New Blog!

Hey guys!

I just wanted to let you know that I'll be in the process of transferring over to a new blog URL. 

I've also created a fun new layout that is definitely more 'me'. 

sidenote: I have a new found respect for Graphic Designers. That ish is no joke. 

You can now find me at:

ShoweredinSparkles.com

I'll be linking it to where it re-routes, but I just wanted to give you guys a heads up.

Ponytail Trick to Add Length

If you've been following my blog, you know that I'm always trying to grow out my hair.
Since that doesn't really work, I have to come up with other ways to make it look like I have longer hair, whether it be extensions or this new little trick that I tried out this weekend.

Let's just say I really was not in a hair washin' mood this weekend so I did this trick Saturday AND Sunday.

This will be a super quick tutorial because there isn't really much to do. 

You simply put the bottom part of your hair in a ponytail. Then put the remaining hair in a ponytail. The top ponytail will completely cover the bottom ponytail. It added 2-3" to my ponytail. I'll take it!

In the photo above, I tried to move my hair over a little so you can kind of see the bottom ponytail. 

You can keep some hair down in the front or add a fancy headband or something to kick it up a notch. My hair was dirty so I just pulled it all back.

Kind of rockin' that Jenny from the block look ;)

Since I have super thick hair I can't say how it will work for people with thin hair, but give it a shot and let me know how it works :)

Until the Hair Gods bless me with longer hair, I'll be faking ponytails and wearing extensions until the end of time.

Hope you enjoy this new trick as much as I do.

Meal Plan

After doing some pin damage the other night, my mouth was salivating. Now that I'm back in the swing of my schedule, I'm building my grocery list for this week.

These items are my inspirations for lunch & dinner over the next week or so..

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Let's be serious, I'm not going to get to all of these this week. When I cook, I ALWAYS cook extra so I can bring some for lunch the next day. But I'm hoping to tackle all of these in the next 2 weeks. I'll report back with my reviews. 

Weekend Update

We're back to Monday too soon. How does that always happen? 

I've decided to do my first weekend update link up this morning. 

Without further adieu..

 1. After work on Friday, I went straight to pick up my Nephew from daycare. By all appearances, he seems sweet, right? Well he truly is, but he was in rare form on Friday. Luckily, he's too cute to make me mad at him :)

2. Le Boyfriend and I went to dinner at Urban Flats Friday night. I had been craving a French Dip so I got just that, along with Spinach Dip (Ah-MAZ-zing), sippin' on a few drinks and listening to live music. Ideal night. We ended up meeting with some of my boyfriend's work friends at some extremely odd bar and then quickly called it a night.

3. I ran errands Saturday while the boyfriend went golfing. I'm proud to say I'm no longer riding on a spare tire (YAY!). And then I treated myself to Starbucks using a recent giftcard purchase. 

4. After my Starbucks trip, I hit up Tarjayy for E.L.F products (of course) and swung over to the baby section to pick up some presents for a little friends birthday party this weekend. 

5. After being extremely winded jumping on the trampoline with my Nephew, it was time to recharge with some food and drinks. We went to Bahamas Breeze where I got the most delicious Sangria ever made... at least in my opinion ;) We retreated home after dinner and watched The 5-year engagement. FYI: I thought the movie was too cute. Definitely a good movie to rent on a lazy night. 

 Sunday fun day time! We went to breakfast at Justin's parents and then hit up a friends pool for some fun in the sun rain. 

1 & 4: I was all over the place when it came to drinks - champagne, beer and liquor. Not a good combo but luckily I never felt the backlash. 

2. While it was raining we just watched football. By 2 o'clock it was sunny so we got to play corn hole, swim in the pool, and rest in the hot tub. 

3. My picky self only ate a Cheeseburger, beans and TONS of chips & dip. Even though I don't like everything, I really do LOVE grilling out. 

We went to play with my nephew for a bit before meeting up with some friends at Chilis. 

One of our friends got Fajitas. When she was done, she created this snowflake out of a leftover tortilla. When we all laughed at her, she said everyone does it. 

You tell me. Have you ever seen someone do this? So far, it's 3-1 + the server ;)

Well there is my weekend in a quick jumbled mess of words. 

After putting this on paper, I realized that I either eat too much or I love to talk about food. After all, it is one of my favorite things about being alive :)

Friday Letters

Dear Friday, Come 4:00 you will be my favorite day of the week! This work week was a breeze and for that, I thank you :)

Dear Tire, why must you go now? Why couldn't you just stay with me a little longer. Now part of my weekend has to be spent tire shopping. 

Dear Nail Polish, Why do you take SO long to dry? Since I'm a perfectionist doing my nails is a process. 

Base coat 

wait for it to dry..

First coat of polish

wait for it to dry..

Second coat of polish

wait for it to dry..

Top coat

wait an hour (or two) for it to fully dry and harden

See what I mean?

Dear Wallet, We would get along much better if you would put on a bit more weight. I know people think skinny is in, but that doesn't include you. Get with it.

Dear Boyfriend, Thank you for letting me use your car to go to work today so I didn't have to drive on a spare. Looking forward to a lovely weekend with you!

{Photo courtesy of 2009}

Dear Urban Flats, I can't wait to see you this evening. I have a date with said boyfriend and I'm completely looking forward to your spinach dip, club wrap, caesar salad and some wine. My mouth is watering just thinking about it :)

Dear Ramen Noodles, It's been over 10 years since I tried you last but after seeing it on Sunday's episode of KUWTK I got a HUGE craving for it. I've had it once a day since, sometimes twice. Should I be looking forward to my Ramen Noodle lunch this much? Well I am.

Dear Landyn, You make everyday brighter. You're growing so fast and are constantly surprising me. I couldn't have been blessed with a more perfect Nephew. I can't watch to watch you grow and teach you more songs. 

Currently, his favorite jam is "What Makes you Beautiful". He'll sing and play the guitar all at once. Did I mention he is 2 1/2? Musical genius, right there!

Dear Life, I truly am so happy with everything at this moment. I've been working on being appreciative for what I have and what I've accomplished, rather than looking at the things I don't have. Sure I would love a mansion with a full closet of designer clothes and a job where I make 7 figures, but I have an amazing job with an incredible company, I'm healthy and have so many beautiful people in my life. What more could a girl want?

It's OK Thursday

My plan was to post on another topic today, but after my morning I couldn't pass up an It's OK post.

Let's get right to it. Shall we?

It's OK that I got a flat tire on my way to work :(

Let me paint the picture for you...

I left for work extra early this morning, went to the grocery store to pick up a few things and then headed to work. I'm in the middle of the road when my tire sounds really bad and my car is just not driving smoothly. I pulled over to find my tire basically in shreds. 

Not the most fantastic thing to start of my day, but we can get this taken care of. 

I got out all of my supplies and noticed that I didn't have a wrench. Of course mine would be missing right when I need it. Luckily my friend Kate came to my rescue and brought me her wrench. I've changed many tires in my life (I don't know why, I just have) and this was by far the worst experience. My jack was giving me all kinds of problems and my hands currently feel like they are going to fall off. 

Anyhoo - I'm alive and it's done and we were only an hour late to work. YAY! 

Lately I've been only trying to look on the positive side of things. I'm lucky enough to have a car to break down, friends to come to my aid and a job to be late to. So yes, all is ok. 

On to more fun things!

It's OK that I'm on a fantasy football league and I have no idea how the pointing system works or how to play certain people. None of my players have a game until Sunday so I have some time to figure all that out.

Are you on a fantasy football league? We did it at work and I figured why not? It will make watching the games that I don't care about more fun. Check out my team!

It's OK that I fell asleep at the start of Teen Mom on Tuesday so I haven't finished the Reunion special. Maybe I'm just trying to hold onto it a bit longer.

Sticking with reality TV. 

It's OK that I watched 10 minutes of Honey Boo Boo last night. My brain can literally not take longer than that in one sitting. It's a total train wreck. 

Until next time.

Stay classy, blog friends :)

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Can you believe it's Wednesday already?

Neither can I, but you will not hear any complaints out of this girl.

My first what I'm loving Wednesday topic will be just that. I'm loving that it's already Wednesday and we're almost through the week and onto my favorite part of every week. I think you can figure out what that would be :)

I'm loving...

... my new Maybeline BB cream (Medium). I would highly recommend getting your hands on some BB cream if you haven't already. I've only ever tried the Dr. Jart so I was pleasantly surprised that the Maybeline one worked just as well and for a fraction of the price. Score!

... that my boyfriend has off this weekend so we get to spend some QT together. Love these weekends!

... that I have some time to read a new book. If you ladies have any suggestions on a good book that you've read, please send them my way!

... Song Pop. If you haven't downloaded it yet, do it NOW! It's the next Words with Friends, Draw Something, you get my drift :) Addicting!

... that I went to Home Depot last Friday to get materials to make the extra large Jenga that was made famous by college students tailgating. Girls got get ready for football season, ya heard?

The one below is similar to what I'm making. I'll include photos and instructions on how to make this fun game just as soon as I finish painting the blocks in my school colors.

... that I got the BEST news in the mail yesterday. If you know me pretty well, you would know that I've been dealing with the IRS for the past few months because they took away my education credits from 2010 and sent me a bill for over $2,600. Since you can only speak to these people after being on hold for over an hour and you never get the same rep, it's been a nightmare to get them all the information they wanted to prove that I was entitled my education credit and I was, in fact, in school during that time. Let's just say 4 faxes, over 8 hour long (or more) phone conversations and months of stressing. Today I got a letter saying that the entire thing has been closed and I owe nothing. Finally!

... SO many other things. I just can't fit it all into one post :)