Sister Chat

This post is brought to you by Rogaine. All opinions are my own.

Of all the roles I play in my life: nanny, blogger, dog mom, or daughter, one of my favorite roles is being a big sister. From the moment my little sister Holly (she will always be my lil sis even though she is way taller than me) was born I had hoped we would be close, and that has definitely been true. As different as we can be, we always have fun together, usually with bellyaching laughs occurring throughout. I've always felt like we can tell each other anything. I love her and what kind of a big sister would I be if I wasn’t concerned with her future?

She'll always be my little sister

In the video below, we had a sister chat and talked about our family and the hereditary traits we share--our hair is naturally wavy and we have freckles--Holly calls them Angel Kisses. Some of the traits aren't as fun--our family goes grey in our twenties, we have a long history of skin cancer, and we have hereditary hair loss. As her older sister, I want Holly to avoid the mistakes I've made and to know there are options out there to get ahead of the qualities we don’t love. Luckily, we can do things about those hereditary issues, like dying the grey away if we choose (hello, me!), sunscreen all the time (I am constantly getting onto Holly to do this), and Women’s Rogaine for hereditary hair loss.

https://youtu.be/ghgDafatqG8

Did you know that more than one in four will experience hereditary hair loss? And it can begin in the 20s, which is the decade Holly is in (source: 2014 Gallup). I am a huge fan of Women's Rogaine to get ahead of this. It reactivates the hair follicles to stimulate regrowth. And it works.

This hair growth treatment is clinically proven to regrow 25% more hair with new hairs growing in up to 48% thicker than before.

Women’s ROGAINE 5% Minoxidil Topical Aerosol is the first FDA-approved once daily treatment. It turns out, Women’s ROGAINE Foam is super easy to fit into your daily beauty regimen. Just apply the foam once a day. You can get more application details here. Your hair won't get greasy or weighed down.

It works right alongside your regular beauty products--I really liked knowing that you don't have to change your routine, or change all of your products, just add an easy and fast step. If you have color treated hair, you can use this! You can use it morning or night. And if used daily, results should start in 12 weeks.

Since Holly has expressed concern about that hair loss, she will be using the Women’s Rogaine, and will update on here in a couple of months. I can’t wait to share her progress!

What hereditary traits do you love about your family?

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Does your family have hereditary hair loss?

My Birthday Surprise For Charlie

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of BarkBox for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

Hey y'all! I've got something fun today, and it just happens to be about my little sidekick. If you've been around this space of mine, you've surely seen my dog, Charlie. I'm totally biased, but he is the CUTEST DOG EVER! He's a Morkie--half Maltese, half Yorkie. And he's a rescue. He was actually rescued on my birthday a few years ago. So his birthday is estimated to be somewhere in April. He just turned 8! For a special birthday treat, I decided to get him BarkBox. Y'all--this was the BEST idea!! He's so sweet and loving, plus he the most chill dog. He deserves the best, and I was so excited to give him this.

What is Barkbox? Barkbox is a monthly subscription box for all dogs! Each box comes with treats and toys, just for your pup! Yes, even though he is 8, I will always call him a pup. But back to Barkbox--have you heard of this before? If not, let me introduce you!

Here's Charlie checking out his box! Y'all--he gets SO excited whenever I come home with something for him. Because I'm a Crazy Dog Lady, I took him to the park for this, as a special birthday surprise! I happen to live by Piedmont Park, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity. Luckily, I took pics of everything inside before I let him have it--that's the Crazy Blogger Lady in me. Fellow bloggers, I know ya'll feel me. Gotta get those pics! Ok, enough chatter--here's what's inside:

Barkbox has different themes--this one is travel-themed. The Passport explains what comes in the box. I thought this was SO cute and such a great idea! 

Charlie got two toys--Squeakin on a Jet Plane  and the Toothpaste Rope Toy. Those totally go along with the travel theme.

Treats-wise, he got a pork roll chew, trail mix bone-shaped treats, and fish treats. What's cool is that Barkbox has special accommodations for allergies, heavy chewers, etc. It's for dogs of all sizes! Just reach out to the customer service team for that--they're great! I love that I can personalize this for him. 

I loved this too--the treats are made in the US and Canada and are all natural! You get two treats and one chew per box. 

Here he is checking out the toys--it was so much fun to let him play in the park, meet some new pups, and get attention from everyone--and then pull out the Barkbox from my bag! I had already opened it, so when I placed it on the ground, he immediately went crazy for it, sniffing to see what was inside. It was too cute. He likes to run off when he gets a new toy, so I'm glad I was able to snag this pic.

I opened one of the treats and gave him some to make him sit for pics, but I was too slow so this is an after shot, haha. I think you can tell he enjoyed it.

Loved this birthday surprise! He brings such joy to me that I loved doing this for him! If you're interested, plans start at $29 per month. BarkBox is billed monthly, and decreases in price if you commit to 6 or 12 month plan. For a 6 month commitment, it's $25 billed monthly and 12 months is $21. You can also get an extra toy club option for an additional $9/month. There's also BarkShop.com--they sell not only the goodies you get in your box but other items from the collection as well!, if you're interested. Charlie loved his BarkBox!

Coffee & Chit Chat: Surprise

Happy Friday, y'all! You might remember I used to do a series on my Youtube called Coffee and Chit Chat. I stopped because no one really watched it, but I wanted to bring it back here. Just imagine us having coffee (water, tea, whatever--I won't tell) and getting caught up. Here's what I've been up to lately:

Dentist

I have a pretty strong threshold for pain, but not for anything dental. Everything is sensitive. Always has been. My sister is the same way. They could only do half of my mouth because it hurt so badly. They gave me 10 shots and I could still feel it. But on the good side, the dentist said I had amazingly white teeth! Yes! Y'all know how I am about having white teeth.

Outtake of my nieces and nephews: Stella 3, Cam 7, Hunter 8, Emmalyn 2

Surprise!

After weeks of planning, my family managed to pull of a surprise for my Mama's 60th birthday. I left the dentist and drove from Atlanta to my hometown. We had a secret family photo shoot. Then we went to dinner and my step-dad brought her to the restaurant for the surprise. We presented her with one of the pics of us. She was so happy. We are more of a candid pics kind of family (aka my family is usually in their comfy clothes mode at home) so this was a big deal. And we usually aren't ever together all at once, not even on holidays, especially since I live 5 hours away.

Losing It

I feel like February was kind of a "meh" month. Maybe I'll write about that another time, but there's always something good, right? My "something good" is my weight loss. I'm down 20 pounds--not so sure about that after yummy pasta last night--and I'm really happy. I'm not down to where I want to be, but I can definitely see the progress. I'm especially proud of how I've really slowed down my coffee and soda intake. I used to drink 4 cups of coffee (aka mostly creamer and a little coffee) a day. Now I'm down to one cup on the weekends, unless I have a really late work day. I'm upping my water intake, but it's hard at work (long boring story), but it's better than it was!! You can read about what I'm doing here. And my latest update here.

Have a great weekend!

What's new with you?

Happy Birthday Mommy!

I'm interrupting my regular beauty content for a special announcement! Today is my Mama's 60th birthday!! I hope her day is as special as she is! She loves her family and always puts our needs before her own. She is the best Mommy ever!!

Fun fact--her name is Barbie! She shares her birthday with the famous doll, but my Mama came a year before the doll did!

We love you so much!

Love,

Your family

Mealtime Madness

Been around this space of mine for awhile? Then you've definitely noticed my dog, Charlie. He was serendipitously rescued on my birthday around 7 years ago and he's my buddy and my heart. We've had lots of fun adventures together. He even has his own Instagram, y'all.

Yes, he's freaking adorable, but he has a heart of gold, too. He can convince other dogs to play with him, even older dogs who don't move much anymore. Charlie can convince any non-dog person to fall in love with him. It's one of his many talents, I like to tell myself. He can also run the second he's on camera, which is his specialty. Do you have a dog? Does your dog dislike the camera like mine?

And since he is so important to me, I want to feed him the very best. He seriously eats better than I do! And that's why he's been eating Freshpet refrigerated pet food for a couple of years now. Yes, a couple of years!! I'm so glad I get the opportunity to spread the love about a brand that I use and adore. Fellow dog owners out there, you've GOT to try Freshpet!!

Freshpet is made with fresh, all natural ingredients and no artificial preservatives. And I can tell it really, truly makes a difference in the quality of his life. At (almost and estimated) 7 years old, you'd never know it by how playful he acts. He still acts like a puppy and everyone thinks he's half his age.

Charlie also has the most incredible coat, which I get complimented on all the time. It's so soft and shiny. And I definitely attribute that to FreshPet.

But I love how Freshpet never uses artificial or chemical preservatives. No crazy ingredients, either. It's like I've made him a home cooked meal with the quality that Freshpet has. I can feel completely comfortable knowing I've fed him something that is good for him.

And he gets SO excited when it's time for food. I'm talking ridiculously excited, y'all. He always, always taps the bowl with his paw for more Freshpet. Mealtime madness, indeed! How else do you think I was able to get these pics? 

Have you ever heard of Freshpet?

To learn more about Freshpet's benefits of a fresh diet, click here.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.