Showing posts with label Favorite Things Friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Favorite Things Friday. Show all posts

Friday, February 8, 2013

Favorite Things Friday

Y'all, this is my last Favorite Things Friday in Central Coast California.
Next Friday, I'll be in Big Sky Country.

So this brings me to my first topic of discussion.  I'm looking for three guest bloggers to feature throughout next week.  I'm a little goofy, a little quirky, I love books and crafting- I'm sure three bloggers can work with that style.  Anywho, if you're interested in guest blogging, send me an e-mail at erskine.kimberly@gmail.com.

gargantuan size announcement 
Well, maybe not gargantuan but still pretty excited about- a new ad sponsorship.  Never fear, I still have my free swappity swaps, but I am test-driving an idea to have maximum exposure of a sponsored blog.  

So here are the deets:
  1. A horizontal blog add featured on every single one of my blog posts for 30 days.
  2. 30 day sidebar ad, the usual 250x100
  3. Guest blog post
  4. Social media shout-outs through Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.  
Ok so this is a freakishly good deal, because I'm test-driving it on one blogger for $5.  Yep, all of that for $5.  I've seen other blogs do this for $30+ and I would like to see if this would be beneficial for my blog and yours, so this is just a trial run.

So if you're interested, I highly suggest that you snatch this right up because it's only for one blogger and such a crazy good deal.  Check out the SPONSOR page to get your PassionFruitAds on :)


Remember last week, that necklace that I really liked?  Well...I got it. *sheepish grin*

 
 I absolutely love how they turned out! It's a great reminder of where my military career has taken me and you can't really see it in this picture, but I have Wisconsin, California, and Montana charms :)

Alter Designs was also super generous in offering 10% for The Simplicity of Being Curious readers with the discount code: MILITARY

I have a lot of people to thank for getting me through training with a lot of patience, support, and kindness.   So I got some of my favorite girls these super cute sideways cross bracelets from Three Bird Nest.

{Source}
Lurveee the simplicity of this bracelet and if you sign up for their e-mail/newsletter, you can receive their Three Bird Nest deals/grab bag deals and they have major discounts.  I also got a grab bag item.  I was hoping for a turban headband, but I got a knitted headband- probably a good thing since I'm going back to snowy weather.

Lesley, from By the Porchlight, introduced me to this awesome band and their cover of Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble."  Walk Off the Earth (featuring KRNFX) has such an awesome sound, definitely had this song on repeat.



I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am to start heading towards Montana.  The out processing has gone pretty well and everything is on route to Big Sky Country.  That being said, this is what we look like in the beginning stages of this journey:


Thanks for Reading!







   

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Favorite Things Friday: New House Edition

No, this isn't our house but isn't it beautiful?
I'm incredibly excited for our upcoming move because we'll be living in our home for FOUR years.  Not three months, six months, or a year, but four actual years.  It could even be five or six.  Regardless, it's a beautiful thought to be able to nest a little bit and really establish what I call "home."

I've definitely been indulging in Pinterest pictures of home improvement projects and decor.  Ever since marrying Ryan, I have dreamed of owning our own home and being able to paint the walls, install fixtures and really make it our own.  Being in the military, I'm not entirely sure when that will be, but for now having a home for at least four years is pretty darn awesome.

So this Favorite Things Friday is dedicated to my dream home and maybe even a few things that I would like to use for our new house.


Stunning copper and gray contemporary bathroom
 Source
I absolutely love dream bathrooms.  Has anyone swooned over a waterfall shower?  The idea of having a spa and shower jets sounds fricken amazing.

I have always wanted a kickass shower in my future home. This is definitely happening :)
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Speaking of showers, how about this shower door?
It reminds me of greenhouse and has such a romantic theme to it.

shower door
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my future office please
Source
This is the place where dreams come true!  
I would fill the walls of my office with pictures to inspire and space to design.
I would also have tons of books, because what would my office be without books.

MY DREAM KITCHEN!!!
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This kitchen is so spacious and delightful! 
I adore natural light in rooms and how the cabinetry works so well with the counter tops.

I like this. $10 wall shelf!
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These picture shelves are darling! I can picture them lining the hallways with beautiful family photos.

Dark wall, white frames.  Love this for an accent wall.
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As if the shelves didn't tip you off, I love picture frames and incorporating family pictures into the home decor.
textured wallpaper stairs.
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My infatuation with details would definitely include these wallpaper stairs.

amazing tiny book nook.
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I would love to cuddle up with a book, a glass of Arizona Tea, and just snuggle up in this book nook for an afternoon.  

Other awesome book nooks, include this guy:
nook
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Closet Doors
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Totally and completely obsessed with these closet doors!  Don't they remind you of one of those Cotton Brand commercials?  Those commercials are always so fabulous and carefree.  You have all of these actresses singing about their cotton fabric dresses and doing fabulous things.   
Le sigh- living the dream

Built in dog crate.. I love that it has its own windows
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This would be perfect for our two German Shepherds.  I also love that there are windows for the dogs to peer out and I also really like this crate/pen area that is built into the house.

Much better than a Crate!!!
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I'm very much a visual learner, so I love adding pictures and just an overall visual dynamic whenever I present anything, so that's why there is a large abundance of pictures.  If you like these, definitely follow my Pinterest boards.  These pictures are not mine and I tried to reference their accurate sources to the best of my ability.  Oh and we can't forget about this incredible fire pit/back yard scene:

Sunken fire pit. Love it!
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and after a cozy night with friends, you can check out a book from your personal library

kaiew:    this would be so wonderful
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Hell to the yeah, 
that would be one awesome house.

Thanks for reading (more like viewing)!


Saturday, January 19, 2013

Favorite Things Friday

 I have been loving magazines lately.  My favorite thing is getting them in the mail, because if I haven't already set it, getting mail is like Christmas morning.  I absolutely love getting letters, magazines, packages, etc.  It's probably 80% of the reasoning on why I have an Amazon Prime account...free two day shipping.  Living in Podunckville, CA (not really the name), I have become more obsessed with online shopping than ever before.

http://img2.bdbphotos.com/images/orig/1/w/1wb50hygltdobw0d.jpg


Speaking of Podunkville, did I tell you all about my salon experience?  I got my haircut this week.  I didn't actually ask how much hair was cut off but my ends are right about at the end of my ears and my hair was more than halfway down my back.  I'm guessing a good 12+ inches.  I had my hair cut about this length a couple of years ago and I hated it.  I was home for a break or a weekend and I had already joined ROTC.  I was also an avid moped rider on campus and we most definitely had to wear helmets.  Well combine helmet hair and a military bun and you've got yourself one messy hairdo.  Walking around in a blues uniform with messy hair is never fun so I decided to cut it off.  Well back in 2010, the hairdresser epically messed up the inverted bob and it didn't look right to me.  When I got back on campus, I had one of the Aveda salon school students (yep, the students) fix it and it was significantly better.  I literally lived across the street from the Aveda school my senior year.  My hair always looked nice due to the trip to the salon being a 5 minute walk away.

But back to the story, it was a bad time to get my hair cut short because of course, I wanted to do all of these hairstyles which required long hair.  I started using extensions again, etc. and couldn't wait until my hair could fit properly back into a bun.

Flash forward to a couple of days ago and I'm back with short hair!  The difference this time is that I had an awesome stylist.  I looked up reviews for salons in Podunckville and one salon came up with five Google reviews.  I thought, "well that's better than nothing." I thought it was well worth the effort to at least check it out.  I walked in and the seating area had plastic chairs, the kind you use at your neighborhood block party.  I definitely was judging the salon, but I think I was within good reason.  If your trusting someone to cut your hair, especially the length that I was going to, then they need to know what they're doing.  The salon had a bad paint job, cracked tiles, and some of the hairdressers were questionably on something other than the fumes of hair products.  Maybe that's a little rash, but this salon seriously needed a heavy dose of Tabitha's Salon Takeover.  This is when you ask me, "Kim, why did you trust them with your hair?"

I can't give you an honest answer to that.  I have no idea why I trusted them.  Probably because I was there, already sitting in a plastic chair and wanting to get my hair cut.  They failed to inform my hairdresser (whom I had never met) that they booked her for a 2:30 appointment, while she was gone on lunch.  This probably added to my dislike of the salon more.  Don't set up your co-workers for failure, ya know?  Well in walks the sweetest Asian lady I have ever met.  I think she kind of reminded me of my mom and then all of a sudden, everything got better.  I know it sounds strange. But she was amazing.  She explained every aspect of what she was going to do to my hair and did it exactly how I wanted it.  A couple of days later, I went back in  to make sure the back was trimmed up to military regulations (above the collar) and she did it for free! She was awesome and I'm not joking about that.  I really appreciated that she listened to exactly what I wanted and just had excellent customer service. 

We have some exciting news....

We're expecting....
A German Shepherd Puppy!

Haha did we fool you?  I thought it would be a clever play on an adorable Pinterest idea.  But we are actually getting another German Shepherd.  Right now, he is known as "Puppy C."

https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/u/0/?ui=2&ik=00542a127e&view=att&th=13c540b6644bda20&attid=0.1&disp=inline&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P_cvo7guzNWfldejKXIdC_P&sadet=1358624082370&sads=0QZBfJdhKm8-wGtXx-C0q1sfDiU&sadssc=1 

Have you seen anything more perfect?  After attempts of working with over five rescue agencies in the past year, it became obvious that for whatever reason- our age, being a young married couple, or being in the military, were actually deterring factors in rescue agencies working with us.  Which is actually incredibly frustrating since we have the financial means to add another dog to our home and a ton of love -- Holly is one spoiled pooch and we would love to have another dog.  After a recent attempt to get a dog named Max, it just didn't work out.  We went to the dog park to have Holly and him visit and he was a couple years older than her.  They didn't have the same energy level or drive to play, which is understandable due to their age, and one of the foster parents just didn't want to seem to want to give him up.  Fostering animals is hard, as I've heard, because you get attached.  It was such an awkward meeting as it seemed like the male foster parent was attempting to play devil's advocate, when in reality he was on the brink of just being rude and the female foster parent was doing the complete opposite.  It was a basically a hot and cold meeting that resulted in them not responding to an e-mail explaining that we have lousy reception and we would like to schedule a phone call and then we heard nothing back.   

I think it was irritating for us in working with these rescue agencies for several reasons but mainly for that feeling that we just wasted a lot of time.  Numerous applications, visits, phone calls, e-mails, and physical meetings have taken their toll on us and we finally just said, maybe another time.  I was constantly disappointed and willing to try another rescue agency to see if something else might work.  I love rescue agencies and all that they do for animals, because I love dogs, but each organization is different.  

Finally we just decided to get a dog through other means and we found a reputable breeder in Montana and we're getting that adorable little guy.  Ryan is going through a few name ideas, including "Blue," "Oden" and "Wilhelm." I'm excited to have this little guy around and for Holly to have a little GSD brother.    

Those were probably my two most favorite things of the week, but what about the interwebs?

Beyonce GQ cover 
This article from Feministing actually doing a review on how another article was trying to slut shame Beyonce.  Now if you didn't know, Beyonce's my girl and I won't stand for folks trying to slut shame her or anyone for that matter.  Not only that, but Beyonce is one helluva confident woman and business savvy.  She is iconic and going to rock the stage at the Superbowl halftime show.  She knows exactly what she's doing and in case you missed her performance of "I Was Here" for the United Nations World Humanitarian Day, you need to watch it. #loveher  



Speaking of iconic, amazing people, how about the couple from Young House Love?  I mean they're not as iconic as Beyonce, unless you love DIY.  John's recent post covered a leg of their book tour and I just love that they blog as a couple.  I really want to get their book and I wish I was somewhere close to one of their book signings. Grrr.  Neverthless, they're adorable and with a free download from them.  I was able to make our new calendar for this year.  I made it after I had a tequila shot and glass of White Zin...so it's a little bit sassy.


 

  


And December just wants to hang out over there --->

So that was my pretty awesome week thus far.  I have friends visiting from Camp Pendleton this weekend and a big upcoming test.  Wish me luck and thanks for reading!



Friday, January 11, 2013

Favorite Things Friday

Twenty Four Hour Woman
Copyright Scott Lenhardt - Twenty Four Hour Woman
Can someone please get me this calendar?  If I could be naked all day and accomplish all of my life ambitions- that would be so fricken awesome.  I came across Etsy artist Scott Lenhardt through an Etsy tweet and saw a video of the process for creating this doodle character. 
I don't know what it is about her, but I think it's something about how it's quite literally just her accomplishing all of these cool things.  There's nothing about networking, connections, upbringing, what she's wearing, or even what she looks that stops her (or helps her) in accomplishing these events.  As Beyonce said, Who run the world? Girls
 
Twenty Four Hour Woman
SPACE & MISSILES YEAHHH BABY!!
 
I may or may not have been dreaming about craft projects last night and this lovely frame was definitely on the list.  I think it would be so cute to have, especially with it featuring our military moves =]  Speaking of which, we're moving soon, dealing with a house rental situation here, scheduling hotels along the way and finally moving to my new base.  I'm actually really excited to get there and check everything out.  I've never been to Montana and I'm really looking forward to experiencing it all.

Sideways Cross Bracelet in Black
Copyright Sophistifunk
Molly {custom}
Copyright Better Life Bags
Scrolling my blogger roll, I came across Brie's blog, Sophistifunk and her Instagram always shows her awesome shop bracelets.  I've had my eye on a sideways cross bracelet for some time now and this just makes me swoon.  Ehrmahgerd I lurrrvs.
 
Now this bag right over here is the Molly Bag made my Rebecca and her awesome team at Better Life Bags.  I could not be more in love with an organization.  Rebecca and her family recruits their employees from some of the poorest areas of her city to provide them with a quality job opportunity, skill and trade.  They get an actual fair wage for their awesome work and create a beautiful product.  If you're going to get a bag, consider investing in one of these.  I even sent my husband the link and an e-mail for this.  I am hardcore hint dropping with this because the bag, it just calls to me.  I had it waiting in online shopping cart and I was so tempted to just get it right then and there but I guess I'll wait (curses being a responsible wife).  Rebecca also sells Husband Prayer Cards in her shop, but if you don't want the personalized set, send her an e-mail and she will send you the files for free!  I don't know you Rebecca, but you seem like such a genuine person.

I've also started to listen to more audiobooks with a free trial to audible.com.  Their subscription service is broken up into a few different options, but I wasn't quite ready to commit.  That was quickly handled with the 30-day free trial with their 1 credit option.  For 1-credit, I could download a free audiobook.  I was thinking that it may be a good alternative to listening to music while I work out.  I already enjoy listening to This American Life, why not an audiobook?

 I ended up downloading a copy of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. I can't wait to get started on this and from the reviews, I think it's going to be a great choice for my first download from Audible. 

Thanks for Reading and TGIF!