Oh, the life of a mommy!

I promise there used to be a time when I was glamorous.

I have blogged many times about how rushed I am in the mornings. I love wearing makeup, and I love putting on my cutest outfit every day. But time doesn’t always allow for it. I wake up more tired than I was when I went to bed sometimes, but I am always so happy to see the little faces that grace my home that I end up with tons of energy just because I love them so much.

I don’t always have time to put on concealer or any kinds of creams that will help the puffiness go away. I am one of those people that really “needs” eye makeup to bring out the best of my eyes. I want to look pretty every day.

But I heard something recently in a bareMinerals^® advertisement that “beauty is a force.” How cool is that? Pretty will come and go, but beauty comes from within.

Beauty is about how I treat my family, and how I feel when I walk into a room and see my husband’s face light up-even if I’m in a t-shirt and yoga pants and my hair is on top of my head. Beauty is about the way I live my life and what others see when they look at me. As cliché as it sounds, it’s what’s inside that counts. Beauty is how I feel when my two-year-old son strokes my hair and says, “Mommy has pretty hair.”

But, while all those things are great, there is something to be said for outer beauty.

I recently discovered bareMinerals READY™ Eyeshadow 2.0. I received The Scenic Route eyeshadow shades in Breathtaking + Spectacular. Breathtaking is a very light base color while Spectacular is this gorgeous green/copper color that works so great with blue eyes.

There was an insert in the package with little tips on how to wear the colors for daytime and how to wear them for evening. You can wear the same colors all day long for any occasion. And the best part? They really stay on all day long. It’s amazing!

The READY Eyeshadow looks like a powder, but it feels like a cream. It’s very thick, and the colors are so rich and vibrant. I can put this on first thing in the morning. The two colors go a long way and work to reduce puffiness and add some gorgeous color to my eyes. And it’s so fast and easy! Perfect for my busy mommy lifestyle.

There are some amazing You Tube videos from bareMinerals on how to apply the READY Eyeshadow. I watched a few of these when trying to learn all the different ways and options for applying the eyeshadow. I want to encourage all of you to watch the videos here for some great application techniques and ideas. http://www.youtube.com/user/BareEscentuals

I want people to think I’m pretty, sure, and I will always make a little extra effort to look pretty. But I know that beauty is so much more than pretty and so much more than what’s on the outside.

I am giving away one bareMinerals READY Eyeshadow 2.0. (Retail price $20).

To enter, just answer this question: How do you define a Force of Beauty? Share your thoughts and opinion in the comments section for your chance to win a bareMinerals READY Eyeshadow 2.0.

Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post

b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post

d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from October 25 – November 22, 2011.

Be sure to visit the Promotions & Prizes page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win and become a fan of Bare Escentuals^® on Facebook for more information about their amazing products!

We had such a wonderful weekend with the Naturally Caffeinated Family. They have become such good friends of ours over the past two years. We’ve watched each other’s families grow and we’ve welcomed new little ones. They are all wonderful people and we have so much in common with them.

They stayed at our house this weekend and while it was a full house, it was very relaxing to just hang out and talk all weekend with good friends. Hudson hasn’t had so much fun in a long time. He loved having other little boys to play with. And it made me so excited to think about how Hudson and Hayes will be able to run through the house together someday chasing each other! (D’s oldest boy taught Hudson to say, “CHARGE!” while running and chasing, so Hudson didn’t forget that for a second. I think we were all hearing the word “charge” in our sleep!)

On Saturday morning, we decided to get out of the house and take everyone to a nearby farm and pumpkin patch. We wanted all those boys to be able to run around! Hayes and their Littlest were carted around in the stroller and the Baby Bjorn, but they stayed happy.

I was surprised by how much there was to do out there, but Hudson was pretty much obsessed with all of it. He’s at that age where he doesn’t really understand that just because you stop doing one fun thing, it doesn’t mean there aren’t more fun things to do somewhere else. Just because we’re leaving the pumpkins doesn’t mean we’re not going to have fun playing with the duck races or going down the big slide.

But I got to thinking about Hudson and his little struggles and I realized that I’m not much different. I know the things that I like to do and I am conflicted on a daily basis by what I want to do and what I need to do. It would be so nice to take a nap every day or go shopping every day. But the better choice is to maintain my household and to spend time with God every day. Taking care of my husband, my children and my home are the things I need to be doing.

There is so much noise around trying to distract us and capture our attention. With all of the social media, the news, TV, gossip, responsibilities and commitments that it’s hard to walk away from everything without having a little internal battle. Fortunately, we know better than to kick and scream. But we all still have to do things we don’t want to do.

Because of the time of year and all the activities and commitments that come with it (holiday planning, Holiday Market planning, school activities, church holiday planning, etc.) there are very few free evenings on our calendar. And I’m using this as an excuse to stop doing my quiet time. I am making every other thing in my life come first and I go to bed every night saying to myself, “I’ll get to it tomorrow.” And for the past three weeks, I haven’t.

It’s so easy to fall out of the routine, but just like Hudson, I require discipline and routine. My lack of discipline and my failure to keep my time with Him in my daily routine has caused me to become stressed and overwhelmed. Isn’t that funny? If I would just take 20 minutes to do this, the whole rest of my day would fall into place. And somehow I’d feel like I have more time. Being organized will only take me so far. That peace that I can only get from one place is missing, and without it, nothing is going to feel right.

The greatest thing is, though, that I know that I’m never “too far gone.” Three weeks out of routine feels like a long time, but I know it just takes one day to get back on track.

I’m going to slow down. I’m going to be intentional about spending time in the word and getting back into my routine. And I’m going to be intentional in the way I spend time with my children.

*I have a very exciting eyeshadow review and giveaway coming up tomorrow from bareMinerals!

**Don’t miss Erin Condren on Plum District today! Get $50 to ErinCondren.com for just $25.

*I’m linking up for Pinnable Me with Stefanie from Paw Prints and Pastry Bags.

It’s no secret that we’re big Gamecock fans around here. We’re also big SEC fans in general. Things may get a little cut throat during football season, but when it’s bowl season, you better believe that I want every single SEC team to win their games.

I am also fascinated by and so interested in the SEC football culture. I love putting together cute outfits for games (while still wearing comfortable shoes) and planning fun tailgates. It’s an all-day event and it’s about so much more than the football. I love all the traditions and customs and it’s my goal to visit every SEC school for a football game. So far, I’ve been to LSU, Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and obviously South Carolina. I still need to visit  Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Arkansas (I’ve been to the Little Rock stadium, but it was for the Eagles concert), Tennessee, Kentucky and Vanderbilt.

And now that Texas A&M is definitely joining the conference, I can say that I’ve been to a game in College Station, which is a great place to watch a game, in my opinion.

So this post is for SEC fans and for new SEC fans! And there’s a fun giveaway for you SEC girls at the end of the post!

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of meeting, Christie Leigh Mueller, who just wrote a book about SEC football for women. The book is called Gridiron Belles: A Guide to Saturdays in Dixie. I went to a little meet and greet/book signing at LaRoque in Columbia.

The book is a bit of a travel guide through the stadiums and tailgates in the SEC and it provides every girl with what she needs to know about football, tailgating and the SEC opponents.

The book is so cute and it has a section on every SEC school complete with photos, lists of traditions and histories of the schools. For the Southern Belles who are newer to the game, there is even a rules section.

Christie Leigh is currently on a book tour of all the SEC cities and she is visiting every city this fall and experiencing every SEC school’s game day!

Her tour schedule is listed below! Visit her website for updates on where she’ll be in each town so you can get meet her and get your copy of the book signed! This map totally cracks me up!

One lucky Blue-Eyed Bride reader is going to receive her own autographed copy of Gridiron Belles by Christie Leigh Mueller!

To enter, just leave a comment! That’s all you have to do!

I have already given a copy of this to my mom and I have 3 more copies that I bought to give as gifts to some of my SEC ladies. It’s such a cute idea!

1. September 3, 2011
Oregon v LSU (Arlington, TX)

2. September 10, 2011
MS State at Auburn

3. September 17, 2011
Tennessee at Florida

4. September 24, 2011
Florida at Kentucky

5. October 1, 2011
Auburn at South Carolina

6. October 8, 2011
Georgia at Tennessee

7. October 22, 2011
Auburn at LSU

8. October 29, 2011
Arkansas at Vanderbilt

9. November 5, 2011
LSU at Alabama

10. November 12, 2011
Auburn at Georgia

11. November 19, 2011
LSU at Ole Miss

12. November 26, 2011
Alabama at Auburn

13. December 3, 2011
SEC Championship in Atlanta, GA

*Apparently my blog posts this week need to be named after song lyrics. Thanks, Brad Paisley, for today’s post title.

As I get closer to turning 30 (yes, I still have a full year ahead of me, but I tend to jump ahead a year. As soon as I turn 29, I’ll start saying, “I’m almost 30.” Just like when I turned 28, I was already saying, “I’m almost 29.” Whatever.) … Anyway, as I get closer to turning 30, I’m kind of looking back and thinking about what I’ve done and accomplished and also what I’ve missed.

So if I could write a letter to myself, this is what I’d say.

Dear Erin,

Let’s just get this out of the way. You spend way too much time putting yourself down. Apologizing for your size, your skin and your height. Love yourself. Don’t worry about those things. People can be mean, but ignore them. They obviously don’t care anything about getting to know you for who you are. And the day will come when you actually enjoy exercising and those freshman 40 will come off!

Enjoy being single. It’s hard not having a boyfriend when everyone else always seems to have a boyfriend, but there are only so many years in your life when you’re single. Being married is absolutely wonderful, but the best part of that is sharing your life with your best friend. So, in the mean time, spend time with your friends and enjoy every second of it. Enjoy your youth. Take advantage of long weekends and go on trips.

Travel more. When kids (and pets) come along, it really makes it difficult to just scoot out of town. Go places! See things. Do the things you’ve always wanted to do while it’s easy!

Stop looking to the next thing. Stop wondering when you’ll get married or when you’ll have babies. Life isn’t about having a checklist and marking things off the list. You want to experience every little thing and live in every moment. Don’t wish those moments away because you’re looking for the next big thing to happen.

Other people, and their opinions, do not define you. Don’t worry about what people will think if you don’t go out that night. Quit putting pressure on yourself to say “yes” to everyone. Focus on God and run to Him when you’re looking for your self-worth.

There are very few things in this life that you need. There are a lot of things that you want. But if you get everything you think you want, you’ll forget why you wanted any of it in a month anyway. Save money. Be responsible. This is the one area where you should look to the future and not live in the moment!

Try not to let things get you worked up. Don’t cry. Things may seem like a big deal right now. You may be stressed about which job you’ll accept and you don’t know where you want to live. It’s hard to make life choices when you’re just deciding for yourself. But it’s also a huge blessing! You’ll see very soon that your tears and stress weren’t all that necessary as things start to fall into place. God’s perfect plan will reveal itself.

Cling to your friends and family. Your family is forever and your good friends and the memories made with them will help shape your life.

Don’t be defined by insecurity, lack of contentment and things. These are your “problem areas” but you can overcome them if you fix your heart on the Lord.

Don’t be overcome with worry. Fulfill your responsibilities, but don’t let things keep you awake at night. Don’t procrastinate and just hurry up and get things done, so you can avoid that worry later.

Enjoy your youth. You’ll be looking at yourself in the mirror one day and the slight physical changes will be very obvious to you. You’ll find yourself wondering where the time went. But you’ll also be looking forward to what’s ahead and hopefully looking back with appreciation.

Love,

Me

I’m excited about entering the last year of my 20s. I’ve heard already from so many of you that the best is yet to come. The next decade should not be filled with a lot of the struggles, heartache, doubt and worry that I mentioned above. We learn so much in our 20s, don’t we? There is so much freedom that comes in this decade and we have to figure out what to do with all of that.

What would you say to your then-self in a letter?