~Glow Getter~ by Soap & Glory

I have a new favorite beauty product! A few weeks ago I was browsing Target in Birmingham and since I don't have the good fortune to browse Target in my normal shopping life, I took my sweet precious time. I've been looking for a new self tanner, as I had used Neutrogena and L'oreal Sublime glow, but they were out and I wasn't crazy about either of them.

I am definitely swayed by cute packaging and when I saw Soap & Glory's Glow Getter Sun Powder Spray I thought hmmm... powder spray? I figured that it was all packaging and no delivery. Thankfully, I was wrong! I am in L.O.V.E.

I spray on the areas that will be shown and then rub it in for coverage. I control how glow~ey I want to be. At the end of the day, I bathe the tan away. I love that part! No streaking, no mess-ups, but a nice little glow to rid away the winter blues! The one draw back, is that because it's a powder, it will get on your white clothes, so you have to be careful.

Another great thing that I recently read in Allure is that Soap & Glory was started by the founder of Bliss spa. Who doesn't love Bliss and how can you not love Bliss on a budget?

But, for those of you that have joined the 2009's and gotten OUT of the tanning bed, this is the perfect ~tan~! Also, would make for a great stocking stuffer or nice little gift for a gift exchange!

Hair DID!

If you do not follow me on Twitter then you might not know that I got my hair cut, and I felt I had to share this with y'all after the last hair debacle that I suffered.

My neighbor suggested a while back that I visit her hair girl and I stalled until I could stall no more. I love a good choppy, angled cut, so that's what I asked for and that's what I got! I didn't realize that choppy and angled meant GOOD BYE to 4-5 inches of my hair! WOW ~ it had gotten longer than I realized!

Please excuse my photographer, he couldn't be bothered with standing up, so you have to live with the most flattering angle possible of me!

From the front, from the front...

To the side, to the side...

To the back, to the back...


I love it! I think she did a great job and everytime I look in the mirror I'm like whoa, I look like a different person! I'm so excited about my new fall do!

For the record, I've seen the "bad" hair girl a few times outside of our restaurant. She walks by, gives it a look and then a major hair flip and looks away like she's dissing us with her body language. I'm so fine with her diss... WAY more her loss than mine!

PS~ If you've ever wanted to hear what my actual voice sounds like, go to WWW.FourFatChicks.blogspot.com! I posted my first ever videoBlog!

~Bumpits~

Surely by now all of you have seen infomercials for Bumpits, right? Being the good friend that I am, I saw them in Wal*Mart & made it my mission to figure them out for all of us. The commercials make it look so easy, like a natural tease & being from Texas I've been teasing my hair since God was a boy. BUT, I've seen and heard of a few Bumpit offenders, and NONE of you want to be that girl!

Let's just say... not as easy as it looks! My first attempt to wear the Bumpit in public was bad! I looked like a Mad Men extra who arrived late for hair and make up! Proof below... I was still smiling though!

So, I had to get creative and really start practicing. My hair is medium thickness, but pretty fine. I had a hard time getting my hair thick enough to cover the Bumpit and not have some peeking through. What worked best for me was...

1. Wrap sections of my dry hair around my FAT round brush and spray the roots with volumizing hair spray.

2. Then use the heat of the hair dryer to lock in the hold.

3. Spray same section AGAIN and tease!

4. Once the appropriate sections are teased and sprayed flip them over so you can get your Bumpit in place.

5. Push it in tight so you don't have to pin it in.

6. Pull hair back and secure with Bobby Pins making sure that no Bumpit is exposed!

7. SPRAY & GO GIRL!

This is the middle sized Bumpit. I like the way it looks from the front, because it's not terribly noticeable, but I still have messy volume. I think when you get your hair too smooth and perfect it looks a little Mad Men~ ish. {Which totally gives me an idea for Halloween...}

This is how it looks from the back! I think it's cute and sassy! By far this is my favorite way to wear the Bumpit, but if your hair is thick enough I believe it could look really cute with a funky pony tail. My next project is to figure out how to make it work with my hair pulled all the way back.

In my opinion, the Bumpit doesn't have to be an offensive hair disaster, but you HAVE to work at it!

~ Remember, there is no such thing as natural beauty~

ps ~ I think I could make up an entire conversation speaking ONLY quotes from Steel Magnolias

Have you hugged your hair girl today?

If you took the time to follow my hair journey on twitter, you probably know by now that it did not end well.

This isn't a great picture, but this is the cut I asked for...The Long Angled Gwenyth, and this is what I got...The Rachel. Which is basically what I already had after much over growth, and was trying to get rid of the bulky top layers!

{Please excuse my looks in the 2nd pic... I was headed for the gym}

If you look closely, you can see the random high-lights that she ran through my hair. I asked for a few light blonde high-lights (I know it looks good on my dark hair, because I've done it before). I told her I didn't want bulky high-lights, so she took that to mean that I wanted a partial high-light but only high-light a couple of strands at a time.

Ultimately, my hair looked like this... 1. Up Close ~ I ran golden orange high lights through my lovely black hair. 2. Far Away ~ I had stringy grey hairs popping up all over.

Neither of these were the look I was going for. I should have know things were going to be horribly wrong when she said, "Oh, I don't think we'll be able to put blonde in your hair." Umm...trust me... I've had every color from blonde, black, red & purple in my hair... you can put blonde in my hair.

I sat there for 3.5 hours of my life and this is what I got. A very basic trim & bad, bad, bad color. I have gotten bad color 3 times in my life. Once was at a salon in Austin, and I called and they fixed it perfect ~ didn't charge me a dime and gave me a glass of wine. The other was in Lexington, and when I went back they messed it up worse for free, so I gave up.

I called yesterday after giving it a couple of days and asked them what they charged to fix. Just being polite... never want to assume that they fix for free, and she said she'd charge me the cost of the product ~ $10 & since she was so booked I'd have to dry my own hair. I lied and told her my hair cut was fine, because I didn't have 3 extra hours to sit around and let her chop away aimlessly at my hair!

I had to hold back tears the entire time I was drying my hair, because I was humiliated and so so so frustrated. I spent $118 on the trim and bad color, $15 on a tip for her, $10 to have my eyebrows waxed, $2 on a tip for her, $10 more on the "fix product" to make my hair look like it did 3 days ago before I ever walked in. So, in total I've spent $157 in the last week at this salon for what I could have done at home for $11.84 at wal*mart. Oh, I probably would have had to pay $12 at Master Cuts for that FABU trim she gave me. If you know me personally, you know how much of a luxury it is to get my hair done and how it pains me to WASTE that much money. I've had a sick pit in my stomach for the past 3 days... do you know how much shopping I could do at TJ Maxx for $157? ARRRGGGGG!

I am so so so angry. I can't even imagine if any of you came into my restaurant and ordered something and I gave you something else and them made you just pay cost to get what you asked for. I am thinking of writing them a professional & polite letter letting them know how they hurt my feelings and how embarrassed they should be for treating their paying customers that way. I am definitely going to wait until I can calm down enough to not form tears when I think about it.

What would y'all do? For now, I just want to say that if any of you got here by googling ~ Belle Ame Salon Tupelo, MS ~ DO NOT WASTE YOUR PRECIOUS TIME OR YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY! I will NEVER go back to that salon under any circumstances and I will NEVER recommend Belle Ame Salon Tupelo, MS to ANY ONE I come in contact with.

{If you are interested in seeing what my hair looks like now, scroll back to the previous post}

Headed to the HairPort!

After a little consultation, I finally pulled the trigger and booked a hair appointment in Tupelo! It's a little salon right up the road from my work and it's in an old cool looking building, so I figured it would work for me!

I'm a little nervous, because I haven't found any pictures of color I like, so I'm going to have to explain myself away and hope for the best!

This is my current hair, and I apologize in advance for it being so hard to see, because of the black on black, but hopefully you can get the idea. It's a little bit past my shoulders in length and major major overgrown everywhere else! I'm going to get them to run a few highlights through to give it dimension & shape up that cut! I'm embarrassed to admit that i have NO idea when I got my last hair cut... OOOPS! Sorry, Ali!

Anyway ~ I am writing to inform you that I will be ~Twittering~ my entire experience beginning at 2:30pm central time if any of you are bored at work and need something to keep you entertained!

Wish me luck!

my baby's got a secret

I stayed with my sister in law on new year's eve, and completely forgot my deodorant. I sweat like a hairy fat man, so I can NOT skip a day and had to borrow hers. {i hope that doesn't gross y'all out... i share mine with you!} All she had was secret clinical and I liked it! I really felt like it kept me fresh and not sweaty for a LONG time, so I rushed out and bought some for myself. I'm always looking for a good powerful deodorant, lest I don't stank Justin out of the house!

If you read the directions it specifically says, Apply at night! Y'all, I try, but I can NOT for the life of me remember to apply at night! I do really good for a week or so, and then I forget. The weird thing is, I don't think it works that good if you apply in the morning! What's that about?

So, I'm wondering... do any of use this and HOW do you remember to wear it? I keep it by my bedside and STILL forget! Maybe this isn't the one for me, so is there something stronger and better that I HAVE to get instead? Help a sister out!

you be the judge

I have been trying for a LONG time to perfect dark smokey eyes. And for the longest time I could NOT get it right. It always looked too blue or too clownish. I can remember getting ready for a wedding back in my single days and applying the smokey eyes and my date walking in and busting a gut laughing. Thank gawd for make up remover!

I saw a pictorial how to the other day and thought I'd give it another shot. I thought the trick was to incorporate SILVER as your lighter shade to black, but the secret ingredient is BROWNISH GOLD!

Now you be the judge ~ are my smokey eyes exotic and mysterious or do I look like I'm a month late to the halloween party?

please ignore my eyebrows... my sister will take care of them when I return to Kentucky

straight on shot

all smiles

It's very important that you get back to me, because I'm thinking these are the eyes I'll be sporting in our upcoming anniversary photo shoot! More info on that to come!

Oil of Olay Regenerating Serum

Tomorrow I will be back regular posts in the morning, but for today you'll have to deal with 2 posts, sort of.

I was talking with Christina tonight and we were talking about how she usually takes my recommendations ~ case & point ~ she went out on Monday and bought those UGG Sweater Boots! If anyone deserves them, she does, because she lives in a Chicago where it is winter 53 weeks out of the year! Yes, winter is so long there that it adds another week to the calendar.

It reminded me that I have a new moisturizer that I am in LOVE with and y'all will be too once you try it out. I have been using the Oil of Olay daily cleanser and regular Olay moisturizer for the past year with good results. The regular moisturizer isn't heavy and didn't break me out, but I didn't feel like it was really correcting anything. i.e- making my skin smoother, lightening sun spots, diminishing wrinkles, etc.

So, I bit the bullet the other day and upgraded my lotion with the Oil of Olay Daily Regenerating Serum.

In about 2 weeks time I have noticed the greatest difference. My face feels smooth and hydrated! Girls ~ If you live in a northern climate this is a MUST! I hate that I didn't know about it in Chicago! I've been using it twice daily and can tell a noticeable difference in the appearance of my sun spots that I acquired from my 10 years that I practically slept in a tanning bed. And, you know, there wasn't a rough getting used to you period, because if I was going to break out, I certainly would have this week.

The best part though, is that I think it's a fantastic make up primer! My powder goes on smoothly and evenly and lasts up to 12 hours if I don't touch my face. Now, on your way home from work today stop by the CVS and pick this up! You can thank me later.

Best of the Best

I'm a sucker for a Best Of list. I use my barometer of agreement to determine how legit the list is. I also take these recommendations to heart and two lists that I trust completely are The Austin Chronicle Best of & the Allure Readers' Choice Awards. Since the Austin Chronicle list hasn't come out yet, let me touch on the Allure Readers' Choice Awards. Is it just me or does anyone else give three cheers to their product cabinets when they see one of their products on the list?


And the winners that i use are...


Nails: OPI Nail Lacquer in Lincoln Park After Dark - I wore it when I lived in Lincoln Park and I'm wearing it right now. It must be true love.




Face: Jergen's Natural Glow Face Daily Moisturizer - admittedly I go back and forth with Jergen's and Olay daily moisturizer, but Jergen's face glow lotion is much better than Olay's face glow.





Hair: John Frieda Collection Luminous Color Glaze - you know I love this and I promise it will make your hair shine like a wig!


Tools: Sonia Kushak Blusher Brush - I've been using this blush brush since the Sonia Kushak line first came out and I recently bought the powder brush and another eye shadow brush. They work fabulously and stand the test of time!


Honorable Mention: as you well know, there is not an honorable mention section, but I had to share my own. Maybelline Great Lash - this might be the cheapest mascara on the market, but let me tell you...I have long eye lashes but on seeing Ali's eyelashes I had to know what she uses, because honest to gawd they looked like fake eyelashes! This was it and now I'm hooked!



Ok, so here's where you come in! I trust your opinions, especially after the tex-mex tour recommendations!


What's on your list? Is there anything that I have to RUSH out and get today? And I need some eye cream! I used to use Benefit Cosmetics Eyecon, but I lost it and I didn't great results, so what should I be using? I need a cream that will brighten the skin underneath my eyes and reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

scrub a dub

A while back, ok like a year and a half ago, Christina and I raided the Bath and Body Works semi-annual sale and I purchased the need a margarita body scrub. The scrub works great, and if you don't mind smelling like sweet tequilla all day, then you'll love it! I moved to Lexington and my scrub came with me. I hadn't used it in a while and one day I bent down to scoop some out and it was pretty much gone. JUSTIN? "But Honey, feel my feet! It gets them sooooooooooooooo soft!" Rather than fight it I succumbed to what's mine is yours and let him have ownership of the scrub. I didn't love the smell anyway, and if it made his feet happy I was more than happy to give it up.

Before we left Norman some of my sweet friends splurged for a gift card to B&BW for me and I was over the moon, because I had been eyeing the Black Amethyst Body Spray & all of the Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin line. I had a momentary lapse in judgment and purchased the scented lotion. How did I forget that I hate scented lotion? So I took it back, and look what I got...

Hard to read the label? Let me translate...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh mama! After that first shower I forced the jar in Justin's face and said, "THIS is not for your feet." This body scrub smells and feels so good and grainy that my eyes rolled back in my head and I got a little weak in the knees. A girl can only hope that the secret of the sweet cinnamon pumpkin greatness does NOT get out and I can raid the semi-annual bin because I think we're going to be very good friends for a very long time.

Command Decision

Over 10 years ago I made a command decision to never wear perfume again. I have stuck to my guns, and for this long I've only worn body spray. My current favorites are Bath & Body Works, White Tea & Ginger and Magnolia Blossom. Until recently, I've never been even tempted to wear perfume. That is until I smelled Sarah Jessica Parker's Covet. I smelled it about a year ago, and I still haven't bought it, because what if I broke the pact with myself? i am so weird.


The other day another command decision started to break ground inside my brain. What if I decided to wear only black from now on? My mom used to get mad at me for only buying black shirts and dresses, but I think I was on to something. If it makes you look thinner than you are, why aren't we all wearing black?


I can always jazz black up with my gaudy jewelry and cute shoes, and like Allie said yesterday, "You are never to fat to fit into your jewelry or your shoes!" The only draw back I'm having is that purple and that mustard yellow are so hot right now. Must remember that they are from the devil and want me to look fat. Anyway... i bought a huge purple bag yesterday so i can wear that color any old time!


for my first all black purchase....



the short sleeved turtle neck! slims my body and hides my ugly neck!

cut for the cause

by the time we got home i was more than over my hair! isn't it weird how you wake up one day and HATE your hair and everything about it? yeah, well i did that about a month before, so i was daily tormented by the awful color and general ratty state of my hair for 30 whole days that felt like an eternity.

see what i mean? tormented - day in and day out! please note - cute rings, dark polish, favorite warmer weather but still winter outfit that says it's good to be home and have on different clothes, and last but not least the PEDOMETER - check, check, check, check!

lucky for me, the salon in lex stays open until 10pm (who does that?) so i was able to be worked in. thus began the debate in my mind. do i just trim it up and get all over color or do i get high lights or do i cut it all off. i was trying to wait for ali do it for me, but after a couple of hours of going back and forth i realized that i wouldn't see ali for over 2 months. that's plenty of time to have enough re-growth for her to go wild with! (btw - i need an appointment!)

then i thought... how better than to live great in 08' than to donate my hair that's healthy and has NO bleach in it (which is a remarkable feat for the girl who loves the high lights) to a cause that will make wigs for cancer patients. nothing better to do with the hair anyway, so why not!

this is pony tail #2. yes, i had 2 pony tails, because mama has a lot of hair!

my luck continued, because the salon mails your hair in for you! if you've ever waited by the mailbox hoping to get something from me, i'm afraid the post man might find you still waiting.

want to see the end result?

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wait for it...

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wait for it...

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TA~DA!

the color is not exactly what i want, but i absolutely adore the cut! basically i wanted to blondes to be blonder and the browns to be much darker, but as they say - you can't have it all! in these pictures my bangs were pinned back, but i can wear them swoopy too. it's not the victoria beckham cut that is running rampant and might i add - ridiculously cute! think katie holmes or just ME. all i know is it looks different every day and i did it for the cause!

time change

i'm embarrassed to say that because of the time change i didn't wake up until 11:30am today. i know... slothful! there was mass confusion between me, the hotel clock and my cell phone clock. neither of which were correct, but i thought the cell phone was right. seems like in the olden days cell phones used to switch over by themselves. i digress, but i feel so guilty now... especially since the husband left for work at 7am. arrrrrrrggggggggg!

yesterday was our first day off in a long long time which was much needed after putting in back to back to back (i'm not making this up) 80 hour weeks. it was nice to rest our bones and get out in the lovely weather.

this is random, but a few of you commented that you have tried the John Frieda color glaze that i raved over a few weeks ago. i want you to know that i recently got the dark brown to try and i HATE IT!

so, i have to apologize if you've tried the color and not had the results that i promised you you'd have! when justin and i were around town yesterday he started rubbing on my neck and said i think you have make up on your neck. i knew i only wore powder and not my liquid base, but the thought of gooped up make up on my neck was enough to rush me to a mirror!

bless my heart... it was that dern color glaze! the brown had stained my skin. bless his heart for thinking i wear dark brown make up! plus the brown doesn't smell as strong as the clear did, so i have a feeling it doesn't work as well. so let me rephrase... STICK TO THE CLEAR!

also, since my hair hasn't been feeling as strong and shiny and vibrant lately (because i'm not using the CLEAR!) i bought some new conditioner that i'm dying to use and report back my experience! plus it's organic - total living great! i'm trying to stave off a massive hair cut for as long as possible. well at least long enough for me to get home and have it cut by a professional and not by my crazy self in the middle of the night!

john frieda color glaze

i've always been one for playing favorites - with EVERYTHING, and here is a new favorite of mine that i can't get enough of, and i know that if you trust me and try it out you won't be able to get enough of either.


It's the John Frieda Color Glaze -
I learned about it on that great american hair cut episode of oprah, and of course contemplated it a few times before purchasing, because it's a whopping $8.50. Now I'm hooked, and even bought some for my mom to try out. It makes my hair so silky and smooth, and according to one of my friends it's so shiny it looks like i'm wearing a wig! the good kind of wig, not the the cheapy halloween wigs, she assured me. here's the proof!

so, i'm a believer and i followed the directions on the bottle and not what the girl said on the show. she said use it once a month, but the bottle says it can be in your daily hair regime. let me know if you've tried the color ones, because i've only tried clear, because something tells me that i will be undergoing a dramatic hair make-over very soon!

** Update** When i first got it, i used it daily for at least 3 minutes. now i mostly use it for special occasions... trust me going to the grocery store is a special occasion when you work from home. I do think that it revitalized my hair and made it much smoother and healthier, so now i can just condition and my hair looks fabu! glad y'all are enjoying it too!

hair it is!

there is nothing like a trip home. especially with this kind of art work proudly displayed in just about any and every parking lot in town.

the weekend was great. i think i ate enough calories for an african village to survive on for a year, but it was the best peach pie i had ever put in my mouth. not to mention the "designer" cupcakes that were made especially for me and the homemade salsa allie brought. oh the homemade salsa... i haven't eaten salsa that garlicy and good in many many chicago moons. i think i can still taste the garlic=) hopefully all the laughing put a dent in the caloric intake, somehow!

my uncle has recently caught wind of this blog, and made it his personal mission to spread the word to every living and breathing soul he came in contact with. the boys put their heads together and changed the blocks from "welcome justin" to say "blog it lesli" here it is boys, and if you're reading this because my uncle told you to - well, bless your heart.

just as i suspected, everyone loved my other half, and the fact that he lived in texas for 5 years was selling point enough for my grandmother. "I think he fits in with us, and he was raised in Texas, so that's why he is nice."

fortunately for my other half, he got out of the marathon shopping trip and got to steal away to the golf course for a few hours with my uncle and a retired marine general. lucky for him, because what he did later showed his true colors.

as if asking him to dry my extensions wasn't too much to ask, he spent saturday evening with 4 chatty girls at a hair salon listening to all of our stories, our gossip and our theories on men. i'm pretty sure he was bored, but you would have never known it. i think this means there are many trips to best buy and many action movies in my future. what a man!

here is my most accomplished friend Ali in her new salon... you go girl with your business woman self! isn't that buffet/cabinet thing just fabulous? she should probably be a professional shopper as well. i've never known anyone with better taste/style/antique luck!

the beginning of the transformation - i woke up a few weeks ago hating my hair. it had to go, regardless of the season - i was sick to death of the blonde!



oh and look who else took a spin in the chair...

and here is the new me with ali's little man, milo! my hair wasn't all the way dry, because the other allie counted and it now takes me half an hour to dry my hair! ok that might be exaggerated, but it takes longer than the two minutes it used to!



dark, huh? total incognito, and i love it!

nice compliment to start the week

---

From: Work Friend
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 10:49 AM
To: Lesli
Subject: just so you know

Your hair is rocking it today!

---

From: Lesli
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 10:51 AM
To: Work Friend
Subject: RE: just so you know

Haha – not sure if you’re joking or not, but if you’re not – Thank you! I got trapped in the icky rain on the way here this morning. As luck would have it – I had put self tanner on my face and just knew it was going to start dripping and streaking, so I covered my face with my hair as best I could!

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From: Work Friend
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 10:54 AM
To: Lesli
Subject: RE: just so you know

No it looks good! I’m funny about hair though, I like BIG hair, so when it rains and everyone’s hair puffs out I’m always happy.

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From: Lesli
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 10:55 AM
To: Work Friend
Subject: RE: just so you know

honey i am from texas, my best friend is a teasing comb! it KILLS me that my hair is fine and won't ever get super poofy!!

highlights of 2006

and i don't just mean my hair, but why not show the highlight changes of 2006??

january 2006...purple high lights!

march 2006...going blonde for the summer monthsaugust 2006...a little darker, a little longer
october 2006...ready for baylor homecoming...not terribly different from before i moved from austin. mostly just longer with some dark low lights
december 2006...it wouldn't be a trip to austin without a trip to jackson ruiz...and vivo of course! darker with a hint of red. loving the dark colors!

ok so that's my hair progression through the year!

my personal theme for the year was "why not?" i'm proud to say i stuck by it. why not move? why not quit my job? why not make that call? why not send that email? why not go a little early and stay a little late? i learned that life is to short to not be lived. why not live life and enjoy it? cities aren't going anywhere, and there are different jobs to be had. the why nots in my life caused some relationships to grow, some to form, and some to fall apart. i learned something new, either about myself or other people, with each why not that came up in my life. i'm proud of myself for taking a chance on so many things, and whether i triumphed or failed, i was me and it's been my life to live.

i think two of the biggest challenges of 2006 were deciding to move to chicago and actually living in chicago. the entire process of making the decision, working through the logistics and following through were precisely orchestrated and executed perfectly. timing was perfect. i got to spend the summer with one of my best friends laughing and drinking more wine on her porch than should have ever been allowed. i got to leave my job at the right time for me. i find myself desperately trying to please people, and to be able to think and act for myself without thought of letting down my co-workers, or roommate, or austin friends, was nice for a change. ultimately i found that although they were sad, all were supportive. i could not ask for more.

actually living in chicago has been a blessing far beyond anything i could imagine. it's completely different than how i would have pictured it or even described it last august, but i feel like i'm situated right in the middle of something that great stories are made of. in 5 months i've formed solid friendships with fabulous people, stayed decently busy with work and created memories with my best friend that we will cherish forever. not many people, especially girls, could share a one bedroom apartment and synced cycles and not kill each other. i did have a dream the other day that she kicked me... seriously, we are lucky to share not only space but a solid and strong bond that many people live their whole life and never know, at least in my opinion - she might think differently!

it was a year that took me all over the country again. as far as i can remember, i visited the likes of
-abilene, texas
-durham, north carolina
-long beach, california
-laguna beach, california
-los angeles, california
-oklahoma city, oklahoma
-houston, texas
-new braunfels, texas
-memphis, tennessee
-more trips than i can count to waco, texas
-st. louis, missouri
-san diego, california
-oceanside, california
-carlsbad, california
-and a rainy day in la jolla, california

i got to enjoy more baylor baseball in oklahoma city and houston. OKC gave me the chance to live like a 21 year old for a weekend and houston was the hottest 4 straight days that i've ever sat through my entire life.

california, both times, was fabulous. there are truly no words, but you know me, i'll try. it's a place that you can very easily fall in love with. the scenery is gorgeous, the temperature is perfect, and when you top that off with the wonderful people i got to share that time with, some old friends, some new, it makes it harder to leave every time.

i ate a many a meal at a many a restaurants this year, but this 5 stand alone as my favorite from 2006

1. Vivo's: Austin, Texas - i made sure that i had time to eat there while i was in austin last week. i order: puffy taco plate, bean/shredded chicken/guacamole and i can never get enough of that garlicy salsa!
2. Juan in a Million: Austin, Texas- i spent most saturday and some sunday mornings at the restaurant rehashing the night with friends. this is the restaurant i miss the most, especially after a long night out. i order: what else, the don juan!
3. Giordano's: Chicago, Illinois- this is my favorite chicago style pizza in the city. the best part is the cheese grease that soaks into the crust! i order: chicago style pepperoni
4. La Madeline: Austin, Texas- every time i go there i'm tempted to order a bowl of tomato basil soup and a straw! it's that good, and i promise you can find any comparable!
5. Chick-fil-A: Austin, Texas- even though i ate this everyday for 2 years, there are times when i'd sell my first child on the black market for a #1 (Chick-fil-A sandwich & waffle potato fries) with cheese, polynesian sauce and a sweet tea!

and of course i found plenty of dance floors to keep me company this year. if i was some place that didn't have one, i made one. my favorite (newly released) songs this year were...
1. Hips Don't Lie - Shakira
2. Sexy Back - Justin Timberlake
3. Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield
4. How to Save a Life- The Fray (surprising since you know i NEVER like whiney boy groups!)
5. Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall

how would i spend my evenings if i wasn't watching something i tivo'd? this one is kind of hard for me to remember, because when you live with different people, your tv shows change, and i lived with three different people this year. favorite shows of the year...
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Big Brother: All Stars
3. Laguna Beach
4. Friday Night Lights
5. either of the dancing shows...So You Think You Can Dance or Dancing with the Stars

none of the movies i saw this year made their way into my all time favorites, and i'm so attached to those that i sometimes forget to watch new movies. however, i did find affection for...
1. Little Miss Sunshine
2. The Devil Wears Prada
3. The Break - Up

one of my best personal accomplishments for the year was finding something that i'm truly good at. i offered to address Cari's wedding invitations, and while i can find every imperfection of my handwriting on each envelope, it was a relief to know that no one else could. plus i got to do the writing on the front of the program! what a compliment! when asked at the reception where i learned to write like that i responded, "2nd grade i suppose!" not to mention that i set a goal and accomplished it ahead of schedule! perhaps i turned over a new leaf in 2006!finally...should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind... i will sleep easy in 2007, because of the quality time i spent with loved ones in 2006. spending quality time with people whom no matter how much distance or miles separate us, we find time to enjoy each other. be it a phone call, an email or a face to face visit. these are relationships i will always cherish and times that i will never forget. this is what represents my life of 2006.

this is not a tragedy...

"a tragedy is three men trapped in a mine or police dogs used in birmingham. monks burning themselves in protest."

i expected this to be the happiest day of my week, because if you know me at all you know that one of my favorite things to do in life is have my hair done. for a week i've been talking about and dreaming of my new fall color. well i got it all right.

the girl who used to be multi shades of blonde is now multi shades of brown. i had to leave the salon quickly, because i have a tendency to say things that i don't mean, and for a year i've really liked my hair girl, because she never failed to give me great color. i'm not the girl that cries over hair dos, but i had to divert my attention for the horribleness that is now residing on top of my head in order to fight back the tears.

my girl did tell me, "those are really great colors." colors? i can hardly see ANY dimension. just a bunch of brown.

although my natural color is much darker than this, i look better with at least a little bit of blonde. what i got away with in the early 90s no longer works for me today.

once my roomate gets home i'll get the truth, and i suspect there will be a phone call to reschedule me for a little more blonde.

media relations

since i've been gone so much lately, my roomate and i have been spending a LOT of time together. we've been like high school girls...we've been getting ready together in the morning, got our hair cuts together, and on monday when she had a work function her office suggested that i come with!

only one catch. i was now an intern for her office. well, to me, intern is such a vague term and gets linked with the likes of a blue dress and cigar that i thought i'd take it one step further. who would ask me what i did anyway? we assumed it was a come and go thing. turns out it was a sit down dinner. so, we were forced to interact with people. i went with what i know...i was the new media relations intern for her office. "wow, that sounds really interesting!" at one point i was drifting off in thought of the delicious white wine sangria and the upcoming dishes and a sister (she was a nun) started talking about the NPR spot she had heard and i realized...this is my department! so i tuned in (no pun intended) smiled and nodded my head.

like any good marketing director pretending to be a media relations intern i took advantage of my opportunity to discreetly plug my real job. at the end of the meal they brought out tres leches cake and coffee. coffee became the topic of the table as we discussed my roomates new love for her morning coffee and our opinions of starbucks. so i interjected, "I really love starbucks, i could drink it every morning, but my roomate and i love breakfast at CFA, and they just rolled out a new line of coffee and it is DELICIOUS!" for the next ten mintues we discussed breakfast and chicken and the nutritional quality of CFA. it was great...all i kept thinking was don't act like you know too much...normal people don't know that the mini's are on a honey yeast roll...

i believe it's what any marketing director turned media relations intern for the night would have done...

blondes have more fun

throughout most of college my hair was bright blonde from extensive hi-lights and re hi-lights. my senior year i went back to my natural color which is a dark brown and didn't love it, and neither did my mom. i think her exact words were, "that looks terrible! you need to high light you're hair as soon as you can."

so, i started hi-lighting again, but it has taken me about 2 years to get back to where i was, or at least close to where i was in terms of color. yesterday i finally got really blonde again! oh, happy day!

looking back, i think i truly did have more fun when i was a blonde than when i had darker hair. if you know me, or have heard any of my stories, you'd agree. it might have gotten me into some trouble...but i'd venture to say that it was worth every crazy event that i took part in.

i have a wedding at the naval academy next weekend and the bride called me and asked, "i think i know the answer to this question, but do you want to sit with work people, or do you want to sit with navy boys?"

does she even have to ask...

this blonde will definitely be having more fun!