I started composing a huge post today about our family travels to Warsaw, but I can’t quite find the words to adequately express how I feel.  Instead I’m going to break it all down one post at a time in the coming months.

Before I jump into that though, I thought I’d share some images from Warszawa Poland.  That’s how the locals say it: Warszawa, only they don’t say Poland because that’s American-ese, they say Polska.  So it’s actually *garble garble garble Warszawa Poland*.

With lots of the shouting and more shouting.

Old town.

Market.

Apartments.

Who says you can’t go home again?

Carnival.

Presidential palace.

University gardens.

Downtown view.

Crosswalk.

In love.

Coca-Cola light.

Tunnel.

Pope John Paul II.

This week’s What’s in Your Purse Series purse is from Anne.  Thank you!

If you love this series and want more of it, submit your purse. Take two photos of your purse {NICE, CLEAR, NOT-BLURRY ONES} one of the outside, one of the inside, along with a listing of the contents to:

allison AT petitelefant DOT com

• -Ziploc bag of extra kids’ clothes, some of which have been outgrown
• -Central Market gift card
• -frequent user card from the cafeteria in the basement of the state capitol
• -business card from the beauty school where I get my hair dyed various colors on the cheap

• -receipts and my W-2
• -my Junior League badge
• -Kleenex, both used and unused

• -red luggage tag
• -purse hanger
• -Twix (how have I not eaten this yet?)
• -collar stays from the dry cleaner (taken out of my husband’s shirt)
• -Coach wallet and my state employee ID badge

• -my daughter’s sunglasses
• -crayon pieces
• -candy cane pieces
• -gum
• -Lorac Lotsa Lip lip gloss, sadly discontinued
• -pencil
• -money that was not in my wallet

• -unused key chain, still wrapped in plastic
• -hair elastic
• -safety pin
• -dog tag

Let’s face it, Valentine’s Day is coming up.  Don’t throw things at me, I didn’t invent the whole shenanigan.  I just work here.

Love it or hate it, it’s time to get spiffy for a night of romance.  Valentine’s is all about making that perfect love connection, or renewing the one you’ve got, or lounging around in holey sweats and your ex-boyfriend’s t-shirt while you watch romantic comedies with a pint of ice cream in your lap.

It’s your day, whatever.

I’m not one to pass judgement anyway;  Viktor is firmly in the camp of Valentine haters.  He thinks Valentine’s Day is made up of corporate greed and nonsense, and as such refuses to participate no matter how many tears I cry.  So I make cute little treats for the kids and make a special dessert for dinner and call it a day.

But in the world of Make Believe, the Valentine’s Day in my head is amazing. 

Viktor swoops into the house with flowers and a mix CD of love songs just for me.  He has planned an overnight sleepover for the kids and takes me to my favorite restaurant for a night of flirty nonsense.  I’m looking smoking hot in my favorite go-to sexy outfit and feel 22 again, giggly and romantic and don’t think once about mortgage payments, work deadlines, or the fact that my feet have been numb since we left the house.

Magic, right?

Since that isn’t going to happen for me, make it happen for you.  Please.  I’m living vicariously through you here.

I put together a couple of outfit options for you because even if I don’t get lucky on Valentine’s Day, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.  In fact Valentine’s is all about getting it on, so you know, no pressure but I’m counting on you.

Both of the tops can technically be considered dresses, just please please wear opaque tights if you choose to go pantless.  I paired both tops with skinny jeans, which would be adorable but not so much if you’re going to a fancy place.   The rest of the fabulous is up to you.  Sequins and funky liquid eyeliner?  Do it.  Smoky eye?  Now’s your chance.  Red lipstick and leather pants?  Girlfriend, let’s rock this thing.

Finding longer lasting lip color is like happening upon a pasture full of unicorns.  It just doesn’t happen.  Everyone talks about it like it’s no big thing,

“Oh my amazing lipstick?  My girl at the {muffled muffled, garble garble} counter just keeps it in stock for me.  I don’t even know what it’s called!  *giggle*”

Liar.

If girlfriend has perfect lipstick all through dinner, she’s got a secret up her sleeve she doesn’t want you to know about.  Especially if you’re frenemies.  Swapping that kind of secret is a thing for insiders only, best friends and sisters.  After that, it’s every woman for herself.

You know I’m always looking out for you though.  You can feel it in your blood, I always have your back.  I wouldn’t want you to {gasp!} go out in public with crackly uneven lip color.  *shudder*

I have a cheap solution for you: Revlon Lip Stain.  This stuff is available at the drugstore, your supermarket, probably the gas station on the corner.  It’s between $5-8 and is worth sacrificing your daily cappuccino.  It’s not meant to replace the hardcore stuff in your purse, but I really like it for day-to-day business.

And I do mean business. 

If you want to get really technical about it I can kiss my husband, business like, eat, drink, and be merry without a single smudge.  It’s a quick solution for keeping a bit of color on your face without the fear of lipstick on your teeth {the worst} or color smearing down your chin {just kidding, that’s the worst}.

Problem solved: longer lasting lip color for under $10.  Boom goes the dynamite.

*p.s. let’s not comment on the wrinkles and laugh lines, they’re worth more than $10 a pop.

This giveaway is now closed, thanks to everyone who entered, shared + tweeted!  The winner is suzieqw!  Please email me asap to claim your booty allisonATpetitelefantDOTcom

This week’s giveaway is sponsored by Thirty-One, a company full of organizing totes and accessories to make organizing your life easier. Today they’re giving away a $100 gift card to spend on whatever you’d like from their catalog; I have my eye on the wicker magazine holders, heaven knows I have enough of a magazine stash to fill one already.

The thermal totes are pretty amazing too, I mean who doesn’t want to keep groceries cold on the way home from the store?

Giveaway Details:

1. Leave a comment telling me what you’d choose out of the Thirty-One Gifts catalog.
2. Giveaway ends Monday January 30th at Midnight MST.
3. If you want to Like Petit Elefant on Facebook and share this giveaway on your own page, you’ll get two extra entries.
4. Tweet about the giveaway and you have one more.  Be sure to tell me in the comments.
5. I’ll choose a random winner + announce on this page when the giveaway closes.

Good luck!

I have the kind of pregnancies no one should ever experience.  The kind of pregnancies that didn’t exist 100 years ago because the mother died 12 weeks in and stopped bothering everyone with her nonstop complications.  I’ve talked a little bit about it here before, and even though I’m still haunted by the memories and don’t like to talk about it a ton, I learned some really amazing life lessons from the whole shebang.

There’s something about flirting with death a handful of times that makes one realize there’s only so much time to make the good stuff happen, and that time is right this very second.

The last go-round {with Charming seven years ago} was the worst, worse than the most horrible I could have imagined, but the minute it was all over and I’d recovered enough to stay upright for more than 10 minutes at a time, I came out both guns blazing.  {sorry, couldn’t help it}  I had some major epiphanies, one of them being the fact that DUDE, I’m still alive!  Holy cow, I’m still alive!  No, really I made it!  The baby made it too, and he’s fantastic!

I took note mentally of a million and one things I wanted to make happen in the next 60 years on earth and decided: let’s go make it happen NOW.  Life List 101.

The thing about this whole mortal life we’ve got going on, is that there’s not one day in our 20′s or 30′s or any time beyond where life is just awesome all of a sudden.  Boom, magic!  There’s no fairy who bursts onto the scene one day and says it’s time for things to start getting all fantastic up in here. 

You have to make it happen every. single. day.

We aim to be happy every day around my house.  It doesn’t always happen, I mean we’re not Disneyland, but being ridiculous and spontaneous goes a really long way to breaking up our mundane, overly scheduled, super stressful life.

Here are some suggestions to help you get started in your life of happy, spontaneous, everyday magic:

• Jump in a pile of leaves
• Dance in your car
• Dance in your kitchen
• Sing in the shower
• Hang out with your friends
• Have a candlelit dinner of mac n’ cheese
• Make a fort on a Wednesday afternoon
• Start a collection
• Go miniature golfing.  Cheat if it makes you happy
• Dye your hair a ridiculous color just because you’ve always wanted to try it
• Eat dessert first, because you can
• Take a sick day to watch all your favorite TV shows
• Blast your favorite music and take a bubble bath in the middle of the day
• Go to a movie alone.  Get 2 kinds of your favorite candy and don’t share with anyone
• Allow yourself to be silly, look silly, sound silly
• Listen to inappropriate music, you know for your age
• Buy the meal of the car behind you in a drive-thru
• Paint your nails an inappropriate color
• Take your kids out of school to see an afternoon matinee movie of their choice
• Send ridiculous cards to the people you love {think Chihuahuas and old ladies swimming}
• Say I love you.  A lot
• Buy the crazy high, sparkly heels.  Just because
• Get a pedicure once in a while, you deserve it
• Eat dinner in bed
• Go out to breakfast.  Order a whipped cream confection that’s terrible for your health

Today is your day.  Make it happen.

I’m so excited to be partnering again with Hallmark in 2012 as part of their “Life Is a Special Occasion” campaign.  As always all stories, opinions, and naughty children are nothing but my own.

It’s still Winter, even though the weather in Utah has been ten kinds of insane.  She’s a fickle little diva, that Winter.  Anyhow, since citrus is so widely available in the depths of despair December/January it’s a fun time to get your craft on and whip up a tea light made from an orange.  Or three.

Serious.

Martha, procurer of all things beautiful, taught me how to do this little bit of magic with oranges and I’ll tell you what: it’s a super easy and totally gorgeous craft. 

Promise.

I just don’t have time and/or energy for any drawn out nonsense, and my guess is neither do you.  But this would be a little bit cool and romantic to try for a cozy Valentine’s day dinner.  Maybe I’ll whip out some magic and impress Viktor.  Then again, maybe I’ll eat a protein bar and have a Downton Abbey marathon instead, boys optional.

I’m betting on the latter.

So here’s how it all breaks down, the nitty gritty details you need to know to make your own tea light.

How to: tea light made from an orange:

• oranges
• tea lights
• tea light holders or small ramekins
• paring knife
• spoon
• steel cookie cutter {optional}
• bowl for orange guts

Step 1: Slice an orange in half right down the middle, not top down from the stem.

Step 2: Use a spoon to scoop out the guts of the orange, the same way you’d carve a pumpkin.

Step 3: If you have a metal cookie cutter that will cut through the orange peel, use it to cut a shape out of the top.  This will be the top, the fire escape so it needs to be at least a couple inches across.  I ended up cutting a shape out with the paring knife because my cookie cutter was a pansy.

Step 4: Place the other orange half the bottom half, in the tea light holder or ramekin, put the tea light in the middle, and you’re done.

Boom!

You are a ninja made of crafty awesomeness.

Light the candle, put the lid on, and prepare to blow minds.

This is a seriously gorgeous tea light.  If you make a handful of these bad boys, invite people over to experience the magic that is you.  You’ll have people swooning at your skills, whispering to one another in hushed reverential tones about your brilliance.

I’m pretty sure that’s how this whole thing will play out.

Look at you, you just made a tea light out of an orange!

There’s really nothing you can’t do.

Winter riding clothes by petitelefant featuring skinny leg jeans

I’m teaching a design camp at Altitude Summit in Salt Lake City this weekend about make-up tips for photography.  You know, for all your big photo shoots.  So I thought I’d share the bulk of my presentation here with you, because I’m a giver.  {but mostly because I need cliff notes while I’m presenting}

Regular makeup doesn’t do the job when you’re being photographed, especially if the photographer is using any kind of flash.  It’s really easy for the colors on your face to get blown out {too white} and distorted from what they naturally look like, but I’m going to share a few little make-up tricks anyone can do to look fabulous in photos.

Make-up tips for photography

• start with a clean, moisturized face
• groom your eyebrows: shape/pluck/spoolie, fill in with eyeshadow
• put on your makeup in natural light
• less is more for an everyday look, for a photo shoot amp it up a little
• use a make-up primer to fill in lines and scars
• start with a tinted moisturizer, blend really well
• always tap your brush before applying blush and eyeshadow to get rid of excess color
• apply blush at the apples of cheeks, leave most of the color there and blend up towards ears
• if you don’t have an eyeshadow primer, use a foundation brush and apply a small amount of foundation on eyelids before applying eyeshadow
• apply foundation to your lips too, it will help the lipstick/lip-gloss last
• apply eyeshadow with one brush + blend with another, use about 1/3 more eyeshadow than normal
• use only matte colors no shimmery or glittery colors, they’ll reflect the light
• avoid hard lines with eyeliner
• only use liquid eyeliner on the top lid
• go two shades lighter on lipstick, dark can look too harsh
• use a lip liner with the same shade of your lipstick/lip-gloss, fill your lips in using a lipstick brush
• apply a small dot of lighter lipstick/lip-gloss to the center of your lips, it will make them look more full
• curl your eyelashes, always always always
• apply 2-3 coats of mascara
• use false lashes if you dare, they look amazing in photos
• use a sponge with moisturizer to remove any traces of errant eyeshadow
• apply a foundation just one color darker than your normal skin tone; not dark dark, but just one shade darker
• blend foundation really really well
• use under eye concealer to cover any dark circles you might have
• finish off with powder all over your face, and blend it with a big fat brush
• take some digital photos with your camera when you’re done to get a feel for what you’ll look like; use a flash
• keep a pack of rice paper in your purse, they’re these amazing little absorbent sheets that pull oil off your face

That’s it, that’s all you need to know.  Head off to the races and get your pretty self photographed, you look gorgeous already.

The best part about our European vacation wasn’t the playgrounds, although they were full of rad.  Or the Turkish baths in Budapest, although I’d like to move into one of the changing cabins post haste.  It wasn’t even the bubbly water, or the trains, or the month without a cell phone, even though each and every one of those things were worth the trip.

The best part about Europe was seeing where my husband grew up, seeing his primary school and where his family lives and where his parents lived during the war.  And part of all that was seeing the cemetery where some of Viktor’s family are buried.

Most of Viktor’s family died in and around World War II and ended up in unmarked graves or concentration camps.  I can count on one hand the number of living relatives on both sides of Viktor’s family combined.  There isn’t  much left but memories and a few photographs, so I was really excited to visit a cemetery and a family grave site.

In Europe, at least in Poland, families take care of the graves.  There’s a chapel in the cemetery and while the priest and some nuns take care of the day-to-day affairs, the families are in charge of maintaining their own family headstones.

I was so excited to visit the cemetery in Warsaw.  I know that sounds freaky and super Twilight Zone, but I was.  I don’t normally have a thing for visiting graves, but I want to capture every last scrap of information I can before Viktor’s parents die and everything is lost with them.  I want to share that with my children while I can.

First of all, the cemetery we visited was huge.  It was built in the 1700′s, and I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.

Warsaw is a huge bustling international city; it’s noisy and filled to the brim with people, but the second we stepped into the cemetery everything was entombed in silence, completely quiet and still.  All the gravestones were covered in moss and flowers, with giant trees forming a green canopy all the way around.

All I could think about was fairies.  Little tiny woodland fairies living in a green and mossy cemetery.

The headstones weren’t just headstones, they were mausoleums dedicated to and taken care of by loving relatives.  There were fresh flowers and lit candles everywhere, and the only other living soul we saw was a nun scurrying back to her responsibilities at the chapel.

I’ll pay you a thousand dollars on the spot if this is your family name.  There are only eight vowels in the entire thing.

The kids skipped through rows of graves, dusting leaves and dead flowers off the headstones.  They marveled at the details on the graves, and were floored by row upon row of actual family mausoleums scattered throughout the cemetery.

They wanted to stay for hours, which is the exact opposite of what I expected.  I thought they’d whine and moan about having to spend the afternoon in a cemetery and “Oh my gosh Mom and Dad you’re so boring, why did you bring us to a lame cemetery full of dead people we don’t care about?”

But we were all transported by the magic of the afternoon so we stayed until the sun went down.

It was extraordinary.

We passed the chapel on our way back out to the street, and I wept as I read the names of the men killed at Katyń and the crosses representing the bodies that never came home.

My children were able to see gravestones bearing their names, and connected to a part of their history they didn’t know existed;  I’ll forever be grateful for the chance we had to be encapsulated between past and present for the space of a summer afternoon.