January 30, 2013

Clothes

Guys - one day I'll be an adult and be able to dress myself.

I bought this skirt forever ago, but haven't worn it to work because I wasn't sure what shoes/shirt to wear with it. Today I was finally "I'm going to wear it!" And trying to find a shirt and shoes is one of the reasons I was late to work today. There was also the tornado warnings that woke up me around 3:30 and kept me up for about an hour; the tattoo I got last night (tattoos always drain your energy); the idiots who can't drive the speed limit if it's raining; and school zones.

But anyway. I've already gotten two compliments on the skirt! I told one lady she validated my clothing choices this morning, because I'd struggled with finding an outfit. 8} Then I looked in the mirror (we were in the bathroom) and realized I forgot to put plugs in my ears today. >.<

One day. One day I'll get it together. Maybe.

January 29, 2013

Let's Talk Faces

Alright. In high school I had not bad acne. I would get pimples but I wasn't one of those poor souls that just gets covered. Ugh. What little acne I had cleared up in college. I was smooth-faced. It was lovely. Then...I guess it was birth control that broke me. I feel like I'm back in high school these days. Twenty-somethings with careers shouldn't have 5-10 pimples on their face on any given day. It just shouldn't happen. IT SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED.

What's even worse is that I get them on my back now, too. That all started when I got my lantern tattoo. I had to put A&D on it, and then my back broke out, then I picked at it, then I got more pimples, then....ugh - I'm disgusting. Make it go away!!

I finally decided it's time for a change. My dear darling (off-brand) St. Ives Apricot Scrub is no longer cutting it. Obviously. I'm trying to become more DIY lately. Other than just crafts, I also made my own laundry detergent and am using vinegar and aluminum foil balls as fabric softener and static removers, respectively. I guess I need to do a post about that, too...if I can remember how I did it! So....new face wash + desire to be more DIY and natural = I'm gonna try to make my own face wash!!

I started out just Google-ing "natural face wash" and clicked on the first link. That link led me to this link and I think I'm gonna give it a go. Just need to buy castor oil and either sunflower seed oil or extra virgin olive oil. I figure even if this is a bust those are a couple good things to have around the house, anyway. And it sounds like doing the deep cleanse is going to be really soothing....I like that. Maybe take a bath and do it...so nice. 8}

The only thing I'm not sure on is the line "This deep cleansing method should be done regularly, but not too frequently." What does that mean?! I know they say it depends on your skin and if it's getting dried out, do it less....but where do I begin? Once a week? Every other day? Once a month? I would like some sort of an idea! And what do I do when I'm not doing the deep clean? Because they also say "First and foremost, this is typically done in the evening, prior to bed. There should be no need for deep cleansing in the morning if you're waking up with skin cleansed the night before. In the morning, a quick wipe with a warm washcloth should suffice." That makes it sound like you do it every night. Or at the very least, it only accounts for the day after the deep clean.

I was thinking of doing the Apple Cider Vinegar Natural Face Toner that is discussed in the first link. Because it's just vinegar and water, and I think I already have the vinegar. Maybe dab that on every morning? Except the morning after my weekly deep clean? Maybe I'll try to do the deep clean every other day and see what happens? I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING.

Any advice? Have you tried DIY natural face/body cleaners and have any advice for muah?

January 28, 2013

Dreams

Dreams, man.... I've been known to have some weird ones. I know I had one a day or two ago, but I can't remember it. I told Mr. T about it, but when I asked him if he remembered, he said there was something about bees. That's not ringing any bells for me, so....who knows? But I do remember my dream from last night! It freaked me out more than a little bit.

So I was in our "home" but it was actually my parents' house. I was going outside to feed our dog. (When I was telling this to Mr. T it wasn't until I got to "I was going outside to feed - " when I realized we didn't actually own the dog I was going to feed, so I had no idea what its name was. It was this big German Shepard type dog. Maybe I was channeling our neighbors' freaking annoying bark machines....) Anyway, I stepped outside our front door and there was the dog, waiting on his food. But laying in front of the porch was Bunny, my family's old dog. She died several years ago, but she was laying out there like she used to, waiting to be petted. (pet?) I looked around and I saw all the dogs my family had ever owned - Cream Puff was over by the driveway, and there were several others scattered around. They were all just....staring at me. None of them were moving, except Bunny was wagging her tail.

Then I realized I had forgotten to actually get the dog food, so I (thankfully) backed slowly into the house, to go get the food. I was hoping all the dogs would be gone when I came back. But they weren't. They were just...staring. I can't explain how very creeped out I was am by this. It's really dark outside - cloudy and spooky. I look over toward my aunt's house and the sky is almost green and there are three (three) tornadoes heading for the houses! So I run inside and my grandmother (Dad's mom, who passed away about seven years ago) was standing in the living room, watching TV. I grabbed her arm and told her a tornado was coming, we needed to get in the bathroom.

We get in just in time - the house is shaking. I feel this crazy static charge...like the hair on my arms is raising up. Then the air gets really....light. Almost like we could float. It was so bizarre. I've never been in a tornado, so I have no idea what it's really like. Anyway...eventually the tornadoes pass without totally destroying our house (I never actually looked around too closely, but the bathroom was fine at least and I don't remember any crashing/house-destroying sounds). Then I realize I hadn't gotten the dog from outside! So I run out to the garage on the side of the house, and somehow the garage door was closed and the dog was safely inside the garage. But he was staring at me like "I can't believe you left me out here in that storm!"

And then I woke up. Someone interpret that dream for me. Let me know what the f it means. Because those dogs seriously freaked me out.

January 25, 2013

Anniversary

Our anniversary is still several months away....but it's rainy and cold and gross outside. I want to fantasize about summer heat. Even though when it is August I'll probably be dreaming of winter and snow....fickle humans.

Anyway - for the past two anniversaries we've gone camping. But! I have six more days to purchase this (if it's past Jan. 31, "this" is a Groupon for either four or seven nights in a resort in Costa Rica). Wouldn't that be AWESOME?! Even though it is 50% off, it's still a huge chunk of change ($450 for four nights, $709 for seven nights)....so I can't really justify doing it this year. Maybe for our five-year anniversary, right before we have kids and our fun-filled life come screeching to a halt.

But Mr. T is saying he wants to do something different this year...like maybe go on a cruise. That would be cool. At the same time my brain is screaming "But we camp!!" Apparently it thinks that doing the same thing two years in a row is a tradition and we should never, ever break it. On our 50th anniversary we'll be in our 70s trying to put a tent together and eating ramen cooked over a fire.... And that's if there is even any "nature" to "camp" in fifty years from now...

Anyway, just wanted to ramble for a minute. I'm trying to get better about posting. It only takes a couple minutes to ramble then hit "Publish" so I don't feel like too terrible of an employee for doing it at work. No, I'm a terrible employee. Please don't fire me. :(

January 24, 2013

Yogurt and Rambling

I bought yogurt at Publix recently....I try to get the store brand because there is a significant price difference between Yoplait and Publix/Kroger yogurt. But the options are less than ideal. I don't want to end up with 5 cartons of strawberry banana, so I decided to branch out - try new things. Aaaaaand....results are "meh". I found one new flavor I was pleasantly surprised with, and two that I do not care for at all.

Flavors of yogurt I've tried recently that I do not like:
  • Black Forest Cake
  • Cinnamon Bun
Flavors of yogurt I've tried recently that I do like:
  • Caramel something-or-other

I'm eating the black forest cake one now and....I don't know if I would like black forest cake in its natural form, but I am not a fan of it in its live culture form. I just started using this new app called MyFitnessPal, though, and you have to track the calories you consume. I already told it I ate the yogurt, so now I feel like I have to eat it...so gross! But I'll be starving by lunch if I don't.

I tried to track my calories a few days ago, but we went out to a restaurant because one of the guys in the office just got a new job. I didn't know how to determine how many calories my delicious pizza was and got scared and stopped using the app. Today I will succeed!! But really - how are you supposed to know how many calories are in something you've cooked at home not from a box, or ordered at a restaurant?

January 23, 2013

est. 2010

You guys - I'm really excited. I already posted about this project, but here's my step-by-step creation of it.

You need to know....I've started this a couple days before it's done. So right now I'm all full of hope at how awesome it's going to be. After I've finished and have been defeated I may be singing a different tune. We'll just see. Right now I think it's gonna be awesome!!!

So, like I said before, here is my inspiration:

source

And I already mentioned I'll be doing "est. 2010" instead of "LOVE"... And we shrank it down from 3.5' x 3.5' to 2' x 2' to make it more manageable and less likely to fall off our wall and dead us.

So, anyway...PICTURES!

01/20/13

 This is Mr. T helping me draw the heart. I had marked the important points and he filled in the shape itself.


 You can kind of see what we did:
  • Bottom: center of the board (1' from left and right), 1" from bottom
  • Top (lowest point): center of board (1' from left and right), 6" from top
  • Peaks (highest points): 6" from left or right, 1" from top
  • Outside (widest points): 1" from left or right, 8" from top
Mr. T drew straight lines connecting all the dots, then drew curved lines to make it more heart shaped. I'm glad he did it, because I would have had a nervous breakdown if I was the one trying to do it. Plus the heart would be seriously deformed.



We added nails around the outline. I did space these evenly - I used the ruler's width, so it's a little bit more than 1" I think. It worked out pretty well, but there were a couple times where the distance would be a bit too short or long for the ruler, but not enough to be noticeable. (I would start from two points and meet in the middle, so I wouldn't get the curve too wonky.)

01/21/13

I tried out a bunch of different fonts in MS Word, trying to find one that was fat enough, tall enough, and not crazy curvy. This one is called "pupcat" which is I think the weirdest default MS Word font name I've ever seen. But anyway. I increased the font size, made it bold, and printed it off. I also added some spaces between the letters so it wouldn't be so cramped. I made the font white and gave it a black outline, so I wouldn't waste so much ink.


I ended up putting it on the left side instead of the right side. I wanted the "est." to be above and to the left of "2010" without it being in the middle of the heart. It looks so pretty!


omg you guys - omg. This is my nightmare. I think I invented new swear words while doing this part. The wood is too hard for the combination of my weak arm, cheap nails, and small hammer. None of them went in straight. Several times nails would bounce OUT of the wood and ricochet across the room. I did NOT evenly space these bad boys, either. I just put a bajillion in, because these characters are so freaking curvy. Should've gotten married in 2011. Or 1111. Or I should have just put "LOVE" in there.

It took me forever. And I didn't get "2010" finished before Baby O (our roommates' daughter) needed to go to bed. So I still had to do the '2' and spray paint it on Tuesday. Ladies' Night was Wednesday and I wanted to have everything done but adding the thread. Figured that would take long enough without having to wait on paint to dry.

I was hoping that once the nails were painted white they would blend in with the background enough that "est. 2010" would become more legible. It mostly did anyway, but that 'e'....not so much. And some of the nail placement got a little wonky. I hit my thumb so many times.... I can't complain enough about hammering in all the nails for "est. 2010"

Oh! Important thing to remember - start at the bottom right! I started with the left side of the 'e' - the right side of the 'e' and all of the 's' sucked balls. I did it right with "2010" and things went more smoothly. There was still a lot of swearing, and I'm glad our floor is carpet with concrete underneath, because I used that as an opportunity to hit the floor really hard when I got angry. Once I snapped and hit a nail....it bent completely sideways and I almost never got it back out of the plywood.

01/22/13

Finished the '2' and I didn't kill anyone. Success! It was really hard to read...I hoped it would get better with a coat of paint to make it all the same color (white). That way the pink thread would really stand out.


Well. In the inspiration piece, she used silver nails. I grabbed these yellowish nails....I didn't think about if they had some sort of weird finish on them - they were just cheap. Which, in hindsight, was a mistake on many levels. Sometimes pay more now and swear less later. THE MORE YOU KNOW. Anyway - when we spray painted it white, the nails did not turn white. They turned yellow. And then the yellow bled onto the plywood. So the nails are yellow and there is a little yellow halo around them on the wood. Whatever. CAN'T BE HELPED. I did two coats and Mr. T did a third. It never got better. Moving on.


12/23/12

Finished!!!! Almost. That blasted 'e' is still hard to read! And you can tell my nails didn't go in straight because the outline of the heart is a little wonky. But. It was made with loooooooove. *eyelash flutter* I'm going to go back over it once more again and hope that helps. I'm also putting a drop of glue on every nail head and spraying the entire thing with some sort of clear spray paint/epoxy somethingsomething to stiffen up the thread (aww, yeah...) so it - hopefully - won't come off the nails. You guys. If this thing tears up in the next decade there will be much weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Also, I painted the edges pink, too. You can see how she did her edges a lime green in the inspiration piece. I didn't get a good shot of my edges, though. Maybe if when it finally gets hung up on the wall I can get a picture of it.

I'm going to give this project.... 4/5 stars.

  • Difficulty: 2/5 (low numbers mean difficult)
  • Appearance: 4/5 (I always see imperfections in my work)
  • Time: 3/5 (It took me four nights!)
  • Compliments: 5/5 (Everyone really likes it, so yay.)
Will I do any similar crafts? Maybe? First let's try to get this bad boy up on the wall.

January 21, 2013

DIY

I'm doing it. I'm getting crafty. CAN YOU HANDLE THAT?!

I've started up a Ladies' Night that happens weekly at my hizz-ouse. So far we've had...two? The first night (Jan 2) we watched Bridesmaids and then played some version of Dirty Minds that is a board game. It was way more fun than the other Dirty Minds game my friends and I had played a few years ago - it didn't have a board game setup. I'm not sure now how it worked, but I remember being disappointed. So there you go - game review! The 2nd night (Jan 9) we just watched a movie. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, I think. And we talked a little after. Last week I was sick, so I called it off. My house, my rules. 8P

But this week. Ooohh, this week. CRAFTS! I'm using them as an excuse to get my DIY on. I'm planning a super fantastical photo shoot that I can't remember if I've mentioned here or not....I'm not sure if I want it to be super-secret or not, so I'm gonna keep it on the DL for this post. 8D At any rate, because of said photo shoot, I got a Pinterest account. And then my life as I knew it was over. I knew why I didn't have one - I get addicted to Internet things. And, yes, I'm addicted. It pisses me off a lot - I've re-pinned my own pins more than once - but I keep coming back for more. I now have seven (SEVEN) boards:

  1. inspiration board for photo shoot
  2. inspiration for future tattoos
  3. basic DIY stuff
  4. ideas for turning our great room steampunk-y
  5. ideas for turning our great room's closet into a reading nook/library
  6. ideas for updating the shower in our bathroom
  7. plant-related things for gardens and indoor potted plants
I've also added...probably 5-10 new subscriptions to my Google Reader involving DIY things. And I have a new bookmark folder called "DIY" with 12 (TWELVE) sub-folders. So, what I'm saying is, I've got the DIY bug. (Hehe, I typed "but" instead of "bug" the first time.)

I'm doing string art. I've seen it popping up everywhere (now that I'm a DIY connoisseur) and I love it. The thing I'm doing on Wednesday was inspired by this:

source
Instead of "LOVE" I'm putting "est. 2010" (that's the year we got married). I've already started on it,because I want to already have all the hammering/painting done before I have a lot of ladies in my house. Hammering is annoying, and I don't want to have to go outside and spray paint after dark! Even though I'll probably be doing that, anyway, tonight or tomorrow. Stupid winter with its super early sunsets. *grumble grumble* I'll wait and do a post about that specifically once it's finished, just because this one is getting long and I'm not done yet. 8P

I'm going to hang this bad boy over our couch in the living room. But I made mine 2'x2' (she did hers 3.5'x3.5' but that looked freaking HUGE at Lowe's), so I'm going to have some extra space. I was thinking about what to put there - we have these two swirly tea-light holding wall hanging thingies up there now, with some Chinese calendars that Mr. T will finish painting one day.... *shruuuuuuuug

And, like I sad - this string/yarn art is EVERYWHERE. I've found a couple other projects....

source
This one uses yarn. They just hammered directly into the wall, but I was thinking maybe using wood letters. And instead of "HOME SWEET HOME" doing "THE WILSONS". So it would tie in with my "est. 2010" Eh? Eh? I was thinking the wooden letters would be good, so I could move it if I needed to, without having to destroy/recreate it. Her's looks a lot bigger than 4" tall, though.... But my wall is also a lot smaller. So it may all balance out.

AND - I found another one!

source
Isn't that too freaking cute?! Get a little TN and put a heart over M'boro.... *squee! This one is a lot smaller than the other two, but uses waaaaay more nails. I probably won't do white-on-white, either. I want the thread to stand out a little more.

What do you think - is it too much thread/yarn art in one spot? Would it be overkill? Or would it be cute? I feel like it would be cute, but I'm kind of caught up in the drama of the moment. At any rate - all I'm doing now is the "est. 2010" one. We'll see how that turns out before we start on anything else. ;)

January 16, 2013

Blech

Mr. T sent me a text around 8:30 this morning, saying "How do you wake up this early all the time?" He had woken up at 7:30, when I was leaving the house (late), to go to Nashville with old Roommate to get old Roommate's mom's car worked on, or something. I replied with "Now you see why I'm so tired?? I was up an hour before you got up!" Sometimes, being an adult - with an adult 8:00-5:00 job - suuuuucks. Like, every weekday at 6:30am.

I used to get here before my boss on most mornings. There were a couple days where I walked in the office and didn't see ANYONE. There was this moment of panic/joy, thinking "Maybe there isn't work today?!" and then someone walked by and there would be relief/sadness. Once winter started creeping in, and we had like forty-bajillion holidays, my ability to be a punctual employee went out the window. For awhile there I was getting to work consistently late. Only 10-15 minutes, but still. I always felt bad about it.

But! In this new, glorious year, I was improving! I had a workout routine that I was mostly sticking to - I worked out two nights a week, did crunches most other nights....I hadn't started yoga yet, because of no Internet. (Still haven't told that story, have I?) I would shower at night, so I'd get ready on time and get to work on time! Things were going great! 2013! Woo! And then. Aaaaaand then. Sneezing. Sooo much sneezing. Runny nose? Nooooooooo..... Sneezing, coughing, congestion, leaky faucet nose, death. I have a cold.

I was 30 minutes late for work today.

January 15, 2013

Sharing is Caring

This story is only going to be a little awkward. I've told more awkward stories in my day, but still. If you're a punk, like Little Hippo, prepare to be all "Waaaa - bathroom story - waaaa!" 8P

I've told you about the bathroom at work. The toilets - they are a little too into flushing.

Today they tried to kill me.

I'm wearing the pants I bought on my last shopping adventure at Caroline's Consignment in M'boro. I've only been work-clothes shopping twice since I started this job. Considering work clothes are what I wear 5 days out of the week...I don't have a lot of options. I hate all my work clothes. Anyway - these pants are long enough to wear with heels and actually fit around the waist. The other pants I own that are long are HUGE around the waist. I have no idea why I bought them. And the pants that fit around the waist are too short to wear with heels. The point of the story is that I'm wearing heels.

These are my black heels that I got at Marty (Marti?) & Liz - also in M'boro. I live in M'boro, I shop in M'boro. Shouldn't be a surprise. Anyway - they're not high-class shoes. They were about $15. (Did I ever mention that I overheard a conversation at work where a man (A MAN) was being made fun of because he wouldn't spend more than $160 on shoes?!) They're super shiny. I had a friend once say "Wow, those shoes are shiny." and this chick replied with "That's because they're fake leather." Wow. B*tch. I happen to LIKE my fake leather, fifteen dollar, platform, four inch heels you slut. Now stfu! Whoa, anyway...

Back to the toilets. I peed. I went to flush and got a little carried away in my attempts to avoid the splash and did this quick scuttle toward the stall door....my pants (WHICH WERE NOT UP - AWKWARD PART OF THE STORY) had slid down enough that the hems were now under my shoes. So when I went for the scuttle like the crazy person that I am my feet slid and there was a moment of panic and then I was okay and pulled my pants up and left the stall to wash my hands.

And not a drop of back splash got on me, thankyouverymuch.

January 3, 2013

Resolutions

I wrote this list of resolutions on a break at work. It's a bit long, but the more you have the more you'll succeed in, right? Maybe? Some of them should be pretty easy to do... I'll try to check in on it once a month and see how I'm doing. Sound like a plan? Gooooood.


  1. buy a planner to record work outs
    • I tried tracking it in Google Drive documents, but....as much as I love computers, this is just something I feel like I have to physically write down.
  2. work out!
    • 30 Day Shred on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday
    • yoga on Monday and Friday
    • crunches on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday
  3. blog more
    • look at me - blogging away! check this one off the list!! 8}
  4. buy a new (cheap) laptop
    • We need a mobile computer. We don't need some fancy gaming laptop that costs a buttload of bills. I'll need to do some research on this...
  5. spend more time with friends
    • I've implemented a weekly Ladies' Night that just so happens to occur on the same night as Mr. T's poker night! What a random crazy happenstance!
    • Of course, I can't totally write off my CS peeps (who are 99% male). I figure periodic movie nights and meeting them for dinner and/or ice cream will suffice. 8P
  6. devotional with the husband
    • I caught myself several times almost writing Mr. T's actual name on here (not like you don't all know us, but still...)
    • We got a devotional book from Sister and her husband and I meant to start doing that on Jan 1. WHOOPS.
  7. make the bedroom awesome
    • No, this isn't some sexual reference, as much as Mr. T would like for it to be. I want to buy (or let Mr. T build) proper bedroom furniture, get my desk sanded and stained, and get our bedroom organized. It's utter chaos right now and I don't want that to continue. Harumph!
  8. steampunk photo shoot SUCCESS
    • I want to do a steampunk photo shoot in the spring/summer. I want it to go well.
  9. discover a love for coding
    • I mean - I got my degree in it! I need to find some project, some....something....that makes me actually enjoy it! I have no clue what, though. Any advice?
  10. do crafts - improve our home
    • I don't want to just do random stupid things - I want to do things to make our lives better! To the Pinterest board!!
  11. take better care of the animals
    • When I wrote this, I was mainly thinking of flea/tick/heartworm prevention. But it could also go toward making sure the litter box is always cleaned out, they all get enough attention, they always have fresh water, etc. Just spread a little more love to my four-legged housemates.
  12. go to all the doctors
    • I still have to tell you about my chiropractor experience...but on top of that I have to go to the gyno and get new BC (Implanon Rod, here we come!); Mr. T needs to go to a gen practitioner and get a full physical and prescription for that quit smoking pill; we both need to go to a dentist; and I need more contacts.
  13. get TV and Internet back
    • y'all....I be going cray cray up in my hizous with no TV/Internet. Cray. Cray.
  14. no unfinished tattoos!!!!!
    • I have nine tattoos on my body. Four of them were done by Mr. T. Three of those are unfinished. And one of the others is also unfinished. THE FOUR UNFINISHED ONES WILL BE COMPLETED BY 2014.
I think that's more than enough. But I could probably come up with some more, if you gave me a minute.

January 2, 2013

Happy New Year!

Okay, so it's January 2. But I don't have Internet at home anymore (long story), so I'm doing this on my (super short) lunch break at work. Since I got here late due to a chiropractor visit (long story), I'm not taking a very long lunch break. Eventually I'll get around to posting my New Year's resolutions, too. But that's for later.

I saw this thing on Facebook about writing down every good thing that happens to you this year and putting the slips of paper in a jar. At the end of the year you pull out all the paper and read how awesome your year was!! But I'm a digital girl, living in a digital world. (Earworm!) So instead of slips of paper in a jar, I'm going to write a blog post and date it for that day in 2014! Since I (narcissist that I am) subscribe to this blog in my Google Reader, I'll get notifications all next year about how awesome 2013 was!! I'm so awesome and clever. Oh - that can be my first post!! ;)

Anyway, I'd better get off of here and get back to work. Once we get Internet again I swear I'll start posting more. NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #1!