My Favorite Things Friday #2

I did a post like this back in the spring, but I want to make it a more regular thing! I even thought I had a few drafts of lists half-written, but I can’t seem to find them now… hm. Anyway, maybe we’ll make this a Fridays thing.

Here’s some stuff I’ve been loving lately.

1. Essie Nail Polish

Not gonna lie. I’m kind of mad about this one. Essie nail polish is not cheap. It’s like $8, which seemed ridiculous to me. Until I impulse bought a bottle and found out IT’S WORTH EVERY PENNY. Be warned, you probably will never want to go back to $3 nail polish again. My friend Brittany agrees.

2. MyFitnessPal

My doctor and many friends have raved about this little website/app, but this summer I committed to using it daily during a work-sponsored weight loss challenge, and it is awesome. I guess now is as good of a time as any to say that this summer, through healthy, balanced eating and exercise, I’ve lost 20 pounds. So wahoo and thanks, MyFitnessPal! I plan to keep using this handy tool as I continue to adjust my lifestyle to a more healthy routine now that grad school (slash school in general) is over!

3. The Pioneer Woman’s Iced Coffee

I make this by the gallon and drink it daily. Texas is way too hot in the summer for hot coffee. Iced is the way to go, and if I’m good and limit myself to one generous glass a day, the gallon of coffee concentrate lasts me a good two weeks.

4. Objectify Homeware Clock from Etsy

Greg bought me this clock for my office as a graduation gift, and it is totes adorbs. It was also way more expensive than I would ever pay for a clock, but that’s what boyfriend’s graduation gifts are for. 😉

5. Cat Bank

While we’re on the topic of Greg gifts and office decorations, let’s mention my amazing cat bank. I keep this box of cute on my desk, and the students love it. Greg got it for me for my birthday!

6. NYX Eyebrow Pencil in Taupe

I’ve never been committed to an eyebrow pencil before, but now I am. I got mine secondhand from a coworker trying to simplify/eliminate her beauty product stash, and now I’m addicted.

7. Downtown Abbey

I jumped on the Abbey train this summer, and I do not regret it at all. Even after the season 3 finale. *tear*

8. Audrey Assad

Check her out on Spotify, y’all.

9. This American Life

If you’re not familiar with This American Life, it’s a weekly podcast that focuses on American stories based on a theme each week. Theme range from “Summer Camp” to “Red vs Blue” to “Loop Holes” and cover human interest stories, poetry, fiction, comedy, and news reporting. Subscribe and give it a listen or check out TAL’s favorites to get you started.

10. $0.87 Map Coasters

I made a version of this DIY craft for Greg, and it cost me a grand total of $0.87. I should have made a tutorial! I used Google Map printouts from the places Greg and I have lived during our friendship and relationship over the past 15 months. Best/thriftiest sentimental gift ever.

That’s all for now! Subscribe or check back for more Favorite Things Fridays posts in the future!

Pulling a Felicity

So a few weeks I just randomly decided to chop off all my hair. Okay, that’s not entirely true. I mean, I thought about it for several days, but I pretty much decided I would do it when the thought popped into my hair head. Sometimes I can be semi-impulsive.

In general I just tend to chop my hair off, grow is out for 2ish years, and then cut it again. I can tell you exactly when the last few majors haircuts in my life have been because of this trend. (Winter break of my freshman year of college and Thanksgiving break of my senior year of college, in case you were wondering.) So my layers and style had kind of grown out since my last big chop was 19 months ago. I mean, I’ve gotten trims since then, but it was time for a change.

The infamous Felicity hair SNAFU

I wouldn’t say I pulled a Felicity (don’t worry; my hair isn’t that short!), but it’s true that this past spring semester was a pretty rough time, and this summer has kind of marked the end of a difficult season in my life. So how better to commemorate it then with a big hair change?

I also decided to go out on a limb and get my hair cut here in Oregon rather than waiting to go back to Texas. I wanted to give someone other than the stylist who’s cut my hair for 20+ years (crazy right?!) a chance to look me over and give me a new look. I don’t think the stylist ended up doing anything revolutionary (she did what I asked: she took my Pinterest board of prospective cuts and made it work), but I like the end result. I wouldn’t say I’m in love with it or anything, but I’m happy to have some dead ends, length, and weight off my shoulders.

So without further ado…

Before

Lame mirror shot… should have tried MySpace style, obvs!

After

The new do!

 What do you think?

Pretty flowers, pretty girls

So remember a few weeks back when I posted about how great Texas springs are? About how beautiful the wild flowers are? And how I didn’t have any actual real-life photos to show you? Well, now I do! I had two photo shoots in the wildflowers this spring: one with my homegroup (aka my CStat family) and one with my roommates (aka my CStat sisters)!

Take a look! All of the photos were snapped by our dear friend, Blanche. You should definitely check out her stuff. The homegroup photos were taken on my friend Barclay‘s camera, and he edited those. Blanche edited the roommate photos. Needless to say, I have some talented photographer friends!

Shockwave: my homegroup family
(Photo by Blanche Jacobson; editing by Barclay Bell IV)

We're a little weird. Notice my "silly pose" is one of dispair because I *hate* silly photos.
(Photo by Blanche Jacobson; editing by Barclay Bell IV)

Homegroup ladies!
(Photo by Blanche Jacobson; editing by Barclay Bell IV)

Being goofy
(Photo by Blanche Jacobson; editing by Barclay Bell IV)

The ladies of the Den
(Photo and editing by Blanche Jacobson)

Love the focus on this one!
(Photo and editing by Blanche Jacobson)

This is seriously my fave. Holy cow I love these girls.
(Photo and editing by Blanche Jacobson)

Miss Kelsey
(Photo and editing by Blanche Jacobson)

Miss Jennifer
(Photo and editing by Blanche Jacobson)

Tehe... an awesome play on my roommate and her fiance's last names.
They got engaged this past weekend!
(Photo and editing by Blanche Jacobson; cropping and text added by me!)

Also can we talk about how freaking gorgeous my friends are?

Dangit, Target.

You know, parts of this summer have been long. For example, the 12 Freshmen and three Transfer New Student Conferences I’ve worked.

I’ve given the same 2-minute parent check-in spiel approximately 1500 times (actually a pretty accurate estimate) this summer.*

I’ve also answered the same questions a bazillion times (imaginative estimate).**

That being said, I don’t mean to complain at all. My job is pretty much the best thing I could have ever asked for. There are just parts of my summer job description that are a little… repetitive (i.e. counting and double T-shirts every day).

So as the summer’s winding down, I’m pretty dang excited to take a few days off and head up to Colorado for a long weekend. In preparation for the trip, I went to Target today with a mission: buy new earbuds.

My 4-year-old iPod’s earbuds have been in sad shape for a while. I bought new ones last spring, only to loose the smaller cushions that actually fit my ears properly before I could change them for the cushions that came on the earbuds. So they were constantly falling out of my ears, but I made do. Until I lost an ear cushion. So then I would listen through one bud. All in all, it was a janky mess. So with a few plane and car rides ahead of my, I decided to finally suck it up and spend the $20 for new earbuds that fit properly.

But of course, you really can’t go into Target and only buy one thing. In the words of my e-migos:

Gwen's not actually an e-migo because we went to Mizzou together, but we've mostly interacted online.

Kate, however, is the paragon of an e-migo.

So yes. I ended up getting much more than earbuds. But you know what? It’s okay because everything I got is either very functional, fills a need I had or is a little treat for me surviving the repetitive parts of the past nine weeks.

my Target spoils

1. a cross-body bag
I adore cross-body bags. I’m not a huge purse-girl, but I do like to have something to stick my keys, wallet and phone in on occasion. I just like to have my hands free, and cross-body bags are perfect for this! I have an adorable teal cross-body bag just big enough for my phone, wallet and keys, but when I have a book (like when I don’t want to play laser tag) (or my Bible and journal for church), my only alternative is a brown Jansport bag. Although it’s the perfect size for stashing books, it’s not very fancy or grown-up looking. It’s pretty much a mini backpack. So when I saw this cross-body bag the minute I walked into Target, I knew I had to have it. It’s the perfect size and look for my new semi-professional life. Love.

2. earbuds
What I came in for, and they fit like a dream!

3. affordable nail polish in the summer’s hottest color.

Catherine is a fellow Mizzou J-School alum and an editorial assistant at Allure Magazine. I trust her beauty knowledge. And although my polish isn't Essie, it's the same color at half the price.

4. a tiny cosmetic bag
I have been pining after a tiny bag for hair accessories when I travel. This one’s the perfect size. Check!

So dangit, Target. You got me this time, but I forgive you. It’s the little things.

And with that, I’m off to Colorado and leaving my laptop behind. I’m pretty excited to be in the mountains, see my sister, hang out with my family, catch up with my friends and spend some time reading for fun!

See you later next week!

*“Howdy! I have a few things for you today. First off, this is a family calendar. It lists important dates such as when classes start, when breaks begin and other important dates like that that you might want to know. Next, I have our conference schedule. If you open up to the inside, we have our Day 1 and Day 2 schedule. Anything with a black dot next to it is mandatory for students. And then here on the back is a check list of some important things you might want to take care of before you leave tomorrow. Next, I have a sign up sheet for our Family Member Listserv. This is a monthly email newsletter, so if you’d like to receive that, you can fill it out and return it to the Help Desk. And then this is a flier for our New Family Welcome Weekend. It’s the weekend of the Baylor football game, so if you’d like to come back and visit your student that weekend, you can read over the flier and register for our social events online or at the Help Desk. If you need tickets to tonight’s Family Dinner or tomorrow’s Howdy Lunch, you can get those in the lines to the right or at the doors of the event. We also have parent name tags by the elevators on the way out. Any questions?”

** The Questions:

• Where is the Rudder Theater? (Go around the corner to your left. Go up the stairs, and it will be on your left.)
  
• Where is the Rudder Auditorium? (On your right.)
• Where is the help desk? (In the middle of the Zone and also in Rudder.)
• Where can I buy lunch tickets? (I just told you you could buy them in the lines to your right or at the doors of the events. Ok, I don’t actually say, “I already told you…” I’m polite and cheerful!)
• Where is 601 Rudder? (Take the elevator to the sixth floor.)
• Where is the financial aid office? (It’s in the Pavilion, right next to the SCC.)
• How do I get to the Student Computing Services? (Go out the doors and take a left. Follow the street as it curves to the left and to the right. This building here is a greenhouse. Turn left there and it should be on your right.)
• How mandatory are these programs exactly? (Well, you will be held responsible for knowing all the information given in the mandatory sessions, so you should go.)

Catch a wave

I have been trying for some time now to embrace my natural hair texture. It’s not quite straight, but not quite curly. I guess it’s wavy. But it’s also very unpredictable. Sometimes I let it air dry and I look like a wavy-hair ginger super model. Other times I rock what the girls in my high school youth group liked to call the Girl Scout Wave*.

But seriously, fighting the natural wave takes time and effort. It takes blow drying and straightening and waking up to shower in the morning, and I’m just not that dedicated to do that all the time. On top of that, because my natural hair texture isn’t straight, one hint of humidity will return it to its Girl Scout Wave state.

So I’ve decided to try my best to embrace the wave. Sometimes it looks good, just showering and letting it air dry. But I often find it gets frizzy or my waves aren’t defined enough. But then I try some sort of “curl enhancing” hair product and my hair looks crispy and heavy.

So I’m taking a stand. Last night I bought nine “curl enhancing” products. Yes, nine.

Now before you go all, “You spent (x amount of money) on all of that?!” I’ll let you know that I talked to the good people of Walgreen’s before I made my purchase, and they assured me I could return all the products after I tried them once or twice. So don’t freak.

So this week I shall test all nine products and find what works best for me. My mission: find a product that gives me the best-looking defined, natural, frizz-free waves without feeling crispy. I’ll let you know what I find out! Stay tuned…

Do you have a favorite wave-enhancing hair product? Any other wavy-haired tips?

*The Girl Scout Wave is that uneven, not cute, awkward wave that most elementary-school-aged girls wear for a while until they realize it’s “not cool.” I have discovered it’s still not cool in college.