Golden Starfish Nails

This week my nail polish is once again inspired by an outfit - this time it's a dress! A few days ago a friend posted a Facebook picture of herself wearing >> this beautiful Reese dress << from Boston-based clothing designer Laurla. Here's the photo collage my friend Lauren posted:

.  cutie patootie  .

I think both dresses provide great inspiration for nail polish interpretations, but I decided to tackle the starfish dress first. I used Ruby Ruby by Sinful Colors (red), Big Spender by Nina Ultra Pro (shimmery gold), and a holographic gold glitter polish by Color Club.

Step 1: Paint all your nails two coats of red polish and allow it to dry completely.

Step 2: Put a few drops of gold polish onto a piece of scrap paper and use a toothpick to dab the gold polish onto your nails in a curved star shape - which makes it look a bit more like a starfish and less like a regular star.

Optional Step 3: I also added a coat of the holographic gold glitter to the top of my thumbnails for some extra sparkle.

This was a fun and nautical look to try. As it turns out, the dress that Laurla makes is actually a burnt orange color and not a red at all, so... Joke's on me! It looks red in Lauren's pictures though, right??

What do you think of this look? Will you try rocking some golden starfish nails?

p.s. Lauren's own Demoiselle Jewelry inspired a past nail polish look here on my blog! Check out my Fancy Jewelry Nails.

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Afternoon Hike Up to St. Mark's Summit

A couple of weekends ago, Dave and I decided to take advantage of some awesome weather and do a little day hike. We scooped up our friend Evan and the three of us headed north of Vancouver to the Cypress Ski Mountain Area, where we ended up taking Howe Sound Crest Trail up to St. Mark's Summit.

From the Cypress Mountain parking lot, we followed signs for Howe Sound Crest Trail. Here are some pictures from our hike! Enjoy :)

.  view of The Lions from Howe Sound Crest Trail  .

The trail was generally pretty easy, winding along the mountainside and through the woods over gravel roads, rocks and roots: 

.  dave and evan  .

Closer to the St. Mark's Summit, there was a good amount of snow and mud to get through... but once we got through all of that we were able to relax at the summit and eat some lunch while enjoying views of the Sea to Sky Highway and islands below:

.  evan and i  .

.  islands in the sound below  .

This was a pretty leisurely 7-mile afternoon hike - it's great to be able to do things like this for fun/exercise rather than head inside to the gym on a gorgeous day. The weekend after this we went on a much bigger hiking trip, where we got to camp out as well. I can't wait to show you those pics!! Stay tuned :)

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Tasty Way to Eat Greek Yogurt

Since you're on the internet right now, I'm going to go ahead and assume you haven't had your head beneath a rock for the last few years - so you're familzzz with Greek yogurt. If you don't know what it is, it's yogurt on steroids. It provides more protein and generally less sugar than regular yogurts and is also a great calcium source. #MyBig(Low)FatGreekYogurt

Well anycrap, I bought some Greek yogurt for a healthy recipe (coming soon), but the market I was at was only selling containers in size Enormous. Basically I found myself with a ton of Greek yogurt and thus had plenty of time to figure out different tasty things to eat with it.

So far my favorite way to eat Greek yogurt is with fresh strawberries and torn mint leaves:

The yogurt is so thick and creamy that this dish really feels more like a dessert than a snack. Mint, as far as I'm concerned, should be approached with wild abandon or not approached at all... so don't be shy about really dumping a ton of that in there. The minty sweetness balances out the slight tartness of the yogurt.

The brand of Greek yogurt I bought was Olympic Krema Thick and Rich Yogurt Greek Style - and honesty because it was so thick and creamy it probably was a little higher in sugar than the healthiest version of Greek yogurt you'll find. But damn was it good.

Greek yogurt also makes a healthier substitute for sour cream, so while trying to finish this container of yogurt we also plopped some of it onto our tacos. #DontBeScurred

Do you eat Greek yogurt? What's your favorite way to serve it?

Stay tuned for a recipe that features more of it - the reason I bought the container of yogurt in the first place!

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Turquoise & Navy Nails with Polka Dots

Today's mani was another nail look inspired by a fashion blogger! If you follow me on Pinterest (which you certainly don't have to... I'm not doing anything too terribly interesting over there) you may have noticed that my Nail Polish board has the occasional fashion blogger's outfit thrown into the mix. That's because the contents of my nail polish box are way cooler than the contents of my closet, so it's often easier for me to wear cool "outfits" on my nails than it is for me to wear them on my bodaayyyyy.

HERE IS WHAT I MEAN.

Exhibit A: The Outfit I Pinned

Haylee over at Threaded is wearing this in her blog's profile picture:

.  photo from hayleeatkinson.blogspot.com  .

And I was all... Oh heeeeey, I like what you've done there with ya polka dots 'n ya navy 'n ya minty pleats! I'ma put that all over my naaaaails!

SO I DID.

Exhibit B: My naaaaails bitchessss!

I'm not even wearing a topcoat in these pictures but the polish is so shiny that I couldn't avoid the glares!

I used a navy Love & Beauty polish, Essie's Turquoise & Caicos, and Sinful Colors' Snow Me White:




Check out some of my other nail polish looks that were inspired by outfits:

Mint and Neon Nails
Emerald & Mint Nails
Chambray & Polka Dot Nails w/ a Bow Accent

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Thrifting Finds Lately

It's that tiiiiiiime again! When I get to share all the fabulous thrift store stoooof that I've been scooping up in the last few weeks. Hold onto your cheap-shit-lovin' hats!

As usual, the poison of choice was the Salvation Army store on 4th Ave in Vancouver. If you're curious as to how I really truly feel about this store, just see this post. And this one. And this one. And also this and this. 

Now that you've definitely clicked on all those links (right??) here are the latest "new to me" items that have made their way from Salvay into my home...

Two more picture frames for my "Empty Frames as Wall Art" wall:

You'll recall (that's an order) that I tackled a Pinterest project a few weeks back that involved turning miscellaneous empty frames into a bit of a wall decoration:

I've been looking for more frames to add to this wall, since I'd originally intended there to be 5 of them anyway. The two "new to me" frames above both have cool details that will hopefully still look cool under a few coats of white paint. The one on the left was $3.99 and the smaller one was only $0.99. Can't wait to paint 'em and hang 'em up! I'll share a pic of the updated wall, when it's done. And for the record I don't think I need anymore frames now. 

Moving on... I have BIG plans for these two shirts... 

Hint: The plan does NOT involve wearing them on my body. Stay tuned! These were each $5.99. 

After spotting this cardigan on multiple separate trips to Salvay, I finally gave in and purchased it:

I think it's a unique and pretty print, and I love the pops of pink.

These next two items are semi-regrets, now that I've purchased them... but they were cheap enough that I'm not really losing any sleep over it.  Skirts. Two of them. And I don't even wear skirts.

This grey-blue high waisted skirt was only $3.99...

And it has some cute cinching on the sides...

This sage green pleated skirt really caught my eye - it's very flowy and full due to a hidden additional layer of nylon. At $5.99 I probably should have remembered that I don't wear skirts very often before I bought it but... oh well.

These two skirts may come in handy some day... they may not. If they don't, they'll just end up back at a different Salvay 2 years from now. We shall see.

Did any of these items tickle your fancy? Can't wait to show you what I'm going to do with those two blue/white button-downs!

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{Linking up with The Mrs. & The Momma}

A Few Good Things

We got some passes to the Kitsilano Pool - an enormous public swimming pool right across the street from where we live. Fact: Your swimming pool's view has literally NOTHING on this view.

.  this pool is the size of one entire city block - it's awesome  .

I didn't get to watch any 4th of July fireworks live (we watched Seattle's display on TV), but I did get to watch some Canada Day fireworks right from our beach on July 1:

.  fireworks set off from west vancouver  .

David bought himself a 4-season tent last week and we took it down to the lawn by the Kitsilano Beach for him to set it up. He likes to play with his toys. :)

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Second-Hand Rock Climbing Shoes

My main squeeze David has all types of manly hobbies, like mountaineering and ice climbing and extreme knot-tying. He likes to get me involved in these activities, too, so that he can kill two birds with one stone by doing something he loves while chilling with the #WomanHeLoves. My words, not his. ;)

Recently he's really been pestering me to get into rock climbing with him. It's been tricky for him to find a reliable rock climbing partner, so he figured that once he teaches me a few things about it all, I'll be an ideal candidate. Since I am down to try new things, but also #CheapAtHeart (who's with me?), I didn't want to spend a ton of money on brand new rock climbing shoes for myself. Who knew if I'd even really enjoy the sport enough to warrant spending $$ on actual gear?

So after poking around a bit online on Friday, I turned to Twitter to ask #Vancouver where a homegirl could get some second-hand rock climbing shoes around these parts. I received what turned out to be extremely helpful advice - that I ought to check out Sports Junkies on Broadway, a consignment shop for sports stoof. Bingooooooo. As they say.

Before going to Sports Junkies, I popped into MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-op - the REI of Canada) just to pick the brain of one of their employees to find out a bit more about what I should be looking for in a rock climbing shoe. Again, helpful advice abound. There are several different types of rock climbing shoes, but the most notable difference between them all are the shape of the shoe. If you're an advanced climber, you'll want to get these crazy, warped-looking shoes with curved bottoms and pointed toes so that you can really hook your toes over small ledges or wedge them into crevices. Basically these shoes will turn you into the beast of an animal that you always knew you were and help you scale insane rock walls like you're a freaking eagle spider.

Not exactly what I was going for.

For newbies like me, it makes much more sense to get a beginner shoe that is just flat-bottomed and non-talon looking. The terrain you'll be on is actually what determines the shoe you'll need, but of course terrain is chosen based on the skill level of the climbers (me and Dave), so flat-bottomed shoes were the choice for me.

Another important factor to buying rock climbing shoes, once you choose your shape, is the fit. They're supposed to be quite snug. Certainly more snug than any other pair of shoes you'd ever buy. If there's room at the toe, they're too big. Your foot should feel like it's being given a very close hug by a rubbery, loving bear. Not a crushing or painful hug, but a close one.

The last piece of advice I received from the MEC employee was that if I was going to buy second-hand rock climbing shoes that I should make sure to double-check the condition of the rubber soles. If they were cracked or cratered at all, they were no good. It's worth noting that the price range of the brand new beginner's shoes were about $85-$99 - actually less expensive than I'd anticipated.

SO armed with all of that great information and advice, I headed down the street a little further to Sports Junkies to see what kind of second-hand shoe selection they'd have.

Sports Junkies does have a great selection of lots of things - bikes, athletic clothes, boots, cleats, golf gear, backpacks - but they only had about a dozen pairs of rock climbing shoes to choose from. And since they were all second-hand, there was certainly no guarantee that there'd even be a single pair in my size. Well, you wouldn't even believe my luck. Of the dozen pairs of shoes, at least 2 of them were in my size range. After trying on a pair of $65 size-7.5's and feeling like my foot was being given one of those painful, crushing bear hugs I was mentioning earlier, I tried on a pair of $35 size-8's and those fit great. It was like that moment in Cinderella when the glass slipper fits perfectly onto her foot, except that my glass slippers looked like this:

.  mmmhmm you know you wanna take me to the ball  .

.  carpenter's beginner's dream - flat as a board  .

Mmhmm butchest Cinderella evahhhh! #NotEvenMad. #MidnightCantDoShitToTheseShoes.

After I had the two friendly gentlemen at the Sports Junkies counter check out the rubber soles for me, to get their thoughts on how the soles were holding up...

.  ship shape  .

... I felt assured enough in the quality and fit of these shoes to go ahead and purchase them. I seriously can't believe that they only cost me $35. Of course the real test will be how they feel when I'm scampering up and down rock walls, dozens of feet in the air. I'll be sure to let you know how that goes, whenever Dave and I end up going climbing together.

Have you ever gone rock climbing? I've only done it inside once at a rock climbing gym and it was fun. I'm excited to do it outside on an actual rock wall!

And just as a complete and total sidebar... today is my Gram's 93rd birthday!!! I love her tons and wish I wasn't on the other side of the world from her today! Please send her lots of positive birthday thoughts :)

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