Tuesday 16 April 2013

BFF weekend. . .

so i realized that my last post about my hair was
perhaps the most depressing thing i've ever written.
ha.
sorry to be such a debbie-downer:)
moving on!

logan's bff caleb came into town over the weekend,
so we tried our best to show him a good time.
we started our saturday off at a basketball tournament
that a bunch of logan's students were playing in.
even though the kids in his class can be little drama queens/kings
a lot of the time, their faces pretty much light up when
they saw him walking up to the courts.
it was pretty cute:)



after the tournament we were pretty hungry so we took caleb
down to the king william district to what we've officially decided 
is our favorite spot:









after our gigantic breakfast we decided to hop on some
bikes & take them around some of the missions downtown.
they have little bike stations all around town & you
 can rent a bike for super cheap so it was perfect!
fun fact: i haven't ridden a bike since our honey moon like 2.5 years 
ago, however i would hardly call that instance bike riding
because i ended up walking my bike down the mountains
we were on because i was a wimp.

back to saturday afternoon:
i literally looked like a crazy person.

i couldn't steer straight to save my life.
i felt like the phrase "it's like riding a bike"
did NOT apply to me in any way shape or form.
i felt like i'd never ridden a bike in my life!
luckily after about 10 minutes of very awkward   
& very slow riding i felt more comfortable.













we probably biked around for a good 2 hours or so before we
were completely exhausted & decided to head home.
we decided to go up to austin later that evening because caleb
had never been & we wanted to re-visit our favorite places there.
we ate dinner at torchy's tacos & tried their queso.
it.was.amaaaazing!
the best queso i've ever tasted.
 i never really ate queso before moving to
texas but i feel like it is one of the main food groups
here & i am not complaining! 
it's the bomb.


obviously we had to go to gourdoughs for dessert.
hands down the best donuts in texas we've discovered thus far.
i cannot get over how amazing they are.
if you ever come to visit us we will go here for sure!
i just decided that before we leave texas i want to try every
donut on the menu.
:)




after gourdough's we waddled around south congress & popped
into some random stores.
we saw some interesting people doing some interesting things.
austin is weird.
but awesome at the same time.



we are so glad caleb came to visit!
we had a blast showing him around & it made us miss all
our other friends.
we really want other visitors!
come now!

Tuesday 9 April 2013

easter weekend. . .

well i can say with %10,000 confidence that easter weekend 2013
will go down in my books as literally the best/worst weekend EVER.
not.even.exaggerating. 
so here it is.
the good.
the bad.
& the ugly.

the good
logan & i both had good friday off work which was awesome!
we decided to go on a little excursion to a state park called enchanted rock.
the weather was glorious & despite all the wind we bad a blast
exploring all the rocks & trails.
i'm pretty sure logan's hair looked like he had been electrocuted because
of all the wind but he didn't seem to mind :)


                            



so things are still good at this point.
in fact, they got even better!
after our hike we went and explored the little town of fredericksburg.
it's funny how many little german towns there are near san antonio!
the town was really cool-i loved looking at all the shops and 
random stores.





the food was good too!
we ate bratwurst in a little german pub.
logan reminisced of the days when his family lived in Germany.
good times.
we ventured over to a candy store after we ate for dessert.
if you ever go to fredericksburg you must eat fudge from
the lone star candy bar.
i promise you will not regret it!
we may or may not have spent $15 on fudge. . .
we though about trying the chocolate covered bacon for about 2.5 seconds   
but decided to save it for our next trip there:)








in sum-friday was really good, amazingly fun & i thought the rest
of the weekend was going to be equally as glorious.

the bad
i haven't dyed my hair for 7 years.
7 years and not a single drop of anything has altered the color of my locks.
come to think of it-i have pretty much had the exact same hair style
for the past 7 years or so.
long & curly.
long & curly is my happy place.
i understand it & it understands me.
in high school i went from platinum blond to dark brown & everything 
in between-but the last 7 years have been a much needed & welcomed break.
i have no shame in admitting that i am emotionally attached to my hair.
it's kind of my security blanket.
i remember in 7th grade when some bullies on the bus put gum in my hair.
i cried & cried & my mom called the vice-principal & said:
"my daughters hair is her life!"
dramatic yes but sadly it was true.

anyways, i had been getting a little bit of an itch when it came to my hair.
i loved the way it looked but i wanted to do just a little something subtle
to it that would be fun for a little change.
i honestly wrestled with the idea for a long time because i was nervous
to do anything to change my hair.
after a lot of thought i decided to go for it & made an appointment for saturday
with my friend morgan from work.
i was scared/excited all at once at the salon.


this is the picture i showed the stylist.
i told her i wanted to lighten the ends of my hair very subtly in an ombre effect.
i said i didn't want her to color my hair anywhere 
else-i just wanted to lighten the ends a little.


this is what i got:


the ugly
the picture pretty much speaks for itself.
the stylist ruined my hair.
it was fried.
i have already spoken my peace in an online review on yelp, but let me just say that it 
was the WORST experience of my life.
the stylist was unwelcoming and rude.
i feel like she didn't listen at all when i told her what i wanted, even when
i explained to her how nervous i was, etc.
as she was doing my hair i felt like there were little red flags going off 
everywhere that she was NOT in a good mood & did NOT want
to be doing hair that day.
i shrugged it off a little bit and just held to a glimmering hope that i was just
being silly/nervous & she knew exactly what she was doing.
i knew she would be using bleach to get the ombre effect, but she literally left me
in the chair for almost 45 minutes with bleach on my hair.
45 minutes.
every last speck of color was sucked out of my hair.
when she came back and started washing my hair she told me she didn't
have time to dry & style it for me.
my heart stopped.
something was wrong.
she walked me to the chair & my heart literally broke as she 
brushed it out.
even though it was wet i could tell something was horribly wrong.
i just wanted to get out of there & wanted her to get her hands off my head.
i told her it was hard for me to tell what it looked like because it wasn't dry but that
i would come back if i didn't like it.
morgan & i raced back to my apartment & the entire time i was trying to stay positive.
i kept thinking that when it was dry it would be ok.
false.
i literally burst into tears when i saw it.
i even tried curling it but it was literally ruined.
i couldn't even talk i was so upset.
morgan & my sister called the salon on my behalf because i was so distraught.
they weren't very nice-said they didn't do refunds & they would make an
appointment at their other salon's location so i could get it fixed.
i was mortified.
i couldn't even look in the mirror because of how ugly i felt.
this sounds dramatic but i honestly felt awful.
the worst part was that it was easter weekend!
that night i had to attend a dinner for a new church calling.
i put on a happy face & met young women & their mothers in my ward & the whole
time i was dying inside because of how self-consious i felt.
sunday at church was even worse.
standing in front of everyone, teaching a lesson in primary, etc.
i wanted to die!

my hair is "fixed" now.
i went to the appointment at the other salon and a nice girl who was very understanding
took care of me & made my hair look like it did before it was ruined.
the worst part is that it's not totally fixed. 
not really.
the color over the bleach will eventually fade-meaning i'm now forced to
join the cycle of hair-dying till it eventually grows out inch by inch as i cut it off.
all i wanted was a subtle change on the ends of my hair & now i have
this joyous little problem to deal with for the next while:)
if you live in san antonio don't ever go to alta moda salon in the quarry-
unless you want to look like a skunk that is:)

we have no pictures from easter sunday 2013 because i spent the day
crying in my bed:(
i am able to look back now & laugh a little bit.
just a little.
here's hoping to a better easter next year!





Monday 1 April 2013

quick trip to NYC. . .

so last weekend i took a trip to NYC to run a half marathon with
my mom and sister.
i was super excited to hang out with the madre and the sis-not as excited
about actually having to run the 13.1 miles :)
the day i got there it was the big SJ's birthday so we celebrated
and relaxed by getting our nails did.
we ate dinner at a legit italian place to carb load
before the big race.




for dessert we picked up some georgetown cupcakes.
we did some shopping before we headed back to the apartment & i
guess we were aggressive shoppers or something because
the cupcakes didn't exactly make it home in one piece...
sorry SJ :)
we figured they would still taste good despite being mutilated.
i have no shame in admitting that i scraped the frosting off
the sides of the box & ate not one but two cupcakes.




the next morning we woke up early & took a taxi out to the start.
quick thought about NYC cab rides:they are terrifying.
i always feel like they are going to get in an accident.
the speeding.the honking.the mug shot-like photo of the cab driver 
staring you in your face.
terrifying.
anyways, it was pretty chilly which i wasn't expecting but i  
 would much rather run in windy chilly weather than 
blistering hot & humid weather.
yuck.
the race actually went great!
it was my goal to finish in 2 hours and i did it by the skin of my teeth:)
i ran with SJ about half way before she took off and left me in the dust.
my mom may or may not have also finished before me by a few minutes.
go mom and SJ!
i felt great the whole race but the last half mile or so was death.
i just wanted to be done SO bad.
i just kept on thinking about all the treats i was going to eat
when i was finished & those thoughts carried me
to the finish line.





post-race food fest took place at norma's.
you guys.
norma's is the bomb!
i decided the pictures i took of the crunchy french toast
did NOT do it justice so i swiped one from the internets.
thick golden brown french toast with powdered sugar,
crunchy goodness & caramel sauce?
yes.please.
i was loving my life eating back every calorie i had just burned at the race.




we felt pretty good the rest of the afternoon but around dinner time
we were all BEAT.
SJ & i volunteered to go get shake shack for everyone.
we looked awesome & did not even care.
pajama pants.sneakers.flats.sweats.
#winning.




the rest of the trip was spent doing what we do best:shop & eat.
quick shout out to my mom for being so great & always
making everything so much fun.
my mom has got some serious style & i'm not even exaggerating
when i say that literally every store we went into she got
like 20 compliments on her outfits:)




we went to a place in the flat iron district called eataly.
if you are in new york go there now.
it's like a giant hub of legit italian food galore. 
get ready for a picture of all the amazingness we
consumed while there.











the trip was amazing & i miss hanging with my ladies.
sweet baby caroline is an absolute darling & i wish
i lived closer so i could hold her more!




thanks for the trip mom & thanks for showing us a 
great time SJ! 

lylas!