Blessing and a Curse...

First off, let me clear this up... I DO NOT HAVE EXTENSIONS!!! I have always had a love/hate relationship with my hair, because it's SO thick and naturally curly; well, naturally wavy since it's so long now. It's both a blessing and a curse, at the same time. Most people would "kill for my hair," I've been told, but, like they say... "the grass isn't always greener!" I would kill to be able to take a shower, dry my hair and it be naturally straight/fixed in 20 minutes max!!! If I had a $1 for every time I have said that exact statement throughout my life, I would be rich!

Curse-
-Very round face, so I couldn't ever cut my hair in a cute bob or shoulder length cut.
-Have to tease my crown and have hair outline my face, so it looks somewhat oval-shaped.
-The only hat I look normal in is the current Fedora I own, all the others just look weird with my face-shape.
-I go through shampoo SO quick; yeah, really, only a quarter size and lather...  try golf ball size or more.
-Just drying my hair takes up to 20 minutes, sometimes longer.
-Takes 45 minutes (if I'm hurrying) to an hour to just straighten it and/or curl it.
-I only fix my hair once/week, and that's for church or if I'm going out.
-I literally wear it in a pony tail daily to work. My co-workers would be shocked, if I ever wore my hair down, with it straight or curled. Ha!

Blessing-
-I don't have to wash my hair daily; it won't get oily for about 5 days, literally, so I'm good to go without washing my hair for about a week. It's greatness!!!
-I get alot of compliments.
-It teases easily, without a comb, because it's very coarse.

The cons still out-weight the pros, but at least God blessed with me with hair at all! :)

I might as well take advantage of my massive amounts of hair, and since I live in Texas...
the BIGGER the better!!! :)

This is what my hair looks like after I blow dry it; it's very frizzy. If I let it dry naturally, then it would be curly, but I comb it out as I dry it, so it will dry faster...

Spiral curls: I curl it with a curling iron; I don't clamp the curling iron on my hair, I hold it open, then I take a 1 1/2 inch barrel curling iron and wrap around 1-2 inches of hair for 10 seconds.

3 sections

You can unscrew the clamp off, but I haven't done that, yet.

45 minutes to an hour later... allll done! :)



Straight: I fully dry my hair, put my hair into 3 sections, then I set it to 340 degrees and straighten away... takes about 30-45 min to do this... I use the BabyLiss pro (the thick one.)

At the end, I take a 3 inch barrel curling iron and set it to a low temp (15) and curl the ends, because if I don't, they'll look stringy, like hay.

DONE!

High pony: I take about 3 or 4 sections starting at my crown, flip the hair over in front of my face, tease each section, then flip the hair back over, fix it/smooth it out, put it in a pony tail, smooth it again, then hairspray it. I usually put a stretchy head band over the front, too.

Fedora day: When I'm feeling lazy, which is all the time, I put my hair to the side in a rubberband and head out...

Britney Spears concert

 Out and about



Half up/half down: I tease the top just like I do with the high pony, but I clip or bobby pin half of it up.... Sometimes I'll leave the bottom half straight and sometimes I'll curl it; just depends on the outfit I'm wearing, usually...

Wedding day- 2008

 (And, yes, I did my own hair and makeup for my wedding; I don't trust anyone else...)

New Years Eve 2008

 A wedding in 2010 (I was preggers here.)

 My baby shower



This is the cheap hairspray I use; it works WONDERS; it literally freezes my hair in place. I've tried so many sprays, but this is my favorite!!! 

www.15dollarstore.com

A few years ago, can't remember how, but I came across this website... http://www.15dollarstore.com/. Literally everything is $15. You can sometimes find REALLY cute pieces here; I check their site once a week to see if they have recieved new shipments in. Today I happened to look on there and they have started selling items from Jessica Simpson's clothing line. I ordered this blazer today, which was originally $119.00, but they are selling it for $15... SCORE!!!! And it has the satin collar; it's GORGEOUS! Check out their site for some good finds...

Here are some other pieces I may order soon...

JESSICA SIMPSON Tweed Jacket $15, originally $139

JESSICA SIMPSON Knit Sweater $15, originally $89

JOU JOU $15, originally $46

 RAMPAGE $15, originally $44

 ROMEO & JULIET COUTURE Pleather Mini Skirt $15, originally $68

 RAMPAGE $15, originally $44

ROMEO & JULIET $15, originally $68

JESSICA SIMPSON Faux Fur $15, originally $110

JESSICA SIMPSON Lace & Corset Dress $15, originally $79

JESSICA SIMPSON Denim Jacket $15, originally $79

JESSICA SIMPSON Three-Quarter Sleeve Blazer $15, originally $119

Don't pass these great deals up!!!

Authentic or Faux?!

I was browsing online today, as I do every single day, and came across these gorgeous sunglasses from http://www.gojane.com/, which are ONLY $9.50. The stems are fabulous and classy!!! They also come in brown, white and black/black lenses; these are black/navy lenses. Aren't they FUN???

I started reading the comments and some women were saying they were identical to the Prada ones, which are $290 on http://www.sunglasshut.com/

Of course I would love to purchase the Prada ones, but I can't justify spending $290 on a pair of sunglasses that look IDENTICAL to ones that are only $9.50. The only difference in the PRADA ones is the logo on the stems, and, pricey sunglasses are better for your eyes, but I have my Ray Ban Aviators to sport if I'm going to be in the sun all day.

Needless to say, I ordered the cheaper ones today...

Which ones would you purchase?

Christmas 'CHODE' style...

Saturday was our 1st Annual CHODE Christmas; it was at Brandon and Erinn's home. First of all, "CHODE" was established on our river trip, Labor Day weekend in 2009; not really sure HOW that word all came about, but that's what we call our group of friends. We all may be 30 and over, but we will always be forever young, and that's why I love them. To describe this group of friends is best said with some of my favorite quotes...

We started off with a gift exchange, but, of course, my husband would pick the most inappropriate gift... sex toys. You can see everyone’s face in the background of how amused they all were. All the guys took this gift apart during the night, so it didn’t make it home with us. Ha!

Photo op; ladies in red...



Then all the couples took a photo with a gold frame, under the mistletoe...

Hosts

It was also Robyn's b'day; she came a few hours late, so Elgin got a cake for her; it was a carrot cake, which is her favorite. She walked in with the house all dark and a million people singing "Happy Birthday" to her.

7 hours later Nick and I headed home... It was a great night. Thank you to Erinn and BD for hosting a great party! Love you guys! Can't wait till next year...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

My Christmas list

I'm asked, "what do you want for Christmas," every year and I always say, "oh, nothing, really..." THEN that sparks my brain and I start thinking of a million little things I want; here are the main ones on my list this year...

Michael Kors leopard infinity scarf; $50

Black, high waisted skirt (or dress); i'll be wearing this as a dress, though... my mind goes nuts when thinking about how I can dress this up... cardigans, blazers, thick belts, leopard/black tights, ankle boots, knee-high boots, pumps, etc... American Apparel $34

Camera lens strap holder! I NEED this; I lose this dang thing ALL the time...

Lens cap holder $18

I have MOUNDS of clothes; our housekeeper got tired of hanging up all of my clothes on the floor, so she now started piling them in one of my laundry baskets. My closet it just too small, so I need one of these...

2-rod garment rack $25.97

Crock pot: I've been collecting a ton of recipes and i'm excited to have one; I believe my mom already bought it for me. Yay! I don't cook, and I heard crock pot recipes are super easy...

I asked my sister to get me this coffee pot for Christmas, because I literally have drank a Starbucks Doubleshot Espresso in a can EVERY single morning, for the past few yrs. It gets expensive; if you add it all up that's about $1,000/year or more on those puppies. No thanks, I think i'll give myself a $1,000 raise and STOP buying those and just use this... p.s. we had a Keurig, but didn't like it, so we gave it away...

This is the Dyson DC35 Digital Slim Multi Floor Vacuum. It's WIRELESS, how awesome is THAT?!?! I would totally vacuum if I had this...

This was also on my Christmas list, the Michael Kors MK3131 watch, but I bought it a cpl months ago, because it's discontinued, and I searched and searched for 2 days online and found ONE!!!!! The band is amazing; it's like a bracelet, too.

Nick is giving me money for this, btw, so it's actually from him!

 Merry Christmas to ME!!!!!! :)

This is the last item on my list; I'm not getting my hopes up, but you never know... It's the Louis Vuitton "Artsy" handbag from 2010's collection... I heart it!

What's on YOUR Christmas list this year?!