Nice Hat

Hat - Slouchy Beanie 

The second compliment that I received today was "nice hat."  This was said to me by the gentleman that was standing behind me in line as I waited to make my next appointment with the dermatologist.  As soon as I finished up, I turned around, smiled at the man behind me, and he complimented my hat.  I really like this hat as well and have received more than one compliment on it.  

About a half an hour earlier I received my first compliment, "Nice shoes!"  The nurse was referencing my awesome polka dot converse.  We then had a conversation about real Converse versus fake Converse.  She was surprised that I was a die hard real Converse fanatic.  I giggled to myself and thought, uhh... did you not even see my shirt?

I thought it was super funny because, as usual, I was doing me, and what felt good to me.  But.... I was also doing me in that I was feeling a bit self conscious about my outfit.  Though not overtly feminine necessarily, at least not as my typical female outfits are, I was still dressed head to toe in female clothing.  I was also wearing a bra with enough padding to give me some shape.  So naturally I thought well, of course this woman notices what I am wearing and knows I am dressed as a woman.  But nope, this woman hadn't notice my clothing, so much so that she didn't even notice the giant shiny Converse symbol on the front of my shirt.

As soon as I was done giggling over this little tickler, I soon found myself in the interesting position of needing to remove my shirt and lie down on the doctor's table.  Why is it that this particular thing was a bit off for me?  Well the nurse that led me into the room, the one who complemented me on my killer shoes, she was apparently staying in the room as I was to take my shirt off.  Oh and yeah, I already mentioned to you that I was wearing a bra, with some small extra pads didn't I?

So uh yeah, to recap, I was wearing a bra with some pads and was needing to basically show this to her.  I thought about it briefly.  Which was probably just a moment or two, but it felt like forever.  The nurse was involved in prepping for the upcoming procedure and I took off my shirt as any other normal person would.  And then I did the extra ordinary thing of taking out my little pads and took off my bra.

It was truly spectacular.  Spectacularly ordinary.  No big deal.  The doctor came in, did the procedure, which was to remove a skin cyst if you must know, and the appointment was over.  I got dressed while she was still in the room, but I opted not to wear a bra.  I mean they did just slice into my back a few minutes prior!

So uh yeah, that happened.  I thought it was funny.  Another example of facing your fears one small act at a time.

Okay peeps!  I hope that you all are doing well!!

Love you!

Love yourselves!!

Hate cysts!!

Finally A Day For Fun

Sweater - White House Black Market - Similar

Jeans - 7 For All Mankind - Similar

Boots - Nine West - Similar

Belt - Mossimo - Similar

I finally took the time to go out and have some fun!  What has been absorbing my days you ask?  Why thank you!  Well, let me tell you, I have gotten it into my head to do a major remodeling project on my house.  What am I remodeling?  Well, I am removing the texture from all of my walls and all of my ceilings.  Fun stuff!!  I SO love spending hours upon hours with a sander above my head sanding ceilings.  OMG, so much fun!!  The thing about it is, I love how it looks once it is done.  Thus it motivates me to keep going.  But, I don't leave much time for myself to get out and have any fun!

On this day though, I took a day off from working, my regular job, and my home remodeling job, and my various hobbies, that actually are just other exhausting jobs and Jules and I went to the movies!  Yay!  Movie day!  We decided to go see Logan.  I heard Hugh Jackman explain it as being totally different from any other Marvel type of comic movie, and I would have to agree with him.  We enjoyed it, but it is an emotional journey, if you have been watching any of these movies that is.

Being super exhausted I wanted to wear something that is super comfy for me.  This combo of items fits that bill.  I really like the sweater.  It has patterns, black and white, and just a dash of color.  The pants are some of my faves.  Super comfy and a nice color wash.  The boots are also some of my old time favorites.  I like how tight they are and they make my feet look small!

I hope that you all are doing well!  Wow, looking back, I think I have only gotten fully dressed a handful of times within the last few months.  I started this home remodel quest several months ago and it is so time consuming!  I work all week long, and occasionally on the weekends for just my regular job, and to then come home and try and fit in a ginormous amount of work at home is just a bit exhausting.  Weird.  I put off doing this part of my house for at least ten years.  Now that I am engaged in it I just want to work, work, work until it is finished!

Well, guess what?  I woke up super early because this blog was on my mind.  Now that I have been awake for a few hours, and have finally written a bit of filler for these pages, it is time for me to go back to my house improvement project!  Yay!

Love you!

Love yourself!

Free yourself from your own constraints of what you think you can do!

A Shoutout For My Article on Already Pretty

Howdy peeps!  Happy Sunday to you all.  I just wanted to do a quick plug for my article appearing today at Already Pretty.  It is about sizes and numbers and how those darn little things mean next to nothing!  So I suggest you go check it out over there!

Love ya!

BTW - my once little dog, Indy, is all grown up now!  I just weighed him the other day at 90.5lbs!  Wow!  He's huge!

Cookies!

Jenaluca - Awesome Scoops!

One of the things I really enjoy doing is baking.  I have enjoyed it since a young kid and I continue to really enjoy it.  Though I do think it is a bit funny how many people tell me that they are so impressed by my baking talents and that it is amazing.  Maybe it is because they perceive me to be a male and are stereotypical in their gender assigned roles in life, i.e. men can't cook!  Ha!  Either assumption is wrong!  That men can't cook, and that I am a mere male! Ha!

Anywho....... I have really gotten much more into cookie making as of late.  I have inherited a family cookie cookbook and am currently working my way through it attempting to make every cookie in the book.  The book isn't that awesome of a thing.  It's not like some family heirloom.  It is just a Betty Crocker Cookie Book from like 1962 or some such thing.  I mean that does make it about 50-60 years old huh?

Okay, so I am making lots of cookies lately and one of the things I have struggled with is consistent cookie size.  It finally occurred to me to search Amazon for cookie scoops.  I mean, duh!  What took me so long??  It's almost as if I'm just an amature at all of this cooking stuff!  Ha!

Well Jules ended up buying me some different sized scoops for this past Christmas and I was super happy.  Until I took them out of their package.  Uh... super cheap!  I mean super super cheap!!  So cheap that one of the three was already broken and I didn't even care.  I told her, thank you very much but just send them back.  Off I went then onto the search for the awesome-est cookie scoops ever!

I happened upon the Jenaluca scoops.  They had pretty good reviews and appeared to be of high quality craftsmanship.  I took a gamble and ordered them.  I say a gamble, because they were some of the highest priced scoops available on Amazon.

Anywho...... they arrived in the mail and I excitedly opened them.  Immediately I could tell they are a high quality product.  They are made out of good material and are of an excellent design.  But low I was dismayed when I tried the smallest scoop and it stuck a minor amount.  Jules said I should just go with it as it still worked.  But really, when making cookies, lots of cookies, I really don't want anything to stick ever.  Besides for the price, who wants a mostly good product?  Nobody!

I thought about it for a day or so and then I emailed Jenaluca and explained what happened.  Within a day or two I got a reply that said how sorry they were and asked where they could send the replacement scoop.  Shocking!  I didn't even provide a receipt or anything!  I gave them my address and within two days, I had a replacement school at my door.  Inside the box was the new scoop, which operated perfectly, and the kicker?  They included a handwritten note explaining how sorry they were for their negligence in having provided a product that clearly missed their quality control!

Wow!  I was simply amazed by their customer service!  I mean they make a great product, but to also give such awesome customer service, they have earned a customer for life!  I am really curious what else this awesome company makes!

So..... if you are in the market for awesome scoops, check out Jenaluca!

Seriously.

I know this is just a lowly little blog and all.

And I know that I gain something off of advertising products and you clicking on them.

But seriously!  These things are great and this company rocks!

Love you!

Love This Suit Fabric Dress

Dress - White House Black Market - Similar

Shoes - Naturalizer - Similar 

Belt - Mossimo - Similar

This dress caught my eye during my last shopping trip for a variety of reasons.  First off, I really do like the color.  I mean I am a black and white girl, but shades of grey are within that realm, right?  Well I think they are.  As well, I really like the stitching on this dress.  They did the stitching in curves, which really adds a great element to it.  I don't know if you can see the stitching all that well in the above photo.  I think it comes out better in the photo below.

I wore this dress while Jules and I were in Long Beach and it was super chilly!  If you were around LA during this time, it was over the President's Day Weekend when that wicked storm came in a flooded everything.  So it was pretty darn chilly!  But I had brought the dress specifically to wear out to dinner on this evening, so I braved the chilliness and went for it!

Okie dokie folks!

Hope you are well!

Love you!

Love yourself!