How to make your own face wash!

Hey everyone!
In my first video I am going to show you how to make your own face wash using ingredients you probably have at home.  I found this great recipe online and I wanted to share with you because I love it so much.  This as all-natural as you can get without spitting on face.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Watch the video to see the steps in action!  Leave your feedback in the comments section to see if this truly works for all.

Xo,
-Patricia

Ingredients:
1/2 lemon juice
2 tbs salt
Sugar – as much as you need.

Storage:  Covered in a container.  I like to keep it in both the fridge and the shower though the water in the shower tends to make it melt quicker.  It makes enough to last 4-5 days.

Women who were cool then and are cooler now.

I’m a big fan of women. I just love us. Really! I’m especially inspired by women who as they’ve gotten older have just expanded comfortably into their coolness. They were inspiring to many as young women but as they’ve aged, a certain loveliness has taken them over. Maybe it’s the, “getting comfortable in their own skin” thing, or maybe it’s just a certain something that only some women can pull off.  Either way, each of the women below make me embrace the fact that I am not getting younger (thank god) or older really, but better. And hopefully, I can do it gracefully as they are.

My favorite old school pictures of amazing women:

Jane Fonda, wearing something I would throw on right now.

Raquel Welch, rockin’ out with our Service men. Little known fact: She is actually Raquel Tejada and her father is Bolivian. Which explains a lot

Diane Keaton. Just hangin’ out, being cool.

Diane von Furstenberg, hanging out and knowing she is cool.

Oh, hi mom!

And:

Jane Fonda

Raquel Welch (in Legally Blonde, no less).

Diane Keaton

Diane von Furstenberg. That’s President of the CFDA to you.

And my mom, on her birthday.

Does everyone see what I’m talking about!

The Portrait Project

So I’ve been taking this portrait project altogether too seriously until today when I picked up my dry-erase marker, stood in my mirror and did this.  Sweet relief….

…because yesterday I drew this in an attempt to loosen up….

…from spending several days drawing this. You’ll notice it’s still not finished. Note to artists: do study’s first. Loosen up. Or not and don’t have any fun at all.

Yarn is so darn Yummy.

I’ve previously mentioned my interest in knitting . But in comparison to Erin Kawamata, I am the apprentice to a novice.

Visit Erin’s Etsy store, Yarn Yumminess to shop her wares.  Like I did.

Shown here: The Green Tea hat. You can’t buy it anymore because I did.  I know awesome when I see it. Buy something, quick! Before regret rules your life!

This February, I resolve to eat more pie.

I think February is as good a month to make resolutions as January is, if not better.  So this month thanks to  Pie Sisters shop in Georgetown , I think I will be helping myself to a lot more pie.

Alli, Cat and Erin Blakely.

These three lovely ladies/bakers/sisters behind the entire operation know their sweets. They’ve been baking and experimenting with desserts for as long as they can remember.  When she was living in New York, Erin was famous for casually throwing ingredients together in her tiny kitchen and making not only edible, but delicious cookies! For someone who doesn’t make a move without a measuring cup (me) that was a pretty impressive feat.

Now the women have taken their collective baking experience to focus on what they do best – pies.  The work that is put into the presentation is simply a visual preview of the taste that awaits when you take a bite. And taste is abundant. Just have a slice of their bourbon chocolate pecan pie to become a believer. Or try a cuppie, their answer to the cupcake – in the form of a teeny tiny, palm of your hand sized pie!

A nine inch, cooling on the counter

Cuppies as far as the eye can see!

And not to mention that the storefront itself  is so freakin’ cute it makes you want to hang out all day and fall in love. Perfect for a love-filled February!

*Photos via Pie Sisters website and Allie Carroll photography.

All hail the Juice!

I love juicing, I truly do. It’s like drinking a salad which sounds much more appealing after you down some fresh juice.  I took the advice of Kris Carr at Crazy Sexy Life and bought my Breville Compact Juice Fountain over the summer of 2011.  Needless to say, I haven’t looked back. I’ve juiced carrots, beets, lettuce, cilantro, broccoli (of which many scraps landed in my hair), cucumbers, Romaine lettuce heads, apples, lemons, ginger root, celery.  And there’s more to come.

Here is my most recent, favorite recipe from Jenny Sansouci at Healthy Crush. A tad spicy, known more as being a “savory” juice than a sweet one.

Cilantro Juice Recipe
makes about 16-20 oz juice, depending on juicer & produce size

• 2 large cucumbers
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 1 lime
• 1 cup coconut water (mix in after juicing the rest of the stuff).

If you are not sold, put the juice in a fun glass to take the edge off.

I realize this puts me in this category. But I can live with that

One thing to note.  I know everyone hears the same thing when it comes to juicing. “Oh, i love it, it gives me so much energy, I love the taste!,” etc, etc. But let me say this from experience – it’s true.  I remember one day in particular when I juiced a couple of beets, carrots and apples before work. I drank the concoction and half an hour later, it was as if I had drank a cup of coffee.  In a good way. Not in a “climb the walls with nervous energy” way that I dislike about coffee.

I hope you enjoy!

Excuse me, can I organize your closet?

Like something Cher Horowitz would come up with - a computer in your closet to super-impose your chosen outfit onto your body.

There is nothing in the world that gives me such joy as the idea of someone letting me organize their bedroom closet. I love going through clothes with people, deciding which items should stay and which should go. Which items could possibly be saved and tailored, what shoes should stay and which have definitely run their course. Helping people find “new” where they thought only old lived.  The folding of shirts! Identical hangers! The stacking of jeans!  Clothes facing the same direction! Shoes neatly stored in boxes! (I don’t believe in those shoe rack/bag thingies).

So until someone contacts me to help them find the beautiful closet that is without a doubt, hiding in their current closet, here are samples of clean closet spaces that embody my aesthetic.

Shoe storage mechanism - approved! And are those matching hangers too?!

Fold and stack, color-coordinated and facing the same direction - approved!

See how the pants are on individual wooden hangers? Non-plastic hangers keep them from sagging and keeps them neat looking - approved! As for the shoe storage, i'll let it slide.

And finally, jeans stacked on a shelf - approved!

*When I go back to Colorado, I will take a picture of my mother’s awesome closet and you will understand how this love began. I’ll snap a picture of my little make-shift closet when I get a camera. Yup, you heard me