NEW HAIR!

New hair! Whatya think? I am embarrased to say that I didnt so much as even brush it for this lil shoot. It was a bit spontaneous and I was anxous to get some pictures up. Anyways, I did it up real nice today and it looked soooo pretty. Of course, I have no pictures to prove it. Oh well.  The fantastic Chelsea did it and if you live in MA or RI get at me and i'll hook you up with her digits. SHE IS AMAZING.

oh yea, and I threw in a pic of my cute shoes. I bought them a gazillion years ago when a friend grabbed them off a shelf and said "These are so you" and then I never wore them. Until now that is.

NEXT HYPE

My Baby Daddy is the co-owner of Next Hype Productions. This is their video for their dub step night on Saturdays here in Providence. It's called DGAF. WARNING: This is so NOT safe for work. It involves an F bomb, ladies making out, and all kinds of debauchery. Im so impressed with the video, the people who made it, Films From The Future are insanely talented, no? makes me want to go out so bad!


NextHype Providence from Film From The Future Productions on Vimeo.

Hear Me Roar.

Lately I have been trying desperately to be a bit more independent. Marriage is an odd thing because no matter how hard you to remain a separate entity you always become some what dependent on your spouse. I am definitely a girls' girl when it comes to household duties. I HATE taking out the trash. When it comes to a power tool I wouldn't know which way is up. If something goes wrong with the TV/computer/anything technical whatsoever I pretty much crawl into the corner and cry like a baby.
If it wasn't for my husband I wouldn't be able to handle any of these situations.

So my goal when we moved into the new place was to get it together and take care of things that I would normally just hand over to my husband. We had our new TV delivered a few weeks back. Its a gently used flat screen that was our Christmas gift to each other. Of course, my husband was away for a few days on business and delivery dudes informed me I didn't have the cables and wiring I needed. We have a pretty complex situation. We do not have cable. We have a hard drive with a bunch of movies on it, our XBOX 360, Netflix, and an insane surround sound system that just the thought of attempting to hook up gives me the willies.

I had the delivery guys write down what I needed and I got to work. I hooked up what I could. What I couldn't figure out I googled and hit up youtube for how to videos. I found a site called Optimized Cable Company and ordered a USB cables and a svideo cable. They had free same day shipping! Normally I wouldn't be able to even understand what I was looking at on a website like that but I looked up definitions and I even sheepishly called customer support to ask questions which I wanted to avoid but I'm not afraid to ask for help when needed. They were super helpful and sweet. I was a bit embarrassed since I had no knowledge whatsoever but they were very patient and the website is easy to navigate and organized so it wasn't nearly as complicated as I thought it would be. The Optimization-World HDMI cables all arrived swiftly and I somehow managed to put it all together.

The TV (minus the surround sound...gave up on that) was working and you could watch everything from our hard drive by the time my husband got back. Granted it took me like three days BUT that's not the point. The point is I was a big girl and did it all by myself. I was so dang proud I was beaming!!! I'm pretty sure hard hat wearing angels descended from the sky singing "I am Woman, Hear Me roar". This may seem like nothing but for someone as technically stupid as I am I was really successful. Granted I couldn't have done it without the searching the Internet and the sweet people over at the Optomized Cable Company. Still I am so psyched. My next project is to hang a wall of pictures by myself.

Steppin Out Saturday 1.1.11

This outfit is from Thanksgiving so it's a lil old but I love it and wanted to share.



Hat- It was my great grandmother's or my Noni as I called her.
Coat-Vintage purchase at Circa
Top and skirt-Forever 21
Shoes-Thrifted












Hendrix is wearing
Bear Hat and Coat from H&M Kids
Jeans Target
Shoes MiniStar

Hair.

I am desperate for a haircut. I recently had a whole three hours to myself (in fact, the first large space of time with NOTHING to do since the baby was born) and I ran to the store and randomly dyed my hair red. It was out of a box so I only got a red tint to my already very dark hair but I'm thinking about hitting up the salon and dying it bright red. I need a change. When I was young I would bleach and dye my hair on a whim all the time. It's been every color in the rainbow except for completely blond. Blue, pink, purple, you name it, I did it.I never thought anything of it. Now I'm a wimp. I worry too much about it not coming out right. I need to be more hair adventurous. The lovely Chelsea is coming up from Florida in a coupl weeks an she is going to save me from my boring hair.
I keep coming back to the bright red and I'm thinking of going for it....
Here's my hair inspiration!





















Also, I wanna take a quick sec to apologize for the blog lacking a bit. Ive got a few posts I have been working on but my camera is having issues. Once I get it worked out i'll be posting much more

Get To Know Me...Q&A Part 1

Okay, enough about the dang baby for a minute. How about we talk about ME a lil bit. Hmmm, well for starters...if ya don't know my name is Adriana. I'm 26 (I had to actually think for a sec to remember how old I was...sad) and I live outside of Boston, MA. I love thrifting, collecting vintage clothing, sushi, jalapenos, and candy apples. I despise green beans, nose pickers, and loud chewers. I consider myself a lady and take pride in my manners, I forget birthdays all the time, and I'm a super slow cautious (hello! Precious cargo!) driver. I was in beauty pageants as a child and can tap dance like a mo fo. I'm a horrible cook and a total girlie girl.
Anything else ya wanna know? Email me... justbyliving@gmail.com

I asked you guys to send me questions you wanted answered and I was surprised by how many were in my inbox. So here is part 1...


1. Is it hard being a step mother?

Yes and No. The easiest part is definitely my step son himself. He is a lil peanut who I could eat up over and over again. My love for him gets deeper everyday.
However, being a step parent is hard in the respect that its not your kid even though you love 'em like they were. Boundaries and lines need to be respected and you always take the backseat no matter what. The worst thing in the world is a step parent that over steps boundaries and butts in when it isn't their business. My step son has a very active mother and father and doesn't need a second set.
So basically you have totally invest yourself yet keep yourself at a distance. It's a very difficult balance.


2. what is an average day like for you?

Average days are pretty boring. Hendrix and I wake up and say bye to my hubby and then H smears food all over his face eats breakfast while I sip my coffee and listen to music and what not. Then we usually go for a walk around the neighborhood, playtime,nap time for H/writing time for me, lunchtime, playtime some more. On some days I work for a few hours in the afternoon and by work I mean I nanny and bring Hendrix with me. I love the family to death and have been with them so long it doesn't really feel like work. Then by the time we get home My hubby is usually grilling something yummy. After dinner we go for another walk and then play till bedtime.
Sometimes we hit up the library or the playground but H hates his car seat/stroller/shopping carts so we don't go very far.
Super boring. I need to inject more excitement into my day to day activities.

3. if you knew what you know now about having a baby, would you have done anything different with hendrix in the beginning?

I would have taught him to be a better sleeper. We cosleep and he breastfeeds ALL night. I'm slowly losing my mind. We are going to start sleep training him soon.

4. favorite shampoo?

Okay, I'm going to do a more in-depth beauty post soon because for years I have been spending ridiculous amounts on shampoos and I have come to the conclusion that this needs to stop. I love Molton Brown's Lili Pili Hairwash but I gotta be honest I'm not sure it works that great. It just smells so dang good.However, since H has been born I have been using his baby shampoo which is currently Burts Bees. 
My real secret is the conditioner...which I will post about soon.....

5. a t.v. show that you're embarrassed to like?

Teen Mom. I'm addicted. It's bad.

6. Your wedding was amazing!? Where did you get your dress/location/honeymoon/inspiration?

Why, Thank ya my dear!I'm going to save this question for a post of it's own...coming soon...

7. How did you meet your husband?

We met at a cheesy nightclub called Club Hell. Yes, Club Hell. I wish I had a more romantic story. He asked me to dance. I said No. I was in a bad mood and the night sucked and I just wanted outta there. Plus, he was a little too cute and smooth and he always had some girl following him around. Sounded like trouble to me. Anyways  it gets better...after meeting at the cheesy nightclub he Myspaced me.
Then we texted a lot and finally started hanging out.
Bar.Myspace.Texting. The three ways you will probably never start a real relationship. I think w got lucky.


This is fun... Part 2 coming soon.

Baby Brain

Hi...I used to be cute.

I'm not sure when it happened but I have become THAT mom. The one without anything to talk about except her kid. The one who is all baby and nothing but.
I'm sending out my SOS, people.
This weekend I did all of the following:

1. Had a babysitter and yet nowhere to go.
2. Made a reference to my fav pair of heels and called them "impractical"
3. Discussed an amazing chair that ive been eyeing for years and actually declared in public that if I did buy it it would be for the babes nursery and I would have to pass it down to other babes cause I would feel guilty spending that much on myself
4. Stopped myself from putting on perfume because I was nervous it would make the babe sneeze.
5. Went to put on my trademark liquid liner only to realize its missing and I haven't applied it since before the munchkin was born anyways. So I'm using the word 'trademark" loosely.

I no longer recognize myself. Operation De-MOMITIZE Adriana (well only de-momitize a bit) is in full effect!

Suggestions? Advice?

I'm losing myself here and I need to wade myself outta this mama mud I'm stuck in.

Obviously step 1 is to get out a bit without my kiddo but he is insanely clingy lately and I miss him when I'm gone so easier said than done.

Step 2 is to get my beauty and fashion shiz together. I have no excuses for not putting a lil time and effort into myself (hello unibrow...wax much?) . It's just that personal hygiene has become such a pain in the ass lately. Big ups to the Hubby for lying through his teeth and telling me I look stunning everyday.

Am I the only one out there that has gotten so lazy?

Bikini Buh Bye!

Happier days...Honeymoonin in my LBB.

Sooo remember when I said I lost all the baby weight? Will, I did. However, My stomach is not up to par. I thought if I lost the weight that my body would go back to the way it was.

I can hear you laughing.

I used to run around in the littlest, teeniest bikinis and not think a thing of it. I am NOT one of those girls who is skinny and thinks she is fat. That is the most annoying thing on this planet...so excuse my vanity when I say that I had a cute lil bikini body.

Grrrrr.

I did not get any stretch marks until the last week of my pregnancy and while they are small and colorless, they are still very there. My Linea Negra has yet to fade all the way and my belly button is still working on going back to the way it had been pre pregnancy.

Frustration is a word too small to describe how I feel about this.

LBB= Little Black Bikini. In Case Ya Didn't Know.

There is nothing I can do about any of this but wait and wait for my body to totally heal...if it even ever does completely.

So one pieces it is.

I knew that my body would never be exactly the same after giving birth, it has been effected in ways I hadn't really thought of. I'm curious to hear how your bodies have changed after having children?

Whoa...who is that?

I'm like a real human being again! Thank you Mizu!!!