Sorry for the blurry photos! these were actually taken with a cellphone and you can see the tree lights all over me!

Still I wanted to share my Christmas + New Year's Eve outfits with you. They both have a story behind them. At this point I'm gonna write about the first one in both Spanish and English, because of a request my friends have made regarding my writing being "funnier" in Spanish when it comes to anecdotes.

Christmas Outfit

This dress has a very looong story behind it. First of all, it's supposed to "mimic" an old dress I had like 6 years ago when I was much thinner and younger (photo below). Second of all, you all know I loooove Taylor Swift, love the way she dresses, her songs, everything! (If you didn't know that, please follow me on Pinterest, there you can see all of my obsessions!) When I first saw her with the exquisite Kate Spade Carolyn Stripe Fit & Flare dress I fell in love! This was like 3 Decembers ago and even when I definitely couldn't afford the dress at the time (can I afford it now?), it got out of stock in all reasonable sizes SO QUICKLY! it was madness! I really really wanted to have something like that again and H&M was well, close enough.

Este vestido tiene una historia muuuuy larga detrás. Primero que nada, tiene el propósito de hacerle "mímica" a un vestido que usaba hace unos 6 años, cuando era mucho más delgada y joven (foto abajo).Segundo que nada, todos saben que aaaamooo a Taylor Swift, amo su estilo, sus canciones y toda ella! (En caso de que no lo supieran, por favor síganme en Pinterest, ahí pueden enterarse de todas mis obsesiones!) Cuando la vi por primera vez en el nada menos que exquisito vestido Kate Spade Carolyn a rayas que tiene un corte ajustado en el torso y suelto de la cintura para abajo, me enamoré! Esto sucedió hace 3 diciembres, y aún cuando en esos momentos no tenía el poder adquisitivo para comprar ese vestido (como si lo tuviera ahorita...), se acabó en todas las tiendas TAN rápido, toda la gente enloqueció por él y ya no había manera de adquirirlo en ninguna talla razonable. De verdad quería TANTO ese vestido, y pues bueno... H&M hizo algo "similar".

"New" H&M Dress (collection 2014, it actually fitted me for Christmas 2015)

I really wish it had a fuller skirt, I'm soo into full skirts! and instead of white, it had the beautiful pearl color the KS has on it, but then again... it's KS! It's perfect.

De verdad quisiera que la falda fuera más ampona, que tuviera más volumen; me encantan las faldas con mucho volumen. También quisiera que en vez de blanco, fuera un tono más perla, como el KS... pero pues KS hace cosas perfectas!

Youth, divine treasure! You have now left, never to return! Well the only thing I did hate at the time was my hair... rememer I can't stop talking about I couldn't get it longer than my shoulders? It was icky and texture was yucky, dry and very ugly overall. Read here to know how I got my hair to grow long and strong. Another "funny" anecdote is that my friends from Aguascalientes started to hum Beetle's juice theme song whenever I walked into any room... mean people, what can I say?

Juventúd divino tesoro... ya se me fue para no volver. Bueno, mi cabello sí era un desastre y no lograba que llegara más allá de mis hombros, aparte de que tenía textura horrible (pueden ver más sobre cómo hice que mi cabello creciera sano aquí). Otra anécdota "graciosa" es que mis queridísimos amigos de Aguascalientes empezaban a tararear la canción de Beetlejuice cada vez que me veían... muuuy graciosos!

Differences between the 2 dresses

Old Dress:

- Fabric wasn't the best. It was very thin and somewhat sheer as you can see in the photo with flash, black is not as black as it should be. The blend was about 60% polyester, 20% rayon and 10% spandex.

- It didn't have a lining, therefore the sheerness.

- No specific brand, I probably bought it at some Ross store.

- It had a boat neck, or similar. I really preferred that neckline. 

- Sleeve was 3/4

New Dress:

- Very sturdy. Not sheer at all. Blend is Cotton Satin (98% cotton and 2% spandex).

- Very nice lining, so it doesn't itch at all.

- I bought it at H&M in Chicago (September 2014) but it was a true miracle! Since I had my eye on it from the beginning, when it first came up on their website but couldn't find it anywhere in San Digo. Downside was it didn't fit, I was a bit chubbier at the time and I couldn't get myself to zip it up! (obviously and like always, I bought it so I have it when I'm thinner! - Women Logic)

- Short sleeve.

- Crew neck.

Diferencias entre los 2 vestidos

Vestido Viejo: 

- La tela no era la mejor, era muy delgada (60% poliester, 20% rayón y 10% spandex)

- No tenía forro (como pueden ver medio transparentoso al usar flash)

- No era de ninguna marca en específico, lo tomé de alguna tienda como Ross o algo así

- Manga 3/4

- El cuello era algo más "boat neck"

- De seguro costó como 10 dlls a lo mucho :) 

Hello everyone! 

Today I'm enjoying the few hours left of my Holiday break... tomorrow it's back to work :( but today I'm so happy because of my outfit! if you go and check my Pinterest Wardrobe Inspiration board, you'll see that -since last winter- I have an obsession with faux leather leggings outfits. The problem here is, for a very tall girl like me (5'11) there are not plenty of options out there. Normally, I buy my regular/skinny jeans at Old Navy - Tall Girl section (only sold online so it's a huge bummer you can't try anything on in-store), but I never find specific pants that are from a special fabric or something like that so it's kind of a quest each time I want one because I have to try a lot of them in-stores and most of the time just deal with an "ankle-looking" pant that was not meant to be ankle height. 

Anyway... I had one pair of faux leather leggings I got as a gift on my birthday ♥, but I still can't decide on how to wear them since they're short... not even ankle short... they're shorter, and it's winter and it's cold! I felt defeated, I felt this was going to be another winter without those special leggings and then, a miracle! Last weekend I was over T.J. Maxx and I found them!!! Yes, they fit my height and all!!! They were on the clearance rack along with this sweater I'm also wearing... they were meant for each other!

First of all, I'd like to explain why I changed the name of my blog from My Vanilla Tiara to Love Type Thing; when I first started this blog on 2008, I was a little bit obsessed with the scent of vanilla and all my parfums, body lotions, etc. had a strong hint of vanilla in them. I'm already over that obsession and I've been thinking about changing the name for a while and thought of an obsession that I've had for years and years and it will unlikely go anywhere: Tegan and Sara. 

After shuffling and shuffling through their songs, this one came up and I just knew this was it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I am now, and let's hope it lasts at least 7 years as My Vanilla Tiara did. 

This is me, resting after a loooong day!


For wrapping the gifts, I used mostly FRAMSTALLA paper from Ikea. It was hard to manipulate since it's thick, and even being thick it's a bit see-through (weird). Last year I used a huge roll I bought at Costco and it had much better quality,  it even had the guidelines for you to cut evenly. The solid colors were delicate, a bit of rubbing against the table made the color fade, so after the first gift I had to be very careful with it.

Still, I was very much pleased with the results :).

I know Christmas is still 3 months away but if Costco has already packed their aisles with all kinds of ho-ho ornaments, I can write my little wishlist to Mr. Santa Claus. So I'm thinking of starting this "Monthly wishlist" posts so I can easily remind myself of what I want to buy next :). And also, I can share it with you all! Ahhhh ♪ if I was a rich girl ♪ na na na na na ♪ 

I'll focus on 5 items I've been craving for! If anyone wants to be the lucky person that picks one as a gift to your friend here, well... who am I to try to stop you?

. 

Number 4: Samsung Galaxy Tab 4, 10.1-inch in white

Number 3: Sperry Top-Cider Women's Cedar Riding Boots (I NEED these!!!)

Number 2: Kate Spade Gold Stripe Thermal Mug

Number 1: Kate Spade New York Cedar Street Maise Satchel in Ginger Nut

If I end up with the coffee mug I'll consider myself lucky enough!!! 

What are your cravings? what do you want so so bad right now that you can't wait anymore?!!?!

xoxo

Lau

Apple Cider Vinegar and Turmeric are basically my new superheros!!! 

I've been pinning and pinning about these two guys like crazy! Reading about their benefits and basically they do wonders. I wanted to try them for a long, looong time, but since at this specific moment I'm not visiting San Diego that much, I didn't know where to find Organic kinds here in Ensenada so... I thought of this place my mom used to go when we were little to find teas and roots and stuff that's not so easy to find now-a-days, went there and voila! (The place is called "La Milpa" for those who live in Ensenada). 

They had Bragg's ACV but they have the big gallon and sell you a smaller/individual bottle of it, obviously it's more expensive than buying the whole thing in the US but it's what I had in hand. They also had organic Turmeric (Cúrcuma in Spanish for those who -like me- have to show a picture of Turmeric to the lady because don't know hth to say that in Español). 

Anyway... I'm not going to share a super long list of their benefits, I bet you can find thousands of other blogs that are waaay ahead of me on this matter (you can visit my Health and Fitness board on Pinterest to know all about them), I can only say to you: PLEASE TRY THEM! I've been feeling more energized in the mornings and sleeping like a log at night, they're amazing. 

How I take them? Well, I'll share with you my 2 basic recipes. 

The first one is my ACV Lemon Detox drink, I have a big cup of this every morning.

Ingredients:

1 big cup (around 300ml) of warm/hot water

2-3 Tbsp of ACV

2 Tbsp of raw organic honey (when I feel guilty because of the calories, I use Stevia)

1/2 lemon

A dash of cayenne pepper

You mix all things together and drink up!

Second one is Golden Milk, it's awesome and there are thousands of recipes out there, I'm sharing mine and what works for me.

Ingredients:

1 cup of milk (I use either almond milk or lactose free 2% milk)

1gr of turmeric powder (they gave me this little measured spoon when I bought it, so I'm using that and I'm thinking it's somewhere around 1/2 and 2/3 of a teaspoon)

1 gr of ginger powder 

2 Tbsp of raw organic honey

A dash of black pepper

I mix all the ingredients in a small saucepan and bring them to "almost-boil", when it looks like the milk is foaming up but it's still under control, I do this because I noticed that just heating it gave me a very bitter Turmeric, while boiling it  made the taste much enjoyable. 

I hope you try them and enjoy them as much as I do!

xoxo

Laura

Hello there! I want to share with you my latest "golden" DIY. Lately I've been crazy about finding beautiful decorative pillows with gold accents, even when I've found very pretty ones in Marshalls and Ross, I still have not enough of them and definitely don't have the cash to buy some of the prettiest ones (like sequined ones, even a small one is around $20 USD).

So, I had a pillow, lying around the house, and I decided it was time to revamp it. I think I got this from mexican Walmart a couple of years ago, I remember I paid around $50 pesos for it (like $3 USD), it has poor quality but at the time, as a newly wed, I needed stuff to "fill up empty spaces". What I did is very simple and quite easy, I loved this project because of that and because it was very cheap! 

BTW, sorry for the poor quality photos, I still don't have a professional camera, this is all using my cellphone and sometimes I get it right and sometimes the light is wrong, the sequins are very hard to photograph, they come up blurry, etc etc etc...

Ok, so... this was my ugly pillow:

What I did is I bought Stretch Gold Sequin Trim from a local store here in Ensenada where you can buy by meter (I bought 1.5 meters and it was more than enough), price was around $2 USD per meter. I found this link in Amazon with what looks like the one I used, pretty much the same one.

First I thought of covering entirely one side of the pillow, but then I figured I wanted stripes, so I played around a litle bit:

I used a hot glue gun, figured out where I wanted my stripes (didn't measure it so they didn't come up perfectly aligned), and I glued away...

This is the final result: