Saturday, December 31, 2011

New Year's Nails


Kyle and I aren't quite sure yet what our plans are for ringing in the New Year (yes it's tonight), but whether we stay at home or go out I thought it might be nice to dress up a little, and I wanted to sport some sparkly nails. My sister sent me this sparkly polish, which I tested out on top of a couple of my fading Christmas green nails and instantly got super excited about (to Kyle's bewilderment). I thought it was festive and fun (though a pain to get off your nails, ugh), and perfect for ringing in 2012. I pondered for a while what color to put the sparkle over, and ended up deciding on a more subtle silver and gold combo (it looks better than the pictures were able to capture).









I realized 2011 has been quite an eventful year for me. Getting married, graduating, kittens, deployment, work, moving... I think I will offer up some reflection, but I think a post entirely about nail polish is not the place for it. Enjoy your New Year's celebrations! 

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Friday, December 30, 2011

Hair Update

It has been a while since I posted about starting to let my hair go curly/natural, so I thought I should update. I don't make a habit of taking pictures of myself, so here's a couple Kyle snapped of me Christmas morning trying on my new raincoat while my hair was still drying (I do not wear it down! and Kyle does not normally take pictures).



My feelings on my hair vary from day to day, mostly. I like that it is curly. But I haven't found a way for it to be curly and NOT a tangled, dry mess. I condition daily and usually leave in a little conditioner too, which keeps the frizz down a little. Maybe once a week I use Miss Jessie's, which cuts down on the frizz and allows the curls to keep their shape more defined (due to lack of frizz), but I am still not too fond of having goop in my hair too frequently (hence the once a week or so use).

I guess what I have to decide is what I want to do with my hair, eventually. I don't really like most black hair styles I've seen, and I think most wouldn't suit me well or feel comfortable with. I don't want it really big and I don't want it short. There seem to be two schools of thought when it comes to first attempting going natural. You could either cut the straightened hair right away, or gradually grow your hair out while gradually cutting the straight hair. I definitely wasn't going to cut it down to the new growth right away, though I did cut a couple inches off a month or two ago (but I do that every once in a while anyway). At this length, when it is dry and down, it forms something of a semicircle about my head; poofy and uncontrollable and not an attractive look. It will take some time to grow out more curly length so I will have to see how it turns out once the curls grow out a bit more. There are a lot of tight little curls, and bigger, looser curls giving way to wavy hair to straightened hair. In general: it is very curly, very thick, and I still don't know what to do with it. Kyle said he likes it, but he also kissed me when I was sick and gross, so I don't know if my husband is the best non-biased judge (but I appreciate his support none the less). I might try some products from Curls next, and invest in a different brush/comb that doesn't just pull my hair out (is there such a thing?!).

I also have to figure out what to do with my hair for the wedding. Yikes. Wedding. I think I will have to go to a hair place and have them do things to it and we can see what works (when and where this can happen, I do not know). When I was trying on dresses we came up with an idea I like, but how it would work and hold up for hours would need to be figured out, especially since my hair could be quite different come June. Most of the pictures I see of wedding styles are white ladies with perfect straight hair or even perfect curled hair, so I have no idea if anything I've seen and like will work on me. The hair adventure continues...

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

We've Added to our Family



Yep, Kyle brought his motorcycle home today (and his leather jacket). It's a pretty green Triumph Bonneville. He can't ride it yet, he has to take a class through the Army and it's been pushed back until February (boo), but I'm sure he will spend plenty of time with it nonetheless (parked, in the garage). I am a little bit afraid of it, but I know Kyle will be a responsible driver (rider? biker?). He has been spending hours searching online for a jacket and helmet for me, so we can go on trips together in the future. Pretty sweet of him. (But I'm still scared). I'm sure Kyle will tell you more about it soon on his blog








- From the desk of Mrs. M

Map Coasters

I have previously written about my love of maps and how Kyle and I plan on having maps in various forms about our house. Months ago I made this map of love (still trying to find the perfect place for in the new house), and I shared some other map ideas for the home. So I was pretty excited when I got these awesome North America map coasters for Christmas from my brother-in-law. They are from Jonathon Wayne Design, and they are very cool (and functional!).






From the desk of Mrs. M

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Beer Can Chicken

As previously mentioned, on Christmas day Kyle and I cooked our first beer can chicken (also only the second meal we cooked in our new house- the first was angel hair pasta). We looked to a couple websites for some guidance, but the process is fairly straightforward and simple. It was very delicious. Maybe this will be one of our new Christmas traditions? We will have to wait until next year to find out!



What We Did:
Defrost the chicken, ours was 6-7 lbs
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F
Rinse in cold water and take out the innards that might still be stuck to the chicken because you didn't defrost it enough because you only bought the chicken the day before because you were previously without a refrigerator
Pat dry
Season the inside, we used Weber Beer Can Chicken Seasoning; this is also a good time to pull out those last remaining giblets you missed the first time around
Rub the outside with olive oil and then season the outside
In The Meantime: drink half a can of beer, we used Moose Drool
Slide the chicken over the beer can; maneuver it so that it stays upright
Hope that it won't fall over
Fix it when it starts to tip over, getting spices and salmonella all up under your festive green sparkly finger nails
Put it in the oven and cook away for about two hours
Take it out of the oven; try to get the can out through a combination of lifting the chicken from under the wings while shaking it and tapping at the can (because you don't own tongs), all the while hoping you don't get scalded by burning hot beer/chicken juice
Carve it like a crazy person who knows nothing about chicken anatomy
Om nom nom













- From the desk of Mrs. M

Monday, December 26, 2011

Our First Christmas





































Our Christmas involved:
opening such wonderful gifts!
eggs and bacon breakfast 
skyping and chats with family
holiday tunes
a little more tree trimming
playing with my new computer
beer can chicken
chai & baileys
baking mint chocolate cookies
watching Super 8
cuddling

I hope your holiday was merry and fun!
Thank you to husband, family and friends for making it wonderful. 

- From the desk of Mrs. M