How To Wear Your Glasses So They Don't Wear You

Listening to Let the Groove Get In - JT, who else.
Ready for school to be over already.
    A few weeks ago, I won a contest over at The Lovely Side for a free pair of Firmoo glasses. Thanks Jessica! This could not have come at a better time. See, my family is cursed. Genetically. On my mom's side (the Walkers) there is a genetic tweak that gifts its recipients with deteriorative vision problems. But it skips a generation - so my mom's father has it, and his grandfather had it, and two of my three cousins have it. My grandfather is legally blind, and has been for most of his life. Aaron is now legally blind and he's only 25. Coulter isn't, but he's well on his way. That's another thing. It only affects the men. Or so we thought.
    My vision has been getting steadily worse each time I visit the eye doctor - which is once a year. I thought nothing of it. Actually, I did think of it, I just thought that's how everybody was. Apparently, that isn't supposed to start until you're about forty. I happened to mention this to my grandmother when she was here to care for my mother after her surgery, and she said, "Oh, you're just like your grandpa and the boys." Great.
    I'm not legally blind or anything, and I probably won't get to that point anytime soon as the curse isn't as strong for the girls (woot!). However, when I first got glasses, my prescription was -.5 in the right eye and -1.00 in the left. Now, about six years later, I'm at -2.00 in the right and -2.75 in the left, which is a change of about .25 each year (check out dem math skillz).
    So here's a fun fact: I haven't bought new glasses since my first prescription. I mostly wear contacts, because glasses annoy me and for a while I felt like I wasn't as cute with glasses. I started wearing them more though when I got close to Corey's brother Brett and his friends, because they all assured me that girls with glasses are super cute. And Corey loves them, too. Only problem is, they really didn't help me all that much.
    I finally left my last pair (I had two) at Corey's grandma's house by mistake over the Fourth of July, and realized I'd have to replace them - hopefully with an accurate prescription this time. And lo and behold, two months later, I won a pair for free! They came in on Monday and I love them.

    Since getting these babies, I've been searching for different ways to do my makeup to compliment my new frames. Here, obviously, I went for a bold lip. But I also love the idea of sporting some brighter eye makeup behind my lenses. Glasses tend to wash out your makeup a bit, so even if you do something more bright and dramatic than you normally would, it ends up looking really nice once your glasses are on. Here are a few looks I'm going to try the next time I rock my glasses. (All photos from my Pinterest.)

 

Red Lip & Neutral Eyes. Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. So sleek and sophisticated, and who doesn't love a little leopard print thrown into the mix?

 

Light & Dark. Obviously I don't have blue eyes. But this is the kind of dramatic look that will flatter any eye color, and I know it would look great behind a great pair of glasses.

Golden Plum. Again, obviously not a blue-eyed girl. (And frankly, I don't think this person is either.) But purple is a great compliment to brown eyes, and adding the gold to warm things up draws the perfect amount of light behind your lenses.

Iced Cranberry. I actually wore this on Saturday at work without glasses (since they hadn't come in yet) and I have never gotten so many compliments on my eye makeup before! Just think how it would pop with a strong set of frames!

Do you wear glasses? What sort of makeup do you wear to flaunt your frames? Tell me below!

Wait

Listening to the rain (wrote this Sunday night during a storm - so appropriate, I know).
Trying to stay positive.
    I've been in a long distance relationship for almost two years now, which isn't a lot in the long run, but it's longer than a lot of relationships last. Long distance was something I always thought of as a deal-breaker, though. And now I'm looking at another year and a half of long-distance before Corey's and my relationship takes its next step.
    And it's not easy. It's one of the hardest things I've ever done (heyo!). In all seriousness, if Corey wasn't already my best friend, this relationship never would have lasted. If I hadn't already had practice keeping in touch while he was in basic and knowing what I was getting into that Thanksgiving, I never would've been able to handle it. And I'm sure he wouldn't either. But at least I had a reliable means of communicating with him at that point.
    Add in the fact that this is a military relationship (another deal-breaker for younger and less mature Sarah), and you've truly got one of the most difficult relationships - and we've had it relatively easy. The worst we've dealt with was when he was in Afghanistan last summer, a deployment we were told would be seven to nine months which turned out being a mere five and a half. God's hand was all over that blessing. And they were only under fire once the whole time, and nowhere near where Corey was at the time. God had his hands on me that whole time, too - He kept me from depression, which runs in my family, and kept me mostly positive.
    I think I've had more days down in the dumps since he's been back, honestly - not because he's back, of course. It's just - he's in North Carolina, two states away, but still far enough travel-wise that I can't see him except every couple of months. So close and still so far. I know other couples have it worse, but that knowledge really doesn't make it any easier. It just makes me feel more guilty when I complain. (It's like something Corey says in the winter: "Putting on a jacket doesn't make you much warmer. It makes you a little less cold." He may or may not have gotten that from a comedian. I don't know; he likes so many I can't keep track of them all.)
    We've thought about getting married sooner. "So we don't have to be apart," we say. I could live on base with him, he'd get paid more, and we'd get to start "the rest of our lives" right now. But what happens when he's deployed in January? That's a pretty big strain on a new marriage. And Corey doesn't want to stay living where he is now; he wants to come back to our families in Georgia. So what, I'd move up for a year and then we'd have to go through the trouble of moving it all back in a year? Plus, I'm not finished with school and the closest state school to him doesn't have the program I need (plus I really love the Latin professor I have now - shout out to the amazing Dr. E!) Even if I moved up after I graduated, I'd only be there for three months before he got out, which is less time than it would take for me to find a job up there. The only option we have is to be apart until he gets out and we get married.
    I knew before I even kissed him two years ago that this relationship would end in one of two ways - we'd break up or end up getting married at some point. And after I kissed him I knew which one it would be. Knowing that this is the man I'm going to spend the rest of my life with is the only thing that keeps me going some days. I think about how I haven't seen him since the Fourth of July and how I still have another month until I'll get to see him again, and I can't help but fell the hot pricks of tears and the knot in my throat. But then I think how thoughtful he is, and how funny and clever and generous, and loving - not just to me, but all the people he's close to. I think about everything that makes him wonderful and I know that it's worth the wait.
     Waiting just sucks.

Anyone  else in a military relationship or long-term long-distance? Any advice? How do you stay positive?

Every Day I'm Bumblin'

See what I did there? I know. It's hard to achieve this level of clever. This clevel. Sorry. I took it too far.
Listening to OH MY GOSH HOW HAVE I NOT LISTENED TO 2 OF 2 YET?! I'm sorry, JT! I have failed you!
    Last Friday at about 11:45 p.m., my good friend Hannah DMed me on Twitter. Lucky for her I was awake because Friday is Bride-Day. (I can't help it. I'm drawn into the dress shows. I still have no clue what I want for anything at my own wedding - except the groom, of course - but I love watching other women find the dress.) She said that she was going to a Sephora event for Bumble and Bumble at a salon in Brookhaven on Sunday, and did I want to come? Naturally, I squealed and whooped and typed back, very nonchalant, "Yeah, I could probably swing it," because I can be oh-so-cool when called upon. Inside - who am I kidding, I was alone in the basement - outside, I was bursting with excited energy. I must have thanked her forty times.
    I've known Hannah since the second grade when she convinced our whole class that she was allergic to m&ms - she's always been a hoot, but at the time, we didn't fully grasp her level of hilarity. Sadly, we went to different high schools and somewhat fell out of touch. Until, of course, I found her blog and started to stalk her in the not-so-healthy way. (It was super fun running into her at Target once and referring to things I'd seen in her blog from months back.) In all seriousness, her writing is really fun to read, and I highly recommend that you four or five loyal readers (how I love you) go check her out. She's doing a fun 31-Days-Of-Favorites feature for October!
    Understandably, I was super excited to spend some time with her Sunday afternoon. And at a hair and beauty event, no less! At the salon, we got a dry styling by the stylists of Salon Red, which was super fun. David did a great job giving me some extra volume - my hair isn't necessarily thick, but there's so much and it's so heavy that volume at the roots is not an easy feat to accomplish. I went in with my hair wavy (tutorial here), and he showed me just a few simple tricks to get the volume I wanted.

    First, he suggested that I simply flip my part, which is something I've been toying with recently, but I've been a left-part my whole life, and I get sort of attached to things.. He also suggested using a mousse at the roots, even once it's dry and styled, and aiming the blow dryer there first on warm, then on cool to set it. Lastly, he suggested a tousling spray and to run my hands through it, roughing it up. And look at what all that did! BAM, baby. We make an adorable pair, too. Please ignore the towel around my neck that I forgot to take off. I'm fancy, I know.
    We were pampered, fed delicious chicken salad sandwiches and hummus, given wine - which was surprisingly good for Trader Joe's (not that I've had any of their other wine to compare it to, I was just surprised regardless) - and given free product. Who can hate on that? Not me!

    Most of the Bumble and Bumble products were from their new Thickening line which I believe (but don't quote me) comes out in December. Lord knows my hair is thick enough, but I've been using some of them the last few days just to see what happens. We'll find out!

I can do a full review of any of these products if anyone is interested, just let me know in the comments! Have you tried any of these products before? What did you think?