an update {pic heavy}

Thank you to those that commented on my last post. I appreciate your words and that I’m not alone in thinking the heart can have many loves and many favorites. I didn’t want to make drama out of it but I wanted to say something. Thanks for the reminder that this is my blog and I can say what I want. I appreciate you reading.

Ok, let’s move on. I didn’t want the month of May to pass completely without another post. We have been having an awesome month and I want to show you what we’ve been up to!

First of all and most exciting is that my dear friend Sarah arrived at the beginning of the month. Sarah and her family are from Vegas and we met our first summer selling in Winnipeg. We became fast friends as we share a love of makeup, the same sense of humor and now both have 2 little boys. I missed her terribly last year as they took a year off from selling but this year she is back and better than ever and we have been enjoying each other almost daily. This gal makes me happy and keeps me sane. Love her. So glad she and the other wives are here, we have a sweet little group this year.

In other exciting news I purchased a pair of green skinny jeans. I told you, exciting right? I’ve been looking for a pair of colored skinnies to rock this summer and when I came upon this lone pair in my size at Forever 21 I obviously had to make them mine. They are more of a cropped skinny and not exactly what I had in mind but I love them just the same. The color is adorable and goes with a lot in my wardrobe. Great find. And I can keep looking for longer skinnies too right? Don't mind the blurry photo and my horse-face. 

We had a week of really warm beautiful weather. Because we are in a home this year we have full intentions of taking advantage of the backyard and extra space we have. Neil took the boys to Wal Mart to pick out a pool and they came home with this – a cute little pool with slide and spraying seals. So fun. The boys spent the better part of the week out in the backyard playing and splashing. I’m so happy to be in a house and feel like my boys can run and play and breathe. Willow is enjoying it too!

I spent last Saturday with these beautiful sisters in law of mine. We are lucking enough to all be in Calgary this summer and try to get together as much as possible. We spent the morning shopping (what else do ladies do when they get together?!) and then enjoyed a scrumptious sushi lunch. I love these gals and wish that our other 4 beautiful SILs could join us too!

I had the pleasure of doing grad makeup on this pretty face. Erica doesn’t typically wear a lot of makeup but didn’t want to hold anything back for grad. We did a beautiful purple subtle cut crease eye and added the drama of false lashes. She wanted to go all out and we had a lot of fun. She looked absolutely stunning all put together.

And like a total creep I stole this picture from her Facebook.  She's got it goin' on, no? 

Sarah is such a fun mom and always has these crazy ideas. She came over one afternoon with a box of washable markers and said we were going to do some face painting and let the boys color all over themselves. Um ok. It was SO FUN! The boys went to town drawing all over their faces and tummies and then asked us to draw pictures on them too. The markers washed off in the tub without any scrubbing at all and the boys had such a great time. Once I got over my hesitation it was a blast and we’ll be dong it again for sure.

This month my Rigby learned  how to put his shoes on all by himself. This is the most adorable picture of him right after he did it for the first time. He’s getting to be such a big boy. *sniff*

The boys love going to look around the Disney store in the mall. It’s about the only reason we go to the mall since actual shopping with them is a serious headache. This is the best picture I could get of them playing with the Avengers gear. Porter was Thor and Rigs was Captain America. They call the store Disneyland and if that’s what they think Disneyland is my wallet is relieved, haa.

 

We spent this past Saturday afternoon at Calaway Park and it was more fun than I was even expecting. I couldn’t believe how many rides there were for little, little kids like Rigby and Maddox. The boys rode rides by themselves and had so much fun running from place to place checking it all out. We bought passes and will be going back lots this summer.

And last but not least, Willow is as sappy as ever. She certainly believes I am actually her momma and snuggles up to me whenever I sit down for 5 seconds. She is really great with all the people that come and go from our place and has made some great new friends *cough, Sarah, cough* even if they don’t feel the same way. Haaha.

We are really having a great summer. Our home is beautiful and spacious, the wives I get to spend my days with are fun and happy and Calgary is a really great city that I am slowly learning my way around. Neil’s team is growing each week and we are happy with their progress. Life is just good. Oh, and the Bachelorette started and who doesn’t enjoy an hour or 2 of one liners and awkward moments? This gal does. :)

Thanks for stopping by. Come back this week, I want to share with you some products I’m loving and also my favorite new app that makes you even hotter than you already are! Yes please.

lesson learned

I somewhat feel the need to apologize to those of you I offended when I recently posted a love note for my sister's birthday. I find it unfortunate that there are those that feel because I love one person it must mean I love others less. The love of the heart is not a balance scale, where one goes up the other goes down. I can see how my use of the word "favorite" does seem exclusive, but does not every relationship have their own dynamic and everyone have many "favorites" in different aspects of those relationships? It was not my intent to hurt feelings and certainly not make anyone feel less-loved. I understand that such a demonstration of adoration may not be appropriate for public display because of this and I will keep future demonstrations personal. I just feel bad, I guess I'm better with lipsticks than people.

depotting eyeshadows and a back 2 MAC

I have been growing my MAC eyeshadow collection for quite some time. I started out buying the little pots but more recently have been purchasing the refill pans to stick into palettes. It is neater, more compact and saves space in my makeup kit. Plus I really like to pull out a palette and see all the shadows at once instead of have to dig around looking for a shade. I had 12 shadows that were still in pots and last week I decided that it was finally time I depotted them and put them into a palette.

I looked up some depotting instructions on YouTube, combined a few of them using the steps I liked, and got to work. I didn’t take pictures of the depotting process as you can find a thousand videos of how to do it and use whichever instructions you like depending on what tools you have on hand. I have put this off for a long time but found it a lot easier than I thought it was going to be and it went much faster than I anticipated.

(Please forgive the camera phone pictures with a bedspread background. So professional right?)

Before and After

I have 2 full 15 shadow palettes and have organized them into neutrals and colors. 

As I’m sure you are aware MAC offers a recycling program where you take in 6 empties to get a FREE lipstick, eyeshadow or lipgloss. As you know I hit bottom on my beloved Creme d' Nude so I took this opportunity to ‘back 2 MAC’ 6 of my 12 empty eyeshadow pots and picked up a new Creme d' Nude lipstick.

It was pretty satisfying to turn this into this.

Getting rid of those 12 pots freed up a lot of space in my kit and I am enjoying the reorganized and no-longer-overflowing compartments. As I mentioned I really enjoy pulling out a palette to see all the shades at once and find it much easier to create looks when I can see everything in front of me instead of trying to remember what I've got. Knowing how simple the whole process was I find it a little silly I waited so long to do it. C'est la vie.

Do you prefer your eyeshadows in individual pots or in a palette?


Note: it is not recommended to depot MAC eyeshadows as there is a risk they will crack or shatter in the process. I did not ruin any of mine but I feel I should mention there is the chance of ending up with a table full of powder and that. would. be. SAD.

a visit from my parents

We were lucky enough to have a visit from these nice folks this past week.



We really had a great visit. It rained pretty well the whole week which means we hung out at home quite a bit and that was nice. We got to enjoy some great visits and the boys loved having Grandma and Grandpa to play with all day long.

My mom always brings a “Magic Bag” for each of the boys. Every morning and through out the day she will put something inside the Magic Bag and leave it for the boys to find. (Isn't she adorable?) They love spotting the Magic Bag and pulling out their toys and treats. One morning the Magic Bag held some moustaches and we all got in on the fun.

 

The boys weren’t the only ones enjoying having Grandma and Grandpa around. It didn’t take long for Willow to decide my dad was pretty ok and snuggled herself up next to him often.



My mom and I snuck away for an afternoon to treat each other to Mother’s Day goodies. We went to Frilly Lilly to smell all the yummy things and bought each other a pair of earrings. We finished off our outing with a trip to a cupcake shop and shared lemon and chocolate raspberry cupcakes. She is one of my very favorite people to go out with, and it's not cause she always buys me things. :)



We thoroughly enjoyed their company all week. We did some baking, swapped some recipes, went for a drive, played, played and played, watched some shows, ate treats and then ate more treats, planned our trip to FLORIDA for the fall (eeek!), and just loved being together.

I appreciate my parents for how supportive and interested in our lives they are. Neil and my dad stayed up till all hours of the night (literally!) chatting and talking. They always want to know how we are doing, how things are going and I appreciate how much they care. They help with the dishes, bathe and put kids to bed, and my momma folded my laundry and mopped my floor. Aren’t parents the best? I think mine are.  I am a lucky gal.

Thanks for coming, we miss you already!