Blond Archives - Page 4 of 87

Big Plans

April 26, 2013/1 Comment/in Blond, Fun /by Megan

Peeking through fence holes, looking for treasures. #childhood #fmsphotoaday

Things I Plan to Do This Weekend:

1. Watch every episode of Scandal I can get my hands on. (I blame Michelle for this…)
2. Plant all the flowers that have been sitting in our sunroom waiting for Kansas to realize it’s spring already and quit snowing.
3. Attempt to potty train one very surly little boy who hates everything about the potty except the M&Ms he gets when he accidentally goes in it (seriously, every successful attempt has been an accident).
4. Search for treasures and fairy lands through holes in the fence.
5. Soak up all the vitamin D I can…you never know when that damn snow is going to come back to visit.

Hope your plans are equally fantastic!

Matching sunnies. #sorrynotsorry #amazing

Take your daughter to work (because you forgot your laptop power cord and had to pick it up) day! #kc #rivermarket

P.S. I also plan to eat an entire jar of Trader Joe’s cookie butter because, well, just because.

P.P.S. Don’t forget about the HappyBottoms fundraiser!

Playing Hooky

February 4, 2013/7 Comments/in Blond, Family /by Megan

If you’ve met me in real life, you probably already know this, but I’m a total rule follower. It doesn’t bode well for my creative side, but it’s true. For the most part, although I wish I was Angela Chase from My So Called Life, let’s face it, I’m really Sharon. Yes, Sharon. The horrible ex-best friend of Angela who follows all the rules and doesn’t understand Angela’s disobedient streak. Ugh, that’s almost worse than admitting of all the characters on Friends, I most identify with Monica. In fact, the husband used to call me Monica when we were dating. Super uptight and extremely nerdy…that’s my M.O.

But right now I’m fighting ever rule follower bone in my body and I’m staying an extra day in my hometown instead of heading back to the big city for a regular Monday. Yes, Lu has school. Yes, I should probably be working. But instead I’m going to spend my Monday looking for cool rocks on the farm and playing on the swingset. We are camping out in our hometown, and I couldn’t be happier. So I’m calling us all in sick today. The flu is going around you know…we probably have it (knock on wood). My cure is going to be a few more hours teaching my girl how to ice skate at the rink where her father and I met, sledding down hills in a plastic swimming pool, attending very formal tea parties in the living room, eating way too much homemade fried chicken and taking 2.3 naps per day. The real world will still be there on Tuesday, right?

Right.

High Maintenance

January 31, 2013/1 Comment/in Blond, Nerd Herd, Style /by Megan

So, packing for Alt Summit can be a bit daunting (sidenote: Sorry, I promise this is the last Alt-related post this week! And it’s a funny one!). I was stressed for a few weeks trying to decide what outfits to bring, how I’d do my hair and what shoes would go with what. Basically I was like a 14-year-old heading off to her first co-ed overnight camp. But not. That’s how I was acting. “Ahhh, will they like me? I have to look perfect! Are they going to think I’m a dork? Am I not hipster enough? AHHHHH!”

Up until the morning I left, I was listing out my options and trying to pack the perfect bag. When I left for the airport, I was pretty damn proud of myself. I packed outfits I was comfortable in and felt like “me.” I had packed way to many shoes, but I was okay with it. I was feeling chic as I stepped on to the plane in my dinner outfit (I didn’t have much time after my plane landed to get to my dinner with the team from Citizens of Humanity, so I wore that outfit during my travel day) of jeans, a striped mini-dress, and ankle boots. I went to my dinner, had a nice time, and felt fairly awesome. Someone even mentioned they couldn’t believe I was 30. Let’s just say I was pretty darn stoked.

And then….

I got back to the house where we were staying and opened my bag to get out my bathroom kit so I could brush my teeth…and lo and behold, no bathroom kit. I’d left my massive kit hanging in my bathroom at home, never to make the flight to Salt Lake. I had arrived in town with a few things in my carry on (thank god for my tight schedule and thinking I’d need a few things on hand) like make-up, a small travel size hairspray and a brush. But that was it.

Please see Exhibit A, the aforementioned bathroom kit, as I found it when I returned home…just as I’d left it.

Now, I don’t consider myself high maintenance in most instances. My beauty routine on a daily basis is pretty minimal, but it varies. My make up is usually simple, just a bit of tinted moisturizer, concealer, mascara, cream blush and lip gloss, and I’m good to go! It usually takes about five minutes total. But the hair. Oh dear lord, the hair. I have a long, thick (but also fine) main of wavy hair that is a beast to style. My saving grace has been dry shampoo, which extends my hair for up to four days between shampoos, as shampooing daily actually makes my hair greasy and flat. If I want to wear it straight, I need several products to get it there (styling lotion, glossing creme and/or smoothing oil, a round brush and hair dryer) and I need several totally different products to wear it wavy (styling tonic, curl creme, mousse and a hair dryer with a diffuser attachment). If I want to wear it up in a bun or any sort of braid I need dry shampoo and hair spray. So, let’s see…that’s ten different items. TEN! Just for my hair! Blergh!

I knew I wanted to have options at Alt, so I packed all of my hair products (plus shampoo and conditioner) for the trip. Well, I packed them in the kit and then left them behind. Not to mention other essentials like a toothbrush, deodorant, hair ties, hair pins, face wash, toothpaste…and on and on and on.

When I realized my mistake, I prepared for a self-inflicted freak out. But it never came. Maybe I was so stressed by Alt itself my brain couldn’t take anymore and just said “screw it.” No idea. But I borrowed some toothpaste, face wash and deodorant from Nicole, who also happened to have some shampoo and conditioner samples in her bag. I bought a toothbrush at the hotel gift shop. And I made it work. I attempted to blow dry my hair straight each day (as that takes less time and is easier to do without products than any of the other options), but I was definitely a bit of a grease ball.

Me, on Day 2 of the conference, looking a little greasy and flat…Nicole looking totally gorgeous…darn you Nicole!

And you know what? It was okay! I survived and maybe even learned something. I don’t need a million products and I don’t need to be perfect. I doubt anyone there was super disturbed by my lack of fancy hair (although I was looking longingly at some of the other girls with fab hairdos), in fact, I’m almost positive no one noticed. And my suitcase had so much extra room, I was able to bring home some fun surprises I picked up for the family in the hotel toy store!

I guess the moral of this dumb story is don’t over think things too much. And if you run into trouble, just buy a bunch of toys and you’ll feel much better about it!

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In case anyone needs hair product advice, these are the products I use. They are Crazybananas tested and approved for unruly hair!

For Straight Locks:
– Bumble and Bumble Styling Lotion
– Fekkai Glossing Creme
– Moroccan Oil or Josie Moran Argan Oil

For Wavy Locks:
– Bumble and Bumble Tonic Lotion
– Bumble and Bumble Curl Conscious Defining Creme
– Suave Captivating Curls Mousse (oh yeah, $3.50!)

For Updo’s, Braids, Etc.:
– Klorane Extra Gentle Dry Shampoo
– Rockaholic Fun Times Flexible Hairspray

Tate the Great

January 22, 2013/1 Comment/in Blond, Lucy, Photos, Tate /by Megan

I am the worst at baby books. I mean, obviously, I’m not very crafty, and I honestly don’t do to well with written journal keeping (although I’m working on it!) so I have two, half-filled books with zero photos. I rule. When Lucy was two, I decided it was time to stop writing her monthly letters on the blog, and instead write them yearly. It was around this time I discovered Blurb, an online retailer that makes the most beautiful books out of your photos. I decided in lieu of a traditional baby book, I’d make one for Lulu by using Blurb to put together a book of images and words from those years of letters. I called it “Life with Lu” and it was a huge hit with my family.

I attempted once again with Tate to create a traditional baby book, but as I should have known, I never got around to completing it. So when he was around four weeks old, I decided to go ahead and start writing him letters on the blog as well, thinking I would compile them all in a Blurb book once he turned two. And as luck would have it, Blurb is a big sponsor of Alt Summit, which I am attending this week! They gave all the attendees a free book, and you could use the credit to make whatever you wanted. Enter, my new baby book, “Tate the Great.”

I love the look of these books, and I love that I now have a matching set. Huge thanks to Blurb and Alt Summit for making it a reality! And for all of you lazy moms out there that can’t complete a baby book…there is hope!

(I also use Blurb to make my yearly photobooks…check them out here! Or check out the NYC + KC Blurb book here!)

Beauty Tips from a Newly Christened 30 Year Old

December 17, 2012/1 Comment/in Blond, Style /by Megan

Earlier this year I wrote a post explaining how happy I was to turn 30. And so far, I’m still pretty happy about it. At the time, I felt exactly like Jennifer Gardner in “13 Going on 30,” and I knew that being “30, flirty and fun” would be the best time ever. OK, sure, I’m not exactly like the character in that movie. I don’t have a jet setting life in New York City as a magazine editor or anything, but I am digging this new decade. I have a rad family that loves me, a new career on the horizon and a to-do list that’s a mile long (in a good way). And it may sound conceited, but I look pretty damn good these days.

At 20 and even 25, I still had no idea who I was style and beauty-wise. I basically dressed how my friends dressed and wore the same make-up they did (even though I am so pale I’m almost translucent and they look like they came straight from the beach). Around 26 I started to explore who I was in terms of my style and creative tastes, and with that came a whole new outlook on beauty products. My beauty regimin today consists of a few simple things:

– Hair care: Man oh man, did I used to abuse my hair. I have naturally wavy, blond hair, and I spent years straightening it with a hot iron and bleaching it or dying it dark (depending on my mood). These days I stick to drying it naturally without heat and only washing a few times a week. My main products are Bumble and Bumble Curl Creme (for wavy curls), Fekkai Glossing Cream (for straight hair days) and Klorane Gentle Dry Shampoo (to extend days between washing).

– Skin care: I confess, I never used to wash my face before bed. I know, so gross! These days I use wet wipes while I’m traveling and when I’m at home I use the Neutrogena Wave system. I really want to upgrade to a better machine (the wave was in my stocking last Christmas) and I’m thinking of either the DDF Revolve System or the Clarisonic (anyone heard good things about either of these?). I’m learning as my skin gets older, I need to invest in better products to keep it healthy. Which, you know…duh!

– Make-up: A few months back I went on a major make-up purge and now I only use a few products on a daily basis. I use tinted moisturizer instead of foundation, lightening concealer to get rid of the dark circles under my eyes (total problem area), mascara, creme blush and a lip tint. It takes 5 minutes, tops. If I’m going out or getting fancy, I add red lipstick (this is my fave), eyeshadow and some powdered eyeliner.

Now for some fun news! DDF is offering Crazybananas readers a special deal on their DDF Revolve 400X Kit. You can get this awesome system for $45 (retail price $98!) with free shipping through Jan 31, 2013. Click here and then use the code DDFMICRODERMA at checkout. And as an added bonus, you can get a second product for half price, with free shipping, through Jan 31, using the code 2013DDFSKIN! Hooray for happy skin!

Have your beauty routines changed as you’ve aged? I’d love to hear any tips and tricks!

(Photo by Christina Gepner)

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