dreams don't work unless you do

well guys.

it happened.

for the last year,

i've been telling ronnie this:

 

 

but i decided to join the workforce once again.

kind of.

nothing too crazy.

just part-time, mondays and fridays.

exactly what i wanted.

but they are 10 hour days so i'll still get to bank 20 hrs a week.

you want to know the very best part?

my mom agreed to watch brette for me.

as of right now, ronnie is working

10 hour days monday through thursday.

 so he'll have her on fridays

and my mom gets her on mondays.

it couldn't have worked out more perfectly.

i get to earn a little bit of extra cash without

having to pay for part-time child care.

AND i still get to spend five days a week

with my sweet little girl.

i don't start for several more weeks,

but hopefully its a really easy transition for us.

all of us:

me, my mom, ronnie and brette

 

 

 

 

may day

happy may day!

 

i was thinking about the [one and only] time

i received flowers on may day.

i was in middle school and they were left from my boyfriend, drew.

it was very sweet and all i remember were flowers on my front porch

and his mom's big red suburban flying out of my neighborhood.

ahh to be 12.  hahaha.

no really.

coincidently my bf, shannon, ended up marrying the guy.

somehow drew and i managed to overcome our 12 year old love.

her and i were randomly texting this morning because

i was reminding her its her birthday month.

she wrote back that drew brought flowers to her classroom for may day

and said that he had only done this for one other girl.

apparently that gesture stuck in both our minds.

it just goes to show what you teach your kid
might just stick with them.

 

i texted ronnie this

and his reply:

 

i've never even heard of may day!

 

 

[hand to forehead]

 

you should totally go buy someone flowers

and leave them on their doorstep.
since obviously i stand no chance of getting any from ronnie,
i would like you all to know:

i will be home all day.
 

and, here are my flowers to you.

pretend that i rang the bell and ran away giggling.

 

 

 

game playing

brette and leia decided to play a game.

brette eats all her puffs and leia doesn't get any.

she thinks it is hilarious.

we'd never seen her play and giggle

without a person interacting with her,

so i grabbed the camera and shot

an unusually long video of my kid laughing.

 

you're welcome.

 

 

 

***disclaimer*** 

i totally don't normally give b food

while she's bouncing around.

seems like a good way to choke,

but for some reason - - that i can't remember - -

she was having some puffs in her bouncer.

i was probably distracted by all the cuteness that i didn't even notice.

 

 

 

 

the down low on hair

i've written about my hair several times.
remember this?
oh geez.


but i got the sweetest message on facebook

from a friend of a friend, caroline, who reads this ol' blog

and was crushing on my hair.

um, thanks!

seriously.

because it was just a couple weeks ago

i was telling dana how much my hair was bothering me.

during my pregnancy and after i had brette

my hair was awesome.

i don't want to brag, but seriously,

it was so thick. and long. and healthy.

i thought pantene was going to call for a hair commercial any minute.

all those pregnancy hormones did w o n d e r s.

but then it started falling out.

and it went from wonderful to ehh.

and now that it's growing back in

it feels so limp.

and the fly aways around my face are killer.

blah.

so when i got this message,

i was totally surprised considering its recent condition.

caroline has really thick hair with natural wave.

just like mine.

she was asking for some tips or product suggestions.

 

so here it goes.

you will not be surprised to learn that i am way

too cheap to go to the salon and get my hair done.

those crazy broads want to charge me $150 or more for a cut and a color.

um thanks, but i'll pass.

luckily for me my aunt was a beautician back in the day.

every september and march i schedule a little afternoon with her.

i never let her cut more than a couple inches off because i am

a crazy-train about my length.

i want long-ass hair,
that's why i only cut it twice a year.

then i always buy revolon's highlighting kit (medium blonde)

and she foils my hair.

so basically i get a cut and color for $12.

oh wait, i guess i spend more like $24 dollars because i

always buy two highlighting kits.

the second kit is for my ombre.

i do that myself

and i totally think anyone can do it.

it's really super easy.

i blogged about it a couple years ago,

so you can read here for more on that.

 

as for styling it...

i basically only have three options.

straight.

naturally wavy.

or curled with a curling iron.

 

straight is obvious.

i blow dry my hair

and bust out my chi.

no product used.

wah la. done.

 

naturally wavy is even easier.

when my hair is wet i add

mousse and get and start scrunching.

i use hair spray (but not aerosol) too when it starts getting dryer.
you need a hair spray that will still allow your hair movement.

and when its about half way dry,

i use a blow dryer on the roots to help with the volume.

i tease the roots and straighten the very ends to make sure

most of the volume is at the top.

that's basically it.

as for products i just buy all my stuff from wal-mart.
no aveda products for this girl.
right now here is what is in my bathroom:
 

 

but here's a little tip for those of you that

don't have any natural wave/curl in your hair:

gel and mousse won't cut it and

your hair will fall flat.

however, if you take egg whites and whisk them until foamy

and use that instead of gel or mousse,

your hair WILL wave.

my roommate in college tried it and she has

 straight, super thick hair and it still worked.

 

as for curling it,

i actually blogged about that too

so you can read more tips and tricks here.

i actually write out a step by step process

so its pretty helpful.

pay close attention to step 6.

it's the most important or your hair will fall flat.

i hope this helps caroline..
or anyone else needing a few insider notes on hair.

 

 

 

 

chicken alfredo pizza

are you tired of hearing about my pizza adventures?

too bad.

i made pizza on wednesday,

but i did it the super fast and super easy way.

and i mixed it up a little bit by doing

a chicken alfredo version.

lots of short cuts and hardly any actually cooking.

i bet this took me around 10 minutes to put together.

impressive.
 

 

instead of making my own pizza dough,

i bought a tube.

instead of making my own alfredo sauce,

i bought a jar. 

then i diced up some onion and garlic and

cooked it in a little bit of oil and butter.

i removed the onion and garlic and threw in

some chicken strips.

i browned them on each side for 3 minutes in the

garlicky remains and then cubed the pieces.

i spread out the dough on my pizza pan and

added a little alfredo sauce.

don't add too much because alfredo is runnier than

marinara and i feel like it can make pizza soggy. 

then i sprinkled on my onion and garlic,

(you could totally add mushrooms too,

but ronnie would have killed me.)

and added some seasonings.

[italian seasoning, garlic salt and red pepper]

then i diced up some fresh spinach,

(you could leave it whole,

but ronnie and i don't roll that way.)

added my chicken cubes and

(here's the best part)

sliced up some fresh mozzarella.

waaaaaay better than the stuff shredded in a bag.

and here's a little tip i learned from watching the pioneer woman:

put your fresh mozzarella in the freezer before you start

so by the time you're ready to slice it up,

it's has a solid consistency that makes it easier to cut.

totally worked.
 

 
 

then i threw it in the oven at 425 for about 15 mins.

 

easy easy easy

and ronnie dominated it.

like for real,

we hardly have any left.

 

 

*** this is also really good as an appetizer too. see here for more details. ***



 

is it summer yet?

i am super excited for summer.
 

i'm sure you're confused because,

as ronnie pointed out,

everyday is my day off.

but in the summer i actually have friends that have days off too.

jaime, shannon, kassie and jana are available allllllll summer

and dana has off mondays and fridays.

hello playgroup!

ronnie says i'm basically going to have the best summer of my life.

yep, probably.
he's just jealous.

last friday was a good indication of how amazing this summer might be.  

jaime, dana and i took our kiddos to deanna rose farms.

if you're in the kc area with kids, this is a good place to check out.

first of all, it's free during the week.
now that's my kind of pricing.

they have an amazing petting zoo

where you can bottle feed baby goats,

ride horses,

go fishing,
race tractors,

and see all kinds of animals.

they also have slides, jungle gyms and wooden animals to play on.

this is seriously a kid's dream.

and look how cute it is.

 

 

we packed our kids and a lunch

and spent a couple hours in the sun.

i'm basically going to be rotating my time

between here, the pool and the zoo.

 

summertime and the livings easy.

 

 

easter weekend - part 2

i didn't realize that easter has

so many photo ops.

- - -

pics with the easter bunny.

pics with their easter basket.

pics after church in their easter dress.

pics in bunny ears.

pics in easter jammies.

pics with family.
pics in the pram.

 

apparently, easter is really about the cute photo moments.

so here are ours:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and then i re-dressed her back up for

some photos in her easter dress this morning.

 

 

we had a great easter!

lots of little girls made it that much better.