Possibly my favorite Pinterest find EVER...

Pardon the slight profanity, but...

via here

Yeah. 

That just happened.

I'm a mean mommy...

For some unknown reason Lilly hates two of the iPhone ringtones.  She won't whine unless she hears those particular sounds.  Maybe she doesn't like the melody? :) (And I definitely Googled to make sure it wasn't hurting her ears, so don't worry.)

(And let's just ignore my obnoxious, high-pitched puppy voice, mmkay?)

Thankful Thursdays...

This week has been sort of insane. Part of that is work-related, but most of it is the fact that I've been sneaking chapters of the last book in the Inheritance Cycle in any spare minute I can find, and I FINALLY finished it this morning. So, so good. Seriously, if you liked Harry Potter or are at all into the idea of magic, you should read these books.

So that's what's been up with me -- a bunch of work and a bunch of reading. Aren't you so glad you can share in my incredibly interesting life? ;)

Anyway, here are this week's thankfuls.

{I'm thankful} for rain and cool weather. I promise - you won't hear a hint of complaint from me about the weather cooling down or the rain we've been getting. Bring it on, God. :)

{I'm thankful} that Micah and I FINALLY made it to a Sunday School class last Sunday. We really liked the couples in our class, and the teacher seems wonderful. That'll make it easier not to hit the snooze button every Sunday. :)

{I'm thankful} for this month's Birchbox. I got these wonderful things in the mail yesterday, and I really like the ones I've tried so far.

The BeFine night cream felt wonderful when I put it on, and my skin felt great when I woke up this morning.  But I've got to be honest, it's not as good as this stuff my stepmom hooked me up with. (And I don't even care that it's designed for mature skin - it feels AMAZING!)  I'm just keeping it real.  I haven't tried the Anastasia Lash Lifting Mascara, but I'll let you know when I do.  The Kerastase Elixir Ultime is amazing.  I'll probably be asking for some for Christmas, since $54/bottle for hair product is pretty steep, even for this drama queen.  The Alex & Isabelle hair ties are too adorable, but I probably won't buy any.  I just don't wear my hair up enough to justify the cost.  It's too soon to tell whether the Supersmile whitening toothpaste will work, but it definitely feels and tastes good, so that's a plus. :)

{I'm thankful} for sauteed zucchini, grape tomatoes, and pan-seared scallops.  Amen.

{I'm thankful} for this post about Compassion International.  I haven't talked about it with Micah yet, but I feel certain that he'll agree that we should sponsor a child.  We've been given much. And when I thought about the fact that if I can just give up ONE sushi lunch a month (which I shouldn't be eating anyway on my diet), I'll pay to help feed, educate, and care for a child who needs it, I just almost broke down in tears.  I'm praying fervently that God would keep reminding me to be grateful for this life.  There is so much to be thankful for.

{I'm thankful} for a husband who loves me in spite of the fact that I randomly bust out (1) horrible dance moves, (2) horrible singing, and (3) a horrible English accent in public.  Quite often.

{I'm thankful} that some of the red tape my mom has been stressing about was resolved today - looks like they'll be homeowners very soon!

{I'm thankful} for this little girl.  She's given this auntie a lot to think about... :) (And wouldn't you just murder for those eyelashes?  I see a lot of trouble for her daddy in years to come...)

{I'm thankful} that the girls at work don't let me flake out on them.  We've now gone down and back up the 16 stories of stairs in our building four times in two weeks, and it's getting easier every time.  (But make no mistake - I'm still covered in sweat and completely out of breath every time we finish.)

{I'm thankful} that I am a child of a loving God who never gives up on me.   

Just some sentences...

I downloaded the free Kindle app for my iPhone, and I couldn't possibly convey the depths of my love for it. It automatically syncs up with my Kindle and knows what page I left off on so that I can steal a few pages of whatever book I'm reading whenever I get a spare minute. I woke up to find that the last book in the Inheritance Cycle had been delivered overnight, and I was this close to staying in bed and reading all day. Instead, I dragged myself out of bed and read a few pages while I straightened my hair and got ready for work. :)

Speaking of hair, I'm now officially the weird girl with the long hair. It has been probably six months since I've had a haircut, and it's definitely time for something new. I've been scouring Pinterest and googling like a champ for some good ideas, and here are a few I'm thinking about.

(This is my favorite.  I like the layers, but I'd probably go just a teensy bit longer than this.)

(Can I just say that I LOVE Kate Beckinsale.  And her gorgeous hair.)

(This one's the wildcard.  I'm not certain I could pull this off, and I feel like I'd be totally over the bangs after a few days, but it's definitely cute.)

My six week weigh-in was yesterday, and I've lost a total of 23 pounds so far. Some weeks are better than others, but I'm actually feeling really great, and it's getting easier to say no to things that aren't good for me. Some evil person brought the most delicious-looking brownies to work today, but I'm realizing that it just isn't worth it. I'm getting back into some of the clothes I haven't been able to fit into for a year or so, and it feels so, so good.

(Taken this weekend at my friend Hope's wedding.  Congrats, Hope and Josh!)

Micah and I have to go to Houston this weekend to check on the rent house after our tenant moved out. She seemed like she really, really wanted to get her deposit back, so I'm hoping she did a good job keeping it up. And I'm really hoping we find another tenant to lease the house for another year. If you know anyone who needs a place to live in Houston, give me a shout! :)

Apparently the hard drive on our laptop is failing. That thing survived law school and the Texas bar exam, but apparently it's just had enough. So we're shopping for a new computer, and it's utterly bewildering. What was the cutting edge the last time I shopped for computers is now obsolete, and I can't tell what's "good" these days. All I know is that my last two laptops were Sonys, and neither lasted more than three years, so I'm definitely going with something else this time.

That's about all the random I can muster today.  Hope you guys are having a great week!

I'm a Cork-a-holic...

I think I've mentioned before that my sweet Aunt Gem and Uncle Larry gave me a huge bag full of wine corks when they came up to visit last fall.  They figured that someone in my family could find a crafty/creative use for them, and, shockingly, it ended up being me.  (This is sort of ironic considering that I drink almost zero alcohol.)

First, I put some in a vase in the master bath.

I also put some in my new lantern, along with some vintage keys.

 And last night, I set out to make a pretty cork letters like these that I saw on Pinterest:

(image via here)

Except I didn't have a pretty wood template to work from, so mine looks a little more homemade.  About halfway through I realized that I needed to be taking some pictures so I could (for once!) do a proper tutorial, but the battery was dead on my camera, so all you get are iPhone pictures.  And, in typical Ryan fashion, I didn't take pictures of all the steps.  Oops. :)

I started by hotgluing the sides of the corks together in one straight line, using a straight edge to keep them lined up.  (They're all various lengths, so I put the end of the cork that I wanted to show facedown so I'd end up with a flat surface.  The picture above shows the backside of the corks.)  Then I added two more rows, gluing each cork to the cork next to it in line, as well as the previous row to add stability. 

Then I added the "bridge" of the H, again double-gluing for stability.

And then I made another strip of three rows and glued that row to the "bridge."  Ta-da! That's it! 

It took me about an hour, and I'm so pleased with the results.  I wasn't going to add any of the red wine corks or corks with writing on them, but I accidentally put a red wine cork in, and I loved the way that it looked, so I added more. (That's why there are fewer dark corks on the first row on the right side - that's the one I started with. :))

So if you've got any extra wine corks laying around, here's a way to put them to good use! :)