Painted Carrera Marble Countertop DIY

When we were trying to decide what to do with our counters for our kitchen renovation, we knew we didn't want to spend a ton of money.  First, we live in basically a little mother-in-law apartment above the garage of my parent's house, so it's not a fancy joint or anything. We didn't want to put real marble in or anything, and even faux marble was pretty spendy, so we figured we'd try painting the existing formica countertops and if it turned out awful, then we'd rip them out and just shell out for new, faux marble formica counters.  After stalking Pinterest for a bit and looking at various countertop painting DIYs I decided on using Giani's Faux Granite DIY countertop paint in White Diamond to create a faux marble look.

The kit comes with a black primer, a pearl mica paint, two cans of white limestone paint, a metallic gold paint which I didn't use, and a clear top coat.  I would recommend buying two extra white limestone cans if you're going to use the kit to make a white marble look.  I didn't and I ended up just using some regular paint to finish it off (I had a time crunch and couldn't wait for more white limestone to ship) and it worked fine I think, but I wouldn't recommend doing that.  The paint in the kit is more of an enamel type paint (I had a really hard time getting it off my fingernails, whereas the regular paint scrubbed right off), so I think it probably hardens and sticks better.

You start by rolling the black primer on to a very well cleaned counter.  My counter had a little bit of texture to it so I didn't really sand the existing counters first, but if your counter is super shiny and slick, it'd be a good idea to give it some texture with some sand paper before putting down the primer.  I just did one coat and then touched up a couple spots where it was a little thin.

Next, you start layering on the paint.  The kit comes with a sponge you can cut into pieces to sponge on the paint.  I started with the pearl mica.  I started creating the flow of my veining from the beginning, doing a kind of diagonal veining pattern.  After the pearl mica I started the white limestone layers and then you basically do as many layers of the white limestone as you want to achieve the lightness of marble you want.  I think I did about 4, maybe 5 layers. I sort of got lost in a haze of sponging and didn't keep track after like 3 layers.

To do the veining, mix a little of the black primer with the white limestone and use a small brush.  Keep some white limestone handy with your sponge to go over top the veining if you don't like the vein you put in, and also to fade them a bit so they blend.  I google searched for marble slabs and found one that I used as a reference for my veining look.  

The top coat gets rolled on and goes on in 2-3 layers.  You don't want to put anything heavy on the counter for a couple days and it cures fully in 2 weeks.  In terms of durability, it's not the greatest (that being said, I didn't use only the countertop paint, I did those top couple layers of white with non-countertop paint, so I'm not sure about what the durability would be if I only used the kit).  I can tell that if I scratched it with something hard or metal, it'd probably put a gouge in the paint. We had an electrician come in to fix our outlets and he totally scratched through the paint somehow (I think he leaned against the counter with like tools on his belt or something), so that was a bummer, and it does stain if you're not careful.  We have an espresso machine and over by that we already have a couple small yellow-ish coffee stains.  I bet wine and certain spices would also stain it.  We use our butcher block island for most food prep stuff that might be staining.

If you're looking for a stop-gap that's a cheap (but a bit time-consuming) way to get the look you want until you can afford getting real marble (or real faux marble) counters, this is definitely a way to do it.  If you're super rough on your counters, this might not be a great solution.  It'll work for us for the time being though!  You can wipe them down easily, they just recommend not using any harsh chemicals and not scrubbing super hard.

I used one whole kit (plus 2 extra white limestone cans) and we have about 15 feet of counters.  Here's what she looks like before.  Kind of dingy, off-white, ivory:

And after!  Crisp, white, and fresh!:

DYING TO TRANSFORM YOUR OWN KITCHEN, BUT AREN’T SURE WHERE TO START, HOW TO BRING YOUR VISION TO LIFE, OR NEED HELP FIGURING OUT HOW TO MAKE IT ALL HAPPEN? I’VE GOT YOU COVERED! HEAD OVER HERE AND LET’S GET STARTED ON WORKING SOME DESIGN MAGIC FOR YOU!

Five Months

I haven't been hit with mom-brain too hard, but this photo session got hit with some hard mom-brain.  I did the entire shoot with the letterboard saying "four months old" and didn't realize it until I was telling my mom later that day that I had done his five month photos and was like, "WAIT..." looked at the sign and did a full on facepalm.  Cue the photo re-do.

At 5 months Jack is army crawling, started eating some solid foods (his face when I feed him is preeetty hilarious), and he's all around a pretty happy baby.  Some days he doesn't nap as much as others and I think I might go insane, but all in all I think we're doing okay.  Motherhood still doesn't feel much like a shiny sea of glowy bright feelings, and a lot of the time I miss the freedom of just being able to do basic shit without having to stop every 2 minutes to manage an infant, but we're getting used to the new life, even if there are some growing pains and crying sessions (for both of us).

The Sexually Liberated Mother's Day Gift Guide

Happy Mother's Day!  No seriously HAPPY mother's day.  Mother's Day usually gets boiled down to some decent flowers, brunch, and a quickly scrawled card, and, well, I think we think of moms in a very mom-y way.  But listen y'all, let's not forget how moms became moms in the first place. This is a mother's day gift guide of a different sort.  I think being a mom is great, and celebrating all the mom-y mom things is nice, but sex is an area of a mom's life where she can shed all of that.  She doesn't have to think about cutting crust off of sandwiches, or changing diapers, or her son's algebra grades in the bedroom.  And hey, did you know that (conveniently) May is also Masturbation Month? So this gift guide is celebrating mom sex life.  Yeah, it looks a helluva lot different now, doesn't it ladies?  Postpartum sex is like a whole 'nother thing, and so sexual self care has been very important to me, especially since my healing process took for-ev-er. It's so worth cultivating a healthy and pleasurable sex life, so here is my NSFW Mother's Day gift guide.  Have fun, mamas!

1. Chakrubs Sex Toy
Chakrubs are sex toys made from pure natural crystals.  To be honest, walking into a sex shop and being confronted with a veritable cornucopia of differently shaped dildos and toys that do all sorts of fancy things to get you off is intimidating and overwhelming.  When I came across Chakrubs I loved the simplicity of the design, and that they're created from something natural, not plastic or rubber or silicone.  While I'm all for a good vibrator or what have you, I much prefer the simplicity of the Chakrubs.

2. Insane Stimulating Personal Moisturizer
I've never been very into lube, but it's super recommended to postpartum mamas due to the low personal lubricant production caused by the drop in hormones after giving birth.  So I've been looking around for something a little more fun than your standard lube and have seen some good reviews on this!  I think I'll try a sample before splurging on the full bottle, but they've got tons of sample packs to try, so that could be a fun activity!  Test all the lubezzzz.

3. Herbivore Jasmine Body Oil
I believe that sensuality is a holistic pursuit and that means treating your body with love, even if you aren't actively pursuing a climax.  A delicious body oil like Herbivore's Jasmine body oil can be a lovely way to love on your body by slowly rubbing it into your skin post-shower, or you can have your partner give you some foreplay action by using it as a luxurious massage oil.

4. Unbound Box Subscription
I will be the first to admit that I kind of hate subscription boxes.  Not because I dislike the concept or the products that are in them, mostly because I feel like a lot of the time I'm ending up getting stuff I don't need sent to me every month.  Like, I like makeup, but am I really going to go through enough make up that I need a box full of new products every month?  The thought of all the *stuff* cluttering up my house stresses me out.  But when I heard about these Unbound Boxes, I was intrigued.  Not only are they not monthly, they're quarterly, but I can totally get behind getting new fun lubes, toys, and other sexy goodies to try.  Plus, I'm pretty sure that with the subscription only coming quarterly, I'd forget about it and then it'd be a very exciting surprise in the mail! 

5. She Comes First- The Thinking Man's Guide to Pleasuring a Woman
This book was recommended to me by a gal who does work in marriage and sex therapy years ago and I keep meaning to pick it up! Heck, you could save this one as a Father's Day gift as a gift to yourself disguised as a gift for him, muahahah.

6. Pleasure-Proof Lipstick
Having your lipstick get all over your face when you're making out with your lover is super lame.  But not getting to wear pretty lipstick out on dates is also lame.  When I first discovered LipSense I was skeptical, I was used to taking my lipstick and lip brush with me out on dates so I could run to the bathroom after a few drinks and re-apply.  But this stuff seriously does not budge.  So, yah, you can shove your face into that pillow as hard as you want, your lipstick won't ruin it anymore.

And if you're looking for some Sexual Liberation inspiration and guidance, head over to Sex Love Liberation, an amazing blog run by the gorgeous Ev'yan Whitney, and check out her podcast The Sexually Liberated Woman too! I hope you have a sensual Mother's Day, ladies! (even if you're not a mom!).  You can have brunch too.  Brunch is totally foreplay.

Life Lately

Life has been pretty sweet lately.  I've felt really positive and like I'm getting into a decent groove with being a mom.  Things have come into my life that have helped me reconnect with my creativity and boss-bitch vibes, which just feels so nice after having to throw myself 110% into mom-ness the first few months of Jack's life.  Being a mom on my own terms is super important to me, and being able to feed the parts of me that bring me alive feels like the best way for me to be the best mom possible.  

Getting excited for: a quick trip to Tacoma! I'll be heading down mid-May to shoot an Elopement. I'm only in town for a week, but I'm sure it'll be packed full!  Jack is coming with me so it'll be fun for my Tacoma friends to be able to see how much he's grown since we were in town in February when he was only 2 months old.  He'll be 5 months by the time we're there!  He's scooting around so I'm sure by then he'll either be close to crawling, or crawling!  Crazy how fast they grow!
I'm also doing an afternoon of Boudoir mini sessions while I'm in Tacoma again!  I loved my last boudoir mini session afternoon while I was in town so I'm really excited to do it again! I've got a gorgeous white brick studio for the sessions this time, which is going to be such a beautiful backdrop.  If any of you guys are local to the Seattle/Tacoma area and want to do a Boudoir session, shoot me an email! 

Listening to: lots of Patsy Cline.  A long time ago someone mentioned I had a similar voice to hers and lately I've been doing a bit more singing and it's always so nice when you sing songs by someone whose voice has a similar range and tone.  Plus, I just love those old-timey country songs.  Dolly Parton, Nancy Sinatra, Loretta Lynn, June Carter, they're all so good. 

Super thankful for: finally being healed from Jack's birth.  Like holy moly that took way longer than it was supposed to.  Of course, having never given birth before or recovered from delivery I had no point of reference for how long things were supposed to take to heal.  I ended up having to go in to the OR to get my scar cut and re-stitched, which was a bit traumatic as I had gone in to the doctor that morning for a checkup and ended up staying all day and getting into the OR later that day, so needless to say I was not mentally or emotionally prepared for going into an OR, even though it was a super minor procedure.  But I already feel 500% better than before the scar revision.  There are so many things I will never take for granted ever again (tmi warning: hello not being afraid to pee!).

Changed: my hair color!  I've wanted to go grey for ages, but right now an expensive salon visit isn't in the cards since we're saving money for our eventual move back to the PNW.  So instead I decided to do something I could DIY.  So: purple it is!  I can only go so long without dying my hair fun colors.  My hair is super shitty right now with postpartum hormones wreaking havoc on it. Greasy, limp, crazy dandruffy, and falling out by the handful.  Super lame, but having it be a fun color is a nice consolation!

Happy about: having my parents in town.  Right before Jack was born my brother went into the hospital in Oregon where he lives and the next few months were full of trips to the hospital, him coming up here for the holidays and to see his doctors here in Anchorage, my parents taking him back down to Oregon and going to doctor appointments down there, and then them coming back and forth a few times.  They've been back in town for about a month solid now and it's so nice to have them, not only to help with Jack, but just to have other humans around.  Because they live right next door to us, I can go visit with them while Dan is at work during the day.  It's nice to know that I can hang with them or invite my mom to go on an adventure to Target. Just silly little things.

Reading: I started watching Thirteen Reasons Why and then realized I bought the book a couple months ago, so I stopped watching so I could read the book first. I also downloaded the free copy of Girl Code from Amazon and am excited for some girl power reading material! Also, I'm watching The Handmaid's Tale (talk about a super heavy show) and really wanting to read that now too! Such great shows based on books!

Alaskan Maternity Shoot

Back in December I was 39 weeks pregnant and got together with Catie Bartlett on a chilly 15 º day to take some maternity photos before my little buddy arrived.  At this time I thought his arrival was nigh, but I'd have to wait over 2 weeks before I got to meet him.  In case you were wondering, it only takes about 10 seconds of standing barefoot in the snow before your feet go completely numb.  ANYTHING FOR ART!!  Between outfits we thawed out in the car with the heat blasting, haha. 

I had made the quartz crown and bought the huge yardage of black sheer fabric for a burlesque routine I had planned on doing in June of 2016, but found out I was pregnant around the time I had started planning the act and decided to postpone completing the act until later.  I'm glad I brought these two pieces up to Alaska (I put all my other burlesque costuming in storage) because they had just the witchy-mother vibes I wanted for this shoot!

If I'm being completely honest, these pictures are super weird to look at.  And actually, now that I've given birth, pretty much all pictures of pregnant women freak me out a little. Which is weird because, like, shouldn't it be the opposite?  But I feel like now that Jack is out of me and I see him, it's even weirder that he was once inside me.  I know some people see pregnant women as beautiful and glowing, but it currently totally weirds me out to see pregnant bellies. #realtalk