meet forrest

as promised, here is a little more about my family. today you will meet forrest... my 80 pound 18-month old german shepherd puppy.

i'm beautiful and i know it

my favorite thing to do is play with sticks...

i like being right by mom at every second

i 

don't 

like 

to 

pose...

oh yeah, and i'm really good at tricks...

more to come!

apricots anyone?

jon and i have decided to be more healthy... i know what you're thinking... haven't we all, right?! well to start out our new venture, i've been packing our lunches this week and have had little meals with snacks in between to boost our metabolism... we've all heard of that little trick right? well this morning around 10am i was ready for my snack! which happened to be tried apricots from trader joes. no sugar added of course!

i've been packing our snacks in little ziplock bags to avoid overeating! but apparently i had no idea how much fiber these little guys have in them... i popped one at a time until i had eating my whole little baggie full.... i would definitely recommend this to anyone having constipation trouble because these powerful guys will make you go! and FAST!

after my bathroom incident i looked up the actual nutrients of dried apricots and look what i found from our friends at nutrition data!

yep! 9g of fiber per serving! wow... watch out for the sugar and the calories, but if you need a little help, apricots are the way to go!

DIY reed diffuser

i am a HUGE and i mean HUGE fan of creative do-it-yourself projects. and we will have many more amazing diy projects in the future of d'arcie's LOFT, but for today just wanted to give you a little hint about reed diffusers.

i purchased a rather expensive reed diffuser a few weeks ago because my inlaws were coming over for the weekend. don't you love when that happens?! so i run to target and pay a pretty penny for this reed diffuser.

it's pretty, i love the bottle! and it smells very natural which i love too. when i realized these two things, it inspired to me to make my own reed diffusers! to keep this bottle and refill it with my own natural oils!

there are two basic components of natural reed diffuser oils:

1. essential oils - these provide the fragrance (you can find them in stores like pier one or homemade ones on etsy!)

2. reed diffuser oil base - this is a premixed reed diffuser base oil which you can find at crafty stores or again on esty!

you can really use any bottles for a reed diffuser. check out how pretty these are! bottles can be simple or elaborate! and then get the reeds and you're done! simple and cost effective...

must-haves

today i will be sharing a few of my must-have products. first of course is beauty!

for my hair care / skin care, i try to make sure i'm using products that are free of harmful chemicals and good for the environment which is why i choose almost all of my products from aveda.

my absolute favorite skin care line at aveda is actually their basic least expensive line. of course that makes me even more of a fan! i love to use the highest quality with a good price point.

love the botanical system designed for normal to oily skin. sometimes you just need that extra oil protection!

now on to hair care. aveda has many options to choose from as far as shampoo/conditioner/treatment/styling systems go. in the winter, i love the dry remedy line as it adds that extra moisture my hair lacks. but my all time favorite is the smooth infusion line. aveda salons / lifestyle stores often have the smooth infusion sample sets available!

the smooth infusion helps tame hair down and give a shiny sleek look. teamed up with the smooth infusion style prep smoother and the smooth infusion glossing straightener products, and finishing with the smoothing fluid you can't go wrong! go into your local aveda store and try it out!

aveda does have a makeup line as well, but i'm not as huge of a fan of it. for makeup the most important aspects are coverage and wear which is why i choose mac. i first went to the mac counter and got matched with the perfect foundation shade. mine happens to be nw40 but they have lots of different tones and colors to ensure that perfect match!

i use the studio sculpt to start and then dust the powder at the end to create a matte finish!

and wa-lahh there you go for fav beauty products!

for more info on aveda and mac products please visit their websites:
http://www.aveda.com and http://www.maccosmetics.com