Friday, May 31, 2013

Lock Up Your Daughters


When I was editing these photos, I kept thinking that everyone should lock up their daughters because my son is such a stud. I'm pretty sure he's bound to be a heartbreaker. He goes up to all the little ladies at the playground and says hi and then goes in for a hug. He's a quick mover, this kid. 



^^ How youuuuu doin'?!!


Shades are kind of a hit or miss with James but he was all about them today. 





This outfit is perfect for summer. Especially the summers we have here! It's hitting 105 this weekend and its only BARELY June. Last summer it would easily hit over 110 by July and it just makes you want to stay indoors and blast the central air while you eat ice cream right out of the carton all day. Ya feel me?! 

Luckily James and I are escaping the crazy heat and headed to see my family where it will be in the high 80's... At least that's somewhat of a difference, right? 

We have a fun week planned and I'm really excited! Have a happy weekend everyone! 

Outfit Details- 

Tank- Currently at Target

Suspender Jean Shorts- H&M 

Sunglasses- Dollar bin at Target

Moccasins- C/O Freshly Picked Moccasins


Thursday, May 30, 2013

A Day For James

Yesterday I woke up and thought- Today I'm going to make everything about James. Now, I have that attitude every day but I really wanted to go above and beyond yesterday and fill the day with back to back things James would love. 


We woke up and made homemade blueberry muffins. I've been trying to get James into the kitchen with me more because he loves to help dump everything in the bowl, mix, and breaking eggs is his favorite. 


^^ Our muffins came out pretty darn delicious. 


Next we watched Up (the movie James now chooses to watch time and time again) while we did some sword fighting. I spend a good majority of every day sword fighting this little guy. 


^^ We headed outside after. So this is kind of cheating because I wanted to go on my daily jog and my dog needed it, too... But in my defense James likes being outside and he got to eat fruit snacks during the 2 miles so I think he enjoyed it..


^^ Next stop was obviously the playground. You knew that was going to be part of our day right? I mean, it's James' favorite! You'll see more pictures from this trip next week because the outfit is too cute to not do a seperate post on. James got to play long and hard. 


Unless you're living under a rock you've heard of the new frostee waffle cones at Wendy's. I took James out for one... Above he's thinking- what the heck did my mom just give me?!!


^^ I guess I should try it... 


^^ James gives it two baby thumbs up. 
(Also please note we were not driving hence why he isn't buckled in his seat.)


We also took naps, went to the store to buy Tangled and watched that, did some coloring and cutting (cutting is his fav), read books, played cars, went swimming, and took a bike ride. None of which I got pictures of so please use your imagination (my house is a wreck). 

Yesterday was amazing and it was all for James. No I would probably not CHOOSE to play cars and swords or go to the playground every day but things change when you have a kid and pretty soon you realize you WOULD choose to do those things because that's what your kid would choose, and you want to do what makes them happy. 

On another note, James and I had to wake up at 4 am to being daddy 30 min to work and 30 min back home. I do not appreciate being up that early and neither does James. Bless my husband for doing it day after day. Good thing we did EVERYTHING yesterday because I have a feeling today is a pjs kind of day!

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

This Man Of Mine


I have been feeling extra grateful for this man of mine lately. 



Grateful that we found each other. Grateful that he loves me with a big crazy love I never could have dreamed of. Grateful that he works harder than anyone I've ever met (I'm talking 48 hours at a time, and usually 7 days a week) to provide above and BEYOND for us. Grateful that he puts up with me. Grateful that he knows my true colors- the good the bad and the ugly, and still loves me just the same. Grateful that he spoils me rotten, giving me every single thing I ever want in every sense of the word. Grateful that he is a godly man who leads this family. Grateful that getting up early while I'm still sleeping to bring me Starbucks in bed is just an every day affair with him, not a special occasion. Grateful that he puts me first. Grateful that he makes me laugh.  Grateful to God for giving him to me. 

I'm grateful he's mine. 

I'm also grateful that he's so handsome. That never hurts. 

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

A Few Shots From Our Long Weekend

My husband had the long weekend off (three whole days woo-hoo!!) and it was fabulous! Basically we did a lot of nothing.. Unless nothing means going to Target, eating samples at Costco, and then going to Target again. (We went four times in three days. NOT my record either. Sick, hunh?) 


^^ Costco samples, good stuff!! James approves. 

My husband works so often that when he IS home, laying around and taking it easy is fine by me. 

Yesterday on Memorial Day my family made the trip up to spend the day with us and we had a ball. We spent most of the day by the pool, I made food, and we watched some movies. Having everyone together is such a blessing.



I'm so thankful we have a pool during the summer heat! We just picked James up some arm floaties and they are amazing! They are really helping him to get the hang of swimming. 

I hope you all had an equally fun long weekend! Happy Tuesday!

Monday, May 27, 2013

These Are The Moments


Having a child is the biggest blessing in the whole world. While I have been richly blessed by God in thousands more ways than I can count, James is by far my biggest blessing. 



I'm tearing up just writing this post. Because I know how fleeting this time is. I know these moments won't last forever. Once you have a child, you become aware of just how precious time is. How invaluable it is. And you wish you could slow it down. But you can't. 


You see, these are the moments. These small trips to the playground. Your daily walk pushing your baby in the stroller. These are the moments you will long for when you grow old. 



The times that James comes up and throws his arms around my neck, when he brings me a book and whispers quietly, "mommy, book?", the cuddles, the kisses, and the small silly things that seem so mundane... Those are the things I will miss most when he's grown and my baby is gone and replaced with a grown man much taller than me. 

Having James was the best thing to ever happen to me. Each new stage is so much fun. Sometimes I remember when he was just a newborn and it's almost like it was just a dream... It seems so long ago.. While I do miss him being that tiny sometimes, I live in the here and now and I enjoy each new stage. Living in the present is key when you have kids. You don't want to look back to much or you will get depressed and you don't want to look ahead too much either or you'll get too worried. Enjoying the moment you're in and being content is important. 

Every stage is so much fun. James talking and hearing his sweet voice is a blessing. Watching him at the playground is a blast. I am fully enjoying age 2 and I know I will enjoy each year of his life and look back with fondness of each memory we made together. 

Outfit details- 

Shirt- Hello Apparel
Shorts- Currently at Target
Sandals- Salt Waters. We got him some new ones, these are the dark brown. 


Happy Memorial Day to all! I'm so excited because my family is driving up to Bakersfield to spend the day with us! I made homemade Mac and cheese and just put a pot roast in the crock pot. James and I spent yesterday baking all kinds of cookies together and cleaning the house. My husband is off work and I can't wait to have everyone together today eating, swimming, and lounging! Enjoy your day!

Friday, May 24, 2013

Family Photo Session

The day after James' birthday my sweet friend who also doubles as a photographer took his 2nd birthday pictures as well as some family photos for us. Believe it or not, we've never done family pictures before so it was high time we did! She is so talented and I am so pleased with how they turned out. I wanted to share them with you today!

^^ This is my favorite. It straight kills me!! 

^^ swords are serious business, can't you tell?!


^^ How cute is our little stinker??




James was kind of being a terror during family shots so I'm still shocked they turned out as well as they did. Derek and I just kept smiling and hoping she was getting shots. Maybe I should have waited to take family photos after I went blonde but I didn't know at the time ... Still love them. 



I can't wait to send these sweet photos out and frame ALL of them for my living room!!

Thanks for letting me share and I hope you all have a very happy and fun Memorial Day weekend!

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Peter Pan, Swords, And Suspenders

This past weekend my sister and her cheer team performed at the arthritis walk at UCI (University of California, Irvine). Between my sister and I we have ten years of cheer under our belts and its weird to think that this week is cheer try outs and she is done. 

^^ James and his tee tee aka auntie. 

We wanted to drive out to the event because 1. It was one of the last times my sis will be performing and 2. She is the smartest thing EVER and got a full ride to UCI next year so we wanted to check out her future campus!



James had the BEST time. And yes, he insists on wearing his Peter Pan hat everywhere. Even to places other than Disneyland. Clearly, if you own a Peter Pan hat, you wear it. Every darn day. 




This event was pretty cool. They had all kinds of free food and coffee, cotton candy and popcorn, face painting, clowns, bounce houses, and James' favorite- a man making balloons who made him not one, but TWO balloon swords that he was thrilled with! They even had free massages from the great people at Massage Envy. Yes, please. 





My kid was quite the little cutie and got stopped by a million people gawking over how sweet he was in his Peter Pan hat. He's the unique one, this child of mine. 

Outfit details- 

Tank- American Apparel
Suspenders- H&M 
Sandals- Salt Waters

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Tips For Maintaining Platinum Hair

I know I JUST went platinum blonde, but the truth is, I've been platinum blonde for 9 years with a two year break. I definitely know a thing or two about platinum.






I recently decided I was tired of my drab natural hair and went platinum again...


^^^ This is me now. Today I want to talk about some basic tips I have for getting platinum hair and keeping it! 



Going platinum- 

1. GO TO A HAIR SALON! I think bleaching is scary business that should be left in the hands of a professional. I'm very daring when it comes to my hair but bleaching is just not something I recommend doing yourself. 

2. It's always easier to work with virgin hair. Getting your hair to platinum will be much easier to achieve if your hair hasn't already previously been colored. 

3. Depending on your current hair color, it may take several go's. My hair specialist bleached my entire head and then toned it. The result was a little too yellow for my liking. I went back one week later and she re-bleached me and re-toned. The result was perfection. You may need to wait longer than one week to re-bleach. My hair was virgin and extremely healthy to begin with. 

4. TONE! This is critical. Toner will get all those unwanted brassy tones out of your hair and should be left on anywhere from 5-20 minutes. 

5.  Never overlap. When you touch up your hair every 4 weeks or so, make sure only your roots are getting bleached and never any other part of your already bleached hair. 



Maintaining platinum- 

It's all about the products. I use a handful of awesome products that are amazing! I think every blonde needs all of these. 

Purple shampoo and conditioner! Purple is on the opposite side of the color wheel from yellow, meaning that a purple shampoo or conditioner will help eliminate any brassy tones that blondes tend to get between hair appointments. 

Every day I use a purple shampoo called Silver Shine from a little cheap salon called Master Cuts. I don't get my hair done by them but I swear by their silver shine purple shampoo. Check to see if there's a salon near you, they have them everywhere. This stuff keeps my hair bright and blonde and isn't drying or too strong so you can use it EVERY DAY.

Once a week I use Clairol Shimmer Lights Shampoo. This purple shampoo is really strong and will tone the heck out of your hair so I only do it once a week. If you leave it on too long it will seriously turn your hair lavender so be careful. If you used it daily you would legitly  probably have purple hair. It is really amazing, though and is perfect for getting your hair super BRIGHT and blonde. You can buy Shimmer Lights Shampoo HERE.

Normally I just shampoo with this once a week like you would normally with any shampoo. My hair lady recommended I leave it on my ends for 30 minutes right after I got home from bleaching and toning the second time to continue the toning process and it worked like a charm. Do this if you want extra toning. 


Just apply the shampoo directly to your dry hair and leave it on for 30-40 min, then rinse. Again, only put it on pieces you want to tone down. 

John Frieda makes a purple conditioner called Color Renew Tone Restoring Conditioner. I just ordered it online after reading wonderful reviews so I'm excited to check it out. You can buy the John Frieda Conditioner HERE.

It's A 10 Leave in Spray is what I use for a leave in conditioner. You only need a few sprays and it really helps condition your hair. Grab some It's A 10 Leave In Spray HERE.

Rusk makes a great product called Deep Shine Lustre. It is also a leave in that makes blonde hair so silky and shiny while keeping it healthy. Buy Rusk Leave In HERE.


Here are a few more purple/blue shampoos that have been recommended to me but ones I have NOT personally tried yet. 



A few other tips-

Try to avoid heat products whenever possible. 
Make sure to visit the salon for root touch ups and a monthly toner every four weeks or so. 
Condition, condition, condition!!
Wash your hair less frequently. 


I hope these tips gave some of you hopeful platinums some good advice and  if you're already a stunning blonde, be sure to leave any additional tips you have or blonde products you love in a comment below!!