Summer Sandal Fun

I'm seriously schizophrenic when it comes to the weather I like.  August rolls around and I'm complaining about the heat like a toddler.  'I don't wanna be hot anymore!' Cue whining and potential rolling around on the floor. (Let's be honest...I'm probably complaining about it in July).  Then comes winter and a couple mild days and I'm all, 'I'm so tired of the cold...where is summer?!' Yeah, it happens every year without fail.  This year, I think I was over winter in late January.  A new personal best for me ;)

(This is a pretty accurate description.)

Our 'spring' had a string of really mild days; some even in the low 70's.  Heck, throw in 50 degrees and people in Colorado are walking around in their shorts and flip flops.  When we get even a hint of warm weather returning, I'm dreaming of shorts and flip flops.  So now that summer is (un)officially here (and I'm already cursing the 15 day forecast of upper 90's), I figured a little roundup of some of my favorite sandals would be appropriate.

Not Rated Keep the Peace Sandal

1) I saw these super sweet and unique sandals on a girl I Instagram stalk last summer.  (Don't judge...you know you do it too.)  I spent an unGodly amount of time trying to find these sandals online because I had no idea what brand they were; only that they had fringe.  So when I finally found them in my size, I realized that while this particular store carried them, you couldn't order them online and I'd have to go into the store to order them.  And that meant going to the mall.  I hate the mall.  Target, Old Navy...those are fine but the mall sucks.  I finally gathered up the cajones to drive to the mall and order these hadtohave sandals.  So after getting accosted by one of those smarmy makeup kiosk guys for my 'uneven skin and wrinkles' (yeah, definitely not buying your overpriced crap now dude), I got talked into buying some socks so I'd get the free shipping.  Big side eye there because I think I ended up paying $15 for 3 pairs of gym socks.  I was in a hurry to get out of there and avoid super flattering makeup guy.  Long side note but yes, I hate the mall but these sandals were worth it.  So lucky for you, Zappos now has these sandals in all kinds of sizes and now in 4 different colors!  They're really unique and different than a lot of sandals out there right now.  Your uneven skin and wrinkles thank me ;)

2) I have long been a lover and wearer of flip flops.  They're easy to put on in a hurry and usually help that fresh pedi to look cute.  I've been known to hold onto flip flops that are possibly 12 years old because they not only remind you of your raft guiding days but they've also been discontinued.  I even wore them today. That being said, it is possible to dress up your flip flop!  After seeing several bloggers rocking the insanely cute rubber Valentino bow flip flops, I went on a search to find something similar in a price point that wasn't heart attack inducing.  Call me crazy but I have an issue with spending $300 on a pair of flip flops.  $300 for glorified pool shoes.  They're super cute but just no. So, I bought this pair instead last summer and they're seriously freaking cute although I'd advise against wearing them around water because your feet will slip right out. But fashion can be dangerous at times ;)

Rubber Bow Flip Flop

3) Okay, so I may have gone on a rant above about paying $300 for a pair of flip flops but hear me out on these next shoes!  I'd had my eye on these little lovelies for awhile and finally pulled the trigger on the Tory Burch Miller sandals as a 'Happy Birthday to me' present.  I got the Dulce de Leche color and black and I have worn them both no less than a dozen times already.  They go with everything and while they may be 'basic', they definitely dress up an outfit. And they're on serious sale right now too!  There are tons of other colors too but I'm totally happy with these two and don't really see any need to get another color.

Tory Burch Miller Sandals

Now, off I go to slap a bandaid on my foot because I wore the 12 year old flip flops today and got jabbed with a stick because the soles are super thin now! ;)

At-Home Gel Polish Manicures

Ask any lady if she likes having nice looking nails and she'll most likely say, duh and yes please! I have 3 large cosmetic bags chock full of different nail polishes with around 90% of them being some shade of pink...because, you can never have too much pink for your nails amiright?!  So as much as I love sitting in the massaging pedi chair at a nail salon, I can't really justify spending the extra $120+ a month on weekly manicures and that doesn't even count pedicures!  I can make a pedicure last awhile because I've gotten the right tools and techniques down so that the polish stays put for awhile or until I change my mind and want a different color :)

My fingernails are a different story altogether.  These hands take a beating: wrangling children, bathing children, cooking, cleaning, digging boogers out of writhing noses (don't worry...I wash my hands afterward) and add on to that, our water is beyond awful in this area so that makes them even worse.  My regular polish would last a couple days on average before it started to chip or lose its luster.  I like having my nails painted!  I feel like it dresses at least one part of me up if the rest is a little ho-hum and disastrous looking.  I had my first gel manicure done when I was pregnant with Selah and love love loved it!  However, you were looking at around $35-40 with tip each time and again, I'd rather be spending my money elsewhere.

So on my 47th trip to Target one week, I spotted the Sally Hansen Salon Pro Gel Kit and decided to give it a try.  It comes with everything you need, including a color.  Mine came with a deep magenta in Wine Not.  I probably did not do the best job the first time around but let me tell ya, that polish did not budge for a good 10 days before I got sick of the color and wanted a change.  No chips, minimal lifting on the sides, super shiny and that's all due to my sloppy hand at times.  This whole kit is around $60 and is well worth it if ya ask me!

Well, fast forward a ridiculous amount of time and some trial runs with cheaper polishes that were cheap for a reason (can you say all 10 nails lifting off in one piece within the first 4 hours???), I became a little disenchanted with my gel polishes.  I was going through a cheapskate phase where I didn't want to spend the $13ish per bottle of gel color but I was also tired of having hands that were resembling a construction worker.  So I sucked it up and went in search of better quality (and of course higher priced) gel polishes.  The Sally Hansen colors do their job but the color 'swatch' on the box and the lid aren't an exact representation of the color.  Like at all.  Do a Google Image search of the color you have in mind to get a better idea of the color.  Another brand I found that has good coverage, long staying power, a HUGE bottle and around $8-9 a bottle is the IBD Just Gel brand.  I'm seriously impressed with this brand to say the least.

Okay, so on to the deets for getting the best gel manicure possible!  You'll need to gather all your mani items:
* Manicure tools (files, cuticle trimmer, cuticle pusher, orange wood stick for removing stray polish)
* Cuticle remover gel/cream/whatevertheheckitis
* Base coat
* Polish color
* Top Coat
* LED light
* 99% Isopropyl alcohol (I'll explain why later)
* Cotton balls
* Cuticle oil

Ok, so get started on the shape you'd like your nails to be; whether that be with clippers or a file.  My nails grow crazy fast in between manis so I usually resort to the clippers and then file them smooth.  Now on to the removal of the cuticle if you so desire.  I always remove mine because of a few reasons: my skin is super dry, my cuticles are super dry and grow really fast and look bad and thus add to the awesome construction worker look.  I picked up my cuticle remover and softener at Sally Beauty for under $3.  You just rub that bad boy on your nails then take the cuticle pushed and gently push your cuticles back a bit. If you know what you're doing, you can pull out the nippers and remove the excess cuticles.  It definitely takes some practice not maiming yourself with these things but I like the way it makes my fingers look afterward.  Now buff your nails with the buffing block.  Nothing too crazy; just enough to rough up the nails a bit.

Okay, wash your hands and then take a cotton ball and pour a little of the alcohol on it (or one of the nail cleanser pads that came with the kit) and clean off your nails with that.  The alcohol removes any dirt, oil or grimy gunk off them so the polish can better adhere to your nail.  This bottle cost me around $18 and I've barely made a dent in it.  Great purchase.

Nails all trimmed up and less construction worker-ish.

Now it's time to polish up!  Make sure you complete one hand at a time.  This creates less margin for error, trust me.  Add one, thin coat of the base coat to each nail.  Take the pointy end of the orange wood stick and remove any of the base coat that got onto your skin.  Also, make sure you remove any excess off the sides of your nail.  This will help keep the polish from lifting off your nails.  Put your 4 fingers into the LED light and hit the button once.  Each light cycle is 30 seconds.  Then do your thumb for another 30 seconds.

On to the color!  How many coats you do depends on the color you choose.  Darker colors (like the color I chose for this manicure, Sally Hansen Pat On The Black) take 3-4 coats to be fully opaque.  Make sure to run the brush over the ends of your nails to help with chipping and for a more finished look!  Clean up any stray polish and pop your nails in the light after each coat for one cycle.  Do this after each cycle.

Now top coat.  Again, make sure you apply a thin coat and clean up the sides and underneath your nail.  Sometimes I'll add a second layer of the top coat if I'd like a thicker polish look.  Then cure it in the light.  Depending on the color of the polish, you can hit the light again if it's a darker color.

Okay, you're almost there!  Now, take another cotton ball, put some alcohol on it and run this over every nail.  This will help remove the sticky residue that comes with the gel polish process.  You should now have a super shiny and strong gel maincure!  I used the Sally Hansen Pat On The Black color which is a really dark vampy wine color; similar to Essie's Wicked.

Now I know that nail salons tend to apply the cuticle oil right before they put the polish on but I had seriously bad luck when I did that myself.  Even though I washed my hands and used a nail scrubber before applying the polish, I was still having an issue with some of the polish lifting the same day.  So I stopped applying the oil beforehand and instead wait until at least an hour after I've finished.

*I purchased these items myself and reviewed them just because I like them!*

Fall Fashions for All

So we all know I've been looking forward to fall for months now; it's my favorite season hands down.  While I'll be dressing a little differently this year as opposed to last (hello preggo weight gain and booty galore), I've still got a few things that will be getting Selah and I through the glorious fall months.

| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

1) I was hunting for some new, dressier brown boots for awhile and these are so perfect!  I was worried they'd be a little tall for knee high boots but they're exactly what I was looking for and with the red zipper and gold studs on back, they're quickly becoming my new favorites.

2) I love hoodies.  Who doesn't really though?  That being said, you have to be careful about hoodies making you look like some slobby college student if that's all you're ever in so I was looking for a hoodie that was not only long enough to wear over leggings but had a little something extra.  The little pop of leopard print in the hood is just enough to dress it up a little and not so much that the husband will start calling me Janice a la Friends.

3) I foresee a lot of leggings in my future this winter.  They're cute, comfy and will be sucking in all that post partum baby weight until I can get back to working out.  So why not this cute camo pair and add a simple black sweater of it?

4) I was purusing eBay recently (no big shocker there) and saw this really cute faux down jacket.  The big fur hood and cable knit sweater accents make it more than just a plain ol' down jacket.  Now if I could only justify bringing it home with the slight jacket hoarding issue I have.

 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

1) Trying to find cute, fashionable things for Selah while not breaking the bank can be difficult at times.  I like her to look cute (what mom doesn't) but I have a fundamental issue with spending $80 on a single pair of pants for her.  So when I saw these boots online, I couldn't add them to my shopping cart quick enough.  

2 & 3) Both of these are going to be part of her outfit for family/maternity pictures next month.  I bought the jacket earlier in the spring and while it was a tad big at the time, I'm hoping it looks okay for photos.  And at least I know she'll get to wear it for awhile.

4) I'm thinking this shirt needs to be part of the winter wardrobe stat.  Little girls in buffalo plaid...can't get much cuter I don't think.

| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

1) I already know that dressing a boy is going to be much different than dressing a girl but I'm going to try to go with it.  Since the little man will be coming in (hopefully) December, he's definitely going to be needing a hat for when we go out.  I've never been a big fan of the fleece hats and since I can't knit to save my life, this hat is perfect.

2) This little outfit by Carter's is so cute!  I love little boy sweaters!  I think he'll be rocking fisherman sweaters during the colder months.

3) Plaid button down with chambray roll-up sleeves.  'Nuff said.

4) I saw this cardigan onesie before we'd found out we were having a boy but I can say for certain that at some point, our little guy will be wearing this for some sort of photo session.

Mama Fashion : Jewelry Picks

Since becoming a mom, my fashion sense (if you want to call it 'sense') has changed a little.  No, you will never catch me in a pair of sweatpants outside of the house.  Will. Not. Happen.  Yoga pants...yes.  Sweatpants...never.  I stopped wearing necklaces and earrings for months while a certain small person was loving ripping them off my neck or out of my ears.  Now that she's out of that stage, I decided it was time to vamp up my jewelry 'wardrobe', if you will, but I wasn't about to spend a ton of money doing it.  Is it possible to get nice-looking jewelry without breaking the bank?  Heck yeah it is!  Here are some of my favorite items I've gotten in lately, most of which are from my trusty sidekick, eBay as usual.

Again, all the ones I got from eBay came from China and if you're ok with waiting a few extra days, I think the price is well worth it :)

This beauty is under $5.50 and was surprisingly well made.  It's item #56.

Didn't even notice this one had rhinestones on it until it came and it's such a pretty shade of corals...and under $5!  Item #17.

A little bit o' pearls...some gold...can't go wrong.  And this one is under $4!  Item #7.

A blog that I follow, Willow Way, showed these awesome druzy earrings from a super cute Etsy shop, Mia Earrings, and I just knew I had to pick up some for myself.  How cute are these earrings?

They're like black, sparkly rocks.  Just perfect enough to dress ya up a little :)

So there ya go...being a mom doesn't mean looking like a jewelry-less schlub or spending a fortune!