Pared Down (As If)

i made a highly vain and shallow goal this week of *getting myself more together* before i take annelise to school. as in i put on a smidge of makeup and change out of the t-shirt i slept in. believe me, the fact that i've followed through on this for four days so far is a big deal. one of my (many) issues is i have a hard time sticking to just a smidge of makeup, i tend to get carried away and go all full face at 7:30 in the a.m. silly. i know. i blame my mother, she was a makeup junkie.

i've managed to pare things down to bb cream (i recently started using skin79 bb cream which is an asian/korean brand, i like its coverage better than the garnier and l'oreal i'd tried and the fact it has really good ingredients for your face), a dab of concealer under my eyes and on any spots, a dusting of my laura mercier mineral powder, a swipe of bronzer (to look more alive and to try and contour my face*), a swish of bright pink blush on cheeks, a dab of maybelline eye tattoo bad to the bronze on my lids, a line of l'oreal voluminous eyeliner in slate along my top lashes, a quick eyelash curl, a swoosh of rimmel scandal eyes mascara (love this stuff), and a dash of lipstick and/or gloss before we hit the road.

i realize i just said i pared things down and that probably still sounds like a lot of stuff, and maybe it is but what can i say, i like make up and can freely admit to being high maintenance.

the worst kind is women who think they are low maintenance but are really high maintenance.

(name that movie.)

i haven't timed myself this week but i think from face wash, insertion of contacts and through my pared down (ha) morning makeup routine is less than 10 minutes.

and for me, that's progress.

here's a great four minute routine (maybe i'll get there someday)

*and here's a great tutorial about highlighting and contouring your face (i'm still practicing this, some days turn out better than others).

what's your pared down make-up routine like?

What I Wore Wednesday

Have I told you I adore polka dots?

I do, I do.

On others.

When I spotted this dress on the clearance rack I knew I could not resist the siren call of those happy dots on a field of denim.

Mother's Day was the perfect time to sport some dots with a splash of coral.

cardigan, dress and belt: target

leather cuff: farmgirl paints

coral earrings: kendra scott (a mother's day gift!)

coral ballet flats: j crew factory

 (how have I lived 44 years and never knew about j crew factory?!?) (Hold me)

I guess you're never too old for polka dots!

(Although I'm not so sure about those polka dotted jeans I've seen at Gap.)

Happy Wednesday, y'all!

Home Refresh: Our Gallery Wall {The Eclectic Lazy Way}

Several months ago, somewhere on the heels of rearranging our mantel, we threw a mix of photos, signs and odds and ends up on the corner wall of our family room and called it done.

It's rather busy for such a narrow space but I just tell myself that it makes a statement.

Whatever that statement might be is open to interpretation.

See what you think, m'mkay?

The photos are from the ones we took for our Christmas card and our Disney trip and while I'm not wild about any of them to invest in a large canvas, I was up for framing a few in 50% frames from Hobby Lobby.

I love using a wooden pant hanger for prints, photos, art, et cetera. This one is also hiding a light switch dimmer, so I love it a little extra (I hate random switches in the middle of a wall).

I also like the quirky frames because they kept us from freaking out too much about getting everything OCD straight. Everything could probably be smushed up a bit closer together but in case you can't tell, we (mostly me) were quite free spirited about the whole enterprise (I may have been slowly killing Scott one nail at a time).

I had planned to hang these letters among the fray but ran out of room, now I like them even better resting in a milk glass bowl.

So there you have it, our gallery wall. Sort of.

Five months later and it still makes me smile.

That's a good thing.

Miscellany Monday

A few bits of miscellany to share...

01.) We had a special Mugs and Muffins (a monthly breakfast and devotional for ladies) Saturday that focused on the Proverbs 31 woman, who if we're being honest, most women have a love-hate relationship with because, hello, she's intimidating to say the least.

We enjoyed breakfast together, heard four encouraging and practical lessons based on the Proverbs 31 woman and had a yummy lunch of a variety of salads and desserts. And yes, that's me up at the podium too--eek!--I made announcements and said a prayer--again, eek!

For favors we used basic photo albums from Dollar Tree and made a cute (?) insert cover (they were all different colors and patterns) and made scripture books.

Each of the ladies that taught a lesson gave out cards with a scripture on them related to her lesson. The idea is to add to them over time with verses on index cards that we hope to memorize (or at least try to remember) and eventually imprint on our hearts and in our brains.

02.) Annelise has discovered The Brady Bunch, which I can not adequately describe how happy this makes me since it was a show I was glued to when I was her age and it's something that we can watch together. She stayed home with a fever one day last week and watched Little House on the Prairie and then a few Brady Bunch episodes and I felt like I was reliving my childhood a little. 

She thinks Peter is cute and Marcia is cool, which is exactly how I remember feeling about them.

03.) So, about Mother's Day...

I always have mixed feelings on MD because I miss my mom and grandmother and I think about friends who are missing their loved ones too or those that might be wanting to be a mother and aren't, at least not yet, and I think about children that are waiting for a mother...and so on and so forth.

But I also think about women who have filled in the (many) gaps in my life and have been mother figures or role models and I realize I am very blessed.

Honestly, this MD I didn't dwell too long on those thoughts because, look, I was too busy eating.

We went to BJ's after church for lunch (we hadn't been there in over a year--what the what?) and one small wedge salad, shrimp tacos and a pizookie split three ways I was one stuffed mother.

Scott and Annelise showered me with attention, cards, a plant in a painted pot (school project) new Kenrda Scott earrings (I wore the coral yesterday, love!) and let me shop at ULTA unhurried and unaccompanied after lunch. 

Yes, I am spoiled rotten.

04.) A little mother-daughter footsie (you know, a foot selfie), just for kicks.

05.) Let's talk about my hair, shall we?

As in, I'm not sure what to do with it.

During my Ulta spree yesterday I picked up a box of brown color (L'Oreal Feria cool medium brown) to touch up my roots. Of course since this is only my second time doing this I'm totally taking a stab in the dark when it comes to choosing color. Along with touching up my roots masking my greys I hope it tones down the overall reddish tone.

Now, here's my dilemma:

Do I keep my DIY ombre/dip-dye look or spread the brown color all the way to my ends? Or do I keep the ombre and apply another toner and use purple shampoo on my ombre part to brighten it up and tone down the brassiness? Or do I suck it up and call my stylist and have her fix everything?

I don't know.

I wore my hair straight yesterday and it felt like the whole ombre part was this glaring hot mess of orange at the ends of my hair.

I like the ombre look better when my hair is curled (see below when I was irked and killing time waiting for Hobby Lobby to open, see related: they open at 9, not 8:30) and for some reason my hair doesn't look as red below, which is weird but probably a good thing.

If it was your weird ombre what would you do? Do tell.

Happy Monday, y'all!

What I Wore Wednesday

Double down on the denim is the theme this week, my friends.

Honestly, I have no idea what double down means since I've never really played blackjack except with my grandfather Archie when I was a kid and we didn't place bets and he usually let me win.

That, and I loved the movie Swingers back in the day. So money.

But back to the denim, I wore double denim with a side of floral last Friday and a few things came to mind.

01.) Can one even wear double denim in 2013? Are, like, the 80s calling and wanting their denim back?

I don't know.

To be safe I probably should have paired the light shirt with darker jeans, but who wants to be safe?

and b.) I only tucked in the front of my shirt (thinking I was rocking the half-tuck) because I was feeling all 1985.

Sidenote: I worked at The Limited in high school and that was totally the thing to do, tuck the front, let the back fly free.

Of course this was also during the stirrup pant trend.

The first time around.

My fashionista friends on Instagram informed me that a true half-tuck is only barely tucking one side of the front.

Oh well.

Old habits die hard I guess.

faded denim shirt & boyfriend jeans: gap

floral scarf: target

nude ballet flats: payless

belt: sam moon

watch: michael kors

earrings: twisted silver

leather cuff: farmgirl paints

So, are you a partial tuck, full tuck, no tuck or half-tuck kind of girl?

Happy Wednesday, y'all!

 

Miscellany Monday (But On a Tuesday)

A few randoms of late:

Annelise's soccer team faced off with a challenging team Saturday. Both sides gave it their all and ended up with a tie, 1-1.

The bottom left photo cracks me up. Annelise was subbed out for a bit so she could be seen lounging along the sidelines enjoying her gatorade water mix.

Peggy's youngest grandsons visited over the weekend and Annelise had a blast hanging out with them having spontaneous basketball tournaments, eating copious amounts of junk food, playing with their dog Jojo and trekking out to the railroad tracks numerous times to put coins down in the hopes they'd get smushed (yep, they did).

Annelise came home with that crazed wild-eyed look that signals a bit too much fun and sugar was had by all.

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In other news...

01.) I am head over heels infatuated with the library's online hold system and get strangely (nerdly?) giddy when I get the emails telling me my books are waiting for me to pick them up. As evidenced by that stack, I get carried away and put a ton of books on hold at once and then as fate would have they all become available at once. I'm planing to read Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker and The Aviator's Wife first because they're in high demand and I won't be able to recheck them.

What are you reading these days?

02.) How stoked (yes, it's 1985 again) was I to find 60 little photo albums at Dollar Tree for an upcoming project? Very, very stoked. (Are there degrees of stoked?) 

We're having a special Mugs & Muffins at church this Saturday and those little albums are going to be turned into, not to brag, but... adorable favors. More on that to come!

03.) Since Annelise was living the dream playing with C & C Saturday afternoon, Scott and I treated ourselves to a little lunch date at Ghengis Grill. We really like going there but can only go when Annelise is otherwise engaged seeing as she loathes Asian food (we're hopeful this will change as she gets older) (and yes, we've given her plenty of chances to try it, much to her dismay).

I really like Ghengis Grill even though picking out all the raw meat grosses me out. I try not to dwell on it. And? The guy in front of us kept coughing, so that was pleasant.

04.) After lunch we went to a matinee to see 42. 

Go see it. Now.

You won't regret it.

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And finally, it has come to my attention that I need a Revlon Lip Butter intervention.

Clearly I have a problem.

They are a mix of lipstick, balm, stain and gloss all rolled up together and there are oodles of fabulous shades available.

As evidenced by my collection above.

Saving grace: some were buy one get one 50% off.

I wear the two on the far left the most, Sugar Frosting and Creme Brûlée but am trying to branch out into brighter shades of berry and red and even some coral (Peach Parfait is a pretty pinky peach with shimmer and Tutti Frutti is a sheer, bold coral). 

Have you tried Revlon Lip Butters? Do you have a favorite shade?

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Happy Tuesday, y'all!

A Field Trip, Some Anxiety and the Jam

So third grade went on a little field trip Tuesday to see Charlotte's Web followed by lunch and play at a park. I posted this photo on Instagram (I'm @marathonbird if you want to be IG buddies) to document the before and after, you know the crazy vs. the calm.

You might think five kids can't be that loud, but then you'd be wrong. I usually drive five or six kids (sometimes less depending on how many other cars are going) on these trips and the combination of personalities is so interesting. Let's just say some memories are fonder than others.

On this particular jaunt into downtown Houston (well, west side actually) and back I was so over the noise and more specifically, the word fart. And yes, I told those boys several times to stop fake crying, fake tooting (and real ones but I guess you can't control that, but I still think it was on purpose), whopping each other with magazines and so forth. After lunch and playing in the park like wild monkeys escaped from their cages, they were tuckered out for the drive back to school. It was blissfully quiet and calm.

Of course it was only 10 minutes back to school and 40ish minutes to and from the the play. Hrumph!

I was a little nervous driving into town by myself (another mom was supposed to be riding with me but her littlest had gotten sick) and fretted about getting lost in the museum district with five crazy kids but I plugged the directions into MapQuest and Siri's voice came through our bluetooth speaker thingie and she talked me right into the parking lot of the theater, so that was a relief.

And also? While I'm sharing? Sometimes I get anxious when I'm driving--and especially if there's a traffic jam--and that anxiety builds, my heart races and I'll start to worry that I'm trapped and that makes me feel like I need to use the restroom and then that triggers the cycle of once I think about it, well, then I have to go. Usually I can talk myself through it without freaking out too badly and to prevent or combat anxiety I always *go* before. This trip was fine, although I did run through the possible outcomes of me having to stop somewhere with five crazy kids and either making us late to the play or ending up on the news.

And one more loosely related thing? Whenever possible I prefer aisle seats in theaters, it eases my mind because I know I can get out and return easily if needed. If I have to sit in the middle of the aisle with very little leg room then I feel trapped and my mind snaps and anxiety builds and the nervous bladder kicks in and then it's 1000x worse because I feel like I can't get out, at least not without tripping over strangers and then possibly not being allowed back to my seat until intermission (if it was a play). I try to calm myself with deep breaths, focusing on the movie or play, mints or gum, anything to distract my brain. I don't know why I worry about not being able to get to a restroom if I need to, I mean it's not like I've ever not made it to one, but for whatever reason I worry about these things. 

For this play I got stuck on the far left of our row and there was very little aisle room, and you weren't supposed to get up during the play, so I did my best not to dwell on it and kept telling myself it was only an hour, only an hour.

Moving right along...after Charlotte's Web (which was absolutely delightful) we stopped by a park for lunch and play before going back to school.

As you may remember, I hate bringing a sack lunch, especially if it can't be kept cold. Scott, who knows my quirks and peeves and yet still manages to live with me, was sweet enough to get Subway the night before for Annelise and me. Of course I packed everything in an insulated bag because few things are worse than lukewarm Diet Coke and salmonella on your sandwich.

I tried their flat bread for the first time and liked it, if they had it in whole wheat that would be the jam. Also? Lays sun dried tomato and parmesan kettle potato chips are the jam.

(I really don't know what the jam means.)

Annelise thought the cookie was the jam and proceeded to eat that first.

Of course.

Hope your day is the jam!

Do you ever have anxiety attacks?