HatSome

I normally hate hats, but I saw an ad for HatSome on naturallycurly.com and decided to check it out. Hatsome is a online hat company which sells hats with a satin lining. These linings prevent frizz, hair snagging, help maintain hair moisture, and they're cute and stylish.The best part for me is no hat hair!

I ordered the faux animal print grey beret one seen on the model below. It came Saturday in the mail.

(HatSome Grey Faux Animal Fur Beret)

And here it is on me! Unfortunately this one is sold out. But they have several other hats including fedoras and beanies.

So far my only real complaint is that it's a little big. The website could do a better job of ensuring all hats have sizes labeled on there. But most of their hats are fairly cheap, appear well made, and are very very cute! Definitely should be a must have in your winter wardrobe!

Mirrored Cabinet With Trim

Well winter has officially hit Seattle. We got several inches of snow dumped on us this week and my start date for the new job has been delayed until Monday.

Like most people, I love snow days..but after a while I get bored or drive people crazy. I originally celebrated by having a bunch of college friends who live walking distance over for a snow party. I live on Queen Anne hill (up from the Seattle Center) and when it snows, everyone treks up and goes sledding and skiing! after 13 hours of fun and drinking it was a total blast, and by the end of the day we had finished off 5 bottles of wine, a fifth of vodka, and bottles of whiskey and Bailey's (mmm homemade Irish coffees!). Further damage- I dropped my phone in the toilet. Luckily I had just bought a phone case which protected it a lot and with a bowl of rice saved it!

Usually when I'm bored I clean, then I do TV episode marathons, and finally I go find craft project or read. Well the house has been meticulously clean minus the "snow" towels for shoes in the foyer. The TV series I picked to marathon this week was Monk, and all time favorite, but consequently it's made me more OCD and I'm driving my room mate nuts :).

So finally I picked up my copy of Grace Bonney's Design*Sponge book which I only skimmed through briefly this fall. After reading cover to cover I've decided I want to try my hand at reupholstering furniture. Yes I know, I'm crazy. I'm still helping Jon decorate his apartment so I'll see if he lets me pick something for a pet project for him :).

Anyway it made me realize I have never shared my first DIY project with everyone! I love to read books and blogs on design, decorating, cleaning (OCD remember),cooking, and etiquette (ok, there's really no excuse for this one). Last February I started the slow process of redecorating my room. In May 2011 found this awesome mirrored cabinet to double as a book case and knick-knack storage on Haute Look. The cabinet pictured below is by an LA design company, Statements by J.

Looks great but it actually arrived with a very shitty paint job. I was so upset. Haute Look sells luxe designer clothing & home accessories for a discount to members. I think the cabinet retails for $5-600 but I got it for $280. Anyway I was so upset I called to complained, and emailed them the YouTube video I made with my flip camcorder detailing the poor paint job. Apparently their sweatshop just did a crappy job. You can view the video here.

Needless to say Haute Look was completely horrified that the furnishing company sent me a cabinet with such a poor paint job the tried to get a new one sent. Statements by J claimed they had no more so I was refunded my entire purchase price. Jon convinced me instead of giving it to the dump that I should just repaint it. Three trips to Home Depot, and a weekend later I had the cabinet I loved!

I used Mardi Gras (purple shade) from Behr and Dove White from Glidden. On the inside I painted the back panel of the shelves purple for a nice contrast to the white interior I painted. And the best part is it goes with my bed set. There was such little paint on the original cabinet there was really no need to sand it down so it made the job much easier. It's the first time in my life I've every painted something that wasn't on canvas. Now we'll see if I can find an upholstery project to do ;).

Pains of Curly Lashes

WARNING: This may be by far one of the grossest blogs I have ever written.

Everyone knows that old proverb "Eyes are the windows into the soul". I think as a consequence most women strive to have amazing eyelashes. There's always a new plumping, thickening, volumizing mascara or faux lashes coming out on the market with "360 degrees" technology brush. For me, and I'm sure the rest of the naturally curly-lash population, it can be sometimes a pain.

The worst is when you have an eyelash in the process of falling out. A prompt 180 degrees ends with a lash either in your eye or worse scratching it. For me it was the prior. I have had more than one occasion as a child when I'm screaming Bloody Mary and begging my mom to blow in my eye or bust out the tweezers to put me out of my misery.


Well for the past 3 days (in addition to random food poisoning/24 hour stomach flu I battled on Thursday) I have had a horrible pain in my eye. Normally this happens when I've worn lose powder eyeliner or did a sloppy job washing mascara off from the night before. I finally decided after washing my face tonight to stretch open my eyelids and see if I could "see" anything as it's been driving me nuts. And voila! (picture below).

eyelash stuck in my eye

I noticed first the small white dot (small blue circle in photo) in my left eye in the canthus. It looked originally like a pimple. I freaked out and had Jon come take a look to make sure it wasn't pinkeye. He wears contacts and glasses= sees an eye doctor more frequently than I. Turns out it was just an eye bugger or whatever they're called. But when I finally managed to pull it out, I had this eyelash (larger blue circle) sticking straight out! turns out this was slighly behind my eye...I think! Anyway the minute I pulled it out the pain went away!! I didn't know it was possible to have this happen and I've normally been good about pulling or plucking my lashes out as they fall out. Anyway now I can sleep in peace. And ladies, be thankful you don't have curly lashes.

Canvas Frame Shopping

In my last blog I showed you all the awesome X-Men limited edition print I got for Christmas from Jon. The other part of my Christmas present was any frame of my choice :).

This has been a bit of an adventure. I enlisted the advise of my artist friend, Jody, and set out tracking out across the city to various framing stores, and home decor stores. It turns out my print is a custom size (15"x22") which means a custom frame. I decided to go with Museum Quality Framing in Queen Anne. Lara, the store manager was super helpful helping me decide what type of frame to get, matting, and they do the canvas stretching in store :).

Picking out frames for my canvas

Their store has a great selection of frames with an array of finishes and lots and lots of color. Below is a photo I sneaked of some of their cool frames! So I thought I had my top 2 frames I was in love with. Then the next day I had Jon swing by with me. Next thing I know I'm looking at a whole new line-up, from blue frames to new arrival acrylics!

Well I have to say I eventually found one I love and went with it. It should be ready in 2 weeks, I'm excited to post the premiere! Stay tuned!

New Year, New Projects

Last fall has passed by more quickly than I could have imagined. With the change of the season, a lot has also changed in my personal life. Both of my bosses at work each moved on to new roles inside the company. I also left and got hired on at a management firm to do marketing, and I somehow lucked out with the ENTIRE month of December off!

I went on vacation to Barcelona this past summer, but I have definitely forgot what relaxing feels like. I can go to the gym at 6AM instead of prepping for a conference call, and my stress level is at an all time low. I have also had time to finish house projects- most recently a massive collage picture frame project that was on the burner for the past two years.

I have also had time to do more cooking and experiment with baking. Below I have a new favorite tart recipe from Epicurious. I did tweak the recipe a bit:

• Added an extra pear
• Included dried sweet cherries, and cranberries
• Did a 50/50 mix of Whiskey and Bourbon with a splash of Armaretto
• Added almond layer to the base of the pie crust

The result is more of a smokey oak taste and more sweet and tangy than on the tart side. Truly amazing nonetheless, I presented these during the holidays and my family and Jon's family absolutely loved them. I see more baking in my future :).

I have 2 more big projects I will begin working on today that I "hope" to finish before I start work again in 2 weeks.  The first is finding frames for a massive world map (for Jon's condo) and for my favorite Christmas present below! I have a limited edition & autographed X-Men glicee print on canvas.

My photo doesn't really do the print justice. I forgot I asked Jon for this as a present and I squealed like a baby when I opened the canvas tube. I plan to put this in my woman cave when I move. Until then I need to figure out an appropriate place in apartment to put this...and hoping the roomie doesn't freak out.

The last big project is helping Jon decorate his new condo. Finally (!!!) he is ready to start making it a home. Look for updated blogs as I finish each room. I by no means consider myself an interior designer, but I think wit my personal clothiing style and endless coffee table design books I've read that I've developed a knack for how things go together :).