Skin Care Tip of the Week *Tea tree oil*

Some of you may not know that I am a licensed esthetician. I LOVE my job. I find it so rewarding that I can help people improve and feel better about their skin. After four years of working in a medical spa and being told that I had to sell products and treatments that were not good for my clients skin... I had a mini breakdown...and realized that this is not what I had signed up for. I decided it was time to move on. I QUIT. Bye Bye! Cheerio!!

I opened up my own business and now work out of my home.

My clients can always count on me to tell them little tips and tricks that WORK... and the crazy part is you DON'T need to spend over $100 on a cream to see real results. I am going to start a weekly post where I will share some of my tips and little secrets with you.

So lets start with one of my favorites.

Tea Tree Oil

It is an all natural topical treatment that can be used to treat acne. It not only kills the acne causing bacteria but it also reduces redness and inflammation. I am telling you it is AMAZING.

The moment you notice an unwelcome friend starting to appear... use it.

Make sure you get 100% undiluted tea tree oil. You can purchase it at any health food store.

I place mine in the fridge and whenever I notice I am starting to get a little blemish I take a q-tip and dab it on the spot..a few days later...sayonrara sayonara.. ugly zit that was dying to make an appearance and ruin a perfectly good face day is GONE.

celebration

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! This weekend Ian and I celebrated our four year wedding anniversary. Ian surprised me and planned a weekend getaway just the two of us to Del Mar. SO romantic. Our room was not ready when we arrived as promised..so we waited and WAITED... got a couples massage...had a few bloody mary's...and got upgraded to a party suite for our "inconvenience." I am pretty sure we had the best view in the hotel.

My adorable husband had chocolate covered strawberries and champagne waiting in our room.

Dinner was heaven. These were too delicious not to mention. Diver scallops with popcorn puree, candied walnuts and salted caramel.

I am a sucker for Key lime pie. Most definitely the best one I have ever tasted.

In the morning we went for a walk on the beach. I was determined to find a shell...just ONE. I wanted a little souvenir. We walked up and down the beach for over two hours and guess what?!...Not a single shell. Apparently it wasn't shell season yet. Bummer.

There was this little trail that we hiked up that led to the train tracks. The view was unbelievable. As we were walking along, we were saying how we missed Maximus SO so much! At that exact moment we looked down and saw a broken "Maximus" beer bottle. A coincidence? Whatever it was we decided we were going to check out and head back home as fast as we could to see his little face.

first giveaway

I was going to wait until I reached 100 followers to do my first giveaway...but I am not patient so here we go!

I am going to give away one of the four bracelets I have made.

How you can win:

• Leave TWO comments, one comment telling me which bracelet is your favorite and another comment with your blog name.
  
• Since I don't understand Twitter you are lucky! No need to tweet this...I think that's how you would say that. Or is is re-tweet?..anywhoo..

Simple enough!

The winner will be chosen via random.org within a week. Make sure to leave your e-mail under your comment so I can notify the winner!

thrifty momma thursday

Vintage gold bracelet $5

This is probably my favorite thrifted piece of jewelry to date. I may just wear it with everything..everyday.

Vintage ice cream maker SCREAM!!! $8

I am dreaming about all the homemade ice cream that I am going to make over the summer! I got home and thought "PLEASE WORK".....I plugged it in..turned it on... the motor hummed PERFECTLY and and it is ready to do some serious ice cream making.

A couple Dr. Seuss books to add to Max's collection. $1 for both

Thrifting Tip:

If you are a frequent thrifter, learn the employees names and say hello. Be sweet. Be sincere. There is the nicest man named Patrick (who is missing a few teeth) at the Salvation Army. I have made it a point to get to know him. Not only will they appreciate this but they will remember YOU and just might give you a "special" price because you went out of your way to say hello. Give it a try next time you go.

syrian hummus

If I was on the show "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire," and was asked the question "Where does hummus originate from?"...I would without a doubt shout GREECE!! Regis Philbin would give me that face where he hangs his head low and looks at me with great disappointment. WRONG ANSWER. Sad face..and Ian would be mad I just lost out on a million dollars.

According to my international cookbook, hummus originates from Syria. I even Googled it...so it must be true ;)

Ian and I go through a container of hummus about every 3 days. Is this normal? Can you overdose on hummus? Hmmm..

What you need:

• 2 cups of chick-peas
• 2/3 cups of tahini (sesame paste)
  
• 3/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• Parsley leaves
• 1 roasted red bell pepper. This is not part of the original recipe but I added it to give it a little "kick."

Directions:

1)Place the chick-peas, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, salt and roasted red bell pepper in the blender. I love recipes where all you have to do in throw it in the blender!'

2)Place in a small bowl and garnish with parley leaves.

DONE!! Super duper easy!

diy polymer clay beads

I first spotted these unique beads on Etsy. I alllllmost purchased a necklace and a pair of earrings that were handcrafted with polymer clay..but $35 + $7 for shipping....seemed a little steep. So I bookmarked the page (along with a hundred others) and forgot all about it.

I recently discovered a new amazing blog called Hurmur. I am a little obsessed with all her amazing creations and jewelry inspiration. She did a post on polymer clay and it totally inspired me to recreate my own version. I did a little research and polymer clay is SO cheap. Michaels carries blocks of just about every color you can imagine. A whole block is only $1.50!! With one block you can probably make 20+ necklaces or bracelets.

What you need:

• Polymer clay block.
• Razor blade
• Cord. I used leather lace cord.
• Toothpick
• Magnetic closure.

Knead the clay until it is soft and pliable.

Roll however many balls you wish to use.

Using the razor blade, slice off little pieces until you are satisfied with the shape.

Poke a hole in the center with the toothpick.

Put them on a baking tray and bake at 275 degrees for 15 minutes.

Attach metal closure on one end. Thread your beads through. I tied two little knots where the first and last beads were to keep them from moving. Attach other closure and your done!

This entire little project only cost about $5...and I still have enough clay for many more creations!

thrifty momma thursday

Vintage floral skirt $4

My summer wardrobe is going to consist of lots of flowy skirts and maxi dresses..it is just too hot for anything else.

Vintage Trifari earrings $1!!

I am a little obsessed with gold jewelry at the moment...so when I saw these I scooped them right up.

Metallic faux snake skin flats $5

I LOVE LOVE these. I spotted them and thought, "Please be my size!"
They were. It was meant to be.

Lesson learned:
1) If you want to do an outfit post showcasing your thrifted skirt, do NOT do an intense chemical peel a few days before...unless you want to blur out your face. Trust me this is not a good look!

2) This is kind of irrelevant but mean comments suck. I have gotten a few in the last couple days. Ian said I need to get thicker skin...which I agree with, but it still makes me want to karate chop whoever said them. Okay that's all! :)

jamaican rum custard pudding

I have been browsing recipes from my new international cookbook and decided to try out the Jamaican Rum Custard Pudding. MMMmmm!

My top two deciding factors for making a recipe are:

1) How many ingredients you need (more than 9 and I will most likely lose interest)
2) If the recipe calls for you to use more than one pot at a time...I'm out. SAD story we only have one pot!! We DID have 2...but someone decided to melt yellow crayon in it.

What you need:

• 2 cups of milk
  
• 5 eggs, beaten
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon of cornstarch
  
• 1/4 cup of dark rum

Directions:

1) Bring the milk to boil, stirring constantly.
2) Combine the eggs, sugar and cornstarch. Add to the hot milk and cook, without boiling, until the mixture is thickened.
3) Remove from the heat and stir in the rum.

Not too difficult right?!

Since Ian is apparently an expert on custard (I believe last night was his first time having it) he said, "It was a little too custardy and needed more sugar and a tiny bit more rum." Haha! Okay got it.

diy upcycled bangels

I have TONS of cheapy silver bangles that I have acquired. I mean really... how many silver bracelets can one girl own?...A LOT according to my jewelry drawer. So I decided to spruce some of them up!

What you need:

• Scissors
• Hemp cords (as many colors as you like)
  
• An old bangle
  

Pick a color you want to start with. Tie a TIGHT double knot around the bracelet. Start wrapping the hemp cord around the bracelet. Tuck the strand from the knot (second picture) on the inside as you wrap.

When you are ready to add your next color, tie a tight double knot next to were you left off with the previous color. Wrap like you did with the first color. Keep the other hemp string tucked behind.

Alternate the colors as much or little as you like....tucking the
previous color as you go

When you reach the end, double knot the cord and cut the loose end.

Since you cant have just ONE bangle..I made two :)



thrifty momma thursday (even though it's friday)

2 bright colored Pyrex bowls to add to my little collection

A few classic cookbooks. I cant WAIT to try a few recipes from "The New York Times International Cook Book."

A few that popped out were:

• Stuffed grape leaves with Avgolemono sauce from Greece
• Rum custard pudding from Jamaica
• Stuffed mussels from Turkey
• Mahashes from India

A vintage bronzed necklace.

Cast iron baking dish. So excited about this one!

I decided to do a weekly post where I will post all things thrifty. It will include awesome little thrifting finds, thrifty tips and just about anything else thrifty that fits in this category.

I'm gonna be totally honest (I know this is never a good way to start a sentence), this time last year you would never ever see me thrifting. If I did it was up in Big Bear where no one would see me. I had a stigma that everything I bought had to be brand spankin new.

Now I can proudly say that I go thrifting at least 3x per week and find the most amazing things! What changed?...Well I had a baby and all my extra spending money went bye bye! So I decided to get creative...a that is how I became a thrifty Momma ;)

I would also LOVE love to hear about your thrifty finds or tips. So if you want to share, leave a link of your thrifty things in the comments below so I can check it out!

chilled avocado cucumber soup

My family loves avocados. I recently discovered a little farmers market shop that is open all week long. They sell giant bags of local organic avocados for $4! Great deal. So every Monday Max and I head on down to pick up some fresh ones for the week.

Chilled avocado soup is something I have always wanted to make. It seems so elegant and sophisticated (at least I think so)...so I had this preconceived notion that the recipe would be super complicated... which means I would most likely screw it up. I have a bad track record when it comes to soup making. I once decided to make a completely salt free minestrone soup (HELLO minestrone soup NEEDS salt) and Ian said it tasted like water downed cat food. So when I saw this recipe I thought, "I can DO this." I modified a few ingredients to make my own variation and I could not have been happier with the way it turned out.

What you need:

• 1 cucumber, peeled and sliced...save a little for the garnish
• 3 ripe avocados, peeled and sliced
  
• 1 tbs of lemon zest
• 3 tbs of lemon juice
  
• 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro (used the cilantro from my garden..YEAY) save a little for the garnish
  
• 2 cups of plain non-fat Greek yogurt (my favorite brand is Voskos)
• 1/2 cup cold water
• a few dashes of sea salt (I never measure this stuff)
• about 6 dashes of pepper

Directions:

1) Combine all the above ingredients in a blender..and THAT'S it!!! I know easiest recipe ever right?!
2) Top it with the cucumber and cilantro garnish. DONE.


It was such a delightful, light and refreshing meal.

Lesson learned: YES it was delicious!!...but if you have a big guy for a husband he needs more for dinner. I spotted Ian raiding the fridge after my soup dinner ha!

repurposed mug tree

Found this little thingamajig at the Goodwill for $1. To be totally honest..I had no clue what it was. But I knew it had a purpose. I PROMISE I am not hoarding useless junk!

Google rocks. I entered in the description and hit "images" and a bunch of these mug trees popped up.

Spray painted it white...and hung some of my jewelry.

Okay...I am not TOTALLY stoked on it..only my shorter necklaces fit...and they were still getting a little tangled but OH WELL. At least some of them will avoid the tangled mess party in my top dresser drawer.

Momma's Day

We drove to Laguna Beach and had a beyond lovely day!

Today was my very first Mother's Day! I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful man.. and a baby who is the happiest little guy ever. Ian went over and above to make this day special. He thought of everything. I was totally spoiled...and I loved every second of it! What a lucky girl I am to have these two boys in my life.

I hope all you Momma's had a special day!

diy distressed picture frames

Bought all these frames for a total of $5 at my favorite, secret..moving soon (BOO) thrift store.

Hand sand them down to remove any shininess.

Paint them all white (or whatever color you like) using the dry brush technique.

When the paint dries, hand sand them again to give them the distressed look.

Here is a finished frame.

All finished..waiting for them to dry completely..I hate waiting!

I am not gonna pretend like I'm a fabulous decorator and have always know what I was doing because that's not true. As a matter of fact decorating is one of my BIGGEST challenges. It took me two years of being in my house (and lots of wasted dollars) to finally figure out what exactly I like. To sum up my up style it's a little French country, a tiny bit shabby chic, a tad anthropolgie inspired, with hints of Pottery Barnish influenced decor.

I have always wanted a family photo framed wall...and was a little discouraged when I was researching the kinds of frames I wanted and the ridiculous costs..so I decided to recreate them myself. Surprisingly they turned out how I pictured..love when that happens because it doesn't happen often ;)