What Happens When You Throw Glitter

- Melody

Processed with VSCOcam with m3 preset

I’ve been 23 for about a month so that gives me the right to post about it whenever I want, right? 🙂

My birthday celebrations actually started three days before with a surprise dinner with all of my friends from school! They brought me the sweetest card signed by the entire choir that I was apart of for two years and then brought me face cake. I love these people. They really are the best.

IMG_7801

The next day I wore my birthday headband and birthday girl button and brought mom-made chocolate mocha cupcakes to work just like an elementary student. 🙂 BTW, you can’t have my mom. She’s mine.

IMG_7821

After the best day of work ever I came home to my favorite dinner: roast, potatoes, carrots, and a beer in a frosted mug. 🙂 Then I opened the best presents; a sassy shirt, margarita shower gel, and a gift card for a mani/pedi and a haircut. I don’t like spending money on myself that way so my parents knew exactly how to pamper me!

Processed with VSCOcam with f2 preset

I capped off my week by a hardcore mani/pedi and a big ol’ haircut by the best in the biz, Kelso!

Processed with VSCOcam with x1 presetProcessed with VSCOcam with s1 preset

I had the best birthday ever and I think 23 is really going to be the best year. Here we go. 🙂

 

 

xx

 

What Happens When You Throw Glitter

- Melody

Granted my birthday was nearly a month ago, it was amazing nonetheless.

The night before my mom graciously made the best melt-in-your-mouth chocolate mocha cupcakes. WE WERE ALL DEAD. But no one can have my mom. She’s mine.
Then she made me the cutest headband party hat that I wore along with my “Birthday Girl” button. I know. I’m crazy.

After a great day at work, I came home for a mini glitter shoot with my sister. Actually it was me forcing her outside with handfuls of glitter and my camera and then literally being swarmed by a thousand mosquitoes… but details right?

Processed with VSCOcam with f2 presetProcessed with VSCOcam with t1 preset

THE AFTERMATH:

Processed with VSCOcam with f2 presetProcessed with VSCOcam with f2 presetProcessed with VSCOcam with f2 preset

After dousing ourselves in rubbing alcohol to kill the itching, we sat down for my favorite meal: roast, potatoes, carrots, and green bean casserole. And a beer in a frosted mug. Mmm….

Processed with VSCOcam with f2 presetProcessed with VSCOcam with f2 presetI opened the greatest shirt from my sister along with some margarita shower gel from philosophy and then from my parents I got a little pampering. Gel mani/pedi and a haircut. THE best way to end a week. Ahhh! I hear you, Calgon. Go on and take me away.

Processed with VSCOcam with x1 preset

 

Thanks to all that wished me well. 🙂 May all of your birthdays live up to mine!

Twenty Three

- Melody

k-bost_Design-Crush

Today is my twenty-third birthday.

I was born September 30, 1990 to my parents, James and Charlotte Taylor. I’m the first of three redheaded, fair skinned girls with sass, wit, and style.

I’ve never not been Melody Elise Taylor Rich. (Well, Rich came later.) I’ve never not been redheaded and fair skinned. I’ve never not been stubborn, Type-A, dramatic, and sensitive. My family has always been James, Charlotte, Shelby, and Rudy.

These 23 years have been an absolute gift of learning myself and who I am. From the day I was born I was given this puzzle with thousands of pieces and each situation and each day gives me new experiences to realize where each piece fits. It’s so odd to me that I could be born myself but still have so much to figure out about who I am.

Last year I turned 22. These last 365 days have… hurt. They have pulled and stretched me into new directions and forms. I’ve experienced some things I pray I’ll never see again and other things I pray I do. God has shown me his abundant grace and sweet mercy time and time again and I’ll never get tired of feeling that wash over me.

My prayer for this year is a continuance of His awakening for me. I pray that He would continue to pull me in new directions and teach me more about who I am in Him. I want to see myself like He sees me.

As far as goals for myself I want to become self-sufficient and independent. I owe my family a deep debt of gratitude for seeing me through this year and to Pat for handing me an incredible job on a silver platter. But this is a new chapter for me. I’m a single adult woman with the world at her feet. I want to live in an apartment, just me and Pepper girl. Buy only chocolate for food and save for ridiculous material things. Take road trips spontaneously and spend every weekend at a concert.

There are a lot of decisions left for me but more is left unwritten. I’ve got no plans, no deadlines, no timelines.

I am so excited!

 

I’m twenty three. Let the future begin.

 

IMG_3782

 

x

How I Really Feel

- Melody 2 Comments

is it possible to be physically and emotionally drained while simultaneously feeling so fulfilled? that’s how i feel right now…

 

all summer when i prayed for a job i expected something dull like a receptionist position, which is what i applied for, and something that would get me out of the house and get me a car sooner rather than later. i never expected this. and, i guess, that’s who jesus is. unexpected.

 

in late july, pat (jason’s mom/owner of the daycare) offered me a job and i turned it down because i was so sure something was right around the corner for me even though i hadn’t heard anything back from any of the jobs i applied to. (over 50.) a few days later she offered me the same job but full-time. i accepted it after some thought. i was scared. this was my first full-time job and my first ever daycare job. kids and babies scared me. what do i do with them? how do i feed an infant? when do they nap? when do they eat? when do i change them? how do i play with them? discipline? huh?

i. was. terrified.

but my first day was… alright. i learned so much in those five hours… i’ll never be able to repay mrs. dee, my supervisor, for what she has shown me this last month. i’ve met so many different kinds of people and developed new relationships with babies.. parents.. coworkers.. bosses.. it’s literally insane. it’s got jesus all over it and i’m just in awe every day of how much i belong there, you know?

i see the heartache of broken relationships in a parent’s eyes when she tears up because she won’t see her baby until the weekend and tells me, “just make sure he gets the diaper bag,” as i tear up too because i know all too well the searing pain of loss. i smell the cigarette smoke on the 14 month old. i hear the chilling screams of a child that just needs love… and a long, long hug. (and maybe a whoopin’.) if i could, i’d adopt them. i’d hold them all for as long as i could and kiss them all goodnight and snuggle them to bed and give them all of their favorite things and pray long and hard over each one… but i can’t do all of those things.

but i can love them while they are with me. i can love them and squeeze them and kiss them and pray over them and snuggle and hold and feed and bathe and clothe and care for them… i can do that. because i might be all they have. and i can’t even comprehend or fathom that thought. that me. melody. a girl that was terrified of babies could be all these kids have for ten hours a day. that when they leave, they might not get all that i want for them. they might not get the silly voices and the lap time and the snuggles and raspberries on their cheeks and the toys on their heads… but i can give that to them while i can. while i’m able. and i’m able. right now i know god is developing a ministry in my heart and he’s giving me compassion where i never had it before… where i never asked for it. he’s filling up holes in my heart that i didn’t even know were there. he’s giving me gifts and abilities and skills for what he’s got ahead for me. my “plan” is changing and morphing into something new and exciting and weird and different and fun and.. scary.

 

every day at lunch i just “need a minute” as i so often say in my head. i need a minute to just… soak in all of what is happening to me. i need a minute to cry for the babies that have no home. i need a minute to cry for the broken families and the aching souls. i need a minute to collect myself and realize that i could be all this baby has. this tiny helpless baby needs me. right now. right. now.

 

i want to fix it all. i want to help all of them. i want to love all of them forever. i just don’t know what to do but cry and carry it all and give it to jesus and pray. but i want more. i want more ministry. i want more jesus to give to these people. why am i here? financially, it’s getting me a car. but career wise? emotionally? mentally? priceless.

 

i have so much more of a respect and admiration for pat now. she is so. so. so. strong. i am not. she is bold. i am not. she is firm, blunt, smart, and good. she is grateful, thankful, giving, loving, and genuine. i love her. she is a model for me. she is teaching me so much without really knowing it. this past month has rocked my world. i love to learn, you know, so this is… good. so. good.

 

i love it. i love. because of jesus. i love.

 

-an excerpt from a journal entry 9.12.13

Mini Haul: Sephora and Hautelook!

- Melody

Hey all! I’d been eyeing a couple of these things and then others were just impulse buys. 🙂 Thought I’d let you see what I got and see some swatches!

First up: Hautelook! This was an impulse buy, plain and simple. I’ll blame Emily from Beauty Broadcast for this one. 🙂 I saw her wearing it and just had to buy it! For only $9 it was a steal. I didn’t expect the pallet to be this big! The shades are about 1.25″ squared. Nuts, right?! It’s a pretty pinky neutral pallet with beautiful dark browns thrown in. So there’s a wide variety of looks you could get with this pallet. However, the lip glosses in the bottom are rather sheer, so don’t expect much color punch from them.

DSC_9854DSC_9860

SWATCHES! Starting from the top left and going down.

DSC_9865

These shades aren’t sheer, but by their color they blend into my skin tone. On the eyes they would show up more but could be used as a faint highlight on the brow bone or a transition shade around the crease.

Here are the middle cheek, highlight, and bronzey shades.

DSC_9871

That last shade looks a bit reddish for a bronzer, but used lightly to warm up the skin tone instead of contouring I think it would work really well! The blushes and highlights are just fresh and beautiful pinks and champagnes.

Here are the other shadows on the right side going down.

DSC_9869

Hello smokey browns! These are buttery and soft and very pigmented. That last bronzey brown is gorgeous.

Here are the lippies!

DSC_9876

Like I said, pretty sheer but could work for a natural fresh and flushed look.

SEPHORA! These two Urban Decay pallets had been on my radar for a while and I finally bought them! They were so cheap and Sephora always offers great samples so I couldn’t pass it up. 🙂 Plus, for my birthday they threw in some great Benefit samples!

DSC_9891DSC_9894

This is the Urban Decay Deluxe Shadow Box. I can’t wait to come up with some bright looks with this!

DSC_9897DSC_9901

This is Urban Decay’s Ammo Pallet. It’s on sale right now for $10 at Ulta and Sephora, but Urban Decay repackaged the same shades and is reselling it for over $30! Get it while you can!

DSC_9879DSC_9882

Holy samples! I chose only a few and the Viva La Juicy, Marc Jacobs, and YSL were all bonus! Can’t WAIT to delve into those YSL lipstick samples! That Marc Jacobs DOT perfume is delicious and I’ll be putting that on my wishlist. 🙂

DSC_9884 PicMonkey Collage

Happy Birthday to me! Sephora included a great sample size of Benefit’s Watt’s Up (a champagney cream highlight) and their classic They’re Real! mascara. Can’t wait to try both of these!

DSC_9903

This is a strange product. It’s simply called Cool Fix. I had no idea what it was when I chose it as a deluxe sample but I’m glad I did! It’s an aftershave product that fights ingrown hairs and razor burn. I’ve used it once and it actually works! Pretty cool!

DSC_9906

I only chose this because it was on sale and I needed to reach the $25 mark to get more samples. 😛 This is Sephora by OPI in Give Peach a Chance. I was hoping it would come out more nude, but I still love it!

So there’s my haul! Mini haul actually, but I can’t wait to try these products out! Yay new makeup! 🙂

Happy Tuesday!

In Which I Put Makeup On My Dog

- Melody

vsco_3Prettiest dog on the planet, everyone.

vsco_4Snarf.

vsco_1vsco_2She’s closing her eyes so you can see her look better.

vsco_0

Don’t be jealous that my dog is better than all other dogs, okay? Right now she is lying on a pile of my sister’s clothes inevitably covering them in her hair even though the clothes are clean. She’s goofy, excited, and loyal. She’s also a girl so we like to dress her up in old t-shirts and necklaces and makeup. 🙂 I successfully got mascara on one of her eyes yesterday. 🙂 If you’re wondering, Pepper’s eyeshadow shade is Urban Decay’s Graffiti. 😛

Happy Hump Day!