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

My Cute Lil Spee-i-der

Hello there. First let me start off by showing you my new car! I am pretty excited about it, and I did go through buyer's remorse (majorly) but have since gotten over that today. I am not so "yay" about the color but did some pricing and figured that it would cost about 2k for a super nice paint job.
Here is my car now:

...and then the paint job I am hoping for:

Would love to have THIS car however I think my cute lil' spyder could pull off that color. Comparing it to a Lotis does NOT do it justice. Just look at the color people! Haven't done much shopping in a long time. Spent everything on the car! lol. My H is also for the purple but I was thinking maybe blue instead? I go back and forth but we definitely pick very unique colors.

New update on the army: H is finishing up some college, and will be done in January. After that he is enlisting, and we have now been looking into the medical field which I love.

I just got back from vacation from work (woohoo week off!). Didn't do too much since we just bought the car. We did go to the zoo which was fun. We went in the morning so most of the animals were either eating or hiding. I still can't decide if I am against zoos. I'm definitely not for this just because the animals just look sad in the cages! You can totally tell on their faces that they are not happy. There are some animals that don't really mind. (Going off my keen animal instincs..heehe.) Back at work today (boo) but my email has been going crazy (IT has been working on it) so I got through pretty fast. Day has been going by pretty fast so that is good news.
I have learned a valuable life lesson this month. READ before signing. That is all.
I also this month have changed my hair color several times. I know, I know! I thought "OMG I'm going to have to change the name of my blog." The first color was a bronzy brown. Didn't like it at all. So I went with "dark cinnamon brown." My hair came out flaming red. It was literally ALL red. I was a little devistated at first but started to grow on me. After about 2 weeks, and ran to the store and picked out some brown. I couldn't stand the red. It looked so fake on me. I am now back to my true color! I will post some before and after pictures hopefully in the next post.
I also tried to cook a spaghetti squash. A little back history on me~ I have never really liked vegis (ohh ya..one of those kids) and I have been slowly, and I mean slowly adapting. So I tried out a spaghetti squash, and ...YUCK. Did not like. I'm thinking I may have overcooked it too but totally gross to me. I was a little bummed since they are suppose to be so healthy for you. With it I did pick up at the grocery store a pre-made salad which had apples, cheddar cheese, and apple vinegrette...YUMM! Success! Anyways I will see ya lata...half hour of work to go!
~Katylou

WHEW!

So I have a lot going on at the moment. H is still deciding if he wants to join AF or army. I am leaning him towards AF just because of an amazing job that he and I both like. I just found out that Army and Navy offer it too, but we like the location of the AF.It is a SERE trainer. Their basically the masters of boyscouts. lol. Naw their more then that but you get my point. H is starting his second semester of classes. He is taking 2 classes as oppose to 3 which will definitely make it a lot easier. I am really hoping they have the SERE position available when he enlists. It would make life so much easier but I have a sneaky suspicion that it wont work like that. Just because we have that kind of luck. Speaking of luck, even though this is totally conflicting what I just said, I found a $20 bill on the ground. I have only found money on the ground once, and that was $5. I was pretty happy, how lucky is that?!

We are also planning a vacation in November. I get 1 week off, and so does H so we are hoping to go to SoCal. There is a ticket that you buy that includes: San Diego Zoo, Wild Animal Park, and Sea World. The ticket is only $150 each person! So excited. I am hoping that we can actually go on this trip. Saving, saving, saving. The one thing both me and H are horrible about. We have the worst impulsive personalities together. This month we did pretty good with saving so we decided since we did such a good job we should reward ourselves. So we went and bought a WII. I definitely don't commend my decisions, but let me tell you...it's so not worth it to regret it. LOl, and the WII is so much fun. 

Oh and the diet fun. I haven't been recording my calories for the past 3 weeks. So bad! I really need to go back to it. I haven't even been watching what I eat at all. Need to work on that. Hopefully next time I write I will be back on it. I lost 6lbs with it! You would think that would be enough motivation but sadly..no.:(

Our 1st year anniversery is coming up. Were thinking of just driving to the Ocean. We don't want to spend a lot of money so maybe ocean, and a nice dinner? Or we were thinking maybe our November vacation can count. :) Lately too I have been having major baby fever! Yuck! 5 more years, 5 more years, 5 more years at least! This is what I have been repeating in my head non-stop. lol Wrapping it up for the day, see you.

-Katylou

   

RIP our Shrimp

So on Friday I went to the dentist for the first time in a while. I had one baby tooth that needed to be pulled. I told them to go for it, and they did a filling as well since my mouth was going to be numb for the extraction. Let me tell you...I love the eating habits it has caused. As you know I have been trying to drop a few (ok more then a few) pounds so having a sore mouth does not exactly improve ones appetite. Each piece of food I eat I have to chew a hundred times, and can only eat small quantities. I was a little dissapointed though that they told me that I would have to get either a bridge or an implant. I decided an implant would be the best for me. They said that implants go around 3-5 thousand dollars. Ouch! Not exactly looking forward to breaking the bank but it will be so worth it not to have a hole in my mouth. It is in the back but even so. :(

RIP our french accented shrimp. H was creating a saltwater aquarium, and we bought a red shrimp for the tank first (along with liverock, sand, etc.) Now I say french accented because when my dad came over he decided that he was french. So funny. So yesterday the shrimp was on his back and kicking. H was hoping that he was molting or something but sadly no. He died this morning. Here is what he looked like:

So we are starting over and creating a freshwater aquarium. More on our level of expertise I think. We really don't have the time or money to care for a saltwater aquarium but I do give H credit for trying, and maintaing one for 2 months. Today he is going to PetCo to check out what they have and such. Since my clutch has gone out in my car I have been driving H's truck. So this morning I took his set of keys, and mine by accident. I always leave him a set of keys just in case. He will drive my car from here to there but using it everyday for me to drive to work will be bad. So this morning I drove back home to give him a set of keys. It was nice seeing  him anyways since we really don't have a lot of time together with him taking classes, and working full time. 

Also our auto insurance is expiring so we were checking out other insurance companies for a better rate. I was so excited that the newest cheapest for us was Geico. I love the little gecko. I have always wanted the insurance just for the gecko.hehe. Isn't he adorable?

-Katylou

The good, the bad, and the ugly

Haven't been here for a while! Nothing too much going on lately. My kitty is getting fixed on Thursday (Poor baby!) I have a dentist appointment on Friday which I was looking forward too since I have not been to the dentist since I was a kid, but now that it is getting closer I am scared to go. (THE BAD) I have been doing okay on the healthy eating. I am still counting calories so that definitely motivates me to eat healthier. The last past week I haven't been excercising so thats not good. Once I put myself in the situation to excercise I am okay, its just getting to the starting point. My clutch went out in my car so I have been driving around H's big huge truck. It's a little difficult to manuvere but I am getting it down. It's nice in traffic on my way home because it is an automatic. We went grocery shopping yesterday and we were both (me and H) pretty impressed with ourselves since our cart had only healthy stuff. (THE GOOD) If you would have looked at our cart a month ago it would have looked like we never had chocolate, chips, and cookies in our lives and were stocking up for years in advance. Last night for dinner we had chicken breast with some type of package marinade, and cantaloupe. I think I like chicken legs better on the grill just because the breast is kind of plain even with seasonings. Tonight we are using our new crockpot for the first time! We are having beef stew so I'll have to let you know how that turns out. Oh and I have to tell you. It was the most hilarious moment ever last night. H was sitting on our couch, and kitty came up to the top of the couch. He went to poke him to just mess with him, and the cat turned around really fast. He ended up poking him right in the B-HOLE. HAHAH It was so funny. The cat gave the weirdist expression, and we were both laughing our asses off! (THE UGLY!)
Well I'm starving so I'm off to lunch. I am having Mr. Pickles thinking either a turkey cranberry or pastrami. Both are the healthiest meats. I have learned to stay away from cheese and salami since that bumps my calories up to a crazy amount! See ya!

-Katylou  

Go Healthy!

So I found this website that I absolutely love! It is livestrong.com. I have been using the "My Plate" feature which keeps track of all your calories and exercise. I love it. I have been working on losing weight and so far within the last week I have lost 2lbs. Pretty good start I think! I have been working on eating healthier and keeping track of the calories I eat. It hasn't been too hard. I figured out that the more I excercise the more calories I get to eat..hehehe. So there is my motivation! Yesterday H and I went to the lake with Pyro. We took Pyro in the water with us and he was not a happy camper to say the least. I got a huge sunburn on my back. My bathing suit top had extra length in back so it covered half my back. I have a huge white blob in the middle of my back! lol. So I definitely need to hang out by the pool to even that out. I also found a recipe that I really like. It is blueberry oatmeal muffins. They are actually pretty healthy for you when it comes to muffins. They were yummy and way easy to make! Here is the recipe I got from Taste of Home:

                           Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins Recipe

Nutrition Facts: 1 muffin equals 167 calories, 6 g fat (3 g saturated fat), 31 mg cholesterol, 249 mg sodium, 26 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 4 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 1-1/2 starch, 1 fat.

Ingredients

• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup (8 ounces) plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine the first eight ingredients. Combine the egg, yogurt and butter; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in blueberries.
• Coat muffin cups with cooking spray or use paper liners; fill three-fourths full with batter. Bake at 400° for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Yield: 1 dozen.