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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
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Spring Colors
Okay, so umm, wow! I haven’t blogged in like 2 weeks. Crazy! Life has been pretty slow. Just an “old” married couple being boring lately. 🙂
Anyway, in the past couple of weeks our yard has really blossomed. The irises are blooming, my azaleas finally got with the program, and my pansies perked up. Since everything was in full bloom I finally went out a took a few pics the other day. Enjoy!
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Spring has sprung!
I feel like I only recently discovered the beauty of Peonies! As it happened, I stumbled upon them while looking for flowers for my wedding bouquet. Since the flowers included in our package sucked, and buying real flowers while in St. Lucia wasn’t really an option, I opted for fake flowers. *GASP* I was lucky to find a website that sold very realistic looking fake flowers and I was able to get a family friend to put them together. I think I spent under $75.00 for the whole thing. Not too shabby!
Where I’m actually going with this post is, I finally bought a peony bush this weekend! I’ve wanted one for a while and last year they were a little more than I wanted to spend. Yesterday I found one at Lowes for $24.95. I didn’t really have a place for it, you know since we don’t really have a yard, but I just HAD to have one. I ended up planting it on our side yard next to a holly bush. This probably wasn’t the best place to put it but the tag said it needed partial sun. Originally I thought about planting it under the deck but that gets a lot of the hot midday sun. So for now this is where it will live. There are already some buds so I’m hoping it will bloom pretty soon.
In other yard related news, I have 6 iris about to bloom, my azaleas are also about to bloom, and my gladiolus are coming up nicely. All in all I am very happy with the current state of the yard. I planted the gladiolus about 4 weeks ago I think. I bought a bag of 60 at Costco over the winter for $12.00. I didn’t plant all of them though. I gave a few to mom and I’ll probably give a few more to a co-worker. I mean 60 is kind of a lot. Haha
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No Primer, No Problem!
As you all know, I’ve recently become OBSESSED with make-up tutorials on Youtube. Well, I have a few of my faves, but I also have a few others that I will occasionally check out. GossMakeupArtist is one I occasionally watch. Last week he posted a GREAT tip on how to make your foundation last. Seeing as I’ve been having foundation issues, I wanted to know what his tip was.
Now, before I go into exactly what you do, I just want to say that after I watched the video I was totally skeptical. So much so, that I refused to try this tip during the week. I waited till the weekend so if things totally went South I could just start over. But guys, it worked! Like really worked! So here’s what you need:
- Moisturizer
- Loose powder – translucent or colored (I use my Mineral Veil)
- Powder Brush
- Foundation
Okay, here goes. Apply your moisturizer as usual, then while its still damp, apply a little bit of loose powder on top. I tap out a small amount in the top, swirl my brush, and tap off the excess. The key here is to not use too much. Once you’ve powdered your face, you will apply your foundation. If needed you can add a little more powder over your foundation. (I have combo skin with an oily t-zone so I add a touch more powder to set the look.) Now I know, you aren’t supposed to use liquid over powder. But it works! Essentially you are creating a primer for your foundation.
Here’s what I like most about this tip. You have all the stuff needed already. Plus primers can be expensive. I bought a NYX primer a few weeks ago and feel like I need to use it sparingly even though it was only like $12.00 because I have to use a lot. The other good thing about this tip is, for me anyway, the moisturizer/powder combo also helps to smooth out my pores which helps your foundation sit better.
I’ve done this a few times since I saw it and I have to say, I’m impressed! My foundation seems to stay on a good bit longer than before and I’m not getting as oily in my t-zone. Not to mention it’s free!
Give it a try!
~k
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A New fave (yup another mascara post)
I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to write a post about mascara!
A while back I wrote about my current favorite mascara, Revlon Lash Potion. This stuff is pretty wonderful but it’s waterproof, like really waterproof. Honestly I don’t really mind if my mascara doesn’t fully wash off at night. I personally think you should wear mascara 24/7 but there comes a time when not washing off starts to make the next day’s mascara all clumpy. I started to have this problem and instead of investing in makeup remover, I decided to buy a cheap non-waterproof mascara to wear under the Lash Potion. Now, here’s the deal, if you wear a non-waterproof mascara under a waterproof mascara, your waterproof mascara will wash over easier. There’s another added bonus to layering your mascara, it will make your lashes fuller. You can really do this with any 2 different mascaras but the easier cleanup was my motivation. I already have long, full eyelashes which also makes me super picky about mascara. If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you know I LOVE mascara! I think it’s the Bee’s knees! 😉
So here’s what happened. I ran to Target one day and started looking for some super cheap mascara. I finally found the Rimmel Extra Super Lash for about $4.00. Score! This was in my target of how much I wanted to spend on “cheap” mascara. Besides, this wasn’t the star of the show, the Lash Potion was right? Wrong.
I got the Rimmel home and found it had a long skinny, tapered brush. I usually prefer the fuller brushes but who cares right? I applied the mascara and was pretty surprised at how awesome my lashes looked. A little on the skinny side but this made them quite long. I continued on with my plan and applied the Lash Potion over. Overall it was okay, but not really what I was hoping for. As the weeks went on, I found myself using the Rimmel more and more and the Lash Potion less and less. I learned how to control the brush to make my lashes appear thicker and was pleasantly surprised that the non-waterproof formula had good staying power! I could wear it all day with no smudges or smears and this is pretty impressive since I touch my eyes A LOT! Don’t get me wrong, if it gets wet it’s going to run some but I don’t feel it’s as bad as some non-waterproofs (but really I wouldn’t know because I haven’t worn anything other than waterproof, like ever!)
Overall, I am super happy with my discovery! I love happy accidents and in this case a cheap happy accident. If you are like me and you love mascara definitely give the Rimmel a go.
~k
I was going to include a pic but my mobile app is being a pain so, no pic.
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The 3rd anniversary of the 32nd birthday
Equals 35. Sigh!
Saturday was my birthday and I decided I wanted to go out and have fun. Normally birthdays in our household are celebrated with gifts, cake (sometimes decent looking 😉 ), and a nice dinner out. Matt and I have never done much in the way of parties for birthdays, aside from his 30th birthday. I took him out and his friends got him WASTED! And I got him to dance! 😮 I didn’t want a party for my bday but I thought having a few friends join us for dinner and dancing would be nice. I asked my friend K and her husband M along with one of Matt’s friends and his new girlfriend.
After being unable to get reservations at a new restaurant called Stanbury in downtown, I decided on a new place called Mandolin for dinner. {Funny little side note but the space that Mandolin currently occupies was once a place called EVOO. This was mine and Matt’s first official date spot. It’s since changed hands several times but I’m hoping Mandolin is here to stay for a while.} I was able to get an 8:30 reservation for Saturday night. I knew K&M would be waiting since she said they were going to go to the bar and get drinks first but I was surprised to see J&A sitting at their table when Matt and I walked in around 8:20. About 10 mins later the host came and told us it would be a few more minutes as our table was eating dessert. About 10 minutes after that, we were told they were paying the tab, and a little after 9 we were finally seated. Matt bought me a birthday cake so I brought it with us to the restaurant to share. I didn’t even think about the fact that they would charge a cake cutting fee. Anyway, they politely waived our fee since we’d had to wait. How sweet! *insert slight eye roll here* I must say though, Mandolin was great! The atmosphere was really nice and the food was delicious. Definitely a place Matt and I will go again.
Thankfully once we were seated, our orders were taken, and our food arrived pretty quickly. I must say the food was DELICIOUS! I had the Foie Gras appetizer and then the Chicken and Dumplings for dinner. SO. YUMMY! Everyone really enjoyed their food. After we ate cake, we all headed downtown. The suggested bar was a new spot called Coglins but the line out the door was a huge turn off. I mean, come on, it was my birthday. Who wants to stand in line? Not me! We headed a block over to The Hive. It was busy but not stand in line busy. Drinks were consumed and some dancing was done. In the end J&A and Matt and I stayed till almost 1 before heading home. AHHH! Overall, it was a great night and I had a lot of fun! I’m so glad our friends joined us!
~k
PS. I bought a new outfit for my birthday. I got a shirt, necklace and jacket (not pictured). I’ve had the shoes for a while and they are still fantastic!
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Halle Update
I spoke with the vet on Thursday and the good news is Hal doesn’t have hyperthyroidism and she is not diabetic. The bad news is, the vet told me she was honestly “not sure what’s wrong with her.” Short of doing a rather costly ultrasound, the vet didn’t offer much else. She did say we could put Hal on a really high dose of steroids and see what happens. This could help if she has some sort of inflammation or cancer or something else. Seeing as this was the more cost friendly option I told her we’d try it! Don’t get me wrong, we love Hal, A LOT, but the fact is, she’ll be 14 in August. She’s getting up there in age and even if they found cancer or something else, we most likely wouldn’t do surgery and I’m not sure we would go for the cure-all method. The only thing I don’t want, is for her to be in pain or discomfort if possible.
For now she’ll take steroids and in a month we’ll take her back to the vet for a weight check. If she’s gained a little weight, she’ll remain on the steroids. And honestly, one dose of liquid meds a day is not a problem. In fact, she seems to like it! Go figure! The last couple of days I’ve been struggling to get her mouth open so I can squirt the meds in. We’ve managed to get some on her, on the floor, on me, on the bed. Pretty much everywhere. Well last night I went in the kitchen to get it ready and she followed me. Matt made a comment to her that she might not want to go in the kitchen and we both laughed. As she was standing there, I reached down and put the syringe up to her mouth to let her smell it. Much to my surprise, she started licking it. We finally managed to get it all in her mouth with no struggle at all! I felt a little silly for not trying that sooner.
In the few days she’s taken the meds, I feel like she feels a little better. She hasn’t been sick at all and seems to have a good appetite. I really hope this continues to work for her. Having a sick kitty is no fun!
~k
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Our proposal story – 4 years
OMG! It’s been exactly 4 years to the day that Matte proposed! EEEKKK! I feel sure I published this last year too but oh well here we go again!
March 21, 2010
As my birthday quickly approached, I wondered what exactly the day would have in store. I told M that a nice dinner would be fine, no gift necessary. Years of birthday disappoints, break-ups, etc had left me a “Birthday Scrooge”, as a friend would say. It’s hard to be disappointed with a nice romantic dinner out.
I finally decided on a nice Italian restaurant with outdoor seating and M made the reservation for Sunday night. We both decided to take Monday, my actual birthday off. As Sunday rolled around so did the clouds. Over the weekend I received a few birthday cards containing monetary gifts. With money in hand I decided I needed a new dress for the occasion. Well as luck would have it, there was not a cute dress to be found. A last ditch trip to Target ended the dress hunt without a dress but with new shoes. Oh well
When we got home we realized there would be no outdoor dining as the clouds were looking quite ominous. We dressed, complete with new shoes and headed to dinner. While at dinner M told me he had a “silly” gift for me to open that night. I didn’t think much of this as I figured he had found some sort of Auburn memorabilia at a local sports store. After dinner we decided to head to The Cheesecake Factory for dessert. As we were waiting for a drink and cheesecake, I told M that friend of ours had asked me if I thought he would propose. I told her that if he did, he would give me a ring pop first. I explained this was a running joke with M and I. He just chuckled and asked if they still made those. With cheesecake in hand we headed back to the house. Once we were changed and back downstairs M asked if I was ready for my gift. I said sure. I grabbed the box from the coffee table and began to unwrap it. Having no idea what the box might contain, I was quite shocked to see a ring pop right there in front of my eyes. I looked at M and as I turned he pulled a ring out of his pocket. He told me that he wanted me to be his wife and “will you marry me?” I immediately began to cry just looking at him. I finally managed to say “I think I’m supposed to say Maaaaybee.” “HAHA yes!!!” And kissed him. He put the ring on my finger and I noticed he was shaking. Awww how sweet considering he had known my answer for months.
Now a few days have passed and the weight of the ring has become a familiar feeling. With that feeling comes the knowledge that soon enough I will be M’s wife.
~ and just as a side note M did get me an actual gift for my birthday, a cute pink Ipod shuffle
