New Year's Day odds 'n' ends!

First of all, Happy New Year, my lovelies! I hope you're all enjoying the day and that you had either a magical, crazy, exciting night last night, OR a warm, quiet, peaceful one, depending on your taste and lifestyle. :)

As for myself, the boyfriend and I had ourselves a couch picnic and enjoyed a Mad Men marathon (I'm only up to the end of season 2 since we're watching it for the first time on DVD so pleeeeease no spoilers!). For dinner we made noodles with steamed broccoli, carrots and baked tofu--we poured a homemade peanut sauce over the whole thing and it was deeeelish. For dessert, I tried making some vegan chocolate lava cake (I'm not vegan but I like the idea of not using dairy products in dessert because, well, desserts are bad enough for you without the fat and cholesterol, right?). So back to the chocolate lava cake--it was a DISASTER. The banana I used was overripe and had a funky taste to it, then I misread the ingredients and added 1/2 a TABLESPOON of salt instead of 1/2 a TEASPOON, so the whole thing ended up tasting like a weird salty banana with bitter chocolate mixed in. We tossed it in the trash and ended up eating butterscotch chips (purchased to make cookies) straight out of the bag like candy for the rest of the night. No wonder I feel sick right now. :)

Right now I'm being incredibly lazy and switching back and forth on TV between the various marathons they're running: Barney Miller, Myth Busters, The Next Iron Chef and Most Shocking. And I can't wait for 8:00 tonight when E! airs Office Space, which I have probably seen 5,000 times but can never miss whenever it's on TV. [Office Space fans: I can do the BEST impersonation of "Corporate Accounts Nina Speaking JUST a moment" you have ever heard!]

But before I go back to being a couch zombie, I'd like to share some odds & ends with you! :)

1) My awesome pal Amber at Beauty Junkies Unite just did a fantastic review of the brand spankin' new Maybelline Lash Stiletto Voluptuous, which one of my readers informed me is a dupe of a Lancome mascara. Check out Amber's review here, and while you're at it, please send her warm wishes as she recovers from bronchitis. Get well soon, girlie!

2) PLEASE, if you haven't already, vote in my poll at the bottom of this page. I would LOVE to know from you, my dear readers, what you would like to see more of from me in 2010, so the results of this poll are extremely valuable to me. Please vote, ok? And thank you!

3) I've got an e.l.f. at Target update for you! The display that appeared at Targets across the nation back in October was actually part of a holiday promotion and it was never intended to be permanent (I just found this out last week). So if you've gone into Target recently and seen crazy clearance prices on e.l.f. stuff, that's why. But the great news is that e.l.f. WILL be back in Target stores PERMANENTLY, beginning in March of this year. I spoke to the Chief Marketing Officer of e.l.f. recently and they are very excited about what will be available--lots of single items, and the products will be from the e.l.f. line and the Studio line (no Mineral line products yet). I will be receiving a complete list very soon of what you can expect to see at Target in March, so please stay tuned. The minute I get it, you know I'll post it!

4) I want to apologize for really lagging on responding to comments lately. I LOOOOVE hearing from you and I treasure each and every comment I receive. I usually can respond to comments the same day they are received, but it's just been extra crazy these past few months. I know that when I leave a comment on a blog and I don't receive a response, I kind of take it personally. I always think, "What, did my comment not matter to the person? Did he/she just totally ignore what I had to say?" So BELIEVE me, I never want YOU to feel that way if you leave a comment here and I do not respond. I read ALL comments left on this blog, and I have every intention of responding, but sometimes I'm not perfect and life gets in the way. But I want to assure you that this is the ONLY reason for my lack of response. It's not because I don't find your comment valuable or unworthy of a response--I assure you that's not the case at all. I love you guys so much and I am constantly amazed at your wonderful, thoughtful, and insightful comments. So please, if a comment you have left here has gone unanswered, do not let that stop you from commenting again in the future, ok? Thank you!

5) Can you tell me if you are you enjoying the feature on my right-hand side bar, which is the articles from my Google Reader? I try to update it every single day with new beauty news that I discover from the various websites that I subscribe to, but if you don't find it interesting and you find yourself never even looking it, I want to know! I'd rather devote my time to things that YOU find useful, so please leave a comment here telling me if you love it, hate it or are just "meh" about it, ok? Thank you!

Thanks to everyone reading this for making '09 one of the most fulfilling years for me on a personal level. It was a big, scary step for me to start a beauty blog and I could not have done it without you. The fact that you spend even a second of your day on Nouveau Cheap makes me so happy that I want to skip around in circles and throw faerie dust into the air! :)

Bursting with love and gratitude,
R. xo