Piano Week - Day 4

I played for less than 10 minutes today. Too many external things got in the way. One thing I noticed in my brief bit of playing was how worn out my fingers were; I think they've been getting a better workout than I first realized. I also noticed a bit of my memory kicking in to help  me remember the songs that I've been practicing a lot over the past few days.

Piano Week - Day 3

I practice for about 30-35 minutes today. I kind of felt like I was a little kid again. I was practicing a song that I learned and passed off about 16 years ago, but the song was hard again. I was really working at playing with both my right and left hands together. It was fun, though. I did some warm-up exercises, practice a couple songs out of the lesson book, then I had fun and played through a Disney song, and I ended with practicing "Come, Follow Me." I figure I should know at least one hymn, in case a pianist is ever needed at church.

Piano Week - Day 2

By the time Charlie went down for a nap today, I had a migraine. It's still hanging around, so I just decided that there won't be any piano playing tonight.

Piano Week - Day 1

This week is going to be Piano Week. We have a keyboard that I pulled out and I'm going to try to play for around 40 minutes every day. Today, I pulled out my John Thompson 2nd Grade book that I never finished and decided to just start at the beginning again. It's been SO long since I've played the piano, so it was more difficult for me. My fingers aren't used to that kind of use at all, and they weren't "cooperating" in the way I wanted them to. I enjoyed playing a lot, though. One frustrating thing is the keyboard itself. There isn't the same resistance in the keys as on a piano, so dynamics are extremely difficult to play. It seems like I can only play really loud or really quiet. I also tried giving Joseph a little piano lesson. He was really excited to play the piano like me, so he was willing to try. He does not get the idea of using different fingers for different keys, but he did learn what middle C is and he's very proud of that. It's easy for him to remember where it is because there are some stickers on the keyboard. We'll see if he wants to keep doing "piano lessons" after today.

Beauty Week - Days 6 & 7

I didn't do anything for Beauty Week on Saturday.

Today, I tried one more new thing. After my shower, I mixed a little bit of baby oil with my regular lotion before putting it on. It was awesome! It's the first time that my legs haven't felt super dry after shaving. And my skin looked so soft and nice for a long time after my shower. I really liked doing that a lot.

When I put my makeup on, I just used a bunch of the tricks that I've tried throughout the week. I think it all came out alright.

Summary of Beauty Week:

It was fun to try out some new things this week, and I even got a couple new things to try out. However, it felt like so much work! I'm so lazy about stuff, so removing makeup every night before bed felt like too much work. And I felt like I wasted a lot of time getting ready everyday just so that I would have something to blog about. I guess it's because I'm married and a mom, but I just don't feel like wearing makeup and looking "pretty" are that important right now. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it! And I think it's fun to do on occasion. I do like looking nice, but I don't like that I have to spend forever putting on makeup to look nice. I think I'll just stick with my occasional wearing of makeup and other such beauty things.

Beauty Week - Day 5

Let's see, today I tried out a few more things.

I wanted to try out this primer that has some shimmer to it, but Sephora doesn't carry that brand and that's where we went. A guy at Sephora recommended a different product, which I found out I was allergic to, but it led me to an illuminating primer that I tried out. It was an okay product, but I'm not super sold on it. There's already a primer that I know I like, I guess I was just looking for a good illuminator/highlighter.

I was a little more deliberate and careful when I put my concealer on today. I have terrible under-eye circles that are difficult to cover up. Today, I waited a bit after moisturizing before putting concealer on, then I applied a foundation, and I followed up with my powder, which I applied with a smaller brush to make sure that it got on and stayed on. I feel like the extra care was worth it because my concealer seemed to work longer.

I tried a new trick with my mascara, where you hold up a card on the other side of your eyelashes so they don't bend away when you're applying the mascara. It didn't seem to make much difference to me, but that may be because I'm blessed with good eyelashes, so I don't need extra care. It might work great for someone with light colored or finer eyelashes.

I also carried around my chapstick with me, which I haven't done in years, and remembered to apply it multiple times during the day, so now my lips are nice and soft.

I tried getting photos a couple times, but the sun wasn't really my friend when it came to that. However, here they are:

Beauty Week - Day 4

Today, I tried doing a few different things. I put hand sanitizer next to my computer to use whenever I sit down because I read that one major cause of chin and jaw acne comes from resting our face in our hand while looking at the computer, which I do all the time. I also learned that it's best to use a lighter face wash in the morning and a stronger one at night.; it removes your makeup and all the dirt at night without drying out your face from over cleansing.

For my makeup, I blended a drop of liquid foundation with my moisturizer and then put it on. I loved that because my face felt hydrated and the color was evened out, but it wasn't cakey or too overdone. When I put my eyeliner on, I put black liner on my top lid and brown on the bottom lid; I layered the black with pencil first and then liquid and I used a liquid marker type liner for the brown. Doing that is supposed to give a softer look. I don't normally where liner on the bottom, so it was a heavier look than I usually have, but it was definitely softer than having black on top and on bottom. I also lined the rims and corners of my eyes with white liner to brighten and open them up. I bought the most amazing liner for that! It's Buxom Insider Eyeliner, and it's the smoothest, softest liner I've ever used. I highly recommend it; it's the only liner I'll buy from now on. My first two pictures where taken right after doing my makeup, but the last was taken much later in the evening.

Here's a close up of the eye makeup:

Full face:

It's hard to see past my glasses, but the makeup lasted all day, so that was really great.

Beauty Week - Day 3

Today I went shopping at Sephora. I tried out a few awesome products and I bought a couple new things. I can't wait to really try them out tomorrow.

Beauty Week - Day 2

I rinsed my hair this morning and then styled it. It really didn't seem any softer. I think I might have been using the wrong kind of product. We were so busy cleaning our house and stuff that I didn't do anything else today.

Beauty Week - Day 1

Today is the first day of Beauty Week. During Beauty Week, I am going to try out different techniques for makeup, skincare, nail painting, etc. I used to do stuff like this all the time before I got married and started having kids. I even worked on creating a "Beauty Book" a long time ago, which was a big binder full of beauty tips collected and collaged from magazines (apparently Samantha stole it from me).

One of the main things that I'm going to do this week is actually wear makeup, do my hair, and take care of my skin. Confession: I usually only wash my face 3 or 4 times per week.... This week, I'm going to do it twice a day! (If you want to know about any of the products I use, just ask. I don't swear by many beauty products because I love trying out new stuff, but I do have a lot of stuff that I like.)

I'm probably going to use things I've posted on Pinterest for ideas of what to do this week. Today, I used different ideas from an article on Shape.com called "Beauty Secrets from the People Who Know Best." I just used ideas from a couple tips today. I took some napkins from the Starbucks in our Barnes and Noble because they are supposed to be good blotting tissue, but I haven't tested that out yet. I've been trying to drink more water because it's good for your skin. I tried to "preserve my blow out" with dry shampoo and a little fluff with the blow dryer, but it didn't really work for me. Maybe it's because my hair is too short and just looks weird when I sleep on it. I'm also using a DIY recipe of dry shampoo that doesn't work very well. And I washed my hair and put in a deep conditioner a little while ago and I'll be rinsing it out tomorrow.

The last thing 2 things I did were with my eye makeup. I layered my eyeliner by putting on pencil first and then putting on liquid, then I warmed up my eyelash curler with my hair dryer before using it. Both of those techniques are supposed to help your makeup last longer. I feel like my eyeliner did last all day, but my eyelashes didn't stay curled all day. So I would recommend the eyeliner tip, but not the eyelash curler one. Here's a picture of me right after putting on the eyeliner and doing the hot curler thing (I didn't Photoshop it because I felt like that would ruin the whole testing-things-out aspect):

 It's really not a special picture and I took it at a weird angle, so my nose looks HUGE, but I don't hate it and I usually hate most pictures taken of me. I don't think there's anything that special about the makeup, but whatever. Maybe tomorrow will be more exciting...

Singing Week - Days 5, 6, & 7

I didn't do any singing the past 3 days. I was planning on going to Ward Choir Practice today, but I wasn't feeling well, so we stayed home and I slept through church.

Summary of Singing Week:
Even though I love singing, it really isn't something that works with my life right now. Part of it may have been that I was trying to do the lessons from the book and they require me to record myself, which I don't want to do when my kids are awake. Another part is that I feel a bit self-conscious and awkward practicing when Mitchell and the kids are around. But finding time when they aren't awake/around is nearly impossible. The one time that I really did some singing, I really enjoyed myself. I wish that it had worked, but I'm glad that I learned from this experience. I've been considering/talking to Mitchell about me taking singing lessons for years. I'm glad that it never got past the discussion stage because we might have wasted a lot of money. Maybe this is something that I can come back to in a few years when my kids are older and I have more time to myself.

Singing Week - Day 4

I didn't do any singing today. It's so hard to find time to do it! I'm not sure how to make the time, either.

Singing Week - Day 3

I didn't do anything from my book today. I couldn't seem to find any time to do it; the kids woke up early, they didn't nap at the same time, and they went to bed kind of late. Now I'm so tired that there's no way I can sing. 

I did sing the kids to sleep, and I even sang more songs than usual because Annabelle and Charlie weren't settling down. I tried to think about how I was singing while I was doing it. Normally, I just sing and don't really think about what I'm doing. But today, I tried to remember to use the "vocal pathway" and lift the sound up. I also focused a bit on the shape of my mouth and my pronunciation while I was singing. I even tried singing songs in different keys so that I stretched my range a bit. 

I need to find a time to actually work on singing...

Singing Week - Day 2

I had a hard time getting started today. I was feeling very reticent to start practicing and wasn't enjoying the idea of "Singing Week." Which is weird because I love singing and I always have. I took voice lessons for a short time in 11th grade and loved the practice. I was also in choir that year and loved it. I tried out for and made it into the next level choir for 12th grade, but ended up moving and missing out on that. I did a little bit of singing with my Aunt Mary the Fall before Mitchell, and I got married and I loved it then. So I was trying to figure out why I didn't want to sing today. As I thought about it, I realized that, because of the method in this book of recording yourself, this was the first time I'd really heard myself sing. And I don't sound as good as I thought I did... I was having a lot of trouble getting my "Yoo-hoos!" to sound right, too. I've always had people tell me that I'm a good singer, so I've always felt good about my singing, but now I worry that they are just saying it to be nice.

Even though I was feeling all of this, I decided to just practice anyways. I'm glad I did because I really enjoyed myself tonight. I practiced some more "Yoo-hoos!" and then I did several more exercises. I sang "Ah-ha!", "Whee!", "Oh, No!", and "Hey, Ray!". Then I sang the alphabet, but I had to sing it high-pitched and legato. That was all of Chapter 2. I started Chapter 3 and read about vocal imagery. Then I sang "Mary Had a Little Lamb" like an opera singer.

Now I feel really good! I actually feel kind of like I was working out. Singing actually is a good workout for the lungs. I'm excited now to keep trying and work on making my voice better. I'll finish up Chapter 3 tomorrow, which will have more of me using vocal imagery to sing like different people as well as listening to different musical artists. It's always awesome to learn about great singers.

Singing Week - Day 1

I'm going to try singing this week. I've always loved singing and it's always been an important part of my life. It would be impractical and too expensive for me to take private lessons every day this week, so I'm going to be working out of a book that I got a while back. It's The Complete Idiot's Guide to Singing. It's meant for a purpose just like this; you use the book to work on your singing and to help you decide if you want to invest in voice lessons.

For the lessons in the book, you listen to the exercise on a CD and then you record yourself performing the exercise. I thought about making little videos and posting them, but Mitchell and I decided against that. We figure that people really don't want to listen to me doing warm-ups and vocal exercises, so I won't post them and make you feel obligated to do that.

Chapter 2 is where things really get started in the book, Chapter 1 is mostly a history lesson. Today I did some exercises where I compare saying phrases to singing phrases. It's supposed to help me learn to recognize the physical difference between speaking and singing. I have a vocal background, so I really understand this pretty well. Instead, I am trying to learn to mimic what I hear in the recording and figure out the feeling of that.

Today, all I did was practice speaking and singing "Yoo-Hoo!" That's all I was able to do today, though.

Photography Week - Day 7

I wanted to take some amazingly beautiful photos today and do a bunch of Photoshopping, so that I could create an awesome post for the last day of Photography Week. But we spent a fun-filled Mother's Day as a family, so I didn't have much time to spend on things. I did try taking photos when we went to the BYU Botany Pond (aka the duck pond), but my children weren't really cooperative; they did NOT want their pictures taken. But here's what I got:

Waiting for the train to pass so we can get home from church.

 Annabelle running around at the duck pond. I think of these as her "Rapunzel" pictures.

 Lots of pictures of Charlie.

 Summary of Photography Week:
I had so much fun!! I've really enjoyed taking pictures and learning to use Photoshop this past week. I looked forward to doing photography stuff every day. I want to continue with what I've learned and keep taking and editing photographs. I want to get a better camera when we can afford it so that I can expand my abilities. However, I'm going to continue searching for now. And it's for two reasons: 1) I don't have a camera, so taking pictures isn't very satisfying, and 2) it would be great to have something extra to take pictures of.

Photography Week - Day 6

I didn't take any pictures today... I was going to take some at Joseph's class, but forgot to once we got there and it was so busy. And we didn't really do much else today, so I forgot about taking pictures. However, I was able to play around in Photoshop some more. I've been looking at tutorials online and trying to figure out different things. I spent a long time trying to fix up an image of Annabelle that I love, but it was just beyond my capabilities to do what needed to be done. So I found a different photo of her that I like and I just tried out some new techniques on it.

I love how warm and bright she looks in this version. The original was posted on Day 2.

And here's a Before & After of Charlie that I took about a month or two ago, but that I really like:

I don't know if I really like the job I did on the Charlie photo, though... Tomorrow I probably want to try out a few more techniques on one of the photos of me. I might try some pretty crazy stuff just so I can learn how Photoshop works.

Photography Week - Day 5

I used Photoshop for the first time today! I got some help from Mitchell as well as looking stuff up online for help. I picked a photo that I took of Joseph on Sunday that I really liked, but I cut his toes off and it looked awkward. So I cropped it and then learned some techniques and practiced them.

Here's the Before & After:

We also went to a spot along the Provo River for a picnic, and for Mitchell to paint. I was able to get a few good pictures, although I didn't get to try everything I wanted because Joseph and Annabelle were terrified of the bugs and they thought they saw a snake. 

Here are some of the photos I took, some touched up, some not:

Taken looking up at the sky. I liked the way that the trees framed the sun. This is the Photoshopped version.

Another on looking at the sky, but from another angle and in portrait. This one has been Photoshopped, too. I'm not sure which one I like better.

This is the little duck that would not leave us alone. She kept coming over and looking for food. She even tried digging through our grocery bag of lunch food. This was the best I could get of her because I was nursing Charlie at the time. This is the original photo.

I thought this tree looked cool, and like it might have been chewed on by a beaver... I played around with this in Photoshop. 

I liked the way the water was hitting that tree. I did a little Photoshopping to try and emphasize the water rather than all the yellow flowers.

I felt like those boulders and rocks looked so cool "holding" up the side of the river. I also like how this photo just naturally has the warm glow and vibrant colors that I was trying to put into the other photos through Photoshop.

Next are a few photos of me. I haven't touched up any of them because I don't know which is best. I like the cool effect the sun gave in the first one, but I don't know if I like it the most.

It's been so fun to keep trying to take new kinds of photos, and now learning how to fix them up or make them look a little different through Photoshop. I want to work on fixing up photos of everyone else in the family so that I can get them all printed and framed. I wish I could get a family photo, but I would need a camera with a timer and a tripod and that won't be happening for a long time...

Photography Week - Day 4

I was having some really bad hip problems today, so I didn't really take any photos. I loaded Photoshop onto my computer, but that's as far as I got. I'm going to try to practice in Photoshop tomorrow instead. These are the only decent photos I took
:

 Cute, but blurry Charlie face. It's so hard getting in-focus photos of wiggly babies!

 I'm not sure why, but I like this photo, even though I took it by accident. I guess I feel like it's a look into "my world."

Lady bug Annabelle. I like her expression.

Photography Week - Day 3

Today I decided to try documenting my day in photos. I picked out the ones that I thought came out well or that I know I was really focusing on the aspects of taking the photo.

 This is what I saw when I woke up this morning. It was difficult to get a good shot because it was so dark and the flash kept making Charlie cringe. I was trying to get my body and arm to frame the side and bottom of the photo, while shooting it to look like it was coming from my point of view.

 I went back to bed after reading scriptures and this is what I woke up to the second time. I was initially trying to get a shot of me and Charlie together, but Joseph was so excited to see Charlie that I started taking pictures of them instead and I got this one. I don't like the grainy-ness, but I think it's because of the lighting situation as well as movement, on their part and mine. They are so adorable together, though!

 This is just a simple shot of how randomly I get distracted at my computer. I was researching maps of Panem when I was supposed to be getting everyone their cereal for breakfast. I like the way that I framed it around the computer, and I feel like the clutter on my desk helps create a story, where there really doesn't seem to be one, rather than distracting the eye.

 Annabelle eating her yogurt with two spoons. I love the way that she is slightly off-center and the yogurt is sitting in the corner, but my messy house really distracts in this photo. It can be hard to get clean, un-distracting photos in my house...

 I went to an essential oils class last night and the kids wanted me to put some on them this morning. I took extra time to make sure everything on the floor was moved out of the shot for this and I told Annabelle how to position and hold her feet. I like the way this came out a lot.

 Waiting in the car for Mitchell. I just liked the look of the rain on the windshield.

 Another shot of waiting in the car. I like that I was actually able to get the camera to focus on Smith's and not the raindrops.

 Kids and umbrellas in front of Best Buy. I love the way the are having fun in this, I just wish I'd gotten all of Joseph's umbrella in the photo. It's so hard when they move so much, though!

 Researching cameras at Staples. For a boring store photo, this came out pretty nicely.

 We went to Barnes and Noble, too, and I decided to get a shot as we were driving away. I think the sunlight coming from behind the store actually worked out great.

 Playing with Baby Charlie. He was having tummy time on my chest, so I held the camera right in front of my face. I love the close up of this, and I was able to keep all the background clutter out by being so close.

After a lot of afternoon/evening stress, ending my day with my first Xanax in nearly a month. I thought about having the bottle tipped and the pills poring out, but then I was worried people would think I'm overdosing or something. So I decided to only have one out of the bottle because that's all I took. I cleaned my desk so that I could get a very clean and simple shot. And I think it came out alright.

Tomorrow I might see about putting Photoshop on my computer and trying some stuff out with that.