gone cross eyed

Howdy ya'll!! You guys ready for some pics from the week? No? Well, TOO BAD! Here they are coming atcha. But first: me. You likey? Yes? Awesome. Wanna go out later? Me and you. Maybe we could have a few beers and play some golf and see where the evening takes us? No? Fine. You're not my type anyway.

So, it's cold as heck here and I'm lovin' it. It was so cold (and rainy) today that I wore two dresses. Stripes and plaids, yo. My favorite combo. Well, the plaid dress is a cheapo online find that shrank several sizes after the first washing, so now it's really just a shirt. I haven't had a chance to get any warmer clothes for my still blubbery post-pregnancy body. I'm broke and car-less anyway so I'll probably be double layering dresses a lot this season.

Outfit Under $20

Plaid dress - www.599fashion.com

Striped dress and boots - handmedowns

Leggings - Walmart

Authentic Kuchi tribal earrings -www.tribalbazaar.com

Crochet flower brooch - made by Lou Lou! (Cedar's matching sweater below)

 I found these records today digging through some leftover stuff from our Church's rummage sale they hosted last weekend. Ten cents each! YEAH!

 Beers of the week:

 River's new favorite "toys".

What a nerd.

  I've been pretty unhappy with the thinness of my brows lately. I've never had a problem with them before and all of a sudden I felt that I needed to do something about them - I blame Pinterest. I suck at filling them in - I do it everyday and I still can't get it right so I browsed the web to see if there was such a thing as eyebrow stencils. And sure enough! 

Look! I got suckbrows! 

I think this whole eyebrow stencil thing would be better for me if the stencils were adhesive and if I had a darker brow pencil.. and friggin' knew what I was doing. 

So anywaaaaays... River wore polka dots and skinny jeans to church today. I had no idea how skinny those darn pants were when I got them. They look like dude leggings.

 And all in hot pink is Miss Cedar. Along with her thrifted $2 dress she's sporting a pair of 99 cent ruffle bloomers bought from China on Ebay. Thank you China for always being there for me. 

The dress is so fluffy! Doesn't her dress remind you of those dolls old ladies crochet to cover toilet paper rolls? 

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Ummm... sometimes this happens.

Bye!

LINKED UP HERE!

Sunday Wunday

The Deep Thinker is 4 weeks weeks old now.

Yesterday I gave myself my bi-monthly permanent relaxer. A lot of women wouldn't dare give themselves a relaxer at home because if it's done improperly it can result in chemical burns and severe hair damage. Luckily my mom was a hair stylist so I learned how to do it the right right way. This is me pre-relaxer. I aim to look like the Michelle Obama lookalike model here. Joke.

A random photo of some "It's a boy" Hershey's kisses. I can't believe they've lasted so long. Everyday I'm tempted to just dump the whole bowl into my mouth and chow down... foil, paper flags and all.

Another random photo and a random fact about me: The Princess and the Frog is my mostest favorite Disney movie of all time. Never seen it? You're missing out. A black Disney princess from the 1920s in New Orleans? Um, yeah. Awesome.

The husband brought home some wonderful goodies Saturday evening. You can never go wrong with a variety pack. My favorite so far is the Ranger India Pale Ale. It's so light and crispy.

he husband also scored some free wine. The owner of our favorite liquor store gave him a free bottle of Gnarly Head when he bought this new wine (Pettite Petit) he just got it. I like the Pettite Petit but I'm not a fan of the Gnarly Head. Too manly for my taste. But hey, free wine!

Keeping up with my New Years resolution: Paint my nails more or buy less nail polish. I love this color so much I actually painted my toes to match... if you know me, you'd know that's super rare. I'm not a fan of matching. This is LA Colors brand nail polish. It's usually only $1 and it comes in the most amazing assortment of colors.

And of course... RIVER! He's turning out to be quite a handsome little guy! I was a little worried about how he would turn out considering what strange looking babies me and husband were.

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Bonus:

My sister, 4. My mom, 28. Me, 2 weeks old.

My Etsy Christmas List

Yesterday I realized how close Christmas is getting. I kind of went into a panic realizing that I haven't done a bit of shopping for my husband or family. Then I realized, I haven't even thought about what I want for Christmas. I rarely ask for things for Christmas- see I guess I have a bit of brat within me. I'd rather receive nothing that to get a whole bunch of gifts that I don't like, don't want or just don't need. That stuff starts to add up over time ya know.
So I'm sharing some of my favorite Etsy items with you. Perhaps you'll see something you'd like for yourself, or or maybe see something you know someone else might dig... like me.
And guess what. All of this stuff is under $20! Gimme gimme gimme!

Hmong Tote Bag
I have started to fall in love with these Hmong bags! Their big, affordable and absolutely gorgeous.

YoYo Headband
I'm not much of a headband person, but when I saw this one I fell in love!

Bronze Leaf Gauged Earrings
My ears are stretched (0-ga) and I do kind of miss wearing dangly earrings. Well now I can have my cake and eat it too!

Postpartum Sitz Bath Herbs
With a baby coming in January, I'm think I might need this.

Johari Creations Oil Treatment for Ethnic Hair
I hope this works for me! I love experimenting with new (natural) beauty products.

Red Poppies Print 8"x10"
This print has been in my faves for a long time. I can't believe I haven't bought it by now. I love it!

Hmong Vintage Mobile
This will look so awesome hanging in a corner in my living room. I need more color in my home.

Texas City T-shirt
Oh, what can I say? I love Texas.

GYPSY CARAVAN-Hand Blended Artisan Oil
Primary notes: ginger, nutmeg, bergamot, amber, allspice, sandalwood. I think this was made just for me.

Peruvian Textile Bracelets
I don't wear bright colors but I've got no problem with wearing lively jewelry. These are perfect in every way.

Winter Maternity Fashion Inspiration #4

Oh yeah. I went there. Pastels in winter.

Pastel Winter Maternity by hollie-black-ramsey

Liz lange maternity
$40 - target.com

DKNY opaque tight
$15 - lordandtaylor.com

Carvela Kurt Geiger yellow pumps
$40 - kurtgeiger.com

Rainbow necklace
$21 - diva.net.au

Napapijri wool shawl
$30 - sale.blueberries-online.com

Philosophy
$24 - lordandtaylor.com

purple bag and nice warm bath

You remember the Etsy store ShopThialand I featured a few day ago? Well after much debate with myself I finally bought one of their bags. See, we're trying to save money to pay our midwife and we have a couple of new bills staring us in the face every month now- so every penny counts but I reeeally needed a new bag and this one has my name all over it. I mean, look at it! It features two loves of mine, elephants and purple. My last three remaining purses are barley hanging on to dear life. As much as I love fashion and accessories, that kind of stuff comes last in our home. We often just buy what we need, not really what we want. So even the purchase of this bag for $8.99 plus shipping made me feel a little nervous. When you're in our financial boat, there's just not much play room.

I've been reading this book, Labyrinth of Birth by Pam England every evening during bath time and bedtime.  My  midwife let me borrow it as a recommended read, but I'm having a little trouble appreciating this book the way I thought I would. I thought the book was going to focus on how one can compare birth to a journey through a labyrinth. Instead it's about literally about making your own labyrinth to meditate upon during pregnancy, labor and delivery. Eh, that's just not my bag, but I'm going to finish it because it does have some nice bits of wisdom and encouragement throughout.

Bath time has always been my favorite time. I'll admit though, sometimes, I like to skip a bath or two so that I can really feel and appreciate the difference between dirty and fresh. You should try it sometimes!

I especially love experimenting with new bath products. This round, I'm trying the multi-purpose Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap bar. I even washed my hair with it last night with no conditioner afterwards to see how well it works. Being black, quite naturally I have to use a lot of oil and product in my hair and only wash my hair once a week. The soap didn't do well with removing product buildup. I think this soap will work better for daily use, not really for serious hair cleaning. Overall, I do like the product and I'm going to try to the classic liquid form next to experiment with all it's 18 uses.