Sick Kid

This girl is a mess. I started getting a sore throat over a week ago and it has since developed into a full blown cough and earache. Then I coughed so hard I was throwing up all one morning (actually this happened more than just one morning) and did something to my back so I became a coughing cripple. Then I got a massage thinking that would help and really it just made me coughing and bed ridden. I was in so much pain I didn't even care that Tiger got into the garbage and ate brie.

My back is a bit better, I can walk now, but the cough is still going strong. Send out all the good juju you can to make it go away por favor. I'm definitely over this.

Wishes Granted

First things first. I apologize for ditching you. I've been in a blog funk. I think of things to write then realize I'm not excited to write about them and I never wanted this to be an obligation, part of the reason I didn't put too fine a point on what was going to happen here. I have, from the beginning, wanted this to be fun and full of whatever I felt like in the moment. I'm trying to make a comeback here but I may be slow to get back into my groove. So bear with me.

In less whiny news...you know how every season I make a wish list full of pretties I want to wear? Well for Fall 2011 you're not getting one. Because I couldn't possibly wish for another piece of Fall fashion after my recent stock up. Now I know I didn't ever follow through with a birthday post but I got some gifts. Trista's boyfriend Zach made me a beautiful serving bowl (he does ceramics), my friend Amelia got me the cutest ever rectangular espresso cups, Johnathan gave me a fantastic comic book and a garland he made me out of vintage postcards...my friend's were great to me. And I hate to play favorites here but Lana may have been the greatest. You see, Lana's gift to me was making me her significant other.

Now before you get all excited Lana works for Free People. So, by making me her significant other I get a card that gives me huge discounts at Urban Outfitters, Free People, and Anthropologie. Which means this girl went on a major 40% off shopping spree. This is what I'll be wearing this Fall.


Side lace up moccasins! (Free People)



Is it a dress? Is it a maxi skirt? It's both! (Free People)



Love the big open stitches, love the color, love the length. (Urban Outfitters)



Not totally sure about this one but I think I could work it out. Plus it ended up being like $20 after sale and my discount. (Free People)



Perfect purse. Small enough, big enough, color, and shine. (Free People)



I'm in love with this one. (Free People)



Silk and leather. Divine combo. Also the lining is red with tiny white polka dots! (Anthropologie)



Cardi with super thin black and tan stripes. Will go with everything. (Free People)



A slip. For peaking out from under or through things. (Urban Outfitters)





This dress is fantastic. It only cost me about $30 and I cannot wait to try wearing different things under it and belting it. Check out the detail. (Free People)



A lace pullover! (Free People)



Wearing this one today with a black slip dress underneath and bare legs. So flowy and comfy. Total year round piece. (Free People)



Cropped leggings. So cute with flats. (Free People)



Big open stitch cozy sweater. Love. (Free People)





So pretty and feminine. (Free People)



Wanted these for a long time. Super cute with skinny jeans tucked in. (Urban Outfitters)

So, This Happened

Saturday night Tiger decided he needed to lay exactly where Javier was any time Javi decided to lay down. And he wouldn't just lay near him or touching him...he would lay on top of him. This whole thing went on for way longer than it should have given Javi has about five pounds on Tiger and the advantage of claws but apparently he also possesses the patience of a saint.

Feeling Creative

A few days ago I wrote about my addiction to Pintrest and how awesome it is but this site is changing my life. All of a sudden I have this immense amount of information and images of projects and parties and design and decorating and architecture and style and just color and texture. And with it comes this extremely effective way to organize all this information and keep track of these things with very little effort. I'm feeling so inspired in regards to everything. I want to make stationery, throw endless parties, paint, wear my hair in something other than a messy bun, I want to design a whole entire house and decorate every single corner of it. I want to visit Spain and Greece and Italy. And I all of a sudden have such a passion for all of these things.

If I were the kind of person who flit from thing to thing I would feel excited right now but also know this was likely a phase. Instead I feel a genuine change happening. Trust me, I realize how silly this sounds, but I'm starting to picture myself gardening or buying a house or...building things. It's crazy.

These are some of the things inspiring me right now but really, it's just a tip of the iceberg.

The Super Simple 5 Product Make Up Routine

I'm such a product junkie. The thing is I love to look at all the makeup in the store and play with it and buy it and bring it home and look at it some more but when it's 7:30am and I can either sleep an extra 15 minutes or be Barbie I choose sleep every time. Back when I was in high school I'd wake up early and actually do my hair and makeup and think about what I wanted to wear but in grown up land that's just not how I roll. Usually I braid a couple small braids in my hair, put the whole thing up in a messy bun, throw on something to wear, which only ends up being fabulous most of the time simply because I have a really fantastic collection of clothes, then I do my makeup in the car (calm down, it's at stop lights...most of the time). Which is why I am on the constant quest for the most simple makeup routine with the least number of products involved. And I think I've reached a new high.

So I guess if you include moisturizers this is actually a 7 product routine but that's skincare so it doesn't count right? Regardless I'm so in love with my moisturizers I would marry them so I wanted to share. I use Bobbi Brown's Hydrating Gel Cream for my whole face. I tend to get too oily if I use heavy moisturizers and even though I probably shouldn't admit this I don't wash my face with cleanser as often as I should. In the mornings I usually just use hot water. I'm no aesthetician but I am fairly certain this keeps my skin from being too dry which means that I don't need to use a lot of moisturizer. Gels are my friend when it comes to my face. Unfortunately I am totally old now so I have to use under eye cream. This is a bit heavier than my moisturizer but works for me. I can also notice a definite difference when I start slacking and not using this daily. Also by Bobbi this one is her hydrating eye cream. She's obviously super creative at naming her products.


Then the real fun begins. My super special five step patented (not really) beauty routine includes foundation, concealer, luminizer, mascara, and the lip application of your choice. For skin I use Bobbi Brown's Skin Foundation (I'm not kidding, that's it's actual name) and her creamy concealer. I like coverage without feeling like I'm wearing stage makeup so these two products work well for me.


Next up is luminizer which is like the unicorn of the makeup world. It's so incredibly magical. A unicorn is really just a horse with a horn and lumizer is really just sparkles with some color but somehow when their powers combine they become captain amazing.

I've mentioned this product before when I bought the lightest color but I loved it so much I came back for more and decided to try cutting out blush and using a luminizer in a tone similar to the blushes I like instead. Which was obviously genius of me. The thing about this product is it's fairly unique. Most highlighters or luminizers have very little to no color and are either very light or very brown depending on what skin tone you are shopping for. And blush is awesome but it's hard to find a really gorgeous blush with shimmer rather than glitter, and really, if you're older than twelve you're too old for glitter on your cheeks. But Nars has taken the best of both worlds and created a gel/liquid luminizer with enough shimmer and pretty to be a highlighter but enough color to work as blush as well. I bought the color "orgasm" which is a different take on their most popular blush color but as you can see it comes in a few other tones too. I hope they realize how great this product is and expand the spectrum.


After that is a quick pinch with an eyelash curler and some mascara. I started using Diorshow Blackout a few years ago and haven't looked back. It's pricey but if you pay attention to Nordstrom Sales a few times a year they do a buy two get one free mascara promo. It applies to all mascaras so you can pick up whatever you like as long as they're within the same brand. And mascara keeps forever as long as you don't open it and let air in (that's when it starts drying out). I tend to stock up a couple times a year and I'm good.

After that you can do whatever with your lips. My most favorite lip product in the entire world is Dior's Dior Addict Lipstick. I've written about it before so I won't bore you with my lipstick love but it's basically a lipstick that goes on like part chapstick/part gloss. You don't have to be careful about it bleeding or even look in a mirror to apply it but it has the color of a lipstick. Best of both worlds right here. Plus it comes in about 8 billion awesome colors.


UPDATE: About where to apply the luminizer, I apply it to my cheeks and up towards my temples because I am not super into the dewy look. I don't trust myself to not creep into shiny/Edward Cullen in the sun territory. Kind of the rule at least with powdered highlighters is to brush them on your cheeks, across your brow bone, down your nose, and on your chin...all the places the sun would most hit. Maybe it works but I don't feel the need to have a shimmery chin so I stick to my cheeks. One of my friends who came to the cabin with me though was super intrigued by this stuff and wanted to try it out. She used the lighter color on all those places on her face after I explained to her that's what you're "supposed" to do but I don't and she looked fine. She's also quite a bit darker than I am (as is everyone with the exception of albinos) though so that may have made a difference.

I just realized how uninformative that whole paragraph is but that's all I've got.

Cute Pets Update

So, my pets are still adorable. In case any of you were wondering...