Word of the day: Unmotivated

Birthday Loveliness

Friday was my birthday. And it was lovely. I took the day off of work (much needed) and spent the day crafting and watching season three of 24 and Coco Before Chanel. It was so relaxing and nice. When Karl came home, he brought me the most beautiful tulips (my favorite) and the variety box of Ferrero Rocher Chocolates. The coconut ones are to die for. We went to dinner at Macaroni grill, and received horrible service, so we decided to get dessert from Chili's. Chili's never lets me down. especially when it comes to the heaven that is Paradise Pie. Yummmm. Yesterday, Karl and I went to Ruby Snap and shopped around some fun thrift stores. We also ended up buying a new bed! And it's uh-mazing. We picked it out way back in September, but never had the money all together for it. Yesterday we had it, so yesterday we bought it. We needed it so so badly. We were sleeping in a full sized bed which had contorted to our shapes. Talk about waking up sore! Now we have a glorious King, which takes up our entire room, but is oh so gentle on those delicate curves of mine. :) Not even a little bit of buyers remorse here.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, I went to dinner at my sister's on Thursday night and had such a great time. My niece, Grace, was adorable and drew me a couple of pictures and gave me three rocks from her very special rock collection. She kept saying "it's your birthday Auntie Kristie!" So freaking cute. I got to read to Grace and her brother, Oliver, and play blocks with them. Grace and I would build a castle and Oliver would come yelling and kick all the blocks over. Haha, It was just the ultimate. And it also helps that Amanda made me a delicious caramel cake that I haven't been able to stop eating.

The lovely Tulips Karl brought me

Overall, best birthday ever. I couldn't be happier.

Street Art

Weed need street art like this in Salt Lake. Gorgeous!

Alt Summit

Hey guys! So, I was thinking that I need to get started on my bucket list (listed in my sidebar). There are a few things in progress, but I want to set goals and be able to check something off this year. My goal is to attend Alt Summit in 2012. Altitude Design Summit is a blogger conference held in Utah every year. All of the best bloggers in the country are invited and hold bunches of helpful workshops. This year's list included everyone from Grace of Design*Sponge to Jenny of Little Green Notebook, to Joslyn from Simple Lovely, to Liz of Say yes to Hoboken, to name a few. I need to go. I know being invited isn't likely, but I'm going to try. Admission is around $400 if you're not invited. Pricey, I know. But so worth it from what I hear.

So here's where all of you lovelies come in. Could you all do me a huge favor? Please? Pretty please? Pretty please with a sundae on top? Leave a comment here telling me what you think I could be doing better. Do I need to post more pictures? Do I need to write more funny anecdotes? Do I need a new design? Anything you think I lack or should be doing better. Or even just tell me what you love best about my blog. I really appreciate all your feedback.

Thanks!

eShakti

Have you heard of eShakti yet? If not, it's a great online clothing store that specializes in customizing their pre-designed clothing. For example, I bought these dresses:



Duster Jersey Overlayer Dress

I got it in "below knee length" and sent all my measurements so it'll be a custom fit.




Surplice Shirtdress

On this dress, I got the sleeves 3/4 lenth and a mid-calf skirt length with all the custom measurements.



The personalized measurements are an additional $7.50 per dress and changing the sleeve length and/or the skirt length is also an additional $7.50. It can get a bit pricey, but on your first purchase all the customizations on all of the dresses are free! Also, for a limited time there is free shipping on all orders over $100. AND to top it off, I got a coupon for $10 off because I'm a first time customer and a $20 gift card to use in the future. It doesn't get much better than that. :) I'm incredibly excited to receive my custom dresses and see how they look and fit in person!

 

What do you think? Would you ever buy a dress from eShakti? Have any of you bought one already?

Finally Developed!

It's been a while since I've had my Diana Mini pictures developed, so here we go with two seasons. The pictures are in chronological order.

Once upon a time we grew pretty green tomatoes.

This was September. My shoes are still there. It's January.

Karl's carved pumpkin and my feet on a rainy fall day.

We went on a fall drive up into the mountains. It felt like home.

Our first Christmas tree purchased the day after Thanksgiving

Our first Christmas. Lovebirds.

Though I like pictures of my feet, I'm not a fetishist. Don't judge.

Work Today

Just having come back from lunch, I sit down behind my island/desk that is the Customer Service Center (I'm not supposed to sit, but, hey! I just don't care.) The banker's desk is behind me. Said banker gets up to grab paperwork. The customer in the banker's office turns around.

Customer: "Do you work here?"
Me: (What gave it away? Me sitting behind the CSC desk? Or the fact that I'm wearing blue and black?) "Yes I do."
Customer: "Okay. Cool. It's cold here! I'm from Miami. It's so much warmer there."
Me: "Yes... It's cold."
Customer: "I need a job. I should work here"
Me: "You can go to our website to apply." I turn back to my computer
Customer: "Can you help me with that?"
Me: (Ugh) "Actually you have to apply from your home. I can't really help with that." I turn back to my computer
Customer: "Well maybe if you give me your number I could call you and have you come to my place and help me with that."
Me: (Am I being hit on?! I think I'm being hit on!) Um. I don't think I can help you with that. Sorry.
Customer shrugs and and turns around.
Me:  (Too bad I'm married! I would TOTALLY want to go out with an unemployed creep. Yep.)

Welcome to my job. If it isn't short jobless guys asking me out, its toothless homeless guys shamelessly oggling my chest. Any of you want a job here too?

This Week in Pictures

As you can tell, it's been awesome...

Help me with some happy thoughts?

Don't Look Back

New She & Him video! Yay! So fun!

Golden Globes

Here are my top 5 looks from the Golden Globes in order. I'm so into the sparkle.

1.
Olivia Wilde had my favorite look. great hair and makeup with a gorgeous black dress.
2.
Amber Riley came in a close second. While I'm over the one shoulder thing, she just looks beautifully radiant in a dress that fits her immaculately.
3.
Scarlett Johansson pulled off this look a whole lot better than Sandra Bullock. Although her hair is a tad Bride of Frankenstein. Still, I love this (and it's modest!)
4.
Kyra Sedgwick was one of the very few people to sport a color to the GGs. She's rocking it.
5.
Julia Stiles is gorgeous. She wore the black better than most. Simple and Elegant.

And in a category all her own is Helen Mirren. Could she get any more lovely?


And now for the worst dressed. Sad.

1.
Remember that part in The Little Mermaid when Ariel becomes a human and is all naked and had to grab a sail and some rope to cover herself up? Ya...
2.
Oh January Jones...As The Fug Girls said, "We get it."
3.
I'm sorry Tina. I love you. A lot. Just not in this outfit. The hair. The dress. None of it's working.

And now for the category all her own. Helena Bonham Carter:

Would you have expected anything less wacky? No. She's crazy and I love her.

New Hair!

So as promised, here are some pictures of my new cut and color! Let me know what you think!





Okay, so the first two don't really showcase my hair all that much, but they're from our most recent Ikea Day and they're fun. Now I bet you're thinking, "Wow! I don't know if Kristie can ever make a normal face!" Haha. Well here's a picture for all you unbelievers!



Normal is boring. Am I right?

And here is a song I'm strongly feeling today. Ignore the video and just listen.



Beautiful.

Lovin Ghandi

Love this. It's also free to download here. So rad.

I'm going there someday Saturday.

Self-Loathing

I stumbled upon this while perusing FB. I highly recommend reading it. Both men and women.

Women are ugly.

Women are fat.

Women are bad mothers. Women are bad wives. Women are bad daughters.

Women are lousy cooks. Women don't keep their houses clean enough.

Women have too much cellulite in their thighs. Their abdomens are too flabby. Their under-arms are too Jell-oesque.

Women are terrible singers. They are terrible dancers. They are terrible public speakers.

Women are stupid. Women are scatter-brained.

Women are weak. They are powerless. They are defenseless.

Women don't dress well enough. They don't have clear enough complexions. They have too many freckles.

Women don't have full enough lips. They don't have skin that is soft enough.

Women are too dominant. Women are too passive.

Women are too mean. Women are too nice. Women are nothing but doormats.

Women aren't good enough. Women will never be good enough.

Women are, simply put, worthless.

Yes, they are all these things. If, that is, I am to believe the very words that are constantly being spoken by women themselves (which I don't). These are their words. And I've heard them declared again. And again. And again. To me, to other men, to other women, and for all I know to their pets and their plants.

Worthless. What a concept. To hold no value. To be less desirable than a can of dirt. Are you freaking kidding me? Every single statement on this list, including the worthless comment, was a declaration that at least one woman has made to me, for whatever reason. I bet there isn't a statement above that we all haven't heard at least once; most likely hundreds or thousands of times. Why would any of these horrible, degrading beliefs spill across the lips of any woman?

What hurts me the most is that most of these things have been said to me by more women than I would care to count.

Read the rest here: Worthless Women and the Men Who Make Them

Now I'm going to do something scary. This is a picture of me on my wedding day:


Now I'm going to tell you something. Every time I look at my wedding pictures*, all I see is how fat I look, how big my arms are, my double chin, my beak nose, my crazy height, etc.

How sad is it that I can't even look at the pictures of what was supposed to be the happiest day of my life without thinking awful things about myself? When did it become okay for me to think these things about myself? When I voice my self-loathing to my husband he says, "If someone said the things about you that you're saying about yourself, I'd knock them out." Or "Don't talk about my wife that way." While he's incredibly sweet, he's also incredibly right. It's not okay for me to think these things about myself. And it's not okay for any of you to think self-loathing thoughts about your selves either.

So here goes. My challenge for all of you is to post one picture of yourself in which you believe you look too fat, too scrawny, too flat chested, etc. on your own blog and instead of looking at all of the things you hate, look at the things you love and list at least 5. Send me the link in a comment and I'll post it right up here with mine.

I can't challenge you all to do list 5 things you love about yourself in a not so flattering picture without doing it myself.

In the picture above I love:
1. My complexion. It was 100 degrees and I still look gorgeous.
2. My perfect hair and the hand sewn and beaded veil my mom made for me.
3. My boobs. They're pretty great. Let's be honest.
4. My weird look that I'm giving Karl. I can't even keep my weird expressions out of my wedding pictures. Haha.
5. I'm glowing from the inside out.

Now it's your turn. Just remember, you're lovely. Always.




*My wedding pictures are amazing. I never in any way am unhappy with my photographer or how the pictures turned out.

Movie Talk

Yesterday Karl and I watched a couple of movies after church.



The first was Lovely, Still. It looked super cute and it was... Mostly. It was funny and sweet and romantic and just sad. I should have known. It's a love story about old people. I did think the movie was wonderful, however. It depicted Alzheimer's Disease in such a real way. It was heartbreaking. I may or may not have cried (aka shamelessly sobbed) for a good 20 minutes.




Secondly, we watched The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I'd never seen it. And it was amazing. I may have cried during that one too. A lot. C.S. Lewis is great.

Overall, yesterday was a weepy day, but also quite good.

Guess who is now a brunette.

Guess who now has straight across bangs.





That would be moi.