I’m Ready

Today...

was a good hair day,

and that makes up for yesterday.

     I got totally ready today, and almost left before I realized I had on not a stitch of make-up.  This is a sign that Friday is a few days late.  It has been a long week in my world.  We took a field trip on Tuesday to the Fun Farm.  We had a ball (pig races, corn mazes, animals), but I left cold and exhausted.  Then we had a guest speaker, Halloween, and the full moon.

I’m ready for a nap.

     Also, now that Halloween is over, my mind is all Christmas all the time.  The crazies (i.e. my mother, my sister, and I) will be decorating next weekend (minus the tree).  Before you think we’re crazy…there is a good reason.  My parents will be going out of town for Thanksgiving, and who wants to come home to an undecorated house?!  No one.

Can’t wait!

     Happy weekend!  It’s been a long time coming this week.  Stay tuned for more about Christmas, engagement pictures, and my veil (which I’ll be buying January…I don’t think it’s too early to start thinking about it)!

I May Not Be Hopeless!

     I’m not sure if you know this, but I am very, very, very, very bad at doing my hair.  I’m serious.  It looks the exact same every single day.  I wake up, wash it, blow dry it upside down, and maybe spray it if it’s looking out of control.  On a good day, it looks like this:

 or this:

     On a day when I’m feeling less than ambitious…or whenever I don’t blow dry it, this is what I get:

I know…

     The sweethearts at Misikko must have heard of my plight because they came through for me in a big way.  A few weeks ago I was contacted asking if I would be interested in reviewing a HANA Pro 1” flat iron – um yes! 
     As far as straighteners go…I don’t even know where my old one came from.  For all I know it just appeared in my cabinet one day.  When Misikko offered to send me a professional hair straightener, I was pretty excited.  I had been kicking around the idea of getting myself a straightener, but nothing I could have picked out would have compared to this…and certainly would not have come with the same customer service.

     My straightener arrived with a silicone pad (so that it won’t burn the surface it’s sitting on), a heat proof storage case, and a leather carrying case.  (Not to mention all the extra goodies Misikko threw in the box!)  I could tell right away that this was no run of the mill straightener.  You can get first hand info about all of the details here, but I can definitely tell you that fancy or not, this thing is so  user friendly. 
     I am almost hopeless with a straightener, but this one is so easy to use.  You just turn it on (up to 400+ if you need it), and it’s skinny, little body just zips right through your hair.  Added bonus?  The cord has a 360 degree swivel…so it won’t tangle!  The whole thing is so lightweight, which is great for me because my arms tend to get tired if I spend to much time on my hair (…I know).  After about ten minutes (heating up and all), I went from that ridiculous mess of a look up there to this:

     Because the straightener was so easy to manipulate, I was able to pull up on my hair as I straightened and keep a ton of volume!  The skinny plates were perfect for my bangs, too.  If you didn’t know, my hair is super fine, and most straighteners  either crease it or fry it.  This did neither of those things.  I can definitely see myself using this even on days when I don’t straighten all of my hair.  It will be perfect for touch ups or fixing my bangs (which tend to be totally out of control). 
     So it looks like I can add another look into my alternating schedule! My next little goal will be to figure out how to curl with it…they sent a little book telling me how, but they overestimate me.
     Couple things:  1.  If you’re looking for a straightener, I can wholeheartedly recommend this one.  2.  If you’re looking to buy anything hair related, you would be crazy not to check out Misikko!  Their customer service has been out of this world!  You should definitely click over and check them out…right now.

Thanks again, Misikko!

Big Hair and Stupidity

     Before we begin, this is not an indictment on beauty queens, newscasters, or anyone else who typically has big hair…it’s an indictment on myself and my total inability to “do good hair” (ten points if you can guess the movie).  You may have heard me mention that I love big hair and that I’m totally incapable of doing my hair.  In fact, my last several “I Know and I Don’ts” have mentioned my situation.  While I do my best to ignore my pitiful-ness, when I receive an email like I did today, I get to face my problems head on…and hopefully win something fabulous.  I got an email from Misikko Beauty detailing their current giveaway.  Three lucky bloggers are being offered a chance to win $350 worth of products from their site!  How could you pass up that sort of opportunity?!
     The prompt suggests that you detail what you would buy and why if you were to win…and as someone who is a total drugstore beauty product/implement girl, this is like being in a candy store!

      My hair looks like this…every. single. day.  Is it an awful look?  No.  Is my hair terribly  unhealthy?  No.  Is this extremely boring day in and day out?  Absolutely. 
     To give you a little insight into what I do now:  1. wash hair with volumizing shampoo 2. blow dry with a regular old hair dryer 3. brush.  That is all.  On rare occasions I throw it in a ponytail.  While I am pretty hair implement clueless, I loved looking at all the goodies over at Misikko.  If I were to win, I would treat myself in a big, big way.

via

    First things first, a dependable hair dryer is a must.  You would think that with baby fine hair, I wouldn’t spend a lot of time drying…and you would be wrong.  For some reason I my hair holds onto water like a cactus in the desert.  If it can get it, it won’t let go.  The Hot Tools Professional Ionic Hair Dryer has amazing reviews and sounds like it might be just the thing for my mane.  (It will surely do better than the thing I have now…which has no brand and has been in my cabinet for years.)

via

     Let  me be honest…I don’t really straighten my hair a lot.  Like I said, it’s super fine, and my current straightener is very bulky and leaves my hair really limp.  This UNIL Infrashine flat iron with it’s 1” ceramic plates sounds perfect for my mess.  I love the look of curls done with a straightener and the smooth look of straight hair, but what I have now just isn’t doing it for me…  What I need most of all is some motivation, and some fab-o products like this are already making me excited!

via

     I have been dying for a decent curling iron, and I have heard nothing but good things about the Corioliss Clipless Wand Ceramic Curling Iron (.7”).  The curlers of the old days with a spring-loaded clip are just not doing it for me any more.  This little gem seems to give great curl without crushing half of it…or getting it stuck in the spring – ouch!

     Because I’m about to start student teaching (and then job hunting), I am really wanting to put my best foot (or hairstyle) forward.  The same old stuff just isn’t going to give me that edge that says, “I put extra effort into my hair…and everything else I do.”  Aaaaand, because I’m jumping head first into wedding stuff, I need to be looking my very best for engagement pictures and other wedding-y fun things.
     I always say I’m going to start doing something to my hair…just look at my 101 in 1001, but I never seem to drum up the motivation.  I would like to give a big, huge thank you to Misikko Beauty for lighting a fire under this girl.  I could definitely use a little sprucing up…or maybe just some sweet words of motivation!  Fingers crossed!

Hair Bows

et another new adventure - bow making! Today, I made my first ever hair bow for my niece. Using 23 inches of "Funky Giraffe" green ribbon and a pink rhinestone, I fashioned possibly the most adorable bow ever (so far). I would give instructions for how to do it, but after reading 2,458,566,523 different instructions, I ended up just combining them all into one.

I am happy with how it turned out, and I fully intend to make more.

If you can make sense of the pictures, you might be able to figure out sort of how I accomplished it.

All folded and clipped in place!

Stitched together.

From the back with the piece I used to attach it to the clip.

Finishing touches!

Complete!!

I'm not nearly as cute of a model as my niece...but you get the idea!