Makeover Monday: Purple Grey Nails

Okay it's not Monday, but I couldn't wait to share!!

So it's been months since I last did my nails.  I usually look forward to a Sunday night nail pampering routine to help me get started for the week.  Every Sunday I would set out my nail kit in hopes of motivating me to get my nail life!  I would even go as far as clipping and filing my nails, but never painting them. I even took the time out to create cute designs on Gracee's nails, but still not painting my own at least one solid color.  I think I get in a rut most of us Moms fall into, and that's constantly neglecting ourselves.  We don't take the time to treat ourselves nice...even with something as simple as painting our nails!

As you can see from the picture...my nails got laid hunty! It took me coming home from an awful travel experience from my Thanksgiving vacation to finally do my nails.  After a week and half vacation of chipped, uneven, ratchet nails and toes...I had to get it right and get it tight!

The first thing I did (was laundry...but besides that) when I was able to sit in my bed was my nails! I told myself it was going to be my first priority...no ifs, ands, or buts about it!  I am happy that I did it because I already feel pretty! Sometimes a Mama just need a little something to make her feel pretty.

I recently purchased this Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Extreme Wear in the color #330 Grey Area.  I love that it's a purple grey. The dark color is stylish and perfect for the cold weather months!

Mommies...I challenge you to do something nice for yourself very very soon!

Makeover Monday: Little Girl Christmas Nails

Even though Thanksgiving is just around the corner, Gracee and I are getting ready for Christmas.  We started off with doing these cute Rudolph and Santa's Hat nails!  They are not perfect, but not bad for an amateur nail artist like myself!

Here is what we used to create these cute little nails.  We also used cutips, toothpicks, and a whole lot of praying that they come out halfway looking like a Rudolph and Santa hat!

So now that the little one is squared away for the week..maybe I can find some time to do my own nails! Okay that was wishful thinking!

Fashionista Friday: Little Girl Plaid Dress OOTD

This Friday I will feature Gracee...my eight year old daughter's OOTD!  A few months ago we went school shopping at Old Navy and found this super cute plaid dress.  All we did was pair it with leggings and added some converse.  Super cute right! This dress is perfect because it can be worn in warmer and cold months.

Plaid Dress: Old Navy Kids
Grey Leggings: Old Navy
Converse: Ross

What I Wore Wednesday: Pattern Mixing

I think that pattern mixing is very cool, but I have always been afraid to do it.  I mean what if I walked out looking like it's mixed up wacky day?  I have always stayed away from it until recently.

Red Bobs: Some store in Vegas LOL
Black Skulls Sweater: H&M
Black Skinnies: Target
Black and white striped tank: H&M

After doing my pinterest research on pattern mixing I became more confident in doing it on my own.  My key tip in pattern mixing is to make sure you have one common color to bring the patterns together.  Pictured above my color is black!

Fashion Face-Off Friday: Red Skinny Jeans

What do you guys think about a new segment: Fashion Face-Off Friday?  If you have been following me for awhile, then you know that I love me some Pinterest! My "Fashionista" board on Pinterest has like a million pins.  I'm dead serious, okay maybe a few thousand, but you get the point...a LOT!  Pinterest is my go to on fashion and how to wear certain styles.  Am I a loser because at night I go to my Pinterest board to pick out an outfit to wear the next day?  Come on I know you guys do that too!

Okay I will be a loser alone, but I always get the most compliments when I replicate an outfit I found on Pinterest.  When I bought my first pair of red skinnies from Old Navy months ago, my pointer finger got a mind of its' own pinning red skinnies ideas.  Below are two looks I came up with.

Picture from: http://shop.nordstrom.com

This look is super cute.  Perfect for work or play.  I chose to wear this ensemble to work.  I am lucky that my job allows us to dress very casual if we want to.

So...who wore it better? You guys better vote for me! Just kidding, the model is definitely doing her thang, but I did do a good job of working with what I had in my closet!

Outfit Details:
Neckalace: Gifted
Denim Top: Old Navy
Blazer: Belk's
Jeans: Old Navy
Grey Bob's: Gordman's

You will never believe that I came up with this look all on my own! I am learning!!!

Outfit Details:
Top-Thrifted
Ribbon-Old, from and old skirt
Jeans-Old Navy
Nude Flats-Payless

Makeover Monday: Mini Animal Print Nails

My 8 year old, Gracee, asked me to do her nails in a cool way.  She and I are used to having my niece do our nails in really funky styles!  I just collect a lot of cool nail art on my Nail Crush Pinterest board hoping to come remotely close to recreating the looks.  Gracee scrolled through and asked me to do an animal print one.  I decided to give it a try.  Here is what I came up with.

Picture on left: Mallory +prettynailsbymal on Webstagram

I don't think I did too bad.  It was 8 year old daughter approved so I must have did pretty good.

To create this look I used Sally Hansen Xtreme wear #340 mint sorbet as the main coat.  Sally Hansen Xtreme wear #220 celeb city was used as the base on the accent nails.  Wet n Wild Wild Shine 424A black was used to decorate with.  I used toothpicks and cutips to do the designs.

Overall they came out pretty cute! Not bad for a novice like myself! Stay tuned to see other nail art I try to recreate!

Sunday Family Workouts

The family that workout together...stays healthy together!  Hubby and I are big into health and fitness.  He is in the Army and is known as a "PT Stud".  He is in top of the line shape!  I on the other hand admire his consistency and drive.  I love exercise and really love to challenge myself but I know I'm not on his level.  I love to lift weights, run, zumba, spin class, Insanity, P90X, etc.  Basically I will try any exercise and enjoying doing so!

With Hubby and I usually working out 6 days a week, quite naturally our kids understand the importance of physical activity.  They have tried different types of activities as well such as kung fu, karate, t-ball, soccer, swimming, gymnastics, dance, and basketball.  They of course do not do all of these at once, but at different times of the year.  Recently we discovered a kids zumba class at our gym on Saturdays that they love!  We try to not only be an example to them, but introduce them to different activities.

On the weekends we like to incorporate exercise into our family time.  All summer we have been teaching them to ride their bikes without training wheels so that we can all ride together one day or they can ride while Hubby and I run.  So far we have been successful at teaching Gracee, but is still working on little Georgee.

Since we aren't at the point of having both kids ride their bikes without training wheels, we improvise and let Georgee ride his bike (with the training wheels on), and Hubby and I take turns running while the other one walks with the kids.  When it's my turn to run, I encourage Gracee to run with me.  She is actually very fast, but suffers from a little disease called Lazyitis!  She will run with me for a few seconds and then say she is sweating too much and is too tired.  I keep running and motivate her to take a little break and continue on.  Usually on the walk back I end up giving her piggy back rides because she is tired, but it gives me extra strength training to add to my cardio.  Why not kill two birds with one stone?

On a recent family walk, Hubby decided to pack his bookbag super heavy and do a rucksack march while I did my running.  Both kids walked.  On the way back home, Hubby let me wear the bookbag and I almost toppled over.  It was heavy to hold up, but I walked with it part of the way to again add strength to my cardio.  It felt great!

The moral of the story is that you don't have to have any type of formal exercise to do with your kids to be healthy and fit.  Just go outside and improvise!  Walk, run, bike, hike, or march.  Do whatever floats your boat to keep you all active and enjoying each other.  Remember to be the ones to teach them about living a healthy lifestyle.  Be the example!

Breast Augmentation 6 Months Update

Happy Birthday to my girls!!!!!!! I can't believe that my girls are 6 months old! As I said before, I feel like I have had them all my life! I am still utterly and completely in love with them.  I even told my husband that they are my prized possessions! I have never had anything that I purchased that I absolutely loved, until I got my new boobs!

I feel like my boobs have gotten a little bigger.  I read that this happens as they settle and fluff in which they will continue to do so for another six months.  They have dropped a lot which I think makes them look very natural.  Overall I love how natural they look.  Most people cannot tell that they aren't real.  Some girls would be pissed about that because they want them to be noticed, but I'm somebody's wife and mother! I am not interested in the porn star look.  I will leave that to JWOW.  I am just happy to fill out my clothes and be pleased with what I see.

Not much has changed with them.  They still feel completely real.  They are very squishy and soft.  I always say they feel more like a water balloon.  They are very movable.  They do not feel heavy.  The only time that I feel them is when I do certain weight lifting exercises, and there are very few exercises that I do that make them feel uncomfortable.  I am sure very soon I will be able to do any exercise.  As far as exercise I am back to being able to lift heavy weights.  I can run and do challenging and strenuous exercises again.

I continue to sleep just fine. I can sleep on my stomach comfortably.  I notice that I have to put one of my arms across my rib cage to create a barrier for my boobs to lean on so there isn't too much pressure on them.  It feels comfortable for me to sleep this way on my stomach.

I still use vitamin E oil and coco butter on my girls twice a day.  Sometimes I even use lubriderm when I get small itchy spots on them.  It usually clears it right up.  I would like to try a scar cream or strips and will save that for another post.

Bra shopping is definitely difficult.  Most stores don't carry a variety of 32DD or 34D bras.  When I do find bras in my size I usually get all that they have which is usually like 4 or under.  I usually buy bras at Ross and Victoria's Secret.  I realize that I have to wear a maximum support sports bra when working out.  Those are even harder to find.  They are also very expensive.  I have been having all sorts of trials with that, and that too I will save for another post.

I do not have to return to see my PS, but was told if I have any problems I can always come back.  So far so good! Besides all that, everything is going great! Oh and all of my clothes still fit great. I have ran across 2 button up shirts that don't fit anymore,but that's about it.

Anyway that's about it so tata for now!

BTW: I didn't wear strapless tops or dresses before because I didn't have much to hold it up LOL!

Favorite Natural Hair/Curly Hair Products (2014)

At the beginning of my natural hair journey I was indeed a product junkie! I was eager to try any and all natural hair products.  I wasn't breaking the bank because I'm one cheap sistah, but I did accumulate a lot of products.  I would usually wait until I ran out of one to try a new product.  I would also purchase new products when they were on sale.  Walgreens usually have the best BOGO sales!

I am now a little over two years natural and I notice that I just stick to what I know and like.  It's been awhile now that I don't buy many natural hair products.  I rarely have time to play in my hair and experiment with products, so I have become accustomed to just using what works and re-buying them.  Listed below are my favorite products that I use over and over because they do what I need them to do!

Shea Moisture: African Black Soap Balancing Conditioner
This product can be purchased at Target for around $10.  It has tea tree and willow bark extract in it.  It is great for dry, itchy scalp.  It has a host of great ingredients in it (coconut oil, avocado oil, mango seed butter, etc).  It has no sulfates, no parabens, no phthalates, no paraffin, no gluten, no animal ingredients, etc.  It claims to moisturize and detangle hair while soothing itchy, dry scalp.  I tried this conditioner after loving the deep conditioner in this line.  My hair seemed to love it so I decided to try the conditioner.  My hair absolutely love it!  I use this product as a leave in for my wash and go.  It leaves my hair soft, defined, and moisturized.  I can't seem to go without it.  I have found that other Shea Moisture leave-ins don't work as well as this one for my hair.

Biomega Silk Shampoo
I have used this shampoo even before I went natural.  My Mom got it for me from a beauty supply store.  I think it's either $30 or $60.  My Mom got it on discount.  It's 32 ounces and lasts a long time.  Probably because I only shampoo my hair every few months as well.  It claims to silken and smooth hair for frizz-free manageability and vibrant shine.  It is sulfate and paraben free.  Again, I only use this maybe every 2-3 months.  I feel that it does not make hair feel stripped.  My hair still feels moisturized and cleansed.  It must help with frizziness because my hair is rarely frizzy these days.

Tresemme Naturals Nourishing Moisture Conditioner
This product is hands down my favorite.  It's on my holy grail list.  It's a product that I cannot live without.  I have to keep stock of it at all times.  You can purchase it at Walmart or Target for under $5.  It is a silicone free conditioner with aloe vera and avocado in it.  I use it to co-wash with.  I usually co-wash my hair 2-3 times a week, so I definitely need lots of this.  It does last quite awhile though.  I like to slather this conditioner in my hair and tie it back to let it sit in my hair for a few minutes.  I detangle my hair while it is still in because it has awesome slip! It is really easy for me to finger detangle my hair with this in.  I rinse it out and sometimes add back in about a quater size to leave in.  I have used this product in the past to deep condition my hair and used it as a leave-in.

Aubrey GPB Balancing Protein Conditioner
I purchase this product at my local natural grocery store for around $12, but I'm sure it's at Whole Foods as well.  It is a protein conditioner that claims to be a blast of nutrients to strengthen and replenish hair.  It has great ingredients in it like grapefruit extract, castor oil, rosemary oil, etc.  It features glycoprotein, milk protein, and organic aloe.  It is paraben, cruelty, and phthalate free.  It works best if used right after shampooing and left in for a minute or two.  After rinsing out I suggest following up with a good deep conditioner.  Otherwise your hair won't feel as soft.  This is the only protein conditioner I have used, but I love it.  I can definitely tell the difference in my curls after using it.  They are shiny, defined, and seem to pop!

My Own Shea Butter
I have tried a lot of different oils and it has been difficult to find one that really moisturizes my daughter's hair. I read a lot about shea butter and decided to try it.  I ended up making up my own mixture with shea butter and different oils, and it seems to work perfectly.  For my recipe check out my DIY Shea Butter Mixture.  I use this not only in my daughter's hair, but also sometimes in my wash and go, and in all my protective styles. It really moisturizes and defines my braid outs and twist outs.  I purchase my 100% shea butter from beauty supply stores for around $7.  You can also order it online.

Spectrum Organic Virgin Coconut Oil
Another holy grail product of mine is coconut oil.  I use it on everything.  I use it to cook with, on my skin, nails, body, and even in my dog's food!  My husband jokes that I think that coconut oil cures all.  Sir it really does!  For hair purposes, I use coconut oil to oil my scalp.  I usually massage it into my scalp after I co-wash it.  Sometimes I add a little to my ends.  I have used coconut oil to help deep condition my hair as well. It really is a miracle product. It can be purchased at Walmart for around $6, but I get mine from the commissary for less than $5.

Suave Naturals Daily Clarifying Conditioner
I'm sure this product can be purchased anywhere conditioners are sold for less than $1.50.  It is a daily clarifying conditioner with light conditioners for normal to oily hair.  It has a small list of ingredients that I cannot pronounce.  I use it simply to clarify my hair before I co-wash it.  It is thick and smooth, but don't have as good of slip as the Tresemme Naturals.  I use it once a week during co-washing.  For the price, it gets the job done.

Product not pictured is my oil mixture.  I usually re-use an old container and mix together any oils I have on hand such as extra virgin olive oil, grapeseed oil, coconut oil, tea tree oil, etc.  I mainly use this mixture on my daughter's hair to oil her scalp, but it works great on my scalp as well.

So these are my favorite products as of right now.  Even though I'm pretty committed to these, I am still open to trying out new things.  I just have to always keep these on hand!

Mother Daughter Maxi Dresses

Let me see if I can tip toe into this blog considering I have been MIA for months! I will apologize now so please forgive me.  I work full time, I'm an Army wife (that's a job within itself HOOAH!), and my two children are both in school with lots of homework and after school activities! It's amazing that I can remember to feed them or even have time to shower myself! Simmer down guys, my kids are well fed and I'm quite clean, but you get the point. I'm one busy lady! This blog is my intro into getting my mojo back so bare with me.

I am not the type of Mom to dress my kids alike, dress exactly alike as a family, or even dress myself and my daughter alike.  I mean it's awesome having a little mini me, but I never want to come off cheesy. Now if dressing alike floats your boat...keep sailing because it's cute, but not something I really got into before.

Now this is the moment where I eat crow, or on Father's Day morning (yes I know this post has been needing to be written forever ago) to be exact.  Gracee (my 8 year old) and I were getting dressed to take my husband out to a Mexican brunch for Father's Day (yes it was super delicious), when she decided to wear her maxi dress.  I thought this was ironic considering I had already ironed my maxi dress that was similar.  At first I thought about wearing something else, but decided, well this could be fun.  I just knew that my oppositional daughter would protest when she found out I would be wearing the same dress, but like me she thought it would be cute.  So this is what we came up with.

Gracee's dress is from Ross for around $10-14.  Her sandals are also from Ross.  Her jean jacket was gifted from my Mom.  In the picture below her sweater is from Old Navy (on sale), and her shoes are BOBs which were a gift from my Mother-In-Law.

My dress is from Forever 21 ($10). My sandals are from Famous Footwear ($20-30).  My jean jacket is super old...like way older than my daughter (college days). My shoes in the picture below are BOBs from Gordman's ($40).

So what do you think? Yay or Nay to dressing alike?

Breast Augmentation 3 Month Update (Before and After Pictures)

I can't believe I have had the girls for 3 months now! I really do feel like I have had them forever.  They definitely feel naturally apart of me.  I went to my 3 month appointment with my PS and he said they look great!  They have fell considerably even though I can still remember them being up in my collar bone.  I love where they sit at now, but have been told by others that if I love them at 3 months, I'm going to love them even more at 12 months!  I have heard that they will still fall a little more over the next few months.

I love that I am able to fill out all my tops and dresses now.  All of my clothes still fit in the same size as before, but I actually fill them out now.  It's so fun to not have to wear a bra all the time.  I love to wear maxi dresses and rarely wear a bra with them now.  Before my breast augmentation, even though my boobs were very small, they sagged and didn't look good without a bra.  A bra actually made me look better in what I was wearing.  I can go braless now and my girls still sit up nicely and are perfectly rounded still without the support of a bra.

My scars are of course completely healed and seem to be fading a little.  They don't bother me at all, so I could careless if they fade more or not.  You can't see them just by looking at me or in a bikini top.  I have to actually lift up my boob in order to see the scars.  I still use vitamin E oil on the scars and coco butter on my entire boob twice a day.

So the moment we have been waiting for! Before and after photos!  Below I will post different photos in the same tops that I took the night before the surgery and at the three month mark.  I like that my girls don't look ridiculously huge.  I think they look very natural and appropriate for my body.  I am still wearing a 34D or 32DD bras.

This is the maxi dress I wore the day before my surgery.  It has a built in lightly padded bra.  In this picture I am not wearing a bra, but usually when I would wear this dress I would wear a bra to make it look like I could actually fill the dress out.

This picture was taken 3 months post-op in the same dress.  I am not wearing a bra in the dress and can actually fill it out without the help of a bra.

Tank tops were another piece of clothing that I felt self conscious about wearing.  Whenever I would wear a tank top I would wear a super padded bra to feel good wearing a tank top or fitting shirt.

In these pictures I am wearing an unpadded bra.  I love wearing tank tops now!

This is a night gown that my Mother-In-Law gave me 6 years ago.  Whenever I wear it, even though I am just wearing it to bed, I wear a bra with it.  The top part was very baggy on me and it was very difficult to fill it out.  Below I am wearing it again 3 months post op and feel more confident wearing it without a bra. In the picture I still have on the same unpadded bra with the gown, but don't wear it like that around the house anymore.

So there you have it! The girls at 3 months.  I am looking forward to loving them even more come 12 months!

Naturally Curly to Straight Hair

I have had absolutely no desire to straighten my hair! I haven't done so in almost 2 years. Once I went natural 2 years ago, I decided to stop putting heat on my hair.  It wasn't hard for me.  I just loved to see my curls all the time.  I decided in March 2014 to go ahead and straighten my hair due to my straight-hair-loving-hubby coming home from deployment.

I started out with the products pictured below.  I got them from the PX on post, but have seen them in Walgreen's as well.  I simply shampooed my hair, then used my Tresemme Naturals to do a mini deep conditioner, and finished with the conditioner.

After washing my hair, I then used coconut oil to massage in my scalp.  I used a leave in conditioner (any will do) to set my hair to braid in four braids.  I let my hair air dry over a day.  I just put on a beanie when I went out in public.

The next day, I called my neighbor over and she did the dirty work.  She put the serum on each section of my hair and sprayed it with the spray before flat ironing my hair.  Since my hair was already dry, my neighbor said we could use less heat by eliminating the blow dryer and just using the flat iron.  I honestly did not believe the flat iron alone would straighten out my curly hair.  Especially not my wavy roots.  My neighbor knew what she was doing because she got the job done by using less heat!

Now that I could see my length, I could also see my scraggly ends.  I had my neighbor cut them.  She only cut a little because she was afraid to cut much of my hair.  At night to preserve my hair I would wrap it or put coconut oil on it and twist it around into a low bun held with bobby pins.  This kept it straight, but with a little body.  I was only able to deal with my hair being straight for a week.  I eagerly washed it out.  I wanted to keep it for two weeks, but to me, straight hair is more work than my naturally curly hair.  I had to do too much to it daily to style it and keep it in place.  Once during the week I use the serum and sprayed my hair with the heat protectant and used the big curling iron to give my hair some big curls.

Yes this is a bathroom selfie!

Everyone but me liked my straight hair at this point and before I went natural.  I was never impressed.  It was always a hassle for me and I felt that I could never do anything with my hair.  I couldn't make it cute.  After being natural and wearing my hair straight, I felt that I looked very boring and ordinary.  Nothing about my hair stood out to me.  I ended up doing what I always did when my hair wasn't natural, put it in a ponytail.  That was my everyday go to style.

In May 2014 I straightened my hair again.  It wasn't because I got the straight hair bug, but because my Mom who is a hair stylist, was coming to visit and I could get her to cut my ends more.  We pretty much followed the same process with a few changes.  I washed my hair just the same.  That time, instead of braiding my hair and letting it air dry, my mom still put coconut oil all over my scalp, and then used the serum and heat protectant spray in each section before blow drying.  She added a little bit of the serum (to the ends) and heat protectant to my hair again when she went over it with a flat iron.  I used the same wrapping or bunning methods at night to preserve my hair.  After a few days I used the big curling iron again.  That time I kept my hair straight for two weeks.

It wasn't hard to revert my hair back to curly.  Maybe I will save that for another blog post!