Bye Bye Gray Hairs

You read that right... GRAY hairs! I am only 24 for crying out loud. I thought this wasn't supposed to happen until your 30-40's. Somewhere down the line, I got the lovely gene of going gray early. And I'm talkin early! Like middle school early. I do have friends who can testify to spending 10-15 minutes in the bathroom with me pulling out my gray hairs between the ages of twelve to fifteen. Lucky me.

For those that don't believe me (because I get a lot of those) I took some pictures for evidence.

Today I went and got them all colored. :)

Before:

After:

A little darker and richer color. While we were at it I had my husband practice his photography skills and take some shots of my outfit. I was pleasantly surprised, he did a pretty good job. 

He told me to make my mirror face. Does anyone else have one of these? Every time Alex watches me put on my make up he makes fun of me because I purse my lips. I never noticed before.

 Most of his pictures did turn out good, aside from the following.

 "Really? You're taking a picture in front of the utility meters?"

That is him capturing me being attacked by a fly. Exactly what I wanted pictures of. Haha, Thanks babe.

Goals for 2012

I wanted to write this post awhile ago... Like closer to New Years. Oh well, better late than never. I just wanted to share some of my goals for 2012. It is probably best that I waited awhile to share because I have been changing and tweaking my goals a little here and there since I have been thinking about it more and more. This is more a list of values that I want to focus on for my whole life, not just 2012.

Well here they are:

1. Focus on me.  By this I mean getting back to basics, doing the things I love, leaving behind the things I don't, and doing what I want and not letting other peoples' judgments affect and change my decisions.

2. Take care of my body. Be more aware of what I am putting on my body, in my body, and how I'm using my body. I want to do what is best for my body to keep it healthy and strong. How I use it and what I put in and on it are so important to keeping it as healthy as it can be.

3. Spend more time with my husband. We already spend a lot of time together, but I want quality time! Like eating dinner at the table talking instead of sitting in front of the TV. Or paying attention to him instead of reading facebook or *ahem* reading blogs. He really is the most important person in my life, and he deserves all the attention I have to give.

4. Run. Vague? Well... not really. I love to run. Alex and I ran a 5k last summer it was really awesome (highly recommend signing up for one if you are lacking motivation). The real goal is to run some more races. To keep my self realistic I am going to say that my goal is to run a 10k by the end of summer (since this winter has really destroyed my running routine). My unrealistic goal is to run a half marathon, which has actually been my goal for this coming summer for awhile now.

5. Blog more. Until sometime last month I was kind of a crappy blogger. I pretty much posted like once or twice a month, sometimes even once every 2-4 months. I read somewhere that you should try to post every day. Not just to get a blog following but because it actually makes you a better writer since you are practicing every day. So... Here we go, I'm gonna try to do one every day, or at least almost everyday. That is a pretty hefty goal with my track record, can anyone help me out with this? Tips, encouragement, words of wisdom. I'm open to any and all suggestions. Also along with writing more blogs I want to do more link parties and have picked a few that I am going to try to link up to every week.

6. Learn more about photography. Or just take some decent pictures. I've been using my iPhone lately instead of my camera, because it is just always there. I don't mind using it, I actually think it would be fun to get some accessories for it. (My husband got me some new lenses for my iPhone for Christmas). Really, I'm working on it. My biggest problem is lighting because I usually take pictures at night due to working hours. That will be changing soon though, so I will lose that excuse.

7. Do all my homework... ON TIME. I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I am back in school. This is so important to me this time around. I really want to do good, stay motivated, and enjoy what I'm learning.

8. Delete Facebook. This is my last goal. It really ties in with all of my other goals because do you know what I am often caught doing (by my husband, of course) when I should be or want to be doing any of the above things? Reading Facebook. Horrible, I know. I just get so sucked into finding out what people are doing where they are going what they are wearing. UGH. It is bad, and I have really thought hard about deleting it for awhile now. It wasn't until I read a post someone wrote about it that I really felt convicted and decided enough is enough, I just need to bite the bullet and do it... soon. I did delete the app off my phone and this has helped tremendously already. My husband is even noticing a difference. I've kept it mostly just to keep people updated on my blog updates, but I just started a page just dedicated to my blog so people can still follow and I can delete my personal page. If you would like to read the post that really helped me solidify my decision, this is Mary in Marriedland. I just found this blog and I really love the way she writes from the heart. Check out her blog, it is pretty inspiring.


There you have it. My goals. I tried to keep it realistic, but I also need a challenge. This year really feels like it is going to be different than most. I feel change coming, and I'm ready and excited for it.

O.M.G.

Yesterday when I came home from work this was waiting for me on my doorstep...

My husband in his slippers to the right.

Yep, I ordered the Ugg boots I wanted!! It is like christmas all over again! They were a little over my budget so I am just going to justify and say, they are an early birthday present and a late Christmas present, and I'm paying for part of them out of my own personal spending money (yeah, we have a budget for that).

Now you know how I've said that I am not a photographer? Well my husband really isn't one, like really really. This is our conversation while he was taking pictures of my boots (a lot of pictures at different angles like he is a professional).

Me: "Umm, babe? What are you doing?"

Alex: "I'm taking pictures"

Me: "Ok... But why are you kneeling down?" 

Alex: "I thought's how photographers did it?"

Me: "Ok. Well if you are going to take pictures on the floor at least make sure nothing ugly is in the background."

Alex: "It's fine. (a few seconds later) Oh wait... this one has a sock in it."

The picture above actually has a different sock in it that he failed to notice also. I think I was stepping on the first sock and it was clearly a focal point in the picture. I suppose it was somewhat my fault, but I wasn't necessarily modeling at this point, mostly just enamored with my shoes, so can you really blame me?

There you have it, my new boots :)

I'm still not totally set on keeping them, they were a little expensive, and I'm not sure I love them enough for the price that they were. We'll see. Maybe I will return them and get an awesome camera so I couldn't take bad pictures even if I wanted to. Or maybe I will get a Ninja (the blender). Or maybe I will wear them and realize that I love them. :)

Also as part of my goals for 2012, which I need to write a post about, one of my goals is to do more link up parties so these are the ones I'm linking up to.

Feel free to link up too! I'm going to try to do this every week.

Somebody that I used to know

A year and a half ago I wrote about not being sure what to do with my life and what direction to take it in. You can read about it here. Long story short, when we got back from Hawaii in November I decided it was time to take action and make a change. I had been contemplating going back to school for awhile, and decided I just needed to do it before it was too late. I suppose it is never too late, but I mean before it became harder because of financial obligations or having kids. So last Monday I started school again, and it actually feels really good to be back. I am only taking one class until next term when I go back to part time at work and full time at school. It is so exciting to be taking a step in the right direction, a step towards what I want to do and away from the rut that we have been stuck in. I am currently finishing up my transfer degree and working on bringing up my GPA and next fall I am hoping to transfer to a university to study nutrition.  Everything is sort of falling into place perfectly, which gives us so much peace about our decision.

Anyways, now that I got that out of the way, I really just wrote this post to show off this really cool music video. Some of our friends just introduced us to the band Gotye, an Australian indie pop band and I'm rather impressed. I am studying and listening to their pandora station, which could be the best station I have found yet. So just to pass on the favor here is their music video that they showed us. I'm becoming kind of obsessed with this song, Somebody that I used to know by Gotye.

You're welcome.

iPhone Photography

So I know that the pictures I post usually suck because, lets face it, I'm not a photographer. But For Christmas my husband got me something pretty awesome, lenses for my iphone. :)

Via photojojo.com

These were actually on my wish list on pinterest and my husband tracked them down and ordered them for me. Awesome. They are a lot cheaper than buying a new camera, and I don't want to waste money on another camera unless it is an awesome one. Here are a few of my pictures I thought turned out pretty cool.

Hand stamped candles, Macro lens

Husband's eye, Macro lens

Hand stamped candles I made for presents, Macro lens

Profile of my husbands eye, Macro lens

Name tag for my sister-in-law's present, Macro lens

Lemon sugar scrub I made for one of my presents, Wide angle lens

Sewing Machine Macro lens

Sister-in-law's present, Macro lens

These are all unedited, so I think they turned out pretty good, considering I'm not a photographer, and I was using my iphone. Obviously the Macro lens is my favorite, I will need to play around with them a little more and see what results I can get from my telephoto and wide angle lenses. Maybe now I can take some pictures that are actually decent to look at... We'll see.

Post-Christmas, Christmas present?

Oh man, I am so behind on blogs that I've wanted to write and haven't had the time or the energy to do so.  All I can say is, thank goodness Christmas is over. I loved it, but it was by far the most stressful Christmas I have ever experienced. I am still behind on a couple presents that I need to (re)make/fix.

I'm just going to post a short little blog today about these amazing boots that I can't get off my mind...

UGG Channing boot in chestnut

I want them! I've been looking for the perfect pair of riding style boots for a long time, and I think these are them. They are on sale from $295 for $199.90... not sure I can spend that much. My husband did say he was going to take me shopping for boots for Christmas (which he did and I couldn't find any pairs that I liked, thus why I am looking at boots I can't afford online right now). Early birthday/ late Christmas present maybe?

DIY Christmas update

My goal this year was to make almost everything and have everything wrapped early so I could have a cute pile of presents under my cute tree for awhile. It just feels like a waste to have something wrapped for a few hours before it is opened, but it looks like that is what it is coming down to. At least I can say I tried. I am still making a few presents, but for a lot of them I ran out of time and ended up going to the store the other night to buy presents for a couple of my nieces and nephews and some for our annual white elephant gift exchange my family does every year. If only I wasn't full time at work I would have been able to finish all of my presents and then some. Oh well, there is always next year! And now I know I need to start way earlier. It has actually been rather stressful trying to cram everything in to the few hours I have before or after work this week. I am definitely ready for it all to be over so I can enjoy relaxing without feeling guilty. Ok... 2 days left of working my butt off before, during, and after work.  I can do it. My presents may not look this cute, but at least they will be wrapped.

From For The Love Via Tanya on Pinterest