Lovely Little Things

Welcome to round two of lovely little things.  My heart has been very full this past week with all of the amazing people I've been able to see, fun things I've done, and projects I've created!  

One major blessing that the Mr. and I have is that we live very close to our family.  Both of our parents live 30 minutes away, and his brother and his adorable family are just 3 miles away!  With that, we are able to see our adorable niece and nephew very often.  I'm always amazed when little Calli shows me something knew she has learned, and I was in pure shock that at the ripe age of 2 she knows so many of her letter names and sounds.  The kindergarten teacher inside of me had her jaw on the ground.  Cameron is growing so much in just 3 short months.  I love that my sister in law is so in tune to all of the developments taking place, like rolling over, lifting up his head, and grasping for objects.  Most importantly, I love all the snuggle time I get with the both of them.  

 I finally made accent pillows for our little home!  You have no idea how long I've been wanting/planning/stressing over this.  Now that I'm finally feeling more comfortable with my sewing machine I decided that the pillows were the next step.  I pursued through my pinterest board, figured out which ones I wanted to make, made a little trip to JoAnn's with coupons in tow, and got busy.  I just love how they turned out.  When I finished the first one, the flower one, I literally was jumping up and down with excitement.  The bow one took me a bit of time because I had to pay close attention to where each part went, but now I think I could make the next one much faster.  

I have to give a lot of credit to little miss Lindsay.  She came over and helped me with the pillows.  This included patiently watching me measure not once, not twice, but three times (sometimes four), ironing flower petals, pinning material, and keeping me sane.  Lindsay has always called my hair "pageant hair" ever since her wedding day.  Basically, once you curl it, it will do whatever you want with it and stay in place.  She decided to see how big she could get my hair, so we grabbed the comb and get to work.  I sat on the floor of my living room while she teased my hair like crazy.  I was laughing so hard afterwards, then we smoothed it out, and it was definitely pageant hair.

This past Saturday the Mr. and I attended the SD Brew Fest with a good friend of his from college and his girlfriend.  It was pour first ever brew fest and it was quite a treat.  The weather couldn't have been better, and there was a huge selection of breweries from SD to OC.  My favorite part was the mini beer mugs that you used for your tastings.  

On Sunday my heart was overflowing with joy as I joined up with Meg, Katie, and Kasey.  These girls are true gems.  I was thinking on my way home how lucky it is to find other girls, that have a heart for God, and are full of grace.  They are such an encouragement, and to get to spend the day with them was a true treat.  

Source: thebeautydepartment.com via Jamie on Pinterest

I've been trying to give my hair a little bit of a break since it's summer and have been just blowdrying it, then throwing it back into a ponytail.  The bangs always make the simple ponytail look so polished, I love them.  Well, I came across this cute little hair style and tried it out this morning.  I thought my hair would be too layered for it but it totally worked.  The only exception was I didn't have a whole lot of time this morning so I wasn't able to do it as well as I would hope-hence no pictures.  So I'm going to give it a go later this week and show you how it turned out!  

What is something that has been making your heart full lately?

top knot tutorial (with a braid)

Happy Monday!  I thought I'd start this week off right by finally introducing you to how I do my top knot!  For some reason my voice is delayed in the video which is a super bummer.  I need to play around with iMovie a bit more to figure out why this keeps happening.  (As I watched it back last night I had to laugh a bit.)  So, enjoy my corky facial expressions and voice delay, and make sure you try out your top knot this week!

Top Knot Tutorial from Jamie LaFuze on Vimeo.

oh, happy hair day!

When I found out that Katie's next edition of "Makeover Monday" was all about hair care, I jumped for joy!  If there is one thing I love, it is hair!  I have lots of hair, "lots" may be an understatement.  Sometimes it feels like a workout doing it because it is thick, thick, thick.  But, I love it so I try not to shed tears over it.  

I thought I'd share the many ways you may see my hair and then show my products.

This is typically my Day #1 look-freshly washed, curled or straightened, with bangs down.  I guess you could say my bangs are my trademark, I've perfected them over the years, tried life without them.  It was like trying to live life without almond butter and chocolate, it was just a tragedy.  

By Day #2 the bangs are back, typically pulled to the side.  They just got all greasy, especially if I worked out the day before.

By Day #3 I have to figure out another way to wear my bangs, so my go-to is typically a mermaid braid.  

And by Day #4 (YES, I can go 4 days between washes) it's the bun to the rescue!

Now, you may think that I'm crazy that I can go 4 days between washes but it's the perfect marriage between my hair and I.  It takes me forever to blow dry my hair, so I always wash my hair at night.  I'm also super tired at night so I've found the perfect way of making it so my washes last a lifetime.  If you're tortured blessed by thick hair, try to push it just another day and pull it up into a bun-it will save your life!

Let's move onto my products.  Contrary to what some may think, I'm not a product hoarder and find that the less I use-the better.  I also really try to find a balance between expensive products and store brands.  As much as I wish I could spend a gazillion bucks on hair products, I've found those that work great for my hair that don't brake the bank and make the Mr. happy!  

{1} Purology Antifade Shampoo

This is my splurge, but it kisses my hair beautifully.  I actually have to wash my hair twice in the shower and this never dries it out.  Make sure you focus on your scalp when shampooing versus your ends, the shampoo will always seep down into your roots when you rinse.

{2} Purology Purify Shampoo

Because my hair is thick it can have some build up so I use this shampoo every 3 washes.  It makes my hair squeaky clean.

{3} L'oreal Ever Pure Sulfate-free Conditioner

This is my favorite conditioner.  I only put it on my ends and it always make my hair feel super soft and smooth without making it greasy or oily.  Best part is the price at Target!

{4} L'oreal Ever Sleek Frizz Taming Serum

I use this ever so often after I wash my hair, especially if it's dry outside.  It helps tame this wild mane (it can get pretty ugly up in the bathroom when I'm blow drying).  I use just a little bit because it can make my hair oily if I use too much.

{5} Herbal Essences "set me up" hairspray 

So I rarely use hairspray.  I was super blessed to have hair that holds curls and stays in place.  But, for those styles that need that extra satisfaction that each place will stay in its place I love this hairspray.  It holds it like crazy without making it look like it has hairspray in it.  

That's all folks!!!  I hope you give your hair some lovin' this week and try to stretch your wash an extra day with a super cute "bun"!

P.S. I'm contemplating doing a video tutorial on my bun.  What do you think????

first hair tutorial

One thing I really love is doing hair and make-up, especially on other people!  I love trying out new hair styles and just playing.  This week I played around and fell in L-O-V-E with this hair style because I felt so pretty wearing it.  Plus, it was pretty simple and easy.  I have tons of hair and it curls pretty easily so please don't fret if your curls don't stay! 

(P.S. The pictures aren't the best, my bathroom has horrible lighting, but hopefully it gets the job done!)

The little lovelies you will need include:

1-1.5 inch curling iron

headband

bobby pins

comb

round brush

Start by curling your hair.  

Make sure that everything is curled like so.

This is my favorite part...tease the heck out of your hair.  If you don't know how to tease your hair you can look here. Mine never looks smooth afterwards like hers does so I break out the round brush and lightly go over my curls.  The round brush tames the top while keeping the volume.  

So you should have some volume like so.

Grab your headband.  This one I handmade following this flower tutorial.  After I made the flower I hot glued it to a stretchy headband that I get from Target to wear when I workout.  Super simple!!!

I loved the way it looked with just the headband and curls but knew that the curls would get in my face teaching so I pulled the top-half of my hair back and pinned it.  

Gently grab the top half of your curls and smooth them back.  Make sure to leave some volume so be gently when you pull them back.  I have very thick hair so in order to get mine to stay I twist the hair a little bit and then put bobby pins in the twist to make it stay.  A video would explain this a little bit better but I hope you get the gist of it!

You can see the other side of the twist hear.  

Then pull some curls over your shoulders, smile, and say "Cheese"!!!  

Let me know if you have any questions! 

 I hope you try this out and feel extra pretty for the day!!