Highs and Lows 7-31

So here we are again. Time for Highs and Lows. Pretty simple. Share the highs and lows of your week.

<center><a href="http://lifecraftsandwhatever.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/Jenfur427/LinkParty-2.png" /></a></center>

Highs

After wanting to chop it off for years, I finally did it. It's SO much easier to fix. Instead of taking forever to dry and straighten (I've been blessed with really thick hair) I can have it finished in 15 minutes. Plus hubby says it makes me look younger. I'm turning 31 29 on August 2nd, I'm all for looking young.

Hubby had another tattoo appointment. We have two appointments left, I'm so excited with how it's looking.

• FINALLY finished up the tray for my bloggy buddy LP. She won that thing FOREVER ago. I just need to throw some coats of clear on it, and it'll ship out on Tuesday. 

• Finished up Ava's ringmaster dress for her birthday party! Can't believe that my baby is going to be one. 

• Hubby took me to Red Lobster for my birthday dinner. My mom had the older girls for the night, so it was just him, me and Ava. Ava kept grabbing my arm, trying to steal my crab legs. Had a lovely time, I love that man. I told hubby that on my birthday, I just want a low key night at home with the family. Filets, corn and potatoes on the grill, that'll make me a happy girl.

• I won a cool giveaway for some crafting supplies. I heart free stuff. 

Lows

• my wrist is hurting really bad. I have a ganglion cyst on my left wrist that acts up from time to time. Usually when it gets big enough, I'll pop it with a piercing needle and drain it (I know, ewww, right?). But I don't feel any fluid in there, and I can't bend my wrist. Don't know if I slept on it wrong? It even hurts to type, and of course I hold Ava with my left arm, so that's making it difficult. 

•  Had a horrible haircut before I finally got a great one. Jour Salon in Rockwall? Yeah, you suck.

Overall, not a bad week. Link up, peeps. 

Guest Posting at My World Made By Hand

Guess where I'm at today? The super sweet and fabulous Jessica let me take over her blog for her red, white and blue round up! Check it out. 

So, what's the deal with Straight Talk?

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Straight Talk for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I'll admit it. I'm one of those who feels completely naked without my phone. If I leave the house without it, I'm convinced that there will be some major emergency, and I'll be the last to know. But, as much as I love my phone, it doesn't mean that I want to pay a ton of money for it.

For the longest time, I had no idea what our cell phone bill was. Ours is combined with our internet and cable, so I just see the total. But when I actually looked at my bill, I was surprised. There has to be a better way to do this.

Now there is, and it's called Straight Talk. There are no contracts. No credit checks. No crazy surprise bills at the end of the month. Plus, there is great nationwide coverage. Did I mention that Straight Talk only uses trusted phone manufacturers like LG, Motorola, Kyocera, Nokia and Samsung?

The montly plan is amazing. There is an “All You Need Plan” with 1,000 minutes, 1,000 texts and 30 MB of web data. That even covers those heavy cell phone users.

You want to know the price, right? Unlimited Monthly service is only $45, and includes calls, text, picture messaging, and web. If you do the math, it means that the whole year is under $500. Heck, we were spending that in 3 months with our old cell phone contract. Plus, Straight Talk is free from activation, reactivation, or termination fees. I know you hate those as much as I do.

You know those phones I talked about? Straight Talk has reconditioned phones are available from $10.00 with camera, mp3 player, mobile web access, and blue-tooth capability.

<iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RKPihLfELWo?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Do you want to know more? Check out  hook, line and sinker, call a friend , and find out everything you need.

Jour Salon & Spa in Rockwall? You suck.

Last week, my sister and father in law were in town. On their last day, I showed hubby this picture in the newest issue of Cosmo. I've been contemplating going short for a while, but never had the nerve to do it. Apparently, last Tuesday was the day I had the nerve. My sister in law had been wanting to chop hers off too, so we wanted to do it together before she left on Wednesday.

My normal stylist wasn't available, so hubby called another salon, Jour Salon & Spa, and they had an opening in an hour (FYI, if a salon has an immediate appointment that wasn't a cancellation, be wary). So my sister in law and I went up there. Want to know our conversation with my stylist? 

me- "This is the haircut that I want to get today."


stylist- "ummm, really??"

me- ""Um, okay. Is that not something that you'd recommend?"


stylist- "No, it's fine. It's just really short. It'll be a big change. It's really short."


me- "Yeah, I can see that."


sister in law- "Yeah, can you do it or not?" 


stylist- "Yeah, I can do it"


me- "Alright, then let's do it".  What I should have said was "Peace out" and left. 


So she washes my hair, and when we go into her room, I tell her "Look, I'm going to need you to be more supportive about this whole thing. I'm not blind, I see that it's short. But I've been wanting to do this for a long time, and you hesitating and questioning me is really ruining the whole experience for me". Then she kept apologizing and telling me that I'm really pretty and have a cute face and can pull off any look. Geez lady, that's what you should have been saying in the first place. 

Sister in law's hair turned out super adorable though. When we were checking out, the receptionist was on the phone with foils in her hair. Gee, I hope I'm not interrupting your highlights. She swipes my sister's card, and then tosses the card back on the counter. Not exaggerating, tosses it. What the hell is wrong with this place? 

The haircut was okay, a bit too poofy. I've been blessed with super thick hair, and I think she left too much on top. I think it lacked the "edge" that I wanted, more of a bob than a pixie. More soccer mom than hot mom. I was okay with it when we were there, but when I got home and really looked at it, it was NOT what I was wanting.





So hubby calls up there to complain. I basically paid $55 for the lady to be rude to me and for me to hate the haircut. He calls, tells the manager what happened, she tells him that she'll call him right back. Doesn't call back. He calls again the next day. Turns out, the rude receptionist? Yeah, she's the manager. Hubby wanted a refund, but she refused and basically said they didn't do anything wrong, and that she never threw the card. I'm sorry, but if you were on the phone on a personal call, how do you know? 

So I post on FB that I hate my hair, and I've just accepted that I made a huge mistake by not waiting for my regular stylist. My regular stylist reads it, and offers to fix it for me at no charge. How awesome is that? Instead of penalizing me for going to someone else, she offers her talent and knowledge to fix it. I made her a flower headband for her, and two fabric ones for her girls as a thank you. Handmade gifts I think are much more personal than "Hey, here's a Starbucks gift card, thanks".


I make the appt for Thursday at 1, and she tells me to come with it washed and styled, and she'll cut it dry and texture it out. When I get there, instead of taking a short cut and doing it dry, she says that we'll do it right and washed, cut and styled it for me. And I LOVE it. There was a moment of "Oh shit, am I going to look like a guy?" But I told hubby that it'll be my motivation to put on make up and earrings, instead of being lazy on some days.

So this is what we ended up with. I gave my stylist free reign. She did an asymmetrical edgy pixie. I freaking love it. It's SO easy to fix. My hair, being super thick, takes FOREVER to dry when I wash it, and it's slightly wavy so I have to straighten it. This morning, I washed it, it was dry in 15 minutes, I flat ironed the bangs part, threw in some wax on the crown, and roughed it up. And voila. Finished. 


You likey? Me likey. Would you mistake me
for a dude?

Our Family Pics! Yeah, they rock.

We got our family pics back from the fabulous Jill Cornelius. She's a fabulous photographer in the Dallas area, I highly recommend her! She took Ava's newborn pics when Ava came home from the NICU. And, Jill has been my middle daughter's VBS teacher for the past two years. She's uh-mazing. 

Jill is one of my favorite photographers, and trust me, I've worked with a lot. I love that she pays attention to all the details. Like on the first two pics, she thought about what you'd see in the reflections. We did these photos in Deep Ellum, and they had these shiny chicken seats on a street corner. I love how Jill positioned us so you can see us in the reflection. And in the second pic, you can see Jake's face in the window.

Thank you for letting me share! I love how they turned out. We decided to go with more of an industrial setting, than the normal "family walking in the woods" theme you see so often these days. Love love love!

Highs and Lows 7-24

So here we are again. Time for Highs and Lows. Pretty simple. Share the highs and lows of your week.

<center><a href="http://lifecraftsandwhatever.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/Jenfur427/LinkParty-2.png" /></a></center>

Highs

Remember when I said that I was saved last month? My husband and I were baptized on Saturday by one of our great friends. So many of our friends came out to support us, and one of my best friends threw us a "We're all going to Heaven" party afterwards.

I was in a funk on Thursday. So Hubby brought me home my favorite chips, my favorite candy bar, a 6 pack of Coke, plus one more that was cold, since the 6 pack wasn't cold. Love that man!

My 11.5 month old is FINALLY starting to stand. Granted, she was a preemie and spent 66 days in the NICU, but our pediatrician told us to keep an eye on her since she refused to put any weight on her legs. She isn't pulling up yet, but will stand if you stand her up. HUGE sigh of relief.

Freebirds opened a location here in town. They have a program where the first 25 in line get free burritos for a year. Hubby was number 7 in line. He went up there Tuesday night at 9, and they opened Thursday at 11am. Freebirds did treat them well, fed them lunch and dinner each day, and provided them with restrooms, use of their soda fountain, electricity and Wi-fi.

On the bottom pic, hubby is on the far right, and the guy who baptized us is on the far left.

Hit up a new thrift store, where they had 40% off of your entire purchase. And all of their paperbacks were 50 cents, so I snagged a ton of books for the kids for 30 cents a piece. I even found this book, which hubby and I were just talking about. Remember these books and how scary they were as a child? Eek, the pics are still kinda scary.

I uploaded the tutorial for my necklace display to Instructables.com. First time I've really checked out that website. I got an email that my tutorial was being featured on the homepage, and I got a one year Pro membership.

• My father and sister in law came down to visit. It's always super fun. I even survived when she drove us to the thrift stores. Apparently Texas drivers are more aggressive than she's used to. 

•  My fabulous sister in law helped me cut out a bunch of stuff for Ava's upcoming birthday party. Saved me a TON of time and sanity.

Lows

• Found out that my uncle died. I wasn't super close with him as an adult, but I do remember going up to Michigan every summer when I was growing up to spend time with my cousins (my mom figured that with me being an only child, I needed to be around other kids). I feel horrible for the wife and kids that he left behind, they couldn't have been any closer than they were. I pray for their comfort.

So, all in all, not too shabby. 

Giveaway Winner Revealed + Guest Post

I know you've been sitting up all night, waiting for me to post the winner of the 2 Czech birthstone necklace, so I won't make you wait any longer. There were 75 valid entries (Comments say 77, but one was from the giveaway host and I'm pretty sure she didn't need to win, and one was just a nice comment). 

And after counting and recounting (I need to find a way to have my comment automatically numbered, anyone know how?) the winner is

Jenny is a new follower to my blog, I'm super excited that she won! She's new to stalking blogs, and emailed me a few times for a walk thru on how to follow blogs, how to comment, etc, all so she could enter this giveaway. Way to make a girl feel special!

And Jenny, I don't know if you know, but your oldest daughter even sent me an email, telling me that she heard you mention how badly you wanted to win, and how to enter the giveaway, so if she won, she could gift it to you. You've got a pretty cool chick there, momma. 



Oh, and I'm guest posting over at LP's place today. She's a rockin' chick, who's tray WILL be finished next week and mailed out the following Monday. Promise.

Meet Cute Couture + Discount Code

So, dear readers, you all know that I'm a HUGE fan of monograms. And of jewelry. So when I found this adorable Etsy shop a while back, I was super excited. Today I get the pleasure of introducing you to Cute Couture!

Kelli has a ton of adorable jewelry in her shop. You know those wrap bracelets that are oh so hot right now? Yeah, she's got them in a ton of gorgeous colors, most with adorable button closures.

I can't decide if I like the pink or the turquoise one better. Both are gorgeous.

But my favorite things in her shop? Her wax seal jewelry! She's got a couple of different fonts, a TON of different shapes like hearts, peace signs and crowns. Plus, she can put a colored glaze on them too, which is gorgeous and totally shabby chic. Who says shabby chic is just for your house? Wear it around your neck, baby. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that they aren't a perfect circle, I love the imperfections in it. Makes it feel more custom and less mass produced.

Kelli offered to send me a wax seal necklace, which I was super excited about. This is what I got in my mail box. Who wouldn't feel pampered and spoiled to get to open something like this? 

I was surprised to get two boxes, since I just picked out one necklace that I wanted. I opened the first box, and I found the necklace that I wanted, PLUS a heart one that she knew I loved. I love the different chains on them too. One is more dainty, one is bold and funky.

I couldn't wait to open the second mystery box. Seriously, so excited at this point. And what else did she send me? A peace sign charm that my 8 year old immediately claimed as hers. 

The seals are nice and thick, not flimsy like some I've seen. It's fun and funky, but sweet and girly at the same time. Isn't that chain awesome?

I know you're going to love her etsy shop. She's been super sweet with great communication. Turns out she lives about 45 minutes from me. Yeah, Texas chicks rock. 

She rocks so much that she's offering my super awesome readers a 15% discount! 

That code is Jewels!

Hobby Lobby, how do I love thee?

I am, like, the biggest Hobby Lobby fan. I can get lost in there for HOURS. Not only do they have a ton of fun stuff to look at, they have a lot of great supplies. 97.5% of my projects involve supplies I've bought at Hobby Lobby. 

I bought the Mod Podge I used on my paint chip wall art at Hobby Lobby. Gotta love those 40% off coupons!

I bought the fabric I used on my UFC subway art pillow there too.

Two guesses where I got the stencils for my vintage name board?

The wood and center piece of my Ballard inspired spool came from there too.

Remember the first craft project I did on my blog, my kitchen letters? I got the cardboard letters and the scrapbook paper at my favorite store too.

My dog's bed made out of a curbside find was made more awesome thanks to fabric and feet that I got there too.

My Crate & Barrel inspired pillow? Yup, got the fabric at Hobby Lobby.

And my baby themed subway art? The wood board, cardstock and scrapbook paper came from there too.










I'm the biggest fan of Hobby Lobby, and an even bigger fan of the 40% off coupons that they have fairly often. I have them in my sidebar and header, print one out and go get yourself something new. Home decor, craft supplies, they've got it all. 

What craft store is your favorite, and why? 

Meet Meggie's Love + Discount Code

Did you ever watch the show "Friends"? Remember Rachel Green? The girl who was so pretty that you weren't sure if you were supposed to like her, but she was so stinking adorable that you couldn't help but love her anyway? That's how I think about my next sponsor that I get the pleasure of introducing you to. Megan, from Meggie's Love, is just like Rachel Green. Gorgeous, adorable, super sweet and uber talented. 

 

Not only is Megan all of the things that I just described, she's also a triplet. (or is it she's part of a triplet? I dunno). Her and her gorgeous sisters blog at Traveling Triplets, where they post gorgeous pictures of places they travel to. 

Megan has an adorable etsy shop that I fell in LOVE with. I would totally rock this in the hot summer heat of Texas, just cause it's that adorable. Hand crocheted, with a one of a kind button that she found in China? Too cute.

 

As adorable as her crochet stuff is, what Megan is famous for are her watches! Yes, these are the same watches that were featured on The Daybrook. She's big time, folks.

 The girl and the watch are gorgeous, right? Want more eye candy?

Megan sent me this watch in my favorite colors, turquoise and red. I heart it. Like, a LOT. I was a little unsure on how to put it on at first, but after watching Megan's instructional video, I had it on in under a minute. 

I get so many freaking compliments on this thing when I wear it. It seriously jazzes up even the most plain outfit. I was wearing a boring black tank and capris, and the watch really added a great pop of color and fun to my outfit. Score.

Megan is such a doll, she's offering up a 15% discount code, just for LCW readers!

That rockin' discount code is lcw15

This discount code expires on August 2nd (my birthday!) so hurry up and order. Who doesn't want to save money and look cute at the same time?