Obsessed.

Last Saturday I unexpectedly watch "Lucky's 10 Biggest Obsessions Ever". It was so fun to remember back to what we thought was cute... Ha! Incase you missed it, I thought I'd share the list with you:

Star Style: Some of the styles streetwalkers mentioned were Juicy track suits and trucker hats, but the most popular style stemmed from stars is the Boho Chic look from the Olson twins!

Product Perfect: Bare Minerals make up and spray tanning were by far the most talked about products from the interviewed streetwalkers, but according to Lucky magazine, the most perfect product over the last ten years is Dry Shampoo!

Happening Hair: I thought it would either be the messy bun or more recently, super straight hair, but Lucky determined the classic Pony Tail as the most happening hairstyle from the past ten years.

Tech-Tacular: Bedazzled cell phones and laptops were paid their homage but Laptop Bags have made the biggest impact in the fashion world of a tech-y. They used to be only for computer nerds, but now designers like Coach and Louis Vuitton make nerdiness fashionable!

Must-Have Accessories: You'd think it would be cocktail rings, a clutch, or a pocket-sized pooch, but the Oversized Bag has proven to be the most essential accessory every woman should own.

Shifting Shopping: How has shopping changed over the past ten years? Well, this may seem obvious, but Online Shopping has become a true phenomenon. Not only was there practically no such thing as the internet ten years ago, but you now have access to virtually everything from anywhere in the world!

Disaster Duds: Streetwalkers guessed Ugg Boots, but apparently Lucky's biggest disaster was the Parka Cape. I've heard of a poncho sweater, but never a parka cape, but I guess that's a good thing!

Classic Couture: Black pumps are always classic, but Boot-cut Jeans are the classiest item over the last ten years.

Shoe Shine: This one surprised me, but it makes sense. You might think of the red-soled Louboutins, Uggs, or maybe even Crocs (cringe), but the Ballet Flats trend spread to a wide variety of women claiming Lucky's most popular shoe trend!

Biggest Obsession Ever: I still need to try some of these, but apparently Spanx are life changing!

I had so much fun watching this special on T.V. and remembering back to what I wore when I was in Junior High.... those were the days.

Do any of these surprise you? What would you add to the list?

It's All About the Atmosphere.

Ian was off yesterday and we had a really fun day downtown planned! Our first stop was Laughing Planet. It's an environmentally friendly (of course you have to be in order to stay successful in a city like Portland) cafe and their menu primarily consists of mexican food but they also have salads and rice with veggie bowls. 

I ordered the Spinach and Black Bean Burrito and Ian ordered the Grilled Chicken Burrito. We also got the large side of chips and salsa and completely devoured everything.

Sometimes I don't like these hole-in-the-wall places because their not the most inviting. But this place was super clean, the staff was friendly, and it wasn't scary at all. If you ever get a chance to visit Portland, you MUST stop by Laughing Planet to eat! It's a cute little cafe with fun art on the walls, in the middle of the city. And it's really healthy and eco-friendly so you truly get the complete Portland experience!

Curing the Recurring #5.

How many different tricks have you heard of to get rid of your hiccups? 

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Every time I have them I try something new but they. never. stop! But the other night I heard on the radio--yes, I listen to the radio--another new trick to end your hiccups! A couple nights later Ian had the hiccups so I told him what I had learned. And POOF!

Just

like

that...

GONE!

Bet you wanna know what it is now, dontchya?!

Ok. The trick is that you inhale three times without exhaling. Begin by taking a deep breath and hold it for ten seconds. Then inhale extra air and hold for another five seconds. Without exhaling, inhale one more time, and hold it for five more seconds. Then, exhale and breathe normally. The repetitive inhaling supposedly prevents the hiccup spasms by temporarily disabling your diaphragm. Researchers at the New York University School of Medicine tested it on patients who had frequent hiccups,and it worked immediately on everyone who could do it.

Go ahead. Try it!

Flawnt It: Nosey O'Donnel

I am so happy to feature a blogger friend for our second "Flawnt It" post! I love reading about Jenna's cute little life on her blog The Indecisive Organizer. Although I have never met her in real life I still feel like we have a lot in common... Our husband's even share the name Ian! 

I'll let Jenna take it from here! 

 

Hi! My name is Jenna, and you may or may not know me from my blog The Indecisive Organizer. I was so thrilled when I saw Sarah's comment on one of my posts asking if she could feature me in her Flawnt It series, that I started typing right away!

So...here's my story!

All through middle school, I was made fun of for my big nose. All the time. Here are just a few of the nicknames I acquired during that time:

 

 Gonzo

Hose Nose

"Nosey O'Donnell"

Yeah. It was bad. There was even one point where this very mean boy in one of my classes would say, "Hey Jenna!" and whenever I turned to look at him...he would say, "OHHH MY EYE MY EYE!" How awful is that? I was embarrassed, and traumatized. I began casually looking at how much it would be to "fix" my big nose. Surgery scared me to death, but I couldn't go all the way through high school being called those horrible names. Don't worry...I never had nose surgery! Haha. I know this is horrible, but I do remember editing my pictures in Photoshop to make my nose smaller. Yes, I'm serious.

It wasn't until I graduated high school and started college that I began to really embrace my nose. I still joked about surgery to my family and friends...but something kept telling me, "you were made this way for a reason." There is a small part of me that thinks as I have gotten older, my face has actually grown to my nose...haha, but I really have learned to embrace the fact that God made me the way I am for a reason...and who am I to want to alter or change that? Besides...I wouldn't be me, if I didn't have my nose!

Enjoy the OLD pictures!

And don't forget to read the takeaway at the bottom of the post. :)

So what's the take away from this post? Love yourself. You were made the way you are for a reason, and there is nobody in the world just like yourself. Flawnt it! :)


Thanks for participating, Jenna! We think you and your nose are gorgeous! 


If you are interested in submitting a "Flawnt It" post email me at frillsthrills@gmail.com! And if you missed my personal "Flawnt It" post, read it here!

Party People.

If you could see our December schedule, you'd think we were the most social people on the planet. Literally EVERY day has something scheduled. Everything from lunch meetings, to double dates, to working in children's ministry... about half of the month (fifteen days) are dedicated to celebrating Christmas in some form. We have work parties, family gatherings, and socials with friends. As stressed out as baking and dishing out finger foods is making me, this is the kind of stress I don't mind bearing. It's probably a good thing that the most stressful/busy time of the year is also filled with so much joy/cheerfulness.

Last night was by far THE best Christmas gathering of the year so far.... So many of my favorite people were there and I also got to know some other awesome people! We only had to bring our favorite snack, but I was super excited and kind of went overboard for some reason...?

First I baked some miniature red velvet cupcakes with vanilla frosting (I finally got to use my cool cake decorator thingy from one of my wedding showers). They were oh so delicious and super cute too!

And I don't actually eat things like this, mostly because they gross me out or something, but I thought it would be cute to make some "Baby Jesus'" a.k.a. pigs in a blanket? 

I just used some Hillshire Farms Lil' Smokies (ha!) with Turkey meat and wrapped them up with Pillsbury croissant rolls but I obviously left the little heads poking out. 

I felt slightly guilty putting them in the oven! Hahaha! But they were a hit at the party and were one of the first snacks completely devoured!

Here is my little outfit I wore too!

I actually made this skirt because I loved her pink one so much but it was sold out. 

Shirt from Burlington Coat Factory, I made the skirt, Tights from Ross, Shoes Joey, Deer Necklace F21

What about you? Are the holidays stressing you out? Or are you loving every minute of it? Are you somewhere in between?  

Pool Time.

I've always been obsessed with swimming pools. And I would die to have one in my own backyard. 

I'd love one with waterfalls...

Or maybe even a water slide...

I'd even settle for a plain ol' rectangle shape!

We I base our hotel choices on the pool...

If you don't have bridges to swim under, cliffs to jump off, or slides to slip down, forget it.

I love the way they glisten in the sun...

and I love the way they glow at nighttime... 

if I had one in my backyard, it would probably look like this most of the time...

but in the summer I would do wayyyy more than just look at it...

Ok, I probably wouldn't get THAT crazy.  But I'd definitely be doing some of this....

And this...

And if I don't get my pool any time soon, I will retire to the desert and get all my fun in then!

all images via google images

What does your dream house have?

p.s. I am slowly adding new tabs to the top of the blog, so check them out for fun or use them as resources! 

Gift Giving #2.

A lot of you seem to be into homemade anything (like me) so for my next gift idea I'll share my "I Want to Travel the World With You" gift. That's not the actual title of this project, but it sounded good when I was just typing it....

For part of Ian's birthday present last year, I made him a little map with pins poking all the places we've been together. I just ripped the world map out of an old atlas and pasted the two pages side by side on a plain white cardboard-y backdrop the size of the frame. I used and old frame that we had and painted it silver to match our guest room and our closet office. I also already had the pins in my sewing box so this project didn't really cost me anything. 

I actually need to add a few more pins to the map! Incase you're curious we've been to Israel, Colorado, Mexico, Canada, Washington, California, and Hawaii. I also marked the places that each of us have been separately like Uganda, Haiti, Brazil, Jordan, and Hungary. 

If I had multi-colored pins I would color code based on these four things:

-Where we've traveled together

-Where Ian has traveled

-Where I have traveled

-Where we hope to travel together

I am looking forward to adding more and more pins to this map to track where our love takes us! 

Is this something you would make for someone or yourself? Since this is mostly paper it could qualify as a traditional 1-year wedding anniversary gift if you're into that! 

Also, if you missed the start of my new series "Flawnt It", click here!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas.

Since we have an artificial Christmas tree (almost a crime when you live in Oregon), our apartment has been short on all the stimulating Christmas scents that come with the holiday season! I decided it was time to do something about this especially since our little birdcage has been empty since we took down our fall decor. 

I begrudgingly went out and bought a bag of these: 

 

I have been eyeing these at Joann's for a while now but hadn't bought them because they were $5.00. That's not a lot, but I have a hard time justifying spending money on something you can find in nature. But at least these are cinnamon scented!

I used this .99 cent bottle of white spray paint...

to add a "snowy" effect to the tops of the pine cones...

and then I put them in the empty birdcage in the entryway. 

Now it's the first thing you smell when you walk in and I'm hoping with it being right by the door, we'll get extra wiffs of Christmas every time the door swings open and closed!

Another idea is to dip the top half in glue and then in white glitter! That would be super cute! I might still try that, we just didn't have any of that in the house. 

Oh, I also made this little thingy a few days ago. I bought some styrofoam balls and crunched them up with my fingers to make them look like snowballs and grabbed some ornaments I had leftover from last year.

I mixed them together and tossed them in this silver cake stand I thrifted for $2.99

Now it sits in our coffee table where we can see it all the time!

 What holiday projects are you working on?

Celebrity Style Icon #3.

Kourtney Kardashian has perfect style. Super girly, chic, and edgy all at the same time. That is the same thing I love about Victoria Beckham's and Louise Roe's style. I love whatever I see them in. `Here are a few casual Kourtney ensembles I love:

love this monochrome breeziness:

such cute vertical stripes!

obsessed with this skirt and gorgeous shades... 

And can I please look this cute when I'm pregnant? 

 Or at least have more reasons to wear pretty dresses?