Can't Take My Eyes Off of You

Every now and then a cake is simply so gorgeous I must take tons of photo's and share them. I fell in love with this little black and gold number somewhere during the 8 hours I invested in the ruffles alone. We shared a bond that day. Ha. While the ever-popular pink and gold combo has certainly held steady over the past couple of wedding seasons, black and gold is emerging strong and is sure to bring sexy back to the cake table. IT'S JUST SO GLAMOROUS. I cannot get enough. Obviously. I delivered this cake with time to spare and couldn't help moving it around a bit, gathering shots along the way. I love twinkly lights and the amaze-balls bokeh they provide. Here are a few of my favourites! 

Manic Mani How-To's

Essie Turquoise and Caicos

I set out to write this post after sharing a pic on social media of my mani-Monday's.  I love nail polish and love to have a fresh coat almost weekly. A few friends asked that I share the steps I take to keep the polish in place for at least a week. It's no secret I work with my hands, and that takes it's toll on my cuticles, big time. I think one of my favorite parts of the manicure is cleaning up the dry skin around my nail bed. If your hands are in water often, wearing rubber gloves will definitely help, but often I fail to take the time to put them on before scrubbing down cake pans. And yes, 90% of the cake pans are scrubbed by these two hands...have I mentioned that I'm hiring? 

When it comes to manis,  the #1 reason I take matters into my own hands (pun intended) is time. I really despise wasting daylight working hours sitting in a nail salon waiting my turn for a manicure. Even if you have an appointment, chances are you'll wait.  With a full to-do list, I prefer to take advantage of hours between 9p-11p or 6a-8a. That said, I hope my steps work as well for you as they do for me. Shooting the photo's has definitely made me self conscious of my crooked, chubby fingers - blame my German genes for big hands...at the end of the day, they are clearly the set up God wanted me to have and hey...all the better for kneading fondant.  

• Start with clean, dry nails - shaped however you prefer. 

• I apply a cuticle cream to the nail bed that helps to exfoliate the dry skin. Follow the directions on the cream of your choice. I usually leave it on a little longer than the directions because my skin is very dry.

• With a cuticle stick, push back cuticles around the entire nail bed. 

• After washing the cuticle cream off and drying nails thoroughly, the next step is one of the two most important - buff the nail surface with a fine grain buffing block. You can see mine is quite worn and has been around a while. I find these at Sally's Beauty Supply.

• You are not only buffing out any fine ridges on the nail surface you are also helping to dehydrate the nail. Dehydrating (aka removing oil from the nail bed) is critical to keeping nail polish on. 

• Rinse the nail "dust" from buffing and then wipe the nail down with nail polish remover.

• This step is the very most important. You are removing all oil from the nail bed and completely dehydrating the nail. Oils prevent the nail polish from adhering. Even though I use a base coat before the color coat, the nail bed still needs to be completely dry. After you have wiped down each nail, it is important that you do not touch anything else - don't run your fingers through your hair, put on hand lotion, fix a cup of coffee - nothing. The first thing to come into contact with your nail will be what sticks.

• I always apply a base coat of some sort - usually a nail strengthener. I have used several different brands and so far like this one the best. It will go on smoothly and adhere quickly because your nail bed is dry.

• By the time I get through all ten digits with base coat, the first hand is dry and I'm ready for the color. I don't really notice a big difference in brand of color, though the three brands I use the most are Essie, OPI, and Sally Hansen. Most Essie polishes seem thinner and require two thin coats - I don't notice a huge difference between two thin coats or one coat of a thicker polish, but sometimes I think the two thin coats stay better somehow. In this post I'm using OPI Color so Hot it Berns - yes, it is actually spelled "berns" - and I only applied one coat.

• Again, by the time I get through all ten digits, I'm almost ready to go back to first one and apply the top coat. You could wait a couple of minutes to allow the polish to slightly set and then go ahead and apply a single coat of Rapid Dry top coat. I'm currently using one by OPI, but I have also used one by Sally Hansen and don't really see a difference in the formula's.

•  Now, after the rapid dry top coat is applied don't run right into the kitchen and start cleaning or anything. I try to take it easy for a good 20 minutes to let everything set up nice. One thing that can speed drying is to place some ice cubes and cold water into a small bowl and dip your fingertips into the icy water. The cold can help to harden everything up. Another thing that buys you time, so to speak, is to be dressed for a work out before beginning - running shoes and all. Then head out the door for a brisk 30-minute walk - the lack of hand contact with any objects will give time for things set up. Last, but not least, be ready for bed before the manicure process and then sit down with a good book. I typically never take it easy for more than 30 minutes and they set up just fine and last a good week. A week may not seem long enough to you, but for me, after a week I'm ready for a color change and my cuticles are definitely ready for more help. 

That is my entire bag of mani tips and I do hope they work for you as well as they do for me! I think doing a regular buff and dehydrate over time has helped. Dehydrating the nail may worry you that you are stripping too many natural oils from the skin around your nail - but rest assured, once the nail is dry, I rub lots of lotion and cream - sometimes even straight up almond oil - into my hands and cuticles. I really like the lotion with alpha-hydroxy that St. Ives makes. It's my favorite right now and absorbs quickly. 

Happy polishing!!

xox,

A

“Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our family loves adventure. And we love to travel. We have kind of unofficially adopted Emerson’s quote as our family motto. We are blessed to have had opportunities to travel. And when we travel, we love to get outdoors as much as possible. We are a camping, hiking, exploring kind of family.

When we camp, hike, and explore, we find ourselves in national parks. Just this past summer, we visited three national parks, two national monuments, and one national military park. So, it was really no surprise when our son announced that he wanted the theme of his upcoming birthday party to be about national parks.

Theme parties are fun, but my philosophy is that they shouldn’t be stressful. I want to have as much fun as my son at his party (as opposed to being stressed out about getting the party together).  My style of party planning is fairly laid back. I gather items we already own, make easy and thematic snacks, and plan a couple of fun activities. This party was no different.

For the National Park Service cake, I made a chocolate chip cookie cake. After it was baked, I cut it into the shape of the NPS emblem, then iced and decorated it to mimic that emblem. This was fairly easy and became the focal point of the table.

Other snacks included Buffalo Chips (no-bake chocolate cookies) and popcorn.

Since water is a must when hiking in national parks, cold bottles of water were the beverage of the day (it doesn’t get much easier than that).

The table was decorated with items we already owned, most of which were souvenirs from recent trips to national parks. We used stuffed animals, Junior Ranger badges, maps, wildlife signs, postcards and books.

The activities at the party centered around what you might do if you were at a national park. Since most of what you do at national parks is done outside, we set up the party on our back porch. We also set up a tent. Before the party, we asked each participant to bring a backpack and a pair of binoculars.

My husband talked to the boys about reading maps and using a compass while hiking. 

Then, he led them on a short hike in a nearby group of trees. They watched for wildlife (saw a snake), observed plant life, and looked for interesting items along the trail. Many of the boys picked up items and brought them back in their backpacks.

After eating goodies and opening gifts, the boys (as all boys in Alabama do any time they gather) played some two-hand-touch football.

Need more activities for your NPS party?
Try making a geyser (like Old Faithful) using Mentos and Diet Coke.
Play Rattlesnake Tag.
Printables and coloring pages for NPS can be found here.

One blogger posts about a similar themed party: Junior Ranger Party.

Bad Weather, Good Times

What a doozey of a trip across the pond we have had. From an 8-hour flight with no a/c to accidentally falling asleep in the Muslim airline terminal during our 4-hour layover, I can honestly say I have more than once wished I had stayed home. It has been a number of years since I have been the passenger on a flight long enough to include a meal (one could safely question if it really was a meal) and, true-to-form, I found myself wondering just how many hands had touched my salad, how far in advanced was it prepared, and where exactly was it kept anyway? Is it really possibly to keep things sanitary 37,000 feet above the ground? I mean, sanitation (or lack thereof) was the motivating factor behind my successful determination to avoid the in-flight lavatory. Disgusting. Traveling as a party-of-90 is not without struggle - patience topping the list of mountains to overcome. Largely the reason I'm laying low this morning and enjoying my room at the Haydn Hotel. 

We arrived Sunday evening, a little worse for wear, to pouring rain (curse you, weatherchannel.com, for telling us we would be the lucky participants of a 75-degree, sunny climate) and no umbrella. Only one closed-toe pair of shoes in my bag - even these were thrown in last minute - and thankfully a sweatshirt and jacket made it's way into my carry on as the 57 degrees I spent all of yesterday with became the most ill-loved companion thus far. Fashion be gone - a girl has got to stay warm. It's noon on Tuesday as I type, though it feels like I should be sleeping as most of you probably are. The ballet rehearsal yesterday was beautiful and after snapping quite a few shots in the the a.m, I snuck away in the afternoon for an amazing wine tasting at a local vineyard. The enchanting history behind the family-owned vineyard left me wanting to spend an entire summer here learning the process and working among the vines with the fifth generation owner, Eva Wagner, who appears to be about the same age as myself. All things handmade and artisan by nature have appealed to me for as long as I can remember so it shouldn't be surprising that I would want to learn wine-making. 

I don't have have the ability at this time to pull any photos from my camera so I am forced to share only iPad/iPhone pics for now. Thanks for following along!

Aaand We're Off!

Tomorrow's the big day y'all! The Music Man and I are off to Austria. I've made the difficult decision to leave my laptop behind and am going to cross my fingers that my trusty iPad will get me thru. I am already missing my babies and had a brief, but so-serious, thought to just stay here. However, there are quite a few folks at our destination who will be oh-so-seriously annoyed if I not only waste my ticket, but fail to produce my digital end of the bargain. So I've tucked my bambinos in bed with some extra long snuggles and, after locating my almost-lost passport, I am ready. Camera gear in tow. Antibiotics, check (did I mention I have strep?). Nasal decongestant, yep. Too many chargers, adapters, lenses, converters, batteries, tripods, and straps to even count - I and my back may be wishing I had bailed last minute by the time I arrive in Austria after 16 hrs of flight.

I'll be blogging from my iPad (as I'm doing now) throughout our trip - feel free to follow along on our journey. For those of you that don't already know, I'm traveling along with the University of Oklahoma College of Fine Arts and photographing both ballet and choral performances in Eisenstadt, Austria this coming week. About five hours ago, I was handed a video camera and asked to gather footage as well...which is not my forte - I hope they aren't expecting too much. 

Baby Girl - 13 Going on 30

My baby girl is turning 13 next week. She's not the baby, but she is my only girl and her petite stature has forever warranted her the nickname "baby girl". She will always be my baby girl. I could not be more proud of the young lady she is becoming - thoughtful, organized, straight A student. Tender heart. Born again lover of Jesus. Petite frame, but oh-so-strong. 

She's a ballerina, basketball player, seamstress, artist, daredevil, baker, organizer extraordinaire, amazing sister. BEST BABYSITTER ON THE PLANET. Daddy's little girl...for always. I don't know what I would do without her and I can't believe I get to call her "daughter".  

Below are a few is an on slot of shots from her 13 year photo shoot. Thank you, Jesus, for blessing me far more than I deserve.