Going a bit political.

So is anyone else aware that the father of the man responsible for the attempted terrorist attack came forward with concerns about his son prior to the incident, and that other red flags were present?!

Obama himself says: "This was not a failure to collect intelligence, it was a failue to integrate and understand the intelligence we already had." Seriously? The mans father comes to us, we know from other sources the guy is working with this group who we know plans to attack, and we still can't do anything about it?

I'm just really baffled. It seems as though every time something like this happens there was prior knowledge of some sort of threat. It really makes you wonder what kind of idiots (Democrat AND Republican) are running this country (Not the president, but rather others).

Either way, what a relief that I can't bring a 3.5oz bottle of perfume on a plane but it's perfectly ok to sneak large amounts of explosives on in your underwear.

NYE Outfit post.

There really aren't many details from New Years Eve to go into, certainly not any I WANT to go into. Small gathering at my house turned into a LARGE amount of drama. Thank goodness if it was going to happen it happened at the turn of the year, an optimal time to leave the past in the past. I couldn't resist, however, posting outfit pictures!

Sequin Bow Headband: Target
Dress: Forever 21
Heels: Steve Madden, of course!!!

Christmas summary post coming soon!!! Of course I'll be shamelessly throwing out there a few more pictures of my new Steve Maddens which I'm sadly obsessed with, along with a few other domestic goodies I got. And Happy New Year to everyone!

New Years Resolutions.

Yes, I know these are infamous for not being followed through with. Yes, every year I say "Oh no I think I can really do it!" and forget them within a month. But I wanted to get this down, in writing, in hopes that maybe they'll work out at least a little! I'm not aiming for achieving goals, but really just kind of redirecting my life in a new direction.

1) CUT DOWN ON THE DRINKING! I honestly just don't even enjoy being ridiculously drunk anymore. And I definitely do not enjoy the hangovers that have become commonplace with every night out. So aside from wine, and casual cocktails, I want to cut back on this, at least until my birthday on April 14th.

2) BECOME HEALTHIER! I want to join the Y and start going with Kelly/Lauryn to do the elliptical. I know for a fact that if I can just get myself on a regular track of going, then it will be easy for me to stay motivated and lose weight quickly and just feel better overall.

3) GET A JOB! Lord knows I've been trying this one for the last year, and hours and hours of job applications have turned up nothing. However, with the fact that I only have classes two days a week this semester, along with me likely being in Bloomington this summer, you would think my availability would be too good to pass up. I'm dying for some financial independence!

4) GET THE GRAD SCHOOL THING FIGURED OUT! I'm almost pretty sure I want to go directly into grad school once I graduate, and this year I need to really focus on looking at schools, applying, taking the GMAT, and getting all my other ducks in a row for this to work out.

I've also got a few others that are a BIT more personal that I'll just keep to myself, but I think these four are more likely to happen with a hard copy reminder for some motivation. Does anyone else have anything big they're aiming for this year?

2nd Annual Bros and Ho Ho Hoes Outing

I am not sure why this event even originated, but I think it was some ploy of our guy best friends to get us to go to a strip club. Now, as trashy as this may sound as it is, make that an 18+ strip club in Evansville, IN and you can only imagine how the trashy factor multiplies exponentially. Regardless, it's always been a hilarious event and provides the opportunity to dress and do our makeup HOWEVER we want because regardless of what we're wearing, we're bound to be classier than someone, and I actually really liked the outfit I ended up wearing. We ended up getting around 20 friends together, guys AND girls, and it was a total blast. In this town sometimes it's nice to just get out and do SOMETHING, as unfortunate as it is that a strip club is one of the only options when half of us are still waiting on our 21st birthdays! (Picture above is my best friend Steven and Me)

It had been FOREVER since I wore my Steve Madden boots, and they went perfectly with my lacy leggings from Target, so I brought those out of the closet (Or more accurately, the trunk of my car, which has long since served as an extension of my shoe collection). I paired it with the Black/Pink Target dress (Above) which I unfortunately couldn't get a great picture of without a real camera, but I think that's been in at least a few other posts so you get the general idea. I think it's kind of just become my go to dress when I'm not sure what else I want to wear with leggings.

I got a little wild with the eyeshadow and used a new turquoise Color Girl pressed powder shadow on most of the lid, with thick black liner, black shadow on the crease, and blended white along the top. For eyelashes I believe I started with Rimmel London Lash Flirt (love IT! Perfect for long but not too thick lashes) and then added my Lash Blast on top of it for a little extra volume. Pardon the horribly dark eyebrows in the next picture, it occurred to me I took the picture before I powdered down the filler color!! I really liked the overall effect of the shadow once it wore in a little bit because it made my eyes look so blue, which is nice when they're usually busy trying to decide whether they're grey, green, blue, or hazel!

I was even more pleased with how my hair turned out- which brings me to another tip I've been dying to share and just haven't gotten around to it. I actually read it in People magazine from one of the hairstylists (I think) for the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. To get the look they use for hair, they recommend using a curling iron and curling each section of hair the opposite direction as the section before it to prevent it from all going together. Once it's all curled, just brush it out/run your fingers through it a few times, and you get the relaxed curly look! I also put a little shine serum on it after I've brushed it out a little to reduce any frizz.

This tip was a lifesaver for me because my hair has always tiptoed the line between wavy and curly, so it's nice to have something to do with it that isn't too hard but makes it look ok. I've also found that the longer you've gone since curling it, the better it looks! (Opposed to curling your hair and it going flat/coming together and looking awful, which tends to be the case with mine) I'm sure this tip would work even better if you've got longer hair. I've been trying so hard to grow mine out for so long, and I'm pretty happy with the length it's at right now. The headband it's thrown back in above just kind of helps tame it when I get sick of it being in my face, a problem I have sometimes when my bangs are at the length they are now.

I'd love to know if any of you with shorter hair try this and if it works out! I think it could create the super cute 20's looking hairstyle of a loosely curled bob, so I'd love to see the results.

Hopefully I'll be getting a Christmas post up within the next few days- it was a very good mellow Christmas here at the Hoover house! I'll also have one with lots of pictures from a little "Reindeer Game" get together a few friends and I had last night- complete with gingerbread houses, reindeer costumes, and more! I also hope Santa brought those of you who celebrate Christmas everything you wanted this year ;-)

Holiday Picture Post

I just got home yesterday from visiting family in Wabash, IN (not the most fun place on earth, but my mom's whole family lives there so we try to get up sometime around Christmas to visit) and wanted to share a few pictures taken lately! All camera phone quality, but hopefully my camera will be back and fixed from the Best Buy Geek Squad in less than a week! Gotta love warranties with accidental coverage!

Cuddling with my not-so-little lap dog, Penske.

Time for Christmas baking! (Recipes found over at Wonderland Kitchen)

Penske and my cousin's dog, Georgie, meet again for the first time since Georgie was a puppy. Penske wasn't so much a fan of Georgie's excessive amounts of energy and was glad when she got home and had the house to herself again.

The queen, passed out in my bed one morning.

SNOW IN WABASH! A little jealous of their White Christmas (they got a few more inches after this was taken). Definitely no where close to what friends on the east coast got, but I'll take what I can get! I LOVE snow!

Little Princess Georgie cuddling up on her mommy's lap, wearing her "Christmas Necklace," as my cousin puts it. Someone is spoiled!! She is really one of the most cuddly dogs I've ever met in my life.

The "under-the-tree" view at the Hoover house, so far. I smell a couple of pairs of Steve Maddens but beyond that, who knows! I've been a good girl and haven't done any peeking just yet. ;-)

Hope you're all having a wonderful holiday season!!!

Run for your life if you can, little girl.

Maybe running away is not only the easy option but also the most adventurous. After all, I know better than anyone when I'm ready to just move on from something, right? I know that's no solution to big problems in most cases, but I don't really have any of those. Just minor annoyances, boredoms, and separations from old friends. I've spent the last year and a half internally battling the maintenance of how things were vs. letting go and creating what will be. And laying it out like that, I think the choice has become quite clear.

The Rolling Stones said it best with Ruby Tuesday: "Yesterday don't matter, if it's gone." I know who my real friends are, and that mostly comes down to the ones who have stuck with me even when we're not able to be completely in each others lives. The ones who have also changed, but in the ways that matter remain the same.

Now can't we all just stop trying to revive the dead and move on with the living?

Lily and her Kitty Hat

The only thing better than shopping for ME is shopping for babies. I swear they make the CUTEST things... and Babies R Us was having a sale on all their winter clothing/accessories, so of course my mom and I couldn't make it out of there the other day without buying SOMETHING for my friend Emily's 11 month old baby Lily. We stopped in to see if they had any baby cowgirl boots, and ended up getting this adorable jacket and hat/mitten set. They were both SO soft and so cheap! All outerwear is 50% off right now (This jacket was only ten dollars) so for anyone reading this with kids- get in and check it out.

I'm including close ups so you can see just how soft they even look!

I went over to visit Em, Ryan, and Lily last night, and we let Lily unwrap her present. It took her a little bit of help to focus... she kept opting to play with the toys nearby or go racing off down the hallway instead. I think once she realized paper was involved she was all for it (She loves everything to do with paper, especially eating it, or trying anyways). Once she got the box open the hanger the jacket came on was really her favorite part.

We obviously had to put the hat/mittens on her for pictures. She wasn't a fan of the mittens- and once we got one on she'd have it off before we managed to get the other one on, so that took a bit of a group effort. She was pretty accepting of the hat though! Once they were all on and she didn't really have the ability to take the mittens off, she kept waving her arms in the air trying to shake them off (Hence the fact that her arms are blurry in half of the pictures), but we managed to get a few pictures in before she did so.

This last picture is when she's getting ready for bed- but I just had to include it because it really shows off her mo-hawk. Her hair so far has only grown on the back of her head and the tuft on top generally sticks straight up making her look like she's got a little mo-hawk all the time. In this picture she had dumped out a container full of jingle bells and had them all piled in between her legs and kept jingling them around to make noise. When we'd try to take them away from her and put them back in the container she would slam her hand down into it to pop them all up like a bunch of popcorn kernels, smiling with the pleasure of her trouble causing. It's so fun watching her grow up and getting all the 'aunt-like' perks!!!

Christmas Wonderland at the Jungle

I've been meaning to get a Christmas Decoration post up for some time now, and with Wild as a Mink's comment on my last post of " I bet your place is all decked out", I felt now was only the appropriate time to do so!!!

Our main tree this year is a little 3 footer graciously donated by the Wanhainen clan, which we've got up on a wrapped 'present' on the end table and decorated with a variety of ornaments. A few of them are these adorable little candy canes that say "IU" all over them, given to us by our friend Lauryn (Unfortunately I don't have a picture of them specifically!). I'm not sure where her mom found them, but I'm pretty sure I'll be needing to get some more next year!

I also went and bought a few little ornaments from Target, such as the penguin (Of course- I'm really obsessed!!!) and the little mitten pictured below. The leopard print martini glass is from the Lolita collection- they make the full sized painted martini glasses that I collect (Really cute idea for presents! Check them out at any Hallmark store!). The little clay A with the candy cane is one Kel (Sew Me Some Love) made and also has a matching red K somewhere on the tree.

Our table center piece consists of my itty bitty hot pink tree complete with miniature ornaments, both bought at Urban Outfitters two years ago for a pretty decent price, though I can't remember exactly how much. Kelly bought some "Christmas Light" Ornaments from Target that we have thrown into our candles to complete the look. (As if you haven't already figured it out, MOST of our decor is from Target, and we really could be the Target poster children for holiday decorating)

I personally am a sucker for Garland, so we've got the kind with silver tinsel hung over every door and window in the house for the most part, complete with red bows in the kitchen/living room and blue bows in my room. The kitchen window has the multi colored snowflakes above it, and I've got the pink sparkly snowflakes scattered throughout my room in various places. My favorite garland spot, however, might be the half wall between the dining room and living room, shown above. It's definitely perfect with the little IU Snowman Kelly's mom gave us that a friend of theirs made!

The THIRD tree in our house can be found in my room. This little approximately 2' Hallmark tree has been a growing collection of miniature ornaments ever since I was born. The highlights include my little snowflake fairies and the whole cast of the Wizard of Oz (And yes, I've got the whole cast and then some on the big tree at my parents' house too). It also has a few different little Santa/Mrs. Claus couples and some rocking horses. I think both grandmas have contributed to this collection somewhere along the way! One of the legs holding the tree up unfortunately broke a few years ago, but I'm not ready to give it up just yet so I pulled a real classy move and duct taped it together under the tree skirt. Oh well, out of sight, so no one can tell!While I love every part of our decorations, one of my very favorites is our little snow village on the bookshelf in our living room. I also have a few houses in my room, and Kelly has a little toy factory in hers. I stole this from my mom, because she's got a great collection of the, but never wants to put them up at home because she doesn't like having to put them away! (I did manage to sneak a few of them up at her house, though.) We've got the fake snow under them, as well as the sprinkly kind on top of THAT!

Yes, those are fake presents wrapped next to the bookshelf. And yes, we know, we (mostly me) are out of control, but there are few things in this world I love more than decorating for holidays. Not to mention that this was only a highlight, there are still lights up elsewhere, a homemade wreath on the front door, the wreaths on our doors seen in the previous post, wrapping paper wrapped doors, and more!!!

Hopefully you've enjoyed that mini tour through the Jungle, aka the North Pole. I hope you all have a great holiday season and enjoy any time off work or school and time spent with family and friends!! Additionally, please feel free to comment with any stories of excessive holiday decorations to feel like we're not the only crazy ones ;-)

WalMart Holiday Finds!

I know I tend to throw Wal Mart to the side of my mind with preference for Target, but over Thanksgiving break I went in to get outdoor Christmas lights for my parents house and stumbled across a few things. Their Christmas section was a bit picked over but they still had a lot of cute stuff, and as always, for really low prices!!

This glittery "Let It Snow" ornament was only a dollar, and I wasn't quite sure where I wanted to put it when I bought it (It's definitely too big for our bitty 3' tree at the apartment). It ended up fitting perfectly into the center of the wreath on my bedroom door. I actually made this wreath last year out of stuff I found in the dollar or holiday sections at Target, and I think the whole thing together only cost about 7 dollars!

I also bought this five dollar towel set (We usually have decorative towels hanging on our oven door handle) that came with a hand towel and a wash cloth sized towel. They had other sets that came with a dish scrubber for the same price, but I personally loved the penguin and couldn't really tear myself away from him!

FINALLY!

After a month of finals and the ICORE case, and three months without a laptop, the semester is finally over, AND I HAVE A LAPTOP AGAIN!

Saying I have my laptop 'back' is really not true at all- because it's basically an entirely new computer for the price of repair, because mine was apparently 'fried'. Either way... THANK GOD! This one is even a little smaller and lighter, so I'm REALLY happy about that.

But it goes without saying now I can finally really be back to posting regularly, and I'll try to get a post of some substance sometime tonight. My brother's at Santa Switch (he's so cute all dressed up!) and the parents are going out to a Christmas party, so it looks like it will just be me and Penske hanging out here tonight having a much needed recuperation from this whirlwind of a semester, and probably a much needed cocktail!