Sunday, June 24, 2012

Upcycled Makeup

Did you ever buy a lipstick that was just the wrong color? I'll admit I have a couple of brand new lipsticks that never get used but I can't bear to throw away. After tossing out some old stuff that couldn't be saved, I saw that I had some MAC paint pots that had dried out and were not usable. I was going to toss them with the rest of the dried out mascaras, but the glass containers were too good to waste.
I remember reading a book by makeup artist, Kevyn Aucoin, where he talked about taking all his lipsticks and smooshing them onto a palette like paints. That way he could mix the perfect shade every time.  So I took one of my too-pink lipsticks and an old, cheapo lip gloss palette and started smooshing them up and mixing colors together.


After I got a color I liked, I cleaned out the old crusty liquid eye shadow from one of the MAC paint pots and used it for my new lip gloss color. 




Knuckles

In only three days my husband will be here in Alaska! I can't wait. This past week was pretty awful so I just want these last few days to go by without too much drama. Of course that won't happen... I already think that my super awesome days off on Thursday and Friday are going to be reclaimed by work, which really sucks because Joe will be stuck here with nothing to do.




Last Friday I got a horrible phone call, Joe's dog, Knuckles, died. Hearing Joe so upset was awful because I couldn't be there for him. He told me the story of how it happened, how he got sick and went pale. How he put him in the car and drove to the vet. I wanted to be there for him so badly! I could have cleaned up the car afterwards, I could have carried Knuckles into the vet after he died - just so Joe didn't have to go through that.


Lucky for me my mom is there. I let her know what happened and she went and took him out to lunch, gave him hugs for me and let him take a nap on the couch. My mom is awesome! If I can't be there I'm glad she can be there.

On a more positive note, I went to the tattoo shop yesterday and made an appointment to finish my dress form. Joe and I even talked about a new tattoo idea... I think one day I might get it! It's a secret for now, but later on I may share. Joe doesn't have any tattoos, but I'm glad he seems to like that I have so many. 


Other then that, I've just been finishing up the invitations and sending them all out. I've got to reprint all the programs and starts working on more decorations!





Saturday, June 16, 2012

What I Wore and Fancy Cars

Today was such a beautiful day, I had to walk around and try to take some photos. I figured I would try another outfit post, even though the idea is still weird and embarrassing to me. I enjoy trying on all the new clothes I got from my friends. In fact, almost my entire outfit was free. The tops from two of my friends, the necklace from a friend and my husbands cords. The scarf was from a second hand shop and my converse were from Goodwill.



I took some of the photos inside, after I tried doing them outside. It's hard to get over the fear that someone will see me taking picture of myself. It seems so vain! I don't believe I'm a fashionista by any stretch of the imagination, but it gives me something to do and a reason to actually get dressed in the morning. Being in uniform all week gets so tiring that I really want to dress up on the weekend, but I frequently get caught in the boxer/t-shirt combo.


There was a car show going on across the street. I really love old hot rods. A couple of these looked like they were from the 50's, but nothing too much older (I'm no expert though!)


Beautiful!

Now I'm hanging out at home enjoying a cocktail with pineapple juice, lime, coconut rum and club soda. Not sure what else to do. Just counting the days until my husband comes to visit.






you are talking too much

Just my Day

I'm feeling pretty happy these days! We've had a ton of time off work, my boss is on leave, my husband and I started receiving our extra pay AND he is coming to visit in 10 days!


I'm so excited to see him! He spends time with my mom a lot, which is sweet. They both took our doggy Knuckles to the vet today. My poor pups had Lyme disease! I'm glad there was a reason he was feeling so icky lately and he can take medicine to feel better. He's an old boy!


I can't have an animal where I live in the barracks, so I bought myself a plant to take care of...



I really can't wait until I can get a kitty! I miss having an animal to cuddle with. Harold the succulent will have to do for now. For a plant, it's pretty cute.


In preparation for Joe coming to visit, I did a practice recipe for Blueberry Buckle. He told me he really loves it and it's actually not complicated to make. Really It's just like a coffee cake.



I used a heart shaped 6" pan for it. I think I'll use this pan for our wedding cake. We are going to have a cupcake tower with a small cake on top and I think this would be perfect.



Home made whipped cream is the best!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Long Distance Date Night

I wanted to make sure I was involved in this months Gussy Sews Inspiration Workshop, because I haven't in a long time. This months topic is Date Night. I thought to myself... "I don't get a date night! My husband is 4,000 miles away! Boo!"


But that's totally wrong. We actually do get date nights, but they mostly consist of watching movies on Netflix. Many times we just sit with Skype on and he plays guitar while I am busy crafting. We share YouTube videos and post silly pictures on Facebook. We text. We call. 
It gets boring after a while, not having many options for a date night. I get jealous knowing that my friends get to go out with their spouses to dinner, hiking, or to a picnic in the park. Even just going to get coffee in the morning would be a dream for us! When we ARE together we try to make every second count. 



Long distance relationships are pretty common in the military. Quite a few of the people I work with have wives or girlfriends who live in the lower 48. It's nice to know I'm not alone, but it gets difficult because there are still people who think long distance doesn't work.

Here's my advice to anyone doing it long distance: 
  1. Make time for each other. Even though sitting around on Skype can be boring, you'll soon realize you're having some of the best conversations you've ever had.
  2. Don't listen to other people. You'll hear that long distance doesn't work. They will say married people "should" be together. I'm guilty of letting people's opinions get to me... and you know what happens? Joe and I get into a fight. If I didn't let these opinions get to me we could be spending our time together having fun. If you have decided as a couple what the situation is and how it is going to work, you don't need any other opinion messing with your head.
  3. Have a deadline. Know when you will finally be together in the same space permanently. If I told Joe that I wasn't sure about leaving the Army after my contract was up, it may have been difficult for him to see a long term relationship work. I KNOW I'm leaving and I know I'm moving to New York after that. We have our plan for the future and it helps on those days when we wake up lonely.
  4. Trust each other. It's part of knowing your relationship is a good one from the beginning. If you can't trust that your partner isn't dating other people, it doesn't matter how far away or close to each other you are... it's not going to work. 


I can't wait for the day when we can fight about doing the dishes and picking dirty clothes up off the floor!



Monday, June 11, 2012

What I Wore and Thrift Finds

I've never done an outfit post before! Today I made the very spontaneous decision to do one. You can tell because of my out-of-the-shower braid. My awesome friend Kyla was getting rid of a ton of clothes, which she offered to let me go through before she took it to a fashion exchange. I went home with a LOAD of great, free clothes! I'm going to have fun making outfits with everything.



Maybe one day I'll do another outfit post.

Top: Volcom/gift
Skirt: Actually a dress... Billabong/gift
Tights: Target
Boots: Charlotte Russe
Bag: H&M

Before I did my little photo shoot I went thrifting. There are some excellent thrift shops in Anchorage! I was one my way to a Value Village when I got lost on the impossible highways, but I ended up at the OTHER Value Village with a Salvation Army right next to it. I found a weaving loom, which I almost bought. I found an espresso machine, waffle maker and cute cups and cookware. But best of all I found my wedding cake topper!!! For $4!! 
My husband and I have a thing about bears. It started out by me calling him "panda bear" as a pet name, but since then we have expanded to all kinds of bear themes. I'll send him bear postcards, bear bottle openers, bear pins, he'll send me stuffed bears, bear cards and he even wears bear shirts and sometimes a fuzzy hat with bear ears on it. So naturally our wedding cake topper had to be bears! I couldn't believe it when I saw how cute this little figurine was. 


I just love it!

Petit Fours

I would love to learn the best way to make petit fours. My cake turned out too dry. I figure that was because I used a "brownie bite" silicon pan, which probably needs a shorter baking time than the traditional cake pan. Still tasty though!








Sunday, June 10, 2012

Pride Weekend

This Saturday was full of fun times! I went shopping with the girls, hung out with cute babies and best of all it's Pride weekend! The first pride I ever went to was in San Francisco, but lets face it, every day in San Francisco is Pride. Nothing could really beat that parade. I went to one in Las Vegas and it seemed there were just as many protesters as supporters. The Anchorage Parade had no protesters at all! It was small but still really fun and full of great people and organizations. Pride is like Christmas to me! 





Drag Kings









The Grand Marshall

Dykes on Bikes!

Girls Rugby




After the parade we went over to little Marley's second birthday party in the park. Mary made cupcakes and Marley found a boyfriend in the playground.







That night I babysat for a friends daughter, Elle. We watched Care Bears and built castles and drew pictures. I love babysitting :)




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