What My Phone Says About Me

Kim & Ryan Play Wii

I never realized I made these faces and strange gestures while playing Wii...and it's hilarious.

What's in Kim's Make-up Bag?

While Ryan was deployed, I became really interested in watching YouTube make-up gurus and I came across a few of my favorites.  They introduced me to a wide array of products that can be found at your local drugstore or high end stores like Sephora, MAC and Ulta.  Since I was packing up to go to Wisconsin, I thought I would share some of my favorite products!

1 & 2. Naked and Naked 2 palettes- Love these make-up palettes because they feature so many different eye shadows which create the perfect day and nighttime looks.  I probably use both of these everyday which is a good thing since they each cost about $50.  I purchased mine at a local Sephora.  This is high quality make-up with strong pigments.  I considered it worth the investment because I knew I would like the color quality and I also knew that I would be using them everyday or just as often.

3. Macadamia Deep Repair Masque- One of my most favorite hair products ever! When you put this in your hair, you will literally feel your hair getting softer.  It's a deep repair masque/mask, so it requires that you leave it in for five to seven minutes and it's amazing. I bought mine off of Amazon and it cost about $18.49 with my Prime account (free shipping y'all!). I highly recommend this product because you can literally feel the results and your hair deserves to be spoiled :)

4. Repairing Awapuhi Ginger Shampoo- I normally love to use AVEDA products in my hair but during the school year I used the line's Scalp Benefits shampoo and conditioner and I wasn't impressed so I was more than willing to try something different.  I use both the Awapuhi Ginger Shampoo and Conditioner and they smell so amazing. The conditioner is great and it works just about the same as any other shampoo and conditioner but it's the smell that is the real sale. Cost: $7.99 CVS

5. Benefit's "They're Real" Mascara- I have really short, sparse eyelashes. It's really quite obnoxious so when I use a mascara, it needs to have volume and length. Over the year, I learned the benefits (haha get it?) of using multiple mascaras to get your desired effect.  This mascara truly lengthens out your lashes and it grabs each lash, which is greatly appreciated by me.  I double this up with Clinique's volumizing mascara and I love the overall look. I purchased mine at Sephora for $22.00.

6. Clinique Make-up and Skin Products- Clinique makes such amazing products for your skin.  My nighttime facial cleansers and lotions are my favorite! You can pick these up at Boston Store or Sephora (my usually haunts for it) or online.  I also am a big fan of their "Black Honey" almost lipstick.  The products are so good for your skin and I rarely break out because of them.  I can definitely see a difference when I switch up from drugstore brands to Clinique because Clinique products are allergy-tested.  Make-up applications just seem fresh and not too heavy but create bright, luminous looks.

7. NARS Lipgloss- In watching beauty reviews, people complain about the smell so I don't know if it's just me but I can't smell anything from them...oh well lol.  My two go-to's are Turkish Delight (soft pink) and Super Orgasm (bolder pink).  I top these over any lipstick and they're long-lasting which is important since they're pretty expensive. I purchased mine from Sephora for $24 each and the product lasts several months (it better).

8 and 9. Marc Jacobs "Oh Lola" Perfume and Michael Kors "Very Hollywood" Perfume- Two of my favorite perfumes, I lean more towards "Oh Lola." It has a stronger scent than "Very Hollywood," although I'm a big fan of both.  Whenever I'm not using either of those, I always have Bath & Body Works products on hand.

10. OPI nail polish- While Ryan was deployed, I became obsessed with these nail polishes and it didn't help that the tanning salon across the street where I lived sold them.  Ranging from $5-$8, I would pick up these bad boys all of the time and I have a large collection of them by now.  I definitely recommend purchasing their base coat and top coat because they work wonderfully.  I'm also a big fan of this line of nail polishes because of their wands.  They're thicker than Essie nail polishes and provide a smoother coat (in my opinion).  OPI also has the best nail polish names as they continually come out with new nail polish lines.  One of my favorite tubes is their glow-in-the-dark zombie polish.

11. Too-Faced Bronzers- I have both Pink Leopard and Peach Leopard bronzers and I use them both everyday.  I like these specifically because when you use your blush brush, it picks up various pigments which gives you a great color. Pink Leopard contains more of the blush with a shimmer coating and Peach Leopard is darker, with a more matte finish.  When both are used, it's a great blending of matting the skin so the overall tone matches plus a light shimmer, highlighting specific areas.  Definitely recommend these bronzers and the entire line.  I purchased mine from Sephora and they range from $25-$30 each.

12. Butter London nail polish- I've recently started using them and they are fantastic! I love OPI nail polish but Butter Londons definitely are the best nail polishes I have ever used.  They're expensive but they last forever and their finish is exquisite.  They have a great array of colors, all with fun British names.  Keep in mind that they carry a hefty price tag of $14.00 each, however they seriously last a long time in terms of wear and tear and color pigment.  Their line of polish also features a matte bottle, allowing you to take the shine off a polish if you want that matte look.  I have it and love it!

These are some of my favorite make-up products that I use on a daily basis.  I consider make-up to be worth the investment because you're putting this product on your face.  If you take good care of your skin, it'll look nice.  I purchased several of these products at the start of my senior year of college and the products are still lasting me this long, so although some of them are expensive, they've been worth the cost.  I may also do a blog post on make-up products that I purchase from local drugstores but I would love to hear your make-up, skin product and hair product recommendations! :)

Brand New Puppy = Ryan's First Father's Day =P

Happy Father's Day! We celebrated ours a little early in the Erskine household with a pancake and bacon breakfast. I woke up really early today for some weird reason, probably to take Holly outside and I just ended staying up.  Holly and I made Ryan a card and she was a trooper about putting her paw in paint. Of course, Ryan's version of sleeping in doesn't really count since he wakes up at like the crack of dawn, but we still enjoyed a nice breakfast.  The homemade recipe is available below, I would encourage y'all to really mix that batter before making it.
 

Good Ol' Fashioned Pancakes Recipe
Yield 8 servings

Recipe from: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/good-old-fashioned-pancakes/

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Holly's attempt at patience as I try and snap a photo of her with her card

Ryan enjoying his pancakes and bacon slices

The inside of the card. It took me forever to clean her paw after I put paint on it but she was so well behaved.

Pancakes!

 While running errands this morning, I found this awesome bakery.  Ryan and I were able to celebrate our one year anniversary together but we were so busy moving into our house that we didn't have a dinner or anything.  When we got married, it was at a courthouse and our original wedding was canceled because Ryan's father passed away during that week.  After we got married, my MIL and Ryan's grandma were kind enough to host a reception for us.  I ordered cupcakes from one of my favorite bakeries in Madison and so to celebrate our one-year, I found these cakes at that cute little bakery! One is white cake with mango and the other is lemon with raspberry. They were so delicious!

 We romantically made dinner together, in which we combined like three different recipes to make a chicken mac n cheese bake. It was really good, although next time I think we'll add Velveeta to it.

 

Going to the chapel and we're gonna get married

It's around midnight when I hear this chiming sound from my phone. Received a text from one of my longtime best-friends, Ashley, saying that she is engaged! Probably a month ago, maybe even less than that, I got a call from another longtime best-friend, Kayla, also saying that she is engaged!  It's officially time to creep (more than usually) on Pinterest boards and Facebook albums as they plan for their special days.  I am so excited for my friends and so this most definitely calls for a look down memory lane. Throwback Saturday? I think yes!
be warned, this is also a visual diagram of how I, Kimberly Rose, finally learned to put on make-up later in my life- don't hate, I spent all of my days at swim practice :P

Those suits were beastly to put on but I loved our warm-ups and my tradition of always having pink goggles. Shout-out to Gintare, also a great friend of mine :)

Booty (Ashley) and I getting our Tremper Trojan spirit on.

Stretching before a meet at Case High School

Our two passions in life: Hobby Lobby and lawn gnomes

Ashley's graduation party- many a silly pic were taken that day

Lifeguarding- so many memories! Here's where we had our breaks and enjoyed way too many snacks and stories

Graduating from Tremper

Jackie's Grad Party

I'm pretty sure that is a pinata piece...

State Fair for a concert and delicious cream puffs

Badger Football Game over Halloween Weekend...woof, Halloween weekend in Madison

Theta Semi-Formal- Kay was my hot date ;)

End of the summer party at my house. We were just dancing and later throwing condoms around, no biggie.

Congratulations ladies! I am so excited for the both of you. Finding the person you want to spend the rest of your life with is a BIG deal and something that should be celebrated.  Some words of advice from my experience with wedding planning (or lack thereof), don't get caught up on the little problems that come up.  There will always be something that will accumulate to a great deal of stress unless you learn to let it go.  There was a point during the week that I was supposed to marry Ryan (family tragedy occurred) where I started to freak out because everything was falling apart.  When everything falls apart, it shows you what truly matters.  It only reminded me of how much I love my husband and how much I wanted to marry him, even if there wasn't a ceremony or a reception.  When you're with that person, everything simply makes sense and the dress, the shoes, the beach wedding- well those are just the extras. So happy and excited for the both of them and that they have found their life mates =]

Father's Day Gift Ideas

I'm really particular about what kind of gift I get for a specific person.  If a holiday rolls around like Father's Day, for example, and I don't have an ideal gift, cette person does not receive an item on that day.  I gave my mom a rosary from the Vatican in March and her birthday is in January. Did I forget? No but I didn't want to half ass it.  Now Hallmark holidays such as Father's Day can get a little tricky because you want to show an appropriate amount of appreciation for your pops.  Something that says, thank you for grounding me at all the appropriate moments while growing up, you helped to shape me as a person and now I'm the bomb diggity ;)
I wasn't sure what to get my dad for this Father's Day and technically I'll be missing it as I will still be in California, however, I thought I would share my brainstorm session with y'all. Ultimately my goal is to get something(s) for him that is fun and it can be practical and it's not too expensive because that can be something saved up for his birthday or Christmas.  So here's what I came up with:

1. Favorite movie that's always on TV but he doesn't actually own the DVD- My dad is notorious for having all of these favorite movies that are frequently shown on FOX or TBS but he doesn't actually own them.  For his birthday, I bought him all of the National Treasure movies because he loves them but of course, didn't own them.  "Fever Pitch" is one of his all time favorite movies and he does own the DVD but it's a great example of getting something he'll enjoy watching and he'll actually use.

2. Introducing him to a new show that is captivating, exciting and something the young folk like ;)- This was actually an idea I found on a website sharing ideas for Father's Day and I really liked this one. I definitely want to start watching "Game of Thrones" and reading the books.  I hear it's awesome! If you know he'll like a series and can find a box set at Best Buy, Target or Amazon, go for it.  During Black Friday and post-Christmas sales, I was able to score entire seasons for $15-$20.

3. Gift Card (specifically a Kindle Gift Card)- My dad purchased a Kindle Fire when he bought mine for my birthday. Consider purchasing pops an Amazon Prime account so he can continually check out books for free or getting a gift card so he can update his library.  Gift cards in general are great gifts but not something I usually go for.

4. Make or start a scrapbook filled to the brim with memories- I've actually done something similar to this in the past for my dad.  I made him a photobook from Shutterfly filled with photos of me and him while I was growing up.  Shutterfly is really great for this because they have pre-made layouts or you can generate your own.  For that one, I recreated a fairytale story of a little girl and her daddy (aka me and him) and he absolutely loved it.  Daddy's little girl wins again ;)

5. Make a pre-planned date for dad and mom/partner/significant other- I got this idea from Pinterest of creating 12 pre-planned dates as a gift for newlyweds.  That way they would have at least one pre-paid and pre-planned date a month.  I absolutely love this idea and you can adapt it for Dad by getting a gift certificate for two to his favorite restaurant and getting a gift card to the movies or something fun like that.  That way Mom and Dad or whomever can enjoy a night to themselves.  With my brother in high school and now I'm off and married, they are starting to have more time to themselves and what better way than to get them out and about :)

6. Frame your childhood memories...or visit Etsy- Similar to the scrapbook idea, frame or make a shadowbox of childhood memories with your Dad.  Etsy has awesome frames and you can frame memories from when you were a wee lil babe to the time you graduated with a degree.  It's a simple, cost-effective gift with a lot of meaning to it.

7. Practicality and Comfort- If you're looking for a side gift or some add-ons, consider getting Dad a nice pair of slippers, a robe, or pajamas.  You can even extend this to anything he may need around the house.  If you know your Dad needs it and either keeps forgetting to pick one up at the store or won't get it himself, why not get it for him and save him the trip?

I hope everyone has a great Father's Day and enjoys this time with their loved ones! I know I am so excited to see my dad once I get back to Wisconsin :)

Friday Favorites!

First Edition of Friday Favorites and it's time for Leave to start! Wahoooo!

So what is Leave? Well is Leave is requested time off from the military and and this means...

We will soon be returning to our home state!

I absolutely cannot wait and will probably making a travel essentials list <--and posting it here.  My plan of tiring out our German Shepherd puppy has been incredibly successful so far.  Right now I can hear Holly snoring- hallelujah!  Hopefully this lasts throughout the entire night.

My cousin Mae called earlier and is planning a massage/movie/wine tasting night.  This sounds like the most epic girls' night out ever and I'm incredibly excited for it.  I really miss my home state and my friends so much.  Our family is all there and so are our favorite hangouts, plus the best school in the country is there as well! U-Rah-Rah Badgers!

Back to Friday Favorites! Here are some of my favorite things from this past week:

Favorite First Kiss
I received my homecoming pictures in the mail back from Sara Hess, the owner and photographer of Wild Rose Portraits.  Awhile back, I was in a contest and came second (literally on the last day, otherwise I had the lead) and she offered me a discounted homecoming photo shoot. It was awesome receiving the CD in the mail because I now have the Adobe Creative Suite on my laptop so I was able to edit the photos to my liking.  Hours and hours of entertainment I tell ya!
This is one of my favorite pictures of all time because I cannot begin to tell you how wonderful it is to be able to kiss the love of your life after being separated for over seven months.  Ryan was stationed at Camp Pendleton while I was finishing my undergrad at the University of Wisconsin, so I didn't even get to see him off when he left for his deployment.  It was a difficult time apart but definitely doable and made our relationship stronger.  He's an amazing life mate, partner and husband.  Now I get to kiss him whenever I want to :)

Favorite Pinterest "I Do" Moment
I have always been interested in the idea of getting ring tattoos, I just need to see if Ryan is into the idea as well (kind of important to get the groom in on that idea). 

Favorite Cute Couple Project
Ryan totally poo poos my overly romantic ideas but I'm going to have to borrow his fingerprint for this one!

Favorite Etsy Find

Ohmylanta =D

I need to learn how to cross-stitch and Pixel People on Etsy provides an awesome pattern for $16.00. Yes, this is totally happening and I will frame it :)

Superheroes and anything related to the Avengers gets me very excited :D








Favorite Purchase 
BCBG - "BRAVE" Bracelet
I have been wanting one of these bracelets fur-ev-ur ;) and I spotted one in the BCBG window and had to buy it. These cost about $20 and there is a wide variety but I was a big fan of the "brave" version. This one came in a grey bracelet with gold slide letters and a heart charm. Loveees

Favorite Song
"Where Have You Been" by Rihanna
I discovered this Pandora radio station that plays today's top hits (my favorites) and this continually plays and I've become a big fan of it.  Rihanna is quoted saying that the less clothes she has on, the more comfortable she feels.  I agree girl, pants are overrated.










Favorite "New" Pinterest Buddy
Owl Drum on Pinterest re-pins the cutest stuff and I love re-pinning from their site. Owl & Drum is a store for craft enthusiasts. Whether you like to make the crafts or buy them they will have something for you and they're based out of Tulsa, OK.  If you  have any Pinterest buddies that are similar, definitely let me know! I love following fun and interesting Pinners :)

Favorite Book (still working on this one)

50 Shades Darker by EL James
I'm a big fan of the 50 Shades trilogy and Christian Grey's sexiness was wonderfully distracting for the last few months of Ryan's deployment. I'm almost done with the second book and already have the third so I'm sure I'll cruise right through those.
Anyone else super excited to hear who they are casting for the roles? I think there is a big leaning towards Ian Somerhalder of Vampire Diaries fame to play Christian and I am definitely not opposed.

Ian Somerhalder has the bluest eyes I have ever seen.

If and when Ryan and I reproduce, I hope his blue eyes combined with my hybrid vigor genes produce some gorgeous blue-eyed babies. Here's to hoping (in the far future) :P

I had way too much fun putting this together and I'm looking forward to many more! Have a great weekend, hopefully with warm weather, sunshine, good friends and good drinks!

Life with the Erskines-May/June

Ahh sweet marital bliss- or something along those lines inbetween late nights with our German Shepherd puppy, Holly, and dealing with strange work hours thanks to the Marine Corps.  Here is a list of common household items you would find bouncing around between me and Ryan.

1. Clorox Disinfecting wipes- we ran out last night and I was legitimately sad. These bad boys are the perfect kitchen accessory to clean up any quick spill or anything on the countertops. They are so handy that I'm fixin' to have Ryan pick some up from the Exchange before he comes home from work.

2. Godiva chocolates- Ghiradelli work just fine as well but desserts are a staple to my diet. You think I kid but I run because I really really really like desserts.  Ashley and I stopped by the mall the other day because she cracked her iPhone in my driveway (it was a sad moment) and we were visiting the Apple Store. Lo and behold there was a Godiva store and I do hold a membership so I was all about picking up my free monthly chocolate.  They are so delicious...damn it, now I'm thinking about them.

3. 409 Cleaner- another staple to any household, I use this to clean up my bathroom counters after I apply make-up, clean up after Holly rampages around the house or to clean up the kitchen counters after I've made Garbage Bread. Our bottle is almost empty and it's only been a month =X

4. XBOX 360- I'm not a gamer but my husband most definitely is and this has been a daily activity for him since he came home from deployment.  Not only do we use this for his Battlefield 3 games but we also enjoy our Netflix account from it as well.  We're currently tackling the show "LOST." That show is crayy

5. IAMS Large Breed Puppy Food- Our puppy Holly is a beast, but so adorable. We recently switched her from Eukanuba (not her favorite) to IAMS- both canned and kibble.  She has so much personality already.  Apparently German Shepherds suffer from separation anxiety (oh dear Lord) and Holly definitely displays this.  Last night we moved her from the living room to the kitchen and it was nonstop whining from 11 pm until about 9 am...woof.

6. Milk- Coming from good ol' Wisconsin, I have mad love for dairy products.  I so miss having cheese curds and a delicious brat for lunch mmm yummy. We'll soon be revisiting our lovely home state while Ryan has leave but we always keep milk around the house.  I love using it with noodles and basically any recipe that calls for milk.  We're also big on yogurt, sour cream, cheese, etc. Sconnies much?

7. Puppy/Adult Dog Pads- The ongoing battle of crate training continues...sort of.  I get all kinds of frustrated at three in the morning when Holly simply waits at the back door staring inside instead of going to the bathroom. I can go outside with her and then she has two kinds of pees- a little one and a big one.  I don't think I've ever cheered for a piss in my life but it's definitely happened.  If she doesn't do "the big pee" then you're stuck waiting outside.  This can also be diversified with "the big poo." Additional problems involve that she whines at night, like any puppy but she'll whine if you're not in the same room as her.  I'm slowly gaining selective hearing and I sure hope the neighbors can't hear that at three in the morning.  Ok back to the pads.  I wanted a liner for easy clean-up, so I was looking for ones that didn't emit any specific smells.  The PETCO Adult Dog Liners seemed to do the trick.  If she has a nighttime accident, which she has had many, I just have to roll up that liner and toss it out.  It's really nice until she starts trying to tear it up- oh.my.lanta. My next plan of attack is to make sure she takes fewer naps during the day.  I think she purposely stays up all night and sleeps throughout the day. Oh no buddy, that's not happening tonight.

8. Green Air Mattress- We were totally living the scene from "Benjamin Button" where the couple has their mattress in their living room. It was super cute and adorable but it was actually necessary since our mattress and boxspring came about a week after we already moved in.  It now functions as our temporary couch until our furniture comes in...after we come back from leave.

Well that has been, give or take, a month of our second year of marriage and living at Camp Pendleton. It's been quite the adventure so far!

xoxoKIM

First Home Decoration of 2012!

After finally moving to the west coast, my life has slowed down significantly. I now am living at Camp Pendleton on a completely different side of the base, but I like it! I'm not one to enjoy slowing down and so I took a trip to Hobby Lobby in Laguna with one of my best-friends, Ashley. Finally, I got the opportunity to stock up on crafting supplies! After roaming my Pinterest board, "Martha Stewartin' It Up," I made a list of several home decorations that I wanted to make and that could be used in any military home that we may have. So here's the first decoration that I made: "In this home" canvas. I looked up several different canvases with similar themes to them and chose what I wanted it to say based on that. The canvas I bought was one of the largest available and cost me $19.99, acrylic paint from Master's Touch in Raw Umber cost a little over $3 and then I needed to buy paint brushes, so I bought a nice set for $12. If you already have these materials, it can definitely be a project that costs under $25.  I prefer to freehand all of my art, so I made up an InDesign document (you can do the same thing in Word) and typed it all up.  I took a pen and freehanded the outlines of all the text.  This took me several hours and I expanded it over two days.  Keep in mind this is making sure my German Shepherd puppy, Holly, doesn't walk all over it while this is occurring.  Painting it took another couple of hours but I loved how it turned out and I can't wait to hang it up!

All of the sayings are very meaningful to my little family of me and Ryan.  I think it's a message to all those who enter our home but also shows what we value.  I am so excited to make more things and learn more recipes.

xoxo KIM