A clean slate

Glidden Ultra Pure White paint on walls A fresh start, a blank page, a clean slate—they’re idioms that have come to be practically synonymous with this time of year, to the point where one might shy away from using them to avoid being too predictable or cliché. But in this case, the concept of a clean slate is all too fitting for me to pass up expounding on it.

During the last few months, Ben and I have been undergoing the intense and relentless rollercoaster ride that is purchasing a home. After countless hours discussing deal-breakers, searching listings, checking out properties, making phone calls, answering emails, producing papers, crunching numbers, and all but being driven to a fatigue induced coma, we finally closed at the beginning of December.

We’re homeowners, guys! (cue celebratory conga line)

As we toured the house, we knew it was far from where we wanted it to be, but, as they say in those home improvement shows, it had great bones. Two stories (Ben and I—and Agustina as we found out—are quite fond of stairs), three large bedrooms, a little office that’s PERFECT for the new job I’m starting on January 4th (speaking of clean slates, eh?), a nice little patio, hardwood floors, and… what’s that I see? Dark wine and mauve colored walls throughout the ENTIRE HOUSE?

Eeeeek!

Okay, to be honest the color was the first thing we noticed as soon as we stepped in the door. How could we not?

“Empezar en limpio”, “una hoja en blanco” – son modismos cuyo uso se ha vuelto casi casi obligatorio en esta temporada, tanto que uno hasta duda en usarlos, por aquello de evitar ser demasiado cliché o predecible. Pero en este caso me van a tener que perdonar: el concepto de una hoja en blanco es demasiado perfecto para lo que está pasando alrededor de mi.

Durante los últimos meses del 2015, Ben y yo hemos estado pasando por la inevitablemente turbulenta y emocionante experiencia de comprar una casa. Después de pasar un sinfín de horas buscando casas, evaluando prioridades, haciendo llamadas, contestando emails, produciendo papeles, haciendo cálculos, y arrancándonos los pelos, finalmente firmamos a principios de diciembre.

¡Oficialmente somos dueños de casa! *aplausos, chiflidos y gritos*

La primera vez que exploramos la casa por dentro, sabíamos que le hacían falta muchos cambios, pero lo importante es que tenía potencial. Dos pisos (evidentemente tanto a Ben como a mi como a Agustina nos encantan las escaleras!), tres recámaras grandes, una oficinita que es perfecta para mi nuevo trabajo que empiezo el 4 de enero (hablando de empezar en limpio), un patiecito, pisos de madera, y… ¿qué? ¿No habrá aunque sea UNA pared que no está pintada de color guinda?

Bueno, siendo sinceros, el color fue lo primero que notamos. ¿Y cómo no notarlo?

wine colored wall paint

And though we believe every color under the sun has its time and its place to shine, this was downright overwhelming. Like a gargantuan grape juice stain, a tidal wave of “too much”.

Y aunque creemos que cada color bajo el sol tiene su tiempo y su espacio para brillar, este definitivamente no era ni uno ni el otro. Como una mancha gigantesca indeleble, un tifón de vino tinto. Supongo que todo en exceso puede llegar a agobiar, no?

mauve wall color

mauve walls

So, for our own sanity, as a prerequisite before we moved in, we made the executive decision to have the entire home painted white. Clean, crisp, stark, blank, open, airy white. We may choose to go with other colors in the future, but being totally surrounded by wine was so nauseating we couldn’t even begin to visualize another color scheme. (I mean, try to imagine the smell of your favorite perfume while standing in a dump. NOT happening!) Ultimately we knew that the best place to start was with a clean slate.

And isn’t that always the best place to start?

Pues no el blanco. Puro, fresco, ligero y limpio, el blanco no cansa, no acapara, no hostiga. Asi que, para nuestra propia salud mental, como requisito antes de mudarnos, decidimos pintar la casa entera de blanco. Quizá después incluiremos otros colores, pero era imposible pensar en eso estando cegados y sumergidos en vinos y púrpuras (o sea, trata de imaginar el olor de tu perfume favorito estando cerca de una alcantarilla). Sabíamos que lo mejor era empezar en limpio.

Y es que, ¿no es así siempre?

Glidden Ultra Pure white paint on walls

Glidden Ultra Pure White paint in Living Room

white kitchen with black granite countertops

So cheers to new places, to new spaces, to new ideas, and breaths of fresh air. I hope that the turn of this New Year has given you a chance to reflect, reassess, and reevaluate your life, your goals, and the actions you’re taking to achieve them. To make deliberate choices about what you want to keep working towards and what you want to change.

Out with the old and in with the new!

Así que, salud por lugares desconocidos, espacios nuevos, por arrancar de cero, aprender a acostumbrarnos y familiarizarnos. Espero que este año nuevo hayas podido reflexionar y reevaluar tu vida, tus metas, y las acciones que estás tomando para lograrlas. Tomar decisiones con tenacidad acerca de lo que te importa, lo que quieres seguir haciendo y lo que quieres cambiar.

¡Pa’fuera lo viejo, y venga lo nuevo!

white reindeer christmas decor

New year 2016 celebration

karaoke party

karaoke songs

home karaoke party

friends celebrating new year

DIY Sunglasses organizer

Sunglass organizer Projects that involve wood are intimidating—way more intimidating than they should be. But after creating this gorgeous sunglass storage solution, I realized that once you buckle down and do it, it's actually quite simple.  I find myself inspired to choose a different pair of sunglasses every morning, and, wonder of wonders, I get excited about putting them back in their place at the end of the day! If only I could get that excited putting my clothes away… *sigh*

Here’s how you can make one too:

Materials:

1 piece of wood measuring 6 feet by 5½ inches by ¾ of an inch 2 pieces of wood measuring 6 feet by 2½ inches by ¾ of an inch 2 types of sandpaper (extra coarse and medium grit) Electric screwdriver & screws Hammer Pencil Hook for hanging Stain (optional) Premium wiping cloths

Steps:

Lumber at Home Depot

Cut the wider board in half lengthwise so you end up with 2 pieces of wood each measuring 3 feet by 5½ inches by ¾ of an inch. Cut the narrower boards in 5½ inch pieces so you end up with a total of 22 pieces measuring 5½ inches by 2½ inches by ¾ of an inch.

shelves for sunglass organizer

Sand every single piece. Start with the rougher grit and move on to the finer one.

sanded wood for shelves

Space the 11 little blocks evenly across the board. Lay blocks on their sides to measure the exact space between each one.

Building Sunglasses Holder

Flip the board over. Place blocks under the marks and drill a hole straight down. Make two holes for each mini-shelf.

Display sunglasses DIY

Follow up by putting screws in place. Do this for all of the boards.

DIY wooden sunglass storage

Hammer in the hook.

Organizador de gafas

You’re done!!!!

sunglasses organizer by superholly

Click to see the video tutorial! And do share if you end up making one of these yourself!

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7jJp6PFx1c[/embed]

Tutorial en español

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C32p3oprD7o[/embed]

güerita & morenaza t-shirts

playeras de güerita y morenaza #Throwback to a fun idea turned project turned full-blown-photoshoot. I was sitting on the breathtaking beach of Cancun with my friend Vania savoring a shrimp coctail and thinking about how cute it would be to create some t-shirts with two of the most common Spanish-language nicknames. If you're not a "güerita" ("blondie" or "whitie") you're a "morenaza" ("bronzed beauty" or "darkie"), and if you're somewhere in the middle (or you just don't cayurrr like me) you can pull off both. I ended up making the words out of real magazine cut-outs, I then took a picture of them on white paper, imported them into photoshop, and used those as designs for screen-printing (I had that part done professionally). As you can see, I wanted a pinky, girly theme for the photoshoot that also showcased the variety of looks you can create with the pieces. My friend Nelly served as makeup artist, hair-stylist, and model. It really was loads of fun! I just put a few more shirts up at my ETSY shop if you'd like to own one :D

P.S. After browsing through these pictures I have decided to go back to my natural blonde color ASAP. SO much easier to maintain! (OK the copious amounts of breakage I've been experiencing lately may also be a factor!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hagamos un pequeño #flashback a una idea que se convirtió en proyecto que se convirtió en sesión de fotos. Todo empezó en Cancun; estaba al lado del mar saboreándome un coctel de camarones con mi amiga Vania, y se nos ocurrió que sería lindo hacer camisetas con dos de los apodos más conocidos del idioma español. Si no eres una "güerita", eres una "morenaza". O si estás en algún punto intermedio (o si de plano estás loca, como yo), puedes portar ambos apodos. Hice las palabras con recortes reales de revista, de ahí las fotografié sobre un papel blanco para importar al Photoshop, y utilicé estas imágenes como diseños para hacer cerigrafía (esta parte se la dejé a un profesional). Como puedes ver, quise irme con un tema muy cuki donde el color rosa fuera muy prominente, y mi amiga Nelly la hizo de maquillista, estilista, y modelo. ¡Cómo nos divertimos! Acabo de subir unas playeras a mi tienda de ETSY, por si te gustaría tener una ;)

P.D. Después de ver estas fotos he decidido que ya es tiempo de regresar a mi color de cabello natural lo más pronto posible. ¡Mil veces más fácil de mantener! (Bueno, quizá la cantidad espantosa de cabellos quebrados que he tenido últimamente tenga algo que ver)

Superholly Nelly güerita morenazaSuperHolly Nelly morenaza güeritaHolly Tuggy Nelly Azarcoya güerita morenazaSuperHolly morenazaHolly and Nelly güerita morenazaHolly and Nelly guerita morenaza t-shirtsHolly and Nelly güerita morenaza t-shirtsSuperHolly y Nelly guerita y morenazaHolly and Nelly güerita morenazaHolly Nelly güerita morenazaNelly Azarcoya and Holly Tuggy modeling güerita and morenaza shirtsHolly and Nelly modeling tshirtsHolly and Nelly güerita morenazacandy shop universal citymodeling at a candy shopmodeling with candyNelly Azarcoya modelHolly Tuggy güerita

photos by: Ovier Alvarez

DIY Rose Money

Origami dollar bill roses An opportunity to give a gift is an opportunity to show someone what they mean to you. No pressure, right? It's always difficult to find that balance between something practical and useful and something that you put some thought into and spent some time creating. Enter these gorgeous origami roses. They are unique and beautiful, they represent love, they liven up any space, and they will become extremely useful when they die. Check out my 3 minute video on how to make them!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEf__gYoTVE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Una oportunidad de dar un regalo es una oportunidad de mostrarle a alguien lo que significa para ti. Nada de presión, ¿verdad? Siempre es difícil encontrar ese balance entre algo práctico y algo que demuestra que le invertiste tiempo (un cheque no es muy memorable que digamos). Es aquí donde entran estas rosas de origami. Son hermosas y únicas, representan el amor, embellecen cualquier espacio, y serán muy útiles al final de su vida. ¡Checa mi video de 3 minutos para aprender a hacerlas!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si61UR0VuLs

rose money