They Say It's Your Birthday....

Ok, it's not quite my birthday yet. I have at about 6 more hours left in my time zone but since I am celebrating all week - why not celebrate here now?!?!


Not only is it my birthday, it is almost the 1 year anniversary of On The Tart Side! Yes, technically I started this blog in 2009 but four posts followed by over a year off does not a blog make. So in the tradition of sitcoms everywhere (as well as the graduation episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 - Thanks Ben & Whit for my gift of Seasons 1 &2!), today's post is a flashback episode to some of the biggest hits of the past year.

Top 5 Posts

#5 - Product Placement Wednesday - Surprise Surprise Bake Shop Cake Pops - If you live in the LA area and still have not tried these cake pops, what are you waiting for? Maybe I should pick up a few to celebrate with!

#4 - Happy Half-Birthday To Me! - FYI - if you are looking for a gift for me, all of these items are still available.

#3 - First Date Do's and Don'ts for Boys - This is just good advice. If you have yet to pass along to the guys in your life - do it.

#2 - Product Placement Wednesday - Trader Joe's Peach Pops - Tastes like summer. The Strawberry are also good but I still prefer the peach.

and the most popular post of the year BY A MILE....

#1 - Product Placement Wednesday - Trader Joe's Flower Pepper - This pepper must be REAL popular as I had three times as many hits on this post as on the next closest. It really is delish so jump on the bandwagon and check it out!

In the spirit of the birthday theme, here are a few other posts that tie in...

You Shouldn't Have! - A Guide to Gifting (and it's companion You Shouldn't Have! - The Wedding Edition) - Be the best gift giver EVER!

and on the flip side... Product Placement Wednesday - Amazon.com Wish List - Make it easy for people to know exactly which gifts to buy you (hence my new found BH9 DVDs).

People have also seemed to enjoy my wedding posts this year though the favorite for sure was Tacky Weddings!

This one about 10 Things That Make A Woman Undateable cracks me up.

There was also adventures in my neighborhood - pre arsonist.

Lots of great recipes - too many links to include here. I have so many more to share this year!

I could recap all night but I have got to keep the birthday train moving! Thank you so much for reading this year and I hope that you continue to enjoy the content in 2012!

Product Placement Wednesday - Clarisonic Mia

So as a slightly late resolution for 2012, Product Placement Wednesday is now going to be bi-weekly. Unfortunately I have a lot on my plate as we kick off this year and I want to get back to delivering a larger variety of content so I will be cutting back on products. That being said, if you have personally tried a new product and think it is a good candidate for Product Placement Wednesday, please let me know!


Now on to this week's product! I got this little beauty for Christmas and I have a feeling that many of you did too!


Clarisonic Mia



The Clarisonic Mia is the smaller more travel friendly version of the classic Clarisonic. It is definitely the most fun as it comes in approximately 15 colors (colors vary due to special editions). While the other Clarisonic models offer more features, the Mia is all most consumers need. It features a universal charger, travel case, and up to 20 minutes of cleaning with one charge.

The cleaning features of all Clarisonics are basically the same. This is from the Mia page:

• Cleans 6x better than your hands alone in 60 seconds
  



• Works with your skin, not against it, to gently massage away impurities trapped within pores
  



• Prepares skin for better absorption of creams, serums and moisturizers
  



• Gentile enough to use 2x a day

Clarisonic Mia is available at Ulta, Sephora and Amazon.com in addition to the company website.

I have been using mine for a few weeks and am already happy with the changes in my skin. Did you also get a Mia for a holiday gift? If so, what color?

Product Placement Wednesday - Aqua Clean Concentrate

Today I have one of my favorite laundry products to share with you. My parents are the ones that got me hooked and now I do not trust anything else.

Aqua Clean Concentrate

Aqua Clean Concentrate is similar to Woolite as it is a cold water wash for delicates. It differs from Woolite in a few ways with the most obvious being that it is a concentrate. One bottle of Aqua Clean equals four bottles of Woolite. However the most exciting feature of this product and the one actually make me buy it is the stain removal aspect. Aqua Clean is excellent at getting non grease based stains (grass, blood, red wine) out of clothing. For example, I once was wearing a pair of borrowed jeans and spilled red wine all over them. I spread a bit of this product on the stains and mixed a bit more in with some cold water and left them to soak. Within an hour or so the stain had completely lifted. My parents had a guest that was wearing white and had an incident with red wine and had the same success. It is absolutely amazing.

Inbox Clean Up - Real Simple Articles

Unfortunately my inbox sometimes becomes the place were emails come to die. I save things so long the links are not even good anymore! Today I decided that it would be a great idea to share with you some of the articles from Real Simple that I have been saving only to find that not all were still working links. So I hope you enjoy those that are still active but check them out soon before they join the ranks of the other dead links!

20 Quick No-Cook Recipes

10 Delicious and Surprising Salad Recipes

Great Summer Hostess Gifts

Low Calorie Snacks for Every Craving

Four Weeks of Dinner Menus

50 Surprising New Uses for Beauty Products


I hope you find these articles as interesting as I did! Please let me know if you try any of the recipes, tips or buy any of the hostess gifts. As always, keep in mind that you don't have to be a registered member of the site to comment!

Happy New Year and I wish you all luck in your own inbox cleaning!