in the last 10 years

i am in charge of organizing my high school's 10 year reunion.

2002, baby. go tigers.

i was excited to do it and had a good idea of where i wanted to have it.

but the more i get into it,

the bigger pain it becomes.

i had to put down a deposit at the winery,

i have a meeting to pick out the food with the caterer,

i sent out a facebook invite to my classmates,

i contacted to school board to let them know we would be donating extra funds to the foundation,

and i contacted the high school to get an updated list of addresses.

i still have to order invites that includes a registration form and get them sent out.

i have to figure out if i need to open a new account at the bank for the money.

i need to go to the high school to borrow memorabilia to display.

i need to inquire about having a dj.

i have to figure out who will work the registration table.

and i need a crew for set up and tear down.

blah.

it's like planning another wedding.

i'm over this.

swirl and curl

curling my hair was quite the process,

and so i never did it.

until last week, when the hair dresser showed me a quick easy way.

before, i was scrunching my hair with gel, mousse, and hair spray.

so it looked like this:

 

then i would take each piece wrap it around the curling iron, instead of rolling it up the barrel.

this is the only picture i could find, that shows what i used to do.

this gives it more of a wavy look (this is the process you would do if you have a wand.)

i think part of my problem was that i hadn't bought a new curling iron since high school when i was still turning under my hair with a 2'' barrel.

so the curl was too big and curling iron didn't get as hot as i needed.

so i went to beauty brands and bought a new one. 

i didn't buy a wand because when the hair dresser did my hair, she didn't use one.

she said that i could and it would still work, but the curling iron would be easier.

plus i can still use this as a wand like the girl in the picture above does.

when curling your hair that way, you are going to get an 'S' curve to your hair.

also known as the mermaid wave.

so basically, this is the other way she explained how i could curl my hair:

the messy curl.

1. blow dry your hair.

2. always curl away from your face.

3. do not curl the ends. (leave 2 inches out)

4. do vertical barrel curls

5. have a variety of big and small pieces.

this might be the most important

6. do not touch the curls or your hair.

i normally get to this part and then move on to my make-up.

you have to wait until your hair is cold and the heat from the iron has all left.

the you can run your finger through it and give it a messier look.

i also tease my roots to give it more volume on the top.

(so this is where i should insert my finished picture, but this is where i realized that i was supposed to leave the house 4 minutes ago and i was rushed.)

 but i swear, this is what i looked like:

and this is a photo from that night.

not great quality, but you get the point.

so there it is.

my new fast way to curl.

enjoy.

moves like jagger

here is a fun film

to kick the weekend off:

he stopped when he realized i was there,

now that he knows i love sharing them on my blog.

but i still love that he's dancing for our babies.

weekday wrap-up

1. my smoothies are getting better.  yesterday it was strawberries, spinach and water. today: mixed fruit, spinach, orange juice and ice (so far, my fave).  this is all for a healthier, easier dinner in hopes of preparing for a 10 year reunion and wedding. meanwhile, ronnie is suffering through on hot pockets, spaghettios and hamburger helper.

2. i bought a tanning package.  i'm trying to decided what is better:
skin cancer vs. eczema

right now, the eczema that has been slowing spreading and feels like fire all over my legs, has come out on top.  hopefully a month of tanning will dry it all out before skirt/short season.

3. i am trying a *new* hairdo tomorrow i found on pinterest. i hope to have that and curling instructions by monday. stay tuned. ps- i've curled my hair twice since then and it is fast, but my favorite part? it lasts all day without hair spray or anything.

4. i have a bachelorette party this weekend for my old college roommate, barney.  i'm excited to see her and celebrate.

5. lent started on wednesday and instead of trying to give up something, i've decided to DO something instead.  add to my life, instead of take away.  i bought a box of cards and i'm going to be sending little notes to people for the next 40 days.  last year, i gave up cussing - i've decided to embrace that. and, i thought this might be a little more rewarding.

smoothie king

i tried to make my first spinach smoothie and it was gross. i know it's something i did because i've tried my sister-n-law's and it was good.  and lindsay drinks them every morning, so i know they can be good, but i'm obviously doing something wrong.  i'll try again tomorrow.  wish me luck.

today's consisted of:

1 cup almond milk

handful of baby spinach

1 cup mixed berries

i think my problems was that the mixed berries all had seeds and i felt like i was spitting out a shit-ton of them.  especially black berries, those are the worst.  tomorrow, i'm going to just use strawberries and hope for the best. 

and if that doesn't work, then i'm hitting the internet for recipes.

it's either that or i just bought a whole bunch of spinach and frozen fruit that i won't eat.

awesome.

his bark is worse than his bite

here is a little insight into my everyday life.

i hear this about 10 times a day.

and i decided that i must share,

because my puppies are my loves.

and this is louie.

(please turn up the volume)

louie started doing this a couple years after we got him.

the first time he 'screamed' at our back door i thought a wild animal was literally attacking him and killing him.

ronnie and i were knocking each other over trying to get outside and save him.

and when we got there, he was just fine and ready to come in.

we laughed.

we chalked it up to our crazy dog.  

we thought, well, he just must be cold.

but now, this is his bark.

his everyday, run of the mill, bark.

and it's so loud and piercing.

especially at the 5:30am potty break.

we're pretty sure our neighbors would gladly take a bb gun to our little guy.

it can 80 degrees outside

or 20 below.

it doesn't matter.

either way,

louie is an indoor dog.

got my hair did

please excuse the "no make-up, ready for bed" picture below.

i'm trying to capture a "before" picture of my hair.

because the next day, i had a hair appointment with a new hairdresser my sister-n-law, jaime, hooked me up with.

remember my last appointment? a bit disappointing.

and it took me a couple tries at home to finally get what i wanted.

jaime thought her gal could help, so her and brian bought me a free hair cut for my birthday.

(yes, i has taken me 5 months to schedule a hair appt.)

she was great and the best part was she taught me an easy, fast way to curl my hair.

i literally never curl my hair anymore because it's too long and takes forever,

but she curled it in under 5 minutes.

it was amazing.

i'm excited to try it out and see if i can do it just as fast.

probably not.

i think i need to buy a new curling iron first.

she recommended a wand.

so that's my next step.

beauty brands, here i come.

aunt brooke

i'm an aunt 10 times over with all the kiddos in my life.

between ronnie's sister, my brother (brian) and all our friend's kids,

the number of babies is steadily growing.

just this week alone i found out two more friends of mine are pregnant.

and i couldn't be happier,

except that i am...

because several weeks ago

the family was invited over to brian and jaime's

for an early 30th birthday party for brian.

and when jaime brought out a faux birthday present

i didn't expect a thing,

until the balloons floated out of the box with this attached.

a sonogram.

a baby.

due in september.

i'm going to be an aunt.

again!

vday

last year ronnie had class on valentine's day, so i spent the evening cuddling my puppies.

this year, he made up for it.

flowers, a dq blizzard, steak dinner and breaking dawn.

thank you, mr. ronaldo.

lady with a baby

it's crazy that another little life is only seven weeks away.

we are all so excited for jana to welcome her first little boy into our lives

and last saturday we got together to celebrate her becoming a mamma.

and linds and i got to finally share all our fun shower projects.

 food table

centerpieces

max banner, iron-on onesies, and alphabet framed piece

 jana with linds and i

opening gifts

playing the "guess how big mamma is" toilet paper game

onesie craft table

dana showing off "my name is earl" homemade onesie.

ah, thank you.

 onesie sugar cookies

mason jars and party straws (from pinterest)

the flowers

 and the super seven - minus mauri.  :(

okay max, we're ready for you!

curb appeal

you might remember last august i picked up a dresser off the side of the road.

i couldn't believe my luck.

and although the drawers were broke and it needed a paint job,

i knew that it wouldn't be hard to fix it and would be quite worth it.

 

six months later,

we finally got around to messing with it.

ronnie had to use some wood puddy to fill in some gaps,

and it needed a lot of sanding.

that's where i come in with the paint.

and ronnie spray painted all the hardware black.

wah la!

and i have the perfect wall for it in the basement.

once the weather gets nicer i plan to take a cheap piece of lace or a doily from the dollar store

and spray paint the lace textured look on the top. 

but right now, i'm loving my new [free] dresser.

wall art

last year i finally hung a grouping of random things on the wall in the office.

and i never really liked it, like i thought i would.

when i left umkc, i brought home everything that used to hang in my office.

so i traded it out.

you can see what i used to have:

 a framed chihuahua card from my mom, our photobooth save the date from our wedding, "i love you this much" framed in front of leftover chevron fabric from our curtain, and a cork board.

now you can see what i currently have:

degrees from college and a combo bulletin board/dry erase board.

simple and makes more sense for an office.

however, i still love the idea of a framed wall.

like this on young house love.

once i gather all the needed frames and items

my plan is to hang them on the stairway walls going down to the basement.

the only picture i have is the one below and the walls aren't really accentuated because

 i was so impressed with the carpet.

 but all of that will be sometime later.
probably much later.

to be continued...