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4/19/2013

Love Yourself.

There is this blog that I have a link to on my page, called maskcara.com. This gorgeous lds lady does amazing makeup tutorials, and has tons of recommendations for products. I can thank my recent Ulta and Sephora purchases to her great suggestions, and since really falling in love with her blog, I have had a different outlook on beauty. She has an absolutely beautiful post called My Secret Weapon in which she shares her secret weapon for being a great makeup artist. Her secret weapon is that she can see beauty in everyone she looks at, and that she is able to do that because she sees the beauty in her own natural face. She then shares a bold picture of her un-made up, and she looks totally different from her usual completely put-together self. She says "I think I am able to see the beauty on other faces so easily because I am able to see the beauty in this one…not because it is better or worse than anyone else’s, but because it’s mine, it’s the only one I’m ever going to have and I am grateful for it."
I absolutely love this statement, and her belief about beauty really hit home for me.
I believe that everyone has beauty. Every face is unique, and every woman's personality shines through to create this one of a kind beauty. It makes me sad when women don't see it, or worse, hide it by disregarding their appearance, or WORST, talk about what they don't like about themselves. I say this, and I myself am probably one of the worst offenders I know. As that Dove Beauty Sketches video circled the web this week, I kept pondering the message, and really tried to look at myself in a more positive light.
These things, combined with a conversation I had with my sister-in-law Kaytlin last Saturday about the very woman who writes MaskCara, and how brave she was to put up completely natural pictures of herself prompted me to look at the transformation I make every morning to someone who could be seen in public. I'm not really someone who is so worried about the no makeup thing, I get more paranoid about my hair being undone...but I am baring it all. I am working on seeing the beauty in my own natural face, and will continue to do so.
At the end of her secret weapon post, Cara writes, "makeup is not a tool meant to make an ugly thing beautiful, it is meant to only magnify the beauty that already exists." So in posting pictures of "putting on my face" I mean to show that magnification, not creation of beauty. So here I am!

Au Natural.
I like to do my makeup while my wet hair is drying a little. I have so. much. stinkin. hair that if I try to blow dry it from sopping wet it will take me a solid 25 minutes. So I start with primer, foundation, and brows. Then I contour with bronzer, highlight with concealer, and blush with...blush
Then I work on my eyes, and use two different mascaras (one on top of the other), and finish with the bare minerals Mineral veil (which I absolutely LOVE)

 Then I blow dry the mane...[gulp...]

and tame it with a straightener and curling iron. Voila! It's not perfect, but it's the only me I've got!
I could go on and on with caveats for my photos about how I don't like how my chin/nose/jowel/etc. looks in each of them, but herein lies a new positive self image, and I encourage all of you absolutely GORGEOUS women to do the same!

4/18/2013

Oh hey, I made my dog a sweater. And other musings.

Check out this sweater I crocheted for Lily in ONE NIGHT!
See the story is that she got a terrible haircut last week and now looks like a rat. Since then she has been shivering like crazy, so I thought "heck no am I going to buy her a coat, I can make one!" I had yarn in my craft room and I found a pattern I liked and went to town.
She loves it. She is such a princess.
Also, rundown of last week. We got a BEAUTIFUL new table (and by new, I mean new to us). Granite top, and 6 tufted leather parsons chairs, all in perfect condition. I'm in love with it (It also almost killed me helping Jared bring it inside. Heaviest thing ever...). The table of course inspired a dining room makeover complete with a rug and those terrible sliding glass door blinds that I swore I would never buy, but I did. They are starting to build more houses like CRAZY behind us, and there are guys walking around back there all the time. Without a fence, they can see right into the kitchen. So I just bit the bullet and got some blinds. Yes yes curtains work too, but I already have big red curtains along the same wall. Too much fabric. Also, I installed those myself sooo...apparently I'm handy.
We got to spend a couple of hours with Ethan and Kaytlin on Saturday and it was great to catch up with them. We also went to sushi at Happy Fish this weekend per a groupon I bought the day before. After an hour wait (in which I am sure the Waitress forgot to put in our order) she gave us a roll for free, and when the THREE rolls, yes only three, finally came, we ate in like 3 minutes. Nix that restaurant off the list...

4/07/2013

What a year.

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of us never going to school again. Woo hoo!. haha. Last April 6th we graduated from BYU-Idaho together, and two days later packed up the moving truck and drove 4 hours to Boise. I cannot believe it's been a year. It seems incredibly long, and incredibly short at the same time.
This has been a HUGE year for us! It is crazy to think of all the changes we've gone through.
We've graduated, moved to Boise, got a puppy, went to Louisiana, headed to Salt Lake for Ethan and Kaytlin's wedding, went to the Caribbean on our cruise, I went through three jobs, we went to Colorado for Thanksgiving, we sold our lease, we BOUGHT A HOUSE, we went to North Carolina for Christmas, and DC for Mariah and Jonny's wedding, Jared switched jobs, we bought a truck, and now we are landscaping our back yard. Phew. I'm tired just writing that, I've been exhausted all year! (queue random pictures from the year...)






We have been incredibly blessed. As we are approaching our third anniversary next month, it is amazing to think of everything we have been through together in that short time. I couldn't have dreamed of a better partner in crime. He is my biggest blessing.
As we listed to our prophet's voice this weekend I am overcome with gratitude for the way this year turned out. When we moved to Boise, I felt lonely, and scared, and pretty sad. I had been hired for a job that immediately laid me off, then after 6 weeks of job searching I was hired for the most horrible job with some pretty lousy people, and quit a month and a half after that. At that point I was so frustrated, and sad. I was so happy to get my job at Great Beginnings (I remember telling Julia, my boss, when she hired me, that I was going to cry!) and 7 months later, I have friends! (I sound like a total loner...haha) What I mean is, it is hard to move to a new place where you don't know anyone, but I am grateful for the wonderful group of women I get to work with every day, and the darling babies who crawl and hobble to me as fast as they can when I walk in the door to give me hugs and kisses.
So here's to another great year. I have absolutely. no. idea. what this year has in store for us, but I'm excited to see it unfold!

4/02/2013

Goodbye Netflix.

After three years of a streaming subscription, we have decided to nix netflix. We have thoroughly exhausted everything good on it, and have spent entirely too long watching it. With the weather getting nicer we want to spend our time outside, and with our digital antenna we get like 10 channels, and we still watch too much!
But with the subscription totally ending on the 5th, I've been thinking about my favorites that I've found on Netflix over the years, and wanted to document. So here's the top 10!
These are both shows I've started on netflix and caught up to the current season to watch, or watched all on netflix. This is also in order of most-loved.
#1: The Office. This has been in our instant queue since we got netflix. We have seen every episode multiple times, and still turn one on at least once a week. Though I can't watch the ones without Michael Scott.
 #2: One Tree Hill. I had watched about 4 seasons before I got Netflix, but finally finished the series last summer.
 #3: Breaking Bad. One that Jared and I are obsessed with together. Can't wait for the last season this year!!
 #4: Grey's Anatomy. Still haven't missed an episode.

#5: Vampire Diaries. I almost gave up this season, but caught up last week and am totally re-obsessed.
 #6: How I Met Your Mother. We caught up about last year, and only occasionally still watch it. I just want to know who his wife is!!
#7: Friday Night Lights. Just finished last week. I loved it! I was sad there were only 5 seasons.
 #8: Downton Abbey. In. Love. When I started it on Netflix there was only the one season, and the first season was pretty boring, but it was enough to keep me interested and now I am having withdraws without it. 
#9: Parks and Rec. We haven't kept up with this one past Netflix, but it is so funny, I love Ron Swanson.
#10: Supernatural. This is another one we had to stop watching after we finished on Netflix, but it was so fun to watch with Jared, and it reminds us of the time we graduated, since we were just starting it around that time.

And here's to less tv in my life! There really isn't much else good on! Oh except Parenthood, which is on Netflix, but I've watched that from the very beginning.
Last word: Lost is probably tied for my all time favorite show (With Gilmore Girls, of course). If you're willing to commit to 7 long and sometimes confusing seasons, it is so worth it, and that is on Netflix too, but I watched that long before any subscription.