Auld Lang Syne.

Warning: this one is going to be wordsy.

This year was like a catalogue of ups and downs, extreme highs and crushing lows. So much happened in this one year, that I feel like I lived through several lifetimes already. In January we moved into our new house.

Ya, that's one side of my house. And my patchy grass.

A house we own, not just a rental, and while it's a wonderful thing to own your own home it's also a big responsibility. In addition to the fiscal responsibility, on the very DAY that we moved into the house, my husband had a huge fight with a family member. We are constantly having drama with this person and after that instance, spent half the year (literally.. til July 4th) not speaking to them. Family is extremely important to me, but sometimes when you just can't seem to get along with someone I feel like it's better to just keep your distance. The relationship is ok as of this moment, and I guess everyone is being careful to keep it that way.

Come February/March, I was actually working with a music producer. If you didn't know already... I rap. Yep, you read that right. Rap and Hip Hop have always been a huge part of my life and I've been recording music at home on and off for years. This year I had an opportunity to actually do some recording on a professional level, with a great producer that lives in my neighbourhood. Unfortunately the late night recording and writing sessions weren't gelling well with the early morning starts and demands of having two young children (totally not dat Rap lyf). I was getting so tired and missing the time with my family and then... surprise, surprise, I found out I was pregnant with baby no 3!

The stick I peed on. Very faint horizontal line, but it's there!

I made the decision to focus on my family and the pregnancy and gave up (for now) my dreams of being the next... errr emcee that is nothing at all like Lil Kim or Nicki Minaj, those 'ladies' (I use the term loosely) that usually come to mind when most people think 'female' and 'rapper'..

So, as for new baby, my husband FREAKED out. He is a worrier. We'd just taken on the responsibility of a house and now we had the added expense of an extra child. He is the sole income earner (supplemented here and there by my blogging/website design), so he felt the pressure. We talked, we raged, I cried, we made up, after a LONG time he eventually started warming up to the idea of number 3 and even getting excited about it.

"Yay! New baby!"

Baby bump!

In the next few months, battling pregnancy brain (aka forgetful as heck) and fatigue, I soldiered on and even managed to fit in a blog post or two. My most popular blog post this year was probably my DIY Ombre Hair, which I actually did while pregnant. A lot of people will tell you it's not safe to dye your hair while pregnant... guess what? That's not necessarily true. Yes, you should avoid dyeing in the first trimester, but there's no reason not to past that (just do it in a well ventilated place!). I think I dyed my hair 4 times in the past 6 months.

Ombre hair

unnecessary selca

About 9 days before the baby came, we had another arrival. Family from Australia! Since I've been in the US, I've battled feelings of loneliness and isolation :( I miss my family terribly and although I have great friends here, family really is irreplaceable. The past month really drove home how much they mean to me and how alone I feel here. Honestly, I am dying to go back.

Family! And me looking like a blimp.

Mama & I on the way to the hospital...  me looking even more blimpy.

Baby was 4 days overdue and I ended up having an induction. Everything went smoothly (apart from some baby daddy drama over baby's name... men are so stubborn) and I had baby no 3 (still unnamed) at around 5.30 pm on the 29th of November. Finally, (after more drama) the next day we named him Cassius.

The past month after he was born has been wonderful. Having my own family with me filled a void that I didn't even realise I had. Christmas was lovely, no dramas, no stress, just relaxing, fun, quality family time. That's how it should be!

Christmas!

My resolution for 2013 is to keep in touch with my overseas family more, to spend lots of time with my good friends here and to focus my energy on doing things with my husband and three beautiful boys. I'm going to do everything I can to make sure we can visit Australia within the next year and to keep the connection with my family there strong, especially for my kids. Life is too short to spend it on stupid things, we should invest in what really matters and that's the people who love us.

Celebrate!

Hope you all have a wonderful New Year's and discover what's important to you in life. Make sure you make those resolutions matter!

What I Got: Holiday Gifts Galore.

I can't believe it's already the 30th of December o_o Where does the time go? We had a busy week last week, last minute shopping and Christmas and then family members going back home :( The one thing this past week has really made clear to me is that family and good friends are the MOST important thing! I have so much appreciation for the people I love and who love me.

Anyway, what's the holiday season really about? Why, gifts of course! (I kid, I kid). But just in case you wanted to see them, here are some pretty pictures of the gifts I received from my loves.

You've seen my Melty Ice Cream nails (or maybe you haven't.. go check them out!) using Whirled Away, the beautiful China Glaze polish my friend Malisa gifted me. I'm seriously in love with this beautiful milky glitter polish.

My 4 year old son picked this necklace and earrings set out for me :) Silvery, blingy, dangly jewellery, my boy has good taste lol. Thank you to my mum for buying them.

My husband's close friend Tai bought us watches for our birthday! This gorgeous Relic watch is mine :) Look at that beautiful soft shade of pink on the face!

What is this contraption, you ask? It's a nail dryer! My BFF Mai got this for me for my birthday :) Basically it's a fan that dries your nails within 2 minutes. I've used it once and it's noisy as heck, but it works!

My husband got me a bunch of Hello Kitty stuff, including these mini nail polishes and nail stickers. So cute! He also got me a pink Hello Kitty cosmetics case.

My beautiful mama got me this gorgeous white Guess wallet. It's so cute, I just have to work hard at keeping it white! A hard task with all these boys around lol.

Mai gave me this heavenly body butter from Victoria's Secret. The scent is to die for!

Last, but not least, my mama also got me his gorgeous cherry blossom tea set. The delicate design is raised and has a 3D effect which I love and it's such a pretty shade of powder blue.

In the end it's more about giving than receiving, and spending time with family, but it's nice to get some pretty things once in a while :) I'm somewhat exhausted after all the festivities and all the driving we've been doing lately (all over SoCal!), so I think I'm going to take this week to recuperate. I hope you all had a lovely holiday and had some quality family time!

Blogazons Roundup 12/29

Ready for some great posts? The Zoya Lovely collection swatches, lots of nail art, plenty of great makeup reviews and lots more.

• Makeup Demon: Makeup idea for Christmas, New Year or other party. Let's sparkle!
• Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom: The Zoya Lovely collection is full of fun, airy pastels! See Destany's swatches.
• Pinked Polish: A Mani featuring polishes from two of my fave Indie polish makers!!!! And It's Pink :)
• Amber Did It!: Amber flies high with Philadelphia Eagles nails in her NFL Nail Art Series.
• Lola's Secret Beauty Blog: Looking for a fabulous new eye cream? Lola's Secret Beauty Blog loves vbeauté Eye Never Nourishing Eye Crème because it does EVERYTHING a great eye cream should do!
• Emily Hudspeth, hair design and makeup artist: Quick and Easy Tips for Holiday Makeup.
• Ishah x Beauty: Check out this gorgeous Pop Art inspired nail art tutorial.
• Rachel's Makeup and Skincare: Rachel once again indulges in her new obsession with Lush.
• TheFabZilla: TheFabZilla shows her two looks from Christmas Eve & Christmas Day!
• Lacquer Buzz: Christmas might be over, but it's not too late to take a look at this cute Santa and Elves mani!
• Beauty by Miss L: This week Miss L created golden Christmas manicure.
• Beauty Info Zone: There's so much to love from Lush, everything is so cute including the names. Check out Mr. Punch soap to see why you need it.
• Vicerimus: Just spotted a lizard! If you are a bit tired of blogs busy with Christmas nails (which are all awesome!) and want something else for a change, take a look at this reptile-inspired manicure (it's not an OPI Just Spotted A Lizard swatch post, though :P).
• Liesl Loves Pretty Things: West End Wonderland Part 2! Last week Liesl showed off the lippy. This week it's Butter London's gorgeous polish.
• Lisa's Nail Obsession: Pink gold on my fingernails? When I'm dressing up why not?
• Mama Fashionista: It's time for MAC Matters! See what Quinn picked as the 2nd item from MAC to build her "core collection!"
• Betzy's Makeup: My go to makeup look for running errands on weekends.
• SoFlaJo: AutoNation shares Christmas at Broward Nursing Home.
• Baking Beauty: Baking Beauty Rounds Up The Best New Year's Eve Manicures.
• The Beauty Delicacy: Ego-Friendly nails with Sation nail lacquer. A multi-glitter must have for every polish collection!
• My Newest Addiction Beauty Blog: Laura from My Newest Addiction shared her review on Anastasia Beverly Hills Hypercolor Brow and Hair Powder.

New Year's Eve nails. Super fierce, glitter gradient.

Blam! I give you, a glitter bomb.

Essie Stroke of Brilliance exploded all over my nails, and I think this look would be killer for NYE.

I actually did this mani a while ago, when I still had my fierce-ass claw-tip stilettos. If I could, I would go back to that nail shape, but claw-tips and new baby don't mix well. For this glitter gradient, I used 2 coats of Sinful Colors Social Ladder as a base and dabbed Stroke of Brilliance onto the tips, waited for it to dry and then worked my way up the nail, dabbing and stroking the glitter into place. I did about 3 coats of glitter, then 2 coats of topcoat to smooth everything out and voilà!

I was actually testing out the Elmer's glue peel off base coat for the first time, so my edges are a little rough. Otherwise  I love love LOVE this mani. Stroke of Brilliance is such a perfect party glitter without being super over the top, like a can of confetti threw up on my nails. You feel me? I may just have to recreate this for my New Year's nails, albeit without the claws.

The only Christmas Tree we have this year is on my nails.

This year we had planned to get a live tree, since we're in our own house which has nice high ceilings. Unfortunately, with the craziness surrounding the birth of my newest baby boy, time totally got away from us and we didn't end up getting any Christmas tree! So to console myself, I decided to put one on my nails for tomorrow :)

These are my Christmas Nails!

3 coats of Zoya Tori on my thumb, 1 coat of Zoya Jules and 2 coats of Milani Gems on my index, 3 coats of Zoya Jules on my middle and pinky fingers, and 3 coats of Zoya Tori on my ring finger. The Christmas Tree was done with dots of Jules and Essie Good As Gold and a dab of Gems for the star on top.

Pretty easy, but pretty gorgeous and festive! I love the colour combos :) It feels like Christmas. We aren't Christian, so to us Christmas is really about family time, good food and presents for the kids. I hope you have a great day tomorrow, whether you celebrate Christmas or it's just an extra holiday you get to spend with your family :)

Melty Ice Cream nail art: China Glaze It's a Trap-eze & Something Sweet

So, my ridiculously lovely and generous friend Malisa saw my wishlist post and for my birthday got me China Glaze It's A Trap-eze from the Cirque du Soleil collection! Thank you, thank you, thank you Malisa!

I desperately wanted this polish because it's a gorgeous milky, colourful glitter and also because of the name. I'm a meme lover.

Well, it's even more awesome than I expected it to be and I had to put it on straight away. I had been dying to try out a nail art look I saw on Chalkboard Nails, so I used It's A Trap-eze and China Glaze Something Sweet and had at it. Hers is absolutely gorgeous, mine is but a humble homage to her greatness :)

Lookit all that yummy glitter *drool* °_°

I did three coats of Something Sweet on my index and pinky, then two coats of It's A Trap-eze on my middle and ring fingers. It was opaque in just two coats, PERFECTTTT. Then I got a dotting tool and did dots of Something Sweet over It's A Trap-eze as the ends of the drips, then used a thin nail art brush to connect the drips to the line at the top. It's really pretty easy, since you don't have to be super precise. Then I did two coats of top coat to even out the texture and give it a nice glossy shine.

This look reminded me of melting ice cream cake, which then resulted in me getting this ridiculous song stuck in my head....

Ice cream, ice cream, i-i-ice cream paint job...

Close up of an accent nail.

I'm so in love with this look and with It's A Trap-eze in general! A gorgeous milky glitter that's opaque in 2 coats, what more could a girl want? Maybe an ice cream cake? I really want more of these milky glitters, they look so pretty.

Does anyone know of other polishes that have the same effect? I think the Japanese brand pa makes some. Have you picked up any of the China Glaze Cirque du Soleil polishes?

*Pop Art Inspired* Nail Art Tutorial and Giveaway

Hello! I have something special for you all, a nail art tutorial by my BFF, Mai of Rainy Nails. We are going to be doing a series of nail art tutorials and giveaways and this is the first! I'm really excited to share these with you guys :)

Mai has been a licensed nail technician since 2008. She does Japanese deco nail art, gel nails, acrylic sculpting, freehand nail art and a whole bunch of other stuff that makes me super jealous when I compare it to my novice attempts lol.

Here are some examples of the beautiful designs she does.

I love her mini works of art, bitch doesn't do my nails for me enough! :p (J/K Mai, I love yooooou!) <3

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Hello, this is Mai! Today I have a Pop Art inspired nail art tutorial for you. I love the bright colors and stark contrasts of Pop Art and this pattern is like a fresh twist on a leopard print. It is very trendy while still being girly and cute :) Also, we are giving away this set of pre-designed nail tips!

'Pop Art Lips' Nail Art

1. Paint a coat of base coat and then 2 coats of a bright nail polish color. Try painting with 3 strokes; center, right and left. If you miss a spot, don't worry about it. If you are fast, you can just paint it very quickly. If you aren't, it's better to leave it. The more strokes you do, the more the polish gets thick, streaky and uneven. Wait about 2 minutes for the first coat to dry, then paint it again with 3 strokes. This time, you can paint over the part you missed the first time. 

2. When the polish is dry, use a contrasting color acrylic paint or nail polish and striping brush to draw lip shapes and small irregular dots, like leopard print. This doesn't require a pristine line, so just let yourself go and draw. 

3. Use black acrylic paint or nail polish and a striping brush to draw shadows. Keep in mind, try to draw the shadows on the same angle. For this design, I drew the shadows towards the bottom right. 

3. Wait 2 minutes for it to dry so you avoid streaking or smudging the design and then do a coat of your favorite top coat. Done!

This is a really easy design, but it looks super cute and adds a pop of something special to your tips.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial! -- Mai @ Rainy Nails.

Here's an image for easy pinning! ;)

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Giveaway!

We are giving away this exact set of gorgeous 'Pop Art Lips' nail tips to one of you lucky readers ;) All you have to do is enter via the Rafflecopter widget below.

The nail tips used are the brand 'Kiss' from CVS, medium length, oval shape. 

Thumb: size 1

Pointer: size 6

Middle: size 3

Ring: size 5

Pinky: size 8

Giveaway is open to US only, ends Jan 2nd, 2013.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Holiday Wishlist (please pay extra attention to this if you are married to me).

Ok so 'tis the season of holidays, but for me it's also my birthday month!

Therefore, I feel doubly entitled to make a wishlist :p Whether it will be acknowledged or not is a completely different story =_= My husband doesn't even read my blog... I guess that makes it easy for me to start bitching about him on here? Maybe if people start telling him I'm dishing all our dirt, he'll pay more attention ;) I should also mention that my husband and I have... the same birthday. Yes, not only does he not like to make a big deal of his own birthday, he thinks he doesn't have to make a big deal of mine.

So here I am, making a wishlist that will most likely pass by the wayside without a second glance.. it is just here for your (and my) enjoyment ;) (No but seriously hun, I hope you're reading this :p).

1. China Glaze It's a Trap-eze / 2. Forever 21 Quilted Heart Shoulder Bag / 3. Forever 21 Eyelet Peter Pan Collar Necklace / 4. Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette / 5. Nekomimi Beanie / 6. Lime Crime Les Desserts d'Antoinette Nail Polish Collection / 7. OCC Yaoi Lip Tar.

I'm sooo obsessed with all of these products (can you tell I love bright colours and pastels?). It's a Trap-eze is so pretty and whimsical looking, like confetti and cupcakes and all that kind of fun stuff. The heart bag from F21? Do I even NEED to explain that one? SUPER cute. Peter Pan collar? Ditto. Also, so on trend in Asia right now. I need more neutral eyeshadows like I need an arrow to the knee, but I love the quality of Urban Decay cosmetics and matte neutrals are such a staple. The Nekomimi (cat ears) beanie is something I've wanted since I saw a couple of my fave bloggers post about them while they were in Japan. I am in love with pretty pastel nail polish, and the Lime Crime ones have such cute names (like Peaches ♥ Cream, Lavendairy). I love OCC Lip Tar and this one is a metallic, bright fuschia called Yaoi. As an Anime/Manga lover, it is a necessity.

What's on your holiday wishlist? Are there any products that you are just so absolutely in love with that you feel like you MUST have them? These are definitely mine :)

Life Update: New Baby, Birthdays and more.

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind.

My beautiful baby boy was born a little over a week ago and after much debating, arguments, tears (on my part) and compromise, we named him Cassius :)

He is a beautiful, happy baby who just wants to eat, sleep and quietly listen to what's going on around him. My older two boys were so happy and excited to meet him and have been extremely good with their little baby brother. I feel very blessed and content and I am recovering from a natural birth very quickly :) Having my husband and Mum around to help has been really great.

On Saturday we went down to Santa Monica pier and met up with an old friend of mine from Australia. It was a nice day, spent walking around, taking photos, shopping and drinking ice cold milkshakes even though it got freezing after the sun went down.

Cassius slept pretty much the whole time. I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

That night we had dinner at Kaido Sushi on Santa Monica Blvd, it was quite good.

Crunchy Roll, Unagi Roll and Rainbow Roll

Sunday was my 27th birthday. It's strange, but as the years go by I feel less and less excited by birthdays. This one passed very quietly, a gift from my Mum and the kids in the morning and then a little cake from my lovely friends at a Christmas party we attended.

Since it's my husband's birthday as well (yes, we're on the same day), we are thinking of just going out to dinner some time during the week and having some alone time. Since he hasn't gotten me a gift yet, I'll be posting a 'holiday' (and birthday) gift wishlist in the next couple of days ;) Let's see if he actually reads my blog, ha!

Well, I hope you all had a great weekend and please forgive me if my updates are sporadic (more so than usual)... My lovely friend Mai will be doing a guest post on a nail art tutorial and ... a giveaway! Stay tuned, I think you will definitely like what she has in store :)

And don't forget to enter the Blogazons $500 Giftcard Giveaway!