My Minutia

Sock Bun

Have you heard of it? I'd heard of it, but never took the time to find out the details. I finally did though and tried it out last night. Here is what I woke up to:

 

I had to curl my bangs, but really that's it. My bangs aren't long enough to fit into a ponytail, so that was expected. Well, actually I didn't know what to expect, but I figured it was worth a try.

I was really scared to see the results, but it worked out well for my first attempt.

Here is the video I watched on how to make a sock bun: sock bun. That girl is so adorable, isn't she? Then she offers the video on sock bun curls: here.

The best part is there is no heat. Easy peazy...if I can do this, anyone can.

I'm dying to see my daughter's long locks curled like this! We both have straight as a board, fine hair. It's soooo hard to curl. Maybe over Thanksgiving holidays I can talk her into trying it out!

 

Steve Jobs said it Best

His innovation and forward thinking will certainly be missed. Such an icon in the 21st Century! This is one of my favorite philosophies, from Apple:

 

(An art journal page I did this Summer)

Thank you Mr. Jobs. Thank you.

 

31 Days to Clean

I'm a list person. That's how I function. If something is on a list, it's my personal mission to accomplish it. A couple of weeks ago heard about this e-book: 31 Days to Clean - Having a Martha House the Mary Way.

 

Source: 31daystoclean.com via Heather on Pinterest

 

Have you heard of it? I can only find it on Amazon Kindle, which I have on my phone. Only $5.00! Not sure if it's available any other way. But this version is perfect for me. I read it in the morning, and add the task to my list. So far, so good! I'm half way through. Our kitchen is so much cleaner...gotta love that.

Here's to a cleaner house in 31 days! Woot!

 

Balloons and BBQ

Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon? Up up and away...in my beautiful my beautiful bal-loon...

This past weekend put on our hats (yes we found hats!) we went to The Nebraska Wine & Hot Air Balloon Festival.

This one was my fav...

I brought a big lens thinking we'd be farther away from the balloons, that was a mistake. They were practically right in front of us, so I couldn't get good pix of all of them in the sky. Shoot.

There were some kicky tunes playing from the band...

It was absolutely packed out there in the cornfields, too many people. We preferred the more intimate 200 or so people at the vineyard we went to earlier in the Summer.

The hubbies wanted BBQ and I got some classic photos of my B-I-L, Bob and his BBQ. This man seriously loves his BBQ.

This shot is golden my friends. Look at those fingers.

He runs triathalons...so he can eat like this. It's true.

Here's my date...in a hat, yay for hats!

Gail and I enjoying the balloons. Bob chowing in the background...

When the moon glowed, so did the balloons. Pretty cool!

It was a fun evening. Great weather.

We hope we get a chance to go back to the vineyard soon, though. :)

 

Hey, tomorrow I'll be posting details about my new E-Course! Stay tuned! Can't wait to show and tell!

 

 

The Ultimate List of Favorite Things

For this last day of my tribute to "favorite things", I thought I'd do a list of ultimate favorites. No other way to categorize these favorite things except to say thay are the stuff at the tippy top of the list.

Source: 1000awesomethings.com via Teresa on Pinterest

 

 

Let the finale begin!

Toffee Nut Latte, Non Fat, Light Whip ala Starbucks. On those really hot days, I get it iced.

Tim Horton's Coffee. Not always in the house, but it's my favorite!

Diet Coke w/Lime. Yes, I know people give Diet Coke a bad rap. Yes, I know I shouldn't drink it.

Great Grains Cereal. The one with crunchy pecans. So yummy!

L'Oreal Elnet Hairspray. This hairspray has won several awards for years and is used by TV star stylists. I was so happy to find it at my local Target. It's half the price of my usual salon favorite hairsprays. Smells great, too...sorta powdery. My daughter even loves it!

Stila Lip Gloss. Have loved this tasty lip snack for a couple of years now! So pretty, long lasting...and lots of colors! I don't know if I could pick a favorite color. I think I love them all.

Faux Fur Printed Throw. Mine is almost like this one I linked. It's really soft...super soft and gets better every time I was it. Lilly and I snuggle up in it a lot! Especially in the Winter.

My Yoga Pants. Don't we girls love our yoga pants? My fav's are black.

Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day. I love all of it, and use almost all of their products...the hand soaps, the countertop sprays and dish soap. Current fav scent: Basil. I usually get it at Target, but I see they are having an Annual Summer Sale on their website thru August 7. 20% off!

Well that was fun! I hope you enjoyed it and found some new stuff to try!

Our daughter is headed back to school in a couple more days, and we are making ourselves crazy trying to get everything ready for moving her! So much to do still....yikes!

 

Favorite Wines

My hubby and I are chardonnay folk. Luckily we have pretty much the same taste when it comes to wine. We definitely prefer dry over sweet, that's for sure. Here are some of our very favs.

Cupcake Chardonnay You can get this almost anywhere. Grocery stores, Target, etc. It's inexpensive in our area, like around $10 a bottle. Great for Birthday and celebration gifts, right?!

Girard Chardonnay, Russian River, 2008 Oh such a nice wine. This is our most recent favorite. Hubby is good at picking them! Under $25. Good stuff.

Sonoma Cutrer, Russian River We first had this at a Valentine's Dinner. It's our most favorite ever. Holy cow, I drank this like Kool-Aid at the restaurant that night...accidentally. It was soooo smooth and buttery. Wish we could squeeze this one into our budget more often. Good stuff.

 

Last but not least, my good friend...

Kendall Jackson He's the fellow I order at most restaurants. I think it's under $15 at the grocery store. I see they have a blog. Looks like a good place to learn more about wines. Nice! Anyone tried the KJ Avant? I haven't seen that one out and about.

Well, those are the top 4 favorites. How about you? Have you got any wine favorites?

Favorites for a Pretty Face

Hello gorgeous! When it comes to make up, everyone has their own personal favorites. It's fun to share though, right?! Powdering and primping gets expensive--and you don't know what to get sometimes. I always enjoy seeing other's favorites. Here are some of mine:

Josie Maran Organic Argan Oil - This is an up and coming skin care professional who is getting fantastic reviews lately. They say this Oil is also good for cuticles, split ends, and acne. I use it as a moisturizer...and I've run out. I miss it so much! Must get more soon.

Clinique Black Honey Lipstick - It looks really dark, but it isn't...promise. It's really natural looking, just a hint of sheer color. This is an award winning lip color and has been for a few years now. I'm glad I tried it because I really like it and it goes with almost everything.

 

Nars Blush - Orgasm I didn't name it. But it's truly the best. Gives a natural healthy glow and a little shimmer. Just a pop of color on the apple of your cheek. It's won a lot of awards, too. Available in powder and creme. I'm laughing a little now, because if you head out to get this, you won't forget the name...I just betcha won't.

Urban Decay Eye Shadow Primer - Good stuff. If you haven't putting on a primer before applying eye shadows, you should. You can get samples sometimes at Sephora...that's how I found this good stuff.

Revlon 12 Hour Eye Shadow Colorstay. Color: Coffee bean (4 colors in the case). It's long lasting, and not all shimmery. Too much shimmer on your eye lids makes gals my age's wrinkles sparkle and draws attention to them. Go for the matte. (I couldn't get a photo of this eye shadow...sorry)

Now let's wash it all off, shall we?

Clarisonic Mia - There are other more expensive skin cleaning systems by Clairsonic with more bells and whistles, but I've been happy with this one. I highly recommend!

Make Up Brushes w/Natural Bristles Natural bristle brushes last for years and help all those powders go on really well. They rarely lose bristles. Worth the investment.

And to all of you who have make up brushes...go clean them. They absorb all kinds of color and oils every time they are used. Need to be cleaned every two week or so. I put them in a bowl of warm water with mild dish soap then let them soak a bit. Seriously...you will freak out and wonder what on earth you've been putting on your face when you see what's going down the sink while washing them. Especially those big fat bronzing brushes. Ack!

Favorite Phone Apps

Love me some phone apps! For the last year I've had a Droid X, which has been my favorite phone to date. Here are my fav. phone apps. Seriously...life is better with these apps...just sayin'. All but one of these are free apps, too! Can't beat that.

Little Photo - This is my most very favorite photo editing app. You can do awesome stuff with this app. I have other photo editing apps, but this one steals the show every time. Lomo with diff. gradients, instant film, retro effects, stunning black and whites....you get the idea.

Doodle Wish - I got this app recently and it's really great! You can doodle on the screen and over photos and cool bean stuff like that. Fun!! The samples shown after the link are sorta corny. I like to go to camera mode, and take a photo then write over the photo. Fun!

Cut The Rope - Fun, mindless game. Physics sort of game and gets more difficult as you progress. Actually this was $1.99 or something. This game gained great popularity on iPhone and now it available for Droids.

Androidify - Turn yourself and others into a droid. Silly and fun. Addicting.

Angry Birds - Who doesn't play this? I'm out of levels, so I'm sorta done with the game, sadly.

Words With Friends -If you don't have this game, go get it. Silly girl. You can play Scrabble with all of your fam and friends! I win some and I lose some...that's the way it goes. I always lose to my son. Smarty pants. Speaking of my son, he shared with me his favorite Droid phone apps. Share these with your kiddos and they will think you are one cool Mom.

Think like a 17 year old because here they are:

Live Hold em Poker Pro - Have a seat at a poker table, and play folks around the world. He is really good. Holy Smokes.

Cookie Dozer - An arcade type style game. He likes all types of games and this has a retro cartoony feel.

Words With Friends - see above.

Zombie Booth - So you take a photo of someone and it turns the photo into a zombie. A walking moving zombie. Gross! Not for the faint hearted, so not for me at all. I won't even look at it, but he laughs and laughs when he uses it.

Do you have any phone apps you are loving? I'd love to hear your Droid app recommendations!

Somerset Life, Summer Issue

What a yummy magazine Somerset Life is. All of the Stampington publications are and always have been! The Summer (July/August/September) issue some great blogging articles inside it! Here's a few shots of my article:

 

Have you seen this issue yet?

It's definitely a keeper. the blogging article by Vivienne McMaster about taking a photo walk is beautiful. Danni Hong's article is sooo her. Her story made me laugh and smile.

There are several articles and photos inside that make my heart go pitter pat. The luggage cases, Roben Marie's spool necklaces, the country wedding...so many pretties!

Here's the cover...when you are out and about, you should check it out!

 

Soaring Wings Blues Festival

Every once in a while I'm lucky enough to get a date with my hubby...just us. Maybe 3-4 times a year?! Yeah. Hey, don't laugh...

Well, so, Saturday night was one of those nights. We went to an almost local vineyard for a blues festival.

 

I've been wanting to listen to a blues band for a while, and was delighted when he found out about this place! Totally casual and fun. He's a peach for making this date night!

 

 

It was an early Summer evening...beautiful weather. Vivid and picturesque landscape.

Cheers (clink go the glasses)!

 

The band was underway when we got there...billowing soulful tunes on the hill. I wanted to sit closer to the band...ever since Blue Mondays in college I've really liked blues music and wanted to be "one" with the tunes...but we had already set up camp, so he said no to moving closer.

Plus then we would have been really close to the dancing area, and I knew I'd want to dance and I knew he wouldn't and I knew I'd better not push the issue and just enjoy the tunes...

 

...and the cheese and crackers and later, BBQ. So tasty with our locally crafted wine, Traminette 2009.

 

After we dined and got more comfy, we started noticing how many folks were wearing hats.

It was pretty much a field we were in, so I guess hats were a good idea.

But maybe the hats were less about function and more about style...blues...or Summer ambiance?

We decided to wear hats next time. Definitely. So many styles though. Hats make a personal statement, you know?

So we started scanning the crowd for a hat for my hubby. This was not the hat for him.

Nope. In fact, I threw out all of his ball caps like 5 years ago (it was time).

This fellow's hat looks good with his shirt, I must say...

 

This one caught hubby's eye...the khaki hat...Greg Norman "The Shark" style.  His wife must have picked it out for him, think?

 

But then we spotted this fine chapeau...

...especially liking the feather with a 'tude on the side. Wonder if the sideburns come with the hat?

 

Now that we had his hat figured out, we needed to find one for me. Hmmmm. Do you have a favorite hat? What's it like? This one is nice:

 

 This one is totally not going to work, for me...and we laughed at the thought of it:

 

This one is sweet and he thought it was perfect for me:

I couldn't stop looking at this one though. Classic. Chic. Blues-ish. But it was hard to get a photo at first...bear with me...

 

This is a better shot. She was close by, so I felt strange and creeper-ish taking shots of her. Yikes...

 

The hot air balloons were so pretty in the fields...

 

Sunset on this hill in the vineyard was gorgeous, even though it was overcast. Talk about pink...

 

When the sun went down, folks lightened up even more. As you can see, the "cute hat girl's" hat is on his head now...
 

The band played on into the night, it was so relaxing!

We decided we need more dates like this. Everyone does.

But we need to get the perfect hats first, though. Can't wait!