Summer, Summer, Summer time....(Per Will Smith)!!

Good Afternoon Loves:

The later part of this week has been HECTIC.  Usually, if one part of my life is a little hectic, like work, my home life will be pretty uneventful or vice versa.  Well.....the stars all aligned this week and all heck broke loose on both fronts.  LOL!  It may be coming to a close but as the weather heats up and school lets out for the summer, my hectic life just gets started.  I must admit, I do love the summer, just not all of the running that comes along with it.  How does the summertime fun affect your schedule?  

I'm Addicted

Shame on me for not listening and thinking I could avoid temptation but I have to admit I'm addicted. They say admitting it is the first step to recovery but do I really want to recover? Do I really want to kick the habit? What will I do know if I stopped? 
Well I can admit that I'm not ready to quit, I just can't give up Candy Crush...are you addicted?

 

Wednesday OOTD

Shirt; Michael Kors. Skirt; Forever 21. Shoes; Steve Madden

My Wordless Wednesday Photo Dump (closet inspired)

 

Greetings and Welcome

Welcome to our blog Ruby Rules! Thank you for visiting our spot in the cyber world.

I'm Sonya, a plain Jane flirting with becoming a fashionista, a Jack Jill of all trades (but Master of none), I have a "can-do" attitude and believe almost everything is possible. Because I know family is an important element to who I am, I share this blog with my Cousin Kayla. She is my favorite cousin and truly a part of me. Let's just say she is the one that knows my secrets, knows where the bones are buried, knows how to lift me up and knows when to let me be. Kayla definitely keeps me trying to become a fashionista :-) Ruby, our maternal Grandmother is the topic of many of our conversations so we decided to give honor to her with our blog title (not to mention, she totally Rules!!!! I think my Grandmother considered challenges as adventures and never met something she couldn't master. She could dress, sew, cook, garden, to name a few...you name it, I believe she did it and did it well.

This is my fourth blog, I don't really post much (really not at all) in the others but I will work to post weekly in the other three, www.exclusiveaffairs.blogspot.com, www.sonyaantoinette.com, www.exclusiveamour.com. I will most likely share the links here when I post on the other sites.

I'm excited this is a milestone year for me, I'm 40+ days from my Fabulous at 40 birthday. I have created my 40 before 40 list that I will share later. My birthday is July 1.

Make yourself comfortable, grab a drink, put up your feet, relax. Hopefully you will find our posts informative, useful, practical, uplifting, motivational, funny :) and touching. So fasten your seatbelt and enjoy the ride.

It's Time to Unwind and Organized

Good evening,

I've been debating on how to unwind, untangle, untwist and organize my jewelry. I see so many ideas but none seems to "do" the job. I have to admit none can do the "job" because I haven't tried any, lol. I have added a picture of my jewelry wall but I'm moving into a different room and I refuse to take down this wall again. This will be my fourth time and it is soooooooo time consuming trying to organized it exactly how I want it.

Here are some inspirations pics that I'm surely to try. I would like to thank Missy http://lookiewhatidid.blogspot.com/2012/01/closet-organizer-for-her.html for inspiring me and also helping me figure out how to do something similar. Please be sure to check out her blog.

Holiday Nothingness....

Good Afternoon Darlings:

Well, you may have noticed that I did NO posting over this long Memorial Day weekend.  I shopped, ate seafood, and slept incessantly over those three days and I don't regret one second of it.  Isn't it funny how no matter how many days that you have off for holidays or vacations, they never seem long enough.  I guess we should just be grateful that we are afforded regularly intervaled holidays throughout the year because it seems as soon  as you can't take another day at the office, voila, a holiday is approaching.  That's always a good thing.  How was your holiday and what did you get into that was fun?   

Do You Own "It"?

I didn't. I know yesterday I mentioned wearing my new boyfriend blazer I received but I did not wear it. I know you're wondering why...well that brings me to my title Do You Own It? Well if I wore my blazer today, I would not have owned it. I tried the blazer on with different jeans and tops but none gave me the look I wanted to achieve, none made me confident, and finally none made me feel like I was “owning" it. I decided instead of wearing it for the sake of wearing it, I need to make sure I own it.  I am going to use my inspiration pictures and do some shopping this weekend. I will post pictures when I'm owning it.

Overnight or Ground, USPS or Brown (UPS)

I LOVE PACKAGES!!!

Don't you just love coming home to a package? Today I came home to an unexpected package. I finally ordered a boyfriend blazer, it only took me about a year and being convinced by Kayla to order it. Well it arrived today, woohoo, along with my blue hi-lo skirt and white top. I'm excited about my purchases and will work at putting together a cute outfit for tomorrow. Be gentle with your opinions because remember I'm a plain Jane transitioning to Fashionista. I've attached some of my inspirational pictures below. Enjoy.

Welcome to Summer....

Happy Thursday Dolls-

With weather in the DC Metro area being wet and muggy the past few weeks, my hair is in a state of perpetual FLUFF.  I have read every article there is to read on maintaining your style in humid weather.  I have used everythng from extra moisture, to holding gels for twist-outs, to butters, to heavy creams and everything in between.  Last night I decided to just do the smartest thing.....give up.  When I say give up, I simply mean giving up and giving in to what my natural hair wants to 'naturally' do.  When the dew point rises, natural curly tresses are "programmed" to want to take in the moisture in the atmosphere.  Of course, we can slather on all types of products to try and avert our hairs attention from that process but more often than not, by days end, it will all be in vain.  My hair is HIGHLY porous, meaning it sucks up any water nearby.  So on a day like yesterday when the dew point reached almost 70%, my super-defined twist out was a fluffy, shrunken, cotton ball.  I realized then and there that I would not attemt to manipulate my curls into anything other than what they are.  No more manufactured curls.  I will cleanse, mosturize, seal all that goodness into my strands, and go.  I know that protective styling is all the rage with naturals but I am just not that big of a fan.  Yes, I know that it protects your hair against the elements and yes, I also know that it helps protect your ends which ultimately helps with length retention but honestly, I love my hair big.  I've never worn twists for more than a day before they became a twist-out.  I will TRY to wear a few more protective styles during this summer, especially when the heat becomes unbearable but overall I think I'll stick to the motto....if it ain't broke, don't fix it. 

MAC....I knocked off your lipsticks!!

Good Evening Cuties-

I, like many, despite my best efforts, have become increasingly concerned about aging.  Unfortunatley, I don't think that I will be one of those folks that ages gracefully.  I have a feeling that I will be in my dermatologists office BEGGING for the latest age-defying invention.  But until that time, I have decided to invest in my make-up collection and fool folks the old-fashioned way :-).  Building a make-up collection can be expensive.  Like clothes, it is always important to invest in some of your standard items; brushes, bases, primers, etc. however, a good way to save overall and be able to try several brands, is to purchase "knock-off" versions of some of your favorites and that is exactly what I did.  While perousing Pinterest (One of my all-time favorite activities to do), I ran across a very interesting picture....

I must admit, I do love MAC lipsticks and stains but I am equally a lover of drugstore brands, particularly Revlon so this piqued my interest.  I decided to locate as many of these colors as I could and do a little test of my own.  As I don't have the MAC brands to compare them to it's not a full out comparison but I can do a simple test and see how I feel about each color on my lips.  So begins the test....

  As I applied each color what immediately struck me was the feel of each on my lips.  I tested the three Revlon brands first and noticed that although Matte, there was a bit of a shine to each that made them not quite as harsh.  The three Revlon neutrals, "Pink Pout", "Stormy Pink", and "Smoked Peach" were each different yet similar and all held their own as far as pigmentation is concerned.  The Covergirl color "Spellbound" had a semi-glossy finish and was super pigmented.  When I attempted to remove it with first tissue, and later vaseline, I still had a stain on my lips that gave the appearance that I had been drinking cherry Kool-aid :-).  I am not a fan of long-lasting lipsticks so for me, this didn't work.  The Rimmel "Nude Delight" was a pretty nude but not as Matte as I like.  This one would definitely require concealer on the lips for the way that I like to wear my nudes.  Overall, for the price, it would be good for a beachy look with a nude gloss on top.

This little experiment bods well for my lipstick collection.  Considering I paid less than $20.00 for 5 shades of lipstick, 3 of which will join my Summer 2013 collection (The remaining two will be shipped to Sonya's house for review...hehehehe).   I think my next test will include some NYX eyeshadow bases versus MAC Paint Pots.  Can't wait for that...that means I can test out my vibrant eyeshadow looks.  Stay Tuned......   

40 until 40

Yesterday turned out to be a great day, nothing spectacular but great overall. Today was equally uneventful but great none the less. It's great because I woke up, I have family and friends, I get to love and be loved.

Okay, now about my title. I am 40 days away from my 40 birthday. I am sharing my 40 Things To Do Before 40 list. (The ones I've completed is in BOLD and the ones in currently working on are italicizes)

1 treat a stranger
2  focus on my true friends
3  ride a motorcyle / bike
4  get a Brazillian
5  go to the opera
6  learn to do my make up  
7  buy some statement pieces for my waredobe
8  take the train
9  plant a tree
10  take a cooking class
11  Do P.R.
12  create new blog  
13  video blog / youtube 
14  take a spin class
15  dive off the diving board
16  test drive a luxury car
17  do an alter ego photo shoot
18  go to Morton's
19  send someone flowers
20  send myself flowers
21  learn to sew
22  get a tandem massage
23  play 18 holes of golf
24  fly a kite
25  cook breakfast at RMH
26  take sandwiches to CC
27  try a new food
28  read at church
29  try yoga
30  write a story to RJ
31  sleep under the stars
32  be in two places at one time and take the picture :)
33  finish a scrapbook
34  meet someone famous
35  ride a Mechanical bull
36  go to Niagara Falls  
37  organize my desk
38  create my closet
39  tell how I feel
40  get Louis Vuitton Speedy 40 purse as a birthday gift    

Feel free to share your recommendations and how I can complete each one or feel free to join me, the more the merrier.

Allow Me to Re-Introduce Myself........(In my HOV voice)

Good Morning and Happy Tuesday Cuties!!

 

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.  If you are here reading this then you already know that my cousin, Sonya and I have joined the blogosphere.  I am soooo excited to be able to share some of my more interesting ideas as well as some of what I consider the mundane experiences that happen in day to day life.  Whatever the occasion or idea, putting it on paper or in picture and soliciting the feedback of this wonderful community is sure to make it that much more fun don't you think?  Well, I must admit that I thought long and hard about what my first post would be.  I went back and forth trying to figure out what people would most want to know.  Finally, I decided to just say whatever came to my mind.  That's the best way to build an honest blog and to get as much out of it as you put into it.  I really look forward to reading your comments and can't wait until we start the contests and giveaways.

 

The idea for this blog came about rather unexpectantly.  Sonya and I talk often, mostly sharing beauty or fashion tips or just trying to come up with challenges that we can do together so that we are more successful in completing them (what immediately comes to mind is our raw diet challenge or one of our many cleanses).  After we came up with the blog idea, Sonya immediately went to work crafting our name, look, and content.  Those of you that know Sonya know that she is a creative being that has several creative ventures that she already participates in, so I left much of the heavy lifting to her :).  We decided to name the blog RubyRules in honor of our Grandmother, the late Ruby Mae Holley Riley.  She taught us everything that we know and we wanted to pay homage to her kind, creative spirit, as well as her many sayings that in one way or another, rule the way that we live our lives.  I hope that this blog brings many laughs, some tears, a whole lot of fun and sharing of ideas.  But most of all, I hope that it stays true to it's original intent and that is to bring our Grandmothers core beliefs to life.  I would want her to be proud of the content in this blog and to notice the profound impact that she has had on our lives and know that she continues to live through us.........    

Join Us May 21

For our welcome, introduction, challenge and first contest.