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January's Catch Up!

01. Went on lots of Starbucks dates.

02. Caught the Harry Potter bug.

03. Got a new baby bird, Poe. 

04. Found these sweet PJs at Forever21.

05. My Christmas present from Joshua. 

06. Zooey's favorite part of the holidays, the empty boxes.

Christmas Gifts for the Beauty Conscious :

 

$15 E co Tool Limited Edition Beautiful Expressions Kabuki Set.

This can be a multipurpose gift, when split into two (2) or four (4) different homemade beauty kits. One idea would be to give a mineral powered and attach one (1) of these brushes along with it. Another would be to pair it with a must have beauty item (i.e. blush or bronzer). Need a stocking stuffer? Wrap one (1) or two (2) of these with cellophane and topped with a pretty ribbon: toss into stocking. Standing alone, these brushes would be a beautiful gift. Eco Tools are a steal for the price.

Benefit Crescent Row Limited Edition Gift Set $36.

Benefit is basically inviting people to commit a robbery by selling this product so cheap! These bottles are such beauties that you could easily break these into individual gifts. These would be a lovely addition to a beauty set for a lucky lady. At this price you might be tempted to purchase a set for yourself.

 Lump of Kohl Beekman $15.

With all the festivities going on this time a year a girls skin can start to look lackluster from little sleep and lots of celebrating. This little lump does wonders to restore skin’s grandeur. This could be a little gag gift for a secret Santa; just place inside a mini stocking.

Antropologie DIY charms $15 - $20.

I had wanted to give my girls something similar to this, but couldn’t find charms that would mean anything special or that didn’t cost three (3) times my budget. These little guys are super reasonable in price, and mega cute. This is a fun little gift that can be personalized to mean something dear to the most close of friends.

Beauty Boxes

This is great for a true beauty guru. It gives an opportunity for exploration by letting the subscriber sample a variety of products; some they may have never even heard of. These types of services provide a choice on how many months you want to provide as a gift. Below is a link showing the various websites and the regions they ship to; there are also a few clothing, shoes, and food sites listed as well.

http://www.makeuptalk.com/a/subscriptions-and-sampling-programs

last two (2) weeks via instagram.

01. Pepper trying to distract me from homework, by enticing me to play. 02. Work station fully stocked with sweet tea and snacks. I have seen this spot of the apt. a great deal lately. There was a homework pile almost reaching the ceiling, but I have got it to a much more manageable height now.

We celebrated friendsgiving the Thursday before Thanksgiving; it was a big hit; lots of yummy food, fun people, and brilliant times. 01. JP made some scratch mac & cheese (can you spy the secret ingredient?).  02. I tried my hand at baking, and made miniature pineapple upside down cakes.

01. Theses sweet little miniature Dunkin Doughnut items made my Monday night. Does anyone else thing they would be even cuter as key rings?  02. Festive nail polish. True story, this color, Get in the Espresso lane by OPI, is meant to be a very chocolate-ly  brown. For some reason, it decided to be a very muddy black on my finger nails.

01. Thanksgiving day outfit 2011. I was on the schedule to work Thanksgiving day, but since my unit was close I got the holiday off. J I love Thanksgiving because I can wear a simple outfit with jeans, and not feel underdressed or outta place.  02. While driving, in the car, to JP’s family function I came across this little beauty. What is even better, I saw a hawk take off from in front of the shed. It was quite magical.

01. Walmart’s Black Friday lines at 12:30 AM. This is when we decided to go back to bed till 6:00am.  02. Pepper with a belly full of turkey. She is telling me how thankful she is to have a lap to nap in.

Motivation ... or lack there of ...

It has been brought to my attention that this past week I have been ridiculously LAZY! I skipped Monday and Tuesday night class, along with the homework. I passed out before 10 and slept in late four (4) outta five (5) days. The gym only saw me twice for a very limited time; even, random people in my building asked why I stopped going to the gym. Oh but, it all felt so wonderful. I deserved every bit of that slacking off. I have had a nonstop crazy busy couple of months, and I really needed that week of rest. Sadly, I must drive back into my routine starting tomorrow (11/13/11). 

Now I am slightly worried about this. I have heard it only takes fourteen (14) days (I'm halfway there, yikes!) to form a habit, and twenty-one (21) to break one. I am kinda smack dab in the middle of these to numbers; only 7 more days to form habits of not showing for class, not doing homework or housework, and never working out again. Luckily, my trusty brain has formed a wonderful solution, GOALS!

Things to Accomplish by the end of Next Week:

1. Drink more water & less coffee & pop. I probably consumed, at least, three (3) coffee type beverages daily. Nobody needs that much sugar and milk in their system. 
2. Hit the gym everyday. Skipping my workouts, coupled with eating junk, is the reason I feel asleep so early.
3. Allow 2 hours of the day for some school work. Skipping those classes really put me behind. If I am ever going to catch up I have to get serious. 

These goal are things that are with in my reach. I just cannot succumb to mindless television shows, celebrity gossip magazines, trashy novels, and sweet rich coffees. I am optimistic about the results of this week. Wish me luck!

ABCs of Lyndseelou

Age: twenty-four.

Bed size: queen.

Chore that you hate: any thing involving the floor; mopping, sweeping, vacuuming.

Dogs: technically one baby dog (Gilbert), but he lives with my momma since she has a backyard, and can give him all the attention he rightfully deserves. She also has 3 other Pekingese puppies; which are basically mine as well ;)

Essential start to your day: Morning cup of coffee, an episode of whatever TV show I’m addicted to atm (right now its numbers), Pepper in my lap, and Blogloving.

Favorite color: any shade of yellow or green; preferably, a shade of butter cream or avocado.  

Gold or silver: rose Gold if possible, but gold over silver always.

Height: 5’1’’ in heels maybe 5’6’’

Instruments you play: harmonica.

Job title: student, mca, girlfriend, sister, daughter, nanny.

Kids: 2 furbaby – Gilbert & Pepper. 1 featherbaby – Jasper (working on the second)

Live: tennessee, united states

Mother’s name: momma or mommy, but you can call her patricia (just as long as you never call me that)

Nicknames: lyndseelou, patty mayo, patsy, pooh, knee-cee, and my baby sister affectionately calls me big butt.  

Overnight hospital stays: N/A

Pet peeves: mean/rude people, not using a coaster, asking how much a tattoo cost, and then proceeded to grab & inspect them (that one really disturbs me!)

Quote from a movie: “… [T]hat woman that you just have to spend the rest of your life with … that was me.”

Right or left handed: right.

 
Siblings: paiger, 5 years younger.

Television: Supernatural, Being Human, Dr. Who, and Eureka.

Underwear: helps you not get infections.

Vegetable you hate: pickled beets.

What makes you run late: the universe working against me, everyday.

X-Rays you’ve had: collar bone, finger, hand, knee, pelvis, shoulder, sinus, skull, teeth.

Yummy food that you make: pancakes and salads.

Zoo animal: birds & animals of the night.

Busy Lou!

School has made me into such a busy little lou! I’ve also had a number of homey projects that have occupied my free time. Fall is probably my very favorite season; the beautiful cool layering weather, pumpkin spiced things being sold in stores, and plenty of couch cuddling! What more could a girl ask for? My favorite fall tradition, so to speak, is nesting. It never fails, the cooler the weather makes the need for a cozy home grow more and more vital. When I was still living with mother my cozy list usually consisted of very few items; a pumpkin scented candle, a new art project, and maybe sprucing up my closet a bit. This year, since I have my own apartment, it has grown into Santa’s naught and nice list. So far I have bought: supplies for three art projects, 2 decorative pillows, a throw, 10 candles (3 of them being purely pumpkin scented), 6 owls, 2 rugs, a few frames (that I do no have pictures for), and an overload of organizational items. I have also started restructuring my bathroom and bedroom closets. This week I spent a good majority of my free time starting projects, going through and tossing out rubbish from the summer, and find homes for my new little trinkets. My apt look anything but cozy! My goal for Monday & Tuesday is to finish my entire list before we leave Wednesday for a mini vacation. I am looking forward to sharing the finished products with y’all. Be looking forward to various little peeks of my hard work. At some point and time this month (maybe the first day Autumn) I would like to make some apple cider, apple butter, and apple cider doughnuts, and consume them.  What are some of your fall traditions?

Here are some of my cozy home inspirations:

Our Newest Addition.

After months of deliberation, we decided that it was time to adopt another kitty. We went into this decision knowing that we wanted little one this time, about a year or less, but had no stipulations the gender. Wednesday, after lunch with Paiger and Mom, JP and I ventured to Petsmart to pick out our new little one. We skipped the shelter because we would have ended up with at least two, and we are not equipped to handle that right now. A little girl won our hearts almost straight away, and the next day we were able to call her ours. The shelter had named her Peppermint, but we shortened it to Pepper; like her name she is a spicy little thing. She has already broken a plate while trying to snag a piece of steak, jumped on numerous items of furniture where kitties just do no belong (one being the top of the oven), and head butted a window while trying to catch a bird that was passing by. She’s a handful, but I know she will end up being the best little cat. She doesn’t seem to mind Jasper too much; I wouldn’t leave the two of them alone for extended periods of time. Jasper likes to watch her bounce throughout the apt, causing mischief along the way. I see fantastical stories ahead for the four of us. We’re already such a happy little family.

Update

Wheeeeeew! What a crazy, eventful, incredible, summer it has been. I am finally able to put up some pictures from our Holiday in Chicago (which was almost a month ago). Chicago was seriously AMAZING! I didn’t wanna come back. I realize this is the way 90 percent of people feel while on holiday, but in reality I really want to move there; it was perfect. We stayed five days, and still didn’t accomplish everything we set out to do. We will be returning in the spring.Here are a few bits from our adventures around city

I was impressed with the public transportation system; it was relatively clean, easy to navigate, and  reasonably close to most places.

We did some tourist-y things like; go to a Cubs game, Lincoln Park Zoo, Sears Tower, Navy Pier, and go to Milleum Park. Even when we’re locals I think a few of these will be favorite places to visit.

Things we missed:

The Art Institute, Field Museum, Beach, Eating a deep dish pizza, Chinatown during the sunlight.

I cannot wait to be back there in the Spring time; there is tons of fun still to be had there.

All these being said, I know I haven’t blogged nearly enough this summer. Now that school is in session again I’ll have somewhat of a routine going on (no more running around various states like a mad woman); making it easier to allow blogging time. I look forward to sharing little snippets of my life with y’all.

You’re in the arms of the angel, may you find some comfort there.

Poor baby Presley, after a long night and early morning trip to the vet I had to say goodbye.

I made a terrible fatal mistake Tuesday night. Press had become infested with fleas, and was just so miserably itchy, I really thought I was doing the right thing by putting flea medicine on her, but sadly I was not. She somehow ingested it and in the early hours of the morning began to seize. This was the most pitiful and scary thing that I have EVER seen. Frantically, we rushed her to the emergency vet. There we got the worse news, my little Presley could be put to sleep or receive a 2000 dollar treatment that might work. This was the most difficult decision I've ever had to make, but I just do not have that kinda of money laying around (my savings isn't even half of that amount). Then what if it didnt work? She would be spending 4 days in a scary place still suffering only to die? I choose what I thought was the best option for her, but I am still filled with gilt. I was supposed to provide for her, and I was not able to; I failed her in the worse possible way. 

I will truly miss this funny little face. She was the most loving little baby kitty, and I miss her SO much!