Bookworm Wednesday!

Jack Kerouac captured my attention a few years ago, and unlike other instances of this, I haven't sought out all that I can read about him or his books. I tend to let them come to me, and oddly enough, they always seem to find me just when I need them. Paradise Road isn't written by Jack, but it is about his legendary journeys as they're retaken in the present day. Something I will do one day is take the same trips that Jack took with his friends, and this book does just that and goes over how things have changed, how they haven't changed, and all that is in between. It is hard to tell if this is a novel turned travel journal or a travel journal turned novel, and that fuzzy gray area is a fabulous thing in my eyes.

A (possibly irrational) fear of mine....

My number 1 fur baby is Cody, my 12 year old Jack Russell that we've had since he was tiny enough to fit in one of my hands.  He has been my baby the whole time we've had him.  He breaks my heart when he's sick, he makes me laugh like no other creature on this earth, he gets extremely upset if I cry.  He's my baby.  (I should add here that El does all those things too :) )

One of my absolute biggest fears ever is that he will die when I'm not here to be with him and comfort him.  I'm gone to day for long stretches of time now and only come home for a day here and there, staying over night very rarely at this point.  Because of this fear I tend to hug him for like five minutes before I leave, I kiss his face a million times, I tell him I love him over and over, and my heart cracks a little when I put him on the floor.  We have this thing where I can pick him up, and he sits just so in my arms....I can tuck my nose into his neck (side note, they say not to do this with your dogs -- in a normal pack, the leader makes everyone tuck their noses under his neck, so if you want to exert control then you shouldn't let you dog ever have their head above yours) and he lays his nose across my eyes and we cuddle.  He's my baby and I'm afraid of him not being around.  Mom says that if he dies when I'm not at the farm then she will not be the one to call me, dad says the same thing.  They say they're just going to pack up and leave....I don't blame them.  I'm gonna be a wicked mess when that happens.

Fall TV!!

Getting lost in tv is a great hobby of mine that I'm afraid to admit sometimes....but....I love it. It is almost as good as movies which are almost as good as books. New fall tv shows are some of my favorite things right now...

2 Broke Girls. When I heard Kat Dennings was going to be on a tv show, I knew I had to watch it. Now I looooove it. Max and Caroline are working to raise money so that they can open a cupcake store. But, they're broke. And Max is in love with a rogue artist that has a girlfriend. And Caroline is the daughter of a swindler a la Madoff and is reallllly broke at this point.

Hart of Dixie. Zoe Hart gets transplanted to Bluebell, LA from New York City after graduating from med school. Random hijinks in southern accents? Yes, please. Add that it is on the CW? Well, that means hot guys without their shirts on. A lot.

Once Upon a Time. Ginnifer Goodwin and Jennifer Morrison in the same show? Um, yes, please. They are two of my favorite small screen actresses from House and Big Love so I knew they would be great in this and I am not wrong. All the back story of bringing fairy tails to life? I really do love that, and not gonna lie, the writers seem to have taken what I imagined when reading fairy tales and put it on the screen.

Grimm. Another fairy tale off-shoot. But, this is more of the dark side of fairy tales. There is a bit of fairy tale following along with pulling out the “bad” stuff and making that part come to life....in the real world. It is about a detective that knows there is a secret world and has to work to make it right by hunting down super bad guys.

These are my top 4 new shows on right now. What do you watch? Have you seen any of these?

Just a quick little post

Not gonna lie, I've scheduled a handful of posts so that I'm not stressing about not having internet at the apartment...and I've got Bookworm Wednesday scheduled through the end of the year.

Now, though, I've come across this giveaway and I've been wanting one these bad boys for a while, so cross your fingers for me! :)

http://www.pingsandneedles.com/2011/11/accuquilt-go-baby-giveaway-yay.html

Make Up Fun!

I'm pretty sure that one of my favorite things is putting makeup on with my friends when we're getting ready for stuff. Probably my favorite memory of my friend Brittany's wedding was the morning of the wedding we spent together doing our hair and makeup – it was fun! I'm also a firm believer that you can learn a lot about a girl based on how she does her makeup. The way I do mine, I think, says that I'm very particular and very much a creature of habit....it also says that I have a pretty steady hand (this comes in to play again with all my crafts!) but you'll see why in a second....

ANYWAY – I thought it would be fun to show you how I get ready for a night with my friends. Now, this makeup isn't heavy or something I would wear someplace that I know I would be getting photographed a lot (like a wedding!), just a regular routine for when I'm going someplace a little more special than the grocery (where I usually wear no makeup at all....) or to a job interview.

First and foremost, skin care is beyond IMPORTANT! I can't stress enough that it is important to find a skin routine that makes you feel pretty, and works for your skin. My routine is pretty simple – baby wipes with the occasional spot treatment. I'm not a fan of using soap and water because it really dries out my skin, even my body wash is super moisturizing but the brand/mix varies depending on what I get from the store – currently I'm using Victoria's Secret Pink body wash. Usually, I just grab regular baby wipes but these Hand & Face Wipes from Johnson's caught my eye the last time I went to get some. They're a bit more expensive but the feel of them is much softer than regular wipes. I use wipes each night and before a shower to really get the gunk off my face so that when I'm in the shower the water can easily get into my pores and get even more gunk out. Disgusting, but true. 

They say that you should put on lotion right after a shower to lock in the extra moisture of water on your skin but I REFUSE to do that on my face. I don't want too much moisture on my face, I don't want to feel greasy. So, I wait until my face is totally dry, usually after taking a pumice stone and lotion to my feet. Not gonna lie, that is probably the thing I take the most time doing. I detest pedicures, but I work on my own feet a lot. The face lotion I use is from Bath & Body Works but I'm sure you could find it in a few places – C.O. Bigelow Extra Light Face Lotion. This was recommended to me by the sales girl, and even though I don't usually follow their advice, I bought it. I have fallen in love! Another important step that my momma taught me that I swear by? Letting your makeup settle before doing the next step. So, after putting on lotion, I usually get dressed, or halfway dressed if we're being honest. My bathroom gets wicked hot from the vanity lights I have so even in the dead of winter I will most likely be caught in a tank during this whole instead of the actual shirt I'm going out in. I'm sure I'm not the only girl that puts her makeup on half dressed, right? 

If I need any concealer (I use Flirt!Glamouflage Healer/Concealer from Kohl's) then that is Part A of my next step. Step B? Matte Mouse from Maybelline. I have **HATED** “traditional” foundation from the time I knew what makeup was because it feels so cake-y to me, this doesn't really feel that way for some reason. I also always use brushes and I only use Sonya Kashuk brushes from Target. They're expensive but the quality is so worth it. Just make sure that you clean them correctly and often and they'll last you forever. 

My break after the base step? Blow dry my hair! This step is hugely important for me....my hair will either be super straight or still curly at the end of it. My go-to hair products are Herbal Essences Tousle Me Softly collection for curly and Herbal Essences Set Me Up Mousse for straight hair. The tools are just as important as the products used....when I'm letting my hair go curly then I will just use my fingers with the dryer as far away as possible and I don't dry my hair all the way. If I'm going the straight route then I use my paddle brush while the hair is wet and tug it down with the dryer following the path of the brush if that makes sense. Then I will take the round brush and flip out the ends a bit just to pull out the layers that I have cut in. My friends hate me for the fact that I can do just this to my hair and be done. I will admit that my hair is very cooperative.

I think my eyes are one of my best features so the makeup scheme I will always choose will be the one that plays up my eyes the most. My eye routine is probably the most in depth thing that I do so I will short hand it for you:

1. One coat of mascara – usually Lash Stiletto.
2. Using a liner brush and the darkest shadow I've chosen for the night, line the top lid. It took some time to get this down, but I love the look way better than a “real” liner. Do two coats.
3. Take the lightest shade of shadow and using a regular eye shadow brush coat the lid up to the eyebrow.
4. Using whichever mascara I want for the night, usually Max Factor Lash Perfection, do another coat of mascara.
5. Take the middle shade of shadow and cover just the outer corner of the eye moving in just along the crease.
6. If there is a fourth color, use that on the lid towards the inside of the eye.
7. Using the same mascara from step 4, do another coat of mascara.

Yes, you counted three coats of mascara so far. I'm kinda in love with mascaras as evidenced by this picture...these were just the ones I had in my travel makeup case. I also have some in the drawer under my sink, in my purse, in my Jeep, and at my parents' farm.

Once my eye makeup is done then I either go and make sure El hasn't totally destroyed the clothes I'm wearing since I usually have them laid out on the bed or blanket chest in my room. I also mess with my hair some more. If it is staying curly then I spend quite a bit of time with the hairspray – evenly using both the Herbal Essences Tousle Me Softly Spray and the Garnier hairspray. If it is staying straight then I will spray the Garnier on my hand and wipe it over the part to make it stay and tackle any fly-aways that may have come up. If it is going to be what my bestie calls “curly straight” then I spend a really long time taking a 1.5” curling iron through my hair curling up the ends to really set the layers out in the open. I'm not kidding when I say that this take forever because a) I have a lot of hair and b) I have a lot of layers cut into it. Then it is more hairspray, again, usually a bit of a mix between the two. 

The final steps are pretty easy. First it is another coat of mascara, then a quick brushing of some mineral powder using a blush brush so that I can control where it is going better than a puff or super fat brush (these two are the ones I had with me, but again, I have a few hidden all over, purse, Jeep, farm...), and lastly another quick coat of mascara. And maybe a quick spritz of hairspray depending on what the weather is and what my hair is actually doing. Usually, if I'm doing hairspray now and the last time I spray in the previous steps, and when I'm blow drying my hair, it is with my head flipped over. This is a cheap and quick and easy way to get some volume in your hair.

Also, for at least one coat of mascara you should take the brush, and coat the top of your lashes (I usually close the eye, and lay the brush in the way of the lashes, then open, and roll the brush out to the tips), this should give you a pretty curl so that you don't have to use a curler. And don't forget the bottom lashes – I only out one coat on the bottoms because I look like I have spider eyes if I do more. Oh! Did you notice that I haven't included anything about lip stuff? That's because I only use chap stick. I've always had really naturally bright/red lips so I've never used lip stick or color of any kind unless it is a super major event and even then I go for the sheerest stuff I can find that will only really give me a plump. (random side note – when I was in second grade I fell of the monkey bars at school and busted my lip open by slamming down so hard a bit down...and my top teeth when through my lip all the way down to my bottom jaw. There was a plastic surgeon involved that was worried I would lose feeling in my mouth but I didn't!)

So, with all that info...I turned this:

Into this:

(if you look closely at the right side of my mouth, you can faintly see the scar of above mentioned incident...it is the lighter colored bump....)

Well, I never expected this post to be this long! Maybe I should have just filmed it! Haha, seriously it doesn't take near as long as it sounds. I have the basic routine (with just blow drying and tugging it straight) down to about 20 minutes, if that. If you share your routine, post it in the comments, I'm always curious how people get ready! :)

OH!  Before I totally forget!  You also MUST have a helper!!

The Required Thanksgiving post ;)

Thanksgiving is a holiday that totally baffles me. I really don't believe the basis of the whole she-bang. I mean, I can't imagine that things really happened the way the “perfect” stories tell. It it one that I've “boycotted” since I've lived alone. I always worked both the day before and the day after (along with Halloween and New Year's Eve) so that I could have the week around Christmas off since that's when my family always gets together. When I was a kid, though, we did travel a bit. We would occasionally go to my Grandma Mary's house (my dad's mom) but we always went to my Grandma Evelyn's house (my mom's mom). Random side question, am I the only person that refers to those houses using my grandma's names and not my grandpa's names?

Anyway. My Grandma Evelyn always had a full spread of food. The deviled eggs were in the fridge on the second shelf down. The chocolate milk for us kids was on the top shelf (I used to have to get Trevor to pour it for me if I couldn't get one of the adults to pay attention to me). My Grandpa Frank always carved the turkey until the last year he was with us, my dad did it that year. I remember he used to do it to the left of the sink and would give the dogs little pieces while he would steal little pieces as he was cutting. Then in the years after, we ate at my Aunt Jerri's and my Uncle Bob carved it. Grandma always made homemade noodles and baked it with chicken. There were always two kinds of stuffing, one with oysters and one without. My mom always got stuck mashing the potatoes because Trevor, Amanda and I always wanted to see the lumps to make sure they were real and my Aunt Jerri “mashed” with a hand mixed (that's just not right!!). There would be an excessive amount of green beans and corn and homemade cole slaw and homemade bread and rolls and salad. The kids always had to fetch the chairs and extra table from the basement and set it up in the living room before we could eat. My Grandma and Grandpa sat at the ends of the table, my mom and Aunt Jerri on the side by the china cabinet, and my dad and Uncle Bob on the side by the kitchen.

The absolute best part? We all were happy. We were nothing like the bickering group of people that we are now that both my Grandpa and Grandma have passed. More than the food, or where we sat, I remember the laughter. My Grandpa could laugh and it would echo through the whole house. And when you add in everyone else at the table laughing, it was a memory I hope I never forget.

So, on this Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for the things I'm thankful for all year long: my family, my friends, my fur babies, but most of all, I'm thankful for my memories. The good ones. The bad ones. The happy ones. The sad ones. The ones that only I laugh at. And the ones that are fuzzy enough that I wonder if they really happened. All of those memories have made me who I am. And, I will forever be thankful that they've made me this person that sits here writing today.

Bookworm Wednesday!

Welcome to my first Bookworm Wednesday that is an eBook edition! My ldb (long-distance bestie) Camille was getting rid of her Nook, so I worked out a quick deal with her and snatched it right up since I've been looking for one for ages!!! (Thanks, Camille! You're the best!! <3 )

Lady in the Mist is the first book that I'm reading all on my Nook. It is one of those random romances that I can totally not think while reading it....which right now is a God send to me. It is set shortly after the Revolutionary War when England and America weren't quite the best of friends. Tabitha is a midwife that is going through a lot – the quality of her work in in question after losing a patient, she's falling in love with an indentured servant (from England!), and the guy she was engaged to, who disappeared shortly before their wedding has come back and is messing with her head. There is a bit of spying involved on both sides that makes this book a little different from most romances. I'm almost done with it and really do love it!

You....

....don't even know how (holiday) happy I am right now.

Block 3

And all there layered so you can see the sizes I've been playing with so far....

Bookworm Wednesday!

Sorry I totally blanked last week with this & my general lack of posting.  There have been a couple things going on IRL that have jumped to the forefront of my world....

Rebecca is a great "classic" that I go to every once in a while, kind of like Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights.  It has everything, romance, suspense, ghosts....everything!  Have you read it?  If so, did you know that they've come out with books following the stories after those told in this book?  I saw them the other day at B&N and was thissssss close to getting them.

New shoes....

.....will always make me happy.  Always.  (add that these were on sale for $10 and you've made my week)

Sunday Morning Adventures

Sunday mornings are my favorite.  For some reason I almost always naturally wake up a bit earlier on Sunday mornings (I guess it is a throwback to my childhood & those early Methodist church sermons?)....El loves it because the first thing I do every morning is feed him.  Then I get dressed and head out to at least get a newspaper (I'm a coupon whore!) but I can also grab breakfast, or run errands, or shop, or whatever.  Usually when my lovie (aka my best friend, aka my bestie, aka Allicen) and I meet up, it is on a Sunday morning (or early afternoon now that she's pregnant).  Generally, I just feel really productive on Sundays.
So far, this Sunday morning has included wearing my (fake) fur lined Sketchers for the first time of the season (it was like 36 degrees this morning!!), wearing a bright pink scarf & a thermal & my favorite sunglasses, wearing no makeup & second-day hair, and eating a McDonalds hashbrown the ONLY way I eat hashbrowns--with a full-on layer of Montgomery Inn BBQ sauce!

Another finished.

And another cut out.

Remember that post from last night?

I just can't quit.  I've taken this pattern named "Dreaming" from the Riley Blake website and have figured out the measurements to make the block different sizes.  The completed one is about 12.5 inches square, the on that's cut out (it will be sewn soooooon) should be about 7.5 inches square.  I also have a 10 inch & 15 inch planned but I need to really dig in my scraps for those.  I'm thinking if I can keep a singular color (GREY) throughout each block then I can eventually put them together.  Maybe.  We'll see.  ;)

Patchwork.

Many, many, many moons ago I spent a summer (or 3) attached to my Grandma Mary (my dad's mom).  She taught me knitting, cross stitch, crochet (tho I didn't really get the hang of it until this year), embroidery, and PATCHWORK.  My first quilt was a nine patch with simple white squares between the pieced squares (I will share a picture some day).  It still isn't done.  It needs hand quilted and then bound completely so I'm thinking there's another 18 million years before it gets finished.  The second quilt I worked on was my 3-D pinwheel (again, I will share pictures some day....).  It isn't hand quilted, but rather there are a million buttons on it.  Buttons that I've put on and taken off two or three times.  I'm finally pleased with the design I've got going with them so I'm slowly finishing putting them on a final time.  I tend to work on it when El is totally asleep in another room so he doesn't mess with it. 

Lately I've been itching to work on a new top.  I have zero clue on which pattern I want to do other than the Rails one that I have fabric for.  I've also found a quilt as you go pattern but I'm wondering if it can be done with different patterns than the one the author showed.  I cut out a block tonight that I'm going to piece tomorrow using my beloved grey polka dot fabrics.  In that process, I've decided that I want to make one of those too but in all polka dots.  I just can't decide if I want to do it in various grey polka dots or make each block using 3 shades of a color.  Well, I guess I've got three I could work on hahahahaha! 

Also, Camille has sent me some fabric and challenged me to make something with it.  I have five ideas and I'm thinking I can do all five with the amount of fabric she sent!  Woohoo!  Haha

Oh!  And I need to whip something up as a housewarming present for Allicen since her party is, like, Saturday.  Guess I should really get on that huh?

Bookworm Wednesday!

Hey guys! 

I've said before that I like books that don't really require thought.  This week's book straddles that line....have you heard of Post Secret?  If you haven't, it is a company (?) that has opened up and you can send your secrets to them...well, secretly.  They have a twitter account, they have websites, they have an iPhone app...and they have books.  This is the only one I have but I want the whole collection!  It is almost a coffee table book, but mine sits next to all the other books on my shelf.  It is a book I turn to to remind myself that I'm not alone.  I highly reccomend *any* of these books!

Completed Project: Sewing Machine Cover

It is done!  It took some thinking and some time but I'm really pleased with the outcome!  And those colors!  The Silent Cinema fabric collection is to die for!  There is just something about grey and pink that makes me a very happy girl!!  The pieced/striped side is the outside with my beloved grey polka dots on the inside and edging.

(Random note...Blogger always selects what order they want to share my pictures so these may end up out of order.  Sorry!)

Intelligence.....

.....seems to be something I'm lacking lately as my mind got extremely focused on the job stuff last week.  (I still don't have any word on that yet.....)  I'm pretty sure I shouldn't have attempted to cut or assemble anything crafty today but I did.  So far I'm not pleased with the outcomes but I'm staying hopeful haha  I will share pictures as I finish stuff up, tho most everything is going to be gifted so I will have to watch what I say. 

Also, my ldb sent me a challenge that's really going to make me think.  I didn't get much instruction other than "make something".  Hmmmmm.