May Blogging Challenge- My 3 worst traits

You may remember that I started a blogging challenge several months ago. I could never keep up with posting every day, so I decided to call it quits. But I still pull out one of the prompts every once in a while, just to keep it fresh.

Day 24: Your top 3 worst traits

I am obstinate. Stubborn, bullheaded, you name it! I have been his way all my life. I remember being younger, and my mom would tell me that I was being obstinate, and I would deny it simply because my mom had said it, not realizing that that was obstinance itself.

I have problems with authority/doing what people say. This is kind of the same as being obstinate I guess, but I'm listing it anyway. I have a hard time with authority figures sometimes. It's not necessarily that I disagree with them, or even that I have a problem with what they are telling me to do. It's the fact that someone told me to do something that bugs me. It even transfers to non-authoritative individuals, like when I was in high school, and Carrie would tell me to read a book, I never would; she had told me to. I have gotten better through the years. Now when Carrie refers a book, I usually read it.

I am sometimes belligerent. It takes me a lot to get really mad, but I am not afraid of confrontation. Sometimes it works out, like when I was in college and the internet got mistakenly shut off for 9 days in our building. After being told over and over that it was just too hard to get someone out to fix it, I snapped. I called and ripped them a new one, and the internet was fixed within the hour. Booyah!

But most of the time, my belligerence is aimed at people who don't deserve it, like when I turn a harmless comment from Brandon into an argument. 

So there you have it! It was actually kind of fun to sit down and think about my faults, cause then I had to think about all my good traits too, and there's a lot.

Broken toe

Homies, I think I broke my toe. It's swollen, painful, and I'm having trouble moving it.

Here's the kicker (pun!) I think I broke it in my sleep. I went to bed one night and it was fine, and when I woke up in the morning, I was dying. 

Apparently, I'm quite the violent sleeper, and I really can sleep through anything!

Virginia Trip

I've been a bit MIA the last few weeks. I know you've all been heartbroken, and waiting with baited breath by the computer for my blogging updates!

Oh. You didn't notice? Hmmm.

Anywho.

Last weekend, Brandon and I took a little road trip to Virginia! We left Saturday morning, and drove straight to St. Louis, where we stopped for a bit to go to Six Flags. We have season passes that expire at the end of this month, and even though St. Louis is a few hours out of the way, we couldn't resist!

I was so excited! You should know how much I love amusement parks. It's a lot. Mostly because I love roller coasters.

We rode The Boss, aka the best roller coaster I've ever been on in my life. It's over a mile long, and real fast.

No, I did not take this video, I was too busy screaming my brains out.

After spending a few hours in the park, it started to get cold, so we headed out to find some dinner. 

We followed Brandon's hunch and stopped at a random little Chinese restaurant called Sesame. And it was fabulous. It was an actual Chinese restaurant, not takeout, not buffet. And I've never been happier to eat in my life.

That hot and sour soup made me weep with joy.

After stuffing ourselves to the brim, we hopped back in the car and drove to Louisville, KY to stop for the night. We stayed in the crappiest hotel on the planet, and took off again early the next morning and drove all day till we hit Virginia! 

PS If you want to admire our beautiful country, take a drive through Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee and Virginia. Gorgeous! At one point we stopped at a rest area, and found a breathtaking scenic overlook.

We spent a day in Virginia, and drove home! Brandon and I haven't been away from the kids for more than a day or two since we had them, so it was kind of a nice break! But at the same time, I missed these babies so much!

my little story teller

A few days ago, Portia told me a story.

It's about a guy named Punch-Em-In-The-Face, who runs around all day punching people in the face. I interjected here to comment on how he must not be very nice. But Portia informed me that he's just a silly guy; he doesn't know it's naughty.

Also, there aren't any lights in his house, and he plays a lot of video games.

Where does she come up with this stuff?

Is this a DIY blog now?

Negatory, good buddy. I've just been really crafty lately.

It will pass.

But until it does:

A few days ago, I stumbled across a video about how to make your own lipstick using crayons. Check it out:

Surely, this is too good to be true, right?

I had to try it.

I had no coconut oil, but I read a review saying that olive oil works too, so I tried it.

I dug though the millions of crayons in my house, and found some that I thought would make good lip colors.

I eventually settled on "Tickle-me-pink."

I broke it up into sections, about an inch and a half long, and gathered my other supplies. 

Yes, that's a contact case. Who has empty makeup containers laying around? I certainly don't.

I put my crayon pieces and some olive oil in a small glass bowl, and put that bowl in a pot of warming water.

I warmed the concoction up until the crayons were melted and mixed with the oil, then poured it into my contact case.

I was initially really excited, because it looked like a gorgeous pink!

I waited until it dried completely, and tried it on.

Guys, I was a bit disappointed.

It went on smooth, and didn't smell or taste like crayons, but it wasn't very vibrant at all. In order for the color to really show up, I had to glob it on. 

It was like tinted lip balm. Which is fine, just not what I was looking for.

So I figured that it would be perfect for my girlies. I made a few more batches, purple this time, and let them go to town!

They were in heaven!

Two conversations

Me: Hey Portia.

Portia: What?

Me: I love you very much.

Portia: Uh, yeah. I knew that.

Me: Hey how did you know that I love you so much?

Portia: Seven!

Me: Seven?

Portia: Hahaha! I said "seven!"

Margot: *pointing to me* Mama Duck.

Me: I'm the mama duck?
Margot: Yeah. *pointing to herself* Daddy Duck.
Me: You're the daddy duck?
Margot: Yeah. 

I'm a cover girl!

The N-Town issue that I was in has hit the stands! So exciting!

Here's the link to the online issue:

http://normantranscript.com/ntown

Welcome to my world, folks!

I just looked down and found a booger stuck to my arm.

If any statement ever summed up what being a mom of two toddlers is like, this is it.

Although, I think "I've caught puke in my hands" is a close second.

Witchy Woman

Guys, I had one of the most fun weekends I've had in a long time!
You wanna hear about it?
I knew you would.

One of my greatest friends, Hannah, is the editor for the Norman Transcript's arts and entertainment section, N-Town. And she recently contacted me to drive down to Norman for a Halloween themed photoshoot. Of course, I was ecstatic, especially when I learned that my home-girl, Benita of BRC Photography, would be our photographer!

I drove down Friday evening, and after a few hours of sleep, arrived at the salon doing our hair and makeup. Can we just pause to talk abut this salon? It's the Andrew Freeman Creative Studio, located on Main St. in Norman. And it is fabulous. The salon has a really cool atmosphere, the staff is professional and friendly, and the talent is outstanding! I almost wanted to move back to Norman just to work there.

The fab folks at Andrew Freeman worked their magic, and we got our costumes from Queen of Hart's Costumes and Dancewear, who were also wonderful! They came down at the crack of dawn, fitted all the models, and even drove around to each site and designed the shots.

I was a witch, and I was in heaven. My hair was cool, my makeup was cool, my costume was cool, I looked, well, really cool! 

Awesome, right? 

The Halloween issue of N-Town hits the stand this Friday, so if you live in Norman, go grab one and check it out!

You Can Call Me Queen Bee

Guys, I fell in love. With Lorde and her song "Royals." Seriously, have a listen:

I can't stop listening to it; it's been in my head for weeks now. I'm also a fan of her look. That cool cat-eye? Love!

So I looked up how to do it:

I like it! What do you think?

Thank you, Sharon, for your fabulous tutorial, and your cool accent.

I was crafty today.

Have you ever been to the website PS I Made This? It's awesome. Basically, she takes high end, expensive looking clothes and accessories, and teaches you how to make them for cheap.

Today I made some earrings, inspired by this tutorial:

http://ps-imadethis.tumblr.com/post/3031079633/l-stands-for-long-and-luxe-the-lovely-ladies

I loved her collarbone length chain earrings, with the ombre effect, but I felt like they were a little too couture for me. Let's be real here, I'm a suburban housewife. So I modified them a bit.

I started out with some spare chains I had from making other jewelry, and some earring hooks from an old pair of earrings that broke. I grabbed some pliers and wire cutters, and some jump rings that I already had. 

Because I already had the supplies, this cost me $0. But if you want to go buy them, jump rings cost about $1.50 and you can get 30 inches of chain for about $5 at any craft store.

First, I measured how long I wanted the chins to be, and cut them all the same size. I divided my chains into two separate piles, making sure they were equal.

I then grabbed a jump ring, and thread each chain through it.

And placed them next to each other, to compare.

Then, I grabbed my earring hooks and put them through the jump ring too. 

Make sure all your gaps chains and jump rings are closed up nice and tight, and cut any chains that are too long.

And that's it!

I think it took me about 15 minutes from start to finish, and I'm seriously digging these earrings!

of Babies and Thriller

The other day, Portia and Margot discovered the music video for Thriller. And they wanted to watch it over and over and over. For 2 hours. 

Apparently it was a bit too scary for Portia, because later that night she woke up crying and terrified, claiming Michael Jackson was going to come in her room and scare her.

Here are a few of her thoughts in the matter.

Portia: The part where he turns into a werewolf is too scary. The problem is he bumps a tree off, because he's a werewolf. But the part with the zombies is scary but it's fun too. They dance. Mom, should Daddy be a zombie for Trick-or-Treat?

Me: Oh, I don't know

Portia: Maybe we should do somepin else, cause if he's a zombie, then everybody will think he's a real zombie.

Me: Yeah and that would be scary.

Portia: Yeah, let's do somepin else cause, when they open the door, they will see daddy and then they will think that everybody is a real zombie! *sigh* I don't want to watch that anymore.