I've Got the Shopping Bug

After almost 4 years I have finally paid off my school debt and now have an extra $800 a month to spare. I've been putting money away religiously into savings and retirement, however, could not help but splurge a little yesterday. It's been a while since I've shopped so I deserve it heh.

My first big purchases after being debt free:

My last curling iron broke, so I purchased the Solia 25mm. I will be using it on my hair to see if it really gives me the Kim Kardashian curls I like, and will post a review.

Also......I managed to snag a rare Samantha Thavasa Hello Kitty bag!!!! It's a bag I've been wanting FOREVER but those bags are like $1200 on eBay. I got it for a steal for $200.

I've been pretty lucky this week! Hopefully it continues! Will post separate reviews soon!

Update on Life

Hubby left for Korea yesterday. I bawled my eyes out at the airport like I always do and came home, sat around and stared into space for an hour before going to the gym.

Some updates:

Had our vow renewal in March. It was a lovely day even though I was stressed the whole time and could not focus on one thing lol.

Gave away our lab because of food aggression issues. :(

Got a jack russell terrier pup to replace him. He's a smaller dog so I will be able to handle him.

Moved out of boring Idaho and am officially a Colorado girl again (at least until we find out our next duty station, so I am a Colorado girl for a year).

Joined a 24 hour fitness so I could continue building my booty. Yes, I have a booty building journey and have been squatting and lunging for over a year now. I will have to post some progress pics. I usually post on Instagram and Facebook as I can't be bothered to blog but once again I have all the time in the world now.

I am planning a trip to Seoul to visit my husband in August/September. Should be interesting, as I've never visited anywhere overseas other than the Philippines.

Also, planning our honeymoon to Honolulu in December! We will be having a photoshoot in a waterfall location and the beach 20 minutes away. Have to keep myself busy by planning every minute of our trip itineraries.

I've also been applying for jobs again, but we'll see how that goes. I HATE having to start over every time we move, but unfortunately it comes with the lifestyle of a military spouse. Can't complain though, at least I get to travel. Will update again soon. No promises though, I have a hard time keeping them.

A Quick Update

So I was offered a teaching job in Korea but I turned it down. The money was good but I read a lot of mixed reviews about the school. Plus, I don't  really think I would be a great teacher, considering I hate public speaking and it would just be a really stressful job to me. I've been a student long enough to see what they go through and I think those kids would eat me alive lol.

Not only that, I've heard the horror stories about not passing the training week and then having to pay your own way back home before the E-2 visa expires. Yeaaaaah, I'll be damned if I go through that and stress my hubby out, who would be all the way in Kunsan by the way. I wouldn't even get to see him much, which is the whole reason why I considered teaching in Korea in the first place. I will just suck it up with the one year tour and live at home with the parents. I will still be collecting BAH and if I get a job on top of that then I'm pretty much set and living more than comfortably.

I've been so stressed this week because my husband told me he had been thinking of doing the 2 year tour and I was hysterical. His reasoning for wanting to do it was pretty much financial: he'd be making bank.

I tried to explain to him that other than money, where are the positives for me? In the end, he finally realized not through talking to me but his OTHER friends, that I would suffer. YA DON'T SAY? And they pretty much gave the same exact reasons I did, which pissed me off. I wish there was a way I could get through to that man but every time we argue he says he doesn't like to listen to me because I'm "annoying" meaning I cry a lot when I'm overwhelmed and don't like the idea.

Um, HELLO?! He was just talking about taking a 2 year tour!!!! I would not see him for 2 freaking years!!!! Sure, I'd get to visit him for a couple weeks at a time every few months but it's still 2 years! That's two birthdays, two Christmases, two everything missed. And I had wanted to start a family with him but it doesn't look like that is happening this year.

It really is depressing and at times I feel like I have no control over what happens to my marriage because the military always gets in between us. The military has always been number one. It is one of the careers that you have to place before family and I've been trying to deal with it. It's just hard. It's not for everyone, that's for sure. So ladies, THINK REALLY HARD before getting involved with a military man. There are perks, but you're pretty much living the "single but married" life.

It's Been a While.....

Happy New Year! I know I haven't blogged in almost a year but I figured now is the best time to start up again since I have some exciting news! Hubby and I are moving out of Potato Land after  being here almost 4 years. He will be stationed in Kunsan Korea for a year, however it is an unaccompanied tour :(

I will be moving back to Colorado and living with the family while I collect BAH since it's more than what I am making at my current job. I will still get to visit hubs in South Korea twice and then we will be going to Hawaii for his mid tour, so I am trying to stay positive, though it's difficult because he just got back from a deployment in October.

And yes, I know I can't really complain since that is his career and I knew what I was getting myself into prior to marrying him, blah, blah, blah but that doesn't mean I'm not allowed to have emotions anymore dammit!

Anyway, I will try to blog more, as I will be unemployed again in about three months and I'm pretty sure I'll be bored out of my mind like the last time I was unemployed lol. I'll try to get a part time gig while I'm waiting for my husband to get his follow on orders. He was denied his follow on request because of his rank, so if he makes rank in January or May hopefully we will be able to get Japan or Europe afterwards. I feel like I've been in a hole in Idaho for quite some time. I've been working and just going through the motions and FINALLY I get to do what I've wanted to do my whole life, which is travel!!!! Yay!!

ALSO, David and I are finally having our dream wedding/vow renewal ceremony on March 29, 2014! I pretty much have the venue paid off, my dress, the tux, the rings and favors all ready so it hasn't been as stressful planning the second time around (the first wedding I tried to plan when we first got married got cancelled due to money constraints) but now we finally get to do it for real! Lol.

It's going to be on the San Diego Hornblower ship with about 30 guests and I have a wedding coordinator who takes care of all the details so I don't have to worry about all that crap. I guess that is just a brief summary of what's been going on in my life. I will blog more as it gets closer to our moving date which is on April 22 when we will be out processing and trying to get all our shit out the house, cleaning and all that crap. Should be fun. Let the 2014 journey begin.

I Dyed My Hair

After a YEAR of debating with myself on whether or not I wanted to risk damaging my long beautiful locks again by coloring my hair, I finally caved in. Back in 2010 it was severely damaged when I was going through my "color" phase and I used to dye it, oh, every few weeks. My hair finally took a toll after I bleached it and afterwards it started breaking off in pieces so I finally had to chop it off to chin length. So sad.

ANYWAY, I decided after the big chop I wasn't going to color my hair for a while. And I didn't. For two years I did absolutely nothing other than use hot tools. My hair is pretty strong when it comes to heat but obviously with constant use of chemicals, not so much.

Here is a recent picture of my hair before I dyed it. It's about waist length now. This is the longest I've ever grown it.

 

 

 

 

I haven't cut it since May of 2010 when I got the big chop. By cut I mean, actually cut more than a few inches off. I do have search and destroy sessions every once in a while when I'm sitting in the sunlight in my room because that's when I see my split ends the best. If you don't know what "search and destroy" is, it's when you take sections of your hair and you cut off split ends one by one as you see them. Yes, it is time consuming, but at the same time it also saves your hair length and you can grow your hair faster vs. having the salon hack off like 5 inches like they love to do. I'm never going back to the hair salon AGAIN.

 

Back to hair dye. I did a lot of research and decided if I absolutely had to color my hair (because I was getting bored of my coal black hair and wanted to go a little lighter) I was going to make sure the dye I used had a lot of good reviews on it and wouldn't completely destroy the health of my hair, which took over 2 years to restore. I came across this dye on youtube and a bunch of other blogs who had written numerous reviews.

 

 

Loreal Paris UL61. It's a pretty common DIY box hair dye. You can usually find it at Target and Walmart. I chose this because when I went to the salon they insisted they needed to cut my hair if they were going to color it, and that they couldn't color it much lighter since it would greatly damage it. That was pretty much what the Walmart hair salon told me so I decided, that's too damn bad then, no one is going near my hair with scissors again and I will color it my damn self.

 

So I bought two boxes of the Loreal UL61 dye and a dye brush and let me tell you the whole process was a pain in the ass to do myself. It was Superbowl day and the hubby was watching the game so I was shit out of luck.

 

My first thoughts with this home dye: It STINKS. I've colored my hair often but this stuff has the strongest smell. I had to run to the bathroom window every few minutes to get some fresh air. Anyway, I worked as quickly as I could, brushing the dye on the ends of my hair and finally finishing with my roots. I'm thankful I bought two boxes because one barely covered my hair and I needed to do a second coating to ensure full coverage.

 

Placed a plastic bag on my head and processed for about 40 minutes. Outcome? I HATED IT.......at first. I don't know if I was just not used to seeing my hair lighter, but it looked very ORANGE in the office lighting at work. I was tempted to color it back to dark brown the next day but my husband insisted that he liked it and not to do anything drastic. I sucked it up and left it as is. It's been about a week, but I noticed each day as I showered it faded a little to the light brown I had wanted, and finally I guess the color grew on me. Here's what it looks like now:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like the way my hair looks in studio lighting. You can definitely tell it's a lot lighter than what it was before. Like I said, the color is still growing on me so I think I will leave it alone for a while and see if it looks bad while growing out. I may either just grow it out till it has that ombre look, or go in and touch up my roots with a level 10 developer so it doesn't come out too bright the next time. Other than that, I think I'll just keep the color and not worry about it anymore. On the plus side, my hair didn't really get damaged at all. It was soft like it usually is when you dye your hair, and a few days later I had to get a deep conditioner to get some moisture back in my locks, but other than that, the damage was minimal enough that I didn't have to go and cut the majority of it off. Sorry this post is so long, I just felt I needed to do an in depth review on this hair dye lol. On Amazon it has mixed reviews, but it's because this hair dye is formulated for people with naturally dark hair. If you already have dyed hair that's lighter than the color on the box than you might want to stay away from this. That is my review for the day.

 

Besides my hair dilemma, I also have another review coming up on Laser Hair Removal. My beauty goal this year is to get rid of underarm hair, and about two weeks ago I went and had my first session. I will review that after a couple more sessions! Till then, take care <3 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello Again

Well, it's been a while. Ever since I got a job I now have a life again so it's hard finding time to do anything other than work and sleep lol. Anywho, a lot has happened the past year. I'm still growing out my hair, and right now it is a little past my waist which I'm really happy about. I will have to post pictures of my updated length. For now, here are some new camwhore pics for 2013!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Diamond Lash Angel Eye Review

I don't usually wear false lashes, but recently I have become hooked onto Diamond Lash Angel Eye lashes. They are overwhelming in person but in photos, they look big, bold, and complement circle lenses very well. These lashes also feel quite heavy after a while but they are perfect if you're going for the dramatic, glamorous look. In these photos I'm wearing the Geo Ultra Black as well as Geo Bambi Princess Mimi lenses I had reviewed in my previous posts.

 

Camwhoring

Had a photo shoot a couple days ago with a new top and skirt from Rue 21. The "headband" is actually a woven belt that came from my top.

Update On Mycareerskill

Sorry I've been AWOL, just have had a lot going on in the span of the last few months since I updated my blog. But I have a legit reason......I FINALLY GOT A JOB! And not just any shitty job, it's actually my first entry level career office job at the hospital, and I am loving it! Full time with benefits, and I have my own office I get to decorate with pictures of the hubby and fur babies. It feels amazing to be working again. I have money in my pocket, I finally am making payments on my student loan, and am putting away towards savings. God has finally answered my prayers.

Also, I finished the Mycareerskill program through Florida Gulf Coast University and received my certificate of completion in the mail, but have yet to study for the two certification exams. Honestly I don't think I learned as much through those online courses vs. volunteer time and the mass amount of experience I'm getting from my current job. Still, I'm not saying military spouses shouldn't take advantage of the courses offered, just make sure you are actively out there networking through volunteering/internships and your chances of finding a job will be better. Best of luck!

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!