Hey there.

Hi. I'm still alive. My computer died on me.... my screen decided to quit working so I'm in the process of getting it fixed/possibly getting a new one all together. Quite a bummer.

So until then, I won't be doing much (or any) blogging/working :( 

But, never fear! I WILL be back and I just wanted to let you know that I wouldn't be not blogging if I had a computer. Arrrg. In the meanwhile though, I'm going to enjoy not having a computer and get some serious business done! AND, if you aren't already, you should follow me on twitter at twitter.com/Sam_Wish . That's where I'll be. Soooo, see ya soon! Happy New Years! 

Happy Holidays!

Hope you guys are having a great holiday. I've been coming and going with no time to write any posts but I wanted to share our christmas cards with you before the holiday ended! I apologize about the fuzzy pictures, I took these with my phone.

Happy New Years!

All Na-tu-ral Baby!

I'm so proud of myself guys! I've finally converted all of our "beauty" products to natural, eco-friendly, and most importantly safe products (ok, so this doesn't involve makeup or toothpaste- maybe in the future). Now my next goal is to make the same move with all of our cleaning products... we'll see how that goes. Anyways! If you guys haven't been following very long, I've had this goal to reduce our waste and be more natural. In my quest for both of these, I found out how bad shampoo/beauty products are. They have so many harsh chemicals in them that I really don't want to be putting on my body every single day (or every other day...) and decided I had to change! Not to mention, they are wasteful, way more expensive than they should be, and actually make you use more shampoo than you really need too! I was so stunned that these were products that I had just grown accustomed to and it was just common sense to use them when in fact, they aren't good for you and are just a big scam to get money out of you! Ok, sorry about my ranting- back to the point. So I tried going "no-poo" a while back and used baking powder (shampoo) and apple cider vinegar (conditioner) but I just didn't like it. I could never tell if I had cleaned my whole head until it was already dry and Brandon hated the smell of the vinegar so we had to find a different solution. It took us (and by us I do mean me) a little trial and error to find what we liked best and what we needed. So this is what we've found and what works for us! 

Body Wash & Shampoo: 

source. 

Dr. Bronners! We use this for body wash and shampoo. For the shampoo, I use a little squirt bottle and mix half of Dr. Bronners and half water (just so it's not as harsh on my scalp). I've tried the hemp (it's alright), the peppermint (amazing!), and am now on the tea tree oil (smells like pine trees but is pretty good). We also use the baby one for Eliza and she seems to like it. I buy these at Target. 
Conditioner: 

source. 

Conditioner was the trial and error part. I first didn't use any but my hair got really frizzy and dull and got tangled wayy too easily. I'm not used to having frizzy hair so this kind of freaked me out. Then I used a mixture of lemon juice and water (but that goes bad quick), and after that I tried some other "organic" conditioner that I just didn't like. I had been having some itchy scalp problems so I looked for something with tea tree oil and found this! Now, on the bottle, the directions are ridiculous and it tells you to use like 20 squirts. Craziness. I use about 3, rub in as much as I can, splash a little water on my hair, rub a little more to really get my scalp and then rinse out. Voila! Shiny, frizz-free, not tangled hair. I bought this at Sally's Beauty Salon. 
Face: On days where I don't take a shower but want to wash my face, I either use just water for a little refresher or baking soda if I really want a clean face. For the baking soda, I keep a little jar right by my sink and just shake out about a teaspoon into my hand with a tiny amount of water, rub together to make kind of a paste and rub onto my face. Then rinse. Healthy, natural, safe, and cheap! For some, this might be a little too harsh/dry out your skin too much (brandon). So I suggest some lotion or make some honey face wash (tons of recipes online).  
For spot treatments on pimples, I use a q-tip and apply a little bit of rubbing alcohol to dry it out. Works for me and is cheap. 
Here is a great lotion I have recently found: 

source. 

I found this particular Shea Moisture at Target. I got the "acne prone" one to use on our face and Brandon loves it. 

source. 

And for the rest of our body, we use this Shea Moisture: Baby Healing Lotion. Let me tell you, it smells delicious! I found this one before the one above at a Walgreens and just fell in looooove. Seriously, best smelling lotion ever and I'm not really a fan of lotion. 
So that's what we use, and I'm pretty satisfied! I'll be testing out the lavender Dr. Bronner's when I'm done with the tea tree oil one and can't wait too see how that one is.
I got really inspired last night and ended up staying awake until 2 researching homemade dishwasher detergent! It's kind of funny, but this is how it all started (getting inspired I mean). I had chinese like 3 times in the last week for lack of time and any good places to eat around here. Well, after the third time, I felt pretty disgusting and then happened to stumble upon Veggie Wedgie while reading My Little Loves. It was one of those, the right place at the right time, kind of deals. It just made me realize that your really are what you eat and that I didn't want to be fried rice and slimy fried chicken! So I made a vow to myself to eat healthier and  natural. And that led to just living more naturally. And then I ran out of dishwasher detergent and decided to make my own! And then I decide that once I do that, I will make my own laundry detergent and liquid soap and household cleaners! Sooooo then I stayed up until two and almost regretted it this morning. But it was good, and now I'm working on the perfect concoction for dishwasher detergent. I'll let you know how that goes ;)
So, what about you?! Do you use organic beauty products or household products? Any suggestions? I'd love to hear what you gotta say! 

Sharing is Caring!

I made this little video the past week for my store. I didn't get to do a photo shoot like I had hoped so this will have to suffice. 

Also, some other exciting news! Yesterday, I had an item featured on the home page of Etsy. Wohoo! And I also did a guest post over at My Little Loves, check it out here. 
I thought I would have more time since school ended but it turns out all my spare time is being filled with other things like seeing friends, family, and doing christmas stuff! I'll try to do a real post tonight... Anyways, how is your christmas break?!!! Do you have any special traditions you'd like to share? 

DIY Hanging Shelf

I've been wanting to do this FOREVER. I had this piece of wood left over from making our bed and it's been lying around just waiting for me to use it! I had this idea from here: A Case of the Mundays and have been putting it off for a while... like maybe a month or two? It took a while to figure out the perfect place to put it though so I'm glad I waited. First, I wanted to put it in the window in my kitchen but I was afraid it would get bumped by the fridge, then I wanted to put it above the sink in my kitchen butttt changed my mind. Then one night I just decided to put it in my living room window and never turned back! It was kind of a spur of the moment decision and I was a little apprehensive (even in the process) but it turned out perfect!

It was super easy, all I had to do was drill two holes on both ends of the wood (a little larger than the rope you're going to use), screw a hook into the ceiling, then measure out your rope, slip it through the holes and tie a knot underneath the wood. Then hang and decorate! 









I got this little guy from Target, I just couldn't resist! It's supposed to be an ornament butt for now he's gonna "hang" out on my shelf. haha, get it? hang?

Anyways, I really love how this turned out. And I love how it looks next to these 50's sheer curtains I kind of inherited. It seems very whimsical to me, what do you think? 
So I am FINALLY done with all my exams and can start enjoying my break! I feel so much more relaxed and can't wait to get some things checked off my to-do list before school starts up again. I also really need to catch up with our advent activities. I think I am spreading myself a little too thin on that one but I am determined to get everything done! 
The past couple of days we have been working on turning our apartment into one giant fort! It's pretty freakin' cool guys and I can't wait to put up the finishing touches and take some pictures to show you all! Until then, I'm going to be catching up on chores and doing TONS of crafts. Hope you guys are enjoying the holiday season, I know I am (: 

White Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

1- 1 1/2 lb chicken breast 

8-10 flour tortillas

1 medium onion

1 tbs vegetable oil

1 ½ cup Mexican blend cheese (or Monterrey jack)

¼ cup butter

¼ cup flour

1 15 oz. can chicken broth

1 cup sour cream

1 4 oz. can of chopped green chiles

Optional- cream or milk

1. Cook chicken, heavily seasoned (I used salt, pepper, and "Emerill's Essence"). My personal favorite way to cook chicken is to make a foil pocket (one piece on top, one on bottom and fold the edges together) and then bake at 350 degrees for about 40-60 min. This makes it nice and juicy and flavorful!  


2. While that's cooking, go ahead and cut up your onion. 


3. Once your chicken is cooked through, let it cool and then chop/shred it into small pieces. 


4. In fry pan, cook chicken, green chiles, and onion together in vegetable oil on medium-high heat. Add some more seasonings such as salt, pepper, paprika or cayenne for extra flavor. Also, to make it a little juicier you can add a splash of milk or cream now.  This will cook for about 10-15 minutes.  


5. Coat a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with some cooking oil. 


6. To start on your sauce, melt butter in saucepan, stir in flour to make a roux, stir and cook until bubbly. 


7.  Gradually whisk chicken broth in then bring to a boil, stirring frequently.8. Remove from heat, stir in sour cream. 

 9. Now, fill your tortillas with the chicken mix and 1 ½ tbs cheese each. Roll up and place seam down in baking dish

10. Fill up the dish with your enchiladas and then pour your sauce on top. 


11. Sprinkle some more cheese over the top (I kind of ran out of cheese so there's only a little). 


12. Then  bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly.

13. Serve up and enjoy! 


This is one of the best dished I have ever made! Seriously, it was soo good. The rest of my silly family seemed to enjoy it too (: 


(zoolander face much?)






Eliza goes, "Mommy, this is deeelicous!" Haha. So how was your weekend? Mine was pretty darn good! I took a break from homework all weekend and just hung out with my family. We did some crafts, watched a lot of movies, did some christmas shopping and ate great food. I think I'm done with my christmas shopping (which took all of an hour). Now, I've just gotta hunker down and get to making the rest of my presents! I've got a lot of stuff planned and hopefully I can get it all done! My last final is thursday and I can NOT wait to have a break from school, the last couple of weeks have been brutal. Anyways, happy monday ya'll! 



**I got this recipe from here 

Girlish Garb: Winter!

Ok, so it's not quite winter here yet but it's getting there! Today is was still in the 60s and I could really have gone without a jacket. I suppose that's a good thing though right?!





Outfit details: "S" Sweater- thrifted (picked out by my lovely sis!) Romper-thrifted (will be in the store soon) Leggings- Forever 21 Boots-thriftedBelt-thrifted









I love, love, loooOOOooove this sweater. I got it in New Orleans at a great thrift store and my sister actually found it for me (: So, I believe now I'm caught up with my outfit posts. Oh! Speaking of outfits, I was featured on a web site called Beauty Riot! Check me out (I'm number 12)- Real Girls Wear: Holiday Party Looks. So that's exciting! I feel so legit ;) In other news, I've got finals coming up this week so I may be absent quite a bit. But after that, I'll have a lot more time on my hands to get down and dirty with some christmas crafting! Well, I'd love to stay and chat but I think I hear Eliza stirring. Hope you guys have a great weekend!