Cue the Hana Air Premiere Hair Dryer. I long ago replaced my Chi Straightener with something much nicer but have been putting off upgrading my hair dryer…and I’m glad I did. The nice folks at Misikko sent me the HANA dryer to test out and I am so grateful because I’m in love!

They sent me wonderful hair products as well but I was determined to make the experiment unbiased. To make a fair comparison, as a control (oh yeah, I paid attention in 7th grade Science) I used the same shampoo, conditioner and cream that I always use and only changed the hair dryer in my routine.

The Hana Air Premiere Hair Dryer was amazing. It dried my hair in minutes…like 7. It normally takes me multiple sessions over the course of hours to get my hair fully dry in a way that won’t make it unless I am in a rush and am forced to scorch my head. Not only was it super quick but even the high level combined with the hottest setting didn’t burn me once. I don’t know how it did it without making me break into a sweat but it did and in no time at all. I asked Bear to feel my hair and he said it was, and I quote, “Luxurious!”. And it was…no frizz and no brittleness. It was soft, had movement and was super shiny.

Then I went a little crazy. I was so excited that I thought “maybe I can even give myself a blowout!”. Now we all know how difficult and time-consuming this can be…hello, that’s what salons are for!…but then add in my usual level of frizz and stubborn curls and it’s near impossible. Also, I had never even tried before so there was that. But I re-wet my hair and gave it a shot. It took awhile and I didn’t even have all the proper brushes/tools but it still came out looking pretty fabulous:

It’s lasted days and I’ve gotten several compliments. My hair has volume, no frizz and looks and feels healthy.

The HANA Hair Dryer is professional grade and really lives up to all the great reviews (here, including mine). The website sells everything from styling products to professional hair straighteners and all the tools you’d ever need. Now I’m on the hunt for a curling iron to add some big curls…and I think I know where to start looking.

Thanks Misikko/Hana!

Sandhya

Top: Cotton On
Pants: Sears
Shoes: Nine West, thrifted
Purse: Michael Kors, gift
Bangle and Watch: India

I’ve also recently been obsessed with this super comfy skirt and top:

Top: Maurice’s
Pants: Old Navy, thrifted
Shoes: India
Watch: Citizen
Sunglasses: Kate Spade

And this leopard print jacket with fun structured shoulders:

Dress: H&M
Shoes: YSL, thrifted
Purse: Michael Kors, gift
Bracelets, Belt and Necklace: Thrifted
Jacket: Thrifted

Sandhya

I was late for date night last week and ran in and decided to just go with something super simple and this is what I came out wearing. Surprisingly I was happy – usually I feel the need to make every outfit unique. But I like the shape and comfort of this one and love my new-to-me necklace and cuff.

Top: Thrifted
Skirt: Kenneth Cole Outlet
Shoes: Aldo Outlet
Necklace: Garage or Estate Sale
Purse: Gifted from Mom from Michael Kors Outlet

My darling friend Andrea and I had an eye-opening discussion recently. I already knew how much I love to shop (surprise!) and hunt for treasures. But the realization was that I wear the things once or twice and in some extra-awful cases, never, and then donate them or hold onto them for years thinking ‘one day I’ll be invited to a 60′s costume party’. Seriously.

Case in point: I’ve had the cuff and necklace worn in these pictures for months at least. And yes this is the first time I’m wearing them.

So I’m going to continue my thrifting habit (which is not to be confused with my book and magazine hoarding obsession) and wear the items a few times until the thrill is gone and then sell them online for another lucky treasure hunter to find…when I stop being lazy. Want to guess how lazy? I’ve had the Etsy store without anything in it for over a YEAR now. I have the shopping part down, it’s the uploading and pictures taking part that I’m struggling with. Go figure.

Sandhya

UPrinting is an online printing company that offers a multitude of printing services such as a customized letterhead or magnets and even stickers! Of all the printing companies, few offer as many great options and services at UPrinting – they let you order free samples of the paper to help you decide and offer online  support all day, every day.

Best of all they are offering a great prize to one reader! You’ll receive 500 pieces of Letterhead (yes, 500!) printed on 5.5″ by 8.5″ 70lb offset paper. Your own personalized letterhead design will be printed (front only) and you’ll receive your package FREE of shipping charge in about 4 days! Giveaway is limited to readers 18 and older and U.S. Residents only.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below! BUT HURRY! Giveaway will end Wednesday, September 28 at 5 pm central time. Only two days!

I’m so excited to design our letterhead that I’m actually looking forward to sending out thank-you notes with our personalized paper!

GIVEAWAY ENDED. Winner: mommy2one126@yahoo.com

Disclaimer: This giveaway is sponsored by UPrinting, no monetary compensation was given and I will receive letterhead printing service by hosting.

Sandhya

Bear got me these ceramic dry-erase cheese labels and I finally put them to use!

Olive Cheese Bread

Party Spoons!

Love this cheese plate I got while thrifting.

Now, this is what our Dining Room looked like before:

It’s the only picture I have and I showed you here what it looked like after we painted but here’s our (nearly) finished product. We are planning on covering all the walls with mirrors so we’re always on the hunt for those and we want to get a yellow rug eventually as well. But for now, I love having company over and serving up meals here!:

All the mirrors are thrifted and the rule is that they all must be under $10. The large one in the middle was an exception and it was $15. The furniture is all from different collections at World Market. Chandelier is from Home Depot! The plate was thrifted and the decorative balls were thrifted/bought new and from various places and here’s what I did for the straw-like ones that I picked up for $5 a bag at a garage sale, originally from Ikea:

Before

After – I just spray painted them gold! EASY!

Would love thoughts or suggestions on the room!

Sandhya

Bear and I decided for our Bridal Shoot coming up (with the fabulous Nathan Russell Photography and his incredibly creative wife and my friend, Amy) that we would go ahead and wear our actual wedding and reception outfits. Head to toe. We paid so much for everything and it’s such a waste if we never wear it again…plus the day of will be so hectic we won’t have a chance for fancy pictures. But those won’t be revealed until January. In the meantime, here are some of my favorite experiences in India (getting sick multiple times is NOT included):

Spending time with my loving (and sometimes out of control) family

My talented cousin doing my mehendi

Hanging out with the animals on my dad’s family’s farm

Getting out of the city

The sweet party my parents threw for us

And my absolute favorite was when Gaurav and I bought this motorcycle for my cousins – they are such good kids and work/study so hard and really needed something more efficient than the bus to get around. It was an amazing experience to be able to help them.

Sandhya

Here is the living room before:

We pulled up the carpet, put down laminate, changed the fan/lighting, painted the walls and trim and redid the tile around the fireplace to match the Bianca Carrara marble in our kitchen and the tiles in the bathroom and laundry room. Bear and I loved this room in my Domino book and used the colors as inspiration:

And here is the living room now:

The coffee table, chairs, side tables and most decor pieces (candles, vases, books) were all thrifted or vintage. The sofa table is from World Market, the rug from West Elm as are some of the accessories on the tables and bookshelves and the loveseat is from Ikea. The bookshelves are the same from our old house as well as two more we bought off Craigslist and were just sanded/painted a neutral beige from their former black. The print above the fireplace is from Urban Outfitters.

Still trying to figure out what to do with this area….thoughts?

I still want to put canvas prints of the furbabies up on the staircase wall, put up some curtains and there will always be space for more knick-knacks in the future as well as more pillows for the loveseat, but for now it’s quickly become the center of our home. We’ve had many friends over and it’s perfect for late evenings spent chatting over cocktails.

Sandhya

Yesterday, something miraculous happened. We watched movies. In the afternoon. Y’all, we haven’t done that all year! We finally got to a point where the house is pretty much done. Seriously. Furnished, decorated, the whole bit. There are a ton of medium to long-term projects but at this point, we would be OK with folks coming over. And we’ll be even more ready in a couple weeks when we have our Housewarming.

So we celebrated with drinks and movies and then went out for a dinner party at our friends’, so I finally got a chance to get dressed up….nothing too fancy. Perfect end to the weekend!

Top: Thrifted, $3  -  Jeans: AG, $100  -  Shoes: Kenneth Cole Outlet, $14  -  Watch: Citizen, $60  -  Bracelet: Le Tigre, $5  -  Necklace: Garage Sale, $2

My girls and I are headed to Miami this weekend! And since we spent the rest of this weekend eating cake balls (I promise we were taste testing for the reception) I’ve given up on dieting and have determined I shall just wear a cover-up over my swimsuit during my Bachelorette Party trip. Can’t wait and hopefully I’ll find some time later this week to show off some of the fun things I’ve decided I need for the weekend. Need I tell you.

Sandhya

But we’ve also been chugging away at the wedding planning and the big thing this month was getting out the Save the Date postcards. We used our pictures from the Engagement Shoot and put a fun twist on it. Love the way they came out…and Bear did a fabulous job on the website as well.

What do y’all think?

Sandhya

For Bear’s birthday, I surprised him (along with some good friends) with a day of brewery tastings!

He had a great time and was properly drunk by 3 pm. As it should be.

But we’re not done yet..that was just his present. For his celebration we’re having a fun birthday BBQ, complete with a vodka spiked watermelon and margarita machine! We’re joining forces with Andrea for her birthday…can’t wait!

In the meantime we have been charging ahead at the house. Both the garage there and at my parents’ place is stacked to the brim with new and old goodies. We’ve been thrifting and shopping and garage sale-ing for furniture and decor. We’ve also got all new fixtures and lights. The painting is now done! The carpet upstairs is now done! The tiles are now installed! The cabinets and countertops should be finished by tomorrow and the flooring should be done by next week before the appliances arrive. Then we start filling ‘er up…

I think I’ll do a huge before and after once it’s all decorated but for now here are some of the paint and flooring (and new fans!):

Master Bedroom and Bathroom –  walls are painted a yellow color that took us forever to choose and then the ceilings are the same color cut with white so they are lighter and make everything look bigger:

Guest Bedroom – love the soft green stripes:

Game Room – had to have that red somewhere in the house (it’s been an accent wall in every place I’ve lived after moving out):

Still have to post the painting job in the office and all the cabinets…as well as the floors. Will update again soon!

Sandhya

See more here!

I wrote to Southwest about our shoot to thank them and they tweeted about us today! Our fun 15 minutes of fame!

Sandhya

Before (no idea what Bear is doing and I have no other shots so this will have to do!):

Anywho, we did try a million and settled on Behr’s Daring Indigo…the grey was a color match from Valspar’s Blind Date. We are giving it a few days to darken as the guy said and may change it if it doesn’t because sometimes it seems a little too blue for me and not dark enough. We shall see but either way I do love the combination and it’s definitely the look I was going for.

What do you guys think?

We are going to cover the walls with all the vintage gold mirrors we collect (every one is under $10, it’s a rule) and replacing the chandelier. Started to buy some of the furniture and are picking out the flooring this weekend. Again, we can’t wait!

Sandhya

I adore before and after pictures on all the design and DIY blogs so I”m definitely sharing the updates with you all.

We’ve gotten the gutter fixed and the fence up as well as the whole house powerwashed. They made a huge difference and while we have a ton of landscaping to do at the end, it looks way better already.

But the biggest thing we’ve done is started the painting. It’s amazing how much a fresh coat of paint really changes a room. Everything is brighter and cleaner and the house looks years younger already!

My favorite so far is the living room, which looked like this before:

We tested a BUNCH of colors (we have a huge bag filled with at least 30 paint sample containers in various colors now!) all over the house. Here were the color choices for the living room (there are four more on the sides you can’t even see because they are so light):

We finally decided on Celtic Gray by Behr which isn’t gray in the least. I wanted something warm but light with a hint of green and maybe even some robin’s egg blue. (Please ignore the debris):

At dusk:

SO happy with the way it turned out. Our living room feels bigger and brighter…can’t wait to furnish and decorate!

Sandhya

And since my makeup was done anyway and it was the 1-year anniversary of our Drinko De Mayo celebration last year to rock out on our last days of consulting life (quit and never looked back, whoo!), we decided a date night at La Sombra was in order. If you haven’t been there and you’re in town…go immediately. It’s yummers.

Dress: Anthropologie on sale a few years ago – $25, Belt: Thrifted/Garage sale – $1-2, Shoes: Aldo Outlets – $14, Purse: Thrifted – $10

Have a wonderful weekend! We will be spending our time picking out tile…and carpet…and flooring…and paint!

Sandhya