I'm back!

I'm back I'm back I'm back! I shipped my computer in to get fixed about a week ago and picked it up today. So this girl is back in business! Keep an eye out for a bunch of posts (and a bunch of christmas stuff). For now, I wanted to share this really awesome Ted Talk with you. It's my new latest obsession- hydroponic apartment gardens! After we picked up my computer, we went to a hydroponic store to gather supplies for our first hydroponic garden!!!! I plan on growing herbs and strawberries and jalapenos and lettuce and all kinds of good stuff. Anyways, watch the video! It's goood

2011

A little re-cap from last year (a little late but whatev). I don't know why I didn't think of this before. Since I don't have my computer, I can't put up new pictures but I can put up old ones! So I went through my Flickr and picked out my favorites from 2011. I have to say that our year was pretty freakin' awesome. Sooo here we goo! 
In 2011 we..... 

...got engaged! 

We also moved out of my dad's house and into our own apartment! 

When we moved out, I turned my old room at my dad's (thanks dad!) into a studioooo! Which is amazing and I love it. 

My brother and sister (twins!) graduated from high school and started college! Woot, woot! 

Ms. Eliza Jane turned two! 

And started school! (aka Mother's Day Out) 

Business is booming! I had 150 orders last year (not spectacular but hey, it's a start).... 

I also went to Big Cartel which didn't work out so I moved back to Etsy, created two stores and started selling jewelry and home decor! 
One of my most favorite parts about 2011 was getting to decorate our place! 

(halloween)

(christmas)




And of course, getting to experiment with food and make some de-li-cous meals! 

White chicken enchiladas 

Cordon Bleu Pizza 

Chicken & Olive Pasta Casserole 

Sweet Onion Alfredo Pizza 
But my favorite was getting to go out on our own and become our own little family. 

















Brandon made lead role in his first college play! He also got promoted, I'm so proud of him (: 




I don't have christmas pictures yet, but I promise when I get my computer fixed they will be the first to go up! I sent it off today (nervewrecking!) and hopefully it comes back ok. 
Anyways, this year was pretty big for us. We've had lots of struggles but held tight and made the best of things! I'm so proud of my little family and how far we've come in just one year. I love my life and can not wait to see what this year is going to bring us. 
xo, Sam 

I need your thoughts!

I'm forced to use Brandon's mac while mine is.... indisposed. I was going to take some pictures with Eliza but couldn't figure out how. And then I found this picture! This was our first family picture taken with Brandon's computer. Look how plump and bald Eliza is! Cute..... 

Anyways, back to business! So I need you guy's opinions. Since I have nothing better to do, I've been thinking a lot about my store and I want to "re-organize" it... or them. Right now I have all handmade goods in one and vintage in the other. But since I have vintage clothes/jewelry and handmade clothes/jewelry I feel that it might be a little confusing and complicated to seperate the two. So I'm thinking of changing things up a bit but I don't know what to put where. This is where you guys come in! 

I have two stores. I would like to keep two but if you think one would be better, feel free to let me know! 

These are the products I have: 

Vintage clothes 

Handmade (upcycled) clothes 

Vintage Jewelry 

Handmade Jewelry

Purses & Shoes & Other Accessories

Home Decor

Should I put all the clothes, accessories, and jewelry in one store and then just have the other store for home decor? 

Or should I just do clothes in one and everything else in the other? 

Or just one shop? 

What do you guys think would be the least confusing??? I would really love your opinion! Like A LOT. I'm so stuck and can't figure out what to do, so please please please help me out (: 

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?