Trying to tame my mane

Before the summer began, my hair and I were in a battle. Some days it was curly, some days it was half straight and half wavy, and some days it was just straight crazy. I remembered when I was little (and my hair was straight) I used to braid my hair after the shower, sleep in the braids, and wake up to take them out and find...well, some kind of kinky, poofy, semi-wavy do. So, I decided I would give it a try for old times sake.

Before...
After


The picture is dark and blown out, but you get the idea. It sort of worked, although slightly kinky. As summer goes on, I continue to battle with my crazy hair. I am seriously trying to grow my hair out and have a couple of inches to go. In the meantime, Rachel Scholl (fabulous) gave me some highlights which makes me happier with my crazy hair. Here is me this morning sporting bedhead + a bobby pin!
Not so crazy today. I continue to experiment with hot rollers, foam curlers, and all different products to tame this mane. A heat index of 120 does not help! Alas, I will be in Alaska in 60 degree weather at the end of this week and I expect to have fabulous hair! Do you have any tips to beat this heat (perhaps more practical than braids?)

My list of dates

I have talked to a few of my friends about this list of dates that I made for James a long time ago. James is comfortable with staying home, playing video games, editing pictures, watching television, and doing anything inside any night. I on the other hand, love to be outside trying new things all the time. Being an extrovert, I get energy being around other people and especially love my quality time. But I do get tired of doing the same things over and over--it is who I have always been! Since this is a foreign world to James, I decided to make a list of things I want to do. I figured this was a fail proof method because all he had to do was pick one off the list! My friends have told me that I need to share my list so here it is in all its long glory including links so you can check some of the places out:

1. Go out on the dock, gazebo, pier and dance to sweet music. 2. Go fishing. 3. Bowling. 4. Picnic at Wannamaker and improve my frisbee skills. 5. Play frisbee golf. 6. Get a group together and play frisbee, man hunt, softball, etc. 7. Watch the Goonies, Office Space, or any other must sees! 8. Make home made pizzas-create a new recipe! 9. Watch the Have Nots or some comedy show. 10. Go on a bike ride through Crowfield. 11. Bike up to Charleston Southern University, watch the sunset, and take pictures. 12. Dress up fancy and take pictures downtown of neat stuff and get people to take pictures of us. 13. Go out on a boat ride. 14. Go to an art gallery such as Gallery Chuma, The Gibbes, or others. 15. Visit the Charleston Museum. 16. Go to Fire & Earth and make pottery. 17. Walk/bike the new bridge near sunset-bring camera, flashlight, and bubbles! 18. Go rock climbing at James Island County Park. 19. Take the dogs to James Island County Park to see if they like to swim at the doggy beach! 20. Go visit local parks, do a devotional, and have a picnic. 21. Picnic, sunsets, and anything outdoors are always cool. 22. Host a unisex poker night. 23. Go anywhere at night where we can see the stars (especially the beach + blankets + warm beverage). 24. Crazy Paint Date-this involves a sheet, different colors of paint, and different painting tools such as a brush, sponge, squirt gun, hands, etc and go crazy! Later we can cut out the best pieces and make art out of it. 25. Do a fun arts and crafts project together. 26. Go to the beach and I can teach you how to surf. 27. Have a murder mystery party with friends! 28. Go to Cypress Gardens to visit the Butterfly Garden and ride the bateau boats. 29. Go to Frankies Fun Park and race on the track, have fun in the batting cage, and get our aggression on the driving range. 30. Go to Possibly Picasso and make something for the house. 31. Thrift Store Date-go to a thrift store, pick outfits out (more than likely crazy) for eachother (wash them-as we are germaphobes), and go downtown acting completely normal! 32. Go to Cupcakes in Mount Pleasant! Yum! 33. Barnes & Noble date night-drink coffee and read magazines (James->photography Me->craft). 34. Go to the rope swing on Daniel Island or Ravenel. 35. Try out local mom and pop restaurants. 36. Go to one of the local farms and pick fruit (starts in April)! 37. Go to Charleston Cooks or take a cooking class. 38. Walk on the beach at night, star gaze, and collect shells for our bathroom. 39. Go to one of the places downtown that teach you how to dance (swing, shag, or salsa). 40. Go to the beach at sunset/sunrise (do you see the themes:sunsets, beach, outdoors?) 41. Have a worship night with friends. 42. Have a campfire and make smores. 43. Walk around the Reflection Pond at Charleston Southern University and feed the ducks (we have sweet memories here). 44. Get a caricature drawn of us. 45. Have an outdoor party on our patio, grill out, and play bocci ball. 46. Play the question game (this is how we got to know eachother while dating). 47. Build a fort in the house and make ice cream! 48. Volunteer at the soup kitchen, Special Olympics, or somewhere else together. 49. Watch our wedding dvd and cuddle. 50. Build something together like our pot rock. 51. Go garage sale-ing. 52. Fix your VR4, take it to the car show, and go for a cruise. 53. Clean and organize your garage! 54. Dress up nice (so we look more "established") and go test drive your dream car. 55. Make something out of the mirrors in the garage! 56. Get dressed up and go somewhere fancy to eat! 57. Go paintballing, 4-wheeling, or something dirty! 58. Go kayaking or canoeing. 59. Japanese night at my Aunt & Uncles. 60. Go downtown and visit it as if we were tourists! 61. Visit our grandparents and make a sentimental gift for them. 62. Go to the Cinebarre. 63. Go to Carowinds! 64. Visit any local festivals (Flowertown, Spoleto, etc). 65. Go to a concert. 66. Double date with your parents. 67. Hang out with Mackie (my brother) and Ashley (his sis). 68. Go to the drive-in movie theatre in Beaufort. 69. Go to Jestine's Kitchen for lunch! 70. Fingerpaint. 71. Use our screen printer to make t-shirts. 72. Take my sled and some cardboard and go down the hill at Wannamaker Park. 73. Go camping-even if it is not very far away. 74. Go on a ski trip. 75. Go on a day/weekend trip to Charlotte--> Ikea, Cheesecake Factory, Forever 21. 76. Visit downtown Summerville (we never go there) and eat at Ladles. 77. Homemade sushi night--everyone eats with chopsticks! 78. Go to an auction. 79. Master a recipe together.

Some of these can be combined such as campfire and smores, picnic at the beach, etc. Some are expensive and some are cheap! I probably need to find some more cheap ideas! My whole idea was that we would try to take pictures at all of these dates and compile it all into a big book so we can remember! I have also heard of people doing a date jar where they write dates on a piece of paper and pull one out on their date nights. Lastly, I want James to tell me some dates he wants to do specifically as well so I can take him out!

What are some of your date ideas? I'd love to add to my list :)

Picnic in the Park!

On the first official day of spring break, I had the opportunity to go on a picnic with a few of my gal pals! These friends of mine are in Psychology Club with me which is usually where we see each other. Well, we decided it is about time to hang out outside of these events like the real friends we are! I love how Psychology Club has helped in forming relationships with these girls. Shardai is my little sunshine and is always happy whenever I see her. Laura is a great person to bounce ideas off of and is super helpful, caring, and independent. Ruby is amazing for many reasons and I feel myself growing closer to her every week-especially when she sits with me in my car talking for three hours eating brownies!


It was fun to just get outside and enjoy the weather! We were all about this picnic and had yummy sandwhiches, chips & dip, sweet tea, muffins, grapes (which we killed), and more! Oh and we even had a plaid tablecloth! I think what made it special was that we are all four completey different people but that didn't matter at all. It was fun, delicious, and a great start to my Spring Break. I definitely reccommend that everyone goes on a picnic because it is starting to get beautiful outside and it is a really cheap date idea (of which I have more ideas to come!) Here are a few pics from the day:

Snow Day!!!

I am still in awe that it actually snowed in Charleston! And not only that, but it stuck for more than one day! I would say that at our house, it snowed at least a good six inches which was amazing! When I was on the way home from work, I called James and said "I think it is about to snow! Something is coming down and it is not quite rain and not snow yet!" Well as soon as I pulled into my driveway, I started honking at James because the sleet was starting to turn into snow. I ran out of my car so excited and literally just jumped up and down in the snow! About an hour later we decided to go get a pizza and a movie since we did not want to be out on the roads all night. Well, once we went outside, we discovered that in my excitement, I had left my car door open! So, I had about an inch of snow in my car!

The best part about the snow was seeing people so happy as we walked throughout the store. It is amazing how excited everyone was about it--minus the few people I saw with umbrellas! I could not stop smiling and jumping up and down! I have seen snow before but this much snow has not happened for at least ten years in Charleston. It might take that long to happen again...hopefully not! We made a snowman who we named Stanley, then Stanley 2.0, then Stanley 2.5 as his head did not want to stay on!

The next morning we decided to take pictures around our neighborhood and it was so much fun to see all of the snowmen in our neighborhood. I even taught one little girl how to make the big bottom part of a snowman because she didn't know as her father brushed snow off his car with a broom --oh Charleston! James and I also had a huge snowball fight of which he definitely won which is when I gave up and made a snow angel!

All in all, we had tons of fun and got lots of great pictures! It made for a perfect Valentine's weekend.