America's Beauty Show

This weekend, I had the opportunity to attend America's Beauty Show in Chicago. I've been looking forward to it for months. Ross even took Monday off so that I could go.

Sunday after church, I helped Ross get the girls settled and finished packing before heading out. We were explaining to the girls that mom was going on a trip, and that they were going to have a special Daddy Day. Usually when we leave the girls, it's because we're going on a date, so Claire thought I was going on a date. We had to explain that Mom only goes on dates with Daddy. This was just a trip.

I didn't even get out of the neighborhood before almost tearing up. It was weird going on a trip alone, though I was excited to be a grown up and possibly sleep at night. Out of habit, I kept checking the mirrors to check on the girls, only to find empty car seats.

I started the show Sunday night with the Stylist Choice Awards. Stylists voted for the best products, educators, and platform artists of the year and there's a big show to present the awards with artistic presentations from different stylists.

The show started with a cocktail party. I had no clue what to expect so packed a black dress with black boots. Unfortunately, I also parked as far away from the correct building as possible. By the time I made the hike to the event in the high heeled boots, my feet were completely shredded. MISTAKE. Turns out I probably could have worn whatever I wanted. Some people were completely dolled up, while others just looked trendy in jeans and cool tops.

There was so much AMAZING hair. It was so fun to see everyone's style. There were so many incredible stylists and it was so cool to be in the same room as them. The Stylist that does fashion week everywhere had a mini presentation of the Spring/Summer fashion week they did a few months ago. It was AMAZING!!!! (Totally geeking out over the hair.) I LOVED it!

At the end of the event, we got massive goodie bags full of amazing products.  I didn't get back to the hotel till pretty late, and only got a few hours of sleep before my alarm went off. Honestly, the sleep felt so good, I was almost tempted to skip the show and sleep.

Let's just talk about Chicago traffic. I'm grateful I left early, because it took an extra HOUR to get there than it should have. All of the stop and go with more stop than go was lulling me to sleep. Which is terrible really, since that's when you need to be the most alert. I'm not sure why they even have speed limit signs when no one gets above 25-30 anyway.

The tops of my feet were SHREDDED from the night in high heeled boots. I couldn't even get them in my cute flats, so I had to wear flip flops. I wasn't even in the building before the comments on my flip flops started. I was truly embarrassed. Ok, HORRIFIED. I'm at a BEAUTY event in FLIP FLOPS. Without a good pedicure.

At the show, I was on a mission. There's a pair of shears I've been DROOLING over. I wanted to get them in my hands and try them out. And you can guess it, they're made by Sam Villa. I wanted to meet him, too. BADLY. When the doors opened, I booked it over to the Sam Villa booth. Of course he wasn't there, but those beautiful scissors were. I chatted with a lady from his team for a while and tested them out and fell even more in love with them. I think they'd make a lovely graduation present.

There was so much to see and do. It was insane. After picking up some make up for my Casper-white skin, I decided to start on one end of the room and work my way up and down. After a couple hours, I was probably about half way with a bag full of samples and pamphlets. Redken had a runway where they had education/shows going on all day. I had scoped out the time that Sam Villa would be on. I wanted to get there early to make sure I had a seat, so I started heading over about 45 minutes early. I turned the corner and froze. There was SAM VILLA! Right there! A few feet away from me! I was so excited, I almost threw up.

He was doing an interview with some Chicago TV people. After, they all shook his hand and hugged him and I was right there. Stalking him. I followed him while he was talking to people.Another girl had the same idea and we joked about how creepy we were. But the creepiness paid off! After the important people cleared, he made a point to talk to me. He shook my hand, gave a massive hug, and chatted for a little bit.

Here's the thing about Sam Villa: He's very humble. And personable. He treated me like a long lost friend. When we took a picture, he took me by surprise and shoved his face right next to mine.

Mission accomplished.

I took a front row seat to wait for him to come on. I'm glad I got there early. So many people came, the fire marshal came a few times to have people move, or he'd shut it down. It was really cool to see him work in person.

There's a newer product line out, at their booth they were doing color and cuts. I love watching different customizing techniques, and one gal really stood out. And my creeping side came out. Most people stand pretty far back when watching, but I got up in her bubble and asked a million questions. Looking back, I was probably a little too intense. I all but asked if I could try her technique, but she didn't seem to mind, and I learned a lot. Turns out, she's from Milwaukee and went to Martin's before it became Empire.  At the end of the cut, she gave me her card and told me to reach out to her.

I watched a few more Redken artists throughout the show. Redken has a 'pay it forward' and share what you know attitude. I think that was my biggest take away from the show. While there are talented, amazing stylists out there, they all just want to give what they have back. They would show you how to do something, provide the knowledge, and then tell you to go out and make it yours. They provide the knowledge and inspiration, but want you to mix it up and make it your own. And it isn't wrong. Everyone was willing to share what they knew to help everyone else out. And I love that. I got to see and learn about some amazing products, see some AMAZING hair, and meet some incredible people.
  

We've Been MIA.

And quite understandably so. Since becoming a family of five, we celebrated Christmas, moved two days later, settled in, I've been going to school, Mama and Papa Loveland came to visit, my mom came to visit, everyone had the flu, and Aoife turned two.


I feel a little guilty not documenting the happenings of our family, but blogging was just one more than I didn't need on my plate.

I'll spare everyone the details of the challenges of adjusting to having three kids in three years (and three kids in diapers.).Tiegan is a pretty needy baby. I do freezer meals instead of actually cooking, my house is never clean, I get dressed just before I need to leave for school, and my girls have been wearing their dress up dresses daily and I don't even care. I spent most of the day on the couch and wanted to punch everyone that talked about how wonderful motherhood is.

I was drowning. I lost my patience more than I should have. I yelled, I cried, and most of all I thought someone screwed up in designing Kate's plan. I was not meant to be a mother. Or a wife. I was meant to have lots and lots of cats. I love things from Pottery Barn. I like my house clean. And quiet. I like to sleep. And none of those things come from toddlers and babies.

I get anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours of sleep per night. I felt like the nights I prayed the hardest for help/sleep, were the nights Tiegan struggled the most. It was easier when the sun was up, but I still wanted to trade the munchkins in for fish. Not even dogs, fish.

I reached the lowest of lows and asked Ross for a blessing. Immediately after, I felt relief and I wasn't drowning anymore. I started getting a handle on life and these crazy girls. My house is still disgusting the majority of the time, and I do freezer meals instead of actually cooking, but none of that matters.

I watch Claire blow bubbles and remember the joy of being a child. Aoife is just plain insane and impossible to keep up with, and Tiegan has the biggest gummy grin in the mornings to go with that intoxicating baby smell that makes everyone happy. I still don't fit in my pants, and I might not ever fit in them again, and the only thing in our house that is truly MINE is the Diet Coke in the fridge, but all of the little things are reminding me of just how blessed I am and how much I really do love being a mom. There's my explanation for being MIA -Now for Loveland happenings!

Aoife turned two. I had class that night, and having recently moved, we kept everything low-key. I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest. Since when did birthdays become a huge production?
We met up with Ross for a birthday lunch. She got a massive sundae bigger than her head. She wasn't too sure about everyone singing to her, but loved the ice cream.

We had one really nice day a couple weeks ago. We took full advantage of it and went to the zoo. It's been a long COLD winter. As in school was cancelled a few times because it was too dangerous to go outside cold. It was wonderful to get outside. The girls loved the puddles from the melting snow and were soaked head to toe within seconds.

Claire sometimes gets in her own world. I think she thinks she's a princess? Amy way, she gets in her world and will say random movie lines. (Can you tell what we did all winter?) We were at the zoo when she entered her world. The ENTIRE time we were there, she'd walk around saying, "Who are you and how did you find me?" "Why do you shut me out?" "Why did you bring me here?" Things like that. Really great lines for her to be saying out in PUBLIC. I'm not sure why she couldn't have said happier lines. Bless her heart. It was hilarious.

We also signed Claire up for ballet this summer. She's finally old enough for a couple of the community sports! With the temperatures now consistently above freezing, I'm getting excited for all of our summer adventures. We will be living outside after this awful winter. I'm so grateful to finally be getting a handle on myself so now I can enjoy these three sweet babies. Summer can't come fast enough!

And now for pictures from the last couple weeks.