Love, Adi and Aspen

Dad, we barely see you anymore. Mom says it's because of something called 'finals'. We have no idea what that is but we figure its bad since it takes up all your time.

Mom is no fun today, she won't get out of bed and doesn't like it when we bring her the ball to throw. So right now we're cuddling her. Maybe she'll want to throw the ball later.

Dad, bring home treats. Preferably something with peanut butter in it. We love peanut butter.

p.s. mom's feet smell. don't tell her we told you so.

Bucket List Cross Off

I'm not going to lie I deliberated for weeks and weeks, going back and forth as to whether I should take this leap with my hair. I kept seeing these adorable pictures of long bobs and I just fell in love. Then when we watched The Terminal with Catherine Zeta Jones I just knew that was what I wanted to do. Super cute, with some length but still fun and moving.

As I walked into the hair salon for my appointment with my cute hairstylist that I've gone to since I was in Junior High I seriously contemplated running back to my car and zooming away. But I kept looking at pictures I had saved to show Alayshia and I talked myself back into it.

I sat in the chair and in the moment of truth once she started cutting I got this sinking feeling in my gut. But when I looked up after she did the first pass I knew I was going to love it! And as she trimmed it, shaped it, layered and styled it with every step I grew to love it more and more. This is definitely going in my hall-of-fame hairstyles and nobody can say I didn't try out short hair! Who knows, it may even stay for a while.

My inspiration:

And my result:

Excuse the Iphone photo

Look at that massive pile of hair! It's just crazy to me how light and alive my hair now feels without that extra 6+ inches weighing it down! It feels so wonderful I can't stop running my hands through it. I'm not sure I'll keep it short like this but we will see. You never know, I may just be hooked!

Largest Pet Peeve EVER

I apologize for this angry, mud throwing post but I just feel I should state where I stand with this.

You have been warned.

You see in Utah especially I feel like dog parks or parks that even allow dogs on leash at all are incredibly rare. There are really only two in the greater Salt Lake area the first approximately on 9600 S. and the other is Tanner Dog park at 2100 S. That's a difference of 75 blocks equivalent to 20 miles! It's clear that Utah's non-dog owners have a monopoly on the parks in the area and that they feel dogs are NOT welcome.

Well apposed to what most people think the majority of dogs are sweet, well-tempered, people friendly animals, who don't jump/bark/chase/be aggressive; but there are those few dogs who ruin it for everyone else. Actually let's not blame them: it's clearly the OWNERS that are at fault. They let their dogs get in scuffles with other dogs, let them jump on others/harass others (I've had a number of dogs sniffing my butt to close for my comfort and the owners do nothing), and today of all days I had a dog steal Aspen's tennis ball, snarl at Aspen when she tried to take it away, then run up the hill and promptly bury it and the owner's reaction? 'Sorry, dog's will be dogs.' No you fickle minded ass wipe the correct saying is 'Irresponsible owners should be shot at first sight.

On more than one occasion at the Sandy dog park there were majorly aggressive dogs-one in particular was a pit-bull-and the owner's didn't have muzzles on them and never tried to correct their behavior. I shouldn't stereotype pit-bull's as the only aggressive type: but it always seems that its a type of hunting dog that is the one initiating aggressive behavior. I mean seriously, when was the last time you saw a Golden Retriever, or even tempered Collie being aggressive?

Oh and also, if your dog snarls or tries to nip at my dog and you do nothing, you'd better bet your brass bottom covered ass I will smack your dog. This is my right if your dog is being aggressive to mine and you don't do anything. If mine growls at another dog I correct instantly. And if I don't you have full permission to smack mine as well because that is your right. That is part of being a responsible dog owner, you have to correct incorrect behaviors and encourage good ones. Dog's become well rounded in this aspect if you can communicate with them what is inappropriate behavior and what is acceptable.

All in all I feel like I am a great dog owner, I love them as if they really were my children and I'm equally as protective over them, but I definitely yell if they get up on the table and they get punished if they snarl at anybody. I will not own an aggressive dog and I don't make this so by getting rid of dogs that disobey or act out, I bend their will to mine until they yield because at the end of the day: they are a dog and you are their master.

End of story: Don't let your dog be your master and don't let your dogs go willy-nilly at dogs parks like that idiot did today or someday the city may take away our two dog parks because of complaints.

Rant over.

Celebrity look a-like

Since working at Clinique and focusing on a lot of customer's faces, I've gotten more remarks about mine. That's to be expected of course, but one thing I certainly didn't expect to hear was that I looked like a specific celebrity.

This specific one I've heard before, and funnily enough when her premier movie came out last March and I was standing next to the poster waiting for the Hub's to get snacks so we could go into the theater I had people commenting on how I was a look a-like. I had done my hair in a braid (not trying to copycat just for comfort). I brushed it off thinking it must be a fluke. But then when I had multiple customers comment on how I look 'just-like-that-actress-oh-my-gosh' I started thinking there might be something to it...

What do you think?

Me

Jennifer Lawrence

Please I beg of you give me an honest opinion, my feelings won't be hurt I promise! 

New Job: Pro's and Con's

There are tons of pro's to my job.

I get to help women who are truly extreme conservatives with makeup because it scares them try something new and different,
I get to do makeup for proms and dates,
I get to show women new techniques and tricks on how to apply makeup,
and my absolute favorite part of my new job is to see women light up with happiness and confidence when they feel beautiful because of a little change of makeup.

And the solitary downside to my job:

I constantly have makeup stains on my hand from hours and hours of demonstrating colors for eyeliners, lip liners, lipsticks/lipgloss/chubby sticks, foundation, and concealer!

This is after TWO hand washing's and trying makeup remover!

All in all, LOVING life at City Creek Nordstrom

Pinterest Pin Test: Brush Cleaning DIY

When I saw this Pin I knew I had to try it. Seemed really simple and so completely affordable that it is just to good to be true right?

Homemade brush cleaner:
1/4 cup vinegar
1 tsp of dawn soap (I just used my own face wash)
And warm water all in a cup-let sit/stir until all the nastiness has come out then
wash under the faucet until water runs clear, shape and dry laying down

As a makeup artist and skincare 'professional' as my day job now, I figured it was time to start taking my own advice to all my customer's and start cleaning my own brushes everyday to help reduce on bacteria transfer and put an end to acne breakouts.

Well the results were undeniably successful!

And now that I've started cleaning them after every use (soaking and soaping included) I've already started to notice less breakouts except for those monthly ones. Hallelujah right?!

On the move again...

I told you a couple days ago that I would explain why I've been so MIA and here it is. We are going to be moving in a little over a week. Our apartment changed the pet policy, and since we're the only tenants with pets we were asked to move within a month period or get rid of our dogs. Since we'll never be getting rid of our family members/children we decided to move on short notice.

While that seems like a bitter pill it actually works out really well so that we can start seriously saving money-more than we previously have-for a down payment on a house. Jared's mom has generously invited us to move into her house since she's rarely ever home and that way we can save the money that would have gone to rent and put it towards a down payment. We're definitely looking at this in a positive light because we've been wanting to move anyways and it will give us five to six months to save up.

Huge upsides of moving is that Adi and Aspen will have a whole backyard to play in and when it warms up they'll be able to stay outside instead of in their crate, and I'll have tons and tons of space to garden to my hearts content. We're also going to help Sherrie refinish the backyard slowly over the summer. I'm really looking forward to being back in North Salt Lake close to our parents and old stomping grounds.

Huge downside is that we are moving away from all our couple friends that we do double dates with, and that Jared is going to have to commute even farther for the rest of the semester. But he's got his Associate's degree so he's going to transfer up to the U for his Bachelors' so that commuting will only last for a little over a month.

Here's to packing, cleaning, and moving!

Our second D.I. pile just keeps getting larger and larger. We've already taken three full trash bags already, but I'm highly motivated to truly do some deep cleaning since I don't want to have to move all this crap!

p.s. packing up all your crap is time intensive and sucks

p.p.s. cleaning up after you've packed sucks even worse

p.p.p.s. fresh starts and change are always the bright lights at the end of the moving tunnel