Dearest Friday,

Friday 31 August 2012

Dear Friday, I've been waiting for you all week and I'm so glad you're finally here. I'm so ready for my 3 day weekend and most of all Florida State Football, baby!!! (I had to go there)

Dear Football Rice Crispy Treats, I'm impressed with how well you turned out. You are cute and super delicious, I'm excited to bring you along to game day with us.

Dear Old Navy Chevron Maxi Skirt, I love you. No, really, I think I'm in love with you. There's a good chance I'm going to go back and get all of your siblings because you're so comfortable and fit so well. 

PS. If that biotch cashier who referred to me as "unique cute" is there, however, I will walk out. Hated her.

Dear Sweetest Sebby & Ella, There is no reason you need to act out an ASPCA commercial every. single. time I give each of you a bath. I even give you massages during the process, for crying out loud. Do you know how much mommy pays to get her monthly massage on? She doesn't get by on just cute looks (though I'm sure you both do think that... *hair flip*). Embrace the bath, kiddos, no one likes a stinky pup. 

Dear Kelly from Keeping Up With Kelly & Co., THANK YOU SO MUCH for the adorable elephant shirt you made for me. I need to purchase every other design you offer because they are sooo perfect. You are the best! 

Dear Readers, You guys are pretty much the greatest little angels ever, of life. I am so thankful for all of the comments, tweets, emails, etc. that you all continue to send my way and I wish I could thank each and every one of you individually in this post. You all rock my socks!

Dear Florida State Football, Kick some ARSE this weekend. Let's goooooo Noles!

Have an awesome Labor Day weekend, loves. I'm out!

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Behind the Scenes

Thursday 30 August 2012

Here are some pictures from the Lowcountry Magazine Fashion Photo shoot that Kayla and Lucas participated in.

And a few from my cell phone...

 

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Smokey Eyeshadow (tutorial)

I feel slightly like a scam blogger today, as I'm posting this wearing zero makeup up, but... Last week I shared a natural eyeshadow tutorial with you all and it seemed to go over really well, so this week I'm going to share another makeup tutorial!

This week I'm going to show you how I do my more "going out" look! 

As always, I start with - 

Shadow: MAC - Nylon

Brush: Finger

I marked where I put Nylon with a low opacity brush in Photoshop (if you couldn't tell that was Photoshopped).

Again, this part makes a nice highlight at the corner of your eye as well as your brow bone.

The next step is also the same as last week -

Shadow: Urban Decay (Naked 1 or 2 Palette) - Half Baked

Brush: Finger

Apply to your eyelid, blending with the nylon at the corner of your eye.

Now we're going back to the Urban Decay Naked 1 palette and brush.

Shadow: Urban Decay (Naked 1) - Naked

Brush: The brush that comes in the Naked 1 palette

Take a nude shadow and "fill in" the area of your eye that we've not yet put shadow on - more specifically, the crease or the area above your eyelid and below the brow bone.

Shadow: Urban Decay (Naked 2) - Snakebite

Brush: MAC 217

Now is when you want to create the real smokey effect. Focus on the crease and blend upward - making the darkest area the crease and corner (noted by the darker opacity Paintbrush).

Shadow: Urban Decay (Naked 1) - Dark Horse

Brush: Urban Decay Naked 1 brush

Using a very dark brown you want to really accentuate the crease and corner.

*If you don't have a deep crease to your natural eye use the dark brown to make it appear you do. The glory of makeup!*

Top Eyeliner

When I'm doing eyeliner for a night out I always use a black shadow and liner brush on top of the liquid liner by tracing over the liquid line. This will help keep your upper liner from coming off. 

Bottom Liner

I use a dark shadow for bottom eyeliner because I think I looks a lot more natural than pencil or liquid. I always keep my bottom liner darker at the outer corners and blend inwards towards the light shadow (MAC - Nylon) at the inner corner. 

MAC - False Lashes Extreme Black

Add your mascara.

Voila! 

Like this tutorial? 

That's all I've got for you today, loves.

Ciao!

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When Pinterest Fails You

Wednesday 29 August 2012

So, today I'm going to show you the sad, sad hair-do I am rocking right now thanks to our beloved website, Pinterest.

The Unicorn Braid:

Tested and failed

The pin I saw was so cute, like really, really cute. My attempt? The opposite of cute. This looks like my 3 year old niece did my hair - or maybe my 5 year old nephew. It looks nothing like the original pinner promised. 

(at least my new earrings from Jewelry Nut Auctions on FB are cute, no?)

{via}

So, I guess fine, blonde hair is not ideal for this "braid", or what? It's not even a real braid and I'm actually capable braiding! I'd be lying if I said this was the first Pinterest fail I've experienced but, come on, how easy does this chick make this hair style look?! Bah humbug. Damn you, Pinterest.

And for a good laugh, let's all look at my WORST Pinterest hair fail of all time. It's REALLY, really (really really really) bad.

THE WORST!!!!

In this particular pin I was instructed to divide my hair into multiple different braids and run a flat iron over them. Once the hair was cooled I was to take the braids out and the hair was supposed to be perfectly wavy. 

ha. haha! Good one, Pinterest. Those are some PERFECT waves if I've ever seen them. Or not. No, definitely not even close.

I wish I could find the original pin for this one to share with you all but it doesn't seem to be on any of my boards any longer. My guess is it got deleted for the massive amount of disappointment it caused. 

As frustrating as they are, I do love a good Pinterest fail. Which fails have you all experienced lately?

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Facial Euphoria For Pissy Skin

Tuesday 28 August 2012

{via}

I don't know about you ladies but this is not, and has never been, an accurate portrayal my facial cleansing regiment. I've tried this glamourous cleansing technique and, well, I will let this ecard explain the rest for me...

Today I want to give insight on one of my most overly sensitive and highly obsessive beauty regiments - my face. I'm not sure if it's just me but I'm terrified of the thought of getting wrinkles and watching my skin age. Everyone around me thinks I'm borderline fit for a straight jacket because I'm convinced I already have a small wrinkle on my forehead. A WRINKLE! I can't, I just can't. Early wrinkle and aging prevention has become a serious journey for me. Serious and not light on the wallet, but worth it. I think.

For years, as along as I can remember, this was my go-to face wash. This and only this...

Those were the days! $8 and my skin was soft and smooth like a baby's bootay.

Cetaphil was always fantastic for me to use because I never wore too much makeup and it was gentle enough to calm my pissy skin.

Pissy skin means skin that hates nearly every product you bring near it. I've got pissy skin like a mo fo. 

All of this began about 2 years ago, at my ripe age of 23, when I really started to look into early aging prevention and such. Much to my surprise, there are a bagillion products on the market that tell you they're going to keep the wrinkles off of your face and, of course, brighten it up like a Christmas tree. Christmas tree face? Sign this girl up!

So, I went out and dropped about $30 for the Clarisonic knock off by Olay.

I should have flushed the $30 down the toilet. It would have saved me the chemical burn that the cleanser gave me. The Olay Professional Pro X line is not meant for us ladies with pissy skin, take my word for it. In addition, if you aren't ready to drop the big bucks on a Clarisonic don't settle for this knock off, just go take your pots and pans scrubber brush and wash your face with it. Your results will be pretty similar and the pots and pans brush may feel slightly more enjoyable.

I then decided I needed to stop being a cheapskate and I did my research. I stumbled upon the Murad skin line and for $40 I came home with their Renewing Cleansing Cream.

I loved this stuff. The smell was great, it felt nice when I'd wash my face with it and I loved how my skin felt after I used it. And then 4 days later my face felt like sandpaper and I had raw spots all over it. Yep... another chemical burn. Awesome. Another $40 I should have put down the garbage disposal.

At this point, I pretty much gave up thinking that I had any hope for fighting wrinkles. I was screwed because my pissy skin hated me and every product out there that wants to help it. That's when I took about 6 months off and went back to Cetephil, which certainly didn't fight off signs of aging and I'm still convinced my little wrinkle came during those 6 months. 

That's when I decided to go out and finally give in to the Clarisonic Mia 2, which you can read more about here, if you didn't see that post. (hint: I'm overly obsessed and in love)

I've been using the Simple "moisturizing facial wash" with my Mia for the most part.

Does it burn my skin? Nope, it's kind to it, just as it states. Does it smell good? Nope, not a scent in the entire bottle. Don't let this product deceive you though... "Moisturizing" is a false word to describe this product. Not to say I don't continue to use it, because that would be a lie, but I always need a ton of moisturizer afterwards because it dries me out like crazy. 

The moisturizer I use is currently my most favorite facial product.

I swear by Say Yes to Cucumbers daily calming moisturizer and I'm thinking I want to try some of their other products out. More specifically Say Yes to Blueberries, which is their anti-aging line.

All of the products seem to be gentle and less invasive than the ones I tried a year ago that caused those fantastic chemical burns, but I'm still nervous. They're not the cheapest products on the market but they're available at drug stores which is nice, for convenience purposes. I'll have to report back on this product once I've tested it. Wish my pissy skin luck! 

Do any of you ladies deal with pissy skin? What products have you found that don't cause chemical burns? I'd love to hear! 

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The Cemetery

Monday 27 August 2012

There is a main road about 10-15 min from our house that we don't use frequently, but use often enough.

There is a cemetery on this road. Kayla can see it quite clearly from her side of the van. We've passed by this cemetery numerous times in the 2 years since we've moved here. But the first time we drove past this cemetery, a week after returning from FL, Kayla really saw it. And identified with it.

In an animated, almost excited voice, Kayla said, "Oooh Mommy! This! Right here! We're going to see Pepere?"

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

I held back tears as I told her that no, we weren't going to see Pepere, he wasn't buried at that cemetery.

Then Lucas said, "Kayla, remember Pepere lives in FL?" I had to hold back more tears at the present tense of "lives" ... although I guess he'll always be in FL now.

Almost every time we've driven that road since then, Kayla still notices that cemetery. And without fail she'll say something about Pepere. She'll talk about his leg hurt and he couldn't walk (the blood clots). She'll mention his lungs were sick (the reason I told them that it was hard for him to breathe). She'll talk about the flowers (that we each put on his casket). Sometimes she'll say mommy's sad and cry. Other times she'll say Pepere doesn't hurt anymore, he's all better.

The first time we passed that cemetery and Kayla made the connection to my dad's funeral it hurt. It still does hurt.

But I now find myself almost looking forward to her noticing it when we drive by there. I find myself waiting for that moment she sees it come in to view and will say something. It almost feels like it has become a tradition of some sorts.

And I know that when we drive by there, and she says something, it puts my dad at the forefront of our thoughts. And she's remembering him. Not that I want that to be her most prominent and often-thought about memory, but for now it is. It's her association with him. She's processing his death and what happened and what she was a part of at the funeral. And I've started to smile when we approach that cemetery, so I can smile when she's talking about him, and smile as we remember him together.

 

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I Wore Goggles to Work.

Ok, so I didn't really... but I considered it.

This is what it currently looks like here in the "sunshine state". No sun in sight. Like, zero.

I want nothing more than to be in my bed right now, snuggling with these two little muffins...

Both were less than thrilled when I nudged their little butts into the grass this morning to "potty".

Sorry, bugs.

As I mentioned on Friday, I had no big plans over the weekend. Soooo, I really don't have much else to report on today. Exciting, huh?

Yesterday I got to experience the best form of birth control. My niece's 2nd birthday. I was around 4 children ranging from 2 to 7 years old for about an hour and a half. It. Was. TERRIFYING. Props to you mamas out there. That shiz gave me enough anxiety to need multiple double mimosas.

I did, however, use the occasion to test out a new shade of lipstick I hadn't yet been brave enough to sport.

How do we feel about bright fuchsia lipz, ladies? 

I think I likey.

Here's le mama and myself from yesterday. Don't we look like we're having a blast? ha.no.

Alright. I really have nothing much more to say. 

I'll see you tomorrow!

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