Heartbroken

It’s hard to write a post about something as tragic as the death of a child. The laws of life tell us that we will bury our parents and our children will bury us. Recently, it seems like more and more innocent children are dying. The shootings that occurred in Newtown, Connecticut just this Friday create fear in our hearts especially if you are a parent.  Our heart aches for the families that will be burying their precious children. We just wanted to take a moment to let the families of all the victims know that even though we are hundreds of miles away we still hurt for your loss and we are truly sorry.

elle&ohh

Book Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

How to start this review without sounding like a dramatic maniac?

This book is by far one of the best books I have read in my short life.  


At the same time I wish I had never read this book because it feels like nothing will be as great as it was and all the books that have come after almost feel like a waste of time.


The Fault in Our Stars is a book written in first person by Hazel Grace Lancaster, a sixteen year old girl with cancer.  She takes this miracle drug that has kept her alive for three years. She does not socialize much except for when her parents force her to go to support group meetings for cancer patients.  There she has a strange friendship with a boy named Isaac who has eye cancer and has lost already one of his eyes. He has a girlfriend that keeps him going, her name is Monica.

One day, Isaac brings a friend over to the support group.  His name is Augustus Waters.  He immediately falls for Hazel because of her resemblance to his late girlfriend.

I have started and re-started this review like ten times and I can't seem to be able to say a lot of what this book is about in a clear way and without giving you the full story.  All I can really say is that this book is a MUST read for everyone.  I have recommended it to people my age and customers in their 50s and everyone agrees that it is an awesome book.

John Green gives a lot of his characters a maturity and intellect that isn't normally associated with teenagers but with Hazel and Augustus it fits perfectly. They say things like:

(I, in no way own this pictures, the first picture belongs to this blog: http://jremps.wordpress.com/tag/the-fault-in-our-stars/  I could not for my life find the second one again but it says on the picture milesbowers on flickr 

and the third belongs to: http://8tracks.com/reservoirsnogs/a-brief-but-infinite-forever)

Needless to say, I give this book a full 5 out of 5 stars and I beg everyone to take the time to read it.

Thank you,

ohh

Book Review - L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad

Thanks to Pinterest I have become obsessed with Ms. Lauren Conrad.  The girl has turned into my fashion icon and favorite celebrity.  She has the most exquisite and elegant taste you can imagine.  Most importantly, she likes to share with her fans. Through my long hours of Googling LC I found out that she has written books!  Yes.  She has written a total of six books.


I recently read her L.A. Candy Series which consists of three books titled L.A. Candy, Sweet Little Lies, and Sugar and Spice. 

The L.A. Candy series is about two perfectly beautiful, but opposite, best friends who just moved to L.A. and get chosen to be in a reality TV show called L.A. Candy.  L.A. Candy feels like an explanation to how reality television works and since LC rose to stardom through a reality television show, one could assume that in a way she is giving that insight to her Laguna Beach/The Hills experience.

In L.A. Candy, the two main characters Jane and Scarlett get picked out of a crowd in an LA Club by a TV producer named Trevor who is trying to make a comeback.  L.A. Candy is set to follow four girls around LA living their normal lives. Except that of course not much of what happens on the show is exactly real.

I'm not going to lie, I enjoyed this book more than I should have.  It was a quick read, I would say it could be finished in five or six hours.  The vocabulary in this book is very simple.  Some of the concerns of other reviews were that she used terms like OMG, BFF and WTF, but that didn't bother me. Who doesn't throw one of those in to their conversation once in a while?  People talked about how she might have had a ghost writer but I'm guessing that who ever said that didn't read the book and see how simple it was.

L.A. Candy was the story of Jane's rise to fame.  She is the main character of the book and of the TV show. This causes conflict between her and another girl on the show, Madison.  She also starts having problems with her best friend Scarlett.

I kind of liked that this book leaves you off with a cliff hanger. It was OK for me because I had the next book lined up on my library wish list but I'm sure it sucked for the people who had to wait for the second part to be released.

All in all I give it 3 out of 5 stars because I didn't hate it.

I would recommend reading this book if you like celebrity gossip and or reality television or if you're just a fan of LC or chick-lit.

Stay tuned for the review of book two of the L.A. Candy series Sweet Little Lies.


Thanks!
-ohh

Big Sexy Hair

I have this love/hate with my hair. It never does what I want it to unless a hair stylists' hands work with it.

I found my dream hair. So perfectly voluminous and great length! If only I knew how to recreate this with my hair everyday.

Humanity

This might be a little old (last year) but I stumbled upon it while on yahoo.
I think this photo captures the essence of humanity.
It's beautiful and makes you feel so many things.

I also just found out that it won photo of the year for the New York Times.
I think this is one of my favorite photos ever.

So, Nicholas Cage is a Vampire

I love the headline to this video.

The voice behind Mr. Krabs

This may be a little late. But for some reason I was thinking of something that lead me to Spongebob then to the thought that Mr. Krabs is one of my favorite characters. Every time I think of Mr. Krabs I think of the voice actor who plays him, Clancy Brown. I only found out who he was when my cousin first introduced me to the show Carnivale, which was great (I need to finish watching it). I did an IMDB search on some of the actors and one was Mr. Brown & was amazed to find out he played Mr. Krabs! 


Just in case you guys didn't know this yet.

Study

I took this awhile ago when I was first visiting Phx (before I moved here) 

I think that this picture would have been better if it weren't for that dedicated guy studying. 


xoxo
Elle

Threadless Water Bottles

I got my fake pandas Threadless water bottle last year and I must say it has held up pretty well. The only problem is that the image is fading. But it's not completely gone & still visible. I want the foam monster next!

I'm so glad Target has these- No shipping charges, Yay!


xoxo
elle

Nerdy Cardi!

With the end of winter coming soon and before spring starts up, there's that in between weather. We all need a light cardigan that is simple, cute and does the job. 


My choice is Threadless:

                                             xoxo

                                                   Elle

Origami

This is very inspiring. I plan to fill my room with all sorts of origami and color. I predict my fingers will be tired little paper folders.

xoxo
elle

flipping the bird

Halftime show. Because I have no idea what goes on with sports (especially football) I had no idea M.I.A. was gonna perform with Madonna or Nicki Minaj!

Over the knee

Knee highs are...

good for the winter......fashionably trendy

sexy...and good for those days you don't want to shave below the knee. 

                               xoxo,

                                          elle

Splat!

who knew watercolors were ooey gooey!

Frosting Bath & Body

Happy New Year!
A little late, I know. But here is the first blog post for 2012!

A little before Christmas, elle and ohh became part of the sample team for a company on Etsy called Frosting Bath & Body. Frosting Bath & Body sells mineral makeup along with bath salts, body sprays, lotions, massage oils and exfoliators. I was instantly drawn to them when I saw their profile picture on Facebook. It is of many eyeshadows in beautifully bright colors. You can see their Facebook page here. 

I finally had a chance to order some of their products. I ordered four eyeshadows that were 50% off.  I paid $10 for four 5 gram eyeshadows plus $3 shipping and handling. The eyeshadows are regular price $5 per jar.

The ordering process/s&h: It was my first purchase ever on Etsy and I was pleased by how easy it was to use. I think I paid through Paypal, but I can't remember for sure.

I loved that the owner of FB&B messaged me through Etsy to let me know she had received my order and was packaging it.

I received my package fairly quickly, (this is the sucky part about waiting to blog about something!) I know for a fact that it took less than a week for me to receive my package.

The eyeshadows were beautifully wrapped inside a bubble envelope. I wish I had taken pictures of the packaging before I opened it but I was so excited! The four eyeshadows were in a tight baggie with a FB&B business card and sealed on top with a cardboard with the FB&B logo.

These are the eyeshadows I ordered:

Cavalier, Mistaken, Rebel and Glitz

 Pictures without flash

Picture with flash

As you can see, these eye shadows are beautiful. They are everything I love in an eyeshadow; bold, bright and sparkly! I have a terrible relationship with my camera, I never bothered to read the manual.  Having pictures come out the way I actually want them is almost impossible.  So the  next pictures are of the eyeshadows individually.  No flash.  In real life, the eyeshadows are closest to the pictures with flash.

Cavalier is a very grapey purple, it's true to the way it looks inside the jar. I did notice on this eyeshadow, when I was swatching it, that it had a few specks of red that streaked. I didn't find this a problem, it actually was comforting to know that the purple color had been made and not repackaged.

Glitz is the first yellow eyeshadow I have ever purchased. It sparkles like gold eyeshadows should and it feels very luxurious to the touch. Definately impressed me and become one of my favorites quickly.

Rebel! Who doesn't love a bold pink eyeshadow?! This color is a light pinky fuschia. The sparkles on this shadow amazing. This looks good enough to eat. 

Mistaken is a brick red eyeshadow. This eyeshadow is crazy strong. I swatched it on my hand it was the hardest to remove.

Swatches: Click to enlarge.

From left to right: Cavalier, Glitz, Rebel and Mistaken.

All swatches over primer.

Now on to how the eyeshadows actually look on your eyes!!!

Phew! This post took me hours to finish! Anyway, I hope you liked it. I also hope you liked the eyeshadows. I think it's important to support small businesses like Frosting Bath & Body. You're getting a product hand made especially for you, it's not mass produced and packaged by machines!

Frosting Bath & Body earns a place in elle and ohh's heart because of the quality of the product they make. We love the eyeshadow colors, the luxurious silkiness they posses, and the versatility in their use. We also love them for treating their customers with care and respect!

 Click the link to visit Frosting Bath & Body's Etsy Store.

Thank you,
ohh <3