Goldilocks and the Three Bears

I have felt a lot like Goldilocks in regards to my sleeping quarters. Beds are either too hard or too soft and nothing is feeling just right anymore! We received a 5-inch memory foam mattress pad when we were first married as a wedding gift and it was the best wedding gift I could have ever not known to ask for. Our bed has always been super super comfortable and I have always enjoyed coming home from a trip to sleep in our own bed. Lately, however, I can not get comfortable when I sleep. I have a body pillow but it hasn't helped at all. Since I am 26 weeks along, I guess my hips are spreading apart slowly to get ready for this baby to come. Whatever is going on is causing me severe discomfort. When I lay down it's like everything gets out of line and then my lower back just aches. And don't get me started on my tailbone when I sit in a hard chair too long! I honestly thought women were just overreacting when it came to the aches and pains of pregnancy but turns out they are right! Not that I have much to complain about because for the most part, this has been a pretty easy pregnancy and I am grateful to have a healthy, growing baby. But let me tell you, I have a whole new appreciation for my mom who went through this eight times! Only 14 more weeks to go and I am so excited for my little girl to be here!

What's In My Makeup Bag

(The perfect gray smoky eye!)

Makeup is such a huge part of my life but it took me a long time to figure out what look best on me though (frosty blue eyeshadow in eighth grade...definitely not a highlight of my makeup career). Ever since I started wearing makeup I have been on a quest to find the best of what is out there. Since I am almost 23, I've tried A LOT of products out there, whether cheap or expensive. It doesn't matter what the price is to me now, I just want it to work as well as it says it will. I am sick of wasting money buying something that doesn't live up to its promises. In the last year, I have been on a quest to find the perfect products to me so I can create the best look for myself. This has involved a lot of trial and error until I learned to do research before hand. The internet has been such a great research tool and before I buy any new product I research it almost excessively. Below are some of my favorite beauty products that I highly recommend!

1. Laura Mercier Oil-Free Tinted Moisturizer $42: By no means is this cheap. In fact, it's the most expensive foundation I have ever purchased. But it seriously is the most amazing stuff I have ever come across. I have tried both the regular and the oil-free and I have to say I like the oil-free formula slightly better because the consistency is a little thicker and my skin is less than perfect sometimes. This product has been buzzed about for quite some time so I am surprised it took me until this summer to come across it. IT IS WORTH EVERY PENNY, but I highly suggest being able to test it out to figure out your skin color first, as I thought for sure I would be Nude, but turns out Porcelain is the perfect match for my skin. I cannot rave enough about this product. It goes on nicely and stays on all day. I love that it doesn't look like I am wearing anything and just makes my skin look better!

2. Kat Von D Tattoo Liner in Trooper $18: While I may not approve of her lifestyle choices, I have to admit this girl knows how to make the best liquid eyeliner. I don't do anything fancy, just line the top of my lashes to beef up my lash line, but I can get the skinniest line that stays all day and doesn't smudge. I love that it comes already loaded in the brush which makes application a breeze.

3. Christian Dior DiorShow Mascara in Black $24: I have tried a lot of mascara's out there and this one by far takes the cake for me. I ALWAYS come back to it. The jumbo brush seems intimidating at first but this mascara gives your lashes a nice dose of steroids. I love the way my eyelashes look when I wear this and dare I say after several coats it looks like I could star in a mascara commercial. I love this mascara so much that it always seems to run out super fast on me. I think my multiple coats has something to do with it. Since it isn't cheap, I always find myself trying to find something else cheaper that is just as good, but alas, this stuff really is the best! Plus, its subtly rose scented which is an extra added bonus. 

4. Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat $40: Once again, not the cheapest stuff out there. This is the most recent addition to my makeup bag and I like it a lot. I use it to touch up the inner corner of my eyes and highlight my brow bone. I also dab it right above the bow of my lips to make the illusion of bigger lips. I don't know if it helps but I will take all the help I can get! It is ridiculously expensive but you only use a tiny bit so it really lasts a long time. It really opens up my eyes and I like that it doesn't look like I am wearing anything.

5. Wet n' Wild Kohl Eyeliner $1: I usually just get whatever I can find at Walmart, whether NYC or Wet n' Wild. They are only a dollar and I love that I can sharpen them as much as I want without feeling guilty of wasting the product, since the stick is so long and costs so little! I like to use it on my inner eyes, especially my top lashes because once again, it gives the illusion of thicker lashes. I like to line my bottom ones when I go out or am looking for a more dramatic look.

6. Mally Poreless Face Defender $37: This stuff is amazing! I have to give a big THANK YOU to Erin from The City for turning me onto this product. I didn't watch the show but always thought she looked good. I came across an interview where she mentioned this product and how great it was at removing shine from your face, especially being on television all day long. I gave it a shot and now this will be a permanent fixture in my makeup bag. It has a really light silky feel to it when you put it on and makes your skin feel ultra smooth. It also does what it says and keeps the shine away! This is a must have product for me to banish the dreaded shiny face in photographs!!

7. Laura Mercier Secret Concealer $22: I really really like this concealer. It has a nice creamy consistency that blends in really well to my skin and helps cover up the stupid blemishes my skin insists on getting sometimes. It covers nicely and only takes a little bit to go a long way.

8. Juicy Couture Couture Couture Perfume $67: I know this isn't technically a makeup product but I think putting on perfume is a key aspect of getting ready. I fell in love with this scent last year and every time I came across a sample of it in a magazine I would tear it out and apply it (you know you've done it!) wishing I had the real thing. Nate gave it to me for Christmas last year in a gift kit that came with the lotion and body wash, so I can smell like it all the time! I also bought the travel size so I can have it with me wherever I go! I think perfume has to be tried on before you ever buy it, since it mixes with your natural body oils and smells different in the bottle than on your skin.

I didn't include this in my pictures but I also have a Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler that I absolutely love! I bought it this Summer to see if it was really worth all the hype I was hearing and combined with the DiorShow mascara, my eyelashes look AMAZING!

I still am on the hunt for the perfect eyeshadow, the perfect blush, and the perfect lip something. Nate won't kiss me if I am wearing lipgloss or lipstick so I am thinking I will need a lip stain that enhances my natural lip color (I'm not really one for bold lips). I have a few products on my list that I want to try out still but since there isn't a Sephora close by until we head back for Christmas, I will just have to wait a little longer on my quest. I wish these products were cheaper, I really do, but I have found you often pay for quality when it comes to cosmetics. In all my research I have discovered that cheaper products usually mean more additives mixed into the product (usually talc) and less pigmentation so you have to use more to get the same results. I would rather spend more money on a product that lasts longer and looks better and is worth it in the long run. I know it is hard to justify spending the money on makeup but these products are really worth it!

Christmas Music

One of my favorite children's movies is The Secret Garden. The whole movie has an ethereal tone and I love the setting in the English countryside, the dreamy colors, and of course the house and gardens. I love that it isn't a typical children's movie with incessant talking and over saturated images. For the most part, the viewer is left to explore the movie as the tale unfolds in relative quietness. It's a movie that I can't wait to show my little girl and hope that she comes to love it as much as I do.

How does this relate to Christmas music? During one of the scenes where Mary is passing the kitchen, a maid is singing the song Greensleeves. That slightly haunting tune has stuck with me all growing up and because of that movie, I have always loved the song "What Child Is This" come the holiday season. It's hard to find someone who accurately portrays the feeling of the song but I think Faith Hill's rendition of it is quite beautiful (which is surprising, since I do not like her music otherwise). 

I think too many people get caught up in the commercial aspect of Christmas and forget that the holiday should be spent celebrating our Savior's birth. I always tell people that I don't like Christmas music and for the most part that is true, as far as what most people classify as Christmas music. However, I can't wait until December rolls around so we can sing the Christmas hymns in church and sing about the birth of our Savior. So other than the hymns sung in church, here are a few Christmas songs that I enjoy listening to and that I feel truly exemplify the REAL meaning of Christmas. 

"What Child Is This"  Faith Hill

"O Come O Come Emmanuel"  Enya

"Carol of the Bells"  Straight No Chaser

"O Holy Night" Katherine McPhee

All this holiday music makes me wish I was decorating for the holidays!

I really want these white nutcrackers from West Elm!

This Little Piggy

I just bought this book and think it's the prettiest children's book I have seen in a really long time. Author Amy Allen took traditional nursery rhymes and made them into fashion nursery rhymes. 

Aren't the illustrations gorgeous? I can't wait to read it to my little girl!

Shopping

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Baby Gap? The stuff is so cute and I really could buy the whole store. Two of the dresses on my wish list were on sale so I took advantage and bought them. Can you blame me? 

Old Navy also had some cute things and I grabbed her some clothes from there as well on super clearance. We also finalized our crib choice as well. We are going to go with the Lauren Crib from Graco. It has really good reviews and we can get the crib and the mattress for less than $200. 

When we get back from the break we are going to order the crib and try and get most of the room set up before we leave for Christmas. I will share pictures as it comes along. My sister Carissa has been hard at work helping me with projects and I can't wait to share them, as well as the finished project. I can't share exactly how or where I am incorporating the colors yet, but here are the two photos that inspired the color palate. 

Nursery pictures coming soon!

I love the holidays

Since we are back in Colorado for the Thanksgiving break I have wanted to start some projects for the baby. 

I want to make some cute ribbon pacifier holders

How cute are these finger puppets? I thought these from Dwell Studio (way too expensive for our budget) would be easy to recreate

I think these little stuffed animals would be perfect for keeping in a diaper bag to keep our little girl entertained on the go

It would be so cute to have these hanging out in her nursery for her to play with when she gets bigger!

What's in a name

We are having the hardest time figuring out what girl names we like for our little baby! Before I even got pregnant I had two names that I thought for sure if I ever had a little girl, I would name her one of the two names. When we found out it was a girl though, neither of those names really seemed to work and I have felt very unsettled as to using them. Though we are going to wait till she is born to officially name her, I can't even find names that I feel would work! Even though I haven't always loved my name, for as long as I can remember, there was only ONE Erin (me) in my grade. That changed in college where there was another girl named Erin starting freshman year with us and I found it really bothered me to have another girl with my name in my classes. Luckily, she left on a mission after freshman year and didn't come back until my senior year, but by that time, it wasn't in my grade and it didn't really bother me. My name isn't out there (as I know a few other Erin's) it just wasn't super common and you didn't hear it all the time in school. I want the same for my daughter. I don't want her to have a name that is super common and you hear all the time but at the same time I am not going to name her something completely off the wall. Vintage names are making a huge comeback and all the names that I have thought were cute have been in the top 10 girl names for the last few years. LAME! So hopefully I will find something that works before she is born!

22 Weeks

Approximately 18 more weeks to go!

Don't mind my chubby face. It seems as if my cheeks have gotten even fatter since I've been pregnant! The last couple of weeks I have been able to feel our little girl move and now every night before Nate & I go to bed we put my hands on my stomach to feel her moving around in there. She isn't even a pound yet so I can't feel her all the time but I love being able to feel that I really am pregnant and not just getting fat! 

Petunia Pickle Bottom

If you haven't heard of them, Petunia Pickle Bottom does baby gear done right! They have lots of different patterns and shapes to choose from and they all look fantastic. A few times a year they have an outlet sale and you can get their discontinued patterns on sale, sometimes up to 40% off depending on the pattern! I got my sister a diaper clutch before Eliza was born and it works perfectly as a family room changing station. Every time we are visiting it is so nice not to have to truck all the way to her room and change her, since everything that is needed is already there! It's perfect because it looks cute sitting out but can easily be tucked away in a corner and hidden. It's also great because you don't have to worry about getting messy diapers all over the place since it includes a portable changing pad. Since my sister is such a genius in discovering this, I wanted to get a clutch too. They just had their fall outlet sale and I picked up this clutch! 

I just love the pattern and even though the pattern is a tiny bit more on the girly side, I think it could work for either boy or girl! Petunia Pickle Bottom also has a line called their Cake Collection, which are modeled after old fashioned carpet bags (Mary Poppins anyone?) and I am in love with the Licorice Pudding Cosmopolitan Carryall. It's going to be my baby gift to myself!! If I have to give up my Marc Jacobs bag to carry a diaper bag, I want to carry a cute one! Plus I love the shape and the versatility the bag offers. Since I'm going to be needing this bag for a really long time, it's important to me to invest in something that I love and that will make me feel a little less frumpy. All PPB bags come with changing pads so I can avoid those nasty ones in the public restrooms or at least have something to put over them thicker than a paper towel.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!

Baby Gap

Can I just say that if money were no issue I would certainly be purchasing mass amounts of clothing from Baby Gap. They have the whole kid clothes down to pat. 

We did however get a reversible knit jacket and a little cotton sleeper from Baby Gap. I couldn't find pictures online of the sleeper, but here is the jacket. I got it in 6-12 months so she can wear it when it's Fall/Winter. We also got a matching hat to go with it. They had leggings too but they looked oddly proportioned so we figure she can just wear it with some cute black or white leggings.

It's a good thing this girl still has 3 1/2 months until she comes because I still have so much to do!

Tis the season

Yesterday it started snowing. I love the way snow looks outside and how peaceful everything seems. What I don't love is the permafrost that covers Rexburg for months on end and the dirty slush on the ground. Either way, it got me excited for Christmas and wishing we could decorate our apartment. There's no point since we will be back home for the holiday and we have no place to store decorations. But if I could decorate, here are some pictures that inspire me!

Nursery Inspiration

I can't share my real inspiration photos QUITE yet because I want to keep it a secret until right before the big reveal but I have been working on several different things for the baby's room. Since we only have one extra bedroom, the room still will have to function as Nate's study space as well. With that comes a not so cute desk and chair that were "gifted" to us by his brother (aka he didn't want to deal with bringing them home). They aren't what I would necessarily pick out but since they are free and can't be replaced I will just have to work around them and make them work with the space.

My inspiration folder file is overflowing with pictures. But here are just a few glimpses at the direction her room will be going.

Sugar, Spice & Everything Nice

For those of you who don't already know, we are having a little girl due around March 19th, 2011. 

We are obviously VERY excited that Eliza will have a girl cousin to play with!