Gardening in High Heels

cultivate a beautiful life

Treat Yo Self, Pittsburgh Edition

Today’s Blogger, May I prompt is Treat Yo Self.  If you have no idea what we’re talking about….shame on you!  Tom and Donna would surely shun you.

Seriously, it’s a day to treat yo self to anything you want.  You want a new pair of shoes?  Treat Yo Self.  You want to eat a big fancy dinner?  Treat Yo Self.

I decided to put together a list of my favorite places to treat myself in Pittsburgh.  These makers and shakers have some of the best quality goods and I love them oh so much.

List of great places to treat yo self in Pittsburgh

My absolutely hands-down favorite place ever to buy from in Pittsburgh is Moop.  And don’t be afraid to order online.  She has diagrams and charts to help you find the right sized bag for your needs.  Their bags are fantastic quality and what I call industrial chic.  They can be used as a work/travel bag or a night-out clutch (and can hold everything from a laptop + books or just a wallet and some keys).

The best part about Moop is Wendy.  She is such a wonderful person.  She’s always friendly and welcoming when I contact her and her Instagram feed is beautiful.  The rest of her team are rock stars, too.

I also love me some Studebaker Metals for a more edgy touch with some girly charm.  Their hand-forged pieces are durable but so beautiful.  They add a great touch of urban funk to your outfit.  They also have items for men – tie clips, mustache combs, and other accessories (if your man is into those sorts of things).

I can’t get enough of their cuffs, though.  I wear them every day and the one that’s older has a beautiful polish just from normal wear and the newer one is starting to wear off its patina, but it’s still a fantastic grungy element to it.

I was first introduced to Studebaker Metals by Mid-Atlantic Mercantile in Lawrenceville.  That shop is beautiful in a minimalistic way.  Focusing on small-batch goods, everything is selected by Emily, sometimes with specific customers in mind (pro tip, y’all: become friends with the owner).

One of my favorite places for gifts and cards is Wildcard, also in Lawrenceville.  They carry adorable paper goods, gifts, and craft supplies.  I’ve found prints, cards, jewelry, t-shirts, art supplies, notebooks..you name it.  I’d also suggest visiting Jack + Jules, The Shop in East Liberty, and Spoiled Chics for unique gifts.

Honorable mentioned to Steel City Cotton Works, Shop 412, and Fresh Factory for the softest.tees.ever.

What would you treat yo self to?



<This is adapted from my post on The Fashionable Eye for the Pittsburgh Great Blog Exchange.

Summer Plans

Well this is coming in super late, but late is better than never, right!  Today’s Blogger, May I prompt is Summer Plans.  Man.  There are things I’d like to do this summer, but they aren’t realistic given my PTO schedule and obligations.  Things like “Travel to a beach. Drink on a beach” etc are just not in the cards.

Summer plans

But there are some things I can do at home.  What I would like to do is:

  • Get a crop of plants from my garden enough to make pesto and sauce and eggplant parm and green beans and zucchini bread (all the zucchini recipes) all summer long
  • Run at least 5 miles a week (totally doable)
  • Schedule Levo events for July -September by the middle of June
  • Enjoy the Steers and Beers summer tradition
  • Keep blogging every day (almost every day?)
  • Visit my best friend and see her new apartment
  • Make advances with blogging sponsorships and consulting work
  • Keep a vase full of fresh flowers from the garden

That sounds like a lot of work and not much summer lovin’ vacation stuff.

What’s on your list of summer plans?


Be aware

Happy Memorial Day!  It’s a perfect day to relax, spend the day with people you care about, and remember those who were brave enough to dedicate their life mission to protecting us.  So it’s the perfect day to talk about favorite quotes for today’s Blogger, May I theme.  There are so many good quotations, I had a hard time picking one and actually wrote an entire other post before this one.

To be a good quotation, I think it has to be short, simple, impactful, and incredibly direct..everything this sentence is not.  There are two quotes that usually ping around in my brain.  One by Abraham Lincoln, and this one from Baron Batch.

Be aware when your time is up.

As I’ve written before, I attended the 2014 TEDx talks back when it was TEDxGrandviewAve (now it’s moved up to TEDxPittsburgh, woohoo!) and heard some great speakers.  Of course, I was there for  Britt Reints, but I was captivated by Baron Batch.

I didn’t know much about Baron before the talk.  I saw on the bio page that he was a former Pittsburgh Steeler and gave that all up to paint.  I was ready for some, “Follow your dream, don’t let things get in your way” kind of speech.

But no!  It was much more, “Hunt your dreams down, work harder and faster than you ever have, hustle, and strong-arm things out of your way.”  I was ready to run through a wall after I heard him speak.

I’ll watch the recorded talk today and still want to run through a wall.  Seriously, watch it.

When I went to the Creative Soul Weeknight Retreat, we made boxes with paper or paint or stamps or little plastic dinos or fibers…whatever our little hearts desired.  In mine (which I’ll take a photo of and share later..oops forgot!) I have Baron Batch’s quote written out.

Be aware when your time is up - Baron Batch

Be aware that you only have a little time here on the planet, so make it count.  Be aware that there’s always a ticking clock getting closer to the end, so make something worthwhile now.  Don’t squander the precious seconds you have – in a relationship, a day at the part with your kids, when you sit down to write.  Be acutely aware that time is pulling you away.

I could go on forever, baby.  (Bonus points if you know where that is from.)

Britt took that energy of the Creative Soul Weeknight Retreat and unleashed it on a whole weekend.  I’m so excited for the Creative Soul Retreat this fall for more time to reflect and create and play with new things.

A weekend of nothing but this laser-focused creative energy sounds absolutely fantasticly like where I need to be.  And seriously, it’s at a gorgeous hotel in downtown Pittsburgh with other creative souls.  Who’s with me here?

So what’s your favorite quote?

The one that makes you want to run through a wall and get shit done.  Or the one that calms you after you’ve run through a wall and need to refocus?



I was not asked to gush about the Creative Soul Retreat in this post, but it seemed like the perfect time to share it. If you’re in Pittsburgh or can make it here, I’d love to see you there. And early bird pricing ends June 1!

Sunday Lately, 21

This weekend, I’m spending some time with my mother in Williamsburg. It’s about a six and a half hour drive, so before I left, I loaded up some of Nicole Antoinette‘s No BS Lab podcasts and made it through about 5 of them. OMG. I wish I could have taken notes while I was driving because they fired things off in my brain that were spot on.

Like Samantha Bennett saying, “Well just try it!” when her friend was waffling between two choices. And it clicked with my why I have no patience for people who need constant hand-holding..you’ll never know if you talk about it, so just try it already!

So who’s ready for some Sunday Lately?

What have you been up to lately? This is week 14 of Sunday Lately link up with Katy, Meghan, and Nicole!

Planning

I have so many more No BS Lab podcasts left to listen to, so I’m planning on listening to those on the drive back home. I’m tempted just to have an audio note-taking app on the whole way, but the podcasts already play through my phone, so I don’t think I can pause the audio, switch to a new app, say something, and go back without running myself off the road. Best not to even try.

Loving

That I’m getting a bit of a tan (only on my upper body and feet, though, because I’m an Oreo – dark on the top and bottom, light on the inside). Also loving the perfect weather to be spending outside. Yesterday, we went to a seafood festival in a small town about an hour away and this morning we’ll be spending some time in the garden before we go about our day.

Reading

Finally finished Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin for Birchbloggers and now I’m focusing on People Over Profit by Dale Partridge. And then probably back to Julia Child biographies for a bit because I think I may want a break from self-help.

Wishing

I’d love just a spare moment to relax between driving back to Pittsburgh and jumping into my workday, but that won’t be happening.

Feeling

Tired, man. I was listening to one interview that Nicole did with Jeff Sanders about his “thing,” The 5 AM Miracle. He gets up and starts his day at 5am. When he was working, it gave him just enough time to get something meaningful done and could still be at work on time. I have inadvertently been doing that (lookin’ at you, dude revving outside at 5:30a). I need to work on my coordination because I can’t even fill a K-cup successfully this early, but it has real potential.

What have you been doing lately?


Makeup Bag Musts

It’s no surprise that I’m excited for today’s Blogger, May I prompt, makeup essentials.  I can always write about my makeup musts.  I have tons of thoughts on makeup.  I think it comes from my mom selling Mary Kay when I was young.  I loved looking in her sample kit the pretty tubes full of fun things that I’d get to play with when I was older.  I still do it today.  I had a field day when she was cleaning out her old things before she moved.

My makeup bag is scaled down right now (from my massive organization undertaking to just one small bag) for vacation. For Blogger, May I, I'm sharing my makeup essentials that are so necessary, they come on vacation with me.

My makeup bag is scaled down right now (from my massive organization undertaking to just one small bag) for vacation.  For Blogger, May I, I’m sharing my makeup essentials that are so necessary, they come on vacation with me.

A good base layer

I try not to wear too much stuff on my skin so I can let it breathe, so what I use as my primer has to really have some staying power, blur some imperfections, and have sun protectant.  I just finished a sample of Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer, so with me this time is Benefit’s The Porefessional.  I also use primer on my eye lids and under my eyes to hold everything in place there.

Eye brightening something

You never know how much sleep you’ll really get or if you’ll be puffy from sitting in a car for hours (maybe that’s just me).  I like using an eye brightener under my concealer to fake the illusion of a restful vacation.  I just got back into using Benefit’s Eye Bright, a crayon-like pinky hued pencil that perks up even the darkest of circles.

Eye shadow palettes

I wish I could say that I have things that do double duty, like eye shadow that also doubles as highlighter, a bronzer, and fold-out couch, but I rarely use multi-use products like that.  Instead, I look for small versions of what I love.  I love slim shadow palettes for variety and portability.  Wet n Wild has some great 8-pan palettes that are slim, great quality, and offer lots of eye-look options.

Eyeliner and mascara that stay put

On a normal day, I don’t bring makeup to the office to do touch ups, so you know I’m not wandering around the streets on vacation with a mini-makeup aresenal in my purse.  I need all the room I can get for granola bars.  I get hranky (that’s a step up from hangry; it’s hungry + angry + cranky).  So I need to be able to put my eyeliner and mascara on once and let it be.

I’ve been using Covergirl Clump Crusher mascara for a few weeks and I love it’s staying power.  It doesn’t smudge, even if I have it on my lower lashes yet it comes off easily when the time is right

 No-fuss lip stuff

Okay, here’s where I do a little double-duty with my makeup.  I love lipsticks that are moisturizing or in some way offer a little extra comfort on the lips.  I also want things that are easy to apply and aren’t sticky.   There’s nothing like getting a cooling breeze and then having half your hair stick to your mouth.

Mm so hot.

The lip products that I have with me can be applied with or without a mirror.  Bite BB for Lips, Mary Kay True Dimensions lipstick, and Almay Smart Shade Butter Kiss lipstick all came with me.  I have a few different color options for different looks and they’re all low-fuss.

Of course, I have things like brushes and tweezers.  And Jonathan would be so proud because I finally remembered to bring Band-Aids with me.  I swear, I’m the least-prepared girl.

What are your makeup essentials?


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