Last night before I went to bed I caught an awful sight–my un-manicured ‘paws’.  I cringed, I didn’t dare look at my toes, if my hands looked like this bad the toes might have melted my eyeballs.  Don’t get me wrong even though I haven’t been to a nail salon in a month, I was still breaking out the nail file, it’s just that they looked so haggard and neglected.  I live out in the country now so a nail salon is a thing of the past unless I want to drive the 30 minutes to the big city, which I don’t, heck I don’t even know how much a manicure or pedicure would cost here.  In Los Angeles you couldn’t walk out your front door without running into 30 mani/pedi salons for less than a cup of coffee (supply + demand folks). I did go to Target and get a French manicure kit, uhm, for someone that has never painted their own nails before it’s the equivalent of getting your toddler to do an Iron man race, not going to be a success. I read that Sherry from YHL has given up on nail polish and is going au naturalle.  I think I need it, but that could be my former self talking, I’m trying to get her to keep it down but she’s been persistent; yes, she even got me to cut my own bags this morning (prior to coffee) by watching 14,000 You Tube videos, the result?  Do you see a photo of my new bangs on this blog?  Okay, we can agree that it may not have been my smartest DIY. For the record I didn’t go as short as some hair stylists have in the past.  I erred on the long side, it just seems I also erred on the crooked side.  I have crooked hair and scraggly paws, oh dear…

P.S. This new Essie color looks like it would be perf for summer, not?

This is one of my new neighbors.  We haven’t formally met yet, but I am hoping we do soon. I am so smitten with him that I pop out of bed extra early just to walk over and see if he’s hanging out with his friends. I am always secretly hoping I can catch him by himself so we can have some alone time.  Last night right before the sun was setting my husband announced that handsome was out, I grabbed my camera and walked  ran over. I was all twenty-one kinds of school girl giddy, the light was perfect and the corral was enveloped in a beautiful peachy glow. My new neighbor was being bashful and wouldn’t come over for some shots, I had to do my best with these candids. I think I may implode from my good fortune, I know that we make our own luck, but I am feeling so lucky right now. What are the chances that we would move next door to a horse farm? And a pond and have I mentioned yet that to the East of our house is a forest–a forest?!  I’m trying to take this all in and I keep wondering why I didn’t do this years ago, I really should have, but since I didn’t I am going to take this all in every day and just revel in it. 

P.S. The moving truck finally arrived!

I saw this image in a recent issue of Country Living, the table was made from reclaimed wood with free plans from Ana White this is when the wheels in my head started to creak.  It’s all straight lines, how hard could it be?  Did you know Home Depot will cut all your wood for free?  No, they won’t cut your salvaged barn wood, but you could try to replicate the finish if you were resourceful. I don’t have a garage here so I can’t really figure out the best place to take on a wood working project, not that something like space has stopped me before. I built my extra large coffee table and farm benches in my upstairs living room once, granted my downstairs neighbor was elderly and hearing impaired.  I also don’t have a lot of time as setting up the studio again is going to be all consuming. So I looked up handyman/carpenters in my area and sent the image and plans link to them. I figure this could be done in a few hours and a local person may have their finger on the pulse of where to get some termite-free  barn wood. I’ll keep you posted if I get any quotes that won’t have me selling my designer dogs on the roadside.

I am truly excited with all my newly acquired space in our country home, it’s not huge by any stretch, okay the backyard is bigger than a football field, but the house is modest, a heck of a lot bigger than our tiny one bedroom in Los Angeles. With all this new space we will be needing furniture that I hadn’t considered prior.  We have a lovely little front porch and a large deck in back.  For the deck I just bought some simple folding wood chairs that were floor models at a store, they were $20 a piece, I also bought a round metal side table which is big enough for us to eat on (another floor model).  It’s not ideal or anything I want to photograph, but it’s not hideous and has been working out really well (for now).  The front porch, although not a necessity to put chairs out there right away (since we don’t even have a sofa), I did have a burning desire to get something out there stat.  It just seemed so forlorn coming home to an empty porch. My husband was sold on getting Adirondack chairs, I wasn’t.  I wanted something a little less country and maybe even more contemporary.  Outdoor furniture does not come cheap, I looked, more like scoured and had a hard time. I did end up finding some pieces I really liked at World Market, but even at the relatively low price tag for outdoor furniture it was beyond what I could afford to spend. I decided to give the Adirondack another chance, it’s a classic design, in the right colorway and possibly with the right pillows I could make it less cottage and more chic, right? I looked locally first Craigslist, no one was selling their chairs for less than $200, the Woodsmith was double that and even the big box stores were asking over $125 per chair.  I was dejected and considered trying to figure out how to build my own when I found an assemble yourself version at Home Depot for $30 a piece! I wasn’t sure if I could figure it out, I am horrible with any sort of instructions but I did and they are both nice and solid. My only dilemma now is what color to make them.  I am considering a matte black (or should I do high gloss?), or white, or stain them, I’m not good with decisions.  I’m not going to go with a color, that’s too much of a commitment for me.  I figure if I am yearning for a pop of color (which has never happened), I will add it via the cushions/pillows which I will have to sew myself.  I have tons of fabric, my sewing machine should be here sometime in 2012 (when will that moving truck arrive?) and I am really motivated. Since I successfully put these chairs together I feel like I can pretty much take on any project. Have any of you worked with unfinished furniture before?  Anything I need to know?  Any tips?  I would be distraught if I ruined my new chairs.

On my never ending quest to look ‘natural’ I found myself in the possession of a scientific breakthrough that is akin to magic, no really.  I used some of the ginormous gift certificate to Sephora that I had. One of the few purchases I made before I left civilization was Josie Maran’s Argan Matchmaker foundation a product I didn’t need, or let me rephrase that, I didn’t know I needed. Yes, I need this!  It’s very unusual in so many ways, the most unique way is that it’s a white serum straight out of the pump, yes white!  Once you rub it into your skin it magically conforms to the color of your skin, not a little but exact (at least this has been my experience and the same with all the reviews I’ve read). I have very dry skin, although it’s been a lot less dry with the thick moisture in the Carolina air (a.k.a humidity), this serum foundation is very emollient and might scare people that aren’t used to anything oil like on their skin.  I feel like it doesn’t stay that way and dries to a polished (non-shiny) finish.  I use it on top of my Smashbox BB cream (a little of both of these products go a long way, err on less product when applying and add more if needed). This is really the most natural looking I have been able to get with a foundation, it looks like I am not wearing anything, you don’t notice my hyper pigmentation on my cheeks (so unattractive), my skin just looks clean and fresh and it works well with my favorite Tarte cheek stain (an absolute must for instant pretty). If you are one of the lucky ones that lives near a Sephora than you can go in and they will make you a take-home sample so you can try before you buy.  It is a luxury product at $42, way out of my budget, but I don’t need to use a lot so I am hoping it will last me the entire summer. If I do my daily amortization math which helps me mentally deal with seemingly frivolous purchases, it comes out to be practically free. Have you tried this yet or any of the other versions of pigment matching foundations out there?  I am curious about the drugstore versions when I run out of this pot of gold.