We’re going on vacation!!! Tomorrow morning we’ll be driving our neighbor’s car to Portland in Oregon. They have a vacation home here and wants their car back in Portland so they offered to pay us to drive their car. I’m afraid we’re going to not get out of the car at all when we get there. How am I supposed to return to my crappy car after driving a nice BMW SUV?!

My dream is to drive up the Pacific Coast Highway but it’s not the fastest way to Washington so we’ll be going up through Salt Lake City & Boise. A family friend of ours who babysat me when I was a baby and means a lot to our family happens to live in Boise. We’ll be stopping there overnight Saturday after driving 14 hours. We’ll visit for a little bit Sunday morning before hitting the road to Portland.

Monday through Wednesday we’ll rent a car and drive up to Seattle. My family on my mom’s side is getting together for a picnic because we’re in town. I’m so anxious since I haven’t seen my aunt and uncle’s new house and most of them since our wedding. We’ll be staying with them then go to my paternal grandma’s condo by the beach and stay with her. Wednesday is devoted to seeing old friends before going back to Vancouver near Portland where my in-laws live and stay with them for the rest of the week.

I’m anxious and overwhelmed with all the people we’ll be seeing all in 1 week with limited time. I’ll be tweeting and will try to blog. Thanks to the WordPress plug-in on my iPhone! I can’t even imagine how out of control my Google Reader is going to get this upcoming week…it makes me nervous!

P.S. I’ve never had a guest post on my blog before so I’ve asked a good friend of mine, Haley, to do one. She’s an awesome writer so look out for that soon!

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Have you ever been disappointed that your life is not like you see on a television show?

I’m jealous that there’s a family that wakes up at an ungodly hour and manage to look beautiful and eat breakfast together before dashing out the door. My life has never been like this! Growing up, I’d painfully get up and get ready then eat breakfast quietly before going to school. Nothing special happened in the mornings. Now that Tyler and I are married… it’s just the two of us and he’s usually gone in the mornings before I get up for work. I don’t even make breakfast or read the newspapers outside on the patio. I can’t even get through a morning without feeling rushed anyways!

We’re all aware that even locations aren’t entirely real. They may use a house in a small town then show a neighborhood somewhere else. I’ve watched shows where I’d love to live… like The OC for example. Gorgeous… a house right by the beach, sure!

Have you noticed that in all of the 90′s television shows there is an annoying neighbor that barges in the house without knocking. There is always something going on with the family. There is also a cute boy that lives close by or even next door who will climb up the window to the girl’s bedroom.

I know the purpose of television shows and movies are to entertain us but the location and actions definitely do influence us.. or just me. Growing up my neighbors were older and I’ve never had kids my age live right next door that I could wave to out my bedroom window or sneak over like they do on the shows.

Some days I just wish I could live in the television world. Or make up my own location & house. Don’t tell me there’s Sims 3 for that. I have spent too much time with that game that, it’s depressing.

Believe me, I love the way my life is. I have just wanted some of those things to be real when I was younger and a teenager. I can only dream….that I can see the beach from my backyard & many more things that I know are too good to be true.

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This is me after taking a shower & drying my hair and… with NO MAKE-UP ON!

I was recently inspired to do this from some bloggers. For those who know me very well, I never leave the house without make-up on. Except for some Summer days when I’m lazy… I have to at least put mascara on. I have to admit though that I never wear concealer or foundation. The only make-up I use is eyeshadow, eyeliner and mascara. In fact I think I have more hair products than I do with make-up. I don’t even have extra time in the mornings for all the other make-up. I can’t even get smokey eyes without getting too stressed out and messing up.

When my sorority had dances, I would always go and get my make-up done at the mall and buy the cheapest product they used after putting make-up on me…which normally was the eyeliner or mascara. I have always liked what they did except for that one time in 2006. I went to the mall and a young woman said she would do my make-up. She didn’t even let me watch in front of a mirror or let me take a peek in the mirror every once a while. I had absolutely no idea what she was doing until she was done and let’s just say I then understood why a lot of people were walking by and looking at me. Imagine this is what I looked like after wiping off a lot of make-up (less green!)…

Fortunately some women look amazing with bold colors but not me… or it’s just that I’m not used to that much make-up. I have accepted that it’s just not me to know how to do these amazing things with my eyes. Just putting on eyeshadow, eyeliner and mascara will do! I’m happy with the way I look and would like to thank my parents for the lovely genes.

Now will you join us and show your beautiful self without make-up on? You know you’re beautiful no matter what!