2012 August | whoorl

New House? What New House?

August 30, 2012

Hello! I disappeared there for second, didn’t I? It’s just that I’ve been, you know, doing stuff. All in a tremendous effort to stop thinking about the new house (yay!) and escrow (stressful!) and renovations (new kitchen!) and new schools (hope it works out!) and letting the nanny go (oh my goodness, I don’t want to have this conversation noooooo).

It’s working! Kind of.

Sunday: Baby Shower

Adorable shower, yet my focus is being diverted to the incredible vegetable and herb garden at the host’s home. Can’t stop thinking about the garden. Mentally plot out the new garden location at the new house. Wait, I’m thinking about the house again. Damn.

Monday: Cars Land

Arrive when the park opens at 9am sharp, walk directly to the Radiator Springs Racers attraction, and STILL wait 95 minutes in line. That, my friends, is crazy. (Will you please look at the photo on the bottom right? The kids grasped hands as Lightning McQueen pulled up. HOLD ME CLOSER, TINY DANCER. IT’S MCQUEEN.)

Totally enjoying our day until D gets a text from our broker needing document #3,569. Oh, that’s right! The house.

Tuesday: Slyder’s Water Playground at the Huntington Beach Hyatt

Checking out the Hyatt Huntington Beach’s new children’s menu, For Kids By Kids. Top Your Own Breakfast Taco Bar, Mini-Waffles, Shaken Chopped Salad…Wito is a fan of most of the offerings (still despises lettuce, though). The menu is designed to provide more nutritious and healthy offerings for even the youngest of guests, and was developed to support Hyatt’s food and beverage philosophy, “Food. Thoughtfully Sourced. Carefully Served.”

After lunch, our lovely hosts invite us to stay for the afternoon and let the kids check out the water slide park, to which Kristen and I reply, “Don’t mind if we do!” Fast forward about 5 hours of water-sliding, pina colada-ing and blog gossiping later, and we unwillingly hit the road back home. Thanks, HB Hyatt. I only thought about the house for 30 minutes tops.

Wednesday: Prep for TV Segment. Run. Errands.

Butterflies. In the stomach. Prepping for a beauty segment tomorrow. Hmm, I wonder how the house appraisal went?

Thursday: Filming Marie Osmond Show

Here I am all coiffed by the hair and makeup department, but if you look closely, you can see the fear in my eyes. I’ve noticed a trend with my on-camera work – when the lights go up and the cameras start to roll, I feel completely comfortable with what I’m doing. However, leading up to that exact point? MAMA IS SKEERED. (That second photo is the handwritten note Marie left for me. I thought that was such a lovely gesture to all of her guests.) Anyway, Marie’s show debuts in October and I’ll let you know when my segment is scheduled to air.

p.s. – Didn’t think about the house once. Thanks, nerves.

Friday: Free Day!

A beach visit? A little shopping with the kids? Not sure, but I promise not to drive by the house. Maybe.

COMMENTS (19)

Step Away From the Spray Bottle, Sir

August 22, 2012

Over the past few years, we’ve rarely strayed from Wito’s signature hairstyle. You’ve seen it before…the swoopy, longer bangs in the front…short, but not too short in the back…

It just suits him. Not that the haircut doesn’t have its drawbacks, though. It can get a little hot and sweaty all up in there, and we deal with some pretty raunchy bedhead, to boot.

And I raaaaaan, I ran so far awaaayyy…

A few weeks ago, we decided to shorten it up a bit. We’ve hit the warmest part of the summer, and it was looking a tad bothersome. D (who does a mighty fine job of cutting his own hair, might I add) took the reigns and gave Wito a nice summer cut.

Wito was happy with it, and although we definitely miss the swoop, it was a nice change.

Fast forward a couple of weeks, when I opened his backpack and retrieved the ominous school picture envelope.

This is what I found.

(I’d like to apologize for the abundance of caps lock you are about to witness.)

OMG BWAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

WHA? WHO? HUH? Who is that child? Is that my child? What the hell happened to the top of his head? Is it, um, wet? Has it been sprayed with water or some oil-like substance? What’s the vertical span of that business on top? WHO MANIPULATED MY CHILD’S HEAD, I ASK OF YOU PLEASE SIR.

It’s just so…wet and spiky and, well, of the douchebag variety.

You guys, I cry-laughed for at least 20 minutes upon finding these photos. I think we will pass on this year’s package, thanks.

UPDATE: After chatting with some moms, it seems many children in Wito’s class had surprising hairstyles in their photos. When called and asked, the photographer shared that “they do not normally restyle kids hair, but this particular class was unfortunately right after recess.” Unfortunate indeed, good sir. UNFORTUNATE, INDEED. Heh.

COMMENTS (44)

Sideswept Bangs: Control Your Cowlicks!

August 21, 2012

The past 6 years of my follicular existence have always included some sort of bang situation on my forehead. Short, long, blunt, sideswept…you name it, I’ve done it. It seems I’ve settled on a sideswept look – mainly because they are so much easier to style (and grow out) than heavy, blunt bangs, but also because I have some serious cowlicks.

See for yourself.

Yep. I definitely don’t have the world’s most perfect hairline.

Are you scared to cut bangs because of your hairline? It’s something I hear from friends all the time – “I want bangs so badly, but I have cowlicks. They would never work on me!” Well, I’m here to tell you that you can definitely style bangs, even with the most stubborn cowlicks. Let’s get down to business.

First off, take a gander at what my bangs would look like if they were left to their own devices.

Not cute. Not cute at all, people. So! Here’s my step-by-step process to achieving great-looking, sideswept bangs.

1. Start with wet hair.

2. Blowdry a good amount of the moisture out before styling, raking the bangs back and forth between your fingers.

3. Once damp, your main mission is to absolutely confuse your cowlicks. Start by brushing your bangs to one side while pointing the nozzle of the dryer close to the forehead.

4. Now switch directions.

Switch again.

And again.

At this point, your cowlicks will be completely confused. Surrender, cowlicks! RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.

5. After drying, begin moving your bangs in the direction you want them to lay, making sure the pieces are lying flat.

6. Voila! Smooth, sideswept bangs without any crazy cowlick action.

Yes, it’s really that easy. It might take a few times to get the hang of it, but your bangs will be trained in no time.

Good luck and good styling!

COMMENTS (16)

The Olympic Dream Is Alive and Well (+Odds and Ends)

August 17, 2012

1. I miss the Olympics. It’s ridiculous, actually, because my experience with the Olympics had to be the worst in the world…being on the West Coast with the tape delay, it was like the entire entirety of the universe knew what happened before I did. Couple that with getting behind on our DVR (because who really stays up until midnight to watch the Olympics? Are you kidding me?), we are still catching up. Seems kind of fruitless, but whatevs. Who will win the 5000-meter? The suspense!

2. Did I mention we are in escrow? I think maybe I did once or twice or a thousand times. (Was that in my head?) Wow, you guys. Entire forests of trees have been slayed just for our personal escrow papers. It’s a good thing my signature looks like a scribble because my hand done fell off.

3. Everything is changing in our life right now. Schools, schedules, childcare, houses, new work…who am I? And why am I writing this post right now? Not sure.

4. These are pretty dang good. They help when the hamster wheel in my head starts whizzing out of control. (So does running, but cookies taste a lot better.)

5. I didn’t just make this up – this facial mask is the bomb. Plus, you can eat it with your cookies.

6. Happy weekend to you all.