1. FANCY
2. THE WOODLANDS
3. PRETTYNESS
4. PRADA, KORS and BELLA
5. #NORDYGIRL
6. FASHIONREBEL
-SDS
SIX SHOTS: APRIL 2015
decor
SIX SHOTS: DECEMBER, TWO THOUSAND and FOURTEEN
1. MERRY CHRISTMAS MAKEUP
Since I work in cosmetics, I like to photograph makeup colors and techniques, but it’s an art! It’s not the same thing as a “selfie” in that you are photographing the colors of the nails, lippies, or shadows.
2. RICH GIRL NECKLACE
I decided to work on my up close shots, and loved how this blingy rich girl necklace photo came out, complete with glitter nails and studded collar! Nails are another thing that’s really hard to photograph well with out plenty of practice!
3. KS TENNIS USA
Since I am the “S” in KSTENNISUSA.COM (or so I am told) I help out with various media work. My husband loves teaching tennis and takes it very seriously, so I had fun trying to capture his persona and work ethic in some new shots I took for the new website launch! He helps me with so much and is a true friend, so it’s always great when I can help him to grow his passion!
4. AVENTUS
There are some men’s fragrances that I absolutely adore, and when I took a photo of Aventus by House of Creed, I loved the way it turned out, although it was just a camera phone shot! The crazy silver and black glitter nails looked appropriate with the packaging, and the article on my Top 5 Men’s Fragrances can be seen here!
5. BLACK WINTER SUNDAY
One of the very few fashion posts I did in December was Black Winter Sunday. Any time my husband snaps a photo in which he actually focuses, is a rare and pleasant thing. :0 It’s worth mentioning that this is a real outfit, that I really wore, when I really had some place to go. I will say, that hats are more for ease to me than for glamour. The girl in front of me in church, who had hair extensions crash and burn because it was so humid, wet and cold…probably wished she was cool enough for a hat. Just sayin.
6. MAKEUP ARTIST
I think of makeup artistry is an art form. A lot of us have made the product searches and trials a bit of a hobby, as well as a career. Photographing makeup is harder than it looks! I mainly use my Instagram account for fragrance, cosmetics, decor tidbits and such. It’s so much faster to post a fun lip color pic here and there on Instagram. You know what though? I think it’s creepy when the last 8 photos on a person’s Instagram account, are all of their own face, so I do try to keep my own makeup shots to a minimum. Plus, I’m old and I have a sleepy eye when I’m tired. Unless you are a Krisspy or Amrezy level of a makeup artist…it’s probably best to filter in something other than your own face. Just sayin.
HOW TO DECORATE A SMALL APARTMENT
Out of all the ways that I enjoy being creative, having a small Apartment Locator business in Texas is one of the most rewarding!
It gives me the opportunity to challenge myself, meet new people and help them find the most well suited place for them to call home.
Where a person chooses to live is very important. It will be the core of the business of running your life.
These are pictures of just a few of the small but cozy places I have sometimes shown to clients.
I’ve always loved decor and get inspired when we go on tour and see the model apartments. Everything is so perfectly neat and tidy it makes me want to run home and start throwing things out!
It’s common knowledge that over the years though, apartments are generally getting smaller and smaller. Although it presents issues, most of my clients see it as a welcomed evil to challenge them into maintaining a sleek and streamlined existence!
Small is acceptable to the very serious minded, it seems. Proximity to work, ease of functionality and maybe, just maybe a good view is important, depending on the client.
I love the decor ideas on color to enhance a nook and add dimension as well as some of the space saving tips I see.
Sparse and smaller framed furniture helps tremendously. Nice and slim but comfy furnishings are great but over sized sloppy sofas are out!
A lot of times I’ve ended up referring furnishing ideas , paint colors and stores to clients and the decorator in me just wants to go with them on moving day and make them put things where I feel they should go! I cut the cord, however and hope for the best.
I try my best to figure out what is more important to the client, such as big closets or a view, and go from there. I would have to have a nice view or it would crush my soul, but others might not mind. This is a shot of the balcony view from a mid rise community I love to take clients, and I just can’t believe it if they choose something different! I love it!
These are just a few of the places I show and see and they motivate and inspire me in the areas of decor, space saving and lifestyle!
If you want to see more great places, you can go to my Houston apartment Locator site … Luxor Leasing & Real Estate ! Or better yet…contact me if you want free help finding a great new Houston apartment!
-SDS
SIX SHOTS: june, two thousand and fourteen
1. 1950’s Sports Coupe
I took an early morning drive into the countryside for an appointment I had. I saw this old girl sitting at the front of a farm house for sale, so I had to pull over.
I love old cars. I wish I had one. When I was a little girl, I promised myself that I would buy an old car one day. Of course I also wanted a Shelby like Farrah Fawcett drove on the original Charlie’s Angels as well. It’s a good thing I’m not a rap star, because I’d have a garage full of cars and go broke.
It was a beautiful day for a drive through the country, a stop at a hamburger joint and time to relax and reflect.
2. Angels Hair Designs
This month, I accepted a commission to build two different web sites. I was happy to be able to integrate some of my photography and MUA skills, to use for one of the sites, Angels Hair Designs. Angel has been a stylist in the Houston area for years and has tons of experience, which I learned while gathering information from her for her site. I did also use pictures Angel had for her site, and she will be adding more before and after photos on her hair design blog as well.
3. VienneMilano Italian Hosiery
I received a very fancy pair of thigh high stockings from the Italian Hosiery company, VienneMilano this month. Since it is about 95 degrees outside, I decided that I was left with no alternative but to show off black lace, seam backed thigh highs…indoors. The company was right when they said that these are made for comfort and to stay up. I love them, and will be doing more VienneMilano posts in the future!
4. Vanity
I am finally finished setting up my new vanity area and it’s my new favorite spot! I do not know how I made it before without my own corner of the universe. All of my makeup is so much more organized with the added storage space. This also gives me a much better spot to do makeup when people come over to get their face done, and it’s a better ares to film makeup videos in!
5. The Sky Broke Open, The Light Shown Through.
Forgive this cell phone picture from my Instagram picture I had posted this month. It was a shy scene that took my breath away. Whenever I see the clouds with breaks of light shinig through… It reminds me of an afternoon that I was gardening years ago.
On this day, I felt eyes upon me as I was planting flowers, so I looked up to see two people staring back at me. One of the people was an angel who had a light so bright coming from his chest area, that the rays of light were cutting through the clouds. All sound ceased to exist in those moments. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, so I looked away to clear my mind and in a split second…they were gone. I am a very grounded, rational person, but I knew what I had seen was real. I ran in the house to call my dad and tell him.
Basically, now when I see clouds like this, with the breaks of light, I want people to be able to understand more clearly, what I saw that day. For me, it’s always a fabulous reminder of that moment. There is God, Jesus, angels, heaven and life beyond this world. I know this because I have seen.
6. Waste Not Want Not Creations
One of the business sites I was able to develop for a client this month, was for Waste Not Want Not Creations. It’s an eco-friendly accessory designer behind the brand, and I loved so many of the one of a kind pieces that she has created, including these glass hearts shown above. I love web building when I get to be creative and help someone dive a bit deeper into the social media pool and hopefully get found by the world. The shot above is just an ad button for her site, but you should click it and see her fun and whimsical creations from vintage or reimagined products! I wanted to share part of what I’ve been doing all month long.
-SDS
-June 30, 2014
MY ROOM AND BATH TOUR
| LUXOR ROOM and BATH TOUR |
| Fun decor is one of my passions so after having the opportunity to recreate our bedroom, I decided on dark and romantic black Martha Stewart paint, and did the connecting bathroom as well! It’s a fun, dark and cozy room! Although some of the photos from my bedroom and bath Makeover have been published here on the site before, I’m having fun branching out on my Youtube channel, so I decided to add a video tour as well! |
After discovering that a large percentage of people do not actually read, and only look at photos, I ventured into videos specifically for those friends, and the other video blog was a success, so I will try to feed more in here and there.
This was just a quickie, nothing fancy…but it’s actually fun once you’ve finished up with the actual work involved. It’s like throwing bits and pieces of yourself out into the universe, come what may. It’s scary, risky, fun. It’s like participating not bystanding.
I still love my website and writing…especially on relationship fodder! I feel like there is something to be learned from everyone’s mistakes and successes and that we should explore and share. That holds true of not just decor ideas and cosmetics finds! However, I will continue to add more videos for the many people who prefer not to be burdened with the stress they may feel from having to read! ( Do you believe I even had a friend inform me that I TALK too much in this video???) It seems some people prefer to just see videos with a caption here or there and no words! Due to that feedback, I will a;so try to keep all future videos under 6 minutes when possible!
Thanks for your viewership!
Thank
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Thanks for your viewership for now, and enjo-SDS
May 23, 2014
GOD, SEX & FINANCES…our 3 focal points for marital bliss at the 3 YEAR POINT
Our Three Year Anniversary
This past week marked the third year since our wedding. It occurred to me, that it feels like many more years than it actually has been when a friend of his brought it up to me the other day, “Hey, Ken told me this week is your anniversary! So, how many years is it?”
“Well, it’s only been three but it feels like many, many more!” I’d replied. “Oh no. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” he’d asked.
“A little of both.” I’d answered. “On one hand, it’s fabulous because we are so completely fused together. I feel like only a half a person when he’s not with me. I feel like I was never married before because there was no real and deep connection like the one I have with him. It’s sad that you just don’t ever realize how shitty a relationship actually is, until life forces you to move on to something better.”
He went on to ask what the bad part was, at which point I reminded him of the hard times we had right after marrying, due to an extremely severe financial loss my husband had within the first 6 months of getting married. He knew the whole story already about that drama and how hard it was.
The whole issue was hard, not because of sudden financial trauma, but it was especially difficult because of the emotional toll it took on my husband, to have been stolen from by a long time friend. The feelings of shame for not being able to see the person for who they really were, the embarrassment for not being able to detect the constant lies. The hell of knowing if you had only listened to your wife in the first place, you would have never trusted this person and could have saved both of you tons of sleepless nights and grief. Oh, and of course 3/4 of your money being gone. Of course, with that, comes depression. Ugh.
The good part, is that this situation forced our bond to grow to superior degrees. Rebuilding our lives, changing the game plan and growing together financially helped us to begin working together financially instead of him feeling like he was the decision maker in all things because he was the money man in the relationship.
In marriage, all financial matters need to be made together, period. The reason being… if one of you makes a terrible financial mistake, the other person is along for a ride they did not sign up for. It creates joint responsibility if there are discussions beforehand. I actually heard financial guru Dave Ramsey telling a listener on his radio program the other day the same thing. Dave claimed that although his wife had been a stay at home mom and homemaker for over 22 years, he still consulted with her on everything financial.
This is a point that my new husband had to learn the hard way. He felt that he could do whatever business ventures that he wanted with his “friend” because the money he was using “was his own.” He learned. Unfortunately, I was along for the ride.
Again, the entire circumstance was painful and stole precious time and energy from our lives, but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
As far as our marriage feeling like forever, it does, but in a good way, as well. One of the main things that promotes this euphoric feeling and connection is that we share the same faith. We agree 100% on everything as far as our religion goes. That being said, we have no religion. We believe in the written Word, that is The Bible and everything it states has happened and will happen, everything it says on how we are to live our lives, treat others, deal with problems and more importantly…believe and accept. It’s a handbook for every aspect of your life. Are we perfect? Nope. (Especially him!) That’s not what a Christian is. A Christian is a Christ follower, a believer of His Word and a deep desire in your belly to aspire to become a better person because of your belief and because of your love for those around you and God.
The people I know that stand firm in their “religion” usually know the least amount about the particulars of that religion and absolutely nothing about the Bible and that’s the main thing your Christianity should be drawn from.
Additionally, today on The Talk, the ladies group was mentioning a study about having either a happy marriage or a happy sex life. The study supposedly proved that it was impossible to have both. Basically it stated that rough, cavemen types were the better sex partners and the sensitive and caring types usually were no bueno in the sack. So choose carefully, because you can’t have it all, according to this new study. To that, I say, whatever. We actually were home together, when this show came on and we laughed so hard. I actually have a caring and sensitive caveman.
Again, I was married before. Once for 11 years, which was an
acceptable-ish relationship and another time for 6 painful, exasperating and worthless years. Now, it’s like they never happened. The cumulative negative issues in both relationships were three main things, which we choose to focus on in this marriage so that we can remain happy and fulfilled with each other and ourselves. Our three main areas of focus, here, at the three year mark, are God first in a sexual wonderland for each other and a financial plan of agreement. Sexual issues and terrible finances are the kiss of death for most marriages, and many a faulty marriage has been rekindled and saved through the bond of discovering God’s word and desire for your life, together.
Three years, and yes, I want to absolutely kill him sometimes. Actually, the real fantasy for me during those times he makes me crazy mad, is to sell everything, pack up and move to Laguna to start my what-I -assume-will-be-fabulous new life. However, with a steady focus on our top three areas, this one is looking like a keeper and as I always say, if I were to die tomorrow, at least I was finally madly, truly, deeply loved.
-SDS
-April 17, 2014
