making it look easy

It's too early for me to come up with a clever title...

2011-05-30T08:02:00.000-07:00

ok so I just decided to get back into blogging :) I kind of dropped that ball when I started school. I kind of kept up at times, but for the most part I've never been super consistent with posting. So I'll try, again. Hehehe...

Seattle Part 1

2011-03-10T15:33:00.001-08:00

Ok guys. I was just about to take a nap and I decided that I should journal about my trip so far so that I don't forget anything! So I left early on Wednesday morning! I wore a nice traveling outfit and still felt comfortable the whole time. I got to my gate on time and was able to purchase a magazine for my flight. There were no screaming babies or loud children on this flight! I squeezed in a tiny bit of rest and before I knew it we were landing in Seattle 10min early! I have to say, I was kind of happy to see it raining when we landed. Just because its Seattle rain! Heaven and her friend Caroline picked me up a little late because they got caught in some traffic. When we were driving to Heavens apartment the rain really picked up and there were some semi scary parts of the drive when a ton of water would get splashed onto the windshield and we couldn't see for a second. And there were a few times when Heaven and Caroline would scream. It was so funny. We went to a small part of the mall that was all Filipino. Caroline picked up some food but Heaven and I decided to get some food somewhere else :) Then we made our way to Heavens apartment. I got myself a little situated and then we headed out to walk to Fremont for some Pho. Right before we got the Pho I spotted a music store and asked Heaven if the sold instruments there. She said yes, and I had a mission in mind. For a few weeks now I have been wanting to buy a new harmonica. So we decided to take a look. They had some! So I bought a cute one! I am so happy that we found that place and that I was able to buy a new harmonica! And it was only $10! Then the Pho place was really yummy! I had Shiracha for the first time ever! It was good. Next Heaven had class. We were a little late, but it was ok because the teacher wasn't even there yet! Then Heaven worked on her art project, a french press pouring a book, protractor, and pencil into a cup like coffee :) After that we had to go back to the apartment to change my shoes and then head out to Heavens workplace. I was able to meet her coworkers and boss that evening. I also got to try a Spicy Dark Hot Chocolate. It was amazing. I have never been a hot cocoa fan. But this changed my mind! I loved it so much that I already have had another one since then! I worked on some Calculus review and talked to a few people on chat while Heaven worked. Once she got off work at 7:45pm we walked down the street to Trader Joes and Safeway and bought our groceries for the visit. We almost went to Menchies (frozen yogurt), but decided to not have too many treats in one day! Back at the apartment we sliced a french bread baguette and poured two glasses of red wine. Then we feasted on bread, brie, grapes, wine, and of course, chocolates! It was a perfectly divine dinner for the tiring and busy day we had. We felt so relaxed and cheery! Afterwards we made some of the objects that will be in Heavens art project. Then we cleaned up and went to bed. I had a normal night of sleep. Which means a bad night of sleep. Ugh. I woke up at 5am and couldn't get back to sleep. But its ok. I woke Heaven up at 7:45am even though we were going to get up at 7:30am originally. I didn't want to get out of bed. But eventually we both did and we started making some breakfast right away. We had some hashbrowns and eggs. I had a glass of milk too! Then we got dressed for our run and went out running! It was more hills then I am used to running on, but we made it through! Then we showered and got all prepped for the day. For the few hours that we had before Heaven had to go to work we decided to go downtown and visit Pikes Place Public Market. It was so cool! There was so much to see and taste! Too much in fact. We were running out of time fast so we decided to go back over the weekend. But before we left we made sure to grab some Piroshky for our lunches. Its a Russian bread type thing with meat and cheese inside. They were really yummy. And we had to stop at the first ever Starbucks and get some coffee. Then once we got on the bus going to Heavens work we split up. I got off at a park to take some photos of the city skyline and the space needle and she kept going towards work. Then when I was done there I walked the few blocks up to her work. I browsed a few shops before heading back to her apartment. And thats where I am now! I am about to start making pizza for our dinner and I'll bring it up to Heavens work so we can eat together! Ok, well thats all for now!

Granny hexagons

2011-02-19T10:41:00.001-08:00

Ok Vanessa Nina I am finally getting around to posting a crochet tutorial for you! This is going to be a granny hexagon blanket pattern. It is a little tricky for a first try at crocheting, so if it proves to be too confusing for you just let me know and I can find something else for us to do :) For this tutorial I am just posting the instructions that the lady who posted this pattern posted and just clearing up some confusing spots. I hope it works out, but let me know if you want to do something else!

First off chain 4 and join to form a ring. The hole in the center of the ring will be smallish, but this is where you need to work from for the first round. Tweak it a bit with your fingers to open it out a little if need be.

Chain 3, then work 11 double crochet stitches (US) or treble crochet stitches (UK) into the ring. Join with a slip stitch to the 3rd stitch of the initial chain 3 and fasten off.

You should now have a little whirly wheel circle with 12 stitches/spokes altogether.

Join in a new colour for round 2 :: knot the two yarns together at the base of the first yarn color. Remember you can crochet the ends in as you go with the hex's too.

Pull the new colour yarn through to the front, through one of the dc/tr stitches :: you are working out of the stitches in this round, not the spaces in between the spokes.

For this round, you're going to be making what I think is known as a Bobble Stitch. It's basically where you work two incomplete dc/tr's into the same stitch, joining them at the end by pulling the yarn through all loops.

I shall describe it to you :: yarn over, insert hook through next stitch, yarn over, hook back through stitch (3 loops on hook), yarn over and pull through 2 loops (2 loops on hook). Then yarn over and insert hook through SAME STITCH, yarn over, hook back through stitch (4 loops on hook), yarn over and pull through 2 loops (3 loops on hook), yarn over and pull through all 3 loops.

I know it sounds complicated, but honestly, it's really not.

So this is the pattern for round 2::

Chain 2, then 1 US dc/UK tr in same stitch. Chain 1.

Work a bobble stitch into next stitch as described above, then chain 1 to space.

Repeat 10 more times until you get back to the beginning and have 12 "bobbles" in total. Join round with a slip stitch into the 2nd stitch of the initial chain 2.

OK, you still with me? Onto round 3 :: Nice and easy now, you're doing dc/tr clusters. You are working out of the SPACES now, the spaces between the bobble stitch clusters of your previous row.

Join a new colour, pull loop through a space between 2 bobble clusters to start.

Chain 3 (counts as 1 dc/tr), work US dc/UK tr twice into same space, then chain 1.

Work US dc/UK tr three times into next space, chain 1.

Repeat 10 more times until you get back to the beginning and have 12 "clusters" in total. Join round with a slip stitch into the 3rd stitch of the initial chain 3 and fasten off.

Round 4 :: the chain-loop round ::

Join in a new colour and pull loop through a space between the dc/tr clusters of the previous row.

Chain 3, then make a slip stitch into the next space between your dc/tr clusters :: this anchors the chain loop.

Continue making little chain-3's, slip stitching them in place in the gap between the dc/tr clusters of the previous round. Join the last chain-3 with slip stitch into the first chain stitch you made. Do not fasten off as you will use the same colour for round 5.

Round 5 is the final round that forms the hexagon shape. I'm going to tell you how to crochet this as a single hexagon before we talk about the joining-as-you-go method.

You are using the same colour as the last round, and you will be working the stitches under the chain-3 loops you created. So to begin, make a slip stitch under the nearest chain-3 loop.

Chain 3 (counts as one dc/tr), then US dc / UK tr twice. Chain 2 (this is the corner spacing), then in the SAME chain-3 loop, US dc / UK tr three times. This is your first corner, it should look like a double cluster of 6 dc/tr's with a pointy corner bit in the middle.

Into the next chain-3 loop, work US dc / UK tr three times. This is a single cluster and makes a straight side.

Into the next chain-3 loop, work US dc / UK Tr three times, chain 2, then US dc / UK Tr three times. This is your second corner.

Continue working your way round making your clusters of 3 dc's /tr's, alternating between making a double cluster corner group (with chain 2 spacing) and a straight side single cluster. You should be ending the round on a straight-side group of three dc's/Tr's. Join the round with a slip stitch and fasten off.

See?????? It's not so hard?????? You've made your first hexagon!!!

Now if you're happy to make lots of single hexagons and join them all by stitching, then that's absolutely fine. But joining them as you go is fairly easy, although a little fiddly.

You will be working counter-clockwise, starting with a corner.

To begin, you make a single cluster as before (chain 3, then dc/tr twice). Then instead of chaining 2 to make your corner spacing, chain ONE, then replace your second chain space with a slip stitch into the corner space of the ajoining hexagon.
Then working into the SAME chain-3 loop, dc/tr three times to finish your corner cluster.

Now you need to slip stitch into the next space of the ajoining hexagon to secure. Basically, you have to insert hook into the space, hook the yarn from the back and pull it through to the front :: first through the space, then through the loop on the hook. It takes a bit of practice, it can be fiddly. But persevere.

You continue to work your way around, forming the hex shape in the same way as described above, but making sure that after each cluster you slip stitch into the relevant space on the ajoining hexagon which makes the attachment. When you get to a corner where you would normally chain 2, you make 2 slip stitches instead (in picture above, one slip stitch is made into the corner of the cream hex, and the next slip stitch into the corner of the navy blue hex). This is kind of hard to explain in words...

I so hope that if you are inspired to give this a go, then you will be able to follow my blurb. I've done my very best with this, tried not to be too wordy, and its taken me a very long time to write it all out. But you are worth it, every word! I am happy, SO happy to be spreading the Hexagon Love.

If you find you need further help, please just leave a comment and I will do my best to reply and help out.

HAPPY CROCHETING!

Jake's birthday gift! Finally!

2011-02-18T12:32:00.001-08:00

Some of you already know that I've been working for a while now on Jake's birthday gift. Well yesterday I finally got it in the mail! I came home from school around 4:45pm to find it on the doorstep :) I'm so glad that I didn't get it early in the morning before I left for school because once I had it in my hands it felt like forever until Jake got home!I was really excited to open it and see how it turned out. I was nervous that all my hard work might have been messed up by any number of small mistakes I could've made being that I never wrote a book before. The first thing I saw was the cover. Perfect! The. Everything else inside was perfect as well. I was so happy with the way it came out that I almost cried. All that hard work trying to imagine in my head where to insert blank pages all came out right. And all the hard work of formatting the pages and getting everything to look just right came out as well. And the illustrations are wonderful. You can't even tell I edited them! Both Jake and I read the whole thing last night :) He really loved it. He had no idea what his gift was going to be. And it was hard to keep the secret from him. So many times I caught myself wanting to talk to him about a problem that I had run into with the editing and formatting and such, but I couldn't. Anyways, here are the photos I took of it to share with all of you!

The front cover. The title of the book is Bloom.

The title page on the inside.

Then there is a dedication page and a note from Jeremy, Jakes best friend.
And then this page!
Heaven, I can't thank you enough! The illustrations are wonderful. Jake loved looking at all of them and knew what each one was about :)

Then the Contents page since I decided to do chapters.

The opening chapter! I like the way I finally settled on formatting :)
The chapter number and title are in dark gray incase you can't tell...

Then here are all of the illustrations! This first one is of Jeremy introducing Tiana and I to Jake at the snow rally in 2003.

Then this is of me doing a long jump at horse camp later that year.

Then Jake and I sitting in my family's dining room talking.

Then Jake showing me the Alameda beach at night.

Jake asking me to be his girlfriend outside of Round Table Pizza where I worked at the time.

Jake and I texting each other on a couch at UCLA when we finally got together.
This is my favorite I think :)

Then me in the water and Jake laughing at me because it was freezing cold!

And last but not least our wedding kiss!

The wrapped up gift.

And Jake looking at it right after he opened the package...

And that's it guys!

Fever

2010-12-29T21:57:00.001-08:00

Of course I have to get really sick while on my winter break. I have a fever. Which basically means I spent the day in bed crying. It's been awful. Really. Anyways, so as to not be a total bum I gathered some photos of some fabulous whimsical/quirky wallpapers :) please enjoy!

Carnival

Birds and weird clouds

Flock of birds

Deer skulls

Billowy petals

Squid and jellyfish!

Pastel clouds with random faces

Birds with flag pieces

Running zebras and their reflections

Flowers

Not sure. But it'd be good for a stylish man

Musical forest critters!

Proper ladies with unrealistically large insects

Different mustaches

These are sumo wrestlers! Another manly one :)

This is supposed to be for a baby's room?... Creepy for baby I think... But cute for little boy who no longer thinks there are monsters under his bed :)

It's Christmas Time!

2010-12-21T18:55:00.001-08:00

Ok so I have been so busy around here lately. I have been battling either really bad headaches or migraines almost everyday for the past two weeks. I don't know why its worse than normal! Anyways, yesterday I woke up early and started my Christmas baking! I made some wonderful treats that I've never tried making before. So it took me hours and hours to finish. But all in all I am happy with the outcome :)

These are my salted caramels. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! I had to make myself stop munching on them while wrapping them up! I had some left over (after setting some aside for myself and for gift giving) so I left them on a plate in the kitchen. They were gone before nightfall!

This is them wrapped into individual tootsie roll type shapes. Its supposed to make it so that its easy to eat one serving, but I really doubt thats going to happen!

These are the snowflake sugar cookies I made. I bought a snowflake cookie cutter just for the cookies, but the dough was being a pain and so I ended up just making round cookies and making snowflakes out of the icing!

And last but not least these are my cranberry and chocolate (dark chocolate chips inside and a layer of white chocolate on the top) biscotti. These are yummy, but not as flavorful as I thought they would be. Next time I think I'll add some sliced almonds and vanilla extract :) But they are still yummy as they are.

I also finally mailed out the last of our Christmas cards. I didn't send out cards to friends this year like I normally do, so please don't be sad when you don't get one! I had such a small amount of time on my hands this year with school and all and I decided to just send cards to family.

Oh my Christmas gifts this year. I am so happy with the wrapping. It just makes me smile. I did use the same paper for almost ever single gift, but I like to think that you almost can't tell. I used a lot of fabric ribbon, lace, stickers, and glitter :) Instead of using name tags for the "to" and "from" I just used some vintage looking initial stickers and made sure to keep track of the ones that are for people with the same initials, or just used middle or last name initials. It took more time then if I used more modern wrapping means, but I like the glamour of this vintage look :)

I even wrapped up at least 8 more gifts after this photo was taken!

So how are your Christmas preparations coming along? I am pretty much done. Which is good because ofter tomorrow Jake will be off work until after Christmas and it will be nice to not have to run around getting last minute things ready while he's home :)

Winter is over?

2010-12-13T09:12:00.001-08:00

Now now don't get too excited or upset. This cannot be true of course! But it sure feels that way to me. Let me explain. A few weeks ago I was so cold in my room during the day that I felt like I couldn't feel my toes! So I hauled our heater into our room from the garage.

And I used it for a few days on and off. But the past week its actually bee hot at night. I've gotten so hot that I woke up sweaty and had to take my blanket off in order to fall back asleep. What the heck Winter? Stop playing games!

So Shelly decided to end her coffee addiction and apparently she overnighted it to my house! I have started having at least one huge cup of coffee per day. I don't dislike this new addiction. But I don't like being addicted to things. Because when I stay over at someone else's house and I can't afford to go out and buy that coffee I am going to get a huge headache. And thats just dumb. Nonetheless I am writing this post while drinking a huge cup of joe.

P.S. I have gotten so good at eyeballing my sugar and milk that I don't even taste test it anymore before heading out the door! I feel like this is some kind of accomplishment. It doesn't matter if its a big cup or a little one, I have it down good!

Finals week is upon me! I am so excited. I was ready to take some of my finals last week and it was torture to have to wait until this week to get them done with!

This morning I have my Biology final. I am not worried about this one at all. I am nervous about my Psychology test. But thats just because my teacher is whack. Believe me, I have studied hard for this test. I am not just blaming my teacher for my laziness! She has some issues. And I'm a little nervous about my calculus test. But mostly I'm just excited this semester is almost over and then I can do my Christmas shopping and preparations!

Yesterday my life path changed again. And I'm excited/scared. I can't ever seem to make life choices even if they seem small and trivial without having a great fear that I am making the wrong choice and that I will regret it one day. I don't think I will regret this though. We'll see.

I am not going to go to school to get a degree anymore! I am still going to take classes. Mostly for fun and to just learn. Its just that I wouldn't use my degree right after I graduated. In fact I probably wouldn't use it for 25 years or so afterwards. And by then I won't remember all the things I learned in the first place. So it would practically be like starting over again anyways. So if I want to work after I have kids and such then I might get a degree then. I know it would be harder to do then. But I can do it, if its where my heart is. I could do it now. I just don't think it really makes sense. But don't get any ideas Mom, and Grandma! I'm not settling down and having kids right away! I'm still waiting for a little while on that one :) However this does probably mean that I will be blogging more! Yea!

Ok well I'm not done with this semester yet, so I better go do some more studying :) I hope you're all having a wonderful day!

Uneasy

2010-12-11T11:10:00.000-08:00

It makes me kind of uneasy that some people read my blog and NEVER comment. So it's like a secret that they follow my post regularly. Kind of like a stalker. It kind of freaks me out. At least say hi once in a while, or just don't follow my life. It's weird. I don't mean to be rude, I'm just pointing out that I feel like you should make your presence known or something...

Live Thanksgiving Day Feed

2010-11-25T10:01:00.001-08:00

Ok I'm going with Heaven's idea of live blogging today to give you a walk through my Thanksgiving day :) I love Thanksgiving day! So this morning Jake and I woke up at 7:30am to get started on some cooking. He started his preparations on the Turkey and I started snapping some photos of our decorations :) Sorry if the photos are bad quality, I am using a phone camera.

7:30am

This is the view from the living room into the family room.

The little Autumn village above the tv and fireplace. And also the other Fall-ish decorations.

The kids table. I put Autumn die cuts on the back of all the chairs to kind of dress them up a little bit.

The adult table.

The china and rest of the place setting.

8:30am

My Pumpkin and Cream Cheese Muffins. I never follow a recipe to the dot, I have this thing about having to just glance at a recipe and just doing whatever I want :P Which is what I did this guys and they were AMAZING!!!

This is them rising in the oven...

And the final product! Like I said, they were AMAZING!

12:30pm

I guess I really like doing things at the half-hour mark :P

I had to go out to the store. MISTAKE. I drove down to Trader Joe's - CLOSED. Then drove to Target - CLOSED. Then I drove to Walmart - OPEN... but they didn't have everything that I needed. Safeway - OPEN... but they also didn't have what I needed in stock. I know, you may think I must have been looking for something strange, but really I was just looking for some celery! Then I drove down to our sketch creepy Win-Co - OPEN and filled with a ton of people! I finally bought my celery. I also picked up some wine while I was out. EVERY single store I was able to look in was sold out of Pinot Grigio. Weird right? I guess it was chosen this Thanksgiving as the "it" wine ;P I picked out a Sweet Red, Shiraz, and White Zinfandel.

Jake finally got the turkey on the grill! Seriously people this is going to be the best turkey I have ever had. It smelled amazing before he even started cooking it! Plus he made the most delicious looking turkey stock that I have ever since in my life! I can't wait to show you some photos!

I made my homemade stuffing mixture. You see all store bought stuffing box kits have some form of corn in it. So I decided to make my own because its seriously my favorite dish at dinner. I couldn't just not have stuffing on Thanksgiving! I cubed some buttermilk bread and browned it in the oven at 350deg. Then I chopped some onions, celery, and mushrooms. I also added some parsley, garlic, salt and pepper. I think that's all. Then when I'm ready to cook it up I'll add some stock :)

Then I had to hand snap the ends off of all these green beans! Then cut them all in half because they were super long! These are for the Green Bean Casserole.

That's it for right now :) Everyone is on their way over from SF as I type this :) I'm watching MythBusters!

2:30pm

Checking on the turkey...

All dressed up and ready :)

4:00pm

I have decided it's about time for some ibuprofen... I think I'm getting a fever :(

8:20pm

Beewee and I ready to start munching!!!

My final stuffing :)

Anna's apple pie! I couldn't eat it because there was corn of some form in it...

I had some champagne that grandma brought over!

Jake SLAVED over this turkey! He was even up at 1:30am to check on it while it was in the brine. Then up at 7:30am to start the other preparations. It was sooooo yummy!

Close up of the turkey

Jake had a mishaps with the tin foil...

The table with the food!

And the other table :)

Now I'm enjoying some sweet red wine and watching a tv show called Pumpkin Chunkin with the fam bam. I love them!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

A Day In Your Shoes

2010-11-24T11:26:00.001-08:00

I really wish this idea was possible. I am constantly curious about how other people feel, think, and perceive things. It truly truly intrigues me. I wonder what motivates people, what makes them behave the way they do. How they feel about me, how they perceive me. Its funny to me that we are all so different and so unique. Our minds are wonderous. Just yesterday someone told me they didn't believe I used to do hip hop. The reason? Because you're too quiet. I didn't used to think of myself as cautious, quiet, and reserved. I used to be so outgoing, accepting, and yes, loud. I was always looking for a way to make more people happy and to include as many people as possible in whatever I was doing. I was completely extroverted. To hear myself being described as quiet felt kind of weird. I guess it shouldn't have surprised me. As my lack of sleep has caught up to me over these past 2 years I have noticed myself that I am not as active as I once was. It has made me more timid. I felt a little more secure in who I was when I was younger. Now days I sometimes wonder where I fit in and who I am trying to be. I think in a sense it all boils down to what drives us. What are our passions, what do we seek most in life. Where are our priorities. Mine are not usually on par with the people around me everyday (the kids at school) so I in general feel like I don't fit in to the things they are pursuing. Which I guess would make me less inclined to open up to them and include them. Which in turn would make me appear to be quiet. But if you know me (Heather!) then you know that I am not usually quiet when we are hanging out and having fun. I can be funny and crazy, or possibly just plain crazy ;P I like to talk and keep things lively. Unless I am dead tired. So like I started off with, I am intrigued with other people. People so different from me. I really wish I could live a day in someone else's shoes. But not to just live in their life, so really experience their mind. What a curious thing...

Mistake

2010-11-20T20:03:00.000-08:00

Ok I'll admit it. I messed up big time. I thought it would be ok to pop two benadryl and forget about my allergies and enjoy a thanksgiving dinner around friends and family. Now I'm laying in my sister in laws bed crying on and off from the intense pain I'm in. I took two more benadryls once I realized I must have eaten something with corn In it. But it doesn't seem to be helping. I'm having a really really bad allergic reaction! Everything hurts and itches really badly :( I hope I feel better fast.

P.s. My tummy is making nonstop rumbling loud noises and threatening to make me throw up whatever forbidden thing I shoved into it :(

Determined

2010-11-20T14:32:00.001-08:00

I'm determined to get these flower pins/clips perfected for Christmas :) Here is my second batch taking the suggestions I got into consideration. Please tell me what you think of the new ones!

These are a set of grey hair clips. The fabric is cotton, from an old dress :) I wanted to make the sets coordinating but not totally matching. Plus this second batch I made all the flowers smaller and less busy :)

The flat one

The ruffled one

The black set. Once again made from the fabric of an old dress :)

This ruffled one is a hair clip

This one is less ruffled an has an antique button on it. Plus this one is a pin.

And last but not least, the cream set.

This one has a more stiff fabric. And I used a blue antique button. There was only one hole in the middle which is why I sewed it the way I did :) This one is a clip.

I love this one. I plan on making more with book paper :) This one is a pin.

So what do you think of this batch? Better?

flower pins

2010-11-16T10:53:00.001-08:00

I have been trying to figure out some homemade gifts for Christmas that people would actually use. I feel awkward about receiving homemade gifts that we all know I'll never really use. And since we are trying to save money where we can homemade gifts would be great for us this year. One think that I personally love are those fabric flower hair accents, or cardigan accents, or even shirt or purse accents! Plus there are so many different styles! I thought that making some homemade flower pins would be a good idea for a homemade gift. Here are some photos of my first attempts.

the first one I made!

a semi side view to see the layers

a close up

This one was such a project! At first the pink layer was too big, so I cut it in half and redid it (which means that I restitched it by hand) Then I did the same exact thing for the grey/brown layer and the cream lace layer. Then I incorporated the tulle on one side. To finish it off I sewed some crystal beads in the center. Is this something that you would use? What do you think of the colors, textures, and such?

Next I wanted to make one using some fabric from an old tank top that never fit right but I couldn't bring myself to throw away.

So this one has a cotton fabric (tank top) on the bottom with cute little blossoms.

The colors are off-white, blues and a little purple. So on top of that layer I added some cream lace, then some of the tan canvas.

For the crystal beads this time I sewed them on in a circle using coordinating colors to the bottom layer.

Next I used the other tank top, same exact top but different colors for the blossoms.

I sewed it a little differently than the last one so that it was more of a circle.

I didn't want to make it too thick so there is just a touch of tulle over the bottom layer.

Then a purple layer to go with the colors in the tank top. It took me a while to settle on the last layer. But I finally decided to go with grey lace. Then more crystal beads for the center.

So what do you think? Are these pins/clips that you would use? Or would this be one of those awkward homemade gifts that you never actually use? You can be brutally honest.

Eye candy

2010-11-13T15:58:00.001-08:00

This Tumblr posts a lot of eye candy :)

Such as

Awesome.

Christmas Cards 2010

2010-11-12T21:46:00.001-08:00

I thought I would do a post of my Christmas cards for this year. I took some photos of me making a few of them. Like I said before this years cards are really simple. That way I can finish them quickly and without having to buy anything extra :) While growing up my family liked to buy cards that had the 3 wise men on them. Every year we got a different design, but they all had the 3 wise men. I guess I grew fond of it. This year I wanted to do something with the 3 wise men. I don't plan on carrying on the tradition to do it every year, but it fit with the design I wanted to do this year :)

Proof that you can use a pink-blue-green plaid pattern on a christmas card! I forgot to take a photo of them too, but I have a dark red envelopes for all of the cards to be mailed in. So this cards is a standard A2 size. The design in on the front measures about 4in x 2in.

The inside stamped message. Then we'll add personal messages to each one before mailing them out :)

I started out with my stamp, ink, stamp placement holder, and a nice cream card stock.

This is how the stamp placement holder thing works. Its so that you can make sure to stamp straight each time :)

And you can make sure you get it in the corner correctly! This way you can use up as much of the paper as possible.

Then I use my paper cutter to trim it down.

Next I cut out a piece of patterned paper just a little bit larger than the stamped image piece.

Then I glued the patterned paper to the center of my card.

Then I glued down the stamped image piece. You usually don't want to rub your hands over the ink so I always place a scrap piece of paper down and rub my hand over that to make sure that the two pieces of paper are properly adhered to the card.

And there you go, a simple and cheap Christmas card! Exactly what I wanted this year :D This design would work wonderfully with all kinds of papers and stamps! So you should try to make your own Christmas cards this year!!

Not Time Wasted

2010-11-12T12:19:00.000-08:00

I like to "waste my time" using this app called StumbleUpon. I pick a topic and when I click "stumble" it goes to a random blog post that has to do with the topic :) My absolute favorite lately has been doing this with the topic "art" There are so many wonderful art blogs out there :) I shared one the other day, I really like her stuff. Sometimes it doesn't take me to a blog, sometimes it just posts a photo. So I can't always find the blog that it originated from. Nonetheless I have had a great time using this app, and I spend at least 30min a day on it for sure! Today I think I have decided on a Christmas card design for our cards this year. I need to get working on them because I will be in school all the way up to the 20th, which is a bit late to start making cards! I will have to make them when I can find the free time from school. Because of this, I am making more simple cards this year. I had so many ambitious ideas, but they would take up too much time :( Plus when we wrote out the list of people we want to buy gifts for it was a small army for sure. So we need to save money where we can so that we can make this small army Christmas happy :) I hope you are all enjoying this PERFECT weather that Fall brings! I know I am! It is my favorite weather. Plus just the cheery feel of the holiday season makes my life seem better! I just can't help but to smile when I see all the fall and Christmas decorations and gifts lining the store windows! I know quite a few people who don't like the holidays, but I just think they're crazy :P I cannot wait to make some yummy goodies for Thanksgiving and Christmas. But I have to remind myself that I am still trying to lose weight! The wonderful food that will fill out house soon must still be eaten in modest proportions :D Right? Right! Well I hope this post finds you in good spirits!

If You Find Yourself To Be Bored Today

2010-11-10T10:47:00.001-08:00

You should check out this lovely artists blog!
Just Click Here ;)
She have a cute but sometimes creepy style. I feel drawn to look at everything she has ever posted! Plus she just got married (Beautiful bride, and amazing wedding!) so there are cute wedding things on her blog right now :) Enjoy :)

Geek

2010-11-10T10:31:00.001-08:00

Ok remember a long time ago I said I was going to post a blog about the Geekery iPhone and iPad cases I was looking at? That day has come! Now that I can post photos from my iPad, I can do this post! I have to admit that I am in love with most iPad backgrounds that use the Apple icon. I've been called a nerd for that, but who cares? Anyways, moving onto the cases. I collected these photos when I was preparing to either buy a case or make one.

Genius. An iPhone case that looks like an iPhone! I love it. I love that its made out of felt too. There is so much detail in those icons!

This one is similar but with a big wonderful apple! I love the old school Apple apple.

Following that rainbow idea, a retro tv! I find the felt hand stitched cases so sweet! It just feels more homey and special.

For the Paul Frank fans out there! I wouldn't actually ever buy this case, I'm not as big of a fan as I used to be...

And a tribute to my heritage! A geisha girl case. Its so sweet! I love all the little details that are included in this one. Such as the little lips, the eyelashes, and the flowers!

Continuing the Japanese theme we have a sushi! A piece of Ebi on rice wrapped with nori. I like the double stitching on this one :)

Oh My Goodness. I used to make mix tapes when I was younger! And then it moved onto making mix c.d.s! Now it just looks like you have an old school mix tape in your purse!

LOL! This one made me laugh as soon as I saw it. I knew right away what it was! Doom! My dad and our exchange student used to play this game every night for a long time. Awesome.

What a cute idea! Who doesn't like Tetris?! If I were to make this I would make the pieces with velcro so I could move them around when I'm bored :P

I am a fan of holiday themed things. I would totally use this for the whole month of October! And look the little guy even holds your headphones for you! Adorable.

HEAVEN. Do you remember when I would always use this stationary?! Ahhh memories...

Matching His and Hers love letter cases. Amore. A little too cheesy for most guys though.

Shhhh my phone is in disguise! A good idea for a case since its purpose is to cover your phone! I like how simple and clean this design is!

The uber nerd in me likes this DNA design. The even more uber nerd appreciates that the separated the spiral turns into clusters of 3 base pairs which codes for an amino acid! Awesome...

For the Black Tie event of course! I love how legit this is! How cute would it be to use this case when you go to formals :)

Who hasn't used an Etch-a-sketch? Plus I have a weak spot for buttons and robots! And if I'm honest, something about that red and grey together makes me happy.

For the musician in the family :)

And I hope by now you all have seen the video on Youtube about the Double Rainbow. I don't really like this case, just the thing that its making a reference to. I think the design could be done nicer, but this made me smile nonetheless.

Now along with cases there are decals that you can add to your apple product. Such as...

PAC MAN!

For the iPad too!

I've always loved this one! So clever ;)

And then there are backgrounds for my iPad that I have downloaded... Oh goodness, all the apple goodness :D

And then some not so geeky ones...

My lovely sister took this photo!

This is a photo of my dad around the time I was born. Nostalgic much? Yes. It makes me happy :) I don't usually use photos of people for my backgrounds because they just get covered up with icons. But every once in a while I use one as a pick me up during stressful times!

Well I hope this wasn't too many photos all at once. But I have been wanting to do this post for a long time and I kind of just kept collecting things :) What were your favorites?

Bang Bang

2010-11-09T21:26:00.001-08:00

Ok this is the first time that I have invested money into my blog! I bought an app that will allow me to blog and post photos from my iPad. I want to be able to blog more, and that means I need to be able to do it from my iPad. Because its the only "computer" that belongs to me and that I have with my all the time :) I searched Google for how to add photos to my posts from my iPad and the best I could come up with was that I should buy an app that will allow me to do so. I then tried to decide what was the best app and purchased it! In fact I am writing this post using it. So if this works out then I guess it will be worth the money :P Now, onto what I was making this post for in the first place...

Yesterday I did something I have been thinking about for a long time. I cut my own hair. I have been cutting my husbands hair for a while now. And I know that cutting a woman's long hair is totally different. Especially if its your own hair! But I thought, "I might be able to do this!" And so I went for it. I was originally going to try to cut side swept bangs, but I ended up with long bangs instead. And then the rest was just layers :) Here are a few photos of the outcome!

A front view right after the cut!

This was the best way I could take a photo of the back. I know you can't totally see the layers, but I promise that there are layers!

See! Layers!

I was trying out how it would look with my hat :)

Then this was today on my way to school :)

And now with my hair up writing this blog!

I am pleased with the outcome. It doesn't require me to run to the nearest salon to get it fixed. Which was a worry that I had when I first started cutting my hair :P I got a lot of attention today from my hair. Even my Math teacher talked to me about it. I guess my classmates are so used to me wearing my hair clipped back and pulled up into a ponytail. Change is good :) Plus I think Fall/Winter is the perfect time to add bangs to your hair! They'll keep your forehead warm :P I cut my bangs by parting my hair from the crown of my head to the ends of my eyebrows and making that hair my bangs. Then I cut the layers by taking small sections of my hair and pulling it straight upwards and trimming the ends. But pulling it up like that it creates layers :) Anyways, in the end, I have a new hair style and I didn't have to shovel out any money for it! Win win!

SICK

2010-11-08T10:43:00.000-08:00

It seems like everyone and anyone is catching this cold/flu. Whatever it is, I hate it. I caught it from my brother in law about 10days ago right before my long time planned Foxy Shazam concert! I had to miss the concert :( I was able to keep from giving it to Jake for a long time, a whole week! But then he got sick too. I hate when we're both sick! Thankfully yesterday Jake ordered pizza, so I didn't have to cook. We've been spending a lot of time in bed. I have been going to classes while sick, including my dance class. SO HARD TO DO. So many times I had to DRAG myself out of the house. And then have coughing fits while at school. And I am sorry to the people who are offended that I am going to school sick, but the hard reality is that I cannot skip this many classes! So if I have caused anyone else to get sick, I am truly sorry. Especially since this sickness will just not go away! But what can I do. Anyways, I feel like my blog has practically died. And I am still in School for another month... well plus the next like 3 or so years... yeah. I am really sorry to my friends who love reading my posts. I could make promises to work harder at it, but then I might fail and feel even worse! There is a sliver of hope in my mind though, I am still waiting to get my CPAP machine. And I am hoping that once I get that and start using it regularly that I will have more energy, and clarity of mind. Then I will be able to complete my daily tasks much faster, which means more time and energy for blogging! Yea! Lets all hope for that outcome :) Anyways, I have a midterm in Biology in about an hour, so I am going to get back to studying :P I hate the way that tests stress me out. But I love that as soon as I walk out of a test I can relax for a little while. Today I will go home, clean my room, and then lay down. I can't say for sure that I will be able to nap, but I will try. I have a monster headache today. I am guessing from the sleep apnea :( Maybe I can trim my hair if I can't sleep :P We'll see! If I do end up trimming my hair I will post some photos :) I hope that all of you are having a wonderful week so far!

2010-11-05T06:38:00.000-07:00

"So you thought you had to keep this up
All the work that you do
So we think that you're good
And you can't believe it's not enough
All the walls you built up
Are just glass on the outside

So let 'em fall down
There's freedom waiting in the sound
When you let your walls fall to the ground
We're here now

This is where the healing begins, oh
This is where the healing starts
When you come to where you're broken within
The light meets the dark
The light meets the dark

Afraid to let your secrets out
Everything that you hide
Can come crashing through the door now
But too scared to face all your fear
So you hide but you find
That the shame won't disappear

So let it fall down
There's freedom waiting in the sound
When you let your walls fall to the ground
We're here now
We're here now, oh

This is where the healing begins, oh
This is where the healing starts
When you come to where you're broken within
The light meets the dark
The light meets the dark

Sparks will fly as grace collides
With the dark inside of us
So please don't fight
This coming light
Let this blood come cover us
His blood can cover us

This is where the healing begins, oh
This is where the healing starts
When you come to where you're broken within
The light meets the dark
The light meets the dark"

-Tenth Avenue North

This song has really described me. I love that about it. Not only because it describes how I feel about myself, but also that it reminds me that I can let it all go. That you can let your walls fall down. I've found the person I can do that with. I've always been really an open person, always willing to talk about my past and how I feel. But I have always kept a few secrets. Secrets that I was afraid that if I told them to someone they wouldn't like/love me anymore. But what I didn't realize was that I couldn't move past those regrets that I had until I let them out. When I finally confessed these things to that one person, they never wavered, they were a rock. I felt like I was falling to pieces and instead of being mad, or disgusted, or rude, or judgmental, they wrapped their arms around me and wiped my tears off my cheeks. They never thought of just walking away, they sat and reassured me that it was going to be ok. I feel like this person is so much stronger and wonderful than I am. I don't deserve so much grace and love. And yet, they picked me to give it to. I'm so deeply blessed. This song reminds me of that, it makes me cry. It reminds me that I still need to work on myself and become a better person, but that I need help. And that it's going to be ok :)

The Quiet

2010-10-17T17:55:00.000-07:00

What is it that I love about you? That makes me seek you? What is it about you that changes me? I cannot answer these questions for sure But I love the way I can hear myself breathe, how everything seems clearer. I love the peace that flows in my veins, I feel compelled to close my eyes and smile, to just relish in the moment. I search for you, and hide away in you. I understand that sometimes I will not be able to find you, but I know that you will never be too far away. When I sit with you my worries slide from my heart out the door and wait for me to leave you and regain their position there. When you reside in my heart you bring a peace to my day from the inside out. I've known you from the day I was born, and I will keep you to the day I die. I love you, my quiet :)

Funny How Things Work Out

2010-10-16T16:19:00.000-07:00

Isn't it though? Most of us have ideas of how things will be when we grow up. People look at kids and the way they are and for some reason think it shows what they will be like when they are adults. Lets take a look into the things that have changed about me since I was younger.

1. Growing up I had NO sweet tooth at all. I didn't even eat the cake at birthday per ties.
*I just ate a piece of pumpkin pie COVERED in whip cream. And I get cravings for sweets now.

2. I wanted to be an ER doctor.
*I don't even want to take an Anatomy class at school because I don't want to dissect a cadavar.

3. I would put zip lock bags over my hands and hold my breath whenever I had to touch raw meat.
*I like medium rare streak, and I touch all kinds of raw meat while cooking now.

4. I was insanely picky about food and wouldn't branch out.
*I will try everything once. And if I don't like it, I will keep trying it over and over again to see if it will grow on me.

5. I had a really closed mind about life issues. And maybe that just had to do with my age.
*I am open to hearing others opinions on things, and am willing to change.

6. I used to not care about what others thought about my clothes and hair.
*It really matters to me now.

7. I hated reading.
*Do I really have to say what the change is ;)

8. I wanted to be a mom by the time I was 22.
*I'm 24, and not trying.

9. I lived in heels.
*I live in ballet flats.

10. I was loud, and cheery, and patient.
*I like quiet, I'm happy, but not always, and I am trying to be patient :)

Of course there are so many things. But I won't write them all done now. The thing is, I am just realizing how much I am not the person I used to be. Its not bad, it just is. I used to write really well for my age. And right now I am struggling. But I am growing and changing as we speak. And I think that is a wonderful thing. I don't ever want to stay the same.

Fears - inspired by Shelly

2010-10-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

My friend Shelly just did a blog post about a fear that she has. The fear of reading outload in public. As I was trying to leave her a comment I decided (since it wouldn't let me leave the comment, and since I haven't blogged regularly lately) to just make my own post about it. Shelly I hope you don't mind :) When I was little I had the same fear. I hated being asked to read things aloud even just at home around my family. I got this "tunnel vision" type thing with my eyes. I felt like I lost the ability to recognize words I knew, my palms got sweaty, and I was just all around nervous. Couldn't even sit still in my seat. There is something about reading outloud that makes people scared. I think it must be tied to public speaking too. Because a lot of people that I know don't like doing either of these things. I'm guessing it has something to do with being judged by others. But I don't really know.

Anyways, what I was going to tell Shelly is that I don't really fear it anymore. I have a thing about my fears, if I feel like I am being irrational I will do what I can to overcome that fear. Like the reading outloud, there isn't really anything about it that should make me fear it. So I put myself out there, as uncomfortable as it is. You cannot learn to swim if you don't get in the water (which is my next fear, but we'll get to that in a second). When someone would ask for a volunteer to read something I would raise my hand. Its not that I wanted to do it, but I just wanted to get over this feeling that took over me when I did do it. And with time it got better. I still don't like reading outloud in public, but I don't mind doing it.

Thinking about this fear made me think of what fears I have right now. For years now I have been working on two fears; large bodies of water that I can't touch and/or see the floor bed to, and dogs - of any size or breed - no, it doesn't matter if they are little and cute as a button.

Lets start with the water one. Like I said I am afraid of being out in water that I can't see through, and also when I cannot touch the floor bed. If I let my fear overcome me, it gets so bad that I have a panic attack. This to me seems like a silly fear. Especially when the water is safe for all intents and purposes. My solution - get in the water, in the middle, where I would be most scared. I'm not trying to say this is an easy thing to do. But when you want to get over a fear, I think the best way is to face it, over and over again. You will most likely dread it, and want to turn back, and maybe sometimes you will. But just keep at it. That's what I tell myself anyways. Everytime someone I am with asks if I want to go with them to a river, the ocean, or a lake, I want to say no. It is not my idea of fun. But I always, ALWAYS, say yes :( I get into my suit and I swim out until I cannot touch the bottom anymore, and I either tread water or swim around. I have to constantly be giving myself a pep talk in my mind, control my breathing and try to not let the fear take over me. My heart races at times, and my breathing is fast, I'm scared. But I know, I really know, that it's ok, I will be ok. I always get a headache from the stress of doing all this, but I like to think that someday I will enjoy going swimming in large bodies of water. They are beautiful, and every else looks like they are having a great time!

My next fear is of dogs. I can't really explain this one. I'm just scared of them. I'm always afraid that they will all turn their head and attack me as I am walking by. This is another silly fear. Even peoples family dogs freak me out. I can see them playing with the children but I still don't want him to come anywhere near me. I used to cross the street if someone was walking towards me with a dog. But just like with the water thing, I am working on it. I will stay on the same sidewalk, and as time has passed I have also challenged myself to walk closer and closer to the dog itself. I am not as scared of dogs as I am of the water, but its still a fear that I have.

What are your fears?

Foxy Shazam

2010-10-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

I am pretty sure that I have mentioned this band before. Anyways, Jake and I discovered them by accident and now we both love them so much! We've been to two of their concerts so far. And they are about to be in town again. Jake and I are going to go to every concert in the area! Yeah, believe me, its necessary. Promise. Seeing them in concert is so much fun. Plus last time we saw them in concert I discovered a new band that I really like as well, from Boston Bad Rabbits ;) This is how I think people view Foxy Shazam, love or hate. (How can you not love these guys?!) They are one of those bands that I feel don't really have that much of an in-between following. They are quirky, and high energy. I love it. Anyways, I think there are about 3 concerts that we will be going to at the end of this month, in a row. Its going to be a blast. I bet I'll feel like a rock star ;P I will try to get some photos for you guys! I am going to try to learn the words to more of their songs so that I can sing along better this time. I love their music, but most of the time I am listening to it while doing homework and haven't memorized the words. And concerts are better when you know the words :)

Ok guys, I didn't forget about the "geekery" post, but I haven't sat down and figured out how to post the photos from my ipad onto blogger yet, so I will make it a goal of mine to do next week :) I would say this weekend, but I have midterms to study for. So, I'm sorry for dangling a carrot and not giving it to you yet. I know, it was mean. I didn't mean to drag it out this long. And now when I finally post it, you will be expecting something uber cool and it will disappoint, lol, epic fail. Oh well. I am confident that you guys will forgive me :) Because you guys are the best!

Seriously

2010-10-05T06:58:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to get a post going for days now. I'm trying to keep up on hw, sleep, and studying for midterms. I know, I just had midterms right?!? Ugh, round 2 is coming up fast! And I can't figure out how to post these photos that I want for my next blog post. Soon, I'm going to get it up. Promise. Or maybe I shouldn't promise... Anyways, also! Jakes birthday is on the first of next month and I am reallly really really trying to make time to work on his gift. I'm making him something this year. And in case he still reads this blog I won't say anything else :D But working on that would be more important than figuring out how to post those photos. Sorry!

Brb

2010-09-30T12:26:00.000-07:00

Don't you just hate it when people post blogs telling you what they are thinking about blogging later? That's what I'm doing right now. I've been collecting photos of "geekery" things, mostly iPhone/iPad cases. I'm planning on blogging about it soon... Interested?! I'm so lame.... And mean...

realization

2010-09-28T12:12:00.000-07:00

So in 2 days we will find out if I met my goal! My goal starting in the middle of August was to get down to 140lbs by the end of September. I am not a girl who is too fidgety about saying how much I actually weigh. It doesn't really matter in the end. I just want to be healthy and skinny :D Anyways, my top weight ever was 159lbs. But when I set this goal in August (actually Jake set it, one for him and one for me)I weighed 153lbs. Whew. So 13lbs lost in a month and a half. I was really nervous when he set the goal. I didn't think there was any way I could lose that much by the end of Sept. That was a lot of weight. And I have been trying to lose weight for a while. Its not been going as well as I would like. But here we go, I said "lets do it!" I want to be skinny again like I was in high school. Those were the good days :) I am really uncomfortable with my stomach. Thats the one thing I really want to change. I love doing sit ups in my dance class because I really hope that its helping get that area flat again, as well as the weight loss :) Anyways, I have been really trying this past month and a half. Having a short term goal quickly showed to be better than my long time goal of getting back down to 120-130lbs. In this goal I could see the deadline, and it wasn't that far ahead of me. I had to be careful, and deligent. I got really sick for about 2 weeks (ended a week ago) and I didn't lose any weight that whole time, but thankfully I didn't gain any back either. I just maintained. Because it was so close to being the end of Sept. when I finally felt better and got back into the swing of things I felt like I wouldn't realize my goal. However, I got a glimpse of hope this morning when I weighed in at 140.2lbs!!! I just might cross that finish line in 2 days at either 140lbs, or lower! I am so crazy excited. I hope it happens! Its normal to flexuate a little, so I wouldn't be surprised if I end up weighing 141lbs tomorrow and still make it down to 140lbs on the 30th. We will see. The end is near!

Psychology

2010-09-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

Ok I might not have mentioned this before, but it kind of goes without mention that Psychology teachers are crazy. And mine is no exception. A lot of the time I have a hard time following her in class and getting what she is meaning when she is rambling on about the same thing but in different ways, and continually repeating herself. I get what we are going over in class because I read the chapters and do the study questions. But those who haven't been are totally lost in her class. But today I understood everything she taught. And today it really hit home for me. Today I almost cried in class. Today I saw the genius in her. Today was the first day I enjoyed her whole class and wasn't counting down the minutes for the end. Today was the first time I wanted more time, more information. I like that, but at the same time, I don't want to revisit today's class tomorrow, or ever really. I just appreciate that it happened, and that it was taught well. Ugh, I know this is so vague, but I don't want to be too specific and spend too much time trying to explain what I'm feeling or why I feel that way. I just wanted to express this much, and now I have to go do hw!

Boring and exciting at the same time

2010-09-13T16:19:00.000-07:00

So let's start off with the exciting! I had a great anniversary with Jake last Thursday. I don't know where the past four years went, but I know I had a wonderful time spending them with him! We tried a new restaurant for dinner and it turned out being a great place! Then we went to the California Science Academy. We watched a cool planetarium show, looked at the MANY aquariums, looked at the African section, and more. But we did miss out on the rainforest because it closed before we got to it. Then we came home and watched some tv and got some sleep. We were both still sick so I'm glad we were able to do anything at all!

Next, we had my family birthday party on Saturday. For my birthday this year I just asked for money to go towards my savings for an iPad for school. To my great surprise I received an iPad instead of money!!! I still can't believe I have it already! I thought I was going to have to save up for a couple more months at the least :) I'm writing this blog on it now :) While laying in bed I might add. Because I'm still sick :(

As for the boring part... I'm still in school of course and today I started my first midterms week. I had my biology midterm today. I think it went well. Of course time will tell for sure. Tomorrow I have my calculus midterm. I'm not really looking forward to that one! At least with today's midterm I felt prepared and not nervous at all. I almost always get nervous for the math tests!

Ok well sorry this is so short but I need to get a nap or even just some rest in, so ttyl guys!

sometimes

2010-09-04T10:39:00.000-07:00

I was just talking to Jake last night about how sometimes I wonder WHY I am going back to school. I don't think I would feel this way if I had gone to college right out of high school and got married in the middle of college or afterwards. But because I was married for 3yrs before going back and my priorities in life had already shifted I feel somewhat lost about this whole thing, sometimes. I guess the key word for me to remember is "sometimes". Because as I was thinking to myself last night about how hard this is, and how tired I am, and how I am not getting the time to do things that I want to do, and how everything I think about and talk about for the most part is school, I remembered how amazing it is to get an education, to learn all the things I am learning and have already learned. I remembered how excited I get no when someone is talking about something and I actually know what they are talking about and give my opinion on it, or help them solve a problem and what not. I am happy that I have gone back to school. I will be happy in a few years when I graduate. I may have taken the longer road to getting there and going back, but I'm there now. And I know its a good thing. I need to focus on that, and not the "sometimes" :)

picture envy

2010-08-27T12:58:00.001-07:00

I have to admit it. I get picture envy all the time. In fact I probably love looking at photos so much because it makes me want the things I see in them more. I want to be stylish, I want to travel, I want to relax, I want to laugh, and so on. Seeing other people, or myself doing these things in photos makes me happy, but it also makes me long for those things again. I was wondering, what is one of your favorite photos that makes you get "photo envy"? It can be a photo of you, or someone else, or of an object or activity. Here is the photo that sparked this idea for me today...

little smiles

2010-08-27T11:37:00.000-07:00

Something that makes me smile in the morning is driving in nice weather with the windows down, my sunglasses on, and the radio playing a sweet quirky song :) And the absence of my daily headache/migraine is the ultimate bonus! Of course there are several other things that makes this moment even more enjoyable. Such as, not being in a hurry for fear of being late. I can just sit back and drive casually and feel the sun on my skin and feel like I'm the only one on the freeway enjoying the lingering drive of 2 miles that take 30mins :) Having the time to eat a small breakfast, all too often I don't have the time or just plain forget, causing my tummy to start talking to me on my drive. Taking the time that morning to feel good about what I am wearing and how I look. Today was one of those days. I am wearing a fun hat with my hair down, which cooperated today and looks perfectly tousled, a simple black T-shirt and jeans with my favorite ballet-flats. I feel like I can relax in this outfit and look good doing so ;) Well I would love to go on and on, about the things that make my smile in the morning time on my way to school, but... I have to go to class now! What makes your morning better?

I used to be good

2010-08-20T10:26:00.000-07:00

I was bad at blogging for a long time, then I was good for a little amount of time, and now it seems that I am on the path of being bad again :( Sorry guys! I am lacking time and inspiration lately for this little blog. I have been thoroughly enjoying reading other people's blogs when I have a break in hw. But never enough time or energy to make a new wonderful post of my own. Anyways, so that I am not leaving you with nothing other than excuses I will share with you the conversation that my husband and I had a few nights ago in hopes of making you smile!

To set up the scenery in your mind first... we were supposed to be going to sleep in bed. I was starting to fall asleep when all the sudden I hear Jake ask me a question...

"Are Narwhals REAL?!?"

I couldn't help but laugh! And I replied "I'm not sure, but I think so... we could look it up tomorrow on google or something..."

"Lets settle this once and for all! Wiki!"

so he gets on his iPhone and he looks it up, and sure enough, they are REAL! He then went onto Google Imgages and found this one to show me

And then we had an hour long conversation (mostly humorous) about Narwhals...
..."...dude, people swim with them! What if he spears you?!..."
It was a nice way to end the tough day I had. Usually I am the one coming up with randomn weird things to ask/talk to Jake about when we are supposed to be falling asleep.

I hope to have many more nights like that! :P

Vacation

2010-08-12T14:31:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that this past vacation was so nice that I am already eagerly trying to find some time off from school and work to make another trip out there again this year :) Let me tell you a few things that transpired during this trip...

I reread the entire novel Breaking Dawn. And if you have ever held that book you know that it's huge and it would be quite an achievement to read the whole thing while on vacation ;P

I ate some amazing clam chowder, twice.

I tried and retried and retried The Dutch Brothers Coffee Shop almost every day of the trip *blush*, it was delicious. I had their iced mac mocha every single time. Jake however went down the menu one drink each visit and tried almost all of their lattes.

I swam in a lake with a current that took us floating downstream when the sun wasn't out and tried to not act like a baby about how cold it was and how sharp all those rocks hitting my butt while flying downstream :( It was a great time, don't get me wrong! I can't wait to do it again next year, just perhaps with some rivershoes and some shorts!

While visiting the port of Brookings, OR, there was a little shopping center that had a contest/hunt going on. There was a little toy boat named "Chetty" and he was hanging out in one of the shops (all of the shops participated and took turns hosting Chetty (in plain sight, little kids can play!) and had signs on their doors reminding you to look for him) and if you found him you got a prize from the store he was hanging out in. Well guess who found him?! That's right, me :) Chetty happened to be hanging out in their local hair salon, so I got some leave-in hair conditioner! I have yet to try it... I am afraid I won't like it like I like the new leave-in conditioner that Lush just came out with!!!! (btw, Shelly, Heaven! If you haven't gone in and gotten samples of the new products do so!)

I got to meet 3 more cousins, Nick, Mariah, and Chris!

I played a little golf with Jake and Micah.

I had more benadryl in a 6 day period than I have in probably a month before ;P

I went shooting with the fam bam.

I went to their county fair and rode two rides despite my hate for traveling fair rides... they just don't seem safe enough! And I looked at over 25 different kinds of Fuchsias! And didn't buy a single thing!

I attended my first Rodeo! It was awesome! We had to leave before it was over, and man did I want to stay and see more! It was so exciting :)

Jake and I walked through a Redwood Forest. Man alive its beautiful in those! I think it is impossible to enjoy nature's beauty TOO much, but we sure got close :D I couldn't capture it in the photos that I took and I really want to go again! It would be neat to camp out there.

The one and only souvenir I bought was a Redwood necklace at a little gift shop on the way home. The gift shop was called "The Legend Of Bigfoot!" I will include a photo of their business card, it's great.

We drove up on Monday and came home the next Sunday. We first went to see Grandma Sigi in Brookings, OR. We stayed there until Thursday, at which time we drove back into CA, Crescent City to be exact to stay with Grandpa Rich, who had a prime rib dinner feast waiting for us! This dinner is one of the big events on this yearly trip :P. Here are a few photos of this trip! Enjoy :)

a list I want right now

2010-08-10T14:16:00.000-07:00

make a scrapbook using newspaper as all the page backgrounds. Perhaps covering them with a clear gloss first so that my hands don't get ink all over them while looking through it.

make a painting finger paint style. At the moment I want to paint pink posies with yellow centers, with a black and white and blue and purple-ish pink background. Side note, perhaps I should make a sketch of this today while its fresh in my mind...

make a birthday wish list and email it out to relatives for party next month...

seriously get my act back together as far as hair, make-up, and clothing are concerned. No more excuses!

clean my room.

get more fish tank water, and clean tank asap.

think of something for anniversary <3

get more piercings.

spend more time in the sun in beautiful places. Such as hiking on the weekends, or driving out to the beach and taking a nap...

keep changing!

thinking thoughts

2010-08-09T11:10:00.000-07:00

I will post a full vacation blog hopefully tomorrow, because today I am not home and there is at least one more thing I want to take a photo of to include in my post. However, I thought I would just post a little something today since I am sitting in Peet's waiting for my phone to charge :) We got home from the long drive late last night at 11pm. I suppose thats not too bad, except that Jake had to get up in the morning for work and I had decided to tag along with him since he has a softball game tonight. So far this Summer I haven't been able to go to a single one of his games and I am starting back up with school again on Friday morning. So I took my chance today and ended up in Berkeley for the whole day! I found out on the drive out here that his game isn't until 9:10pm tonight! So it really will be a whole day in Berkeley! I started it out with a chai, wonderful decision! I have been drinking coffee or "mac mochas" all week (which has been GREAT), so I kind of missed these sweet chais :) Plus I just love the way that Peet's makes them, topped with milk foam and all :) I have yet to make an equivalent one at home :/ After receiving my chai and finding a table with an outlet nearby I set up the laptop and uploaded my vacation photos. I found that there were lots of times that I was having such a great time vacationing that I didn't take photos! So many things I wish I had a snapshot of at least! Oh well. Let me just say that all in all this vacation was amazingly better than I anticipated! I was happy to be in my room last night, but sad the trip was over. Plus I lost my pillow, my lovely, wonderful, perfect size and shape, pillow :( I suppose I will get it back in a year, but seriously. Until then I am on a hunt for a new one that is just like it! Last night I slept with the spare pillow we have up in our linens closet, but it was uncomfortable. I think I will spend a better part of the rest of this morning and afternoon reading a new book I have been meaning to get to :) I'm sorry if this blog had been sporadic, I feel so easily distracted right now in this coffee shop. My desire to people watch and eavesdrop keeps making me lose my place ;P Have a wonderful day friends, I will be back tomorrow!

updates and updates :)

2010-08-04T16:37:00.000-07:00

Ok so to answer the number riddle that I posted a while ago I might ramble a bit. I have a hard time explaining the best way to understand the pattern. How I described it was to tell someone how many of each number there is in each term and what the numbers are, and what you say is what the next term is. Such as, if the first term is 1, you would describe it as "there is one one" so the second term is 11, one one, then you describe the second term as two ones, so the third term would be written as 21, two one, and so on... So here are the first terms that I gave you all...

1, 11, 21, 1211, 111221, 312211,

and the next three terms are...

13112221, 1113213211, 31131211131221

I hope you understand how you find the next terms from my description :)

Moving on, I took my final and I suppose that I did well because I finished with an A in the course! Wahoo! I am so glad I got through that class with a great grade :) And now I am set up to continue onto Calculus in the Fall! Less than 2 weeks away! I cannot believe that I only have a 2 week break from Summer school into the Fall semester. Oh well, I guess that's just how it goes. If I really wanted a long Summer break I should've not taken a Summer class. All in all I am glad that I took the course and am done with it.

And now, what I am up to right now :) I am on vacation with my family (Jake's side) in Brookings, OR. This trip has been so up and down everyday! I will post a blog later about the whole vaca :)

sorry this is being posted late, I thought I posted it, but I just saved it...

almost there!

2010-07-29T08:19:00.000-07:00

ok, I am about to head into my classroom to take my final. Wish me luck! I have two tests riding on this grade instead of one! I know I can do well, I just need to actually do it :)

extra credit

2010-07-27T08:43:00.000-07:00

I had my last exam yesterday (note: not my final, just the last exam... totally different) And at the very end there was an extra credit question worth 4 points, which was more than some of the real problems were worth. So I really wanted to get it, but I did not :( Now that I know what the answer is, I will see if you guys can get it! But no cheating! No google searches and whatnot, just see if you can figure it out or not :)

What are the next three terms in this sequence?
1, 11, 21, 1211, 111221, 312211,...

guess away! When I figured it out last night I thought it was a really clever riddle/problem :)

Summer Skips

2010-07-22T08:34:00.001-07:00

I think perhaps I am learning the act of finding a balance between loosing my mind and not caring at all. I only think. I hope I am. I was an absolute mess a week ago after a long night of not sleeping and a hard day of not getting my homework. Since then I have been much more at ease with my homework and life in general. I have had a few moments of worrying about not getting something done that I wanted to, but overall better. Sometimes, though life doesn't cooperate with you, you still move forward. I have been not only having the stress of school this Summer, but family stress as well. So many things all at once. And yet somehow I feel like I am still growing. My my my, what can I say without saying too much? I am so frustrated with many of my adult family members, I'm hurt by them, and ashamed of their behavior. I cannot change them, I can only react the way I see fit. And I haven't figured out yet how I see fit to react. I think I will write a letter to my best friend today if I have the time :) I need to talk to someone, and get an outsiders opinion...

BTW!!! Only 4 more days until Shelly tells us her big news!

Within Sight

2010-07-20T08:33:00.000-07:00

Ha! I arrived early to class and got a parking spot! Therefore I have a little time on my hands. The end of Summer school is within sight! I can see it. Only a week and a half left. But there is so much to do within that small window of time. We have 1 more exam 5 more quizes, and a final. And lets not even get started with thinking about how much homework there will be! These past few days were not as hard as my normal days are. The time leading up to exams have been really great for me this semester. Which is the polar opposite of how it normally is for me. I am a really bad test taker. I could be one of the best in the classes and fail my tests. It's just the way it has always been for me. But in this class I have been able to retain things, for the most part. And the tests haven't completely stumped me thus far. Fingers crossed! Tomorrow I get my last exam's score back. I'm so anxious. The first exam I could tell that I did well. There were only a few things that I wasn't sure about. But with this one, it was a little harder and I felt a little more rushed. So I wasn't able to go back through and check my answers at the end. But I gave it my best go. The most wonderful thing about exam days is the fact that we have no homework :) That is if you finished all the homework you were supposed to before the exam and don't have to play catch up on that "free" day. I always finish before, so I always have a "free" day. Yesterday kind of flopped though. I ended up feeling like I didn't know what I really wanted to do. I guess what would've been best was if I would've been able to take a nap. Oh well. I made a scrapbook page from our trip to LA this year, and went out to dinner with my cousins and Aunt (it was my Aunt's bday), then I came home and watched the movie Remember Me. Well, I need to head over to my classroom now! I hope this mini post makes you all happy. I hope to get back into my blogging asap!

James Bond

2010-06-26T21:11:00.000-07:00

So for the past few days my wonderful husband and I have been watching our way through all the James Bond movies. He loves them, and I haven't seen any but the past two. So away we went. Most of them I have liked so far. This past week has been absolutely stuffed as full as can be with precalculus. Lectures for 3hrs a day and then a minimum of 9hrs of homework afterwards. Somedays there was even 12hrs of homework to do. Insane. At one point I considered dropping the class and just trying to take it in the Fall. But there were no open classes left in the Fall (we sign up for Summer and Fall classes at the same time), so I decided to keep trying and pushing forward. Call me crazy. But I really don't want to keep dropping math classes. I need to get them out of the way. As you all know I dropped all my classes last semester. So if I dropped this class and there are no more available in the Fall I would be behind 3 semesters for Math. No good. I am glad I stuck with it because I am doing well in the class so far. It is so hard for me to learn math so quickly. I feel like I have to learn so much in those 3hr long lectures. And if I don't understand something I have to figure it out FAST. We are quizzed every morning on the material that we learned the day before. So you really HAVE to do all your homework each night and not put it off for the weekend. I am about to leave for Texas for a week so I will be missing a week of class. The only reason this makes me nervous is because I learn better from being shown how to do something rather than reading it in the book and trying to figure it out myself. That's why I love doing my homework in the math lab. If I get stuck there is someone there to help me right away. I don't waste hours of time confused and frustrated. Which is what happens when I don't understand something when I am learning on my own. I will be missing 3 quizzes and 1 exam!

Right before school started again for me though I was at Lush a lot. One thing I am excited about trying this week is their newest bath bomb. Its Wild Rose Country. And it smells wonderful. But the reason I bought it is because all of the proceeds are going towards a charity that is fighting against the tar sands in Canada. If you don't know what I am talking about you should look into it as well. Its a sad thing for that area. So I bought one of the bombs. It reminds me of their Turkish Delight body polish. Roses roses roses. I never ever thought I would be buying bath products that smelled of roses. Tonight I will be trying the Love Lettuce fresh face mask. I am looking forward to that :) Right now I have some Hair Doctor hair and scalp mask in, and it feels great. I just love that minty tingle on my scalp. And boy did my scalp need some Hair Doctor! It has been so dry and flakey from this warmer weather. Well I know this post wasn't the greatest, I am distracted by this movie. And I'm actually pretty tired. So see ya later!

things are heating up!

2010-06-18T12:27:00.000-07:00

Its getting hotter and hotter! Ugh. I need AC for reals. So today was the last day of my "sleep" journal. I am still not sure how this is going to work. I think that most nights I get about 4-6 hours of sleep. Which is fine. I am not as well as I was when I was getting 7-10 hours of sleep per night. Plus with the ambien it was regular sleep. Without it I never know when I am going to rest well, and when I am going to be awake all night tossing and turning. I have my next doctors appointment on July 6th. So we'll see what happens then. What have I been up to lately? Well I have been crocheting a lot. I have been working on this plain blanket for Jake using some neat yarn that I liked. But I don't like how boring it is. So even though I have made quite a bit of it, I am going to start over. Call me crazy, but I know that if I don't do it now I will always be disappointed in it. So thats that. I am working on a fun airy Summer blanket at the moment. Its kind of like a granny square blanket, but with bigger gaps so that its lighter. There are three different colors of blue in the yarn and one shade of green. I really like it. I think it will go with the beach/ocean photos that I have above our bed very well. So far I have completed two squares of ten rounds each. Next, I have done some shopping at Lush, of course. I actually just exchanged a few items that I wasn't liking that well, and picked out some new things. One of the things that I picked out I tried and already know I won't repurchase it. Oh my lush store is so sweet to me too! They are always giving me things :) I went to Berkeley on Tuesday with Jake (he was working during the day) so that I could watch him play softball in the evening, and I planned on going to the gym while I was there. However, once I arrived in Berkeley and was about to head over to the gym I realized that I didn't bring anything to shower with afterwards! So I dropped by lush and they gave me sample pots of shampoo, conditioner, and soaps! That gym locker room smelled so nice after I showered! I have also scrapbooked again! I haven't done that in so long. I have made quite a few pages over the past few days. And today I ordered some more prints! So excited :) Jake and I have also been watching a ton of sports lately! We watch the Battle Of The Bay, which is a series of baseball games between the San Francisco Giants, and the Oakland Athletics. We also watch the Playoffs, which was 7 games of basketball between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. Of course I was cheering on the Lakers, and we took the championship baby! Dude, so many of my friends were so mad about that. So many people hate the Lakers (and pretty much all the friends I am talking about live in CALIFORNIA, why wouldn't they cheer for the team from CALIFORNIA) and I am not really sure why. I mean I guess some people from Sacramento are bitter because the Lakers are a better team than the Kings. But whatever. I loved seeing them win and I think it was a hard earned fair win. But that's just from my point of view, and this is my blog, so thats fair. And last but certainly not least, we are watching the World Cup, which is soccer :) Right now I am watching England play against Algeria. This is only a game to watch for me because this game can effect the USA team later on. Depending on who wins in this game. Jake knows the specifics way better than I do. I understand whats going on with the structure of how they decide who plays who, but its hard for me to explain. Anyways, this morning we woke up at 4:30 to watch Germany play, and lose :( And then after that game was the USA team. So we watched that one as well. Then Jake went to work and I and keeping him updated on the games playing while he is gone :) I think I am going to go make some coasters now, because using old magazines as coasters is not working for me...

bitter sweet

2010-06-12T11:29:00.000-07:00

The same day I made my first scrapbook page of my little brother David was the same day he got out of jail and moved back home with my parents. Bittersweet. Bitter because I don't like who he has been for the past several years. I don't like how he seems to say whatever you want to hear and not really mean it. Sweet because my parents seem to really believe he has had a change of heart and that he is going to get his life back together again. I hope he can come back to being the person I remember him as when I lived at home.

On another note, the England vs. USA soccer game just started. We (Jake and I, and soon our cousin Roberto) are watching it. I think England will win.

everything rides on hope now

2010-06-07T07:44:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe how thankful I am for getting 4 hours of sleep last night. That may seem weird. Here is why...

On Friday I finally went into my hospitals pharmacy to pick up a new prescription of Ambien. I tried 1 night without it and only slept about 2 hours. So I was determined to sort out whatever excuse as to why my prescription wasn't ready after 3 days. Its normally ready in 1 day. So I wasn't prepared for it taking this long, and I wasn't happy about it. The pharmacist told me that there was no prescription even ordered for me. Of course I know I ordered it, but if her computer says otherwise what can I do but start over right? Wrong. I told her politely "ok, I'll just wait for it". But what she meant was that there wouldn't be an order for me at all. This lady was like pulling teeth to get any info. I finally got something about a new law preventing my old dr. from signing off on my current prescriptions, needing to see my new dr. for a new prescription, substance abuse suspicion, a phone number written so messy I cannot make it out, a black phone in the hallway, and the advice center. Seems like I'm getting NOWHERE with this lady so I left the pharmacy and found the information/help desk. I explained to these ladies (who already seem more keen on helping me out! whew!) my situation and that I didn't want to leave the hospital until I resolved the whole thing, so what do I need to do now? They called someone on their phone, I assumed my new dr., but it wasn't her, so I still have no idea who I was talking to... an advice center person maybe? No. I have no idea. Anyways, after I re-explained everything to her I was transferred to another person. Same thing. Ugh. Then what I had gathered was that I needed to talk to my new dr. she was in today, but I couldn't just go up to her office and talk to her without paying for a visit (thanks guys, I feel like you really want to help me when you make me pay you for a whole visit just to ask you a question!), but I could call the advice center and they could send a message to her inbox and blah blah blah. So I went down to the black phone in the hallway and called the advice center. After re-giving one more person all my medical information (really? You need the first day of my last menstrual cycle? Just to send my dr. a message about my sleeping pills?... let me look it up on my calendar...) I finally get a message sent up to my dr. Then this lady tells me that its ok to go up to the area (adult medicine) that she is working in and let her assistant know that I sent a message and would like to wait for a reply. So I made my way over to the next building and up to the second floor. Down several hallways and arrive at the adult medicine receptionist. After explaining everything to her as well and getting a puzzled look she asks me "so are you here for an appointment" Palm to face moment. Why is this so hard people?!? She has me fill out this information sheet and place it in the box on the door. A nurse comes and picks it up after several minutes. Then disappears for several minutes. Then comes into the receptionists area and asks her about it. Then comes out into the lobby and asks me to come back. Then I explain to this nurse what I am trying to accomplish. She then sends me back to the lobby. Then my dr.'s intern comes out and calls my name, and asks me to come back. Then I explain everything to him. Back in the lobby. This goes on for quite some time. I finally get called back by the intern again. He tells me that my dr. didn't want to sign off on my prescription. But that she did anyways, one last time. Then he explains that they are scheduling me for a behavioral something appointment. I still have NO IDEA why or for what this appointment is for. I believe it has something to do with seeing if they think I am abusing my prescription, which they have already told me today that they think I am... or maybe its for something less cynical, like seeing how they can help me with my insomnia. It would be nice to know what its for. He also told me that I needed to go downstairs to the info clinic and pick up some pamphlets on insomnia. And my dr. wants me to keep a sleep journal for the next 2 weeks WITHOUT taking any ambien. Oh, but I'm allowed to take 1 ambien pill during that 2 week period if I need to. What the heck is 1 freaking pill going to do for me in 2 weeks?!? That was one of the most retarded things I heard that he said to me. It was like an insult. Grrrr. It is already in my medical file all the things that I have done in order to resolve this sleeping problem. Getting pills for it was the LAST thing I tried. Seriously. I put off trying them for forever because I was really nervous from stories I had heard and stuff. But then I tried them, and they work for me, and I have no adverse reactions. So what is wrong with these people? I assume they know a bit of what they are talking about, I am not a dr., but still. This seems so redundant. So I got the prescription for 30 more days in the end. But I don't really even understand why she gave me them when she wants me to not take them...? That wasn't smart on her part in my opinion. I went downstairs and looked around and couldn't find anything on insomnia, so I asked the cute little old lady behind the desk about it. She said they don't carry pamphlets on insomnia, but that she would try to find something for me. She came back a few minutes later with two articles printing of the internet. Cute. Then another lady (I am assuming her boss) came out and tried to sell me this "sleep better" package thing they have. I declined. I am only doing this because I was advised to by my dr., I already know all the information that will be in these two articles. Believe me, this is not a new thing to me. I make my way to the pharmacy. I shouldn't have filled that prescription. It is so so so expensive, and I was planning on trying to do the 2 weeks without them anyways. And if I make it through that alive then I won't need the pills. So why did I fill and pay for that stupid prescription?!? I suppose because that was the whole reason I was there that day. It was a long day of running around in the hospital and repeating myself and not getting mad after only 2 hours of sleep. ugh. So now I have a full bottle (30 pills/over $150) of ambien that I'm not supposed to take. Great. Anyways. I have stuck to those stupid rules that insomniacs get when their dr.'s want to "heal" them.

1. only a small amount of caffeine, and only in the morning
2. eat healthy
3. exercise everyday
4. no more than one alcoholic beverage in a day
5. no big meals right before bed, but have a light snack if hungry
6. NO NAPS. no matter how tired you are.
7. go to bed at the same time every night, even on weekends
8. get out of bed at the same time every morning, whether you slept well or not, and even on the weekend
9. keep your room cool, I put a fan on my side of the bed
10. do relaxation exercises if you cannot sleep
11. don't do things in your bed other than sleep and have sex
12. try to not spend extra amounts of time in your room
13. don't go to bed thirsty, but don't drink so much that you have to get up and go to the bathroom
14. go outside in the morning and get some sunshine (really?!)
15. don't smoke
16. don't do thinking type of problems before bed to where you would be kept up thinking

Ok now, I have said before that I have tried it all before. But I am willing to try to kick this without pills. I would rather be able to sleep and not use them. But I want to sleep. That is my end goal, not getting rid of pills. I haven't been addicted to caffeine in a while. I eat pretty well, and I am still working on making that better and better. I get regular exercise. Ok, sometimes I have more than one drink, but not more than two. And I don't drink everyday, or even close to that. The naps thing is hard for me when I am only getting a small amount of sleep! But I am doing it. I have a pretty normal bed and wake up time. But I am making it strict for right now. 10pm bedtime, and 7am wake up time. Until recently (a week ago) my room has been cool, but its getting hot now. Of course I am trying to relax, I am trying to sleep! Until we moved into a room in a house with other people I was really good about not using my bed for anything but sleep and sex. But we have no chairs in our room, just our bed. So lately I have been using it to use the computer or read on. I have been good about not doing that in the past few days. I hate the not spending extra time in the room thing. It's my safe haven. I drink more water than anyone I know. Well until I cut back lately! :P I love getting out of the house in the morning, so I get my morning sunshine. I don't smoke. And I have never had the problem of not sleeping because my thoughts are racing and won't stop.

So lets see how I have been doing...

Thursday night I slept 2 hours into Friday morning

Friday night I slept 33 minutes into Saturday morning

Saturday night I slept about 1 and a 1/2 hours into Sunday morning

Sunday night I slept about 4 hours into Monday morning

Obviously last night was the best so far. But its been hard. I have wanting to take a nap so badly it hurt sometimes. I have not been able to do the simplest things because of the lack of sleep. I feel like I am not human with such a small amount of sleep. This is crazy. But I am so full of hope. I want this to catch, I want this to work. Really badly. I am hoping that it is. As far as my sleep journal, it started on Friday, so the only days that count so far are the nights of 33minutes, 1 1/2 hours, and 4 hours, of sleep. Following this pattern I am progressing. I will hold onto this bit of happiness. I am still incredibly tired today. Its hard to believe that I am still up an running after those nights of practically no sleep! I am proud of myself for not giving in and taking naps. I have not gotten to bed every single night at 10pm, its been the weekend, it was such a bad time to start assigning myself a bedtime :P This is the first day that I felt like I could actually THINK. That's nice. It means that I could sit down and push through a blog post! I also don't ache as much as I have the few mornings before. Yesterday I had such a bad headache I was crying and felt a little nauseated. Gross. Riding passenger in the car was torturous. I felt every little bump! But let's focus on today! I get to go have lunch with Jake, I get a free drink at Peet's, I'm going to Lush, and I get to watch Jake playing softball tonight! It's going to be a great day. I can feel it. I am rich with anticipation! Catch you all later ;D

Family one

2010-05-23T22:25:00.000-07:00

So today was to be my first day without Jake. This morning I woke up early and laid in bed for a while. After having some breakfast, oatmeal, I got dressed and ready to go to church. I decided to ride with Tiana my older sister instead of the rest of my famiy. Mistake. After my family already left Tiana realized that she had left her car keys in her boyfriends car last night. I figured we were going to miss church all together because her bf doesn't live all that close. So I texted Jake saying that I was most likely going to miss church. His reply, "that sucks. I drove to your parents church this morning to surprise you and see you" my reaction was like a frantic love sick teenage girl! I HAD to get to that church now and see my wonderful man! We eventually mad it there 45min late. It was wonderful seeing Jake. I wasn't expecting that at all. He's so sweet! After church we went out for a looong lunch before he had to head back home :) saying goodbye today was a million times easier for some reason. Maybe because I knew I got some extra unplanned time with him and I was just thankful for that. Later in the day I bought a large iced black tea, and it was exactly what I needed. When I got back to my parents house I cleaned the downstairs bathroom and the kitchen. I guess I felt the need to pull some of my own weight around here. Now I'm waiting in bed for Jake to play Blokus with me (we both downloaded this game on our phones yesterday so that we can play a game with each other every night and feel less seperated) and then I'll go to bed :)

Sad night poem

2010-05-23T00:48:00.000-07:00

I thought you whispered in my ear
but it was just a passing memory
for you are not here
not here in bed with me

I thought you'd walk around the door frame soon
but you're in a different bed
for you drove away today with me in the rearview mirror
with tears in my eyes, holding my own hand

there is nothing quite like this. There are endless solutions. But we chose the path with no rhyme or reason. I love you babes.

repost

2010-05-21T20:14:00.000-07:00

so I posted this today while updating my iphone at Peet's... but it put it as posted on May 9th (probably that's when I started writing it, saved it as a draft and finished it today). I never knew until today that when you finish a draft that it doesn't post it in order of the posted date, but of the date that you started it. So here it is again, but so that you know it exists...

So recently (last weekend to be precise) Jake and I went to Los Angeles. We went to watch our good friends Jeremy and his fiancee Becky graduate from college. Jeremy had proposed to Becky the weekend before we came down! But since we were going down there we also visited with one of Jakes ex-coworkers/friends, and the family that I used to take care of (caregiver and nanny)! It was overall such a fantastic trip. The drive was nice. I had prepared myself with lots of magazines. Unfortunately we had to stop several times for me to go to the bathroom (as is normal!). Once we got into LA we drove straight to Westwood, the little town where the UCLA campus is located, and where the Starbucks that we both worked at is :) We parked in the same garage that we used to always park in, and went to our old Starbucks. Talk about weird! It was so familiar being in the area, and I saw at least 6 regulars that I still know the drinks of! But I didn't recognize a single employee! The turnover at that store is so high because its a college town. So it doesn't really surprise me that i didn't know any of them. Even when I worked there we were always getting new people and saying goodbye to our partners before the Summer season each year. Lame. There are a few people that I know are still working there, but they work the night crew, and it was too early for anyone on night crew to be at work. Oh well. At Starbucks Jake and I looked up hotels, talk about leaving the details until last minute! We found one in Santa Monica that looked pretty decent, and it was one of the cheaper ones, at just a little over $100 a night! Whew! Then we walked up to the campus to pick up Jakes diploma, he couldn't get it before we moved, and he never got it mailed to him! It was so weird, we went up to the counter where you get them and he showed his ID and told the lady his old student ID number and she literally just turned around and picked it up off the shelve behind her! As if we had called ahead and let them know we were coming or something. It was so weird! I can't believe that almost 2 years later and they just had it right there waiting for us. Plus we picked up Jake a new hat and sweatshirt. And a really nice frame for his diploma. Plus of course some postcards for the fam bam. Then we went and signed into our room, showered, and got dressed for the rest of the day. We went out for "happy hour" with one of Jake's ex-coworkers/friends at a nifty bar/sushi house in Santa Monica. Originally we were just there for drinks and were going out for dinner with the family I used to take care of. But we didn't really give ourselves enough time for the first one. So I called and pushed our plans back an hour and the elderly man said he didn't think going out was such a stellar idea anyways. So we agreed to just come over for a visit and eat before we came. I had a Kama Sutra/Forbidden City drink :) Well I had 2. And they were so yummy! My favorite food that we had there was the crab wontons. Delish! Next we arrived at the families house that I use to take care of. And as I was giving hugs to everyone two wonderful things surprised me, 1. how much the 9yr old grew since I saw her last! She was about chest level on me before, and now she is taller than me! And 2. The old lady that I used to take care of came around the corner and couldn't be more pleased to see Jake and I. Mostly me. Which to be honest really shocked me, in a good way. You see, caring for her was quite a job. She has had 3 strokes, cannot move half her body, and cannot talk anymore. But she is still able to understand what is going on around her. She gets really frustrated that we can't understand what she wants all the time. And she is really stubborn and opinionated. When I was working for them I would sometimes come by to say hi on my days off and she would be confused and sometimes upset that I was there on my day off. I was kind of expecting the same reaction for our visit. So I was thrilled when she was so happy to see me. And she was a peach all night too! She was laughing along with the jokes and smiling and patting her husbands arm and in general participating in the conversations with "yes" "no" (but not always meaning what she was saying, thats just all she can say (and "why")). We did end up going out for Chinese food for a second dinner. But that was ok with Jake and I because we didn't eat that much already. The night was wonderful. We cried when we said goodbye. Thus the end of the first night in LA. The next day we had the graduation for Jeremy and Becky. We arrived an hour early! So we found a Starbucks and sat there drinking coffee and either reading magazines or playing games on our phones. The graduation was nice, but there was a lot of just standing around afterwards while everyone else said hellos and took photos. We eventually all met up at Home Town Buffet and had lunch. Then we went out for a movie and dinner at Chick A Fila (is that how it's spelled?). I had never been there before. But it was pretty good. The weather both days was PERFECT btw. The next morning we went out for breakfast at a cafe named Marmalade and it was sooooo good! It was a cute little place. Mostly I just feasted on coffee toast and marmalade! Then we went to our old church and saw everyone we used to see! And last but not least we had lunch at an old friends house. Then we headed back home. I know this post should have some photos, but they are not on this sign on, and I really want to get this post posted... Also, one last thing that really stood out to me was how amazingly perfect my hair was the whole weekend. It was the first time in a long time that I have worn in down for 3 days straight! It was nice. I (and Jake) would love to move back to So. Cal. someday :)

edited to add

2010-05-19T15:37:00.000-07:00

Right now I am in the process of editing my book and getting it ready to be reprinted. I am hoping to get a lot of this done on the 11 hour drive up to Idaho next week. However I will be traveling with 7-9 other people (all in the same car) I am not setting my expectations too high.

The pros of this trip:
1. I get to spend a lot of time with my family
2. I get to see my wonderful grandparents
3. I get to see my little sister at such a wonderful time in her life
4. I get to go to Idaho!
5. I have lots of gifts for everyone, and I love giving gifts
6. It will test my patience up and down, hopefully I will pass with flying colors

The cons of this trip:
1. I am not used to spending 24/7 around lots of people anymore
2. I will be without Jake for a whole week
3. I will be without Jake for a whole week
4. I will be without Jake for a whole week
5. There is a really long drive involved, and I have to pee all the time
6. I will not be able to sleep in my own bed for 7 nights
7. I will be without all the comforts of my house
8. I will be missing my little sister in laws birthday and party :(
9. I will not have my own car to getaway in
10. It will test my patience up and down, and I'm not looking forward to that

Ok so I know it looks like the cons outweigh the pros, but there is more worth to the pro reasons than most of the con reasons. Like getting to see my grandparents! I never get to see them, and I love them dearly! I am having a lot of anxiety about being apart from Jake for that long. I almost don't want to go for that reason. It is really breaking my heart. I know a lot of couples spend time apart, but Jake and I don't really do that. We go out of our way to not spend the night apart. I have and will be going with him for both of his work conferences this year. We spent 6 days at his parents so that I could be with him last week. I was so uncomfortable on that air mattress, but I was with him every night. We even went out for coffee one morning :) Jake is my best friend and I can really be myself around him. I can let go and just be. I will really miss that for the next week starting on Sat. It will be so sad driving into to Sacramento together and watching him drive away without me. Ok ok ok, enough. I am sure you get what I am saying. Its just that this is so huge for me. And I am feeling more anxious as the days fly by and it gets closer. I pray the week apart will go by well, and that I won't dwell on the bad. For this trip, and for my intelligence in general, I got out my electronic version of scrabble and have been playing that today. I used to be a pretty good speller, but through the years I feel like I've lost my touch. So I thought playing it might help keep me sharp :)

Thanks to Shelly, I have reopened my Tumblr account and added a ton of users to my "following" list. I am loving it! I have an obsession with looking at photos, so tumblr is perfect! I haven't posted anything myself because I already have a blog, and need to focus on that. I am trying to refocus my energy in general lately. I picked out two new books. I plan on reading more books again. I was really into reading last year. I picked one love story and one sad story (but inspiring). I also found two wonderful cards today that I plan on sending out soon to some friends or family. I reorganized my lush stuff (again), and its all in one area now. I bought a large flat basket while staying in SF for really cheap (its actually a picnic food cover to keep flies off your food, but when turned upside down it looks like a basket!) and dumped/placed all my lush items in it and it fits PERFECTLY underneath my bed :) For now I really like it. But knowing me, I will not be satisfied for much too long :)

"When my world is shaking, Heaven stands.
When my heart is breaking, I never leave your hand."

I feel so frail today

MIA

2010-05-18T15:07:00.000-07:00

that is what I have been...

If it means anything, I'm sorry...

Sometimes other things are more important then blogging...

The City Of Angels

2010-05-09T22:25:00.000-07:00

So recently (last weekend to be precise) Jake and I went to Los Angeles. We went to watch our good friends Jeremy and his fiancee Becky graduate from college. Jeremy had proposed to Becky the weekend before we came down! But since we were going down there we also visited with one of Jakes ex-coworkers/friends, and the family that I used to take care of (caregiver and nanny)! It was overall such a fantastic trip. The drive was nice. I had prepared myself with lots of magazines. Unfortunately we had to stop several times for me to go to the bathroom (as is normal!). Once we got into LA we drove straight to Westwood, the little town where the UCLA campus is located, and where the Starbucks that we both worked at is :) We parked in the same garage that we used to always park in, and went to our old Starbucks. Talk about weird! It was so familiar being in the area, and I saw at least 6 regulars that I still know the drinks of! But I didn't recognize a single employee! The turnover at that store is so high because its a college town. So it doesn't really surprise me that i didn't know any of them. Even when I worked there we were always getting new people and saying goodbye to our partners before the Summer season each year. Lame. There are a few people that I know are still working there, but they work the night crew, and it was too early for anyone on night crew to be at work. Oh well. At Starbucks Jake and I looked up hotels, talk about leaving the details until last minute! We found one in Santa Monica that looked pretty decent, and it was one of the cheaper ones, at just a little over $100 a night! Whew! Then we walked up to the campus to pick up Jakes diploma, he couldn't get it before we moved, and he never got it mailed to him! It was so weird, we went up to the counter where you get them and he showed his ID and told the lady his old student ID number and she literally just turned around and picked it up off the shelve behind her! As if we had called ahead and let them know we were coming or something. It was so weird! I can't believe that almost 2 years later and they just had it right there waiting for us. Plus we picked up Jake a new hat and sweatshirt. And a really nice frame for his diploma. Plus of course some postcards for the fam bam. Then we went and signed into our room, showered, and got dressed for the rest of the day. We went out for "happy hour" with one of Jake's ex-coworkers/friends at a nifty bar/sushi house in Santa Monica. Originally we were just there for drinks and were going out for dinner with the family I used to take care of. But we didn't really give ourselves enough time for the first one. So I called and pushed our plans back an hour and the elderly man said he didn't think going out was such a stellar idea anyways. So we agreed to just come over for a visit and eat before we came. I had a Kama Sutra/Forbidden City drink :) Well I had 2. And they were so yummy! My favorite food that we had there was the crab wontons. Delish! Next we arrived at the families house that I use to take care of. And as I was giving hugs to everyone two wonderful things surprised me, 1. how much the 9yr old grew since I saw her last! She was about chest level on me before, and now she is taller than me! And 2. The old lady that I used to take care of came around the corner and couldn't be more pleased to see Jake and I. Mostly me. Which to be honest really shocked me, in a good way. You see, caring for her was quite a job. She has had 3 strokes, cannot move half her body, and cannot talk anymore. But she is still able to understand what is going on around her. She gets really frustrated that we can't understand what she wants all the time. And she is really stubborn and opinionated. When I was working for them I would sometimes come by to say hi on my days off and she would be confused and sometimes upset that I was there on my day off. I was kind of expecting the same reaction for our visit. So I was thrilled when she was so happy to see me. And she was a peach all night too! She was laughing along with the jokes and smiling and patting her husbands arm and in general participating in the conversations with "yes" "no" (but not always meaning what she was saying, thats just all she can say (and "why")). We did end up going out for Chinese food for a second dinner. But that was ok with Jake and I because we didn't eat that much already. The night was wonderful. We cried when we said goodbye. Thus the end of the first night in LA. The next day we had the graduation for Jeremy and Becky. We arrived an hour early! So we found a Starbucks and sat there drinking coffee and either reading magazines or playing games on our phones. The graduation was nice, but there was a lot of just standing around afterwards while everyone else said hellos and took photos. We eventually all met up at Home Town Buffet and had lunch. Then we went out for a movie and dinner at Chick A Fila (is that how it's spelled?). I had never been there before. But it was pretty good. The weather both days was PERFECT btw. The next morning we went out for breakfast at a cafe named Marmalade and it was sooooo good! It was a cute little place. Mostly I just feasted on coffee toast and marmalade! Then we went to our old church and saw everyone we used to see! And last but not least we had lunch at an old friends house. Then we headed back home. I know this post should have some photos, but they are not on this sign on, and I really want to get this post posted... Also, one last thing that really stood out to me was how amazingly perfect my hair was the whole weekend. It was the first time in a long time that I have worn in down for 3 days straight! It was nice. I (and Jake) would love to move back to So. Cal. someday :)

hope

2010-05-06T18:04:00.000-07:00

Hope is a wonderful feeling.
But it's also deceiving.
Holding onto hope can give you something to look forward to.
It can comfort you.
It can help your thoughts to be positive.
It can set you up for great disappointment.
It can make you blind to the truth.
Hope can take you further into a mess then you ever thought you would go.
Hope can take you through the worst of times.
Hope can renew your outlook.
Hope can make you stubborn.
It can turn a dark room into an open field of flowers.
It sometimes breaks my heart the hope that I see in people.
Because I know its not going to end the way they want it to.
Sometimes a tear and a hard acceptance is better then a white lie and false hope.
Hope is still a wonderful feeling.

toooooooo much Lush

2010-05-05T17:31:00.000-07:00

lately I have gone crazy at Lush. I have so much new stuff I need to stop going. The next time I feel the urge to go out there I am gong to just pamper myself with some of the stuff I already have. Because I feel like I have my own mini store going on in my bathroom. For reals. I need an intervention. So I am cutting myself off fo a little while. We'll see how long it lasts! I tried several times to make a vlog... so much easier for lush hauls. But my internet is soooo slow and wacky that it kept screwing up. So alas I will write a blog for my lush haul :) At least this way I don't have to spend 3 hours uploading it per video, and believe me, there would've been like 3 of them! So that is entirely too long to sit on the computer for a lush haul. I even tried doing the direct upload where it always cuts off the end but I don't have to wait so long for it to upload... but it's not working either. Anyways. I have to say though, my little sister in law Elisabeth just finished her 2nd lush haul/review vlog. And she is a sweetheart! I cannot get enough of her and talking about lush products! I bought her a bath bomb the last time I went to lush just so that she would make her 2nd review. Of course I got her some soaps and a face mask too (and her sister)... because I cannot resist giving them lush stuff :) My mother in law and grandmother in law are both getting gift baskets on Sat for Mothers Day that I put together, mostly of lush and See's candy. Delish. So onto this lush haul that I keep mentioning... I had all my stuff out on my whole bed all unwrapped and open for the vlogs and then I had to put it all away. Lame. I made a list of all the new things that I have gotten in my last several visits so that I could write about them... there were a little more then 3 pages on my note book, of just the names, not even a description. Whoa.

First of all, these are in no order at all because I don't really have them put away in an order yet, and I was just writing things down as I grabbed them to put them away.

The first thing I have is the Ma Bar Bubble Bar This one has a sweet warm smell. Like the HIWTK it smells like toffee and chocolate and caramel. Its so cute too with the sugar cube on top. (I have mentioned this before, but as a reminder, I shave/crush all my bubble bars to get the most use out of them, but also because it makes smaller silkier bubbles)

Then I got a Candy Fluff bath bomb This is from their Easter line, so I got this a little while ago. It smells really sugary. Like cotton candy, or rock candy. And its shaped like an easter egg!

Next up I got a slice of Sweetie Pie Shower Jelly Mine is actually a little bit darker purple. This is a super sweet smelling product again. But this one is so fun! Its just like jello! It wiggles and it doesn't fall apart when you shake it :) This one smells like sweet sweet berries. If you like The Comforter Bubble Bar (which I also picked up recently, and got 8 baths from! Well I haven't used all of them yet, but I crumbled and bagged them all) then you will like this one. To me they smell just like eachother!

I got a few face mask samples. I really like the Oatifix, which I bought a pot of recently. But its really really moisturizing and I wanted to try something a little less moisturizing. The first one I got is The Sacred Truth face mask This one is made with ginko leaf extract, fresh papaya, fresh eggs, honey, yogurt, shea butter, evening primrose, coconut oil, ginseng root extract (antioxidant), rosewood oil, and wheatgrass (antioxidant). This one is supposed to be good for the antioxidants in it. It's supposed to revive your dull skin. And then next one I got a sample of is the BB Seaweed face mask this one is made of seaweed (duh), honey, sweet almond, aloe (good for summertime skin!), olive oil, and rosemary. I am really excited to try this one. I have heard a lot of good things about it. Seaweed is supposed to be really good for your skin :) And I got a sample of Catastrophe Cosmetic This is their blueberry face mask! And it smells simply AMAZING! There is a lot of blueberries and calamine in this one. It's great to calm and cleanse your skin to feel refreshed. I love the smell so much!

Next I got a Therapy Massage Bar The main reason I got this massage bar is because I have heard a lot of people say that it works well on stretch marks. And to be honest I have some from when I got my curves after high school. I would love to minimize the look of those. So I decided to give it a try. I expect that it will take awhile to see any results, and really I'm not really expecting to. But we'll see. Nonetheless it smells nice and feels soft. Its really oily, because its meant to be for a massage. But anyways, it smells like orange and lavender.

I got a sample of Lemony Flutter Cuticle Cream because my cuticles are ALWAYS dry This one smells like lemons of course. But its kind of got a sweet lemon scent about it. Its really oily so I'm hoping it kicks these cuticles into shape! It has so many yummy things in it! such as Fresh lemon infusion, shea butter, beeswax, soya oil, avocado oil, flaxseed oil, mango butter, castor oil, wheatgerm oil, lemon oil, lavender oil, chamomile oil, and gardenia extract! It smells fantastic!

And on the same page of moisturizing my hands.. Helping Hands Cream I just got this the other day and I love it! I think its really going to become my new hand lotion. Its so thick and it seems to really moisturize those super dry parts of my hands. It was originally created with doctors and nurses in mind who have to wash their hands a lot. I like this little size because its perfect for slipping into my purse! It smells pretty to me as well. Its a light pink color and smells like chamomile and almond, with a hint of honey. I love it :)

I also got some Vanillary Solid Perfume It smells like warm vanilla. I like it, but not as much as my Honey I Washed The Kids solid perfume This one smells JUST like the soap! I love it :)

Next thing I have (but haven't used yet. I have given away a few samples of it though!) is Yummy Yummy Yummy Shower Gel This is a strawberry shower gel with a hint of hibiscus flowers. It smells just like the Strawberry Feels Forever Massage Bar I love this scent. It's so light and yummy to me. It really smells like strawberries and hibiscus flowers :) It's not a fake fruity flowery scent that you might expect.

My mother in law loves Lush's Snowcake soap, it's a Christmas time only special Its a sweet warm almond scent. I've heard of it being described as "sparkely" scented like the "fizz" from champagne... ummm what? I guess I kind of get what she is trying to say... but really I feel like the best way to describe it is just almond, like almond tea cookies. Anyways, since it's just a Christmas time special I was looking for something that smelled kind of like it in any other product to get for her. So I googled a few things and I kept hearing girls say that the Smitten lotion smells like Snowcake saop So I went to try it for myself. I was talking to the sales lady about how I was looking for it for my mother in law and that I didn't know if she would like it since it was a lotion, and I didn't know if she used lotion on a regular basis. Because I knew that my mother in laws hair was the opposite of mine, oily, so I figured that she might have similar skin. I didn't think she would really need a really moisturizing (this lotion is really oily to me) lotion if she is prone to oily skin... hmmmm. So the sales lady told me to take a tub and see if she liked it. And if she did then I could keep getting it for her from them whenever she ran out. I really didn't know about it though. So I went ahead and got it, and low and behold when I mentioned it to my mother in law, we'll call her Monika (that's her real name :P), she said that she only likes to put lotion on when she is near to a towel to wipe her hands dry afterwards. ?!??!?! Doesn't that defeat the purpose of putting the lotion on? And she said that the smell doesn't stay with her as long as the Snowcake soap, but maybe that's because she wipes it off? She said she doesn't like the feel of oil on the top of her hands. So oh well. I like the smell of it, and I use it at night sometimes on my legs for more moisture :)

MMM next I got a Pop In The Bath Bubble Bar This one smells like mandarin oranges, lemon, bergamot flowers, with a hint of an olive oil scent. Its a really calming relaxing scent to me. Plus its such a bright blue! It makes the water so much fun to be in :) I love to use this with my Olive Branch Shower Gel I'm pretty sure they are meant to smell like each other. Lush does this, incase you couldn't tell....

If you ever wanted to glow of gold glitter I have just the bubble bar for you! Sunny Side This is one of the most fun bubble bars in my opinion. The only one that would beat it is the Flosty Gritter Same idea glitter wise, but in pink! And they smell different. I've never tried the Flosty Gritter one, because everytime I think about getting it, I go for Sunny Side instead! The Sunny Side is a really citrusy scent of oranges and lemons. And the Flosty Gritter is more sweet like strawberries and cream with some vanilla. Ohhh now that I think about it, that sounds divine! I might have to get that sometime (wait... Vanessa.... wait...)

Ok moving on! I still have 2 more pages! Ugh.... Ok You've Been Mangoed Bath Melt These "bath melts" are supposed to be added to a bath for silky skin :) This one in particular smells like sweet almond, avocado, mango, lemon, and lime! Sounds delicious right? And its chalk full of cocoa butter and various oils to make your skin soft!

Another bath melt I got was one of the first Lush products that I ever tried! Dreamtime This one has stuff in it! I think its lavender and chamomile :) As for the smell, its really relaxing with the lavender and chamomile oils, almond, ginger, and jasmine. I used this as a hand soak the other day, it was so relaxing.

And the last bath melt that I got is a pretty pink one, Mmm Melting Marshmallow Moment This one is made with marshmallow powder! It smells so girly and sweet.

Someone gave me a bottle of the Happy Hippy Shower Gel This one (as most of the shower gels) can be used in your hair if you want as well. I opt not to use them that way. I don't think it would be moisturizing enough. With that said though, this gel smells so bright! Its a grapefruit one :) I love the smell of grapefruit! It has grapefruit juice, grapefruit water, and grapefruit oil in it! But its not just grapefruit, it also has a splash of bergamot flowers and frankincense! This is a perfect morning gel to get you wide awake. and I know people always say that about citus ones, but this one is not too in your face so to me its nicer for morning. The florals really help make it a more subtle wake up scent.

Next I have two new face toners. The first one (the one that I have been using until yesterday) is Eau Roma Water This one is mostly made up of rose and lavender water. It smells and feel so nice on my skin. And it doesn't make your skin feel all tight and pulled out like all the other toners I have ever tried in my life. I have really seen an improvement in my skin since I have started using this. My face is more calm, and I still breakout, just not as bad. It seems to clear up faster then it used to. A plus of course!

Then the new face toner that I got is A Breath Of Fresh Air This one has fresh spring water, fresh sea water, aloe vera, carrageenan, rose absolute, rosemary oil, and seaweed absolute. This one has way more things in it that are good for your skin. I am excited to try it out. Its supposed to be really good for the summer skin from being out in the sun!

I got some more Rub Rub Rub from someone I have already blogged about that product...

Next I was given some Paradise Regained to try out I really liked this one. I barely use any! Its going to last me so long! I love that because it's kind of spendy! One of the main things that draws me to this lotion is that there is some sun protectants in it, so I don't have to use a daily sun screen ontop of my daily face moisturizer! Its not my favorite scent, but its not bad either! I would recommend this to all my girlfriends! Wearing a sun protectant everyday is really important. And I know for me, as I get older I really see the need to moisturize my face :)

For this product I was really curious about the texture, its made from thousands of blended/creamed rose petals! Turkish Delight Body Polish And the texture is still interesting to me. When I was a child I crushed up a ton of rose petals because I wanted to make my mom a perfume, and the texture reminds me of that, so it makes me happy. However the smell of this product is sooooo strong. I like it, but its a little too much for me! It has roses and jasmine, and its a really moisturizing item, I just cannot get past that strong smell! I used it to shave my legs and it worked nicely like that. Apparently what you are supposed to do is coat your skin with it before you get in the shower and let it set/dry for about ten minutes and then rinse it off in the shower. I guess its supposed to make your skin feel silky soft. I haven't tried it like that because I am worried I will smell so strongly of it all day afterwards, which is normally something I like. But something about this scent gives me a headache. So yeah.

Whoosh Another shower jelly (like Jello). These things are so cool! This one is a sharp in your face citrus scent! Lemon, lime, grapefruit, and rosemary oil.

Time for another Easter time special bath bomb! The Honey Bun The shape is borrowed from a traditional japanese cake! How cute :) This is a caramel, honey, and toffee smell. Very warm and sweet, much like the HIWTK soap!

I think I have mentioned this product before.... Sugar Babe Sugar Scrub This is such a light sweet smelling sugar scrub. Its scented with mimosa and ylang ylang flowers. And then there is a dollop of red colored coconut oil in the middle for more moisture! So sweet! And I think the value is great at only $4.50 per chunk of it! I separate mine into individual sized ziplock bags so that I don't accidentally get a section that I am not using wet. Because water spreads to the whole thing if you even get just a small part of it wet. Not that once it gets wet you can use it anymore, its just that the sugar might melt into the water and it won't be a scrub anymore, just a yummy smelling shower gel :)

Ok for this next one, this is actually my second one. The first one I got I used as an "emotibomb" which is basically a shower bomb. You set it on the floor of your hot shower and the steam helps raise the essential oils and makes your bathroom smell wonderful! However this Hippy Chick (another Easter one) dissolved in the shower SUPER fast and it didn't smell like anything in the shower. I was so disappointed. But this bomb is actually to use in the shower or the bath tub. So I figured its just better as a bath bomb. When I went back one of the sales ladies asked me how I liked it, so I told her... and she gave me a new one for free to use in the bath tub. I still haven't tried it, but I am looking forward to it because.... its grapefruit scented! And don't you just love the shape! I love the little orange beak :)

Next we have a bath bomb, one of the small ones, but not small in smell! Think Pink I bought one of these for my younger sister in law, and another one for me :) The smell is vanilla, tonka, neroli, and lavender, and there is pink heart confetti in the middle! Sooooo girly!

For one of their party RSVP giveaways (crazy hat party promoting hair care) I got a free Godiva Solid Shampoo bar (puck) Mine is so much prettier though! Mine is yellow with orange chunks and there are actual dried flowers in it too! I couldn't find a decent photo online. Sorry! Anyways.... this shampoo lathers like nobodies business! I couldn't believe how much rich thick lather I got from just a few swipes of the bar over my hair! The only think I would change about this one is the scent... its so pretty, smells like jasmine. I am just not a fan of jasmine. So that's why I would like to change it. However, it was the most moisturizing solid shampoo, that's why I got it anyways. And to be honest, it is growing on me.... This shampoo bar has chucks of cocoa and shea butter for the conditioning part. You are supposed to be able to use it as a 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner, but not so much for me :)

This next product was my first allergic reaction to something Lush related! I've never come across corn in their products so I guess I just assumed it wasn't something they used, I was wrong :( The Vanilla Puff Powder (like a dusting talc from the old days!) It smells fantastic, and feels surprisingly soft on your skin! I was expecting to not like something like this because of my dry skin, but its actually got a secret ingredient to ward off drying you out! The secret is cocoa butter shavings! How ingenious! I love it. But the first ingredient is corn flour, so my skin broke out in an angry red rash every where that I dusted the powder :( I didn't really notice it until I went to go shower and I used a sugar scrub and it hurt SO bad! I plan on giving this to my little sisters in law because I know they will love it. Really the smell is soooo sweet. And its a great way to get a lingering scent on your skin like I like :)

Ok now, everyone pick up this item the next time you are in a lush store (you cannot order it online :( boooo) The Hair Doctor - hair and scalp prewash conditioner mask type thing - Really this thing smells so great. Super refreshing. It has a lot of peppermint oil in it, as well as menthol to give you that "tingle" factor while you are letting it sit in your hair and scalp for 20 minutes. Other yummy things in this are Rosemary, carrageenan extract, coconut oil, and jojoba seed oil. This made my scalp stop itching! And it made my hair heavenly! I will rebuy this all the time. I only do it one a week or once every two weeks. I use half a pot because I have a lot of hair! But I feel like its worth it for how healthy my hair has been every since I started using it (I've done it twice, but the first time I only put it on my scalp...) This is another thing that I would tell all my girlfriends to try! I think anyone could benefit from it :)

I just got a sample of some Dream Cream Hand Cream This is probably the most popular hand cream/lotion by lush. The lady that works there insisted that I try it for my dry hands. I actually haven't tried it yet because I have been so in love with the Helping Hands Cream, but we'll see how I like this one... It smells like oats, rose, lavender, and chamomile. So its supposed to be a really soothing calming lotion.

The last shower gel I got (just a sample) is Flying Fox This shower gel has four different kind of honey in it to soften your skin! But the only other scent in it is Jasmine! I am not too fond of it, of course, because of the jasmine. I haven't actually used it in the shower yet, and I know that some things change scents slightly in the water, so we will see. Its just that there is this one lush employee who LOVES all things jasmine and just doesn't quite get it when I say that I don't. She really wants me to like it I guess. It doesn't smell bad, like I said before, its just not my cup of tea.

Ok all I have left are bar soaps! Wahoo, almost done...

First, I got some more Honey I Washed The Kids I cannot get over the addictive honey, toffee, and caramel scent! I mean come on, I bought a solid perfume in the same scent! I bought chunks of this for all the mothers in my life (that includes grandmothers!) and mailed them out to them. Because this is such a potent sweet smell. I know there are some people out there that don't like this soap as much, but I am not one of them! I also got a piece that was dropped (the side was dented and the honey comb was coming off) for free at a lush the other day, I cut it down and gave it to my little sisters in law because I really don't need more of this soap right now! But I cannot refuse free lush. Seriously.

Speaking of free things, sorry I just remembered this! I cannot believe I forgot Jungle Solid Conditioner I am in love with this conditioner. I cannot even count how many conditioners I have ever tried. I have chronically dry hair (it seems at times) and I felt like nothing gave me enough conditioner to make my hair healthy and soft so that it didn't fluff, frizz, and tangle when I wanted to wear it down. I am so impressed with this conditioner I cannot speak highly enough of it! It makes my hair so soft and healthy. And actually my hair has straightened out when it dries in the daytime after using this conditioner, which makes for less tangles. But if I wash at night and then go to bed I get more of my natural curls, but still not tangly! And as proof that it doesn't weigh my hair down at all... I had some static going on when I was brushing my hair this morning! lol! I don't know how they do it, but every girl should use this conditioner! I got a lot for free the last time that I was in there because there was a lady (someone who never tried lush before) looking at the different conditioners and I started talking to her about Jungle because I love it so much and she ended up buying a huge chunk of it after trying a sample on her hair over the sink at the store, so after she left the employee and I were talking about it some more and she gave me a huge chunk for free and thanked me for how much I talk to other customers about their stuff! I love helping people out with their stuff anyways, I like when people help me out too! So it was so nice of them! They said that they've had some issues with this last batch crumbling when they are cutting chunks off for people, and its true, it crumbled a lot when I was using it yesterday. But whatever, it still works, and it was FREE! She suggested I try it out as a shaving cream for my legs!??!? Whaaaaat?! I wouldn't have ever thought of that! But you see I don't shave my legs very often because my skin on my legs is very sensitive! So it really hurts everytime I shave. And I use a thick shaving cream. So I was interested in trying this out. OMG let me tell you... it was so soft! And it didn't hurt at all while I was shaving and it didn't hurt at all afterwards either! And since its a conditioner my legs weren't all dried out afterwards (which happens to me too, it looks all scaly dry usually unless I slather on lotion afterwards, which can irritate the follicles.lame). I have loved this conditioner to the end of the earth and back. If they make it for my whole life I don't see why I wouldn't use it that long!

Ok now back to the soaps! Next (a new one) Vanilla In The Mist This is a coffee, vanilla, and orange (lightly) smelling soap. I also feel like I can smell the sunflower oil in there. It smells like a warm rich scent. I haven't used this one yet, but I've heard it lathers really well. Oh! And there are real vanilla pods in the top of it! How cute. I love how Lush does those type of things.

Another one that I haven't tried yet but really like the smell is Bohemian This is actually the second lemon scented soap that I have smelled from lush. The first one being Sexy Peel. I like both, but Sexy Peel has cornstarch in it :( Plus I think I like the more subtle smell of the Bohemian. Sexy Peel is really really strong and reminds me of those lemon dish soaps, but Bohemian smells more to me like a soap you would use on your skin. Its a really light scent. Plus I've heard that it doesn't melt away too fast, which is always a plus for money saving!

Rockstar The delicious girly rock candy soap! This smell is so intoxicatingly sweet. It smells to me what all little girls would want to smell like, sugary girliness. How else can I describe it?!

Now for a super super creamy soap! Sultana Of Soap Doesn't it kind of look like a fruitcake soap?! Cute. I love all the dried fruit on the top. I wonder how thats going to feel though? I wonder if they get softer as it soaks up more and more water. We'll see. I haven't tried this one yet. I have heard that its a really moisturizing soap though. I hear a lot of people use this to shave with. It smells to me like a soap. But a good one. Its supposed to just smell like spicy olibanum. I don't really know what that is though...

And LAST!!!!! But not least, I got a chunk of Figs And Leaves This is a popular soap I guess. I've never tried it because I was so drawn to the other sweet or citrusy scents first. This one is more earthy, floral. They use whole figs in this soap. I like the smell. I haven't tried it yet. I got it mostly for my grandmother for Mothers Day. I think she will like it because its not one of those really powerful scents! Its nice though, really nice. I can't wait to try it out.

I'll have to get back to you guys on the things that I haven't used yet. But everything smells and feels really great. I'm so excited. I cannot believe how many hours it took me to write all this out! I told you I had a lot of new stuff. But keep in mind that a lot of this stuff is sample sized, or was given to me. I bought a lot too though.... Ugh. Done. Now I need to go take a bath ;)

Hot Tamale

2010-04-29T17:27:00.000-07:00

I have never seen the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit. But I have seen clips here and there. It seems like it would be a funny movie to watch. Today I heard a 13 year old say that she wanted to be Jessica Rabbit and it kind of weirded me out. I don't think I wanted to be such a sensual woman type figure when I was 13 years old. I mean I did like boys at that age, and I wanted to be liked back. But I didn't want to look like Jessica Rabbit. Anyways, I thought about it and I have seen a lot of Jessica Rabbit impressions through my years and I have to say that I think for sure Heidi Klum takes the cake

And here is the "wow, you really should've stopped playing dress up a LONG time ago..." one...

The ugliest one (that I've ever seen so far... I'm sure there could be worse...)

And by far the one that makes it the most natural beautiful look to me is this girl

If I HAD to pick to look somewhat like Jessica Rabbit I would go for the photo of the last girl. But really, I don't want to look like Jessica Rabbit. Its just a little too over the top for me... But most men would disagree with that statement I suppose...

where have you been all my life?

2010-04-29T08:08:00.000-07:00

this is such a lame pick up line to me. "well up until the later years of my life (beings that I'm not that old) I wasn't looking for some douche to go out with, but now that you came along, why not?!" J/K. Seriously sometimes it annoys me the things that men say to me at checkouts. But anyways. I heard a song on the radio yesterday that I really don't like, and now its stuck in my head. I cannot tell you guys what song it is because I hate it so much that I don't want it to spread anymore than it already has! Why didn't I just change the station? I had looked for a good 20min for a decent station and had finally settled on this one. I figured I would just wait through the song and move onto a better one. But its been stuck with me ever since. Lame. Today I have to go out and find a plug timer for my fish tank lights and hope that it works perfectly the first time, because we are leaving bright and early tomorrow! I have to pack and "clean" our room today as well. I don't have any idea where we are staying, hotel wise, we are just picking one out when we get there. Jake and I have also not contacted any (scratch that, I contacted 1!) of the people we are planning on visiting while we are down there as well. This is not how I would plan a trip. I would have everything PLANNED. But I am learning to sit back and go with the flow. So I am taking it one step at a time, but I really hate not knowing what we're doing or where we're staying. I don't like this feeling that we are going to get there and have to run around like chickens with our heads cut off to find a good cheap hotel, or pay an arm and a leg for a decent one. Or the same thing of running around to see if our friends are available to hang out, or just plain flat out miss them altogether because we didn't give them any notice. This is not how I function. I make lists, and I check them off. I make calendar markings and reminders, and I plan out our days and so forth. I want to know things before I do them. But like I said, I am trying to just go with it. Because this is EXACTLY how Jake likes to travel. He likes to make no plans at all and fly by the seat of his pants. We'll see how it goes!

you make me

2010-04-27T20:00:00.000-07:00

Today I thought about my Great Grandmother Rosie. I was craving some carrot cake all day long. But I have no carrots! Then it hit me! I could make some Zucchini Bread Cupcakes! I pretty much always have zucchini in my fridge, so it worked out. Plus my GGR used to always make this. I am so excited to see how much I like this recipe. Unfortunately I don't have her recipe, so I got one online. (side note: listening to my cousin talk about how much she wants to EAT this american idol contestant is making me laugh so much. She is going on and on about how she wants to spread him on a bagel and eat him, and that she would eat him straight out of a package, and how she is undressing him in her mind, and ohhh that half smile kills her... oh so funny. None of the girls in my family talk about how cute tv boys were and such) I had some leftover cream cheese frosting so it totally makes sense to make it tonight. And I am not cooking dinner tonight! Win. But Jake is not here because he is out with some coworkers and ex-coworkers. I hate it when he is not here in the evening. We only get such a short period of time together in the evening. So when he is gone for that time, it makes me a little sad. Ok, I am going to wrap up this little blog with a photo of a guy that I always thought was cute. I have always had a thing for lip rings. I even had a boyfriend offer to get a lip ring because I liked them. And I have always wanted to get one myself. But Jake says "no". I wish he would let me try it out :) Anyways, onto my little man crush... He is the lead singer of my high school favorite band MxPx, Mike Herrera...

Shelly

2010-04-24T00:32:00.000-07:00

So I want to do a little post about the samples that I got for my friend Shelly today so that she can know what will be coming her way sometime soon. She mentioned in her last vlog that she doesn't ever use a face cleanser because it makes her face feel dried out. Um me too! That is until I recently tried some lush face cleansers! So the first thing I wanted to her her was a sample of the two face washes that I alternate between right now. So that would be Angels On Bare Skin, the more moisturizing one in my opinion. It's made from a lot of almonds, lavender, and rose. It smells like sweet earth to me Next is the Aqua Marina face cleanser. This is their "sushi roll" face cleanser. It's called that because it is wrapped in Nori Seaweed! Its a less moisturizing cleanser with a lot of calamine in it (the pink stuff you put on chicken poxs!. It sounded weird to me at first, which is why I tried AOBS first. But I really like this one! I feel like it cleans a little more then the AOBS, but maybe that's partly because it isn't as moisturizing. But I don't feel like it dries out my skin at all Next I got a sample of the same face moisturizer that I have, Paradise Regained. The reason I picked out this one is because it has some sun protector agents in it and the sun is coming out more now days... And while I was over in the lotion area I asked the guy helping me (Derek!) to give me a sample of his favorite hand lotion for Shelly to try out. He picked out Handy Gurugu. I had never tried this one before so I sampled some on my skin. I really liked the smell of it, kind of light and fresh. However he put a TON on my hands and it took me a really long time to rub it in, and then about 5min later he says "oh! Wait! You're not allergic to peanuts are you?!?" Why yes I am thank you very much. Thankfully for me its not biggie I just washed my hands off and didn't even notice a thing. He felt really bad though. So Shelly, I hope you're not allergic to peanuts Then one thing I really wanted Shelly to get a sample of when we were at the store together was the Big shampoo, for more volume! So I got her a sample of that one... And she mentioned really liking the Jungle solid conditioner, so I asked for another sample of that one for her too Then I got a slice of the Rock Star soap for her. Everyone has to try this soap. It has such a yummy girly smell! And its bubble gum pink! Its a soft creamy soap too :) And then I asked the lady helping me (Derek went on his 10min break) to pick out another soap for a small sample, she picked out Figs And Leaves Soap. I've never tried this one. But I have heard some good things about it. So I hope that Shelly likes it as well And I am planning on including some slices of soaps that I have here already (not used of course! I never take a whole bar of soap into my shower, too much soap! I cut my bars down to smaller pieces and use those. It makes it easier for me, and I can switch soaps depending on my mood) So those ones are first and foremost, Honey I Washed The Kids. This is a really popular soap. And it smells so sweet! It's a really creamy soap, so it kind of melts faster. But I just love the smell, honey, caramel, and toffee (and hints of bergamot and orange!) I cannot put this soap down Then a piece of some Sea Vegetable! I love this soap :) It smells like the ocean to me. And its soooo pretty (mine is purple on the bottom, not yellow) And last but not least I plan on including a slice of some Chox Away Soap. I just got this one and it smells amazing! It doesn't smell like just chocolate! It has some white and dark chocolate in it, but there is also some orange, vanilla, and of all things, peppermint! It is a really good mix. I haven't tried it yet, but I think I will love it Wow, this ended up being more things then I thought! I hope it will be beneficial to you Shelly! I love trying out samples before committing to a purchase. So I thought (especially as a lush newbie) that you would like trying all these wonderful things!

you

2010-04-22T11:28:00.001-07:00

You are one of the few people that can still make me feel like a helpless child. Like a sad little girl. Who can make me hope against all odds even when I get hurt each time. You are one of the few people that I think about every single day. Who I will love forever, no matter what. You make me curious about how you could've changed my life. You make me wish you would try harder. You make me cry. I really care about what you think. But I have no idea what you think. If I could take a vacation right now, it would be to see you. Even though I barely know you, we are strongly connected. And I cannot seem to let go, no matter how much I try to convince myself to...

pretty petals

2010-04-21T18:01:00.000-07:00

I love new crafts :) I think you should try this one out! These crepe roses look so real. I want to make a lot of them :)

Materials:
Assorted colors of crepe paper
Florist wire and wire cutters
Floral Tape
Pattern- Inner Petals
Pattern 2- Outer Petals

Instructions:
Create a stamen (the center of the rose) by cutting fringe on a single strip of crepe paper. ( I used yellow.)

You can cut your petals free hand, or you can print the images above to use as templates. For each rose, you will need fourteen to sixteen outer petals, five to six inner petals and one stamen. Make sure the grain of the crepe paper is running vertically when you cut them so that you can shape them properly.

To shape, place your thumbs together in the center of the petal and gently press down and tug outward. This will make your petal rounded and more natural looking.

Using a bit of floral wire (or a toothpick if you prefer) roll the tip of the petal outward over the wire to create a lip and a natural looking inner petal.

Use the same technique on the rounded edges of the heart shaped outer petals.

Now coil your stamen around the floral wire.

Move the stamen a little down the wire.

Fold the wire over to secure the stamen in place. Tape the stamen down with your floral tape. (Remember, it gets sticky as you pull on it, so pull gently on the tape as you go.)

Begin adding the small inner petals, taping each one securely.

Gradually add the larger petals, working in a circular motion and overlapping each new petal over the preceding one.

Voila! You've made a lovely paper rose!

OCD

2010-04-21T15:54:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I think I'm a little OCD. I have this thing about organizing everything except my clothes. I wish it would extend to my clothes, but it just hasn't seemed to yet. Although I suppose I do clean out my wardrobe once a year. Anyways, today I spent a few hours reorganizing my bathroom stuff. I got some new containers because I was getting tired of my soap falling out of the cupboard when I opened it I decided that the best way to store all my (mostly lush) bath and shower products is to make individual sized (snack size) ziplock baggies of each thing. So I separated all the bubble bars, the soaps, the bath bombs, and so on I even cut my shower jelly into small squares OCD much? Maybe. Organized and easier? YES. So now that I am done with that (and cleaning my fish tank) I am going to fold and put away my laundry and then see if I can fit in a nap before its time to make dinner. But I doubt that will happen beings that its already 4pm.... dangit!

do this

2010-04-21T08:15:00.000-07:00

I have been adding a few things now and then to perfect a list that I have. It's a list that I will ask to have printed and passed out at my funeral. Um morbid much? I think not. Its a list of things that I want to encourage my friends and family to do. And a lot of it is general stuff, but its all very important to me. So here is the list of things that I want people to do when they remember me and want to do something that I want everyone to do in life...

In remembrance of me:

• Be joyous

• Clothe the needy

• Feed the hungry

• Listen to the elderly

• Love the young

• Be kind to your peers

• Protect the weak

• Be patient with all people and creatures

• Do good deeds daily

• Express yourself in art or words not fists and fights

• Honor you parents

• Love the Lord with everything in you

• Drive safely

• Be a servant to others before yourself

• Be thoughtful

• Be a peacemaker

• Keep your word (be loyal and faithful)

• Be healthy (eat well and exercise)

• Go out and have fun with the ones you love

• Cry

• Make memories that last a lifetime

• Take care

Every once in a while I add something, or change the way I said something on this list. I'm sure it will be different by the time I pass away :)

wr wr wrong

2010-04-20T11:05:00.000-07:00

I feel like throwing up, I have awful cramps (thanks Mother Nature, I don't really like you *stink eye*), and I feel so stupid for last night (I will explain later...), I need to get dressed, do my hair, and start my day. Its too late for me to sit around and sulk. blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah... bye.

excuse me?!

2010-04-17T21:48:00.000-07:00

So tonight I had the most random dinner. I ate over a period of 4-5 hours. I didn't have lunch because we went for a hike. So when I got home and was done showering I made myself a small batch of nachos with chicken. Delish. But like I said, a small batch. So then I had some Laughing Cow cheese and some sourdough bread (one slice of cheese and half a slice of toast), then I had some asparagus, and finally I had some homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. And let me tell you something, this is a carrot cake! It is quite possibly the best one that I have ever tasted. And carrot cake is one of my favorite desserts. I don't have a big sweet tooth, but I do love carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. I figured I would share the recipe with you! You will not regret making this!

Ingredients

4 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup regular apple sauce
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 1/2 medium grated carrots

1/2 cup butter, softened
12 ounces (1 1/2 packages) cream cheese, softened
4 cups pureed sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Frost the cooled cake.

Ok now let me tell you a little story. I put the cake in the oven and started on the frosting. This was when I realized that we didn't have cream cheese, ummmm hello!!! you need that. So I put on my shoes and headed out to Target. Once I arrived at Target I saw a homeless man in the parking lot asking for spare change. I have always had a big heart for homeless people. I think this became even more of an issue to me when it hit closer to home and my own brother was living on the streets. I know that some people (most) choose to be where they are in some way or another. There is help out there for them if they really want it. But I still feel compelled to give them some food. So as I was shopping for my cream cheese I picked up a banana and a big lunchable for him. When I get outside I am actually excited to give it to him. This is usually a very good moment for both me and the homeless person. UGH, not tonight. Right as I am approaching him he says "oh no I don't need food, do you have any cash??" I was so taken back! I said "ummm....excuse me?" Then he says "well you have to have money, you bought me food...?" Me = "ummm yeah I have money, and yeah I bought YOU food, and YOU REFUSED it?!?! ummm, no I'm not giving you any of my money, I tried to! I bought you food..." I didn't yell, that's not what the CAPS are for, I was just emphasizing those words. I couldn't believe he refused the food I bought for him, but not only that, he had the nerve to then ask me to just give him my cash! Ugh. So much for my good deed It really hurt my feelings and put a damper on my mood. But then I had some carrot cake and just felt sorry for him. Oh well...

life

2010-04-16T13:07:00.001-07:00

I have been such a bad blogger lately. Here is my lame excuse... I have been having sharp stomach pains for 10 days straight now. And added to that I (this past week) have been waking up with migraines. And in the past few days also been terribly nauseated. My sleeping has been all wonky too. I keep NOT sleeping! Arrrggghhhh. And in the past two days I have cried twice for no real reason. Gee whiz I'm a mess! Anyways, I will try to be better about blogging. But just so you all know, that's why I've been absent (or just writing short lame blogs!). Today I went on a REALLY LONG walk down to my nearest Starbucks and back home. While walking I listened to my iPod on "shuffle" and to my surprise I heard at least 3 songs I don't think I've ever heard before! How does that happen?!? Its on my iPod so I have to have heard it at least ONCE before, right? Well what I resolved was that I have listened to certain songs by the same artists and must have their whole cd on my iPod and just never heard these particular songs. I liked them all, it was just weird. But I have to say, my iPod did the perfect selection of songs today. I didn't have to hit "skip" a single time. And thats pretty good for me. I get into music moods and when I play on shuffle most of the time I am skipping a ton of songs. At Starbucks I got an iced venti passion tea lemonade. And it would've been perfect if it wasn't so sweet! I was about half a block away when I decided I would rather turn around and ask the barista to add some water into it to make it less sweet then I would be if I didn't and just walked back home. So I did, and it made a smaller difference then I wanted it to, but oh well, it was slightly better. I just hate spending over $3 bucks on a drink that doesn't satisfy me. What I really wanted was a green tea, but I opted for herbal so as to not intake caffeine before my much needed (I didn't sleep after 2am last night!) afternoon nap today. For some reason whilst walking I got some hives on my legs. So random, and so itchy! Ok well, I need to get that afternoon nap I mentioned ;P

wonderful Mondays...

2010-04-15T09:33:00.001-07:00

here is a vlog posting of me talking about my last Monday out and about!

owl love you forever

2010-04-10T20:06:00.001-07:00

Is this not one of the cutest necklaces you've ever laid your eyes upon?

Check out this shop for more adorableness!

don't say "baby"

2010-04-10T19:22:00.000-07:00

Today we threw the baby shower for my cousin Kat. It was a lot of fun. We played this game where we couldn't say the word "baby". It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. My little (12yr old SUPER COMPETITIVE) sister-in-law won the game. It was NO surprise to all of us. We called it from the beginning. Oh! And I got to hold a baby! I love babies, but I cannot remember the last time I got to hold one. Oh man... makes me want to start having them. Almost. I am sure that once my cousin has her baby and then leaves a week later I will be super sad! I will miss that adorable little bundle of girl! And now we are watching an A's game in our room with our two little sister (in laws for me). We are having them over for a night or two. And for some reason, whenever they are here I HAVE to give them a mini Lush haul! I let them both pick out a bath bomb or bubble bath, two slices of soap, and some sugar scrub! It makes me so happy that they love Lush as much as I do! Ok well, I am going to get going. I'm still having really bad tummy pains :(

weirdo

2010-04-09T16:55:00.000-07:00

I noticed that I like to start my blogs or sentences in general with "ok so...". I am trying to break that. Today when I went to the gym all the women in the locker room were getting dolled up for work. Putting on dress clothes and makeup. It kind of cracked me up. I'm so used to seeing women in there in gym clothes or bathing suits. I was in fact the only women in the locker room in gym clothes. I felt like I walked into the wrong room! I need new tennis shoes so bad! I felt skinnier today, but I have gained another pound. So I think I must be developing bigger muscles :) So I guess thats good. I wanted to tell you guys that today I saw a guy with a leopard print tie. It was really awesome. How stylin' is that?!? Freaking amazing. I also found this gem of a shirt and it reminded me of Heaven :) And today I started wearing house slippers so that my white socks will stop turning brown on the bottoms!

Shoe wearer...

2010-04-08T22:00:00.000-07:00

so I did a lot of running around with my cousins today. And you know those stores... no shoes no business! So I wore shoes out. But I made sure to take them off when I could. I suppose the most important thing was that my heart was in the right place. I think a lot of people heard about this event, and I hope it touched some hearts. I really hope that more people buy TOMS and that more people sponsor children. It also encouraged me to write to the kid that we're sponsoring. I am so bad about not writing to him. So tomorrow I am going to sit down and write him a letter :) I hope you all had a good day. I've been sick, and I still went to cycling class. I'm crazy. I only did half the class and then spent the remaining 30min power walking on the treadmill at a very high increase. Intense! Ok bed time!

tummy aches

2010-04-08T18:03:00.000-07:00

For some reason for a while now my stomach has been hurting after I eat. And it does this no matter what I eat. But starting yesterday around 4:30pm it got worse. I didn't eat dinner last night because of it. And I made a fantastic meal! Jamaican Jerk Chicken, with Jamaican rice. It was so yummy (I at least tried a bite of both). But as soon as everything was ready I laid down in bed for the rest of the night. So sad. Something happened the other night that bothered me. My husband came home and was getting ready to go to the gym. I had done some laundry the day before and not taken it from in front of the laundry room to our room. Anyways he asked me where his shorts were and I told him that they were in the basket in front of the laundry room. Well what I didn't realize was that both of our baskets were in front of the laundry room and he only saw the one that was empty. When he asked me again where they were I got annoyed and I said "it's right there in front of the laundry room like I said!" I didn't yell, but there was annoyance in my voice. When we came into our room to change he asked me why I was talking to him like that. And I knew it wasn't because of anything that he had done. I was just in an annoyed mood and was irritated that he didn't just look harder for the basket in front of the laundry room. But knowing this made me embarrassed. I didn't want to admit that I was just being rude. I just wanted to drop it all together. I was being retarded. Eventually I did tell him that it wasn't because of anything he had done, and that I was tired and just in an annoyed mood. But that it was no excuse to take it out on him like that. This happening made me decide to start working on my behavior towards him. I am not always very patient, not only with him, but lots of people. I spend a lot of my time alone and sometimes I think I just get annoyed with being around other people. I don't know why. Because really, I love being around others. Anyways, I decided to start The Love Dare again. And this time I'm going to try to finish it. So I wrote a little post on my Love blog And I'm going to try to keep it updated as I go through this book. I just wanted to let you know about it. I've been having a little heartache over the way I treat people sometimes. And if not outwardly always, definitely inwardly. I want to have a kinder heart :)

pretty hair

2010-04-06T12:30:00.000-07:00

One of my biggest annoyances with washing my hair and wearing it down is that the first day after I wash it it looks dry and frizzy to me. I have tried leave in conditioners before, but they just weighed down my hair too much and made it greasy too fast. When I cleaned out under my sink yesterday I found a leave in conditioner that I got a while ago, but forgot about and never tried! So last night after then gym I took my shower and put the leave in conditioner in my damp hair. Then this morning I woke up to..... pretty hair! I love it! It looks so much better. Way better. I hope I have this experience every single time I use it. My hair has been dry for the past week (more dry then normal) because for the week before that I was trying out different sample shampoos that I had. One was from Lush, the I Love Juicy shampoo (which I gave to my oily haired sister in law (she loved it to pieces)). And the other was the shampoo that my cousin and I made. Neither were for my hair type and added no moisture like I need. So that week and the week after my hair was so dry and tangly. I feel like it's finally getting back to how it was after I discovered Curly Wurly. This shampoo is the only one (plus a little Kirkland to add lather) I use now. No more trying other ones. And I use Matrix condition at first and then add my coconut pineapple conditioner on top of that. And now I added a Matrix leave in conditioner I am in love. Its hard to keep my hair nice when it gets long. And I feel like its really getting long. I am sure I am going to feel like its too long once the weather heats up! Especially since my hair is crazy thick! Anyways, I just wanted to encourage you to try out some Matrix products, I got mine at Target :) But I've seen them at other drug stores too!

One Day Without Shoes

2010-04-06T12:11:00.000-07:00

I know some of you have probably already been invited to this "event", but I just felt the urge to spread the word. I plan on going barefoot this day. I feel so strongly about helping the children in this world who need help. I have been sponsoring children in third world countries for years now. It makes me feel better knowing that because of giving people these children can get clothes, school, and medical care. But not only that, there are workers from America that go over and teach whole groups of poor people how to farm, and how to start small businesses, such as weaving and basketmaking. And because of the extra donations you can make the children of the villages get birthday gifts and a community party. I think it's so important to take a part of what you receive, even when its not a lot, or when it feels like its not enough, and give it to someone who has less than you. It breaks my heart the way that some people have to live, I am taken care of so well! Anyways, I know that this "event" may seem silly. We know its not going to help the shoeless children by us not wearing shoes for a day. So please don't say that to me. The point is to raise awareness. People will notice, and sometimes ask what's going on. And that's where we can make a difference. We can educate people on the need for shoes for children and ask for their help. I don't want to be one of those preachy annoying people, I just want to share this with you, and ask for you to consider sponsoring a child with your favorite organization (I give through World Vision, and I have been very happy with them).

One Day Without Shoes, on April 8, 2010, is an effort to bring attention to the impact a simple pair of shoes can bring to a child’s life. We ask people to go the day, part of the day, or even just a few minutes, barefoot, to experience a life without shoes first-hand, and to help spread awareness.

It’s Hard Without Shoes

Through everyday encounters with domestic poverty, we are reminded to appreciate having food and shelter, but most of us all but forget about our feet. Food, shelter, AND shoes facilitate life’s fundamentals. Imagine a life without shoes; constantly aware of the ground in front of you, suffering regular cuts and scrapes, tending to infection after each walk, and enduring not only terrain, but heat and cold.

The problem is large, but the solution is simple. Wearing shoes and practicing basic hygiene can prevent both infection and disease due to unsafe roads and contaminated soil. By imagining a life barefoot, we can all contribute to the awareness of these conditions. On April 8th, communities, campuses, organizations, and individuals are banding together to walk barefoot for One Day Without Shoes.

FACTS:
* In some developing nations, children must walk for miles to school, clean water and to seek medical help.
* Cuts and sores on feet can lead to serious infection.
* Often, children cannot attend school barefoot.
* In Ethiopia, approximately one million people are suffering from Podoconiosis, a debilitating and disfiguring disease caused by walking barefoot in volcanic soil.
* Podoconiosis is 100% preventable with basic foot hygiene and wearing shoes.

So that's my little rant...

Three - Six - Three - Six

2010-04-05T14:57:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say that Jake and I have been married for 3 years, 6 months, 3 weeks, and 6 days. Interesting. It feels like it hasn't been that long at times, and other times it feels like it has been that long
This is part of our first dance at our wedding (Our first dance song was Is This Love by Bob Marley. The Summer after Jake and I became friends he listened to that song over and over again thinking about me apparently :))
Jake is my best friend. I can talk to him about anything. Even when I think I can't, I do, and he always surprises me. He is so loving to me. He is always taking care of me and looking out for me. And I know this would drive some women nuts, and sometimes it does drive me crazy, but most of the time it melts my heart. He is good at that, melting my heart that is. A lot of people don't understand our relationship, but it makes sense to us. And that's what matters. There is no one else involved in our marriage but us two. So as long as we get it we will grow old together ;)

Stacy's mom has got it going on...

2010-04-05T13:39:00.000-07:00

man there are some really funny songs that I just love listening to but I always forget about . Seriously I just enter the name of an artist or a song and it matches me to relative songs. Its good for when I am in a certain mood and just want to listen to a mix of music in that genre. Love. Anyways, I am not really sure how this song got into the mix I am listening to, but I am glad it did. I can even remember the silly music video that goes along with it! How awesome. My mood just got a lot happier :) So I just finished spending about an hour cleaning out my fish tank. So its all clean and doing well. I am super proud of that little thing! Seriously the smaller the tank for salt water tanks the harder it is to maintain. Because the different levels in the water can change much faster in a small body of water then compared to a large body of water. For example, if one of my hermit crabs were to die for some reason, I have to remove the body right away. If it starts to decompose the chemical levels in the water go haywire and causes a lot of issues really fast. However when a small hermit crab dies in a 600gal tank it pretty much passes unnoticed. For years I thought my tank was 8gal, but it's actually 5-5 1/2 gal. Much smaller! When I got started with my aquarium I had no idea that I was getting a hard to maintain size for salt water. I don't know (I read reef blogs) of any reefer that has bought such a small tank for salt water. When I tell owners of stores what size I have they always ask me how many times its crashed (when the levels in the water goes haywire and you have to start over basically). And I am proud to say that it hasn't crashed once! I still have the original sand and some original live rocks (I've added some and switched some out), but of course not the same water (because I do a weekly 10% water change). And the levels in my water are expert level. Seriously. I check the water every once and a while (something new to me) and the swatch of water levels always impresses me. Here is an example of how well my tank is doing right now. I just bought Lucy, my sebae anemone, as I mentioned before. She was bleached when I got her, VERY bad. Almost all anemones that are bleached will die. There isn't really anything you can do at that point. You see anemones have this thing on their "arms" called zooxanthellae which helps them to light into nutrition just like plants do! So when you get a sebae that is stark white (even though its really pretty like that) its really really bad. Also when I purchased the sebae its tentacles were nto sticky at all. Food would just float right off of the arms and away into another part of the tank. This is also a really bad sign. It means that it cannot feed itself at all. Even if I put food right in the middle where the mouth is, it cannot hold it there, so therefore it will eventually die. Anemones are all really hard to keep alive in captivity. Probably around 75% of them die within a month of purchasing them. Sad. And it feels like such a waste of money. You have to be brave when you buy these creatures. And don't get too hard on yourself when they die. Because most of the time they will. I have tried to keep anemones before and failed. But I have a clown fish and I really wanted to get an anemone for him. If I would've researched it first I would've realized that a bubble tip anemone is the easiest to keep since its the most hardy out of the bunch of them

As you can see there are lots of different types of bubble tip anemones. But I didn't get any of these ones. I got a sebae. One of the hardest anemones to keep in an aquarium. And they would be hard to keep in a large tank, practically impossible to keep in a small one. When I told an aquarium owner what anemone I got he just told me that it was going to die within two weeks. That I wouldn't be able to keep it. Watch me! Anyways, let me tell you... Lucy is doing so well! She has not only picked a spot from day one and stayed there (important for survival), she is bigger then when I got her, much bigger. And she is able to "grab" food with her tentacles and bring them to her mouth! She closes up at night and "sleeps". And she has regrown a bit of her zooxanthellae!!! I am so happy. I was so convinced she was going to die. I was ready for it. And now I am hopeful. I hope I can keep her for awhile. Like I said, most anemones die within a month of buying them. They really don't last in tanks long. So even if I don't keep her too long, I guess I should be proud of the progress we made so far :) I am so excited to get more corals for the tank now that I know that its ready. I should've started with corals and then moved onto anemones. But I wanted one so bad for Hubert! He is so cute with his anemone :) He cuddles with her and lays on the arms. He almost looks dead sometimes because of how still he is when he lays on her. So precious. Anyways... The real reason I wanted to write this post today was to talk a little bit about some foundations. I have a ton of unopened face foundations under my sink. I took them out today and I am going to try them all out and decide which one I like the best. I have four to review. The first one is by Neutrogena. Its their Healthy Skin Glow Sheers with SPF 30 (SPF in foundations makes me so happy!)

Then the second one is also a Neutrogena one. Its the Healthy Skin Liquid Makeup, antioxidant blend (SPF 20)

Then the third one is by Maybelline. Its the Pure Makeup one. Supposedly its 50% water and its oil free, so its supposed to be better for your pores

And last but not least I have a foundation by Almay. Its the Pure Blends one (SPF 20)

So I will let you guys know in a few days what I think of these different ones :) Only one of them doesn't have SPF, the Maybelline one. So its already behind in my mind. We'll see. I hate wearing sunscreen, but I want to take care of my skin, no skin cancer please! So I like finding foundations with SPF in them. Win win.

Oh, and I just wanted to say that my lotion is my favorite lotion that I have ever used in my whole life. So I am incredibly happy with it. I plan on it being the only hand lotion I ever use :) I put the rest of my Aveno lotion in the larger bottle in the kitchen (we keep one in there because all of the girls in the house like to put lotion on all the time, soft hands live here!) and filled it up with my lotion so I can keep it in my purse. It was a pain in the butt to fill though! I had to get a straw and suck the lotion up through the straw and then insert it into the bottle and squeeze the lotion out into the little opening. At least its just a little bottle (one of those $1 bottles in the travel sized things in Target). The only reason I am not using it on my face is because there are small specks of vanilla bean in it that kind of stick to your skin for a little while. And I don't want to have a black spotted face! Plus I have some Bert's Bee's day and night face lotion right now. So its all good. My face has been so dry this weekend and today! I've already put lotion on twice today! But, my face is clearing up. I am so happy about that. It was breaking out like crazy for two weeks. I think its because I started going to the gym and sweating a lot and not getting to shower right away. And even though I would dry my face with the towel it was still really dirty and clogged my pores. So I bought one of those small packs of face wash cloths and put it in my gym bag. It seems to be doing the trick :) Unless that's not what made me break out. Because over the weekend I didn't use any of my new face lotion because we were out of town. And it was over the weekend that my face cleared up... so now that I am using the wipes and the lotion if the acne comes back I will try going off of this new lotion again. I'm just happy its clearing up right now:) Ok this is a long post.... Much longer then I anticipated... So I am going to get going!

Easter Baskets

2010-04-04T12:34:00.000-07:00

so I went all out on my outfit today. I love pretty much all holidays because it draws family together. And even though right now all we are doing is watching t.v., we are all together. And that makes me smile. I just got done making a potato salad for dinner. We are having lamb and ham! I love ham. Plus I am sure there will be lots and lots of deviled eggs. And I cannot resist a deviled egg. This is the shirt I am wearing today...

paired with this cardigan...

this cute jean skirt...

And these perky pink sandals...

And I wore a light sparkly yellow eyeshadow on the whole lid with a light shimmery pink on the crease of the eyelid. The a quick swipe of brown eyeliner and black mascara. When I got home I added some black capri leggings to the outfit because I got a little cold. I have to say I was the one with the "craziest" outfit out today. But don't you all know its EASTER and officially "dress like either an easter basket or easter egg" day?!? At least that's what I thought! :P Have a good day today my friends!

trial and error

2010-04-03T22:55:00.000-07:00

So last week my cousin and I went to Lush as I mentioned in the last blog and vlog posts. And if you remember I mention a conditioner sample I got called Coolaulin. Well since then I have tried this conditioner along with a conditioner that I made. I was sorely disappointed in the Coolaulin conditioner! I followed it with my conditioner because I felt like I didn't get enough moisture from the first one. And I LOVE the conditioner that I made! This was my first experience of liking my homemade product more than the Lush one! My conditioner is a coconut and pineapple conditioner. And I put fresh pineapple in it! It smells sooooo yummy! And it has coconut milk in it so its really moisturizing. This is something I see myself making again and again. And then for the past couple of days I have been really wanting some more of that lotion Sympathy For The Skin, or something like it. So I set out to make a lotion dupe of it. The first batch was so bad (scent wise. Because I accidentally got shea butter with a perfume scent to it... ugh) I didn't even try to salvage it, I threw it away. But the second batch I was being more careful about proportions and scent. I am in love with the outcome. Seriously. Sympathy For The Skin has fresh vanilla beans ground in it, fresh bananas, and some lemon oil. These are the key scents to me. So this is where I started. I mashed one banana, and ground one vanilla bean. I mixed them in a bowl with the other things needed for lotion (the butters and oils) and viola, a delicious lotion! I think it feels a bit better then the Lush one because its not as oily. So it rubs in faster. Sometimes the Lush lotions take FOREVER to rub in. And the scent is really close in my opinion. The only thing is that the smell of the lemon is stronger in mine then in theirs. I put the batch of lotion into small containers so that I can carry one in my purse at all times. I ended up with 7 containers of lotion! I am set. And the best part is that I don't have to go drop $22 at Lush for the lotion I fell in love with. I just made a better version myself :) Here is a photo of the pina colada conditioner and the vanilla-banana-lemon lotion...

Prince series

2010-04-01T18:24:00.000-07:00

I made a vlog about all the things that I have been using lately. Ok well more like I made four vlogs! I spent an hour making vlogs about all the things that I have been using lately, or that I have (LUSH wise). On a side note, my pandora radio station needs to stop playing Britney Spears on my hip hop station! Seriously, I just skipped through 6 songs that shouldn't even be coming up on this station, and three of them were Brit songs! What the heck. If you've never listened to a little IYAZ you should. Because its fun :) It got me through all the cleaning I did today! I wish I was taking a hip hop dance class :) Anyways, back to my vlogs. I realized after I made my vlogs this morning (at 6:30am) that I did a really bad job at describing the scent of the different products. So I decided that I would add photos and descriptions in a blog. So lets get started...

I start with the two samples of Big shampoo, but you guys have already heard me talk about that one.

Then a new samples! Coolaulin conditioner! Its a coconut conditioner with a little bit of lemon juice added as well

Then we have Sympathy For The Skin body cream (read lotion). This smells so good! It has fresh vanilla beads ground into it, fresh bananaes (!!!), and some almond. It is really yummy smelling

Then I got a sample of I Love Juicy shampoo. It's actually more for people who have oily hair, but I couldn't resist the scent! It smells like Juicy Fruit gum to me. Sooooo delicious!

Next is a tin of Let Them Eat Cake lip balm. Its vegan. Its really oily. That's my biggest complaint. At first I didn't like the smell at all. But I kept using it because I didn't want to waste it. And know I like the scent. Crazy

I finally bought a tub of the Curly Wurly shampoo! No more sample sizes :)

Then the Olive Branch shower gel.

And the Rub Rub Rub shower gel/scrub.

And now two large bars of Angel's Delight :)

AND my favorite soap Porridge!

And Ice Blue and my awkward Ice Ice Baby dance... This soap is a peppermint soap. And it has some coconut oil, some orange oil, and some bergamot. Mostly I smell the peppermint and orange. Its a really bright fresh scent. It would really wake you up. It just smells too much like my husbands sport body wash...

And now I start all the little pieces of soap that I just bought. The first one is a piece of Sea Vegetable. This soap has some sea salt and sea weed on the top for exfoliation. It smells of lavender, lime, and coconut. In my vlog I say that it smells like mint, but that's not true. It just smelled like that because I was storing it in a container on top of another soap that has mint in it...

Next up we have Demon In The Dark. This is the one that smells like mint! This one is so mysterious! I love it. It has a cool black wax on the outside to help hold it together because its a softer type of soap. Its made with peppermint and spearmint! It also has some clove and apple juice (that's what makes it a softer soap) in it. It has such a deep dark scent to me. I couldn't resist getting a sliver of it...

Next up are two massage bars. The first one is the Shimmy Shimmy. Super glittery solid lotion bar. The smell is so girly and wonderful. Its a light flirty scent., vanilla, lavender, and sage.

And the Sexy Boy massage bar. He is a Christmas time special. Isn't it cute how its a ginger bread man! I love it. Although mine is all broken up into pieces... So you can't even tell. I like this one better most of the time because its softer (because the other one has so much glitter in it it can feel grainy). He smells like chocolate, coconut, and lime. A delicious smell

Now I mention a shower jelly that I completely forgot the name of! Its Snow Showers. This is another Christmas time item. So you can't get it right now, unless you buy it from someone. I love this soap. Its citrusy.

This next item is The Magic Mushroom bubble bath bar. It was so cute when I first got it! This one is smells like vanilla on the white spots and strawberries, honey, and almonds in the red part!

Then I show you a piece of The Comforter bubble bath bar. And this is 1/4 of the size of the bar! Crazy. It's so big. This one smells like a little fruity. And it says that it has blackcurrant in it. I used this (a piece not shown) the other night and it was really relaxing. The scent wasn't as strong as some of their other items though...

Then two sugar scrubs. The first one (the green one) is just called Sugar Scrub. It smells of fresh fennel, lavender, and ginger. What an enticing blend!

The the next sugar scrub is called Sugar Babe. I love the white color with the bead of red in the middle! The white of this one smells like flowers. Its made up of mimosas and ylang ylang. Then the center bead smells like coconut. Me and my coconut! That and orange. I cannot get enough of them!

Lastely (as always, the last bit of my video is cut off) I mention the Cinders bath bomb. This bath bomb has red pop rocks in it! Its supposed to represent the crackling of a fire in the fireplace at Christmas time. How cute. Lush makes the most interesting bath products I have even seen! It smells of cinnamon and orange. So it has that warm spicy scent which is supposed to remind you more of that fire in the fireplace...

I'm sorry that the videos get cut off. Maybe tomorrow I will make a new video of all the products that got cut out of the videos... Stay Tuned...

slowly going the way of the buffalo

2010-03-28T22:36:00.000-07:00

I have been so bad at blogging lately! Things have been a little busy-ish for me for the past week. I took on the task of making party favor bags for a friends bachelorette party. Since I feel like a bachelorette party is more special then say a birthday party I wanted the party favor bags to be nice. I achieved what I wanted :) I feel like the bags were of good quality. There was one item that I was particularly proud of. It was my green tea sugar scrub! I personally thought that it smelled amazing! I made sure to keep some aside for myself :) I also made a bag for my two blogging friends Shelly and Heaven :) I have been trying to make more bath products then just plain ones. The first soaps that I made were cute, but plain. I have since experimented with adding lots of different things to my soaps. Most have been fails, but that's how you learn! Today I made three new soaps :) The first one had a TON of things added to it. Such as oats, brown sugar, chai tea, molasses, oils, cocoa powder, and cinnamon. The soap smells heavenly, but it scratches! It was too harsh on my hands (I'm delicate). So I decided it would be the perfect foot scrub/soap! The second soap I made has some vanilla rooibos tea in it, some apple, some oils, and some white shimmer powder in the first layer (and its got a light clearish color), the second layer is white, it has some more shimmer in it as well, and it has a small amount of organic unbleached sugar in it for exfoliation. This soap smells so good too! It's a little scratchy as well, but not as bad. Then the third soap I made is really simple. Its a white shea butter soap, I put some white shimmer in it, some sweet orange oil, some lemon oil, some almond oil, and some olive oil. I wanted it to be more moisturizing then the other ones have been. And it kind of is. I think that the actual soap that I use is just a really cleansing so it seems like it washes away even the oils that I add to the soap! I am determined to resolve this. I am also determined to figure out how to make a dupe version of LUSH's porridge soap I am wholeheartedly in love with this soap. Everything about it. I love the scent (so much!), its so so different from any soap I have ever smelled, and in a really good way. I love how moisturizing it is. I love the texture, it's so super silky, but exfoliating at the same time because of the pinhead oats! And the scent seems to linger on my skin throughout the day, which I love. Until I perfect this soap at home I will continue getting it from LUSH. Forever. Speaking of LUSH (when am I not?!?), my cousin and I went there again today! Of course I left with a bag full of goodies :) I get excited about soap. Shelly I cannot wait to visit a LUSH store with you. I think you will be in bathers heaven for sure! Ok so on Friday I was in Roseville at their mall and went to the LUSH inside. The customer service was so bad! They made me feel bad for asking for a sample. How lame. I love my LUSH so much! The people that work there are so cool (HIPPIES!!!), inviting, and generous! I mean I know it's not really them giving me all these wonderful samples, but still. They are always so quick to offer me advice and to demonstrate anything in the store for me. And I mean anything! Plus I don't even have to ask for samples (and practically get shot down!), they offer me some everytime I'm there, even when I don't buy anything. Like today, I got two slices of soap, two shampoo samples, a conditioner sample, and a face mask sample! Thats 6 samples! And I am so sure that if I asked for samples of more things they would give it to me. How crazy is that?!? This place is amazing. So today I mainly went in to get a large tub (no more sample size for me!) of their Curly Wurly shampoo. I have official switched over. And I couldn't be happier. This is the best shampoo I have ever used. It makes my hair look so healthy. And it feels (and smells) great too! But I knew I wanted to get at least one more shower product. Especially since I am almost out of my bars of soap. I still have about half bottles (little tiny bottles) of both of my shower gels. And I have two more bars of my Angles Delight (a Christmas time special) But I wanted something new. I like to use a different soap everyday when I shower and then start over at the first soap once I've cycled through all of them. And right now I only have three different soaps (the bars anyways). So today I decided that what I would do is get really small slices of several soaps to try them out. I am so glad I did! I got so many new soaps for only $12! Tomorrow I plan on recording a vlog showing off my new slices and explaining the different scents and textures. So stay tuned!

gross.

2010-03-22T22:26:00.000-07:00

so I spend my night after dinner making these wonderful almond and orange bath bombs in the shape of easter eggs. They smelled amazing to me! I love the smell of almonds, and the hint of orange made it divine! And once I was done with the last egg in the double batch that I made there was a little left in the bowl. So I decided to take it over to the sink and splash some water in it to watch it fizz and then wash my hands in the heavenly almond orange goodness. Too bad that was not my experience. Unfortunately this bath bomb smells GREAT dry, and AWFUL wet. It stinks. It's bad. And it sucks that I spend more then an hour on it, used two batches worth of stuff and it stinks. Gross. I am so frustrated. I will have to make some new ones tomorrow. I think I'm going to try to salvage these ones if at all possible. I will update you on the status of my gross egg bombs. I have to go to bed now, I have a coffee and free pastry date with my dashing husband ;)

p.s. I got a membership to a gym tonight. To an AMAZING gym. I am so excited! I plan on going a minimum of three times a week.

an almost lost art

2010-03-20T20:29:00.000-07:00

To me it seems like most people don't even know how to sew nowadays. It's so weird to me that this hobby is almost obsolete in the house of all Americans. I grew up sewing. I even took a sewing class when I was younger! I have been wanting a nice sewing machine ever since I got married. But I've never bought one, or received one as a gift. I plan on putting it on my wish list for my birthday this year. Anyways, I thought about this form of art because of my addiction to browsing Etsy at least once a day most days. I came across a photo of this fantastic wallet on the front page as I very first opened up the browser! This is not a normal "art review", but I think that sewing is an art too! This girls name is Sarah, and she has some amazing talent. I love the patterns of all the purses and wallets that she has posted on Etsy. They are all so lively and full of color. They look like quality purses too. I think that if you owned one of her designs that you would get asked all the time "where did you get that purse?!" I think they're fantastic, but you can decide for yourself! Here are some photos and the link to her shop on Etsy.

This is the wallet that I saw on the first page. I have a weak spot for polka dots. Jake loves it when I wear things with polka dots, and I have always liked them too. This print reminds me of something 50's. Its such a rich and bright cherry red!

And check out the inside! Its such a strong contrast in color. But I love it. Its a good mix.

This purse is so bright and busy! Its so silly too. Plus check out the shape! Its so original. I like it, but I don't really use purses that don't have shoulder straps :/ I feel like this purse could match a lot of outfits, and clash with a lot of outfits...

I love the inside! Pinstripes! And pink no less :)

It's so crazy, I have some scrapbooking paper that is EXACTLY the same as this wallet fabric! I don't think I would buy this because it would just remind me too much of that paper, I feel like I've seen too much of it already. Weird.

And check out the shape of this clutch! Original again. I love the splashes of brightly colored flowers. The flow of the design on this purse is happy to me. I have also seen a scrapbooking paper in this same pattern. But I don't own it, so I haven't seen it a ton of times like the other one. I love the brown against the front too.

This purse seems more sensible and sophisticated. Its a clean cut design, but still looks fun in a more calm manner. I have a hard time buying purses in white or cream because once it starts to get dirty it doesn't look nice anymore. But I really like this one :)

The inside lining is really funky!

Here is the link to her shop on Etsy. If you are looking for a new purse or wallet, maybe you could get one from her!

funny name

2010-03-20T19:52:00.000-07:00

I am at my in-laws house right now, been here since yesterday. And we are spending the night again tonight. We will be going home tomorrow. We haven't stayed over for two nights in a row in a long time. I get easily overwhelmed by the end of the second night (right now). But everyone is watching a movie right now, 2012. I have no desire at all to watch it. So I'm on the computer. I wanted to blog about something, but I'm limited in a sense because I am not on my computer, so I don't have my photos or whatnot. Right now I am enjoying some iced chai that I bought from my mother in law (she sells Watkins products). Its pretty good, but not as strong as I would like. Even though I more than doubled the recommended amount of tea to water ratio. I'll have to tweak with it to get the desired taste. Yesterday I made some soap at home. I made 5 small batches of soap in different colors and scents. Then I made a big batch of white soap with a little shimmer (not glitter, shimmer) and a coconut scent. I cut up the colored soaps after they set in the molds, some like flowers, and some just chunks. Then I arranged them in the bigger molds (and smaller ones for that matter) and poured the white ontop. They turned out super cute in my opinion! Here are some photos of some of them...

I love this one! I think it kind of looks like those tiles that people often decorate their kitchens or bathrooms in :) I love the colors together.

I think the flowers are so delicate and cute! This bar is the same size as an average bar of soap. There were a lot this size (different designs), but I cut most of them into halves, thirds, or quarters. Since this design wouldn't make sense cut up I left it whole.

This is one of the ones with the chunks of different colors and scents in it :) I love the way it looks. It's so playful.

This one has "wedges" of the different soaps. The whole one was a complete circle of wedges (it was one of the ones I cut in half). It reminds me of the color wedge pieces in the game Trivial Pursuit :)

This one is one of my favorites! So simple and fresh. It just looks so pure to me.

This one is more of a manly one. I didn't want them all to be all flowers and frills :P

So I hope you liked them! It was the first time that I made soap at home. It was a lot of fun. It was an all day type of process, because I made all the color ones. If I made more plain ones it would've been much less time consuming :P Nonetheless I really like them. Before I left the house yesterday I tried out one of my little ones. It lathers into little bubbles, its really soft (shea butter and olive oil!), and the smell lingers on your skin for a long time. Overall I would say it was a success, but still not better then LUSH! It made a bit more then I thought it would, so I've been giving them out as little gifts :) I made a lot of little ones too that I didn't post photos of. But they are the perfect size for a travel soap, or for next to the sink for hand washing. When I get home tomorrow I will probably try it out in the shower and see how I like it :) I hope you all have a great night, I'm going to go browse Etsy for a little while before playing some solitaire and calling it a night!

Still obsessed with teal

2010-03-17T17:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Saint Patrick's Day. Unfortunately most people don't do anything on this day, except maybe have beer I am part Irish and have always loved this day. It reminds me of some of my favorite family members. I always wear green. I even have a special emerald green eye-liner that I wear on this one day of the year! This year I even made a special St. Pats necklace with a four leaf clover in the pendant! I like it a lot. I even included one orange bead :) I also make a special Irish dinner every St. Patrick's Day. Corned beef, cabbage, and little red potatoes! It's one of my favorite meals ever. It's such a comfort meal to me. And then we have Irish Car Bombs! It's a Guinness beer plus a shot of Bailey's Irish Cream topped with Irish Whiskey. You take the shot glass and drop it in the beer and immediately start chugging the whole drink. I cannot stand the way carbonation burns my throat, so I only do half a bottle of beer at a time :) So the little pink tea cup is my beer. Its a good drink. But it doesn't top dinner for me.

Today I went running again in the morning. I didn't sleep well last night because I don't take my ambien if I've had any alcohol. Anyways, at the end of my run I treated myself to an iced coffee from Peet's Coffee and Tea I know, I know, the treat has more calories then I burned off in my run. But I am a firm believer in a treat every once in a while. I am not a calorie freak. However I am trying to be careful about how many sweats I have. I like to drink a lot of sweet beverages, and I don't realize how many calories that adds to my day. But like I said, every once in a while is ok :) The weather the past few days has been so nice and sunny with a cool breeze. But when I showered after my run I used a sugar SCRUB and I realized very quickly that I was sunburned! UGH. I never sunburned as a child and in highschool. I only recently started sunburning. So I am not used to having to think about covering up or using sunscreen. Yesterday I even said "I don't really sunburn". So here I am, eating my words! I hate sunburns. After my run I spent some time on the computer browsing Etsy. I found a few cute pipes that this Irish guy carves. It was cool :) Then I decided to get my butt in gear and get my painting supplies out and paint. And I did. Here are three out of the four things that I made today...

The first one, my personal favorite. I love how the teal turned out. I was surprised with how nice the tree branch turned out. I was sure I was going to mess that up somehow! The blossoms were not what I had in mind, but I like them nonetheless.

Next I still had some teal left over, so I made this little painting. I live my day to day life pretty much alone. Sometimes I feel lonely, and sometimes I just love the calmness of being alone. I suppose I just wanted to capture the feeling of solitary.

And last but not least, I wanted to do something a little more light-hearted. A robot. I love robots. They are just adorable, and lovable. So here is mine.

I did paint one more thing. But its not finished yet. So I'll save that for later. I like to paint. But I don't paint very often. I hope I get more in the habit of painting so that I can get better at it :)

Also, this morning I woke up with two cats in bed with me. I don't own any cats. So I was a little startled. The end.

Back in the day

2010-03-16T21:26:00.000-07:00

ughhh, so today I found some old photos. Some were cute, and some brought back bittersweet memories. I have to say, my little sister-in-laws have always been the cutest! I loved looking through all the old photos of them that Jake has :) Right now Jake is bottling a batch of homemade beer. I'm so excited to taste it in a few weeks! Tonight for dinner I made potstickers from Shelly's blog post. Everyone loved them. But it took me TWO hours to make enough for everyone for dinner! Whew. Plus the cabbage upset my tummy :( I am looking forward to quite a few things tomorrow. First of all it's Saint Patricks Day! I am part Irish and I love St. Pats Day. It makes me so happy. It reminds me of my Great Grandmother Rosie, who was my favorite person. Ever. Besides Jake of course! She is who I try to be like. I want to be remembered the same way that I remember her :) So tomorrow I will cook my traditional St. Pats dinner. Corned Beef, cabbage, and little red potatoes. I will wear green. I will drink Irish car bombs. I will wear my newly made St. Patricks Day necklace. And I will be jolly the whole day through! I am also going to go on a bike ride with my cousin Heather. I love bike rides! I will take the day off from running most likely. But I'm not sure, I want to keep up everyday. But I am going bike riding, so maybe that could count as my exercise. Today I went bowling with Heather! I have wanted to go bowling again for a LONG time. It was so much fun. We played three games. That's my max. My neck and shoulder starts to hurt by the end of the first game. And its pretty bad by the third game (I got 50 points out of a 300 points possible!).

Ok so I wanted to do another little LUSH review. I actually have two things for you guys today. The first one I have already mentioned before. The Curly Wurly shampoo! I got it as a sample the last time that I was in LUSH. I have been pretty impressed with this shampoo. First of all because I only use about a quarter sized amount of it for my whole head of hair! And I have a lot of long thick hair! So that was the first thing that I noticed about the quality of this shampoo. The second thing that I noticed was that there are slivers of coconut in this shampoo! It's so cool! Here is a photo of it (I've posted it before). The sample size from LUSH is 1/4 of an ounce and I have used this sampoo 4-5 times already and I still have about half the sample left! That just shows how a little goes a long way with this shampoo! I love that. This product has so many yummy yummy things in it! Like I said, coconut, but it also has lemon juice, papaya, eggs (free range), cocoa butter, shea butter, jojoba oil, avocado, olive oil, and vanilla! Whoa! So many good things! My suggestion is to wet hair, scoop out small amount of shampoo, lather into hair, and let sit for about 10 minutes while you wash your body (so that the oils and butter can moisturize your hair better), then rinse! I still use a conditioner afterwards because I have dry hair. But this is a really moisturizing shampoo, so if you don't have dry frizzy hair you could be able to just use this one shampoo and no conditioner! It is a little more on the spendy side. Its $19.95 for a 7.8oz tub. But!! Like I said, you only need a much smaller amount per wash for this shampoo compared to other ones. So it's more than likely worth it in the end. Plus I guarantee its a much nicer shampoo than other ones out there. All natural and fresh ingredients!

And for my friends with non curly or wavy hair, I also tried out their Big shampoo . Which was also really really nice. Its just that it wasn't for my hair personally. Since I'm looking for more moisturizing like the Curly Wury provided. But this one has big pieces of sea salt in it. It was so cool to use! And it smells really nice too. It cleaned my hair really nicely :) Here are some of the ingredients... Sea salt (almost half of the shampoo is salt because it gives your hair a lift, more volume!), fresh organic lemon juice, sea water, seaweed extract, fresh organic lime juice, vanilla, and extra virgin coconut oil. More yummy things :)

The other product that I really want to encourage you all to try (a must! a must!) is the soap called Porridge. This soap is kind of brownish with chunks in it.
This soap has bits and pieces of oatmeal in it! It's a gentle exfoliation. There's also sunflower oil, coconut, fresh orange juice, sweet orange oil, This soap smells so warm and sweet. It has kind of a honey scent to it as well. This is one of the softest lathered soaps I've used. It feels like silk bubbles! Its a really creamy soap so unfortunately it melts faster then some of the other ones. But I love it. It has been the longest lasting on my skin in the scent department. Most of the other soaps I can only smell on my skin for an hour or so after I shower. But this one I could still smell on my skin when I was going to bed (I had showered in the morning!). Its a really lovely soap :)

Ummm so one thing I hate about blogging is how long it seems to take me sometimes to just write one post! FOREVER. And a day.

goodnight. It's much too late!

ridiculous

2010-03-15T18:19:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted a blog post in a while. I have actually been doing things around the house. Go me. Like organizing all the photos on our computer. Talk about a big task! And trying to keep our room semi-clean-ish. Blah. And today I dumped out my whole bead container and reorganized all of the beads. I now have all the different beads in individual bags that are then sorted into bigger bags by color. Its so much easier to see what I have now. Beforehand I was constantly spending five minutes looking through the whole container for a certain bag of beads, and I always seemed to just not see it! So now I can just grab the big bag of the color that I want and look in there for the ones I want. So much nicer. Yesterday we spent the afternoon and evening with Jake's family. I spent a majority of the time making jewelry with my sister-in-laws. I gave them some new beads to use, and coincidentally the beads matched their new skirts! They are getting better and better at jewelry making! I made a matching necklace and bracelet for a shirt that I got last week. I wore them today :) Lucy my sea anemone seems to be doing better. I thought for sure the second day I had her that she was going to die. But she looks so much better now. And I think she might live for a while now. Hubert the clown fish has pretty much decided not to host with her. So that's kind of sad. I got her just for him, to make him more content in the tank. For company. But no. Thanks a lot Hubert. Oh well, at least she's still pretty on her own. One of my crabs has changed into a big shell and then back into his smaller shell five time in the past few days. I wish he would make up his mind! Although I guess it doesn't really matter to me which shell he's in, or if he wants to keep switching for that matter. For some reason it just kind of annoys me :P Ok so I'm listening to Jars of Clay right now, and it's kind of a downer. So I think I'll change the music...
Music officially changed.
I'm now listening to Chumbawamba Tub Thumper .
Because I'm that cool. Ok just kidding. Seriously, I still have my Christmas wreaths in my room and on our door. I think I really need to make some Spring type of decor to replace them. It's been 3mo, since Christmas. Maybe that will be my goal for tomorrow. So another thing that has been keeping me busy this week is EXERCISE! I have gone running everyday for five days (I didn't go yesterday, it was my "rest" day for running). And I have lost 1 1/2 lbs since I started doing that. I hope this continues for like 10-15 more pounds. I kept with it and went running this morning after dragging my butt out of bed. Seriously I woke up and looked at the clock "7:03am", went back to sleep, "8:33am" went back to sleep even though I thought "it's getting kind of late", "9:46am", "ok get out of bed Vanessa!". So I did, but believe me I could've slept for at least another hour. I was ridiculously tired. Anyways, I was running and my ankles were SO SORE. So I walked one block in the middle of my mile and a quarter run. But then as I was walking back (I run the mile and then walk back home to cool off afterwards, I can't stand showering all out of breath) I saw this guy about a block away smoking, really creepy middle-aged black man in rugged clothes, and as I got closer and closer I could see him staring at me the whole time. Then when I was about to pass where he was on the other side of the street he walked over towards me. I was really nervous. But he was walking across the street slowly, so I just started jogging again. He didn't follow me, but he did yell something at me. Gross. Thankfully it was on a busy street and there were other people around too. So I wasn't too scared. I never go running out in the woods alone or anything like that! Ok well Jake is home now, and we have to do things tonight, so stay tuned readers!

Linus and Lucy

2010-03-11T12:33:00.000-08:00

Have you ever written a paragraph or two of a blog post and just really not liked it at all and erased the whole thing and started over? Well that's what I just did. I also did that yesterday... blah. Such a waste of time! Anyways. Today I bought my clownfish, Hubert, his first sea anemone. I named the sea anemone Lucy. It seemed girly to me. She's white with purple dots on the ends of her arms. So pretty! I love her already. Now if only Hubert would love her too! You see I have had a clown fish before, Bernie. And when I bought him his first sea anemone he snuggled up to the anemone in about 5 minutes of me putting it in the tank. He freaking loved that thing to pieces! See this is how a clown fish is supposed to interact with his anemone... But Hubert has not gone up to Lucy at all :( I am really really hoping that he warms up to her by tomorrow. Because seriously, it's not like these things are cheap! Today I also changed one of the fans in my tank, changed the water, and changed the filter!! Whew!

I also painted my toenails. A job that has been needing to be done for a LONG time! So now my toes are Spring ready. I also took out all my "nicer" (then the Old Navy 2 for $5 flip flops, even though I do like these too) sandals. Beings that I just painted my toes I felt comfortable enough to put them on and take some photos for you guys!

I liked these sandals so much I got two different colors! Brown and teal...

And I wanted to have a pair of nice black sandals...

And these ones remind me of sandals that I wore when I was a little girl...

And how could I resist these pink girly ones?

By the way, I don't wear my jeans rolled up, they'd be too short like that, but I wanted you to be able to see the sandals properly :)

Today I also decided to go for a run. And when I came back naturally I took a shower. I had to laugh a little when I saw my two bottles of body wash next to each other in the shower...

What do you know! Coral and Teal...
These soaps are the Rub Rub Rub that I've done a review on before. And then the coral colored one is a new one! Here is a review on it...

The Olive Branch

To be honest the first time I smelled this soap I didn't like it. So I didn't use it for a long time. In fact the only reason I used it yesterday (finally!) was because of my recent trip to LUSH. You see I was admiring this one bath bars scent and the employee says "oh yeah, that one smells just like The Olive Branch!" And I looked at him like he was crazy! I replied "oh no it doesn't! You're crazy" I then grabbed the sample bottle of The Olive Branch, smelled it, and then smelled the bath bar, then I confirmed "no, they don't smell the same!" And I had him smell them both too. He agreed that its not EXACTLY the same, but that they are supposed to be like each other because they have the same ingredients in them. At that point I promised him that I would try my bottle of The Olive Branch. And I did. And I was surprised that I liked it. First of all, this soap is packed with olive oil, so its super silky! It has a light fragrance, but I have to say, it was a nice fragrance :) There is a hint of bergamot and lemon in this soap as well. I don't think I will ever buy more of this soap. But I will use this bottle of it. It is a really nice soap, just not my favorite.

Well this was quite a post! I hope it was a nice read :)

freaking

2010-03-09T18:16:00.000-08:00

Today I had Anna and Elisabeth here at my house for the morning (well they've been here since Sunday. But I brought them home today). We did our nails before we headed out for the long drive home. But on the way to their house we stopped off at the LUSH store in Berkeley! We browsed for a long time! Of course I let them pick out a bath bomb (they picked out a Big Blue Bath Bomb), and we all got some free samples (I got some shampoo samples! The first one is Curly Wurly, and the second one is Big . The girls got the same sample, Rub Rub Rub) . It was so much fun walking around and smelling all the soaps and such :) Plus the guy that was working at the time was really nice and outgoing and did a lot of examples for us. Then I dropped the girls of in SF. After that I went grocery shopping in Berkeley, my favorite. And it took me FOREVER and a day to get home. Seriously. By the time I got home I had just enough time to clean up my room and leave to go pick up my uncle from the bus stop. I couldn't believe it was almost 7pm when I got home from that. Where did my evening go?! I had been planning on writing a short blog post and then eating some dinner. But since it was already so late I went and made myself some food right away. Tonight I made some Cream Cheese Wontons for the first time! They were pretty good. I had them with some Sweet & Sour Sauce.
Also, I got a new shirt recently. But tonight is the first time that I've worn it :) It's been really comfy so far. And it looks really cute with this yellow and cream hat that I have and hardly ever get to wear! Double win!

And on Monday I wore a coral shirt with a teal cardigan! I felt so cool wearing my current "trendy" colors together for the first time! Why I haven't done this before I have no idea! But anyways, I was making jewelry with the girls and made a necklace to match my outfit :) AND today while out at LUSH I got a compliment on it. It made me happy.

I am seriously going to have to stop myself from buying more pink and blue clothes! I think my next focus will be sapphire blue and emerald green

Paper Moth

2010-03-08T10:39:00.000-08:00

Time for a new art review! I pretty much only find artists from google searches or Etsy. I prefer finding artist on Etsy. I think it's easier to navigate the art on Etsy then it is on a personal blog. So anyways, today I found another artist named David, but this David's last name is Moore. When I first looked through his gallery I assumed he was a she. I suppose because the art was so light and feminine in my eyes. But I should know by now to not judge an artists gender by there style of art. Anyways, there is something really fun and light about his art to me. And after I looked through his shop I saw in his profile that he had a few more shops for different things. One of those were necklaces with pendants of his art. They exceeded my expectations! They are so detailed and sharp! I love them. Here are a few photos of his art on Etsy, and then some of his necklaces on Etsy as well.

I liked this piece because the idea of storytelling is special to me. How intimate and wonderful storytelling can be!

I've always called these flowers "wish" flowers. I used to really like these as a child. And now as an adult I love images of this whimsical flower.

I just really loved the colors and shapes of this one. It reminds me of Summertime :)

I love seahorses! I've always wanted to get one for my aquarium. But I'm afraid that it would die. And that would break my heart.

And here are some photos of the pendant necklaces that he makes!

This pendant reminds me of the 60's or 70's :)

I love horses. I became friends with my husband at a horse camp. So there will always be a special place for them in my heart.

Oh these colors are so pleasing to my eyes together :) And poppies are such a delicate flower :)

Can you see that the word is made up of little hearts? How darling :)

Well here is the link to his Etsy shop for his paintings.

And here is the link to his necklace shop

Stay Tuned...

Origami Stars

2010-03-07T21:37:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I tried to do a video of me making one of these paper stars, but I just ran into issues with that. I might try again tomorrow. You can find videos of it on YouTube, however thats how I first learned how to make them and was making them wrong, so they did 'poof', meaning they weren't 3D. So I thought I would make a video that explained the whole thing better, but I have been sick for a few days so I sound all yucky! LOL, here are some photos of the whole process, and I might make a video tomorrow :)

So you start off with a strip of paper, mine is 11in X a little less than 1/2in

And you wrap it around and tuck it under on one side, just like tying a knot!

then you pull, more like "shimmy" it tight, but not too tight, just make the corners sharp

then you take the long side, should be on your LEFT, and bend the slack BEHIND (this is where I went wrong when I started making them off of the video on youtube) the 'knot' you just made

continue folding the slack paper around the knot making it flat and semi tight, don't worry about the slack left over from the right side of the knot it eventually gets folded into the knot as you are folding over the slack from the left side

when you get to the end you are going to tuck the last little bit under ONE of the folds on the knot, the one thats longer

Now you should have a nice, flat, and tight five sided knot, all thats left is making it 'poof'

so to do that you hold it securely inbetween your fingers and with your index fingernail push down on one of the sides of the knot

then rotate the knot over one side and continue pushing points into the sides of the knot

until you have a paper star!!!

I hope this was helpful! And remember you can use so many different types of paper to make unique stars! Even old wrapping paper would work! Have fun and make a ton of mini paper stars!

cottage cheese

2010-03-07T20:26:00.000-08:00

ok so I wanted to do a new LUSH product review! So I went running on Saturday after I had decided that I was just going to walk. I ran a whole mile without stopping. I was really proud of myself. Anyways, I was so sweaty when I got home, so naturally I took a shower! And this time I decided to use a shower "jelly" that I haven't used in a long time. And "jelly" is just the right word for it because it kind of feels like jello! I was actually surprised. I really really loved the smell and feel of this product. The name of this LUSH shower "jelly" is snow showers. Here is what it looks like

But this doesn't show how it crumbles in the shower. That's my one and only complaint about this soap. It crumbles/falls apart really easily. But I have heard a few ways to cure this issue. One is to chill the soap in the fridge. I don't want to try this because I think it would be really unpleasant to use cold soap! And the second suggestion is to use a foam/sponge type thing. I don't know what those are called. I haven't tried this either. I like soap to skin contact. So I just use all my soaps directly. But if it really bothers you how badly this one crumbles at least you now know a few ways to help. So the scent of this soap is very citrusy it has orange oil in it, so that explains that one :) But there is also lime in it! Its so refreshing. The Lush catalog discribes this soap as a champagne with orange juice drink scent. Its so true. Aren't those things called Mimosas?! I think so. Anyways, I think I would love some champagne with orange juice! I heard its a "breakfast" drink. So how does this soap feel? Well I heard someone say that this soap doesn't lather. Lies! Ok so it doesn't lather when I first rub it all over. But then I let it sit for a minute and then I went back and rubbed more and it lathered! I've used this soap before and never discovered that until this past shower :) I was surprised! Plus it feels so silky! I can't get over the smell of this one. It was the perfect after a jog refreshing clean! I think you should try it... next Christmas. I just remembered one little important fact about this soap! It's a Christmas season soap! Dang it! I shouldn't have done a review on a soap that wasn't available at the moment! Sorry guys. I will do a review on a soap that is available soon!

Stay Tuned...