This Crazy Life

Turns out, when you're in school full time and working part time, there's not a whole lot of motivation//time//topics to blog. Some days off are spent trying to catch up with family//friends//life and other days I find all I want to do is absolutely nothing. I suppose I just need to embrace this fact instead of feeling guilty for not blogging as much as I feel I should (just how often is that anyways?).  For this year of working super duper hard I suppose random updates on life and maybe a little inspiration here and there will have to do. 

School:

For the first few months I was absolutely loving my time there. All day every day was spent in a classroom learning all kinds of cuts and colors. I couldn't get enough. As you advance through the curriculum, a good chunk of your time at the school is spent on the floor. I have to fill a certain amount of "quotas" which takes up time, but unless I have clients coming in to see me, it's pretty boring. That fact sucks! At this point in time, I'm trying to keep focused on the reason I'm there and be faithful to this school that I know I'm supposed to be at right now. I did download a countdown app a week or so ago that counts down the days until I'm supposed to graduate. Pathetic, I know. 

There it is in the bottom corner. Oh man that's a lot of days!

Work:

I actually really like my job. It is extremely hard, however, to go to work right after school several days a week. That's a 13 hour day my friends. (Sometimes I do wonder what the heck I'm doing!) I get great benefits working for Apple, and the stock options ain't bad, so for now I'm hanging in there.  

Eric's Work:

Eric is getting more work than he knows what to do with. He's ended up hiring other people to help him get some of this stuff done. As exhausting as it is for him, we're so grateful for the work and for the paychecks! 

LindsayJayne:

We're discovering that editing an EP from miles and miles away takes a bit of time! We have the final round of edits, and the next step is getting it mastered. As soon as that's done, we'll throw a big party to celebrate, and then go from there. Jayne and I are learning - slowly - how to balance both of our crazy schedules (she's busier than me if you can believe it!) with our love for music. We need to find the time to practice and write and play gigs. I sure hope finding that time gets easier...

That's the extent of my life right now. I learning to find joy in the moment instead of wishing this year would go by quickly. I'm the kinda girl that can't wait for whatever is next. That's the type of mindset that robs. Who wants to be miserable waiting for the next big thing all the time? Certainly not me! There's good stuff right now, and I just need to learn how to enjoy it.

Earrings and Lace

I have a love/hate relationship with earrings. 

I go through seasons where I wear them all the time, and buy them all the time...

and then there are seasons, like the one I'm in currently, where NEVER wear them. 

Be that as it may, I still wanted to display them someplace I could see them.

I bought a couple of simple black frames and lace fabric, hot glued the fabric to the back of the frame...

Voila!

 

Toni & Guy Fantasy Mannequin

The fantasy mannequin competition is something that all of the Toni & Guy students who are in their sophomore phase must participate in. The whole class took a little field trip to Hobby Lobby, and some of the professional beauty supply stores in Abq and bought some supplies. I knew that I wanted to do something Edward Scissorhands-y - inspired by the character and the movie. What I didn't want to do was dress my mannequin up as Edward Scissorhands. The competition is all about the hair, and it would've been really easy to get caught up in trying to make my mannequin look like Johnny Depp. 

Originally I wanted to do both an ice sculpture and a shrub sculpture in the hair, but as I started playing with it, I realized that that would have been biting off way more than I could chew, especially since I had never done anything like this before. 

I decided to go with a bird bath shrub sculpted in the hair. I think what really gives it that Tim Burton feel is the hair curled up at the top of the bath sprouting out as "water". I pinned the hair below the sculpture up so that the ends still hung down to give it more of the Scissorhand feel. I also spray colored it black. 

The makeup was actually one of the most challenging parts. I bought some costume makeup at Party City that was made to go on flesh not on plastic mannequin face... 

I opted for more of an interpretation to Ed's makeup as opposed to more literal simply because it was giving me such a hard time : ). 

I'm so proud of how it turned out, and so happy that I won first place! Behold my fantasy mannequin:

Sissy Style

My sister is gorgeous. 

Her style has morphed from non-existent, to skater girl (she literally skateboarded for like 4 years), to scenes, to hippie/bohemian, to the now. 

I would describe the now as, she wears what she likes and I likes what she wears.

I'm starting a new little series, here on the blog, called "Sissy Style".  

Jayne has so graciously let me snap a couple of pictures of her in the morning before she leaves. 

I love the way she dresses. 

Now you will too!

Help!

Alright friends...

It's time for me to get some new glasses. 

I've had the same pair going on four years now, and they've definitely taken a beating!

I mentioned Warby Parker in a previous post, and my love for this website only grows.

Using their home try on program, I selected my five favorite 

pairs to try on at home, and they arrived on Friday. 

I've been wearing them around the house, trying them on for Jayne and Eric (who have completely different favorites making my decision that much harder!), I even wore a pair out to dinner on Saturday.

I CAN'T DECIDE!! 

I've think I've narrowed it down to two pairs, but I'm turning to you, oh lovely blog world, to help me make my final decision. 

Post a comment here on the blog, or on facebook letting me know what you think!

Nails!

I have a thing for doing my nails. And by "thing" I mean I do my nails all the time. It doesn't matter if I did them yesterday, I will do them again today.

My friend Christine, told me about this little teeny salon that does incredible nails. Gel nails.

So, upon her recommendation, I made an appointment and went and got them done.

Oh, don't worry. I fell in love.

Getting your nails "did" can get expensive! So since Christmas time, I reverted back to doing my own. Turns out if you apply multiple (and by multiple I mean 3 or 4) coats, it gives that much sought after gel look. However, it peels off pretty easily. But for someone who loves to do their nails as much as I do, it's really no big deal. (p.s. I bought this confetti top coat from Sephora that I absolutely adore! I used it in both mani's you see below)

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Books on a String

DIY time!

6 or 7 months ago, I was reading one of my favorite blogs written by Chelsea Petaja. The post that day was about her friend's baby nursery. The decor was absolutely adorable, and one of the projects she had done for the nursery caught my eye. 

She had bought some cheap paperback books, folded them various ways and either hung them from the ceiling, or placed them on shelves. 

I went to my nearest thrift store, bought six paperback books and got folding!

You definitely need some patience for this project. It took me a little while to fold all of the pages in all of those books, but the results were well worth it!

I had some twine laying around from a previous project. I hot glued the twine to the spine of each book, and then hung them in our music room. 

 

I love them so much, I should actually make a few more for other rooms in the house!