Everything Sunny Always

Summer Beauty Essentials

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Thanks to Walgreens for underwriting this post. I was paid as a member of the Clever Girls Collective, but the content is all mine. Visit http://www.discoverbeautywithin.com/.

Let’s talk about summer beauty trends, shall we? Here’s the deets about how I feel about summer: It’s not my favorite season but I manage. Houston summers are H.O.T! I wouldn’t mind the heat so much if we didn’t have so much humidity. After spending a week in Vegas on my honeymoon in the middle of July and actually enjoying the dry desert heat, it was then that I realized the humidity is what makes Houston summers so torturous.

Summer also isn’t very kind to a fair skinned individual. Look at the pictures below and you’ll see what I’m talking about. So with every approaching summer I arm myself with a bevy of products to help fight frizz, harsh sun, and sweat. Oh Lordy, there is so much sweat!

Here are a few of my must-haves:

1. A daily moisturizer with SPF. Do you see this fair skin? Do you know where those freckles came from? They came from years of summers growing up, allowing the Texas sun to pound its harsh rays on my delicate skin. I’ve learned my lesson and now I arm myself every morning with a moisturizer that contains SPF. This Neutrogena brand has really been great and holds up its end of the bargain!

2. A moisturizing hair regimen. I can’t even begin to describe to you what humidity does to my hair. Do you know what causes frizzy hair? A combination of dry hair and water vapor in the air (aka humidity). The best solution for me to help fight the frizz is to use some serious moisturizing hair products to help smooth out my hair and give it that ability to help fight humidity and frizz. My favorite quick, low-cost shampoo and conditioner is Herbal Essences’ Hello Hydration line. I love getting out of the shower and having that clean, light feel that I know is going to look great and hold up once it’s styled.

3. Frizz taming serum. This L’Oreal smooth and shine serum is the perfect cap when styling my hair. Before I flat iron my hair (or even if I let my natural curl take over) I always rub some serum between my palms and apply it to my thick hair. Works every time.

4. A super-fun lip shade. Wearing lipstick is a new trend for me, personally. I’ve never been a lipstick wearer but decided to try this shade and now I’m sold. This Maybelline Coral Crush shade is the perfect color for summer!

5. Serious D.O for my B.O. and to control the sweat. Confession: I’m a sweaty person. I hate it, I’m self-conscious about it, and I avoid sweat as much as possible. But that’s pretty much impossible when you live where I live so I arm myself with what I call “military-grade deodorant.” I went through a lot of trial and error trying to find a deodorant to really help with sweat and finally tried this Degree Clinical Protection deodorant and have noticed it truly working! I can confidently wear my summer wardrobe and trust that this deodorant will help against the embarrassing sweat ring that inevitably always formed under my arms. Thank you!

Those are just a few of my summer essentials and beauty trends. What are a few of your beauty item must-haves for the summer? I’d love to hear!

Find this categorized in: Beauty | Personal

by Hannah

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It was a good day

Monday, May 14, 2012

I must say that I’m really overwhelmed by all the love that was shown to me yesterday on Mother’s Day. I had several people send me the sweetest emails, texts, and Facebook messages wishing me a happy Mother’s Day and claiming faith that our littles are on their way. Those messages really made the day so much better. Honestly, even though going through the infertility issues that we are going through is the hardest thing I have ever faced, I’m so incredibly grateful for the testimony we have and the lives that we have been able to minister to through our story. Even though I’m so ready for our littles to be in our arms already, I have to say that I’m truly excited to see how God takes this heartache and turns it into something for his glory. I can already see him working in mighty and amazing ways I could never fathom. From the very beginning Aaron and I have had the goal to tell our story to inspire and encourage others in whatever trials and heartaches they are going through. It was a leap of faith to share our struggles but I honestly feel that taking that step has led me to a healing process in my life…to a peaceful place in my life…a place where I can, “Be still and know he is God.”

Wow, friends. That’s God’s total amazing grace, right there. That attitude and that heart…that’s all God’s doing. It’s most certainly nothing I could do on my own. To be able to talk to someone about how much I desire to be a mom but to still be able to truthfully say, “God is so very, very good” and mean it with all of my heart…That’s something only God can do. Our story, even though we’re still waiting, is such a testimony on how God can mold and mend our hearts through all of the heartache. I’m ready to be a mom but I’m so honored not only that God will trust me some day to raise some little nuggets to follow him, but that he trusts me to go through this “meantime” and still give him glory. I’m speechless.

Well, since I’m speechless I’ll share some pictures. I have the most amazing husband who made it his top priority for me to have a good weekend. He worked all day Saturday then as soon as he got off of work he went to the grocery store and picked up supplies to make dinner. He came home and immediately began fixing dinner – jalapeño grilled cheese! Sister here loves a grilled cheese something fierce so when he saw this recipe on The Sandwich King he decided to give it a try. I’ll share that recipe and more pictures soon!

Then after dinner I asked him out on a coffee date just to get out of the house, to enjoy some coffee, and to have some quality time talking. Truthfully with our schedules we haven’t really had some intense, soul searching conversation in a long time and we could feel a little bit of a distance. You know that feeling? It’s tough. So it’s important to calibrate every once in a while and just set aside all distractions, go out on a date, and have a deep, heartfelt discussion that doesn’t include kids, work, or venting about life. Just enjoy each other. And we did…I found this on Pinterest and used it as a template to get to talking! It was great!

Then Sunday morning I had decided to skip church and spend my morning at home focusing my energy on other things. Aaron surprised me by skipping with me and waking up to fix me a surprise breakfast! Apparently he had been searching all week for a breakfast recipe to make me on Sunday morning and decided to give a blueberry French toast bake a try. Seriously, the boy searched all week for the perfect breakfast to make me! I really have an amazing guy!

I would have taken pictures of us eating the delicious breakfast Aaron made but it was 8am which means boxers for him and no bra or makeup for me. That hardly seems photo appropriate…you’re welcome for not sharing pictures like that on my blog. I don’t want to scare you away.

I also wanted to share this that I read yesterday about Mother’s Day:

“I do want to try to explain my evolving definition of the word Mother. I am starting to understand that the word works better for me as a verb than a noun. Mothering is a choice we make, like loving is a choice. We do not need to have given birth or to have signed adoption papers to Mother. To Mother, to me, means to nurture. To heal, to help grow, to give. And so anyone and everyone who is involved in the healing of the world is a Mother. Anyone who tends to a child, or friend, or stranger, or animal or garden is a Mother. Anyone who tends to Life is a Mother. Today is a celebration of all the healers and hopers and lovers and givers and tend-ers. In other words- today is for every single one of you.”

I thought that was so incredibly beautiful and describes exactly what is on my heart.

How was your weekend? I’ve been thinking and praying for all of you out there who might have had a rough time on Mother’s Day. Know that you are loved and have a beautiful purpose!

Find this categorized in: Infertility | Personal

by Hannah

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Happy Mother’s Day

Sunday, May 13, 2012

{flowers from Lesli’s garden she was sweet to share with me}

Happy Mother’s Day to my mom, my mother-in-law, my granny and mawmaw, to the beautiful women who are like mom to me, and to all the moms out there. However, while we’re celebrating please take a moment to remember and acknowledge that having the honor of being a mom isn’t as easy for some people. It’s not a simple choice for them; It’s a long, arduous battle to obtain that literal title. On this day there are a lot of women hurting. Women who are still waiting on the privilege of being called “mom,” women who had that beautiful title for just a short while before their little one was gone, women who have lost their moms. Here’s how I said it in my post last year:

I had a friend who has lost a mom within the last year. I have a friend who has had a miscarriage. I have a friend who longs to be a mom but is struggling with fertility issues. There are moms out there who have lost their children. This day has to be one of the hardest days of the year. I just want to send a reminder that there are all kinds of moms out there: moms who are no longer with us, moms that have lost children, moms who don’t have their babies in their arms yet, women who are mother-figures in a person’s life, moms who are waiting for their adopted children to come home…Love on every woman today. You never know what their circumstances are and what they are going through. Love on the kids who have lost their moms, whether those kids are 2 or 82. It’s a sweet and emotional day. Just love on them.

Happy Mother’s Day to every kind of mom out there.

This week I wrote a post about Mother’s Day on the Dancing Upon Barren Land ministry site. You can read that here. Lesli, also wrote a beautiful post about this day that you can read here. Remember, you are beautiful, you are loved, and you most certainly have a purpose!

Find this categorized in: Dancing Upon Barren Land | Infertility | Personal

by Hannah

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