Fade Out French Nail DIY

This nail DIY was inspired by the the Pamela Love runway show at the 2012 Mercedes Benz NYFW. The original Ombre look used brown and gold resembling an edgy dirty look, I chose to make it a bit more sophisticated by making the base a rose gold metallic with the faded out black french tip. I think this is an easy edgy look to pull off for fall...

My Signature Hair

As I posted yesterday, I'm trying to answer the two most popular subjects I get emailed about, yesterday was our marriage secrets, and today is my hair. My hair has underwent quite an evolution over the years, but for the most part I have kept three things consistent, the first being length. I am a very small 4'10 and weighed about 95lbs for most of my life I was insecure about my size so my hair has always been my security blanket. Aside from length my other rule of thumb is, I never blow dry, EVER! I don't even own a blow dryer to be honest, while some girls need a blow dryer I have always (like my grandmother and mother) air dried over night in a "plop". And last but not least I style with the season, I keep my hair naturally curly in the summer months, and in the fall and winter I style it depending on my mood, but more than likely as it is below. The summer is a time of rest for my curls, I do a lot of hot oil treatments and keep it in all its big curly glory. I usually have one haircut a year in the spring and I trim my ends on my own if they need it. I do not color my hair, although I do have a few gray, I cannot get over the chemical smell or feel of dye, Ive tried it 3 times in my life and absolutely regretted putting ammonia and god knows what else on my head. I just tweeze the random greys I can see and when my whole head starts to grey, well... I guess I'll rock the hell out of that too! That said, here is my signature hair, I keep it center parted mostly but still do a deep side part when I want it to be a little more sophisticated. 

Our Marriage Secrets...

The majority of emails I receive from you guys are questions regarding my marriage and my hair, The next two days I'm going to try and answer these questions to the best of my ability. I'd like to feel like I can share candidly with my readers in an open environment, but up until now I've been a bit uncomfortable in answering questions regarding my private life. My blog is new and I'm sometimes unsure what is appropriate to talk about. Usually, I'm am a very private person when it comes to my marriage but I have tried this week to be a bit more open, a testing of the waters if you will. I feel now I am ready. By far the most common question is,"whats yours and Jeremy's secret?"

So, while we vacationed I came up with a set of 10 things that we keep paramount in our marriage, the keyword being "our" These things will not work for everyone, we are all different, so take what you want from my humble list, and feel free to email privately with any other questions regarding any/all of these.

BOMW

 Campfires at the end of summer are the best.

After vacation Jeremy had the rest of the week off, it was so nice to have him all to myself everyday without the interruptions of life. Today was my first day back to normal and I must admit, me and Rilo were a bit lonely. We had a relatively busy weekend, the fair was in town so we had to go and realized that rides have gotten way faster than they were when we were kids, we both laughed/screamed so hard on the tilt-o-whirl that our abs ached the next day. On Saturday we recovered from our carnival food coma (I'm talking funnel cakes, corn dogs, candy apples, kettle corn, and cotton candy to top it all off with... side note- did you guys know there are deep fried candy cars?!? This is not an urban food legend, they exist, I have seen them in their battered flesh!). I met a donkey at the fair and me and Jeremy talked about the real issues having a pet donkey would pose, we decided against it in the end, but I went back and fed Don (I named him) a second bag of feed just to be sure, we also met a VERY friendly alpaca who gave everyone the stank eye but me, I named her Stank. Saturday night we had a campfire sleep over with Daniel and Carly, it was so nice to see them again, I had a campfire heart to heart with Daniel that was extremely therapeutic, and put a tired issue to rest once and for all, lately I've been turning to him a lot for comfort and reassurance, its always nice to have a life long friend present that can push all the meaningless stuff aside and replace it with love, positivity, and big hugs. I think we all need some of these every now and again. Daniel, if you're reading this, I don't know what I'd do with out you sometimes, I love you to bits guge.
Here is a few pics from my week. Be back soon with some fun DIYs for hair!

Vacation Times: Part 2

On the second night after a day at the beach we ventured into the back shed, it was home to a lot of spiders, and this amazing bike that I claimed as my own! Rilo and I decided to go on a little adventure and man oh man! I need to get a bike, Rilo LOVED running alongside as I rode, I don't know if I ever saw her as excited or happy, ever...

In the background you can see Rilo, all perky and alert, after the ride she was fighting to stay awake for cereal times, I took the oppurtunity to make a little video called Rilo vs Sleep...

A Journal Entry

I decided to share my journal entry from the last night and the picture I put with it to acoompany this post, it describes the cottage in great detail and provides a personal back drop to the photos after the jump,

 Hope you enjoy...

"We spent our vacation in a little one story home called Magnolia Cottage, it was filled with things that had stepped out of a pinterest board lol! There were all these personal touches that make renting a cottage so worth it. On the kitchen walls, old washboards, copper pots and other bits. I cooked huge breakfasts -after waking up on our own without interuption- on a iron skillet, which was a treat in itself  (It reminded me of learning to cook with my mother, it felt like home). I could take a short walk out back for fresh herbs that grew on the property, including Cleary Sage that I picked, dried, and smudged our room with, the scent was intoxicating as it mixed with the age of the house. All the door knobs were glass and had key locks or hooks. The frames were massive and the exteriors were a shade of green that doesn't exist without age, porches on the front and rear of the house were home to Rilo in the evenings as she watched and "protected" us from deer and fawn that wandered by. The house was rich with the smell of old wood, and history. All the floors were oak, and creaked with most steps, the beds all covered in quilts that smelled of the cedar chests they'd been stored in. 

There was a moment after dinner one night where we decided to go out back and as I was scrubbing the skillet out with salt and a rag, I looked up and saw Jeremy playing with Rilo, neither aware of me watching, and all I could hear was grass under their feet, the summer air  as it blew through the giant magnolia tree, and the crickets. It was magic, my heart swelled up 3 times its normal size and I really didn't ever want to be anywhere else but there with Jeremy and Rilo. The land we were on had such a familiarity, the whole experience was somewhat like a dream/deja vu. All the days are mashed into one experience that I will always hold dear to my heart, so at ease and relaxed. I packed tons of things I didn't even need, We spent most days with salty skin and hair and the same light clothes we slept in the night the before, and not much else. Perhaps it was the memories of the summers I worked at camp, resurfacing or just being alone with the loves of my life, uninterrupted by daily stresses, who knows, who cares. But I will always cherish my time, keeping it fresh in my mind so that I can return whenever I close my eyes."

Vacation Times: Part 1

Our trip to Chincoteague Island was amazing! We had amazing food, fun days with bike rides and some great weather. We will be returning for sure! Aside from the fact that there are wild ponies and dolphins, we were surrounded by other wildlife, most of Chincoteague is a wildlife reserve, so we saw everything from amazing butterflies to snakes and ducks crossing the road, Rilo even attempted to catch a deer chilling across the street watching TV through our window! Jeremy and I are both animal lovers and support local and national wildlife refuge and reserves so staying in a cottage on the island was a sure bet for us, It doesn't get much better than vacationing and helping a cause you're passionate about at the same time. I took A LOT of photos, and a few videos, I want to post them all but I may upload a lot to flickr and then decide what to put up on Easy Peazy, I hope you enjoy, and if you're a DCer or NoVA local, consider visiting Chincoteague Island, everyone was so friendly, it made it that much harder to say good-bye...

 Rilo and Jeremy enjoying the ride down.

We stopped at a farmers market and I found out Jeremy had NEVER had butter pecans! His mind was blown!

Right here, right now

Sorry for my lack of posts this week, I've been pretty swamped. Aside from the typical things that seem to eat up my time, I'm wrapping up an awesome history class I'm auditing online, and due to the intense research project on civil war era photography, I decided to do a second project for myself, you'll be seeing alot more of that in the upcoming weeks... I'm literally jumping in excitment to share this! 

So we start our vacation on Saturday, and for most I'm sure the week before a vacation is fun and filled with planning but packing and traveling cripples me with anxiety, it always has. No matter how excited I am to get away I become incresingly overwhelmed about every aspect of preperation!

DIY Beauty Branch...

 Ever since I first saw this LEAF series beauty branch I knew I had to make one, I love the idea of bringing the outdoors in, even painting a nicely shaped branch white and adding it to a softly painted wall (perhaps in a dining room or bathroom) is beautiful! The original BB I made a few weeks back was riddled with problems and not sturdy enough for nails, then I lost all my photos of the DIY itself to mercury retrograde, Damn you retrograde!!! So this is my second and MUCH BETTER beauty branch. In the LEAF series I think the aim is more of a rugged look, whereas I chose to keep the ruggedness in the shape, aside from that I wanted the colors and details soft and delicate, like my jewelry. I also opted for ribbon instead of cord.

Hope you enjoy...

BOMW

I've been hard at work with several side projects and had Jeremy's Grandparents in town for the first half of the week. It was so nice spending time with them. We went out to Ashburn and visited Aunt Trish for her 80th birthday, which is just amazing in and of itself, her life is so full and lived! I hope to be full of stories and wisdom at that age. Anyways, here are a few bits of my week...

Aunt Trish and Uncle Roger in the 50s


Finally finished the beauty branch full DIY up tomorrow