Happy anniversary to my ONE & ONLY Bo!


13 years ago you were my friend at work.
13 years ago I stalked you to "your bar" while out celebrating my birthday.
13 years ago you kissed me in your truck in the Taco Cabana parking lot.
13 years ago I knew with absolute certainty that I wanted to marry you.
13 years ago you became mine.


You've given me unconditional love, smiles, laughter, babies, homes, love notes, made me lots of coffee & have given me a wonderful life.


You were made for me...in every aspect of every way.  I love you so much & this is just a snippet of why...

What up people!  Today, I've joined the BATP Blogger Link Up talking about our Summer Beauty Woes.


I'm just gonna start this off by saying I am the last person who would attempt to give you beauty advice.  I mean, I just recently started sometimes using liquid face makeup...some BB cream that I found one day & Lord only knows if I'm putting that on right!


BUT....luckily for you, this isn't about make up. :-)


Who remembers that episode of Friends: The One in Barbados, where they all go to Barbados & Monica's hair explodes into a humidity balloon?!?!  Well, this isn't Barbados, but it may as well be.  Houston is one muggy town!  You take time to fix your hair, you walk outside & POOF, you've got a hair helmet!  And the sun!  The sun is HOT & really hard to hide from!


My hair is kind of a jack-of-all-trades.  If I wash my hair & let it air dry it will be kind of curly, kind of wavy, some spots may be straight & some spots may end up with a sharp 90° angle.  I know, right!  Who's hair looks like that?  Mine.  Mine does.


Every now & again I'll embrace the curl & pull out my early 90's styling skillz & scrunch my hair with some Dep or LA Looks to hold it all together. ;-)  But MOST TIMES, I will straighten my hair.


BUT...with it being summer, we've spent a lot of time in the sun, in the pool or at the beach.  So, thanks to my friends, the sun, chlorine & a hair straightener, this was a close up of my hair recently.


When I caught a glimpse of those split ends in the mirror one day, I was so grossed out!  I was like, "Have I really walking around with my hair like this?"  Yes.  Yes I was.  Gross.


I bought some products to help repair my hair & I have to say, I'm quite impressed!


Here's my lineup:
L'Oreal Total Repair 5 Damage Erasing Balm 8.5 FL OZ  I am loving this product right now!  I feel like it's basically repaired all the damage after just 1 use.  It's a rinse, so after shampooing, you slather this in & let it sit for about 5 minutes before rinsing out.

OGX Moisture + Vitamin B5 Shampoo  I didn't know much about this product except for what I read on the front of the bottle.  It's "promising" moisture, rebuilding damaged lipids, strength & elasticity so I'm hoping this is a little miracle in a bottle.

Nexxus New York Salon Care Treatment Crème, Pro-Mend Split End Binding Leave-In 4.8 ounce  This one's a two-fer for me...just meaning I use it 2 times in the hair process.  It says you can use it in damp hair or dry hair so I do both.  I put it in after washing my hair (at night) & then again in the morning before I straighten my hair.  This stuff smells so good too so it makes me feel like I've just left a salon! :-)

Chi Travel Size Silk Infusion Silk Reconstructing Complex  I've used this one for quite a while & it's a pre-style treatment that's supposed to protect your hair from heat damage.  I love how silky it makes my hair feel when I'm done straightening it.


Here's the after pic.  I know it may not seem amazing to you but let me tell you, the split ends are almost completely mended after using the Loreal Total Repair 5 & Nexxus Promend.



For more summer secrets & tips on beating the summer heat, go check out the other lovelies who participated in this Link Up.  And don't forget to check back with Beauty and the Pitch for future fun Link Ups.

As I'm writing this post, my kids are currently going from room to room...in every room of the house...recording a tour of sorts.  "Here's my mom sitting at the desk.  Here's our piano.  Here's a puzzle we started & haven't finished yet."  To say they are obsessed with YouTube would be a slight understatement!!!


They crack me up how they try to imitate the kids they watch on YouTube.  As a matter of fact, Maggie has been known to stand in front of the mirror at night to brush her teeth & will say, "Hi guys, this is Maggie & today I'm gonna show you how to brush my teeth."  She brushes her teeth & closes it out with, "Thanks for watching! Don't forget to subscribe!"  So cute!


So, my kids decided to make up a game yesterday where they pick out the weirdest things they could find in the fridge & make the other one taste it with a blindfold on.


Genius!


Some things aren't too weird, but to an 8 & 5 year old...kinda weird & kinda gross.



So there you have it!  A fun, funny, safe (for now) game they can play & laugh about!


Side note: They've played this game 3 more times & they're stepping up their game...Italian dressing in a cup?  No thanks!

Last Sunday, Maggie had a Popsicle Pool party to celebrate turning the big 5!  It was a perfect day, the sun was hot & she had an amazing day playing with family & friends.

Her party theme was "Popsicles" so I made her a Popsicle cake... This kinda looks like a Popsicle, right?  ;-)


For the party favors, I made Popsicle rice krispie treats with white chocolate & sprinkles on the top.


I also made a popsicle banner from scrapbook paper.  Just cut 1 to be the size/shape I wanted, used it as a template for the rest, cut them all out, hot glued a popsicle stick to the back & connected with string. :-)  Not many people saw it since the majority of the party was spent outside, but we did do presents inside.



On Maggie's actual birthday, we went down to the American Girl Bistro for lunch in Memorial City Mall.  I had never been to an American Girl store, much less set foot in one of their restaurants.  It was a really sweet to see the kids so excited about getting their babies on their highchairs, feeding them, etc.


Daddy met us on his lunch break & helped Maggie get her baby all set up in the highchair.  Unfortunately, he couldn't stay to eat his meal because he had to get back to the office, so he took it to go.




All the kids ordered a "decorate your own cupcake for you & your doll" dessert.  Needless to say, lots of frosting & sprinkles were eaten & not so much of the cake!




After we were done eating, we shopped a bit in the store & Maggie got her doll's ears pierced since she's gonna get her own ears pierced soon.

Maggie had a great birthday & I still can't believe my baby's 5...but I guess I better get used to it!!!

My baby's 5 today.  I call her "baby" all the time & she always replies, "why do you call me baby?  I'm not a baby!"  No, she's not a baby...she's my big 5 year old!

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #TwizzlersSummer #CollectiveBias


We have officially hit the mid-point of summer!  Can you believe it?!?!  I don't what happened to the last month but time is really flying by!


Living in Houston, it's really hard to escape the sun, so why fight it?!  We took advantage of being so close to Galveston & planned a day at the beach with some friends.  Our drive was going to be around 30'ish minutes to get to the beach, so I didn't need to pack my road trip with kids survival kit.  Instead, we decided to take the most versatile snack in existence!  You guessed it...Twizzlers!  Did you know Twizzlers don't melt?  Seriously, is there a more trustworthy snack for your car?  Am I right or am I right?  I think I'm right!


Finding the Twizzlers in Walmart was as easy as walking down the main grocery aisle & voila...there was a center display waiting for me!


We ended up getting Twizzlers Twists, Twizzlers Pull N Peel & Twizzlers Bites to make fun, wearable snack/crafts.   First things first, taste test ALL of them!  Duh!


I sliced up the colorful Twizzlers Twists & we got to work stringing necklaces & bracelets onto yarn.
I added tape to the end of the yarn so it would be easier to string through the Twizzlers.




Look at all of these yummy crafts we made!!!  "French fries" for the road in their own cone container, a heart bracelet, a braided bracelet, a fishy bracelet & it wouldn't have been right without the Texas Flag!  (Yes, we are the proudest state in the union!  Live it, love it or look away!) :-)  These are definitely crafts you're gonna WANT your kids to eat (since there's no paste involved)! ;-)


We grabbed our yummy wearable crafts & hit the road for the beach.


How you do get put a Twist on your summer?  You can get great ideas {here} & don't forget to have fun...there's only 1 more month left!

I'm specifically talking grammar here.  If you write something that the masses will read...or even ONE person, would you want to know you made a grammatical error?


My mom, sisters & I are big spelling/grammar/punctuation nerds.  Actually, it's just 1 of my sisters...sorry other one...you know who you are. ;-)  (She knows we tease & she's super smart & some people think she's funny!) ;-)


Anywhoooo, even on this blog, I know I'm guilty of writing the way I talk.  Starting a sentence with "but" & "and" ...using lots of (...) instead of commas...mostly because it makes me look cool. ;-)  ...but I'm doing it on purpose.  What if someone truly doesn't know they've made a mistake, even just a simple one?


No one likes criticism...or to be critiqued.  But even if it'll hurt my pride for about 2 seconds because I should've known better, I'd want to know.  As a side note, I also want to know if I have food in my teeth or a booger hanging out of my nose.  Again, I'd do a 2 second OMG mini-freak out from embarrassment but then I'd be fine.


Now, I'm not talking about contacting the news stations when something on their news story is misspelled (b/c that actually happens pretty often), but I'm talking about friends, family, teachers, your super close internet friends who also write blogs & you pretend are your besties. :-)


I read things all the time where someone hasn't used the right form of "I" or "me"... For example: "My sisters and me are going to the store."  WRONG!  Or, "My friends & I's plans have changed."  Really?  Surely I'm not the only one who cringes when reading that!


A while back,  I saw a poster at school that a teacher made & it basically looked like this:
I mean...sometimes I just don't even have words.  The second I saw it I was like, "is this for real?"  I read it about 5 times to make sure I wasn't crazy & then I took a picture of it, sent it to both of my sisters & the one thought the other funny one wrote it!  haha J/K  But really....come on!


My friend shared this on Facebook this morning & I thought it was so fitting for this post...


In the end, you're probably not gonna get anything from me unless you're my sister or if you've asked me to proofread something for you.  Mainly because I don't want you to hate me. :-)


Do you cringe when reading stuff on the internet?  Would your friends want you to tell them they made a grammatical error?

Ain't no party like an Independence Day party 'cuz the fireworks don't stop!  Or something like that. ;-)
I hope everyone had a fun-filled 4th like we did!  This past Friday, my mom & Jeff came over to celebrate an early Independence Day.  We had a great steak dinner & finished off the night with leftover bottle rockets from last year!  The girls were less than thrilled when they didn't explode into colorful bursts in the sky, but they'd get that tomorrow!



On the real 4th of July we did our normal thing & headed to the Watson's for some pool time, cousin time, food, a parade & fireworks.  We commandeered Bec's jeep for the occasion & borrowed our neighbor's trailer to get "patriotically tropical" for the parade. ;-)  The kids had so much fun decorating the float, making water balloons & throwing out candy to the onlookers.  We did not win this year, however, I think brains are already working on next year's float! :-)


 


Once the sun set, we went outside to light some poopy puppies & sparklers.  Have you ever seen a poopy puppy?  You light the back end of this firework puppy & it starts "pooping" a long trail of ash.  The kids think it's the funniest thing, so we keep buying them! :-)