And That's Why You Pay A Professional, Kids

Well, after years and years of having my hair professionally dyed, I decided to use a box dye and do it at home.  Of course, I had to choose a color my hair has never been before, "medium auburn brown".  Remember when I had the revelation that I need to go red?  Easy enough, right?  Wrong!  First of all, my hair had highlights.  Highlights that had no intentions of going "medium auburn brown".  My hair is also a lot blonder than you would think, I just keep it dyed darker, so the roots that had grown were also not even having this color.  The rest of my hair was this gorgeous color of red, but the highlights and roots you ask?  Pink.  Yes, pink.  Okay, so it was maybe it was a light auburn, but I saw pink and I'm sure you would have agreed.  After much consideration on what to do about my pink highlights, I decided this morning before to church to hijake the hair color my sister left here a year or so ago and dye my hair for the second time in 24 hours.  The color was "medium brown".  Easy enough again, right?  Yeah, pretty much.  It took care of all the "pink" and left an all over auburn color that I'm pretty happy with.  Here's some pics from my hair color journey, you can't tell the colors exactly, but you can get the just of it:

Here we go...

You can't see the pink, but believe me, it was there.

Two dyes later, the end result.

The moral of the story is some things are just better left to the pros.  Chances are the next time my hair is dyed, it will come from a box.  I'm a glutton for punishment.

Here's some pics of the lazy kids, just because...

Old Crow Farm

My new favorite!  I discovered this cute little shop on Etsy today.  They are the featured sellers, so I took a look at their interview, which I usually don't do.  They're a husband and wife team who go "junking" together to find things to resell.  They actually met while bidding against each other at an auction, how cute is that?  They hold three sells a year on their property to sell their rescued "junk" in addition to their shop.  Here's a few samples of what they have on Etsy:

Click here to visit their shop or you can keep tabs on their cute blog as well.

The Harder The Life, The Sweeter The Song

(image found here)

Last night I saw Crazy Heart and I am absolutely in love with this movie.  The story line, the acting, the music, everything was on point.  I even cried at the end!  Not because it was sad, but because it was that good with just the right ending, an ending that would happen in real life.  And I mentioned the music.  It's old time country and I love it.  Jeff Bridges' singing is as good as his acting.  I'm downloading the soundtrack on iTunes at this very moment.  If you only listen to one song from it, let it be The Weary Kind, the theme song.  I also recommend Fallin' & Flyin' which is sung by Jeff Bridges and Collin Farrell!  Yep, you read that right, Collin Farrell is in the movie, sings in it and is on the soundtrack.  Oh, and you know Ryan Bingham?  Yeah, I didn't either.  He's a singer/songwriter who is in the movie.  He also sings The Weary Kind and is pretty gorgeous  ::Swoon::  Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal and The Weary Kind are all up for Academy Awards!

I Like Anything With Onions

Maybe it's because I'm watching what I eat or maybe it's because I've been working out again, but I've been perusing SmittenKitchen like a true cook.  This cauliflower and caramelized onion tart looks absolutely amazing.  Needless to say, I will never make nor will I ever actually get to taste it, but at this very moment I'm pretty sure it would be my favorite food.

Click here for the recipe.

Thanks A Latte

As a devoted cofee, mocha, latte drinker, this is the cutest "Thank You" card I may have ever seen:

It's handmade via CardBlanc's Etsy shop.

I had every intention of sitting down tonight and writing a long, inspring blog entry, but changed my mind.  Instead, here's some of the favorite parts of my weekend:

• Lots of spring shopping
• Late night dinner with the BFF
• Great church service (which I almost skipped, thank goodness I didn't)
• Chocolate milkshake and fries for lunch
• Purchased hair dye (medium auburn brown :-o)
• Also, purchased Marni a new spring collar, picture to come!

Sound uneventful?  It was actually a very relaxing weekend.  I've found myself wanting to stay home more on the weekends since I've been super busy during the week lately.  I'm ready to get this work week over because I'm on vacation the week after!!  I'm not going to the beach like I usually do on my weeks off, but I have a few things planned and am looking forward to time for myself and doing things I don't usually get to do during the week, including a couple of trips to Nashville since I haven't been in months. 

Oh, and can I mention the weather this weekend was great?  Think upper 50's.  Have I mentioned I absolutely can not wait for spring?!

My Lovely Bag! & Red Hair?

I got my BobAndBelle bag in today and I love it!  Like I've mentioned, err, probably a couple of times, it's made from recycled leather, which had to have been a leather jacket judging by the front pocket.  I can't wait to pack it and carry it.

I'm a sucker for cute tags on handmade stuff.  How cute is this?  And note the wiener dog!

In other news...I'm seriously considering dying my hair red, kind of like this:

or this:

I think I like Ashlee's better than Ali's.  Why not, right?

Yoga, Again

I did yoga tonight for the first time in two years.  I had forgotten how much I love it.  It really does relax your body and your mind, which I've been in desperate need of lately.  Plus, my instructor is the best, so that makes for a much better class.  I have seven more classes over the next three and a half weeks and I'm already checking to see when I can sign up for more.  It's not quite the workout that Zumba is, of course, but I'll be doing that in between.

I also took time before class to run to the mall to see what was out for Spring and can I just say that I'm even more excited for warm weather!  I could have spent hundreds on clothes that I liked today, which is a welcomed change because I haven't been pleased with much this winter.

My favorite find today comes from the lovely BobAndBelle Etsy shop that I just so happened to have just ordered my new bag from.  They do custom charcoal pet drawings, too!  Now, anyone who knows me at all knows how much I adore my puppy, Marni, so this is right up my alley!  Here's a sample of their work:

Click here for more details.

Custom Leather Cuff

It's short and sweet tonight because I am exhausted.  I found this on the front page of Etsy today.  It's a leather cuff that you can customize with any words you'd like.  Names, quotes, dates, a poem or what I would go for, song lyrics.  You can also choose which color you'd like.  They're super cute and you can find them here. 

Visit BarkingMaddison's Etsy shop for these and more.  Now, what song lyrics would I choose?

Some Day Are Just Hard & Spring Dreaming

The book of Matthew says to not worry about tomorrow.  Each day has enough trouble of it's own.  And today was just one of those days.  Two naps and pancakes for supper later, I'm still not feeling much better.  Sometimes I just feel sorry for myself, which is so stupid because I'm a very blessed person.  I have a job and a home, I have great friends and a wonderful family, I'm healthy, etc, etc.  I take so much for granted and try to remind myself of that when I get down, but sometimes I just need to be, sometimes I just want to feel sorry for myself.  Tomorrow is a new day and I will do better.  ::End rant::

And now, while it's snowing outside, a few reason I can't wait for Spring to get here!

All via Bluefly.com

Grace & Peace & Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day my lovely readers!  Especailly those of you from NYC, because, well, I think people from there are just plain cool.  How was your day of love?  Mine was pretty great.  My best friend met me bright and early this morning so that we could go to the 9:30 church service at Hillvue, which was a blessing as usual and God, as usual again, gave me the encouragement to make it through the week.  Grace and peace was the message, so "grace and peace" to you!  We had lunch at Mancino's (yummy cheese pizza) then went to the matinee to see Valentine's Day.  It was so much better than I thought it would be.  The acting was great, of course, although Taylor Swift was a little bit of an over-actor.  The ending had a couple of great surprises, one very surprising and the whole theater made the OMG sound and the other brought tears to my eyes.  Oh, and I had forgotten how much I like Jennifer Garner.

(via here)

This particular scene in the movie confirmed my suspicions from yesterday.  I definitely must purchase this handmade recycled leather bag:

 

(via here)

I will be doing so as soon as I'm finished here.  Happy Valentine's Day to me!  After the movie we did a little thrift shopping and I came home with these two jackets, which were $5 each from Goodwill.

I can't give much advice, but one piece of advice I can give is that a girl can't have too many denim jackets, especially when she finds them for $5!  After some non-fat white chocolate mochas, we headed home early to spend some time with our families.  This is what my evening looked like and will continue to look after I get finished with this post and purchasing my bag.

All in all, it's been a great day.  Did I look at my phone a couple of times hoping to see a Valentine's Day wish?  Of course.  But I'm only human and have accepted that.  I have great friends and a wonderful family and am blessed beyond words.  My gorgeous niece made me this card and I couldn't ask for a better Valentine's Day gift.

If I Did Have A Valentine...

I don't have a man friend to spend Valentine's Day with, but I do have a best friend and we have a full day planned.  Hopefully the snow will stay away and we'll be able to do everything.  Here's a few finds that I would love to see if I did have someone buying for me:

Coral Rose Ring

Love Pillow

All Kinds of OPI Nail Polish

The book "What I Love About You"

Jane Austen Quote Mug

This Awesome Bag (that I'm seriously considering buying for myself!)

Just a side note:  I'm not being bitter this Valentine's Day!  I have so many people, and a couple of animals, in my life that I love so much and am so blessed with that there's no way I can take that for granted and be a Bitter Betty.  Have a great Love Day!

So, I've Been Thinking...

I'm seriously considering going back to school!  I'm not 100% decided on it, but I'm excited about it.  I'm going to make some phone calls tomorrow and get some information and pray, pray, pray.  Go back to school for what you ask?  Here's a hint for now:

(image found here)

Pretty, Pretty Magnets

My favorite finds of the day:

Found at PaperPumpkin's Etsy shop.

Found at PrettyOriginal's Etsy shop.

And my favorites, found at Rafya's Etsy shop.

Over The Knee Boot Spats

I saved this on my computer back in August, forgot about it, then stumbled back upon it today.  These DIY over the knee boot spats would be great for me because I have mayja problems finding boots that fit over my calves.

Not to mention they look better than most boots you can find these days!  Visit ...love Maegan for the complete instructions on how to make your own.

Paper Towel Replacements

A good way to go green:

Visit MooCowMomma's Etsy shop to find these and other reusables!

Oh, Peyton

My Colts lost the Super Bowl.  I just keep wondering how Peyton feels today.  Talk about a broken heart.  No worries, we have next year.

(image found here)

Tags

While shopping for scrapbooking supplies the other night, my girlfriends and I kept seeing all these different tags and were wondering exactly how to use them.  I stumbled up these today on Etsy:

This is a great set to use on scrapbook pages or for a set of unique cards. They could also be used for a journaling pull out tag, or even a photo mat. Your imagination is the limit for these super cute tags!!  The tags are perfect for scrapbooking, cardmaking, collages, or any other paper crafing you may be doing!!

And that, my friends, must be some of the stuff that you can do with them.  These are super cute and I love the colors.  Not to mention, this shop is closing and this set is just $1 plus shipping.

Visit SillyPaperTreats on Etsy to see these and lots more.

My Girl

Meet Marni.  My long-haired mini Dachshund.  She's 7 months old today!  I'm unbelievable attached to her.  As I type, she's running around with her bed on her head.  Who wouldn't love that?!

Wall Decals

One of my favorite Etsy shops makes the loveliest vinyl wall decals!  I want some in every room!  There's a huge variety of words, sayings and pictures.  Here's a few of my favorites:

Visit TastySuite's Etsy shop to see these and more!