35 in 31 update

for anyone that has been wondering how my weight loss goal is going... [remember my goal of 35 pounds in 31 weeks?!]
well, so far so good!
these last five pounds have been the most stubborn to lose.
[annoying how fat loves me and my thighs a little too much. because.. i hate it.]
today i did my own little weigh in and i've lost 25 pounds in 20 weeks!
11 weeks left to lose these last 10 pounds.
psh.
i got this.
easy.

highlights of the week.

it's so much easier to blog about things that happened each week when i have my handy dandy iphone attached to my hip at all times to capture anything and everything. love that thing.

last monday husband and i got the rare opportunity to SKYPE! oh happy day!
it's almost weird to be able to talk face to face without actually being near each other. so close, yet so far away. :(
here's my babe! always crackin' me up. :) not sure why this made me giggle so much. probably since i get all giddy whenever i see him. this marks the 4th time i've seen this handsome face in a little over 5 months. so you can see why i get so antsy, right? :)

speaking of charlie! it's little things like this that put the biggest smile on my face. no matter how many times he's complimented me in the past i will always always always be flattered. i always dreamed of having a loveydovey romantic husband when i was little. lucky meeee :)[ hope you don't mind me putting this up for the world to see, babe!]

accidentally stumbled upon these babies at baron's last week. and BOY am i glad i did! hands down the BEST thing i've eaten so far this year. good lord why is coconut SO. DANG. DELICIOUS. [and only 110 calories!!]

i was able to drive to one of my most favorite southern california cities, dana point, this past week to visit a friend and do her hair. its places like this that i will tremendously miss when we make the big move in a couple months. *siiiigh.*

not apartment hunting until the end of next month and won't even touch a moving box for another four months.. yet i already have my apartment hunting notebook organized by city with each page having a checkoff list and a note section so i don't forget any details. thank you, older sister, for training me to be this way. :) [any of you having flashbacks of my wedding planner notebook?!]

finally putting one of my christmas presents from my brother to use tonight. yay! free music! 

have a good week, everyone. :)

what i wore wednesdays.

wednesday already?! 

well that was fast. 

this summer like weather [winter time whereeeee areeee youuuuu?!] in southern california is forcing me to mix outfits. hence the sandals and capris mixed with a long sleeve and a scarf. haha! 

don't let the fashion police see me. 

black v-neck long sleeve: target. [are you surprised? haa]

leopard scarf: one of my best friends, mandy gave this to me last year. sooo mandy, my dear, where did you get it?! UPDATE: she said she got it at wet seal. :)

white distressed boyfriend fit capris: american eagle

sandals: target. yet again. :)

ball bracelet and link bracelet: tiffany & co.

large silver bangle bracelet: i'm almost positive i got it at kohl's..? many many maaaany moons ago. pretty sure i was a sophomore in high school. 

highlights of the week.

oops i'm a tad late on this post but ohhh well. :)

this past week [jan. 16th-22nd] was a goodie. 

-had my LAST day at my second job and i couldn't be more happy to be back to just doing hair. hallelujah! 

-having a girls night with two of my best friends, kiersten and liana with all of liana's wonderful sisters. we made get well cards for their brother, jared. he had two unrelated surgeries that day and we wanted him to feel the love. thankfully he is recovering very well! and he LOVED all his cards. job well done, ladies. :) 

-this MINI mason jar used as a salt shaker! i love almost anything miniature so of course this little guy made my heart melt. so much so, that i had to take a picture of it.

-getting this adorable chalkboard/burlap pincushion/collage frame on CLEARANCE! sure i'll take it for 75% off. noooo problem. score!

-one of my favorite things in life is having breakfast for dinner. mainly because i am sooo NOT a morning person, but i loveloveLOVE breakfast foods. any and all. and this yummy apple cinnamon oatmeal sweetened with agave nectar was no disappointment. i practically licked the bowl clean. 

-deployment flower delivery day #11. i have such a romantic and thoughtful husband. he's still capable of swooning me even when he's 7,500 miles away. lucky, lucky me. :)

[my favorite part of this bouquet is the pop of sunshine this yellow gerber daisy brings. just a friendly reminder that there IS light at the end of this ugly deployment tunnel and charlie will be home SOON!]

-after scraping the sides of my blush compact for a good month i finally made my way down to sephora to pick me up a fresh one! ahh nothing like brand spankin' new blush. nars is the way to go, ladies. my favorite blush shade of theirs?: "orgasm". [yes, go ahead and giggle if you must. ]

-and the best part of this week? one of my best friends [also mentioned earlier this post..i'm a little redundant tonight.] got ENGAGED! ♥

congratulations, liana and ryan! woohoo! 

got these two lovebirds a card, some pretty orchids & some celebratory ring pops. :) [they're only fitting, right?]

yup, very good week indeed. 

care packages.

remember how i mentioned last week that i sent off charlie's LAST care package?! [YAY!]

well, it made me remember how i haven't been the best at uploading all of them onto our blog. and i can't really remember which one i last showed you all on here, so here's all 14 of 'em. 

in an odd way, i will really miss making these for my babe. it gave me such joy to make these for charlie, knowing how happy they make him while he's in such a miserable country. 

the candygram..

there you have it! all of my care packages to charlie. i like to spoil him. he deserves it. :)

[sorry to all my facebook friends that have already seen these a few times!]

what i wore wednesdays.

it's wednesday again! and this is what i wore. :)

reeeeally sorry about the graininess goin' on in these pictures. 

[if anyone would like to donate to the i'm-sick-of-samantha's-grainy-and-horribly-lit-pictures-she-needs-a-fancy-schmancy-camera fund that would be graaand. HA! ;)] 

rock revival jeans & pointy toe heals: buckle

skinny belt and striped shirt: target. [almost every outfit i wear there's something in it from target. loooove target.]

green sleeveless sweater: charlotte russe 

necklace: oh crap. i seriously forgot where i got that. BUT i'm going to go out on a limb here and guess target a long time ago- hence the memory loss. haha!




until we meet again, wendesday!

looky what i did!

so we all know i loveloveLOVE pinterest. [ya, me and every other person on this earth because pinterest is AWESOME!]

and i saw this ca-ute valentine's wreath a few weeks ago and i just couldn't stop thinking of it. soo i made one so i can whip it out and put it on our front door every year to celebrate love day. :)

even though the inspiration is much better than mine, i'm still proud of my wreath! 

especially since the wreath off of pinterest was originally a picture from a product being sold on etsy for $35. and i made mine for roughly...ohhh....$7 bucks. I WIN! 

highlights of the week.

finding old pictures of me and my brother, clayton. this is proof that while growing up, there were times we got along. thank goodness we grow up and realize how much we truly love our siblings. :) so thankful for my brother.

realizing my hair is actually GROWING! woohoo! if only 8 inches of hair could grow overnight..

i guess i'll be patient. *siiigh* [side note: why didn't i curl the bottom of my hair?! sometimes i do the weirdest things then realize it later. haha]

wearing one of charlie's shirts that still smells like him while being lazy on today's sicky day. AND how children's dimetapp still works like a charm.

greek yogurt and honey. two of my favorite things combined. what could be a better way to start off my day?! obsessed. 

and so convenient how atheno's puts the perfect amount of honey right next to the yogurt. love it for the oh-my-i-gosh-gotta-get-out-the-door-to-get-to-work-on-time-but-first-BREAKFAST! kind of mornings. :)

now that charlie has limited access to the internet we get to be spoiled and be able to email each other 1 or 2 times a day. words can't describe how happy this man makes me. and how happy modern technology makes me for moments like this! ♥

what i wore wednesdays.

feeling a little nautical today. :) 

maybe i'm already getting antsy for our [late] honeymoon cruise in 124 days?!

not maybe antsy. definitely antsy.

striped sweater & skinny jeans: New York & Co.

red shirt & red top sider shoes: target.

watch: charming charlie

auntie and uncle x10!

charlie and i were blessed with not one but TWO new little bundles of joy that get to call us auntie and uncle.
we now have TEN nieces and nephews. ten!

first up: [ladies first]

Madelyn Nicole

born on our anniversary!

december 29, 2011

8 lbs. 10 oz. 

20.5 inches 

♥

Gabriel Edwin

born TODAY!

january 7, 2012

8 lbs. 14 oz.

19 inches

♥

yes, the osbornes have healthy babies. :)

i am one proud auntie. 

highlights of the week.

a few things that made me smile this past week..

my brand new orange leather fossil wallet! 

i've been wanting a new wallet since forever [oookay. only like 4 years], and i finally went to the carlsbad outlets to their fossil outlet store and snatched up this pretty little thing AND a satchel purse for [get this..] 75% OFF! hooooly guacamole. i love sporting a fabulous leather purse that was originally onehundredandtoomuch for a mere $39. :)

i'm a sucker for anything loveydovey.

and this old music title sheet caught my eye right away.

have a little faith. :)

this quote gives me chills. 

flowers from the hubs.
these are deployment flowers #10.
isn't he the sweetest?!
i'll keep him. :)

home done pedicures, late night chats and errand runs to target with one of my greatest friends, kiersten. i'm so thankful for her, her example and our friendship. she is seriously the best! [no pictures of our fun times this week though. boo.]

now time for me to cuddle up to my pillow that's sprayed with charlie's cologne and catch up on some dvr'd [correct punctuation? nope. sorry grammar gods!] episodes of good 'ol friends. [seeing every episode at least 10 times already is obviously not enough.]

have a fantastic weekend.
♥

shellac.

my adorable turquoise-loving friend, ali has this way cool shellac nail curing kit complete with the uv light and everything!
her nails ALWAYS look amazing and never have any chips. so i finally asked her "ali. what's your secret? do you do your nails all the time so they're manicure perfect?" she of course said "heck no!" [she's wayyy too busy for that. i mean, who isn't, right?] then she continued to tell me about her shellac kit.
i've heard of these since i'm pretty involved in the beauty world being a cosmetologist, but i usually don't chime in on anything nail related too often.
so the other night we finally had time for ali to do my nails! yay!
these lovely ladies won't chip and will last 2 to 3 WEEKS! and it only takes about 20 minutes!

[notice my all different shape finger nails? yuck. thank you mom! i dream of having perfectly long nail beds. *sigh*]

i went with the light pink for more of a natural look. :) she did a fantastic job!

here are the steps! [and dumb-dumb me didn't write down the steps as ali was explaining them. sooo here's a rough explanation..]

step 1: gather all your products. [i forgot to take a picture with the rubbing alcohol and the cotton pads, but you'll need those, too!]

[sorry 'bout the lighting. i'm no professional with my little iphone by any means. ]

-gel curing uv lamp

-rubbing alcohol

-3 cotton pads

-nail file

-shellac base coat

-shellac color coat of your choice

-shellac clear top coat

-a timer

-start by taking of any excess old nail polish with nail polish remover and dry out the nail beds with rubbing alcohol and 1 cotton pad. be sure to get all the cotton fuzzies off!

-then on one hand, do one coat of the base polish and put under uv lamp for 10 seconds.

DO NOT TOUCH SHELLAC POLISH AT ANY TIME UNTIL FINISHED! ali warned me. :)

-then immediately put on one coat of the color shellac and put under the uv lamp to cure for 2 minutes.

-repeat another coat for more pink color. [optional]

-apply one coat of the top polish and cure under uv lamp for 2 minutes.

-immediately rub off the stickiness with a little rubbing alcohol on a fresh cotton pad.

-repeat all steps with the other hand 

and you now have beautifully manicured nails!

thank you ali! i love love looove my nails! they're so shiny. and no streaks at all! 

i'm hooked.

first post of the year!

HAPPY 2012!
let's kick off the new year with my very first DIY post, yes?
yes, let's!

homemade organic coconut sugar scrub

i've been wanting to make a body scrub for quite some time now, just never got around to it. 

the past few weeks, i've been searching and searching for a good 'recipe'. even though there's not much to making a sugar scrub, i still wanted a few guidelines to follow. 

thank you, pinterest, for inspiring me! i took a few different recipes, combined them and made different ratios to make the one i made. 

since this was my first homemade sugar scrub, i found out that i will NOT use lavender in it again. for one, i'm not a huge fan of lavender scent [the color on the other hand, i love] and for two i don't know if it's my super strong sense of smell or what but it's just too overpowering! i should have just listened to my gut instinct and not used it, but hey- i'm a rookie here. :)

so with that said- here's my homemade organic coconut sugar scrub recipe!

*all ingredients [except the olive oil] were purchased at Sprout's*

1 cup organic cane sugar [i used a brown sugar since all the white cane sugar was too fine]

1/3 celtic sea salt

1/4 cup coconut oil*

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil [some recipes call for almond oil but i'm allergic to tree nuts, sooo that's a no-go for me!]

1 tablespoon vitamin E oil

3 or 4 drops of lavender oil <---[OPTIONAL! me no likey lavender. but hey- to each it's own!]

*note: i couldn't find coconut oil. ?? so i figured coconut "flavor" would work just fine. and i was right!

i just combined the sugar and salt first..

then put in the coconut "flavor" and mixed it up to make sure i put in enough..

then added the olive oil, vitamin E oil and lavender. mixing in between each.

then i HAD to test it out before i bottled it up. :)

after i made my hands baby skin soft, i went back to work.

a little homemade touch with some scrapbook material, glue dots, sharpie and a ribbon and VOILÅ! an adorable little gift for anyone that loves soft yummy smelling skin. which is...everyone, right?

enjoy. :)