Lately…

 

 

I know I have been slacking in the blogging department, but I have decided blogging needs to be a fun thing I do on the side when I have time. I am not lucky enough to have sponsors and lots of followers (yet), unlike most blogs I read. Therefore I need to take my time and just do it as a hobby. I am constantly coming up with lots of ideas, but having the time to do it is another thing. Lately I have been busy working at the furniture store and meeting with real estate agents trying to get some staging gigs (which has proved to be quite difficult). I have also been having lots of fun photographing things and learning lightroom my new editing program which is amazing! I am excited to share some photos with you but I still have a lot of editing to do. It use to be something I didn’t enjoy so much but I am starting to really like it with the new program. I also finally had a chance to get away on vacation with my boyfriend! Even though we have been together for close to five years we have never been on an out of state vacation. Going to bend is not the same! So we got away to Vegas for 4 nights and had the most wonderful time! We had never been there before so we were quite overwhelmed by all the sights! I loved seeing the elaborate designs throughout the hotels. I have lots of photos from all the cool things on both my phone and nice camera (which I barely used). Here are a handful of pics from my phone, pardon the quality.

The flamingos at my hotel! For those of you who don’t know me, I have had an obsession with flamingos for quite some time!

We went to Caesars Palace the first night to go to the club Pure. Everything was so beautiful inside!

My little cutie

I believe this was outside the caesars palace forum shops which were filled with these beautiful roman sculptures throughout. I felt like I was actually in Rome!

I absolutely loved the design of this h & m! Luckily for the bf we didn’t have room in the suitcase for anything so I didn’t go shopping!

This is another shot of the amazing h & m. I don’t know about you but my h & m does not look like this!

This cool view of the strip was actually taken out a window in the bathroom at a club called Moon in the Palms! Pretty spectacular! We also saw the strip all lit up when we flew in and out of Vegas.

We split the best nacho’s here!

The view of New York New York! Can’t wait to go back and ride the roller coaster!

We got to go to an incredible club called Tryst in the Wynn hotel. There was a 94 foot waterfall! How cool!

The Wynn had a beautiful landscaping display inside. The hanging spheres are made of flowers!

We split the most delicious 32 oz bone in slow roasted prime rib at First Food and Bar in the Palazzo.

The fourth and final night we were exhausted but decided we had to make out. We went to XS in encore and were lucky enough to see manufactured superstars perform! We had not heard of them before but loved the show they put on!

Manufactured superstars perform wearing nasa suits and threw around these blow up astronauts, which I was lucky enough to snag!

Recipe Review: Juicing

 
Awhile ago my boyfriend and I watched an amazing documentary called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. It was eye opening to say the least. It chronicled several people and their fight with obesity and illnesses. The main character, Joe was 100 pounds overweight, suffering an autoimmune disease and taking lots of steroids to combat his disease. With no hope in sight, he took on a 60 day challenge to only have fruits and vegetables in juice form. He takes a road trip while he is doing this and shares his challenge with many people who are suffering obesity and illnesses. The video inspired us to start juicing. My brother was kind enough to let us borrow his juicer to try it out. I made a few sweeter juices and we were surprised at how good they were! The only down side to juicing is the expense. You use a lot of fruits and vegetables just to make one glass! We experimented a bit but then kinda forgot about it. Now that we are trying to eat healthier and more raw foods, I realized, I need to get that thing out again! Below I will show a few recipes I have tried. I encourage you all to watch this documentary, you won’t regret it. Here is a link to watch it for free on hulu! Here is a little preview.

Video source: YouTube

 
Strawberry-Pineapple-Mint Juice
½ large pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into cubes
1 cup strawberries
1 pear
30 mint leaves
Press all ingredients in juicer and whisk to combine.
Please read your manual as all juicers are different, and a bit complex. The most helpful tip I found  was to put a bag in the pulp container. This makes for very easy cleanup! When done, just tie the bag and throw out!



 
Apple Green Grape
3 granny smith apples, quartered and cored
1 cup seedless green grapes
1 thin wedge lemon peeled
Press apples, grapes and lemons. Whisk to combine. Lots of foam likes to form on the top of this.
I can’t seem to find a photo of the above recipe, but I’m sure you can image it’s tasty!

Both recipes found on Zesty Cook. Photos by Kristen Peterson.

Have you guys had any yummy juice or smoothie recipes? I have also tried a few green smoothies lately too! Tasty and nutritious!

Steal of a Deal

 

I had some time to kill so I ran into Home Goods, there is now one close to where I live! Yay! I was fresh out of cash so  I decided to snap some photos of cute things I found to share with you all. Home Goods continually amazes me with their great products for very affordable prices.

 

 

Gold glitter pumpkin $12.99

Black and silver skull with rhinestones $9.99. Skulls are very popular right not, but especially since Halloween is right around the corner, this is a steal! I’m kicking myself now for not buying it.

These fun tribal boxes are $12.99 and $14.99

Bright blue lacquered box $19.99- this is my favorite color!

Dwell studio bird tray are artwork $59.99

I thought this was a cute tray, but it has hooks on the back, so you can hang it or display your items on it! Very cute!

 

This large mirror was only $49.99! Can you believe that?!

French vases $59.99 and $69.99

Cute paris themed mannequin $59.99. One of my friends has one of these in her cute “dressing room” that she uses to display scarfs and bags. So adorable!

These golden planes would be cute in a study $19.99

 

 

Absolutely in love with this lamp! If only I had a space for it.  It was $29.99 no joke!

Glossy white faceted vase $19.99!

 

Any good bargains for the home you have found recently?

Outfit of the day

 

One of my close friends has an adorable boutique in Corvallis called Modern Avenue. She loves posting outfit of the day on her instagram and I love seeing the cute outfits she puts together! So I decided to do my own outfit of the day! It proved quite challenging since I didn't  have anyone to take my photo!

Shirt: blue and white stripes from h & m
earrings: brass leaves from Modern Avenue
jeans: silver skinnys from Modern Avenue
boots: DSW on clearance!

Dabble and Skillshare

Just read about a pretty cool new concept that will be coming to Portland soon. Dabble. $20 for a short class (1-3 hours, one time) on lots of cool hobbies and interests! Painting, drawing, cooking, business, etc.  I always think of new things I want to try and do but the classes are expensive and often quite time consuming.  Also, this is a pretty fun idea for a date night! Whether it be with a friend or significant other. Check out the cool video explaining it!

There is also skillshare, offering classes, digital or in person for as little as $5! A lot of classes are business related, but there are also arts and crafts, culianry arts and lifestyle classes. I came across a jewelry making class (digital) by I Spy DIY, a popular blogger. The class was free for the first 500 people to join! Pretty cool.

I'm looking forward to trying some new things :)

Adorable Bachelorette Gift

 

 

One of my best friends recently got married. I wanted to make her bachelorette party super fun and had to give her a few gifts! I have seen cute undies with the brides future last name on the butt, but found they were quite spendy, so I got crafty! I picked up some iron on rhinestone letters, a pair of inexpensive undies and a tank and got to work! Gather your iron, tank, undies and the rhinestone letters and follow the instructions. The basic instructions I followed was to cut out the letters, remove the backing, place on item in the arrangement you want, then turn the garment inside out and begin ironing over the letters. Once again, follow the instructions so you don’t iron too long or too little. When you are done allow the item to cool, then turn correct side out and make sure all the rhinestones are applied securely. Ta Da! You are done and have now created an adorable, personal gift for a close friend!

 

 

 

 

Blue Skies

Portland can be so beautiful when the weather is right! Lately I have been having a blast taking photos with my nice camera. Unfortunately, there are lots of photo opportunities when I don’t have my camera. Luckily, I have an Iphone 4s with a really amazing camera. That + instagram creates some pretty cool photos! I love it! Below are a few photos I took back in spring. I am looking forward to going back here with my nice camera, because it is just gorgeous!

What cool places have you found to photograph in Portland? I would love some more ideas!

New Beauty Products!

Today was a whirlwind at work and not in the good way. The phone wouldn't stop ringing, papers were scattered everywhere and there was lots of stuff to deal with. It was quite overwhelming. But, I got to do something fun after work and visit my brothers work Blush Beauty Bar. This store is quite amazing if you have never been. But it is very hard to resist indulging in their amazing products! I got lucky and got a few gifts from my brother! New Stila foundation, which includes a concealer on the top and a brush. I also got a new stila stay all day liquid lipstick! Then i invested in a very popular product called the beauty blender. It is an egg shaped sponge that is suppose to make applying foundation flawless and super easy! The best part is its reusable and can be cleaned! Can't wait to try out my new products!

photography by Kristen Peterson.

Design Star

So I always enjoy watching Design Star on HGTV and just kinda forgot about it this year! Luckily it is available on on demand so I watched the first two episodes. In the first episode my favorite spaces were Danielle and Luca's. I love love love the room! The beautiful gray blue color, the molding used on the walls to create architectural detail and the contemporary furniture.

I also love how Brittany created interest on the wall in a bedroom by adding fretwork. She had a carpenter cut out the pieces from mdf, painted them white and adhered them to the wall. It really makes an impact!

In the second episode it was the white box challenge! The catch this year was the white rooms were in the middle of Union Station, a very busy train station in LA! They had to purchase everything at a home and garden store so creativity was a must!

I love the chain link chandelier Brittany made!

Bex had some very cool creative ideas. She took this copper disk and painted a silhouette on it, then embellished it with hot gluing pennies around it. She also created interest by cutting PVC pipes and grouping them together. 

Rachel's room really impressed me with her use of patterns. I loved the graphic wall she created. I cannot believe she did that by hand and it turned out so perfect! Unfortunately this photos doesn't show the room as well as it appeared on tv. I also loved her fashionable drawing, so cute!

Danielle wants again showed how good of a designer she is. So far she is my favorite! She took inspiration from a photo of her mother to create this awesome graphic on the wall! She also completely transformed the sofa! This also doesn't show as well in the photo as it did on tv. I have to agree with the judges though, that horrible torchiere really needed to be pulled!

All photos from hgtv.com

Have you been watching design star this season? Are there any other design shows your recommend? I really want to start watching more of them! Hope you all enjoy your weekend!