Winter wonderland

We got so much snow. It is bitterly cold out. Welcome to winter. I love the song Winter Wonderland ..too bad it couldn't snow when it was warm out! I am already over winter. Bring on spring. Please. I did not manage to get outside today for photo taking purposes because I am still very, very sore. Also, did I mention it was bitterly cold out? Both of those things mean I'm staying indoors unless it's running to& from my car!

Also, you guys are getting quite familiar with my friend's online boutique, La Quaintrelle. I posted about the grand opening, first photo session& then a second one! She liked my photos so much, one of them made her main page. I'm so good like that ;) Well, she's making the big move from the internet to the real world! In case you aren't sure what that means ..she's opening a real, live location for her shop. How exciting is that?! The shop officially opens Saturday but because she likes me, I got a sneak peak into it tonight. I took my camera along& snapped some photos for a little virtual tour. The place is so much fun. It is above an old library in our town and it just works so well for her clothing! I have a total of 17 photos of the shop (which, if you're interested, you can view here) but I will only post one or two of them for your viewing pleasure. First up, is a photo of some shoes in her shop.

Linked with Fabulous Friday!

Don't you just love these?! I want the boots on the second shelf. I think I may have to treat myself to them for my very own Christmas present. I mean, they are awesome. What pair would you pick? I am not going to lie ..I sort of wish I had thought of this whole idea except for 1 thing.. my shop would sell skinny jeans& cardigans. I am so not stylish so I guess it's a good thing Meg ended up being the one to run a fashion-required store! It was nice to meet up tonight for a tea& catch up chat while I took some photos of the shop. I also promise to play photographer for her grand opening in a few weeks!

Also, I'm thinking I may have to purchase one of the dresses for some Christmas fun. As I age, oddly, I'm feeling the need to dress fancy more often. Why? I have no idea other than I spent my youth in barn clothes& one-piece bathing suits. I think my body may be rebelling against casual wear. At least in situations when fancy clothing is socially acceptable. I have a few go-to dresses that I love& am thinking I need to expand on that. So I guess I'll be having a very Quaintrelle Christmas! Also, did I mention I love colored tights? I think those may be a factor in me wanting to wear dresses as well! In honor of my slowly forming love of dresses, I figured I should show one off to you guys.

Linking to {snapped}& SES

Isn't that lovely? I also love that painting! I should have probably gotten a full shot of it but I was in pain so thinking ahead wasn't really in my mind. Thankfully, since then, I have taken some medicine. It doesn't really help me now since I am not in the store anymore so there will be no photos of the painting until Saturday. I'm sure you're all crushed! I'm also equally sure by the time Saturday rolls around, you'll have completely forgotten about this painting.

And with that, I am off to take some more muscle relaxers! Can anyone give me any helpful tips to getting rid of back/ shoulder pain? I'll take even the weirdest suggestions at this point. Medicine, stretching, heat& pretending it doesn't exist have all failed me so far. Next step? Chiropractor. He's like magic.

Sunny Tuesdays!

Today was beautiful. It was sunny, it was considerably warmer than yesterday and I cleaned my entire car, inside& out! It is SO nice to have it sparkling when I drive it .. no more shame in owning in the dirty car LOL. Thanks, boyfriend for helping me and letting me use your car cleaning supplies :) You rock!

Before cleaning out my car, I embraced the day by wrapping my foot and hitting up the treadmill. It was excellent ..I pounded out 5 miles on hills with the sun from outside shining on my back. Almost made me think it was actually spring-like out! Oh, sunshine. You lift the cloak of anger and bitterness from me. Also, it stayed bright out until about 7.30! Hello, spring ahead. I love you almost as much as sunshine. Afterward, I had an Orange Julius and proceeded on my mission to clean the poor Civic. Then Margaret convinced me to play basketball ..which was interesting. On the bright side, I was the fastest person up the court! Thank you, many miles logged.

My post the other day (yesterday? I'm not really sure) mentioned that practically all magazines say there are 2 ways to have good hair; straighten it or artificially curl it. I don't really care, my curls rock& my boyfriend loves them. Or at least, he tells me he does and that's all that matters. The only thing that bothers me is that it makes it impossible to find cute ways to style curly hair. Seriously ..my hair is constantly the EXACT SAME. This bothers me from time to time.

Mostly because for 21 years of my life, I have NOT embraced the curl. Actually, I fought the curl with clothes irons, hair irons, serums, gels, creams.. hell I would have shot a unicorn if I thought it would give me what genetics didn't -- straight hair. It was painstaking work of straightening and praying to sweet baby Jesus there was no humidity, rain, clouds, anything that would destroy my highly time consuming straight hair.
And then, when disaster struck and it rained within 2000 miles of where I was standing and the curls started to creep up, first on my forehead and slowly all over, I would cry on the inside and wonder why they just couldn't cooperate. Yeah, I thought this until I was 21. Yeah, I know curls aren't really self-aware. No, it doesn't mean I didn't still hate them for it.

So then one day, I put down the creams, gels, irons and administered CPR to the unicorn. I sat down with trusty google and typed 'how to get gorgeous curls' and instead found a whole new lifestyle. I did a lot of reading .. a lot of practicing .. I learned all there was to learn about all the kinks and waves and curls and types 1 - 4B. Yeah, there are a LOT of different kinds of curl. Why oh why can some magazine not just show us girls who don't want to straighten our hair (or artificially curl it ..what's the point? It's already curly)?!
So my new mission = get curly hairstyles. Grow my curly hair out (shocker.) and try to help others make embracing their own hair easier on them!

On that note, I think I've done enough typing for the day. Now, my photo. Yes. I have it. Just call me awesome. I also even know what day I'm on. I spent this afternoon updating my Project 365. I am on day 41 as of today. I cannot believe I've kept it. Oh, and also that I still have over 300 days left. Really makes the year seem impossibly long!

Stay classy boys& girls :)
And let me know what you prefer ... curly or straight?!