popping out

Saucy and Veto are headed out for a few days. It's their anniversary on Sunday and they'll be celebrating it in the sweltering heat of a southern climate with some friends... Saucy won't say too much about it because they're going to do a little surprise pop-in. You remember how much Saucy poo-poos the pop-in, but in this case she's making an exception and a pop-in is majorly in order.

And so with that, Saucy will pop out of blogland for a nice long weekend. She has her sunscreen packed and The Cheerios are under strict order not to change her Facebook profile while they watch the house with The Fan. If you see some odd status updates, take them with a grain of salt. It could be The Cheerios, or it could be Saucy letting the champagne do the talking.

we're into it

It's that season again... time for Saucy and Loopy to share some of their favourite things with you. Sorry we're not like Oprah, we can't give you one of everything. But, we can tell you how much we're liking some stuff lately and you might want to try it for yourself.

Saucy boldly ordered Cindy Crawford's Meaningful Beauty skincare regime as seen on TV. It was the money-back guarantee that lured her in rather than the claims made on the infomercial but it was the results that will keep her using Cindy's skincare. As a ProActive user for many, many years, Saucy was starting to suffer with dry skin as her adult acne settled and was even faced with the occasional ghastly deep pimple... the kind that makes you want to hide under a rock for five days. Since trying the Meaningful Beauty system her skin is softer and clearer. There aren't any deep monster problems lurking and even makeup is going on smoother and looking fresher longer.

Saucy's only complaint? The introductory kit didn't come with toner. Isn't toner one of the important pieces of any skincare program? It even says to use the toner after the cleanser. What gives, Cindy?

The next celebrity product is Jennifer Aniston's new signature scent. If you ever wondered what Jen smelled like (and really, who hasn't) its a fruity/floral blend of rosewater and violet with citrus and beachy "top notes," whatever a "top note" is. At any rate, the bottle is a gorgeous design and it's a very nice scent for the summer but Saucy will likely shelve it by autumn. It really does smell like a beach, if a beach had a smell and looked fabulous all year long in every single photograph.

Loopy is keeping her manicure looking fresh and rad with OPI's crackle nail polishes. She's crackling the black over her selection of colours but she's got her eye on the Katy Perry collection, it seems to be sold out everywhere. If Saucy can get her hands on a bottle of Last Friday Night, you know what Loopy will be wearing to the Katy Perry concert in three weeks.

Oh... and the other thing we're into... Katy's latest video for the song Last Friday Night. If you're a child of the 80's or 90's check it out for a good giggle and see how many celebs from the past you can pick from the crowd. Take things a step further and friend Kathy Beth Terry on Facebook or her cute crush Steve Johnson.

Saucy's been snacking on Chocolate Cheerios. They have just a touch of cocoa and not too much sugar so it doesn't seem like a very disastrous indulgence. Sometimes a girls just wants something a little chocolately without eating a whole cupcake, dig?

Of course everyone is watching Extreme Couponing on TLC and Saucy remembers fondly the days when her local grocery stores doubled coupons but those days are long gone. She still registered for websaver.ca to have coupons mailed directly to her door... if there wasn't a postal strike going on.

Bulk Barn opened two locations locally and their selections of baking sprinkles are second to none! Saucy can hardly wait to install the new kitchen cabinets and build her massive wall of sprinkles...

To use all of those assorted sprinkles, Saucy plans to make as many cupcakes and cupcake pops as she can, using her new My Little Cupcake pop mold. She hasn't tried it yet, but it looks promising and she absolutely will blog the entire process when she gives it a go.

Lastly, Saucy picked up a couple of rings to start Loopy on a collection from the Stack Ring Co. They're cute, affordable and real 925 silver. Mix and matchable, you can personalize your collection with birthstones, plain bands or decorative bands interchanged with the different theme rings. It didn't hurt that they are on for less than half price right now at London Drugs - just nine dollars each. The Fan picked up a few also... time to stock up on stacks!

And just so you know, we just really like this stuff. Nobody's paying us to tell you and we didn't get one bit of it for free. If you try anything, let us know what you think.

We're seriously considering the Wen haircare system... has anyone given that a shot? What are you into lately, Dear Reader? Spill it. Don't hold back. We want to try it, too.

peace, love, juicy necklace

Saucy used a few miscellaneous bits of jewelry and some pieces from her empty perfume bottles to concoct a necklace inspired by the fragrance Peace, Love & Juicy Couture:

The look is sort of boho-chic and glam. It only took a few minutes to alter a plain necklace into something short of fabulous.

Saucy had on hand: a pretty little rhinestone bird necklace from Forever 21... it was inexpensive of course and really needed to be jazzed up anyway. It cost about six dollars. She found two charm bracelets at Claire's for a dollar each and she salvaged the baubles from the neck of her Peace, Love & Juicy and an empty bottle of the original Juicy Couture scent.

She detached the rhinestone bird from its plain chain and replaced it with a bracelet on each side, making sure she left the toggle closures at the correct end.

The heart shaped peace sign and the embellished "j" are from perfume bottles. The bird charm was just kicking around. So were a tiny crown, heart and key charm. Who knows where they came from? Saucy doesn't.

It was finished off with the tassels from the perfume bottle. Time will tell how well they wear.

Coming soon... to a Loopy photo shoot near you! Now, what might that crazy faux fur/feather stuff is around the model's shoulder be the inspiration picture? Anyone?

lilac ride

Alice likes to go on rides around the neighbourhood and pick flowers when she visits friends. On moderately warm days like these, she finds it perfect. Saucy wears her peg jeans, a long striped tee and her wayfarer sunglasses. She takes a break from her housework and she and Alice take a short spin.

Because Alice likes to pretend that it's not 2011, the iPod plays Jimmy Durante, old Motown hits and the songs that make Saucy remember her childhood. In the seventies, people took their bikes to do errands around the neighbourhood where Saucy grew up and The Fan and Secret Weapon still live. Saucy dropped off Veto's drycleaning and stopped at the fruit stand and it felt just like 1975... have a sweet summer day, friends.

cupcakes faux and real

Here's a little birthday gift for a pre-teen who's quit biting her nails... a cupcake container filled with six bright quick-dry nail polishes, dressed up as cupcakes! When the lid snaps shut they look just like perfect little cakes waiting to be delivered.

This is what 386 real cupcakes look like... more or less. The display table was full on Saturday and the Cheerios pulled from trays behind the table. They sold out in just a couple of hours. They offered special summer flavours including lemonade...

Zesty lemon sponge cake topped with a tart lemon-lime buttercream and a lime jelly wedge.

Orange creamsicle (orange sponge cake with a vanilla buttercream and orange jelly slice).

Sweet Tart candy-inspired (vanilla sponge tinted green with vanilla buttercream and a swirl of tart lime frosting, sprinkled with Sweet Tart candy).

The watermelon cupcakes were a huge hit! The sponge was vanilla with a watermelon extract added, pink colouring and mini chocolate chips (for seeds) and topped with vanilla buttercream, green and pink sprinkles and a watermelon jelly slice.

The Cheerios also offered their usual cupcakes including Oreo, death by chocolate, grasshoppers, red velvet, M&M, chocolate covered strawberry, bubblegum, and classic birthday vanilla.

Friends, the Cheerios are working frantically to raise funds for all-important safety mats so that they can jump, stunt and tumble without fear of injury and stay competitive as they enter senior categories at competition next year. Saucy has to say, she's just a little miffed. When was the last time you ever heard of a football team having to raise funds for their protective helmets and shoulder pads?

Preach.

konked out

Over the weekend Buddy Budderson and Loopy attended a comic book and anime convention. If you know anything about these events, attendees usually arrive dressed like their favourite superheroes or characters. They'd been looking forward to it all year.

Of course, Buddy is old enough to come up with his own costume. He did pretty well, Saucy figures, as she has absolutely no idea who he is supposed to be. Apparently, he was a big hit. They both were.

Saucy helped Loopy find the right cargo pants and shirt and then Uncle Bug came to the rescue and helped make that giant wrench. Loopy was dressed as girl mechanic Winry Rockbell from the Japanese show Fullmetal Alchemist. Saucy actually knows this because she's been watching a little bit of the series with Loopy some nights when the homework is all finished. It's animated, but don't call it a cartoon. These things are not cartoons.

At any rate, Loopy was also a huge hit at the convention and other attendees asked to be photographed with her. She also got an autograph on her wrench of one of the voice actors from the show (that is not a cartoon) appearing at the event.

In the meantime Saucy has been busy, busy, busy spinning her wheels and never really getting anything done to a finished state enough t share with you here. Hopefully next couple of weeks she can show you the completed outdoor kitchen (waiting now for backsplash and counter to be installed) and definitely she's going to show you what 32 dozen Cheerio cupcakes look like... she and the girls finished that on Friday night for a successful sale on Saturday morning.

If you also have twenty unfinished projects on the go, let Saucy know about it. Her hopes were dashed about getting caught up by the time the washing machine konked out on Thursday. That's sort of how Saucy feels right now... konked out. How about you?