oh, hey stranger...

Wow! Where have I been? Well, let's break it down a little bit. When I started the blog I had truly great intentions. I was going to try to beautify our apartment, my nails... and my life. 

I really started off right; posting twice a week was my goal, and I kept that going for a LONG time [well for me at least]. Slowly it got harder for many reasons, and none of them good ones. I don't know about all of you, but the more difficult one part of your life gets the harder it is to keep up even with the things that you love. That was were I was at. I kept doing all of the things that I had been blogging about, but just couldn't get to the place where I wanted to share then with the world. Now that I feel like I am in a better place [although I have not really gone anywhere] I felt the urge to pick up the computer and POST! Even if this post is kinda rambley. 

So let me update you all on life since we last spoke:

1. I am more inspired at work. Work is that place in my life that if all is going well everything else in my life falls into place... if there is a bit of a rough patch then my focus is pulled from other areas. *cough*blogging*cough*

2. Mike and I finally went on our honeymoon! In September of last year Mike and I went on a little honeymoon to San Diego. It was a much needed break from everyday life, and the first time that we had EVER gone on vacation together. It was a blast! I have always loved SoCal, and in another [less pale] life I must have been a beach bum. We had some great food, went to the zoo and safari park, the beach, and Coronado Island [a.k.a. where we are moving when I win the lottery].

3. We tried to move! Yeah, you heard me right. We started looking around for a house to rent. I have been sick of apartment life for quite a while now. But, as it does, life has a funny way of sneaking in there and changing things up. We decided that a move was in the cards when I was just about the pay my car off, but here is where life stepped in... Mike's truck saw it's last trip. Good news is Mike got a new car, and I didn't have to pack anything! So we will be in the same place for a little while longer, but I have learned a lot about the search for a new place and what both Mike and I want in a home. I am also going to take this time that we are still in the apartment to de-clutter my life from all the STUFF that has been accumulated over the years, and is no longer needed.

4. Mike and I also celebrated our first anniversary. It was pretty low key with Mike coming off a 14 hour over night shift, but we had an awesome brunch and I made Mike his favorite meal [meatloaf and peas]. 

Now you are caught up on all of the happenings while I was MIA. Of course there were many other things that happened in the last nine months, but I won't bore you with all the details.

It does feel good to be back. I plan on posting once a week for now and see where it takes my. I love having a creative outlet, and so happy that I am sharing it with the blogging world once again.

polish please | summer gradient

Summer is here {and has been here for a while in the Valley of the Sun}, so I decided to try a cool-toned gradient to combat this summer heat. I used a couple of Nicole by OPI shades that created a very subtle gradient from a cool blue to a sea green. First I put down a coat of white and then sponged on the gradient with a triangle makeup sponge. Not bad for my first attempt at a gradient!

What do you think?

polish please | can't sleep... too excited

I know that I haven't blogged for a while, but I have an awesome reason to get out of my no-post-rut and share something with the blogging world...

I just won an instagram contest! Sometime last week @opi_products presented a contest where you could submit photos that represented the color inspiration for you wedding. OPI chose three winners and I was one of them! I am not a "lucky" person, and the last time that I won something was when I was seven and entered a pumpkin carving contest. 

Twenty years later and I am just as excited as I was when I was seven! The prize is the OPI 2013 Soft Shades collection and other colors that coordinate with your inspiration wedding colors! Plus I got another chance to show off my wedding nails that I L-O-V-E-D!

*Just in case anyone was wondering I won my very first brand new bike when I was seven in the pumpkin carving contest. Pretty cool, I know!*

 

polish please | textured polish

My sister picked up some polish for me for my birthday {I hadn't really seen here for about a month... boo!}, one of the wonderful polishes that she picked up was a textured polish. OPI Solitaire that is a beautiful creamy white polish from the liquid sands collection. I wasn't really sold on the whole textured polish craze... until I tried this beautiful polish on my digits. 

I L-O-V-E it! I think that this one little bottle opened me up to a world of trouble. I think that I need to go on a little polish shopping spree.

What do you think? Anyone tried out a textured polish that you love?

our diy wedding part one

Mike and I have been married for a little over two months now, and I think that a wedding post is well deserved. I learned a lot when planning this wedding {one of the most surprising things is that I was "one of the most relaxed brides anyone had ever seen"} and have so much that I want to share. I am thinking that I can get it all out in two posts, but we might run into three!

I want to start with some basics that I think are good to know when getting into the head space of wedding planning. Here are some basic ideas and examples of somethings to keep in mind when planning a DIY wedding.

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 Plan, don't plot
Plan as much as you can, but roll with the punches. We have all heard the phrase, "you plan and God laughs," for me nothing was more true than this sentiment. But here's the thing, I am not a professional wedding planner and "we don't know what we don't know." Trial and error is going to go into planning and executing your big day, but it is just that... a day. One day, not the rest of your lives. No one will remember 15 years from now what cake you had, or what the center pieces should have looked like, or that they were at a table with someone they didn't want to sit with. What matters on "your big day" is you and your partner starting the rest of your lives together. I cannot stress it enough, don't sweat the small stuff. Most everything will work itself out in the end, and what doesn't... doesn't really matter. 

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Example: I got a call from the florist the day before the wedding letting me know that NONE of the flowers that I ordered came in. I wanted to do really simple bouquets, one type of flower, some ribbon, and... well that's it. Long story short, I asked the florist to stop calling me {she was WAY more stressed than I was, and I didn't feel like I needed to console her} and my mom, aunt and I tracked down flowers that were even better than what I could even thing of. Which leads me to my next thought...

There is no "I" in team
Use the support and help that your friends and family offer, when you need it. And appreciate all that people give you. I may have said this before but I have the most amazing family in the whole world. They are creative, loving, talented and devoted. Not to mention they all have great senses of humor, laughter goes a long way when wedding planning. Take help when you need it, but if you don't need help at that moment, don't take it.

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 Example: I had so many people volunteering to help months leading up to the wedding. Family and friends were more than happy to lend a hand, which I completely appreciated and couldn't have been more grateful for. But, I didn't always need help when it was offered. I was really stressed in the whole planning process, but when I really needed help was the week leading up to the wedding. Don't feel bad about refusing help when you don't need it. But when you need it, ask your family and friends to step up, and they will. I love my family an friends just as much as they love me, and just as I would for them, they all came pouring in the help. Aunts and cousins were cutting fabric for our back drop. My dad, brother and family friends helped haul rock. Friends and cousins were helping with center pieces and programs.

Find people who "get you"
Not every vendor that I met, visited or talked to did I think was right for our wedding. Not everyone will see things the way that you do. What you want is for the people that are helping create your wedding to understand what you want to accomplish. What I wanted to accomplish was A.) to get hitched, B.) to celebrate with the ones that I love, C.) to keep things simple, D.) to not break the bank.Keep your goals in mind when picking who is going to be apart of your wedding. When I did find people that I thought knew what I was going for, I did not hesitate to pull the trigger and get them on board.

via

Example: The first place that I went to try on wedding dresses was to be honest, an uncomfortable experience. I made an appointment, brought my mom and sister, had inspiration photos and almost lost it when I was told to stand in front of the whole world in a dress that I did NOT want to try on that really made me look terrible. I mean terrible! I am not a "big" person and this thing made me look huge in places that I didn't even know that I could. I was a double booked appointment and to this consultant "simple" and "informal" meant taffeta, sequins, and ball gowns. Needless to say, we were not on the same page, and she was more interested in making the sale for the other bride than listening to me when I almost went full Carrie Bradshaw wearing a dress that almost made me breakout in hives.

I ended up getting my dress at a little boutique that had a awesome consultant who wanted to find something for me that I felt comfortable in, fit my body/ style, and wedding. I was with my Mega Best Friend {Shawna} and was txting photos to my sister and mom {not ideal, but you have got to roll with the punches} and we all decided this was the perfect fit.

Whew! That is all for now, but stay tuned for more photos, insights, and details on projects for the wedding.

polish please | patriotic polish

Happy Independence Day! I hope that everyone is enjoying there holiday. I am enjoying a lazy day at home with the puppy waiting for the hubs to get home from work {he is finally getting to do doctor stuff now!}. 

For the special occasion, I went with some festive polish. Mike suggested red, sparkles and blue! 

The red is China Glaze Ruby Red Pumps, Savina Caribbean, and Essie Set in Stones is the glitter top coat. 

polish please | black & white glitter

I was looking around on the interwebs the other day for a little nail inspiration {Nailspiration? Yep, it could be a word.} and I came along these two posts {here and here} with some awesome polishes that could almost be indie. What is even better than that, is that you can pick them up at Wal-Mart for only four bucks a pop. 

I was feeling a little stressed after work the other day, and new that new polish would do the trick, and help me find my moment of zen. Boy, was I right. I am a sucker for cream based round-glitter-packed polish, as you can see from this post. They are just so pretty {for the first two days} and then the chipping and crumbling step in and they lose a little bit of their luster. 

But look how beautiful they are five minutes after they are dry! Love at first sight.

I painted Hard Candy Sugar Rush {2ish coats} over OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls to try to prevent all the chipping that comes along with glitter packed polish. It did help, but wasn't a cure. On my ring finger I painted Hard Candy Black Tie Optional over OPI French Quarter for Your Thoughts. That is just one coat with a little fishing to get that one big white hex glitter.

Something cool happened, one of my photos was used (properly) on a nail blog! Just thought that that was pretty neat.

polish please | vintage flowers & dots

I got a new phone case a while back from J. Crew, and while searching for a suitable wallpaper for my home screen, I found this photo. 

Inspiration hit, and right when I decided that I wanted create these flowers on my nails, I kept seeing tutorials on my favorite nail blogs popping up for vintage flowers. Globe & Nail, The Nailasaurus, Chalkboard Nails, have beautiful designs that they can take you through step-by-step. Now let me show you how mine turned out.

For the base color on most of my nails I used Zoya Neely, the base color on my ring fingers is OPI My Vampire is Buff. For the flowers I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, Essie DJ Play That Song & Cascade Cool and Ciaté Mojito. 

Not that bad for my first try! I will definitely try this again until I get them looking as good as the ladies from these other lovely blogs have done.

Has anyone else attempted the vintage flower look?

furniture jealousy

I was over at my Mega Best Friends house the other day; she and her husband just got new bedroom furniture, and now I am SO jealous. They may be surprised when they find me lounging in their bedroom admiring their new furniture when they come home from work. If you have a key it's not breaking end entering... right?

Another reason for my jealousy was that I had no idea about CB2, Crate and Barrel's more modern {and more affordable} kid-sister. Why did no one tell me about this until now? Of course after leaving their house, I went home, hopped on the internet, and started planning out my dream home furnished by CB2. 

Here are some things that I am just crazy for:

 these plates

this rug

this lamp

 this desk

 this low dresser

this tweed chair

and this light

What did you think about what CB2 has to offer compared to Crate and Barrel?

polish please | summer clouds

I had been wanting to try this design for a while, but never had enough courage until... NOW. There are so many great tutorials out there like this one, and this video. I have no idea what I was so worried about, this cloud design is really easy. One of those designs that you can actually reproduce on your non-dominant hand and be able to show people without cringing. 

I still had some of my Zoya minis that I hadn't worn, and thought that these bright, warm colors would look just lovely together. Starting from the left I have Zoya Audrina, Pippa, Arizona, OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls {accent nail base}, and Shelby.

Super easy, bright, and fun. I really loved the way that this looked. The polishes that I used did apply a little thick {a problem that I keep having with the Zoya minis} so dry time was longer than one would hope.

What colors should I try next time?