I had my engagement makeup trial yesterday with Maris Malone Calderon. She absolutely rocks and really listened to me and gave me a look that I feel still looked like me, just a much less flawed version!

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

Our offer on this gorgeous house just got accepted!!

It was built in 2001 and is 3,000 sq ft of space just waiting for me to fill with garage sale and DIY goodies!

I feel so grown-up….and kinda freaked out. Like is someone really trusting us with this? And also crazy nervous that something will halt the process before I am done going through my Domino book and picking out colors.

So fingers are crossed and prayers are fervent….but that whole “you’ll just know when you walk into the right house” bit? I felt that so I hope my instincts are right.

We are also in the process of spreading Trigger’s ashes. I can’t help but feel he’s still around guarding us and that he loves the house as much as we do. His future brothers and sisters will romp around the yard and in my eyes, he’ll always be leading them.

So much to do but wanted to catch up my lovely friends on the great news!

Sandhya

Thank you all for your support with our loss and for understanding my break from the blog. The grief still punches me in the stomach many times a day and it takes me a moment (or hour) to recover but we are healing slowly. We miss him and love Trigger every moment of every day and we appreciate the love from you all.

Life however doesn’t take too kindly to breaks and while we gave ourselves a week or two, it came back at us full speed. My business is busier than ever (and it’s exciting!) and I’ve been spending a lot of my time volunteering at the shelter (we currently have 3 very cute foster kitties stinking up our guest bathroom in case anyone is interested) and then of course planning the wedding. The house hunt was on hold for awhile but we’re back at it and while we’re being picky, we know we’ll find the right one for us and all furbabies present and future.

I got an email the other day asking if I wanted to attend a special event at Blo Austin, the latest location of a very fun and practical concept of salons – no cut, no color. Just a shampoo and a fun style. I immediately said yes because I needed it to pull me out of my ponytail and smelly animal clothes funk and I’m so glad I did.

The salon is just plain adorable and all the ladies (and guys) are the sweetest. They gave me a ‘Hair Menu’ to look through and I chose the ‘Red Carpet’ look. Ashanti was sweet and did a great job on my blowout!

Before (forgive the unwashed, unstyled hobo look):

After…blown away! (sorry couldn’t resist):

Blo also gave me a bag full of goodies like yoga classes and coupons for future blowouts (in case anyone is interested!) and a trial of the hairspray they used, Aerogel, which is incredibly light and soft. And some fun pink cotton candy – I was tickled pink! Seriously, I must quit with the puns. I blame the champagne. Kidding. Don’t drink and drive, kids.

But DO go out and get your hair did at Blo – they are doing $21 blowouts tomorrow on their opening day! They also offer updos and birthday or bachelorette parties and even come out for events to you. They have locations all over Cali, Florida and TX.

This inspired some much delayed outfits posts:

Skirt, Shoes, Bangles, Belt, Purse: All thrifted and around a couple bucks or less each. Top: Old Navy, also a couple bucks. My whole outfit was like $8-10 I just realized. Score!

Have a blessed weekend!

Sandhya

This is my second post with the same title and how I wish I could go back in time to the first one and stay there.

Our baby boy, Trigger, passed away on Monday at 8 1/2 months old.

We are in shock and grieving and I don’t really know what to do with myself. I’ve spent hours writing to him and documenting everything so I don’t forget.

I miss him.

Sandhya

I’m not the biggest fan of tights. Because, well…they’re tight. I’m not a big fan of anything restricting my legs (dirty!).

No seriously, I change into pajamas the instant I get home and according to the masses on Facebook, I’m not alone.

As for tights or pantyhose…I have always found them incredibly uncomfortable. So much so that when I try them on to decide if it goes with an outfit, I’ll put only one leg on and another pair of tights on the other leg to minimize the amount of time I must wear them.

So while I find tights very versatile, cute and fun, let’s be honest: I wear them because then I don’t have to shave.

Saturday, before my birthday dinner, I went through my one-leg ritual and finally decided to just give up and shave.

Clearly I’m not a fan of shaving either. And while growing up, I was unlucky enough to have chicken legs for which I was mocked…it just meant I always wore jeans. Until college when I kicboxed and unearthed my calves.

But now, the fiance is regretting the day he told me he didn’t mind if I didn’t always shave. Muahaha…man captured…shaving ceased.

Long story short…here’s what I ended up wearing Saturday night (with my lovely new purse that I forgot to hold in these shots):

Dress – Random Store in Sydney, Australia, $14

Shoes – Bakers bought from Savers, $10

Jacket – H&M, $15

Belt – Thrifted or Garage Sale or Estate Sale, $?

I have the greatest friends. I received so many great presents that night (who knew 27 was such a special age?) including some very thoughtful clothes and books from Andrea and an adorable mug from Cathy, tons of candy and cute wallets/clutches.

And in unrelated news, I wore my new beaded tunic on a date night and was way overdressed. It happens a lot to me. I do not mind whatsoever.

Tunic – Thrifted, $8

Purse – Thrifted, $?

Jeans – AG, $100 or so?

Shoes – Aldo Outlet, $14

In even more unrelated news, how cute are these pillowcases my friend brought me from Japan? Seriously, the greatest friends!:

Hope you have a stress-free week!

Sandhya

If you’re a follower of the blog or a friend, you know I’m not a malicious or unfair person. That being said, my patience and emotions were severely tested by Brilliant Earth and I want to make sure no one ever has the same experience on their special day.

Here is my review from Yelp:

If you want to make sure your proposal day and your ring are special and perfect, this is not the company for you. We had the most awful experience with Brilliant Earth and while we were patient and willing to walk away or forgive for adequate compensation…they did neither!

My fiance communicated with Brilliant Earth about my custom ring with birthstones for months before the proposal date. Every time he checked in they assure him things were fine but 3 days before the proposal they called him and told him they wouldn’t be able to have it ready in time and they had been trying to get the birthstones to fit but couldn’t . THREE DAYS. They sent us a temporary ring that I couldn’t even wear because it was too large!

We were assured a quick turnaround and a gift to compensate. Lies.

They then proceeded to take forever to “fix” the ring and make it the correct size and we didn’t get it until WEEKS later. We had told them we were out of the country and that we wouldn’t get the ring before a certain date anyway but instead of taking their time and double-checking, Danielle sent my fiance an email saying “The ring is beautiful!” and shipped it. When we got home the ring had aquamarines where diamonds should have been! When we called Danielle she confessed that she had had them send it without looking at it because we were in such a rush to get it. We weren’t even in the country!!

Then we had a very wrong ring on our hands and offered to just return and let us go our separate ways. They wouldn’t let us do this because it wasn’t their typical policy. But they over and over told us that our experience wasn’t typical. They couldn’t have made an exception? Obviously not and we waited AGAIN for weeks before I got my correct ring.

I was ringless the first MONTH of my engagement.

The worst part was the “compensation”. We asked for the wedding bands for free or a discount/refund and the best they offered to do was upgrade the diamond .1 carat for $700. We refused because we didn’t want to give them any more money. So instead we choose the most expensive piece out of a “custom” catalog they sent us…which was basically ten pieces and some worth less than $100. The necklace we got (useless because we told them repeatedly that I don’t wear necklaces or earrings) was about $300…and we won’t even get that much when we sell it. $300 as compensation for screwing up a ring worth more than $4,000 three different times and ruining our proposal. That’s not even 10%!

They never got back to us when they said they would, lied to us, promised things they didn’t deliver and gave us a compensation less than what we would get at McDonald’s. Save yourself the heartache and money and purchase from one of the many other conflict-free providers.

Phew.

Now that that’s out there into the world I can move on and enjoy my engagement and weekend. Happy Friday!

Sandhya

My birthday is a couple days away and instead of presents (Bear wanted to get me an espresso machine to support my recent Starbucks addiction…thanks to my recent Gilmore Girls obsession. Thanks Andrea!) I asked for a morning of garage sales and thrifting. We found some amazing things including great clothes, a desk for Bear and children’s books. But my favorite was this beaded tunic (only $8 or so):

Then my parents gave me something in this pretty bag….

It was this pretty bag!

I am so incredibly spoiled. Speaking of beautiful things and being spoiled, here’s my engagement ring:

The sides aren’t diamonds – the four leaves are my birthstone (Aquamarine) and the ends are Bear’s birthstone (Alexandrite). The Alexandrite changes from light to dark green/red depending on the light…just like Bear’s personality. Damn Gemini.

My ring is gorgeous but I wouldn’t ever recommend Brilliant Earth to anyone. Stay tuned for my bitchfest on their horrible customer service and the awful experience we had.

But that’s for another entry. For now, let’s all just enjoy my birthday week.

Whee!

Sandhya