When I was in high school, one of my favorite things to do was go thrifting with my friends. It was a treasure hunt; let’s see how much we can find for the least amount of money. We loved the weird T-shirts from random clubs and junior high sports teams, they went well with our converse & penchant for emo bands. When I was in college, I still visited thrift stores from time to time, scoring on the occasional sundress or random accessory for really cheap. After I got married, thrift stores kind of dropped out of my life for a while. There weren’t any good ones nearby. Since Michael has started school, we’ve had a budget overhaul. And since [...]

Can you believe it? 6 months ago today I started this little blog. It blows my mind that anyone would want to read about a crazy girl from Texas, but here you are. Maybe it’s because my dogs are so cute. It’s gotta be the dogs. Anyway, I love y’all. Yeah, I took it there. L-O-V-E. Also, y’all. I know it may not be a word you use (or even hear) on a regular basis, but it encompasses ALL OF YOU PEOPLE, and therefore, I must use it. I love my readers. I feel like I have found a place, a momentum. I’d better be careful, lest I burst into Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me.” Then the dogs would start [...]

It’s Thursday night. Did you hear me? IT’S THURSDAY NIGHT. That means right now I am watching the Office. It also means tomorrow is Friday and then it’s the weekend! Furthermore, I can now eat solid foods. SOLID FOODS! This is almost too much excitement for one post! I ate two grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch yesterday. TWO. And today I ate a Classic Combo from Chick-fil-A, and I don’t know that anything has ever tasted so delicious. Since I am in such a good mood, what with the SOLID FOODS and everything, let’s play “Something Old | Something New”! A few weeks ago, I got my hair done, and only posted one measly picture. BUT WAIT, then I made high [...]

First things first. A picture of my new hair! Not the greatest picture, but I’ll try to take more and post them later this week. Moving on to the good stuff. Readers, you have been slacking! I was only able to scrounge up three questions this week. Alright, alright, I’ll forgive you, but DON’T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN. This question comes from Deva at Always Carried Away: Q. “I need to ask this question how you stay THAT slim after eating this food???” She was referring to THIS POST, but she could have just been talking about my life in general. A. Deva, the answer is simple. It’s a combination of the 30-Day Shred 3-4 times a week, optical illusions, Photoshop, and [...]

I am famous for two things. NO, NOT WHAT YOU THINK. Bargain shopping and making returns. Ask anyone who knows me well. Shortly after Michael and I got married, I realized that my curling iron had been damaged during the move. The thing was at least a year old and covered in hairspray. I had no box and no receipt. The next time we went to Wal-Mart, I brought it along. Michael was rolling his eyes, telling me, “Yeah right babe, they’re not going to take that back.” WATCH THEM. I marched right up to Customer Service, handed them my curling iron and said, “Hi, I bought this here, and now it’s broken.” The lady looked at it, and looked [...]

Here we are. It’s Friday night, and I’m thankful. The weekend is here, which means I’ve survived yet another week. My plans for this weekend include: a whole lot of nothing, catching up on little projects/tasks I’ve been meaning to do, coffee with a friend (and helping plan her daughter’s 2nd birthday party!), a wedding on Saturday night, and a Pampered Chef party on Sunday at Chelsea’s house. Earlier, Chelsea emailed me and said this: Speaking of, you need to know how to get to my house. You can google it but I’m going to give you directions BECAUSE I’M BETTER THAN GOOGLE. Internet, that’s why Chelsea & I are friends. Because I work in SEO, and she is better [...]

In case you haven’t noticed (because you are a) blind, or b) don’t read my blog AT ALL), I’m kind of a mess. I like to think that I’m organized, but truth be told, I have more “junk drawers” in my house than is healthy. Open my kitchen cabinets and risk an avalanche of pots & pans. My eyebrows are dangerously close to holding hands in the middle, I’m in desperate need of a pedicure, and so many things in my pantry have crystalized or taken a different form that I should really have my own geology exhibit. Take this blog, for example. I’m not organized with it. AT ALL. Oh, I want to be. I have the highest of [...]

(… Or maybe not.) Revealed! My favorite pictures from our photoshoot with Cio. In no particular order. First up, my hot husband (OK, so maybe they are in a particular order)… I know, right?! Back off ladies, he’s all mine. Next up, us together… In our spare time, we model for Levi’s. Now, just me… We started out with natural make-up, then I transformed into what Michael called “Red Light Lauren”… There are many more, and they are all so good, it was hard to choose! She also took some great pictures of my (and my mom/sister’s) dogs, but I’m saving those for another post. Moral of the story: If you live in the greater Houston area, contact Cio for [...]

I am posting a picture of myself a) because it’s GPOYW, and b) I got my hair done in Canada. Who knows how long the blonde will last, since it’s hard to maintain hair this blonde (blondes, you know what I am talking about!). I should memorialize it while I still can. I have been using this shampoo lately and it seems to really be helping as far as combating the brassiness and keeping the platinum highlights nice and cool. Now if only I could find a shampoo to keep roots from creeping in.  Be warned – it’s EXTREMELY purple when it comes out of the bottle, but it won’t stain your hair (my nails do look a little “purplish” [...]

My weekend in pictures. Scroll really fast and it’s like a movie! But not really.  I got off work early on Friday, which is always a nice treat after putting in a long week. I called my sister-in-law and we decided to do a little shopping together. While I was getting ready to go, I found a 3-pack of banana clips in my drawer (I had bought them weekend before last when I was with my little sister - I guess you can take the girl out of the 90′s, but you can’t take the 90′s out of the girl). Here is the finished result: I had scrunched my (almost) dry hair with a little John Frieda Dream Curls Curl Perfecting [...]