Health and Beauty Savings With Groupon Coupons

(This is a sponsored post, though all opinions are mine. Thanks so much for continuing to support So About What I Said’s wonderful sponsors!)

Remember a few weeks back when I posted about my Walgreens adventures in my on-going quest to become a Beauty Guru? I may have come a little late to the party, but I’m determined to master this new world. Oh, yes, it will happen!!

Well, the learning — and adventures — continue, this time, with the help of Health, Beauty & Wellness Groupons! Everyone’s favorite way to save offers great coupons to stock up on life’s essentials — and of course, some fun treats to brighten those ho-hum days!

We all have our favorite stores, don’t we? You know, the ones that we find ourselves going to on the regular (that’s what the kids are saying these days, rights?), and lucky for me, I found plenty of Groupon Coupons for my fave haunts, like Target and Walgreens; I definitely think a huge trip is in my future. It’d be the perfect time to check out all the new lip balms for the fall.

So, what health and beauty items are you excited about for fall, friends? Any special treats on your list? There’s so much out there that it can be overwhelming sometimes, but maybe the hunt is really part of the adventure, right? Happy hunting! And, don’t forget to LIKE Groupon on Facebook and FOLLOW on Twitter for extra fun and savings!!! :)

My Essay on the Berry: 5 Reasons You Need To Stop Hating Taylor Swift

I’ve long felt a strong kinship to Taylor Swift. I always felt like she just understood me — what with her honest songs, Boss status and those evil haters!

YES! This lady just gets it. So you can imagine my fangirl-level excitement over the fact that I’m getting paid to write about my obsession love for T-Swift on the Berry today! In the long-waged war against haters, I’m fighting the good fight, people!

Here’s an excerpt of the essay, which made me realize how much I *LOVE* writing about all things pop culture…

Needless to say, everyone has an opinion, but when is enough, well, enough? Whether you love her or loathe her, there’s no denying that T-Swift has had her fair share of haters.

Let’s face it: Taylor is #boss when it comes to her career. She knows what she’s doing and isn’t going to let anyone stop her – especially a few sad haters who are probably sitting alone in their mother’s basement and puffing their chest out as they type their drivel anonymously on the Internet.

You can read the full essay here and I’d love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to email me anytime at mellow1422@aol.com and let’s chat! And of course, feel free to share my essay on Facebook, Twitter or even your local refrigerator. If you share on Twitter, be sure to tag me @melissablake so we can connect! I can’t wait to hear from you! Love you all… xoxo

Tuesday Tunes: The Beatles’ “I Want To Hold Your Hand”

Editor’s Note: Song lyrics denoted in bold italics.

Had I come of age in the early ’60s, I’m sure I would have been swept up in Beatlemania. I’m sure it was pretty similar to Bieber Fever and all the pictorial evidence seems to support my theory — lots of fans legit screaming their heads off and getting themselves worked up into downright hysterics. It was quite the time, I’m sure!

Although I didn’t grow up during that time, my parents saw to it that I had a healthy diet of Beatles tunes throughout my childhood. They filled car rides with everything from A Hard Day’s Night to Magical Mystery Tour and everything in between. We all seemed to have our favorite Fab Four member too — I loved Paul while my father’s favorite was always Ringo — and our favorite song, of course. Mine have changed over the years. I went through a huge “Something” phase and another phase where “Please, Please Me” stood out above the rest as my main jam, but through it all, one song kept looping in my brain. It’s the song I’d always come back to over and over. It was my constant. And now that I’m older, I’m starting to see why…

The Beatles’ “I Want To Hold Your Hand”
From Meet The Beatles

I don’t remember the first time I heard the Beatles, but something obviously clicked during that first listen because they’ve been a part of my musical library forever. Remember how my sister and I saved up to buy almost all of their albums? In high school, I must have listened to Rubber Soul on repeat for days. I remember sitting in our living room, putting the CD in my disc-man and falling into the mesmerizing lull of “Nowhere Man.” As I got older, though, I realized that “I Want To Hold Your Hand” is really where it’s at.

Oh yeah, I’ll tell you something
I think you’ll understand
When I’ll say that something
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand


Oh please, say to me
You’ll let me be your man
And please, say to me
You’ll let me hold your hand
I’ll let me hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand

There is such a sense of innocence to this song, isn’t there? It practically screams of the power of young love. You know, those jitters and butterflies — and, yes, sweaty palms too! — of something as simple as just being around the other person. Maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it or find the right words to describe it, but you know that you’ve found something pretty special.

Plus, it’s such a simple request. You want to hold their hand. You aren’t asking for anything more than that. If you ask me, that’s a beautiful thing to ask of another person.

And when I touch you I feel happy
Inside
It’s such a feeling that my love
I can’t hide
I can’t hide
I can’t hide

I’ve often wondered what it must be like to have that kind of affect on someone. To have such power over someone and have them completely enraptured by you; it’s no small feat, that’s for sure. And something tells me that this sort of pull is strongest at the emotional level — beyond all that superficial surface-y stuff.

Because when you get down to it, that’s really the only connection worth having in the long-run, don’t you think? Sure, you could try to build some kind of life out of pure physical attraction, but I doubt that would ever be truly satisfying. I just envision getting really bored really quickly. You can’t build an entire life on something as fleeting as looks. I thank John, Paul, George and Ringo for teaching me this lesson so early in life. They probably saved me from A LOT of heartache and disappointment! xoxo

Beautiful Words From Roald Dahl on His 100th Birthday

Roald Dahl had one of those creative minds — the kind that helped him pen such imaginative classics as Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach. He certainly had a way with words, that’s for sure, and his words just seem to ring true.

Take his wise words from The Twits, for example…

“If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it.

A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”

Although published for the first time in 1980, these words still mean as much — if not more — today as they did 36 years ago. The world can be quite an ugly place, full of hatred and jealousy and just general meanness, and just because people can act downright cruel at times doesn’t mean that we have to return the gesture. We can choose to keep our heads held high and we can choose to be kind. We don’t have to let others’ bad attitudes — their ‘ugliness’ — consume us as well. We have the power to choose our own thoughts. And we can let those thoughts be good and beautiful.

It’s all about killing them with kindness, right?? After all, the world can be a pretty dark place. Don’t you want to be the shining light among the darkness? xoxo

P.S. Remember these adorable Roald Dahl postage stamps? :)

[Photo via We Heart It]