Happy Valentine’s Day: Batting my eyelashes at Latisse

A few years ago, I gave myself the Valentine's Day gift of long eyelashes, which I had never had. As a teen I would stand in front of the mirror for hours practicing curling my lashes. On one instance, I actually cut my lashes in the hopes that they would grow longer & be as dark at the ends as they were at the roots. Needless to say, it didn't work & I looked really weird for a while. As an adult, I noticed that my lashes were looking thinner than ever. 

So, on 11/11/11, I started Latisse and a mere three months later, on Valentine's Day, I was able to post great results! I didn’t like the brushes that came with the product so I bought my own MAC eyeliner brush. Of course, you should start with a clean face before bedtime. Put one drop of liquid in the bottle cap, dip the brush in until it is soaked, then swipe it across both lids, (rinse the brush each night with hot water). You need to let it dry completely before putting on any moisturizer. Check out the results!

APPLICATION PROCESS

BEFORE

MONTH ONE

MONTH TWO

MONTH THREE- Valentine's Day 2012

THREE YEARS LATER-2015

After some time, my lashes actually curled on their own so no more eyelash curler! I go through phases where they are shorter or longer but the coolest thing is how much thicker they are. I also apply my mascara in such a way that the tips are not coated. Why, you may ask? Because they actually come close to my eye brows when I look up & I get mascara smudges on my eyelids. I know, such problems ;)

Spruce up a room, don’t break the bank: “re-covering” an old chair

My sweet father-in-law left my husband & I several pieces of furniture when he passed a few years ago. To be honest, I was reluctant to alter the things I didn’t like for fear of hurting my husband’s feelings, knowing that every piece was special. Albeit, everything has ended up upstairs so, unfortunately, he has caught on to the fact that upstairs is where I put things that I don’t really want to be seen by guests. With that said, I finally decided to re-cover an armchair that was a special shade of 1980 blue. When I priced this out, I quickly realized that it would cost an arm & a leg so, again, I let it sit there for months on end. Finally, I got an e-mail from Ballard’s Designs about a closeout sale & snapped up a great white linen slip cover. When it came in, it was WAY too big. So, I headed over to my favorite fabric store to pick up foam sheets & pillow stuffing. I kind of figured it out as I went but I think it turned out pretty cute. Oh, and it cost me a total of $200: $150 for the slipcover & $50 for the stuffing (I fortunately got the stuffing during a ½ off sale). Stay tuned for the “re-covering” of a fabulous loveseat….

Here’s what we’re doing:

I started by putting the slipcover on the chair to see where it needed the most help. (clearly everywhere!!)

I double-wrapped the arms with the foam sheets & pinned them in place.

For the cushions, I wrapped them with a foam sheet, put the slipcover on & then trimmed to fit. (I was lazy & didn’t want to measure 1^st)

I pushed stuffing in every nook & cranny.

I took a look at where it “fell” in places & then added even more stuffing to make the fit tight.

I put it in place in my office & topped with a super-cute pillow. I love it!!

Recycling At It’s Best- Mardi Gets a Manor

My sweet puppy, Mardi, is a tiny bit on the wild side. Actually, she is rather nuts, but I love, love, love her. When I was a little girl, we had three (!) Saint Bernards, (Chrissy, Alex & Lucky). They had this amazing, huge dog house with a big opening in the front. I can remember crawling in there with all three of them and playing for hours. If I saw it now it would probably measure 3’ x 3’ or something really small but it seemed huge to me then. I have been dreaming of building a beautiful dog house for my little sugar for a while, remembering how much I loved the one we had growing up. I hate the plastic kennel she was sleeping in because it seemed too small & had no appeal to it at all.

As you may know, we completed a renovation a while ago which means that we had left over everything; all very unfortunately stored in my garage. This is actually my husband’s project but I thought it was cool so I am sharing it with you. I scoured the Internet to find a design that I like and had the hubby tweak it a bit. I wanted her to have a front porch, lots of space inside and ventilation.

Here’s what we’re doing: All materials used were left over from construction on our house:

 The frame- beams used in our kitchen (cemented into the ground)

 The flooring- hard woods from our kitchen and office. Yes, Mardi has hard wood floors!

 The roofing- shingles from our new roof

The paint- left over from our old house

The front door: old kitchen cabinet door. Can you believe it was the perfect size?

We actually made two doors, a winter version, which is solid, and a summer version, which has a screen (shown)

The screen: old fireplace screen

Things I Love: Beautiful morning drive pics

Every now & then, I have to get up really, really early for work to drive to a nearby city. The thing I love most about this peaceful time of day is watching the sun rise. If you are driving home for the holidays, I hope you get to see a few beautiful sunrises to help the time go by.
 

Also, if you are looking for a fun car game for your long drive, try Soap Box. Each person draws a question & then has 90 seconds to answer. It usually prompts some pretty interesting discussions. Enjoy!

SOAP BOX

What I would buy if I won the lottery?

What is the best book I have ever read & why?

Is handwriting dead?

Do you own a gun? Why or why not?

My feelings on celebrities running for political office are……..

If I could do gender selection, would I? If so, would I choose a boy or a girl?

My celebrity crush is_______________

If I wrote a tell-all book, the person most offended would be_______

Things I love: LePen

Have you heard of Le Pen? A lady at the Papyrus store introduced me to these recently & I LOVE them. They can also be found at Michael’s craft store or any paper goods store. The tip is very fine & the color is so saturated. The ink does not, I repeat, does not run! I have one in every color, although I use the deep green the most. They are kind of like a re-invented felt tip pen. I refuse to address a card with a regular pen now! Oh, and they are less than $2.00. It almost makes my handwriting look legible....almost :)

Just For Fun- Holiday Decorations!