Care For False Eyelashes

I have started wearing false eyelashes pretty consistently and I have had people ask me things like, are they hard to take off, do they hurt to take off, how many times can you reuse them? Some people have even told me that wearing fake eyelashes too often will make your natural ones fall out.

So for all things that are new to you, whether it be dying your hair, trying new make up products or starting to wear false eyelashes, do some research first. Please! Don't just go into something blindly and think, "yeah I think this is a good idea. We'll see." Realize that things like dying your hair, and wearing fake eyelashes require some know-how and upkeep.

To be honest, if it's hurting or your natural ones are falling out, you're doing something wrong. In regards to how to take them off, lots of You Tube videos advise to just gently tug them off. Please don't do this. Soak them in some way first. I will sometimes wear them in the shower, and then the heat will just make them fall off on their own. No tugging necessary. Or use a eye make up remover, soak a cotton pad and let it sit on your eye for about 30 seconds and the lash will just come off on it's own. Again, no tugging is needed! 

You can usually reuse them for about 5 uses, give or take depending on how nice they are. Make sure to clean them off getting as much mascara off of them and carefully pull off the glue which should be pretty easy after you have taken them off as the glue will be warm, or soft still.

And that's it! It is a commitment. With anything, take the time to do it right and be careful! 

Bourne

Have I talked about seeing the new Bourne movie? I dunno if I have but I saw it again with the girls for girls night. The first time I went and saw it with Dave, the theater we were in was huge. Easily the biggest auditorium I have been in. Your average theater goes up to the letter J. This one went up to U. Huge. At one point during the movie I had to go potty, and couldn't wait, it felt like it took forever to walk down all those stairs. It is a super action packed movie and definitely worth seeing on the big screen. One thing that I thought was super cute is Aaron (basically the new Bourne) and his heart throb, played by Rachel Weisz, (and this may be a spoiler for some) they never kiss, and there is no sex in the movie. They just hug and hold hands, it's super cute. And he has such nice hands.....

 I have a hard time following those movies so seeing it a second time was great and helped me fill in the parts I missed. Although I still don't get why he hides his pills in his boot at the beginning and says he lost them...?

I also got to meet and play with Julie's new puppy, Drake. He is so cute, but makes me so sad since I wish he was mine!

Fall

I am so ready for Fall to be here and I am so excited to see the leaves changing a bit up the canyon and the weather starting to cool down. Mom-in-law and I are planning a Halloween party and nothing gets me excited like looking for inspiration on Pinterest. I saw this a little last year, but not quite as much as this year, but I am obsessed with white pumpkins;

Super pretty, right?!

These, white tights, with white stuffing are so nasty and awesome.

Make spider web using Elmers glitter glue. on wax paper, peel and use! THIS IS SO AWESOME

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes- no separate filling, just one batter, which creates a crust-like outside with a custard-like center. Top with whipped cream.

Witch Cupcakes

Make a  (non-boosey) pick your poison station

Tired

I have not been sleeping well lately. I average 4-6 hours of sleep a night. Always super tired. Do you love all my health problems I complain about?

I take melatonin each night and that does help a bit. There are a lot of good articles out there about the other benefits of melatonin. As we grow older often times our bodies will start producing less melatonin naturally, supplementing melatonin may thus help older adults enhance their antioxidant protection against some of the most ravaging diseases of aging, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and stroke. One of melatonin’s most important applications is in fighting a wide array of cancers, including breast and liver cancers, non-small-cell lung cancer, and brain metastases from solid tumors.

I also take B Vitamins after breakfast and throughout the day drink at least 96oz of water, 64oz of that with a drink enhancer. 

B vitamins are an energy metabolizer as well as help ease stress, treat anxiety and depression, aid memory, relieve PMS and reduce heart disease risk. 

Both of these things help a lot throughout the day so I am not totally a zombie all day. 

Also, these are the new lashes I bought and wore for the first time yesterday. They were like $5, and are a lot longer then the ELF ones I used, a little too long, But the glue that they came with was a lot better and didn't come off at all throughout the day.  I'll keep the glue but I don't the love the lashes, I'll stick to the ELF ones.

Farmers Market and Deer Creek

Today we went up to the SLC Farmers Market. This summer has gone by so fast! We didn't go to the Farmers Market as much as I would have loved, so we hit it up for what probably will be the last time for the summer. I usually just take pictures with my iPhone (#lazy) but I was determined to actually have my legit camera out and not miss a thing. Super happy with the pics I got. I love all the people watching! 

This guy was playing near the entrance. He had quite the crowd. 

HD video on Facebook

Some random fun products

Musicians. So young! 

And the old.

#mustache 

The always popular, always busy Mint Limeade stand.

Should have taken more produce pics! 

The best sausages + veggies you will ever eat.... Ever. We came up a few weeks ago and were soooo sad to not see them there, but were sooo happy when they were there today! 

Served by a group of elderly people with thick Italian accents. They have a restaurant called Marcello's Italian in Bountiful. We will have to make a trip up to it some time.

Also bought a basket of Brigham City peaches. I looove the basket! New photography prop!

And also bought a tub of Raspberry Honey butter from Knight Family Honey based out of Lehi. We bought I tub of it last year from the market and I ate the entire thing, by myself, in 5 days. So this time we bought two. One is mine, one is Dave's =)

We then went to Deer Creek reservoir just to soak up some sun and swim a little. I got some serious sun, a little too much, but I'm not complaining! 

And finally, Rumbi for dinner. Nom.

And here was my make up for today before it melted off and we went swimming. Proud of it =)

Oh and finally edited these pics today;

He makes me so excited to see what my kids will look like, I can definitely see some Pugh in him (from my mom's side). I hope our kids have deep dark brown eyes, gorgeous eyelashes and crazy blond curls (Cavanaugh side)! And no I am not contradicting my recent post, cause I'm not baby hungry =)

Happy Saturday! 

Fake Eyelashes

So I am curious, who out there uses false eyelashes? I've met so many people, I have so many friends, I have shot so many clients who have insane eyelashes. Insane. My eyelashes are the wimpiest eyelashes you ever did see. And after editing a few sessions of some girls with some insane eyelashes recently I started doing a little research on eyelash treatments. Sure there are tons of products out there you can buy and apply that do help grow your lashes, most starting at $40 a tube. You can also go in and get eyelash extensions, normally $70 a treatment. Being the poor cheapo I am, I didn't want to spend more then $10. So I started looking into false eyelashes. Almost every single eye make up tutorial I watched on You Tube included adding fake eyelashes.

So I hit up Walmart (cheapo to the max I tell you) and bought a $1 pair of ELF lashes. Can't say no to a buck. ELF products are a hit in a miss, so I didn't have super high hopes, but I figured it would be a good tester pair. They had a natural lash kit, and a dramatic lash kit, I just got the natural.

So I watched a few You Tube videos since this was the very first time I had ever even tried putting them on. What would I ever do without the internet? Here are the tips I found best;

Do all your eye make up first
Do a fairly thick line of black eyeliner along your lash line as a bit of a filler
Check the size of the lash on your eye, and trim if needed
Bend the lashes a little bit first, to help them be a little curved to your eye
Just directly apply the glue to the base of your lashes, let sit for about 15-20 seconds, and apply lashes
Make sure you get plenty of glue on corners
Use mascara and eye lash curler to help your natural combine with the falsies

These two videos helped the most for me;





So here is a one with, one without picture;

Pathetic, right? The difference is insane.

And here is the finished product, red lipstick included;

I've started having this thing with red lipstick. More women need to wear red lipstick more often. I think it's such a little thing, that makes a huge amazing difference. Red lipstick and red nails always make me feel like a million bucks. Try it. I tell you. Be brave. Do it. You will get a million compliments and your day will be better, because of your lipstick.

So, no lie, I am feeling addicted to wearing falsies, so I will try other brands, ya da ya da and share any tips I have!

Happy Friday! 

Deals Deals Deals

I am huge about finding the best deal. I will go to great lengths to compare prices between stores to make sure I am getting the best price for something. It drives Dave nuts, cause I am always like, "Let me see what deals I can find first." Before I make any purchase. I normally am pretty good about finding deals. So here are some things I keep an eye out for that helps me save a buck or two here and there. It all adds up!

When going out to eat I look for student discounts, coupons online or early dine options.

We love Texas Road House and when we eat there we rarely spend over $27, tip included (we don't get appetizers, desserts, and don't get drinks) but Monday - Thursday if you eat there before 6pm they have early dine, and offer a lot of meals under $8. So we end up spending $20, tip included. I know a lot of restaurants have considerably cheaper lunch menus or lunch specials. Although avoid chef specials because if they have a chef special that usually means they are trying to use up food that is about to go bad...

Another favorite restaurant of ours is Costa Vida. They are a bit cheaper then Cafe Rio, never as busy, and the food is pretty much identical. I think Cafe Rio does this or something similar, but at Costa Vida you can get any daily special, any day with a student ID. The meal, plus a drink is $5.99 and we usually only spend $13. Who can say no to a $13 dinner? I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of places have student discounts that they don't advertise. Just ask!

Hit up the Google machine. I can find at least a few coupons for most places within a quick 5 minute search. Like Chili's coupons. Macaroni Grill coupons. Arby's coupons. Pap Johns coupons. Rumbi coupons. Also when I do any online shopping I search for coupon codes. Sometimes this will take a little longer because they don't always work in the system and I have to spend some time copy and pasting, but hey if I get free shipping, or get 20% or even 10% off that's sweet. Like AE coupons. Old Navy coupons. ELF coupons. Forever 21 coupons.

Sharing is Caring. Order large sizes and share. We loooove Rumbi. We usually get their rice bowls. Their large size is Huge. Huge. And only a buck or two more then the regular size. Saving about $8. Also with large sizes, at the movie theater the biggest thing for me is popcorn. I loooove movie theater popcorn. And I have never been able to find pop-at-home stuff that is as good. So you know when I am at the movies, I am having a huge tub of popcorn. At the Megaplex their large size is only $1 more, and you get one free re-fill. I don't ever use the re-fill, but if you had a large group, or a couple kids, that'd be the way to go.

Speaking of movies... We see a movie almost every Tuesday. Tuesday at the Megaplex theaters has matinee pricing all day. So rather then spending almost $20 on tickets, we only spend $12. Also, never buy your tickets online. They tack on a $2 convenience free, per ticket. We have never been to see a movie that was busy on a week day. Seriously, there are usually only 5 other couples/groups at max. I was told that Cinemark does this same matinee deal, but I don't know what day that is...

Check Amazon for online shopping, I always check Amazon. Amazon has crazy prices and sells pretty much everything. I buy pretty much all of my movies at Amazon. If you saw a movie in the theaters and are dying to buy it, 1, make sure you know the day it comes out on DVD. 2, don't pre-order. 3, jump on Amazon within the first 5 days it's on DVD and you can usually get a killer deal on it. We bought the new Sherlock Holmes on Blu-Ray from Amazon for only $13, normally $25. Walmart has good deals during the first week a movie is out, but Amazon always wins, and having Amazon Prime is awesome because you can get most products with free 2 day shipping. (and Amazon Prime --- you can get for 50% off as a student)

And finally -- sign up for emails and join customer programs. Soooo many places send out texts and emails when they have deals going on. And lots of places will allow you to build points, or give out punch cards. Beans and Brews and Megaplex being the ones we use the most, we are close to getting a free movie ticket and get free drinks from Beans and Brews frequently. Don't be stingy in giving out your email!

Busy Busy Pictures Pictures

As I have said in other posts, I have been very busy with pictures and it's been fun to see how my photography is changing and, I think improving. Here are just a few pics I wanted to share that I have had fun doing over the last little while;

Whitney has been a dear friend for a long time. I was so excited to shoot her and Mike's engagements. They are such a stunning couple!

Whitney and Mike were married just last weekend on August 11th. It was such an adorable wedding. All the pics from their wedding are not done yet, but here are some of their groomals.

The Austin family have been family friends for a long time. Mark (the guy with the beefy beard) has been good friends with my dad since before I was even born. It was such a treat to shoot their family pictures. Sweet Emily passed away on August 2nd. I know these pictures were very hard for her because of the pain she was in, but I am so grateful to have been able to do them.

My last monthly session with little Henry. Oh how I miss seeing him and his darling parents!

Damien, Zoey and Blake came into town in July, here a just a couple more pics from their session. Lil Blake is such a cutie!

Shot my first wedding at the Draper Temple, such a pretty temple! Not to mention adorable Mallory and Omar. They have the cutest love for each other! It is so sweet! Shooting some groomals for them come Saturday!

Seth was such a good friend in high school I was so excited when he came to me with the idea for their engagement session. They wanted something super sexy and stylish, James Bond-esque. We shot at the SLC Library, gorgeous location and very different from where I normally shoot. These pictures are very different from my normal style but I am really happy with how they turned out! I was sooo sick during this session. I think I was super dehydrated. No good. I was dizzy and nauseous. The library has like 5 or 6 floors and these pure glass elevators to take you to each floor. I seriously thought I was going to keel over and die riding those elevators. I normally don't get motion sickness... But boy oh boy. At least the pictures turned out!

And finally, I went and took some pics at Thanksgiving Point, just for fun, just for me. Here are just a couple, but I am really happy with how they turned out! I'll be selling some prints soon..... =)