Another Hair Growth Update

I decided to take a picture of my length today to compare to the September photo. I was kind of disappointed because I didn't get as much growth as I did from May to July. I don't know if my hair grows faster in the summer or what, but I guess I shouldn't complain since my hair is growing nonetheless. Oh, waist length, I'm so close yet so far.....

Dog Halloween Costumes

Happy Halloween! I dressed up my fur babies and had a shoot with them. Here are some pictures of Red and Sheba in their "Halloween Couture". Haha. Enjoy!

Dolly Look

Been feeling dolly lately. A few more photos wearing Geo Ultra Black lenses from Honeycolor.....

Biolage Matrix Conditioning Balm Review

One thing I don't like about living in Idaho is that it is so dang DRY up here, ugh! Consequently, my hair lacks the moisture it needs, and my regular shampoo and conditioner haven't been doing it for me in this climate, so I decided to invest my moolah into a salon conditioner. I went with the Biolage Matrix Conditioning Balm because I've read so many positive reviews on it that I just had to try it myself. It runs about 20 bucks a jar (I bought mine on base though, so it was tax free, heh) and it looks like this:

I think the price is pretty good for what you get. It's a rather large jar that lasts me a while, but only because I don't use big globs of conditioner every time I shower. My hair's not super thick so that helps as well. The consistency is pretty much like any other conditioner I've used, and the smell is quite heavenly! I don't know how to describe it, I guess it smells like.....plants and a little bit of baby powder lol! Here's what it looks like inside the jar:

After the first use, my hair felt SUPER SOFT! I could already tell the difference as I was running the conditioner through my hair in the shower. It was easier to comb through, less tangled, and most importantly, my hair felt moisturized for once! From then on I pretty much knew that this would be my go-to conditioner. I have to admit, I haven't given up flat ironing my hair so this definitely helps keep my ends moisturized and tangle free.

By the way, I meant to post some progress pictures of my hair growth in the last few months. Here they are:

I'm hoping to reach waist length by next August. Still have ten months to go, but I've definitely been making some progress considering I went from chin length to past bra strap length in 15 months! Crazy growth.

$4000 Scholarship for Military Spouses?! Say Whaaaaaa?

The My Career Advancement Account (MyCAA) program, which is solely for military spouses of active duty   E1-E5, W1-W2, and O1-O2, is providing up to $4000 of Financial Assistance to those military spouses wishing to pursue degree programs, licenses, or credentials leading to employment. MyCAA will pay for tuition of education and training courses as well as licensing/credentialing fees. Depending on the program you choose, you may have to pay out of pocket for books and other expenses not covered by the program. For more information you can visit the official website here: MyCAA Website


I wanted to relay this information to all the qualifying military spouses out there because not many know about this program (hell, I didn't even know until I was googling online and discovered the program by accident) and I think it's important that they take advantage of the resources available to them. I'm sure that there are many military spouses out there aspiring to continue their education or are in the process of finishing their degrees/masters and whatnot, so hopefully the Financial Assistance will help to alleviate some of those expenses.

I have decided to take advantage of the MyCAA program and pursue a medical administrative specialist as well as billing and coding certification through the accredited Florida Gulf Coast University's online training program. If you're interested in checking out the particular program I'm taking, the link is here as well: Mycareerskill.org

Since jobs are quite scarce nowadays, I'm hoping my recent career change into the health care industry will lead me to employment. Don't let me down!

Final Honest Review on P90X

I never got back to you on my P90X results so I'm going to go ahead and write my review now before I forget again. Overall, it was a good program. My results weren't really different from day 53, which was my last blog entry on P90X. To be honest though, I started to get bored around day 70 and just found myself not really putting as much effort into the workouts as day 1. However my body did change and I'm pretty happy with what I have and not looking to get any more ripped lol. Starting out, I weighed 115, and now I weigh 102, which is actually underweight for my height (5' 3") and I can see the starting of my abs, though I didn't get incredibly ripped from it.

The key to getting results is to follow the diet as closely as possible. I used to be very active in high school but I never got the kind of body that I did with P90X because I ate a lot of carbs and sweets. You could do 500 sit ups a day but you won't see results if you're eating unhealthy foods. Make sure to eat more proteins than carbs, no soda or alcohol and you will see results. I think the hardest part for me is maintaining what I have. I've gotten lazy and am no longer the health freak I was, but I still do try to incorporate healthy foods into my diet like whole grain cereals and bread, lean meats, skim milk, home made fruit smoothies, etc.

The thing I hated about P90X the most was all the marketing bullshit I kept getting from the online "coaches" on facebook for the shakeology and recovery drinks. Honestly, they were part of the reason P90X got old really fast. It was enough that the program itself cost quite a bundle, and then I had coaches trying to sell me supplements that were twice as much as the DVD's themselves! I'm sorry, but I am not rich.

So, if you're thinking about doing P90X, I recommend staying away from their official facebook pages, otherwise you will be hounded to buy more products from Beach Body and they will try to persuade you to become a "coach" too. Just do the program and save your money from the rest of the crap. You'll get results without it.

Honeycolor Circle Lenses Review Part 2

My second lenses finally arrived today! I didn't bother to take a picture of the packaging because it was pretty much the same except the box was light green and the lens case was yellow. These are Geo Bambi Chocolate (Princess Mimi) and I'm really loving them because they stand out more than the last pair I bought. However, they're a little startling in person so I may only wear them for photo shoots lol. Here are some pictures:

 

Are they cute or what?! I do have one minor gripe however with the website I ordered it from because my second pair took a lot longer than my first one to get here and I was worried my money would go to waste so I contacted Honey Color's customer service to inquire about my order. It took several e-mails to get them to reply back to me. Fortunately, the lenses did arrive, so I guess shipping was delayed or whatever. Anyway, these are the last lenses I will be purchasing for a while as I am super broke and need to save up for the upcoming holidays!

HoneyColor Circle Lens Review

I've been wanting circle lenses for a while and I finally got around to purchasing a pair! I ordered them from a site called HoneyColor and they have so many cute lenses and dolly lashes to pick from! I ended up getting the Geo Ultra Black circle lenses, which actually look really subtle on me, so you can't really tell the difference unless you see me in person. Anyway, I took a few pics of the items I received in the package. It took a couple days for the lenses to ship, and then an additional week or so to arrive at my house. However, I am very satisfied with them because they feel a lot more comfortable then the Acuvue color lenses I purchased a couple years ago. I hated those because they kept sliding around my eyes, but my Geo Black circle lenses are so comfortable I can wear them all day and not feel a thing.

They came with a cute animal lens case!

Here's the box they arrived in. It has the HoneyColor logo on the front, and the lenses are in two small bottles filled with contact solution.

Wearing my lenses. They look really natural, my friend said she couldn't even tell lol.

Instructions on the back of the box.

I definitely love these, if you're looking for a cheap, legitimate site to buy circle lenses from I recommend this website. I liked them so much I even ordered a second pair (in extra large, bambi chocolate that will definitely stand out more) and I will blog about in a future post. Happy shopping!

My Husband Checks Out Other Women

I talked about all the positive things about my husband in a previous post. Well, now I will talk about one of his many flaws that I hate and it annoys the HELL out of me. While he would never cheat, he does tend to have the wandering eye. I call him out on it when I catch him checking out another woman, and he apologizes and tells me that it's a habit that he's trying to break. Apparently he got it from his dad, who I remember did it quite openly when I first met him.

Anyway, it's one of the many supposedly trivial things we argue over, but I know that I'm not the only woman who gets upset when she is walking with her significant other, and a very attractive woman happens to walk by and he blatantly turns his head to check out her ass. It really just irks me and makes me want to scream, especially when the other woman notices too and has the nerve to cast me a pity glance.

It makes me mad writing about it right now. I don't even know who to be mad at more, the dumb bitch who feels sorry for me or my husband, who cannot keep his fucking eyes on me. I've been trying to break this habit ever since we first started dating, and he's improved somewhat, but still has a long way to go. It's like training a dog. What's funny is, my husband is an ass man, and sometimes I don't understand why we ever ended up together because I'm definitely not blessed in that department. Anyway, that's my little bitch fit today, hope you enjoyed it.

Pissed Off At This Damn Economy

I haven't been blogging much lately, due to depression from being unemployed for over a year now. I recently had two job interviews and just received a rejection letter today. I wasn't really surprised, yet still cried over it. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of not having control over this aspect of my life. I busted my ass in college and instead of using my degree I feel like I'm just wasting it all by being a full time military house wife. Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful that my husband is able to support us both, but I also want to be the breadwinner of the household.

With no children to take care of yet, I could use the second income to start helping my mom pay off my student loan, to put away towards David's truck fund, to plan for the wedding we never had.

The worst part about being unemployed is it hasn't exactly helped my short fuse. The majority of shit I get upset over is so trivial because it stems from my deep frustration with not being able to land a job.

I can't do anything except pray that things will get better, that a door will open up when the time is right, and to just know that God will take care of me.

P90X Day 53 Results

Starting to get a little more definition in my stomach!

P90X Results on Day 38

It's been almost a month since I've updated. I've been busting my ass for the past 6 weeks and here are my progress pictures for day 38 of P90X. I have been following the diet as closely as possible, and so far, I do see results. I lost 4 lbs, so I'm now at 106, and I can see some abs forming on my upper stomach. However, they are not visible enough, so I have a ways to go before they really start to pop out.

I Remember Tamagotchis

When I was little I had a tamagotchi dinosaur I named Dino and I could never seem to keep him alive for more than a week. I was feeling very nostalgic so I went on ebay to see if I could order one again just to relive my childhood memories and HOLY SHIT, I cannot believe how much they are selling for. Price ranges from $20-$200! I really wanted the original Bandai tamagotchi because I had never owned one before. I've always had the knockoffs like giga pets or nano pets lol.

I ended up searching ebay for a week and although I was unable to get an original Bandai, I was fortunate enough to come across the same exact tamagotchi I owned as a kid. Ended up buying it. It was pretty cheap, the only problem was the instructions were in Chinese, so I had a bit of an issue trying to take care of it the first couple days. Once I asked people for help on translating some of the instructions on Yahoo Answers I was able to figure out the rest on my own. I love it. Here are a couple pics I took:

My first package from Hong Kong

Cuteness!

 I could not get over how cute the packaging looked, I ended up saving it lol. When I tried to reset the tamagotchi the battery was already dead so I had to go out and buy new ones. They usually just take watch batteries, so they weren't too hard to find. My only issue was that the tiny screws on the back of the toy were a BITCH to take out. I just did not have a small enough screw driver, so I ended up using a kitchen knife. Other than that, the toy works perfectly! Gotta love tamagotchis. ^__^

Update On P90X

I'm on day 15 of P90X. So far it's still challenging me. I find the first DVD to be the most difficult since I can't do a pull up to save my life. However, I feel like I'm slowly making progress. My arms definitely feel a little more stronger than the first week I started, but I still don't quite see any definition in my stomach. -Sad face-

Ah well. I heard that you don't really see apparent results until around day 40 or 60, so I wasn't expecting a drastic change right away. Right now I'm back in Colorado spending time with my family so I that's why I haven't updated in over a week.

I thought I'd go ahead and post a picture of what my P90X body looks like on day 14. I know I was going to wait until August, but I decided meh, that's too long a wait lol. I'll still post before and after pics at the end, but I'm going to post progress pics as well. So here we go. Day 14:

I Am NOT FAT!!!!!

Current picture of me

     

I am ranting because I feel ultra bitchy today. Particularly because of all the "weight" comments I've been getting from family and friends. First it was from posting this picture of me up on my Facebook. Then it happened again now that I am home visiting family to attend my cousin's graduation. Weeeelll, as soon as my family saw me, they exclaimed "She gained weight!" I took it as a compliment but then my sister just went on and on about how I'm not as skinny as I used to be. WTF?

The skinny Isabelle I was was UNHEALTHY. Before I started college I was about 110 lbs. I'd say I was pretty healthy. Then during college I barely ate three meals a day because I was heartbroken from an ex boyfriend and that caused me to lose A LOT of weight, to the point that I looked like a starved beanpole. I was stick thin in 2009. A 100 lb skeleton. No ass, no boobs. Not healthy at all. Then finally I met my husband David, who fed me and nourished me back to health. I gained the 10 lbs I had lost throughout the year and started a new workout regimen: Jazzercise four days a week, which helped me gain more muscle mass from about December of last year to April of this year.

So there you have it. Quit bitching about my figure. I'm fine. I'm fit. And most importantly, I'm HEALTHY because I was able to make it to week 2 of P90X and by August I will have the 6 pack I want and you can all just shut your mouths. -Rant Over-

My Lab's First Birthday!

My precious yellow lab, Red, turned one yesterday so David and I celebrated by baking him cupcakes (peanut butter dog friendly ones) and buying him a couple new toys. I thought I'd do something special since I'm leaving tomorrow morning for Colorado again for 3 weeks. I'll miss my babies a lot. <3

 

Day One of P90X

My package finally came in today! Here are a couple pictures of the product. It comes in a box that looks like this:

Inside you'll find a nutrition guide, progress calendar, and 13 DVD's. I already finished the first day and it is already kicking my ass. Achieving the best results largely depends on diet, so if you're looking to try this, expect to give up ALL junk food. I already took pictures before I started, but I won't post them up until I finish the whole thing.....so you'll have to wait until August to see the before and after results lol. My husband tried it as well and even he found it challenging, after 8 1/2 weeks of basic training.

Also, one more thing. If you're wondering whether or not you need the pull up bar to achieve good results, you really don't. However, you do need to get resistance bands, as they provide a good alternative.
That's it for now. Stick with it!

I'm Starting P90X!

My mom bought me the P90X system as a birthday present. She originally was going to give me another Ulta Salon gift card, but I already have enough makeup and skincare products to last me till next year, so I asked her for P90X instead and it's supposed to be delivered this Monday!

I'm kind of excited, yet apprehensive because I know it's going to be tough, but I promised myself I would not waste my mom's hard earned money and give up after a month. Since high school I've always wanted to tone up more and sculpt some serious abs. I played field hockey, ran track (not good at it though) and am currently taking fitness classes to maintain my weight. I have an average body. I weigh 110 lbs and I'm 5' 3", so I'm kind of on the thin side but am always looking to improve my figure.

I hope by the end of this system I will be able to do 30 regular push ups, gain a nice six pack and build up my ass. Is that a realistic expectation? Lol. I will definitely be posting pictures of my results, though I'm not sure if I will do it on a weekly basis or just after each round I make it through. Also, I will be following the nutrition guide, so hopefully that will make a big difference. Until then I am anxiously waiting for my package to arrive!

Cute Jazzercise Purse

So today after Jazzercise class my instructor gave me a mystery prize that I had earned back in December when I attended my 20th session. It turned out to be a cute, red shiny rectangular purse with a zipper that goes around it like so:

It has another pouch for money.

And a place to put my id's and credit cards.

I had been needing a new one for a while to replace the old green dingy wallet I had in my bag forever and this is perfect! Another reason to join Jazzercise. Get fit, and get cute things!