1. TAL iPhone App

I love listening to This American Life and I was excited to hear Ira Glass announce that they’ve developed an iPhone app that gives you access every episode, ever. If you like the show like I do I think you’ll like the app as well. The only drawback I’ve found is that you can’t do multiple things on your phone while listening to an episode, as I do when I’m listening to something using the iTunes app. Who else is a TAL fan like I am?

2. Free Getti

So many of you mentioned That Wife when purchasing from Getti’s Accessories, the shop I wrote about in the Thank You #7 post, that she is sending me a free item of my choice! Thank so much my friends.

3. Where Did Your Milk Come From?

My grandparents own a dairy and my grandma recently forwarded me a link to this site, Where Is My Milk From?, which happens to be developed by a guy in the Information Systems major at BYU (TH earned a Masters in that same program!). Punch in the code on your diary products and see where they are coming from. A great resource for those who would like to eat local.

4. Modest Clothing Resources

Pink Heli (aka Mrs. Mary Jane) asked where I am getting knee length dresses and skirts. Most of my clothing comes from Ross, TJMaxx, the sales racks at department stores, etc. Finding dresses/skirts that reach the knees just means a lot of time searching and time spent in the dressing room. There are a few online sites that LDS women turn to though when they know they want to find something that works: http://www.shabbyapple.com/, http://www.downeastbasics.com/, http://www.shadeclothing.com/, http://mikarose.com/, http://www.diviinemodestee.com/, and a new one on the scene that I haven’t heard any feedback from, http://www.eshakti.com/. Great Lengths has some options, although to me it looks like they are ripping off Downeast and Shade? I recently stumbled on http://www.mollysclothing.com and http://www.jildesigns.com as well. There is another site, starts with an “m” that I can’t think of. Anyone know what I’m referring to?

This site, http://layersclothing.com/, is down for now, but says it is returning this Summer. http://reddressshoppe.com/All%20Stock.htm also has some great options.

5. Gravatar

When I comment on That Wife, you see my picture next to my comment. Don’t you love that? Would you like to see your own picture as well? Read this post on Edit and Post and Ami will walk you through it. It’s very easy!

6. Links from That Husband

That Husband frequently sends me links to the things he reads that he thinks I might like. I’ll start sharing my favorites with you as well!

Newsweek predicts the death of the internet. This one will make you laugh out loud.

The WSJ says an hour spent cutting and clipping can yield about $100 in savings. I’m curious, do those of you who are attempting to avoid processed foods clip coupons? What type of products are you buying? Whenever I look through the lists I see coupons for products in boxes and bags that I would never buy otherwise.

1. Bowling

A few weeks ago a sweet friend gifted me a coupon book called The 2010 Entertainment Book, filled with coupons for services and entertainment in the Dallas area. We decided to use one of the 50% off coupons for a bowling alley nearby. It’s not really enough to write a full post about, but I wanted to share these pictures of That Husband with you because I think he is such a hottie.

Hot…

And this too short? (The upward angle doesn’t help.)

I can’t imagine sitting down in this one.

I’d never buy this, but short short short!

I mourn because I worry that this is the beginning of the end, and soon they will be yet another company who makes dresses that would almost work, but not quite. I feel like I’ve seen the same thing from Down East Basics as well (at least in the last catalog I received).  At least we have eShakti now! (Has anyone actually purchased from them yet? Still seems too good to be true.)

5. Embrace Life

Have you seen this commercial? Does it make you cry, or is that just pregnancy hormones? Found here.

6. Old Sweet Love is my Favorite Kind

Found here. I think That Husband will be just like this when we are older (in fact, I think this comes pretty close to describing us right now!)

“Elmer always takes my hand and leads me across the parking lot like I’m his girl and he’s taking care of me,” says Imogene.

“I take Imogene’s hand and help her walk because otherwise she’s liable to fall down,” says Elmer.

(Imogene & Elmer Edwards: married 55 years)

Winners of the Thank You Giveaways announced later today!

The reaction to my last scattered post like this one was good and I think I’ll make it a regular Saturday occurrence.

Stretch Marks

They’ve arrived. My belly/thighs/arms/breasts already had them from my rapid weight gain a few years ago, so I’m not worried about my body being “ruined” since it never looked that great to being with, but the reddish/purple tiger stripes are still pretty shocking to see.

Antique E-ring and Band

I have a complicated engagement story. To sum things up in a sentence or two, TH and I decided we were getting married, but I told him he could “officially” propose anytime he wanted before I returned to Washington in August to finish wedding planning. This meant I went several months without a ring on my finger while officially planning a wedding. During that time my mom and sister visited an antique store in Spokane and picked up this set for $300. They had no idea if the the stones and metals are real, but they figured that the set was aesthetically pleasing enough that I might like to have it. I chose to go with a different antique ring instead, and now I have these two pretty rings sitting in my closet.

What would you do? I don’t know any jewelers in Dallas personally, otherwise I would have the set appraised to find out its worth. Unfortunately I’m not sure if I want to take gamble of getting it appraised because it if’s worth less than $300 then we just paid someone to tell us we are going to lose money. Do you think it would be possible to find someone who would be interested in buying without an appraisal? Where would you list it?

Speaking of selling things, my Canon Rebel sold really quickly. Thanks so much for those who responded and told me their stories. It made me a little sad not to be able to provide a camera to everyone who wants one, but so many of you said that you would buy from me because you trust me because of the things you read here. What a wonderful compliment.

Maternity Shoot

We postponed until Tuesday because we thought the snow would melt (the weatherman certainly made it sound like it would) and I didn’t want to take pictures in a pile of dirty slush. I tried not to cry as I looked out the window at 4:00 and saw perfectly preserved snow that would have looked SO good with what I have planned for these portraits. My makeup/hair artist canceled on me though and I really wanted to get all gussied up for the shoot so I held myself back from calling Bethany and begging her to go ahead with the shoot anyway. Such is life, and I’m sure it will still be awesome.

Connecting

Lately That Husband and I have been spending more time just sitting in the living room talking (and not about birth if you can believe it!), with no tv, no laptops, no distractions. It strengthens our relationship and gives us the chance to bond emotionally than we have been for the past few months. Tonight he helped me mash the potatoes for dinner and I realized how much I appreciate his help. I want to find ways to reach out and help him with his marital responsibilities a little bit more as well. I don’t think we are going to do anything for Valentines Day, other than a dessert night with a group of couples on the 14th. I’d like to have some kind of tradition, but I can’t think of any that I find really appealing (or that don’t feel extremely commercial or cliche in some way). What are your v-day traditions?

My maternity pictures are on Friday with this lovely lady, as I think I’ve mentioned several times. Can you tell I’m excited?!?!?! I have a bit of “wedding regret” regarding my hair and I wish I had budgeted to hire a specialist to come in and do it. Thanks to all of you*, I’m splurging on myself this Friday and spending some time with Angie Williams while she works to make me look pretty.

I resurrected my wedding hair inspiration folder to come up with some images to show Angie so she can get an idea of what I’m looking for, but all of my wedding looks of choice were updos and I’m looking for something a lot more casual than that. My goal is to find a style that works with my hair, shows off the length, has lots of height (I love big hair but mine doesn’t hold a back-comb well), and is curled without a lot of frizzies. Here are my favorite options so far:

Yes, this is Mrs. Bee of Weddingbee, my adoration for her knows no bounds. I love the soft and natural look she has for her own maternity photos. I realize that some are probably thinking “I make my hair look like that all the time without paying someone to do it for me.” For whatever reason, loose, natural looking curls without a multitude of frizzies are beyond my abilities.

Image by Punam Bean

I like that this hairstyle Beyonce Ashanti (thanks Jasmine!) is sporting would give me a bit more height though. I tend to like “Texas beauty pageant” when it comes to hair.

Source

While I was hunting for hair inspiration photos I figured I might as well look for some makeup ideas as well. My instructions for Angie will definitely include the phrase “Make my face look as skinny as possible”, but a little more guidance than that might be helpful. I started looking at celebrity makeup, but I soon realized that I didn’t just want their makeup, I want to be transformed into the celebrity. As in, please just make me look exactly like Katherine in this photo:

which just isn’t possible. A bit more stumbling led me to the blog of a real girl, Tiffany, who spends her time executing different makeup looks and doing product reviews and sharing her results through photos and video. If I was more adventurous with my makeup routine I’m sure I’d be tuning in to see what she comes up with on a regular basis, but I really enjoyed scrolling through her blog to see all the different looks she has come up with. I like looking to her for inspiration because she’s a regular girl with blue eyes taking snapshots of herself with her camera. A few that caught my eye:

Look 1

Look 2

Look 3

Look 4

What combination of hair and makeup would you suggest? Or do you think I should go a different direction altogether?

I’ll be wearing this dress with black tights and heels for the first “look”:

And either this dress or another brighter purple floor length one with rain boots for the second:

There won’t be any naked belly shots and I have props galore that I’ve brainstormed and collected. The focus is going to be color and childhood nostalgia and it’s going to be like no maternity shoot you’ve ever seen before (at least, I’ve never seen anything like it.) The forecast has gone from 70% chance of rain to sunny and in the 40’s. Let’s hope it stays that way! That Husband will be there as well, which reminds me… I’ve been so focused on myself I forgot to figure out what he’s going to wear.

*Ummm, yeah, did I mention that I recently cashed a check for $500(!!!!!) from Tulle because so many of you took the time to vote for me back in November! I’m working to gather up several different types of goodies for a giveaway the last week of February. I love you bunches!

Usually I write posts focused on a single topic, which means I have dozens of drafts I never get around to. Maybe it’s time for me to start a brain dump tradition on Saturdays, where I buzz through all of the things I have on my mind. Try not to be overwhelmed.

Craft It Forward Partners

Random.org chose Laura, Ellie, Liz, Natalie, and Amy to be the (lucky?) ladies to receive something from me. (If you aren’t sure if you are one of those ladies, click on the names to be taken to the winning comment.) If you are one of those people and you don’t receive an email from me in the next week or so… email me with your address.

So many of you commented and said you would like to participate, if a few of you would be interested in starting your own Craft It Forward chain (you won’t get anything, but you’ll send something out to 5 people and hope it continues moving forward) email me and we’ll start a new post for those who are interested to comment once again. Fun!

Hair

I splurged and went to a real salon and had my hair dyed this week. I love it, and I admit to being hooked to plunking down a wad of cash once again. I thought I was past that! Somehow the stylist tricked me into agreeing to come back in 4 weeks to do it all over again (something about demi-permanent and such). I tried to take a before-and-after photo but in the awful light of my bedroom it looks exactly the same. TH said he could tell a difference though so it must look better. Maternity photos are next week!

Temple

I emailed the temple and told them I think I’m done serving. It’s something I’ve been wavering back and forth on for several weeks now, but I’ve been having a bit of a rough time lately and I’m no longer dependable enough to work a 5 hour shift (most of it standing). I feel sad and a bit flaky but I’m grateful for the opportunity I had and the things I’ve learned. Now, going as a regular patron for less than 2 hours won’t seem so hard anymore!

Jenna Cole in Austin

I would like to go to Austin within the next few weeks. Do you know anyone who might like to have me take their picture?

School

I took a final yesterday, which means I am one credit closer to graduating. I have no motivation, I don’t care, my degree means nothing to me. As I have told That Husband many times I just want to take care of baby, blog, and run my business. His parents offered me a cash reward for finishing though (a very substantial and gracious reward!) and today while I was forcing myself to write essays in the testing center I thought about how I would spend the money. The gift I came up with for myself is the only thing that will see me through to the end. I’ll tell you what it is when I’m a bit closer to the finish line.

Hoodies/Pants/Shirts

Once upon a time I embarked on a project, and then the project didn’t get done and now I’m stuck with some items I have no use for. I’m hoping there is a chance I might be able to sell them through my blog. The prices you see below include shipping (domestic only, if you are international and you want to purchase some you’ll need to pay the cost of getting them to you!) and are lower than you can find through any of the Google Shopping retailers. If you need some lounge wear, this is a great deal, and if you purchase more than one item I’ll lower your total cost. You’ve seen the hoodie and pants before if you read That Bride, as I wore them to get ready the morning of my wedding! These are all brand new, never worn, just a bit wrinkly from sitting in my closet for so long.

HYP Brand Lounge Pants, $15

1 Large, White

1 Small, Gray

1 Medium, Gray

1 Large, Gray

American Apparel Hoodie, $25 (I’m pretty sure this one retails for $42 on the AA website)

5 Medium, White

American Apparel Summer T, $12 (Very sheer, and retails for $21 on the AA site)

2 Medium, White

Canon Rebel XT

Now that I have my beloved Mark II my 50D has become my backup body and I don’t have any use for this Canon Rebel XT. I bought it used off of Craigslist and it comes with the body, an 18-55mm IS lens, two chargers, three batteries, and all original packaging. I was pulling things out of my photo closet when the body was knocked to the floor (no lens was on it) and the focusing mirror stopped flipping up correctly. I took it in to have it fixed (pricey ) but that means you are getting a camera that has been recently serviced and cleaned and in great working order! Asking $325.

Canon 70-200 2.8L IS USM

It’s time for me to get rid of this lens so I can buy this one. UV filter from day one, used-in-box with all original packaging, used a handful of times and in like new condition. $1550.

Ask Me Anything Moderating

I really didn’t want to do it. I wanted to keep a policy similar to the That Wife commenting rules, where I only censor comments that attack others, use foul language, or link to anti-Mormon sites, but that’s just not going to be possible. I’ve spent a lot of time wondering why the haters seem to love to attack me so viciously on this site in particular. I’m blogging over here, every single day and if they really want to speak up they have plenty of opportunities to voice their opinions. I think the difference between here and there, is that That Wife is a community, where they likely realize that out-of-line, ridiculous, fearmongering will cause others to speak up and tell them to go away unless they have something constructive to say. On the Formspring site though, I think they feed off of the me versus them aspect of it. It’s not a community or a discussion, it’s a chance to corner me and pin me down and harp on me over and over and over and over, even though they aren’t trying to get anywhere with their “debate”, they just want to try make me look and feel stupid! So I’m going to start deleting questions that do nothing other than attack me, my beliefs, my husband, my relationships, my family, and everything else they’ve managed to think of thus far. That doesn’t mean I won’t be answering hard questions though, so please feel free to submit. I think you probably know if you’re asking your question out of curiosity or a desire to pummel my self-esteem into the ground. I should be able to tell the difference as well.

Before I delete them though, I thought you might enjoy seeing what they’ve managed to come up with. If you ask something like this, you won’t see me answering it, ever.

TH doesn’t think the first one is rude, but I think it was meant to be as I’m kind of thinking these first three were asked by the same person (I haven’t answered any of them so how could they know about the forehead size thing?) Unless you all are secretly discussing it behind my back… Probably in the secret Yahoo group dedicated to hating me!

It will be fascinating to see how my Brit Lit 1, American Lit 1, Jr. Tolkien&C.S. Lewis, Persuasive Writing, Senior Thesis, and Italian 202 classes turn me from a stupid, backwards person into whatever this questioner thinks they will. Sounds like I’ll be getting more than my moneys worth out of those classes!

This is rude to me AND my mother, and actually, it’s quite rude to all of the people who are dealing with the actual effects of FAS. It’s a serious thing!

The next two are along the same vein. This is why I think they like Formspring for the isolation they think they are pressing upon me, because if they really wanted to actually talk about this they easily could have contributed to the To Judge? post like everyone else did.

This one had to be edited for naughty language. I think the many, many great comments on that post proved that not everyone condemns me as such. Thanks again to all of those who contributed to the discussion in some way! Anonymous questioner… no thanks for you! (You probably wouldn’t get any soup either.)

And the most appalling of them all. TH hasn’t traveled in months so he must be going crazy lately! I wonder if they really know where he works? This one has been one of our favorites because if you know my husband AT ALL it’s so completely ridiculous. The intent here was obviously to plant seeds of doubt and ruin my relationship with my husband, but we actually think it’s quite funny and have had several giggle about it together!

All that aside, there are so many questions that I love and can’t wait to get to sitting in my inbox! I’m learning a lot about myself in the process of answering them, and I always get excited to see what topics you guys are going to cover next. Plus, I’ve realized that I’ll never, ever have the excuse that I have “nothing to post about” (wait, have I ever thought that?) because there are hundreds of possible posts that could be written based on the questions you have asked! If you ever see something that you would like me to expand on, drop me an email and let me know what the question was!

Oh, and one last thing. If you know TH’s real name (or his last name) I’ll be deleting your question if you use it. Just substitute TH for S—- and you are good to go!

And to end things I leave you with a new Costco favorite, Sun-Rype Mini Bites. 100% fruit and oh-so-chewy and delicious. Baby will love them too I’m sure!