Halloween Vampire Nail Art

In the spirit of Halloween, I created a vampire-inspired Halloween nail art design! It's pretty easy and you don't need much to make it work! What you'll need: red polish, black polish, white polish, glitter top coat, clear top coat, matte top coat, two bobby pins, q-tips, nail polish remover and scrap paper.

The final blood-thirsty look! 

February N-town

For the February N-town we did a fabulous Mardi Gras themed photo shoot. Getting the entire thing together was a nightmare, but the end results were beautiful and festive. Plus, my husband modeled and damn, is he hunky!

I'm a model, you know what I mean?

I can officially add "model" to my resume. The results are in for our jewelry fashion shoot. Check it out:

2013: Highlights

For me, 2013 was a year of many ups and downs. There were a few heartbreaks and also a handful of triumphs. Read on for a recap of my last twelve months.

January:
The year started off with a bang when I found out I was pregnant. I was shocked, thrilled and absolutely terrified.

February:
February started off without a hitch, and I felt incredibly lucky on Valentine's Day to be celebrating a new chapter in our lives — I even made a card themed around how big our baby was supposed to be that week: an olive. Unfortunately, a few days later, I was devastated when I was blindsided by the beginning of a miscarriage.

Jewelry photo shoot

My dear friend Caitlin and I modeled for a fashion jewelry shoot for Norman magazine recently...I promise you won't want to miss the finished product! Stay tuned!

Always,

Halloween puppet makeup

For Halloween this year Nathaniel and I dressed up as a puppet and puppet master. I had an absolute blast doing my makeup. This will be a semi-tutorial to help anyone else who is interested in doing the same thing...also, for myself, for future reference. I took a million photos in a million angles, so hopefully you get the idea of what I did.

The finished look before we left for the party.

The Chop

It's no secret that I change my hair. A lot. The only thing I hadn't tried was a pixie cut. So I figured — what the heck. Why not give it a try?

Before and after.

I went in with several photos of Michelle William's pixie cut, a la...

I really loved it at first. And then I felt totally neutral about it. Figured I'd probably get bored of this just as quickly as anything else. Then I started noticing the bad parts of the actual cut and was really upset — there were some parts of the cut that weren't executed very well. My friend, Kathleen, fixed the cut for me while she was in town and then I loved it again. By the time I had it redone — by a different stylist at a different salon — I totally loved it again. Plus I upped up the blonde factor, and that was just fun!

After I had it redone.

What I love most about a pixie cut is it challenges ideas of female beauty standards. I also love it because you can't hide behind your hair when you have very little of it...you just have to own yourself and be confident! Both things I'm all about! I'm not sure if I'll keep it in the long-run, as it will be pricey to maintain the cut and color, but I do LOVE it!

What do you think about short cuts on women?

Always,

Salon de Cruz

My dear friend Kathleen came down from Tulsa for the day to have a "hair party." We sat around talking, ate lots and lots of fruit and pretzels with hummus and did hair — well, Kathleen did hair! It was good to have her down and I had a blast being girly and visiting with her.

Always,

Nasty emails and a resolve to be kind

I recently received an email that reduced me to tears. I'm not one to take things others say too personally, but after a lot of blood, sweat and tears — as well as a whole lot of self-doubt — I don't take it very well when I get a very condescending, nasty email.

I won't get in to what it said. Because it doesn't matter. Receiving nasty emails like this is nothing new for my line of work, but this one gave me a new resolve: For every nasty email I receive I will give a happy, positive, uplifting comment or compliment to a perfect stranger either through person, email or mail.

And that's that.

Always,

Allison + Diego

My sweet friend and former college roommate Allison married her honey, Diego, in Palestine, Texas, on April 26 and we were able to go and help her celebrate. The grounds were beautiful, the ceremony was sincere, the bride was gorgeous, the couple happy and the party filled with laughter and dancing — a great time for everyone!

Congrats you two, love you both!

The beautiful ceremony site at Elmwood Gardens.

Portrait Couture by BRC Photography

One of the perks of my job is getting to do fun stuff. Usually it's a trip to the opera for free or some other free admissions to an event or show — recently I was able to do something even more special. I wrote a story on my dear friend Benita, a fabulous Oklahoma glamour photographer. She's launched a new photography line she calls "Portrait Couture," a mix between boudoir and glamour photography. Benita wanted me to have the "full photo experience" before I wrote my story. I spent an entire day with Benita as she did my hair, my makeup and took some rather fabulous photographs, if I do say so myself.

After the shoot, I walked away feeling beautiful and uplifted. I can definitely say since then I have been walking with my head a little taller. Thanks, Benita, for the big self-esteem boost! You helped me remember my inner and outer beauty — truly, you have a wonderful gift from God!

If you live in the Oklahoma City area, check Benita out. She wants to make every woman feel beautiful!

See more of her photos of me and read her blog post about our shoot here. Read my story on Benita here. 

Always,

Girl's Night: Henna Tattoos

Girl's night this month we tracked down a henna artist and had a henna party! We chowed down on treats, turned on the music and had a relaxing evening visiting and receiving henna tattoos. Our artist was adorable and easy to work with — we only paid for gas and each of us paid for our own tattoo, which ranged between $5-15. It's a great deal and such a blast! If you're interested in hosting a henna tattoo party in Oklahoma, check her out here.

Having my design done. She was speedy!

2012: Highlights

Honestly, 2012 has largely been a blur for me. Let's recap it, shall we, before I lose track of 2013, too.

January:

I wrote story after story and enjoyed a visit from two sets of friends! I got my first real taste of Oklahoma weather, and was deeply touched by a group of local students and their teacher.

February:

We headed to Lubbock to celebrate my only nephew's first birthday, watched my brother jam out with his band, and laughed at the weird books I get in the mail at work. I got a double-dose of Disney, both at work and in Orlando.

Haircut and Red Lipstick

I chopped my hair recently...

You know how I love to change up my hair. I love the length...it's so much easier to manage!

I love to laugh

I looked in the mirror today, smiled at myself and saw a hint of laugh lines.

They didn't make me frown.

Laugh lines, however faint, make me feel beautiful -- successful, even.

I hope they are my deepest wrinkles someday.

Always,

Daily Makeup

Hello, my dears! The while ago on Free Bird Train we had a little discussion about eyeliner, and I thought I'd share how I do my makeup on most days. It usually takes me about 10 minutes from start to finish. On my video, I'm only showing you my eyes and cheeks. Enjoy!

Done!

Half-Up Twisty Fishtail and My New Ombre 'Do

I've been having fun the last few weeks trying to figure out new ways to style my hair. The other day I tried out a cascading braid or a waterfall braid.

Many of the photos I've seen of this style have the braid wrapping around the head. Some are styled like mine, but I got my inspiration from the lovely Isla Fisher:

I love Isla Fisher's hair color, and the braid made it even better.

You can find tutorials to this braid here and here.

Of course, I had to experiment more with my favorite kind of braid nowadays: the fishtail.

On Perfectionism

I'm not perfect, but sometimes I think I have to be. I put on a pretty good face for those around me: I'm formally educated, I wear high heels and suck in my gut, I curl my hair and wear makeup, and I'm generally pretty happy. But I don't have a full-time job, my body hurts a lot, I have some weight I need to lose, I've had grey hair since I was a kid, and I'm easily frustrated with the rate in which I am progressing personally and professionally.

I sense I'm not alone.

The polished me. The in-a-robe-before-bed me...not so perfect.

You say goodbye and I say hello

A week ago I watched this cutie for a bit while her momma was feeling under the weather:

Then I woke up Friday morning feeling sick. I won't go into details. It was not a pretty day.

I slept in until after noon on Saturday. Then when Nathaniel and I made a trip to the Redbox, I foolishly left my wallet in plain sight and Nathaniel thoughtlessly left the car unlocked. When we got back to the car we were greeted with a missing wallet and a stranger's pink phone on my car seat in exchange.

Lesson: we're dumb. And people suck -- people suck at thieving.

Fishtail Braid How-to

Obviously the braid trend has been gaining momentum over the last few years. I must admit, at first, I wasn't feeling it. Now I love it. Although, I used to think fishtail braids were really tacky. There was something about the hair tie at the top that, to me, was gag-worthy. Take the lovely Blake Lively, for example:

She's obviously gorgeous, but I feel like the tie at the top is just...juvenile. Without the tie, I think a fishtail braid can be both bohemian and elegant. Which was the exact feeling we were going for with Kourt's bridal hair: