Big Hair Don't Care

After I took Emberly's twists out, I gave her a fresh hair cut and she did an afro or 'fro-hawk all last week.  Then this week we started with flat twists with perm rods on the ends to get these no-heat curls!

Anniversary

I thought of the outfit I wanted to wear to Damon's and my anniversary dinner a couple days before and I was excited.  And then we went to a huge kid birthday party that day.  And someone (ahem) maybe drank a lot of punch with ice cream in it.  Said someone took a lactase supplement before drinking it, but maybe pregnancy hormones cancelled it out or something?  I ended up with painful trapped gas.  I drank hot lemon water all afternoon and proceeded to get dressed just *knowing* it was going to pass.  It got a little better, but not really.  I did not want to waste a more-expensive-than-we-usually-do dinner being careful not to further upset my tummy.  So we went and saw American Hustle with me dressed like this.  The nice thing about Vegas is that the theaters are in the casino resorts so it's not completely weird that I'd be there dressed like this.

Necklace, top and skirt: F21; Boots: Aldo

And then, we went to lunch on our actual anniversary and it was much less glamorous lol  But it was at a tried and true favorite place of ours and we were there together <3

AND... just for extra giggles, a pic from when we were dating

Back to School

Emberly's break seemed both long and short!
She was not enthused about going back to school.
I, however, am enthused about how well the Havana twists are holding up.  We're going on week four.  Shampooing was relatively easy, and while applying conditioner and gel every few days is a bit tedious, it is also easy.  There are a couple spots looking pretty frizzy though so I'm debating whether I'll shampoo again this weekend and go for another week or two, or take them out.

The Weekend

This weekend flew by in a whirl of kanekelon and Christmas decorations.  I put havana twists in Emberly's hair and we went to a party at Damon's co-worker's house, and these people live for Christmas!  This is the second year we've gone and the kids really love all their decorations!

{Santa tried to get fresh with me right in front of my husband & Mrs. Claus!}

{blazer: Target, Shirt: AE, Top/Necklace: F21, Pants: ASOS Maternity, Boot: DV via Nordstrom}

Forty-nine of Fifty-two

Forty-eight of Fifty-two

End of Summer Wedding

Damon and I went to a wedding in Newport Beach Labor Day weekend.  First, I had to get pull-ups for Bauer.  We're supposed to be transitioning to undies for sleep when we ran out of our current pack, but wouldn't you know that event ended up coinciding with this trip and I didn't want to put that burden on my sister-in-law who was watching him while we were out having adult fun.  So I went to the awful-est Wal-Mart I've ever been to (let's face it, they're all pretty awful) because I wasn't familiar enough with the area to know where else to go.  I was in the store nearly an hour.  To purchase pull-ups.  Insert me looking at the time on my phone every five seconds, imagining myself ripping the package open and emphatically throwing pull-on diapers at everyone around me in the check out.
On top of rushing, it was unusually warm for the LA area.  So I sweat like I worked out.  Using hot tools in my hair was not going to be fun; not to mention how easy it is to put make up on a sweaty face.
But I managed to calm down and cool down and get ready in 30 minutes less than I'd wanted to give myself!

{hair curled and pinned}

{make-up applied}

{viola}

Red, White and Blue

Red lipstick, white belt, blue top.  Darn patriotic, right?!

picture/hour

My birthday was Friday!  I documented it with a picture per hour.  And you know I'm old (30!!) because after the kids went to bed, I fell asleep before I had opportunity to take a final picture or two.

Cocoons, Gatsby & Pink

Heat free styles are great for natural hair and since I love big hair, I'd really liked the results I'd seen on some tutorials for cocoon curls and thought I'd give it a try.
I used the technique for date night and we went to see The Great Gatsby.  I re-read the book and was really pumped to see it.  And I liked it.  It felt too long, but I don't know what I would have cut out (they did basically trim out Nick and Jordan's relationship), so maybe I just had to pee really bad after two hours.  The cinematography was dazzling, the costumes and hair were on point, the acting was not too shabby!

I actually like the results better with the cocoon curls a couple days later after some of the product I'd used had kind of been brushed out and worn off, however, they basically fell out by 3pm.  I'll keep experimenting!

To a Wedding

I attempted a mod look with the liner... came out more Egyptian slash cheetah LOL

The Weekend

This weekend we were treated to family portraits out by Lake Las Vegas with a sweet girlfriend wanting practice with her new camera.  It was fun!

Set the World on Fire, Las Vegas

At long last, I got to enjoy Damon's anniversary gift to me, tickets to see Alicia Keys at Mandalay Bay last Friday.
We arrived a little bit early and decided to enjoy some ceviche at Border Grill.  And that ended up being a good place to be, because we were approached by another young couple who had extra floor seats!  We promptly traded our decent seats in for these excellent ones!  The show was fantastic.

{est 2007}

{love NARS matte lip crayons!}