Ever since I started watching HGTV more and more as I grew older and had the babies, I became obsessed with interior design. Watching shows like Fixer Upper and Property Brothers, inspired me to want to decorate my home the way you see the beautiful houses in the shows. Of course with two kids and a tight budget, it is always so hard trying to make your home look like something that could be in a magazine or famous blog. I always stick to Pinterest and YouTube videos on how to decorate on a budget or make my own home decor, and somehow I have managed to make my little home look cute in it's own way! With that being said, having a cute house is the easy part even if your decorations are subtle, but cleaning? Not so much! Trying to keep the house clean with an almost 4 year old and 1 year old running around like crazy as they play with their toys while you get started on dinner, is sometimes almost impossible! The other day, I managed to get some deep cleaning done while Penny took a nap and Ben watched a movie. I normally kick back and relax during this time but I told myself, no way Jose you are cleaning NOW. The night before the next day, I always pick up the living room. I usually pick up the living room throughout the day since Ben always messes with my cushions and I like the living room to look nice and tidy, but at the end of the day, the living room always looks a mess so I always TRY my hardest to pick up so that the next day I can wake up to a nice and clean space. The Dining RoomWhile the kids are watching morning cartoons after breakfast, I quickly pick up the table and wash the dishes and clean the stove. I keep a pack of wipes nearby so that I can easily clean Penelope's high chair. Baby wipes are a blessing! Afterwards, I always make sure to wash dishes as soon as possible after every meal because if I don't do this, the dishes just pile up and washing a huge mountain of dishes at the end of the day is worse than taking 5 minutes out of my day to wash 3 or 4 dirty plates, cups and skillet. A lot of the decor you see in the kitchen such as the Utensils jar, sign above the stove, fruit bowl, cookie jar and bottle drying rack are from Target. Other little things like the owl tea set on the stove, were gifted a long time ago that I managed to keep all these long years! The cow portrait was from Family Dollar that was gifted from my mom. If you couldn't already tell, my favorite color is turquoise/teal/Robin's egg blue. So you'll see a lot of this color in subtle decorations throughout my home. Going to the staircase, I keep a coat hanging device (idk what you call these haha!) right by the door. I hang here things like a small tote for when I'm on a run that doesn't require a diaper bag, rain coats, and the kids backpacks. I also keep a basket of shoes by the stairs for easy access. We keep the shoes that we use the most here. Up the stairs and into our one and only bedroom you will find our king sized bed! Every day after breakfast and washing dishes, I quickly come up here to get the kids clothes for the day. While I'm up here, I make sure I do the bed. I have said this once and I'll say it again, but I feel like if the bed isn't made, the room isn't clean! I feel like by simply making the bed, the room instantly looks crisp and clean. Even if there is a bunch of toys on the ground! Since my favorite colors are Grey and Teal, I like adding little pops of yellow here and there for a nice but subtle contrast. One can never have too many toy baskets! I feel like large baskets with cute prints or designs are a cute way to make a room look cute while hiding the kids insanely amounts of toys. And last but not least, the bathroom! I hate the bathroom when it comes to cleaning. I can honestly say that out of all the rooms in the house, the closet and bathroom are awfully neglected. Of course I make sure the toilet is clean because who wants to sit down on a filthy toilet, but I tend leave things out of place in here the most because no one is really in the bathroom or closet as much throughout the day. For the decor, I have things that are gifted like the bouquet of pink flowers that were a decoration piece at Penelope's baby shower, to things from Family Dollar like the golden Pineapple by the sink. Overall, there are many many days that I don't clean as much. Some days I'm mentally or physically exhausted, or BOTH and don't want to clean a thing. There are days when I go to sleep and leave the living room a mess or I forgot to wash the dishes. But as a stay at home mom and wifey, I feel like it is my duty to maintain the home clean. And as weird as it sounds, I like cleaning! It's not always fun but seeing my home clean just makes me feel great! Decoration wise, I buy a lot of things on clearance at Target, or cheap at Family Dollar or sometimes even dollar tree. If I get lucky, I'll find things at goodwill like our lovely dining table! Hitting up stores like Ross or Marshalls, is also a great place to find decorations for a lot cheaper than other retail stores. I'm not a type of person that NEEDS or WANTS brand items or expensive materialistic things, Because FAMILY is what makes a home, not the things in it! <3
As the stay at home mommy that I am, I personally don't think it's absolutely necessary for me to do my make up every single day. Although it does make me feel 10x more better about myself, I also enjoy having a naked face that I can rub all day long if I wanted too without having to worry about smudging my eyeliner or my eyebrows, haha! There are times where I do my make up even if I'm just staying home simply just to feel pretty as I stated before, but on most days, I prefer to do my make up if I'm going to leave the premises of my little apartment to run errands or to go out for a date with my boys. Most of my make up, actually about 99% of my make up, is "drugstore" make up, especially e.l.f. which is my all time favorite and extremely budget friendly! So lets hop into my makeup routine to see what I use! WashIf I didn't wash my face the night before because I can be a lazy mom, I make sure to do so minutes before I put on my make up. I don't use anything fancy and depending on my mood I'll either use the apricot scrub from Target or the Ocean Salt face and body scrub from LUSH that my boyfriend got me for Christmas. Both are equally awesome! Moisturizer & PrimerAfter I have washed and patted my face dry, I make sure to apply some moisturizer just when my skin is still slightly damp. I feel that this allows my skin to absorb the moisturizer as it "dries" and it always leaves my skin super smooth. I'm not very picky about moisturizers and sometimes if I don't have this little guy in hand, I'll even use Benjamin's baby lotion and I feel that it does the trick. Next, I prime my face to help smooth out my face in preparations for the heavy stuff! Foundation & Concealer/HighlighterNext, I use the Matte Poreless Fit Me! foundation from Maybelline. Although this isn't a high end product, I absolutely love it. I feel like I can use just a little to cover up and even my skin tone without having to cake on the foundation like I have used with other products. I gently dab my foundation with this cute little dabbing sponge I got at Palais Royal for like $3 and it does the job perfectly. It totally makes my skin look smooth and even and not streaky. Next, I use the Covergirl concealer stick to help hide my dark circles and also to highlight my cheekbones. I then like to set my foundation with the e.l.f. translucent mattifying powder instead of using a colored powdered that matches my skin tone. I feel like this does just the trick without making me look cakey. Next, I slightly "contour" my cheekbones. My cheekbones are my favorite part of my face because although they aren't no beautiful Cate Blanchett cheekbones, I like that they're high and prominent and I'm sure if I was thinner they would look even more amazing. But of course since my face is chubby, I like to make sure they're something I will notice when I look at myself, so a little contour wont hurt. I use the e.l.f blush and bronzer cream and follow it with the blush and bronzer powder to help let it sit. By the way, just ignore that missing chunk on the cream bronzer, a little someone thought it was fun to poke at it one day...ahem...Benjamin. EyebrowsI remember I started filling in my eyebrows my senior year of high school back in 2011. I have always been very insecure about my eyebrows because they're very thin and patchy due to a strange little "freak" accident I had when I was 8 years old that involved the window shades. Long story short, I dropped the window shades on my face while I was laying on the floor and they landed clear across my eyebrows and did some pretty gnarly damage. Anyways, I try my hardest to stick to the natural shape of my eyebrows, so I use a small angle brush and the e.l.f. cream eyeliner in a brown color to match my hair. I also use the Brow Wiz by Anastasia Beverly Hills that I also received as a Christmas gift from a very good friend of mine. (Thanks Janny!) Eyeliner & EyesOnce my eyebrows are done, I proceed to do my eyeliner. I have been doing my winged liner since I was 14 years old so I can proudly say that I am now a pro at this. Totally kidding, but over the years I have mastered the trick to do my own eyes and that was to follow the natural crease of my eye. First, I take the two lightest shadows from this NYX eyeshadow palette I got at Target to lighten up my eye lids. I feel like a light color makes my eyes POP. Then, I take the KatVonD eyeliner that was also gifted (since I'm so broke haha) and make my wing. This eyeliner is amazing and the process of making your eyeliner is so quick and easy! I then finish off with some e.l.f. mascara to make my eyelashes pop. LipstickIf I'm going to go out somewhere nice or would like to look extra nice, I put some lipstick on. If I'm not wearing a red shade of lipstick, I wear this one by e.l.f. which is my absolute favorite. And sadly for it being my absolute favorite, I have no idea what it is called nor I can find it on their website, but every time I go to Target I see it there and I'm sure the word "Rose" is in it. Sorry about that! Setting SprayAnd last but not least, I spritz the e.l.f make up mist & set to make sure that my face stays looking nice and fresh throughout the day, and with Houston's unpredictable weather, I feel like this is a must! I absolutely love this product because I feel like at the end of the day, my make up still looks as if I just put it on, I look less shiny, and my eyebrows and eyeliner don't get that "smudgy" look after a long days wear of make up! ResultsI'm not even kidding when I say that these are two different pictures! I have no idea how I managed to do the exact same smile and pose but I did! Anyways, sorry for the absolute crappy quality of my camera, my apartment has the worst lighting and this is as good as it was going to get. It might not be a drastic change but making sure that I look like the picture on the right before I go out, sure as hell makes me happy! XOXO, ThaliaSo I've been a little behind on my blog posts, sorry about that! I am currently 23 weeks pregnant but went for my check up and ultrasound at 21 weeks. We were so excited to FINALLY find out the sex of the baby since last time it was a definite no-show with closed little legs. If you follow me on Instagram, Twitter, or have me as a friend on Facebook, you will definitely know that we are having A GIRL! It's insane how sometimes the motherly instinct comes out being correct. I remember with Benjamin I automatically knew I was going to have a boy and started buying boy stuff at around 9 weeks pregnant, surprising many people as to how could I possibly know what I was having. This time around, it was the exact same thing! I just knew I was going to have a girl although many family members predicted a boy. Mama bear just knows! Thinking about names for the baby was so difficult for us this time around. We went back to Benjamin's baby book to read the names we had liked then in hopes that we'd like one of them for the baby, but we didn't like any at all! One name we did like though was Penelope. This time around Alberto couldn't think of a middle name so I chose the entire name: Penelope Micaela Gonzalez! Micaela was chosen to honor my Great Grandma. <3 Let's Talk About Symptoms!
More about the baby.![]() By now, little Penny is about the size of a large pomegranate, or a carrot. At my 21 week check up she was already weighing in at 1 pound! Her brain and lungs are still developing and she can even taste some of the food I eat through the amniotic fluid that she swallows! She is also sleeping as much as a newborn by now, about 12-14 hours a day and can hear very much of the outside world by now. Hope she is used to Benjamin's tantrums and wails! Poor little Pea! XOXO, ThaliaI hate when I go days, weeks and months without writing on my blog, but today I decided that I will finally TRY HARDER to stick to writing here as much as possible since writing is very therapeutic to me. I started the idea of using "hashtags" almost a year ago that were inspired by Anna Saccone to help me stick to writing but the idea quickly fell apart since I couldn't think of a way to incorporate hashtags to the days of the week. As Ben got older and so did my wisdom (haha just kidding), I decided to stop being a giver upper and to just be creative! Of course I will probably not do a hashtag for every single day of the week but at least a couple days is a start. As I started to think about a subject to write about I realized that today was Monday, so I decided to steal Anna's idea and use the "hashtag" #mommymonday to write about myself. I always tell myself and other moms that it's always important to remember yourself through this motherhood journey because you are just as important as your baby! A happy mommy equals a happy baby. So let's begin! This Mommy Monday I decided to write about a couple of my favorite things that I've been using this week, and by a couple I mean three! First off I want to talk about this candle! I got this candle at TJ Maxx last month but have been obsessing with it ever since! I've always been a fan of candles for as long as I can remember, especially the ones that smell likes decadent desserts! This one makes the apartment smell like an out of the oven double chocolate cake doughnut and I wish it could last forever! Next has to be this beauty product that I got at Marshall's by the check out line. I have this little problem of "forgetting" to wash my face at the end of the day simply because I get lazy and the thought of getting my face wet and lathering and rinsing seems like a hastle. These little wipes though are just what I needed to clean my face at the end of the night! One, they smell great, and second, I really feel like they're cleaning my face just fine and they leave my skin feeling soft! Last but not least is this wine. I'm not a big heavy drinker and I hate the taste of beer. If I do decide to drink alcohol it has to contain very little alcohol just like this wine. While doing some groceries, I got offered to try this wine and fell in love. It isn't dry and it's very fruity, it definitely reminds me of something I'd drink during a relaxing summer night!
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Follow Me :AuthorHello there! I'm Thalia. 24 year old mommy of two, enjoying life as it is! <3 Categories
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