Monday, March 10, 2014

How Do I Overcome A Pinterest Fail?

What did people do before Pinterest? If you're like me you had an "inspiration board" that you put clippings, website print-outs, and whatever else you wanted on there to inspire you on what you wanted to accomplish in life.  I first learned about the inspiration board from an episode of Oprah. The show was about achieving outcomes you wanted and thinking forward. I remember this lady on the show saying she made an inspiration board about what she wanted in the new home she just saved up and purchased. I remember her saying she put a picture of a Viking range on her board that she ultimately saved up and purchased later. All I wanted when I was watching that show was to successfully graduate college and get a good job- perhaps I shouldn't have been skipping my sociology class that day to watch Oprah but oh well...I had to get my inspiration from somewhere.  It's funny to think about now because I am constantly on Pinterest looking at everything known to man, recipes, nail art, makeup techniques, and my most favorite, hairstyles!

I was never one to do up my hair in high school or really put an effort into styling it in any way.  It was before the times of Moroccan Oil and Chi straighteners that worked well to tame frizzy manes. I was always so excited to go to school the Monday after I had gotten my haircut since the hairstylist would blow it out and straighten it making my hair look like someone else's. I'd get compliments about it, how'd you get it to look so good? Is that a chemical process? Are you new here in school?- yes that one actually happened too.  I remember my friends chipping in one Christmas to buy my one of the first Con air straighteners that had the tooth-ed comb and you had to put water in it to steam your hair.  I was so excited to get it home and use it only to ultimately have it get stuck in my hair....I think my Mom still remembers the shrieks and crying that ultimately followed the 2 hour ordeal to get the damn thing out of my hair. So I think in being scared for the time being about using any type of hair styling tool, I went back to doing the same thing all day everyday...putting it up in a pony-tail and wearing it like that.

Now, with a website like Pinterest, all you need to do is type in "easy hairstyle" and you are given a multitude of options for what you want to do, videos, in depth tutorials, anything! So it should be easy right? We've come a long way from straighteners getting stuck in your hair and using socks at night to curl it.  WRONG! Welcome to what is known as "The Pinterest Fail" something you see on Pinterest and try to recreate it and it comes out wrong-really wrong.  Please use this website as a reference http://pinterestfail.com/

So in this month's journey to get better looking skin and look good all around, I picked one of my favorite do's on my Hair Loves board and thought I'd give it a go this morning since it said, "Easy 10 Minute Bouffant." Yeah right! It was not easy and it did not take 10 minutes, it took 30, and made me late for work this morning. I officially looked like I had a bird's nest on my head and chose to walk out of the house looking like that. I could have easy taken it down and decided to do what I always do which is a half up/half down look with a hair tie but I thought, I went for it on this one and I'm going to embrace it-frizzy birds nest and all.  Hopefully I will be able to one day achieve this style, but for now I am going to overcome my fail by laughing it off and doing what anyone else would do- blog about it and potentially put my new "do" idea on Pinterest called, "the difficult 30 minute mess bird nest."

No-I didn't take a picture, even though I know you wish I had :)

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Thanks For Noticing- No, My Eyelids Did Not Lose Weight

OMG! I have not made a blog posting in such a long time! No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth or get eaten by a giant bag of Cheetos...I was sitting on the couch eating the Cheetos while watching Bravo Real Housewives shows, wasting away. I finally have gotten back on track and this Hungry Girl is going to press on and get into that sparkly Trina Turk skirt dammit! It may say size 8 on the tag but I am going to conquer all the sizes in front of it and get back into it and the rest of the stuff in my fabulous closet.

So I was sitting in my weekly Weight Watchers meeting and we were asked to offer up what "change you made this week" or "did you try something new?" Usually I like to keep my opinions to myself. Talking in the meeting reminds me of being the kid in school who wouldn't shut up and had a comment for whatever the teacher said. That wasn't me you see, I wanted to get the heck out of there and onto my next class, go to the cafeteria, or get into the Tinkerbell Tank (may she rest in peace for she was sold for parts) to drive off to my minimum wage job being the Hostest With the Most-est seating patrons at the diner on my street. It wasn't glamorous since most nights I came home smelling like french fries, but it gave me spending cash to fuel my shoe and purse addiction. Ok back to the meeting because I know that's what I was originally trying to talk about but got onto a tangent that ultimately led me to talk about shoes-typical. The questions were, "change? something new?" and I thought to myself, well, yes in fact! I did make a change this week and I think it did change my outlook on life.  In my journey to get skinny and be able to look like Jennifer Lawrence, I have been trying all sorts of things to lose some pounds. Right now my Pretty Blonde Friend and I are going to the LA Fitness by work about 4 days a week, sweating on the elliptical machine but trying to look good at the same time, wile not falling over- I have a tendency to do that you know. All of this sweating has produced little in the actual moving of the number on the scale, however, I have been tracking my measurements and I'm losing inches.

Since I haven't achieved my smaller pant size yet, I decided it was time to make another change to help me with my perspective on this being healthy thing. The clothes aren't fitting the way I want them to yet but I know there is something I can be doing to make myself feel better. I came to the conclusion that taking better care of my skin and putting an effort into my beauty routine could help with this. One thing you must know about me is I have been fortunate to be someone who has never really had breakouts or had to wash their face. Now, in getting older I was noticing that stuff wasn't looking correct in the beauty department and I needed to do something about it. Lucky for me again, I work at the Fashion Mecca where you can also buy a multitude of creams, washes, blushes, brushes, lip gloss, concealer, and eye liner...just to name a few products. Here is how my conversation went with the gal at the beauty counter:
Beauty Expert: What did you do this morning to get your skin ready for the day?
Me: I used a makeup remover wipe to get rid of yesterday's mascara.
Beauty Expert: Ok and?
Me: That's all, gotta get the old and chipped mascara off first ya know...can't just keep adding on the layer.
Beauty Expert: Yes I know. So what else are you doing? What skin type do you have?
Me: Pale Skin?
Beauty Expert: Oh Boy....
This conversation lasted with a couple of more questions and a big face palm by my Pretty Blonde Friend but we made it through and finally figured out what 10 products I needed to have the face of an Angel.

That night I was so excited to do my skin routine. With all of the samples I got hooked up with, I forgot some steps and actually used a facial cleanser as a serum- no wonder it felt sticky.  The next morning I looked in the mirror before it was time to wash again and I couldn't help notice the immediate change.  I washed my face, applied some war paint for the day, and went out the door ready to show everyone the Hungry Girl with the new and improved skin that felt smooth like a baby's ass.  What ultimately happened that first day was people looking at me different. What did she change? Is her hair different? Is that Anne Hathaway? Yeah right I wish. I was talking to someone and the comment that came out of their mouth I couldn't have made up if I had tried, "You look great! Your eyes look thinner."  Thinner huh...well alright. It got me thinking that maybe all I needed for my outlook on life was to try something new sooner. This new change of taking better care of myself made me want to work harder at the gym and eat healthier.  It's amazing what a boost of confidence you get from a compliment, even if the compliment is stemming from the fact they used to think your eyes were fat. A compliment is a compliment.

So last Tuesday in Weight Watchers I had shared about my new skin care routine and how it had helped me to see that I need to focus on the overall package. My little change I made has shown me that weight isn't everything and beauty isn't defined by how large or thin you are-it's by the smile on your face and your outlook on the world, and the friends you have like Pretty Blonde Friend and my Friend who looks like Nicole Richie (she's kind of a big deal). Enough of the philosophical mushy stuff...pass the popcorn...I mean, carrots!




 Me and my new complexion


I should start my own makeup business...I don't think I have enough here