What's on my hook/needles?

I hope everyone is enjoying their week.  My husband is on leave (military for vacation), so it's been really nice to have him around. School is going so well.  I know it's only the 5th week  of  the semester, but I'm carrying all A's. This is something that never happened the first time I was in college. It was probably because I was young, immature, and on my own for the first time, but I didn't take college very seriously at all.  And so, my GPA reflected it.  This time, I'm out to prove (to myself mostly) that I have what it takes to succeed.  Plus, I want a nice padded resume so I can score a good job after I graduate.

Anyhow...  One of my favorite hobbies since my husband was in Iraq has been knitting, and later crochet.  After Micah was born, I didn't have a lot of extra time to devote to it, so it's slacked off.  And when I say slacked off, I mean that I haven't completed a single project since Micah was born.  He's 8 months old now.

I'm slowly getting back into it, though, so I thought I'd share what I'm working on now.

Here's what I've got on my hook.  It's going to be a hat, the link of which I found on Ravelry, which is an awesome site by the way.  You should follow me. Anyway, I'll post a picture of the completed project.  Hopefully that will be soon.  The pattern can be found here.  

And here's what's on my needles.  Yet another project I've been working on for what feels like forever.  This is a headband.  The pattern is free and is here.  

I'd love to have the top one done by next week.  Crochet goes a lot faster for me than knitting.  Oh, and please excuse the crazy ass balls of yarn.  My cat keeps deciding to make her own projects; all over the living room.  

Pinterest, Part Two

I have a few more Pinterest projects I wanted to share.  I had these saved from  my first Pinterest post, but I had  other things I wanted to blog about first.  Then I realized I hadn't updated since the 1st?!  Shame on me. I'm trying to learn to prioritize my time, but I have a lot of things I want to squeeze into that time. I have my To Three: Micah, school, and keeping the house looking like it hasn't be hit by a tsunami.  To my credit, I think my home looks pretty darn good considering I have an infant, three pets, and a husband who is less than neat.  (Still love him).  Finding room  in between all that for my Other Three (fitness, writing, crafts) is where it gets difficult.  I'm still trying to get the hang of it.  

Anyway, onto the Pinterest stuff!

Ok, I love this one.  I got the idea here, and even though we changed it up a bit, I did love this template she did.  I have to give credit where credit is due, and that also extends to my husband, who actually did about  65% of this.  He's pretty crafty.  My kitchen and dining room are done in a vineyard/winery theme, so this looks perfect.  Besides looking cute,  this is a great tool for helping us plan our dinner menu for the week.  We know what we're having from day to day (or at least what we have in the kitchen), and it cuts way down on the number of times we'll ask each other what we want for dinner, only to settle on fast food... again.  

This one was so easy it's crazy.  The original blog can be found here.  It's a heck of a lot cuter than the normal dry erase board, too.  When I did this, Micah was about 6 to 8 weeks old, and we actually had to have a photo of all three of us taken for the frame.  It was the first time I had worn makeup since he was born, and I'll be damned if I'm photographed without it.  

Onto an awesome and FREE printable (find it here).  I just love this saying, so I had to have it on my wall.  Total, it was $10. $5 for the frame and $5 to have it printed at Wal-Mart.  The original file is for a 16x20, but I found the 11x14 fine for my wall.   I just love it.   

Ugh!  I had one more printable I wanted to share, but I can't for the life of me remember where I got it!  I don't want to post it without linking to the creator, however.  If I find it, I'll post the picture with the blog link.  It's a subway art type print for a boy's room.  It was a freebie, too.  

I have some blog ideas tucked away (in the old mental file), so I'll try to get a post in tomorrow.  If I know what I'm writing about, it really only takes like 10 minutes.  I can spare that, right?  

The Search Continues....

I hope everyone is enjoying their (long) weekend.  I've been enjoying the extra time with my husband, and I think Micah is enjoying the extra time with his Dad.  We checked out Spirit Halloween (only open around this time of year), which was really fun.  Trying to figure out what to dress Micah as this year was not easy, however.  And my brave little man never got scared once with all the spooky decorations; I'm so proud of him.

The title of my post refers to my quest for the Holy Grail of  mascara.  Sounds silly, maybe, but I'm a girl who loves her makeup, especially eye makeup.  What I really love is the look of false eyelashes.  What I don't love is the way they feel, or getting them on.  I'm on what feels like an eternal quest for a mascara that gets me as close to that look as possible.  I've tried a lot of mascaras, and I've yet to find one I love enough to keep buying.

When I worked at Macy's, the lady at the Lancome counter told me I needed to start using a eyelash primer to help achieve the results I wanted.  It did seem to help, but of course Lancome is pretty pricey, so  I'm  also on the search for a good primer.

Here  is what I have, or have had recently.

I bought these two together, and I do like them.  I haven't had a chance to use the mascara much, but I did use up the primer.  I like it a lot, but it is pricey, so I'm searching for something more affordable.

I found this primer by Sephora on E-bay and got it for a really good price.  So far I like it just as much as the Lancome one, and it's a lot cheaper.  This is the one I use a majority of the time now. 

I also have the above one from  Hard Candy in my stash.  It's a fiber primer, and I find it a bit difficult and time consuming to get enough fibers on my lashes.  Once I did, however, it is a nice primer.  I use this one less often, on days I want a more dramatic effect.

I got the two above on sale at Harris Teeter, plus I had a coupon.  LashBlash Luxe is supposed to have a bit of a shimmer to it.  I can't tell weather it does or not.  Both are nice, but not as dramatic as i like.  They go own easy and aren't in any way clumpy, though, which is really awesome.  They do well for more "natural" days, although I probably won't repurchase when they're empty.

With the name False Lashes and Mac's reputation, I kind of expected this one to work the best.  And it does, sort of, with a couple of coats and primer beforehand.  But it's still not as dramatic as I expected.  

There are a couple of brands I would  like to try later; a couple by Too Faced and a couple by YSL.  Of course, this is after I use up a couple in my stash.