Australia Chat and Makeup Talk

Back in November, Kim from the fun lifestyle blog Northern California Style kindly gave me the "Liebster Award" and asked me to answer ten questions about myself and then share the award with two other "up and coming" bloggers. Well, here I am, finally answering her questions a whole three months later. Thanks Kim, sorry for the delay!

1. What's your favorite scent and how long have you been wearing it?

Dead Sexy by Tokyo Milk has been my favorite perfume for about 2 years now. It's different from anything I've smelled before and not very expensive, and supposedly smells a little different on everyone. Before that I wore Pink Sugar which I would describe as a complex cotton candy. It's still one of my favorite scents but always got totally mixed reactions so I'm more likely to spray it on my pillow than wear it to work. :)

Tokyo Milk on the vanity tray in my bedroom

2. Lipstick, lip gloss or chapstick?

Either lipstick or chapstick. If I feel like putting in effort or getting a little glammed up, I love YSL's Rouge Volupte in Peach Passion, but I most often have basic chapstick on.

3. If you could have a chef, a housekeeper, a driver or a masseuse at your service 24 hours a day, which would you choose?

Is it totally horrible that I live in a small apartment by myself and want to say housekeeper? Whatever, I'm going with that!

4. Do you prefer city living or the country life?

I have always lived in a city (grew up in Houston, went to college in San Diego, have lived in Portland since) but my mom lives on a farm in Texas and I absolutely love visiting. I must admit though, I get cabin fever pretty quickly so I'd have to say I prefer city living. Especially in Portland. There's just so much at your fingertips!

My mom's sweet little farm house in Chappell Hill, Texas

5. Where do you do most of your shopping for clothes: online, malls, discount stores (like Ross), boutiques, thrift and consignment shops, or outlets?

Even though I love vintage and antique decor, for some reason I am not very good at shopping for vintage clothes. So, Forever 21, H&M and Target are my go-tos. I do like places like Nordstrom Rack and Marshalls but for whatever reason I always forget to shop there.

6. What is one food that you can't stand the taste of?

Kimchee. I just can't, even though I really wish I could.

7. If you won a round-trip ticket for two to any destination in the world, where would you go and who would you take?

I never would have said this five years ago, but ever since I started reading Australian blogs, I've had a really strong desire to take a trip to that part of the world. It just seems like such a laid-back, naturally beautiful destination, and I love what I've seen of Aussie style. I would take my brother since he and I have a lot of similar interests and I think he would dig Australia more than anyone I know. Sorry Mom!

My brother and I on the zip-line course during a family vacation in Costa Rica

8. What's the last movie you saw in a theater?

Zero Dark Thirty. Hopefully I'll see another Oscar nom or two this weekend - it's kind of killing me that I have yet to see most of them! What was your favorite - which should I make sure to see!?

9. Drugstore or high-end designer makeup?

I went through a weird phase last summer where I got all kinds of designer makeup, but I'm really just a drugstore kind-of-makeup girl.

10. Real "old fashion" books made with paper or electronic reads?

Old fashion books. Please. ;) Just finished Gone Girl, now about to start The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Read 'em?

The entry table in my apartment with some books I read in book club, minus Design Sponge...

Thanks for asking me to participate, Kim, it was fun! I'd like to pass along this award to two bloggers who I've recently started reading and really enjoy...

Kim of See Kim Decorate

and 

Ashley of The Photogramps

Of course, this is totally optional but I do think it's pretty fun to learn more about the bloggers behind the blogs we read. I'm going to ask some questions that are pretty different from the ones I answered, so hear ya go ladies:

1. What are the weirdest/most unusual things we'd find in your fridge?

2. What is your favorite childhood movie?

3. Where is the best place you've ever slept?

4. What is your favorite book (and why)? 

5. How would you describe the style in your home?

6. What's your beverage of choice?

7. If you could have an all-expenses paid vacation for two anywhere in the world, where would you go and who would you bring along with you?

8. Would you rather float a river, layout at the beach or ski/snowboard down a mountain?

9. If you could learn to speak another language over night, which would you choose and why?

10. What's your favorite music of the week?

Well, that's a wrap! Thanks for reading and have a fantastic weekend!!

~all photos in this post are my own~

A Vegan Food Swap

Hey there! I hope everyone has had a fantastic weekend as we head into fall. First of all, everyone needs to go see the movie Looper. The less you know the better, so if you have no idea what I'm talking about, go to Fandango, look up when Looper is playing, buy tickets and go. Pretty sure your mind will be blown. And Joseph Gordon Levitt just keeps getting better.

On another weekend note, I received a very exciting package in the mail on Saturday, and it was all food. But not just any food; I recently participated in a Vegan Food Swap that I was convinced to try after reading about it in one of my favorite healthy living blogs, Pickles & Honey. While I do not follow a vegan diet (although I have dabbled in it), I thought it would be a great way to connect with other bloggers and try some foods that aren't usually in my kitchen.

I received a box of goodies from Kelly of Kolhrabi and Quince and was so excited to find that not only does everything look absolutely mouthwatering, but she home jarred the tomatoes herself! I am stoked! Here is what I received: 100% Organic Raw Pecan Butter, All-Natural Maple Almond Butter, Organic Raw Dried Mango (I've already eaten 2 and it's the way better version of a fruit roll-up), Fig-Balsamic Jam, and home-canned tomatoes. Could I have scored any better? I don't think so!

The package I sent to my match included Portland-area / Oregon foods (with an emphasis on unrefined sugars): Cheezy Kale chips, Coconut Chocolate Peanut Butter, Organic Blueberry Fruit Spread and ketchup from the Portland Ketchup Company.

If you are interested in taking a peek at what other participants received, head on over to The Verdant Life and scroll to the bottom. :) You can sign up for next month's swap there too.

Have you ever participated in any kind of "food swap" or "swap" in general? 

I hope everyone has a fantastic beginning to the week. I will have some exciting news to share in several days (the reason I have been SO absent from this blog...) and can't wait until then!

If Your Dreams Don't Scare You...

Happy weekend everyone. Dream big!

image via 

seriously ;)

Lana del Rey

Tonight is one of those nights (thank you to last night) where I am totally content sitting in my warm cozy bed, playing around on the internet and being all-around unimpressive. So, amidst all of the pinteresting, tweeting, blogging and random surfing <see post below>, I finally took the time to check out a music video my friend Hannah has been harassing me to watch all week. Well I did, and it was beyond legit. So I made the good decision to make a blog post about this, even if it comes across as totally random. However, if you appreciate art and design like I do, you will definitely fall in love with this video. And that's the point.

Now, before you take a peek, I must warn you that you may find the video to be weird. But in my opinion, it's the really good kind of weird where you're like, I'm slightly disturbed but that was really awesome because I've never seen anything like it before. It's incredibly artistic and moody and beautiful. Definitely one of the most affecting music videos I've ever seen. Thank you Hannah for discovering this and sharing it with me.





From an interior design perspective, wasn't the scene where she's sitting in the chair so incredible? And those tigers? I totally understand Hannah's girl crush. And even though Lana is no veteran to the music scene, she performed on SNL tonight so be sure to check that out.

happy Saturday ;)

Happy 21er Jenja!

My cousin Jennifer, without a doubt one of my favorite people on the planet, turned the big 2-1 today.

Happy Birthday Girrrrrrrl!!!!!

If you ever get the chance to know her, you're lucky as hell. I definitely got the jackpot when she became my cousin.  


She also has this awesome blog.

XO love ya Jenn. Hope you had the best birthday ever. Wish I could have been there to celebrate :)

Be that

Source: Uploaded by user via Amberly on Pinterest

procrastination is my middle name

I no longer have to bum off my anonymous neighbor's spotty as hell wireless because I finally got my own internet and now I can't pull myself away from working on blog posts although I have over 300 pages to still read in my book club book by Wednesday so thank god I just had 2 cups of coffee and am gonna be able to stay up for however long it takes to get it ALL done yeaaaaaaaa I feel like I'm in high school again!

Happy New Year!!!

resolution [ˌrɛzəˈluːʃən]

n

something resolved or determined; decision

I haven't actually made a list of New Year's Resolutions since, like, 5th grade
but here goes nothin

1. Offer to do some babysitting and dogsitting every once in a while (even if it's for free). 

2. Make more dinners for friends. 

3. Be better about eating leftovers. 

4. Yoga. Running. The gym in general. I have the dvds. I have the shoes. I have the membership...I even started a "bangin body motivation" board on Pinterest! Why is it so hard to make it a regular thing? Well 2012, here we go.

   

5. Fall into bed and sleep at least 8 hours every night. I take way too many freaking naps and they end up leaving me with laundry, dinner, the gym and blogging left to do at 8pm. Not okay.

6. Waste less time looking at dumb sh!t on the internet. 

7. Rock heels way more often. 

8. Make great strides in speaking Spanish.  

9. Be bolder about adding unexpected colors to my apartment decor. 

10. Bring more international cuisines into my home cooking. 

and finally...

11. Blog regularly. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(all photos from Pinterest, except for the first one which is from weheartit.com)

XXX MUST SEE XXX

Did the XXX get your attention? Awesome.

Below is the trailer for Food Inc., a documentary I recently saw that has totally changed the way I view the things I eat and the food industry as a whole. The wheels in my head were already turning over this issue, but this film got them SPINNING.

I'm such a believer in the power of this documentary that I'm just about ready to hand over my Netflix password to anyone who wants to watch it. (There will be a quiz later to make sure you didn't just rent season 1 of Breaking Bad.) Watch the trailer and I think you'll be convinced...

She better than all y'all

All of us who "blog" should really just cut it out and let Tavi do her thing.

Because she da best.

image via thestylerookie.com

cOzY

photo source unknown