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Bathroom Makeover
Over the past few years, Matt and I have slowly been updating our house. We have replaced the carpet, upgraded all the lights, and painted everything but the 2 upstairs bathrooms. I just cannot find the motivation to paint the bathrooms. But this is will have to happen soon.
A few weeks ago our bathroom lights started going out. We had one of those Hollywood style lights over the vanity. Well instead of replacing the 2 bulbs that had blown, I told Matt I’d rather just replace the whole light. We’ve been racking up Amex points for a while now, so he ordered a few Lowe’s gift cards. Before he left to play golf on Saturday he handed me the gift cards and told me to run to Lowe’s and “spend some money”.
We’d already looked at lights and had one picked out so when I went to Lowe’s I grabbed the light and globes. Unfortunately they didn’t have the globes we’d originally looked at so I had to find new ones. I might have also picked up a few more plants. Whoopsy! 😉
Sunday, once we got up, Matt started working on the light. When he took the old light down, he realized there wasn’t a junction box and had to run back to Lowes. After fiddling with that for a while, he finally got it to work and he installed the new light. We both really like the new light but it just emphasizes the fact that I HATE the mirror. Originally we were going to buy a kit and frame it but the new light is so close to the top of the mirror and honestly, I want new mirrors.
The past couple of days I’ve been looking at my options and I finally found a couple I liked at Kirkland’s. I called the store by my house but they didn’t have 2 of the ones I wanted. I was told there were more at the Cary store so today at lunch I ran over there. I had to search for the ones I’d seen online and in the process I found another one I really liked. When I compared the 2, I realized the new one was a tiny bit taller and I liked the pattern a bit more. They were both the same price so it didn’t really matter.
Now I get to go home and see how they look. The verdict is still out as to whether 2 mirrors will look okay with just one light. If we had plans to stay in this house I would have made Matt split the junction box so we could have had 2 lights but that seemed like a lot of work for a house we don’t plan to stay in long term. I’ll post some pics once we decide on the mirror situation but here is a pic of the light and the current (ugly) mirror.
~k
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Anniversary Re-Cap
This year’s anniversary wasn’t quite as fancy as years 1 and 2. For our 1 year anniversary, Matt and I went to NYC for a long weekend and celebrated with dinner at Scarpetta. It was pretty amazing! You can read about that trip here. Last year we went to Jamaica for a long weekend and were able to have a candlelight dinner on the beach for our anniversary. As you can see, the bar was set pretty high.
Tuesday, after Matt and I got home from work, we just lounged around until it was time to get ready for dinner. He bought me flowers and I bought him a leather shaving bag along with some funky socks. We don’t normally exchange gifts but I felt like I should get him a little something since we weren’t going anywhere. We had a 7:30 dinner reservation at Margaux’s. It was supposed to be a nice, upscale restaurant pretty close to our house. Matt had been several years ago but I had never been. There were only a few people dining when we arrived but the restaurant itself was nice. We were seated and ordered our starters. We also received some crab cake tapas while we were waiting. Since Matt can’t eat shellfish, I got to eat them. They were quite yummy. Matt ordered a Caesar salad to start with and I ordered the Ahi Tuna. For our main dishes, Matt had the Panko Crusted Chicken Breast and I had the Braised Short Ribs. After dinner Matt ordered the Profiteroles and I had the Sorbet. All in all, dinner was really good but not really as exotic as years past.
I’m hoping we will be able to take a few long weekend vacations over the summer since we don’t have any big vacations planned for this year.
~k
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Happy 3rd Anniversay
Three years ago today, Matt and I were standing on the lawn at the Sandals La Toc in St Lucia overlooking the ocean, promising our lives to one another. You can read all about our wedding here.
I would have to say the last 3 years have been pretty good! Sure, Matt and I have had our ups and downs but for the most part, things have been really good. We’ve had our share of hard times, but there is no one else in this world I would rather face those times with. He is my rock when I need someone to lean on, he is always there to hold my hand or give me a hug. He’s wiped more than his share of tears from my face. He is my everything! I can’t imagine spending my life with someone else. What started with friendship has turned into a beautiful love.
It’s hard for me to imagine my life without him, bed burritoing and all. 😉 (And if you know me, you know I am a bed FREAK! haha) I LOVE YOU, MATTE!
~k
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Scrub a dub dub
Since this has turned into a beauty blog, I’d like to share a new product I found at Ulta. It’s the Freeman Facial Polishing Mask with Charcoal and Black Sugar. I stumbled across this a few weeks ago but I wanted to try it out a few times before I reviewed it. I’ve used it several times over the past few weeks and I’m impressed! For $3.99, this stuff is GREAT! I try to use it about 2x a week and after each use I notice my skin tone looks more even, not to mention my skin feels really soft. I haven’t had any big break-outs while using this either. I’ve had a few small ones but I don’t know that I can contribute it to the scrub.
I start by removing all of my makeup and I lightly pat my face dry. Then I apply the scrub. It’s not quite as “masky” as I thought it would be though. I’ll include a pic so you can see what I mean. I leave it on for the recommended 5-7 mins, normally while I’m brushing my teeth. Then I wash it off, I also use it to scrub my lips. After, my skin tone looks so much more even, even more so than with the Mary Kay Microderm kit I think. I think for the price, you can’t beat this mask. It’s pretty great!
~k
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There’s a blue streak
I’ve been coloring my hair since I was about 16, so almost half my life. For the most part, I do a pretty good job. So much so that most professionals say it looks good. Either they are all being nice, which I find hard to believe, or I do a pretty darn good job!
Right before my 17th birthday, I think, I ended up really messing up my color. I wanted it lighter so I used Born Blonde. If you don’t know what Born Blonde is, let me tell you. It strips all the pigment out of your hair. At least that’s what happened to me. I was okay at first and then mom told me it looked like Playboy Bunny hair. Cue freak out! I immediately called the company to see how I could fix it. After going rounds with the customer service agent who couldn’t tell me what to do, but also kept telling me I didn’t need to go to a salon, I lost it. Full blown teenage girl freak-out! Feeling sorry for me, mom took me to the nearest salon. I sat in the chair and the lady explained what would need to happen. First she would have to fill it, then she could color it. It was a process but in the end my hair color looked pretty good. Not to mention, I think we only paid like $85.00.
A couple of weeks ago while at Ulta, I noticed a new hair-color I’d not seen before. It was by John Freda. As I was standing there debating what color to get another lady walked up. We began talking and she said she had used this before and really liked the results. Talking to a real person who had used this product sold me. I grabbed their Neutral Blonde and headed home.
I’d planned to hold off coloring my hair as long as possible and until Tuesday it still looked really good. But then on Tuesday, it completely hit the wall. It was flat and gross and I really needed a cut. I looked at the calendar and realized it had been 13 weeks since my last haircut! :O I called the salon and was lucky enough to get an appt for Wednesday afternoon. I went home Tuesday night and applied color. After I washed my hair I knew it looked too brassy but I figured I would just get my stylist to put a toner on it before she cut it. She does this for me from time to time and it’s not that expensive so Matt can’t complain.
My stylist was running late so she asked another girl to wash my hair. I told her I wanted a toner so she washed and then grabbed my stylist to tone. After a few minutes she started to wash it out. Once she shampooed she goes “So there’s a little section that is kind of blue. It picked up too much of the toner. I’m going to need to buff this out.” Okay, so no big deal right, I mean she’s a professional and she’ll fix it. The only problem was, I’d been sitting in the wash chair, for what seemed like forever at this point and my neck was killing me. She mixed something else up, “buffed it out”, washed it again, and then, FINALLY, conditioned my hair. It took all I had to get my head back up. We go back to her chair and she cuts my hair. Before I leave she adds some hairspray. This is when I notice my hair feels GROSS! Like ick! I attribute it to the hairspray and leave.
This morning as I’m washing my hair, I notice it still feels pretty gross, like I have a ton of product on it. Even after washing and conditioning, still gross. I blow it dry and it still feels icky. I can’t help but think it was the toner. It did at least manage to kill some of the brass but this is by far not my fave color. Next time I’m going with ash! Anyway, my hair is finally starting to feel normal again. I’m going to glaze it in the morning and see if I can’t knock the rest of the brass out and make it feel smoother and softer.
Anyway, I’m sure it will be fine. This is not a hair color disaster but it might be one I remember for a while. Never have I had my hair turn blue! I’m glad it was an easy fix because I really like my stylist but I might not be ordering another toner! 😉
~k
