Minty Freshness OOTD (07.09.13.)

Well helloooo there everyone,

I hope life has been treating you fine since we last spoke! The sun is shinning and the birds are singing outside my window right now. One of those days that makes you thankful to be alive.

I'm back today to show you dress #2 from my mini fashion haul via Sweet Pea Boutique. This little number is by Spicy Sugar, but for the life of me I can't find a link for it anywhere online! Grrr. So no clue what the name of this one is. This must be a rather indie clothing company, which is always nice. So I've named her myself. Ladies and gents I give you"Minty Freshness". Here she is...

 

(Earrings: Forever21)

(Duck lips for dayz)

(Sunnies: Smart Set)

(Eyes: MAC "Satin Taupe" & "Jest" Lips: Revlon Balm Stain "Honey")

There she is! She's a bit less sassy then "Nottingham" , and definitely more on the soft and feminine side. I will admit, now that I have her home and I've put her on again, I wish she was a bit longer. I'm a tall girl, measuring in at 5'10", so I often find I have this problem. There are so many cute dresses out there in the shops right now, but they're all so bloody short on me! Let's be honest here folks, I'm also carrying some junk in my trunk ... so that combined with my tall frame just increases the shortness of a garment. When I put "Minty Freshness" on in the changing room I thought she was the perfect length... I  totally forgot to do the changing room test. You know the one where you walk around, bend over and do a little dance. While she does pass most of the test, she FAILS in the bending over category. It's all good, I'll just make sure to bend my knees and squat down when I want to pick up that Lucky Penny off the street. 

Much love to you all,

Erin  xx

Daily Tidbits:

• I just got in from soaking up the Vitamin D. When you don't have a backyard you have to suck it up and lay out front. Strutting my "bikini bod"  for the world to see. 
• It has been insanely hot here the past week. It's making sleeping at night almost impossible. We need to upgrade our dinky fan to an A/C
• I've been receiving a lot of postcards lately. Thinking my next post will be a PostCrossing update from June.
• A man just walked in front of my home screaming on the phone about how "NOBODY CAN PLAY AS GOOD AS ERIC CLAPTON CAN!". Righto... righto.

Floral Frock OOTD (07.05.13.)

Hello my lovelies,

Today I wanted to share with you one of the new loves in my life. She's a sassy broad, who from first glance seems very sweet and girly. But when you turn your back on her...BAM! she shocks you with sexiness. I'm speaking of course about my new dress from Sweet Pea Boutique! 

Before our camping trip last weekend, J and I spent a couple of hours roaming the shops downtown and saying "Hi" to old friends. Sweet Pea is on of my favourite stores in the city and I've been really missing it since moving city. There is nothing like it where I live now. So obviously we had to pop in! It was the perfect day too because Joey, the beautiful lady who owns the place, was having a "Buy One, Get One 50% Off". Oh yeah baby! Seems like every time I pop in there, she's having some sort of sale. No complaints there! So of course I picked up two dresses (thanks to J, he's too nice to me), and this is the first of them:

(Dress: Jack BB Dakota "Nottingham Dress")

I love how the cut out hits in just the right spot that I don't have to worry about my bra showing. It's never fun having to mess around with things in order to make an outfit work.

(Lips: Maybelline lipstick in "Fruit Punch")

(Eyes: Urban Decay "Naked 2")

I love everything about this dress. The cheeky little cut out in the back makes me feel sassy without showing too much skin. The fabric is nice and light so it doesn't feel too warm on a hot summer day (yesterday was 40C! Wowza!), but it also has enough weight to it that you aren't terrified of the wind playing nasty tricks on you. The skirt has that flippyness (it's a word...) that I love giving it lots of movement. I know "Nottingham" and I are going to have some good times this summer.

Stay tuned for dress #2!

Love and hugs,

Erin xx

Liebster Award (04.07.13)

  Hello Lovelies,

I was nominated for the "Liebster Award" by the beautiful Little Lauren's Blog! Thanks again for the nomination Lauren, it really meant a lot!

So what is the Liebster Award?!

The Liebster award is a way to give great blogs with under 200 followers attention. The award encourages others to read these blogs.  This award has some rules, here they are:

• You must link back to the person who nominated you.
• You must answer the 11 Liebster questions given to you by the nominee before you
• You must pick 11 bloggers to be nominated for the award with under 200 followers
• You must come up with 11 questions for your nominees to answer
• You must go to their blogs and notify your nominees

Questions for me from Lauren:

1. If you were only allowed to buy makeup from one brand, what would it be?  It's probably a little sad just how much thought I have been putting in to answering this question. The truth is that there is not one single makeup brand that ticks every box for me... If I had to live with one forever, I would have to choose MAC simply because I enjoy all of their products as a whole. Love their eyeshadows, lipsticks, blushes, powders, etc. Yeah, I'm happy with that choice.

2. What's your favourite item from your wardrobe? Ummm, I'm sorry but that is another really hard decision! Ha! I love so many of my pieces, they're all special to me for some reason. But after some careful thought I chose my 50's inspired red and black polka dot pin-up-girl dress. This dress is always there for me whenever I want to feel fabulous and rock my feminine curves. I've gotten a lot of use out of her, and we have many miles to go.

(Cruisin' to Bermuda in 2011)

3. If you won a million pounds/euros/dollars where's the first place you would shop? There is a locally owned dress shop back in my hometown called Sweet Pea Boutique They sell the cutest and most original little dresses. I have a hay day everytime I go in there now...so with a million dollars I could do some damage! Bonus: I'd be helping support a local business too! SCORE!

(Bought some goodies here over the long weekend...stay tuned for those in a coming post!)

4. List your top 5 makeup brands. In no particular order: Revlon, Wet n' Wild, MAC, Maybelline, and Urban Decay.

5. Where would be your ideal place to live? For some one who dreams of travelling to far off places daily, this was a question I couldn't answer with just one response. For various reason I would love to live in the English Countryside, Florence, or Bermuda. You know what, I'm just deciding now that in this imaginary world I have a home in each  of them! Muahaha! Try and stop me!

6. If you could travel back in time what decade/century/era would you go to? Perhaps I am giving all of these too much thought because while there are many periods in time that look appealing to me, if you really stop and think about it... they all sucked majorly in so many ways. I'm actually really happy living in 2013 where I feel free to wear, say, and do whatever I want. I am free to be happy in whatever way I choose. We still aren't perfect as a society, but we are always improving.

7. What is your dream job? To be a photographer for the likes of Vogue. Can you imagine the places you would go, the people you would meet, and the freedom to create no matter the price. Yes please! Where do I sign?!

8. What's your favourite quote?  There are many, but I choose to try and live by, "Do unto others, as you would have done unto you." If we could all just try and live by this, think how much happier we'd all be.

9. Name one beauty product you could not live without. Mascara. It instantly opens up your eyes and brightens your whole face.

10. Name your top 3 nail polish brands or colours. I have an embarrassing amount of nail polish. Taking a look through my collection the most dominate brands are OPI, Essie, and Wet n' Wild. Colours wise? Totally depends on my mood and weather.

11. Any plans for the summer? Not too much planned for the summer as my boyfriend has to work. We're hoping to make it to Montreal for the long weekend in August. But our biggest plan is for September, when he'll get to take his summer vacation, we're going to go to Newfoundland for 10 days and hike the trails. So excited to see more of my own country.

I nominate:

• Be Pulchritudinous
• British Beauty Addict
• Orlaala
• Laura's Sabbat
• The Patch Diaries
• Wants.Needs.Loves.
• The Beauty Belle
• Gracious Silhouettes
• Me and Moustaches
• Wardrobe Ventures

Here are my questions for you:

1.Top 3 favourite lip colours for Summer
 

2. What is the last beauty/fashion item you purchased?
 

3. If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would it be?
 

4. Who is your favourite Youtuber/Blogger?
 

5. Favourite music artist?

6. What makeup products are in your purse right now?

7. Favourite t.v. show?

8. Dresses or pants?

9. Your ideal day off would be spent doing what?

10. Your go to makeup brand?

11. What is your goal for your blog?

Let me know when you post your responses! I can't wait to read them! Thanks again to Little Lauren's Blog for tagging me. This was a lot of fun to think about and write!

Til next time,

Erin xx

Canada Day Camping Adventure (06.02.13.)

Hello my lovelies!

I'm home safe and (most importantly) dry. We had a fantastic weekend camping back in our home province of Nova Scotia. 

(This is summer.)

We left Fredericton rather late around 9pm which meant we didn't arrive in Halifax until about 1:30am. That's alright, nothing a little Coca Cola can't help us with. To say this long weekend was a wet one would be a massive understatement. It freakin' poured almost the whole time we were away and it started on the way there. The fog was so thick that you couldn't see more then 2 feet in front of the car. J called it soup, and that's really the best description of it. So as if that wasn't frightening enough, we then drove into torrential rain that made seeing out the wind shield nearly impossible. We hydro planned several times, eep!!

The next day we visited with family a bit before heading downtown for lunch (and a bit of shopping which you'll see in another post) at our favourite pub, The Henry House.

(Comfort food.)

 We ordered our favourites, fish n' chips and pints of Peculiar brewed locally by Granite Brewery. The food and atmosphere there is always amazing, plus they hand pull their pints and you really can't get better then that!

With our bellies full and our spirits high we hit the road and headed to our camp site on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia.

(Who else does this? Love him.)

(Checking into the camp ground.)

(You set up while I take the pictures dear!)

I love camping so much! It's been years since I've been though, so I was grinning ear to ear the whole time. To meet me you may not think it would be my thing because I love my makeup and frilly dresses... but I can get down and dirty with the best of 'em. It's a good thing I don't mind getting dirty, because soon after this picture was taken it started to pour! I almost wish I'd timed to see how quickly two grown people can scurry into a small tent. Haha!

(Happy Canada Day... didn't do much sitting in these chairs as they were rather soaked most of the time.)

The campground we stayed at turned out to be really fantastic! On Saturday night they had a band playing music and shot off fireworks from the dock. That was in addition to the free mussels they serve every night (from a giant pot and you just help yourself)! When the band wasn't playing we would all sit around the fire and sing songs while another camper played guitar. I love how none of us knew each other but we all came together at night to enjoy each others company.

(I thought it was so cute that you could have Crib lessons if you wanted.)

 My grandparents live just down the road (30mins is just down the road when you live in the sticks) so we visited with them on Sunday and had some lunch. Later on that evening we went exploring and found some really beautiful rapids that were roaring due to all the rain.

(This is as fancy as it gets for me when I'm camping. Oh yeah baby, hot stuff right there!)

(These rose bushes smelt absolutely amazing!)

It was a very laid back weekend due to the rain, but that's just fine with me. We didn't get to go swimming but we'll just have to save that for later in the summer. Instead we spent our time enjoying each others company and relaxing round the campfire with beer and new friends. To be honest the sound of rain falling on the tent when you first wake up in the morning, has to be one of the most magical sounds in the whole world. If feel like I should be now singing, "Rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens...!"

(I can't even begin to tell you how hard that fire was to get going. Wet wood is not easy to light.)

Now we're home with our memories in tow. I'm so glad that we got the opportunity to get away from work and worries for a while. Now it's back to reality! 

So happy to be able to blog again! Get ready for some new style and beauty posts!

Love bunches,

Erin xx

Busy Days (06.27.13.)

Well hello there everyone!

Unfortunately this is going to be a rather short and sweet (cause I'm just such a sweetie pie already) blog post. I have a list about a mile long of posts I want to write so I have no shortage of ideas. Actually I've been tagged/nominated by two separate bloggers, so those posts are now at the top of my list. However, doesn't it just always seem like when you really want to do something, you never have the time? 

(This is Orville in our bathtub. I find him here all the time. J says he's looking for spiders, I like to think he's being pensive.)

My boyfriend (let's call him 'J') and I are gearing up for a camping trip this weekend and I'm so excited! It's a long weekend here in Canada, so we're going to drive back home to Nova Scotia and visit with friends and family (and eat sushi!!!) before heading up the coast of the province to spend Canada Day camping. 

In addition to all the work that goes into preparing for a camping trip, I've also got a humungo size order for my jewelry that I have to have finished before we leave tomorrow...and in true Erin fashion I have left the whole thing to the last minute. So I'll be spending the rest of today and probably into tomorrow morning slaving away at my craft table. Tomorrow I have to work and right after my shift we're rolling out of town. Thus leaving me with zero time to write any of the blog posts I have on my agenda (I want to do them proper with pictures I can be proud of). But I didn't want to leave my blog silent for days and days! I LOVE, no correction...I ADORE reading your comments and I would miss you all too much if I didn't pop in today to say "Hello!"

(Crazy socks that my mum bought me last time I was home. This picture is making me very excited for our road trip this weekend.)

I'll be sure to update you on how our weekend back home goes. This will be J's first time back since we moved to New Brunswick in March. There will be loads of pictures and some stories to tell you all when I return.

Until then, much love,

Erin xx

Tid Bits of the Day:

• There must be a storm coming because my kitties are LITERALLY jumping off the walls today. I never need check the weather with these boys around.
• A box just came for J from the USA, and it cost me $92 in duties! What the *bleep* is in there?!
• I'm planning on self tanning tonight before bed. I use the St. Tropez Bronzing Mousse
• These two pictures are from my Instagram. You can follow me @erinbulger. I'm obsessed with Instagram and post almost daily.

Fancy Evening Out (06.22.13.)

Hello Everyone!

There aren't many times in a girl's life that she gets the opportunity to go all out and wear an evening dress. After prom, the opportunities dwindle drastically and we are reduced to staring longingly at all the beautiful gowns in the boutique windows. So you can imagine my excitement when my boyfriend came home from work last month to tell me that his unit was hosting a military ball in June! Sound the horns and break out the happy dance! 

(He NEVER smiles in pictures, so I had to squeeze his bum to get this much of a smile out of him.)

Finding a dress wasn't as easy as one would think. It turns out I had just missed the prom dress season, so there were only stragglers left on the racks at my usual boutiques, and even then they were insanely expensive. I gave myself a budget of $200 for my outfit and all the dresses I was seeing in my local shops were $500+. So to the internet I went. I ended up finding this dress on ModCloth.com for $74.99! Even with the alterations this dress was well under budget. It's called the "Receiving Line Dress" and I loved how beautiful the navy looked next to his red mess kit. This was my first purchase from ModCloth, and I was beyond impressed with the quality of the garment and their service.

(The ever classy "Bathroom Selfie")

For my accessories I kept it pretty simple choosing to wear only a pair of sparkly chandelier earrings from Le Chateau ($22.) for my jewelry (I always wear my Claddagh ring so that doesn't count). My clutch and hair comb are both pieces that I wore to my prom and I still love them now. For my shoes I wore a pair of low black patent leather strappy heels I've had for ages, my dress was so long you couldn't see them anyway.

(Work it girl! Work it!)

I was so impressed with how my makeup came out. It seems like every time I try to do something ultra glam for a night out, without fail I screw something up and it never looks like I want it to. Well this time was different. I gave myself plenty of time so that I wouldn't feel rushed or pressured. I took my time and wouldn't you know it, I didn't screw up! Here is what I used:

 

Some key components to this look for me were the Katy Perry Lashes, the Wet n' Wild palette, and the Revlon Balm Stain. 

This was my first time using the Katy Perry lashes and I was in love with them at first blink. The "Oh Honey" lashes added the perfect amount of volume and length with out looking like I was clearly wearing falsies. They were very easy to work with and stayed put all night long (I used Duo Lash Glue to adhere them).

To add a little something extra to my makeup look, I smudge some of the royal blue and turquoise shades (right column) from the "Blue Had Me At Hello" palette along the outer corners of my lower lash line. I liked how it tied in with my navy dress by adding a little pop of something special.

(Can I get a "Woot woot!" for Revlon up in here!)

I already knew I adored the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains (what a mouth full!) as I have several colours in my stash from before. These things are amazing if you're looking to rock a bright lip but don't want to worry about getting it all over the place (like your partners face) and having to reapply constantly. I picked up the shade called "Lovesick" because I really loved the look of the magenta pink with my navy dress. This stuff stayed put on my lips all night long. All through drinks, dinner, talking and smooches. Hands down a winner that everyone should own.

(Essie "Aruba Blue" and Wet n' Wild Fergie Collection "New Year Kiss")

 For my mani and pedi, I went for a blue and a silver look, using the sparkle polish in a gradient keep it more concentrated at the bottom. I loved the sparkle it added to my look.

(Totally forgot to take a picture of the entree, I had chicken!)

We had a beautiful evening surrounded by friends, most of whom were new to me. We've only just moved to Fredericton (this is our first posting) so I haven't gotten a chance to meet all of my boyfriend's  co-workers. It was so fantastic to share stories and laughs over drinks. He works with so many fantastic people, who have equally fantastic wives (score for me!). 

(I really love a pair of strong hands)

We ate dinner serenaded by a local celtic duo who played the piano and fiddle amidst the sound of chatter and clinking glasses. We ended the evening on the patio of our favourite local pub in the beautiful summer evening air. I really had such a fantastic time and I can't wait until the next time.

Love and kisses,

Erin

PostCrossing (06.18.13.)

Hey guys,
  

Well long time no see! Sorry for the extended absence. You see my MacBook is broken so I have been doing all my work on my boyfriend's laptop. Well, he had to go away for a couple weeks (he's in the army so this happens often), and of course he brought his laptop with him. So I have been sans computer for a while, surviving on the small screen of my iPhone. Enough excuses, I'm back and plan to post more regularly now.

So where did we leave off? Well I guess I'll quickly update you from the last blog post. I had just come back from an interview for a local restaurant I really love. As I have no serving experience it should come as no shock that I didn't get that job. Fooey. Ah well, I was glad to have had the interview experience. Since then though, I did get a job!  It's a new shop in our mall that sells a whole bevy of fun and interesting things. Let's put it this way, part of my job is to fly a remote helicopter around. Yup, pretty fun. It's only part-time though, so I am still on the hunt for more hours.

Now onto the point of this post! I have begun PostCrossing again! What is PostCrossing you ask? It is this really amazing website: postcrossing.com The goal of the project is to allow people to receive postcards from all over the world, for free. Well, almost free! The main idea is that: if you send a postcard, you will receive one back from a random Postcrosser from somewhere in the world.So freakin' cool right?

 

After scouring the town for postcards (apparently this town isn't touristy, because I went to a million places hunting), I hunkered down at my current go-to café "Read's". They have a really cosy indoor seating area with fluffy armchairs for when the weather is cold, and an outdoor patio for enjoying the sunshine and people watching.

(I got the Snickerdoodle coffee that day. Om nom nom.)

So because I have been a member of PostCrossing for so long, I am allowed to send up to 10 postcards at a time. When you first start up, you are allowed to have 5 postcards travelling at any given time. This time the website gave me addresses for members in:

Germany, Belarus, Ukraine, Austria, China, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Spain, Poland and Slovakia.

When they generate the random member's address, they also give you an ID number that is attached to that postcard. This way, when the recipient receives the postcard they register the ID number on the PostCrossing website to confirm that the postcard arrived. As soon as they register your card, your address is put into the mix and someone else randomly around the world sends you a postcard! So you never know where the postcards you'll receive are coming from. I swear it's like Christmas everytime you go to your mailbox!

(The various postcard designs I sent out. Some traditional ones and then some from our local art museum)

One of the people I sent a postcard to was a baby girl named River in the UK. She is 1yr old, and her mommy is decorating her nursery with all the postcards she receives. How cute is that?!? Love it! That's what I do with my postcards too. You get some pretty cool postcards and they look so pretty in a collage on the wall. 

(Bye bye my little babies! Bring a smile to someone's face!)

I'll keep you all posted on the cards I receive in the future. I'm thinking a monthly haul post would be fun to do! What do you think?

Until next time,

Erin