update

so I wanted to post a little update about the oil cleanse I started about a month ago. 

At first I had a break out; but then shortly thereafter things seemed to be looking up.  My skin itself felt sooo good - but I am, as I write this back to my same old problems.  hmmm.  Not quite sure what the cause could be, but I have a few theories.  I have to admit that I am disappointed and am trying to decide if I should go back to "regular" cleansers or keep on.  I do still really like the way my skin feels.

On another (slightly related) note - tis the season and there are many styling tips out there.  From makeup to apparel to how to throw a great party and decorate your home.  One of my personal favorites is the makeup tutorial Joanna Goddard pinned from refinery 29.  It shows how to do make up for an office party all the way to that ugly Christmas sweater party that has become an annual thing.
What are some of your favorite tips for the holiday season?  Are you more into what you will wear or how you will decorate your home?

Christmas party ready via refinery 29

go surf!

How cute is this spring lookbook video from seea?  If this doesn't make you want to get in the water, I don't know what will ;)

images via Seea

wyatt 11 months

so you may or may not have wondered what happened to Wyatt's monthly picture for 11 months.  No?  Well, I will tell you anyway:  One look at the file below and I think you will firgure it out.  I can't get him to sit still.  Obviously this was a problem in past months too, but for some reason he really wasn't having any of it this time.  I had pretty much decided not to post it and just skip to 12 months, but I figured why not?  There are many, many photos of me holding my hand on his belly trying to take the pic and many of the back of his head.  :)
So I did the best I could with what I had.  Kinda sad, in a few days he will be a year and it will be my last regular update on him!  Plus who knows how that photo shoot will even go!

Some things about Wyatt at 11 months:
~I was wrong about the aremy crawler, her just decided to start crawling one day!
~He constantly crawls into the dogs bed and it is disgusting
~He is mischievious!  My SIL called it when he was very young but I didn't see it.  This one is gonna be trouble!
~He loves to pull himslef up and work those legs
~He loves music and "dances" whenever he hears some

too early?

I need to preface this post with stating that I am big fan of celebrating holidays as they appear on the calendar.  None of this Christmas lights up the day after Halloween (ahem, neighbors).  And I was especially impressed by a pic you guys might have seen floating around on FB that someone took of the door to Nordstroms - it said something to the effect of you will not hear any Christmas music or see any decorations until november ___ (can't remember the date but it was after Thanksgiving), because we enjoy celebrating the holidays as they come.  Happy Thanksgiving.  Great, right?

That being said, I do let thoughts of Christmas creep into my head.  I am excited because I think this will be Oliver's first time truly being excited about it!  I saw this the other day on The Paper Mama, and thought it seems so easy and cute that I wanted to share.  Besides, I am obsessed with the bottle brush trees I started decorating with a couple years back!

images via the paper mama

Can't wait to do some fun decorating and projects with Oliver.  What do you like to do for decorations (besides the Tree and stocking, obviously)?

adventures in skin care

so you know about my love of drugstore products.  But in the last 10 years or so, I have seen a major decline in my skin.  Starting in late college, I would get breakouts.  Then, in the last 5 years or so, it has turned more into big under the skin problems.  I have self diagnosed the problem as cystic acne.  I don't know for sure if that is what it is, but I think so :)  I have done the 28 day cleanse, and this is so good you guys - you really wouldn't believe how you feel.  But, I still felt like I had problems with my skin. 
The other day I read about something called the oil cleanse method.  It is cleaning your face with natural oils instead of cleansers you buy from the store.  I know you must be thinking exactly what I was: washing you face with oil seems counter intuitive, no?  While I will not bore you with all of the details, if you are interested, this is one (of the many) thing I read: http://healthydiaries.com/2012/07/17/how-i-improved-my-skin-acne-scaring-overall-complexion/

my new routine

So, this will either be a disaster or fantastic.  yikes.

What do you use to wash your face?

Happy Friday

So, do you guys have the iphone 5?  Or are you feeling "meh" and will stick with your current phone?  Chris being the computer nerd he is had us get them, and now as I am sure you have heard all the chargers are new as well as the slimmer design (among other things) and now I need a new case.  I don't know what to get.  I had an otter box on my last phone, and since I tend to drop the phone, it served me well.  However, it is super bulky, as most people complain it is.  I know I need something, but can't decide on what is good for protection, and also looks nice (something else the otterbox lacks).  Thoughts?  Did you get a new case yet?  Tell me what you got!  See some of my favorites below.

andes case - zazzle

glitter case - zazzle

bamboo case (a little pricey) comes in plain or designs - grovemade

vintage inspired - zazzle

hardwood  (very pricey!) - exovault

Also taking the blog world by storm in the fashion dept is wal mart.  Yes, I said it.  Personally (and moral issues aside) I am not a big fan of Wal Mart - so believe me this surprised me as well.  I was so excited that they re-did the wal mart literally 2 seconds from my house.  It is now a super wal mart and it was so nice and clean.  I have been back twice since then and what has happened?  Same. Old. Shiz.  I ask someone where something is and they don't know and won't look it up to see if it's at another store (c'mon!  Target does this for me all the time!!!).  AND - and this is a major pet peeve - there are like 2 billion people waiting to check out, and out of 25 registers they have 3 open.  3!  But I digress, and back to the fact that wal mart has something cute.  These leggings:  

adorable.  Pic via Smallfry

this lil bird wears them well,  Via Bleubird Vintage (instagram)

Don't say I didn't warn you - aren't they cute?  Still trying to decide if they Wy can pull them off.  I mean, it would just read very surfer early 90's/late 80's, right?  ;)
I am not sure if they are sold out or not - The link to the girls leggings page on walmart doesn't show them?  Let me know if you see them in your store.  I think they are like $4!

It's the weekend, holla.

round up

as we steadily move into cooler weather I am looking through Wyatt's clothes for the winter to see if he needs anything.  As it is, I have to go through his clothes and switch everything over anyway every couple of months since he out grows everything like babies tend to do.  Now, we are a big fan of hand me downs around here and pretty much get by on that.  However, I find myself wanting more leggings for him than I have and he out grew the best ones. 
This is where the problem comes in.  Leggings or close fitting, knit pants are hard to find for little boys.  I have zero problem whatsoever looking in the girl section, but for the most part they are too frilly for my liking.  I know other babes wear leggings, like Henry, amongst others.  Still doesn't make it any easier to find - and especially not on a budget.  Let me tell you, the ones linked above from Polarn O. Pyret were spendy, but they were also a gift and you can get more wear out of the ones I had since you roll down the ankles and waistband as they grow.  Most of my favorites are $$$ with gap and target (or other affordable pairs) being few and far between.  Here are some of my faves, let me know if you have some!!!

above two - gap

bobo choses

similar to my fave pair - polarn o. pyret

tea

old navy

thief & bandit

Tell me your favorites!  Go!