24 things I Adore

To me!
And for my 24th, I thought I would try to list 24 things I like, or just random facts about me, and this is becoming quite a task with the number getting so up there!

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So here's my list of 24
things that I Adore...

at this moment

1. Dim Sum. I love dim sum! It's a traditional brunch I've had on occasion since I was very young. It's delicious Chinese food, around here only served on the weekends, and usually only from 11am-2pm, and did I mention it's delicious? Hot dumplings, steamed buns, giant prawns, lots of seafood and vegetables, and pastries!! Everything's put on carts or trays, and the servers travel around the restaurant bringing all the food to you- constantly! I was lucky enough to have friends take me there for my birthday! I was stuffed!! But I loved every second of it!
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2. Scentsy! I get so excited when the UPS guy delivers a new package and I see the Scentsy stamp on the box! Over 80 scents, over 60 warmers of all sizes, and they're always adding more. I just love how nice my house smells. I've got a wall plug-in in the bathroom, a full size in the living room, and mirror hangers in my car. At this moment I'm smelling Satin Sheets.... MmmMmmm

3. Aprons, J'adore aprons. All kinds. I love shopping for them, making them, playing with new designs, and hanging them in my kitchen.

4. I have drawers full of fabric. I go on the hunt for new fabric all the time! If there was a store where I could find all the cutest prints in one place, minus the granny quilting prints I would be so happy. You really have to dig around here, and you're lucky to find even one nice print for every 100 bolts of fabric you look through. But I'm always making stuff so I work with what I can get my hands on.
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5. I collect Teapots and Pitchers. The more whimsical and beautiful, the better! I just love them. They make me happy.

6. Oh how I miss my beloved Coffee Bean!!!

The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf is sadly mostly a west coast thing here in the states, with a few else where. But it's an international craze! Truth be told, I prefer it to Starbucks, because it has such a large menu for coffee drinks, tea, food, and pastries. It's my daily fix when I'm in Malaysia on holiday. It's heaven!

7. A new pair of Gianni Bini shoes marked 70% off with an extra 15% off of that, and just my size! Thanks to Dillard's sales! Shoes I've wanted all season $100 over were marked down to $30. It was fate.

8. Spring! It's here again! Driving around with the convertible top down and the sun shining. Fresh flowers in bloom, colors are back, you can once again eat out on the patio at restaurants.

9. Strawberry Limeades- probably one of my favorite drinks. A perfect refreshment to warm weather, that and...

10. Sweet Tea! A southern girl's best friend! Not that I consider myself a true southerner, I did however grow up in the South. And for that, I love shabby chic * peonies * decorative, furnished patios * and an ice cold tall glass of sweet tea!
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11. Juicy Couture perfumes smell amazing!

And they just premiered a new fragrance: Couture Couture. My favorite is still Viva La Juicy. MmMmm, I love perfume! Right now I have about 20 fragrances I've kept in rotation.

12. A few new shows I can't get enough of are: Modern Family! If you haven't caught a peek yet, it's on Wednesday night's ABC lineup, you can click here to see full episodes. And Cougar Town is on after that, which I think is also hilarious. Glee on FOX network - also can't get enough of!

Second season starts this April, and if you're anything like me, you'll love the music and obsess over the soundtracks. {sorry Mel :) I know you hate all the singing lol}
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Whew!! This is hard coming up with 24 things, but half way there...

13. Furniture shopping! I do this even when I have no rooms to shop for and nothing to buy. And I have a thing for velvet couches. I've always wanted a cool, cozy, tufted velvet sofa to lounge on.
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14. Sushi! Oh how I love sushi...

the best ever is at Benihana's, but I get sushi from several places.
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15. I'm a JCrew girl. I like the simple, classic style, the clean look, the fresh colors. The artsy side of me loves mixing in patterns and prints, but the earthy side of me loves classic comfy looking pieces.

16. The fall is my favorite time of year. It's the preface to the holiday season. And I looooove the holidays. I redecorate my entire house, and have hundreds of seasonal traditions.

17. I love books and movies, and prefer buying them rather than borrowing them, because I find that like rereading and rewatching them again and again. I have a list of dvds/books I want, post-its I've scribbled titles on, and author recommendations saved on my phone.

18. Pretty Woman is the first movie I remember watching {at age 3}

and have loved it and Julia Roberts my entire life. I think she's amazing. I love her laugh, love her movies, I get defensive when she gets bad press, and I'm extremely happy for her that she's managed to fall in love, have a family, and live happily out of the public eye. And coming in a close 2nd on my list is Sandra Bullock, with whom I just want to hug right now! All this 'jesse' talk, she doesn't deserve her Oscar winning time to be tainted like this.

19. I adore Hibiscus'. Specifically, red ones. They're the nat'l flower of Malaysia, and just seeing them reminds me of my grandmother's house in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. They cover the front of her house, and continue down the sides of the house. You can see them peeking thru every window when you open the shutters. Since she's passed, I don't think they've been looked after as well. But it never fails, when I see a red hibiscus,

I think of her. xoxo...

20. I love nail polish! I grew up in salons so beauty products, toiletries, make up, I love and have too much of. I'm a hair stylist, so yes I have tons of hair-this and hair-that, but I really love nail polish. OPI bottles fill bags and buckets all over my bathroom. I treat myself with new polish or pedicures. Ohhh pedicures... love them too! Especially while sitting in the massage chairs!!!

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21. I love the rain. Most people find it gloomy, but I find it therapeutic. I was meant to live in England.
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22. Pier 1 is my haven. Ever since I got my license it has been where my car has steered itself when there was down time or money burning a hole in my wallet. I was thrilled to have my own apartment when I was 18, my mother and I have very different decorating styles. And I think a home you're happy in makes all the difference.

23. I love traveling, though I don't care for the flying part. I don't fear it, but 14 hrs on a plane, transit, then another 5 hrs, and on and on it goes, til I finally get to Asia. It's tiring, and has definitely tainted airplanes for me. But I do Love the destination, where ever that may be. I could sight see all day long. I dream of the day I fill every page of a passport, and have to request a new one before the current one expires.

24. My favorite gift from this birthday (although I loved them all, my family and friends are so good to me!) was a Madhatter poster :) from my good friend/sorority sister. I love johnny depp, I thought the new Alice in Wonderland was amazing! And I loved the costumes and color, and this poster is so fun! Thanks D

And there you have it! Whew!

24 things I do love so much!

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all images from this post via Google

Spring MAC Makeup

How cute is the Lillyland collection by MAC for this Spring? Lilly, meet MAC! You two make a lovely pair!

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And

this

Cerulean

Charm

finds

you

absolutely

charming!

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revamped the *Blog*

gave it a spring time face lift,

hope you like it!

It's been too long!

I don't know what happened to February!

In the blink of an eye, it was here, and then it wasn't.

Haven't uploaded any pictures from my current projects, but what to say, what to say, i'm a procrastinator! For now, what I've been up to is loving movie season!

Spring always has good flicks come out, & tomorrow I'm going to the first showing of

Yes at 1:00 I'll see the lovely Rob Pattinson on the big screen, minus the vampire make up, and I'll be in pure heaven!

The reviews are good, you should check it out! (plus there's an Eclipse Trailer that will have me drooling til June 30th)

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Also if you haven't yet, check out Alice in Wonderland. And know that it's about Alice's "return" to wonderland. She's 19 in it, not the small young girl or the same old story everyone was expecting.

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Our Family Wedding comes out tomorrow as well. It's the new America Fererra film based on a young couple getting married with meddling families.

New Moon comes out on DVD next Friday. And also next weekend, I'm excited to see Bounty Hunter with Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler. I hope it's as funny as it looks in the trailers.

I was so let down with the much talked about Valentine's Day. All the hype was such overkill. It was only kinda funny.

I still haven't seen the award winning film The Blind Side, which got Sandra Bullock her first Oscar! And for Best Actress no less! Woo woo! I want to see it sooo bad. It's still in some theaters. Yikes, I may be in theaters all week long!

A Zipper Bag

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I love this bag! Everyone's always opening the zippers and asking "which one opens it?" And I just say "Pick one!"

What starts out like this
Get as many zippers as you want, an even number. I used 10 different colors. And I chose 9" because when you sew the ends up and fold it outside in, it's still long enough for my makeup pencils and mascaras.

Soon becomes this, just sew the sides together.
(you can get a zipper presser foot for around $4)... *Sew every other zipper right side up and upside down in an ABAB pattern.

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This is what you'll see
The top of one zipper meets the bottom of the next, and so on.

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Next (forgot to take a picture) I trimmed up the ends of the zippers and *with it inside out* sewed some white fabric across the end seams to keep them from fraying, and to close up the ends. I sewed over the metal clasps to keep them tucked inside the bag. This is in the *inside of the bag, so you can use any color fabric.
And flipped rightside out this is what you'll have.
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You can see the white fabric below.

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Wanna use the purple zipper? Go ahead! Pick anyone you like!
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Here's the front and back of mine.

And it's done!
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The original I got in Malaysia one summer. It had to be retired when the green zipper busted after 3 good years. It's dirty and broken, but I still heart you buddy

Product reviews....

It's the second ice storm of the winter here, and I've been stuck at home, and loving every second!

I must share with you some products I've found!

Unfortunately this college town has no BodyShop, and I am an avid customer.

I go to the city for my BodyShop needs, but my little convertible is in no shape to battle this weather.

So alas, while I was stocking up on groceries for the storm, I found some drug store products that I actually love!

Now I am picky! I'm very selective with my beauty products. And I'm infatuated with products. I love perfume, I have baskets of nail polish, and there are 18 different mascaras currently in my make up bag. I should work for a magazine and just try everything out!

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But what I found, I love!

Skin- Winter weather dries your skin. Jergen's has several lotions, but I found this in particular to be amazing. It's deep conditioning really lasts. I hate lotions that disappear a minute after you've rubbed it in. But this stuff isn't greasy either. My hands feel like they just had a manicure. The smell is pretty light, and there is a whole line to choose from. Try it!
It's only $5

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Body- After only using The Body Shop bath wash for years, I've grown accustomed to my favorite scents. But with this storm, and my being out of body wash, I had to buy something, and I found this: Caress' Glowing Touch body wash. Surprised at the delightful scent, it's not fruity, not strong, I can't really describe it, but it's not bad!

And only $4

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Face- Cleansing Wipes! For those of us who sometimes forget to wash the make up off before bed. Which I learned from a make up artist: one night of going to bed with your makeup still on, ages your skin a week!

I think $5

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And of course Burt's Bees Pomegranate! Loveeeeee...

I sleep with it on the nightstand. And there's a second one in my purse always.

It's about $3

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In fact, the whole Burt's Bees line: just buy it!

Also you should know that Bath&Body (although I rarely shop there because their scents just remind of being 15 yrs old again) has this stuff and it's the best! Aromatherapy SLEEP collection, love the whole line, but the Detoxify Black Chamomile night lotion is divine! Smells amazing, feels amazing, and helps you sleep better to boot!

Around $12

Decorative fabric balls

I found a post about these decorative fabric balls and think they're fun, and surprisingly easy to make. Wanted to share it here...

(I played around with some scrap fabric, so they're not matchy matchy)

But if you've got 15-20 minutes, you've got time to make one. I made them watching an episode of Ugly Betty :)

All you need is a Styrofoam ball, small straight pins, a ruler/cutting mat with a grid, and fabric. Oh! And a thimble! to save your fingers!!

You can get the free detailed tutorial from Knitty Gritty Thoughts and you should check hers out because she has a really cute basket full of these!!!

But basically it's a few steps.

1) Cut a few dozen 2"x2" squares. 2) Pin down a base square for the top

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3) Fold a square in half _______ 4) Then again so it's abt 1"x1"

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And then you start pinning them on!

Take your 1st folded square, (with the folded point pointing upward) pin it's left side over the top.

Make the 1st row, by overlapping the folded squares like so...
Then you just shift the next row a bit, and pin them down like before.

It's kind of hard to see on my busy fabric, but the Knitty Gritty Thoughts blog has up close pictures of every step! so you can see it better.

When you get to the end, you just use 1 pin to put a square on the direct bottom.

I used Malaysian batik fabric on the bright colored ball and the navy ball, and the gray was some IKEA fabric which was a bit heavier material so it looks more like paper.

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I love my new little artichoke balls. I want to make some that match my living room...

Happy Birthday to my Pops!

Happy Birthday

to my wonderful Dad!

(I'm a total daddy's girl)

Now we're off to dinner and

the movie theater

TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2010

2 More Months

I am so-ooo looking forward to this...

March 5, 2010

Thinking of Spring, so I made an apron!

Spring is coming up, and the bright colors are whirling around in my head. So I made a kitchen apron. Yay! My first *completed* project of the year! Stayed up all night to make this (insomnia helped) and I am so excited to post it! Without further ado...

Following patterns is not my strong suit, but I managed to stay fairly close to the plan. I added a 5th layer,(art professors are always tellin me things in odd numbers are more pleasing to the eye, and it stuck) and I made the tie straps pointy as apposed to flat, just looks more finished to me.

It started out like this
at first I couldn't figure out what I wanted to mix and match

I have a bit of a collection of clover things. And I scour the fabric aisles around St. Patrick's Day because I love it. Love the holiday, clovers, green, and my birthday's in March. So although my fabric choices may not be what you would call "cute", this apron was just something I wanted to have fun with for me :)

We don't have a lot of fabric stores around here, so I have to sift through hundreds of granny quilting prints to find a decent one. Ergo I thought the watermelon print was amusing.

My new sewing machine from Christmas has become my new best friend! I haven't used these newer machines before, and the Singer Simple is great (for me anyway). It's very basic, 22 stitches, arrows showing you how to thread it, and best of all---> The thing THREADS ITSELF. Maybe I've just been missin' out, but I've never seen it before :) You just press this little lever

and whooop! It's done. Which makes switching thread colors a breeze.

Okay, you may not think that's as cool as I did, lol. But I've already made 2 knit tops, 3 scarves, and finished this apron, so the easy threading has spared me some time. Anyway!

So that's the final productAnd I'm playing around with floral brooches I made to coordinate, maybe a little off center...
I will post the tutorial for this if you like, soon. And take pictures of every step. I thought it was a cute apron, and I'll make more, so you don't have to go buy the pattern.

Hope you liked it :)

It's New Year's Eve

Goodbye 2009, you were a wonderful year!

You taught me a lot, brought new friends into my life, sent me to NYC again (thankyou thankyou), turned some "Misses" into "Mrs.", took some good people with you, but all in all it was a really good year.

I just read a blog talking about "522,600 minutes... [the song from Rent] how do you measure, measure a year" It was quite an eventful year for headlines!
I think by now most of America is sick of the names John & Kate! Kanye became like the most hated man in pop culture, well second to Chris Brown who beat up our beloved Rihanna. Twilight exploded! and sunk into even more hearts around the world [yay!]. Miss California stuck her foot in her mouth, and then got really stuck when her little private videos surfaced. And now it's Tiger Woods on every channel, sheesh... We lost Michael Jackson :'( Farrah Fawcett, Brittany Murphy, and many others from Tinsel Town.
... And now, looking back over My Year, there are things that I wish to take with me into the new year, and things I would like to leave behind in 2009.
I'd prefer to leave behind...

1) dirty ol' landlords, 2) my unfortunate case of insomnia :( 3) those "friends" that turn out to be anything but a friend :( 4) my naive judgement that led me to believe they were good friends in the first place, 5) wisdom teeth! Thankfully no more aches and pains! and most importantly 6) grudges (because I have learned in '09, it's healthiest for you to just let it go, and leave it to God).
What will follow me into the New Year...

1) Ugly Betty (which I hope keeps going strong), 2) my desire & ability to cook! 2009 turned me into a Kitchenista! 3) Bentley, my 2yr old scottie. I lost my 5yr old cat a few months ago, and he was the coolest cat ever. I can't imagine if I lost Bentley too, 4) my new found love: GLEE, it's so funny, and the music is so good. 5) the crafty projects swimming around in my head just waiting to be made 6) my Youth! I don't want to be sad when I turn the big 2-4 in March. 7) strength, which I know sounds cheesy, but this passed year had many bumps (and potholes) and I surprised myself with how I got through it all. Sometimes you just don't know your own strength til it's been tested. 8) Most importantly is my relationship with God. It's ever growing, and I just want to learn more, and get closer to Him. People may let you down, disappoint you, and leave you, but God is always there. I also want to get more involved with the kids and the food drive at church.
... Although this list doesn't really look like it, I did have an amazing year! I'm very lucky. I had an eventful year full of many blessings which I am so thankful! And I get to round out the year with one of the best Christmas' I've ever had. I hope you had a wonderful 2009 as well, and think about what will follow you into this new year...
Cheers to 2010!!!
It's a new decade!