It's time once again to say "Goodbye" to 2013 and "Howdy Hey" to 2014. Every year on New Years, I think about what is in store for me. I remember last year I thought, "Holy cow, this year I'm gonna graduate and go to college and leave home. What a big year!!" And a big year it has been.
At the beginning of the year I sang with these 9th Avenue ladies at Battle of the Bands at my High School.
Over Daddy's college Spring Break came our family's trip to Disneyland! So much fun, and we were all the perfect ages for it.
Over the kid's spring break, we went for my sister's Sweet 16 road trip to exciting Moab!
Late spring brought some highly anticipated and bittersweet changes. First, the final choir concert of high school (been with these gorgeous girls singing and dancing since Junior High).
Then LDS Seminary graduation.
Then High School Graduation!!
Summer brought many things.
A second job.
My first big purchase (of my life).
My second big purchase (of my life).
A Cafe Rio Mint Limeade addiction (great way to beat the heat).
A Grey's Anatomy addiction (really, where had it been all my life??).
Diving into a YSA Ward head first by going to Summit with this girl!
Learning how to write to a bagillion missionaries due to the age-change.
Ghana
Zimbabwe
The Philippines
Callifornia, Oregon, California
Minnesota and California (again).
Then came autumn time, a new home, and a new school.
Got all packed up to move away.
Moved to college.
Signed up for/participated in my first rodeo.
Had a blast being fun and crazy!!
Now it's winter time, and the Holidays have come and gone. I'm preparing for another fantastic semester with many more adventures to come!!
As I begin a fresh new year, I can't help but think what a big year this one is. It's gonna be even bigger than 2013! "Holy cow! This year I'm going to finish up my freshman year of college AND leave on a mission." And what a wonderful year it will be.
I was dared by a friend to sing a song and post it to YouTube. I like to sing, but I never sing solos in front of ANYONE. In my choir days (that seem like they were a long time ago, but actually really weren't) it was nerve-wracking, but easy enough to get over when it means the difference between pass and fail. Anywho, this is something different than I've ever done before. So, while you read the rest of my Christmas blog post, I give you the Little Drummer Boy. Nothing fancy. Just me, my guitar, and a practice room.
This year, Christmas has felt quite different to me. It's my first year away from my family for a good portion of the season. I wasn't there with them to decorate, put up the tree, go to the family/ward Christmas party, I haven't watched with anticipation, the growing pile of gifts beneath our tree, etc. It's so strange. In our apartment, we have:
a Christmas tree,
a snowflake filled/light covered window,
a popcorn garland,
and even snowflakes!!
We listen to Christmas music sometimes, eat Christmas treats, watch Christmas movies, we really are pretty festive. But, it is all very different than being at home. It certainly gives a whole new meaning to the song "I'll Be Home For Christmas." A song which, by the way, I used to hate and now resist the urge to tear up each time I hear. But let me tell you what I've learned and what has actually been very nice.
1. Making Christmas Gifts is so easy when you don't have to worry about someone accidentally walking in and discovering your secret.
Being a college student who lives in a college town where it's hard to get work, trying to find money to spend on Christmas presents is a little tough. I keep to a very strict budget. I have enough money for necessities, and an emergency fund in case something goes wrong. I'm kind of a tight wad, is what I'm really trying to say. However, I LOVE Christmas, and I wanted to do something special for each member of my family. So...I decided to make homemade gifts for everyone! Each required time, energy, and a certain amount of spreading out (I didn't want to give them things that looked tacky and homemade, they needed to look nice and show true thought). It was incredibly nice to have not even a sliver of risk in making the gifts! NO ONE could possibly walk in on me who wasn't supposed to. How's that for gifter/gifted confidentiality?
2. Christmas is all the sweeter knowing I've had to wait to participate with my family in the plans, the prep, the excitement.
It is so weird planning for a holiday like CHRISTMAS without my family. I've waited, decorated, anticipated without them. I haven't figured out how I feel about it one way or the other yet, but I know it's been fun in a different way than it used to be. I'm here, far from home, with this new kind of family unit within my apartment and complex. I speak with friends in my student ward about making plans to travel home, what gifts they're giving their families, what kind of service we're going to do that week for others, etc. In my apartment we've had conversations about family traditions. Lot's of conversations start with, "In my family we do this and this and this for Christmas, wanna do that here?" In the complex, there are wreaths on the light poles and buildings. In the common areas (lounge, laundromat) there are paper chains, Christmas trees, paper snowflakes, ornaments, posters. It's a full on Winter Wonderland!
3. The true meaning of Christmas remains the same no matter where I'm celebrating.
Recently there's been a lot of talk about being less discriminatory with this "Holiday Season." I'm sorry, but Christmas has been Christmas for years and years and years. No one ever had a problem before! Hanukkah has always been Hanukkah, Kwanzaa has always been Kwanzaa. We have Holidays this time of year. Some are religious, some are cultural, some are both. I don't know who decided we need to stop calling it a Christmas Tree, but whoever it was needs to just stop. **Soapbox over.** I am LDS (a Mormon). I celebrate Christmas because Christ was born 2000+ years ago. He was born in a humble stable and laid in a manger. Shepherds bore witness of the blessed event. Three wisemen came to glorify Him with gifts. A choir of angels proclaimed His birth. The world was changed forever. This is why I celebrate. This is why I want to be with my family this season. I want to celebrate, with them, that blessed event. I want to bare witness just like the shepherds did, with the miracles I witness and the words I speak. I want to glorify my Father in Heaven and the Savior Jesus Christ just as the wisemen did, with gifts of service and gifts or temporal worth. I want to proclaim the birth of Jesus Christ just as the angels did, with singing and celebration. That is the spirit of the season and that is what Christmas is all about.
In case I don't get another post in before I move and head off for Holiday, here's wishing you and yours the Merriest of Christmases and a very Happy Holiday Season. May it be spent with the people who matter most to you.
...I'm not the resident expert, but I like throwing something fun together. Also, I'd much rather dress like something from the past, than something that's trendy now. This year I didn't think I'd be dressing up for Halloween, but then my roommates and I got invited to a Halloween party, so I had to come up with something. After much deliberation, and a Facebook shout out I decided on Rosie the Riveter.
Not to go all feminist and patriotic on you, but I have always loved this icon! Rosie is the face of a strong America. She is the face of the sacrifices women made to guard the home front and keep this country going so that our boys would have something to come home to all the while manufacturing the machinery they needed to win the war. I mean gosh, can you imagine what we could do with that kind of fire in politics today? All from an ad.
Anyway, back to Halloween. :)
I give you the tutorial for all things Rosie.
The Outfit
For this look I used a red knit headband (ideally though you should use a red bandanna, but I was fresh out) to go in my hair, a blue and white polka dot shirt from Old Navy (again though, a denim shirt is more authentic for this look), an old pair of higher-waisted jeans (none of the low rise that I normally wear), grey socks, and white keds. I buttoned all but the top two and bottom two buttons. The top was left open and the bottom I tied in a little knot. In the back you can either roll your shirt tail up a few times toward your body--that way the roll won't show--or you can do what I did, which was to tuck it into my pants. I rolled my sleeves up to just under my elbow, then pushed them up above for the more authentic, bunched look. Also, put a small cuff in the bottom of your jeans (however length will permit). Mine are rolled up twice to make a small 1"-3/4" cuff.
The Hair
For the most authenticity you will want to put your hair up in pin-curls. I found a great tutorial for that on YouTube!
**Disclaimer: This is actually a heatless curl tutorial, but I love this tutorial for pin up curls as well.**
Also, remember that if you choose to use this pin-up curl method, you'll need to first make a poof with your hair/curl your bangs so that you can keep modelling the Rosie the Riveter look.
If you like MY look, this is what I did.
1. I curled my hair. Had I not warn my hair in a braid that day I would've just used my own natural curl. Basically, you'll just need some kind of curl to make the rest of the hair style easier. I have long hair and sometimes have a hard time getting my hair to hold curls (that aren't the ones I was born with), but I stumbled upon thistutorialthat has really helped me!
2. I made a pretty basic poof with my "bangs" (which I actually don't have, but I'm not a hair person so I don't know what that section of your hair would be called). Basically I just separated the front section of my hair, about an inch thick starting right above my right temple and going up across the top of my head and down to that same spot above my left temple. With my comb I teased the hair and then combed the front to smooth it, before finally pinning it in place to create some body. The reason this poof is important is because throughout the night, whether you use a bandanna or a headband, it will be tugging on the front of your hair, if you don't have the poof to keep the volume in the front, you'll end up having it pull your hair tight against your head. Last time I checked, that went out of style with the 90s... Again, here's a greattutorial!
**Just a little side note, I pretty much live off of YouTube hair tutorials, even the ones made by little junior high girls.**
3. Next, I pulled all of my hair up into high ponytail, combing back all the flyaways and hair spraying GENEROUSLY. This part you actually want all of your hair to be tight against your head. Make sure there are no bumps or loose spots. I mean tight!
4. The last step might be kind of confusing because I just made it up. I'll explain it and then maybe in a few days I can through together a quick hair tutorial video:
If your hair is like mine, it's very bouncy and full and fun after it's been curled with a curling iron, so you probably have a pretty full, fun ponytail at this point. All I did was start taking curls and pinning them all over around the ponytail to make what almost looks like a bun, but it's big and full. On me it probably had a six inch diameter. The closest I can illustrate it for you is in thistutorial, but skip to 3:43 and watch that "Arranging the Curls" section. See how some of her ends are just hanging out? That's good! I reiterate what she said, "Don't get too perfect with it!"
5. Finally I just slapped on the headband right behind my bang poof. I secured it with some bobby pins behind my ears, and directly below the bun.
The Make-Up
This was arguably the most fun part for me. I loved going all out. So, again I'm falling back on a tutorial here. A few tips though, you can use a fake eyelash if you want to, just not too huge, this should still be old-timey. Also, the eyebrows took my a few tries to get right. Follow the tutorial's curve exactly, because if you curve the brows too much or too little, it looks really bad (I got a little crazy with the eyebrow pencil and had to redo it a billion times). This is the exact tutorial I used:
And so, there you have it!!
A simple, cost effective, meaningful, DIY Halloween costume!! Have fun with it, tweak it, and most of all...TRY IT!!
Happy Halloween!!!! :)
Love,
Rosie the Riveter, the Minions, and The Cartoon Artist
