Some of these holiday markets have already launched their events with kick-off parties as early as September to get everyone in the holiday spirit…of buying that is. But don’t worry – the proceeds from these events go back to the organizations to help fund all their community outreach and operations throughout the whole year. So feel good about shopping while you are making an impact in your community.

Here’s a rundown of the local holiday markets:

Christmas in Cowtown
Benefitting the Junior League of Fort Worth
Oct. 4 – 6, 2012
Fort Worth Convention Center
http://www.juniorleaguefw.org

Holiday Magic 2012
Junior League of Arlington
Nov. 2 – 4, 2012
Arlington Convention Center
http://www.jlarlington.org

‘Neath the Wreath
Benefitting the Junior League of Collin County
Nov. 8-11, 2012
Plano Centre
http://www.jlcollincounty.org

Chi Omega Christmas Market
Benefitting the Dallas Chi Omega Alumnae
Nov. 14-17, 2012
Fair Park Dallas
http://www.chiomegaxmas.org

If you know of more holiday markets that should be added to this list, please let me know and we’ll update it!

Looking for More Local Fun with Me?

Fall in Love this Fall with Autumn in the Arboretum Dallas, Sept. 22 – Nov. 21

Get Your Boarding Pass Now for the “Titanic” in Fort Worth

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Birchbox Beauty Finds

I recently signed up for Birchbox after reading a blog that compares it to receiving monthly presents for $10 / month. Now, mind you, I’ve never had to pay for gifts given to me, but I said “What the heck?”. I could spare $10 for monthly beauty buys.

Once I posted about my new find on Facebook, it turned out I was probably one of the last to know about this program.

So far, I’ve received two monthly Birchbox beauty boxes. And, yes, I still get excited when my boxes arrive.

They are beautifully packaged and so much fun to unwrap! Is it worth it? I’m still straddling the fence. Most of the products I have received are sample sizes, but I’d never be introduced to them had it not been thru Birchbox.

Two of my cooler finds so far were Stila’s sparkle waterproof liquid eye liner and Band-Aid bandages by Cynthia Rowley. I can’t wait to see what products I’ll be receiving in July!

For other great blogs, please check out the following:

Thunder Over Cedar Creek Lake Air Show July 7th, 2012

Pick your own berries at Blueberry Hill Farms

Dallas Gets Lego’d with Dallas Cityscape at Galleria Dallas

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Year of the Dragon

Before my coworkers and I met up over a work lunch to celebrate Chinese New Year (Year of the Dragon), we briefly discussed and planned our hair do. My girlfriend had mentioned pinning her hair up with real chopsticks.  Of course, I jumped on board and told her I wanted the same up do.

Shortly after arriving at the restaurant, we walked to the bathroom and whipped out her chopsticks from her purse.  It was such an easy and fast fix that I had to share!

She merely secured my hair in a high ponytail, twisted it and wrapped it in a bun before piercing it with two chop sticks. Voila!

I loved my hair style. As another co-worker playfully mentioned, it was very James Bond’ish hairstyle. Note to Self:  If ever I’m in a situation where I needed to defend myself, I could throw the chopsticks from my hair at my attacker.

My Up Do with Chop Sticks

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Lashes for My Car

Eyelash extensions seem to be all the rage in the Dallas area lately. In fact, I’m tempted to join the crowd. But, at $250 (for a full set), my eyes can wait.

Rather than getting them for myself, I got these lashes for my car.  I got a kick out of them after spotting these lashes in a national magazine. I figured, why not get these for my car? She deserves a day of pampering too!

After receiving them in the mail, I prolonged putting them on. I was fearful that they’d fly off once I was on the highway. Worse yet? They’d land on someone else’s view while driving.

A short visit to my sister’s changed my mind. I put the adhesive tape on my cars and took pictures with my girls before driving off.

Yes, we garnered A LOT of attention from other drivers. In fact, it was funny watching them point and stare (with my hubby driving my very girly car). The lashes were adorable and my work peers couldn’t wait to see my car in person (after posting the picture on Facebook).

Unfortunately for me, the lashes scratched my paint. I took them off once I parked my car in our garage.

This was one costly beauty mistake.

 - Cool Playground Mommy

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Found My Long Lost Bracelet!

Every other month, I rearrange our house furniture. It motivates me to clean the house. In fact, it makes it fun.

My hubby begs to differ. He loathes moving furniture; especially if I end up moving it to the original location months down the road. However, I’ve always been this way. I find great pleasure in rearranging furniture (in lieu of buying more or painting walls). In fact, I consider it one of my hobbies!

Unknowingly, our older daughter encourages my hobby. She loves stepping into her room and finding new bedroom furniture placement. With each and every compliment she pays me, she unwittingly fuels my desire to rearrange the rest of our house.

Imagine my excitement upon finding my lost diamond tennis bracelet while rearranging furniture two weekends ago! I thought I lost this bracelet at work. I never imagined I’d find it ever again. Another plus? We found the jewelry I purchased for my sister’s August birthday too (never mind I ended up buying her a gift card after losing all hope I’d find it)!

In essence, I saved my hubby money (from purchasing me another bracelet) though the bruises on my legs (the downside to moving your own furniture) beg to differ.

Not only am I finding lost items, but I feel like I’m giving my house a thorough cleaning and burning calories (now if I could only stop posting about dessert). I am vacuuming and dusting in places where furniture used to be. A total win-win situation, right?

- Cool Playground Mommy

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Over the summer, I got our daughter and myself feather hair extensions. I relented after tiring of our daughter’s daily pleading.

Mommy and Me Day

Secretly, I thought they were cute. I first spotted them at one of the specialty kids’ hair salons. Then, I ran into a stunning mom and daughter duo at Corner Bakery (they were joined at the hip as each other’s BFF’s yet they were enviably adorable!).

With my daughter in tow, I proclaimed a “Mommy and Me Day” (her younger sister was in daycare).  We commemorated the event with a trip to our local mall (of course!).  After a day of shopping, getting our hair curled (at one of the mall kiosks), and eating high caloric non nutritional snacks, we each got a colorful feather put in. Hers was blue (her favorite color) and mine was purple. We both loved them (high five)!

I felt dangerous and rebellious with my purple feather. That was until someone in the office tried getting “something” out of my hair and realized (to her amusement), it was a feather hair extension. A handful of my loyal peers said it looked cute.  Sweet as they were, my sixth sense told me they questioned why someone in their late 30’s would succumb to putting a feather in their hair.

 A month after second guessing my new look and tiring of my comb snagging the extension, I finally had my hairdresser take it out.

On the other hand (and despite summer long swim lessons in chlorinated water), my daughter wanted to hang on to her furry accessory until the start of school.

 The first day of school had come and gone, but no such luck. Then one day, she had a long drawn face. As she approached my car during school pick up, she explained her feather had fallen out. She placed it in her wheeled Justice backpack for safe keeping.

 Though I empathized with her feather’s demise, I was elated I could again wash and comb her hair accessory free.

 I have laid our feathers  to rest in one of my bedroom dressers as a reminder of our summer fad and “Mommy and Me Day”. I’m certain there’ll be many more to come.

- Cool Playground Mommy

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Our Dirk Shirts

We truly are beaming with Texas pride in our household with the recent Mavericks win and parade. What better way to showcase our pride than with cute t-shirts? I purchased all four of our licensed shirts on the corner of our local gas station. They were a bit pricier (about $20 each) than what I was comfortable paying for, but they were so darn cute and we were really rooting for the Mavs (this was before their NBA win).

Since purchasing our shirts, I discovered these shirts are also sold via the internet and can be found on www.amazon.com.

- Cool Playground Mommy

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My Daughter Helping Put Together the Redbook Magazine Party Bags for Guests

Two weekends ago, I hosted my first Redbook magazine party sponsored by both Redbook magazine and Suave. After applying online to host this party with Suave goodies for guests, I was uber pleased to have been selected and started my party planning right away.

With the suggestion of a co-worker, I decided to do a red carpet theme (to tie in the theme of Redbook magazine) and encouraged guests to wear black dresses and hats. My daughter and I had fun shopping at Party City for decorations and laid out snacks (fruits, veggies, mini-cupcakes and Straw Hat Pizza) for guests. To boot, my younger sister brought her strawberry cake pops – which were absolutely yummy –to  solidfy the theme.

My co-worker assumed the role of party photographer and snapped pictures of us with our cute Redbook bags. We spent the rest of the time hanging out being “Chatty Cathys.” It was a fun night and am looking forward to hosting my next Redbook Happy Hour party with the theme “Tea Party with Karaoke” (I can’t carry a tune, but it won’t stop me from belting out a song).

Pre-Party Decorating Our Stairway with a Red Carpet

Look for us in an upcoming Redbook edition. We may just be in it as we were asked to upload our pictures from the party.

Trying Out Our Suave Hair Products

-   Cool Playground Mommy

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As I was shopping one early weekend morning, I was drawn to one particular corner within our local Wal-Mart store — the recently marked down racks.  Not one to pass up a bargain and to sate my curiosity, I ended up purchasing a pair of loose fitting $7 jeans. I justified my purchase by telling myself that at the very least, I could use them when running weekend errands.

Who would’ve thought those same pair of jeans would get so much attention? During yesterday’s normal frenzied routine to work, I scrambled to my closet, grabbed the jeans, quickly pulled the tags off, and wore them for Casual Friday. Not only did I receive compliments from my peers but for a moment, I could’ve sworn their expressions were momentarily frozen in a perplexing state of “shock and awe”.  I’m proud of my meager $7 Wal-Mart purchase.

In the words of one of my Facebook friends, “the older we get, the wiser we become in our shopping choices”.

My Latest Bargain Find - $7 Jeans at Wal-Mart

- Cool Playground Mommy

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Anyone who knows me can vouch for my love of beauty products. As a young girl, my mom sold Avon products, which served as a catalyst for sampling lipsticks, eye shadows, and blush. When I was finally allowed to wear make up in high school, all I could afford was the Wet N Wild or COVERGIRL line, but I still had fun dabbling and applying cosmetics and sharing tips with friends.

Soon after landing my first real post-college job, I began purchasing department store brands, but I noticed there was no real difference other than the fancy packaging.  I went back to my beloved drugstore brands after finding out that cosmetic giant L’Oreal makes Lancôme. It was at that defining moment that I realized my buying, testing, and applying beauty products had become a full blown hobby for me. I take great pleasure finding beauty products at bargain prices and recommending these to co-workers and friends.

Imagine my excitement when one of my favorite magazines, Ladies Home Journal, sent an email confirming that I was one of the 100 ladies chosen to participate in their first ever Reader Beauty Awards. I was elated (my co-worker can attest) and it’s one responsibility I’m not taking lightly. I’m taking my job as tester very seriously and will answer my survey as concisely as possible.  Unfortunately, I am testing deodorants (yes, deodorants) rather than cosmetics, but I’m still a happy camper.  I’m so obsessed with my free products that I dreamt I ate one of the citrus smelling aluminum free deodorants and it was delicious!

If you’re curious to see which deodorant bested the others, please check out an upcoming Ladies Home Journal issue.

- Cool Playground Mommy

Two Generations of Make Up Connoisseurs

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