Holiday Party 2012

So it's been a few days since the party, and I've been battling with the photo department at my local drug store, which shall remain nameless. Before I talk about the picture dilemma, let me say a word or two about the party itself. My honey and I got all dressed up for the first time in a long time. It felt nice. We drove out to where his job is, which is actually a really beautiful residential "town"... the residents have game rooms, restaurants, an enormous outside pool, a fully stacked gym and so many other recreational features I wish my apartment complex had. Once we made it to the x's floor, pretty high up, the city looked amazing from the balcony and walkway with the pool and entryway overlooking the lake.

The city of Aventura was lit up; it was beautiful. Almost felt like I was at prom again, at a fancy hall dance. Anyhow, everyone was very pleasant, friendly and inviting. It started out with appetizers, then dinner, and finished off with dancing. For some reason I wasn't feeling that dance-y; in fact, it was almost a shyness that came through. I felt really insecure, and I didn't want to be embarrassed. It was one of those situations where the dance floor was empty for the most part, and when the people came out to dance, they were really good! like really good....almost like they were professional dancers. I was impressed. I can't dance next to that! No, no, no. I don't know if anyone's been in this situation where you are being pressured into dancing, when you really don't want to. Well, yes, it was like that. Ah, overall, it was a really good night, and the candlelight made it feel so special.

The best part of it was spending time with Maikol, and being able to have real grown-up time alone to eat dinner and to walk around the beautiful property. With that said, we took lots of pictures, which I've had a great deal of problems printing. Now it sounds simple: you send it pictures to your local drugstore, pick them up and there, easy peasy. Unfortunately, the place I sent the pictures to either cut the pictures off in a way that cropped parts of heads or feet or anything else, or they drastically changed the coloring of the photos, and they completely mixed up the collage I created on their website. I was so frustrating. I literally had to go back 4 times to the store, to keep getting things reprinted and fixed, and guess what? it's still not done. I gave up on the collage; they could not get it right time after time. I don't know if it's their online photo customization or upload department, or the stores work flow and process..of the computer printing everything as is, without them reviewing the order, or something else, I don't know. All I'm sure of, is that next time, I'm going to process my photo order elsewhere. And this was a very important and memorable event, one that I bought frames for and everything.

I had an amazing time making memories with my honey. Here is my favorite photo of the night :-)

Dedication to Gillette Venus Embrace Mix & Match System

To start off....The razor was NOT sent to me by Influenster, as I was not one of the lucky participants to receive one to review it. I purchased it with my own money, hoping that all the glowing reviews were an accurate representation of how wonderful the razor Mix & Match Venus system truly is.

I am so impressed with this razor. The 5 blade system was intimidating at first, but once I tried it, I knew that I would never go back to 3 or 4 blades again. I normally use the Kiss my Face shaving cream with my regular razor, but once I purchased the Venus & Olay shaving head, I didn't feel it was even that necessary to use as much shaving gel or cream with it. The razor glides really smoothly on its own, and it gives me a close shave, without Any nicks or cuts, or the burning of my skin that I pretty much feel Every time I shave my legs. I could not believe it. For the first time, shaving was not painful during or after the shower. My legs didn't feel raw, itchy or burning at all. Just smooth, without any signs of irritation.

You have the option of choosing the Venus blade refill with any Venus razor handle. How great is that?

 WooHoo!!!! This is a really great idea. Customizable razor heads with the convenience of keeping the same handle if one wishes to try a new cartridge!

Check out this razor in more detail on the Venus website
For more product information click here!!!

Disclosure: I did not receive my razor complimentary from Influenster. I purchased it with my own money based on the positive reviews written by other Influensters.

My Experience with the Crest 3D White Professional Effects Whitestrips

Today's entry is all about the Crest 3D White Professional Effects Whitestrip. I tried these babies after I saw so many other Influensters raving about how wonderful the product was. I wasn't one of the lucky Influensters to receive the Crest 3D White Professional Effects Whitestrips complimentary in the mail to review, HOWEVER, all is not lost lol I read tons of reviews about this product, and I couldn't be happier about other reviewers giving us their honest take on this product. So I went out to the Walmart and took the plunge. It was a bit expensive, but then again a professional whitening session at your dentist would surely cost more. And talk about convenience. There's no need to make an appointment, pay the copay, and sit in those uncomfortable chairs. With the Crest 3D White Professional Effects Whitestrips, I can whiten at home anytime I would like.

These whitestrips are pretty powerful. What I mean is, they are jam-packed with whitening power. I have sensitive teeth and gums, so I am not able to use these everyday....I use them once a week or twice a week at the most. And boy do they deliver. After one, yes ONE use, my teeth were at least 3 shades whiter, brighter, and my teeth looked so shiny. I was really impressed with how effective these were after just one use. As for the application, yes the strips go on nicely, they stretch to fit my upper and lower teeth. The fit is pretty comfortable, I can talk and drink while wearing them, however, you do feel them. I mean, you can tell that there is a foreign object on your teeth so it feels a fit out of place for the time you're wearing them. However, a regular whitening treatment, is much much worse in comparison, with that plastic peice that holds your mouth open. Makes me cringe just thinking about it. So the Crest 3D White Professional Effects Whitestrips, are worlds away from that seemingly beneficial torture. Once I removed the whitestrips which came off without any problems, there was some left over gel, which was Easily removed by just brushing my teeth.

I am really impressed by the Crest 3D White Professional Effects Whitestrips, and again, I'm thankful to have read wonderful reviews from Inflensters who received this product to review.

You can check out the Crest 3D White Professional Effects Whitestrips at the Crest 3D White Website

And remember "If You're Not Whitening, You're Yellowing."
Disclaimer: I did NOT receive this product complimentary through Influenster. I purchased it with my own money after reading reviews from other influensters.

And don't forget to check out Influenster!!!

My First Holiday Party...coming tomorrow

Tomorrow evening, I will be joining my fiance, Maikol for a holiday party at his job. Now, I've never been to one per se' so I'm a little nervous. I mean, I'm sure it'll be fine. Maybe some wine and dancing *crossing my fingers, I don't fall over in my heels *ohh which reminds me, here's to hoping the shoes don't kill my feet after wearing them longer than 30 minutes. I asked Maikol if it'll be fancy-shmancy, and he just gave me a look as if I asked him what the meaning of life was. Secretively, I have this Jason Wu dress in the back of my closet. I really want to pull it out and give it a whirl lol no pun intended. I was saving the dress for some special occasion, but today I thought to myself, why? I bought the dress, it's beautiful, it's timeless, and it certainly isn't a "wear me once" type of dress because I don't buy those anyway. What's the point of having this nice piece of clothing just hanging there, taunting you, when you can enjoy wearing it time and time again. Therefore, I have decided to bust out the following dress, which by the way, I hunted down at a Target not local to me at all. I must of called ..I don't know how many stores...and finally, one had a return, and it happened to be my size...oh AND and and, it was on sale because it was a return but there was nothing wrong with it just the tags were missing.

Ah I was so excited, I twirled around in the dressing room like a 5 year old, then wondered if anyone was around to see my feet dancing underneath the dressing stall. I was happy. I'll be wearing this beauty with a pair of sparkly champagne peep toe heels I recently got at DSW. And not to mention, I got them for a whopping, are you ready for this? $5, originally $75 I think. I found them on the clearance rack for 80% off, and I had a $10 coupon DSW sent me in my email. The shoes were in brand new condition, just missing a box, and they were my size too :) I was like Score! Even the guy at the register had to do a double take. Then he said "wish I could buy shoes for 5 bucks" and smiled :) I'm kind of frugal, in a sense that I love a good deal and I wait for sales/coupons to come my way before I take the plunge.

SO, I'm excited about my night on the town tomorrow with my hubby. We don't really ever have time for the two of us, so this will be quite nice. Here's to Everyone's Holiday Season being amazing, filled with happiness, health, love and success-as one sees fit!

Who is this girl?

Okay, so before I delve into the "happenings" of tomorrow night, I'll start off with an introduction of sort.
As I mentioned in my first post, my name is Vicky. I am a Ukranian girl, an American citizen, an animal lover (I have 3 doggies :-D), maybe an artist, and a bride to be. Well that was a mouth full, and yet I feel like there's so much more to say, or maybe that pretty much sums it up...a little. I forgot to mention that which is obvious to my girlfriends, I love makeup! and nail polish!. ANything artistic, whether it's cosmetics or putting together an artsy outfit, taking photographs of practically everything and everyone, or doodling on a napkin, I'm all over it. As for my serious side, I'm currently in school finishing up my MPH degree. It's an exciting field, and one that will allow me to integrate my love of medicine with global health and disease prevention = awesomeness. So there :) that's me in a nutshell. "help I'm in a nut shell" ...anyone? line from Austin Powers? k, nevermind :)

Here are a couple pictures of my little angels. They are my bundles of love. Yes, that's cheesy, but cheese is delicious.

     Cutie (my troublemaker), Demi (my hairy little monkey), and Flaco (our piggy and beloved tripod)

         My baby, Demi...I raised him since the day he was born :) goodness I just love him!

A not-so-little-heads-up about Influenster

This being technically my very first post on my very first blog, I feel that I should give a small little introduction about what this whole thing is going to be about. To start off, my name is Viktoriya but everyone calls me Vicky, unless I'm trying to sound professional *hem hem, clears throat*. But of course, here in web-o-sphere Vicky will do. To be completely honest, I have wanted to start up a blog of my very own for the longest time, but it wasn't until recently, thanks to my friends pushing me to be more tech-savvy, that I came across a website called Influenster. You can access the link via influenster.com

It's a rewards based site that asks its participants to write reviews on products they are familiar with, products they love, or products they aren't a fan of. The whole point is to connect through social networks, try out new products, give feedback via surveys and product reviews, and all this will raise one's score. Now, what does this score do? well, the more involved you are, the higher it goes, and the higher the likelihood that you will receive these wonderful year round promotional boxes, VoxBoxes that is, that are chuck full of goodies for you to try out. I signed up not too long ago, and have already received the Bride to Be Box. I simply could not! believe the products inside. There were full size Schwarzkopf haircare products, lashes, and more. Then just a few weeks after that, I posted a picture for NYC New York Color, of just a couple nail polishes I have from them, and won the challenge among other women who were picked. Now there is yet another package on its way to my home. To put it simply, I think this site is really fun. Period. New challenges show up, new badge opportunities, prescreening surveys are sent to your email, and the more your do, the better your chances of receiving goodies that you are just asked to review...and more brand challenges are presented to you at that time to possibly win ever more. It's fantastic all around.

I hope to expand my blog, and be a regular contributor. It's relaxing, it's cathartic, it's a blog. I will write a clearer introduction and some background on myself and what this blog will entail in another post. That's it for now. Thanks so much for taking a moment to stop by. Night!