Listen Up!
Things will be changing here on the blog. I'm going to start posting on the weekend, that way I'll have the time to really pay attention to some smm things that need to happen. I'm also pushing back the book release to a time when I actually have some sort of motivation to do so. I am trying to stick to a new format, but some post will be interspersed throughout as little slice of life sort of posts featuring photos and things I did during the day. Right now I am relishing life’s little pleasures. A really nice cup of coffee, taking time to do yoga or run, wearing something fun just because I want to, and little projects that make a big impact on my working space at my home office. Here are a few ‘hacks’ I’ve discovered while looking around the internet 1. Faux Marble Desktop
I was watching Grace Helbig and she used contact paper to make her desk look like marble. Well, I don’t have contact paper, but I did have a bunch of vinyl floor tile samples. I picked out the gray slate stone looking ones and put them to good use. My drafting table is a mess! I cut on it without a mat so the x-acto knife wrecked it. Although the table was a good price, I hardly used it after school was done. I just don’t find myself drawing things for hours at a time, I usually create a rough draft and fine tune details in Adobe Illustrator with the pen tool. My computer desk was always crap, but with it’s little cubby holes and shelves up top it gave me too many opportunities to accumulate clutter. This is a much better set up.
What I did was cut down the vinyl floor samples to size and used gorilla glue to fix them on the desk top. I also used bricks to hold down the corners so it would look better in profile. It’s definitely a cleaner less cluttered area. Now I just need to get a new keyboard and I’ll be set. You can make life easier on yourself by using some peel and stick tiles like this person did on Pinterest
2. Fire Pit
Speaking of bricks, I have a ton of them! This house used to have a chimney but it was walled off decades ago. The chimney was in poor shape so when we winterized the house they offered to take it down for us. We got some nice old bricks out of it, plus some broken pieces that were nice on one side. I’ve been piling them up around planters for the strawberries for a few seasons now, but one day we got some heavy rain. So the day after the storm the ground was soft enough to get a shovel in.
I have very rocky soil in the back yard, and digging back there is a terrible ordeal! But it was not so hard that day, and I was able to get a good 2 ft deep and 2 ft circle dug out. I laid the bricks down flat on the bottom first and then made a wall up against the earth, standing the bricks up to touch each other. I made adjustments along the way, but we did burn a fire in here twice so far, and it’s done a great job containing the flames. It’s high enough we are thinking about getting some charcoal and doing kebobs next weekend.
3. Ditch the Shaving Cream
Okay, I! HATE! SHAVING! Even though it’s technically fall, it’s still hot. I’m still wearing dresses and skirts, and I will wear a plain black legging underneath if I’m going to be running around town or whatever. But I saw on Pinterest that lemon juice and granulated sugar mixed together until it looks a bit wetter than wet sand is amazing as a shaving cream substitute! I sometimes use apple cider vinegar instead of lemon juice, I found that it’s reduced my ingrown hairs and my legs stay smoother longer (up to 4 days).
I always exfoliate before shaving my legs but I still had a hard time getting a close shave without getting razor burn too! This has solved my problems. I used to swear by Bliss wax, and if you like that fresh waxed feeling that’s the product you need to use. I personally didn’t want to keep buying the refill, which is like $50. I tend to have very thick and coarse hair, so I thought the act of waxing would eventually kill the hair follicle. If you are pulling from the root, that follicle will have a harder time growing back from nothing.
But that wasn’t happening for me! I do wax my facial hair, but I do notice that if I don’t follow up with an astringent toner my pores are susceptible to being blocked up. I get little black heard around where I waxed, which is not fun. I’ve been rubbing the skin that’s most prone to blackheads with just a drop of tea tree oil on my finger, and that’s been lifting a lot of dirt and dead skin. That also comes with a down side, dry skin! So I’ve been using a moisturizer sample I received that’s actually supposed to treat eczema. It works well at reducing redness and it’s oil free so it won’t clog pores.
There are my top three diy things I actually did on my own this summer and they really did work! Come back next week and see what other things I find useful.
