To grow or not to grow?

That is NOT the question!  Well, kinda... I mean I like having short hair and all because it can be personalized a lot more than long hair (cut wise) but I miss being able to do messy buns, side braids, long and luscious curls. So, the answer to the question is to grow my hair out...but I'm sad at the same time.  Blahhhhhhhhh, why can't I have magical hair? I would just have to go to the mirror and say, "Hair, hair, on my head - style exactly like I said"  (that is just an idea, I haven't come up with a real chant/charm yet).

Here are 2 pictures of my hair in the last 4 months:

This is on our honeymoon - my hair is just barely past the "I want to shave this mess off right NOW!" stage

This is my current haircut.  It is an asymmetrical bob that is sassy and cute - just like me! 

One thing I like about short hair is that the actual cut isn't exactly like everyone else's.  With long hair, all hair cuts pretty much look the same (you can style it lots of ways, but when it is down and straightened [which my hair would be a lot] you look just like every other Sally or Sue on the street.... I don't like that feeling of blending in!)  If I had long hair I would love to do all of the fun sloppy buns, side braids, librarian buns, etc but I would want to change up my hair a lot.  I would want to get it colored every day just so I don't get bored with it...but that's expensive and we need food more than my crazy hair wishes fulfillment.

I have basically decided to grow out my hair but like I said, I'm still nervous...
Wish me luck!  I know once it gets an inch over my shoulders it will drive me bonkers and I will want nothing else but a buzz cut! But I must prevail!

*plus the hubby thinks long hair is sexier than short!  That is motivation for growing it out :)

Creative Craves

Lately I have bee craving creativity - craftiness, baking, cooking, and I include cleaning in a creative process (sometimes you have to come up with new ideas).... Actually, I think I just want to be working with my hands.

So, what do I do in these situations? Why stalk blogs, of course!  I have found so many things I want to do - so many things, so little money...and that whole school thing gets in the way too.  So far I have found some fantastic things like: I forgot to save the links to these things - I just copied the directions.  Sorry!
- a Chocolate Chip, Caramel, Pretzel cookie (can you say drool-icious?!)
- Jersey knit maxi skirt that is way easy
- White chocolate hot chocolate
- Styrofoam and felt owls (sounds cheesy but looks adorable)
- Cute tea towels that you stamp with cool quotes from books
- Baked mango (you sprinkle a mango half with lime juice and honey - doesn't that just fill your heart with joy?)

I am blogging about it because I can't do any of these things quite yet - I have about 3 lifetimes worth of reading I have to do.  So, now I can only dream (and drool in the case of the mangoes and the cookies)

A Beginning -

In furniture refinishing!!! Woohoo eh?  This is my very first refinishing project and I'm psyched.

As I said before, I've been stalking some DIY blogs for furniture and I've got the bug - I've gotta work my own magic!!!

So, because I can't work on my shelf yet (it is an hour and a half away at my brother's place) I decided to work on my headboard.  Tonight while the hubs was at the game, I said to myself, "Enough is enough!!! I am starting this thing!!!" So, I picked up my awesome orange purse (which can be seen in first picture) and went to Wally World to get some material.

I managed to sand this whole sucker in 2 hours and tomorrow I'm going to silver leaf it! I'm geeking out!!! I'm scared that I will royally screw it up, but I am also so excited to see how it turns out.  I think it will be cool because the headboard is kinda antique-y, or something, and silver leafing is modern so the combination is going to be delightful (I hope).

I'll keep you posted!

Oh, and here are some of the blogs I love:
http://betterafter.blogspot.com/
       I love this one because it shows a ton of before and afters, one after another, and I just drool!
http://vintagerevivals.blogspot.com/
       This girl is adorable! And I love stalking, I mean reading, her blog!
http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/
       I haven't perused this one fully yet, but it is where I am getting directions on silver leafing - I would never have thought of it until she did a post of a project.  For that I am eternally grateful!

Eventful Day!

Whoa, this is weird. TWO posts in TWO days - whaaaaaa?  Today was just fun, random and jazzy cool.
Last night, the hubs and I didn't go to bed until 4am because we had come home from school/work totally exhausted and slept from 3 - 6:45 pm.  Then we drank Diet Mountain Dew. Dumb.  So needless to say we slept in a bit this morning.

When we finally got motivated enough to get out of bed around 10am we brushed our teeth and headed up to Ogden to pick up my shelf!  My brother is letting us use his expansive, beautiful garage to store it in and to work on it in, because in an apartment you have absolutely NO places to do the work of destruction.  When we got the shelf in the garage we talked for about 45 minutes on the things we were going to do to it - basically, tear it to pieces and rebuild it using a few of the decorative pieces.  I'm stoked!  I am going to learn a TON and can't wait to get started!

On the drive home, we stopped at my great aunt-in-law's to pick up our tickets for tonight's game (HUGE disappointment...) While there, I saw this pile of trash furniture at an apartment complex next to the aunt's house.  Guess what?! I snagged an ugly little chair that I'm going to make-over for our new office chair.  I was jazzed because I never thought I would find a pile of furniture for the taking.  Little did I know luck was on my side.

Two minutes later, we were driving down the road: the hubs questioning my sanity and me glowing with trash collector accomplishment.  I glanced out the window, and what did I see?  An AWESOME headboard just leaning against the wall of an apartment.  I squealed out and begged Mason to turn the car around so I could knock on the apartment's door.  He thought I was crazy, but sweetly turned the car around.  I practically bolted to the apartment and knocked; a cute girl answered the door and I blurted out, "I know this is weird, but is that headboard yours?" Then the most beautiful words left her mouth: "Yes, but we're trying to get rid of it!" Whaaaaa?  I snatched it up .... and then spent a good half hour trying to squish it into the car.  (It didn't fit, so I exclaimed, "Mason! I need a minivan!" He calmly replied, "totally, if you keep picking up trash!" Luckily, we have a friend with a truck so we won't have to splurge on a minivan quite yet)

I scored TWO (kinda three if you count picking up my shelf) trashed beauties that will make our home so cute and homey in a matter of hours!  It was incredible and I am still elated at my luck.  Poor Mason.  He's stuck with a "trash" collecting fanatic :)

(I don't have any pictures of my finds yet, but I will upload some as soon as I get them)

Oh...hello...

Hi! It's me - Monica - The absentee blogger!  How's it going?

Life here is pretty much amazing! Since I last wrote a LOT has happened. Well, maybe not a lot, but some things worth mentioning.  And, because I feel lazy and do not wish to write big 'ol paragraphs, I'm going to use my leetle friend, ze bullet point!

• I got married!!!!  I thought it would never happen but hallelujah, I was wrong :)  I married my bestest buddy in the world, who just happens to be a total hottie and computer nerd. I never thought I would combine those two characteristics before meeting the hubs.  We got married on May 14, 2011 in the LDS Oklahoma City Temple.  It was such a beautiful ceremony and the pure feelings of joy and peace that filled my heart as I sat across from him are becoming even more poignant since that day.  He's super cool, funny, and quirky and understands me 100%

I think this picture is hot :)  
• A fun insight into our relationship.  This particular situation-which had me laughing for a good ten minutes- happened this evening as I told him a story from my previous dating life.
• Mason: Yeah, you're a floozey
• Me: I'm not a floozey!!!
• Mason: You're right...you're a FLOOZINATOR!!!!
• I started my (super) senior year of college!  Yeah...I'm gonna be here awhile.  Being engaged for two whole semesters destroyed my GPA and my graduation plans. I will not be graduating this April because of my stupidity, but will next April. Ouch!  Oh well, I made a mistake and now I have to take care of it the best I can!  I am going to BYU and am in the English Education program.  I'm starting to toy with the idea of getting my masters in Library Science (apparently you need a lot of training to know how to alphabetize books and such [embarrassing side note: it took me about 5 times to get the spelling of "apparently" right ... oy, my poor future students will have an English teacher who can't speak good or spell nothing! :)]
• I have become OBSESSED with DIY/ refinishing blogs.  My favorites, you may ask? Better After - I seriously  spent a good 2 days reading every single post of hers.  It is a whole blog comprised of before and after pictures of some truly hideous pieces of furniture, decorative accents, or rooms turned delectable treasures. I really did drool...a lot. Then I spent the next two days looking on Craigslist and KSL Classifieds for crappy pieces of furniture that I could destroy, er improve.  I just think getting good and dirty on a project that will make my little apartment feel more like home sounds divine! And guess what?! I found a book shelf that has a ton of potential and was only 15 bucks! The hubs was nice enough to let me get it, because he is so good about helping me fulfill my crazy dreams!  I am picking up the shelf tomorrow and pictures will be posted.
• Tomorrow is the incredible BYU vs Utah football game and guess who has a ticket thanks to some awesome in-laws?! ME! Mwahahaha! Actually, this is quite new for me.  I haven't gone to the football games religiously since my Freshmen year here and I never went to the bedlam game before (apparently "bedlam" isn't a well known term...In Oklahoma it is the game in which the two main teams play against each other (OU and OSU). Just FYI).  I'm more excited to be outside in a packed stadium at night with some cute BYU gear on and a hot dog than the actual game, but tomatoe/ tamahto! The hubs is super psyched about going so that's what matters most :)
• I have dreams of travelling the world.  Places I want to go: India, back to Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, etc.  Mmmm, I love seeing new cultures and doing the touristy thing without being super touristy, if that makes sense.  I don't really like the typical Tourist trap stuff; I would way rather go to places that are out of the way and see more of the everyday culture.  

Um...So this wasn't a super update of my life post...more just the random ramblings of my mind :)  Oh well, you get what you get.