ombre, hombre

i totally stole that title from Heatha!  while i'm so behind on blogging and trying to reintegrate myself, i figure i'll catch up with my summer (which absolutely flew by).

around my birthday i decided i wanted my hair highlighted.  i have never highlighted my hair before- although I am no stranger to a box of hair dye (unforch) all over my hair- and not because i want to try something new either...  i deciding i was getting my hair done- professionally- and that was that.  I was a real good girl, and i saved my birthday money, and i got a couple of awesome gift certificates from dave & my bro- and it was off to the salon i went (nervously) for my consultation. 

i had never been to this salon before (only passed it, longingly), so i was matched with someone over the phone.  this girl was my soul mate- she loved my top- and we had the exact same idea of what we wanted to do- we went through a few magazines- found the right coloring and we were ready to schedule the appointment!  she loved the ombre and had just done one a couple weeks back and wanted to do another!  yay!

the appointment was a week out and i was on pins and needles with excitement.  all i had to do was color my roots and she'd do the rest.  during this time- my phone was acting a completely fool- first, i broke a piece on it- so i had to go all 2005 with the moto razr.  second- we renewed our contract and my new phone arrived- only to not work.  so i arrived at the salon to be greeted with a surprise- my stylist was sick- and they had someone in her place- didn't you get our voicemail?

no i did not, phone.  and sure enough, while i sat and waited (now anxiously), i checked my vm and i had 4 messages.  by this point, i felt like i had to let the new stylist do my hair- wouldn't she be insulted if i didn't?  and wouldn't my other stylist be insulted if i just let someone else do my hair?  so off with the other stylist i went (yes, i get i can say no- but i'm just too nice- i can't do it). 

things started bad- first i couldn't find the photos we used as a reference- then the girl didn't think that the number of the color i was giving her was right.  at this point we were both nervous, and probably a little edgy (i know i was).  we walked to the front in defeat- ready to reschedule with girl 1 when the receptionist pulled up my account.  girl 1 was so smart.  she put extensive notes on my account- we all felt relieved and i was ready to just get it over with. 

so, ombre highlights are different than regular highlights- first, they have to tease the ever loving mess out of your hair.  next- they put the foils in.  and finally- you sit forever looking like you're picking up a signal to mars...

ground control to major tom

but, if you thought sitting in one place for 45+ minutes was bad- no one even told me what was coming next- and that was COMBING all of my teased hair.  after the color was rinsed, the stylist had to comb through all of my hair, and i have a lot, and it was all teased bigger than a toddlers & tiaras episode.  that took another 45 minutes.  at one point in the combing- the poor stylist was treating my hair so gingerly b\c of all of my cries of pain- i asked her if I could comb it myself and save her the trouble.  she practically threw the comb in my face.  after that, it was just the dryer, some oohing and aahing from her fellow employees and i was on my way.  and in love.

this is definitely not this best picture, as the lighting isn't great- but you can definitely tell it's lighter.  i actually have some super blonde pieces underneath too.  i definitely spent the first week or so doing a double-take at my reflection- oh yeah, that's me!  

i wish i could say i have more photos of it... but... i don't ...   i will say that next time i won't waste so much time before getting pampered again- although i haven't had my hair or my eyebrows done since... so... 

change the way you spend

here's the last post, as promised...  sorry it's so late!

i'm devoting my birthday week to big changes that we've made in our lives over the last 2 years- particularly the last year.  i've already talked about changing the way we eat and use... now i'm here to talk about the money, money, money...

money has been a very big challenge for us over the last 2 years.  it's definitely been the single-biggest source of tension in our home.  when we were married we each had debt- we each had our own student loans, dave had his car and we each had credit card debt- his had our honeymoon on it, and mine just had irresponsibility on it...  $27k in total debt.  boo.  we immediately got to work.  we had a house, and i had just gotten a new job- we were rolling right along.  1 year later we were down to $21k.  then the next spring things started falling apart.  i've probably told this 1000x, but here goes again- dave was laid off in january 2009.  he had made it through 3 previous lay offs, but this time not many people escaped.  luckily, he still had a month left to work, and a month left of pay after that.  during this time a job opened up at his company at the office he worked at when he first started w\ ge (outside of chicago).  he interviewed for the job, and was offered.  he had 45 days to report up there, and they would not assist w\ relo.  so we had 45 days to pack, move and figure out what to do w\ a house that we had not even owned for 2 years.  i ended up staying by myself for 6 weeks in atlanta packing our house (our neighborhood had recently been hit by a string of robberies too- comforting).  our rental prospect fell through and w\ foreclosures in the neighborhood, we were forced to short sale or else we'd be joining them.  making a long story short- we sold our house for almost $90k less than what we owed- luckily that was all forgiven.  blah blah.

so we moved up here and i found out i was pregnant a week later.  too bad no one wants to hire a pregnant woman.  i got a job at target, and worked there through the delivery.  during this time, we managed to pay off dave's car.  now we manage to live w\ my minimal income from the 2 jobs i have (i stay home w\ ian) and what my husband has.  with the ge insurance debacle from having ian and our previous er trip- we've accrued extra debt.  so we are working on paying that off...  it's hard.  most months i feel like we just have enough money to pay our bills and pay nothing extra, but we press on!

we started listening to dave ramsey while we were still in atlanta and we are currently at work on our debt snowball.  paying off the smaller debts up to the largest.  we currently pay just the minimum on both of our loans while we work on the hospital bill and our insurance.  once the hospital bill gets paid off (barring anything else happening) we start paying on dave's loan harder- then mine!  i'd like to get all this paid off before we think of buying a home again. 

here's the only advice i can offer on what works for us-

1.  don't use credit cards if at possible.  i wish this was fully true for us.  i have 2 store cards that i use for points purposes that are paid immediately upon use.  we also have a regular credit card that we use for big purchases (airline tickets).  our goal is to not have to use this card at all.

2.  make a budget.  we have been using the same excel file for almost 4 years that we add a new page to monthly.  it has a list of all our bills, how much is due, when it's due, how much remains, etc.  it helps to see the numbers in front of you.  instead of blindly paying every month, i can see that when i pay, the number gets smaller- and that still inspires me after 4 years.

3.  sell or donate what you don't need.  make money where you least expect it!  we are in the process of weeding through junk in our house.  we have been selling things on ebay and have made about $300 in the last 2 months.  what we don't sell, we'll donate.  whether it's having money in our pocket right now, or using the donation to write off on our taxes- it's putting money in our pocket either way!

4.  take advantage of referral programs.  some companies will offer you money if you refer people to them- we are with dish, and they offer up to $500 a year.  just through referrals so far, dave & i will be getting $45 off our bill.  that's our entire bill.

5.  less spending on junk.  this is a work in progress.  just learning not to buy stuff we don't need and saving for what we do need.  i started making a list of wants and needs.  seeing the list helps me know that we have to earn it.

6.  couponing.  i could write an entire post on this, but i won't bore you.  we shop @ supertarget b\c i get a 10% discount + 5% redcard discount.  coupons + making my list in advance = usually saving at least $50 per bill!  btw, coupons aren't just for junk food!

7.  cheap dates-  being broke may mean that you can't go on vacation, but it doesn't mean you can't have date night.  we try to do our dates via coupons/deals from groupon, scoubmob, or living social.  that gives us food or movie tickets for half price!  woot!

and those are just a few (whew!) of the ways we try to make our money work.  i'm always looking for more ideas, so bring them on!

change the way you use

i'm devoting my birthday week to all the little changes that have been made in our lives during the last 2 years.  yesterday i talked about the way we eat - today i'm going to talk about the way we use and how to be a better user and not a waster.

recycling:
i have not always been a recycler- it just isn't something that i see that's very prevalent in the south.  we recycled newspapers and magazines, but everything else- right in the trash.  when dave & i started dating, i noticed that everything is recycled here- it's part of the regular trash pickup.  when we bought our house in atlanta, i was interested in starting recycling up for our house, but there wasn't a pickup in our neighborhood- even where i nannied- which was in a nicer neighborhood- i didn't see a recycling pickup.  we decided to start on our own, but it took a little work on our behalf.  it's amazing how much trash recycling saved- we normally only had one bag of trash every other week (we took our own trash to a dumpster in our neighborhood).  even here we only have one bag of trash per week.  here's how to recycle in your area if you don't have a neighborhood pickup:  1.  recycling bins:  the sortera bins from ikea are excellent.  they come in 2 sizes and they easy stack.  they took up minimal room on our back porch- and since they have lids, the stuff inside stayed relatively dry when it rained.  they suffered their fair share of abuse- so when we moved up here, we threw them in with our last recycling drop off.  2.  www.earth911.com- when we were in atlanta, we entered our zip and found a facility only a few miles from our house.  3.  when our bins would fill up, we loaded them in the back of the car and dropped our stuff off.  we usually sorted our stuff- we had 3 bins (paper, plastic & glass/aluminum) to make it easy b\c you never knew what bins were going to be at the facility we were at.  we went to the same place for 2 years, yet every few weeks they would have completely changed how they wanted you to sort stuff. 

cutting down on waste and junk

anyone who's ever seen an episode of hoarders probably  has an immediate desire to throw away half the belongings in their home.  having a child has definitely brought more "stuff" into our homes and so we have had to purge our own belongings to make room for baby.  this is a continual work in progress.  we started by going through our closets and drawers and getting rid of stuff that we knew would no longer fit (bye bye size 0's) or stuff we just didn't wear anymore.  we bagged that stuff up- and tried plato's closet (i hate that place- don't go there), when that didn't work, i listed my stuff on smashion.  i am giving my stuff a few months to see how it does, and after that, it goes to goodwill.  dave's stuff went to a neighborhood pickup.  we are slowly going through closets and other bins and trying to get rid of stuff.  a few tips from lifehack.org:  obey the 12 month rule by throwing out anything you haven't used in 12 months- after 3 months re-evaluate and try to get rid of even more.  since we are trying to make a little money this is taking us a little longer- although my friend Tara brought up an excellent point once by saying it might be more cost-effective just to donate and take the tax write-off.  

another huge way we're saving on waste is by cloth diapering.  for those of you who are moms or who aren't and are really grossed out by this- yeah, it's a little gross.  is it any worse than a disposable diaper?  not really.  diapers are full of poop and poop is gross.  end of story.  ian still has to wear disposables at night b\c his skin is so sensitive, but the money we've saved in not buying diapers all the time has been tremendous.  not to mention all the garbage we save by not having to throw out up to 7-8 diapers a day.  they cost a lot up front depending on the route you go, but they were paid for in about 6 months- and i'm all for more money in my pocket.  plus, our water/energy bills haven't changed.  regardless, i will be so exciting when the diapering stage is over.  

the final part of cutting down on waste & junk is a new thing in our lives- composting.  i have wanted to do this for a long time and now that we are working on our own garden i have a better reason than ever! composting is an even better way to have less garbage than we already do...  bought lettuce w\ the intention of eating salad every day (oops) and now it's wilted?  compost it.  tired of your garbage smelling like coffee grounds- compost it.  it's amazing what kinds of junk can actually be composted.  we now have even less garbage, and i don't beat myself up if i find a little bit of rotten lettuce!  

reclaiming/reusing!

the final change we've made is through reclaiming/reusing.  by doing this we are not shelling out money for the little things- therefore, keeping money for what we actually need.  part of this stirs up my "hoarders" tendencies- that i don't want to throw anything away b\c certainly it can be used for something.  an awesome site for this is freecycle .  this is a great place to give and get stuff for free in your area.  when we were ready to start composting, i went out and bought a garbage can for about $20.  luckily, a few days later, someone posted an offer for a similar trashcan to the one i bought- we were able to claim it, pick it up and return the one we bought- $20 back in our pockets!!  i also may or may not have stolen a drawer for gardening from an abandoned dresser in front of my neighbor's house on garbage day a few weeks ago...  

i love seeing other people reclaim stuff b\c i definitely don't have the same creativity that a lot of people have.  i wanted to share with you a little etsy site that does just that- tea & tangerines.  tea & tangerines was started by friends mary & lauren (l is on the modsquad with me)- lovers of vintage & candles!  do you love candles, but hate when you get to the end of one only to have a useless jar- problem solved.  lauren & mary not only make the candles themselves, but put them in pretty vintage reclaimed containers.  once the candle is done- your pretty container can be used in any way you like!  they have a lot of cute candles in their newly opened shop- but also do custom orders if you like certain scents or are looking for a certain type of container.  my favorite is this one- the glass is so pretty + i love fresh grass scented anything! 

image

want to reclaim something as your own- right now tea & tangerines is offering a 15% discount when you use the code LEMMEGITTHAT.  come on, go check tea & tangerines out!

i hope you've enjoyed day 2 of my little changes birthday week.  have any additional ideas for ways we can continue to change how we use- i'd love to hear in your comments!

change the way you eat

this blog has been all about changes in my (our) lives.  the biggest being our sweet baby boy.  in honor of my 30th birthday i want to devote this week to the changes that we have made for the better.  most of these changes directly correlate in some way with my 30 before thirty.

i wish i had gotten a little more serious about my weight loss goal (see the list) sooner.  no, i will not have lost all my baby weight plus 10 by the time i turn 30 this thursday.  i won't have even lost all the baby weight.  so here i am nearly 17 months postpartum, and i still have 7-12 lbs to go before i reach what i was when i got pregnant (i am not exactly sure what i weighed).  it's really sad to think about- because now that i'm doing it- it's so easy.  i could have lost this weight months ago and saved myself the sadness of feeling fat most days. 

how am i finally doing it- it's all so simple.  1.  we have cut down on the amount of eating out that we do.  we have dinner out w\ dave's mom every tuesday night.  on thursday's if i'm at mom's group we do lunch @ panera afterwards.  that's usually it for most weeks.  dave & i do have our monthly out date (but even that doesn't always involve dinner) and we will occasionally pick something up if we're in a pinch- but it's not our fallback plan.  eating in not only saves money (more on that later this week) but it saves tons of calories.  we're not just eating frozen pizzas and junk like that either (although we do a frozen pizza (no greasy meats) 2x a week on the nights i work).  i plan 5-7 meals to get us through a 2 week period.  i either plan these meals from family favorites, blogs/online recipes or i flip through my collection.  by eating at home we get to eat together in a quiet environment with a well-balanced meal that ian can enjoy with us. 

2.  i am actually working out.  i hate working out.  i am lazy.  dragging myself to the gym 6 days a week is no fun.  some days it sucks (okay, most days), but i really can tell a difference in how i feel!

3.  i am tracking my calories.  this is where it all came together.  the 2 above items weren't good enough on their own.  i downloaded the myfitnesspal app on my phone (the info from your phone is also shared to an account that you can manage online).  the app is incredible- you can add the recipes that you cook and find meals from most national restaurants.  you can track all your nutrional intake + add in all your exercise.  everything that goes in gets tracked- that way i know if i have room for extra at the end of the night, or whether i am better without it!  when you can see everything you're eating in one place it really does make a huge difference. 

4.  i'm eating better foods- more veggies, more protein, less sugar.  i'm reading labels closely.  having ian makes this easier to do- i don't want him eating junk!  it really does make a difference!  sugar is my weakness- so now treats are extra special!

in a month i have lost around 7 lbs- which isn't half bad, but there's more work yet to be done.


i'm linking up with Blair for McFatty Monday over @ Heir to Blair