Loving Right Now :::

Photos: Beautycounter.com, SoniaKashuk.com, Nordstrom.com, 

WhitneyEnglish.com, SnackFactory.com, Collage by Me.

1::: BeautyCounter is kind of a newish site discovery for me, but the concept is pretty fantastic.  Their "mantra" is simply to not sell products containing products that are not safe. They have a pretty long list of products that they refuse to include and their reasonings as to why they don't include them in their "Never List".   It's all a matter of safety, really, and I like that they explain what the ingredients are and where they're derived from.  Since I have been slowly working on trying to clean up as many products as I can bear to clean up, this is a pretty awesome find.  I am really considering trying out this Rosewater Facial Spray since that tends to be a gateway product for me lately.  


2::: Sonia Kashuk "Completely Organized" Cosmetic Bag.  Before I even talk about this AMAZING product...let me just say this on record: Sonia Kashuk is a SERIOUSLY underrated brand. The products really are fantastic, and her brushes out-perform high-dollar "professional" and "luxury" brand lines pretty much on the regular. But her makeup and toiletry bags...holy hell, they are THE BOMB. She has the sizing, the layout and the fabric selections just down cold. She brings it, and she brings it for a ridiculously reasonable price point.  They hold up so well, and they're washable. I. just. can't. even.

Now that we have that out of the way...Let me tell you about the latest and greatest in the aforementioned cosmetic bag category from this amazing artist.  Last year around maybe late Summer, Jean Godfrey June mentioned this new Sonia Kashuk bag called Completely Organized in her monthly column in Lucky magazine. It was a black bag, with a million sections and pockets. As soon as I saw it, I literally set my magazine down, put shoes on, grabbed my purse and keys, and drove myself to Target, still in my sock monkey pajamas looking like a crazy person, and walked in literally 15 minutes before closing time. I walked my sock monkey covered ass right to the cosmetics department and there it was: the bag. I grabbed it, inspected it, joyfully hugged it, and walked right to the checkout counter to pay. I did not pass go, I did not collect my $200, but I did walk right out the door with my brand new (paid for) Completely Organized cosmetics bag. 

And it was amazing just as was stated. I couldn't wait for the first trip to bring it along, which happened to be about a month later, if even then, on a girl's weekend to Minnesota.  I piled that sucker full of all my daily drivers, and my brushes, even though many were too long to fit, well, I found a way.  I have used this bag for every trip, every overnight need, every makeup-has-to-come-with-me situation since.  And it still looks completely brand new. I've washed it a couple of times, due to spillages, and you'd never know. 

This Fall, Ms. Kashuk had to make my collection grow by one more, because she put out a larger version, which now takes the workaround step I had been doing for my makeup brushes out of the equation. No longer will I cram my precious brushes into their individual ziplocs and then stuff them into my already overstuffed "skincare" Truffle pouch. I resisted long enough, trying to tell myself that I didn't need this new one but on my last stop to Target (while in regular clothes, thanks) I noticed they were marked down half price already, so I grabbed up the larger option immediately. I have a few plans for my current one, so it's not going to be out of the mix just yet. It's served me pretty well, though. 

To show a comparison, size wise, here's a link to a post on Organized Jen where she shows the collection, including the little bitty option, which wouldn't work well for me, even in my purse, though I admit, it's Navy, so I was tempted. 

Seriously though, get it. It's fabulous.


3::: Barbour Beadnell Waxed Cotton Jacket. *Sigh* Barbour Jacket how I love you so...I have been lusting for this jacket since it landed on Nordstrom's site.  I need a new winter coat, like whoa, and this one seems like it would be great, in Navy, of course, especially with the zip in vest liner.  Shana, the ultimate Barbour fan and enabler, has been trying to help me rationalize this purchase, but I just cannot seem to pull the trigger. 


4::: Whitney English Day Designer.  I first read about the Day Designer in a GSD on Meg Biram's blog featuring Kelly Beall of Design Crush, and reading about it was at a particularly pivotal point for me, where I had just forgotten about a task that I swore I had written down in my makeshift calendar and put on my iCal...and yet somehow managed to completely forget about it. This wasn't a life or death situation, or anything deadline related, but for me it was a big deal, because I knew I had forgotten it, and to me it was an important task.  

From the "public admissions of my failings as a human" file:  I seem to not be able to rely on just one form of scheduling, I need to have it in a million places at once, and even then, seem to be unable to always stay on top of it.  For those of you who ask why I write on my hand--this is why.  I am really good at deadlines, I am really good at getting my work done well and even ahead of schedule. But keeping anything not work related on track? HAH!   So after reading that feature, I googled to find out more about this fabulous date book.  And found post after post after post after post about it.  It also popped up in some gorgeous photos of Mandy Kellogg Rye's office...

After all that, I was sold.  Really, though, I was sold from the start, seeing all the chatter just made my internal rationalizations easier to explain as I logged on to Etsy to figure out which of the seriously amazing cover choices I wanted...After extensive hemming and hawwing...I went with the gold and white stripes. I decided to stick with a classic, just to be safe.  Seriously though, can we just talk about how gorgeous this thing is?  I cannot wait to get it.  I have a habit of not sticking with using these books but I really hope that I stick with this, because man it's SO PRETTY!  

And after seeing what the lovely Cheryl Luckett of Dwell by Cheryl did with hers, I tweeted to her about who made her monthly tabs, and ended up ordering a set of my own. 


5::: I kinda hate to follow that amazing write up with these, because they seriously deserve a novel of their own, or at least a sonnet, but I am a little overly obsessed with the Snack Factory Dark Chocolate Crunch Pretzel Crisps...especially with banana slices on top. Clearly, I am off the rails of this diet plan. 

I've had them at a few gatherings in the past, usually Trivia Nights (woot it's getting to be that time of year again!)  I'd like to point you to where you can reasonably purchase them but they appear to be a Costco only item...That Amazon price is ridiculous... So if you have a Costco membership, or a friend or family member who is one, these are worth checking out.  Get more than one bag though because believe me, you will not be able to eat just a few at a time. 

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