Makeover Monday: Black and White Nails

As a busy mother of 2, doing my nails weekly give me life!  I don't get to do them often, but when I do, I feel like I'm doing big thangs!  Pictured above I did a black and white combination.  I like to play around with trying to do designs.  I'm not the best artist, but it's good enough to make me feel good on the inside and out!  Like Shameless Maya always say, "Do You Boo"!

P.S. Please disregard my Hubby's Army boots...someone had to take the picture!

Kindergarten Back To School (Boy) Style

It was just last year that my baby was entering Kindergarten.  He has been going to daycare all his life, but it's a different story when they go to big kid school.  With starting big kid school, he had to look the part.  We found this super cute outfit all from our favorite store Ross.  Little Georgee loves to wear his ties and it was befitting he do so on the first day of school.  This tie came with this shirt and we matched some dark jeans to go with it.  We also got the orange Converse sneakers from Ross to add a pop of color.  He was definitely the coolest and most handsome Kindergartener!

Thoughtful Target Father's Day Gift Basket Idea

Father's Day is really right around the corner!  At this point it's in four days!  You would think that because I'm now a Stay-At-Home-Mom that I would be on point with thinking ahead for thoughtful and creative gifts!  Well, much like the idea that Stay-At-Home-Moms have lots of time, you are dead wrong!  It seems as if it crept up on me this year, but who am I kidding?  I said the same thing last year when I had a full time job!  I'm not sure what my problem is...too bad I can't blame it on "pregnancy brain".  Maybe it's just "I already have too much to think about" brain.

Last night I made it a point to get my brain in gear and come up with something for Father's Day for Hubby's Dad, my Dad, and my Hubby.  I figured if I needed to mail something I definitely needed to get it in the mail today to make it to SC on time for our fathers.  I love to kill two birds with one stone and decided I needed to shop for Hubby too.

The kids and I set out on a Target journey in hopes to not spend our whole life savings (everyone knows that Target is the devil), and to find all the gifts that we needed.  Prior to going to Target I sucked it up and made what I wanted to make for our fathers.  Weeks ago I got the idea to make our fathers a calendar on Shutterfly of pictures of our family, the kids, and their other Grandkids.  I was thinking against it this week knowing that I waited too long to make it for it to get delivered on time.  My dear friend assured me that it would be just fine if it got to them late, but to make the calendars anyway.  I thought long and hard about what to get our fathers and was sure that even though they wouldn't say it, but they would be tired of yet another gift card from us.  I knew that they would really love and cherrish a cool calendar with pictures of their Grandkids and family.  Two hours later, I was done with the calendars and knew I made the right gift choice.

Back to Target, I allowed the kids to pick out what they wanted to get their Dad.  Gracee is very resourceful like myself, and found an idea on You Tube of something she wanted to make her Dad.  I was quite impressed and happy that I didn't have to think of this.  She got her materials and her present came out perfect!

Gracee made a "Dad's (Mu) Stache" jar of candy.  I had seen this on Pinterest and of course pinned it, but didn't actually think to make it!  She found a large mason jar and all her Dad's favorite candies and she was set.  When she got home she used black construction paper and a silver sharpie and made her creation.  She even revealed to me that she put a little glue on the paper to make it stick to the glass.  I didn't cringe at the thought of her doing this due to my hopes of reusing the jar for my own purposes.  I of course smiled and praised her on her creativity.

Materials from Target:
Large Mason Jar $1.99
Assorted Candy 3 bags for $10

Next I asked Georgee what he wanted to get Dad.  He said "A thing that Dad can make pancakes and grill on".  So I'm thinking a griddle.  We did buy him one for Father's Day like six years ago, but of course one too many Army moves broke it.  We looked at the griddles and they were just #teamtoomuch.  Especially for a Dad that never makes pancakes!  Instead Georgee settled on getting his Dad some Avengers pajama bottoms.  Gracee also picked out a Corona t-shirt because she said, "It's Dad's favorite beer...and look it's even his favorite kind...the Extra one".  I could die right there.  Kids pay attention and tell everything.  Lastly I added a Brita water bottle.  Hubby is the only one in the house that doesn't have one, and Mama is tired of buying him bottled water!  We finished it all off with a cute little basket.

Materials from Target:
Corona T-shirt $12.99
Avengers Pj bottoms $17.99
Water Bottle $15.00
Basket $3.00

Not bad for a last minute, yet thoughtful gift!

Makeover Monday: My Favorite Lippie!

If you have been following me for awhile then you know that I am no make up artist! I don't know much about make up at all! I am still a work in progress.  I do have some favorites that I have been trying out.

I am all about the natural neutral face! Probably because it's the easiest for me to do.  I don't play with too many colors.  I often feel that with my lack of experience I will end up looking like a clown!  I have been looking for a nude lippie for the longest, but didn't have much luck.  I hit the jackpot when I found this Revlon Pink Cognito 820 at a drug store for less than $7 I'm sure (I'm cheap).

I love that this lippie is a pinkish nude!  It compliments a neutral face so well!  I wear this one on a daily basis and on lunch dates with my Hubby!  My Hubby isn't into a full make up face, so this color works perfectly!  Thanks Revlon for continuing to make great colors!

#lippie #lipstick #Revlon #MOTD #LOTD #neutral face #naturalface

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!

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?

Pantry Organization

If you don't know by now, I'm a bit OCD when it comes to my house being clean.  The good thing is that I'm married to a clean freak as well.  Most people that come to our house think that its immaculate, but Hubby and I constantly feel anxious because we feel like our house is in disarray.  A few months ago, my pantry was giving me high anxiety.  I cringed every time I opened it.  I felt like I couldn't find anything, and never knew what I already had.  So after being fed up with it, and getting inspiration from my sisterger's blog on her pantry renovation. I decided to do something about my own.

So one Friday after work, I hit up Ross to start my own pantry renovation project.  Here are the items that I picked up.

The baskets were from Ross and between $10 and $15.  The tall container was from Ross and around $10-$15.  The cereal containers were from Ross and less than $10.  I got the box of sealed jars from Ross for $10.

This is definitely not my proudest moment.  You guys get to see my dirty...pantry!  I guess you can see why this was causing me so much anxiety.  I started to take everything out and go through what we needed and didn't need.  I threw away foods that have been in the pantry forever.  I mean if we haven't used it in the past three months or more, we definitely don't need to be eating it now!  Clean eating tip!

After clearing everything out, I felt overwhelmed thinking...geez now what do I do with all of this stuff!  I just took it item by item, shelf by shelf.  Hours later I was able to come up with what is below.

My husband was shocked when I sent him the "after" picture.  I even looked in my pantry thinking, "where did my food go?"  I felt that I needed to go buy more items to fill it up, but I really did have all that we needed.

The organizer on the door is just an old shoe organizer.  We have had it for years.  It works great for the kids snacks and other odds and ends items.

These baskets work great to hold single items that are not boxed.  Overall, I was very pleased with the pantry and happy that I only needed a few inexpensive items to get the job done.  I ended up getting a few more of the cereal containers to put on the top shelf.  Organizing the pantry gave me peace of mind and lowered my blood pressure! Yes it sure did!  I was able to easily find things to cook and make grocery lists for what I needed.  I have even been able to maintain this quite well.  Why spend a lot of money on organizing your pantry when you can just work with what you got! Now if only I can get my refrigerator to look this nice! I think I will be better off just purchasing another fridge!

OOTD: 1 Dress 2 Styles

If there is one thing that I am learning about becoming a fashionista, it is to buy pieces that can be recycled with many other pieces in your closet.  I love pieces that I can wear in a variety of ways without ever having to go back to the store or spending more money.

A few weeks ago I needed a new dress to wear to see the Nutcracker with my family.  I found a cute greenish dress at the PX (post exchange-military store).  Below is how I styled it in a more traditional way.

Dress: PX $25
Tights:  (very old)
Ankle Booties:  Rack Room (years ago)
Neckalace:  Forever 21 (years ago)
Flower in hair:  Present from My Auntie Sis

That same weekend, Black Friday to be exact, I ventured (at a normal hour) into Famous Footwear to find my son some shoes and got suckered into buy one get one half off.  I have a wishlist of fall/winter must have items and combact boots were one of them.  I tried on a few flat boots that I have been looking for, but I didn't LOVE any of them.  I finally stumbled (yes I probably did trip over my own huge feet) upon these beauties below.

Dark Brown Combact Boots: Famous Footwear $50

Once I got the boots I hit up Pinterest to find style ideas with the boots and saw a lot of very feminine dresses paired with the boots.  I loved this idea.  It matches my personality perfectly!  I am very much of a tomboy with a feminine side!  So here is what I came up with.

Added Pieces:
Scarf: Amazon less than $10

I absolutely love this outfit with the combact boots. It adds a bit of edginess to a cutesy dress.  I felt pretty and powerful all in one!

DIY Xmas Gift for Ladies

I love giving gifts and mainly because I like to actually put thought into that person in what they like and would like.  It is the thought that counts right?  So this year I needed another inexpensive gift to give to my 10 co-workers!  So since all my girls are quite stylish and love pretty things, Pinterest came up with this idea for me!  The nail polish is from Target for $2 and I just used a box of Christmas tags and some ribbon to complete the gift.  I got assorted colors and allowed my co-workers to chose what they wanted.  I NAILED it!

Here are some ideas of other DIY gifts that my co-workers made for the rest of us.  Considering we are all Pinterest Addicts, I'm sure that's where they got their ideas.

This jar of deliciousness was made by Michela!  It's homemade hot chocolate with mini marshmellows on top and garnished with a candy cane.  As pretty as it is, I can't wait to enjoy a cup of joe (hot chocolate) while I write more blogs.

Laurie came up with this perfectly wrapped little number.  Inside is a small candle and scented hand sanitizer.  It's so pretty I don't want to open it.

Last but not least is Mariana's creation. It's moonshine!  She made apple pie or apple cider (I forgot which one) flavored moonshine.  She gave us instructions to wait 30 days before drinking it and to not consume it all at once.  Whew! Sounds like my kind of drink. I will wait to share this with Hubby.







I love all these gifts and hope that they will give you some DIY gift ideas to help spread the holiday cheer!

DIY Dollar Tree & Target Xmas Gifts

As I have mentioned before, Christmas is my favorite holiday!  One thing that I love about Christmas is of course GIFTS!  No, not receiving them, but giving them.  This year I decided to put my creativity to work (with the help of Pinterest) and make some of my own gifts.

I needed to think of what to give my daughter's 2nd grade teacher and my son's daycare teachers.  I needed to figure out how to make six gifts on a budget.  So I consulted Pinterest and tweaked the project to be my own.  I then went to the Dollar Tree and Target to gather my items and this is how I started.

Dollar Tree Items

So all of these items were $1 at the Dollar Tree.  My idea is to give the teachers pampering in a jar.  So thankfully I could find multiple items in one pack for one price!

Small glass bowls
Pack of 2 nail polishes with toe separator
Pack of 2 nail files
Pack of 25 decorative plastic treat bags

Target Items

I have a love hate relationship with Target. I love it with all my being, but hate my bill when I leave.  This time was no different, but at least these items weren't as expensive as the other items that snuck into my cart.

Cotton Balls-less than $1
Herseys Kisses-$3-5
Assorted Ribbon-less than $2
50 tags Container-$5
Pack of 3 nail polish-less than $5
St. Ives face scrub-less than $1
Pack of 8 Lipsmacker-less than $5
Sinful Colors nail polish-$2
Sorry I don't have exact prices, but that red bulls eye has a way of hypnotizing you into not thinking about prices.

And here is the process...

The original idea calls for the beloved mason jars.  Well after going to several stores and not finding them, I had to settle on these glass bowls.  I actually like the outcome with these instead.  Pictured are peppermint hersey kisses (my fave) and you can't do your nails without cotton balls.

Each bowl gets 2 small nail polishes, one lip smacker, one toe separator, one face scrub, and one nail file.  The two bowls in the front are for Gracee's 2nd grade teacher and Georgee's lead teacher.  I gave them extra nail polish and Gracee's teacher a Target gift card.  Confession: I thought the face scrub was lotion until I set it out to be packaged and read the label.  Oops, but hey, having a clean face is pampering too!

To finish up the project just place the bowl in the plastic treat bag, tie with the tie, and add ribbon and a tag.  And wah-la...you have yourself six inexpensive teachers' gifts.

And here is the finished product!  Not bad for a the queen of "ain't nobody got time for that" Mommy!  I must say, as obsessed as I am with Pinterest, I like my project better.  Oh the things we can accomplish when we use our noggin!

Home Decor: My Vanity

Summer 2012 I decided to make my own vanity.  Hubby and I had given away our bedroom furniture before moving to our current duty station and only bought a bed.  I needed something to put my things on watched enough you tube videos to DIY this vanity on a cheap budget!

This was quite awhile ago so I might be a little fuzzy on the places and prices of all the items:

Nail Polish Stand:  Is actually a cupcake stand that I got from the thrift store for $2-4 and I spray painted it.

Wooden Jewelry Box:  A gift from my uncle (Hey Uncle Benny) to my daughter as a baby

Silver Jewelry Box:  Wedding gift from my hubby

Mirror:  Big Lots $15

Jewelry Tree:  Thrift store for $2-4 (spray painted black)

White Make Up Bin:  Walmart (IDK price)

Make Up Mirror:  Walmart less than $5

Lamp:  We have had it for years

Table:  It is apart of our dining room set but the movers broke the glass

Table Top:  I measured the top and got wood cut at Lowes for less than $10 and spray painted it

Zebra Blanket:  Target less than $15

Chair:  Thrift store $4-7

Jewelry Organizer Box:  Big Lots $10

Spray Paint: Lowes $4 (I just got what the guy suggested for the wood I bought)

Even though I loved this vanity...I recently had to lay it to rest.  We finally furnished the rest of our bedroom with real furniture and a nightstand replaced my beautiful vanity.  It was good while it lasted!

Denim Dress OOTD

I have been wanting a denim dress since the summer and found this one a few months ago at Old Navy on sale for $8!

Scarf: Forever 21 (forever ago)

Purple Tights: Walmart $5

Boots: Belks (forever ago)