The Hair Diaries: Gibson Edition

It was the puppy’s first time to the groomer’s this week and so I thought it would be fun (or maybe just funny) to do before and after pictures of him and share a Hair Diaries post all about Gibson. He is so good at posing for the camera…must be my dog.

The first week we had Gibson we took him with us one night to go get a movie. The lady that owns the local movie rental place has a schnauzer and she just loves the breed, so I wanted her to meet him. While we were there we also met a groomer who has a little shop in town. She said that if I brought him by she’d clip the hair that was in his eyes and trim his nails for free. So we went by the next day and he did so good. I was really drawn to her and impressed by her way with Gibson, so I knew when he needed a full groom I would take him back to her.

And that time was this week…okay, maybe before this week if you’re looking at the before pictures. Hehe. But that makes for a more dramatic before and after, right?

Here is my scruffy puppy before:

And my big handsome boy after:

The groomer even tied the cutest little blue handkerchief on him. So sweet. And she gave me some suggestions on working with him so they can get a better cut on his ears and near his face. He was a little leery of the clippers there, but he did good on other areas that puppies sometime have problems, so that’s good. And the conditioner smelled like blueberries. He was so soft and super cuddly afterwards and I enjoyed the rest of my day off with him.

Gibson has just lightened up my days and has brought so much happiness and fun to our life. I’m so glad we were able to get him.

Sleep Talking Husband

I’ve been saving up some great new quotes from Chris sleep talking to add to my collection and share with you. Man, he just makes me laugh so hard! Here are a few of the best recent ones.

“A wookie’s favorite store is Pier1 Imports. They love all the baskets.”

“They just can’t be magical if you don’t butter them!”

“They gotta stop that! The cats keep digging up all the potatoes before they’re ready. I’m sure they’re not even that hungry.” 

Too funny, right?! I think he’s a keeper.

A cut and a color

Back in December I was just checking Instagram one day like I love to do, and stumbled across this picture in Becky Higgins’ stream. And I instantly thought… “That is totally my next hair style!”

Luckily the darling lady was tagged in the picture, so I clicked over to her Instagram feed and was so excited to find tons of pictures of her sweet hair cut and lots of different ways that she styles it. Her name is Becki and she is the founder of Whippy Cake. You can follow her Instagram HERE. She also has a few hair tutorials on YouTube!

So of course I showed the pictures to Hannah, my cousin and hairstylist, and she said that the texture of my hair would be perfect for the cut! So I started making plans, deciding what products to try and dreaming of short hair. And on Monday the 21st we made it happen!

I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!

I’ve had it short for a week now, and I am loving the texture of, how playful it is and yet still really feminine. I can’t wait to try a few more of Becki’s tutorials and see how it looks with curls and lots of volume. Its not the exact color I was going for yet, but my hair was pretty dark, so it will take a couple more processes and it will be perfect. Hannah did such a great job. I am so excited about this style!

And my little puppy Gibson had to get in on the photo action too! He is just the cutest thing. I’m pretty smitten. Look at that face!!

What is the most drastic change of style you’ve ever done?
Do you like short hair? Would you try it?

My newest designs

I have been working hard on a few designs lately and I’m excited to share some of the results of these projects.

The first is a header design for the lovely Niamh at Finding the Joys in my Journey. She was the winner of my header giveaway at Hope Squared in October. We had a lot of fun talking back and forth about colors and textures and how she wanted the header to look. I love the final product which captures the brightness of her personality and her blog. My favorite things are the geometric shapes and how all the colors look together. She was a pleasure to work with, and her blog is a fun space to visit. Take a look at her header live on her blog HERE.

Next is a complete blog makeover for Rebecca at Our Busy Little Bunch. She received a blogger grant from Mom Central to give her blog a makeover and she chose me as her designer! She knew exactly the color scheme she wanted and sent me these pictures of fabric as a starting off point.

I loved the bright colors and grey as a neutral. She is an amazing quilter and sewer and initially I wanted to do a pretty literal interpretation of that in her design. But after some conversation I realized Rebecca didn’t want to be completely contained by that. So I went back to the drawing board and focused more on the colors with just a little bit of frill. And I added a hint of stitching/thread feel to some of the design elements. I love how everything came together, and Rebecca has been blogging up a storm since the design went live. I’m so excited for the future growth of her blog and am so glad she likes the design. See it for yourself on her blog HERE.

And the final project I have to share is for Gretchen, mother to darling little Arabella whose blog is full of stories of her little girl, her favorite etsy finds and real life moments. I had fun working with her color scheme and using pictures of Arabella. This header was a lot of fun to create!

 

We worked together to come up with a goal for her blog and something to tie everything together. In just a couple sentences that we used for her sidebar I think we accomplished just that: “I’m taking a cue from my daughter Arabella and living life to the fullest. Telling her stories, sharing our everyday life and encouraging others to live their best life wherever they are with all that they have.” I know you’ll enjoy reading her blog. Visit Gretchen and little Arabella HERE.

I am currently working with my friend and photographer Marta of VonGrey Photography to design her website using Showit. This is my first time really digging into the software and I’m having fun learning something new. Can’t wait to reveal the final website once its complete, so stay tuned!

So this is a big part of why I’ve been pretty quiet here on my own blog. Most of December and January was almost full time hours at the Credit Union and my spare time has been spent working on these design projects. I feel like I’ve hit my stride and am really in “my dream job”…working with the public by day and designing and blogging by night. I just need to work on balancing things better so I have time to share here too. Thanks for sticking around in the meantime and for your comments. They just make my day!

If you visit the blogs I shared today be sure to leave a comment! I’m sure that would make them smile too. Thanks!

Our new family member

So this happened last week…

We got a puppy!! Chris and I have been talking about getting a puppy for awhile. After everything that transpired with the puppy we used to have, Spencer, we knew we wanted our situation to be just right before we moved forward with finding the dog for us. And everything came together this week!

Chris found a local Miniature Schnauzer breeder who had two puppies available. We went and visited them on Thursday night and I fell in love with this little salt and pepper boy. He is so sweet, very affectionate, has the best personality and fell asleep on my chest. I couldn’t get him out of my mind. My parents were staying with us for the weekend and they helped us to make the decision, purchase him and get him comfortable in our house. It was really special to have them here for the whole process. They have a mini schnauzer named Tucker, and he has a special place in my heart and was a big reason why we went with this breed of dog.

We decided to name him Gibson…like the guitar. He is pretty stinkin’ cute!

I’m so excited to have a little one running around underfoot. He’s very playful and comical and cuddly….all the things you’d expect a puppy to be.

He’s been the best part of 2013 so far, hands down! Yay for being “puppy parents!”

I’m looking forward to sharing some good Gibson stories here on my blog. I’m sure he’ll be very entertaining, and the companion that we’ve been searching for.

Thanks for sharing in our excitement!!