ready..set..BAM

Pa-DOW

2010-04-22T17:25:00.004-05:00

I actually really liked what I'm wearing today, so figured I'd share:

At first glance, it's a little too neutral and dull looking but then PA-DOW!

The blue pops near my face completely lit up my eyes. Yeah for that.

And I kinda love wearing this vest, although I never feel quite right when I wear it with anything other than off-white. If you're reading...got any other ideas?

-b-

Just don't feel it that way

2010-04-21T20:17:00.002-05:00

we just don't feel it that way.

That was my only line ever in a play. I don't even remember the name of the play, but can tell you that it had the exact amount of actors as my junior drama class. Why we couldn't split up and do two or three separate pieces will never be understood.

But yeah, I've felt tapped lately. I haven't felt inspired and then when I have a semi-clever idea - I just can't muster the energy.

I've even bought necklaces recently. For real. Things that i know I can make with my two hands.
purchased.

I'm trying to get back...anyone else have these moments (months?)
-b-

funny zoo doors

2010-04-04T10:38:00.004-05:00

I went to the zoo this weekend and wanted to share the hilarity of the bathroom stall doors.

Here is the front:

And once you get inside, the back of the door:

Very clever Houston Zoo.

-b-

Fakey McFakerson

2010-04-04T10:12:00.003-05:00

A girlfriend of mine recently had a birthday party where she asked everyone to wear black, white or red (don't get me started on bday party requests, or we'll never move on)....I obliged by wearing a black top, black capris, and self-made Louboutins...

Painting my $10 payless shoes

(I love that there is a creepy hand in the newspaper advertisement grabbing the heel...)

Afterwards

The shoes came out pretty well, but in an extra homemade move the paint was almost completely peeled off by the end of the night. ha! Good thing it was dark!

I think I will scrub it off to wear the shoes next time. The shoes were surprisingly comfortable for cheapO shoes.

Even better than the shoes was my cool necklace. I wish I could say that I made it, but I just bought this one (I suppose it's something I could make but I didn't have the time that afternoon)My cool necklace:

It's a little tough for me to pull off, since I think it requires the wearing of something low cut. But maybe next time I'll try it with the opposite and wear a full shirt/tank top with it. That might work too, huh?

-b-

so not cool

2010-03-23T21:46:00.006-05:00

**This post is brought to you by the letter W for whiny - consider yourself warned.**

You know whats not cool? People stealing wallets. Thats what.

I had mine nicked (niked?nicced?) a week ago while shopping at a garden store. There were only a couple people there, and I either dropped it and it was grabbed or they grabbed it out of my pocket.

The reason its not cool has nothing to do with the actual money (jokes on them, since I rarely have it), but the reason its not cool is because its a PAIN IN THE REAR!!!

I got to spend two hours at DPS one afternoon and by the way, those people look nuts in there. That's not very nice of me, but I swear that 75% of the people in that building looked straight up crazy (maybe they thought the same of me?)

Then I had to replace my cell phone (my wallet had a cool pocket for my phone)...and after rebuying something I already owned, I had to spend loads of time punching in numbers.

LG Phone...I'll admit that its pretty nifty.

Then I had to replace my cards...and bum money off my husband for almost a week. I guess I shouldn't complain too much about that since he was super cool about buying my replacement phone.

AND...I really liked that wallet! check it out in this photo:

I had bought it from Eleen on Etsy last summer. She doesn't have the etsy store right now b/c she opened a real life brick and mortar store. But trust me, it was rad!

Over the last week or so, I've been talking a lot with Bagel Creations on etsy about getting a similar wallet - the Possible Bag ...here is a photo of the wallet, but not in the fabric that I'm getting:

Bagel Creations already ordered and recieved the fabric I want and I'm pretty sure she's hard at work on the little wallet now. So, I guess everything will end up okay (the wallet thief didn't have enough time to use my cards or do anything other than turn the phone off). And I guess I'll find another Etsy store to love.

-b-

seriously?

2010-03-16T18:12:00.008-05:00

I get daily emails from 6pm.com about their deals of the day and while I normally peak and move along, today's caught my eye.

Trina Tarantino on sale. Never heard of her, but in case you haven't noticed - I'm kinda of a collector of the costume jewelry so a sale on accessories catches my eye.

Holy bejebus, the stuff on sale was pretty eh, but most noticeably pretty GD expensive. I consider myself an amateur beader, but really, I can do this.

Here are some examples:

Barbie heart bracelet for $56. There are some swarovski crystals and glass pearls, but $56 as a sale price seems excessive for something you could throw together from thrift store barbie bits.

Toyko Hardcore hoop earrings for $40. Not bad, actually I think they are pretty cute and might copy the design - but I'm not sure how they are $40. Maybe it's the crystal?

Buddha necklace was the most offensive to me. $112. I can make that for ya in about 30mins, and the only unique component I see is the buddha (hidden in this photo, but check it out on the link).

So, what am I missing? I can see that the pieces are creative, but I wouldn't say that it's anything above work being sold on Etsy. The materials are nice, but not spectacular.

I don't get it...cute, but too pricey!

-b-

clearly

2010-03-09T20:37:00.006-06:00

I was inspired by these....

From Bloomingdales

From Lord & Taylor

From Saks (which I'm having a hard time linking, but promise it's there)

and made this...

I thought the chickens added a nice touch, you?

-b-

Nekkid feet

2010-03-09T20:18:00.005-06:00

Another pair of shoes that I was super excited to find. :

From Banana Republic They had some goofy discount thing on Saturday, they handed you an envelope with a discount written on the inside. The discounts were supposed to be anything from 25 to 50% off. I surely didn't the 50% and will freely admit that even with a discount, they were still pretty pricey for me.

But, I've been looking for a while for a pair of nude pumps. I think they look super classy ... I wore them today with black pants, a light pink long sleeve, and a leopard print cardigan. I would've taken a photograph, but I didnt' think of it until now...when I'm wearing my jeans. opps.

-b-

PS: Am watching Harold & Maude for first time. It's pretty funny so far. I don't know what I expected, but it's one of those movies that people mention that I figured I should finally watch. I'm digging the batty old lady!

let me count the ways

2010-03-04T17:14:00.004-06:00

How much do I love these shoes?

Steve Madden Ingga

Let me count the ways....

1. You have a t-strap that I have been looking for! Yea for retro-styling.

2. Your t-strap also has sweet ribbon.

3. You are black and match everything!

4. Your heels is perfectly sized to be both feminine & practical

5. Your heel is just slightly unique, but not too weird for work

6. I paid less than $20, so you were reasonable (take that Macy's link above)

In short, I love these shoes

-b-

Internets whoppee do!

2010-03-02T21:25:00.006-06:00

Hey guess what?

I'm BAAAAAAAAAACKKKKKKKKK.

I got a killer little mini Dell, wireless connection, and even dragged out the sewing machine to make a fab computer case.

Seriously, I'm pretty proud that I made this without crumbling into tears or swearing like a sailor (there were some tense moments at the end though). I used quilting batting to pad the bag and I think it'll work, it's not exactly tough but it'll protect from scratches.

I even made a pouch for the cord - this was my first time trying a zipper and it presented a definate challenge to my very basic sewing skills. It took much more time than I think it would take anyone else, but eh, my husband was out of town and this was more fun than watching tv.

Here's what I'll look like if I cruise around town with my new stuff.

Now I'll be able to rejoin the conversation from almost anywhere! I can't wait to catch up with everyone!!!

-becca-

I did it!!

2010-01-22T17:40:00.003-06:00

I did it! I did the Houston Half-Marathon last weekend and didn't die!

I was soo soo soo nervous about it this year due to a severe training deficit. But I did it, had a blast, and even had a decent time.

We forgot the camera, but if you want to see a pic - click this link to brightroom. (I think I'm going to buy two of the photos, they are expensive, but how many times do you get photographs while running 13.1 miles??)

This was my second half and it made a difference knowing what to expect. Last year I was completely freaked out by the number of people running. It's overwhelming to go from running by yourself to being surrounded by tens of thousands. This year I was able to have fun being surrounded by everyone. And instead of running at others' pace, I held to my own this year.

I did the run in 2 hours and 24 minutes - only two minutes slower than last year! Not too shabby.

And I ran in the skirt

I guess I get to put my 13.1 bumper sticker on my car now, right?

Long time, no see

2010-01-21T11:33:00.002-06:00

Major Bummer. Fun times on the internets have been greatly restricted at my workplace recently. Since I don't have internet at home - that presents a problems for writing and keeping up with my pals.

I'm working to get a new laptop/mini/netbook so that I can have unrestricted online access. But for now, I'll be dashing in and out of the fun.

On the plus side, I finally cut my hair. I love it.

I ended up going back to a lady at Regis in the mall. I went to her for about 2 years, then basically didn’t cut my hair the next year. The last cut I got was with a “curl specialist” in October. While she was good and spent a lot of time with me, it’s just a little out of my budget. Miss Regis does a good job on my hair too – so why pay more elsewhere?

And I got a 20% off coupon in the mail for regis. Economics rules.

Hope all is well for everyone!

-b-

Whole lotta handmade

2010-01-14T16:42:00.003-06:00

I think I made this two weeks ago, and can't believe that I didn't post it right away since I was so excited about it: I made a necklace with beads that my aunt made for me.

The beads are awesome and each one is slightly different. They were tough for me to photograph, but they are a metallic gray with rainbow sheens of color.

My aunt does a lot of (usually) artsy fartsy stuff with clay/ceramics. She makes all kinds of pieces: vases, wall hangings, mugs, photograph frames, magnets, etc. I've been the benefactor of some of the creations, and while I love them, this is my favorite.

yippee for handmade!
-b-

No slouching missy!

2010-01-13T17:42:00.004-06:00

We were in San Antonio last weekend for a wedding and while looking at the photos realized that how you stand makes a HUGE difference in how things look. (reminds me of the post by Sal about Side Views)

Here I am at the Alamo standing straight

yeah for dorky tourists!

Me starring as Miss Slouch-a-Lot earlier in the evening. Ick.

Why did I hunch over? I looks awkward, like my head is not completely attached to my neck and pouches my tummy out.

Despite my slouching, this was a great outfit and I felt really confidently dressed in it. I took a couple photos when I was trying to decide what to wear (how very Cher of me), and this is a fuzzy pic of the dress so that you see how it fits. It is kind of a magical dress that fits me just right. Usually this style of dress does nothing for me except make me look like a rectangle, but this has stretch in just the right places and is cut just for me.

The outfit was made up of a bunch of steals over the course of a couple years:
Nine West Shoes from Ross/marshalls/something like that.
Black dress from Express (via thrifting a million years ago)
Black cashmere cardigan from Theory (via goodwill)
SPARKLY buttons: Thanks Joanne Fabrics!

Seriously, I think this cost me less than $30. Proof, you don’t need money to look classy – you just need to stand up straight!

-b-

Free music from nylon magazine

2010-01-08T12:33:00.002-06:00

Do you like music?

Do you like free things?

Then you'll probably like free music! Nylon magazine put together a winter playlist and all of the songs are free. Get the free songs

I'm listening to them right now and I dig it.

Idle hands

2010-01-06T17:16:00.004-06:00

Oh hoo..it’s about to get chilly in Houston and people are FREAKING out. For real, people have only talked today about the weather. I think we’re supposed to reach the 20s for a couple days. That’s the part that has everyone a twitter…several days of below freezing.

For those of you in a place that has an actual winter, this does seem genuinely un-fun. So many layers. So much closed-toe shoe wearing. So much hat-hair.

So, yeah, I prepped for it too. By picking up my crochet needle!

I haven’t done crochet in probably 3-4 years. I used to like it, but really only knew how to do two stitches and can only make scarves (or smallish blankets that are really just a big scarf). Plus the repetitive counting made me a little buggy….

Which is why it was perfect for a very frustrating Monday night and then a Tuesday watching football. Got my mind off things and I have something to show for my time.

I made a little neck warmer thingy…nothing big or fancy, but I was proud of my first jump back.

And now I have something cute to wear with all the COLD.

BTW Can I give myself a little love? Besides the lipstick I put on for the photo, I totally forgot to put on makeup today. And it looks pretty good. Not sure if I had a magical camera moment, but it looks okay, right?

Is this just what happens when you aren’t sweating most of the day?

The mystery of seasons!

-b-

1/2 Marathon Confirmation

2010-01-05T16:32:00.005-06:00

It's official. I'm running 13.1 miles on January 17th. I got my entry confirmation today along with my packet pickup information.

I'm so nervous, I had horrible dreams about it last weekend. Way too much anxiety about doing this. It's because I didn't train as much as I planned. Being sick for so long really took a toll.

Despite the dream and nervousness, I did jog 9 miles last weekend. It was my longest training run and probably my slowest. But I did it and didn't feel like total crude afterwards. That made me a little more hopeful (and ensured a much better night's sleep).

I was hoping to do another mid-length jog this week, but there is supposed to be an Arctic blast here (seriously, they are talking in the teens. That is REDUNKULOUS for Houston). And then we have a friend's wedding this weekend that will occupy a lot of time.

My 3-4 at the Y on the treadmill will have to suffice. I'm hoping to download some more music to my mp3 player in anticipation - any recommendations?

-b-

Voting help needed

2010-01-05T11:50:00.007-06:00

I have a couple of great girlfriends that are trying to MAKE IT as filmmakers in New York. They write, act, direct, edit, basically EVERYTHING. They're my pals Liz and Katie:

Here's Liz (http://www.lizleenyc.com/)

And Katie:

See? Don't they look lovey?

They've worked really hard to write a script and have entered it into the Ultimate Filmmaker Competition. This competition seeks to find unknown talented filmmakers and gives them a boost....the prize is a grant to make the movie they submitted and comes with all sorts of other great stuff that help make movies happen.

They've already made it past the first round, but now they need help. If you have a couple minutes, watch their Introduction Video and vote for Katie Carman!

{Argh...I don't know how to get their clip embedded in the blog, but click the link above and it'll take you right there}

If you have a couple more minutes, watch the second clip on the same webpage. It's from their first feature film Eat Me!

This is a film they put together with basically a volunteer staff and maybe some money they found under the couch. Seriously these woman are pretty clever with very little resources, winning the Ultimate Filmmaker Competition would be HUGE for them.

Voting ends Friday...so the sooner the better. Here's the link again.

http://www.ultimatefilmmakercompetition.com/contestant/katiecarman

Thanks!!

-b-

Resolutions recap

2010-01-04T16:50:00.003-06:00

New year resolutions. These are tricky every year. You always want to improve, be a better person and I’m no different. I want to be better. But how? What will I really change with each year? Last year I had three resolutions:

1. Take a self-defense course.

Did this one! In January no less. It was helpful in that it made me more aware of my surroundings and gave me some confidence that I could fend off an attacker.

This was our safety jump! We were ready to take on the world.

Which reminds me, this is probably something good to do each year.

2. Sign up for Spanish classes.

Um. Nope. Didn’t do this one. Lo siento. Looked it up, but never signed up. I took Spanish in highschool and really wanted to take a course so that I could talk to people when we travel. We’ve traveled somewhere Spanish-speaking three years in a row and each time I can kind of understand people, but when I attempt to respond – I butcher the language. So instead, I'm a lam-O and rely on my husband to talk to people and translate back & forth. Three years running.

3. Create an Etsy store.

I decided against this one about halfway through the year. I was all geared up about it, but I’m pretty attached to my stuff and I guess a giant wimp. I didn’t want to put my stuff out there and then people don’t buy it. Or don’t like it as much as I do. And the idea of making stuff without knowing the person seemed a little funny. When I’m making a necklace, I’m usually thinking of the person I’m making it for.

So this year. 2010. What will I work on, learn, or achieve? I need to think it over, maybe tomorrow I'll have some ideas.

Hoot Hoot

2009-12-31T10:28:00.005-06:00

Guess WHO was hanging out in my garage last night?

Give up?

This little Screech Owl.

It was nutty, I guess he flew in when I came home last night because about 5 mintues later I heard one of the cats meowing weirdly in the garage. When I checked it out, I saw him trying to avoid the cat.

It took forever to get him to leave the garage. I was by myself and one person isn’t enough to shoo an owl out. He flew and landed all over the garage, but refused to go out the open door.

I called neighbors, friends nearby, and then finally called a coworker that we’re friends with – at around 10:30pm. {I knew for a fact that he went out that night, so I was betting that he was still awake when I called.} Thankfully, he came over and with two of us armed with brooms we returned my little buddy to the great outdoors.

The entire time I kept wondering if owls were good or bad luck. The owl was kind of freaking me out because he just kept staring at me. At all times. Creepy.

People/cultures tend to have a view one way or the other. Some say that they are definitely bad luck, but some say they are definitely good luck. Check this out. My husband is from New Mexico and it's common to associate them with witches, that is what he told me while I'm home ALONE.

Hopefully this little dude was good luck*, because he got an eyeful of me and hung around for a while (owl fiasco ’09 took at least 2 hours).

Here’s to 2010!!

-b-

*I could take a Harry Potter stance and just think that he wanted to deliver some mail for me*

Colorful

2009-12-30T13:34:00.006-06:00

So, what'd you do for the holidays?

Instead of boozing it up with crazy relatives, we did some household work. The hubby and I FINALLY painted some of the rooms in our house and not only did it turn out great, but it was actually pretty fun.

We have wood floors and most of our furniture is wood, so we thought bright colors would lighten up the place. I think it worked!

I wanted to show you the little color chips, but darnnit the Behr webpage is frustrating me! The names were fun though: vintage orange, mellow yellow, and mojito. Sorry I can't show you the chips.

Entry Before:

Entry After:

Living Room Before:

Living Room After:

Dining Room Before:

Dining Room After:

So much more personality now!

-b-

Purty smell

2009-12-30T13:27:00.004-06:00

It's been a while, I've been busy, and well, just haven't got around to writing.

BUT

I smell purty! Santa and I exchanged perfume/cologne this year for Christmas.

Prada Amber

I've loved this perfume for a couple years, but never actually bought it. Now that I have it, I realize I was silly and should've just saved my money a couple years ago and bought it. It smells loverly!

-b-

Where I lack motivation & am whiny

2009-12-22T11:10:00.004-06:00

Remember when I mentioned the Houston ½ marathon . Yeah, well now it’s a month away and I gotta be honest – I am seriously lacking motivation. This fall I was pretty good about jogging or working out in some fashion, but December just doesn’t want to join the fun. Seriously, December has just been one month of me being a big ole sick lump.

I think my downfall came when we took a trip for Thanksgiving. We were out of town for a week and traveled to a place where jogging wasn’t really a possibility (really, it does exist). When I got back home I was off my schedule and had to force myself to return to the YMCA.

Then I got a sinus infection. That’s not fun while jogging or using gym equipment, so I took a break.

I ran a 10k with my sister after that cleared. Slowly, but I did it. If you click the photo you might see that my face is BRIGHT RED. During the run I swore that I’d jump back in. I should mention here that my sister kicked my butt (not that it was a competition, but still). She busted out a 8.5 minute mile. I was slugging along at 10.5min miles.

Then a day later I was crippled with a virus from my sister’s kids. I’m officially blaming my slow jog on the virus starting to form. Again, not fun while jogging or using gym equipment, so a break was in order.

Right now? The virus is still lingering and I seem to be having girly problems, and lastly, am so off a workout schedule that I just plain don’t want to. Three strikes.

I’m drawing from the reserves tonight after work and forcing a workout. I gotta get back into things.

A sweet girlfriend of mine sent me1/2 marathon-type gifts (a 13.1 bumper sticker and ID bracelet). I figure that I can’t put the sticker on my car unless I actually make it to January 17th!

Is that enough motivation? Not really.

Pride as motivation? More likely. I talked up this ½ marathon. I don’t want to struggle through it, and then have to tell people that I had a hard time and no fun. The point is to have fun and that requires training your body.

AND I have one of those cutesy jogging skirts that I can wear during the run - it’s not as cute if I’m struggling.

Pride. That'll do.

Imitation artist

2009-12-21T10:36:00.000-06:00

Check it out:
Ann Taylor Necklace that retails for $58
My version

Worse Photo, but Better Price (around $10 in supplies with leftover material)

woot woot

-b-

want to win?

2009-12-18T13:27:00.002-06:00

Speaking of winning on Daddy Likey's blog...check this out!

She's got prizes up the wazoo right now.

Word.
-b-

Dye Jeans Dye

2009-12-18T13:07:00.004-06:00

Remember when I won a pair of Antique Rivet jeans from DaddyLikey's giveaway!?

They arrived a couple of weeks ago, and while I was thrilled to receive them, they weren’t quite right. I loved the accents & pockets, but the coloring. OH!
I hate to say it, but the shading was no bueno. I don’t understand the whole white area in the middle of your thighs on jeans. I can’t believe that is flattering on anyone, even a tiny little tween would look not right in that coloring.

I figured they were free and mine so I get to do what I want. Time to dye! I dyed the jeans with a blue jean color. I was disappointed with the outcome though, because it produced tough-to-see results:

So I tried it again on my third day of being sick and home-ridden. This time I used a black dye.
I think this solved my problem! You can still see that the thighs are a little lighter, but it’s much better and I think wearable now.

Of course now the jeans have been washed and dried twice, so yeah, they are a little tighter. If I get out of the house this weekend, I may wear them just to stretch them back to normal.

later

-b-

sick

2009-12-17T16:38:00.001-06:00

*sniffle, sniffle*

*cough* *cough*

Been sick and therefore, MIA.

Promise to return soon. Probably with another neclace or three.
-b-

Recent Necklaces

2009-12-09T17:08:00.005-06:00

I mentioned yesterday that I’ve been making more ribbon necklaces…

This one is for my mom as part of her Christmas gift. I used the black ricrac that I used before with some more big plastic beads. I love it with the black & blue!

This one is for my sister. She usually dresses pretty preppy and if she could, I’m sure would spring for Lily Pulitzer. This pink & green together remind me of that style:

This is one I made just for me! Hehe..

NO ribbons, just attached a bunch of things together. I love it and want to make another like this! I’m keeping my eyes open for the cheapy rhinestone necklaces at stores. It really works in this combination and has just enough sparkle to dress up an outfit.

I don’t think I’ll have time this week, but next week, I’m hoping to make some in the vein of Ann Taylor like these:
Click here for link

Link

LInk

That's a lot of necklaces for one day, but there really are a lot of fun ideas floating in my head right now....I look forward to some time to create.

-b-

Beautiful Blogger Award...thanks!

2009-12-08T16:40:00.008-06:00

Ah...geez..thanks! Hillary from byhillary passed a Beautiful Blogger award to me.

But first, rules darling, there must be rules:

Thank the person who nominated me for this award. DONE!
Copy the award & place it on my blog. DONE!
Link to the person who nominated me for this award. DONE!
Tell us 7 interesting things about yourself. BELOW
Nominate 7 bloggers. BELOW
Post links to the 7 blogs I nominate. BELOW

Seven Interesting things about me:

1) Scrappy Doo is one of my favorite characters of all time. It’s all about the PUPPY POWER. Wikipedia just informed me that his middle name was Cornelius, really? Did anyone else know this?

2) I changed the arrangement of my office furniture today and its totally FREAKIN me out. I thought I’d like it better this way because now the a/c doesn’t blow on me, but dude, everything is opposite and no es bueno.

3)I like to ride my scooter, but am a super wimpy moto rider since I won’t ride if it’s too hot or too cold. Too cold today.

4) AM GOING TO THE WORLD CUP next year. Whoot!

5) Have a poster of titled “The Marsh Community” and have identified the animals with little post-its.

6) Can't stop making necklaces with ribbons. I've made 4 at this point and bought some more supplies yesterday. A trip to the mall confirmed that this is a good thing ... Ann Taylor was heavy on the ribbon&big pearl combo. I also saw it at dept stores and jcrew. Why spend $60 if I can make it for $10?

7) Favorite show right now is Office. LOVE it and get to watch it on the cool new machines at my YMCA. Seriously, it’s awesome, they got new elliptical machines with personal tvs attached. It is basically my only motivation at this point. I read magazines during the commercials too. It’s multi-tasking, right?

Now for Nominations:

Chelsea from Bright Side Dweller.

Danielle from Fell for Fashion

Kelly from Proficiscamur

Erin from Work with What You've Got

Sarah Von at Yes and Yes

PS: Sarah is selling some super fun calendars on her site. I bought two for Christmas presents and can't wait to give them!

Mary at Fit this, Girl!

Lola from Lolalooks

There a couple other folks I can think of to pass this along to...but guess I'm limited to 7 this time. If you don't know thier pages, check them out!
-b-

Snowing in houston

2009-12-04T15:09:00.006-06:00

It happened. Snow. In houston. This is two years in a row, pretty crazy! It's actually the most I've ever seen it snow, but remember this is also the 6th time I've ever seen it snow. Really this could be a perfectly normal amount of snow - I don't have much to compare it to.

Can I just add here that this is probably one of the top two coats I own? You can't see the whole thing, but I promise that it's awesome. And it was $8 at goodwill. It's calf length, wool, has nice&roomy pockets, and since it's black & white herringbone it matches 90% of all outfits I will wear in the winter. LOVE IT.

So far, more than half of my building has left for the day b/c of the fear of driving with snow. I'm the first to admit that I'm a little scared to drive home tonight and I only live 3 miles away. I had my hubby pick me up for lunch today b/c I was worried about being that person on the roadways.

Speaking of, we never have lunch together. Today was a big day: draw for World Cup! We went to watch at a wings restaurant for a party being sponsored by the local MLS team: free food & drink is what I'm talking 'bout. I was pretty excited about the FREE and I won a Houston Dynamo jersey. Sweet.

haha, I got an autograph & photo with one of the Dynamo players (Dominic Oduro). I should not have done it, but it looks like I scrunched down a little for the photograph. I had heels on and I guess didn't notice. I forget how small soccer players are, they are like little, sleek, bundles of running!

Today has been a super fab day for me and I hope you're having a good one too!

-b-

70s coed style + snow

2009-12-03T12:57:00.008-06:00

I found this dress a couple of weeks ago (thrifted Ann Taylor)... i love that it makes me think of 70s coed away at college. I just wish there were some fallen leaves or autumnal trees I could have posed by!

I also wish I didn't stand that way: slightly turned with my arm so close to my body ...it all blends into one with the pattern and I look kinda wider than I prefer :)

If you click the photos, you can see closeups of the pattern and my sweet earrings from Erin. Check them out more in this or this post.

Here is what I wore to/from heated places. It was actually pretty chilly for me yesterday and my sweater was not enough for the actual temperatures. I know I shouldn't complain, but guess what - Houston is predicted to get snow tomorrow.

It snowed last year and was a BIG deal for us. It was only one night, so a pal and I raced downtown and went ice-skating in the park*. I've never skated in the snow before, it was really neat and I had a ridiculous amount of fun that night.

To top it off, I was on the nightly news that night starring as a giant dork. I seriously sounded like such a cornball, but I suppose it was the novelty of the whole evening. But my hat looked cute, right? I bought it from Bondagetea's etsy site last year. She has more too, check them out.

You know, that was only my fifth time to see it snow.

I've seen it snow twice in Houston, once in Orlando, once in New Mexico, and once in Colorado. Tomorrow could be big number 6! whoppee-do!

-b-

*The skate rink is obviously temperature controlled, that would never actually occur down here.

Deep thoughts...

2009-12-01T14:12:00.004-06:00

Under the category of Deep Thoughts, I offer this: am considering cutting my hair again. Yea, pretty non-essential stuff in my brain at this moment. I blame working in GIS on this brain stunting.

Here's a pic from 08:

And as a refresher, me after last haircut in October:

I think I'll head back to sholder length territory in the New Year. It looks a lot fuller and I'm feeling less bouncy at this length.

-b-

Rent the Runway

2009-11-30T13:55:00.006-06:00

We have a wedding to attend after the new year and it's for one of my husband's college friends I've met her and she is honestly wonderful and super nice and I feel relaxed around her - but they went to a fancy private college (read: expensive) and I want to make sure that I feel comfortable by looking super-deduper fab. I feel out of place really quickly if I think that I look like the kid from the wrong side of the tracks.

So, after reading about it on Glamour magazine's webpage, I'm wondering if anyone has tried this out: http://www.renttherunway.com/?

I signed up and am cruising the website. It's not super cheap by any means, but it seems like a great idea if you have an EVENT and need a special dress.

You basically rent a fancy-pants dress that you'd probably never buy. It's a little wierd to think about renting a dress, but at the same time they have swanky brands that I can't imagine actually purchasing for one time wear. I'm thinking about trying it out, but am gun-shy.

I went through the website and two dresses got my eyes:

This is a Diane Fursteberg (sp?) that rents for $75

And this one, from Pencey also for $75

What is neat is that they let you pick out two sizes and then, if you want, you can get a "back-up" dress for $25 extra. So, I tested it out and picked the two above. To ship to Houston and rent both dresses with two sizes each for 8 days, it would cost me $150.

Okay, again, not cheap. But not totally ridiculous either.

It's an idea right now. I'm going to scour the resale shops before ordering, b/c I could also find the perfect dress for $15...

Keep your fingers crossed!

-b-

Purse and a minor rant

2009-11-24T13:49:00.000-06:00

Figured I’d show you my new purse. Its Nine West, via Marshalls. I’ve actually had it a couple months, but never got around to switching purses (I usually stick to one main purse at a time). I made the transfer before heading to LA, and really like this purse. It hold a fair amount of stuff and looks sharp.

And now time for a rant about feeling disconnected:

Not sure if this is happening to anyone else, but despite all the phone/email/text/facebook connections, I feel completly disconnected and quite frankly a little hurt sometimes.

Today I found out that an old friend of mine is pregnant. On facebook. Understandably, we’ve grown apart some in the last couple of years: she lives in Miami – I live in Houston. But we were great friends throughout high school and college. She is the person that moved me out to Texas. And I find out that she is pregnant on facebook?

It wouldn't hurt if it was just her, but this is the third person that this has happened with. Either I’m a much worse friend than I thought with keeping in touch, or people just don’t feel like sharing this information in a personal way. I don’t know, but it actually kind of hurts my feelings. I mean, that is BIG BIG news, right?

I felt unimportant finding out through ominous comments by family members on facebook pages.

Maybe I’m placing too much importance on them telling me? I mean, I’m not the person that is pregnant, so obviously they have a lot on thier minds and telling me isn't top priority. I get that. But, I don’t know, it feels not-good.

Thought I’d throw that out there..I’m having a moment.

Lucky for me – I’ll be on vacation in a couple hours and this moment should be swept away very soon. Hope to rejoin with a renewed sense of "ahhhhhhhh"

Have a great thanksgiving...

-b-

Ribbon Necklace: Round Two

2009-11-23T13:45:00.002-06:00

Another ribbon necklace:

My favorite part is the hidden clasp. I'm wearing the necklace today and with the bow tied in the back, you can't see the clasp. yea!

I LOVE it and while purchasing the supplies got to hear some awesome employee bickering at Joanne’s. It was pretty funny, I guess one employees kids were pranking the store phone every 3 minutes and the other employee was flipping out…I’m not sure how long it’d been going on, but he was getting pretty amped up about the whole thing. They were arguing at the registers and in the small store, you could hear everything. I bet those kids got in a heap of trouble that night!

-b-

ribbon + bead = new necklace!

2009-11-20T13:06:00.004-06:00

I’m starting to really like all the different ribbon-y necklaces and bracelets that I’m seeing in stores and magazines. After going through a Harpers Bazaar at the YMCA this week, I decided to try making my own.

This is my first stab:

This black ricrac ribbon was purchased with the intent of decorating Halloween pumpkins, but never got used. I think it worked pretty well with the white plastic beads. I bought those a while ago, but couldn’t think of what to do with them without them looking cheap.

I basically sewed the beads to the ribbon and added a chain – not too hard at all! The only difficult part was sewing the bead in at a good point, if it was too tight or too loose, then the ribbon didn’t lay right across the bead and that is what I was going for with the ricrac.

I didn't follow any instructions to this, but if you're a visual person - I stumbled accross a blog with instructions - Samster Mommy. She has some instructions here for a similar necklace.

Check out this beaded necklace (also with instructions).

Now you know what to do with that ribbon! Get to it!

-b-

Kiddo

2009-11-19T12:59:00.005-06:00

For Hillary

Here is me as a kiddo (5th grade). Can you pick me out?

I remember being really excited to be on a SPORTS team. The 5th graders were still in the Elementary School, so the only organized sports team they had for the girls was basketball. I also got to start playing on a soccer team that year, but it was with the city.

Once I was officially in middle school (6-8th grades), they had the more sports and I played everyone they offered as a team - volleyball, basketball, soccer, and track. I did it all three years of middle school and LOVED it.

I remember getting an All-Sports Trophy in 8th grade and feeling really proud of myself.

-b-

getting around

2009-11-17T13:09:00.009-06:00

It seems like I've traveled a lot in the last year and I know that next year I'll get to travel more. We've been really fortunate lately and are taking advantage of the opportunities to see new places. I've gotten pretty good at packing, but still am not great. Here are some items on my travel wish list:

Sweater, not too heavy, not too light

Navajo sweater from Gap $59.50, but there are 25% codes floating around the internets.

Or this convertible shawl/scarf/cardigan/etc. :

From Boopie Creations Shop on Etsy for $60

Comfy pants: Hmmm, nothing has piqued my interest in this category. Something with a little stretch, but not full on stretchy pants.

Comfy walking shoes that aren't sneakers:$19.99 at Lands End

Cross body purse:

These are pretty awesome, custom made bags on Borsabella's shop in Etsy for $38.00.
I haven't bought from this shop, but I like the idea of picking out my fabric for a bag.

Anyone want to share thier wish list or essential travel items?

-b-

We've got spirit, yes we do!

2009-11-16T12:04:00.007-06:00

The weekend started as an extreme version of Team Spirit.

We flew to LA for the Dynamo vs. Galaxy game (it was semifinals people) on Friday night. Here If you stayed up late to watch, you would've seen me on TV! There was a section of just Dynamo people and there weren't too many of us, so I guess we ended up on TV at one point.

I was oranged-out to the maximum, check it out!

Here is an obligatory shot of Beckham. He is a handsome man, but sheesh, that hair! It's awful.

We ended up losing the game, so that was a real let-down after traveling all the way to LA, but we still had a fantastic weekend. It was our anniversary weeked (today is two years!!).

The weather in LA was fantastic and we took the opportunity to walk EVERYWHERE. We walked Redondo Beach:

We walked around the Tar Pits:

We walked around Santa Monica:

And then on Sunday morning, we walked a little more. This is me after jogging up an incline, if you look closely you might see my heart pounding.

For all that walking, not one celebrity was spotted. TMZ has officially led me to believe that there is an actor or actress on every corner, at each restaurant, and all shopping centers. But, nope. Not so.

I learned two interesting things about dress in LA: they really really really like Uggs & tights/spandex pants. Seriously. There was an obscene amount of Uggs wearing. And the tights? I'm not talking about tights under a dress, I mean like a normal stops-at-the-waist shirt and then tights/spandex pants.

I don't think I'll be following the LA trends as they were presented. I like warm feet and I stretchy pants are comfy, but um, nope. not for me.

later

-b-

Outfit post

2009-11-13T10:06:00.002-06:00

I really liked my outfit yesterday and wanted to share:

It's a light blue dress that matched with a yellow cardigan. The photos* don't really do the outfit justice, it was super comfortable and also pretty darn cute!

My favorite part:
Red Shoes & Red nails

I didn't plan on the matching but it worked out perfectly. BTW, I love this polish, the color is golden wine. It's sparkly withough being gaudy.

Later

-b-

* I haven't replaced my camera yet, but its on the way out. I'm pretty lucky if i can get the timer to work, so I'm stuck with whatever photograph it happens to take for right now*

As seen in Houston

2009-11-12T12:53:00.003-06:00

This post is for my Dallas bloggy pals. We saw this shirt last weekend at the Dynamo soccer game.

Those of you outside Texas may not know about the (absolutely ridiculous) rivalry between Houston and pretty much every other city. Since I'm not Houston-born I don't really get it, but am amused.

In regards to Austin: They have a city slogon that you see all over when visiting "keep austin wierd"

Houston's response (as seen on at least one bumper sticker ): "keep austin 170 miles from Houston" Ouch!

Why the aggression Houston? Are we going to threaten to secede from the state that threatened to secede from the Union?

-b-

More shells

2009-11-10T18:38:00.001-06:00

Check it out - more non-nautical shell necklaces:

There will be earrings, oh yes, there will!

-b-

Pink lemonade at the office

2009-11-10T11:29:00.005-06:00

I've started taking a real shine to yellows and light greens lately. Today I wore a yellowy-green long sleeves with light pink pants with pink ballet-like flats and feel like a real life glass of pink lemonade*. Drink me up!

My attempt at showing you my ballet shoes in action. The chair was too squishy though!

Here are the shoes:

*Random word question: Can I say that I anthropomorphasized pink lemonade there? When I use the word, I'm usually giving an human-like characteristics to an animal. Mostly I like that word and want to know that is indeed okay to say that I made a beverage human-like*

-b-

Video

2009-11-09T12:45:00.001-06:00

I did a video a while back (last week?) It's not totally me, I look really nervous and fidgety (and am blinking like a kook) - but I was hoping to give you a clue.

The real problem: Lighting.

I was able to watch on my camera with no problems, on blogger it looks like I like in a cave. So, I don't know what to say. You want to hear my voice, then click below. Otherwise, it's pretty pass-up-able.

Glad to present you with such quality work today! So yea. That was me. Sorta. I guess.

WORST.POST.EVER!

-b-

While not running

2009-11-09T11:55:00.005-06:00

As I've said before, I'm offiically in my training period for the 1/2 marathon in January. October was 'eh', I did pretty well with keeping up - except that my foot hurt for a while and I didn't want to aggrevate it and work out. Turns out that I just needed a new pair of shoes. hmm. go figure. To make myself accountable, here is what October looked like:

The check marks are days that I accomplished my set goal, the red lines are days I missed. This weekend I skipped out on my long run (supposed to be 6 miles) and had fun with other things:

I had beer with pals on Friday night. It's been so nice out lately that celebratory beers to the weather have been plenty the last couple weeks. yea for fall!

On Saturday, Mr. Moto and I woke up earlyish and did yard work. No photo of me doing yard work, but here's a photograph of a fat ole monarch caterpiller munching on the aptly named Butterfly weed:

Since we finished the yard work quickly, we went and had some fun in the afternoon. We played like tourists and went to the San Jacinto Monument. I had been before, but the elevator to the top was in repair at the time and my husband has never been.

Its frickin hugely tall and proudly touts itself as larger than the Washington Monument. So very Texan of it!

Here is my view from the top: HELLO HOUSTON!!!!

We were extra touristy and had dinner in Kemah after riding the Boardwalk Bullet:

Its a wooden coaster and was AWESOME to ride. I think we both forgot how much fun a roller coaster is, and this one was even better with the slightly wobbly wood. Super fun.

Sunday was soccer, soccer, soccer! It started with a personal game at nine (we stunk, lost, and I was bummed). But then we went to watch the Dynamo during thier semifinals game...and we won 1-0 in overtime. It was exhausting to watch with all the anticipation.

After watching that game, we followed it up by eating seafood and watching LA Chivas take on LA Galaxy. Mr. Beckham's team won 1-0...again, a lot of anticipation in this game.

Then it was all over and we were pooped.

Hope you all had great weekends!

-b-

Holy Moley - Free Jeans!

2009-11-03T11:47:00.000-06:00

Oh Snap!

Awesome day. Work stinks today, but I'm getting a free pair of jeans. I won a pair of the Antique Rivet jeans from DaddyLikey's giveaway!

Yippee! Thanks Winona!

Check out the jeans here:

I'm not going to lie, I'm super excited. I don't have any jeans embellished like this, and they look like a TON of fun to wear.

-b-

Put a Ring on It

2009-11-01T18:08:00.004-06:00

My halloween costume came out super this year! I was Beyonce in the Put a Ring on It Video.

It was cheap and looked cute & timely. Using the restroom was a PAIN, I stuffed my butt and hips, so between a belt, leotard, stuffing, crazy sucker-inner tights, and a glove - it was a 20 min affair!

I ended up making the metal glove out of aluminum foil in the end, the other ways I tried looked too much like Michael Jackson gloves. Here is a look.
I was also really proud of my hair and makeup! I straightened it and then used a bumpit to get that pouf she had in the video. For the makeup I used a TON of mascara and loads of black & silver eyeshadow. It was hard to get off at the end of the night, but worth it!

Hope you all had a great halloween too!
-b-

Halloween at the Office

2009-10-29T09:26:00.002-05:00

Normal at work:

Halloween at work:

(PS: I'm Cleopatra)

*edited to add a full body shot*

Fingers crossed that I win the costume contest! I have stiff competition, check out the transformer!

-b-

Mineral lipstick?!?!!

2009-10-27T12:44:00.004-05:00

What's up with mineral makeup? I have a great color that feels super nice on my lips from avon, and it fades in approximately 5 minutes! I was going to give you a time lapsed progression of its fading, but that seems excessive - here's stock photo from Avon.

I have it in Crystal Coral.

What gives? is there some kind of trick to this stuff? Do I have to wear liner? ugh, that officially makes it high maintenance and defeats the purpose of me keeping this as my official desk lipstick. I have a full set of makeup at my desk made up of samples from all over for occasions when I'm running late/looking fug/was in the field and now back at my desk/etc. Lipsticks are my only full size item in the desk makeup kit.

This one is posing a problem to my little system.

-b-

PS: Bought some cheapO gloves last night at walmart and spray painted them silver in preparation for a Beyonce-ish glove. I painted both thinking that I'll try two different ideas.

darn

2009-10-26T17:32:00.002-05:00

Wanted to do an outfit post today, but camera isn't allowing the use of the timer! darn darn darn.

Tomorrow is another day...I'll try somethign different
-b-

Weekend plans

2009-10-23T10:59:00.007-05:00

It's beautiful in Houston right now. Which is awesome, but also means that I have to do housework this weekend. There are so many house-tasks that just plain can't be done during most times because it's too damn hot in Houston. No excuse this weekend - it's freakin' lovely.

Not sure what I'll tackle this weekend. Do you remember my window bars? I'm thinking that I'll finally strip the rusted paint and start to repaint. I bought the supplies in the spring but never did it. They are a little tacky to start with, and look much worse with rusted paint. Not sure how I can make this not mind-numbing....radio for sure.

I also have a halloween-related craft that I'd like to make this weekend, but I haven't figured out the best way to do it. The challenge: recreate Beyonce's crazy metal glove.....

source: people magazine

Source

Any ideas?

-b-

Craft time

2009-10-22T08:00:00.000-05:00

I went on a huge crafting spree a week or so ago and never got around to posting. I made so many fun little things…with Halloween coming up, there were a lot of skulls.

These are earrings I made for each of the girls that came to my pumpkin carving night.

I have extras …want a pair? Shoot me an email at ramurray{at}hotmail.com with your address.

I made these for myself (hey I already have a pair of the skull only). I made a big circle using wire, then went back over it with a thinner wire and smaller beads. They are pretty fun earrings (clickable for closeup).
I also made these skull earrings. The skulls are carved wooden beads.

A NON-Skull item is this beautiful pearl necklace.

I loved the color of these, not too light and not too dark purple. I made this for a girlfriend that just announced her pregnancy. It’s too early to know if she’s having a girl or boy, so I thought I would give her something just for her as a mom. Moms deserve to look pretty and I thought the purple would compliment her skin.

Before my trip to Florida, I made one of these necklaces for each girl. You may recall this necklace is hanging from my dining room light!

The beads around the light were originally in 5 strands (one for each girl) when I decided that they would look good combined and hung from the light.

I came back a week later and made 5 new necklaces. I love these glass beads. They were super inexpensive from Joannes (I think $5 for a one POUND bag and then it was buy 1 get 1 or something like that). They make great necklaces b/c no two beads are the same and at least one bead in the necklace will pick up colors from your outfit. No brainer jewelry!

Remember to let me know about the skull earrings. I don't know how many pairs I had leftover or what colors, but I'll send what I have.

-b-

Pumpkin carving

2009-10-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

I think I’ve said it before, but I’m really thankful that in the last year I’ve met an awesome bunch of girls. One example of their awesome-ness is the monthly Ladies Night In. This month was my turn to host and the theme was PUMPKIN CARVING.

I don’t know what is more fun than eating with friends, drinking wine and getting stabby with a pumpkin.

My pumpkin was a stunning white number (rare for TX, guess I didn't go local in this purchase):

*tough to see in the dark against a purple shirt, but I'm wearing my shell necklace. You can see it better if you click to enlarge*

I don't know why, but I was genuinely surprised that it was orange inside. I've never seen a white pumpkin, let alone carved one.

This is a group shot from the night. I was impressed with the variety and knife wielding skills.

What will your pumpkin look like?

Are you a tracer or do you freehand? I have a tough time carving designs that I think up, so I usually stick to a modified tracing.

-b-

Non-nautical shells

2009-10-20T14:57:00.003-05:00

After reading a post by Punkystyle, I was inspired to make my own Alex & Chloe style necklace.

Here is mine from afar:
And Close up

I love it. It looks a little dark, but still comes across as an organic piece of jewelry. While in St. Pete, I picked up a lot of little shells and will probably make a couple more necklaces. Or maybe earrings?

I think I will try other colors with the next ones. Right now I’m thinking of hot pink and gray with glitter!

-b-

Haircut

2009-10-14T11:55:00.006-05:00

I finally went in for a haircut and am really happy with the results. Here is a before:

And an after:

Not a huge difference, but it subtly revived my curls. I went to a ‘curl specialist’ this time, her name is Gerri and she works at Blue Mambo Salon in Houston. I learned all sorts of curly hair tips, such as:

I don’t have curly hair, I have wavy hair

Don’t brush and don’t comb, use my fingers for less breakage

It’s fine to condition, but stop shampooing too much. Limit it to once a week so that hair isn’t dried out. When shampooing, use one without sulfides because you don't want all that bubbling (Suave naturals fits this, hello cheap!).

Keep plunking. It works.

I've been using Jessicurl's Confident Coils which has been helpfult and is good, but is supposed to be better when used with Rocking Ringlets

Not familiar with Plunking? Check it out here. At first it’s really funny to walk around the house with your hair tied up in a funny towel (I use flour sack fabric, but others use microfiber).

Here is me with my super cool drying flour sack thing (this is what I use instead of a microfiber towel):

Gotta go with what works!

-b-

Studly Shoes

2009-10-13T11:26:00.004-05:00

I’m back! I was in Florida for the past couple of days seeing my girlfriends and also getting some fantastic family time with my sister and her family. We were on the west coast, mostly hanging out in the St. Pete area.

I got to visit the Lawry Park zoo with my niece and nephews, dance my butt off with the girls, and even relaxed on the beach. It was pretty great, I’m not going to lie!

St. Pete beach was nice and quiet on Sunday.

Hanging out with my nephew at the lake (my niece took this photo).

Goat feeding at the Zoo.

Before leaving Houston, I’ll admit to coping Kasmira’s star design, and bedazzled a pair of shoes to match my purse. It turned out great. I wore them this past wkd and got a lot of compliments with both the purse and shoes.

I think I’ve done my part to positively spread the word about bedazzling. I think my work is done!

-b-

stud muffin

2009-10-07T12:16:00.004-05:00

I whipped out my gemagic last night and made a boring little black purse pretty rad:

The photographs STINK, but you should be able to tell that it's a combination of silver and gold studs. It came out pretty cute, I'm going to use it this weekend when I go out with girlfriends.

Total cost

Purse: $1.99 at goodwill

Gemagic set: $2.00 (although, this price is a little incorrect b/c I didn't use up the set - i can use it a million more times!)

Studs: $1.00 (came from a set of 200 bedazzler studs that were $5.99, but I obviously didn't use the entire package)

TOTAL = Less than 5 bucks!

Jewelry as Statements

2009-10-06T14:31:00.007-05:00

Have you seen the book about Madeleine Albright's jewelry? Shiny Little Things brought it to my attention. It's about how she selected certain pieces of jewelry (in this case pins) to set a mood or describe her own feelings .

You can read a review and see some of the pins on NPR

I think that is a really interesting idea. I think most of us try to portray a certain image when we select our clothing and accessories, but do we ever convey what's really going on inside our minds?

hmm...

Wedding rings are easy. I'm taken.

I wear an Aggie Ring which is kinda big in Texas. It's a big, rather offensively large gold ring - but it tells the world that I attended Texas A&M. I didn't go to TAMU until graduate school, so I'm afraid that I missed out on a lot of their traditions (there are a ridiculous amount of them), but it was special for me to get the ring b/c my Grandfather went to A&M and wore his ring proudly for almost 50 years. For me it's a connection to him. I went to A&M after he passed, but I think he would've been proud of me.

The rings are good symbols, but don't really describe how I'm feeling ...

Today I feel a little lonely (my husband is working out of town and even though he drives me nuts, I miss him), but I'm also getting excited because I get to see both my sister and my high school girlfriends this weekend. I'm not sure what would illustrate this mood.

Maybe a watch brooch because I feel like I'm waiting a little? Waiting for a good time and getting antsy.

-b-

Today seems a little flat for me, I'd say that today is a

Outfit post

2009-10-06T12:26:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I wore more Old Navy clearance. I haven’t liked their stuff for a long time so I was pretty surprised when I stopped for basics and found this dress. On sale.

I think it’s pretty flattering and easy to wear. There is a keyhole at the top, but I didn’t like it tied up. It’s a little too low when open without a tank though!

I think it’ll be great for fall & winter – all I need to do is add tights and wear over a turtleneck. That seems easy enough.

It’s tough to see in the photograph, but I do have a belt around my waist. I found this one at TJ Maxx and it’s perfect for wearing this way. It’s all connected, so when I tighten or loosen it there aren’t any loose ends. That’s my main complaint with the whole belted waist thing. I can’t figure out what people do with the part of the belt that sticks out.

What do you do with the loose ends of the belt?

Shark tooth necklace

2009-10-05T11:20:00.007-05:00

I’m wearing my heart/shark tooth necklace that I made. I think the center bead is supposed to be a heart, but it reminded me of collected shark teeth at the springs as a kid.

Photo from Travelpod

We used to love going to the springs as kids. It was seriously the best.thing.ever. The water was super cold but it was so hot outside. Sometimes we tubed Rock Springs, sometimes we canoed or swam at Wekiva Springs. If we were swimming around, we’d root around the bottom to find shark teeth. We always took them home and tried to do something with them. Wekiva Springs, from http://floridanature.wordpress.com/2008/03/10/so-you-want-to-be-a-nature-writer/

Rock Springs, from Orange County webpage

People, I'm telling you that these photographs weren't doctored. That is how these places look. Lush, green, and just bursting with beauty!

There were always lots of baby red-eared slider turtles swimming around the edges of the water near the plants. This is kinda bad, but we would take a couple home at the beginning of the summer and keep them in an aquarium and then return them to the springs at the end of the summer when they were a little bigger. I remember a girlfriend in high school thinking that it was pretty odd, but it was a pretty normal summer thing for us.

If you were canoeing you were guaranteed to see an alligator or two or three (eep). About ten years ago, I saw a HUGE one chillaxing in someone’s yard that backed up to the springs. Dude slide into the water right before we were set to go by. Scared the bejesus out of me.

Picnics and/or grilling were required pieces of the summer springs puzzle. We used to get so tired swimming or canoeing around. I remember sitting at picnic benches and on blankets being pooped out and eating sandwiches from our cooler.

My mom recently went to Rock Springs with my sister and her family and I can’t tell you all how jealous I was when I saw the photographs. My 7 year old nephew was floating down and I remember being that kid!

So – that makes this my shark tooth necklace.

-b-

PS: Now have an intense sense of urgency that to purchase photographs of Wekiva & Rock Springs.

Team Spirit

2009-10-04T17:34:00.005-05:00

My husband and I have been following the Houston Dynamo for the last couple of years and finally got season tickets for the 2009 season. We've loved it and actually just renewed our season passes for next year. Today was an important game with a sweet giveaway (scarf!) and so I trudged out ... even though I was going alone...hubby is traveling for work.

What's a girl to do? Take a photo before heading out!

Here is what I wore to Today's game:

It was raining for the last day and I went in full rain gear. Which worked out well, until the rain let up. Then I was a super sweaty hot mess...holy moley it was muggy today. I got the giveaway scarf, but don't think I'll be wearing it anytime soon.

Here's a close up of my earrings:

They are painted bottle caps & glitter! haha, they move around a ton when I'm cheering.

We didn't WIN win today, but we tied and that got us into the first round for the MLS championships. Yippee

-b-

Tretorns

2009-10-02T12:55:00.003-05:00

I took a very small online shopping risk and bought a pair of Tretorns last month.

Holy smokes, I love them. I've worn them on every day with the smallest forecast of rain. I don't commute by walking at all, but you know there could be a puddle in the parking lot. They are comfortable for me, but I could see folks not liking them. They are technically rubber shoes and if you tend to be a little sweaty in the foot area this might not be fun at the end of the day. Also, i could see them not working for people with a wider foot. Mine are fairly narrow and they fit just right on me.

Thought I would throw my two-cents out there, since they are on sale TODAY at 6pm.com for $20 (which is what I paid last month).

Since I'm talking about my rain shoes, thought I'd show the result of recent rain - mushrooms perfectly sized for my little gnome friend.

Have a good weekend!

-b-

Woah, two outfits in a week

2009-10-01T11:53:00.008-05:00

Here's what I'm wearing today (click to enlarge):

It seemed interesting this morning, but now seems a little flat. I blame poor lighting and camera work!

The shirt is a cheapie from OldNavy, layered over a navy tank. I really liked the little ruffle and color (despite being a pretty thin top). The website doesn't have yellow anymore, but I found it on super clearance last week.

The pants are a light cotton navy & white pinstripe (they look kind of gray in the photo). Since I'm freezing in my office, I actually end up looking like this during the day. Later in the afternoon I'll probably add my wool sweater to this combo.

After looking at the photos, I hate this belt. It's pinching me all wrong, the color doesn't really match, and it's too thin. I'm going to keep my eyes open for a slightly wider belt, maybe in gray?

From Speigel.

Would like to mention that as I was clicking around looking for a belt, I made a mis-click and wound up on a page for a 'Skanky stewardess' costume. Why was that even included in my search results? I was searching "womens gray belts"???

ewww.
-b-

Adornment

2009-09-29T11:54:00.005-05:00

Everything needs to feel pretty. Like my super ugly, heat-radiating dining room light.

It got fancied up this weekend with it's own necklace thanks to a 1lb bag of glass beads:

The other table accoutrement were also new for the weekend (thanks for the runner & candles World Market).

When I waiting in traffic yesterday I saw this adorned truck:

And since I had my camera out, thought I'd show my own adornment.
I LOVE these cute little earrings:

Boy, that is some ratty looking hair! I booked an appt, but the only time that was convenient for me and open is in 1.5 weeks. oh well, what's another week or two?

later

-b-

Devil is in the details

2009-09-28T16:31:00.004-05:00

Ahh, the details. They can add so much to an outfit and attitude with so little. Here is me in a semi-boring outfit last week:

But the details were interesting (if to no one else but me)

Boring, sedate tennis shoes for when my feet are tired:
Turned fun:

Pearl necklace that I fixed myself:

Blue shirt with flowers: (it's easier to see in the stock photo from NY&Co).

Um, yeah, scrunchie in hair. Not good, but I did think my morning laziness was humorous

Black nails (which I think looked better with the shadows from the blinds...ohh....creepy).

During the day, I also rocked the red lips. I should’ve reapplied before the photo, but I’m sure you can all pretend.

Seriously, I think I'm finally going to cut my hair! I haven't cut or trimmed it in a year. YEAR! That's some serious time. Usually I can last a while, but this was admittidly lazy of me. I once had a scheduled appt, but then there was a hurricane and well, I just never rescheduled. Everytime I thought about it, all of sudden my hair would look fabulous. Not anymore. It's tired and wants a trim.

I found a stylist, Gerri, (check her out here) that specializes in curly hair at a salon that three of my pals recommend. Three recommendations to a place is pretty good and I think this will be my first 'styling'. I usually hit up the Regis at the mall for my haircuts, but thought that an expert might be worth a little extra. I'm a little skeptical, but my friends that use the salon say that it isn't too spendy. I also saw reviews of this woman on Naturallycurly.com

Now i just have to cross my fingers when I call tomorrow morning that I can get an appt this week.

Last week was my first week of half-marathon “training”. I did alright. I overdid some days and underdid (? Is this even a word?) other days. This week will be a little off also, it’s the start of a new Co-ed soccer season at the Y and they were too late getting everything together. So instead of playing tonight, I'll play tomorrow. eh.

-b-

Avon

2009-09-23T09:42:00.008-05:00

This year is the first time I’ve really been exposed to Avon. A coworker of mine sells it and a couple women here are regular customers. We compare products we’ve tried, what we like and what we don’t. I figured I’d include y’all.

At one point I was considering these

Yeah, they are denim leggings and some find that offensive from the get-go, but I like the idea of them under dresses in the winter (or super long sweaters that aren't quite dresses). I thought that denim legging would prevent wintertime jean-induced poochy-belly. Erin at Workwithwhatyou’ve got had tried them and said they were awful. I nixed that purchase as she has tried several pairs of denim leggings and seems wise in their ways.

Has anyone else tried their clothing? Here are some things I’m considering, but I’m not sure if I want to make the leap.

Slimwear black dress:

Not so much because it is slimwear, but that’s the neckline I like. But $39.99 for an Avon dress? Not sure of the quality and fit.

Booties:

These are adorable, but not real leather and 3 inches high (which could be too high for my daily wear). Not sure if their shoes are decent, crummy, good steals, etc….And technically I own 2-3 pairs of tall brown boots, why would I need booties?

Since I’m asking your thoughts, here are my thoughts about some of their products.

Mineral Lipstick: Feels great on my lips, never drying, but super light color. I think I have the Coral one.

Magix face perfector: Love the clear formula! It doesn’t perform magic, but does seem to eliminate some shine and make my skin look better.

Magix face perfector compact: HATED it. I swear it gave me super shiny skin. I returned this one. I thought it was the same formula as above, but for some reason my skin didn’t react the same way to this product. Ick.

True Color Eyeshadow Quad: I really like mine! The colors are nice and don’t seem to disappear after a couple hours. I think i have the sandy corals quad.

LiivBotanicals line: I have 4 of these products (serum, eye cream, day lotion, and scrub) and really like them. I’ve been using them for about a month and my skin has looked nice, even without makeup. The website says that the day lotion is fragrance free, but I think it has a unique plant-y smell. I could see some people not liking it, but I like it.

That's my little avon roundup. So far their products seem reasonabley priced and pretty decent quality. Do you have any favorites?

Training starts um, NOW! What are you doing, MOVE IT sister!

2009-09-22T12:00:00.006-05:00

Last year was the first time that I ran a half-marathon and I loved the experience. The running was a little tough, but it was such a cheerful and positve day that I immediatly signed up for January 2010's run. Here is me last January with a post-run glow

Based on a recommendation from a super fit pal of mine that has run multiple full marathons, I use John Bingham's Marathoning for Mortals as my training guide.

For the 1/2 marathon, I have a 14 week training schedule that I've stretched out over 17 weeks. I have duplicate weeks to make up for things like traveling to see pals, Thanksgiving, and Christmas b/c I'm honest and know that my tush wants to eat/drink on those occasions and I probably won't complete all training.

This week is supposed to be my first week, so I set up the schedule this morning. Here is what it looks like for end of Sept/October:

Click to enlarge. I put checks or the little cross out circle afterwards to mark whether or not I accomplished my daily goal.

It's a little goofy this year and I've made some big changes to the schedule in the book to fit in soccer. Last year I was on one team and it was in a lower division. This fall I'm playing on two teams (one coed and one womens). In addition, I moved up a couple divisions and the games are a lot faster and tougher.

I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that this will work out for me. If I start feeling too tired or worn after the first couple of weeks, I'll have to modify.

In the meantime, I'm going to try to add the Daily Mile widget to my blog (ala FIT THIS, girl)

Maybe I'll get that together this afternoon/evening!

later

-b-

Blarg, it's monday...let's talk music to cheer up

2009-09-21T16:37:00.011-05:00

ugh. Usually, I'm not one of those people that 'get the mondays', but this afternoon has been chock full of work annoyances (seriously, I'm thisclose to offing an engineer in my office, thisclose people!).

But, I'm listening to movie soundtracks today and that's getting me through it all....here are some of my favorites:

Moulin Rouge: Seriously, I don't understand how anyone could not love this one. I loved Ewan McGregor & Nicole Kidman in this movie. It was such a young-love type of romance in this movie. The Elton John covers were fab as were the costumes and dancing. Listen to samples on Amazon.

Love Actually: Yep, loved it. It's got songs from Kelly Clarkson, Dido, and Joni Mitchell. I adored the "Take me as I am" song. And I love love loved the movie's version of All You Need is Love by Lynden David Hall. Listen to samples on Amazon .

Happy Endings: I really enjoyed this movie, and the music was such an integral part of the story-telling. I think that Maggie Gyllenhaal has a really pretty voice and I liked her cover of "Just The Way You Are". We actually danced to this song at our wedding - it was our official song. That's how much I loved it. You can listen to a sample on Amazon.com

(500) Days of Summer: I just got this soundtrack on Friday from the library. Again, another movie where the music helps tell the story (and isn't just background noise). How can I not laugh when I listen to "You Make My Dreams"? All I imagine is Tom dancing around. You can listen to sample on Amazon.

Garden State: I liked the movie, didn't LOVE it, but I did love the soundtrack. I loved the use of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Only Living Boy In New York". Sometimes, that is just how you feel.

Listen to a sample of this song on amazon.

Dazed and Confused: I'm from Central Florida and pretty sure I listened to this stuff in the womb. My mom is full-on a fan of southern/classic rockn'roll and I was born without a choice. I dig man, i dig. Don't lie...after a listen, you'll admit that you do too. {Plus, how cute was Matthew McConaughey in this?}

Slumdog Millionaire: Just plain fun to listen to, with great beats and rhythm. It makes me hopeful and happy!

Oh, there are so many more loved soundtracks (snatch, chicago, Dave Chappelle's block party, Forest Gump...) But alas, it's a long list and I've got to get back to not maiming coworkers.

Hope you cheered up with me!

-b-

Skates

2009-09-18T12:20:00.006-05:00

Last night I was really fighting myself about working out. I didn't want to at all, but at the same time I've been making a concerted effort to get more active the last couple of weeks and I didn't want to let myself down. I pulled out my old-skool skates and figured that I could at least have some fun!

And what fun it was. I had a blast tooling around my neighborhood. I'm not very good and there is a lot of flailing around. In addition, the wheels are old and worn and my skates pull me in different directions than my feet are pointing.

But harrowing can be fun too!

And it was a good workout. Roller Skating Assocation International tells me that I probably burned a couple hundred calories in the time that I skated. And my bum muscles are sore, which means that they were utilized. sweet.

I need to get some new wheels, but don't have the foggiest clue where to start on that one. I did a quick search online and found a bunch. But, i think i'm going to venture into the skateboard/surfing shop by my house this weekend. I expect the store to be kooky - it's been around since the 60s and the same people own a popcorn & candy store next door. I went in to buy some popcorn once and the dude was all kinds of spaced out and goofy. I'm not sure what to expect from the actual main store.

maybe I can get a different color? My wheels are red, but doesn't purple sound fun?

here are some photos of my cat interupting the session...it was SUPER hard to find a good spot, set the timer, skate into position, and not hurt myself or a cat in the process. Under the circumstances, I guess the photos came out okay..

There are whiskers in this one.

Cat butt in this one.

She practically dared me to roll over her on my way to this one.

-b-

Purse dumpage

2009-09-17T15:34:00.003-05:00

Since I figured that some have shared the contents of their purses, I would follow suit. Plus, once I saw the contents of mine today I was laughing and thought you might too.

I believe you can click to enlarge, but let me know if not. There are a couple avon products because I got them this morning. My coworker sells it and I love the delivery days. It’s like Christmas (except I have to cut a check – and actually that’s the only reason I even had my checkbook in there today).

There is a lot of lipstick in my purse; I always like to have something on my lips even if it’s a nude gloss.

There are also a lot of sharpies in there. I find them extra useful and always throw one in my bag.

There are coupons that I got from Glamour magazine. I thought I might use them at the mall, but I didn’t want anything from those stores. Eh.

The jaguar pouch holds my electronic stuff: camera cord, mp3 player, and jump drive.

When I carry a small purse, that is the first thing to get kicked out!

I'm a big fan of pouches right now. I have another pouch that I use for my ladytime products, but yippee thats not today :)

That's what I'm lugging around today.

-b-

Results & Conclusion

2009-09-16T11:23:00.006-05:00

Extra Birthday Money was spent yesterday. I went to the Galleria mall with intentions of actually looking in stores I don’t normally go into. It’s tough to buy from the normal mall stores (Gap, Lerner, etc) when I know that I can get the same items at Marshalls or a thrift store for a lot less.

So here’s the roundup:

I bought a fancy red lipstick. After wearing red last week and kinda liking it, I thought that it’d be nice to shop around for one that looks just right. I think I found it. At Saks. At D&G. eek. It was pricey, but I skipped the blush purchase so that money was applied to this. And I like the color. The name is 'devil'.

Since it was a Tuesday and they were clearly bored at the counter, they made up my whole face. Afterwards, I snuck off to the bathroom and took a photo while hiding in the corner.

There is some glare off the glasses, but I didn’t really want to be caught taking photographs of myself in the bathroom.

I cruised around Saks, but didn’t purchase anything. I just wanted to see what they had in store. Actually, I cruised around a lot of stores that I don’t normally, but besides the lipstick, I ended up buying stuff at a regular mall store. Go figure.

I bought two shirts from NYC & Co. I really liked the two items I bought and think that they’ll fit into my existing wardrobe easily. And they were on super sale, so I didn’t have any money guilt.
Shirt #1

Shirt #2

And I got my eyebrows threaded. I think they are too thin this time. I offer the following evidence:

Exhibit A: Photo from June posting of threading

Exhibit B: Photo from this morning.

I will try to fill them a little tomorrow and see how that looks.

Thats everything!

Later

b

Mall

2009-09-15T16:47:00.004-05:00

I'm still hanging onto birthday money and have decided to hit the mall after work. Items on my shopping list include:

Threading. The wonky eyebrow is reappearing!

Coralista blush:
Possibly something from Express...I have a coupon for $25 off a $50 purchase. I haven't stopped by an express in a long time though and I'm not sure if I want anything $25 worth. We'll see.

I would like some no-see-um underroos..I swear the pair I have on today are completely showing a panty line. A little TMI, but undergarments are important, you can't feel confident if everyone can see your panties.

Maybe I'll report tomorrow with purchases :)
-b-

Nailpolish sticks

2009-09-15T11:53:00.000-05:00

At walgreens last week I found some of these in the clearance bins.

http://nicolebyopi.com/

I bought two of them to checkout, it seems like a cool idea. I left one at my office so that if I wanted to look nice & polished, I could do it all in the lunch hour.

So I did.

Today.

It turned out okay. The color looks nice but I had to apply 3 coats on some nails to to make just it looked even. I think the applicator tip is a little off, the brush didn't really keep together - making the polish come out streaky.

Here's the tip:

Here's a pic of the finished nails:

The color I used was "Are we there yet?" I wouldn't pay full price, but it does seem handy.

*Updated a day later to add that there are already a couple small chips. bummer. would not buy except for touchups*

-b-

arggh

2009-09-14T12:07:00.002-05:00

So I wrote up a whole post for today and at the end, realized that i don't have my camera cord with me.

...bummer....

Tomorrow will be a two for one :)
-b-

Necklaces and red lips

2009-09-11T12:00:00.005-05:00

I had a party a couple of weeks ago, and overheard a girlfriend talking about my bathroom (that tiny little thing) and the heaps of necklaces I had in there. I, of course interrupted, and said "What are you talking about, I don't think it's a lot. Plus that isn't my entire collection. There are more. Much much more...."

Turns out that she took a photo of that set of my necklaces and included it in her party pics album.

It's at a weird angle, but really, it doesn't seem excessive to me at all. There are 12 hooks on each holder and I bet each hook has between 2-4 necklaces. I mean, I wear a necklace everyday, I need variety. right?

Plus, I end up making most of them ... so it counts as both entertainment and fashion (like that rationalization?) Here's a peek at my supplies.

I was organizing my stuff last weekend and think it might be wise to lay off the bead buying for a couple weeks (at least). Otherwise I'll have to buy more containers. I'm already up to 8 and they are pretty chock full of fun stuff!

____________
Unrelated: I busted out some red lipstick this week. I never wear red, and will admit that this particular color was from the NYC makeup collection ($0.99). It was pretty fun to wear it and I may actually purchase a decent red lipstick. This one didn't stay on long and was really drying on my lips. I thought the color was pretty though. Here's a ubiquitous lipstick photo:

Hope you have a great weekend. We're gearing up for rain, Rain, RAIN! in the Houston area. It could be deluge...good thing I still have a library book and some Netflix at home.

-b-

Recommendation

2009-09-11T07:33:00.002-05:00

Do you read Saucy's Sprinkles yet?

This is a woman that makes killer cupcakes (ok, I haven't tasted them, but they look amazing), takes time to do LOADS of special and really fun stuff with her daughter, is super crafty, knows how to have fun with a camera, and has a great sense of humor.

A post earlier this week was fantastic and I wanted to share...

http://www.saucysprinkles.com/2009/09/when-my-life-begins.html

-b-

Labor Day movies

2009-09-08T12:04:00.006-05:00

The last week and a half has been chock full of movies. I’ve seen Extract, Inglorious Basterds, and 500 Days of Summer. 500 has been my favorite and I’ll admit disappointment about Extract.

I have an affection for Mike Judge that dates back to Beavis & Butthead (don’t lie, you watched it too). When I moved to Texas in 2002, King of the Hill finally made magnificent sense to me. That show captures so much that makes Texas unique and fascinating. I mean no irony in that statement, Texas just doesn’t fit the mold. That is probably Texas’ best characteristic, it is difficult to describe because there is so much variety and people just feel passionate about so many different ideas. Including propane and boogle.

Image from http://www.stewiesplayground.com/2009/03/28/fox-animation-schedule-for-march-29-2009/

And of course, Office Space, sheesh. Probably the best work-atmosphere movie ever. Mike Judge just got it with that movie.

Image from http://blog.pricegrabber.com/shopgreen/files/2007/09/office-space.jpg

Which is why I was bummed about Extract. Maybe my expectations were a little too high or focused on the wrong topic. I thought it would be another workplace comedy, and there was some of that - but for me, the movie turned out to be a really depressing view of marriage. I’m tired of the reinforced view that marriage equals a dead sex-life. There were funny parts and it’s always nice to see Jason Bateman, but this movie didn’t do it for me.

500 Days of Summer wasn’t the happiest movie ever, but it told the truth about love in a heartfelt way. With snappy dressers to boot. Seriously, I don’t know who did Zoeey D.’s wardrobe, but she was absolutely adorable in every scene.

I went to 500 Days dressed a little hippy dippy, but left wanting to wear a girly dress and bangs.

I'll admit to being very comfortable in this outfit though. yeah for tights.

-b-

Vroom Vroom

2009-09-07T12:01:00.007-05:00

We have two bathrooms in the house and, yep, we each stick to using ‘our’ bathroom. The best part of people coming to our house is when I get to show off motohubby’s bathroom. I got really bored one month while he was traveling for work and decided to make his bathroom more HIM.

So I bought a cheeky Alexander Henry fabric online and made a more personal shower curtain.It really is the cutest thing in the world.

I used some extra fabric to cover the light switch.

Then I shopped our house for other moto things. It’s pretty easy at our place. These are racing photographs my husband took when he was in highschool.

I can’t even explain why he had this, but my husband had a display dirtbike. That went into the bathroom too!
OH, and the Cycle World magazine isn't staged. That was actually there when I took the photos.

My bathroom is as boring as boring can be, but one day I think I’ll make mine just as fun. The problem with my bathroom is that it’s tiny. I mean really really tiny. I think it might be less than 10 square feet. The shower is one of those little corner showers, and you can literally use the restroom and wash your hands in the sink at the same time. It’s small.

-b-

Bottle Caps

2009-09-04T07:30:00.000-05:00

For the last couple weeks I've been trying out a new (to me) charm: re-fashioned bottle caps. It's a lot of fun, I have an excuse to drink beer, I get to smash stuff with hammers, glue whatever designs I want onto them, and then use a bunch of glitter. Really, it's probably the most fun craft EVER. Here are some of my caps:

Before

After

Tough to tell, but the two caps on this necklace have Atlas holding up the world.

I've been sneaking these caps off the table while enjoying at the bar. I'm glad no one has noticed me grabbing caps and putting them in my pockets or purse. I have a little collection growing - much more than are shown in the photos.

It's the friday before a long wkd, and I gotta be honest - I'm just not up for the work thing today. ugh. But, I'm going to put in my headphones and chug along. One day, I can do it, right?

-b-

Nell Carter

2009-08-31T12:00:00.002-05:00

Last night I went to bed with wet hair that was pulled back. This morning it’s straight-ish. I decided to channel Portia de Rossi as Nell Carter (from Ally McBeal)

I ended up like this:

Not exact, but not bad. I’m getting funny comments this morning though. First male comment: “You look severe this morning”. Second male comment: “What’s different, why isn’t your hair curly?”

Thus far, no comments from any female coworkers. Maybe they aren’t easily confused like their male counterparts. Or maybe males have been trained to comment on obvious hairstyle changes?

Either way, I feel a need to don a short skirt and maybe wear a tie (I remember her doing that often on the show).

-b-

Wine & Leather

2009-08-28T13:09:00.004-05:00

The interwebs are currently being scrutinized a little more at my office. This stinks for loads of reasons, but one is that I’m having a tough time keeping up with everyone and everything…Nonetheless, I will persevere!

On to fun:

I’ve been very lucky recently in that I have a little group of girl friends in Houston that have started a “Ladies Night In”. We meet up once a month at someone’s house and have a different theme each time. Last night was Wine Tasting around the World. Each of us were assigned a country and brought a wine. I had New Zealand and brought Monkey Bay. It was okay...not really something I like. At the end of the night after all sampling, the bottles were corked and raffled off and I won this one: Werewolf from Romania

Again, this was okay. I don't love it, but I don't hate it.

What I’m really excited about is next month is a clothing/accessories swap! Yippee. I love those types of things. I grew up with a sister who is only one year younger, and we would swap with each other and each other’s friends.

….

Unrelated: Yesterday was a semi-stressful day so I spend my lunch break at goodwill (I know, I’m weak. Shopping as therapy isn’t the best stress buster, blah, blah, blah.)

But I found the best thing, a real leather motorcycle jacket for $10. Asymmetrical and all zippery. I’ve been looking for one, but wasn’t sure if I wanted to commit a couple hundred bucks to a new one. I have a tough time justifying an expensive coat purchase living in Houston. This isn’t my coat, but this is similar to the style found on net-a-porter (imagine it without the sweatery stuff at the wrist)

I can’t wait for winter to wear this. It’ll be hanging out in my spare closet for a long time (October? Probably November), but I’ll be so happy when that time comes…

-b-

30

2009-08-25T08:41:00.003-05:00

I'm officially in my thirties, as of yesterday. So far, so good. I can't really complain. I used to think that I'd drop dead at thirty as a haggard old lady - now 30 doesn't seem bad at all.

I have a job that I actually enjoy most days

I met and married a great partner

I've managed to meet and maintain valuable friendships with people all over the country

And I'm pretty sure that I'm still cute.

Yeah for the thirties! So far, my favorite decade!

-b-

New Favorites

2009-08-21T07:38:00.004-05:00

I don't know your opinion of monkeys, but I think they are pretty funny animals. They throw poop, and I've seen them "help themselves" at the zoo. They are basically our furry crude cousins. Although not crude, I like my silly monkey necklace that I'm wearing today...

Here's a closeup. The little dude is covering his eyes. Maybe he did something crude and is ashamed?

I'm wearing this with my earrings from Erin that I showed on my last post. It goes together quite nicely today!

I'm also wearing my J-41 shoes. I bought these on a whim from 6pm.com for $20 and they have turned into one of those fantastically lucky purchases. This style is the Sara Sport and they are uber comfortable and (I think) pretty stylish for casual shoes. I wore them for an entire 4 day time period in Chicago and my feet never complained about the constant walking. These shoes rock.

We're hosting a party this weekend and I'll be honest and say that I feel really overwhelmed about the whole thing. There are so many things to think about when more than 2 other people are coming over. Food!Drinks! Entertainment! I can't have people bored, hungry, and thirsty.

I'm even taking a half-day today, just so that I can properly plan it all out this afternoon. It's supposed to be a casual bbq, but I guess it's like natural makeup - there is still some effort going into it.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

-b-

Torquoise and Earrings

2009-08-18T08:15:00.001-05:00

I spent last Thursday night at the bead shop crafting things. I made two necklaces, this is one of them. It's another knotted necklace. I liked the combo of turquoise with purple. I wore it on Friday...but it's tough to tell from the one photo I took that day.

I'm wearing it again today with my all over pink outfit.

The lighting is doing me no justice, but you get the point: this necklace goes with a lot of colors.

Do you see what else I'm wearing? Probably not, I need to zoom in....

More zoom? yep, more.

These are the earrings I selected for my winnings at Work With What You've Got. I love them! They are super light but big and dangly. Check out her Etsy shop LoveErinDesigns

-b-

Pop

2009-08-17T15:25:00.004-05:00

Holy Cow, have you tried these?

Popchips

They are like chips, but not. They are supposed to be a healthy alternative, but i think I like them better than most chips.

Check 'em out.

-b-

Sweetheart search continues

2009-08-14T13:06:00.008-05:00

I'm still looking for more items with sweetheart necklines. I think I like the quest!

This is a lovely dress on bluefly, but I can't get behind it because of the company name. tee hee:

A new thought crossed my mind this morning: Dare I even consider sewing one??

Pattern from Jalie:

Pattern from McCalls (except I HATE the opening part of the bottom)
Sewing seems somewhat disireable, but I'm really not very good at sewing and I don't really know that I have the time to get good at it.

I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for this item...

-b-

sweetheart necklines: help

2009-08-10T18:40:00.005-05:00

I bought this shirt on a whim at goodwill...it's originally a F21 shirt. In general, I don't like to buy this brand secondhand b/c it's usually not too much more to just buy thier stuff brand new.

'm in love with this shirt. It didn't photograph the way I imagine it in my head..so you'll have to trust that it's actually quite fabulous. The neckline is really flattering on me and I'm determined to find more. But I'm having a tough time finding them.

It is a "sweetheart neckline" right?

Anyone have mad online shopping skillzzz that will point me to more like this. I've found Polyvore and searched a couple stores (including the store of orgin-f21), but I'm not really findign much like this. I'm finding a lot of tube tops and dresses.

Maybe I should search sweethear neckline and cap sleeves?

-b-

Crafty at home

2009-08-10T17:46:00.009-05:00

Today I'm going to do this a little differently and forgo the left/right alignment on photos and just center them...this is Lola's idea and I *think* I understand why the L/R was messing me up.

This weekend was chock full of un-fun home ownership stuff. Despite living in Houston, we don't have central A/C, we have window units. Its an old house and wasn't updated when we bought it .. no problem though, the window units actually work really well.

It however was a problem when the unit in our bedroom started going last week. Not cool, man. Friday and Saturday equaled 10 trips to hardware/appliance stores. BOR-ING. I have a deep hate for spending time in Lowes & Home Depot.

But here's the new unit...yippee

We had another hot house problem to correct on Sunday - the front windows. We used to have a gloriously HUGE oak tree in our front yard.

Exhibit A

Then Hurricane Ike hit and down came the tree.

Exhibit B (this is still F'ed up for me to look at)

Without the oak tree shade, it's hotter than heck in our house by the front windows. We found tinting and now it looks like we've got some sweet mirrored windows.

Exhibit C

I hope it helps!

*Yes, that's me chilling in a housedress of sorts and yes, those are bars on our windows. It used to be a great neighborhood, then was a rough one, and is now back to great. We just haven't got around to removing these things.*

This post lacks anything crafty, beauty, or fashion related. hmm..do home repairs count as crafts? It was DIY

-b-

Formatting Assistance?

2009-08-07T12:33:00.004-05:00

Can any other bloggers help me with formatting?

I'm having a really difficult timing with paragraph spacing in my posts due to photos. It seems like whatever I type after a photograph has goofy formatting.

I'm writing in the "compose" part of blogger and then I "preview" my post. Somehow when I publish it, everything changes. WTF?!?! I'll write a post, and then spend another 1/2 hour fussing over the spacing. It's really frustrating me this week.

I'm also going to check out any help features on the webpage, but thought you all might know some tricks.

THANKS
-b-

Knotting & 1st Outfit post

2009-08-07T11:40:00.015-05:00

Oh boy! I learned a new, simple, beading skill last night: knotting.

When I stopped by my awesome local bead shop on Monday for the swarovski beads, the owner (Jim) invited me to hangout on Thursday night. And so that's what I did last night. I hung out with a couple other folks at the bead shop. It was laid back and very creatively stimulating to see what others work on. No two people were working on the same thing.

Jim taught me how to knot last night and I was able to repair a previously busted pearl necklace. Here is it:

Ahh, precious!

Up close view of the knots holding pearls in place.

Prepare to see a lot of this type of thing in the future. I bought more nylon thread and I'm excited to try other things.

The pearl necklace determined by outfit this morning and inspired my first actual outfit post:

shirt: Bitten, actually thrifted
Skirt: Target, bought from Fallas Peredes*

Shoes: Steve Madden, ghetto dillards

I'm not loving my first outfit post...I couldn't find a good place for the camera today and kept cutting off my head. Just to prove I have a head, here ya go:

(Plus, my threading related breakout is finally going down)

You can't tell from this angle, but is a bumpit in there! Promise it's cute from the side.

* I don't know if this is just a Houston chain, but it's an interesting place. Kinda crummy and discouraging at first look, but a good place to find cheap basics. This skirt was $1.99. Yeah, I bought two.*

Have a great weekend with all of your fun hobbies!

-b-

Unique Hobbies...

2009-08-05T12:54:00.016-05:00

I like it when people have 'different' hobbies. You know, when they say thier interests are something other than watching movies and reading. I mean, most of us do that.

I have a girlfriend that fits this, she does figure competitions. She doesn't do the bikini modeling and she's not a bodybuilder either - she is something in between. At first this seems like a really 'out there' hobby. It requires buttloads of determination and discipline. She follows a strict diet and workout schedule, but the results are pretty incredible.

She recently participated in a competition in Austin and did really well. This was my second time to cheer her on at a show and what strikes me most is how GIRLY the women are. For real. She gets all dolled up with makeup, hair, jewelry, nails, tans, stripper shoes, etc......It's like a beauty pageant with muscle.

She borrowed some super sparkly swarovski jewelry for her competition and I'm determined to make her some items of her own. I've spent the last two days with rather expensive but super sparkly beads.

I also did a necklace and ring, but kinda hated the ring (I haven't quite got that technique yet) and the necklace was just not quite right. I'll probably take those apart tonight and start fresh.

Anyone else with unique hobbies? I've seen that Erin does hula hooping and admit to jealously.That looks like a fun one.

Not sure that I do anything too unique. Among my own friends, I'm unique in that I still play on soccer teams and go to tournements as an adult.

I guess there's that. We still take team photos like we're kids too!

-b-

Threading: oh no, problem

2009-08-04T10:17:00.004-05:00

I recently had my eyebrows & upper lip (it's embarassing to say, but whatever) re-threaded and have run into problems. The actual hair removal went well and I'm nicely shaped.

But I have BUMPS! They kind of look like pimples, but not really?? IDK. There are some over my eyebrow area and some at the corners of my upper lip. It's terrible. I'd rather have some blonde hairs than pimples.

I don't know if I made a mistake before/after threading....
anyone know what i need to do?

I'm def. not posting a photograph of this one....consider yourselves spared!

-b-

Magazine inspiration: Shells!

2009-07-31T18:08:00.011-05:00

I was flipping through a recent Instyle magazine and these caught my eye.

They are made & sold through the Melissa Joy Manning webpage - though I can't find them there at all. Maybe they were special order made? No clue.

ME upon seeing earring: "adorable, I can make that. Easy, peasy"

sure....

I tried and below is the pair I made. It was actually a lot more difficult than it seemed. This is one of those projects that is super easy and quick for those that already know how to do it, but figuring it out on my own took a while (well over an hour of arguing with shells). The tough part was getting three shells to line up properly. It's a good thing that I didn't want the earrings to be larger because that work would've tested my patience!

This is my strand of shells before de-construction.

(that photo turned out horrible here, but I swear it looked okay when I viewed it)

After a lot of time, some colorful language, and changing materials (wire to embroidery string) - the earrings were complete

I now have a fun pair of summer earrings. It's a shame that it's August and summer will be ending, but I'm in Houston (hot until November) and I have a feeling that they will reappear next summer too!

PS: I've never heard of Melissa Joy Manning until that article and I have to admit that they have interesting stuff on their site. It's not cheap, but it's definitely interesting.

-b-

Who's the Big Winner? ME

2009-07-31T12:02:00.008-05:00

Woohoo I just found out that I won a loverly prize from Erin at Work with What You've Got

I've won a $35 credit towards her Etsy store. Now the hard part: picking something out. Here are my favorites:

Decisions...

I don't have anything like these pieces and each would make a super addition!

Thanks so much Erin!!!

-b-

Shopamo

2009-07-30T15:46:00.011-05:00

Sometimes I get into moods where I just want to BUY BUY BUY. I'm there right now and here are some items calling my name:

Benefit Coralista http://www.sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P229206&categoryId=B70:

I was stuck in a Sephora store for well over an hour last week. This blush was my favorite out of testing at least 10 others. I'm pretty stingy when it comes to makeup, so I'm having a tough time justifying a $28 blush. Am I silly, should I just get it or find a sub?

Shoes! Shoes! Shoes! Everything is on sale!

I recently bought a pair of peep toe, snake skin heels and today I saw these http://www.ninewest.com/Mane/3083204,default,pd.html?cgid=526934&itemNum=100

I want these too!

Houston is having a crazy dry summer, but that doesn't stop me from wanting the most adorable rain shoes ever: http://www.6pm.com/product/7248939/color/68150

Great, fun, interesting jewelry:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5887895

Another Purse with this fabric: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23721673

I kinda already have one purse that is with another color combination of this fabric. it's a messenger style bag, but I'd like a clutch too.

I'll take this opportunity to plug the Etsy store that made my bag (since I'm using it today). I got it last year. Charmdesign made it quickly, at the right price and it's held up awesome!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=16633

That's me today...loads of unintentional khaki. It's unbelievably cold in my office and the sweater is one of several "office sweaters". Not great, but matches a lot of outfits and is thrown on to ward off frostbite.

These are some of my wants...maybe I'll save up a little and get the blush. That's probably number one on the list today.

geez louise...blogger is fighting me on the formatting today! I've been trying to get an organized layout on this post and can't get the spacing right. forgive?

-b-

update

2009-07-29T07:39:00.001-05:00

I got a couple responses from my evite, and people are enthused about the tacky theme for a birthday bbq. yeah.

Party Planning

2009-07-28T17:18:00.007-05:00

My birthday is coming up. I've always been one of those brats that likes my birthday to be 'special'. Since it's a big one this year* I figured I'd throw a bbq party at my house. But now I'm a little nervous. This party has a theme.

It's tacky...it's a white trash birthday bash. I know, but it rhymes and that is fun by itself. Plus, this way I won't feel pressured to buy fancy/hip food & drinks. It invites low-key.

These are things I'm thinking of:

Cans of beer

Playing Washers

http://www.originalwashers.com/carpeted-washer-toss-game-set.shtml

Eating bad for me, but yummy food:

http://www.amazon.com/White-Cooking-Jargon-Ernest-Mickler/dp/0898151899#

(seriously, I'm a little tempted b/c I'm sure there will be tasty ideas for the grill. Or I could just call my mom, I suppose thats an option too. She never met a recipe that couldn't be enhanced by more butter or ground beef.)

And wearing my jean shorts.

I tried in vain to convince people that these were indeed back in style and no one believed me. I've received the nickname of jorts for my support of these particular shorts. They are a little tacky, but what better way to use jeans that I'm not wearing anymore? Plus, it's hot in Houston, vanity goes out the window with 100+ temps and 90% humidity. {side note, I'll say it: This is a fab photo of me. I have a bosum and tiny waist. Another reason to like these particular shorts, they are magical}

I just sent the Evite - it's a month early, but it seems like there are already a couple things going on in August and I'd like folks to partake with me. I hate the time right after invitations go out.

What if people don't wanna/ can't come over that night?

What if people don't wanna play with my theme? This one requires at least some participation (bandanas, flip flops, Wbeaters, trying the boone's farm, etc)...

AND Music! I kinda want one of those monsters of rock power ballad cds now. You know, the one from the commercial that you make fun of, but know every word to? Music tends to set the tone for a party and I really want people to have a silly fun time.

Good think I'm planning early .. my mind is a-spinning!

-b-

**I guess it's a milestone. I turn 30. It seemed like a really big deal 5 years ago and now I'm kinda meh about the whole thing. I thought I would feel all moopy about the impending birthday, but I'm ready. 30 seems like a much better age than 20. I know stuff now and I have a better idea of what's important and what's just a distraction. **

Blueberry Pie

2009-07-27T11:49:00.004-05:00

I have the best neighbors ever. These lovelies watch our pets when we leave town...and they do it with LOVE. They make sure that each kittie gets petted and loved on each time they were checked on. They turn our porch light on at night and off in the morning. They cleaned kitty litter, even when we set out a bunch of boxes to avoid such an icky chore.

AND they brought me back 5 lbs of blueberries on their recent trip to Michigan. I wasn't sure what to do with such a large quantity, but a pie seemed in order.

This was my first attempt at a pie and I was super excited that I didn't fail. It was a ridiculously each recipe (seriously, it's like add some sugar, flour, and lemon to a premade crust), but I think I can still claim homemade. It was perfection. Ooey and gooey, with ripe bursting blueberries. The pie pan couldn't contain the tastiest and the pie overflowed (good thing I had another pan underneath).

I ate two pieces yesterday and plan to eat more this afternoon/evening. Mr. Moto ate a piece last night and once again for breakfast (blueberries are part of a healthy diet, yes?)

I froze some last night, but there is still a large amount left. I ate some with my cereal this morning and mixed them with other fruit for a snack at work. I thought about making jam, but haven't a clue on how to do that.

Any more ideas?

-b-

Mental Health Day

2009-07-24T14:54:00.005-05:00

I took a mental health day recently with a good pal of mine and we had a super duper blast. We sipped coffee, thrifted, ate a turkish lunch, got stuck in Sephoria for 1.5 hours (rain), and then had a beer all by 5pm! It was a fantastic day and I got to fulfill a want: Swatch watch!

Recently, Sal at Already Pretty http://www.alreadypretty.com/2009/07/already-prettypoll-back-to-future.html posed the question of what trends we'd like to relive. My vote was for swatch watches, they came in fun colors, were waterproof, and even had accessories (those little face protectors).

I've looked into buying a new one, but sheesh, they are $55. I guess that isn't too much if you're wearing it often, but I just wanted a silly weekend watch with color. $55 was too much.

On my mental health day I found a swatch. For $12! In its original case! I was pretty pumped. I got a battery today and am proudly wearing it.

BUT I can't take a photo for you today. I don't have my camera cord with me right now to show off my cool watch. Below is what it looks like, you'll have to pretend to see it on my wrist (worst.post.ever.)

Image from http://www.antiquorum.com

ha! I just saw it on Ebay for $40. yeah for mental health days!

-b-

Tie-Dye

2009-07-22T09:49:00.014-05:00

I've been digging on the Tie-Dye trend BIG TIME this summer. It's fun to make and seriously fun to wear. I was happy in the winter when I saw magazines proclaiming a come back, although I think I would've worn it anyways.

I recently had girlfriends over for a super fun ultra girly "Tie-Dye and Twilight" night. We tie-dyed and as our stuff was chilling in dye baths, we watched Twilight. This was pretty much like a sleepover (girl talk, food, crafts, boys, icecream, giggling) - without the sleepover part.

Here is what we did:

Got everything wet with the hose

We rubber-banded in all sorts of different designs and plunked it into a color.

Then rinsed, rinsed, rinsed everything.

Here are some of the results:

My new favorite Tshirt! It's already heavy into my weekly rotation.

I found nice plain cotton bags at Walmart a couple weeks ago for $3 and dyed them all sorts of colors. I think I have at least 6 or 7 of them. Unfortunatly, I only photographed the blue one. go figure. Again, these are in heavy rotation for trips to the pool, library, and think I'll try grocery next week.

A little tough to tell, but that is a pink shirt that I dyed. I wore it to work and tempered it down with a rather boring cardigan. But, it's proof that tie-dye and work can go together.

I used Dylon brand dye that I bought at Walmart, but I've also seen in at Joannes. Not too expensive, I think both stores were selling it for 2-3 dollars. So far, none of my stuff has faded or got onto other clothing in the wash.

I didn't photograph it, but I also overdyed a denim skirt the pink color. It came out really well, it started as a dark denim, so now it has a tint/sheen of pink.

This has proved to be a super fun way to enliven clothing I already have but am bored of. Try it out and have fun.

-b-