Make-up Mondays: A Frankie Stein Monster High Make-up Tutorial With a Special SPECIAL Guest!

HI ALL!

My daughter loves make-up. She's loved it since she was about 3 years old when she asked Santa Claus for a make-up kit. I think every Christmas after she got make-up.



Every time we go to the BX we have to go to the make-up counters and check out the bright colors. In fact, she picked out my first bright lip color when we were at a make-up counter in Germany, A Fuschia color by Maybelline and I love it!!!






So my daughter recently got into Monster High and thus she watches videos on youtube about Monster High and ran into a tutorial about a little girl about 6 doing her own makeup. Since then she's been OBSESSED with this girl. One day we were watching her family vlog together and she asked if she can have her own youtube channel. She loves fashion make-up dolls, and all things girly, but she also loves ultimate frisbee and Marvel comics already knows more than me (not saying much LOL).

I thought, why not? I believe in feeding interests of my kids. I want them to be happy with themselves and know they can do ANYTHING if they have the resources and it's positive. So why not?

We bought her costumes last month (August) and she's been itching to wear her Frankie Stein costume since it arrived within a WEEK of ordering!

We purchased her costume from www.buycostumes.com
http://www.buycostumes.com/p/801226/monster-high-frankie-stein-child-costume
We also purchased the wig and make-up there too. The wig is probably a wear once deal. Make sure you buy a wig cap and keep the wig on with bobby pins!

Hope you enjoyed!

Random Thoughts

HELLO EVERYONE!

I cut my finger pretty bad last night. I was chopping green peppers for stir fry and SLICE. It hurt more than normal and bled a lot more than normal. I put the chunk of fingernail back on and the husband bought me some band aids--he was out when it happened. He brought home about 12 different bandages. He's such a sweetheart. My kids kept their distance as they get woozy pretty quick. They usually place a band aid and neosporin on a cut for me but this was too ugly for them lol. They are too funny to me. So I am typing with my middle finger instead my index finger lol. I type with two hands so it's no big deal.

Didn't take a pic, but here's a pic of my cute little man :)


I am addicted to soundcloud. I found so much great indie music there and mainstream music i never heard. I discovered Kendrick Lamar there. I've read several status updates with people talking about him, but I never heard his music before. I am happy to have discovered him. Looking forward to buying his album now. I also discovered The Stuyvesants, Akira Shelton and a few others. Actually the last two I discovered watching natural hair videos on youtube with their music played in the background. So I did my own research which lead me to soundcloud and now I am addicted to the site. And I am definitely supporting these artists on iTunes. Check them out. Here's a great song from Akira Shelton feat Jasmine Jones:


I love love lovvvve make up lol. I don't wear it all at once but in the last few months i've learned a lot and gotten better. Thanks to youtube. I follow so many beauty gurus there it's crazy. Look out for make-up posts here soon. Not tutorials, but stuff I am loving. Was thinking about having make-up mondays.

I am homesick for Europe. Not just Germany but Europe. But I LOVE it here in Japan so far.

If you don't follow me on youtube,  instagram or facebook I froed out my hair last week. Just for a day and I loved it. I gotta find a heatless way to do it. http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_L-mfPV_hYyZ6j1-wHMNaQ

I GOT MY IPAD BACK. I haven't really used it since I got it back, but I am looking forward to using it for editing vlogs etc.

Berlin with the Family

Our first trip of 2013 is to one of my favorite cities, Berlin. While in my little Military dorm room 8.5 years ago, Berlin was one of THE cities in Europe I had to go to. Not just because it's in my host country, but it just seemed so busy, full of culture, young, alive. Everything I wanted from the city I'd choose as my residence. I did visit Berlin in 2011 with just me and the little ones, and we definitely saw the rich history and the quaintness as well as its eclectic characters whom loves my little characters. This city has so much to offer. Museums, Aquariums, Playgrounds everywhere, indoor parks and of course one of the most famous zoos in the world for children and children at heart, to art (on one of our walks we saw at least 3 art galleries full of people) fashion (we happened to be there for Berlin's Fashion Week), environmental conscious, full of universities and research facilities, not to mention an alive nightlife, delicious food, all while not putting a big hurt on your wallet.

 As I went with the kids some of the adult-things I didn't do. This is a great city for a romantic/fun weekend for sure! We  stayed next to Checkpoint Charlie for 3 cold, sunny, fast-paced days. We ate very well, and did a lot of exploring. With families I highly recommend tour buses, especially during the cold months. Most public transports are stroller friendly. In the year and half since we last visited, I noticed more elevators on the ubahns! Not to mention, from our personal experience, we noticed most people were family friendly as well as the establishments we went to. Berlin is definitely pro family!

Ok on to photo and video-palooza

We went to about 5 restaurants, but the video shows two of our favorites and our Starbucks breakfast with the best cheese cake! The first restaurant we went to on the first night is called Glashaus Restaurant in Kreuzberg Berlin. It was soooooooo good. I got sauteed shrimp with tomatoes and lettuce. Normally whenever I order shrimp, for some reason it tastes off. But this shrimp tasted fresh and DELICIOUS. My husband got a Epigram which was a trio of meat. Liver, Pork schnitzel and steak, my daughter got a Berlin Currywurst, my son got steak with potato croquettes and green beans. The service was amazing and it's forever in my kiddos memories. They talk about it everyday!

Photobomb!

We also went to a Chinese Restaurant in Charlottenburg. In Berlin Chinese restaurants have buffet specials after 6 (from what I saw the last 2 times I was there). On our previous visit, me and my three went to a great restaurant with a nice buffet and great service. We were going to go there, but went to another as it was so cold and we didn't want to walk too far. Turns out we made a great choice. Kids loved it so much and again friendly service and a great view.
Here's a video of the fun

Eating In Berlin from Sommer Jones on Vimeo.

Some Pictures:



This picture was taken across the street from our apartment. Which is close to many famous landmarks and the subway station (ubahn). At a great rate we stayed comfortably at a wonderful location. Checkout the website if you're planning a trip http://www.go-apartments.com/




The famous Aquadom


Inside the Aquadom. First you go to the Sea Life Aquarium then to the Aquadom in the building across. Inside the Aquadom, the guide speak about facts about the Aquadom all in German, though. But it's pretty cool to be "inside" amongst the fish.



Berlin Wall Memorial--Also apart of the city guide hop on and off bus!  Which is good for 48 hours like London's.








Inside this tower is a revolving restaurant! Someday!




 Check out my Flickr page, easily accessible from my sidebar for more pictures!!!!

Dunkin Donuts! How can I forget!!! They are all over Berlin!

Oh and we also ate at a Mediterranean restaurant across the street from our apartment Called Mediterranean Kuche!




We LOVE Berlin and it gets better with each visit!!! So go as many times as you can!

Also Grumpy kid on a bus:-)

The Curly Girls and Guys! Part 1

I cut my hair last October in order to wear my natural curls. Some of you are thinking, "Sommer, why would you cut your hair off to do that?" Well, some women are able to transition (grow their hair out with relaxed ends which they cut off after their natural hair grew to the length they wanted) for however long they wanted, but me, I was quite terrible with hair...and well, lazy, so I just cut my hair off.  My hair was super short almost bald. My hair has grown nicely over 9 months with a lot of trial and error hair care. But along the way I learned A LOT and I am still learning. I think my children's hair, especially my daughter's, has benefited from my research. In fact, we are embarking on The Curly Girl Method. I found out about this via youtube from a Vlogger named MahoganyCurls. I am trying hard not to play constantly in my hair and just let it go and I think this will be very beneficial for me since I suck at most of the natural hairstyles. Maybe when my curls grow I can try some new styles, but for now, I just condition wash, do hot oil treatments, seal (use a leave-in conditioner and then seal with an oil) and recently, fell in love with eco-styler gel to define my curls. I also use sulfate-free shampoo after I get home from the pool....I usually do an hot oil treatment first, then shampoo, and deep condition.


My dry hair pulled back with an ouchless band by Goody. Yesterday I did an hot oil treatment, washed it with a sulfate free shampoo, deep conditioned leaving the cap on overnight, I then rinsed added a leave-in and and defined my curls using Eco-Styler Clear gel. It's grown in 9 months, but looks super short because my curls, like most kinky curls, are prone to massive shrinkage....which is neat and frustrating at times.





My husband got this shot of me outside my daughter's room monitoring her as she cleaned lol. Oily forehead is coconut oil I added some to my hair when I was making the grocery list lol.





OK back to the Curly Girl Method. The method is shampoo-free, flat-iron, most heat (except for occasional  use of diffuser (to prevent frizz and damage) to dry when in a hurry. Here is a complete overview of this method I found to be helpful without purchasing the book- yet. This method is great for all curly/wavy hair types. Will show this as I am incorporating this method with my family of curlies. My husband has straight/wavy hair, but it gets very dry so I think this will help him immensely.


Today I gave this a try with my whole family. Check out the photos below. If you have any questions, or suggestions, please feel free to comment below or on FB/twitter and I will be more than happy to answer or thank your for for your help!


Here we go!


I started by washing my daughter's (as well as my sons and husband's) hair with a sulfate-free shampoo as we went swimming the previous day and I wanted all the gunk out. From now on, will use conditioner only.



Found this (the last one) on sale at the PX! Was so happy



Next I conditioned and also detangled starting at the ends on up. I used Organix conditioner with argon oil. I love that conditioner because her tangles literally melted away. I am always ok with that. And it's silicone free.






De-tangling



My son's





Next I rinsed and added some leave-in conditioner to all their hair.



My son combing it through lol



Then my daughter shaking her hair to help air-dry. You can also scrunch which we did. A microfiber towel or t-shirt is recommended, but a regular ol towel is OK for now.




To their semi-wet curls, I added regular clear eco-styler gel. Just a small amount is good!



My eldest



My husband's






My daughter's hair semi-dry



Her hair fully dry!
Less frizzy for sure. I can't wait to see all their hair change over-time!



Will update with day 2 or 3 hair if it makes it to then!!!


Thank your for reading!!! Anyone else doing this? Any product recommendations? I loved seeing the before and afters on NaturallyCurly.com! Check them out here