remix archives // striped cardigan

This long cardigan has become a staple in my wardrobe.  In fact, as I'm typing this I'm wearing it.  Appropriate.  It's one of the only cardigans I have at this longer length and it makes me want more.  The length is so perfect and the draping is just right.  Winters in Tacoma mean I'm constantly wearing cardigans to layer up for warmth, so I love having a cardigan that is stylish and interesting. Plus, it's light enough to wear during spring and summer, which makes it seasonally versatile as well.  It's one of those pieces that makes me feel totally myself, and it's easy to throw on and punch up a regular ol' outfit into something with a bit more flair.

the doldrums

I'm sitting at our kitchen table, with a cup of french press warming my palm and a fuzzy pup at my feet this morning feeling very full of encouragement and excitement. Life is so strange in its ebbs and flows, waxing and waning. I'll be stuck in the doldrums, caught swirling in an eddy, and then some current will come in and propel me back into the flow. It's important to remember that there's not always anything you can do to avoid getting stuck. Sometimes life just slows its pace around you and there's nothing you can do to change that. The only thing you have control of is your own response, but sometimes even that can feel uncontrollable. As a controlling person, it's hard to let life just have it's ups and downs without feeling like I've failed in some way during the down times. It's easy to think that I'm just not working hard enough, or doing enough, or being enough, and that's why things are so slow and I feel uninspired. Slow happens. It's okay.

I'm excited to work on a few new projects and do more with local creatives. Working alone for so long can make it easy to get stuck in uninspired ruts, but being around other creative people with their juices flowing helps reignite my own hibernating creativity. I'm also thinking of painting my living room and just going bold and drastic rather than mellow. Working from home means that being in the same space day in and day out can get boring and repetitive. Even just rearranging a room can breathe new life into routine. Once things start to warm up I'm going to begin transforming our front yard into a food garden, too! I'm ready for spring to hit with all it's transformative energy!

 

dress/courtesy of modcloth :: shoes(similar)/courtesy of blowfish :: cardigan(similar)/thrifted long necklace/courtesy of adorn by sarah lewis :: short necklace/local craft fair head chain/converted necklace (gift) :: photos by Dan

starting to paddle

I've been thinking about blogging, and the grand ol' blogosphere, and my history in said blogosphere (I do this often... probably too often really), and I realized that right now I feel so regular-old-me in the best possible way.  For the first time in a really long time, I don't feel like I'm striving, or worrying, or pressured.  I just saw a twitter avatar of a cute girl with cotton candy pink hair and a pink background and I realized that I was just glad I was comfortable being myself, rather than feeling like I needed to be something specific for the blogosphere.  I thought she looked amazing, but I didn't want to look like her or be her.  Even though I've always tried my best to be myself, it can be hard not to want to be all the amazing things and people you encounter online.  It's hard to appreciate things without wanting them or wanting to be them.  There are so many inspiring people, so much interesting content, that it can be really easy to lose your own voice and self in midst of the whirlwind of influence online.  I've stuck my foot in a lot of those influences, and sometimes it can be a good thing, especially when you're trying to figure out where you belong in the grand scheme of things.  I've tried being more like all sorts of different bloggers.  Rebecca from A Clothes Horse,  Tieka from Selective Potential, Elsie from A Beautiful Mess, Camille from Camille Styles.  In some ways emulation can help hone your skills, I know my love of food photography was something directly influenced by food blogs, and I became a much better food photographer because I wanted to emulate those food photos which were much better than mine were.  It's a hard line to walk between being inspired and losing yourself, though.

 
Perhaps it's because I slowed down the blogging pace starting in January.  I feel like I stepped out of the rat race river with it's unrelenting current and have been happily enjoying walking along the shore, enjoying the beauty of the forest through which that river is barreling.  The other night I decided to do a brainstorm for blog post ideas and after 30 minutes and even perusing blog post suggestions on google, I only had about 5 or 6 ideas.  But this post wasn't one of those ideas and neither was my last couple posts, so I suppose the inspiration is there hiding in the crevasses of my brain, just waiting to be triggered.  Writing authentically isn't always something that can be boiled down to a blog post idea list.

I'm glad that I don't feel like I have to post the content everyone else is churning out.  I'm glad that I feel comfortable with who I am and where I am and what I'm doing, even if I'm still restless sometimes.  I'm glad I can appreciate other blogs without feeling like I constantly have to evaluate whether I should be doing something they're doing.  I'm glad I wear leggings and a flannel with no bra most days.  I'm glad Delightfully Tacky is still just a one-woman operation, with no big team of contributors and photographers and stylists (even though some days I wish it was).  I'm glad I have no desire to go to NYFW runway shows anymore.  Not because any of those things are bad, it's just that they aren't me.  I am hair that hasn't been washed in 5 days.  I'm last night's smudged eyeliner.  I'm paint crusted fingers.  I'm three cups of black coffee.  I'm calloused rock climber hands.  I'm downward dog.  I'm piles of clothes on the floor.  I'm corgi snuggles.  I'm late night walks to bars with Dan.  I'm well whisky and ginger beer.  I'm too many un-answered emails.  I'm half-finished DIY projects.  I'm hat hair.  I'm too many ideas for my brain to contain.

Sometimes I'm afraid I get repetitive her on the blog, talking about the same issues, or rehashing the same thoughts over and over.  But that's how life goes.  I get stuck on one thing or another.  Thoughts form cyclical paths, crossing over one another now and then.  More than anything I think I'm just glad to feel like maybe, just maybe, I feel like life has a trajectory right now and I'd like to hold onto that feeling for as long as possible.  So much of life has felt adrift in a shoreless ocean with no wind to direct sails, and no sign as to which direction to paddle towards.  But I think.... maybe I see a lighthouse, and it feels like I might finally feel comfortable starting to sink my oars into the waves.

homemade toothpaste

I'm barreling headlong into transitioning as many parts of our lives into being as natural as possible, and it's been such an eye opening trip seeing how many things are easy to make and way cheaper than buying them at the store.  We were just about to run out of toothpaste the other day and I thought to myself... I bet that's something that's easy to make!  A few google searches later and I started whipping it together!  
If you're not used to the taste of baking soda, this homemade toothpaste might be a bit jarring.  I'd been using Arm & Hammer's baking soda toothpaste for years, so it was probably an easier transition for me, but I'm still getting used to it.  
There are different schools of thought when it comes to the need for fluoride, if baking soda is too abrasive for teeth, etc. but personally, I just like knowing exactly what I'm putting in my body.  Homemaking my own toothpaste means I know exactly what I'm using!  


6 tbsp coconut oil 4 tbsp baking soda 30 drops essential oil (I used 20 drops of YL Thieves, 10 drops of YL Peppermint) 1 tsp of Stevia (or more if you prefer sweeter)
I started with a 1:1 ratio of baking soda to coconut oil but it tasted way too baking soda-y so I altered the proportions.  You might want to start with even less baking soda at first (maybe 3 tbsp) and taste as you go.  I just threw everything together and didn't taste until I finished and I was like, ack!  You could even add more essential oil if you like.  I went with a combo of YL Thieves and Peppermint, but I know a lot of people prefer just straight peppermint.  Peppermint is a pretty strong oil so you might need fewer drops if you go with just peppermint.

Just mix up everything in a bowl and then transfer it to a mason jar.  I use a little wooden stick to transfer the paste to the brush so I'm not dipping my brush in every time.  I also like to use warm to hot water to rinse my brush out at the end of brushing to get rid of any remaining coconut oil that gets stuck in the bristles, since coconut oil has a pretty low melting point it'll just melt away.


// With any health or body care routine, make sure to do your own research and consult with any healthcare professionals you feel will help you make a decision on how to best care for your body.  This is just my story, but make sure your story is informed and healthy for you! //

my natural skincare routine

Whenever I see the word "natural" I pronounce it in my head the way Matthew McConaughey does in The Wedding Planner, "Nat-chu-raaalll".  Anyone else?  Just me?  Okay, moving on.  I still don't really feel like I have a proper routine when it comes to my skin care.  My progress in this area has moved at about sloth-like pace since I was 15.  I still don't wash my face at night, and pretty much never take my make up off (I like to think that because I don't wear too much it doesn't matter, right?  Right), but I'm trying to get better.  Slowly.  Anyway, I've never had terrible skin, so I've gotten away with being lazy in regards to skin care, but as I get older I want to be nice to my skin because it's the only skin I've got and it has to last me hopefully a lot more decades.  

Back in high school my extremely limited skin care was limited to trying to use astringent whenever a zit showed up, but I never really liked the feeling of the alcohol on my skin.  I have pretty dry skin and growing up in Alaska really exacerbated this because the air is the most dry of anywhere I've ever been.  I have a bit of Keratosis Pilaris, which mostly presents on my upper legs and upper arms, but it gives my cheeks a bit of ruddiness too.  In high school it mortified me and didn't really know what do to about it except feel upset that I didn't have the soft, smooth, beautiful leg skin that all the other girls had in gym class.  Any time I'm somewhere more humid than Anchorage (basically anywhere, really), my legs and arms get so much more smooth.  When I'm somewhere super humid, like Hawaii, it basically disappears completely.  I should've realized that moisturizing like crazy would've helped, but I could barely get myself to shower consistently back then, much less have any sort of skin care regimen.  

So, fast forward to now.  Or, a couple years ago, really.  I wanted to moisturize my skin but wasn't really interested in putting a bunch of products made in labs with a bunch of chemicals I could barely pronounce on my skin.  I looked into more natural alternatives to make my skin happy and started using a bit of olive oil as moisturizer (because I already had it in my kitchen).  I also discovered the oil cleansing method, and decided to try doing that.  For a longer explanation of OCM, click here, but the basic concept is, you massage your oil into your face, soak a clean washcloth in warm-hot water, and then cover your face with it. Allow it to stay until it cools, wipe the oil gently away and rinse the washcloth well in hot, running water. You repeat this two or three more times.  I'm usually too lazy to do the full oil cleansing method, but when I do, my skin is super happy.  I sometimes do a quick version of the oil cleansing method when I'm in the shower and it's all steamy.  I currently use Avocado oil mixed with Castor oil for my OCM oil.

Because my skin is super dry after I get out of a shower, I usually just put my Avocado oil on my face as a moisturizer without doing the whole OCM.  For the rest of my body, I moisturize with lavender infused olive oil (you can find a tutorial for that here).  My skin loves it.  I also have some Burt's Bees body lotion that I use sometimes too when I'm not feeling like slathering myself up with olive oil.  I find that the olive oil really isn't all that oily because my skin does soak it up, but it's easier to apply lotion than oil, so I switch between the two depending on my mood that day.



I also have a coconut oil mixture that I was given by a yoga instructor a few months ago, but I totally forget what else is in there other than coconut oil, I want to say maybe tea tree oil?  I use that pretty frequently as a face moisturizer too.  It's nice because it's a bit lighter than my avocado oil.  I love the smell too!  Once I run out I'm going to make my own with some essential oils.  
And speaking of essential oils, those are a part of my skin care now too!  I use both YL Frankincense and YL Lavender with my Avocado Oil.  I've been trying to do this morning and night more recently and I can tell that my skin is so much less flaky and much more happy than it was just a month ago.  I had some awful chapped lips last week, like to the stage of having little strips peeling off and cracking and almost bleeding.  I was trying my Burt's Bees chapstick but that really wasn't doing much, so after a little research I saw that lavender and frankincense help with chapped lips.  Lavender essential oil was my savior.  I put a bit of avocado oil on as a carrier oil and then rubbed a couple drops of lavender over my lips and I had instant relief from the pain of the cracked skin.  I reapplied a couple more times throughout the day and by the next morning my lips were completely healed and it's possible they were actually more luscious than normal.  Yes, I said luscious.  


I don't get blemishes too frequently these days, but every once in a while one or two will pop up.  I saw that a friend uses a dab of YL Purification essential oil blend on any blemishes that she has pop up, so I thought I'd give it a try.  I happened to have a stubborn little cluster of red spots that wasn't going away, so I rubbed a bit of Purification on there and by the next day they'd nearly disappeared.  Yay!  Not looking forward to having another blemish, but I am looking forward to seeing how well Purification works on more blemishes with a little more personal research.   I also tend to get flaky skin so something that helps with that is this scrub/mask.  I also add a bit of sugar for extra exfoliating power, and coconut oil for moisturizing sometimes.  I recently did this and then did the full oil cleansing method afterwards and my skin was amazing. I've been having a lot of fun incorporating essential oils into my daily life.  I made a lavender and frankincense lotion for a friend who needed something for her super dry hands and she's in love with it!  I'll definitely be sharing that fun (and ridiculously easy) recipe soon, as well as a few others I've been creating!  It's like an essential oil Breaking Bad laboratory at my house, complete with a Winnebago in the driveway for ultimate authenticity. I absolutely love having totally natural skin care products.  It feels really nice to know that there aren't any crazy weird chemicals going on my skin and I'm pretty sure I have better skin now than I ever have!  Plus, it's empowering to know that I'm not beholden to the corporate skincare industry for my skincare needs.  I love being able to find recipes for skincare products that I can make on my own in my own kitchen! // With any health or body care routine, make sure to do your own research and consult with any doctors or dermatologists you feel will help you make a decision on how to best care for your body.  This is just my story, but make sure your story is informed and healthy for you! //