life lately according to my blackberry

♥ Enjoy!

♥

project bathroom: part 2

3 weeks ago, I left off with the bathroom demo being finished. You have no idea how happy I am to report that we now have a full functioning shower! As probably typical with every home remodel project, it has gone longer than expected. Things will find ways to go wrong…I swear. For example, I tried to cut it a bit close with the Carrara marble hex floor tile (this stuff is not cheap, so I really didn’t want to end up with much extra) and of course ran out. I was told the sheets of tile were 1’x1’, when they were actually 10”x11”. When ordering the 3 ft² that I was short, the tile company sent me tile that was 1/8” smaller. This silly mistake stalled the project by about a week. Without being able to finish the floor tile, the base and door trim cannot be finished. Until the trim is finished, the painter cannot come in to do the cabinet and trim. Lesson learned, it starts getting hard to control the costs of a remodel project when it is nearing completion, unless you are really careful.

Now that we enter the home stretch, we are tired of the stress and inconvenience. We just want to have the project to be finished so our house is complete. This has me passing some of the do-it-yourself tasks to paid help, which obviously ends up costing more. Ask me now and I say it is well worth it. Luckily this project is not way over budget (at least not yet), and the funds are there to just get the stuff done. I really want this project done right since it is our first and will probably be the last for a while. With that being said, here are some pictures of the progress. The new vanity cabinet has been installed with a slab of honed black granite to top it off. The sink is a Kohler Verticyl undermount. The Kohler “Purist” sink and tub controls and faucets have been installed and we love, love, love them! The subway tile is artic white matte in a 3” x 6” from Daltile. The so called “show stopper” floor, as mentioned above, is polished Carrara hex. This floor has been completely worth the trouble. It has such an elegant look and really dresses up the bathroom. The paint is from Sherwin-Williams and is called "Slate." Being a wet area, we got this paint in a Satin finish. Lastly, the mirror frame will be painted in a mustard yellow color to match the shower curtain.

mismatchy bracelets.

I'm in love with the mismatched, layered bracelet look.  The picture of my wrist (above) will give you a feel for the style I'm referring to. I guess I'm not alone since this is a huge trend right now!  Due to the rapid increase in interest, you can find these online for a ridiculous amount of money.  I have seen them go for $200.00! Don't be fooled as you can buy these for $5.00 a pop. I will admit, a few of these were purchased at Nordstrom-- tisk tisk, Meredith.  Nordstrom is one of my absolute favorite stores, however, not worth the cost for these little things.

Where do you purchase your bracelets? What styles do you like to mix?  Feel free to send me pictures of your favorite layered looks! I would love to see.

holy grail cosmetics.

Hi. My name is Meredith and I’m a cosmeticaholic.  I’m addicted to YouTube beauty guru­­ videos, makeup related blogs and shopping at Sephora.  Since I have been through just about every product under the sun, I thought it might be insightful to share some of my every day, must have, holy grail, go-buy-this-now products.   

Brand: Benefit

Product: Erase Paste

Why I Love This: It’s a brightening under eye concealer.  I don’t have a huge problem with dark circles or under eye bags, however, on the days that I am particularly tired, this little guy does the trick! This product is rumored to cover blemishes as well but I wouldn’t recommend it for this use. If you have tried this product before and didn’t see the results you wanted, please let me know as my application technique might be a huge help.

  

Brand: Laura Mercier

Product: Foundation Primer (Oil Free Version)

Why I Love This: It’s a face primer that doesn’t mess with my skin and keeps my makeup lasting throughout the day.  I put this on after my moisturizer and before my concealers. 

Brand: Bare Escentuals bareMinerals

Product: Mineral Foundation (Original, not the matte version)

Why I Love This: Where do I begin?  If I had to narrow it down to my absolute number 1 product, this would be it.  I was completely against the idea of mineral makeup as I assumed it would not have strong coverage.  After hearing a ridiculous amount of raves about this “miracle product” from YouTube beauty gurus and bloggers, I decided to give it a whirl.  Thank goodness I did! Life changing product.  It has fantastic coverage, does not look cakey like most liquid foundations, is long lasting, and, somehow, improves your complexion. Yep, miracle product.  Personally, I prefer the original formula since it gives somewhat of a dewy, glowing finish.  If you want a more matte effect they have this option as well.  If you haven’t used this quite yet I highly recommend you run by your nearest Sephora and get yourself a sample. You won’t regret it! I promise.

Brand: Nars

Product: Angelika-blush

Why I Love This: This blush is described as “cotton candy pink with gold flecks,” on the Sephora website. What a perfect description. It’s a total Barbie color with sparkles in it.  However, it doesn’t come off nearly as girly and vibrant as I’m describing it. If you apply this with a light hand it really gives off the perfect pink with a slight highlight to your cheek bones.  I cannot take a picture that does it justice.  Please check this one out in person-the color is gorgeous. 

Brand: Mac

Product: ProLongwear Concealer

Why I Love This: It conceals!! What a concept J Not much to say about this other than it’s a legit concealer that lasts all day. I use this for my face only (as opposed to Benefit’s Erase Paste, mentioned above, for the under eye area.) 

Brand: Urban Decay

Product: “All Nighter” - Long Lasting Makeup Setting Spray

Why I Love This: After your makeup has been applied you spray this setting mist to lock everything in. This product is especially good if you are planning for a long night out, a special event, or something of that nature. If you use the combination of the Laura Mercier primer (before your makeup is applied) and Urban Decay’s All Nighter (after your makeup is applied,) your products won’t budge!

Brand: Buxom

Product: Amplified Lash Mascara

Why I Love This: It provides the ultimate combination of length and volume!  Typically, I layer two or three different brands of mascara to create my desired look.  However, the actual wand in this mascara is expandable creating a two-in-one tool. 

Brand: Maybelline

Product: Line Stiletto Liquid Eyeliner

Why I Love This: It’s very easy to work with, long lasting, and perfect for a winged/cat eye effect.  

Brand: Sephora

Product: HD Brushes

Why I Love This: You will have to actually go into the store and feel them to see why I love these products so much.  Sephora’s HD brushes are incredibly soft,  do not shed, and they create an airbrushed/HD end result.

Brand: Too Faced

Product: Snow Bunny - Bronzer

Why I Love This: It’s the ideal bronzer for those with really light skin.  This product is a bronzer and highlighter rolled into one, without making that harsh, dark line when contouring.  Primarily I use this as a highlight on my upper cheek bones.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Please let me know if you have any questions about the items mentioned above and tell me about your holy grail products too!

a league of our own.

Being a fanatic of professional football, I look forward to few things more than my fantasy football league draft. Not just because of the football, it means much more than that. The approaching fantasy football season signals the nearing of fall, smack talking with old friends, and of course the gathering of said friends and family to watch the 17+ week s of games. I am not going to lie; I really like the competitive* aspect of it as well. This is why I normally prepare for the draft with weeks of studying trades, training camp news, player tweets, and piles of analysis. With the purchase of our house, the bathroom remodel, and a very busy time at work, there was no time for my usual scope of preparation. I pretty much winged it this year, but let’s just get on to the draft.

The most fun part about our league is that we have a live draft. We have 10 people that consist of my wife, sister, and seven great friends. All of us get together for a night of trash talking, cocktails, and drafting our teams. Our friends and recent brave additions to the league, Richard and Traci, hosted us this year. The only member not in attendance was my sister Amy, but thankfully technology pulled through and she was able to join us via Google video chat.

Other fun fantasy football facts:
-My sister has won the "horse's ass" trophy two years in a row. This is given to the last place team.
-After 7 seasons I have a winning record over every team, but have somehow never won the championship.
-Tom Brady is my mancrush, but we keep it strictly professional.

*Last year on our honeymoon, Mere and I were actually playing each other. I sadly have to report, and will never forget, that the Killer Kittens beat me that week. I stand by my excuse that the victory was my wedding gift to her.

when one door closes, another opens.

Throughout the home buying process it never crossed my mind that Blake and I would miss our apartment.  Both of us were so excited to get settled into our new home and be done with the move.

 

All of a sudden I felt really emotional, looking back on our life over the past year at this complex.  It was our first “home” as newlyweds, our kitties bonded there, and the list goes on and on.  For us it was the perfect place to rent since it was right in the heart of Houston, had a great view of downtown, close to our gym, near both of our jobs, and just an overall fun place to live.  There was an adorable courtyard that we could look down upon from our front door. Within the courtyard were Christmas lights strung from tree to tree, a fireplace that constantly burned throughout the winter, restaurants, a bistro, a frozen yogurt shop, clothing stores, etc.  Regardless of all these perks, it didn’t take long for the other side of the coin to set in. 

Now we can paint the walls any color we want, play the music loud, have friends over without having to worry about neighbors, make an investment towards our future together, and upgrade at any time without needing permission.  Like most people, we both despise moving.  The thought of not having to do that for a long time makes us very happy!  Our home is not the same as our neighbors and completely unique to our style.  Most of all, owning a house provides such a strong feeling of security, stability, and family.  When one door closes, another opens..

thirteen hours of step ladders, blue tape & paint.

About two weeks ago, Blake and I had this genius idea to paint all of the rooms (we wanted changed) in our house in one day.  Yep … one day.  And, 13 hours later, our project was a success.  This was an adventure to say the very least.  J

On a whim, we picked out our paint colors which is not like us at all.  Usually, when we make big decisions, they are very well thought out and discussed until we are blue in the face.  Blake typically has an opinion when it comes to all things house due to his career in architecture.  I’m not going to lie, he is truly better at this sort of thing. I love working on the house, talking about ideas we have, implementing them and then seeing the end result. It is a team effort and a fun one at that!   However, I genuinely trust his instincts over mine and tend to lean in his direction if he has a gut feeling.  This is why I was shocked and a bit nervous when he asked me to pick out the paint colors, Eek!  Luckily, my mom has a passion for painting and seriously paints the majority of most weekends which has taught me a thing or two.  I knew anything in the grey color family would work well with our home and décor as Blake and I both like shades of grey.  I decided on a light grey (Sherwin-Williams "Greyish") for the kitchen/dining room, living room and hallway.  I also decided on an ashy light purple (Sherwin-Williams "Veiled Violet”) for the guest room/Meredith’s “girly room.”   We left the bedroom a dark slate grey and Blake had it color matched for the bathroom.  The utility room was left as is, but we plan to paint it a funky blue.  We will also paint the office/Blake’s “man cave” once we decide on a color or wallpaper.  

When we got started with the painting, Blake and I were both up beat, excited and anxious to see the end result.  I was thrilled to see that Blake really liked my color choices and I didn’t pick something incredibly dark or far too light.  My precious mom was oh so proud.  Here is a picture of her cute self in action. I learned from the best! You will notice her walls are grey as well.

13 hours after going up and down step ladders, taping all the edges and moving our equipment/tools from one room to another we were absolutely exhausted, yet, proud of all we had accomplished in one day. Team work, indeed. 

The colors made it very “us.”  It was almost as if the house was transformed from someone else’s house to our home in a matter of hours.