Kittens and Hair-dos

We've had our adorable little kitten for almost three months now.  She is every bit as adorable, obnoxious, inquisitive, and persistent as the day we got her!  The only difference is that she's getting bigger.  We love her to death but still don't trust her one tiny bit!  I'm looking forward to two weeks from now when she'll have her front claws taken out so that she won't accidentally spear me when we're playing.  But I will miss her fantastic climbing skills.  Here are some pics of my babies!

The ceiling fan was on... This is the face I got.  Not to mention the fact that she's laying in my jeans.

Both cats seriously love this box.

"If I fits, I sits." -Lolo

My slippers are really soft and fuzzy (and hideous, Thomas says).

I was watching a cat video, so she came to watch with me.  She kept pawing the screen and pausing the video.  It was so adorable.

Lolo has been obsessed with towels that have outside smells on them right now.

Luna loves to nap with me.  She totally hopped up and laid with me like this all by herself.

She and Lo are getting along much better.  They're definitely still not best friends, but they are warming up to each other.  Luna is working at keeping Lo young and fit by playing with her constantly, and Lo is making up for it by eating most of Luna's food.  Lol.

What can I say... I love them!

I'm also totally still loving my hew hair cut.  I've been playing around with different styles.  And today I wore it in a ponytail for the first time.  Lol.  Pony tails used to be my go-to, everyday style, but in the past year or so I just haven't been wearing them hardly at all.  Weird.  I'm more into the braids and more "interesting" styles nowadays.  Here's the original pic (blowdry only) and straightened and curled, all of which take so much less time to do than they did with hair that was almost a foot longer!

Happy Saturday!

The Fall Chop

In case you're not on Instagram or Facebook, here's a little peek at what I did today...

Ok, so technically, all I did was sit in a chair for a while.  Someone much more talented than me did the work!

I got about 9-10 inches off the total length and went with a long bob with side-swept bangs.  The stylist just blow-dried my hair, so it's got some bounce and wave to it. 

I can't wait to see how it looks both when it's straightened and curled!  Here are two of the photos I found on Pinterest and showed the stylist for inspiration.

So I'm excited to style it similar to these do's! 

Don't you just love getting a new haircut?!  I know I do!

August Julep Box

Here's a peek at the contents of my August Julep box!

First off, isn't this the most beautiful and elegant tissue paper you've ever seen?!  I could practically frame it because it's so pretty.  (I won't though, because my husband would tease me to no end!)

This box included my two nail colors, a gel eye liner, and a phone cleaner as an extra perk.

I really love these two nail polishes.  They're right up my alley color-wise.  However, maybe I should have selected a different box for exactly that purpose.  Here is my collection of teal/blue polishes... so does it look like I need any more?  Not really.  But, I just really liked both of the colors, so I went for it anyway!

I have never tried a gel liner before, so I can't give you a very informed review of how good this one is, but I can tell you that I like the color, it goes on really smooth, and it's really easy to smudge for a more natural look.

And just as a little extra, in case you were wondering, here's a look at my polish collection (pre-August box).  As you can see, I have a few brand favorites.  And though I have a lot of polishes, I tend to gravitate toward the same color families.  So with the Ulta gift card I got for my birthday, it was my goal to find a color that I wouldn't normally buy in order to try something different.  I'll give you a peek at what I bought there soon!

July Julep Box

Well, since it's officially August, I thought that I should really get with the program and write a post about my July Julep box.  (Especially considering the fact the my August box has already arrived!  Lol)

I was especially impatient for my July box to come because I missed the email that allowed me to view my choices and change my box if I wanted.  And as soon as that window closes, you can't even see what the current boxes are online, so I had absolutely no idea what I was going to get!

And once the box was delivered to my door, I was intrigued by the fact that the size of it was bigger than my previous boxes!

So here's what I got!

The two polishes are completely different sides of the spectrum.  One is a really bright reddish coral (great for my toes), and the other is a solid nude.  They probably aren't colors that I would walk into a store and buy when I've got 100+ nail polishes in front of me, but one of the whole reasons I joined Julep was to branch out a bit, so I'm excited to fit these into my style.  (I'm currently wearing the coral on my toes right now, and I like it a lot better on than I did in the bottle.)

The beauty product for July was a body lotion.  It's a nice, silky lotion with a very light scent.  I've got it by my bed so that I can lather a little on before I go to sleep or to moisturize my legs after I shave, and so far, I really like it.  One of the main pluses is that the scent isn't too strong, so I can put it on before bed without suffocating in the smell.

Julep also included some patriotic Tootsie Rolls with the box!  Lol

I've really loved Julep so far, and they've recently expanded their selection of monthly boxes, so if you like nail polish, I would highly recommend joining Julep!

June Julep Box

This month's Julep box is a definite win!  Yes, I have already tried out the three new products I got in the mail on Monday.  :)

The subscription I have gets me two polishes and one related beauty product each month, so here's what I got:

• A silvery-purple polish called Colette
• A purpley-silver polish called Sera
• Julep's Oxygen Smoothing Base Coat
• And an extra:  three Pixy Sticks!  Hehe!  (And yes, there is only one in the photo because Thomas and I ate the other two the moment I opened up the box.  I don't think I'd had a Pixy Stick in about ten years or more!  Lol.)

I love that the two polishes I got this month coordinate really well.  Here's the manicure I did on Tuesday, even though its already chipped because I painted my nails and then promptly began a hardcore cleaning session... I should have known that was a dumb idea with freshly-painted, still-slightly-tacky nails.

I'm not exactly sure how well the base coat will work yet.  It is supposed to help your nails breathe and grow better with polish on.  And it also smooths out the surface of your nails so that your polish goes on more evenly, lasts longer, and doesn't stain your nails.  (Cause who doesn't hate yucky colored nails?!)  I did notice that I only needed one coat of each of these colors.  I'm not sure if that's due to the pigmentation of these particular polishes or because the base coat was being awesome, but I'll make sure to follow up on that as I continue to try it out!

If you're interested in becoming a Maven (joining Julep), just click the icon below to find out your style profile, get more info, and sign up!

Braids {Little Lovelies}

As I mentioned in this post, I'm slightly addicted to braids right now; they're just so lovely.  I keep seeing them all over Pinterest, and they're absolutely adorable!  So, I've been working on my braiding skills (which are very, very limited) and trying out almost any style that's easy enough for my fingers to understand and replicate!  Here are some of the styles I've attempted.

**Please excuse the quality of the photos.  I am absolutely horrible at taking pictures of my hair with or without the use of a mirror.

This is a style I whipped up for the beach one day.  Yes, the phone/camera is conveniently placed to cover up my face as I was getting ready for the beach and had absolutely no makeup on.  I started out by parting my hair in a U shape and French braiding the U-shaped section all the way around my head and down to the end (I think it accidentally turned into a Dutch braid there for a bit).  Then I used the hair that wasn't French braided and divided it into two sections and did a traditional braid with the end of the French braided section as the third piece for the braid.  I liked the result for the beach because it made sure all of my little flyaways were pulled back.

This style was super simple.  I just parted my hair on the side (where I normally part it) and then took a small section out of the front-center of my head and braided it.  Then I pulled all of my hair into a messy bun.  That's it, but it was a cute way to spice up a traditional messy bun.

This here is my first attempt at a fishtail braid.  Who knew that a two-strand braid could be harder than a three-strand one?!  I need a lot more practice with this one.

This is a crown braid and messy bun combo.  I took the back-bottom of my hair and braided it into two ropes.  I pulled the rest of my hair back into a messy bun and then wrapped the braids up around my head into a crown.  The result was a kind of bohemian-messy-cute-fancy-updo.

And this is just a simple French braid on the side of my head.  Once again, I parted my hair on the side and started braiding on the side with more hair.  This is a cute style that I stole from a movie and it's actually a lot easier that braiding across the back of your head because your hands don't have to switch positions so many times.

And lastly, here is my first attempt at a Dutch braid.  Not bad, right?!  I was pretty happy with it since it's one I haven't really done before.

So there are some of the braided styles I've tried.  I've found most of my inspiration from Pinterest, so if you're interested in learning some new braiding styles, there are tons and tons of great tutorials on there!

Current Addictions

So, I haven't been baking very much lately.  I've done the cook-dinner-every-night thing, but my extra curricular baking has been minimal.  I've mostly been sticking to the old favorites when I have been putting anything sweet in the oven.  So, sorry that there haven't been any great recipes, but I'll get back there eventually.  I am trying out a new recipe for breakfast Saturday morning, so if that's any good, I'll let you know!  We've had some other things going on, and I've been going at it pretty hard with the work outs, so I'm trying not to undo them with lots of unhealthy desserts every night.

Speaking of the training, I finished week 4 today and ran a total of 8.1 miles this week!  Woohoo!

So here are a few of the things I've been addicted to lately:

Jif Natural Peanut Butter.  Yep.  Still addicted.  I've eaten this on some type of food just about everyday for the past month and a half.  (Examples: bagels, English muffins, in smoothies, apples, waffles, etc.)  I LOVE it!

Blue Diamond Honey Roasted Almonds.   I had never had these things until Thursday, but I'd been craving some Almonds and these were mega on sale, so I picked 'em up.  And I am so totally hooked now.  They're addicting.  They're one of those "Oh I'll just pop open the can and eat one or two (meaning you'll actually eat 12)" types of foods.  Yummy!

Braids.  I have been trying to amp up my braiding skills, so every time I do something new that involves braids, I snap a few photos; I'm planning a post to show you a few of these.

Cute summery dresses.  It's been pretty hot here lately, so some light, airy dresses have been just the thing to keep cool.  Here's the one that my awesome hubby bought me on my mini shopping spree.  I wore it for our date tonight!  =)

Spider Solitaire.  So I have the app on my phone, and I just cannot stop playing it in my free time.  It is so stinkin' addicting!

Quiz Up.  Another game on my phone.  Thomas introduced me to this game about a week ago, and it's basically trivia on a ton of different subjects.  So if that doesn't scream "Rachel", I don't know what does!

My training program.  You could probably tell that already.  But I'm so ecstatic about how I feel and the sense of accomplishment this program is giving me.  It's awesome (even though I can't walk up the stairs or chase the cat down the hallway without groaning and wanting to fall over because my legs are so tired today).

So there's that.  Like I mentioned, Thomas and I had a great date tonight.  We went to a restaurant called The Mansion (not as hoity-toity as it sounds) and sat on the rooftop with a great view of the river.  Then tomorrow we're going to the beach to hang out and play sand volleyball with some friends!  Yippee!  And hopefully Saturday's muffin recipe turns out well, and I'll be able to blog it next week.

Happy weekend!

***Update:  I forgot one:  Nail polish.  I'm completely addicted to nail polish in general right now!  Lol.

My First Julep Box

My very first Julep box arrived in the mail today!  I'm so excited to try out these fabulous new products.

I've been contemplating a Julep subscription for the past few months.  Lately, I've gotten pretty obsessed with nail polish, and I've heard some great things about Julep.  I'll keep you updated as I try the products.

This weekend, I saw a promotion to get your first box free, and that clinched it!  So I took the plunge!  Sure enough, I got my first box for free and even added on two extra nail polishes for a few extra dollars.

Every month I'll receive two nail polishes and a beauty product.  And the best part: I get to choose what I want each month!  Julep has five different options to choose from each month and tons of other products, specials, and rewards.

Interested in joining Julep?  Just click the button below to get your style profile and your first box free!  (And I'll get rewards for my referrals too.  Sweet!)