Prom & Graduation Makeup

The end of a school year also signifies a time that a young girl (or boy) will experience the most important days of their life up to that point... I remember my prom as something so special, a day that I could dress up like no one has seen me before, dance with my best friends, and "maybe" behave a little badly with said friends (when I say "badly", you have to realize that my friends and I were the queens of "goody-two-shoes", and our "bad" never compared to anyone else's "bad"!!!). 

That being said... I did makeup for the beautiful Amanda's 8th grade prom. Seeing as it was 8th grade- what I remember about that prom was nerves and trying not to get sweaty/smelly!!! LOL! For Amanda, I wanted to keep her youthful, clean look, and satisfy her desire for WINGED LINER (without looking too grown-up or harsh)!!! I heard she had a great time!! :)

She's a beautiful young lady inside and out!!! And I hope all her wishes for prom came true!!! 

Then, just yesterday, I received a somewhat nervous call from our across the street neighbor to rush over and do her daughter's 12th grade graduation makeup... I was honored that she thought of me for her special day! Her mom told me she also wanted a clean natural look, and she'd be wearing beige and white robes. Her look was similar to Amanda's but I stayed away from black, I even used the same Urban Decay Basics palette ...

I didn't do her lips because she still hadn't eaten dinner, but, also like Amanda, she had very clear flawless skin, that needed no corrections!!! As always, I used Ofra Cosmetics for that clean look- Beauty in youth!!! :)

Happy Hump Day!!! And if you haven't checked out my hubby's website for our Adoption Fundraiser please visit Gaming For Adoption and learn how you can help us!!! 

Imagine Youthful Skin & Behaving "Badly"- Alexis

Makeup For Adoption Friday!

Like I said, I want to share with you a little about our adoption story so far...

I won't get into all the dramatic details of how we got here, I will say though, we went through 4 years of infertility and 2 years of infertility treatments and 4 medical procedures to try to conceive. It was not easy, it was not fun, and it was extremely emotional. Thank God for my Boy and the hope he has always instilled in me. At times it felt like a child would never come (I'm a glass half empty gal)but Manny made sure to keep my spirits up and always keep me thinking positive- I wouldn't have survived without him!

So, 2014 arrived and we were planning on our 5th fertility procedure in February, when I had an epiphany... let's adopt! We had originally looked into adoption back in 2012 but quickly decided to try the treatments. Now, my brain had come full circle, knowing in my heart that adoption was the path we were supposed to follow. As far back as I can remember, I have wanted to adopt... even as a child when I would play 
"only-child-house" (which is playing solo with imaginary people), I would have tons of kids and some were always adopted. When we first got married I had mentioned to Manny, that I wanted to adopt someday, not yet knowing of our infertility. So, when my brain began to circle around adoption, it wasn't a difficult thing I had to give in to, or convince myself of... and my beautiful, perfect Boy agreed that it didn't matter how our baby came into the world as long as we had our baby. And some people may think, why wouldn't we continue trying to have our "own" baby... well, hate to break it to you "inappropriate commenters", this will be our own baby... one of the adoption quotes that keeps popping up for me is, "Little souls find their way to you, whether it's from your womb or someone else's." I truly believe, it is God's plan, destiny, meant to be, written in the stars (however you see it)for us to find our child's soul through adoption.

That being said, I quickly contacted a social worker that came recommended from another adoptive couple. After a million papers, background checks, and e-mails, she sets up our homestudy appointment. YIKES!!! Those who know the Boy and Girl, know that "homemaking" does not come easy for us... we are more of a go-with-the-flow kinda couple... well our flow had to speed up because the appointment was for the very next week. This complete stranger was going to come to our house, judge us and determine our future from one 3 hour visit. I didn't sleep that whole week and my Boy had several "sleep walking" fits at night... but my neat-freak mother came that weekend and gave us the white glove, eagle eye of approval. Tuesday was THE day!!!

Our social worker arrived 15 minutes late, which felt like 15 days... the doorbell chimed... this was it...

She was such a delight, she plopped herself comfortably on our loveseat and we seat across from her on the big couch, and talked for 2 1/2 hours straight. She would ask a question and I would answer for 10 minutes, then it was Manny's turn. We did this the whole time (Manny mumbled a little more that I did) and it went by in a flash. Questions, about how we grew up, childhood, schooling, parents, traumas or not, medical history, current finances... we answered everything honestly, anxiously, and comfortably. (I like to brag, I even made Manny cry- happy tears!!) It was great!!! She took a quick tour of the house, didn't open a single drawer or closet (which I had compulsively picked up and cleans), she had no white glove or eagle eye, she was kind, and interested in us. By the end of the interview she was excitedly telling us, "I can't wait to come back and see how you decorated the baby's room!" We knew we had passed with flying colors... and we did! 

She e-mailed me last week with the finished homestudy report and she will be sending it out next week to our adoption agency. Once, the agency has our homestudy, we will send them a profile book of our lives and our application, which will make us an official WAITING FAMILY!!! In my next adoption post, I will share more on how the process will work, and a little more about Domestic Infant Adoption!!!

We are soooo excited for this journey and cannot wait to meet our baby!!! Please, if you have any questions about our process feel free to contact me, I'd love to share!!!

Till next time, Imagine Adopting Babies- Alexis

Face Painting Fun!!!

I have had the best time face painting the last few days... not to say it's my new following but a definite positive add-on!!! Last week I practiced a few cat faces for an event I was commissioned to. It was a high school homecoming fair and their school mascot is a green saber (or sabre as they spell it), and I knew I had to follow a cat theme.

  

Being the crazy cat lady that I am, I attempted their mascot and my own little blue kitty face.  

 For the event day, I got my cute handcrafted apron and rainbow face accent (and my Boy for support)and headed off to 4 hours of meeting, greeting, a painting: 

I painted enough green paws to last a lifetime...

Even a teeny baby one!

I also did my share of super heroes!!!

I love that my super heroes were mostly girls!!!

I really enjoyed doing these... tested my detail skills!!!

And the extent of my "cat theme", was dwindled down to 3...

This pretty blue kitty was my first of the day and my favorite... I had the time for detail and favor!!! This sweet little gal loved it... We saw her flaunting it all day long! :)

I hope you all enjoyed these fun faces because I really enjoyed doing them. There were so many painted faces that day, I wish I would've photographed everyone!!!

Imagine Happy Blue Faces-Alexis