birthdays and ooh babies!

I have to throw a giant serious disclaimer up in here, for you will find some honest, from the heart, fashionobsession a few lines down...sooo don't judge me. i warned you. <-- 

Tuesday was errands day. And blogging about it now feels like a week ago although it's not that I am complaining of lack of days off - if anything it's the complete opposite. I have been one lucky girl having every weekend off this month, something I have never had and I am loving it. This weekend finally brings some friendspartycelebration time for N's big 25th birthdaay this coming Saturday. But that's neither here nor there, point was that because my weekends have been so great and fun filled, my weeks feel so short and time just keeps wizzing by and I have noo idea how it's already mid April. wtf! Soo back to errands day --> Tuesday =  yesterday! Everyone all caught up?...started as an ordinary day. 

N did his morning obligation of getting up first and making the coffee - just right - followed by me upholding my end of making breakfast. if and when he can get me to get up out of bed of course. in my defense - me "getting my butt out of bed" is still usually always by 8:15. i think that's pretty good for a day off. The mr did have afternoon class so we parted ways midday .. I of course made a stop at plato's and couldn't resist a peak into tj maxx. 

the purses in the entrance are usually my weakness .. but past couple trips I've done pretty good. i've come to realize i'm a picky bitch when it comes to my purse. I used to just buy them for looks but hated it if they were "impractical" or inconvenient to wear, too small, too big, etc. and so in my last year of serious budget cutting in the financial dept I had plenty of time to create the perfect wishlist for my next baby. again, in my defense, you have to understand - I usually loathe all types of "baby" name calling, however when it comes to my purse(s)...they are my babies :P 

through the doors and two aisles into the handbag section, my eyes caught sight of it. the purse that fit all of my wishlist criteria. among cross shoulder, zipper detail, easy access, it's even decorated with gromets and tassles. love at first absolutely exists in fashion (and in life but please, not another tangent for this girl) and 

this purse + me = puppy loveee. 

I said this was an honest post so I can't leave out the fact that I always squeezed a tear when the price tag was well within my budget. double birthdays here this week, because this was all I wanted for my 25th. it was a day of treats for sure and the search well worth it.  

perfection. or better yet, hollaaa. 

It's just too beautiful not to photograph more than once.

Found at: TJ Maxx

By: Urban Expressions 

One of my new pieces from h&m. crazy color difference although my new favorite top - it's really the color like in the left image.

I finally sat myself down and completed a mani to go with the pedi, so I had to share! I still in love with this color play trend. nailpolish from Forever21 love&beauty "camel", and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Mint Sorbet". 

As the week continues to cruise on by I of course wish you a great and happy Thursday! My little award thanks to Jess sent me all kinds of love from you all so thank you. 

I knew I was missing somethin' :)

xo . jess 

cleaning habits.

I can't deny that I'm fairly quickly getting a hand on this domestic thing. Cleaning, cooking, and obsessing over the never ending decor + organizational possibilities, have all recently become past times of mine. My cleaning obsessions have taken it to a bit of a new level, but it always leaves me wondering how I get so messy in such a short time period?? Anyway, my innocent 2-3 hour cleaning rages have turned into myentireSaturdayoff cleaning frenzies. But it's all good. This is more a confession than a complaint. :P My sister's voice always echoes in my head, when I realize several hours of cleaning have gone by and I'm reorganizing our storage closet for the third time since we've moved in, "Gawd jesska, quit cleaning everything!". 

So it happens that I found myself on such a Saturday this past weekend, on the floor in my bathroom organizing my side of the cupboard, which holds of course, 15 times the health & beauty products than N's side. Once I took a look at the recent state of my make up bag I couldn't bare to zip it back up without deciding to give it a good clean. 

This is serious stuff ladies. I have seen some seriously scary looking make up bags and this is me slapping you in the back of the head. Nothing wrong with giving yourself 20 minutes tops on a lazy day to give your daily make up tools a quick bath. :-) don't make me use the "think of the germs" line on you. 

First off, I realize there are plenty of cleaners you can buy for this kind of stuff, but I keep it simple, repeat at least once a month, and my make up + wallet stay happy. 

how to: clean your make-up kit

1. Collect your needed utensils - Towels, paper towels, 2 jars of water ( 1 hot + 1 cold ), Johnson's baby shampoo, and of course your make up bag  

2. Start with your brushes as they will take the longest to dry.

 3. Squirt a little of baby shampoo in the hot water jar ( large mason jars are perfect for this) and give your brushes a good scrub.

 4. Rinse + sometimes repeat. :-)

5. Pat your brushes dry with a paper towel, squeezing out the excess water. 

6. Lay out your brushes to dry - *depending on the thickness and type of brush they could take up to 24 hours to dry. Plan accordingly ladies :) 

7. Empty out the rest of your eye shadows, blushes, lipsticks, etc..take a damp paper towel and give them all a little scrub. Most importantly, don't forget to take your actual bag and dump + scrub out all that gooeyness :-) Lay everything out on towels to air dry. 

8. And if you haven't already noticed in previous shots :-) your face will thank you!!!

good habits, ladies :-) good habits. 

xo . jess 

can't get enough of you.

For the past couple of weeks I've been treating myself to a mani every so often and I've been getting this "chalac" painted on which is this nail polish that lasts for weeks instead of days! It's so cool. You put your hands in these blacklight boxes while they're painting them and the nail polish gets hard and chip proof! 

The first time I did it I just picked this color by random and I've never become so obsessed with a color! #42 Sky blue - I get so many compliments on you!!

Midweek Update:

N and I got to have the day off together today which was amazing! We lounged around the house in the morning, taking our time cooking a delicious breakfast. Sipped on our second cups of coffee while fixing up N's resume and ran errands in the afternoon. Sneaking in a quickie nap before meeting n's ma for happy hour and birthday shopping before heading back to her house for family dinner. 

Sad that I have to go back to work tomorrow which will take me through the weekend closing every, single, day until Monday I think, I'm taking my stuffed self to bed. Please, share with me your weekend plans so I can try and convince myself I won't be running around at work all weekend. I got a little camera happy this afternoon in the car, and who doesn't love classic car pictures?? So yea..I'll share :) despite the sillyness. 

it was so sunny! 

love you co ♥ 

i love me some mr. ray

my little cousin gio. watch out selena gomez and miley!

I hope you have an easy Thursday and if I don't talk to you before hand, a lovely weekend =)

xo . jess

Come on Over to my Place.

So. I sort of love to do girly things. Well okay. That was nothing we didn't already know. But I looooove to do hair and make up. Alright. So we already knew that too, but I'm not gonna lie..sometimes the thought of attending some certain schoolage for this hobby..so for now..to quiet some of these curiosities..I love to make a big deal about doing other's hair and make up. 

It's the most calming thing. I could spend all day doing hair and make up one after another. I'm serious. So serious that I insisted on spending the morning of my wedding day doing all of my 6 bridesmaids' full make up and hair including my mom's and friend Sena's. Everyone asked me up until the very last minute if I was absolutely sure I wasn't going to be stressed and wanted to book a professional instead. But I knew that doing this would keep me calm, entertained, and enjoying myself vs freaking out and stressing. Maybe it's a little bit of controllness (?), but it's more about that fact that physically applying someone else's make up and getting creative with their locks is simply amazing. :-P 

So anyway, lemme get off my soap box here..and share with you these lovely random shots of my selection all laid out for my sister Julie last Thursday so she could come over and pick out accessories and jewelry and have me teach her how to do a smokey eye. Even though I got way into teaching her all the important steps of painting yourself a jet black smokey eye that I sort of forgot to take any pictures and can't really share the steps with you like I had planned. Alas, I only have pictures of my jewelry to share with you :P

I'm such a girl. 

chunky necklaces.

ring collection.

my studs. 

the beginning of a very successful smokey eye. I'll raincheck you. ;)

xo . jess

vanity.

I don't think a day goes by that I don't envision N and I finally having our own space. Our own master bedroom. Our own kitchen. Simply everything our own. A place for me to decorate the walls with our life, friends, and families. For now, and I'm completely content with it, really (!) we are living with my mom, where we actually have quite the space to ourself. 

She has a massive basement, complete with self constructed walk in closet (the thing is huge! It's more of a huge storage area turned into closet in which mr.ray and I can both get dressed in at the same time!), anyway, this basement is more like a little studio apartment for us at the moment and like I said - with the financial situation we're working to get out of by hopefully the summertime, this, for now, is perfect. 

Plus, who wouldn't choose mom's homecooking as long as they possibly can??? :D Especially my mother's! 

So here's our truly humble a bode:

cute huh. 

You may start to find this post super odd and especially girly, more so than usual, but I've been wanting to share this with you forever so you're going to sit here and like it. :) 

Well, I have this one thing I'm pretty proud of and that's my vanity. I have a.l.w.a.y.s. wanted a vanity. I've always hated putting my make up on in the bathroom, and I used to hate waiting for my bathroom mirror to unfog after the shower. Then last year when N moved to Michigan ahead of time without me, I started searching every thrift and vintage store in town to put together my own perfect vanity. Of course I could have just wished for an expensive perfect one from some catalog or store, but who's got that kinda $? :) At least I don't right now and thrifting it is so much better anyways. 

My table is actually an old sewing table. The top layer folds open and the drawers have tons of little spaces, perfect for bobby pins, extra make up and other girly crap you collect like that. 

two of my favorite things: the garter my mom wore on her wedding day that I then wore on mine, and my little sleep mask that helps me when I have a hard time falling asleep. 

A simple comfy chair complete with a vintage gold mirror, a mason jar to hold my brushes (I'm a big brush girl), my favorite picture of my godson, and my favorite item: my vintage jewelry box that I use to hold my make up. It might possibly be the best idea I've ever had. I saw this on another blog mooonths ago, when I first started blogging a good year ago and the other morning when I was doing my make up, it came back to me and so I'm recreating it here in my corner. If you want to play along, I created a linky that I'll keep open till the end of the week! :)

What's in your make up bag?

1.  Mary Kay Concealer - a woman's bf in liquid form. I don't use this everyday, but when I do need it, this Mary Kay Concealer is by far the best. 

2.  E.L.F. Sharpener - pretty self explanatory I believe. 

3.  Urban Decay Eye Primer - This was a piece of wedding make up I purchased. It's aaamazing and doesn't let anything run! But at almost $16 a bottle I use it very sparingly.

4.  E.L.F. Liquid Eyeliner - Impulse buy from Target just couldn't resist the silver, brown, and metallic black. This comes out on special occasions, but every time I do, I realize how much I love liquid eyeliner when it's done right!

5.  Stud Earrings - not a make up bag usual. But, unfortunately for my collection of dangly earrings, I can't remember the last time I've worn anything else but studs. I love my growing collection and I feel funny with danglies, unless it's out on the town. I keep these close in case I feel a sudden change of heart and need a different pair. 

6.  Bobby pins - gotta hold my bangs back somehow when applying my base ;)

7.  Maybelline Eyeshadow - I own a couple of these Maybelline sets. The color combos are always perfect and even though I don't use them that often on myself, they're the first thing I reach for when I'm asked to do someone else's make up. 

8.  Sephora "Perfect Lash Plumer" - I got a sample of this kind in my wedding make up and was so upset when it ran out. It's absolutely worth the $12. No clumps, slightly lengthens and thickens your lashes. 

9.  Make Up For Ever HD Fake Lashes - These were meant again, for my wedding day, but with the mascara I used my lashes were so thick already and my make up flawless that I just went without them. So I'm saving them of course for a special occasion. 

10.  Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stain in "Twilight" - a reeeeally deep deep red, also a special occasion only, but I love it that I always want to buy other colors from the brand. Since sometime last year I've fallen in love with lipstick and then cheated on that with lip stain. You just can't beat not having to worry about your lip color all day. 

11.  Mary Kay Blush in "Sunny Spice" - also something I just recently started using religiously. Now I'm on my second blush brush and experimenting with different shades. 

12.  Make Up For Ever "HD Foundation" #125 - Most amazing foundation that doesn't feel like foundation because it's so light, yet covers your face in a perfectly even shade and doesn't run whatsoever! Of course, from my wedding make up, but I can already tell you that when I run out of this bottle, it just might be the one make up thing I splurge the $35 on. It's fantastic. 

13.  L'Oreal "true match" pressed powder in "Buff Beige" - my favorite go to quick coverage when I've got the day off or just don't want to spend the 15-20min of putting on my full face :P

14. Labello Classic (the best and German chapstick) & CO Bigelow Apothecaries "mentha lip tint" from Bath & Body Works - I used to see them at B&BW and thought "I'd never spend $8 on lip gloss, but it's as if there's chapstick built right in! And for a girl who a) always has chapped lips or b) picks at her lips when they're dry, lip care is a must in my make up regimen. 

Hope you thought this was fun! I'd love for you to play along. So excited to share tomorrow's Hair Too{s}day with you!

xo . jess