my magic potions...

maybe its the afterglow of taking my son to his first star wars experience last night, but i swear these products are working. take years of research and 3rd party clinical trials for regeneration of skin through fetal tissue, and you have neocutis. brilliant. eye creams that actually work and facial serums that replenish. i am in love. my sample box included the journee day cream- which is perfectly tinted, delightfully creamy and great for protection from the rays. the other two samples are their eye balm and eye cream. both can be used day and night and both are worth their weight in gold. kiss your dark circles and puffiness goodbye.

i'm surrounded by great women in my life, and every once in a while i have some kick ass ideas for them. this is for moms. lets preface my tip by saying how much i loathe putting away laundry. i can wash, dry and fold all day long... and with two dirt loving little boys, i'm frequently knee deep in filthy clothes and constantly loading my washer. when it comes to putting the folded clothes away, i fall off. i can be known to dress my kids and myself some weeks from just using the stacks of clean folded garb. the most frustrating part is the brutal task of pairing socks. after 3 years of painfully matching stripes, tow-maters, checks, knee-highs and puppy dog socks, i went off the deep end. i literally threw every last pair of my kids socks into the donate box and went to target...where i purchased 4 packages of socks for each boy. black socks for one and white ones for brother. now socks are quite possibly one of the most simple things in my home. trust... you will thank me later.

and just because i can't shut down without a solid review of some eats... i realized just recently that chin's has made it to la mesa. all hail to the best chicken wings and hot and sour soup in the city. thank you chins... at least i have found the proper eye cream to take on my post msg intake.

with love
mercergirl

happy valentines...

hopefully there's enough love out there for everyone... every day.

old habits die hard...

despite my alternator dying on me yesterday while my youngest son had an out of body experience for a pink frosted cupcake on the parking lot asphalt, and spending the remainder of my evening in the dark with night shift tow truck operators on the side of the road, i remain calm. looking forward to a night with some of my girls from high school at GINGHAM, and the discovery a few things have helped me in the last 24 hours. one being the beginning of the 5 cent sale.

i'm infatuated with a new website for products. not only does this website specialize in some of my absolute favorite skin lines, but they do a really good job of product reviews, the site is super easy to navigate and you get free shipping and free samples. enough said.

next... the introduction of the habit to san diego. finally! the habit is quite possibly one of my favorite places to eat in all of central cali. spending much time in goleta, sb and ventura... it was my staple. their veggie burger is second to none and their milkshakes make my toes curl. the food is fresh and delightful and fast. usually you can pick two out of three of those things... the habit is all three. i realized the habit had made its way south while i sat in the parking lot of gordon biersch and waited for my mom yesterday, my favorite bruce springsteen song was playing on the radio and i had a moment. yes, a moment.

here's to moments.
xo
mercergirl

getting finer by the day...

from growing  up in the sticks of lakeside, moving east to the more posh blossom valley, leaving all together for santa cruz, back to alpine, on to pb, university heights, my beloved village of la mesa, off to summerland, santa barbara, ventura, woodland hills, tierrasanta and eventually again in my favorite village... this city gets me every time.

i have love affairs with san francisco, dreams of portland and rendezvous' in bend... but san diego gets better every day. perhaps its the weather...sunshine, occasional rain, lovely coastlines, or the fact that we're spitting distance from palm springs?

i can remember being bored with this city. now i'm enthralled. skyrocket rents and traffic aside- san diego rules. i spent an evening in little italy over this past weekend. i felt like a giddy tourist. as if it wasn't enough to have the yummy whisknladle in la jolla, they were brilliant to open the newest prepkitchen this past week. bustling and swollen with good food and drink, windows to the streets below... and if craft and commerce didn't shake things up enough with their prohibition style cocktails, grizzly bartenders and off the cuff menu, now they've blessed us with underbelly. take a space the size of a cocktail napkin, add ramen, gyoza, good beers and mochi... and there you have it. id visit again just for the interior signage and stark white tile walls.

it's comforting to know that san diego is finally "getting there". some days i wish i was 20 all over again and that the city was as it is now... but then i sadly would have missed the green circle bar and the original interior of anthony's.... where my boys still love to feed the ducks.

i'll leave you with a scent that reminds me of san diego in the summer, vintage coppertone, sand and sunshine. if you can afford a bottle, buy one... otherwise stick to bobbi brown beach or suntan oil.

have a lovely day wherever you are.
xo
mercergirl

since there's no winter...

with the exception of a few days of rain and cold nights here in san diego, we've pretty much hovered at the 75-89 degree mark since last august. i won't complain, because there's many reading this out of the state and the country. instead, i'm able to rejoice in the fact that i can still wear all my fave spring scents, use fake tanner in ridiculous amounts and keep my skin glowing with some nourishing new products... all while my boys play in the sunshine and don't rot their brains too much on phineas and ferb.

i'm holding out to purchase any more scents until jo malone launches their new series "london in bloom". while the "tea" series only enticed me with two of the scents, i have a feeling i may need the big bottle of one of these babies. most likely will be at least one of the go-to things for march and april. supposedly we'll see them in stores at the end of february. until then, i'm all about the glowing face.  i've been drinking wild amounts of cocounut water. though the plain flavor turns me off and tastes salty to me, i'm in love with the other brands that have a bit of juice to them. zico has always been a favorite. their mango flavor will take on any rough mornings and now i've found a new one to enjoy as well. mango is a running theme here, but bom dia nailed it on this one. i like that the bottle is bigger too, i know the other packages are more "green"... but really? i drive an suv. i promise that this goes in the blue bin when i'm done.

a couple of samples i received recently have knocked my socks off. keep in mind i have fairly aggressive rosacea and i'm always careful. if you can't tell i'm a jo malone lover, you will after this. they recently came out with a daily face moisturizer spf 15. it's amazing. it's light and soaks right in. made my face feel good all day, no tightness. it's hard to find day creams with any spf that don't either dry you out or grease you up. this is a winner, for ladies and gents. it's not girly at all... i'm a fan. i also received a sample of nars new tinted foundation. their advertising is brilliant... a bunch of exotic women photographed in a place that reminds me of leo's old movie "the beach". i didn't feel like a supermodel with it on, but it's great color (as always for nars) and the texture is unbelievably smooth. not drying at all and also with spf. i've always done 3-5 steps morning and night for my face since i was about 10. i'm moving the numbers up a bit with age- but i simply can't survive without an amazing moisturizer, tinted moisturizer and concealer. i may have to add a nars to my rotation this summer.

i'm off to class, but will leave you on this nice saturday with one of my favorite songs on my ipod these days... you can bet i'll be up front at coachella.
xo
mercergirl

coke can't be all that bad...

so, in consideration of the obscene amount of time it takes me to wake up my children- or their father for that matter. i chuckled to see that even someone as perfect as brad pitt has his issues too. i'm simply not in the mood every morning to sing the usual "good morning to you"... who knows how my mom did it all those  years. most days are just madness. even with lunches packed the night before, clothing laid out neatly and backpacks ready to go, we can still end up late one day a week. little did i know kindergarten tardiness was such an issue, or that they had homework that rivals what i did in high school. it's ludicrous... so thanks to the jolie pitt clan for this amazing idea. screw diabetes and rotting teeth- this may actually work.

now for some fun... luckyscent has continued their goodybag promotion through february. they sold out of these so quickly in january and let me tell you, this little bag is packed to perfection. you won't see a deal like this, so snatch it up... and while you're there, make sure to get lots of little samples for your upcoming Spring events. i'm in love with luckyscent and i hope they know that. i would eat top ramen and take the bus to school and work as long as i could smell good and have cute shoes. speaking of shoes... these are on my list. i can already picture them with so many outfits. too bad i'd have to take out a 3rd loan or max out a credit card to buy them. it's better just not to look. sometimes i wish i still slung shoes at nordy's, just for my discount. too bad i was paying them to allow me to work there. i don't think i ever broke even with my paychecks.

off to target.
xo
mercergirl

what i really cooked...and my favorite new product site

as ambitious as i felt on wednesday to make a great curry recipe out of the new sunset, once reality checked in, i had to take it down a notch. i still spent a really fun evening at the home of some good friends...but i whipped up a dish that consisted of four ingredients, and frankly- it rocked. to top it off, i purchased all of it at target...killing a few birds with one stone. dinner consisted of archer farms organic basmati rice, archer farms coconut curry, boneless chicken breasts and jolly green giant cleaned and ready green beans. voila. after slicing my chicky in thin strips, i lightly browned in olive oil and added the coconut sauce with about a half cup of water and let it simmer until my rice was fluffed and fragrant, i added the beans at the last few minutes and topped mounds of rice with a healthy portion of the chicken mixture. it was so easy and so yummy.

we dined and laughed while our kids had fun taking every possible toy out. nothing
like bringing my rowdy boys over to a house full of estrogen. seeing the amounts of mini barbie shoes, unidentifiable pink parts, faux makeup palettes, small fake foods, princesses...it made me realize i need to appreciate the big tractors i pick up every day. the mercer boys had a blast though and i'm determined for them to be in touch with their feminine side... and learn to cook.

as for my new find, thanks to my girl T.rice... you must go check out birchbox. for product trollops like myself, this is pure genius. each month you pay 10 bucks and you receive 4-6 amazing large samples of some of the best lines out there. they range from hair product to fragrance to lotions... you name it. i think they've become so popular that there is a waiting list now, but put your name in line- you won't be let down.

off to vacuum.
xo
mercergirl