Halloween

I don't really have anything going on today/tonight but I am in a writing mood.  Plus I have an itching to share some of my pinterest findings with you guys.  So here is a special Halloween/Autumn favorite finds post. 

Yes I have every intention of attempting to make these. =)

Cozy, with a cup of coffee mmmMMMmmm...

Simple yet awesome.

One of the things I am excited about for the East Coast is actually getting to see some leaves change colors.  And snuggling down with a good book, some hot coco during an actual cold day.

This would be so much fun for a party.

I could never wear something like this.  A little too revealing for me BUT it is super cute and looks very much like an adult version of my favorite childhood Halloween costume!

Last, here is a picture of me in my favorite childhood Halloween costume. =P  Sorry for the quality.  Impossible to get a decent picture of a picture.  Haha

Anyways,
So sorry this post is a bit random but I am such a pinterest junkie and this is my favorite time of year.  Autumn right around the corner, Halloween, and all the amazing blog parties! 

So tomorrow is my Birthday.  No plans for tomorrow at this point.  Really starting to get my cheesecake craving though.  Sort of my thing.  I LOOOOOOVE cheesecake so on my Birthday it is really the only thing I want.  

Sorry had to share just one more picture now that I mentioned cheesecake.  Doesn't it look so good!!!  I think that it looks great.

Well I hope that you are all doing alright.  What are some of your guy's favorite things about Autumn and Halloween?

Blogging ideas!

Hello my freaky Darlings!

I am in a particularly good mood this evening for no particular reason at all.  I have been trying to write a post all day with no idea what to write.  So now that this is my forth go at it I think I finally got it.  Not that it is much. Ha.

Things have been going good here.  Nothing much to report.  I am feeling slightly disheartened when it comes to my job hunt now that I am without a vehicle.  I am trying to stay positive though and remain hopeful.  There is a job fair coming up so I am keeping my fingers crossed.  Maybe I will have to invest in a bike, while still out of my price range it is MUCH cheaper than a new car.  Lol

Anyways,
So I figured I would share a couple of pictures from my car accident.  

The water had gone down at this point thanks to the rain finally letting up after nearly two hours of standing in it.  Even managed to catch myself a small cold. Lol. Guess if that is the worst of it then I am grateful.

In this picture you can see where the water had come up to on the passenger door.  Was pretty crazy.  No I was definitely not in the car when this happened.  Immediately after crashing not even thinking about water levels rising and just worried that no one would see me down in the wash from the road I had decided to get out of the car and get up to the road.  My genius self did decide to try and get back into the car when it started hailing.  After tripping on mesquite roots and falling face first into the water though I quickly realized it was probably not the best idea to try and get back into the car or stay anywhere near the running water.  Lol

After that scary event though the trip went super smooth.  Snapped a picture when going through Dallas, TX.  I had no idea the city was so huge!  Thankfully traffic wasn't that bad.

This picture isn't even a small portion of the city.  But I like how the picture came out.

Other than that when we finally did make it to my new home after getting some rest, settled in a bit, and getting some much needed bf time, we took a trip to D.C. it was a load of fun and I am eager to go back since I feel like there is still so much to see there.  

First thing we did was get some food.  Like I mentioned broke the vegetarian diet a couple of times and this would be one of them.  Ahahaha!  No regrets!  Some of the best seafood ever.  Eyes were definitely bigger than our bellies for sure.  Can't say it was the cheapest but it wasn't unreasonable and we got more than we could eat.  We got probably as fresh as it gets crab and shrimp watched it get steamed with some Old Bay thrown on it and handed to us in a paper sack.  Blue Shell Crab is definitely not my favorite.  Just can't get past having to pick around the "mustard" (crab guts) to get to the meat.  But jumbo, and when I say jumbo I mean jumbo, shrimp... oh sweet Freya it was wonderful.

After nearly putting ourselves into a food comas we walked from the Warf and to the Washington Monument.

Yeah check them clouds out.  We got to experience some east coast weather.  Actually used the Washington Monument as a rain shield for a good 20 minutes.  We finally said "What the heck!  The rains not going anywhere lets just go".  So we went out into the rain deserting our rain shield and literally 5 minutes later the rain stopped.  Go figure.

We got to see The Reflection Pool.  Was very cool.

Of course we saw the Capital Building.  You would be surprised, or at least I was, at how far apart all this is despite being able to see all of them within each others distance.

After going into New Jersey to see my Aunt and cousins we all took a trip into New York.  A lot more walking and was fun as well as equally exhausting. 

Fun picture of my cousin with Batman.  The fact that she had a Batman shirt on just made it funnier.

 

Couple of pictures from Ground Zero. 

Bright lights of Time Square.

As fun as New York was this was definitely a welcomes sight.  City is way way way to busy for me.  Definitely takes a particular kind of individual to live in that city.

So other than that while trying to figure out some ideas for writing topics I came across this on the wonderful pinterest.  I thought it was pretty neat and I do like some of the ideas listed.

So who knows you may see some of these popping up here and there.

Well I hope you are all doing well.  I have been trying to keep up with everyone despite my lack of posting.  I think I need to do a little reading list clean up.  I find myself searching through my list for particular blogs to read.  =)  I leave you guys with this picture my sister sent me that left me smiling.

Crazy crazy!

So this will likely be a short post but while I have access to a computer I wanted give you all an update.  I am finally home! East Coast back with the bf and all.  Very excited and happy so far it has been a great few days hanging out and sight seeing with my Dad and Brother before they head back to the West.  Was an eventful trip to get here though.  Unfortunately I experienced my first accident while I was the driver.  Luckily no one else was involved and I wasn't hurt.  Going though Texas we hit a really nasty storm and well the car hydroplaned, smacked the back end of the car into the cement guard after it spun a complete 360 and then went across the road (missed traffic thankfully) and ended up in the wash/ditch where the water runs to keep the roads from flooding.  Was super scary and pretty sure the car is totaled but as mentioned I wasn't hurt and neither was anyone else. 

Horrible timing but what can you do?

My computer was damaged in the accident, hense the reason I am having to use someone else's. 

Anyways, moving along to happier things.  So far we have gotten to eat a ton of awesome seafood.  Breakin the whole veggie diet by a lot but I do intend to get back to it once all the sight seeing and running around is done.  We have been to D.C. to see the Washington Monument, Capital Building, and the Reflection Pool.  Also again got some amazing seafood while there that was served in a big paper sack with Old Bay seasoning.  Nom nom nom!  We would have likely seen more while we were there but we got rained out and had to head out soaked from head to toe. 

We also took a trip into New York which was a lot of fun and equally exhausting.  Really fun to go and see but I definitely could not live there.  City is way to busy for me.  I have a ton of pictures to share but will have to wait and see what happens with my computer situation. 

I hope that you are all doing well and that I will be back to posting again soon. 

Fun back home

So today we took a trip up to the mountain.  It was a lot of fun.  I love hanging out with my Cousin K.  Her and I have been close since we were kids.  I am glad that I have been able to spend some time with her before I leave for the east coast.  Sure am going to miss her.  We took a bunch of pictures so I thought that I would share them with you.

So yeah lots and lots of fun with the cousin and the brother.  It was a really good day.  So far being home has been great.  I am really enjoying my time with my Dad and brother.  It has been awesome to see all the work they have done on the yard and they now have chickens as well.  So far they have been cracking me up.  Some of the chickens are really really small compaired to the others and I guess they are going to stay that way.  Some are SUPER FLUFFY as well they are my favorite.

Well anyways it is late here but I wanted to make sure that I gave you all an update.  Hope you are all doing well.  Will try to write again soon.

Just some shout outs.

So I am not sure how many of you will remember but over a year ago I posted about a band called 'Sound of a Smirk'.  For those of you who don't know the lead singer is the son of Sharon over at Plumrose Lane.  It was through her lovely blog that I discovered this amazing artist who I thought was definitely worthy of a shout out.  Well they have come a long way since then.  Now they have released an album and on their facebook page they just announced that they are now on Pandora.  I thought that this was very exciting news.  So big congrats to 'Sound of a Smirk'  for how far they have come.  Their album is great.

So other than that I just wanted to share a song/video that I stumbled upon through a friend on facebook.  I have no idea what possessed me to click on the vid but I am glad that I did.  It is definitely not the style of music that I normally listen to but it is super catchy and I like the message.  Lol.




Well anyways I hope that all of you are doing well and that the weekend is treating you good.

Project

So I have to say that this month has gone by a lot faster than I first thought it would.  The first week was horrible but after I got into the groove of going back to work and also having my sister here to keep me company things went by pretty quick.  I only have two more weeks of work to go and then I will be headed to NM to see my family.  I am getting pretty excited too.  It is going to be really nice having the time to spend with everyone.  I have been missing the bf like crazy that is for sure.  We text almost every day though and have been able to skype and face time a couple of times.  It makes things a bit easier.   

So as I mentioned before I did start a project and have finally finished after taking a little over a two week break but I am very excited to share it with you guys.

A friend of mine wanted to repaint her guest bedroom.  So after looking at a few different ideas this is what we did.

It is really hard to see here but this is where I sketched the outline.

Finally started painting...

All done of the base.

Time for some details...

Sister snapped a pic of me lol.

And the finished result.

I am really really happy with the way that it turned out and it was a ton of fun to do.  So that is also what I have been working on.  Like I mentioned I did take a break from finishing it so it took a while to get done.

The other news that I have is I have decided to go all natural with my hair.  I am likely going to toss my hair dryer and straightener.  No more sulfate shampoos or silcone conditioners, no more washing my hair every single morning because you really aren't supposed to, and no more styling product. 

It has only been about a week but so far I am really happy and loving my hair.  I am also excited about actually finding a way to not mess up my hair at night so that it is actually decent in the morning.

So here is the before picture.  This is right when I decided to make this change and my hair having been washed everyday at that point and has product in it.

Its dry frizzy, poofy, and just messy and this pic is also a good hair day as far as not making an effort to straighten or curl it.

So this picture is after the first wash with my new products which I will list in a bit.

It is definitely more ringlety which I like a lot specially after it completely drys and gets a bit of volume.  I think it helps that I scrunched my hair dry instead of wrapping it.  I also used a T-shirt and not a towel. (because I don't have a microfiber towel.)  I have read a lot that regular towels specially for curly haired curls will pull all the moisture out of your hair and wrapping it pulls out the natural shape of your curls.  

So scrunch scrunch scrunch...

This is second day hair in the next pic....  Definitely a bit of frizz but it is at least doable and I can go out and be seen lol.  Normally if I sleep on my hair it is CRAZY when I wake up in the morning.  I invested in a satin pillowcase though so there is less friction on my hair.  Also instead of braiding, I flipped my head upside down and pulled all my hair HALF way through an elastic band.  That way when I stand up right it is this really high, loose, giant fan bun thing.  I only wrap once so that it will not crease my hair.  So when I wake up in the morning there are a few fallen out strands but for the most part most of the frizz can be tamed with water and curling with my fingers. 

Third day hair was a bit different.  It looked fine at a passing glance but at that point there were more tangles than frizz.  Which I was probably the only one who would have noticed but it made me self conscious, so using my fingers I brushed it out the best I could and then threw it into a clip and called it good. 

Oh and just to throw this out there though I am sure most of you have assumed.  Just because I am not washing my hair does not mean I am not showering.  Totally showering everyday just not washing my hair.

Anyways....

So this is after the second wash...  It does have some "product" in it.  But I was just something I made.  In a 6 oz spray bottle I put about 3 tsps. of conditioner and 5 drops of coconut oil and filled the rest up with water.  When I got out of the shower with my hair still really wet I sprayed it all over and then scrunched my hair dry.

I tried to lighten the photo up the best I could so you could see the curl.  But I am REALLY REALLY happy with how they turned out today.

So anyways enough pictures of me.  But I wanted to show the difference since I have started.  I can see a difference I hope everyone else can to.

So these are the products that I am using...

I use the coconut oil not only for the spray but also for when I am in the shower.  I don't think I am going to use this every single time but to start off I have been.  So when I shower I shampoo and then I scoop this and run it through the length of my hair, avoiding the top and scalp, until it is nice and coated.  Then I add my conditioner on top of it still avoiding scalp and the top bit of my hair.  I haven't really decided whether or not this counter productive or not, to use both products at the same time.  I don't think so because the coconut oil doesn't give your hair that slickness that conditioner does.  So when I use my wide tooth comb to comb out my hair (only time I comb my hair at all) the conditioner really helps to make that easier.  After I have finished combing it out I just let it sit while I finish up my other shower activities.  When I do rinse it out it does take a little bit extra time to get rid of the slightly oily feeling.  It isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be though.  The jar of coconut oil cost me nearly $10 at Walmart and the suave was only $1.50 at Walmart as well.  Which is pretty awesome that the conditioner is a pretty good one and cheap.

Oh and just to throw it out there I am choosing to go silicone free with conditioner because the silicone creates a tubing around your hair that doesn't allow moisture to get in.  I choose to go with the coconut oil over another oil because it seemed like the shower use would be the easiest with it since it has a cream like texture and also because it promotes hair growth.  

This is the shampoo I decided to go with.  This was much harder to find than the conditioner.  All shampoos have sulfate it is nuts.  I was able to find it at Walmart as well though it is a bit expensive at nearly $10.  I am only using it for my scalp though so it should last a while.  This brand also has a line geared towards curly haired girls but it had sulfate in it while this one does not.  Weird.

The reason for no sulfate is because it strips your hair of its natural oils and drys it out.  I am still getting used to it since sulfate is what helps the soap lather.  I am so used to the lather that using this I feel like my hair isn't getting clean even though it is.

So yeah...  Fun stuff.

I hope that you all are doing well.  Sorry that it has been a while since I have posted.  I will try to keep you all updated on the visit with the family.  =)

Oh and I do think it is necessary to say that pretty much all these new products and techniques I discovered from an amazing youtube channel CurlyPenny.  Here is the link to her channel where I got all these great tips.  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD0XqR_pfjolXudnjkeHgIw

Who knew?

So this will just a short little entry since I am not nearly awake enough to download and upload all the pics of my new project for you guys.  I did want to get on and give you all an update though.  So last time I was on here I think I mentioned that we are moving and that the bf and I would be apart for two months while he goes before me and I spend time with my family.  Well plans changed a tiny bit because I was offered a last minute temp job with the family that I used to work for.  I know I have mentioned them on here before they were the last decent job that I had and I ended up being laid off only because one of them was laid off and they could no longer afford a nanny.  Well their new nanny quit last minute so they called and asked if I was available.  Unfortunately with the move I can't work for them long term but I did offer to give them a month so that they had time to find someone new.  It is less time with my family but it is a few extra dollars to go towards the move.  

So end of July I will be headed back to NM to spend my last month with my family and then it will be off to the east coast.  I have to admit this whole time we have been making these plans I kept telling myself that yes it would suck being away from the bf for two months but I could do it no problem.  I can no doubt, but it is A LOT more suckish than I first initially thought it was going to be.  It was like a smack in the face when he left.  Mind you he left at like mid night and I woke up to him getting ready which was just weird.  I mean it was the plan for him to leave early morning and I don't know if it was because I was half asleep but it was horrible.  

Needless to say this first week has drug on at a snail like pace for me.  I know I just need just distract myself and stop focusing on it. 

Well that is all that is going on for right now.  I hope to get on soon and post some pictures of the project I am currently working on.  I am pretty excited about it.   Hope you all have a wonderful Forth of July!