Oops.
The good news is, after getting fired, I decided to become my own boss and now I run my own small business designing and producing custom invitations and announcements. So you can also find me over at LimoncelloSTYLE.
But probably the best thing to ever come out of getting fired for blogging was getting hired for blogging. Yup, someone else out there liked my voice as much as my former employer didn't and now I write twice weekly for Musings, the design blog for FLOR.
Now that my extraordinarily poorly disguised attempt to drive more traffic to all three of the places where I tend to haunt the internet is over, let me share with you the REAL reason I'm here. Oh. Right. It's to drive more traffic to all three of the places where I tend to haunt the internet. Well...not really...but kind-of.
In all actuality, Dana was looking for some people to guest post while she's away on her honeymoon and I was looking for a way to step out of my comfort zone and I figured what better way than to guest post on a blog known for amazing fashion inspiration when I haven't stepped out of an outfit made entirely of Jersey Knit in over four months. (In my defense, I'm 7 months pregnant with my second child and nothing other than Jersey Knits have felt even remotely comfortable for the last four months...but still...I am a walking fashion disaster).
I quickly realized I was out of my league and had better come up with something better to blog about for you all since you would clearly see right through me the moment you saw my pajama wear.
So...without further ado...I present to you TWO THINGS I KNOW - because I might not know fashion but I do know a couple of things.
1) How to rescue your skin after having destroyed it for a week at the beach
- Ok...so have you ever happened upon a product so awesome that you almost didn't want to tell people about it because you might start a revolution? No? Hmmm...well that's how I have felt about my skin care products ever since 'discovering' them about ten years ago but I am finally willing to share.
The products in question...DHC - which you may not have heard of but is the largest mail-order beauty supply catalogue in Japan.
Here's a short story on why I love them so much that I'm sharing the secret with you:
My family and I headed to the beach in late July for a week hot, hot, hot. We were out in the sand and salty ocean and sun pretty much all day, every day. I used copious amounts of sunscreen all over my face and body, but still came back with a fair amount of color.
Around day 5 of our 7 day trip, my skin on my cheeks and around my chin started to get reallllly dry and rough. But I had left my DHC face moisturizer at home thinking it was too high maintenance for me to bring to the beach.
The island where we were staying is pretty crazy to try and get off of, and the CVS is near the entrance to the island, so I just figured I would get some lotion when I got off the island. By that time, my face was in really bad shape. So when we finally got off the island I headed to CVS (I was headed to Pennsylvania for another week, not home where I could have used my stuff) and bought the most expensive Oil of Olay I could find in a tub (I seriously know nothing about beauty products, so I figured expensive = good). I got it home and applied it to my face and my face started BURNING like crazy...as in, I had to take it off immediately and then it continued to burn for hours.
So I did the most insane thing I've ever done for a beauty regiment. I ordered a new bottle of the DHC Rich Moisture and had it shipped OVERNIGHT to PA! It came, and within two applications, my face was flawless. FLAWLESS, people! I kid you not, this stuff is amazing.
Ok...officially stepping off soapbox now. heh. pun not intended :)
2) The awesomeness that are FLOR tiles (yes, I know I technically work for them...but I loved them well before they ever knew I existed)
- Way back in 2008 when I was pregnant with my son who's now two, I was watching an episode of Martha Stewart and they were showcasing Martha's line of carpet tiles at FLOR. I watched as Kevin Sharkey easily cut his tiles in half to create beautiful patterns of carpet on the floor. I was intrigued.
So I decided to order some for my son's nursery and I commenced designing a crazy-pants carpet with tons of cuts and angles. My experience was NO. WHERE. NEAR. as easy as Kevin Sharkey's and I was disappointed. But I knew that the reason my experience was more difficult was because I hadn't used the proper tools. Namely, I was trying to cut carpet in a straight line with a chintzy X-acto knife and a wood ruler.
So, I cut my losses (pun not intended) and laid out my FLOR tiles in a not-as-complicated pattern and quickly realized just how great the tiles were. They were easy to put together. They adhered to themselves and NOT the floor itself, and they were super versatile save for the mini experiment I tried in cutting them.
Fast forward a year later and it was time for my husband and I to do something about our master bedroom. I once again, decided to use the FLOR tiles and once again, decided to do something custom. THIS time I got the right tools and the process was easy as pie...you can read more about it here.
Since then, we have also used FLOR tiles to make a mat in front of our kitchen sink. Here for your viewing pleasure are all three of those projects:
Now...as my son transitions out of the nursery and into his big-boy room in preparation for his baby sister to arrive I am finding a need for another area rug to use in his room and once again, I am going with FLOR tiles. THIS time, I used the super-cool FLOR builder tool on the FLOR website. Basically, it allows you to choose how many squares you need and how you want them laid out and then you can fill in each square with what color tile you want.
Bonus: once you have worked out your design, you can see how much your design will cost at the bottom of the screen and order it straight from there. (Please note: it LOOKS like I'm about to order a crazy-expensive area rug...but in reality, I plan to cut each tile into quarter squares so that there are 60 total squares which is what the image shows above...but since the online tool doesn't adjust to allow for custom cutting [other than strips] I told the system I wanted 60 squares of FLOR tiles...which would be a. lot. of. carpet.)
Anyway, there are a 1,001 reasons to choose FLOR tiles for your home but I will share with you my top three:
1 - if you spill something on your rug that you can't get out, you can replace just the few tiles you messed up instead of bemoaning the sadness that is an entirely ruined area rug
2 - the tiles stick to themselves, not the floor...this is a big one. I can't believe how many people think that you have to stick them to the floor potentially ruining your floor
3 - the company is doing great things in the carpet industry to reduce their negative impact on our environment. FLOR is part of Mission Zero, "which is a promise to eliminate any negative impact the Interface family of companies may have on the planet by the year 2020". They're achieving this through several means, not the least of which is a FLOR recycling program, sustainable packaging and delivery efforts, energy efficient manufacturing processes and efforts within their corporate offices to reduce waste.
So there you go...TWO THINGS I KNOW since I know nothing about fashion!! YAY! I do hope my knowledge has been at least semi-informative and mildly entertaining and I hope you'll stop by my dusty corners of the internet if you're ever feeling bored/charitable.
