My Current Pre-Summer Wishlist

With Memorial Day a little over a week away, I'm dreaming about the sales at the mall and what I'd really love to purchase for myself. I'd been wanting a great crochet dress for the beach and a pair of round lens sunglasses and I was able to find both in one shopping outing a few weeks ago. Thus, I'm able to cross both of those off of my list and my current wish list looks like this:

1. cute & casual mini backpack: I'm looking for a backpack in a distressed leather or canvas that will be perfect for quick trips to the beach as well as my upcoming Belize holiday. It needs to be big enough to hold my new camera but small enough to prevent myself from overpacking. I love the mint green Aztec print backpack by Victoria's Secret but that particular pattern seems to be sold out (boo).
2. baggy scallop hem shorts: I've been dreaming about a pair of pretty scalloped hem shorts for a few years now, but have yet to find the "perfect pair." I'm looking for ones with a paper bag waist (or similar) with a bit of a baggy fit.
3. chunky low block heel sandals: These don't look ultra chic but that chunky short heel takes me straight back to my childhood. I always felt so grown-up wearing my 1" to 2" heels; and ironically, now those same heels make me yearn for my youth. I love a good sexy skinny heel but there's something about the way these shoes look that make me happy; what is it? Ah, yes, the fact that they look comfortable enough to wear for hours and hours.

Sometimes I dream about having an unlimited income and then I think about whether or not shopping would be more or less fun. For me, half of the enjoyment comes from the coveting and wishing and hoping that the perfect ____ that I'm looking for will come along. Would that desire-related enjoyment disappear if I had a swimming pool full of money? I could be the world's most shallow philosopher.

xoxo.

DIY Garden Markers

I haven't tackled a big and fun DIY project in a while. Half of it was laziness and the other half was a lack of inspiration. However, since the weather had finally warmed up enough for me to feel comfortable to start my garden, I finally got some motivation. I decided to DIY some garden markers. I wanted them to be functional and durable but still look cute. Let me show you what I came up with:

Want to make these too?
Here's what you'll need:
little wooden signs (I got mine from Michaels for $0.29 each)
wooden sticks - I bought a square dowel from Michaels ($0.35 each), popsicle sticks would also work
acrylic paint
paintbrushes in varying sizes + a foam brush for laying the base color
water and a paper towel (to rinse and dry off the brush in between colors)
letter stamps (completely optional)
hot glue or wood glue
clear acrylic spray coating (UV resistant)

I started by painting a base coat of paint on the wooden signs. I used white but any pale color would've be nice (like pale yellow or pale green). I like using a foam brush because it paints nice and evenly without leaving any brush strokes. The base color serves two purposes: it seals in the wood and adds to the waterproof factor (which will prevent the wood from rotting) and it provides a clean smooth surface for painting the veggies and letters on without the paint bleeding into the grain of the wood.

I painted all of the signs at once and then left them to dry for about 20 minutes.

While I waited, I watched one of my favorite movies:

And snacked on some chips and guacamole... (the chips are sweet potato tortilla chips - they're really yummy)

GM was so tired watching me paint that he decided to take a nap.

Once the little signs were dry, I squirted a bit of paint onto my palette and started mixing a few colors to start the fun part.

And I got my stamps ready.

And then I started painting. I began with a cucumber. I considered using a pencil and making v. precise images but then I decided that a little imperfection would add to the character of the markers.

And then, I used a little black paint and stamped letters onto the marker. I loved the way the stamped letters looked. I first planned on handwriting the words but I found these adorable stamps at Target for $1 so I grabbed them and took a chance.

And then I kept painting the other veggies/fruits/herbs and whatever else I was planting.
Watermelon:

Tomato:

Jalapeño peppers:

Habanero peppers (by the way, can you see that I mistakenly stamped the 'O' on sideways? I panicked for a second and then fell in love with the way it looked. Again, the imperfections add to the character of the markers):

Cayenne peppers:

Lemon thyme:

Sweet basil:

Cilantro:

Rosemary:

Sage:

Parsley:

Finished painting! Don't they look great?

Next, I glued the sticks onto the backs of the markers. I cut up my dowel into 3.5" lengths and stuck them down with a bit of hot glue. I chose hot glue instead of wood glue just because I knew it would dry a bit quicker.

Once all of the sticks were glued to the signs, I took them outside and gave them a generous spray of some UV-resistant clear acrylic coating on both sides. This step is quite important because it seals the markers to make them waterproof and prevent the paint from fading. That's why I chose a UV resistant spray.

And that's all there is to it! You can pop on over to my food blog if you want to see these being put to use in my garden.

Cheers!

Girly Post: Blue Eyeliner

I've been daydreaming out warm weather and beach holidays for quite some time now - probably the second I stepped on the plane to leave Puerto Rico back in November. I recently bought a blue eyeliner from Makeup Forever (Turquoise 7L) because I wanted to take it with me to Belize to rock some awesome beachy looks but I thought, "why wait?" and rocked in on a random work day.

These photos have been edited a bit (because I wasn't smart enough to take them in decent lighting), but don't make any mistake - the blue eyeliner is seriously bright.

I took this crazy scary close up photo so you could see the eyes a bit better. I created this look by lining my eyes with the blue eyeliner and winging it out. Then, I went back in with a regular black cream eyeliner and lined quite close to my lashes and just under the wings of the blue liner to give my eyes more definition. I did use an eyeprimer, but I have to say that the MUFE eyeliner is budge-proof. It lasted all day without smearing or creasing or fading. You can definitely find cheaper colorful eyeliners at the drugstore, but none in this quality. [Like I mentioned above, I bought this myself so I'm not being paid to say how much I like this eyeliner, FYI!]

When my eyes are open, you can't see the blue across my lids but you do see a little peek of it in the wings, which I quite like.

Cheers!