Important Blog Update!

Hello lovelies!

I mentioned this weekend that major changes were on the way. Well, they’re here! I have a brand sparkly new blog! I will no longer be blogging on A Touch of Lovely. Instead, I’ve moved over to my own domain:I hope you’ll follow me there. I’ll be blogging about many of the same things but will be focusing on improving my writing. If you enjoyed yesterday’s post, you’ll love what’s to come on Cuddles and Chaos.

Please note that if you currently subscribe to A Touch of Lovely and would like to continue getting updates on my newest posts, you’ll have to subscribe to my new site. There’s a spot for you to put your email address in on the right side underneath my social media icons.

Speaking of social media, you can find me at all of the old places (Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram) as well as on my new Facebook page.

Thanks friends!

The Power of Lipstick

Ladies, let’s talk lips. More specifically, let’s talk about breaking down and slapping a little color on ’em.

I had a couple of different conversations recently with other bloggers about how much good a little dab of color will do ya when it comes to your lips. Somehow this one minor step can bring your whole look together.

Where’s the proof, you ask? Why, it’s right here:

This is what I looked like trying to get out of the house the other morning before adding color to my lips. Disheveled. Wild eyed. In need of chocolate before the clock even struck 10 am.

Add just a dab of Revlon Colorburst lip butter in Tutti Frutti and poof! I’m an actual human being ready to emerge into a world where I may just run into other grownups. My lip color is by no means overwhelming. It’s subtle and shimmery but it tells the outside world that I’m more than just a house frau with a herd of wee ones hanging from my teat. I mean, come on. It’s even a coral-y color, which is so on trend.

In case you were wondering, this trick also works well on young children:

To make sure the magic wasn’t just in the lip butter, Samantha put on Cover Girl Nature Luxe gloss in anemone. As you can see, it was just as magical.

She enjoyed it’s smoothness and the fact that it made her lips more red than mine (which she told me in a little bit of a “nanny nanny poo poo” voice).

Lest you think this trick is a magical cure all for all creatures, don’t get ahead of yourself. Babies are a whole different ball of wax.

Elyssa emerged from the application process still naked with a drooly chin, scraggly hair and Burt’s Bees breath. Some things are just a lost cause.

*Please note, I will no longer be posting on A Touch of Lovely. I’m moving over to Cuddles & Chaos. Come check it out!*

Happy Weekend!

I have MAJOR changes coming to the blog next week, but for now I’m going to relax and enjoy the last weekend of summer with the hubs and my girls. I hope you get to do the same!
xo

via Pinterest

Word: Balance

I’m a word nerd. I’m a word nerd who also likes curating pretty collections. So why not combine my favorite things into a column that collects both words and pretty images? Why I don’t mind if I do!

via hepsylone

¹bal·ance
noun\ˈba-lən(t)s\

2: a means of judging or deciding

3: a counterbalancing weight, force, or influence

6 a: an aesthetically pleasing integration of elements b: the juxtaposition in writing of syntactically parallel constructions containing similar or contrasting ideas

7 a: physical equilibrium b: the ability to retain one’s balance

9: mental and emotional steadiness

via Merriam-Webster

via Pinterest

Bannor Toys

PinkPepperTree rocks photo/ Vintagraphy dictionary art / Chic & Sweet earrings / Bella deLuna Designs ballet photo

via Pinterest

LoveBerg Designs

Today is my anniversary!

Today marks three years since my husband and I got married (work that math and our six-year old daughter out in your head and we’ll talk about it another day). To celebrate, I did a fun little post over on Bijou, my bridal blog. Check it out to hear each of our versions of how we met as well as a little bit on what we think of each other.

And, just because, I’ll leave one of our favorite songs here for you to listen to…

My Week Through Instagram

This was the longest week everrrr. No, really.

Samantha was knocked out with a mystery illness that started last Monday. When she was still running a high fever on Wednesday, I took her to the doctor where they could find nothing wrong with her aside from the fever.

Listening to their instructions, we headed back into the office on Friday (that’s us and her new polar bear in the waiting room) for blood work since the fevers hadn’t let up. Still unsure what was up, they tested her for a bunch of things including Lyme disease and West Nile virus.

Cue a weekend-long waiting game. On Saturday they told us her white blood cell count was good and they thought it was a virus. Slight breath of relief.

Since my girl couldn’t do much of anything we spent most of the week playing games. Zingo is one of her favorites (she likes to tell everyone that it’s “Bingo with a zing!”). We had to rapidly throw any chips we couldn’t use at Ellie to make sure little Godzilla didn’t tear our boards apart. She wanted to play so badly!

Come Monday my poor girl was no better. We headed back to the doctor for a physical and a follow up. This time, we saw her actual pediatrician who immediately asked me if she had been coughing when he listened to her lungs. Babycakes has pneumonia.

I never thought I’d be glad to hear that, but it was so nice to know what was going on and what we could do to make her feel better. We picked up her prescription and headed home for more games.

Side note for anyone who doesn’t have children: if you ever decide to have any, they are the perfect excuse to start playing your favorite childhood games again. We’re playing Old Maid here.

When we got bored of games, we turned to coloring. Samantha got a couple of huge coloring books for Christmas and they really came in handy this week. We both worked on this one–with a few stray scribbles from the Ellie monster.

And lest you think my little bean was all subdued and well behaved because she knew her big sister wasn’t feeling well, think again. Miss Elyssa loved having more opportunity for trouble. “Oh, momma is taking Sammie’s temperature? Perfect time to hop in the sink!”

Ellie also seriously enjoyed her first tastes of chocolate pudding. Believe me, I don’t start out with the intention of letting her get filthy. On the contrary, I really tried to feed her myself. But this girl is stubborn. When she wants something she will make a big stink until she gets it. And you know what? Pudding doesn’t cause any harm. I let her go crazy.

As wild as my little one can be, she’s also the sweetest most cuddly little thing. Shots like this are why she’ll continue to get away with murder!

DIY: Quick and Easy Word Art

Our family loves books. I’m a big believer in reading to kids pretty much immediately. Even if they don’t understand anything at first, just the sound of your voice is soothing to them. Eventually they’ll start paying attention to the stories and they’ll have positive feelings associated with reading, which I think is incredibly important.

Anyway, I’ve been reading to both girls pretty much since they emerged from the womb. We have tons of favorites, one of them being Where the Wild Things Are. When Max decides to give up being king, the wild things shout at him “Oh please don’t go–we’ll eat you up–we love you so!” I’m not sure how or when, but at some point I start saying this line to Samantha.

I’ve been wanting some kind of art that incorporated the quote for a while now and the other day I decided to make one myself. It couldn’t have been easier.

Transitioning to Fall

Summer: Forever21 shorts / Tinley Road chevron necklace / Old Navy tami (tank + cami) / Guess flip flops / Fall layers: Old Navy cardigan / Forever21 layered necklace / Forever21 striped knit tights / Steve Madden oxfords

One of my favorite things about fall is the layers that go along with it. As it slowly gets cooler, we pile on more and more pieces to stay warm–which means we really get to experiment with what’s inside our closets.

The look I put together here is the perfect example of what I mean. It’s a mish mash (which, I’ll have you know, is a seriously technical term) of some of the most versatile pieces you could own.

If you’re trying to save some money, there’s no reason to run out and buy a whole new wardrobe for fall. Instead, shop your closet and add fall colors and textures to your summer faves. Think chunky knits and jewel tones mixed with some of summer’s bright colors. Cobalt is one of the best transitional colors. It goes as well with summer’s carefree tropical palette as it does with fall’s deeper jewel tones.

I am seriously cheap and trying to get on a tight budget, so I will most definitely be using this little tip in the coming weeks. In fact, if I invest in anything this fall it will probably just be a pair of oxfords. I’m kind of obsessed.

How do you transition to cooler temperatures? Are there any pieces that are on your must-have list this fall?

Happy Friday!

I haven’t slept pretty much all week. One of my wee ones has had a fever since Monday night. Unlike normal feverish people, my girl can’t stop talking when her temperature gets high. I mean, she’s a non-stop chatterer normally, but when she has a fever she jumps from one topic to the next before I can even digest what she said first. With her brain in overdrive the girl can’t sleep, which means I can’t sleep since she needs to tell me everything that she’s thinking. I. am. exhausted.

So instead of putting together a regular post, I thought I’d collect some of my favorite links from the week into a little round up:

This is so my life right now.

We shared this story about a couple going around the world having strangers pay for their weddings over on the Bijou Facebook page. I’m still laughing at this line: “The design of the blog features a strong sperm motif, though this may be unintentional.” Do you think they’re brilliant or horrifyingly excessive?

I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to get excited about this whole fall thing. Roasting vegetables, making some zucchini bread, picking apples. It’s starting to sound pretty fabulous after all.

My daughter has the most sensitive sense of smell I’ve ever come across (yet somehow, she likes the smell of the NYC subway system. Go figure). She routinely walks into the kitchen and scrunches up her face at the smell. She seems to be able to smell when the garbage is getting stinky before anyone else can. She then wants to immediately run to her room, grab a bottle of perfume (every six-year old needs it) and spray the kitchen. This results in a smell that isn’t masked but is suddenly garbage + Country Chic. Trust me, it’s not a good combo. I am most definitely going to try this DIY 2-ingredient air freshener  in hopes of beating her to the punch.

I need these for fall but now that they’re out of stock I might have to settle for these beauties instead.

Last but not least, I love this stud earrings DIY from Anna at In Honor of Design. I’m totally keeping these in mind for the holidays!

I hope you get out and enjoy the last bits of summer this weekend!

DIY: Kids Boredom Buster Jar

I mentioned last week that I put together a little Bored Jar inspired by a few different projects I saw on Pinterest (just searching “boredom busters” there brings up an endless array of ideas for any age group). I thought it would be fun to give you a little peek at our jar and some of the things Samantha has done with it.