An Anniversary HoBag Giveaway: Part 2 {CLOSED}

 Yay Another bag! I love this one because of the unique print on this vintage blouse…

 As with yesterday’s giveaway… enter to win this ^^ HoBag named “Sage” by doing one of the following:

 

• share this blog post giveaway on Facebook & then leave a comment here saying you’ve entered OR
• share via Instagram: take a screen shot of one of the pictures above ^^, tag me on insta (@hanaleilei) with the hash tag #FoggyDressSage. Leave me a comment on my profile, to let me know you entered.

 

Today & yesterday’s giveaways will go until Friday January 17 at midnight. I’ll announce the winners Monday morning! Thanks for sharing and good luck!

 

One-Year Anniversary at Foggy Dress + Some of my Favorite Posts

Guys, I made it!

365    days of managing this blog.

138    published posts (including this one).

142    different countries that Foggy Dress readers are from.

5    hours on average is spent on each of these posts. Usually — between making something, photographing, choosing photos, editing, making the layout, and writing the post — it can take up to 8-10 hrs on some posts!

3    awesome bloggers who helped me so much, along the way (Liz – SYTH, Brooke – Giddy in the City, Liz – Cotton&Curls)

1    super, duper amazing reader, whom I wouldn’t have had the motivation to keep up the blog posts without… and that super amazing reader is YOU! Thank you for being kind and taking an interest in what I have to say/do/wear. THANK YOU to those of you who take the time to comment! It means so much. I know I say/do/wear a lot of weird things, and sometimes I look back at posts and think “I look so silly!” but you all are so nice and encouraging. So THANK YOU!

Starting & keeping this lifestyle blog was a January 2013 goal of mine, and I’ve achieved it! I worked really hard, spent hours and hours (ask any blogger–it’s a full time job) and poured my heart into this thing. I love how much of the past year I have recorded! Even though it’s not perfect, and I don’t have a gajillion followers, it’s enough. Thanks for coming along for the ride! This next year at Foggy Dress will surely be bright.

Here are some favorite &/or most popular posts of 2013:

  From EAT, my favorite post in 2013 was white-chocolate dipped coconut macaroons with a hint of lemon. Mostly because I love the photographs I took! They look diviiiiiine.

 From DRESS, my favorite post was hello yellow because 1.) look at that garage door! All the garages in SF were so pretty and colorful and classy and I miss them. And 2.) I thought the writing was pretty funny. Be sure to read the last paragraph.

 From RE-FASHIONED, my fave and also (one of) the most popular posts I’ve done was a widen your pants tutorial, making these one-size-too-small jeans fit perfectly!

 From TRAVEL, my favorite posts were of course my trip to Taiwan and Hong Kong! Because, I mean, you just can’t find a Hello Kitty Restaurant in America:

 (see all the posts from Taiwan here, here and here. Hong Kong, here.)

 From DIY, the hands down, most searched for and most popular post on this blog is How to Fix the Worn-Down, Between the Thigh Area in Your Jeans. Who would’ve thought!? I’ve mended several pants like that over the years, and one day I read someone’s blog where a reader commented about that pesky problem and asked how to fix it. The next day I had the tutorial up and it has been the most popular post ever since.

Stay tuned for a fun giveaway coming soon, sponsored by yours truly, to thank you readers for the fun year we’ve had at Foggy Dress.

hugs and kisses! -hanalei

projects lately…

 It’s best if I keep myself busy (distracted more like), so I decided to jump back into blogging. I hadn’t realized it’s been 3 weeks since I last blogged. Here goes….

From top to bottom:

• Plants. My sister-in-law works at a nursery in Utah, so I thought I would take advantage of her discount… I got a Maiden Hair Fern which I LOVE. I’ve had this plant before, when I was in college, but the Utah cold just about killed it. It didn’t thrive there, but I’m hoping this warmer, more humid climate will be perfect for it. Don’t you love hanging plants? I’m also obsessed with the crazy Juncus Dart plant (second photo), which reminds of Princess Merida’s crazy hair in Brave.
• Watercolor. I have been obsessing over learning how to water color this past month. I don’t know why but I’m literally in love with it, even though I’m really not that good. I’ve been wanting to paint something for the saying “grow old with me” to compliment the big picture of us in front of the temple on our wedding day, so I attempted to paint some simple water color flowers for it. I think it turned out ok.
• Painting Pickle Jars. I just hate throwing away glass jars. If you look carefully around my house, I make all sorts of uses out of little leftover jars from the grocery store. Lately, I’ve been saving our pickle jars (I didn’t realize we eat so many pickles until I noticed how many pickle jars I’d saved!). I decided to paint a few of them, since I wanted to use them in the front room and frankly pickle jars aren’t as “in” as mason jars…. I had to get a little creative.

So there are some of my projects lately…feels good to be blogging.

hugs, hanalei

DIY: How to Reupholster Your Chair + Tutorial

My friend is not afraid of dumpster diving (well she says technically it was next to the dumpster). She somehow got her husband to help haul away these 4 pretty, distressed chairs from the trash the hands of some other DIY savvy gal. We found the reupholster job to be quite simple, with the help of an Aunt, a dad, and Joann’s.

All you need are: 

My friend Anna found her fabric at Joann’s (always use a coupon), but you could use any pretty fabric that you like, as long as it’s a sturdy cloth. We chose to cover over the old fabric, rather than ripping it off.

Staple one side, and then it’s opposite. Grab another set of hands to help you pull the fabric really tight.

A vast improvement in only a few simple steps!

Now grab a book and have a good read in your pretty reupholstered chair.

Thanks Anna, for the steps and vintage chairs!

Let’s get organized…

 Hello from San Diego!! Well since we are in a new apartment, I have decided to get more organized. I am a pack-rat by nature, but luckily (and sometimes not so luckily) my husband is constantly throwing things out (with or without telling me). I’ve come to realize, however, that if I just became more organized, my husband will have a harder time figuring out what is really “clutter”. I mean how can he throw out books that are stacked so adorably underneath a lamp? (see photo above)

After reading a few articles I’ve come up with an organize to-do list:

• give everything a “home”.  Nothing will be laying around just waiting to be thrown out–I’ll give everything a draw, box, cubby, or shelf  that it goes to. (these go great in this)
• always put things back after it’s use. I think that is do-able…until I start to have children!
• routinely sort through “clutter hot spots”.  Every girl in the world can testify how extremely annoying it is to have a purse full of junk that you don’t need but end up carrying around just because you haven’t taken the time to sort through it yet. My home has several “hot spots” like that, that seem to always build up with clutter. Like my bookshelf that always seems to have postcards and letters shoved in-between books.

Also, some cute projects to help organize my kitchen, office, and jewelry. Do you have any tricks to stay organized and on top of your clutter??? I am always looking for tips 🙂  Wish me luck!

Top photo by Better Homes & Gardens, bottom photo I couldn’t find the exact source, just a pinterest board.