Sickness Drawing

Warren is deathly ill. I'm sure it's just the flu, but it wont go away. About six weeks ago he was super sick... runny nose, sneezing, coughing, throwing up, the whole nine yards. And now he's got it again, but worse. This time he's lost is voice. I was starting to lose my mind a little with his 'nesting' around the house that I spent 2.5 hours cleaning... but then I started to feel bad for him. In an attempt to brighten his day, I drew him a picture. He likes my newly discovered time killer of drawing pictures in Paint, he always puts them on the fridge. Corny, I know. But it's nice to be appreciated sometimes. So I drew a picture of what he's looked like the last week.

Poor thing.
Poor cats that look more like bats...

In other news, we are preparing to go on our first ever vacation! We had a hard time deciding where to go. All we knew is that we desperately needed a break and needed a vacation. We, unlike most newly wedded couples, did not get a honeymoon because we were too poor. All of our other travelings have been to visit family. This is the first one where we wont be seeing anyone's family. Where are we going?

We are going to Hollywood/Los Angeles/Malibu/Laguna Beach! I'm pretty excited! Our other options were Chicago (where warren served his mission) or New York. But both, surprisingly were a tad more expensive. We thought maybe someplace tropical like Mexico or Hawaii, we found some good deals but neither of us really wanted to just spend our time on the beach. Two pasty white people basking in the tropical sun is probably not a wise idea. Plus, we kinda thought Six Flags would be fun. You get everything we wanted in LA... sunny weather, a beach, good shopping, fun things to do.

anyways, that's all I got for now. have a fantastic thursday world!

My Favorite Beauty Products Part 1: Make Up

It occurred to me the other day as I was cleaning through all my hair and make up products, that I have a lot of it, and I've tried a lot of different brands over the last 11-ish years that I've been allowed to wear make up. I was about 14 or so when my mom finally caved and let me wear mascara and shave my legs. It was a big year for me.
Recently, I went on the search for the worlds best mascara. I'm a victim to those pesky advertisements you see on TV... especially about mascara, because they illustrate so clearly what your eyelashes will do when you apply their product. So I rush out the door to buy such product; some I have had luck with some I have not. Here are my findings and tid bits. This may not be useful to you what-so-ever, but I'm posting it anyways.

First on our list, we shall start with the previously mentioned mascara, and other make up products that I like. My eye lashes, are average. Not super long, but not super short. I've been fortunate thus far in life to have nice full lashes that span clear across my eyelid.

Most unflattering picture of all time

So when I see those ads showing you just how much volume and length to anticipate, I'm expecting to see results like this:

As you can imagine, I don't get those types of results. And I don't think those models on those ads do, either. I think it's all just a marketing gimmick (shocker). But here are my favorites and not my favorites.

5. The honorable mentions
Lash Stiletto and everyone who I can't name because you obviously weren't good enough for me to remember your brand name. I didn't care for the Lash Stiletto- or the Colossal Volume brands. I did NOT look like Drew Barrymore after wards. They gobbed up into a gloppy mess and I was not impressed by the marketing scheme or the price. Probably wont purchase them again.

4. Falsies

I got rave reviews from others about Falsies Mascara, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. It was 'meh-ok'. I found that it flaked off by mid afternoon and I was constantly getting little black pieces of mascara in my eyes, and all over my glasses. By the time I got home, the only remnants of the mascara was at the base of my eyelashes, while the rest had fallen off. I also didn't feel it lived up to it's name. It didn't really look like I was wearing false lashes. It looked like I had awkwardly glued twigs to the end of my lashes. Sorry Falsies, you didn't really work out for me.

3. Super expensive brand name

I got a Sephora gift card for Christmas, and I knew exactly what I wanted to buy with it. Yep. A $30 tube of high end mascara. I did a TON of research before making my purchase. It came down to Definicils by Lancome and Bobbi Brown classic (or something). I decided to go with the Lancome brand as it had higher ratings and I liked what the reviewers had to say about it. It seems to appeal to me. The first couple days, I was really trying to pretend like I loved it. But it was kind of awkward to put on. Maybe it was because it was so expensive and I wasn't used to it? Not really sure. It didn't really do anything except sit there on my lashes. No curling which I generally don't need thanks to my curly hair, but it didn't volumize or lengthen either. And after only 2 weeks of use, it started to get really clumpy and difficult to apply. For the price, I probably wont buy it again because I was only mildly impressed. Again, I was expecting a lot of definition and drama, and I got nothin. Out of a 10, I'd give it a 6.5.

2. Classic Pink and Green

Great Lash is one of the best mascara's on the market. Everyone has tried it at least once. For the cheap price, it's definitely one of the best and most popular. This is my go to mascara when I don't feel like risking it on a foreign brand and just need something right away. You get drama out of it, if that's what you want, or you can get something simple. They have different brushes now that allow for a little more variation, but my favorite is the BIG brush tube. Out of a 10, I give it a 9.

1. Some random one I picked up next to the Great Lash section

Define-A-Lash. Who knew I'd be so smitten when going off of a limb and just buying a random tube of mascara ? It's tied with the Great Lash for the most part, but I like it's texture. It's not super runny when you first buy it and it's not clumpy towards the end of the bottle. It goes on smoothly, and provides a lot of definition and length, and isn't like gluing twigs to each eyelash end. It's easy to remove, even the waterproof version. I recommend it! It's also not very expensive, as I mentioned- I found it next to the Great Lash.

Onto other make ups that I like:

Best eyeliner ever. It doesn't smudge (but will smudge if you use a smudger to get that smokey eye look), goes on smooth and fast, and evenly. Comes off easily and the colors seem to blend well. It doesn't stand out like a liquid liner does, so it's definitely a more subtle choice. It's not super expensive, and to be honest, I haven't bought any other type of eyeliner since I found this one a few years ago.

Best foundation, concealer and blush. The mousse like texture goes on smooth, doesn't build up in your pores and wont look cakey later in the day. It's perfect. It's light and wont weigh you down, and matches your skin tone perfectly. It wont come off on your hands either. I once read that the color of blush you wear should match the natural color of your lips. The blushes are subtle, but you can build up a brighter look by applying more. The best part about this brand I like is A. the price and B. I don't need a bunch of weird applicators to put it on. I just use my fingers. Ain't nobody got time for foundation wedges!

Stay tuned for Part 2, which I will cover the hair products portion.

More drawings

As per popular demand...

Whala!

This is the face Dexter makes when you leave the house. Notice I gave him whiskers. Because cats are not complete without whiskas.

Me, Warren, his brother Graham and his wife Hayley

 This one, you might not get if you haven't seen the show It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia...



And last but not least, my personal favorite...  These are true stories; I hate it when my cats puke up hair balls; and one time, Dexter ran off with a whole slice of pizza that he snatched off my plate that was sitting on my lap.

 

The end. :)

Employee of the Month

So, our 'new' night girl quit. After only working for about 2 full weeks. Even though she was technically employed for a full month, but kept calling in sick for a whole week at a time. (Really annoying, by the way).
So, I volunteered to work a couple nights where the shift needed filled since I thought it would be a responsible move considering I have a trip coming up and my defiant act of asking for a raise was a giant flop (but that is another story for another day). So I worked a double shift last night. This is my story.

It all started the night before, when W wouldn't stop snoring. ALL. NIGHT. LONG. And my cats, for some reason, decided they were trying out for the Cat Olympics which consisted of jumping off of everything, wrestling with wicker baskets, meowing and trilling at the walls, and rolling down the stairs ALL. NIGHT. LONG. So I woke up exhausted. Not a great way to start a Monday, especially when you have to work until 9pm.
The first part of my day was okay. It was a co-workers birthday,so I got to out for lunch with everyone. A rare occasion because I'm 98% sure that everyone hates me (another story for another day, but different day). After that is where things start to go down hill. At 3pm my co-receptionist is off, so I am usually by myself until 5pm, when I get off. Since I was working until 9 however, I am supposed to leave at 4pm, and then come back at 5pm. Only issue is that since the other receptionist is off at 3pm, my superior in the office is supposed to come up and cover the phones for the hour that I am on break. Four o'clock rolls around and my superior is no where to be found. Nay, she was just in her office on her computer doing who knows what. The phones were ringing at a normal pace, and I just kept expecting her to come up any minute. 4:15pm... Okay, now I'm starting to get a little irritated. I know you didn't forget because at 2pm you mentioned it, yet again.

By this point, I was severely exhausted. And hungry. And a bit frazzled. A client shows up, expecting to pick up a $30,000 check that was issued LAST WEEK but she somehow forgot to pick it up... I'm searching and searching for this lady's name on any piece of paper I can find. Nothing. I scramble in a couple other places, and double checked her name. Still  nothing.
By this point, my only other option was to go ask the conveyancing office... and she knew nothing, other than it was supposed to be picked up LAST WEEK and so who knows if this lady's realtor came in and touched things over the weekend and misplaced it. I go back downstairs and search again. Meanwhile, client-lady is tapping her foot as if I'm new to the job or something. I decide to call the realtor, who is just a peach to work with. I explained the situation and asked for some additional information, maybe that could help me track it down better. What proceeded from the realtors end of the phone is something I cannot repeat. Mostly because my ears were too busy BLEEDING from her screeching voice on the other end of the phone, and because it was nothing but profanity proclaiming my inherent understanding of what my job entails. She then continues on about what my job actually is, not forgetting to tell me what she really thinks of me.
I hung up the phone after I found this dumb-lady's dumb-check and rudely handed it to her. I was not at all caring about my professional demeanor or lack thereof because, if my superior had been covering for me like she was supposed to, I wouldn't have had the delight of experiencing this wonderful event.
I wanted to cry. Nay, I started to cry. I wimpered to myself as quietly as possible. All while trying to tell myself "stiff upper lip, stiff upper lip, stiff upper lip." It was now 4:30pm, and my eyes were red and watery, but my tears had cleared and my voice was normal again. My superior walks up and says "Oh, did you want to go now?" I was rather short with her and said just to forget it because by the time I got home, I'd have 10 minutes and then have to come back. So she walked away. I texted Warren and told him I wasn't going to be home, so he needed to cook the almost rotten chicken in the fridge right away and to water my plants. (Sidebar, when I got home, he had done NEITHER.)
By 5:45pm, I had all my work done for the night. Great, what am I going to do until 9? I've been kind of bored with Pinterest lately, so I didn't really feel up to wasting time there, and I don't go on facebook at work because it's unprofessional. I had a weird child-like urge to color.

But I work at a real estate office, so crayons are hard to find. Naturally. So I resorted to MS Paint. I have to say that it killed almost the entire shift. From about 6 to 8:45 by which point I was starting to panic that I wasn't going to finish my spectacular drawings of my cats. People who do not have children, and who have pets, draw pictures of said pets instead of their friends kids. Because that would be really weird. Unless there was a story behind it.

So I proceeded to draw. Here are my drawings that I emailed to Warren.

 Above is our little family.

Below is Dexter who is always hungry and meows and whines as if he hasn't ever been fed before.

 Below is Leo. Who is always so desperate to go outside. He whines at the door and if you aren't paying attention he starts to growl and plot your death. (He has fire in his eyes in the picture). But once he gets outside, if we even let him out, anytime a bird flies by he freaks out and puffs up and looks a raccoon. What a wimp. He's hiding under a blanket crying in the picture below to the right.

And this my friends is how I got paid to draw pictures of my cats at work. It just occurred to me that in none of these pictures, do my cats have whiskers.

After my shift was FINALLY over, I had to walk home in the freaking dark.

I am profoundly regretting my decision to work tomorrow night, too, for fear that I draw more ridiculous pictures.