Curly Craze

For the majority of my life I have been waging battle on my curly unruly locks. I have abused, dyed and fried my hair so many times. There was a point in time when I actually had a permanent professional straightening job which literally burned off a section of my hair in the back of my head. Humph.

I'm Erin, and I'm a recovering straightening addict.

I think with age, I have come to accept and even embrace my natural hair, I have not dyed it now in over three years and I no longer straighten or curl it on a daily basis. I'm still trying to figure out the right combination of products to use that will give it the optimal look, and my friends, I am coming closer.

A few days ago I posted about a Kiehl's product I had just purchased which I was going to do a review for once I got a feel for it. Well, it's a couple of days later and I absolutely love it.

It's the first time ever I feel like a product has lived up to the advertising or the hype around it. When you read "smoothing" "straightening" "moisturizing" etc etc, it's (in my opinion) usually BS. This time, I'm actually a true believer. I had a co-worker today tell me that I was having a good hair day (she's a hair dresser on the side and knows what "good hair" is) on second day hair. I've even had Ryan tell me my hair looks fantastic since using this product and he is literally the least observant/helpful boyfriend ever when it comes to make up/fashion/hair. I'll often ask, "Hey Ryan, which color looks better" if I'm out shopping and his standard response is "I don't know." ...(We won't even start down that rabbit hole)

So, what is so great about this product you might ask? Well, it actually defrizzes my hair. Like something good is happening with the combination of Argan Oil, Cocoa Butter and Sesame Oil. My curls stick together better and I don't look like a christmas tree at the end of the day (think triangle). My hair is so smooth and manageable I can't even really believe it myself.

So where is the catch you're asking. Well, in my personal opinion, I've definitely smelled many better things in my life. This stuff has a very natural scent, and by that I mean it smells like Hippies. The dirty sort. I think it's the Eucalyptus in it. It's an overpowering scent that I try to cover up immediately after my shower. Also, the shampoo doesn't lather all that much, which I have come to find is my bailiwick. I get annoyed if I have to really work the product into my scalp, or if I have to use a lot of product.

But would that dissuade me from not buying this product again? Never. I have found my miracle device. With a price tag of $35 for the set, I find it not to be too bank account unfriendly (reminder: this is all relative. This set doesn't seem too crazy since the last set I purchased was $68 total.)

I haven't tried this product out on my straight hair yet, so that will be interesting to see if my opinions are the same. I don't know how many curly haired mavens I have reading my blog, but I'm planning on doing a curly hair routine here in the future. But for now, I'm grateful for Argan Oil, it's a life saver!!

Summer Splurge

Whoody whoooo it's day three of BEDA, and I about shat my pants earlier today thinking I had forgotten to write yesterday. I was labeling myself an epic failure for not even completing two days of this 31 day challenge, but alas, I did write, and I am not YET a failure! Success.

Anyway, as you all might have caught in a previous post, I just got a raise recently. My first ever in my whole life. It's a pretty big deal. Before this raise, I was doing alright, meaning my bills were paid, I had food in my belly and I still had an iPhone in my pretty little hand, but I didn't have cash for much else, like saving, or in today's case, spending :) :) :)! So to treat myself with my first full raised paycheck, my momma came down from Olympia and we did some serious Portland damage.

Going into this trip, I had a few things in mind to get, mainly shoes and an outfit for an upcoming wedding I will be attending at the end of this month. Here's what I ended up getting! (I apologize in advance for the poorly lit, overly woody pictures- I worked with what I had.)

First stop today was NW 23rd, a wonderful area of Portland filled with a nice mixture of box stores and one of a kind boutiques. I've always had luck here, today being no exception. I found this gem at a consignment-like store called Crossroads Trading Co. where I always find the latest fashions at the cheapest prices. What I loved about this little nautical themed ditty was everything, and it was only $8.50. I think the phrase is, one man's trash is another man's come-up. I can picture this sweet roped tank with some red skinnies and my boaters. I'm on a boat bitch.

Next on NW 23rd, I scored this Kiehl's shampoo and conditioner combo. It's been a little bit since I've bought new product, I've been stooping to using Ryan's Treseme- oh the horror!! I was browsing around the interwebs one day and came across a video that was touting this set as some of the best for frizzy, dry, curly hair (I have all of the above), so I thought I would give it a whirl. It's called the Superbly Smoothing Argan set- I will post some updates as I have some prolonged use!! I will also take a moment to mention that they have some pretty spot on customer service in Kiehl's, the man who rang me up offered me all the samples I could take (I got the BB Creme!)

I'm not completely sure if I've mentioned this product before, I think I did when I was showing how to get real ghetto with it to try to drag out the product's life as long as possible. Anyway, I love this stuff. I mean, I have been dreaming about getting this liquid eyeliner back in my life. I kept putting it off until I could make a trip to Portland, but that was like four months ago. I have decided from here until forever that I am not a pencil eyeliner girl. I hate it. I mean really, I have this Smashbox eye pencil that I've been attempting to use for over 3 months now and I look like a 4 year old child that has gotten into mother's makeup. A goon. So anyway, I'm back to the Mac Liquid Eyeliner in Boot Black and I am here to stay.

Next it was on to the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. I about died when I saw this sweater. Anything with animals, I love. If this would have been a kitty cat, I probably would have loved it a little bit too much. But regardless, I just had to have this. It was marked down from $68 to $35. Boom. That's a steal of a deal.

Also from Nordstrom, I got this little peach to wear to the aforementioned wedding. Now, I was originally shooting for a cute little dress, but this is equally as amazing. It's a circle skirt by the brand Hinge that was $88 and I got it for $68. Typically I wouldn't go for anything that is poofy (being a girl and being all subconscious about weight and all) but this thing is a dream. It fits and flares in all of the right places and can be dressed up or dressed down depending on the occasion (work or play). I cannot wait to wear this later this month.

I don't know how they do it, but the little sassy minx that was helping me to my dressing room just happened to slip this tank top in along with a white one I had picked out for myself. I don't know that I even registered this color when I was looking at the spectrum on the rack, but I'm sure glad she got it to me by hook or by crook. You can't tell in this photo, but it is the most perfect coral/reddish delightful color you've ever seen. And it's just devine with my skin tone.

And finally, I got the most perfect white button down ever. From JCrew, my soul store. I told my mother today, if I could only shop at one store ever again, I woud choose JCrew (minus their pants, other than the Pixie pants). I initially wanted to venture in to check out their new Minnie pant (which like I said in the previous sentence looked like bulls*hit on me), but those didn't work out so I started the wander. Where I look and touch everything and want one of each. I've tried this shirt on before, but it was the beginning of summer (when I actually thought Astoria was going to have a summer- silly me) and I couldn't justify it. But now that it's fall at the Oregon Coast, this baby is all mine. It's going to look so perfect under sweaters (like the deer) or alone (tucked into the circle skirt) that I didn't even bat an eye at the $72 price tag. Well worth it my friends.


Well that's all for tonight! I'm going to go bask in the glow of my new clothes for a little while!!

Rental Rendezvous

Welcome to day 2 of BEDA! As I said in a previous post, I wanted to post pictures of the new place. Today is the day! Now, forewarning, it's a jumble of boxes and things yet to be put away. We have two or three rooms that look somewhat habitable, but other than that, it's chaos and destruction. It's very interesting going from about 11-1200 square feet to 800, if Ryan and I don't kill each other by the end of this, it will be a miracle. Much organization is to be done, I'll tour you through space by space and let you know my grand vision for each! Buckle up friends, here we go:

Outside, Patio:

To Do:
- Bird feeders outside the widows for the kitties to watch the pretties
- Get a better outside table, sell white wrought iron set
- Globe lights for the awning

Outside, carport/shed:

To Do:

- Put a firepit/seating area out behind the fence panel 

- Organize the shed with moving boxes, tools and things we don't need on a regular basis

- Move Ryan's motorcycle from the old rental to the carport of the new rental

Living Room: 

To Do:

- Add some bookshelves for my 10,000 unread books

- Get some artwork to hang above the couch

- Replace the chest we are using as a coffee table 

- Get a lamp to light the dark side of the room

- Get a shelf for the reading nook (?) and get artwork above reading chair

Kitchen/Dining Room:

To Do:

- Organize, get rid of the boxes (obviously)

- Get some greenery to grow on the deep window sills 

- Stool cushions

Bedroom: 

To Do:

- Move second dresser into bedroom 

- Get larger picture to cover the electrical box

- Picture to balance out the window on the left side of the room

- Get Ryan a night light on his nightstand

- Move mirror into closet

Bedroom Closet:

To Do: 

- Get a shoe rack 

- Hooks to hang all my scarves on 

- Larger mirror above Ryan's dresser 

Bathroom: 

To Do: 

- Get nautical shower curtain like this one

- Artwork above the toilet

- Something to put my straightener in 

Office: 

To Do: 

- Go through and organize all box content

- Bookshelves like these (in white)

- Configure room, thinking floating table (in the middle of the room) with the chair facing the entry way

- Sell dresser that's up against the right hand side of the room

- Artwork to balance window on left side of the room

- Table lamp 

Week in Photos: Weeks 28-31

Hello friends! It's been a while since I've done one of these! August is a special month for me, it's the month of the year that I got sober. My sobriety birthday is almost more exciting to me than my real birthday (my belly button birthday) is now. For that reason, I think I'm going to (try to) do a blog post a day for the month of August, starting with this one! I consider August a gratitude month, so in gratitude for you all I will be gifting you with lots of posts, I shall call it BEDA (Blog Every Day in August). Enjoy!

Tuesday, July 9th: These little things have been a long time coming. I swear I have been working on ordering these cards and our new KLEAN brochures for about two months now. From picking the right company to the card texture, colors and card weight, it has been crazy. It's finally a project I can put into the finished bin though. The end result is beautiful, and I have nothing but good things to say about the company we worked hand in hand with, Polk Riley based out of Astoria, OR. This was an entirely new experience for me, but next time I'll step right up to the plate when it comes to designing anything, it was great collaborating with another creative minded individual!

Wednesday, July 10th: In keeping up with the work themed pictures, I was really proud of myself when I cobbled these images together on my office wall (the reason you can only see this little bit of my office is because the rest of the place looks like it was hit by a tornado, serious). It all started with the wooden pelican picture that my dad gave the facility a while back, then I added the lighthouse pictures. I love the way it looks, all of the frames are old knotty weathered wood that give a very good texture to the room! Plus, I always smile when I look at it, and that's what counts, right?

Thursday, July 11th: Before work one day, Ryan and I had to go down to Pier 39 to meet with an internet guy to give him a check for the facility. I hadn't ever done much exploring down in that area other than going to the Rouge Ale House, so I had a few spare minutes to do some poking around while Ryan BS'ed with the dude. Little did I know, it was the old Bumble Bee Tuna factory! There is a museum there and everything, as well as some of the old machinery. They have turned the factory into office space that it filled with a bunch of fun funky businesses, including a coffee shop that sells Key Lime bread. Which I bought. And then devoured. In five minutes.

Friday, July 12th: I think I definitely took for granted before the fact that I had health insurance. After working at Enterprise I was able to get on my mom's policy until I turned 26, but after that I got the boot. I've been without insurance for about 9 months and even that short amount of time is scary. Thankfully, I got my own policy at the beginning of June, and I started taking advantage of it right away. My new dentist's office has the best view of any office out there, I swear it! I challenge anyone else to prove me wrong!!

Friday, July 12th: I swear one of the best things to come home to is a box from Amazon. Even better would be if I didn't know what was in it, but alas, I ordered all this myself. It all started when Ryan and I were having a conversation that he had never seen The Sopranos. No man of mine will not be a Sopranos fan, so of course I had to go out and purchase the first season. Well of course when you buy anything from Amazon, if you spend $25 or more, shipping is free. So since the season was only $13, that left plenty of money to spend on... BOOKS! Best day ever.

Monday, July 15th: On Saturday the 13th, my dad came down to Astoria to clean the carpets of our rental and to take our outdoor kitty up to Olympia for a brief period of time while we were moving. We have taken in a cat that was a neighborhood cat I think someone had left when they moved. I have been feeding it (note the "it" since I still haven't been adventurous enough to find out its gender) for about 6 months now and don't have the heart to leave her behind or take her to the pound (I don't think anyone would take her). So this is the message I got from my father on the Monday following her visit to Olympia. I'm not sure the process of committing the elderly, but I'm seriously considering looking in to that.

Saturday, July 20th: In the post previous to this one, you will see that Ryan and I had fallen in love with a house. It had so many things we loved, including this faceplate for the light switch. Ryan's Aunt Lady's spirit animal was an elephant so we took this as a sign that we had to get this house (she was also very into signs). I still haven't given up hope on this house, the elephant is still speaking to me.

Sunday, July 21st: During a Sunday Soprano's marathon, Marley just couldn't be bothered to sleep in the light. He dug his little kitty head deep into the blankets and napped like that for a long time.

Saturday, August 27th: Ryan and I were supposed to be packing our life's possessions on Saturday, but he wanted to take the morning to go golfing. So I slept in a little and boy cat and I read this entire book. It was a delightful way to start the weekend.

Saturday, August 27th: To recognize our last weekend together in our first place, I made Ryan do something we had never done before: Swing on the swings at the park in the back of our house. It's kind of a bittersweet feeling moving out of our house on Bond, it holds a lot of memories from the last year. The park is something we've always looked at out our back window, but have never gone to. Finally, I made us do it. I didn't tell Ryan where we were going, but we just went! We swung for about 10 minutes until Ryan declared his equilibrium was broken and we walked home, but not before snapping this winner.

Sunday, August 28th: We did most of our packing in waves so the cats didn't get very suspicious or freaked out about the whole process. On Sunday, Ryan promised he would pack the kitchen up and this was when boy cat started catching on. Obviously he wanted to help. This was what we were trying to avoid! Without opposable thumbs, it makes Marley very clumsy. Thankfully, we avoided major incident.