Hello Portland

May 16, 20142 Comments

Hello Newman.

Well hi and a ho there!

I am officially blogging at ya live from Portland, Oregon. How mighty good it feels to be done with moving. All the annoying cardboard boxes are broken down and awaiting a she-she recycling bin here in what seems to be the “green” mecca. Summer clothes are hanging in the closets awaiting weekend trips to Canon Beach and of course, local pizza has been ordered. Are we Portlandians or what?

The new place!

It all started last Saturday, when two movers showed up at our house and managed to fit all our worldly possessions into one moving truck. I drove the Jeep down early with the important, ULTRA fragile stuff (read: my makeup, perfumes and the 2 crystal wine glasses we own). I arrived to gray skies and a townhouse that had not been cleaned. SONOFA.

Whatevs. We shoved the 5 boxes or so on top of the rubble (and I do mean rubble, the place was recently renovated) and headed out for much-needed drinks and food. Substantially woozy an well-fed, we blew up the air mattress we brought along for the evening. Our movers weren’t coming until the morning so we had to “rough it” the first night. And rough it, we did.

We went for a little walk around our surroundings and I looked like a regular doofus in m’white tenni-runners. The idiot that is me forgot to pack an extra pair of normal shoes in my overnight bag. Such a tourist.

That night, I woke up no less than 38 times, as did Bryan. Our air mattress, while somewhat comfy, is definitely NOT the king bed we are used to. The next day when the movers arrived to unload the truck – my crazy mind decided it was the perfect time for a mild panic attack. So I peaced and left the boys doing what they do best.

After my walk and brush with hurricane Farrah (my panic attacks warrant the names of catastrophic weather patterns) I was back and BETTAH THAN EVA. Bryan and I spent the day leisurely unpacking, having newspaper fights and stopping for beers on our front stoop petting our neighbors dogs.

I’M KIDDING.

Really, we were hot, smelly and already mad we moved here. I tuckered myself out after our lunch of Jimmy John’s and promptly PTI’FO.

That night, per tradish we ordered pizza for dinner and selected a place called Hot Lips Pizza. Later, it was decided that we liked it. Win! We ate delicious chocolate cookies that my boss sent me off with and went to bed with happy tum-tums.

Monday morning Bry had to go to work, which meant housewife Natalie got to show her true colors. And per Bryan, “she worked it”. I spent the day and I do mean THE DAY getting the place organized. We’re talkin 7:30-5 here folks. Of SOLID work.

Since our new place isn’t as, *ahem* spacious as our 2,600 square-foot house we moved from (imagine), I had to economize a bit. Which means that things like winter clothes, that fancy stock pot, or my 10,000 cookbooks are and will remain in a box. There simply isn’t the closet space for all of our clothes, winter coats, ski pants and all my tap shoes (kidding).Luckily, we have a spare office space off the garage we can use to store any extraneous items.

What else did I do, you ask?

Re-folded and categorized each piece of clothing into neat and tidy piles, put away
Moved furniture up and down the stairs by MYSELF
Arranged the guest room (it is to die)
Completed 4 hip thrusts
Organized all beauty products according to function
Organized all makeup into my vanity
Arranged candle collection in drawers
Sang Baby Beluga by Raffi X 8

By the time Bry got home from work that night, I was FINISHED. And he was astounded. I really wowed him, esp with the guest bedroom. I wish I had taken before and afters. It’s like HGTV quality. The second bedroom might just be the crown jewel of our new digs, probably because I hung up all my girly stuff Bryan hates! tee hee

And because Bry got a fancy new phone and I was feeling all proud of my work, I did a little room tour! (apologies that the camera is the wrong direction, I’m still a novice).

So here we are. Living in a brand new city. Getting lost all time and using our phones to navigate us two blocks to the Nordstrom. Realizing we live in a really cool area by the river where everyone has cute dogs and nice legs. Where we are surrounded by bars, restaurants and plenty of weird Portland-folk who have proven to be the BEST people-watching of probably my entire life.

What’s next? It’s anyone’s guess!

Til next time.

Meeting Sprinkle of Glitter

April 21, 201413 Comments

You guys.

I met Louise.

You know Louise, of the YouTube channel Sprinkle of Glitter?

If you don’t, allow me to fill you in. Louise is from England, married and has an adorable 3-year-old daughter, Darcy. Her channel focuses on all aspects of life, from makeup/beauty, to day-in-the-life vlogs to serious, deeper subjects. I think people love Louise because she is relate-able, animated, hilarious and seemingly humble. Now that I have actually met her in person (pinch me again) I can confirm that she is in fact, all of these things.

So how did I meet her?

She flew all the way from the UK to Seattle for a visit with her dear friend (and fellow YouTuber) Marie of Bits and Clips. One day, 20 minutes before I had a appt with the doc, I saw a post on Facebook outlining a meet-up she was having in Kerry Park. Obviously, I had not planned on going, but as soon as I realized our proximity I ~~hyperventilated~~ casually decided to go.

I know I sound crazy. She makes videos on the internet…SO WHAT!? Well. YouTube celebs (youlebrities?) are kindof maje. The lucky ones have morphed from normal people who enjoy sitting in front of a camera and talking, to celebrities in their own right.

I DIGRESS, heres the deets:

The park had about 50 girls, anxiously pacing too and fro, clutching their lovely hand-written notes and small gifts for Louise. They were shaking. Shaking. I say girls, because they were just that. The vast majority of this mob was made up of high school girls and college students. There was the odd Mom bob, but I noticed that these women were dropping off their high-school daughters, not actually attending the meet-up. So then I felt like a douche.

As Louise pulled up I thought, “Oh wonderful! They found a spot in the front!”. Meanwhile, the girls behind me were nervously emitting muffled screams and twisting their purse straps as they caught sight of her. This was REAL y’all. People was losing they shizz.

She came out of the car and immediately addressed the crowd, saying “Hi!!”. She was everything. Gracious, well-poised and adorable without being obnoxious. Right off the bat, she exclaimed, “You all look so American!” and of course we all chuckled.

Then it was dead silent. Everybody was just stunned, shocked and in awe. The air was palpable. So naturally, I started nervously blurting things out. Word vomit, I think they call it. You know me.

When it was my turn for a picture with her, I told her I was probably the oldest person there. I also said that I make “uncontrollable ugly face” in pictures and was sorry for that, to which she said “Don’t say that! You look wonderful! You could have elephantiasis!”. hahahahaaaaaaaaa

Oh Louise.

I side hugged the bejesus outta her and said more awkward things as you might expect.

Am I patting her?

I almost kissed the top of her head while singing let’sgotothebeach EACH letsgogetaway, but thought she might have me arrested, right there in the park.

Oh, and obvs I had to get one a’these:

Just two besties

It was a wonderful treat for us Seattlites, to receive a sprinkle of glitter from my personal favorite YouTuber, Louise!

Here we all are! (via her Twitter):

Op. There’s crazy me. Laying it on thick.

Hauls, Moroccon Oil and the Pursuit of Luster

August 8, 2012August 8, 20125 Comments

Because I aint no haulin-back girrrl!

I’ll begin with a story. Whilst in Europe, Megan and I often times would lay in bed watching YouTube videos until the wee hours of the morning. Call us cray cray, but sometimes we just couldn’t peel our sleepy eyes off that tiny screen. Favorites include anything done by Jenna Marbles, old American Idol performances, Miss Magoo and most recently makeup tutorial and “haul” videos. If you are unsure as to what constitutes a haul video, allow me to deconstruct.

They do not involve a U-Haul, moving or any kind of wheel barrow. These videos involve young women (mostly), showing off what they recently purchased on shopping trips. Haul videos can be comprised of makeup, clothing, home decor, etc and any combination of the like.

Example “Haul” Video. This is Tiffany D and I love her.

The reason I find these videos oddly addicting (along with hundreds of thousands of others, btw) is that I get a big kick outta seeing these gals blow copious amounts of money on makeup, shoes, hair products, clothing and just about everything in between. I happen to fall on the more frugal side when it comes to my personal finances and seeing these girls spend $500 at Ulta on nail polish, well…makes me giggle.

It also makes me want. As I described in this video, I can be somewhat materialistic-ish at times. I’ll admit it. So while I watch these videos, I find myself making small lists of items that strike my fancy. No, I haven’t converted exclusively to YSL and Dior makeup, but I have realized that scraping the bottom of my Wet n Wild bronzer isn’t really that great.

And in light of watching tons of these videos with sister Megan, I decided to throw her a curve ball and make my own. Please don’t judge, this video was made all in fun.

After I made this little video while sitting on the floor in our room amongst laundry and an un-made bed I realized, this was kinda fun! Although I feel semi ridiculous and am a tad embarrassed to admit that I actually liked making the video, I’m going to do just that. I like making these videos, talking to the camera and entertaining my sisters (Megan and Rachel J). So sue me. So I made another “haul” video which is quite long.

Again, please no judgements. I just like talking to my camera ok?!

My most recent beauty obsesh as of late has been my hair, particularly it’s length and luster. I am always growing it out, but alas, it never seems to go much further past my shoulders and lacks shine. After extensive research I have determined this is due to breakage, the fact that I highlight my hair and also my pillowcase. Apparently for long-haired humans, cotton pillowcases rip our hair in the back of our heads when we sleep. A trusted stylist took one look at my hair and told me to buy a satin pillowcase to eliminate this problem.

She also advised me to begin the Moroccan Oil treatment regiment.

The whole Argan Oil treatment has been sweeping the nation and while I had heard of Moroccan Oil I thought it would be too heavy for my fine hair. After I tried it at the salon I knew this stuff was serious. A dime sized amount will spread throughout the whole head and immediately my hair felt better. I opted to go with the small bottle and have only used it once but can already tell a difference. I’m hooked!

So…alot of beauty talk in this post. Sorry bout that. Next time I swear I’ll write about dungarees, piles of dirt and pitchforks ok?