What happens when I pretend to be a fashion blogger

Thank you all so much for your concern over my diagnosis yesterday. Today I tried to ease my symptoms by pretending I was at the beach all day while I was teaching. I did that by wearing this dress.

I think I went a little crazy on the editing. My face isn't really that orange/tan.
I am also to lazy to reedit the picture to make me not look so weird.

This is my first maxi dress and I cannot believe it took me so long to jump on this bandwagon. It is the most comfortable piece of clothing I own. Including my ever so constricting sweat pants. I bought it at the Macy's clearance center for $10 a month ago (I am pretty sure it was from last summer- yes, chevron is so 2012), but I love it. It is strapless, so for me to wear it to work I put it over a tank and under a jacket. This black jacket is from Old Navy  forever ago.

I also am loving my hair. I have naturally wavy/frizzy hair and I have been trying (unsuccessfully) to wear it straight for pretty much all 31 years I have been alive. Recently I have been embracing my waves and enhancing them- old lady style.

Yup, hot rollers. It is actually so easy to do. It is quicker for me to use hot rollers than to use a flat iron. I roll them up, then do my make-up, pack my lunch play a few lives on Candy Crush and 20 minutes or so later I take them out and flip my hair around. Boom. My hair is done. I don't even use product on my curls and (probably because of the wave) my hair lasts all day.

I also have been trying to wash my hair less. My hair dresser has been telling me for years to not wash my hair everyday. If I am not working out that day, I don't wash my hair. I am sure that also helps to keep the curl in. I have been using this product pretty regularly to give my hair some volume.

In all honesty, I received this product for free from BzzAgent, but I love it. I have tried other powder/volumizing products before, but I really do like this one the best. They all work, but it doesn't leave my hair with a weird texture like the spray products, and it also is cheaper than the other powder products I have tried. I highly recommend this stuff if you want a little lift in your hair.

What is your favorite summer look? Any fun products to recommend?

Winner winner chicken dinner!

I think a lot of us sign up for blog giveaways. I mean, who doesn't want to win cool free stuff? I have won a couple things before. Actually, the first give away I had ever signed up for I won. It was this lady's book. After that, I thought I wold win them all. Then I hit a year long giveaway dry spell until I won a gift pack from this awesome girl. That was back in September. Then just last month, my lucky dog won 2 giveaways. I mean technically I won them, but I am not going to use his stuff. Check it out.

First Gus won a Frosty Paws prize pack from Sarah and Floyd. It included that cute little Frosty Paws stuffy and coupons for free packs of doggie fro-yo. Since it has just now started to get sunny here, we haven't cashed in yet. He has had it before and he loves it. 

The other half of that picture is the contents of Gus's Bark Box. He  We won a one month subscription from Jessica and Avery. While I loved the box, Gus was not impressed.

I mean, he likes the treats, but he eats cat poop, so I don't think that is a good measure. He has only sniffed at the pink thing but he has torn up that duck looking stuffy.

One thing that I am impressed with is the prizes I won from Resolutions in Motion. One of two prizes was a print from Olive and Birch. I chose the Beetles print that she has. Check out her stuff. It is super cute. Check out the other thing I won

Look at my cute new sweatshirt from Nutrition Snob. For reals, go look at her stuff. It is so cute. I also won a tank from her as well. It took me forever to decide what I wanted. I could have chosen anything in the shop and been so happy with it. This is my new favorite sweatshirt. Great quality, super comfy, and I love the message. She is also gorgeous which make her stuff look all that much better. 

Have you ever won a blog giveaway?

I get real deep here... Just kidding. Its a post about boots.

I have been wanting a pair of tall, leather riding boots for a while now. There are a couple of things holding me back- 1) I am sort of cheap and the nice ones are expensive and cheap ones are uncomfortable. And 2) I have what I like to call "power calves." (some people call them athletic, some people call them fatty fat fat) Those two things make it difficult to own a pair of beautiful tall boots. 

Then came Christmas. My father-in-law gifted me with a very generous Nordstrom gift card. Then after Christmas Nordy's had a boot sale. See the graphic below to see how I felt about it.

After too much  Internet research (AKA reading almost every single book review) I found what I thought to be the perfect set of riding boots.

Nordstrom.com
Don't fall in love with them. They have a very limited selection of sizes left.

I anxiously awaited there arrival at my doorstep. The day they came in, I ripped open the shipping box pulled off the shoe box top and tried them on.

And almost cried. (Well, not really. But I was super bummed.)

They didn't fit over my stupid calves. The next day I took them to Nordstrom holding out hope that they might be able to stretch the calves. After learning that it wasn't really going to be an option, I reluctantly returned them. I also tried on several pairs of boots, but none of them lived up to the beauties you see above. (Nordstrom has a fantastic return policy if you don't know. They put all of it on my debit card instead of some on a gift card and some on my debit card.) I sadly left and went to Macy's to see what they had in stock. I was prepared to be disappointed.

A woman who also had power calves was trying on boots. She also happened to be my same shoe size. (How is that for coincidence?) I tried on a few of the pairs that she also had, and still none of them were what I wanted. And then I saw one last pair. It looked very similar to the pair I had returned, except for a little stretchy panel  It was the same pair I had just returned to to Nordstrom, but in the extended calf variety!!

Macys

The lady working there said it was the last pair that they had in stock, and it just happened to be in my size. It is a post-Christmas miracle. :)

Nail Files: When Sheer Petals meets a Diva

Today I went on a little gift card adventure. Santa brought me a gift card to Ulta becuase he heard I needed some new bare minerals and being that I had been good and all this year, he gave me my wish. Plus he heard that I liked nail polish so he made sure all of the Ulta brand polishes were on sale for $3 (instead of $6). Nicely done Santa, nicely done.

The base is 2 coats of Revlon Sheer Petal and topped off with a single coat of Ulta's Diva. I am such a fan of this little combo I put together. It is a neutral/light pink with just a little bit of sparkle. It's just a nice, dainty manicure.

One of the main reasons I paint my nails is that it helps me not bite my nails. It is such an icky habit and I have really been trying to stop. I find when my nails look nice, I don't bite. Do you have any other tips to stop nail biting?

Christmas Wishes

For show and tell, Becky is having us share our Christmas lists today. I love seeing everyone else's Christmas lists. It helps me get ideas :)

Yesterday I showed you my list of stuff I won't be getting this year. That is more like my lottery winning list. Sort of. I don't think I could ever spend $150,000 on a camping accessory. Here are some things that are actually on my Christmas list this year. 

• Nail Polish. I love the Essie Winter Collection, but I always like to add new colors to my mix.
• TOMS. These are the cutest hand painted pair from etsy. 
• Fiestaware accessories. This stuff is always on my list. How cute is the creamer set? And the egg plate? Too much. 
• Foamy soap from Bath and Body Works. I love this stuff. Now I don't know for sure, but I am guessing this candy apple scent for the holidays will smell similar to the 4th of July American Apple Pie scent. (Which was yummy)
• Microwave safe travel coffee mug. I like hot coffee. When I get to work, my coffee isn't hot. Solution?
• Rotary cutter/cutting mat. I want to start quilting and these are two must haves. Plus, it would just be easier to have these things when I am crafting and sewing like I do now.

The Mister also has access to my Amazon Wishlist that has a few movies and books on it that I want.

What's on your list??

My Holiday Manicure

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We spent it with the Mister's family, but both of us are feeling kind of crummy so we cut it shorter than we wanted to. Today I am linking up for the first time ever for nail files. This is my first attempt at nail art ever. I got the idea from Pinterest, and now the link to the original pin is gone. Here is my holiday manicure :)

I used China Glaze "Ruby Pumps"

This was my first time every doing anything than just painting my nails. There may have been more than one attempt. Here is one of my outtakes.

Seriously. It was way harder than it looked!

By the way, did you see Rashida Jones on Jimmy Fallon last night? Here is a clip of their holiday mash up they sang. It made me smile!

Catch Up!

Life lately:
-Things are starting to get to the new normal around here. It's weird that is has almost been a month.
-We just started the second grading period of the school year. That means a few things to me (and not a lot to you)
              a. my students are doing a group project this whole week, so I am not doing much.
              b. Sex ed starts next week. That means I will have fantastic student behavior and funny            
stories for the blog...
-I did an #OOTD (outfit of the day) picture on Instagram. I felt dumb, but then people liked it :) Here is proof of why I shouldn't be a fashion blogger.

Dress-Modcloth

Cardigan- Target

-I am slightly obsessed with Words With Friends. Play with me? caseys_adventure

-I am thinking about getting a Twitter account. I feel a little left out when bloggers talk about their Twittering (Tweeting?) The problem, I don't really get it. (I think I posted about this one other time too... maybe I should just give in and sign up.)

-I recently discovered that my phone has talk to text and let me tell you what- It is so funny to say a cuss word and have it block it out with little stars. It did block out "butt dial."

-Today I am taking my fat cat to the vet. It's just for her regular shots, but I think they are going to put her on a diet. She's fat. The big reason we are headed to the vet is we are getting another furry addition to our family. It was really important to my mom for us to take her cat. The problem, her cat is  a 15 year old boy cat, who is generally pretty skittish. And my cat is a 7 year old super spoiled cat who has never lived with another cat. Any advice is appreciated!

A Controversial Issue

I haven't posted any deep important thoughts lately, so in honor of the changing weather around here, it's time I dig down and share with you my thoughts on UGG Boots.

First off, I am pro-UGG. I know there is a lot of conflicting thoughts on the matter, but I think they are cute. This, however is not cute.

While UGGs are cute, they are also practical. Here in Oregon, it gets cold. Not like Alaska cold, but its hard for me to get out of bed in the morning because of the cold. And it's my first cold season with our non-carpeted floors. UGG boots=warm feet in the morning. 

UGGs are comfy. UGGs are the perfect shoe for a lazy day. They are as comfy/warm as slippers but they hold up if you need to run outside. Or to the store. Or anywhere else. 

Seriously, what is more comfy than fur lined boots? Um fur coats maybe. I mean faux fur. Don't get all PETA on me. 

I fully admit to wearing my UGGs as shoes. And I fully admit to wearing them to work. A lot. It started by me bringing them to wear on my prep period, then one day I was changing out of my rain boots, and instead of the "nice" work shoes I brought, I gave in and just wore the UGGs all day. And guess what? I still taught. My students still learned. And my feet were comfy. And warm. And my students complimented them. ("You wear UGGs?" Is a compliment from an 8th grader, right? They also say that whenever I wear TOMS.)

The Mister hates UGG boots. He is wrong. Are you pro-UGG or not? What fashion trends do you love or hate?

Fourth of July Adventures

Yikes! It is already the end of the 6th, and I have yet to share the my Fourth of July holiday with you all. First off, you have to realize that I live in a town called Independence, therefore, Independence Day is a big deal around here. Every year, my town (and the neighboring town) host two festivals, a parade and a "mini-marathon" for the holiday. We take this holiday very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that people set up their chairs for the parade at least 24 hours in advance.

This is a shaded spot, but there were chairs lined up on both sides of the road.

Right before the parade is the mini-marathon, a 2.6 mile run along the parade route. People are already in their chairs cheering for us, and cooling us off with squirt guns, hoses and sprinklers. I don't have any pictures of the run, but here is what I wore to run in.

In true fashion blogger style, I am not looking at the camera. My friend Kim and I made these matching tutus a couple weeks ago for the run, but like a dummy, I don't have a picture of us together. Boo! 

If you haven't had the pleasure of attending a small town parade, these pictures will give you a glimpse into the big event. Please remember, people put their chairs out a full 24 hours in advance for this.

There were plenty of tractors.// And a giant stretch truck thing. (Complete with a man singing on the top)//This was a float by one of the churches. It made the Mister uncomfortable.//Mini pony inside a van.

Carpet Hero is at every parade//Lots of horses. The mayors and city managers of the two towns act as a "clean up crew" at the end of the parade.// These are local violin students. One year a kid fell off the float. I laughed. Then felt bad.// See, we have some fancy floats.

The trike bikes//A tricked out lawn mower. My guess it will be used at the lawn mower races in September.//Yes, that is a man in a motorized wheelchair pulling a trailer.// Landscapers have floats too.

There were also the Shriners, a bunch of tricked out cars and classic cars, the cable company van, the towing company's trucks and more, but this was the highlight of the parade for me:

She wasn't part of a business, or a church or a club or anything. Just an old lady wearing red, white and blue, riding on her motorized wheelchair, with a curly cue horn. 

After the parade we walked down to the festival to eat a healthy lunch:

Tacos al pastor, hand dipped corn dog and apple pie fries. Yummy!

Gus wanted to get in on the Fourth of July festivities. And really, I wanted to do this to him since I made it:

That was pretty much it. The heat(all 78 degrees of it!) combined with the crummy food and not enough water was enough to trigger a migraine. Boo. After a nap and some Advil, I was still kind of out of it. Since the Mister had to work the next day, we opted out of the fireworks and watched some on TV like 70 year olds.

Does your town do anything for Independence Day? Do you dress your pets up? I can't be the only one!

Dumb dumb dopplegangers

Today I opened up the old google reader and a couple of the fun blogs I read were participating in a little link up to show your celebrity doppleganger. I love these things so I am in. I get told pretty frequently that I look like someone. No celebrities or anything, always someone's cousin, neighbor, cousin's neighbor, or cousin's neighbors friend. So I went to the hosting blog got the link to the site that she used and excitedly uploaded a cute picture from Valentine's this year.

Then this popped up:

Hmm.. Monica Bellucci? She's seems pretty...I IMDB'ed her, and apparently she is a foreign film actress. She also played Magdalene in the Passion of the Christ. Not too shabby. Also according to IMDB, she was born in 1964... making her 48. But really, I don't look like any of these people. And an 83% match to Tom Hanks? No. Also seriously, could they have found a more goofy looking picture of Ryan Seacrest? I thought, I will try again.

I shouldn't have.

Seriously? ALL BALD MEN? What in the heck. And Nick Nolte? Are you serious?? Do you notice there is not even a woman on there?

It could be worse I guess.

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It could be this picture of Nick Nolte.

Okay, third times a charm, right? The hat must have made me look bald. I found a nice picture from our engagement pictures. This should be good. No hat, nice smile. Boom.

Who is this Zinedine Zidane?  He's yummy :)

Are you effing kidding me? Nick Nolte again? And Mel Brooks. This has got to be a joke. At least Jamie Pressly is on here. 

This picture also had the Mister in it:

Why does this website think he is an African American Super model? Or Steven Speilberg? If he's Billy Bob Thornton, am I Angelina Jolie (and this is the year 2000)

Who is your celebrity doppleganger? Will I be jealous?

I'm so vain, I probably think this post is about me

Carly anyone?

When I turned 30, something happened. You see, growing up, I was never really into make-up. I kind of played around with it in middle school, but even in high school I didn't really wear it. As long as I had lip gloss I was A-OK. I didn't even really start wearing mascara until I was doing my student teaching in a high school and I realized EVERY kid looked older than me. (Seriously, didn't my college ID badge that I was wearing give the hall monitors a clue that I didn't NEED a hall pass.) Any who, as 30 approached I started to get more and more interested in make up. I started to notice my that skin tone was uneven and for whatever reason I was breaking out way more than I did during puberty. I had tried foundations and concealers before, but since I have never really found a good face wash, they all just made me break out more. Boo.

Well, over spring break I decided to head over to ULTA (with my gift card I got for my birthday in December) and talk to the much more knowledgeable ladies about my conundrum. I told showed them my skin woes, explained my need for as much sleep as possible in the morning and also admitted I was basically a novice at make-up. And they came up with this solution:

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Bare Minerals!
Let me start off by saying that I love the girls at ULTA. They were so patient with me and my cluelessness questions. The spent time showing me the "twirl, tap and buff" (Just like on TV!), helping me pick out the right colors and even letting me practice putting it on while they watched. (Completely dummy proof by the way.) I'm sure they thought it was silly that I had no clue what I was doing with the brushes, but they didn't let it show. My starter kit that I bought came with a foundation powder, a Warmth All-Over Face Color (a bronzer) and a Mineral Veil finishing powder. It also came with three brushes: a flawless face brush, a smaller flawless application brush and then a concealer brush.

I wore it a couple times during spring break to try to get use to it before I wore it to work. I really was worried I would look like a clown, or it would be obvious that I had a ton of make up on or something. Last Monday I woke up a little earlier and did my new getting ready routine. Then I realized I only needed about 3 extra minutes to my old routine. Nice. Then I headed to work.

One of my students (a super sweet girl) looked at me (during 3rd period) and asked if I did something with my hair. Then she asked if my mascara was different. Then during 4th period (she's super lucky that she gets to spend 2 periods in a row with me) she brought it up again. "Mrs. C, what is different about you?" I went ahead and told her that I started using bare Minerals. She started saying how I looked so pretty and the make up was so natural looking. Yes. 8th grader stamp of approval. A few days later a co-worker started asking me the same thing. Yes. Adult/peer stamp of approval.

I have been using bare minerals now for about 3 weeks. I seriously love it. My skin seems clearer, and it really is super easy to put on in the morning.

What beauty products do you love?

To warn you, I have another make-upy post scheduled for tomorrow. What can I say, 30 has turned me into that girl. :)

Oh and it goes without saying that Bare Minerals doesn't know I exist. BUT if they some how find this post or find out about my existence, and wanted to send me some free stuff, I would totally take it.

Best of the 2012 Grammys

I've never really wanted to be famous. The lack of privacy and the threat of pictures of me going to the grocery store in sweats and my Uggs without a shower is enough it make it so I never try to pursue acting or singing or modeling or whatever the Kardashians and the Hiltons did to become famous. (That and a lack of talent in any of the above areas.) But this time of year, I wish I could be famous. This time of year being awards season. I would love an excuse to wear a fancy gown and get my hair and make up done. Since I am out of high school and won't be going to another prom and I already got married, I don't see any reasons to get dolled up in my future. But if I was famous...


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 How good does Carrie Underwood look? When I first saw it I wasn't sure about the sleeves, but with that back I think it is just lovely.




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How classy is Adele? She has gotten a lot of attention for her size as well as her voice. I freaking love her 21 album as well as this dress on her.

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Who would have ever thought Kelly Osborne would clean up this well? I'm not a fan of the hair color, but the style is classic. The dress also looks really good on her.

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I don't know why Dr. Quinn is at the Grammys, but day-uhm. I hope and pray I look that good when I'm 60+. Hell, I wish I looked that good now!
What were your favorite Grammy looks?