things I'm lovin today

1. Portia just went to the bathroom in her potty chair! Yessss! She is now enjoying her RingPop, and I'm enjoying the thought of one less diaper to change!

2. So You Think You Can Dance premiered last night. I don't think you know how much I love that show!

3. Our apartment pool opens today! We love to swim!! In the next few days, you can expect to see me sunburned to a crisp, but happy nonetheless!

Which leads me to #4: Summer is here!! It's 95 degrees, the sun is shining, the pools are open, it's my favorite time of year! Last year, I think I couldn't fully appreciate the summer, on account of my large/uncomfortable belly. But now that Margot is out, I am thrilled!!

Bring on the heat!

i'm not dying.

I went jogging last night. Remember that 5k I told you about? Yeah, last night was the first time I've jogged in over a month. This might be interesting.
Anyway, I ran about a mile and a half , but I did have to stop and walk a few times. It took about 20 minutes, and I am pretty sore today.
The gym was kinda crowded last night, which I hate. I don't mind lots of people or anything like that, I just get sorta embarrassed about the color of my face when I work out. Yes. The color of my face. Hey, are you laughing at me?
Here's the deal. I get really red faced when I run. My Carrie-sister does it too. In high school, while we were on the track team, our faces would be so red that people would start to worry. They always asked us if we needed to get an extra drink or lie down. They thought we were going to pass out. It's pretty bad.
Like this guy:

Only less angry and more running-y. Also, wearing a shirt. 

I feel like he has been listening to people tease him about his resemblance to Mr. Clean  for years, and he finally snapped. Raaaawwwwr!!

Ok, moving on. 

I get pretty self-conscious about the state of my blush while running. I always imagine that people are looking at me thinking I must have run a treadmill-marathon, and then they glance over and see that I've only gone a mile, and they think I'm a huge wimp. Dangit.

Let's be honest, people usually aren't looking at us when we think they are, so I don't let it stop me from running, but I still hate it.

So, if you ever see me working out, and I look like I'm about to go into cardiac arrest, just ignore it.

sssssssssssssss

Last Saturday we went to the zoo with my mom and sister and all the kids. It was a lot of fun, and I made an interesting discovery. 

This guy:

 This is a Green Basilisk Lizard. Wait. Basilisk?!?

As in, giant deadly snake that can kill with his extremely poisonous bite, or just by looking at you? They've got one of his cousins in a zoo? 

Where's Fawkes when you need him?

Tom O'Dell

My dad's birthday was a few days ago, on the 5th. If you've never met my dad, you're seriously missing out. Here are a few reasons why my dad is awesome:

1. He is funny. My dad is constantly making jokes. He loves making people laugh and pranks. In fact, I think J. K. Rowling based Fred and George's characters after my dad and his twin brother, Bill. There's the time my dad and his brother made stilts that were 20 feet high and walked around town with them, or the time they tied all the doors on main street together with fishing wire, or the time that they somehow got their band instructor's car out onto an island in the middle of the lake. The list goes on. Having this man for a father was definitely a lot of fun.

Check out baby Allen's chub rolls.

2.  My dad is suuuuper smart. He knows so much stuff about cars and machines. If we ever have car issues, he is the first guy we call! He also knows all about the country, and how to get anywhere.

His graduation picture.

3. My dad has pretty awesome music taste. He played music all his life, and eventually jammed with some famous musicians. Oh, you may have heard of them. Joe Walsh, Billy Joel, CCR, Dolly Parton, Meatloaf, The Hollies, no big deal. Saw the Beatles in  concert. Hung out with the Stones backstage. Whatever.
I know you've all been impressed with my awesome music taste. I learned it all from my dad.

My dad's old band. He is second from the left, Billy is second from the right. Sa-weet bell bottoms guys!

Here are a few more pictures of my super cool dad.

My dad is on the right.

Nice shorts dude. 

My dad is on the left this time.

damage control

The other day, someone asked me how to get rid of all her split ends without losing all her length. And since just about everyone has some damaged hair, I thought I'd share!

The best way to get rid of damaged hair is to cut it off, sadly, but another thing you can do is let your hair's natural oils do their work! This means stop washing it every day. The oils in your scalp/hair are better than any conditioning treatment out there. If your hair looks greasy after 1 day of shampoo fasting, invest in some dry shampoo (Redken Powder Refresh 01 works great), just spray it on, and the grease is gone! 

Don't over-condition your hair! If you've done deep conditioning treatments over and over, or are leaving your conditioner on for 30 minutes, stop! This may be depositing too much protien on your hair, damaging it even more. Always follow the directions on these products. If it says rinse in 3 minutes and only use once a month, do it!

Steer clear of any heat as much as possible. If you can, let your hair air-dry and skip the flat-iron for a while, They literally fry your hair. If you must use them, ALWAYS have some kind of product on your hair first (Redken Iron Silk 07 is my fave, it works great). Also, easy with the color and bleach! They literally eat away at your hair.

Invest in better shampoo. Suave won't do it for you, you need salon quality (yes, there is a difference). Talk to a stylist about what you need, every head of hair is different. Pureology's Essential Repair is magic though. Magic.

Last but not least, and I cannot stress this enough, go get regular trims. Every 6 weeks is advised, but you may need to go more often, especially if you use alot of heat products or have color-treated hair. All these other methods help, but the only way to really get rid of those dead ends is to chop them off.

things i'm loving today- Farmer's Market edition

1. My awesome friend Hannah, who invited me to go to the Norman Farmer's Market this morning. She is super funny and talented, and you can read her blog here. I haven't had so much fun standing in the heat and talking about life in a long time!

2. Fresh strawberries that Portia and Brandon devoured 30 seconds after I got home. Brandon exclaimed "Now this is a strawberry!"

3. The super friendly vendors, who obviously love what they do!

4. Huge tomatoes, that are so red and juicy that I want to eat them like an apple.

5. The fact that the goal we made to eat healthy this summer just got a whole lot easier! I can go to the Farmer's Market every week and get fresh fruits and veggies!

pb&mc

I love peanut butter.
I love peanut butter ice cream, peanut butter candy, peanut butter toast, peanut butter cookies, peanut butter sandwiches, heck, I even like peanut butter by itself on a spoon.
I love peanut butter and honey sandwiches, and of course, pb&j, but my all-time favorite peanut butter sandwich is peanut butter and marshmallow cream. It's delicious!
I remember the first time I ever had a peanut butter and marshmallow cream sandwich; I must have been 7 or 8, and I was at my Grandma's house in Indiana. My cousin Nathan was there too (where our hoards of siblings were, I have no clue, but it was just us), and Grandma made us lunch. You guessed it, pb&mc. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. It was creamy and almost too sweet, got all over my face, and made me so happy!
I still make myself a pb&mc sandwich every once in a while, and I am happily reminded of afternoons playing in my Grandma's den, watching Ernest Holidays, and my extended family who I miss so much!

Ernest P. Worrell

My Grandma's den

aaaaand Nathan.

 Grandma's deck, me and some cousins as wee ones.

This was taken at a family reunion a few years ago, all the cousins that were there. Yes, my family is cooler than yours.