Celebrating Color: Green!

I'm one of the few people I know who are actually looking forward to Fall and Winter.  Fall is my favorite time of year. Lately I haven't been able to go outside much because the heat and I just don't get along.  But I love walking in the park in the Fall.  I love observing nature's cycles.

Our area of the globe has been lushly green because we've had a lot of rain.  I love rain, and I love grey skies. Still deciding where I'm moving - Seattle is a contender.

 Image by Peggy

I've been under the weather for a couple of weeks, I need to cheer myself up. When it comes to cheering myself up, color psychology works best. I love contemplating (and writing about color).  For the next week or so, I'll be focusing on color and will conclude with showing how I'm using color in my apartment at the moment (you might be surprised).

It seems appropriate to do a feature about green. Funny thing about green. Though I adore it outside, and am deeply in love with trees, I don't really like it much in my decor. I have used mint green, sage, aqua and chartreuse.  I'm not a fan of true green nor forest green in my home. Of course, when it comes to color in my home, I've learned never to say never. I've used orange and yellow in my home - two colors I never thought I'd use.  Still not really a fan of red in the home, but love red clothes.

I think no one can do green better than Mother Nature. Green is obviously on trend for fall.  Green accessories are everywhere. 

You are in luck if you want a green accessory for your home. Green accessories are everywhere. I took this photo at Home Goods.

Photo by personal friend of editor, not to be used without permission

If I were going to use green in my place, it would be bright green.  And of course, it would be coupled with pink. Pink looks great with everything!  I love this picture taken at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by my sister-in-law. Check those guitars and those bearded drums. I could design a room around this photo. Yep, bright green and pink art and white faux fur.  It would be fab.  This pic would also look cool blown up to poster size.

Designer Kristine Guico (Project Runway, Season 13) made this cute green dress for the unconventional challenge. I could design a room around this dress.  Yep, bright green and graphic vintage marquee letters.  It would be fab.

Remember the winner of Project Runway, Season 4, kid genius and designer extraordinaire, Christian Siriano?  Christian is arguably the most talented and successful of the Project Runway alumni. I've never worn green, but I'd be tempted to wear these gorgeous pieces for Fall and Winter.  Of course, they are a forest green.  I predict we will see a lot of forest green in fashion this Fall, and it will be paired with purple.

Here's a few pictures of rooms featuring green.  I love how fresh these rooms are.

This image is from an inspiration folder I started preparing when my friend Haley got a fab new place. She's an earthy kind of girl and I dig her style. Green sofa looks fabulous in this organic/industrial spot.  Love the unexpected pop of color from the pouf.  I also love me a round coffee table.  Image VT Wonen.

I love the color scheme of the pink, blue and green.  You wouldn't really call these pastel colors, nor are they exactly jewel tones.  Maybe you'd call them candy colored.  Love metallic touches as well. Fig House design by Emily Henderson.  Emily is a master at using the color green.  I adore Emily, even though our aesthetics are very different. Emily was the winner of Design Star, Season 5.  Remember her fabulous green ceiling?
 

 I miss her show on HGTV!  Oh and BTW - I just gotta show you Emily's baby son Charlie (click here).  Isn't he the cutest little guy you've ever seen!  Image via HGTV.

Emily recently designed office space for Oh Joy!  I dig that green sofa with the pink chairs.  Love the yellow and blue pillows too.  Don't really love the galley wall.  This is a big difference in mine and Emily's aesthetic.  I think it looks cluttered.  I prefer that art doesn't compete with each other and prefer one large piece.  I've written about this in previous posts, and this will also be the subject of an upcoming post.

I dearly love this bedroom.  Beautiful use of color.  Most of the room is white with pops of pink, salmon and green.  An unexpected touch is the use of the gray quilted headboard which mimics the pattern on the chair.  Love how fresh and airy this place looks.  Love the white floor!  Image source unknown.

Another beautiful earthy room.  Love the planks, love the white floor.  Love the sofa and pillows.  Hate the animal skin rug, but all in all a gorgeous room.  Nice take on lodge style.  Image Myrica Bergqvist.
 

I love this green coffee table.  You don't have to do your whole room in green, you can add just a pop.  Photo Patric Johansson for Elle Interior.

Eeeek!  My favorite sofa of all time - the Poet Sofa by Finn Juhl.  The sofa would look great in any color, but it looks particularly fab in pale green.  Love the green coffee tables, kinda look like floating lily pads. That's why I love legs on my furniture - so everything looks like it's floating.  The concrete planter is a nice touch as is the green wire sculpture.  Image via Living Etc.

Notice the sculpture behind the sofa in the above pic.  Reminds me of this green sculpture I saw at The Land of Plenty. I dig it. Would look great in a large industrial loft. Would be cool in a garden too. I didn't buy it because I 'm not making any big purchases because I will be moving soon.  More to come on that in the near future.

These art glass vases by Paola Navone would add a soft green, organic touch to a room. I was struck by these, thinking they look like sea anemones and would look great in a large aquarium.  They are appropriately named fish vases and are available at Crate and Barrel.

Here's an experiment where I was using emerald (Pantone's color of the year for 2013), in my home. I even painted the vase to match. My place doesn't look like this right now.  Reveal coming up soon, if I can ever get the place cleaned up!

After spending so much time talking about pop colors for your hair, it doesn't seem right not to include an example of green as a pop hair color.  This fab creature is sporting a fab green ponytail, yet another way to add your pop color.  It's all about fun.

Image via Teen Vogue.

For more fabulous green hair ideas, see my previous post about Natasha Lillipore here. Why not be brave and have fun with your look when you go out this fall?  Don't forget your green nail polish and eyeshadow.

 Image via EyeshadowLipstick.com

What about you dear readers?  Do you love green?  Are you going to be wearing green or using green in your home decor this Fall?

Best Mascara Ever!

I'm obsessed with Project Runway.  I'm also obsessed with Pinterest.  I'm finding Pinterest to be a great tool for when I can't keep up with my blog.  What's that?  You've fallen behind in Project Runway?  Don't despair?  You can quickly catch up by checking out my Project Runway, Season 12 Board.  Bear in mind when you check out my board, it's all my own humble opinion.  Opinions are fun!  Fashion is fun!

One of the bonuses of Project Runway is the L'oreal hair and makeup artists!  I would dearly love to have them do my hair and makeup.  Okay, the ads get a little obnoxious on the website (I stream everything, no TV, no need).  Anyway, why do the commercials come on like a zillion times, advertising stuff that's already clearly shown in the show?  And why do they come on breaking the sound barrier?  I jump out of my skin every time. Thank goodness for the nifty PC remote I got at Radio Shack.  Plugs right into the USB port.

I think I'm going to barf every time the commercials come on.  Same ones, over and over and over:  1. Colace (yuk, I don't want to hear about your poop habits),  2.  Charmin (again, yuk!),   3.  Yoplait (is this the stupidest commercial in history - when the guy sings I wanna meet the cow that made this?) and 4. Abilify (why would anyone take this?  did you hear those side effects?).  Okay, My Lifetime Network would say the ads pay for the show. I don't buy it.  There's more than enough product placement and sponsors to pay for the show. (Lexus, L'oreal, HP, Belk, Mood, Parsons, etc,)  What does this have to do with mascara?  Nothing.  Sorry, I digress, my bad.

Anyhoo, I dearly love L'oreal products.  No - this is not a sponsored post.  (But I'd love it if you'd like to sponsor me, L'oreal.)  I was in need of a new tube of mascara, being the type who doesn't replace their eye makeup very often. I use a tube of mascara until it's completely dried out.  I know, I know.  Yuk.  When I shopped this weekend, it was a no brainer for me.  I knew I wanted L'oreal mascara.  And I wanted something to make my lashes look fabulous.

I opted for the Voluminous False Fiber Lashes.  And hey, can we talk product packaging a second? People who work in advertising, merchandising, marketing and branding are geniuses (see previous post on this subject here).  My new tube of mascara is a work of art.

Image by Peggy

And, oh yeah, it's great mascara.  This stuff makes your lashes so long you won't need false eyelashes!

Saturday Night: Gettin' Girly

I'm so excited.... and I just can't hide it!  I'm going to a fab party in Cleveland tonight!  Woo hoo!  It's been a long time since I've been in my home town.  I'm homesick!  Remember Mazi?  The fabulous dude who let me tour his beautiful pad?  Well, it's his 50th birthday!  And we are gonna celebrate 50 years of fab-u-lous-ness!

I am hoping to meet artists that Mazi turned me onto.  Namely, Kevin Busta and Halim Ina.

It's been a long while since I've gotten all dolled up.  I've been considering my clothes, makeup and hair all week.  I really wanted to get all Nicki with it.  As you know, she's the shizzz.  Can't get enough Nicki? That's a coincidence.  Neither can I.  Check out my Nicki Pinterest Board.

This pic made me wanna cut my hair and dye it green.  My girl Haley says, no better get a wig.  Good thinking.  Any way, I love the makeup so much I tried it last night.  I can pull off a pink lip.  Fail.  Nicki is so much cuter than I am.  And she has professional stylists too, I guess.

I spent a ton of time on my hair this week.  I had a large tangle like you've never seen.  I thought I was either gonna have to cut it or go with dreads.  Took hours to get it out.

I thought about this cut.  Doesn't she look fab?  Nothing like a cute girly-girl in a comfy outfit.  That hair is not as easy as it looks, though.  it's dyed.  A lot, see no roots.  It's blow dried, it's straighted and it's teased. Great look, but too much maintenance for me.

Hmm.  I'd love to do something like this.  Luckily I talked with a girl at Sally Beauty Supply who had a hot pink dip.  She told me it's more trouble than it's worth.  It got all over her clothes, and all over her neck and shoulders cuz she sweats.  Uh oh.  What to do?  I do have some pink extensions.  Maybe I'll put those in.

I settled for this hair color.  It's close to my natural color, and provides great dimensional color and doesn't turn out too yellow, like many blonde dyes do.  It also makes my hair so soft!  An added bonus.

Wanted to add a little youthful pizzazz, so bought this temporary comb in color from Sally Beauty Supply. Glad I didn't go with the hot pink.  What a mess.  Cute on my hair, but all over my neck and shoulders. Yuk. Also the hair won't dry.  But I just did a small piece underneath so it's all good.  But won't be buying this again.  It's crap.

Smoothed this on my hair before using the straight iron.  Fab!  Hair feels so soft.  And dig the bottle.

Got some of this for after the party.  Wanna look fab in the morning.  Will let you know.

Think I'm gonna go with makeup inspired by this look.  Love the pink.  Wish I was this skilled with liner.  Love the fuchsia lips, but prefer a matte lipstick.

Wish I had this pink velveteen from Lime Crime.  Gotta keep a watch on the site, it's not available yet.  I'm sure it will sell out the second it gets in.

Settled for Wet and Wild 967 Dollhouse Pink.  Love it.

Nails are periwinkle by China Glaze.

Hope to have some glamour shots for you later!  Hope you are doing something fabulous as well!  xo

Photo Essay: this is how I do chronic, full body pain

Originally published 8/21/13

WARNING GRAPHIC PICTURES BELOW!

been a couple of rough weeks, heck as you know, it's been a rough - oh um like ah - 5 years!!  the good news is i am officially retired!  yay!  more time to blog.  i love blogging and i love my readers!  xo

last week had difficult procedures, but after 5 years am coming close to an answer on the strange and rare condition. i'm allergic to the world...my doctor said i qualify for a bubble, but i'd be allergic to the bubble, lol. at the time he said it, i didn't think he was funny, but i do now.  tragedy + time = comedy according to my love, Woody Allen.

oh gosh, if only i'd listened to my friend the yoga teacher 20 years ago, i might not be in this boat.  i am the most stubborn person on the planet.  stubborn.  don't believe me?  look up stubborn in the dictionary, you'll see my picture (an oldie but a goodie).  for some reason God has to pound me over the head before i make any changes.  i learn everything the hard way.  hope i can help others not to be as dense as i am.  but...you can never judge a person's place on their path.  we are all on the same path - just at different points - and we will all meet there in God's time.  God has been reminding me lately that everything happens in God's time. not in Peggy's time......oh (she said in a teeny-tiny little voice).  God says, Peg, my love, don't be so hard on yourself.   i say dude, sometimes i wish you didn't trust me too much.  he laughs.  God has a great sense of humor.

i am waiting on an important call....trying to stay calm.  i'm on GT - that's right   God's time.  don't mean to hammer the point, it's me who needs to hammered sometimes.  gonna try to avoid that, last one was a doozey.

anyway, i am merely God's conduit, his humble servant.  if i accept the important work God has given me, with gratitude, then i am protected.  i don't have to accept my mission, we still have free will as we are co-creators with God, but God protects his warriors. that's right.  i am a Warrior of God.  and God speaks to his Warriors.  clearly.  everything works when all i do is listen and follow the signs.  on to less lofty things!  lol

i got to shop a little the other day.  wow.  what a joy.  between Dollar General and Dot's this loot was $5.00!  a small price to pay for feeling normal again for a few minutes.  guess how long it's been since i bought eye shadow?  5 years.  i always thought my eyes were my best feature, so i miss eye makeup.  it's fun.  like painting!  when i got these fab products home, i became upset because i dearly love glittery eye shadow and I wanted to play with it.  impossible.  not with my swollen eyes - too painful. Then it struck me.  I'll do a photo journal of me in pain from head to toe, feeling sad about makeup, but happy about my hair.  everything seems to be running at 50/50 lately.  more on 50/50 in a subsequent post.

I rebelliously put on the pink and the glittery eyes shadow and then smeared them.  The following pics are a statement of my pain and agony and loss and.....hope.  they are unretouched.  didn't want to be accused of photoshopping them.

yep i hurt from head to toe.  yep i have a pink extension in my hair.  thanks Haley!

that's right.  i have a bald spot.  haters say i should cut my hair.  i say fuck haters.  here i also have glitter on my lips.

a friend (so-called) told me i talk too much and that "they" (who are they?) are going to throw a net over me and take me to the funny farm. (there are none in Ohio, remember?  no money.)  he said i am too friendly and shouldn't talk, greet and smile at neighbors.  well I refuse to shut up just because you want me to.  this is my life.  i will decide.

wanna see how i do mid life crisis?  click here.  want more photos and less words?  then check out my urban photojournal.