Hello LOVES,

Are you loving Bella Lime's new design?!! It is gorgeous, right? The lovely Brittany Douglas is to thank for the beautified Bella Lime site!!

How perfect is it that today is my BIRTHDAY and I get to kick off Birthday Week by launching the new  Bella Lime!!

There are going to be exciting things coming your way Loves,  a giveaway, some lovely posts and quite possibly the Bella Lime Shoppe (finally). Thats right the long wait will be over.

I can't believe I am saying this but I am thrilled to be starting my 37th year.. If you are turning 37 is it your 37th year or 38th?? I am going with 37.

How is this Birthday Girl gonna spend her magical day? I am so glad you asked.

The day will begin with:

Hatha Yoga at Epic Yoga Studio  and a Coffee date with one of my Besties


A little trip to Sephora to pick up my Beauty Insider Birthday Gift.

This little treat every birthday is truly a highlight for me during birthday week. If you are not a  Beauty Insider card holder.. you really should become one                          

Lunch with my Loves

Oh to have an outside party like this! Pic. from 100 layer cake let

and then off to                                wait for it...........

THE PNE! WOO HOO!!!

 rides, mini doughnuts, as seen on tv, PNE Prize Home, more mini doughnuts, perogies, games

mmmmm mini Doughnuts

Happy Thursday Loves!!

XOXO
A

Tell Me What You Want, What You Really Really WANT?!

Hello Loves,

If you had all the money in the world, what would you want to do with your life?

Were you able to answer that question right away? Do you have a dream/goal that you are bursting at the seams to make happen?

Or are you like me, and when my super awesome friend Kelly of "Write Run Mum" asked me this at lunch the other day, I pretty much verbally exploded with 10 different answers:

• I want to travel with the family and experience all the different lifestyles around this great planet of ours and document it. 
• I want to wake up with a view of the ocean (it really doesn't matter which one)
• I want to make something of "Bella Lime Blog" and "Bella Lime's Etsy Shoppe"
• I want to start a ladies shopping swap and donate the admission fee to help others in need 
• I want to join a philanthropist group who help women make their dreams come true
• I want to open up a brick and mortar Bella Lime Shoppe in a beautiful heritage building (yes, it has to be a heritage building)
• I want to design 1940/1950 style garments for women and girls (the most flattering eras in my opinion)
• I want to design a line of cards (I really do have a good idea)
• I think I want to be an event planner's assistant (yup, I would pay someone to let me help set up the decor for stunning events)

You get my drift. My answer went on and on, at one point Kelly said:

"You can do all of those things but try and focus on just one of these dreams and make it succeed." 

 The Fabulous K that made me focus and realize what I really want!

She is right! I am all over the map right now and am excited to succeed in so many things. But sometimes I overthink, get overwhelmed by all of my ideas, and then nothing happens. So I am going to dial it back and put all my effort into Bella Lime the Blog and Bella Lime the Shoppe right now.

 The great thing about this is, "I want to design 1940/1950 style garments and create a line of Cards" falls under this dream as well! WOO HOO! I love that I can focus on even more of my dreams.

In order to make these things happen, here is what I need to get done:

• Start sharing on social media about Bella Lime Shoppe
• Photograph and write blurbs for all items that are going to be listed in the Shoppe (this seems so daunting to me the perfectionist)
• Sew fabulous garments to sell in the Shoppe
• Set up a consistent look between the Blog, FB and Etsy
• Blog about my creations (can you believe I still haven't done that?)
• Get involved in Community events (this is where I could fit in my charity idea)

I believe that is a pretty good list to start with.

Thing is, I don't have all the money in the world, not even close. But that question that Kelly asked, made me think and ask myself:  'What DO I want to do with this life of mine?'

The best part is I will not need all the money in the world to make it happen but I may need a little. ..

Thankfully there are companies that want to give you a little or a lot in order to help you succeed with your dreams.

Kabbage IS one of those Companies!!

Kabbage  believes in the power of small business, making a difference, building 
a better solution and striving for excellence. They work hard to empower hundreds of thousands of businesses with the funds they need to grow!! 

Here is a little info about Kabbage from one of it's employees'

Kabbage provides working capital to online sellers to help their businesses grow, in the form of a cash advance. We currently support sellers on eBay, Amazon, Yahoo, Shopify, and Etsy. You can sign up and create an account (It's free) and have cash in your Paypal account in less than 10 minutes, or you business checking account (via ACH) in 3-5 business days. 

Kabbage cash can be used for whatever you want/need to grow your business. We have seen people use it for purchasing inventory, advertising, hiring help, upgrading their equipment, and even using it to take a business class or attend a show. 

From what I have found Kabbage takes a look at your sales, treatment of customers, social media activity and shipping inventory to determine if they will lend and how much they will lend to a customer. It is not all about your credit score, thankfully! I will definitely be approaching Kabbage once Bella Lime Shoppe is up and running. You can learn more about applying for a SMALL Business Loan and this wonderful company by visiting Kabbage Your Small Business Loan Lender.

There are many finicial resources out there for entreprenuers to use. I will try and share others with you as I "FOCUS" on creating my Bella lime EMPIRE :)

WHAT DO YOU REALLY REALLY WANT?! dance PARTY Break!!

Happy Hump Day Loves! Be sure to visit Bella Lime tomorrow.....

XOXO
A

BED HEAD: Cure it or Own it?

Morning loves!

I have a confession to make now that I am a mom with 2 'lil babes- I have been finding it hard to take care of me.  I mean, I am suffering from seriously crazy bed head, make-up from the night before, and (I hate to admit it!), but my teeth may or may not be brushed. It is not pretty folks...

I don't know about you, but if I have a shower before bed, I have to make sure my hair is thoroughly dry- which is a pain! If not, I suffer the consequences of SEVERE bedhead, and I am not talking about the 'cute beachy look' of pretty misguided waves of hair.

Imagine more like: I've just stuck my finger in a socket!

So I texted my fabulous stylist Yuko and asked her "what is the best way for me to wake up with stylish no fuss hair...?"

I'm good with all the basics:

• Wash hair
• Towel dry so that is is a little bit damp 
• Place in braids/or buns
• Sleep
• Wake up and take down hair 
• Hair cascades down ...like Potia de Rossi's in Ally Mcbeal (did I just date myself?)

but after talking to Yuko, I realized I was missing a very important step.

Once you towel dry, add a curl enhancing cream.  I had no idea about this,
(If you have fine hair, this cream might be a little too heavy for you.)

VOILA!!! Beachy no-fuss waves...

Beat the Bed Head: Step 2

Make sure to visit Listotic.com for more TIPS

Gonna try this one!

Beat the Bed Head: Step 3

Own the bed head... throw you hair into a pony and then wrap a pretty scarf around your head.

These Beautiful Scarfs are created by Leah Reena Goren

Or throw hair in a high pony, tease hair, wrap it around itself into a bun, and secure it with bobby pins. Finish by spraying with a strong hold hair spray.

Here is an awesome video tutorial by the lovely Anna from the Blog Tulip Louise

Tulip Louise Tutorial from Jade Howard on Vimeo.



I want to thank the awesome people from Casper who inspired this post when they asked me

 "How would you work your bed head?" 

I thought this is exactly what I need to research to make my daily routine run a little smoother.

 "Casper" is  the company that has Re-imagined The Mattress... I am being serious here folks.

Here are a few facts about Casper, but you really must check out their website for the full awesomeness of these mattresses!! CASPER WEBSITE

Casper Mattresses are vacuum packed for delivery, and inflate over 2 to 3 hours after being unpacked

• Made by hand in the USA
• Simplified supply chain, so you pay 1/3 of what you’d pay in stores
• Premium Latex foam for cooling & bounce and Memory foam for supportive comfort
• Woven side border imported from Belgium
• Memory and base foam pouring, assembly, and final packaging at our eco-friendly plant near Atlanta Georgia
• Resilient enough to compress-ship and fit through any door (open the box and release your Casper).
• Free national UPS delivery to your door in 1-5 days
• Free same-day NYC delivery within a 90 minute window of your choosing
• 100 day trial period with simple and free return process including pickup from Casper

Pricing is simple: A Twin is $500, Full is $750, Queen is $850 and a King is $950.

I am excited for when Casper will be shipping up to their pretty Northern Sister!!

I hope you find these tips for combatting or embracing your Bed head useful!

XOXO
Aubrey

Stairway to ... the Deck

Hi Loves

It is finally happening!!!  Mr M went and bought wood for the back deck stair's handrails!
You have no idea how excited I am. You see we have this awesome back deck with the BEST stairs down to the back yard.

You know the stairs that you want to sit the whole ENTIRE family on and have photos taken!
The stair are WIDE and the perfect incline for people spacing in photos BUT there are NO railings!!
 I don't know why the peeps before us never put them in, because they had 2 young kids too and believe me it is scary having kids and no hand rails. Play-dates in the summer were nightmares  but not anymore.....

What a beautiful sight....

Now that the handrails are going up, I can finally really focus on making the deck our perfect outdoor living space. The first thing we will be doing is  painting the deck. I wanted to paint it grey but because we are on a bit of a time schedule we opted to keep it the same colour therefore only having to do touch ups.

There is also the layout of the deck I would like to work on.. we will be needing  areas for the BBQ, sitting with Friends, family dining and a little section for lil J and Miss E to hangout

The biggest (most expensive) project I would like to tackle is the recovering of our outdoor furniture... the fabric on at least half of the cushions is starting to rip from being out in the elements all year.  We are still saving moola up for this project, so I am thinking we may get to enjoy the finished project in September..

But for now we will have a newly painted deck with handrails along the stairs and at night we will get to sit under these twinkling lights...

I am so  very impressed with Mr M's productivity on this set of holiday's.
I have to say it is really rewarding to finally have saved some extra moola to put into things -like handrails and paint...

 I will discuss our get out of debt another day but today I am so happy !!! Looking forward to sharing the finished deck with you darlings.