Hepburn and Houndstooth » Style and Fashion

Hump Day Dump Day

Rhonda Gail — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:00:00 +0000

I totally forgot to acknowledge my 2-year bloggiversary, which was Saturday! I actually started as a wedding blogger probably 4 years ago, but this blog was started on January 28, 2010!

I have been ill the last few days, with some nasty sore throat and cold combo. I don’t have sick time at work for like 80-something more days, so I sucked it up and went it. Today, I started my first postpartum period with the most ferocious cramps of my life. Then? I was reaching into a high cabinet in the kitchen and suddenly my c-section scar felt like someone stabbed me. I stumbled back and pulled my groin. What?! Yes, being short caused me injury. Nice.

I am loving our homeschooling journey so far, but there is so much to figure out and learn! The hardest thing for me right now is finding a homeschooling group that is not only local to me, but also secular. We are not homeschooling for religious reasons and certainly don’t have Bible-based learning. We are oddballs where we live in that regard. Luckily, I have found a small group of a few families here who are like us. They meet up and do art class together and creative writing! I love that, but it doesn’t really fit with our schedule. We are going to have to find a way to be more flexible and take advantage of these kinds of opportunities.

Along those lines, I think it will be nice to move to a larger city where there are more people and more opportunities. Our entire family needs some new friends!

I need a blog makeover to go along with some new exciting things I’m about to bring to the table. Remember how I hinted before here and on Twitter that I was starting a new blog this year? Yeah? Well, I lied. I didn’t mean to lie, it just happened. I realized I’m already spreading myself too thin, so instead, I’m going to be merging that blog idea with this blog and it will appear in the form of either a page or a weekly feature. Hopefully, I can get that going soon!

I need a new wardrobe. Nothing fits and I didn’t want to buy anything until I lose weight. Unfortunately, that’s going slower than I’d like, so I’m going to have to buy a few things to get me through. I could probably make it with 1 pair of jeans, 2 dresses, a pair of black or gray pants, and top or 2. I definitely need new work shoes and will be purchasing some as soon as this budget balances out a little.

Dustin’s work hours will be changing beginning February 20. We have hoped and prayed for daytime hours since he first started his job almost 2 year ago. He works 3:15 pm until 11:15 pm currently and will be moving to 11 am until 7 pm. While I’m so glad my prayers have been answered and I’ll see more of him, it’s still going to be a major adjustment for us. He gets paid less in daytime hours, but because our schedules won’t overlap anymore, we’ll be paying a sitter for more time. We thought the budget issues were the only problem until our current sitter decided she can’t work with the new schedule. We’ll sadly be saying goodbye to her on February 16. I want to cry just thinking about it. “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (Ecc. 3:1)

We have an interview with a new babysitter on Friday morning. If she’s as wonderful in person as she is over email, we’re all going to be okay! She even agreed to start out at what we pay our current sitter, even though she’ll be working more hours. Pray for us that this works out!

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Dare to Compare

Rhonda Gail — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:08:05 +0000

I love to get items that look or perform high-end for a great price. That’s why I’m totally addicted to mark! Check these out:

You can get any of these mark. products at my eBoutique HERE: http://rchristian.mymarkstore.com

Wanna be a rep? Sign up with referral code 9698262 and choose Paula Martinez from the “mentor” drop-down. You’ll get AT LEAST 30% off all the wonderful mark. products! Just sign up HERE: http://meetmark.com/yes

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Hump Day Dump Day

Rhonda Gail — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

I don’t know if I mentioned before, but I had decided awhile back, before Quentin was born, to pursue a career as a freelance makeup artist. Then life happened and I actually kinda forgot until Monday when a friend asked me to do her wedding makeup. It was a true lightbulb moment and I’m now taking steps to chase my dreams.

Speaking of makeup, YouTube has changed my life where skills and secrets are concerned. Marlena from Makeup Geek is a fellow round-faced gal and taught me how to contour my face and look slimmer. Praise God for that, right?! Then there’s Kandee Johnson, who is totally adorable and is also changing my life one video at a time. I love her undereye concealer technique! I tried it this morning and I can’t believe how amazing it is.

Every night, I get home from work fully expecting to go to bed early. And every night, something holds me up. Last night, it was watching YouTube makeup videos.

I have at least 15 ongoing projects in my house at any given time. I need to start doing one thing at at a time until it’s done. Otherwise, I take like 5 steps back. For example, I started cleaning and organizing our room weeks ago. Then I started jumping around the house and now our room looks like it did before I first started on it and was never finished in the first place.

Today I have on squeaky shoes. You know how some heels you wear, the tops of your toenails rub on the inside of your shoes and they make noise? It’s usually with pointy toed shoes. I hope I’m not the only one.

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Something Wild

Rhonda Gail — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:00:00 +0000

Y’all know I love mark. I make no secrets about that! I have only had a couple of mark. products I didn’t absolutely love. Sometimes I find something I think is the best. thing. ever. One of those things is the Something Wild purse. Wowee. I have so much love for this bag. And now, it’s only $21.99, but Thursday is the last day for this price! It won’t even be available for purchase after then, so jump on it.

If you want to make this bag YOURS, order up here: http://rchristian.mymarkstore.com

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Christmas Part 2

Rhonda Gail — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0000

After opening gifts from Santa and having a leisurely morning of playing with new toys, we headed to my hometown an hour away to see my parents. We met up with my brother and his girlfriend at my mom’s house, where we all exchanged gifts.

And because I just realized that there wasn’t enough left of the story for a Part Two, I’m going to throw in some “What I Wore” right here in this post.

I used something Santa brought me to give myself some fab root lift (more about that in another post). Unfortunately, I ran out of time and patience mid-curling my hair, so I put it in a pony. The good news is, thanks to that same stocking stuffer, my hair never looked better pulled back! When I asked Dustin if he noticed anything different about my ponytail, he said, “It looks more alive.” YES!

As far as what I wore, I basically wore the cardigan and yoga pants outfit from here, but wore flats and a different scarf. The scarf was actually given to me by Lili in a bloggers’ scarf swap in the fall. Love it!

I dipped into my eyeshadow trio from mark that is no longer available, but you can find similar shades here.

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Hump Day [Photo] Dump Day

Rhonda Gail — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0000

I have so many random pictures on my phone and had intended to fully blog about some of them. But ya know what? It’s just not happening. Too much going on this holiday week. So instead, you get lots of photos, some with explanations, some without.

Harper shared his train with Quentin.

Sharing is hard. Harper fell asleep here that night.

This was the first day I got dressed in something other than maternity pants… new yoga pants.

I’ve also been pairing my yoga pants with men’s flannel, because my stuff doesn’t fit.

My new favorite, Chicken Parmesan Bake. Recipe coming soon. In fact, I have lots of new recipes to add to the “Simple Recipes” page.

Oh yeah. That happened.

Loving cloth diapers more and more every day.

Quentin hates tummy time…

… but loves resting on the floor after.

Nick has been playing a lot on the Wii, with his tongue sticking out.

I got dressed and did my hair for Nick’s Kindergarten Christmas program. That’s always news.

Always with the weird faces.

Wrapped teacher gifts with NOTHING wrapping-related, since I forgot to get anything. Used mark. delivery bags and covered the logo with scrapbook paper and free printables. The gift was body lotion from mark and rhinestone-studded pencils, if you’re curious.

Just a funny example of the weirdness that abounds in our home. Irreverence and reverence sharing a wall.

This little dude has been smiling at me!!!! The highlight of my life!

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Friday Cravings

Rhonda Gail — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:05:06 +0000

Today, I have a craving for…

This pom-pom scarf by Thomas Paul

Keep It Casual sweatshirt by mark.

Ruby Red Slippers polish by Deborah Lippmann

Godiva chocolate martini

Five Guys Burger

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I got dressed on Thanksgiving.

Rhonda Gail — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Let me first say that I fully realize how sad it is that it’s actually NEWS that I got dressed one day. I don’t go anywhere often while on maternity leave. I have practically no clothes, so when I do venture out for shopping or errands, it’s in VERY worn out yoga pants from my first pregnancy (hi, 6 years ago) and a t-shirt. I have always been one to dress a bit nicer than my usual when a holiday comes. The members of my extended family usually show up in jeans and t-shirts, but I just can’t. I love holidays and feel they deserve a bit more effort. The day before Thanksgiving, I ran out and bought a (cheap!) top that would help conceal my post-partum belly, then turned around and paired it with…. maternity pants. With a hole in them.

Tank underneath: Maidenform
Lace top: Bobeau
Necklace: mark.
Pants: Motherhood Maternity
Shoes: No Boundaries (WalMart)

On to cuter pictures….

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Flip for fall!

Rhonda Gail — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:02:57 +0000

I was so excited to wake up to find that the cold front that blew in overnight actually made it cold. Imagine that. That seriously never happens here. It actually got into the 40s overnight and should get into the 30s tonight!

I was far too excited to throw on a scarf for the first time this season. I ran straight to myfavorite, put it on, and coordinated my makeup!

These pictures are awful and do not really show the vivid colors on my lids.

~As always, I primed my lids with Please Hold before applying any color.
~From my Super Flip kit, I swiped on Fluffy (the white color) over entire lid, all the way to the brow bone.
~Sky High (blue) was applied to the outer half of my lid.
~I then used Black Tie (the black) to form my “outer V” and blended it on into the blue and also into the crease.

When I do several colors, but want it to be seamless, I always take a blending brush and just swipe all over the entire lid, side to side. I also went back and dabbed more Fluffy into the inner corner of my eye.

I lined my top lashline and the outer edge of my bottom lashline with Keep It Going in the gray shade from Industria. Finished with 2 coats of Lash All You Want (black), after curling with the Make Me Lash curler.

The Super Flip Color Kit and all other makeup on my face can be found at http://rchristian.mymarkstore.com.

Promo through Thursday, 10/20:

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October is here!

Rhonda Gail — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 19:00:54 +0000

This is finally the month that Quentin should be born! I can’t even describe how excited I am about that!

I’m also excited to announce a couple of things starting in my mark. boutique! Today through the end of October, if you buy any of the two following products, I’ll personally send you a free lip product! You’ll also receive an extra lip print in the new rewards program that is detailed below.

Qualifying products:
1. i-mark or i-mark metallics (any shade) – $5/$6
2. Glammed Up ring – $28
3. Lipclick full color or color shine lipstick – $10
4. Make Me Lash eyelash curler – $7
5. Make It Go Away makeup remover wipes – $10
6. Super Flip Color Kit – $20 (currently $10 with a $20 purchase!)
7. Keep It Going Longwear liner and shadow – $10
8. Min-a-real cream to powder foundation – $18
9. Rock Steady earrings – $16
10. Nailed It polish duo – $7

All of these products can be purchased in my eboutique at http://rchristian.mymarkstore.com.

KISSES Rewards program

Announcing my new Kisses rewards program. It works like this: every time you spend $20 in my eboutique or through me directly, you receive one “lip print.” When you receive 5 lip prints, I’ll receive you a product package with a couple of full size products and lots of samples! There will be additional opportunities to earn lip prints as well. Since so many of you shop online exclusively, there won’t be a physical card to “stamp.” Instead, I’ll keep up with your prints and send you a statement of sorts via email each time you earn one! So get to shopping! You can start with the Halloween promo above!

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