It's been busy

I have so much to post, but so little time.  This new position is taking over ALL of my work time so I don't have any to blog.  Hopefully I will be able to post pictures of the scrumptious food Nick and I have been whipping up/dining out at and also my new nail polish and CVS discount "haul".  Until then, TTFN!

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils Continued

As I said in my last post about NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils, I bought more.  I've been using these quite a bit since I can get a whole look out of them with a couple of easy swipes.  The pigmentation is pretty bold, but I like to pat and blend them out a lot.  I've seen reviews where people have mentioned that these pencils are so creamy that they will crease on your lid, but I haven't run into that problem.  As long as I blend them out I have no problem with creasing.  If I want a stronger color these pencils are very buildable.  I will apply, blend, apply more, blend, etc.  Of this set my favorite color is French Fries.  It's a darker and warmer brown that Iced Mocha, but I can wear this alone and still enjoy the color.  The other colors that I purchased are colors that I like to use in conjunction with eyeshadows.

Top: Pots&Pans, Orchid
Bottom: Slate, French Fries, Rust

From Left: Slate, French Fries, Pot&Pans, Rust, Orchid

No Flash
From Left: Slate, Pots&Pans, Orchid, Rust, French Fries

Flash
From Left: Slate, Pots&Pans, Orchid, Rust, French Fries

Blended out

I decided that since I like the jumbo eye pencils so much
that I would try out a lip pencil.  I was expecting this to be
a darker color.  This photo without flash is true to color.
This color is called Pink Nude.  I really like the texture, but
I don't think I'd like to keep reapplying this when I eat.  I
probably won't buy many more of these unless there is a
great deal.   I'm just not a lip color person.

No flash
Top: Pink Nude on top of a bright pink lipstain
Bottom: Pink Nude alone

Flash

Shoe Haul

I'm calling this a haul because I usually don't get this many shoes in the span of three days.  Actually, I haven't really been buying heels recently because Nick and I haven't been going out as frequently.  I decided to purchase these though because they were inexpensive and I had been looking at the cork ones for months.  The total after shipping was only $70!  I haven't paid that little for heels in a while so I was quite excited.  Then when Nick and I went to Napa for the bbq this past weekend we stopped off at the outlets and I picked up the Guess wedges for another $70.  $140 for three pairs of shoes is not to shabby!  The pair that I've had in my "saved for later" cart on Endless is $150 alone.  I just haven't purchased them because I would have no where to wear them to.  Now that I've been job hunting, (yes, I'm on a mad hunt for a new job now that Dave is gone and isn't around to keep Neil on track) I might actually find a place where I can wear heels.  Fingers crossed!

You will have to ignore the jumbled background in the pictures.  You can see the shoes better on my desk rather than on my floor since the shoe color is similar to the color of my carpet.  Don't worry, I haven't worn the shoes out yet so they're still clean!

Catalogue picture

I was wondering how they made the shoes with cork without the cork cracking
after a while.  What they did was use faux leather with a screen printed cork
pattern.  You can't really tell that it's not really cork from the catalogue picture.
It's not bad, but not what I expected.  Still cute though.  You get what
you pay for.

The paisleyish insert is a Dr. Scholl's pad that I added myself.
Since the heel is pretty high it does hurt the ball of my foot
because there isn't much padding in the actual shoe.  The
inserts help with that a lot. 

Catalogue picture

I actually like these more than the cork shoes, which is the pair that I originally
wanted.  I don't like to pay for shipping so I thought it would be better
to get another pair just to make the shipping worth it.  I have difficulty wearing
platform heels, but since these were inexpensive I thought I'd try them out.
I will be clinging to Nick's arm while wearing these so that I don't do a crash landing.

I also added a Dr. Scholl's insert to this shoe.

I got these at the Guess outlet in Napa.  The sole is pretty comfortable so I
haven't added an insole.  I plan to wear these this weekend when we go wine
tasting with Linda, Rob, and Coach. 

Extra insert that I haven't used yet.  The pack comes with three sets.

These were $15 at my CVS, but I had a $3 off
coupon and go them for $12.

Fajita Night

After a long day of morning softball practice, nap, and then run with Emmy, Nick and I whipped up some fajitas.  Well, Nick whipped up fajitas.  I was too tired to do much.  Our softball practices go on for hours.  I'm talking, three to four hours of running around in the sun...and we're still not very good.  Anyway, I did the vegetable chopping, but that was about it.  It's a good thing I can depend on him to do most of the work and not need a lot of directions when it comes to cooking.

It seems like we make fajitas a lot.  Maybe because it's so much cheaper to make them yourself than go out to a restaurant to have them.  They sure were yummy!

We had all this great, fresh food, but since Christopher had just gotten back from a weekend backpacking trip he requested that we have refried beans with our dinner.  They look so gross compared to everything else we made.

There he is enjoying his beans.

Sloshball and Softball practice

You may be wondering, what the heck is sloshball?  Well I was wondering the same thing before I played it.  I will never play it again.

To lighten up softball practice one of the girls suggested that we play some sloshball.  The gist of the game is to always be drinking a beer.  When you're in the outfield you have to hold a beer in your hand until you finish it.  So you basically drink your beer as fast as you can so you can put down the can otherwise you have a mitted hand and a hand holding a beer.  This makes throwing very difficult.  I can't throw as it is.  Then when it is your turn to hit, you always have to stop at second base to chug half a beer before you can round to third and home.  It is a delightful game of drunken debotury that I won't be partaking in the future.   It was a lot of fun though.  I've just learned my lesson.

As for real practice, we've been doing a lot of it.  I'm getting better at hitting the ball with semi-okay form and I actually caught two fly balls.  I was so happy that I did a little dance.  We'll see what happens at the game tonight.  I'm hoping that all the hard work will pay off.  Our team is at the bottom of the league right now and I have a feeling that we will be staying there.  It seems like our team is improving from all the practice, but not improving enough.  At least it's good exercise and camaraderie!

Emmy Pictures

I've been catching Emmy in some funny/cute poses and sometimes manage to get my phone out before she moves.  I find that the camera has a hard time focusing because of her fur so most of these are blurry.  But still cute!

She wanted to make sure I wasn't leaving so her head was up, but her eyes
were closing.  I was hoping that her head would plop down from sleepiness
but she just laid it down. 

Good grief she looks fat.

And this is probably why she looks so round!  We've been leaving her home
by herself much more frequently with a stuffed Kong.  She was working out
what was left in there. 

Happy from playing frisbee with Nick

I think I've posted these pics before, but I think they're so cute.  She was
trying to wake me up on a Saturday morning.

Del Sol: Flirt

While my mom was in Panama she stopped at this shop called Del Sol.  I think they have these at a lot of touristy locations because I remember going to one of these stores in San Diego once.  Basically, the company trademark is color changing merchandise.  The color of the object changes when it is in sunlight. I believe it has something to do with the UV rays.  Anyway, so my mom picked up a couple bottles of nail polish while she was there.  I've tried this stuff before, but found that it was streaky in the sunlight.  I think my problem was that I wasn't putting enough on (I usually only use two coats).  Today I applied three coats and it turned out well.

I really like the color of this polish indoors and out, but my one complaint is that it is really difficult to get off the skin when you're indoors.  Since I apply my nail polish while on the phone at work, it made it very difficult to see.  I took off the light color from my skin as best I could, but then when I went outside to see what it looked like there was a complete mess on my toes.  It looked like I painted my nails with my eyes closed.  In the pictures below you'll see that I still have some polish on my skin.  What I ended up doing was taking the nail polish remover and Q-Tips outside with me to do my touchups.  Next time I will sit outside to apply.

Without sun

With Sun

No Sun No Flash

Sun No Flash

No Sun Flash

Sun Flash

Remedied Hair Bands

I love wearing elastic hair bands to keep fly aways and baby hairs out of my face when I work out. I have very fine, slippery hair so most types of hair bands don't stay on my head well.  I had originally gotten a pack of three pastel colors years and years ago to try them out. They worked out pretty well for me.  Then about a year back I figured I'd get more.  I was bummed to find out that they were bigger than the original set that I bought.  The popped right off the back of my head even when just sitting around.  Clearly this wouldn't work if I was running.  I left the hair bands in my drawer because I couldn't bring myself to throw them out. Today I decided that I would try to fix the problem.  One of the new hair bands is the same/similar color to our softball team jersey.  I snipped off the stitched area of the band and sewed it back together.  It worked out perfectly!  Now my hair band fits my head and I didn't waste the $5 I spent on them.  I think I will do this to the rest of the pack too!

Super Nachos

I wanted to post a quick picture of some nachos that I made for Christopher and myself a couple of weeks ago.  They were sooooo good. I based my recipe off of the Turkey Nachos from Allrecipes, but added fresh tomatoes, jalapenos, olives, sour cream, red pepper flakes and shredded mozzarella cheese to it.  I will definitely be making these again because my mom loves nachos.

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils

I think I'm in love.  I haven't been this stoked about a makeup product since the Naked Palette.  These things are just so easy!  I've heard a lot of great things about NYX cosmetics, but hadn't tried them until recently because I didn't want to pay shipping and Sephora doesn't carry them.  I found a couple of sellers on Amazon that have free shipping so I decided to give them a try. The texture is so creamy and smooth that it glides right on without tugging at the skin.  I use these on my eyelids for full coverage.  All you have to do is color them on like a crayon.  The staying power is phenomenal also.  I don't use a primer when I put this on and it seems to last all day even when I have a run incorporated into my routine.

My favorited Jumbo Eye Pencil is Iced Mocha.  It's a soft brown color that blends well with my Naked Palette or can be work alone.  I use the Cottage Cheese and Strawberry Milkshake colors less frequently, but they really pretty too.  The Cottage Cheese works well as a highlighter.  I find that it is a little to white to wear by itself.  All of these colors blend well with the Naked Palette. Whenever I go out now, I use Iced Mocha as my base or stand alone.  It is very subtle and so quick to apply that I can color it on right before running out the door.  Last night I had to stop myself from buying another five jumbo pencils.  I have a feeling that I will end up ordering them eventually though!

From Top: Strawberry Milk, Iced Mocha, Cottage Cheese

From Top: Strawberry Milk, Iced Mocha, Cottage Cheese

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I decided to purchase more on Amazon and will post pictures when I get them.  I originally wasn't going to put on makeup today since we have a softball game tonight.  I got bored at work so I did a "look" with the three pencils that I have here.  I used the pink as an all over color, the brown in the outer corners, and the white in the center of the lid.  I also tight lined with Stila's Kajal in Onyx, which did carry over into the shading of the brown.   Hopefully it doesn't rain later at the softball game.  

I don't know how the ladies on Youtube and beauty
blogs take pictures without blinding themselves!
This is without a flash because I was seeing spots from
trying to do it with flash.

No Flash