Where do I sign up for this?

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Welcome to 2011

I have never had very pretty eyelashes. My mom has shorter, straighter lashes, so I got them too. Of course Katie has long lashes and when she wears mascara they look amazing. I have spent so much money on the "newest" mascara, "voluminous" mascara, "telescopic" mascara... and none of them work. I just have to deal with the fact that I have little baby lashes that are straight and that's that.

Well no more!

Welcome to 2011 where you can literally pay to have eyelash extensions applied to your lashes. It's a pretty long process. Takes about an hour to and hour and a half, but the results are definitely worth it. They can last up to two months and the best part is, you don't ever have to wear mascara!

I have always wanted to become an eyelash extensionist, but it's expensive to take classes, and I just never made it happen. Luckily, The Nature Company had plans for me. My owner, Martha, decided she wanted me and the other esthy, Brittany, to learn. Viola! The fruits of my labors!

Mary's eyelashes before extensions

Mary's eyelashes after extensions

Patricia's eyelashes before

Patricia's eyelashes after

Erin's eyelashes before

Erin's eyelashes after

I love doing eyelash extensions. I'm such a meticulous person, I love the fact that I get to make my guest's eyelashes look perfect. And everyone is always so happy and excited after getting them, it makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside. I have to do 10 more models until I can begin charging full price... which I won't even say on here because it's expensive. But I like the title "extensionist". It sounds very fancy. I think I'll keep it.

It's begun...

Ladies and gentleman, may I introduce to you THE MOST ADDICTING GAME IN THE WORLD! Oh yes, my friends, for a small fee of five to eight dollars, plus and Xbox, you can have hours of entertainment at your fingertips! Play with friends or just by yourself and you battle through alien infested swamps, libraries, and control rooms. Customizable options mean you can never play the same way twice! Come and get yours today!

*Note: Results may vary depending on how well you aim. Microsoft cannot be held accountable for hours of your life you may lose playing this game, as well as hours of sleep you might not receive from playing said game. Questions or concerns? Just turn the dang thing off. You've been playing too much anyway.

Ander and I have finally started playing Halo... need I say more?

DIY fun paper ornament

This fun little guy took me a little while, but it was definitely worth it. I found the tutorial here. I really love this lady's blog, she has the cutest ideas. I really loved making my own ornament. I did exactly what she told me, except I glued the rubber bands to the actual ornament, just in case there was any slippage. I would love to make these into lanterns somehow, but I haven't quite figured out how to make that happen.

And on a happy note, I made this the other night for dinner. (This is for you mom)

This, my friends, is what my mom and I named Macaroni Special when I was little. It used to be my favorite dinner in the whole world! Box of macaroni noodles, spaghetti sauce, and hamburger. I hadn't eaten it in a long time. *sigh* I love the taste of nostalgia...

OCDog

I have come to the realization that my dog has OCD. I love May-May, she's is basically like a child to me, but I've noticed that sometimes she does strange things...

Case #1: Her food dish

Her food bowl has two places to put food. It's the one we used for her when she was a puppy, water in one side, food in the other. Now we just fill both sides with food. May-May will not touch the food until both sides are full. If ONE side is empty, and the other is completely full, she still won't touch the food. She paws at the bowl and moves it all over the kitchen until we fill the other side.

Case #2: Things MUST be in they're rightful places

I finally finished my headband holder a little while back, and after it was finally done, I set it in our room on my vanity, turned out the lights and walked out. About a half hour later, I hear May-May begin barking back in our bedroom. She was barking like crazy, so I literally thought someone was hiding in our bedroom. When I went in there with her, she was staring at my headband holder. I put it on the ground and she started barking again, jumping around the holder like it was about to bite her. She finally got up the courage to come and sniff it, and once she did, she was fine. I had to have her watch me put it away so she knew it belonged there. She's never had a problem with it since.

The same thing happened when I moved a trash can to prop a door open. She freaked out at the trash can almost giving me a heart attack in the process. Once I moved the trash can back to where it normally was she was perfectly fine.

Case #3: Potty

May-May has a really hard time going potty quickly. She circles the ground at LEAST 10 times before finally squatting. Each time she circles she moves either left or right, and watching her it seems and though she literally is trying to find the right spot that feels good to her so she can do her business. This drives me insane because I'll spend 10 minutes outside with her just waiting for her to find her "spot".

Needless to say, May-May is weird. I love her, she's my baby, but she's so weird sometimes! None of these quirks can really be fixed, either. We just have to take her the way she is, warts and all.

Transitioning

So here we are, in November. This year has flown by so quickly I can hardly believe it. So many wonderful and interesting things have happened in 2010. But back to my point, the holidays are right around the corner (four weeks until Thanksgiving, eight until Christmas!) and I have entered into a new chapter in my life. No, no little babies yet, but I have found myself in a new job and a new church calling.

I've been struggling for a long time at Bradz salon as their esthy. I was there for two years and I felt like the longer I was there the worse I was treated. There was also a lot of pressure on me since I was the only esthy they had, so I had to be there all the time. When I found out the owners were divorcing in June I decided to give them until October to see how well things worked out. At the end of September I realized that it just wasn't working and things were going from bad to worse. But around that time, I came across a pretty good job offer. I interviewed and Martha, the owner, offered me the job on the spot. Problem was, they weren't opening for another four weeks, so I kept my mouth shut and finished up at Bradz and gave them a week's notice. I am now officially an employee at The Nature Company Salon & Spa!We're new, but we're making things happen. I'm really enjoying my coworkers and my owner, they're all really wonderful. I also love the fact that I'm working with another esthy! I AM NOT ALONE!! It's nice to have backup in case one of us is sick, or needs vacation time. And I really love my esthy coworker. Her name is Brittany and we get along really, really well. And the BEST part about my new job is the fact that I work 2pm to 7pm every day except Sundays and Wednesdays so I get to spend my mornings with Ander! And last but not least, I'll be working less hours and making more money than I was at Bradz. AMAZING!

And secondly, I've been released as Primary Chorister in my ward. I've been doing it for almost two years! I couldn't believe it when they told me, but I knew in my heart it was time to move on. I love those darling kids though, I will miss them terribly. This last Sunday I announced that I wasn't going to be the chorister anymore to my kids and I sent two little girls into tears. One of them was crying so hard she had to be led out of the room. It was absolutely heartbreaking! After my singing time in both Junior and Senior primary I told them all that I would be open for hugs if anyone wanted one. How do I explain? TIDAL. WAVE. OF. CHILDREN. I received hugs from every single child after singing time. I couldn't believe the love those children had for me! I had no idea! I kept telling them that I wasn't dropping off the face of the earth, I'd still see them in the halls, and when they saw me they'd better say hello. After church was over the entire CTR 5 class came into the Primary room and handed me thank you cards. Then the CTR 6 class came and gave me little paper hearts with music notes on them. It was strange that I never felt the need to cry, because the entire day was very touching. I love those kids and would do anything for them. I hope they do keep saying hello to me in the halls because I will miss them a lot. Sort of getting emotional just typing it...

So what am I now, you ask? I've been called as a Mia Maid advisor! And can I be honest? I'm really excited! Some friends of mine who have since moved out of my ward used to be in our Young Women as advisors and they said we have a fantastic group of girls. Mia Maids: 14 and 15 year olds. I'm stoked! I keep praying every night that I'll be a good example to them and that they'll enjoy having me as an advisor. I get to go to my first mutual tomorrow night and I am really looking forward to it! I knew it was only a matter of time until I got called into Young Womens', I think it's going to be a blast!

This time of year is my favorite. I love the holidays, I love the music, I love the feeling in the air, I love spending time with friends and family, and now I have two new things to look forward to. Hooray for the holidays of 2010!

Another Halloween come and gone

This was the first year I've ever gone to a Trunk-or-Treat, and let me tell you: IT WAS AWESOME! Our ward's Trunk-or-Treat was held on October 30th at our church, and EVERYONE was there, including Sister Meine! Katie pulled a great last-minute costume together with the help of Goodwill and some black eye liner pencils. I donned my Wild Thing Max costume and we were off.

Everyone thought I was a rabbit, or a cat. Wrong. I had to explain to everyone who I was, but once they knew they were pretty impressed.

We aren't quite sure what Katie was supposed to be... a dead... beauty queen... ex-girlfriend of some kind.

After the Trunk-or-Treat Katie and I ran home so I could change into my next costume for the next party we were heading to. Ander came home from work just in time to go with us, so he dressed up as a Professional B. A. S. S. Fisherman. Go figure. It was too dark to really take any pictures there since it was outside, but we took these when we got home.

In case you can't tell, I'm a low-resolution picture. I'm all pixels. And it's so cool because from far away, like the picture below, I really do look pixelated.

And one last dramatic pose for the evening:

We had a lot of fun that night. We were also exhausted when we got home. I think all of us slept like babies. A fabulous night of good food, good friends, dress up, and spooks. Happy Halloween everyone!

Hot punkins!

Ander didn't work tonight, and neither did me or Katie, so we decided to carve out pumpkins! Ander and I sort of cheated, since we used stencils we found on the homestarrunner.com website, but Katie drew hers on her own. We had a lot of fun sitting around our table giving our pumpkins lobotomies while listening to Halloween music on Pandora radio. Check us out!

And ta-dah! Ander's is the one on the far left, mine is in the middle, and Katie's is on the right. I have to say, we were all pretty proud of our pumpkin carving skills!

And of course, this cute pic of two of my favorite beings ever to sum it all up.

The Sparrow

One of the most interesting, intriguing books I have ever read. Amazing story. I had to tell you all about it. I loved it.

A little extra cash and a monster on our porch

This month both me and Ander's car registrations are due, AND I have a parking ticket fine I have to pay. Yuck. This month is going to be really, REALLY tight. It happens, sometimes. Things pile up and you have to find little extra ways of making money. Some people go through their couches for extra change. I do this:

We bought this little guy for six dollars at Goodwill and decided to give it a go. We stuck with the music note theme since we have tons of leftover brown paint from my other dresser. This little gem sold for $75 on craigslist.org. Ahh, success! We've already started another Goodwill dresser.

As for the monster on our porch: back in February my mother-in-law sent me a TopsyTurvy Tomato planter for my birthday. I was so excited because I absolutely love tomatoes and now I could grow them for myself right out on our porch! It would be so lovely!

I was so excited because I absolutely love tomatoes and now I could grow them for myself right out on our porch! It would be so lovely!

This is what we have now. I 15 foot long tomato plant hanging from our porch ceiling that hasn't given us one single tomato. TELL ME HOW THAT WORKS?

He's very healthy, and apparently doesn't believe he needs to have babies. I think we should just throw the whole thing away and start over but Ander refuses to take it down. So, now we get awkward looks from people that walk by our apartment and see the monster of a plant we have growing upside down.

I also wanted to add this picture here, just because I love it so much

Love me some May-Merz

The best two years

Ander and I have now been in Austin for two whole years! I can't belIEVE how fast the time has flown by! I absolutely love it here in Austin and I can't imagine myself anywhere else. I love the weather, I love our ward, I love the scenery, I love the people, I love our apartment, I love everything! But I've just come to find that in the last two years, I have accomplished something quite wonderful. Over the last two years here in Austin I have read 90 different novels. I really owe it to the fact that we don't have TV in our home. I spend my time reading and playing video games. (which sounds insanely nerdy to me) Although I've now added decoupage to my hobbies, but I still prefer to read when I have the time. I know it's lame, but I put together a list of all the books I've read so far. I love this list. It really makes me happy: (I put asterisks next to the books I absolutely loved)

1984 by George Orwell

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

Animal Farm by George Orwell

The Annotated Alice: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

The Bone Collector by Jeffery Deaver

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak******

The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut*

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

The City of Ember by Jeanne DePrau

Congo by Michael Crichton

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

The Unabridged Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Dune by Frank Herbert*

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynn Truss

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card*

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer*

The Help by Kathryn Stockett*

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The Houng of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak*

In the Country of Last Things by Paul Auster

Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk

Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton*

Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger

Life of Pi by Yann Martel*

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

The Lost World by Michael Crichton

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh Robert C. O’Brien

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Mystic River by Dennis Lehane*

The Nanny Diaries by Emma MchLaughlin

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Paper Towns by John Green

Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingslover

The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Sabriel by Garth Nix

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Secret History by Donna Tartt*

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut*

Someday my Prince Will Come: True Adventures of a Wannabe Princess by Jerramy Fine

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell*

Speaker for the Dead Orson Scott Card

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Stories by Robery Louis Stevenson

Tales From Watership Down by Richard Adams

The Tales of Beetle the Bard by J. K. Rowling

Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield*

The Time Machine by H. G. Wells

Timeline by Michael Crichton

The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno: A Novel by Ellen Bryson

Treasure Island by Robery Louis Stevenson

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien

The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen*

Watership Down by Richard Adams*

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Xenocide by Orson Scott Card

And the list will continue throughout the years, I can assure you. I would like to thank my brother Joe for letting my borrow Dracula in October of 2008, which got me on my reading kick. I hope it never stops. Thanks Joe xoxo

We don't have bugs because...

Apparently we have Tarantulas around our apartment. We found another one outside our apartment that had been smashed by someone too just a week or two earlier. I told Ander to take this one down to South Austin and let him go in a lake but he said if we'd found two, there were obviously more living around here, so we let this guy go. Don't ask me how I did it, but I stood there and watching him crawl away from us. Oh well, I guess it's because of these guys I never really see bugs around, and let's be honest: a guy this size would have to knock on the door to get into our house.

Earrings and headbands and flowers, oh my!

I love dangling earrings. I rarely ever wear studs. But I've had so many pairs for so long I started running out of places to store them all! Thankfully my crafty friend Amber came to the rescue with an idea she found on the webernets. It's actually quite easy. All you need is:

1 Picture frame of your choice, preferably a larger one

1/4 yard of netting, whatever color you wish

6 thumbtacks

Pretty scrapbook paper or paint

And you get this!

How perfect is that? I now have more space on my vanity for the things that actually go there. What a blessing!

Now for another fun and crafty storage idea. I have a bunch of headbands that totally come in handy on bad hair days. But it is such a pain to have them all jumbled in a pile in my bathroom drawer! Here's my solution:

You can use anything cylindrical for this project. A Quaker Oats container is probably your easiest bet. My friend Amber and I made them from these cylinders we found at Home Depot. It's such a nice way to store headbands so they don't fly all over the place when you're looking for a color you want.

And in honor of all craftiness, Katie and I decided to start taking hair-bow making into our own hands. We've started with cinched ribbon hair-bows. You can find the tutorial here. We had a lot of fun making these cuties:

And in conclusion to this cutesy post, I bring you this little heartwarming moment courtesy of Katie and the May-Merz

It looks like Katie is reading a story to May-May. I thought it was darling. <3

Living on a prayer

It's been a while since I've blogged. I apologize. These last couple of week have been a strange time in my life. I feel changed coming and I'm not sure whether I'm prepared for them.

I think it's time I found a new job. Without going into too much detail, my salon is sort of falling apart. Brad and Kay, the owners, are divorcing and it's making everything crazy. I've been going back and forth for a while now trying to decide if I should stay or go, but I haven't really made a decision until just a few days ago. I decided it's time I left Bradz and moved on. I have to stay in the downtown area since that's where my clientel is based, but that's okay. I'm sure I can find something. I don't know where I'm going or when quite yet, but I do know that it's time for me to move on.

I also decided the other day that I was going to just take the nail tech tests and get my nail license here in Austin. How hard can it be? I just have to do a little bit of acrylic and a couple of other things and I should pass the tests. I went and bought an acrylic nail starter kit that had everything I need to practice and take the test. I practiced on Katie last night and while I'm definitely not the best, I believe I can fake it well enough to pass the practical exam. Acrylics are a lot harder than they look, actually. The video from my starter kit makes it look so easy, but they really aren't. Once I receive my nail license I want to work someplace that offers nails, waxing, and facials. I learned how to give manicures and pedicures when I was in school so I might as well do them along with my waxing and facials....

Which brings me to another point: I don't want to work at the Lake Austin Spa Resort anymore. I KNOW! I'm crazy right? Well, here's my reasoning. I'm tired of facials. They aren't my passion. I know I give good facials, but I don't like doing them anymore. I used to love them, until Brad started giving my half priced facials all weekend long and burned me out. And if I work at the Lake Austin Spa, that's basically ALL I'll be doing. It's a luxurious spa. I want to work at a day spa. I'm an extremely social person and facials are not social. I respect my clients and give them peace and quiet, but then I'm left alone with my own thoughts for an hour... or more when I have multiple facials back to back. I hardly speak to anyone and it's beginning to wear down on me. I love waxing because I get to chat with my clients, and I become friends with them. I know about their kids, their jobs, their boyfriends or husbands (or wives, I do have a couple male clients). They come in to see me about once a month and they update me on all that's going on in their life. We're friends on Facebook and I feel like I am part of their lives. It's a wonderful feeling! I don't know, it's kind of hard to explain, but since I started working at Bradz my goals and aspirations have changed and it really took me by surprise.

So I've started actively looking for someplace else to work. Wish me luck, job hunting is hard. I know I can find something if I really put my mind to it. Oh, and P.S. None of this should be mentioned on Facebook. I HAVE to be friends with my boss on there and if she found out over Facebook that I was looking for another job she'd be furious.... thanks friends.

I Am the Messenger

Markus Zusack. My love. My favorite. My escape. I love the way he writes. And he's done it again with his book I Am the Messenger. Almost as good as The Book Thief, but not quite. Such a wonderful story. Had me guessing all the way to the end. How heartwarming. Don't be surprised if your Christmas card this year is a playing card. I'm inspired.

Remember the Alamo!... and the rest of San Antonio!

While our Madre was here we decided to take one day and drive down to San Antonio to finally see the famous Alamo!

It was freakishly hot, but we managed pretty well. By the end of the day I felt like my face might have melted off though...

We're cheesy picture posers

That's one giant cactus behind us

It was amazing to me how much the road across from the Alamo reminded me of the cheesiness of Niagra Falls. Tons of stupid little Ripley's Believe It Or Not wax museums and rides, virtual reality tomb raiding rides, and gift shops that were ridiculously overpriced. I thought Texas might have just a little more pride than that to put those stupid things across from the Alamo, but I was wrong.

Fun house mirrors: gotta love 'em. We only used the mirror up at the front of the fun house... we didn't pay the 20$ per person to go inside.

Biggest dinosaur robot I've ever laid eyes on

I loved these bar stools at the Rainforest Cafe on the Riverwalk

Someday I will have this chandelier hanging in my house.

Are we sisters or what?

And a little something interesting. When we got home that day my mom took May-May potty and found these little baby bunnies right outside of our apartment! They were just hanging out by this tree all by themselves. They were so cute I told Ander to catch them so we could have them as pets, but Ander said we should leave them alone so their mother could find them. They were adorable!