Making the Switch to a Curling Wand

I get a lot of questions about how I curl my hair, and up until now I would just say, "uh, I wrap my hair around the barrel of a curling iron with the clip open."  What?  Some people understood and others thought I was speaking a different language.  I don't know why it took me so long to take the plunge and get a curling wand, but they are so much more efficient!  This Karmin Curling Wand gets way hotter than my 5 year old Wal-Mart curling iron (okay, that's not saying much, but this thing can get REALLY hot) so I can curl my hair a lot faster.  The settings go all the way up to 410 degrees, but I keep mine at 185 degrees so it isn't too harsh on my hair.

If you use the larger part of the barrel you will get bigger curls, and the smaller end produces tighter curls.  I usually try to stay somewhere in the middle for a semi "natural" look, but if your hair really looks like this naturally, I'm definitely jealous.

One thing worth mentioning in case you are thinking of making the switch-- I'm so used to a curling iron with a plastic cap at the end, that I burned my wrist several times over the first couple of weeks while I was still getting used to the curling wand!  I didn't even realize it, but I had a habit of resting my wrist at the end of my old curling iron, and I had to break that habit fast!

It took me long enough, but I'm glad I made the switch.  Old habits die hard, you know?
How do you curl your hair?  I'd love to hear your favorite method!

*Special thanks to Rylees Professional Hair Care for sending me this curling wand!

Birthday Magic

This post is about two things: my love for snow and my birthday.  When I was a teenager, I was convinced I would move to Canada when I was a grown-up because I loved snow so much.  There is something so wonderful and whimsical about flakes gently gliding from the clouds.

Today is my birthday and I'm calling this snow an extra special treat for an extra special birthday.  This birthday isn't really special by any means, other than the fact that it is my special day.  There's no special number or special thing happening, just birthday magic.  And that's all I need.

Okay, so this post is about three things... I have to at least mention this dress!  I found it a few days ago while thrifting, and being pretty certain it wouldn't fit, I decided to bring it home with me anyway... vintage dresses are so deceiving on the hanger, aren't they?  I haven't found such a good dress while thrifting in a long time, so I'm definitely calling this one a score.  It has also rekindled my love for red.  I need more of this color back in my wardrobe!

I'm off to eat cake and stomp in the snow and do whatever else I want!  Happy January 6th, friends!

My Other Life

It's strange to have something that is such a huge part of my life and it not really be part of my blog.  You might remember the original introduction to our band here... I've since taken the original poster designs Elsie did for us and run with them to create new posters.  It's a pretty fun process, and the poster down at the bottom of this post Hope and Poesy even helped out with (you can probably tell which part was Poe's contribution).

It's a fun and exhausting thing, being in a cover band.  We usually play 2-3 weekends a month on top of lots of practicing and learning new songs.  I think our song repertoire is about 60 songs deep at this point!  There's always the pull to be playing original music, but for now we're sticking to it.  Johnny and I have been talking about doing some more mellow acoustic duo shows in the near future, so hopefully that will fulfill the desire to be playing our own stuff!

I haven't quite figured out where the band fits into the blog, but I thought I'd share a little update about it anyway.  If you're curious about us, you can learn more on our facebook page or website.  We really only play regionally so far, so the likelihood of most of you seeing our band live is pretty slim.  ALTHOUGH... some of our musician friends just got flown out to Australia for a private event, so maybe one day!  ;)

Growing Little Bookworms

We were at an antique shop last week and I looked over to find Poesy sitting in a chair with a little book she found. Nothing makes my heart swell like seeing my girls genuinely interested in reading (or pretend reading/looking at pictures in Poe's case).  I can remember being a kid and anxiously awaiting the final school bell, because the excitement of walking to the public library with my best friend was almost too much to handle.  We'd spend hours flipping through book pages and talking about our favorites... it was our happy place.  Then our moms would come and pick us up and we'd look forward to doing it the next week.  Granted, we were a bit older than my girls currently are, but I want to always be feeding that passion.

Library day in our house is one of the most exciting days of the week!  The girls giggle and squeal when they realize what day it is.  The simple pleasures of dropping their borrowed books down the book chute and scanning their new books themselves allows them a feeling of exciting independence.  Here are some of our favorites at the moment (linked, in case you are interested in checking any of them out):

Hope:  Wildwood, Confessions of a So-Called Middle Child, The Nancy Drew series, The Mysterious Benedict Society, The Secret Series, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Indian In The Cupboard, Howl's Moving Castle

Poesy:  Alice The Fairy, Madeline, Eloise At The Plaza, The Goldilicious series, Papa Please Get The Moon For Me, Charlie and Lola, Thumbelina

I'd like to make more time for reading again in my own life.  Sometimes being a grown-up means you fill up every little bit of time with things and things and things, but I miss this special part of life.  I'll be clearing out some time this year for much needed book love.

I also love the idea of a book club!  Emma is hosting a monthly book club on her blog and I think that is just wonderful!  Will any of you be joining in?  I'm thinking about it...

If you feel like leaving any of your current favorite books in the comments here, I'm interested in checking some of them out!  Here's to lots of reading in 2014!