The Birthday

December came and went WAY too fast for me.  We started off December with celebrating my birthday.  My Aunt took me to lunch and sent me some gorgeous flowers, I felt sooo spoiled. 

 

Eric then surprised me when I got home and had cleaned the house and then cooked me a fabulous dinner.  It was soo good, I don't get why this dude doesn't cook more often ;).

After dinner we headed to a movie and had a fun relaxed evening!!

 The weekend before, Eric's phone had exploded so we needed to get him a new one.  We were so close to the end of our contract and had planned on getting new phones anyways that we went ahead and just did it.  So yes I caved and walked out with this puppy. 



We decided it would just be our birthday/Christmas gifts to each other.  It took me a little while to get use to the I-phone, but now I'm really loving it and glad that we got them.  I bought this cute cover for mine

Over all it was an excellent birthday and the start to a wonderful Christmas season!

P.C.O.S

So a few weeks before Christmas I went to the doctor and finally got a diagnosis for a lot of the stuff I have had going on.  I have PCOS which stands for Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome.  It's kinda scary and the symptoms are frustrating, but I'm just happy to finally have a diagnosis because that means I finally  have a direction to go in on imporving it hopefully.  If you want to know more about it you can read some stuff here http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001408/.  Since the diagnosis, I have been trying to be on a pretty strict diet.  I was doing really well and lost almost ten pounds....then the holidays happened haha!  I still did pretty good but cheated a few times.  These last few weeks have been so crazy that It's been hard to keep up with but I have been doing my best.  It's something that I have to look at as a life style change, not a diet.  This will be something I will always live with and I have to do this in a way that I can stand and maintain, not something to just do for a few months and quit.  I have been trying tons of cool new healthy recipes (at Eric's disgust probably) and I have had several people ask me about what I have been doing, so check back here often and I'll start posting some of the tips and tricks I have found and posting about my progress!  I go to the doctor again in 2 weeks to hopefully get some more answers and a direction! 
                                          

New Hair!

Well before we left for Christmas it was time to get my hair done again.  All the color had faded and my blasted gray hair was starting to make a scene!  I finally found a hair stylist I really love and can go to continually.  I had a lot of ideas of what I might want to do, but I keep going back to the melt/ombre style and figured I wasn't gong to let it go until I tried it.  So that's what I did.  These pictures don't do it justice or show the color exactly right, but I do like it.  It took a few days to get use to, but it's been kind of fun! I'll post some better pictures of it in my Christmas post.

here is before

and after

November and Life Update

Hey everyone, well I took a break from the blogging world to get through the holidays, but I'M BACK!  I have high hopes to be a better blogger this year......lets see if that comes to pass.....probably not but isn't that what new years resolutions are for?  Isn't it called workout January just to get back to fat February?  

November was a crazy month for us and went by so fast it didn't even feel like it happened!  This Christmas we called it our "DIY Christmas" which means I made most the gifts we gave to people.  This meant that I was pretty busy during November trying to get everything done.  On both sides of the family we draw siblings for gifts, but I still like to give everyone something since I LOVE GIVING PRESENTS!!!!! So this year we had Mel and Stephen and the boys for my side, and Steven, LaNelle and Kinsley on Eric's side.  It was so fun coming up with stuff for everyone!  It was stressful getting everything made, but super fun to see the finished project!  I'll do a post later on of all the projects I did and all the Chrismtas gifts I made.

In the breaks of working on Christmas gifts we made a trip to Houston to see the coopers, see my mom and celebrate Evans fist birthday.  We then had Eric's birthday and Thanksgiving which happened to fall on the same day.  It was so fun to get to go to Houston for the birthday party.  I was due for some family time and spending some time with my mom and sister was just what the doctor called for.  We got to have a nice chill weekend filled with talking, laughing, hanging out, shopping, and of course partying.  My sister planned the party around and UNO theme and it was soooo cute!

                                                                         
  We got Evan this Elephant toy that blows balls up with air and the boys seemed to really enjoy it!  It was so nice to see my mom again since our trip to Utah in August didn't leave a lot of quality time for me and my mom.  I was sad to leave but reality set back in and it was time to get to work.  Eric was working the night shifts at this point at Toys R Us.  It sucked not having him there at night (i pretty much didn't sleep Haha)  but it was good for the productiveness in me.  I got a lot done in those hours he was gone, so that was nice! 

So we ended up having two thanksgivings really.  Eric worked the night shift the night before his birthday, so while he was at work I set up a little trail of goodies for him to find when he got home.  I  had a bunch of little treats lined up with cute little sayings on them.  We then slept in and had a nice relaxing morning.  I made him a special birthday breakfast consisting of an egg casserole (here is the recipe = delicious)  http://nestleusa.wordpress.com/2011/09/22/bachelor-in-the-kitchen-breakfast-tailgating-with-potato-bacon-casserole/ and these beauties.

                                                         
  these are super easy but soooo tasty.   That afternoon we had our first thanksgiving and ate lunch at Grandma Sues.  The food was tasty as always and it was kind of nice for it to be just us, Grandma Sue, and Auntie Deb.  We had a nice chill lunch and had some good conversation. Afterwords Eric watched some football (really took a nap)  and we helped Grandma Sue start to set up her Christmas Decorations.  She has done the same thing on her fire place for years and asked me to help her come up with something new this year.  My Aunt and I worked on it together and this is was we ended up with.

After that we headed over to my Aunt Terri's brothers house and had Thanksgiving dinner.  It was also delicious.  I had never seen such an abundance of food I'll tell you what!  It was fun hanging out with more family and eating some good food.  We did bounce out a little early because the one thing Eric had asked for for his birthday was to see a movie, so we left a little early and went and saw James Bond.  Over all we had an excellent Thanksgiving, and I think Eric enjoyed his birthday as well. 

Guest Bedroom

****Another old one!

Ohhhh guess what I got!!!! My friend just moved back to Utah from Midland and gave me her old guest bedroom set!  J This is my happy face!  It’s my next project and I’m ecstatic to start working on it.  I’m wanting to do it all by myself and try out of few things I have been seeing on pinterest.  Here are a few ideas I’m thinking about, but I haven’t made any decisions. 

I like the idea of this DIY padded headboard. It  has a bed frame with it already but it's really old and beat up wood.  I'm thinking I want to paint it white and then do a smaller version of this head board on the already existing frame.

love this headboard, and love the color!

 

I think I feel more daring since it will be a guest bedroom and if I don’t love it I don’t have to look at it every day! I’m thinking I even want to sew the bedspread on my own and maybe even curtains!  Lets go all out right? Why not!  I also have these two chairs I want to change.

We brought them with us from Utah after a yard sale and I had high hopes of staining the wood and reupholstering the seats.  That’s still the plan; I just hadn’t done anything because I didn’t want to pick any fabric until I could decide what room they would go in and what to match them with.  Maybe these can be for a guest room too! These are some of the fabrics and patterns I'm loving these days.

 

I’ll keep you guys posted on the progress and the final project!

BEST.GIFT.EVER

******OLD BUT POSTING ANYWAYS

So a few weeks ago I received the BEST.GIFT.EVER. No joke I don’t think I let it out of my site for a good 3 days, and since then I take it with me everywhere.  Okay a little over dramatic? Yes!  But it’s seriously awesome.  My friend McCall sent it to me and I love her.  It’s called “In a Pickle.”  It totally is me and fits my personality.  Whoever invented these is a genius and I wish I had patented it first!  It basically is everything you could ever need. I know it sounds dumb right?  Like why would I be so excited for something like this?  Well first, it’s adorable and my favorite color and second I am now set for life.  I have everything and it come in handy like ALL.THE.TIME.  It has a bunch of little pockets inside with everything from a sewing kit, to first aide, to beauty supplies and more!  IN LOVE!  Anyways enough bragging, go here http://inapikle.com/Pik-Your-Pikle/ and get your own! Thanks Call, you’re a gem!

 

this color is really cute too!  I would love to get this one too!  Maybe to have one in my purse and one in the car!  Brilliant!

 

here is the one that I got!!

 

 

 

BANGS! They're Back Again!

 

******okay so I have been missing from the blogisphere for a while and now that I have returned I noticed that I had written a bunch of drafts a few months back, and just never posted them.  So these next few posts are WAY old, but since they were already written and I'm always needing things to post I'm going to post them anyways haha enjoy. 

I’m a little behind so it’s not so new anymore, but I colored my hair.  I have waited so long to post, that now it’s pretty much time to get it colored again, but here it is.

 

I really wanted to do a melt but was so indecisive and got to the hair dresser and he talked me out of it……haha oh well I still didn’t want one color so I did the blonde underneath.  I really like it and it’s been fun!  I’m trying to decide how I’ll get it done next.  My stupid gray hair grows in so stinking fast that my colors don’t last long at all L it’s the pits. 

Oh and don’t worry, not only did the color get boring but so did the cut, and since I’m trying to grow my hair out (am I not always “trying” to grow my hair out?) this is what happened. BANGS!

 

                                              (me at my beautiful friend Kim's bridal shower)

They are growing on me.  I don’t know what my problem is, I always tell myself when I have bangs “I hate bangs, I can’t wait till these things grow out.” I feel like 97% of my life has been spent “waiting” for my bangs to grow out and yet they always get cut and come back!  What’s my problem?  Oh yeah it’s my boredom issue and need for change.  Hence why every time I’m growing bangs out I then convince myself “Oh I love bangs I miss them, I want them, I need them!”  So this led me to a Thursday evening with nothing to do and a pair of scissors……not a good decision.  Ha ha no it was okay because they actually turned out okay if I do say so myself…..this time.  You would think after all my life as a girl I would have learned the #1 Rule – DO NOT cut your own hair.  Well rules are made to be broken, right?RIGHT?  This time I actually came out the other end okay and with decent looking hair.  Many other times in my life I have not been so successful.  Remember the shaved windows peak Julianna? REMEMBER?!?!? You still like to tease me for that one!  Many other times I have ended up with stubs for bangs.  I just never learned how to stop messing with them and leave them alone.  But me + scissors always = a lot of fun…for a little bit, and then disaster later, usually for Jules and her important paper work or homework, or  even the occasional Barbie.  Well maybe I’m getting better at cutting hair.  I have cut several friends hair before and always cut Eric's now.  I even cut my friends daughter’s hair the other night and it turned out pretty good!  Maybe these Nubbins of mine really can’t stop me muahahahahah!  Well I still don’t see cosmetology in my future but it’s fun to experiment little bit on my own.