Today I'm going to post about 2 beauty products I am totally excited about.  

#1  Color Wow - for color treated hair.  I know what you are thinking, "How could someone as young and beautiful looking as Julie need to color her hair?"  Well, I was going to post a picture of my dad at my age but, apparently, all of those pictures are still at my parents' house.  If you saw my dad's hair at my age, you'd understand.  I love the quote, "Better to turn gray than to turn loose!"  I remind myself every time I want to pout about my gray hair.  Sidebar:  My 80 year old dad still has a full head of gorgeous (now white) hair.

I get my hair colored every 5 weeks and by the time week 4 rolls around, my roots have started to show.  By week 5, I look like a skunk.  Enter Color Wow.  

All you do is brush it on your roots...and....wow!  I'm good to go until my next hair appointment!!!!!   If you saw me at church today, I was totally rocking the Color Wow.  You didn't even notice did you??? 

I can't tell you how much better my life is because of Color Wow!

Item #2:  Frownies

Frownies is "Botox in a box"!  Granted, I've only tried it one night but it worked pretty great on my number 11 lines.  Ok, so here I am all ready for bed with my Frownies on.... 

The instructions say to wear them every night for 2 weeks and then 2 or 3 times a week after that.  This product has been around since the 1800's and the testimonials are overwhelmingly positive.  I think the review I read that makes the most sense is from a lady who found out she was making a lot of worried faces in her sleep. This product keeps you from scrunching your face while you sleep and lets your muscles relax & reset overnight.  I've been told several times that I have a "very expressive face" (what does that even mean???) so I'm guessing I probably frown a lot in my sleep. 

I'd like to file this product under, "Why not?"  I'll keep you posted.  

French Onion Soup

Those of you who know me, know that my sister-in-law is from Syria. For the past 10ish years, Rana's mom, Laura, has made the long (and now dangerous) trip to spend summer here in the U.S. with her.  Laura is fluent in Arabic, French & Greek...but speaks no English.  This means that every summer we spend a lot of time with this sweet lady just smiling & nodding. While I do know a few Arabic words, I'm sure it isn't humanly possible for Julie to learn to speak Arabic (let alone read or write it).  Heck, you know me.   

So....for the past few weeks, I've been spending an hour a day studying French with the Pimsleur method.  I'm pretty sure that I've learned more in the past 2 weeks than I learned in both years of high school French. I've even started trying out some of my new skills with Rana's mom.  Unfortunately, I discovered via my favorite French learning blog, "Comme Une Francaise" that I recently made a major faux pas while speaking with her.  I was so stinkin' proud of myself for speaking French and I wondered why she was ignoring me!!!  Ugh...how embarrassing. 

Some of you may remember Rana's niece, Christel, who has spent a lot of time here taking care of my niece & nephew.  Christel is from Marseille, France, where she lives with her family.  If I start having problems with my homework, I will call Christel and ask her for the answers.  :-)

Sidebar:  Christel's mom, Yolla (Rana's sister), came here for Kevin & Rana's wedding.  Yolla doesn't speak any English either, so while the two of us were waiting on Rana at a hair appointment, I recited to her every French word I knew while she nodded and smiled.  I told her the alphabet, months of the year and counted as high as I could.  I think she understood that I was trying....  Oh gosh, now that I think about it, I probably told her that embarrassing thing that I told Rana's mom.  Ugh. 
 
Here's what's next:

I have signed up for French 1 and the corresponding lab at Central Piedmont Community College.  My class starts August 17th.  While I could have audited the class, I chose to get the full experience and try to get a good grade.   

Here's my challenge to myself:

When the class gets hard, I will not drop the class. 

I will try to make a good grade so that my grade point average will improve and I can finally get into Harvard

Become a French teacher
Lose 10 pounds
 

If any of you speak French, let me know!  I will keep you posted on how class is going and whether or not I have withdrawn from it yet.  

"She Tried (But Not Very Hard)"

So I came across an interesting blog idea...."Write your own obituary".  At first I thought, "Oh no, if I write my own obituary, I'll probably die.  And then, they'll probably use it as my real obituary.  Then that would be ironic".  (Scott says I use the word ironic incorrectly.)  But then I thought, why not?! 

So here goes....

Julie Kristin Helms Lanford was born in 19** in Charlotte, North Carolina.  She was born in Charlotte, but that was only because there were no hospitals in Waxhaw, where her parents lived.  She was the daughter of Johnny & Doris.  Sister of Kevin.  Wife of Scott.  Sister-in-law of Rana.  Aunt to Laura and Daniel.  Julie loved her big family and had OVER 50 aunts & uncles (that is counting their spouses).  She loved all of her aunts, uncles & cousins (well the majority of them) but she especially loved her Grandmother Helms.  Grandma Helms was the only grandparent Julie ever knew and they shared a special bond.   

Julie loved Jesus with her whole heart.  She tried to be like Jesus but failed miserably.  Julie always strived to have a super clean house but that never happened.  It was usually cluttered with dirty clothes strewn everywhere, days old dirty dishes in the kitchen and cat pee on the laundry room floor.  She wanted to be a great cook but frankly, never had the patience.    

Julie was an average student that made average grades.  She was a community college dropout that went on to great success in commercial real estate; a line of work that she found rather dull and boring.   Her husband said that every time something got hard, Julie quit & gave up.  Julie agreed that was pretty accurate.   

Julie loved her animals.  Over the years Julie had many pets; all of of which were special to her.  Her best friend in the world was her nearly toothless cat, Greta Sue.  

Julie had an unnatural fondness for chocolate milk (see name of this blog) and saltine crackers. 

Nothing in the world gave Julie greater pleasure than spending time with her niece and nephew and then getting to leave them.  She loved her parents more than life itself and was thankful for everything that they taught her.  

Julie would like to send a shout out to all of her friends...."What up?"  If Julie were still here today, she'd be trying to clean her house, exercise, eat healthier & learn French.   Oh & laughing about something....everything.  She loved to find the humor in life.  Her favorite thought was, "It could always be worse." 

PS.  Julie would like for Scott to know that she is watching him and after an acceptable period of grieving he is allowed to remarry.  But only if the woman is ugly.

****

Wow, reading that fake obituary made me realize that I might be the dullest person ever.  That's ok though because I love my life and I wouldn't change a thing!  (Except I'd like to hire a maid, personal chef & a personal trainer.) 

  

10 Things

I have been challenged by Megan Pastor of That Wasn't The Plan to share 10 things I love and 10 things I hate.  

So...here are 10 things I love (in no particular order)

1.  Cats on the Internet - I could spend hours looking at cats on the Internet - well, except for Grumpy Cat.  Grumpy Cat does not interest me.  However, cats in space are my particular favorites.  

2.  Ice Hockey  - I love hockey and I love hockey fights.  Don't know why but I do.  

3.  Therapy Dogs - Everyone should love therapy/service animals.  

4.  The Golden Girls.  

5.  Boat rides - I have loved riding on a boat for as long as I can remember.  I really need to make friends with someone who lives on the lake & has a boat.  

6.  Soft blankets -  The only thing that makes soft blankets better is sharing them with my cat.  

7.  My mom's chocolate chip cookies - she puts Rice Krispies in them. 

8.  Maids - I've never had one but I'm sure I'd like them.  

9.  Lint Rollers - when you share a house with 2 large dogs and a cat...you like lint rollers.

10.  Chickens wearing sweaters - What's not to love?  

10 things I hate. 

1.  My new glasses - Um, I really should have taken someone with me when I picked them out.  The cute, MUCH YOUNGER, sales associate said, "They look great on you."  And..."You can't see the blue".  I hate them.  

2.  Commercials - Commercials really annoy me.  Every once in a while you will come across a good commercial but most of the time they are just stupid.  I think they are directed at 12 year old boys.  And girls.

3.  Politics - I hate hearing about politics.

4.  Celebrities - Celebrities are annoying.

5.  Political Celebrities.

6.  Sirens - I am very sensitive to sirens.  Not only do they usually mean something bad has happened; they really hurt my ears.

7.  BBQ restaurants that have pigs as mascots -  That is just wrong.

8.  Loud cars & trucks - Yes, we hear you.  Why are you bringing attention to the fact that you have an insecurity that causes you to need extra attention?

9.  Plastic packaging - Nothing is more infuriating at the time as when you can't open something you have just bought.

10.   Grumpy Cat - It is hard to avoid Grumpy Cat when you are trying to look up cats on the Internet. 

Four Things About Me

Today I'm linking up with the lovely Megan at That Wasn't The Plan for "Four Things About Me".  Visit Megan here:

www.thatwasnttheplan.wordpress.com

4 names people call me other than my real name:

1.  Jules.....  Lots of people call me Jules.  Don't call me that; I hate it.
2.  Miss Julie...I have no idea why people call me this. 
3.  That girl with the long brown hair & glasses (I don't know if anybody really calls me this, but that's the way I would describe myself.) 
4.  Doris & Johnny's daughter


4 jobs I've had:

1.  Rack Room Shoes
2.  Nanny
3.  Legal Assistant for a divorce attorney
4.  Administrative Assistant - in commercial real estate company


4 movies I've seen more than once:

1.  All movies adapted from Jane Austen books....  Pride & Prejudice, Emma, Sense & Sensibility etc.
2.  Hope Floats
3.  The movie where she has the baby in the Wal-Mart aka "Where the Heart Is".
4.  Sweet Home Alabama


4 books I'd recommend:

1.  The Holy Bible :-)  
2. Anything by Jane Austen
More recently:
3.  A Million Little Ways by Emily P. Freeman
4.  The Hardest Peace by Kara Tippetts


4 places I've lived:

1.  Waxhaw
2.  Charlotte
3.  Fort Mill, SC
4.  That's all...


4 places I'd rather be right now:

1.  There's nowhere I'd rather be than at my house with my animals
2.  But, I do really love Bald Head Island, NC
3.  Hilton Head, SC - Savannah, GA
4.  The NC Mountains


4 things I don't eat:

1.  Pork - I gave it up January 1, 2014 
2.  Dog food
3.  Liver - actually any kind of organ meat
4.  Uncooked red & green peppers


4 tv shows I watch:

1.  The Big Bang Theory
2.  King of Queens
3.  Friends
4.  Reba
5.  Golden Girls
Sorry, I just couldn't narrow it down.  They are all equally always on my television.  Reba is on right now.  Shocker. 


4 of my favorite foods:

1.  Chocolate
2.  Cheese
3.  Potatoes (cooked any way)
4.  I'm addicted to chocolate milk


4 things I'm looking forward to this year:

1.  Every holiday that I'm off of work
2.  Spending time with my friends/family
3.  Losing 10 pounds
4.  Becoming cooler

Blossom and I took a selfie. 

Salud!

So Megan and I are full of great ideas.  Once, we were going to open up a boutique that specialized in designer clothes for your pet chicken.  If I remember correctly, we were going to call it "Just Us Chicks" and hire a chicken named Henrietta for our store mascot.

Then, we went to Food Truck Friday (which, by the way, was a blast) and we decided to open up our own Food Truck business.  I don't think we have named our Food Truck yet, but we did take a cooking class at the Salud Cooking School.  I'm pretty sure that we now know everything we need to know....

Wait a minute...I just went over to Megan's blog to steal some photos and I realized that she has already blogged about our cooking adventure.  So, forget this....you should read Megan's blog! 

https://thatwasnttheplan.wordpress.com/2015/06/02/salud/

To Be Continued...