Ramblings of Baseball and Periscope

We've had a couple of nice weather days here in South Carolina.  Winter weather is seriously bi-polar here.  I was scrolling through some of my Instagram pics and saw one from last year where I was sporting a sunburn on my face from sitting at a baseball game, when just a week prior we had snow on the ground.  We had a baseball tournament yesterday and I wore a hoodie, leggings, and boots.  I was about to burn slap up, but as soon as the sun dropped below the trees I had to break out a blanket.  Today I wore capri leggings and flip flops with a t shirt.  I'm a total summer girl, so I can't wait on warmer weather to get here.  Tomorrow will be right around 70 degrees, so it's certainly looking up!

I just cracked myself up that I've not blogged in two weeks and the first thing I talked about was the weather.  Lame!  You would think that I would have more to blog about, but for the most part right now my days consist of school and baseball.  Until mid-May and it will consist of SUMMER BREAK and baseball.  I was working on lesson plans earlier and realized we would be finished up, with a spring break included, by around May 18th.  Sure makes starting school in early August worth it when you realize that there is a light at the end of the tunnel!  Me, Dalton, Julie (my sis), and Sara Jane (niece) are going to Charlotte to see Kenny Chesney on the Friday of our last week of school and I just found out the other day that our travel ball team is heading to Charlotte that same Friday to play in a tournament.  Worked out perfectly! Great little vacation to start our summer break!  We go to Chattanooga for another tournament in June, and we head to the beach for a non-baseball vacation in July.  We'll play several other local ball tournaments in May and June.  I can't wait for travel ball to start.  We have so much fun!

School baseball is going well, too.  I'm not all up on homeschool laws everywhere, so I don't know if it's a state by state basis, or nationwide, but here homeschooled kids are allowed to participate in sports at the school they are zoned for.  So Hunter tried out and is currently playing varsity baseball as an 8th grader.  (He may still play JV as well...we are still in preseason games right now.) It's a bit of an adjustment, mainly because he's the only middle schooler on the team and we don't really know anyone yet, but size wise my kids are enormous.  Hunter's 6'2" and 240lbs and is probably the biggest dang kid on the team.  He turned 14 the end of September.  I'm 5'2" so he's a whole foot taller than me!  Of course, my 11 year old is already taller than me, too.  They definetly don't get their size from their mama!  

We have a couple of tournament games this week and regular season games start next week!  As soon as school ball finishes we will go right into travel ball and play May and June, break during July, and pick back up in August and play until the first of November.  Have I mentioned how much we love baseball???

This is totally random, but there is an app that I just love called Periscope.  Not sure if I've mentioned it on here before or not, but it's a video app and you can watch (or make your own) videos and interact with an audience.  I basically use periscope for my celebrity obsessions, because so many of them will answer your questions (that you type on the screen while watching their video), and it's just super cool.  I've watched music artists Periscope while walking down the red carpet, watched Tony Goldwyn (aka Fitzgerald Grant from Scandal) do a live video from his home and answer fan questions, etc. My latest Periscope find, thanks to my friend Lindsay, is a guy who goes by the name of @cowboy1up.  As Lindsay told me, he basically drinks beer while listening to country music and will dance around, while sometimes taking his shirt off!  It's serioulsy hilarious.  I believe he works a job in the oil field industry and after work he Periscopes!  You can find me on Periscope @lorimland.  Seriously, download the app if you don't already have it and then add me.  Might be fun to do some Periscope sessions!

Here's Mr. @cowboy1up in action hahaha

Speaking of apps, if you have any apps that you just love, share them with me in the comments!  Always looking for something new and fun!

It's Time for the Grammy's, Y'all!!

Dalton and I share a big love for music, so it's no surprise that we are fifty shades of excited about the Grammy's tonight!!  Joey told me once that I was the only person he knew that if you changed the station I could keep on singing.  I saw a meme once that said "My musical taste ranges from 'You need to listen to this now!' to 'I know, don't judge me.."  That is 100% me!  I love music from Lady Gaga to Loretta Lynn and so many in between!

It's no secret that my favorite group is Little Big Town (and Dalton's too!), so I am soooo excited to see them perform tonight.  Plus, they are up for several awards!  I may do another blog post about some of my favorite artists and some songs you need to listen to by them, but Little Big Town is just good.  They have amazing harmony, and so many artists have what appears to be overnight success, but LBT has worked super hard to be where they are now and I'm so excited for them.  They are so humble about it all, almost as if they can't believe it themselves.  

Anyway, getting into tonight's awards, I'm going to tackle the categories and call them as I see them.  It'll be fun to see if I was right on any of them.

Record of the Year

The nominees are Really Love, Uptown Funk, Thinking Out Loud, Blank Space, and Can't Feel My Face.  I think the winner will be Blank Space.

Album of the Year

Sound & Color (Alabama Shakes), To Pimp a Butterfly (Kendrick Lamar), Traveller (Chris Stapleton), 1989 (Taylor Swift), and Beauty Behind the Madness (The Weekend).  I'm calling 1989 on this one, thought Chris Stapleton has certainly made waves in the music world lately.

Song of the Year

Alright, Blank Space, Girl Crush, See You Again, and Thinking Out Loud.  I think that Girl Crush will take this one and I'm certainly biased in my opinion, I know.  However, this song was huge and played non-stop on country and pop radio for months.  Plus, LBT is awesome.  Pretty sure I've mentioned that.  

Best New Artist

Courtney Barnett, James Bay, Sam Hunt, Tori Kelly, & Meghan Trainor.  Tough call on this one..I think it will go to Sam Hunt or Meghan Trainor and I love them both.  When Meghan came out with All About that Bass even though I liked the song, I didn't figure I would like anything much past that, but I absolutely love the song Like I'm Gonna Lose You.  It's great.

Best Pop Solo Performance

Heartbeat Song, Love Me Like You Do, Thinking Out Loud, Blank Space, and Can't Feel My Face.  I think it will come down to Blank Space or Can't Feel My Face.

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance

Ship To Wreck (Florence and the Machine), Sugar (Maroon 5), Uptown Funk (Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars), Bad Blood (TS and Kendrick Lamar), and See You Again (Wiz Khalifa & Charlie Puth).  This is a tough one because at the last three of these songs were on repeat for every radio station.  I personally preferred Bad Blood, but it's a toss up for me on who will win this one.  If I had to call it, I'd say See You Again might take this one.

Best Pop Vocal Album

Piece By Piece (Kelly Clarkson), How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (Florence & The Machine), Uptown Special (Mark Ronson), 1989 (TS), and Before This World (James Taylor).  I think Taylor Swift will take this one.

I love Elle King, so I am hoping she will take the Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song categories.  

For Best Rap Performance and Song I am going with Fetty Wap for Trap Queen.  Love this one!

Best Country Solo Perfomance

Burning House (Cam), Traveller (Chris Stapleton), Little Toy Guns (Carrie Underwood), John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16 (Keith Urban), and Chances Are (Lee Ann Womack).  I think Chris Stapleton will take this award, or at least he should.

Best Country Duo/Group Performance 

Stay A Little Longer (Brothers Osborne), If I Needed You (Joey & Rory), The Driver (Charles Kelley), Girl Crush (LBT), and Lonely Tonight (Blake Shelton). I'm calling Little Big Town on this one.  Girl Crush is amazing.  

Best Country Song (singers are in parenthesis)

Chanes Are (Lee Ann Womack), Diamond Rings & Old Barstools (Tim McGraw), Girl Crush (LBT), Hold My Hand (Brandy Clark), and Traveller (Chris Stapleton).  I think LBT will win this one, though Chris Stapleton could be trouble here.  He would be well deserving, but I'm rooting for LBT.

Best Country Album

Montevallo (Sam Hunt), Pain Killer (LBT), The Blade (Ashley Monroe), Pageant Material (Kacey Musgrave), and Traveller (Chris Stapleton).  I think Chris Stapleton will take this one, but, again, I'll root for LBT.  I don't have the Traveller album, because men singing rock/country isn't my typical favorite for everyday listening, but I DO have LBT's Pain Killer album and I love every single song.  If in doubt about their harmonies, google them singing the National Anthem at the NFC Championship Game!  

Now, there are tons of other categories, but these are the ones I listen to most, and if I attempted the rest it would just be a wild guess.  As far as perfomances, I'm excited about:

Little Big Town 

Tori Kelly

Adele

Luke Bryan and Meghan Trainor (and others) with Lionel Richie

Sam Hunt (but I don't really care for Carrie Underwood very much...I know, I know...bring on the haters.  I like some of her songs, and have several of them in my music library, but I don't just love her voice.)

Chris Stapleton & Bonnie Raitt (I LOVE Bonnie Raitt) 

Lady Gaga is taking on David Bowie, which should be amazing, because it's Gaga, and she is amazing! And Taylor Swift and Rhianna should be good as well.  

Make sure to download the Periscope app and follow your favorite artists on there! Many of them will do live red carpet moments and other fun stuff!

Who are your favorites and do you think my guesses on winners are good ones?  Let me know in the comments!

9 on the 9th (The Delayed Reaction Version)

I realize today is the 10th, yet I aimed to do this yesterday, but by the time evening got here I was so tired that I knew I would't be able to stay awake to get this done!

Rebecca over at Sweet Ladi Jane started a new series and I thought it would be a fun thing to do!  It's called 9 on the 9th and you share nine things that are your favorite, a new find, or a new obsession.  This should be fun!!

1.  Gold.  For some reason, after years of not wearing gold at all in any capacity, I have a newfound love for it!  For Christmas Allison and I got gold Alex and Ani bff charm bracelets.

My iphone 6 plus is gold, so I got a matching gold glitter case that's really fun to go on it.

I had my friend, Stephanie, do me two shirts with gold vinyl.

And of course I had to order me some earrings so that I would have some gold earrings to match the shirts. 

I may need an intervention.



2.  My curls.  I've discussed this before, but for years I hated them...always felt like I never fit in with other girls and that I never had that put together look because of my crazy hair.  Now that I'm approaching 40 I am finding that I just don't care anymore!  I can honestly say that I love my curls and I'm glad I was cursed with blessed with them.

3.  Politics.  I'm a closet political junkie.  I secretly love this time of the year!  I never discuss it, though, because I don't care for confrontation and nothing gets on my nerves worse than someone cramming their political views down your throat.  To me, politics are personal.  I don't mind sharing my views if someone asks, but don't tell me I'm ignorant because I see things the way that I see them.  I think there are very few politicians who are absolutely honest and that aren't just power hungry, so you just have to try to make the best decision based on the issues that are the most important to you.  I have never necessarily indentified with either party.  I have voted for republican candidates before, and I've also voted democrat as well.  My grandparents were democrats and were proud of it!  My nana even did a letter writing campaign for Kerry/Edwards a few years back, in which she sent a letter to my husband and also my sister's husband because they were republican and not planning to vote for them!  We had a lot of laughs over that one!

4.  Speaking of politics, then it's no surprise that House of Cards is probably my absolute favorite political junkie show.  I can't wait until a new season comes out on Netflix on March 4th!  If you like politial shows, then this one may be for you.  Kevin Spacey plays Frank Underwood, or F.U., a South Carolina senator turned POTUS and Robin Wright Penn plays his wife, Claire.  Lots of supporting cast members and twists and turns around every corner!  I can't say enough about it!  It's fabulous!!

5.  Thursday night television.  It's back on tomorrow night, y'all!!

Grey's Anatomy

Scandal

and my personal favorite.....How to Get Away With Murder

I've watched all of these since the beginning and love them all...though Grey's lulled a little last year I'm still hanging in there.  Doesn't seem right to jump ship when I've watched for so long.



6.  These earrings.

I got them a few years back when I had a Premiere Jewelry party.  I love them so much!  I wear them when I dress up and I wear them with leggings and a hoodie for the ball field!  They are my favorite earrings of all time!


7.  All things monogrammmed.  My sweet and beautiful friend, Stephanie (that I mentioned above) monograms anything and everything.  I'd be afraid to try and count up everything she's done for me.  I have many, many shirts and hoodies, some flip flops, and some baseball earrings!  Hey, I'm from the south.  Monogramming is what we do.  She's fabulous and can do anything.  Check out her Facebook page.  https://www.facebook.com/fluffypinkflamingo/  She also has an Etsy page and an Instagram page both of which you can find links to on her FB page. 

8.  Baseball.  I'm super excited about baseball right now.  Hunter, my just turned 14, 6'2" - 240lb 8th grader made the varsity baseball team and their first scrimmage is tomorrow evening.  Now granted, he will probably still play some JV ball as well, but he's still excited that his coach felt he was capable enough of a player to help them out at the varsity level some too.  He has played baseball for years and started playing travel ball when he was around 10.  Baseball is as much a part of our lives like eating and sleeping.  I wouldn't have it any other way.  He loves it and we have the best time with our baseball family!

9.  Light Blue perfume by Dolce and Gabanna

It's my all time favorite perfume.  I've worn it exclusively for probably four years now.  It's one of those smells that is just good.  I was trying to think of how to describe it, so I googled a description which calls it "A stunning perfume, overwhelming and irresistible like the joy of living. The scent is surprisingly colored with the liveliness of Sicilian citron, the happiness of Granny Smith apple, and the spontaneity of bluebells. Feminine and resolute notes are expressed with the intensity of jasmine, the freshness of bamboo, and the charm of white rose. The deep and true base embodies the character of cedarwood, the fullness of amber, and the embrace of musk."  I will say, if I read that before trying it, I wouldn't want to smell it!  haha  It's amazing though.  Give it a try the next time you are in the market for a new scent.

This was fun and I hope you enjoyed it!  I'd love to hear your favorite 9 on the 9th (or the 10th..who says it's not ok to be fashionably late?)  If you do this on your blog, be sure to leave me a comment with your blog link so I can check it out!

Big Hair, Don't Care

I've had several people ask me what I use in my hair and how I do it.  I'm NO hair professional by any stretch of the imagination, but I know what works for my kind of hair.  I have tried tons of products, and I know what I like and what's good and worth the money and what isn't.

First of all, I wash my hair once every 3-4 days.  Curly hair isn't usually oily and most of the time actually looks better on days two and three versus day one!

Here is what I do on each day, starting with washing/conditioning on Day One.

I shampoo first with Clairol Shimmer Lights Conditioning Shampoo.  It doesn't smell particularly great, but it "brightens white and grey hair and shampoos away yellow and conditions highlights."

I shampoo a second time with an Argon Oil Shampoo.  Then I follow up with Argon Oil Conditioner. I can't even describe in a word how good this stuff smells.  The only thing I can almost liken it to is a wax by Scentsy called "Enliven". It reminds me of that.  It's good.

I leave the conditioner in while I shower and I rinse it just before I get out.  I leave my hair up in a loose towel for about five minutes. Then I squirt about a nickel sized amount of Renewing Argon Oil into my hand and I work it through my hair with my fingers. Then, and only then, do I take a wide toothed comb and pull it through my hair.  You don't want to comb or brush curly hair while it is dry. (See example 1 below 😂) Aside from looking like you've put your finger in a light socket, it breaks the hair off and causes the ends to split.
(Example 1)

You can stop laughing anytime.

Now, the next step depends on whether or not we have rain or humidity here in the south. If we have rain or humidity, then I absolutely have to use something in my hair to help keep it from frizzing.  One thing I use (and I got this tip from Kimberly Schlapman herself via a direct comment to me on Instagram (and yeah, I totally squealed when she responded to me...after all, it's not every day that your hair idol responds to you while she's getting ready for the County Music Awards!) anyway...it's a wax powder and you sprinkle it in your hands and rub your hands together to make a paste.  I then take the paste and spread it on the parts of my hair that are easy to frizz in funky weather, which are the ends and the roots..and sometimes everywhere in between!

And here is a screenshot of where she responded to me asking her what she used for frizz!

Ok, so after I shampoo and condition and do the renewing argon oil and comb through, I will do the wax powder (or not, if weather is good).  Then it's time for the curl cream.  I have used many, many things for my curls, from curl creams, to mousses, to gels, to salt sprays, etc.  I will say after much trial and error that I don't use anything now except for curl creams.  They seem to make my hair so much softer and fuller than if I use other products.  I hate for my hair to feel crunchy and it doesn't feel that way with curl creams.  I tried curl creams a while back and didn't care for them, but my hair, even though it is basically bleached, is in great condition because I take very good care of it.  I think for curl creams to work well your hair has to be in good condition..and there may be some people that they just don't work as well for.  My absolute favorite curl cream is Moroccan Oil Intense Curl Cream.  It is heavy, but not too heavy and the smell of this one is my favorite of any I have ever used.

 I've also used the Frizz Ease version, the Marc Anthony curl cream, and I've heard great things about Rusk Wired curl cream.  I want to try it soon, as it's $15 less than the one I use.  I don't care for the Frizz Ease version, but I do have a bottle of the Marc Anthony to use here and there or if I run out of my steady (because I've not found the one I use in any local stores, I have to order it online).  I don't fret too much over what I spend on my hair products, because as far as curl cream goes, a little goes a long way and one bottle lasts me a month and a half or two months.  I can't stand not fixing my hair bc it gets frizzy if I sleep on it and then don't touch it the next morning, espeically days 3 and 4.  So day one and two I use my good curl cream...days 3 and 4, especially if I'm not leaving the house, or if I'm not having to really interact with people that I know if I do leave the house, then I use the curl cream(s) that are less expensive.  My hair still looks fine, just not as good as it does on the first two days.

Next, I diffuse my hair and get it completely dry.  I used to never dry it or only half dry it, and only until I started drying it completely with my diffuser did I get the results that I wanted out of it.  And remember, my hair is basically bleached, coarse by nature, and very curly...yet it stays in very good condition because of the products I use in it.  Over time, I have learned to not touch my hair at all while I'm diffusing it, except to lightly touch it to check to see if it is dry or still damp.  I don't scrunch it or anything like that.  It takes me about 8 minutes to totally try my hair with a diffuser.  Obviously if your hair is thicker, thinner, longer, or shorter then your time will vary.  I flip my hair to the right side and I hold the diffuser at the bottom of my hair and will just move it from place to place by letting the hair rest in the diffuser cap as I push the diffuser from the bottom of my hair up (sort of like scrunching it, only with the diffuser and not my hands).  I dry it that way about three minutes.  Then I flip it over to the left side and do the same thing.  Lastly, I flip it upside down and dry it for two minutes.  Once it's dry I let it rest just a few minutes because I find if I touch it right away then it has a tendency to frizz.  I think some people actually turn their hair dryer to cool and blow it that way for a minute or so, but I just usually let it cool down while I'm cleaning up or getting dressed or something.  Once it's cool then I take my fingers and go in the back of it above my neck (basically all around my hairline) and just sort of pull it a bit.  (If this doesn't make sense, then I might do a video one day from start to finish.) I sometimes wear it parted and fully down, but most days I pull my bangs to the side in a bobby pin...except I have to use two bobby pins because my hair is thick. 

Bangs to the side...

All down...

It sounds like a lot, but literally from the first renewing argon oil to the drying it takes me like 15 minutes tops. That is basically everything I do. Sometimes there are exceptions, like if it's going to be windy I will usually do some hair spray in it.  I like the aerosol kind the best.  Just my personal preference.  If it's humid or rainy, then I have a bottle of a Frizz Control that I will spray in it just to help.  Sadly, sometimes it's just too humid down here and no matter what I do somedays it's just a hot mess...and that's usually when it's 95 degrees with humidity in July while we sit at a baseball tournament.  My baseball friends have just learned to not sit directly behind me!

True Story: 

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

If you have any questions about products or are confused by any of the steps, just comment here or send me an email! I'd love to hear any of your tips for curly hair!

A Hair Revelation

For many years I have hated loathed and despised my naturally curly, mind of it's own, gigantic hair! I would be scared to add up all the money I have spent on straighteners, relaxers, frizz fighting products, etc.  I actually got to a point where I could blow it dry and flat iron it and it look halfway decent.  However, it would take me an hour or more just to flat iron it!  I had to section it off in the smallest pieces you could imagine. 

This pic is where it was professionally flat ironed. 

Then one day I had a revelation.  We were getting ready to go to a Little Big Town concert and I was considering going and getting my hair flat ironed at the salon so it would look really good.  Then my sister was like "uh, why don't you just wear it curly...I mean the blonde haired girl in LBT wears hers that way all the time."  So then I googled her and sure enough I found one pic out of thousands that she had hers straight. She flat out rocks her curls.  

So I decided I had to do two things: One, find someone who could do a dry cut, but also could do it curl by curl (sort of like a deva cut), and, secondly, I knew I wanted to go from a darker brown to much, much lighter!

Fortunately, my sister's nephew's fiance had learned about the deva cut in cosmetology school, so she knew exactly what to do to achieve the best style for my curl pattern. She's fabulous and SO sweet.  Her name is Brooke and she owns Southern Charm Salon! She's well worth the hour and eight minute drive from my house!

We knew it would take several colorings to get the color that I wanted.  

Here is where I started...pre-coloring...

My first appointment was in October...

Followed by one in November....

And another in December...

Tomorrow I go for my last lightening appointment....going to attempt all over blonde and see how I like it. Super excited!! 

Playing Catch Up!

I'm never quite sure how I get so busy and let so much time go by between blog posts!  I was doing so well for a while!  My goal is to try to do two or three a week from now on.  Sometimes I think there is nothing that interesting that goes on in my life to be able to sustain one post a week, much less more than that, but then again there are times that I think that if any producers of reality tv were close-by for any length of time that we would be offered a reality show on the spot!  The hilarity that goes on between me and my children, my parents, baseball tournaments, and some of my friends would definitely have America cracking up.  

School started back in August and is going fairly well. I will just say that you've really not lived until you have home schooled two boys, and I'll just leave it there!  

Dalton's birthday was in August and Aunt Julie surprised him with a ticket to see Little Big Town at Bon Secours in October.  She got her and Sara Jane a ticket, as well as one for me. It sure felt like a LONG time from August to October!  Finally it was time for the concert...Julie took Friday off from work and spent the night here on Thursday night.  Friday morning we went out for breakfast and then we started getting ready for the concert.  Dalton and Sara Jane gave us our own private LBT concert that afternoon.  We posted one of the videos to Twitter and LBT liked our video. The concert was great!  Maren Morris opened for them and she was so, so good!  Just recently she released several songs on iTunes.  I think she will do very well.  Little Big Town sang all of our old favorites, plus lots of songs off of their newest album, Painkiller, including Girl Crush. 

Our weekend of fun ended with going to Clemson's homecoming game. It was Sara Jane's first time in Death Valley. 

Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas came and went and we had a great time celebrating with family and friends.  

Halloween 2015

Thanksgiving 2015

Christmas 2015

We had our first snowfall, and hopefully last, of the season last weekend.  Something about the snow makes me want to cook and bake.  I really needed an intervention!  I baked all kinds of cookies, brownies, etc.  I made two huge pots of soup, chicken noodle and potato, and of course when the snow started falling, I made snow cream.

The boys sledded all day long on Saturday.  Sleds weren't good enough, so they took to racing the kayak down the hill towards Lake Keowee.  Lots of laughs, and no injuries...so it made it a successful snow weekend.  

January is almost over, February is one sleep away, and summer is within my reach!