This and That

Here are some random things that have been going on:

On New Years Eve we got some snow in Southern California and everyone was very excited!!

We bought a car!! We had been sharing one old, small car for a long time and so we are very excited to have a newer, roomy family car that will allow our family to grow! It's a 2014 GMC Acadia SLT and we LOVE it!!

We've been upgrading some things in the house. Nothing huge or expensive, but doing things that make the house look so much better that are inexpensive and easy. Things I've been wanting to do the whole time we've lived here! We've changed out light fixtures, fans, toilets, faucets, etc. I've also done a couple of other projects on the side. 

I did a gallery wall in our living room...

And we painted the guest bathroom a sandy color, did the kids footprints in sand, had a friend make a "Nude Beach" sign, and I just framed some pictures of us at the beach for the guest bathroom. It's coming together nicely! The shower curtain and towels are blue.

I cut my hair!! Here are before and after pictures. It has lightened up a lot since I got it done but it's definitely not as blonde as it was. I'm kind of embarrassed about my hair in the before picture!! Yikes.

We're just really happy!!

Organization and Curls

Here's a tell tale sign that you have a toddler...

This weekend I finally went through Emily's toy basket and threw stuff out, put things away that she never touched or were too young, etc. It's so much more organized now and it's nice that everything fits in the basket again.

We also still had her little saucer seat in our room. She hasn't sat and played in it for months (she is too big for it now) but I finally at least took it down and it's ready to be bagged and stored. Emily thought it was a ton of fun!

I promise we do dress her occasionally :).

I got one of those hair wands to try a different curl and I love it!! I also got to wear my new T-shirt dress to church. Super cheap, cute, and comfortable!! I wore it with a jean jacket and sandals but I like that I can put a belt on, or a cardigan...there's just a bunch of ways to wear it!

On Sunday after church we had our friends over for dinner and to hang out. It was a great weekend! This week is going to be super busy. A girls night, park, beach, baby shower, and more!

Happy Monday!

P.S- Don't forget to link up with us for our first ever Never Ever Ever linkup!!

A Mother's Day Weekend Getaway

I had the BEST Mother's Day weekend!!

I spent my first night away from Emily. As nervous as a I was, and as much as I missed her, I had A LOT of fun. My friends and I stayed at hotels in Newport Beach Friday night. We were there from Friday evening to Saturday afternoon. This is what we were up to...

On the way to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, we stopped by Anthropologie and goofed off a bit.

I, of course, got the BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad and a piece of cheesecake. Pretty sure they thought I was strange for taking a picture of my food. Silly blogger ;)

Meanwhile, every once in a while I checked in on Emily. She was doing GREAT with her Grandma and Grandpa! She actually ate food (rare these days) and went to bed easily! HUGE relief for me. I was then able to relax once I knew she was totally fine!

After dinner, we went back to our rooms and chatted it up! I usually go to bed at like 10:30 pm so imagine my surprise that I was wide awake and having a blast with my friends until 2:30 am! Whew! We just couldn't stop talking!

We woke up at like 8:30 am and went to the hotels gym. I was glad I got a workout in! Then we went to get ready for the day. My friend "teased" my hair. It was awesome.

We went to this spot that does paddle boarding and kayaking in the bay. I didn't want to risk falling into the freezing water so I avoided paddle boarding and stuck to kayaking. It was beautiful weather. Not too hot, definitely not cold, with a nice little breeze.

I went kayaking with Brittney. 

Some of the ladies lounging on the beach!

Britt and Roxana paddle boarding.

After our time was up with the rentals, we went to lunch.

We went back to the hotel for a little bit and then I headed back to my in laws house (my parents had Emily Friday night and my in laws had Emily on Saturday). I missed Emily, wanted to see Michael before he left for work, and I was meeting some more friends there. They were coming over so we could say one last goodbye to our friend Kambree who is moving to Dubai! We will miss her so much!

Emily and I drove home around dinner time and after I got Emily in bed, I spent the rest of the evening catching up. You know it was a great weekend when you haven't checked social media/messages at all ;). 

Mother's Day was great too! Michael gave me these beautiful flowers!

I am so blessed.

Time For Another Hair Decision!

Last time it was time to get my hair done, I did a blog post about it. Actually, pretty much whenever I need to make a decision for my hair, I blog about it because I can't make decisions like this.

Here's another post of a before and after I cut my hair off.

I won't be coloring or highlighting it this time so I just need to decide on the cut! I have pretty much had the same hair cut for years, varying in lengths. I think this time I will be cutting some layers off and getting some bangs to change things up!

I like Reese's hair and I think we have similar hair types. (In fact, I often bring pictures of Reese's hair because I have always liked the cuts she gets.) This is probably what I will be getting, except to cut layers off it will be shorter in length. But it will grow out to look like this!

Unless I decide to go short for the summer...I saw Michelle post about her cute new cut and now I'm thinking it would be nice...see why I can't make a decision?!

I asked friends on Twitter and Instagram but I got answers that were all over the place...

So, now I'm asking you. What should I do?!

Still In Love...With My Hairbrush

Remember that time I admitted I was in love with a hairbrush?

Well, I wasn't kidding. I love this brush. I even brush Emily's hair with it because it doesn't get caught and snag in her tangles. Unfortunately, Emily decided it would be fun to drop said brush into the toilet. Sad, sad day. I posted on Brushlove.com's facebook page (yes, I "liked" their page on facebook- told you I was in love) telling them what happened and one of their representatives replied and was sympathetic with my sad story and told me to email them at such and such to replace it. 

Of course, I did. I also threw in the fact that I blog and if they happened to send me one for free I would talk AGAIN about my love for this brush ;). And they did!! Ahhh the perks of being a blogger!!

But not only did they send me the brush, they also sent me this really pretty compact mirror that has a regular mirror on one side and a magnified mirror on the other. I love it! The rhinestones on the top are SO me.

Brushlove.com also sent me a travel case with a bunch of makeup brushes inside! How nice is that?! I love it! And the brushes are really soft and work great too.

I definitely recommend this company!!

Brushlove does a monthly contest where five winners can receive prizes that are worth up to $75! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Receive 5% off their site with code SPRING5

I'm In Love...With A Hairbrush.

I never thought I would say this, but....

I LOVE this brush!!!

I won this Brushlove.com giveaway over at Domestic Sweetheart and I was like, cool, I won a giveaway! But not only is it cool that it was free....I seriously love brushing my hair with it. It's like a head massage every time I brush my hair!

Misikko.com Flat Iron Review!

I was lucky enough to be contacted by Misikko.com to do a review for their HANA Pro 1" Flat Iron!!

This is by far the coolest review I have ever been asked to do!

When I opened the box, I was THRILLED to see that not only did I get the straightener to review, they also send a box full of extras!!

It would make a great gift for anybody!

This is what was included: A brush, e.l.f eyeshadow, e.l.f lipgloss, e.l.f eyelash curler, shine shield (to protect your hair from heat), an ornament (random, but I will take it, haha), hand sanitizer, nail files, a pad to rest the iron on, and a couple of cases for the iron.

Amazing package, right?!

As you probably know, my hair is straight. This is my hair after being blowdryed.

I have used straighteners before to curl my hair so I figured I could test that out.

Here are the pictures of that...

It was really hot so I gave up after getting 1/3 done with my hair. The flat iron lost it's heat quickly so in the beginning (my right side) it curled well and then it kind of just made it wavy after that.

BUT it is a straightener after all. So, I tested it again by straightening after curling. 

This is after I straightened it.

It did a MUCH better and faster job straightening!

This is the best flat iron I've used. I was impressed with this Hana Salon product!

*This product was given to me, free of charge, to review but the opinions are my own.*

I Got My Hair Done! Kinda.

I realized that I never did do an update on getting my hair done! I always either want to go really blonde or do some kind of really pretty brunette but both of those are pricey to keep up with. So, I did the economical (and boring) thing and got low-lights to tone it down and get it looking back to my normal hair color. The roots don't show up as much and I won't need to color it again.

Of course, hopefully I will again before too long. I love changing my hair.

I took pictures because, well, how can you NOT laugh at yourself looking like this?

The finished result. You might not even notice I got my hair done. I had her just trim it so it looks a lot healthier but as far as the color, it's not a whole lot different.  In fact, I keep forgetting that she did anything at all with the color.

It's still pretty blonde!

Now I'm thinking I wasted my money getting highlights. 

Don't tell Michael.

It's Time To Get My Hair Done!

It's that time again! Time to get my hair done! I always space it out like six or seven months (which is too long, in my opinion).

Whenever I go in to get it done I walk in with my head down, emberassed of my straggly, uneven, roots showing mess of a hair situation. I am sure people look at me thinking, "Giiiirl, you need this BAD". Or something to that effect. ;)

But I always walk out of the salon with my head held high and feeling like a new woman! Getting my hair done is something I would do monthly if I could. I would love to change my look and try crazy colors but alas, we have a mortage and a baby!

This time around, I think I am going to go a little more blonde and maybe add some lowlights too. Have you heard of "bronde"? It's the perfect in between color of blonde and brunette. I thought I might do something like that but maybe just underneath.

This is "bronde". I wish I could pull this color off!

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I'm not going as short as I did last time because I like being able to put my hair up in a ponytail and being able to curl it too.

This is me this month. A reference point.

This is the cut I think I want (similar to what I have but with some more layers) and I also love this shade of blonde.

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I like these lowlights. They aren't stripes on top, but subtly placed underneath.

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I have such a hard time making decisions! I will probably just say to do what they think would look best, haha. What do you think of these colors?

Have a great weekend!!

Before and After The Big Cut

Here's the before picture.... 

And a 17 week picture too....

Then after getting 10 inches cut...

Tah-dah!

It's so much easier to do my hair now. I sort of miss the length but I think there are more pros to cutting it short than there are cons. I think the girl who did my hair did a great job. It's exactly what I wanted!

What do you think?