Now THIS is scary...

While wasting time this evening I happened upon a documentary on beauty pageants. Kiddie beauty pageants.

The documentary was actually a follow up to one called "Painted Babies," and it gave updates on two girls that had been featured in the original documentary. It was interesting to see how many commonalities there were between the "pageant" moms and grandmothers. They were (for the most part) fat, southern, and loud. I wonder if there is some sort of criteria for the women who put their daughters in these things. Of the two girls that were profiled only one continued to compete in the pageant circuit. She wasn't overly pretty nor was she any good at singing. However, she was VERY good at doing that horrid fake smile where you look like you are just clenching your teeth while not squinting your eyes. Ugh-lee! She was also bleach blonde and had a "healthy" orange glow. The other girl had removed herself from that environment and seemed to have a more realistic idea about life. She was also blonde but lacked the complexion of an old school Oompa Loompa.
Not to be outdone, BBC America has been showing documentaries on ALL sorts of strange subjects. The weirdest has been "My Fake Baby."

Yes, "My Fake Baby." It covered the "re-born" trend in the doll world. Apparently there are women who treat incredibly life-like dolls as though they were alive. Dressing them, changing their diapers, washing them, pushing them in prams (hey, it's England,) and "feeding" them fabric softener because it looks like milk. It was just wacky. I'm not going to discount the talent that some of the women have that make these dolls but to treat an inanimate object as though it was alive? I'd have to say it's pretty near crazy.
Thoughts?

And now for something completely different:
Http://www.retailmenot.com
Offers up some cool promo codes for on-line shopping. All you do is type in the name of a store and then a list of possible codes will appear. I used it to get a 10 day supply of bareMinerals Foundation on Sephora.com.

Also of note, on http://www.sephora.com you can join the Beauty Insider club for free. It promises perks such as deluxe samples, reward points (one point for each dollar spent,) and a gift on your birthday. I love make up so this could be the start of a very bad thing.

Hope not!

It's the weekend!

It's the weekend which means...

The Beaux' Stratagem is up and running...

Halloween is over...

and my sleep schedule is totally messed up. Horray for putting up shows!

The Beaux' Stratagem runs until next Saturday at Weber State. It is hilarious and I highly recommend it. I styled the wigs and designed the make up. I took most of the week off of work because of the show which really helped because I had a lot to learn. Going back was sort of funny today mostly because it was Halloween and I dressed up as Penelope Wilhern from the movie Penelope. There weren't too many customers who knew who I was dressed as but one person did. I was on candy duty and a family walked up with three little girls. After I gave the candy to the girls their mom said, "Okay, tell Penelope 'thank you.'" It totally made my day! Although, my face is sort of itchy from the spirit gum and the remover. I wonder if that stuff goes bad because mine was sort of old. I went to a fabulous party this evening and the picture above was taken by my Dad. Because I'm pretty much the same 7 year old who dressed up like a tiger for Halloween. Basically.

One more awesome thing that happened: My mom came home from visiting my sister and her FAMILY in Vegas. My niece is beautiful.

Pictures!

My Mom sent pictures of Avery and Hilary (wow, I just noticed they have the same name ending.) Things are going well, Avery is scheduled to go in for surgery tomorrow to close her stomach. After that she'll spend four weeks in the NICU and then come home, in time for Thanksgiving.
This next picture is sort of sad and funny at the same time. I blame Hilary's expression...
And one more of Avery:

Details!

Name: Avery Grace Armstrong
Weight: 3 lbs 12 oz
Length: 15"

She's doing really well and hopefully she'll be home before Thanksgiving.

For more info:
http://joshandhilary.blogspot.com

I am an AUNT!!!

My sister Hilary gave birth early this morning to a beautiful baby girl. We don't have any specifics so no name, weight, size... My mom is heading down to Vegas with Josh's parents this morning. Hopefully we will have pictures and more info to soon!

I'm so excited!

Ummm

Have you ever jumped into a big project and then part-way through thought, "Ummm." Keep in mind that the "ummm" is usually accompanied by a blank mind and a deer in the headlights look. I'm sort of there right now. Kind of really in fact.
The good thing is that I have a week until I can REALLY start panicking and there are people to help out. I have about five more wigs to style, one to sew into a hat, two hair pieces to style, and a whole bunch of make up plots to complete. This is so completely different than costume design. On the plus side I will have two hours tomorrow to work on my stuff, which is two more than usual. Oh, and I will have extra time on Tuesday and Thursday. Maybe it's not so bad. I hope.
I'm grateful for the opportunity to expand as a designer, don't get me wrong. It's just a teensy bit more than I had originally thought. I am glad that the only person to blame in that instance is ME! Whoo hoo for being a designer.

On the plus side I have decided what to be for Halloween. I only need to buy one thing (although I'll probably pick up some trim and stuff.) I'll see if anyone can guess who I'm going to be:

Vegas! and an assortment of other stuff...

Last weekend we (Mom, Dad, Lauren, and me) went to Vegas to see Hilary and Josh. For anyone who doesn't know, Josh is attending Dental school at UNLV so Las Vegas is going to be their home for the next four years. It was a wonderful trip and I'm excited to see them again, whenever that might be.

We ate at In and Out Burger after the Saturday afternoon session. It was okay. I like our local Crown Burger better but I'm not too hip on hamburgers.


On our way home we visited our friends the Bridges. We used to be neighbors.

I started this quite a while ago and can't remember exactly what I had included. Sorry if it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Maybe blogging during your 19th hour up isn't such a grand idea.
This week I...
Made cupcakes for a baby shower at work:
The babies on top are made out of fondant and they tasted like candy.

I also worked on wigs and real hair for our publicity photos for The Beaux' Stratagem: