Sparkles, Greg, and hair.

Things that have happened lately:

- Working, eating, sleeping; repeat
- Consuming copious amounts of grapefruit, fending off the sickness that everyone seems to have
- Thinking a lot about being productive, but being lazy instead
- Missing Mr. H
- Dropping mugs on my head at work
- Debating big decisions
- Snuggling and cuddling with a husband and two fat cats every time I get a chance (not often enough)
- Sparkle toes
- The heat has returned to Texas, boo!

Things that have not happened lately:

- Winning the lottery
- Anything remotely creative
- Seeing the light of day (kidding)

I have no idea where this last week has gone. This is good because it's another week of pharmacy school down and a week closer to summer, but it is also a week where I feel I got absolutely nothing done. I have nothing to show for this last week and that's weird. Making and creating things makes me happy and I did zilch this week. I don't know how or why but I don't like it. Time is flying, and that is good, but I feel like I might as well have been in limbo not existing all week. Weirdness.

So even though I have diddly-squat to show for the last week, I treated myself to a pedicure today. Because although I didn't make anything pretty or yummy, I did work my butt off all week dealin' caffeine and these legs are tired.

I went all out and got pink sparkly toes. Because why not?

They make me happy. Happy toes!

While I was sittin' on the floor snappin' some pictures of my bedazzled feet, the cats decided to be cute. And by cats I mean Greg, because Sophie hates the camera.

Greg does this thing when he wants attention where he lays on his back with his belly and feet up. It looks like someone shot him. It's beyond cute. That boy knows how to work it. However as you can see, his charms don't work on Sophie. But they sure do on me!

Sweetest blue eyed baby, oh how we love you! Just not when you put your butt in our faces.

In hair news, my monster hair is gettin' pretty long:

Mirror pics y'all. Bringin' them back.

I'm on a mission to continue growing it out and to keep it as healthy as possible. Although it is in bad need of a trim. My mom got me a gift certificate to get my hair cut (perhaps as a hint?), so I think soon I'll get a trim.

In an effort to keep my hair healthy, I try to avoid attacking it with heat. I have straightened my hair once or twice this year so far. I blow dry it a little once a week or so just because it takes ages to air dry. For example, I showered at like 11 this morning and it probably finished drying at like 7 this evening. I have a lot of hair. And since I basically don't ever style my hair, it usually looks a little wild. It's not quite straight but not really wavy. It just does it's own thing, and I'm cool with that.

I just got some coconut oil to help with my dry ends. My hair gets really oily super fast near the roots, but the oil never makes it down to the ends so they're always a little on the dry side. I had been looking for something to condition them with but everything seemed full of chemicals. I looked at the ingredient list of some split end stuff yesterday and it was super long and contained a bunch of alcohols. Doesn't alcohol dry your hair out? Brendon said it was a bonding agent between chemicals or something, but that's too sciencey for me. I read on the internet somewhere that coconut oil was a good natural conditioner, so I figured I'd try it out. Hopefully it works because I bought a GIANT jar. It starts out as a solid but melts with heat. It's kinda neat, you can cook with it and use it on your skin and hair! It's a multitasking machine! I'll let you know how it goes. Hopefully I don't end up smelling like a bottle of Hawaiian tropic suntan lotion.

Well. This post was all over the place. My life is all over the place. And I like it.

Husband love

Honeymoonin' in Alaska.

This man is good. He is my rock and my home and my happiness. I love him more everyday and today I miss him terribly. After this wonderful weekend, Monday was a lame trip back to reality. Back to no more husband and wife time. Back to work for me and school for Brendon. It's not fair. There is no measure of time together that would be enough for me. Boo for reality. Boo for work and school. Why can't we just be on vacation all the time? Why can't we just hang out all day everyday? Someone call the whambulance, because I'm being a whiny baby today.

I guess the good thing about not getting a lot of time together is that it makes our time together more special. Last night I forced Brendon to stay up with me after I got home from work. Just hanging out. Just laughing and cuddling and being stupid. It's my favorite. Even if it is just a half an hour of us-time, it gets me through the next day of no-Brendon-time.

I am thankful for this wonderful man. Thankful that I get sleep next to him (and two fat cats) every night. Thankful for his silly text messages throughout the day when we're apart. Thankful for his patience with me. Thankful that he is hilarious and as weird as I am. Thankful that after all these years we have never run out of things to talk about. Thankful that we have each other to go on this great big adventure with.

So sorry if you just died from "lovey-dovey-ness" overload. but I love my husband and since he's not here you all have to suffer my rantings.

Birthday weekend!

This past birthday weekend was really wonderful. I didn't want to make any big plans, I really just wanted to relax and have a happy day with my husband and family. I ended up being spoiled rotten and duh, I loved it. I am a lucky little lady. So brace yourself for 10,000 birthday weekend pictures y'all. Let's recap this bad boy.

Saturday morning Brendon and I slept in (!!!) and then made a breakfast taco feast. My favorite! Then I got to open my presents!

 Puttin' that birthday crown to use! Pardon my sleepy face and creepy Sophie.

Brendon was way too good to me and got me awesome goodies. He got me CLOTHES! My husband went shopping for me! And got really cute stuff! AND I got Harry Potter and Darth Vader key chain Lego men. Booya, best husband ever.

Oh and my new little lucky kitty cat!

Most awesome shorts ever? YES. Hot pink shorts. I AM IN LOVE.

Sophie dressed up fancy for the occasion.

After present time we went and saw the Hunger Games! Muy bueno. I think they did a great job. I wasn't really impressed with who they picked for the characters when I first saw the cast (still think Gale looks like a goon), but now that I've seen it I think they did an excellent job. The guy who plays Peeta won me over as soon as he smiled. And I loved the way they did the districts and the capital. Pretty damn close to what I pictured in my head. Also the soundtrack is BA.I highly recommend seeing the movie! But read the books first!!!

Anyway, after the movie we ran to the mall, came home and relaxed for a bit (I snuck in a nap!), and then got ready for dinner! We ate at Clay Pit, an Indian restaurant near downtown. It was so good. Such a neat place, we will definitely be back. We both got chicken korma (our favorite!) but as you can see below, Brendon got his significantly spicier than mine (his is a good 3 shades darker than mine!).

 Nom nom nom! So good.

After dinner we hiked around downtown for a while. We walked A LOT. We walked from basically MLK to 6th street and back, we got at least a good couple miles of walking in. Had to work off all that yummy food we ate! It was neat to see the capital in the evening. I'd never been there at night before, it's beautiful! They have it so well lit, it glows!

Brushing up on his Texas history. And looking handsome.

The lighting there was pretty, but I look like a damn Weasley. My hair looks so red!

I'd like to take this time to introduce you to my birthday dress up there. This is the dress that I saw before Christmas and passed up (even though it broke my inner fashionista's heart), then saw it a few weekends ago again and bit the big one and bought it. SO GLAD I DID. I love it. I had to shorten it about 4 inches, but other than that it is perfect. Do you see that giant satin bow? And that adorable collar? Favorite dress ever.

After exploring the capital, we headed into the heart of downtown, where all the crazies are! Excellent place to people watch. Austin is a beautiful city at night. And it really comes alive!

Here I am on 6th street sipping on a box of apple juice. I feel like that picture describes me pretty well. Weirdo fosho! 6th street makes me nervous, but we wandered down a little bit to check it out. It got crazier and crazier by the minute so we didn't last long. But it would be a nice place to chill in the evening before the party animals arrived. There are just SO many bars! How do you know which one to go into?

After our long (uphill) hike back to the car, we headed home. We didn't have any cake so I blew my mismatched birthday candles out in a piece of bread. Brendon wanted to stick them in a potato. Too weird for even me.

I had an absolutely wonderful birthday. I got to spend all day with my sweet husband, see the Hunger Games, relax, and I felt like a princess all day! AND I got to wear my birthday dress out on the town. Can it be my birthday everyday?

The next day the fun continued! My mom, sister, and Alex (Julie's main squeeze) came up to Austin to spend the day with me. So I basically got two birthdays! Jackpot!

That birthday card was the best. It has a cat box with "happy birthday" spelled out in what I can only assume is cat poo. Amazing. My family knows me so well.

Ladies! And the birthday crown makes another appearance.

Sophie got a lot of loving and pretended to hate it, as usual.

 She was so upset, she killed Alex.

Jk, he's alive. And he spent the day as me. We both celebrated our birthday.

Ummm, you see that? It was AMAZING. Chocolate heaven. There's a piece waiting for me in the fridge.

Although I missed my daddio and step momma this weekend, we have plans to meet up soon! I am seriously so lucky to have these loving and amazing (and weird) people in my life. Thank you for making my birthday so good y'all. You are the best. This was a fantastic start to my 24th year of life, and if it's any reflection of the next year to come, I can't wait!

Step by Step Sewing Part 4 - the Final Product

I finally got a chance to take pictures in my latest sewing creation. We have been blessed with some absolutely beautiful weather lately. Friday evening Brendon and I took advantage and hung out in the sunshine. And I conned him into taking some pictures of me in my dress.

Here is Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 of the project. It took me almost a month to blog, whoops! Life has been busy lately. Wonderful, but busy busy busy!

I LOVE this dress! It is super comfy. That seersucker fabric is so light and soft, I love it. It is perfect for spring. It was a tad big around the waist so I added a little pink ribbon to cinch it up a bit. Not a permanent solution, but it works for now. Out of all the dresses I've made, I think this one was the simplest and I think it flatters me the most. The skirt part of it is the perfect length for me, which is nice because a lot of the time I have to alter the length on things because I'm on the tall side.

We had a great evening by the lake, relaxing, people watching and catching up with each other. This last couple weeks were rough for me and Mr. H. We probably saw each other for maybe 5 waking hours all week. No fun! I had also just finished a 9 day work marathon (my fault, asking for days off early in one week and late in the next is not a good idea), so it was extra nice to have a night together. And knowing you have the whole next day off together doesn't hurt either, especially when it is a certain someone's birthday (which was wonderful).

On our way home we stopped by a snow cone trailer for some goodies. I am obsessed with snow cones right now. They are SO GOOD. I always stick to my boring favorite, strawberry, but Brendon always has to one up me. He got blue raspberry and it was delish and I was jealous. Way to out order me babe.

Cutest husband ever. In my opinion.

 Brendon is way better at looking cute while eating snow cones. I just look awkward, as usual.

See how soft that dress looks? I could basically sleep in it. That fabric is the best. And it hardly wrinkles at all since it's fairly textured already. Win-win y'all.

Not sure what project is up next. I just got a bunch of new patterns, so I have too many options to chose from! I'm no good at making decisions!

Twenty-four!

Happy birthday to me! This is what a 24 year old me looks like:

Just kidding, that's me at 23 years and 364 days. Close enough.

Twenty-four years ago today my parents brought me into this world! Poor folks, didn't know what they were getting themselves into. Kidding, I was only a hellion child for a few (long) teenaged years. For the most part I think I was and am a pretty good kid. Thanks for raising me so well mom and dad. I owe you my life. Literally.

24 seems still very young to me, but at the same time I feel like, "omg how can I be 24 already?? Where has the time gone?! Why do I have an abundance of grey hairs?!?". But age is just a number and some days I feel 18 and others I feel 50 (like how my body is falling apart, THANKS BODY). In some ways I think I'm pretty mature for my age. But then I do love the occasional fart joke, so sometimes I have the mentality of a 13 year old boy. What can you do.

I have had a wonderful 24 years on this earth and I am excited to see what this next year of life brings me. A friend of mine used to say that whatever day you're born on is your golden year. So this year would be it, bring me good things 24!! I'm not sure how legit that is though, because if that's the case there are a lot of folks out there that got screwed. For example someone born on the 2nd. I mean maybe their 2nd year of life was really great, but who remembers that?

So hurray for 24! Hurray for being in my mid-twenties? Can I say that? I mean technically the mid-twenty is 25, but since you usually say mid-twenties, I'm assuming they mean 24-26. Is that an accurate assumption? Eff it. I'm in my mid-twenties y'all, and I'm embracing it. Every year just keeps getting better so bring it on life, show me whatcha got! You can keep the gray hairs though. And also wrinkles.