Laura Melanie

I finally got the Katy Perry Collection & I've had fun combining the colors & using the Shatter polish that comes out solid black & as the polish dries it starts to crackle. Right now I have on 'Not Like The Movies' & I really like it because it looks silver/gray & then like a purple polish with a touch of glitter. The next one I'm gonna use is 'Last Friday Night' which is the sparkly blue one. You can never go wrong w/glitter or sparkly :)

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I'm super elated! I can hardly contain my joy :):):) so here's the nitty gritty...

The past few months have been a struggle while I started looking for a job, joined Mary Kay while unemployed, moved to my new apartment in December, started new job in January & started changing my lifestyle (which also includes changing my circle of friends). My job is great, my new apartment I'm settled into, my Mary Kay team started growing, my circle of friends are just what I needed & I love them so dearly, but all the while I had this debt piling up with my car & I was getting to a really rough situation that I wasn't sure how I was gonna get out of it, but I knew I had to do something, something had to give. So on Wednesday night, I couldn't sleep for about 2 hours. I figured I would call my friend David in the morning to tell him that I really need his help with trading my car in since he's a car salesman. The past year, year & a half I knew I had to get rid of this car because for one, I bought it on impulse. I was a college graduate & thought I would treat myself to my dream car, when in reality I was living above my means & not being realistic. I didn't make a deal, I was naive & took whatever the salesman gave me & basically I got ripped off because I bought the car at full retail price.. never ever ever!!! again!!!! I think it was around $23K for a 5 yr note. So my payment was $500! & add insurance on top of that, more like $600.

So on Thursday, my friend David helped me out & found me a deal with this 2004 Honda Accord he had on the lot & I got to lower my payment by half! I was off on Good Friday, so I went to see the car & make the deal official, took the car for a test drive & I knew I was making the right decision, even though I admit I was scared to make this change but knew that I had to because I couldn't keep living like I had been. I got such a great deal, the car was around $10K, I had some positive equity on my current car that I was able to carry over into this car as a down payment of $2,000. When I called my insurance to add the car & remove the other one, I found out I was going to save $115 over my 6 month policy! I was even more excited & surprised of how much money I'll be saving. The car is so smooth the way it drives, I feel so grown up. I almost feel like this downgrade was an upgrade because I went from a Civic to an Accord.. even though it's an older model than the Civic. What's also odd is that this car is the exact same color, and model that my exboyfriend Sidney had a few years ago, except his was a 2005. I'm getting my windows tinted on Monday so I'm really excited about that because Texas summer weather is NO JOKE! It gets so hot you could fry your eggs on a dashboard :) So here are some pics of my happy ass on Good Friday, lol.

Now I can breathe again!! I can save money! I am such a happy girl!!!

One of my fellow online friends asked me what are some good hair products to use to keep hair shiny & healthy. So instead of responding with a looooong response, I thought I should make it into a post. Some of these products I have used, some I'm about to try. The ones I'm gonna try were suggestions from another friend & I thought to pass it along to you.

When I've gone to salons to get my hair done, my stylist would finish off my hairstyle with Biosilk Silk Therapy. I really loved the way it smelled & saw how nice of a finish it gave my hair to keep any frizzy ends from coming out & it gave it a nice shiny look. I haven't used it myself, but I think this is one product that I will get soon.

Moroccan oil is a must! I've heard about it from a friend & I tried it late last year & I loved it. My hair was soooo soft & shiny, I felt like I got it done at the hair salon. The only drawback is that after a day or so your hair will get oily & weighed down because of the oil. Maybe I was using too much of it, but I couldn't help it cuz I loved the coconut smell.

A friend recommended the Herbal Essences Hello Hydration shampoo & I'm thinking about getting this one this weekend. Will give you a review within the next coming weeks.

I love the TRESemme Heat Tamer, I use it each time I plan on flat ironing my hair. It's not that expensive either, I think it was about $4.

I hope this helps give you guys tips on some good, affordable hair products out there. I wish Mary Kay would come out with hair products, lol. Also, if you have any products that you love, please feel free to share by commenting.

Oh my goodness! I don't even know how to blog anymore. I am totally out of the loop on how I used to blog, so here I am at my attempt to blog something that won't be too boring & to the point.

What I've been up to these last few weeks (gonna summarize to keep it concise):

• Registered & have still kept running for my 2nd half marathon on May 1st.

• I added 2 new recruits to my team on Mary Kay! yay! & I'm a Star Team Builder! (Red jacket)

• Went to Career Conference last week & got to walk the stage! won prizes & had the best time learning & having fun!

• Been addicted to Instagram app, posting pictures every day or every second of every day.. I don't even TWEET anymore! *gasp!*

• Dropped that zero of a guy who I was holding on to because I was fixated on the past when things were good, but the more I waited around, the worse things got & I hit my breaking point & tore him a new one & scrammed! Too much drama! ugh.

• I haven't blogged about this, but I got a new Macbook Pro at the beginning of March, yay! I got an awesome deal on it & I just couldn't pass it up. I <3 it! day in & day out. It's an awesome piece of work.

• Shoedazzle is getting all my $$$. Bought my 2nd pair of shoes the other day & they shipped out today. The shoes are purple/black & my goal is to not wear them until I get into my Mary Kay director suit at the end of June/July! Woot!

• Mannatech has been great. It's such an awesome job & I'm so thankful that I work there with amazing people. I'm hoping within a few short weeks they will make us permanent so I can get some medical benefits!

Lately, I'm not sure what it is but I just feel so grown up! must be the fact that now I'm a business owner & what not but I just feel like I'm changing into a new phase in my life. I don't even go to clubs/parties anymore & I don't miss it that much because I was getting worn out from all that, but it's a weird/different change happening in my life.

Also, I've been rekindling an old flame with the guy I was seeing last year & I'm not trying to invest too much into it because I have a lot going on on my plate, but when we're together, it's nice. Sparks fly, chemistry is through the roof & he's in a new phase in his life too.. not sure where life is taking us but we are just taking it easy. I can tell he's changed his ways a little & he's said the same about me.. so it's almost like we're meeting for the first time all over again in a different phase of our lives. Even though I dated other guys after we stopped talking late last year, I never really got over him.. which is another reason why I'm not trying to analyze things too much, but at the same time it's nice that we can pick up where we left off. I took him to the black & white ball last weekend & it's funny because that made it 1 year exactly after we met. So crazy what a difference a year makes. See pics below from Career Conference/Black & White ball & some random self portraits of yours truly :)

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I am so proud of myself! I finished my first half marathon in 2:47! There were a few times where I kept thinking 'where the heck is the finish line?' LOL. It was really really long. I can't even imagine how a full marathon would be! wow. It was a lot of fun at this event because every other mile there were live bands playing music throughout the course, pumping us up. Also there were cheerleaders from different schools cheering us on.

There were about 11,000 runners! Can you believe that?! I was amazed. I placed 9,027 out of 10,969. That means I beat almost 2,000 runners! amazing. My friend David finished at 1:52 & Troy Aikman, former Dallas Cowboy player, beat him by 4 min! he said he saw Troy pass him up. I would've freaked out HAHA.

People are so creative when it came to this event, it was cute & humorous. A few girl runners were wearing tutu's, funny hats, it was interesting. Crazy people were out there too! I saw a guy running barefoot!!! o_O

The weather was perfect, even though it was a little chilly in the beginning. It was cloudy for the most part & it started sprinkling towards the end. My foot kept hurting when I was on mile 6 cuz the padding was a little off & I got a blister.. but as I kept running, it didn't hurt as much cuz I got used to it.

I'm gonna sign up for another half marathon on May 1st! it's called Heels & Hills. Cute huh? I'm gonna get creative with my attire this time around. I'll probably put ribbons in my hair.. definitely can't pull a tutu cuz I don't have stick legs.

Yay! I'm addicted to running these marathons now. My friends were right!