Hair evolution

After blogging almost daily for a while, I apologize for my absence of a few days. Yes I know you didn't notice, but whatever. I like blogging. It gives me a chance to put random things that are bouncing around in my head somewhere and it gives all my loved ones who seem to always be miles and miles away a way to "Keep up with the Hogans". Ha ha.

Hello internet, meet sleepy Marie. Make up is not required and wild hair is preferred.

I am alive! These past few days have felt busy; full of working, family, missing my husband, and cuddling with him (and a couple of kitties) when I see him. And maybe some watching Breaking Dawn Part 1 (don't hate). I have felt a little off lately, and I'm not sure why. Brendon is stressed about his first round of exams so maybe that's rubbing off on me. I don't know, but I'm in a little funk! Maybe it's this dreary weather.

Speaking of weather, it snowed yesterday! In AUSTIN! Lame, sleety snow, that only lasted maybe a couple hours, but it happened. It started while I was at work and sleeted/snowed on my drive home. Crossing the river there were big fluffy balls of snow falling. It was really pretty, I should have pulled over and taken a picture. It may never happen again! It's supposed to be in the 70's all week. I think yesterday was our last day of "winter". And I'm kind of okay with that. I'm ready for spring!

Let's talk hair. In reference to my "wild hair" above, I haven't cut my hair since September. It's been about half a year since I did this:

And I'm not really looking to cut my hair anytime soon. I'd love to have it waist length, but we'll see. I've got a few split ends and my bangs are beyond grown out, but I like it. I wear my hair up almost everyday anyway. I maybe style my hair once a month. Maybe. Super weird, considering that a year ago I had to straighten my hair every single day (thanks Hooters). Crazy how much can change in just a year. And I'm sure my hair is thankful, it's pretty dang healthy.

The last time my hair was this long was a few years ago and it was super fried from dying it all the time and attacking it with heat everyday. So in effort to salvage my "do" and keep it from feeling like straw, in early 2009 after dying my hair basically black I stopped dying my hair.

Let's examine this photo. First of all, my sisters hair was SO LONG. Second, I don't know what look I was going for (the Megan Fox?) but black hair, blue eyes, and fake tanned pale freckled skin is not a good combo for me. I look a tad bit scary. Also, hello kitty! That is Figaro, my sister's cat that was once mine. She likes my sister better. The doggie is Sweetie, my sisters boxer who has crossed the rainbow bridge and is in puppy heaven eating lots of dinner scraps and laying on couches with her sister, my golden retriever Brandy.

Anywho, that fall I chopped a good portion of my hair off because most of it still was super unhealthy and gross. And Brendon likes short hair for some reason. I think because when we first started dating my hair was short.

I kept it short for a while. If you've ever had short hair you know that the style grows out super fast so you have to cut it often. And it is sooo tempting to go shorter and shorter. Which I did. It was fun and my head was lighter. Then Brendon popped the question in March of 2010 and I was like, dang I better grow this nonsense out for the wedding. And so I did. And haven't stopped.

And that you guys, is the evolution of my wild hair. The last few years anyways. One day we'll talk about when I was a redhead and a blonde. My hair has been all kinds of colors but I prefer my natural brown for sure. Some times I look back at pictures of me in my more "fabulous" hair days, and I miss it. Sometimes I really want to throw in some highlights. But mostly I love my hair now. It's healthy and shiny and compliments my extreme paleness pretty well I think. Even if it is usually a hot mess.

And yes, I just wrote an entire blog about hair. One day we'll cover deeper topics I swear.

DIY Pincushion

For a while now I've been keeping my pins in the little plastic box they came in. It works out fine except I knock it over and spill them all the time. On the floor, on my desk, all over the place. Pins everywhere constantly. And then I poke myself ten thousand times picking them all up. I knew a pincushion was the answer. And I finally made one!

I used these instructions from the Purl Bee. This site is full of all kinds of adorable crafty things to make, plus pretty things to drool over, it's awesome. They make me want to go knit something right now. I taught myself to knit my freshman year of college, but of course I've forgotten. I need to refresh my memory!

This is the stuff you'll need for your pincushion, super easy, stuff you probably have around already (if you're a sewer):
- Sewing needle
- Embroidery needle
- Scissors
- Thread
- Embroidery thread
- A little bit of felt
- A little bit of fabric
- Some stuffing
- Something to trace a circle (I used a salad plate, it was about 9" in diameter)

The rest of the directions are on the site, I'm too lazy to type it all out. It's easy peasy, I made mine in about 20 minutes. It doesn't even have to match. I did mine all matchy-matchy, but it would be super cute with contrasting colors. Whatever you've got lying around.

Mine came out a little wonky, but that's how I roll so I like it. It has character. These would make sweet little gifts for a crafty person in your life. Or handy things to keep you from scattering pins everywhere.

Early Valentine's Day

A few weeks back, Brendon insisted that I ask for the 7th off from work, without telling me why. Obviously I knew something was up, but I went with it. So when yesterday finally rolled around, I was ready to find out what was going on. He told me that I should probably fix my hair (the first time I've actually styled my hair since November...SAD). And that's about it. When he got home from school he decided that there was nothing he wanted to eat at home and that we should probably just go out for dinner. And then he gets dressed up all cute and fancy and says I should do the same. He discusses our dinner options of McDonald's or Burger King and we head out. I knew we were going somewhere special, just not where. And I hate not knowing what's going on. We ended up downtown and roll up to the Melting Pot! I love me some fondue. I didn't even know there was one in Austin! We have been going there for anniversaries and Valentine's days for years, it's kind of a little tradition. And it is so good.

So the sneaky husband surprised me with a night of some yummy fondue. And we feasted. We ate entirely too much food. I thought they were going to have to roll me out afterwards. But it was delish. The cheese is my favorite for sure.

Going to town on some cheese. And keeping it classy with a bud light.

Dang look at that cutie! And downtown Austin is so pretty, I'll never get used to living in the city.

We did our V-day celebration early this year because on the actual day Brendon has school all day and a test that evening, and I will be at work all night so we wont see each other. I think Brendon's secretly relieved, he's not a big fan of Valentine's day. He's one of those "it's a made up, greeting card holiday" people. But I love it! Any excuse to celebrate love is fine by me. Plus pink and red hearts are so cute! But beating out the crowds and avoiding the stress of making reservations on Valentine's Day sure is nice.

Cat naps

Here's a bunch of instagram pictures of Sophie and Greg sleeping on the couch. Because that's what they do best, they're cute, and I'm a crazy cat lady. I swear, sometimes those cats don't spend more than 30 minutes awake all day.

Sophie was seriously hell bent on staying in Brendon's lap, no matter what. Even if she was used as an arm rest. What a weirdo.

Weekend wrap up, a couple days late

The past two days I have felt like crap. Literally sick. I'm not sure if I got a stomach bug or if my tummy is just being unusually horrid to me, but it has sucked. I'm leaning towards the latter of the two. As if my stomach problems didn't interfere with my life enough; this was seriously over the line. So I guess it is time for another trip to the doctor. HURRAY. Can they just trade out my insides for someone else's? Please?

But on the bright side, while I was feeling real lame there was something on TV to entertain me. The Superbowl! Can I type that legally? We watched it mostly for the commercials, I didn't even know who was playing until the day before. Football is not our thing. The commercials were okay and the game was pretty good I guess. But I thought half time was wonderful. People are giving Madonna a lot of flack for supposedly "lip-synching" but I couldn't tell if she was and that woman knocked it out of the park. She looked great and was highly entertaining. After last years truly terrible performance by the Black Eyed Pea's (how embarrassing that it was in Dallas too!), I was really impressed. Plus apparently M.I.A. flicked the camera off and we thought we heard her say "shit" so yay for stickin' it to the man. HA. I love me some M.I.A., have you seen her new video? I think it's amazing.

Obviously that's how I drive the Xterra down 35 everyday. Two wheels y'all. Really though, can someone teach me how to drive a car like that? I'm intrigued. Also, I'm not 100% sure what swag is, but I think she has it.

Before I started feeling sick this weekend, I squeezed in some good times. Friday night my momma-in-law and my little bro-in-law came up for a wild night at Gatti Land. Even though the place was packed, we had a blast playing games and winning tickets. Deb got really good at the motorcycle racing game. Like 1st place good. I was seriously impressed. Brendon tried it, got like 7th, then declared that the game was broken. Of course.

Excuse the plethora of phone pics. It's just so handy!

How cute is this? Mother and son, racing the night away.

Mr. H and I played big game hunter a few times. I'm terrible at it and he's great. He kept wanting to play games with me that he knew he'd win. Someone is just a tad competitive I think.

And remember over the summer when I said I was going to build an easel?

 

CHECK THIS PUPPY OUT. So legit. With lots of help from my daddio (who is the grand master of projects, I get it from him you guys), we finally made it happen. We put this beauty together Saturday. This thing is a monster. It's huge. So huge it is still at my dad's house because it wouldn't fit in my car. And everything fits in my car. It is so seriously awesome you guys. Hands down the coolest easel ever. Bask in it's radiance.

For some size comparison, here I am standing next to it. It dwarfs me and I'm a fairly tall girl. I'm about 5'8", so that things gotta be 7+ feet tall. It's beautiful. More details to come when it actually makes it to my apartment. NO idea where it's going to go. Probably the living room. So feng shui (is that still a thing?).

And while I was down in NB building the easel, I got to see my momma as well for a little bit (although at that point I was a sleepy zombie). Family time is so good! If I had seen my sister I would have gotten the whole family into the weekend! 

 

All in all, I'd say it was a pretty dang good weekend. The good parts definitely outweighed the bad.