February Favorites

February has treated us well despite the shortness it brings every year. The weather here is still colder than Alaska {maybe?} but the sun is starting to rise earlier by the day! Que my happy dance because my seasonal depression can't handle much more of this. I heard on the radio the other day that the DJ would prefer all the snow we had last year in place of these below freezing temps. I beg to differ. Also, why don't the lovely people in the south know how to drive when they get an inch of snow on the ground? You drive slower, more cautious and you turn your windshield wipers on often. It's like everyone in the southern states are 12 year olds and have never driven a car?

Anyways.

This past month I've noticed I'm gravitating towards routines even more than usual. From showering to moisturizing, to what I eat at lunch, drink at night, to what I'm wearing on my face everyday. Routines drive my everyday existence, I LIVE for a good routine, a list of steps to follow to get from point A to point B. It's almost like an insurance that you WILL have clean teeth, you WILL be caffeinated by 8 am, you WILL have a damn good manicure!

From all of these routines I've pulled some of my favorite things {who else started singing that song??!!} perhaps you love them just as much or maybe you've found something to purchase on Amazon on your lunch break. I know I'm not the only one who does this!

While I've thrown in my favorite products from this month I decided to add in my favorite blog and Youtube channel at the moment. Katie recently moved back from Chicago to the mitten and also  bought a house she's been renovating so I am always waiting for her next home update! And Claire, oh Claire, she is a MASTER with editing. Her videos are AUH mazing! Watch her 'what's in my bag' video here and you'll see why I can't get enough of her!

|Lips| Face| Teeth| Nails| Body| Coffee| Blogger| Youtuber|

Stay warm! XX

Jewelry Storage

Hello and happy Sunday!

This past week while at work I was texting with my girlfriend Chelsea, and I was commenting that I was getting a ton of digital down loads for one of my print. She asked if I knew that people can save my prints without paying since I didn't have them watermarked.

DOH!!!!

Seriously, I felt like a nub right then and there. So I did what any normal person would do. Deactivated all my listings and had a pity party for myself at my desk. I needed to wait till I was sane again and at home on my own computer and could edit everything. I was pretty upset to be honest but I took this as a sign it was time to redo some prints, make things better, try out some different options and update the picture qualities.  With the kitchen refresh game going strong this weekend and my children questioning my sanity I've only been able to update a few prints right now but alas, stay tuned to later this week for a boat load more, think 20+. 

In last week's vlog I mentioned some new wood items coming to the shop as well. Without further mumbling here is the newest item to the shop!

So what do you think?! I personally love it! It's so simple but that's what I like about it. Nothing fancy or over the top and still has that natural and almost rustic look. When we moved I looked for jewelry storage for my necklaces for ages and never found anything I liked. I finally decided to DIY it myself and loved the way it turned out. Here is the shop link if interested.

I'm currently offering two different color options but if you are interested in something else just message me and I can get the color of your choice set up in a custom listing.

Just like I did with the growth charts, if you live in the metro Detroit area I will offer free shipping and arrange drop off at your home or workplace. Use the code 'METRODETROIT' when checking out to get the free shipping. 

That's all I got for now guys! I now need to go finish my cocktail & start editing the vlog before Skylor wakes up from his nap and Tracen has another meltdown since that's ALL he's been doing today! OY!

Sunday Funday, bottoms up bitches! XX

Bathroom Refresh on a Budget

We've been in our house for almost a year, March 28th is our homeowneriversary to be exact. When we first did our walk through I could see past the moth ball scent, I could get over the old people decor an even see past all of the chandeliers in every room, hallway or closet. Okay maybe not in the closets.

Every room in the entire house was painted in some ugly color with a glossy finish that we weren't sure what room we would repaint first but we knew every single room would need to be and need to be done fast! The first week we owned the house we painted for hours after work and like all projects here that really meant Jerek & his dad painted and I made sure the kids didn't get in his way. 

Slowly but surely we've repainted about 90% of the entire house. The upstairs main bathroom really needs to be gutted but we have a wedding to plan so that probably won't be happening anytime soon. This is unless Jer can hit one of these damn power balls, come on beach I believe in you! A few weeks ago we had Martin Luther King Jr. day off but the boys still had daycare so a free day for mom and dad it was!

We had talked about about giving the bathroom a facelift for a while now so with 8 hours of no children we got to work. We knew that we didn't want to spend a ton of money since this wasn't a remodel, it just needed a little pep in it's step.

The main thing that bathroom needed was paint. Every time we walked into the room it me to make eye contact with those walls! Whatever were these 70 year olds thinking with this bright blue paint?! Maybe they were already dreaming of the Flordia water even before they sold us this house or maybe the paint was 70% off at ACO like the rest of the house was {these people LOVED a good deal!}

The paint we used was left over from the living room of our old rental house and I think it took maybe a gallon to do two coats on the entire room. If you're wondering what those two pokey things are sticking out from the wall, they are hot and cold water pipes. These people had some ugly floor to ceiling cheap cabinets hiding them. So instead of putting in a double sink they put in cheap cabinets {which we chucked.} When we gut this bathroom we will be installing a big glorious double sink and I can't wait!

Since we were stuck with the tile in the shower we had to plan around it. The orange bath mat is from the Nate Berkus line and I'm pretty sure Jerek wasn't too found of it at first but I think it's growing on him. We already had the Threshold shower curtain from when we moved in so I bleached that baby and it was good to go.

I knew I wanted to keep the feel calming yet fun with the colors and textures so off to Target I went. I'd been eyeing these Threshhold vases since last spring but refused to pay $30 a piece. These bad boys were on mega sale and I scored them for a whole $5 a vase! I picked up the eucalyptus stems from Home Goods and have a ton left over for future projects. I also picked up a few new hand towels since the ones we had in there before were probably mine from college, ya, like 5+ years old!

The final touch was added with the relax letters in navy. If you remember my dressing room tour from about 6 months ago you will notice these use to be bright turquoise. I'm slowing changing up the decor in that room and thought that painting these a deep navy would be very fitting for the bathroom. "Come in, relax and take a poop!" ya know, the important things.

I'm obsessed with this little stool that I picked up at Home Goods! Jerek asked what the hell we needed a stool for in the bathroom but once he sat on that thing and enjoyed a cocktail while the kids took a bath he understood why! We use to sit on the floor or on top of the counter while they played and our ass would go numb in about 2 seconds flat! This stool reminds us of a sauna that we so desperately want one day!

I'm sure you're wondering one big question, HOW MUCH DID IT COST THOUGH!?!?! I mean, that's really what things come down to so here are the numbers:

Paint: FREE! {left over from old house}

Rug: $12.99 {on sale + Target cartwheel app}

Vases: $5 each, $10 total

Eucalyptus Stems: $7.99 

Hand Towels: $5 {for 2, on sale}

Shower Curtain: FREE: {old-bleached to make it nice & new}

RELAX letters: FREE

Navy Paint: $1.50

Stool: $20

TOTAL COST: $57.48

Yes, you're reading that correctly, less than $60 for this whole room! Now I'm going to admit, this room is no where NEAR what we really want it to be! We want to gut the entire thing but for now it's SO enjoyable! The whole point when refreshing rooms or spaces is to make them more functional, more enjoyable and to accomplish it on a budget! We jumped into this project KNOWING it wouldn't be a bathroom remodel so our expectations were very realistic when the room was finished. We still need to find a curtain for the window but for now the 1970's plastic shade will have to do.

Hopefully next we can get working on the kitchen since I hinted about painting the cabinets about 6 months ago and then never showed you any updates! Such is life ya know! 

Until then!

My Blonde Haircare + a Giveaway

We've all read the post about how my hairdresser hates me right? If not, here ya go, come back when you're done.

Okay, so you read it now and you're thinking how the hell hasn't your hair fallen out yet?! Well I'm just as surprised as you are, don't worry! With all the processing we've {because this is a team effort here!} done over the last few years I know how important conditioner and hair masks are so that is where I invest my money as well as in my amazing and talented hair dresser.

Over the past few years I've gotten a ton of questions on what products I use, what my hair color/cut is or how I curl my hair. I'm here to address it all because blondes have more fun right ;)

I shampoo and condition my hair every other day, sometimes every two days if I'm having a rather good hair day. I haven't found the perfect shampoo for me yet so right now I'm using Clear Scalp & Hair Therapy. It gives my scalp a good dose of moisture while still cleansing my hair. 

As I stated earlier, I like to be a little spendy when it comes to conditioners and hair masks. This my friends is what keeps my blonde hair healthy and in such great condition! For conditioners I swear swear SWEAR by REDKEN Blonde Idol {cool tones}. This bad boy tones my hair and makes my locks look and feel like I just stepped out of the salon even when I'm 8 weeks post hair color session! I'm not kidding when I tell you it's worth the money because it is a little pricy but SO.WORTH.IT! Now if you just can't justify the price tag on the Blonde Idol my other go to purple conditioner is from Sally's with a much better price tag; shimmer lights for blonde & silver tones.

Coconut oil is the other conditioner I use and you can find this at Trader Joes, Whole Foods and even Target I'm pretty sure. I use this in the shower as well as after in small amounts on my ends as a leave in conditioner. This is mainly used when my ends need a good condition in-between cuts and remember a little goes a long way. For a leave-in conditioning spray and a little more money than coconut oil, I use the Pravana intense therapy leave-in treatment. I spray this all over my hair which I follow this up by NUME's White Truffle Hair Primer using it from my mid shaft {ear level} and lower. This stuff smells amazing and I use two pumps and has lasted me MONTHS! {Use code WINTERSNOW for 40% off entire site!}

As I already mentioned I try and wash my hair every other day and this is usually Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, this is also because these are my gym days so it's very convenient for me to go to the gym and shower afterwards. I rarely wash my hair in the mornings anymore meaning I also rarely use a blow dryer {score for no heat days!} After I put my leave in conditioners on I then follow up with my Not Your Mothers kinky moves curl defining hair cream. This is a defining lotion which helps my hair keep that wavy, bed head look that I love so much the next morning. Ever since having kids my hair has a great little wave to it and this hair cream helps keep that great shape while I sleep!  Again, a little goes a long way and is pretty inexpensive as well. This is also a big time saver so a big deal for the working mother of two.

For volume I use a little Guts by Redken on my roots. Guts is a very light spray giving my roots volume without making them stiff or greasy. Speaking of grease, when I'm rocking two or three day old hair I always follow up with my Batiste dry shampoo. I literally go through two of these a month, but guess who doesn't have greasy hair, THIS GIRL! As for hair spray, I swear by my TRESemme hair spray. 

Ever since I was little I hated brushing my hair. My scalp is unbelievably sensitive that 99% of all hair brushes have me in tears when it comes time to brushing my hair. If you have a little girl, or are like me and a sensitive sally when it comes to hair brushing you NEED this brush in your life! The tangle teaser combs through any tangle with easy and I no longer cry when I have a rats nest of a bun that I need to brush out!

Although you will rarely see me blow drying my hair and do pull out my Nume wands on the reg! I became obsessed with these bad boys and have gotten everyone I know hooked on them! I recently donated all of my other curling irons because I refuse to use anything else! I currently have/use the 19mm & 25mm and recently just got the reverse wand. These babes heat up and cool down extremely fast that I can throw a few waves in before work and it doesn't interrupt my morning routine. Below are some coupon codes that they have going on right now. All I can say is NEVER PAY FULL PRICE FOR THESE THINGS THERE IS ALWAYS A DEAL GOING ON! I post new coupon codes I find on my Facebook so follow along if you want to score a good deal too.

{currently rocking 11.5 week roots and loving it}

CODES for Nume Wands & products:
ALL CURLING WANDS ARE $29- CURL29

CUDDLEUP - $39 for Classic Wand + Argan Oil
SNOWGLOBE - $69 BOGO Magic Wand
CHILLYNIGHTS - $69 for Magic Wand + Silhouette
HOLIDAYLOVE - $69 for Pentacle + Free Shipping
FROSTY - $74 for MegaStar + Holder
SPARKLE - $99 for Sets
WINTERLOVE – 10% Off Holiday Catalog
WINTERSNOW – 40% Off Site Wide No Catalog
HONEYBEE60-60% off any curling wands
WHITEROSES- Any two classic wands for $68
CANDYHEART-Any two magic wands for $78

How often do I get my hair colored you ask, well I'm currently on week 11.5 to be exact {I went Nov 28th} and Jamie won't be back from her maternity leave until the end of February. This means I will have gone 14 whole weeks without color and it's safe to say that my roots don't look half bad!

I know that all this is able to happen because Jamie and I work together to achieve the color we want at every appointment. Jamie is fully aware that I want a natural but cool toned blonde that while in-between visits grows out beautifully and doesn't have a band of color peaking through every 3 weeks. I also know that if I use my products correctly I can really get the best bang for my buck.

If you are interested in scheduling an appointment with Jamie here is her contact information, you won't be disappointed! Don't worry Jay I'm giving out your salon info, not your cell phone ;)

After all is said and done I want you to know that this is the healthiest my hair has ever been and it's also the most processed! That says something about the products Jaime uses on my hair and what products I'm using in between, doesn't it?! I've learned over the years that investing in a few good products will really keep the color that I'm paying to get worth it. This goes for any color, not just blondes!

I hope that answers any questions people have had about my hair, the products I use or what I do on a daily/weekly basis. If you have any other questions or comments on products that you think I should check out, I'm all ears, comment away friends!

Last but not least, since I can't buy you all your own NUME wands, because we were not one of the three people that won the power ball last night, I wanted to do another giveaway of the infamous wand that I'm always raving about! I had a giveaway back in October for a 19mm and it went over really well so as promised you have another chance to win *cue cheering* The giveaway will be open to US residents only and open for one week with multiple ways to enter. {Sorry but international shipping is hella expensive and this is NOT sponsored so it's all on me}

Happy pizza party Friday, now go buy a heart shaped pizza ya filthy animals!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

3 Ways to Wear a Plaid Shirt

TGIF man, seriously! This weeks been a little crazy with all the snow I'm glad it's the weekend!

A few weeks ago I had a survey and one of the questions was 'what would you like to see more of?'

I had a ton of people saying outfit posts which I was so happy to see! 

I've been thinking about adding them into the mix but have been on the fence on how I wanted to execute them. Look, I know I'm no fashion blogger or 5'10 super model mama but I'd like to think I have some sense of style while still a full on #boymom!

I thought it would be fun to share three outfits while centered around one piece:

MY BELOVED RED FLANNEL

{here's a similar one; mine is from the fall}

I know you're probably thinking, but fall is over Chelsea, it's now winter and the pumpkin spice lattes have been put away for a while now, get over your flannel. GET IN MY FLANNEL is what I'm telling YOU! This thing is the JAM! I have other colors as well but this red and navy one is my go to. So this flannel my friends is here to stay and I might even be bringing them into summer {think black high wasted bikini with this baby loosely hanging off my shoulder, some jean shorts a messy 3 day old hair bun and an iced coffee. That will be me in my backyard this summer}

Black Bubble Skirt| Target

Necklace| H&M {old}

Black Jeans|  Rag & Bone {similar & on sale!}

Graphic Tee| Forever 21 {old}

Necklace| H&M {old} similar

Stripe Shirt| Forever 21 {old}

Jeans| Old Navy

Necklace| Express

Happy pizza party Friday & enjoy the weekend! New vlog will be up Monday, see you then! XX

February Goals

Oh January, I thought you weren't suppose to be busy, wasn't that Decembers job??

January has been packed full of birthdays and attempts at getting back on schedules due to the lack of schedules from our long holiday vacation off from work. Does that run-on sentence even make sense?

You can find a 30 day recap from Tracen's birthday till the end of January here and a 18 month round up for Mr. Skylor here. I spent January working on my gym schedule and trying to think of things to do with the boys on the weekends while it was ice cold outside.

Before we recap January I want to show you our new nephew Emry. How amazing is this picture! I believe this was snapped by my brother in law (I'm pretty sure that is his app editing ;) SO SO cute!

WARNING, January was a fail...

1. Run 10 miles a week: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturday's are my gym days. Each day I do 15-25 minutes of cardio {running on the tread mill} followed by my Kayla fitness routine for that day. I then either do arms, legs or ab workouts with various machines followed by 5 minutes of detox in the sauna. Long story long, I've probably been running about 6 miles {2 miles a day} so I'm not there quite yet.

2. Print pictures: If you follow me on Facebook you'll have seen my plea. I'm not naming any names {SKYLORRRRRRRRRRRR cough cough} might have dropped my external hard drive causing it to not start up. This baby was full of pictures and videos from as far back as 2005 till present day. Although I upload all the videos to YouTube  and save a lot of my pictures on the cloud its not the same, I save EVERYTHING to my external, even after I've uploaded it here. Thankfully about 2 years ago when I got my new computer I had my moms boyfriend save everything on his external hard drive before we switched over to my new computer. So you would think I wouldn't be as upset since I have at least 2005-2012 on that hard drive right? WRONG. I'm devastated because that means everything of me being pregnant with Skylor, Skylors whole life, all of our 'before' house pictures and any video footage I had is gone because I didn't save it anywhere but this external hard drive. The cost to recover these things is a hefty one. $600.  And get this, that's the price you pay for them to TRY and get everything off of it, there's no guarantees anything could be recovered!!! Maybe I'm being dramatic but I'm trying not to think about in 12 years when Skylor is bitching about the 2nd child syndrome and thinks it's real because I have nothing from the first 18 months of his life :( So needless to say I've printed zero pictures, in fact I've cried over the this issue that these memories seem gone. And no, I can't justify paying $600 for something that isn't 100% going to work. 

3. Learn how to fly/video with my drone: We had to ship back the original drone Jer got me for Christmas and get a different one and since it was coming from China I legit just got it a few days ago. So hopefully I can start this weekend flying maybe

1. Make German Flash Cards: Tracen's preschool/daycare is great and they learn Spanish, Chinese, French and German. The kids a sponge and telling us all the words he's learning and remembering them so well! Since I speak German {working on bettering it!} he's so excited when he can tell me things and I understand them. I know I could buy these somewhere but I really want to make them!

2. Find a class for the kids to join: It's winter and when going outside to play is not an option one can only play inside with the same stuff for too long. I really want to get the boys both involved in something but more so Tracen. He really enjoyed swimming last winter {finally at the last few sessions} so I'm thinking of trying that again or maybe indoor soccer. Basically I need something for him on Saturdays to get his energy out!

3. Do taxes: This is an easy goal because I know it will get done. Kind of a cheap way out but I figured I needed an easy one after last month. And by do taxes, this means Jerek will do them and I'll watch and ask if he's done yet. I never touch those things, they give me anxiety.

Happy Monday and happy birthday month to all the Aquarius & Pisces out there!