My 2015 Christmas List

December 1, 2015December 4, 20151 Comment

It’s that time of year again! The time of year where Christmas and my godforsaken birthday fall on nearly the same day. Thank the Lord Nan had them break her water on Christmas Eve, otherwise I would have been born on the WORST day of the year to have a birthday. However, it has also historically meant I get more prezzies, which, as I get older, are dwindling. For example, this year, I actually told my mom to pay my car insurance for a year as my gift..and she almost agreed to do it!

Please see below for the link and descriptions for things on my ACTUAL Christmas list.

christmas 2015 by natd08-1 featuring star stickers

Joe’s Jeans black denim skinny jeans
I have been jonesing for a pair of destroyed black jeans. Unfortunately, my long body only looks good in a couple of brands: The Gap and Joe’s.

Sperry Top-Sider white deck shoes – Nordstrom $59.95
I LOVE the way these look with rolled-up jeans or shorts in the summer time. And since my bday is in the winter…I gotta think ahead.

Vans suede leather shoes – urbanoutfitters.com $63
I wear my gold metallic vans ALL the time, so obvs I need them in black.

TheBalm makeup – Kohls $39
Mostly, I want this for the blushes and the forest green eyeshadow. Plus, I own NOTHING from the Balm!

Ariana Grande Eau de parfum perfume – Macy’s $50
This perfume is delightful and probs too young for me but I DON’T CARE. It has bottom notes of MARSHMALLOW. I mean, hello!

Lush Christmas Candy Gift Box Bubble bath – LUSH $29
There are about 5 Lush gift boxes I realllllly want. Anything containing Rose Jam or Snow Fairy and I’m a happy camper.

Lush Ro’s Argan Body Conditioner Beauty product – $34
You can read about 1272 posts on my blog about this stuff. It’s what dreams are made of.

Carpet Remnant Rectangular area rug
YEPPP. I have cold-ass hardwood floors and I would like a cheap-O piece of carpet to lay on and watch Gilmore Girls.

Sound of Music on CD
My car has a CD player so of course I want this on CD. What do you take me for?

Little Twin Stars 2016 Day Planner
Or really, any day planner will do. I also saw a Walking Dead one that is amaze-balls.

And last but not least…MY HAIR

My wonderful sister-in-law Shannon will be doing my hair at Christmas time and YOU GUYS it is going to be glorious.

Weekending & T-Giving 2015

December 1, 20151 Comment

Hello mini-seahorses!

What wonderful weekends I’ve been having! A couple weeks ago, Nan, Megan and Mr.Tate decided to come for a visit and I was beyond excited to have this tiny human back in my life.

Girls weekends with Megan and Nan usually involve shopping from about 11 am to 9 pm, with lunch, wine and maybe some fro-yo sprinkled in. Us gals can go go go. We usually start out at a mall, throw in Nordstrom Rack, some consignment stores and then to appease Nan, we’ll hit up a Goodwill right before closing time so she can contemplate a book on CD entitled “The Jewels of Tessa Kent”. But now. Things are a bit different having a tiny gentlemen in tow. We decided the safest option was a straight-up shopping mall and what better place than stroller-ridden Washington Square?

First, we woke up and had play time:

Then we walked down to Jim and Pattie’s for brek:

Then we hit WA Square and Meg gave the Ergo Baby a whirl.

Tate was a champ for the first couple of hours, happily snoozing in the pram and periodically opening those eyes (lined with LONG eyelashes now!) to stare up at these crazies subjecting him to horrible techno at H&M. We went to all our faves, like Pottery Barn Kids and Nordstrom (places I can definitely afford).

Of course I did this.

I found one of those cheesy-ass signs that actually makes perfect sense:

Then, we stumbled upon what could very well be the CUTEST and most magical place in Portland, Lolli & Pop’s!

Look what the employees wear. OMG.

Aside from the fact that everything at Lolli & Pop’s costs $14,000, I am totally a fan.

We had lunch at the Nordstrom Cafe and then I grabbed a Candy Mountain Bubble Bar from Lush! We knew Tate wasn’t going to last much longer, so we all got in the car and made an attempt at Nordstrom Rack before quickly realizing Tater Tot was done. The weekend wrapped up with the three of us watching movies and trying to get Tate to smile (which I am SO good at).

And then of course, it was T-Giving! I drove home after work on Wednesday and spent 3 glorious days at my parents new digs.

The first night, I partook in the following activities:

Playing with Gare’s new label-maker:

teehee

2. Eating gingersnaps

3. Looking at the butter sculpture Nan bought:

4. Taking photo-booth pics of Nan while she was asleep on the couch eating butterscotch disks:

baahahahaaaaaaaaaa

The next day I watched the parade in my jammies and got mad that I missed the Hello Kitty balloon. Tate and Megan came over and I played with him and fell even more in love.

Then, we put hims in his OOTD:

Then I combed my hair and put some makeup on and a headband to go to my grandparent’s for T-Give:

Thanksgiving dinner was spent at my grandparents, which meant we were all sweating from the permanent 80 degree setting on their thermostat.

If that wasn’t enough, my grandma also got out her scarf collection and had me pick out a few for myself (I currently own about 40 of these already), but I was a sport and acted completed delighted to sport a thinly knitted bit of periwinkle! We stupidly only brought one bottle of wine over, so I was reduced to sipping from an old bottle of Disaronno I found behind my grandparents’ 2008 Mall Walkers participation plaque. At this point, I was lookin’ purty good:

Then Ben and Megan brought Tate over and ta-dah!!! Instant distractions and something to stare at for 2 hours! I did snap a few adorable pics though:

Four generations!

Reasons why this is the cutest ever: 1.) They are matching 2.) Tate’s smile 3.) My grandpa’s giant hand 4.) They are matching

And thennnnn we did the unthinkable. Nan, Megan, Tate and I went to Macy’s. This year, they opened their doors at 6 pm and I was really jonesing for the $25 Ariana Grande bubble bath. After grabbing a few deals, we mozied by BBW on our way out and I was terribly disspointed at their half-assed sale. Buy 3, Get 3 Free!?!? WTF. That is, like, NOT a good deal. Give me $8 dollar candles or 75% off of something! GHODddd.

Anyweeeez – the next day was spent hanging with Amy and Shannon, playing cards, drinking Svedka and 7’s and me having perpetual bed-head, which was making Megan actually mad at me. Excuse me if I don’t want to comb my hair for 24 hours.

I made it back to Portland safe and sound and immediately jumped (ok stepped) into my bathtub for a candy mountain soak. NOT A BAD END, my friends.

The Sports Fan

November 19, 2015November 19, 2015Leave a comment

There are basically two kinds of girls.

Girls who do not like sports
Girls who do not like sports but pretend to like sports

Okaaaaaaaaaaay I know there are some girls who would claim they love to watch sports. But to those girls, I say this: Would you pick a football game over Kardashian marathon? – OR – How much of what you like about sports is the attention it brings you? How much of what you like about sports is the fact that guys may think you are a “cool chick who can hang with the guys”? REALLY tho. How much?

I have basically always been Girl 1. Kinda like Amy Schumer in Trainwreck…

“I don’t know why we treat these athletes like heroes just ‘cause they can skate fast or kick a ball in a net. I just think it’s weird. No offense. I just think that sports are stupid and anyone who likes them is just a lesser person.”

HA. The Schums. So funny.

But anyways. I hate to say it guys, but I am kinda Girl 3 now! I KNOW. I like sports. I like several different sports. I like watching the pros. I like watching college. I like to watch those Curling guys in crazy pants rub the ground with that sweeper thingy. I just do. And I’m not hiding it.

I will admit there are several caveats to this bold proclamation, however. Just like selecting the perfect color of blush, I am PICKY. And really, I only care about certain teams. And heeeeeeeeeeere they are (cue Jock Jams).

Portland Timbers

Who knew soccer could be so action packed!? Lord almighty. I used to always be able to count on three things to put me sleep: This Old House, graham crackers and milk and soccer games. Since moving to Portland, it has been hard to avoid the Timbers fans, or ARMY as they’re locally known as.

And after going to a game (which was AWESOME) and following them on TV – yep, I’m, hooked. These trim young men in green and gold have captured my heart. And really, anytime SINGING is encouraged at a sporting event YOU KNOW I’m there.

Portland Trailblazers

This one was inevitable. Unlike soccer, basketball is played indoors and y’all know how indoorsy I am. Going to my first Blazers game a couple weeks ago was just EPIC. I had my shirt, hat, bag-o-Skittles and an absolute HUGE grin on my face the whole time. The Blazers have been around FOREVER and it is just too fun to have a pro basketball team in the city I live in!

THE SEAHAWKS

photo (8)

But of course, I am a Seattlite, and a Hawk thru and thru. This season has been a bit interesting but nothing and noone could take away the love I feel for the Hawks. I actually get excited for Seahawks games and feel very real anxiety during high-pressure situations. Portland is fairly supportive of the fact that I bleed blue and green and it feels just great to be in such a Seahawks-friendly place.

SO there you have it. I like sports. It’s real. And I’m proud of it.

Halloween 2015

November 11, 2015Leave a comment

SO..I never really dress up for Halloween.

I’ll admit, it is partially because I’ve never had anything cool to do. Never gone to a big halloween party, never really “gone out” too much. So aside from the odd, thrown together cowgirl or 50’s Pink Lady – I’ve never really done anything special.

BUT THIS YEAR. You guys. This year, I actually made a plan!

So for work, I teamed up with a couple of my pals at work and we did Frozen characters and DUH – I was Elsa!

I had the best time doing Elsa makeup and throwing in some extensions to get the elusive Elsa braid. A bunch of my co-workers brought their kiddos in and it srsly melted my “frozen” (haha) heart because they all really thought I was Elsa. I now have a taste of what it must feel like to work at Disneyland and be a princess and all I gotta say is – I could totally get used to it!

The next day, I opted to go the POLAR opposite of Elsa and be…a walker. I would like to clarify this because I was not a brain-eating zombie. I was a walker, ala Walking Dead.

My first time with liquid latex!

If anyone wants more detail on how I did this makeup (for Elsa or the Walking Dead) just let me know and I can do a step-by-step tutorial!

Sephora + Ulta Haul

October 28, 20151 Comment

Hello and g’day to you all!

I am back with a cheeky little haul that I just had to share with y’all (rhyming!).

Things from Sephora

So here’s the thing with eye-creams: Do ANY of these really work? As I looked through alllll the options at Sephora, I realized how much I didn’t want to spend the $60 on a super reputable eye cream with tons of great ingredients. Then again, I didn’t want the $10 option that is chalked full of straight-up glycerin.

I chatted with a Sephora girl for a bit and decided to try this one for $26 by the Sephora store brand. This particular one is for eyes AND lips and the girl assured with it had plumping properties for both. Lately (for whatever reason ~~Kylie Jenner~~), I have been craving fuller lips. mine are just so puny and boring. So we will see – I will report back on how this stuff fares.

Secondly, my beloved Marc Jacobs gel-liner has turned out to be a complete dud :(. It worked awesome for awhile but then it dried out and became completely useless to me. When I went into Sephora, I brought along this liner which was all banged up and scratched and not pretty as a lesson to anyone who is afraid to return things to Sephora. THEY WILL TAKE IT BACK. I have done this many times when I’ve been unhappy with a certain product and I have never had an issue. Heck, you pay $35 for a measly eyeliner – it should bloody work! <- why am I turning into a brit all of the sudden?

Anyways, the kind lady informed me this liner had been recalled due to it drying out on everyone! Fiddle dee dee! I opted to go for the Makeup Forever Aqua Eyes Waterproof in black and so far it has been great.

Things from Ulta

My dry shampoo stash from a prior haul had already run out so I was overdue for a couple bottles of Batiste. This time I opted for the “Strength & Shine” and “Exotic” formulas. I have already started using the exotic one and it smells like coconuts!! Man, am I an idiot for buying the pink one all this time! This one is probably my favorite of the bunch, based on smell alone!

I also picked up this one for strength and shine because DUH – I want strong, shiny hurrr.

And lastly, but certainly not leastly – I nabbed this body wash from Soap and Glory, which Ulta now stocks! I WISH they had the perfume but for now, I’ll have to wet my whistle with their insanely delectable scrubs and lotions.

I already own the “Clean on Me” body wash, which comes in the original S&G scent but when I sniffed this one in the store…OH LAW. I literally passed out from all that is good and holy. It smells absolutely AHHMAAZZZING you guys. Put this on your Christmas list. Your Hanukah list. Hell, pretend it’s your birthday and tell everyone to buy this for you. It smells THAT good. And after a couple a’showers under my belt with the stuff, I can confirm – it is a perfect body wash.

If this scent comes in any other product form – PLEASE do let me know. WHY doesn’t the U.S get the entire line!? It is a travesty.

But that is all my friends. What should I try next?

My Beauty Hacks

October 26, 2015October 26, 20152 Comments

HALLO!

Very often in social conversations, I find myself explaining the seemingly simple little things I do to help me not look homeless. Things like getting my 4 day unwashed hair to stay in that perfectly coiffed, not-too-messy, messy bun. Or getting my tired eyes (one of which, droops) to look alive and Disney princessish. To me, these practices are just that. M’ tried-and-trues. Things I have done since middle school that I no longer even think about, let alone have put down on paper.

But guys – it is time to share. November is upon us! The month where we bow our heads and give thanks for all that we have. For me, it’s Malibu Rum and Wild Berry Skittles. It’s also the following beauty hacks that I hope will give you something to be thankful for.

These eye drops that make the whites of your eyes really white

I first heard about these a few years ago when I watched a tutorial on how to look like Barbie (obvs). The video (maybe Michelle Phan?) recommended using these drops to get super white and bright eyes. Ever since then, I have gone through 2 whole bottles and WHO, may I ask, uses an entire bottle of eye drops that doesn’t wear contacts?

These drops knock out any redness or discoloration on the whites of your eyes and are PERFECT when I feel tired or am hungover. They are a lifesaver in a pinch when you need to look “awake” in a jiff or want that bright-eyed, doll look.

Best method for shaving your legs

This is going to sound weird, but this is how I shave my legs and they always perfect and buttery-soft.

First, exfoliate them with a sugar scrub. I like this one:

When I am feeling extra pampery, I will also use a loofah on them.

Next, I grab my razor – and y’all won’t believe which kind I use.

Yes, I use the cheap-ass candy-pink razors that come in a 12-pack and cost $2.49 at Fred Meyer. The difference is, I use a new one of these almost every time I shave my legs. I discovered long ago that with expensive razors like the Venus and the Intuition, I wouldn’t switch the blade out very often and after a few shaves, they weren’t as close. I crave that close, perfect, precise shave EACH time. So I decided to buy the good ol’ twin-blade razors and use a fresh one each time and you guys – I am NOT looking back. A bit wasteful? Perhaps. But my legs are silky smooth every time and I don’t worry about spending a million dollars on 5-blade razors that basically are rendered useless after a few uses.

Whew.

I use my cheap razor and body wash to shave my legs. I used to think those Skintimate Shave Gels were the tits but I have quickly discovered the absolute best thing for shaving your legs and it is this:

The lotiony effect of the body wash coats my legs and I hardly ever get cuts. Then when I’m done, I am left with a softer and smoother set of stems.

These methods are extensive but I promise they work. If you want a step-by-step tutorial on how to get the best shave everrrr LET ME KNOW!

Putting castor oil on your eyelashes

Okaaaaay. I have been putting castor oil on my eyelashes every night for quite a while now. At first I was like, “WTF have you resorted to Natalie?!” But now I love it. Each night after I take all my makeup off, I take a tiny bit of castor oil on my finger and sweep it on my upper and lower lashes with just enough to coat them. I feel like it is basically a conditioner for eyelashes and it causes me zero irritation. As a result, my eyelashes are longer, fuller and more “feathery”. I feel like they are the best they’ve ever been right now and I owe it all to Castor Oil! Go fig.

This is the kind I use:

Buy the organic, pure version

Getting rid of bruises FAST with Arnica

Duuuuude that sounds like a infomercial. But srsly, Arnica has changed my life. Due to whatever amount of vitamins I am lacking from my self-elected diet of Pirate’s Booty, Milk Duds and the occasional can of soup – I find that I bruise SUPER easy.

A couple of coworkers recommended I try Arnica and it totally works like a charm. I would say it cuts down the “life” of my bruises by half. During the summer especially – this stuff is a godsend.

And that’s it for now! Be prepared for a Part 2 of this blog post because it’s already in the works!

Happenings!

October 14, 2015October 14, 2015Leave a comment

I went to a charity event that my work was a sponsor for and had the rare opportunity to dress up in Portland, Oregon! For once, wearing something nicer than jeans in public felt acceptable! I didn’t take a good picture of how I did my hair for this event, but I used the following tutorial and it worked like a charm!

You can kinda see my hair better here:

The event had an Arabian Nights theme (basically if I had Princess Jasmine pants I WOULD have worn them) and there was a hookah bar!

And alas, I had to give little Henry back to his mom and dad. It was a bittersweet day because I was sad not to see his little tiny wagging body at the door everyday, but happy to see him reunited with his humans. The last day I had him, I took him for a nice long walk and wore a heck of an outfit:

I found these hilarious illustrations on Instagram the other day from @ohdeer. Just SO perfectly applicable and user-friendly.

And my personal favorite…

Here are some recent Tates:

And lastly, my eyelash game has been on point! As have my car selfies apparently…

And also. I’ve been havin alot of days on the couch lookin’ like Kermit the Frog:

And walking down to get the mail like dis:

Big Patagonia coat, jammy shorts and veiny feet in ballet flats

And lastly….anyone else love Phoebe Snow? My LORD do I love her voice! Nan and I share a real love for Poetry Man.