Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Sunshine Blogger Award

(source)
Alia of "Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining" has nominated me for something called the "Sunshine Blogger Award". Seems to me the purpose of these nominations is to bring a little sunshine to other bloggers by nominating them if they have brought sunshine into your lives through their blogs.

I thought it seemed like a cute idea, so why not have a little fun - get to know some other bloggers, and pass along the sunshine?

I love the idea of the community that comes with blogging - between other bloggers and readers. It's something that I would love to achieve with my own blog, so I figured this is a good opportunity to get to know a few people just a little bit better. :)


The Rules:
1. Post 11 random facts about yourself
2. Answer 11 questions from the nominating blogger
3. Nominate 11 bloggers that you feel bring sunshine to the blogging world. (Be sure to notify them)
4. Write 11 questions for your nominated bloggers

So here we go then

Part 1 ~ 11 Random Facts About Me.


1. I over analyze and over think everything. I couldn't decide what my first random fact should be and this is the result!

2. Through High school (College in NZ) I played hockey - field hockey - none of this ice hockey business. I am clumsy enough without adding ice in the mix.

3. I am 1/8th Indian - Might explain why I love curry so much (but makes me wonder why I have zero tolerance to spicy foods...)

4. I only now, in the last month, bought a smartphone - and up until then I had gone 2 years without any phone at all. I have finally caught up with the times & I love it!

5. I am fascinated by random American things that most people wouldn't think twice about.

6. After living here for 2 years I have lost most of my original accent and sometimes stop to say a word in "Kiwi" if I realize I have said in with a different accent.

7. I studied Fashion Design for two years. 

My final range for my first year.

8. I have also studied Biology, Classics and Ancient History. All of which are my favourite subjects.

9. I love Sci-Fi & nerdy things - I am a total Trekkie and my absolute favourite show is Firefly.

10. Coffee makes me want to sleep. I prefer tea or hot chocolate.

11. I have had many different pets - frogs, mice, rabbits, a pony, cats, dogs, a lamb, fish, hermit crabs.


Part 2. ~ Alia's Questions For Me


1. What's your favourite movie?
Hmm... this is a question that I always have trouble answering... I don't have a favourite movie as such - It changes often and fully depends on my mood or many other things. One of the movies - or rather Trilogy of movies - that means the most to me is Lord of the Rings. It reminds me of home and makes me proud that I come from "Middle Earth".

2. Do you have a special talent? I don't think so. I think the closet thing to a special talent is that I can play violin - I took lessons for seven years when I was younger and only recently picked it up again. I love being able to read and play music. It is one of the skills I will always cherish.

3. What's your favourite colour?
Probably purple. It's the colour that I think suits me best.

4. How many languages do you speak?
Just the one - and various random bits of other languages that would never be helpful in the real world.

5. If a fantasy world was real, which one would you want to live in?
Lord of the Rings. I would totally be a hobbit. Living in a cozy hole in the ground, eating constantly throughout the day and just generally being lazy and comfortable.

6. What's your favourite animal?
Probably cats - I am such a crazy cat lady. Since my parents bought me a cat for Christmas when I was seven I've absolutely loved them. That cat was my best friend for 14 years - and now since moving to the US I've gotten two over here that I love to bits.

7. How would you describe your personal style?
Lazy. I have to admit that I don't have much style at the moment. I am basically a hermit housewife and don't get out enough to justify buying fancy clothes. So I just love wearing something that is practical and comfortable and I am not ashamed to admit how much I love my fluffy PJ pants and socks - especially now it's starting to get so chilly.
Kiwi <3

8. Do you have any pets?
Yes! Two cats - named Kiwi and Kaylee. We also have two hermit crabs that we picked up on vacation in Galveston. I forget their names... I think one is Fluffy and one is Glowy. (The kids named them.)

9. What are some of your hobbies?
Photography, Blogging (obviously), Video games, Sewing and Craft. I like to draw when I have motivation to. I love to Snowboard. I will occasionally pick up my violin when I have music I want to learn.

10. Television or movies?
Usually I prefer television. Mostly because I don't like sitting still for 1-2 hours at a time. I like television because it doesn't require a lot of my attention and I can be doing other things while watching/listening.

11. Where were you born?
In Takapuna, North Shore City, New Zealand.

Part 3 ~ My Nominees

I'm very new to this blogging universe and I'm going to have to go off script here because I don't follow enough blogs to nominate 11. I have spent a few days browsing on bloglovin and found a couple of blogs that I have chosen to follow. So here are the lovely ladies and their blogs:

Jenna Spayd ~ Freckled Fashionista
Kristina Ross ~ Kristina in Retroworter
Jamie Hart ~ You Gotta Have Hart
Louise Nickel ~ Beauty and Louise
Hemylle Karollyne ~ A Chick-Lit Diary

Part 4 ~ My Questions


1. If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go and why?
2. If you could travel to any point and place in history where would you go?
3. Which person do you admire most?
4. What app could you not live without? (Or website or other such thing)
5. What is your most prized possession?
6. What is the number one make up product you would recommend to someone?
7. Whats one piece of advice you have been given that you would give to someone else?
8. Why did you start blogging?
9. What is one thing you want to accomplish with your blog?
10. What is your favourite part about blogging?
11. What is the number one thing that draws or attracts you to a blog?

Well that's it all, I hope I didn't babble on too long. I had fun answering and coming up with my own questions. I'll have to find more of these things to do in the future. :)

KD <3

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Girls Desk Makeover!

So, we wanted to add a desk area in the two younger girls rooms so that they would have somewhere to do their homework. Up until now they would just sit at the dining room table and there are usually just too many distractions going on for them to be able to concentrate fully.

After looking around for awhile we just couldn't find anything that would work for the space- it's quite a cramped little corner in their room between the bunk bed and the wall where we used to keep a bookcase. 

So, the idea was forgotten for awhile. Until a couple of weeks later I spotted a very basic white desk sitting out by the dumpster that looked perfect. I grabbed my tape measure and made sure it would fit before lugging it inside up a flight of stairs. (Yup, I am definitely not too proud to take things from the dumpster. I did inspect it and give it a good clean though.) :).

Now I needed a chair... We have had this one sitting out on the patio for a few months waiting to be taken to the dumpster, lucky for us I hate throwing anything away and had avoided it. It was rough and weathered since it had been sitting outside for so long, so I took a trip down to the Home Depot to pick up the stuff to sand it down and paint it - I don't know a thing about paint really, so I just grabbed something that said "white" and looked about the size I needed. I did my best to smooth out the wood - though I really needed a coarser sandpaper to remove the previous varnish properly. It took me two days to do two coats and wait for the drying time between them, but I am very happy with the end result and now it matches the desk!

I wanted to make the area all colorful and cute to try and encourage the girls to use it - and keep it tidy. 
I was feeling especially crafty and creative that day. :)
I wanted to make them a cute little organizer for their pens & pencils etc.
I used some toilet rolls, a box from an alarm clock, crystal pebbles that I had sitting in jars for decoration, pieces of scrap-booking paper and these colored foam square thingies that I had sitting in the craft box. There wasn't a plan, I just kind of winged it - and it turned out pretty cute :).


I added a few extra details - a painted glass beer bottle all prettified with some fake colorful daisies - a whiteboard with a couple of flower magnets I glued together - a pink lamp and their alarm clock. It's not perfect but the best I could do with what I had on hand. All I ended up paying for the entire thing was $10 for the paint and sandpaper. :)


I'm quite happy with it! Now to see if it gets kept tidy enough to be used.

KD xx

Friday, November 15, 2013

Review ~ Sally Hansen Sugar Coat

Time to take a crack at a product review! :)

~*~ Sally Hansen - Sugar Coat in Royal Icing ~*~

I was excited when I saw this polish in the store. The pictures made it look sooo pretty and perfect and I just had to buy one and try it for myself.

I picked this light blue sparkly colour - just 'cause I love the sparkly stuff and I thought it would be great for winter and Christmas holiday nails.

When I first tried it out I was a little disappointed. I guess I expected the colour to cover more than it did. It was actually a transparent - slightly tinted blue. Luckily I had a light blue polish that I used as a base coat which matched the colour nicely.

I found the sugar coat polish quite difficult to use. It went on very uh... gunky (such a creative descriptive word for ya.). It was uneven and dried very, very slowly. I had to redo a few nails from scratch because it would rub off at the slightest touch. I finally got it to look half decent by applying a topcoat almost immediately after applying the second coat of the sugar polish. It was also quite hard to get it looking neat and tidy. The little bits and sparkles in the polish got everywhere, and even when I tried to neaten up the edges with a Q-tip they stayed behind.

Base Coat - Sally Hansen Insta-Dry no.425 "Blue-Away"
Top Coat - Sally Hansen No-Chip Top Coat

The end result was quite nice. Not as perfect as the advertisement, but that might just be a skill thing... I've tried it again since and it turned out slightly better. The textured coating is a nice effect, though with a second coat and a top coat it's not as obvious. Also - without the top coat the texture can get a bit annoying - snatching on clothes and things.

End opinion - Quite a pain to apply, but a pretty sweet end result. A nice manicure for when I feel like something a bit different and have the time to mess around with multiple coats. :)

KD xo

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** Disclaimer: I am not a professional by any means - these are just my personal opinions and observations as a consumer and  as a converted nail polish addict. If you enjoy reading this and get something out of it then wonderful! If you disagree with anything I've said then leave me a comment! **
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