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Monday, October 13, 2014

Update: Fall 2014 edition

Just a quick recap since I have been MIA almost six months.

*Kids are great. I officially have three (!) teenagers. My "baby" is full blown toddler. He is still really cute and we are quite certain he is a genius. ;)

*Football season is wrapping up. We are in week three of play-offs for my youth leaguers and we have about two weeks left for my high schooler. This was our first year with high school football and it has been a new and exciting experience.


*Photography is kind of on the back burner. I photographed my football players and really enjoy it. I just don't have the practice time I would like. At least two of my boys will be wrestling. I would love to photograph wrestling but I am limited by me gear at this time. If you are interesting in my sports work you can check it out HERE (youth football) and HERE** (HS football).

*The biggest change...WE MOVED. Ok, not as exciting as it sounds. We just moved to a new neighborhood about a block from our old home. BUT it is a big deal for me. We moved into a smaller home. This sounds insane because we have a larger-ish family. However, I really feel this is going t o help my stress level in so many ways. I was having such a hard time keeping up with housekeeping. My kids have chores and help out a lot. But the reality is that we are gone all the time. I leave at 7am and I am not really home again until 8-8:30pm. Saturdays are full of football games and cross country meets. I spend all day every Sunday cleaning, food prepping and doing laundry. I think a smaller home will help. So far, my theory has been right (but we are only 2 weeks in, stay tuned).

*I am still obsessed with nail polish. You can check out my nail art HERE. Please note, I use the word "art" lightly. Basically, I just have a lot of nail polish and know how to use stripping tape and a dotting tool.


**My albums are La Cueva vs. Atrisco Heritage, La Cueva vs. Cibola and La Cueva vs. Eldorado.

Pressure

Long time no blog.

The past year my stress level has really become overwhelming. I would look around me and everything seems so much easier for everyone else and I wonder I am doing wrong? I feel like no matter how organized I am, I feel as though I am always rushing around and yelling and stressed. I am forever forgetting to sign reading logs and sign permission slips. As I am patting myself on back for getting my kids to practice early I will realize I left their football helmet at home. I send game day snacks only to realize our snack day is not for another week. If I clean my house, I don't play enough with the kids. If I play with the kids or allow myself to relax, my house is trashed. Pressure to be a "good" mom.

Then blogging began to feel like tons of pressure. Pressure for people to read and like me. Pressure for quality pictures and content. Pressure to be a good blogger. So I took a break.

I have come to release that there is no good or bad way to do things. I am just me. There will always be a better mom. There will always be a cleaner home than mine (always). There will always be a more interesting blog (like hundreds of them). I am me. Take me or leave me.

The long and short of it? I'm back.


Wednesday, April 23, 2014

what's new?

I’m alive! Just a really terrible blogger.

We are all doing well. School is winding up (woo-hoo) and I could not be happier. The school year stresses me out. I am a terrible, disorganized person and the school year just adds more chaos to our busy household.

We are in the middle of our spring tackle season. The boys are loving it. Shortly after that ends we dive into a whole new world. High school football! I am not sure how my son feels but I am terrified. Both for him and my wallet. My littlest guy will be two soon. Two! How in the world does that happen? In the words of the wise Ferris Bueller, life moves pretty fast.

As I said before, I really hate saying “I am busy” because, seriously, we are all busy. I think the issue for me is that I sit at a computer for work and I read and write eight hours a day. I admittedly avoid the computer at home. However, I do keep my Instagram updated. I may or may not be an Instagram junkie. Moreover, I may or may not have TWO Instagram accounts. One of those accounts may or may not be entirely devoted to nails and nail polish. Check us out (my family and my nails)!

The Family
barbiekkg

The Nails
amateur nail girl

Anyway, I will get a real update up this week. I just wanted to check in.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

We're ready...

We're ready for some (spring) football.
We are not ready to be chasing a toddler all over the football field though...

Monday, February 24, 2014

I look like a circus clown

This really happened to me.

Situation #1
On Friday after work I went to Walgreens to buy...wait for it...nail polish. I treat myself every pay (like $10-15 bucks, nothing crazy). Anyway, I am standing there lusting after all the Essie polishes. There is a older woman and her grown son picking out polish for her. The son is going on and on about all the crazy polish. "Do people really wear all these crazy, horrible colors?" Meanwhile, I am standing there with mint green nails, with a black and white chevron accent. The woman says to me, "It is so hard to pick, so many to choose from. Can you believe people wear some of this crazy stuff?" Then she sees my nails and says, "Oh, I guess they do! Do you do that your self or do you pay for that?!" Thankfully I do not pay for it, I paint those crazy colors on myself.

Situation #2
I am not a make-up snob. I love it all equally. I have some more expensive favorites and some drugstore faves as well. One of my favorite drugstore eyeshadows is Wet-n-Wild. For the price, the pigment is pretty good (although, not as good as it used to be but I digress). I was in Walgreens (again) and came across a new limited edition palette and for $4.99 I could not pass it up. It is a mainly neutral palette but kind of glittery. I go to pay and the cashier tells me it is new collection that she just put out. Then she says, "These colors are pretty, they will be good for Halloween or something like that."

So there you have it. Apparently, my choice in make-up products is similar to that of Mimi from The Drew Carey Show.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

I'm alive!

This is going to be a random post. Buckle up.

I have been MIA but with good reason. I have been sick. It started with a sinus infection. I had about one week of feeling human when I ended up with a kidney infection. And because that was not torture enough, I got another sinus infection. Good times. I finally feeling normal-ish again.

I am about to hit my one year anniversary at work. I cannot believe it has been year. This is the most challenging, rewarding, stressful job I have ever had. I love it, I really do but it has been a challenging year. But I made it. This past week was rough because I was trying to finish out the year all while being sick. No fun.

The kids and I are living for Spring. I am so ready to enjoy that sunshine after work. I am looking forward to some football (22 days!). Both of these things (sunlight and football) means lots of shooting time for me and that makes me a happy girl.

My current nail polish obsession continues to grow. I have perfected the chevron nail and I always get asked how to do it. A tutorial may be in my future. Yesterday, a barista at Starbucks told me that she loved my nails and called them "Pinterest nails." Folks, I have arrived. Also, all those hours wasted on Pinterest paid off.

That is all for now. But before I sign off, life lately...

There was some nail painting

Conor took me out on a breakfast date

There were some photo shoots

More nail painting...

Conor received some Valentine's goodies and loved it!

Annnddd some more nail painting and polish purchases.


And a few of my daredevil cutie

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Nail Rock Nail Caviar

I have been seeing all the cute nail caviar design on Pinterest. They piqued my interest but I was concerned about durabilty. But I finally caved because I paint my nails 2-3 times a week anyway so I figured, why not. I bought the Nail Rock Nail Caviar . It comes with a nail polish but the brush was kind of wimpy so I used their polish with my accent nail only. I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Coin Flip" on my other nails. It was super easy to apply the "caviar" but I am all about an accent nail only. It could be more of a pain if you are trying to apply to every nail.

Overall I like to results and will likely buy more, because, well I can't stop buy nail products.


As usual, please excuse my ugly fingers, I had not had a chance to clean them up prior to the pictures. Also, please excuse the pictures in general...they were taken in auto (gasp) with a pop-up flash (double gasp). But my sweet 12-year-old took these for me and he did a good job :D.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

My life recently as told through my phone camera...

There was a Starbucks run that include me buying yet another tumbler that I HAD TO HAVE.
I bought some Gelous because I tired the Shellac Hack (more on that later).
The boys taught the baby to give "knucks" but my crappy phone could not get good pic.

We celebrated the Super Bowl. Please note...this was fancier than usual for us because we were celebrating a birthday too. Also, we are not Seahawk bandwagoners. We are just not Broncos fans..like at not all. I *might* cheer for them if they were playing the Cowboys but then again if the Broncos and Cowboys were my only choices I would just give up football. Did I mention we are Patriots fans?

Monday, February 3, 2014

Not another nail polish post

Yes, another nail polish post.

I have perfected the chevron technique. And by perfected I mean I am able to successfully create one chevron accent nail. Up close it looks like my toddler painted my nails but from a distance they pass for cute-ish.

BUT what I really love are the colors. I used Essie "Bikini So Teeny", Essie "Stroke of Brilliance" and Sally Hansen Xtreme "White On".

Monday, January 27, 2014

Teal for Trigeminal Neuralgia


The husband of a dear friend suffers from Trigeminal Neuralgia. It is a terrible disorder. He is undergoing surgery tomorrow to hopefully bring him some sort of relief.

Teal is the color of Trigeminal Neuralgia awareness. Today I sport teal nails for my friend and her family.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Buffalo Chicken Rice

My older children like to cook. They can prepare basic things like scrambled eggs, pasta, muffins (from a mix), etc. Although I cook most nights I like to buy basic, easy to prepare items for them to prepare for those nights life is super crazy or I am not home. I buy easy to prepare pasta, rice, soups, etc. One time I picked up Lipton Buffalo Chicken Rice because it was on sale for $1 and I figured, why not?
My 9-year-old LOVED it. He has been asking for it every since and now I cannot find it anywhere. Being the resourceful mom that I am (ha ha, yeah right) I created my own.

I prepared it very similar to how I prepare Spanish rice, except I used wing sauce in place of tomato sauce.

-2 tablespoons of oil (I use EVOO)
-2 cups of medium grain rice
-3 cups of water
-1 cup of wing sauce (I use Frank's RedHot Buffalo Wing Sauce)
-1 cup shredded chicken
This made a million portions because I have a million kids. My kids also like spicy food so you can use less Frank's and more water if you choose. I did not measure the garlic salt or pepper I just guesstimated.

I brown my rice, garlic salt and pepper in the EVOO until the rice is golden. Add chicken, wing sauces and water, stir and then cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, or until rice is cooked and liquid is absorbed. I ate mine with a bit of gorgonzola sprinkled on top because I did not have any blue cheese. My kids hate "stinky cheese" so they ate is sans cheese.

Anyway, this was a hit. My kids LOVED it.

My life recently as told through my phone camera...

As usual there were many trips to Target
Don't worry, he is just eating ice.

There were shenanigans

There was a weekend Starbucks run

And of course...nail polish was purchased

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Mommy Wars Are Exhausting


Earlier this week I took a cute picture of my 18-month-old and immediately when to Instagram it (because I Instagram everything) and began to worry about the placement if his chest clip in his car seat and what if people though I really drove him around with a low chest clip. Then I was going to write about how I was sick with the plague a stomach bug and how I took the baby to daycare but then I realized I could not admit that I took the baby to daycare when I was not at work. Yesterday I was sitting here thinking about some funny things that my children have done/said that I want to remember. Well, one of those stories involved the kids drinking soda and I started thinking about how bad I would look for letting my kids have soda on occasion.

People, mommy wars are exhausting.

The truth is the my house is messier than I would like. I cook 90% of the time but sometimes driving through McDonald's is so much easier after eight hours at work and then another two hours on the football field chasing my toddler. Last week I had a stomach bug and spent my day sitting on the bathroom floor puking my guts out...my husband recognized I was sick and took the baby to daycare even though I was home. I yell more than I should. At least once a week a I forget to sign my 9-year-old's school agenda (those damn agenda's and reading logs are the bane of my existence). I let my kids have soda once a week. I take car seat safety very seriously and call me crazy but I worry about chest clip placement when actually driving and not so much when snapping pictures.

I really want to stop explaining myself. I feel so pressured to explain myself all the time because I am not that ideal, stereotypical mom. Explaining myself all the time makes me unhappy. And going back to Making 2014 count I vowed to work on happiness. I am done with that (well, trying to be done). I can't and will not explain myself all the time.

I hope at least one person reads my blog and sees my messy house and store bought cookies and thinks to them self, "Thank goodness, me too."

Here is the thing, I am me and that is all I can be. I am never going to please everyone. It is not possible. But at the end of the day, I love my kids just as much as any other mom. I work hard to take care of my family, just like any other mom. How I get there may be different but in the end, the results are the same.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Editing is hard

I am trying so hard to learn Photoshop. I looked into taking a class but it was pricey. And really, when exactly when do I have time for a class? There are tons of resources in the web anyway.

Before

After

I am just so frustrated with the whole editing process. It seems to come so easy to everyone else and I cannot seem to get it.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Shooting the Moon

I do not have the proper equipment for moon pictures but that does not stop me...

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

18-months-old

I am not quite certain where the past year and half went. It seems like he was born last week. But here were are barreling towards age 2. When I found out I was pregnant it was a such a huge shock, such an adjustment. With nearly eight years between the baby and my next youngest, I wondered how it all would ever work. Now, I cannot imagine our life any other way. It works, I am not sure how and my house is always a mess and I am always tired. But it works.

My little baby is now a toddler!


He is a happy little guy. He loves to eat. And he eats, a lot. He likes everything you give him and seems to really enjoy spicy food which is so funny. He does not like milk but has to have his sippy cup of ice water at all times. This is a fun (and sometimes frustrating) age. He talks a lot and understands even more. He is a total daddy's boy. He adores all his siblings but has a soft spot for his eldest brother. He is not fond if the dog but the feeling is mutual. He loves music but his favorite song is "What Does The Fox Say?" which is cute but gets old fast at 4am. :) Like I always say, he is greatest gift I never knew I wanted.

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Sunday, January 12, 2014

My life recently as told through my phone camera...

I took down Christmas...

Taking down Christmas is always a bummer but my helper was cute

I painted my nails and bought more nail polish

I had some Pinterest success

I imbibed...it is Saturday. Don't judge.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Confessions of a Nail Polish Addict

I have the ugliest nails ever. The are really thin and they peel. Even when I am taking vitamins when pregnant and breastfeeding, they are just the most pathetic nails ever. And as I have mentioned before, I pick at my cuticles. Such a terrible habit but I have gotten much better about it. A few years ago a had two co-workers who always had their nails painted. They always always looked so nice and neat. I decided to start painting my nails regularly in an attempt to look more "polished" (no pun intended) and to help deter me from picking at my fingers. My love affair with nail polish began.


I am not picky, I will try any brand. But admittedly my favorites are Essie and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear. I treat my self to a new bottle (or two or three...) every payday. It has been hard keeping my self in control this week because the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear is buy one get one half off at Walgreens and Revlon Nail Enamel is $1.99 at Smith's this week. Must. Resist. Anyway, I came across Sally Hansen Big Matte Topcoat last night. And of course, I had to have it. I am so glad I bought it. It is AMAZING! It dries really fast and gives your nail polish a whole new look.

Please excuse my ugly nails/hands and picture quality here.
For this look I used Essie "Ignite The Night", Revlon Nail Enamel "Urban" and of course Sally Hansen Big Matte Topcoat.

Anyway, I highly recommend Sally Hansen Big Matte Topcoat. Even if you do not have a nail polish addiction, it will add new life to your polish collection.

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Thursday, January 9, 2014

Pinterest Success!

I love it when a Pinterest idea works out! This was super easy and super cheap. I already had the ribbon so I just bought cards. I am sure they are cheaper at the dollar store but I paid $3 at the grocery store. Super cute and I am going to make another to hang in my office. It took me all of 30 minutes while watching Breakfast at Tiffany's ("Thursday! It can't be! It's too gruesome!") and sipping wine by the fireplace.

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