Mustard!

Typically I go to Target with a list and stick to it (for the most part) and I definitely don't wander aimlessly through the clothes section because I will inevitably convince myself that I NEED something.  Alas I had a moment of weakness the other day and that's where I landed.  The clothing section.  Amoungst aisles and shelves full of wonderful, cozy Fall-ness. 

As I am digging through the stacks and racks, a little gem fell into my posession:  a mustard-colored tank.  I know mustard is not a new color and I realize it's probably been in other people's closets for a while but my closet has been decidedly mustard-free.

Have you ever looked at an item of clothing (whether it's a particular color, cut or style) and always just said no to it .. and then one day you randomly reconsidered it .. and then FELL IN LOVE!?  Yep.  My name is Jessie and I am officially obsessed.

The CORRECT Way to Use Bobby Pins

Did you know there is a CORRECT way to use bobby pins?  There is!  When inserting a bobby pin into your hair, whether it be into a messy updo or to pin back your bangs ... the wavy side should be facing towards your scalp and the smooth side should be exposed.

I feel like this is a giant DUH! for me and yet I have been doing it wrong for so many years.

The reason to do it this way is because the hair closer to your scalp (base of updo, etc.) is anchored more firmly and therefore the squigly part of the pin, which is meant to grab the hair, has something firmer to hold on it.  Not to mention the smooth side of the bobby pin is nicer to look at!

So go ahead .. try it!  Does it feel more secure?  Do you require less pins to hold your hair up?  Have you been doing it this way for years and I am the only person just now figuring this out?  Let me know!

Spring Fever

I love Spring!  It's my second favorite season after Fall.  One of the reasons I love Spring so much is that it carries such a sense of renewal!  Even though our winter was very mild it is still nice to leave the doors open in the house and roll the windows down in the car.  (Of course you have to close it all up after awhile or everything will turn yellow .. haha).  Everything is just so fresh and bright and it simply makes me happy. 

I love nail polish and last weekend I decided it was time for me to update my current hue.  Do you guys have a seasonal favorite?  My Spring/Summer go-to shade is OPI's "Cajun Shrimp".  It is the perfect combination of red and orange and I.Am.Obsessed.With.It.  I decided to click around on Pinterest and assemble other fun Spring/Summer colors.  Of course I probably am not bold enough to wear some of these but the sentiment is there ;)

Jessie's Summer/Spring 2012 OPI Collection

What are your favorite Spring/Summer shades?  Do you have a go to color?  This nailpolish lover wants to hear from you!

25 Ways to Wear a Scarf in 4.5 Minutes

I'm obsessed with scarfs.  I wear them all the time (and maybe my green one more than most).  I typically alternate between 3 different ways of tying them.  I came across this video that showcases 25 different ways to wear a scarf in 4.5 minutes.  I think this is a GREAT tutorial if you, like me, are looking to switch it up a bit.  My favorite is probably the Magic Trick (at 2:36) but they are all great!  Check it out!!

Kohl's Coupon Code

I know it's early but some of you out there (including myself) have started Christmas shopping already.  Some of you just like to shop and are looking for any excuse.  Whatever the reason, I have a coupon code for Kohl's I would like to share.  The verbiage says:

Take an extra 20% off everything.  It's our thank-you for all you do.  Good every time you shop from Thursday-Sunday, November 17-20, 2011.

The coupon code is PARTNER20 and can be used online.

HAPPY SHOPPING!

Jessie, Age 26: The Update

This is how you feel about my waste of a post.  Admit it.

I mentioned here last week that I got bangs.  Was it a little superficial of me to devote an entire post to my hair? Yes.  Am I about to do it again? You bet :)

My hair is a big part of me so that's why it is worth it to me to notate a big change.  With that being said .. I wanted to let everyone know that "The Bangs Experiment of 2011" has been a success!  After washing my hair and playing around I have officially decided I LOVE them!  They are not too short after all (hence the Ramona Quimby remarks) and they are very close to my inspiration pic.  All in all .. they are here to stay (at least until I get bored again ;))

Also, I can't believe I didn't mention this in the last post but .. Kristen dyed my eyebrows!  This is a huge deal (almost bigger than bangs) and I have to say I am totally enamored.  My eyebrows were practically clear and and I was always told never to dye them.  I mean, I didn't even know what color to dye them.. red? ugh.

Anyways, Kristen suggested we dye them .. and seeing as she is a rockstar and I totally trust her .. I said sure.  She nailed it!  She died them not red a gold color.  It's super subtle.  If I point it out to you then you notice, but otherwise, it just looks totally natural. (No I will not point it out to you in real life.  That's going a little too far.) From now on, no matter what I do with my hair I will FOREVER be dying my brows.  It made all the difference!

Like I said before .. Kristen!  Cline's Salon! Go!! She works magic and I heart her!  (Yes, I am a total fangirl .. moving on.) Hope you have a happy hair day!

Jessie, Age 26

I tend to get bored with my hair.  Every 4-5 months or so I decide I want to switch it up.  Since I don't dye my hair (except for that one time .. which won't happen again), my usual outlet involves scissors.  It's usually the same pattern: grow it long, chop it off, grow it long, chop it off.  My hair grows pretty quickly so this cycle can happen every 1.5-2 years.  That's just how I roll.

Usually my changes involve layers or sweepy bangs.  This time around I decided to do something I have never done as an adult .. I got full-blown bangs.  Now I realize in the grand scheme of things .. this is trivial.  But for all my girls out there that have any sort of relationship with their hair .. you totally understand this is drastic.

Another thing I am known for doing is making drastic hair choices and then completely regretting it the next day (once again, thank goodness my hair grows fast).  My most recent example was when I chopped 12 inches of hair off to above my chin.  It was awesome Day One .. Day Five? Not so much.  Well this time around I took my time. I looked up tons of pictures and built up my confidence and decided thick bangs were my "thing" for this go 'round.  Off to the salon I went...

As a side note: If you live near Columbia, SC .. I am totally going to take a sec and plug Cline's Salon in the Vista.  LOVE. THEM.   I especially love my girl Kristen.  PLEASE go see her and let her work her magic.  You will not regret it.  Tell her I sent you. (and no .. I don't get any comps for that .. I genuinely just love her.) Moving on ..

So yesterday I showed up and revealed my inspiration pic to Kristen.  We first both gushed over the gorgeousness that is the model and then Kristen got to work.  The bangs turned out great although the rest of my hair needs to grow out a lot more (note the "Hair Amputation of 2011" mentioned above).  I left beaming.

On the way home I kept looking in the mirror and messing with my new hair.  Here's another tidbit of info:  My hair has a life of it's own .. and I don't argue.  It flips it's own way and, although it can be tamed, it looks stifled when it is.  I generally enjoy my hair's personality so I don't fight it.  When getting one's hair cut, I think most people try to preserve the blow-out as long as possible.  Me?  I can't wait to mess it up.  I spent the whole ride home trying to make it flip and "settle" and all it wanted to do was look perfectly-coiffed. Booo.

I walked in the door and Mark came to meet me and see my hair. He smiled, told me he really liked it and said I reminded him of someone.  He then proceeded to follow me around the house and stare at me trying to figure it out.  After a few minutes he said "You look like Erin from The Office" and that made me happy.

Meet Erin.

The above picture is the closest thing I could find to what I actually looked like when I got home.  The bangs were straight across and everything.  Although I intend to wear them straight down (and thus wanted them cut this way) the majority of the time I will probably just push them to the side.  Since they were blown straight into submission ... I didn't have a choice .. straight down it was.

My plan was to take a shower immediately after dinner and play around with the new cut.  As I was cooking dinner I realized another shower would mean my hair would be washed three times in one day and I couldn't do it.  Too much.  So I stayed on the couch and then went to bed.

I woke up this morning, looked in the mirror and almost freaked out.  Instead of the slightly more mature, slightly edgy hair of yesterday .. I looked like a child.  I was totally discouraged and whipped out the brush as fast as I could manage.


I wish I could read these books again and not be looked at funny for it.

 I was channeling some serious Ramona Quimby hair .. and I looked 8, too!  After much coaxing the situation improved.  I pulled my hair half back and headed to work.  Everyone complimented the cut (although, seriously, who would be like "wow, you ruined your hair!") and several people said I looked "cute".  uh oh.  Cute was not what I was going for.

Any way .. long story short .. I still LOVE my hair but a restyling is much needed.  The first order of business, before we go out tonight, is a shower.  I will let you know my reaction once I get my hands on it and get to play with it some.  It usually falls "just right" and I am hoping this time will be no exception.

On an even happier note, it's officially Halloween weekend!!!!! Woo hoo!  As I mentioned here, Mark and I are HUGE Halloween fans.  This year we are going to a White Trash Bash and I couldn't be more excited.  Mark's costume is pretty epic and mine is fairly good, too.  No doubt I will be posting about it next week.  Until then, Happy Halloween!!

Pinterest, where have you been all of my life?

I have a new obsession.  I can not lie.

Pinterest.

What is Pinterest, you ask?  It's an online bulletin board where you pin pictures and links to all of your interests .. thus Pinterest.  I had heard about this website a while back but never thought I could utilize such a tool.  Then, a few weeks ago, it was referenced on the same day by two separate blogs I follow.  I took it as a sign that I needed to revisit the issue.

I went to the website and requested an invitation.  (By the way, if you are interested in joining, let me know and I will send you a direct invitation.  It's faster that way.)  As I awaited the evite, I began to click through pictures and figure out how everything worked.  I started to grasp how others were using the site and began to realize it could be a wonderful tool and not just a social outlet.

As you probably know by now, I would thoroughly love to be Martha Stewart (sans the jail time) and so I am constantly brushing up on my organizing, cooking, reading and general homemaking skills.  Since I work full-time out of the home and I do not have an unlimited budget or time, I tend to plan more than create.  That's not to say I don't follow through, because I do, it's just that I take a little longer to get to the final result.  I like to break things down in stages, versus completing an entire project outright, because it's generally faster and cheaper that way.

Up until now I kept all of my ideas stowed away in my brain, flagged in emails, etc.  This has worked for me thus far because, as it turns out, I have the ability to store large quantities of inspiration in my head.  I do have a limit though.  A couple months ago I arbitrarily decided to start planning SEVERAL projects .. some large, some small, some for now and some for a year or two down the road.  Crazy, right?  Probably.

I had been trying to think of ways to manage all my plans when I landed on Pinterest.  I realized I could just create a board for projects and store the information in one location.  I can tag pictures or articles or anything.  So this is how I have decided to use it.  I have a board for each room that I want to decorate, recipes I want to make, outfits I want to wear, ways I want to store future belongings, etc.  It's wonderful!  I know there are a ton of reasons and uses it would be good for but, personally, it was a simple decision.

I encourage you to check it out.  Maybe it's not your cup of tea but just maybe it is.  If nothing else, you can at least spend a few minutes looking at pretty pictures :)

A Little Etsy Adoration

Sometimes I forget how much I love Etsy .. then I log on and I am quickly reminded.  This is a picture-heavy post but I wanted to show everyone some of the gems I found during my latest browsing adventures.  If you love something, click on the links below this pics and check them out!  Happy browsing!

http://www.etsy.com/people/LittleHouses?ref=ls_profile

http://www.etsy.com/people/EpiphanysCorner?ref=ls_profile

http://www.etsy.com/people/MamaMaeVintage

http://www.etsy.com/people/DoglegLeftDesigns?ref=pr_profile

http://www.etsy.com/people/Yarisi?ref=ls_profile

http://www.etsy.com/people/LuxeAdornments?ref=ls_profile

http://www.etsy.com/people/nextdoortoheaven?ref=ls_profile

http://www.etsy.com/people/dixieswindow?ref=ls_profile

http://www.etsy.com/people/shannacreations?ref=ls_profile

http://www.etsy.com/people/marci2lynn?ref=ls_profile

http://www.etsy.com/people/ThePoshEvent?ref=ls_profile

http://www.etsy.com/people/WallBling?ref=ls_profile

http://www.etsy.com/people/kristinemays?ref=ls_profile

http://www.etsy.com/people/bedbuggs?ref=ls_profile

http://www.etsy.com/people/rubylovedesigns?ref=ls_profile

http://www.etsy.com/people/necklush?ref=ls_profile

http://www.etsy.com/people/EmbellishedLiving?ref=ls_profile

Matilda Jane

It's not too often that I plug specific companies but this is too cute to pass up.  Matilida Jane is a unique clothing company that I am LOVING right now.  They specialize in children's clothing although they do make a few pieces for adults.

Seeing as I don't currently have any kids, I am left to blogging my love vs. showing it via my credit card ;)  I am obsessed with her little girl dresses!  They are so cute and so unique!  So if you have a little girl or little boy .. check them out!  The site is http://www.matildajaneclothing.com/.