Dolce Mia

Remember when I told you guys I won something?   Well I've had a chance to use it for a week or so.  I won a giveaway for Dolce Mia - their customer service was great!  I really like the products so far.   I love that they use natural ingredients and no extra additives.  Ok, onto the goods!  How nice is this packaging?

For the lotion I picked Hula Girl Pikake - it has a really strong, strong smell.  I like it, but a little goes a long way.  It totally reminds me of Hawaii - the Pikake is a flower found in Hawaii so the scent of the lotion takes me right back.   The soap I picked was Mango Tangerine - this has a light smell.  It lathers nicely.  Both the lotion and the soap make your skin soft.   Kyle from Dolce Mia even threw in a couple travel sample size lotions.

I love, love, love the packaging!  I would definitely recommend Dolce Mia, especially if you have friends like me who enjoy a vintage twist.   It would make a great gift! Thank you to Kyle and Bethany at the Glamorous Housewife (who hosted the giveaway)!

Abnet Farm Art Show

The 1st Annual Abnet Farm Art Show is complete.  Lucas met a ton of great people.  He sold one lamp (woohoo!).  The weather was amazing.   Thank you to everyone who came out to support him.  It means the world to us.  And thank you to Julie and Edie Abnet for inviting him to their show.  Enjoy some pictures from our weekend.

Confessions..

1.  We're on a banana bread bender in this house..... seriously - I've made 2 loaves and 2 batches of muffins in the past 2 weeks.  I've found that a splash of coconut rum and brown sugar instead of white sugar are a good thing.   Going for chocolate chips the next round - the elliptical has been seeing me quite a bit.

2.  I kind of want to dye my hair red again - its been about 8 years....  but what shade...

3.  I love this dress but I'm not sure where in the world I would wear it.

4.  I need a new car - no really, I do - mine is leaking oil and I'm not fixing it again.  I don't want an SUV again (trying to not have another huge car payment) and I don't want a car (I still need to transport a dog crate and Lucas' bike sometimes) - I want an SUV/car baby... I think the closest affordable SUV car I've found is the hamster car.  We drove one in New Orleans and I liked it.

5.

I Won Something!

I love winning things!  I read alot, ALOT, of blogs.  Quite a few of those blogs have giveaways.  If it doesn't involve too much effort I always enter.  Last winter I won a giveaway for 100 free Christmas cards from Shutterfly (sa-weet).  Those came in handy!

Yesterday I was delighted to find an email in my inbox from The Glamorous Housewife telling me I won the giveaway on her blog.  Eeeee!  What did I win?  I won a full size lotion and soap from Dolce Mia.  All of the packaging has a vintage flair.  I love it.  I can't wait to try them out.  I'll let you know what I think.

Ta ta for now!

What year is it?

I started re-watching Mad Men this weekend because Lucas literally worked 14 hours each day - I had nothing else to do (other than some shopping and cleaning).  I started over with Season 1 which takes place in 1960.   At the same time I started reviewing Mad Men, my friend on Facebook, Dollie, posted this question:  why are YOU happy it is not actually the 1950s? I know we are all happy to take the good from the 50s (style, class, quality), but what are you happy with leaving in the past? I would love to get some insight from other vintage ladies on their take on the feminist movement.

The only things I love from the 50's are the fashions (well most of them), the music, and the cars - things were pretty to look at.  The attitudes of the time were not pretty.   I see all the political hoohaa on the tv today and think to myself "How far have we really come in 70 years?" - we still have racism, we still have sexism, we do not have equality for all, and women are still expected (for the most part) to not only be full time housewives but also work a full time job. I think the biggest stride we as women have made is choice.  We can choose if we want to get married.  We can choose if we want to have children.  We can choose birth control.  We can choose abortion.  We can choose to work.   We have choices.  And without sounding too political, I hope we can continue to have those choices or we might as well go back to square one.*   

Secondly, I'm happy that women have made strides in the work place (although some women are still fighting for equality).  I can laugh out loud now at Mad Men when one of the secretaries remarks to another "The men who designed this (typewriter) made sure it was simple enough for a woman to use" but I think to myself "MY GOD THINGS WERE ACTUALLY LIKE THAT!"  I can't even wrap my head around hearing the nurses I work with talk about doctors with their cigarettes and ash trays on their carts while rounding 30 years ago, much less the thought of people drinking at work and men being able to more or less grope their secretaries and no one thought twice about it.   To be a fly on the wall.... (and yes I realize that it wasn't like that in EVERY work place).  

So what are you happy leaving in the past?  Acid wash jeans? Mullets? Polyester suits?  :-)


*I'm not here to argue with anyone about what THEY believe in - we are lucky to live in a county where we can believe in anything. What I'm saying is everyone should have the ability to make a choice and unfortunately there are people, "leaders" in this country, who want to take the ability to choose away from people.  I don't agree with that.  I don't feel that government leaders who don't know me from Adam should have the ability to tell me what is best for me and my situation, or anyone's situation for that matter.  /Off the soap box.

Five Question Friday

Happy Friday peeps!  This was the longest short week ever.

1. What is your favorite fall tradition?Halloween parties, haunted houses, apple orchards, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin latte.  You get the idea.  :-)  

2. If money weren't an issue, how many kids would you have?Still going with none.  

3. If you were to get a tattoo, what would it be and where would you put it?The reason I don't have a tattoo is because I don't think I'd ever be able to decide what to get or where LOL.  True story.   Whatever it is it would be something smallish, dainty, and where I could hide it if I needed to for work.

4. What condiment is a must in your house?
Probably ketchup.

5. How did your spouse/fiance propose?
I knew it was coming at some point because I picked out my ring.... soo he was going to try to propose while we were at Tony and Tina's Wedding (a play) for a work Christmas party BUT it didn't go as planned (too loud, not the right moment, etc) so when we got home he proposed in the kitchen.  :-)  Didn't matter to me how he did it - I still love him all the same.  

And it's over

We are pulling the house off the market - it has been on the market for almost 2 years and we've had a total of TWO showings and those were both agents, not even people looking for a house.  I think we're both relieved to just be done with it.  We are going to refinance in the next month or two and stick it out another year or two - hopefully the market will be improved by then. The thing I'm most excited about (but Lucas probably isn't) - I'm going to redecorate/freshen this joint up.  We haven't really done a repaint/redecorate since we moved in 6 years ago.  Obviously our taste has evolved.  So that will be fun!  I won't be starting any redecorating until probably February/March/April.   It's too busy leading up to the holidays to start tearing apart the house.  I plan on doing as much DIY/refurbishing/reusing as I can.  Thank you Pinterest!  I'll be spending the winter thrifting for things I can refurbish.  And stay tuned - I'll probably be selling a few things we have in the house now (like the wine rack, living room area rug, etc.)

Here is my total ADHD inspiration board:

http://pinterest.com/portia319/for-the-home/