bad hair day

Hello my name is Aimee and this is a real life adventure...

Lately I've been having a love-hate relationship with my hair. I like that it's long enough to put in a ponytail without the use of bobby pins to hold up the stray short hairs underneath, but I dislike the fact that it has no body or volume and looks terrible down. I've been on the fence about cutting it again for the entire semester. I'm not sure if I should grow it out or keep up the short hair. My roommate and I have this discussion every other week. She is of the opinion that I should cut my hair into a bob. Clayton saw an old senior photo from high school and was resolved I let it grow until he saw a Facebook picture with much shorter hair. Now he thinks I should cut it. Most everyone else comments on the sophistication of short hair. The Internet suggests that individuals with round faces (I think that's what I have) have shorter hair. So I guess now the question is, how short? I've done some celebrity research and came up with a few of these photos.

Please comment and tell me what you HONESTLY think!

Here we have Katie Holmes. Love the cut, but is it too short?

Kelly Clarkson, love the length in the front. It doesn't make her face look too round.

Paris Hilton mesmerizes me with her blond hair. Can I pull off the bangs?
Random chick, cute top! I like the layers of this look.
Victoria Beckham, queen bee and bad ass for being able to pull off that back tattoo. Would stacked hair look just as cute on a bare back?
Also these people have pointier chins. Is that an optical illusion from their awesome hair?

This is me and my little sis in Chi Omega Lane (she's gorgeous).
Just a refresher of what I looked like with semi-short hair.
I hope you comment on what you think!

leap of faith

Hello my name is Aimee and this is a real life adventure...

This Easter weekend was terribly festive. Mostly because my younger sister Bee was baptized on Saturday during the Easter Vigil service at her parish. Her big sis in our sorority, and one of my best friends Caitie came in addition to Clayton, Emily, Abbey, and myself.The service started with a procession from the basketball courts and playground from the school next door. We each received a candle and one by one they were lit from a holy fire. We walked with them into the parish and to our seats. The effect was almost mesmerizing and magical.

After a few bible readings Father Gary got into the baptismal font.
The large candle was what led the procession into the parish.My sister's baptism! I was so grateful we were in the 5th row to capture it! I made Clayton scoot all the way down so he could get the best shot (thank you hunny). p.s. you may have to tilt your head sideways when watching.

Bee is practically glowing after she changed into her all white garb. David was her sponsor. They are so cute :)

When it is all said and done I am very proud of my little sister. Through the ceremony I was having flashbacks to Easter 2009 when Haleigh announced to our family that she wanted to get baptized the following year. I never thought we would get there, but we did.

I love you baby sister!

I hope you have faith in something.

great fridays

Hello my name is Aimee and this is a real life adventure...

This weekend I celebrated Easter to the fullest. After helping set up an event at work on Friday I went to a beautiful Good Friday service at The Casa, a Franciscan Renewal Center in Scottsdale. Between the two Clayton and I had an itch to get some food. I guess it was more of a hunger pain, but anyway. We didn't really think about it until we ended up at Bethany Home Road and the 51 N. We got off the freeway not expecting to find much when we stumbled upon a cute little market called Luci's Healthy Marketplace.
















We were super excited when we found ourselves at a coffee bar/market with roll away doors and specialty foods. We each ordered a garlic bagel with cream cheese, Clayton got his with lox cause he's weird. He also got a coffee, but I didn't because I had already had a large iced white mocha raspberry from Dutch Bros. earlier that morning.

At first we sat at the bar, but then we realized that the actual ordering counter was around the corner. I decided that I will shop at healthy marketplaces designed with cool retro signs when I grow up and make substantially more than I do now.

The delicious coffee that I wasn't allowed to order :)

The garlic bagel with lox... I tried a bite.
It wasn't THAT bad...

My bagel only had cream cheese. yum!
See how excited I was?
The sweet bar that I tried unsuccessfully to order at.

If you're ever in Phoenix or just itching for a place to have a good coffee and a wonderful conversation look no further than Luci's!

I hope your Good Friday was good.

breaking lent

Hello my name is Aimee and this is a real life adventure...

This past Monday was the end of Lent. Which means that red meat, pork, soda, and coffee are all free game. I can consume those items and not feel guilty. Needless to say I was missing coffee in my life the most so after our Chi Omega meeting my fellow sister Sara and I went to one of the best coffee places ever Dutch Bros. Not only are they awesome for their delicious coffee, but they happened to be having $1.50 off all their large coffees which made them $3.00 each. They must have known it was in need of coffee- in the worst way.

Sara, being the wonderful best friend she is, whipped out her iPhone to capture me in all my glory (apparently you have to "charge" the camera battery in order for it to work. Clayton's still trying to teach me how to work the thing...). Thank goodness for best friends.

This is a shot of me with my beloved white chocolate raspberry mocha iced.And this is me taking my first sip of coffee after what seemed like forever.
(yes, I am equating 40 days to forever.)

I was a little jittery after drinking the entire coffee in 15 minutes and my stomach hurt, but man I was flying. It felt so good to have a coffee in my hand after not having it for so long. It was like being home.

I hope you were good during Lent!

sunday funday

Hello my name is Aimee and this is a real life adventure...

LAST Sunday my sisters and I decided to exfoliate our faces and open our pores.

Afterwards our skin was glowing. It glowed and glowed all through Monday too! We thought we were going to break out hard core after a day or two, but after a whole week we haven't! We're going to have to have spa evenings more often. :)

Also, today Chi Omega had an amazing sisterhood event at Kiwanis Indoor Wave Pool put on my by wonderful little Lane. We had Jimmy John's sandwiches for lunch (delicious!) and played "never have I ever" all house style (hilarious!). I wore my J. Crew floppy beach hat, my navy blue sun dress (it has padding in the top so I don't have to wear a bra-score!), and my super cute $8.00 white sandals from Forever 21. I was standing around all nonchalant like when my little approached me and said "Aimee you look very J. Crew today."

If you know me at all you know that my life dream is to live in a J. Crew catalogue (I literally say that every time I walk by the store) so I was completely floored when I received that compliment. It made me feel really good.

I hope you're feeling good.

my magic kingdom

Hello my name is Aimee and this is a spring break adventure...

Throughout the entire California trip all I could talk about was Clayton and I taking a picture in Disneyland with Minnie and Mickey Mouse. I wanted to stand by Mickey and Clayton was going to stand by Minnie and it was going to make the perfect Christmas card.

Clayton and I had come back to watch the fireworks show after a much needed nap after a tiring day at Disneyland. Upon re-entering the park we spotted Minnie and Mickey Mouse right by Main Street USA. How perfect! I sprinted to the end of the line only to be informed that no one else was allowed to get in line to get a timeless snapshot with the ever-popular mouse couple. Todd (the man who accompanied the mouse couple and stopped me from joining the back of the picture line) assured me that both Minnie and Mickey would be back in the same area after the fireworks.

After fireworks we wandered over to the same area and waited. and waited. and then we waited some more. Finally Mickey emerged from the magical white swinging doors that always produced idolized Disney characters. I was ecstatic. I quickly jumped third into line to take my photo. After watching a mother struggle with her two kids to stand with Mickey I realized there was one missing component to the equation. Minne Mouse was no where to be seen. As the smiling Todd approached the line I inquired about Ms. Mouse's whereabouts. He answered something vague and general like "she may be out later on in this general area". My heart began to break. It was the last night I was in Disneyland and our tram that whisked us back to the hotel was arriving in 15 minutes. It seemed I was not getting my picture with Mickey and Minnie Mouse after all.
Slowly I wandered toward Main Street USA to make my last minute tourist-y purchases. After finishing all of our shopping was almost finished I left Clayton in a crowded gift shop check out the growing Mickey line to see if by some miracle Minnie had reappeared.

Someone upstairs had been listening. I turned the corner and there standing together was the duo in flesh and blood (or fur and zippers). Again I ran to the end of the line and was allowed to join the gathering crowd for an opportunity to stand next to greatness. After a few minutes of listing off the people in my head that would be receiving a copy of the darling photo about to be taken, Clayton came up behind me and asked "Where's Minnie going?" I craned my neck to see past the group in front of us just in time to see Minnie Mouse exiting the Main Street USA through the swinging white doors leaving Mickey to attend to the crowd.

My heart sank. I knew that Minnie was definitely not coming back out and that Clayton and I had no chance of getting a picture with the enigmatic characters. I fought back tears as my boyfriend grabbed my hand and tried to console me as he walked me out of the park and towards the shuttle stop.

It was then I realized that the magic I had been looking for throughout the happiest place on earth all day was right beside me, guiding me through the darkness and making everything all better.

I hope you find magic in your everyday.

california adventures

Hello my name is Aimee and this is a spring break adventure...

The second day of our trip consisted of waking up early to enjoy the free continental breakfast offered by the hotel (this wasn't just bagels and coffee- there was juice, waffles, eggs, and sausage in addition to the normal free breakfast stuff) and then scurrying to the first theme park visit of our trip: California Adventures. I made Clayton take a picture of me with my ticket before we got into the park.

If you look close you can see Minnie kissing Mickey on my ticket. :)I insisted carrying around a backpack filled with water, snacks, and things
like my nifty camera all day long.The main entrance gift shop had this John Muir quote.

I think that is pretty awesome.Upon exiting the park we took pictures next to our respective letters.

I think it's more than coincidence that the 'C' is next to the 'A'.

The highlights of the park were the California Screamin' roller coaster, the Hollywood Tower of Terror, the Maliboomer, and Soarin' Over California. Collectively we spent four or five hours in the park before becoming sunburned and nauseous from all the thrill rides. After shuttling back to the Meridian Inn we showered and headed to a local restaurant for sushi and Saki bombers.

Overall Feelings of Day 2:
First Day at the Park: awesome
Minnie and Mickey on my ticket: fate
California Screamin': breath taking
Sushi: delicious
Trying to explain to the waiter what a Saki bomb is: ironic

I hope your waiter knows the menu.