Where the Frack is Mama?!

Hey Dolls, needless to say Mama appears to have fallen off the face of the earth but no, I'm still here! 

It's been a busy-as-heck summer and we just returned from our annual summer holiday at our home in Greece. I'm back and ready for action (read: school starting ASAP) and I should probably get to down to biznass and play some serious blog catch-up. 

Greece was great this year, sure there's a financial crisis happening but that's no reason not to enjoy some  fun in the Mediterranean sun... 

Kid #1 and #2  behaved amazingly on the flight over (thank you Nintendo DS) and for the first year ever I didn't have to haul strollers, car-seats or any other small-child-related-items. Praise the Baby Jesus! 

Here's some pics, there are so many to show I guess I'll have to start with these...

{greek islands, well worth the trip and the tan-lines...}

{catching waves at Kalogria beach in Stoupa}

{a turquoise dream...}

{out for dinner at the taverna with my mom and mother-in-law}

{another fabulous sunset}

{wave runner...}

{our veranda...kid approved!}

{a late breakfast with friends in Mykonos}

{that's our yacht anchored out there...wink wink}

{Mykonossss!}

{out of energy after a long day at the beach}

{waiting for the ferry to take us to the islands}

{baking in the sun}

{kid #1 chillin' like a villain...}

{Strawberry Daiquiri's with the girls}

{they were so lost...narrow streets of Mykonos}

{white pants and cocktails...srsly summer!}

{always time for another fruity drink...}

{little Venice}

{Husband in front of the famous Mykonos Windmills}

Facts: 

-Europe is crazy expensive

- Greek summers are smoking hot 

-Ice cream should be considered a food group on its own

-I need a yacht in my next life (or this one...)

-I love my bed here at home in Canada

 Apologies for the long hiatus but tell me how has your summer been? 

Any family vay-cays or road trips? Are your kids driving you batty-shiz crazy like mine are?  

Vegas Bitches! Part II (You'll find us chasing the sun..)

So Mama's back from Vegas last week and though it did take a few days to recover from the trip, overall it was a great time. Vegas does not disappoint. Considering I only gambled about $45.00 (losing money is for fools!) we spent almost all our time walking, shopping, walking, eating, walking and drinking.  Needless to say my dogs were barking--sore feet are proof positive of any good Vegas trip.

{just getting Saturday nite started....burlesque dancers at Haze In Aria}

{Harrah's and Venetian at night}

{Well Hello Gorgeous!  Liza, Cher and Dolly never looked so good}

{Campy over -the-top Vegas GOLD!  Divas Las Vegas at the Imperial Palace best drag show on the strip...}

{Caesars and Planet Hollywood...bigger is better}

{Kardashian Kaos at Mirage (saw Kim K and love her or hate her, she's a gorgeous girl though I couldn't get a good pic of her- too many fans/haters in the way)
view from our room at the Mirage, Palazzo, Mirage marquee sign at night}

{Drinking mid-day is completely acceptable... right? The dolphin whispering in my ear thinks so...}

{ You'll find us chasing the Sun- 4:00am at Pure Night club roof top patio in Caesars}

{Mama's Mandatory- Strawberry Daiquiri with 2 shots of rum please!}

 { VIP please- Signalling the Mother Ship at Haze night club}

{getting the party started from Haze to LAX to Pure...}

{Feeling Fuchsia.. what time is it and where are we?}

Vegas doesn't disappoint. (like I said) 

So what if you don't gamble or drink (God forbid)?... there's so much else to do. 

Trust.

One of my best Vegas trips ever...cheers to weekends away! 

Vegas Bitches...

It's that time again lovelies, time for Mama to blow this joint and vamonos to Las Vegas. I'll be up at the crack of a$$ on Saturday morning to fly down for 3 nights and days away from my children enjoying the hot Nevada sun. 

I'll let you in on a little secret,,, Mama had a pretty important birthday last week and though it makes me a little sadz to be out of my "early thirties", this girls getaway is a total consolation.

Am I ready to go?

Let's review the check list...

*-American cash - CHECK

*-SPF 40 sunscreen - CHECK

*-Trashy gossip celeb mags for the flight/ pool- CHECK

*-White jeans, white skirts and espadrille sandals- CHECK

(it is after May Long Weekend/ Memorial Day after all...)

*-Pre-trip spray tan- CHECK

(no one should have to see this sort of Canadian post-winter-skin-paleness)

*- Strong desire to drink numerous fruity/slushy adult beverages- CHECK

*-Extensive and overly detailed plan of attack for shopping and outlet malls -CHECK

*- Foot Pain/Blister first-aid kit including, band aids, moleskin, foldable ballet flats, orthotic insoles, and every other product ever made by Dr. Scholls -CHECK

*-Hang-over management program including Advil, Gravol, Gatorade and massive amounts of water intake -CHECK

*-Guilt about leaving my kids for a few days- CHECK
(mommy guilt is unavoidable...)

That should cover it. 

______________________________________________________________________________

We managed to get a super cheap package on hotel/flight and we're staying at the Mirage, going on a "club crawl" to avoid the lines and cover, and we're even taking in a totally tacky Vegas-y type show.

{Volcanoes. that's right...}

{I'll blow a kiss to Cher and GaGa for you...}

I.Am.Excited.

What's your favorite thing to do in Vegas...is it eating half your weight in dessert at the buffets, shopping till you can't feel your feet, sitting by the pool while trying avoid a second degree burn in the sun or is it gambling your much deserved tax return away?

Share! As always I love to hear about your recommendations and must-do lists!

sprinkles that sparkle...

As a follow-up to my last post, when I say that I want to get my paws on something, I usually get it done. Honestly it didn't take long for me to find the Ciate Caviar Manicure from Sephora- $28.00. 

(Sephora Canada, please accept my sincere apologies for my previous snarkiness as I was convinced it would take months to bring in this product, but no, it came into stores this week. Good job kids!)

{excuse my janky polish application, I have the shakiest hands ever. Fact.}

The process is simple enough with one base coat of the pink polish, followed by another coat and then the application of the "caviar" sprinkles.  The final result is fun and different, definitely a 3D effect.  How long will it hold up for?...I'll give it 2 days tops. Perfect for a special event or a night out...

Since I'm still on a funky nail kick, next I'm going to try out Nails Inc. "Magnetic Polish"..apparently there are metal particles in the paint that align into a fish-net design when you run the included magnet over top of the still-wet polish. I'll check back with results after I try it out.

Sephora-  Nail Inc. magnetic polish in Spitalfields $18.00

Again, there must be a sign on my forehead that says "sucker for novelty nails"...

but I'm tired of the same old boring paint colours and nail art. 

There is fine line between tacky and trendy, I'm hoping these fall into the latter case...

Million Dollar Manicure...

I'm completely smitten with the latest manicure trend..."caviar nails."  Pearlescent beads create a 3-D effect on your nails and the kit comes in Rainbow, Black Pearl and Mother of Pearl. It looks fun and funky though apparently they only hold up for about 48 hours. Just long enough for a fun weekend!  Made by Ciate and available thru Sephora (though I'll bet dollars to donuts that it isn't available at Sephora in Canada yet...things take forever to come here...) 

via

The kit isn't cheap, it goes for around $25 US but I'd guess that trying to DIY duplicate the look using tiny beads likely wouldn't achieve the same effect.  

The texture of the nail intrigues me, I can't wait to get my paws on this...I'm a sucker for novelty nails.

What do you think about this nail trend, is it a yay or nay??

Purple Stack!

I'm in love love love with stacked bracelets plus a large mens-style watch.

I saw this pic and pretty much melted...amazing!  I have the Michael Kors watch but where to find the other purple bracelets?!

                      via somesweetsecrets

Watch- Michael Kors, Bangle- Forever21, Chain link Bangle- Forever21, Spike Stretch Bracelet- Stella  & Dot

Here's my own current stack that I've been wearing fairly regularly...time to add some colour I think.

Are you a bracelet stacker? If so, how much is too much?

"Let Me Fix My Weave..."

I've always dreamed of having long, thick hair but that was never in the genetic cards for me. And since the hair-loss crisis of earlier this year, obviously the next best thing is to use extensions to give the length, volume and amount of hair I wish I really had...

I was inspired a long time back by Kim from KimberDoll and her DIY post about how to dye your hair extensions at home. I bought some really great extensions (or as I affectionately refer to it as, "my weave") a few years ago but they were a caramel honey brown colour and since I've gone back to my natural choco brown, they needed to be dyed.

Seems simple enough eh? 

 This is a weft of the pre-coloured (100% human) European hair...totally better than synthetic hair.

 They are crazy long, 18" extensions ...but are fine once curled and styled.

 $10.99 L'Oreal Sublime Mousse hair dye in  # 40 Pure Dark Brown. This colour ended up being too dark but it seemed like a perfect match in the store. Of course.

More on that later...

 The foam colour was super easy to apply, just mix the activator with the main solution in the foam dispensing bottle. I set down a white plastic garbage bag to work on and protect the counter top.

I had to make sure the dye was thoroughly applied to the extensions for total coverage...

 The colour needed 20 minutes to set...I used tin foil for easy clean-up.

 After rinsing, washing and conditioning the extensions with the provided conditioner, I gently combed them through with a wide-tooth comb and laid them flat to dry over night on a towel.

 Once the extensions were dry I curled them by anchoring the weft of hair with a heavy weight (in this case books, rocks and a pillar candle?!?) over the side of a half wall in our hallway.  According to most recommendations for curling extensions (on YouTube), curling them before you apply them is easier and offers more control.  I sprayed a thermal heat protector on each section and curled each weft of hair 3 times with a big barrel curling iron then set the curls with a firm hold fine mist hairspray (I like John Frieda's Full of Volume spray.)

 YES, obviously the colour was TOO DARK but now since I've gone darker with my current colour from the salon, they're a perfect match...

*There are a ton of YouTube videos on how to correctly put on extensions, the snapping teeth-like clips are super simple to attach to your own hair and can be clipped on in a matter of minutes.

*I'll admit the entire process was a lot more time consuming then I had expected (colouring/curling) but the final product is worth it. The extensions look natural, are easy to wash and I'd recommend re-washing and re-curling after each use in order to keep them from looking over-styled. 

*I've never dyed my own hair at home (only in the salon) and overall its pretty simple enough. 

BUT I think I'll continue to leave it up to the professionals to handle my own "real" hair because it's so piss poor fine. 

Obviously selecting the correct colour is a kind of a big deal...duh.  Live and learn!

Now it's your turn to try this on your own extensions. I'll admit I was a bit intimidated by them at first, I'm no hair-stylist...but at the end of the day they're just hair so have fun with them! 

spotty at best!

Dolls, it's been a busy last few weeks with Easter, spring break and friends from out of town visiting. There's been plenty going on but not a lot of blogging to document the fun! Believe me that I understand that this is 'no beuno' for my readers. I'm pledging to pull up my socks and post more often.

So I last wrote about an event that I went out to with some girlfriends, a Calgary Flames Hockey wives "Better Halves" charity event fashion show, auction, food and booze-fest. It was about as much fun as a girl can have on a Wednesday night...

The wives and girlfriends were gorgeous models for the evening and they did their best to werk it for the crowd!

 Wine, models and 400 women...

 Dana with Brett Wilson (Dragons' Den), apparently he's a bit of a ladies man...

Picture quality goes down as wine consumption goes up! It's the price you pay for too much Chardonnay...