scrambling for material

i'm starting to think i have no business trying to blog on a daily basis anymore.  half the time i forget to write it until the day is half over, and the other half i don't even have much to talk about anyway.  the old lady and i were chatting the other day about how we get into less shenanigans these days, and i think it's mostly due to her work schedule (pesky adulting) and the bean's endless extracurriculars.  i mean, it's cool and all, but it definitely leaves me with a shortage of fun crap to share.

this week has been a little off with the bean on a month-long break from cheer practice.  it's just weird when we're not rushing to get from her math program to cheer and then rushing back home to have dinner and get ready for bed.  it's actually kind of nice, less hectic, a little less driving back and forth for me.  but we can't get used to it, because it'll go by fast and then we'll be right back to the grind again.

on monday the old lady and i went on a target run and giggled at these shirts that i might have to recreate for st. patrick's day:

and i tried a new recipe for honey sesame chicken that we enjoyed with white rice and roasted asparagus.  broccoli probably would've been a better choice, but i didn't have any, so there.

we got to indulge in our monday night ritual of "the bachelor," face masks and wine.  i'm not sharing another face mask photo though.  you're welcome.

and thanks to our trip to eataly the day before, the hub assembled a lovely charcuterie plate for us to enjoy too:

and i finally got to make my first batch of thai coconut mango sticky rice, also in the IP.  the old lady had never tried it before and i was really pleased with how it turned out.  i'll be making it again because she really liked it, yay!

one of the pattern makers i like is hosting a spring capsule contest.  basically, you create nine pieces of clothing that can be mixed and matched together using only their patterns and post a picture of all of your creations - by themselves, modeled, paired up into outfits, what have you.  there are fun prizes to be won, and they choose a winner at the end of the contest period.  i missed out on this last year and vowed to go for it next time, so i sat down yesterday and made a list of the pieces i want to sew up:

all i have to do now is choose fabrics.  i have an insane fabric stash right now, so i'm hoping to clear a bunch of it out with this project.  i literally have stacks of fabric in about four different places in the house and the hub is ready to kill me.  eek.

i did also finally suck it up and tried a pattern for something i hadn't done before - a zip-up hoodie.  i have an irrational fear of zippers even though i've worked with them before, and this time it was a little different because it required a separating zipper.  i decided to make it for the bean using a panel of fabric i'd been saving for just the right project, and i knew she'd love it because it combines two of her greatest loves:  pusheen and disney.  i decided to fully line the jacket and add inseam pockets and thumbhole cuffs because i'm just crazy like that, and while my zipper ended up being a couple of inches too short, she was pretty stinking stoked when she tried it on.  this is before adding the cuffs:

it seems to be pretty warm and cozy, which will be perfect for her to take to a road trip we've got coming up for spring break.  i've got some other super soft fabric i've been saving for a zip-up jacket for myself, so i'm excited to cut into it and get it going.

wish me luck.  i hope it turns out like i'm hoping it will!

a new monday night ritual

as much as i love makeup, i really don't take care of my skin as well as i should.  sure, i clean off my makeup at night like a good girl, but i don't do anything else like night creams and eye cream and toners and stuff.  admittedly, i'm way too lazy for any of that.  but the old lady has been plowing through our considerable stash of skincare lately, and she's encouraged me to join in the fun.

and so mondays have turned into "let's watch the bachelor with face masks on" night for me and the old lady.  it's pretty funny and awesome at the same time.  armed with some gift cards we received in our christmas stockings, we headed to ulta a couple of weeks ago and i picked up some fun stuff to use.  i'm a big fan of peel-off masks, probably because it reminds me of the old days when i'd smear some elmer's glue on my hand and let it dry so i could peel it off.  so satisfying.  ha!  and when i came across a jar of something called "disco kitten," a silver peel-off mask that makes me look like a robot as it dries, i had to have it.  and yes, i look totally ridiculous.

oh, and yes - that IS a headband with cat ears on it.  because DISCO KITTEN, people.  it's fantastic.

one of the side effects i forgot about doing masks and things like this is the lovely zits that come up to the surface afterwards.  gah.  i suppose you have to get through all the crappy stuff before you can reap the benefits, right?

there's another mask i'd been wanting since before christmas.  i'd put it on my wish list, but it has a pretty hefty price tag and the old lady was like UH NOPE when she saw it.  heh.  and then right as we were starting our monday night rituals, i came across a voucher that got me a pretty nice discount on it, and so i went for it.  i was pretty excited when it arrived on my doorstep:

yes.  that does, indeed, say GLITTERmask.  yesssssssss.  i opened the box and found this:

see, it's perfect for wearing while watching the bachelor!  i knew it.  and it came with this cute little brush, too.

i'd bought a silicone "brush" when i got the disco kitten mask.  it doesn't have bristles - instead, it kind of looks like a giant flathead screwdriver made out of silicone.  it makes it easy to spread the mask on my face and keeps the waste to a minimum since the product doesn't get stuck in any bristles.  genius.

i pulled the jar out of the box:

and totally squealed when i opened it.  look how sparkly and fun!

i spread a nice thick layer of it all over my face, handed the jar to the old lady, and then we hopped onto the couch and turned on our show.

i tried to talk the hub into joining us, but he was having none of those shenanigans.  shocking.

i don't really have an "after" picture to show you, but rest assured that i've been using the "retouch" button on the photos app a lot lately because these zits are coming hard and fast and they're not pretty. i sure hope this stage passes soon, because i'm so over it.

i wonder what other fun peel-off masks there are out there.  although i suppose i should probably get through the stack of sheet masks we've built up in our arsenal first.  not as fun, but i'm sure they'll be really good for my skin.

living my best life over here, people.  that's right.

REPRESENT.

okay, i gotta say - i haven't been this emotionally invested in a season of "the bachelor" since that whole stupid jason/melissa/molly debacle.  and i still think that guy is a total douchebag, but all reports seem to indicate that everyone is happy with their lives now, so i guess it's time to let go.

and if you haven't watched it yet, what the hell are you waiting for?  it was the most dramatic finale of the bachelor yet!  okay, maybe not, but it was a pretty good one.  stop reading this, fire up that DVR and come back when you're done.

because this season!  first, they finally give us a bachelor who's actually likable - unlike boring ben, belligerent brad and jerky jake, we got super hot, sweet, sincere sean.  emily was seriously dumb for letting this one go (especially considering what she ended up with), but at least it gave us a whole season of this:

hubba hubba.

and then one of the final two was not only asian, but a filipina! love it.

so i know it sounds really dumb, but i'm really hoping that sean and catherine join the elite ranks of the happily married bachelor/ette couples.  they seem like a really nice couple, and duh - she's from the homeland!  watching him meet catherine's family during that hometown date was awesome.  i could totally decipher that fobby accent and giggle at the familiar sound of it.  and the food!  oh, now i feel like i must head into the kitchen and whip up some food of my people.  yum.

sean, you've got LUMPIA 4 LYFE, yo.  enjoy that shit.  it's a pain in the ass to make.