Photo Series #3

Hey y'all!

Sorry it's been awhile...again...and that I'm a little late in getting out the photos this week. First week of school is done! It went pretty well, not gonna lie. However, I can feel the evil stress creeping nearer and nearer already. What a creeper. I hate you, Stress. I don't need you this year.

It'll all be good though, I'm sure. Not too much in the way of homework and studying yet (thank God! I'm so over that shit).

Anyway, less talk, more art!

So without further ado...I give you...the third Série de Photo:


#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

And there you have it.

These photos are actually a couple of years old now, and the model is my photographer friend who I interned with (she's way cool).

Hope you enjoy them! Let me know what you think. What's your favorite?

<3

Back to School, or: I Have a Life Again(!)

I'm baaa-aaack!

I know, it has been quite some time since I wrote up a little somethin' somethin' for the ol' blog here. Mostly because I just started back to school Monday. Woop woop! (I also seem to be having a difficult time typing at the moment...even though you can't exactly tell). I have some pretty good classes this semester, and all seems to going swell. 

Dad...?.... What??

I have to tell you all though, I am already wiped out. Yes, almost all of my classes are in fact dance classes, but really, I must have been in worse shape than I thought. But I love it. It's so good to be dancing again. However, I do have a strong disliking of Boulder, Colorado in many ways and for many reasons. To name a few: the traffic, the people, the retarded lay-out of the town, the fact that there are really only two ways in and out of that zoo from the university, the overly-priced everything, the attitude, the hypocrisy, and once again, the people. The only really cool part is that it's smack-dab up against the Flatiron Mountains (which actually sucks a lot of the time too because of how it affects the weather), and the CU campus is really beautiful (way better than CSU).

The fact is, I am finally going to be busy again! I love having stuff to do. I have always been a very busy, always on-the-go type person (I was starting to get pretty stir-crazy this past month). My classes are all enjoyable, I have a clearer mind of what the hell I'm doing now, and I'm getting back into shape again (always a big plus, like this: +).  I'm also taking a painting class this semester, so if there's anything that turns out to be blog-post-worthy, you may be seeing some of that up here as well.

Ok, now we have to "talk".

The thing about this whole going back to school deal is the fact that I won't be nearly as blog-crazy as I was my first week(s) starting out, so I won't be writing as much or as often. I will still try to post my little photo series every weekend though, I know that's the highlight of my blog, really. In fact, I probably wouldn't have to write anything ever. But I do because I like to put my voice into the written form sometimes as well as let it out vocally (which also tends to happen a lot).

So, I just wanted to check in with y'all ("y'all?" you might say?...Remember, I lived in Texas for 7 years) so you know where I'm at, or "where I stand" on all this.

This guy stands pretty well.

So, my fellow blogging, reading friends, I leave you with that.

Until next time!

Peace :-)

Photo de la Semaine avec Photo Series #2

Ok, first of all, my little sewing project (yes, it's obvious now that I was at least sewing something) did not get finished as planned. Laaaaaaame. I know. I fail. But it's ok, and it's going to look super super cute when I'm all done with it, and I promise to still post photos of it when it's finally complete. Sorry if I let anyone down though. Sewing is HARD.

And now this is going to be a quickie of a post because I didn't expect everything all day to take so long...ugh, busy. I pretty much sewed and trimmed and ironed and all sorts of shit all day long until this evening when I went off to see Earth Wind and Fire (the band) downtown for the New West Fest (Fort Collins! Woo!). It. Was. Awesome. The crowd was unbelievably packed (gross). And all I could practically smell for 90 minutes was beer, sweat, and cigarettes (and of course the occasional whiff of reefer). But it was nice. My good friend Kelsey and I had a pretty fun time dancing (as best we could in such tight spaces). And we were pretty damn good at weaseling our way through the crowd to get closer and closer to the stage. I had the idea that it would be a fun challenge to see just how close we could get toward the end of the show.

This is the first time we thought we got close...

Here's where we ended up!

Pretty sick, right? We got almost right up to the stage! (These pictures were taken on Kelsey's iPhone, by the way). And here is me and Kelsey:

She came out blurry, but that's what you get when you have no third person I guess.

Anyway, it was a good time. We also got mac & cheese afterwards, and it was goooood.


So, it is now time for the moment you have all been waiting for....

I give you the Photo de la Semaine (as will be shown on In Review: Stuff and Things) along with a little mini series.

Enjoy :-)

There were many many many more from this day that I'm sure you'll get to see later on.

Until next time....

<3

I'll Give You a Hint...

Ok, so I'm back as I promised (even if it's a little late).

I want to thank everyone for the awesome encouragement and comments. It really means a lot :-D

I actually went downtown today to visit a dear friend who is a professional photographer and with whom I interned for a little bit (she's that one in the photo who's spinning with the pretty red dress on, which you can check out here). I asked her some questions about getting into the photography field and whatnot, and I feel much better and sure about some things now. Things are looking up already! Woot...!

So. The project. I know only two of you commented about it on my previous post (which is totally fine). Maybe the first hint was just way too vague and not much of a hint to most of you anyway. That is why I will give another hint that may be a little more obvious today (night).

And here we go, hint #2:

Try finding this in a haystack...

And there you have it. Guess away!

And now I will give you another poem because I feel that it would help tie these two recent posts together some...It's a little longer this time though.

Dear Inner Child,

I have missed you.

You brought me a present today.

So much of the forgotten joys and memories, forgotten feelings.

Remind me of the little things, like when floors turned into ceilings.

You came back for a reason.

You came to teach me a lesson I had never needed to learn before.

A lesson that was never once required,

because it already existed.

And I never tried to resist it,

but it existed so long ago.

Something brought it back.

YOU brought it back.

Unearthed from all the

heavy

dark

rotten

Unbreakable

It broke.

Broken by the joy, light, carefree, softness.

You took my hand.

I took my hand

and raised it high.

Reaching for the warmth, the glow.

You put the feeling back in my wings.

My wings put the feeling back in me.

I took flight.

You guided me as we traveled back,

Back until our two worlds slammed into one.

ONE

Body

Mind

Soul

Self

Body. This body. Only body, now. No body.

Mind. This mind. My mind. Nobody minds.

Soul. This soul. Through my body. From my mind to my soles.

Self. This self. Your self. My self. Selfless.

Oh, dear Inner Child,

You are a savior. My savior.

You have beckoned me when I was too deaf to your whispers,

you were too daft to not whisper.

But I will now be the one to beckon you,

dear Child.

I had fun today.


This I did not just write on the spur of the moment. I wrote it a couple of months ago in my Dance Improv class as a free-write. We never had to share them, it was just a little class time thingy I guess.


Alright, that's all I have for tonight, friends!


Tomorrow there will brand new photographs! Tune in :-)


Peace.


Pee.Ess. Has anyone else noticed weird things with the "preview" not looking exactly like it should when you're about to post a new post? It always seems to screw something up for me...Just sayin'.

Je Te Manque, Mon Cher

Yes, more French for ya (thanks for the correction SKS).

I apologize for the lack of blog posts lately. Yesterday, I was in Denver with my good friend from school (also a dance major, yay!) to take some more pictures (I really need to build my bunch a little more so it's no longer a bunch but a whole freakin' lot). So that's partially why there was no post all day. Hopefully I got some winners (in the photos) and perhaps you will see one pop up for Photo de la Semaine this weekend (so keep an eye out!). I have also been rather occupied with Lost as well (as you know, if you read my previous post). I'm telling you, it's got me sucked in.

I want to say that another reason why I haven't been posting lately is because I'm. Stressing. Out.

For one thing (a big thing) is that my other half (Charles) is away for the weekend in wonderful Panama City, Florida while I'm stuck here all alone (actually, I chose to stay at my parents' house because I get all freaked out if I have to sleep in my apartment by myself...). He's there for specific reasons, and I was unfortunately unable to get (buy) a plane ticket (lack of money). Now, I know it's rather silly of me to be all sad and whatnot about it because it's only for four days. We went the entire school year last year by practically only seeing each other on weekends because we lived a little over an hour apart. But still. With both of us unemployed lately (sad, I know) we haven't really been away from each other for more than a few hours (aww, so precious).

It's like we're joined at the hip.

I miss him. A lot. Charles, if you're reading this (you better be reading this) then I want you to call me immediately after you have commented. I'll send you a reminder text message as well.

The other things I'm a little stressed over right now is the fact that school is starting again on Monday (holy shit) and I haven't danced at all or been in the greatest of shape over the summer. Plus, I'm beginning to have second thoughts...but I may have to just mention that in a post a little later down the road. Also, I'm worried about this not having a job and running out of money very quickly ordeal. Basically, I'm just scared. But I'm sure I'll figure it out and push past it once school starts and I'm busy doing things again (this is where the wonderful encouragement from you comes in, loyal readers).

Haha...This is not a normal blog for me, I apologize. You were probably like, "Ooh, a French title, this should be interesting". And then you got to reading it and didn't expect it to be about me bitching and whining about my poor little self, which is why you probably stopped reading it two paragraphs ago. That's OK. I won't take it personal. I just needed to write something, and this is what started to pour out of me. My emotions have literally filled to the brim and are now spilling over the top of it.

I do have a little project in mind that I will be working on over the weekend and display it on my blog for all to see. But I'm not telling you what it is yet. It's a surprise (everybody love surprises!). I will give you one hint (in a picture) and you will have to guess what it is. I'll check back with you tomorrow and supply you all with another little hint. I hope to be done with it on Saturday, so I'll keep you posted.

Hint #1:

Thanks for reading (for those of you who got all the way through it).
And now I give you a spur of the moment poem:

Running quiet
Breeze whispers
Grass clings
Sneakers snicker
The question remains.
Blankets spread
The squirrel will tread
Cotton flutters
The bird proclaims.
Knees knocking
Clouds blocking
Eyes locking
Rocking
Rocking
Rocking
The question still remains.

Ok, that may not have been my best work, but I hope you can find your own meaning to it (you can tell me about it too if you'd like).

See you tomorrow friends!

Peace.

I suggest you get LOST.

I'm not kidding here, get LOST.

You know that TV show that was really popular some years ago? It was about these people who crash land onto a freakish tropical island, and they...are...lost (hence the title of the program).

Let me just start at the beginning here. At the beginning of the summer, I was trying to convince Charles to watch some Friends episodes with me (my favorite sit-com TV show ever) knowing that he would really really enjoy it (which he did). He said he would only watch the seasons with me (I am in possession of all 10 of them) as long as I would watch a show of his choosing once we were done with our Friends (we also enjoyed cracking awesome little jokes about it the whole time, such as "We have to see our Friends tonight" and "I can't wait to see what our Friends will do this time" and many other hilarious puns).

These are our Friends. From top to bottom, left to right, we have:
Joey, Ross, Chandler, Monica, Phoebe, and Rachel.
We love them.

Well, we powered through all 10 seasons in the matter of approximately three months (that's a lot of TV, folks), so now a couple weeks ago, it was Charles' turn to finally decide which program to see next. It was a tough decision for him between Seinfeld, the Sopranos, and Lost. (By the way, he absolutely loved Friends, he was just a little wary of admitting it publicly...so sshhh). I told him I could really care less which one he picked, because I figured they would all be pretty good, and it was rightfully his decision since I made him (well, I didn't force him, because like I said, he got into it pretty quick) watch all 10 seasons (again, lots of TV).

And now we're back to the very tip top of this post. He ended up choosing Lost (another one we can crack silly jokes and puns about, such as my title of this blog post).

And the winner is........

Seinfeld and the Sopranos were a little upset about losing this competition. Sorry guys, maybe in the next run.

Sorry Jerry, but you can't buy your way through this.

 

As intimidating as you guys look, you're just wasting your time.

     

Anyway....I'm frikkin hooked on this Lost thing, I tell ya. Which I'm not sure is a bad thing or not seeing as how we're both going to be starting school again next week (yikes!). But I'm sure we'll make the time for it. It's just so hard to watch only one (hour-long) episode a night! They all end in a crazy nail-biting cliff hanger. It's a bizarre, frightening, suspenseful, meaningful, well-filmed, and well-put-together television show with the occasional good joke or two thrown in there (which does not make it cheesy at all. Really). My non-American readers, you'll enjoy it too, I promise (I'm really oblivious to how much other countries know about American television programs, so if you have heard of it, please take no offense, and if you have not heard of it, I sincerely hope you were paying attention to the rest of this post).

I'm telling you all, if you haven't ever seen it, do. I wouldn't write an entire blog post about it, if it wasn't worth mentioning (and no, I did not get paid by the producers for promoting or advertising it to the public...unfortunately).

So go on, head on out to your local Best Buy (or Wal-Mart, whichever satisfies your wallet more) and GET LOST.

I'm about to right now. That's partially why this post is significantly shorter than usual.

I should have some more exciting stories later in the week (and more pictures! yay!).

Thanks for reading.

Peace.

Blogger=RESPECT

You read the title! (hopefully).
Blogger equals RESPECT (respect yourself...hey hey! A little Madonna for you there).

This woman clearly has a lot of respect for herself.

I just wanted to take the time today to send out the appreciation to all my readers and commenters, lovers and haters, that I have already obtained. I mean, I never once thought that it would be this way when I first started off on Blogger. I mean, at all. I am just so happily surprised every time I open up my computer lid in the morning to check my emails and view my blog's activity (and think about what to post up next).

Me, happily surprised, first thing in the morning upon viewing my blogger profile and emails.
(This is what my computer sees).

I love all you guys. Really. For a little reminder, you can go back here where I mention our love from the very beginning (it's at the bottom...but that doesn't mean you shouldn't read the rest if you haven't already).

I have been a part of the blogosphere for only a few short days now, but already I have come to see how great of a community it really is. I mean, there are people (real people) out there who write their deepest darkest secrets (real secrets) for the whole world to read. As bloggers, we are literally spilling our minds, or spitting up (yes, like a baby, you might say) onto the computer screen exactly what we think. Just like that. We think it. We type it. We post it. You read it. (or we, I guess, depending on the perspective you choose to look at it). It's so simple, yet it can also be life-changing (for some most all) in one way or another.

There is something to be gained from blogging, whether it is more self-esteem, less self-esteem, more friends, less time to do other things, the sense of accomplishment of publishing a post, or just the simple satisfaction of writing (like a journal).

Everyone is nice to one another (usually). And if not, the blogger receiving the cold harsh comment from the hater gets to dish it to the bastard for all the world to see just how defensive (or accepting) they can really be. I think it's great. Not that I'm inviting any haters or bastards to leave unnecessarily rude comments on my page (or maybe I am...go ahead...I dare you), but I just like how people can respect themselves enough to still display (as in, not delete) the rude comment and totally chew them (the rude commenter) out for it in their highly unnecessary behavior (rudeness).

Blogger = Respect. Whether it's the respect for other readers and commenters, or the respect for yourself,  bloggers know what it's all about, and they're not afraid to show it.

I truly appreciate all the readers and commenters that have shown up on my blog so far, and I am here to return the respect right back at'cha. I just never knew what blogging was all about before, and I'm very happy to be a part of it now.

Thank you.

Love you.

Keep reading.

God bless.

Cold Feet, Cats, (U2), and Strawberries

Yes. Now, you may be asking yourself (and by self, I mean me) "What the hell do cold feet, cats, (apparently U2), and strawberries all have in common?" Or, "How are you going to relate all those things together, crazy lady?"

Well...I'm not.

I'm just going to talk about them individually. But, the one thing they do all have in common is that they all popped into my mind from the time I went to bed last night (which was at a very late hour...more about that further in the blog tho) to the moment I made my breakfast this morning (which was really around 1 in the afternoon because that's approximately when I got up).

Cold Feet

So, first off, cold feet.
Now, I'm not talking about the figure of speech "cold feet" like nervousness or anything like that. No, I mean literally ice-cold-mother-fucking-feet. That's right.

For some odd reason, my feet get really cold, really easily. I've heard before that when people get cold extremities, it's because of poor circulation, which pretty much makes sense to me... But then one would think that one's hands and feet would be cold, which is not the case with one (me). In the winter time (ahh, Christmas, I can hear "Silver Bells" in my head right now) my nose will always be the coldest part of my body for some reason. Now, I can't imagine that the nose gets very great circulation as it is, but who am I to say? I'm no doctor, that's for sure.

Anyway, I was going to bed last night at like 2:30am (I told you it would be mentioned further in the blog) and I had the absolute hardest time falling asleep. Number one reason: I couldn't shut my mind off (don't you just hate that?). Number two reason: my feet were freezing.

Visual Aid, fig.1:

A result of poor circulation? And look at those nicely painted toenails!

I didn't exactly know how to remedy this. I never wear socks to sleep in because I always end up waking up in the middle of the night in a hot sweat, about to suffocate from the very heat densely radiating off my feet when I have worn them in the past. So I knew that was right out. In fact, it didn't even cross my mind last night (odd, since I was literally thinking of approximately 354 other things at once).

I had no more realistic options. I tried bending my legs so I could rest my feet against my thighs so the body heat would spread, but that just made me highly uncomfortable and gave me a Number 3 reason to not be able to fall asleep. Then I thought, "maybe if I stuff a pillow down there?" But that just produced more heat than socks would and caused an awful lump at the end of the bed, making it difficult to move the covers around (I'm pretty picky about comfort when I go to sleep. Actually, I'm pretty picky about a lot of things). I guess it didn't prevent me from falling asleep too drastically though, because I must have been asleep before I knew it.

Cats

Now, on to cats. I just would like to mention that I love cats, first and foremost. I have always lived with cats since I was born. They are adorable, affectionate (usually depends on if you beat them or not..."not" causing them to be more affectionate) playful, loving, small, independent, non-smelly, and only needy some of the time (unlike dogs--always needy). Now don't get me wrong, I do love dogs too, but that's not in the blog topic of the day.

Ok, now that I've expressed my love for all kitties out there, I want to bring special attention to the particular one I'm living with these days. Her name is Maggie.

Visual Aid, fig. 2:

Isn't she just so sweet? She made a bed of freshly washed towels all for herself.

She doesn't like anyone except me and Charles (she's actually Charles' cat, but that's only a minor detail, really). Every night now, she follows me into the bedroom and jumps on the bed knowing that she will receive some good petting and ear scratching. She will also stand on me and give me awesome little massages by pawing me. Charles coins this term "making muffins", but frankly, I still don't quite understand how he came up with that. Speaking of muffins, my mom makes the BEST muffins. I haven't had any in a fairly long time... :-(

Random tangent. Back to Maggie MaGee (that's what I typically call her, she loves it by the way). She also plays this intelligent little game with us where she will bring us each (or sometimes just one of us) one of her favorite kitty toys during the night when we're sleeping, like gifts (outdoor cats usually bring live gifts, such as broken birds and mice). Then when we wake up in the morning, we see them, and I throw them back out into the living room so she can bring them back again that night. Ah-door-ah-bowl. (A door? A bowl?).

Visual Aid, fig. 3:

There are countless other toys that she could care less about.

She really is the best cat in the world, and she has gotten very accustomed to sleeping with me lately, which I think is nice. She's just the sweetest little. It really makes me think of this every time I see her now:

Sweetest Thing

Download "Sweetest Thing" at MadRingtones.org

(There's the U2 for ya).

Strawberries

Ok. Last item on the list here...Strawberries. I love strawberries, I think they are in the top 3 of my favorite fruits next to watermelon and raspberries (I guess I like red).

Anyway, I just recently got some strawberries and couldn't wait to eat them with my breakfast this morning (again, that was technically at 1 in the afternoon...minor detail). Well, shitty situation. I had to pull them out of my fridge a couple days ago because the crazy stupid thing froze them (relation to cold feet? eh?). I was pretty irate because I couldn't even cut them up. What kind of fridge does that? So I left them out on the counter to de-thaw.

What do I find when I open the container this morning (afternoon)? Moldy-eaten strawberries!

Ahh....noooo....

It's is the sad truth.

Please, somebody tell me how do I properly keep strawberries fresh long enough to eat them? I can't stand throwing away food I could've eaten in perfect condition days ago.

And that's all folks.

Tell me what you think of my (boyfriend's) kitty, what your discomforts are when trying to fall asleep at night, and how to keep fresh fruit fresh.

Thanks for reading. Peace.

Photo de la Semaine avec Photo Series #1

Ok, so as I've said, my boyfriend (Charles Emerson III) has a special little section of his blog, In Review: Stuff and Things, that is titled Photo de la Semaine ("photo of the week" in French) where he puts up one of my photographs on roughly the same day every week.

So, now that I have a whole blog of my very own, I've decided that every time I put up a photo on Photo de la Semaine on his blog, I will post the same picture on my blog along with a few others from the same shoot, making it a "mini-series". I find that it is so difficult trying to choose just one photo to put up every week, because there are usually several that I personally find pretty damn good (whether others do or not). So, this gives me a way to put up more of my photos at once (yay, promotion!) and in such a way in which I am not forced to make such an arduous decision.

Sometimes there may be 6 or so pictures, and sometimes there may be only 3 or so. The fact is, it will be a series if there is more than one or two photos up in the same post. And frankly, 6 photos every week is quite a lot for a photographer like myself who doesn't exactly have a ton of "clients", since I don't exactly have a real "business". But someday I am hoping that will change. Drastically. And I will have millions, perhaps even billions, of photographs that I have taken. This is just where everybody has to start, no?

Anyway, enough said, I suppose.
Here I give you my first Photo Series, or Série de Photo (yeah, I like French. What of it?).




#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

Please comment, praise, criticize, pick out your favorite, tell me if this works, etc. 

Artists always love and want feedback.

First Photos

Alright, I figured that I should probably get some pictures up here straight away, seeing as how that's the main reason I wanted to start a blog in the first place.

I thought this could be a little introduction, if you will, to my photography (or if you won't).

My main focus in my photography is people. Not necessarily just portraits or anything boring like that, but interesting, fun, creative pictures of people. I have done head-shots for some as well, which are not as fun (appearing), but definitely still cool and sometimes interesting, sometimes creative.
For instance:

Look into her eyes...

But what I really love to do is more like this:

This picture actually appears on another awesome blog (my boyfriend's) in which he has given me a photo of the week section. 

Be sure to check it out here!

But I also enjoy photographing other things besides just people. I like abstract objects and bright colors like this:

Or, I'll occasionally do some good ol' fashioned nature or scenery shots like this:

Sorry this is so grainy/pixelated looking....I'm not sure what caused that.

Anyway, you get the gist of it. I have tons of photos, and I'm always taking more, so there will lots to see. I will also be putting up multiple photos from the same shoot, like a series in a way. 

So, stay tuned!

Whole New Start

Well, I did it. Here is my blog.
I figured since this was such a huge step in my life (like if I was a tyrannosaurus rex bounding over the lush landscape of the North American continent after its delicious prey millions of years ago--that kind of a huge step) I may as well just do a whole massive make-over while I'm at it.


Step 1.  Hair

Now, this can be the number one subject that will either make or break a make-over. A hair style has everything to do with your "look". With so many different styles and cuts and colors and products you can use, there are a countless number of options that one can choose from when changing hair styles. Girls have it a little easier...or maybe a little harder (?) than guys. (Easier: more to choose from, more they can work with, more they change without looking like a homosexual or transvestite. Harder: more to choose from, more they can work with, more they can change without looking like a homosexual or transvestite, basically too many decisions). Don't get me wrong here either, I know there are a lot of different styles for the gentlemen as well, but more than half probably just shouldn't be done.
Ok, let me give a few minimal examples:

Cuts

Pixie

Long

Blunt

Chopped

Choppy

Angled

Layered

Feathered

Shoulder Length

Styles

Up

Down

Side

Half-Up/Down

Middle-part

Side-part

Zig-Zag-part

Bun

French Curl

Braids

Wavy

Curly

Straight

Poofy (or Pouffy as spellcheck would like to think)

Colors

Blonde

Brown

Red

Black

Bleached/Platinum

Neon (this pertains to anything, really)

Copper

Gray

And...Zebra-striped (??) (apparently a "scene" fad)

Oh, and that's still not all... Hopefully you see what I mean. I had no idea what to do with myself. First of all, of course, I have no money. I am a working (although not at the moment) college student with one (count 'em) roommate. So going to a salon was just right out. I have usually done my own hair in the past anyways though, so I probably wouldn't have gone to a salon anyway. But that's beside the point. I was thinking of doing something really really different. I wanted to start a whole new fad of my own where other people would copy me. But at the same time, I didn't want to drastically change the length or anything. Hmm.....this took some time, no doubt.

Step 2.  Skin

Ah, yes. Everybody loves summer vacation so they can spend all their time laying out in the sun and getting as dark as they possibly can to the point where people will think they changed races. Most people, unless they live directly on a beach or nearby, or have a butt-load of money to go travel to one all summer long, then they are stuck indoors working and the like, not getting tan. Well, thanks to our glorious society that bases lots of things on looks, we have indoor tanning. I would really like to meet the person who invented the first indoor tanning bed, ask them how they came up with the brilliant idea, and shake their hand. I would also like to see what their skin looks like, and whether you would be able to tell them apart from big brown leather duffle bag. 

Anyway, I have not had much time, or effort, to go lay out in the sun as much as I would've liked to this summer. So...I decided to try out one of those indoor tanning bed things for myself. I went, I spent, I lay on a burning surface caked with other people's sweat, I waited. I did not get as dark as I hoped. In fact, I even put on one of those little playboy bunny stickers they have for free to see the difference, and the outline had disappeared in two days. 

I was almost at a loss, and then I thought, "Oh yeah, there's something like indoor self-tanning lotion!" Well, I figured I may as well give that a try. I feel pretty satisfied with the whole deal so far...

Step 3.  Teeth

The last part to my little self-make-over here involved a lot of bleach, a lot of pain, and my teeth. I thought about going to the store and buying those Crest Whitening Strips, or something like it. I've always seen ads in magazines showing how much they really improve your smile. But when I got to the store, I saw the price. It was pretty disappointing. Then I checked other brands. Also quite disappointing. Remember, this girl has nooooo money. 

So I went home and pondered. Then I had it: Bleach! Of course. It's cheap, it's easy, and it's right here in my own home. I figured the best way to do it would probably be to pour some onto my toothbrush, then swish with it for an extra soak. Let me tell ya, I have never felt such pain in my entire life. But, I did get sparkling little pearlies! 

So, take a look for yourself. I'm pretty proud, myself, and I truly recommend it.

Before:                                                                                                              After:

                                    

                                    

So, as you can plainly see, there was much improvement. Oh, and on the hair, I decided just to richen the color, add extensions, and do the "pouffy" style. 

I hope you all go out and try this for yourself, I'm sure you'll love the results! I think it makes me look like a celebrity almost. It also showcases my awesome ability to use Photoshop.

I would love to hear about other people's self-make-overs that they are doing, have done, or should do. Real life experiences are always the best.