Weekend Recap

Here's the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of my weekend. 

Warning, this post is basically a mini-book, because I couldn't quit typing. What a much better problem than not being able to come up with words. :)

The Good: Dollar Tree randomly has really cool makeup. I was telling my friend at work about it, and I said, "okay, Jessica, I have something to tell you, but you're going to think I'm ghetto and cheap." 

She laughed and said, "MaryBeth, I already do."

I laughed so hard and told her that she's right. I think anybody who knows me well absolutely knows how cheap (and sometimes ghetto) I am. I'm one of those odd bloggers who doesn't count all things bought at Target a steal and a deal, and has never spent money at Anthopologie in my life. I would probably have a panic attack spending that much money on an item of clothing. And while I would love to say I don't judge, I do judge a tiny bit. 

But back to the issue at hand. 

Makeup. Dollar Tree.

I found some Bonne Bell concealer (who knew they made more than just chapstick?), a Maybelline lipliner, some Elf lip stain, and Almay eye shadow. For one dollar each. One dollar. It was thrilling. And it was even more thrilling that all of the products were great! I've never used concealer before, but this is perfect for covering up period zits (too much info?) and dark circles for the too early mornings at the coffee shop. 

The Bad: Okay, this is kind of awkward. But I'm sharing. Because I'm that type of person. At work today this guy came in three times throughout the morning. He's nice and we sort of know each other (and by sort of know each other I know his name and what kind of coffee he gets), so since I'm a friendly barista, we talked. 

The third time he came in I refilled his coffee and then he goes, "So, are you busy after work?"

I looked up, surprised, and said, "um, I'm not really sure," and then my mind said, Oh shit, he's about to ask you out, and my mouth just kept talking and saying things like, "Um, I think I might, uh, maybe have something, yeah, I'm not sure, uh, I can't remember... well, actually... I don't think so," and then I couldn't remember what day it was and if I did actually have something, and I hate lying, so I ended up with, "uh yeah, uh I think I'm just going home and that's about it."

He looked at me in confusion, "so you are busy or you aren't?"

"Um, not."

He goes, "Want to go get some lunch?" 

I very awkwardly said thank you, and I'm married, but that's nice of him to ask.

He left. Somehow I don't think I'll need to keep track of his coffee order anymore.

It was so awkward. Scratch that. I was so awkward. I told Chase that I just feel so very very married, so it throws me off when something like that happens. 

The Ugly: So, we're house-sitting for several months (yes, several months. Crazy!) for some people at our church. They have a gorgeous sweet dog. Yesterday Chase and I were watching a movie and she was near us. Her breath was horrible, so I made her leave the room, because nobody wants to watch a movie with severe halitosis in the room. Then last night, I saw her eating from the cat box. My stomach is still a little bit nauseated. So, sorry to share that, but that was honestly the ugliest part of the weekend. The situation has been fixed, and she's not allowed near the box, but it was traumatizing for me to realize that she was snacking on poo. Gross. 

Linking up with Kate!

"

From Baggy to Skinny Corduroys

Hello! I have returned from my blogging break which wasn't actually a break at all, it was just a busy life, and a lack of interest in blogging at the moment. But what's past is prologue. Or something like that... 

Let me start this post with a story: Once upon a time, I had a gift card to Target, so I went there and bought some boots. But after bringing them home, I decided they weren't quite "me", so I returned them and found some neon yellow skinny corduroy pants. So cool. I bought them and the first time, yes, the very first time I put them on, they ripped across the bootie. Which is so not cool. I returned those poorly made pants and decided I would just make my own skinny corduroys. So I did. 

Here's the before. I don't know how I ended up with a pair of pants that are so huge, but I've had these in my closet for several years. And I'm so glad I didn't donate them during one of my closet purges. 

Here's the steps I followed.

1. Put pants on inside out. 
2. With a sharpie, pinch the excess fabric and mark where you need to hem it. Start in the crotch area and work your way to the ankles on the inside of the pants.
3. When you get to the knee, pinch from both the inside seam and the outer seam to make the pants balanced.
4. Take the pants off, and sew a line along the sharpie marks.
5. Try them on and make any adjustments you need to make. Mark where you want them to be hemmed.
6. Cut the existing hem off and fold under twice, re-hemming the ankle.

This refashion was really simple, and I love the pants!  

Floral and Stripes at Last.

Stripes and floral. People either love it or love to hate it. I was ambivalent at first, but the more I see it the more I love it. I finally put together a semi-cheating version of stripes and florals. I say semi-cheating because the skirt isn't truly floral. But I think it has at least one flower on it, plus it's springy colors, so I'm counting it as floral. I really liked this look! Plus I got several compliments from elderly ladies, so clearly I'm doing something right. Right? 

This is honestly the most snow I've ever seen. And supposedly it only gets worse. Yikes.

Here are some other striped/floral looks that I think are beautiful.

I found this picture on pinterest. Her hair is perfect! This makes me want to cut my hair even more. Perhaps I shall.

 This look was on pinterest also, which is crazy, because this is one of my blogging friends, Danielle. Clearly she has good style. Plus she's cool, which I think is because she's from Texas (like me!). :) You should go visit her blog.

Outfit Details:

Sweater -- Old Navy via Goodwill $3
Striped shirt -- Salvation Army $2?
Tank top -- Salvation Army $.66
Tights -- old
Boots -- Target $10 (Crazy clearance sale!)

Total Cost: $15.66

Barack Obama and a Discussion of Centered Sets

Bounded Set

In a bounded set approach, there is a clear boundary drawn between who is "in" and who is "out." Usually, the boundary is made up of very specific beliefs and behaviors.

Centered Set

In the centered set approach, the center is understood to be Jesus. Those who are “in” are not defined in relation to a boundary, but by facing and moving toward the center.

via

We talked yesterday in church about bounded sets versus centered sets. Many, many churches (including churches I've attended before) believe in the bounded set approach. There are very clear beliefs you must follow to be considered to be inside the circle. Things such as questioning, doubting, believing that homosexuality is not a sin, not believing in eternal damnation, and many more such issues would most certainly put you into the outside of the circle. In some ways it's comforting to be so sure and certain about your beliefs that you think you are justified in telling other people they are not Christians for having a different belief about an issue. It would be great not to have any questions about anything, and I envy the ease with which they lay the boundaries and the battle lines. 

But then I think about grace. And I think about mercy. And I think about how little I know of such a big God, and I realize that there's no way in hell that I could honestly say that I know who is saved and who is not saved. I would never be so presumptuous. 

When Chase and I were going through confirmation classes at the Episcopal church, another member asked the priest if it was okay to not believe the same way as the church on a particular issue. Although his answer bothered my evangelical mind at the time, I now realize how gracious and humble his answer was.

He said that it was absolutely okay to believe differently. As long as we believe the same on the basics, which are the beliefs outlined in the Nicene Creed, then there is freedom to have differing beliefs on the peripheral issues. He is not going to say that other denominations or religions are condemned for believing differently, because that's not our place. Regardless of beliefs, everybody in the church shares in fellowship, in the giving of the peace, in the Eucharist, and we will do that because of and in spite of our differences. 

So, with that being said, the common Evangelical habit of marking other people to hell has frustrated me immensely lately. It makes me so angry to read articles, blog posts, comments, or tweets by an Evangelical, sure-of-himself, person who thinks they know exactly who is and isn't going to heaven. Mark Driscoll, ever the asshole, wrote a tweet on inauguration day that said, "Praying for our president, who today will place his hand on a Bible he does not believe to take an oath to a God he likely does not know."

The constant facebook posts by people I know and the speculation or outright rejection of Obama's faith is awful. I fully believe that a person's faith is something that is between them and God. Here's an except from on article on Huffington Post:

"If Barack Obama says he is a Christian, if he confesses his faith in Christ, that's where the conversation ends. The same is true for George W. Bush, or Franklin D. Roosevelt, or even Mark Driscoll. 

There is a difference between saying to someone "my understanding of Christian faith is different from yours on this issue" and saying "we don't believe the same thing, so you must not be a Christian." I often disagreed with George W. Bush's actions, and struggled to reconcile them with my understanding of Christian faith, but I refused to speculate on the sincerity of his faith. That's not my place. And I've had it done far too often in my life to turn around and do it to others. 

And it happens far too often. We forget that some Christian right figures believe that Catholics are not "real Christians". We forget that "real Christians" used their firm belief that they were right to rail against the faith of those who wanted to end slavery and later segregation. We forget that on an ongoing basis, gay Christians are told by these "loving" "real Christians" their faith is not real. 

Some of the most faithful, loving, and sacrificing Christians I know would likely not meet Mark Driscoll's definition of a "real Christian". He might tell them, the way he told Obama, that they don't really know God. That makes me frustrated for them, but it makes me sad for Mark Driscoll. How sad must it be to proclaim the love of God with one breath and to feel the need doubt the sincerity of another's love for God with the next?

Mark Driscoll may be concerned that President Obama is not following his particular view of Christianity. But Christian faith has never had much to do with following the opinions of the popular crowd, and a best selling book has never granted the author the power to discern the legitimacy of another's faith. In the end, the only two authorities on Barack Obama's relationship with God are Barack Obama and God. I'm not either of the two. And so that's where the discussion ends." Read the full post

After I posted on this blog about doubts I faced, a person emailed me and said that she was quite sure I didn't know God and didn't read the Bible, because of what I had posted. It sucks when a complete stranger makes assumptions about your spirituality--which is a part of you that is tender and personal and vulnerable (although I'm quite impressed she could decipher 23 years of my spiritual life by reading a few paragraphs, which is something I can't even do. Note: I must talk to her next time I bet on anything). 

So basically, my decision is this: I do not want to be the kind of person who walks around deciding who is in and who is out. I don't want to be so arrogant in my beliefs that I think I am able to clearly distinguish God's plan for not just my life, but everybody's eternal destiny. I want to live in a place where I face the center and seek Christ rather than measuring how far away other people are from the center. Does anybody really the hell know where the magic line is? I'm quite sure they don't. Let's focus on love and on seeking Christ rather than making hateful judgey accusations toward other people. 

French Braid Ponytail

Okay, since last week's hair tutorial worked great at making me more adventurous with fixing my hair, I decided it would be a great trend to continue. :) I found the idea for this at The Small Things Blog. Her hair was several inches longer than mine, so I had to adapt it a little bit to adjust for the length. Here are the steps.

Step 1: I started with clean hair with mousse in it. Now that I'm thinking about it, day old hair would probably be great for this style to add more texture.

Step 2: Blowdry until hair is fully dry.

Step 3: Curl hair with a 1" curling iron. I basically only curled the top part of my hair since it was going in a pony tail anyway. That saved some time. 

Step 4: On my non-bang side, I sectioned off the front part of my hair and pinned it forward. 

Step 5: Make a part in your hair down to the base of your neck. French braid that part and put it in a small elastic. I used kind of large pieces while french braiding so it wouldn't be too tight.

Step 6: Pull all hair back into a ponytail. Take the front part that was sectioned off and gently pin it into the ponytail as well, taking care not to cover the braid. That's it!

I loved the simplicity of this style. I'm not sure how long it took me since I was taking pictures and sharing the bathroom mirror with Chase this morning. But it was probably around 15 minutes or so from wet hair to done. BUT, that's probably not typical. I have soft, fine, sorta thin hair. Both of my sisters and my mom have at least double the amount of hair I have (not fair), so for the average person it may take longer than that. :)

Stripes, Skinnies, and Heels

I haven't done a CopyCat outfit in awhile, but I finally got inspiration and completed one! :) This outfit has some of my favorite components-- skinny jeans and a comfy striped shirt (that I wear all the time). I refashioned the skinny jeans a few months ago, and I heart them so much. 

To be honest with you, I didn't wear this outfit anywhere... but I still think that discovering new outfit combinations and practicing with them is useful for improving style. So I'm going to make myself feel better by thinking that. I have been trying really hard to actually wear my outfits all day, but let's be honest--I'm probably never going to wear heels to the grocery store. I think it's awesome when people do that, but it's not my style. Maybe someday...

This was also the first time I've worn this black jacket I bought. It's a BCBG jacket that I found at a thrift shop in Texas for three dollars. Insane, right? It also has a super cool circle pattern woven into the fabric. I'm a fan. 

Outfit Details:

Coat -- BCBG via some thrift store $3

Striped Shirt -- Salvation Army $.66

Pants -- Salvation Army $1.25 Refashioned

Heels -- some thrift store $2

Necklace -- Gift

Total Cost: $7ish

Linking up with:

Magnetic Nail Polish

*Disclaimer--if pictures of feet gross you out, you may want to skip this. I happen to think I have unusually cute feet, but some people really, really dislike all feet, even the cute ones. So I wanted to post a fair warning*

Not gonna lie, I thought the magnetic nail polish thing sounded too good to be true and seemed over-priced and dumb. However, I quickly changed my mind when I found it at the grocery store for $.25 per bottle. Suddenly it was awesome, and I couldn't believe I hadn't tried it yet. I can like just about anything when it's on 95% off of full price. :)

So I bought a dollar's worth of nail polish and started experimenting. I painted a base coat on my toe nails and then used the glittery burgundy (I mean, oxblood, what?) color that's second from the right. I held the cap beside my wet toenail and nothing happened. *Sigh*

I tried again immediately after painting my nail, and lo and behold, it created stripes! Or arrows, since that's the design on the cap. I was most impressed. The nail polish doesn't suck, either. It's been several days since I painted them and there's not even a chip. I was very impressed with my twenty-five cent nail polish, and glad I finally gave into the trend.