pumpkins and pizza

My mega best friend invited us over on Friday in honor of Halloween where we all got together for some pizza and pumpkin craving. It was a blast. Halloween is always such a fun holiday for me. I have very fond memories of trick-or-treating with my whole Arizona family. My brother's birthday is Halloween {He will be 21 this year, I may write the phone number to a cab company on his forehead, backwards}. When he was born my sister, cousin and I visited him and my mom in the hospital, and we got candy {I was five when he was born, so the candy was almost as important as the baby brother}. My mom always made the best cakes for his birthday, and craved the neatest pumpkins!

Well anyways, Friday was so much fun. Here is a little peak at what we all ended up with!

There is a reason why this post is late, and more details about the weekend... but with that teaser, I am going to save the rest for Wednesday!

Happy Halloween!

polish please | the grey ombré

I have seen ombré nails all over pinterest and on blogs that I follow like this one, but I was always too intimidated to give it a whirl... until the other day. I will admit, this wasn't a "WOW" mani {almost no one at work even noticed, and usually someone makes a comment when I am dawning a new color}. But the beauty was in the simplicity. 

I was really feeling black and grey when I sat down that night to change my polish. I decided to be bold, and give ombré a try, I mean what is the worst that can happen? Well, the worst is that you have to remove your polish and start over. I know, not really a big deal.

So here is how it went. I painted all my nails with a base coat and used OPI "French Quarter for Your Thoughts" as a base color. I used a paper plate as a palette and a brush from a crummy top coat that I never use to mix together darker shades of grey. Starting on both of my pinkies I painted two coats of my base color. I next dropped five drops of the grey onto the plate and added three drops of Sally Hansen's Extreme Wear "Black Out," mixed together and applied to both of my ringer fingers. The next mix was five parts grey to six parts black, and so on across every nail. 

It was very subtle, and actually quite easy. Maybe next time I will finish off with a matte top coat instead of the high shine.

polish please | pink & grey stripes

A few weeks ago I received striping tape in the mail that I had ordered from amazon. The package was sent from China, and took quite a while to get here, but I was so happy that it arrived {and it was so cheap + free shipping} that I didn't care one bit. 

I shared with you the epic fail that I had when I tried applying the tape and leaving it on as part of my mani, but the first time I used it to create a lines with polish. This worked wonders and here is the result. 

 I used OPI "French Quarter For Your Thoughts" and "Feelin' Hot-Hot-Hot!"

What do you think of the first attempt?

eight years

As of today Mike and I have been together for eight years! It seems like such a long time when you say it out loud, but really I feel like time whizzed by. This past year has been very hard for the two of us, we have both been through a lot. The third year of medical school was the most time consuming; we spent the least amount of time together. This year was full of 24 hour on-calls, tests, and who knows what else {doctor stuff grosses me out, I am VERY squeamish, so he shares most of what he actually does with everyone who is not me}.

This year was the most trying year I have had. I lost two grandparents within three weeks. This was a very sad, emotional time for my family, and myself. We were all trying to support each other and had to remember to take care of yourselves as well. I had never experienced a loss this great, and Mike and I had a hard time finding balance through this tough time. 

It is amazing that we can still learn and grow with each other. No matter how big or small we talk though anything that comes our way {although it may not be right away or with the nicest words}. We love each other and I am so happy that I have Mike in my life, and that we have had these wonderful eight years together.

Here is to many more happy years to come!

circa 2005

braided bun

Today was a nice, lazy Sunday that I got to spend with Mike. I started out my day by sleeping in {way too late}, and headed off to lunch with the bf. We attempted to try two new places for lunch, but both were closed on Sunday, so we ended up going to a sports bar where Mike could watch football and I could eat sweet potato fries. 

We then went shopping for some baby gifts, which was actually more fun than I thought it would be. Mike is not much of a shopper, and I like looking at tiny baby things WAY more than he ever will. 

The two of us ended the day with dinner at his parents and looking at old pictures that Mike had found and that I had never seen before. 

Since it was a lazy Sunday I took advantage of the "dirty hair" and came up with this little up-do that I made Mike take a picture of {with my new iphone}.

 An asymmetrical french braid ending in a braided bun; easy, messy, but still cute. Hope you all enjoyed your Sundays as well!
 

pinspiration | wallpaper

I missed posting on Wednesday, and I really have no excuse. I was just having fun shopping with my sister {she left for a trip to Chicago today!}, playing with my VERY FIRST smart phone {my iphone 5}, and working. I have, of course, had time to pin and wallpaper has me inspired right now.

 

This is not your Grandmother's wallpaper:

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polish please | arizona art

I was hoping to post about the mani that I gave myself for my friends wedding that I attended this weekend, but it turned out to be an EPIC fail. I am having SOOOO much fun with the striping tape that finally arrived from China, but I am by no means a pro yet.

I wanted to do something subtle and classic for the wedding {any pic that I am in will be around for quite a while}. I wanted to recreate this mani, it was perfect; mine was not. It all started out great, and looked very good. It dried, and everything was staying put, until I took a shower. After that, the mani was coming apart at the seams. The tape buckled and pulled up on all nails, but the middle fingers {the nail gods were trying to tell me something}. Fortunately my mega best friend Shawna came to the rescue, and I borrowed her black to go over the peeled off mess. 

Here is Mike and I just after the quick polish fix.

And my mega best friend who saved the day!

I thought that I should leave you all with a successful mani, and a tribute to the great state of Arizona. I love my stamping plates, and metallic polishes transfer VERY well.  

polish please | scotch tape heart

The other day when I was waltzing through the craft store I passed the scrap booking area, and something caught my eye. It's wasn't paper, stickers or punches, it was a tool that I haven't had in a LONG time that I had on my mind for a while {but always seemed to forget}. So I grabbed it and put it in my basket; my X-acto knife! I know to most people this doesn't seem too exciting, but for me... I was pumped.

It seems that lately all that I do is my nails, although that should change here shortly {I have some new DIY decor plans in the works}. So naturally I used my knife to cut a heart shaped stencil for my nails. It was really very easy, and you could use this technique to create whatever design you want {as long as you have X-acto skills}.

First place a piece of scotch tape on a surface that you can cut into, I used an old gift card. Then draw with pen or sharpie the shape that you want on your nail. I traced the heart a few times until I got a shape that I was happy with.

Next you use your AMAZING X-acto knife to cut out the shape. It is important to preserve the outer part of the stencil that you are creating. The middle shape {the heart} will not be used, so you can cut into that area if you need to get into tight spots, make a clean point, or round the edges.

Once the stencil is cut, just position it onto the nail and add the color of your choice. Carefully peel away the stencil and you can use it again on another nail. Quick, easy and cute!

pinspiration | bows & buns

I am always looking for something new to do with my hair. I get bored easily, and if I can't find something interesting to do with my hair, I'll end up cutting it all off just for a change. I have long wavy/curly {depending upon the day/weather} hair that sometimes will not behave. I have put together some things that I have found on pinterest and tried, and liked! Some of these styles you can even do with wet/ damp hair. And all pf the styles can be achieved {if not made better} with "dirty" hair. 

The bow bun is so cute, and so easy that I wonder why I haven't seen it until recently. Although you could not style your hair in this fashion while wet, you could have curly, wavy or straight hair and end up with an adorable look.

 

 

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The sock bun is my new best buddy! This may be a style that I go to a little too much, but it is so easy. I usually bust this out when I don't feel like waiting for my hair to dry all the way in the morning. While it is damp, I can throw it up into the sock bun and head out the door.

 

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This next look is just modifying the sock bun to make it a little more special and unexpected. Just flip your head upside down and french braid from the nape of your neck to where you want your bun to sit {the higher on your head the better}. I have tried this sans sock, with teasing my hair to add volume and pinning my hair as I go. The sock bun is definitely the way to go for a full, fun, "bun-head" look. 

  

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Maybe it's because my mom bought my the book "Silver Slippers" when I was little, and enrolled my in dance class, but I have always admired a big beautiful bun. Hopefully you will feel as inspired pinspired as me, and try some of these looks out for yourself. Let me know if you have tried any of these styles or what other styles worked for you.