A couple weeks of life in pictures

Pic 1:  I buckled down and finally cleaned out and organized my closet.  There is no telling how long it will stay this way.  Pic 2:  Finals week, so glad it's over.  Pic 3:  I've been helping my husband out with candied pecans he is selling.  I would buy these just for the way they make your house smell. YUM.   Pic 4:  Zoya Nail Polish in FeiFei, LOVE this!  Pic 5:  Our Christmas Tree was looking a little sad this year, thank goodness for cell phone picture apps!  Pic 6:  I discovered soy lattes, where have you been all my life?!  Pic 7:  I will NEVER be without these shoes, I have 2 pairs of the same ones and they were only $15!  Pic 8:  It's rare to find Penny Lane not running around looking for trouble, let alone napping in the middle of the day BUT lookey lookey here! haha.  Pic 9:  Got a haircut, went short...again.

Candy Cane Nails

Since Christmas is just 26 days away why not post a Christmas inspired nail art.  Enjoy!

What you will need:

Nail Polish Remover, Cotton Balls or Swabs, Clear Coat Nail Polish, Light Pink or White Nail Polish, Red Nail Polish, Tape, and Scissors.

1st Step:  Coat your nails with a the clear coat polish, I find this helps a little with the lasting power of nail polish.

2nd Step:  After clear coat is dry take your red polish and paint all of your fingers EXCEPT your ring finger on each hand.  Use has many coats as you prefer.  Then take light pink or white polish and paint ring finger on each hand.  Let them dry COMPLETELY!

3rd Step:  Take a piece of tape and cut 3 small strips, don't stress if they are no all exactly alike..  Place these strips at a diagonal as evenly passed as you can across your ring finger.  Repeat this on the other side as well.  Make sure these are taped on securely so they don't slip or move.

 

4th Step:   Take your red polish and paint over your taped ring fingers, try to use very thin coats.  

 

5th Step:  Let them dry for a good 20 minutes and then slowly peel off each strip of tape.  Clear coat over your nails (if you like) and you should have a candy cane effect!

 

If you really have the time and patience this would look even more festive on all of your fingernails!  Or maybe with green and red for more Christmas effect! 

Quick Update

Life update...I'm not sure why I do updates because I've come to realize that I am a creature of habit and routine.  Not much changes = keeps me a happy girl.  So a few months back I posted a blog about me trying out a vegetarian diet, here's a run down of how it's been going.

There are a lot of positive things that vegetarianism has brought.  I have been much less bloated, less tired, have discovered some really good recipes, grocery bills have been a little bit cheaper, and I haven't contributed to killing innocent animals.  BUT there are also some downfalls to it as well.  The first I noticed was my skin, I have had more breakouts in the last 3 months than I have in a really long time.  Although I have felt much healthier, I have also noticed that even with 3 meals a day I never feel full which leads to the 3rd downfall.  I have put on 6 pounds in 3 months.  UGH.  So...I had a "girl" moment and it went a little like this in my head, " OH MY GOD, am I really going to sacrifice my figure to make a point, what is my butt going to look like if I keep this up another 3 months?...Amber don't be such a girl about it, it's just the exterior, Bambi doesn't care what your butt looks like, it's only 6 pounds anyways!"  (Yea I know you've had one of those moments too.)  So to make me and my internal animal rights activist happy I'm going to make a compromise.  I'm going to continue to stick to a mostly vegetarian diet but I'm not going to torture myself if I decide to have a turkey sandwich.

On to the next...my husband and I took a little trip to Gatlinburg, TN last weekend and met his sister who drove up from Alabama.  We had a really good time, lots of relaxing and catching up.  Every time my husband and I make a trip to Alabama or Tennessee to see family I love the mountains and the people and I always wonder if I could live in the country.  It's not until we get home that I realize that I prefer the noise over the quiet and maybe I even sort of like the fact that I'm not always going to run into the same people at the grocery store every week. Our weekend in Gatlinburg also made me realize that if I were stranded on a deserted island with only 2 people, my husband and sister in law would have to be my best choices.  There is never a shortage of laughing around both of them.

Well that's really about it since my last post... Hope everyone has a good week!

Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone!  I really do love Halloween.  This apparently wasn't always the case.  My mom says that when I was little I would get all dressed up in my costume to go trick or treating and then want to go back home after visiting just a few houses.  Too tired and probably too cold, I was a smart girl, lol.  While I've long passed the appropriate age for trick or treating, dressing up and creating a character is my favorite.  Last year for Halloween my husband and I had no real plans until the last minute so we searched through our closets and threw some face paint on.  This year we decided to go to this thing in Columbus called Halloween Highball with a group of friends, so I wanted to go all out.  I was a Mad Hatter and PJ was Beetlejuice. 

We saw so many amazing costumes while we were out!  So many ideas for next year!  Happy Halloween!

       

Fall Fix

Hi Everyone!  I think we've finally hit the fall season.  Let's hope it last more than a few weeks but there's really no telling in Ohio. 

I've been looking at what to expect to see every girl and women to wear for Fall 2012.  Some I love and some not so much.  I don't always try to follow a trend but I'm definitely never above getting sucked into something I really like.  Here are a few things you can keep in mind if your out for your Fall fix.

Corduroy is really big this fall.  But it seems like corduroy pants are always lurking around in most fall/winter season.  I was not immediately charmed by the idea of these but I went and tried them on in navy blue (H&M) and really loved them.  Great fit for shorter girls.  I definitely want to go back for more colors.

Another trend, Metallic Nails.  Of course, there are tons of brands and tons of colors that you can find anywhere BUT I'm always going to suggest Essie because they are just my favorite.  One color that I'm on the hunt for is this coppery (don't think that's a real word but I'm gonna use it) metallic color called, Penny Talk.  LOVE.

Vampy Lips are back!  I love it!  I think these lips look good when your dressed up or dressed down.  I've got a few dark wine color lipsticks in my arsenal already but a few I think are purchase worthy are Black Cherry by Revlon and Hang-Up by MAC

NARS Blush, Sin

Next on the list is a blush that I have been eying for probably over a year now.  Every time I have a chance to go into Sephora I always go over to the NARS section and try to convince myself that buying a $28 blush is totally reasonable!  The texture of these is soft as butter and the colors are so perfect for glowing cheeks.  I'm pretty sure they put some sort of fairy dust in them.

Who would I be if I didn't put a pair of shoes on this list?!  BOOTS, tall boots, ankle boots, wedge boots, lace-up boots, every kind of boots, you definitely need some for the fall.  Some how I never have a sensible boot to wear and by sensible I mean one without a 5 inch heel on it!  Although I would love to stroll around to my classes in platform knee high boots, it's just not practical.  These are right on trend and right up my alley (lulus.com).

1 year and many to go

So something really amazing happened to me a year ago today...I got married!  A year later, I can still remember the way I felt walking down the aisle towards my new future and it still leaves me a little speechless!

I use to think that marriage would be no different from what we already had but it is.  Not in the way that it makes us any different in our relationship but there is a bond between us that's way beyond just PJ and I.

In other words I'm glad we conformed to traditional ways (lol).

I can't wait to see what the future has in store for us.  Happy Anniversary!

Mani Makeover: Dipped in glitter

I have to say that I really never took care of my nails much, in fact I use to bite my nails A LOT.  When I got engaged and had a shiny ring on my finger for display I thought I should probably make sure my finger nails aren't half chewed off (ewww!).

So recently, I've been experimenting with some nail art.  Nothing elaborate because even just painting nails can be a unreasonable task for me sometimes but there are some things that I thought were easy enough to pass along.  I decided that I'm going to do a small series of different nail ideas starting with a relatively easy one!

Some things you'll need:

2 nail colors, 1 base color ( I chose Sand Tropez by Essie) and 1 glitter color (I chose No. 261 Sparkling by Revlon), Clear Top Coat, Nail polish remover, Makeup wedges (these are optional), and a Cue tip.

Step One:  Apply your base color on your nails just as you would paint them normally.  Make sure you let them dry completely!  I learned my lesson the first time around when I did not do this!

I chose a taupe cream color because neutrals are going to be a big Fall nail trend.

Step Two:  Take a wedge and paint a small stripe of your glitter color that will coat the top part of your nails.
 Press the coated wedge on the top 3rd of your nail, just like your stamping something.  Repeat this step until you get the opaqueness you want.  After you have all 10 digits done don't forget to let them dry completely!  Don't worry if you get get the glitter on the outside edges of your nail, you'll clean this up later. 

Step Three:   Coat nails with top clear coat.

Step Four:  Take a cue tip or even a thin paint brush and soak it in nail polish remover.  Wipe clean any edges you went a little glitter happy on. 

Here is what your finished project should look similar to.