I’m sick.  It’s no fun….not one little bit.  I haven’t been sick like this in quite awhile, and I really want to continue on with normal life, but I can’t.  My body won’t let me.  Bleh*  The one good thing about being sick is getting to lay in bed and watch massive amounts of tv.  For instance, today I have watched:

Friday Night Lights (new to me – Stormie begged me to start watching it)

Gilmore Girls (always watching this)

Pretty Little Liars (okay, it’s a guilty pleasure…)

Project Runway All Stars (Go Mondo!)

Impressive amount of tv huh?  Anyway, I’m hoping that by Thursday I will be energized and full of life.  We shall see;)  Oh, and Stormie will be here tomorrow with a dazzling blog post for you, so now you have a reason to get up in the morning.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about a trip I took to Taiwan in the beginning of 2010.  It could be because I constantly find myself wearing clothes I bought there (amazing shopping btw), or because my new tattoo idea stemmed from my thinking about that trip (as far as the scriptures go).  My time there was life-changing & it will forever be one of my favorite places for many reasons.

I went to Taiwan with my sister and brother-in-law to lead worship for a conference.  We were able to spend a little over a week there before heading over to Japan and I have decided that I MUST get back someday…hopefully sooner than later.  My sister and I have even tried convincing our family to go there for a family vacation (I’m still pulling for that).  Since it has been on my mind so much, I thought I would share a few of my favorite photos – enjoy!

The area that we were in – Ximending, Taipei – is a center for a very large population of young people.  It is amazing.

Scooters.

Every 7-Eleven should have food like this.  I don’t know that I would try it, but they should.

The Starbucks was less than a block from our hotel – lucky me.

View from Taipei 101 – now the second tallest building in the world after the Burj Khalifa was built in Dubai.

Hey, there’s me.

Throwing down some tunes outside for a group of people in Ximending.

By far my absolute favorite photo of my nephew.

Have a gorgeous weekend!

I love leggings.  I found 7 amazing pairs on LookBook, and they are inspiring me so much, I had to share them with you!

Love this pair with little lace triangle cut-outs!

Pattern, color, flats, beret, blazer.  I pretty much love everything about this look.

Lace!  One of my favorite looks – I even love the seams on the inside and outside of the legs.

These leggings are fascinating, and I love the cloud dress.

The detail in the front of these black leggings is uber-cool.  And those Captain Hook boots are pretty sweet.

Oooooh, red velvet leggings?!

The openings in these leggings break up the black and add such great texture to this whole look.  *want*

I want all of these.

I did a bit of looking around and found a few sources for cute leggings:

TopShop

ModCloth

Forever 21

Do you have a good source for cute leggings?  Do tell!

Our Etsy shop has been a little neglected the past few months with our sister’s wedding and Christmas, etc.  We finally were able to schedule a photoshoot last weekend for all the new pretty dresses & other items we’ve had piling up.

These will be listed this week and there is more to come, but here is a little preview:

And in other fun news, we have a new sale section in our shop – $20 shoes!!!

Happy browsing!

Stormie gave me this CUTE pair of vintage shoes this weekend (thanks Storm!), and they were perfect for one of my January Instagrams, so I wanted to snap a few photos of myself in them.

I started clicking, and then I got a visitor…

Me:  Hmmmm.  Still there.  Maybe if I turn and take the photos over here….

Shoot, didn’t work.

Uhhhh, hi.

Oh look, she found a toy…

…and now she’s untying my wrap skirt.

Gotta go.

P.S.  Should’ve named her Shadow.

As soon as I got home from work tonight I finished up painting my new walk-in pantry (photos of that to come soon when I’m finished).  Part of the painting process included the floor…so my house now smells like paint and nothing else – very strong.  I am so excited to finally be finished painting that room though, it seemed to take forever with each little element involved (walls, ceiling, baseboards, built-in cabinets, floor).

Currently, I am hanging out on my couch watching Harry Potter (the first one) for the – gasp – very first time.  A few days ago I finished reading the first book and am now halfway through the second book.  I always said I would eventually read the books and see the movies, they just weren’t at the top of my list.  Since I recently made my co-workers read The Hunger Games series, I told them all I would start on Harry Potter next.

I am enjoying it so far and the plan is to read a book, watch the movies, etc.  So far it’s going well.

Do you like Harry Potter?  If so, don’t ruin anything for me – I know absolutely nothing about it beyond what I’ve read so far:-)

A couple weeks ago, I showed you how to make this Sparkle Headband from Christmas clearance items.  Today, I have another simple DIY made from clearance items – a Valentine’s Day wreath!

I started with a white wreath that I bought for $2 at a thrift store.  You can use one that you already have, or even get one at the dollar store.  I got the red felt hearts from the Christmas clearance section at Target.  $.30 a pack!  I thought they were perfect for V-day, so I decided to make a festive wreath with them.

This isn’t an official “tutorial” because I just kind of made it up as I went along.  I used my hot glue gun to place the hearts in groups on the edges of the wreath.

Then I decided to add “xoxo” to the wreath, so I traced the letters onto white poster board and hung a purple piece of embroidery floss across the middle.

I hot glued the letters to the floss and hung the wreath on my front door with red ribbon.

Cute and easy right?!  I love a good, quick DIY:)

I know you are all just sitting there, at home, wondering what you could possibly do with your weekend.  You have absolutely nothing to do…don’t deny it.

Have no fear, I have just the thing!  Wouldn’t it make your weekend perfect to do some delicious cooking??  I knew it would.

{Tomato & Bell Pepper Tarts}

{Rosemary Garlic Chicken Skillet}

{The Greatest Sandwich Ever}

{Naan}

{Quinoa Patties}

{Gnocchi Mac & Cheese}

{Flourless Chocolate Hazelnut Cake}

{Apple Triangles}

Let me know if you try any of these — and don’t forget to invite me over to share some.

Kiss kiss!

Hi!  It’s been a loooong time since I’ve written about Project Runway, and I finally got around to watching Season 9 a few weeks ago.  I won’t talk too much about it here, in case some of you are waaaay behind and haven’t seen it yet – ahem Stormie; and I also don’t want to bore you – it was a bit of a snooze.  Definitely not one of the my favorite seasons.

One of the things on season 9 that I DID like was the strange stilt-walker challenge.  Each of the models looked like a kooky Tim Burton character.  Loved it!

I can’t really remember much about the Season 9 finale…except that Faith Hill was a judge and didn’t really seem to “get” any of the clothes (go figure).  Sometimes I don’t understand their choices of guest judges.

Honestly, with the exception of Season 8 (one of my favs!), ever since Project Runway moved from Bravo to Lifetime, it just hasn’t been as good.  It’s lost it’s edge.  It’s been formulaic and predictable and since it’s shown on Lifetime (television for WOMEN), the past 4 seasons have seen 3 female winners – and all 3 of them didn’t deserve to win…at. all.  Surprise surprise.

Now, I know it’s starting to sound like I really hate this show and that maybe I should stop watching it (and trust me, I’ve had those same thoughts), but I’ve been watching some of the past seasons lately and it has reminded me why I fell in love with it in the first place.

Season 4.  My all-time favorite season and the BEST final collection by Christian Siriano.  I still remember watching these clothes come down the runway for the first time.  The show gave me chills down my back, and made me hold my breath slightly.  Christian wowed me throughout the whole season, and for me, no one on the show has matched his talent to this day.

Season 1.  My 2nd all-time favorite collection by Jay McCarroll.  I remember being completely in awe when I saw this.  His clothes were so unique, eye catching, and COOL.  I would love to wear them – and they still translate to today’s fashion – even after 7 years.  Jay is amazing, and no other contestant has made me laugh so hard. 

Season 8.  My 3rd all-time favorite collection by Mondo Guerra.  I’ve already written about Mondo here, but I just love him too much to leave him out of this post.  His final collection was so bold, bright and beautiful.  I want that skull t-shirt SO much (oh, and the leggings and tights too!).  He had such a sweet presence on the show, and it was his personality that really connected me to his clothes.  And I guess it doesn’t hurt that he’s based here in Colorado:)

Speaking of Mondo, a Project Runway spin-off called Project Runway:  All-Stars just started a few weeks ago, and Mondo is one of the contestants!  So excited to see him and April busting out the cute clothes again.  I really hope that Mondo wins All Stars though….it’s gotta happen right?

P.S.  Wendy Pepper is still evil.

I am in need of a hair color change again.  I have decided, for the time being, not to cut my hair super short like this lady makes me want to do (maybe at some point though…).  I do want to change the color though…I finally got all of the black out from over a year ago – but sadly, I think I’ve gone too light and I want some dark back.  Dark hair just always seems to work better with my complexion.

I would like your opinion about what I should do though, I am curious as to what other people think looks best on me.  We will move backwards from my most recent colors, to what it was a year ago…

1. This is the red from my last dye-job…pretty bright

2. Prior to my most recent, but typically now what my hair looks like after it fades for a few weeks – SUPER light

3. Still with some dark hues in the tips

4. Random, on-accident-ombre

5. Lots of black left, red at the roots

6. Intentional red ombre with black base (also the most difficult dye-job I’ve tried at this point)

7. Mostly black/dark-brownish (this is typically the color that makes it easier to wear my black extensions and have them blend in)

8. Little blonde/red highlights in mostly black

9. Black

I am wondering if I should just go back to black?….I’m not promising that I can re-create any of the colors or effects exactly as you see them here.  For the most part I just throw some dye in and let my hair interpret it as it wants to…but I am curious, what do you think I should do?