Happiness Is: Halloween

I hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween weekend! I didn't carve a pumpkin this year, but if I did, this is what it would have looked like:

{Pumpkin image from Google Images, Weddingbee bee image poorly drawn in Illustrator by me}

I still don't know if or what we're doing for Halloween on Saturday, but I've got a (boring, store bought) costume. Tonight we have a friend's birthday party to go to, that's not Halloween themed, and Sunday we'll be giving out candy to the 30 or so kids in our neighborhood. It will be the first Halloween in a couple years that we'll actually be home to hand out candy!

Have a safe and fun weekend!

Concert for a Cause

Last weekend we had the pleasure to attend a beautiful wedding on Saturday (which I won’t post about, but you can follow her recaps here). I was a good little blogger friend and uploaded about 340 pictures and 10 videos for them to enjoy while they wait for their pro pics to come back.

Then on Sunday we went to an amazing (but wet!) concert, to benefit The Bridge School. This was the 24th year this benefit concert has been organized by Neil Young, to support a school that is doing wonderful things for disabled children.

From the Bridge School’s website:

The Bridge School is a non-profit organization whose mission is to ensure that individuals with severe speech and physical impairments achieve full participation in their communities through the use of augmentative & alternative means of communication (AAC) and assistive technology (AT) applications and through the development, implementation and dissemination of innovative life-long educational strategies. The Bridge School is an internationally recognized leader in the education of children who use augmentative and alternative communication and has developed unique programs and trained highly skilled professionals in the use of state of the art assistive technology.

A ton of artists came together to put on a show for us, in support of The Bridge School:

- Buffalo Springfield
- Pearl Jam
- Elton John & Leon Russell
- Elvis Costello
- Ralph Stanley
- Neko Case
- Jeff Bridges
- Kris Kristofferson
- Modest Mouse
- Grizzly Bear
- And of course, Neil Young performed a few songs too.

A few photos from our wet afternoon and evening, although I couldn't take many with the on and off rain showers. Lots of umbrellas and rain gear!

Modest Mouse on the projector screen:

Some of the children from the Bridge School got a great seat, right on stage:

We were pretty much soggy and wet the entire 6 hour concert, thankfully I'd brought a hat and umbrella, although the plastic ponchos our friends wore would have been better!

Just look at those ominous clouds!

Elvis Costello:

Elton John & Leon Russell:

And the highlight (for me) was Pearl Jam, although by then it was dark, so I couldn't get any good pictures.

Although I did get a (poor quality) video:

I loved the Halloween lights between acts:

And the show ended with Buffalo Springfield:

Well, technically the show ended with Neil Young, but we wanted to beat the crowd, so took off at the end of Buffalo Springfield.

Have you ever been to a benefit concert before? Did you enjoy it more because you knew your ticket price was going to a good cause? I know I sure did!

Meatloaf!

Here is another super easy recipe, courtesy of my lovely MIL. I love that this only takes 5 minutes of prep time, and makes enough for a couple nights of dinner!

Ingredients:

1 to 1.5 lbs ground beef

¼ onion, chopped
¼ green pepper, chopped
3 slices of bread, cut up
2 eggs
1 8oz can of tomato sauce
A few squirts of ketchup
1 squirt of mustard
A few dashes of Worcestershire sauce
A few dashes of salt and pepper
A few dashes of garlic powder
Sprinkle of cheddar cheese
French’s French Fried Onions

Preheat oven to 350.

Directions:

Mix all ingredients except the cheese and french fried onions together in a big bowl, then put in a cooking spray coated bread loaf pan. Top the meatloaf with a sprinkle of cheese and then a drizzle of ketchup. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes, then remove and gently drain the grease off the top. Top with French’s French Fried Onions, and bake an additional 10 minutes.

(the hubs actually prefers it when I only put the french fried onions on the part we're going to eat that night, he claims they get soggy the next day)

Another fun variation is to give the meatloaf a more southwestern flavor, by using chopped red and yellow peppers instead of green peppers, and top with salsa instead of the drizzle of ketchup and fried onions. Just put the salsa on top before the last 10 minutes of cooking.

Have you gotten any great recipes from your in-laws?

I Want This For My Holiday Table

Yes, I know, it's not even Halloween yet, but I'm already drooling over winter holiday decor. And I want this for my holiday table:

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I love winter decorations that have longevity and can work for multiple holidays. The crisp winter whites, bright hints of blue, and subtle greens and greys make me swoon! And hello, chandeliers!

Too bad I never do much holiday decorating, considering we never host or have anyone over to see...it kinda seems like too much work if it's just for us (or really, just for me). Our outdoor Christmas lights is about as much as we do, and that's only because I like to put them on a timer so I don't have to pull up to a dark house after work.

Oh well, someday, when we own a house, I'll finally feel like it's worth my time to decorate. Someday....

Is anyone else drooling over winter decorations already?

Happiness Is: Mountains!

I still need to write about our amazing trip last weekend, to the Colorado Rocky Mountains. But in the meantime, here's a teaser...just look at those mountains and those clouds, just a gorgeous part of our country!

But instead of blogging this weekend, I'll have the privilege of attending the Perpetual Party Planner's wedding, which will be amazing. I'm so excited to see all the little details of her wedding come together, after all, I've been following her blog for over a year now! And on Sunday we have a concert to attend with our wedding officiant friend, and I'm crossing my fingers that the 30-40% chance of rain this weekend doesn't happen, both for Kim's wedding's sake, and the fact that the concert on Sunday is outside!

Does anyone else have a busy weekend planned? And please keep your fingers crossed for Kim that there's no rain on her wedding day!

Wedding Guest Outfit and Fall Wardrobe Update for Under $500

About a week and a half ago I spent my lunch break at the mall. I really needed a new outfit for a certain someone's wedding coming up this weekend. Usually most of the weddings I go to take place in the summer, where I can just wear one of my many sundresses, but I needed a little something nicer for this fall wedding.

This is what I found, a grey dress and pink necklace and earrings, which I'll pair with a black cardigan and pink and black pumps that I already own:

(Dress from H&M on sale for $24.95, necklace $19.99 and earrings 50% off for $7.49, both from New York & Co)

But then, since I was already at the mall, I couldn't resist the sales for a few updates to my wardrobe for fall! Some new cardigans from New York & Co and Old Navy:

Button up fitted shirts with puffy sleeves and ruffled wrap shirts with a cute bird print from H&M:

Three new fitted dresses for work from H&M, two of which came with belts (the third one I was wearing in one of last week's hair posts):

And a few more accessories, since I couldn't resist the buy one get one 50% off sale on jewelry at NY&Co:

All of this, plus a white tank top that I didn't bother taking a picture of for $469.93, including the 9.25% tax ($286.34 at H&M, $139.35 at NY&Co, and $43.70 at Old Navy)! Not too bad for a fall wardrobe update! I can't wait for the weather to cool a little more so I can start pairing my new sweaters with pencil skirts and knee high boots, and bust out my scarf collection.

Have you given into the temptation of all the fall clothes sales yet?

Hair Update!

So, my hair has officially been "post wedding chopped" by about 6 inches. It's fixed, and good enough. Not what I wanted, but hopefully in a year it will be.

Anyway, since it is now a PWC, I decided to post it for Weddingbee. Blogger is taking forever to upload pictures right now, so I'll just link over to my other post. You can scroll down to the bottom see the pics of my fixed hair.

It's better, right? Too short, but at least I'm not ashamed to go in public.

Happiness Is: A Day Off Work!

I'm sure this is how I'm going to be feeling all day, because I have the day off! (You're jealous, I know.)

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Much needed freedom, because I've had a really rough week. The good news is that I think my hair is ok now, and I'll be sharing pics soon, once I have a chance to take them! In other good news, we have a jam-packed fun weekend ahead, and I can't wait. I promise updates on Monday!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Hair Woes 2: Pictures That Will Make You Feel Good About Your Own Hair

Ok, so if you saw my post yesterday or my tweets, you know that I'm not a very happy camper about my new haircut that I got on Saturday. And I've decided to go back to the salon tomorrow after work, where she will try to do some damage control for free.

But in the meantime, don't cha all want to see the horror I've been living with the past few days? I'm betting these pictures will make you feel really good about your own hair do!

First, this is it freshly blown dry, not curled at all. Bleh! I want my layers back, damn it!

(Please excuse my dirty mirror, and the fact that I'm in my PJs, with a wet spot on my back from my hair!)

See, the top layer should have been cut about 1/3rd as thick, and at least two extra layers should have been kept in the middle. :(

I seriously feel mutilated. After trusting my stylist for over 6 years without ever a problem. Now I get why the girls on ANTM cry on makeover week!

Pretty much there's no wearing it like I was in my pre-cut post last week, with just the ends curled, or else I just look stupid. This can never be (oh how I miss you!):

The only fix I've been able to come up with is some major curling. Not something I want to do every single day of my life just to get by. This is what it looked like yesterday morning, the curling kind of made the ridonk top layer blend with the stupid bottom layer.

The problem is (other than the obvious) is that it took me about 45 minutes to curl my hair this much, because the now exposed bottom layer doesn't curl very well, or hold curl very well, so it takes forever. And after being terrified all day to lean back or bump my hair, and make the curls fall out, it looked like this at about 9:30pm.

Not as horrifically terrible as I expected, but the top layer still bugs the crap out of me, especially from the side. It poofs out too much, because my hair is just way too thick to be reduced to two stupid layers.

Sorry for making you guys listen to my ranting. Can you tell I'm a little upset about this? Yeah, after some sleepless nights and bad dreams, this is definitely effecting me more than I thought it would!

So now I'm going back tomorrow night to see what can be done. And I'm bringing pictures with me. First, this is what I wanted, just more layers than I had, keeping my length, and the option to be able to wear it all curly, or with only the bottom of the layers curled under:

But the problem is, I'm not sure my hair is salvageable. I don't think I want that lonely bottom long layer cut into, to create pathetic, thin layers on top of it. It's already so thin!

So the only other option I can think of is to cut my bottom layer up to about half way down my back, so there's less of a gap between it and the too short layer, and then add some wispy layers even higher than my top layer. Then in a year when it grows out it might actually look like what I wanted?

I'm envisioning something like Courtney Cox's hair in Cougar Town, but longer:

It's all I've been able to come up with as a fix. One year (at least) until I will have hair I like again. Sigh!

Unless you, my lovely readers, can come up with another suggestion? I'm really open to them if you can think of some other way I can keep my length, and not look like I have a weird short and long mullet back hair do when it's not spiral curled.

Please help! I've got until 5pm tomorrow night to figure out something, because I'm not trusting my stylist again, I need a plan!

(Pictures not of my hair are from Google Images)

Jumping on the Tag-Wagon!

You may have seen tags going around the blog world as of late, and I’m the newest victim. Kelly from Ordinary in Indiana tagged me this weekend. I have to answer some questions she picked, to help everyone get to know me a little better, and then I get to pick some questions that I’d like to have answered, and tag some bloggers myself.

So here goes!

1. If you could pick any one animal to have as a pet, what would you choose?

I really want a dog. I know, not very interesting. We already have 3 cats and 1 leopard gecko, but I don’t think any pet is as wonderful as a dog. Their love for their humans is just remarkable, and they always want attention, unlike cats. I really like Goldendoodles. Mainly because we used to have a golden retriever, and they are such smart, soft and pet-able dogs. I like that with Goldendoodles you can breed a golden retriever with a smaller sized poodle, to get a smaller-than-golden-retriever sized dog. Plus, their fur is very hypoallergenic (I’m allergic to some short hair dogs), and they are very intelligent. And also, very expensive. Growing up we always had dogs from breeders, but I think I would in reality probably like to get a dog from the humane society. One of our cats was a stray we took in, and another is from the humane society, and it really made me happy to provide a loving home for animals that were in need. I’d love to do that for a dog someday too.

This was Lar (pronounced like Lair, the nesting place of a wild animal), which is Latin for family and household protector. He was the last family dog we had, who had to be put down about 3 years ago at almost 13 years old. We drove down to California from Washington to get him when I was in 7th grade, since at the time there was only one breeder of Briards this side of the Mississippi. These days Briards are slightly more popular, they’ve been featured in several animal movies, and even a hefty bag commercial. Also, the dog in Married With Children was half-Briard (with uncropped ears).

(We kept his hair groomed short usually, because a dog with 6 inch long hair in a rainy backyard is just asking for matting.)

2. What is the weirdest injury you have ever sustained?

Hmmm, this is a hard one, because I’ve never really been that injured. Maybe it’s weird that I’ve never broken a bone? I did have to go to the emergency room when I was about 3 though, because I had been doing pirouettes in the kitchen and cut my foot open on the in-floor heater grate. Then I apparently mocked the doctor for having a foreign accent. I was one of those precious children who embarrassed their parents by listening to what adults talked about and then announcing things really loudly. Like one time, at the grocery store, as the checker swiped the Pepto Bismol, I loudly told her in a sing-songy voice that “my dad needs Pepto Bismol because he has diarrhea!” But yeah….no real weird injuries for me.

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3. What is the worst insult you’ve ever received?

I’d have to go back through my Weddingbee archive comments for this one. People be snarky bitches when they’re online. I was told I had cankles, and that my engagement ring was hideous, and that I’m a snob. But that was just some trolls, the internet is full of them. I’ve never been majorly insulted in real life, at least not that I can remember. Probably some snarky comments in high school, but I have a pretty thick skin, so nothing is sticking out at me.

4. Which character from Friends was your favorite? And if you didn’t watch Friends… who the F are you?

Joey! I actually loved all the Friend’s characters (I have the box set on DVD, and the trivia game….I LOVE Friends with a capitol L), but Joey was always best for the one liners.

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Monica: My motto is get out before they go down.
Joey: That is so not my motto.

Phoebe: Joey, if you had to give up sex or food, which would you pick?
Joey: I don't know it's too hard.
Rachel: Come on, you have to answer.
Joey: Okay... sex. No, food. No, uh... I want both! I want girls on bread!

Joey: Hey, I started working on what I'm going to say at the ceremony. Wanna hear it?
Monica, Chandler: Yeah.
Joey: We are gathered here today on this joyous occasion to celebrate the special love that Monica and Chandler share.
[Monica and Chandler look impressed]
Joey: It is a love based of giving and receiving as well as having and sharing. And the love that they give and have is shared and received. And through this having and giving and sharing and receiving, we too can share and love and have... and receive.
[later]
Joey: Okay, you guys, I've got a little more written... are you ready?
Chandler: Yeah, yeah. Okay.
Joey: When I think of the love that these two givers and receivers share, I cannot help but envy the lifetime ahead of having and loving and giving... and then I can't think of a good word for right here.
Monica: How bout receiving?
Joey: Yes!

Joey: Why do you have to break up with her? Be a man. Just stop calling.

Monica: Joey, what would you do if you were omnipotent?
Joey: I'd probably kill myself.
Monica: Excuse me?
Joey: Hey, if "Little Joey"'s dead, then I got no reason to live.
Ross: Uh, Joey... Omnipotent.
Joey: You are? Ross, I'm sorry.

Rachel: See? Unisex.
Joey: Maybe *you* need sex. I just had it a few days ago.
Rachel: No, Joey, U-N-I-sex.
Joey: I wouldn't say no to that.

Joey: Rach, you gotta find out if he's in the same place you are. Otherwise, it's just a moo point.
Rachel: A moo point?
Joey: Yeah. It's like a cow's opinion. It just doesn't matter. It's moo.

5. What is the best “go-to” recipe in your arsenal?

Super Easy Chili Dip—great for bringing to parties

1 package whipped Philly cream cheese
1 can of chili
1 ½ cups of cheddar cheese
Garlic powder to taste
Disposable pie tin

Layer in the pie tin: cream cheese, chili, cheese, garlic. Bake for 60 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve with chips!

6. If you could go back and change one detail of your life, what would you change and why?

Can I pick being born to parents who like to travel? That’s one thing I’ve always wanted to do, travel. Growing up we only took 1 day road trips, and went to Nor Cal, that was pretty much it. So I’ve been pretty much everywhere in Washington State, and a lot of places in Oregon. I feel like I’ve really missed some great life experiences by not getting to travel, heck I’ve still never been to Disneyland!

But I am working on it, since graduating college I’ve been to the Grand Canyon, Vegas, LA, Mexico, and Hawaii. And in the next 6 months I’ll be traveling to Colorado, North Carolina, Florida and Louisiana. That will increase the number of states I’ve been to by over 50%, which currently is only Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Cali, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii!

This is a screenshot of my Picasa photo albums map. West coast, that’s it. Sad.

7. Which of the 50 United States would you least like to live in?

Washington State. I know, I know, I grew up there. But I cannot stand the weather in Puget Sound. 9 straight months of rain is just miserable, and I will never, ever move back. At my high school graduation, which they stupidly held outside, we all had to wear plastic garbage bags under our gowns, because apparently the blue material would bleed on everyone’s clothes if it got wet. I had 5 umbrellas growing up, one for your car, one for your backpack, one for your locker, a mini one for your purse, and a back up at home. It is ridonk! But at least it was green and pretty in July and August.

Seriously though, I’ll take heat or snow over rain any day of the week!

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8. What was your favorite class in high school or college?

In college my favorite classes were Retail Merchandising and Fashion Merchandising. In fashion we got to design store window displays, from miniature sized ones in a shoe box to a full scale one with live models for our final. So, so much fun, even though the credits didn’t count toward my degree or my minor. But I went to school year round for my last three years so I could have the opportunity to take some fun classes. My Retail class was part of my marketing degree, and one of my favorite projects was doing all the research and legwork to open your own retail store, including putting together the branding, logos, store layout, etc. I’m actually using the name of my store from that project as the name of my future Etsy shop (once, you know, I’m actually home for a weekend and can beef up my inventory).


Alright, now for my questions to other bloggers:

1. Who is on your list of 5 (famous people you can be with), and is your list laminated?
2. Sweet or Savory--what is your favorite type of food?
3. Approx how many pairs of shoes do you have, and describe the last pair you bought.
4. If money is no object, what is your ultimate dream vacation?
5. Favorite new TV show this season?
6. The new leggings fashion trend, are you for it or against it?
7. What is the sweetest/nicest thing your hubby does for you?
8. Have you ever had a bad haircut? What did you do to get over it?

And who I'm tagging (so many of you have already been tagged, this is hard!):

The Perpetual Party Planner
Bicoastal Bride
A Chocolate Lover's Confessions (for when she gets back from her honeymoon!)
A Creative Bride (Hi, date twin!)
I Get Through Life, One Shoe At A Time
My Simple Everyday
The Adventures of Alvina & Tim
And Kelly, I'm tagging you again, 'cause I love that you have a funny story for everything!

Looking forward to reading everyone's answers!

Hair Woes

So, I'm not sure I like my new haircut. :(

I'm giving it a couple days to mess around with styling it, but right now it's looking like crap unless I spiral curl it all, which I did today. But I usually only curl my hair that much 2-3 times a week, and just curl the ends of my layers under the rest of the time. I'm not sure I want to have to do it every single day, since it takes about 45 minutes.

I haven't taken a picture yet, but will later this week once I make my final decision--if I can't live with it as-is, I'm going to have to go back to the salon to do some damage control. Basically right now my request for "chunky layers, with the top layer hitting just longer than my shoulders, and the rest of the layers cascading down my back" turned into 1 way too thick layer just longer than my shoulders, and the bottom layer, 3/4ths down my back. No in between layers! Or at least that's what it's ending up looking like after I wash and blow dry it, hence the need to spiral curl it all to blend the two weird layers.

This is not making for a good Monday, people!

Happiness Is: Gettin' My Hair Did

I can't even tell you how excited I am to go to the salon this weekend for a much needed cut and highlights.

I usually go every 2 1/2 to 3 months, but this time it's been almost 4 months--since right before our wedding! My schedule has just been too crazy to fit it in. But my roots definitely need some love, and my hair is always less frizzy after being colored, as you can see from these pics.

(This is after being blow dried straight, straightened with a wide curling iron, and then curling the ends under. Still kinda frizzy.)

(My roots bug the heck out of me, but actually aren't that bad. I always get 3 colors of highlights put in, 2 shades of blonde and my natural light brown, so the grow out looks more natural.)

And no, I won't be doing a "post wedding chop." I love my long hair, even though it takes a lot of time and products. But I think I'll get my layers trimmed up a little higher than normal. That way it will look more wavy in the back when I curl it, instead of the curls just concentrated at the bottom like it is now.


Did you do (or will you do) a post wedding chop? And does anyone have anything more fun than a haircut planned for this weekend?

If You're Gonna Live in a House That Looks Like the Flintstones....

....you should embrace it!

So apparently I'm in a judgey mood this week.

But I am really bothered by the sight that I've been driving by on my way to work the past two weeks. See, there's this iconic house near the freeway I drive on, the "Flintstones House," that I've marveled at for years.

It used to be painted a light cream stone age rock color, as it should be.

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And then a few years ago they went and ruined it by painting it a bright terracotta orange color.

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But seriously, the worst is the color they just painted it. A shiny metallic silver color.

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It doesn't look that metallic in this picture, but trust me, it's blinding when the sun reflects off of it as you drive around the corner.

My point is, why? Why ruin an iconic piece of architecture with a hideous paint job? I really do hope this is just some kind of weird primer, and they are planning on returning it to the natural adobe cream color it should be.

I mean, really, if you bought this odd, landmark house (for $1,653,000, according to Zillow), it seems like it should be your duty to not destroy it with whatever paint color you come across on a whim. You should preserve it and embrace the oddity. It's kinda disrespectful not to, ya know?

Anyway, that's the end of my rant for today. I'll leave you with a blurb about the house from Wikipedia:

The Flintstone House is a house in Hillsborough, California overlooking, and best seen from, Interstate 280. It was designed by architect William Nicholson and built in 1976 as an experiment in new building materials, in the form of a series of domes. It was constructed by spraying gunite onto steel rebar and wire mesh frames over inflated balloons. During its early existence it was off-white in color, but was repainted a deep orange in the mid 2000s.