A Good Christmas

The last couple years Christmas has been very "EH." Usually could not afford presents or family arguments. BUT...this year was great. Christmas eve we went to my parents house, and ate ham and yummy turkey. I got a nook! I wasn't really interested in them but I have been playing with it for the last couple days and love it so far. I was pretty biased to the kindle just because I would prefer to buy from Amazon rather then Barnes & Noble. What really tripped me out about the nook is that the screen looks exactly like pages of a book. You can't even tell that it is electronic. Right now I'm reading Divergent which so far is a pretty great book. It does remind me of the Hunger Games but it is a little different. I was up reading it late last night. Well late for me anyways.

Nook Simple Touch

Then on Christmas day we went to M & FIL's. We had prime rib, and we were pretty stoked to get an ice cream/smoothie maker. Can't wait to use it. Oh and my favorite....the pasta boat! LOL. Seriously though pasta is a pain in the a$$ to make, and I'm pretty excited to use it. I'm thinking spaghetti for dinner tonight. :) 

Yonana!

I also got a set of really pretty bracelets. They are a set of bangles, and they are way cute. H got a nice set of Bailey's coffee liqueur. We tasted it last night in hot chocolate, and it is way yummy. I want to try the caramel next!

I also went shopping with my grandma, and she bought me these boots.


So your probably wondering how the diet is going. Well the last couple weeks of December the diet has been non-existent. H would bring home cookies, fudge, and every baked sugar sweet food possible. So we were defeated. BUT amazing but true I am still losing weight! The last week I have been eating only once a day (which I know is horrible) but I have noticed that I am no longer hungry 24/7. Next time we go grocery shopping we will be eating healthy. I am currently at my 10 lbs loss. Woohoo! Oh and I have a stack of jeans that I have been keeping for years so I can fit back into. Well guess what?! Out of 6 pair I got 3 back. Slowly but surely I will fit into the skinniest ones I own.

Next let me introduce you to the newest member of the family. Meet Holly!

She was my "Christmas present" to H. I got her a few days before Christmas and surprised him after he got off work. She is way too cute for her own good, and right now her and Bugga's have been getting better at being friends. At first he was very mean to her (trying to establish dominance). He was pinning her down and biting her on the neck. He still does this but way less, and now he will let her play next to him. He is slowly getting used to the fact that she is not going away. When I brought her home I noticed she did have fleas. She also obviously had worms so off to the Petco I went. We got rid of the fleas with shampoo. She wasn't infested or anything but she did have a few on her as well as lots of eggs. Now we are working on killing the worms. I have been giving her medicine 3x a day. Hoping it is working. I think it is but we'll see. After the 2 weeks I will take her to the vet for a wellness exam, and all of her wonderful shots. I have some really good pictures at home that I will upload later.

All in all it was a pretty decent Christmas. Hoping next year is just as good if not better.

Happy Retirement Barb!

So 6 months ago exactly, a wonderful woman by the name of Barb let us know (company at work) that she would be retiring. I have worked along side Barb for about 3 years so I was extremely surprised to hear the news.

She had been working with the company for 18 years. 18 years! Can you believe that? So much dedication. When you would see her in the morning she always had a cute outfit on, and just always cheery. Yes a cheery HR person. Were talking one in a million here. Her personality was off the charts. Fun, and when she had to get down to business.....you could tell she was doing her thing. I always loved her sayings (usually coming from her mom.) I remember a few but one day I was complaining about someone not being fair at work, and her response was "The squeaky wheel gets the grease, but is always replaced first." She definitely gave me a new prospective on a lot of things in life. Oh and I will never forget "YIPPEE SKIPPY"! One of her more common phrases.

Yesterday was her last day, and it definitely will not be the same without her. I always labeled her "Oh wise one" since she was always there when I had a question, or just in general someone you could talk to about anything. I was very bummed to hear at first but I  have slowly come around that it is just a new chapter in her life, and I will definitely be staying in touch as I consider her as a close friend. Without her around I will have to man up and figure things out for myself. It was a bittersweet day yesterday. We all brought in breakfast goodies, and yummy treats. Oh and the fun idea my MIL had to bring a wreathe with little bottles of alcohol. It was completely adorable, and she loved it! Then at the end of the day it was just...quiet. Without her around there was a weird feeling, and will be hard to get used to. In the end though she definitely deserves it, and can now go to being a full time grandma!

Happy Retirement Barb! You deserve it.

Her favorite holiday is Halloween

Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater...literally

I haven't posted in a while because guess what? I had a kidney stone. Yep another one. Last year I passed a kidney stone on December 15th. I guess I'm just lucky. It has been going on for a couple weeks actually. I would get a few pains on my side so I would just take some Ibuprofen, and that would do the trick. Then the pain woke me up at 2AM on Wednesday the 7th, and would not go away. I tried a previous medication the DR. prescribed me when I last had a kidney stone. Nope...still didn't do it. So then H drove me to the emergency room, and they treated me there. I believe I arrived around 3:30am, and was released around 7am. They put me on an IV, and some pain medicine. I still did not pass the stone when I left so I was up to my head in drugs. Finally on Friday morning I passed the stone, and took the entire weekend to get my body up to speed again. Hoping this time the DR can tell me what is wrong, and why I keep getting these little painful devils. It is unbelievable that a stone the size of a grain of salt can cause so much pain! Anyways that was my fun week.

Oh and the diet. 1 word. Cheater. Yes I am a cheater. When I was sick I didn't eat anything. I barely could get water down me, and maybe a Popsicle. My lovely mom came over to check on me, and brought me pizza. So I did eat 1 slice of pizza. So sinful I know. Let me tell you.....it was sooooooooooooooo goooood. Then I went back to the diet. I did slip up an eat an orange but I figured if it was going to be a cheat, it should be something healthy. Oh and it didn't stop there.

H came home with a dozen chocolate chip cookies, peppermint bark, pretzel clusters, pumpkin cake with glaze, and gingerbread cookies. Tis the season right? What a BUTT! He received it all from work. These were not just store brand either. They were homemade all the way. He ate the cake (CHEATER) and I ate some of the cookies, and clusters (CHEATER.) I am still sticking with the diet more or less. Staying away from fast food, and the dirty processed food. Trying to eat healthier in general. So all in all I have lost 8lbs! WOOHOO. Now if I can keep going that will be a miracle. We'll probably cheat a little more during Christmas but come January we are going strict.

Day # F-I-V-E

Good morning! Usually I wait to write until later in the day but I thought I would be an early bird today. I started off with a protein drink that is actually pretty good. It is the Special K powder drink mix (flavor is pink lemonade.) I am really craving a Starbucks white hot chocolate with caramel but I am resisting! Moving on with my diet, I am still going strong. Thank you, thank you...I did have the mint episode yesterday but we are passed that. On to a new day! So yesterday I forgot to grab my lunch yesterday so I ended up buying a salad. Bummer :(. So today I remembered my lunch and...forgot my purse. Oy. I'm thinking a check list is in order before I leave the house. So today I was playing with my hair and put it up in a ponytail, and it looked so boring. Then I tried halfway up and it was eh. So this is how I ended up doing my hair. Only took me like 2 seconds, and it looks like it took longer. It is a little messy today because I was running late but you get the gist.

At work I like to keep  my hair up in some form because when it is down it always tends to get in my way so finding ways to get my hair out of my face is a must. I wear ponytails all of the time so its nice to explore. So after a lovely little fight H and I had last night we have come to the conclusion that we need a coat rack. So I was checking out coat racks today, and I don't really like the stand alone ones just because we are tight on space at the moment living in the apartment. So I thought these were kind of nice.

Just something simple that gets the job done, and doesn't take up too much room.

Katylou~

My Buggaboo's and Day #4

So today is #4 for my diet, and so far so good. Of course I have been having the worst time not eating bread, pasta, etc. I will confess today I accidentally ate a mint. It was completely an accident, and I had no sugar intentions. If I was going to cheat I would grab a piece of bread before I touched a mint. With that said I have been very very diligent at keeping up this diet, and plan to keep going. My scale read yesterday morning.......6lbs LIGHTER..can you give me a hell ya?!? Then I weighed myself this morning and I was at 3lbs lighter, and not 6. So I am definitely doin some major fluctuating. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

During this weekend I did get my haircut. Nothing special just a MUCH NEEDED trim, and a few layers to lighten the load. I will try to post a couple pix later. I was pretty excited when the hairstylist asked if I could stand up in order to trim because my hair was so long. Never happened before so I was like "No problem!" since I have been trying to grow my hair out forever. It definitely feels a lot healthier. She did add in Joico, K-PAK, restorative styling oil. It made my hair a lot softer, and easier to work with. I was tempted to purchase in store but it was $15 and I just couldn't budge it. I will be thinking about purchasing in the future for sure. I also remember the last stylist I went to used CHI Silk Infusion Silk Reconstructing Complex. That also made my hair nice, and light.

For Christmas H and I are considering switching to a new cell phone service. We currently have Metro PCS, which is a cheap service with no contract. It has served its purpose but we are on to newer and better things. We are considering Sprint since H gets a 20% discount with them which comes to a pretty reasonable price. So we'll see. :)

So the wonderful California weather fooled me again this mourning. It is December, and most other places it is raining, snowing, or storming. Well....not CA. Being a CA girl I do love the sunshine but I think I love the rain, and snow more. So this morning I looked out and it was all sunny so I figured "Hey lets throw on some cargo pants, and a tank with some flip flops." When I wake up in the morning I don't put a lot of thought in my clothes even though I should for the soul purpose of sleeping in longer...talk about awesome lazy. So when I walked out the door to go to work this morning, it was freezing! Literally freezing with ice on my windshield. I very much dislike the sunny but freezing weather. Just stupid.

So I probably have mentioned before that I am pretty much obsessed with my cat. Here is the love of my life. He is such a little menace, brat, pain in the ass, but I love him. Of course H hates pictures taken of him, and the dog's eyes always turn out pure red. So that leave me with pictures of my BUGGA BOOS! H also calls him Bouche (Boosh). 

The all so cute and innocent stage

His gorgeous blue eyes!

His eyes slowly fading from blue to green

          

They were friends right away. See what I mean about the red?

Slowly moving into the "teenager" faze

Eyes turning from green to yellow

He would not stop licking himself so we had to make him wear the shameful cone

Sun Bathing with his cone

...and yellow eyes!

He thinks he's boss

Day #1 and a Very Cute Pyro

So here we go with DAY #1. Last night we totally pigged out knowing it was our last day of sugary goodness. I also realize that I am starting right before the biggest month of the year to eat candy and sweets. I say "Bring it on!"

Okay so maybe my eggs didn't look that good!!

 So here is my food plan for the day:

Breakfast
2 Scrambled eggs
protein water

Snack
Small bag of baby Carrots
String Cheese

Lunch
Artichoke
Decaf Green Tea

Snack
Small bag of Celery
String Cheese

Dinner
Grilled chicken breast
Salad

Desert
Sugar free, fat free jello 

I am desperately hoping I will keep up with this. As you have seen in previous posts my dinners are not exactly healthy so hoping to make a big change. I was wanting to start on January 1st but H convinced me "Why not just start now!?". I thought hell I need to, and I really don't need to be eating all of the Christmas sweets, and candy. So last night we went to the grocery store and only bought foods we were allowed to eat. It was pretty easy since the book makes it simple that Phase 1 (lasts for 2 weeks), you basically only eat meat, poultry, vegetables, and cheese. Of course lots and lots of water but that's a given. We were slightly on budget so we only bought foods for today and this weekend. On Monday we will be going major grocery shopping since that is pay day, and get a ton of vegetables, cheese, and meats.

To completely change topics I had to post a picture of Pyro. He would make a great Christmas card huh? I'm just too lazy to do it.

Katylou~

The South Beach Diet

So today both I and H decided we were going to go on the South Beach Diet. It sounds like a good healthy way to lose weight, and that is what we are looking for. I'm pretty excited to start tomorrow (December 2nd.) I will keep you updated on how I keep up. I am hoping I stick with it, and of course have my doubts because like any diet..you stop. But I am hoping to stop once I lose the weight I lose, and not necessarily stop, but learn to eat healthier and be a better cook. The recipes in the book seem somewhat simple, and easy. The number one problem I know I will face is....FISH. I cannot stand fish, and can't stand the smell. Never have. Also the book recommends a lot of tomato juice, and V-8. YUCK. But honestly to tell you the truth I am a horribly picky eater and I have grown up from the kid who "doesn't like their vegetables" to the "adult who doesn't like her vegetables." They say the first 2 days is the hardest so we shall see. We also came up with a plan to rid our cupboards and fridge of all the food that we wont be eating in phase 1. Makes sense right? That way it will be harder to grab something that your not suppose to have. That's my theory anyways. Here is the book:


So wish me luck, and hopefully I can lose the pounds that I desperately need to lose. AND hopefully I go from this:

To this:

~Katylou

1 Weekend, 2 Amusment Parks, 1 Ocean View, and a Great Time

Almost at the end of the day of a lovely Tuesday...NOT! H is going in to work at midnight tonight to work which I don't mind since I am asleep by that hour. So a couple weeks ago H and I got into a fight. I really can't remember what it was about...something stupid like usual. We went in seperate rooms of the apartment and after several hours H came out and said "Want to go to So Cal?" Of course you would expect my response to be "Are you crazy?!" or "What are you talking about", but it ended like this.... "Sure." So we packed a few clothes, toothbrush, and the norms and headed out the door. We drove through the night, counted all of the cars who were in our way in the fast lane, and finally arrived at a cheap but expensive hotel. Now when I say cheap but expensive I mean the inside of the hotel was cheap, the price was expensive. Don't you hate that? Anyways the next morning we ended up going to the Wild Animal Park which was slightly uneventful. It was not busy and it was nice to see the animals but they were so far away you couldn't really see them. It definitely is a beautiful place to go, and is a "should go at least once" type of place. Since the Wild Animal Park only took half the day we decided to explore more of So Cal. (H is from So Cal so he was a little more familiar with the area.) We went to the SeaWorld. Last time I went I was about 4 years old. Both H and I were very suprised when we arrived. It was so much fun, and all of the animals they

 have is amazing. SeaWorld was also Christmas themed which was nice.

All in all we ended up leaving SeaWorld Sunday night, drove the

8 hours to get back home, and I was at work Monday morning at

8am sharp. What a weekend! Sometimes it is nice to be impulsive, and

sometimes it bites you in the ass. I think this time was nice since H

and I definitely needed a mini vaca. Here is a quick picture of us at the

 end of the day at SeaWorld before we went home. Afterward we went

to the ocean to check it out. Oh and it was FREEZINGGGGG cold!

My Locket

So for our 1 year anniversery H got me this locket. I am totally in love with it. It's the perfect size but to fit a picture in there is going to take a lot of skill. Super super tiny.
I thought I would post this before I forgot. Oh and the other day H and I were looking around a store (forgot which one) and we saw a beautiful heart diamond ring that was on sale and super good deal. I did some major hinting so I'm hoping...maybe Christmas? I usually love anything he gets me because not to brag or anything but he has really good taste. So when he does get me something its usually very nice. Anyways almost time to go home :)

~Katylou

Dinner Menu

So me and H are huge fast food junkies. We both totally suck at cooking (with good intentions), and usually anything we make is "eh." However it has come to the point where we are both completely sick of fast food, and would like to move on to some homemade food. We will be taking a cooking class in the future, but with our schedules it is totally out of the question at the moment. So we checked on some somewhat "healthy" but manageable recipes, and created a menu for this week. I am hoping we can keep to it. Here is what I have so far:

Thursday
Chicken Fried Steak
Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
Fresh Green Beans

(Ok! Ok! I know you must be thinking that is so not healthy but I did pull it from eatingwell.com so I am sticking with it. Moving on....

Friday
BBQ Chicken Tenders
Homemade Ranch Dip
Fruit
(again pulled from Eating Well, and we have a ton of bbq sauce that needs to be used up)

Saturday
Beef Stew
Cornbread
(My FIL makes amazing beef stew which I got the recipe from so I'm hoping it turns out somewhat good like his)

Sunday
Pork Chops with Apples
Mashed Potatoes

Monday
Sourdough Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Salad
Tomato Soup for DH (Yuck!)

Tuesday
New York Steak
Corn on the Cob

Wednesday
Chicken Parmesan Sandwich OR Cheese quesadillas with fresh salsa and guacamole
(I'm not sure I will like the chicken parm so I am using the quesa's as a backup. ;)

Then of course Thursday is Turkey Day.

A Girl Can Never Have Enough Make-up

I thought I would post a little bit about the make-up I use. I recently just bought a ton of new stuff so I will show you what my latest findings were. My daily routine starts with washing my face. My face gets really oily so I had to find something that would get rid of the oily face but not completely dry it out. Clean & Clear foaming cleanser seems to be working the best for me at the moment. I was using a Neutrogena face wash but it was discontinued so I moved on to a face wash a little on the cheaper side.

Next I use Covergirl TRUblend. Just a few dabs on my face to cover up the redness. I would say it works pretty well, and most of all...it is not oily! I believe I use the Ivory color but I'm not 100% positive.

Then I discovered a brand of makeup I never had heard of. It is called Physicians Formula. When I was out to lunch with H we stopped by a small grocery store, and they had a lot of mineral and natural makeup. They had a huge huge sail on the physicians formula makeup for $2.99 each. SCORE! It didn't look like bad makeup either.

First I picked up the Bronze Booster Glow-Boosting Press Bronzer. I went home and tried it out. I loved it! The last time I used a bronzer it was dingy and orangey looking so I just stopped looking. This bronzer gives off a natural glow and the illusion that I am tan. LOVE it. So of course I went back for more. I also love the case that included a mirror, and brush.                                                      

Next time I stopped by the store I bought a few more items. Here are a few:

Shimmer Strips Custom Bronzer, Blush & Eye Shadow
They say that you can use this as blush, eye shadow or bronzer. I decided I would use it more for eye shadow since I loved the neutral shimmery colors. I am not a big fan of eye shadow and hardly ever use it. When I do it is usually just a shimmer. It stays on all day, and looks very nice. Thumbs up!

Next I picked up another bronzer since I loved the first one. It is called Summer Eclipse® Bronzing & Shimmery Face Powder. I haven't yet tried it yet so I will keep you updated. I just love the cute little sun on it. I think that is mostly the reason I bought it. Oh and it was $2.99!!

Then I picked up this Healthy Wear™ SPF 50 Tinted Moisturizer. It has a good color but way way too oily for my face. I think I will stick with the covergirl. :) I was also using MAC cover-up however I ordered it online, and it was completely the wrong color for me. It was way to light, and made me look extremely pale. I guess I will save that for my "winter look" lol.

 

I also bought some blush. The blush I was using was Avon which was getting the job done, but I didn't really like the color, and it didn't stay on all day. So I picked out the Mineral Wear™ Talc-Free Mineral Blush. I have been liking it so far. I think I would like a little more pinkish color but it does stay on all day which I am happy about it. It also came with its own brush and mirror. I did also buy some powder foundation that is the Physicians Formula as well, but haven't tried it out yet. We'll see. Usually powder foundations don't really work for me since my skin is a little bit dry right after I wash my face so it shows through. The moisturizer I use which I do use right after I wash my face. (Sorry I skipped that step). It is Neutrogena oil free moisture. I love it, and it does not make my face oily at all. After my face I move on to my eyes. About a month ago I was looking for some mascara. I was using an avon brand that was ok. I found some reviews of woman that loved the Benefit They're Real! Mascara. I checked online, and the prices were a little expensive. Then I found it on amazon for super cheap, and decided to try it. Usually I don't pay more then $6 for mascara but was really wanting to try it. I LOVE this. It makes my eyelashes look long, and full. I was very impressed to say the least. I think it is mostly the brush that makes it so nice. I would definitely recommend this product.

Then to finish it off I use Maybelline Shinesensational lip gloss. I use #55 Tempting Toffee. It gives off a little pink natural color but the taste is amazing. So yummy~

That pretty much covers my make-up routine. Then I move on to my hair which I am not as creative with. That is another story.

~Katylou 

                                                       

                                                                                                                                             

Ready Set...Blonde, Red, Brunette!

So as I mentioned before I have changed my hair color 3 times within the same month. I know..poor hair. Anyways, here are some before and after pictures....

Here is what I started with. It is overgrown highlights, and I was sick of the "goldie" look.

Here is the 2nd look. I bought Clairol natural instincts which I thought well from the picture, and the back it looks like a dark reddish brown. Oh and it took 3 boxes for my hair! Crazy huh? Normally I will dye my hair a couple times a year professionally. There's no doubt that's the way to go. But I had an event at work  

and I didn't want to go with the overgrown highlights so I thought "Hey lets just take a chance, and hope it turns out wrong. Well I was totally wrong. As soon as I looked in the mirror after I was done I was pretty much in shock. Seeing my hair flaming red when expecting dark brown was a HUGE difference. I was extremely disappointed and I hated it. I wanted to change it back, or change it right away...but I didn't. I didn't want to completely fry my hair so I did wait a couple weeks. Here is how it turned out! I wanted to cry. I thought it looked fake, and I totally do not pull off the redhead look. I am extremely pale with green eyes but I just can't get past my natural brunette. :) I apologize for the huge mess in the background! The picture actually makes it look pretty light but it was very very very red.

Next down the line after my red mistake I knew I wanted to go more my natural color (light brown.) So I decided to try to get rid of most of the red to go dark brown. I have always liked dark brown so I went for it on a Sunday afternoon. It took me forever trying to figure out what color of brown so finally I came out of the store with this. I almost regretted getting Clairol again with the bad episode I had previously but I really liked the color, and guess what...no red! Another huge reason for choosing this is the new "foam" that they have been advertising like crazy. I have to say that I loved it! With the red dye my husband was there to guide me on what strands I was missing color in and what not. When I was picking out the dye my husband was at work, and I was on my own so I wanted something easier to apply. I must say..I loved it! It gives great coverage and works like a charm. I loved it. It was a little bit more expensive then the other dyes but totally worth it. I would definitely recommend especially if you have really long hair. Also with this it only took me 2 boxes to finish up my hair.

I was very happy with the result, and it came out beautiful. It is very shiny, and the exact color I was looking for. Of course a little bit of red came out but I don't mind a little bit. ;)

....and much better! Sorry for the boob shot by the way. Also every picture is right after I finished blow drying, and after the dying so pardon the frizz. I know I know, I need to work on my tan! I look so horrible in this picture but it gets the hair color across. Also didn't mean to double post but all of my pics are on my home computer that I can't access from work. So that finishes up my crazy hair month of October!

~Katylou