DIY Rat

Ever wonder how those classy babes get their hair do's so high and voluminous?

Have you ever tried to recreate this look with an entire can of hairspray and an entire package of bobbi pins and it still fell flat?  Don't feel bad.  It's very deceiving.  It looks like they're just using their own hair, but really they've probably got something stuck up in there.  In the industry, this called a Rat.

To make one I started with a bunch of hair.  You can use a cheap clip-in or extensions-- no one is going to see it.  I happened to have this hair from when I chopped my own off a few months ago.  Yes I saved it, and no, I had no idea what I was going to use it for at the time.  To make this hair really go the extra mile, spray it with hairspray and tease the snot out of it.  The other thing you'll need is a hair net.

So stuff the hair into the hair net, tie the ends in a knot and voila-- you have your very own Rat :)  Place it on the crown of your head and secure it with bobbi pins.  You can tease and spray your own hair surrounding the rat and smooth it into place all around. 

 Comb shown to exhibit size of Rat



DIY At A Glance

A while ago I noticed that I was pulling out all of my creme shadow palettes from their home stacked on their sides next to each other, just to see which one held which color family. When I'm in a hurry, I can't be pulling out every compact I have so I color coded these creme shadow palettes with nail polishes so I can easily grab and go. I heart it.

Outfit of the Day: I'm off to Eat my Emotions

Nate Berkus did a segment this week with stylist Lilliana Vazquez on 30 outfits for under $150.  The wardrobe included 12 "basics" that every woman should have, and then added 8 trendy, or seasonal items for this fall.  Without buying anything at all, I went shopping in my own wardrobe for some of the basic and trendy items I already had and this was one of my favorite concepts from the 30 outfits with my own spin on it:

Nate's:: White button up, Fall colored cardigan (theirs was Mustard), Fall Blazer, Dark denim Jeans, Brown Boots (one of the trendy items was a leopard print pump, though)

Mine:: White button up, check; Fall Colored cardigan, check, though I would adore a Mustard colored one; I thought it was too hot for a blazer this early in the season (its 80 degrees out there still!); Dark denims, check; I liked the line of my jeans so much that I wanted to keep the cute cuff so I went for my trendy animal printed pumps instead of boots, again, its hot so I don't really need boots just yet-- mine are a nude suede-esq snakeskin print slingbacks with a partially hidden platform and awesome gold studs under the arch.  

I added some accessories I love (an elephant ring, a ginormous bronze cuff, a teal charm bracelet, and a long gunmetal and black bead necklace), whipped my hair in a spunky pony and was out the door!

Way to go Nate and Lilliana!  I feel confident and comfortable in this outfit, and it's also age appropriate.  And I love that I was able to find some basics and additives in my own closet.  I might have been able to put this outfit together myself, but seeing an entire wardrobe on a website and having something already pulled together like that was super convenient and took little to zero thinking, which I like too. A+ for having a stylist in my closet :-)

Chanel Commercial

Just Because our Baby is Awesome!

Sunbathing Sloth!


Nom nom nom
and yes, that is the shotgun. What?

Just Angelic...


Mamma and Baby

Birthday Fun!

The festivities began Thursday, when my brothers and I went to Pelican's so I could already be celebrating at midnight on my bday :)
This is what I wore:



On my day, my amazing hubby sent me those most gorgeous bouquet of flowers ever!


On Sunday, my family took me out to dinner at my once favorite restaurant, Sakura!



Where Alesha gave me this bouquet, they smell sooo good!

Lucy's New Things!!

A new Tug-o-War Rope... It's about as long as she is!



And an adorable new sweater!

My "New" Tv Console

So yesterday I got the itch to finally get my living room livable....
My biggest problem was that I had no where to put my TV and all its cohorts. So I grabbed an old bookshelf and some paint and got to work!

This is what I started with:

Then I sanded it down...


Drilled a hole in the back for the cords to go through...


And painted it a brown velvet...


And there it is, my new TV stand, for a grand total of $4.48 for paint!


It holds my tv, books, XBox 360 and a bass speaker