too.  But what I really love is all the emotion in this song.  So much heart-and so relatable.  In fact it has been playing in my head on repeat during certain moments as of late-it's such a new and interesting thing to be feeling.  But I'm open to it. Open is good. ♥

Alternatively, one of my lovely readers let me know that her art was featured in the official lyric video!  That is so cool, so I have to share this version with you too-check out Raewyn's art at 0:26!  So cool!

What are you listening to this week?

Please grab the button and link up your Musical Mondays post in the linky!

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Now for the Giveaway

Enter to win a $15 Amazon Gift Card (sent directly from Amazon) courtesy of our sponsor!

This giveaway will run from Monday 5/5/14 to Sunday 6/1/14 at 12AM.  It is open worldwide.
Entering the following Rafflecopter agrees to the terms and conditions within.

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Thanks to our fantastic May Musical Mondays sponsor:

My Top 10 Favorite Drag Race Contestants

I'm not usually a person that goes for Reality TV.  I love knowledge based documentary shows and paranormal stuff like Fact or Faked-but not really "reality" TV.  Until... RuPaul's Drag Race.  Voila!  Suddenly I'm addicted.  It's like crack-I have to see what they'll come up with next and what train wreck or fashion extravaganza will occur on the next episode.  The roommate and I soared through seasons two and three to catch up, watched four and five as they were on, recently watched All Stars and are currently meeting up with some fantastic friends every Wednesday to make our way through seasons six.

It's amazing to me how you can pick a character on the first day of the show and think that they're the one that are going to be your girl-but then absolutely hate them by the end of the show.  On that same though, the person you thought was just a bitchy queen on day one may end up being your absolute favorite *cough* Bianca *cough* as you get to see their real heart and talent.

So without further ado, I present my top 10 favorite contestants, but I must warn that I have not yet been able to watch season one-so I can't include them in the mix at all.

10 | ADORE DELANO | SEASON 6 RUNNER UP

I'll admit, I didn't care much for Adore when the season started.  She was young and a bit whiney, and that valley girl voice is a bit grating.  However, as the season went on I really started to adore her (pun intended) and was really happy she ended up in the top 3.  I like to think she was the first runner up, and Courtney 2nd.

9 | CHAD MICHAELS | SEASON 4 RUNNER UP & ALL STARS WINNER

Chad is one polished queen who does a killer Cher impersonation.  She totally deserved the All Stars crown.

8 | MANILA LUZON | SEASON 3 RUNNER UP

Manila is pretty, and she always seemed pretty nice and outgoing.  I enjoyed watching her on All Stars too!

7 | PANDORA BOXX | SEASON 2 MISS CONGENIALITY

Pandora would have been higher on this list as I totally wanted her to win when I watched season 2, but then I saw her on All Stars and was disappointed that she just gave up because she was partnered with Mimi.  I feel like she could at least have fought for it.  I love her though, and enjoy keeping up with her online.

6 | BENDELACREME | SEASON 6 MISS CONGENIALITY

BenDeLaCreme was adorable and a fan favorite.  Before even seeing the episode where he was eliminated it was spoiled as people were starting petitions and were outraged about it!  Then I watched the episode, and I can see why he was sent home.  Don't get me wrong, he's great-but Darienne (ugh) really turned it out.

5 | RAVEN | SEASON 2 & ALL STARS RUNNER UP

Raven was feirce, but still had a big heart.  I loved watching him interact, whether he was reading someone or bonding with someone in the dressing room-he was just fun and so different! 

4 | LATRICE ROYALE | SEASON 4 MISS CONGENIALITY

Latrice is my favorite big girl from the show.  She was caring and talented and who can forget "Jesus is a biscuit, let him sop you up!" as he sang it as loud as he could and got people dancing?  Fun! 

3 | JYNKX MONSOON | SEASON 5 WINNER

Jinkx was my favorite right from the beginning and I'm so glad he made it all the way to the win!  This adorable Seatlelite totally deserved the title and even had his own mantra: "Water off a duck's back!"

2 | JUJUBEE | SEASON 2 & ALL STARS

While Jujubee was always a favorite from season 2, it was All Stars when I first realized she was also my spirit animal during her opening introduction when she said "I like long walks on the beach, fried chicken, and big dicks!"  I couldn't help but laugh, and... well, relate.  Hahahaha! What else does a girl need?

1 | BIANCA DEL RIO | SEASON 6 WINNER

Confession-I didn't like Bianca in the first couple of episodes.  I thought she was just a snarky bitch who was going to complain the whole time.  But then the season got going, and little by little you found that was just her humor-she's amazing at reading people and she speaks the truth.  You have to respect that! Then more and more you got to see how big of a heart she really had, especially as she did things she didn't have to do like help out the other contestants and she started playing mamma bear to a few of them.  I'm not sure another queen has deserved the crown quite so much as Bianca did, and the cheer in the bar when she won was great!  I love love love her for everything she is-and she's probably the funniest one in my opinion!

Do you watch Rupaul's Drag Race?  Who's your favorite?

Favorite Color & Cara Box Swaps

You know me and my love of all things swaps?  Well I have two to share with you today-and I must say, I had awesome partners and received fantastic goodies!  The first swap I want to share is the Favorite Color Swap that we hosted over at Chaotic Goddess Swaps.  I was partnered up with Jess from Writing in Red Lipstick-and I swear, that girl could be a long-lost sister!  We have so much in common! She's a fantastic artist and beauty lover-and her blog is so adorable.  I'm happy to be a new(ish) follower!

Jess sent me such lovely light turquoise goodies.  Just look at that scarf!  It's soft and heavenly.  Everything else is lovely too-including the little bracelet, the nail polish, the bag, the writing goodies, and soaps!  I love it!

***

The second swap was the Carabox Swap from Wifessionals.  I was partnered up with two lovely ladies, and the one sending to me was Ash from Ash's Right Direction.  She's such an inspirational blogger as she's lost a lot of weight and become much more fit!  The theme of this swap was local, so she sent me some great goodies from her state of New York!  If you can't tell, I ate a maple candy instantly-even before taking photos!

I also was partnered with Page who is @pagemgraham on Instagram.  See what I sent her HERE.

Indie Gift Box Review & Giveaway

If you've been around here before, you'll understand that I'm a big-time supporter of the handmade and indie.  I LOVE handmade goodies, and I also love monthly subscription boxes.  So imagine just how much I love a monthly subscription box that features only handmade/indie goodies?  SO MUCH.

Indie Gift Box is just that-an exclusive curated experience featuring specialty handmade goods which not only holds private sales of one-of-a-kind handmade goodies, but delivers a themed collection of unique goods from indie artists and crafts(wo)men every month!  The company's goal is to help people find the independent artisans that they can trust and collaborate with.  It's all about supporting small business and creativity.  In addition to sponsoring me for May, they also sent me an Indie Gift Box (April's adorable theme-Sweet Spring) to review and share with you.  I am completely mad about it-just look at all the beautiful things included!

All of the products included in my Sweet Spring Indie Gift Box were fabulous and high quality.  I was very impressed with how beautifully the whole box was packaged, and how lovely each little item was presented!  Here's a breakdown of what was included:

• Cotton Candy Push Pop Body Scrub from My Lucky Dragon
• French Pastel Macaron Necklace from Koco & Viking
• Vintage Rose on White Filigree Ring from Mercantile519
• Edible Vintage Jewelry Candy Embellishments from Marion's Vintage Bakery
• Happy Spring Chalkboard Art Card from Lily & Val
• Watercolor Floral Collector Card w/ Stickers from Popwheel Art

Everything was absolutely stunning and I'm so excited to have all of these lovely goodies!  I will definitely be ordering more Indie Gift Boxes in the future-I can't wait! May's box is themed Sparkle & Shine and will be filled with lots of different quality products within that theme!  As a My So-Called Chaos reader, you can take 15% off the first box in a subscription with code INDIECHAOS15 at checkout! 

The Giveaway

Indie Gift Box is offering one lucky reader a surprise Indie Gift Box!

Giveaway is open worldwide and ends on June 6th, 2014.

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Le petit SOURIRE {Musical Mondays & Giveaways}

What is Musical Mondays?

Musical Mondays is a weekly linky party where we share a song we're into for the week, and talk about why we like it-or why it effects us.  Along with talking about music, I host a (usually) month-long music giveaway. 

This week's song:

Le petit SOURIRE
Anaïs Delva

I'm afraid I don't have any translation for the French parts of this song for you, BUT some of it's in English and the video is both hilarious and adorable.  She's totally my newest girl crush-how adorable is she?  She's also the vocals behind the French version of Frozen.  Which is beautiful-hear it HERE.

But, isn't she hilarious in this video?  I love someone who doesn't take themselves seriously-so cute.

What are you listening to this week?

Please grab the button and link up your Musical Mondays post in the linky!

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Now for the Giveaway

Enter to win a $15 Amazon Gift Card (sent directly from Amazon) courtesy of our sponsor!

This giveaway will run from Monday 5/5/14 to Sunday 6/1/14 at 12AM.  It is open worldwide.
Entering the following Rafflecopter agrees to the terms and conditions within.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks to our fantastic May Musical Mondays sponsor:

The Weekly Round-Up

♥ Indie Gift Box just launched their May box which is Sparkle & Shine Themed!  I LOVE Indie Gift Box (long before they sponsored me) and guess what?  My readers can take 15% off their first box in a subscription with code INDIECHAOS15. Are you as excited as I am? LOOOOOVE!

♥ Rainstorms & Love Notes shared a recipe for Cilantro Pesto and I'm dying to try it!  Soooo yummy!

♥ That Gal Jenna and I share some of our fave nail polish brands, and Aly's Dream Polish is definitely one of them.  This week she reviewed Debian Red (one I don't have... yet) and it's simply gorgeous!

♥ A mother-effing-rock-climbing-cat!  This is a great article on backcountry.com about a cat who goes rock-climbing and hiking with her owner.  That's so neat, and super adorable.

♥ Karen shared an awesome post on the right way to join a link-up, and it's such good information!

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Share your favorite reads this week!

The point of The Weekly Round-Up is to focus on other people instead of just another post about ourselves.  It's to build better community, share insight into what we love to read, and hopefully introduce you to a new blogger you'll love and adore!  Wanna play along?  Write a post with links to your favorite blog posts from others throughout the week, put the button in it, and link up with us on Sundays!