40ishandthriving

Booking a family trip to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure can be stressful no matter how big or small your family is. After a few trips with my family as a kid, and now as a Mom of two boys, with my Dad who we affectionately refer to as Disney/Universal Pop, I have a few tips to help you stress a little less, and enjoy the parks and your stay to the absolute fullest.  First things first where to stay?? Universal is unlike Disney in the fact that you can add Express Passes to your park tickets that you can use all day ANYTIME you want. Unfortunately, if you are staying off property these carry a hefty price tag on top of the already expensive park ticket price. Best ways to beat this: Staying at one of their top tier hotels of their Resorts. TRUST me its pays for itself. There are multiple levels of Hotels on property, but only the top tier Hotels offer Express Passes with your stay, as well as early park hours for resort guests...

  I absolutely love traveling, and do so a lot for family vacations, but both of my boys are each on Travel Baseball Teams that travel pretty much from March until June, I also stress about packing way beforehand, especially about over packing with all of my makeup, SPF, and skincare. Flying especially is challenging, because I personally like to keep all of my makeup and skin care in my carry on, so it doesn't get damaged during our flight and I have on hand immediately to refresh my skin after our flight. Well, if you are anything like me, worry no more because I have found the travel set for you!! I introduce you to Drunk Elephant's Littles 6.0 Set, each product is TSA approved sizes and comes with this adorably fun carryon bag. Not only is it absolutely adorable and TSA approved,  it comes with all of my absolute favorite products. WIN WIN!! ~The Littles 6.0 set retails for $74and includes~ ~ C-Firma Fresh: Brightens and Firms ~Protini: Improves the look of skins tone, tex...

The Great Lip Debate Winter is here and brings the not so welcomed dry air....Where are my constantly dry/chapped lip ladies at?? This is the blog post for you! During the winter months my lips are always so dry, chapped, flaky and cracked and I absolutely hate it. I have tried everything from the traditional drug store Chapstick to Aquaphor with very few satisfying results. I stumbled across an Instagram post talking about the Laniege "magic" lip sleeping mask, and decided to give it a shot. The product is marketed to deliver "Ultra hydrating and nourishing benefits, kissing flaky lips goodbye" I was SOLD! While ordering the sleep mask I also ordered their lip glosses for throughout the day, to use in combination with the mask. I received the product the next day thanks to Sephora pickup, and was ready to begin trying it in hopes to solve my dry/flaky lips once and for all. I instantly loved the lip glosses and their easy application, the sleeping mask application ...

I am pretty certain we have all heard of Alix Earle and her complete and total beauty take over, especially with the White Eye Liner in our water lines, but lets talk about how she completely made Drunk Elephant's D-Bronzi Drops leap off all of the shelves on their Website, Sephora, and Ulta. This created a complete frenzy on how to get my hands on them! Were they worth the hype? I was also completely swayed by the popularity of this product and when they finally alerted me with a restock I took the plunge, now that I have them in my pretty little hands lets dive in. First things first: What are the D-Bronzi drops? Drunk Elephant markets them on their website as " A just-got-back-from-somewhere sunny glow that flatters every complexion. It's and easy way to get a bronzy glow with out the long-term consequences". Ok Drunk Elephant get on with your bad self. A simple way to look tan with out the harsh Uv-rays, and chemicals, oh and no smell, sweet let's give it a go...

  Welcome to 40ishandthriving!!   If you have found this blog you are most likely a 40ish Mom who is ready to begin her " Re-Claiming Me Era". Well, you have come to the right place! First, a little bit about me. I am a 42 year old wife and Mom of two boys, ages 12 and almost 10, living in the Northern Virginia area. I left my Dental Career before my first son was born in 2010 and continued to be a stay at home Mom ever since. I finally decided it was time to start focusing some of my time back onto myself a few years back, pre-covid. I started with a fitness goal to be the healthiest, fittest, strongest version of myself before I turned the dreaded big 40! Well, boom Covid hit, and not only flipped all of our lives upside down, it had plans to also de-rail my fitness journey. While quarantining in our family home in SC, I went for a run on the beach and injured my back pretty significantly, which ended up needed to be surgically fused in multiple places,...long story sho...