So I have had a bit of writer's block lately and I am upset with myself for not writing as much as I would like to. A lot of people have been doing these 30 day challenges in their blogs, so I thought it might be a fun thing to do too. Here's the one I chose (it is copy and pasted from another blog- not my own list!):
Day 1 – A photo of yourself and a description of how your day was.
Day 2 – A photo of something you ate today.
Day 3 – Your idea of the perfect first date.
Day 4 – Your favorite photograph of your best friend.
Day 5 – A photo of yourself two years ago.
Day 6 – A photo of an animal you’d love to keep as a pet.
Day 7 – Your dream wedding.
Day 8 – A song to match your mood.
Day 9 – A photo of the item you last purchased.
Day 10 – A photo of our favorite place to eat.
Day 11 – What’s in your makeup bag?
Day 12 – A photograph of the town you live in.
Day 13 – Your favorite musician and why?
Day 14 – A TV show you’re currently addicted to.
Day 15 – Something you don’t leave the house without.
Day 16 – Your celebrity crush.
Day 17 – A photo of you and your family.
Day 18 – Something you crave a lot.
Day 19 – Another picture of yourself.
Day 20 – The meaning behind your blog name.
Day 21 – A photo of something that makes you happy.
Day 22 – A letter to someone who has hurt you recently.
Day 23 – 15 facts about you.
Day 24 – A photo of something that means a lot to you.
Day 25 – What’s in your purse?
Day 26 – A photo of somewhere you’ve been to.
Day 27 – A picture of you last year and now and how have you changed since then?
Day 28 – Your favorite movie.
Day 29 – Something you could never get tired of doing.
Day 30 – A photograph of yourself today + three good things that have happened in the past 30 days
Feel free to join me and post one these in your own blog! It looks pretty fun! I am excited! :)
My life, My loves, And Everything Else
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Inexpensive Christmas Gift Ideas
I hope everyone's having a happy advent season so far! Advent is probably my favorite season in the liturgical year. I love all of the Christmas music and the advent wreath and just preparing for Christmas celebrations in general.
I went Black Friday shopping for the first time this year. I went with my boyfriend's aunt around 4am Friday and with my mom around 8am. I figured since I'm 20 now, I am definitely old enough to go shopping with the grown-ups. I was amazed at the great deals! If anyone hasn't gone Black Friday shopping ever, I highly recommend it. The deals are definitely worth the crowds and getting up early! I wish I had prepared a list of what to buy so I could've gotten more of my Christmas shopping done while everything was on sale for such great prices! I am definitely going next year, but next time, I am going to be prepared and research stores and make my gift lists and everything beforehand and save up some more money, etc.
Since I probably will not be able to afford to get everyone super awesome expensive presents, I am currently working on ideas for super awesome inexpensive Christmas presents that everyone will love.
One of my favorite things to make is scrapbooks which can be as simple as buying a photo album and just sticking pictures in it or as tedious as making your book by tying pages together in a fancy way or stapling them together. You could also just take a binder and glue pictures either printed off at Walgreens or Wal-Mart (for about 10 cents a picture) or printed off from a regular printer to regular printer paper (or whatever you find lying around) and punching holes in them and then, decorating the binder as a scrapbook. There is obviously a lot of other creative ways to do this.
Similar to the scrapbook, you might also want to make a memory book or a letter book. For this, you could put whatever you want in a book: stories, jokes, quotes, pictures, reasons you love the person, favorite memories in general, etc. You could do a binder or photo album or make your own book. I highly recommend just buying a blank journal and filling the pages with pictures and memories and quotes. That's just how I prefer to do it, but definitely be as creative as you want and make it your own masterpiece!
Also, if you have a little bit of extra time, some really great hobbies to learn are knitting or crocheting or sewing. These are very useful when it comes to inexpensive, personalized, homemade presents, because the materials are fairly inexpensive and these activities don't need to take very long depending on how skilled you become and what you decide to make. I am going to try and re-learn knitting, so I can maybe make some scarves or something fun for my friends. Pillows are also very easy to make if you learn basic sewing techniques. My only experience with crocheting is from girl scouts and we made pot holders which were actually very easy once I got the hang of it.
If you like to paint or draw, you could also buy a small plain box or a 10 cent solid-colored notebook and paint it and give it as a gift to someone. You could also just frame a piece you paint and give that as a gift. Pottery and sculptures also make great creative gifts if that happens to be a talent or hobby of yours.
Mix CDs are always fun and easy as well if you just want to buy a pack of blank CDs for like ten bucks and make Mix CDs for all of your friends.
Christmas cards are obviously a great thing to make. Everyone knows how to make cards and they can be as basic as folding a piece of paper in half and writing "Merry Christmas" in it. I love to draw fun pictures and comics on mine and then, write personal messages. You can also always just get a box of Christmas cards and just fill them out and give them to all of your friends with a piece of candy or something small attached to them. Candy canes are really great for this.
Bath and Body Works also usually has a lot of small things that are between 1 and 5 dollars that you could give to friends as gifts for only a small cost. I like to buy a lot of smaller things in bulk like big bags of candy and Christmas cards as well as small items like cosmetics or shower gels or socks and make little gift bags for friends with one of everything. JoAnn Fabrics, the Dollar Store, Wal-Mart, and the Dollar Spot at Target are great places to find things to put in your gift bags.
Everyone loves sweets too, so you could always just bake your friends and family goodies and buy a big pack of Christmas-themed paper plates and arrange an assortment of treats on them and cover them with some plastic wrap and ribbon to make them look festive and professional, but still keep your spending within your budget.
If you're looking for something more simple, you could also just buy a picture frame for less than 5 dollars and give framed pictures as gifts, or even make your own picture frame using whatever you can find. I've made some out of cardboard and glue and colorful paper and markers. You could also get a cheap pack of plain wooden picture frames from Michael's or JoAnn Fabrics or maybe even Wal-Mart or Target and decorate them for loved ones on your list.
These are definitely only a few ideas. I am sure there are similar suggestions in magazines and on the internet if you look for them. It is so much fun to make presents for people though, so I highly recommend trying some of these out for any occasion- birthday, Christmas, Easter, or just because. The great thing about these is they are fun to make and people love to receive them and since they are so inexpensive, it's easy to give them as often as you'd like! Have fun and don't stress too much about gift-giving. It's always the thought that counts! :)
I went Black Friday shopping for the first time this year. I went with my boyfriend's aunt around 4am Friday and with my mom around 8am. I figured since I'm 20 now, I am definitely old enough to go shopping with the grown-ups. I was amazed at the great deals! If anyone hasn't gone Black Friday shopping ever, I highly recommend it. The deals are definitely worth the crowds and getting up early! I wish I had prepared a list of what to buy so I could've gotten more of my Christmas shopping done while everything was on sale for such great prices! I am definitely going next year, but next time, I am going to be prepared and research stores and make my gift lists and everything beforehand and save up some more money, etc.
Since I probably will not be able to afford to get everyone super awesome expensive presents, I am currently working on ideas for super awesome inexpensive Christmas presents that everyone will love.
One of my favorite things to make is scrapbooks which can be as simple as buying a photo album and just sticking pictures in it or as tedious as making your book by tying pages together in a fancy way or stapling them together. You could also just take a binder and glue pictures either printed off at Walgreens or Wal-Mart (for about 10 cents a picture) or printed off from a regular printer to regular printer paper (or whatever you find lying around) and punching holes in them and then, decorating the binder as a scrapbook. There is obviously a lot of other creative ways to do this.
Similar to the scrapbook, you might also want to make a memory book or a letter book. For this, you could put whatever you want in a book: stories, jokes, quotes, pictures, reasons you love the person, favorite memories in general, etc. You could do a binder or photo album or make your own book. I highly recommend just buying a blank journal and filling the pages with pictures and memories and quotes. That's just how I prefer to do it, but definitely be as creative as you want and make it your own masterpiece!
Also, if you have a little bit of extra time, some really great hobbies to learn are knitting or crocheting or sewing. These are very useful when it comes to inexpensive, personalized, homemade presents, because the materials are fairly inexpensive and these activities don't need to take very long depending on how skilled you become and what you decide to make. I am going to try and re-learn knitting, so I can maybe make some scarves or something fun for my friends. Pillows are also very easy to make if you learn basic sewing techniques. My only experience with crocheting is from girl scouts and we made pot holders which were actually very easy once I got the hang of it.
If you like to paint or draw, you could also buy a small plain box or a 10 cent solid-colored notebook and paint it and give it as a gift to someone. You could also just frame a piece you paint and give that as a gift. Pottery and sculptures also make great creative gifts if that happens to be a talent or hobby of yours.
Mix CDs are always fun and easy as well if you just want to buy a pack of blank CDs for like ten bucks and make Mix CDs for all of your friends.
Christmas cards are obviously a great thing to make. Everyone knows how to make cards and they can be as basic as folding a piece of paper in half and writing "Merry Christmas" in it. I love to draw fun pictures and comics on mine and then, write personal messages. You can also always just get a box of Christmas cards and just fill them out and give them to all of your friends with a piece of candy or something small attached to them. Candy canes are really great for this.
Bath and Body Works also usually has a lot of small things that are between 1 and 5 dollars that you could give to friends as gifts for only a small cost. I like to buy a lot of smaller things in bulk like big bags of candy and Christmas cards as well as small items like cosmetics or shower gels or socks and make little gift bags for friends with one of everything. JoAnn Fabrics, the Dollar Store, Wal-Mart, and the Dollar Spot at Target are great places to find things to put in your gift bags.
Everyone loves sweets too, so you could always just bake your friends and family goodies and buy a big pack of Christmas-themed paper plates and arrange an assortment of treats on them and cover them with some plastic wrap and ribbon to make them look festive and professional, but still keep your spending within your budget.
If you're looking for something more simple, you could also just buy a picture frame for less than 5 dollars and give framed pictures as gifts, or even make your own picture frame using whatever you can find. I've made some out of cardboard and glue and colorful paper and markers. You could also get a cheap pack of plain wooden picture frames from Michael's or JoAnn Fabrics or maybe even Wal-Mart or Target and decorate them for loved ones on your list.
These are definitely only a few ideas. I am sure there are similar suggestions in magazines and on the internet if you look for them. It is so much fun to make presents for people though, so I highly recommend trying some of these out for any occasion- birthday, Christmas, Easter, or just because. The great thing about these is they are fun to make and people love to receive them and since they are so inexpensive, it's easy to give them as often as you'd like! Have fun and don't stress too much about gift-giving. It's always the thought that counts! :)
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Cutting my Own Hair
So as I was looking at myself in pictures, I realized I really need a hair cut. I was planning to wait a little longer and get it cut at Aveda since they're doing a $14 hair cut deal until June 30 at the OSU school, but I realized that I am broke and only have 5 dollars in my checking account, so I took it upon myself to cut my hair out of my own frustration with it. I only cut my bangs though, because that's mostly what was bothering me and I figure I can probably wait a little longer before I go crazy over the rest of my hair, but it actually turned out okay considering my very little experience with hair cutting. I have cut my brother's and sister's hair though once or twice each and I've done my own bangs quite a few times, but this is the first time they've actually turned out presentable though. I also cut my boyfriend's hair once and it turned out okay. I'm probably going to cut his again when he comes to visit this weekend from Columbus, but I'm pretty proud of my cut, so I thought I'd post about it! It's not exactly what I would have liked it to look like, but it'll do for now.
This is the day before I cut it
This is about an hour after I cut it
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
New Red Hair :)
Well, I dyed my hair again. I was going to wait a while and give my hair a little extra time to recover, but my friend and I were up late one Saturday night and decided to make a 2am Wal-Mart run for red hair dye. She ended up going with more of a reddish blonde and I went with a light auburn specifically for dark brown hair and since my natural hair color is almost black, I decided this would probably be the best route for me. I was a little uneasy, because I worried it might turn my hair more of a purple than a red that I was hoping for, but it was on sale for like $5.97, so I figured might as well.. And if I didn't like it, I could always dye it again a different color in 6 weeks, so I bought the dye.. It was Garnier Nutrisse R3 Light Intense Auburn and I almost always use Garnier, so I trust the brand.
I had my friend dye it for me.. I think it was only her first or second time dying someone else's hair, so I hoped it would turn out nicely. I left it in an extra ten minutes and washed on a luke warm temperature, because I've been told that is a good tip for red hair to postpone the fading, but there was still a lot of dye washing out in the shower.. it turned out way better than I expected though!
Here's a before and after picture.. the lighting's much brighter in the before picture and I used a camera phone for the first and a real digital camera for the recent ones, so the after pictures are better-looking for a quantity of reasons, but the red is still very noticeable! I definitely recommend this product!
Here's a before and after picture.. the lighting's much brighter in the before picture and I used a camera phone for the first and a real digital camera for the recent ones, so the after pictures are better-looking for a quantity of reasons, but the red is still very noticeable! I definitely recommend this product!
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