Say "hello" to our newest family member

It's a warm summer afternoon, a light breeze rustling the tree branches. Ah, all is well on the home front, peaceful and quiet! Suddenly my daughter's phone rings with an urgent request from a work friend "there is a kitten outside my door, come and get it!" Of course Megan springs into action to save this little creature. After all, is there anyone more worthy Megan would ask? So she jumps in her car and drives the short distance to her friend's home. Oh, what a cutie she thinks as she picks up this hissing, frightened little animal. Her dad's face flashes before her eyes and the memories come rushing in. "Megan we are not getting anymore cats! Our house is too small for the three dogs and two cats we already have!" Well, Meg thinks "I'll just take him to the vet where they sometimes adopt out strays."

The little kitty arrives to the vet's office snuggled in Megan's arm. "Oh honey, we can't take anymore kitties! We have to take these 4 to the SPCA because we can't adopt them out" exclaims the receptionist. But they did treat the kitty for an eye infection and flea infestation. Once again Meg snuggles the kitty and thinks of what her friend told her "the SPCA isn't accepting anymore cats. They have too many." So Megan packs the little guy (the vet told her it was a boy and only about 4 weeks old) into the car and thinks "I will show him to dad and he will just have to say he can stay!" What else could she do? So off she drives to see her dad at work. Upon arrival she jumps out of the car exclaiming "dad you're gonna be mad..." She goes to pull the kitty out of the car and to her surprise he is no where to be found! She tearfully explains her story to her dad who of course he can't be angry as he sees his daughter in distress! They search and they search and they search but to no avail! Megan re-traces her steps and simply can't find the kitty. Her brother, seeing how distraught she was, also retraces her steps in the search for kitty and again to no avail. By this time I am arriving home from work as is my hubby and along with my son, we tear apart the car insisting this cat has to be SOMEWHERE in this car! Where else could he be? No luck. Heavy-hearted, we walk into the house. Megan, meanwhile, has cried herself to sleep! Ugh!

The next day we do the same thing over and over again with no kitty sighting! Everybody in the family feels terrible for Meg who is still distraught and for the poor little kitty! We all think "how will he survive... he's just a baby?"

The next day the triplet's are tuning 19! A happy day indeed. Meg is feeling slightly better, hoping for the best, that perhaps kitty found a new home! She runs out to her car to retrieve her brother's birthday gift. She comes bounding through the front door moments later and screams "look!" Oh my gosh! She has the kitty in her arms! I am astonished and scream back "where was he?" Megan, grinning from ear-to-ear excitedly tells me she spotted him under the seat in the rear of the car! It dawns on us that kitty has been living in the car for 2 days! How in the world did this little baby survive and why-oh-why did he never meow the multitude of times we were in that car! He of course was a little lethargic but after some food and water and a trip to the vet for IV fluids he perked up!

"Dad just has to let us keep him" the triplets' surmise! So, meet Leo, the newest member of our family. Here's Meg, Leo, and her BFF, Stephanie!
Have a wonderful day!
Jacalyn

Beautiful Blogging ~ "The Eyes Have It" Part III

So far we have talked about the perfect eye shadow color for your eyes and creating the smoky eye in our Beautiful Blogging posts "The Eyes Have It." This week I would like to discuss a simply eye shadow application technique.

Ensuring you have the shade that enhances your eye color, follow these simple steps (requires 3 shades):
1. Use your foundation as an eye shadow base as this absorbs oils and allows your shadow to adhere more effectively.
2. Sweep the lightest shade from lash line to brow.
3. Take your medium shade and apply to the eyelid.
4. Use your darkest shade and sweep this color through the crease and outer portion of your eye.
5. Blend, blend, and blend again. There should be no evidence of any lines.
6. Apply eye line to top and bottom lashes. I almost always use eye shadow to line. I simply wet an eye liner brush and dip into my eye shadow then smudge for a softer look. I use dry shadow underneath my eye because it is softer. My eyes are rather small so I don't want to heavily line my eyes because they will appear even smaller.
7. Mascara is a must! Use an eyelash curler and then apply 2 coats of your favorite mascara!

*If age is catching up to you, you will notice that your eyes tend to sag a bit. Ensure that you sweep eye shadow up and out to combat this.


*For advance eye shadow application click here as this site will tell you specifically how to apply shadows for eyes that are too close, droopy, too far, etc...

That's all there is to simple eye shadow application!


Source:
One, Two
Have a beautiful week!
OXOX,
Jacalyn

Pink Saturday and a Birthday Party

Happy Pink Saturday! I am writing this post Friday evening (the 25th) as many do. But June 25th has been a special day in our family as it is my triplet's 19th birthday. I just cannot believe that 19 years have gone by, jeez! The top photo was taken when they were 4 and the bottom was taken a couple of days ago. The photo has always been one of my favorites. You can imagine that at 4 they were thrilled to pose. At 19, well not so much, but I insisted! I've wanted to do this for some time!

So in keeping with the PS theme which is of course Pink, I snapped some pink shots from their birthday today.

Pink candles (hmm... I wonder where my daughter got her love of pink)

Yum! Ice cream cake in pink!


My lovely daughter Erin (on the right) and her friend Jessie with Er's pink laptop

Pretty pink presents!

One of my favorite candy!

Erin, her dear friend Miranda (who created this beautiful cake) and Megan

Miranda did a fabulous job don't you think?

Silly kitty! This present is not for you!

Happy 19th Birthday Megan, Ryan, & Erin! What a fabulous gift I have been given!

Oh and just a random note. I was featured in the August issue of Romantic Homes and I am so excited!

Please visit Beverly at http://www.howsweetthesound.typepad.com/ to see all the PS participants!

OXOXOX,

Jacalyn

Sister in Bloggerette Sorority!

Oh yay! Today is the day! Are you ready? I am sooooo excited to be a Sister in the Bloggerette Sorority! Please visit Karen over at Some Days are Diamonds to view all of the participants! To be in this special Sorority we have to "rush." The rules are really quite simple. We take this picture:

...and we create something with it. Oh say a piece of jewelry, ATC, card, tag, well you get the idea. Then we put it in a frame and take a picture of it. Oh yea, we are supposed to be in the picture too!

So since I long to be in the Sorority I just had to participate in the rush. I took the picture above and created a banner of sorts using all of my favorite items! I used vintage lace, vintage buttons, pink paper, vintage music sheets, keys, and floral accents! I created my own frame with the lace!

Oh yea, here's me (well sort of, ha) with my creation! I'm a wee bit camera shy!
Be sure and visit all of the all participating bloggers in our new Sorority!

OXOXOX,

Jacalyn

Beautiful Blogging ~ the "Eyes Have It" Part II ~ The Smoky Eye

Welcome to my weekly post "Beautiful Blogging." First I must apologize because if you stopped by last week you would have noticed that I did not post. Unfortunately, I was having DSL problems. Thankfully, that issue has obviously been resolved.

As promised, this post is about eye shadow application. If you recall we discussed the proper shade for your particular eye color. You can find that post here. I thought I would highlight the ever popular "smoky eye" for this post. I absolutely love this look and use it all of the time. It's important to note that you can use more than just the traditional colors of blacks/greys for the smoky eye. Think purples, greens, bronzes as long as it is the best shade for you! Also, please keep in mind that when you highlight your eyes with a smoky eye you should downplay the rest of your makeup. That means if the focus is on your eyes, don't wear bright red lipstick. Stick to one feature otherwise it can appear "clown" like.

The smoky eye is really quite easy. All you need is voluminous mascara and three shades of the same color ~ dark, medium, and light. The key to the smoky eye? Blending! You do not want to see any visible lines so blend away and then blend some more. The proper tools make this job so much easier too!

Step 1: Use a base to cover entire lid which will help eye shadow adhere and last - usually your preferred foundation is perfect for this. I see no need to purchase one specifically for the eyes.
Step 2: Take your darkest shade of shadow (or eye liner if you prefer) and line the top of your eye ensuring that you press into your lashes. There should not be a space between the lashes and your eyelid. Line underneath your bottom lashes too. I like to smudge this and take it out a little to make my eyes appear larger.
Step 3: Use your medium shadow to press into the lid of the eye, blending with the darker shade or eyeliner, until there are no visible lines. Remember to blend up and outward.
Step 4: Take the lightest shade of shadow and blend into the crease, using a "windshield wiper" motion. Some like to take this lightest shade all the way up to the brow bone. Whichever you prefer is certainly okay.
Step 5: Apply 2 coats of your volumizing mascara. When I do a smoky eye I actually apply three coats. It makes the eye a little more dramatic I think.

Here's some pictures of my little darling Erin. She prefers a more subtle makeup as you'll notice so we used bronze on her dark brown eyes. I did take some pictures of each step but regrettably they were not too clear and my model went out so I can't re-take!

Try a nude lip with this look. Remember too that your blush should be in the same color family as your lip color. So, if you are wearing a coral shade of blush DON'T wear pink lip color. I think you get the idea.

So there you have it. Keep in mind there are other techniques for a smoky eye. All are fairly similar but I like this one the best.

Next week we'll go over other easy eye shadow techniques.

Have a wonderful week!

OXOXOXOX,

Jacalyn

Pink Saturday and a Carnival

Happy Pink Saturday everyone! Please be sure and visit Beverly to see all of the pinkies that are participating this week. Before I continue I must first apologize! Beverly was kind enough to highlight my little blog last week and I wasn't here! Where was I, you asked? Well actually I was right here but my DSL decided it would not show up. So, I was without my Internet service from Friday afternoon until Monday evening. I seriously was going through withdrawal!!!!! So please accept my sincere apologies for not posting last week! I sure did miss my pink friends!

Recently we had a carnival nearby and I enlisted the assistance of a special guest photographer to find some pink. Here's what she came up with.

Seriously PINK pants!

Yum! Pink cotton candy!


More pinkness!

I didn't actually win this (we really were just taking pictures!) but the

vendor was nice enough to let us take a picture.

Some pink prizes!

The pink tail of a stuffed animal.

More yummy food!

Aww... wouldn't you like your honey to win this for you?!

Pink in the tents.

More pink!

Who knew a carnival had so much pink! Oh and here's my special guest photographer, Stephanie! I think she did a wonderful job! Thanks Stephanie!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs,

Jacalyn

Beautiful Blogging The "Eyes" have it! Part I

Welcome to Beautiful Blogging! This week's post is about the eyes! A couple of posts ago I asked what you wanted to know. One of the most requested was "what color eye shadow to wear." For those of you who don't know me well makeup is one of my many passions. I have always loved it but as I have gotten older, I find that I just can't get enough! I am always searching out the latest trends and colors in makeup and love to change with each season. But you don't have to be obsessed, er, in love with it to achieve a polished, chic look. It is really quite easy if you know a few basic principles.

Eye Shadow is used to enhance our eyes. We can achieve so many things with the proper use of it. I will go more into techniques next week because I really want to focus this post on color. REMEMBER, the color eye shadow we choose is meant to enhance our eyes or to "make them pop" so to speak. It is not necessary, and may actually be a hindrance, to match our eye shadow with our clothes. We want colors that contrast our own color, thus enhancing it.

Here's the quick and easy reference guide:

Brown Eyes: The best shades for us brownies seems to be bronze or green. Since there are so many shades of green you can choose what you like best. Some will prefer a more subtle shade and that's okay. If you really want some contrast they try some royal blue or lime green.

Blue Eyes: Those with blue eyes tend to have an array of colors to choose from. However choosing a shade of orange, yes orange, can really help them pop! By orange I am thinking copper, coral, bronze or rust. If you're looking for a little more of a neutral shade try grey or camel. Feeling a little daring? How about trying fuchsia or turquoise (which is a really hot color for the summer).

Green Eyes: Browns are a great choice for green eyes, especially a chocolate or darker brown. Dark purple is another color to consider. Apparently blue is a color to AVOID but how about some awesome gold?

Hazel Eyes: Hazel is unique in that it can have different hues. But, browns and pinks seem to enhance this shade universally. You can also use purple and gold. It is recommended that you avoid blues.


Additional notes:

~Don't be afraid of color! It's all in the application which we will discuss further next week!

~Remember your hair and skin color when choosing eye shadow. For example, what looks good on a blue-eyed red head may not look so nice on a blue-eyed blondie! But there are enough color and shade options out there so play around and see what looks best!

~Blend and then blend some more! We will talk more about this but this is the key to a beautiful look. We don't want to see obvious lines.

Please feel free to leave your comments with any additions or suggestions. I love to know that people stopped by!

Have a wonderful week and please stop back next week to learn more about the application of eye shadow.

Big hugs,

Jacalyn

References: One, two, three, four, five