Pink me UP!

I am so excited that it's ridiculous. I mean, really.

About a month back I purchased a nail polish from Victoria's Secret. It is the Pink Me Up Polish and Bling in Shimmer Pink. I bought it with low expectations. I think that it cost around $5. The only reason I purchased it was because of a promotion they were running: buy two Pink items and receive a free tote. The other item I bought was a Pink Me Up So Soft Lip Pot in Pale Blue Mint. I started using the lip pot right away because I had forgotten to add my lip gloss to my bag that day. I immediately loved it, as I love anything that is minty. It was thick without feeling heavy. It lasted for quite awhile. I was impressed to say the least.

I finally just got around to painting my nails with the polish Saturday morning. Not only do I completely adore this color which is a sheer, baby pink, but I completely love that it has yet to chip or fade at the edges. Any other polish would have chipped by now. I'm pretty hard on my nails and even when I have them painted at the salon with OPI, it chips or fades by the next evening. I am completely loving everything about this polish.

Now, I will admit the name of the color is deceiving. There is absolutely no shimmer on my nails, like there is in the bottle. I was not disappointed in the least but it is something to note. I will be purchasing every color way of this product. :)

OPI Matte Review

I approved a comment this morning asking about my favorite nail polish, which is ironic because I logged in today to review a polish I just got.

I went to Ulta in search of this lacquer specifically. It is OPI Matte Nail Lacquer in Gargantuan Green Grape. I was excited for this color because it was described as "green kissed by the summer sun". I loved it on the OPI website and on the hand. And I loved that you can wear it matte or add a top coat to make it glossy.

I tried out the polish as soon as I got home. According the the blurb on the bottle, you should not apply a base coat, top coat, or drying product to this lacquer. So I removed my old polish, washed, and applied the first coat. It dried AMAZINGLY quick but extremely streaky. I applied another coat, thinking that I may have just not applied it neatly enough. After the second coat, it was still very streaky. I ended up applying a total of four coats and I'm still not happy with the finish.

I like the color after two coats but it's a bit too intense after four. I love the matte look and I think I will add a top coat to the tip of the nail for a two-toned look. I am definitely going to pick up the Alpine Snow color because the thought of a matte, white nail just makes me extremely happy.

Rating this polish is difficult because of the "streakiness". I definitely recommend everyone try it because of the versatility of the matte/glossy option. I think the next time I use it I will have to spend a lot of time buffing and prepping my nails to make sure they are perfect prior to applying.

x's and o's!

Designing Systems Furniture

Currently, I am at work and designing a custom systems furniture... uhh system. I often have people ask me what systems furniture is, so I thought I would share a little bit here.
Everyone has seen systems furniture at some point, and if not in person, they have seen it in movies. Basically they are individual workstations that are separated by different types of modesty panels. Stereotypically, they are called cubicles. But these systems have evolved in the past five or six years into more organic profiles. Below I will share a couple of interesting systems that I really love.

Resolve System by Herman Miller.

Hum by Kimball.

Avenir by Steelcase.

Occasionally, we come across a system that we love and want to use but it does not have some components we need. This could be a particular height of worktop, certain acoustical properties in a panel, a lack of a panel at all, etc. This is when we take the layouts for the existing system that we like and we begin altering it.
For example, the Resolve System by Herman Miller is quite extraordinary and the system is nearly perfect for a project I am on. However, we need the panels to go completely to the floor and the worktops to have modesty below; instead of the legs that supports it currently. There is no other system that meets the idea of this system, especially the canopy option. So I take the plan and start making these changes to the drawings. Then I detail the drawing with notes and dimensions. Once the drawing is documented, we will send it to furniture dealers to get a specification written and estimated that has every aspect of the system we designed. This is how we designers get exactly how we want out of a furniture system. ;)

x's and o's

Fruity

Fruitarianism is a new lifestyle that I'm strongly considering. There are many reason's but first I want to explain a little bit about it. I will post the links to the websites below.

Fruitarianism is a nutrition system that is composed of only raw fruits and seeds. Because of it's nutritive contents and it's appeal, fruit is the only food group that can completely satisfy our taste, vitamins and proteins. (Of course, if you don't like fruit, it would not appeal to you. But I do not know many people that dislike fruit.)

Fruitarians consider cooked food harmful to our bodies, causing mood swings, cravings, and diseases. By eating only raw fruit, the fruitarian is free from all bad consequences of cooked food addiction, including all the violence against all forms of life and he/she will not be contaminated by the poisons of the flesh from dead animals. Fruitarians participate in the nature way of propagating life, spreading the seeds of fruits without killing any form of life, unlike vegetables.

Besides being completly moral, fruitarians also experience a detox when changing lifestyles. I've normally been opposed to detox's because of the sideaffects. However, with the fruit detox, it is very mild in young adults, even more mild in teenagers, and completely absent from children. Post-detox sideaffects include imporved eyesight, better sense of smell and taste, fresh breath, decreased body odor, strong growth of hair and nails, greater concentration and focus. All of these sound pretty good to me!

A couple of the websites list out a plan to start with, naming certain fruits to be better in the morning, some in the evening, etc. Then, once you have gotten used to the new lifestyle, you can base the fruits you eat on what your body wants. Another notable thing about fruitarianism is the eating schedule. They recommend that only one fruit be eaten at a time, with at least 90 minutes between switching fruits. They also say that to eat as often as needed however, it's important to be able to listen to what your body wants. Is it truly hungry? Am I full?

I find this to be very interesting and I think that I will definitely give it a try. It is difficult since this means I will not often be able to eat out with friends. I think I will try it out, see how it works for me and then decide if I want to do it full time. It may be that I do it for about a month or so, go back to other foods and just do the fruit detox every four months or so. We'll see!
Sources:

http://www.fruitarian.com/

http://www.acorn.net/fruitarian/what.html

http://www.transbay.net/~teb/fruitarian/fruitarian-1.html

Fun Finds

While on spring break, I went to this cute little shop called Geez Louise Gifts. They had all kinds of things from cute sandals, to fun kitchen items, to jewelry. I immediately fell in love with each item in the store. Everything was girly, personalized, and fun. After spending an hour I ended up purchasing a couple of items thinking that I would be able to get online and order more things if I wanted to. That was a big mistake as I've since discovered they do not have a website. However, a couple of the things I was able to go directly to the "manufacturers" website and can purchase from there if I decide. I want to share a couple of the things because I love them and am excited about.

First is a bracelet that I got for my mom. It is made by Alexa's Angels and it's called the Attribute bracelet and it's sterling silver. The words say truth, grace, faith, courage, and wisdom. I think this bracelet is so pretty and perfect to show how special some is to you. : )

Next is the Circle Word Bracelet that spells Faith. They offer many different words, including joy, love, bliss, and others. It is plated in Rhodium which makes it super shiny. One thing I really love about this bracelet is the spring hook closure. I've never had a bracelet with this type of clasp but it's fun because it almost looks like a bangle.

There were several other Alexa's Angels things that I wanted but didn't get (like the posi+ivi+y TM bracelets). I highly recommend everyone check out her website.

Next, they had some products from Room It Up, which I had heard of before but, never investigated any of the products. A lot of the products Geez Louise sold were items for the beach, like the chaise lounge cover and the towel sets. I actually didn't even give these things a second glance in the shop because they were tied up in bags like the first photo below. I couldn't see what they looked like or the sizes or anything and I wasn't going to try to open it, look at it, and fit it back into the bag.

One thing that I did pick up was this spa wrap. The prints name is Botanical Flower. I haven't used it yet because it's been too cold in the mornings when I shower. But I've decided that I have to start showering at night, even if I feel too tired, and then I will use the wrap more.

Anyway, they are made of cotton and close with strips of Velcro. They are really inexpensive compared to other spa wraps I've found. I got mine for about $20.

The main thing I like about Room It Up is that they have so many pretty prints to choose from. Nearly everything they make is available in at least three prints. You can shop their website by category, print, or season. I played around on this site for a while adding things to my wish list and then deciding I liked a different print better so I changed everything in my cart to the other print, etc. I can foresee Christmas presents from here :)

Okay, this is getting long so I'm going to end it with one more thing they had that I LOVE. I've

loved this for awhile now and when I saw it in the store, it made me so happy. It was the Minimergency Kit by Ms. & Mrs. You can purchase them directly from Ms. & Mrs. but lots of other places (for less at some places). I'm not going to say everything it comes with because it's more fun to g

o to the website and read the blurb on it and discover for yourself how cool it is. Ms. & Mrs. have other emergency type kits that are pretty cool as well.

I may write about some of the other things later but these were the coolest things so at least I've mentioned them. Sleepy time!

New Hair Product

I may or may not have mentioned before but this year for spring break, Kyle and I went with another couple down to the Gulf. Of course, I overpacked as usual but I did forget some very important products that I use daily. Somehow, I forgot to pack my two hair products after I used them, right before we left. Since we were going to the beach I decided that I would wait a couple of days and see how my hair does without the products. Kinda give my hair a break, ya know?
The first day it looked pretty horrific, mostly because it was so windy at the beach. While getting ready for dinner that night, I decided that I would leave a little bit of my conditioner in my hair in an attempt to help smooth it out. (The conditioner I use right now is Tresemme, Pro-Vitamin b5 & Aloe Remoisturize Conditioner.) It was okay with me if my hair had that kind of beach wave, touseled look, since it was true to my day.
My hair actually managed to dry frizz-less! The curls from the shortest layer of my hair seemed to tighten themselves, leaving them spirally and springy (if those words are real words). The longest layers did not curl as much, and I think that if I continue to do this I would want to take a curling iron to them, if only to better direction the curls. My hair was super soft and felt fluffy, without that frizzy, fluffy look. The other thing that I learned was to make sure the conditioner close to your scalp gets rinsed or it will dry and get flaky. My solution so far has been to condition my hair like normal, turn off the water, and apply a small amount to the ends of my hair. Then I wrap it in a towel while I get dressed.

I'm so excited about this, I can hardly stand it. I will definitely be defaulting to this on a daily basis, unless I have an important presentation or event to get ready for. Hair products can get expensive and I would love to cut that expense in half. I'll update if something horrible goes wrong.

Frustration

My New Years resolution was to be more patient this year. So far, I think I have done okay. Maybe it's not perfect yet, but from where I was, it's a huge improvement.
However, there are sometimes when I find it difficult to be patient. For example, the fact that I have told Kyle repeatedly to stick to his discipline plan seems to fly over his head. When his principal told him he needed to come up with one, he worked on it for a week. The plan went into affect and he had some problems with it at the beginning but it started to work. Then he started letting things slide because he hated to have to discipline the students. He would rather just discuss the problem with the kid and try to "talk it out". To me, this sounds like a horrid idea because children don't listen. It's the simple truth. They will never learn just by being scolded, unless they have stricter repercussions.
Now, Kyle is concerned after being evaluated by the principal today that his disciplining is inconsistent...

.............HELLO?!

I mean, I only told him 3194873257345 times to stick with the plan he developed. How much more clear can I make it?!

Needless to say, I'm frustrated with him right now. My conclusion: Boys don't listen.