Treasure Hunting

We're changing Sierra's bedroom around again so we went thrifting to look for a coffee table or dresser that could be DIY'd into a t.v. stand.  We didn't find that on this outing but we did find lots of other goodies.  The most expensive item is the wood swivel desk chair at ($59), which is a huge bargain considering Pottery Barn sells a nearly identical chair for $400.  The globe was $7 and everything else was less than $3.  The globe and vintage cash box were Cameron's finds, the metal candle holders, green beaded bowl and aqua ceramic tray were Sierra's finds, the rest were mine.

 

Please come back and visit soon.

Romantic Spring: Wearing This Season's Floral Trend

Romantic Spring by itsrobyn 

Fat Face red top
$63 - fatface.com

Rag Bone racerback tank
marissacollections.com

Forever New pleated skirt
$74 - forevernew.com.au

Peep toe shoes
$33 - newlook.com

H M handbag
$17 - hm.com

J Crew white necklace
jcrew.com

Alexander McQueen white sunglasses
neimanmarcus.com

Spring Inspirations Dogwood Bush Pink
joann.com

Winter Casual - Polyvore Fashion Collage

It's Robyn - Winter Casual by itsrobyn.

This is a typical outfit that I would wear to an event at my children's school (sports, dance concert) or out running errands for the day.

My Aromaleigh v.2 order & swatches (Ancient Magick & Brilliant Deductions)

I love it when I get packages in the mail; especially, when it's an order from Aromaleigh.  Aromaleigh v.2 recently released Ancient Magick (an Egyptian-inspired collection) and Brilliant Deductions (a Sherlock inspired eyeshadow mystery) and the colors and finishes were so enticing that I couldn't resist sampling some for myself.

Although I prefer to wear shades in the neutral family of colors, I occasionally venture out of my comfort zone (but usually not very far).  That makes is doubly nice when Aromaleigh surprises me with a few free samples of colors I normally wouldn't choose for myself.

My order arrived in a padded gold envelope and this was inside. . .everything wrapped in pretty tissue paper, velveteen ribbon and a logo sticker.

All of my individual samples were contained within one larger protective zipper baggie and the full sized powder has a sticker over the sifter to keep the Glamoured Vegan Correcting/Perfecting Finishing Powder (in Gypsophilia) from potentially escaping during shipping.

  Here's what I ordered. . .

 Hooray for unexpected freebies!

 At first glance, the four shadows below are some of my favorites from my order.

(Swatched over bare skin in natural light)

I love the variety these two new collections seem to offer.  Lots of different finishes and effects (metallics, frosts, duo finish, sparkles).  I can't wait to try them out on my eyes.  When I do, I'll post the resulting look here so be sure to check back.  Bye for now!

Miss Me?

I realize it's been nearly five months since I last blogged here, but I've been busy in the garden.  Wanna see what I've been up to?  Visit Robyn's Roses, my online diary devoted to my love of beautiful flowers.

Here's a preview:

Forever 21 for the 40+ . . . recent finds

My daughter turned Sweet 16 on the 18th of this month. As a present, she received a Forever 21 gift card which was burning a hole in her pocket so I took her shopping last week and actually found a few things for myself.

I've shopped at this store many times since my daughter started high school and began caring about fashion. I probably would never have even entered the store had it not been for her. The prices are fabulous (the quality is hit/miss) if you want to score trendy items that you don't expect to last through several seasons. The majority of their stock is geared toward the teen/20's age group but if you shop carefully and with a "how would I style this" mindset, you can find some great pieces that will work for more mature fashionistas.

Here's what I got and how I'm going to wear it:

1) I'm much more curvy than the model.   This striped scoop neck top with ruched sleeves is going to be fabulously sexy on a casual date night with the hubs.  Add dark wash boot cut jeans and black high heels (see below). . .voila!  

 .  . .with my black Vera Wang heels from Kohl's

2) No, I won't be wearing this color blocked sweater with leather pants.  I imagined myself wearing it with dark wash skinny jeans and black motorcycle inspired boots.

3) I will wear this retro inspired t-shirt top underneath a 3/4 sleeve cropped blazer with ruched sleeves (see below).

. . .with my Metaphor blazer from Sears

4) I chose a size of this tiger/union jack shirt that was more form fitting than the one on the model.  I think loose fitting clothing adds pounds on a curvy girl so I prefer a fit that embraces my curves.  I'm going to wear this vintage inspired t-shirt with snakeskin skinny jeans (see below) and some wedge booties (see below).

. . .with my black Apt 9 snakeskin coated skinny jeans from Kohl's

 

. . .and my Merona wedge "shooties" from Target

 

Meow Cosmetics Holiday 2012: Midnight Clear Look

I received some eyeshadow samples compliments of Meow Cosmetics to test and review.  Among them were several from the Holiday 2012 collection "Midnight Clear."  I picked the ones that I thought would be my favorites and put them together in a look.  I am very pleased with the results.

  

• Cloven Skies:  Warm bronzed russet with copper iridescence and a soft metallic  finish (more metallic than sparkly) (Meow's description perfectly describes this eyeshadow.  Beautiful, rich color.)

• Golden Hours:  Soft metallic brushed gold (Great description.  Gorgeous color! I patted it over Cloven Skies on my lid to add richness and shine in this look.)

• Peaceful Wings:  Buttery sand gold (My favorite.  It's a great highlighter for my skin tone.  Love!)

• Ancient Splendor:  Iridescent taupe with copper highlights (This one has a dark base that I wasn't expecting by the look of Meow's swatch making it more wearable for me as a liner rather than an eyeshadow.)

 My own hand swatches

Please come back and visit soon.

Dear Procrastination. . . .

. . .I'm breaking up with you.  I have no room for you in my life.  You are keeping me from accomplishing the things I want to so you are outta here!

Last night, as I sat in my bed watching t.v. and unwinding, I wondered to myself, "What is it about me that I don't have the willpower to do the things I really want while other people seem to?"  I listen to Dr. Laura on the way to pick up my son from school and she seems to have no problem with willpower.  She says she wants to look cute in her clothes so she exercises regularly and lets herself have two Oreos every day as a snack.  She doesn't deprive herself, she just exerts self control.  I know I should only have two, but I would allow myself to eat them until I was full as if it were a meal.  What is it about me, my personality, my way of thinking, my genetics, my whatever that I don't say no to the extra cookies? 

Do I not want to lose those few extra pounds badly enough?  I want to look cute in my jeans with no muffin top so why don't I just not eat the extra cookies. . .or just don't have any cookies? 

I decided right then and there that I didn't need to know why necessarily but I did need to do something about it.  So I grabbed my phone and Googled "how to improve self discipline" and I came upon a concise article on eHow.  It offered up 4 steps on how to improve your self discipline.  Step 3 really resonated with me.

Do something you know you should do daily, but don't. Self discipline is all about doing what you don't want to do, but need to do. Things that will give you a better quality of life are worth pursuing. This could be exercise, eat healthier, get more sleep, read, time with family and so forth.

Plan the day and activities.  If you're not used to planning then start simple. Write down five things that you want to accomplish the night before for the next day. Then the next day mark them off as you do them this is basic self discipline. It's also forming new good habits and tracking progress.

I thought to myself, "Hey, I use lists.  I can totally do that."  I use lists for the grocery store, gifts I need to buy people, errands I need to run, so why not make lists for other things I want to accomplish?  Before turning out the lights, I wrote down these five things:

•  1 cup of coffee
• egg substitute on bread thins with 1 fat free cheese slice
• go for a walk 2x around the block (it's about 1 mile)
• eat an apple for snack
• soup for lunch

And at the bottom of the 5 things list, I added 1) call insurance company, and 2) call body shop/car rental.
So really my list was seven things but the first five were things I "should do daily but don't."  The last two were just things I needed to take care of and needed reminding about. 

Now you may be thinking why does she need to remind herself to only have 1 cup of coffee, soup for lunch, etc.?  I know myself.  If I don't write down 1 cup of coffee, I will probably have two.  And in each of those cups of coffee I will use two tablespoons of powdered creamer and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar.  Those are extra calories I don't need but it's how I like my coffee.  I decided that 1 cup was enough and totally doable.  And if I didn't write down soup for lunch, I would probably wander around my kitchen looking for something to eat and perhaps stumble upon the kids' potato chips (which I don't particularly care for but they're there so why not) or see the chocolate chip cookie dough in the fridge.  So if I want to achieve my goals, it has to be part of my master plan that I write that stuff down.  By the time of this writing, I've already crossed a couple of things off my list so I'm headed in the right direction.

If you are interested in reading another series of articles I found helpful, check out Sid Savara.  In particular, "Will Power:  How To Improve Your Personal Self Discipline."  I had never heard of Sid Savara prior to my Google search so I just started reading.  I figured if he had something useful or interesting to say, I would keep reading.  He did.  His site is geared toward several aspects of Personal Development Training.  I think many people will find something there that could help them in their daily lives, not just improving self discipline.

So from here on out, I will continue to push forward in my pursuit of improved self discipline to reach my goals. . .wish me luck!